MONOLITHIC POWER SYSTEMS INC [MPWR] Filings

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that have been made pursuant to and in reliance on the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, among others, statements concerning:
 

In some cases, words such as “would,” “could,” “may,” “should,” “predict,” “potential,” “targets,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “seek,” “estimate,” “project,” “forecast,” “will,” the negative of these terms or other variations of such terms and similar expressions relating to the future identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based on our current outlook, expectations, estimates, projections, beliefs and plans or objectives about our business, our industry and the global economy, including our expectations regarding the potential impacts of macroeconomic factors, such as the 2023 banking crisis, the global economic downturn, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Middle East conflict on the semiconductor industry and our business. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially include those set forth throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K including, in particular, in the section entitled “Item 1A. Risk Factors.” Except as required by law, we disclaim any duty, and undertake no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information relating to existing conditions, future events or otherwise or to release publicly the results of any future revisions we may make to forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements, which speak only as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and entail significant risks. Readers should carefully review future reports and documents that we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), such as our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and any Current Reports on Form 8-K. 

Except as the context otherwise requires, the terms “Monolithic Power Systems,” “MPS,” “Registrant,” “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our” as used herein are references to Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

PART I

General

Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (“MPS”) is a fabless global company that provides high-performance, semiconductor-based power electronics solutions. Incorporated in 1997, our three core strengths include deep system-level knowledge, strong semiconductor design expertise, and innovative proprietary technologies in the areas of semiconductor processes, system integration, and packaging. These combined advantages enable us to deliver reliable, compact, and monolithic solutions found in storage and computing, enterprise data, automotive, industrial, communications and consumer applications. Our mission is to reduce energy and material consumption to improve all aspects of quality of life and create a sustainable future. We believe that we differentiate ourselves by offering solutions that are more highly integrated, smaller in size, more energy-efficient, more accurate with respect to performance specifications and, consequently, more cost-effective than many competing solutions. We plan to continue to introduce new products within our existing product families, as well as in new innovative product categories.

Our principal executive office is located in Kirkland, Washington. We have over 3,500 employees worldwide, with locations in Asia (primarily in China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan), Europe (primarily in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) and the United States.

Industry Overview

Semiconductors comprise the basic building blocks of electronic systems and equipment. Within the semiconductor industry, components can be classified either as discrete devices, such as individual transistors or integrated circuits (“ICs”), in which a number of transistors and other elements are combined to form a more complicated electronic circuit. ICs can be further divided into three primary categories: digital, analog, and mixed-signal. Digital ICs, such as memory devices and microprocessors, can store or perform arithmetic functions on data that is represented by a series of ones and zeroes. Analog ICs, in contrast, handle real world signals such as temperature, pressure, light, sound, or speed. In addition, analog ICs also perform power management functions, such as regulating or converting voltages, for electronic devices. Mixed-signal ICs combine digital and analog functions onto a single chip and play an important role in bridging real world to digital systems.

Analog and Mixed-Signal Markets. We focus on the market for high performance analog and mixed-signal ICs. High performance products generally are differentiated by functionality and performance factors, which include integration of higher levels of functionality onto a single chip, greater precision, better power efficiency and density, higher speed and lower heat and noise. There are several key factors that distinguish the analog and mixed-signal IC markets from digital IC markets. These factors include longer product life cycles, numerous market segments, technology that is difficult to replicate, relative complexity of design and process technologies, importance of experienced design engineers, lower capital requirements and diversity of end markets. We have targeted product and market areas that we believe have the ability to offer above-average growth over the long term compared to the semiconductor industry as a whole.

End Markets and Applications

We design and develop our products for the storage and computing, enterprise data, automotive, industrial, communications and consumer markets, with the storage and computing market representing the largest portion of our revenue in 2023. The following table is a summary of the various end market applications for our products, and those markets’ contribution as a percentage of our total revenue:

Product Families

Our proprietary process and packaging technologies enable us to design and deliver smaller, single-chip power management ICs. These technologies simplify the design process and are applicable across a wide range of analog applications within the storage and computing, enterprise data, automotive, industrial, communications and consumer markets. Our product families are differentiated from those of our competitors with respect to their high degree of integration and strong levels of accuracy, power efficiency, quality and longevity, making them cost-effective and more sustainable relative to many competing solutions. Our key product families include the following:

Direct Current (“DC”) to DC Products. DC to DC ICs are used to convert and control voltages within a broad range of electronic systems, such as cloud-based CPU servers, server AI applications, storage applications, commercial notebooks, digital cockpit, power sources, home appliances, 4G and 5G infrastructure and satellite communications applications. We believe that our DC to DC products are differentiated in the market, particularly with respect to their high degree of integration, high voltage operation, high load current, high switching speed, small footprint, and high energy efficiency. These features are important to our customers as they are designed to result in fewer components that need to be produced and consumed, a smaller form factor, more accurate regulation of voltages, lower power consumption and, ultimately, lower system cost, increased reliability and lower carbon emissions through the elimination of many discrete components and power devices. The DC to DC product family accounted for 94% of our total revenue in 2023 and 95% of our total revenue in both 2022 and 2021.

Lighting Control Products. Lighting control ICs are used in backlighting and general illumination products. Lighting control ICs for backlighting are used in systems that provide the light source for LCD panels typically found in computers and notebooks, monitors, car navigation systems and televisions. Backlighting solutions are typically either white light emitting diode lighting sources or cold cathode fluorescent lamps. The Lighting Control product family accounted for 6% of our total revenue in 2023 and 5% of our total revenue in both 2022 and 2021.

In the future, we plan to continue to introduce new products within our existing product families, as well as in new innovative product categories. Our ability to achieve revenue growth will depend in part upon our ability to continue to innovate while fulfilling our customers’ evolving needs, enter new market segments, obtain design wins, grow our sales to customers in regions outside China, Taiwan and other Asian markets, expand our customer base and continue to secure manufacturing capacity.

Customers, Sales and Marketing

We have sales offices in China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States and throughout Europe. Our products typically require a highly technical sales and applications engineering effort where we assist our customers in the design and use of our products in their application. We maintain a staff of applications engineers who work directly with our customers’ engineers in the development of their systems’ electronics containing our products.

Once we secure our product positioning through our technical sales and applications engineers’ efforts, we then sell our products through third-party distributors, value-added resellers and directly to original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”), original design manufacturers (“ODMs”), electronic manufacturing service (“EMS”) providers and other end customers. Our third-party distributors are subject to distribution agreements with us, which allow the distributors to sell our products to end customers and other resellers, including OEMs, ODMs or EMS providers. Our value-added resellers may second source our products and provide other services to customers. ODMs typically design and manufacture electronic products on behalf of OEMs, and EMS providers typically provide manufacturing services for OEMs and other electronic product suppliers.

In 2023, our three largest distributors accounted for 26%, 19% and 10% of our total revenue. In 2022, our two largest distributors accounted for 24% and 19% of our total revenue. In 2021, our three largest distributors accounted for 26%, 15% and 10% of our total revenue. No other distributors or end customers accounted for more than 10% of our full-year, total revenue in any of the periods presented.

Current distribution agreements with several of our major distributors provide that each distributor has the non-exclusive right to sell and shall use its best efforts to promote and develop a market for our products. These agreements provide that payment for purchases from us will generally occur within 30 to 90 days from the date of invoice. In addition, we allow for limited stock rotation in certain agreements.

Because our sales are primarily billed and payable in United States dollars, our sales are generally not subject to fluctuating currency exchange rates. However, because a majority of our revenue is attributable to sales to customers in Asia, changes in the relative value of the dollar may create pricing pressures for our products. In 2023, 2022 and 2021, our revenue from sales to customers in Asia was 87%, 86% and 90%, respectively.

Our sales are made primarily pursuant to standard individual purchase orders. Our backlog consists of orders that we have received from customers which have not yet shipped. Because orders in backlog are subject to cancellation or postponement, and backlog at any particular date is not necessarily representative of actual sales for any succeeding period, we believe that our backlog is not necessarily a reliable indicator of future revenue. 

Typical supply chain lead times for orders are generally 16 to 26 weeks. We often build inventory in advance based on our forecast of future customer orders. This subjects us to certain risks, most notably the possibility that sales will not meet our forecast, which could lead to inventories in excess of demand. If excess inventory exists, it may be necessary for us to sell it at a substantial discount, take a significant write-down or dispose of it altogether, all of which would negatively affect our profit margins. In addition, in response to market conditions, we may slow the rate of manufacturing our products, which could result in insufficient inventory levels and reduced sales if we underestimate the demand for our products.

Research and Development

We have assembled a qualified team of engineers primarily in China, the United States, Taiwan, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, Portugal and Germany with core competencies in analog and mixed-signal design. Through our research and development efforts, we have developed a collection of intellectual property and know-how that we are able to leverage across our products and markets. These include the development of high efficiency power devices, the design of precision analog circuits and systems, expertise in mixed-signal design, and integration and the development of proprietary semiconductor process technologies.

Our research and development efforts are generally targeted at three areas: systems architecture, circuit design and implementation, and process technologies. In the area of systems architecture, we are exploring new ways of solving our customers’ system design challenges and are investing in the development of systems expertise in new markets and applications that align well with our core capabilities. In the area of circuit design and implementation, our initiatives include expanding our portfolio of products and adding new features to our products. In the area of process technologies, we are investing in research and development resources to provide leading-edge analog power processes for our next generation of ICs. We believe process technologies are key strategic components to our future growth. 

Our growth is fueled by our customers’ need for our power-efficient solutions. Consequently, we focus on continually improving the energy efficiency of our products in our research and development efforts in all three targeted areas. Our products are principally positioned to achieve lower power loss and enable significant reductions in circuit board space by shrinking or eliminating many passive components that are otherwise needed by competitors’ offerings. In addition, the life cycles of our products are typically over 10 years, reducing the manufacturing needs and associated carbon emissions associated with the production of replacement products.

Patents and Intellectual Property Matters

We rely on our proprietary technologies, which include both our proprietary circuit designs for our products and our proprietary manufacturing process technologies. Our future success and competitive position depend in part upon our ability to obtain and maintain protection of our proprietary technologies.

In general, we have elected to pursue patent protection for aspects of our circuit and device designs that we believe are patentable and to protect our manufacturing process technologies by maintaining those process technologies as trade secrets. As of December 31, 2023, we had 1,701 patents/applications issued or pending, of which 585 patents have been issued in the United States. Our issued patents are scheduled to expire at various times through December 2043. Our patents are material to our business, but we do not rely on any one particular patent for our success. We also rely on a combination of nondisclosure agreements and other contractual provisions, as well as our employees’ commitment to confidentiality and loyalty, to protect our technology, know-how and processes. We also seek to register certain of our trademarks as we deem appropriate. We have not registered any of our copyrights and do not believe registration of copyrights is material to our business. Despite precautions that we take, it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy aspects of our current or future technology or products or to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. There can be no assurance that the steps we take are adequate to protect our proprietary rights, that our patent applications will lead to issued patents, that others will not develop or patent similar or superior products or technologies, or that our patents will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented by others. Furthermore, the laws of the countries in which our products are or may be developed, manufactured or sold may not protect our products and intellectual property rights to the same extent as laws in the United States. Our failure to adequately protect our proprietary technologies could materially harm our business.

The semiconductor industry is characterized by frequent claims of infringement and litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. Patent infringement is an ongoing risk, in part because other companies in our industry could have patent rights that may not be identifiable when we initiate development efforts. Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, and we may have to defend ourselves against infringement claims. Such litigation can be very costly and may divert our management resources. Further, we have agreed to indemnify certain of our customers and suppliers in some circumstances against liability from infringement by our products. In the event any third party were to make an infringement claim against us or our customers, we could be enjoined from selling selected products, could be required to indemnify our customers or suppliers, or could pay royalties or other damages to third parties. If any of our products are found to infringe and we are unable to obtain necessary licenses or other rights on acceptable terms, we would either have to change our product so that it does not infringe or stop making the infringing product, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and cash flows.

Manufacturing

We utilize a fabless business model, working with third parties to manufacture and assemble our ICs. This fabless approach allows us to focus our engineering and design resources on our strengths and to reduce our fixed costs and capital expenditures. In contrast to many fabless semiconductor companies, which utilize standard process technologies and design rules established by their foundry partners, we have developed our own proprietary process and packaging technologies and collaborate with our foundry partners to install our technologies on their equipment in their facilities for use on our behalf. This close collaboration and control over the manufacturing process has historically resulted in favorable yields and product performance for our ICs.

