於2021年6月23日,本公司與不時的貸款方,以及作為行政代理及抵押品代理的美國富國銀行協會訂立信貸協定,或2021年6月23日信貸協定,提供本金總額為$350.0和高級擔保迴圈信貸安排,或“迴圈信貸安排”,本金總額最高可達#美元100.01000萬美元。2021年6月23日信貸協定項下的初始定期貸款所得款項已用於(I)由本公司及本公司之間全額償還該日期為2017年5月12日的該特定信貸協定項下的所有未償債務,作為行政代理的三菱UFG銀行有限公司和作為抵押品代理和貸款人的三菱UFG Union Bank,N.A.(經2020年7月31日第1號修正案修訂)及(Ii)支付與此有關的費用及開支。2021年6月23日信貸協定下的初始定期貸款的剩餘收益可用於一般企業用途,迴圈融資的收益可用於為本公司及其附屬公司的營運資金需求和其他一般企業用途提供資金。截至2024年9月30日,循環貸款未支取。根據與富國銀行及其他貸款人就先前尚未完成(現已終止)與Silicon Motion的合併(附註3)訂立的終止、修訂及重述承諾書,本公司預期於合併完成後償還本協定項下剩餘的未償還定期貸款。
2024年6月13日,Silicon Motion的股東HBK Master Fund L.P.和HBK Merge Strategy Master Fund L.P.向美國加利福尼亞州南區地方法院提出了另一項訴訟,標題為HBK Master Fund L.P.訴Maxline,Inc.,No.24-cv-01033(S.D.Cal.),指控Maxline及其部分現任官員違反了交易法第10(B)條和根據其頒佈的第100億5條,以及交易法第20(A)條,以及其他違規行為。起訴書稱,被告向Silicon Motion的股東隱瞞了他們終止與Silicon Motion合併的意圖。訴狀尋求補償性損害賠償,包括利息、成本和費用、懲罰性損害賠償,以及法院認為適當的其他衡平法或禁制令救濟。2024年7月12日,被告提出駁回這一申訴的動議,該申訴正在審理中。MaxLine打算繼續大力捍衛自己的立場。
2024年6月13日,Silicon Motion的股東HBK Master Fund L.P.和HBK Merge Strategy Master Fund L.P.向美國加利福尼亞州南區地方法院提出了另一項訴訟,標題為HBK Master Fund L.P.訴Maxline,Inc.,No.24-cv-01033(S.D.Cal.),指控Maxline及其部分現任官員違反了交易法第10(B)條和根據其頒佈的第100億5條,以及交易法第20(A)條,以及其他違規行為。起訴書稱,被告向Silicon Motion的股東隱瞞了他們終止與Silicon Motion合併的意圖。訴狀尋求補償性損害賠償,包括利息、成本和費用、懲罰性損害賠償,以及法院認為適當的其他衡平法或禁制令救濟。2024年7月12日,被告提出駁回這一申訴的動議,該申訴正在審理中。MaxLine打算繼續大力捍衛自己的立場。
自2022年10月以來,美國政府出於國家安全和人權方面的考慮,採取措施限制向人民Republic of China和/或位於中國的某些公司出口某些先進的半導體產品和技術。2022年10月,國際清算銀行宣佈對用於人民的產品和/或技術實施額外的限制,包括對(1)某些先進計算積體電路、含有這種積體電路的電腦商品和某些半導體制造專案的額外出口管制和/或要求;(2)可能用於能夠生產某些先進節點積體電路的設施的產品和/或技術;以及(3)涉及超級電腦和半導體制造終端用途的交易。2023年10月,國際清算銀行宣佈對中國出口某些先進半導體和半導體制造技術施加額外限制,主要集中在具有軍事、數據中心或人工智慧應用的積體電路。根據2023年10月的出口管制修正案,各類積體電路出口或再出口到中國和其他一些國家,現在受到出口許可和出口管制限制。我們已經確認,我們的一些產品受到這些新的控制。國際清算銀行還宣佈了對(1)總部設在中國或最終母公司總部設在中國或澳門的公司,以及(2)某些受關注國家的最終用戶的出口限制,以防止受控產品或技術轉移到中國手中。美國政府還繼續將中國實體添加到實體名單中。我們定期監測適用的出口管制法規的變化,以評估對我們業務的影響(如果有的話)。到目前為止,我們位於中國的重要客戶都沒有被添加到實體名單或其他受限制方名單中。
出口管制法律、法規和命令複雜,變化頻繁,通知有限或沒有通知,通常會隨著時間的推移變得更加嚴格,並隨著美國和中國地緣政治緊張局勢的惡化而加劇。自2022年10月以來,出於國家安全和人權方面的考慮,美國已宣佈對總部設在中國的多家實體實施出口管制限制,可能還會出臺更嚴厲的限制措施。在受限制的締約方名單中增加新的實體可以進一步擴大適用於我們業務的出口限制的範圍。出於國家安全和人權考慮,美國還宣佈了旨在進一步限制某些先進半導體產品和技術以及包含這些先進半導體產品的產品出口到人民解放軍Republic of China、中國和/或位於中國的某些公司的措施,包括對某些半導體技術實施新的許可要求。未能為我們的產品獲得所需的出口許可證或將我們的一個或多個客戶列入任何受限制方名單可能會顯著減少我們的收入並損害我們的業務。
A cybersecurity incident or other compromise of our information technology systems could result in unauthorized publication or misuse of confidential business or proprietary information belonging to us, a customer, supplier, employee or other third party, including personal data, result in violations of privacy or other laws, expose us to a risk of litigation, cause us to incur direct losses if attackers initiate wire transfers or access our bank or investment accounts, or damage our reputation. More generally, any theft, loss, misuse, or other unauthorized processing of any confidential business or proprietary information, including personal data, collected, used, stored, transferred, or otherwise processed by us or on our behalf could result in significantly increased costs, expenses, damage to our reputation, and claims, litigation, demands, and regulatory investigations or other proceedings. The cost and operational consequences of implementing further data protection measures either as a response to specific breaches or incidents or as a result of evolving risks could be significant. In addition, our inability to use or access our information systems at critical points in time could adversely affect the timely and efficient operation of our business. Any delayed sales, significant costs or lost customers resulting from these technology failures could adversely affect our business, operations and financial results. We also may face difficulties or delays in identifying and remediating and otherwise responding to any security breach or incident.
From time-to-time, we upgrade software that we use in our business, including our enterprise resource planning, or ERP, system. Our business may be disrupted if our software does not work as planned or if we experience issues relating to any implementation, or accessing our software as has happened in a previous cybersecurity attack, in which case we may be unable to timely or accurately prepare financial reports, make payments to our suppliers and employees, or ship to, invoice and collect from our customers.
We may be subject to supply chain attacks where threat actors attempt to inject malicious code into our products thus infecting our products and the systems of our customers. Any such supply chain attack could have magnified damages to our business as a direct result of the attack as well as due to a loss of credibility or reputation with our customers. Such attempts are increasing in number and in technical sophistication, and if successful, expose us and the affected parties to risk of loss or misuse of proprietary or confidential information or disruptions of our business operations, including our manufacturing operations.
Third parties with which we conduct business, such as foundries, assembly and test contractors, and distributors, have access to certain portions of our sensitive data, and we rely on third parties to store and otherwise process data for us. We are dependent on the information security systems of these third parties and they face substantial security risks similar to those outlined above. Any security breaches or incidents or other unauthorized access by third parties to the systems of our suppliers, service providers, or other third parties with access to our sensitive data, or the existence of computer viruses, ransomware or other malicious code in their data, software, or hardware, could result in disruptions or failures of systems used in our business, payments to fraudulent bank accounts, and expose us to a risk of loss, misappropriation, unavailability and other unauthorized processing of information. Any of the foregoing, or the perception any of them has occurred, could have a material adverse impact on our business, operations and financial results.
Additionally, we cannot be certain that our insurance coverage will be adequate or otherwise protect us with respect to claims, expenses, fines, penalties, business loss, data loss, litigation, regulatory actions, or other impacts arising from any of the security breaches or incidents outlined above, or that such coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or at all. Any of these results could adversely affect our business, operations and financial results, potentially in a material manner.
Average selling prices of our products have previously decreased and could decrease in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our revenue and gross margins.
We have and may in the future experience substantial period-to-period fluctuations in our operating results due to erosion of our average selling prices. From time to time, we have reduced the average unit price of our products due to competitive pricing pressures, new product introductions by us or our competitors, and for other reasons, and we expect that we will have to do so again in the future. In particular, we believe that industry consolidation has provided a number of larger semiconductor companies with substantial market power, which has had a material adverse impact on selling prices in some of our markets. If we are unable to offset any reductions in our average selling prices by increasing our sales volumes or introducing new products with higher margins, our revenue and gross margins will suffer. To support our gross margins, we must develop and introduce new products and product enhancements on a timely basis and continually reduce our and our customers’ costs. Our inability to do so would cause our revenue and gross margins to decline. In addition, under certain of our agreements with key distributors,
we provide protection for reductions in selling prices of the distributors’ inventory, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results if the selling prices for those products fell dramatically.
If we fail to penetrate new applications and markets, our revenue, revenue growth rate, if any, and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.
We sell a significant portion of our products to manufacturers of cable broadband voice and data modems and gateways, satellite outdoor units, optical modules for long-haul and metro telecommunications markets, and RF transceivers and modem solutions for wireless infrastructure markets. Our product offerings also include broadband data access, power management and interface technologies which are ubiquitous functions in new and existing markets such as wireless and wireline communications infrastructure, broadband access, industrial, enterprise network, and automotive applications. We have further expanded our product offerings to include Wi-Fi, ethernet and broadband gateway processor SoCs and intellectual property that utilizes patented machine learning techniques to improve signal integrity and power efficiency in SoCs, ASICs, and field-programmable gate arrays, or FPGAs, used in next-generation communication and artificial intelligence systems. Our future revenue growth, if any, will depend in part on our ability to further penetrate into, and expand beyond, these markets with analog, digital and mixed-signal solutions targeting the markets for Wi-Fi and broadband, high-speed optical interconnects for data center, metro, and long-haul optical modules, telecommunications wireless infrastructure, and cable DOCSIS 3.1 network infrastructure products. Each of these markets presents distinct and substantial risks. If any of these markets do not develop as we currently anticipate, or if we are unable to penetrate them successfully, it could materially and adversely affect our revenue and revenue growth rate, if any.
