Document

 
UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
þ
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended September 28, 2018
OR
o
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from __________to__________
Commission file number 001-05560
SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware
04-2302115
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
20 Sylvan Road, Woburn, Massachusetts
01801
(Address of principal executive offices)
(Zip Code)
 
 
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (781) 376-3000
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of Each Class
Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered
Common Stock, par value $0.25 per share
Nasdaq Global Select Market

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. þ Yes o No
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. o Yes þ No
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. þ Yes o No
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). þ Yes o No
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. þ
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company,” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large Accelerated filer þ 
Accelerated filer o 
Non-accelerated filer o   
 Smaller reporting company o 
 Emerging growth company o 
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). o Yes þ No
The aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant (based on the closing price of the registrant’s common stock as reported on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter March 30, 2018) was approximately $18.2 billion. The number of outstanding shares of the registrant’s common stock, par value $0.25 per share, as of November 7, 2018, was 177,531,995.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Part of Form 10-K
 
Documents from which portions are incorporated by reference
Part III
 
Portions of the Registrant’s Proxy Statement relating to the Registrant’s 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (to be filed) are incorporated by reference into Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.


SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS, INC.

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K
FOR THE YEAR ENDED SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT

This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and is subject to the “safe harbor” created by those sections. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact should be considered to be forward-looking statements. Words such as “anticipates”, “believes”, “continue”, “could”, “estimates”, “expects”, “intends”, “may”, “plans”, “potential”, “predicts”, “projects”, “seek”, “should”, “targets”, “will”, “would”, and similar expressions or variations or negatives of such words are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying forward-looking statements in this Annual Report. Additionally, forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

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our plans to develop and market new products, enhancements or technologies and the timing of these development and marketing plans;
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our estimates regarding our capital requirements and our needs for additional financing;
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our estimates of our expenses, future revenues and profitability;
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our estimates of the size of the markets for our products and services;
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our expectations related to the rate and degree of market acceptance of our products; and
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our estimates of the success of other competing technologies that may become available.
Although forward-looking statements in this Annual Report reflect the good faith judgment of our management, such statements can only be based on facts and factors currently known and understood by us. Consequently, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and actual financial results and outcomes may differ materially and adversely from the results and outcomes discussed in or anticipated by the forward-looking statements. A number of important factors could cause actual financial results to differ materially and adversely from those in the forward-looking statements. We urge you to consider the risks and uncertainties discussed elsewhere in this report and in the other documents filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in evaluating our forward-looking statements. We have no plans, and undertake no obligation, to revise or update our forward-looking statements to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this report. We caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made.

This Annual Report also contains estimates made by independent parties and by us relating to market size and growth and other industry data. These estimates involve a number of assumptions and limitations and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to such estimates. In addition, projections, assumptions and estimates of our future performance and the future performance of the industries in which we operate are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of important factors, including those described in “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”. These and other factors could cause results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in the estimates made by the independent parties and by us.

In this document, the words “we”, “our”, “ours”, “us”, “Skyworks”, and “the Company” refer only to Skyworks Solutions, Inc., and its consolidated subsidiaries and not any other person or entity. In addition, the following is a list of industry standards that may be referenced throughout the document:
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BiFET (Bipolar Field Effect Transistor): integrates indium gallium phosphide based heterojunction bipolar transistors with field effect transistors on the same gallium arsenide substrate
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DC (Direct Current): unidirectional flow of an electrical charge
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CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor): a technology of constructing integrated circuits
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GaAs (Gallium Arsenide): a compound of the elements gallium and arsenic that is used in the production of semiconductors
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HBT (Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor): a type of bipolar junction transistor which uses differing semiconductor materials for the emitter and base regions, creating a heterojunction
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IoT (Internet of Things): is the interconnection of uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices within the existing internet infrastructure
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LED (Light Emitting Diode): a two-lead semiconductor light source
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LTE (Long Term Evolution): 4th generation (“4G”) radio technologies designed to increase the capacity and speed of mobile telephone networks

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•
pHEMT (Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor): a type of field effect transistor incorporating a junction between two materials with different band gaps
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RF (Radio Frequency): electromagnetic wave frequencies that lie in the range extending from around 3 kHz to 300 GHz
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SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave): electrical input signal is converted to an acoustic wave for filtering and converted back into an electrical signal by interdigitated transducers on a piezoelectric substrate.
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SOI (Silicon On Insulator): technology refers to the use of layered silicon-insulator-silicon substrate in place of conventional silicon substrates in semiconductor manufacturing
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TC-SAW (Temperature Compensated Surface Acoustic Wave): SAW filters that have been designed to reduce shift in frequency over temperature.
Skyworks and the Skyworks symbol are trademarks or registered trademarks of Skyworks Solutions, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Third-party brands and names are for identification purposes only, and are the property of their respective owners.

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PART l

ITEM 1. BUSINESS.

Skyworks Solutions, Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries (“Skyworks” or the “Company”), is empowering the wireless networking revolution. The Company’s highly innovative analog semiconductors are connecting people, places, and things, spanning a number of new and previously unimagined applications within the aerospace, automotive, broadband, cellular infrastructure, connected home, industrial, medical, military, smartphone, tablet and wearable markets.

Our key customers include Amazon, Apple, Arris, Bose, Cisco, DJI, Ericsson, Foxconn, Garmin, Gemalto, General Electric, Google, Honeywell, HTC, Huawei, Itron, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Microsoft, Motorola, Netgear, Northrop Grumman, OPPO, Rockwell Collins, Samsung, Sierra Wireless, Sonos, Technicolor, VIVO, Xiaomi and ZTE. Our competitors include Analog Devices, Broadcom, Maxim Integrated Products, Murata Manufacturing, NXP Semiconductors, QUALCOMM and Qorvo.

We are a Delaware corporation that was formed in 1962. We changed our corporate name from Alpha Industries, Inc. to Skyworks Solutions, Inc. on June 25, 2002, following a business combination. We operate worldwide with engineering, manufacturing, sales and service facilities throughout Asia, Europe and North America. Our Internet address is www.skyworksinc.com. We make available free of charge on our website our Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports as soon as practicable after we electronically submit such material to the SEC. The information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference in this Annual Report. Our SEC filings are also available to the public at www.sec.gov.

In August 2018, we acquired Avnera Corporation (“Avnera”) and expanded our leadership in wireless connectivity by adding ultra-low power analog circuits to enable smart interfaces via acoustic signal processing, sensors and integrated software. We expect the acquisition of Avnera to enable us to capitalize on the rapid proliferation of audio functionality and its convergence with our advanced connectivity solutions. With our global sales channels, strong customer relationships and operational scale, we plan to leverage Avnera’s innovative product portfolio and systems expertise to increase our footprint in automotive, industrial, home automation, enterprise and high-end consumer markets.

In August 2016, we acquired the remaining 34 percent interest in a joint venture that was initially created in August 2014 with Panasonic Corporation, through its Automotive & Industrial Systems Company (“Panasonic”) for the design, manufacture and sale of Panasonic’s SAW and TC-SAW filter products. The joint venture was dissolved and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. With the overall demand for SAW and TC-SAW filters increasing and as technology and product architectures become more complex and the number of required bands grows, this investment assists us in securing a consistent supply of SAW and TC-SAW filters, in addition to allowing us to integrate filters into the design and production of our own products.

INDUSTRY BACKGROUND

Mobile connectivity is exploding on a global basis. With wireless platforms serving as virtual hubs for e-commerce, enterprise to the cloud, social media, gaming and entertainment, these devices are enabling a new, multi-trillion dollar economy. Popular apps including Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, Spotify, Uber, Waze and YouTube all require ultra-fast, highly secure, low-latency, always-on connectivity plus GPS location-based services. As a result, semiconductor solutions are becoming increasingly relevant, resolving the daunting analog and RF complexities that are challenging the capabilities of existing hardware and the supporting network infrastructure. Semiconductor devices continue becoming smaller, more powerful, and easier to integrate across multiple communication protocols, which in turn is enabling mobile and IoT ecosystems.

Skyworks facilitates ubiquitous data creation, delivery and storage as smartphones transmit and receive immense amounts of content supporting multimedia streaming, social networking, virtual reality and emerging frictionless commerce. To enable these applications, we deliver highly integrated solutions leveraging our amplification, filtering, tuning, power management, audio processing and packaging capabilities to continuously push the performance envelope.

Demand for connectivity across emerging markets around the world also continues to grow as the industry drives toward connecting the billions of people who remain unconnected. According to The GSMA Foundation, there will be 5.9 billion mobile subscribers by 2025, representing almost three-quarters of the world’s population. Subscriber growth over this period is forecast to be driven primarily by large markets in Asia, such as India, which alone is expected to add 310 million new unique subscribers by 2020.


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At the same time, connectivity is proliferating into an adjacent set of IoT markets. From smart homes to the smart grid and from industrial to wearables, the number of connected devices is rapidly proliferating. In fact, IHS Markit Ltd. projects the IoT market to grow from an installed base of 15 billion units in 2015 to more than 75 billion units by 2025. Skyworks is enabling these opportunities with highly customized system solutions supporting a broad set of wireless protocols including cellular LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, LoRa®, Thread and Zigbee®.

Looking ahead to 5G, we see a market that presents a massive growth opportunity for our industry and certainly for Skyworks. 5G data rates will approach ten to 100 times the fastest 4G speeds of today with near zero latency. To put this in perspective, downloading a full-length HD movie in 3G took one day; in 4G, the same file took minutes. On a 5G network, this content will be downloaded in mere seconds. By 2020 a single autonomous car is expected to consume 4,000 gigabytes of data per day in real-time diagnostics, positioning and vehicle-to-vehicle communications—that is equivalent to the daily data consumed by more than 2,000 smartphone users today.

We expect the key catalysts for Skyworks to be the insatiable demand for data and the profitable usage model for both Mobile and IoT applications, as each connection becomes more valuable and vital particularly as the world embraces 5G.

Solving Connectivity Challenges

The transition to ubiquitous connectivity creates challenges to existing architectures. RF solutions in ultra-thin, high performance consumer products must increase data rates, solve signal interference problems, and occupy minimal board space while at the same time increasing battery life. Meeting these design challenges requires broad competencies including signal transmission and conditioning, the ability to ensure seamless hand-offs between multiple standards, power management, voltage regulation, battery charging, filtering and tuning, among others. This complexity plays directly to our strengths. We have a strong heritage in analog systems design and have spent the last decade investing in key technologies and resources. We are at the forefront of advanced multi-chip module integration and offer unmatched technology breadth, providing deep expertise in CMOS, SOI, GaAs and filters, and maintain strategic partnerships with outside independent wafer fabrication facilities.

SKYWORKS’ STRATEGY

Our ambitious vision is to connect everyone and everything, all the time. To this end, key elements of our strategy include:

Industry-Leading Technology
As the industry migrates to more complex LTE and 5G architectures across a multitude of wireless broadband applications, we are uniquely positioned to help mobile device manufacturers handle growing levels of system complexity in the transmit and receive chain. The trend towards increasing front-end and analog design challenges in smartphones and other mobile devices plays directly into our core strengths and positions us to address these challenges. We believe that we offer the broadest portfolio of radio and analog solutions from the transceiver to the antenna as well as all required manufacturing process technologies. We also hold strong technology leadership positions in passive devices, advanced integration including proprietary shielding and 3-D die stacking as well as SAW and TC-SAW filters. Our product portfolio is reinforced by a library of approximately 3,000 worldwide patents and other intellectual property that we own and control. Together, our industry-leading technology enables us to deliver the highest levels of product performance and integration.

Customer Relationships
Given our scale and technology leadership, we are engaged with key original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”), smartphone providers and baseband reference design partners. Our customers value our supply chain strength, our innovative technology and our system engineering expertise, resulting in deep customer loyalty. We partner with our customers to support their long-term product road maps and are valued as a system solutions provider rather than just a point product vendor.

Diversification
We are diversifying our business in three areas: our addressed markets, our customer base and our product offerings. By leveraging core analog and mixed signal technologies, we are expanding our family of solutions to a set of increasingly diverse end markets and customers. We are steadily growing our business beyond just mobile devices (where we support all top-tier manufacturers, including the leading smartphone suppliers and key baseband vendors) into additional high-performance analog markets, including automotive, home and factory automation, infrastructure, medical, smart energy and wireless networking. In these markets we leverage our scale, intellectual property and worldwide distribution network, which spans over 2,500 customers and over 2,500 analog components.


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Delivering Operational Excellence
We vertically integrate our supply chain where we can differentiate with highly specialized internal manufacturing capabilities, or enter into alliances and strategic relationships for leading-edge technologies. This hybrid manufacturing model allows us to better balance our manufacturing capacity with the demand of the marketplace. Our internal capacity utilization remains high, resulting in an increase of our gross margin and the return on invested capital on a broader range of revenue.

Additionally, we continue to drive reductions in product design and manufacturing cycle times and further improve product yields. The combination of agile, flexible capacity and world-class module manufacturing and scale advantage allows us to achieve low product costs while integrating multiple technologies into highly sophisticated multi-chip modules.

Maintaining a Performance Driven Culture
We consider our people and corporate culture to be a major competitive advantage and a key driver of our overall strategy. We create key performance indicators that align employee efforts with corporate strategy and link responsibilities with performance measurement. Accountability is paramount and we compensate our employees through a pay-for-performance methodology. We strive to be an employer-of-choice among peer companies and have created a work environment in which turnover is below geographic and industry averages.

Generating Superior Operating Results and Shareholder Returns
We seek to generate financial returns that are comparable to a highly diversified analog semiconductor company. Given our product volume and overall utilization we strive to achieve a best-in-class return on investment and operating income to reward shareholders.

OUR PRODUCT PORTFOLIO
Our product portfolio consists of various solutions, including:
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Amplifiers: the modules that strengthen the signal so that it has sufficient energy to reach a base station
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Antenna Tuners: aperture and impedance tuning products that improve antenna performance across frequencies
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Attenuators: circuits that allow a known source of power to be reduced by a predetermined factor (usually expressed as decibels)
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Circulators/Isolators: ferrite-based components commonly found on the output of high-power amplifiers used to protect receivers in wireless transmission systems
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DC/DC Converters: an electronic circuit which converts a source of direct current from one voltage level to another
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Demodulators: a device or an RF block used in receivers to extract the information that has been modulated onto a carrier or from the carrier itself
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Detectors: devices used to measure and control RF power in wireless systems
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Diodes: semiconductor devices that pass current in one direction only
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Directional Couplers: transmission coupling devices for separately sampling the forward or backward wave in a transmission line
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Diversity Receive Modules: devices used to improve receiver sensitivity in high data rate applications
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Filters: devices for recovering and separating mixed and modulated data in RF stages
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Front-end Modules: two or more functions co-packaged to optimize the performance, cost and application suitability in products, including intermediate or radio frequency signal paths
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Hybrid: a type of directional coupler used in radio and telecommunications
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LED Drivers: devices which regulate the current through a light emitting diode or string of diodes for the purpose of creating light
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Low Noise Amplifiers: devices used to reduce system noise figure in the receive chain
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Mixers: devices that enable signals to be converted to a higher or lower frequency signal and thereby allowing the signals to be processed more effectively
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Modulators: devices that take a baseband input signal and output a radio frequency modulated signal
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Optocouplers/Optoisolators: semiconductor devices that allow signals to be transferred between circuits or systems while ensuring that the circuits or systems are electrically isolated from each other
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Phase Locked Loops: closed-loop feedback control system that maintains a generated signal in a fixed phase relationship to a reference signal
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Phase Shifters: designed for use in power amplifier distortion compensation circuits in base station applications
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Power Dividers/Combiners: utilized to equally split signals into in-phase signals as often found in balanced signal chains and local oscillator distribution networks
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Receivers: electronic devices that change a radio signal from a transmitter into useful information

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•
Switches: components that perform the change between the transmit and receive function, as well as the band function for cellular handsets
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Synthesizers: devices that provide ultra-fine frequency resolution, fast switching speed, and low phase-noise performance
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Technical Ceramics: polycrystalline oxide materials used for a wide variety of electrical, mechanical, thermal and magnetic applications
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Voltage Controlled Oscillators/Synthesizers: fully integrated, high performance signal source for high dynamic range transceivers
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Voltage Regulators: generate a fixed level which ideally remains constant over varying input voltage or load conditions

We believe we possess broad technology capabilities and one of the most complete wireless communications product portfolios in the industry.


MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION
Our products are sold globally through a direct sales force, electronic component distributors and independent sales representatives. Certain distributors have agreements with us which allow for certain sales returns, stock rotations and price protection on certain inventory if we lower the price of those products (see “Critical Accounting Estimates” in Part II, Item 7 - Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Note 2 to Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further detail on revenue reserves). As is customary in the semiconductor industry, our distributors may also market other products that compete with ours.

