PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1. Legal Proceedings.
From time to time, we may become involved in litigation or other legal proceedings. See Note 14 of the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 1. Financial Statements (unaudited) of Part I of this Quarterly Report, which is incorporated by reference in this Item 1, for additional information regarding Jefferies LLC vs. Blaize Holdings, Inc. Except as described by the foregoing, we are not currently a party to any litigation or legal proceedings that, in the opinion of our management, may have a material adverse effect on our business. Regardless of outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources and other factors.
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Other than the risk factors listed below, there have been no material changes from the risk factors previously described under Part 1, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the SEC on April 15, 2025.
Risks Related to our Business and Industry
If we fail to retain our key personnel or if we fail to attract additional qualified personnel, we may not be able to achieve our anticipated level of growth and our business could suffer.
Our success depends to a significant extent on our and our joint ventures’ ability to attract and retain talent, specifically in senior management and skilled technical, engineering, project management and other key roles. Macroeconomic conditions, specifically labor shortages, increased competition for employees and wage inflation could have a material impact on our ability to attract and retain talent, our turnover rate and the cost of operating our business. If we are unable to attract and retain sufficient talent, minimize employee turnover or manage wage inflation, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.
Further, we rely on certain external partners for critical manufacturing steps, including our wafer fabrication and assembly and testing processes which exposes us to significant risks. These processes are highly sensitive, and even minor contamination or technical glitches during wafer fabrication can render a substantial portion of the component unusable. Identifying such problems early in the production cycle and resolving them in a timely manner is often difficult, expensive and time consuming. Therefore, any issues that arise from our third-party manufacturers could lead to production delays, increased costs, and could potentially lead to a compromise in the quality and performance of our products, which could significantly impact our business and financial results.
Macroeconomic conditions could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Macroeconomic conditions, such as persistent inflation, changes to monetary policy, high interest rates, volatile currency exchange rates, credit and debt concerns, decreasing consumer confidence and spending, including capital spending, concerns about the stability and liquidity of certain financial institutions, the introduction of or changes in tariffs or trade barriers, pandemics and other health crises, and global recessions can adversely impact demand for our products, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects. Recent macroeconomic conditions have been adversely impacted by geopolitical instability and military hostilities in multiple geographies, including tariffs, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the conflicts in the Middle East, and monetary and financial uncertainties.
The impacts of these macroeconomic conditions, and the actions taken by governments, central banks, companies, and consumers in response, have resulted in, and may continue to result in, higher inflation in the United States and globally, which is likely, in turn, to lead to an increase in costs and may cause changes in fiscal and monetary policy, including additional increases in interest rates. Tariffs on equipment or materials that we may rely on or use for our products could cause our costs to increase. Other adverse impacts of recent macroeconomic conditions have been, and may continue to be, supply chain constraints, logistics challenges, liquidity concerns in the broader financial services industry, and fluctuations in labor availability.
In a higher inflationary environment, we may be unable to raise the prices of our products sufficiently to keep up with the rate of inflation. A higher inflationary environment can also negatively impact equipment, material, and logistics costs that, in turn, may increase the costs of producing and distributing our products.
We depend on third-party manufacturers, including Samsung Foundry and Plexus, for producing our products, and in the event of a disruption in our supply chain, any efforts to develop alternative supply sources may not be successful or may take longer to take effect than anticipated.
As a fabless company, Blaize does not manufacture its own semiconductor or System-on-a-Chip (“SoC”) products and currently relies on third-party manufacturers, including Samsung Foundry and Plexus, to produce our products. Additionally, Blaize has a design, manufacturing and sales agreement with VeriSilicon, Inc. (“VeriSilicon”) that provides Blaize with design expertise, support and assistance, and certain deliverables, prototypes, products and services from VeriSilicon. Blaize cannot be sure that these manufacturers will remain in business, or that they will not be purchased by one of Blaize’s competitors or another company that is not interested in continuing to produce these products for Blaize’s intended purpose.