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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended January 26, 2003

OR

For the transition period from                              to                             

Commission file number 1-6395

SEMTECH CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

200 Flynn Road, Camarillo, California, 93012-8790

(Address of principal executive offices, Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (805) 498-2111

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

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

Common Stock par value $.01 per share

Rights to Purchase Series X Junior Participating Preferred Stock

(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 Exchange Act Rule 12b-2.) Yes  x    No ¨

        The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of July 26, 2002 (the last business day of the Company’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter) was approximately $942,003,742. Stock held by directors, officers and shareholders owning 5% or more of the outstanding common stock (as reported on Schedules 13D and 13G) were excluded as they may be deemed affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not a conclusive determination for any other purpose.

The number of shares of the Registrant’s common stock outstanding at April 1, 2003 was 73,256,493.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the following documents are incorporated by reference in Part III of this report: Definitive Proxy Statement in connection with registrant’s annual meeting of shareholders to be held on June 5, 2003.

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SEMTECH CORPORATION

INDEX TO FORM 10-K

FOR THE YEAR ENDED JANUARY 26, 2003

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PART I

This Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 26, 2003 (the “Form 10-K”) contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Forward-looking statements are statements other than historical information or statements of current condition and relate to future events or the future financial performance of the Company. Some forward-looking statements may be identified by use of such terms as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “estimates,” “believes” and words of similar import. These forward-looking statements relate to plans, objectives and expectations for future operations.

In light of the risks and uncertainties inherent in all such projected operational matters, the inclusion of forward-looking statements in this Form 10-K should not be regarded as a representation by the Company or any other person that the objectives or plans of the Company will be achieved or that any of the Company’s operating expectations will be realized. Net sales and results of operations are difficult to forecast and could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements contained in this Form 10-K for the reasons detailed in the “Risk Factors” section of this Form 10-K, beginning on page 10 or elsewhere in this Form 10-K. We assume no obligation to update any of the forward- looking statements after the date of this Form 10-K.

ITEM 1.  BUSINESS

General

We are a leading supplier of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and were incorporated in Delaware in 1960. We design, produce and market a broad range of products that are sold principally to customers in the computer, communications and industrial markets. Our products are designed into a wide variety of end applications, including notebook and desktop computers, computer gaming systems, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, wireline networks, wireless base stations and test systems. Our end customers are primarily original equipment manufacturers and their suppliers, including Agilent, Cisco, Compal Electronics, Dell, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, Lucky Goldstar, Microsoft, Motorola, Quanta Computer, Samsung, Sony and Unisys.

Overview of the Semiconductor Industry

The semiconductor industry is broadly divided into analog and digital semiconductor products. Analog semiconductors condition and regulate “real world” functions such as temperature, speed, sound and electrical current. Digital semiconductors process binary information, such as that used by computers. Mixed-signal devices incorporate both analog and digital functions into a single chip and provide the ability for digital electronics to interface with the outside world.

The market for analog and mixed-signal semiconductors differs from the market for digital semiconductors. The analog and mixed-signal industry is characterized by significantly longer product life cycles than the digital industry. In addition, analog semiconductor manufacturers tend to have lower capital investment requirements for manufacturing because their facilities tend to be less dependent than digital producers on state-of-the-art production equipment. The end-product markets for analog and mixed-signal semiconductors are smaller, more varied and more specialized than the relatively standardized digital semiconductor product markets.

Another difference between the analog and digital markets is the amount of available talented labor. The analog industry relies more heavily than the digital industry on design and applications talent to distinguish its products from one another. While digital expertise is extensively taught in universities due to its overall market size, analog and mixed-signal expertise tends to be learned over time based on experience and hands-on training. Consequently, personnel with this training are scarce, a fact that makes it difficult for new suppliers to quickly gain significant market share.

