Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.: 10-K Risk Factor Changes

Our reliance upon sole or limited sources of supply for certain materials or components could cause production interruptions, delays and inefficiencies. Some of our businesses purchase certain materials from sole or limited source suppliers for reasons of quality assurance, regulatory requirements, cost effectiveness, availability or uniqueness of design. If these or other suppliers encounter financial, operating or other difficulties, or if our relationship with them changes, we might not be able to quickly establish or qualify replacement sources of supply. The supply chains for our businesses could also be disrupted by supplier capacity constraints, bankruptcy or exiting of the business for other reasons, decreased availability or increased cost of key raw materials or commodities, such as energy, and external events such as global economic downturns and macroeconomic trends, sanctions and trade restrictions, natural disasters, pandemic health issues, geopolitical developments, war, terrorist actions, governmental actions and legislative or regulatory changes. Any of these factors could result in production interruptions, delays, extended lead times and inefficiencies. A significant cyber-attack or other disruption in, or breach in security of, our information technology systems could adversely harm our operating results and financial condition, damage our reputation or otherwise materially harm our business. We rely on information technology systems to process, transmit and store electronic information (including sensitive data such as confidential business information, medical information, financial data and personally identifiable data relating to employees, customers and other business partners) and to manage or support a variety of critical business processes and activities (such as interacting with suppliers, selling our products and services, fulfilling orders and billing, collecting and making payments, shipping products, providing services and support to customers, tracking customer activity, fulfilling contractual obligations and otherwise conducting business). We use a risk-based approach to implementing security controls, reviewing the security controls of certain key business partners and third-party service providers and conducting due diligence on companies we propose to acquire. Despite our efforts, any particular system we operate or use may be susceptible to compromise of a vulnerability or a privileged account, damage or interruption from natural disasters, power loss, telecommunication failures, data center failure, third party provider failures (including failures at cloud services), hardware and software failures, human error or sabotage, terrorist attacks, geopolitical events, computer hackers, computer viruses, ransomware, phishing, computer denial-of-service attacks, unauthorized access to customer or employee data or company trade secrets, and other attempts to harm our systems and access our information. We and our third-party providers experience cyber-attacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access to our products, services, and systems and data on a regular basis, and we anticipate continuing to be subject to such attempts as cyber-attacks become increasingly sophisticated and more difficult to predict and protect against, particularly with the advancement of artificial intelligence. Despite our and our third-party providers’ implementation of security measures, our products, services, and systems and data, are vulnerable to cyber-attacks, data breaches, malware, inadvertent error, disruptions, tampering or other theft or misuse, including by employees, contingent workers, malicious actors, or nation-states or their agents. Although most of our systems leverage data backups, our disaster recovery planning is not sufficient for every eventuality. In addition, our customers rely upon our products (i.e., instruments, etc.) within their environments, which may be at risk of compromise. Risks affecting our products may include those associated with remote access solutions, system vulnerabilities, or delay of security updates, which may require customers to take action such as network isolation, password change, or manual update. Cyber-attacks, disruptions or other incidents described above, or breaches of security in our networks, in our customers’ or third-party providers’ networks, in third-party products we use, or in cloud-based services provided to us, regardless of whether the breach is attributable to a vulnerability in our products or services, a privileged account compromise, or a failure to maintain the digital security infrastructure or security tools that protect the integrity of our products, services, and systems and data, could materially interrupt our operations or our customer’s operations, delay production and shipments, impact quality, result in theft of our and our customers’ intellectual property and trade secrets, damage our reputation or key relationships, result in defective products or services, legal claims and proceedings, liability and penalties under privacy laws and increased cost for security and remediation, in each case resulting in an adverse effect on our business and financial results. Our success is largely dependent upon our ability to attract and retain a highly qualified workforce, comprised of scientific, technical, clinical, and management talent. We have in the past, and may in the future, have difficulty in attracting and retaining such talent. Our success in doing so is largely dependent upon various factors, including a highly competitive market, sought-after skills, management changes, competitor recruitment, and maintaining an attractive workplace culture. Macroeconomic shifts such as increased competition for employees and wage inflation, have previously and could in the future affect our talent retention, turnover rates and operational costs. We cannot ensure that we will be able to hire or retain the personnel necessary for our operations or that the departure of any personnel will not have a material impact on our financial condition and results of operations. 12 12 12