Broadband data modems and gateways and video gateways continue to represent a significant North American and European revenue generator. The North American and European Pay-TV market is dominated by a few OEMs, including Vantiva SA, Commscope Holding Company, Inc., Hitron Technologies Inc., Compal Broadband Networks, Inc., Humax Co., Ltd., and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. These OEMs are large multinational corporations with negotiating power relative to us and are undergoing significant consolidation. Securing design wins with any of these companies requires a substantial investment of our time and resources. Even if we succeed, additional testing and operational certifications will be required by the OEMs’ customers, which include large Pay-TV television companies such as Comcast Corporation, Liberty Global plc, Charter Communications, Inc., Sky UK Limited, AT&T Inc. and EchoStar Corporation. In addition, our products will need to be compatible with other components in our customers’ designs, including components produced by our competitors or potential competitors. There can be no assurance that these other companies will support or continue to support our products.
If we fail to penetrate these or other new markets upon which we target our resources, our revenue and revenue growth rate, if any, likely will decrease over time and our financial condition could suffer.
A significant portion of our revenue is attributable to demand for our products in markets for broadband solutions, and development delays and consolidation trends among cable and satellite Pay-TV and broadband operators could adversely affect our future revenues and operating results.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, revenue directly attributable to broadband applications accounted for approximately 32% and 30% of our net revenue, respectively. We have experienced a decrease in broadband net revenue of $82.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2023, and negative impact to our revenues is expected to continue in the fourth quarter of 2024 and possibly beyond due to slower than expected recovery in this market. Delays in the development of, or unexpected developments in, the broadband markets, including international macroeconomic headwinds, has had and is expected to continue to have an adverse effect on order activity by OEMs in these markets for the fourth quarter of 2024 and possibly thereafter and, as a result, on our business, revenue, operating results and financial condition. In addition, consolidation trends among Pay-TV and broadband operators may continue, which could delay or lead to cancellations of major spending programs and have a material adverse effect on our future operating results and financial condition.
We may be unable to make the substantial and productive research and development investments that are required to remain competitive in our business.
The semiconductor industry requires substantial investment in research and development in order to develop and bring to market new and enhanced technologies and products. Many of our products originated with our research and development efforts, which we believe have provided us with a significant competitive advantage. For nine months ended September 30, 2024, and 2023, our research and development expense was $173.9 million and $204.3 million, respectively. While we have decreased our research and development spending to meet evolving demand, we expect our research and development expenses to increase in future years when we return to expanding our product portfolio and enhancing existing products. We monitor such expenditures as part of our strategy of devoting focused research and development efforts on the development of innovative and sustainable product platforms. We are committed to investing in new product development internally in order to stay competitive in our markets and plan to maintain research and development and design capabilities for new solutions in advanced semiconductor process nodes such as 16nm and 5nm and beyond, as well as to address challenges of capturing and processing high quality broadband communications and high-speed optical interconnect signals. However, we do not know whether we will have sufficient resources to maintain the level of investment in research and development required to remain competitive as semiconductor process nodes continue to shrink and become increasingly complex. In addition, we cannot assure you that the technologies that are the focus of our research and development expenditures will become commercially successful. Furthermore, we currently receive grants from certain non-U.S. governments, but those grants and any future grants may not be available to us in the future.
The complexity of our products could result in unforeseen delays or expenses caused by undetected defects or bugs, which could reduce the market acceptance of our new products, damage our reputation with current or prospective customers and adversely affect our operating costs.
Highly complex products like our Wi-Fi and broadband RF receivers and RF receiver SoCs, physical medium devices for optical modules, RF transceiver and modem solutions for wireless infrastructure markets, and high-performance analog solutions may contain defects and bugs when they are first introduced or as new versions are released. Where any of our products, including legacy acquired products, contain defects or bugs, or have reliability, quality or compatibility problems, we may not be able to successfully correct these problems. Consequently, our reputation may be damaged and customers may be reluctant to buy our products, which could materially and adversely affect our ability to retain existing customers and attract new customers, and our financial results. In addition, these defects or bugs could interrupt or delay sales to our customers. If any of these problems are not found until after we have commenced commercial production of a new product, we may be required to incur additional development costs and product recall, repair or replacement costs, and our operating costs could be adversely affected. These problems may also result in warranty or product liability claims against us by our customers or others that may require us to make significant expenditures to defend these claims or pay damage awards. In the event of a warranty claim, we may also incur costs if we compensate the affected customer. We maintain product liability insurance, but this insurance is limited in amount and subject to significant deductibles. There is no guarantee that our insurance will be available or adequate to protect against all claims. We also may incur costs and expenses relating to a recall of one of our customers’ products containing one of our devices. The process of identifying a recalled product in devices that have been widely distributed may be lengthy and require significant resources, and we may incur significant replacement costs, contract damage claims from our customers and reputational harm. Costs or payments made in connection with warranty and product liability claims and product recalls could materially affect our financial condition and results of operations, and ability to obtain future coverage. Although we purchase insurance to mitigate certain losses, any uninsured losses could negatively affect our operating results. Although we maintain reserves for reasonably estimable liabilities and purchase product liability insurance, if a catastrophic product liability claim were to occur, our reserves may be inadequate to cover the uninsured portion of such claims. Further, our business liability insurance may be inadequate, may not cover the claims, and future coverage may be unavailable on acceptable terms, which could adversely impact our financial results.
Our revenue and operating results are subject to substantial quarterly and annual fluctuations and have fluctuated in the past and may fluctuate significantly due to a number of factors that could adversely affect our business and our stock price.
Our revenue and operating results have fluctuated in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future. For example, our revenue declined from $567.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2023, to $268.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and revenue could continue to decline. These fluctuations may occur on a quarterly and on an annual basis and are due to a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control. These factors include, among others:
•seasonality or cyclical fluctuations in our markets;
•overall demand volatility for semiconductor solutions across a diverse range of communications, industrial and multi-market applications;
•changes in end-user demand for the products manufactured and sold by our customers;
•the receipt, reduction or cancellation of significant orders by customers;
•fluctuations in the levels of component inventories held by our customers;
•the gain or loss of significant customers;
•market acceptance of our products and our customers’ products;
•our ability to develop, introduce, and market new products and technologies on a timely basis;
•size and timing of any consideration received under our intellectual property sale agreements;
•the availability and cost of products from our suppliers;
•the timing and extent of operating expenses, including costs related to product development and personnel compensation and benefits;
•new product announcements and introductions by us or our competitors;
•incurrence of research and development and related new product expenditures;
•government actions, by the United States, China or other countries, that impose barriers or restrictions that would impact our ability to sell or ship products to customers;
•currency fluctuations;
•fluctuations in manufacturing yields of integrated circuits;
•significant warranty claims, including those not covered by our suppliers;
•changes in our product mix or customer mix;
•potential indemnification claims, including those arising as a result of our contractual arrangements or intellectual property disputes;
•intellectual property disputes;
•timing and extent of product development costs;
•loss of key personnel or inability to attract, retain and motivate qualified skilled workers;
•impairment of long-lived assets, including masks and production equipment; and
•the effects of competitive pricing pressures, including decreases in average selling prices of our products.
If our growth rate continues to slow, seasonal or cyclical variations in our operations may become more pronounced over time and may materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. These factors are difficult to forecast, and these, as well as other factors, could materially adversely affect our quarterly or annual operating results. We typically are required to incur substantial development costs in advance of a prospective sale with no certainty that we will ever recover these costs. A substantial amount of time may pass between a design win and the generation of revenue related to the expenses previously incurred, which can potentially cause our operating results to fluctuate significantly from period to period. In addition, a significant amount of our operating expenses are relatively fixed in nature due to our significant sales, research and development costs. Any failure to adjust spending or our operations quickly enough to compensate for a revenue shortfall could magnify its adverse impact on our results of operations.
If we fail to develop and introduce new or enhanced products on a timely basis, our ability to attract and retain customers could be impaired and our competitive position could be harmed.
We operate in a dynamic environment characterized by rapidly changing technologies and industry standards and technological obsolescence. To compete successfully, we must design, develop, market and sell new or enhanced products that provide increasingly higher levels of performance and reliability and meet the cost expectations of our customers. The introduction of new products by our competitors, the market acceptance of products based on new or alternative technologies, or the emergence of new industry standards could render our existing or future products obsolete. Our failure to anticipate or timely develop new or enhanced products or technologies in response to technological shifts has resulted, and could in the future, result in decreased revenue and our competitors winning more competitive bid processes, known as “design wins.” In particular, we may experience difficulties with product design, manufacturing, marketing or certification that could delay or prevent our development, introduction or marketing of new or enhanced products. If we fail or are slow to introduce new or enhanced products that meet the needs of our customers or penetrate new markets in a timely fashion, as has happened previously or in the future, we will lose market share and our operating results will be adversely affected.
In particular, we believe that we will need to develop new products in part to respond to changing dynamics and trends in our end user markets, including (among other trends) consolidation among cable and satellite operators, potential industry shifts away from the hardware devices and other technologies that incorporate certain of our products, advances in artificial intelligence, and changes in consumer television viewing habits and how consumers access and receive broadcast content and digital broadband services. We cannot predict how these trends will continue to develop or how or to what extent they may affect our future revenues and operating results. We believe that we will need to continue to make substantial investments in research and development in an attempt to ensure a product roadmap that anticipates these types of changes; however, we cannot provide any assurances that we will accurately predict the direction in which our markets will evolve or that we will be able to develop, market, or sell new products that respond to such changes successfully or in a timely manner, if at all.
We are subject to order and shipment uncertainties, and differences between our estimates of customer demand and product mix and our actual results could continue to negatively affect our inventory levels, sales and operating results.
