Computer Hardware: Related party transactions (ASC 850)

We use several third-party suppliers and contract manufacturers for materials and sub-assemblies. We believe that selectively using outsourced manufacturing services allows us to focus on our core competencies in product design and development, and increases our operational flexibility. We believe our manufacturing strategy allows us to adjust manufacturing capacity in response to changes in customer demand and to rapidly introduce new products to the market. We use Ablecom Technology, Inc. (“Ablecom”) and its affiliate Compuware Technology, Inc. (“Compuware”), both of which are related parties to us, for contract design and manufacturing coordination support. We work with Ablecom to optimize modular designs for our chassis and several other components. Ablecom also coordinates the manufacturing of chassis for us. In addition to providing a large volume of contract manufacturing services to us, Ablecom warehouses multiple components and subassemblies manufactured by various suppliers before shipping them to our facilities in the United States, Europe, and Asia. We also have a series of agreements with Compuware, including multiple product development, production and service agreements, as well as product manufacturing agreements and lease agreements for office space. Compuware also serves as a non-exclusive authorized distributor of our products and, from time to time, as our sales representative. See Note 11, “Related Party Transactions” in the notes to the consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report and Part III, Item 13, “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence.”

We continuously monitor our inventory to meet customer delivery requirements and minimize the risk of inventory obsolescence. Due to our building-block designs, our inventory can generally be used with multiple products, lowering working capital requirements and reducing the risk of inventory write-downs. During fiscal year 2026, the computer server industry experienced supply constraints for certain components, including memory and storage, as well as GPU and CPU availability, which affected the timing of certain of our product deliveries, as well as the pricing of these items. See "Risk Factors—Risks Related to our Global Operating Business and Industry—We rely on a limited number of suppliers for certain components used to manufacture our products" for additional information.

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