Our reliance upon sole or limited sources of supply for certain materials or components could cause production interruptions, delays and inefficiencies. Some of our businesses purchase certain materials from sole or limited source suppliers for reasons of quality assurance, regulatory requirements, cost effectiveness, availability or uniqueness of design. If these or other suppliers encounter financial, operating or other difficulties, or if our relationship with them changes, we might not be able to quickly establish or qualify replacement sources of supply. The supply chains for our businesses could also be disrupted by supplier capacity constraints, bankruptcy or exiting of the business for other reasons, decreased availability or increased cost of key raw materials or commodities, such as energy, and external events such as global economic downturns and macroeconomic trends, natural disasters, pandemic health issues such as COVID-19, war, terrorist actions, governmental actions and legislative or regulatory changes. Any of these factors could result in production interruptions, delays, extended lead times and inefficiencies. A significant cyber-attack or other disruption in, or breach in security of, our information technology systems could adversely harm our operating results and financial condition, damage our reputation or otherwise materially harm our business. We rely on information technology systems to process, transmit and store electronic information (including sensitive data such as confidential business information, medical information, financial data and personally identifiable data relating to employees, customers and other business partners) and to manage or support a variety of critical business processes and activities (such as interacting with suppliers, selling our products and services, fulfilling orders and billing, collecting and making payments, shipping products, providing services and support to customers, tracking customer activity, fulfilling contractual obligations and otherwise conducting business). We use a risk-based approach to implementing security controls, reviewing the security controls of certain key business partners and third-party service providers and conducting due diligence on companies we propose to acquire. Despite our efforts, any particular system we operate or use may be susceptible to compromise of a vulnerability or a privileged account, damage or interruption from natural disasters, power loss, telecommunication failures, data center failure, third party provider failures (including failures at cloud services), hardware and software failures, human error or sabotage, terrorist attacks, geopolitical events, computer hackers, computer viruses, ransomware, phishing, computer denial-of-service attacks, unauthorized access to customer or employee data or company trade secrets, and other attempts to harm our systems and access our information. We and our third-party providers experience cyber-attacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access to our products, services, and systems and data on a regular basis, and we anticipate continuing to be subject to such attempts as cyber-attacks become increasingly sophisticated and more difficult to predict and protect against, particularly with the advancement of artificial intelligence. Despite our and our third-party providers’ implementation of security measures, our products, services, and systems and data, are vulnerable to cyber-attacks, data breaches, malware, inadvertent error, disruptions, tampering or other theft or misuse, including by employees, contingent workers, malicious actors, or nation-states or their agents. Although most of our systems leverage data backups, our disaster recovery planning is not sufficient for every eventuality. In addition, our customers rely upon our products (i.e. instruments, etc.) within their environments, which may be at risk of compromise. Risks affecting our products may include those associated with remote access solutions, system vulnerabilities, or delay of security updates, which may require customers to take action such as network isolation, password change, or manual update. 12 12 12

We may incur unexpected costs from increases in fuel and raw material prices, which could reduce our earnings and cash flows. Our primary commodity exposures are for fuel, petroleum-based resins and steel. The costs for these commodities, as well as the costs of transportation, construction and services necessary for the production and distribution of our products, continue to increase and be volatile. While we may seek to minimize the impact of price increases through higher prices to customers and various cost-saving measures, our earnings and cash flows could be adversely affected in the event these measures are insufficient to cover our costs. Because we rely heavily on third-party package-delivery services, a significant disruption in these services or significant increases in prices may disrupt our ability to ship products, increase our costs and lower our profitability. We ship a significant portion of our products to our customers through independent package delivery companies, such as Federal Express in the U.S. and DHL in Europe. We also maintain a small fleet of vehicles dedicated to the delivery of our products and ship our products through other carriers, including national and regional trucking firms, overnight carrier services and the U.S. Postal Service. If one or more of these third-party package-delivery providers were to experience a major work stoppage, preventing our products from being delivered in a timely fashion or causing us to incur additional shipping costs we could not pass on to our customers, our costs could increase and our relationships with certain of our customers could be adversely affected. In addition, if one or more of these third-party package-delivery providers were to increase prices, and we were not able to find comparable alternatives or make adjustments in our delivery network, our profitability could be adversely affected. Natural disasters, public health crises, political crises, and other catastrophic events or other events outside of our control may disrupt our facilities or the facilities of third parties on which we depend, and could impact customer spending. We have significant operations in California, near major earthquake faults, which make us susceptible to earthquake risk. An earthquake or other natural disaster (including the effects of climate change such as sea level rise, drought, flooding, wildfires and more intense weather events), could disrupt our operations, including the ability to fulfill supply obligations to our customers, or impair our critical systems. Any of these disruptions or other events outside of our control, such as strikes or other labor unrest, could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. In addition, if any of our facilities, including our manufacturing or warehouse facilities, or the facilities of our suppliers, third-party service providers, or customers, is affected by natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, power shortages or outages, fires, floods or monsoons, public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, political crises, such as terrorism, war, political instability or other conflict, or other events outside of our control, such as trade protectionism, strikes or other labor unrest, our results of operations could be adversely affected. Moreover, these types of events could negatively impact customer spending in the impacted regions or depending upon the severity, globally, which could also adversely impact our operating results. Increasing attention to environmental, social and governance matters may impact our business, financial results, stock price or reputation. We face increasing scrutiny from stakeholders related to our environmental, social and governance practices and disclosures. Investor advocacy groups, certain institutional investors, lenders, investment funds and other influential investors are also increasingly focused on such practices and related disclosures and in recent years have placed increasing importance on the implications and social cost of their investments. In addition, government organizations are enhancing or advancing legal and regulatory requirements specific to these matters. The heightened stakeholder focus on sustainability issues related to our business requires the continuous monitoring of various and evolving laws, regulations, standards and expectations and the associated reporting requirements. A failure to adequately meet evolving stakeholder expectations may result in noncompliance, the loss of business, reputational impacts, diluted market valuation, an inability to attract customers and an inability to attract and retain top talent. In addition, if legislation or regulations are enacted or promulgated in the U.S. or in any other jurisdiction in which we do business that impose more stringent restrictions and requirements than our current legal or regulatory obligations, we and companies in our supply chain may experience increased compliance burdens and costs to meet the regulatory obligations, which could cause disruption in the sourcing, manufacturing and distribution of our products and adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, our adoption of certain standards or mandated compliance to certain requirements could necessitate additional investments that could impact our profitability.

