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WEEBIT NANO LTD — AGM Information 2020
Nov 16, 2020
66042_rns_2020-11-16_7f5124d1-a7d4-4f65-af88-e78aee252c7f.pdf
AGM Information
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ASX ANNOUNCEMENT – 17 November 2020
ASX Code: WBT
2020 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Weebit Nano Limited (Weebit or the Company) will today address shareholders at its Annual General Meeting, commencing at 4:00pm AEDT.
Attached is a copy of the Address to be delivered by the Chairman, Mr David (Dadi) Perlmutter, and the Presentation to be delivered by the Managing Director and CEO, Mr Jacob Hanoch.
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Authorised for release by David Perlmutter, Chairman.
For further information, please contact:
Investors Media Eric Kuret Tristan Everett Market Eye Market Eye P: +61 3 9591 8904 P: +61 3 9591 8905 E: [email protected] E: [email protected]
About Weebit Nano Limited
Weebit Nano is a leader in the development of next generation computer memory technology, and plans to become the new industry standard in this space. Its goal is to address the growing need for a significantly higher performance and lower power computer memory technology. Weebit Nano’s ReRAM technology is based on fab-friendly Silicon Oxide, allowing the company to rapidly execute, without the need for special equipment or preparations. The company secured several patents to ensure optimal commercial and legal protection for its ground-breaking technology.
Weebit Nano’s technology enables a quantum leap, allowing semiconductor memory elements to be significantly cheaper, faster, more reliable and more energy efficient than the existing Flash technology. Weebit Nano has signed an R&D agreement with Leti, an R&D institute that specialises in nanotechnologies, to further develop SiOx ReRAM technology.
- For more information please visit: http://www.weebit nano.com/
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Contact
Office: +972-9-7797832 [email protected] www.weebit-nano.com
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2020 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS
Weebit Nano has achieved significant commercial and technical progress over the past year as we near commercialisation of our silicon oxide ReRAM technology. This included improving the parameters and maturity of our technology, accelerating development work for the standalone memory market, having our technology validated by an independent 3rd party, and very importantly, further progress was achieved with first potential customers.
We continue to look ahead with a great deal of excitement and remain incredibly optimistic about the market opportunity for Weebit’s ReRAM technology. There is a huge need within the semiconductor industry for faster and more efficient memory technology, and there is somewhat of an “arms race” playing out at present which we believe positions Weebit very strongly to address this demand.
The strength of our leadership team, and the fact that our technology uses silicon oxide, the most commonly used material in the semiconductor industry, provides us with significant advantages as we progress our commercialisation plans.
A significant amount of work has been undertaken throughout FY20, and despite having to operate through the added challenges represented by COVID-19, I am very proud of the achievements our team have made. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow directors for their dedication and hard work, as well as to Coby and his team for driving the company forward.
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Contact Office: +972-9-7797832 [email protected] www.weebit-nano.com
CEO’s Presentation
17 November 2020
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WORLD-RENOWNED BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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David Perlmutter Coby Hanoch Dr. Yoav Nissan-Cohen Atiq Raza Fred Bart Ashley Krongold
CHAIRMAN CEO EXEC. NON-EXEC. NON-EXEC. NON-EXEC.
