SEC Form S-8 filed by AXT Inc

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 16, 2024

Registration No. 333-

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Under
The Securities Act of 1933

AXT, INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

4281 Technology Drive

Fremont, California 94538

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

AXT, INC. 2015 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN

(Full title of the plan)

Morris S. Young

Chief Executive Officer

AXT, Inc.

4281 Technology Drive

Fremont, California 94538

(510) 438-4700

(Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copy to:

Andrew D. Hoffman

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C.

650 Page Mill Road

Palo Alto, California 94304

(650) 493-9300

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If an emerging growth company, 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 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐

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EXPLANATORY NOTE

Pursuant to General Instruction E of Form S-8, AXT, Inc. (the “Registrant”) is filing this Registration Statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) to register 3,600,000 additional shares of the Registrant’s common stock reserved for issuance pursuant to the Registrant’s 2015 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended.  This Registration Statement hereby incorporates by reference the contents of the Registrant’s registration statements on Form S-8 filed with the Commission on May 27, 2015 (Registration No. 333-204478), May 24, 2019 (Registration No. 333-231744) and July 29, 2021 (Registration No. 333-258267).

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PART I

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE PROSPECTUS

The documents containing the information specified in Item 1 and Item 2 of this Registration Statement will be sent or given to employees, officers, directors or others as specified by Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). In accordance with the rules and regulations of the Commission and the instructions to the Registration Statement, such documents are not being filed with the Commission either as part of this Registration Statement or as prospectuses or prospectus supplements pursuant to Rule 424.

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference.

The Registrant hereby incorporates by reference into this Registration Statement the following documents previously filed with the Commission:

(1)The Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (File No. 000-24085) for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 (the “Annual Report”), filed with the Commission on March 15, 2024, pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”);

(2)All other reports filed with the Commission pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the Registrant’s Annual Report referred to in (1) above (other than the portions of these documents not deemed to be filed); and

(3)The description of the Registrant’s common stock contained in the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form 8-A (File No. 000-24085) filed with the Commission on April 24, 1998, pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description.

All documents filed by the Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act on or after the date of this Registration Statement and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement that indicates that all securities offered have been sold or that deregisters all securities then remaining unsold shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement and to be part hereof from the date of filing of such documents.

Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed document, which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein, modifies or supersedes such statement.  Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

Item 4. Description of Securities.

Not applicable.

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Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.

Not applicable.

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.

Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) authorizes a corporation’s board of directors to grant, and authorizes a court to award, indemnity to officers, directors and other corporate agents.

As permitted by Section 102(b)(7) of the DGCL, the Registrant’s certificate of incorporation includes provisions that eliminate the personal liability of a director of the Registrant for monetary damages for breach of such director’s fiduciary duty as a director.

In addition, as permitted by Section 145 of the DGCL, the bylaws of the Registrant provide that:

The Registrant’s policy is to enter into separate indemnification agreements with each of its directors and officers that provide indemnity to directors and executive officers to fullest extent permitted by applicable law and also provides for certain additional procedural protections.

These indemnification provisions and the indemnification agreements entered into between the Registrant and its officers and directors may be sufficiently broad to permit indemnification of the Registrant’s officers and directors for liabilities (including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act.

Item 7. Exemption from Registration Claimed.

Not applicable.

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Item 8. Exhibits.

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Item 9. Undertakings.

A. The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement:

(i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;

(ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the Registration Statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the Registration Statement.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than a 20 percent change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective Registration Statement; and

(iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the Registration Statement or any material change to such information in the Registration Statement.

Provided, however, that paragraphs (A)(1)(i) and (A)(1)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in this Registration  Statement.

(2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.

B. The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange

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Act) that is incorporated by reference in the Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

C. Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable.  In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Fremont, State of California, on August 16, 2024.

AXT, INC.

By:/s/ Morris S. Young​ ​

Morris S. Young

Chief Executive Officer

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below hereby constitutes and appoints Morris S. Young and Gary L. Fischer, and each or any one of them, as his true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, severally, for him and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement on Form S-8, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully for all intents and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or any of them, or their or his substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement on Form S-8 has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated below:

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