ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.
There are no material changes to the Risk Factors described under the title “Factors That May Affect Future Performance” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 other than (1) changes to the Risk Factor below entitled “We generate a significant amount of our total revenues from the sale of digital cordless telephony products and our business and operating results may be materially adversely affected if we do not continue to succeed in this highly competitive market or if sales within the overall cordless digital market decreases;” (2) changes to the Risk Factor below entitled “We rely significantly on revenue derived from a limited number of customers;” (3) changes to the Risk Factor below entitled “We rely on a few distributors for a significant portion of our total revenues and the failure of those distributors to perform as expected would materially reduce our future sales and revenues;” (4) changes to the Risk Factor below entitled “Because we have significant international operations, we may be subject to political, economic and other conditions relating to our international operations that could increase our operating expenses and disrupt our business;” (5) changes to the Risk Factor below entitled “Because we have significant operations in Israel, we may be subject to political, economic and other conditions affecting Israel that could increase our operating expenses and disrupt our business;” (6) changes to the Risk Factor below entitled “The tax benefits available to us under Israeli law requires us to meet several conditions, and may be terminated or reduced in the future, which would increase our taxes;” and (7) changes to the Risk Factor below entitled “We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates.” In addition, we added Risk Factors below entitled “
A breach of our information technology systems could subject us to liability, reputational damage or interrupt the operation of our business.”
and “
New tariffs and other trade measures could adversely affect our consolidated results of operations, financial position and cash flows.”
We generate a significant amount of our total revenues from the sale of digital cordless telephony products and our business and operating results may be materially adversely affected if we do not continue to succeed in this competitive market or if sales within the overall cordless digital market continue to decrease.
Sales of our digital cordless telephony products comprised 47% of our total revenues for the first nine months of 2018 and 55% for the same period of 2017. Any adverse change in the digital cordless market or in our ability to compete and maintain our competitive position in that market would harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
With the rapid deployment of new communication access methods, including mobile, wireless broadband, cable and other connectivity, the traditional cordless telephony market using fixed-line telephony is declining and will continue to decline, which reduces our revenues derived from, and unit sales of, cordless telephony products. Moreover, macro-economic trends in the consumer electronics industry may adversely impact our future revenues.
Furthermore, the decline in fixed line telephony together with the prevalence of new communication access methods, including mobile, wireless broadband, cable and other connectivity, has sales of products using fixed-line telephony. A significant majority of our revenues are currently generated from sales of chipsets used in cordless phones that are based on fixed-line telephony, and the continued decline in fixed-line telephony would reduce our revenues derived from, and unit sales of, our digital cordless telephony products.
In addition, the digital cordless telephony market is competitive and is facing pricing pressures, and we expect that competition and pricing pressures will continue. It is possible that we may one day be unable to respond to increased pricing competition for digital cordless telephony processors or other products through the introduction of new products or reduction of manufacturing costs. This inability to compete would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Likewise, any significant delays by us in developing, manufacturing or shipping new or enhanced products in this market also would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We rely significantly on revenue derived from a limited number of customers.
We expect that a limited number of customers, varying in identity from period-to-period, will account for a substantial portion of our revenues in any period. Our four largest customers – VTech Holdings Ltd (“VTech”), Panasonic through Nexty Electronics Corporation (“Nexty Electronics,” previously called Tomen Electronics Corporation), Cisco Systems, Inc. through Ascend Technology Inc. (“Ascend Technology”) and Avaya through Ascend Technology, accounted for approximately 48% of our total revenues for both the first nine months of 2018 and 2017.
The following table represents our sales from our main customers as a percentage of our total revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017:
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Nine
months ended
September
30,
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Major Customers
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2018
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2017
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VTech Holdings Ltd.
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23
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%
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28
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%
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Typically, our sales are made on a purchase order basis, and most of our customers have not entered into a long-term agreement requiring it to purchase our products. Moreover, we do not typically require our customers to purchase a minimum quantity of our products, and our customers can generally reschedule the delivery date of their orders on short notice without significant penalties. A significant amount of our revenues will continue to be derived from a limited number of large customers. Furthermore, the primary customers for our products are original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs) in the cordless digital market. This industry is highly cyclical and has been subject to significant economic downturns at various times, particularly in recent periods. These downturns are characterized by production overcapacity and reduced revenues, which at times may affect the financial stability of our customers. Therefore, the loss of one of our major customers, or reduced demand for products from, or the reduction in purchasing capability of, one of our major customers, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We rely on a few distributors for a significant portion of our total revenues and the failure of those distributors to perform as expected would materially reduce our future sales and revenues.
The following table represents our sales as a percentage of our total revenues through our main distributors Nexty Electronics and Ascend Technology, for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017:
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Nine
months ended
September
30,
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Major Distributors
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2018
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2017
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Nexty Electronics
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12
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%
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12
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%
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Ascend Technology
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27
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%
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22
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%
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The loss of Nexty Electronics and/or Ascend Technology as our distributors and our inability to obtain satisfactory replacements in a timely manner would materially harm our sales and results of operations.
Our future success is dependent on market acceptance of our HDClear product family targeted for the mobile device market and on market acceptance of our VoIP products, which are intensively competitive markets with dominant and established players.
Our ability to increase our revenues and offset declining revenues from our cordless product family are substantially dependent on our ability to gain market share for our HDClear and VoIP product families. Moreover, we are targeting a new market with our HDClear product family, a market with dominant and established players selling to OEM customers with whom they have established relationships. We will need to win over such customers, with whom we do not have established relationships, to gain market share. If we are unable to generate significant revenues from our HDClear product family and gain significant and sustainable market share in the mobile device market, our operating results would be adversely affected. Furthermore, our future growth is also dependent on the market acceptance of our VoIP products, a market where we also compete with existing and potential competitors, many of whom have significantly greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution resources and management expertise than we do. In addition, our continued success and growth in the new markets in which we have recently gained market share, which markets are highly competitive, is highly dependent on our ability to be designed into future flagship products of top tier OEMs.