Cyber-attacks, disruptions or other incidents described above, or breaches of security in our networks, in our customers’ or third-party providers’ networks, in third-party products we use, or in cloud-based services provided to us, regardless of whether the breach is attributable to a vulnerability in our products or services, a privileged account compromise, or a failure to maintain the digital security infrastructure or security tools that protect the integrity of our products, services, and systems and data, could materially interrupt our operations or our customer’s operations, delay production and shipments, impact quality, result in theft of our and our customers’ intellectual property and trade secrets, damage our reputation or key relationships, result in defective products or services, legal claims and proceedings, liability and penalties under privacy laws and increased cost for security and remediation, in each case resulting in an adverse effect on our business and financial results. A violation of data privacy laws could adversely harm our operating results and financial condition, damage our reputation or otherwise materially harm our business. If we are unable to maintain reliable information technology systems and appropriate controls with respect to global data privacy and security requirements, we may suffer regulatory consequences in addition to business consequences. As a global organization, we are subject to data privacy and security laws, regulations, and customer-imposed controls in numerous jurisdictions as a result of producing, collecting, processing, storing and transmitting confidential, personal and/or sensitive data in the course of our business. For example, in the U.S., individual states regulate data breach and security requirements and multiple governmental bodies assert authority over aspects of the protection of personal privacy. European laws require us to have an approved legal mechanism to transfer personal data out of Europe, and the EU General Data Protection Regulation imposes significantly stricter requirements in how we collect and process personal data. Several countries, such as China, have passed laws that require personal data relating to their citizens to be maintained on local servers and impose additional data transfer restrictions. Government enforcement actions can be costly and interrupt the regular operation of our business, and data breaches or violations of data privacy laws can result in fines, reputational damage and civil lawsuits, any of which may adversely affect our business, reputation and financial statements. Our success is largely dependent upon our ability to attract and retain a highly qualified workforce, comprised of scientific, technical, clinical, and management talent. We have in the past, and may in the future, have difficulty in attracting and retaining such talent. Our success in doing so is largely dependent upon various factors, including a highly competitive market, sought-after skills, management changes, competitor recruitment, and maintaining an attractive workplace culture. Macroeconomic shifts such as increased competition for employees and wage inflation, have previously and could in the future affect our talent retention, turnover rates and operational costs. We cannot ensure that we will be able to hire or retain the personnel necessary for our operations or that the departure of any personnel will not have a material impact on our financial condition and results of operations. We may incur unexpected costs from increases in fuel and raw material prices, which could reduce our earnings and cash flows. Our primary commodity exposures are for fuel, petroleum-based resins and steel. The costs for these commodities, as well as the costs of transportation, construction and services necessary for the production and distribution of our products, continue to increase and be volatile. While we may seek to minimize the impact of price increases through higher prices to customers and various cost-saving measures, our earnings and cash flows could be adversely affected in the event these measures are insufficient to cover our costs. Because we rely heavily on third-party package-delivery services, a significant disruption in these services or significant increases in prices may disrupt our ability to ship products, increase our costs and lower our profitability. We ship a significant portion of our products to our customers through independent package delivery companies, such as Federal Express in the U.S. and DHL in Europe. We also maintain a small fleet of vehicles dedicated to the delivery of our products and ship our products through other carriers, including national and regional trucking firms, overnight carrier services and the U.S. Postal Service. If one or more of these third-party package-delivery providers were to experience a major work stoppage, preventing our products from being delivered in a timely fashion or causing us to incur additional shipping costs we could not pass on to our customers, our costs could increase and our relationships with certain of our customers could be adversely affected. In addition, if one or more of these third-party package-delivery providers were to increase prices, and we were not able to find comparable alternatives or make adjustments in our delivery network, our profitability could be adversely affected. Natural disasters, public health crises, political crises, and other catastrophic events or other events outside of our control may disrupt our facilities or the facilities of third parties on which we depend, and could impact customer spending. We have significant operations in California, near major earthquake faults, which make us susceptible to earthquake risk. An earthquake or other natural disaster (including the effects of climate change such as sea level rise, drought, flooding, wildfires and more intense weather events), could disrupt our operations, including the ability to fulfill supply obligations to our customers, or impair our critical systems. Any of these disruptions or other events outside of our control, such as strikes or other labor unrest, could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. In addition, if any of our facilities, including our manufacturing or warehouse facilities, or the facilities of our suppliers, third-party service providers, or customers, is affected by natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, power shortages or outages, fires, floods or monsoons, public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, political crises, such as terrorism, war, political instability or other conflict, or other events 13 13 13

