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EX-23.2 - CONSENT OF ERNST & YOUNG LLP - APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPdex232.htm
EX-32.1 - CERTIFICATION OF CEO PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. 1350 - APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPdex321.htm
EX-31.2 - CERTIFICATION OF CFO PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-14(A) AND RULE 15D-14(A) - APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPdex312.htm
EX-31.1 - CERTIFICATION OF CEO PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-14(A) AND RULE 15D-14(A) - APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPdex311.htm
EX-23.1 - CONSENT OF KPMG LLP - APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPdex231.htm
EX-21.1 - SUBSIDIARIES OF THE REGISTRANT - APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPdex211.htm
EX-32.2 - CERTIFICATION OF CFO PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. 1350 - APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPdex322.htm
Table of Contents

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

Form 10-K

 

 

(Mark One)

 

þ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011

OR

 

¨ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from                      to                     .

Commission file number: 000-23193

 

 

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

 

Delaware   94-2586591

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.)

 

215 Moffett Park Drive, Sunnyvale, CA   94089
(Address of principal executive offices)   (zip code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:

(408) 542-8600

 

 

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

 

Title of Each Class

 

Name of Exchange on Which Registered

Common Stock, $0.01 par value

  The Nasdaq Global Select Market

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

None

 

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ¨    No  þ

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ¨    No  þ

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  þ    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  ¨    No  ¨

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

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act:

 

Large accelerated filer   ¨     Accelerated filer   þ
Non-accelerated filer     ¨   (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)   Smaller reporting company     ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 12b-2).    Yes  ¨    No    þ

The aggregate market value of the voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based upon the closing sale price of the registrant’s common stock on September 30, 2010 (the last day of the registrant’s second quarter of fiscal 2011) as reported on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, was approximately $471,634,000. Shares of common stock held by each officer and director and by each person who then owned 10% or more of the outstanding common stock have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes. The registrant has no non-voting common stock.

There were 63,361,353 shares of the registrant’s common stock issued and outstanding as of April 30, 2011.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

The following document is incorporated by reference in Part III (Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14) of this Annual Report on Form 10-K: portions of registrant’s definitive proxy statement for its annual meeting of stockholders to be held on August 16, 2011 which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of March 31, 2011.

 

 

 


Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED

MARCH 31, 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

         Page  

PART I

  

Item 1.

  Business      1   

Item 1A.

  Risk Factors      12   

Item 1B.

  Unresolved Staff Comments      32   

Item 2.

  Properties      32   

Item 3.

  Legal Proceedings      32   

Item 4.

  (Removed and Reserved)      32   

PART II

  

Item 5.

 

Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

     33   

Item 6.

  Selected Financial Data      35   

Item 7.

  Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations      36   

Item 7A.

  Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure About Market Risk      54   

Item 8.

  Financial Statements and Supplementary Data      55   

Item 9.

  Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure      55   

Item 9A.

  Controls and Procedures      55   

Item 9B.

  Other Information      56   

PART III

  

Item 10.

  Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance      56   

Item 11.

  Executive Compensation      57   

Item 12.

 

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

     57   

Item 13.

  Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence      57   

Item 14.

  Principal Accountant Fees and Services      57   

PART IV

  

Item 15.

  Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules      57   

Signatures

     61   

Financial Statements

     F-1   

 

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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

All statements included or incorporated by reference in this report, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 (this “Annual Report”). Any statement that refers to an expectation, projection or other characterization of future events or circumstances, including the underlying assumptions, is a forward-looking statement. We use certain words and their derivatives such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “plan”, “expect”, “estimate”, “predict”, “intend”, “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “future”, “potential”, and similar expressions in many of the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management’s beliefs, and other assumptions made by us. These statements and the expectations, estimates, projections, beliefs and other assumptions on which they are based are subject to many risks and uncertainties and are inherently subject to change. We describe many of the risks and uncertainties that we face in Part 1. Item 1A, Risk Factors and elsewhere in this Annual Report. Our actual results and actual events could differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statement. Readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement.

In this Annual Report, “Applied Micro Circuits Corporation”, “AMCC”, “APM”, “AppliedMicro”, the “Company”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Applied Micro Circuits Corporation and all of our consolidated subsidiaries.

PART I

 

Item 1. Business.

Applied Micro Circuits Corporation was incorporated and commenced operations in California in 1979. AppliedMicro was reincorporated in Delaware in 1987. Our principal executive offices are located at 215 Moffett Park Drive, Sunnyvale, California 94089 and our phone number is 408-542-8600. Our common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “AMCC”.

Overview

AppliedMicro provides semiconductor solutions for the enterprise, telecom and consumer/small medium business (“SMB”) markets. We design, develop, market and support high-performance low power integrated circuits (“ICs”), which are essential for the processing, transporting and storing of information worldwide. In the telecom and enterprise markets, we utilize a combination of design expertise coupled with system-level knowledge and multiple technologies to offer IC products for wireline and wireless communications equipment such as wireless access points, wireless base stations, multi-function printers, enterprise and edge switches, blade servers, storage systems, gateways, core switches, routers, metro, long-haul, and ultra-long-haul transport platforms. In the consumer/SMB markets, we combine optimized software and system-level expertise with highly integrated semiconductors to deliver comprehensive reference designs and stand-alone semiconductor solutions for wireline and wireless communications equipment such as wireless access points, network attached storage, and residential and smart energy gateways. Our corporate headquarters are located in Sunnyvale, California. Sales and engineering offices are located throughout the world.

Available Information

We maintain a web site to which we regularly post copies of our press releases as well as additional information about us. Our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) are available free of charge through the Investor Relations section of our web site

 

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at www.appliedmicro.com and are accessible as soon as reasonably practicable after being electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. Interested persons can subscribe on our web site to email alerts that are sent automatically when we issue press releases, file our reports with the SEC or post certain other information to our web site. Information accessible through our web site does not constitute a part of this Annual Report.

Copies of this Annual Report are also available free of charge, upon request to our Investor Relations Department, 215 Moffett Park Drive, Sunnyvale, California 94089. In addition, our Board Guidelines, Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and written charters for the various committees of our Board of Directors are accessible through the Corporate Governance tab in the Investor Relations section of our web site and are available in print free of charge to any shareholder who requests a copy.

You may read and copy materials that we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington DC 20549. Information on the operation of the Public Reference Room is available by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains a web site that contains reports, proxy statements and other information we file with the SEC. The address of the SEC’s web site is www.sec.gov.

Industry Background

The Communications Industry

Communications technology has evolved considerably over the last decade due to substantial growth in video traffic. Consumers are now requiring ubiquitous access to content via a proliferation of smart wireless devices as well as high definition streaming services to their display devices in the home. As a result, the Wireline and the Wireless networks, along with the datacenters that serve and store the content are experiencing a profound change to support the video acquisition and video generation habits of the general public.

In Wireline, the access, metro and core networks are shifting dramatically towards serving packet-based services which are fundamentally cheaper than the transitional synchronous optical network (“SONET”) and the synchronous data hierarchy (“SDH”) networks, but provide the same level of quality and guarantee of content delivery. Optical transport networks or Optical Transport Network (“OTN”) is emerging as the L1 protocol to replace SONET/SDH in the metro and core. Combined with WDM technologies, the Service providers are now able to support the vast increases in bandwidth requirements at a lower cost per bit.

Wireless networks are also moving to 3/4G infrastructure in order to support the myriad of high speed wireless devices from smartphones to tablets. Further, backhauling all the data traffic from the base stations is requiring higher bandwidth packet-based Wireline connectivity for supporting Ethernet and Internet Protocol (“IP”) backhaul.

Finally, the datacenters that are involved in processing, serving and storing the content are also transitioning to keep pace with end-user requirements. The concept of Cloud computing, or utilizing processing and storage capabilities in the Internet datacenters, is just beginning to get traction with small scale developers, enterprises as well as the general public. And as these services are increasingly utilized across the board, datacenter equipment are now deployed with virtualization capabilities, which allow more efficient use of servers and storage equipment. To support virtualization, servers and switches are now rapidly adopting higher port densities with bandwidth per port moving to 10Gbps and beyond.

As the pace of these transitions increases, OEMs are partnering with merchant silicon solution providers to help address larger complexity, lower power and cost, and higher performance devices. These trends have created a significant opportunity for IC suppliers that can design cost-effective solutions for the processing and transport of data.

 

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AppliedMicro Strategy

AppliedMicro is a global leader in providing energy efficient sustainable solutions to process and transport information for current and next generation networks. Being a leader in mixed-signal design, high speed signal processing, IP and Ethernet packet processing and embedded processors gives AppliedMicro the foundation to compete and excel in the next several generations of solutions. Our differentiated IP and patented innovations provide high value, low power solutions in telecom (wireline and wireless), enterprise and consumer applications. Our products enable the development of converged IP-based networks offering high-speed secure data, high-definition video and high-quality voice for service provider (metropolitan, access, home), datacenter, and enterprise applications.

Overall, as part of the evolution of our growth and execution strategy, and to remain competitive, we expect to continue to transition our products to silicon fabrication processes that utilize increasingly smaller feature geometries and to increasingly integrate more functions into our silicon solutions. To accomplish this, we will need to utilize very complex deep submicron technologies. This continuing transition to increased integration of additional functions combined with smaller geometry process technologies may result in reduced manufacturing yields, delays in product deliveries and increased expenses which may adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results. For more information see our risk factor titled “We may experience difficulties in transitioning to smaller geometry process technologies or in achieving higher levels of design integration and that may result in reduced manufacturing yields, delays in product deliveries and increased expenses” in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, below.

We have focused our product development efforts on high growth opportunities for processing and transporting information. Our strategy for each of these areas is as follows:

Processing

We are continuing to develop products based on the Power Architecture. This standard processor architecture, developed by IBM, is the leading architecture within the communications market for high-performance embedded systems. Many of our customers’ products require embedded processing solutions for managing control plane and data plane functionality. Our products combine the embedded central processing unit (“CPU”) core with peripheral functionality to create optimum solutions for applications such as wireless access points, residential gateways, wireless base-stations, storage controllers, network attached storage, network switches and routing products. We also have substantial expertise in special purpose network processing architectures for control plane processing. Products based on these architectures are broadly deployed and continue to be designed into major telecommunications, consumer, and networking equipment. We are developing integrated products that leverage the general purpose embedded processing capabilities of the Power Architecture in combination with technologies derived from our portfolio of traffic management and packet processing products to create solutions that are ideally suited for converged IP-based networks. Additionally, due to the general-purpose nature of our processors many of our processing products find their way into auxiliary markets such as printers, storage devices, video surveillance and other consumer electronic devices.

Transporting

Our transport technology product’s historical focus has been on the SONET/SDH optical telecommunications infrastructure where we are a leading vendor. Currently, our transport products sell into both the telecom and datacom markets. In the telecom market, emerging metro Ethernet and residential triple play applications such as internet protocol television (“IPTV”) and OTN deployments are driving substantial investments in optical infrastructure. These new deployments are increasingly based on metro or carrier class Ethernet with high performance signal processing to address the requirements of lower cost, lower power consumption and reduced equipment footprints for metro access, metro edge, metro core and long haul networks. Our Forward Error Correction (“FEC”) and Physical layer (“PHY”) devices play a critical role in providing cost and power optimized solutions for the leading edge platforms in the Wide Area Network.

 

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In the datacom segment, the amount of data being created and consumed in the emerging cloud computing, data center and enterprise networks as they continue to deploy virtualization technologies for computing and storage is continuing unabated. To address the rapidly increasing volume of information, the data center networks are migrating from gigabit Ethernet to ten gigabit Ethernet (“10GE”) connectivity for server to server, intra-blade server and access to datacenter speeds. AppliedMicro’s datacenter 10G PHY portfolio which consists of optical, backplane and short reach copper solutions is specifically targeted to provide high speed connectivity and increased density at lower power and cost points to enable penetration of the present and future datacenter/enterprise server/switch platforms.

We are continuing to focus our current transport investments on these high growth 10G and beyond, datacenter, OTN and enterprise market opportunities while continuing to service the SONET/SDH market with a broad portfolio of PHY, clock and data recovery (“CDR”), FEC and SONET/SDH mapper devices.

Products and Customers

We develop products for processing and for transporting data as well as providing high speed connectivity solutions. These products are used in a wide variety of communications and other networking applications such as the infrastructure for wide area networks, carrier access networks, and enterprise networks.

Most of our products can be grouped into the functional categories listed below.

Physical Layer Products: Our mixed-signal Telecom PHY ICs transmit and receive signals in a very high-speed serial format. Our products are able to correctly receive these signals in challenging environments through the inclusion of highly efficient dispersion compensation methodologies. This low noise capability permits the transmission of signals over greater distances with fewer errors. Our PHY ICs also convert high-speed serial formats to low-speed parallel formats and vice versa. These products set a new benchmark for performance and power consumption in the industry. Our customers include virtually all of the leading OEMs for both wide area and access network equipment: Cisco, Juniper Networks, Fujitsu, Huawei, Nokia-Siemens Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, ZTE and many others.

AppliedMicro also designs and markets competitive mixed-signal datacom 10GE optical PHYs. These products, such as the QT2025 and the QT2225, are targeted at the higher volume datacenter switching and server markets served by system vendors such as Cisco, Force-10, Extreme Networks, Juniper Networks, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, IBM, Fujitsu and others.

Framer and Mapper Products: Our framing layer ICs transmit and receive signals to and from the physical layer in a parallel format and are used in high-speed optical network infrastructure equipment. For OTN applications, AppliedMicro’s framer products incorporate our industry-leading FEC Technology to dramatically improve performance. We are experiencing extended design win growth and shipments for the Rubicon OTN device. In particular, the 10GE mapping techniques in the Rubicon chip have made it one of the leading solution choices in the marketplace for OTN transport. Our Pemaquid device, a mixed-signal Ethernet optimized OTN mapper and FEC device, was built on the success of the Rubicon chip and has garnered a lot of industry wide attention, resulting in major design wins across most of the Tier-1 platforms and was named Electronic Products Magazine’s Product of the Year in 2008. Pemaquid integrates the PHY, MAC and Mapper functionality while reducing power and size footprint by nearly 60% compared to the Rubicon based solution. This has a very positive impact on the customers’ bill of materials. Our current customers for framers and mappers include Adva, Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, Cisco, ECI, Ericsson, NEC, Nortel, Tellabs, Fujitsu, Huawei, Juniper and ZTE. Following in the success of Rubicon, Yahara, an OTN that integrates Framer, Tri-FEC, Mapper, and 10G Phy functionality, has garnered a significant number of design wins including the the majority of Tier 1 accounts in the world. Its production ramp has been faster than those of predecessor generations. As a result of the above production ramps, we shipped our one millionth 10G OTN port during the March-ending quarter of 2011.

 

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Embedded Processor Products: We are one of the leading suppliers of embedded processors. Our embedded processors are widely deployed in a variety of critical applications in target markets such as Wireless Infrastructure, Wireless LAN (“WLAN”), Residential, Datacenters and Enterprise. In Wireless Infrastructure, our embedded processors are used in base station controllers by leading suppliers of WCDMA and GSM equipment. In networking equipment such as edge, core and enterprise routers, our embedded processors handle overall system maintenance and management functions. In WLAN applications, our embedded processors are installed in a significant share of all Enterprise class access points shipped worldwide. Our products utilize IBM’s PowerPC 4xx processor cores in various speed grades. These cores are integrated with various peripheral functionality to create specialized system on a chip (“SoC”) product solutions. As carrier and metro networks transition to Ethernet and IP-based networks, the need for high performance general purpose embedded processing increases. Versions of our processors are also targeted at large opportunities in RAID storage processing, multi-function printers and a variety of other embedded applications. In fiscal 2010, we introduced the APM83K family of products. Based on the Titan core, this solution family featured the first internally developed core by AppliedMicro and an SoC that enabled us to offer multi-core solutions to our customers. The first part in the APM83K family provides support for Gigabit Ethernet, PCI Express, USB and integrated security processing acceleration which will offer performance of up to 1.5 GHz (Gigahertz) at very competitive power dissipation compared to devices fabricated in the same or largely similar technology node. Our current Embedded Processor customers include Cisco, Nokia-Siemens Networks, Brocade, Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Fujitsu, Panasonic and Ericsson.

Packet Processing Products: Our packet processor ICs are programmable processors that receive and transmit signals to and from the framing layer and perform the processing of packet and cell headers. Our current customers for packet processors include Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Fujitsu, Nortel, Huawei and Juniper.

Cell Switching Products: Our switch fabric ICs switch information in the proper priority and to the proper destinations. Our switch fabric product portfolio includes our packet routing switch (“PRS”) fabric devices such as the PRS 80G, Q-80G and queuing managers like C48X and C192X. Our current customers for switching layer products include Alcatel-Lucent, Fujitsu, Huawei, Ericsson, Ciena and Tellabs.