Our revenue is generated on the basis of shipments of products under purchase orders with our customers rather than long-term purchase commitments. In addition, our customers can and have requested to cancel purchase orders or defer the shipments of our products under certain circumstances. Our products are manufactured using a silicon foundry according to our estimates of customer demand, which requires us to make separate demand forecast assumptions for every customer, each of which may introduce significant variability into our aggregate estimate. We have limited visibility into future customer demand and the product mix that our customers will require, which has in the past affected and could in the future adversely affect our revenue forecasts and operating margins. Also, as customer lead times continue to improve, we have seen and expect to continue to see a more normalized demand-planning horizon. Moreover, because our target markets are relatively new, many of our customers have difficulty accurately forecasting their product requirements and estimating the timing of their new product introductions, which ultimately affects their demand for our products. Historically, because of this limited visibility, actual results have been different from our forecasts of customer demand. Some of these differences have been material which has led to and could continue to lead to excess inventory or product shortages and revenue and margin forecasts above those we were actually able to achieve. These differences may occur in the future, and the adverse impact of these differences between forecasts and actual results could grow if we are not successful in expanding the customer base for our products. In addition, the rapid pace of innovation in our industry could render significant portions of our inventory obsolete. Excess or obsolete inventory levels has resulted and continue to result in unexpected expenses or increases in our reserves that could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. Conversely, if we were to underestimate customer demand or if sufficient manufacturing capacity were unavailable, we could forego revenue opportunities, potentially lose market share and damage our customer relationships. In addition, any significant future cancellations or deferrals of product orders or the return of previously sold products due to manufacturing defects could materially and adversely impact our profit margins, increase our write-offs due to product obsolescence and restrict our ability to fund our operations.
We may have difficulty accurately predicting our future revenue and appropriately budgeting our expenses particularly as we seek to enter new markets where we may not have prior experience.
Our operating history had historically focused on developing integrated circuits for specific applications and more recently, the wired whole-home broadband connectivity market and markets for wireless telecommunications infrastructure and power management and interface technologies which are ubiquitous functions in wireless and wireline communications infrastructure, broadband access, industrial, enterprise network, and automotive applications. As part of our growth strategy, we seek to expand our addressable market into new product categories. For example, we expanded intothe markets for Wi-Fi, ethernet and broadband gateway processor SoCs and intellectual property that utilizes patented machine learning techniques to improve signal integrity and power efficiency in SoCs, ASICs, and FPGAs used in next-generation communication and artificial intelligence systems. Our limited operating experience in new markets or potential markets we may enter, combined with the rapidly evolving nature of our markets in general, substantial uncertainty concerning how these markets may develop and other factors beyond our control reduces our ability to accurately forecast quarterly or annual revenue. If our revenue does not increase particularly in new markets, we could continue to incur significant losses due to our higher expense levels if we are not able to decrease our expenses in a timely manner to offset any shortfall in current or future revenue.
Our customers require our products and our third-party contractors to undergo a lengthy and expensive qualification process which does not assure product sales.
Prior to purchasing our products, our customers require that both our products and our third-party contractors undergo extensive qualification processes, which involve testing of the products in the customer’s system and rigorous reliability testing. This qualification process may continue for six months or more. However, qualification of a product by a customer does not assure any sales of the product to that customer. Even after successful qualification and sales of a product to a customer, a subsequent revision to our solutions, or changes in our customer’s manufacturing process or our selection of a new supplier may require a new qualification process, which may result in delays and in us holding excess or obsolete inventory. After our products are qualified, it can take six months or more before the customer commences volume production of components or devices that incorporate our products. Despite these uncertainties, we devote substantial resources, including design, engineering, sales, marketing and management efforts, to qualifying our products with customers in anticipation of sales. If we are unsuccessful or delayed in qualifying any of our products with a customer, sales of this product to the customer may be precluded or delayed, which may result in a decrease in our revenue and cause our business to suffer.
Winning business is subject to lengthy competitive selection processes that require us to incur significant expenditures. Even if we begin a product design, customers may decide to cancel or change their product plans, which could cause us to generate no revenue from a product and adversely affect our results of operations.
We are focused on securing design wins to develop RF receivers and RF receiver SoCs, MoCA and G.hn SoCs, DBS-ODU SoCs, physical medium devices for optical modules, interface and power management devices, and SoC solutions targeting infrastructure opportunities within the telecommunications, wireless, industrial and multi-market and Wi-Fi and broadband operator markets for use in our customers’ products. These selection processes typically are lengthy and can require us to incur significant design and development expenditures and dedicate scarce engineering resources in pursuit of a single customer opportunity. We may not win the competitive selection process and may never generate any revenue despite incurring significant design and development expenditures. These risks are exacerbated by the fact that some of our customers’ products likely will have short life cycles. Although this has not occurred to date, failure to obtain a design win could prevent us from offering an entire generation of a product. This could cause us to lose revenue and require us to write off obsolete inventory, and could weaken our position in future competitive selection processes. After securing a design win, we may experience delays in generating revenue from our products as a result of the lengthy development cycle typically required. Our customers generally take a considerable amount of time to evaluate our products. The typical time from early engagement by our sales force to actual product introduction runs from nine to twelve months for the broadband and communications market, and 36 months or longer for industrial, wired and wireless infrastructure markets. The delays inherent in these lengthy sales cycles increase the risk that a customer will decide to cancel, curtail, reduce or delay its product plans, causing us to lose anticipated sales. In addition, any delay or cancellation of a customer’s plans could materially and adversely affect our financial results, as we may have incurred significant expense and generated no revenue. Finally, our customers’ failure to successfully market and sell their products could reduce demand for our products and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we were unable to generate revenue after incurring substantial expenses to develop any of our products, our business would suffer.
Our business is subject to various international and U.S. laws and governmental regulations, and compliance with these laws and regulations may cause us to incur significant expenses. A failure to maintain compliance with applicable laws and regulations could result in a material adverse effect on our business and operating results, and we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties.
Our business is subject to various laws and regulations in the United States and other jurisdictions where we do business, including but not limited to laws, regulations and other legal requirements related to packaging; product content; labor and employment; import and customs; export controls; anti-corruption; personal and data privacy; cybersecurity; human rights; conflict minerals; environment, health and safety; competition and antitrust; and intellectual property ownership and infringement. These laws and regulations are complex, change frequently and with little or no notice, occasionally are conflicting or ambiguous, and have generally become more stringent over time. Complying with these laws and regulations can be costly and we may be required to incur significant costs to remedy any potential gaps or violations that are identified. In addition, because many of our products are regulated or sold into regulated industries, we must comply with additional regulations in marketing our products. Although our policies, procedures, and controls are designed to detect and prevent potential violations and maintain ongoing compliance with applicable laws, we cannot assure you that we have been or will be at all times in compliance with such laws and regulations. If we violate or fail to comply with any of them, a range of consequences could result, including fines, import/export restrictions, sales limitations, criminal and civil liabilities or other penalties or sanctions. The costs of complying with these laws (including the costs of any investigations, remediation, auditing and monitoring) could adversely affect our current or future business.
As indicated elsewhere in this report, we do a substantial portion of our business in Asia, including in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China, or China. Since October 2022, the United States has taken steps to restrict the export of certain advanced semiconductor products and technology to China as well as a number of specific Chinese companies, due to national security and human rights concerns. There has also been a substantial focus by regulators in the United States and Europe on the business practices of certain major Chinese technology companies. Complying with changing export control laws may require us to develop additional policies, procedures, and controls, or incur additional costs, including in connection with the development or performance of additional due diligence in order to prevent diversion of restricted products or technology to China, Russia, or other destinations. Compliance with these laws and regulations may also result in the loss of revenue. Since October 2022, we have restricted shipments and exports to certain major Chinese technology companies, including a semiconductor foundry and OSAT providers. While we intend to continue to conduct our businesses in compliance with all applicable laws, including laws relating to export controls and anti-corruption, it is possible that the nature of our business and customers could result in a review of our relationships and practices by regulatory authorities. At times, we may discover issues that we bring to the attention of the relevant government agencies, as we did on March 3, 2023, when we submitted a comprehensive voluntary self-disclosure to BIS regarding the potential EAR violation described above and other potential export control violations. Although the March 2023 voluntary self-disclosure to BIS resulted in a warning letter, we could incur increased administrative and legal costs in order to remediate any potential compliance gaps or violations, to respond to any inquiries, or in connection with the preparation and submission of any voluntary self-disclosures to the government agencies, as appropriate. Any failure to comply with applicable laws or regulatory approvals could adversely affect our business and operating results. We have implemented policies and procedures, including adoption of an anti-corruption policy and procedures with respect to applicable export control laws, but there can be no assurance that our policies and procedures will prove effective.
Our products and operations are also subject to the rules of industrial standards bodies, like the International Standards Organization, as well as regulation by other agencies, such as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. If we fail to adequately address any of these rules or regulations, our business could be harmed.
In addition, climate change and new or revised rules and regulations related thereto, including regulations with respect to greenhouse gas emissions and regulations enacted by the SEC and recent legislation enacted in California, may impact our business in numerous ways. Climate change and its effects could lead to further increases in raw material prices or their reduced availability due to, for example, increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events and any supply chain disruptions resulting therefrom, and could cause increased incidence of disruption to the production and distribution of our products and an adverse impact on consumer demand and spending. For example, as a fabless semiconductor company, we outsource our manufacturing to countries outside of the United States, and our manufacturers’ suppliers reside in areas that are more susceptible to extreme weather impacts. If our suppliers have difficulty obtaining raw materials and natural resources due to extreme weather impacts, this could increase the cost associated with extraction of raw materials or limit the supply available for our key suppliers to manufacture our products, driving the cost up for us and/or threaten our upstream supply chain. In recent months, there have been substantial legislative and regulatory developments on climate-related issues, including proposed, issued and implemented legislation and rulemakings that would require companies to assess and/or disclose climate metrics, risks, opportunities, policies and practices. For example, on March 6, 2024, the SEC adopted rules mandating climate-related disclosures that would require increased climate change-related disclosure in our periodic reports and other filings with the SEC for fiscal year 2025 and beyond, which were stayed on April 4, 2024. The potential impact to us of these legislative and regulatory developments is uncertain at this time, although we expect that the emerging legal and regulatory requirements on climate-related issues will result in additional compliance and may require us to spend or add significant resources and divert management attention. We cannot be sure that we will be able to successfully adapt our operations in response to any climate-related changes or comply with any increased reporting obligations in a cost-effective manner, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
We must also conform the manufacture and distribution of our semiconductors to various laws and adapt to regulatory requirements in all countries as these requirements change. If we fail to comply with these requirements in the manufacture or distribution of our products, we could be required to pay civil penalties, face criminal prosecution and, in some cases, be prohibited from distributing our products in commerce until the products or component substances are brought into compliance.
If we are unable to attract, train and retain qualified personnel and senior management, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could suffer.