We currently contract with several suppliers to manufacture our wafers in foundries located in China, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore. Once our silicon wafers have been produced, they are shipped to the facilities in China, Taiwan, and Singapore that we and our partners utilize for wafer sort, which is a testing process performed to identify non-functioning dies. Our semiconductor products are then assembled and packaged by independent subcontractors in China, Taiwan and Malaysia. The assembled ICs are then sent for final testing to the facilities in China, Taiwan and Malaysia that we and our partners utilize prior to shipping to our customers.
 
The manufacturing facilities we utilize in Asia enable us to benefit from shorter manufacturing cycle times and lower labor and overhead costs. We have expanded our product testing capabilities in these facilities and are able to take advantage of the rich pool of local engineering talent to expand our manufacturing support and engineering operations.

Competition

The analog and mixed-signal semiconductor industry is highly competitive, and we expect competitive pressures to continue. Our ability to compete effectively and to expand our business will depend on our ability to continue to recruit both applications engineering and design engineering personnel, our ability to introduce new products, and our ability to maintain the rate at which we introduce these new products, and our ability to meet our and customers’ energy efficiency goals. Our industry is characterized by decreasing average selling prices over the life of a product. We compete with domestic and international semiconductor companies, many of which have substantially greater financial and other resources with which to pursue engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of their products and, in some cases, have a broader number of product offerings that may enable them to more effectively market and sell to customers and engage sales partners. We are in direct and active competition, with respect to one or more of our product lines, with several manufacturers of such products, of varying size and financial strength. We consider our primary competitors to include Analog Devices, Infineon Technologies, NXP Semiconductors, ON Semiconductor, Power Integrations, Renesas Electronics, ROHM Semiconductor, Semtech, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments.

We expect continued competition from existing competitors as well as competition from new entrants into the semiconductor market. We believe that we are competitive in the markets in which we sell and on the basis of key competitive factors in our industry, particularly because our ICs typically are smaller in size, are highly integrated with lower energy consumption, possess higher levels of power management functionalities and achieve high performance specifications at lower price points than most of our competitors. However, there is no assurance that our products will continue to compete favorably or that we will be successful in the face of increasing competition from new products and enhancements introduced by existing competitors or new companies entering our markets. In addition, there has recently been a high level of consolidation in the semiconductor industry. If these or future acquisitions are successful, competition may intensify and our competitors may have additional resources to compete against us.

We operate in the cyclical semiconductor industry. While we are subject to industry downturns, we have targeted product and market areas that we believe have the ability to offer above average industry performance over the long term.

Historically, our revenue has generally been higher in the second half of the year than in the first half although various factors, such as market conditions and the timing of key product introductions, could impact this trend.

Government Regulations

We are subject to international, federal and local legislation, regulations, and other requirements relating to the discharge of substances into the environment; the treatment, transport, and disposal of hazardous wastes; recycling and product packaging; worker health and safety; and other activities affecting the environment, our workforce, and the management of our manufacturing operations. We believe that our operations and facilities comply in all material respects with applicable environmental laws and worker health and safety laws.

We are also subject to import/export controls, tariffs, and other trade-related regulations and restrictions in the countries in which we have operations or otherwise do business. Government regulations and import/export controls can be complex and are subject to change in the future, and accordingly, we are unable to assess the possible effect of compliance with future requirements. Our efforts to comply with these government regulations could have material impacts on our capital expenditures and operating expenses, revenue, resource allocation, operations, competitive position, or financial condition, though the magnitude and duration of such impacts are uncertain and difficult to quantify. Refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors” for further discussion of material risks related to government policies and regulations on environmental laws, international trade policies and restrictions, including tariffs on imports of foreign goods and regulations restricting the export of goods and services between the U.S. and China.

Human Capital Management

Our performance is substantially dependent on the performance of our executive officers and key employees. Due to the relative complexity of the design of our analog and mixed-signal ICs, our engineers generally have many years of experience and greater circuit design aptitude. Analog engineers with advanced skills are limited in number and difficult to replace. The loss of the services of key officers, managers, engineers and other technical personnel would materially harm our business. Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to attract, train, retain, and motivate highly qualified technical and managerial personnel, and there can be no assurance we will be successful.
 
As of December 31, 2023, we employed 3,564 employees primarily in Asia, Europe, South America and the United States, compared with 3,247 employees as of December 31, 2022. Certain employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements and we believe that we have good relations with these employees. We have never experienced an employee-based work stoppage or strike.

We strive to maintain a culture that encourages innovation and create a workplace that values diverse backgrounds, a healthy and safe environment, and professional growth opportunities.
 

Available Information

Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports that are filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are available free of charge. They may be obtained from our website at www.monolithicpower.com under “Investor Relations” as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such documents with, or furnish them to, the SEC, or at the SEC website at www.sec.gov. We also make available on our website the charters for our audit committee, compensation committee, and nominating and corporate governance committee, our code of ethics, our director voting policy and our code of social responsibility. In addition, we will disclose on our website any amendments to, or waivers from, our code of ethics. We also disclose on our website our report on environment, social responsibility and governance. Information contained on our website is not a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Information About Executive Officers

Information regarding our executive officers as of February 29, 2024 is as follows:

Michael Hsing has served as the chairman of our Board of Directors and has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since founding MPS in August 1997. Prior to founding MPS, Mr. Hsing was a Senior Silicon Technology Developer at several analog IC companies, where he developed and patented key technologies, which set new standards in the power electronics industry. Mr. Hsing is an inventor on numerous patents related to the process development of bipolar mixed-signal semiconductor manufacturing. Mr. Hsing holds a B.S.E.E. from the University of Florida.

Bernie Blegen has served as our Chief Financial Officer since July 2016 and is responsible for finance, accounting, tax, treasury and investor relations. From August 2011 to June 2016, Mr. Blegen served as our Corporate Controller. Prior to joining MPS, Mr. Blegen held a number of executive finance and accounting positions for other publicly traded technology companies, including Xilinx, Inc. and Credence Systems. Mr. Blegen holds a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Deming Xiao has served as our President of Asia Operations since January 2008. Since joining us in May 2001, Mr. Xiao has held several executive positions, including Foundry Manager and Senior Vice President of Operations. Before joining MPS, from June 2000 to May 2001, Mr. Xiao was Engineering Account Manager at Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Xiao spent six years as Manager of Process Integration Engineering at Fairchild Imaging Sensors. Mr. Xiao holds a B.S. in Semiconductor Physics from Sichuan University, Chengdu, China and an M.S.E.E. from Wayne State University.

Maurice Sciammas has served as our Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing since 2007. Mr. Sciammas joined MPS in July 1999 and served as Vice President of Products and Vice President of Sales (excluding greater China) until he was appointed to his current position. Before joining MPS, he was Director of IC Products at Supertex from 1990 to 1999. He has also held positions at Micrel, Inc. He holds a B.S.E.E. degree from San Jose State University.

Saria Tseng has served as our Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary since 2004 and additionally as our Vice President, Strategic Corporate Development since 2009. Ms. Tseng joined the Company from MaXXan Systems, Inc., where she was Vice President and General Counsel from 2001 to 2004. Previously, Ms. Tseng was an attorney at Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, LLP and Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue. Ms. Tseng is a member of the state bar in both California and New York and is a member of the bar association of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Ms. Tseng holds Master of Laws degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and the Chinese Culture University in Taipei.

Our business involves numerous risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to the material risks described below. This section should be read in conjunction with all of the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the SEC. If any of these risks materialize from time to time, then our business, reputation, financial condition, operating results, and growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In such an event, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment in our common stock. Additional risks, trends and uncertainties may arise that could also harm our business, reputation, financial condition, operating results, and growth prospects.
 

Our past financial performance should not be considered to be a reliable indicator of future performance, and investors should not use historical trends to anticipate results or trends in future periods. These risks involve forward-looking statements and our actual results may differ substantially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements.

Risk Factors Summary

The following summary description sets forth an overview of the material risks we are exposed to in the normal course of our business activities. The summary does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full risk factor discussion immediately following this summary description. We encourage you to read the full risk factor discussion carefully.
 
Our revenue and expenses are difficult to predict, have varied significantly in the past, and could fluctuate significantly in the future due to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. As a result, we may not be profitable on a quarterly or annual basis. Our business, results of operations and financial condition, as well as your investment in our common stock, could be materially and adversely affected by any of the following material risks:

Risks Associated with Our Significant Operations in Asia, Particularly in China

We derive most of our revenue from direct or indirect sales to customers in Asia and have significant operations in Asia, which may expose us to political, cultural, regulatory, economic, foreign exchange, and operational risks. 

We derive most of our revenue from customers located in Asia through direct sales or indirect sales under distribution arrangements and value-added reseller agreements with parties located in Asia. As a result, we are subject to significant risks due to this geographic concentration of business and operations. For the year ended December 31, 2023, 87% of our revenue was from customers in Asia. There are risks inherent in doing business in Asia, and internationally in general, including:

If we fail to expand our customer base and significantly reduce the geographic concentration of our customers, we will continue to be subject to the foregoing risks, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business has been and may be significantly impacted by worldwide economic conditions, in particular changing economic conditions in China.

Our operations and performance depend significantly on global economic conditions. Adverse macroeconomic conditions, including inflation, slowing growth, recession, stagflation, new or increased tariffs and other barriers to trade, tighter credit, higher interest rates, currency fluctuations, higher unemployment, labor shortages, lower capital expenditures by businesses, and lower consumer confidence and spending, have in the past, and could in the future, have a material adverse effect on logistics, demand for our products, and our product and operational costs. For example, due to economic uncertainties in 2023, some of our customers cancelled, decreased or delayed their existing and future orders with us, which impacted our financial results and made our forecasting much more difficult. In addition, volatility in the credit markets could severely diminish our customers’ liquidity and capital availability, which could materially harm our business.
 
Demand for our products is a function of the health of the economies in the U.S., Europe, China and the rest of Asia. We cannot predict the timing, strength or duration of any economic disruptions, such as those resulting from the global economic downturn, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Middle East conflict or subsequent economic recovery worldwide, in our industry, or in the different markets that we serve. We also may not accurately assess the impact of changing market and economic conditions on our business and operations. These and other economic factors could have a material adverse effect on demand for our products and on our financial condition and operating results.
 
In particular, since we have significant operations in China, our business development plans, results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected by significant political, social and economic developments in China. The current stagnation in China’s economy has adversely impacted, and could further adversely impact our customers, prospective customers, suppliers, distributors and partners in China, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. 

There are inherent risks associated with the operation of our manufacturing and testing facilities in China, which could increase product costs or cause a delay in product shipments.

We have manufacturing and testing facilities in China. We face the following risks, among others, with respect to our operations in China:

If we are unable to maintain our facilities in China at full operational status with qualified workers, appropriate manufacturing controls and reasonable cost levels, we may incur costs higher than our current expense levels, which would affect our gross margins and operating expenses. In addition, if capacity restraints result in significant delays in product shipments, our business and results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

We and many of our manufacturing partners and suppliers are subject to extensive Chinese government regulations, and the benefit of various incentives from Chinese governments that we and many of our manufacturing partners and suppliers receive may be reduced or eliminated, which could increase our costs or limit our ability to sell products and conduct activities in China. 

The Chinese government has broad discretion and authority to regulate the technology industry in China. Additionally, the Chinese government has implemented policies from time to time to regulate economic activities in China. It exercises significant control over China’s economy through the allocation of resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies.
 
Any additional regulations or the amendment of previously implemented regulations could require us and our manufacturing partners and suppliers to change our business plans, increase our costs, or limit our ability to sell products and conduct business activities in China, which could materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
 
The Chinese government and provincial and local governments have also provided, and may continue to provide, various incentives to encourage the development of the semiconductor industry in China. Such incentives include cash awards, tax rebates, reduced tax rates, favorable lending policies and other measures, some or all of which may be available to our manufacturing partners, suppliers and us. Any of these incentives could be reduced or eliminated by governmental authorities at any time, which could materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

China’s legal system is a civil law system based on written statutes. Unlike the common law system, prior court decisions under the civil law system may be cited for reference but have limited precedential value. Since China’s legal system continues to rapidly evolve, the interpretations and enforcement of these laws and regulations are not always uniform and involve uncertainties. In addition, any new or amended laws and regulations related to, among other things, foreign investments and manufacturing could have a material adverse effect on our business and our ability to operate business in China.
 