The markets for computer and communications products today are characterized by several trends that we believe are driving demand for our products. Electronic systems are being designed to operate at increasingly lower operating voltages, battery-powered devices such as handheld computers and cellular telephones are proliferating, and devices are becoming smaller and requiring higher levels of integration. We have designed our products to

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address these needs by providing solutions that extend battery life, meet tighter voltage requirements, improve the human interface of systems, and support higher transmission and processor speeds. As communications functions are increasingly integrated into a range of systems and devices, these products require analog processing capabilities and the number and size of our end-markets grows. Finally, industrial, medical, consumer and other end-market applications have increasingly incorporated data processing and communications features into their finished system, which in turn has broadened the opportunities for selling our analog and mixed-signal devices.

Advancements in digital processing technology typically drive the need for corresponding advancements in analog and mixed-signal solutions. We believe that the diversity of our applications allows us to take advantage of areas of relative market strength and limits our vulnerability to competitive pressure in any one area.

Semtech End-markets

A majority of our products are sold to customers in the computer, communications and industrial markets. Until eight years ago, we had largely been focused on serving the military and aerospace market. We used the desktop segment of the computer market as our first major entry into the commercial marketplace for our circuits. Five years ago, approximately half of our revenues were derived from desktop computer related applications. In recent years, we have seen relative growth from the communications and industrial markets as a percentage of the total. We have also seen a greater diversification within our computer market segment, beyond our initial focus on desktop computer applications. For the fiscal year ended January 26, 2003, our revenues from the computer, communications and industrial end-markets were 49%, 30% and 17%, respectively. The remaining balance of 4% was made up of various other end-markets, including military and aerospace.

Computer market applications include notebook and desktop computers, computer gaming systems, and PDAs. End-product applications for our products within the communication market include local area networks, wide area networks, cellular phones and base stations. Industrial applications include automated test equipment (ATE), medical devices and factory automation systems. We believe that our diversity in the end-markets provides stability to our business and opportunity for growth.

The following table depicts our main product lines and their end-product applications:

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Business Strategy

Our objective is to be the leading supplier of analog and mixed-signal devices to the fastest growing segments of our target markets, particularly within the computer, communications and industrial segments. We intend to leverage our pool of skilled technical personnel to develop new products, or, where appropriate, use acquisitions, to serve the fastest growing segments of these markets. In order to capitalize on our strengths in analog and mixed-signal processing design, developing and marketing, we intend to pursue the following strategies:

Maintain our leading analog design expertise

We have developed a strategy to invest heavily in human resources needed to define and market high-performance products. We have been able to add to our engineering design talent through acquisitions. In general, our staff engineers have work experience in the analog and the mixed-signal industry ranging from 10 to 15 years. We have built a team of experienced engineers who combine industry expertise with advanced semiconductor design expertise to meet customer requirements and enable our customers to get their products to market rapidly. We intend to leverage this strategy to achieve new levels of integration, power reduction and miniaturization, enabling our customers to achieve leading performance in their products.

Leverage outsourced semiconductor fabrication capacity

We outsource most of our production and manufacturing in order to focus more of our resources on defining, developing and selling our products. We use outside wafer foundries that are based in Asia, the United States and Europe. Our largest wafer source is a foundry based in China. We believe that outsourcing provides us numerous benefits including capital efficiency, the flexibility to adopt and leverage emerging process technologies without significant investment risk and a more variable cost of goods, which provides us with greater operating flexibility.

Focus on fast-growing market segments

We have chosen to target the analog segments of the fastest growing end-markets. We intend to enhance this growth potential by focusing on specific products within the analog and mixed-signal market, including high-end personal computers, notebook computers, PDAs, cellular phones, wide area and local area networks and test systems. These products are characterized by their need for leading-edge, high-performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductor technology.

Continue to release unique new products and achieve new design wins

We are focused on developing unique, new, high-margin products to serve our target markets. These markets have experienced growing consumer demand for increased product performance at competitive price points. We also focus on achieving design wins for our products with current and future customers. Design wins are indications by the customers that they intend to incorporate our products into new designs. Our technical talent works closely with our customers in securing design wins, developing new products and in implementing and integrating our products into their systems.

