Item 1. BUSINESS

Definitions

Coherent Corp. (“Coherent,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), a global leader in materials, networking, and lasers, is a vertically integrated manufacturing company that develops, manufactures, and markets engineered materials, optoelectronic components and devices, and lasers for use in the industrial, communications, electronics, and instrumentation markets. Our headquarters are located at 375 Saxonburg Boulevard, Saxonburg, Pennsylvania 16056, USA. Our telephone number is +1-724-352-4455. Reference to “Coherent,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, unless the context requires otherwise, refers to Coherent Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiaries.

The following defined terms are used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K: artificial intelligence (AI); bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3); cadmium telluride (CdTe); carbon dioxide (CO2); chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of materials including diamond; continuous wave (CW); datacenter interconnect (DCI); dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM); diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); edge-emitting lasers (EELs); environmental, social, and governance (ESG); extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography; fifth-generation (5G) wireless; fourth-generation (4G) wireless; gallium arsenide (GaAs); gallium antimonide (GaSb), gallium nitride (GaN); Geostationary Operational Environment Satellite Program (GOES); gigabit per second (Gbps); high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI); high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT); indium phosphide (InP); infrared (IR); integrated circuit (IC); intellectual property (IP); kilowatt (kW); light detection and ranging (LiDAR); liquid crystal (LC); liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS); machine learning (ML); metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET); millimeters (mm); nanometers (nm); near-infrared (NIR); optical channel monitor (OCM); optoelectronic chip hybrid integration platform (OCHIP); original equipment manufacturer (OEM); optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR); radio frequency (RF); reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM); research and development (R&D); silicon carbide (SiC); terabit per second (Tbps); three-dimensional (3D); ultraviolet (UV); vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL); virtual reality (VR); wavelength selective switching (WSS); zinc selenide (ZnSe); and zinc sulfide (ZnS).

General Description of Business

We develop, manufacture, and market engineered materials, optoelectronic components and devices, and optical and laser systems and subsystems for use in the industrial, communications, electronics, and instrumentation markets. We use advanced engineered materials growth technologies and proprietary high-precision fabrication, microassembly, optical thin-film coating, and electronic integration to manufacture complex optoelectronic devices and modules. Our products are deployed in a variety of market verticals, including precision manufacturing, aerospace & defense, semiconductor capital equipment, display capital equipment, telecommunication (telecom) networks, data communication (datacom) networks, consumer electronics, automotive, wireless, life sciences, and scientific research.

We generate almost all of our revenues, earnings, and cash flows from developing, manufacturing, and marketing a broad portfolio of products and services for our end markets. We also generate revenues, earnings, and cash flows from externally funded R&D contracts relating to the development and manufacture of new technologies, materials, and products. Our customer base includes original equipment manufacturers, laser end users, system integrators of high-power lasers, and manufacturers of equipment and devices for our end markets.

Through R&D investments and our strategic acquisitions, we have expanded our portfolio of materials and product platforms. We have a strong core competency in bulk and epitaxial crystal growth. The materials we grow and fabricate are differentiated by one or a combination of unique optical, electrical, magnetic, thermal, and mechanical properties.

Our optics are shaped by precision surfacing techniques and functionalized with smooth or structured surfaces or patterned metallization. Proprietary processes developed at our global optical coating centers differentiate our products’ durability against high-energy lasers and extreme operating environments. Optical coatings also provide the desired spectral characteristics, ranging from the ultraviolet to the far-infrared. We leverage these capabilities to deliver miniature to large-scale precision optical assemblies, including those in combination with thermal-management components, integrated electronics, and software.

We also offer a broad portfolio of compound semiconductor lasers that are used in a variety of applications in our end markets. These lasers enable optical signal transmission, reception, and amplification in terrestrial and submarine communications networks, high-bit-rate server connectivity between and within datacenters, optical communications network monitoring, materials processing, fast and accurate measurements in biomedical instruments, and precision sensing in consumer electronics. We are a major supplier of silicon carbide substrates for the power electronics and the wireless mobile markets.

We continue to improve our operational capabilities, develop next-generation products, and invest in new technology platforms to drive growth in the short and the long term. With our strategic focus on fast-growing and sustainable markets, we pursue our mission of enabling the world to be safer, healthier, closer, and more efficient, and strive to attain our vision of a world transformed through innovations vital to a better life today and the sustainability of future generations.

Acquisition and Background of Coherent, Inc.

The acquisition of Coherent, Inc., one of the world’s leading providers of laser and optics-based product solutions, closed on July 1, 2022. Coherent, Inc., as used in this Form 10-K generally means the subsidiaries and businesses of Coherent, Inc., as of the time of its acquisition by Coherent Corp. (formerly named II-VI Incorporated). For the full fiscal year 2023, Coherent, Inc., was included in the combined company and renamed as the Lasers segment. The Lasers segment’s lasers and optics products serve industrial customers in semiconductor and display capital equipment, precision manufacturing, and aerospace & defense, as well as instrumentation customers in life sciences and scientific devices.

Information Regarding Reporting Segments and Foreign Operations

In connection with the acquisition of Coherent, Inc., effective July 1, 2022, the Company realigned its organizational structure into three reporting segments for the purpose of making operational decisions and assessing financial performance: (i) Networking, previously referred to as our Photonic Solutions segment; (ii) Materials, previously referred to as our Compound Semiconductors segment; and (iii) Lasers. Effective July 1, 2022, the Company reports financial information for these three segments.

Financial data regarding our revenues, results of operations, reporting segments, and international sales for the three years ended June 30, 2024, are set forth in the Consolidated Statements of Earnings (Loss) and in Note 14. Segment and Geographic Reporting to our Consolidated Financial Statements, which are included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and are incorporated herein by reference. We also discuss certain Risk Factors set forth in Item 1A – Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K related to our foreign operations, which are incorporated herein by reference.

Backlog

We define our backlog as bookings that have not been converted to revenues by the end of the reporting period. As of June 30, 2024, our backlog was approximately $2.6 billion, compared with approximately $2.7 billion as of June 30, 2023.

Global Operations

Coherent is headquartered in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, USA, with R&D, manufacturing, and sales facilities worldwide. Our U.S. production and R&D operations are located in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas, and our non-U.S. production and R&D operations are based in Australia, China, Finland, Germany, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam. We also utilize contract manufacturers and strategic suppliers. In addition to sales offices co-located at most of our manufacturing sites, we have sales and marketing subsidiaries in Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

Human Capital

Our core values are Integrity, Collaboration, Accountability, Respect, and Enthusiasm, which we refer to by the acronym I CARE. These values define who we are and serve as a guide in how we engage with each other, our customers, our suppliers, our investors, and our environment. They serve as a model for how we grow the Company in an ethical, scalable, and sustainable manner.

• Our People. Our workplace is defined by our people. It enables everyone to come to work authentically as their “best selves.” This includes supporting an inclusive environment in which every individual is considered a valuable member of the team. We listen to the voice of the employee and foster open communication through focus groups, personal interviews, an open-door policy, and engagement surveys, among other methods. This rich feedback allows us to reflect and adjust our internal initiatives across the globe to create a culture that recognizes employees’ contributions and values their opinions. As a result, our human capital strategies are core to the long-term sustainability and success of the Company.

As of June 30, 2024, the Company employed approximately 26,000 employees worldwide.

			Number of employees			Percent of total
Manufacturing			21,645			83%
Research and development			2,268			9%
Sales, general and administrative			2,244			8%
Total:			26,157			100%

We believe that our efforts in managing our workforce have been effective, as evidenced by a strong culture and a good relationship between the Company and our employees.