Technology

We utilize our technological and design competencies to solve the problems of high-speed analog, digital and mixed-signal circuit designs, high performance processors that combine to provide many essential products for the transporting and processing of information worldwide. We blend systems and software expertise with a high-level of silicon integration to deliver communications ICs and software for global communication networks. Our embedded processor product lines deliver performance and a rich mix of features for Internet datacenters, communication networks, data storage, consumer and imaging applications.

Our systems architects, design engineers, technical marketing and applications engineers have a deep understanding of the copper and fiber optic communications systems for which we design and build application specific standard products. Using this systems expertise, we develop semiconductor connectivity devices to meet the OEMs’ high-bandwidth requirements. By understanding the systems into which our products are designed, the end application of our products among carriers and service providers and the requirements driven by their service level agreements, we believe that we are better able to anticipate and develop solutions optimized for the various cost, power and performance trade-offs faced by our customers. We believe that our systems knowledge also enables us to develop more comprehensive, interoperable solutions.

We have developed multiple generations of products that integrate both analog and digital elements on the same IC, while balancing the difficult trade-offs of speed, power and timing inherent in very dense high-speed applications. The mixing of digital and analog signals poses difficult challenges for IC designers, particularly at high frequencies. We have gained significant expertise in mixed-signal IC designs through the development of multiple product generations. We were one of the first companies to embed analog phase locked loops in bipolar

 

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chips with digital logic for high-speed data transmission and reception applications. Since the introduction of our first on-chip clock recovery and clock synthesis products in 1993, we have refined these products and have successfully integrated multiple analog functions and multiple channels on the same IC. We will continue to apply these competencies in the development of more complex products in the future.

Although we completed the sale of our 3ware storage adapter business to LSI Corporation on April 21, 2009, as discussed in “Sale of the 3ware Storage Adapter Business to LSI Corporation” in Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations, we remain active in the storage industry with our design and sale of embedded storage processor chips and 10 gigabit connectivity solutions with our Embedded Process products. We intend to continue working closely with leaders in the storage, networking and computing industries to design and develop new and enhanced storage connectivity products. We believe that establishing strategic relationships with technology partners is essential to ensure that we continue to design and develop competitive products that integrate well with solutions from other leading participants in the storage markets.

Research and Development

Our research and development (“R&D”) expertise and efforts are focused on the development of high-performance analog, digital and mixed-signal ICs and on the development of highly integrated embedded processing SoC ICs for the communications market. We also develop high-performance libraries and design methodologies that are optimized for each of these applications. Our primary R&D facilities are located in Sunnyvale and San Diego, California, Austin, Texas and Andover, Massachusetts in the United States, Ottawa in Canada, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and Pune in India. During the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, we expended $108.7 million, $88.1 million and $84.7 million, respectively, on R&D activities.

Our IC product development is focused on building high-performance, high-complexity digital and analog-intensive designs that are incorporated into well-documented blocks that can be reused for multiple products. We have made and will continue to make significant investments in advanced design tools to leverage the efforts of our engineering staff. Our product development is driven by the imperatives of reducing design cycle time, increasing first-time design correctness, adhering to disciplined, well documented design processes and continuing to be responsive to customer needs. We are also developing high-performance final assembly packages for our products in collaboration with our packaging suppliers and our customers.

Our Printed Circuit Board Assembly (“PCBA”) development efforts are focused on building advanced telecom computing architecture (“ATCA”) evaluation boards and software for our switch fabric, network processors and embedded PowerPC processors for the communications market. Before a new product is developed, our R&D engineers work with marketing managers and customers to develop a comprehensive requirements specification. After the product is designed and commercially released, our engineers continue to work with customers on early design-in efforts to understand requirements for future generations and upgrades.

On November 8, 2010, we amended certain agreements with Veloce Technologies, Inc. (“Veloce”), initially entered into on May 17, 2009, pursuant to which Veloce had agreed to perform product development work for us on an exclusive basis for up to five years for cash and other consideration, including a warrant to purchase our shares of common stock, which will vest in quarterly increments through December 2012. A portion of the vested shares have been committed to be distributed to the employees of Veloce and will be settled in cash instead of common stock. Therefore, we have recognized stock-based compensation expense in R&D expense and recorded a corresponding liability for this distribution in our consolidated financial statements. Under the amended merger agreement, the Company agreed to acquire Veloce if certain performance milestones and delivery schedules set forth under the merger and other agreements are achieved. We also have the unilateral option to acquire Veloce in the event Veloce fails to meet the milestones and delivery schedules. Should we acquire Veloce pursuant to the merger agreement, the purchase price is estimated to be in the range of approximately $7 million up to

 

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approximately $135 million, subject to additional adjustments. The final price would be based upon the achievement and timing of multiple development and performance milestones. At this time the eventual outcome is not determinable and as such we are unable to provide a narrower range for the estimated merger consideration. We will update the range in the future when additional relevant information is available. The amended agreements permit us to appoint two individuals to serve on Veloce’s Board of Directors and Board committees. Our chief executive officer and another member of the Company’s Board of Directors have been appointed to Veloce’s Board of Directors. In addition, we provided Veloce a promissory note of $1.5 million to be forgiven over eight quarters starting on March 31, 2011. If Veloce commits a material breach of the merger agreement, the outstanding principal amount of the note and accrued interest becomes due. If we commit a material breach of the merger agreement, the outstanding principal amount of the note and accrued interest is to be forgiven. In April 2011, we agreed to loan $5.0 million to Veloce. This loan will bear interest at a rate of 5% and the accrued interest and principal amount will be repaid when we make a decision to either spin in or to sever our relationship with Veloce. Re-payment can be in cash or as an adjustment against the eventual merger consideration should a merger occur. Pursuant to the product development agreement, as amended, we will pay Veloce $2.3 million per quarter for up to twelve consecutive quarters in order to assist Veloce in meeting its expenses to perform its obligations under the agreement. This amount has increased in the past due to agreed upon workscope changes and may change again in the future due to additional workscope changes. We also paid, and will likely do so again, certain product development and manufacturing expenses incurred by Veloce. Through March 31, 2011, no milestones have been met. For a more detailed discussion, see Note 12 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV, Item 15, Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules, of this Annual Report. The Company does not hold any direct equity interest in Veloce.

In September 2010, we completed the acquisition of TPack, a Denmark-based company which specializes in the development and sale of OTN chips that are based on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (“FPGAs”). This approach to the packaging of OTN functionality represents a new and innovative approach. It enables much earlier delivery of emerging standards with the flexibility of modifying and refining these functions. Customers use these SoftSilicon® devices for both prototyping and production. We base them on the products of both Xilinx and Altera, reducing the risk of supply constraints and leveraging competitive forces for lower costs and improved FPGA bases. We have evolved the combination of SoftSilicon® and our application-specific standard products (“ASSPs”) into more complete solutions that comprise many of the features required on our customers’ line cards. Over time, we will integrate SoftSilicon®-based products into more advanced ASSPs, with the benefit of functions that have already been proven and accepted by our customers.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing of Integrated Circuits

The manufacturing of ICs requires a combination of competencies in advanced silicon technologies, package design and manufacturing and high speed test and characterization. We have obtained access to advanced complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (“CMOS”) through foundry relationships. We have substantial experience in the development and use of plastic and ceramic packages for high-performance applications. The selection of the optimal package solution is a vital element of the delivery of high-performance products and involves balancing cost, size, thermal management and technical performance. We purchase our ceramic and plastic packages from several vendors including Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (“ASE”), AMKOR, Siliconware Precision Industries Co Ltd. (“SPIL”), IBM, Kyocera, and NTK.

Wafer Fabrication

We do not own or operate foundries for the production of silicon wafers from which our products are made. We use external foundries such as IBM, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (“TSMC”) and United Microelectronics Corporation (“UMC”) for the majority of our production of silicon wafers. Subcontracting our manufacturing requirements eliminates the high fixed cost of owning and operating a semiconductor wafer fabrication facility and enables us to focus our resources on design of ICs and applications where we believe we have greater core competencies and competitive advantages.

 

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Assembly and Testing

Our wafer probe and other product testing are conducted at independent test subcontractors. After wafer testing is complete, the majority of our products are sent to multiple subcontractors for assembly, predominately located in Asia. Following assembly, the devices are tested at subcontractors and returned to us ready for shipment to our customers. Certain of these services are available from a limited number of sources and lead times are occasionally extended.

Sales and Marketing

Our sales and marketing strategy is to develop strong, engineering-intensive relationships with the customer design teams for the creation of market leading platforms. We maintain close working relationships with these customers so our marketing team can focus on identifying and developing new products that will meet their needs in the future, involving us in the early stages of our customers’ plans to design new equipment. We sell our products both directly and through a network of independent manufacturers’ representatives and distributors. Our direct sales force is technically trained. Expert technical support is critical to our customers’ success and we provide such support through our field applications engineers, technical marketing team and engineering staff, as well as through our extranet technical support web site.

We augment this strategic account sales approach with domestic and foreign distributors that service some of our accounts purchasing standard ICs. Typically, these distributors handle a wide variety of products, including those that compete with our products and fill orders for many customers. We use marketing programs to augment the distribution effort to reach many of our customers. Most of our sales to distributors are made under agreements allowing for price protection and stock rotation of unsold merchandise. Our sales headquarters is located in Sunnyvale, California. We maintain sales offices throughout the world. Net revenues generated from each category of our products as well as information regarding net revenue generated from each of our significant customers and a geographic breakdown of our net revenues is summarized in Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Backlog

Our sales are made primarily pursuant to standard purchase orders for the delivery of products. Quantities of our products to be delivered and delivery schedules are frequently revised to reflect changes in customers’ needs; customer orders generally can be cancelled or rescheduled without significant penalty to the customer. For these reasons, our backlog as of any particular date is not representative of actual sales for any succeeding period and therefore, we believe that backlog is not necessarily a good indicator of future revenue trends.

Competition

In the transport communications IC markets, we compete primarily against companies such as Broadcom, PMC-Sierra, Cortina, Netlogic and Vitesse. In the embedded processor communications IC market, we compete with technology companies such as Freescale Semiconductor, Cavium and Intel. In addition, some of our customers and potential customers have internal IC designs or manufacturing capabilities with which we compete.

The communications IC market is highly competitive and is subject to rapid technological change. The nature of the communications IC market is that design cycles are often measured in years. As such, an IC supplier’s timing of delivery to market is critical as once an IC supplier’s product is designed into a customer’s products, the IC supplier can often enjoy sales of the product for several years. Conversely, if a supplier misses a design cycle or develops an uncompetitive product, the supplier may never generate significant revenues from the product. We typically face competition at the design stage when our customers are selecting which components to use in their next generation equipment. We believe that the principal factors of competition for the markets we serve include: product performance, quality, reliability, integration, price and time-to-market, as well

 

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as our reputation and level of customer support. Our ability to successfully compete in these markets depends on our ability to design and subcontract the manufacture of new products that implement new technologies and gain end-market acceptance in a time-efficient and cost-effective manner.

Proprietary Rights

We rely in part on patents to protect our intellectual property. We have been issued approximately 327 patents, which principally cover certain aspects of the design and architecture of our IC and enterprise storage products. In addition, we have over 164 inventions in various stages of the patenting process in the United States and abroad. There can be no assurance that any of our pending patent applications or any future applications will be approved, or that any issued patents will provide us with competitive advantages or will not be challenged by third parties or that if challenged, will be found to be valid or enforceable, or that the patents of others will not have an adverse effect on our ability to do business. There can be no assurance that others will not independently develop similar products or processes, duplicate our products or processes or design around any patents that may be issued to us.

To protect our intellectual property, we also rely on a combination of mask work protection under the Federal Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984, trademarks, copyrights, trade secret laws, employee and third-party nondisclosure agreements and licensing arrangements.

As a general matter, the semiconductor and enterprise storage industries are characterized by substantial litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. In the past we have been, and in the future may be, notified that we may be infringing on the intellectual property rights of third parties. We have certain indemnification obligations to customers with respect to the infringement of third party intellectual property rights by our products. There can be no assurance that infringement claims by third parties or claims for indemnification by customers or end users of our products resulting from infringement claims will not be asserted in the future or that such assertions, if proven to be true, will not have a materially adverse affect on our business, financial condition or operating results. In the event of any adverse ruling in any such matter, we could be required to pay substantial damages, which could include treble damages, cease the manufacture, use and sale of infringing products, discontinue the use of certain processes or obtain a license under the intellectual property rights of the third party claiming infringement. There can be no assurance that a license would be available on reasonable terms or at all. Any limitations on our ability to market our products, any delays and costs associated with redesigning our products or payments of license fees to third parties or any failure by us to develop or license a substitute technology on commercially reasonable terms could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

Environmental Matters

We are subject to a variety of federal, state and local governmental regulations related to the use, storage, discharge and disposal of toxic, volatile or otherwise hazardous chemicals that were used in our manufacturing process. Any failure to comply with present or future regulations could result in the imposition of fines, the suspension of production or a cessation of operations. Such regulations could require us to acquire costly equipment or incur other significant expenses to comply with environmental regulations or clean up prior discharges. Since 1993, we have been named as a potentially responsible party (“PRP”) along with a large number of other companies that used Omega Chemical Corporation in Whittier, California to handle and dispose of certain hazardous waste material. We are a member of a large group of PRPs that has agreed to fund certain remediation efforts at the Omega Chemical Corporation site, which efforts are ongoing. For more information see our risk factor titled “We could incur substantial fines or litigation costs associated with our storage, use and disposal of hazardous materials” in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, below and refer to footnote 10 “Legal Proceedings” to the financial statements.

 

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Employees

As of March 31, 2011, we had 672 full-time employees: 71 in administration, 470 in research and development, 43 in operations and 88 in marketing and sales. The employee detail includes employees of our VIE, Veloce. Our ability, as the economy recovers, to attract and retain qualified personnel is essential to our continued success. None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, nor have we ever experienced any work stoppage.

Executive Officers of the Registrant

Our current executive officers and their ages as of March 31, 2011 are as follows:

 

Name

   Age   

Position(s)

Paramesh Gopi

   42    President and Chief Executive Officer, Member of the Board of Directors

Robert G. Gargus

   59    Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

L. William Caraccio

   52    Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

Shiva K. Natarajan

   45    Vice President, Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer

Hector Berardi

   46    Vice President, Operations

Michael Major

   54    Vice President, Human Resources

Dr. Paramesh Gopi joined us as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in June 2008 and was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer in May 2009. On April 29, 2009, Dr. Gopi became a member of our Board of Directors. From September 2002 to June 2008, he was with Marvell Semiconductor, a provider of mixed-signal and digital signal processing integrated circuits to broadband digital data networking markets, where he most recently served as Vice President and General Manager of the Embedded and Emerging Business Unit. At Marvell, Dr. Gopi held several executive-level positions including Chief Technology Officer of Embedded and Emerging Business Unit and Director of Technology Strategy. From June 2001 to August 2002, Dr. Gopi was Executive Director of Strategic Marketing and Applications at Conexant Systems, Inc., a mixed-signal processing company. He joined Conexant Systems, Inc. as part of its acquisition of Entridia Corporation in 2001. Dr. Gopi founded Entridia, a provider of Network Processing ASICs for Optical Networks, in 1999. Prior to Entridia, Dr. Gopi held principal engineering positions at Western Digital and Texas Instruments where he was responsible for the development of key mixed signal networking products. Dr. Gopi holds a PhD in Electrical and Computing Engineering and a Masters and Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine.

Robert G. Gargus joined us in October 2005 as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. From May 2005 to October 2005, he was Chief Financial Officer of Open-Silicon, a privately held fabless ASIC company. From October 2001 to April 2005, he was Chief Financial Officer of Silicon Image, a public semiconductor company specializing in high-speed serial communications technology, where the company experienced significant growth, a return to solid profitability, and a ten-fold improvement in their market cap. Mr. Gargus served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Telcom Semiconductor, a supplier of semiconductor products for the wireless market, from April 2000 to April 2001 and as Chief Financial Officer from May 1998 to April 2000. Under his leadership, Telcom Semiconductor was selected by Forbes Magazine in October 2000 as one of the “200 Best Small Companies.” Prior to Telcom Semiconductor, Mr. Gargus held various financial and general management positions with Tandem Computers, Atalla Corporation, and Unisys Corporation. Mr. Gargus holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Detroit.

L. William Caraccio joined us in June 2010 as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. From January 2003 to October 2009, he was at RMI Corporation (formerly Raza Microelectronics, Inc.), a privately held fabless semiconductor company where he was most recently Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, and, following RMI Corporation’s acquisition by Netlogic Microsystems, Inc. in October 2009, he served a transition role at Netlogic as Senior Counsel until January 2010. From March 2000 to January 2003, he was Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Foundry Holdings, Inc., a privately held investment firm

 

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and incubator of high technology companies. From June 1992 to March 2000, he was at Pillsbury Madison & Sutro LLP, a corporate law firm where he was most recently a Partner in the Corporate Securities and Technologies Group. Mr. Caraccio earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Irvine.