Diversify into new markets

We intend to enter new markets that complement our existing operations through internal development of new products and by strategic acquisitions. Our focus during calendar year 2002 was to expand our presence within the broad markets of portable devices, computer gaming systems, networking and more broad-based industrial applications. A large amount of design and marketing talent was focused on developing products for these markets. We believe strategic acquisitions will allow us to expand our pool of skilled technical personnel, as well as expand the range of complementary products that we offer. We have acquired four companies over the past seven years that have permitted us to successfully enter new market segments and develop new products.

Concentrate on cross-selling our products and services

We consider the ability to sell additional products and services to our existing customers as a major opportunity. Many of our large customers produce a wide variety of end-products that require analog and mixed-signal products. By leveraging existing relationships, we believe that we will be able to sell a wider variety of our products to these organizations. In addition, we believe the high level of our technical expertise in our marketing department permits it to identify and capitalize on cross-selling opportunities.

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Product Segments

The following is a description of our two product segments. As of fiscal year 2003, the Other Product segment has been combined with the Rectifier and Assembly Products segment, and is now referred to as the Rectifier, Assembly and Other Products segment. This combined segment has represented less than 10% of net sales and operating income for the last three fiscal years.

Standard Semiconductor Products. Included in Standard Semiconductor Products are integrated circuits (ICs) and discrete components designed for use in standard and application specific applications. Standard Semiconductor Products represented approximately 95% of our overall net sales for fiscal year 2003. The main product lines within our Standard Semiconductor Products are described below.

Rectifier, Assembly and Other Products. Rectifiers, assemblies and other products are older-technology products. As of fiscal year 2003, the Other Product Category has been combined with the Rectifier and Assembly Products segment, and is now referred to as the Rectifier, Assembly and Other Products segment. Rectifier, Assembly and Other Products represented approximately 5% of our overall net sales for fiscal year 2003.

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Prior Year Product Segments

In fiscal year 2003, we combined the Other Product and Rectifier and Assembly Products segments, and now refer to it as the Rectifier, Assembly and Other Products segment. Under our old product segmentation, Rectifier and Assembly Products would have represented 4% and 6% of net sales, respectively, in fiscal years 2003 and fiscal year 2002. We have not amended our fiscal year 2002 annual report on Form 10-K to reflect the restated segment data since the Other Product segment was only 0.5% and 2% of net sales, respectively, in fiscal years 2003 and fiscal year 2002.

For further financial information on these segments, refer to the information contained in Note 15. “Business Segments and Concentrations of Risk”, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 8.

Intellectual Capital and Product Development

We believe that our emphasis on the development of our intellectual capital and introduction of new proprietary product designs are key to our success. Recruiting and retaining technical talent is the foundation for developing and selling new products into the marketplace. In the past, we have added experienced engineers through the acquisitions of companies. We have recruited additional talent through our strategy of establishing multiple design center locations throughout the United States and the world.

Circuit design engineers are our most valuable engineers. Circuit designers perform the critical task of designing and laying out integrated circuits. As of January 26, 2003, we employed more than 80 circuit designers. A majority of these individuals have senior-level expertise in the design, development and layout of circuits targeted for use in power management, protection, test, measurement and communication applications. We also employ a limited number of engineers that specialize in the development of software, sometimes referred to as firmware, that is incorporated into certain of our HID and advanced communications products. We intend to make further investments in research and development in the future, including increasing our employee headcount, investing in design and development equipment and supporting our development efforts overall.

We have dedicated design centers in Santa Clara, California; Raleigh, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; Glasgow, Scotland; and Southampton, England. In addition, dedicated test and measurement circuit design occurs at our San Diego location, and HID design and protection product design occurs at our Camarillo, California, headquarters.

We spent $31.3 million or 16% of net sales on product development and engineering in fiscal year 2003. Product development and engineering costs were $29.7 million or 16% of net sales and $32.0 million or 13% of net sales in fiscal years 2002 and 2001, respectively.

