UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
| ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the fiscal year ended April 2 , 2022
or
| 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 001-36801
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | ||||||||||
| (Address of principal executive office) | (Zip Code) | ||||||||||
(336 ) 664-1233
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
| Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: | ||||||||||||||
| Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered | ||||||||||||
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes þ No ¨
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ¨ No þ
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. Yes þ 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 (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes þ No ¨
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.
| þ | Accelerated filer | |||||||||||||
| Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | ||||||||||||
| Emerging growth company | ||||||||||||||
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. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☑
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No þ
The aggregate market value of the registrant's common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $18,621,370,109 as of October 2, 2021. For purposes of such calculation, shares of common stock held by persons who held more than 10% of the outstanding shares of common stock and shares held by directors and officers of the registrant and their immediate family members have been excluded because such persons may be deemed to be affiliates. This determination is not necessarily conclusive.
As of May 13, 2022, there were 106,027,384 shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
QORVO, INC. FORM 10-K FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED APRIL 2, 2022 TABLE OF CONTENTS | ||||||||
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PART IV | ||||||||
| Item 15. | ||||||||
| Item 16. | Form 10-K Summary. | |||||||
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In this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the words "Qorvo," "we," "our," "ours" and "us" refer only to Qorvo, Inc. and its subsidiaries and not any other person or entity. The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Forward-Looking Information
This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, particularly in Item 1: "Business," Item 1A: "Risk Factors" and Item 7: "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our plans, objectives, representations and contentions, and are not historical facts and typically are identified by the use of terms such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "forecast," "predict," "potential," "continue" and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. Additionally, statements concerning future matters such as our future business, prospects, results of operations, financial condition or research and development or technology investments; new or enhanced products, services or technologies; emerging industries or business models; design wins or product launches; industry, market or technology trends, dynamics or transitions, such as the transition to 5G; potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, legal or regulatory matters, U.S./China trade, the conflict in Ukraine, or national security tensions; vertical integration by our customers; competition; and other statements regarding matters that are not historical are also forward-looking statements.
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. Material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are summarized and disclosed under "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this Annual Report. Readers are cautioned to review carefully and consider the various disclosures made in this Annual Report, which attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors that may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS.
Company Overview
Qorvo® is a global leader in the development and commercialization of technologies and products for wireless, wired and power markets.
We have two reportable segments: Mobile Products ("MP") and Infrastructure and Defense Products ("IDP"). MP is a global supplier of cellular, ultra-wideband 802.15.4z ("UWB"), Wi-Fi and other wireless solutions for a variety of applications, including smartphones, wearables, laptops, tablets and the Internet of Things ("IoT"). IDP is a global supplier of radio frequency ("RF"), system-on-a-chip ("SoC") and power management solutions for a wide range of markets, including cellular and IT infrastructure, automotive, renewable energy, defense and IoT. Our MP segment supplies RF solutions to global consumer product companies, and our IDP segment supplies a more diverse portfolio of products with generally longer life cycles to a broader base of customers and end markets.
Our design expertise and manufacturing capabilities span multiple process technologies. Our primary wafer fabrication facilities are in North Carolina, Oregon and Texas. Our primary assembly and test facilities are in China, Costa Rica, Germany and Texas. We also source products and materials through external suppliers. We have design, sales and other manufacturing facilities throughout Asia, Europe and North America.
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In addition to organic growth, our strategy may include the acquisition of businesses, assets and technologies that allow us to complement our existing product offerings and design capabilities to drive growth in new or existing markets. During fiscal 2022, we acquired United Silicon Carbide, Inc. ("United SiC"), a provider of silicon carbide ("SiC") power products, and NextInput, Inc. ("NextInput"), a provider of microelectromechanical system ("MEMS")-based sensing products.
Industry Trends, Markets and Products
Global demand for wireless and wired connectivity, supported by the proliferation of smarter, data-driven, connected devices in a variety of form factors, is increasing network data traffic and raising requirements for throughput and efficiency. At the same time, global environmental initiatives and technology advancements related to energy efficiency, sustainability and conservation are driving investments across a range of consumer and industrial applications that demand maximum power efficiency, including in electric vehicles ("EVs") and renewable energy systems. These trends support multiyear technology upgrade cycles in our markets and increase the demand for our technologies and products.
Our business is diversified primarily across the following end markets: mobile devices, cellular base stations, power management and conversion, wireless connectivity, defense and aerospace, automotive connectivity and other markets. To solve our customers’ most critical RF and power-related challenges, our products enhance performance, improve efficiency, increase functionality, reduce complexity, enable smaller form factors and address other critical challenges.
Mobile Devices
Qorvo’s largest market is mobile devices, which is a global market characterized by large volumes. It includes smartphones, wearables, laptops, tablets and other devices.
Advances in mobile devices have transformed how end users around the world access content, interact with their physical and virtual communities and transact commerce. Mobile devices are migrating to 5G architectures and technologies which increase data throughput, reduce signal latency and enable massive machine-to-machine connectivity. 5G devices operate over a wide range of frequencies and face challenges related to efficiency, linearity, signal coexistence, signal integrity and form factor. 5G architectures are more complex and include Multiple-Input/Multiple-Output ("MIMO"), secondary transmit, higher frequencies with wider bandwidths and new receive paths featuring carrier aggregation. In each instance, the increased functionality and greater complexity increase RF content and favor high performance and highly integrated solutions.
Mobile device original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs") are adopting UWB technology to enhance functionality, including indoor navigation and secure remote access, leveraging UWB's precision-location accuracy. They are also seeking to adopt force-sensing touch sensor technology to enhance human-machine touch interfaces, create new consumer experiences and advance industrial design.
Qorvo’s products for mobile devices include highly integrated RF solutions which incorporate filters, switches, amplifiers, multiplexers and other components in a single package. Our product portfolio also includes RF power management integrated circuits, UWB SoC and system-in-package ("SiP") solutions, MEMS-based sensors, antenna tuners, antennaplexers, as well as discrete multiplexers, duplexers, filters, and switches.
Cellular Base Stations
Operators of cellular base stations are migrating to 5G in order to increase capacity, expand coverage and lower the cost per bit of data delivered. This is enabling new data-driven intelligent applications that combine global hyper-connectivity with artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities. New use cases include industrial automation, robotics, remote medical care, autonomous vehicles and augmented reality/virtual reality ("AR/VR").
5G networks operate over a wide range of frequencies, and deployments can vary with spectrum allocation, regional demographics, geopolitical considerations and other factors. In the U.S., the completion of C-band auctions signaled the start of significant growth for base stations in the sub-7 GHz frequency range. Many of these base stations will be configured with massive MIMO active antenna arrays which increase the number of RF transmit and receive channels. Base stations operating over millimeter wave frequencies are also being deployed to address the capacity requirements in high-density environments and improve applications such as fixed wireless access.
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The continuing migration to 5G is increasing the content opportunity for Qorvo’s high-performance infrastructure products, including those featuring our gallium nitride ("GaN"), gallium arsenide ("GaAs") and bulk acoustic wave ("BAW") technologies. Qorvo supports the world’s leading cellular base station OEMs with a broad portfolio of infrastructure solutions to address requirements for increased data capacity and throughput and improved efficiency. Qorvo’s products for cellular base stations include switch-low noise amplifier ("LNA") modules, variable gain amplifiers, integrated power amplifier ("PA") Doherty modules, discrete LNAs and high power GaN amplifiers.
Power Management and Conversion
Power efficiency is a core requirement in all electronics, and power management and power conversion are critical to enhancing efficiency. Industry trends in EVs/hybrid-EVs, renewable energy systems, battery-operated portable devices, EV chargers/on-board chargers, data storage, circuit protection and similar applications, are sharpening the focus on power efficiency and increasing the demand for our power management and power conversion solutions.
Qorvo’s SiC power devices provide state-of-the-art efficiency in a range of power conversion applications. Our SiC portfolio includes Schottky diodes and transistors ranging in voltage from 650V to 1700V. Power levels vary from 650 watts to hundreds of kilowatts, and markets include automotive, industrial, IT infrastructure and renewable energy.
Qorvo’s power management solutions include programmable power management integrated circuits ("ICs") and power application controllers (PACs®). Our programmable power management ICs provide customers digital and analog power control. They reduce solution size, lower cost, improve system reliability and shorten our customers’ product development time. Our power management products manage voltages from 1.8V to 600V and power up to 4,000 watts.
Wireless Connectivity
The proliferation of data-driven connected devices that sense, process and communicate is increasing demand for wireless connectivity solutions that improve speed, capacity and efficiency. Use cases in consumer, commercial and industrial IoT applications include connected cars, cloud gaming, AR/VR, telemedicine and factory automation. Each benefit from faster throughput, lower latency, more security, greater reliability and smaller form factors.
IoT connected devices allow remote access and control of various functions, including entertainment, comfort, security, energy usage and health or general status monitoring, in home and office environments. These devices can be controlled through a computer, tablet or smartphone, or through a more direct peer-to-peer device such as a voice-enabled remote control.
In Wi-Fi, new standards feature higher order MIMO architectures and offer greater range and capacity. The adoption of new standards, such as 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6), Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7, increases data throughput and enable new use cases. In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission approved the use of 5.9 GHz to 7.1 GHz spectrum for Wi-Fi 6E, and countries outside the U.S. are also making spectrum available for Wi-Fi 6E. The upcoming Wi-Fi 7 standard will double the channel bandwidth and number of spatial streams available with Wi-Fi 6E and use multi-link operation to combine portions of the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands into a single link. This will enable faster speeds over longer distances than previous standards. As standards and architectures evolve, requirements increase for more functional and more highly integrated RF front end solutions. Qorvo’s Wi-Fi portfolio includes PAs, switches, LNAs and BAW filters, as well as integrated solutions including front end modules ("FEMs") and integrated FEMs.
In lower power applications, smart device OEMs increasingly prefer multi-protocol integrated SoCs that enable multiple radios to connect concurrently. The coexistence of low power wireless protocols, such as Bluetooth Low Energy, Zigbee, and Thread, in single-placement SoCs reduces form factor, extends battery life and advances the proliferation of IoT devices. Similarly, Matter is an open and universal smart home protocol expected to simplify and accelerate interoperability across IoT devices and platforms. Lastly, new use cases leveraging the ultra-precise location accuracy and secure access enabled by UWB are advancing the proliferation of UWB in a widening range of applications.
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These trends are increasing demand for Qorvo’s low power wireless and UWB solutions. Qorvo offers multi-standard (Bluetooth Low Energy, Zigbee and Thread) SoC solutions and single standard UWB SoC and SiP solutions, consisting of SoC hardware, firmware and application software.
Defense and Aerospace
Within the defense and aerospace markets, we focus primarily on high-power phased array radar, electronic military applications and communications systems. The trend toward phased array radar, the shift to higher frequencies and the sharing of existing frequency bands with cellular communications are expanding the content opportunity for Qorvo’s high-performance defense RF technologies and solutions. We are a leading supplier of RF products and compound semiconductor foundry services to defense primes and other global defense and aerospace customers. We also engage directly with defense customers to develop next-generation semiconductor and packaging technologies.
Our power amplifiers support phased array radars and communication systems. Our solid-state, high-power products provide highly reliable, efficient broadband solutions for complex applications across a broad frequency spectrum. Our premium filters optimize frequency spectrum to expand network capacity and extend coverage. We also offer industry-leading standard products and integrated multi-chip modules such as LNAs, mixers, phase shifters, switches, multiplexers and attenuators.
Automotive Connectivity
The automotive industry continues to adopt advanced connectivity and compute technologies. Next-generation wireless technologies are enabling new use cases in automotive wireless connectivity, including vehicle-to-everything ("V2X") applications that enable direct, high-speed communication. These new use cases require complex RF solutions supporting a range of wireless technologies, including cellular, Wi-Fi, GPS, satellite radio and UWB. UWB enables more secure access than current technologies, helping to prevent so-called "man-in-the-middle" or "relay" attacks.
We provide a variety of automotive RF connectivity products, including BAW filters, LNAs, switches, PAs and front-end solutions as well as UWB SoC solutions. Our products meet or exceed automotive AEC-Q100 quality and reliability standards, and our customers include the leading automotive OEMs, tier-1 suppliers and chipset vendors.
Other Markets
Other markets in which we compete include broadband cable and biotechnology testing. In broadband cable, our DOCSIS solutions increase bandwidth to the home to optimize upstream and downstream data connectivity. In biotechnology testing, we have developed a proprietary BAW-based diagnostic test platform which received an Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in fiscal 2022.
Research and Development
We invest in research and development ("R&D") to develop advanced technologies and products to best serve our markets. Our R&D activities support large competitive design win opportunities for major programs at key customers, which require best-in-class performance, size, cost and functional density. We also invest in R&D to develop new products for broader market applications. Our R&D efforts require us to focus on both continuous improvement and innovation in fundamental areas including materials, software, semiconductor process technologies, simulation and modeling, systems architecture, circuit design, device packaging, module integration and test.
We have developed multiple generations of GaAs, GaN, BAW and surface acoustic wave ("SAW") process technologies that we manufacture. We invest in these technologies to improve device performance, reduce die size and reduce manufacturing costs. We also source technologies in cooperation with key suppliers, including silicon on insulator ("SOI") for switches and tuners, silicon germanium ("SiGe") for amplifiers, complementary metal oxide semiconductor ("CMOS") for power management devices and SoC solutions, MEMS technology for switches and force-sensing and SiC for high voltage power conversion devices. We combine these technologies with proprietary design methods, intellectual property ("IP") and other expertise to improve performance, increase integration and reduce the size and cost of our products.
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We develop and qualify advanced packaging technologies to reduce component size, improve performance and reduce package costs. We also invest in large scale module assembly and test capabilities to bring these technologies to market in very high volumes.
Raw Materials and Manufacturing
We purchase numerous raw materials and parts, such as silicon, passive components and substrates, for our manufacturing processes. In our GaN and GaAs manufacturing operations, we use several raw materials, including GaN on SiC wafers and GaAs wafers. In our acoustic filter manufacturing operations, raw materials include silicon, lithium niobate and lithium tantalate.
We procure our materials, parts and supplies from a large number of sources through established purchase contracts with suppliers or on a purchase order basis. As the semiconductor industry continued to experience supply constraints for certain items during fiscal 2022, we have entered into certain supply agreements to address short- and long-term supply requirements.
Our manufacturing strategy includes a balance of internal and external capacity. Our manufacturing sites are geographically distributed, as are our suppliers. We routinely qualify additional manufacturing sites and sources of supply to reduce the risk of supply interruptions or price increases, and we closely monitor our suppliers’ key performance indicators. We seek to ensure that materials and manufacturing services are available from multiple sources and geographic locations.
The majority of our products are multi-chip modules utilizing multiple semiconductor and acoustic material processing technologies. These products have varying degrees of complexity and contain semiconductors and other components that are manufactured internally or sourced from outside supply chain partners.
We operate fabrication facilities for the production of BAW, GaN, GaAs, SAW and Temperature Compensated SAW wafers in North Carolina, Oregon and Texas. We also use multiple silicon-based process technologies, including SOI, SiGe and bulk CMOS, which are principally sourced from leading silicon foundries located throughout the world. We have a global supply chain and ship millions of units per day.
We have our own flip chip, wire bond and wafer-level packaging technologies. We primarily use internal assembly facilities in China, Costa Rica, Germany and the U.S., and we also use external suppliers for these and other packaging technologies.
