Quiver Quantitative

Risk Factors Dashboard

Once a year, publicly traded companies issue a comprehensive report of their business, called a 10-K. A component mandated in the 10-K is the ‘Risk Factors’ section, where companies disclose any major potential risks that they may face. This dashboard highlights all major changes and additions in new 10K reports, allowing investors to quickly identify new potential risks and opportunities.

View risk factors by ticker

Search filings by term

Risk Factors - AVNW

-New additions in green
-Changes in blue
-Hover to see similar sentence in last filing

Item 1A. Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more information regarding factors that may cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect our management’s opinions only as of the date of the filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

PART I

Item 1. Business

Aviat Networks, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, is a global supplier of microwave networking and wireless access networking solutions, backed by an extensive suite of professional services and support. Aviat Networks, Inc. may be referred to as “the Company,” “AVNW,” “Aviat Networks,” “Aviat,” “we,” “us” and “our” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Aviat was incorporated in Delaware in 2006 to combine the businesses of Harris Corporation’s Microwave Communications Division (“MCD”) and Stratex Networks, Inc. (“Stratex”). On January 28, 2010, we changed our corporate name from Harris Stratex Networks, Inc. to Aviat Networks, Inc.

As of June 28, 2024, the Company had 913 employees.

Overview and Description of the Business

We design, manufacture and sell a range of wireless transport and access networking products, solutions and services to two principal customer types.

1.Communications Service Providers (“CSPs”): These include mobile and fixed telecommunications network operators, broadband and internet service providers and network operators which generate revenues from the communications services that they provide.

2.Private network operators: These are customers which do not resell communications services but build networks for reasons of economics, autonomy, and/or security to support a wide variety of mission critical performance applications. Examples include federal, state and local government agencies, transportation agencies, energy and utility companies, public safety agencies and broadcast network operators around the world.

We sell products and services directly to our customers, and, to a lesser extent, agents and resellers.

Our products utilize microwave and millimeter wave technologies to create point to point and point to multi-point wireless links for short, medium and long-distance interconnections. In addition to our wireless products, we also provide routers and a range of premise and hosted private cloud-based software tools and applications to enable deployment, monitoring, network management, and optimization and operational assurance of our systems as well as to automate network design and procurement. We also source, qualify, supply, integrate, test and support third party equipment such as antennas, optical transmission equipment and other equipment necessary to build and deploy a complete telecommunications transmission network. We provide a full suite of professional services for planning, deployment, operations, optimization and maintenance of our customers’ networks.

Our wireless systems deliver urban, suburban, regional and country-wide communications links as the primary alternative to fiber optic, low earth orbit satellite and copper connections. Fiber optic connections are the primary connectivity alternative to wireless systems. In dense urban and suburban areas, wireless solutions can be faster to deploy and lower cost per mile than new fiber deployments. In developing nations, fiber infrastructure is often scarce and as a result wireless systems are used for both long and short distance connections. Wireless systems also have advantages over optical fiber in areas with rugged terrain, and to provide connections over bodies of water such as between islands or to offshore oil and gas production platforms. Through the air wireless transmission is also inherently lower in latency than transmission through optical cables and can be leveraged in time sensitive networking applications, such as high frequency trading.

Revenue from our North America and international regions represented approximately 50% and 50% of our revenue in fiscal 2024, 58% and 42% of our revenue in fiscal 2023, and 66% and 34% of our revenue in fiscal 2022, respectively. Information about our revenue attributable to our geographic regions is set forth in “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and in “Note 10. Segment and Geographic Information” of the accompanying consolidated financial statements and notes in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Market Overview

We believe that future demand for microwave and millimeter wave transmission systems will be influenced by a number of factors across several market segments.

Mobile/5G Networks

As mobile networks evolve and expand, add subscribers, and increase the number of wirelessly connected devices, sensors and machines, investment in backhaul infrastructure is required. Whether mobile network operators choose to self-build this backhaul infrastructure, or lease backhaul services from other network providers, we expect that the evolution of mobile networks will continue to drive demand for microwave and millimeter wave wireless backhaul transmission technologies. Within this overall scope, there are multiple individual drivers for investment in backhaul infrastructure.

•5G Deployments. Mobile Radio Access Network (“RAN”) technologies are evolving. With the evolution from 4G (HSPA+ and LTE) to 5G, technology is rapidly advancing and providing subscribers with higher speed access to the Internet, social media, and video streaming services. The dramatic increase in data to be transported through the RAN and across the backhaul infrastructure drives requirements for higher data transport links necessitating upgrades to or replacement of the existing backhaul infrastructure.

•Subscriber Growth. Traffic on the backhaul infrastructure increases as the number of unique subscribers grows.

•Connected Devices. The number of devices such as smart phones and tablets connected to the mobile network is far greater than the number of unique subscribers and is continuing to grow as consumers adopt multiple mobile device types. There is also rapid growth in the number and type of wireless enabled sensors and machines being connected to the mobile network creating new revenue streams for network operators in healthcare, agriculture, transportation and education. As a result, the data traffic crossing the backhaul infrastructure continues to grow.

•IoT. The Internet of Things (“IoT”) brings the potential of massive deployment of wireless end points for sensing and reporting data and remotely controlling machines and devices. The increase of data volume drives investment in network infrastructure.

•Network Densification. RAN frequency spectrum is a limited resource and shared between all of the devices and users within the coverage area of each base station. Meeting the combined demand of increasing subscribers and devices will require the deployment of much higher densities of base stations with smaller and smaller range (small cells) each requiring interconnection and proportionally driving increased demand for wireless backhaul and or fronthaul solutions as the primary alternative to optical fiber connectivity.

•Geographic Coverage. Expanding the geographic area covered by a mobile network requires the deployment of additional cellular base station sites. Each additional base station site also needs to be connected to the core of the mobile network through expansion of the backhaul system.

•License Mandates. Mobile Operators are licensed telecommunications service providers. Licenses will typically mandate a minimum geographic footprint within a specific period of time and/or a minimum proportion of a national or regional population served. This can pace backhaul infrastructure investment and cause periodic spikes in demand.

Rural Broadband

•Middle Mile. Aviat transport equipment is used to deliver broadband connectivity to rural and suburban communities as an alternative to costly fiber. There are significant investments being made to improve rural household and enterprise connectivity and many of these investments target middle mile infrastructure builds.

•Expansion of Offered Services. Internet service providers, especially those in emerging markets, now own and operate the most modern communications networks within their respective regions. These network assets can be further leveraged to provide high speed broadband services to fixed locations such as small, medium and large business enterprises, airports, hotels, hospitals, and educational institutions. Microwave and millimeter wave backhaul is ideally suited to providing high speed broadband connections to these end points due to the lack of fiber infrastructure.

Private Networks

In addition to mobile backhaul, we see demand for microwave technology in other vertical markets, including utility, public safety, energy and mining, government, financial institutions and broadcast.

•Many utility companies around the world are actively investing in “Smart Grid” solutions and energy demand management, which drive the need for network modernization and increased capacity of networks.

•The investments in network modernization in the public safety market can significantly enhance the capabilities of security agencies. Improving border patrol effectiveness, enabling inter-operable emergency communications services for local or state police, providing access to timely information from centralized databases, or utilizing video and imaging devices at the scene of an incident requires a high bandwidth and reliable network. The mission critical nature of public safety and national security networks can require that these networks are built, operated and maintained independently of other network infrastructure. Microwave is well suited to this environment because it is a cost-effective alternative to fiber.

•Microwave technology can be used to engineer long distance and more direct connections than optical cable. Microwave signals also travel through the air much faster than light through glass and the combined effect of shorter distance and higher speed reduces latency, which is valued for trading applications in the financial industry. Our products have already been used to create low latency connections between major centers in the United States (“U.S.”), Europe and Asia and we see long-term interest in the creation of further low latency routes in various geographies around the world.

•Evolution to IP (internet protocol). Network Infrastructure capacity, efficiency and flexibility is greatly enhanced by transitioning from legacy SDH (synchronous digital hierarchy) / SONET (synchronous optical network) / TDM (time division multiplexing) to IP infrastructure. Our products offer integrated IP transport and routing functionality increasing the value they bring in the backhaul network.

•The enhancement of border security and surveillance networks to counter terrorism and insurgency is aided by the use of wireless technologies including microwave backhaul.

•The expected growth of remote and industrial access applications to support the evolution of smart networks for cities, oilfields, mines and remote rural broadband connectivity using fixed, nomadic and mobile wireless technologies, particularly where a high degree of environmental resilience and ruggedness is required.

These factors are combining to create a range of opportunities for continued investment in backhaul, transport and access networks that favor microwave and millimeter wave technologies. As we focus on executing future generations of our technology, our goal is to make wireless technology a viable choice for an ever-broadening range of network types.

Strategy

We are engaging with customers on the evolution of use cases and applications as 5G mobile and broadband networks edge closer to implementation and begin to factor more strongly in the vendor selection process. We are confident in our ability to address current and future 5G market needs.

We are focused on building a sustainable and profitable business with growth potential. We have invested in our people and processes to create a platform for operational excellence across sales, services, product development and supply chain areas while continuing to make investments in strengthening our product and services portfolio and expanding our reach into targeted market areas.

Our strategy has three main elements aligned to deliver a compelling Total Cost of Ownership (“TCO”) value proposition. The first is our portfolio of wireless transport products allowing our customers increased capacity and flexibility with a much better total cost solution. We are expanding the data-carrying capacity of our wireless products to address the increasing data demand in networks of all types, while reducing overall energy consumption. Our research and development is focused on innovations that increase capacity, reduce energy consumption and lower overall TCO.

Second, to address the operational complexity of planning, deploying, owning and operating microwave networks, we are investing in a combination of software applications, tools and services where simplification, process automation, optimization and performance assurance, combined with our unique expertise in wireless technology can make a significant difference for our customers and partners.

Finally, Aviat is investing in e-commerce through our online platform, the “Aviat Store” and supporting supply chain capabilities. Aviat can better service customers buying through the Aviat Store with lower costs, faster lead times and a simpler purchasing experience. The Aviat Store, together with our supply chain, enables customers (including ISP, Tier 2 and mobile 5G operators) to purchase products as needed, thus avoiding lengthy and variable lead times that come with other vendor solutions and allowing those customers to lower warehousing costs, reduce obsolete equipment, and lower the cost of capital by paying only when equipment is needed.

We continue to develop our professional services portfolio as key to our long-term strategy and differentiation. We offer a portfolio of hosted expert services and we continue to offer training and accreditation programs for microwave and IP network design, deployment and maintenance.

We intend to leverage our customer base, longstanding presence in many countries, distribution channels, comprehensive product line, superior customer service and our turnkey solution capability to continue to sell existing and new products and services to current and future customers.

Products and Solutions

Our product and solutions portfolio is key to building and maintaining our base of customers. We offer a comprehensive product and solutions portfolio that meets the needs of service providers and network operators and that addresses a broad range of applications, frequencies, capacities and network topologies.