Shiva K. Natarajan joined us in December 2006 as Senior Director of Accounting and was promoted to Vice President, Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer in January 2008. From September 2005 to December 2006, he was Corporate Controller of Open-Silicon, a privately held fabless ASIC company. From May 2003 to August 2005, he was Director of Accounting of Silicon Image, a public semiconductor company specializing in high-speed serial communications technology. From October 1997 to April 2003, he was with Ernst & Young LLP, a public accounting firm, where he was most recently a Senior Manager of Assurance and Advisory Business Services. Mr. Natarajan is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Calcutta.

Hector Berardi joined us as Vice President of Operations in July 2008. From August 2002 to July 2008, he was with PLX Technology, Inc., a semiconductor device company, as Vice President of Operations. From April 1999 to July 2002, Mr. Berardi was with Ubicom, Inc., a developer of wireless network processors and software platforms, as Vice President of Operations. From June 1998 to April 1999, he was with STMicroelectronics, a semiconductor company, as a Design and Program Manager for the advanced RISC core development group. From July 1987 to May 1998, he was with National Semiconductor Corporation, a semiconductor company, where he was most recently Senior Product Engineering Manager for microcontroller technologies. Mr. Berardi holds a Masters in Business Administration and Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University.

Michael Major joined us in February 2006 as Senior Director of Human Resources. Mr. Major was promoted to Vice President of Human Resources in April 2008. Mr. Major has 30 years of experience with Human Resources and related activities. Prior to joining us, Mr. Major was Senior Director of Human Resources at Silicon Image, a public semiconductor company specializing in high-speed serial communications technology, from September 2002 to January 2006. Prior to Silicon Image, Mr. Major also served as Vice President of Human Resources for MedChannel, a technology startup. Before his role at MedChannel, Mr. Major was Director of HR Operations at Netscape Communications. In addition to his experience within Human Resources, Mr. Major spent almost 20 years consulting with companies in the areas of employee benefits and compensation. Mr. Major is a graduate of the University of Michigan’s Advanced Human Resources Executive Program and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Stanford University.

 

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Item 1A. Risk Factors.

RISK FACTORS

Before deciding to invest in us or to maintain or increase your investment, you should carefully consider the risks described below, in addition to the other information contained in this Annual Report and in our other filings with the SEC. We update our descriptions of the risks and uncertainties facing us in our periodic reports filed with the SEC. The risks and uncertainties described below and in our other filings are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also affect our business. If any of these known or unknown risks or uncertainties actually occurs, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be seriously harmed. In that event, the market price for our common stock could decline and you may lose your investment.

If we are unable to timely develop new products or new generations and versions of our existing products to replace our current products, our operating results and competitive position will be materially harmed.

Our industry is characterized by intense competition, rapidly evolving technology and continually changing customer requirements. These factors could render our existing products obsolete. Accordingly, our ability to compete in the future will depend in large part on our ability to identify and develop new products or new generations and versions of our existing products that achieve market acceptance on a timely and cost-effective basis, and to respond to changing requirements. If we are unable to do so, our business, operating results and financial condition will be negatively affected.

The successful development and market acceptance of our products depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to:

 

   

our accurate prediction of changing customer requirements;

 

   

timely development of new designs;

 

   

timely qualification and certification of our products for use in electronic systems;

 

   

commercial acceptance and production of the electronic systems into which our products are incorporated;

 

   

availability, quality, price, performance, and size of our products relative to competing products and technologies;

 

   

our customer service and support capabilities and responsiveness;

 

   

successful development of relationships with existing and potential new customers;

 

   

successful development of relationships with key developers of advanced digital semiconductors;

 

   

changes in technology and industry standards; and

 

   

rapidly changing consumer preferences.

In addition, on November 8, 2010, we amended certain agreements with Veloce, initially entered into on May 17, 2009, pursuant to which Veloce agreed to perform product development work for us on an exclusive basis for up to five years for cash and other consideration, including a warrant to purchase shares of our common stock, which will vest quarterly through December 2012. A portion of the vested shares have been committed to be distributed to the employees of Veloce and will be settled in cash instead of common stock. Therefore, we have recognized stock-based compensation expense in R&D expense and recorded a corresponding liability for this distribution in our consolidated financial statements. Under the merger agreement with Veloce, as amended, we agreed to acquire Veloce if certain performance milestones and delivery schedules set forth under the merger and other agreements are achieved. We also have the unilateral option to acquire Veloce in the event Veloce fails

 

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to meet the milestones and delivery schedules. Should we acquire Veloce pursuant to the merger agreement, the purchase price is estimated to be in the range of approximately $7 million up to approximately $135 million, subject to adjustments. At this time the eventual outcome is not determinable and as such we are unable to provide a narrower range for the estimated merger consideration. We will update the range in the future when additional relevant information is available. We also provided Veloce a promissory note of $1.5 million to be forgiven over eight quarters starting on March 31, 2011. In April 2011, we agreed to loan $5.0 million to Veloce. This loan will bear interest at a rate of 5% and the accrued interest and principal amount will be repaid when we make a decision to either spin in or to sever our relationship with Veloce. Re-payment can be in cash or as an adjustment against the eventual merger consideration should a merger occur. We will also pay Veloce $2.3 million per quarter for up to twelve consecutive quarters in order to assist Veloce in meeting its expenses to perform its obligations under the agreement. This amount has increased in the past due to agreed upon workscope changes and may change again in the future due to additional workscope changes. We also paid, and will likely do so again, certain product development and manufacturing expenses incurred by Veloce.

Our arrangement with Veloce may not result in the development of any new technologies or products. Moreover, products we have recently developed and which we are currently developing may not achieve market acceptance. If these products fail to achieve market acceptance, or if we fail to timely develop new products that achieve market acceptance, our business, financial condition and operating results will be materially and adversely affected.

Our dependence on third-party manufacturing and supply relationships increases the risk that we will not have an adequate supply of products to meet demand or that our cost of materials will be higher than expected.

We depend upon third parties to manufacture, assemble, package or test certain of our products. As a result, we are subject to risks associated with these third parties, including:

 

   

reduced control over delivery schedules and quality;

 

   

inadequate manufacturing yields and excessive costs;

 

   

ability to attract and retain key personnel and to maintain knowledge base;

 

   

difficulties selecting and integrating new subcontractors;

 

   

potential lack of adequate capacity at the foundry during periods of excess demand, resulting in significant increases in lead-time requirements and production delays;

 

   

increased risk of excess and obsolete inventory charges due to the higher level of inventories in response to the increased lead-times;

 

   

limited warranties on products supplied to us;

 

   

potential increases in prices;

 

   

potential instability in countries where third-party manufacturers are located; and

 

   

potential misappropriation of our intellectual property.

Our outside foundries generally manufacture our products on a purchase order basis, and we have few long-term supply arrangements with these suppliers. We have less control over delivery schedules, manufacturing yields and costs than competitors with their own fabrication facilities. A manufacturing disruption or capacity constraint experienced by one or more of our outside foundries or a disruption of our relationship with an outside foundry, including discontinuance of our products by that foundry, would negatively impact the production of certain of our products for a substantial period of time.

As our third-party manufacturing suppliers extend their lead time requirements, we will likely need to also extend our lead time requirements to our customers. This could cause our customers to lower their competitive assessment of us as a supplier and as a result, we may not be considered for future design awards.

 

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Our IC products are generally only qualified for production at a single foundry. These suppliers can allocate, and in the past have allocated, capacity to the production of other companies’ products while reducing deliveries to us on short notice. There is also the potential that they may discontinue manufacturing our products or go out of business. Because establishing relationships, designing or redesigning ICs, and ramping production with new outside foundries may take over a year, there is no readily available alternative source of supply for these products.

Difficulties associated with adapting our technology and product design to the proprietary process technology and design rules of outside foundries can lead to reduced yields of our IC products. The process technology of an outside foundry is typically proprietary to the manufacturer. Since low yields may result from either design or process technology failures, yield problems may not be effectively determined or resolved until an actual product exists that can be analyzed and tested to identify process sensitivities relating to the design rules that are used. As a result, yield problems may not be identified until well into the production process, and resolution of yield problems may require cooperation between us and our manufacturer. This risk could be compounded by the offshore location of certain of our manufacturers, increasing the effort and time required to identify, communicate and resolve manufacturing yield problems. Manufacturing defects that we do not discover during the manufacturing or testing process may lead to costly product recalls. These risks may lead to increased costs or delayed product delivery, which would harm our profitability and customer relationships.

If the foundries or subcontractors we use to manufacture our products discontinue the manufacturing processes needed to meet our demands, or fail to upgrade their technologies needed to manufacture our products, we may be unable to deliver products to our customers, which could materially adversely affect our operating results and harm our reputation. The transition to the next generation of manufacturing technologies at one or more of our outside foundries could be unsuccessful or delayed.

Our requirements typically represent a very small portion of the total production of the third-party foundries. As a result, we are subject to the risk that a producer will cease production of an older or lower-volume process that it uses to produce our parts. We cannot assure you that our external foundries will continue to devote resources to the production of parts for our products or continue to advance the process design technologies on which the manufacturing of our products are based. Each of these events could increase our costs, lower our gross margin, cause us to hold more inventories or materially impact our ability to deliver our products on time. As our volumes decrease with any third-party foundry, the likelihood of unfavorable pricing increases.

Some companies that supply our customers are similarly dependent on a limited number of suppliers to produce their products. These other companies’ products may be designed into the same networking equipment into which our products are designed. Our order levels could be reduced materially if these companies are unable to access sufficient production capacity to produce in volumes demanded by our customers because our customers may be forced to slow down or halt production on the equipment into which our products are designed.

Natural disasters in certain regions, such as Japan, could adversely affect our manufacturing and supply chain which, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our business, our results of operations and our financial condition.

The occurrence of natural disasters in certain regions, such as the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, could negatively impact our manufacturing and supply chain, our ability to deliver products, on a timely basis or at all, to our customers, the cost of our products, and the demand for our products. The occurrence of natural disasters could also cause delays in our customers supply chain, causing them to delay their requirements for our products until they resolve shortages from their other suppliers. Any such occurrences of natural disasters could have a material adverse effect on our business, our results of operations and our financial condition.

 

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We may experience difficulties in transitioning to smaller geometry process technologies or in achieving higher levels of design integration and, as a result, may experience reduced manufacturing yields, delays in product deliveries and increased expenses.

As smaller line width geometry processes become more prevalent, we expect to integrate greater levels of functionality into our IC products and to transition our IC products to increasingly smaller geometries. This transition will require us to redesign certain products and will require us and our foundries to migrate to new manufacturing processes for our products.

We may not be able to achieve higher levels of design integration or deliver new integrated products on a timely basis. We periodically evaluate the benefits, on a product-by-product basis, of migrating to smaller geometry process technologies to reduce our costs and increase performance, and we have designed IC products to be manufactured at as little as .04 micron geometry processes. We have experienced some difficulties in shifting to smaller geometry process technologies and new manufacturing processes. These difficulties resulted in reduced manufacturing yields, delays in product deliveries and increased expenses. The transition to smaller geometries is inherently more expensive and as we manufacture more products using smaller geometries, the incremental costs could have an adverse impact on our earnings. We may face similar difficulties, delays and expenses as we continue to transition our IC products to smaller geometry processes. We are dependent on our relationships with our foundries to transition to smaller geometry processes successfully. We cannot assure you that our foundries will be able to effectively manage the transition or that we will be able to maintain our relationships with our foundries. If we or our foundries experience significant delays in this transition or fail to implement this transition, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

The gross margins for our products could decrease rapidly or not increase as forecasted, which will negatively impact our business, financial conditions and results of operations.

The gross margins for our solutions have historically declined over time. Factors that we expect to cause downward pressure on the gross margins for our products include competitive pricing pressures, the cost sensitivity of our customers, particularly in the higher-volume markets, new product introductions by us or our competitors, and other factors. From time to time, for strategic reasons, we may accept orders at less than optimal gross margins in order to facilitate the introduction of, or, market penetration of our new or existing products. To maintain acceptable operating results, we will need to offset any reduction in gross margins of our products by reducing costs, increasing sales volume, developing and introducing new products and developing new generations and versions of existing products on a timely basis. If the gross margins for our products decline or not increase as anticipated and we are unable to offset those reductions, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected.

The current economic circumstances and uncertain political conditions could harm our revenues, operating results and financial condition.

The economies of the United States and other developed or developing countries appear to be currently coming out of a recession. We cannot predict either if this economic recovery will continue or reverse course.

The recent recession has caused a decline in our near term revenues and it will take some time for our near-term revenues to return to our previous levels. Our current operating plans are based on assumptions concerning levels of consumer and corporate spending. If global and domestic economic and market conditions persist or deteriorate, we may experience further material impacts on our business, operating results and financial condition which could result in a decline in the price of our common stock. If economic conditions worsen, we may have to implement additional cost reduction measures or delay certain R&D spending, which may adversely impact our ability to introduce new products and technologies.

 

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We maintain an investment portfolio of various holdings, types of instruments and maturities. These securities are generally classified as available-for-sale and, consequently, are recorded on our consolidated balance sheets at fair value with unrealized gains or losses reported as a separate component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). Our portfolio primarily includes fixed income securities, mutual funds and preferred stock, the values of which are subject to market price volatility. The deterioration of these market prices has had an unfavorable impact on our portfolio and has caused us to record impairment charges to our earnings. During the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2009, we recorded other-than-temporary impairment charges of $4.1 million and $17.1 million, respectively. If market prices continue to decline or securities continue to be in a loss position over time, we may recognize additional impairments in the fair value of our investments.

Adverse economic and market conditions could also harm our business by negatively affecting the parties with whom we do business, including our business partners, our customers and our suppliers. These conditions could impair the ability of our customers to pay for products they have purchased from us. As a result, allowances for doubtful accounts and write-offs of accounts receivable from our customers may increase. In addition, our suppliers may experience financial difficulties that could negatively affect their operations and their ability to supply us with the parts we need to manufacture our products.

We have invested in privately-held companies, many of which can still be considered in startup or developmental stages. These investments are inherently risky as the market for the technologies or products they have under development are typically in the early stages and may never materialize. We could lose all or substantially all of the value of our investments in these companies and, in some cases, we have lost all or substantially all of the value of our investment in such entities.

Our operating results may fluctuate because of a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control.

If our operating results are below the expectations of research analysts or investors, then the market price of our common stock could decline. Some of the factors that affect our quarterly and annual results, but which are difficult to control or predict, are:

 

   

communications, information technology and semiconductor industry conditions;

 

   

fluctuations in the timing and amount of customer requests for product shipments;

 

   

the reduction, rescheduling or cancellation of orders by customers, including as a result of slowing demand for our products or our customers’ products or over-ordering or double booking of our products or our customers’ products;

 

   

changes in the mix of products that our customers buy;

 

   

the gain or loss of one or more key customers or their key customers, or significant changes in the financial condition of one or more of our key customers or their key customers;

 

   

our ability to introduce, certify and deliver new products and technologies on a timely basis;

 

   

the announcement or introduction of new products and technologies by our competitors;

 

   

competitive pressures on selling prices;

 

   

the ability of our customers to obtain components from their other suppliers;

 

   

market acceptance of our products and our customers’ products;

 

   

fluctuations in manufacturing output, yields or other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products or our customers’ products;

 

   

disasters that could effect our supply chain or our customers supply chain;

 

   

increases in the costs of products or discontinuance of products by our suppliers;

 

   

the availability of external foundry capacity, contract manufacturing services, purchased parts and raw materials including packaging substrates;

 

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the availability of package and test vendor capacity;

 

   

problems or delays that we and our foundries may face in shifting the design and manufacture of our future generations of IC products to smaller geometry process technologies and in achieving higher levels of design and device integration;

 

   

the timing of meeting the specifications and expense recovery on non-recurring engineering projects;

 

   

the amounts and timing of costs associated with warranties and product returns;

 

   

the amounts and timing of investments in R&D;

 

   

the product lifecycle and recoverability of capitalized architectural licenses, technology access fees and mask sets;

 

   

the amounts and timing of the costs associated with payroll taxes related to stock option exercises or settlement of restricted stock units;

 

   

costs associated with acquisitions and the integration of acquired companies, products and technologies;

 

   

the impact of potential one-time charges related to purchased intangibles;

 

   

our ability to successfully integrate acquired companies, products and technologies;

 

   

the impact on interest income of a significant use of our cash for an acquisition, stock repurchase or other purpose;

 

   

the effects of changes in interest rates or credit worthiness on the value and yield of our short-term investment portfolio;

 

   

costs associated with compliance with applicable environmental, other governmental or industry regulations including costs to redesign products to comply with those regulations or lost revenue due to failure to comply in a timely manner;

 

   

the effects of changes in accounting standards;

 

   

costs associated with litigation, including without limitation, attorney fees, litigation judgments or settlements, relating to the use or ownership of intellectual property or other claims arising out of our operations;

 

   

our ability to identify, hire and retain senior management and other key personnel;

 

   

the effects of war, acts of terrorism or global threats, such as disruptions in general economic activity and changes in logistics and security arrangements; and

 

   

global economic and industry conditions.

