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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 December 31, 2002

 

Commission File Number 0-23006

 


 

DSP GROUP, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 


 

Delaware

 

94-2683643

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation and organization)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.)

 

3120 Scott Boulevard, Santa Clara, CA 95054

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

 

(408) 986-4300

(Registrant’s telephone number)

 


 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

None

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

Common Stock, $.001 per share

(Title of class)

 


 

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  x    No  ¨

 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of Registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  ¨

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes  x    No  ¨

 

As of June 30, 2002, the aggregate market value of voting stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant, based on the closing price of the Common Stock on June 30, 2002, as reported on the Nasdaq National Market, was $383,874,310. Shares of Common Stock held by each officer and director and by each person who owns 5% or more of the outstanding Common Stock have been excluded from this computation in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.

 

As of March 21, 2003, the Registrant had outstanding 27,335,436 shares of Common Stock.

 

Documents incorporated by reference: Portions of the Registrant’s proxy statement to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A within 120 days after Registrant’s fiscal year end of December 31, 2002 are incorporated herein by reference into Part II, Item 5 and Part III of this annual report.

 



Table of Contents

INDEX

 

DSP GROUP, INC.

 

          

Page No.


PART I

          

Item 1.

 

Business

    

3

Item 2.

 

Properties

    

20

Item 3.

 

Legal Proceedings

    

20

Item 4.

 

Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders

    

20

PART II

          

Item 5.

 

Market for Registrant’s Common Equity and Related Stockholder Matters

    

21

Item 6.

 

Selected Financial Data

    

22

Item 7.

 

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditional and Results of Operations

    

23

Item 7A.

 

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

    

32

Item 8.

 

Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

    

33

Item 9.

 

Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

    

65

PART III

          

Item 10.

 

Directors and Executive Officers of the Registrant

    

66

Item 11.

 

Executive Compensation

    

66

Item 12.

 

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management

    

66

Item 13.

 

Certain Relationships and Related Transactions

    

66

Item 14.

 

Controls and Procedures

    

66

PART IV

          

Item 15.

 

Exhibits,  Financial Statement Schedules, and Reports on Form 8-K

    

67

   

Signatures

    

71


Table of Contents

 

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains certain forward-looking statements that are based on the beliefs of, and estimates made by and information currently available to, DSP Group’s management. The words “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed here. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed below in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 

This Annual Report on Form 10-K includes trademarks and registered trademarks of DSP Group. Products or service names of other companies mentioned in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

 

PART I

 

Item 1.    BUSINESS.

 

Introduction

 

We are a fabless semiconductor company that is a leader in residential wireless markets. By combining Digital Signal Processing (DSP) cores technology with advanced Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) radio frequency (RF) devices, communications technologies and speech-processing algorithms, we are a worldwide leader in developing and providing Total Telephony Solutions. We were incorporated in California in 1987 and reincorporated in Delaware in 1994. We completed our initial public offering in February 1994.

 

On November 1, 2002, we transferred the assets and liabilities of our DSP cores licensing business to Ceva, Inc., one of our then wholly-owned subsidiaries (the “Separation”). Immediately thereafter, Ceva affected a combination (the “Combination”) with Parthus Technologies plc whereby Ceva acquired Parthus and issued Ceva common stock to the former Parthus shareholders. After the Combination, Ceva changed its name to ParthusCeva, Inc. ParthusCeva’s common stock is quoted on the Nasdaq National Market (Nasdaq: PCVA) and listed on the London Stock Exchange (London: PCV).

 

In connection with the Separation, we contributed our DSP cores licensing business to Ceva in exchange for Ceva common stock and subsequently distributed all of the Ceva common stock we held to our stockholders of record. In addition to the other assets transferred to Ceva, we also contributed a sum of $40 million in cash and prepaid transaction expenses related to the Separation and Combination that exceeded $2 million. We received private letter rulings from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to the effect that, among other things, the Separation was a tax-free transaction for our stockholders for federal income tax purposes, except with respect to cash distributed to our stockholders in lieu of fractional shares of Ceva common stock.