•Broad product and solution portfolio. We offer a comprehensive suite of wireless transport and access systems for microwave and millimeter wave networking applications. These solutions utilize a wide range of transmission frequencies, ranging from 450 MHz to 90 GHz, and can deliver a wide range of transmission capacities, ranging up to 20 Gigabits per second (Gbps). Our CTR 8000 platform is a range of routers purpose-built for transport applications, especially those that require high level of reliability and security. WTM 4000, the highest capacity microwave radio ever produced to date, and purpose built for software-defined networks (“SDN”). SDN technology is an approach to networking management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient networking configuration to improve networking performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional networking management. We introduced multiple important variants to the WTM 4000 platform; WTM4100 & 4200 providing single and dual frequency microwave links with advanced XPIC and MIMO capabilities; STR4500 for multi-channel aggregation of microwave channels in long distance applications; WTM4800 is the latest addition to address 5G network requirements and is capable of operating in the 80GHz E-Band at up to 20 Gbps capacity, with a unique single-box Multi-Band capability which simultaneously uses microwave and E-Band frequencies for maximum capacity, distance and reliability. WTM 4800 is the only single box multi-band solution for lowest total cost of ownership deployments. Aviat has now introduced a new 2-box extended distance Multi-Band (MB-XD) to extend 10 Gbps links over distances up to 20km, and Multi-Band Vendor Agnostic (MB-VA) that enables a seamless 10 Gbps E-Band overlay to existing legacy microwave links. Our RDL 3000 platform is designed to support ruggedized fixed and nomadic wireless access in remote and industrial applications. RDL 6000 is a highly differentiated Private-LTE solution that provides the equivalent coverage of a macro-base station, but in a compact and cost-effective all-outdoor design. Aviat Pasolink is a market-leading range of split-mount and all-outdoor microwave and millimeter-wave solutions with an extensive global installed base. Aviat’s ProVision Plus Management Software Suite enables operators to manage and control their network, optimize performance and lower operating expenses To address the issues of operational complexity in our customers’ networks, AviatCloud is a platform with secure hosted software and services to automate networks and their operations.

•Low total cost of ownership. Our wireless-based solutions focus on achieving a low total cost of ownership, including savings on the combined costs of initial acquisition, installation and ongoing operation and maintenance. Our latest generation system designs reduce rack space requirements, require less power, are software-configurable to reduce spare parts requirements, and are simple to install, operate, upgrade and maintain. Our advanced wireless features such as Multi-Band, high modulation and ultra-high power performance also enable operators to save on related costs, including spectrum fees and tower rental fees.

•Futureproof network. Our solutions are designed to protect the network operator’s investment by incorporating software-configurable capacity upgrades and plug-in modules that provide a smooth migration path to Carrier Ethernet and IP/MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) and segment routing based networking, without the need for costly equipment substitutions and additions. Our products include key technologies we believe will be needed by operators for their network evolution to support new broadband services.

•Flexible, easily configurable products. We use flexible architectures with a high level of software configurable features. This design approach produces high-performance products with reusable components while at the same time allowing for a manufacturing strategy with a high degree of flexibility, improved cost and reduced time-to-market. The software features of our products offer our customers a greater degree of flexibility in installing, operating and maintaining their networks.

•Comprehensive network management.

•Complete professional services. In addition to our product offerings, we provide network planning and design, site surveys and builds, systems integration, installation, maintenance, network monitoring, training, customer service and many other professional services. Our services cover the entire evaluation, purchase, deployment and operational cycle and enable us to be one of the few complete, turnkey solution providers in the industry.

Business Operations

Sales and Service

Our primary route to market is through our own direct sales, service and support organization. This provides us with the best opportunity to leverage our role as a technology specialist and differentiate ourselves from competitors. Our focus on key customers and geographies allows us to consistently achieve a high level of customer retention and repeat business. Our highest concentrations of sales and service resources are in the United States, Western and Southern Africa, the Philippines, and the European Union. We maintain a presence in a number of other countries, some of which are based in customer locations and include, but not limited to, Canada, Mexico, Kenya, India, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore.

In addition to our direct channel to market, we have relationships with original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) and system integrators especially focused towards large and complex projects in national security and government-related applications. Our role in these relationships ranges from equipment supply only to being a sub-contractor for a portion of the project scope where we will supply equipment and a variety of design, deployment and maintenance services.

We also use indirect sales channels, including dealers, resellers and sales representatives, in the marketing and sale of some lines of products and equipment on a global basis. These independent representatives may buy for resale or, in some cases, solicit orders from commercial or governmental customers for direct sales by us. Prices to the ultimate customer in many instances may be recommended or established by the independent representative and may be above or below our list prices. These independent representatives generally receive a discount from our list prices and are free to set the final sales prices paid by the customer.

We have a direct online sales option through our online “Aviat Store”. The Aviat Store targets customers with a traditional high cost to serve via traditional channels. We provide online design tools for radio link planning and online ordering tools, which we fulfill directly from our Aviat Store with multiple options of product available for next day shipment.

We have repair and service centers in the Philippines and the United States. We have customer service and support personnel who provide customers with training, installation, technical support, maintenance and other services on systems under contract. We install and maintain customer equipment directly, in some cases, and contract with third-party service providers in other cases.

The specific terms and conditions of our product warranties vary depending upon the product sold and country in which we do business. On direct sales, warranty periods generally start on the delivery date and continue for one to three years.

Manufacturing

Our strategy is based on balancing cost and supplier performance as well as taking into account qualification for localization requirements of certain market segments, such as the Buy American Act.

All manufacturing operations have been certified to International Standards Organization 9001, a recognized international quality standard. We have also been certified to the TL 9000 standard, a telecommunication industry-specific quality system standard.

Backlog

Our backlog was approximately $292 million at June 28, 2024 and $289 million at June 30, 2023, consisting primarily of contracts or purchase orders for both product and service deliveries and extended service warranties. Services include management’s initial estimate of the value of a customer’s commitment under a services contract. The calculation used by management involves estimates and judgments to gauge the extent of a customer’s commitment, including the type and duration of the agreement, and the presence of termination charges or wind down costs. Contract extensions and increases in scope are treated as backlog only to the extent of the new incremental value. We regularly review our backlog to ensure that our customers continue to honor their purchase commitments and have the financial means to purchase and deploy our products and services in accordance with the terms of their purchase contracts. Backlog estimates are subject to change and are affected by several factors, including terminations, changes in the scope of contracts, periodic revalidation, adjustments for revenue not materialized and adjustments for currency.

Product orders in our current backlog are subject to changes in delivery schedules or to cancellation at the option of the purchaser without significant penalty as well as long-term projects that could take more than a year to complete. Accordingly, although useful for scheduling production, backlog as of any particular date may not be a reliable measure of sales for any future period because of the timing of orders, delivery intervals, customer and product mix and the possibility of changes in delivery schedules and additions or cancellations of orders.

Customers

Although we have a large customer base, during any given fiscal year or quarter, a small number of customers may account for a significant portion of our revenue.

Competition

The microwave and millimeter-wave wireless networking business is a competitive and specialized segment of the telecommunications industry that is sensitive to technological advancements. Our principal competitors include business units of large mobile and IP network infrastructure manufacturers such as Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia Corporation, as well as a number of smaller microwave specialist companies such as Ceragon Networks Ltd., Cambium Networks Corporation and Airspan Networks. We also compete with fiber optic cable and low earth orbit satellites for networking connections.

Some of our larger competitors may have greater name recognition, broader product lines (some including non-wireless telecommunications equipment and managed services), a larger installed base of products and longer-standing customer relationships. They may from time to time leverage their extensive overall portfolios into completely outsourced and managed network offerings restricting opportunities for specialist suppliers. In addition, some competitors may offer seller financing, which can be a competitive advantage under certain economic climates.

Some of our larger competitors may also act as systems integrators through which we sometimes distribute and sell products and services to end users.

The smaller independent private and public specialist competitors typically leverage new technologies and low product costs but are generally less capable of offering a complete solution including professional services, especially in the North America and Africa regions which form the majority of our addressed market.

We concentrate on market opportunities that we believe are compatible with our resources, overall technological capabilities and objectives. We believe that the combination of our network and systems engineering support and service, global reach, technological innovation, agility and close collaborative relationships with our customers are the key competitive strengths for us. However, customers may still make decisions based primarily on factors such as price, financing terms and/or past or existing relationships, where it may be difficult for us to compete effectively or profitably.

Research and Development

We believe that our ability to enhance our current products, develop and introduce new products on a timely basis, maintain technological competitiveness and meet customer requirements is essential to our success. Accordingly, we allocate, and intend to continue to allocate, a significant portion of our resources to research and development efforts in key technology areas and innovation to differentiate our overall portfolio from our competition. The majority of such research and development resources will be focused on technologies in microwave and millimeter wave RF, digital signal processing, networking protocols and software applications.

Our research and development expenditures totaled $36.4 million, or 8.9% of revenue, in fiscal 2024, $24.9 million, or 7.2% of revenue, in fiscal 2023, and $22.6 million, or 7.5% of revenue, in fiscal 2022.

Research and development are primarily directed to the development of new products and to build technological capability. We are an industry innovator and intend to continue to focus significant resources on product development in an effort to maintain our competitiveness and support our entry into new markets.

Our product development teams totaled 196 employees as of June 28, 2024, and were located primarily in New Zealand, Slovenia and Canada.

Raw Materials and Supplies

Because of our range of products and services, as well as the wide geographic dispersion of our facilities, we use numerous sources of raw materials needed for our operations and for our products, such as electronic components, printed circuit boards, metals and plastics. We are dependent upon suppliers and subcontractors for a large number of components and subsystems and upon the ability of our suppliers and subcontractors to adhere to customers’ requirements or regulatory restrictions and to meet performance and quality specifications and delivery schedules.

Our strategy for procuring raw material and supplies includes dual sourcing (where possible) on strategic assemblies and components. In general, we believe this reduces our risk with regard to the potential financial difficulties in our supply base. In some instances, we are dependent upon one or a few sources, either because of the specialized nature of a particular item or because of local content preference requirements pursuant to which we operate on a given project. Examples of sole or limited source categories include metal fabrications and castings, for which we own the tooling and therefore limit our supplier relationships, and ASIC’s and MMICs (types of integrated circuit used in manufacturing microwave radios), which we procure at volume discount from a single source.

Patents and Other Intellectual Property

We consider our patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights, in the aggregate, to constitute an important asset. We own a portfolio of patents, trade secrets, know-how, confidential information, trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property. As of June 28, 2024, we (collectively with our subsidiaries) own approximately 179 U.S. patents and 182 international patents and had 8 U.S. patent applications pending and 12 international patent applications pending. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) and international equivalent bodies have not yet concluded substantive examination of our pending patent applications. Therefore, it is unclear what scope of additional patent coverage, if any, will eventually be provided as a result of those pending applications. Failure to obtain comprehensive patent coverage could impair our ability to prevent competitors from replicating some portions or all of our products. We also license intellectual property to and from third parties. The costs we pay or revenue we receive from such licenses may be dependent on certain factors, such as the market for such licenses and whether such licenses can be negotiated on commercially acceptable terms. However, we do not consider our business to be materially dependent upon any single patent, license or other intellectual property right.