Our business, financial condition and operating results would be harmed if we do not achieve anticipated revenues.

We can have revenue shortfalls for a variety of reasons, including:

 

   

shortages of raw materials or production capacity constraints that lead our suppliers to allocate available supplies or capacity to their other customers, which may disrupt our ability to meet our production obligations;

 

   

our customers may experience shortages from their suppliers that may cause them to delay orders or deliveries of our products;

 

   

delays in the availability of our products or our customers’ products;

 

   

the reduction, rescheduling or cancellation of customer orders;

 

   

declines in the average selling prices of our products;

 

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delays when our customers are transitioning from old products to new products;

 

   

a decrease in demand for our products or our customers’ products;

 

   

a decline in the financial condition or liquidity of our customers or their customers;

 

   

the failure of our products to be qualified in our customers’ systems or certified by our customers;

 

   

excess inventory of our products held by our customers, resulting in a reduction in their order patterns as they work through the excess inventory of our products;

 

   

fabrication, test, product yield, or assembly constraints for our products that adversely affect our ability to meet our production obligations;

 

   

the failure of one or more of our subcontract manufacturers to perform its obligations to us;

 

   

our failure to successfully integrate acquired companies, products and technologies; and

 

   

global economic and industry conditions.

Our business is characterized by short-term orders and shipment schedules. Customer orders typically can be cancelled or rescheduled without significant penalty to the customer. Because we do not have substantial non-cancellable backlog, we typically plan our production and inventory levels based on internal forecasts of customer demand, which is highly unpredictable and can fluctuate substantially. Customer orders for our products typically have non-standard lead times, which make it difficult for us to predict revenues and plan inventory levels and production schedules. If we are unable to plan inventory levels and production schedules effectively, our business, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.

From time to time, in response to anticipated long lead times to obtain inventory and materials from our outside contract manufacturers, suppliers and foundries, we may order materials in advance of anticipated customer demand. This advance ordering has in the past and may in the future result in excess inventory levels or unanticipated inventory write-downs if expected orders fail to materialize, or other factors render our products less marketable. If we are forced to hold excess inventory or we incur unanticipated inventory write-downs, our financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.

Our expense levels are relatively fixed in the short-term and are based on our expectations of future revenues. We have limited ability to reduce expenses quickly in response to any revenue shortfalls. Changes to production volumes and impact of overhead absorption may result in a decline in our financial condition or liquidity.

Our business substantially depends upon the continued growth of the technology sector and the Internet.

The technology equipment industry is cyclical and has in the past experienced significant and extended downturns. The recent downturn was significant and we cannot predict if the current improvement is sustainable in the near future. A substantial portion of our business and revenue depends on the continued growth of the technology sector and the Internet. We sell our communications IC products primarily to communications equipment manufacturers that in turn sell their equipment to customers that depend on the growth of the Internet. The past downturn has caused a reduction in capital spending on information technology. While we are beginning to see indications of improvement, there are no guarantees that this growth will sustain, resulting in potential volatility. If there is another downturn, our business, operating results and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

 

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The loss of one or more key customers, the diminished demand for our products from a key customer, or the failure to obtain certifications from a key customer or its distribution channel could significantly reduce our revenues and profits.

A relatively small number of customers have accounted for a significant portion of our revenues in any particular period. We have no long-term volume purchase commitments from our key customers. One or more of our key customers may discontinue operations as a result of consolidation, bankruptcy or otherwise. Reductions, delays and cancellation of orders from our key customers or the loss of one or more key customers could significantly reduce our revenues and profits. We cannot assure you that our current customers will continue to place orders with us, that orders by existing customers will continue at current or historical levels or that we will be able to obtain orders from new customers.

Our ability to maintain or increase sales to key customers and attract significant new customers is subject to a variety of factors, including:

 

   

supply constraints and manufacturing delays by our outside foundries may result in significantly reduced volumes and delayed deliveries of our products;

 

   

customers may stop incorporating our products into their own products with limited notice to us and may suffer little or no penalty as a result of such action;

 

   

customers or prospective customers may not incorporate our products into their future product designs;

 

   

design wins (as explained below) with customers or prospective customers may not result in sales to such customers;

 

   

the introduction of new products by customers may occur later or be less successful in the market than planned;

 

   

we may successfully design a product to customer specifications but the customer may not be successful in the market;

 

   

sales of customer product lines incorporating our products may rapidly decline or such product lines may be phased out;

 

   

our agreements with customers typically are non-exclusive and do not require them to purchase a minimum quantity of our products;

 

   

many of our customers have pre-existing relationships with our current or potential competitors that may cause our customers to switch from using our products to using competing products;

 

   

some of our OEM customers may develop products internally that would replace our products;

 

   

we may not be able to successfully develop relationships with additional network equipment vendors;

 

   

our relationships with some of our larger customers may deter other potential customers (who compete with these customers) from buying our products;

 

   

the impact of terminating certain sales representatives or sales personnel as a result of a Company workforce reduction or otherwise; and

 

   

some of our customers and prospective customers may become less viable or fail.

The occurrence of any one of the factors above could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

There is no guarantee that design wins will become actual orders and sales.

A “design win” occurs when a customer or prospective customer notifies us that our product has been selected to be integrated with the customer’s product. There can be delays of several months or more between the design win and when a customer initiates actual orders of our product. Following a design win, we will commit

 

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significant resources to the integration of our product into the customer’s product before receiving the initial order. Receipt of an initial order from a customer following a design win, however, is dependent on a number of factors, including the success of the customer’s product, and cannot be guaranteed. The design win may never result in an actual order or sale.

Any significant order cancellations or order deferrals could cause unplanned inventory growth resulting in excess inventory, which may adversely affect our operating results.

Our customers may increase orders during periods of product shortages or cancel orders if their inventories are too high. Major inventory corrections by our customers are not uncommon and can last for significant periods of time and affect demand for our products. Customers may also cancel or delay orders in anticipation of new products or for other reasons. Cancellations or deferrals could cause us to hold excess inventory, which could reduce our profit margins by reducing sales prices, incurring inventory write-downs or writing off additional obsolete products.

The book-to-bill ratio is commonly used by investors to compare and evaluate technology and semiconductor companies. The book-to-bill ratio is a demand-to-supply ratio that compares the total amount of orders received to the total amount of orders filled. This ratio tells whether the company has more orders than it delivered (if greater than 1), has the same amount of orders that it delivered (equals 1), or has less orders than it delivered (under 1). Though the ratio provides an indicator of whether orders are rising or falling, it does not consider the timing of, or if the order will result in future revenues. Our book-to-bill ratio at March 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009 was 1.0, 1.3 and 1.5, respectively.

The increasing lead times from our suppliers cause us to make commitments for inventory purchases earlier in our production cycle which in turn increases our risk of having excess inventory. In addition, some of our suppliers are delivering based on allocations which in turn causes us to increase our inventory levels. We must balance our inventory levels between the risk of losing a significant customer to a competitor because we cannot meet our customer’s requirements and the risk of having excess inventory if a significant order is cancelled.

Inventory fluctuations could affect our results of operations and restrict our ability to fund our operations. Inventory management remains an area of focus as we balance the need to maintain strategic inventory levels to ensure competitive lead times, meet customer expectations and guard against the risk of inventory obsolescence because of changing technology and customer requirements.

We generally recognize revenue upon shipment of products to a customer. If a customer refuses to accept shipped products or does not pay for these products, we could miss future revenue projections or incur significant charges against our income, which could materially and adversely affect our operating results.

Our customers’ products typically have lengthy design cycles. A customer may decide to cancel or change its product plans, which could cause us to lose anticipated sales.

After we have developed and delivered a product to a customer, the customer will usually test and evaluate our product prior to designing its own equipment to incorporate our product. Our customers may need more than six months to test, evaluate and adopt our product and an additional nine months or more to begin volume production of equipment that incorporates our product. Due to this lengthy design cycle, we may experience significant delays from the time we increase our operating expenses and make investments in inventory until the time that we generate revenue from these products. It is possible that we may never generate any revenue from these products after incurring such expenditures. Even if a customer selects our product to incorporate into its equipment, we cannot guarantee that the customer will ultimately market and sell its equipment or that such efforts by our customer will be successful. The delays inherent in this lengthy design cycle increases the risk that a customer will decide to cancel or change its product plans. Such a cancellation or change in plans by a customer could cause us to lose sales that we had anticipated. While our customers’ design cycles are typically

 

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long, some of our product life cycles tend to be short as a result of the rapidly changing technology environment in which we operate. As a result, the resources devoted to product sales and marketing may not generate material revenue for us, and from time to time, we may need to write off excess and obsolete inventory. If we incur significant marketing expenses and investments in inventory in the future that we are not able to recover, and we are not able to mitigate those expenses, our operating results could be adversely affected. In addition, if we sell our products at reduced prices in anticipation of cost reductions but still hold higher cost products in inventory, our operating results would be harmed.

An important part of our strategy is to focus on the markets for communications equipment. If we change strategy or are unable to further expand our share of these markets or react timely or properly to emerging trends, our revenues may not grow and could decline.

Our markets frequently undergo transitions in which products rapidly incorporate new features and performance standards on an industry-wide basis. If our products are unable to support the new features or performance levels required by OEMs in these markets, or if our products fail to be certified by OEMs, we will lose business from an existing or potential customer and may not have the opportunity to compete for new design wins or certification until the next product transition occurs. If we fail to develop products with required features or performance standards, or if we experience a delay as short as a few months in certifying or bringing a new product to market, or if our customers fail to achieve market acceptance of their products, our revenues could be significantly reduced for a substantial period.

We expect a significant portion of our revenues to continue to be derived from sales of products based on current, widely accepted transmission standards. If the communications market evolves to new standards, we may not be able to successfully design and manufacture new products that address the needs of our customers or gain substantial market acceptance.

The sale of our 3ware storage adapter business to LSI Corporation marked a change in our strategy. This change, or any further changes we might make, could have a significant impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations while we are implementing our new strategy.

If we do not identify and pursue the correct emerging trends and align ourselves with the correct market leaders, we may not be successful and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Customers for our products generally have substantial technological capabilities and financial resources. Some customers have traditionally used these resources to internally develop their own products. The future prospects for our products in these markets are dependent upon our customers’ acceptance of our products as an alternative to their internally developed products. Future prospects also are dependent upon acceptance of third-party sourcing for products as an alternative to in-house development. Network equipment vendors may in the future continue to use internally developed components. They also may decide to develop or acquire components, technologies or products that are similar to, or that may be substituted for, our products.

If our network equipment vendor customers fail to accept our products as an alternative, if they develop or acquire the technology to develop such components internally rather than purchase our products, or if we are otherwise unable to develop or maintain strong relationships with them, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

 

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Our business strategy contemplates the acquisition of other companies, products and technologies. Merger and acquisition activities involve numerous risks and we may not be able to address these risks successfully without substantial expense, delay or other operational or financial problems that could disrupt our business and harm our results of operations and financial condition.

Acquiring products, technologies or businesses from third parties or making additional investments in companies we have already have an interest in is part of our long-term business strategy. The risks involved with merger and acquisition activities include:

 

   

potential dilution to our stockholders;

 

   

use of a significant portion of our cash reserves;

 

   

diversion of management’s attention from our core business;

 

   

failure to integrate or potential loss of key employees, particularly those of the acquired organizations.

 

   

difficulty in completing an acquired company’s in-process research or development projects;

 

   

amortization of acquired intangible assets and deferred compensation;

 

   

customer dissatisfaction or performance problems with an acquired company’s products or services;

 

   

adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers;

 

   

costs associated with acquisitions or mergers;

 

   

difficulties associated with combining or integrating acquired companies, purchased operations, products or technologies;

 

   

difficulties and risks associated with entering and competing in markets that are unfamiliar to us;

 

   

ability of the acquired companies to meet their financial projections; and

 

   

assumption of unknown liabilities, or other unanticipated costs, events or circumstances.

In addition, in the event of any such investments or acquisitions, we could

 

   

issue stock that would dilute our current stockholders’ percentage ownership;

 

   

incur debt;

 

   

assume liabilities;

 

   

incur amortization or impairment expenses related to goodwill and other intangible assets; or

 

   

incur large and immediate write-offs.

Any of these risks could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As with past acquisitions, future acquisitions could adversely affect operating results. In particular, acquisitions may materially and adversely affect our results of operations because they may require large one-time charges or could result in increased debt or contingent liabilities, adverse tax consequences, substantial additional depreciation or deferred compensation charges. Our past purchase acquisitions required us to capitalize significant amounts of goodwill and purchased intangible assets. As a result of the slowdown in our industry and reduction of our market capitalization, we have been required to record significant impairment charges against these assets as noted in our financial statements that are included in this Annual Report. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009 we recorded a goodwill impairment charge of $223.0 million to continuing operations. The goodwill impaired was previously assigned to the Process and Transport reporting units in the amounts of $101.5 million, $121.5 million, respectively. In the fiscal years ended March 31, 2009 and 2008, we recorded goodwill impairment charges to discontinued operations of $41.1 million and $71.5 million, respectively, for the Store reporting unit. These market conditions continuously change and it is difficult to project how long these current uncertain economic conditions may last. These conditions have caused a decline

 

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in our near term revenues and it will take some time to ramp back up to our previous levels. Additionally, market values had deteriorated, which had an unfavorable impact on our valuations which are part of the goodwill and purchased intangible asset impairment tests. There can be no assurances that market conditions will not deteriorate further or that our market capitalization will not decline further. At March 31, 2011, we had $36.6 million of goodwill and purchased intangible assets. We cannot assure you that we will not be required to take significant charges as a result of impairment to the carrying value of the purchased intangible assets, due to further adverse changes in market conditions.

On September 17, 2010, we completed the acquisition of TPack for $32 million in cash, exclusive of $0.5 million cash acquired, and potentially up to an additional $5 million if certain performance milestones are achieved during an 18 month period following the closing of the acquisition. In conjunction with the acquisition, we recorded $23.7 million in amortizable intangible assets and $13.2 million in goodwill.

In January 2011, TPack’s supplier of FPGAs announced they acquired a competitor of TPack. This supplier will continue to provide FPGAs for TPack’s current products and products currently under development, but not for any future products. While we were negotiating with another supplier of FPGAs, they too also acquired a competitor of TPack in March 2011. The increased competition from the synergistic acquisitions could adversely affect the future revenue streams as we implement a library strategy where customers can choose either FPGA supplier. We recently finalized the purchase price allocation for the TPack acquisition. The financial forecasts and other assumptions used to evaluate the acquisition that is included as part of the overall reporting unit may not materialize as expected.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully integrate TPack’s business, products, technologies or personnel or any additional businesses, products, technologies or personnel that we might acquire.

Our industry and markets are subject to consolidation, which may result in stronger competitors, fewer customers and reduced demand.

There has been industry consolidation among communications IC companies, network equipment companies and telecommunications companies in the past. We expect this consolidation to continue as companies attempt to strengthen or hold their positions in evolving markets. Consolidation may result in stronger competitors, fewer customers and reduced demand, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.

Our operating results are subject to fluctuations because we rely heavily on international sales.

International sales account for a significant part of our revenues and may account for an increasing portion of our future revenues. The revenues we derive from international sales may be subject to certain risks, including:

 

   

foreign currency exchange fluctuations;

 

   

changes in regulatory requirements;

 

   

tariffs, rising protectionism and other barriers;

 

   

timing and availability of export licenses;

 

   

political and economic instability;

 

   

natural disasters;

 

   

difficulties in staffing and managing foreign operations;

 

   

difficulties in managing distributors;

 

   

difficulties in obtaining governmental and export approvals for communications, processors and other products;

 

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reduced or uncertain protection for intellectual property rights in some countries;

 

   

longer payment cycles and difficulties in collecting accounts receivable in some countries;

 

   

burdens of complying with a wide variety of complex foreign laws and treaties;

 

   

potentially adverse tax consequences; and

 

   

an uncertain economic condition that may trail any improvements in the United States.