Our sales engagement begins at the earliest stages of the design of an existing or potential customer’s product. We collaborate technically with our customers and reference design partners at the inception of new programs. These relationships allow our team to facilitate customer-driven solutions, which leverage the unique strength of our intellectual property and product portfolio while providing high value and greatly reducing time-to-market.

We believe the technical and complex nature of our products and markets demand an extraordinary commitment to maintain close ongoing relationships with our customers. As such, we strive to expand the scope of our customer relationship to include design, engineering, manufacturing, procurement, logistics and project management. We also employ a collaborative approach in developing these relationships by combining the support of our design teams, applications engineers, manufacturing personnel, sales and marketing staff and senior management. Lastly, we leverage our customer relationships with cross-selling opportunities across product lines in order to maximize revenue.

We believe that maintaining frequent and interactive contact with our customers is paramount to our continuous efforts to provide world-class sales and service support. By listening and responding to feedback, we are able to mobilize resources to raise our level of customer satisfaction, improve our ability to anticipate future product needs, and enhance our understanding of key market dynamics. We are confident that diligently following this path positions us to participate in numerous opportunities for growth in the future.

CUSTOMER CONCENTRATION
A small number of OEMs historically has accounted for a significant portion of our net revenue. In the fiscal year ended September 28, 2018 (“fiscal 2018”), Apple Inc. (“Apple”), through sales to multiple distributors, contract manufacturers and direct sales for multiple applications including smartphones, tablets, desktop and notebook computers, watches, and other devices) constituted more than ten percent of our net revenue. In the fiscal year ended September 29, 2017 (“fiscal 2017”), three customers—Apple, Samsung Electronics (“Samsung”), and Huawei Technology Co., Ltd. (“Huawei”)—each constituted ten percent or more of our net revenue. In the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016 (“fiscal 2016”), two customers—Apple and Samsung—each constituted more than ten percent of our net revenue. For further information regarding customer concentrations see Note 17 to Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PROPRIETARY RIGHTS
We own or have a license to use numerous United States and foreign patents and patent applications related to our products and our manufacturing operations and processes. In addition, we own a number of trademarks and service marks applicable to certain of our products and services. We believe that our intellectual property, including patents, patent applications, trade secrets and trademarks, is of material importance to our business. We rely on patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property laws, as well as non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements and other methods, to protect our confidential and proprietary technologies, designs, devices, algorithms, processes and other intellectual property. Our efforts may not meaningfully protect our intellectual

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property, or others may independently develop substantially equivalent or superior proprietary technologies, designs, devices, algorithms, processes or other intellectual property. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and effective copyright, patent, trademark and trade secret protection may not be available in those jurisdictions. In addition to protecting our intellectual property, we strive to strengthen our intellectual property portfolio to enhance our ability to obtain cross-licenses of intellectual property from others, to obtain access to intellectual property we do not possess and to more favorably resolve potential intellectual property claims against us. Due to rapid technological changes in the industry, we believe establishing and maintaining a technological leadership position depends primarily on our ability to develop new, innovative products through the technical competence of our engineering personnel.

COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS
The competitive environment in the semiconductor industry is in a constant state of flux, with new products continually emerging and existing products approaching technological obsolescence. We compete on the basis of time-to-market, new product innovation, quality, performance, price, compliance with industry standards, strategic relationships with customers and baseband vendors, personnel and protection of our intellectual property. We participate in highly competitive markets against numerous competitors that may be able to adapt more quickly than we can to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements, or may be able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products than we can.

Erosion of average selling prices of established products is typical of the semiconductor industry. Consistent with trends in the industry, we anticipate that average selling prices for our established products will continue to decline over time. We mitigate the gross margin impact of declining average selling prices with efforts to increase unit volumes, reduce material costs and lower manufacturing costs of existing products and by introducing new and higher value-added products.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Our products and markets demand rapid technological advancements requiring a continuous effort to enhance existing products and develop new products and technologies. Accordingly, we maintain a high level of research and development activity. We invested $404.5 million, $355.2 million and $312.4 million in research and development during fiscal 2018, fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2016, respectively. The growth in research and development expenses were the result of increases in our internal product designs and product development activity for our target markets in each of these fiscal years. Our research and development expenses include new product development and innovations in integrated circuit design, investment in advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes, development of new packaging and test capabilities and research on next generation technologies and product opportunities. We maintain close collaborative relationships with many of our customers to help identify market demands and target our development efforts to meet those demands.

RAW MATERIALS
Raw materials for our products and manufacturing processes are generally available from several sources. It is our intent not to depend on a sole source of supply unless market or other conditions dictate otherwise. However, there are limited situations where we procure certain components and services for our products from single or limited sources, and we are currently dependent on a limited number of sole source suppliers. We purchase materials and services primarily pursuant to individual purchase orders. However, we have entered into certain supply agreements for the purchase of raw materials or other manufacturing related services that specify minimum prices and purchase quantity based on our anticipated future requirements. Such amounts are reviewed and included in our contractual obligations and commitments as required. Certain of our suppliers consign raw materials to us at our manufacturing facilities to which we take title as needed in our manufacturing process. We believe we have adequate sources for the supply of raw materials and components for our manufacturing needs with suppliers located around the world.

BACKLOG AND INVENTORY
Our sales are made pursuant to standard purchase orders and specified customer contracts for delivery of products, with such purchase orders officially acknowledged by us according to our own terms and conditions. We also maintain Skyworks-owned finished goods inventory at certain customer “hub” locations. We do not recognize revenue until these customers consume the Skyworks-owned inventory from these hub locations. Due to industry practice, which allows customers to cancel orders with limited advance notice to us prior to shipment, and with little or no penalty, we believe that backlog as of any particular date may not be a reliable indicator of our future revenue levels. The cancellation or deferral of product orders, the return of previously sold products, or overproduction due to a change in anticipated order volume could result in a reduction in revenue and us holding excess or obsolete inventory, which could result in inventory write-downs and, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS

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Federal, state and local requirements relating to the discharge of substances into the environment, the disposal of hazardous wastes, and other activities affecting the environment have had, and will continue to have, an impact on our manufacturing operations. Most of our customers have mandated that our products comply with various local, regional and national “green” initiatives initiated by such customers or the locations in which they operate. We believe that our current expenditures for environmental capital investment and remediation necessary to comply with present regulations governing environmental protection, and other expenditures for the resolution of environmental claims, will not have a material adverse effect on our liquidity and capital resources, competitive position or financial condition. Environmental regulations are subject to change in the future, and accordingly we are unable to assess the possible effect of compliance with future requirements.

SEASONALITY
Sales of our products are subject to seasonal fluctuation and periods of increased demand in end-user consumer applications, such as smartphones and tablet computing devices. The highest demand for our products generally occurs in our first fiscal quarter ending in December and the fourth fiscal quarter ending in September. The lowest demand for our handset products generally occurs in our second fiscal quarter ending in March and the third fiscal quarter ending in June.

EMPLOYEES
As of September 28, 2018, we employed approximately 9,400 employees world-wide. Approximately 1,150 of our employees in Mexico, 260 employees in Singapore, and 240 employees in Japan are covered by collective bargaining and other union agreements.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.

You should carefully consider the risks described below in addition to the other information contained in this report before making an investment decision with respect to any of our securities. Our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially impacted by any of these risks. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks not currently known to us or other factors not perceived by us to present significant risks to our business at this time may impair our business operations, financial condition or results of operations.

We operate in the highly cyclical semiconductor industry, which is subject to significant downturns.
We operate in the semiconductor industry, which is cyclical and subject to rapid declines in demand for end-user products in both the consumer and enterprise markets. Uncertain worldwide economic and political conditions, together with other factors such as the volatility of the financial markets, continue to make it difficult for our customers and for us to accurately forecast and plan future business activities. Uncertainty and economic weakness could result in a market contraction and, as a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations would likely be materially and adversely affected. Such periods of industry downturn are characterized by diminished product demand and revenue, manufacturing overcapacity, excess inventory levels, accelerated erosion of average selling prices, bad debt, inventory charges, restructuring charges, and asset impairment charges. Furthermore, downturns in the semiconductor industry may be prolonged, and any extended delay or failure of the market to recover from an economic downturn would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations beyond our current fiscal year.

Our operating results may be adversely affected by quarterly and annual fluctuations and market downturns.
Our revenues, earnings and other operating results may fluctuate significantly on a quarterly and annual basis. These fluctuations are typically the result of a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control.

These factors include, among others:
•
changes in end-user demand for the products manufactured and sold by our customers,
•
the effects of competitive pricing pressures, including decreases in average selling prices of our products,
•
production capacity levels and fluctuations in manufacturing yields,
•
availability and cost of materials and services from our suppliers,
•
the gain or loss of significant customers,
•
our ability to develop, introduce and market new products and technologies on a timely basis,
•
new product and technology introductions by competitors,
•
increasing industry consolidation among our competitors,
•
changes in the mix of products produced and sold,
•
market acceptance of our products and our customer’s products, and
•
intellectual property disputes, including those concerning payments associated with the licensing and/or sale of intellectual property, and related remedies (e.g., monetary damages, injunctions, or exclusion orders affecting our or our customers’ products).

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We employ certain methods, assumptions, estimates, and other subjective judgments in order to apply our accounting policies and to project future performance, projections which may be publicly disclosed from time to time. Changes to such methods, assumptions, estimates, and judgments, combined with other factors that are difficult to forecast, including the factors listed above, could materially and adversely affect our quarterly or annual operating results and could produce actual operating results that differ significantly from previous estimates and projections. If our operating results fail to meet the expectations of analysts or investors, it could materially and adversely affect the price of our common stock.

Our reliance on a small number of customers for a large portion of our sales could have a material adverse effect on the results of our operations.
Significant portions of our sales are concentrated among a limited number of customers. If we lost one or more of these major customers, or if one or more major customers significantly decreased its orders for our products, our business could be materially and adversely affected. In fiscal 2018, one customer accounted for greater than ten percent of our net revenue. In fiscal 2017, three customers each accounted for ten percent or greater of our net revenue. In fiscal 2016, two customers each accounted for ten percent or greater of our net revenue. For further discussion see Note 17 to Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our stock price has been volatile and may fluctuate in the future.
The trading price of our common stock has and may continue to fluctuate significantly. Such fluctuations may be influenced by many factors, including:    
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the volatility of the financial markets,
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uncertainty regarding the prospects of the domestic and foreign economies,
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instability in global credit and financial markets,
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our performance and prospects,
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the performance and prospects of our major customers and competitors,
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our revenue concentrations with relatively few customers,
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the depth and liquidity of the market for our common stock,
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investor perception of us and the industry in which we operate,
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changes in earnings estimates, price targets or buy/sell recommendations by analysts,
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domestic and international political conditions,
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domestic and international tax, fiscal, and trade policy decisions, and
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our ability to successfully identify, acquire and integrate acquisition candidates.

Public stock markets have experienced price and trading volume volatility. This volatility has affected, and could significantly and negatively affect, the market prices of securities of many technology companies, particularly the market price of our common stock. Such volatility could materially and adversely affect the market price of our common stock in future periods.

In addition, fluctuations in our stock price, volume of shares traded, and changes in our trading multiples may make our stock attractive to momentum, hedge or day-trading investors who often shift funds into and out of stocks rapidly, exacerbating price fluctuations in either direction. Our company has been, and in the future may be, the subject of commentary by financial news media. Such commentary may contribute to volatility in our stock price. If our operating results do not meet the expectations of securities analysts, the financial news media or investors, our stock price may decline, possibly substantially over a short period of time.

The wireless communications and analog semiconductor markets are characterized by significant competition which may cause pricing pressures, decreased gross margins and rapid loss of market share and may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The wireless communications semiconductor industry, in general, and the other analog markets in which we compete are very competitive. We compete with international and United States semiconductor manufacturers of all sizes in terms of resources and market share, including, but not limited to, Analog Devices, Broadcom, Maxim Integrated Products, Murata Manufacturing, NXP Semiconductors, QUALCOMM, and Qorvo.

We currently face significant competition in our markets and expect that intense price and product competition will continue. This competition has resulted in, and is expected to continue to result in, declining average selling prices for our products and increased challenges in maintaining or increasing revenue, gross margin and market share. Furthermore, additional competitors may enter our markets as a result of growth opportunities in communications electronics, the trend toward global expansion by foreign and domestic competitors and technological and public policy changes (including national or regional policies intended to develop and support localized competitors). We believe that the principal competitive factors for semiconductor suppliers in our markets include, among others:

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rapid time-to-market and product ramps,
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timely new product innovation,
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product quality, reliability and performance,
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product cost and selling price,
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features available in products,
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alignment with customer performance specifications,
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compliance with industry standards,
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strategic relationships with customers,
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access to, and the protection and enforcement of, intellectual property,
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ability to partner with or participate in reference designs of baseband vendors, and
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maintaining access to manufacturing capacity, raw materials, supplies and services at a competitive cost.

We might not be able to successfully address these factors. Many of our competitors benefit from:
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long presence in key markets,
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brand recognition,
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high levels of customer satisfaction,
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vertical integration,
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strong baseband partnership/participation in reference designs,
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a broad product portfolio allowing them to bundle product offerings,
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ownership or control of key technology or intellectual property, and
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strong financial, sales and marketing, manufacturing, distribution, technical or other resources.

As a result, certain competitors may be able to adapt more quickly than we can to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements or may be able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products than we can. As a result of industry consolidation, certain competitors may be able to further exploit such benefits to strengthen their competitive position.

Our baseband reference design partners may leverage their market position by integrating additional functionality into their product offerings that compete with our solutions. If such a product offering were competitive with our solution as to performance, price and quality, our business could be adversely impacted.

Current and potential competitors have established, or may in the future establish, financial or strategic relationships among themselves or with customers, resellers or other third parties. These relationships may affect customers’ purchasing decisions. Accordingly, it is possible that new competitors or alliances among competitors could emerge and rapidly acquire significant market share. We may not be able to compete successfully against current and potential competitors. Increased competition could result in pricing pressures, decreased gross margins and loss of revenue and market share and may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If Original Equipment Manufacturers, or OEMs, and Original Design Manufacturers, or ODMs, of communications electronics products do not design our products into their equipment, we will have difficulty selling those products. Moreover, a “design win” from a customer does not guarantee future sales to that customer.
Our products are not sold directly to the end-user, but are components or subsystems of other products. As a result, we rely on OEMs and ODMs of wireless communications electronics products to select our products from among alternative offerings to be designed into their equipment. Without these “design wins,” we would have difficulty selling our products. If a manufacturer designs another supplier’s product into one of its product platforms, it is more difficult for us to achieve future design wins with that platform because changing suppliers involves significant cost, time, effort and risk on the part of that manufacturer. Also, achieving a design win with a customer does not ensure that we will receive revenue from that customer. Even after a design win, the customer is not obligated to purchase our products and can choose at any time to reduce or cease use of our products, for example, if its own products are not commercially successful, or for any other reason. We may not continue to achieve design wins or to convert design wins into actual sales, and failure to do so could materially and adversely affect our operating results. Furthermore, as a result of our lengthy product development and sales cycle, we may incur significant research and development expenses, and selling, general and administrative expenses, without generating the anticipated revenue associated with these products.

We are subject to the risks of doing business internationally.
A substantial majority of our net revenue is derived from shipments to customers located outside the United States, primarily in countries located in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. In addition, we have suppliers located outside the United States, and third-party packaging, assembly and test facilities and foundries located in the Asia-Pacific region. Finally, we maintain wafer fabrication facilities in Kadoma, Japan, and Osaka, Japan, as well as packaging, assembly and test facilities in Mexicali, Mexico, and in Singapore.

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Our international sales and operations are subject to a number of risks inherent in selling and operating abroad. These include, but are not limited to, risks regarding:
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currency exchange rate fluctuations, including increases or decreases in commodities prices related to such fluctuations,
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local economic and political conditions, including, but not limited to, social, economic and political instability related to the uncertainty regarding the relationships between the United States and China, Russia, Mexico, North Korea, Middle Eastern countries, other foreign countries, and the international community at large, and related to the United Kingdom’s pending withdrawal from the European Union,
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labor market conditions and workers’ rights,
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disruptions of capital and trading markets,
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inability to collect accounts receivable,
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restrictive governmental actions (such as restrictions on transfer of funds and trade protection measures, including export duties, quotas, customs duties, border taxes, increased import or export controls and tariffs) that could negatively impact trade between, or increase the cost of operating in, the countries in which we do business,
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changes in, or non-compliance with, legal or regulatory import/export requirements, including restrictions on selling to certain customers or into certain jurisdictions,
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natural disasters, acts of terrorism, widespread illness and war,
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unauthorized transfers of our electronic information and breaches of our information systems, as well as the potential lack of adequate remedies in certain jurisdictions,
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difficulty in obtaining distribution and support,
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cultural differences in the conduct of business,
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direct or indirect government actions, subsidies or policies aimed at supporting local industry,
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the laws and policies of the United States and other countries affecting trade, foreign investment and loans, foreign travel, and import or export licensing requirements,
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withdrawal from, or renegotiation of, existing trade agreements by the United States (or other jurisdictions) potentially affecting Mexico, China, and other countries in which we do business,
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changes in current or future tax law or regulations or new interpretations thereof, by federal or state agencies or foreign governments (including changes in certain countries in Europe and elsewhere regarding corporate taxes, transfer pricing, and tax treaty provisions),
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changes in the effective tax rate as a result of our overall profitability and mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates,
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results of audits and examination of previously filed tax returns,
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the possibility of being exposed to legal proceedings and potential penalties in a foreign jurisdiction, and/or increased compliance expense, as a result of the numerous, and sometimes conflicting, legal regimes on matters as diverse as anti-corruption, anti-bribery, import/export controls, content requirements, trade restrictions, tariffs, taxation, sanctions, immigration, internal and disclosure control obligations, securities regulation, anti-competition, data privacy and protection (including, but not limited to, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation), employment and labor relations,
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limitations on our ability under local laws to protect or enforce our intellectual property rights in a particular foreign jurisdiction, and
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restrictions on our ability to repatriate foreign earnings and/or funds and the unfavorable tax impactions related to the same.

Additionally, we are subject to risks in certain global markets in which wireless operators provide subsidies on handset sales to their customers. Increases in cellular handset prices that negatively impact handset sales can result from changes in regulatory policies or other factors, which could impact the demand for our products. Limitations or changes in policy on phone subsidies in the United States, South Korea, Japan, China, and other countries may have additional negative impacts on our revenues.

Some of the countries in which we operate and seek to expand are in emerging markets where legal systems may be less developed or familiar to us. Other jurisdictions in which we conduct business may establish legal and regulatory regimes that differ materially from United States laws and regulations. Compliance with diverse legal requirements is costly and time-consuming and requires significant resources. Violations of one or more of these regulations in the conduct of our business could result in significant fines or monetary damages, criminal sanctions against us or our officers, prohibitions on doing business, unfavorable publicity and other reputation damage, restrictions on our ability to process information and allegations by our clients that we have not performed our contractual obligations.

We are particularly exposed to risks of doing business in China. We expect to continue to expand our business and operations in China. Our success in the Chinese markets may be adversely affected by China’s continuously evolving laws and regulations, including

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those relating to taxation, import and export tariffs, currency controls, anti-corruption, environmental regulations, indigenous innovation, and intellectual property rights and enforcement of those rights. Enforcement of existing laws or agreements may be inconsistent. In addition, changes in the political environment, governmental policies or United States-China relations could result in revisions to laws or regulations or their interpretation and enforcement, exposure of our proprietary intellectual property, increased taxation, restrictions on imports, import duties or currency revaluations, which could have an adverse effect on our business plans and operating results. In particular, the imposition by the United States of tariffs on goods imported from China or deemed to be of Chinese origin and other government actions that restrict our ability to sell our products to Chinese customers or to manufacture or source components in China, and countermeasures imposed by China in response, could directly or indirectly adversely impact our manufacturing costs and the sales of our products in China and elsewhere. Further, the evolving labor market and increasing labor unrest in China may have a negative impact on our customers, which would result in a negative impact on our business and results of operations. Finally, China’s stated policy of reducing its dependence on foreign semiconductor manufacturers and other technology companies could result in reduced demand for our products in China and other key markets as well as reduced supply of critical materials for our products.

Our manufacturing processes are extremely complex and specialized, and disruptions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our manufacturing operations are complex and subject to disruption, including due to causes beyond our control. The fabrication of integrated circuits is an extremely complex and precise process consisting of hundreds of separate steps. It requires production in a highly controlled, clean environment. Minor impurities, contamination of the clean room environment in which our products are produced, errors in any step of the fabrication process, defects in the masks used to print circuits on a wafer, defects in equipment or materials, human error, or a number of other factors can cause a substantial percentage of our products to be rejected or to malfunction. Because our operating results are highly dependent upon our ability to produce integrated circuits at acceptable manufacturing yields, these factors could have a material and adverse effect on our business.

Additionally, our operations may be affected by lengthy or recurring disruptions of operations at any of our production facilities, as well as disruptions at facilities operated by our subcontractors or customers. These disruptions may result from electrical power outages, fire, earthquake, flooding, war, acts of terrorism, health advisories or risks, or other natural or man-made disasters, as well as equipment maintenance, repairs and/or upgrades. Disruptions of our manufacturing operations, or those of our subcontractors and customers, could cause significant delays in shipments until we are able to shift production of the impacted products from an affected facility or subcontractor to another facility or subcontractor, or until the affected customer resumes operations and accepts shipments from us. In the event of such delays, the required alternative capacity, particularly wafer production capacity, may not be available on a timely basis or at all. Even if alternative production capacity is available, we may not be able to obtain it on favorable terms, which could result in higher costs and/or a loss of customers and revenue. Likewise, lower-than-expected demand could lead to underutilized manufacturing facilities, which could negatively impact our financial results.

Due to the highly specialized nature of the gallium arsenide integrated circuit manufacturing process, in the event of a disruption in production at our Newbury Park, California, or Woburn, Massachusetts, semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities as well as our assembly and test facility in Mexicali, Mexico, for any reason, alternative gallium arsenide production capacity would not be immediately available from third-party sources. These disruptions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our SAW and TC-SAW filter manufacturing process is also specialized in nature and in the event of a disruption in production at our filter wafer fabrication facilities in Kadoma, Japan and Osaka, Japan or in our filter assembly and test facility in Singapore, for any reason, alternative filter production capacity would not be immediately available from third-party sources. These disruptions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may not be able to maintain and improve manufacturing yields that contribute positively to our gross margin and profitability.
Minor deviations or disturbances in the manufacturing process can cause substantial manufacturing yield loss, and in some cases, cause production to be suspended and impact our ability to meet customer demand on a timely basis. Manufacturing yields for new products initially tend to be lower as we complete product development and commence volume manufacturing, and typically increase as we bring the product to full production. Our forward product pricing includes this assumption of improving manufacturing yields and, as a result, material variances between projected and actual manufacturing yields will have a direct effect on our gross margin and profitability. The difficulty of accurately forecasting manufacturing yields and maintaining cost competitiveness through improving manufacturing yields will continue to be magnified by the increasing process complexity of manufacturing semiconductor products. Our manufacturing operations may also face pressures arising from the compression of product life cycles, which may require us to manufacture new products faster and for shorter periods while maintaining acceptable manufacturing yields and quality without, in many cases, reaching the longer-term, high-volume manufacturing conducive to higher manufacturing yields and declining costs.

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Remaining competitive in the semiconductor industry depends upon our ability to develop new products, reduce costs in a timely manner, transition to smaller geometry process technologies, and achieve higher levels of design integration.
The semiconductor industry generally and, in particular, many of the markets into which we sell our products, are highly cyclical and characterized by constant and rapid technological change, continuous product evolution, price erosion, evolving technical standards, short product life cycles (including annual product refreshes in some cases), increasing demand for higher levels of integration, increased miniaturization, reduced power consumption and wide fluctuations in product supply and demand. Our operating results depend largely on our ability to continue to cost-effectively introduce new and enhanced products on a timely basis. The successful development and commercialization of semiconductor devices and modules is highly complex and depends on numerous factors, including the ability:
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to anticipate customer and market requirements and changes in technology and industry standards,
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to obtain sufficient manufacturing capacity to meet customer demand,
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to define new products that meet customer and market requirements,
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to complete development of new products and bring products to market on a timely basis,
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to differentiate our products from offerings of our competitors,
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to achieve overall market acceptance of our products,
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to lengthen the time that a particular product is in demand, and
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to obtain adequate intellectual property protection for our new products.

Our ability to manufacture current products, and to develop new products, depends on, among other factors, the viability and flexibility of our own internal information technology systems.

We continually evaluate expenditures for planned product development and choose among alternatives based on our understanding of customer technical requirements, new industry standards and expectations of future market growth. We may not be able to develop and introduce new or enhanced wireless communications and analog semiconductor products in a timely and cost-effective manner, and our products may not satisfy customer requirements or achieve market acceptance or we may not be able to anticipate new industry standards and technological changes. We also may not be able to respond successfully to new product announcements and introductions by competitors or to changes in the design or specifications of complementary products of third parties with which our products interface. If we fail to rapidly and cost-effectively introduce new and enhanced products in sufficient quantities that meet our customers’ requirements, our business and results of operations would be materially and adversely harmed.

In addition, prices of many of our products decline, sometimes significantly, over time. Our products may become obsolete earlier than planned or may not have life cycles long enough to allow us to recoup the cost of our investment in designing such products. Accordingly, we believe that to remain competitive, we must continue to reduce the cost of producing and delivering existing products at the same time that we develop and introduce new or enhanced products. We may not be able to continue to reduce the cost of producing and delivering our products and thereby remain competitive.

In order to remain competitive, we expect to continue to transition our products to increasingly smaller geometries. This transition requires us to modify the manufacturing processes for our products, design new products to more stringent standards, and to redesign some existing products. In the past, we have experienced some difficulties migrating to smaller geometry process technologies or new manufacturing processes, which resulted in sub-optimal manufacturing yields, delays in product deliveries and increased expenses. We may face similar difficulties, delays and expenses as we continue to transition our products to smaller geometry processes in the future. In some instances, we depend on our relationships with our third-party foundries to transition to smaller geometry processes successfully. Our foundries may not be able to effectively manage the transition or we may not be able to maintain our relationships with certain foundries. If our foundries or we experience significant delays in this transition or fail to efficiently implement this transition, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. As smaller geometry processes become more prevalent, we expect to continue to integrate greater levels of functionality, as well as customer and third-party intellectual property, into our products. However, we may not be able to achieve higher levels of design integration or deliver new integrated products on a timely basis, or at all.

We may be subject to warranty claims, product recalls, and liability claims.
Although we invest significant resources in the testing of our products, we may discover from time to time defects in our products after they have been shipped, and we may be required to incur additional development and remediation costs, or cash payments to settle claims pursuant to warranty and indemnification provisions in our customer contracts and purchase orders. The potential liabilities associated with these, and similar, provisions in certain of our customer contracts are in some cases capped at significant amounts, and in other cases are uncapped. Depending on the nature of the product defects, we may not be able to recoup our losses from our third-party suppliers. These problems may divert our technical and other resources from other product development efforts and could result in claims against us by our customers or third parties, including liability for costs associated with product recalls,

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indemnification claims, or other obligations under customer contracts. If any of our products contain defects, or have reliability, quality or compatibility problems, our reputation may be damaged and we could be subject to liability claims, which could make it more difficult for us to sell our products to existing and prospective customers and could adversely affect our operating results. Furthermore, such losses would not be covered under our existing corporate insurance programs.

We are dependent upon third parties for the manufacture, assembly and testing of our products.
We rely on foundries to provide silicon-based products and to supplement our gallium arsenide wafer manufacturing capacity. There are significant risks associated with reliance on third-party foundries, including:
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the lack of wafer supply, potential wafer shortages and higher wafer prices,
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limited ability to respond to unanticipated changes in customer demand,
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limited control over delivery schedules, manufacturing yields, production costs and quality assurance, and
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the inaccessibility of, or delays in obtaining access to, key process technologies and IP blocks.

Although we have long-term supply arrangements to obtain additional external manufacturing capacity, the third-party foundries we use for our standby manufacturing capacity may allocate their limited capacity to the production requirements of other customers and we have no contractual right to prevent them from making such allocations. If we choose to use a new foundry to replace either existing or backup capacity, it will typically take an extended period of time for us to complete our qualification process for that foundry, which will result in a significant passage of time before we can begin shipping products from that new foundry.

Further, the third-party foundries may experience financial difficulties, be unable to deliver products to us in a timely manner or suffer damage or destruction to their facilities, particularly since some of them are located in areas prone to natural disasters. If any disruption of manufacturing capacity occurs, we may not have alternative manufacturing sources immediately available. We may therefore experience difficulties or delays in securing an adequate supply of our products, which could impair our ability to meet our customers’ needs and have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

Although we own and operate assembly and test facilities, we still depend on subcontractors to package, assemble and test certain of our products at cost-competitive rates. We do not have long-term agreements with any of our assembly or test subcontractors and typically procure services from these suppliers on a per order basis. If any of these subcontractors experiences capacity constraints or financial difficulties, suffers any damage to its facilities, experiences power outages or any other disruption of assembly or testing capacity, we may not be able to obtain alternative assembly and testing services in a timely manner and/or at cost-competitive rates. Due to the amount of time that it usually takes us to qualify assemblers and testers, we could experience significant delays in product shipments if we are required to find alternative assemblers or testers for our components. Any problems that we may encounter with the delivery, quality or cost of our products could damage our customer relationships and materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

If we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel to contribute to the design, development, manufacture and sale of our products, we may not be able to effectively operate our business.
As the source of our technological and product innovations, our key technical personnel represent a significant asset. Our success depends on our ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel, including executive officers and other key management and technical personnel. The competition for management and technical personnel is intense in the semiconductor industry, and therefore we may not be able to continue to attract and retain the qualified management and other personnel necessary for the design, development, manufacture and sale of our products. We may have particular difficulty attracting and retaining key personnel during periods of poor operating performance and/or declines in the price of our common stock, given among other factors, the use of equity-based compensation by us and our competitors. Further, existing immigration laws, together with any changes to immigration policies or regulations in the United States, could make it more difficult for us to recruit and retain highly skilled foreign national graduates of universities in the United States, limiting the pool of available talent. Travel bans, difficulties obtaining visas and other restrictions on international travel could make it more difficult to effectively manage our international operations, collaborate as a global company or service our international customer base. We continue to anticipate increases in human resource needs, particularly in engineering. The loss of the services of one or more of our key employees or our inability to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel, could have a material adverse effect on our ability to operate our business.

Our business would be adversely affected by the departure of existing members of our senior management team or if our senior management team is unable to effectively implement our strategy.
Our success depends, in large part, on the continued contributions of our senior management team, none of whom is bound by a written employment contract to remain with us for a specified period. The loss of any of our senior management could harm our ability to implement our business strategy and respond to the rapidly changing market conditions in which we operate.

Uncertainties involving the ordering and shipment of, and payment for, our products, could adversely affect our business.

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Our sales are made pursuant to standard purchase orders and/or specified customer contracts for delivery of products and not under long-term supply arrangements with our customers. Our customers may cancel orders before shipment. Additionally, we sell a portion of our products through third-party distributors, some of whom have rights to return products if the product is defective. We may purchase and manufacture inventory based on estimates of customer demand for our products, which is difficult to predict. This difficulty may be compounded when we sell to OEMs indirectly through distributors or contract manufacturers, or both, as our forecasts of demand will then be based on estimates provided by multiple parties. In addition, our customers and/or distributors may change their inventory practices on short notice for any reason. The cancellation or deferral of product orders, the return of previously sold products, or overproduction due to a change in anticipated order volumes could result in us holding excess or obsolete inventory, which could result in inventory write-downs and, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. Some of our customers have implemented vendor-managed inventory, consignment or similar inventory programs which may result in an increase in the time between manufacture of, and payment for, our products.

In addition, if a customer or distributor encounters financial difficulties of its own as a result of a change in demand or for any other reason, the customer’s or distributor’s ability to make timely payments against our accounts receivable could be impaired.

We are dependent upon third parties for the supply of raw materials and components.
Our manufacturing operations depend on obtaining adequate supplies of raw materials and components used in our manufacturing processes at a competitive cost. Although we maintain relationships with suppliers located around the world with the objective of ensuring that we have adequate sources for the supply of raw materials and components for our manufacturing needs, increases in demand from the semiconductor industry for such raw materials and components, as well as increased demand for commodities in general, can result in tighter supplies and higher costs. Our suppliers may not be able to meet our delivery schedules, we may lose a significant or sole supplier, a supplier may not be able to meet performance and quality specifications and we may not be able to purchase such supplies or material at a competitive cost. If a supplier were unable to meet our delivery schedules or if we lost a supplier or a supplier were unable to meet performance or quality specifications, our ability to satisfy customer obligations would be materially and adversely affected. In addition, we review our relationships with suppliers of raw materials and components for our manufacturing needs on an ongoing basis. In connection with our ongoing review, we may modify or terminate our relationship with one or more suppliers. We may also enter into sole supplier arrangements to meet certain of our raw material or component needs. While we do not typically rely on a single source of supply for our raw materials, we are currently dependent on a limited number of sole-source suppliers. If we were to lose these sole sources of supply, for any reason, a material adverse effect on our business could result until an alternate source is obtained. To the extent we enter into additional sole supplier arrangements for any of our raw materials or components, the risks associated with our supply arrangements would be exacerbated.