From time to time, we may have to resort to administrative and court proceedings to enforce our legal rights. Any administrative and court proceedings in China may be protracted, resulting in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention. Since China’s administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory provisions and contractual terms, it may be more difficult to evaluate the outcome of administrative and court proceedings and the level of legal protection than those that may be provided in other jurisdictions. These uncertainties may impede our ability to enforce contracts in China and could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.
 
Furthermore, China’s legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published on a timely basis, or at all, and may have retroactive effects. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of any of these policies and rules until some time after the violation may have occurred. Such unpredictability towards our contractual, property and procedural rights and any failure to quickly respond to changes in the regulatory environment in China could materially and adversely affect our business and impede our ability to continue our operations and proceed with our business plans in China.

We are subject to export laws, trade policies and restrictions including international tariffs that could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We are subject to U.S. laws and regulations that could limit and restrict the export of some of our products and services and may restrict our transactions with certain customers, business partners and other individuals, including, in certain cases, dealings with or between our employees and subsidiaries. In certain circumstances, export controls and economic sanctions may prohibit the export of certain products, services and technologies, and in other circumstances we may be required to obtain an export license before exporting the controlled item. Compliance with these laws and regulations has not materially limited our operations or our sales, but could in the future, which would materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. We maintain an export compliance program, but our compliance controls could be circumvented, exposing us to legal liabilities, sanctions and restrictions on our business. We must also comply with export restrictions and laws imposed by other countries affecting trade and investments. Although these restrictions and laws have not materially restricted our operations in the past, they could do so in the future, which would materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. In addition, U.S. laws and regulations and sanctions, or threat of sanctions, that could limit or restrict the export of some of our products and services may also encourage our customers to develop their own solutions to replace our products, or seek to obtain a greater supply of similar or substitute products from our competitors that are not subject to these restrictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, our customers’ end products and systems that incorporate our components could be subject to export laws, trade policies and other sales restrictions, which could indirectly affect our business, financial conditions and results of operations. For example, the increasing focus on the risks and strategic importance of AI technologies has resulted in regulatory restrictions that target products and services capable of enabling or facilitating AI, and may in the future result in additional restrictions impacting the sales of AI technologies or products. Any of such regulatory restrictions could, in turn, impact the sales of our products supporting AI applications.
 
There has been increasing rhetoric, in some cases coupled with legislative or executive action, from several U.S. and foreign leaders regarding tariffs against foreign imports of certain materials. More specifically, there have been several rounds of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods that have taken effect in the past few years, some of which prompted retaliatory Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods. The institution of trade tariffs both globally and between the U.S. and China specifically carries the risk of negatively affecting both countries’ overall economic condition, as well as our business and financial results. If these tariffs continue or additional tariffs are imposed in the future, they could have a negative impact on us as we have significant operations in China and the U.S.
 
Additionally, the imposition of tariffs is dependent upon the classification of goods under the U.S. Harmonized Tariff System (“HTS”) and the country of origin of the goods. Determination of the HTS and the origin of the goods is a technical matter that can be subjective in nature. Accordingly, although we believe our classifications of both HTS and origin are appropriate, there is no certainty that our assessment will be consistent with that of the U.S. government. If the U.S. government does not agree with our determinations, we could be required to pay additional amounts, including potential penalties.

We face political and other risks conducting business in Taiwan and Hong Kong, particularly due to their tense relationships with China.

We have significant business operations in Taiwan, and many of our manufacturing partners and suppliers are located in Taiwan. Accordingly, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be affected by changes in governmental and economic policies in Taiwan, social instability and diplomatic and social developments in or affecting Taiwan due to its unique international political status. Although Taiwan and China have significant economic and cultural relations, we cannot assure that relations between Taiwan and China will not face political, military or economic challenges or actions in the future. Any deterioration in the relations between Taiwan and China, and other factors affecting military, political or economic conditions in Taiwan, could disrupt our business operations and materially and adversely affect our results of operations.
 
In addition, the Chinese government has promulgated new regulations impacting economic and political stability within Hong Kong where many of our customers are located. Due to the sensitive political climate these regulations created, there are increasing risks that this China’s national security law may trigger sanctions or other forms of restrictions by foreign governments including the U.S., which could affect companies conducting business in Hong Kong. It is difficult for us to predict the impact, if any, the implementation of the national security law will have on our business, as such impact will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted.

Fluctuations in the value of the U.S. Dollar relative to other foreign currencies, including the Renminbi, may adversely affect our results of operations.

Many of our manufacturing and other suppliers are and will continue to be primarily located in China for the foreseeable future. In connection with the global economic downturn, there has been an increased level of global currency fluctuation and volatility. If the value of the Renminbi rises against the U.S. Dollar, there could be an increase in our manufacturing costs relative to competitors who have manufacturing facilities located outside China, which could adversely affect our financial results and operations. In addition, our sales are primarily denominated in the U.S. Dollar. If the value of the U.S. Dollar rises against other currencies, it may adversely affect the demand for our products in international markets, which could negatively and materially impact our business and results of operations.
 
We incur foreign currency exchange gains or losses related to certain transactions, including intercompany transactions between the U.S. and our foreign subsidiaries, that are denominated in currencies other than the functional currencies. Fluctuations in the value of the U.S. Dollar relative to foreign currencies could increase the amount of foreign currency exchange losses we record, which could have an adverse and material impact on our results of operations.

A significant portion of our manufacturing capacity comes from suppliers in China, which exposes us to political, cultural, regulatory, economic, foreign exchange, and operational risks.

A significant portion of our manufacturing, assembly and packaging capacity comes from key suppliers located in China. As a result, we are subject to significant political, regulatory, economic, foreign exchange, and operational risks due to this geographic concentration in our business. Although our management has an established long-term strategy to diversify capacity outside China, there is no guarantee that we will be able to identify, qualify and engage additional foundry partners and assembly and packaging suppliers in other regions in order to mitigate these risks, or that the quality, price or terms of such production will be sufficient or acceptable to us, any of which could negatively and materially harm our business and results of operations.

Risks Associated with Product Demand and Sales

We may not achieve growth rates or financial performance comparable to past years. 

In the past, our revenue increased significantly in certain years due to increased sales of certain of our products. We are subject to numerous risks and factors that could cause a decrease in our growth rates, or a decline in revenue compared to past periods, including increased competition, loss of certain of our customers, unfavorable changes in our operations, reduced global electronics demand, a deterioration in market conditions including as a result of the global economic downturn, end-customer market downturn, market acceptance and penetration of our current and future products, and litigation. A decrease in our growth rates, or a decline in revenue, could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

If demand for our products declines in the major end markets that we serve, our revenue will decrease and our results of operations and financial condition would be materially and adversely affected.

We believe that the application of our products in the storage and computing, enterprise data, automotive, industrial, communication and consumer markets will continue to account for the majority of our revenue. If we are not able to accurately predict new end markets to serve or if the demand for our products declines in certain of our current major end markets, our revenue would decrease compared to prior year periods and our results of operations and financial condition would be materially and adversely affected. In addition, as technology evolves, the requirement to integrate the functionalities of various components, including our discrete semiconductor products, onto a single chip and/or onto other components of systems containing our products increases. Should our customers require integrated solutions that we do not offer, demand for our products could decrease, and our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

Due to the nature of our business as a component supplier, we may have difficulty both in accurately predicting our future revenue and appropriately managing our expenses.

Because we provide components for end products and systems, demand for our products is influenced by our customers’ end product demand. As a result, we may have difficulty in accurately forecasting our revenue and expenses. Our expenses and revenue depend on the timing, size, and speed of commercial introductions of end products and systems that incorporate our products, all of which are inherently difficult to forecast, as well as the ongoing demand for previously introduced end products and systems. In addition, demand for our products is influenced by our customers’ ability to manage their inventory. Our sales to distributors are also subject to higher volatility because they service demand from multiple levels of the supply chain which, in itself, is inherently difficult to forecast. All of these factors continue to be exacerbated by the adverse effects of macroeconomic factors, including inflation, increased interest rates, supply chain disruptions, decreased economic output, fluctuations in currency rates, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Middle East conflict. If our customers, including distributors, reduce their orders from us, do not manage their inventory correctly or misjudge their customers’ demand, our shipments to and orders from our customers may vary significantly or decline on a quarterly basis, and we may have difficulty forecasting our expenses and inventory levels, which could reduce our revenue, result in inventory write offs, and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We may be unsuccessful in developing and selling new products with margins similar to, or better than, what we have experienced in the past, which could impact our overall gross margin and financial performance.

Our success depends on our development and sale of products that are differentiated in the market, with gross margins that have historically been above industry averages. Should we fail to improve or maintain our gross margins in the future, and accordingly develop and introduce sufficiently differentiated products that result in higher gross margins than industry averages, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We may be unsuccessful in developing and selling new products or in penetrating new markets required to maintain or expand our business. 
 
Our competitiveness and future success depend on our ability to design, develop, manufacture, assemble, test, market, and support new products and enhancements on a timely and cost-effective basis. A fundamental shift in technologies in any of our product markets could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position within these markets. Our failure to timely develop new technologies or to react quickly to changes in existing technologies could materially delay our development of new products, which could result in product obsolescence, decreased revenue, and/or a loss of market share to competitors.
 
As we develop new product lines, we must adapt to market conditions that may be unfamiliar to us, such as competitors and distribution channels that are different from those we have known in the past. Some of our new product lines require us to re-equip our labs to test parameters we have not tested in the past. If we are unable to adapt rapidly to these new conditions, we may not be able to successfully penetrate new markets.
 
The success of a new product depends on accurate forecasts of long-term market demand and future technological developments, as well as on a variety of other factors, including:

To the extent that we fail to timely introduce new products or to quickly penetrate new markets, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We receive a significant portion of our revenue from distribution arrangements and value-added resellers, and the loss of any one of these distributors, value-added resellers or direct customers, or failure to collect a receivable from them could materially and adversely affect our financial position and results of operations.

We market our products through distribution arrangements and value-added resellers, and through our direct sales to customers that include OEMs, ODMs and EMS providers. Receivables from our customers are generally not secured by any type of collateral and are subject to the risk of being uncollectible. Significant deterioration in the liquidity or financial condition of any such major customers or any group of our customers could have a material adverse impact on the collectability of our accounts receivable and our future financial condition and operating results. While we could partner with other distributors or value-added resellers to replace any of our customers, the change in business partners could interrupt our operations, cause us to have to identify and qualify new partners, and have a materially adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
Moreover, we believe a high percentage of our products are eventually sold to a number of OEMs and ODMs. Although we communicate with OEMs and/or ODMs in an attempt to achieve “design wins,” which are decisions by OEMs and/or ODMs to incorporate our products, we do not have purchase commitments from these end users. Therefore, there can be no assurance that the OEMs and/or ODMs will continue to incorporate our ICs into their products, even if we secure a design win. OEM technical specifications and requirements can change rapidly, and we may not have products that fit new specifications from an end customer for whom we have had previous design wins. We cannot be certain that we will continue to achieve design wins from large OEMs, that our customers will continue to be successful in selling to the OEMs, or that the OEMs will be successful in selling products which incorporate our ICs. The loss of any significant customer, any material reduction in orders by any of our significant customers or by their OEM customers, the cancellation of a significant customer order, or the cancellation or delay of a customer’s or an OEM’s significant program or product could reduce our revenue and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Our products must meet specifications, and undetected defects and failures may occur, which may cause customers to return or stop buying our products and may expose us to product liability risk.

Our customers generally establish demanding specifications for quality, performance, energy efficiency and reliability that our products must meet. ICs as complex as ours often encounter development delays and may contain undetected defects or failures when first introduced or after commencement of commercial shipments, which might require product replacement or recall. Further, our third-party manufacturing processes or changes thereto, or changes in the materials used in the manufacturing processes may cause our products to fail. From time to time, we have experienced product quality, performance or reliability problems. Our standard warranty period is generally one or two years, which exposes us to significant risks of claims for defects and failures. If defects and failures occur in our products, we could experience a loss of customers and/or a decrease in revenue, increased costs, including warranty expense and costs associated with customer support, cancellations or rescheduling of orders or shipments, and product returns or discounts, any of which would harm our operating results.
 