We are subject to risks associated with the imposition of legislation and regulations relating to the import or export of high technology products. We cannot predict whether quotas, duties, taxes or other charges or restrictions upon the importation or exportation of our products will be implemented by the United States or other countries. Because sales of our products have been denominated to date primarily in United States dollars, increases in the value of the United States dollar could increase the price of our products so that they become relatively more expensive to customers in the local currency of a particular country, leading to a reduction in sales and profitability in that country. Future international activity may result in increased foreign currency denominated sales. Gains and losses on the conversion to United States dollars of accounts payable and other monetary assets and liabilities arising from international operations may contribute to fluctuations in our results of operations.

Some of our customer purchase orders and agreements are governed by foreign laws, which may differ significantly from laws in the United States. As a result, our ability to enforce our rights under such agreements may be limited compared with our ability to enforce our rights under agreements governed by laws in the United States.

Our portfolio of short-term investments are exposed to certain market risks.

We maintain an investment portfolio of various holdings, types of instruments and maturities. These securities are recorded on our consolidated balance sheets at fair value with unrealized gains or losses reported as a separate component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax. Our investment portfolio is exposed to market risks related to changes in interest rates and credit ratings of the issuers, as well as to the risks of default by the issuers and lack of overall market liquidity. Substantially all of these securities are subject to interest rate and credit rating risk and will decline in value if interest rates increase or one of the issuers’ credit ratings is reduced. Increases in interest rates or decreases in the credit worthiness of one or more of the issuers in our investment portfolio could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition or results of operations. During the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2009, we recorded $4.1 million and $17.1 million, respectively, in write-downs in the carrying value of certain securities as we determined the decline in the fair value of these securities to be other-than-temporary. If there is a further deterioration in market conditions or there are additional losses incurred, we may be required to record a further decline in the carrying value of these securities resulting in further charges. At March 31, 2011, the unrealized losses on these securities that were not written down as an other-than-temporary impairment charge were approximately $1.3 million. If the fair value of any of these securities does not recover to at least the amortized cost of such security or we are unable to hold these securities until they recover, we may be required to record a decline in the carrying value of these securities.

Our restructuring activities could result in management distractions, operational disruptions and other difficulties.

Over the past several years, we have initiated several restructuring activities in an effort to reduce operating costs, including new restructuring initiatives announced in October 2008, February 2009 and January 2010. Employees whose positions were eliminated in connection with these restructuring activities may seek employment with our customers or competitors. Although each of our employees is required to sign a confidentiality agreement with us at the time of hire, we cannot guarantee that the confidential nature of our proprietary information will be maintained in the course of such future employment. Any additional restructuring

 

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efforts could divert the attention of our management away from our operations, harm our reputation and increase our expenses. We cannot guarantee that we will not undertake additional restructuring activities, that any of our restructuring efforts will be successful, or that we will be able to realize the cost savings and other anticipated benefits from our previous or future restructuring plans. In addition, if we continue to reduce our workforce, it may adversely impact our ability to respond rapidly to new growth opportunities.

Our markets are subject to rapid technological change, so our success depends heavily on our ability to develop and introduce new products.

The markets for our products are characterized by:

 

   

rapidly changing technologies;

 

   

evolving and competing industry standards;

 

   

changing customer needs;

 

   

frequent introductions of new products and enhancements;

 

   

increased integration with other functions;

 

   

long design and sales cycles;

 

   

short product life cycles; and

 

   

intense competition.

To develop new products for the communications or other technology markets, we must develop, gain access to and use leading technologies in a cost-effective and timely manner and continue to develop technical and design expertise. We must have our products designed into our customers’ future products and maintain close working relationships with key customers in order to develop new products that meet customers’ changing needs. We must respond to changing industry standards, trends towards increased integration and other technological changes on a timely and cost-effective basis. Our pursuit of technological advances may require substantial time and expense and may ultimately prove unsuccessful. If we are not successful in adopting such advances, we may be unable to timely bring to market new products and our revenues will suffer.

Many of our products are based on industry standards that are continually evolving. Our ability to compete in the future will depend on our ability to identify and ensure compliance with these evolving industry standards. The emergence of new industry standards could render our products incompatible with products developed by major systems manufacturers. As a result, we could be required to invest significant time and effort and to incur significant expense to redesign our products to ensure compliance with relevant standards. If our products are not in compliance with prevailing industry standards or requirements, we could miss opportunities to achieve crucial design wins which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

The markets in which we compete are highly competitive, and we expect competition to increase in these markets in the future.

The markets in which we compete are highly competitive, and we expect that domestic and international competition will increase in these markets, due in part to deregulation, rapid technological advances, price erosion, changing customer preferences and evolving industry standards. Increased competition could result in significant price competition, reduced revenues, lower profit margins or loss of market share. Our ability to compete successfully in our markets depends on a number of factors, including:

 

   

our ability to partner with OEM and channel partners who are successful in the market;

 

   

success in designing and subcontracting the manufacture of new products that implement new technologies;

 

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product quality, interoperability, reliability, performance and certification;

 

   

customer support;

 

   

time-to-market;

 

   

price;

 

   

production efficiency;

 

   

design wins;

 

   

expansion of production of our products for particular systems manufacturers;

 

   

end-user acceptance of the systems manufacturers’ products;

 

   

market acceptance of competitors’ products; and

 

   

general economic conditions.

Our competitors may offer enhancements to existing products, or offer new products based on new technologies, industry standards or customer requirements that are available to customers on a more timely basis than comparable products from us or that have the potential to replace or provide lower cost alternatives to our products. The introduction of enhancements or new products by our competitors could render our existing and future products obsolete or unmarketable. We expect that certain of our competitors and other semiconductor companies may seek to develop and introduce products that integrate the functions performed by our IC products on a single chip, thus eliminating the need for our products. Each of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In the transport communications IC markets, we compete primarily against companies such as Broadcom, Cortina, Netlogic, PMC-Sierra and Vitesse. In the embedded processor communications IC market, we compete with technology companies such as Freescale Semiconductor, Cavium and Intel. Many of these companies may have substantially greater financial, marketing and distribution resources than we have. Certain of our customers or potential customers have internal IC design or manufacturing capabilities with which we compete. We may also face competition from new entrants to our target markets, including larger technology companies that may develop or acquire differentiating technology and then apply their resources to our detriment. Any failure by us to compete successfully in these target markets would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our operating results depend on manufacturing output and yields of our ICs and printed circuit board assemblies, which may not meet expectations.

The yields on wafers we have manufactured decline whenever a substantial percentage of wafers must be rejected or a significant number of die on each wafer are nonfunctional. Such declines can be caused by many factors, including minute levels of contaminants in the manufacturing environment, design issues, defects in masks used to print circuits on a wafer and difficulties in the fabrication process. Design iterations and process changes by our suppliers can cause a risk of defects. Many of these problems are difficult to diagnose, are time consuming and expensive to remedy and can result in shipment delays.

We estimate yields per wafer and final packaged parts in order to estimate the value of inventory. If yields are materially different than projected, work-in-process inventory may need to be re-valued. We may have to take inventory write-downs as a result of decreases in manufacturing yields. We may suffer periodic yield problems in connection with new or existing products or in connection with the commencement of production at a new manufacturing facility.

We must develop or otherwise gain access to improved IC process technologies.

Our future success will depend upon our ability to access new IC process technologies. In the future, we may be required to transition one or more of our IC products to process technologies with smaller geometries,

 

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other materials or higher speeds in order to reduce costs or improve product performance. We may not be able to gain access to new process technologies in a timely or affordable manner or products based on these new technologies may not achieve market acceptance.

The complexity of our products may lead to errors, defects and bugs, which could negatively impact our reputation with customers and result in liability.

Products as complex as ours may contain errors, defects and bugs when first introduced or as new versions are released. Our products have in the past experienced such errors, defects and bugs. Delivery of products with production defects or reliability, quality or compatibility problems could significantly delay or hinder market acceptance of the products or result in a costly recall and could damage our reputation and adversely affect our ability to retain existing customers and to attract new customers. Errors, defects or bugs could cause problems with device functionality, resulting in interruptions, delays or cessation of sales to our customers.

We may also be required to make significant expenditures of capital and resources to resolve such problems. We cannot assure you that problems will not be found in new products after commencement of commercial production, despite testing by us, our suppliers or our customers. Any problem could result in:

 

   

additional development costs;

 

   

loss of, or delays in, market acceptance;

 

   

diversion of technical and other resources from our other development efforts;

 

   

claims by our customers or others against us; and

 

   

loss of credibility with our current and prospective customers.

Any such event could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If our internal control over financial reporting is not considered effective, our business and stock price could be adversely affected.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires us to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of the end of each fiscal year, and to include a management report assessing the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in our annual report on Form 10-K for that fiscal year. Section 404 also requires our independent registered public accounting firm to attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.

Our management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, does not expect that our internal control over financial reporting will prevent all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of control must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of internal control can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud involving a company have been, or will be, detected. The design of any system of controls is based in part on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and we cannot assure you that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Over time, our internal control over financial reporting may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

Our management has concluded, and our independent registered public accounting firm has attested, that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of March 31, 2011. We cannot assure you that we or our independent registered public accounting firm will not identify a material weakness in our internal control

 

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over financial reporting in the future. A material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting would require management and our independent registered public accounting firm to report our internal control over financial reporting as ineffective. If our internal control over financial reporting is not considered effective, we may experience a restatement like we have in the past of our financial statements and/or a loss of public confidence, either of which could have an adverse effect on our business and on the market price of our common stock.

Our future success depends in part on the continued service of our key senior management, design engineering, sales, marketing, and manufacturing personnel, our ability to identify, hire and retain additional, qualified personnel and successful succession planning.

Our future success depends to a significant extent upon the continued service of our senior management personnel and successful succession planning. The loss of key senior executives could have a material adverse effect on our business. There is intense competition for qualified personnel in the semiconductor industry, in particular design, product and test engineers. We may not be able to continue to attract and retain engineers or other qualified personnel necessary for the development of our business, or to replace engineers or other qualified personnel who may leave our employment in the future. We face the risks associated with our former employees assisting their new employers to recruit our key talent, in violation of their non-solicitations covenants to us, as well as allegations by other companies that we have unlawfully solicited their employees to join us. There may be significant costs associated with recruiting, hiring and retaining personnel. Periods of contraction in our business may inhibit our ability to attract and retain our personnel. Loss of the services of, or failure to recruit, key design engineers or other technical and management personnel could be significantly detrimental to our product development or other aspects of our business.

To manage operations effectively, we will be required to continue to improve our operational, financial and management systems and to successfully hire, train, motivate, and manage our employees. The integration of future acquisitions would require significant additional management, technical and administrative resources. We cannot guarantee that we would be able to manage our expanded operations effectively.

Our ability to supply a sufficient number of products to meet demand could be severely hampered by a shortage of water, electricity or other supplies or by natural disasters or other catastrophes or by the effects of war, acts of terrorism or global threats.

The manufacture of our products requires significant amounts of water. Previous droughts have resulted in restrictions being placed on water use by manufacturers. In the event of a future drought, reductions in water use may be mandated generally and our external foundries’ ability to manufacture our products could be impaired.

Several of our facilities, including our principal executive offices, are located in California. California has experienced prolonged energy alerts and blackouts caused by disruption in energy supplies. As a consequence, businesses and other energy consumers in California continue to experience substantially increased costs of electricity and natural gas. We are unsure whether energy alerts and blackouts will reoccur or how severe they may become in the future. Many of our customers and suppliers are also headquartered or have substantial operations in California. If we or any of our major customers or suppliers located in California experience a sustained disruption in energy supplies, our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

A significant portion of our manufacturing operations are located in Asia. These areas are subject to natural disasters such as earthquakes or floods, like Japan. We do not have earthquake insurance for these facilities, because adequate coverage is not offered at economically justifiable rates. A significant natural disaster or other catastrophic event could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and operating results.

The effects of war, acts of terrorism or global threats, including, but not limited to, the outbreak of epidemic disease, could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition. The

 

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continued threat of terrorism and heightened security and military action in response to this threat, or any future acts of terrorism, may cause further disruptions to local and global economies and create further uncertainties. To the extent that such disruptions or uncertainties result in delays or cancellations of customer orders, or the manufacture or shipment of our products, our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

We could incur substantial fines or litigation costs associated with our storage, use and disposal of hazardous materials.

We are subject to a variety of federal, state and local governmental regulations related to the use, storage, discharge and disposal of toxic, volatile or otherwise hazardous chemicals used in our manufacturing process. Any failure to comply with present or future regulations could result in the imposition of fines, the suspension of production or a cessation of operations. These regulations could require us to acquire costly equipment or incur other significant expenses to comply with environmental regulations or clean up prior discharges. Since 1993, we have been named as a PRP along with more than 100 other companies that used Omega Chemical Corporation waste treatment facility in Whittier, California. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has alleged that Omega failed to properly treat and dispose of certain hazardous waste material. We are a member of a large group of PRPs that has agreed to fund certain on-going remediation efforts at the Omega Chemical Corporation site. Based on currently available information, we have a loss accrual that is not material and we believe that the actual amount of costs will not be materially different from the amount accrued. However, proceedings are ongoing and the eventual outcome of the clean-up efforts and the pending litigation matters is uncertain at this time. Based on currently available information, we do not believe that any eventual outcome will have a material adverse effect on its operations but we cannot guarantee this result. In 2007, the PRPs were sued by a downstream chemical company; that action has been stayed since March 2008 to allow for further delineation of the regional groundwater. In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court decided U.S. v. Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co., 129 S.Ct. 1870, which determined that hazardous substance cleanup liability need not be joint and several in all cases. As a result of this decision, the liability is potentially divisible among the PRP at an earlier stage in superfund cases such as Omega. At this time we do not know and cannot predict the full impact of this decision on our liability; however, to protect against an unfavorable impact, we have joined the recently formed Omega Allocation Committee in order to limit such exposure. Although we believe that we have been and currently are in material compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations, we cannot guarantee that we are or will be in material compliance with these laws or regulations or that our future obligations to fund any remediation efforts, including those at the Omega Chemical Corporation site, will not have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

Environmental laws and regulations could cause a disruption in our business and operations.

We are subject to various state, federal and international laws and regulations governing the environment, including those restricting the presence of certain substances in electronic products and making manufacturers of those products financially responsible for the collection, treatment, recycling and disposal of certain products. Such laws and regulations have been passed in several jurisdictions in which we operate, including various European Union (“EU”) member countries. For example, the EU has enacted the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (“RoHS”) and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (“WEEE”) directives. RoHS prohibits the use of lead and other substances in semiconductors and other products put on the market after July 1, 2006. The WEEE directive obligates parties that place electrical and electronic equipment on the market in the EU to put a clearly identifiable mark on the equipment, register with and report to EU member countries regarding distribution of the equipment, and provide a mechanism to take back and properly dispose of the equipment. There can be no assurance that similar programs will not be implemented in other jurisdictions resulting in additional costs, possible delays in delivering products, and even the discontinuance of existing and planned future product replacements if the cost were to become prohibitive.

 

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Any dispositions we make could disrupt our business and harm our results of operations and financial condition.

We may dispose of assets or businesses that represent a significant portion of our business. We completed the sale of our 3ware storage adapter business, a significant portion of our storage business, to LSI Corporation on April 21, 2009. As a result, we now expect to generate all of our sales from our remaining business, which we would be required to grow in order to achieve profitability. Economic and other factors may prevent us from growing our remaining business. If we fail to grow our remaining business, it could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and operating results. Future dispositions may involve numerous risks, including:

 

   

problems carving out or disposing of assets, operations, technologies and products;

 

   

the disposal of such assets or businesses could have an unanticipated adverse effect on the remaining business;

 

   

unanticipated costs;

 

   

diversion of management’s attention from core ongoing operations;

 

   

potential adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers; and

 

   

if we do not structure the disposition properly and scale expenses according to the size of the remaining business, we could continue to incur expenses that could be unsustainable given the scope of the remaining business.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property adequately.

We rely in part on patents to protect our intellectual property. We cannot assure you that our pending patent applications or any future applications will be approved, or that any issued patents will adequately protect the intellectual property in our products and processes, will provide us with competitive advantages or will not be challenged by third parties, or that if challenged, any such patent will be found to be valid or enforceable. Others may independently develop similar products or processes, duplicate our products or processes or design around any patents that may be issued to us.

To protect our intellectual property, we also rely on the combination of mask work protection under the Federal Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984, trademarks, copyrights, trade secret laws, employee and third-party nondisclosure agreements, and licensing arrangements. Despite these efforts, we cannot assure you that others will not independently develop substantially equivalent intellectual property or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or intellectual property, or disclose such intellectual property or trade secrets, or that we can meaningfully protect our intellectual property. A failure by us to meaningfully protect our intellectual property could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

We generally enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants and strategic partners. We also try to control access to and distribution of our technologies, documentation and other proprietary information. Despite these efforts, parties may attempt to copy, disclose, obtain or use our products, services or technology without our authorization. Also, former employees may seek employment with our business partners, customers or competitors and we cannot assure you that the confidential nature of our proprietary information will be maintained in the course of such future employment. Additionally, former employees or third parties could attempt to penetrate our network to misappropriate our proprietary information or interrupt our business. Because the techniques used by computer hackers to access or sabotage networks change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques. As a result, our technologies and processes may be misappropriated, particularly in foreign countries where laws may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as in the United States.