Our business and operations could suffer in the event of information technology security breaches.
Security breaches, phishing, spoofing, attempts by others to gain unauthorized access to our information technology systems, and other cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated and are sometimes successful. These incidents, which might be related to industrial or other espionage, include covertly introducing malware to our computers and networks (or to an electronic system operated by a third party for our benefit) and impersonating authorized users, among others. We seek to detect and investigate all security incidents and to prevent their recurrence, but in some cases, we might be unaware of an incident or its magnitude and effects. The theft, unauthorized use, transfer, or publication of our intellectual property, our confidential business information, or the personal data of our employees by third parties or by our employees could harm our competitive position, reduce the value of our investment in research and development and other strategic initiatives or otherwise adversely affect our business. To the extent that any security breach or other cybersecurity incident results in inappropriate disclosure of our customers’, suppliers’, licensees’ or employees’ confidential information, we may incur liability as a result. We expect to continue devoting significant resources to the security of our information technology systems and the training of our employees. However, we cannot ensure that our efforts will be sufficient to prevent or mitigate the damage caused by a cyberattack, cybersecurity incident or network disruption.

If we are not successful in protecting our intellectual property rights, our ability to compete successfully may be materially and adversely affected.
We rely on patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property laws, as well as nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements and other methods, to protect our proprietary technologies, inventions, information, data, devices, algorithms, processes and other intellectual property. In addition, we often incorporate the intellectual property of our customers, suppliers or other third parties into our designs, and we have obligations with respect to the non-use and non-disclosure of such third-party intellectual property. In the future, it may be necessary to engage in litigation or like activities to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets or to determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights of others, including our customers. This could require us to expend significant resources and to divert the efforts and attention of our management and technical personnel from our business operations. Regardless of our actions:

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the steps we take to prevent misappropriation, infringement, dilution or other violation of our intellectual property or the intellectual property of our customers, suppliers or other third parties may not be successful, and
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any of our existing or future patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or other intellectual property rights may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented.

Despite these precautions, it may be possible for a third party to copy or otherwise obtain and use our technology without authorization, develop similar technology independently or design around or invalidate our patents. If any of our intellectual property protection mechanisms fails to protect our technology, it would make it easier for our competitors to offer similar competitive products, potentially resulting in loss of market share and price erosion. Even if we receive a patent, the patent claims may not be broad enough to adequately cover and protect our technology. Furthermore, even if we receive patent protection in the United States, we may not seek, or may not be granted, patent protection in other relevant foreign countries. In addition, effective patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret protection and enforcement may be unavailable or limited for certain technologies and in certain foreign countries.

We attempt to control access to, and distribution of, our proprietary information through operational, technological and legal safeguards. Despite our efforts, parties, including former or current employees, may attempt to copy, disclose, transfer or obtain access to our information without our authorization. Furthermore, attempts by computer hackers to gain unauthorized access to our systems or information could result in our confidential and/or proprietary information being compromised or our operations being interrupted. While we attempt to prevent such unauthorized access or misappropriation we may be unable to anticipate the methods used, or be unable to prevent the release of our confidential and/or proprietary information.

We may be subject to claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, or demands that we license third-party technology, which could result in significant expense and prevent us from using our technology.
The semiconductor industry is characterized by vigorous protection and pursuit of intellectual property rights. From time to time, third parties have asserted and may in the future assert patent, copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights against technologies that are important to our business and have demanded and may in the future demand that we license their technology or refrain from using it.

Any litigation to determine the validity of any allegations that our products infringe or may infringe intellectual property rights of another party, including indemnification claims arising from our contractual obligations of our customers, regardless of their merit or resolution, could be costly and divert the efforts and attention of our management and technical personnel. Regardless of the merits of any specific claim, we may not prevail in litigation because of the complex technical issues and inherent uncertainties in intellectual property litigation. If litigation were to result in an adverse ruling, we could be required to:
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pay substantial damages,
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cease the manufacture, import, use, sale or offer for sale of infringing products or processes,
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discontinue the use of infringing technology,
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expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology, and
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license technology from the third party claiming infringement, which license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms.

Our operating results or financial condition may be materially adversely affected if we, or one of our customers, were required to take any one or more of the foregoing actions.

In addition, if another supplier to one of our customers, or a customer of ours itself, were found to be infringing upon the intellectual property rights of a third party, the supplier or customer could be ordered to cease the manufacture, import, use, sale or offer for sale of its infringing product(s) or process(es), either of which could result, indirectly, in a decrease in demand from our customers for our products. If such a decrease in demand for our products were to occur, it could have an adverse impact on our operating results.

Many of our products currently incorporate technology licensed or acquired from third parties and we expect our products in the future to also require technology from third parties. If the licenses to such technology that we currently hold become unavailable or the terms on which they are available become commercially unreasonable, or if we are unable to acquire or license necessary technology for our products in the future, our business could be adversely affected.
We sell products in markets that are characterized by rapid technological changes, evolving industry standards, frequent new product introductions, short product life cycles and increasing levels of integration. Our ability to keep pace with this market depends on our ability to obtain technology from third parties on commercially reasonable terms to allow our products to remain competitive. If licenses to such technology are not available on commercially reasonable terms and conditions or at all, and we cannot otherwise acquire or integrate such technology, our products or our customers’ products could become unmarketable or obsolete, and we could lose market share. In such instances, we could also incur substantial unanticipated costs or scheduling delays to develop substitute technology to deliver competitive products.

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There can be no assurance that we will continue to declare cash dividends or repurchase our stock.
We intend to pay quarterly cash dividends subject to capital availability and periodic determinations by our Board of Directors that cash dividends are in the best interest of our stockholders. In addition, from time to time the Board of Directors approves stock repurchase programs, pursuant to which we are authorized to repurchase shares of common stock on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions.

Future cash dividends and the amount and timing of our stock repurchases may be affected by, among other factors:
•
our views on potential future capital requirements, including those related to acquisitions as well as research and development,
•
our ability to generate sufficient earnings and cash flows,
•
use of cash to consummate various acquisition transactions,
•
capital requirements related to cash dividends and stock repurchase programs,
•
changes in federal and state income tax laws or corporate laws, and
•
changes to our business model.

Our cash dividend payments may change from time to time, and we cannot provide assurance that we will increase our cash dividend payment or declare cash dividends in any particular amounts or at all. A reduction in our cash dividend payments or a reduction in the level of our stock repurchases could have a negative effect on our stock price.

Changes in tax laws and regulations worldwide could have an adverse impact on our operating results.
We are subject to taxation in many different countries and localities worldwide. To the extent the tax laws and regulations in these various countries and localities could change, including the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project being conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, our tax liability in general could increase. For example, our subsidiary in Singapore receives a tax holiday that is expected to be effective through September 2020. Changes in the status of this tax holiday could have a negative effect on our net income in future years.

The new tax legislation (the “Tax Reform Act”), enacted by the United States in December 2017, included several changes to U.S. tax laws that will have a significant impact on our operations, including a reduction in the U.S. corporate tax rate, base-erosion prevention measures on earnings of our non-U.S. subsidiaries, and a one-time mandatory deemed repatriation tax on earnings of certain foreign jurisdictions. Because these changes require a number of complex calculations that previously were not required, our actual tax liability may differ materially from our income tax provisions, estimates, and accruals. Changes in our interpretations and assumptions, as well as additional guidance issued, could increase income tax liabilities and/or reduce certain tax benefits.

We face a risk that capital needed for our business will not be available when we need it.
To the extent that our existing cash and cash equivalents and cash generated from operations are insufficient to fund our future activities, we may need to raise additional funds through public or private equity or debt financing. If unfavorable capital market conditions exist in the event we were to seek additional financing, we may not be able to raise sufficient capital on favorable terms and on a timely basis, if at all. Failure to obtain capital when required by our business circumstances would have a material adverse effect on us.

In addition, any strategic investments and acquisitions that we may make to help us grow our business may require additional capital resources. The capital required to fund these investments and acquisitions may not be available in the future.

To be successful we may need to make certain investments and acquisitions, integrate companies we acquire, and/or enter into strategic alliances.
Although we have invested in the past, and intend to continue to invest, significant resources in internal research and development activities, the complexity and rapidity of technological changes and the significant expense of internal research and development make it impractical for us to pursue development of all technological solutions on our own. On an ongoing basis, we review investment, alliance and acquisition prospects that would complement our product offerings, augment our market coverage or enhance our technological capabilities. We may not be able to identify and consummate suitable investment, alliance or acquisition transactions in the future. Moreover, if such transactions are consummated, they could result in:
•
issuances of equity securities dilutive to our stockholders,
•
large, transactions, restructuring or other impairment write-offs,
•
the incurrence of substantial debt and assumption of unknown liabilities,
•
the potential loss of key employees from the acquired company,
•
recognition of additional liabilities known or unknown at the time of acquisition,

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•
amortization expenses related to intangible assets, and
•
the diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns.

Moreover, integrating acquired organizations and their products and services may be difficult, expensive, time-consuming and a strain on our resources and our relationship with employees and customers and ultimately may not be successful. Additionally, in periods following an acquisition, we will be required to evaluate goodwill and acquisition-related intangible assets for impairment. If such assets are found to be impaired, they will be written down to estimated fair value, with a charge against earnings.

Increasingly stringent environmental laws, rules and regulations may require us to redesign our existing products and processes, and could adversely affect our ability to cost-effectively produce our products.
The semiconductor industry has been subject to increasing environmental regulations, particularly those environmental requirements that control and restrict the use, transportation, emission, discharge, storage and disposal of certain chemicals, elements and materials used or produced in the semiconductor manufacturing process. Heightened public focus on climate change, sustainability and environmental issues has also led to increased government regulation and caused certain of our customers to impose environmental standards on us as a part of doing business with them. We expect that the trend of increasing environmental awareness will continue for the foreseeable future which will result in higher costs of operations. In addition, our commitment to environmentally sustainable practices, while undertaken in a manner designed to be as efficient and cost effective as possible, may result in increases in costs of operations for us relative to our competitors until technologies and methods are developed that will help reduce those costs or such practices become industry best practice.

A number of domestic and foreign jurisdictions restrict or may seek to restrict the use of various substances, a number of which have been or are currently used in our products or processes. For example, the European Union Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (“RoHS”) Directive requires that certain substances, which may be found in certain products we have manufactured in the past, be removed from all electronics components. Eliminating such substances from our manufacturing processes requires the expenditure of additional research and development funds to seek alternative substances for our products, as well as increased testing by third parties to ensure the quality of our products and compliance with the RoHS Directive. While we have implemented a compliance program to ensure our product offering meets these regulations, there may be instances where alternative substances will not be available or commercially feasible, or may only be available from a single source, or may be significantly more expensive than their restricted counterparts. Additionally, if we were found to be non-compliant with any such rule or regulation, we could be subject to fines, penalties and/or restrictions imposed by government agencies that could adversely affect our operating results.

Regulations in the United States require that we determine whether certain materials used in our products, referred to as conflict minerals, originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or adjoining countries, or were from recycled or scrap sources. The verification and reporting requirements, in addition to customer demands for conflict-free sourcing, impose additional costs on us and on our suppliers, and may limit the sources or increase the prices of materials used in our products. Further, if we are unable to certify that our products are conflict free, we may face challenges with our customers, which could place us at a competitive disadvantage, and our reputation may be harmed.

New climate change laws and regulations could require us to change our manufacturing processes or obtain substitute materials that may cost more or be less available for our manufacturing operations. In addition, new restrictions on emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases could result in significant costs for us. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has adopted greenhouse gas regulations, and the United States Congress may pass federal greenhouse gas legislation in the future. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has issued greenhouse gas reporting regulations that may apply to certain of our operations. Various jurisdictions are developing other climate change-based regulations, that also may increase our expenses and adversely affect our operating results. We expect increased worldwide regulatory activity relating to climate change in the future. Compliance with these laws and regulations has not had a material impact on our capital expenditures, earnings, financial condition or competitive position.

Furthermore, environmental regulations often require parties to fund remedial action for violations of such regulations regardless of fault. Consequently, it is often difficult to estimate the future impact of environmental matters, including potential liabilities. In addition, our customers increasingly require warranties or indemnity relating to compliance with environmental regulations. The amount of expense and capital expenditures that might be required to satisfy environmental liabilities, to complete remedial actions and to continue to comply with applicable environmental laws may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Certain provisions in our organizational documents and Delaware law may make it difficult for someone to acquire control of us.

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We have certain anti-takeover measures that may affect our common stock. Our certificate of incorporation, our by-laws and the Delaware General Corporation Law contain several provisions that would make more difficult an acquisition of control of us in a transaction not approved by our Board of Directors. Our certificate of incorporation and by-laws include provisions such as:
•
the ability of our Board of Directors to issue shares of preferred stock in one or more series without further authorization of stockholders,
•
a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent,
•
a requirement that stockholders provide advance notice of any stockholder nominations of directors or any proposal of new business to be considered at any meeting of stockholders,
•
a requirement that the affirmative vote of at least 80% of our shares be obtained to amend or repeal the provisions of our certificate of incorporation relating to the election and removal of directors or the right to act by written consent,
•
a requirement that the affirmative vote of at least 80% of our shares be obtained for business combinations unless approved by a majority of the members of the Board of Directors and, in the event that the other party to the business combination is the beneficial owner of 5% or more of our shares, a majority of the members of the Board of Directors in office prior to the time such other party became the beneficial owner of 5% or more of our shares,
•
a fair price provision, and
•
a requirement that the affirmative vote of at least 90% of our shares be obtained to amend or repeal the fair price provision.

In addition to the provisions in our certificate of incorporation and by-laws, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law generally provides that a corporation may not engage in any business combination with any interested stockholder during the three-year period following the time that such stockholder becomes an interested stockholder, unless a majority of the directors then in office approves either the business combination or the transaction that results in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder or specified stockholder approval requirements are met.


ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.

None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES.

We have executive offices in Irvine, California, and Woburn, Massachusetts. For information regarding property, plant and equipment by geographic region for each of the last three fiscal years, see Note 17 to Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The following table sets forth our principal facilities:
 
Location
 
 
Owned/Leased
 

Square Footage
 
 
Primary Function
Mexicali, Mexico
 
Owned
 
380,000
 
Manufacturing and office space
Woburn, Massachusetts
 
Owned
 
158,000
 
Manufacturing and office space
Adamstown, Maryland
 
Owned
 
121,200
 
Manufacturing and office space
Newbury Park, California
 
Owned
 
111,600
 
Manufacturing and office space
Osaka, Japan
 
Leased
 
405,300
 
Filter manufacturing
Mexicali, Mexico
 
Leased
 
179,000
 
Manufacturing and office space
Singapore, Singapore
 
Leased
 
176,800
 
Filter manufacturing
Irvine, California
 
Leased
 
126,900
 
Design center and office space
Newbury Park, California
 
Leased
 
115,700
 
Design center
Kadoma, Japan
 
Leased
 
97,300
 
Filter manufacturing and office space
San Jose, California
 
Leased
 
51,900
 
Design center and office space
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
 
Leased
 
42,900
 
Design center
Ottawa, Ontario
 
Leased
 
33,200
 
Design center
Andover, Massachusetts
 
Leased
 
22,900
 
Design center
Seoul, Korea
 
Leased
 
22,900
 
Design center
Basking Ridge, New Jersey
 
Leased
 
21,800
 
Design center
Hillsboro, Oregon
 
Leased
 
21,200
 
Design center and office space

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

The information set forth under Note 13 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K is incorporated herein by reference.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.

Not Applicable.

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PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

MARKET INFORMATION AND DIVIDENDS
Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “SWKS”.

The number of stockholders of record of our common stock as of November 7, 2018, was 12,404. On November 8, 2018, the Company announced that the Board of Directors had declared a cash dividend of $0.38 per share of common stock, payable on December 18, 2018, to stockholders of record as of November 27, 2018. We intend to continue to pay quarterly dividends subject to capital availability and our view that cash dividends are in the best interests of our stockholders. Future cash dividends may be affected by, among other items, our views on potential future capital requirements, including those relating to research and development, creation and expansion of sales distribution channels and investments and acquisitions, legal risks, stock repurchase programs, debt issuance, changes in federal and state income tax law and changes to our business model.

ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
The following table provides information regarding repurchases of common stock made during the fiscal quarter ended September 28, 2018:
Period
Total Number of Shares Purchased
Average Price Paid per Share
Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs (1)
Maximum Number (or Approximate Dollar Value) of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (1)
6/30/18-7/27/18
829,906 (2)
$97.56
828,483
$567.1 million
7/28/18-8/24/18
718,516(3)
$93.61
715,597
$500.1 million
8/25/18-9/28/18
1,002,162(4)
$87.13
1,000,000
$413.0 million
Total
2,550,584

2,544,080
 
_________________________
(1) The stock repurchase program approved by the Board of Directors on January 31, 2018, authorizes the repurchase of up to $1.0 billion of our common stock from time to time on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions as permitted by securities laws and other legal requirements. The January 31, 2018, stock repurchase program replaces in its entirety the January 17, 2017, plan and is scheduled to expire on January 31, 2020.
(2) 828,483 shares were repurchased at an average price of $97.56 per share as part of our stock repurchase program, and 1,423 shares were repurchased by us at the fair market value of the common stock as of the applicable purchase date, in connection with the satisfaction of tax withholding obligations under equity award agreements with an average price of $96.91 per share.
(3) 715,597 shares were repurchased at an average price of $93.62 per share as part of our stock repurchase program, and 2,919 shares were repurchased by us at the fair market value of the common stock as of the applicable purchase date, in connection with the satisfaction of tax withholding obligations under equity award agreements with an average price of $91.52 per share.
(4) 1,000,000 shares were repurchased at an average price of $87.12 per share as part of our stock repurchase program, and 2,162 shares were repurchased by us at the fair market value of the common stock as of the applicable purchase date, in connection with the satisfaction of tax withholding obligations under equity award agreements with an average price of $93.02 per share.

On November 15, 2017, we agreed to potentially issue not more than 1% of our common stock to an unaffiliated third party as contingent consideration for its role under a multi-year collaboration agreement.  The shares are issuable for no cash payment but only upon the achievement of certain product sale milestones, certain terminations of the agreement or if the Company engages in certain competition with the third party. Though the timing is not certain, the Company does not expect achievement of the product sale milestones to occur any time prior to mid-2020.  The transaction was made in reliance on the exemption from registration in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.  The Company has agreed to file a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission registering the resale of any issued shares.


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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA.

The information set forth below for the five years ended September 28, 2018, is not necessarily indicative of results of future operations, and should be read in conjunction with Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, and our consolidated financial statements and related notes included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K to fully understand factors that may affect the comparability of the information presented below. Our fiscal year ends on the Friday closest to September 30. Fiscal 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015 each consisted of 52 weeks and ended on September 28, 2018, September 29, 2017, September 30, 2016, and October 2, 2015, respectively. Fiscal 2014 consisted of 53 weeks and ended on October 3, 2014.

The following table represents the selected financial data (in millions, except per share data):
 
Fiscal Years Ended
Statement of Operations Data:
September 28, 2018 (2)
 
September 29, 2017
 
September 30, 2016 (1)
 
October 2,
2015
 
October 3,
2014
Net revenue
$
3,868.0

 
$
3,651.4

 
$
3,289.0

 
$
3,258.4

 
$
2,291.5

Operating income
$
1,319.3

 
$
1,253.8

 
$
1,118.7

 
$
1,023.1

 
$
565.2

Operating margin
34.1
%
 
34.3
%
 
34.0
%
 
31.4
%
 
24.7
%
Net income
$
918.4

 
$
1,010.2

 
$
995.2

 
$
798.3

 
$
457.7

Earnings per share:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Basic
$
5.06

 
$
5.48

 
$
5.27

 
$
4.21

 
$
2.44

Diluted
$
5.01

 
$
5.41

 
$
5.18

 
$
4.10

 
$
2.38

Cash dividends declared per share
$
1.34

 
$
1.16

 
$
1.06

 
$
0.65

 
$
0.22

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
As of
Balance Sheet Data:
September 28, 2018 (2)
 
September 29, 2017
 
September 30, 2016 (1)
 
October 2,
2015
 
October 3,
2014
Working capital
$
1,872.5

 
$
2,245.8

 
$
1,791.9

 
$
1,450.8

 
$
1,131.6

Property, plant and equipment, net
$
1,140.9

 
$
882.3

 
$
806.3

 
$
826.4

 
$
555.9

Total assets
$
4,828.9

 
$
4,573.6

 
$
3,855.4

 
$
3,719.4

 
$
2,973.8

Stockholders’ equity
$
4,097.0

 
$
4,065.7

 
$
3,541.4

 
$
3,159.2

 
$
2,532.4

____________
(1) Fiscal 2016 net income and earnings per share include other income of $88.5 million related to the receipt of the PMC-Sierra merger termination fee.
(2) Fiscal 2018 net income and earnings per share include a one-time charge of $224.6 million related to the mandatory deemed repatriation tax on foreign earnings and a one-time charge of $18.3 million related to the revaluation of deferred tax assets and liabilities at the new corporate tax rate, as a result of the Tax Reform Act.


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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes that appear elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition to historical information, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ substantially and adversely from those referred to herein due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to, those described below and in Item 1A “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

OVERVIEW

We, together with our consolidated subsidiaries, are empowering the wireless networking revolution. Our highly innovative analog semiconductors are connecting people, places, and things spanning a number of new and previously unimagined applications within the aerospace, automotive, broadband, cellular infrastructure, connected home, industrial, medical, military, smartphone, tablet and wearable markets. Our key customers include Amazon, Apple, Arris, Bose, Cisco, DJI, Ericsson, Foxconn, Garmin, Gemalto, General Electric, Google, Honeywell, HTC, Huawei, Itron, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Microsoft, Motorola, Netgear, Northrop Grumman, OPPO, Rockwell Collins, Samsung, Sierra Wireless, Sonos, Technicolor, VIVO, Xiaomi and ZTE.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

FISCAL YEARS ENDED SEPTEMBER 28, 2018, SEPTEMBER 29, 2017, AND SEPTEMBER 30, 2016.

The following table sets forth the results of our operations expressed as a percentage of net revenue:
 
September 28,
2018
 
September 29,
2017
 
September 30,
2016
Net revenue
100.0
%
 
100.0
%
 
100.0
 %
Cost of goods sold
49.6

 
49.6

 
49.4

Gross profit
50.4

 
50.4

 
50.6

Operating expenses:
 
 
 
 
 
Research and development
10.4

 
9.7

 
9.5

Selling, general and administrative
5.4

 
5.6

 
6.0

Amortization of intangibles
0.5

 
0.8

 
1.0

Restructuring and other charges
—

 
—

 
0.1

Total operating expenses
16.3

 
16.1

 
16.6

Operating income
34.1

 
34.3

 
34.0

Other income (expense), net
0.3

 
0.1

 
(0.2
)
Merger termination fee
—

 
—

 
2.7

Income before income taxes
34.4

 
34.4

 
36.5

Provision for income taxes
10.7

 
6.7

 
6.2

Net income
23.7
%
 
27.7
%
 
30.3
 %

GENERAL
During the fiscal year ended September 28, 2018, the following key factors contributed to our overall results of operations, financial position and cash flows:
•
Net revenue increased to approximately $3,868.0 million, an increase of 6% as compared to the prior fiscal year. This increase in revenue was primarily driven by our success in capturing a higher share of the increasing radio frequency and analog content per device as smartphone models continue to evolve, increases in applications for the IoT, and the expanding analog product portfolio supporting new vertical markets including aerospace, automotive, industrial, medical and military.


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•
Our ending cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities balance decreased 35.0% to $1,050.2 million in fiscal 2018 from $1,616.8 million in fiscal 2017. This was the result of a 13% decrease in cash from operations to $1,260.6 million in fiscal 2018 from $1,456.3 million in fiscal 2017 due to a $221.9 million increase in cash used for working capital. In addition, we returned $1,002.7 million to shareholders through repurchasing 7.7 million shares of our common stock for $759.5 million together with payments of $243.2 million in cash dividends. Lastly, we invested approximately $422.3 million in capital expenditures and $404.0 million in payments for acquisitions.

NET REVENUE
 
Fiscal Years Ended
 
September 28,
2018
Change
September 29,
2017
Change
September 30,
2016
(dollars in millions)
 
 
 
 
 
Net revenue
$
3,868.0

5.9%
$
3,651.4

11.0%
$
3,289.0


We market and sell our products directly to OEMs of communications and electronics products, third-party original design manufacturers and contract manufacturers, and indirectly through electronic components distributors. We generally experience seasonal peaks during the second half of the calendar year, primarily as a result of increased worldwide production of consumer electronics in anticipation of increased holiday sales, whereas our second and third fiscal quarter is typically lower and in line with seasonal industry trends.
 
The $216.6 million increase in revenue in fiscal 2018 as compared to fiscal 2017 and the $362.4 million increase in revenue in fiscal 2017 as compared to fiscal 2016 were primarily driven by our success in capturing a higher share of the increasing radio frequency and analog content per device as smartphones models continue to evolve, the increasing number of applications for the IoT, and our expanding analog product portfolio supporting new vertical markets including automotive, industrial, medical and military.
  
For information regarding net revenue by geographic region and customer concentration, see Note 17 to Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

GROSS PROFIT
 
Fiscal Years Ended
 
September 28,
2018
Change
September 29,
2017
Change
September 30,
2016
(dollars in millions)
 
 
 
 
 
Gross profit
$
1,950.7

5.9%
$
1,841.8

10.6%
$
1,665.2

% of net revenue
50.4
%
 
50.4
%
 
50.6
%

Gross profit represents net revenue less cost of goods sold. Our cost of goods sold consists primarily of purchased materials, labor and overhead (including depreciation and share-based compensation expense) associated with product manufacturing. Erosion of average selling prices of established products is typical of the semiconductor industry. Consistent with trends in the industry, we anticipate that average selling prices for our established products will continue to decline over time. As part of our normal course of business, we mitigate the gross margin impact of declining average selling prices with efforts to increase unit volumes, reduce material costs, improve manufacturing efficiencies, lower manufacturing costs of existing products and by introducing new and higher value-added products.

Gross profit was $108.9 million higher in fiscal 2018 as compared to fiscal 2017. The increase in gross profit was primarily the result of higher unit volumes, lower overall per-unit material and manufacturing costs, and favorable product mix, with an aggregate gross profit benefit of $267.1 million. These benefits were partially offset by the erosion of average selling price that negatively impacted gross profit by $158.2 million. Gross profit margin remained consistent at 50.4% of net revenue for fiscal 2018.

Gross profit was $176.6 million greater in fiscal 2017 as compared to fiscal 2016. The increase in gross profit was primarily the result of higher unit volumes and lower overall per-unit material and manufacturing costs, with an aggregate gross profit benefit of $306.6 million. These benefits were partially offset by the erosion of average selling price and changes in product mix that combined to negatively impact gross profit by $130.0 million. As a result of these impacts, gross profit margin decreased to 50.4% of net revenue for fiscal 2017.


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RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
 
Fiscal Years Ended
 
September 28,
2018
Change
September 29,
2017
Change
September 30,
2016
(dollars in millions)
 
 
 
 
 
Research and development
$
404.5

13.9%
$
355.2

13.7%
$
312.4

% of net revenue
10.4
%
 
9.7
%
 
9.5
%

Research and development expenses consist primarily of direct personnel costs including share-based compensation expense, costs for pre-production evaluation and testing of new devices, masks, engineering prototypes and design tool costs.

The increase in research and development expense in fiscal 2018 as compared to fiscal 2017 is primarily related to increased headcount, overall employee-related compensation expense, and expenses associated with product development activity. Research and development expense increased as a percentage of net revenue due to increased development complexity and our efforts to increase the value of our future products.

The increase in research and development expense in fiscal 2017 as compared to fiscal 2016 is primarily related to increased headcount, overall employee-related compensation expense, and expenses associated with product development activity. Research and development expense increased slightly as a percentage of net revenue due to the aforementioned factors.

SELLING, GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE    
 
Fiscal Years Ended
 
September 28,
2018
Change
September 29,
2017
Change
September 30,
2016
(dollars in millions)
 
 
 
 
 
Selling, general and administrative
$
207.8

1.6%
$
204.6

4.4%
$
195.9

% of net revenue
5.4
%
 
5.6
%
 
6.0
%

Selling, general and administrative expenses include legal and related costs, accounting, treasury, human resources, information systems, customer service, bad debt expense, sales commissions, share-based compensation expense, advertising, marketing, costs associated with business combinations completed or contemplated during the period and other costs.

The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses in fiscal 2018 as compared to fiscal 2017 was primarily related to increases in employee-related compensation expenses, including share-based compensation, partially offset by an increase in the net gain related to the fair value adjustment of contingent consideration of $11.9 million. Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased as a percentage of net revenue primarily due to the increase in net revenue.

The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses in fiscal 2017 as compared to fiscal 2016 was primarily related to increases in employee-related compensation expenses, including share-based compensation, partially offset by lower legal expenses and the net gain related to the fair value adjustment of contingent consideration of $1.3 million. Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased as a percentage of net revenue due to the aforementioned factors and the increase in net revenue.

AMORTIZATION OF INTANGIBLES
 
Fiscal Years Ended
 
September 28,
2018
Change
September 29,
2017
Change
September 30,
2016
(dollars in millions)
 
 
 
 
 
Amortization of purchased intangibles
$
20.7

(25.0)%
$
27.6

(17.4)%
$
33.4

Amortization of capitalized software
6.0

100.0%
—

—%
—

Total amortization of intangibles
26.7

 
27.6

 
33.4

% of net revenue
0.7
%
 
0.8
%
 
1.0
%


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During fiscal 2018, $8.4 million and $18.3 million in amortization of intangibles were included in cost of goods sold and selling, general and administrative expense, respectively. During fiscal 2017, $27.6 million in amortization of intangibles was included in selling, general and administrative expense. 

The decrease in amortization for fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017, as compared to fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2016, respectively, primarily relates to fully amortized intangible assets that were acquired in prior years partially offset by additional intangible assets acquired during the fiscal year.

RESTRUCTURING AND OTHER CHARGES
 
Fiscal Years Ended
 
September 28,
2018
Change
September 29,
2017
Change
September 30,
2016
(dollars in millions)
 
 
 
 
 
Restructuring and other charges
$
0.8

33.3%
$
0.6

(87.5)%
$
4.8

% of net revenue
—
%
 
—
 %
 
0.1
%

Restructuring and other charges incurred in fiscal 2018 are related to charges on a leased facility. We do not anticipate any further significant charges associated with these restructuring activities and substantially all of the cash payments related to these restructuring plans have occurred.

Restructuring and other charges incurred in fiscal 2017 are primarily related to restructuring plans initiated during the period.

MERGER TERMINATION FEE
 
Fiscal Years Ended
 
September 28,
2018
Change
September 29,
2017
Change
September 30,
2016
(dollars in millions)
 
 
 
 
 
Merger termination fee
$
—

—%
$
—

(100.0)%
$
88.5

% of net revenue
—
%
 
—
 %
 
2.7
%

On October 29, 2015, we entered into an Amended and Restated Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with PMC-Sierra, Inc. (“PMC”), providing for, subject to the terms and conditions of the Merger Agreement, our cash acquisition of PMC. On November 23, 2015, PMC notified us that it had terminated the Merger Agreement. As a result, on November 24, 2015, PMC paid us a termination fee of $88.5 million pursuant to the Merger Agreement.

PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES
 
Fiscal Years Ended
 
September 28,
2018
Change
September 29,
2017
Change
September 30,
2016
(dollars in millions)
 
 
 
 
 
Provision for income taxes
$
413.7

67.6%
$
246.8

20.2%
$
205.4

% of net revenue
10.7
%
 
6.7
%
 
6.2
%

The annual effective tax rate for fiscal 2018 of 31.1% was greater than the United States federal statutory rate of 24.6% primarily due to increases in tax from a one-time charge related to the mandatory deemed repatriation tax on foreign earnings of 16.9%, a one-time charge related to the revaluation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities of 1.4%, and income tax rate expense impact of 0.5% related to a change in our tax reserves, partially offset by benefits of 8.4% related to foreign earnings taxed at a rate less than the United States federal rate, 1.0% related to a domestic production activities deduction, 1.9% related to stock windfall deductions, and 1.5% related to the recognition of federal research and development tax credits.
We operate under a tax holiday in Singapore, which is effective through September 30, 2020. This tax holiday is conditioned upon our compliance with certain employment and investment thresholds in Singapore. The impact of the tax holiday decreased the taxes we owe in Singapore by $38.4 million and $37.4 million for fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017, respectively. This resulted in tax benefits of $0.21 and $0.20 of diluted earnings per share for fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2017, respectively.