The market for mobile device components is highly competitive and we expect competition to intensify in the future.
The market for mobile device components is highly competitive and characterized by the presence of large companies with significantly greater resources than we have. Our HDClear product family relates only to the voice and audio subsystem of a mobile device and there are only a limited number of OEMs targeted for this market. Our main competitors include Audience (acquired by Knowles Corporation), Conexant (recently acquired by Synaptics) and Cirrus Logic. We also face competition from other companies and could face competition from new market entrants. We also compete against solutions internally developed by OEMs, as well as combined third-party software and hardware systems. Notwithstanding prior design wins with any OEM customer, our HDClear products may be designed out as a result of internal solutions or replacement with software systems in future products of such OEM customer. If we are unable to compete effectively, we may not succeed in achieving additional design wins and may have to lower our pricing to gain design wins, both of which would adversely impact our operating results.
Because our products are components of end products, if OEMs do not incorporate our products into their end products or if the end products of our OEM customers do not achieve market acceptance, we may not be able to generate adequate sales of our products.
Our products are not sold directly to the end-user; rather, they are components of end products. As a result, we rely upon OEMs to incorporate our products into their end products at the design stage. Once an OEM designs a competitor’s product into its end product, it becomes significantly more difficult for us to sell our products to that customer because changing suppliers involves significant cost, time, effort and risk for the customer. As a result, we may incur significant expenditures on the development of a new product without any assurance that an OEM will select our product for design into its own product and without this “design win” it becomes significantly difficult to sell our products. This is especially the case for our HDClear product family. Moreover, even after an OEM agrees to design our products into its end products, the design cycle is long and may be delayed or discontinued due to factors beyond our control which may result in the end product incorporating our products not to reach the market until long after the initial “design win” with the OEM or not at all. From initial product design-in to volume production, many factors could impact the timing and/or amount of sales actually realized from the design-in. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in the competitive position of our technology, our customers’ financial stability, and our ability to ship products according to our customers’ schedule. Moreover, the continued uncertainty about the sustainability of the global economic recovery and outlook may further prolong an OEM customer’s decision-making process and design cycle.
Furthermore, we rely on the end products of our OEM customers that incorporate our products to achieve market acceptance. Many of our OEM customers face intense competition in their markets. If end products that incorporate our products are not accepted in the marketplace, we may not achieve adequate sales volume of our products, which would have a negative effect on our results of operations.
Because our quarterly operating results may fluctuate significantly, the price of our common stock may decline.
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Our quarterly results of operations may vary significantly in the future for a variety of reasons, many of which are outside our control, including the following:
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fluctuations in volume and timing of product orders;
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timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the ability of our customers, to manage inventory;
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changes in demand for our products due to seasonal consumer buying patterns and other factors;
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timing of new product introductions by us and by our customers or competitors;
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changes in the mix of products sold by us or our competitors;
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fluctuations in the level of sales by our OEM customers and other vendors of end products incorporating our products;
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timing and size of expenses, including expenses to develop new products and product improvements, and expenses resulting from restructuring activities;
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the timing and amount of funding from IIA;
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entry into new markets, including China, Korea and South America;
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our ability to scale our operations in response to changes in demand for our existing products and services or demand for new products requested by our customers;
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mergers and acquisitions by us, our competitors and our existing and potential customers; and
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general economic conditions, including current economic conditions in the United States and worldwide, and the adverse effects on the semiconductor and consumer electronics industries.
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Each of the above factors is difficult to forecast and could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Also, we sell our products to OEM customers that operate in consumer markets. As a result, our revenues are affected by seasonal buying patterns of consumer products sold by our OEM customers that incorporate our products and the market acceptance of such products supplied by our OEM customers.
Our revenues, gross margins and profitability may be materially adversely affected by the continued decline in average selling prices of our products and other factors, including increases in assembly and testing expenses, and raw material and commodity costs.
We have experienced and will continue to experience a decrease in the average selling prices of our products. Decreasing average selling prices could result in decreased revenues even if the volume of products sold increases. Decreasing average selling prices may also require us to sell our products at much lower gross margin than in the past and reduce profitability. Although we have to date been able to partially offset on an annual basis the declining average selling prices of our products through general operational efficiencies and manufacturing cost reductions by achieving a higher level of product integration and improving our yield percentages, there is no guarantee that our ongoing efforts will be successful or that they will keep pace with the anticipated, continued decline in average selling prices of our products.
In addition to the continued decline in the average selling prices of our products, our gross profit may decrease in the future due to other factors, including the roll-out of new products in any given period and the penetration of new markets which may require us to sell products at a lower margin, our failure to introduce new engineering processes and mix of products sold.
Our gross margins also are affected by the product mix. For example, mature products have lower average gross margins than other products. Therefore, increased sales of certain mature products would lower our gross margins. The pressures in the supply chain make it very difficult for us to increase or even maintain our product pricing, which further adversely affects our gross margins.
Furthermore, increases in the price of silicon wafers, testing costs and commodities such as gold and oil, which may result in increased production costs, mainly assembly and packaging costs, may result in a decrease in our gross margins. Moreover, our suppliers may pass the increase in raw materials and commodity costs onto us which would further reduce the gross margin of our products. In addition, as we are a fabless company, global market trends such as “over-capacity” problems so that there is a shortage of capacity to fulfill our fabrication needs also may increase our raw material costs and thus decrease our gross margin.
There are several emerging market trends that may challenge our ability to continue to grow our business.
New technological developments in the home connectivity market may adversely affect our operating results. For example, the prevalence of new communication access methods, including mobile, wireless broadband, cable and other connectivity, as well as the lack of growth in products using fixed-line telephony would reduce our total revenues derived from, and unit sales of, cordless fixed-line telephony products. Our ability to maintain our growth will depend on the expansion of our product lines to capitalize on the emerging access methods and on our success in developing and selling a portfolio of “system-on-a-chip” solutions targeted at wider markets, including the intensively competitive mobile devices market. We cannot assure you that we will succeed in expanding our product lines or portfolio of “system-on-a-chip” solutions, or that they would receive market acceptance.