In addition, product liability claims may be asserted by our customers. Although we currently have insurance, there can be no assurance that we have obtained sufficient insurance coverage or that asserted claims will be within the scope of coverage. Our insurance providers could deny or challenge these claims, and as a result, reimbursement to us is not guaranteed or could be delayed. If coverage is denied, we may not have sufficient resources to pay for these claims. Furthermore, we may experience a significant increase in premiums and therefore decide to self-insure, which may not meet the expectations or requirements of certain customers. All of these factors could have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Because of the lengthy sales cycles for our products and the fixed nature of a significant portion of our expenses, we may incur substantial expenses before we earn associated revenue and may not ultimately achieve our forecasted sales for our products.

The introduction of new products presents significant business challenges because product development plans and expenditures may be made up to two years or more in advance of any sales. It generally takes us up to 12 months or more to design and manufacture a new product prototype. Only after we have a prototype do we introduce the product to the market and begin selling efforts in an attempt to achieve design wins. This sales process requires us to expend significant sales and marketing resources without any assurance of success. Volume production of products that use our ICs, if any, may not be achieved for an additional period of time after an initial sale. Sales cycles for our products are lengthy for a number of reasons, including: 

As a result of our lengthy sales cycles, we may incur substantial expenses before we earn associated revenue because a significant portion of our operating expenses is relatively fixed and based on expected revenue. The lengthy sales cycles of our products also make forecasting the volume and timing of orders difficult. In addition, the delays inherent in lengthy sales cycles raise additional risks that customers may cancel or change their orders, particularly as such customers are exposed to economic risks in connection with the global economic downturn. Our sales are made by purchase orders. Because industry practice allows customers to reschedule or cancel orders on relatively short notice, backlog is not always a good indicator of our future sales. If customer cancellations or purchase order changes occur, we could lose anticipated sales and not have sufficient time to reduce our inventory and operating expenses.
 

Risks Associated with Supply and Manufacturing

Our ability to increase product sales and revenue may be constrained by the manufacturing capacity of our suppliers.

Although we provide our suppliers with rolling forecasts of our production requirements, their ability to provide wafers to us is limited by the available capacity, particularly capacity in the geometries we require, at the facilities in which they manufacture wafers for us. As a result, this lack of capacity has at times constrained our product sales and revenue growth. In addition, an increased need for capacity to meet internal demands or demands of other customers could cause our suppliers to reduce capacity available to us. Our suppliers may also require us to pay amounts in excess of contracted or anticipated amounts for wafer deliveries or require us to make other concessions in order to acquire the wafer supply necessary to meet our customer requirements. If our suppliers extend lead times, limit supplies or the types of capacity we require, or increase prices due to capacity constraints or other factors, our revenue and gross margin may materially decline. In addition, if we experience supply delays or limitations, our customers may reduce their purchase levels with us and/or seek alternative solutions to meet their demand, which could materially and adversely impact our business and results of operations. 

There may be unanticipated costs associated with increasing our third-party suppliers’ manufacturing capacity.

We anticipate that future growth of our business will require increased manufacturing capacity on the part of third-party supply foundries, assembly shops, and testing facilities for our products. In order to facilitate such growth, we may need to enter into strategic transactions, investments and other activities, with both our current suppliers and new suppliers. Such activities are subject to a number of risks, including:

These and other risks may affect the ultimate cost and timing of any expansion of our third-party supplier capacity. If our manufacturing costs increase, including as a result of inflationary pressure, or we experience supply constraints, we may be required to raise the prices of our products to remain profitable, which could result in a loss of customers. If we are unable to increase or maintain our manufacturing capacity, we may be unable to meet demand, which would harm our revenue and results of operations and may result in a loss of customers as they seek supply from other sources.

We currently depend on third-party suppliers to provide us with wafers for our products. If any of our wafer suppliers are acquired, become insolvent or capacity constrained, or are otherwise unable to provide us sufficient wafers at acceptable yields or at anticipated costs, our revenue and gross margin may decline or we may not be able to fulfill our customer orders.

We have supply arrangements with certain suppliers for the production of wafers. Should any of our suppliers be acquired or become insolvent or capacity constrained, we may not be able to fulfill our customer orders, which would likely cause a decline in our revenue.
 
While certain aspects of our relationships with these suppliers are contractual, many important aspects of our relationships depend on our suppliers’ continued cooperation and our management of such relationships with the suppliers. Our relationships could be negatively impacted by changes in control or changes in the management team of the suppliers. In addition, the fabrication of ICs is a highly complex and precise process. Problems in the fabrication process can cause a substantial percentage of wafers to be rejected or numerous ICs on each wafer to be non-functional. This could potentially reduce yields and supply of our products. The failure of our suppliers to provide wafers at acceptable yields could prevent us from fulfilling our customer orders and would likely cause a decline in our revenue.
 
In addition, adverse macroeconomic conditions, such as inflationary pressures resulting from worldwide supply chain constraints and other factors, have increased, and may continue to increase, the prices we pay to our suppliers. As a result of the increased costs, we have raised, and may be required to further raise the prices of our products in order to remain profitable, which could result in a loss of customers and reduced revenue.
 
Further, as is common in the semiconductor industry, our customers may reschedule or cancel orders on relatively short notice. If our customers cancel orders after we submit a committed forecast to our suppliers for the corresponding wafers, we may be required to purchase wafers that we may not be able to resell, which would adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We might not be able to deliver our products on a timely basis if our relationships with our assembly and test subcontractors are disrupted or terminated.

We do not have direct control over product delivery schedules or product quality because all of our products are assembled by third-party subcontractors and a portion of our testing is currently performed by third-party subcontractors. Also, due to the amount of time typically required to qualify assembly and test subcontractors, we could experience delays in the shipment of our products if we were forced to find alternate third parties to assemble or test our products. In addition, events such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Middle East conflict and supply chain disruptions may materially impact our assembly suppliers’ ability to operate. Any future product delivery delays or disruptions in our relationships with our subcontractors could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We purchase inventory in advance based on expected demand for our products, and if demand is not as expected, we may have insufficient or excess inventory, which could adversely impact our financial position.

As a fabless semiconductor company, we purchase our inventory from third-party manufacturers. We place orders with our manufacturers based on existing and expected orders from our customers for particular products. While most of our contracts with our customers and distributors include lead time requirements and cancellation penalties that are designed to protect us from misalignment between customer orders and inventory levels, we must nonetheless make some predictions when we place orders with our manufacturers. Some of our customers and distributors may nevertheless cancel orders as a result of the impacts of the global economic downturn, their own specific business challenges or for other reasons. In the event that our predictions are inaccurate due to unexpected increases in orders or unavailability of products within the timeframe that is required, we may have insufficient inventory to meet our customers’ demands. In addition, a negative trend in market conditions could lead us to decrease the manufacturing volume of our products to avoid excess inventory. If we inaccurately assess market conditions for our products, we would have insufficient inventory to meet our customer demands resulting in lost potential revenue. In the event that we order products that we are unable to sell due to a decrease in orders, unexpected order cancellations, injunctions due to patent litigation, import/export restrictions or product returns, we may have excess inventory which, if not sold, may need to be written down or would result in a decrease in our revenue in future periods as the excess inventory at our distributors is sold. If any of these situations were to arise, it could have a material impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The price and availability of commodities (e.g., gold, copper and silicon) may adversely impact our ability to deliver our products in a timely and cost-effective manner, and may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our products incorporate commodities such as gold, copper and silicon. An increase in the price or a decrease in the availability of these commodities and similar commodities that we use could negatively impact our business and results of operations.

Risks Associated with Industry Dynamics and Competition

The highly cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry, which has resulted in significant and sometimes prolonged downturns, could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Historically, the semiconductor industry has been highly cyclical and, at various times, has experienced significant downturns and wide fluctuations in supply and demand. These conditions have caused significant variances in product demand and production capacity, as well as rapid erosion of average selling prices, which have resulted, and could in the future result, in lower demand for our products, downward pressure on the price of our products, and/or increased inventory due to our customers’ delayed production schedule. Because significant portions of our expenses are fixed in the short term or incurred in advance of anticipated sales, we may not be able to decrease our expenses in a timely manner to offset any sales shortfall. Any significant or prolonged downturns would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Industry consolidation may lead to increased competition and may harm our operating results.

In recent years, there has been a trend toward semiconductor industry consolidation. We expect this trend to continue as companies attempt to improve the leverage of growing research and development costs, strengthen or hold their market positions in an evolving industry, or become unable to continue operations unless they find an acquirer or consolidate with another company. In addition, companies that are strategic alliance partners in some areas of our business may acquire or form alliances with our competitors, thereby reducing their business with us. We believe that semiconductor industry consolidation may result in stronger competitors that are better able to compete as sole-source suppliers of multiple products for customers. This could lead to more variability in our operating results and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We compete against many companies with substantially greater financial and other resources, and our market share may be reduced if we are unable to respond to our competitors effectively.

The analog and mixed-signal semiconductor industry is highly competitive, and we expect competitive pressures to continue. Our ability to compete effectively and to expand our business will depend on our ability to continue to recruit application engineers and design talent, introduce new products, and maintain the rate at which we introduce these new products. We compete with domestic and foreign semiconductor companies, many of which have substantially greater financial and other resources with which to pursue engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of their products, and, in some cases, may have a broader number of product offerings that enable them to more effectively market and sell to customers and engage sales partners. We are in direct and active competition, with respect to one or more of our product lines, with many manufacturers of varying size and financial strength. The number of our competitors has grown due to the expansion of the market segments in which we participate.
 
We cannot guarantee that our products will continue to compete favorably, or that we will be successful in the face of increasing competition from new products and enhancements introduced by existing competitors or new companies entering this market, which would materially and adversely affect our results of operations and our financial condition.
 
In addition, from time to time, governments may provide subsidies or make other investments that could give competitive advantages to many semiconductor companies. For example, in August 2022, the U.S. enacted the CHIPS Act, which, among other things, provides funding to increase domestic production and research and development in the semiconductor industry. Because we operate a fabless business model, we were not eligible for such investments. Many of our competitors benefitted from the investments, which will help increase their production capacities, shorten their lead times and gain market share. These competitive pressures could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may face competition from customers developing products internally.

Our customers generally have substantial technological capabilities and financial resources. Some customers have traditionally used these resources to develop their own products internally. The future prospects for our products in these markets are dependent in part upon our customers’ acceptance of our products as an alternative to their internally developed products. Future sales prospects also are dependent upon acceptance of third-party sourcing for products as an alternative to in-house development. Customers may continue to increase their use of internally developed components. They may also decide to develop or acquire components, technologies or products that are similar to, or that may be substituted for, our products. If any of these situations were to occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Risks Associated with IT and Cybersecurity

Implementation of enhanced enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) or other IT systems could result in significant disruptions to our operations.

From time to time, we may implement new ERP software solutions or upgrade existing systems. Implementation of these solutions and systems is highly dependent on coordination of system providers and internal business teams. We may experience difficulties as we transition to these new or upgraded systems and processes, including system downtime causing interruptions in business operations. In addition, transitioning to these new systems may require significant capital investments and personnel resources. Difficulties in implementing new or upgraded information systems or any significant system failures could disrupt our operations and financial reporting, which could have a material adverse effect on our capital resources, financial condition or results of operations.

Certain software we use is from open-source code sources, which, under certain circumstances, may lead to unintended consequences and, therefore, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flow.

We use open-source software in connection with certain of our products and services, and we intend to continue to use open-source software in the future. From time to time, there have been claims challenging the ownership of open-source software against companies that incorporate open-source software into their products or services or alleging that these companies have violated the terms of an open-source license. As a result, we could be subject to lawsuits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open-source software or alleging that we have violated the terms of an open-source license. Litigation could be costly for us to defend, have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our solutions. In addition, if we were to combine our proprietary software solutions with open-source software in certain circumstances, we could, under certain open-source licenses, be required to publicly release the source code of our proprietary software solutions, which could harm our business and ability to compete. If we inappropriately use open-source software, we may be required to re-engineer our solutions, discontinue the sale of our solutions, release the source code of our proprietary software to the public at no cost or take other remedial actions, which could increase our costs, harm our ability to compete and have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. There is also a risk that open-source licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our solutions, which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

System security risks, data protection or privacy breaches, cyberattacks, systems integration issues and unauthorized use of AI tools could disrupt our internal operations and/or harm our reputation, and any such disruption or harm could cause a reduction in our expected revenue, increase our expenses, negatively impact our results of operation or otherwise adversely affect our stock price.