Further, changes in either the patent laws or in the interpretations of patent laws in the United States and other countries may diminish the value of our intellectual property and may increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of patent applications and the enforcement or defense of issued patents. We cannot predict the breadth of claims that may be allowed or enforced in our patents or in third-party patents. In addition, Congress or other foreign legislative bodies may pass patent reform legislation that is unfavorable to us. For example, the United States Supreme Court has ruled on several patent cases in recent years, either narrowing the scope of patent protection available in certain circumstances or weakening the rights of patent owners in certain situations. In addition to increasing uncertainty with regard to our ability to obtain patents in the future, this combination of events has created uncertainty with respect to the value of patents, once obtained. Depending on decisions by the United States Congress, the United States federal courts, the USPTO, or similar

authorities in foreign jurisdictions, the laws and regulations governing patents could change in unpredictable ways that would weaken our ability to obtain new patents or to enforce our existing patents and the patents we might obtain or license in the future.

Our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names may be challenged, circumvented, declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. There can be no assurance that competitors will not infringe our trademarks, that we will have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks or that any of our current or future trademark applications will be approved. During trademark registration proceedings, we may receive rejections and, although we are given an opportunity to respond, we may be unable to overcome such rejections. Applications to register our trademarks may be finally rejected, and opposition or cancellation proceedings may be filed against our trademarks, which may necessitate a change in branding strategy if such rejections and proceedings cannot be overcome or resolved.

Additionally, competitors may try to develop products that are similar to ours and that may infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate our intellectual property rights. As a result, from time to time, we might engage in litigation to enforce our patents or other intellectual property rights or defend against claims of alleged infringement asserted by third parties. Any of our patents, trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property rights could be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, or may not provide competitive advantages. Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights, we cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will be sufficient or effective to prevent the unauthorized access, use, copying, or the reverse engineering of our technology and other intellectual property, including by third parties who may use our technology or other proprietary information to develop products and services that compete with ours. Additionally, policing unauthorized use of our intellectual property and proprietary rights can be difficult, costly and time consuming. The enforcement of our intellectual property and proprietary rights also depends on any legal actions we may bring against any such parties being successful, but these actions are costly, time-consuming, and may not be successful, even when our rights have been infringed, misappropriated, or otherwise violated. Furthermore, our competitors or other third parties may assert that our products infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property rights. Successful claims of infringement, misappropriation or other violations by a third party could prevent us from offering certain products or features, require us to develop alternate, non-infringing technology, which could require significant time and expense, and at which time we could be unable to continue to offer our affected products or solutions, or require us to obtain a license, which may not be available on reasonable terms or at all, or force us to pay substantial damages, royalties or other fees.

In addition, to protect our confidential information, including our trade secrets, we require our employees and contractors to sign confidentiality and invention assignment agreements. We also enter into non-disclosure agreements with our suppliers and appropriate customers to limit their access to and disclosure of our proprietary information.

Although our ability to compete may be affected by our ability to protect our intellectual property rights and proprietary information, we believe that, because of the rapid pace of technological change in the wireless telecommunications industry, our innovative skills, technical expertise and ability to introduce new products on a timely basis is just as important in maintaining our competitive position as protecting our intellectual property. Trade secret, trademark, copyright and patent protections are important but must be supported by other factors such as the expanding knowledge, ability and experience of our personnel, new product introductions and product enhancements. Although we have and will continue to implement protective measures and intend to vigorously defend our intellectual property rights, there can be no assurance that these measures will be successful.

Environmental and Other Regulations

Our facilities and operations, in common with those of our industry in general, are subject to numerous domestic and international laws and regulations designed to protect the environment, increase transparency or modify corporate behavior, particularly with regard to wastes and emissions. From time to time, we receive notices from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or equivalent state or international environmental agencies that we are a potentially responsible party under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and

Liability Act, which is commonly known as the Superfund Act, and equivalent laws. Such notices may assert potential liability for cleanup costs at various sites, which include sites owned by us, sites we previously owned and treatment or disposal sites not owned by us, allegedly containing hazardous substances attributable to us from past operations. We are not presently aware of any such liability that could be material to our business, financial condition or operating results, but due to the nature of our business and environmental risks, we cannot provide assurance that any such material liability will not arise in the future.

Electronic products are subject to environmental regulation in a number of jurisdictions. Equipment produced by us is subject to domestic and international requirements requiring end-of-life management and/or restricting materials in products delivered to customers.

Equipment produced by us is subject to domestic and international requirements to avoid interference among users of radio frequencies and to permit interconnection of telecommunications equipment. Reallocation of the frequency spectrum could impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have a comprehensive policy and procedures in effect concerning conflict minerals compliance.

Human Capital Management

As of June 28, 2024, we had 913 employees, of whom 909 were full-time employees and 279 were located in the U.S. None of our employees in the U.S. are represented by a labor union. In certain international subsidiaries, our employees are represented by workers’ councils or statutory labor unions. In general, we believe that our employee relations are good. In the highly competitive technology market, we have been able to attract and retain diverse, well-qualified talent across our functions. Through our structured hiring process, we work to provide training for hiring managers in the selection process, detailed onboarding plans for new hires and surveys at regular intervals during the first months of employment to help measure engagement and support success. From time to time, we conduct surveys of our existing employee population and to help identify action items at the functional level as well as establishing company-wide initiatives to continually improve our culture and processes.

We have a global team, and we offer competitive compensation and benefits programs that meet the needs of our employees, while also reflecting local market practices. Our U.S. benefits plan includes health benefits, life and disability insurance, various voluntary insurances, flexible time off and leave programs, and a retirement plan with employer match. Our international benefits plans are competitive locally and generally provide similar benefits. We grant equity-based compensation to many of our employees. In addition, we offer benefits to support our employees’ physical and mental health by providing tools and resources to help them improve or maintain their health and encourage healthy behaviors.

Information about our Executive Officers

The executive officers of Aviat as of October 4, 2024, are as follows:

There is no family relationship between any of our executive officers or directors, and there are no arrangements or understandings between any of our executive officers or directors and any other person pursuant to which any of them was appointed or elected as an officer or director, other than arrangements or understandings with our directors.

Website Access to Aviat Networks’ Reports; Available Information

We maintain a website at www.aviatnetworks.com. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to such reports are available free of charge on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). In addition to our reports filed or furnished with the SEC, we publicly disclose material information in press releases, at annual meetings of shareholders, in publicly accessible conferences and investor presentations, and through our website. References to our website in this Form 10-K are provided as a convenience and should not be deemed an incorporation by reference or a part of this Form 10-K.

Additional information relating to our business and operations is set forth in “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

The nature of the business activities conducted by the Company subjects us to certain hazards and risks. The following is a summary of some of the material risks relating to the Company’s business activities. Other risks are described in “Item 1. Business,” “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.

We face many business risks, including those related to our financial performance, investments in our common stock, operating our business and legal matters. If any of these risks occur, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In that case, the market price of the Company’s common stock could decline.

Risk Factors Summary

The following is a summary of the principal risks that could adversely affect our business, operations and financial results.

Business and Operational Risk Factors

•Our sales cycle may be lengthy, and the timing of sales, along with additional services such as network design, installation and implementation of our products within our customers’ networks, may extend over more than one period, which can make our operating results more volatile and difficult to predict and can complicate the proper recognition of revenue on more complex sales transactions.

•Our success will depend on new products introduced to the marketplace in a timely manner, successfully completing product transitioning and achieving customer acceptance.

•We rely on various third-party service partners to help complement our global operations, and failure to adequately manage these relationships could adversely impact our financial results and relationships with customers.

•We continually evaluate the optimal mix and location of our manufacturing assets and our third-party contract manufacturer assets, and any movement or re-allocation of these manufacturing assets may not be successful, could disrupt our operations, cause us to incur increased costs, and adversely affect our business and our operating results.

•We must respond to rapid technological change and comply with evolving industry standards and requirements for our products to be successful.

•Our average sales prices may decline in the future.

•Credit and commercial risks and exposures could increase if the financial condition of our customers declines.

•Our restructuring actions could harm our relationships with our employees and impact our ability to recruit new employees.

•Our business could be adversely affected if we are unable to attract and retain key personnel.

•We face strong competition for maintaining and improving our position in the market, which can adversely affect our revenue growth and operating results.

•

•Product performance problems, including undetected errors in our hardware or software, or deployment delays could harm our business and reputation.

•If we fail to accurately forecast our manufacturing requirements or customer demand, we could incur additional costs, which would adversely affect our business and results of operations.

•If we fail to effectively manage our contract manufacturer relationships, we could incur additional costs or be unable to timely fulfill our customer commitments, which would adversely affect our business and results of operations and, in the event of an inability to fulfill commitments, would harm our customer relationships.

•We depend on sole or limited sources and geographies for some key components and failure to receive timely delivery of any of these components could result in deferred or lost sales.

•Because a significant amount of our revenue may come from a limited number of customers, the termination of any of these customer relationships may adversely affect our business.

•

Financial and Macroeconomic Risk Factors

•Due to the volume of our international sales, we may be susceptible to a number of political, economic and geographic risks that could harm our business.

•There are inherent limitations on the effectiveness of our controls and if we fail to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, it could adversely impact our business, results of operations, investor confidence and our stock price.

•We may not be able to obtain capital when desired on favorable terms, if at all, or without dilution to our stockholders.

•The effects of global financial and economic conditions in certain markets and of certain economies and sovereign states have had, and may continue to have, significant effects on our customers and suppliers, and has in the past, and may in the future have, a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and stock price.

•Changes in tax laws, treaties, rulings, regulations or agreements, or their interpretation in any country in which we operate; the loss of a major tax dispute; a successful challenge to our operating structure, intercompany pricing policies or the taxable presence of our key subsidiaries in certain countries; or other factors could cause volatility in our effective tax rate and could adversely affect our operating results.

•Our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards to offset future taxable income for U.S. federal income tax purposes and other tax benefits may be limited.

Legal and Regulatory Risk Factors

•Continued tension in U.S.-China trade relations may adversely impact our supply chain operations and business.

•If we are unable to adequately protect our intellectual property rights, we may be deprived of legal recourse against those who misappropriate our intellectual property.

•If sufficient radio frequency spectrum is not allocated for use by our products, or we fail to obtain regulatory approval for our products, our ability to market our products may be restricted.

•Our business is subject to changing regulation of corporate governance, public disclosure and anti-bribery measures which have resulted in increased costs and may continue to result in additional costs or potential liabilities in the future.

•Our products are used in critical communications networks which may subject us to significant liability claims.

•We may be subject to litigation regarding our intellectual property. This litigation could be costly to defend and resolve and could prevent us from using or selling the challenged technology.

•We are subject to laws, rules, regulations and policies regarding data privacy and cybersecurity. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and reinterpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, reputational damage or other harm to our business.

•We are subject to complex federal, state, local and international laws and regulations related to protection of the environment that could materially and adversely affect the cost, manner or feasibility of conducting our operations, as well as those of our suppliers and contract manufacturers.

•Increased attention to environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) matters, conservation measures and climate change issues has contributed to an evolving state of environmental regulation, which could impact our results of operations, financial or competitive position and may adversely impact our business.

•Anti-takeover provisions of Delaware law, Tax Benefit Preservation Plan (the “Plan”), and provisions in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, and Amended and Restated Bylaws could make a third-party acquisition of us difficult.

General Risk Factors

•Natural disasters or other catastrophic events such as terrorism and war could have an adverse effect on our business.