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The annual effective tax rate for fiscal 2017 of 19.6% was less than the United States federal statutory rate of 35.0% primarily due to benefits of 14.3% related to foreign earnings taxed at a rate less than the United States federal rate, 1.6% related to a domestic production activities deduction, and 1.3% related to the recognition of federal research and development tax credits, partially offset by income tax rate expense impact of 1.0% related to a change in our tax reserves.
See Note 9 to Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a detailed discussion of the impact of the Tax Reform Act.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
 
Fiscal Years Ended
(in millions)
September 28,
2018
 
September 29,
2017
 
September 30,
2016
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period
$
1,616.8

 
$
1,083.8

 
$
1,043.6

Net cash provided by operating activities
1,260.6

 
1,456.3

 
1,077.7

Net cash used in investing activities
(1,150.4
)
 
(325.9
)
 
(250.9
)
Net cash used in financing activities
(993.7
)
 
(597.4
)
 
(786.6
)
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period
$
733.3

 
$
1,616.8

 
$
1,083.8


Cash provided by operating activities:
Cash provided by operating activities consists of net income for the period adjusted for certain non-cash items and changes in certain operating assets and liabilities. For fiscal 2018, we generated $1,260.6 million in cash from operations, a decrease of $195.7 million when compared to $1,456.3 million generated in fiscal 2017. The decrease in cash from operating activities during fiscal 2018 was primarily related to a $221.9 million increase in cash used for working capital. Specifically, the increase in uses of cash were: $156.7 million in accounts receivable due to the timing of customer collections and $273.8 million related to accounts payable, due to the timing of capital expenditures and vendor payments. These increases in uses of cash were offset by increases in sources of cash of: $143.0 million related to changes in other current and long-term liabilities primarily related to the unpaid portion of the mandatory deemed repatriation tax on foreign earnings.

Cash used in investing activities:
Cash used in investing activities consists primarily of cash paid for acquisitions net of cash acquired, capital expenditures, purchased intangibles, cash received from the sale of capital assets, and cash related to the sale or maturity of investments. Cash used in investing activities was $1,150.4 million during fiscal 2018, compared to $325.9 million during fiscal 2017. The cash used for capital expenditures in fiscal 2018 was $422.3 million, primarily related to the purchase of manufacturing equipment to support the expansion of our assembly and test operations, filter production operations, and wafer fabrication facilities. During fiscal 2018, we paid $404.0 million, net of cash acquired, to complete an acquisition and $315.5 million in net purchases of marketable securities.

Cash used in financing activities:
Cash used in financing activities consists primarily of cash transactions related to equity. During fiscal 2018, we had net cash outflows of $993.7 million, compared to $597.4 million in fiscal 2017. The increase in cash used in financing activities primarily related to the increase in share repurchase activity and dividend payments during fiscal 2018. During fiscal 2018 we had the following significant uses of cash:
•
$759.5 million related to our repurchase of 7.7 million shares of our common stock pursuant to the share repurchase programs approved by our Board of Directors on January 31, 2018, and January 17, 2017;
•
$243.2 million related to the payment of cash dividends on our common stock; and
•
$48.0 million related to the minimum statutory payroll tax withholdings upon vesting of employee performance and restricted stock awards.
These uses of cash were partially offset by the net proceeds from employee stock option exercises of $38.8 million and the proceeds from employee stock purchase plans of $18.2 million during fiscal 2018.

Liquidity:
Cash and cash equivalent balances were $733.3 million at September 28, 2018, representing a decrease of $883.5 million from September 29, 2017. The decrease resulted from $759.5 million used to repurchase 7.7 million shares of stock, $422.3 million in capital expenditures, $404.0 million related to business acquisition activity, $315.5 million in net purchases of marketable securities and $243.2 million in cash dividend payments during fiscal 2018, which was partially offset by $1,260.6 million in cash generated from operations. Based on our historical results of operations, we expect that our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities

29
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on hand and the cash we expect to generate from operations will be sufficient to fund our research and development, capital expenditures, potential acquisitions, working capital, quarterly cash dividend payments (if such dividends are declared by the Board of Directors), outstanding commitments and other liquidity requirements associated with existing operations for at least the next 12 months. However, we cannot be certain that our cash on hand and cash generated from operations will be available in the future to fund all of our capital and operating requirements. In addition, any future strategic investments and acquisitions may require additional cash and capital resources. If we are unable to obtain sufficient cash or capital to meet our needs on a timely basis and on favorable terms, our business and operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Our invested cash balances primarily consist of highly liquid marketable securities that are available to meet near-term cash requirements including: term deposits, certificate of deposits, money market funds, U.S. Treasury securities, agency securities, other government securities, corporate debt securities and commercial paper.

We had $300.6 million of cash and cash equivalents located in foreign jurisdictions at September 28, 2018.

OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS

All significant contractual obligations are recorded on our consolidated balance sheet or fully disclosed in the notes to our consolidated financial statements. We have no material off-balance sheet arrangements as defined in SEC Regulation S-K-303(a)(4)(ii).

CONTRACTUAL CASH FLOWS

Set forth below is a summary of our contractual payment obligations related to our operating leases, other commitments and long-term liabilities at September 28, 2018 (in millions):

 
Payments Due By Period
 
Obligation    
 
Total
 
Less Than 1 Year
 
1-3 Years
 
3-5 Years
 
Thereafter
Other long-term liabilities (1)
 
$
308.6

 
$
5.5

 
$
36.9

 
$
36.9

 
$
229.3

Operating lease obligations
 
86.8

 
21.6

 
32.5

 
17.5

 
15.2

Contingent consideration for business combinations (2)
 
3.1

 
3.1

 
—

 
—

 
—

Other commitments (3)
 
15.0

 
12.5

 
2.5

 
—

 
—

Total
 
$
413.5

 
$
42.7

 
$
71.9

 
$
54.4

 
$
244.5

_________________________
(1)
Other long-term liabilities primarily include our gross unrecognized tax benefits, as well as executive deferred compensation, which are both classified as beyond five years due to the uncertain nature of the liabilities.
(2)
Contingent consideration related to business combinations is recorded at fair value and actual results could differ. See Note 3 and Note 5 to Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further detail.
(3)
Other commitments consist of contractual license and royalty payments and other purchase obligations. See Note 12 to Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES
The 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, or GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments in applying our most critical accounting policies that can have a significant impact on the results we report in our financial statements. The SEC has defined critical accounting policies as those that are both most important to the portrayal of our financial condition and results and which require our most difficult, complex or subjective judgments or estimates. Based on this definition, our most critical accounting policies include revenue recognition, which impacts the recording of net revenue; inventory valuation, which impacts the cost of goods sold and gross margin; assessment of goodwill and long-lived assets, which impacts the impairment of the respective assets; business combinations, which impacts the fair value of acquired assets and assumed liabilities; share-based compensation, which impacts cost of goods sold and operating expenses; loss contingencies, which impacts operating expenses; and income taxes, which impacts the income tax provision. These policies and significant judgments involved are discussed further below. We have other significant accounting policies that do not generally require subjective estimates or judgments or would not have a material impact on our results of operations. Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 2 to Item 8 on this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Revenue Recognition. We recognize revenue in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 605 Revenue Recognition net of estimated reserves. Our revenue reserves contain uncertainties

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because they require management to make assumptions and to apply judgment to estimate the value of future credits to customers for product returns, price protection and stock rotation for products sold to certain electronic component distributors. Our estimates of the amount and timing of the reserves is based primarily on historical experience and specific contractual arrangements. Refer to Note 2 to Item 8 on this Annual Report on Form 10-K for information about the expected impact of our adoption of ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“Topic 606”).

Inventory Valuation. We value our inventory at the lower of cost or net realizable value. Reserves for excess and obsolete inventory are established on a quarterly basis and are based on a detailed analysis of aged material, forecasted demand in relation to on-hand inventory, salability of our inventory, general market conditions, and product life cycles. Once reserves are established, write-downs of inventory are considered permanent adjustments to the cost basis of inventory. Our reserves contain uncertainties because the calculation requires management to make assumptions and to apply judgment regarding historical experience, forecasted demand and technological obsolescence. Changes in actual demand or market conditions could adversely impact our reserve calculations.

Goodwill and Long-Lived Assets. We evaluate goodwill and long-lived assets for impairment annually on the first day of the fourth fiscal quarter and whenever events or circumstances arise that may indicate that the carrying value of the goodwill or other intangibles may not be recoverable.

Our impairment analysis contains uncertainties because it requires management to make assumptions and to apply judgment to items such as: determination of the reporting unit and asset groupings, estimated control premiums, discount rates, future cash flows, the profitability of future business strategies and useful lives.
Business Combinations. We apply significant estimates and judgments in order to determine the fair value of the identified tangible and intangible assets acquired, liabilities assumed and goodwill recognized in business combinations. The value of all assets and liabilities are recognized at fair value as of the acquisition date using a market participant approach.

In measuring the fair value, we utilize a number of valuation techniques consistent with the market approach, income approach and/or cost approach. The valuation of the identifiable assets and liabilities includes assumptions such as projected revenue, royalty rates, weighted average cost of capital, discount rates and estimated useful lives. These assessments can be significantly affected by our judgments.

Share-Based Compensation. We have share-based compensation plans which include non-qualified stock options, restricted and performance share awards and units, as well as an employee stock purchase plan and other special share-based awards. Note 10 of Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K details our current share-based compensation programs.

We determine the fair value of our share-based compensation items with pricing models as of the date of grant using a number of highly complex and subjective variables and assumptions including, but not limited to: our expected stock price volatility over the term of the award, correlation coefficients, risk-free rate, the expected life of the award, dividend yield, and estimated performance against metrics. Compensation expense is recognized over the requisite service period of the underlying awards. Management periodically evaluates these assumptions and updates share-based compensation expense accordingly.

Loss Contingencies. We record an estimate for loss contingencies such as a legal proceeding or claims if it is probable that an asset has been impaired or a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss or range of loss can be reasonably estimated. We disclose material loss contingencies if there is at least a reasonable possibility that a loss has been incurred.

Our loss contingency analysis contains uncertainties because it requires management to assess the degree of probability of an unfavorable outcome and to make a reasonable estimate of the amount of potential loss.

Income Taxes. We account for income taxes using the asset and liability method, under which deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between tax and financial reporting.  We record a valuation allowance to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount that is believed more likely than not to be realized.  Significant management judgment is required in developing our provision for income taxes, including the determination of deferred tax assets and liabilities and any valuation allowances that might be required against the deferred tax assets. 

The application of tax laws and regulations to calculate our tax liabilities is subject to legal and factual interpretation, judgment, and uncertainty in a multitude of jurisdictions.  Tax laws and regulations themselves are subject to change as a result of changes in fiscal policy, changes in legislation, the evolution of regulations, and court rulings.  We recognize potential liabilities for anticipated tax audit issues in the United States and other tax jurisdictions based on our estimate of whether, and the extent to which, additional taxes and interest will be due.  We record an amount as an estimate of probable additional income tax liability at the largest amount

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that we feel is more likely than not, based upon the technical merits of the position, to be sustained upon audit by the relevant tax authority. 

OTHER MATTERS

Inflation did not have a material impact on our results of operations during the three-year period ended September 28, 2018.

ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK.

We are subject to overall financial market risks, such as changes in market liquidity, credit quality, investment risk, interest rate risk and foreign exchange rate risk as described below.

Investment and Interest Rate Risk

Our exposure to interest rate and general market risks relates principally to our investment portfolio, which consists of cash and cash equivalents (money market funds and marketable securities purchased with less than ninety days until maturity) that total approximately $733.3 million and marketable securities (U.S. Treasury and government securities, corporate bonds and notes, municipal bonds, other government securities) that total approximately $294.1 million and $22.8 million within short-term and long-term marketable securities, respectively, as of September 28, 2018.

The main objectives of our investment activities are liquidity and preservation of capital. Our cash equivalent investments have short-term maturity periods that dampen the impact of market or interest rate risk. Our marketable securities consist of short-term and long-term maturity periods between 90 days and two years. Credit risk associated with our investments is not material because our investments are diversified across several types of securities with high credit ratings, which reduces the amount of credit exposure to any one investment.

Based on our results of operations for the fiscal year ended September 28, 2018, a hypothetical reduction in the interest rates on our cash, cash equivalents, and other investments to zero would result in an immaterial reduction of interest income with a de minimis impact on income before taxes.

Given the low interest rate environment, the objectives of our investment activities, and the relatively low interest income generated from our cash, cash equivalents, and other investments, we do not believe that investment or interest rate risks pose material exposures to our current business or results of operations.

Foreign Exchange Rate Risk

Substantially all sales to customers and arrangements with third-party manufacturers provide for pricing and payment in United States dollars, thereby reducing the impact of foreign exchange rate fluctuations on our results. A percentage of our international operational expenses are denominated in foreign currencies and exchange rate volatility could positively or negatively impact those operating costs. For the fiscal years ended September 28, 2018, September 29, 2017, and September 30, 2016, we had foreign exchange losses of $5.5 million, $3.1 million and $5.6 million, respectively. Increases in the value of the United States dollar relative to other currencies could make our products more expensive, which could negatively impact our ability to compete. Conversely, decreases in the value of the United States dollar relative to other currencies could result in our suppliers raising their prices to continue doing business with us. Given the relatively small number of customers and arrangements with third-party manufacturers denominated in foreign currencies, we do not believe that foreign exchange volatility has a material impact on our current business or results of operations. However, fluctuations in currency exchange rates could have a greater effect on our business or results of operations in the future to the extent our expenses increasingly become denominated in foreign currencies.

We may enter into foreign currency forward and option contracts with financial institutions to protect against foreign exchange risks associated with certain existing assets and liabilities, certain firmly committed transactions, forecasted future cash flows and net investments in foreign subsidiaries. However, we may choose not to hedge certain foreign exchange exposures for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, accounting considerations and the prohibitive economic cost of hedging particular exposures. For the fiscal year ended September 28, 2018, we had no outstanding foreign currency forward or option contracts with financial institutions.



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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA.

The following consolidated financial statements of the Company are included herewith:
(1)
Page 34
 
 
 
(2)
Page 36
 
 
 
(3)
Page 37
 
 
 
(4)
Page 38
 
 
 
(5)
Page 39
 
 
 
(6)
Page 40
 
 
 
(7)
Page 41 through 62



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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To the Stockholders and Board of Directors
Skyworks Solutions, Inc.:
Opinions on the Consolidated Financial Statements and Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Skyworks Solutions, Inc. and subsidiaries (the Company) as of September 28, 2018 and September 29, 2017, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, cash flows, and stockholders' equity for each of the years in the three-year period ended September 28, 2018, and the related notes (collectively, the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of September 28, 2018, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of September 28, 2018 and September 29, 2017, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended September 28, 2018, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of September 28, 2018, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.
Basis for Opinions
The Company’s management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.
Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.
Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

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Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ KPMG LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2002.
Irvine, California
November 14, 2018





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SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(In millions, except per share amounts)

 
Fiscal Years Ended
 
September 28,
2018
 
September 29,
2017
 
September 30,
2016
Net revenue
$
3,868.0

 
$
3,651.4

 
$
3,289.0

Cost of goods sold
1,917.3

 
1,809.6

 
1,623.8

Gross profit
1,950.7

 
1,841.8

 
1,665.2

Operating expenses:
 
 
 
 
 
Research and development
404.5

 
355.2

 
312.4

Selling, general and administrative
207.8

 
204.6

 
195.9

Amortization of intangibles
18.3

 
27.6

 
33.4

Restructuring and other charges
0.8

 
0.6

 
4.8

Total operating expenses
631.4

 
588.0

 
546.5

Operating income
1,319.3

 
1,253.8

 
1,118.7

Other income (expense), net
12.8

 
3.2

 
(6.6
)
Merger termination fee
—

 
—

 
88.5

Income before income taxes
1,332.1

 
1,257.0

 
1,200.6

Provision for income taxes
413.7

 
246.8

 
205.4

Net income
$
918.4

 
$
1,010.2

 
$
995.2

Earnings per share:
 
 
 
 
 
Basic
$
5.06

 
$
5.48

 
$
5.27

Diluted
$
5.01

 
$
5.41

 
$
5.18

Weighted average shares:
 
 
 
 
 
Basic
181.3

 
184.3

 
188.7

Diluted
183.2

 
186.7

 
192.1

 
 
 
 
 
 
Cash dividends declared and paid per share
$
1.34

 
$
1.16

 
$
1.06



See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.



