UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

OR

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.

OR

OR

Date of event requiring this shell company report  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

For the transition period from                    to                    

Commission file number: 001-39302

UCLOUDLINK GROUP INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

N/A

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

Cayman Islands
(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

Room 2119, 21/F, One Pacific Centre
414 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong
Kowloon, Hong Kong
+852 2180-6111
(Address of principal executive offices)

Yimeng Shi, Chief Financial Officer
Telephone: +852 2180-6111
Email: ir@ucloudlink.com  
Room 2119, 21/F, One Pacific Centre
414 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong
Kowloon, Hong Kong
(Name, Telephone, Email and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

 

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None
(Title of Class)

 

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Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

None
(Title of Class)

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.

160,055,640 Class A ordinary shares (excluding the 3,423,280 Class A ordinary shares issued to the depositary bank for bulk issuance of ADSs reserved for future issuances upon the exercise or vesting of awards granted under the Share Incentive Plans) and 122,072,980 Class B ordinary shares, par value US$0.00005 per share, as of December 31, 2020.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ☐ Yes   ☒ No

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. ☐ Yes   ☒ No

Note – Checking the box above will not relieve any registrant required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 from their obligations under those Sections.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ☒ Yes   ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).  ☒  Yes   ☐  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

 

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐Yes   ☒ No

† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐ Yes   ☒ No

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

 

 

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. ☐ Item 17   ☐ Item 18

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). ☐ Yes   ☒ No

(APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court. ☐ Yes   ☐ No

 

 

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

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INTRODUCTION

Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references in this annual report to:

 

 

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FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This annual report contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current expectations and views of future events. The forward-looking statements are contained principally in the sections entitled “Item 3. Key Information—Risk Factors,” “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” and “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview.” Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those listed under “Item 3. Key Information—Risk Factors,” may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

You can identify some of these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “is/are likely to,” “potential,” “continue” or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to:

These forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. Although we believe that our expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, our expectations may later be found to be incorrect. Our actual results could be materially different from our expectations. Important risks and factors that could cause our actual results to be materially different from our expectations are generally set forth in “Item 3. Key Information—Risk Factors,” “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects,” “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview” and other sections in this annual report. You should read thoroughly this annual report and the documents that we refer to with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from and worse than what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.

This annual report contains certain data and information that we obtained from various government and private publications. Statistical data in these publications also include projections based on a number of assumptions. The mobile data connectivity service industry may not grow at the rate projected by market data, or at all. Failure of this market to grow at the projected rate may have a material adverse effect on our business and the market price of the ADSs. In addition, the rapidly evolving nature of this industry results in significant uncertainties for any projections or estimates relating to the growth prospects or future condition of our market. Furthermore, if any one or more of the assumptions underlying the market data are later found to be incorrect, actual results may differ from the projections based on these assumptions. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements made in this annual report relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this annual report. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read this annual report and the documents that we refer to in this annual report and have filed as exhibits to the registration statement, of which this annual report is a part, completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect.

 

 

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PART I

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The following selected consolidated statements of comprehensive (loss)/income data for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020, selected consolidated balance sheets data as of December 31, 2019 and 2020 and selected consolidated statements of cash flow data for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report. The following selected consolidated statements of comprehensive (loss)/income data for the year ended December 31, 2017, selected consolidated balance sheets data as of December 31, 2017 and 2018 and selected consolidated statements of cash flow data for the year ended December 31, 2017 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included in this annual report. Our consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or U.S. GAAP. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of results expected for future periods. You should read this “Selected Financial Data” section together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” included elsewhere in this annual report.

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The following table presents our selected consolidated statements of comprehensive (loss)/income data for the periods indicated:

 

 

Notes:

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The following table presents our selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020:

 

 

The following table presents our selected consolidated cash flow data for the periods indicated:

 

 

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Our business has been and is likely to continue to be materially adversely affected by the outbreak of COVID-19.

Since early 2020, the disease caused by a novel strain of coronavirus, later named COVID-19, has caused a global pandemic. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has led governments and other authorities around the world to impose measures intended to control its spread, including restrictions on freedom of movement, gatherings of large numbers of people, and business operations such as travel bans, border closings, business closures, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders and social distancing measures. As a result, the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences have caused a severe decline in global travel.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has subjected our business, operations and financial condition to a number of significant risks:

The continuation or a future resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic could precipitate or aggravate the other risk factors that we face, which in turn could further materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations and profitability, including in ways that are not currently known to us or that we do not currently consider to present significant risks. The extent of the impact of the COVID-19 on our operational and financial performance in the longer term will depend on future developments, including the duration of the outbreak and related travel advisories and restrictions and the impact of the COVID-19 on overall demand for travel, all of which are highly uncertain and beyond our control.

We depend on network operators for their wireless networks, infrastructures and data traffic, and any disruptions of or limitations on our use of such networks, infrastructures and data traffic may adversely affect our business and financial results.

We do not own or operate a physical network, but rather utilize the global wireless communication networks of MNOs through data traffic procurement from data traffic suppliers. The reliable service we provide to our users depends on those networks. If the MNOs fail to maintain their wireless facilities and government authorizations or to comply with government policies and regulations, the connection of our terminals, be it the initial connection or continued service connection, may be adversely affected. Some of the risks related to MNOs’ wireless communication networks and infrastructures include: major equipment failures, breaches of network or information technology security that affect their wireless networks, including transport facilities, communications switches, routers, microwave links, cell sites or other equipment or third-party owned local and long-distance networks on which we rely, power surges or outages, software defects and disruptions beyond their control, such as natural disasters and acts of terrorism, among others. Any impact on their wireless communication networks could disrupt our operations, require significant resources, result in a loss of users or impair our ability to attract new users, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Furthermore, while no data traffic supplier supplies a considerable portion of our SIM cards in our SIM pool and there are usually multiple available networks in major markets, our business may be materially adversely impacted if certain data traffic suppliers limit or deny our access to and usage of their networks and data traffic. The data traffic suppliers may determine that the service we provide or the cloud SIM technology we use does not fully comply with local telecommunications regulations, or is not fully compatible with the data traffic suppliers’ technical requirements, policies or contract provisions. The contracts we entered into for the network service and data traffic supply demonstrated varying degrees of certainties on whether and to what extent we are allowed to use the data traffic supply pursuant to our business model. A small number of contracts can be interpreted to have prohibited commercial use of our procured SIM cards. If data traffic suppliers consider that our business model and usage of data traffic do not comply with the agreements contained in relevant contracts, or in violation of local regulations, they can, among others, block the hotspot Wi-Fi function, limit the speed of the network we use, or completely terminate their services. Any of these actions taken by data traffic suppliers may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, our business may be adversely affected if certain mobile network operators restrict the data usage of SIM cards, for example, by changing infinite data packages to limited data packages, which may reduce the data available to users.

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Our ability to grow our business and user base for our service may be limited unless we can continue to obtain data traffic at favorable rates.

To further expand our business, we must continue to obtain wireless data traffic at favorable rates and terms. Our operating performance and ability to attract new users may be adversely affected if we are unable to meet increasing demands for our services in a timely and efficient manner.

Negotiations with prospective and existing data traffic suppliers also require substantial time, effort and resources. We may ultimately fail in our negotiations, resulting in costs to our business without any associated benefits. The termination or failure of renewal of our contracts with major suppliers for our data traffic can adversely affect our business and financial results. These contracts are in most cases for finite terms and, therefore, there can be no guarantee that they will be renewed at all or on favorable terms to us. Our business and results of operations would be adversely affected if these contracts were terminated or we were unable to enter into data traffic supply agreements in the future to provide our services to our users, which could result in a reduction of our revenues and profits.

Mergers and acquisitions among MNOs and MVNOs, either voluntary or government-driven, can result in fewer players in the telecommunications market, and as a consequence reduce our options for data traffic supply as well as our bargaining power. A more consolidated telecommunications market in a region may also partially negate the demand for our mobile data connectivity service as resources are combined and fewer negotiations are needed among the operators for network sharing or roaming.

We are and may be subject to extensive telecommunications regulations, and any change in the regulatory environment may materially impact us.

In most countries in which we operate, we may be required to comply with various regulatory obligations governing the provision of our products and services, primarily relating to telecommunications regulations. Due to the international reach of our services, it is difficult and costly to evaluate the regulatory environment in a given market and to what extent we are in compliance. Across different jurisdictions, we may be viewed as providing different services, and thus are required to obtain different licenses and permits. In addition, we may face and be subject to the governmental investigation and inquiries, initiated by the governmental authorities on their own or by responding the reports or complaints from our competitors, and/or our users. Below we list a few examples of regional regulatory frameworks in selected markets where we have entered or plan to enter in the future.

Telecommunications operators in China are subject to regulation by, and under the supervision of, the MIIT, the primary regulator of the telecommunications industry in China. Other PRC government authorities also take part in regulating the telecommunications industry in areas such as tariff policies and foreign investment. The MIIT, under the direction of the State Council, has been preparing a draft telecommunications law, which, once adopted, will become the fundamental telecommunications statute and the legal basis for telecommunications regulations in China. In 2000, the State Council promulgated a set of telecommunications regulations, or the Telecommunications Regulations, that apply in the interim period prior to the adoption of the telecommunications law. In 2020, China also tightened the enforcement of certain telecommunication regulations such as real-name authentication for SIM card users and restrictions on the use of machine-to-machine data SIM cards.

On May 17, 2013, the MIIT announced the Mobile Telecommunication Resale Service Pilot Scheme to encourage private investment in the telecommunications industry, which represented the official approval of the MVNO business. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—PRC—Regulations Related to Mobile Data Traffic Service.” According to the PRC laws and regulations related to MVNO, and our consultation with the local branch of MIIT, we understand that the key character of MVNO is that it purchases mobile telecommunication services from MNOs who own physical network, and then re-organize and resell these services to end-users under their own brands. We understand our business is significantly different from mobile telecommunication resale service in the PRC, including, (i) we only use our own brands to provide terminals and technology to our users, but not to resale mobile telecommunication services, and we emphasize in our users’ agreement that we only provide mobile data connectivity services, while all the data traffic are produced and provided by MNOs or MVNOs; (ii) we enable end-users to gain access to mobile data traffic without physical SIM cards by our services, but end-users do not gain access to any other mobile telecommunication services, for example, among others, voice services, short messages, through our services; (iii) MVNOs usually provide physical SIM cards with a specific phone number to users, through which users are able to get access to data traffic and voice services. However, our mobile data connectivity services do not contain physical SIM cards or phone numbers. Based on the above understanding, our PRC legal counsel, Han Kun Law Offices, is of the opinion that the service we provide in PRC is not mobile telecommunication resale service stipulated definitely under PRC laws and regulations. We received an Investigation Notice issued by Guangdong Communications Administration, or the GCA, the local branch of the MIIT, on March 25, 2019. According to the Investigation Notice, one of our VIEs, Shenzhen uCloudlink, has been reported to engage in the mobile telecommunication resale business without requisite approvals. The GCA conducted an investigation on us subsequently. We have been informed by the GCA that the investigation is completed. We received another Investigation Notice issued by GCA on July 16, 2019, which indicates that Shenzhen uCloudlink has been reported to engage in the mobile telecommunication resale business without requisite approvals. We attended an interview conducted by the GCA on July 19, 2019. However, as of the date of this annual report, we have not received any

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clearance from the GCA which indicates that it regards us as not engaging in the mobile telecommunication resale service, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to receive such final clearance. Our PRC legal counsel advised us that as the PRC regulations related to MVNOs and mobile telecommunication resale service is still in a nascent stage and keeps developing, and our business model shares certain similarities with mobile telecommunication resale service, there is no assurance that our competitors, our users will not report us to the PRC governmental authorities again, and there is no assurance that the PRC governmental authorities will hold the same opinion in the future and will not regard us as an MVNO. We have also entered into cooperation with an MVNO to conduct certain business transactions. There is no assurance that such cooperation will resolve all compliance issues under the developing PRC regulatory regime.

As a network service provider in the PRC, we are obligated to require the users to provide their real identity information when signing agreements or confirmations on the provision of services stipulated under relevant laws and regulations. Historically, one of our terminals in the PRC enabled the end-users to gain access to the data traffic without providing any users’ identity information, for which we received a rectification order from the GCA on May 7, 2019. We have submitted our rectification plan to the GCA. As of the date of this annual report, we have not received any final clearance from the GCA that our rectification plan is sufficient, and there can be no assurance that we will receive such final clearance. We received an Investigation Notice issued by GCA on July 16, 2019, which indicates that Shenzhen uCloudlink provides network access service for end-users without requiring them to provide identity information. We attended an interview conducted by the GCA on July 19, 2019. As of the date of this annual report, we do not receive any clearance from the GCA which indicates that we have fulfilled the obligation of real-name authentication obligation, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to receive such final clearance. As MNOs and MVNOs are required to obtain the real identity information of their users when conduct network access formalities for mobile phone numbers, we establish our authentication method on top of such by requiring our users to provide us the verification codes we sent to their mobile phone numbers when they first register in our Apps. Therefore, we are able to verify the real identity information of our users through their phone numbers. This authentication method has been widely adopted by network service providers in the PRC. However, we cannot assure that our authentication method is sufficient to fulfill the real-name authentication obligation.

We purchase machine to machine data SIM cards, or M2M Data SIM Cards, to support our service in the PRC. In addition to the usage limitation set forth in the purchase agreements, PRC laws and regulations also have other restrictions, and further require the MVOs and MVNOs to oversee and regulate the usage of M2M Data SIM Cards, including but not limited to prohibition of reselling M2M Data SIM Cards or using M2M Data SIM Cards for non-industry uses. We received a rectification notice from the GCA on February 24, 2020. The notice indicates that it came to GCA’s knowledge that one of our VIEs, Shenzhen uCloudlink, has been changing the usage scenarios of M2M Data SIM Cards. The notice requires Shenzhen uCloudlink to take rectification measures with respect to the services we provide to users in China, including shutting down the systems related to SIM BANK and stop selling or sending data traffic by separating the phone numbers from M2M Data SIM Cards no later than March 13, 2020. Upon receiving the notice, we started adjusting our technologies and operations accordingly and communicating with the GCA regarding rectification measures to take. On April 9, 2020, we officially submitted our rectification report to the GCA, which indicates that we will (i) stop selling in mainland China all portable Wi-Fi devices with SIM BANK function and using data allowances provided by PRC domestics carriers; (ii) stop using the technology to separate physical M2M Data SIM cards from phone numbers or to remotely insert virtual numbers to the devices; (iii) by the end of 2020, adjust our services to current end-users by providing alternative services and shutting down functions relating to mobile network switching, provided that the end-users will be entitled to refunds if the users are not satisfied with the adjustment; and (iv) report to the GCA on the progress of our rectifications. On May 8, 2020, we submitted a supplementary rectification report to GCA to further update the progress of our rectification measures. As of the date of this annual report, we have not received any final clearance from the GCA on our rectification measures, and there can be no assurance that we will receive such final clearance. Since the interpretation and application of regulations and laws related to M2M Data SIM Cards in the PRC remain unclear, and there are uncertainties as to the restriction on the use of M2M Data SIM Cards, including the definition of resale and non-industry uses, our usage of M2M Data SIM Cards may be deemed in violation of relevant regulations. In that case, we could be subject to administrative proceedings, orders, fines, or penalties, our cooperative MNOs and MVNOs may block data traffic or even terminate our cooperation, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

In Japan, the Telecommunications Business Act, generally requires that those who plan to provide telecommunications services be registered as telecommunications business operators. We have finished the registration of, and obtained an MVNO license for, our subsidiary in Japan.

Telecommunications business operators in Japan are prohibited from acquiring, using without permission, or leaking private communications (including, but not limited to, the contents of communications, the dates and places of the communications, the names and addresses, telephone numbers and IP addresses). The Telecommunications Business Act also requires a telecommunications business operator to, among other things, provide its service in a fair manner and, in certain emergency situations such as a natural disaster, prioritize important public communications. If, among other things, the acquisition, use without permission or leakage of private communications occurs or is not appropriately prevented in connection with the operation of the telecommunications business, a

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telecommunications business operator does not satisfy the foregoing requirements, or its business operation is otherwise inappropriate or unreasonable, such telecommunications business operator may be subjected to administrative or criminal sanctions.

In Hong Kong, the Telecommunications Ordinance (Chapter 106 of the Laws of Hong Kong), generally requires, among others, that those who plan to (i) deal in the course of trade or business in apparatus or material for radio communications; or (ii) offer in the course of business a telecommunication services, to apply for an appropriate license. Currently, we have a Radio Dealers License (Unrestricted) and are preparing an application to the Communications Authority in Hong Kong for a Services-Based Operator License. However, there is no assurance that due to the expansion and changes to our product and service offerings from time to time, we possess or will possess all relevant or required licenses. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Hong Kong—Laws and Regulations Related to Telecommunication Services and Import and Export of Telecommunication Devices.” In the event that the Communications Authority in Hong Kong is of the view that we are required to, but have not obtained, the specific license at the relevant time, we and any responsible directors or other officers may be subject to fines and/or criminal liabilities. After obtaining a specific license from the Communications Authority, we will also be subject to any licensing conditions imposed by the Communications Authority and there is no assurance that this will not require us to change our practices and/or require additional expenditures on resources to ensure compliance.

In January 2021, the Hong Kong Government has proposed a Real-name Registration Programme for Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Cards. If enacted as presently proposed (which includes a 120 days transition roll-out period), it will require users to provide the mobile operator or MVNO operator a copy of the identification documents of the users to purchase SIM cards (i.e. expanding from those who have provided identity information to sign up for service plans, to also include previous anonymously purchased prepaid store value SIM cards), and restrict the SIM card user to a purchase of no more than three SIM cards from each telecommunications service provider. Furthermore, telecommunications service provider would be required to check, clarify, and verify the information provided by users, and deregister the SIM cards concerned if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the information provided is false, misleading or incomplete.  In addition to other obligations for the respective telecommunications operators such as the storage of the personal information of the registered SIM card users, SIM cards which are not registered within the necessary period will become invalid. The consultation ended on March 20, 2021. The government will now review the comments submitted during the consultation period to consider any adjustments to the proposal relating to this program. The current proposals are contemplated to bind SIM card users, and the telecommunications service provider offering the SIM cards. This may significantly affect our business operation in Hong Kong and increase administrative and compliance cost, and there is no assurance that the current SIM arrangement will not be subject to change and modification.  

The overall legal framework of the European Union (EU) was modified by the Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of December 11, 2018 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (also known as the new European Electronic Communications Code – EECC) which took effect on December 20, 2018. The EU member states were required to transpose the requirements of the EECC into national law by December 21, 2020. With effect from December 21, 2020, the EECC repealed four main directives on:

With respect to roaming, Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 of November 25, 2015 (also known as the Telecoms Single Market package—TSM), which aims, in particular, to eliminate surcharges for international roaming within the European Union, and Regulation (EU) 2017/920 of May 17, 2017, which lays down the rules for wholesale roaming markets:

The EU regulations and proposals, by reducing the price for international roaming, increasing pricing transparency for users, and lowering entry barriers for the provision of mobile data connectivity services, may reduce the demand for and growth potential of our international mobile data connectivity services.

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With respect to the regulation of communication services, most of the obligations intended to protect end-users are for Internet access service and services using public numbering plan resources, independently of the service provider. Other services, such as interpersonal communication services independent of the numbering plan and signal transport services are only subject to a limited number of obligations.

In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, and other federal, state and local, as well as international, governmental authorities assert jurisdiction over the telecommunications industry. The licensing, construction, operation, sale and interconnection arrangements of wireless telecommunications systems are regulated by the FCC and, depending on the jurisdiction, international, state and local regulatory agencies. In particular, the FCC imposes significant regulation on licensees of wireless spectrum with respect to how radio spectrum is used by licensees, the nature of the services that licensees may offer and how the services may be offered, and resolution of issues of interference between spectrum bands. The FCC grants wireless licenses for terms of generally ten years that are subject to renewal. If a licensee fails to comply with the key terms of its license, including build-out requirements, its license may be subject to revocation. Over the past few years, the FCC and other federal and state agencies have engaged in increased regulatory and enforcement activity as well as investigations of the industry generally. Enforcement activities or investigations could make it more difficult and expensive to provide services like international or local mobile data connectivity service.

In addition to telecommunications regulations of FCC and FTC, the U.S. Congress and various executive agencies have enacted or imposed a series of measures aimed at increasing oversight of certain commercial transactions involving Chinese companies or investments by such companies in the United States. Such measures include Executive Order 13873, issued in May 2019, which the Department of Commerce recently proposed to implement through an interim final rule that broadly empowers that agency (in consultation with other executive agencies) to block or condition any “transaction” involving the “acquisition, importation, transfer, installation, dealing in, or use of any information and communications technology or service” designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by a Chinese company (i.e., given China’s designation as a “foreign adversary” under Executive Order 13873) that poses “undue risks of sabotage to or subversion of” information and communications technology and services in the United States or that otherwise threatens the resiliency or national security of the United States. An additional Executive Order, issued January 19, 2021, directs the Commerce Department to adopt rules requiring Infrastructure as a Service providers to collect additional information about their customers and new record-keeping requirements, and would allow the Department of Commerce to take actions to address “malicious cyber-enabled activities.”  These Executive Orders, together with enhanced powers assigned to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and other actions by the Department of Commerce subjecting certain Chinese companies to export controls regulations, could result in increased scrutiny of transactions involving our business and potential interference with business transactions that we deem to be beneficial.

