PDF SOLUTIONS INC (PDFS)

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Forward-Looking Statements

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “could,” “projected,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “target” or “continue,” the negative effect of terms like these or other similar expressions. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to: the Company’s business strategy and objectives; the Company’s intellectual property and proprietary software, information and technology; the Company’s sales and marketing strategy, expectations regarding strategic alliances and relationships; investments in research and development; industry trends; macroeconomic factors, inventories, and demand; changing export controls and sanctions; U.S. administrative initiatives; investments in semiconductor manufacturing; geopolitical tensions and conflicts; fluctuations in the Company’s quarterly results; and other statements identified by words such as “could,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “potential,” “should,” “will,” “would,” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. These statements are subject to future events, circumstances, uncertainties, and risks that could cause results to differ materially, including risks associated with: the effectiveness of the Company’s business and technology strategies; semiconductor industry trends and competition; rates of adoption of the Company’s solutions by new and existing customers; project milestones or delays and performance criteria achieved; cost and schedule of new product development and investments in research and development; the continuing impact of macroeconomic conditions, including inflation, changing interest rates and tariffs, energy prices, the evolving trade regulatory environment and geopolitical tensions, and other trends impacting the semiconductor industry, the Company’s customers, operations, and supply and demand for its products; supply chain disruptions; changes in laws and regulations, including recent tax and data privacy laws and regulations, or the interpretation or enforcement thereof; the success of the Company’s strategic growth opportunities and partnerships; recent and future acquisitions, strategic alliances and relationships and the Company’s ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses and technologies; whether the Company can successfully convert backlog into revenue; customers’ production volumes under contracts that provide Gainshare; the sufficiency of the Company’s cash resources and anticipated funds from operations; the Company’s ability to obtain additional financing if needed; the Company’s ability to use support and updates for certain open-source software; and other risks and uncertainties discussed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). These forward-looking statements are only predictions. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected. All forward-looking statements and other information included in this document are based on information available to us on the date of filing and we further caution investors that our business and financial performance are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. We assume no obligation to update publicly any such forward-looking statements. In evaluating these statements, you should specifically consider various factors, including the risk factors set forth in Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the SEC on February 24, 2026 (the “Annual Report”). All references to “we,” “us,” “our,” “PDF,” “PDF Solutions” or “the Company” refer to PDF Solutions, Inc.

Cimetrix, CV, DirectScan, Exensio, PDF Solutions, Sapience, secureWISE, and logos for the same, are trademarks or registered trademarks of PDF Solutions, Inc. or its subsidiaries.

Overview

We provide comprehensive data solutions designed to empower organizations across the semiconductor and electronics ecosystems to improve the yield and quality of their products and operational efficiency for increased profitability. We derive revenues from two categories, Platform and Volume-based fees. Our offerings that contribute to Platform revenue are licenses for software (other than Cimetrix runtime licenses) and related software maintenance and technical support services; software-as-a-service (“SaaS”); engineering services; fixed fees associated with Characterization Vehicle systems; and licenses and purchase contracts for DirectScan systems. Volume-based revenue is derived from Cimetrix runtime licenses, secureWISE data, and variable/royalty fees associated with CV systems (sometimes referred to as Gainshare). Our products and services have been sold to integrated device manufacturers (“IDMs”), fabless semiconductor companies, foundries, out-sourced semiconductor assembly and test (“OSATs”), capital equipment manufacturers, and system houses.

We are headquartered in Santa Clara, California and operate worldwide with offices in Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

30

Table of Contents

Industry Trends

The confluence of Industry 4.0 (i.e. the fourth industrial revolution, or the automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies and processes) and cloud computing (i.e. the on-demand availability of computing resources and data storage without direct active management by the user) is driving increased innovation in semiconductor and electronics manufacturing and analytics, as well as in the organization of information technology (“IT”) networks and computing at semiconductor and electronics companies across the ecosystem. First, the ubiquity of wireless connectivity and sensor technology enables any manufacturing company to augment its factories and visualize its entire production line. In parallel, the cost per terabyte of data storage has generally decreased over time. The combination of these two trends means that more data is collected and stored than ever before. Further, semiconductor companies are striving to analyze these very large data sets in real-time to make rapid decisions that measurably improve manufacturing efficiency and quality. In parallel, the traditional practice of on-site data storage, even for highly sensitive data, is changing. The ability to cost-effectively and securely store, analyze, and retrieve massive quantities of data from the cloud versus on-premise enables data to be utilized across a much broader population of users, frequently resulting in greater demands on analytics programs. The combination of these latter two trends means that cloud-based, analytics programs that effectively manage identity management, physical security, and data protection are increasingly in demand for insights and efficiencies across the organizations of these companies. We believe that all these trends will continue for the next few years, and the challenges involved in adopting Industry 4.0 and secure cloud computing will create opportunities for our combination of advanced analytics capabilities, proven and established supporting infrastructure, and professional services to configure our products to meet customers’ specialized needs.