Experienced hackers may be able to penetrate our network security and misappropriate or compromise our confidential and proprietary information, create system disruptions or cause shutdowns. As AI capabilities improve, threat actors may quickly develop more sophisticated and convincing attacks. These attacks could be crafted with an AI tool to directly attack information systems with increased speed and efficiency or create more effective phishing emails. The costs to us to eliminate or alleviate cyber or other security problems, bugs, viruses, worms, malicious software programs and security vulnerabilities could be significant, and our efforts to address these problems may not be successful and could result in interruptions and delays that may impede our sales, manufacturing, distribution, financial reporting or other critical functions.
 
In the ordinary course of business, we store sensitive data on our internal systems, network and servers, such as proprietary business and financial information, and confidential data pertaining to our customers, suppliers and business partners. Maintaining security of sensitive information on our networks and the protection features of our solutions are both critical to our operations and business strategy. We devote significant resources to network security, data encryption, and other security measures to protect our systems and data. However, these security measures cannot provide absolute security. Although we make significant efforts to maintain the security and integrity of our systems and solutions, any destructive or intrusive breach could compromise our networks, creating system disruptions or slowdowns, and the information stored on our networks could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost or stolen. Remote working arrangements, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Middle East conflict, and AI-powered cybersecurity threats have also heightened our potential exposure to cyberattacks, which could put the sensitive data we store on our internal systems at risk. If any of these types of security breaches were to occur and we were unable to protect sensitive data, our reputation and relationships with our business partners and customers could be materially harmed, and we could be exposed to risks of litigation and possible significant liability.
 
Portions of our IT infrastructure may also experience interruptions, delays or cessations of service or produce errors in connection with systems integration or migration work that takes place from time to time. We may not be successful in implementing new systems and transitioning data, which could cause business disruptions and our remediation efforts may be expensive, time consuming, disruptive and resource-intensive. Such disruptions could adversely impact our ability to fulfill orders in a timely manner and interrupt other processes. Delayed sales or a loss of customers resulting from these disruptions could adversely affect our financial results and reputation.
 
Unauthorized use or disclosure of, or access to, any personal information maintained by us or on our behalf, whether through breach of our systems, breach of the systems of our suppliers by an unauthorized party, or through employee error, theft or misuse, or otherwise, could harm our business. If any such unauthorized use or disclosure of, or access to, such personal information was to occur, our operations could be seriously disrupted, and we could be subject to demands, claims and litigation by private parties, and investigations and penalties by regulatory authorities. In addition, we could incur significant costs in notifying affected individuals and entities and otherwise complying with the multitude of foreign, federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the unauthorized access to, or use or disclosure of, personal information. Finally, any perceived or actual unauthorized access to, or use or disclosure of, such information could harm our reputation and substantially impair our ability to attract and retain customers, which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
Our ability to manage and aggregate data may be limited by the effectiveness of our policies, programs, processes, systems and practices that govern how data is acquired, validated, used, stored, protected, processed and shared. Failure to manage data effectively and to aggregate data in an accurate and timely manner may limit our ability to manage current and emerging risks, as well as to manage changing business needs. While we restrict the use of third-party and open-source AI tools, such as ChatGPT, our employees and consultants may use these tools on an unauthorized basis and our partners may use these tools, which poses additional risks relating to the protection of data, including the potential exposure of our proprietary confidential information to unauthorized recipients and the misuse of our or third-party intellectual property. Use of AI tools may result in allegations or claims against us related to violation of third-party intellectual property rights, unauthorized access to or use of proprietary information and failure to comply with open-source software requirements. AI tools may also produce inaccurate responses that could lead to errors in our decision-making, product development or other business activities, which could have a negative impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. Our ability to mitigate these risks will depend on our continued effective maintaining, training, monitoring and enforcement of appropriate policies and procedures governing the use of AI tools, and the results of any such use, by us or our partners.

We are subject to various U.S. and international laws, policies and other regulations regarding data protection.

Privacy, cyber security, and data protection are becoming increasingly significant issues. To address these issues, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the Cyber Security Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “Cyber Security Law”), which took effect on June 1, 2017. The Cyber Security Law sets forth various requirements relating to the collection, use, storage, disclosure and security of data, among other things. On June 10, 2021, the National People’s Congress passed the Data Security Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “Data Security Law”), which became effective on September 1, 2021. The Data Security Law is the first comprehensive data security legislation in China, which becomes a key supplement to the Cyber Security Law 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. Various Chinese agencies are expected to issue additional regulations in the future to define these requirements more precisely. For example, the Personal Information Protection Law (“PIPL”), took effect on November 1, 2021. PIPL is aimed at protecting and controlling the use and transfer of personal data in China. There is significant uncertainty in how regulators will interpret and enforce the law, and it contains 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 transfers of personal data. 

Effective May 25, 2018, the European Union (“EU”) implemented the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), a broad data protection framework that expands the scope of EU data protection law to non-European Union entities that process, or control the processing of, the personal data of EU subjects. The GDPR allows for the imposition of fines and corrective action on entities that improperly use, disclose or secure the personal data of EU subjects, including through a data security breach. In addition, an increasing number of states in the U.S. have enacted laws containing similar requirements to the GDPR for businesses collecting or processing personal data. For example, the State of California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), which was significantly amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, and sets forth comprehensive privacy and security obligations regarding the collection and processing of personal data of eligible California residents. Other states have, or are expected to, enact similar or more expansive legislation regarding the collection and processing of personal data.
 
These regulatory requirements may increase our costs of compliance. Any failure to fully comply with the Cyber Security Law, the Data Security Law, PIPL, GDPR, CCPA, and other applicable laws and regulations could lead to significant fines and regulatory corrective actions, along with reputational damage or third-party lawsuits, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. In addition, data security breaches experienced by us could result in the loss of trade secrets or other intellectual property, public disclosure of sensitive commercial data, and the exposure of personal data (including sensitive personal data) of our employees, customers, suppliers and others. Such incidents could subject us to significant monetary damages, regulatory enforcement actions and/or criminal prosecution, and cause us to lose customers and their related revenue in the future.

Risks Associated with Strategic Investments and Initiatives

Our success depends on our investment of significant resources in research and development. We may have to invest more resources in research and development than anticipated, which could increase our operating expenses and negatively impact our operating results.

Our success depends on us investing significant amounts of resources in research and development. We expect to continue investing heavily in research and development in the future in order to keep innovating and introducing new products in a timely manner and increase our revenue and profitability. Increased investments in research and development will increase our operating expenses, which may negatively impact our operating results, and we may not achieve the return on these investments that we anticipate, or be able to reduce such expenses in a timely manner if we experience a downturn in sales. Also, if we are unable to properly manage and effectively utilize our research and development resources, we could see material adverse effects on our business, financial condition and operating results.
 
In addition, if new competitors, technological advances by existing competitors, our entry into new markets, or other competitive factors require us to invest significantly greater resources than anticipated in our research and development efforts, our operating expenses would increase further. If we are required to invest significantly greater resources than anticipated in research and development efforts without a corresponding increase in revenue, our operating results could be harmed. Many of our competitors have significantly greater resources than we have and are able to invest substantially greater amounts into research and development initiatives than we are, which could harm our ability to innovate and compete. Research and development expenses are likely to fluctuate from time to time to the extent we make periodic incremental investments in research and development and these investments may be independent of our level of revenue, which could negatively impact our financial results. In order to remain competitive, we anticipate that we will continue to devote substantial resources to research and development, and we expect these expenses to increase in the foreseeable future due to the increased complexity and the greater number of products under development.

We may not realize the anticipated benefits of any company or business that we acquire. In addition, acquisitions could result in diluting the ownership interests of our stockholders, reduce our cash balances and/or cause us to incur debt or to assume contingent liabilities, which could adversely affect our business. 

As part of our business strategy, from time to time we review acquisition prospects that would complement our current product offerings, enhance our design capability or offer other competitive opportunities. As a result of completing acquisitions, we could use a significant portion of our available cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, issue equity securities that would dilute current stockholders’ percentage ownership, or incur substantial debt or contingent liabilities. Such actions could impact our financial condition, operating results and the price of our common stock.
 
In addition, we may be unable to identify or complete prospective acquisitions for various reasons, including competition from other companies in the semiconductor industry, the valuation expectations of acquisition candidates and applicable antitrust or other policies, laws or regulations. If we are unable to identify and complete acquisitions, we may not be able to successfully expand our business and product offerings.
 
In January 2024, we completed the acquisition of Axign B.V. (“Axign”), a fabless semiconductor company located in the Netherlands that specializes in the development of consumer audio applications. We cannot guarantee that this or any future acquisitions will improve our results of operations or that we will otherwise realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisitions. In addition, if we are unsuccessful in integrating Axign, or any acquired company or business into our operations, or if integration is more difficult than anticipated, we may experience disruptions that could harm our business and result in our failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisitions. Some of the risks that may adversely affect our ability to integrate or realize any anticipated benefits from the acquired companies, businesses or assets include those associated with:

Alternatively, third parties may be interested in acquiring us. We will continue to consider, evaluate and negotiate any such transactions as our Board of Directors deems appropriate and in the best interest of our stockholders. Such potential transactions may divert the attention of management, and cause us to incur various costs and expenses in investigating, evaluating and negotiating such transactions, whether or not they are consummated.

Risks Associated with Financial Reporting

The complexity of calculating our tax provision may result in errors that could result in restatements of our financial statements.

Due to the complexity associated with the calculation of our tax provision, including the effects of the enactment of new tax laws, we engage third-party tax advisors to assist us in the calculation. If we or our tax advisors fail to resolve or fully understand certain issues that we may have had in the past and issues that may arise in the future, we could be subject to errors, which, if material, would result in a restatement of our financial statements. Restatements are generally costly and could adversely impact our results of operations, damage our reputation, and/or have a negative impact on the trading price of our common stock.

Changes in effective tax rates or adverse outcomes resulting from examination of our income tax returns could adversely affect our results of operations.
 
Our future effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being lower than anticipated in countries where we have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated in countries where we have higher statutory rates, by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets, or by changes in tax laws, regulations, accounting principles or interpretations thereof and discrete items. In addition, we are subject to potential future examinations of our income tax returns by the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) and tax authorities in various jurisdictions where we have business operations. We assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes. There can be no assurance that the outcomes from any examinations will not have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our international operations subject us to potentially significant tax consequences, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
 
We conduct our international operations through wholly-owned subsidiaries, branches and representative offices and report our taxable income in various jurisdictions worldwide based upon our business operations in those jurisdictions. Such corporate structures are subject to complex transfer pricing, permanent establishment challenges and other local regulations administered by taxing authorities in various jurisdictions. Our provision for income taxes and cash tax liabilities in the future could be adversely affected by numerous factors, including changes in the geographic mix of our earnings and corporate tax rates among jurisdictions, challenges by tax authorities to our tax positions and intercompany transfer pricing arrangements, failure to meet performance obligations with respect to tax incentive agreements, expanding our operations in various countries, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, adverse resolution of audits and examinations of previously filed tax returns, and changes in tax laws and regulations. The relevant taxing authorities may disagree with our determinations as to the income and expenses attributable to specific jurisdictions. If such a disagreement were to occur, and our positions were not sustained, we could be required to pay additional taxes, interest and penalties, resulting in higher effective tax rates, reduced cash flows and lower overall profitability of our operations. Additionally, our future worldwide tax rates, financial position and operating results may be affected by changes in the relevant tax laws, interpretation of such tax laws or the influence of certain tax policy efforts, including in the EU and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

We face risks in connection with our internal control over financial reporting and a material weakness was identified.

As more fully disclosed in Item 9A. Controls and Procedures of this Annual Report, late in the audit process, a material weakness was identified that existed as of December 31, 2023, regarding ineffective design of the controls related to management’s review and documentation of our inventory demand information and other assumptions used to determine the inventory carrying value adjustments necessary to record such quantities at the lower of their cost or net realizable value.

Due to this finding of a material weakness, we concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2023. While we do not believe that this material weakness has impacted the accuracy or reporting of our consolidated financial results, until this material weakness is remediated, or should new material weaknesses arise or be discovered in the future, there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our interim or annual financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. In addition, we may experience delays in satisfying our reporting obligations to comply with SEC rules and regulations, which could result in investigations and sanctions by regulatory authorities. Any of these results could adversely affect our business and the value of our common stock. 