Overall, the telecommunications law and other new telecommunications regulations or rules in the regions listed above or other regions where we operated or plan to enter may contain provisions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Additional costs or fees imposed by governmental regulation could adversely affect our revenues, future growth, and results of operations. Furthermore, our business activities and results of operations may be materially adversely affected by legislative or regulatory changes, sometimes of an extraterritorial nature, or by changes to government policy, and in particular by decisions taken by regulatory authorities.

Our intellectual property rights are valuable, and any inability to protect them could reduce the value of our products, services, and brand.

Our patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, and other intellectual property rights are important assets. However, our existing and future intellectual property rights may not be sufficient to protect our products, technologies or designs and may not prevent others from developing competing products, technologies or designs. We may not have sufficient intellectual property rights in all countries and regions to prevent unauthorized third parties from misappropriating our proprietary technologies, and the scope of our intellectual property might be more limited in certain countries and regions. Furthermore, there is always the possibility, despite our efforts, that the scope of the protection gained will be insufficient or that an issued patent may be deemed invalid or unenforceable.

In addition, confidentiality, intellectual property ownership and non-compete agreements may be breached by counterparties, and there may not be adequate remedies available to us for any such breach. Accordingly, we may not be able to effectively protect or enforce our intellectual property rights in China.

Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights. For example, in August 2018, we filed a complaint against SIMO Holdings Inc., or SIMO, and Skyroam Inc. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming infringement of two of our U.S. patents. There was a stipulated dismissal of the claim regarding one patent in September 2019. The defendants filed answer and counterclaim alleging trade secret misappropriation. The court granted our motion to dismiss the

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counterclaim and dismissed the trade secret misappropriation counterclaim with prejudice on September 12, 2019. SIMO then moved for leave to file a motion to reconsider the court’s prior “dismissal with prejudice” decision and modify that decision to “dismissal without prejudice”.  On August 26, 2020, the court denied SIMO’s motion to reconsider its decision to dismiss the trade secret misappropriation counterclaim with prejudice.  The parties have recently completed most of fact discoveries in the case, and are expected to complete expert discovery in the second quarter of 2021. SIMO also filed petition for inter partes review to United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in August 2019, alleging that our patent in this litigation is invalid. The USPTO denied the petition in February 2020 and SIMO filed a request for rehearing in March 2020, which was denied in May 2020.

We filed two lawsuits against Shenzhen Skyroam Technology Co., Ltd. in 2019 and 2020. The first one, in the Intermediate People’s Court of Shenzhen, claims patent infringement on our patent No. 209.9. The first hearing was held on January 28, 2021 and we are now waiting for the court’s further notice. The second one, in the Intermediate People’s Court of Shenzhen, claims patent infringement on our patent No. 352.6.  We have applied for withdrawal of the second litigation and we are now waiting for the court’s further notice. In September 2019, we filed three invalidation petitions against patent No. 612.8 owned by Shenzhen Sibowei’ersi Technology Co., Ltd. and patent No. 342.0 and No. 026.3 owned by Shenzhen Skyroam Technology Co., Ltd. in Patent Reexamination Board of National Intellectual Property Administration in PRC. In October 2019, we filed two invalidation petition against patent No. 667.0 and patent No. 821.7 respectively, both of which are jointly owned by Shenzhen Sibowei’ersi Technology Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Skyroam Technology Co., Ltd. in Patent Reexamination Board of National Intellectual Property Administration in PRC. In November 2019, we filed two invalidation petitions against patent No. 021.7 jointly owned by Shenzhen Sibowei’ersi Technology Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Skyroam Technology Co., Ltd. and patent No. 344.2 owned by Shenzhen Skyroam Technology Co., Ltd. in Patent Reexamination Board of National Intellectual Property Administration in PRC. The hearings for the above seven invalidation petitions have been completed.  Among the seven patents, five patents are determined to be valid by the National Intellectual Property Administration in PRC.  Patent No.342.0 and patent No.344.2 are determined to be partially invalid by the National Intellectual Property Administration in PRC.

In April 2019, we filed three administrative handling procedures against Shenzhen Weike Information Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Weike Communication Equipment Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Skyroam Technology Co., Ltd. for infringing our patent 011.8 in Market Inspection Bureau of Shenzhen. All of the administrative handling procedures have been suspended due to the invalidation petition against patent No. 011.8, which was filed by Shenzhen Skyroam Technology Co., Ltd. in Patent Reexamination Board of National Intellectual Property Administration in PRC in April 2019.

Initiating infringement proceedings against third parties can be expensive and time-consuming, and divert management’s attention from other business concerns. In addition, we may not prevail in litigations to enforce our intellectual property rights against unauthorized use.

We are, and may in the future be, subject to intellectual property claims, which are costly to defend, could result in significant damage awards, disrupt our business operation, and could limit our ability to use certain technologies in the future.

As we adopt new technologies and roll out new products and services, we face the risk of being subject to intellectual property infringement claims. Dealing with any intellectual property claims, with or without merit, could be time-consuming and expensive, and could divert our management’s attention away from the execution of our business plan. Moreover, any settlement or adverse judgment resulting from such claims may require us to pay substantial amounts of damages or obtain a license to continue to use the intellectual property that is the subject of the claims, for which we will have to pay royalties, or otherwise restrict or prohibit our use of the technologies in certain jurisdictions.

For example, in June 2018, two of our wholly owned subsidiaries were named as defendants in a complaint filed by SIMO in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging patent infringements. In April 2019, the court granted a summary judgment in favor of SIMO and another in favor of us. In May 2019, the jury delivered a verdict that the compensatory damages of SIMO for a four-month period from August 2018 to December 2018 were approximately US$2.2 million and found that our infringement was willful, in connection with which the plaintiff sought enhanced damages of 50% of the compensatory damages. The trial judge approved total compensatory and enhanced damages of approximately US$2.8 million in June 2019. Subsequently, the parties filed various post-trial motions, and the court denied our motions for judgment as a matter of law and for a new trial as well as SIMO’s motion for request for attorney’s fees. The court also granted plaintiff’s motion for permanent injunction, effective on September 1, 2019, to enjoin us from selling, offering to sell, importing, or enabling the use of three models of portable Wi-Fi terminals and one model of GlocalMe World Phone that the court believes infringed upon SIMO’s patent in the United States. In October 2019, the court amended the total damages to US$8.2 million to include pre-judgement interest on the awards and supplemental damages for certain sales occurring between January 1, 2019 and August 1, 2019, and certain sales occurring overseas for devices that had previously been sold within the United States between August 13, 2018 and August 31, 2019. We upgraded the allegedly infringing products by pushing a redesigned software update to the devices. We incurred approximately US$150,000 for the software update, user compensation (as our data connectivity service will not be available unless the devices have been upgraded), and other relevant costs. On December 9, 2019, the trial court lifted the injunction against the upgraded devices and concluded that they are not infringing. Our sales and services

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have generally resumed since the lift of the injunction. At the same time, we have appealed against the trial judge’s original judgment vigorously. Pending judgment from the appellate court, we have put a sum equal to the above-mentioned damages amount in an escrow account. On January 5, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the decision by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and held that we are entitled to summary judgment of noninfringement. On February 4, 2021, SIMO filed a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc. The Federal Circuit denied SIMO’s petition on March 11, 2021. On March 29, 2021, the escrowed funds have been fully released and refunded to uCloudlink. On April 8, 2021, the above-mentioned permanent injunction against our products was dissolved by the trial court.

In January 2020, SIMO Holdings, Inc., Skyroam, Inc., and Shenzhen Skyroam Technology Co., Ltd. filed a lawsuit for patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation against Hong Kong uCloudlink Network Tech. Ltd. and Shenzhen uCloudlink Technology Limited in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, or “EDTX”.  The patent infringement claim is based on patent No. 9,736,689, which is the same patent the Federal Circuit addressed in its decision reversing a judgment of infringement from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.  The trade secret allegations are the same as allegations SIMO previously made in a case between the parties in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.  Those allegations were dismissed from case in California with prejudice. We moved to transfer the patent infringement claim to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and to dismiss or transfer the claims for trade secret misappropriation to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.  On November 24, 2020, EDTX denied both motions. Following our success in the above-mentioned patent infringement case in New York, the plaintiffs dropped their patent infringement claim in EDTX on April 6, 2021. In response to EDTX’s ruling denying transfer of trade secret claims, we appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on April 16, 2021.

In addition, in 2019 and 2020, Shenzhen Skyroam Technology Co., Ltd. filed five invalidation petitions against patents No. 011.8, No. 209.9, No. 366.4, No. 352.6 and No. 323.5 owned by us in Patent Reexamination Board of National Intellectual Property Administration in PRC, respectively. The National Intellectual Property Administration issued orders which invalidated patent No. 366.4. and patent number patent No. 352.6 in September 2020 and November 2020, respectively. Shenzhen uCloudlink Technology Limited filed lawsuits at the Beijing Intellectual Property Court to challenge the invalidation decisions. With respect to the invalidation petition against patent No. 323.5, the oral hearing was held in January 2021 and the final decision has not been issued.

In June 2019, Shenzhen Skyroam Technology Co., Ltd. filed two complaints in the Intermediate People’s Court of Shenzhen against us: one alleging trade secret misappropriation claiming damages of approximately US$14 million and cessation of misappropriation, and the other one relating to the ownership of Patent No. 011.8. In July 2019, Shenzhen Skyroam Technology Co., Ltd filed another complaint in the Intermediate People’s Court of Shenzhen against us relating to the ownership of Patent No. 104.4.

If the court judgment of any of the lawsuits is against us, we may need to pay significant amounts of damages, we may lose our patent, and our business or operation may be adversely affected. See “Item 8. Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.”

Further, our internal procedures and licensing practices may not be effective in completely preventing the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials or the infringement of other rights of third parties by us or our officers or employees. Competitors and other third parties may claim that our officers or employees have infringed, misappropriated or otherwise violated their software copyright, confidential information, trade secrets, proprietary technology or other intellectual property rights in the course of their employment with us. We also license and use software or technologies from third parties in our applications and platform. These third-party software or technology licenses may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms or at all, and may expose us to liability. Any such liability, or our inability to use any of these third-party software or technologies, could result in disruptions to our business that could materially and adversely affect our operating and financial results.

We have a limited operating history, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects.

We commenced operation in 2014. As a result of our relatively limited operating history, our ability to forecast our future results of operations is limited and subject to a number of uncertainties. We have experienced rapid growth in recent periods. There is no assurance that we will be able to maintain our historical growth in future periods. Our growth may fluctuate for various reasons, many of which are beyond our control. In that case, investors’ perceptions of our business and business prospects may be adversely affected and the market price of the ADSs could fluctuate accordingly. You should consider our prospects in light of the risks and uncertainties that fast-growing companies with limited operating histories may encounter. We may not be able to manage our expansion effectively. Continuous expansion may increase the complexity of our business and place a strain on our management, operations, technical systems, financial resources and internal control functions. Our current and planned personnel, systems, resources and controls may not be adequate to support and effectively manage our future operations.

We face risks relating to our business partnerships and strategic alliances.

We have entered into and may in the future enter into cooperation and alliances with various third parties to further our business purpose from time to time. Our data connectivity business and its further expansion depends on the distribution channels we work with.

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We operate portable Wi-Fi services through multiple channels, including multiple Roamingman e-commerce platforms, online travel agencies, airlines and other travel related companies, sells portable Wi-Fi terminals on online e-commerce platforms, as well as on in-flight magazines with support from airlines. Our uCloudlink 2.0 model aims to provide mobile data connectivity services to local users across different MNOs in a single country, the success of which depends on our GlocalMe Inside implementation for smartphones and other smart hardware devices. Some local regulators require additional telecommunication licenses and permits, so we try to obtain requisite licenses and permits through both forming joint venture with local business partners who possess such licenses and permits and application by ourselves. Any deterioration of our relationship or unsuccessful cooperation with these partners or alliances could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

These alliances could subject us to a number of other risks, including risks associated with sharing proprietary information, failing to obtain or maintain the requisite certificates or licenses, non-performance by the third party and increased expenses in establishing new strategic alliances, any of which may materially and adversely affect our business. We may have limited ability to monitor or control the actions of these third parties and, to the extent any of these strategic third parties suffer negative publicity or harm to their reputation from events relating to their business, we may also suffer negative publicity or harm to our reputation by virtue of our association with any such third party.

If our efforts to attract and retain users do not achieve the expected results, our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Our success depends on introducing new products and services and upgrading existing ones to attract and retain users. In order to attract and retain users and compete against our competitors, we must continue to invest significant resources in research and development to enhance our technologies, improve our existing products and services, and introduce additional high-quality products and services, local data traffic service and GlocalMe Inside service. Despite testing prior to the release and throughout the lifecycle, our products and services sometimes contain coding or manufacturing errors, and result in other negative consequences. The detection and correction of any errors in released products and services can be time consuming and costly, causing delay in the development or release of new products or services or new versions of products or services, and adverse impact on market acceptance of our products or services. Furthermore, we may incur significant sales and marketing expenses in promoting our brand and new products and services in order to attract and retain our users. If we are unable to anticipate user preferences or industry changes, or if we are unable to enhance the quality of our products and services on a timely basis, we may suffer a decline in the size of our user base. Our results of operations may also suffer if our innovations do not respond to the needs of our users, are not appropriately timed with market opportunities or are not effectively brought to market.

We face risks related to natural disasters, terrorist acts or acts of war, social unrest, health epidemics or other public safety concerns or hostile events, which could significantly disrupt our operations.

The protests and demonstrations around 2019 and 2020 in Hong Kong, which resulted in violence, impacted the local economy and the travel industry in Hong Kong. Since we are headquartered in Hong Kong and some of our assets and operations are located there, if any significant negative developments to the political, economic or social environment were to occur, our business, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.

Our business could be materially and adversely affected by natural disasters, terrorist acts or acts of war, social unrest, health epidemics or other public safety concerns or hostile events. Natural disasters may give rise to server interruptions, breakdowns, system or technology platform failures, or internet failures, which would adversely affect our ability to operate our platform and provide our services. In addition, our results of operations could be adversely affected to the extent that any such event affects the economic condition in general and the travel industry in particular.

Our business has been adversely affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, and could also be adversely affected by the outbreak of Ebola virus disease, H1N1 flu, H7N9 flu, avian flu, SARS, or other epidemics.

Interruption or failure of our own technology systems or those provided by third-party service providers we rely upon could impair our ability to provide products and services, which could damage our reputation and harm our results of operations.

Our ability to provide products and services depends on the continuing operation of our technology systems or those provided by third-party service providers, such as cloud service providers. Any damage to or failure of such systems could interrupt our services. Service interruptions could reduce our revenue and profit and damage our brand if our systems are perceived to be unreliable. Our systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption as a result of terrorist attacks, wars, earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunications failures, undetected errors or “bugs” in our software, malware, computer viruses, interruptions in access to our platform through the use of “denial of service” or similar attacks, hacking or other attempts to harm our systems, and similar events. Some of our systems are not fully redundant, and our disaster recovery planning does not account for all possible scenarios. If we cannot continue to retain third-party services on acceptable terms, our services may be interrupted. If we experience frequent or persistent

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system failures on our platform, whether due to interruptions and failures of our own technology and or those provided by third-party service providers that we rely upon, our reputation and brand could be severely harmed.

We are in the process of developing and optimizing our billing system, which will place a key role in our existing and planned business initiatives. We will make the billing process more automatic so that it is in line with the global expansion of our business. Any error in the billing system could disrupt our operations and impact our ability to provide or bill for our services, retain customers, attract new customers, or negatively impact overall customer experience. Any occurrence of the foregoing could cause material adverse effects on our operations and financial condition, material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, and reputational damage.

The current tensions in international economic relations may negatively affect the cost of our operations, the growth of our business, and the size of our target market.

Recently there have been heightened tensions in international economic relations, such as the one between the U.S. and China. Since July 2018, the U.S. government has imposed, and has proposed to impose additional, new or higher tariffs on certain products imported from China to penalize China for what it characterizes as unfair trade practices. China has responded by imposing, and proposing to impose additional, new or higher tariffs on certain products imported from the U.S. In May 2019, the U.S. government announced to increase tariffs to 25%, and China responded by imposing tariffs on certain U.S. goods on a smaller scale, and proposed to impose additional tariffs on U.S. goods. On May 16, 2019, the U.S. government placed Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and its affiliates on the entity list, which effectively banned U.S. companies from selling to the Chinese telecoms company without U.S. government’s approval. On June 1, 2019, the tariffs announced in May 2019 became in effect on US$60 billion worth of U.S. goods exported to China. On September 1, 2019, as announced, U.S. began implementing tariffs on more than US$125 billion worth of Chinese imports. On September 2, 2019, China lodged a complaint against the U.S. over import tariffs to the World Trade Organization. On October 11, 2019, the U.S. government announced that the two countries had reached a “Phase 1” agreement, which was signed on January 16, 2020. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how much economic relief from the trade war it will offer.

In light of the existing and future measures, we may be required to adjust or relocate certain parts of our operations, which can be costly and time consuming. Similarly, our supply chain may be negatively affected too. In addition, given that certain measures are centered on the information and communications, the global implementation of 5G mobile communication systems could be delayed, which may reduce the pace of growth in need for mobile data connectivity services worldwide. Escalations of the tensions that affect trade relations may lead to slower growth in global travels and global economy in general, and potentially negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot provide any assurances or forecasts as to how the current Sino-U.S. economic relations may evolve.

We face competition from other players in the international mobile data connectivity service industry and local mobile data connectivity service industry and their adjacent industries, including MNOs, MVNOs, and other mobile data connectivity service providers.

The international mobile data connectivity service industry and local mobile data connectivity service industry are competitive, and competition for users is increasing. While we create unique values to and collaborate with MNOs and MVNOs, who are important participants on our mobile data traffic sharing marketplace, we also face competition from them. As a result, their interests may be different from, or adverse to, ours. These and other competitors have developed or may develop technologies that compete directly with our solutions.

Some of the MNOs and MVNOs we compete with are substantially larger than we are and have substantially longer operating histories. We may not be able to fund or invest in certain areas of our business to the same degree as these competitors. Many have substantially greater product development and marketing budgets and other financial and personnel resources than we do. Some also have greater name and brand recognition and a larger base of subscribers or users than we have. In addition, our competitors may provide services that we generally do not, such as cellular, local exchange and long-distance services, voicemail and digital subscriber lines. Users that desire these services may choose to also obtain mobile wireless connectivity services from a competitor that provides these additional services rather than from us. Furthermore, our competitors, particularly the MNOs and MVNOs can leverage a variety of competition strategies that may affect our business, such as raising claimed noncompliance to regulatory bodies, initiating legal or administrative proceedings against us for contractual, competition, antitrust, or other causes of actions, or even lobbying for legislations that may have a disproportionate impact on us.

In addition, as our business model matures and technology direction becomes proven, players along the value chain of our services may expand into our territory, further intensifying the competition. Competition could increase our selling and marketing expenses and related user acquisition costs. We may not have the financial resources, technical expertise or marketing and support capabilities to continue to compete successfully. A failure to respond to established and new competitors may adversely impact our business and operating results.

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We may also face pressure to reduce prices for our products and services. As competition in the international mobile data connectivity service industry and local mobile data connectivity service industry has increased, MNOs have lowered prices or increased the data traffic available under plans to attract or retain users, either through individual initiatives or joint actions among MNOs. To remain competitive, we may be compelled to reduce the prices for our mobile data connectivity services, which may in turn adversely affect our profitability and results of operations.

We may also be harmed by negative publicity instigated by our competitors, regardless of its validity. We have encountered and may in the future continue to encounter disputes with our competitors, including lawsuits involving claims asserted under intellectual property laws, trade secret misappropriation and defamation, which may adversely affect our business and reputation. See “Item 8. Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.” Failure to compete with current and potential competitors could materially harm our business, financial condition and our results of operations.

We may not be able to obtain licenses to use third-party intellectual property on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

Certain of products and services we offer incorporate third-party intellectual property, which requires licenses from those third parties. Based on past experience and industry practice, we believe such licenses generally can be obtained on reasonable terms. However, there can be no assurance that we would be able to obtain such licenses on commercially reasonable terms, if at all, that we would be able to develop alternative technology on a timely basis, if at all, or that we would be able to obtain a license to use a suitable alternative technology to permit us to continue offering, and our users to continue using, our affected products and services. Failure to obtain the right to use third-party intellectual property, or to use such intellectual property on commercially reasonable terms, could preclude us from selling certain products or services, or otherwise have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results.

If our expansions into new businesses do not achieve the expected results, our future results of operations and growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

As part of our growth strategy, we enter into new markets, such as mobile data connectivity services for local users, develop new businesses, such as GlocalMe Inside, find new applications for our technologies, such as IoT, and explore new monetization opportunities. Expansions into new businesses may present operating, marketing and compliance challenges that differ from those that we currently encounter. There can be long lead time and various uncertainties associated with the development of new products and services. Our potential lack of familiarity with new products and services and the lack of relevant marketing data relating to these products and services may make it more difficult for us to anticipate user demand and preferences. We may misjudge market demand, and may not be able to effectively control our costs and expenses in rolling out these new products and services. Furthermore, it may take a long time for users to recognize the value of the new products and services and we may need to price our new products or services more aggressively to penetrate new markets and gain market share or remain competitive. One of the strategies we employ to expand is to introduce new and innovative business models. In the markets in which we operate the new business models, the regulators may not be familiar with the business model and new legislations that adapt to the new business model may be lacking, creating uncertainties in the outcome of the regulators determinations or our compliance status. We have historically experienced investigations or inquiries from the regulators regarding our new business models.