Manufacturing yields can vary significantly between products, based on a number of factors, including product complexity, performance requirements and the maturity of our manufacturing processes. To maximize wafer yields and quality, we test products multiple times, maintain continuous reliability monitoring and conduct numerous quality control inspections throughout the production flow.
Our internal manufacturing facilities require a high level of fixed costs, consisting primarily of occupancy costs, maintenance, repair, equipment depreciation, and labor costs related to manufacturing and process engineering.
Semiconductor fabrication requires highly controlled and clean environments. Die on a wafer can be found to be nonfunctional or wafers can be rejected due to a number of reasons, including minute impurities, variances in the fabrication process or defects in the masks used to transfer circuit patterns onto the wafers.
Our manufacturing facilities worldwide are certified to the International Organization for Standardization ("ISO") 9001 quality standard, and select locations are certified to additional automotive (IATF 16949), aerospace (AS 9100) and environmental (ISO 14001) standards. These stringent standards are audited and certified by third-party auditors in addition to our continuous internal self-audits. The ISO 9001 standard is based on a number of quality management principles including a strong customer focus, the motivation of top management, the process approach and continual improvement. IATF 16949 is the highest international quality standard for the global automotive industry and incorporates specific additional requirements for the automotive industry. AS 9100 is the standardized quality management system for the aerospace industry. ISO 14001 is an internationally agreed upon standard for an environmental management system. We require that all of our key vendors and suppliers be compliant with applicable standards.
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Customers
We design, develop, manufacture and market products for leading U.S. and international OEMs and original design manufacturers ("ODMs"). We also collaborate with leading reference design partners.
We provide products to our largest end customer, Apple Inc. ("Apple"), through sales to multiple contract manufacturers, which in the aggregate accounted for 33% and 30% of total revenue in fiscal years 2022 and 2021, respectively. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. ("Samsung") accounted for 11% and 7% of total revenue in fiscal years 2022 and 2021, respectively. These customers primarily purchase RF solutions for a variety of mobile devices.
Sales and Marketing
We sell our products worldwide both directly to customers and through a network of U.S. and foreign sales representative firms and distributors. We select our sales representatives based on technical skills and sales experience, the presence of complementary product lines and the customer base served. We provide ongoing educational training about our products to our internal and external sales representatives and distributors. We maintain an internal sales and marketing organization that is responsible for key account management, application engineering support for customers, sales and advertising literature, and technical presentations for industry conferences. Our sales and customer support centers are located near our customers throughout the world.
Our website contains extensive product information and includes an online store where customers can learn about our products, download product catalogs, order product samples and request evaluation boards. Our global team of application engineers interacts with customers during all stages of design and production, maintains regular contact with customer engineers, provides product application notes and engineering data, and assists in the resolution of technical problems. We maintain close relationships with our customers and chipset suppliers and provide them strong technical support to enhance their customer experience and help anticipate future product needs.
Seasonality
Our sales are the result of standard purchase orders or specific agreements with customers. Our revenue fluctuates based on consumer demand for devices as well as the timing of customer device launches. Other factors such as macroeconomic effects and the timing of the next generation of technologies can also impact the fluctuations in demand.
Competition
We operate in a competitive industry generally characterized by rapid advances in technology and new product introductions. Our customers’ product life cycles can be short, and our competitiveness depends on our ability to improve our products and processes faster than our competitors, anticipate changing customer requirements and successfully develop and launch new products while reducing our costs. Our competitiveness is also affected by the quality of our customer service and technical support and our ability to design customized products that address each customer’s particular requirements. The selection process for our products is highly competitive, and our customers provide no guarantees that our products will be included in the next-generation of products introduced.
MP competes primarily with Broadcom Inc.; Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.; NXP Semiconductors N.V.; Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.; and Skyworks Solutions, Inc. IDP competes primarily with Analog Devices, Inc.; Broadcom Inc.; Infineon Technologies AG; MACOM Technology Solutions Inc.; Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.; Nordic Semiconductor; NXP Semiconductors N.V.; ON Semiconductor Corporation; Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.; Silicon Laboratories Inc.; Skyworks Solutions, Inc.; STMicroelectronics N.V.; Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations; and Wolfspeed, Inc.
Many of our current and potential competitors have entrenched market positions and customer relationships, established patents and other IP and substantial technological capabilities. In some cases, our competitors are also our customers or suppliers. Additionally, many of our competitors may have significant financial, technical, manufacturing and marketing resources, which may allow them to more quickly implement new technologies and develop new products.
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Intellectual Property
Our IP, including patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets, is important to our business, and we actively seek opportunities to leverage our IP portfolio to promote our business interests. We also actively monitor and protect our global IP rights to deter unauthorized use of our IP and other assets. These efforts can be difficult because of the absence of consistent international standards and laws. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect IP rights to the same extent as U.S. laws. We respect the IP rights of others and have implemented policies and procedures to mitigate the risk of infringing or misappropriating third-party IP.
Patent applications are filed within the U.S. and in other countries where we have a market presence. On occasion, some applications do not mature into patents for various reasons, including rejections based on prior art. We have approximately 2,200 patents that expire from 2022 to 2041. We also continue to acquire patents through acquisitions or direct prosecution efforts and engage in licensing transactions to secure the right to use third-parties’ patents. In view of our rapid innovation and product development and the comparative pace of governments’ patenting processes, there is no guarantee that our products will not be obsolete before the related patents expire or are granted. However, we believe the duration and scope of our most relevant patents are sufficient to support our business, which as a whole is not significantly dependent on any particular patent or other IP right. As we expand our products and offerings, we also seek to expand our patent prosecution efforts to cover such products.
We periodically register federal trademarks, service marks and trade names that distinguish our product brand names in the market. We also monitor these marks for their proper and intended use. Additionally, we rely on non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements to protect our interest in confidential and proprietary information that gives us a competitive advantage, including business strategies, unpatented inventions, designs and process technology. Such information is closely monitored and made available only to those employees whose responsibilities require access to the information.
Human Capital
We believe that our employees are our greatest assets, and we must continue to attract, develop, retain and motivate our employees to remain competitive and execute our business strategy. We strive to meet these objectives by offering competitive pay and benefits in a diverse, inclusive and safe workplace and by providing opportunities for our employees to grow and develop their careers.
As of April 2, 2022, we employed over 8,900 full and part-time employees in 22 countries. By region, approximately 57% of our total employees were in the Americas, 37% in Asia and 6% in Europe. Approximately 60% of our global population was in engineering or technician roles.
Competitive Pay and Benefits
We provide compensation and benefits packages that we believe are competitive within the applicable market. We use a combination of compensation and other programs (which vary by region and salary grade) to attract, motivate and retain our employees, including semiannual performance bonuses, stock awards, an employee stock purchase plan, retirement programs, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off, family leave, family care resources, flexible work schedules, employee assistance programs, tuition assistance, health and wellness benefits and programs, and on-site fitness centers. We benchmark our compensation and benefits packages annually to ensure we remain competitive with our peers and continue to attract and retain talent throughout our organization.
Employee Recruitment, Retention and Development
We are committed to recruiting, hiring, retaining, promoting and engaging a diverse workforce to best serve our global customers. We have established relationships with professional associations and industry groups to proactively attract talent, and we partner with universities for our internship program. We believe that our commitment to our internship program and university partnerships contributes to developing the next generation of talent, including engineers in our industry, and provides a pipeline of recent college graduates into our talent pool. We offered both remote and hybrid internship opportunities during the last two fiscal years that enabled us to continue building our talent pipeline despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
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We support a high-performance culture through learning and development solutions aligned with our strategic priorities. We offer e-learning libraries and on-demand training that provide our employees with real-time learning opportunities to help them achieve their career goals, build management skills and lead their organizations.
We believe our competitive compensation and benefits programs, along with career growth and development opportunities promote longer employee tenure and reduce turnover. We monitor employee turnover rates as our success depends upon retaining and investing in our worldwide talent. Our global attrition rate has consistently been below the technology industry average.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
At Qorvo, we value diversity, equity and inclusion and respect the unique talents, experiences, cultures and ideas of our global team members. Diversity and inclusion principles are threaded across the entire company, and employees are equipped with the knowledge and capabilities to welcome and embrace diversity and advocate for inclusion. Through employee-driven groups called Qorvo Employee Networks, our employees have an opportunity to connect through shared interests and goals and spur growth through professional and personal development. Our efforts to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace include partnering with organizations in our surrounding communities that advocate for gender, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic, disability and LGBTQ+ equality. These and other efforts help promote an inclusive workplace of talented employees and drive employee engagement.
Safety, Health and Wellness
We are a member of the Responsible Business Alliance ("RBA"), an industry coalition dedicated to driving sustainable value for workers in global supply chains, among other things. As a member of the RBA, we have adopted the RBA Code of Conduct, which establishes standards to ensure that working conditions are safe, that employees are treated with respect and dignity, and that business operations are environmentally responsible and conducted ethically. The RBA Code of Conduct has been reflected in our employee policies and procedures.
We prioritize safe working conditions for our employees as well as our on-site contractors and visitors. We are committed to an injury-free workplace and provide dedicated workplace training and leadership support to reduce or eliminate health and safety risks. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we instituted comprehensive safety protocols for all Qorvo facilities. We successfully transitioned a considerable number of our employees to work from home, and we invested in additional wellness benefits, including reimbursement programs to help employees improve home workspaces. In fiscal 2022, we achieved our safety goal for the fourth consecutive year, while providing a safe working environment for our many essential workers on-site through the COVID-19 pandemic. As we make plans to transition to return to the office, we will provide our employees with work arrangements that support flexibility, while maintaining our strong culture of innovation, collaboration, openness and camaraderie, in addition to a safe working environment for our employees.
The success of our business is fundamentally connected to the well-being of our employees. We provide our employees and their families access to a variety of health and wellness programs that support their physical and mental health. These programs provide tools and resources that emphasize preventive care, encourage healthy behaviors, such as health coaches and wellness incentives, and are designed to help cultivate a productive work environment, while also focusing on the well-being of our employees.
Government Regulations
We are subject to a variety of extensive and changing domestic and international federal, state and local governmental laws, regulations and ordinances related to the discharge of pollutants into the environment; the treatment, transport, and disposal of hazardous waste; recycling and product packaging; worker health and safety; and other activities affecting the environment, our workforce, and the management of our manufacturing operations.
We continuously improve the environmental aspects of our manufacturing processes and are dedicated to:
•providing a safe and healthy work environment for our employees;
•complying with regulatory and other requirements;
•using natural resources, energy, and materials efficiently;
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•substituting sustainable resources in place of non-renewable resources;
•reusing or recycling materials wherever technically possible and economically reasonable;
•minimizing waste and disposing of waste safely and responsibly;
•sourcing raw material responsibly; and
•implementing specific measures to prevent and minimize hazards to humans and the environment including pollution prevention.
We believe that our operations and facilities comply in all material respects with applicable environmental laws and worker health and safety laws, and our efforts help to ensure that our products are compliant with the requirements of the markets into which the products will be sold and with our customers’ requirements. For example, our products are compliant with the European Union RoHS Directive (2011/65/EU on the Restriction of Use of Hazardous Substances), which prohibits the sale in the European Union market of new electrical and electronic equipment containing certain families of substances above a specified threshold. We are an ISO 14001:2015 certified manufacturer with a comprehensive Environmental Management System ("EMS") in place to help ensure control of the environmental aspects of the manufacturing process. Our EMS mandates compliance and establishes appropriate checks and balances to minimize the potential for non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations.
We are also subject to import/export controls, tariffs and other trade-related regulations and restrictions in countries in which we have operations or otherwise do business. These controls, tariffs, regulations, and restrictions (including those related to, or affected by, United States-China relations, as discussed below in Item 1A, "Risk Factors") may have a material impact on our business, including our ability to sell products and to manufacture or source components.
Government regulations are subject to change, and accordingly we are unable to assess the possible effect of compliance with future requirements or whether our compliance with such regulations will materially impact our business, results of operations or financial condition.
Cybersecurity
Qorvo’s cybersecurity program is built around the ISO and National Institute for Standards and Technology frameworks. Cybersecurity risks are routinely identified in the Qorvo Enterprise Risk Management Program and cybersecurity assessment and planning. Senior management and the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors receives regular briefings on cybersecurity matters. Qorvo’s cybersecurity program includes, but is not limited to:
•annual cybersecurity budget planning across all information technology disciplines;
•enterprise security policies and procedures that guide our protection strategy;
•a combination of broad cybersecurity training (all employees) and targeted training for specific sensitive roles and functions;
•prioritization of system and process criticality to apply enhanced security protections to the most business-critical areas of the company;
•reviewing and continually monitoring the security posture of critical third parties (e.g., suppliers and service providers);
•exercising Qorvo’s preparedness for incidents through incident response exercises and root cause analysis of actual and near-miss incidents;
•integration of in-house cybersecurity services with third-party security service providers; and
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•regular internal and external cybersecurity audits and assessments, at the direction of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.
Access to Public Information
We make available, free of charge through our website (https://www.qorvo.com), our annual and quarterly reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q (including exhibits and related filings in iXBRL format) and current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act") as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file these reports with, or furnish them to, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The SEC maintains a website at https://www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The public may also request a copy of our forms filed with the SEC, without charge upon written request, directed to:
Investor Relations Department
Qorvo, Inc., 7628 Thorndike Road, Greensboro, NC 27409-9421
The information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference or considered to be a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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 material risks to our business at this time, may impair our business operations, financial condition, or results of operations.
Risk Factors Summary
The following is a summary of the principal risks that could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
•Our operating results fluctuate and are substantially dependent on developing new products and achieving design wins as our customers' requirements can change rapidly and product life cycles can be short.
•We depend on several large customers for a substantial portion of our revenue and the loss of one or more of these customers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
•We face risks of a loss of revenue if contracts with the United States government or defense and aerospace contractors are canceled or delayed or if defense spending is reduced.
•We may be subject to continued volatility and uncertainty in customer demand, worldwide economies and financial markets resulting from the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
•We depend heavily on third parties.
•We face risks related to sales through distributors.
•We face risks associated with the operation of our manufacturing facilities, and if we experience poor manufacturing yields, our operating results may suffer.
•We are subject to inventory risks and costs because we purchase materials and build our products based on forecasts provided by customers before receiving purchase orders for the products.
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•We sell certain of our products based on reference designs of chipset suppliers, and our inability to effectively manage or maintain our evolving relationships with these companies may have an adverse effect on our business.
•We are subject to risks from international sales and operations.
•We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our debt or to fund capital expenditures and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our debt obligations and financing requirements, which may not be successful or on terms favorable to us.
•Our acquisitions and other strategic investments could fail to achieve our financial or strategic objectives, disrupt our ongoing business, and adversely impact our results of operations.
•In order to compete, we must attract, retain, and motivate key employees, and our failure to do so could harm our business and our results of operations.
•We rely on our intellectual property portfolio and may not be able to successfully protect against the use of our intellectual property by third parties, and we may be subject to claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights.
•Security breaches and other disruptions could compromise our proprietary information, expose us to liability or disrupt our ability to operate critical business functions, which would cause our business and reputation to suffer.
For a more complete discussion of the material risks facing our business, see below.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
Our operating results fluctuate.