• Occupational Health and Safety. It is our highest priority to keep our employees, customers, and suppliers safe, as the health and safety of our workforce is paramount to the success of our business. We provide our employees upfront and ongoing training to ensure that safety policies and procedures are effectively communicated and implemented. We have experienced employees on-site at each of our manufacturing locations who are tasked with environmental, health, and safety education and compliance. We customize our policies to the local requirements and circumstances of each plant.

• Talent Acquisition, Development, and Training. Hiring talented individuals and continuing to develop them are critical to our operations, and we are focused on creating experiences and programs that foster growth and performance. Our Talent Acquisition teams continue their outreach efforts to engage and attract diverse, high-quality talent to our organization. We have a robust succession-planning process that identifies internal candidates for development. We provide all employees the chance to learn and develop critical skills, and we strive to attract, motivate, and retain our talent. Our Leadership Academy offers global development programs for our people leaders to enhance their capabilities. Tuition reimbursement and funding for growth and development are also built into the annual budget to ensure that Coherent has the skilled workforce we need. Our global internship programs also welcome a new talent pipeline.

• Total Rewards. Our Total Rewards offerings are designed to:

◦Provide a market-competitive total rewards package that attracts, motivates, rewards, and retains top talent

◦Align total rewards offerings with our competitors with which we compete for talent

◦Increase transparency of rewards programs, including sharing company and/or business segment financial metrics, and measure achievements to challenging objectives

◦Balance fixed costs (benefits and base pay) and variable costs (bonus and equity)

◦Provide pay for performance, linked to company and individual performance

◦Ensure strong governance practices, and

◦Align with the interests of our shareholders

Eligible employees may participate in the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), providing the opportunity to share in the potential growth of our company stock and allowing employees to purchase company shares at a discount. Select employees are eligible to receive equity-based awards, to align employee and shareholder interests. In addition to offering competitive and fair compensation, we also offer a compelling suite of benefits, including comprehensive health benefits, competitive time off programs, and employee assistance programs.

• Diversity and Inclusion. Coherent respects and upholds the universal values of human rights, which are fundamental to every individual. We hold an expectation for all leaders and employees to engage with one another in a manner that is dignified, fair, and respectful. As we continue on our diversity, equity, and inclusion journey, the following initiatives took place in fiscal year 2024 in support of our global DEI strategy:

◦Fostering Inclusion and Belonging*:* Following the deployment of our global DEI program’s strategy and objectives, over 13,500 employees have completed our Foundations of DEI training globally. This course was intended to set the foundation of awareness and understanding on the foundational concepts of DEI in our workplace. Our plan is to continue to deploy additional learning opportunities on DEI topics that help us foster an inclusive environment, bring awareness to unconscious bias, and ensure we are employing inclusive hiring practices.

◦Elevating Equity and Increasing Representation*:* Building on our success, we offered our global Women in Leadership Program again this year, with active participation from senior leadership, to bolster female representation in leadership roles. This program offers a comprehensive suite of development opportunities,

including specialized skill enhancement, coaching from senior leaders, and networking opportunities across the organization, all aimed at helping support and propel the careers of women within our organization.

◦Embrace Diverse Perspectives*:* We continue to identify ways to highlight different perspectives through education. In fiscal year 2024, we offered a culture awareness course to employees who work on global teams to learn more about the different ways cultures communicate, collaborate, negotiate, and address disagreements. We also continue to offer diversity awareness topics throughout the year to educate employees on different dimensions of diversity present in our workforce.

◦Expand Our Impact: Understanding the significant impact we can make, Coherent continues to support initiatives targeted to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as education in STEM, entrepreneurship, innovation, and advanced technology through our partnerships. Our organization also continues to actively partner with CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion to advance DEI in the workplace. In fiscal year 2024, Chief Strategy Officer and President of our Materials Segment, Giovanni Barbarossa, and Chief Marketing Officer, Sanjai Parthasarathi, served as mentors in the CEO Action Mentoring Initiative. This program pairs C-suite leaders with mentees from underrepresented and diverse populations working at the director and vice president levels to take part in a range of professional development activities focused on accelerating the development of diverse senior leaders through mentoring circles.

• Globally, approximately 45% of the workforce is female, with 11,890 females, 14,166 males and 101 undisclosed as of June 30, 2024. In Coherent’s Global Leadership Team (“GLT”), which consists of directors and above, there are 65 females, 487 males, and 1 undisclosed. The GLT meets quarterly to discuss strategy, business trends, company operations, financials, and people programs. Our global footprint is diverse, with approximately 18,078 employees in the Asia-Pacific region, 3,690 in Europe, and 4,389 in the Americas.

Manufacturing Processes

Our success in developing and manufacturing many of our products depends on our ability to tailor the optical and physical properties of technically challenging materials, components, and photonics-based solutions across a broad array of industries. The ability to produce, process, and refine these complex materials, and to control their quality and in-process yields, is an expertise of the Company that is critical to our customers. In the markets we serve, there is a limited number of high-quality suppliers of many of the components we manufacture. Aside from datacenter transceivers, there are very few industry-standard products. Our lasers are displacing conventional technologies because they can do the job faster, yield higher quality, provide overall economic benefits, and enable next-generation applications.

Our network of worldwide manufacturing sites allows us to manufacture our products in regions that provide cost-effective and risk-management advantages. We employ numerous advanced manufacturing technologies and systems at our manufacturing facilities. These include metal-organic chemical vapor deposition and molecular beam epitaxy reactors, automated computer numeric control optical fabrication, high-throughput thin-film coaters, nanoprecision metrology, and custom-engineered automated furnace controls for crystal growth processes. We provide lasers in the form of gas, semiconductor, solid-state crystal, or fiber, which can also be classified by their output wavelength: ultraviolet, visible, infrared, or wavelength-tunable. There are also many options in terms of pulsed output versus continuous wave, pulse duration, output power, beam dimensions, etc., that are application-specific. Developing products for use across the electromagnetic spectrum requires the ability to repeatedly manufacture components with high yields to atomic tolerances. We continually update our comprehensive quality management systems that feature manufacturing best practices. We are committed to delivering products within specification, on time, and with high quality, with a goal of fully satisfying customers and continually improving.

The Use of Renewable Energy

We continue to increase our use of renewable energy to power our operations and lower our greenhouse gas footprint. As of April 2024, the Company is now obtaining approximately 70% of its global electricity needs from renewable energy sources. In total, this represents over 500 million kWh of renewable energy per year, thereby avoiding more than 250,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually. We have on-site solar systems at several facilities that further contribute to our renewable energy efforts. We participate in Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program, and all of our Apple production is powered by 100% renewable electricity sources. Our team also works to minimize energy usage, water usage, other raw materials usage, and waste generation.

Coherent has set as a top priority to reduce its carbon footprint across its global operations. In December 2023, the Company announced a commitment to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by fiscal year 2040. Continuing to increase the use of renewable electricity is an important lever to achieve that commitment. Additional information on the Company’s sustainability performance can be found on the ESG section of our website at www.coherent.com. The website address is intended to be an inactive textual reference only. None of the information on, or accessible through, Coherent’s website is part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, nor is it incorporated herein by reference.

Sources of Supply

In our production processes, we use numerous optical, electrical, and mechanical parts that are sourced from third-party suppliers. These include integrated circuits, digital signal processors, mechanical housings, and optical components, and we commonly refer to them as raw materials. Raw materials or subcomponents required in the manufacturing process are generally available from several sources. However, in the Lasers segment, we currently purchase several key components and materials used in the manufacture of our products, including exotic materials, crystals, and optics, from sole-source or limited-source suppliers. We also purchase assemblies and turnkey solutions from contract manufacturers, based on our proprietary designs. We rely on our own production and design capability to manufacture and specify certain strategic components, crystals, fibers, semiconductor lasers, and laser-based systems.