Furthermore, there is continued threat from alternative technologies accelerating the decline of the fixed-line telephony market. This competition comes from mobile telephony, including emerging dual-mode mobile Wi Fi phones and other innovative applications, such as Skype and iChat. Given that we derive a significant amount of revenues from chipsets incorporated into fixed-line telephony products, if we are unable to develop new technologies in the face of the decline of this market, our business could be materially adversely affected.
Our future business growth depends on the growth in demand for mobile devices with improved sound quality and always-on capability.
Our HDClear product family is designed to enhance the sound quality and eliminate background voices for mobile device users and to enable always-on capabilities in mobile and other wearable devices. OEMs and ODMs may decide that the costs of improving sound quality outweigh the benefits or that always-on voice technology is not a required feature, both of which could limit demand for our HDClear product family. Moreover, users may also be satisfied with existing sound quality or blame poor quality on their phone carriers. The market that we are targeting is evolving rapidly and is technologically challenging. New mobile devices with different components or software may be introduced that provide the same functionality as HDClear product family. Our future business growth will depend on the growth of this market and our ability to adapt to technological changes, user preferences and OEM demands. Our business could be materially adversely affected if we fail to do so.
Because we have significant international operations, we may be subject to political, economic and other conditions relating to our international operations that could increase our operating expenses and disrupt our business.
Although the majority of end users of the consumer products that incorporate our products are located in the U.S., we are dependent on sales to OEM customers, located outside of the U.S., that manufacture these consumer products. Also, we depend on a network of distributors to sell our products that also are primarily located outside of the U.S. Export sales shipped to manufacturers in Europe and Asia, including Japan and Asia Pacific, represented 95% and 96% of our total revenues for the first nine months of 2018 and 2017, respectively. Furthermore, we have material operations in Germany, Hong Kong and India and employ a number of individuals within those foreign operations. As a result, the occurrence of any negative international political, economic or geographic events, as well as our failure to mitigate the challenges in managing an organization operating in various countries, could result in significant revenue shortfalls and disrupt our workforce within our foreign operations. These shortfalls and disruptions could cause our business, financial condition and results of operations to be harmed. Some of the risks of doing business internationally include:
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unexpected changes in foreign government regulatory requirements;
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fluctuations in the exchange rate for the United States dollar;
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import and export license requirements;
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imposition of tariffs and other barriers and restrictions;
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burdens of complying with a variety of foreign laws, treaties and technical standards;
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uncertainty of laws and enforcement in certain countries relating to the protection of intellectual property;
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difficulty in collecting accounts receivable and longer payment cycles for international customers than existing customers;
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difficulty in staffing and managing foreign operations and maintaining the morale and productivity of employees within foreign operations;
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multiple and possibly overlapping tax structures and potentially adverse tax consequences;
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political and economic instability, including protectionist policies; and
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changes in diplomatic and trade relationships.
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One or more of these factors may have a material adverse effect on our future operations and consequently, on our business, financial conditions and operating results.
In order to sustain the future growth of our business, we must penetrate new markets and our new products must achieve widespread market acceptance.
In order to increase our sales volume and expand our business, we must penetrate new markets and introduce new products, especially our HDClear product family. We are exploring opportunities to expand sales of our products in China, Japan, Korea and South America. However, there are no assurances that we will gain significant market share in those competitive markets. In addition, due to the cyclical nature of manufacturing capacity issues, the increasing cost of silicon integrated circuits, the continued decline of average selling prices of chipsets and other industry-wide factors, many North American, European and Japanese OEMs are moving their manufacturing sites to Asia. This trend may cause the mix of our OEM customers to change in the future, thereby further necessitating our need to penetrate new markets. Furthermore, to sustain the future growth of our business, we need to introduce new products as sales of our older products taper off. Moreover, the penetration of new competitive markets and introduction of new products could require us to reduce the sale prices of our products or increase the cost per product and thus reducing our total gross profit in future periods. Our revenue growth is dependent on the successful deployment of our new VoIP and HDClear products. Our inability to penetrate such markets and increase our market share in those markets or lack of customer acceptance of those products may harm our business and potential growth.
Our research and development expenses may increase if the grants we currently receive from the Israeli government are reduced or withheld.
We currently receive research grants from programs of the IIA. To be eligible for these grants, we must meet certain development conditions and comply with periodic reporting obligations. Although we have met such conditions in the past, should we fail to meet such conditions in the future our research grants may be repayable, reduced or withheld. Such reduction can also take place due to different allocation and methodology that IIA is implementing. The reduction of such research grants may increase our research and development expenses which in turn may reduce our operating income. As an example, in 2018, the amount of grants approved by the IIA was substantially lower than prior years due to different allocation and methodology that IIA has implemented. Our research and development expenses may increase if the grants from the IIA are reduced which may negatively affect our financial results.
Because the markets in which we compete are subject to rapid changes, our products may become obsolete or unmarketable.
The markets for our products and services are characterized by rapidly changing technology, short product life cycles, evolving industry standards, changes in customer needs, demand for higher levels of integration, growing competition and new product introductions. This is especially the case for the mobile device market. Our future growth is dependent not only on the continued success of our existing products but also successful introduction of new products. Our ability to adapt to changing technology and anticipate future standards, and the rate of adoption and acceptance of those standards, will be a significant factor in maintaining or improving our competitive position and prospects for growth. If new industry standards emerge, our products or our customers’ products could become unmarketable or obsolete, and we could lose market share. We may also have to incur substantial unanticipated costs to comply with these new standards. If our product development and improvements take longer than planned, the availability of our products would be delayed. Any such delay may render our products obsolete or unmarketable, which would have a negative impact on our ability to sell our products and our results of operations.