Our revenue, earnings, margins and other operating results have fluctuated significantly in the past and may fluctuate significantly in the future. If demand for our products fluctuates as a result of economic conditions or for other reasons, our revenue and profitability could be impacted. Our future operating results will depend on many factors, including the following:
•business and macroeconomic changes, including trade restrictions and recession or slowing growth in the semiconductor industry and the overall global economy;
•political and/or civil unrest, acts of war or other military actions, including any resulting sanctions or other restrictive actions;
•changes in consumer confidence caused by many factors, including changes in interest rates, credit markets, unemployment levels, energy or other commodity prices as well as changes in existing and expected rates of inflation;
•fluctuations in demand for our customers’ products;
•our ability to forecast our customers’ demand for our products accurately;
•the ability of third-party foundries and other third-party suppliers to manufacture, assemble and test our products and otherwise deliver on their commitments to us in a timely and cost-effective manner;
•our customers’ and distributors’ ability to manage the inventory that they hold and to forecast accurately their demand for our products;
•delays in the widespread deployment of commercial 5G networks or in consumer adoption of 5G-enabled devices;
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•our ability to achieve cost savings and improve yields and margins on our new and existing products;
•our ability to successfully integrate into our business, and realize the expected benefits of, our acquisitions and strategic investments; and
•our ability to utilize our capacity efficiently or to acquire additional capacity in response to customer demand.
Our operating results have been and our future operating results could be adversely affected by one or more of the factors set forth above or other similar factors. If our future operating results are below the expectations of stock market analysts or our investors, our stock price may decline.
Our operating results are substantially dependent on developing new products and achieving design wins as our customers' requirements can change rapidly and product life cycles can be short.
Our largest markets are characterized by the frequent introduction of new products in response to evolving product requirements, driven by end user demand for more functionality, improved performance, lower costs and a variety of form factors. Our largest MP customers typically refresh some or all of their product portfolios by releasing new models each year. In some cases, product designs we pursue represent either opportunities to substantially increase our revenue by winning a new design or a risk of a substantial decrease in revenue by losing a product on which we are the incumbent.
Our success depends on our ability to develop and introduce new products in a timely and cost-effective manner and secure production orders from our customers. The development of new products is a highly complex process, and we have experienced delays in completing the development and introduction of new products at times. Our successful product development depends on a number of factors, including the following:
•our ability to predict market requirements and define and design new products that address those requirements;
•our ability to design products that meet our customers’ cost, size and performance requirements;
•our ability to introduce new products that are competitive and can be manufactured at lower costs or that command higher prices based on superior performance;
•acceptance of our new product designs;
•the availability of qualified product design engineers;
•our timely completion of product designs and ramp up of new products according to our customers’ needs with acceptable manufacturing yields; and
•market acceptance of our customers’ products and the duration of the life cycle of such products.
We may not be able to design and introduce new products in a timely or cost-efficient manner, and our new products may fail to meet market or customer requirements. Most major product design opportunities that we pursue involve multiple competitors, and we could lose a new product design opportunity to a competitor that offers a lower cost or equal or superior performance. If we are unsuccessful in achieving design wins, our revenue and operating results will be adversely affected. Even when a design win is achieved, our success is not assured. Design wins may require significant expenditures by us and typically precede a higher volume revenue by six to nine months or more. Many customers seek a second source for all major components in their devices, which can significantly reduce the revenue obtained from a design win. In many cases, the average selling prices of our products decline over the products’ lives, and we must achieve yield improvements, cost reductions and other productivity enhancements in order to maintain profitability. The actual value of a design win to us will ultimately depend on the commercial success of our customers’ products.
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We depend on several large customers for a substantial portion of our revenue and the loss of one or more of these customers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
A substantial portion of our MP revenue is currently from several large customers. Our future operating results will be affected by both the success of our largest customers and on our success in diversifying our products and customer base. Collectively, our two largest end customers accounted for an aggregate of approximately 44%, 39% and 43% of our revenue for fiscal years 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively. If demand for their products increases, our results are favorably impacted, while if demand for their products decreases, they may reduce their purchases of, or stop purchasing, our products and our operating results would suffer. Even if we achieve a design win, our customers can delay or cancel the release of a new handset for any reason. Most of our customers can cease incorporating our products into their devices with little notice to us and with little or no penalty. The loss of a large customer and failure to add new customers to replace lost revenue would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We face risks of a loss of revenue if contracts with the United States government or defense and aerospace contractors are canceled or delayed or if defense spending is reduced.
We receive a portion of our revenue from the United States government and from prime contractors on United States government-sponsored programs, principally for defense and aerospace applications. These programs are subject to delays or cancellation. Further, spending on defense and aerospace programs can vary significantly depending on funding from the United States government. We believe our government and defense and aerospace business has been negatively affected in the past by external factors such as sequestration and political pressure to reduce federal defense spending. Reductions in defense and aerospace funding or the loss of a significant defense and aerospace program or contract would have a material adverse effect on our operating results.
We may be subject to continued volatility and uncertainty in customer demand, worldwide economies and financial markets resulting from the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused government authorities to implement numerous public health measures, including quarantines, business closures, travel bans and lockdowns to contain the virus. We have experienced and expect to continue to experience disruptions to our business as these measures have, and may continue to have, an effect on our customer demand and operations.
The COVID-19 pandemic (including the recent COVID-19 lockdowns in China) has been a contributing factor of the semiconductor industry supply constraints and may continue to cause volatility and uncertainty in customer demand, worldwide economies and financial markets. We have experienced, and may continue to experience, disruptions to our supply chain and increased costs in connection with our sources of materials, components, logistics services and other services caused in part by the pandemic. To date, any negative impact of COVID-19 on the overall demand for our products, cash flows from operations, need for capital expenditures and our liquidity position has been limited, although we are addressing capacity constraints in our supply chain.
The spread of COVID-19 caused us to modify our business practices (including employee travel, employee work locations, and cancellation of events and conferences), and we may reinstitute these and take further actions as may be required by government authorities or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, customers, partners, and suppliers. There is no certainty that such measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks posed by the virus, and our ability to perform critical functions could be harmed.
The degree to which COVID-19 and its variants impact our results will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including, but not limited to, the duration and spread of the pandemic, its severity, and the actions to contain the virus or immunize against or treat its impact.
We depend heavily on third parties.
We purchase numerous component parts, substrates and silicon-based products from external suppliers. We also utilize third-party suppliers for numerous services, including die processing, wafer bumping, test and tape and reel. The use of external suppliers involves a number of risks, including the possibility of material disruptions in the
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supply of key components and the lack of control over delivery schedules, capacity constraints, manufacturing yields, product quality and cost increases. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic and related supply chain disruptions and labor market constraints have created heightened risk that external suppliers may be unable to meet their obligations to us. If we experience any significant difficulty in obtaining the materials or services used in the conduct of our business, these supply challenges may limit our ability to fully satisfy customer demand.
As the semiconductor industry continued to experience supply constraints for certain items during fiscal 2022, we have entered into certain supply agreements to address short- and long-term supply requirements. However, even with supply agreements, we are still subject to risks that a supplier will be unable to meet its supply commitments, achieve anticipated manufacturing yields, produce wafers on a timely basis, or provide additional wafer capacity beyond its current contractual commitments sufficient to meet our supply needs. If so, we may experience delays in product launches or supply shortages for certain products, which could cause an unanticipated decline in our sales and damage our existing customer relationships and our ability to establish new customer relationships. In addition, if a supplier experiences financial difficulties or goes into bankruptcy, it could be difficult or impossible, or may require substantial time and expense, for us to recover any or all of our fees and deposits made as part of any supply agreement.
Although our key suppliers commit to us to be compliant with applicable ISO 9001 and/or TS-16949 quality standards, we have experienced quality and reliability issues with suppliers in the past. Quality or reliability issues in our supply chain could negatively affect our products, our reputation and our results of operations.
We face risks related to sales through distributors.
We sell a significant portion of our products through third-party distributors. We depend on these distributors to help us create end customer demand, provide technical support and other value-added services to customers, fill customer orders, and stock our products. We may rely on one or more key distributors for a product, and a material change in our relationship with one or more of these distributors or their failure to perform as expected could reduce our revenue. Our ability to add or replace distributors for some of our products may be limited because our end customers may be hesitant to accept the addition or replacement of a distributor due to advantages in the incumbent distributors’ technical support and favorable business terms related to payments, discounts and stocking of acceptable inventory levels. Using third parties for distribution exposes us to many risks, including competitive pressure, concentration, credit risk, and compliance risks. Other third parties may use one of our distributors to sell products that compete with our products, and we may need to provide financial and other incentives to the distributors to focus them on the sale of our products. Our distributors may face financial difficulties, including bankruptcy, which could harm our collection of accounts receivable and financial results. Violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or similar laws by our distributors or other third-party intermediaries could have a material impact on our business. Failure to manage risks related to our use of distributors may reduce sales, increase expenses, and weaken our competitive position.
We face risks associated with the operation of our manufacturing facilities.
We operate wafer fabrication facilities in North Carolina, Oregon and Texas. We currently use several international and domestic assembly suppliers, as well as internal assembly facilities in China, Costa Rica, Germany and the U.S., to assemble and test our products. We currently have our own test and tape and reel facilities located in China, Costa Rica and the U.S., and we also utilize contract suppliers and partners in Asia to test our products.
A number of factors related to our facilities will affect our business and financial results, including the following:
•our ability to adjust production capacity in a timely fashion in response to changes in demand for our products;
•the significant fixed costs of operating the facilities;
•factory utilization rates;
•our ability to qualify our facilities for new products and new technologies in a timely manner;
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•the availability of raw materials, the impact of the volatility of commodity pricing and tariffs imposed on raw materials, including substrates, gold, platinum and high purity source materials such as gallium, aluminum, arsenic, indium, silicon, phosphorous and palladium;
•our manufacturing cycle times;
•our manufacturing yields;
•the political, regulatory and economic risks associated with our international manufacturing operations;
•potential violations by our international employees or third-party agents of international or U.S. laws relevant to foreign operations;
•our ability to hire, train and manage qualified production personnel;
•our compliance with applicable environmental and other laws and regulations; and
•our ability to avoid prolonged periods of down-time in our facilities for any reason, including but not limited to, COVID-19.
Business disruptions could harm our business, lead to a decline in revenues and increase our costs.
Our worldwide operations and business could be, and in some cases have been, disrupted by natural disasters, industrial accidents, cybersecurity incidents, telecommunications failures, power or water shortages, extreme weather conditions, public health issues (including the COVID-19 pandemic), terrorist attacks, political and/or civil unrest, acts of war or other military actions, political or regulatory issues and other man-made disasters or catastrophic events. Global climate change could result in certain natural disasters occurring more frequently or with greater intensity, such as drought, wildfires, storms and flooding. We carry commercial property damage and business interruption insurance against various risks, with limits we deem adequate, for reimbursement for damage to our fixed assets and resulting disruption of our operations. However, the occurrence of any of these business disruptions could harm our business and result in significant losses, a decline in revenue and an increase in our costs and expenses. Any disruptions from these events could require substantial expenditures and recovery time in order to fully resume operations and could also have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial results to the extent that losses are uninsured or exceed insurance recoveries and to the extent that such disruptions adversely impact our relationships with our customers. Furthermore, even if our own operations are unaffected or recover quickly, if our customers or suppliers cannot timely resume their own operations due to a business disruption, natural disaster or catastrophic event, customers may reduce or cancel their orders and suppliers may delay manufacturing and delivery of our products, which may adversely affect our results of operations.
If we experience poor manufacturing yields, our operating results may suffer.
Our products have unique designs and are fabricated using multiple process technologies that are highly complex. In many cases, our products are assembled in customized packages. Many of our products consist of multiple components in a single module and feature enhanced levels of integration and complexity. Our customers insist that our products be designed to meet their exact specifications for quality, performance and reliability. Our manufacturing yield is a combination of yields across the entire supply chain, including wafer fabrication, assembly and test yields. Defects in a single component in an assembled module product can impact the yield for the entire module, which means the adverse economic impacts of an individual defect can be multiplied many times over if we fail to discover the defect before the module is assembled. Due to the complexity of our products, we periodically experience difficulties in achieving acceptable yields and other quality issues, particularly with respect to new products. Furthermore, as our customers test our products once assembled into their products, we may be exposed to additional quality issues and costs.
The number of usable products that result from our production process can fluctuate as a result of many factors, including:
•design errors;
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•defects in photomasks (which are used to print circuits on a wafer);
•minute impurities and variations in materials used;
•contamination of the manufacturing environment;
•equipment failure or variations in the manufacturing processes;
•losses from broken wafers or other human error; and
•defects in substrates and packaging.
We constantly seek to improve our manufacturing yields. Typically, for a given level of sales, when our yields improve, our gross margins improve, and when our yields decrease, our unit costs are higher, our margins are lower, and our operating results are adversely affected. Costs of product defects and deviations from required specifications include the following:
•writing off inventory;
•scrapping products that cannot be reworked;
•accepting returns of products that have been shipped;
•providing product replacements at no charge;
•reimbursement of direct and indirect costs incurred by our customers in recalling or reworking their products due to defects in our products;
•travel and personnel costs to investigate potential product quality issues and to identify or confirm the failure mechanism or root cause of product defects; and
•defending against litigation.
These costs could be significant and could reduce our gross margins. Our reputation with customers also could be damaged as a result of product defects and quality issues, and product demand could be reduced, which could harm our business and financial results.
We are subject to inventory risks and costs because we purchase materials and build our products based on forecasts provided by customers before receiving purchase orders for the products.
In order to ensure availability of our products for some of our largest end customers, we purchase materials and start manufacturing certain products in advance of receiving purchase orders based on forecasts provided by these customers. However, these forecasts do not represent binding purchase commitments and we do not recognize sales for these products until they are shipped to or consumed by the customer. As a result, we incur significant inventory and manufacturing costs in advance of anticipated sales. For example, amidst ongoing industry-wide supply constraints, we entered into a capacity reservation agreement with a foundry supplier during the second quarter ended October 2, 2021. Under the agreement we are required to purchase, and the supplier is required to supply, a certain number of wafers for calendar years 2022 through 2025. See Note 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information. Because demand for our products may not materialize, or may be lower than expected, purchasing materials and manufacturing based on forecasts subjects us to heightened risks of higher inventory carrying costs, increased obsolescence and higher operating costs. These inventory risks are exacerbated when our customers purchase indirectly through contract manufacturers or hold component inventory levels greater than their consumption rate because this reduces our visibility regarding the customers’ accumulated levels of inventory. If product demand decreases or we fail to forecast demand accurately, we could be required to write off inventory, which would have a negative impact on our gross margin and other operating results.
In order to ensure availability of our products for some of our largest end customers, we purchase materials and start manufacturing certain products in advance of receiving purchase orders based on forecasts provided by these customers. However, these forecasts do not represent binding purchase commitments and we do not recognize sales for these products until they are shipped to or consumed by the customer. As a result, we incur significant inventory and manufacturing costs in advance of anticipated sales. For example, amidst ongoing industry-wide supply constraints, we entered into a capacity reservation agreement with a foundry supplier during the second quarter ended October 2, 2021. Under the agreement we are required to purchase, and the supplier is required to supply, a certain number of wafers for calendar years 2022 through 2025. See Note 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information. Because demand for our products may not materialize, or may be lower than expected, purchasing materials and manufacturing based on forecasts subjects us to heightened risks of higher inventory carrying costs, increased obsolescence and higher operating costs. These inventory risks are exacerbated when our customers purchase indirectly through contract manufacturers or hold component inventory levels greater than their consumption rate because this reduces our visibility regarding the customers’ accumulated levels of inventory. If product demand decreases or we fail to forecast demand accurately, we could be required to write off inventory, which would have a negative impact on our gross margin and other operating results.
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We sell certain of our products based on reference designs of chipset suppliers, and our inability to effectively manage or maintain our evolving relationships with these companies may have an adverse effect on our business.