The continued high quality of and access to these raw materials are critical to the stability and predictability of our manufacturing yields. We specify and test these raw materials at the onset of and throughout the production process. Additional research and capital investment are sometimes needed to better define future raw materials specifications. We continue to develop strategic second sources as part of our overall business continuity planning, and occasionally experience problems associated with raw materials not meeting contract specifications for quality or purity. Risks associated with reliance on third parties for the timely and reliable delivery of raw materials are discussed in greater detail in Item 1A. Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Reporting Segments and Business Units

The Company reports its results in three reporting segments: (i) Networking, (ii) Materials, and (iii) Lasers.

The Networking segment leverages Coherent’s compound semiconductor technology platforms and deep knowledge of end-user applications for its key end markets to deliver differentiated components and subsystems.

The Materials segment is a market leader in engineered materials and optoelectronic devices, such as those based on ZnSe, ZnS, GaAs, InP, GaSb, and SiC.

The Lasers segment’s lasers and optics products serve industrial customers in semiconductor and display capital equipment, precision manufacturing, and aerospace & defense, as well as instrumentation customers in life sciences and scientific instrumentation.

Coherent’s segments are organized by business unit. Each of these business units develops and markets products as described below.

Networking
Business Unit			Our Products
Telecommunications			•Products and solutions that enable high-bit-rate interconnects for communications and cloud service providers, including in terrestrial and undersea fiber-optic transmission
Datacom Transceivers			•Pluggable transceivers for Ethernet and Fibre Channel applications in cloud, hyperscale, and enterprise datacenter applications, including AI/ML
Advanced Optics			•Fiber optics and precision optics used in projection displays; crystal materials and components for optical communications; high-power UV, visible, and NIR optics for industrial lasers; filters and assemblies for life sciences as well as for sensors, instrumentation, and semiconductor equipment

Materials
Business Unit			Our Products
Engineered Materials & Laser Optics			•Laser optics and accessories for CO2 lasers •High-power fiber and direct-diode laser optics •Infrared thermal imaging optics and assemblies •Polycrystalline materials production including ZnSe, ZnS, and CVD diamond •Thermoelectric components, subassemblies, and systems •Specialty refining, recycling, and materials-recovery services for high-purity rare metals such as selenium and tellurium, as well as related chemical products such as tellurium dioxide •Advanced ceramic and metal-matrix composite products
Laser Devices & Systems			•High-power semiconductor lasers and laser bars •Laser heads and modules, Q-switched laser modules, high-power uncooled pump laser modules, laser systems for superhard materials processing •Laser processing heads and beam delivery systems for laser materials processing with industrial lasers •High-power fiber lasers for materials processing •EELs, VCSELs, and detectors •High-power pumps for amplifiers •Precision optical assemblies, infrared optics, thin-film coatings, and optical materials •Optical solutions for critical and complex design, engineering, and production challenges in aerospace & defense
Wide-Bandgap Electronics			•SiC and semiconductor materials for high-frequency and high-power electronic devices
Optoelectronic Devices & Modules			•VCSELs for sensing •EELs and detectors •Integrated circuits for transceivers

Lasers
Business Unit			Our Products
Excimer Lasers			•High-pulse-energy UV gas and solid-state lasers from 193 nm to 355 nm •Advanced UV optical systems, line beams, and mask-based imaging systems
Solid-State Lasers - North America			•Ultrafast lasers from UV to IR wavelengths •High-pulse-energy UV nanosecond lasers •Low-power continuous-wave lasers and systems •Miniature low-power continuous-wave lasers and systems •High-power ultrafast amplifiers •Continuous-wave UV gas lasers
Solid-State Lasers - Europe			•Ultrafast lasers from UV to IR wavelengths •High-pulse-energy UV nanosecond lasers •Miniature low-power continuous-wave lasers and systems
Laser Systems			•Subsystems incorporating various lasers, optics, beam manipulation, monitoring, and control electronics •Standard systems incorporating standard subsystems in a complete mechanical housing, sold to the end user
CO2 Lasers			•Kilowatt-class continuous-wave gas IR lasers •50 W to 1 kW continuous-wave and pulse gas IR lasers
Aerospace & Defense			•Specialty polishing and coating of optics, optical systems, and assemblies requiring high complexity and precision at dimensions of up to 2 meters •Specialty lasers, laser systems, crystals, and diode lasers

Markets

Our market-focused businesses are currently organized by technologies and products and report based on the following markets: industrial, communications, electronics, and instrumentation.

Industrial Market Group

• Precision Manufacturing Market Vertical. Our Precision Manufacturing vertical encompasses a broad range of applications across very diverse markets. With complete verticality, from materials to turnkey laser solutions, we intersect with any industrial laser process within the application areas of automotive manufacturing, medical device manufacturing, machine tools, consumer goods, and industrial electrical and electronics. Coherent laser optics and solutions for the industrial market remain well-positioned: our portfolio enables a wide variety of applications including EV battery welding, fine processing of medical devices, additive manufacturing, high-temperature superconducting wires and tapes, and even bleaching of jeans. Our vertically integrated and market-leading ZnSe optics and components, due to their inherent low loss at around the 10-micron wavelength, have enabled high-power CO2 laser systems for many decades and remain critical as replacement optics for the large installed base of CO2 lasers. We continue to introduce products that address new and growing applications for low-power CO2 lasers, such as drilling and cutting plastics, textiles, leather, wood, and other organic materials, for which the CO2 laser’s 10-micron wavelength is ideally suited.

Fiber lasers that operate at about the 1-micron wavelength in pulsed or continuous mode have taken a central role in many industrial applications, especially for cutting, welding and marking of both metals and plastics. We supply a broad range of materials, and components that enable many functions within these fiber lasers, from the laser chips that generate the input optical power to the beam delivery systems that direct the output optical power to the target. The same set of Coherent products is at the core of existing and emerging direct-diode laser systems. Coherent’s broad portfolio of coated optics and crystal materials serves all of the mentioned growing laser markets.

*•*Aerospace & Defense Market Vertical. Coherent’s Aerospace & Defense solutions enable mission-critical capabilities for applications in high-energy lasers; contested space; and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. From uniquely grown single crystals and advanced ceramics, to completely engineered gimbal subsystems, Coherent solutions are embedded on nearly every platform in the field as well as on those under development. Coherent laser beam combining and advanced lightweight gimbal technologies, along with domestically produced high-power fiber laser pumps and amplifiers, are enabling next-generation high-energy laser systems and space-based laser communications applications. With the addition of nanomachined single-crystal silicon and grating technologies, together with Coherent’s advanced coating capabilities, we enable advanced spectral beam combining and novel microstructured surface capabilities, which are highly valued within the Aerospace & Defense industry.

Our advanced missile warning, electro-optical targeting, and imaging systems are deployed on virtually every U.S. fixed-wing and rotary platform. Our advanced sapphire, germanium, and multispectral domes provide unique protection to our advanced imaging, seeker, and laser solutions that are packaged behind them. The domes provide hemispherical coverage for airborne, naval, and ground-based systems.

Our solutions for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) provided the first images proving that the astronauts’ footprints on the moon are still there. The LRO continues to orbit the moon and provide rich information for future lunar landing sites. The LRO camera and its more advanced derivatives are the basis for many advanced space imaging applications being pursued by our customers. Our advanced imaging lenses and windows ensure that our customers’ vehicles are able to safely and accurately dock with the Space Station. Our advanced telescope solution for the Geostationary Lightning Mapper enables the GOES satellites to detect early lightning strikes and predict tornados a full 20 minutes before previous technology. It forms the basis for many of our customers’ advanced multispectral imaging solutions.