 

In anticipation of the Separation, we reclassified the DSP cores licensing business as discontinued operations in our financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2002, 2001 and 2000. After the Separation, we have one reporting segment.

 

Web Site Access to Company’s Reports

 

Our Internet Web site address is www.dspg.com. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act are available free of charge through our Web site as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. We will also provide the reports in electronic or paper form free of charge upon request. Furthermore, all reports we file with the Commission are available free of charge via EDGAR through the Commission’s Web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, the public may read and copy materials filed by us at the Commission’s public reference room located at 450 Fifth St., N.W., Washington, D.C., 20549.

 

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General Business

 

We have developed several semiconductor devices for residential wireless communication applications. Our main product lines provide an optimized solution for digital 900MHz, 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz cordless telephony. Our advanced CMOS RF and integrated DSP voice modem device provide us with a clear path to a Phone-on-a-Chip solution.

 

We also develop and market embedded, integrated silicon/software solutions for Digital Voice Recorder, Hands Free Car Kit, Voice over Digital Subscriber Line (VoDSL) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications, as well as other Voice over Packet applications for Integrated Access Device (IAD) and Internet Protocol (IP) telephony markets.

 

We introduced the first integrated digital telephony speech processor in 1989. Since then, we have shipped approximately 141 million units of speech processors and RF devices to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), of which approximately 44 million were shipped in 2002. Sales of our Integrated Digital Telephony (IDT) speech processors and RF devices accounted for approximately 97% of our total revenues in 2002.

 

Our work in the field of wireless residential technology has yielded various synergistic product families:

 

    Integrated Digital Telephony (IDT).    A family of chips comprised of the following:

 

Speech and Telephony.    A highly-integrated DSP core-based chip that handles telephony functions and advanced speech algorithms targeted for the telephony market.

 

Cordless Telephony.    Digital 900MHz, 1.9GHz, 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz spread spectrum narrow-band chip-sets. The chip-sets are composed of an RF transceiver and a highly-integrated DSP core-based chip. The DSP core-based chip combines three main functions into one chip: the wireless baseband modem, speech processing and telephony functions.

 

    Voice Over Packet.    A DSP core-based, highly-integrated speech processor targeted for the low to medium density IAD, residential gateway and IP telephony markets.

 

    Digital Voice Recorder.    A highly-integrated processor with five different speech compression rates for voice recording application for personal and business use.

 

    Hands Free Car Kit Application.    An integrated DSP solution with noise reduction, echo cancellation and voice recognition to support various new safety regulations directing drivers to use hands-free cellular systems while driving.

 

    Software and Patent Licensing.    A family of proprietary speech compression algorithms and patents such as TrueSpeech® and G.723.1.

 

DSP-Based Speech and Telephony Processors

 

We have developed three generations of speech processors based on PineDSPCore® and TeakLiteDSPCore®. The devices are fully-integrated DSP System-on-a-Chip designed to provide custom solutions for IDT, stand-alone answering machines, Digital Voice Recorder, Hands Free Car Kit, and VoDSL and VoIP applications. The processors provide a flexible and open system, thereby enabling our customers to develop an optimal and cost effective system. Furthermore, our systems architecture provides an open design environment for OEMs and original design manufacturers (ODMs) to design and market their own end products with the maximum differentiation.

 

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Our IDT speech processors are based on PineDSPCore® and TeakLiteDSPCore®, which are more fully described below.

 

Technology


  

Description


Triple Rate Coder

  

Instructs the telephone answering machine to decide automatically between better voice quality and longer recording time.

True Full-Duplex SpeakerPhone

  

Allows simultaneous two-way (full-duplex), hands-free operation of the telephone and suppresses and cancels acoustic and electrical echoes.

G.723.1

  

Provides speech compression for VoIP and video conferencing over standard telephone lines.

Caller ID and Call Waiting Caller ID

  

Identifies to the party being called the telephone number of the calling party, whether or not the party being called is already engaged in another call.

Call Progress Tone Detection

  

Detects standard telephony signals during the progress of a telephone call.