Chipset suppliers are typically large companies that provide system reference designs for OEMs and ODMs that include the chipset supplier's baseband and other complementary products. A chipset supplier may own or control IP that gives it a strong market position for its baseband products for certain air interface standards, which provides it with significant influence and control over sales of RF products for these standards. Chipset suppliers historically looked to us and our competitors to provide RF products to their customers as part of the overall system design, and we competed with other RF companies to have our products included in the chipset supplier's system reference design. This market dynamic has evolved as chipset suppliers have worked to develop more fully integrated solutions that include their own RF technologies and components.
Chipset suppliers may be in a different business from ours or we may be their customer or direct competitor. Accordingly, we must balance our interest in obtaining new business with competitive and other factors. Because chipset suppliers control the overall system reference design, if they offer competitive RF technologies or their own RF solutions as a part of their reference design and exclude our products from the design, we are at a distinct competitive disadvantage with OEMs and ODMs that are seeking a turn-key design solution, even if our products offer superior performance. This requires us to work more closely with OEMs and ODMs to secure the design of our products in their handsets and other devices.
Our relationships with chipset suppliers are complex and evolving, and the inability to effectively manage or maintain these relationships could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We operate in a very competitive industry and must continue to innovate.
We compete with several companies primarily engaged in the business of designing, manufacturing and selling RF solutions, as well as suppliers of discrete integrated circuits and modules. In addition to our direct competitors, some of our largest end customers and leading platform partners also compete with us to some extent by designing and manufacturing their own products. Increased competition from any source could adversely affect our operating results through lower prices for our products, reduced demand for our products, losses of existing design slots with key customers and a corresponding reduction in our ability to recover development, engineering and manufacturing costs.
Many of our existing and potential competitors have entrenched market positions, historical affiliations with OEMs, considerable internal manufacturing capacity, established IP rights and substantial technological capabilities. The semiconductor industry has experienced increased industry consolidation over the last several years, a trend we expect to continue. Many of our existing and potential competitors may have greater financial, technical, manufacturing or marketing resources than we do. We cannot be sure that we will be able to compete successfully with our competitors.
Overcapacity could cause us to underutilize our manufacturing facilities and have a material adverse effect on our financial performance.
It is difficult to predict future demand for our products, which makes it difficult to estimate future requirements for production capacity and avoid periods of overcapacity. Fluctuations in the growth rate of industry capacity relative to the growth rate in demand for our products also can lead to overcapacity and contribute to cyclicality in the semiconductor market.
Capacity expansion projects have long lead times and require capital commitments based on forecasted product trends and demand well in advance of production orders from customers. In recent years, we have made significant capital investments to expand our premium filter capacity to address forecasted future demand patterns. In certain cases, these capacity additions exceeded the near-term demand requirements, leading to overcapacity situations and underutilization of our manufacturing facilities.
As many of our manufacturing costs are fixed, these costs cannot be reduced in proportion to the reduced revenues experienced during periods of underutilization. Underutilization of our manufacturing facilities can adversely affect
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our gross margin and other operating results. If demand for our products experiences a prolonged decrease, we may be required to close or idle facilities and write down our long-lived assets or shorten the useful lives of underutilized assets and accelerate depreciation, which would increase our expenses. For example, to address manufacturing overcapacity, in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 we commenced a phased closure of a SAW filter manufacturing facility in Florida and a transfer of production to our North Carolina facility, which was completed in fiscal 2020. In fiscal 2021, we temporarily idled a BAW manufacturing facility in Texas. These actions resulted in impairment charges, accelerated depreciation and other restructuring related charges and expenses.
Unfavorable changes in interest rates, pricing of certain precious metals, utility rates and foreign currency exchange rates may adversely affect our financial condition, liquidity and results of operations.
We may utilize hedging strategies from time to time to mitigate the impact due to underlying exposures such as interest rates, precious metal prices, utility rates, or currency exchange rates. However, the impact from these underlying exposures cannot always be predicted or hedged, and there can be no assurance that our hedging strategies will be effective in minimizing risk.
Our acquisitions and other strategic investments could fail to achieve our financial or strategic objectives, disrupt our ongoing business, and adversely impact our results of operations.
As part of our business strategy, we expect to continue to review potential acquisitions and strategic investments that could complement our current product offerings, augment our market coverage or enhance our technical capabilities, or that may otherwise offer growth or margin improvement opportunities. In the event of future acquisitions of businesses, products or technologies, we could issue equity securities that would dilute our current stockholders’ ownership, incur substantial debt or other financial obligations or assume contingent liabilities. Such actions could harm our results of operations or the price of our common stock. Acquisitions and strategic investments also entail numerous other risks that could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, including:
•failure to complete a transaction in a timely manner, if at all, due to our inability to obtain required government or other approvals, IP disputes or other litigation, difficulty in obtaining financing on terms acceptable to us, or other unforeseen factors;
•controls, processes, and procedures of an acquired business may not adequately ensure compliance with laws and regulations, and we may fail to identify compliance issues or liabilities;
•unanticipated costs, capital expenditures or working capital requirements;
•acquisition-related charges and amortization of acquired technology and other intangibles;
•the potential loss of key employees from a company we acquire or in which we invest;
•diversion of management’s attention from our business;
•disruption of our ongoing operations;
•dis-synergies or other harm to existing business relationships with suppliers and customers;
•losses or impairment of investments from unsuccessful research and development by companies in which we invest;
•failure to successfully integrate acquired businesses, operations, products, technologies and personnel; and
•unrealized expected synergies.
Moreover, our resources are limited and our decision to pursue a transaction has opportunity costs; accordingly, if we pursue a particular transaction, we may need to forgo the prospect of entering into other transactions that could
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help us achieve our financial or strategic objectives. Any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, or cash flows, particularly in the case of a large acquisition.
In order to compete, we must attract, retain, and motivate key employees, and our failure to do so could harm our business and our results of operations.
In order to compete effectively, we must hire and retain qualified employees, continue to develop leaders for key business units and functions, expand our presence in international locations and adapt to cultural norms of foreign locations and train and motivate our employee base. Labor is further subject to external factors that are beyond our control, including our industry's highly competitive market for skilled workers and leaders, cost inflation, the COVID-19 pandemic and workforce participation rates. Our future operating results and success depend on keeping key technical personnel and management and expanding our sales and marketing, R&D and administrative support. We do not have employment agreements with the vast majority of our employees. We must also continue to attract qualified personnel. The competition for qualified personnel is intense, and the number of people with experience, particularly in RF engineering, software engineering, integrated circuit and filter design, and technical marketing and support, is limited. In addition, existing or new immigration laws, policies or regulations in the U.S. may limit 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, operate as a global company or service our international customer base. Changes in the interpretation and application of employment-related laws to our workforce practices may also result in increased operating costs and less flexibility in how we meet our changing workforce needs. We cannot be sure that we will be able to attract and retain skilled personnel in the future, which could harm our business and our results of operations.
We are subject to warranty claims, product recalls and product liability.
From time to time, we may be subject to warranty or product liability claims that could lead to significant expense. We may also be exposed to such claims as a result of any acquisition we may undertake in the future. Although we maintain reserves for reasonably estimable liabilities and purchase product liability insurance, we may elect to self-insure with respect to certain matters and our reserves may be inadequate to cover the uninsured portion of such claims.
Product liability insurance is subject to significant deductibles, and such insurance may be unavailable or inadequate to protect against all claims. If one of our customers recalls a product containing one of our devices, we may incur significant costs and expenses, including replacement costs, direct and indirect product recall-related costs, diversion of technical and other resources and reputational harm. Our customer contracts typically contain warranty and indemnification provisions, and in certain cases may also contain liquidated damages provisions, relating to product quality issues. The potential liabilities associated with such provisions are significant, and in some cases, including in agreements with some of our largest end customers, are potentially unlimited. Any such liabilities may greatly exceed any revenue we receive from sale of the relevant products. Costs, payments or damages incurred or paid by us in connection with warranty and product liability claims and product recalls could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Changes in our effective tax rate may adversely impact our results of operations.
We are subject to taxation in China, Germany, Singapore, the U.S. and numerous other foreign jurisdictions. Our effective tax rate is subject to fluctuations and impacted by a number of factors, including the following:
•changes in our overall profitability and the amount of profit determined to be earned and taxed in jurisdictions with differing statutory tax rates;
•the resolution of issues arising from tax audits with various tax authorities, including those described in Note 13 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements;
•changes in the valuation of either our gross deferred tax assets or gross deferred tax liabilities;
•adjustments to income taxes upon finalization of various tax returns;
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•changes in expenses not deductible for tax purposes;
•changes in available tax credits; and
•changes in tax laws, domestic and foreign, or the interpretation of such tax laws, and changes in generally accepted accounting principles.
Any significant increase in our future effective tax rates could reduce net income for future periods.
Changes in the favorable tax status of our subsidiaries in Costa Rica and Singapore would have an adverse impact on our operating results.
Our subsidiaries in Costa Rica and Singapore have been granted tax holidays that minimize our tax expense and that are expected to be effective through December 2027 and December 2031, respectively. In their efforts to deal with budget deficits, governments around the world are focusing on increasing tax revenues through increased audits and, potentially, increased tax rates for corporations. As part of this effort, governments continue to review their policies on granting tax holidays. Future changes in the status of either tax holiday could have a negative effect on our net income in future years.
The enactment of international or domestic tax legislation, or changes in regulatory guidance, may adversely impact our results of operations.
Corporate tax reform, base-erosion efforts, and increased tax transparency continue to be high priorities in many tax jurisdictions in which we have business operations. In 2017, the U.S. enacted comprehensive tax legislation, commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Tax Act"), which included a number of changes to U.S. tax laws that impacted us, including the one-time transition tax on certain unrepatriated earnings of foreign subsidiaries (the "Transitional Repatriation Tax") and the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income ("GILTI") provisions. In addition, other countries are beginning to implement legislation and other guidance to align their international tax rules with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting recommendations and action plan, which aim to standardize and modernize global corporate tax policy, including changes to cross-border tax, transfer pricing documentation rules, nexus-based tax incentive practices, allocating greater taxing rights to countries where customers are located, and establishing a minimum tax on global income. Legislative changes, interpretations and guidance, and changes in prior tax rulings and decisions by tax authorities regarding treatments and positions of corporate income taxes resulting from these initiatives, could increase tax uncertainty, increase our effective tax rate, and result in taxes we previously paid being subject to change, which may adversely impact our financial position and results of operations.
We are subject to risks associated with environmental, health and safety regulations, including those related to climate change.
We are subject to a broad array of U.S. and foreign environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. These laws and regulations include those related to the use, transportation, storage, handling, emission, discharge and recycling or disposal of hazardous materials used in our manufacturing, assembly and testing processes. Our failure to comply with any of these existing or future laws or regulations could result in:
•regulatory penalties and fines;
•legal liabilities, including financial responsibility for remedial measures if our properties are contaminated;
•expenses to secure required permits and governmental approvals;
•reputational damage;
•suspension or curtailment of our manufacturing, assembly and test processes; and
•increased costs to acquire pollution abatement or remediation equipment or to modify our equipment, facilities or manufacturing processes to bring them into compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
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Existing and future environmental laws and regulations could also impact our product designs and limit or restrict the materials or components that are included in our products. In addition, many of our largest end customers require us to comply with corporate social responsibility policies, which often include employment, health, safety, environmental and other requirements that exceed applicable legal requirements. Further, an increasing number of investors are also expecting companies to disclose environmental, social and governance ("ESG") policies, practices and metrics, on topics such as climate change, carbon emissions, water usage, waste management, and human capital. Compliance with these policies increases our operating expenses, and non-compliance can adversely affect customer and investor relationships and harm our business and the price of our common stock.
Regulations in the U.S. currently 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. We may face challenges with government regulators and our customers and suppliers if we are unable to sufficiently make any required determination that the metals used in our products are conflict free.
New climate change laws and regulations could require us to change our manufacturing processes or procure substitute raw materials that may cost more or be more difficult to procure. In addition, new restrictions on emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases could result in increased costs for us and our suppliers. 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. Future compliance with these laws and regulations, as well as meeting related customer and investor expectations, may adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our International Sales and Operations
We are subject to risks from international sales and operations.
We operate globally with sales offices and R&D activities as well as manufacturing, assembly and test facilities in multiple countries, and some of our business activities are concentrated in Asia. As a result, we are subject to regulatory, geopolitical and other risks associated with doing business outside the U.S., including:
•global and local economic, social and political conditions and uncertainty;
•currency controls and currency exchange rate fluctuations;
•inflation, as well as changes in existing and expected rates of inflation, which vary across the jurisdictions in which we do business;
•formal or informal imposition of export, import or doing-business regulations, including trade sanctions, tariffs and other related restrictions;
•labor market conditions and workers’ rights affecting our manufacturing operations or those of our customers or suppliers;
•disruptions in capital and securities and commodities trading markets;
•occurrences of geopolitical crises such as terrorist activity, armed conflict, civil or military unrest or political instability such as the conflict in Ukraine, which may disrupt manufacturing, assembly, logistics, security and communications and result in reduced demand for our products;
•compliance with laws and regulations that differ among jurisdictions, including those covering taxes, intellectual property ownership and infringement, imports and exports, anti-corruption and anti-bribery, antitrust and competition, data privacy, and environment, health, and safety;
•markets for 5G infrastructure not developing in the manner or in the time periods we anticipate, including as a result of unfavorable developments with evolving laws and regulations worldwide; and
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•pandemics and similar major health concerns, including COVID-19 and related mitigation actions (such as the recent lockdowns in China), which could adversely affect our business and our customer order patterns.
Sales to customers located outside the U.S. accounted for approximately 58% of our revenue in fiscal 2022, of which approximately 32% was attributable to sales to customers located in China. We expect that revenue from international sales to China and other markets will continue to be a significant part of our total revenue. Any weakness in the Chinese economy could result in a decrease in demand for consumer products that contain our products, which could materially and adversely affect our business. The imposition by the U.S. of tariffs on goods imported from China, countermeasures imposed by China in response, U.S. export restrictions on sales of products to China and other government actions that restrict or otherwise adversely affect our ability to sell our products to Chinese customers may have a material impact on our business, including our ability to sell products and to manufacture or source components.
As a global company, our results are affected by movements in currency exchange rates. Our exposure may increase or decrease over time as our foreign business levels fluctuate in the countries where we have operations, and these changes could have a material impact on our financial results. The functional currency for most of our international operations is the U.S. dollar. We have foreign operations in Asia, Europe and Central America, and a substantial portion of our revenue is derived from sales to customers outside the U.S. Our international revenue is primarily denominated in U.S. dollars. Operating expenses and certain working capital items related to our foreign-based operations are, in some instances, denominated in the local foreign currencies and therefore are affected by changes in the U.S. dollar exchange rate in relation to foreign currencies, such as the Costa Rican Colon, Euro, Pound Sterling, Renminbi and Singapore Dollar. If the U.S. dollar weakens compared to these and other currencies, our operating expenses for foreign operations will be higher when remeasured back into U.S. dollars.
Economic regulation in China could adversely impact our business and results of operations.