 

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We could be harmed by litigation involving patents, proprietary rights or other claims.

Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others or to defend against claims of infringement or misappropriation. The semiconductor industry is characterized by substantial litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. Such litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources, including the attention of our management and technical personnel, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may be accused of infringing on the intellectual property rights of third parties. We have certain indemnification obligations to customers with respect to the infringement of third-party intellectual property rights by our products. We cannot assure you that infringement claims by third parties or claims for indemnification by customers or end users resulting from infringement claims will not be asserted in the future, or that such assertions will not harm our business.

Any litigation relating to the intellectual property rights of third parties would at a minimum be costly and could divert the efforts and attention of our management and technical personnel. In the event of any adverse ruling in any such litigation, we could be required to pay substantial damages, cease the manufacturing, use and sale of infringing products, discontinue the use of certain processes or obtain a license under the intellectual property rights of the third party claiming infringement. A license might not be available on reasonable terms or at all.

From time to time, we may be involved in litigation relating to other claims arising out of our operations in the normal course of business. The ultimate outcome of any such litigation matters could have a material, adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results.

Our stock price is volatile.

The market price of our common stock has fluctuated significantly. In the future, the market price of our common stock could be subject to significant fluctuations due to general economic and market conditions and in response to quarter-to-quarter variations in:

 

   

our anticipated or actual operating results;

 

   

announcements or introductions of new products by us or our competitors;

 

   

anticipated or actual operating results of our customers, peers or competitors;

 

   

technological innovations or setbacks by us or our competitors;

 

   

conditions in the semiconductor, communications or information technology markets;

 

   

the commencement or outcome of litigation or governmental investigations;

 

   

changes in ratings and estimates of our performance by securities analysts;

 

   

announcements of merger or acquisition transactions;

 

   

management changes;

 

   

our inclusion in certain stock indices; and

 

   

other events or factors.

The stock market in recent years has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected the market prices of many high technology companies, particularly semiconductor companies. In some instances, these fluctuations appear to have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of the affected companies. Whether or not our stock is part of one or more Index funds could have a significant impact on our stock. We cannot assure you that our stock will be part of any Index fund. In addition, the current decline of the financial markets and related factors beyond our control, including the credit and mortgage crisis in both the U.S. and worldwide, may cause our stock price to decline rapidly and unexpectedly.

 

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The anti-takeover provisions of our certificate of incorporation and of the Delaware General Corporation Law may delay, defer or prevent a change of control.

Our board of directors has the authority to issue up to 2.0 million shares of preferred stock and to determine the price, rights, preferences and privileges and restrictions, including voting rights, of those shares without any further vote or action by our stockholders. The rights of the holders of common stock will be subject to, and may be harmed by, the rights of the holders of any shares of preferred stock that may be issued in the future. The issuance of preferred stock may delay, defer or prevent a change in control, as the terms of the preferred stock that might be issued could potentially prohibit our consummation of any merger, reorganization, sale of substantially all of our assets, liquidation or other extraordinary corporate transaction without the approval of the holders of the outstanding shares of preferred stock. The issuance of preferred stock could have a dilutive effect on our stockholders.

If we issue additional shares of stock in the future, it may have a dilutive effect on our stockholders.

We have a significant number of authorized and unissued shares of our common stock available. These shares will provide us with the flexibility to issue our common stock for proper corporate purposes, which may include making acquisitions through the use of stock, adopting additional equity incentive plans and raising equity capital. Any issuance of our common stock may result in immediate dilution of our stockholders.

 

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

Not applicable.

 

Item 2. Properties.

Our corporate headquarters are located in an approximately 150,000 square foot building in Sunnyvale, California that we own. The facility contains administration, sales and marketing, research and development and operations functions. In addition to these facilities, we lease additional domestic facilities in San Diego and Cupertino, California, Andover, Massachusetts, Austin, Texas and Cary, North Carolina.

Our foreign leased locations consist of the following: Ontario, Canada; Cheshire, United Kingdom; Tokyo, Japan; Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China; Taipei and Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Pune, India and Singapore.

The domestic and international leased facilities comprise an aggregate of approximately 100,000 square feet. These facilities have lease terms expiring between 2011 and 2013. We believe that the facilities under lease by us will be adequate for at least the next 12 months.

For additional information regarding our obligations under property leases, see Note 7 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part IV, Item 15, Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules, of this Annual Report.

 

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

The information set forth under Note 10 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part IV, Item 15, Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules, of this Annual Report, is incorporated herein by reference.

 

Item 4. (Removed and Reserved)

 

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PART II

 

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol AMCC. The following table sets forth the high and low closing sales prices of our common stock as reported by Nasdaq for the periods indicated.

 

Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2011

   High      Low  

First Quarter

   $ 11.90       $ 8.61   

Second Quarter

     12.32         9.87   

Third Quarter

     11.05         8.92   

Fourth Quarter

     11.30         9.80   

 

Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2010

   High      Low  

First Quarter

   $ 8.19       $ 4.80   

Second Quarter

     10.45         7.38   

Third Quarter

     9.83         6.76   

Fourth Quarter

     9.32         7.31   

At April 30, 2011, there were approximately 161 holders of record of our common stock.

Dividend Policy

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on shares of our common stock. We currently intend to retain all of our earnings, if any, for use in our business, for the purchases of our common stock or for the acquisitions of other businesses, assets, products or technologies. We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

There were no sales of equity securities by us that were not registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), during fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, that have not been previously reported in a Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or in a Current Report on Form 8-K.

Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans

The information included in Part III, Item 12, Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters, of this Annual Report is hereby incorporated herein by reference. For additional information on our stock incentive plans and activity, see Note 4 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV, Item 15, Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules, of this Annual Report.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Below is a summary of stock repurchases for the three months ended March 31, 2011 (in thousands, except average price per share).

 

Period

   Total Number of
Shares Purchased
     Average Price
Paid
per Share
     Total Number of
Shares Purchased as
Part of Publicly
Announced  Plans or
Programs
     Maximum Amount
that May Yet Be
Purchased Under the
Plans or Programs
 

January 1 — January 31, 2011

     540       $ 10.02         540       $ 58,720   

February 1 — February 28, 2011

     440        10.08         440        54,281   

March 1 — March 31, 2011

     690        10.01         690        47,377   
                             

Total shares repurchased

     1,670       $ 10.03         1,670      

 

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In August 2004, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program for the repurchase of up to $200.0 million of our common stock and in October 2008, our Board of Directors increased the stock repurchase program by $100.0 million to a total of $300.0 million.

The graph below matches Applied Micro Circuits Corporation’s cumulative five-year total shareholder return on common stock with the cumulative total returns of the S&P 500 index, the NASDAQ Telecommunications index, and the NASDAQ Composite index. The graph tracks the performance of a $100 investment in our common stock and in each index (with the reinvestment of all dividends) from March 31, 2006 to March 31, 2011.

LOGO

 

     Fiscal Years Ending March 31,  
     2006      2007      2008      2009      2010      2011  

Applied Micro Circuits Corporation

     100.00         89.68         44.10         29.85         53.01         63.76   

S&P 500

     100.00         111.83         106.15         65.72         98.43         113.83   

NASDAQ Composite

     100.00         106.44         101.14         67.88         107.06         125.30   

NASDAQ Telecommunications

     100.00         113.49         110.41         73.00         107.96         115.65   

NASDAQ Electronic Components

     100.00         90.78         89.71         59.15         94.48         106.53   

 

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The stock price performance included in this graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.

The material in this section is not “soliciting material” and is not deemed “filed” with the SEC and is not to be incorporated by reference into any filing of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation made under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act whether made before or after the date hereof and irrespective of any general incorporation language in any such filing except to the extent we specifically incorporate this section by reference.

 

Item 6. Selected Financial Data.

The following table sets forth selected financial data for each of our last five fiscal years ended March 31, 2011. You should read the selected financial data set forth in the table below, together with the Consolidated Financial Statements and related Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part IV, Item 15, Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules, of this Annual Report, as well as Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, of this Annual Report.

 

    Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
    2011     2010     2009     2008     2007  
    (In thousands, except per share amounts)  

Consolidated Statement of Operations Data:

         

Net revenues

  $ 247,710      $ 205,598      $ 214,216      $ 194,115      $ 242,478   

Cost of revenues

    95,282        92,931        101,070        98,756        115,794   
                                       

Gross profit

    152,428        112,667        113,146        95,359        126,684   

Operating expenses:

         

Research and development

    108,732        88,096        84,687        86,117        81,266   

Selling, general and administrative

    49,173        45,901        50,097        52,037        58,418   

Acquired in-process research and development

    —          —          —          —          13,300   

Amortization of purchased intangible assets

    5,285        4,020        4,020        4,061        3,735   

Restructuring charges, net

    532        746        8,623        2,958        1,291   

Option investigation, net

    —          —          80        1,072        5,344   

Goodwill impairment charges

    —          —          222,972        —          —     

Litigation settlement, net

    —          —          130        1,125        —     
                                       

Total operating expenses

    163,722        138,763        370,609        147,370        163,354   
                                       

Operating loss

    (11,294     (26,096     (257,463     (52,011     (36,670

Interest income (expense), net and other-than-temporary impairment

    9,890        3,440        (8,073     8,635        13,125   

Other income (expense), net

    797        (1,551     492        1,944        250   
                                       

Loss from continuing operations before income taxes

    (607     (24,207     (265,044     (41,432     (23,295

Income tax expense (benefit)

    399        (10,610     (3,946     3,773        333   
                                       

Loss from continuing operations

    (1,006     (13,597     (261,098     (45,205     (23,628
                                       

Income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of taxes

    —          6,112        (48,235     (69,916     (580
                                       

Net loss

  $ (1,006   $ (7,485   $ (309,333   $ (115,121   $ (24,208
                                       

Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share:

         

Net loss from continuing operations per share

  $ (0.02   $ (0.21   $ (4.00   $ (0.67   $ (0.33

Net income (loss) from discontinued operations per share

    —          0.10        (0.74     (1.03     (0.01
                                       

Net loss per share

  $ (0.02   $ (0.11   $ (4.74   $ (1.70   $ (0.34
                                       

Shares used in calculating basic and diluted net income (loss) per share

    65,160        66,006        65,271        67,775        71,076   
                                       
    March 31,  
    2011     2010     2009     2008     2007  

Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:

         

Working capital

  $ 184,546      $ 227,850      $ 207,396      $ 176,112      $ 310,344   

Goodwill and intangible assets, net

    36,571        16,850        32,965        320,155        415,644   

Total assets

    308,657        316,044        324,610        632,847        816,512   

Total stockholders’ equity

  $ 261,810      $ 280,874      $ 283,970      $ 580,712      $ 760,822   

 

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

This management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations (“MD&A”) is provided as a supplement to the accompanying consolidated financial statements and footnotes to help provide an understanding of our financial condition, changes in our financial condition and results of our operations. The MD&A is organized as follows:

 

   

Caution concerning forward-looking statements. This section discusses how forward-looking statements made by us in the MD&A and elsewhere in this Annual Report are based on management’s present expectations about future events and are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and changes in circumstances.

 

   

Overview. This section provides an introductory overview and context for the discussion and analysis that follows in the MD&A.

 

   

Critical accounting policies. This section discusses those accounting policies that are both considered important to our financial condition and operating results and require significant judgment and estimates on the part of management in their application.

 

   

Results of operations. This section provides an analysis of our results of operations for the three fiscal years ended March 31, 2011. A brief description is provided of transactions and events that impact the comparability of the results being analyzed.

 

   

Financial condition and liquidity. This section provides an analysis of our cash position and cash flows, as well as a discussion of our financing arrangements and financial commitments.

CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The MD&A should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in this Annual Report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this Annual Report. Any statement that refers to an expectation, projection or other characterization of future events or circumstances, including the underlying assumptions, is a forward-looking statement. We use certain words and their derivatives such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “plan”, “expect”, “estimate”, “predict”, “intend”, “may”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “future”, “potential”, and similar expressions in many of the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management’s beliefs, and other assumptions made by us. These statements and the expectations, estimates, projections, beliefs and other assumptions on which they are based are subject to many risks and uncertainties and are inherently subject to change. We describe many of the risks and uncertainties that we face in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, and elsewhere in this Annual Report. Our actual results and actual events could differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statement. Readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement.

OVERVIEW

Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (“AppliedMicro”, “APM”, “AMCC”, the “Company”, “we” or “our”) is a leader in semiconductor solutions for the enterprise, telecom and consumer/small medium business (“SMB”) markets. We design, develop, market, sell and support high-performance low power ICs, which are essential for the processing, transporting and storing of information worldwide. In the telecom and enterprise markets, we utilize a combination of design expertise coupled with system-level knowledge and multiple technologies to offer IC products for wireline and wireless communications equipment such as wireless access points, wireless base stations, multi-function printers, enterprise and edge switches, blade servers, storage systems, gateways, core switches, routers, metro, long-haul, and ultra-long-haul transport platforms. In the consumer/SMB markets, we combine optimized software and system-level expertise with highly integrated semiconductors to deliver comprehensive reference designs and stand-alone semiconductor solutions for wireline and wireless communications equipment such as wireless access points, network attached storage, and residential and smart energy gateways. Our corporate headquarters are located in Sunnyvale, California. Sales and engineering offices are located throughout the world.

 

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Our business had three reporting units, Process, Transport and Store. On April 21, 2009, we completed the sale of our 3ware storage adapter business, which was substantially all of the business of our Store reporting unit, to LSI Corporation to focus on our Process and Transport reporting units. We are a semiconductor company that possesses fundamental and differentiated intellectual property for high speed signal processing, packet based communications processors and telecommunications transport protocols. This intellectual property enables us to be a key player in the datacenter, enterprise and telecommunications applications. Our customer focus is on the OEMs and telecommunications companies that build and connect to datacenters. As of March 31, 2011, our business had two reporting units, Process and Transport.

On September 17, 2010, we completed the acquisition of TPack, a limited liability company organized under the laws of Denmark, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the stock purchase agreement dated August 17, 2010. The revenues of TPack have been included in our Transport reporting unit and were not material.

Since the start of fiscal 2009, we have invested a total of $281.5 million in the R&D of new products, including higher-speed, lower-power and lower-cost products, products that combine the functions of multiple existing products into single highly integrated products, and other products to complete our portfolio of communications products. These products, and our customers’ products for which they are intended, are highly complex. Due to this complexity, it often takes several years to complete the development and qualification of these products before they enter into volume production. Accordingly, we have not yet generated significant revenues from some of the products developed during this time period. In addition, downturns in the telecommunications market can severely impact our customers’ business and usually results in significantly less demand for our products than was expected when the development work commenced.

The following tables present a summary of our results of operations for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011 and 2010 (dollars in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Year Ended March 31,     Increase
(Decrease)
    %
Change
 
     2011     2010      
     Amount     % of Net
Revenue
    Amount     % of Net
Revenue
     

Net revenues

   $ 247,710        100.0   $ 205,598        100.0   $ 42,112        20.5

Cost of revenues

     95,282        38.5        92,931        45.2        2,351        2.5   
                                          

Gross profit

     152,428        61.5        112,667        54.8        39,761        35.3   

Total operating expenses

     163,722        66.1        138,763        67.5        24,959        18.0   
                                          

Operating loss

     (11,294     (4.6     (26,096     (12.7     14,802        56.7   

Interest and other income (expense), net

     10,687        4.3        1,889        0.9        8,798        465.7   
                                          

Loss from continuing operations before
income taxes

     (607     (0.3     (24,207     (11.8     23,600        97.5   

Income tax expense (benefit)

     399        0.1        (10,610     (5.2     11,009        103.8   
                                          

Loss from continuing operations

     (1,006     (0.4     (13,597     (6.6     12,591        92.6   

Gain (loss) from discontinued operations,
net of taxes

     —          —          6,112        3.0        (6,112     (100.0
                                          

Net loss

   $ (1,006     (0.4 )%    $ (7,485     (3.6 )%    $ 6,479        86.6
                                          

 

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The following tables present a summary of our results of operations for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2009 (dollars in thousands):

 

    Fiscal Year Ended March 31,     Increase
(Decrease)
    %
Change
 
    2010     2009      
    Amount     % of Net
Revenue
    Amount     % of Net
Revenue
     

Net revenues

  $ 205,598        100.0   $ 214,216        100.0   $ (8,618     (4.0 )% 

Cost of revenues

    92,931        45.2        101,070        47.2        (8,139     (8.1
                                         

Gross profit

    112,667        54.8        113,146        52.8        (479     (0.4

Total operating expenses

    138,763        67.5        370,609        173.0        (231,846     (62.6
                                         

Operating loss

    (26,096     (12.7     (257,463     (120.2     231,367        89.9   

Interest and other income (expense), net

    1,889        0.9        (7,581     (3.5     9,470        124.9   
                                         

Loss from continuing operations before income taxes

    (24,207     (11.8     (265,044     (123.7     240,837        90.9   

Income tax benefit

    (10,610     (5.2     (3,946     (1.8     (6,664     (168.9
                                         

Loss from continuing operations

    (13,597     (6.6     (261,098     (121.9     247,501        94.8   

Gain (loss) from discontinued operations,
net of taxes

    6,112        3.0        (48,235     (22.5     54,347        112.7   
                                         

Net loss

  $ (7,485     (3.6 )%    $ (309,333     (144.4 )%    $ 301,848        97.6
                                         

Net Revenues. We generate revenues primarily through sales of our IC products, embedded processors and printed circuit board assemblies to OEMs, such as Alcatel-Lucent, Ciena, Cisco, Brocade, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Huawei, Juniper, Ericsson, NEC, Nortel, Nokia Siemens Networks, and Tellabs, who in turn supply their equipment principally to communications service providers.