Many of our existing products and those under development are technologically innovative and require significant planning, design, development and testing at the technological, safety, quality, product and manufacturing-process levels. Our customers use many of our products to develop, test and manufacture their own products. As a result, we must anticipate industry trends and develop products in advance of the commercialization of our customers’ products. If we fail to adequately develop products or predict our customers’ needs and future activities, we may invest heavily in research and development of products and services that do not lead to significant revenues. It may be difficult for us to implement our strategies for improving internal growth. Our growth depends in part on the growth of the markets which we serve. Any decline or lower than expected growth in our served markets could diminish demand for our products and services, which would adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. To address this issue, we are pursuing a number of strategies to improve our internal growth, including: •strengthening our presence in selected geographic markets; •allocating research and development funding to products with higher growth prospects; •developing new applications for our technologies; •expanding our service offerings; •continuing key customer initiatives; •combining sales and marketing operations in appropriate markets to compete more effectively; •finding new markets for our products; and •continuing the development of commercial tools and infrastructure to increase and support cross-selling opportunities of products and services to take advantage of our depth in product offerings. We may not be able to successfully implement these strategies, and these strategies may not result in the expected growth of our business. Because we compete directly with certain of our larger customers and product suppliers, our results of operations could be adversely affected in the short term if these customers or suppliers abruptly discontinue or significantly modify their relationship with us. Our business may be harmed in the short term if our competitive relationship in the marketplace with certain of our large customers results in a discontinuation of their purchases from us. In addition, we manufacture products that compete directly with products that we source from third-party suppliers. We also source competitive products from multiple suppliers. Our business could be adversely affected in the short term if any of our large third-party suppliers abruptly discontinues selling products to us. Our inability to complete any pending acquisitions or to successfully integrate any new or previous acquisitions could have a material adverse effect on our business. Our business strategy includes the acquisition of technologies and businesses that complement or augment our existing products and services. Certain acquisitions may be difficult to complete for a number of reasons, including the need for antitrust and/or other regulatory approvals, as well as disputes or litigation. Any acquisition we may complete may be made at a substantial premium over the fair value of the net identifiable assets of the acquired company. Further, we may not be able to integrate acquired businesses successfully into our existing businesses, make such businesses profitable, or realize anticipated cost savings or synergies, if any, from these acquisitions, which could adversely affect our business. Moreover, we have acquired many companies and businesses. As a result of these acquisitions, we recorded significant goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets (primarily tradenames) on our balance sheet, which amount to approximately $45.85 billion and $1.24 billion, respectively, as of December 31, 2024. In addition, we have definite-lived intangible assets totaling $14.30 billion as of December 31, 2024. We assess the realizability of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets annually as well as whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that these assets may be impaired. We assess the realizability of definite-lived intangible assets whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that these assets may be impaired. These events or circumstances would generally include operating losses or a significant decline in earnings associated with the acquired business or asset. Our ability to realize the value of the goodwill and intangible assets will depend on the future cash flows of these businesses. These cash flows in turn depend in part on how well we have integrated these businesses. If we are not able to realize the value of the goodwill and intangible assets, we may be required to incur material charges relating to the impairment of those assets. 11 11 11

Our inability to complete any pending acquisitions or to successfully integrate any new or previous acquisitions could have a material adverse effect on our business. Our business strategy includes the acquisition of technologies and businesses that complement or augment our existing products and services. Certain acquisitions may be difficult to complete for a number of reasons, including the need for antitrust and/or other regulatory approvals, as well as disputes or litigation. Any acquisition we may complete may be made at a substantial premium over the fair value of the net identifiable assets of the acquired company. Further, we may not be able to integrate acquired businesses successfully into our existing businesses, make such businesses profitable, or realize anticipated cost savings or synergies, if any, from these acquisitions, which could adversely affect our business. Moreover, we have acquired many companies and businesses. As a result of these acquisitions, we recorded significant goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets (primarily tradenames) on our balance sheet, which amount to approximately $44.02 billion and $1.24 billion, respectively, as of December 31, 2023. In addition, we have definite-lived intangible assets totaling $15.44 billion as of December 31, 2023. We assess the realizability of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets annually as well as whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that these assets may be impaired. We assess the realizability of definite-lived intangible assets whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that these assets may be impaired. These events or circumstances would generally include operating losses or a significant decline in earnings associated with the acquired business or asset. Our ability to realize the value of the goodwill and intangible assets will depend on the future cash flows of these businesses. These cash flows in turn depend in part on how well we have integrated these businesses. If we are not able to realize the value of the goodwill and intangible assets, we may be required to incur material charges relating to the impairment of those assets.