DIRECTOR DIRECTOR DIRECTOR DIRECTOR
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Served as Executive Vice President and General Manager at the Intel Architecture Group (IAG) and Chief Product Officer of Intel Corporation
IEEE Fellow and winner of the prize for innovation in industrial development from the Israeli President
Served on the board of Mellanox, serving in several other semiconductor startups
40 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, including 2 exits at Verisity Design and Jasper Design Automation
CEO of PacketLight, turned it around from the verge of bankruptcy
Leading WW sales teams for almost 25 years
Appointed CEO in Oct 2017
Received his PhD researching non-volatile memories, under the supervision of Prof Dov Frohman, the inventor of the first non-volatile memory technology
Led the creation of Tower Semiconductor and was its CEO for almost 10 years, including taking it public on NASDAQ
Co-founder of Saifun Semiconductor, a NVM company which was subsequently sold to Spansion
Over 40 years experience in the semiconductor industry
Chairman and CEO of NexGen Inc for 7.5 years, and then became President and COO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) after NextGen was acquired by AMD
Held multiple roles as investor, Chairman and CEO of several semiconductor companies
Extensive track record of business success with decades of experience across multiple industries
Over 15 years experience in the investment banking and accounting industry
CEO of the Krongold Group. He serves on the Boards and is a Director of various ASX listed companies, communal charities, foundations and organizations globally. Member of YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization)
Chairman and major shareholder of Electro Optics Systems Limited (EOS), Chairman of Audio Pixels Holdings Limited (AKP) and holds a wide range of private companies worldwide
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EXPERIENCED MANAGEMENT TEAM
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Alla Felder CFO
Over 20 years of experience as a Certified Public Accountant. Served as a senior manager at PWC Israel
Audited large public companies traded on the TASE and US Stock Exchanges and served as the CFO of several start-up companies
Active Board member of multiple companies in TASE and NASDAQ
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Amir Regev CTO
Over 20 years of experience in the NVM domain in companies like Intel, Sandisk, Micron and Marvell, including development of the most advanced 45nm NOR Flash technology to date
Was part of Automotive division at Intel
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Eran Briman VP Marketing & BD
25 years of experience in the Semiconductor IP space. Deep understanding in the storage, processing and sensing domains, both engineering and business perspectives.
Served as VP Marketing and Corporate Development at CEVA (NASDAQ); executive at Corephotonics, start-up acquired by Samsung in 2019
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Ilan Sever VP R&D
Experienced leader and innovator in the field of Semiconductor Memory IP and Mixed-Signal SoC design from ST Microelectonics, Tower Semi and Dolphin Design
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3
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES ACHIEVEMENTS
TECHNICAL PROGRESS
COMMERCIAL PROGRESS
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Completed external technology verification with XTX Technology
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Signed two Letters of Intent with Chinese companies – XTX Technology and SiEn
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Completed the final stabilisation stage; ReRAM technology now ready to transfer to a production fab
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Memory module design: From concept to execution
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Released new ReRAM simulation model with Silvaco
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Strengthened IP and patent portfolio with eight new patents registered
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Introduced the world’s first neuromorphic demo using Spiking Neural Network (SNN) algorithms running on ReRAM with Leti
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Established a new development program with Leti to accelerate our entry into the standalone (discrete) memory chip market
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Successfully raised a total of $12.2 million, with WBT now funded for future development work and commercialisation activities
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Two key appointments made, Eran Briman and Ilan Sever, to drive commercialisation
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Who We Are?
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Competitive advantage
Weebit Nano
Developer of ReRAM memory technology, (cells are 1000x faster and 1000x more energy efficient, 100X higher endurance) than existing Flash memory technology
Uses standard materials and equipment in fabrication, very cost-competitive
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Rapid market growth
Market traction
NVM market estimated at US$60B, growing to over US$100B by 2025 (MarketsandMarkets Research)
Ongoing discussion with potential semiconductor customers and partners; targeting first commercial agreements by mid 2021
- Weebit is active in all leading semiconductor markets and has not observed any other vendor that offers, or has announced an intention to offer, ReRAM technology using SiOx only without having to add any non-standard materials
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Technology maturity
Ready for technology transfer to production. Demonstrated high retention and endurance
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Team
World class leadership team in place to support transition to commercialisation
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Weebit Nano Confidential
WHAT IS A SEMICONDUCTOR?
7 OF THE 10 LARGEST COMPANIES ARE SEMICONDUCTOR COMPANIES*
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Semiconductors are the basic materials used in advanced electronics and communications
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Used to fabricate chips for every electronic device, including computers, cell phones, autonomous vehicles, security cameras, etc.