Our future success depends on our ability to retain, attract and motivate qualified personnel, including our management, sales and marketing and finance teams, and especially our design and technical staff. In July 2024, we initiated the 2024 Workforce Reduction, and previously, in March and October 2023, we initiated the 2023 Workforce Reductions, to align our
operational needs with the changes in macroeconomic conditions and the demand environment. These workforce reductions may yield unintended consequences, such as attrition beyond our intended reduction in workforce and reduced employee morale, which may cause our employees who were not affected by the reduction in workforce to seek alternate employment. Employees whose positions were eliminated or those who determine to seek alternate employment may seek employment with our competitors. In addition, our reductions in workforce may adversely impact our ability to implement our business strategy and respond rapidly to any new product, growth or revenue opportunities. Additionally, reductions in workforce may make it more difficult to recruit and retain new employees. If we need to increase the size of our workforce in the future, we may encounter a competitive hiring market due to labor shortages, increased employee turnover, changes in the availability of workers and increased wage costs. Employee litigation related to the reduction of our workforce could be costly and time-consuming.
We do not know whether we will be able to attract and retain the required and desirable personnel as we continue to pursue our business strategy. Historically, we have encountered difficulties in hiring and retaining qualified engineers because there is a limited pool of engineers with the expertise required in our field, and expect to continue facing such difficulties in seeking talent. Competition for these personnel is intense in the semiconductor industry. As the source of our technological and product innovations, our design and technical personnel represent a significant asset. In addition, in making employment decisions, particularly in the high-technology industry, job candidates often consider the value of the stock-based compensation they are to receive in connection with their employment. We have experienced declines in the market price of our stock and reductions in force which could adversely affect our ability to attract, motivate or retain key employees. In addition, our future performance also depends on the ability of our senior management to execute our business plan and to identify and pursue new opportunities and product innovations. Our employment arrangements with our employees do not generally require that they continue to work for us for any specified period, and therefore, they could terminate their employment with us at any time. The loss of the services of one or more of our key employees, especially our management and key design and technical personnel, or our inability to retain, attract and motivate our management and qualified design and technical and other personnel, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our future success also depends on the continued contributions of our senior management team and other key personnel. None of our senior management team or other key personnel is bound by written employment contracts to remain with us for a specified period. In addition, we have not entered into non-compete agreements with members of our senior management team or other key personnel, except in limited circumstances (e.g., in connection with the acquisition of other companies). We are fortunate that certain members of our senior management team have long tenures with us, but recently we also have been required to recruit new members of senior management. With respect to recruitment and retention of senior management, we need to ensure that our compensation programs provide sufficient recruitment and retention incentives as well as incentives to achieve our long-term strategic business and financial objectives. We expect competition for individuals with our required skill sets, particularly technical and engineering skills, to remain intense even in weak global macroeconomic environments. The loss of any member of our senior management team or other key personnel could harm our ability to implement our business strategy and respond to the rapidly changing market conditions in which we operate.
As of September 30, 2024, our aggregate indebtedness was $125.0 million, and we are subject to a variable amount of interest on the principal balance of our credit agreements and could continue to be adversely impacted by high interest rates in the future. Such indebtedness adversely affects our operating results and cash-flows as we satisfy our underlying interest and principal payment obligations and contains financial and operational covenants that could adversely affect our operational freedom or ability to pursue strategic transactions that we would otherwise consider to be in the best interests of stockholders, including obtaining additional indebtedness to finance such transactions. In addition, high interest rates may make it more difficult for us, our customers, and our distributors to obtain financing and service our respective interest and debt obligations, which in turn has an impact on customer demand for our products and our distributors’ business.
As of September 30, 2024, our aggregate indebtedness was $125.0 million from an initial secured term B loan facility, or the Initial Term Loan under the June 23, 2021 Credit Agreement. The June 23, 2021 Credit Agreement also provides for a revolving credit facility of up to $100.0 million, or the Revolving Facility, which remains undrawn as of September 30, 2024. The credit agreement also permits us to request incremental loans in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed the sum of an amount equal to the greater of (x) $175.0 million and (y) 100% of “Consolidated EBITDA” (as defined in such agreement), plus the amount of certain voluntary prepayments, plus an unlimited amount that is subject to pro forma compliance with certain first lien net leverage ratio, secured net leverage ratio and total net leverage ratio tests. The June 23, 2021 Credit Agreement was amended on June 29, 2023 to implement a benchmark replacement.
The Initial Term Loan under the June 23, 2021 Credit Agreement has a seven-year term expiring in June 2028 and bears interest at either an Adjusted Term SOFR plus a fixed applicable margin of 2.25% or an Adjusted Base Rate plus a fixed applicable margin of 1.25%, at our option. Commencing on September 30, 2021, the Initial Term Loan under the June 23, 2021 Credit Agreement amortizes in equal quarterly installments equal to 0.25% of the original principal amount, with the balance payable on June 23, 2028. We are subject to commitment fees ranging from 0.175% to 0.25% on the undrawn portion of the Revolving Facility, and any outstanding loans under the Revolving Facility will bear interest at either an Adjusted Term SOFR plus a margin of 1.00% to 1.75% or an Adjusted Base Rate plus a margin of 0% to 0.75%. Our obligations under the June 23, 2021 Credit Agreement are required to be guaranteed by certain of our domestic subsidiaries meeting materiality thresholds set forth in the credit agreement. Such obligations, including the guaranties, are secured by substantially all of our assets and those of the subsidiary guarantors.
Our material indebtedness adversely affects our operating expenses through increased interest payment obligations and adversely affects our ability to use cash generated from operations as we repay interest at a variable rate, and principal under the term loans. In addition, the Revolving Facility provisions under the June 23, 2021 Credit Agreement include financial covenants such as an initial maximum secured net leverage ratio of 3.50 to 1.00, which temporarily increases to 3.75 to 1.00 following the consummation of certain material permitted acquisitions, and operational covenants that may adversely affect our ability to engage in certain activities, including obtaining additional financing, granting liens, undergoing certain fundamental changes, or making investments or certain restricted payments, and selling assets, and similar transactions, without obtaining the consent of the lenders, which may or may not be forthcoming. The Initial Term Loan under the June 23, 2021 Credit Agreement is only subject to operational covenants. Lastly, our borrowing costs can be affected by periodic credit ratings from independent rating agencies. Such ratings are largely based on our performance, which may be measured by credit metrics such as leverage and interest coverage ratios. Accordingly, outstanding indebtedness could adversely affect our operational freedom or ability to pursue strategic transactions that we would otherwise consider to be in the best interests of stockholders, including obtaining additional indebtedness to finance such transactions.
Specifically, our indebtedness and high interest rates have important consequences to investors in our common stock, including the following:
•high interest rates may make it more difficult for us, our customers, and our distributors to obtain financing and service our respective interest and debt obligations, which in turn has an impact on customer demand for our products as well as the business of our distributors;
•we are subject to variable interest rate risk because our interest rate under the Initial Term Loan under the June 23, 2021 Credit Agreement varies based on a fixed margin of 2.25% per annum over an adjusted Term SOFR rate or 1.25% per annum over an adjusted base rate and our interest rate for any outstanding principal under the revolving credit facility varies based a margin of 0% to 0.75% over adjusted base rate or a margin of 1.00% to 1.75% over an adjusted Term SOFR rate, and we are also subject to commitment fees ranging from 0.175% to 0.25% on the undrawn portion of the Revolving Facility. If interest rates were to continue to increase substantially, it would adversely affect our operating results and could affect our ability to service our indebtedness;
•a portion of our cash flows is dedicated to the payment of interest and when applicable, principal, on our indebtedness and other obligations and will not be available for use in our business;
•our level of indebtedness, combined with high interest rates, could limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the markets in which we operate, including limiting our future investments or ability to enter into acquisitions and strategic partnerships, and obtain financing for such transactions; and
•our high degree of indebtedness may make us more vulnerable to changes in general economic conditions and/or a downturn in our business, thereby making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations.
If we fail to make required debt payments, or if we fail to comply with financial or other covenants in our debt service agreements, which include a maximum leverage ratio, we would be in default under the terms of these agreements. Subject to customary cure rights, any default would permit the holders of the indebtedness to accelerate repayment of this debt and could cause defaults under other indebtedness that we have, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our common stock.
We and our subsidiaries may, subject to any limitations in the terms of our existing loan facilities, incur additional debt, secure existing or future debt, recapitalize our debt or take a number of other actions that are not limited by the terms of our term loans that could have the effect of diminishing our ability to make payments under the indebtedness when due. If we incur any additional debt, the related risks that we and our subsidiaries face could intensify. Please refer to the Risk Factor entitled “If we are required to pay any damages in connection with legal proceedings related to the termination of the Merger Agreement with Silicon Motion, including for any alleged breaches of the Merger Agreement, or if we agree to make any payments in any settlement of legal proceedings related to the termination of the Merger Agreement, the amount of such damages or payments could be significant and require us to draw down on all our existing lines of credit and use our cash resources, which may not be sufficient to satisfy any damages or payments and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. We expect that we may not be able to obtain financing on favorable terms if at all or raise additional capital for any such payments. Even if we are able to finance such payments through the incurrence of additional indebtedness, any material increase in our indebtedness would adversely affect our operating results and cash-flows as we satisfy our underlying interest and principal payment obligations. Issuing additional shares of our common stock, if material, will result in dilution of existing shares outstanding. Any loan agreement is also expected to contain financial and operational covenants that would adversely affect our operational freedom or ability to pursue strategic transactions that we would otherwise consider to be in the best interests of stockholders, including obtaining additional indebtedness to finance such transactions”.
We are subject to governmental laws, regulations and other legal obligations related to privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity, and any inability of us to comply with such obligations may negatively impact our business.