Our growth would be impacted if the markets into which we sell our products and services decline, do not grow as anticipated or experience cyclicality. Our growth depends in part on the growth of the markets which we serve. Any decline or lower than expected growth in our served markets would diminish demand for our products and services, which would adversely affect our financial statements. Certain of our businesses operate in industries that may experience periodic, cyclical downturns. Our business is affected by general economic conditions and related uncertainties affecting markets in which we operate. Our business is affected by general economic conditions, both inside and outside the U.S. Both domestic and international markets experienced significant inflationary pressures in 2024 and inflation rates in the U.S., as well as in other countries in which we operate, continue at elevated levels. If the global economy and financial markets, or economic conditions in Europe, the U.S. or other key markets, are unstable, that could adversely affect the business, results of operations and financial condition of the company and its customers, distributors, and suppliers, having the effect of: •reducing demand for some of our products; •increasing the rate of order cancellations or delays; •increasing the risk of excess and obsolete inventories; •increasing pressure on the prices for our products and services; •causing supply interruptions, which could disrupt our ability to produce our products; and •creating longer sales cycles, and greater difficulty in collecting sales proceeds and slower adoption of new technologies. Economic, political, foreign currency and other risks associated with international sales and operations could adversely affect our results of operations. International markets contribute a substantial portion of our revenues, and we intend to continue expanding our presence in these regions. The exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates takes on different forms. International revenues and costs are subject to the risk that fluctuations in exchange rates could adversely affect our reported revenues and profitability when translated into U.S. dollars for financial reporting purposes. These fluctuations could also adversely affect the demand for products and services provided by us. As a multinational corporation, our businesses occasionally invoice third-party customers in currencies other than the one in which they primarily do business (which we refer to as the functional currency). Movements in the invoiced currency relative to the functional currency could adversely impact our cash flows and our results of operations. As our international sales grow, exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates could have a larger effect on our financial results. In 2024, currency translation had an unfavorable effect of $0.08 billion on revenues due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies in which the company sells products and services. Some emerging market countries may be particularly vulnerable to periods of global and local political, legal, regulatory and financial instability, including issues of geopolitical relations, the imposition of international sanctions in response to certain state actions and/or sovereign debt issues, and may have a higher incidence of corruption and fraudulent business practices. As a result of these and other factors, our strategy to grow in emerging markets may not be successful, and growth rates in these markets may not be sustainable. In addition, many of our employees, contract manufacturers, suppliers, job functions, outsourcing activities and manufacturing facilities are located outside the U.S. Accordingly, our future results could be harmed by a variety of factors, including: 9 9 9

Our growth would suffer if the markets into which we sell our products and services decline, do not grow as anticipated or experience cyclicality. Our growth depends in part on the growth of the markets which we serve. Any decline or lower than expected growth in our served markets would diminish demand for our products and services, which would adversely affect our financial statements. Certain of our businesses operate in industries that may experience periodic, cyclical downturns. Our business is affected by general economic conditions and related uncertainties affecting markets in which we operate. Our business is affected by general economic conditions, both inside and outside the U.S. Both domestic and international markets experienced significant inflationary pressures in 2023 and inflation rates in the U.S., as well as in other countries in which we operate, continue at elevated levels. If the global economy and financial markets, or economic conditions in Europe, the U.S. or other key markets, continue to be unstable, they could adversely affect the business, results of operations and financial condition of the company and its customers, distributors, and suppliers, having the effect of: •reducing demand for some of our products; •increasing the rate of order cancellations or delays; •increasing the risk of excess and obsolete inventories; •increasing pressure on the prices for our products and services; •causing supply interruptions, which could disrupt our ability to produce our products; and •creating longer sales cycles, and greater difficulty in collecting sales proceeds and slower adoption of new technologies. 9 9 9

Fluctuations in our effective tax rate may adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows. As a global company, we are subject to taxation in numerous countries, states and other jurisdictions. In preparing our financial statements, we record the amount of tax that is payable in each of the countries, states and other jurisdictions in which we operate. Our future effective tax rate, however, may be lower or higher than experienced in the past due to numerous factors, including a change in the mix of our profitability from country to country, changes in accounting for income taxes, the results of examinations and audits of our tax filings and recently enacted and future changes in tax laws in jurisdictions in which we operate. Any of these factors could cause us to experience an effective tax rate significantly different from previous periods or our current expectations, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and cash flows. In December 2021, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) published a proposal for the establishment of a global minimum tax rate of 15% (the “Pillar Two rule”). While it is uncertain whether the United States will enact legislation to adopt the Pillar Two rule, numerous countries have enacted legislation, or have indicated their intent to adopt legislation, to implement certain aspects of the Pillar Two rules effective January 1, 2024, with general implementation of the remaining global minimum tax rules by January 1, 2025. The OECD and implementing countries are expected to continue 16 16 16

Fluctuations in our effective tax rate may adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows. As a global company, we are subject to taxation in numerous countries, states and other jurisdictions. In preparing our financial statements, we record the amount of tax that is payable in each of the countries, states and other jurisdictions in which we operate. Our future effective tax rate, however, may be lower or higher than experienced in the past due to numerous factors, including a change in the mix of our profitability from country to country, changes in accounting for income taxes, the results of examinations and audits of 16 16 16