We have a significant portion of our assembly and testing capacity in China. For many years, the Chinese economy has experienced periods of rapid growth and wide fluctuations in the rate of inflation. In response to these factors, the Chinese government has, from time to time, adopted measures to regulate growth and to contain inflation, including currency controls and measures designed to restrict credit, control prices or set currency exchange rates. Such actions in the future, as well as other changes in Chinese laws and regulations, including actions in furtherance of China’s stated policy of reducing its dependence on foreign semiconductor manufacturers, could increase the cost of doing business in China, foster the emergence of Chinese-based competitors, decrease the demand for our products in China and reduce the supply of critical materials for our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
Changes in government trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs and export restrictions, have limited and could continue to limit our ability to sell or provide our products and other items to certain customers and suppliers, which may materially adversely affect our sales and results of operations.
The U.S. or foreign governments have taken and may continue to take administrative, legislative or regulatory action that could materially interfere with our ability to export, reexport, and transfer products and other items in certain countries, particularly in China. For example, the imposition of tariffs has not had a direct, material adverse impact on our business; however, the direct and indirect effects of tariffs and other restrictive trade actions are difficult to measure and are only one part of economic and trade policy.
Furthermore, we have experienced and may continue to experience restrictions on our ability to export, reexport, and transfer our products and other items to certain foreign customers and suppliers where exports, reexports, or transfers of products require export licenses or are prohibited by government action. The U.S. government has in the past imposed export restrictions that effectively banned American companies from exporting, reexporting, and transferring products to certain of our customers. If such restrictions are imposed again in the future and even if subsequently lifted, any financial or other penalties could have a continuing negative impact on our future revenue and results of operations. In addition, our customers or suppliers affected by future U.S. government sanctions or threats of sanctions may respond by developing their own solutions to replace our products or by adopting our foreign competitors' solutions.
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We cannot predict what further actions may ultimately be taken with respect to tariffs or other trade measures between the U.S. and China or other countries, what products or entities may be subject to such actions, or what actions may be taken by other countries in response. The loss of foreign customers or suppliers or the imposition of restrictions on our ability to sell or transfer products to such customers or suppliers as a result of tariffs, export restrictions or other U.S. regulatory actions could materially adversely affect our sales, business and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Indebtedness
We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our debt or to fund capital expenditures and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our debt obligations and financing requirements, which may not be successful or on terms favorable to us.
Our ability to make scheduled payments on or to refinance our debt obligations and to fund working capital, planned capital expenditures and expansion efforts and any strategic alliances or acquisitions we may make in the future depends on our ability to generate cash in the future and on our financial condition and operating performance, which are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business and other factors beyond our control. We cannot be sure that we will maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay our debt. If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we may face liquidity issues and be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures, or to sell assets, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance our debt. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service and other obligations. Additionally, our credit agreement and the indentures governing our senior notes limit the use of the proceeds from any disposition; as a result, we may not be allowed under these documents to use proceeds from such dispositions to satisfy our debt service obligations. Further, we may need to refinance all or a portion of our debt at or before maturity, and we cannot be sure that we will be able to refinance any of our debt on commercially reasonable terms or at all.
The agreements and instruments governing our debt impose restrictions that may limit our operating and financial flexibility.
The credit agreement governing our revolving facility and term loan and the indentures governing our senior notes contain a number of significant restrictions and covenants that limit our ability to:
•incur additional debt;
•pay dividends, make other distributions or repurchase or redeem our capital stock;
•prepay, redeem or repurchase certain debt;
•make loans and investments;
•sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of assets;
•incur or permit to exist certain liens;
•enter into certain types of transactions with affiliates;
•enter into agreements restricting our subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends; and
•consolidate, amalgamate, merge or sell all or substantially all of our assets.
These covenants could have the effect of limiting our flexibility in planning for or reacting to changes in our business and the markets in which we compete. In addition, our credit agreement requires us to comply with certain financial maintenance covenants. Operating results below current levels or other adverse factors, including a significant increase in interest rates, could result in our being unable to comply with the financial covenants contained in our revolving facility. If we violate covenants under our credit agreement and are unable to obtain a
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waiver from our lenders, our debt under our revolving facility would be in default and could be accelerated by our lenders. Because of cross-default provisions in the agreements and instruments governing our debt, a default under one agreement or instrument could result in a default under, and the acceleration of, our other debt. If our debt is accelerated, we may not be able to repay our debt or borrow sufficient funds to refinance it. Even if we are able to obtain new financing, it may not be on commercially reasonable terms, or terms that are acceptable to us. If our debt is in default for any reason, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, complying with these covenants may also cause us to take actions that are not favorable to holders of the notes and may make it more difficult for us to successfully execute our business strategy and compete against companies that are not subject to such restrictions.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property, Information Technology and Data Privacy
We rely on our intellectual property portfolio and may not be able to successfully protect against the use of our intellectual property by third parties.
We rely on a combination of patents, trademarks, trade secret laws, confidentiality procedures and licensing arrangements to protect our intellectual property rights. We cannot be certain that patents will be issued from any of our pending applications or that patents will be issued in all countries where our products can be sold. Further, we cannot be certain that any claims allowed from pending applications will be of sufficient scope or strength to provide meaningful protection against our competitors. Our competitors may also be able to design around our patents.
The laws of some countries in which our products are developed, manufactured or sold may not protect our products or intellectual property rights to the same extent as U.S. laws. This increases the possibility of misappropriation or infringement of our technology and products. Although we intend to vigorously defend our intellectual property rights, we may not be able to prevent misappropriation of our technology. Additionally, our competitors may be able to independently develop non-infringing technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to ours.
We may need to engage in legal actions to enforce or defend our intellectual property rights. Generally, intellectual property litigation is both expensive and unpredictable. Our involvement in intellectual property litigation could divert the attention of our management and technical personnel and have a material, adverse effect on our business.
We may be subject to claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights.
Our operating results may be adversely affected if third parties were to assert claims that our products infringed their patent, copyright or other intellectual property rights. Such assertions could lead to expensive and unpredictable litigation, diverting the attention of management and technical personnel. An unsuccessful result in any such litigation could have adverse effects on our business, which may include injunctions, exclusion orders and royalty payments to third parties. In addition, if one of our customers or another supplier to one of our customers were found to be infringing on third-party intellectual property rights, such a finding could adversely affect the demand for our products.
Security breaches and other disruptions could compromise our proprietary information, expose us to liability or disrupt our ability to operate critical business functions, which would cause our business and reputation to suffer.
We rely on trade secrets, technical know-how and other unpatented proprietary information relating to our product development and manufacturing activities to provide us with competitive advantages. We protect this information by entering into confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, strategic partners and other third parties. We also design our computer systems and networks and implement various procedures to restrict unauthorized access to dissemination of our proprietary information.
We face internal and external data security threats. Current, departing or former employees or third parties could attempt to improperly use or access our computer systems and networks to copy, obtain or misappropriate our proprietary information or otherwise interrupt our business. Like others, we are also subject to significant system or network disruptions from numerous causes, including computer viruses and other cyber-attacks, facility access issues, new system implementations and energy blackouts.
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Security breaches, computer malware, phishing, spoofing, and other cyber-attacks have become more prevalent and sophisticated in recent years. While we defend against these threats on a daily basis, we do not believe that such attacks to date have caused us any material damage. Because the techniques used by computer hackers and others to access or sabotage networks constantly evolve and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate, counter or ameliorate all of these techniques. As a result, our and our customers’ proprietary information may be misappropriated and the impact of any future incident cannot be predicted. Any loss of such information could harm our competitive position, result in a loss of customer confidence in the adequacy of our threat mitigation and detection processes and procedures, cause us to incur significant costs to remedy the damages caused by the incident, and divert management and other resources. We routinely implement improvements to our network security safeguards and we are devoting increasing resources to the security of our information technology systems. We cannot, however, assure that such system improvements will be sufficient to prevent or limit the damage from any future cyber-attack or network disruptions.
Furthermore, we rely on products and services provided by third-party suppliers to operate certain critical business systems, including without limitation, cloud-based infrastructure, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, and other functions, which exposes us to supply-chain attacks or other business disruptions. We cannot guarantee that third parties and infrastructure in our supply chain or our partners’ supply chains have not been compromised or that they do not contain exploitable defects or bugs that could result in a breach of or disruption to our information technology systems, including our products and services, or the third-party information technology systems that support our services. Our ability to monitor these third parties’ information security practices is limited, and these may not have adequate information security measures in place. In addition, if one of our third-party suppliers suffers a security breach, our response may be limited or more difficult because we may not have direct access to their systems, logs and other information related to the security breach.
If any of our systems are damaged, fail to function properly or otherwise become unavailable, we may incur substantial costs to repair or replace them and may experience loss or corruption of critical data and interruptions or delays in our ability to perform critical functions, which could affect adversely our business and results of operations. Furthermore, the costs related to cyber-attacks or other security threats or computer systems disruptions typically would not be fully insured or indemnified by others. Occurrence of any of the events described above could also result in loss of competitive advantages derived from our R&D efforts or our IP. Moreover, these events may result in the early obsolescence of our products, product development delays, or diversion of the attention of management and key information technology and other resources, or otherwise adversely affect our internal operations and reputation.
We may be subject to theft, loss, or misuse of personal data by or about our employees, customers or other third parties, which could increase our expenses, damage our reputation, or result in legal or regulatory proceedings.
In the ordinary course of our business, we have access to sensitive, confidential or personal data or information regarding our employees and others that is subject to privacy and security laws and regulations, as well as our own policies and standards. The theft, loss, or misuse of personal data collected, used, stored, or transferred by us to run our business, or by our third-party service providers, including business process software applications providers and other vendors that have access to sensitive data, could result in damage to our reputation, disruption of our business activities, significantly increased business and security costs or costs related to defending legal claims.
Global privacy legislation, enforcement, and policy activity in this area are rapidly expanding and creating a complex regulatory compliance environment. For example, the European Union has adopted the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), which requires companies to comply with rules regarding the handling of personal data, including its use, protection and the ability of persons whose data is stored to correct or delete such data about themselves. Failure to meet GDPR requirements could result in penalties of up to 4% of worldwide revenue. In addition, the interpretation and application of consumer and data protection laws in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere are often uncertain and fluid, and may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our data practices. Complying with these changing laws has caused, and could continue to cause, us to incur substantial costs, which could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Further, failure to comply with existing or new rules may result in significant penalties or orders to stop the alleged non-compliant activity. Finally, even our inadvertent failure to comply with federal, state, or international privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations could result in audits, regulatory inquiries or proceedings against us by governmental entities or others.
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Risks Related to Owning our Common Stock
Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware may discourage takeovers and business combinations that our stockholders might consider to be in their best interests.
Certain provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may have the effect of delaying, deterring, preventing or rendering more difficult, a change in control of Qorvo that our stockholders might consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include:
•granting to the board of directors sole power to set the number of directors and fill any vacancy on the board of directors, whether such vacancy occurs as a result of an increase in the number of directors or otherwise;
•the ability of the board of directors to designate and issue one or more series of preferred stock without stockholder approval, the terms of which may be determined at the sole discretion of the board of directors;
•the inability of stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders;
•establishment of advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and nominations for election to the board of directors at stockholder meetings; and
•the inability of stockholders to act by written consent.
In addition, the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware contains provisions that regulate "business combinations" between corporations and interested stockholders who own 15% or more of the corporation’s voting stock, except under certain circumstances. These provisions could also discourage potential acquisition proposals and delay or prevent a change in control.
These provisions may prevent our stockholders from receiving the benefit of any premium to the market price of our common stock offered by a bidder in a takeover context and may also make it more difficult for a third party to replace directors on our board of directors. Further, the existence of these provisions may adversely affect the prevailing market price of our common stock if they are viewed as discouraging takeover attempts in the future.
The price of our common stock has recently been and may in the future be volatile.
The price of our common stock, which is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, has been and may continue to be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations. In addition, the trading volume of our common stock may fluctuate and cause significant price variations to occur. Some of the factors that could cause fluctuations in the stock price or trading volume of our common stock include:
•general market and economic and political conditions, including market conditions in the semiconductor industry;
•actual or expected variations in quarterly operating results;
•pandemics and similar major health concerns, including the COVID-19 pandemic;
•differences between actual operating results and those expected by investors and analysts;
•changes in recommendations by securities analysts;
•operations and stock performance of competitors and major customers;
•accounting charges, including charges relating to the impairment of goodwill and restructuring;
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•significant acquisitions, strategic alliances, capital commitments, or new products announced by us or by our competitors;
•differences, whether actual or perceived, between our corporate social responsibility and ESG practices and disclosure and investor expectations;
•sales of our common stock, including sales by our directors and officers or significant investors;
•repurchases of our common stock;
•recruitment or departure of key personnel; and
•loss of key customers.
We cannot assure that the price of our common stock will not fluctuate or decline significantly in the future. In addition, the stock market in general can experience considerable price and volume fluctuations that are unrelated to our performance.
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.
None.
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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES.
Our corporate headquarters (leased) and our MP headquarters (owned) are in Greensboro, North Carolina, and our IDP headquarters (owned) is in Richardson, Texas.
The following table sets forth our primary production facilities as of April 2, 2022:
| Location | Owned/Leased | Primary Function | ||||||||||||
| Greensboro, North Carolina | Owned | Wafer fabrication | ||||||||||||
| Hillsboro, Oregon | Owned | Wafer fabrication | ||||||||||||
| Richardson, Texas | Owned | Wafer fabrication, assembly and test | ||||||||||||
Beijing, China (1) | Owned | Module assembly and test | ||||||||||||
| Dezhou, China | Leased | Module assembly and test | ||||||||||||
| Heredia, Costa Rica | Owned | Module and filter assembly and test | ||||||||||||
| Nuremberg, Germany | Leased | Packaging and test | ||||||||||||
(1) We hold land-use rights for the land associated with this property.
In fiscal 2021, we temporarily idled a BAW manufacturing facility (owned) in Farmers Branch, Texas.
We believe our properties have been well-maintained, are in sound operating condition and contain all equipment and facilities necessary to operate at present levels. While we believe all our facilities are suitable and adequate for our present purposes, we continually evaluate our business and facilities and may decide to expand, add or dispose of facilities in the future. The majority of our production facilities are shared by our operating segments.
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.
See the information under the heading "Legal Matters" in Note 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.
Not Applicable.
PART II
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.
Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "QRVO." As of May 13, 2022, there were 653 holders of record of our common stock, which does not include beneficial owners of stock held in street name (i.e., through a brokerage firm, bank, broker-dealer, trust or other similar organization).
We have never declared or paid any dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings to invest in the growth and operation of our business and do not intend to pay any dividends for the foreseeable future. Any future determination related to our dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our board of directors.
The following graph and table compare the cumulative total shareholder return of our common stock, the S&P 500 Index, the Nasdaq Electronic Components Index (former industry index) and the S&P Semiconductors Index (new industry index), for the five years ended April 2, 2022. We believe the new industry index is more representative of the industry in which we operate. The graph and table assume an initial investment of $100 was made on April 1, 2017 in each of our common stock and the indexes, reflecting compounded daily returns as well as reinvestment of all dividends. The indexes are reweighted daily using the market capitalization on the previous trading day. The comparisons in the graph and table are based on historical data and are not indicative of, or intended to forecast, the possible future performance of our common stock.
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PERFORMANCE GRAPH
| April 1, 2017 | March 31, 2018 | March 30, 2019 | March 28, 2020 | April 3, 2021 | April 2, 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| Qorvo, Inc. | $100.00 | $102.76 | $104.62 | $117.69 | $281.36 | $177.23 | ||||||||||||||
| S&P 500 | $100.00 | $113.99 | $124.82 | $116.11 | $181.54 | $209.94 | ||||||||||||||
| S&P Semiconductors (new industry index) | $100.00 | $136.49 | $143.09 | $152.66 | $269.43 | $343.53 | ||||||||||||||
| Nasdaq Electronic Components (former industry index) | $100.00 | $135.34 | $133.28 | $139.93 | $272.10 | $324.18 | ||||||||||||||
The graph and the table above shall not be deemed "filed" with the SEC for the purpose of Section 18 of the Exchange Act or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor shall they be deemed incorporated by reference in any filings made by us with the SEC, regardless of any general incorporation language in such filing.