DTMF Signaling

  

Detects and generates touch tone (DTMF) signals that comply with telephone industry frequency standards.

Speech Prompts

  

Provides the ability to stamp a message with a time and date and prompts voice-operated instructions.

Variable Speed Playback (FlexiSpeech®)

  

Permits playback of recorded speech at different speeds without distorting the natural sound of the speech.

Voice Operated Switch (VOX) (Smart-Vox®)

  

Detects human speech and stops recording during periods of silence, thereby conserving available memory.

Text to Speech

  

Permits Caller ID in telephony as well as other voice activating systems.

Alpha Least Cost Routing (LCR)/Super LCR

  

Chooses automatically from a number of telephone service providers in order to select the lowest available calling rates.

Voice Recognition

  

Allows a user to operate a telephone or answering machine by giving voice commands.

 

In 1999, we shipped the first D16000 family of fully-integrated speech processors, which combined the components of a mixed signal system on a single chip. Each speech processor in the D16000 family contains a DSP core, converters that transform analog signals into digital signals and vice versa, and various signal amplifiers, all embedded on a single chip. In addition to implementing DSP algorithms, including data compression, Caller ID and full-duplex speaker phone, these speech processors also perform tasks that would typically be handled by a separate central processing unit (CPU) chip. Our goal is for the D16000 family of processors to provide optimal value to our OEM customers by eliminating the need for virtually all other electronic components, thereby reducing materials and manufacturing costs.

 

In 2000, we developed the D36000 family of fully-integrated speech processors based on TeakLiteDSPCore®, which can support two-line telephony as well as cordless baseband modems with low power usage. D36000 speech processors, which entered into mass production in the second quarter of 2001, have received marketplace acceptance as an upgrade to our D16000 family of products for cordless and corded telephony standards. With this new family of products, we provide a complete solution for 900MHz, 2.4GHz single hand-set, 2.4GHz multi-hand-set and 5.8GHz baseband markets.

 

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The following table presents the main features of the primary IDT speech processors that we currently offer:

 

DSP Group’s IDT Speech Processors

 

    

D36569


  

D16559


  

D6571


  

D6587


Process Geometry (Microns)

  

0.25

  

0.45

  

0.5

  

0.5

Minutes Record, 4 Mbit Memory

  

22-25, 10,15

  

22-25, 10,15

  

22-25, 10,15

  

22-25, 10,15

Memory Type

  

Flash

  

Flash

  

Flash

  

Flash

DSP Core:

  

TeakLite

  

Pine

  

Pine

  

Pine

Advanced Features:

                   

Speech Prompts

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

Variable Speed Playback

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

Full Duplex Speakerphone

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

Caller ID & Call Waiting Caller ID

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

Voice Recognition

  

Yes

  

  

  

Yes

Text to Speech

  

Yes

  

  

  

System-On-A-Chip-Included Peripherals:

                   

Microcontroller

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

  

Line Codec

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

  

Speaker Codec

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

  

Amplifiers

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

  

Baseband (Modem)

  

Yes

  

  

  

 

Cordless Telephony

 

In 1999, we acquired technology and products, including associated intellectual property related to 900MHz spread spectrum cordless telephones, from Advanced Micro Devices. In addition, in connection with the acquisition, we acquired two integrated groups of engineers, one located in Israel and the other in the United States.

 

In 2000, in anticipation of limited growth in the U.S. 900MHz spread spectrum market, we initiated the development of a new line of 900MHz narrow-band cordless products to address this changing market trend.

 

In 2001, we entered into mass production of 900MHz narrow-band cordless chip-set. The chip-set includes a D36000 fully-featured telephony and baseband device and an integrated RF device. During 2001, we completed the design of our advanced chip-set for 2.4GHz single hand-set and multi-hand-set for the U.S. market. In the same year, we also developed an integrated CMOS RF device, which was an important step in our development efforts to integrate telephony features, the communications modem and the RF device into an integrated Phone-on-a-Chip.

