Equity Market Risk. Common stocks are generally exposed to greater risk than other types of securities, such as preferred stock and debt obligations, because common stockholders generally have inferior rights to receive payment from specific issuers. The equity securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value. This may occur because of factors that affect securities markets generally or factors affecting specific issuers, industries, or sectors in which the Fund invests. Common stocks, such as those held by the Fund, are generally exposed to greater risk than other types of securities, such as preferred stock and debt obligations, because common stockholders generally have inferior rights to receive payment from issuers.

Sector and Industry Risk. To the extent the Index concentrates in the securities of a particular sector or industry or group of related industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Index. The concentration of the Fund’s portfolio on a specific sector, industry or industry group may present more risks than if the portfolio were broadly diversified over numerous groups of industries. The Fund’s performance may be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors and industries.

Technology Hardware & Equipment Industry Risks. Technology hardware, storage and peripherals companies can be significantly affected by competitive pressures, aggressive pricing, technological developments, changing domestic demand, the ability to attract and retain skilled employees and availability and price of components. The market for products produced by these companies is characterized by rapidly changing technology, rapid product obsolescence, cyclical market patterns, evolving industry standards and frequent new product introductions. The success of technology hardware companies depends in substantial part on the timely and successful introduction of new products. An unexpected change in one or more of the technologies affecting an issuer’s products or in the market for products based on a particular technology could have a material adverse effect on a participant’s operating results.

Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and does not attempt to outperform its Index or take defensive positions in declining markets. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected by a general decline in the market segments relating to its Index. The returns from the types of securities in which the Fund invests may underperform returns from other securities markets or different asset classes. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes. Different types of securities (for example, fixed-income securities) tend to go through cycles of doing better – or worse – than the general securities markets. In the past, these periods have lasted for as long as several years.

Economic and Market Risk. Economies and financial markets throughout the world are becoming increasingly interconnected, which increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one country or region will adversely impact markets or issuers in other countries or regions. Securities in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to securities in the general financial markets, a particular financial market, or other asset classes, due to a number of factors, including inflation (or expectations for inflation), deflation (or expectations for deflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, market instability, financial system instability, debt crises and downgrades, embargoes, tariffs, sanctions and other trade barriers, regulatory events, other governmental trade or market control programs and related geopolitical events. In addition, the value of the Fund’s investments may be negatively affected by the occurrence of global events such as war, terrorism, environmental disasters, natural disasters or events, country instability, and infectious disease epidemics or pandemics. The imposition by the U.S. of tariffs on goods imported from foreign countries and reciprocal tariffs levied on U.S. goods by those countries also may lead to volatility and instability in domestic and foreign markets.

Authorized Participants, Market Makers, and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that are authorized to purchase and redeem Shares directly from the Fund (known as “Authorized Participants” or “APs”). In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, Shares may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services; or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions.

Shares May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all ETFs, Shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of Shares will approximate the Fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price of Shares is more than the NAV intra-day (premium) or less than the NAV intra-day (discount) due to supply and demand of Shares or during periods of market volatility. This risk is heightened in times of market volatility, periods of steep market declines, and periods when there is limited trading activity for Shares in the secondary market, in which case such premiums or discounts may be significant.

Cash Redemption Risk. An ETF’s investment strategy may require the Fund to redeem its shares for cash or to otherwise include cash as part of its redemption proceeds. For example, an ETF may not be able to redeem in-kind certain securities held by the ETF (e.g., derivative instruments). In such a case, the ETF may be required to sell or unwind portfolio investments to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. This may cause the ETF to recognize a capital gain that it might not have recognized if it had made a redemption in-kind. As a result, the ETF may pay out higher annual capital gain distributions than if the in-kind redemption process was used. By paying out higher annual capital gain distributions, investors may be subjected to increased capital gains taxes.

Early-Stage and Pre-Revenue Company Risk. The Fund may invest in early-stage, development-phase, or recently public companies that may not yet generate meaningful revenues or profits. These companies may face significant uncertainty regarding the successful development, commercialization, and market acceptance of their products and technologies. Early-stage companies may depend on external financing to fund operations and research and development activities, and such financing may not be available on favorable terms, or at all. These companies may also face regulatory hurdles, technological feasibility risks, competitive pressures, and execution challenges. Securities of early-stage companies may be highly volatile and speculative, and investments in such companies may result in substantial losses.

Third Party Data Risk. The composition of the Index, and consequently the Fund’s portfolio, is heavily dependent on information and data calculated and published by an independent third party calculation agent (“Third Party Data”). When Third Party Data proves to be incorrect or incomplete, any decisions made in reliance thereon may lead to the inclusion or exclusion of securities from the Index that would have been excluded or included had the Third Party Data been correct and complete. If the composition of the Index reflects such errors, the Fund’s portfolio can also be expected to reflect the errors.

Operational Risk. The Fund is subject to risks arising from various operational factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third-parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund relies on third-parties for a range of services, including custody. Any delay or failure relating to engaging or maintaining such service providers may affect the Fund’s ability to meet its investment objective. Although the Fund and Adviser seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures, there is no way to completely protect against such risks.

Underlying Index Risk. Neither the Adviser nor the Index Provider is able to guarantee the continuous availability or timeliness of the production of the Index. The calculation and dissemination of the Index values may be delayed if the information technology or other facilities of the Index Provider, calculation agent, data providers and/or relevant stock exchange malfunction for any reason. A significant delay may cause trading in shares of the Fund to be suspended. Errors in Index data, computation and/or the construction in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider, calculation agent or other applicable party for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders.