FINANCIAL LIABILITY CARRIED AT FAIR VALUE

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

FINANCIAL LIABILITY CARRIED AT FAIR VALUE [Abstract]

FINANCIAL LIABILITY CARRIED AT FAIR VALUE

NOTE 15 – FINANCIAL LIABILITY CARRIED AT FAIR VALUE

In December 2016 Shengxin (Shanghai) Management Consulting Limited Partnership (“SMC”) paid 20,123,500 RMB ($2,981 as of the date of funding) (the “SMC Investment”) to ACM Shanghai for investment pursuant to terms to be subsequently negotiated. SMC is a PRC limited partnership partially owned by employees of ACM Shanghai.

In March 2017 (a) ACM issued to SMC a warrant (the “Warrant”) exercisable to purchase 397,502 shares of Class A common stock at a price of $7.50 per share, for a total exercise price of $2,981, and (b) ACM Shanghai agreed to repay the SMC Investment within 60 days after the exercise of the Warrant. In March 2018 SMC exercised the Warrant in full, as a result of which (1) ACM issued 397,502 shares of Class A common stock to SMC, (2) SMC borrowed the funds to pay the Warrant exercise price pursuant to a senior secured promissory note (the “SMC Note”) in the principal amount of $2,981 issued to ACM Shanghai, which in turn issued to ACM a promissory note (the “Intercompany Note”) in the principal amount of $2,981 in payment of the Warrant exercise price. Each of the SMC Note and the Intercompany Note bore interest at a rate of 3.01% per annum and matured on August 17, 2023. The SMC Note was secured by a pledge of the shares issued upon exercise of the Warrant.

In connection with its follow-on public offering of Class A common stock in August 2019, ACM agreed to purchase a total of 154,821 of the Warrant shares from SMC at a per share price of $13.195, of which (a) $1,161 was applied to reduce SMC’s obligations to ACM Shanghai under the SMC Note, and which ACM then withheld for its own account and applied to reduce ACM Shanghai’s obligations to ACM under the Intercompany Note, and (b) the remaining $882 was paid to SMC. In a separate transaction, ACM Shanghai repaid $1,161 of the SMC Investment in cash, which reduced the amount of the SMC Investment due to SMC to $1,820.

The SMC Note and SMC Investment are offsetting items in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet in accordance with ASC 210-20-45-1 up to April 30, 2020.

In preparation for the STAR IPO, ACM Shanghai was required to terminate its financial relationship with SMC. In order to facilitate such termination, on April 30, 2020, ACM entered into two agreements relating to outstanding obligations among ACM Research, ACM Shanghai and SMC. Pursuant to such agreements: (i) ACM Shanghai assigned to ACM its rights under the SMC Note, including the right to receive payment of the $1,820 payable thereunder; (ii) ACM cancelled the outstanding $1,820 obligation of ACM Shanghai under the Intercompany Note; (iii) SMC surrendered its remaining 242,681 Warrant shares to ACM Research; and (iv) in exchange for such 242,681 Warrant shares, ACM agreed to deliver to SMC certain consideration (“SMC Consideration”) agreed upon by ACM Research and SMC, subject to obtaining certain PRC regulatory approvals. Under the agreements, if the required approvals were not obtained by December 31, 2023, ACM would cancel the SMC Note as consideration for the 242,681 Warrant shares. In a separate transaction in April 2020, ACM Shanghai repaid the remaining $1,820 of the SMC Investment in cash.

For the period beginning April 30, 2020, the SMC Consideration is accounted for as a financial liability, and the Company applies fair value option to measure the SMC Consideration in accordance with ASC 825-10-15-4a. On April 30, 2020, the SMC Consideration was $9,715 which was for cancellation of the Warrant shares and recorded in the equity. The financial liability was remeasured to fair value as of the end of each of the reporting periods.

On July 29, 2020, ACM and SMC entered into an amended agreement under which, in settlement of the SMC Consideration, ACM issued to SMC a warrant (the “SMC 2020 Warrant”) to purchase 242,681 shares of Class A common stock at a purchase price of $7.50 per share, and ACM cancelled the SMC Note. The financial liability was remeasured to fair value of $21,679 as of July 29, 2020, and was retired with the issuance of the SMC 2020 Warrant.  The Company recognized a change in fair value of financial liability of $11,964 for the year ended December 31, 2020, which was reflected in the consolidated statement of operations. The Company recorded the difference of $19,859 between the SMC 2020 Warrant of $21,679 and the SMC Note of $1,820 into the equity.

The SMC 2020 Warrant was initially measured at fair value at the issuance date and classified as equity permanently in accordance with ASC 815. The fair value of the SMC 2020 Warrant amounted to $21,679, based on the grant date using the Black-Scholes valuation model with the following assumptions:

	July 29, 2020
Fair value of common share(1)	$	89.28
Expected term in years(2)		3.42
Volatility(3)		47.42	%
Risk-free interest rate(4)		0.15	%
Expected dividend(5)		0	%

(1) Fair value of Class A common stock was the closing market price of the Class A common stock on July 29, 2020.

(2) Expected term of share options is based on the average of the vesting period and the contractual term for each grant according to Staff Accounting Bulletin 110.

(3) Volatility is calculated based on the historical volatility of the stock of companies comparable to ACM in the period equal to the expected term of each grant.

(4) Risk-free interest rate is based on the yields of U.S. Treasury securities with maturities similar to the expected term of the share options in effect at the time of grant.

(5) Expected dividend is assumed to be 0%, as ACM has no history or expectation of paying a dividend on its common stock.

On June 9, 2021, subsequent to its obtaining the necessary PRC approvals, SMC exercised the 2020 Warrant by paying the $1,820 exercise price to ACM and surrendering the 2020 Warrant to ACM. In return, ACM delivered 242,681 shares of ACM Class A common stock to SMC.