Because of changing customer requirements and emerging industry standards, we may not be able to achieve broad market acceptance of our products. Our success is dependent, in part, on our ability to:
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successfully develop, introduce and market new and enhanced products at competitive prices and in a timely manner in order to meet changing customer needs;
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convince leading OEMs to select our new and enhanced products for design into their own new products;
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respond effectively to new technological changes or new product announcements by others;
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effectively use and offer leading technologies; and
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maintain close working relationships with our key customers.
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There are no assurances that we will be successful in these pursuits, that the demand for our products will continue or that our products will achieve market acceptance. Our failure to develop and introduce new products that are compatible with industry standards and that satisfy customer requirements, and the failure of our products to achieve broad market acceptance, could have a negative impact on our ability to sell our products and our results of operations.
Because we depend on independent foundries and other third party suppliers to manufacture and test all of our integrated circuit products, we are subject to additional risks that may materially disrupt our business.
All of our integrated circuit products are manufactured and tested by independent foundries and other third party suppliers. While these foundries and other third party suppliers have been able to adequately meet the demands of our increasing business, we are and will continue to be dependent upon these foundries and third party suppliers to achieve acceptable manufacturing yields, quality levels and costs, and to allocate to us a sufficient portion of their foundry, assembly and test capacity to meet our needs in a timely manner.
While we currently believe we have adequate capacity to support our current sales levels pursuant to our arrangement with our foundries and other third party suppliers, we may encounter capacity shortage issues in the future. In the event of a worldwide shortage in foundry, assembly and/or test capacity, we may not be able to obtain a sufficient allocation of such capacity to meet our product needs or we may incur additional costs to ensure specified quantities of products and services. Over-capacity at the current foundries and other third party suppliers we use, or future foundries or other third party suppliers we may use, to manufacture and test our integrated circuit products may lead to increased operating costs and lower gross margins. In addition, such a shortage could lengthen our products’ manufacturing and testing cycle and cause a delay in the shipment of our products to our customers. This could ultimately lead to a loss of sales of our products, harm our reputation and competitive position, and our revenues could be materially reduced. Our business could also be harmed if our current foundries or other third party suppliers terminate their relationship with us and we are unable to obtain satisfactory replacements to fulfill customer orders on a timely basis and in a cost-effective manner. Moreover, we do not have long term capacity guarantee agreements with our foundries and with other third party suppliers.
In addition, as TSMC produces a significant portion of our integrated circuit products and ASE tests and assembles a significant portion of them, earthquakes, aftershocks or other natural disasters in Asia, or adverse changes in the political situation in Taiwan, could preclude us from obtaining an adequate supply of wafers to fill customer orders. Such events could harm our reputation, business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Our operating results are affected by general economic conditions and the highly cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry.
The general worldwide economic conditions remain uncertain which continues to make it difficult for our customers, the end-product customers, our vendors and us to accurately forecast and plan future business activities and make reliable projections.
Moreover, we operate within the semiconductor industry which experiences significant fluctuations in sales and profitability. Downturns in the semiconductor industry are characterized by diminished product demand, excess customer inventories, accelerated erosion of prices and excess production capacity. These factors could cause substantial fluctuations in our revenues and in our results of operations.
If global economic and market conditions remain uncertain or deteriorate, we could experience a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations.
Because the manufacture of our products is complex, the foundries on which we depend may not achieve the necessary yields or product reliability that our business requires.
The manufacture of our products is a highly complex and precise process, requiring production in a highly controlled environment. Changes in manufacturing processes or the inadvertent use of defective or contaminated materials by a foundry could adversely affect the foundry’s ability to achieve acceptable manufacturing yields and product reliability. If the foundries we currently use do not achieve the necessary yields or product reliability, our ability to fulfill our customers’ needs could suffer. This could ultimately lead to a loss of sales of our products and have a negative effect on our gross margins and results of operations.
Furthermore, there are other significant risks associated with relying on these third-party foundries, including:
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risks due to the fact that we have reduced control over production cost, delivery schedules and product quality;
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less recourse if problems occur as the warranties on wafers or products supplied to us are limited; and
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increased exposure to potential misappropriation of our intellectual property.
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As we depend on independent subcontractors, located in Asia, to assemble and test our semiconductor products, we are subject to additional risks that may materially disrupt our business.
Independent subcontractors, located in Asia, assemble and test our semiconductor products. Because we rely on independent subcontractors to perform these services, we cannot directly control our product delivery schedules or quality levels. We are dependent on these subcontractors to allocate to us a sufficient portion of their capacity to meet our needs in a timely manner. Our future success also depends on the financial viability of our independent subcontractors. If the capital structures of our independent subcontractors weaken, we may experience product shortages, production delays, quality assurance problems, increased manufacturing costs, and/or supply chain disruption. All of this could ultimately lead to a loss of sales of our products, harm our reputation and competitive position, and our revenues could be materially harmed.
Moreover, the economic, market, social, and political situations in countries where some of our independent subcontractors are located are unpredictable, can be volatile, and can have a significant impact on our business because we may not be able to obtain product in a timely manner. Market and political conditions, including currency fluctuation, terrorism, political strife, war, labor disruption, and other factors, including natural or man-made disasters, adverse changes in tax laws, tariff, import or export quotas, power and water shortages, or interruption in air transportation, in areas where our independent subcontractors are located also could have a severe negative impact on our operating capabilities.
We are subject to order and shipment uncertainties and if we are unable to accurately predict customer demand, our business may be harmed.