Coherent’s Aerospace & Defense division maintains separate business development, IT infrastructure, accounting, finance, engineering, and manufacturing facilities in the United States with strictly controlled access; they are dedicated to our U.S. government-supported contracts.

• Semiconductor Capital Equipment Market Vertical. The Semiconductor Capital Equipment vertical breaks out into what is called front-end-of-line (FEOL) and back-end-of-line (BEOL); Coherent is well positioned to capitalize on the growth in both FEOL and BEOL products. Semiconductor capital equipment requires advanced materials to meet the need for tighter tolerances, enhanced thermal stability, faster wafer transfer speeds, and reduced stage settling times. Our metal-matrix composites and reaction-bonded ceramics enable these applications, thanks to their optimum combination of light weight, strength, hardness, and coefficient of thermal expansion. Our reaction-bonded SiC materials are used to manufacture wafer chucks, lightweight scanning stages, and high-temperature corrosion-resistant wafer support systems. Our cooled SiC mirrors and precision patterned reticles are used in the illumination systems of lithography tools. Our large-area polycrystalline diamond windows enable CO2 laser systems for EUV lithography.

Our products enable legacy deep-UV lithography equipment that is widely deployed in semiconductor fabs. In the rapidly accelerating market of extreme-UV lithography systems, CO2 lasers are used to generate extreme-ultraviolet light. These CO2 lasers and beam delivery systems leverage our broad portfolio of CO2 laser optics, CdTe modulators, and high-power damage-resistant polycrystalline CVD diamond windows to route the powerful laser beam to a tin droplet from which EUV light will emanate. Due to its very high mechanical and thermal performance characteristics, our reaction-bonded SiC is used in structural support systems that are integral to EUV lithography optics to meet critical requirements for optical system stability.

Coherent lasers are widely used in both front-end and back-end applications. Our front-end laser products encompass solid-state lasers and excimer lasers designed for semiconductor inspection tasks along with CO2 lasers tailored for wafer annealing, supporting the most advanced processing nodes. We also offer a suite of lasers for a variety of advanced packaging (back-end) applications, ranging from cutting, PCB and substrate drilling, and optical debonding to numerous laser marking tasks. Beyond lasers, we have decades of experience and expertise in ceramics and metal-matrix composites that semiconductor equipment manufacturers depend on to achieve state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing throughput, enabled by the exceptional mechanical and thermal properties of these materials.

• Display Capital Equipment Market Vertical. We have achieved breakthrough laser innovations essential to manufacture displays for phones, tablets, computers, and televisions. Our excimer laser solutions can improve precision, combining high-spatial precision and selectivity for advanced display production; increase productivity, offering fast, large-area processing for current and future-generation modules and panels; and maximize yield and maintain it along the process chain from backplane to individual display. The majority of OLED phones have flexible OLED displays; thus, a laser lift-off process is also required. These large panels then need to be cut into smaller panels before being cut into typical smartphone shapes, which is done by our CO2 lasers. State-of-the-art mobile phones strive to guarantee a larger active area; accordingly, cuts must be precise and damage-free. UV ultrashort-pulsed lasers are therefore the preferred choice,

and here again we offer an optimized portfolio of pico- and femtosecond laser sources. Beyond OLED, we are offering UV and DUV laser solutions for a broad range of applications to manufacture next-generation microLED displays. For display manufacturing, we offer a broad portfolio of laser sources and optical systems that will meet the requirements of display customers now, next, and beyond.

Communications Market Group

*•*Telecom Market Vertical. Coherent’s optical communications products and technologies enable next-generation high-speed optical transmission systems, networks, and datacenter solutions necessary to meet the accelerating global bandwidth demand.

Demand for our products is largely driven by the continually growing need for additional network bandwidth created by the ongoing proliferation of data and video traffic from video conferencing for work, school, and leisure; video downloads and streaming; live TV; social networking; online gaming; file sharing; enterprise IP/internet traffic; cloud computing; datacenter virtualization; and the new optical connectivity needed to support AI/ML.

We are a global technology leader in optical communications, providing materials, subcomponents, components, modules, and subsystems to optical component and module manufacturers, networking equipment manufacturers, datacenter operators, enterprises, and telecom service providers. We design products that meet the increasing demands for network bandwidth and data storage.

Our Telecom optical communications products can be divided into two main groups: optical transmission and optical transport. Our optical transmission products consist primarily of transmitters, receivers (as stand-alone parts or combined in different integrated solutions), transceivers, transponders, and active optical cables, which provide the fundamental optoelectronic interface for interconnecting the electronic equipment used in networks. This equipment includes switches, routers, and servers used in wireline networks. These products rely on advanced components, such as semiconductor lasers and photodetectors, in conjunction with integrated circuits and novel optoelectronic packaging to provide a cost-effective means for transmitting and receiving digital signals over fiber-optic cable at speeds ranging from less than 1 Gbps to more than 800 Gbps, and over distances of less than 10 meters to more than 5,000 kilometers, using a wide range of network protocols and physical configurations.

Our optical transport products are at the core of both terrestrial and undersea optical networks, as well as emerging space optical communications connections. Our market-leading 980 nm pump lasers are the key enablers of our erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, which boost the power of optical signals in fiber-optic cables to allow high-speed signals to be transmitted over long distances. Our 14xx nm pumps enable Raman amplification, based on the stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) effect, of the optical signal traveling over long and ultralong distances. Our latest generation of components for coherent transceivers is critical to a new generation of small-size, long-reach DWDM transmission modules operating from 100 Gbps to 1 Tbps and beyond.

Customers continue to rely on us for our industry-leading optical amplification and embedded monitoring solutions for their next-generation ROADM systems to compensate for inherent signal loss and to monitor signal integrity. Our proprietary OTDR modules allow systems to automatically detect and pinpoint issues along the transmission path in real time. Together with our OCM solutions, which monitor the optical power of the channels transmitted in a fiber-optic link, they enable real-time intelligence to perform preventive maintenance so as to preserve data transmission. In addition, we offer a portfolio of WSS products, which we also incorporate into ROADM line cards and subsystems.

Our proven experience in both transmission and transport allows us to effectively address the emerging DCI market. Our transceivers, submodules, pluggable amplifiers, and configurable line cards are able to meet the requirements of low power consumption, compactness, ease of installation and operation, and cost savings, which are often mandatory features in the DCI market.

•Datacom Market Vertical. We see a major market transition in the datacom market vertical with the dramatic growth in AI and ML.

Network changes to address AI and ML are driving the introduction of higher-speed transceivers at a faster pace than ever before. Only 20 years ago, the highest data rate for optical transceivers was 10G. Today, more than 50% of Coherent’s datacom revenue is generated by 200G and higher data-rate transceivers. Driven by the demands of growing AI/ML adoption, 800G transceivers are shipping in production and we expect the first 1.6T transceiver samples will be shipped later this calendar year. In five years, the market opportunity for 800G and 1.6T datacom transceivers is expected to be greater than all other types of datacom transceivers combined, largely driven by AI and ML.

At Coherent, we already have a complete portfolio of transceivers matched to the requirements set by AI and ML. These transceivers are protocol-agnostic, meaning the same transceiver hardware can support Ethernet and InfiniBand, as well as proprietary protocols for AI and ML such as NVIDIA’s NVLink.

Over the years, we have made strategic investments that give us a unique level of vertical integration. We not only design and manufacture our transceivers internally, but we also design and manufacture many of the components, including lasers, detectors, ICs, and passive optics. When designing a new transceiver that requires a new component, we either source that component from one of our valued development partners, or we design and manufacture it internally. We decide what to develop internally and what to develop with suppliers based on business case, time to market, and strategic considerations.