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Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
| Period | Total number of shares purchased (in thousands) | Average price paid per share | Total number of shares purchased as part of publicly announced plans or programs (in thousands) | Approximate dollar value of shares that may yet be purchased under the plans or programs | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| January 2, 2022 to January 29, 2022 | 284 | $ | 140.92 | 284 | $ 1,148.5 million | |||||||||||||||||||||
| January 30, 2022 to February 26, 2022 | 1,039 | 132.89 | 1,039 | 1,010.5 million | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| February 27, 2022 to April 2, 2022 | 1,138 | 130.80 | 1,138 | 861.7 million | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 2,461 | $ | 132.85 | 2,461 | $ 861.7 million | |||||||||||||||||||||
On May 5, 2021, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program to repurchase up to $2.0 billion of our outstanding common stock, which included approximately $236.9 million authorized under a prior program terminated concurrent with the new authorization. Under this program, share repurchases are made in accordance with applicable securities laws on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. The extent to which we repurchase our shares, the number of shares and the timing of any repurchases depends on general market conditions, regulatory requirements, alternative investment opportunities and other considerations. The program does not require us to repurchase a minimum number of shares, does not have a fixed term, and may be modified, suspended or terminated at any time without prior notice. See Note 16 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion of our share repurchase program.
ITEM 6. [RESERVED]
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to, our audited consolidated financial statements, including the notes thereto, set forth in Part II, Item 8 of this report.
OVERVIEW
Company
Qorvo® is a global leader in the development and commercialization of technologies and products for wireless, wired and power markets.
We design, develop, manufacture and market our products to U.S. and international OEMs and ODMs in two operating segments, MP and IDP, which are also our reportable segments. MP is a global supplier of cellular, UWB, Wi-Fi and other wireless solutions for a variety of applications, including smartphones, wearables, laptops, tablets and IoT. IDP is a global supplier of RF, SoC and power management solutions for a wide range of markets, including cellular and IT infrastructure, automotive, renewable energy, defense and IoT.
In fiscal 2022, the semiconductor industry continued to experience supply constraints, and we have taken actions to address short and long-term supply requirements. During the second quarter ended October 2, 2021, we entered into a long-term capacity agreement with a foundry supplier to reserve manufacturing supply capacity. Under the agreement we are required to purchase, and the foundry supplier is required to supply, a certain number of wafers for calendar years 2022 through 2025. See Note 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding this agreement.
The COVID-19 pandemic (including the recent COVID-19 lockdowns in China) has been a contributing factor of the semiconductor industry supply constraints and may continue to cause volatility and uncertainty in customer demand, worldwide economies and financial markets for an extended period of time. To date, any negative impact of COVID-19 on the overall demand for our products, cash flows from operations, need for capital expenditures and our liquidity position has been limited, although we are addressing capacity constraints in our supply chain as described above. However, the recent COVID-19 lockdowns in China could negatively impact the overall demand for our products, cash flows from operations, need for capital expenditures and our liquidity position in future periods.
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Fiscal 2022 Financial Highlights
•Revenue increased 15.7% in fiscal 2022 to $4,645.7 million, compared to $4,015.3 million in fiscal 2021, driven primarily by higher demand for our 5G mobile solutions and our power management, automotive and broadband products, partially offset by lower demand for our base station and defense and aerospace products.
•Gross margin for fiscal 2022 was 49.2%, compared to 46.9% in fiscal 2021, primarily due to lower intangible amortization expense as well as lower unit costs on higher volume and productivity. The increase in gross margin was partially offset by average selling price erosion.
•Operating income was $1,226.1 million in fiscal 2022, compared to $906.6 million in fiscal 2021. This increase was primarily due to higher revenue and favorable gross margin, partially offset by higher operating expenses. Operating expenses increased primarily due to higher personnel costs, a goodwill impairment charge and increased product development spend, partially offset by lower intangible amortization expense and lower incentive-based compensation.
•Net income per diluted share was $9.26 for fiscal 2022, compared to net income per diluted share of $6.32 for fiscal 2021.
•Cash flows from operations was $1,049.2 million for fiscal 2022, compared to $1,301.9 million for fiscal 2021. This year-over-year decrease was primarily due to increased inventory as well as prepayments of certain fees and deposits associated with a long-term capacity reservation agreement. The increased inventory related to the lower demand for 5G handsets from China-based OEMs and the build of inventory in anticipation of certain customers' product ramps.
•Capital expenditures were $213.5 million in fiscal 2022, compared to $187.0 million in fiscal 2021. Our capital expenditures in fiscal 2022 included investments in premium filter capacity.
•We completed the acquisitions of NextInput and United SiC for a total of $389.1 million, net of cash acquired.
•We recorded a $48.0 million goodwill impairment charge associated with the NextInput acquisition.
•We issued $500.0 million aggregate principal amount of 1.750% senior notes due 2024 (the "2024 Notes").
•We repaid $197.5 million on the 2020 Term Loan (as defined below), plus accrued and unpaid interest.
•We repurchased approximately 7.3 million shares of our common stock for approximately $1,152.3 million.
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RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Consolidated
The table below presents a summary of our results of operations for fiscal years 2022 and 2021 along with a year-over-year comparison. See Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 3, 2021, filed with the SEC on May 24, 2021, which is incorporated by reference herein, for a summary of our results of operations for the fiscal year ended March 28, 2020 along with a year-over-year comparison between fiscal years 2021 and 2020.
| Fiscal 2022 | Fiscal 2021 | Increase (Decrease) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (In thousands, except percentages) | Dollars | % of Revenue | Dollars | % of Revenue | Dollars | Percentage Change | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 4,645,714 | 100.0 | % | $ | 4,015,307 | 100.0 | % | $ | 630,407 | 15.7 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of goods sold | 2,359,546 | 50.8 | 2,131,741 | 53.1 | 227,805 | 10.7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross profit | 2,286,168 | 49.2 | 1,883,566 | 46.9 | 402,602 | 21.4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Research and development | 623,636 | 13.4 | 570,395 | 14.2 | 53,241 | 9.3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative | 349,718 | 7.5 | 367,238 | 9.1 | (17,520) | (4.8) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other operating expense | 86,745 | 1.9 | 39,306 | 1.0 | 47,439 | 120.7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating income | $ | 1,226,069 | 26.4 | % | $ | 906,627 | 22.6 | % | $ | 319,442 | 35.2 | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Revenue
Revenue increased primarily due to higher demand for our 5G mobile solutions and our power management, automotive and broadband products, partially offset by lower demand for our base station and defense and aerospace products. The higher demand for our mobile solutions was driven by 5G content increases with our largest customers, and the increased demand for our power management products was driven by the migration to smaller and more efficient power solutions. The increased demand for our automotive and broadband products was driven by the proliferation of connected devices and the increasing requirements for higher efficiency, greater throughput and smaller size. The lower demand for our base station products was attributed to fewer 5G massive Multiple-Input/Multiple-Output ("mMIMO") deployments in China, and the lower demand for our defense and aerospace products was due to the timing of programs.
We provided our products to our largest end customer (Apple) through sales to multiple contract manufacturers, which in the aggregate accounted for approximately 33% and 30% of total revenue in fiscal years 2022 and 2021, respectively. Samsung accounted for approximately 11% and 7% of total revenue in fiscal years 2022 and 2021, respectively. These customers primarily purchase RF solutions for a variety of mobile devices.
International shipments amounted to $2,717.3 million in fiscal 2022 (approximately 58% of revenue) compared to $2,384.2 million in fiscal 2021 (approximately 59% of revenue). Shipments to Asia totaled $2,465.7 million in fiscal 2022 (approximately 53% of revenue) compared to $2,191.2 million in fiscal 2021 (approximately 55% of revenue).
Gross Margin
Gross margin increased primarily due to lower intangible amortization expense as well as lower unit costs on higher volume and productivity. The increase in gross margin was partially offset by average selling price erosion.
Operating Expenses
Research and Development
R&D spending increased primarily due to additional headcount and higher design and development costs associated with our UWB solutions, biotechnology testing solutions and 5G mobile solutions as well as the acquisition of United SiC. These increases were partially offset by lower incentive-based compensation.
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Selling, General and Administrative
Selling, general and administrative expense decreased primarily due to lower intangible amortization expense and lower incentive-based compensation. These decreases were partially offset by higher personnel and commission expenses.
Other Operating Expense
Other operating expense increased in fiscal 2022 primarily due to a goodwill impairment charge of $48.0 million. See Note 6 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.
Operating Segments
Mobile Products
| Fiscal Year | Increase | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (In thousands, except percentages) | 2022 | 2021 | Dollars | Percentage Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 3,545,253 | $ | 2,856,813 | $ | 688,440 | 24.1 | % | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operating income | 1,290,132 | 1,008,171 | 281,961 | 28.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating income as a % of revenue | 36.4 | % | 35.3 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
MP revenue increased primarily due to higher demand for our mobile solutions driven by 5G content increases with our largest customers.
MP operating income increased primarily due to the effects of increased revenue and lower unit costs on higher volume and productivity. These increases were partially offset by average selling price erosion and higher operating expenses. Operating expenses increased primarily due to additional headcount and higher design and development costs associated with our UWB solutions and 5G mobile solutions as well as the acquisition of NextInput. These increases were partially offset by lower incentive-based compensation.
Infrastructure and Defense Products
| Fiscal Year | Decrease | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (In thousands, except percentages) | 2022 | 2021 | Dollars | Percentage Change | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 1,100,461 | $ | 1,158,494 | $ | (58,033) | (5.0) | % | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operating income | 261,511 | 283,507 | (21,996) | (7.8) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating income as a % of revenue | 23.8 | % | 24.5 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
IDP revenue decreased primarily due to lower demand for our base station and defense and aerospace products, partially offset by increased demand for our power management, automotive and broadband products. The lower demand for our base station products was attributed to fewer 5G mMIMO deployments in China, and the lower demand for our defense and aerospace products was due to the timing of programs. The increased demand for our power management products was driven by the migration to smaller and more efficient power solutions. The increased demand for our automotive and broadband products was driven by the proliferation of connected devices and the increasing requirements for higher efficiency, greater throughput and smaller size.
IDP operating income decreased primarily due to decreased revenue and higher operating expenses, partially offset by favorable changes in gross margin. Operating expenses increased primarily due to increased expenses associated with the design and development of our biotechnology testing solutions as well as the acquisition of United SiC, partially offset by lower incentive-based compensation. Gross margin was favorable primarily due to improved product mix, average selling price expansion and lower costs from improved factory utilization.
See Note 17 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for a reconciliation of segment operating income to the consolidated operating income for fiscal years 2022, 2021 and 2020.
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INTEREST, OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE) AND INCOME TAXES
| Fiscal Year | ||||||||||||||
| (In thousands) | 2022 | 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Interest expense | $ | (63,326) | $ | (75,198) | ||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | 18,341 | (24,049) | ||||||||||||
| Income tax expense | (147,731) | (73,769) | ||||||||||||
Interest expense
During fiscal 2022, we recorded interest expense primarily related to our 4.375% senior notes due 2029 (the "2029 Notes") and our 3.375% senior notes due 2031 (the "2031 Notes"). During fiscal 2021, we recorded interest expense primarily related to our 5.50% senior notes due July 15, 2026 (the "2026 Notes"), the 2029 Notes and the 2031 Notes. Interest expense in the preceding table for fiscal years 2022 and 2021 is net of capitalized interest of $3.7 million and $4.1 million, respectively.
Other income (expense), net
Other income (expense) includes realized or unrealized gains and losses from investments, interest income, foreign currency changes and losses on debt extinguishments.
During fiscal 2022, we recorded $12.0 million of income based on our share of the earnings from our limited partnership investments, and we recorded net gains of $2.7 million from other investments.
During fiscal 2021, we recorded $21.5 million of income based on our share of the earnings from our limited partnership investments, and we recorded net gains of $9.1 million from other investments. In addition, we recognized a loss on debt extinguishment of $62.0 million primarily related to the redemption of our 2026 Notes on October 16, 2020.
Income tax expense
Income tax expense for fiscal 2022 was $147.7 million. This was primarily comprised of tax expense related to domestic and international operations generating pre-tax book income (exclusive of nondeductible expenses associated with acquisition related adjustments), the impact of the Tax Act's GILTI provisions and an increase in gross unrecognized tax benefits, offset by a tax benefit related to international operations generating pre-tax book losses and domestic tax credits. For fiscal 2022, this resulted in an annual effective tax rate of 12.5%.
Income tax expense for fiscal 2021 was $73.8 million. This was primarily comprised of tax expense related to international operations generating pre-tax book income, the impact of the Tax Act's GILTI provisions, the reversal of the permanent reinvestment assertion with regards to certain unrepatriated foreign earnings and an increase in gross unrecognized tax benefits, offset by a tax benefit related to international operations generating pre-tax book losses and domestic tax credits. For fiscal 2021, this resulted in an annual effective tax rate of 9.1%.
A valuation allowance has been established against deferred tax assets in the taxing jurisdictions where, based upon the positive and negative evidence available, it is more likely than not that the related deferred tax assets will not be realized. Realization is dependent upon generating future income in the taxing jurisdictions in which the operating loss carryovers, credit carryovers, depreciable tax basis and other deferred tax assets exist. Management reevaluates the ability to realize the benefit of these deferred tax assets on a quarterly basis. As of the end of fiscal years 2022 and 2021, the valuation allowance against domestic and foreign deferred tax assets was $36.3 million and $36.5 million, respectively.
See Note 13 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding income taxes.
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STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION
Under Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 718, "Compensation – Stock Compensation," stock-based compensation cost is measured at the grant date, based on the estimated fair value of the award using an option pricing model for stock options (Black-Scholes) and market price for restricted stock units, and is recognized as expense over the employee's requisite service period.
As of April 2, 2022, total remaining unearned compensation cost related to unvested restricted stock units was $121.0 million, which will be amortized over the weighted-average remaining service period of approximately 1.2 years.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
Cash generated by operations is our primary source of liquidity. As of April 2, 2022, we had working capital of approximately $1,774.7 million, including $972.6 million in cash and cash equivalents, compared to working capital of approximately $1,802.2 million, including $1,397.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, as of April 3, 2021.
Our $972.6 million of total cash and cash equivalents as of April 2, 2022, includes $831.8 million held by our foreign subsidiaries, of which $709.5 million is held by Qorvo International Pte. Ltd. in Singapore. If the undistributed earnings of our foreign subsidiaries are needed in the U.S., we may be required to pay state income and/or foreign local withholding taxes to repatriate these earnings.
Credit Agreement
On September 29, 2020, we and certain of our U.S. subsidiaries (the “Guarantors”) entered into a five-year unsecured senior credit facility pursuant to a credit agreement (as amended, restated, modified or otherwise supplemented from time to time, the “2020 Credit Agreement”) with Bank of America, N.A., acting as administrative agent, and a syndicate of lenders. The 2020 Credit Agreement amended and restated the previous credit agreement dated as of December 5, 2017 (the “2017 Credit Agreement”). The 2020 Credit Agreement included a senior term loan (the “2020 Term Loan”) of $200.0 million and a senior revolving line of credit (the “Revolving Facility”) of up to $300.0 million (collectively the “Credit Facility”). The Revolving Facility includes a $25.0 million sublimit for the issuance of standby letters of credit and a $10.0 million sublimit for swing line loans. The Credit Facility is available to finance working capital, capital expenditures and other general corporate purposes.