We started to commercially offer products and services for uCloudlink 2.0 model in 2018, through which we aim to provide mobile data connectivity services for local users across different MNOs or help MNOs improve the service quality to their users, since local mobile data traffic represents a much bigger market than international data roaming. We have expanded the business scope of our local data connectivity service in line with the development of our strategy. We may not be able to effectively control our costs and expenses in these new business initiatives. We may encounter regulatory issues, bad reception by the market, or difficulties in securing partnerships with smartphone companies. If our new business initiatives do not achieve the level of success we expected, our operating results and growth prospect can be adversely affected.

We generate a substantial portion of our revenues from provision of international mobile data connectivity services. If we fail to diversify our revenue base or increase our market share in the future, our sales growth and operating results may be adversely affected.

In 2018, 2019 and 2020, we derived 64.9%, 49.2% and 34.4%, respectively, of our total revenues from our international mobile data connectivity services. While we expect to continue to diversify our revenue base, there can be no assurance the new products and services we introduce will be successful. Accordingly, our future success depends upon our ability to enhance and expand our international mobile data connectivity service and maintain or further increase our market share in the international data roaming market, which involves substantial time, costs and risks. Our revenues from international mobile data connectivity services are expected to be affected by travel and consumer spending, because users seek to access the mobile internet while they are on-the-go, and because spending on internet access is often a consumer discretionary spending decision. Any severe or prolonged slowdown in the global and/ or Chinese economy or the recurrence of any financial disruptions could reduce expenditures for travel, which in turn may adversely affect our operating results and financial condition. The COVID-19 pandemic has led governments and other authorities around the world to impose measures intended to control its spread, including restrictions on freedom of movement, gatherings of large numbers

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of people, and business operations such as travel bans, border closings, business closures, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders and social distancing measures. As a result, the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences have caused a severe decline in global travel. As a result, demand for our international data connectivity services is significantly reduced. Furthermore, we already occupy considerable market shares in some of our focused geographic markets, leaving less potential for rapid growth in those markets. If we do not achieve the targeted results from enhancing and expanding our international mobile data connectivity service and maintaining or further increasing our market share, for technological or other reasons, our sales growth and operating results may be adversely affected.

The international nature of our business exposes us to certain business risks, including the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, that could limit the effectiveness of our growth strategy and cause our results of operations to suffer.

Global expansion is an element of our growth strategy. Introducing and marketing our services internationally, developing direct and indirect international sales and support channels and managing global operations require significant management attention and financial resources. We face a number of risks associated with expanding our business internationally that could negatively impact our results of operations, including:

We may not succeed in our efforts to expand our international presence as a result of the factors described above or other factors that may have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

Meanwhile, to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our international business, we have expanded our uCloudlink 2.0 business in 2020. Since the governments in countries and regions such as China have strengthened the enforcement of regulation over use of M2M cards and real-name registration for SIM card users, the development of our 2.0 business may be slowed down to some extent.

We are subject to inventory risks.

For our hardware terminals, such as GlocalMe portable Wi-Fi terminals and GlocalMe World Phones, we must forecast inventory needs and place orders with our contract manufacturers and component suppliers based on our estimates of future demand for particular products. We may be unable to meet customer or distributor demand for our products or may be required to incur higher costs to secure the necessary production capacity and components. We could also overestimate future demand for our products and risk carrying excess product and component inventory, in which case our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

We are subject to risks related to data demand projection.

To ensure adequate supply of data traffic for our users, we must forecast the demand. While our uCloudlink cloud SIM platform and our SIM card allocation algorithm significantly increase the efficiency and utilization rate of the SIM cards, our ability to accurately forecast demand for our services could be affected by many factors, including specific events at a location, sales promotions by us or our distribution partners, and unanticipated changes in general market and economic conditions, among others. If we fail to accurately forecast user demand, we may experience shortage of network coverage or data traffic, limiting or interrupting the service to our users, and the users will lose confidence in our services. As market competition for products or services similar to ours intensifies, it could become more difficult to forecast demand.

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Developments in alternative connectivity services, improvements in the existing networks or services, or advances in existing or alternative technologies may encroach our market share, or make our technologies obsolete, thereby materially and adversely affecting the demand for our products and services.

Developments in alternative connectivity services, improvements in the existing networks or services, or advances in existing or alternative technologies, such Low-Earth-Orbit satellite-based communication technologies, or successful combinations of those may encroach our market share and materially and adversely affect our business and prospects in ways we do not currently anticipate. For example, improvements in the existing networks or services of MNOs that result in more flexible offerings at lower prices of both international mobile data connectivity service and local mobile data connectivity service could undermine the competitiveness of our products and services, resulting in decreased revenue and a loss of market share to competitors or providers of alternative services.

Introduction of new business models may encroach our market share.

New business models can be introduced in the markets we operate in or their adjacent markets, which can be the result of technology development, industry consolidation, or new players entering the market. For example, many venues offer free mobile Wi-Fi as an incentive or value-added benefit to their users. Free Wi-Fi may reduce retail user demand for our services, and put downward pressure on the prices we charge our retail users. In addition, telecommunications operators may offer free mobile Wi-Fi as part of a home broadband or other service contract, which also may force down the prices we charge our retail users. In addition, some mobile apps work with MNOs to offer free data traffic that can be utilized only by such apps, which may reduce the demand for our mobile data connectivity service. If these new business models are more attractive to users than the business models we currently use, our users may switch to our competitors’ services, and we may lose market share.

We may acquire companies or make investments in, or enter into licensing or cooperation arrangements with, other companies with technologies that are complementary to our business and these acquisitions or arrangements could have negative impacts on our business or cause us to require additional financing.

We may acquire companies, assets or the rights to technologies in the future in order to develop new services or enhance existing services, to enhance our operating infrastructure, to fund expansion, to respond to competitive pressures or to acquire complementary businesses. For example, in October 2018, we made an equity investment in a privately held company, Maya System, Inc., which provides cloud SIM related services in Japan, including sale of products and maintenance. In September 2020, we acquired a 10% stake in Beijing Huaxiang Lianxin Technology Co., Ltd., an MVNO that has entered into mobile data resale contracts with both China Mobile and China Unicom. In the same month, we established a long-term strategic partnership with the Shenzhen Branch of China United Network Communications Group Co., Ltd. to jointly improve network quality to achieve better user experience and services in various areas, and to collaborate with each other in joint marketing and promotional activities. In December 2020, we established a strategic cooperation relationship with China Vehicle Interconnected Transport Capacity Technology Co., Ltd. to develop intelligent container solutions in various areas for both domestic and international freight markets. Entering into these types of arrangements entails many risks, any of which could materially harm our business, including:

Any of the foregoing or other factors could harm our ability to achieve anticipated levels of profitability from acquired businesses or to realize other anticipated benefits of acquisitions. We may not be able to identify additional appropriate acquisition targets or consummate any future acquisitions on favorable terms, or at all. If we do effect an acquisition, it is possible that the financial markets or investors will view the acquisition negatively. We may encounter difficulties in securing necessary financing on terms that would be acceptable to us and may not be able to close the proposed acquisition. Even if we successfully complete an acquisition, it could adversely affect our business.

We are subject to risks and uncertainties faced by companies in rapidly evolving industries.

We operate in the rapidly evolving international mobile data connectivity service industry and local mobile data connectivity service industry, which makes it difficult to predict our future results of operations. Accordingly, you should consider our future

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prospects in light of the risks and uncertainties experienced by companies in evolving industries. Some of these risks and uncertainties relate to our ability to:

If we are unsuccessful in addressing any of these risks and uncertainties, or if the international mobile data connectivity service industry or local mobile data connectivity service industry do not grow as quickly as expected, our results of operation and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

Actions of joint venture partners could negatively impact our performance.

We may enter into joint ventures in the future. Such joint venture investments may involve risks not otherwise present in a branch or subsidiary, including, without limitation:

The occurrence of any of the foregoing risks with respect to a joint venture could have an adverse effect on the financial performance of such joint venture, which could in turn have an adverse effect on our financial performance and the value of an investment in our company.

In connection with the audits of our consolidated financial statements included in this annual report, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified two material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we fail to

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develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud.

Prior to our initial public offering, we were a private company with limited accounting personnel and other resources with which we address our internal control over financial reporting. In connection with the audits of our consolidated financial statements included in this annual report, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified two material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. As defined in the standards established by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a “material weakness” is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

The material weaknesses that have been identified relate to our (i) lack of sufficient resources regarding financial reporting and accounting personnel in the application of U.S. GAAP and the reporting requirements set forth by the SEC and (ii) lack of comprehensive U.S. GAAP accounting policies and financial reporting procedures. The material weaknesses, if not timely remedied, may lead to significant misstatements in our consolidated financial statements in the future.

Neither we nor our independent registered public accounting firm undertook a comprehensive assessment of our internal control for purposes of identifying and reporting material weaknesses and other control deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. Had we performed a formal assessment of our internal control over financial reporting or had our independent registered public accounting firm performed an audit of our internal control over financial reporting, additional deficiencies may have been identified.

Following the identification of the material weaknesses, we have taken measures and plan to continue to take measures to remedy the material weaknesses. See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—A. Operating Results—Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.” However, the implementation of these measures may not fully address the material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, and we cannot conclude that they have been fully remediated. Our failure to correct the material weaknesses or our failure to discover and address any other control deficiencies could result in inaccuracies in our financial statements and impair our ability to comply with applicable financial reporting requirements and related regulatory filings on a timely basis. Moreover, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could significantly hinder our ability to prevent fraud.

We are subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404, requires that we include a report from management on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in our annual report beginning with our annual report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2021. In addition, once we cease to be an “emerging growth company” as such term is defined in the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our management may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our internal controls or the level at which our controls are documented, designed, operated or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant requirements differently from us. In addition, as we are a public company, our reporting obligations may place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems for the foreseeable future. We may be unable to timely complete our evaluation testing and any required remediation.

During the course of documenting and testing our internal control procedures, in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404, we may identify other weaknesses and deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, as these standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404. If we fail to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, we could suffer material misstatements in our consolidated financial statements and fail to meet our reporting obligations, which would likely cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information. This could in turn limit our access to capital markets, harm our results of operations, and lead to a decline in the trading price of the ADSs. Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the stock exchange on which we list, regulatory investigations and civil or criminal sanctions. We may also be required to restate our consolidated financial statements for prior periods.

We have recognized a substantial amount of share-based compensation expense in 2020 and will incur additional share-based compensation expense in the future, which will have an impact on our results of operations.

In July 2019, our shareholders and board of directors adopted the Amended and Restated 2018 Stock Option Scheme and the 2019 Share Incentive Plan, which we refer to as the 2018 Plan and 2019 Plan, respectively, in this annual report, for the purpose of granting share-based compensation awards to employees, directors and consultants to incentivize their performance and align their interests with ours. The maximum aggregate number of ordinary shares that may be issued under the 2018 Plan is 40,147,720 shares.

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The maximum aggregate number of ordinary shares that may be issued pursuant to all awards under the 2019 Plan is initially 23,532,640 shares, which will be increased by a number equal to 1.0% of the total number of shares issued and outstanding on the last day of the immediately preceding fiscal year on the first day of each fiscal year, commencing with the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, if determined and approved by the board of directors for the relevant fiscal year. As of February 28, 2021, 21,332,357 share options had been granted and outstanding under the 2018 Plan, and no share options had been granted under the 2019 Plan. As of the date of this annual report, 6,021,500 restricted share units have been granted and outstanding under the 2019 Plan. The vesting of the share options granted by us was conditional upon completion of our initial public offering, and upon the completion of such offering in 2020, we began to recognize a substantial amount of share-based compensation expense. We recognized share-based compensation expenses of US$50.6 million in 2020. Moreover, with additional share options or other equity incentives granted to our employees or directors in the future, we will incur additional share-based compensation expense and our results of operations will be further adversely affected. For further information on our equity incentive plans and information on our recognition of related expenses, please see “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—B. Compensation—Amended and Restated 2018 Stock Option Scheme” and “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—B. Compensation—2019 Share Incentive Plan.”

We are subject to taxation-related risks in multiple jurisdictions.

The tax laws applicable to our business activities are subject to change and uncertain interpretation. Our tax position could be adversely impacted by changes in tax rates, tax laws, tax practice, tax treaties or tax regulations or changes in the interpretation thereof by the tax authorities in jurisdictions in which we do business.

Moreover, we conduct operations through our subsidiaries in various tax jurisdictions pursuant to transfer pricing arrangements between us and our subsidiaries. While we believe that we operate in compliance with applicable transfer pricing laws and intend to continue to do so, our transfer pricing procedures are not binding on applicable tax authorities. If tax authorities in any jurisdiction in which we operate were to successfully challenge our transfer prices as not reflecting arms’ length transactions, they could require us to adjust our transfer prices and thereby reallocate our income to reflect these revised transfer prices, which could result in a higher tax liability to us. Furthermore, a tax authority could assert that we are subject to tax in a jurisdiction where we believe we have not established a taxable connection, and such an assertion, if successful, could increase our expected tax liability in one or more jurisdictions. Such circumstances could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We are subject to complex and evolving laws and regulations regarding data privacy and protection.

Many jurisdictions, including the United States, the European Union and China, continue to consider the need for greater regulation or reform to the existing regulatory frameworks for data privacy and data protection. In the United States, all 50 states have now passed laws to regulate the actions that a business must take in the event of a data breach, such as prompt disclosure and notification to affected users and regulatory authorities. In addition to the data breach notification laws, some states have also enacted statutes and rules governing the ways in which businesses may collect, use, and retain personal information, granting data privacy rights to certain individuals, or requiring businesses to reasonably protect certain types of personal information they hold or otherwise comply with certain specified data security requirements for personal information. One such example is the California Consumer Privacy Act, which came into effect in 2020. The U.S. federal and state governments will likely continue to consider the need for greater regulation aimed at restricting certain uses of personal data, including for the purposes of targeted advertising. In the European Union, or EU, the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which came into effect in 2018, increased our burden of regulatory compliance and required us to change certain of our data privacy and security practices in order to achieve compliance. The GDPR implements stringent operational requirements for processors and controllers of personal data, including, for example, requiring expanded disclosures about how personal information is to be used, limitations on retention of information, mandatory data breach notification requirements, and higher standards for data controllers to demonstrate that they have obtained either valid consent or have another legal basis in place to justify their data processing activities. The GDPR provides that EU member states may make their own additional laws and regulations in relation to certain data processing activities, which could further limit our ability to use and share personal data and could require localized changes to our operating model. Recent legal developments in the EU have created complexity and uncertainty regarding transfers of personal information from the EU to “third countries,” especially the United States. For example, last year the Court of Justice of the EU invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework (a mechanism for the transfer of personal information from the EU to the US) and made clear that reliance on standard contractual clauses (another such mechanism) alone may not be sufficient in all circumstances. In addition, after the United Kingdom, or UK, left the EU, the UK enacted the UK GDPR, which, together with the amended UK Data Protection Act 2018, retains the GDPR in UK national law. The UK’s departure from the EU has also created complexity and uncertainty regarding transfers between the UK and the EU. Under both the GDPR and UK GDPR, fines of up to €20 million (£17.5 million) or up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, may be assessed for non-compliance, which significantly increases our potential financial exposure if we fail to comply with all requirements under such laws.

In June 2017, the PRC Cybersecurity Law promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, or the SCNPC, took effect, which is formulated to maintain the network security, safeguard the cyberspace sovereignty, national security, and public interests, protect the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons, and other organizations, and requires that a network

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operator take technical measures, and other necessary measures to safeguard the safe and stable operation of the networks, effectively respond to the network security incidents, prevent illegal and criminal activities, and maintain the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of network data. The PRC Cybersecurity Law reaffirms the basic principles and requirements set forth in other existing laws and regulations on personal information protections and strengthens the obligations and requirements of internet service providers, which include but are not limited to: (i) keeping all user information collected strictly confidential and setting up a comprehensive user information protection system; (ii) abiding by the principles of legality, rationality and necessity in the collection and use of user information and disclosure of the rules, purposes, methods and scopes of collection and use of user information; and (iii) protecting users’ personal information from being leaked, tampered with, destroyed, or provided to third parties. Any violation of the provisions and requirements under the PRC Cybersecurity Law and other related regulations and rules may result in administrative liabilities such as warnings, fines, confiscation of illegal gains, revocation of licenses, suspension of business, and shutting down of websites, or, in severe cases, criminal liabilities. In addition, National Internet Information Office published Measures for the Security Assessment of Personal Information and Important Data to be Transmitted Abroad, or the Draft Security Assessment Notice to seek for public comments on April 11, 2017. The Draft Security Assessment Notice emphasizes the security evaluation requirements, any company found to be non-compliant with the obligations under the Draft Security Assessment Notice may potentially be subject to fines, administrative and/or criminal liabilities. It is still uncertain when the Draft Security Assessment Notice would be signed into law and whether the final version would have any substantial changes from this draft. Although we do not transfer any users’ personal information outside the PRC currently, we may transfer such information outside the PRC in the future subject to the requests or orders of governmental authorizations outside the PRC. We may not be able to fulfill the obligations then we are subjected to, among other, the security assessment at acceptable cost, or at all. In addition, on July 22, 2020, the Ministry of Public Security issued the Guiding Opinions on Implementing the Cybersecurity Protection System and Critical Information Infrastructure Security Protection System to further improve the national cybersecurity prevention and control system.

On October 21, 2020, the Standing Committee of the National Peoples’ Congress issued a Draft Personal Information Protection Law, which integrates the scattered rules with respect to personal information rights and privacy protection. The Draft Personal Information Protection Law aims at protecting the personal information rights and interests, regulating the processing of personal information, ensuring the order and free flow of personal information in accordance with the law and promoting the reasonable use of personal information. Personal information, as defined in the Draft Personal Information Protection Law, refers to information related to identified or identifiable natural persons and is recorded by electronic or other means but excluding the anonymized information. The Draft Personal Information Protection Law provides the circumstances under which a personal information processor could process personal information, which include but not limited to, where the consent of the individual concerned is obtained and where it is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract to which the individual is a contractual party. It also stipulates certain specific rules with respect to the obligations of a personal information processor, such as to inform the purpose and method of processing to the individuals, and the obligation of the third party who has access to the personal information by way of co-processing or delegation, etc.

The relevant regulatory authorities in China continue to monitor the websites and apps in relation to the protection of personal data, privacy and information security, and may impose additional requirements from time to time. The relevant regulatory authorities also publicize, from time to time, their monitoring results and require relevant enterprises listed in such notices to rectify non-compliance.

In addition to the above, many jurisdictions including, for example, Indonesia, have adopted or are adopting new data privacy and data protection laws that may impose further onerous compliance requirements, such as data localization, which prohibits companies from storing data relating to resident individuals in data centers outside the jurisdiction. The proliferation of such laws within jurisdictions and countries in which we operate may result in conflicting and contradictory requirements.

In order for us to maintain or become compliant with applicable laws as they come into effect, it may require substantial expenditures of resources to continually evaluate our policies and processes and adapt to new requirements that are or become applicable to us. Complying with any additional or new regulatory requirements on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis may impose significant burdens and costs on our operations or require us to alter our business practices. While we strive to protect our users’ privacy and data security and to comply with material data protection laws and regulations applicable to us, however, we cannot assure that our existing user information protection system and technical measures will be considered sufficient under all applicable laws and regulations.  Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with applicable data privacy laws and regulations, including in relation to the collection of necessary end-user consents and providing end-users with sufficient information with respect to our use of their personal data, may result in fines and penalties imposed by regulators, governmental enforcement actions (including enforcement orders requiring us to cease collecting or processing data in a certain way), litigation and/or adverse publicity. Proceedings against us—regulatory, civil or otherwise—could force us to spend money and devote resources in the defense or settlement of, and remediation related to, such proceedings. Our international business expansion could be adversely affected if the existing or future laws and regulations are interpreted or implemented in a manner that is inconsistent with our current business practices or requires changes to these practices. If these laws and regulations materially limit our ability to collect, transfer, and use user data, our ability to continue our current operations without modification, develop new services or features of the products and expand our user base may be impaired, and our operation and financial results could be negatively affected.

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We would be harmed by data loss or other security breaches.

Our business involves the receipt, storage, and transmission of sensitive information of our users, customers and employees, including personal information and other confidential information about or held by our company. We have also outsourced elements of our operations to third parties, and as a result we manage a number of third-party contractors who have access to our confidential information, including third party vendors of IT and data security systems and services. While we have agreements requiring such vendors to use best practices for data security, we have no operational control over them. Despite the implementation of security measures, unauthorized access to confidential information may be difficult for us or our third-party vendors to anticipate, detect, or prevent, particularly given that the methods of unauthorized access constantly change and evolve. We are subject to the threat of unauthorized access or disclosure of confidential information by state-sponsored parties, malicious actors, third parties or employees, errors or breaches by third-party suppliers, or other security incidents that could compromise the confidentiality and integrity of confidential information. Cyber-attacks, such as denial of service and other malicious attacks, could disrupt our internal systems and applications, impair our ability to provide services to our users, and have other adverse effects on our business and that of others who depend on our services. Mobile networks are considered a critical infrastructure provider and therefore may be more likely to be the target of such attacks. Such attacks against companies may be perpetrated by a variety of groups or persons, including those in jurisdictions where law enforcement measures to address such attacks are ineffective or unavailable, and such attacks may even be perpetrated by or at the behest of foreign governments.

Our procedures and safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to confidential information and to defend against attacks seeking to disrupt our services must be continually evaluated and revised to address the ever-evolving threat landscape. We cannot make assurances that all preventive actions taken will adequately repel a significant attack or prevent information security breaches or the misuses of data, unauthorized access by third parties or employees, or exploits against third-party supplier environments. If we or our third-party suppliers are subject to such attacks or security breaches, we may incur significant costs or other material financial impact, which may not be covered by, or may exceed the coverage limits of, our cyber insurance, be subject to regulatory investigations, sanctions and private litigation, experience disruptions to our operations or suffer damage to our reputation. Any future cyber-attacks, data breaches, or security incidents may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results.