 

In 2002, we introduced a complete chip-set for a 2.4GHz single hand-set solution and an advanced 2.4GHz multi-hand-set solution with walkie-talkie and baby monitor capabilities. As the U.S. market transitioned from 900MHz to 2.4GHz, we introduced an optimal and low-cost 2.4GHz multi-hand-set solution to serve the growing requirements for systems with two to three hand-sets. Furthermore, in the second half of 2002, we introduced a baseband device for the 5.8GHz market. During the same period, we started the development of a unique residential cordless/PBX system to support voice and data connectivity, based on Bluetooth protocol. Our universal platform ensures fast time to market and seamless migration to data connectivity and broadband wireless home applications.

 

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The following table presents the main features of the cordless chip-sets that we currently offer:

 

DSP Group’s IDT Cordless Speech Processors

 

    

900MHz Spread Spectrum


  

900MHz Narrow-

Band


  

2.4GHz Single Hand-Set


    

2.4GHz EDCT Multi-Hand-

Set


Process Geometry Baseband (Microns)

  

0.35

  

0.25

  

0.25

    

0.25

RF Process

  

Bipolar

  

Bipolar

  

CMOS

    

CMOS

Advanced Features:

                     

Digital Answering Machine

  

No

  

Yes

  

Yes

    

Yes

Full Duplex Speakerphone

  

No

  

Yes

  

Yes

    

Yes

Caller ID & Call Waiting Caller ID

  

No

  

Yes

  

Yes

    

Yes

System-On-A-Chip-Included Peripherals:

                     

Line Codec

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

    

Yes

Speaker Codec

  

No

  

Yes

  

Yes

    

Yes

Amplifiers

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

    

Yes

Multi-Hand-Set Capability

  

No

  

No

  

No

    

Yes

 

Voice over Packet Speech Co-Processors

 

Our Voice over Packet speech co-processors, including VoIP and VoDSL, were developed for use in conjunction with other microprocessors to transmit Voice over Packet-based public and private networks, including the Internet, local area networks (LANs), frame relay networks, xDSL links, cable networks, other data networks and combined data/voice networks. “Voice over IP” refers to the transmission of voice signals over networks using the Internet Protocol (IP), which involves dividing the signals into numerous small data packets that are individually transmitted over a network and re-assembled in the correct order at their destination. This technology can also be used to implement the speech component of video conferencing applications.

 

In March 2000, we acquired approximately 73% of VoicePump, Inc., a company which specializes in speech coding and telecom algorithms for Voice over Packet applications developed for voice gateway, customer-oriented equipment manufacturers and broadband network providers. In March 2001, VoicePump became one of our wholly-owned subsidiaries when we exercised our option to acquire the remaining equity.

 

In 2001, VoicePump launched its first VP100 family of products. This product line is based on TeakLiteDSPCore®, which includes an integrated set of peripherals optimized for VoDSL Integrated Access Device (IAD) and other Voice over Packet applications. VoicePump plans to offer its current and future product lines as low-cost and efficient applications for both VoDSL and VoIP solutions.

 

The following table sets forth other features of the VoIP speech co-processors that we currently offer:

 

DSP Group’s Voice over Packet Speech Co-Processors

 

    

CT8022


  

VP110


  

VP120


  

VP140/101


Number of channels supported simultaneously

  

1

  

1

  

2

  

4

DSP Core

  

Oak

  

TeakLite

  

TeakLite

  

TeakLite

Process Geometry (Microns)

  

0.5

  

0.25

  

0.25

  

0.25

ITU-T Standard Speech Coders

  

G.711, G.723.1, G.729AB TrueSpeech

  

G.711, G.726, G.723.1, G.729AB

  

G.711, G.726, G.723.1, G.729AB

  

G.711, G.726, G.723.1, G.729AB

Analog Front-End Integrated

  

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

Features:

                   

Internet Telephony

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

Line Echo Cancellation

  

G.165

  

G.168

  

G.168

  

G.168

Caller ID, Detection and Generation

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

T.38 Fax Relay

  

No

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

Built-in Amplifiers

  

No

  

Yes

  

Yes

  

Yes

 