•interruption to transportation flows for delivery of parts to us and finished goods to our customers; •changes in a specific country's or region's political, economic, social or other conditions; •changes in diplomatic and trade relationships, including new tariffs, trade protection measures, import or export licensing requirements, trade embargoes and sanctions and other trade barriers; •tariffs imposed by the U.S. on goods from other countries and tariffs imposed by other countries on U.S. goods, including the tariffs adopted by the U.S. government on various imports from China and by the Chinese government on certain U.S. goods; •the impact of public health emergencies, pandemics, epidemics or other health outbreaks on the global economy, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; •uncertainties regarding the collectability of accounts receivable; •the imposition of governmental controls; •diverse data privacy and protection requirements; •supply interruptions, which could disrupt our ability to produce our products; •increases in materials, energy, labor or other manufacturing-related costs or higher supply chain logistics costs; •negative consequences from changes in or interpretation of laws and regulations, including those related to tax and import/export; •difficulty in staffing and managing widespread operations; •differing labor regulations; •differing protection of intellectual property; •unexpected changes in regulatory requirements; and •geopolitical uncertainty or turmoil, including terrorism and war. Demand for some of our products depends on capital spending policies of our customers and on government funding policies. Our customers include pharmaceutical and chemical companies, laboratories, universities, healthcare providers, government agencies and public and private research institutions. Many factors, including public policy spending priorities, available resources, and product and economic cycles, have a significant effect on the capital spending policies of these entities. Spending by some of these customers fluctuates based on budget allocations and the timely passage of the annual federal budget. An impasse in federal government budget decisions could lead to substantial delays or reductions in federal spending. We are subject to risks associated with public health emergencies, pandemics, epidemics, or other health outbreaks. Our global operations expose us to risks associated with public health emergencies, epidemics, pandemics and other health outbreaks. These events have had an adverse impact on certain of our operations, supply chains and distribution systems in the past, and may again in the future, and we may experience unpredictable reductions in supply and demand for certain of our products and services. National, state and local governments may implement safety precautions, including quarantines, border closures, increased border controls, travel restrictions, shelter in place orders and shutdowns and other measures. These measures may disrupt normal business operations and may have significant negative impacts on businesses and financial markets worldwide. Our ability to continue to manufacture products is highly dependent on our ability to maintain the safety and health of our factory employees. The ability of our employees to work may be significantly impacted by future epidemics and pandemics.

Economic, political, foreign currency and other risks associated with international sales and operations could adversely affect our results of operations. International markets contribute a substantial portion of our revenues, and we intend to continue expanding our presence in these regions. The exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates takes on different forms. International revenues and costs are subject to the risk that fluctuations in exchange rates could adversely affect our reported revenues and profitability when translated into U.S. dollars for financial reporting purposes. These fluctuations could also adversely affect the demand for products and services provided by us. As a multinational corporation, our businesses occasionally invoice third-party customers in currencies other than the one in which they primarily do business (which we refer to as the functional currency). Movements in the invoiced currency relative to the functional currency could adversely impact our cash flows and our results of operations. As our international sales grow, exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates could have a larger effect on our financial results. In 2023, currency translation had an unfavorable effect of $0.02 billion on revenues due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies in which the company sells products and services. Some emerging market countries may be particularly vulnerable to periods of global and local political, legal, regulatory and financial instability, including issues of geopolitical relations, the imposition of international sanctions in response to certain state actions and/or sovereign debt issues, and may have a higher incidence of corruption and fraudulent business practices. As a result of these and other factors, our strategy to grow in emerging markets may not be successful, and growth rates in these markets may not be sustainable. In addition, many of our employees, contract manufacturers, suppliers, job functions, outsourcing activities and manufacturing facilities are located outside the U.S. Accordingly, our future results could be harmed by a variety of factors, including: •interruption to transportation flows for delivery of parts to us and finished goods to our customers; •changes in a specific country's or region's political, economic, social or other conditions; •changes in diplomatic and trade relationships, including new tariffs, trade protection measures, import or export licensing requirements, trade embargoes and sanctions and other trade barriers; •tariffs imposed by the U.S. on goods from other countries and tariffs imposed by other countries on U.S. goods, including the tariffs adopted by the U.S. government on various imports from China and by the Chinese government on certain U.S. goods; •the impact of public health emergencies, pandemics, epidemics or other health outbreaks on the global economy, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; •uncertainties regarding the collectability of accounts receivable; •the imposition of governmental controls; •diverse data privacy and protection requirements; •supply interruptions, which could disrupt our ability to produce our products; •increases in materials, energy, labor or other manufacturing-related costs or higher supply chain logistics costs; •negative consequences from changes in or interpretation of laws and regulations, including those related to tax and import/export; •difficulty in staffing and managing widespread operations; •differing labor regulations; •differing protection of intellectual property; •unexpected changes in regulatory requirements; and •geopolitical uncertainty or turmoil, including terrorism and war. Demand for some of our products depends on capital spending policies of our customers and on government funding policies. Our customers include pharmaceutical and chemical companies, laboratories, universities, healthcare providers, government agencies and public and private research institutions. Many factors, including public policy spending priorities, available resources, and product and economic cycles, have a significant effect on the capital spending policies of these entities. Spending by some of these customers fluctuates based on budget allocations and the timely passage of the annual federal budget. An impasse in federal government budget decisions could lead to substantial delays or reductions in federal spending. 10 10 10