Sales and Marketing

Sales made directly to original equipment manufacturers during fiscal year 2003 were approximately 56% of net sales. The remaining 44% of net sales were made through independent distributors. We have direct sales personnel located throughout the United States which manage the sales activities of independent sales representative firms and independent distributors within North America. We operate internationally through our wholly-owned subsidiary Semtech International and have sales offices in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as independent sales representative firms and independent distributors to serve the European markets. Semtech International maintains branch sales offices in Taiwan, Korea and Japan; along with independent representatives and distributors for serving the Asia-Pacific territory. Semtech International has a small representative office located in Shanghai China and is also represented outside the United States, Europe and Asia by other independent sales organizations. Some of our distributors and sales representatives may also offer products from our competitors, as is customary in the industry.

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Customers, Sales Data and Backlog

For fiscal year 2003, we estimate that more than 1,000 customers purchased our products either directly from us or through our authorized distributors. The following is a representative sample of our customers by end-markets:

Representative Customers by End-markets:

Our customers include major computer and peripheral manufacturers and their subcontractors, ATE manufacturers, data communications and telecommunications equipment vendors, and a variety of large and small companies serving the industrial, automotive, aerospace and military markets.

During fiscal years 2003, 2002 and 2001, foreign sales constituted 67%, 62% and 58%, respectively, of our net sales. Approximately 90% of foreign sales in fiscal year 2003 were to customers located in the Asia-Pacific region, as compared to approximately 85% in fiscal year 2002 and approximately 78% in fiscal year 2001. The remaining foreign sales were to customers in Europe.

No end-customer accounted for 10% or more of net sales in fiscal year 2003. In fiscal year 2002, Agilent Technologies, one of our ATE end customers, and its subcontractors, accounted for approximately 13%, respectively, of net sales. For fiscal year 2003 and fiscal year 2002, one of our Asian distributors accounted for approximately 14% and 12%, respectively, of net sales.

Our backlog of orders as of the end of fiscal years 2003, 2002 and 2001 were approximately $23.4 million, $40.1 million and $61.7 million, respectively. Nearly all backlog is deliverable within six months; experience has shown that short-delivery lead times are required by most customers. A backlog analysis at any given time gives little indication of our future business except on a short-term basis, principally within the next 45 days. We do not have any significant contracts with our customers calling for shipments over a period of more than 18 months.

Manufacturing Capabilities

As part of our business strategy, we outsource a majority of our manufacturing functions to third-party contractors that fabricate silicon wafers and package and test our products. We perform a very limited amount of test and probe activities in our Camarillo and San Diego, California facilities. On April 23, 2001, we sold our Santa Clara, California wafer fabrication facility. In December of 2002, we stopped production at our last remaining commercial wafer fabrication facility that is located in Corpus Christi, Texas. Our Reynosa, Mexico facility now fabricates a very small amount of silicon, and performs the packaging activity needed to support our rectifier and assembly products. In fiscal year 2003, we purchased wafers from eight different third-party wafer foundries and utilized more than 20 different manufacturing processes, including various Bipolar, High-Speed Bipolar, CMOS, and Bi-CMOS processes.

For fiscal year 2003, we supported approximately 24% of our end product sales with wafers that were fabricated internally. The remaining 76% of our end products were supported with finished silicon wafers purchased from outside wafer foundries. Only our protection, rectifier and assembly products were supported by internal wafer production in fiscal year 2003. All of our products, with the exception of the rectifier and assembly product lines, are packaged and tested by outside subcontractors.

Unlike digital products, our products are less reliant on state-of-the-art manufacturing and more on design and applications support. As a result, our outside wafer foundries tend to be significantly less costly than state-of-the-art digital fabrication facilities and likewise utilize equipment that is less subject to obsolescence.