•System security risks, data protection breaches, and cyberattacks could compromise our proprietary information, disrupt our internal operations and harm public perception of our products, which could cause our business and reputation to suffer and adversely affect our stock price.

For a more complete discussion of the material risks facing our business, see below.

Business and Operational Risk Factors

Our sales cycle may be lengthy, and the timing of sales, along with additional services such as network design, installation and implementation of our products within our customers’ networks, may extend over more than one period, which can make our operating results more volatile and difficult to predict and can complicate the proper recognition of revenue on more complex sales transactions.

We experience difficulty in accurately predicting the timing of the sale of products and amounts of revenue generated from sales of our products, primarily in developing countries. The establishment of a business relationship with a potential customer is a lengthy process, usually taking several months or more. Following the establishment of the relationship, the negotiation of purchase terms can be time-consuming, and a potential customer may require an extended evaluation and testing period. Once a purchase agreement has been executed, the timing and amount of revenue, if applicable, may remain difficult to predict. Our typical product sales cycle, which results in our products being designed into our customers’ networks, can take 12 to 24 months. A number of factors contribute to the length of the sales cycle, including technical evaluations of our products and the design process required to integrate our products into our customers’ networks. The completion of services such as installation and testing of the customer’s networks and the completion of all other suppliers’ network elements are subject to the customer’s timing and efforts and other factors outside our control, each of which may prevent us from making predictions of revenue with any certainty and could cause us to experience substantial period-to-period fluctuations in our operating results.

Due to the challenges from our lengthy sales cycle, our recognition of revenue from our selling efforts may be substantially delayed, our ability to forecast our future revenue may be more limited and our revenue may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter.

Our operating results are expected to be difficult to predict and delays in product delivery or closing a sale can cause revenue, margins and net income or loss to fluctuate significantly from anticipated levels. A substantial portion of our contracts are completed in the latter part of a quarter and a significant percentage of these are large orders. Because a significant portion of our cost structure is largely fixed in the short term, revenue shortfalls tend to have a disproportionately negative impact on our profitability and can increase our inventory. The number of large new transactions also increases the risk of fluctuations in our quarterly results because a delay in even a small number of these transactions could cause our quarterly revenues and profitability to fall significantly short of our predictions. In addition, we may increase spending in response to competitive actions, in pursuit of new market opportunities, or to mitigate supply chain disruptions. Accordingly, we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to achieve profitability in the future or that if profitability is attained, that we will be able to sustain profitability, particularly on a quarter-to-quarter basis.

Our success will depend on new products introduced to the marketplace in a timely manner, successfully completing product transitioning and achieving customer acceptance.

The market for our products and services is characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards and frequent new product introductions. Our future success will depend, in part, on continuous timely development and introduction of new products and enhancements that address evolving market requirements and are attractive to customers. If we fail to develop or introduce, on a timely basis, new products or product enhancements or features that achieve market acceptance, our business may suffer. Additionally, we work closely with a variety of third-party partners to develop new product features and new platforms. Should our partners face delays in the development process, then the timing of the rollout of our new products may be significantly impacted which may negatively impact our revenue and gross margin. Another factor impacting our future success is the growth in the customer demand of our new products. Rapidly changing technology, frequent new product introductions and enhancements, short product life cycles and changes in customer requirements characterize the markets for our products. We believe that successful new product introductions provide a significant competitive advantage because of the significant resources committed by customers in adopting new products and their reluctance to change products after these resources have been expended. We have spent, and expect to continue to spend, significant resources on internal research and development to support our effort to develop and introduce new products and enhancements.

As we transition to new product platforms, we face significant risk that the development of our new products may not be accepted by our current customers or by new customers. To the extent that we fail to introduce new and innovative products that are adopted by customers, we could fail to obtain an adequate return on these investments and could lose market share to our competitors, which could be difficult or impossible to regain. Similarly, we may face decreased revenue, gross margins and profitability due to a rapid decline in sales of current products as customers hold spending to focus purchases on new product platforms. We could incur significant costs in completing the transition, including costs of inventory write-downs of the current product as customers transition to new product platforms. In addition, products or technologies developed by others may render our products non-competitive or obsolete and result in significant reduction in orders from our customers and the loss of existing and prospective customers.

We rely on various third-party service partners to help complement our global operations, and failure to adequately manage these relationships could adversely impact our financial results and relationships with customers.

We rely on a number of third-party service partners, to complement our global operations. We rely upon these partners for certain installation, maintenance, logistics and support functions. We must successfully identify, assess, train and certify qualified service partners to ensure the proper installation, deployment and maintenance of our products. The vetting and certification of these partners can be costly and time-consuming, and certain partners may not have the same operational history, financial resources and scale as we have. Moreover, certain service partners may provide similar services for other companies, including our competitors. We may not be able to manage our relationships with our service partners effectively, and we cannot be certain that they will be able to deliver services in the manner or time required, that we will be able to maintain the continuity of their services, or that they will adhere to our approach to ethical business practices.

If we do not effectively manage our relationships with third-party service partners, or if they fail to perform these services in the manner or time required, our financial results and relationships with our customers could be adversely affected.

We continually evaluate the optimal mix and location of our manufacturing assets and our third-party contract manufacturer assets, and any movement or re-allocation of these manufacturing assets may not be successful, could disrupt our operations, cause us to incur increased costs, and adversely affect our business and our operating results.

We continually evaluate the optimal mix and location of our manufacturing assets and our third-party contract manufacturer assets, to optimize our manufacturing footprint with our global customer base. Any of our decisions to move or re-allocate manufacturing assets to new locations or different third-party contract manufacturers may not be successful, could disrupt our operations, cause us to incur increased costs, and adversely affect our business and our operating results. The movement of manufacturing assets can be capital intensive, costly and time-consuming, and may cause disruptions in our ability to fulfill customer orders in a timely manner.

If we are not successful in optimizing the mix and location of our manufacturing assets and our third-party contract manufacturer assets, our financial results and relationships with our customers could be adversely affected.

We must respond to rapid technological change and comply with evolving industry standards and requirements for our products to be successful.

The optical transport networking equipment market is characterized by rapid technological change, changes in customer requirements and evolving industry standards. We continually invest in research and development to sustain or enhance our existing products, but the introduction of new communications technologies and the emergence of new industry standards or requirements could render our products obsolete. Further, in developing our products, we have made, and will continue to make, assumptions with respect to which standards or requirements will be adopted by our customers and competitors. If the standards or requirements adopted by our prospective customers are different from those on which we have focused our efforts, market acceptance of our products would be reduced or delayed, and our business would be harmed.

We are continuing to invest a significant portion of our research and development efforts in the development of our next-generation products. We expect our competitors will continue to improve the performance of their existing products and introduce new products and technologies and to influence customers’ buying criteria so as to emphasize product capabilities that we do not, or may not, possess. To be competitive, we must anticipate future customer requirements and continue to invest significant resources in research and development, sales and marketing, and customer support. If we do not anticipate these future customer requirements and invest in the technologies necessary to enable us to have and to sell the appropriate solutions, it may limit our competitive position and future sales, which would have an adverse effect on our business and financial condition. We may not have sufficient resources to make these investments and we may not be able to make the technological advances necessary to be competitive.

Our average sales prices may decline in the future.

We have experienced, and could continue to experience, declining sales prices. This price pressure is likely to result in downward pricing pressure on our products and services. As a result, we are likely to experience declining average sales prices for our products. Our future profitability will depend upon our ability to improve manufacturing efficiencies, to reduce the costs of materials used in our products and to continue to introduce new lower-cost products and product enhancements and if we are unable to do so, we may not be able to respond to pricing pressures. If we are unable to respond to increased price competition, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be harmed. Because customers frequently negotiate supply arrangements far in advance of delivery dates, we may be required to commit to price reductions for our products before we are aware of how, or if, cost reductions can be obtained. As a result, current or future price reduction commitments and any inability on our part to respond to increased price competition could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Credit and commercial risks and exposures could increase if the financial condition of our customers declines.

A substantial portion of our sales are to customers in the telecommunications industry. These customers may require their suppliers, including the Company, to provide extended payment terms, direct loans or other forms of financial support as a condition to obtaining commercial contracts. In addition, if local currencies cannot be hedged, we have an inherent exposure in our ability to convert monies at favorable rates from or to U.S. dollars. More generally, we expect to routinely enter into long-term contracts involving significant amounts to be paid by our customers over time. Pursuant to these contracts, we may deliver products and services representing an important portion of the contract price before receiving any significant payment from the customer. As a result of the financing that may be provided to customers and our commercial risk exposure under long-term contracts, our business could be adversely affected if the financial condition of our customers erodes. Over the past few years, certain of our customers have filed with the courts seeking protection under the bankruptcy or reorganization laws of the applicable jurisdiction or have experienced financial difficulties. If customers fail to meet their obligations to us, we may experience reduced cash flows and losses in excess of reserves, which could materially adversely impact our results of operations and financial position.

Our business requires extensive credit risk management that may not be adequate to protect against customer nonpayment. A risk of non-payment by customers is a significant focus of our business. We expect a significant amount of future revenue to come from international customers in developing countries. We do not generally expect to obtain collateral for sales, although we require letters of credit or credit insurance as appropriate for international customers. Because a significant amount of our revenue may come from a limited number of customers, the termination of any of these customer relationships may adversely affect our business. Our historical accounts receivable balances have been concentrated in a

small number of significant customers. Unexpected adverse events impacting the financial condition of our customers, bank failures or other unfavorable regulatory, economic or political events in the countries in which we do business may impact collections and adversely impact our business, require increased bad debt expense or receivable write-offs and adversely impact our cash flows, financial condition and operating results, which could also result in a breach of our bank covenants.

Our business could be adversely affected if we are unable to attract and retain key personnel.

Our success and ability to invest and grow depend largely on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled technical, professional, managerial, sales and marketing personnel. Historically, competition for these key personnel has been intense. The loss of services of any of our key personnel, the inability to retain and attract qualified personnel in the future, delays in hiring required personnel, particularly engineering and sales personnel, or the loss of key personnel to competitors could make it difficult for us to meet key objectives, such as timely and effective product introductions and financial goals.

We face strong competition for maintaining and improving our position in the market, which can adversely affect our revenue growth and operating results.

The wireless access, interconnection and backhaul business is a specialized segment of the wireless telecommunications industry and is extremely competitive. Competition in this segment is intense, and we expect it to increase. Some of our competitors have more extensive engineering, manufacturing and marketing capabilities and significantly greater financial, technical and personnel resources than we have. In addition, some of our competitors have greater name recognition, broader product lines, a larger installed base of products and longer-standing customer relationships. Our competitors include established companies, such as Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia, as well as a number of other public and private companies, such as Ceragon Networks. Some of our competitors are OEMs or systems integrators through whom we market and sell our products, which means our business success may depend on these competitors to some extent. One or more of our largest customers could internally develop the capability to manufacture products similar to those manufactured or outsourced by us and, as a result, the demand for our products and services may decrease.

In addition, we compete for acquisition and expansion opportunities with many entities that have substantially greater resources than we have. Our competitors may enter business combinations to accelerate product development or to compete more aggressively and we may lack the resources to meet such enhanced competition.