laboratory-developed tests could delay and add to the cost of commercialization of these products, as well as subject us to additional regulatory controls. We are subject to laws and regulations governing government contracts, and failure to address these laws and regulations or comply with government contracts could harm our business by leading to a reduction in revenues associated with these customers. We have agreements relating to the sale of our products to government entities and, as a result, we are subject to various statutes and regulations that apply to companies doing business with the government. The laws governing government contracts differ from the laws governing private contracts and government contracts may contain pricing terms and conditions that are not applicable to private contracts. We are also subject to investigation for compliance with the regulations governing government contracts. A failure to comply with these regulations could result in suspension of these contracts, criminal, civil and administrative penalties or debarment. Our pharma services offerings are highly complex, and if we are unable to provide quality and timely offerings to our customers, our business could suffer. Our pharma services offerings are highly exacting and complex, due in part to strict quality and regulatory requirements. Our operating results in this business depend on our ability to execute and, when necessary, improve our quality management strategy and systems, and our ability to effectively train and maintain our employee base with respect to quality management. A failure of our quality control systems could result in problems with facility operations or preparation or provision of products. In each case, such problems could arise for a variety of reasons, including equipment malfunction, failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, problems with raw materials or environmental factors and damage to, or loss of, manufacturing operations. Such problems could affect production of a particular batch or series of batches of products, requiring the destruction of such products or a halt of facility production altogether. In addition, our failure to meet required quality standards may result in our failure to timely deliver products to our customers, which in turn could damage our reputation for quality and service. Any such failure could, among other things, lead to increased costs, lost revenues, reimbursement to customers for lost drug product, registered intermediates, registered starting materials, and active pharmaceutical ingredients, other customer claims, damage to and possibly termination of existing customer relationships, time and expense spent investigating the cause and, depending on the cause, similar losses with respect to other batches or products. Production problems in our drug and biologic manufacturing operations could be particularly significant because the cost of raw materials for such manufacturing is often high. If problems in preparation or manufacture of a product or failures to meet required quality standards for that product are not discovered before such product is released to the market, we may be subject to adverse regulatory actions, including product recalls, product seizures, injunctions to halt manufacture and distribution, restrictions on our operations, civil sanctions, including monetary sanctions, and criminal actions. In addition, such problems or failures could subject us to litigation claims, including claims from our customers for reimbursement for the cost of lost or damaged active pharmaceutical ingredients, the cost of which could be significant. A violation of data privacy or data protection laws could adversely harm our operating results and financial condition, damage our reputation or otherwise materially harm our business. As a global organization, we are subject to data privacy and data protection laws, rules, and customer-imposed controls as a result of producing, collecting, processing, storing and transmitting confidential, personal and/or sensitive data in the course of our business. A significant number of countries where we operate have enacted privacy or data protection laws, rules and regulations, the majority of which have extraterritorial scope, creating significant compliance challenges as we seek to maintain our global reach, with significant penalties for non-compliance, based on total worldwide annual revenue from the preceding financial year. In some cases, there are restrictions on the transfer of personal data outside the home country. More recently, privacy and data protection regulators are paying special attention to emerging issues linked to new digital technologies, such as the use of artificial intelligence, biometrics, and surveillance technologies, which pose unique challenges to existing privacy and data protection paradigms. For example, in the U.S., individual states regulate data breach and security requirements, and multiple governmental bodies assert authority over aspects of the protection of personal privacy. European laws require us to have an approved legal mechanism to transfer personal data out of Europe, and the EU General Data Protection Regulation imposes significantly stricter requirements in how we collect and process personal data. Several countries, such as China, have passed laws that require personal data relating to their citizens to be maintained on local servers and impose additional data transfer restrictions. Any actual or perceived noncompliance with these laws, rules and regulations, our internal policies and procedures or our contracts governing the processing of personal data could result in significant consequences, including, among other things, business interruption, sanctions and significant pecuniary fines, regulatory inquiries and investigations, adverse publicity, loss of competitive advantage and customer trust, as well as privacy litigation and civil lawsuits with damages, any of which may adversely affect our business, reputation and financial statements. The importance of privacy and data protection laws, rules and regulations for our industry specifically is constantly growing, as personal data is an integral part of doing business in our sectors, and the legal standards are evolving and becoming more complex worldwide. 14 14 14