Our products and services may experience quality problems from time to time, which could result in decreased sales, adversely affect our results of operations and harm our reputation.

Our products and services could contain design and manufacturing defects in their materials, hardware, and firmware. Defects may also occur in components and materials that we purchase from third-party suppliers, such as batteries. These defects could include defective materials or components, or “bugs,” that can unexpectedly interfere with the products’ intended operations. Although we extensively test new and enhanced products and services before their release, there can be no assurance we will be able to detect, prevent, or fix all defects. Failure to do so could result in loss of revenue, significant warranty and other expenses and harm to our reputation.

Any unauthorized control or manipulation of our products or systems could result in a material adverse effect on our business.

We have designed, implemented and tested security measures intended to prevent unauthorized access to our information technology networks, our products and systems. However, hackers or even our own employees may attempt to gain unauthorized access to modify, alter and use such networks, products and systems to gain control of, or to change, our products’ functionality, user interface and performance characteristics, exploit our services for free and possibly for illegal use. Any unauthorized access to or control of our products or systems could result in legal claims, proceedings or investigations that cause interruptions of our operations, and damage to our reputation. In addition, we can be held liable for the illegal activities conducted through such unauthorized control or manipulation of our products and systems.

Our use of open-source software could negatively affect our ability to offer our products and services and subject us to possible litigation.

A portion of the technologies we use incorporates open-source software, and we may incorporate open source software in the future. Such open-source software is generally licensed by its authors or other third parties under open source licenses. These licenses may subject us to certain unfavorable conditions, including requirements that we offer our products and services that incorporate the open-source software for no cost, that we make publicly available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon, incorporating, or using the open source software, or that we license such modifications or derivative works under the terms of the particular open source license.

Additionally, if a third-party software provider has incorporated open-source software into software that we license from such provider, we could be required to disclose or provide at no cost any of our source code that incorporates or is a modification of such licensed software. If an author or any third party that distributes open-source software that we use or license were to allege that we had not complied with the conditions of the applicable license, we may need to incur significant legal expenses defending against such

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allegations and could be subject to significant damages and enjoined from the sale of our products and services that contained the open source software. Any of the foregoing could disrupt the distribution and sale of our products and services and harm our business.

If we are unable to take advantage of technological developments on a timely basis, we may experience a decline in demand for our products and services or face challenges in implementing or evolving our business strategy.

Our future success depends on our ability to respond to rapidly changing technologies, adapt our products and services to evolving industry standards and improve the performance and reliability of our products and services. Significant technological changes continue to impact the international mobile data connectivity service industry and local mobile data connectivity service industry. In general, these technological changes may enable certain companies to offer services competitive with ours. In order to grow and remain competitive with new and evolving technologies, we will need to adapt to future changes in technology. Adopting new and sophisticated technologies may result in implementation issues such as system instabilities, unexpected or increased costs, technological constraints, regulatory permitting issues, user dissatisfaction, and other issues that could cause delays in launching new technological capabilities, which in turn could result in significant costs or reduce the anticipated benefits of the upgrades. In general, the development of new services in the international mobile data connectivity service industry and local mobile data connectivity service industry will require us to anticipate and respond to the continuously changing demands of our users, which we may not be able to do accurately or timely. If we fail to keep up with rapid technological changes to remain competitive, or consequently fail to retain users with products and services of exceptional quality, our future success may be materially and adversely affected.

Our success depends substantially on the continuing efforts of our senior executives and other key personnel, and our business may be severely disrupted if we lose their services.

Our success depends heavily upon the continuing services of our management team. If one or more of our executives or other key personnel are unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions for various reasons such as legal actions and negative publicity, and we are not able to find their successors in a timely manner, our business may be disrupted and our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected. Competition for management and key personnel is intense, the pool of qualified candidates is limited, and we may not be able to retain the services of our executives or key personnel, or attract and retain experienced executives or key personnel in the future.

If any of our executives or other key personnel joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may not be able to successfully retain users, distributors, know-how and key personnel. Each of our executive officers and key employees has entered into an employment agreement with us, containing confidentiality and non-competition provisions. If any disputes arise between any of our executives or key personnel and us, we cannot assure you of the extent to which any of these agreements may be enforced.

We rely on highly skilled personnel. If we are unable to retain or motivate them or hire additional qualified personnel, we may not be able to grow effectively.

Our performance and future success depend on the talents and efforts of highly skilled individuals. We will need to continue to identify, hire, develop, motivate and retain highly skilled personnel for all areas of our organization and business operations. Our continued ability to compete effectively depends on our ability to attract new employees and to retain and motivate our existing employees. As we expand internationally, we also face the difficulties in recruiting and managing overseas employees, such as cultural differences, language barriers, and different regulatory requirement. As competition in the international mobile data connectivity service industry and local mobile data connectivity service industry intensifies, it may be more difficult for us to hire, motivate and retain highly skilled personnel. If we do not succeed in attracting additional highly skilled personnel or retaining or motivating our existing personnel, we may be unable to grow effectively.

If our employees commit fraud or other misconduct, including noncompliance with regulatory standards, our business may experience serious adverse consequences.

We are exposed to the risk of employee fraud or other misconduct. Certain laws and regulations may restrict or prohibit a wide range of pricing, discounting, marketing and promotion, sales commission, user incentive programs and other business arrangements. Employee misconduct could also involve the improper use of information obtained in the provision of services, which could result in regulatory sanctions and serious harm to our reputation. Furthermore, employee misconduct could subject us to financial losses and regulatory sanctions and could seriously harm our reputation and negatively affect our business. It is not always possible to identify and deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses or in protecting us from governmental investigations or other actions or lawsuits stemming from a failure to be in compliance with such laws or regulations. If any such actions are instituted against us, and we are not successful in defending ourselves or asserting our rights, those actions could have a significant impact on our business, including the imposition of significant fines or other sanctions.

We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, financial and economic sanctions and similar laws, and noncompliance with such laws can subject us to administrative, civil and criminal fines and penalties, collateral consequences,

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remedial measures and legal expenses, all of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and reputation.

We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering, financial and economic sanctions and similar laws and regulations in various jurisdictions in which we conduct activities, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, and other anti-corruption laws and regulations. Non-compliance with anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering or financial and economic sanctions laws could subject us to whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, and severe administrative, civil and criminal sanctions, collateral consequences, remedial measures and legal expenses, all of which could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and reputation. In addition, changes in economic sanctions laws in the future could adversely impact our business and investments in the ADSs.

We cooperate with our contract manufacturers to manufacture our products. If we encounter issues with them, our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We cooperate with certain contract manufacturers to produce our products. We may experience operational difficulties with our contract manufacturers, including reductions in the availability of production capacity, failure to comply with product specifications, insufficient quality control, failure to meet production deadlines, increases in manufacturing costs and longer lead time. Our contract manufacturers may experience disruptions in their manufacturing operations due to equipment breakdowns, labor strikes or shortages, natural disasters, component or material shortages, cost increases, violation of environmental, health or safety laws and regulations, or other problems. We may be unable to pass on the cost increases to our users. We may have disputes with our contract manufacturers, which may result in litigation expenses, divert our management’s attention and cause supply shortages to us. If our contract manufacturers were unable to perform their obligations or were to end their relationship with us, it may take up a significant amount of time to identify and onboard a new manufacturer that has the capability and resources to build our products to our specifications in sufficient volume, and our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

While we have regular access to each manufacturing facility of our contract manufacturers, and have quality control teams to continually monitor the manufacturing processes at our contract manufacturers’ facilities, any failure of such manufacturers to perform may have a material negative impact on our cost or supply of finished goods.

Furthermore, although our agreements with our contract manufacturers contain confidentiality obligations, and we have adopted security protocols to ensure knowhow and technologies for manufacturing our products could not be easily leaked or plagiarized, we cannot guarantee the effectiveness of these efforts, and any leakage or plagiary of our knowhow and technologies could be detrimental to our business prospects and results of operations.

We are dependent on our suppliers to provide certain components of our products, and inability of these suppliers to continue to deliver and do so on time, or their refusal to deliver, necessary components of our products at prices and volumes acceptable to us would have a material adverse impact on our business, prospects and operating results.

While we obtain components from multiple sources whenever possible, certain components used in our products are purchased by us from limited sources. We believe that we may be able to establish alternate supply relationships and can obtain or engineer replacement components for our limited source components, but we may be unable to do so in the short term or at all at prices or costs that are favorable to us. In particular, we rely on a major chip manufacturer based in the United States and our largest supplier of chips, for chips installed on our products. If we were to experience any material disruption to our sourcing of chips or any delay in the delivery, we may not be able to switch to an alternative supplier of chips within a short period time or at all. Furthermore, because our GlocalMe Inside service requires smartphone chips that support cloud SIM technology, the successful development and adoption of GlocalMe Inside service and our cooperation with smartphone companies in that regard depend on supply of smartphone chips featuring that function. If, for some reason, chip manufacturers remove or deny our access to that function from the chips they supply to the smart phone companies, the development of GlocalMe Inside business will be hindered.

We rely on distributors in marketing and selling our products and services, and failure to retain key distributors or attract additional distributors could materially and adversely affect our business.

We rely on third-party distributors in marketing and selling our products and services. If our distributors are not effective in selling and marketing our products and services, do not provide quality services to our users or otherwise breach their contracts with our users, or engage in inappropriate marketing conducts such as so-called “click farming” usually seen on e-commerce platforms, we may experience slower growth in a particular market, lose users and our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Since most of our distributors are not bound by long-term contracts, we cannot assure you that we will continue to maintain favorable relationships with them. If our major distributors decide to exit the cooperation with us or if we fail to retain our key distributors or attract additional distributors on terms that are commercially reasonable, our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

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We are subject to payment-related risks.

We enable our users to make payments by working with various third-party payment processing service providers. As we rely on third parties to provide payment processing services, including processing payments made with credit cards and payment apps, it could disrupt our business if these companies become unwilling or unable to provide these services to us. We may be subject to late payment, breach, human error, fraud and other illegal activities in connection with third-party online payment services. If our data security systems are breached or compromised, we may lose our ability to accept payments through credit and payment app from our users, and we may be subject to claims for damages from our users and third parties, all of which could adversely affect our reputation and results of operations.

We use third parties to perform shipping functions. A failure or disruption at our logistics providers would harm our business.

Currently, we use third-party logistics providers to perform shipment for us, including exports. If our logistics providers fail to deliver our products as required, we may face reputational damage or legal liabilities for breaching a contract. Although the shipping services required by us may be available from a number of providers, it is time-consuming and costly to qualify and implement these relationships. If one or more of our logistics providers suffer an interruption in their businesses, or experience delays, disruptions or quality control problems in their operations, or we choose to change or add additional logistics providers, our ability to ship products would be delayed and our business, results of operations and financial condition would be adversely affected.

Our results of operations are likely to fluctuate because of seasonality in the travel industry.

Our business can experience fluctuations, reflecting seasonal variations in demand for travel services. For example, summers generally see more global travels and generate more revenues for our data connectivity services. Consequently, our results of operations may fluctuate with the season. As we continue to expand internationally, we could reduce the degree to which we are subject to seasonality in specific markets.

We may need additional capital, and financing may not be available on terms acceptable to us, or at all.

We believe that our current cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for the next 12 months. We may, however, require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions or other future developments, including any changes in our pricing policy, marketing initiatives or investments we may decide to pursue. If these resources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to obtain a credit facility or sell additional equity or debt securities. The sale of additional equity securities could result in dilution of our existing shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. It is uncertain whether financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

We have incurred losses in the past.

We have incurred loss from operations of US$16.1 million and US$23.2 million, and net losses of US$19.3 million and US$26.6 million in 2017 and 2018, respectively, although we generated income from operations of US$5.5 million and net income of US$5.2 million in 2019. Our net cash used in operating activities was US$7.2 million and US$19.5 million in 2017 and 2018, respectively, while our net cash generated from operating activities was US$5.8 million in 2019. We incurred loss from operations of US$63.0 million and net losses of US$63.4 million in 2020 due to the adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Our net cash used in operating activities was US$2.0 million in 2020. The historical losses reflect the substantial investments we made to grow our business. We cannot assure you that we will be able to generate net profits in the foreseeable future.

We expect to continue to invest in the development and expansion of our business in areas including:

As a result of these increased expenses, we will have to generate and sustain increased revenue to be profitable in future periods. Further, in future periods, we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue growth to offset higher costs and sustain profitability. If we fail to sustain or increase profitability, our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

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Any inability to renew our leases on favorable terms could negatively impact our financial results.

We lease office space, warehouses, server rooms, data centers and counters. Generally, our leases provide us with the opportunity to renew the leases at our option for periods typically ranging from 1 to 3 years. For the leases that do not contain renewal options, or for which the option to renew has been exhausted or passed, we cannot guarantee the landlord will renew the lease, or will do so at a rate that will allow us to maintain profitability on that particular space. While we proactively monitor these leases and conduct ongoing negotiations with landlord, our ability to renegotiate renewals is inherently limited by the original contract language, including option renewal clauses. If we are unable to renew, we may incur substantial costs to move our infrastructure and to restore the property to its required condition. There is no guarantee that we will be able to find appropriate and sufficient space. The occurrence of any of these events could adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We have limited insurance coverage, which could expose us to significant costs and business disruption.

Insurance companies in China currently offer limited business insurance products. While we maintain product liability insurance coverage, we do not have any business liability or disruption insurance coverage for our operations. Any business disruption may result in our incurring substantial costs and the diversion of our resources. In addition, as we may purchase supplemental insurances to support our business expansion, our cost could be increased and our financial results could be negatively affected as a result.

Our business depends on our brands including GlocalMe and Roamingman, and if we are not able to maintain and enhance our brands, our business and results of operations may be harmed.

We believe that our brands including GlocalMe and Roamingman have contributed to the success of our business. We also believe that maintaining and enhancing the brands is critical as we try to retain and expand our user base for our international mobile data connectivity service and venture into new business opportunities such as GlocalMe Inside. If we fail to maintain and further promote our brands, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. In addition, any negative publicity about our company, our products and services, our employees, our business practices, or our partners, regardless of its veracity, could harm our brand image and in turn adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We are involved in legal proceedings in the ordinary course of our business from time to time. If the outcomes of these proceedings are adverse to us, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are involved in various legal proceedings in the ordinary course of business from time to time, involving competitors, business partners, customers and employees, among others. Claims arising out of actual or alleged violations of law could be asserted under a variety of laws, including but not limited to intellectual property laws, contract laws, tort laws, unfair competition laws, labor and employment laws, data privacy laws and property laws. No assurances can be given as to the outcome of any pending legal proceedings, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Even if we are successful in our attempt to defend ourselves in legal and administrative actions or to assert our rights under various laws, enforcing our rights against the various parties involved may be expensive, time-consuming and ultimately futile. These actions could expose us to negative publicity and to substantial monetary damages and legal defense costs, injunctive reliefs, and criminal and civil liabilities and/or penalties.

Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure

If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating certain of our operations in China do not comply with PRC regulations relating to the relevant industries, or if these regulations or the interpretation of existing regulations change in the future, we could be subject to penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.

Foreign ownership of telecommunication businesses is subject to restrictions under current PRC laws and regulations. For example, foreign investors are generally not allowed to own more than 50% of the equity interests in a commercial internet content provider or other value-added telecommunication service provider (other than operating e-commerce) and the major foreign investor in a value-added telecommunication service provider in China must have experience in providing value-added telecommunications services overseas and maintain a good track record in accordance with the Guidance Catalog of Industries for Foreign Investment promulgated in 2007, as amended, the Catalog of Industries for Encouraged Foreign Investment (2020 Edition), the Special Management Measures (Negative List) for the Access of Foreign Investment (2020 Edition), and other applicable laws and regulations.

Accordingly, none of our subsidiaries is eligible to provide commercial internet content or other value-added telecommunication service, which foreign-owned companies are or restricted from conducting in China. To comply with PRC laws and regulations, we conduct such business activities through our VIEs in China. Beijing uCloudlink has entered into contractual arrangements with our VIEs and their respective shareholders, and such contractual arrangements enable us to exercise effective control over, receive substantially all of the economic benefits of, and have an exclusive option to purchase all or part of the equity interest and assets in our VIEs when and to the extent permitted by PRC law. Because of these contractual arrangements, we are the primary beneficiary of our VIEs in China and hence consolidate their financial results with ours as our variable interest entities under U.S.

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GAAP. If the PRC government finds that our contractual arrangements do not comply with its restrictions on foreign investment in value-added telecommunication or other foreign-restricted services, or if the PRC government otherwise finds that we, our VIEs, or any of their subsidiaries are in violation of PRC laws or regulations or lack the necessary permits or licenses to operate our business, the relevant PRC regulatory authorities, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and Ministry of Commerce, would have broad discretion in dealing with such violations or failures, including, without limitation:

Furthermore, it is uncertain whether any new PRC laws, rules or regulations relating to contractual arrangements will be adopted or if adopted, what they would provide. In particular, a new draft of Foreign Investment Law was submitted to the National People’s Congress for review and was approved on March 15, 2019, which came into effect from January 1, 2020. The approved Foreign Investment Law does not touch upon the relevant concepts and regulatory regimes that were historically suggested for the regulation of VIE structures, and thus this regulatory topic remains unclear under the Foreign Investment Law. Since the Foreign Investment Law is new, there are substantial uncertainties exist with respect to its implementation and interpretation and it is also possible that variable interest entities will be deemed as foreign invested enterprises and be subject to restrictions in the future. Such restrictions may cause interruptions to our operations, products and services and may incur additional compliance cost, which may in turn materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Any of these events could cause significant disruption to our business operations and severely damage our reputation, which would in turn materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If occurrences of any of these events results in our inability to direct the activities of our VIEs in China that most significantly impact their economic performance, and/or our failure to receive the economic benefits from our VIEs, we may not be able to consolidate the financial results of our VIEs with ours in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

We rely on contractual arrangements with our VIEs and their shareholders for our business operations, which may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing operational control.

We have relied and expect to continue to rely on contractual arrangements with VIEs and their shareholders to operate part of our business in China. For a description of these contractual arrangements, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure.” These contractual arrangements may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing us with control over our VIEs. For example, our VIEs and their shareholders could breach their contractual arrangements with us by, among other things, failing to conduct its operations in an acceptable manner or taking other actions that are detrimental to our interests.

If we had direct ownership of our VIEs in China, we would be able to exercise our rights as a shareholder to effect changes in the board of directors of our VIEs, which in turn could implement changes, subject to any applicable fiduciary obligations, at the management and operational level. However, under the current contractual arrangements, we rely on the performance by our VIEs and their shareholders of their obligations under the contracts to exercise control over our VIEs. The shareholders of our VIEs may not act in the best interests of our company or may not perform their obligations under these contracts. Such risks exist throughout the period in which we intend to operate certain portion of our business through the contractual arrangements with our VIEs. If any dispute relating to these contracts remains unresolved, we will have to enforce our rights under these contracts through the operations of PRC law and arbitration, litigation and other legal proceedings and therefore will be subject to uncertainties in the PRC legal system. Therefore, our contractual arrangements with our VIEs may not be as effective in ensuring our control over the relevant portion of our business operations as direct ownership would be.

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Any failure by our VIEs or their shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material adverse effect on our business.

If our VIEs or their shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, we may have to incur substantial costs and expend additional resources to enforce such arrangements. We may also have to rely on legal remedies under PRC law, including seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and claiming damages, which we cannot assure you will be effective under PRC law. For example, if the shareholders of our VIEs were to refuse to transfer their equity interests in our VIEs to us or our designee if we exercise the purchase option pursuant to these contractual arrangements, or if they were otherwise to act in bad faith toward us, then we may have to take legal actions to compel them to perform their contractual obligations.

All the agreements under our contractual arrangements are governed by PRC law and provide for the resolution of disputes through arbitration in China. Accordingly, these contracts would be interpreted in accordance with PRC law and any disputes would be resolved in accordance with PRC legal procedures. The legal system in the PRC is not as developed as in some other jurisdictions, such as the United States. As a result, uncertainties in the PRC legal system could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. Meanwhile, there are very few precedents and little formal guidance as to how contractual arrangements in the context of a consolidated affiliated entity should be interpreted or enforced under PRC law. There remain significant uncertainties regarding the ultimate outcome of such arbitration should legal action become necessary. In addition, under PRC law, rulings by arbitrators are final, parties cannot appeal the arbitration results in courts, and if the losing parties fail to carry out the arbitration awards within a prescribed time limit, the prevailing parties may only enforce the arbitration awards in PRC courts through arbitration award recognition proceedings, which would require additional expenses and delay. In the event we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements, or if we suffer significant delay or other obstacles in the process of enforcing these contractual arrangements, we may not be able to exert effective control over our VIEs, and our ability to conduct our business may be negatively affected. See “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Uncertainties with respect to the PRC legal system could adversely affect us.”

The shareholders of our VIEs may have potential conflicts of interest with us, which may materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition.