In July 2008, we entered into a Patent Purchase Agreement (the “Agreement”) with QUALCOMM Incorporated (“Qualcomm”). Pursuant to the Agreement, we agreed to sell a series of our patents, patent applications and associated rights related to certain technologies for an aggregate purchase price of $33.0 million. The purchase price was paid over three years in equal quarterly payments of $3.0 million each beginning in the three months ended December 31, 2008 through March 31, 2011. Due to the nature of the payment terms, related revenue was recorded as the payments were received.

In November 2009, we also entered into another Patent Purchase Agreement with Acacia Patent Acquisition LLC (“APAC”). Pursuant to this Agreement, we agreed to sell a series of our patents, patent applications and associated rights related to certain technologies for an aggregate purchase price of $2.5 million payable over two years and a 25% share of royalty payments for assignment of rights under the sale and/or use of the patents. Due to the nature of the payment terms, related revenue is being recorded as the payments are received.

The occurrence of natural disasters in certain regions, such as the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, could negatively impact our manufacturing and supply chain, our ability to deliver products, on a timely basis or at all, to our customers, the cost of our products, and the demand for our products. The occurrence of natural disasters could also cause delays in our customers supply chain, causing them to delay their requirements for our products until they resolve shortages from their other suppliers. Any such occurrences of natural disasters could have a material adverse effect on our business, our results of operations and our financial condition.

The gross margins for our solutions have historically declined over time. Some factors that we expect to cause downward pressure on the gross margins for our products include competitive pricing pressures, the cost sensitivity of our customers, particularly in the higher-volume markets, new product introductions by us or our competitors, and capacity constraints in our supply chain. From time to time, for strategic reasons, we may

 

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accept orders at less than optimal gross margins in order to facilitate the introduction of, or, market penetration of our new or existing products. To maintain acceptable operating results, we will need to offset any reduction in gross margins of our products by reducing costs, increasing sales volume, developing and introducing new products and developing new generations and versions of existing products on a timely basis.

The demand for our products has been affected in the past, and may continue to be affected in the future, by various factors, including, but not limited to, the following:

 

   

the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the ability of our customers, to manage inventory corrections;

 

   

the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on the sales, pricing and gross margins of our products.

 

   

our ability to specify, develop or acquire, complete, introduce, and market new products and technologies in a cost effective and timely manner;

 

   

the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt our products and technologies in our target markets;

 

   

general economic and market conditions in the semiconductor industry and communications markets;

 

   

combinations of companies in our customer base, resulting in the combined company choosing our competitor’s IC standardization other than our supported product platforms;

 

   

the gain or loss of one or more key customers, or their key customers, or significant changes in the financial condition of one or more of our key customers or their key customers;

 

   

our ability to meet customer demand due to capacity constraints at our suppliers; and

 

   

natural disasters that could affect our supply chain or our customer’s supply chain which would affect their requirements of our products.

For these and other reasons, our net revenue and results of operations for the three fiscal years ended March 31, 2011 may not necessarily be indicative of future net revenue and results of operations.

Based on direct shipments, net revenues to customers that was equal to or greater than 10% of total net revenues in any of the three years ended March 31, 2011 were as follows:

 

     2011     2010     2009  

Avnet (distributor)

     29     30     25

Hon Hai (sub-contract manufacturer)

     14     13     *   

 

* Less than 10% of total net revenues for period indicated.

We expect that our largest customers will continue to account for a substantial portion of our net revenue for the foreseeable future.

Net revenues by geographic region were as follows (in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011      2010      2009  

United States of America

   $ 81,113       $ 68,817       $ 63,619   

Taiwan

     45,489         33,118         27,401   

Hong Kong

     24,747         16,171         12,365   

China

     9,030         15,427         26,652   

Europe

     45,714         35,372         34,102   

Other Asia

     38,765         28,143         32,359   

Other

     2,852         8,550         17,718   
                          
   $ 247,710       $ 205,598       $ 214,216   
                          

 

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All of our revenues are primarily denominated in U.S. dollars, other than revenues for TPack which are denominated primarily in Danish Kroner.

Sale of the 3ware storage adapter business to LSI Corporation. We completed the sale of our 3ware storage adapter business (the “Transaction”) to LSI Corporation on April 21, 2009. Under the Asset Purchase Agreement with LSI Corporation (the “Purchase Agreement”), we sold substantially all of the operating assets (other than patents) of our 3ware storage adapter business. The adjusted purchase price was approximately $21.5 million. Unless otherwise specified, all amounts discussed in the Management’s discussion and analysis addresses only continuing operations.

Key non-GAAP measurements. We use certain non-GAAP metrics such as Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (“Adjusted EBITDA”) to measure our performance. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) less interest income, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, amortization of intangibles and other one-time and/or non-cash items. The following table reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to the accompanying financial statements:

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011     2010     2009  

Net loss

   $ (1,006   $ (7,485   $ (309,333

Adjustment to net loss:

      

Interest and other income, net

     (5,403     (6,816     (9,563

Stock-based compensation expense

     16,684        13,682        9,241   

Amortization of intangibles

     17,162        16,117        18,900   

Restructuring charges

     532        746        8,623   

Litigation settlement

     —          —          130   

Goodwill impairment charges

     —          —          222,972   

Impairment of marketable securities*

     (5,284     2,927        17,144   

Depreciation and amortization

     8,834        8,301        7,347   

Option investigation

     —          —          80   

Loss strategic investment

     —          2,000        —     

Acquisition transaction expenses

     859        —          —     

Other and income tax adjustment

     403        (10,610     (3,946

(Gain) loss from discontinued operations

     —          (6,112     48,235   
                        

Adjusted EBITDA

   $ 32,781      $ 12,750      $ 9,830   
                        

 

* For non-GAAP purposes, any gain or loss relating to marketable securities is not recognized until the underlying securities are sold and the actual gain or loss is realized.

We believe that Adjusted EBITDA is a useful supplemental measure of our operation’s performance because it helps investors evaluate and compare the results of operations from period to period by removing the accounting impact of the company’s financing strategies, tax provisions, depreciation and amortization, restructuring charges, stock based compensation expense, discontinued operations and certain other operating items. We adjust for these excluded items because we believe that, in general, these items possess one or more of the following characteristics: their magnitude and timing is largely outside of the company’s control; they are unrelated to the ongoing operations of the business in the ordinary course; they are unusual or infrequent and the company does not expect them to occur in the ordinary course of business; or they are non-cash expenses.

Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or GAAP, and should not be considered a substitute for operating income, net income or any other measure determined in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA is used by our management as a measure of operating efficiency and overall financial performance for benchmarking

 

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against our peers and competitors and is used as a metric to determine the performance vesting of our three-year restricted stock unit grants issued in May 2009 (the “EBITDA Grants”) in the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2011 and will be used for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. Management believes Adjusted EBITDA provides meaningful supplemental information regarding the underlying operating performance of our business. Management also believes that Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors because it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate the company.

The book-to-bill ratio is another metric commonly used by investors to compare and evaluate technology and semiconductor companies. The book-to-bill ratio is a demand-to-supply ratio that compares the total amount of orders received to the total amount of orders filled. This ratio tells whether the company has more orders than it delivered (if greater than 1), has the same amount of orders that it delivered (equals 1), or has less orders than it delivered (under 1). Though the ratio provides an indicator of whether orders are rising or falling, it does not consider the timing of or if the order will result in future revenues. Our book-to-bill ratio at March 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009 was 1.0, 1.3 and 1.5, respectively.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The preparation of financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of net revenue and expenses in the reporting period. We regularly evaluate our estimates and assumptions related to: inventory valuation and capitalized mask set costs, which affect our cost of sales and gross profit; the valuation of goodwill and purchased intangibles, which has in the past affected, and could in the future affect, our impairment charges to write down the carrying value of purchased intangibles and the amount of related periodic amortization expense recorded for definite-lived intangibles; the valuation of restructuring liabilities, which affects the amount and timing of restructuring charges; and an evaluation of other-than-temporary impairment of our investments, which affects the amount and timing of write-down charges. We also have other key accounting policies, such as our policies for stock-based compensation and revenue recognition. The methods, estimates and judgments we use in applying these critical accounting policies have a significant impact on the results we report in our financial statements. We base our estimates and assumptions on historical experience and on various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The actual results experienced by us may differ materially and adversely from management’s estimates. To the extent there are material differences between our estimates and the actual results, our future results of operations will be affected.

We believe the following critical accounting policies require us to make significant judgments and estimates in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

Investments

We hold a variety of securities that have varied underlying investments. We review our investment portfolio periodically to assess for other-than-temporary impairment. We assess the existence of impairment of our investments in order to determine the classification of the impairment as “temporary” or “other-than-temporary”. The factors used to determine whether an impairment is temporary or other-than-temporary involves considerable judgment. The factors we consider in determining whether any individual impairment is temporary or other-than-temporary are primarily the length of the time and the extent to which the market value has been less than amortized cost, the nature of underlying assets (including the degree of collateralization), the financial condition, credit rating, market liquidity conditions and near-term prospects of the issuer. If the fair value of a debt security is less than its amortized cost basis at the balance sheet date, an assessment would have to be made as to whether the impairment is other-than-temporary. If we decided to sell the security, an other-than-temporary impairment shall be considered to have occurred. However, if we do not intend to sell the debt security, we shall consider available evidence to assess whether it is more likely than not we will be required to sell the security before the recovery of its amortized cost basis due to cash, working capital requirements, contractual or

 

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regulatory obligations indicate that the security will be required to be sold before a forecasted recovery occurs. If it is more likely than not that we are required to sell the security before recovery of its amortized cost basis, an other-than-temporary impairment is considered to have occurred. If we do not expect to recover the entire amortized cost basis of the security, we would not be able to assert that we will recover its amortized cost basis even if we do not intend to sell the security. Therefore, in those situations, an other-than-temporary impairment shall be considered to have occurred. Use of present value cash flow models to determine whether the entire amortized cost basis of the security will be recovered is expected. We will compare the present value of cash flows expected to be collected from the security with the amortized cost basis of the security. An other-than-temporary impairment is said to have occurred if the present value of cash flows expected to be collected is less than the amortized cost basis of the security. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, we did not record any other-than-temporary impairment charges. As of March 31, 2011, we did not record an impairment charge in connection with other securities in a continuous loss position (fair value less than carrying value) with unrealized losses of $1.3 million as we believe that such unrealized losses are temporary. In addition, we also had $6.5 million in unrealized gains. For the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2009, we recorded other-than-temporary impairment charges of $4.1 million and $17.1 million, respectively.

Inventory Valuation

Our policy is to value inventories at the lower of cost or market on a part-by-part basis. This policy requires us to make estimates regarding the market value of our inventories, including an assessment of excess or obsolete inventories. We determine excess and obsolete inventories based on an estimate of the future demand for our products within a specified time horizon, generally 12 months. The estimates we use for future demand are also used for near-term capacity planning and inventory purchasing and are consistent with our revenue forecasts. If our demand forecast is greater than our actual demand we may be required to take additional excess inventory charges, which would decrease gross margin and net operating results. Any impairment charges taken establishes a new cost basis for the underlying inventory and the cost basis for such inventory is not marked-up on changes in circumstances until a gain is realized upon its eventual sale. This accounting is consistent with the guidance provided by SAB Topic 5-BB. To illustrate the sensitivity of inventory valuations to future estimates, as of March 31, 2011, reducing our future demand estimate to six months would decrease our current inventory valuation by approximately $1.4 million or increasing our future demand forecast to 18 months would not have any effect on our current inventory valuation.

Goodwill, Purchased Intangible Assets and Other Long-Lived Assets

The purchase method of accounting for acquisitions requires extensive use of accounting estimates and judgments to allocate the purchase price to the fair value of the net tangible and intangible assets acquired, such as purchased technology. Goodwill and purchased intangible assets deemed to have indefinite lives are not amortized, but are subject to annual impairment tests. The values and useful lives assigned to other purchased intangible assets impact future amortization. Determining the fair values and useful lives of intangible assets requires the use of estimates and the exercise of judgment on factors such as expectations for the success and life cycle of products and technology acquired. While there are a number of different generally accepted valuation methods to estimate the value of intangible assets acquired, we primarily use the discounted cash flow method and the market comparison approach. These methods require significant management judgment to forecast the future operating results used in the analysis. In addition, other significant estimates are required such as residual growth rates and discount factors. The estimates we use to value and amortize intangible assets are consistent with the plans and estimates that we use to manage our business and are based on available historical information and industry estimates and averages. These judgments can significantly affect our net operating results.

In accordance with ASC Topic 350-10 (“ASC 350-10”) as it relates to Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets, we perform our annual impairment review at the reporting unit level each fiscal year or more frequently if we believe indicators of impairment are present. We recently finalized the purchase price allocation for the

 

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TPack acquisition. ASC 350-10 requires that goodwill and certain intangible assets be assessed for impairment using fair value measurement techniques. Specifically, goodwill impairment is determined using a two-step process. The first step of the goodwill impairment test is used to identify potential impairment by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount, including goodwill. Goodwill is allocated to reporting units based upon the type of products under development by the acquired company, which initially generated the goodwill. If the fair value of a reporting unit exceeds its carrying amount, goodwill of the reporting unit is considered not impaired and the second step of the impairment test is unnecessary. If the carrying amount of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value, the second step of the goodwill impairment test is performed to measure the amount of impairment loss. The second step of the goodwill impairment test compares the implied fair value of the reporting unit’s goodwill with the carrying amount of that goodwill. If the carrying amount of the reporting unit’s goodwill exceeds the implied fair value of that goodwill, an impairment loss is recognized in an amount equal to that excess. The implied fair value of goodwill is determined in the same manner as the amount of goodwill recognized in a business combination. That is, the fair value of the reporting unit is allocated to all of the assets and liabilities of that unit (including any unrecognized intangible assets) as if the reporting unit had been acquired in a business combination and the fair value of the reporting unit was the purchase price paid to acquire the reporting unit. The fair value is determined using a combination of the discounted cash flow analysis and/or market comparisons. The determination of fair value requires significant judgment and estimates. We last recorded goodwill impairment charges in the year ended March 31, 2009 of $223.0 million to continuing operations and $41.2 million to discontinued operations. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, in conjunction with the TPack acquisition, we recorded $23.7 million in amortizable intangible assets and $13.2 million in goodwill. We evaluate the useful lives of our intangible assets each reporting period to determine whether events and circumstances require revising the remaining period of amortization.

We evaluate our long-lived assets such as property, plant and equipment and purchased intangible assets with finite lives, for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value of an asset or asset group may not be recoverable. The carrying value of an asset or asset group is not recoverable if the amount of undiscounted future cash flows the assets are expected to generate (including any net proceeds expected from the disposal of the asset) are less than its carrying value. When we identify an impairment has occurred, we reduce the carrying value of the assets to its comparable market value (if available and appropriate) or to its estimated fair value based on a discounted cash flow approach.

Revenue Recognition

We recognize revenue based on four basic criteria: 1) there is evidence that an arrangement exists; 2) delivery has occurred; 3) the fee is fixed or determinable; and 4) collectability is reasonably assured. We recognize revenue upon determination that all criteria for revenue recognition have been met. In addition, we do not recognize revenue until the applicable customer’s acceptance criteria have been met. The criteria are usually met at the time of product shipment. Our standard terms and conditions of sale do not allow for product returns and we generally do not allow product returns other than under warranty or stock rotation agreements. Revenue from shipments to distributors is recognized upon shipment. In addition, we record reductions to revenue for estimated allowances such as returns not pursuant to contractual rights, competitive pricing programs and rebates. These estimates are based on our experience with stock rotations and the contractual terms of the competitive pricing and rebate programs. Royalty revenues are recognized when cash is received, only when royalty amounts cannot be reasonably estimated. Royalty revenues are based upon sales of our customer’s products that include our software.