Risks Associated with Regulatory Compliance, Intellectual Property Protection and Litigation
 
We are subject to anti-corruption laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”) and the U.K. Bribery Act. Our failure to comply with these laws could result in penalties which could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
We are subject to the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act and various anti-corruption laws of other jurisdictions, which generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business and/or other benefits. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure that we, our employees and other intermediaries comply with the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act and other anti-corruption laws to which we are subject, there is no assurance that such policies or procedures will work effectively all the time or protect us against liability under these laws for actions taken by our employees and other intermediaries with respect to our business or any businesses that we may acquire. We have significant operations in Asia, which place us in frequent contact with individuals who may be considered “foreign officials” under the FCPA or other anti-corruption laws, resulting in an elevated risk of potential violations. If we are not in compliance with the FCPA and other laws governing the conduct of business with government entities (including local laws), we may be subject to criminal and civil penalties and other remedial measures, including restatements of our financial reports, which could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. Any investigation or allegations of any potential violations of the FCPA or other anti-corruption laws by the U.S. or foreign authorities could harm our reputation and have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is subject to various governmental laws and regulations, and compliance with these regulations may impact our revenue and cause us to incur significant expense. If we fail to maintain compliance with applicable regulations or obtain government licenses and approvals for our desired international trading activities or technology transfers, we may be forced to recall products and cease their distribution, and we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties.
 
Our business is subject to various significant laws and other legal requirements imposed by the U.S. and other countries we conduct business in, including export control laws such as the Export Administration Act, the Export Administration Regulations and other laws, regulations and requirements governing international trade and technology transfer. These laws and regulations are complex, change frequently and have generally become more stringent over time. We may be required to incur significant expense to comply with these regulations or to remedy violations of these regulations. In addition, if our customers fail to comply with these regulations, we may be required to suspend sales to these customers, which could negatively impact our results of operations. We must conform the manufacture and distribution of our products to various laws and adapt to regulatory requirements in many 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 commercially until the products are brought into compliance.

Environmental laws and regulations could cause a disruption in our business and operations.
 
We are subject to various foreign, federal, state and local laws and regulations that govern the environment, including those restricting the presence of certain substances in electronic products and making manufacturers of those products financially responsible for the collection, treatment, recycling and disposal of certain products. Such laws and regulations have been passed in several jurisdictions in which we operate, including various EU member countries and countries in Asia. There can be no assurance that similar laws and regulations will not be implemented in other jurisdictions resulting in additional costs, possible delays in delivering products, and even the discontinuance of existing and planned future products if the costs were to become prohibitive.

We are subject to increasing regulatory and reporting standards related to ESG matters, which could increase our expenses.
 
In recent years, there has been an increase in public awareness and requirements from regulators, investors, customers and other key stakeholders focusing on ESG compliance efforts, including those related to environmental sustainability and social responsibility. For example, the SEC has proposed new rules that require public companies to provide detailed disclosures of their climate-related risks, greenhouse gas emissions data, and net-zero transition plans, and in October 2023, California passed two bills that will require companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions data and climate-related financial risks. In addition, many of our customers increasingly include stringent environmental and other non-standard compliance requirements in their contracts with us or request significant amount of data from us for their Scope 3 emissions reporting. While we are committed to maintaining strong ESG strategies, practices, policies and disclosures, there can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our goals, or that our compliance initiatives will be deemed sufficiently robust by regulators, stockholders, customers and other key stakeholders. The achievement of our goals and initiatives may be impacted by factors that are outside our control. Some of our stakeholders may disagree with our goals and initiatives, and the focus and views of our stakeholders may change and evolve over time and vary depending on the jurisdictions in which we operate. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to achieve our goals, implement new initiatives, comply with federal, state or international laws and regulations, or meet evolving and varied stakeholder expectations and views, could result in litigation, regulatory action or other legal claims, penalties, injunction or other remedies against us, damage our reputation and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
Furthermore, our compliance efforts, including the collection, assessment and reporting of ESG data, are subject to evolving reporting standards and can be costly, complex and time-consuming. In addition, climate change concerns and the potential associated environmental impact could result in the proposal and passage of additional laws and regulations in various jurisdictions that may affect us, our suppliers and customers. Such laws and regulations could cause us to incur additional compliance costs, and failure to comply with the regulatory standards in a timely manner could result in penalties and fines. These operational, legal, compliance and other risks could damage our reputation and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Given our inability to control the timing and nature of significant events in our legal proceedings that either have arisen or may arise, our legal expenses are difficult to forecast and may vary substantially from our publicly disclosed forecasts with respect to any given quarter, which could contribute to increased volatility in our stock price and financial condition.
 
Historically, we have incurred significant expenses in connection with various legal proceedings that vary with the level of activity in the proceeding. It is difficult for us to forecast our legal expenses for any given quarter, which adversely affects our ability to forecast our expected results of operations in general. We may also be subject to unanticipated legal proceedings, which would result in us incurring unexpected legal expenses. If we fail to meet the expectations of securities or industry analysts as a result of unexpected changes in our legal expenses, our stock price could be materially and adversely affected.

Future legal proceedings may divert our financial and management resources.
 
The semiconductor industry is characterized by frequent claims of infringement and litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. Patent infringement is an ongoing risk, in part because other companies in our industry could have patent rights that may not be identifiable when we initiate development efforts. Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, and we may have to defend ourselves, and in some circumstances our key customers or suppliers, against additional infringement claims. Such litigation is very costly. Further, in connection with these legal proceedings, we may be required to post bonds to defend our intellectual property rights in certain countries for an indefinite period of time, until such dispute is resolved. If our legal expenses materially increase or exceed anticipated amounts, our capital resources and financial condition could be adversely affected. If we are not successful in any of our intellectual property defenses, we may have to cease production of certain products, design around such technologies, or pay royalty payments, any of which could harm our financial condition and our business. Our management team may also be required to devote a great deal of time and effort to these legal proceedings, which could divert management’s attention from focusing on our operations, which could adversely affect our business.

Failure to protect our proprietary technologies or maintain the right to certain technologies may negatively affect our ability to compete.
 
We rely heavily on our proprietary technologies. Our future success and competitive position depend in part upon our ability to obtain and maintain protection of certain proprietary technologies used in our products. We pursue patents for some of our new products and unique technologies, and we also rely on a combination of nondisclosure agreements and other contractual provisions, as well as our employees’ commitment to confidentiality and loyalty, to protect our technology, know-how and processes. Despite the precautions we take, it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy aspects of our current or future technologies or products, or to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. We intend to continue to protect our proprietary technologies, including through patents. However, there can be no assurance that the steps we take will be adequate to protect our proprietary rights, that our patent applications will lead to issued patents, that others will not develop or patent similar or superior products or technologies, or that our patents will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented by others. Furthermore, the laws of the countries in which our products are or may be developed, manufactured or sold may not protect our products and intellectual property rights to the same extent as laws in the U.S. Our failure to adequately protect our proprietary technologies could materially harm our business.

If we are unsuccessful in legal proceedings brought against us or any of our customers, we could be prevented from selling many of our products and/or be required to pay substantial damages. An unfavorable outcome or an additional award of damages, attorneys’ fees or an injunction could cause our revenue to decline significantly and could severely harm our business and operating results.
 
From time to time, we are a party to various legal proceedings. If we are not successful in litigation that could be brought against us or our customers, we could be ordered to pay monetary fines and/or damages, including expenses and damages against our customers. If we are found liable for willful patent infringement, damages could be significant. We and/or our customers could also be prevented from selling some or all of our products. Moreover, our customers and end users could decide not to use our products, and our products and our customers’ accounts payable to us could be seized. Finally, interim developments in these proceedings could increase the volatility in our stock price as the market assesses the impact of such developments on the likelihood that we will or will not ultimately prevail in these proceedings. Even if resolved favorably, such proceedings can be very expensive and time consuming, and may divert management’s attention from other business operations.

Risks Associated with Human Capital Management
 
The loss of any of our key personnel or the failure to attract or retain specialized technical and management personnel could affect our operations or impair our ability to grow our business.
 
Our future success depends upon our ability to attract and retain highly qualified technical and managerial personnel. We are particularly dependent on the continued services of our key executives, including Michael Hsing, our President and Chief Executive Officer, who founded our company and developed our proprietary process technology. In addition, personnel with highly skilled analog and mixed-signal design engineering expertise are scarce and competition for personnel with these skills is intense. There can be no assurance that we will be able to retain existing key employees or that we will be successful in attracting, integrating or retaining other highly qualified personnel with critical capabilities in the future. If we are unable to retain the services of existing key employees or are unsuccessful in attracting new highly qualified employees quickly enough to meet the demands of our business, including design cycles, our business could be harmed. Furthermore, if we lose key personnel, the search for a qualified replacement and the transition could interrupt our operations as the search could take us longer than expected and divert management resources, and the newly hired employee could take longer than expected to effectively integrate into the team.

If we fail to retain key employees in our sales, engineering, finance and legal functions or to make continued improvements to our internal systems, our business may suffer.
 
If we fail to continue to adequately staff our sales, engineering, financial and legal positions, maintain or upgrade our business systems and maintain internal controls that meet the demands of our business, we may not be able to effectively execute our business strategy. The operation of our business also depends upon our ability to retain these employees, as they hold a significant amount of institutional knowledge about us and our products and, if they were to terminate their employment, our sales, operations and internal control over financial reporting could be adversely affected.

Risks Associated with Ownership of Our Stock

The future trading price of our common stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to a variety of factors.
 
The trading price of our common stock has been, and is likely to continue to be, highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:

In addition, the stock market often experiences substantial volatility that may be unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock.

If securities or industry analysts downgrade our stock or do not continue to publish research or reports about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
 
The trading market for our common stock will depend, in part, on the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. If we fail to meet the expectations of these analysts, or one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our stock, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

Short positions in our stock could have a substantial impact on the trading price of our stock.
 
Historically, there have been “short” positions in our common stock. The anticipated downward pressure on our stock price due to actual or anticipated sales of our stock by some institutions or individuals who engage in short sales of our common stock could cause our stock price to decline. Such stock price decreases could encourage further short-sales that could place additional downward pressure on our stock price. This could lead to further increases in the existing short position in our common stock and cause decreases and volatility in our stock price. The volatility of our stock may cause the value of a stockholder’s investment to decline rapidly. Additionally, if our stock price declines, it may be more difficult for us to raise capital and may have other adverse effects on our business.

There can be no assurance that we will continue to declare cash dividends in any particular amounts or at all.
 
We have a dividend program approved by our Board of Directors, pursuant to which we intend to pay quarterly cash dividends on our common stock. The declaration of any future cash dividends is at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on, among other things, our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, business conditions, and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant, as well as a determination that cash dividends are in the best interests of our stockholders. Our dividend payments may change from time to time, and we cannot provide assurance that we will continue to declare dividends in any particular amounts or at all. A reduction in or elimination of our dividend payments could have a negative effect on the price of our common stock and on the return achieved by our stockholders. 

We cannot guarantee that our stock repurchase program will enhance long-term stockholder value.

In October 2023, our Board of Directors approved a stock repurchase program authorizing the repurchase of up to $640 million in the aggregate of our common stock. The repurchase program will expire on October 29, 2026. The amount, timing and execution of our stock repurchase program may fluctuate based on market conditions and our priorities for the use of our cash. We are not obligated to repurchase a specified number or dollar value of shares, on any particular timetable, or at all. The repurchase program may be suspended or terminated at any time and, even if fully implemented, may not enhance long-term stockholder value.

If we issue additional shares of stock in the future, it may have a dilutive effect on our stockholders.
 
We may issue additional shares of common stock in the future in order to raise additional capital to fund our global operations or in connection with an acquisition. Any issuance of our common stock may result in immediate dilution to our stockholders. In addition, the issuance of a significant amount of our common stock may require additional regulatory compliance, such as stockholder approval.

General Risk Factors

Our worldwide operations are subject to economic and geopolitical uncertainty, health risks, climate crises and other natural disasters, which could have a material adverse effect on our business operations.

 
In addition, we rely heavily on our internal information and communications systems and on systems or support services from third parties to manage our operations efficiently and effectively. Any of these are subject to failure due to a natural disaster or other disruptions. System-wide or local failures that affect our information processing could have material adverse effects on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, worldwide political conditions may create uncertainties that could adversely affect our business. The U.S. and other regions where we conduct business have been and may continue to be affected by conflicts that could, among other things, disrupt our supply chain, and impact customer demands and component prices. For example, the U.S. and other countries have imposed economic sanctions and export control measures on Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine. Although such measures have not significantly affected our business or operations, future developments could adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

None.

Cybersecurity Risk Management and Strategy

We recognize the imperative to diligently manage cybersecurity risks as defined in Item 106(a) of Regulation S-K. Such risks include operational risks of ransomware, phishing, fraud, extortion, harm to employees or customers and violation of data privacy or security laws.