800G and 1.6T transceivers require 100G/lane and 200G/lane lasers. The type of laser used is determined by the data rate and the fiber link length. Generally speaking, interconnects in the AI/ML fabric portion of the network (Level 0) are less than 50 m, interconnects connecting ToR switches to spine switches (Level 1) are up to 500 m, and interconnects connecting switches to routers or routers to routers (telecom access) are between 2 km and 10 km. Each of these distances and applications are best served by different laser technologies.

For link distances less than 100 m, including Level 0 interconnects and a subset of Level 1 interconnects, VCSELs are used. These are based on our GaAs technology platform. VCSELs are generally the lowest-cost, lowest-power-consumption solution, and are the lasers of choice for connections of less than 100 m.

Coherent has multiple 6-inch GaAs VCSEL fabs in the U.S. and Europe. Our 100G/lane VCSELs are in production to support 400G and 800G transceivers. We are working on 200G/lane VCSELs, which will require significant changes in the VCSEL device design and fabrication.

For Level 1 switching for distances greater than can be supported by VCSELs, and for telecom access, single-mode devices are used. These devices are made from InP materials. Coherent has multiple InP fabs in the U.S. and Europe; two of them are moving to 6-inch wafer capability.

For Level 1 link distances greater than 100 m, transceivers based on silicon photonics may be used. All silicon photonics products, including some of our own, need an InP CW laser to generate the light. For Level 1 links greater than 100 m, and for telecom access (2-10 km), electro-absorption modulated lasers, or EMLs, may be used. We manufacture 100G/lane EMLs to support 400G and 800G transceivers, such as our EML-based 800G DR8 transceiver, and we introduced our 200G/lane EML in 2022.

As we look forward to 200G/lane transceivers, achieving a 10 km reach is a significant challenge, even with EMLs. For that application, we have been developing a laser technology called DFB-MZ, which stands for Distributed Feedback Laser with Mach Zehnder. This is an InP CW laser monolithically integrated with an InP Mach Zehnder modulator. This laser technology will enable 1.6T transceivers with up to 10 km reach.

Electronics Market Group

*•*Consumer Electronics Market Vertical. We manufacture GaAs VCSELs and VCSEL arrays, InP edge-emitting lasers and photo diodes, as well as specialty glass wafers for the consumer electronics market. Our VCSEL products leverage our world-class 6-inch GaAs platform, combining our epitaxial wafer growth and wafer fabrication capabilities. Our VCSELs have been used in consumer products such as computer mice and mobile phones for many years. Our VCSELs are also widely deployed in datacenters and HDMI optical cables as well as in vehicle steering wheels. This expertise in VCSEL technology has been leveraged for the growing sensing market. 3D sensing was the first application to drive the demand for relatively large two-dimensional VCSEL arrays. A typical design for 3D sensing requires tens or hundreds of VCSELs per chip in order to scale up the optical power required for applications such as face recognition. Therefore, 3D sensing applications created the need to scale up manufacturing to 6-inch wafer processing. Today, Coherent is one of the very few vertically integrated 6-inch VCSEL manufacturers with a proven track record in high-volume manufacturing of high-reliability, large multi-emitter VCSEL arrays designed for 3D sensing. We are also one of the very few companies that have shipped InP diode lasers and photodiodes in high volume for consumer electronics applications; these are also manufactured in-house. An increasing number of consumer devices are coming on the market with embedded VCSELs, including multiple smartphones and tablets, AR/VR headsets, smart watches, and household robots.

In addition to VCSELs, our products for the consumer electronics market include wafer-scale optics, diffraction gratings, thermoelectric coolers, driver ICs, and substrates for sensing and AR/VR applications.

• Automotive Market Vertical. We are a global leader in SiC substrates for power electronics that improve the energy efficiency of electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. Power electronics based on SiC enable systems to achieve significantly improved power utilization and conversion efficiencies, lower operating temperatures, and reduced thermal loads. This in turn enables either increased driving range or reductions in required battery capacity for a given range, which results in a significant cost reduction. Our comprehensive understanding of crystal growth and materials processing was acquired over decades of sustained R&D and manufacturing, allowing us to continuously evolve our technology and IP portfolio. We offer a full range of substrate diameters, including the world’s first 200 mm substrate.

Our industry-leading semiconductor lasers, optics, and materials can be leveraged for LiDAR systems embedded in advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) for autonomous vehicles. LiDAR sensors enable ADAS to perform functions such as emergency braking, distance warning, and adaptive cruise control. Coherent’s broad portfolio of components and modules for LiDAR include high-power laser diodes, fiber amplifiers, frequency-modulated continuous-wave detection solutions, optical filters for detection, mirrors for scanning, and thermoelectric coolers for temperature control. Our product offerings include edge-emitters and VCSELs that are capable of providing a wide range of wavelengths and peak powers for direct illumination and imaging in short- and long-range LiDAR solutions. Emission and return windows on LiDAR systems are available in ultrahard bulk materials such as SiC and diamond, and with optical coatings that are water-shedding and oil-resistant. Our thermoelectric coolers are qualified to automotive standards and enable LiDAR systems to operate with optimal performance and efficiency.

New generations of vehicles will be equipped with a greater number of sensors that can monitor a driver’s alertness and let occupants interact with the console using touch sensing or gesture recognition. In the event of a collision, sensors can help provide critical information about the position and attention of occupants to activate restraints and deploy airbags in the best possible manner. Coherent’s products enable the most advanced in-cabin control and monitoring systems for the latest applications in human-vehicle interactions. Our VCSELs are ideal for optical touch sensors integrated in dashboards or steering wheels. Our VCSEL arrays can provide infrared cabin illumination and structured light projection to enable gesture recognition.

Automotive manufacturers continue to differentiate their products with comfort features such as temperature-controlled car seats and cup holders, all of which require thermoelectric devices. We offer thermal-management solutions that are qualified to stringent automotive industry standards and tailored to various applications.

Coherent is also a world leader in innovative engineered materials and subsystems for thermal management, offering a broad portfolio that includes reaction-bonded Si/SiC materials, Al/SiC metal matrix composites, CVD diamond, single-crystal SiC, and thermoelectric coolers. With such extensive and diverse capabilities, we are uniquely positioned to deliver thermal management solutions that ideally match the performance and cost requirements of numerous applications, including: transportation, semiconductor manufacturing, information technology, life sciences, and consumer electronics.

• Wireless Market Vertical. Mobile traffic is increasing as a result of the proliferation of smartphones, tablet computers, and other mobile devices. In the mobile wireless market, we are a global leader in the strategic supply chain for materials and devices used in the latest 4G, 5G, and 6G base station infrastructure. The deployment of 5G wireless is accelerating globally, driving the demand for RF power amplifiers that can operate efficiently in new high-frequency bands and be manufactured on a technology platform that can scale to meet the growing demand. GaN-on-SiC RF power amplifiers have superior performance, compared with devices based on silicon, over a wide spectrum of 5G operating frequencies in the gigahertz range, including in the millimeter-wave bands.

We are a market leader in the technology development and large-volume manufacturing of 100 mm, 150 mm, and the industry’s first 200 mm semi-insulating SiC substrates. These substrates are utilized by customers worldwide to manufacture GaN-on-SiC HEMT RF power amplifier devices that are embedded in remote radio heads in 4G and 5G wireless base stations. In areas of high bandwidth demand, 5G antennas with beamforming technology using multiple devices per antenna are expected to be densely deployed, increasing the demand for GaN-on-SiC power amplifiers by approximately an order of magnitude or more versus 4G antennas. Looking forward, we continue to advance the state of the art in SiC substrates, with a strong technology portfolio of over 30 active patents using highly differentiated and proprietary manufacturing platforms and technologies including crystal growth, substrate fabrication, and polishing. Our introduction of the world’s first 200 mm semi-insulating SiC substrates will enable the RF power amplifier market to continue to scale, increasingly replacing functions performed by devices based on silicon and enabling new applications.