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The digital economy is highly reliant on semiconductors
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7 of the 10 largest companies in the world in 2019 heavily relied on Semiconductors
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In 2004 semiconductor-based companies only made up 2 of the top 10 companies
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Source: Visual Capitalist: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-visual-history-of-the-largest-companies-by-market-cap-1999-today/ Orange = Digital, Purple = Energy, Green = Finance
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Weebit’s technology can meet the needs of many of
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MEMORY at the CENTER of the DIGITAL WORLD
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5G
Security
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THE MEMORY MARKET
Volatile Non-Volatile Weebit is targeting both segments of the Non-Volatile memory eFlash market Embedded memory: Weebit’s SRAM ReRAM Embedded memory modules are Part of an SoC focus MRAM part of a System-on-a-Chip (System-on-a-Chip) Discrete memory chips are standalone memories Global NVM Market (US$B)[1] Discrete memory Chip: Flash 100 Contains only memory, Weebit’s 82 DRAM ReRAM 60 Integrated on board focus others 2020 2023 2025
There is a strong need for a new memory technology to keep pace with technology developments
SRAM = Static Random Access Memory DRAM = Dynamic Random Access Memory
- Source: MarketsandMarkets Research Private Ltd: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/non-volatile-memory-market-1371262.html
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EMBEDDED MEMORY POTENTIAL
SMARTPHONE MARKET IS JUST ONE SEGMENT REPRESENTING HUGE POTENTIAL
On average: >30 semiconductor components in a flagship smartphone Approximately 50% of these components require embedded NVM
iPhone11 Pro Max Teardown
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Source: SystemPlus Consulting
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1.4B smartphones shipped in 2019
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Smartphones represent a ~20B units (components) opportunity annually
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Licensing business model (royalty-based) expected to achieve >90% margins
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A MASSIVE “CHINA” OPPORTUNITY
CHINA AIMING TO SIGNIFICANTLY GROW ITS SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY
Semiconductors are the growth enabler of the digital economy
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Processing, memory and communication technologies are in high demand to keep up with computation and storage requirements of the digital economy
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China is the largest user of these technologies
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Boosting its semiconductor industry is a core pillar of its “Made in China 2025” plan; aiming for 80% of semiconductors to be made domestically
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Despite the progress made, China cannot keep up with market demands (see chart)
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The majority of China’s semiconductor imports are memories
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20.7%
15.7%
15.1%
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A transition in technology is China’s opportunity to take the lead
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Memory technologies are now emerging to help the digital economy significantly advance
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We believe Weebit’s next generation ReRAM technology is very attractive to the Chinese semiconductor industry
Source: IC Insights, Inc. SK Hynix and Samsung are the top memory companies by sales worldwide
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STABILISATION PROCESS COMPLETED
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99% of memory cells are Functional
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Reached production level
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Process is Repeatable & Predictable
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Can be upscaled to mass production in commercial fab
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Excellent wafer-to-wafer Reproducibility
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Same endurance behaviour across multiple wafers
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Validated cell-to-cell and die-to-die Uniformity
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Same characteristics across the wafer
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NOW READY FOR TRANSFER TO A PRODUCTION FAB
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LETI AGREEMENT EXTENSION
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LONGSTANDING PARTNERSHIP BROADENED TO ADDRESS MARKET NEEDS
- Weebit and Leti recently extended partnership to help progress and accelerate the commercialisation process. Agreement extension covers:
1. Further enhancements to Weebit’s ReRAM technology
- Further enhancing the efficiency and robustness of Weebit’s ReRAM technology to ensure its technology remains industryleading and attractive to potential customers and partners
2. Enhancing the embedded memory module
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Adding enhanced functionality to better address customer needs and increase attractiveness to potential customers
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This decision followed discussions and input from industry experts and partners
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Weebit’s ReRAM memory module will be one of the first in the world to be integrated into a sub-system consisting of a processor, Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM), the ReRAM array and peripherals
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Expected to slightly push out the completion of the memory module design stage to June 2021
3. Development of the selector for the standalone memory market
- Continuing as planned, with the goal of demonstrating a working combined cell by Sep 2021
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PROGRESSING TO COMMERCIALISATION
