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Phison Announcement

Event Background

Taiwan Hsinchu District Court rendered judgment for Phison's financial report case which occurred in 2016. In accordance with the judgment, the court issued Mr. Pua a 1 year and 10 month sentence (which can be commuted into a fine) for causing a public official to provide false information in a public document; the court further issued Mr. Pua to 2-year sentence for violating Article 171 Item 1 Sub-Item 1 of Securities and Exchange Act.

Phison’s Handling Process

Mr. Pua has not yet received an authenticated copy of the court judgment, and has no knowledge about the court’s reason to make such a judgment. Nevertheless, Mr. Pua presents his regret for the judgment, and will discuss with attorneys to determine corresponding matters and appeal this case to the court of second instance.

Impact on Phison

The court judgment does not influence Phison's operation and finance.

Mr. K.S.Pua remains chairmane and CEO of Phison.

Additional Explanation

Since the occurrence of this case, Mr. Pua voluntarily appeared in governmental authority and actively cooperated with full transparency to the investigation. Mr. Pua further disclosed that he did not intend to damage Phison nor cheat any investors, and that Phison in reality was not damaged.

Nevertheless, this case taught Phison a lesson and inspired it to turn a negative into a positive opportunity. In recent years Phison actively improved its corporate governance, systemized management, and established a corporate social responsibility mechanism that includes environmental protection, and social responsibility to corporate governance (“ESG”). These achievements can be measured by comparing Phison in 2016 to Phison’s 2020 corporate governance ranking among the Taipei Exchange listed companies. Phison has jumped from 6% to 20%; and its 2021 MSCI ESG Rating was also upgraded from CCC to BB. These achievements reflect Phison’s commitment to a strong ESG.

Other than that, Phison also achieved great business results in recent years and continued to fuel Taiwan’s competitive technology center to the top of the world markets. Its revenue increased from NTD 43.8 billion in 2016 to NTD 48.5 billion in 2020; and in the first 9 months of 2021, its revenue set a new high NTD 45.7 billion. Its equity return is also considerable. Phison has cumulatively paid over NTD 29.8 billion in dividends to its investors, of which over NTD 17.7 billion was paid from 2016 to 2021.

In addition, Phison has invested nearly NT$39.2 billion in R&D expenditures in Taiwan since it was established. It also purchased land to build corporate headquarters and R&D buildings in Zhunan, Miaoli, with an investment of more than NT$7 billion, creating the world’s largest independent NAND controller and NAND storage solutions provider, with more than 3,000 employees worldwide, including 70% of Taiwan High-level R&D talents. Looking to the future, Phison will continue to aggressively invest in Taiwan and expand the country’s worldwide business.    

 

Mr. K.S.Pua Personal Statement

 

Dear business and media partners,

I am writing to send my appreciation for your attention and care to the latest court judgment issued by Taiwan Hsinchu District Court dated Oct. 29, 2021. The Judgment stems from the same financial statement case that took place over 5 years ago. 

I would like to assure you that there will be no impact to Phison’s operation and finance. Phison’s board members have had discussions on the Judgment, and they all support and have asked me to continue leading the company as the Chairman and CEO. Therefore, I will appeal the Court Judgment, and will continue settlement discussions with the investor protection center (i.e., SFIPC defined below), which will take a certain period of time.

In regards to the Phison financial case, as mentioned previously, when Taiwan Hsinchu District Prosecutors Office initiated the investigation in 2016, I actively cooperated with full transparency to the proceeding. The Prosecutor issued a deferred prosecution order in 2017. Due to the limitations of current law, this case was indicted in 2019 and the Prosecutor suggested the court consider commutation in the case.

Following the prosecutor’s indictment, the Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center (“SFIPC”) in Taiwan filed two civil actions in 2019. SFIPC is a non-profit organization set up under the Securities Investors and Futures Traders Protection Act to provide mediation of disputes arising from the trading of securities and futures.

I am personally working with the SFIPC and all parties to come to a complete and satisfactory resolution.

Once again, I appreciate your continuous care and support.

If you need further information, please contact Media Relations team at www.phison.com

Sincerely yours,

 

K.S. Pua

Nov. 2, 2021

 

 

About Phison

Phison Electronics Corp. (TPEX:8299) is a global leader in NAND Flash controller IC and storage solutions. We provide a variety of services from controller design, system integration, IP licensing to total turnkey solutions, covering applications across SSD (PCIe/SATA/PATA), eMMC, UFS, SD and USB interfaces, reaching out to consumer, industrial and enterprise markets. As an active member of industry associations, Phison is on the Board of Directors for SDA, ONFI, UFSA and a contributor for JEDEC, PCI-SIG, MIPI, NVMe.

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