We use outside wafer foundries that are based in Asia, the United States and Europe. Our largest wafer source is a foundry based in China. In fiscal year 2003, this foundry based in China provided 66% our total silicon

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requirements in terms of wafers purchased. We expect that the percentage sourced from this China foundry could increase in fiscal year 2004. Virtually all the silicon we use will be sourced from outside foundries in fiscal year 2004 in order to utilize the best available technology, leverage the capital investment of others and reduce our operating costs associated with manufacturing assets and increase the variable component of our cost of goods sold.

Despite the divestiture of our own internal wafer fab facilities in favor of outside wafer foundries for sourcing a majority of our silicon needs, we do maintain internal process development capabilities. These departments work closely with our outside foundry partners on the improvement and development of process capabilities.

We use third-party contractors to perform assembly and test operations. A majority of our assembly and test activity is conducted by third-party contractors that are based in Malaysia, the Philippines and China.

Our products are made from basic materials (principally silicon, metals and plastics), all of which are widely available from a number of suppliers.

Competition

The analog and mixed-signal semiconductor industry is highly competitive, and we expect competitive pressures to continue. Our ability to compete effectively and to expand our business will depend on our ability to continue to recruit applications and design talent, our ability to introduce new products and the rate at which we introduce these new products to offset the generally short product life cycles. Our industry is characterized by decreasing unit selling prices over the life of a product. We believe we compete effectively based upon our ability to capitalize on efficiencies and economies of scale in production and sales, and our ability to maintain or improve our productivity and product yields to reduce manufacturing costs.

We are in direct and active competition, with respect to one or more of our product lines, with at least 30 manufacturers of such products, of varying size and financial strength. A number of these competitors are dependent on semiconductor products as their principal source of income, and some are much larger than we are. The number of our competitors has grown due to expansion of the market segments in which we participate. We consider our primary competitors to include Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor, Linear Technology, Maxim Integrated Products, Fairchild Semiconductor and Intersil Semiconductor, all with respect to our power management products; ST Microelectronics N.V. and Microsemi with respect to our protection products; Analog Devices, Maxim Integrated Products, ON Semiconductors and Micrel Semiconductor, all with respect to our test and measurement products; Silicon Laboratories and Zarlink Semiconductor with respect to our advanced communications products; and Philips Semiconductors and Synaptics Inc. with respect to our HID products.

Intellectual Property and Licenses

Our business is highly reliant on the design talents, technical abilities, applications knowledge, and creativity of our employees. We attempt to protect our intellectual property by filing patent applications, trademark applications, and copyright registrations. We consider these actions to be helpful in maintaining a competitive advantage, but do not believe that patents and other intellectual property rights create definitive competitive barriers to entry.

At this time, we do not license our patents or products. We do, however, license certain technology from others companies. We do not consider any of the licensed technology to be material in terms of royalties payable, and we believe the duration and other terms of the licenses are appropriate for our needs.

Environmental Matters

On February 7, 2000, we were notified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with respect to the Casmalia Disposal Site in Santa Barbara, California. We have been included in the Superfund program to clean up this disposal site as a result of our involvement in utilizing this site for waste disposal. We have accepted a settlement offer from the EPA and certain State agencies under which are required to pay approximately $783,000 with respect to the wastes at the Casmalia Disposal Site attributable to us. We recorded $765,000 of the proposed settlement amount as an accrued liability in fiscal year 2002 and recorded an accrued liability to cover the remainder in fiscal year 2003. In April of 2003, we paid approximately $732,000 into escrow for the EPA portion of the

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settlement. The funds in escrow will be released to the EPA, and we will pay the remainder of the settlement, when the settlement becomes final after the public comment period required by law.

On June 22, 2001, we were notified by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control that we may have liability associated with the clean up of the one-third acre Davis Chemical Company site in Los Angeles, California. We have been included in the clean-up program, because we are one of the companies that are believed to have used the Davis Chemical Company site for waste recycling and/or disposal between 1949 and 1990. The Company has joined with other potentially responsible parties in an effort to resolve this matter with the State. The group is sharing the cost of an evaluation of the site prior to development of any remediation plan. The Company’s share of the estimated cost for this study is not material and the cost to date has been expensed. At this time there is not a specific proposal or budget with respect to the clean-up of the site. Thus, no reserve has been established for this matter.