ENGAGING WITH POTENTIAL PRODUCTION PARTNERS & CUSTOMERS
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External technology Completed
validation stabilisation First commercial
1Mb Array (with XTX Technology) process agreement
Jun Apr Dec Feb Oct Q2 mid
18 19 19 20 20 21 21
Process Signed Letter of Memory module
Optimisation Intent with SiEn ready for
Demonstrated endurance of 1M and manufacture
Retention of 10 years at 130-150 [o] C
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COVID-19 IMPACTS
FRANCE NOW IN LOCKDOWN; ONGOING TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
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The first wave of lockdowns in March, especially the shut-down of the Leti fab, caused a 3 month delay in the schedule
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France implemented a second country-wide lockdown in November; Israel team working from home
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The Leti fab is continuing to operate but the team has some limitations in terms of access to the facility
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We are organising the workplan so the impact of this will be minimal
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Prolonged travel restrictions are impacting Weebit in several ways:
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It is very difficult to send engineers with a wafer to potential partners to test them as we did with XTX – this is impacting the discussions on a commercial agreement
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Management can’t travel to meet potential customers and partners face-to-face and build stronger personal connections
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Israeli engineers can’t go to Leti to hold intensive working sessions and reviews
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Weebit is doing all that we can to mitigate any delays to the development program and commercial agreement
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RERAM TECHNOLOGY FOR TOMORROW
Mimic the brain as accurately as possible
o ReRAM resemblance to biological synapse o Physical similarities leads to functional similarities o Highly energy efficient
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Brain inspired computing systems
Object recognition
Which make it an enabler to Brain Inspired Artificial Intelligence systems using ReRAM
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Machine learning
Weebit believes ReRAM is the solution for tomorrow’s needs achieving artificial intelligence capabilities
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SUMMARY
Semiconductors are driving the world today Virtually every electronic product requires Non-Volatile Memory (NVM)
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Weebit has Progressing discussions a leading ReRAM with potential customers, (NVM) solution that targeting first can replace Flash commercial agreement in mid-2021 memory
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Technology now being prepared for transfer to production
Well credentialed Board and management with extensive semiconductor commercialisation experience
Program launched to accelerate entry into discrete memory market
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China is the largest semiconductor market opportunity for Weebit
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DISCLAIMER
This presentation contains certain statements that constitute forward-looking statements. Examples of such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the design, scope, initiation, conduct and results of our research and development programs; our plans and objectives for future operations; and the potential benefits of our products and research technologies. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as “may,” “will,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative thereof or other comparable terminology. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and the timing of events to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include a variety of factors, some of which are beyond our control. All forward-looking statements and reasons why actual results may differ are based on information available to us when initially made, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements or reasons why actual results might differ or the information set forth herein.
In addition, we do not make any representations or warranties, express or implied, with regard to the information included in this presentation of any other related document or information disclosed or furnished in connection thereto, including, without limitation, with respect to the accuracy, reliability, completeness or its sufficiency for any particular purpose. This information is proprietary and confidential of Weebit and is provided on a confidential basis and may not be disclosed or used without our prior written consent. You acknowledge that the disclosure and use of the information may be further prohibited under applicable securities or other laws. This presentation is made for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell any interest in Weebit not does it form the basis of any contract or agreement between the parties.
Third party data
This presentation includes or is otherwise based on information obtained from publicly available information, such as Statistica 2018, Yole Développement June 2017 and Advanced Materials Progress Report, 2018; and (iii) other information publicly released by corporations and government departments. Weebit has not independently verified or audited this information or any information. Accordingly, the accuracy and completeness of such information is not guaranteed. This data has been accurately reproduced and, as far as Weebit is aware, no facts have been omitted that would render the information provided inaccurate or misleading. Investors should note that market data is inherently predictive and subject to uncertainty and is not necessarily reflective of actual market, industry and macroeconomic conditions. Specifically, there is no assurance that any of the forecasts or projections will be achieved. Forecasts and projections involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors, including those discussed above.
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THANK YOU
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