Our ability to compete successfully will depend on a number of factors, including price, quality, availability, customer service and support, breadth of product lines, product performance and features, rapid time-to-market delivery capabilities, reliability, timing of new product introductions by us, our customers and competitors, the ability of our customers to obtain financing and the stability of regional sociopolitical and geopolitical circumstances, and the ability of large competitors to obtain business by providing more seller financing especially for large transactions. We can give no assurances that we will have the financial resources, technical expertise, or marketing, sales, distribution, customer service and support capabilities to compete successfully, or that regional sociopolitical and geographic circumstances will be favorable for our successful operation.

Once our products are delivered, our customers depend on our service and support to resolve any issues relating to our products. Our support personnel includes employees in various geographic locations, who provide general technical support to our customers. A high level of support is important for the successful marketing and sale of our products. If we do not effectively help our customers quickly resolve issues or provide effective ongoing support, it could adversely affect our ability to sell our products to existing customers as well as demand for maintenance and renewal contracts and could harm our reputation with existing and potential customers.

Product performance problems, including undetected errors in our hardware or software, or deployment delays could harm our business and reputation.

The development and production of products with high technology content is complicated and often involves problems with hardware, software, components and manufacturing methods. Complex hardware and software systems, such as our products, can often contain undetected errors or bugs when first introduced or as new versions are released. In addition, errors associated with components we purchase from third parties, including customized components, may be difficult to resolve.

We have experienced issues in the past in connection with our products, including failures due to the receipt of faulty components from our suppliers and performance issues related to software updates. From time to time we have had to replace certain components or provide software remedies or other remediation in response to errors or bugs, and we may have to do so again in the future. In addition, performance issues can be heightened during periods where we are developing and introducing multiple new products to the market, as any performance issues we encounter in one technology or product could impact the performance or timing of delivery of other products. Our products may also suffer degradation of performance and reliability over time.

If reliability, quality, security or network monitoring problems develop, a number of negative effects on our business could result, including:

•reduced orders from existing customers;

•declining interest from potential customers;

•delays in our ability to recognize revenue or in collecting accounts receivables;

•costs associated with fixing hardware or software defects or replacing products;

•high service and warranty expenses;

•delays in shipments;

•high inventory excess and obsolescence expense;

•high levels of product returns;

•diversion of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts; and

•payment of liquidated damages, performance guarantees or similar penalties.

Because we outsource the manufacturing of certain components of our products, we may also be subject to product performance problems as a result of the acts or omissions of third parties, and we may not have adequate compensating remedies against such third parties.

From time to time, we encounter interruptions or delays in the activation of our products at a customer’s site. These interruptions or delays may result from product performance problems or from issues with installation and activation, some of which are outside our control. If we experience significant interruptions or delays that we cannot promptly resolve, the associated revenue for these installations may be delayed or confidence in our products could be undermined, which could cause us to lose customers, fail to add new customers, and consequently harm our financial results.

If we fail to accurately forecast our manufacturing requirements or customer demand, we could incur additional costs, which would adversely affect our business and results of operations.

If we fail to accurately predict our manufacturing requirements or forecast customer demand, we may incur additional costs of manufacturing and our gross margins and financial results could be adversely affected. If we underestimate our requirements, our contract manufacturers may have inadequate inventory or components, which could interrupt manufacturing and result in higher manufacturing costs, shipment delays, damage to customer relationships and/or our payment of penalties to our customers. Our contract manufacturers also have other customers and may not have sufficient capacity to meet all of their customers’ needs, including ours, during periods of excess demand.

If we fail to effectively manage our contract manufacturer relationships, we could incur additional costs or be unable to timely fulfill our customer commitments, which would adversely affect our business and results of operations and, in the event of an inability to fulfill commitments, would harm our customer relationships.

We outsource all of our manufacturing and a substantial portion of our repair service operations to independent contract manufacturers and other third parties. Our contract manufacturers typically manufacture our products based on rolling forecasts of our product needs that we provide to them on a regular basis. The contract manufacturers are responsible for procuring components necessary to build our products based on our rolling forecasts, building and assembling the products, testing the products in accordance with our specifications and then shipping the products to us. We configure the products to our customer requirements, conduct final testing and then ship the products to our customers. There can be no

assurance that we will not encounter problems with our contract manufacturer related to these manufacturing services or that we will be able to replace a contract manufacturer that is not able to meet our demand.

In addition, if we fail to effectively manage our relationships with our contract manufacturers or other service providers, or if they do not fully comply with their contractual obligations or should experience delays, disruptions, component procurement problems or quality control problems, then our ability to ship products to our customers or otherwise fulfill our contractual obligations to our customers could be delayed or impaired which would adversely affect our business, financial results and customer relationships.

We depend on sole or limited sources and geographies for some key components and failure to receive timely delivery of any of these components could result in deferred or lost sales.

In some instances, we are dependent upon one or a few sources, either because of the specialized nature of a particular item or because of local content preference requirements pursuant to which we operate on a given project. Examples of sole or limited sourcing categories include metal fabrications and castings, for which we own the tooling and therefore limit our supplier relationships, and MMICs (a type of integrated circuit used in manufacturing microwave radios), which we procure at a volume discount from a single source. Additionally, certain semiconductor supply is concentrated in Taiwan, with little to no availability in other geographies. As such, any military conflict between Taiwan and China could interrupt supply.

Our supply chain strategy includes mitigation plans for alternative manufacturing sources and identified alternate suppliers. However, if these alternatives cannot address our requirements when our existing sources of these components fail to deliver them on time, we could suffer delayed shipments, canceled orders and lost or deferred revenues, as well as material damage to our customer relationships. Should this occur, our operating results, cash flows and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Because a significant amount of our revenue may come from a limited number of customers, the termination of any of these customer relationships may adversely affect our business.

Although we have a large customer base, during any given quarter or fiscal year a small number of customers may account for a significant portion of our revenue. Principal customers for our products and services include domestic and international wireless/mobile service providers, OEMs, as well as private network users such as public safety agencies; government institutions; and utility, pipeline, railroad and other industrial enterprises that operate broadband wireless networks.

In addition, the telecommunications industry has experienced significant consolidation among its participants, and we expect this trend to continue. Some operators in this industry have experienced financial difficulty and have filed, or may file, for bankruptcy protection. Other operators may merge and one or more of our competitors may supply products to the customers of the combined company following those mergers. This consolidation could result in purchasing decision delays and decreased opportunities for us to supply products to companies following any consolidation. This consolidation may also result in lost opportunities for cost reduction and economies of scale, and could generally reduce our opportunities to win new customers to the extent that the number of potential customers decreases.

It is possible that a significant portion of our future product sales could become even more concentrated in a limited number of customers due to the factors described above. Product sales to major customers have varied widely from period to period. The loss of any existing customer, a significant reduction in the level of sales to any existing customer, the consolidation of existing customers, or our inability to gain additional customers could result in declines in our revenue or an inability to grow revenue.

We intend to continue to address the need to develop new products and enhance existing products through acquisitions, product lines, technologies, and personnel. Strategic transactions involve numerous risks, including the following:

•difficulties in integrating the operations, systems, technologies, products, and personnel of the combined companies, particularly companies with large and widespread operations and/or complex products;

•diversion of management’s attention from normal daily operations of the business and the challenges of managing larger and more widespread operations resulting from business combinations, sales, divestitures and/or restructurings;

•potential difficulties in completing projects associated with in-process research and development intangibles;

•difficulties in entering markets in which we have no or limited direct prior experience and where competitors in each market have stronger market positions;

•initial dependence on unfamiliar supply chains or relatively small supply partners;

•insufficient revenue to offset increased expenses associated with acquisitions; and

•the potential loss of key employees, customers, resellers, vendors and other business partners of our Company or the companies with which we engage in strategic transactions following and continuing after announcement of an anticipated strategic transaction.

Strategic transactions may also cause us to:

•issue common stock that would dilute our current stockholders or cause a change in control of the combined company;

•use a substantial portion of our cash resources, or incur debt;

•significantly increase our interest expense, leverage and debt service requirements if we incur additional debt to pay for an acquisition;

•assume material liabilities;

•record goodwill and non-amortizable intangible assets that are subject to impairment testing on a regular basis and potential periodic impairment charges;

•incur amortization expenses related to certain intangible assets;

•incur tax expenses related to the effect of acquisitions on our intercompany R&D cost sharing arrangement and legal structure;

•incur large and immediate write-offs and restructuring and other related expenses; and

•become subject to intellectual property or other litigation.

Mergers, restructurings, sales and acquisitions of high-technology companies are inherently risky and subject to many factors outside of our control. No assurance can be given that any future strategic transactions will be successful and will not materially adversely affect our business, operating results or financial condition. Failure to manage and successfully complete a strategic transaction could materially harm our business and operating results.

Potential difficulties that may be encountered in the integration process include, among others:

•the inability to successfully integrate the acquired business into the Aviat business in a manner that permits us to achieve the revenue and synergies we anticipated from the transaction;

•potential unknown liabilities and unforeseen expenses, delays or regulatory conditions associated with strategic transactions;

•integrating personnel from acquired businesses, while maintaining focus on providing consistent, high-quality products and services;

•integrating relationships with customers, vendors and business partners;

•performance shortfalls as a result of the diversion of management’s attention caused by completing strategic transactions and integrating acquired operations into Aviat; or

•the disruption of, or loss of momentum in, the ongoing business or inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures and policies.

Delays or difficulties in the integration process could adversely affect our business, financial results, financial condition and stock price. Even if we are able to integrate our business operations successfully, there can be no assurance that this integration will result in the realization of the full benefits of synergies, cost savings, innovation and operational efficiencies that we currently expect or have communicated from this integration or that these benefits will be achieved within the anticipated time frame.

Financial and Macroeconomic Risk Factors

Due to the volume of our international sales, we may be susceptible to a number of political, economic, financial and geographic risks that could harm our business.

We are highly dependent on sales to customers outside the U.S. In fiscal 2024, our sales to international customers accounted for 52% of total revenue. Significant portions of our international sales are in less developed countries. Our international sales are likely to continue to account for a large percentage of our products and services revenue for the foreseeable future. As a result, the occurrence of any international, political, economic or geographic event could result in a significant decline in revenue. In addition, compliance with complex foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that apply to our international operations increases our cost of doing business in international jurisdictions. These numerous and sometimes conflicting laws and regulations include internal control and disclosure rules, data privacy and filtering requirements, anti-corruption laws, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), and other local laws prohibiting corrupt payments to governmental officials, and anti-competition regulations, among others. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines and penalties, criminal sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees, prohibitions on the conduct of our business and on our ability to offer our products and services in one or more countries, and could also materially affect our brand, our international expansion efforts, our ability to attract and retain employees, our business, and our operating results. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors, or agents will not violate our policies.

Some of the risks and challenges of doing business internationally include:

•unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;

•fluctuations in international currency exchange rates including its impact on unhedgeable currencies and our forecast variations for hedgeable currencies;

•imposition of tariffs and other barriers and restrictions;

•management and operation of an enterprise spread over various countries;

•the burden of complying with a variety of laws and regulations in various countries;

•application of the income tax laws and regulations of multiple jurisdictions, including relatively low-rate and relatively high-rate jurisdictions, to our sales and other transactions, which results in additional complexity and uncertainty;

•the conduct of unethical business practices in developing countries;

•general economic and geopolitical conditions, including inflation and trade relationships;

•restrictions on travel to locations where we conduct business;

•war and acts of terrorism;

•kidnapping and high crime rate;

•natural disasters;

•availability of U.S. dollars especially in countries with economies highly dependent on resource exports, particularly oil; and

•changes in export regulations.