We used an environmental firm, specializing in hydrogeology, to perform periodic monitoring of the groundwater at our previously leased facility in Newbury Park, California. We vacated the building in May of 2002. Certain contaminants have been found in the local groundwater. Monitoring results over a number of years indicate that contaminants are coming from adjacent facilities. Although it is currently not possible to determine the ultimate amount of our possible future clean-up costs, if any, we do not believe we would be materially adversely impacted by this condition. Accordingly, no reserve for clean-up has been provided at this time.

Employees

As of January 26, 2003, we had 555 full-time employees. There were 124 employees in research and development, 104 in sales, marketing and field services, and 68 in general, administrative and finance. The remaining 259 employees support operational activities, including product and test engineering, manufacturing, distribution and quality functions. We have never had a work stoppage, and our domestic and European employees are not unionized. Our Mexican operation has unionized employees. Our employee relations have been, and are, satisfactory. Competition for key design and application engineers is significant.

During fiscal year 2003, we did reduce a limited amount of headcount associated with the closure of our Corpus Christi, Texas wafer fabrication facility. We hired more engineers during fiscal year 2003, resulting in an increase in the overall number of engineers employed by us.

Government Regulations

We are required to comply with numerous government regulations that are normal and customary to manufacturing businesses that operate in our markets and operating locations. Our sales that serve the military and aerospace markets primarily consist of products from the Rectifier, Assembly, and Other Products segment that have been qualified to be sold in these markets by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). In order to maintain these qualifications, we must comply with certain specifications promulgated by the DOD. As part of maintaining these qualifications, we are routinely audited by DOD personnel. Based on current specifications, we believe we can maintain our qualifications for the foreseeable future. However, these specifications could be modified by the DOD in the future or we could become subject to other government requirements, which could make the manufacturing of these products more difficult and thus, could adversely impact our profitability in those product lines.

Available Information

We maintain a website at www.semtech.com. We make available free of charge, either by direct access or a link to the SEC website, our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Our reports filed with, or furnished to, the SEC are also available directly at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

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RISK FACTORS

You should carefully consider and evaluate all of the information in this Form 10-K, including the risk factors listed below. The risks described below are not the only ones facing our company. Additional risks not now known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business operations.

If any of these risks actually occur, our business could be materially harmed. If our business is harmed, the trading price of our common stock could decline.

This Form 10-K also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the risks faced by us described below and elsewhere in this Form 10-K. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this Form 10-K.

Economic decline may have adverse consequences for our business

We sell our products into several commercial markets, primarily the computer, communication and industrial end-markets, whose performance is tied to the overall economy. Many of these industries have been impacted in the calendar years 2001 and 2002 due to an economic slowdown in the United States and globally. If the economic conditions continue to worsen or a wider global slowdown occurs, the demand for our products may be reduced. In addition, these economic slowdowns may also affect our customers’ ability to pay for our products. Accordingly, economic slowdowns may harm our business.

The cyclical nature of the electronics and semiconductor industries may limit our ability to maintain or increase revenue and profit levels during industry downturns

The semiconductor industry is highly cyclical and has experienced significant downturns, which are characterized by reduced product demand, production overcapacity, increased levels of inventory, industry-wide fluctuations in the demand for semiconductors and an erosion in average prices. The occurrence of these conditions has adversely affected our business in the past. During the calendar years 1999 and 2000, high consumption levels by electronics manufacturers was a major driver of demand for semiconductors, including the products we sell. However, calendar year 2001 was a year of significant decline for the overall semiconductor and electronics industries and, consequently, our business suffered. In calendar year 2002, semiconductor and electronic industry conditions remained weak, with declines in average selling prices offsetting gains in unit shipment growth. Past downturns in the semiconductor industry have resulted in a sudden impact on the semiconductor and capital equipment markets. Consequently, a continuation of the current downturn and any future downturns in the semiconductor industry may harm our business. In addition, the semiconductor manufacturing industry is currently experiencing conditions of manufacturing overcapacity. If these conditions persist, they could lead to excess production in the industry and result in an underutilization of our internal manufacturing capacity and a decrease in the prices of our products.