The GaN and InP technological platform, which are within the core competencies of Coherent, are key materials also for future 6G high-efficiency power amplifiers and low-noise amplifiers, enabling the best power performance in their respective frequency ranges.

Instrumentation Market Group

• Life Sciences Market Vertical. Within the life sciences end market, we focus on instrumentation that integrates light- and/or thermal-management solutions. We segment this market into three application areas (biotechnology, analytical, and medical) and deliver targeted and unique product portfolios for each segment. We vertically integrate from the material level (with various crystals for medical laser applications, or ZnS materials for NIR and IR spectroscopy) to high-precision components, complex subassemblies, and even full subsystems. Applications within the biotechnology segment include research and diagnostic tools such as flow cytometry, genome sequencing, PCR, and sequencing, to name a few. Our broad product portfolio delivers solutions covering illumination, light management, thermal management, sample loading, and detection. Visible-wavelength lasers and multicolored laser and LED engines provide low-noise, high-performance, reliable light sources.

Optical components and subassemblies such as filters, lenses, flow cells, gratings, objective lenses, and patterned reticles are embedded into these instruments to manage light delivery and detection. Our state-of-the-art thermal engines precisely control temperature and uniformity across large areas such as plate and block assemblies, even extending to reagent or sample chilling. Finally, vertical integration into higher-level optomechanical-electrical subassemblies drives further value and decreased time to market for our customers.

Analytical instrumentation includes spectroscopy-based applications such as monitoring of air and water, food and beverage products, agriculture, and pharmaceutical quality control, as environmental and safety concerns become more prevalent. These instrumentation platforms need to be rugged enough to be deployed in the field, and often must be transportable as well. Coherent’s solutions are the building blocks – lasers and LED solutions for illumination, optics for light management, sample loading, thermal control, and integrated detection solutions. We continue to leverage our materials and components to offer subassembly-level solutions at all wavelengths, from UV to NIR and IR.

Medical applications comprise instrumentation that is used in the direct treatment of patients and includes medical lasers, imaging, point-of-care wearables, and thermal-based treatment solutions. Medical laser and clinical procedures are increasingly performed with systems that integrate our lasers, optics, and thermal solutions. These applications are performed at or near the patient, demanding extreme precision and often requiring complex designs that can reach into the NIR and IR wavelengths. Applications are varied, from laser-based treatments (ophthalmic, dental, aesthetic/dermatological, and surgical) to medical imaging and even point-of-care diagnostics. Coherent’s semiconductor laser bars and stacks are used in applications such as hair and wrinkle removal, and femtosecond lasers combined with excimer lasers are used for common procedures like LASIK. Crystals and laser cavities, along with custom-designed lens assemblies, are used for ophthalmic, dental, and dermatological surgeries. CO2 lasers are specifically used in hard- and soft-tissue dental procedures. Thermal components and subassemblies deliver solutions for medical-based applications such as providing heating and cooling to the human body and medical laser temperature control.

We are uniquely positioned to leverage an expansive portfolio, decades of engineering expertise, global manufacturing, and vertical integration to meet performance, quality, and cost-reduction requirements. Coherent is a system-level partner from proof of concept to design and volume manufacturing, actively contributing to the global effort to address healthcare, environmental, and safety solutions.

• Scientific Research Market Vertical*.* Our products include CW lasers for microscopy, advanced ultrafast-pulsed laser sources, and high-energy pulsed excimer gas lasers. These systems are sold to universities and research institutions across the globe, fueling ideas for the next generation of materials, processes, medical diagnostics, and treatments that address some of the greatest challenges for humanity today. Our window to advanced research also ensures that we stay close to the latest emerging technologies and materials (for example, neuroscience advancements, optogenetic studies, and fusion research), steering our product roadmaps for the next generation of advanced manufacturing and instrumentation tools.

Sales and Marketing

We market our products and service through a direct sales force and through representatives and distributors around the world. Our market strategy is focused on understanding our customers’ requirements and building market awareness and acceptance of our products and service. New products are continually being developed and introduced to our new and established customers in all markets.

We have centralized our worldwide sales and strategic marketing functions. Sales offices have been strategically aligned to best serve and distribute products to our worldwide customer base. There are significant cooperation, coordination, and synergies among our business units, which capitalize on the most efficient and appropriate marketing channels to address diverse applications within our markets.

Our sales force develops effective communications with our OEM and end-user customers worldwide. Products are actively marketed through key account relationships, personal selling, select advertising, attendance at trade shows, digital marketing, and customer partnerships. Our sales force includes a highly trained technical sales support team to assist customers in designing, testing, and qualifying our products as key components of our customers’ systems. As of June 30, 2024, we employed approximately 624 individuals in sales, marketing, and support.

We do business with a number of customers in the aerospace & defense industry, who in turn generally contract with a governmental entity, typically a U.S. government agency.

We had one customer who contributed more than 10% of revenue during fiscal 2024.

Competition

Coherent is a global leader in many of its product families. We compete, in part, on our core competencies from materials to systems, our differentiated products and service, and the sustainability of our competitive advantages. We also compete by leveraging our intellectual property, ability to scale, product quality, on-time delivery, and technical support. We believe that our vertical integration, manufacturing facilities and equipment, experienced technical and manufacturing employees, and worldwide marketing and distribution channels provide us with competitive advantages. The following are among our top competitors (in alphabetic order):

• Broadcom Corporation

• IDEX Corporation

• InnoLight Technology Corp.

• IPG Photonics, Inc.

• Lumentum Operations LLC

• MKS Instruments, Inc.

• Molex, LLC

• O-Net Technologies (Shenzhen) Group Co., Ltd.

• Sony Group Corporation

• Trumpf GmbH + Co. KG

• Wolfspeed, Inc

In addition to competitors who manufacture products similar to those we produce, there are other technologies and products available that may compete with our technologies and products.

Our Strategy

Our strategy is to grow businesses with world-class engineered materials and laser processing capabilities to advance our current customers’ strategies, reach new markets through innovative technologies and platforms, and enable new applications in large and growing markets. A key strategy of ours is to develop and manufacture high-performance materials and, in certain cases, components incorporating those materials, that are differentiated from those produced by our competitors. We focus on providing components that are critical to the heart of our customers’ products that serve the applications mentioned above.

We continue to grow the number and size of our key accounts. A significant portion of our business is based on sales orders with market leaders, which enables our forward planning and production efficiencies. We intend to continue capitalizing and executing on this proven model, participating effectively in the growth of the markets discussed above, and continuing our focus on operational excellence as we execute our primary business strategies.

Research and Development

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, we continued to identify, invest in, and focus our R&D on new products and platform technologies in an effort to accelerate our organic growth. This approach is managed under a disciplined innovation program that we refer to as the Coherent Phase Gate Process.

We devote significant resources to R&D programs directed at the continuous improvement of our existing products and processes, and to the timely development of new materials, technologies, platforms, and products. We believe that our R&D activities are essential to establishing and maintaining a leadership position in each of the markets we serve. In addition, certain manufacturing personnel support or participate in our R&D efforts on an ongoing basis. We believe the close interaction between the development and manufacturing functions enhances the direction of our projects, reducing costs and accelerating technology transfers. It also offers development opportunities to our employees.