The legislative, enforcement policy and regulatory framework for privacy, data protection and cybersecurity issues worldwide is rapidly evolving and complex and is likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. We collect and otherwise process data, including personal data and other regulated or sensitive data, as part of our business processes and activities. This data is subject to a variety of U.S. and international laws and regulations, including oversight by various regulatory or other governmental bodies. Many foreign countries and governmental bodies, including China, the European Union and other relevant jurisdictions where we conduct business, have laws and regulations concerning the collection and use of personal data, and other data obtained from their residents or by businesses operating within their jurisdictions that are currently more restrictive than those in the U.S. These laws may require that our overall information technology security environment meet certain standards and/or be certified. For example, effective May 2018, the European Union adopted the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, that imposed stringent data protection requirements and provided for greater penalties for noncompliance. The United Kingdom has adopted legislation that substantially implements the GDPR and provides for a similar penalty structure. Similarly, California has adopted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, or CCPA, which took effect in 2020. The CCPA gives California residents the right to access, delete and opt out of certain sharing of their information, and imposes penalties for failure to comply. California has adopted a new law, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 that substantially expands the CCPA and was effective as of January 1, 2023. Additionally, other U.S. states continue to propose and enact privacy and security-focused legislation. In addition, governments around the world continue to enact laws relating to privacy and data security. For example, in 2021, the National People’s Congress passed the Data Security Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China, or PIPL. The Data Security Law is the first comprehensive data security legislation in the People’s Republic of China, or China, and aims to regulate a wide range of issues in relation to the collection, storage, processing, use, provision, transaction and publication of any kind of data. In March 2024, the Cyberspace Administration of China published the Provisions on Promoting and Standardizing Cross-Border Data Flows to implement the mechanisms for the cross-border data transfers, including the security assessment. These regulations contain provisions that allow substantial government oversight and include fines for failure to obtain required approval from China’s cyber and data protection regulators for cross-border personal data-related data transfers. However, there is still some uncertainty in how regulators will interpret and enforce these laws.
The laws outlined above are only a sample of the governmental laws, regulations and other legal obligations related to privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity to which we are subject. Various aspects of these laws, including their interpretation and enforcement, remain unclear, resulting in further uncertainty and potentially requiring us to modify our data practices and policies and to incur substantial additional costs and expenses in an effort to comply. Because the interpretation and application of many such laws and regulations, remain uncertain and continue to evolve, it is possible that these laws and regulations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our data management practices or the features of our products or solutions, and we could face fines, lawsuits, regulatory investigations, and other claims and penalties, and we could be required to fundamentally change our products or our business practices, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Any inability, or perceived inability, to adequately address privacy and data protection concerns, or to comply with applicable laws, regulations, policies, industry standards, contractual obligations or other legal obligations, even if unfounded,
could result in additional cost and liability to us, damage our reputation, inhibit sales and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Our products must conform to industry standards in order to be accepted by end users in our markets.
Generally, our products comprise only a part or parts of a communications device. All components of these devices must uniformly comply with industry standards in order to operate efficiently together. We depend on companies that provide other components of the devices to support prevailing industry standards. Many of these companies are significantly larger and more influential in driving industry standards than we are. Some industry standards may not be widely adopted or implemented uniformly, and competing standards may emerge that may be preferred by our customers or end users. If larger companies do not support the same industry standards that we do, or if competing standards emerge, market acceptance of our products could be adversely affected, which would harm our business.
Products for communications applications are based on industry standards that are continually evolving. Our ability to compete in the future will depend on our ability to identify and ensure compliance with these evolving industry standards. The emergence of new industry standards could render our products incompatible with products developed by other suppliers. As a result, we could be required to invest significant time and effort and to incur significant expense to redesign our products to ensure compliance with relevant standards. If our products are not in compliance with prevailing industry standards for a significant period of time, we could miss opportunities to achieve crucial design wins. We may not be successful in developing or using new technologies or in developing new products or product enhancements that achieve market acceptance. Our pursuit of necessary technological advances may require substantial time and expense.
We may, from time to time, make additional business acquisitions or investments, which involve significant risks.
We have completed multiple acquisitions in the past nine years. We may also enter into alliances or make investments in other businesses to complement our existing product offerings, augment our market coverage or enhance our technological capabilities. Any such transactions has resulted and could result in:
•issuances of equity securities dilutive to our existing stockholders;
•substantial cash payments;
•the incurrence of substantial debt and assumption of unknown liabilities;
•large one-time write-offs;
•amortization expenses related to intangible assets;
•a limitation on our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards;
•the diversion of management’s time and attention from operating our business to acquisition integration challenges;
•stockholder or other litigation relating to the transaction;
•adverse tax consequences;
•costs and expenses associated with any undisclosed or potential liabilities; and
•the potential loss of, or ability to attract, key personnel, customers and suppliers of the acquired businesses.
To the extent we pay the purchase price of any acquisition or investment in cash or through borrowings under our Revolving Facility, it would reduce our cash balances and/or result in indebtedness we must service, which may have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. If the purchase price is paid with our stock, it would be dilutive to our stockholders. In addition, we may assume liabilities associated with a business acquisition or investment, including unrecorded liabilities that are not discovered at the time of the transaction, and the repayment of those liabilities may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.
Integrating acquired organizations and their products and services, including the integration of completed acquisitions, may be expensive, time-consuming and a strain on our resources and our relationships with employees, customers, distributors and suppliers, and ultimately may not be successful. The benefits or synergies we may expect from the acquisition of
complementary or supplementary businesses may not be realized to the extent or in the time frame we initially anticipate. Some of the risks that may affect our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses include those associated with:
•failure to successfully further develop the acquired products or technology;
•conforming the acquired company’s standards, policies, processes, procedures and controls with our operations;
•coordinating new product and process development, especially with respect to highly complex technologies;
•loss of key employees or customers of the acquired business;
•hiring additional management and other key personnel;
•in the case of foreign acquisitions, the need to integrate operations across different cultures and languages and to address the particular economic, currency, political and regulatory risks associated with specific countries;
•increasing the scope, geographic diversity and complexity of our operations;
•consolidation of facilities, integration of the acquired businesses’ accounting, human resource and other administrative functions and coordination of product, engineering and sales and marketing functions;
•the geographic distance between the businesses;
•liability for activities of the acquired businesses before the acquisition, including patent and trademark infringement claims, violations of laws, commercial disputes, tax liabilities and other known and unknown liabilities; and
•litigation or other claims in connection with the acquired businesses, including claims for terminated employees, customers, former stockholders or other third parties.
We may not be able to identify suitable acquisition or investment candidates, or even if we do identify suitable candidates, they may be difficult to finance, expensive to fund and there is no guarantee that we can obtain any necessary antitrust approvals or complete such transactions on terms that are favorable to us.
We have in the past been, are currently, and may in the future be party to litigation related to acquisitions. Any adverse determination in litigation resulting from acquisitions could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results.
Risks Relating to Intellectual Property
We have settled in the past intellectual property litigation and may in the future face additional claims of intellectual property infringement, including indemnification claims based on intellectual property allegations. Any current or future litigation could be time-consuming, costly to prosecute, defend or settle and result in damages and/or the loss of significant rights.
The semiconductor industry is characterized by companies that hold large numbers of patents and other intellectual property rights and that vigorously pursue, protect and enforce intellectual property rights. Third parties have in the past and may in the future assert against us and our customers and distributors their patent and other intellectual property rights to technologies that are important to our business. For example, we were involved in a litigation with Bell Semiconductor, which has since been settled pursuant to a Settlement and Patent License Agreement. In addition, from time to time, we receive correspondence from competitors and other third parties seeking to engage us in discussions concerning potential claims against us, and we receive correspondence from customers seeking indemnification for potential claims related to infringement claims asserted against down-stream users of our products. We investigate these requests and claims as received and could be required to enter license agreements with respect to third-party intellectual property rights or indemnify third parties, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our future operating results.
Claims that our products, processes or technology infringe third-party intellectual property rights, regardless of their merit or resolution are costly to defend or settle and could divert the efforts and attention of our management and technical personnel. In addition, many of our customer and distributor agreements require us to indemnify and defend our customers or distributors from third-party infringement claims and pay damages and attorneys’ fees in the case of adverse rulings. Claims of this sort also could harm our relationships with our customers or distributors and might deter future customers from doing business with us. In order to maintain our relationships with existing customers and secure business from new customers, we
have been required from time to time to provide additional assurances beyond our standard terms. If any of our current or future proceedings result in an adverse outcome, we could be required to:
•cease the manufacture, use or sale of the infringing products, processes or technology;
•pay substantial damages, indemnification expenses and attorneys’ fees;
•expend significant resources to develop non-infringing products, processes or technology;
•license technology from the third-party claiming infringement, which license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all;
•cross-license our technology to a competitor to resolve an infringement claim, which could weaken our ability to compete with that competitor; or
•pay substantial damages to our customers or end users to discontinue their use of or to replace infringing technology sold to them with non-infringing technology.
Any of the foregoing results could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We utilize a significant amount of intellectual property in our business. If we are unable to protect our intellectual property, our business could be adversely affected.
Our success depends in part upon our ability to protect our intellectual property. To accomplish this, we rely on a combination of intellectual property rights, including patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets in the United States and in selected foreign countries where we believe filing for such protection is appropriate. Effective patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret protection may be unavailable, limited or not applied for in some countries. Some of our products and technologies are not covered by any patent or patent application. We cannot guarantee that:
•any of our present or future patents or patent claims will not lapse or be invalidated, circumvented, challenged or abandoned;
•our intellectual property rights will provide competitive advantages to us;
•our ability to assert our intellectual property rights against potential competitors or to settle current or future disputes will not be limited by our agreements with third parties or obligations, if any, to standards organizations;
•any of our pending or future patent applications will be issued or have the coverage originally sought;
•our intellectual property rights will be enforced in jurisdictions where competition may be intense or where legal protection may be weak;
•any of the trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets or other intellectual property rights that we presently employ in our business will not lapse or be invalidated, circumvented, challenged or abandoned;
•we will not lose the ability to assert our intellectual property rights against or to license our technology to others and collect consideration that we are entitled to under certain intellectual property sale agreements; or
•our ability to monetize our portfolio through divestiture and/or exclusive licensing transactions will not be impacted by conduct of counterparties to any such transactions, and we will not face liability arising from our monetization efforts.
In addition, our competitors or others may design around our protected patents or technologies. Effective intellectual property protection may be unavailable or more limited in one or more relevant jurisdictions relative to those protections available in the United States, or may not be applied for in one or more relevant jurisdictions. If we pursue litigation to assert our intellectual property rights, an adverse decision in any of these legal actions could limit our ability to assert our intellectual property rights, limit the value of our technology or otherwise negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly. Unauthorized use of our intellectual property may have occurred or may occur in the future. Although we have taken steps to minimize the risk of this occurring, any such failure to identify unauthorized use and otherwise adequately protect our intellectual property would adversely affect our business. Moreover, if we are required to commence litigation, whether as a plaintiff or defendant as has occurred in the past, not only will this be time-consuming, but we will also be forced to incur significant costs and divert our attention and efforts of our employees, which could, in turn, result in lower revenue and higher expenses.