While these factors and the impacts of these factors are difficult to predict, any one or more of them could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations in the future.

A material portion of our sales and expenses stem from countries outside of the United States, and are in currencies other than U.S. dollars, and therefore subject to foreign currency fluctuation. Accordingly, fluctuations in foreign currency rates could have a material impact on our financial results in future periods. From time to time, we enter into foreign currency exchange forward contracts to reduce the volatility of cash flows primarily related to forecasted foreign currency expenses. These forward contracts reduce the impact of currency exchange rate movements on certain transactions, but do not cover all

foreign-denominated transactions and therefore do not entirely eliminate the impact of fluctuations in exchange rates on our results of operations and financial condition.

There are inherent limitations on the effectiveness of our controls and if we fail to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, it could adversely impact our business, results of operations, investor confidence and our stock price.

We do not expect that our disclosure controls or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well-designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. The design of a control system must reflect the fact that resource constraints exist, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Further, because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple errors or mistakes, including at times of personnel turnover. Controls can also be circumvented by individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management’s override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is based in part on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of controls to future periods are subject to risks. Over time, controls may become inadequate due to changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures. If our controls become inadequate, we could fail to meet our financial reporting obligations, our reputation may be adversely affected, our business and operating results could be harmed, and the market price of our stock could decline. We may not be successful implementing internal control procedures related to acquired businesses. Our evaluation and remediation of assessed deficiencies over internal controls, if any, could require us to incur significant expense and adversely affect our operating results, investor confidence and our stock price.

As discussed in Note 16. Revisions to Prior Period Consolidated Financial Statements of the Notes to the consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent to the issuance of the consolidated financial statements and related disclosures for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, the Company identified certain errors in its previously issued consolidated financial statements related to estimated total contract costs and progress to completion for an over-time arrangement. The Company has identified additional errors impacting the quarterly financial statements for fiscal 2024 related to the recognition of revenue prior to performance obligations being met and related to journal entries recorded in error. In accordance with ASC 250, Accounting Changes and Error Corrections and Staff Accounting Bulletins (“SAB”) No. 99, Materiality and No. 108, Considering the Effects of Prior Year Misstatements when Quantifying Misstatements in Current Year Financial Statements, the Company evaluated the materiality of the errors and determined that the impacts were not material, individually or in the aggregate, to the Company’s previously issued consolidated financial statements for any of the prior reporting periods in which they occurred, but that correcting the error in the current reporting period would be material to the Company’s results of operations for fiscal 2024. As a result, the Company has restated the prior period financial statements and related disclosures for fiscal 2023 to correct the errors. The Company will also correct previously issued quarterly financial statements and related disclosures for such immaterial errors in future filings, as applicable (see “Part II, Item 9B. Other Information” below for additional information).

Under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we are required to evaluate and determine the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting. Ineffective internal control over financial reporting could result in errors in our financial statements, reduce investor confidence, and adversely affect our stock price. As disclosed in Part II, Item 9A “Controls and Procedures” in this Form 10-K, we concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective for the fiscal year ended June 28, 2024, due to certain material weaknesses identified related to an ineffective control environment, ineffective control activities, and ineffective monitoring activities. We implemented certain corrective measures in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, including hiring a new Chief Financial Officer, Head of Internal Audit, and backfilling vacancies resulting from key finance and accounting personnel turnover. However, due to the material weaknesses described above, there is a reasonable possibility that our existing controls would not have detected a material misstatement in a timely manner if it were to be material. These measures are part of a process of remediating the material weaknesses that is under way and that we believe will remediate the material weaknesses. However, if we are unable to remediate the material weaknesses in an appropriate and timely manner, or if we identify additional control deficiencies that individually or together constitute significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, our ability to accurately record, process, and report financial information and, consequently, our ability to prepare financial statements within required time periods, could be adversely affected. Our failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in

violations of applicable securities laws and stock exchange listing requirements; subject us to litigation and investigations; negatively affect investor confidence in our financial statements; and adversely impact our stock price and ability to access capital markets.

We may not be able to obtain capital when desired on favorable terms, if at all, or without dilution to our stockholders.

We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, the available line of credit under our credit facility and future cash collections from customers will be sufficient to provide for our anticipated requirements for working capital and capital expenditures for the next 12 months and the foreseeable future. However, it is possible that we may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations or otherwise have the capital resources to meet our longer-term capital needs. If this occurs, we may need to sell assets, reduce capital expenditures, or obtain additional equity or debt financing. We have no assurance that additional financing will be available on terms favorable to us, or at all. If adequate funds are not available or are not available on acceptable terms if and when needed, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.

If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership of our existing stockholders could be significantly diluted, and these newly-issued securities may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of existing stockholders.

The effects of global or market specific financial and economic conditions in certain markets and of certain economies and sovereign states have had, and may continue to have, significant effects on our customers and suppliers, and has in the past, and may in the future have, a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and stock price.

Economic conditions in certain markets have adversely affected and may continue to adversely affect our customers’ access to capital and/or willingness to spend capital on our products, and/or their levels of cash liquidity and/or their ability and/or willingness to pay for products that they will order or have already ordered from us, or result in their ceasing operations. Further, we have experienced an increasing number of our customers, principally in emerging markets, requesting longer payment terms, lease or vendor financing arrangements, longer terms for the letters of credit securing purchases of our products and services, which could potentially negatively impact our orders, revenue conversion cycle, and cash flows.

To the extent that we lower prices on our products and services, our orders, revenues, and gross margins may be negatively impacted. Additionally, certain emerging markets are particularly sensitive to pricing as a key differentiator. Where price is a primary decision driver, we may not be able to effectively compete, or we may choose not to compete due to unacceptable margins.

In addition, economic conditions in certain markets could materially adversely affect our suppliers’ access to capital and liquidity with which to maintain their inventories, production levels, or product quality, could cause them to raise prices or lower production levels, or result in their ceasing operations. Supply or demand driven scarcity can lead to significant inflationary pressures on the cost of our products from our suppliers. Our ability to substantially offset inflationary impacts by raising prices may be limited by the competitive factors discussed above.

If global financial markets decline for long periods, or if there is a downgrade of the U.S. government credit rating due to an actual or threatened default on government debt, or downgrades of credit ratings of other sovereign states, our ability and our customers and suppliers ability to access capital and maintain liquidity for continuing operations may be adversely affected.

Further, with respect to our credit facility discussed under “Liquidity, Capital Resources and Financial Strategies” in Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our ability to access the funds available under our credit facility could be materially adversely affected.

The potential effects of these economic factors are difficult to forecast and mitigate. As a consequence, our operating results for a particular period are difficult to predict and prior results are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected in

future periods. Any of the foregoing effects could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition and could adversely affect our stock price.

Changes in tax laws, treaties, rulings, regulations or agreements, or their interpretation in any country in which we operate; the loss of a major tax dispute; a successful challenge to our operating structure, intercompany pricing policies or the taxable presence of our key subsidiaries in certain countries; or other factors could cause volatility in our effective tax rate and could adversely affect our operating results.

We operate in multiple jurisdictions and our profits are taxed pursuant to the tax laws of these jurisdictions. Our future effective tax rate may be adversely affected by a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including:

•the jurisdictions in which profits are determined to be earned and taxed;

•adjustments to estimated taxes upon finalization of various tax returns;

•increases in expenses not deductible for tax purposes, including write-offs of acquired in-process research and development and impairment of goodwill in connection with acquisitions;

•our ability to utilize net operating losses;

•changes in available tax credits;

•changes in share-based compensation expense;

•changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities;

•changes in domestic or international tax laws, treaties, rulings, regulations or agreements or the interpretation of such tax laws, treaties, rulings, regulations or agreements, including the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and any new administrations;

•the resolution of issues arising from tax audits with various tax authorities, including the loss of a major tax dispute;

•local tax authority challenging our operating structure, intercompany pricing policies or the taxable presence of our key subsidiaries in certain countries;

•the tax effects of purchase accounting for acquisitions and restructuring charges that may cause fluctuations between reporting periods; and

•taxes that may be incurred upon a repatriation of cash from foreign operations.

Any significant increase in our future effective tax rates could impact our results of operations for future periods adversely.

Our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards to offset future taxable income for U.S. federal income tax purposes and other tax benefits may be limited.

An ownership change occurs when a company’s “five-percent shareholders” (as defined in Section 382 of the Code) collectively increase their ownership in the company by more than 50 percentage points (by value) over a rolling three-year period. Additionally, various states have similar limitations on the use of state net operating losses (“NOL”) following an ownership change.

If we experience an ownership change, our ability to use our NOLs, any loss or deduction attributable to a “net unrealized built-in loss” and other tax attributes (collectively, the “Tax Benefits”) could be substantially limited, and the timing of the usage of the Tax Benefits could be substantially delayed, which could significantly impair the value of the Tax Benefits. There is no assurance that we will be able to fully utilize the Tax Benefits and we could be required to record an additional valuation allowance related to the amount of the Tax Benefits that may not be realized, which could adversely impact our results of operations.

We believe that these Tax Benefits are a valuable asset for us. The Amended and Restated Tax Benefit Preservation Plan (the “Plan”), dated as of August 27, 2020, and amended as of February 28, 2023, is intended to protect our Tax Benefits during the effective period of the Plan. The amended Plan was approved at the Company’s November 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which extended the final expiration date of the Plan until March 3, 2026. Although the Plan is intended to reduce the likelihood of an “ownership change” that could adversely affect us, there is no assurance that the restrictions on transferability in the Plan will prevent all transfers that could result in such an “ownership change”.

The Plan could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire, or could discourage a third party from acquiring, us or a large block of our common stock. A third party that acquires 4.9% or more of our common stock could suffer substantial dilution of its ownership interest under the terms of the Plan through the issuance of common stock or common stock equivalents to all stockholders other than the acquiring person.

The foregoing provisions may adversely affect the marketability of our common stock by discouraging potential investors from acquiring our stock. In addition, these provisions could delay or frustrate the removal of incumbent directors and could make more difficult a merger, tender offer or proxy contest involving us, or impede an attempt to acquire a significant or controlling interest in us, even if such events might be beneficial to us and our stockholders.

Legal and Regulatory Risk Factors

Continued tension in U.S.-China trade relations may adversely impact our supply chain operations and business.

The U.S. government has taken certain actions that change U.S. trade policies, including tariffs that affect certain products manufactured in China. Some components manufactured by our Chinese suppliers are subject to tariffs if imported into the United States. The Chinese government has taken certain reciprocal actions, including recently imposed tariffs affecting certain products manufactured in the United States. Certain of our products manufactured in our U.S. operations have been included in the tariffs imposed on imports into China from the United States. Although some of the products and components we import are affected by the tariffs, at this time, we do not expect these tariffs to have a material impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

It is unknown whether and to what extent additional new tariffs (or other new laws or regulations) will be adopted that increase the cost or feasibility of importing and/or exporting products and components from China to the United States and vice versa. Further, the effect of any such new tariffs or retaliatory actions on our industry and customers is unknown and difficult to predict. As additional new tariffs, legislation and/or regulations are implemented, or if existing trade agreements are renegotiated or if China or other affected countries take retaliatory trade actions, such changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

If we are unable to adequately protect our intellectual property rights, we may be deprived of legal recourse against those who misappropriate our intellectual property.