We address cybersecurity risks in our business, technical operations, privacy and compliance issues through a diversified approach including threat-monitoring and assessments by third-parties, adopting IT security ISO standards/governance, proactive risk and compliance reviews. In order to defend against cybersecurity incidents, we carry out real-time cybersecurity threat monitoring of IT assets, perform penetration testing, audit applicable data policies and conduct directed employee training. We also monitor existing and emerging laws and regulations related to data protection and information security and implement appropriate changes. We maintain an insurance policy that provides certain coverage for losses we incur due to data breaches and other cybersecurity incidents.

We implemented incident response and breach management processes consisting of four stages: 1) monitor for and identify cybersecurity incidents, 2) carry out security incident analysis, 3) contain and recover, and 4) improve with post-incident analysis. Such incident responses are governed by the Cybersecurity Steering Committee.

We regularly engage external auditors to assess our internal cybersecurity programs and compliance and have been certified to conform to the requirements of ISO/IEC 27001.

There are no identified cybersecurity threats that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect our results of operations, or financial condition as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

See “Risk Factors” for more information on our cybersecurity risks.

Cybersecurity Governance

As an important part of our risk management processes, cybersecurity is a focus area for our Board and management. Our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee (the “NCG Committee”), which consists of independent members of the Board of Directors, is responsible for the oversight of risks from cybersecurity threats. The NCG Committee receives quarterly updates from the Cybersecurity Steering Committee. These updates include existing and emerging cybersecurity threats, risks, cybersecurity incident management and key information security initiatives. The NCG Committee also provides updates to our cybersecurity risk management and strategy programs to the Board of Directors on a quarterly basis.

Our cybersecurity risk management and strategy processes are overseen by the Cybersecurity Steering Committee, which includes individuals with an average of over 18 years of prior work experience in various roles involving IT governance and management, cybersecurity, auditing, and compliance. The Cybersecurity Steering Committee actively participates in the cybersecurity risk management and strategy processes as described above, and regularly reports to senior management and the NCG Committee. 

As of December 31, 2023, our owned and leased facilities in excess of 10,000 square feet consisted of:

We also lease other sales and marketing, and research and development offices in Asia, Europe and the United States. We believe that our existing facilities are suitable for our current operations.

We are a party to actions and proceedings in the ordinary course of business, including challenges to the enforceability or validity of our intellectual property, claims that our products infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, and employment matters. We may also be subject to litigation initiated by our stockholders. These proceedings often involve complex questions of fact and law and may require the expenditure of significant funds and the diversion of other resources to prosecute and defend. We defend ourselves vigorously against any such claims. As of December 31, 2023, there were no material pending legal proceedings to which we were a party. 

Not applicable.

PART II

Common Stock Information

Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “MPWR”.

Holders of Common Stock

As of February 22, 2024, there were 68 registered holders of record of our common stock. A substantially greater number of holders of our common stock are “street name” or beneficial holders, whose shares are held by banks, brokers and other financial institutions on their behalf.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

In October 2023, our Board of Directors approved a stock repurchase program authorizing us to repurchase up to $640.0 million in the aggregate of our common stock through October 29, 2026. Shares are retired upon repurchase. We repurchased approximately 7,000 shares of our common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $3.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2023.

Stock repurchases under the program may be made through open market repurchases, privately negotiated transactions or other structures in accordance with applicable state and federal securities laws, at times and in amounts as management deems appropriate. The timing and the number of any repurchased common stock will be determined by our management based on the evaluation of market conditions, legal requirements, stock price, and other factors. The repurchase program does not obligate us to purchase any particular number of shares and may be suspended, modified, or discontinued at any time without prior notice.

The following table represents details of our stock repurchase transactions during the fourth quarter of 2023:

Dividend Policy

We currently have a dividend program approved by our Board of Directors, pursuant to which we intend to pay quarterly cash dividends on our common stock. Based on our historical practice, stockholders of record as of the last business day of the quarter are entitled to receive the quarterly cash dividends when and if declared by our Board of Directors, which are payable to the stockholders in the following month. 

The declaration of any future cash dividends is at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on, among other things, our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, business conditions and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant, as well as a determination that cash dividends are in the best interests of the stockholders.

Stock Performance Graph

The following graph compares the cumulative five-year total return on our common stock relative to the cumulative total returns of the Nasdaq Composite Index and the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index. An investment of $100 is assumed to have been made in our common stock on December 31, 2018, and its performance relative to the performance of a similar investment in the two indexes is shown through December 31, 2023, assuming the reinvestment of dividends. Historic stock performance is not indicative of future performance.

The information contained in this stock performance graph section shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material,” or “filed” or incorporated by reference in future filings with the SEC, or subject to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference into a document filed under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes which appear under Item 8 in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This discussion and analysis contain, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Discussions of 2021 results and year-to-year comparisons between 2022 and 2021 that are omitted in this Annual Report on Form 10-K can be found in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on February 24, 2023.

Overview

We are a fabless global company that provides high-performance, semiconductor-based power electronics solutions. MPS’s mission is to reduce energy and material consumption to improve all aspects of quality of life and create a sustainable future. Founded in 1997 by our CEO Michael Hsing, MPS has three core strengths: deep system-level knowledge, strong semiconductor design expertise, and innovative proprietary technologies in the areas of semiconductor processes, system integration, and packaging. These combined advantages are designed to enable MPS to deliver reliable, compact, and monolithic solutions that are highly energy-efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible while providing a consistent return on investment to our stockholders.

We operate in the cyclical semiconductor industry. We are subject to industry downturns, but we have targeted product and market areas that we believe have the ability to offer above average industry performance over the long term. Historically, our revenue has generally been higher in the second half of the year than in the first half although various factors, such as market conditions and the timing of key product introductions, could impact this trend.

We work with third parties to manufacture and assemble our ICs. This has enabled us to limit our capital expenditures and fixed costs, while focusing our engineering and design resources on our core strengths.

Following the introduction of a product, our sales cycle generally takes a number of quarters after we receive an initial customer order for a new product to ramp up. Typical supply chain lead times for orders are generally 16 to 26 weeks. These factors, combined with the fact that our customers can cancel or reschedule orders without significant penalty to the customer, make the forecasting of our orders and revenue difficult.

We derive most of our revenue from sales through distribution arrangements and direct sales to customers in Asia, where our products are incorporated into end-user products. Our revenue from direct or indirect sales to customers in Asia was 87%, 86% and 90% for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. We derive a majority of our revenue from the sales of our DC to DC converter products which serve the storage and computing, enterprise data, automotive, industrial, communications and consumer markets. We believe our ability to achieve revenue growth will depend, in part, on our ability to develop new products, enter new market segments, gain market share, manage litigation risk, diversify our customer base and continue to secure manufacturing capacity.

Macroeconomic Conditions and Recent Regulations

During 2023, the semiconductor industry faced, and continues to face, a number of macro-economic challenges including reduced consumer spending, fluctuations in demand for semiconductors, rising inflation, increased interest rates, and fluctuations in currency rates. We remain cautious in light of continued challenging macroeconomic conditions and will continue to monitor the potential impact on our operations. The extent and duration of the direct and indirect impact of macroeconomic events on our business, results of operations and overall financial position remain uncertain and depend on future developments.

We closely monitor changes to export control laws, trade regulations and other trade requirements. As of December 31, 2023 and through the date we filed this Annual Report, no existing or newly introduced restrictions have had a material impact on our revenue and operations. We will continue to monitor any changes or developments to export control laws, trade regulations and other trade requirements, or interpretations thereof and are committed to complying with all applicable trade laws, regulations and other requirements.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”). The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amount of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We evaluate our estimates on an on-going basis, including those related to revenue recognition, stock-based compensation, inventories, income taxes and contingencies. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making the judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Estimates and judgments used in the preparation of our financial statements are, by their nature, uncertain and unpredictable, and depend upon, among other things, many factors outside of our control, including demand for our products, economic conditions and other current and future events, such as macroeconomic factors, including the impact of the 2023 banking crisis, global economic downturn, Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Middle East conflict. Actual results could differ from these estimates and assumptions, and any such differences may be material to our consolidated financial statements. See Note 1 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a summary of significant accounting policies and the effect on our financial statements. 

We believe the following critical accounting policies reflect our more significant judgments used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. 

Revenue Recognition 

We account for price adjustments and stock rotation rights as variable consideration that reduces the transaction price and recognize that reduction in the same period the associated revenue is recognized. Certain U.S.-based distributors have price adjustment rights when they sell our products to their end customers at a price that is lower than the distribution price invoiced by us. When we receive claims from the distributors that products have been sold to the end customers at the lower price, we issue the distributors credit memos for the price adjustments. We estimate the price adjustments using the expected value method based on an analysis of historical claims, at both the distributor and product level, as well as an assessment of any known trends of product sales mix. 

Certain distributors have limited stock rotation rights that permit the return of a small percentage of the previous six months’ purchases in accordance with the contract terms. We estimate the stock rotation returns using the expected value method based on an analysis of historical returns, and the current level of inventory in the distribution channel. 

Overall, our estimates of adjustments to contract price due to variable consideration have been materially consistent with actual results; however, these estimates are subject to management’s judgment and actual provisions could be different from our estimates and current provisions, resulting in future adjustments to our revenue and operating results.

Inventory Valuation

Inventories are stated at the lower of standard cost (which approximates actual cost determined on a first-in first-out basis) and estimated net realizable value. We write down excess and obsolete inventories based on their age and forecasted demand, which includes estimates taking into consideration our revenue forecast, outlook on market and economic conditions, technology changes, new product introductions and changes in strategic direction. If actual demand or market conditions are less favorable than those projected by management, additional inventory write-downs may be required. Conversely, if actual demand or market conditions are more favorable, inventories may be sold that were previously written down. 

Accounting for Income Taxes 

Our calculation of current and deferred tax assets and liabilities is based on certain estimates and judgments and involves dealing with uncertainties in the application of complex tax laws. Our estimates of current and deferred tax assets and liabilities may change based, in part, on added certainty, finality or uncertainty to an anticipated outcome, changes in accounting or tax laws in the U.S. or foreign jurisdictions where we operate, or changes in other facts or circumstances. In addition, we recognize liabilities for potential U.S. and foreign income tax for uncertain income tax positions taken on our tax returns if it has less than a 50% likelihood of being sustained. If we determine that payment of these amounts is unnecessary or if the recorded tax liability is less than our current assessment, we may be required to recognize an income tax benefit or additional income tax expense in our financial statements in the period such determination is made.  

As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, we had a valuation allowance of $35.0 million and $20.3 million, respectively, attributable to management’s determination that it is more likely than not that certain deferred tax assets will not be fully realized. In the event we determine that it is more likely than not that we would be able to realize the deferred tax assets in the future in excess of our net recorded amount, an adjustment to the valuation allowance for the deferred tax assets would increase income in the period such determination was made. Likewise, should it be determined that additional amounts of the net deferred tax assets will not be realized in the future, an adjustment to increase the deferred tax assets valuation allowance will be charged to income in the period such determination is made.

Contingencies

We record a contingent liability related to pending legal and regulatory proceedings when it is probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount is reasonably estimable. Based on the facts and circumstances in each matter, the determination of such liability requires significant judgment. In determining the amount of a contingent loss, we take into account advice received from experts for each specific matter regarding the status of legal proceedings, settlement negotiations, prior case history and other factors. Should the judgments and estimates made by management need to be adjusted as additional information becomes available, we may need to record additional contingent losses that could materially and adversely impact our results of operations. Alternatively, if the judgments and estimates made by management are adjusted, for example, if a particular contingent loss does not occur, the contingent loss recorded would be reversed which could result in a favorable impact on our results of operations.

Stock-Based Compensation

For equity awards with performance conditions, as well as awards containing both market and performance conditions, we recognize compensation expense when it becomes probable that the performance goals will be achieved. Management performs the probability assessment on a quarterly basis by reviewing external factors, such as macroeconomic conditions and the analog industry revenue forecasts, and internal factors, such as our business and operational objectives and revenue forecasts. Changes in the probability assessment of achievement of the performance conditions are accounted for in the period of change by recording a cumulative catch-up adjustment as if the new estimate had been applied since the service inception date. If the projected achievement was revised upward or if the actual results were higher than the projected achievement, additional compensation expense would be recorded for the awards due to the cumulative catch-up adjustment, which would have an adverse impact on our results of operations. Conversely, if the projected achievement was revised downward or if the actual results were lower than the projected achievement, previously accrued compensation expense would be reversed for the awards, which would have a favorable impact on our results of operations. As a result, our stock-based compensation expense is subject to volatility and may fluctuate significantly each quarter due to changes in our probability assessment of achievement of the performance conditions or actual results being different from projections made by management.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See Note 1 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements regarding a recently adopted accounting pronouncement and recent accounting pronouncements not yet adopted as of December 31, 2023.