We typically sell products pursuant to purchase orders rather than long-term purchase commitments. Customers can generally change or defer purchase orders on short notice without incurring a significant penalty. Given current market conditions, we have less ability to accurately predict what or how many products our customers will need in the future. In addition, we have little visibility into and no control of the demand by our customer’s customers – generally consumer electronics retailers. Furthermore, based on discussions with our customers, we understand that our customers also have less visibility into their product demands. A decrease in the consumer electronics retailers’ demand or a build-up of their inventory, both of which are out of the control of our customers and us, may cause a cancellation, change or deferral of purchase orders on short notice by our customers. Anticipating demand is difficult because our customers and their customers face volatile pricing and unpredictable demand for their own products, and are increasingly focused on cash preservation and tighter inventory management. Based on these trends, our customers are reluctant to place orders with normal lead times, and we are seeing a shift to shorter lead-times and rush orders. However, we place orders with our suppliers based on forecasts of our customers’ demand and, in some instances, may establish buffer inventories to accommodate anticipated demand. Our forecasts are based on multiple assumptions, each of which may introduce error into our estimates. If we overestimate our customers’ demand or our customers overestimate their demand, we may allocate resources to manufacturing products that we may not be able to sell when we expect to, if at all. As a result, we could hold excess or obsolete inventory, which would reduce our profit margins and adversely affect our financial results. Conversely, if we underestimate our customers’ demand or our customers underestimate their demand and insufficient manufacturing capacity is available, we could forego revenue opportunities and potentially lose market share and damage our customer relationships.
Furthermore, we maintain inventory, or hubbing, arrangements with certain of our customers. Pursuant to these arrangements, we deliver products to a customer or a designated third party warehouse based upon the customer’s projected needs, but do not recognize product revenue unless and until the customer reports that it has removed our product from the warehouse to incorporate into its end products. Since we own inventory that is physically located in a third party’s warehouse, our ability to effectively manage inventory levels may be impaired, causing our total inventory turns to decrease, which could increase expenses associated with excess and obsolete product and negatively impact our cash flow.
We are dependent on a small number of OEM customers, and our business could be harmed by the loss of any of these customers or reductions in their purchasing volumes.
We sell our products to a limited number of OEM customers directly or through a network of distributors. Moreover, many North American, European and Japanese OEMs are moving their manufacturing sites to Southeast Asia, as a result of the cyclical nature of manufacturing capacity issues and cost of silicon integrated circuits, the continued decline of average selling prices of chipsets and other industry-wide factors. In addition, OEMs located in Southeast Asia are growing and gaining competitive strength. As a result, the mix of our OEM customers may change in the future. However, we may not succeed in attracting new customers as these potential customers may have pre-existing relationships with our current or potential competitors. This trend also may promote the consolidation of OEMs located in North America, Europe and Japan with OEMs located in Southeast Asia, which may reduce the number of our potential customers and reduce the volume of chipsets the combined OEM customer may purchase from us. However, as is common in our industry, we typically do not enter into long term contracts with our customers in which they commit to purchase products from us. The loss of any of our OEM customers may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. To attract new customers, we may be faced with intense price competition, which may affect our revenues and gross margins.
The possible emerging trend of our OEM customers outsourcing their production may cause our revenue to decline.
We believe there may be an emerging trend of our OEM customers outsourcing their production to third parties. We have invested substantial resources to build relationships with our OEM customers. However the outsourcing companies whom our OEM customers may choose to outsource production may not have prior business relationship with us or may instead have prior or ongoing relationships with our competitors. The emergence of this trend may require us to expend substantial additional resources to build relationships with these outsourcing companies, which would increase our operating expenses. Even if we do expend such resources, there are no assurances that these outsourcing companies will choose to incorporate our chipsets rather than chipsets of our competitors. Our inability to retain an OEM customer once such customer chooses to outsource production would have a material adverse effect on our future revenue.
Third party claims of infringement or other claims against us could adversely affect our ability to market our products, require us to redesign our products or seek licenses from third parties, and seriously harm our operating results and disrupt our business.
As is typical in the semiconductor industry, we and our customers have been and may from time to time be notified of claims that we may be infringing patents or intellectual property rights owned by third parties. In addition, patent infringement claims are increasingly being asserted by patent holding companies (so-called patent “trolls”), which do not use technology and whose sole business is to enforce patents against companies, such as us, for monetary gain. Because such patent holding companies do not provide services or use technology, the assertion of our own patents by way of counter-claim may be ineffective. We have received claims that our products infringe upon the proprietary rights of such patent holding companies. In addition, third parties have asserted and may in the future assert intellectual property infringement claims against our customers, which we have agreed in certain circumstances to indemnify and defend against such claims. If litigation becomes necessary to determine the validity of any third party claims, it could result in significant expense to us and could divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel, whether or not the claim has merit and notwithstanding that the litigation is determined in our favor.
If it appears necessary or desirable, we may try to obtain licenses for those patents or intellectual property rights that we are allegedly infringing. Although holders of these types of intellectual property rights commonly offer these licenses, we cannot assure you that licenses will be offered or that the terms of any offered licenses will be acceptable to us. Our failure to obtain a license for key intellectual property rights from a third party for technology used by us could cause us to incur substantial liabilities, suspend the manufacturing of products utilizing the technology or damage the relationship with our customers. Alternatively, we could be required to expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology. We cannot assure you that we would be successful in developing non-infringing technology. The occurrence of any of these events could harm our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Because we have significant operations in Israel, we may be subject to political, economic and other conditions affecting Israel that could increase our operating expenses and disrupt our business.
Our principal research and development facilities are located in the State of Israel and, as a result, at September 30, 2018, 197 of our 320 employees were located in Israel, including 130 out of 195 of our research and development personnel. In addition, although we are incorporated in Delaware, a majority of our directors and executive officers are residents of Israel. Although substantially all of our sales currently are being made to customers outside of Israel, we are nonetheless directly influenced by the political, economic and military conditions affecting Israel. Any major hostilities involving Israel, or the interruption or curtailment of trade between Israel and its present trading partners, could significantly harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
Israel’s economy has been subject to numerous destabilizing factors, including a period of rampant inflation in the early to mid-1980s, low foreign exchange reserves, fluctuations in world commodity prices, military conflicts and civil unrest. In addition, Israel and companies doing business with Israel have been the subject of an economic boycott by the Arab countries since Israel’s establishment. Although they have not done so to date, these restrictive laws and policies may have an adverse impact on our operating results, financial condition or expansion of our business.
Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, a state of hostility has existed, varying in degree and intensity, between Israel and the Arab countries. Although Israel has entered into various agreements with certain Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority, and various declarations have been signed in connection with efforts to resolve some of the economic and political problems in the Middle East, hostilities between Israel and some of its Arab neighbors have recently escalated and intensified. We cannot predict whether or in what manner these conflicts will be resolved. Our results of operations may be negatively affected by the obligation of key personnel to perform military service. In addition, certain of our officers and employees are currently obligated to perform annual reserve duty in the Israel Defense Forces and are subject to being called for active military duty at any time. Although we have operated effectively under these requirements since our inception, we cannot predict the effect of these obligations on the company in the future. Our operations could be disrupted by the absence, for a significant period, of one or more of our officers or key employees due to military service.
Recently enacted tax legislation in the United States may impact our business.
We are subject to taxation in the United States, as well as a number of foreign jurisdictions.
On December 22, 2017, the U.S. President signed into law federal tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”). The Tax Act provides for significant and wide-ranging changes to the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. The reforms are complex, and it will take some time to assess the implications thoroughly. Broadly, the implications most relevant to the company include: a) a reduction in the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, with various “base erosion” rules that may effectively limit the tax deductibility of certain payments made by U.S. entities to non-U.S. affiliates and additional limitations on deductions attributable to interest expense; and b) adopting elements of a territorial tax system. To transition into the territorial tax system, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act includes a one-time tax on cumulative retained earnings and profits of U.S.-owned (directly or indirectly) foreign subsidiaries, at a rate of 15.5% for earnings represented by cash or cash equivalents and 8.0% for the balance of such earnings. Taxpayers may make an election to pay this tax over eight years. These tax reforms will give rise to significant consequences, both immediately in terms of one-off impacts relating to the transition tax and the measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities and going forward in terms of the company’s taxation expense. An initial review and estimate has been undertaken by us, which will be updated over the coming weeks and months as we work through these complex changes with its advisors. The Tax Act could be subject to potential amendments and technical corrections, any of which could lessen or increase adverse impacts of the law. The final transitional impact of the Tax Act may differ from our previously provided estimates due to, among other things, changes in interpretations of the Tax Act, any legislative action to address questions that arise because of the Tax Act, any changes in accounting standards for income taxes or related interpretations in response to the Tax Act, or any updates or changes to estimates we utilized to calculate the transitional impacts, including impacts related to changes to current year earnings estimates and the amount of the repatriation tax. Given the unpredictability of these and other tax laws and related regulations, and their potential interdependency, it is difficult to currently assess the overall effect of such changes. Nonetheless, any material negative effect of such changes to our earnings and cash flow could adversely impact our financial results.
The tax benefits available to us under Israeli law require us to meet several conditions, and may be terminated or reduced in the future, which would increase our taxes.
Our facilities in Israel have been granted Approved Enterprise and Beneficiary Enterprise status under the Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments, 1959, commonly referred to as the “Investment Law,” as amended. The Investment Law provides that capital investments in a production facility (or other eligible assets) designated as an Approved Enterprise or Beneficiary Enterprise receive certain tax benefits in Israel. Our investment programs that generate taxable income are currently subject to an average tax rate of up to approximately 10% based on a variety of factors, including percentage of foreign ownership and approvals for the erosion of the tax basis of our investment programs. To be eligible for tax benefits, we must meet certain conditions, relating principally to adherence to the investment program filed with the Investment Center of the Israeli Ministry of Economy and periodic reporting obligations. Although we believe we have met such conditions in the past, should we fail to meet such conditions in the future, we would be subject to corporate tax in Israel at the standard corporate tax rate (23% for 2018) and could be required to refund tax benefits (including with interest and adjustments for inflation based on the Israeli consumer price index) already received. Our average tax rate for our investment programs also may change in the future due to circumstances outside of our control, including changes to legislation. For example, in July 2013, the Investment Law was amended whereby the reduction of corporate tax rate for preferred enterprises was eliminated such that such enterprises, which are subject to the new law, would be subject to a 16% tax rate. Therefore, we cannot provide any assurances that our average tax rate for our investment programs will continue in the future at their current levels, if at all. The termination or reduction of certain programs and tax benefits or a requirement to refund tax benefits (including with interest and adjustments for inflation based on the Israeli consumer price index) already received may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.
We may engage in future acquisitions that could dilute our stockholders’ equity and harm our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We have pursued, and will continue to pursue, growth opportunities through internal development and acquisition of complementary businesses, products and technologies. We are unable to predict whether or when any other prospective acquisition will be completed. The process of integrating an acquired business may be prolonged due to unforeseen difficulties and may require a disproportionate amount of our resources and management’s attention. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully identify suitable acquisition candidates, complete acquisitions, integrate acquired businesses into our operations, or expand into new markets. Further, once integrated, acquisitions may not achieve comparable levels of revenues, profitability or productivity as our existing business or otherwise perform as expected. The occurrence of any of these events could harm our business, financial condition or results of operations. Future acquisitions may require substantial capital resources, which may require us to seek additional debt or equity financing.
Future acquisitions by us could result in the following, any of which could seriously harm our results of operations or the price of our stock:
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issuance of equity securities that would dilute our current stockholders’ percentages of ownership;
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large one-time write-offs;
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the incurrence of debt and contingent liabilities;
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difficulties in the assimilation and integration of operations, personnel, technologies, products and information systems of the acquired companies;
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diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns;
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risks of entering geographic and business markets in which we have no or only limited prior experience; and
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potential loss of key employees of acquired organizations.
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We may not be able to adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property rights, which could harm our competitive position.
Our success and ability to compete is in part dependent upon our internally-developed technology and other proprietary rights, which we protect through a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as through confidentiality agreements and licensing arrangements with our customers, suppliers, employees and consultants. In addition, we have filed a number of patents in the United States and in other foreign countries with respect to new or improved technology that we have developed. However, the status of any patent involves complex legal and factual questions, and the breadth of claims allowed is uncertain. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that any patent application filed by us will result in a patent being issued, or that the patents issued to us will not be infringed by others. Also, our competitors and potential competitors may develop products with similar technology or functionality as our products, or they may attempt to copy or reverse engineer aspects of our product line or to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Moreover, the laws of certain countries in which our products are or may be developed, manufactured or sold, including Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, may not protect our products and intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Policing the unauthorized use of our products is difficult and may result in significant expense to us and could divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel. Even if we spend significant resources and efforts to protect our intellectual property, we cannot assure you that we will be able to prevent misappropriation of our technology. Use by others of our proprietary rights could materially harm our business and expensive litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights.