Our ability to compete will depend, in part, on our ability to obtain and enforce intellectual property protection for our technology in the U.S. and internationally. We rely upon a combination of trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, patents, contractual rights and technological measures to protect our intellectual property rights from infringement, misappropriation or other violations to maintain our brand and competitive position. We also make business decisions about when to seek patent protection for a particular technology and when to rely upon trade secret protection, and the approach we select may ultimately prove to be inadequate. With respect to patents, we cannot be certain that patents will be issued as a result of any currently pending patent application or future patent applications, or that any of our patents, once issued, will provide us with adequate protection from competing products or intellectual property owned by others. For example, issued patents may be circumvented or challenged, declared invalid or unenforceable or narrowed in scope. Furthermore, we may not be able to prevent infringement, misappropriation and unauthorized, use of our owned and exclusively-licensed intellectual property. We also cannot provide assurances that the protection provided to our intellectual property by the laws and courts of particular nations will be substantially similar to the protection and remedies available under U.S. law. Furthermore, we cannot provide assurances that third parties will not assert infringement claims against us in the U.S. or based on intellectual property rights and laws in other nations that are different from those established in the U.S.

In addition, we enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors and enter into non-disclosure agreements with our suppliers and appropriate customers so as to limit access to and disclosure of our proprietary information. We cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements with each party who has developed intellectual property on our behalf and each party that has or may have had access to our confidential information, know-how and trade secrets. These agreements may be insufficient or breached, or may not effectively prevent unauthorized access to or unauthorized use, disclosure, misappropriation or reverse engineering of our confidential information, intellectual property, or technology. Moreover, these agreements may not provide an adequate remedy for breaches or in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of our confidential information or technology, or infringement of our intellectual property. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret or know-how, or misappropriated or violated intellectual property is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable.

We cannot give assurances that any steps taken by us will be adequate to deter infringement, misappropriation, violation, dilution or otherwise impede independent third-party development of similar technologies. Any of our intellectual property rights may be successfully challenged, opposed, diluted, misappropriated, violated or circumvented by others or invalidated, narrowed in scope or held unenforceable through administrative process or litigation in the United States or in non-U.S. jurisdictions. Furthermore, legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights are uncertain and any changes in, or unexpected interpretations of, intellectual property laws may compromise our ability to enforce our trade secrets and other intellectual property rights. In the event that such intellectual property arrangements are insufficient, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially harmed.

If sufficient radio frequency spectrum is not allocated for use by our products, or we fail to obtain regulatory approval for our products, our ability to market our products may be restricted.

We may be affected by the allocation and auction of the radio frequency spectrum by governmental authorities both in the U.S. and internationally. The unavailability of sufficient radio frequency spectrum may inhibit the future growth of wireless communications networks. In addition, to operate in a jurisdiction, we must obtain regulatory approval for our products and each jurisdiction in which we market our products has its own regulations governing radio communications. If we are unable to obtain sufficient allocation of radio frequency spectrum by the appropriate governmental authority or obtain the proper regulatory approval for our products, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.

Our business is subject to changing regulation of corporate governance, public disclosure and anti-bribery measures which have resulted in increased costs and may continue to result in additional costs or potential liabilities in the future.

We are subject to rules and regulations of federal and state regulatory authorities, The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (“NASDAQ”) and financial market entities charged with the protection of investors and the oversight of companies whose securities are publicly traded, and foreign and domestic legislative bodies. During the past few years, these entities, including the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the SEC, NASDAQ and several foreign governments, have issued requirements, laws and regulations and continue to develop additional requirements, laws and regulations, most notably the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”), and recent laws and regulations regarding bribery and unfair competition, including the SEC’s recently-approved (though currently paused, pending litigation) rules relating to the disclosure of climate-related information. Our efforts to comply with these requirements and regulations have resulted in, and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of substantial management time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities.

This evolution may result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and additional costs potentially necessitated by ongoing revisions to our disclosure and governance practices. Finally, if we are unable to ensure compliance with such requirements, laws, or regulations, we may be subject to costly prosecution and liability, and resulting reputational harm, from such noncompliance.

Our products are used in critical communications networks which may subject us to significant liability claims.

Because our products are used in critical communications networks, we may be subject to significant liability claims if our products do not work properly. We warrant to our current customers that our products will operate in accordance with our product specifications. If our products fail to conform to these specifications, our customers could require us to remedy the failure or could assert claims for damages. The provisions in our agreements with customers that are intended to limit our exposure to liability claims may not preclude all potential claims. In addition, any insurance policies we have may not adequately limit our exposure with respect to such claims. Liability claims could require us to spend significant time and money in litigation or to pay significant damages. Any such claims, whether or not successful, would be costly and time-consuming to defend, and could divert management’s attention and seriously damage our reputation and our business.

We may be subject to litigation regarding our intellectual property. This litigation could be costly to defend and resolve and could prevent us from using or selling the challenged technology.

The wireless telecommunications industry is characterized by vigorous protection and pursuit of intellectual property rights, which has resulted in often protracted and expensive litigation. Any litigation regarding patents or other owned or exclusively licensed intellectual property, including claims that our use of intellectual property infringes or violates the rights of others, could be costly and time-consuming and could divert our management and key personnel from our business operations. The complexity of the technology involved and the uncertainty of intellectual property litigation increase these

risks. Such litigation or claims could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources. In the event of an adverse result in any such litigation, we could be required to pay substantial damages, cease the use and transfer of allegedly infringing technology or the sale of allegedly infringing products and expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology or obtain licenses for the infringing technology. We can give no assurances that we would be successful in developing such non-infringing technology or that any license for the infringing technology would be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. This could have a materially adverse effect on our business, results of operation, financial condition, competitive position and prospects.

We are subject to laws, rules, regulations and policies regarding data privacy and cybersecurity. Many of these laws and regulations are subject to change and reinterpretation, and could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, reputational damage or other harm to our business.

We are subject to a variety of federal, state and local laws, directives, rules, standards, regulations, policies and contractual obligations relating to data privacy and security. The regulatory framework for data privacy and security worldwide is continuously evolving and developing and, as a result, interpretation and implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. It is also possible inquiries and enforcement actions from governmental authorities regarding cybersecurity breaches increase in frequency and scope. These data privacy and security laws also are not uniform, which may complicate and increase our costs for compliance. As a result, we anticipate needing to dedicate substantial resources to comply with such laws, regulations, and other obligations relating to privacy and cybersecurity. Furthermore, we cannot provide assurance that we will not face claims, allegations, or other proceedings related to our obligations under applicable data privacy and security laws. Any failure or perceived failure by us or our third-party service providers to comply with any applicable laws relating to data privacy and security, or any compromise of security that results in the unauthorized access, improper disclosure, or misappropriation of personal data or other customer data, could result in significant liabilities, and negative publicity and reputational harm, one or all of which could have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition and operations.

We are subject to complex federal, state, local and international laws and regulations related to protection of the environment that could materially and adversely affect the cost, manner or feasibility of conducting our operations, as well as those of our suppliers and contract manufacturers.

Environmental, health and safety regulations govern the manufacture, assembly and testing of our products, including without limitation regulations governing the emission of pollutants and the use, remediation, and disposal of hazardous materials (including electronic wastes). Our failure or the failure of our suppliers or contract manufacturers to properly manage the use, transportation, emission, discharge, storage, recycling or disposal of wastes generated from our operations could subject us to increased compliance costs or liabilities such as fines and penalties. We may also be subject to costs and liabilities for environmental clean-up costs on sites owned by us, sites previously owned by us, or treatment and disposal of wastes attributable to us from past operations, under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act or equivalent laws. Existing and future environmental regulations may additionally restrict our and our suppliers’ use of certain materials to manufacture, assemble and test products. New or more stringent environmental requirements applicable to our operations or the operations of our suppliers could adversely affect our costs of doing business and result in material costs to our operations.

Increased attention to Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) matters, conservation measures and climate change issues has contributed to an evolving state of environmental regulation, which could impact our results of operations, financial or competitive position and may adversely impact our business.

Increasing attention to, and societal expectations on companies to address, climate change and other environmental and social impacts, investor and societal expectations regarding voluntary ESG disclosures may result in increased costs to us and our suppliers, contract manufacturers, and customers. Moreover, while we create and publish voluntary disclosures regarding ESG matters from time to time, many of the statements in those voluntary disclosures are based on hypothetical expectations and assumptions that may or may not be representative of current or actual risks or events or forecasts of expected risks or events, including the costs associated therewith. Such expectations and assumptions are necessarily uncertain and may be prone to error or subject to misinterpretation given the long timelines involved and the lack of an established single approach to identifying, measuring and reporting on many ESG matters. Additionally, in March 2024, the SEC approved final rules that necessitate the disclosure of climate-related information in registration statements and periodic reports. In April 2024, the SEC issued an Order to stay its climate rule, pausing the implementation of the final rules. We are assessing the proposed final rules, but at this time we cannot predict the costs of implementation or any potential adverse impacts resulting from the

rule.

Increased public awareness and worldwide focus on climate change issues has led to legislative and regulatory efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and may result in more international, federal or regional requirements or industry standards to reduce or mitigate risks related to climate change. As a result, we may become subject to new or more stringent regulations, legislation or other governmental requirements or industry standards, and we anticipate that we will see increased demand to meet voluntary criteria related to reduction or elimination of certain constituents from products, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, and increasing energy efficiency. Increased regulation of climate change concerns could subject us to additional costs and restrictions and require us to make certain changes to our manufacturing practices and/or product designs, which could negatively impact our business, results of operations, financial condition and competitive position.

Anti-takeover provisions of Delaware law, the Amended and Restated Tax Benefit Preservation Plan (the “Plan”), and provisions in our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, and Amended and Restated Bylaws could make a third-party acquisition of us difficult.

Because we are a Delaware corporation, the anti-takeover provisions of Delaware law could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire control of us, even if the change in control would be supported by our stockholders. We are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of Delaware, which prohibits us from engaging in certain business combinations, unless the business combination is approved in a prescribed manner. In addition, our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, and Amended and Restated Bylaws also contain certain provisions that may make a third-party acquisition of us difficult, including the ability of the Board to issue preferred stock and the requirement that nominations for directors and other proposals by stockholders must be made in advance of the meeting at which directors are elected or the proposals are voted upon.

In addition, the Plan and the amendments to our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended (the “Charter Amendments”) could make an acquisition of us more difficult.

General Risk Factors

Natural disasters or other catastrophic events such as terrorism and war could have an adverse effect on our business.

Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, extreme weather conditions and floods, could adversely affect our operations and financial performance. In addition, climate change may contribute to the increased frequency or intensity of extreme weather events, including storms, wildfires, and other natural disasters. Further, acts of terrorism or war could significantly disrupt our supply chain and access to vital components. Such events have in the past and could in the future result in physical damage to one or more of our facilities, the temporary closure of one or more of our facilities or those of our suppliers, a temporary lack of an adequate work force in a market, a temporary or long-term disruption in the supply of products from local or overseas suppliers or contract manufacturers, a temporary disruption in the transport of goods from overseas, and delays in the delivery of goods. Accordingly, climate change and natural disasters may impact the availability and cost of materials and natural resources, sources and supply of energy necessary for our operations, and could also increase insurance and other operating costs. Many of our facilities around the world (and the operations of our suppliers) are in locations that may be impacted by the physical risks of climate change, and we face the risk of losses incurred as a result of physical damage to our facilities or those of our suppliers, such as loss or spoilage of inventory and business interruption caused by such events. In addition, if there is a natural disaster in any of the locations in which our significant customers are located, our customers may incur losses or sustained business interruption, or both, which may materially impair their ability to continue their purchase of products from us. Public health issues, whether occurring in the United States or abroad, could disrupt our operations, disrupt the operations of suppliers or customers, or have an adverse impact on customer demand. As a result of any of these events, we may be required to suspend operations in some or all of our locations, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. These events could also reduce demand for our products or make it difficult or impossible to receive components from suppliers. Although we maintain business interruption insurance and other insurance intended to cover some or all of these risks, such insurance may be inadequate, whether because of coverage amount, policy limitations, the financial viability of the insurance companies issuing such policies, or other reasons.

System security risks, data protection breaches, and cyber-attacks could compromise our proprietary information, disrupt our internal operations and harm public perception of our products, which could cause our business and reputation to suffer and adversely affect our stock price.

In the ordinary course of business, we store sensitive data, including intellectual property, our proprietary business information and proprietary information of our customers, suppliers and business partners, on our networks. The secure maintenance of this information is critical to our operations and business strategy. Increasingly, companies, including ours, are subject to a wide variety of attacks on their networks on an ongoing basis. Despite our security measures, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to interruption, disruption, destruction, penetration or attacks due to natural disasters, power loss, telecommunications failure, terrorist attacks, domestic vandalism, Internet failures, computer malware, ransomware, cyberattacks, social engineering attacks, phishing attacks, data breaches and other events unforeseen or generally beyond our control. Additionally, advances in technology, an increased level of sophistication and expertise of hackers, widespread access to generative AI, and new discoveries in the field of cryptography can result in a compromise or breach of our information technology systems or security measures implemented to protect our systems. Any such breach could compromise our systems and networks, which could cause system disruptions or slowdowns and exploitation of security vulnerabilities in our products, and lead to the information stored on our networks being accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen, which could subject us to liability to our customers, suppliers, business partners and others, and cause us reputational and financial harm. In addition, sophisticated hardware and operating system software and applications that we produce or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture, including “bugs” and other problems that could unexpectedly interfere with the operation of our networks. An increased number of our employees and service providers are working from home and connecting to our networks remotely on less secure systems, which we believe may further increase the risk of, and our vulnerability to, a cyber-attack or breach on our network. Any such actual or perceived security breach, incident or disruption could also divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel and could require us to incur significant costs and operational consequences in connection with investigating, remediating, eliminating and putting in place additional tools, devices, policies, and other measures designed to prevent such security breaches, incidents and system disruptions. Moreover, we could be required by applicable law in some jurisdictions, or otherwise find it appropriate to expend significant capital and other resources, to notify or respond to applicable third parties or regulatory authorities due to any actual or perceived security incidents or breaches to our systems and its root cause.

Because the techniques used by computer programmers and hackers, many of whom are highly sophisticated and well-funded, to access or sabotage networks or systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until after they are used, we may be unable to anticipate or immediately detect these cyber-attacks. This could impede our sales, manufacturing, distribution or other critical functions. In addition, our ability to defend against and mitigate cyberattacks depends in part on prioritization decisions that we and third parties upon whom we rely make to address vulnerabilities and security defects. While we endeavor to address all identified vulnerabilities in our products, we must make determinations as to how we prioritize developing and deploying the respective fixes, and we may be unable to do so prior to an attack. The economic costs to us to eliminate or alleviate cyber or other security problems, bugs, viruses, worms, malicious software systems and security vulnerabilities could be significant and may be difficult to anticipate or measure because the damage may differ based on the identity and motive of the programmer or hacker, which are often difficult to identify. Furthermore, even once a vulnerability has been addressed, for certain of our products, the fix will only be effective once a customer has updated the impacted product with the latest release, and customers that do not install and run the latest supported versions of our products may remain vulnerable to attack.

As cyber-attacks become more sophisticated, the need to develop, modify, upgrade or enhance our information technology infrastructure and measures to secure our business can lead to increased cybersecurity protection costs. Such costs may include making organizational changes, deploying additional personnel and protection technologies, training employees, and engaging third party experts and consultants. These efforts come at the potential cost of revenues and human resources that could be utilized to continue to enhance our product offerings, and such increased costs may adversely affect our operating margins.

Additionally, certain of our suppliers have in the past and may in the future experience cybersecurity attacks that can constrain their capacity and ability to meet our product demands. If our contract manufacturers and suppliers suffer future cyberattacks, our ability to ship products or otherwise fulfill our contractual obligations to our customers could be delayed or impaired which would adversely affect our business, financial results and customer relationships.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Cybersecurity

At Aviat, cybersecurity processes, controls and technologies have been implemented to help facilitate the Company’s efforts to identify, assess and manage material risks associated with cybersecurity threats.

Risk Management and Strategy

The Company has sought to leverage the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework (the "NIST CSF") as a guideline for its cybersecurity framework and to help identify, assess and manage cybersecurity risks related to its business. The Company regularly engages third party experts, including cybersecurity assessors, consultants and auditors to evaluate and test our cybersecurity risk management systems and processes. The Company’s partnership with these third-parties include regular audits and threat assessments. The Company requires all of its third-party information technology vendors to undergo evaluations by the Company’s internal data privacy and data security team as a part of efforts to assess, document and mitigate potential cybersecurity threats associated with the use of such vendors and the software, applications and services they provide.

In addition, we undertake ongoing cyber risk assessments as part of our efforts to detect, evaluate and respond to potential cybersecurity threats, including regular testing by our internal information security team. We require all employees and contractors to participate in cybersecurity training designed to enhance their understanding of cyber threats and their ability to identify and escalate potential incidents. Our vulnerability management program is designed to identify, assess, and remediate cybersecurity threats in our systems, such as through penetration testing.

Incident Reporting

If cybersecurity incidents occur, certain of the Company’s executive leadership team, legal counsel, and Audit Committee would be briefed and a determination would be made as to whether such incident or vulnerability is deemed material to the Company. The Company’s incident response plan is tested annually to assess its operational effectiveness. We conduct an annual “tabletop” exercise during which we simulate cybersecurity incidents to help us prepare to respond to a cybersecurity incident and to identify areas for potential improvement.

As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the Company does not believe it has encountered, and has not identified any risks from cybersecurity incidents that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect the Company. However, we acknowledge that cybersecurity threats are continually evolving, and the possibility of future cybersecurity incidents remains. Despite the implementation of our cybersecurity processes, our security measures cannot guarantee that a significant cyberattack will not occur. A successful attack on our information technology systems could have significant consequences to the business. See “Item 1A, Risk Factors,” for additional information about the risks to our business associated with a breach or compromise to our information technology systems.

Governance

Aviat’s Board of Directors has oversight of the Company’s cybersecurity risk as a component of its risk management. This includes prioritization of cybersecurity risks and the allocation of resources. The Board of Directors receives regular updates on the Company’s cybersecurity program. The Board of Directors have delegated its responsibility for risk management oversight to the Audit Committee, which regularly reviews Aviat’s cybersecurity program with the Company’s management. The Company’s management, including its Senior Director of Information Technology, Chief Financial Officer, and General Counsel, provide the Board of Directors updates regarding current and emerging cybersecurity threats, status of ongoing cybersecurity initiatives, certain incident reports and events, remediation efforts, and compliance with regulatory and industry standards.

The Company’s Senior Director of Information Technology is primarily responsible for assessing and managing our material risks from cybersecurity threats, monitoring the effectiveness of our cybersecurity detection and response processes in countering current threats and providing updates to the executive team.

Recently Filed

Click on a ticker to see risk factors

Ticker *	File Date
MU	1 day, 6 hours ago
AVNW	1 day, 6 hours ago
UPOW	1 day, 7 hours ago
MIMO	1 day, 15 hours ago
KFFB	2 days, 5 hours ago
EVA	2 days, 5 hours ago
VHLD	2 days, 8 hours ago
XNDA	3 days, 11 hours ago
UNFI	4 days, 5 hours ago
INTG	5 days, 5 hours ago
LRDC	5 days, 5 hours ago
HWKE	5 days, 5 hours ago
AMST	5 days, 5 hours ago
UNXP	5 days, 5 hours ago
PCYG	5 days, 5 hours ago
VISM	5 days, 5 hours ago
BIVI	5 days, 5 hours ago
SISI	5 days, 5 hours ago
PPCB	5 days, 5 hours ago
CVAT	5 days, 5 hours ago
BNET	5 days, 5 hours ago
TGL	5 days, 6 hours ago
PTN	5 days, 6 hours ago
HYSR	5 days, 6 hours ago
PEYE	5 days, 6 hours ago
VRAR	5 days, 6 hours ago
INTV	5 days, 6 hours ago
HFBL	5 days, 6 hours ago
ESMC	5 days, 6 hours ago
PRSI	5 days, 6 hours ago
FKWL	5 days, 6 hours ago
MARPS	5 days, 7 hours ago
LUVU	5 days, 7 hours ago
RNLX	5 days, 7 hours ago
SSY	5 days, 7 hours ago
FSTJ	5 days, 8 hours ago
NTWK	5 days, 8 hours ago
SGLA	5 days, 13 hours ago
IXHL	5 days, 15 hours ago
BNOX	5 days, 15 hours ago
CPRT	1 week, 1 day ago
INM	1 week, 1 day ago
NAII	1 week, 1 day ago
WBQNL	1 week, 1 day ago
WWAC	1 week, 1 day ago
FONR	1 week, 1 day ago
NEOV	1 week, 1 day ago
GURE	1 week, 1 day ago
NNVC	1 week, 1 day ago
ESP	1 week, 1 day ago

OTHER DATASETS

House Trading

Dashboard

Corporate Flights

Dashboard

App Ratings

Dashboard

Strategies

Alerts

Browse Data

Risk Factors Dashboard

View risk factors by ticker

Search filings by term

Risk Factors - AVNW

-New additions in green
-Changes in blue
-Hover to see similar sentence in last filing

Recently Filed

OTHER DATASETS

House Trading

Corporate Flights

App Ratings

TRADE SMARTER

TRADE SMARTER

Strategies

Alerts

Browse Data

Risk Factors Dashboard

View risk factors by ticker

Search filings by term

Risk Factors - AVNW

-New additions in green-Changes in blue-Hover to see similar sentence in last filing

Recently Filed

OTHER DATASETS

House Trading

Corporate Flights

App Ratings

TRADE SMARTER

TRADE SMARTER

-New additions in green
-Changes in blue
-Hover to see similar sentence in last filing