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, we focused our R&D investments in the following areas:

Networking
Area of Development:			Our R&D Investments:
Photonics design			Continue to develop and improve crystal materials, precision optical parts, and laser device components for photonics applications; develop new platforms and capabilities
Datacom transceivers			Enhance high-end 800G/1.6T product development, including RF and packaging designs; explore high-density, high-bandwidth co-packaged designs with VCSELs and through silicon photonics-based designs; continue to develop vertically integrated designs, including with lasers and ICs; continue cost reduction on 400G/200G and 10G-100G products by leveraging our engineering resources and manufacturing scale
Optical circuit switch (OCS)			Develop the OCS product family for AI/ML and hyperscale data centers based on the digital liquid-crystal technology that underpins one of our WSS product lines
Coherent optics and transceivers			Drive further integration to reduce size and power consumption; increase bandwidth to enable 100G/200G/400G/800G coherent transceivers; optimize product cost with new design architectures and more efficient manufacturing flow
Integrated circuits			Develop high-speed integrated circuits for data communications and coherent optical communications
Pump lasers			Continue to invest in our next-generation GaAs pump laser portfolio and flexible manufacturing footprint to address evolving terrestrial and undersea markets
Develop InP growth and processing capability together with associated packaging technology for Raman amplification applications
Optical amplifiers and subsystems			Invest in and broaden the range of amplifiers and integrated subsystems, including ROADMs
Optoelectronic chip hybrid integration platform (OCHIP)			Develop wafer-scale assembly technologies and processes for integration of lasers, optics, and ICs
Silicon photonics devices			Develop silicon-based photonic devices for coherent and direct-detection transceivers and co-packaging solutions
Wavelength selective switches			Develop LC and LCoS technologies and associated module designs for WSS; invest in manufacturing equipment, including the WSS automated assembly platform
Optical monitoring			Continue optical channel monitoring investment
Develop OTDRs to monitor the health of the fiber plant
Micro-optics manufacturing			Shift toward smaller, more compact optics and automated assembly platforms and packages
Invest in manufacturing equipment for computerized processes
Materials
Area of Development:			Our R&D Investments:
High-power laser diodes Semiconductor lasers Devices for optical communications, sensing, and high-volume manufacturing			Increase output power and reliability of edge-emitting laser diodes for fiber laser, optical communications, and sensing applications
Develop high-power VCSELs, including multi-junction VCSELs for 3D sensing and consumer devices as well as next-generation, high-speed VCSELs for datacom applications
Develop high-power and high-speed InP lasers, detectors, and components for applications in optical communications and sensing

High-power beam delivery			Develop multi-kW beam delivery systems and cables for welding and cutting
CVD diamond technology			Develop CVD diamond for EUV applications and as substrates for high-performance RF devices
Broaden our portfolio beyond infrared window applications
SiC technology SiC epitaxial wafers, devices, and modules			Develop advanced SiC substrate growth technologies to support emerging markets in GaN RF and SiC power electronics
Continuous improvement to maintain world-class, high-quality, large-diameter substrates and epitaxial wafers
Develop SiC epitaxial wafers, SiC diodes and MOSFET devices, and SiC power modules
Thermoelectric materials and devices			Continue to develop leading Bi2Te3 materials for thermoelectric cooling/heating
Focus on thermoelectric power-generation capability in order to introduce new products
Metal matrix composites and reaction-bonded ceramics			Support industrial customers in developing application-specific material wear-out, lightweight high-mechanical-stability materials, and thermal-management solutions
Fiber laser technologies			Develop high-power fiber laser technologies for aerospace & defense and commercial applications
High-speed ICs			Develop high-performance analog TIAs, laser drivers, and clock and data-recovery retimer ICs
Battery technology			Develop technology for lithium-ion batteries and battery recycling processes
Additive manufacturing			Develop alloys and multibeam delivery systems for laser additive manufacturing
Develop binder jet additive manufacturing for advanced ceramic components

Lasers
Area of Development:			Our R&D Investments:
Diode-pumped solid-state lasers			Continue to develop solid-state lasers for industrial applications for materials processing, instrumentation, and scientific applications, including extension of wavelengths using nonlinear optics (harmonic generation), especially into the ultraviolet wavelength range
			Continuous-wave operation as well as pulsed systems with pulses in the range of 400 fs to 100 ns
Ultrafast fiber lasers			Continued development of industrial femtosecond fiber lasers with 50-200 μJ pulse energy, including UV generation, for semiconductor capital equipment and display manufacturing; power-scaling and wavelength range extension for low energy (<1 μJ), high repetition rate (80 MHz), femtosecond fiber laser systems used in multi-photon imaging
Femtosecond oscillators and amplifiers			Continue to develop ultrafast laser systems for scientific applications based on Ti:sapphire and Yb-doped gain materials with sub-100-fs pulse duration
Optically pumped semiconductor lasers (OPSLs)			Continue to broaden the product portfolio of continuous-wave, visible, and ultraviolet OPSLs by offering new wavelengths, increasing the output power and further reducing the product footprint; this includes the development of single-frequency ultraviolet cw OPSL-based systems
Semiconductor lasers			Increase output power and reliability of GaAs- and InP-based edge-emitting semiconductor lasers (single emitters, bars, stacks, and fiber-coupled modules) for laser pumping, industrial, and defense applications
Excimer lasers and excimer laser tools			Continue to support existing excimer laser-based applications in display manufacturing, instrumentation, and materials processing. Increase output power and reliability of pulsed excimer lasers (wavelength range of 193 nm to 308 nm) and continue to develop new excimer laser-based tools for display manufacturing

CO2 lasers			Continue to develop medium-power slab waveguide CO2 lasers (20 W to 1 kW) used in industrial applications with an emphasis on improved reliability and decreased cost; continue to develop and support new applications for high-power slab waveguide CO2 lasers with average output powers of up to 8 kW
Laser tools			Continue to develop laser-based tools used for marking, cutting, and welding applications with an emphasis on process control
Laser crystal and nonlinear crystal growth			Support and optimize growth processes of laser crystals (e.g., Nd:YVO4, Nd:YAG, Yb:YAG, Yb:KYW, Yb:CALGO) and nonlinear crystals (e.g., LBO, BBO) used in laser systems; continued improvement in crystal quality (absorption, homogeneity, scattering) and in crystal lifetime during laser operation
Optical fibers			Continue to broaden the portfolio of passive optical fibers and doped active fibers (doped with Nd, Yb, Er, Tm) and develop novel fiber designs for improved fiber laser performance
Optical components for laser systems			Continued development of optical components used in laser systems, including isolators, rotators, volume Bragg gratings; continued improvement of optical coatings for laser mirrors and lenses
Large-scale mirrors and lenses			Invest in fabrication technologies for large-sized lenses and mirrors used in astronomy and aerospace & defense applications; support fabrication of large-dimension cylinder lenses for excimer-based laser tools used in display manufacturing

Other R&D
Area of Development:			Our R&D Investments:
Space-based laser communications			Develop technology and devices for space-based laser communications

R&D expenditures were $479 million, $500 million, and $377 million for the fiscal years 2024, 2023, and 2022, respectively.

Import and Export Compliance

We are required to comply with all relevant import/export and economic sanctions laws and regulations, including:

• The import regulations administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection;

• The International Traffic in Arms Regulations administered by the U.S. Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, which among other things impose licensing requirements on the export from the United States of certain defense articles and defense services, generally including items that are specially designed or adapted for a military application and/or listed on the United States Munitions List;

• The Export Administration Regulations administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, which among other things impose licensing requirements on certain dual-use goods, technology, and software; and

• The regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, implementing economic sanctions against designated countries, governments, and persons based on U.S. foreign policy and national security considerations.