Because our products are complex, the detection of errors in our products may be delayed, and if we deliver products with material defects, our credibility will be harmed, the sales and market acceptance of our products may decrease and product liability claims may be made against us.
Our products are complex and may contain errors, defects and bugs when introduced. If we deliver products with material errors, defects or bugs, our credibility and the market acceptance and sales of our products could be significantly harmed. Furthermore, the nature of our products may also delay the detection of any such error or defect. If our products contain material errors, defects and bugs, then we may be required to expend significant capital and resources to alleviate these problems. This could result in the diversion of technical and other resources from our other development efforts. Any actual or perceived problems or delays may also adversely affect our ability to attract or retain customers. Furthermore, the existence of any defects, errors or failures in our products could lead to product liability claims or lawsuits against us or against our customers. We generally provide our customers with a standard warranty for our products, generally lasting one year from the date of purchase. Although we attempt to limit our liability for product defects to product replacements, we may not be successful, and customers may sue us or claim liability for the defective products. A successful product liability claim could result in substantial cost and divert management’s attention and resources, which would have a negative impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
We are exposed to the credit risk of our customers and to credit exposures in weakened markets, which could result in material losses.
Most of our sales are on an open credit basis. Because of current conditions in the global economy, our exposure to credit risks relating to sales on an open credit basis has increased. We expect demand for enhanced open credit terms, for example, longer payment terms, to continue and believe that such arrangements are a competitive factor in obtaining business. Although we monitor and attempt to mitigate credit risks, including through insurance coverage from time to time, there can be no assurance that our efforts will be effective. Moreover, even if we attempt to mitigate credit risks through insurance coverage, such coverage may not be sufficient to cover all of our losses and we would be subject to a deductible under any insurance coverage. As a result, our future credit risk exposure may increase. Although any losses to date relating to credit exposure of our customers have not been material, future losses, if incurred, could harm our business and have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition. Moreover, the loss of a customer due to its financial default also could harm our future business and potential growth.
Our executive officers and key personnel are critical to our business, and because there is significant competition for personnel in our industry, we may not be able to attract and retain such qualified personnel.
Our success depends to a significant degree upon the continued contributions of our executive management team, and our technical, marketing, sales customer support and product development personnel. The loss of significant numbers of such personnel could significantly harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. We do not have any life insurance or other insurance covering the loss of any of our key employees. Because our products are specialized and complex, our success depends upon our ability to attract, train and retain qualified personnel, including qualified technical, marketing and sales personnel. However, the competition for personnel is intense and we may have difficulty attracting and retaining such personnel.
We may have exposure to additional tax liabilities as a result of our foreign operations.
We are subject to income taxes in the United States and various foreign jurisdictions. In addition to our significant operations in Israel, we have operations in Germany, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, China, Japan, South Korea and India. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide provision for income taxes and other tax liabilities. In the ordinary course of a global business, there are many intercompany transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. We are regularly under audit by tax authorities and as an example, we are now under audit for one of our subsidiaries, the outcome of which could have material adverse impact on our financial condition. Our intercompany transfer pricing may be reviewed by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and by foreign tax jurisdictions. Although we believe that our tax estimates are reasonable, due to the complexity of our corporate structure, the multiple intercompany transactions and the various tax regimes, we cannot assure you that a tax audit or tax dispute to which we may be subject will result in a favorable outcome for us. If taxing authorities do not accept our tax positions and impose higher tax rates on our foreign operations, our overall tax expenses could increase.
We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates.
A significant portion of our business is conducted outside the United States. Export sales to manufacturers in Europe and Asia, including Japan and Asia Pacific, represented 95% and 96% of our total revenues for the first nine months of 2018 and 2017, respectively. Although most of our revenue and expenses are transacted in U.S. dollars, we may be exposed to currency exchange fluctuations in the future as business practices evolve and we are forced to transact business in local currencies. Moreover, part of our expenses in Israel are paid in Israeli currency, which subjects us to the risks of foreign currency fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and the New Israeli Shekel (NIS) and to economic pressures resulting from Israel’s general rate of inflation. Our primary expenses paid in NIS are employee salaries and lease payments on our Israeli facilities. Furthermore, a portion of our expenses for our European operations are paid in the Euro, which subjects us to the risks of foreign currency fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and the Euro. Our primary expenses paid in the Euro are employee salaries, lease and operational payments on our European facilities. As a result, an increase in the value of the NIS and Euro in comparison to the U.S. dollar could increase the cost of our technology development, research and development expenses and general and administrative expenses, all of which could harm our operating profit. From time to time, we use derivative instruments in order to minimize the effects of currency fluctuations, but our hedging positions may be partial, may not exist at all in the future or may not succeed in minimizing our foreign currency fluctuation risks. Our financial results may be harmed if the trend relating to the devaluation of the U.S. dollars continues for an extended period.
Because the markets in which we compete are highly competitive, and many of our competitors have greater resources than we do, we cannot be certain that our products will be accepted in the marketplace or capture market share.