We also rely on customary contractual protections with our customers, suppliers, distributors, employees and consultants, and we implement security measures to protect our trade secrets. We cannot assure you that these contractual protections and security measures will not be breached, that we will have adequate remedies for any such breach or that our suppliers, employees or consultants will not assert rights to intellectual property arising out of such contracts. For example, as described in Part II, Item 1 (Legal Proceedings), Comcast shared our proprietary designs with our direct competitor. Comcast then worked with our competitor to develop the FDX-amplifier technology. We have brought claims for trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, and breach of the parties’ non-disclosure agreement, and sought an unspecified amount of compensatory damages, punitive damages, pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, costs, expenses, and attorney fees as well as an injunction against Comcast’s use or disclosure of our trade secrets. However, our claims may not be successful.
In addition, we have a number of third-party patent and intellectual property license agreements. Some of these license agreements require us to make one-time payments or ongoing royalty payments. Also, a few of our license agreements contain most-favored nation clauses or other price restriction clauses which may affect the amount we may charge for our products, processes or technology. We cannot guarantee that the third-party patents and technology we license will not be licensed to our competitors or others in the semiconductor industry. In the future, we may need to obtain additional licenses, renew existing license agreements or otherwise replace existing technology. We are unable to predict whether these license agreements can be obtained or renewed or the technology can be replaced on acceptable terms, or at all.
When we originally settled a trademark dispute with Analog Devices International Unlimited Company (ADIUC) and its predecessor, Linear Technology Corporation, we agreed not to register the “MAXLINEAR” mark or any other marks containing the term “LINEAR”. Pursuant to the original settlement agreement, we agreed not to use the “MAXLINEAR” mark on our products. We have since entered into another settlement agreement with ADIUC that now allows us to use and register the “MAXLINEAR” mark on our products, in addition to continuing to use “MAXLINEAR” as a corporate identifier, including to advertise our products and services. We have filed trademark applications to register the “MAXLINEAR” mark, but prior to approval of the applications and registration of the mark in the relevant jurisdictions, our ability to effectively prevent third parties from using the “MAXLINEAR” mark in connection with similar products or technology will be based on our common law rights in the mark, which may make enforcement challenging. If we are unable to protect our trademarks in certain jurisdictions, we may experience difficulties in achieving and maintaining brand recognition and customer loyalty in such jurisdictions.
We face risks related to security vulnerabilities in our products.
We regularly become aware of security vulnerabilities with respect to our products as well as intellectual property that we purchase or license from third parties for use in our products. Our products are used in application areas that create new or increased cybersecurity and privacy risks, including applications that gather and process large amounts of data, such as the cloud, Internet of Things, or artificial intelligence, and critical infrastructure, payment card applications, and automotive applications. Security features in our products cannot make our products entirely secure, and security vulnerabilities identified in our products have resulted in, and are expected to continue to result in, attempts by third parties to identify and exploit additional vulnerabilities. Vulnerabilities are not always mitigated before they become known. We, our customers, and the users of our products do not always promptly learn of or have the ability to fully assess the magnitude or effects of a vulnerability, including the extent, if any, to which a vulnerability has been exploited.
Mitigation techniques designed to address security vulnerabilities, including software and firmware updates or other preventative measures, are not always available on a timely basis, or at all, and at times do not operate as intended or effectively resolve vulnerabilities for all applications. In addition, we are often required to rely on third parties, including hardware, software, and services vendors, as well as our customers and end users, to develop and/or deploy mitigation techniques, and the availability, effectiveness, and performance impact of mitigation techniques can depend solely or in part on the actions of these third parties in determining whether, when, and how to develop and deploy mitigations. We and such third parties make prioritization decisions about which vulnerabilities to address, which can delay, limit, or prevent development or deployment of a mitigation and harm our reputation. Subsequent events or new information can develop that changes our assessment of the
impact of a security vulnerability, which can cause certain claims or customer satisfaction considerations, as well as result in litigation or regulatory inquiries or actions over these matters.
Security vulnerabilities and/or mitigation techniques can result in adverse performance or power effects, reboots, system instability or unavailability, loss of functionality, non-compliance with standards, data loss or corruption, unpredictable system behavior, decisions by customers, regulators and end users to limit or change the applications in which they use our products or product features, and/or the misappropriation of data by third parties. Security vulnerabilities and any limitations or adverse effects of mitigation techniques can adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition, customer relationships, prospects, and reputation in a number of ways, any of which may be material.
The use of open source software in our products, processes and technology may expose us to additional risks and harm our intellectual property.
Our products, processes and technology sometimes utilize and incorporate software that is subject to an open source license. Open source software is typically freely accessible, usable and modifiable. Certain open source software licenses require a user who intends to distribute the open source software as a component of the user’s software to disclose publicly part or all of the source code to the user’s software. In addition, certain open source software licenses require the user of such software to make any derivative works of the open source code available to others on unfavorable terms or at no cost. This can subject previously proprietary software to open source license terms.
While we monitor the use of all open source software in our products, processes and technology and try to ensure that no open source software is used in such a way as to require us to disclose the source code to the related product, processes or technology when we do not wish to do so, such use could inadvertently occur. Additionally, if a third-party software provider has incorporated certain types of open source software into software we license from such third party for our products, processes or technology, we could, under certain circumstances, be required to disclose the source code to our products, processes or technology. This could harm our intellectual property position and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Risks Relating to Reliance on Third-Parties
We do not have long-term supply contracts with most of our contract manufacturers or suppliers, and any disruption in our supply of products or materials could have a material adverse effect on our business, revenue and operating results.
Currently we do not have long-term supply contracts with most of our other third-party vendors, including but, not limited to Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, or ASE, TSMC, and United Microelectronics Corporation, or UMC. Certain products are supplied to us by Intel on a turnkey basis at agreed upon prices under terms of a supply agreement with an initial term of five years, which will expire in July 2025. Intel can also terminate its supply agreement with us under certain circumstances. If Intel does not continue to supply us with such products, we would need to seek alternative sources of supply for those products in a short timeframe, which would cause us to incur additional costs, could delay the sale of such products, and could increase our supply costs with a new vendor, which in turn, could negatively impact our revenue and our gross margins. Alternatively, if Intel does continue to supply us with such products, the costs of such products would likely increase and reduce our margins on such products, and their minimum purchase requirements may exceed our current customer demand.
We make substantially all of our purchases on a purchase order basis, and our contract manufacturers are not required to supply us products for any specific period or in any specific quantity. Foundry capacity may not be available when we need it or at reasonable prices. Availability of foundry capacity has in the past been reduced from time to time due to strong demand. Foundries can allocate capacity to the production of other companies’ products and reduce deliveries to us on short notice. It is possible that foundry customers that are larger and better financed than we are, or that have long-term agreements with our foundry, may induce our foundry to reallocate capacity to them. This reallocation could impair our ability to secure the supply of components that we need. We generally place orders for products with some of our suppliers approximately four to five months prior to the anticipated delivery date, with order volumes based on our forecasts of demand from our customers. Accordingly, if we inaccurately forecast demand for our products or if orders are placed with a short lead-time, we may be unable to obtain adequate and cost-effective foundry or assembly capacity from our third-party contractors to meet our customers’ delivery requirements, which could harm our reputation and customer relationships, or we may accumulate excess inventories. On occasion, we have been unable to adequately respond to unexpected increases in customer purchase orders and therefore were unable to benefit from this incremental demand. None of our third-party contractors has provided any assurance to us that adequate capacity will be available to us within the time required to meet additional demand for our products.
We do not have our own manufacturing facilities and rely on a limited number of third parties to manufacture, assemble, and test our products. The failure to manage our relationships with our third-party contractors successfully, or impacts from volatility in global supply, natural disasters, public health crises, or other labor stoppages in the regions where such contractors operate, could adversely affect our ability to market and sell our products.
We operate an outsourced manufacturing business model that utilizes third-party foundry and assembly and test capabilities. As a result, we rely on third-party foundry wafer fabrication, including sole sourcing for many components or products. Currently, a large portion of our products are manufactured by ASE, TSMC, and UMC, at foundries located in Taiwan, Singapore, and China. We also use third-party contractors for all of our assembly and test operations. We also rely on Intel Corporation, or Intel, for certain products on a turnkey basis at agreed upon prices under terms of a supply agreement with an initial term of five years, which will expire in July 2025 and may be terminated by Intel under certain circumstances.
Relying on third-party manufacturing, assembly and testing presents significant risks to us, including the following:
•capacity shortages during periods of high demand or from events beyond our control or inventory oversupply during periods of decreased demand. For example, we have experienced and could continue to experience inventory oversupply in certain of our products due to changes in customer demand which has added to volatility in managing the business. Inventory oversupply has also led and could continue to lead to inventory write-downs, including charges for any excess or obsolete inventory, which could negatively impact our gross margins;
•failure by us, our customers, or their end customers to qualify a selected supplier;
•reduced control over delivery schedules and quality;
•shortages of materials;
•misappropriation of our intellectual property;
•limited warranties on wafers or products supplied to us;
•potential increases in costs of our products;
•costs to switch to alternate sources of supply for certain products and/or delays in sales of such products, if a supplier does not continue to supply certain products; and
•our use of foundry partners who are currently subject to BIS restrictions, such as SMIC, to manufacture certain of our products may be impaired if one or more of the following were to occur: (1) we are unable to obtain U.S. export licenses authorizing its interactions and technology exchanges with these foundry partners or if there are delays in obtaining such licenses, or (2) if BIS increases export control restrictions to Chinese foundries without the ability for us to obtain a U.S. export license, or (3) U.S. providers of semiconductor manufacturer equipment are unable to export such equipment or related spare or replacement parts used in the manufacture of our products, or obtain a license to export such equipment and parts, to current or future Chinese foundry partners.
The ability and willingness of our third-party contractors to perform is largely outside our control. If one or more of our contract manufacturers or other outsourcers fails to perform its obligations in a timely manner or at satisfactory quality levels, our ability to bring products to market and our reputation could suffer. For example, in the event that manufacturing capacity is reduced or eliminated at one or more facilities, manufacturing could be disrupted, we could have difficulties fulfilling our customer orders and our net revenue could decline. In addition, if these third parties fail to deliver quality products and components on time and at reasonable prices, we could have difficulties fulfilling our customer orders, our net revenue could decline and our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected.
