## Item 1. Business 

## PART I 

Avnet, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company” or “Avnet”), is a global technology solutions company with an extensive ecosystem delivering design, product, marketing and supply chain expertise for customers at every stage of the product lifecycle. Avnet transforms ideas into intelligent solutions, reducing the time, cost and complexities of bringing electronic products to market around the world. Founded in 1921 and incorporated in New York in 1955, the Company works with over 1,400 technology suppliers to serve 2.1 million customers in more than 140 countries. 

For nearly a century, Avnet has helped its customers and suppliers realize the transformative possibilities of technology while continuously expanding the breadth and depth of its capabilities. Today, as technologies like the Internet of Things (“IoT”) continue to increase the complexity of product development, Avnet is once again redefining itself by offering what customers need to bring their products to life through one partner. Over the past few years, Avnet significantly enhanced its strong foundation in distribution, including design, supply chain and logistics, by developing or acquiring the capabilities to better serve customers in the earlier stages of product development—encompassing research, prototyping and manufacturing. Some of these capabilities were acquired through the purchase of Premier Farnell (“Farnell”) (fiscal 2017), Hackster.io (fiscal 2017), Softweb Solutions (fiscal 2019), Witekio (fiscal 2020) and Phoenics Electronics (fiscal 2020). Avnet’s ecosystem, which combines these newly acquired capabilities with Avnet’s historical design, supply chain and integrated solutions capabilities, is designed to match its customers’ needs along their entire product development journey, providing both end-to-end and à la carte support options, as well as digital tools, to meet varying needs and buying preferences. 

Avnet can support every stage of the electronic product lifecycle and serves a wide range of customers: from startups and mid-sized businesses to enterprise-level original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”), electronic manufacturing services (“EMS”) providers and original design manufacturers (“ODMs”). 

## Organizational Structure 

Avnet has two primary operating groups — Electronic Components (“EC”) and Farnell. Both operating groups have operations in each of the three major economic regions of the world: (i) the Americas, (ii) Europe, Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”) and (iii) Asia/Pacific (“Asia”). Each operating group has its own management team that includes senior executives and leadership both at the global and regional levels, who manage various functions within such businesses. Each operating group also has distinct financial reporting that is evaluated at the executive level on which operating decisions and strategic planning and resource allocation for the Company as a whole are made. Divisions (“business units”) exist within each operating group that serve primarily as sales and marketing units to further streamline the sales efforts within each operating group and enhance each operating group’s ability to work with its customers and suppliers, generally along more specific geographies or product lines. However, each business unit relies heavily on the support services provided by the operating groups as well as centralized support at the corporate level. 