Results of Operations

The following table summarizes our results of operations:

Revenue

The following table summarizes our revenue by end market:

Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $1,821.1 million, an increase of $27.0 million, or 1.5%, from $1,794.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase in revenue was primarily due to increases in the average selling prices resulting primarily from product mix, partially offset by lower shipment volume.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, revenue from the storage and computing market increased $38.5 million, or 8.5%, from the same period in 2022. This increase was primarily driven by increased sales of products for notebooks. Revenue from the enterprise data market increased $71.6 million, or 28.5%, from the same period in 2022. This increase was primarily due to higher sales of our power management solutions for AI applications. Revenue from the automotive market increased $94.6 million, or 31.5%, from the same period in 2022. This increase was primarily driven by increased sales of our highly integrated applications supporting advanced driver assistance systems, body electronics and the digital cockpit. Revenue from the industrial market decreased $46.5 million, or 21.2%, from the same period in 2022. This decrease primarily reflected lower sales in applications for industrial automation, security and power sources. Revenue from the communications market decreased $46.5 million, or 18.5%, from the same period in 2022. The decrease was a result of lower 4G and 5G infrastructure sales. Revenue from the consumer market decreased $84.8 million, or 26.6%, from the same period in 2022. This decrease was a result of broad market weakness across all segments.

Cost of Revenue and Gross Margin 

Cost of revenue primarily consists of costs incurred to manufacture, assemble and test our products, as well as warranty costs, inventory-related and other overhead costs, and stock-based compensation expenses. 

Cost of revenue was $800.0 million, or 43.9% of revenue, for the year ended December 31, 2023, and $745.6 million, or 41.6% of revenue, for the year ended December 31, 2022. The $54.4 million increase in cost of revenue was primarily driven by product mix, partially offset by lower inventory write-downs and warranty expenses.

Gross margin was 56.1% for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared with 58.4% for the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease in gross margin was mainly driven by product mix, partially offset by lower inventory write-downs and warranty expenses as a percentage of revenue.

Research and Development (“R&D”)

R&D expenses primarily consist of cash compensation and benefits, stock-based compensation and deferred compensation for design and product engineers, expenses related to new product development and supplies, and facility costs.   

R&D expenses were $263.6 million, or 14.5% of revenue, for the year ended December 31, 2023, and $240.2 million, or 13.4% of revenue, for the year ended December 31, 2022. The $23.5 million increase in R&D expenses was primarily due to a $20.9 million increase in new product development expenses, a $5.6 million increase in expenses related to changes in the value of deferred compensation plan liabilities and a $1.8 million increase in depreciation. This increase was partially offset by an $8.1 million decrease in cash compensation expenses, which was driven by decreased bonuses.

Selling, General and Administrative (“SG&A”)

SG&A expenses primarily include cash compensation and benefits, stock-based compensation and deferred compensation for sales, marketing and administrative personnel, sales commissions, travel expenses, facilities costs, third party service fees and litigation expenses. 

SG&A expenses were $275.7 million, or 15.1% of revenue, for the year ended December 31, 2023, and $281.6 million, or 15.6% of revenue, for the year ended December 31, 2022. The $5.9 million decrease in SG&A expenses was driven by a $12.4 million decrease in stock-based compensation expenses, an $8.8 million decrease in cash compensation expenses driven by decreased bonuses, and a $3.1 million decrease in litigation expenses. This decrease was partially offset by a $10.1 million increase in expenses related to changes in the value of the deferred compensation plan liabilities, and an $8.2 million increase consisting mostly of travel related expenses, third party service expenses and software licensing fees.

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other income, net, was $24.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared with other expense, net, of $1.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The increase in other income was primarily due to an increase of $18.6 million in net interest income as a result of higher interest rates, and an increase of $15.1 million in income related to changes in the value of deferred compensation plan investments, partially offset by an increase of $9.0 million in charitable contributions.

Income Tax Expense

The income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $78.5 million, or 15.5% of pre-tax income. The effective tax rate was lower than the federal statutory rate of 21% primarily due to foreign income from our subsidiaries in Bermuda and China being taxed at lower statutory tax rates and a return to provision true-up adjustment which primarily resulted from a calculation refinement of our capitalization of research and experimental expenditures under Section 174 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “IRC”). The decrease in the effective tax rate relative to the federal statutory rate was partially offset by the inclusion of the global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”) tax, the addition of a valuation allowance against China deferred tax assets arising from the indefinite extension of the R&D super deduction policy in China, and excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation.

The income tax expense for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $87.3 million, or 16.6% of pre-tax income. The effective tax rate was lower than the federal statutory rate of 21% primarily due to foreign income from our subsidiaries in Bermuda and China being taxed at lower statutory tax rates, and excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation. The decrease in the effective tax rate relative to the federal statutory rate was partially offset by the inclusion of the GILTI tax.

In December 2023, the Bermuda Corporate Income Tax Act of 2023 (the “Bermuda CIT Act”) was enacted and signed into law. The Bermuda CIT Act includes a 15% corporate income tax (“CIT”) applicable to Bermuda businesses that are multinational enterprise (“MNE”) groups with annual revenue of €750M or more beginning in 2025. The Bermuda CIT Act also includes an Economic Transition Adjustment (“ETA”) that requires MNE’s to revalue their assets and liabilities, excluding goodwill, at their fair value as of September 30, 2023. There is an election to opt out of the ETA. As the Bermuda CIT Act is not effective until January 1, 2025, we are evaluating whether or not to adopt this ETA. Based on information available, we have not recorded any changes to income tax expense related to the Bermuda CIT Act as of December 31, 2023.

In August 2022, the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”) were enacted and signed into law, which did not have a material impact on our income tax provisions, results of operations or financial condition for the years ended December 31, 2023 or 2022. We will continue to monitor any new developments related to the CHIPS Act and the IRA and evaluate their impact on our financial statements.

See Note 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2023, we had cash and cash equivalents of $527.8 million and short-term investments of $580.6 million, compared with cash and cash equivalents of $288.6 million and short-term investments of $449.3 million as of December 31, 2022. As of December 31, 2023, $369.9 million of cash and cash equivalents and $528.0 million of short-term investments were held by our international subsidiaries. For the year ended December 31, 2023, we repatriated $140 million of cash from our Bermuda subsidiary to the U.S. with minimal tax impact. The proceeds are primarily used to fund our ongoing business operations. We may repatriate additional cash from our Bermuda subsidiary to fund our expenditures in future periods. We anticipate that earnings from other foreign subsidiaries will continue to be indefinitely reinvested.

Summary of Cash Flows 

The following table summarizes our cash flow activities:

For the year ended December 31, 2023, the $391.5 million increase in cash provided by operating activities compared to the prior period was primarily due to decreased inventory purchases, decreased prepaid wafer expenses, increased accounts receivable collections and other changes in working capital.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, the $166.2 million increase in cash used in investing activities compared to the prior period was primarily due to an increase of $518.9 million in purchases of investments, partially offset by an increase of $340.4 million in sales of investments.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, the $54.9 million increase in cash used in financing activities compared to the prior period was primarily due to a $47.9 million increase in dividend and dividend equivalent payments.

Cash Requirements

Although consequences of economic uncertainty and macroeconomic conditions and other factors could adversely affect our liquidity and capital resources in the future, and cash requirements may fluctuate based on the timing and extent of many factors such as those discussed above, we believe that our balances of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $1,108.5 million as of December 31, 2023, along with cash generated by ongoing operations, will be sufficient to satisfy our liquidity requirements for the next 12 months and beyond.

Our material cash requirements include the following contractual and other obligations:

Purchase Obligations

Purchase obligations represent commitments to our suppliers and other parties requiring the purchases of goods or services. Our purchase obligations primarily consist of wafer and other inventory purchases, assembly and other manufacturing services, construction of manufacturing and R&D facilities, purchases of production and other equipment, and license arrangements.

In May 2022, we entered into a long-term supply agreement in order to secure manufacturing production capacity for silicon wafers over a four-year period. As of December 31, 2023, we had remaining prepayments under this agreement of $120.0 million reported in other long-term assets on the Consolidated Balance Sheet.

As of December 31, 2023, total estimated future unconditional purchase commitments to all suppliers and other parties, net of the $120.0 million prepayment, were $699.7 million, of which $367.8 million was classified as short-term.

Transition Tax Liability

The transition tax liability represents the one-time, mandatory deemed repatriation tax imposed on previously deferred foreign earnings under the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted in December 2017 (the “2017 Tax Act”). As permitted by the 2017 Tax Act, we have elected to pay the tax liability in installments on an interest-free basis through 2025. As of December 31, 2023, the remaining liability totaled $11.1 million, of which $4.9 million was short-term.

Operating Leases

Operating lease obligations represent the undiscounted remaining lease payments primarily for our leased facilities and equipment. As of December 31, 2023, these obligations totaled $7.9 million, of which $2.3 million was short-term.

Capital Return to Stockholders

In October 2023, our Board of Directors approved a new stock repurchase program authorizing us to repurchase up to $640.0 million in the aggregate of our common stock through October 29, 2026. Shares are retired upon repurchase. We repurchased approximately 7,000 shares of our common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $3.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2023, $636.3 million remained available for future repurchases under the program.

We currently have a dividend program approved by our Board of Directors, pursuant to which we intend to pay quarterly cash dividends on our common stock. Based on our historical practice, stockholders of record as of the last business day of the quarter are entitled to receive the quarterly cash dividends when and if declared by the Board of Directors, which are payable to the stockholders in the following month. As of December 31, 2023, accrued dividends totaled $47.9 million. The declaration of any future cash dividends is at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on, among other things, our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, business conditions and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant, as well as a determination that cash dividends are in the best interests of our stockholders.

In February 2024, our Board of Directors approved an increase in the quarterly cash dividend from $1.00 per share to $1.25 per share, which amount will be paid on April 15, 2024 to all stockholders of record as of the close of business on March 29, 2024.

Other Long-Term Obligations

Other long-term obligations primarily include payments for deferred compensation plan liabilities and accrued dividend equivalents. As of December 31, 2023, these obligations totaled $83.1 million.

Acquisition

On January 3, 2024, we acquired Axign, a Dutch company for $33.8 million in cash. See Note 17 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.

Interest Rate Risk

Our cash equivalents and short-term investments are subject to market risk, primarily interest rate and credit risk. Our investments are managed by outside professional managers within investment guidelines set by management and approved by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. Such guidelines include security type, credit quality and maturity and are intended to limit market risk by restricting our investments to high quality debt instruments with relatively short-term maturities. Based on our investment positions as of December 31, 2023, the impact of changes in interest rates on our interest income was immaterial.

Investments in debt securities are classified as available-for-sale, which are reported at fair value with the unrealized gains or losses being included in accumulated other comprehensive loss on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. When the fair value of an investment is below its amortized cost basis, unrealized losses due to changes in interest rates (i.e., non-credit loss factors) are not recognized in our results of operations unless we have the intent to sell the securities or it is more likely than not that we will be required to sell the securities before recovery of the entire amortized cost basis. Based on our investment positions as of December 31, 2023, a hypothetical 100 basis point increase in interest rates would result in a $4.5 million decline in the fair value of our investments. Any losses resulting from such interest rate changes would only be realized if we sold the investments prior to maturity.

We do not use derivative financial instruments in our investment portfolio.

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk

Our sales outside the United States are primarily transacted in U.S. dollars through our subsidiary in Bermuda. Accordingly, our sales are not generally impacted by foreign currency rate changes. The functional currency of our offshore operations is generally the local currency, primarily including the Renminbi, the New Taiwan Dollar and the Euro. We incur foreign currency exchange gains or losses related to certain transactions, including intercompany transactions between the U.S. and our foreign subsidiaries, that are denominated in a currency other than the functional currency. Gains or losses from the remeasurement and settlement of the balances are reported in other income (expense), net, on the Consolidated Statements of Operations. Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates have not had a material impact on our results of operations for the periods presented.

MONOLITHIC POWER SYSTEMS, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except par value)