Pursuant to the 2020 Credit Agreement, we may request one or more additional tranches of term loans or increases to the Revolving Facility, up to an aggregate of $500.0 million and subject to, among other things, securing additional funding commitments from the existing or new lenders.
During fiscal 2022, there were no borrowings under the Revolving Facility.
During fiscal 2021, we made principal payments totaling $2.5 million on the term loan under the 2017 Credit Agreement (the "2017 Term Loan"). On the closing date of the 2020 Credit Agreement, we repaid the remaining principal balance of $97.5 million on the 2017 Term Loan and concurrently drew $200.0 million under the 2020 Term Loan.
During fiscal 2021, we made principal payments totaling $2.5 million on the 2020 Term Loan, and during fiscal 2022, we repaid the remaining principal balance of $197.5 million on the 2020 Term Loan.
The 2020 Credit Agreement contains various conditions, covenants and representations with which we must be in compliance in order to borrow funds and to avoid an event of default. As of April 2, 2022, we were in compliance with these covenants. See Note 9 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information about the Credit Agreement, including applicable interest rates.
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Stock Repurchases
On October 31, 2019, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program to repurchase up to $1.0 billion of our outstanding common stock, which included approximately $117.0 million authorized under a prior program which was terminated concurrent with this authorization.
On May 5, 2021, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program to repurchase up to $2.0 billion of our outstanding common stock, which included approximately $236.9 million authorized under the program announced on October 31, 2019, which was terminated concurrent with the new authorization. As of April 2, 2022, there was $861.7 million of availability under the share repurchase program.
Under our share repurchase programs, repurchases are made in accordance with applicable securities laws on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. The extent to which we repurchase our shares, the number of shares and the timing of any repurchases depends on general market conditions, regulatory requirements, alternative investment opportunities and other considerations. The current program does not require us to repurchase a minimum number of shares, does not have a fixed term, and may be modified, suspended or terminated at any time without prior notice.
We repurchased 7.3 million shares, 3.6 million shares and 6.4 million shares of our common stock during fiscal years 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively, at an aggregate cost of $1,152.3 million, $515.1 million and $515.1 million, respectively.
Cash Flows from Operating Activities
Operating activities in fiscal 2022 generated cash of $1,049.2 million, compared to $1,301.9 million in fiscal 2021. This decrease in cash provided by operating activities was primarily due to increased inventory as well as prepayments of certain fees and deposits associated with a long-term capacity reservation agreement. The increased inventory related to the lower demand for 5G handsets from China-based OEMs and the build of inventory in anticipation of certain customers' product ramps. These decreases to cash provided by operating activities were partially offset by increased profitability as a result of demand and revenue growth.
Cash Flows from Investing Activities
Net cash used in investing activities in fiscal 2022 was $596.0 million, compared to $218.7 million in fiscal 2021. This increase in cash used in investing activities was primarily due to the acquisitions of NextInput and United SiC in fiscal 2022, which resulted in net cash outflows of $389.1 million, as compared to the acquisition of 7Hugs Labs S.A.S. in fiscal 2021, which resulted in net cash outflows of $47.7 million. See Note 5 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding our business acquisitions.
Cash Flows from Financing Activities
Net cash used in financing activities in fiscal 2022 was $875.5 million, compared to $401.9 million in fiscal 2021. This increase in cash used in financing activities was primarily due to stock repurchases. See Note 16 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding our stock repurchases.
Our future capital requirements may differ materially from those currently anticipated and will depend on many factors, including market acceptance of and demand for our products, acquisition opportunities, technological advances and our relationships with suppliers and customers. Based on current and projected levels of cash flows from operations, coupled with our existing cash and cash equivalents and our Credit Facility, we believe that we have sufficient liquidity to meet both our short-term and long-term cash requirements. However, if there is a significant decrease in demand for our products, or if our revenue grows faster than we anticipate, operating cash flows may be insufficient to meet our needs. If existing resources and cash from operations are not sufficient to meet our future requirements or if we perceive conditions to be favorable, we may seek additional debt or equity financing. Additional debt or equity financing could be dilutive to holders of our common stock. Further, we cannot be sure that additional debt or equity financing, if required, will be available on favorable terms, if at all.
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CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS
The following table summarizes our significant contractual obligations and commitments (in thousands) as of April 2, 2022, and the effect such obligations are expected to have on our liquidity and cash flows in future periods.
| Payments Due By Fiscal Period | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Payments | 2023 | 2024-2025 | 2026-2027 | 2028 and thereafter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Capital commitments (1) | $ | 137,176 | $ | 116,482 | $ | 20,694 | $ | — | $ | — | |||||||||||||||||||
Purchase obligations (2) | 2,019,516 | 902,162 | 880,450 | 236,904 | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leases | 104,886 | 20,839 | 30,581 | 22,062 | 31,404 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Long-term debt obligations (3) | 2,586,399 | 69,587 | 627,313 | 133,437 | 1,756,062 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | 4,847,977 | $ | 1,109,070 | $ | 1,559,038 | $ | 392,403 | $ | 1,787,466 | |||||||||||||||||||
(1) Capital commitments represent obligations for the purchase of property and equipment, a majority of which are not recorded as liabilities on our Consolidated Balance Sheet because we had not received the related goods or services as of April 2, 2022.
(2) Purchase obligations represent payments due related to the purchase of materials and manufacturing services, a majority of which are not recorded as liabilities on our Consolidated Balance Sheet because we had not received the related goods or services as of April 2, 2022. See Note 11 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
(3) Long-term debt obligations represent future cash payments of principal and interest over the life of the 2024 Notes, the 2029 Notes and the 2031 Notes, including anticipated interest payments not recorded as liabilities on our Consolidated Balance Sheet as of April 2, 2022. Debt obligations are classified based on their stated maturity date, and any future redemptions would impact our cash payments. See Note 9 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Other Contractual Obligations
As of April 2, 2022, in addition to the amounts shown in the contractual obligations table above, we have $13.8 million of unrecognized income tax benefits and accrued interest and penalties which has been recorded as a liability. We are uncertain as to if, or when, such amounts may be settled. We also have an obligation related to the Transitional Repatriation Tax that we elected to pay over eight years which has been recorded as a liability. The remaining obligation of $5.4 million is to be paid over the next four years.
As discussed in Note 10 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, we have two pension plans in Germany with a combined benefit obligation of approximately $12.1 million as of April 2, 2022. Pension benefit payments are not included in the schedule above due to the uncertainty regarding the amount and timing of any future cash outflows. Pension benefit payments were approximately $0.3 million in fiscal 2022 and are expected to be approximately $0.3 million in fiscal 2023.
We also offer a non-qualified deferred compensation plan to eligible participants to defer and invest a specified percentage of their cash compensation. We record an obligation under the plan for the distributions to be made to participants upon certain triggering events. Although participants are required to make distribution elections at the time of enrollment, the amount and timing of any future cash outflows is uncertain until such triggering events occur. The total deferred compensation obligation as of April 2, 2022 was $39.4 million, of which $1.5 million is estimated to be paid in fiscal 2023. See Note 10 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
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SUPPLEMENTAL PARENT AND GUARANTOR FINANCIAL INFORMATION
In accordance with the indentures governing the 2024 Notes, the 2029 Notes and the 2031 Notes (together, the "Notes"), our obligations under the Notes are fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a joint and several unsecured basis by the Guarantors, which are listed on Exhibit 22 to this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Each Guarantor is 100% owned, directly or indirectly, by Qorvo, Inc. ("Parent"). A Guarantor can be released in certain customary circumstances. Our other U.S. subsidiaries and our non-U.S. subsidiaries do not guarantee the Notes (such subsidiaries are referred to as the "Non-Guarantors").
The following presents summarized financial information for the Parent and the Guarantors on a combined basis as of and for the periods indicated, after eliminating (i) intercompany transactions and balances among the Parent and Guarantors, and (ii) equity earnings from, and investments in, any Non-Guarantor. The summarized financial information may not necessarily be indicative of the financial position and results of operations had the combined Parent and Guarantors operated independently from the Non-Guarantors.
Summarized Balance Sheets (in thousands) | April 2, 2022 | April 3, 2021 | |||||||||
| ASSETS | |||||||||||
Current assets (1) | $ | 771,528 | $ | 1,143,086 | |||||||
| Non-current assets | $ | 2,624,454 | $ | 2,450,960 | |||||||
| LIABILITIES | |||||||||||
| Current liabilities | $ | 241,674 | $ | 240,943 | |||||||
Long-term liabilities (2) | $ | 2,634,501 | $ | 2,250,666 | |||||||
(1) Includes net amounts due from Non-Guarantor subsidiaries of $286.8 million and $532.4 million as of April 2, 2022 and April 3, 2021, respectively.
(2) Includes net amounts due to Non-Guarantor subsidiaries of $433.5 million and $395.3 million as of April 2, 2022 and April 3, 2021, respectively.
Summarized Statement of Income (in thousands) | Fiscal Year 2022 | |||||||
| Revenue | $ | 1,126,193 | ||||||
| Gross profit | $ | 268,025 | ||||||
| Net loss | $ | (93,405) | ||||||
CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES
The preparation of consolidated financial statements requires management to use judgment and estimates. The level of uncertainty in estimates and assumptions increases with the length of time until the underlying transactions are completed. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. The accounting policies that are most critical in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements are those that are both important to the presentation of our financial condition and results of operations and require significant judgment and estimates on the part of management. Our critical accounting policies are reviewed periodically with the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. We also have other policies that we consider key accounting policies; however, these policies typically do not require us to make estimates or judgments that are difficult or subjective. See Note 1 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
Inventory Reserves. The valuation of inventory requires us to estimate obsolete or excess inventory. The determination of obsolete or excess inventory requires us to estimate the future demand for our products within specific time horizons, generally 12 to 24 months. The estimates of future demand that we use in the valuation of inventory reserves are the same as those used in our revenue forecasts and are also consistent with the estimates used in our manufacturing plans to enable consistency between inventory valuations and build decisions. Product-specific facts and circumstances reviewed in the inventory
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valuation process include a review of the customer base, market conditions and customer acceptance of our products and technologies, as well as an assessment of the selling price in relation to the product cost.
Historically, inventory reserves have fluctuated as new technologies have been introduced and customers’ demand has shifted. Inventory reserves had an impact on margins of less than 2% in fiscal years 2022 and 2021.
Property and Equipment. Periodically, we evaluate the period over which we expect to recover the economic value of our property and equipment, considering factors such as changes in machinery and equipment technology, our ability to re-use equipment across generations of process technology and historical usage trends. When we determine that the useful lives of assets are shorter or longer than we had originally estimated, we adjust the rate of depreciation to reflect the revised useful lives of the assets.
We assess property and equipment for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of the assets or the asset group may not be recoverable. Factors that we consider in deciding when to perform an impairment review include an adverse change in our use of the assets or an expectation that the assets will be sold or otherwise disposed. We assess the recoverability of the assets held and used by comparing the projected undiscounted net cash flows associated with the related asset or group of assets over their remaining estimated useful lives against their respective carrying amounts. Assets identified as "held for sale" are recorded at the lesser of their carrying value or their fair market value less costs to sell. Impairment, if any, is based on the excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of those assets. The process of evaluating property and equipment for impairment is highly subjective and requires significant judgment as we are required to make assumptions about items such as future demand for our products and industry trends.
Business Acquisitions. We allocate the fair value of the purchase price to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair value. The excess of the purchase price over the fair values of the identifiable assets and liabilities is recorded to goodwill. Goodwill is assigned to the reporting unit that is expected to benefit from the synergies of the business combination.
A number of assumptions, estimates and judgments are used in determining the fair value of acquired assets and liabilities, particularly with respect to the intangible assets acquired. The valuation of intangible assets requires the use of valuation techniques such as the income approach. The income approach includes management’s estimation of future cash flows (including expected revenue growth rates and profitability), the underlying product or technology life cycles and the discount rates applied to future cash flows.
Judgment is also required in estimating the fair values of deferred tax assets and liabilities, uncertain tax positions and tax-related valuation allowances, which are initially estimated as of the acquisition date, as well as inventory, property and equipment, pre-existing liabilities or legal claims, deferred revenue and contingent consideration, each as may be applicable.
While we use our best estimates and assumptions to accurately value assets acquired and liabilities assumed at the acquisition date as well as contingent consideration, where applicable, our estimates are inherently uncertain and subject to refinement. As a result, during the measurement period, which may be up to one year from the acquisition date, we may record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed with the corresponding offset to goodwill. After the measurement period, any purchase price adjustments are recognized in our Consolidated Statements of Income.
Goodwill Impairment Testing. In accordance with ASC 350, "Intangibles - Goodwill and Other" ("ASC 350"), goodwill is not amortized, but rather is reviewed for impairment at the reporting unit level on the first day of our fourth quarter of each fiscal year, or when there is evidence that events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the goodwill may not be recovered.
Under ASC 350, we have the option to first assess qualitatively whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, including goodwill.
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We establish our reporting units based on our current organizational structure, product and technology characteristics and segment management's view of the business. As of January 2, 2022, we identified three reporting units within the MP operating segment and two reporting units within the IDP operating segment, and we performed the optional qualitative assessment to determine whether the existence of events or circumstances indicated that it was more likely than not that the fair value of each reporting unit was less than its respective carrying value.
In performing qualitative assessments, we consider (i) our overall historical and projected future operating results, (ii) if there was a significant decline in our stock price for a sustained period, (iii) if there was a significant change in our market capitalization relative to our net book value, and (iv) if there was a prolonged or more significant slowdown in the worldwide economy of the semiconductor industry, as well as other relevant events and factors affecting the reporting unit.
In fiscal 2022, we completed our annual qualitative assessments and concluded that based on the relevant events and circumstances, it was more likely than not that four of our five reporting units’ fair values exceeded their related carrying values. However, for one of our MP reporting units (the acquired NextInput business), it was determined that the market adoption of the acquired technology into mobile handsets is expected to be delayed compared to the previous assumptions. Therefore, we determined that it was more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit was less than its carrying amount, and we performed a quantitative assessment to calculate the fair value of the reporting unit.
Our quantitative assessment considered both the income and market approaches to estimate the fair value of the reporting unit. The income approach is based on the discounted cash flow method that uses estimates of the reporting unit's forecasted future financial performance including revenues, operating expenses, taxes and capital expenditures. These estimates are developed as part of our long-term planning process based on assumed market segment growth rates and our assumed market segment share, estimated costs based on historical data and various internal estimates. Projected cash flows are then discounted to a present value employing a discount rate that properly accounts for the estimated market weighted-average cost of capital, as well as any risk unique to the cash flows. The market approach is based on financial multiples (i.e., multiples of revenue or earnings before income taxes, depreciation and amortization) of comparable companies.
Based on the quantitative assessment performed, we determined that the carrying amount of the reporting unit exceeded its fair value, which resulted in a goodwill impairment charge of approximately $48.0 million. The goodwill impairment charge is recorded in “Other operating expense” in the Statement of Income for the fiscal year ended April 2, 2022.