The shareholders of our VIEs may have potential conflicts of interest with us, and we cannot assure you that their interests will be aligned with ours. Chaohui Chen, Zhiping Peng and four other beneficial owners of our company, hold 50.17%, 49.67% and 0.16% of the equity interests in Beijing Technology, respectively. Mr. Chaohui Chen is our founder, director and the chief executive officer. Mr. Zhiping Peng is our founder and the chairman of our board of directors. Another shareholder of Beijing Technology, Wen Gao, also serves as our executive officer. The shareholders of our VIEs may breach, or cause our VIEs to breach, or refuse to renew, the existing contractual arrangements we have with them and our VIEs, which would have a material adverse effect on our ability to effectively control our VIEs and receive economic benefits from it. For example, the shareholders may be able to cause our agreements with our VIEs to be performed in a manner adverse to us by, among other things, failing to remit payments due under the contractual arrangements to us on a timely basis. We cannot assure you that when conflicts of interest arise, any or all of these shareholders will act in the best interests of our company or such conflicts will be resolved in our favor. Currently, we do not have any arrangements to address potential conflicts of interest between these shareholders and our company, except that we could exercise our purchase option under the exclusive option agreements with these shareholders to request them to transfer all of their equity interests in the VIEs to a PRC entity or individual designated by us, to the extent permitted by PRC law. For individuals who are also our directors and officers, we rely on them to abide by the laws of the Cayman Islands, which provide that directors and officers owe a fiduciary duty to the company that requires them to act in good faith and in what they believe to be the best interests of the company and not to use their position for personal gains. The shareholders of our VIEs have appointed Beijing uCloudlink as their attorney-in-fact to exercise their rights, including power, with respect to our VIEs. If we cannot resolve any conflict of interest or dispute between us and these shareholders, we would have to rely on legal proceedings, which could result in disruption of our business and subject us to substantial uncertainty as to the outcome of any such legal proceedings.

Contractual arrangements in relation to our VIEs may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities and they may determine that we or our VIEs owe additional taxes, which could negatively affect our financial condition and the value of your investment.

Under applicable PRC laws and regulations, arrangements and transactions among related parties may be subject to audit or challenge by the PRC tax authorities within ten years after the taxable year when the transactions are conducted. We could face material adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities determine that the VIE contractual arrangements were not entered into on an arm’s length basis in such a way as to result in an impermissible reduction in taxes under applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations, and adjust income of our VIEs in the form of a transfer pricing adjustment. A transfer pricing adjustment could, among other things, result in a reduction of expense deductions recorded by our VIEs for PRC tax purposes, which could in turn increase its tax liabilities without reducing Beijing uCloudlink’s tax expenses. In addition, the PRC tax authorities may impose late payment fees and other penalties on our VIEs for the adjusted but unpaid taxes according to the applicable regulations. Our financial position could be materially and adversely affected if our variable interest entities’ tax liabilities increase or if they are required to pay late payment fees and other penalties.

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We may lose the ability to use and enjoy assets held by our VIEs that are material to the operation of certain portion of our business if the entity goes bankrupt or becomes subject to a dissolution or liquidation proceeding.

As part of our contractual arrangements with our VIEs, the entities hold certain assets that are material to the operation of certain portion of our business, including permits, domain names and most of our IP rights. If our VIEs go bankrupt and all or part of its assets become subject to liens or rights of third-party creditors, we may be unable to continue some or all of our business activities, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Under the contractual arrangements, our VIEs may not, in any manner, sell, transfer, mortgage or dispose of their assets or legal or beneficial interests in the business without our prior consent. If our VIEs undergo a voluntary or involuntary liquidation proceeding, the independent third party creditors may claim rights to some or all of these assets, thereby hindering our ability to operate our business, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Uncertainties exist with respect to the interpretation and implementation of the newly enacted PRC Foreign Investment Law and how it may impact the viability of our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations.

On March 15, 2019, the National People’s Congress approved the Foreign Investment Law, which came into effect on January 1, 2020 and replaced the trio of existing laws regulating foreign investment in China, namely, the Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprise Law, the Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprise Law and the Wholly Foreign-invested Enterprise Law, together with their implementation rules and ancillary regulations. The Foreign Investment Law embodies an expected PRC regulatory trend to rationalize its foreign investment regulatory regime in line with prevailing international practice and the legislative efforts to unify the corporate legal requirements for both foreign and domestic investments. However, since the Foreign Investment Law and the Implementation Regulations are relatively new, uncertainties still exist in relation to the interpretation and implementation of this newly enacted PRC Foreign Investment Law and its Implementation Regulations. For instance, under the Foreign Investment Law, “foreign investment” refers to the investment activities directly or indirectly conducted by foreign individuals, enterprises or other entities in China. Though it does not explicitly classify contractual arrangements as a form of foreign investment, there is no assurance that foreign investment via contractual arrangement would not be interpreted as a type of indirect foreign investment activities under the definition in the future. In addition, the definition contains a catch-all provision which includes investments made by foreign investors through means stipulated in laws or administrative regulations or other methods prescribed by the State Council. Therefore, it still leaves leeway for future laws, administrative regulations or provisions promulgated by the Stale Council to provide for contractual arrangements as a form of foreign investment. In any of these cases, it will be uncertain whether our contractual arrangements will be deemed to be in violation of the market access requirements for foreign investment under the PRC laws and regulations. Furthermore, if future laws, administrative regulations or provisions prescribed by the State Council mandate further actions to be taken by companies with respect to existing contractual arrangements, we may face substantial uncertainties as to whether we can complete such actions in a timely manner, or at all. Failure to take timely and appropriate measures to cope with any of these or similar regulatory compliance challenges could materially and adversely affect our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations.

Risks Related to Doing Business in China

Changes in China’s economic, political or social conditions or government policies could have a material adverse effect on our business and operations.

Certain portion of our operations are located in China. Accordingly, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be influenced to a significant degree by political, economic, social conditions and government policies in China generally. The Chinese economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the level of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. Although the PRC government has implemented measures emphasizing the utilization of market forces for economic reform, the reduction of state ownership of productive assets, and the establishment of improved corporate governance in business enterprises, a substantial portion of productive assets in China is still owned by the government. In addition, the PRC government continues to play a significant role in regulating industry development by imposing industrial policies. The PRC government also exercises significant control over China’s economic growth through allocating resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy, and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies.

While the Chinese economy has experienced significant growth over the past decades, growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy, and the rate of growth has been slowing since 2012. Any adverse changes in economic conditions in China, in the policies of the PRC government or in the laws and regulations in China could have a material adverse effect on the overall economic growth of China. Such developments could adversely affect our business and operating results, lead to reduction in demand for our services and adversely affect our competitive position. COVID-19 had a severe and negative impact on Chinese and global economy in 2020. Whether this will lead to a prolonged downturn in the economy is still unknown. The PRC government has implemented various measures to encourage economic growth and guide the allocation of resources. Some of these measures may benefit the overall Chinese economy, but may have a negative effect on us. For example, our financial condition and

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results of operations may be adversely affected by government control over capital investments or changes in tax regulations. In addition, in the past the PRC government has implemented certain measures, including interest rate adjustment, to control the pace of economic growth. These measures may cause decreased economic activity in China, which may adversely affect our business and operating results.

Uncertainties with respect to the PRC legal system could adversely affect us.

The PRC legal system is a civil law system based on written statutes. Unlike the common law system, prior court decisions under the civil law system may be cited for reference but have limited precedential value. Since these laws and regulations are relatively new and the PRC legal system continues to rapidly evolve, the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules are not always uniform and the enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involves uncertainties.

In 1979, the PRC government began to promulgate a comprehensive system of laws and regulations governing economic matters in general. The overall effect of legislation over the past three decades has significantly enhanced the protections afforded to various forms of foreign investments in China. However, China has not developed a fully integrated legal system, and recently enacted laws and regulations may not sufficiently cover all aspects of economic activities in China. In particular, the interpretation and enforcement of these laws and regulations involve uncertainties. Since PRC administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory provisions and contractual terms, it may be difficult to evaluate the outcome of administrative and court proceedings and the level of legal protection we enjoy. These uncertainties may affect our judgment on the relevance of legal requirements and our ability to enforce our contractual rights or tort claims. In addition, the regulatory uncertainties may be exploited through unmerited or frivolous legal actions or threats in attempts to extract payments or benefits from us.

Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published on a timely basis or at all and may have retroactive effect. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of any of these policies and rules until sometime after the violation. In addition, any administrative and court proceedings in China may be protracted, resulting in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention.

We may rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have, and any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to make payments to us and any tax we are required to pay could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business.

We are a Cayman Islands holding company and we may rely on dividends and other distributions on equity from our PRC subsidiaries for our cash requirements, including the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions to our shareholders and for services of any debt we may incur. Our subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends is based upon their distributable earnings. Current PRC regulations permit our PRC subsidiaries to pay dividends to their respective shareholders only out of their accumulated profits, if any, determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, each of our PRC subsidiaries and our VIEs is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits each year, if any, to fund a statutory reserve until such reserve reaches 50% of its registered capital. Each of such entities in China is also required to further set aside a portion of its after-tax profits to fund the employee welfare fund, although the amount to be set aside, if any, is determined at the discretion of its board of directors. These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends. If our PRC subsidiaries incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing the debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other payments to us. Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to distribute dividends or other payments to their respective shareholders could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our businesses, pay dividends or otherwise fund and conduct our business.

In response to the persistent capital outflow and RMB’s depreciation against U.S. dollar in the fourth quarter of 2016, the People’s Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, have implemented a series of capital control measures, including stricter vetting procedures for China-based companies to remit foreign currency for overseas acquisitions, dividend payments and shareholder loan repayments. For instance, the People’s Bank of China issued the Circular on Further Clarification of Relevant Matters Relating to Offshore RMB Loans Provided by Domestic Enterprises, or the PBOC Circular 306, on November 22, 2016, which provides that offshore RMB loans provided by a domestic enterprise to offshore enterprises that it holds equity interests in shall not exceed 30% of the domestic enterprise’s ownership interest in the offshore enterprise. The PBOC Circular 306 may constrain our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to provide offshore loans to us. The PRC government may continue to strengthen its capital controls and our PRC subsidiaries’ dividends and other distributions may be subjected to tighter scrutiny in the future. Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other distributions to us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our business, pay dividends, or otherwise fund and conduct our business.

Under the EIT Law and related regulations, dividends, interests, rent or royalties payable by a foreign invested enterprise, such as our PRC subsidiaries, to any of its foreign non-resident enterprise investors, and proceeds from any such foreign enterprise investor’s disposition of assets (after deducting the net value of such assets) are subject to a 10% withholding tax, unless the foreign enterprise investor’s jurisdiction of incorporation has a tax treaty with China that provides for a reduced rate of withholding tax. Undistributed

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profits earned by foreign-invested enterprises prior to January 1, 2008 are exempted from any withholding tax. The Cayman Islands, where UCLOUDLINK GROUP INC., is incorporated, does not have such a tax treaty with China. Hong Kong has a tax arrangement with China that provides for a 5% withholding tax on dividends subject to certain conditions and requirements, such as the requirement that the Hong Kong resident enterprise own at least 25% of the PRC enterprise distributing the dividend at all times within the 12-month period immediately preceding the distribution of dividends and be a “beneficial owner” of the dividends. For example, UCLOUDLINK (HK) LIMITED, which directly owns our PRC subsidiaries, is incorporated in Hong Kong. However, if UCLOUDLINK (HK) LIMITED is not considered to be the beneficial owner of dividends paid to it by our PRC subsidiaries under the tax circulars promulgated in February and October 2009, such dividends would be subject to withholding tax at a rate of 10%. If our PRC subsidiaries declare and distribute profits to us, such payments will be subject to withholding tax, which will increase our tax liability and reduce the amount of cash available to our company.

PRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of any financing outside China to make loans to or make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries and VIEs, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

Any funds we transfer to our PRC subsidiaries, either as a shareholder loan or as an increase in registered capital, are subject to approval by or registration or filing with relevant governmental authorities in China. According to the relevant PRC regulations on foreign-invested enterprises, or FIEs, in China, capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries are subject to filing with the Ministry of Commerce in its foreign investment comprehensive management information system and registration with other governmental authorities in China. In addition, any loans provided by us to our PRC subsidiaries and VIE are subject to PRC regulations and foreign exchange loan registrations. Such loans to any of our PRC subsidiaries and VIE cannot exceed a statutory limit and must be filed with SAFE through the online filing system of SAFE pursuant to the applicable PRC regulations. Any loan to be provided by us to our PRC subsidiaries and VIE with a term of one year or more must be recorded and registered with the National Development and Reform Commission. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Related to Foreign Exchange.”

In addition, a foreign invested enterprise shall use its capital pursuant to the principle of authenticity and self-use within its business scope. The capital of a foreign invested enterprise shall not be used for the following purposes: (i) directly or indirectly used for payment beyond the business scope of the enterprises or the payment prohibited by relevant laws and regulations; (ii) directly or indirectly used for investment in securities or investments other than banks’ principal-secured products unless otherwise provided by relevant laws and regulations; (iii) the granting of loans to non-affiliated enterprises, except where it is expressly permitted in the business license; and (iv) paying the expenses related to the purchase of real estate that is not for self-use (except for the foreign-invested real estate enterprises).

In light of the various requirements imposed by PRC regulations on loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the necessary government registrations or obtain the necessary government approvals or filings on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future loans by us to our PRC subsidiary or VIEs or with respect to future capital contributions by us to our PRC subsidiary. If we fail to complete such registrations or obtain such approvals, our ability to use the proceeds from our securities offerings to capitalize or otherwise fund our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

Fluctuations in exchange rates could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations and the value of your investment.

The conversion of Renminbi into foreign currencies, including U.S. dollars, is based on rates set by the People’s Bank of China. The Renminbi has fluctuated against the U.S. dollar, at times significantly and unpredictably. The value of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar and other currencies may fluctuate and is affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions in China and by China’s foreign exchange policies, among other things. We cannot assure you that Renminbi will not appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the U.S. dollar in the future. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between the Renminbi and the U.S. dollar in the future.

Significant fluctuation of the Renminbi may have a material adverse effect on your investment. For example, to the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars into Renminbi for our operations, appreciation of the Renminbi against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the Renminbi amount we would receive from the conversion. Conversely, if we decide to convert our Renminbi into U.S. dollars for the purpose of making payments for dividends on our ordinary shares or ADSs or for other business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Renminbi would have a negative effect on the U.S. dollar amount available to us.

Very limited hedging options are available in China to reduce our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. To date, we have not entered into any material hedging transactions in an effort to reduce our exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. While we may decide to enter into hedging transactions in the future, the availability and effectiveness of these hedges may be limited and we may not

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be able to adequately hedge our exposure or at all. In addition, our currency exchange losses may be magnified by PRC exchange control regulations that restrict our ability to convert Renminbi into foreign currency.

Our use of some leased properties could be challenged by third parties or governmental authorities, which may cause interruptions to our business operations.

As of the date of this annual report, some of the lessors of our properties leased by us in China have not provided us with their property ownership certificates or any other documentation proving their right to lease those properties to us. If our lessors are not the owners of the properties and they have not obtained consents from the owners or their lessors or permits from the relevant governmental authorities, our leases could be invalidated. If this occurs, we may have to renegotiate the leases with the owners or other parties who have the right to lease the properties, and the terms of the new leases may be less favorable to us. Although we may seek damages from such lessors, such leases may be void and we may be forced to relocate. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to find suitable replacement sites on terms acceptable to us on a timely basis, or at all, or that we will not be subject to material liability resulting from third parties’ challenges on our use of such properties. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

In addition, some of our leasehold interests in leased properties have not been registered with the relevant PRC governmental authorities as required by relevant PRC laws. Though the failure to register leasehold interests may not void the respective lease agreement, it may expose us to potential warnings and penalties up to RMB 10,000 per unregistered leased property.

Governmental control of currency conversion may limit our ability to utilize our revenues effectively and affect the value of your investment.

The PRC government imposes controls on the convertibility of the Renminbi into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of currency out of China. We receive a significant portion of our revenues in Renminbi. Under our current corporate structure, our Cayman Islands holding company may rely on dividend payments from our PRC subsidiary to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, including profit distributions, interest payments and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval of SAFE, by complying with certain procedural requirements. Specifically, under the existing exchange restrictions, without prior approval of SAFE, cash generated from the operations of our PRC subsidiary in China may be used to pay dividends to our company. However, approval from or registration with appropriate government authorities is required where Renminbi is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies. As a result, we need to obtain SAFE approval to use cash generated from the operations of our PRC subsidiary and consolidated affiliated entity to pay off their respective debt in a currency other than Renminbi owed to entities outside China, or to make other capital expenditure payments outside China in a currency other than Renminbi.

In light of the recent flood of capital outflows of China due to the weakening RMB, the PRC government has imposed more restrictive foreign exchange policies and stepped-up scrutiny of major outbound capital movement including overseas direct investment. More restrictions and substantial vetting process are put in place by SAFE to regulate cross-border transactions falling under the capital account. If any of our shareholders regulated by such policies fails to satisfy the applicable overseas direct investment filing or approval requirement timely or at all, it may be subject to penalties from the relevant PRC authorities. The PRC government may at its discretion further restrict access in the future to foreign currencies for current account transactions. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currencies to satisfy our foreign currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, including holders of the ADSs.

It may be difficult for overseas regulators to conduct investigation or collect evidence within China.

Shareholder claims or regulatory investigation that are common in the United States generally are difficult to pursue as a matter of law or practicality in China. For example, in China, there are significant legal and other obstacles to providing information needed for regulatory investigations or litigation initiated outside China. Although the authorities in China may establish a regulatory cooperation mechanism with the securities regulatory authorities of another country or region to implement cross-border supervision and administration, such cooperation with the securities regulatory authorities in the Unities States may not be efficient in the absence of mutual and practical cooperation mechanism. Furthermore, according to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law, or Article 177, which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within the territory of the PRC. While detailed interpretation of or implementation rules under Article 177 have yet to be promulgated, the inability for an overseas securities regulator to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within China may further increase difficulties faced by you in protecting your interests. See also —Risks related to the ADSs—You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law” for risks associated with investing in us as a Cayman Islands company.

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The M&A Rules and certain other PRC regulations establish complex procedures for some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions in China.

The M&A Rules and some other regulations and rules concerning mergers and acquisitions established additional procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities by foreign investors more time consuming and complex, including requirements in some instances that the Ministry of Commerce be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise. Moreover, the Anti-Monopoly Law requires that the anti-monopoly law enforcement authority shall be notified in advance of any concentration of undertaking if certain thresholds are triggered. In addition, the security review rules issued by the State Council that became effective in March 2011 specify that mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors that raise “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions through which foreign investors may acquire de facto control over domestic enterprises that raise “national security” concerns are subject to strict review by the Ministry of Commerce, and the rules prohibit any activities attempting to bypass a security review, including by structuring the transaction through a proxy or contractual control arrangement. In the future, we may grow our business by acquiring complementary businesses. Complying with the requirements of the above-mentioned regulations and other relevant rules to complete such transactions could be time consuming, and any required approval processes, including obtaining approval from the Ministry of Commerce or its local counterparts may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our business or maintain our market share.

PRC regulations relating to offshore investment activities by PRC residents and enterprises may increase our administrative burden and restrict our overseas and cross-border investment activities. If our PRC resident and enterprise shareholders fail to make any applications and filings required under these regulations, we may be unable to distribute profits to such shareholders and may become subject to liability under PRC law.

SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Relating to Domestic Resident’s Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, in July 2014 that requires PRC residents or entities to register with SAFE or its local branch in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing with such PRC residents or entities’ legally owned assets or equity interests in domestic enterprises or offshore assets or interests. In addition, such PRC residents or entities must update their SAFE registrations when the offshore special purpose vehicle undergoes material events relating to any change of basic information (including change of such PRC citizens or residents, name and operation term), increases or decreases in investment amount, transfers or exchanges of shares, or mergers or divisions.

If our shareholders who are PRC residents or entities do not complete their registration with the local SAFE branches, our PRC subsidiaries may be prohibited from distributing their profits and proceeds from any reduction in capital, share transfer or liquidation to us, and we may be restricted in our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiaries. Moreover, failure to comply with the SAFE registration described above could result in liability under PRC laws for evasion of applicable foreign exchange restrictions.

We have notified all PRC residents or entities who directly or indirectly hold shares in our Cayman Islands holding company and who are known to us as being PRC residents to complete the foreign exchange registrations, among which, some PRC residents are in the process of updating their registrations required in connection with our recent corporate restructuring, furthermore, the foreign exchange registrations of several PRC residents are yet to be completed, and there is no assurance that they will complete the relevant registrations finally, or at all. However, we may not be informed of the identities of all the PRC residents or entities holding direct or indirect interest in our company, nor can we compel our beneficial owners to comply with SAFE registration requirements. As a result, we cannot assure you that all of our shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents or entities have complied with, and will in the future make, obtain or update any applicable registrations or approvals required by, SAFE regulations. Failure by such shareholders or beneficial owners to comply with SAFE regulations, or failure by us to amend the foreign exchange registrations of our PRC subsidiaries, could subject us to fines or legal sanctions, restrict our overseas or cross-border investment activities, limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to make distributions or pay dividends to us or affect our ownership structure, which could adversely affect our business and prospects.