We compete against larger, more established entities and our market share may be reduced if we are unable to respond to our competitors effectively

The semiconductor industry is intensely competitive and is characterized by price erosion, rapid technological change and design and other technological obsolescence. We compete with domestic and international semiconductor companies, many of which have substantially greater financial and other resources with which to pursue engineering, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of their products. Some of these competitors include: Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor, Linear Technology, Maxim Integrated Products, Fairchild Semiconductor and Intersil Semiconductor, with respect to our power management products; ST Microelectronics N.V., with respect to our protection products; Analog Devices, Maxim Integrated Products, ON Semiconductor and Micrel Semiconductor, with respect to our test and measurement products; Zarlink Semiconductor and Silicon Laboratories, with respect to our advanced communications products; and Philips Semiconductors and Synaptics

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Inc., with respect to our HID products. We expect continued competition from existing competitors as well as competition from new entrants in the semiconductor market. Our ability to compete successfully in the rapidly evolving area of integrated circuit technology depends on several factors, including:

To the extent that our products achieve market success, competitors typically seek to offer competitive products or lower prices, which, if successful, could harm our business.

Fluctuations and seasonality in the personal computer industry and economic downturns in our end-markets may have adverse consequences for our business

Many of our products are used in personal computers and related peripherals. For the fiscal year ended January 26, 2003, approximately 49% of our sales are used in computer applications. Industry-wide fluctuations in demand for desktop computers have in the past, and may in the future, harm our business. In addition, our past results have reflected some seasonality, with demand levels being higher in computer segments during the third and fourth quarters of the year in comparison to the first and second quarters.

A decline in any of our end-markets, particularly the computer, cellular phone and automated test equipment (ATE) markets, could also harm our business. For the fiscal year ended January 26, 2003, shipment of our products to the ATE customers represented approximately 13% of our net sales. Consequently, a downturn in the ATE market may adversely affect our business.

In fiscal year 2003, we saw demand from cellular phone manufacturers increase throughout the year, and we estimated 24% of our sales in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2003 were tied to this end-market application. Any decline in the number of cellular phones made, especially feature-rich phones with color displays, could adversely affect our business.

We obtain certain essential components and materials and certain manufacturing services from a limited number of suppliers and subcontractors, including foreign-based entities

Our reliance on a limited number of outside subcontractors and suppliers for silicon wafers, packaging, test and certain other processes involves several risks, including potential inability to obtain an adequate supply of required components and reduced control over the price, timely delivery, reliability and quality of components. These risks may be attributable to several factors including limitation on resources, labor problems, equipment failures or the occurrence of natural disasters. There can be no assurance that problems will not occur in the future with suppliers or subcontractors. Disruption or termination of our supply sources or subcontractors could significantly delay our shipments and harm our business. Delays could also damage relationships with current and prospective customers. Any prolonged inability to obtain timely deliveries or quality manufacturing or any other circumstances that would require us to seek alternative sources of supply or to manufacture or package certain components internally could limit our growth and harm our business.

Most of our outside subcontractors and suppliers, including third-party foundries that supply silicon wafers, are located in foreign countries, including China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Germany. For fiscal year 2003, approximately 66% of our silicon in terms of finished wafers, was supplied by a third-party foundry in China, and this percentage could be even higher in fiscal year 2004. A majority of our package and test operations are

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performed by third-party contractors that are based in Malaysia, the Philippines and China. Our international business activities, in general, are subject to a variety of potential risks resulting from certain political and economic uncertainties. Any political turmoil or trade restrictions in these countries, particularly China, could limit our ability to obtain goods and services from these suppliers and subcontractors. The effect of an economic crisis or a political turmoil on our suppliers located in these countries may impact our ability to meet the demands of our customers. If we find it necessary to transition the goods and services received from our existing suppliers or subcontractors to other firms, we would likely experience an increase in production costs and a delay in production associated with such a transition, both of which could have a significant negative effect on our operating results, as these risks are substantially uninsured.