Additionally, our product shipment and manufacturing capacity may be similarly reduced or eliminated at one or more facilities due to the fact that the majority of our fabrication and assembly and test contractors are all located in the Pacific Rim region, principally in China, Taiwan, and Singapore. The risk of earthquakes in these geographies is significant due to the proximity of major earthquake fault lines, and Taiwan in particular is also subject to typhoons and other Pacific storms, and more recently, a drought impacting the water supply which chip manufacturers rely upon to fabricate chip products. Earthquakes, fire, flooding, drought, or other natural disasters in Taiwan or the Pacific Rim region, or political unrest, war, labor strikes, work stoppages or public health crises, such as the outbreak of COVID-19, in countries where our contractors’ facilities are located could result in the disruption of our product shipments, foundry, assembly, or test capacity. If such disruption were to recur over a prolonged period, it could have a material impact on our revenues and our business. Any disruption resulting from similar events on a larger scale or over a prolonged period could cause significant delays in shipments of our products until we are able to resume such shipments, or shift our manufacturing, assembly, or test from the affected contractor to another third-party vendor, if needed. If such disruption were to recur over a prolonged period, it could have a material impact on our revenue and business. There can be no assurance that alternative capacity could be obtained on favorable terms, if at all.
We are subject to risks associated with our distributors’ product inventories and product sell-through. Should any of our distributors cease or be forced to stop distributing our products, our business would suffer.
We currently sell a significant portion of our products to customers through our distributors, who maintain their own inventories of our products. Sales to distributors accounted for approximately 42%, and 47% of our net revenue in the nine months ended September 30, 2024, and 2023, respectively. Upon shipment of product to these distributors, title to the inventory transfers to the distributor and the distributor is invoiced, generally with 30 to 60 day terms. Distributor sales are also recognized upon shipment to the distributor and estimates of future pricing credits and/or stock rotation rights reduce revenue recognized to the net amount before the actual amounts are known. If our estimates of such credits and rights are materially understated it could cause subsequent adjustments that negatively impact our revenues and gross profits in a future period.
If our distributors are unable to sell an adequate amount of their inventories of our products in a given quarter to manufacturers and end users or if they decide to decrease their inventories of our products for any reason, our sales through these distributors and our revenue may decline. In addition, if some distributors decide to purchase more of our products than are required to satisfy end customer demand in any particular quarter, inventories at these distributors would grow in that quarter. These distributors could then reduce future orders until inventory levels realign with end customer demand, which has in the past and could in the future adversely affect our product revenue.
Our reserve estimates with respect to the products stocked by our distributors are based principally on reports provided to us by our distributors, typically on a weekly basis. To the extent that this resale and channel inventory data is inaccurate or not received in a timely manner, we may not be able to make reserve estimates accurately or at all.
We rely on third parties to provide services and technology necessary for the operation of our business. Any failure of one or more of our partners, vendors, suppliers or licensors to provide these services or technology could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We rely on third-party vendors to provide critical services, including, among other things, services related to accounting, billing, compliance, internal audit, human resources, information technology, network development, network monitoring, in-licensing and intellectual property that we cannot or do not create or provide ourselves. We depend on these vendors to ensure that our corporate infrastructure will consistently meet our business requirements and legal obligations. The ability of these third-party vendors to successfully provide reliable and high quality services is subject to technical and operational uncertainties that are beyond our control. While we may be entitled to damages if our vendors fail to perform under their agreements with us, our agreements with these vendors limit the amount of damages we may receive. In addition, we do not know whether we will be able to collect on any award of damages or that these damages would be sufficient to cover the actual costs we would incur as a result of any vendor’s failure to perform under its agreement with us. Any failure of our corporate infrastructure could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Upon expiration or termination of any of our agreements with third-party vendors, we may not be able to replace the services provided to us in a timely manner or on terms and conditions, including service levels and cost, that are favorable to us and a transition from one vendor to another vendor could subject us to operational delays and inefficiencies until the transition is complete.
Additionally, we incorporate third-party technology into and with some of our products, and we may do so in future products. The operation of our products could be impaired if errors occur in the third-party technology we use, including as a result of information technology failures from cyber-attacks on or security breaches of third parties. It may be more difficult for
us to correct any errors in a timely manner if at all because the development and maintenance of the technology is not within our control. There can be no assurance that these third parties will continue to make their technology, or improvements to the technology, available to us, or that they will continue to support and maintain their technology. Further, due to the limited number of vendors of some types of technology, it may be difficult to obtain new licenses or replace existing technology. Any impairment of the technology or our relationship with these third parties could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Risks Relating to Our Common Stock
Our share price may be volatile as a result of various factors.
The trading price of our common stock is highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. For example, in the nine months ended September 30, 2024, the trading price of our common stock ranged from a low of $11.08 to a high of $26.59. These factors include those discussed in this “Risk Factors” section of this report and others such as:
•any developments related to our terminated merger with Silicon Motion;
•actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial condition and operating results;
•overall conditions in the semiconductor market;
•addition or loss of significant customers;
•changes in laws or regulations applicable to our products, including export controls;
•geopolitical changes impacting our business and markets, including with respect to China and Taiwan and the upcoming U.S. presidential election;
•actual or anticipated changes in our growth rate relative to our competitors;
•announcements of technological innovations by us or our competitors;
•announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, or capital commitments;
•departures of, and inability to attract, qualified key personnel;
•competition from existing products or new products that may emerge;
•issuance of new or updated research or reports by securities analysts;
•fluctuations in the valuation of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us;
•disputes or other developments related to proprietary rights, including patents, litigation matters, and our ability to obtain intellectual property protection for our technologies;
•actions by institutional or activist stockholders;
•acquisitions may not be accretive and may cause dilution to our earnings per share;
•announcement or expectation of additional financing efforts;
•sales of our common stock by us or our stockholders; and
•general economic and market conditions, including the impacts from sanctions against Russia and the military conflicts in Ukraine and among Israel, Iran and Lebanon, increased inflationary pressures, and interest rate changes.
Furthermore, the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected the market prices of equity securities of many companies, including us. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political, and market conditions such as recessions, interest rate changes or international currency fluctuations, may negatively impact the market price of our common stock.
In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock are attractive to momentum, hedge, day-trading, or activist investors who often shift funds into and out of stocks rapidly, exacerbating price fluctuations in either direction, and have also been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of momentum, hedge, day-trading, or activist investors, and have been and may continue to be the target of securities class action litigation in the future. Stockholder activism or securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could seriously harm our business. A proxy contest or other activist behaviors could have an adverse effect on us.
Even if a proxy contest or other activist efforts are not successful, the increased costs that we would bear and the distraction of our Board of Directors and senior management could negatively impact our business, although we cannot predict with certainty the extent of such negative impacts.
Our management team may use our available cash and cash equivalents in ways with which you may not agree or in ways which may not yield a return.
We use our cash and cash equivalents for general corporate purposes, including working capital and for repayment of outstanding long-term debt. We may also, in the future, use a portion of our assets to acquire other complementary businesses, products, services or technologies. Our management has considerable discretion in the application of our cash and cash equivalents, and resources, and you will not have the opportunity to assess whether these liquid assets are being used in a manner that you deem best to maximize your return. We may use our available cash and cash equivalents and resources for corporate purposes that do not increase our operating results or market value. In addition, in the future our cash and cash equivalents, and resources may be placed in investments that do not produce significant income or that may lose value.
Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us more difficult, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management and limit the market price of our common stock.
Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as amended and restated, may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. These provisions provide for the following:
•authorize our Board of Directors to issue, without further action by the stockholders, up to 25,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock;
•require that any action to be taken by our stockholders be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting and not by written consent;
•specify that special meetings of our stockholders can be called only by our Board of Directors, our Chairman of the Board of Directors, or our President;
•establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder approvals to be brought before an annual meeting of our stockholders, including proposed nominations of persons for election to our Board of Directors;
•establish that our Board of Directors is divided into three classes, Class I, Class II and Class III, with each class serving staggered terms;
•provide that our directors may be removed only for cause;
•provide that vacancies on our Board of Directors may be filled only by a majority of directors then in office, even though less than a quorum;
•specify that no stockholder is permitted to cumulate votes at any election of directors; and
•require supermajority votes of the holders of our common stock to amend specified provisions of our charter documents.
These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our Board of Directors, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management. In addition, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which generally restricts a Delaware corporation from engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with any “interested” stockholder for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder became an “interested” stockholder.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or publish negative reports about our business, our share price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our shares or change their opinion of our shares, our share price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fails to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price or trading volume to decline.
Future sales of our common stock in the public market could cause our share price to decline.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. As of September 30, 2024, we had approximately 84.4 million shares of common stock outstanding.
All shares of our common stock are freely tradable without restrictions or further registration under the Securities Act unless held by our “affiliates,” as that term is defined under Rule 144 of the Securities Act.
Our Executive Incentive Bonus Plan permits the settlement of awards under the plan in the form of shares of our common stock. We have issued shares of our common stock to settle such bonus awards for our employees, including executives, for the 2014 to 2023 performance periods, and we intend to continue this practice in the foreseeable future, subject to availability of such shares under our stock plans. We issued 0.4 million shares of our common stock for the 2023 performance period in February 2024. If we issue additional shares of our common stock to settle bonus awards in the future, such shares may be freely sold in the public market immediately following the issuance of such shares, subject to the applicable conditions of Rule 144 and our insider trading policy, and the issuance of such shares may have a material adverse effect on our share price once they are issued.
We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future.
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock and do not intend to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. We anticipate that we will retain all of our future earnings for use in the development of our business and for general corporate purposes. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments.
General Risk Factors
If we suffer losses to our facilities or distribution system due to catastrophe, our operations could be seriously harmed.