In August 2014, Ministry of Commerce promulgated the Measures for the Administration of Overseas Investment, and the National Development Reform Committee, or the NDRC, promulgated the Administrative Measures for the Approval and Filing of Overseas Investment Projects. In December 2017, the NDRC further promulgated the Administrative Measures of Overseas Investment of Enterprises, which became effective in March 2018. Pursuant to these regulations, any outbound investment of PRC enterprises in the area and industry that is not sensitive is required to be filed with Ministry of Commerce and the NDRC or their local branch. Upon filing of an enterprise’s overseas investment, where there is any change in the overseas investment matters stated in the original Certificate of Overseas Investments of Enterprises, such enterprise shall complete change formalities with the Ministry of Commerce or its local branches which processed the original filing. Regarding to the overseas reinvestments by the overseas enterprise, the PRC registered entities as the shareholder of such overseas enterprise, shall, upon completion of overseas legal formalities, report to the Ministry of Commerce. Certain of our enterprise shareholders that are PRC registered entities have completed the filing with Ministry of Commerce, and have not yet competed filing with the NDRC and the report and change formalities with Ministry of Commerce as

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of the date of this annual report and we cannot assure you that they will be able to complete such filing in time or at all. Moreover, we can provide no assurance that we are or will in the future continue to be informed of the identities of all PRC residents and PRC enterprises holding direct or indirect interest in our company, and even if we are aware of such shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents or PRC enterprises, we may not be able to compel them to comply with SAFE Circular 37 and outbound investment related regulations, and we may not even have any means to know whether they comply with these requirements. Any failure or inability by such individuals or enterprises to comply with SAFE and outbound investment related regulations may subject such individuals or the responsible officers of such enterprises to fines or legal sanctions, and may result in adverse impact on us, such as restrictions on our ability to distribute or pay dividends.

Furthermore, as these foreign exchange and outbound investment related regulations are relatively new and their interpretation and implementation have been constantly evolving, it is uncertain how these regulations, and any future regulations concerning offshore or cross-border investments and transactions, will be interpreted, amended and implemented by the relevant government authorities. For example, we may be subject to a more stringent review and approval process with respect to our foreign exchange activities, such as remittance of dividends and foreign-currency-denominated borrowings, which may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Due to the complexity and constantly changing nature of the foreign exchange and outbound investment related regulations as well as the uncertainties involved, we cannot assure you that we have complied or will be able to comply with all applicable foreign exchange and outbound investment related regulations. In addition, if we decide to acquire a PRC domestic company, we cannot assure you that we or the owners of such company, as the case may be, will be able to obtain the necessary approvals or complete the necessary filings and registrations required by the foreign exchange regulations. This may restrict our ability to implement our acquisition strategy and could adversely affect our business and prospects.

Any failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock incentive plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

Under the applicable regulations and SAFE rules, PRC citizens who participate in an employee stock ownership plan or a stock option plan in an overseas publicly listed company are required to register with SAFE and complete certain other administrative procedures. In February 2012, SAFE promulgated the Notices on Issues concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plans of Overseas Publicly Listed Companies, or the Stock Option Rules. Pursuant to the Stock Option Rules, if a PRC resident participates in any stock incentive plan of an overseas publicly-listed company, a qualified PRC domestic agent must, among other things, file on behalf of such participant an application with SAFE to conduct the SAFE registration with respect to such stock incentive plan and obtain approval for an annual allowance with respect to the purchase of foreign exchange in connection with the exercise or sale of stock options or stock such participant holds. Such participating PRC residents’ foreign exchange income received from the sale of stock and dividends distributed by the overseas publicly listed company must be fully remitted into a PRC collective foreign currency account opened and managed by the PRC agent before distribution to such participants. We and our PRC resident employees who have been granted stock options or other share-based incentives of our Company are subject to the Stock Option Rules since our Company is an overseas listed company. If we or our PRC resident participants fail to comply with these regulations, we and/or our PRC resident participants may be subject to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our PRC subsidiaries and limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to us. We also face regulatory uncertainties that could restrict our ability to adopt additional incentive plans for our directors, executive officers and employees under PRC law. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Related to Foreign Exchange—Regulations on Stock Incentive Plans.”

The State Administration of Taxation, or SAT, has issued certain circulars concerning employee share options and restricted shares. Under these circulars, our employees working in China who exercise or transfer share options or are granted restricted shares will be subject to PRC individual income tax. Our PRC subsidiaries have obligations to file documents related to employee share options or restricted shares with relevant tax authorities and to withhold individual income taxes of those employees who exercise their share options. If our employees fail to pay or we fail to withhold their income taxes according to relevant laws and regulations, we may face sanctions imposed by the tax authorities or other PRC governmental authorities. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Related to Foreign Exchange—Regulations on Stock Incentive Plans.”

If we are classified as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC income tax purposes, such classification could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC noteholders, shareholders or ADS holders.

Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementation rules, an enterprise established outside of the PRC with its “de facto management body” within the PRC is considered a “resident enterprise” and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its global income at the rate of 25%. The implementation rules define the term “de facto management body” as the body that exercises full and substantial control and overall management over the business, productions, personnel, accounts and properties of an enterprise. In 2009, the Notice Regarding the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Offshore-Incorporated Enterprises as PRC Tax Resident Enterprises on the basis of de facto management bodies, or the SAT Circular 82, issued by SAT on April 22, 2009, and further amended on December 29, 2017, provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a PRC-controlled

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enterprise that is incorporated offshore is located in China. Although this circular only applies to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups, not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners, the criteria set forth in the circular may reflect the SAT’s general position on how the “de facto management body” text should be applied in determining the tax resident status of all offshore enterprises. According to SAT Circular 82, an offshore incorporated enterprise controlled by a PRC enterprise or a PRC enterprise group will be regarded as a PRC tax resident by virtue of having its “de facto management body” in China and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its global income only if all of the following conditions are met: (i) the primary location of the day-to-day operational management is in the PRC; (ii) decisions relating to the enterprise’s financial and human resource matters are made or are subject to approval by organizations or personnel in the PRC; (iii) the enterprise’s primary assets, accounting books and records, company seals, and board and shareholder resolutions, are located or maintained in the PRC; and (iv) at least 50% of voting board members or senior executives habitually reside in the PRC.

We believe none of our entities outside of China is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes. However, the tax resident status of an enterprise is subject to determination by the PRC tax authorities and uncertainties remain with respect to the interpretation of the term “de facto management body.” If the PRC tax authorities determine that UCLOUDLINK GROUP INC. is a PRC resident enterprise for enterprise income tax purposes, we may be required to withhold a 10% withholding tax from interest or dividends we pay to our noteholders and shareholders that are non-resident enterprises, including the holders of the ADSs. In addition, non-resident enterprise noteholders and shareholders (including our ADS holders) may be subject to PRC tax at a rate of 10% on gains realized on the sale or other disposition of the notes. ADSs or ordinary shares, if such income is treated as sourced from within the PRC. Furthermore, if PRC tax authorities determine that we are a PRC resident enterprise for enterprise income tax purposes, interest or dividends paid to our non-PRC individual noteholders and shareholders (including our ADS holders) and any gain realized on the transfer of the notes. ADSs or ordinary shares by such holders may be subject to PRC tax at a rate of 20% (which, in the case of interest or dividends, may be withheld at source by us), if such gains are deemed to be from PRC sources. These rates may be reduced by an applicable tax treaty, but it is unclear whether non-PRC shareholders of UCLOUDLINK GROUP INC. would be able to claim the benefits of any tax treaties between their country of tax residence and the PRC in the event that UCLOUDLINK GROUP INC. is treated as a PRC resident enterprise. Any such tax may reduce the returns on your investment in the ADSs.

We face uncertainty with respect to indirect transfer of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises by their non-PRC holding companies.

We face uncertainties regarding the reporting on and consequences of previous private equity financing transactions involving the transfer and exchange of shares in our company by non-resident investors. In February 2015, the State Administration of Taxation issued the Bulletin on Issues of Enterprise Income Tax on Indirect Transfers of Assets by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises, or Bulletin 7. Pursuant to Bulletin 7, an “indirect transfer” of PRC assets, including a transfer of equity interests in an unlisted non-PRC holding company of a PRC resident enterprise, by non-PRC resident enterprises may be re-characterized and treated as a direct transfer of the underlying PRC assets, if such arrangement does not have a reasonable commercial purpose and was established for the purpose of avoiding payment of PRC enterprise income tax. As a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax, and the transferee or other person who is obligated to pay for the transfer is obligated to withhold the applicable taxes, currently at a rate of 10%, for the transfer of equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise. Bulletin 7 does not apply to transactions of sale of shares by investors through a public stock exchange where such shares were acquired from a transaction through a public stock exchange. On October 17, 2017, the SAT issued the Announcement of the State Administration of Taxation on Issues of Tax Withholding regarding Non-resident Enterprise Income Tax, or Bulletin 37, which came into effect on December 1, 2017. The Bulletin 37 further clarifies the practice and procedure of the withholding of nonresident enterprise income tax.

There is uncertainty as to the application of Bulletin 37 or previous rules under Bulletin 7. We face uncertainties on the reporting and consequences of private equity financing transactions, share exchanges or other transactions involving the transfer of shares in our company by investors that are non-PRC resident enterprises. Our company may be subject to filing obligations or taxes if our company is the transferor in such transactions, and may be subject to withholding obligations if our company is the transferee in such transactions, under Bulletin 37 and Bulletin 7.

Our ADSs may be delisted under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act if the PCAOB is unable to inspect auditors who are located in China. The delisting of our ADSs, or the threat of their being delisted, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment. Additionally, the inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections deprives our investors with the benefits of such inspections.

The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCA Act, was enacted on December 18, 2020. The HFCA Act states if the SEC determines that we have filed audit reports issued by a registered public accounting firm that has not been subject to inspection by the PCAOB for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, the SEC shall prohibit our shares or ADSs from being traded on a national securities exchange or in the over the counter trading market in the U.S.

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Our auditor, the independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included elsewhere in this annual report, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB, is subject to laws in the United States pursuant to which the PCAOB conducts regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicable professional standards. Since our auditor is located in China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB has been unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our auditor is currently not inspected by the PCAOB.

On March 24, 2021, the SEC adopted interim final rules relating to the implementation of certain disclosure and documentation requirements of the HFCA Act. We will be required to comply with these rules if the SEC identifies us as having a “non-inspection” year under a process to be subsequently established by the SEC.  The SEC is assessing how to implement other requirements of the HFCA Act, including the listing and trading prohibition requirements described above.

The SEC may propose additional rules or guidance that could impact us if our auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspection. For example, on August 6, 2020, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or the PWG, issued the Report on Protecting United States Investors from Significant Risks from Chinese Companies to the then President of the United States. This report recommended the SEC implement five recommendations to address companies from jurisdictions that do not provide the PCAOB with sufficient access to fulfil its statutory mandate. Some of the concepts of these recommendations were implemented with the enactment of the HFCA Act. However, some of the recommendations were more stringent than the HFCA Act. For example, if a company was not subject to PCAOB inspection, the report recommended that the transition period before a company would be delisted would end on January 1, 2022.

The SEC has announced that the SEC staff is preparing a consolidated proposal for the rules regarding the implementation of the HFCA Act and to address the recommendations in the PWG report. It is unclear when the SEC will complete its rulemaking and when such rules will become effective and what, if any, of the PWG recommendations will be adopted. The implications of this possible regulation in addition the requirements of the HFCA Act are uncertain. Such uncertainty could cause the market price of our ADSs to be materially and adversely affected, and our securities could be delisted or prohibited from being traded “over-the-counter” earlier than would be required by the HFCA Act. If our securities are unable to be listed on another securities exchange by then, such a delisting would substantially impair your ability to sell or purchase our ADSs when you wish to do so, and the risk and uncertainty associated with a potential delisting would have a negative impact on the price of our ADSs.

The PCAOB’s inability to conduct inspections in China prevents it from fully evaluating the audits and quality control procedures of our independent registered public accounting firm. As a result, we and investors in our ordinary shares are deprived of the benefits of such PCAOB inspections. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our independent registered public accounting firm’s audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to the PCAOB inspections, which could cause investors and potential investors in our stock to lose confidence in our audit procedures and reported financial information and the quality of our financial statements.

In May 2013, the PCAOB announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Enforcement Cooperation with the CSRC and the PRC Ministry of Finance, which establishes a cooperative framework between the parties for the production and exchange of audit documents relevant to investigations undertaken by the PCAOB in the PRC or by the CSRC or the PRC Ministry of Finance in the United States. The PCAOB continues to be in discussions with the CSRC and the PRC Ministry of Finance to permit joint inspections in the PRC of audit firms that are registered with the PCAOB and audit Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges.

Uncertainties exist with respect to the interpretation and implementation of Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms and how it may impact our business operations .

In February 2021, the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms was promulgated by the Anti-monopoly Commission of the PRC State Council.  The Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms is consistent with the Anti-Monopoly Law of PRC and prohibits monopoly agreements, abuse of dominant position and concentration of undertakings that may have the effect of eliminating or restricting competitions in the field of platform economy. More specifically, the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms outlines certain practices that may, if without justifiable reasons, constitute abuse of dominant position, including without limitation, tailored pricing using big data and analytics, actions or arrangements seen as exclusivity arrangements, using technology means to block competitors' interface, using bundled services to sell services or products, and compulsory collection of user data. Besides, Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms expressly states that concentration involving VIE will also be subject to antitrust filing requirements. Since the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms are relatively new, uncertainties still exist in relation to its interpretation and implementation, although we do not believe we engage in any foregoing situations, we cannot assure you that our business operations will comply with such regulation in all respects, and any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with such regulation may result in governmental investigations, fines and/or other sanctions on us.

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Proceedings instituted by the SEC against the “big four” China-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act.

Starting in 2011 the “big four” China-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, were affected by a conflict between U.S. and Chinese law. Specifically, for certain U.S.-listed companies operating and audited in China, the SEC and the PCAOB sought to obtain from the Chinese firms access to their audit work papers and related documents. The firms were, however, advised and directed that under Chinese law, they could not respond directly to the U.S. regulators on those requests, and that requests by foreign regulators for access to such papers in China had to be channeled through the CSRC.

In late 2012, this impasse led the SEC to commence administrative proceedings under Rule 102(e) of its Rules of Practice and also under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 against the Chinese accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm. A first instance trial of the proceedings in July 2013 in the SEC’s internal administrative court resulted in an adverse judgment against the firms. The administrative law judge proposed penalties on the firms including a temporary suspension of their right to practice before the SEC, although that proposed penalty did not take effect pending review by the Commissioners of the SEC. On February 6, 2015, before a review by the Commissioner had taken place, the firms reached a settlement with the SEC. Under the settlement, the SEC accepted that future requests by the SEC for the production of documents will normally be made to the CSRC. The firms were to receive matching Section 106 requests, and were required to abide by a detailed set of procedures with respect to such requests, which in substance require them to facilitate production via the CSRC. If they failed to meet specified criteria, the SEC retained authority to impose a variety of additional remedial measures on the firms depending on the nature of the failure.

Under the terms of the settlement, the underlying proceeding against the four China-based accounting firms was deemed dismissed with prejudice four years after entry of the settlement. The four-year mark occurred on February 6, 2019. While we cannot predict if the SEC will further challenge the four China-based accounting firms’ compliance with U.S. law in connection with U.S. regulatory requests for audit work papers or if the results of such a challenge would result in the SEC imposing penalties such as suspensions. If additional remedial measures are imposed on the “big four” China-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, we could be unable to timely file future financial statements in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.

In the event the “big four” China-based accounting firms become subject to additional legal challenges by the SEC or PCAOB, depending upon the final outcome, listed companies in the United States with major PRC operations may find it difficult or impossible to retain auditors in respect of their operations in the PRC, which could result in financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, including possible delisting. Moreover, any negative news about any such future proceedings against these audit firms may cause investor uncertainty regarding China-based, U.S.-listed companies and the market price of our common stock may be adversely affected.

If our independent registered public accounting firm was denied, even temporarily, the ability to practice before the SEC and we were unable to timely find another registered public accounting firm to audit and issue an opinion on our financial statements, our financial statements could be determined not to be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act. Such a determination could ultimately lead to the delisting of the ADSs from the Nasdaq Global Market or deregistration from the SEC, or both, which would substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of the ADSs in the United States.

The enforcement of the PRC Labor Contract Law and other labor-related regulations in the PRC may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

The SCNPC enacted the Labor Contract Law in 2008 and amended it on December 28, 2012. The Labor Contract Law introduced specific provisions related to fixed-term employment contracts, part-time employment, probationary periods, consultation with labor unions and employee assemblies, employment without a written contract, dismissal of employees, severance, and collective bargaining to enhance previous PRC labor laws. Under the Labor Contract Law, an employer is obligated to sign an unlimited-term labor contract with any employee who has worked for the employer for ten consecutive years. Further, if an employee requests or agrees to renew a fixed-term labor contract that has already been entered into twice consecutively, the resulting contract, with certain exceptions, must have an unlimited term, subject to certain exceptions. With certain exceptions, an employer must pay severance to an employee where a labor contract is terminated or expires. In the case of retrenching 20 or more employees or where the number of employees to be retrenched is less than 20 but comprises 10% or more of the total number of employees of such employer under certain circumstances, the employer shall explain the situation to the labor union or all staff 30 days in advance and seek the opinion of the labor union or the employees, the employer may carry out the retrenchment exercise upon reporting the retrenchment scheme to the labor administrative authorities. In addition, the PRC governmental authorities have continued to introduce various new labor-related regulations since the effectiveness of the Labor Contract Law.

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Under the PRC Social Insurance Law and the Administrative Measures on Housing Fund, employees are required to participate in pension insurance, work-related injury insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, maternity insurance, and housing funds and employers are required, together with their employees or separately, to pay the social insurance premiums and housing funds for their employees. If we fail to make adequate social insurance and housing fund contributions, or fail to withhold individual income tax adequately, we may be subject to fines and legal sanctions, and our business, financial conditions and results of operations may be adversely affected. In our operation history, certain of our PRC subsidiaries have not made adequate contributions to employee benefit plans, or not withheld individual income tax adequately, as required by applicable PRC laws and regulations. In addition, certain of our PRC subsidiaries engage third-party human resources agencies to make social insurance and housing fund contributions for some of their employees, and there is no assurance that such third-party agencies will make such contributions in full in a timely manner, or at all. As of the date of this annual report, we are not aware of any notice from regulatory authorities or any claim or request from these employees in this regard. However, we cannot assure you that the relevant regulatory authorities will not require us to pay outstanding amounts and impose late payment penalties or fines on us, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

These laws designed to enhance labor protection tend to increase our labor costs. In addition, as the interpretation and implementation of these regulations are still evolving, our employment practices may not be at all times be deemed in compliance with the regulations. As a result, we could be subject to penalties or incur significant liabilities in connection with labor disputes or investigations.

Some of our PRC service stores may have engaged in business activities without the necessary approvals from or registration with local authorities, which could subject us to fines or other penalties that may negatively impact our results of operations or interfere with our ability to operate our business.

As required by the PRC laws, a company that uses an office in a location outside its domicile to conduct business operation must register such office as a branch company with the competent local authority. As of February 28, 2021, we registered 14 branches in the PRC, of which 12 are registered for the purpose of picking-up and returning terminals, while some of our service stores established for the purpose of picking-up and returning terminals are not registered as branches. As we quickly expand our operations, we may need to register additional branch companies from time to time. However, whether a service store or a pick-up point will be deemed as having business nature or otherwise qualified for branch company registration is subject to the sole discretion of the government authorities. We cannot assure you that the governmental authorities will take the same view with us on whether a service store or picking up point is required or qualified to be registered as a branch company. If the government authorities find that we fail to complete branch company registrations for any of our service stores or pick-up points in a timely manner or otherwise violate relevant regulations on branch companies, we may be subject to penalties, including fines, confiscation of income, or being ordered to cease business. We may be subject to these penalties as a result of our failure to meet the registration requirements, and these penalties may substantially inhibit our ability to operate our business. The maximum potential penalty we may be subject to is RMB100,000 for our failure to register a service store or pick-up point as a branch company if the government authorities determine that such branch company registrations are required.

Risks Related to The ADSs

The trading price of the ADSs may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to you.

With the highest at US$24.77 per ADS and the lowest at US$8.56 per ADS since the completion of IPO till the end of March 31, 2021, the trading price of the ADSs may continue to be volatile and could fluctuate widely due to factors beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, like the performance and fluctuation in the market prices or the underperformance or deteriorating financial results of other listed companies based in China. The securities of some of these companies have experienced significant volatility since their initial public offerings, including, in some cases, substantial price declines in the trading prices of their securities. The trading performances of other PRC companies’ securities after their offerings may affect the attitudes of investors toward PRC companies listed in the United States, which consequently may impact the trading performance of the ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, any negative news or perceptions about inadequate corporate governance practices or fraudulent accounting, corporate structure or matters of other PRC companies may also negatively affect the attitudes of investors towards PRC companies in general, including us, regardless of whether we have conducted any inappropriate activities. In addition, securities markets may from time to time experience significant price and volume fluctuations that are not related to our operating performance, such as the large decline in share prices in the United States, China and other jurisdictions in late 2008, early 2009 and the second half of 2011, which may have a material adverse effect on the trading price of the ADSs.

In addition to the above factors, the price and trading volume of the ADSs may be highly volatile due to multiple factors, including the following:

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In the past, shareholders of public companies have often brought securities class action suits against those companies following periods of instability in the market price of their securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit, which could harm our results of operations. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

The sale or availability for sale of substantial amounts of the ADSs in the public market could adversely affect their market price.

Sales of substantial amounts of the ADSs in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of the ADSs and could materially impair our ability to raise capital through equity offerings in the future. We cannot predict what effect, if any, market sales of securities held by our significant shareholders or any other shareholder or the availability of these securities for future sale will have on the market price of the ADSs.

Our dual class share structure with different voting rights will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

Our ordinary shares consist of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. In respect of matters requiring the votes of shareholders, holders of Class A ordinary shares are entitled to one vote per share, while holders of Class B ordinary shares are entitled to 15 votes per share based on our dual class share structure. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time by the holder thereof, while Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances. Upon any sale of Class B ordinary shares by a holder thereof to any person other than an affiliate of our two founders, namely, Mr. Chaohui Chen and Mr. Zhiping Peng, their family members or any entity controlled by the founders or their family members, such Class B ordinary shares shall be automatically and immediately converted into the same number of Class A ordinary shares.