Foreign governments also have similar import and export control, and sanctions, laws, and regulations. For additional discussion regarding our import, export, and sanctions compliance, see the discussion in Item 1A. Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Trade Secrets, Patents, and Trademarks

Our use of trade secrets, proprietary know-how, trademarks, copyrights, patents, contractual confidentiality, and IP ownership provisions helps us develop and maintain our competitive position with respect to our products and manufacturing processes. We aggressively pursue process and product patents in certain areas of our businesses and in certain jurisdictions across the globe. We have entered into selective intellectual property licensing agreements. We have confidentiality and noncompetition agreements with certain personnel. We require our U.S. employees to sign a confidentiality and noncompetition agreement upon commencement of their employment with us. As of June 30, 2024, we had a total of approximately 3,100 patents globally.

Executive Officers of the Registrant

The executive officers of the Company and their respective ages and positions as of June 30, 2024, are set forth below. Each executive officer listed has been appointed by the Board of Directors to serve until removed or until a successor is appointed and qualified.

Name						Age						Position
Jim Anderson						51						Chief Executive Officer
Giovanni Barbarossa						61						Chief Strategy Officer and President, Materials
Walter R. Bashaw II						58						President
Richard Martucci						56						Interim Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Christopher Koeppen						52						Chief Innovation Officer
Julie Sheridan Eng						56						Chief Technology Officer
Ronald Basso						63						Chief Legal and Compliance Officer & Secretary
Ilaria Mocciaro						53						Chief Accounting Officer

Jim Anderson was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Coherent Corp. and a member of the Board of Directors on June 3, 2024. He previously served as a director and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Lattice Semiconductor Corporation since September 2018. Prior to joining Lattice, Mr. Anderson served as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Computing and Graphics Business Group at Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD). Prior to AMD, Mr. Anderson held a broad range of leadership positions spanning general management, engineering, sales, marketing, and corporate strategy at companies including Intel, Broadcom (formerly Avago Technologies), and LSI Corporation. Mr. Anderson served on the Board of Directors of Entegris, Inc., from March 2023 to July 2024 and on the Board of Directors of the Semiconductor Industry Association through June 2024. He previously served on the Board of Directors of Sierra Wireless from April 2020 to January 2023. Mr. Anderson earned an MBA and Master of Science degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University, and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Giovanni Barbarossa joined the Company in 2012 and has been the Chief Strategy Officer of the Company and the President of the Materials Segment since July 2019. Previously, he was the Chief Technology Officer of the Company and the President of the Laser Solutions Segment. Dr. Barbarossa was employed at Avanex Corporation from 2000 through 2009, serving in various executive positions in product development and general management, ultimately serving as the President and Chief Executive Officer. When Avanex merged with Bookham Technology, forming Oclaro, Inc., Dr. Barbarossa became a member of the Board of Directors of Oclaro and served as such from 2009 to 2012. Previously, he had management responsibilities at British Telecom, AT&T Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, and Hewlett Packard. Dr. Barbarossa graduated from the University of Bari, Italy, with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and has a Ph.D. in Photonics from the University of Glasgow, U.K.

Walter R. Bashaw II joined the Company in 2018 and has been President of the Company since July 2019. Mr. Bashaw previously served as Vice President of Strategy. In this role, he was primarily responsible for the Company’s M&A and integration work. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Bashaw was a senior partner at the law firm of Sherrard, German & Kelly, P.C. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his areas of expertise were corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, and technology planning. Mr. Bashaw holds a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, from which he graduated cum laude and at which he was the editor-in-chief of the University of Pittsburgh Journal of Law and Commerce. He holds a B.S. in Logistics from the Pennsylvania State University.

Richard Martucci has been the interim Chief Financial Officer and interim Treasurer for Coherent Corp since September 2023. He joined Coherent in 2015 as the Infrared Optics Division Controller and since then has served as the Lasers Solutions Segment Vice President of Finance, the Materials Segment Vice President of Finance, and most recently the Senior Vice President of Business Operations. Prior to joining Coherent, Mr. Martucci served in various financial roles at Xylem Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. He has over 30 years’ experience in finance and manufacturing operations across several industries. Mr. Martucci holds a bachelor of science degree in Business Administration from Robert Morris University and a MBA from Gannon University. He is a registered CPA in the state of Illinois.

Christopher Koeppen joined the Company in 2011 following the acquisition of Aegis Lightwave, Inc., where he served as General Manager, Aegis-NJ. He was named General Manager of the Agile Network Products Division in 2012 and Director of Corporate Strategic Technology Planning in 2015. He then served as Vice President of the Industrial Laser Group and Corporate Strategic Technology Planning from 2017 until his appointment as Chief Technology Officer in 2019. In October, 2022, Dr. Koeppen was appointed Chief Innovation Officer of the Company. Previously, Dr. Koeppen was co-founder and CEO of CardinalPoint Optics, prior to its acquisition by Aegis Lightwave. He has more than two decades of progressively increasing general and technology management experience in high-tech companies, including at Meriton Networks, Mahi Networks, Photuris, and Lucent Technologies. Dr. Koeppen holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an AT&T Bell Laboratories Scholar, and B.S. degrees in Physics and Mathematics from the Pennsylvania State University.

Julie Sheridan Eng was appointed Chief Technology Officer of the Company in October 2022. Prior to becoming CTO, Dr. Eng served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Company’s Optoelectronic Devices and Modules Business Unit. Dr. Eng joined the Company in 2019 with the acquisition of Finisar Corporation, where she held various senior management positions, including Executive Vice President and General Manager of 3D Sensing, and Executive Vice President of Datacom Engineering. Dr. Eng spent over 20 years in the optoelectronics and optical communications industries, including roles at AT&T, Lucent, and Agere. Dr. Eng received her PhD and M.S. in electrical Engineering from Stanford, and an M.S. and B.A. from Bryn Mawr College (summa cum laude) and a B.S., with honors from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In 2022, Dr. Eng was elected a Fellow of Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America) for distinguished contributions to the advancement of optics and photonics.

Ronald Basso joined the Company in 2019 as Vice President, Corporate Development, and was named Chief Legal and Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary in March 2022. Previously, Mr. Basso was the Executive Vice President of Business Development, General Counsel & Secretary for Black Box Corporation for six years. Before that, his 28-year career at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC involved significant client engagements on corporate, governance, securities, capital markets transactions, M&A, and executive compensation matters. He served on the Coherent IPO team in 1987 and as Coherent’s SEC counsel for 25 years until he joined Black Box. Mr. Basso holds a bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) in Economics and a Juris Doctor degree (Order of the Coif) from the University of Pittsburgh.

Ilaria Mocciaro joined Coherent Corp. in February 2023 as the Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, and Corporate Controller. Ms. Mocciaro joined Coherent from CDW, where she was the Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, and Controller from 2020 to 2022. From 2016 to 2020, she was the Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, and Global Controller at Anixter International Inc., where she helped close the sale of Anixter to Wesco. From 2011 to 2016, Ms. Mocciaro was the Chief Accounting Officer of the agricultural and construction equipment segments at CNH Industrial N.V., after serving as Director of Accounting and Reporting. She led Internal Audit at McMaster-Carr Supply Company from 2010 to 2011 and previously held several management positions at Ernst & Young LLP in Chicago and Milan, Italy, from 1997 to 2010. Ms. Mocciaro holds a B.A. degree in Accounting and Business Administration from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) in Milan.

Availability of Information

Our internet address is www.coherent.com. Information contained on our website is not part of, and should not be construed as being incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We post the following reports on our website as soon as reasonably practical after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC: our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports or statements filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act. In addition, we post our proxy statements on Schedule 14A related to our annual shareholders’ meetings as well as reports filed by our directors, officers, and 10% beneficial owners pursuant to Section 16 of the Exchange Act. In addition, all filings are available via the SEC’s website (www.sec.gov). We also make our corporate governance documents available on our website, including the Company’s Code of Ethical Business Conduct, Governance Guidelines, and the charters for our board committees. All such documents are located on the Investors page of our website and are available free of charge.