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SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
(In millions)
 
Fiscal Years Ended
 
September 28,
2018
 
September 29,
2017
 
September 30,
2016
Net income
$
918.4

 
$
1,010.2

 
$
995.2

Other comprehensive income
 
 
 
 
 
Fair value of investments
(0.1
)
 
0.9

 
—

Pension adjustments
—

 
0.7

 
(1.8
)
Foreign currency translation adjustment
(0.2
)
 
0.8

 
(0.9
)
Comprehensive income
$
918.1

 
$
1,012.6

 
$
992.5


See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.


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SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS, INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(In millions, except per share amounts)

 
As of
 
September 28,
2018
 
September 29,
2017
ASSETS
 
 
 
Current assets:
 
 
 
Cash and cash equivalents
$
733.3

 
$
1,616.8

Marketable securities
294.1

 
—

Receivables, net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $0.6 and $0.5, respectively
655.8

 
454.7

Inventory
490.2

 
493.5

Other current assets
88.8

 
68.7

Total current assets
2,262.2

 
2,633.7

Property, plant and equipment, net
1,140.9

 
882.3

Goodwill
1,189.8

 
883.0

Intangible assets, net
143.7

 
67.8

Deferred tax assets, net
36.5

 
66.5

Marketable securities
22.8

 
—

Other assets
33.0

 
40.3

Total assets
$
4,828.9

 
$
4,573.6

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
 
 
 
Current liabilities:
 
 
 
Accounts payable
$
229.9

 
$
258.4

Accrued compensation and benefits
85.2

 
68.1

Other current liabilities
74.6

 
61.4

Total current liabilities
389.7

 
387.9

Long-term tax liabilities
310.5

 
92.9

Other long-term liabilities
31.7

 
27.1

Total liabilities
731.9

 
507.9

Commitments and contingencies (Note 12 and Note 13)


 


Stockholders’ equity:
 
 
 
Preferred stock, no par value: 25.0 shares authorized, no shares issued
—

 
—

Common stock, $0.25 par value: 525.0 shares authorized; 228.4 shares issued and 177.4 shares outstanding at September 28, 2018, and 226.0 shares issued and 183.1 shares outstanding at September 29, 2017
44.4

 
45.8

Additional paid-in capital
3,061.0

 
2,893.8

Treasury stock, at cost
(2,732.5
)
 
(1,925.0
)
Retained earnings
3,732.9

 
3,059.6

Accumulated other comprehensive loss
(8.8
)
 
(8.5
)
Total stockholders’ equity
4,097.0

 
4,065.7

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity
$
4,828.9

 
$
4,573.6


See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.


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SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(In millions)

 
Fiscal Years Ended
 
September 28,
2018
 
September 29,
2017
 
September 30,
2016
Cash flows from operating activities:
 
 
 
 
 
Net income
$
918.4

 
$
1,010.2

 
$
995.2

Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
 
 
 
 
 
Share-based compensation
107.8

 
88.5

 
78.0

Depreciation
272.5

 
227.2

 
214.4

Amortization of intangible assets
26.7

 
27.6

 
33.4

Deferred income taxes
27.3

 
2.2

 
—

Excess tax benefit from share-based compensation
—

 
(40.8
)
 
(43.7
)
    Changes in fair value of contingent consideration
(11.9
)
 
(1.3
)
 
—

Other
(0.7
)
 
0.3

 
0.3

Changes in assets and liabilities net of acquired balances:
 
 
 
 
 
Receivables, net
(193.8
)
 
(37.1
)
 
121.4

Inventory
11.9

 
(69.2
)
 
(147.3
)
Other current and long-term assets
(12.2
)
 
3.3

 
(20.4
)
Accounts payable
(126.0
)
 
147.8

 
(181.5
)
Other current and long-term liabilities
240.6

 
97.6

 
27.9

Net cash provided by operating activities
1,260.6

 
1,456.3

 
1,077.7

Cash flows from investing activities:
 
 
 
 
 
Capital expenditures
(422.3
)
 
(303.3
)
 
(189.3
)
Payments for acquisitions, net of cash acquired
(404.0
)
 
(13.7
)
 
(55.6
)
Purchased intangibles
(8.6
)
 
(12.1
)
 
(6.0
)
Purchases of marketable securities
(683.7
)
 
—

 
—

Sales and maturities of investments
368.2

 
3.2

 
—

Net cash used in investing activities
(1,150.4
)
 
(325.9
)
 
(250.9
)
Cash flows from financing activities:
 
 
 
 


Payments for obligations recorded for business combinations
—

 
—

 
(76.5
)
Excess tax benefit from share-based compensation
—

 
40.8

 
43.7

Repurchase of common stock - payroll tax withholdings on equity awards
(48.0
)
 
(49.2
)
 
(73.3
)
Repurchase of common stock - share repurchase program
(759.5
)
 
(432.3
)
 
(525.6
)
Dividends paid
(243.2
)
 
(214.6
)
 
(201.0
)
Net proceeds from exercise of stock options
38.8

 
53.8

 
28.1

Proceeds from employee stock purchase plan
18.2

 
15.0

 
18.0

Deferred payments for intangible assets
—

 
(5.5
)
 
—

Payments of contingent consideration
—

 
(5.4
)
 
—

Net cash used in financing activities
(993.7
)
 
(597.4
)
 
(786.6
)
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents
(883.5
)
 
533.0

 
40.2

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period
1,616.8

 
1,083.8

 
1,043.6

Cash and cash equivalents at end of period
$
733.3

 
$
1,616.8

 
$
1,083.8

Supplemental cash flow disclosures:
 
 
 
 


Income taxes paid
$
135.9

 
$
163.2

 
$
165.9

 
See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.


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SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
(In millions)
 
Shares of common stock
 
Par value of common stock
 
Shares of treasury stock
 
Value of treasury stock
 
Additional paid-in capital
 
Retained earnings
 
Accumulated other comprehensive loss
 
Total stockholders’ equity
Balance at October 2, 2015
190.3

 
$
47.6

 
28.7

 
$
(844.6
)
 
$
2,495.2

 
$
1,469.2

 
$
(8.2
)
 
$
3,159.2

Net income
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
995.2

 
—

 
995.2

Exercise and settlement of share based awards and related tax benefit, net of shares withheld for taxes
2.6

 
0.6

 
0.9

 
(73.3
)
 
109.1

 
—

 
—

 
36.4

Share-based compensation expense
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
79.7

 
—

 
—

 
79.7

Share repurchase program
(8.0
)
 
(2.0
)
 
8.0

 
(525.6
)
 
2.0

 
—

 
—

 
(525.6
)
Dividends declared
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
(200.8
)
 
—

 
(200.8
)
Other comprehensive loss
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
(2.7
)
 
(2.7
)
Balance at September 30, 2016
184.9

 
$
46.2

 
37.6

 
$
(1,443.5
)
 
$
2,686.0

 
$
2,263.6

 
$
(10.9
)
 
$
3,541.4

Net income
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
1,010.2

 
—

 
1,010.2

Exercise and settlement of share based awards and related tax benefit, net of shares withheld for taxes
2.9

 
0.7

 
0.6

 
(49.2
)
 
118.2

 
—

 
—

 
69.7

Share-based compensation expense
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
88.5

 
—

 
—

 
88.5

Share repurchase program
(4.7
)
 
(1.1
)
 
4.7

 
(432.3
)
 
1.1

 
—

 
—

 
(432.3
)
Dividends declared
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
(214.2
)
 
—

 
(214.2
)
Other comprehensive income
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
2.4

 
2.4

Balance at September 29, 2017
183.1

 
$
45.8

 
42.9

 
$
(1,925.0
)
 
$
2,893.8

 
$
3,059.6

 
$
(8.5
)
 
$
4,065.7

Net income
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
918.4

 
—

 
918.4

Exercise and settlement of share based awards, net of shares withheld for taxes
2.0

 
0.5

 
0.4

 
(48.0
)
 
57.8

 
—

 
—

 
10.3

Share-based compensation expense
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
107.3

 
(1.9
)
 
—

 
105.4

Share repurchase program
(7.7
)
 
(1.9
)
 
7.7

 
(759.5
)
 
1.9

 
—

 
—

 
(759.5
)
Dividends declared
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
(243.2
)
 
—

 
(243.2
)
Pre-combination service on replacement awards
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
0.2

 
—

 
—

 
0.2

Other comprehensive loss
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
—

 
(0.3
)
 
(0.3
)
Balance at September 28, 2018
177.4

 
$
44.4

 
51.0

 
$
(2,732.5
)
 
$
3,061.0

 
$
3,732.9

 
$
(8.8
)
 
$
4,097.0

 

See accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

40
Table of Contents

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1.     DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

Skyworks Solutions, Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries (“Skyworks” or the “Company”), is empowering the wireless networking revolution. The Company’s analog semiconductors are connecting people, places, and things, spanning a number of new applications within the aerospace, automotive, broadband, cellular infrastructure, connected home, industrial, medical, military, smartphone, tablet and wearable markets.


2.     SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

PRINCIPLES OF CONSOLIDATION
All Skyworks subsidiaries are included in the Company’s consolidated financial statements and all intercompany balances are eliminated in consolidation.

FISCAL YEAR
The Company’s fiscal year ends on the Friday closest to September 30. Fiscal 2018, 2017, and 2016 each consisted of 52 weeks and ended on September 28, 2018, September 29, 2017, and September 30, 2016, respectively.

USE OF ESTIMATES
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses, comprehensive income and accumulated other comprehensive loss during the reporting period. The Company evaluates its estimates on an ongoing basis using historical experience and other factors, including the current economic environment. Significant judgment is required in determining the reserves for and fair value of items such as overall fair value assessments of assets and liabilities, inventory, intangible assets associated with business combinations, share-based compensation, loss contingencies, and income taxes. In addition, significant judgment is required in determining whether a potential indicator of impairment of long-lived assets exists and in estimating future cash flows for any necessary impairment testing. Actual results could differ significantly from these estimates.

CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS
The Company invests excess cash in time deposits, certificate of deposits, money market funds, U.S. Treasury securities, agency securities, other government securities, corporate debt securities and commercial paper. The Company considers highly liquid investments with maturities of 90 days or less when purchased as cash equivalents.

ALLOWANCE FOR DOUBTFUL ACCOUNTS
The Company maintains general allowances for doubtful accounts related to potential losses that could arise due to customers’ inability to make required payments. These reserves require management to apply judgment in deriving these estimates. In addition, the Company performs ongoing credit evaluations of its customers’ financial condition and if it becomes aware of any specific receivables which may be uncollectable, it performs additional analysis including, but not limited to, factors such as a customer’s credit worthiness, intent and ability to pay and overall financial position, and reserves are recorded if deemed necessary. If the data the Company uses to calculate the allowance for doubtful accounts does not reflect the future ability to collect outstanding receivables, additional provisions for doubtful accounts may be needed and results of operations could be materially affected.

INVESTMENTS
The Company classifies its investment in marketable securities as “available-for-sale.” Available-for-sale securities are carried at fair value with unrealized holding gains or losses recorded in other comprehensive income. Gains or losses are included in earnings in the period in which they are realized.

FAIR VALUE
Fair value is defined as the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in the principle or most advantageous market in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Applicable accounting guidance provides a hierarchy for inputs used in measuring fair value that prioritize the use of observable inputs over the use of unobservable inputs, when such observable inputs are available. The three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value are as follows:

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Table of Contents


•
Level 1 - Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.
•
Level 2 - Observable inputs other than Level 1 prices, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities, quoted prices in markets with insufficient volume or infrequent transactions (less active markets), or model-driven valuations in which all significant inputs are observable or can be derived principally from, or corroborated with, observable market data.
•
Level 3 - Fair value is derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs are unobservable, including assumptions and judgments made by the Company.

It is the Company’s policy to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when developing fair value measurements. When available, the Company uses quoted market prices to measure fair value. If market prices are not available, the Company is required to make judgments about assumptions market participants would use to estimate the fair value of a financial instrument.

The Company measures certain assets and liabilities at fair value on a recurring basis in three levels, based on the market in which the assets and liabilities are traded and the reliability of the assumptions used to determine fair value. It recognizes transfers within the fair value hierarchy at the end of the fiscal quarter in which the change in circumstances that caused the transfer occurred.

The carrying value of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, other current assets, accounts payable and accrued liabilities approximates fair value due to the short-term maturities of these assets and liabilities.

INVENTORY
Inventory is stated at the lower of cost or net realizable value on a first-in, first-out basis. Reserves for excess and obsolete inventory are established on a quarterly basis and are based on a detailed analysis of aged material, forecasted demand in relation to on-hand inventory, salability of our inventory, general market conditions, and product life cycles. Once reserves are established, write-downs of inventory are considered permanent adjustments to the cost basis of inventory.

PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
Property, plant and equipment are carried at cost less accumulated depreciation, with significant renewals and betterments being capitalized and retired equipment written off in the respective periods. Maintenance and repairs are expensed as incurred.

Depreciation is calculated using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives, which range from five to thirty years for buildings and improvements and three to ten years for machinery and equipment. Leasehold improvements are depreciated over the lesser of the economic life or the life of the associated lease.

VALUATION OF LONG-LIVED ASSETS
Definite lived intangible assets are carried at cost less accumulated amortization. Amortization is calculated based on the pattern of benefit to be recognized from the underlying asset over its estimated useful life. Carrying values for long-lived assets and definite lived intangible assets are reviewed for possible impairment as circumstances warrant. Factors considered important that could result in an impairment review include significant underperformance relative to expected, historical or projected future operating results, significant changes in the manner of use of assets or the Company’s business strategy, or significant negative industry or economic trends. In addition, impairment reviews are conducted at the judgment of management whenever asset values are deemed to be unrecoverable relative to future undiscounted cash flows expected to be generated by that particular asset group. The determination of recoverability is based on an estimate of undiscounted cash flows expected to result from the use of an asset group and its eventual disposition. Such estimates require management to exercise judgment and make assumptions regarding factors such as future revenue streams, operating expenditures, cost allocation and asset utilization levels, all of which collectively impact future operating performance. The Company’s estimates of undiscounted cash flows may differ from actual cash flows due to, among other things, technological changes, economic conditions, changes to its business model or changes in its operating performance. If the sum of the undiscounted cash flows is less than the carrying value of an asset group, the Company would recognize an impairment loss, measured as the amount by which the carrying value exceeds the fair value of the asset group.

GOODWILL AND INDEFINITE-LIVED INTANGIBLE ASSETS
Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets are not amortized but are tested at least annually as of the first day of the fourth fiscal quarter for impairment or more frequently if indicators of impairment exist during the fiscal year. The Company assesses its conclusion regarding segments and reporting units in conjunction with its annual goodwill impairment test, and has determined that it has one reporting unit for the purposes of allocating and testing goodwill.


42
Table of Contents


The Company’s impairment analysis compares its fair value to its net book value to determine if there is an indicator of impairment. In the Company’s calculation of fair value, it considers the closing price of its common stock on the selected testing date, the number of shares of its common stock outstanding and other marketplace activity such as a related control premium. If the calculated fair value is determined to be less than the book value of the reporting unit, an impairment loss is recognized equal to that excess; however, the loss recognized should not exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. 

BUSINESS COMBINATIONS
The Company uses the acquisition method of accounting for business combinations and recognizes assets acquired and liabilities assumed at their fair values on the date acquired. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net assets. The fair values of the assets and liabilities acquired are determined based upon the Company’s valuation using a combination of market, income or cost approaches. The valuation involves making significant estimates and assumptions, which are based on detailed financial models including the projection of future cash flows, the weighted average cost of capital and any cost savings that are expected to be derived in the future from the viewpoint of a market participant.

EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT BENEFIT PLANS
The funded status of benefit pension plans, or the balance of plan assets and benefit obligations, is recognized on the consolidated balance sheet and pension liability adjustments, net of tax, are recorded in Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income. The Company determines discount rates considering the rates of return on high-quality fixed income investments, and the expected long-term rate of return on pension plan assets by considering the current and expected asset allocations, as well as historical and expected returns on various categories of plan assets. Decreases in discount rates lead to increases in benefit obligations that, in turn, could lead to an increase in amortization cost through amortization of actuarial gain or loss. A decline in the market values of plan assets will generally result in a lower expected rate of return, which would result in an increase of future retirement benefit costs.