Our two founders, Mr. Chaohui Chen and Mr. Zhiping Peng, beneficially own all of our issued Class B ordinary shares. As of February 28, 2021, these Class B ordinary shares constituted approximately 43.1% of our total issued and outstanding share capital and 91.9% of the aggregate voting power of our total issued and outstanding share capital due to the disparate voting powers associated with our dual-class share structure. As a result of the dual class share structure and the concentration of ownership, holders of Class B ordinary shares will have considerable influence over matters such as decisions regarding mergers, consolidations and the sale of all or substantially all of our assets, election of directors and other significant corporate actions. Holders of Class B ordinary shares will continue to control the outcome of a shareholder vote (i) with respect to matters requiring an ordinary resolution which requires the

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affirmative vote of a simple majority of shareholder votes, to the extent that the Class B ordinary shares represent more than 6.2% of our total issued and outstanding share capital; and (ii) with respect to matters requiring a special resolution which requires the affirmative vote of no less than two-thirds of shareholder votes, to the extent that the Class B ordinary shares represent at least 11.8% of our total issued and outstanding share capital. Such holders may take actions that are not in the best interest of us or our other shareholders. This concentration of ownership may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could have the effect of depriving our other shareholders of the opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and may reduce the price of the ADSs. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transactions that holders of Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

The dual-class structure of our ordinary shares may adversely affect the trading market for the ADSs.

S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell have previously announced changes to their eligibility criteria for inclusion of shares of public companies on certain indices, including the S&P 500, to exclude companies with multiple classes of shares and companies whose public shareholders hold no more than 5% of total voting power from being added to such indices. In addition, several shareholder advisory firms have announced their opposition to the use of multiple class structures. As a result, the dual class structure of our ordinary shares may prevent the inclusion of the ADSs representing Class A ordinary shares in such indices and may cause shareholder advisory firms to publish negative commentary about our corporate governance practices or otherwise seek to cause us to change our capital structure. Any such exclusion from indices could result in a less active trading market for the ADSs. Any actions or publications by shareholder advisory firms critical of our corporate governance practices or capital structure could also adversely affect the value of the ADSs.

Our directors, officers and principal shareholders collectively control a significant amount of our shares, and their interests may not align with the interests of our other shareholders.

Currently, our officers, directors and principal shareholders collectively hold a substantial majority of total voting power in our company. This significant concentration of share ownership and voting power may adversely affect or reduce the trading price of the ADSs because investors often perceive a disadvantage in owning shares in a company with one or several controlling shareholders. Furthermore, our directors and officers, as a group, have the ability to significantly influence or control the outcome of all matters requiring shareholders’ approvals, including electing directors and approving mergers or other business combination transactions. These actions may be taken even if they are opposed by our other shareholders. This concentration of share ownership and voting power may also discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could deprive our shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, or if they adversely change their recommendations regarding the ADSs, the market price for the ADSs and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for the ADSs depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If research analysts do not establish and maintain adequate research coverage or if one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades the ADSs or publishes inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for the ADSs would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which, in turn, could cause the market price or trading volume for the ADSs to decline.

Because we do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future, you must rely on price appreciation of the ADSs for return on your investment.

We currently intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, we do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Therefore, you should not rely on an investment in the ADSs as a source for any future dividend income.

Our board of directors has complete discretion as to whether to distribute dividends, subject to certain requirements of Cayman Islands law. In addition, our shareholders may by ordinary resolution declare a dividend, but no dividend may exceed the amount recommended by our directors. Under Cayman Islands law, a Cayman Islands company may pay a dividend out of either profit or share premium account, provided that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid if this would result in the company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. Even if our board of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiaries, our financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. Accordingly, the return on your investment in the ADSs will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of the ADSs. There is no guarantee that the ADSs will appreciate in value or even maintain the price at which you purchased the ADSs. You may not realize a return on your investment in the ADSs and you may even lose your entire investment in the ADSs.

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The voting rights of holders of ADSs are limited by the terms of the deposit agreement, and you may not be able to exercise your right to vote your ordinary shares.

Holders of ADSs do not have the same rights as our registered shareholders. As a holder of the ADSs, you will not have any direct right to attend general meetings of our shareholders or to cast any votes at such meetings. As an ADS holder, you will only be able to exercise the voting rights carried by the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs indirectly by giving voting instructions to the depositary in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Under the deposit agreement, you may vote only by giving voting instructions to the depositary. If we ask for your instructions, then upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will try, as far as is practicable, to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs in accordance with these instructions. If we do not instruct the depositary to ask for your instructions, the depositary may still vote in accordance with instructions you give, but it is not required to do so. You will not be able to directly exercise your right to vote with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs unless you cancel and withdraw the shares, and become the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date for the general meeting. When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient advance notice of the meeting to withdraw the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs and become the registered holder of such shares to allow you to attend the general meeting and to vote directly with respect to any specific matter or resolution to be considered and voted upon at the general meeting. In addition, under our memorandum and articles of association, for the purposes of determining those shareholders who are entitled to attend and vote at any general meeting, our directors may close our register of members and/or fix in advance a record date for such meeting, and such closure of our register of members or the setting of such a record date may prevent you from withdrawing the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs and becoming the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date, so that you would not be able to attend the general meeting or to vote directly. If we ask for your instructions, the depositary will notify you of the upcoming vote and will arrange to deliver our voting materials to you. We have agreed to give the depositary notice of shareholder meetings sufficiently in advance of such meetings. Nevertheless, we cannot assure you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs. In addition, the depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for their manner of carrying out your voting instructions. This means that you may not be able to exercise your right to direct how the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs are voted and you may have no legal remedy if the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs are not voted as you requested. In addition, in your capacity as an ADS holder, you will not be able to call a shareholders’ meeting.

If we asked the depositary to solicit your instructions at least 30 days before the meeting date but the depositary does not receive voting instructions from you by the specified date and we confirm to the depositary that (i) we wish to receive a discretionary proxy; (ii) we reasonably do not know of any substantial shareholder opposition to the proxy item(s); and (iii) the proxy item(s) is not materially adverse to the interests of our shareholders, then the depositary will consider you to have authorized and directed it to give a discretionary proxy to a person designated by us to vote the number of deposited securities represented by the ADSs as to the proxy item(s).

The effect of this discretionary proxy is that you cannot prevent the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs from being voted, except under the circumstances described above. This may make it more difficult for shareholders to influence the management of our company. Holders of our ordinary shares are not subject to this discretionary proxy.

Your right to participate in any future rights offerings may be limited, which may cause dilution to your holdings.

We may from time to time distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire our securities. However, we cannot make rights available to you in the United States unless we register both the rights and the securities to which the rights relate under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements is available. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not make rights available to you unless both the rights and the underlying securities to be distributed to ADS holders are either registered under the Securities Act or exempt from registration under the Securities Act. We are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such rights or securities or to endeavor to cause such a registration statement to be declared effective and we may not be able to establish a necessary exemption from registration under the Securities Act. Accordingly, you may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution in your holdings.

You may not receive cash dividends if the depositary decides it is impractical to make them available to you.

The depositary will pay cash dividends on the ADSs only to the extent that we decide to distribute dividends on our Class A ordinary shares or other deposited securities, and we do not have any present plan to pay any cash dividends on our Class A ordinary shares in the foreseeable future. To the extent that there is a distribution, the depositary of the ADSs has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our Class A ordinary shares or other deposited securities after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of Class A ordinary shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary may, at its discretion, decide that it is inequitable or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, the depositary may determine that it is not practicable to distribute certain property, or that the value of certain

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distributions may be less than the cost of distributing them. In these cases, the depositary may decide not to distribute such property to you.

We and the depositary are entitled to amend the deposit agreement and to change the rights of ADS holders under the terms of such agreement, and we may terminate the deposit agreement, without the prior consent of the ADS holders.

We and the depositary are entitled to amend the deposit agreement and to change the rights of the ADS holders under the terms of such agreement, without the prior consent of the ADS holders. We and the depositary may agree to amend the deposit agreement in any way we decide is necessary or advantageous to us. Amendments may reflect, among other things, operational changes in the ADS program, legal developments affecting ADSs or changes in the terms of our business relationship with the depositary. In the event that the terms of an amendment prejudice a substantial existing right of ADS holders, ADS holders will only receive 30 days’ advance notice of the amendment, and no prior consent of the ADS holders is required under the deposit agreement. Furthermore, we may decide to terminate the ADS facility at any time for any reason. For example, terminations may occur when we decide to list our shares on a non-U.S. securities exchange and determine not to continue to sponsor an ADS facility or when we become the subject of a takeover or a going-private transaction. If the ADS facility will terminate, ADS holders will receive at least 90 days’ prior notice, but no prior consent is required from them. Under the circumstances that we decide to make an amendment to the deposit agreement that prejudices a substantial existing right of ADS holders or terminate the deposit agreement, the ADS holders may choose to sell their ADSs or surrender their ADSs and become direct holders of the underlying Class A ordinary shares, but will have no right to any compensation whatsoever.

ADSs holders may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under the deposit agreement, which could result in less favorable outcomes to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.

The deposit agreement governing the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, ADS holders waive the right to a jury trial of any claim that they may have against us or the depositary arising out of or relating to our ordinary shares, the ADSs or the deposit agreement, including any claim under the U.S. federal securities laws.

If we or the depositary opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, the court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable based on the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with the applicable state and federal law. To our knowledge, the enforceability of a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver in connection with claims arising under the federal securities laws has not been finally adjudicated by the United States Supreme Court. However, we believe that a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision is generally enforceable, including under the laws of the State of New York, which govern the deposit agreement, by a federal or state court in the City of New York, which has non-exclusive jurisdiction over matters arising under the deposit agreement. In determining whether to enforce a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision, courts will generally consider whether a party knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived the right to a jury trial. We believe that this is the case with respect to the deposit agreement and the ADSs. It is advisable that you consult legal counsel regarding the jury waiver provision before entering into the deposit agreement.

If you or any other owners and holders of ADSs bring a claim against us or the depositary in connection with matters arising under the deposit agreement or the ADSs, including claims under federal securities laws, you or such other owner and holder may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to such claims, which may have the effect of limiting and discouraging lawsuits against us or the depositary. If a lawsuit is brought against us or the depositary under the deposit agreement, it may be heard only by a judge or justice of the applicable trial court, which would be conducted according to different civil procedures and may result in different outcomes than a trial by jury would have had, including results that could be less favorable to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.

Nevertheless, if this jury trial waiver provision is not permitted by applicable law, an action could proceed under the terms of the deposit agreement with a jury trial. No condition, stipulation or provision of the deposit agreement or ADSs serves as a waiver by any owner and holder of ADSs or by us or the depositary of compliance with any substantive provision of the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

You may be subject to limitations on transfer of your ADSs.

Your ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its transfer books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties.

The depositary may close its books from time to time for a number of reasons, including in connection with corporate events such as a rights offering. The depositary may also close its books in emergencies, and on weekends and public holidays. In addition, the depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary deems it advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason.

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Certain judgments obtained against us by our shareholders may not be enforceable.

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Substantially all of our assets are located in China and Hong Kong. All of our directors and executive officers are nationals or residents of jurisdictions other than the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against these individuals in the United States in the event that you believe that your rights have been infringed under the U.S. federal securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Cayman Islands and of the PRC may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and officers.

Your investment in the ADSs may be impacted if we are encouraged to issue CDRs in the future.

The PRC central government once proposed rules that would allow PRC technology companies listed outside China to list on the mainland stock market through the creation of Chinese Depositary Receipts, or CDRs. It is uncertain if and when the CDR mechanism will be finalized and put in place. Once the CDR mechanism is in place, we might consider and be encouraged by the evolving PRC governmental policies to issue CDRs and allow investors to trade our CDRs on PRC stock exchanges. However, there are uncertainties as to whether a pursuit of CDRs in China would bring positive or negative impact on your investment in the ADSs. For example, our issuance of CDRs could result in dilution to our existing shareholders and cause the price of our ADSs to decline. There is no guarantee that the CDRs and the ADSs will be exchangeable at reasonable costs, or at all. We would incur additional costs as a result of operating as a public company in the PRC. Our management will be required to devote substantial time to compliance requirements, and we may be exposed to potential risks if we are unable to comply with these requirements. The exchanges in the U.S. and the PRC have different trading hours, trading characteristics, trading and listing rules, and investor bases. As a result of these differences, the trading prices of our ADSs and CDRs might not be the same, even allowing for currency differences.

You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law.

We are an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands with limited liability. Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands, as amended from time to time, and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against our directors, actions by our minority shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from the common law of England, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding, on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws than the United States. Some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the Cayman Islands. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a federal court of the United States.

Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies like us have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records (save for our memorandum and articles of association and our register of mortgages and charges) or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders of these companies. Our directors have discretion under our articles of association to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for you to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder motion or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest.

As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States. For a discussion of significant differences between the provisions of the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the United States and their shareholders, see “Item 10.B.—Memorandum and Articles of Association—Differences in Corporate Law.”

We have not determined a specific use for a portion of the net proceeds from our initial public offering and we may use these proceeds in ways with which you may not agree.

We have not determined a specific use for a portion of the net proceeds of our initial public offering, and our management will have considerable discretion in deciding how to apply these proceeds. You will not have the opportunity to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately before you make your investment decision. You must rely on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the net proceeds of our initial public offering. We cannot assure you that the net proceeds will be used in a manner that would improve our results of operations or increase our ADS price, nor that these net proceeds will be placed only in investments that generate income or appreciate in value.

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The memorandum and articles of association contains anti-takeover provisions that could discourage a third party from acquiring us and adversely affect the rights of holders of our ordinary shares and the ADSs.

Our memorandum and articles of association contains provisions to limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company or cause us to engage in change-of-control transactions. These provisions could have the effect of depriving our shareholders of an opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over prevailing market prices by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our company in a tender offer or similar transaction. Our dual class voting structure gives disproportionate voting power to the Class B ordinary shares. Our board of directors has the authority, without further action by our shareholders, to issue preferred shares in one or more series and to fix their designations, powers, preferences, privileges, and relative participating, optional or special rights and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences, any or all of which may be greater than the rights associated with our ordinary shares, in the form of ADS or otherwise. Preferred shares could be issued quickly with terms calculated to delay or prevent a change in control of our company or make removal of management more difficult. If our board of directors decides to issue preferred shares, the price of the ADSs may fall and the voting and other rights of the holders of our ordinary shares and ADSs may be materially and adversely affected.

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to U.S. domestic public companies.

Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including:

We will be required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we intend to publish our results on a quarterly basis as press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Nasdaq Global Market. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information that would be made available to you were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.

As an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the Nasdaq listing standards; these practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with the Nasdaq listing standards.

As a Cayman Islands company that are listed on the Nasdaq Global Market, we are subject to Nasdaq listing standards. However, the Nasdaq rules permit a foreign private issuer like us to follow the corporate governance practices of its home country. Certain corporate governance practices in the Cayman Islands, which is our home country, may differ significantly from Nasdaq listing standards. For example, neither the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands nor our memorandum and articles of association requires a majority of our directors to be independent and we could include non-independent directors as members of our compensation committee and nominating committee, and our independent directors would not necessarily hold regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present. Currently, we do not plan to rely on home country practice with respect to our corporate governance. However, if we choose to follow home country practice in the future, our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they otherwise would under Nasdaq listing standards applicable to U.S. domestic issuers.

There can be no assurance that we will not be a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for United States federal income tax purposes for any taxable year, which could subject United States investors in the ADSs or ordinary shares to significant adverse United States income tax consequences.

A non-U.S. corporation, such as our company, will be classified as a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes for any taxable year if either (i) 75% or more of its gross income for such year consists of certain types of “passive” income or (ii) 50% or more of the value of its assets (generally determined on the basis of a quarterly average) during such year produce or are held for the production of passive income. Although the law in this regard is unclear, we treat our VIEs as being

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owned by us for U.S. federal income tax purposes, because we control their management decisions and are entitled to substantially all of their economic benefits, and, as a result, we consolidate their results of operations in our consolidated U.S. GAAP financial statements. Assuming that we are the owner of the VIEs for U.S. federal income tax purposes, , we do not believe that we were a PFIC for the taxable year ended December 31, 2020 and we do not presently expect to be a PFIC for the current taxable year or the foreseeable future.

While we do not expect to be or become a PFIC in the current or future taxable years, no assurance can be given in this regard because the determination of whether we will be or become a PFIC is a factual determination made annually that will depend, in part, upon the composition and classification of our income and assets. Furthermore, fluctuations in the market price of the ADSs may cause us to be classified as a PFIC for the current or future taxable years because the value of our assets for purposes of the asset test, including the value of our goodwill and other unbooked intangibles, may be determined by reference to the market price of the ADSs from time to time (which may be volatile). Among other matters, if our market capitalization is less than anticipated or subsequently declines, we may be or become a PFIC for the current or future taxable years. The composition of our income and assets may also be affected by how, and how quickly, we use our liquid assets.

If we are a PFIC in any taxable year, a U.S. Holder (as defined in “Item 10. Additional Information—E. Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations”) may incur significantly increased United States income tax on gain recognized on the sale or other disposition of the ADSs or ordinary shares and on the receipt of distributions on the ADSs or ordinary shares to the extent such gain or distribution is treated as an “excess distribution” under the United States federal income tax rules, and such holder may be subject to burdensome reporting requirements. Further, if we are a PFIC for any year during which a U.S. Holder holds the ADSs or ordinary shares, we generally will continue to be treated as a PFIC for all succeeding years during which such U.S. Holder holds the ADSs or ordinary shares. For more information see “Item 10. Additional Information—E. Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Passive Foreign Investment Company Considerations.”

We incurred increased costs and became subject to additional rules and regulations as a result of being a public company .

We are now a public company and incurred significant accounting, legal and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. We estimate such additional expenses to be approximately US$2.5 million to US$4.0 million annually. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and the Nasdaq Global Market, have detailed requirements concerning corporate governance practices of public companies, including Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act relating to internal controls over financial reporting. We expect these rules and regulations applicable to public companies to increase our accounting, legal and financial compliance costs and to make certain corporate activities more time-consuming and costly. Our management will be required to devote substantial time and attention to our public company reporting obligations and other compliance matters. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs. Our reporting and other compliance obligations as a public company may place a strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems for the foreseeable future.

In the past, shareholders of a public company often brought securities class action suits against the company following periods of instability in the market price of that company’s securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations, which could harm our results of operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We commenced our operations by establishing Shenzhen uCloudlink Network Technology Co., Ltd. in August 2014 and Beijing uCloudlink New Technology Co., Ltd. three months later. Our holding company, UCLOUDLINK GROUP INC., was incorporated in August 2014 in the Cayman Islands to facilitate financing and offshore listing. In September 2014, our holding company established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Hong Kong, UCLOUDLINK (HK) LIMITED, which is a subsidiary of HONG KONG UCLOUDLINK NETWORK TECHNOLOGY LIMITED, an entity through which we conduct our business operations in Hong Kong.

In January 2015, we established Beijing uCloudlink Technology Co., Ltd., through which we gained control over Shenzhen uCloudlink Network Technology Co., Ltd. and Beijing uCloudlink New Technology Co., Ltd. by entering into a series of contractual arrangements with Shenzhen uCloudlink Network Technology Co., Ltd. and Beijing uCloudlink New Technology Co., Ltd. and their respective shareholders.

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In addition, we conduct our business through the following entities:

primarily for marketing and sales:

primarily for technology research and development:

primarily for hardware exportation:

We refer to Beijing uCloudlink Technology Co., Ltd. as Beijing uCloudlink, to Shenzhen uCloudlink Network Technology Co., Ltd. as Shenzhen uCloudlink, and to Beijing uCloudlink New Technology Co., Ltd. as Beijing Technology. We refer to Shenzhen uCloudlink and Beijing Technology collectively as our VIEs in this annual report. Our contractual arrangements with our VIEs and their shareholders allow us to (i) exercise effective control over our VIEs, (ii) receive substantially all of the economic benefits of our VIEs, and (iii) have an exclusive option to purchase or designate any third party to purchase all or part of the equity interests in and assets of our VIEs when and to the extent permitted by PRC law. For more details, including risks associated with the VIE structure, please see “Item 4. Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure—Agreements that provide us with effective control over our VIEs,” “Item 4. Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure—Agreements that allow us to receive economic benefits from our VIEs,” “Item 4. Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure—Agreements that provide us with the option to purchase the equity interests in and assets of our VIEs,” and “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure.”

As a result of our direct ownership in Beijing uCloudlink and the VIE contractual arrangements, we are regarded as the primary beneficiary of our VIEs, and we treat them and their subsidiaries as our consolidated affiliated entities under U.S. GAAP. We have consolidated the financial results of our VIEs and their respective subsidiaries with our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

On June 9, 2020, the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares commenced trading on Nasdaq under the symbol “UCL.” We raised from our initial public offering US$27.6 million in net proceeds after deducting underwriting commissions and discounts and the offering expenses payable by us.

Our principal executive offices are located at Room 2119, 21/F, One Pacific Centre, 414 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Our telephone number at this address is +852 2180-6111. Our registered office in the Cayman Islands is located at the office of Maples Corporate Services Limited of PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, KY1-1104, Cayman Islands. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Puglisi & Associates, located at 850 Library Avenue, Suite 204, Newark, Delaware 19711.

SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC on www.sec.gov. You can also find information on our website https://ir.ucloudlink.com/. The information contained on our website is not a part of this annual report.