New governmental regulations or changes in existing governmental regulations may reduce demand for our products or increase our expenses. We compete in many markets in which we and our customers must comply with federal, state, local and international regulations, such as environmental, health and safety and food and drug regulations. We develop, configure and market our products to meet customer needs created by those regulations. Any significant change in regulations, such as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), which contains drug price negotiation provisions, or change in the interpretation of existing regulations, could reduce demand for our products or increase our expenses. For example, we manufacture pharmaceuticals and many of our instruments are marketed to the pharmaceutical industry for use in discovering and developing drugs. Changes in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (the FDA) regulation of the drug discovery and development process could have an adverse effect on the demand for these products, and increased FDA regulation of laboratory-developed tests could delay and add to the cost of commercialization of these products, as well as subject us to additional regulatory controls. We are subject to laws and regulations governing government contracts, and failure to address these laws and regulations or comply with government contracts could harm our business by leading to a reduction in revenues associated with these customers. We have agreements relating to the sale of our products to government entities and, as a result, we are subject to various statutes and regulations that apply to companies doing business with the government. The laws governing government contracts differ from the laws governing private contracts and government contracts may contain pricing terms and conditions that are not applicable to private contracts. We are also subject to investigation for compliance with the regulations governing government contracts. A failure to comply with these regulations could result in suspension of these contracts, criminal, civil and administrative penalties or debarment. Our pharma services offerings are highly complex, and if we are unable to provide quality and timely offerings to our customers, our business could suffer. Our pharma services offerings are highly exacting and complex, due in part to strict quality and regulatory requirements. Our operating results in this business depend on our ability to execute and, when necessary, improve our quality management strategy and systems, and our ability to effectively train and maintain our employee base with respect to quality management. A failure of our quality control systems could result in problems with facility operations or preparation or provision of products. In each case, such problems could arise for a variety of reasons, including equipment malfunction, failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, problems with raw materials or environmental factors and damage to, or loss of, manufacturing operations. Such problems could affect production of a particular batch or series of batches of products, requiring the destruction of such products or a halt of facility production altogether. In addition, our failure to meet required quality standards may result in our failure to timely deliver products to our customers, which in turn could damage our reputation for quality and service. Any such failure could, among other things, lead to increased costs, lost revenues, reimbursement to customers for lost drug product, registered intermediates, registered starting materials, and active pharmaceutical ingredients, other customer claims, damage to and possibly termination of existing customer relationships, time and expense spent investigating the cause and, depending on the cause, similar losses with respect to other batches or products. Production problems in our drug and biologic manufacturing operations could be particularly 14 14 14

We must develop new products, adapt to rapid and significant technological change, respond to introductions of new products by competitors and maintain quality to remain competitive. Our growth strategy includes significant investment in and expenditures for product development. We sell our products in several industries that are characterized by rapid and significant technological changes, frequent new product and service introductions and enhancements and evolving industry standards. Competitive factors include technological innovation, including the increased adoption and use of artificial intelligence, price, service and delivery, breadth of product line, customer support, e-business capabilities and the ability to meet the special requirements of customers. Our competitors may adapt more quickly to new technologies and changes in customers’ requirements than we can. Without the timely introduction of new products, services and enhancements, our products and services will likely become technologically obsolete over time, in which case our revenues and operating results would suffer. 10 10 10

We must develop new products, adapt to rapid and significant technological change, respond to introductions of new products by competitors and maintain quality to remain competitive. Our growth strategy includes significant investment in and expenditures for product development. We sell our products in several industries that are characterized by rapid and significant technological changes, frequent new product and service introductions and enhancements and evolving industry standards. Competitive factors include technological innovation, price, service and delivery, breadth of product line, customer support, e-business capabilities and the ability to meet the special requirements of customers. Our competitors may adapt more quickly to new technologies and changes in customers’ requirements than we can. Without the timely introduction of new products, services and enhancements, our products and services will likely become technologically obsolete over time, in which case our revenues and operating results would suffer. Many of our existing products and those under development are technologically innovative and require significant planning, design, development and testing at the technological, safety, quality, product and manufacturing-process levels. Our customers use many of our products to develop, test and manufacture their own products. As a result, we must anticipate industry trends and develop products in advance of the commercialization of our customers’ products. If we fail to adequately develop products or predict our customers’ needs and future activities, we may invest heavily in research and development of products and services that do not lead to significant revenues. It may be difficult for us to implement our strategies for improving internal growth. Our growth depends in part on the growth of the markets which we serve. Any decline or lower than expected growth in our served markets could diminish demand for our products and services, which would adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. To address this issue, we are pursuing a number of strategies to improve our internal growth, including: •strengthening our presence in selected geographic markets; •allocating research and development funding to products with higher growth prospects; •developing new applications for our technologies; •expanding our service offerings; •continuing key customer initiatives; •combining sales and marketing operations in appropriate markets to compete more effectively; •finding new markets for our products; and •continuing the development of commercial tools and infrastructure to increase and support cross-selling opportunities of products and services to take advantage of our depth in product offerings. We may not be able to successfully implement these strategies, and these strategies may not result in the expected growth of our business. Because we compete directly with certain of our larger customers and product suppliers, our results of operations could be adversely affected in the short term if these customers or suppliers abruptly discontinue or significantly modify their relationship with us. Our largest customer in the laboratory products business is also a significant competitor. Our business may be harmed in the short term if our competitive relationship in the marketplace with certain of our large customers results in a discontinuation of their purchases from us. In addition, we manufacture products that compete directly with products that we source from third-party suppliers. We also source competitive products from multiple suppliers. Our business could be adversely affected in the short term if any of our large third-party suppliers abruptly discontinues selling products to us. 11 11 11