Worldwide economic performance is uneven, and the possibility of a recession persists, leading to uneven demand. Geopolitical tensions and conflicts in various locations around the world have created volatility in the global financial markets and may have further global economic consequences, including potential disruptions of the global supply chain, heightened volatility of commodity and raw material prices, increased energy prices, and increased fears of a global recession. Inventories of semiconductor devices remain elevated in some instances. With high inventories and soft demand for some product segments, some semiconductor fab utilization rates are also low and semiconductor capital equipment orders have been impacted for some vendors and market segments. As a result, some purchase cycles, especially for enterprise software and capital equipment and particularly with respect to larger deals, have lengthened in recent years and may continue to do so. Also, we have contractors located in the West Bank and in Israel, who are providing software development and customer technical support services. We have developed contingency plans to use alternative resources to continue serving customers, if needed. Any escalations in these areas could lead to disruptions or reductions in international trade, deter or prevent purchasing activity of customers, and negatively impact our development timelines and customer support (with respect to the conflicts in the Middle East) or China sales (with respect to U.S.-P.R.C. tensions) and financial results in general (with respect to global tensions).

The logic foundry market at the leading-edge nodes, such as 7nm, 5nm, and smaller, underwent significant change over the past few years. The leading foundry continues to dominate market share. This trend will likely continue to impact our Characterization services business on these nodes. We expect most logic foundries to invest in derivatives of older process nodes, such as 28nm and 14nm, to extract additional value as many of their customers will not move to advanced nodes due to either technological barriers or restrictive economics. Foundries that participate at leading edge nodes are expected to continue to invest in new technologies such as memory, packaging, and multi-patterned and extreme ultraviolet lithography, as well as new innovations in process control and variability management. We expect China’s investment in semiconductors to continue. Compliance with changing U.S. export restrictions limit our possible business with Chinese semiconductor manufacturers on advanced nodes. Further, trade conflict through exchange of tariffs and other retaliatory actions are expected to impact worldwide supply chains, increase prices and put downward pressure on economic activity, and could negatively affect our future sales in various geographic markets. The uncertainty caused by these regulations and the potential for additional future restrictions could negatively affect our future sales, including in but not limited to the People’s Republic of China (“P.R.C.”) market. Some customers in the P.R.C. have expressed concern about the potential for supply chain disruption due to the U.S. government’s changing export controls impacting their purchase, or in some case restricting their ability to purchase, certain U.S. goods. Based on our current assessments, we expect the near-term impact of these evolving trade restrictions on our business to be limited.

Secondary Offering

In May 2026, we completed a registered offering of an aggregate of 5,253,554 shares of our common stock at a price of $44.00 per share. The shares sold consisted of 3,306,924 shares held by a selling stockholder and 1,946,630 shares newly issued by us. The net proceeds to us from the sale of shares of our common stock were approximately $81.8 million, after deducting $3.9 million of underwriting discounts and commissions. We did not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholder.

31

Table of Contents

Financial Highlig

[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Overview

We offer products and services designed to empower organizations across the semiconductor and electronics ecosystems to connect, collect, manage, and analyze data about design, equipment, manufacturing, and test to improve the yield and quality of their products. We derive revenues from two categories: Platform and Volume-based Revenue. Our offerings combine proprietary software, professional services using proven methodologies and third-party cloud-hosting platforms for SaaS, electrical measurement hardware tools, and physical IP for IC designs. We primarily monetize our offerings through license fees and contract fees for professional services and SaaS. In some cases, we also receive a Volume-based fee such as Cimetrix runtime licenses and secureWISE data usage, and a value-based variable fee or royalty, which we call Gainshare. Our products, services, and solutions have been sold to IDMs, fabless semiconductor companies, foundries, OSATs, capital equipment manufacturers and system houses.

Acquisition of SecureWise LLC

On March 7, 2025, we completed the acquisition of SecureWise, a Delaware limited liability company (see Note 16, “Business Combinations,” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included under Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10‑K), and added the widely-used, secure, remote secureWISE connectivity solution to our products and services portfolio. We expect this acquisition to also accelerate equipment makers’ ability to derive value from equipment data by enabling them to leverage our Exensio analytics software and to expand the capability of our secure data exchange (“DEX”) OSAT network by allowing equipment makers, fab operators, and fabless companies to collaborate to optimize chip manufacturing and test.