Our facilities and distribution system, and those of our third-party contractors, are subject to risk of catastrophic loss due to fire, flood, drought or other natural or man-made disasters. A number of our facilities and those of our contract manufacturers are located in areas with above average seismic activity and/or which have experienced more frequent, more extreme and less predictable weather conditions. For example, the risk of an earthquake in the Pacific Rim region, including Taiwan, or Southern California is significant due to the proximity of major earthquake fault lines, and Taiwan in particular is also subject to typhoons and other Pacific storms, and more recently, a drought impacting the water supply which chip manufacturers rely upon to fabricate chip products. We have experienced higher insurance costs and may experience a decrease in available coverage in such areas and an increased likelihood of damage, power outages and catastrophic loss to these facilities, which would likely disrupt our operations, delay production, shipments and revenue and result in significant expenses to repair or replace the facility. The majority of the factories we use for foundry, assembly and test, and warehousing services, are located in Asia, principally in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Our corporate headquarters is located in Southern California. Our operations and financial condition could be seriously harmed in the event of a major
earthquake, fire, flooding, drought, or other natural disasters in Taiwan or the Pacific Rim region, or political unrest, war, labor strikes, work stoppages or public health crises, such as the outbreak of COVID-19, or other natural or man-made disaster in countries where our contractors’ facilities are located. Such catastrophes could result in the disruption of our product shipments, foundry, assembly, or test capacity.
We have recorded goodwill and other intangible assets in connection with business acquisitions. Goodwill and other acquired intangible assets could become impaired and adversely affect our future operating results.
We account for business acquisitions as business combinations under the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Under the acquisition method of accounting, the total purchase price is allocated to net tangible assets and identifiable intangible assets of acquired businesses based on their fair values as of the date of completion of the acquisition. The excess of the purchase price over those fair values is recorded as goodwill. Our acquisitions have resulted in the creation of goodwill and recording of a large amount of intangible assets based upon the application of the acquisition method of accounting. To the extent the value of goodwill or other intangible assets become impaired, we may be required to incur material charges relating to such impairment. We conduct our annual goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment analysis on October 31 each year, or more frequently if we believe indicators of impairment exist. Our reported financial condition and results of operations reflect the balances and results of the acquired businesses but are not restated retroactively to reflect the historical financial position or results of operations of acquired businesses for periods prior to the acquisitions. As a result, comparisons of future results against prior period results will be more difficult for investors. In addition, there can be no guarantee that acquired intangible assets, particularly in-process research and development, will generate revenues or profits that we include in our forecast that is the basis for their fair values as of the acquisition date. Any such impairment charges relating to goodwill or other intangible assets could have a material impact on our operating results in future periods, and the announcement of a material impairment could have a material adverse effect on the trading price and trading volume of our common stock. As of September 30, 2024, our balance sheet reflected goodwill of $318.6 million and other intangible assets of $58.0 million. Consequently, we could recognize material impairment charges in the future.
Unanticipated changes in our tax rates or unanticipated tax obligations could affect our future results.
We are subject to income taxes in the United States, Singapore and various other foreign jurisdictions. The amount of income taxes we pay is subject to our interpretation and application of tax laws in jurisdictions in which we file. Changes in current or future laws or regulations, the imposition of new or changed tax laws or regulations or new interpretations by taxing authorities or courts could affect our results of operations and lead to volatility with respect to tax expenses and liabilities from period to period. For example, beginning in 2022, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or the Tax Act, eliminated the option to deduct research and development expenditures currently and requires taxpayers to capitalize and amortize them over five or fifteen years pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 174. This has increased our effective tax rate and our cash tax payable since 2022. Further, following the enactment of the Tax Act, most of our income is now subject to U.S. taxation, with a large portion taxed under the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, or GILTI, regime. Starting in 2026, the GILTI deduction will decrease from 50% to 37.5%, leading to a higher effective tax rate on our income. The application of tax laws and related regulations is subject to legal and factual interpretation, judgment and uncertainty. We cannot determine whether any legislative proposals may be enacted into law or what, if any, changes may be made to such proposals prior to their being enacted into law. If U.S. or international tax laws change in a manner that increases our tax obligation, it could result in a material adverse impact on our results of operations and our financial position. In addition, many countries are implementing legislation and other guidance to align their international tax rules with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s, or OECD, Base Erosion and Profit Shifting recommendations and action plan that aim to standardize and modernize global corporate tax policy, including changes to cross-border tax, transfer pricing documentation rules, and nexus-based tax incentive practices. The OECD is also continuing discussions surrounding fundamental changes in allocation of profits among tax jurisdictions in which companies do business, as well as the implementation of a global minimum tax (namely the “Pillar One” and “Pillar Two” proposals). The European Union and other countries (including those in which we operate) have enacted or committed to enact global minimum taxes, which may adversely impact our provision for income taxes, existing tax incentives, net income and cash flows. As a result of this heightened scrutiny, prior decisions by tax authorities regarding treatments and positions of corporate income taxes could be subject to enforcement activities, and legislative investigation and inquiry, which could also result in changes in tax policies or prior tax rulings. Any such changes may also result in the taxes we previously paid being subject to change.
Our income tax provision is subject to volatility and our ability to use our deferred tax assets to offset future taxable income may be limited since we are subject to tax examinations, which may adversely impact our future effective tax rate and operating results.
Excess tax benefits associated with employee stock-based compensation are included in income tax expense. However, since the amount of such excess tax benefits and deficiencies depend on the fair market value of our common stock, our income tax provision is subject to volatility in our stock price and in the future, could unfavorably affect our future effective tax rate.
Our future effective tax rate could be unfavorably affected by unanticipated changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, and the ultimate use and depletion of these various tax credits and net operating loss carryforwards. Changes in our effective tax rate could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations. We record a valuation allowance to reduce our net deferred tax assets to the amount that we believe is more likely than not to be realized. In making such determination, we consider all available positive and negative evidence quarterly, including scheduled reversals of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income, tax planning strategies, and recent financial performance. To the extent we believe it is more likely than not that some portion of our deferred tax assets will not be realized, we record a valuation allowance against the deferred tax asset. Realization of our deferred tax assets is dependent primarily upon future taxable income in the applicable jurisdiction. On a periodic basis we evaluate our deferred tax assets for realizability. Based upon our review of all positive and negative evidence, as of September 30, 2024, we continue to have a valuation allowance on state deferred tax assets, certain federal deferred tax assets, and certain foreign deferred tax assets in jurisdictions where we have cumulative losses or otherwise are not expected to utilize certain tax attributes. The impact of releasing some or all of such valuation allowance in a future period could be material in the period in which such release occurs. Additionally, the amount of the deferred tax asset considered realizable, however, could be adjusted in the subsequent periods if estimates of future taxable income are reduced or if objective negative evidence in the form of cumulative losses is present. Any future changes in the deferred tax asset realizability assertion may require a valuation allowance to reduce our deferred tax assets, which would increase our tax expense in the period the allowance is recognized and affect our results of operations.
Our corporate income tax liability could materially increase if tax incentives we have negotiated in Singapore cease to be effective or applicable or if we are challenged on our use of such incentives.
We operate under certain favorable tax incentives in Singapore which are effective through March 2027, and generally are dependent on our meeting certain headcount and investment thresholds. Such incentives allow certain qualifying income earned in Singapore to be taxed at reduced rates and are conditional upon our meeting certain employment and investment thresholds over time. If we fail to satisfy the conditions for receipt of these tax incentives, or to the extent U.S. or other tax authorities challenge our operation under these favorable tax incentive programs or our intercompany transfer pricing agreements, our taxable income could be taxed at higher federal or foreign statutory rates and our income tax liability and expense could materially increase beyond our projections. Each of our Singapore tax incentives is separate and distinct from the others, and may be granted, withheld, extended, modified, truncated, complied with or terminated independently without any effect on the other incentives. Absent these tax incentives, our corporate income tax rate in Singapore would generally be the 17% statutory tax rate. We are also subject to operating and other compliance requirements to maintain our favorable tax incentives. If we fail to comply with such requirements, we could lose the tax benefits and could possibly be required to refund previously realized material tax benefits. Additionally, in the future, we may fail to qualify for renewal of our favorable tax incentives or such incentives may not be available to us, which could also cause our future taxable income to increase and be taxed at higher statutory rates. Loss of one more of our tax incentives could cause us to modify our tax strategies and our operational structure, which could cause disruption in our business and have a material adverse impact on our results of operations. Further, there can be no guarantee that such modification in our tax strategy will yield tax incentives as favorable as those we have negotiated with Singapore. Our interpretations and conclusions regarding the tax incentives are not binding on any taxing authority, and if our assumptions about tax and other laws are incorrect or if these tax incentives are substantially modified or rescinded we could suffer material adverse tax and other financial consequences, which would increase our expenses, reduce our profitability and adversely affect our cash flows.
Investor confidence may be adversely impacted if we are unable to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and as a result, our stock price could decline.
We are subject to rules adopted by the SEC pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which require us to include in our Annual Report on Form 10-K our management’s report on, and assessment of the effectiveness of, our internal controls over financial reporting.
If we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, there is a risk that we will not comply with all of the requirements imposed by Section 404. Moreover, effective internal controls, particularly those related to revenue recognition, are necessary for us to produce reliable financial reports and are important to helping prevent financial fraud. Any of these possible outcomes could result in an adverse reaction in the financial marketplace due to a loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our consolidated financial statements and could result in investigations or sanctions by the SEC, the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, or Nasdaq, or other regulatory authorities or in stockholder litigation. Any of these factors ultimately could harm our business and could negatively impact the market price of our securities. Ineffective control over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could adversely affect the trading price of our common stock.
Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives. However, our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all error and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected.
ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
Recent Repurchases of Equity Securities
None.
ITEM 3. DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES
None.
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
ITEM 5. OTHER INFORMATION
Securities Trading Plans of Directors and Executive Officers
During our last fiscal quarter, no director or officer, as defined in Rule 16a-1(f), adopted or terminated a “Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement” or a “non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement,” each as defined in Regulation S-K Item 408.
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Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan.
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In accordance with Item 601(b)(32)(ii) of Regulation S-K and SEC Release No. 33-8238 and 34-47986, Final Rule: Management’s Reports on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting and Certification of Disclosure in Exchange Act Periodic Reports, the certifications furnished pursuant to this item will not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. 78r), or otherwise subject to the liability of that section. Such certification will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that the registrant specifically incorporates it by reference.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
MAXLINEAR, INC.
(Registrant)
Date:
October 23, 2024
By:
/s/ Steven G. Litchfield
Steven G. Litchfield
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Corporate Strategy Officer
(Principal Financial Officer and Duly Authorized Officer)