Inherent in the fair value determination are significant judgments and estimates, including assumptions about our future revenue, profitability and cash flows, our operational plans and our interpretation of current economic indicators and market valuations. To the extent these assumptions are incorrect or there are further declines in our business outlook, additional goodwill impairment charges may be recorded in future periods.
In fiscal 2021, we completed qualitative assessments and concluded that based on the relevant events and circumstances, it was more likely than not that each of the reporting unit’s fair value exceeded its related carrying value, and no further impairment testing was required.
Identified Intangible Assets. We amortize definite-lived intangible assets (including developed technology, customer relationships, technology licenses, backlog and trade names) over their estimated useful lives. In-process research and development ("IPRD") assets represent the fair value of incomplete R&D projects that had not reached technological feasibility as of the date of the acquisition; initially, these are classified as IPRD and are not subject to amortization. Upon completion of development, IPRD assets are transferred to developed technology and are amortized over their useful lives. The asset balances relating to abandoned projects are impaired and expensed to R&D.
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We evaluate definite-lived intangible assets for impairment in accordance with ASC 360-10-35, "Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets" to determine whether facts and circumstances (including external factors such as industry and economic trends and internal factors such as changes in our business strategy and forecasts) indicate that the carrying amount of the assets may not be recoverable. If such facts and circumstances exist, we assess the recoverability of identified intangible assets by comparing the projected undiscounted net cash flows associated with the related asset or group of assets over their remaining lives against their respective carrying amounts. Impairments, if any, are based on the excess of the carrying amounts over the fair value of those assets and occur in the period in which the impairment determination was made.
In connection with completing our fiscal 2022 annual goodwill impairment assessment, we also evaluated our long-lived intangible assets and determined that the forecasted undiscounted net cash flows related to these assets were in excess of their carrying values. No definite-lived intangible asset impairment charges were recorded for fiscal years 2022 or 2021.
Revenue Recognition. We generate revenue primarily from the sale of semiconductor products, either directly to a customer or to a distributor, or at completion of a consignment process. Revenue is recognized when control of the promised goods or services is transferred to our customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. A majority of our revenue is recognized at a point in time, either on shipment or delivery of the product, depending on individual customer terms and conditions. Revenue from sales to our distributors is recognized upon shipment of the product to the distributors (sell-in). Revenue is recognized from our consignment programs at a point in time when the products are pulled from consignment inventory by the customer. Revenue recognized for products and services over-time is immaterial (less than 3% of overall revenue). We apply a five-step approach as defined in ASC 606, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers," in determining the amount and timing of revenue to be recognized: (1) identifying the contract with a customer; (2) identifying the performance obligations in the contract; (3) determining the transaction price; (4) allocating the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and (5) recognizing revenue when the corresponding performance obligation is satisfied.
Sales agreements are in place with certain customers and contain terms and conditions with respect to payment, delivery, warranty and supply, but typically do not require minimum purchase commitments. In the absence of a sales agreement, our standard terms and conditions apply. We consider a customer's purchase order, which is governed by a sales agreement or our standard terms and conditions, to be the contract with the customer.
Our pricing terms are negotiated independently, on a stand-alone basis. In determining the transaction price, we evaluate whether the price is subject to a refund or adjustment to determine the net consideration to which we expect to be entitled. Variable consideration in the form of rebate programs is offered to certain customers, including distributors, and represents less than 7% of net revenue. We determine variable consideration by estimating the most likely amount of consideration we expect to receive from the customer. Our terms and conditions do not give our customers a right of return associated with the original sale of our products. However, we may authorize sales returns under certain circumstances, which include courtesy returns and like-kind exchanges. We reduce revenue and record reserves for product returns and allowances, rebate programs and scrap allowance based on historical experience or specific identification depending on the contractual terms of the arrangement.
Our accounts receivable balance is from contracts with customers and represents our unconditional right to receive consideration from our customers. Payments are due upon completion of the performance obligation and subsequent invoicing. Substantially all payments are collected within our standard terms, which do not include any financing components. To date, there have been no material impairment losses on accounts receivable. Contract assets and contract liabilities recorded on the Consolidated Balance Sheets were immaterial as of April 2, 2022 and April 3, 2021.
We invoice customers upon shipment and recognize revenues in accordance with delivery terms. As of April 2, 2022, we had $424.7 million in remaining unsatisfied performance obligations with an original
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duration greater than one year, of which the majority is expected to be recognized as income over the next 12 months.
We include shipping charges billed to customers in "Revenue" and include the related shipping costs in "Cost of goods sold" in the Consolidated Statements of Income. Taxes assessed by government authorities on revenue-producing transactions, including tariffs, value-added and excise taxes, are excluded from revenue in the Consolidated Statements of Income.
We incur commission expense that is incremental to obtaining contracts with customers. Sales commissions (which are recorded in the "Selling, general and administrative" expense line item in the Consolidated Statements of Income) are expensed when incurred because such commissions are not owed until the performance obligation is satisfied, which coincides with the end of the contract term; therefore, no remaining period exists over which to amortize the commissions.
Income Taxes. In determining income for financial statement purposes, we must make certain estimates and judgments in the calculation of tax expense, the resultant tax liabilities and the recoverability of deferred tax assets that arise from temporary differences between the tax and financial statement recognition of revenue and expense.
As part of our financial process, we assess on a tax jurisdictional basis the likelihood that our deferred tax assets can be recovered. If recovery is not more likely than not (a likelihood of less than 50 percent), the provision for taxes must be increased by recording a reserve in the form of a valuation allowance for the deferred tax assets that are estimated not to ultimately be recoverable. In this process, certain relevant criteria are evaluated including: the amount of income or loss in prior years, the existence of deferred tax liabilities that can be used to absorb deferred tax assets, the taxable income in prior carryback years that can be used to absorb net operating losses and credit carrybacks, future expected taxable income and prudent and feasible tax planning strategies. Changes in taxable income, market conditions, U.S. or international tax laws and other factors may change our judgment regarding whether we will be able to realize the deferred tax assets. These changes, if any, may require material adjustments to the net deferred tax assets and an accompanying reduction or increase in income tax expense which will result in a corresponding increase or decrease in net income in the period when such determinations are made. See Note 13 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding changes in the valuation allowance and net deferred tax assets.
As part of our financial process, we also assess the likelihood that our tax reporting positions will ultimately be sustained. To the extent it is determined it is more likely than not (a likelihood of more than 50 percent) that some portion, or all, of a tax reporting position will ultimately not be recognized and sustained, a provision for unrecognized tax benefit is provided by either reducing the applicable deferred tax asset or accruing an income tax liability. Our judgment regarding the sustainability of our tax reporting positions may change in the future due to changes in U.S. or international tax laws and other factors. These changes, if any, may require material adjustments to the related deferred tax assets or accrued income tax liabilities and an accompanying reduction or increase in income tax expense which will result in a corresponding increase or decrease in net income in the period when such determinations are made. See Note 13 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding our uncertain tax positions and the amount of unrecognized tax benefits.
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK.
Financial Risk Management
The primary objective of our financial risk management activities is to reduce the negative financial impact resulting from changes in interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates, equity prices and commodity prices (the "Underlying Exposures"). We manage these Underlying Exposures through operational means as well as through the use of various financial instruments when deemed appropriate. The method and extent to which we are able to reduce the financial impact related to the Underlying Exposures may vary over time. Similarly, there can be no assurance that our financial risk management activities will be successful in mitigating the financial impact resulting from movements in the Underlying Exposures.
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Interest Rate Risk
We may be exposed to interest rate risk via the terms of our Credit Facility. If the Credit Facility were to be drawn (through a term loan or our Revolving Facility), it would bear interest at a variable rate. See Note 9 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information. As of April 2, 2022, we did not have any outstanding borrowings under the Credit Facility.
Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk
As a global company, our results are affected by movements in currency exchange rates. Our exposure may increase or decrease over time as our foreign business levels fluctuate in the countries where we have operations, and these changes could have a material impact on our financial results. The functional currency for most of our international operations is the U.S. dollar. We have foreign operations in Asia, Central America and Europe, and a substantial portion of our revenue is derived from sales to customers outside the U.S. Our international revenue is primarily denominated in U.S. dollars. Operating expenses and certain working capital items related to our foreign-based operations are, in some instances, denominated in the local foreign currencies and therefore are affected by changes in the U.S. dollar exchange rate in relation to foreign currencies, such as the Costa Rican Colon, Euro, Pound Sterling, Renminbi, and Singapore Dollar. If the U.S. dollar weakens compared to these and other currencies, our operating expenses for foreign operations will be higher when remeasured back into U.S. dollars. We seek to manage our foreign currency exchange risk in part through operational means.
For fiscal 2022, we incurred a foreign currency loss of $1.5 million as compared to a loss of $3.8 million in fiscal 2021, which is recorded in "Other income (expense), net."
Our financial instrument holdings, including foreign receivables, cash and payables at April 2, 2022, were analyzed to determine their sensitivity to foreign exchange rate changes. In this sensitivity analysis, we assumed that the change in one currency's rate relative to the U.S. dollar would not have an effect on other currencies' rates relative to the U.S. dollar. All other factors were held constant. If the U.S. dollar declined in value 10% in relation to the re-measured foreign currency instruments, our net income would have decreased by approximately $4.4 million in fiscal 2022. If the U.S. dollar increased in value 10% in relation to the re-measured foreign currency instruments, our net income would have increased by approximately $3.6 million in fiscal 2022.
Equity Price Risk
Our marketable equity investments in publicly traded companies are subject to equity market price risk. Accordingly, a fluctuation in the price of each equity security could have an adverse impact on the fair value of our investments. As of April 2, 2022, our marketable equity investments were immaterial. See Note 7 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.
Commodity Price Risk
We routinely use precious metals in the manufacture of our products. Supplies for such commodities may from time to time become restricted, or general market factors and conditions may affect the pricing of such commodities. We also have an active reclamation process to capture any unused gold. While we attempt to mitigate the risk of increases in commodities-related costs, there can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully safeguard against potential short-term and long-term commodity price fluctuations.
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| ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA. | |||||||||||
| INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS | |||||||||||
| Page | |||||||||||
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity | |||||||||||
| PCAOB ID: | |||||||||||
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Qorvo, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(In thousands, except per share data)
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(In thousands, except per share data)
| April 2, 2022 | April 3, 2021 | ||||||||||
| ASSETS | |||||||||||
| Current assets: | |||||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Accounts receivable, net of allowance of $402 and $331 as of April 2, 2022 and April 3, 2021, respectively | |||||||||||
Inventories | |||||||||||
Prepaid expenses | |||||||||||
| Other receivables | |||||||||||
Other current assets | |||||||||||
| Total current assets | |||||||||||
| Property and equipment, net | |||||||||||
| Goodwill | |||||||||||
| Intangible assets, net | |||||||||||
| Long-term investments | |||||||||||
| Other non-current assets | |||||||||||
| Total assets | $ | $ | |||||||||
| LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY | |||||||||||
| Current liabilities: | |||||||||||
Accounts payable | $ | $ | |||||||||
Accrued liabilities | |||||||||||
Other current liabilities | |||||||||||
| Total current liabilities | |||||||||||
| Long-term debt | |||||||||||
| Other long-term liabilities | |||||||||||
| Total liabilities | |||||||||||
Commitments and contingent liabilities (Note 11) | |||||||||||
| Stockholders’ equity: | |||||||||||
Preferred stock, $.0001 par value; 5,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding | |||||||||||
| Common stock and additional paid-in capital, $.0001 par value; 405,000 shares authorized; 106,303 and 112,557 shares issued and outstanding at April 2, 2022 and April 3, 2021, respectively | |||||||||||
| Accumulated other comprehensive income | |||||||||||
| Retained earnings | |||||||||||
| Total stockholders’ equity | |||||||||||
| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity | $ | $ | |||||||||
See accompanying notes.
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Qorvo, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated Statements of Income
(In thousands, except per share data)
Consolidated Statements of Income
(In thousands, except per share data)
| Fiscal Year | |||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
| Cost of goods sold | |||||||||||||||||
Gross profit | |||||||||||||||||
| Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||||
Research and development | |||||||||||||||||
Selling, general and administrative | |||||||||||||||||
Other operating expense | |||||||||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | |||||||||||||||||
| Operating income | |||||||||||||||||
| Interest expense | ( | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | ( | ||||||||||||||||
| Income before income taxes | |||||||||||||||||
| Income tax expense | ( | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
Net income per share: | |||||||||||||||||
Basic | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
Diluted | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
| Weighted average shares of common stock outstanding: | |||||||||||||||||
Basic | |||||||||||||||||
Diluted | |||||||||||||||||
See accompanying notes.
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Qorvo, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income
(In thousands)
| Fiscal Year | |||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive (loss) income, net of tax: | |||||||||||||||||
| Change in pension liability | ( | ||||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency translation adjustment, including intra-entity foreign currency transactions that are of a long-term investment nature | ( | ||||||||||||||||
| Reclassification adjustments, net of tax: | |||||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency (gain) loss realized upon liquidation of subsidiary | ( | ||||||||||||||||
Amortization of pension actuarial loss | |||||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive (loss) income | ( | ||||||||||||||||
| Total comprehensive income | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
See accompanying notes.
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Qorvo, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity
(In thousands)
| Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) | Retained Earnings (Accumulated Deficit) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common Stock | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | Total | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance, March 30, 2019 | $ | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive income | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted stock units, net of shares withheld for employee taxes | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Issuance of common stock in connection with employee stock purchase plan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cumulative-effect adoption of ASU 2016-02 | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Repurchase of common stock, including transaction costs | ( | ( | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance, March 28, 2020 | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net income | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive income | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted stock units, net of shares withheld for employee taxes | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Issuance of common stock in connection with employee stock purchase plan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cumulative-effect adoption of ASU 2016-13 | — | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Repurchase of common stock, including transaction costs | ( | ( | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | — | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance, April 3, 2021 | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net income | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive loss | — | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted stock units, net of shares withheld for employee taxes | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Issuance of common stock in connection with employee stock purchase plan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Repurchase of common stock, including transaction costs | ( | ( | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance, April 2, 2022 | $ | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
See accompanying notes.
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| Fiscal Year | |||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| Cash flows from operating activities: | |||||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||
| Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: | |||||||||||||||||
Depreciation | |||||||||||||||||
Intangible assets amortization | |||||||||||||||||
Loss on debt extinguishment | |||||||||||||||||
Deferred income taxes | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||
Gain on Cavendish investment | ( | ||||||||||||||||
| Impairment of equity investment | |||||||||||||||||
| Goodwill impairment | |||||||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation expense | |||||||||||||||||
Other, net | ( | ||||||||||||||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | |||||||||||||||||
Accounts receivable, net | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||
Inventories | ( | ||||||||||||||||
| Prepaid expenses and other assets | ( | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||
Accounts payable | |||||||||||||||||
Accrued liabilities | ( | ||||||||||||||||
Income taxes payable and receivable | ( | ||||||||||||||||
Other liabilities | ( | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||
| Net cash provided by operating activities | |||||||||||||||||
| Cash flows from investing activities: | |||||||||||||||||
| Purchases of property and equipment | ( | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||
| Purchases of businesses, net of cash acquired | ( | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||
| Other investing activities | |||||||||||||||||
| Net cash used in investing activities | ( | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||
| Cash flows from financing activities: | |||||||||||||||||
| Repurchase and payment of debt | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||
| Proceeds from borrowings and debt issuances | |||||||||||||||||
| Repurchase of common stock, including transaction costs | ( | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||
| Proceeds from the issuance of common stock | |||||||||||||||||