We may be unsuccessful in developing and selling new products required to maintain or expand our business

We operate in a dynamic environment characterized by price erosion, rapid technological change and design and other technological obsolescence. Our competitiveness and future success depend on our ability to achieve design wins for our products with current and future customers and introduce new or improved products that meet customer needs while achieving favorable margins. A failure to achieve design wins, to introduce these new products in a timely manner or to achieve market acceptance for these products, could harm our business.

The introduction of new products presents significant business challenges because product development commitments and expenditures must be made well in advance of product sales. The success of a new product depends on accurate forecasts of long-term market demand and future technological developments, as well as on a variety of specific implementation factors, including:

The failure of our products to achieve market acceptance due to these or other factors could harm our business.

Our products may be found to be defective, product liability claims may be asserted against us and we may not have sufficient liability insurance

One or more of our products may be found to be defective after shipment, requiring a product replacement, recall or a software fix which would cure the defect but impede performance of the product. We may also be subject to product returns which could impose substantial costs and harm our business.

Product liability claims may be asserted with respect to our technology or products. Although we currently have insurance, there can be no assurance that we have obtained a sufficient amount of insurance coverage, that asserted claims will be within the scope of coverage of the insurance, or that we will have sufficient resources to satisfy any asserted claims.

Our share price could be subject to extreme price fluctuations, and shareholders could have difficulty trading shares

The markets for high technology companies in particular have been volatile, and the market price of our common stock has been and may continue to be subject to significant fluctuations. Fluctuations could be in response to operating results, announcements of technological innovations and market conditions for technology stocks in general. Additionally, the stock market in recent years has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that often have been unrelated to the operating performance of individual companies. These market fluctuations, as well as general economic conditions, may adversely affect the price of our common stock.

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In the past, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against a company following periods of volatility in the company’s stock price. This type of litigation, if filed against us, could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention and resources.

In addition, the future sale of a substantial number of shares of common stock by us or by our existing stockholders may have an adverse impact on the market price of the shares of common stock. There can be no assurance that the trading price of our common stock will remain at or near its current level.

We sell and trade with foreign customers, which subjects our business to increased risks applicable to international sales

Sales to foreign customers accounted for approximately 67% of net sales in the fiscal year ended January 26, 2003. Sales to our customers located in Taiwan and Korea constituted 28% and 13%, respectively, of net sales for fiscal year 2003. International sales are subject to certain risks, including unexpected changes in regulatory requirements, tariffs and other barriers, political and economic instability, difficulties in accounts receivable collection, difficulties in managing distributors and representatives, difficulties in staffing and managing foreign subsidiary operations and potentially adverse tax consequences. These factors may harm our business. Our use of the Semtech name may be prohibited or restricted in some countries, which may negatively impact our sales efforts. In addition, substantially all of our foreign sales are denominated in U.S. dollars and currency exchange fluctuations in countries where we do business could harm us by resulting in pricing that is not competitive with prices denominated in local currencies.

Reductions in communications infrastructure investments could adversely affect our business

The overall semiconductor industry, and our business in particular, has benefited from the build-out of voice, data, and mobile networks and the related demand for communications infrastructure equipment that supports higher-speed (higher bandwidth) networks. The electronics needed to support this trend within the communications market rely heavily on companies such as ours to develop the circuits used in these systems.

Much of our sales growth and margin expansion in fiscal year 2001 and fiscal year 2000 was the result of product sales into wireless, local area networks, wide area networks and long-haul communications applications. This market saw a dramatic decline in total carrier spending throughout calendar years 2001 and 2002. Moreover, carrier spending on telecom equipment could decline further in the future. Although we believe that the communication equipment market has not been characterized by cyclicality to date, this market may in the future exhibit general cyclical characteristics similar to