Overview

We are the pioneer of introducing the sharing economy business model into the telecommunications industry, creating a marketplace for mobile data traffic. Leveraging our innovative cloud SIM technology and architecture, we redefine the mobile data

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connectivity experience, allowing users to gain access to mobile data traffic allowance shared by network operators on our marketplace. We have aggregated mobile data traffic allowances from 209 mobile network operators (MNOs) in 144 countries and regions in our cloud SIM architecture.

Our innovative cloud SIM technology sets the technological foundation of our marketplace, which is built upon our cloud SIM architecture. We have developed our proprietary cloud SIM technology based on remote SIM connection, which means that SIM cards are not embedded in the mobile terminals but remotely connected on the cloud. Our cloud SIM technology allows dynamic selection of network services based on signal coverage and cost, and intelligent distribution of data traffic in the SIM card pool to terminals that may support multiple end devices through our cloud SIM platform, to achieve better network quality, more reliable connection and lower cost.

Leveraging our cloud SIM technology and architecture, we provide mobile data connectivity services with reliable connection, high speed and competitive price, allowing users to enjoy a smooth mobile connectivity experience. We have transformed the traditional telecommunication business model, where users can only access the wireless network provided by their contracted MNOs and are not able to use the networks of other local MNOs. By giving users access to our distributed SIM card pool, we free users from this exclusivity, and give them the freedom to access the mobile networks of other MNOs without physically changing SIM cards wherever they are in the world as long as it is one of the 144 countries and regions we cover. In 2020, average daily active terminals connected to our platform reached approximately 246,618 and each of our active terminals on average used 2,254 megabytes of mobile data per day. In addition to mobile data users, we also create unique values to the other stakeholders in the telecommunications industry worldwide, including smartphone and smart-hardware companies, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), MNOs and more broadly to society. Our business partners can also utilize our platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) to management their business operations such as connectivity management, terminal management, customer management system (CRM) and big data analysis, thereby elevating users’ experience to their end-users.

We have developed proprietary algorithms to analyze historical data usage patterns and predict future data traffic demand. We use the insights gained from the data analytic results to efficiently procure data traffic allowances from MNOs and other sources globally, dynamically select network services based on signal coverage and cost, and intelligently allocate data traffic in the SIM card pool to terminals, then to end devices. As a result, we are able to achieve better network quality, more reliable connection and lower cost for users, as well as improve our cost efficiency. As the first entrance for users to access mobile internet, we may also leverage the data analytics to develop a number of value-added services, such as advertisement.

Average daily active terminals connected to our platform increased by 66.1% from approximately 113,033 in 2018 to 187,781 in 2019, and further increased by 31.3% to 246,618 in 2020. The average daily data usage per active terminal increased from 712 megabytes in 2018 to 1,386 megabytes in 2019, and further increased to 2,254 megabytes in 2020. Total data consumed through our platform were approximately 28,000, 90,600 and 193,400 terabytes in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively, including data consumed by users who contributed to our revenues from data connectivity services, which we procured, and data consumed by users who did not contribute to our revenues from data connectivity services, which our business partners procured. In addition, the demand for our uCloudlink 2.0 business increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and the demand of local data connectivity services continued to be strong, primarily due to the development of our local mobile broadband (MBB) business in Japan and the expansion of GlocalMe brand in North America.We generate revenue primarily from our mobile data connectivity services and hardware terminals that incorporate the services. Our revenues increased from US$126.4 million in 2018 to US$158.4 million in 2019, but decreased to US$89.6 million in 2020 mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our gross margin increased from 36.5% in 2018 to 41.0% in 2019, but decreased to 31.6% in 2020 for the same reason. We had a net loss of US$26.6 million in 2018, a net income of US$5.2 million in 2019 and a net loss of US$63.4 million 2020. In 2018, 2019 and 2020, we generated 50.9%, 67.9% and 89.2%, respectively, of our revenues from customers outside of China.

Evolution of Our Business

Our uCloudlink cloud SIM platform is designed for shared mobile data connectivity services by allocating the SIM cards remotely and dynamically to users. All users can access and use the SIM card resources in our distributed SIM card pool supplied by different network operators via our platform. We operate our business under what we refer to as uCloudlink 1.0 and uCloudlink 2.0 models, and plan to launch uCloudlink 3.0 model in the future. We support various networks and technical systems in countries and regions around the globe. In the meantime, we focus on users’ experience and allow our business partners to enjoy reliable services with reasonable pricing. We believe our technology is compatible with various application scenarios where smooth connection is needed.

uCloudlink 1.0 model focuses on cross-border travelers that need mobile data connectivity services across different countries. We started to conduct our business under uCloudlink 1.0 model in 2014. When a terminal connects in a foreign country or region, a local SIM card in our distributed SIM card pool will be allocated dynamically based on the terminal’s location to avoid roaming fees. We operate Roamingman portable Wi-Fi services in China and Malaysia to provide global mobile data connectivity services. We also offer GlocalMe portable Wi-Fi terminals and provide our cloud SIM architecture to business partners such as MVNOs, MNOs and

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portable Wi-Fi terminal rental companies to offer global mobile data connectivity services directly to their users. Our GlocalMe Inside implementation in smartphones and other smart terminals also supports cross-border mobile data connectivity within uCloudlink 1.0 model. Our uCloudlink 1.0 business such as rental business of Roamingman business of our business partners were also negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led us and our global business partners to focus more on local data connectivity services.

uCloudlink 2.0 model aims to provide mobile data connectivity services to local users across different MNOs in a single country or region. We started to offer this service in 2018. We allocate another SIM card to a terminal when its current MNO does not have coverage in a certain location, or allocate a SIM card with cheaper data charges or better network quality when multiple MNOs offer coverage in that location. We develop GlocalMe Inside implementation for smartphones and other smart hardware products, enabling them to obtain access to our cloud SIM architecture and use our distributed SIM card pool. Users with GlocalMe Inside embedded terminals can enjoy reliable and high-speed data connectivity experience at competitive cost. We have launched the GlocalMe World Phones series, cooperated with third-party smartphone companies to implement GlocalMe Inside, and developed cloud SIM modules for smart hardware products. An MNO or MVNO may also leverage our GlocalMe products under uCloudlink 2.0 model to provide local data connectivity in areas where it does not have strong network deployment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the lock-down measures in many countries and regions, many people chose to work from home, held video meetings and conferences, and needed to access remote education, leading to an increase in demand for better and reliable data connectivity. This has created great opportunities for our uCloudlink 2.0 model, which can scan for multiple mobile networks and provide better coverage, better speed and better connectivity service quality for users.

We have expanded the business scope of our local data connectivity service. Apart from the mobile broadband (MBB) business opportunities such as sales of mobile Wi-Fi terminals and services through online sales and offline distribution and through our business partners, we also enhanced our local service brand as we expand our e-commerce exposure in key markets such as the United States and Europe, optimize our websites and streamline our sales team. Apart from this, we also have GlocalMe Inside opportunities for uCloudlink 2.0 business by forming partnerships with smartphone manufacturers in China. We also invested in Beijing Huaxiang Lianxin Technology Co., Ltd., a licensed MVNO in China, and iQsim based in France as a component of our global investment strategy.

uCloudlink 3.0 models features a full-blown marketplace of data traffic. This business is in its trial. We believe that the success of our uCloudlink 1.0 and uCloudlink 2.0 models will pave the path for the development of uCloudlink 3.0 model.

To support our business evolution from 1.0 model to 3.0 model, we have strategized our cloud SIM business model in three key stages to fully capitalize the value of our cloud SIM technology and architecture:

We are gradually becoming more platform-centric and elevating our data connectivity services via upgrading our PaaS/SaaS Platform during stage1, stage 2 and stage 3 going forward. We continue to focus on developing and serving our customers and business partners with our core capabilities – cloud SIM technology and architecture, and delegate other functions to our local business partners. This model will allow us to further expedite our global expansion by forming a global partner ecosystem. Simultaneously, our business partners will also further comprehend our mobile network offering by hosting their SIM cards on our platform locally.

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              We constantly focus on elevating user experience and one way we are able to do it is via our “Navigation + Electronic Toll Pass” service over mobile network accomplished through our hyper-connectivity technology through PaaS and SaaS platform. We innovatively apply “Navigation + Electronic Toll Pass” concept to data connectivity services market. Like installing " Navigation + Electronic Toll Pass " for traffic, “Navigation” can automatically identify network congestion and actively choose the better network and “Electronic Toll Pass” allows users to avoid long queues in network when switching among mobile networks and intelligently elevate data connectivity user experience.

Our Cloud SIM Technology and Architecture

Relying on our cloud SIM technology and architecture, we provide users with mobile data connectivity service with reliable connectivity, high speed or competitive price. The cloud SIM technology enables compatible terminals to use local data network without changing SIM cards, whereas the cloud SIM architecture supports the operation of cloud SIM technology.

Cloud SIM Technology

We have developed our cloud SIM technology based on remote SIM connection, which means that SIM cards are not located inside the mobile terminals but remotely connected. Because SIM cards are not locally hosted on the terminals, we can easily switch the SIM card from one to another dynamically over the cloud. Cloud SIM technology requires two connections simultaneously, many chipsets in the market support our cloud SIM technology through firmware upgrade.

The key advantages of our cloud SIM technology include:

Cloud SIM Architecture

The cloud SIM architecture mainly consists of (i) a distributed SIM card pool with data traffic purchased by us or provided by our business partners, hosted locally or remotely using SIM banks and other terminals; (ii) uCloudlink cloud SIM platform, including software and necessary infrastructures for users and business partners; and (iii) user-end terminals such as  GlocalMe portable Wi-Fi terminals and smartphones, and GlocalMe Inside implementations in third-party smartphones as well as smart-hardware products. Network data supplied from the distributed SIM card pool are delivered to end terminals through uCloudlink cloud SIM platform using cloud SIM technology.

Our cloud SIM architecture allows a broad range of business partners, such as mobile terminal brands, MVNOs, MNOs, mobile Wi-Fi terminal rental companies and distribution channels, to participate in our fast-growing business. Our distributed SIM card pool includes distributed SIM banks operated by us and our business partners, contributing to a data supply network with global coverage. Our cloud SIM platform supports our business partners so that they can offer reliable services and generate revenues efficiently. The end terminals allow users to enjoy mobile data connectivity services with reliable connectivity and high speed.

Distributed SIM Card Pool—Supply for Mobile Data Connectivity Services

Our distributed SIM card pool includes SIM cards purchased and managed by us, and those hosted and managed by our business partners using primarily SIM banks. SIM banks can be hosted by us with SIM cards from us or business partners, and business partners can purchase SIM banks and manage relevant business via our PaaS and SaaS platform.

Our SIM Banks. We operate our own distributed SIM banks to host a large number of local data SIM cards, which altogether enable us to provide global mobile data connectivity services in 144 countries and regions, including those countries traditionally renowned for high roaming cost. With cloud SIM technology, we simply purchase and use local SIM cards locally, reducing our data cost and eliminating the need to negotiate complicated roaming terms with MNOs. See “—Mobile Data Procurement and Management.”

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Business Partners’ SIM Banks. Local SIM banks can also host a large number of data SIM cards, which can be physical SIM cards, e-SIM or soft SIM cards, and may be managed by our business partners directly. For example, a MNO or MVNO from whom we procure data may operate a local SIM bank and manage the data plans and SIM cards more efficiently. A portable Wi-Fi rental service business partner may purchase data locally and host these SIM cards in local SIM banks to meet its data demand within its operating region. We charge our business partners by the number of SIM cards hosted and the data volume provided through our architecture.

SIM Box and Other SIM Terminals. GlocalMe SIM box is our cloud SIM technology solution for users who need to have multiple SIM cards standby. SIM box is designed to be placed at home instead of being carried around. Users of our SIM box can remotely connect via their smartphones to the SIM cards in the box for data connectivity, calls and text messages. We monetize GlocalMe SIM box by selling the hardware products, and will add more features and provide services through SIM box in the future.

uCloudlink Cloud SIM Platform—Dispatcher of Mobile Data Connectivity Services

Our uCloudlink cloud SIM platform is the core of our cloud SIM architecture. The cloud SIM platform manages terminal information and user accounts and intelligently allocates all the SIM cards hosted in our cloud SIM architecture. It computes detailed scores for network performance of various mobile data networks in a given location. Such integrated knowledge allows the cloud SIM platform to detect and select the better local network or cost-efficient network available in our distributed SIM card pool for each user, and automatically connect the associated SIM card to the terminal. The cloud SIM platform further includes portals and tools for users and business partners to track and manage the mobile data connectivity service and smart terminals. We also provide open Application Programming Interface (API) to allow easy integration into business partners’ and enterprise customers’ existing management software.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)/Software-as-a-Service (Saas). We offer our uCloudlink cloud SIM platform as PaaS/SaaSto our business partners and charge associated service fees. Our SIM card allocation algorithm increases the efficiency and utilization rate of the SIM cards, allowing business partners and us to generate attractive usage economics and minimize data wastage. In addition, as SIM cards purchased by us and those hosted by various business partners are incorporated in the architecture as an integrated SIM card pool, mobile data connectivity service providers such as MNO and MVNO business partners can not only offer their own data connectivity service on our platform, but also easily obtain access to data connectivity services from other service providers via our PaaS and SaaS platform. Our business partners can also management their business via our PaaS and SaaS platform to provide better services to their end-users, including connectivity management, terminal management, terminal rental and sales, customer service systems (CRM), and big data analysis.

Big Data and Advanced Algorithms. As our platform represents our users’ first entry-point to the mobile internet, we are able to obtain timely and first-hand feedback from users of our mobile data connectivity services, and gain access to a large volume of network coverage and performance related information. We develop and leverage big data analytics to enhance the accuracy of our data usage demand predictions, optimize our operations, and deliver high-quality user experience. For example, insights into the network performance and user data traffic demand help us react to network spikes and interruptions quickly. We may provide such insights as business intelligence to our business partners in the future to optimize their network infrastructure deployment and improve the service experience of their customers and to provide more advanced value-added services, such as advertisement.

Cloud Infrastructure. We have built a robust technology infrastructure to support the delivery of mobile data connectivity solutions globally. We currently utilize third-party clouds to host our network infrastructure and cloud SIM platform servers. Cloud infrastructure allows elastic and distributed supply of computing power and bandwidths to accommodate traffic spikes, increasing the robustness of our system. When we experience elevated demand from our users, for example during summer holidays or other peak traveling seasons, we may expand our cloud SIM platform efficiently in various countries and regions to address the increased demand. In the unlikely event that our access to one of our platform server is interrupted, cloud technology allows immediate service supplement from servers in other places to fill in and provide continuous services. We also back-up our servers and data on a daily basis using cloud technology to minimize the risk of data loss, which enables instant system restoration and reliable service.

Smart Terminals—Demand for Mobile Data Connectivity Services

Terminals that are compatible with our cloud SIM technology are a vital part of our business. Empowered by our cloud SIM technology, these terminals free users from physically changing SIM cards, ready to connect to global mobile networks with reliable connectivity, high speed and competitive prices. Our cloud SIM technology enables the terminals to communicate to our cloud SIM platform the basic information regarding network selection and cloud SIM card matching, and provides the terminals with high-speed mobile data connectivity services. Terminals report information of network performance at their locations back to the cloud SIM platform so that it can dynamically improve its network allocation efficiency. Users may purchase local data packages and international data packages and manage their terminals through our GlocalMe apps.

Supported by our broad network coverage and powerful cloud SIM platform, we have introduced a range of compatible terminals, including portable Wi-Fi terminals, GlocalMe Inside embedded smartphones and other smart-hardware products such as IoT

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terminals. Under uCloudlink 1.0 model, most of the smart terminals are portable Wi-Fi terminals for international roaming purposes. Under uCloudlink 2.0 model, most terminals are smartphones with GlocalMe Inside implementation, through which users can enjoy both local and international mobile data connectivity services. See “—Our Products and Services.”

GlocalMe Connect and Other Apps. The GlocalMe Connect app enables seamless usage of our mobile data connectivity services on compatible third-party terminals. Our app is adopted through either pre-installation or subsequent firmware update in third-party smartphones of leading global handset brands, or offered by our business partners under the own brands. Users need to activate this app to enjoy our mobile data connectivity services. Users may easily check balance of their current data plans, renew their plans, purchase and top up other local and global data packages, maintain their accounts and obtain access to online customer support. For each country or region, users can choose from unlimited data pass in particular periods, normal data packages by data amounts, and packages for multiple countries in that region. Besides GlocalMe Connect app, we also offer GlocalMe app that can be downloaded from app stores to manage portable Wi-Fi terminals, and GlocalMe Call app to manage voice calls and text messages that are remotely hosted on SIM boxes.

Our Products and Services

Leveraging on our integral cloud SIM technology and architecture, the core of our business is to provide reliable and high-speed mobile data connectivity services at competitive prices, which we deliver through a range of hardware products and service solutions to our business partners, retail and enterprise customers. The main hardware terminals we offer include portable Wi-Fi terminals, smartphones and smart-hardware products for international and local mobile data connectivity services. We also provide business solutions using multiple types of terminals to enterprise customers, as well as other value-added services to our business partners.

Since October 2019, our cloud SIM platform is ready to support traffic from 5G networks. While MNOs globally are rolling out 5G networks and smartphone manufacturers are launching 5G-compatible models, smooth and reliable 5G experience outside of home country will not achieve in the near- to mid-term, as MNOs will probably require new 5G roaming agreements and tariff arrangements. Similarly, in local markets, 5G roaming agreements between MNOs are also required for wider 5G coverage by combining the 5G networks of multiple MNOs. Our 5G-ready cloud SIM platform offers a ready-to-use solution for MNOs and smartphone manufacturers that enables roaming-free inter-carrier 5G network access domestically and internationally.

GlocalMe Portable Wi-Fi

We launched our GlocalMe portable Wi-Fi solutions in 2014 as a signature product under uCloudlink 1.0 model. Empowered by our cloud SIM architecture, our portable Wi-Fi solutions provide high-speed network connection in 144 countries and regions without physically changing SIM cards and supports simultaneous connection for up to five end devices. As we allocate local data SIM cards in our distributed SIM card pool using our cloud SIM technology, cross-border travelers using our portable Wi-Fi solutions enjoy local mobile data connection just like local users, which is reliable and fast and at competitive rates.

Although GlocalMe portable Wi-Fi solutions are primarily targeting users with international roaming needs, they can also be used locally under uCloudlink 2.0 model. As the mobile terminals incorporating our portable Wi-Fi solutions can automatically choose the local mobile data network with better performance at the location, local users may enjoy greater mobile data coverage, more reliable network connection, and lower price, without being restricted to a particular MNO or MVNO.

We offer several models of hardware terminals incorporating our portable Wi-Fi solutions, including those with or without screens. GlocalMe hardware terminals come with GlocalMe app, through which users may purchase global data using pay-as-you-go system, or choose from various local and international data packages. In February 2021, we launched various models of mobile Wi-Fi products such as First G, Duo Turbo and Tri Force of GlocalMe brands globally.

Services through “Roamingman” Brand

Roamingman is our brand of the global portable Wi-Fi service business, primarily targeting Chinese users who are traveling abroad under uCloudlink 1.0 model. Besides China, we also operate Roamingman business in Malaysia. Empowered by our cloud SIM architecture, Roamingman provides global data connection through using our terminals. Users may obtain our portable Wi-Fi through multiple channels, including multiple Roamingman e-commerce platforms, online travel agencies such as Ctrip and Fliggy, airlines and other travel related companies. We offer flexible use periods, coverage regions and extension options to address the diverse needs from cross-border travelers. After reserving the terminals with deposits, users may pick up and return the terminals at airports, convenience stores, or via courier services.

We typically charge users a daily service fee that includes unlimited data usage in that day. The price of the daily service fee depends on the countries and regions the users plan to visit.

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Direct Sales

We also directly sell our GlocalMe portable Wi-Fi solutions to enterprise and retail customers through online and offline channels in multiple countries and regions, such as China, Japan, Europe and the United States. Frequent cross-border travelers and enterprise customers may be better off by buying our terminals with data plans instead of short-term leasing. Our customers also include local users who seek to access more reliable and less expensive mobile data network locally following uCloudlink 2.0 model. We generate revenue by selling the solutions, including the hardware and data packages for future use. We also generate revenue when users purchase additional data package through our products. Users may purchase our terminals on online e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and T-mall. In 2020, in order to elevate our local service brand GlocalMe, we have enhanced our e-commerce exposure in key markets such as the United States and Europe, optimized our websites and streamlined our sales team. .

Cooperation with Business Partners

We have collaborated with business partners to provide access to our portable Wi-Fi solutions in other countries. Our business partners for GlocalMe portable Wi-Fi solutions include MNOs, MVNOs and portable Wi-Fi rental companies. Typically, we generate revenue by selling the hardware terminals to our business partners and providing mobile data connectivity services through our cloud SIM architecture. Our uCloudlink cloud SIM platform offers customer management tools, back-end SIM card tracking and data billing system, and provides access to global mobile data networks. In addition to utilizing data traffic available on our cloud SIM platform, business partners may also procure SIM cards and host the SIM cards in our cloud SIM architecture to provide data connectivity services to their customers.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) / Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

We offer uCloudlink cloud SIM platform as a service to our business partners with a service charge. Our uCloudlink cloud SIM platform intelligently chooses better performing local network, supporting a massive number of terminals and users. Our PaaS and SaaS offering consists of modules such as customer relationship management, operations support system, business support system, and SIM card enterprise resource planning and management, which enable our PaaS and SaaS customers to become over-the-top (OTT) operators. PaaS targets sophisticated business partners that have their own business operation software, such as MNOs and portable Wi-Fi rental companies, to