35

Table of Contents

Industry Trends

The confluence of Industry 4.0 (i.e. the fourth industrial revolution, or the automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies and processes) and cloud computing (i.e. the on-demand availability of computing resources and data storage without direct active management by the user) is driving increased innovation in semiconductor and electronics manufacturing and analytics, as well as in the organization of information technology (“IT”) networks and computing at semiconductor and electronics companies across the ecosystem. First, the ubiquity of wireless connectivity and sensor technology enables any manufacturing company to augment its factories and visualize its entire production line. In parallel, the cost per terabyte of data storage has generally decreased over time. The combination of these two trends means that more data is collected and stored than ever before. Further, semiconductor companies are striving to analyze these very large data sets in real-time to make rapid decisions that measurably improve manufacturing efficiency and quality. In parallel, the traditional practice of on-site data storage, even for highly sensitive data, is changing. The ability to cost-effectively and securely store, analyze, and retrieve massive quantities of data from the cloud versus on-premise enables data to be utilized across a much broader population of users, frequently resulting in greater demands on analytics programs. The combination of these latter two trends means that cloud-based, analytics programs that effectively manage identity management, physical security, and data protection are increasingly in demand for insights and efficiencies across the organizations of these companies. We believe that all these trends will continue for the next few years, and the challenges involved in adopting Industry 4.0 and secure cloud computing will create opportunities for our combination of advanced analytics capabilities, proven and established supporting infrastructure, and professional services to configure our products to meet customers’ specialized needs.

Worldwide economic performance is uneven, and the possibility of a recession persists, leading to uneven demand. Geopolitical tensions and conflicts in various locations around the world have created volatility in the global financial markets and may have further global economic consequences, including potential disruptions of the global supply chain, heightened volatility of commodity and raw material prices, and increased fears of a global recession. Inventories of semiconductor devices remain elevated in some instances. With high inventories and soft demand for some product segments, some semiconductor fab utilization rates are also low and semiconductor capital equipment orders have been impacted for some vendors and market segments. As a result, some purchase cycles, especially for enterprise software and capital equipment and particularly with respect to larger deals, have lengthened in recent years and may continue to do so. Also, we have contractors located in the West Bank and in Israel, who are providing software development and customer technical support services. We have developed contingency plans to use alternative resources to continue serving customers, if needed. Any escalations in these areas could lead to disruptions or reductions in international trade, deter or prevent purchasing activity of customers, and negatively impact our development timelines and customer support (with respect to the conflicts in the Middle East) or China sales (with respect to U.S.-P.R.C. tensions) and financial results in general (with respect to global tensions).

The logic foundry market at the leading-edge nodes, such as 7nm, 5nm, and smaller, underwent significant change over the past few years. The leading foundry continues to dominate market share. This trend will likely continue to impact our Characterization services business on these nodes. We expect most logic foundries to invest in derivatives of older process nodes, such as 28nm and 14nm, to extract additional value as many of their customers will not move to advanced nodes due to either technological barriers or restrictive economics. Foundries that participate at leading edge nodes are expected to continue to invest in new technologies such as memory, packaging, and multi-patterned and extreme ultraviolet lithography, as well as new innovations in process control and variability management. We expect China’s investment in semiconductors to continue. Compliance with changing U.S. export restrictions limit our possible business with Chinese semiconductor manufacturers on advanced nodes. Further, trade conflict through exchange of tariffs and other retaliatory actions are expected to impact worldwide supply chains, increase prices and put downward pressure on economic activity, and could negatively affect our future sales in various geographic markets. The uncertainty caused by these regulations and the potential for additional future restrictions could negatively affect our future sales, including in but not limited to the Republic of China (“P.R.C.”) market. Some customers in the P.R.C. have expressed concern about the potential for supply chain disruption due to the U.S. government’s changing export controls impacting their purchase, or in some case restricting their ability to purchase, certain U.S. goods. Based on our current assessments, we expect the near-term impact of these evolving trade restrictions on our business to be limited.

36

Table of Contents

Financial Highlights

The following are our financial highlights for the year ended December 31, 2025:

Critical Accounting Estimates

The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires us to make judgments, assumptions, and estimates that affect the amounts reported in the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes. Notes 1 and 2 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Item 8 of Part II of this Annual Report on Form 10‑K) describe the significant accounting policies and methods used in the preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements. We consider the accounting policies described below to be our critical accounting policies. These critical accounting policies are impacted significantly by judgments, assumptions, and estimates used in the preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements and actual results could differ materially from the amounts reported based on these policies.

Revenue Recognition

Platform Revenue

Platform revenue is derived from the following primary offerings: licenses for software (other than Cimetrix runtime licenses) and related software maintenance and technical support services; SaaS; engineering services; fixed fees associated with CV systems; and licenses and purchase contracts for DirectScan systems.

Revenue from licenses for software, other than Cimetrix runtime licenses, is recognized depending on whether the license is perpetual or time-based. Perpetual (one-time charge) license software is recognized at the time of the inception of the arrangement when control transfers to the customers as the software license is considered as a separate performance obligation from the services offered by us. Revenue from time-based-licensed software is allocated to each performance obligation and is recognized either at a point in time or over time as follows. The license component is recognized at the time when control transfers to customers. Revenue from related software maintenance and technical support s

[Excerpt truncated for page length; the complete text is on the linked full-MD&A page.]