REVENUE RECOGNITION
Revenue from product sales is recognized when there is persuasive evidence of an arrangement, the price to the buyer is fixed and determinable, delivery and transfer of title have occurred in accordance with the shipping terms specified in the arrangement with the customer and collectability is reasonably assured. Revenue from license fees and intellectual property is recognized when due and payable, and all other criteria previously noted have been met. The Company ships product on consignment to certain customers and only recognizes revenue when the customer notifies the Company that the inventory has been consumed. Revenue recognition is deferred in all instances where the earnings process is incomplete. Certain product sales are made to electronic component distributors under agreements allowing for price protection and stock rotation on unsold products. Reserves for sales returns and allowances are recorded based on historical experience or pursuant to contractual arrangements necessitating revenue reserves. Reserves for sales returns and allowances of $32.2 million and $14.7 million were recorded as of September 28, 2018 and September 29, 2017, respectively.

SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION
The Company recognizes compensation expense for all share-based payment awards made to employees and directors including non-qualified employee stock options, share awards and units, employee stock purchase plan and other special share-based awards based on estimated fair values.

The fair value of share-based payment awards is amortized over the requisite service period, which is defined as the period during which an employee is required to provide service in exchange for an award. The Company uses a straight-line attribution method for all grants that include only a service condition. Awards with both performance and service conditions are expensed over the service period for each separately vesting tranche.

Share-based compensation expense recognized during the period includes actual expense on vested awards and expense associated with unvested awards. Forfeitures are recorded as incurred.

The Company determines the fair value of share-based option awards based on the Company’s closing stock price on the date of grant using a Black-Scholes options pricing model. Under the Black-Scholes model, a number of variables are used including, but not limited to: the expected stock price volatility over the term of the award, the risk-free rate, the expected life of the award and dividend yield. The determination of fair value of restricted and certain performance share awards and units is based on the value of the Company’s stock on the date of grant with performance awards and units adjusted for the actual outcome of the underlying performance condition.


43
Table of Contents

For more complex performance awards including units with market-based performance conditions the Company employs a Monte Carlo simulation valuation method to calculate the fair value of the awards based on the most likely outcome. Under the Monte Carlo simulation, a number of highly complex and subjective variables are used including, but not limited to: the expected stock price volatility over the term of the award, a correlation coefficient, the risk-free rate, the expected life of the award, and dividend yield.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COSTS
Research and development costs are expensed as incurred.

LOSS CONTINGENCIES
The Company records its best estimates of a loss contingency when it is considered probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated. When a range of loss can be reasonably estimated with no best estimate in the range, the minimum estimated liability related to the claim is recorded. As additional information becomes available, the Company assesses the potential liability related to the potential pending loss contingency and revises its estimates. Loss contingencies are disclosed if there is at least a reasonable possibility that a loss or an additional loss may have been incurred and include estimated legal costs.
 
RESTRUCTURING
A liability for post-employment benefits is recorded when payment is probable, the amount is reasonably estimable, and the obligation relates to rights that have vested or accumulated. Contract exit costs include contract termination fees and future contractual commitments for lease payments. A liability for contract exit costs is recognized in the period in which the Company terminates the contract or on the cease-use date for leased facilities. 

FOREIGN CURRENCIES
The Company’s primary functional currency is the United States dollar. Gains and losses related to foreign currency transactions, conversion of foreign denominated cash balances and translation of foreign currency financial statements are included in current results. For certain foreign entities that utilize local currencies as their functional currency, the resulting unrealized translation gains and losses are reported as currency translation adjustment through other comprehensive income (loss) for each period.

INCOME TAXES
The Company uses the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes. Under the asset and liability method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax basis. This method also requires the recognition of future tax benefits such as net operating loss carry forwards, to the extent that realization of such benefits is more likely than not. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date.

The carrying value of the Company’s net deferred tax assets assumes the Company will be able to generate sufficient future taxable income in certain tax jurisdictions, based on estimates and assumptions. If these estimates and related assumptions change in the future, the Company may be required to record additional valuation allowances against its deferred tax assets resulting in additional income tax expense in its Consolidated Statement of Operations. Management evaluates the realizability of the deferred tax assets and assesses the adequacy of the valuation allowance quarterly. Likewise, in the event the Company were to determine that it would be able to realize its deferred tax assets in the future in excess of their net recorded amount, an adjustment to the deferred tax assets would increase income or decrease the carrying value of goodwill in the period such determination was made.

The determination of recording or releasing tax valuation allowances is made, in part, pursuant to an assessment performed by management regarding the likelihood that the Company will generate future taxable income against which benefits of its deferred tax assets may or may not be realized. This assessment requires management to exercise significant judgment and make estimates with respect to its ability to generate revenues, gross profits, operating income and taxable income in future periods. Amongst other factors, management must make assumptions regarding overall business and semiconductor industry conditions, operating efficiencies, the Company’s ability to develop products to its customers’ specifications, technological change, the competitive environment and changes in regulatory requirements which may impact its ability to generate taxable income and, in turn, realize the value of its deferred tax assets.

The calculation of the Company’s tax liabilities includes addressing uncertainties in the application of complex tax regulations and is based on the financial statement recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return.

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Table of Contents


The Company recognizes liabilities for anticipated tax audit issues in the United States and other tax jurisdictions based on its recognition threshold and measurement attribute of whether it is more likely than not that the positions the Company has taken in tax filings will be sustained upon tax audit, and the extent to which, additional taxes would be due. If payment of these amounts ultimately proves to be unnecessary, the reversal of the liabilities would result in tax benefits being recognized in the period in which it is determined the liabilities are no longer necessary. If the estimate of tax liabilities proves to be less than the ultimate assessment, a further charge to expense would result. The Company recognizes any interest or penalties, if incurred, on any unrecognized tax liabilities or benefits as a component of income tax expense.

EARNINGS PER SHARE
Basic earnings per share are computed using the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted earnings per share incorporate the potentially dilutive incremental shares issuable upon the assumed exercise of stock options, the assumed vesting of outstanding restricted stock units, and the assumed issuance of common stock under the stock purchase plan using the treasury share method.
      
RECENTLY ADOPTED ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS
In March 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-09, Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting (“ASU 2016-09”), which is intended to simplify several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, and classification on the statement of cash flows. The Company adopted ASU 2016-09 at the beginning of the first quarter of fiscal 2018. As a result of adoption, the Company recognized a discrete income tax benefit of $25.6 million to the income tax provision for excess tax benefits generated by the settlement of share-based awards during fiscal 2018. The adoption also resulted in an increase in cash flow from operations and a decrease of cash flow from financing of $25.6 million during fiscal 2018. Prior periods have not been adjusted.  The Company has elected to account for forfeitures as they occur and will no longer estimate future forfeitures.  The change in accounting for forfeitures was applied using a modified retrospective transition method and resulted in a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of the beginning of the first quarter of fiscal 2018 in the amount of $1.9 million.  Forfeitures in the future will now be recorded as a benefit in the period they are realized.

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-04, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment (“ASU 2017-04”). This ASU simplifies the subsequent measurement of goodwill and eliminates Step 2 from the goodwill impairment test. The annual or interim goodwill impairment test is performed by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount, and an impairment charge should be recognized for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value; however, the loss recognized should not exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. In addition, income tax effects from any tax deductible goodwill on the carrying amount of the reporting unit should be considered when measuring the goodwill impairment loss, if applicable. The Company early adopted ASU 2017-04 during the second quarter of fiscal 2018 and applied it prospectively, as permitted by the standard. The adoption of this standard did not impact the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS
In August 2015, the FASB deferred the effective date of ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606) (“ASU 2014-09”), which outlines a single comprehensive model for entities to use in accounting for revenue arising from contracts with customers and will supersede most current revenue recognition guidance. The new guidance is required to be applied retrospectively to each prior reporting period presented or retrospectively with the cumulative effect of initially applying it recognized at the date of initial application. The Company will adopt this guidance during the first quarter of fiscal 2019 and will apply the modified retrospective approach, with the cumulative effect of applying the new guidance recognized as an adjustment to the opening retained earnings balance. The Company has established a cross-functional team to assess the potential impact of the new revenue standard. The assessment process consists of reviewing the Company’s current accounting policies and practices to identify potential differences that would result from applying the requirements of the new standard to its revenue contracts and identifying appropriate changes to the business processes, systems and controls to support revenue recognition and disclosure requirements under the new standard. The Company has determined the impact of the new revenue standard on its business processes, systems, controls and consolidated financial statements is not material.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) (“ASU 2016-02”). This ASU requires lessees to reflect most leases on their balance sheet as assets and obligations. The effective date for the standard is for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted. The standard is to be applied under the modified retrospective method, with elective reliefs, which requires application of the new guidance for all periods presented. The Company is currently evaluating the effect that ASU 2016-02 will have on the consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

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In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230), (“ASU 2016-15”). This ASU provides guidance on the presentation and classification of specific cash flow items to improve consistency within the statement of cash flows. The effective date for the standard is for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, with early adoption permitted. The Company will early adopt ASU 2016-15 during the first quarter of fiscal 2019 and does not expect it to have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

In October 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-16, Income Taxes (Topic 740), Intra-entity Transfers of an Asset Other than Inventory (“ASU 2016-16”). This ASU provides guidance that changes the accounting for income tax effects of intra-entity transfers of assets other than inventory. Under the new guidance, the selling (transferring) entity is required to recognize a current tax expense or benefit upon transfer of the asset. Similarly, the purchasing (receiving) entity is required to recognize a deferred tax asset or deferred tax liability, as well as the related deferred tax benefit or expense, upon receipt of the asset. The effective date for the standard is for fiscal years beginning after December, 15, 2017, on a modified retrospective basis, and early adoption is permitted. The Company will early adopt ASU 2016-16 during the first quarter of fiscal 2019 and does not expect it to have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

In May 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-09, Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718), Scope of Modification Accounting (“ASU 2017-09”). This ASU provides guidance about which changes to the terms or conditions of a share-based payment award require an entity to apply modification accounting in Topic 718. The effective date for the standard is for interim periods in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017, with early adoption permitted, including adoption in any interim period for which financial statements have not yet been issued. The Company will early adopt ASU 2017-09 during the first quarter of fiscal 2019 and does not expect it to have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (Topic 320), (“ASU 2016-13”). This ASU requires a financial asset (or a group of financial assets) measured on the basis of amortized cost to be presented at the net amount expected to be collected. This ASU requires that the income statement reflect the measurement of credit losses for newly recognized financial assets as well as the expected increases or decreases of expected credit losses that have taken place during the period. This ASU requires that credit losses of debt securities designated as available-for-sale be recorded through an allowance for credit losses. The ASU also limits the credit loss to the amount by which fair value is below amortized cost. This ASU will be effective for the Company in the first quarter of 2021, with early adoption permitted. This ASU requires modified retrospective adoption, with prospective adoption for debt securities for which an other-than-temporary impairment had been recognized before the effective date. The Company is currently evaluating the effect ASU 2016-13 will have on the consolidated financial statements.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-01, Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities (Topic 320), (“ASU 2016-01”). This ASU provides guidance for the recognition, measurement, presentation, and disclosure of financial assets and liabilities. This ASU will be effective for the Company in the first quarter of fiscal 2019 and requires modified retrospective adoption, with prospective adoption for amendments related to equity securities without readily determinable fair values. The Company is evaluating the effect ASU 2016-01 will have on the consolidated financial statements.

In June 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-07, Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718), Improvements to Nonemployee Share-based Payments (“ASU 2018-07”). This ASU expands the scope of Topic 718 to include share-based payment transactions for acquiring goods and services from nonemployees. The effective date for the standard is for interim periods in fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted, but no earlier than the Company's adoption date of Topic 606. The new guidance is required to be applied retrospectively with the cumulative effect recognized at the date of initial application. The Company will early adopt ASU 2018-07 during the first quarter of fiscal 2019 and does not expect it to have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, Fair Value Measurement - Disclosure Framework (Topic 820), (“ASU 2018-13”). The updated guidance improves the disclosure requirements on fair value measurements. The updated guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted for any removed or modified disclosures. The Company early adopted the removed or modified disclosures in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 and is currently assessing the timing and impact of adopting the updated provisions.

There have been no other recent accounting pronouncements or changes in accounting pronouncements that are of significance, or potential significance, to the Company.



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Supplemental Cash Flow Information

As of September 28, 2018, the Company had $13.9 million accrued to other long-term liabilities for capital equipment, and $94.1 million accrued to accounts payable for capital equipment. These amounts accrued for capital equipment purchases have been excluded from the consolidated statements of cash flows for fiscal 2018 and are expected to be paid in subsequent periods. The prior period amount under the description “Proceeds from employee stock purchase plan” has been reclassified from net cash provided by operating activities to net cash used in financing activities.


3.    BUSINESS COMBINATIONS


On August 17, 2018, the Company completed its acquisition of Avnera Corporation (“Avnera”). Avnera designs and develops analog system-on-chip (“SoC”) technology products for audio, speech, sensor and artificial intelligence (“AI”) applications. The Company acquired Avnera to expand its leadership in wireless connectivity by adding ultra-low power analog circuits to enable smart interfaces via acoustic signal processing, sensors and integrated software. The acquisition of Avnera is expected to enable the Company to capitalize on the rapid proliferation of audio functionality and its convergence with its advanced connectivity solutions.

The Company acquired the business for total cash consideration, net of cash acquired, of $404.0 million together with future contingent payments for a total aggregated fair value of $407.1 million. The future contingent consideration payments range from zero to $20.0 million and are based upon the achievement of specified revenue objectives that are payable up to one fiscal year from the anniversary of the acquisition, which at closing had a total estimated fair value of $3.1 million.

Net revenue and net income from this acquisition has been included in the Consolidated Statements of Operations from the acquisition date through the end of the fiscal year on September 28, 2018, and the impact of the acquisition to the ongoing operations on the Company’s net revenue and net income was not material. The Company incurred immaterial transaction-related costs during the fiscal year ended September 28, 2018, which were included within the selling, administrative and general expense.

The allocation of the purchase price to the assets and liabilities recognized in the Company’s acquisition of Avnera was considered final at the time of filing this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The allocation of the purchase price is based on the estimated fair values of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed by major class related to the Avnera acquisition and are reflected, as of the acquisition date, in the accompanying financial statements as follows (in millions):

 
 
As of
Estimated fair value of assets acquired, net of cash
 
August 17,
2018
Accounts receivable
 
$
7.3

Inventory, including step up
 
9.8

Property, plant and equipment
 
1.5

Other assets
 
11.7

Intangible assets
 
94.0

Goodwill
 
306.8

Liabilities assumed
 
(24.0
)
Estimated fair value of net assets acquired
 
$
407.1


Goodwill is primarily attributable to the assembled workforce and Company specific revenue synergies expected from the integration of the Avnera business. This goodwill will not be deductible for tax purposes.


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As of
Intangible Assets
 
August 17,
2018
Developed technology
 
$
37.3

Customer relationships and backlog
 
10.4

Tradename
 
0.3

Total identified finite-lived intangible assets
 
48.0

In process research and development
 
46.0

Total identified intangible assets
 
$
94.0



Developed technology relates to SoC-based wireless audio solutions and sound processors. Developed technology was valued using the multi-period excess earnings method under the income approach. This method reflects the present value of the projected cash flows that are expected to be generated by the developed technology less charges representing the contribution of other assets to those cash flows. The economic useful life of two years was determined based on the technology cycle related to each developed technology, as well as the cash flows over the forecast period.

Customer relationships and backlog represent the fair value of future projected revenue that will be derived from sales of products to existing customers of Avnera. Customer relationships and backlog were valued using the with-and-without method under the income approach. In the with-and-without method, the fair value was measured by the difference between the present values of the cash flows with and without the existing customers in place over the period of time necessary to reacquire the customers. The economic useful life of one year was determined based on historical customer acquisition rates.

Tradename relates to the “Avnera” trade name. The fair value was determined by applying the relief-from-royalty method under the income approach. This method is based on the application of a market royalty rate to forecasted revenue under the trade name.

The fair value of in-process research and development, or IPR&D, was determined using the multi-period excess earnings method under the income approach. This method reflects the present value of the projected cash flows that are expected to be generated by the IPR&D, less charges representing the contribution of other assets to those cash flows.

The unaudited pro forma financial results for the fiscal years ended September 28, 2018, and September 29, 2017, combine the unaudited historical results of Skyworks with the unaudited historical results of Avnera for the fiscal years ended September 28, 2018, and September 29, 2017, respectively. The results include the effects of unaudited pro forma adjustments as if Avnera was acquired at the beginning of the prior fiscal year. The unaudited pro forma results presented include amortization charges for acquired intangible assets, adjustments for increases in the fair value of acquired inventory, other charges and related tax effects. The pro forma financial results presented below do not include any anticipated synergies or other expected benefits of the acquisition. These unaudited results are presented for informational purposes only and are not necessarily indicative of future operations (in millions, except per share amounts):

 
 
Fiscal Years-Ended