The markets in which we operate are extremely competitive and characterized by rapid technological change, evolving standards, short product life cycles and price erosion. We expect competition to intensify as current competitors expand their product offerings and new competitors enter the market. Given the highly competitive environment in which we operate, we cannot be sure that any competitive advantages enjoyed by our current products would be sufficient to establish and sustain our new products in the market. Any increase in price or competition could result in the erosion of our market share, to the extent we have obtained market share, and would have a negative impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
In each of our business activities, we face current and potential competition from competitors that have significantly greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution resources and management expertise than we do. These competitors may also have pre-existing relationships with our customers or potential customers. Further, in the event of a manufacturing capacity shortage, these competitors may be able to manufacture products when we are unable to do so. Our principal competitors in the cordless market include Lantiq (acquired by Intel) and Dialog Semiconductors. Our principal competitors in the VoIP market include Broadcom (acquired by Avago Technologies), Dialog Semiconductors, Infineon, Texas Instruments and new Taiwanese IC vendors. Our principal competitors in the smart audio and noise reduction market include Audience (acquired by Knowles Corporation), Cirrus Logic, Conexant (recently acquired by Synaptics) and developers of noise cancellation software running on mobile phones such as NXP and ForteMedia.
As discussed above, various new developments in the home residential market may require us to enter into new markets with competitors that have more established presence, and significantly greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution resources and management expertise than we do. The expenditure of greater resources to expand our current product lines and develop a portfolio of “system-on-a-chip” solutions that integrate video, voice, data and communication technologies in a wider multimedia market may increase our operating expenses and reduce our gross profit. We cannot assure you that we will succeed in developing and introducing new products that are responsive to market demands.
An unfavorable government review of our federal income tax returns or changes in our effective tax rates could adversely affect our operating results.
Our future effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being lower than anticipated in countries where we have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated in countries where we have higher statutory rates, by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, or by changes in tax laws, regulations, accounting principles or interpretations thereof. In addition, we are subject to the periodic examination of our income tax returns by the IRS and other tax authorities. We regularly assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes, as an example, we are now under audit for one of our subsidiaries. The outcome from this examination may have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.
Our business operations would be disrupted if the information technology systems we rely on fail to function properly.
We rely on complex information technology systems to manage our business which operates in many geographical locations. For example, to achieve short delivery lead times and superior levels of customer service while maintaining low levels of inventory, we constantly adjust our production schedules with manufacturers and subcontractors. We develop and adjust these schedules based on end customer demand as communicated by our customers and distributors and based on our inventory levels, manufacturing cycle times, component lead times, and projected production yields. We combine and distribute all of this information electronically over a complex global communications network. Our ability to estimate demand and to adjust our production schedules is highly dependent on this network. Any delay in the implementation of, or disruption in the transition to, new or enhanced processes, systems or controls, could adversely affect our ability to manage customer orders and manufacturing schedules, as well as generate accurate financial and management information in a timely manner. These systems are also susceptible to power and telecommunication disruptions and other system failures. Failure of our IT systems or difficulties in managing them could result in business disruption. Our business could be significantly disrupted and we could be subject to third party claims associated with such disruptions.
A breach of our information technology systems could subject us to liability, reputational damage or interrupt the operation of our business.
We rely upon our information technology systems and infrastructure for our business. We could experience theft of confidential information or reputational damage from industrial espionage attacks, malware or other cyber attacks, which may compromise our system infrastructure or lead to data leakage, either internally or at our third-party providers. Similarly, data privacy breaches by those who access our systems may pose a risk that sensitive data, including intellectual property, trade secrets or personal information belonging to us, our patients, employees, customers or other business partners, may be exposed to unauthorized persons or to the public. Cyber-attacks are increasing in their frequency, sophistication and intensity, and have become increasingly difficult to detect. There can be no assurance that our efforts to protect our data and information technology systems will prevent breaches in our systems (or that of our third-party providers) that could adversely affect our business and result in financial and reputational harm to us, theft of trade secrets and other proprietary information, legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, and regulatory penalties.
New tariffs and other trade measures could adversely affect our consolidated results of operations, financial position and cash flows.
General trade tensions between the U.S. and China have been escalating in 2018. While tariffs and other retaliatory trade measures imposed by other countries on U.S. goods have not yet had a significant impact on our business or results of operations, we cannot predict further developments, and such existing or future tariffs could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations, financial position and cash flows.
We may experience difficulties in transitioning to smaller geometry process technologies or in achieving higher levels of design integration, which may result in reduced manufacturing yields, delays in product deliveries and increased expenses.
A growing trend in our industry is the integration of greater semiconductor content into a single chip to achieve higher levels of functionality. In order to remain competitive, we must achieve higher levels of design integration and deliver new integrated products on a timely basis. This will require us to expend greater research and development resources, and may require us to modify the manufacturing processes for some of our products, to achieve greater integration. We periodically evaluate the benefits, on a product-by-product basis, of migrating to smaller geometry process technologies to reduce our costs. Although this migration to smaller geometry process technologies has helped us to offset the declining average selling prices of our products, this effort may not continue to be successful. Also, because we are a fabless semiconductor company, we depend on our foundries to transition to smaller geometry processes successfully. We cannot assure you that our foundries will be able to effectively manage the transition. In case our foundries or we experience significant delays in this transition or fail to efficiently implement this transition, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
The anti-takeover provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws could prevent or discourage a third party from acquiring us.
Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that may prevent or discourage a third party from acquiring us, even if the acquisition would be beneficial to our stockholders. Our board of directors also has the authority to fix the rights and preferences of shares of our preferred stock and to issue such shares without a stockholder vote. Our bylaws also place limitations on the authority to call a special meeting of stockholders. Our stockholders may take action only at a meeting of stockholders and not by written consent. We have advance notice procedures for stockholders desiring to nominate candidates for election as directors or to bring matters before an annual meeting of stockholders. In addition, these factors may also adversely affect the market price of our common stock, and the voting and other rights of the holders of our common stock.
Our stock price may be volatile so you may not be able to resell your shares of our common stock at or above the price you paid for them.
Announcements of developments related to our business, announcements by competitors, quarterly fluctuations in our financial results, changes in the general conditions of the highly dynamic industry in which we compete or the national economies in which we do business, and other factors could cause the price of our common stock to fluctuate, perhaps substantially. In addition, in recent years, the stock market has experienced extreme price fluctuations, which have often been unrelated to the operating performance of affected companies. These factors and fluctuations could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.