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The following is a list of manufacturers and brand names in which our products are incorporated:

 

Manufacturers and Brands

 

Manufacturers


    

Brands


Ascom

    

Alcatel

CCT Telecom

    

Belgacom

Cenix

    

Bell South

JVC

    

Deutsche Telecom

L.G. Electronics

    

Doro

Panasonic

    

France Telecom

Philips

    

GE

Samsung

    

Hyundai

Sony

    

Radio Shack

Uniden

    

RCI

      

Southwestern Bell

      

Swisscom

      

Telecom Italia

 

International Sales and Operations

 

Export sales accounted for 99% of our total revenues in each of the years 2002 and 2001, and 95% in 2000. Although all of our sales to foreign entities are denominated in United States dollars, we are subject to risks of conducting business internationally. These risks include unexpected changes in regulatory requirements, fluctuations in exchange rates that could increase the price of our products in foreign markets, delays resulting from difficulty in obtaining export licenses for certain technology, tariffs, other barriers and restrictions and the burden of complying with a variety of foreign laws. See Note 9 of the attached Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2002, for a summary of our operations within various geographic areas.

 

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. As a result, an increase in the value of Israeli currency in comparison to the U.S. dollar could increase the cost of our technology development, research and development expenses and general and administrative expenses.

 

Sales, Marketing and Distribution

 

We market and distribute our products through our direct sales and marketing offices, as well as through a network of distributors and independent OEM representatives. Our sales and marketing team, working out of our sales offices in Santa Clara, California; Tokyo, Japan; Herzelia Pituach, Israel and Edinburgh, Scotland, pursues business with our customers in North and South America, Europe and Asia. In territories worldwide where we do not have sales offices, we solely operate through a network of distributors and independent OEM representatives. A significant portion of our worldwide sales is derived from our Japanese distributor, Tomen Electronics. Sales to Tomen Electronics comprised 81% of our total revenues in 2002, 72% in 2001 and 66% in 2000. In September 2000, we invested approximately $485,000 in the parent company of Tomen Electronics. For more information, see Note 6 to the attached Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2002. Furthermore, Tomen Electronics sells our products to a limited number of customers. One customer of Tomen Electronics, Panasonic, has continually accounted for a majority of Tomen Electronics’ sales. Moreover, our sales representatives and distributors are not subject to minimum purchase requirements and can cease marketing our products at any time. The loss of one or more representatives or their failure to renew

 

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agreements with us upon expiration, especially Tomen Electronics, could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, the loss of Panasonic and Tomen Electronics’ inability to thereafter effectively market our products could also materially harm our sales and results of operations.

 

Manufacturing and Design Methodology

 

All of our manufacturing occurs at independent foundries. We contract fabrication services for speech and telephony processors and RF devices from TSMC, Sony and UMC. Under non-exclusive arrangements, these independent foundries normally provide us with either finished, packaged and tested speech processors at variable prices depending on the volume of units purchased or as sorted good wafers or as un-sorted wafers. We develop detailed testing procedures and specifications for each product and require each subcontractor to use these procedures and specifications before shipping us finished products. We test our products at ASE, TSMC and Sony and use ASE and SPIL as subcontractors for dies packaging.

 

We intend to continue to use independent foundries to manufacture digital speech processors, cordless devices and other products for the consumer telephony and computer telephony markets. To obtain an adequate supply of finished wafers, we manufacture most of our materials at various alternative production fabs. Our reliance on independent foundries involves a number of risks, including the foundries’ ability to achieve acceptable manufacturing yields, competitive cost and their allocation of sufficient capacity to us to meet our needs. In addition, foundries in Taiwan produce a significant portion of our wafer supply. As a result, earthquakes, aftershocks or other natural disasters in Asia could preclude us from obtaining an adequate supply of wafers to fill customer orders and could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

In addition to our speech processors, our IDT speech processor products require an external component in the finished product to provide Analog Random Access Memory circuits (ARAMs) and flash memory, which are supplied by third party manufacturers. Temporary fluctuations in the pricing and availability of these components could negatively impact sales of our IDT speech process