Shipping terms are generally FCA (Free Carrier) shipping point. If actual returns or pricing adjustments exceed our estimates, we would record additional reductions to revenue.

From time to time we generate revenue from the sale of our internally developed IP. We generally recognize revenue from the sale of IP when all basic criteria outlined above are met, which is generally when the payments are received.

 

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Mask Costs

We incur significant costs for the fabrication of masks used by our contract manufacturers to manufacture our products. If we determine, at the time the cost for the fabrication of masks are incurred, that technological feasibility of the product has been achieved, we consider the nature of these costs to be pre-production costs. Accordingly, such costs are capitalized as property and equipment under machinery and equipment and are amortized as cost of sales over approximately three years, representing the estimated production period of the product. If we determine, at the time fabrication mask costs are incurred, that either technological feasibility of the product has not occurred or that the mask is not reasonably expected to be used in production manufacturing or that the commercial feasibility of the product is uncertain, the related mask costs are expensed to R&D in the period in which the costs are incurred. We will also periodically assess capitalized mask costs for impairment. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, total mask costs of $10.8 million were incurred, of which $6.1 million was expensed as R&D expense because technological feasibility had not been achieved and the remaining $4.7 million was capitalized.

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, we made a correction resulting in the recognition of an asset totaling $1.2 million for unamortized mask costs incurred in prior periods as it was determined that these costs represented pre-production costs instead of R&D expenses. The unamortized costs will be amortized as cost of sales over a period of approximately three years. As part of this correction we recognized a reduction to R&D expenses of approximately $1.2 million. Amortization of these capitalized mask set costs that have been recognized as cost of sales during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 were approximately $0.5 million. The net adjustments to make the correction to capitalize mask costs were not material to any periods affected.

Stock-Based Compensation Expense

All share-based payments, including grants of stock options, restricted stock units and employee stock purchase rights, are required to be recognized in our financial statements based on their respective grant date fair values. The fair value of each employee stock option and employee stock purchase right is estimated on the date of grant using an option pricing model that meets certain requirements. We currently use the Black-Scholes option pricing model to estimate the fair value of our share-based payments, excluding RSUs, which we use the fair market value of our common stock. The fair values generated by the Black-Scholes model may not be indicative of the actual fair values of our stock-based awards as it does not consider certain factors important to stock-based awards, such as continued employment, periodic vesting requirements and limited transferability. The determination of the fair value of share-based payment awards utilizing the Black-Scholes model is affected by our stock price and a number of assumptions, including expected volatility, expected life, risk-free interest rate and expected dividends. We estimate the expected volatility of our stock options at grant date by equally weighting the historical volatility and the implied volatility of our stock over specific periods of time as the expected volatility assumption required in the Black-Scholes model. The expected life of the stock options is based on historical and other data including life of the option and vesting period. The risk-free interest rate assumption is the implied yield currently available on zero-coupon government issues with a remaining term equal to the expected term. The dividend yield assumption is based on our history and expectation of dividend payouts. The fair value of our restricted stock units is based on the fair market value of our common stock on the date of grant. Forfeitures are required to be estimated at the time of grant and revised, if necessary, in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ significantly from those estimated. We evaluate the assumptions used to value stock-based awards on a quarterly basis. If factors change and we employ different assumptions, stock-based compensation expense may differ significantly from what we have recorded in the past. If there are any modifications or cancellations of the underlying unvested securities, we may be required to accelerate, increase or cancel any remaining unearned stock-based compensation expense. We currently estimate when and if performance-based grants will be earned. If the awards are not considered probable of achievement, no amount of stock-based compensation is recognized. If we consider the award to be probable, expense is recorded over the estimated service period. To the extent that our assumptions are incorrect, the amount of stock-based compensation recorded will be increased or decreased. To the extent that we grant additional equity securities to employees or we assume unvested securities in connection with any acquisitions, our stock-based compensation expense will be increased by the additional unearned compensation resulting from those additional grants or acquisitions.

 

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Restructuring Charges

Over the last several years we have undertaken significant restructuring initiatives, which have required us to develop formalized plans for exiting certain business activities and reducing spending levels. We have had to record estimated expenses for employee severance, long-term asset write downs, lease cancellations, facilities consolidation costs, and other restructuring costs. Given the significance, and the timing of the execution, of such activities, this process is complex and involves periodic reassessments of estimates made at the time the original decisions were made. Our assumptions for exiting certain facilities, such as estimating sublease incomes, may differ from actual outcomes, which could result in the need to record additional costs or reduce estimated amounts previously charged to restructuring expense. Our policies require us to periodically evaluate the adequacy of the remaining liabilities under our restructuring initiatives. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, we recorded net restructuring charges of approximately $0.5 million associated with our restructuring actions. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, we recorded net restructuring charges of approximately $0.8 million associated with our restructuring actions to continuing operations. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, we recorded net charges of $8.7 million for our restructuring activities, of which $0.1 million was classified as discontinued operations. For a full description of our restructuring activities, refer to our discussion of restructuring charges in Note 6 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part IV, Item 15, Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules, of this Annual Report.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Comparison of the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2011 to the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2010

Net Revenues. Net revenues for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 were $247.7 million, representing an increase of 20.5% from the net revenues of $205.6 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. We classify our revenues into two categories based on the markets that the underlying products serve. The categories are Process and Transport. We use this information to analyze our performance and success in these markets. See the following tables (dollars in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,     Increase      %
Change
 
     2011     2010       
     Amount      % of Net
Revenue
    Amount      % of Net
Revenue
      

Process

   $ 123,897         50.0   $ 106,374         51.7   $ 17,523         16.5

Transport

     123,813         50.0        99,224         48.3        24,589         24.8   
                                             
   $ 247,710         100.0   $ 205,598         100.0   $ 42,112         20.5
                                             

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, revenues recovered strongly as the overall market for semiconductor products continued to show improved growth trends. The year over year increase represents the recovery from the recessionary economic conditions and overall softness in demand that was observed during the prior years and the current pace of infrastructure build out. Though revenues increased year over year, revenues decreased in the fourth fiscal quarter compared to the preceeding three month period primarily due to inventory corrections in the industry. We expect that additional channel inventories will be consumed over the next several quarters. We expect revenues for the three months ending June 30, 2011 to be approximately $60.5 million, plus or minus $2.0 million. This represents an increase of approximately 3%, compared to the revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2011. Our future revenues could be impacted by various factors, including the duration and the severity of inventory corrections and other factors.

 

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Gross Profit. The following table presents net revenues, cost of revenues and gross profit for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011 and 2010 (dollars in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,     Increase      %
Change
 
   2011     2010       
   Amount      % of Net
Revenue
    Amount      % of Net
Revenue
      

Net revenues

   $ 247,710         100.0   $ 205,598         100.0   $ 42,112         20.5

Cost of revenues

     95,282         38.5        92,931         45.2        2,351         2.5   
                                             

Gross profit

   $ 152,428         61.5   $ 112,667         54.8   $ 39,761         35.3
                                             

The gross profit percentage for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 increased to 61.5%, compared to 54.8% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. The increase in our gross profit percentage was primarily due to favorable product mix, higher licensing revenues, improved manufacturing yields and efficiencies and the overall impact of increased revenues.

The amortization of purchased intangible assets included in cost of revenues during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 was $11.9 million, compared to $12.1 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. The acquisition of TPack has increased our expected amortization of purchased intangible assets included in cost of revenues by approximately $0.6 million per quarter. The increased expected amortization does not include $1.0 million of in-process R&D. Future acquisitions of businesses may result in substantial additional charges, which may impact the gross profit percentage in future periods.

Research and Development and Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. The following table presents research and development and selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011 and 2010 (dollars in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,     Increase      %
Change
 
     2011     2010       
     Amount      % of Net
Revenue
    Amount      % of Net
Revenue
      

Research and development

   $ 108,732         43.9   $ 88,096         42.8   $ 20,636         23.4

Selling, general and administrative

   $ 49,173         19.9   $ 45,901         22.3   $ 3,272         7.1

Research and Development. R&D expenses consist primarily of salaries and related costs (including stock-based compensation) of employees engaged in research, design and development activities, costs related to engineering design tools, subcontracting costs and facilities expenses. The increase in R&D expenses of 23.4% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 compared to the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, was primarily due to an increase of $11.3 million in personnel cost, $2.7 million in stock-based compensation charges, $2.5 million in third party foundry cost, $2.0 million in printed circuit board costs, $1.5 million in contractor costs, $1.2 million in corporate allocation expense, $0.7 million in other miscellaneous expenses, $0.5 million in consumable equipment and software cost, $0.4 million in technology access fees offset by a decrease of $1.5 million in customer funded non-recurring engineering payments and $0.7 million decrease in development cost of a new processor core. The overall increase in R&D expense is primarily driven by the effect of the consolidation of Veloce, our VIE, and the cost relating to TPack, an entity that we acquired in September 2010. We believe that a continued commitment to R&D is vital to our goal of maintaining a leadership position with innovative products. In addition to our internal R&D programs, our business strategy includes acquiring products, technologies or businesses from third parties. Future acquisitions of products, technologies or businesses may result in substantial additional on-going R&D costs.

Selling, General and Administrative. SG&A expenses consist primarily of personnel-related expenses, professional and legal fees, corporate branding and facilities expenses. The increase in SG&A expenses of 7.1% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 compared to the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, was primarily due to

 

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an increase of $2.0 million in contractor costs, $1.0 million in personnel cost, $0.9 million in TPack acquisition costs, $0.8 million in indirect materials and services, $0.5 million in travel expenses offset by a decrease of $1.1 million in professional service fees and $0.9 million in taxes and licensing fees. Future acquisitions of products, technologies or businesses may result in substantial additional on-going SG&A costs.

Stock-Based Compensation. The following table presents stock-based compensation expense for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, which was included in the tables above (dollars in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,     Increase      %
Change
 
     2011     2010       
     Amount      % of Net
Revenue
    Amount      % of Net
Revenue
      

Costs of revenues

   $ 651         0.3   $ 587         0.3   $ 64         10.9

Research and development

     9,000         3.6        6,268         3.0        2,732         43.6   

Selling, general and administrative

     7,033         2.8        6,827         3.3        206         3.0   
                                             
   $ 16,684         6.7   $ 13,682         6.6   $ 3,002         21.9
                                             

The amount of unearned stock-based compensation currently estimated to be expensed from now through fiscal 2015 related to unvested share-based payment awards at March 31, 2011 is $26.7 million, which includes stock-based compensation from Veloce, our VIE. This expense relates to equity instruments already issued and will not be affected by our future stock price. Vesting of the EBITDA Grants is subject to (i) the Company’s performance as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”), and (ii) individual performance as measured by the accomplishment of goals and objectives. The weighted-average period over which the unearned stock-based compensation is expected to be recognized is approximately 2.1 years. If there are any modifications or cancellations of the underlying unvested securities, we may be required to accelerate, increase or cancel any remaining unearned stock-based compensation expense. Future stock-based compensation expense will increase to the extent that we grant additional equity awards. The value of these grants cannot be predicted at this time because it will depend on the number of share-based payments granted and the then current fair values.

Restructuring Charges, net. The restructuring charges recorded during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 was primarily for employee severances.

Interest and Other Income, net. The following table presents interest income (expense) and other income, net for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011 and 2010 (dollars in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,     Increase      %
Change
 
     2011     2010       
     Amount      % of Net
Revenue
    Amount     % of Net
Revenue
      

Interest income (expense), net and other-than-temporary impairment

   $ 9,890         4.0   $ 3,440        1.7   $ 6,450         187.5

Other income (expense), net

   $ 797         0.3   $ (1,551     (0.8 )%    $ 2,348         151.4

Interest Income (Expense) and Other-Than-Temporary Impairment, net. Interest income and other-than-temporary impairment, net of management fees and other-than-temporary impairment, reflects interest earned on cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments and marketable securities. The increase in interest income and other-than-temporary impairment, net for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, compared to the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 was primarily due to gains that were realized from the sale of securities in our investment portfolio in the current fiscal year and an other-than-temporary impairment charge of $4.1 million in the prior fiscal year.

 

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Other Income, net. The increase in other income for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, compared to the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 was primarily due to $2.0 million impairment for a strategic investment in the prior fiscal year.

Income Taxes. The federal statutory income tax rate was 35% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 and 2010. The benefit recorded during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, related primarily to the gains from discontinued operations, other comprehensive income and an increase in refundable tax credits. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, the Company had no gains or losses relating to discontinued operations. Tax expense during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 primarily consisted of state and foreign taxes.

Discontinued Operations. We completed the sale of our 3ware storage adapter business (“Storage Business”) to LSI Corporation on April 21, 2009. Under the Purchase Agreement, we substantially sold all of the operating assets (other than patents) of our Storage Business. The assets sold included customer contracts, inventory, fixed assets, certain intellectual property and other assets, as well as rights to the name “3ware.” The purchase price for the Transaction was approximately $20.0 million, subject to adjustments based on the level of inventory and products in the channel at the closing of the Transaction. After adjustments for the level of inventory of $0.7 million and products in the channel of $0.8 million, the final adjusted price of the Transaction was approximately $21.5 million. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, we reached an agreement with LSI Corporation to end the warranty support portion of the Purchase Agreement. We recorded a net gain of $11.4 million from the sale during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, we recognized a tax charge of approximately $4.2 million to discontinued operations in connection with the sale of our 3ware storage adapter business and concurrently recorded the same amount as an income tax benefit to continuing operations.

Comparison of the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2010 to the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2009

Net Revenues. Net revenues for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 were $205.6 million, representing a decrease of 4.0% from the net revenues of $214.2 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009. We classify our revenues into two categories based on the markets that the underlying products serve. The categories are Process and Transport. See the following tables (dollars in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,     Increase
(Decrease)
    %
Change
 
     2010     2009      
     Amount      % of Net
Revenue
    Amount      % of Net
Revenue
     

Process

   $ 106,374         51.7   $ 121,125         56.5   $ (14,751     (12.2 )% 

Transport

     99,224         48.3        93,091         43.5        6,133        6.6   
                                            
   $ 205,598         100.0   $ 214,216         100.0   $ (8,618     (4.0 )% 
                                            

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, revenues, as anticipated, partially recovered from the prior fiscal year’s economic recession and overall softness in demand reflected in the lower volumes that resulted in lower revenues. In addition, during the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2009, we also recorded $12.8 million and $9.0 million in licensing revenues, respectively, under Transport from the sale of certain non-core patents and associated rights. The decline in the Process revenues was consistent with the overall decline in market conditions while the Transport revenues improved marginally and which were further supplemented by the incremental licensing revenues, as discussed above. The geographical mix of our revenues depends on the location of our end customers or distributors and may change from time to time. The lower revenues attributable to Other North America in fiscal 2010 compared to fiscal 2009 is primarily due to the drop in revenues relating to a customer in Canada.

 

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Gross Profit. The following table presents net revenues, cost of revenues and gross profit for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2009 (dollars in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,     (Decrease)     %
Change
 
   2010     2009      
   Amount      % of Net
Revenue
    Amount      % of Net
Revenue
     

Net revenues

   $ 205,598         100.0   $ 214,216         100.0   $ (8,618     (4.0 )% 

Cost of revenues

     92,931         45.2        101,070         47.2        (8,139     (8.1
                                            

Gross profit

   $ 112,667         54.8   $ 113,146         52.8   $ (479     (0.4 )% 
                                            

The gross profit percentage for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 increased to 54.8%, compared to 52.8% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009. The increase in our gross profit percentage was primarily due to lower overhead costs, a favorable product mix, the sale of inventory for which the cost basis has been previously reduced and an increase of $3.8 million in revenue from the sale of our non-core patents and associated rights to Qualcomm, offset by a decrease in product revenues.

The amortization of purchased intangible assets included in cost of revenues during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 was $12.1 million, compared to $14.9 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009.

Research and Development and Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. The following table presents R&D and SG&A expenses for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2009 (dollars in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,     Increase
(Decrease)
    %
Change
 
     2010     2009      
     Amount      % of Net
Revenue
    Amount      % of Net
Revenue
     

Research and development

   $ 88,096         42.8   $ 84,687         39.5   $ 3,409        4.0

Selling, general and administrative

   $ 45,901         22.3   $ 50,097         23.4   $ (4,196     (8.4 )% 

Research and Development. The increase in R&D expenses of 4.0% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 compared to the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, was primarily due to an increase of $2.8 million in consumable equipment and software cost, $2.4 million in stock-based compensation charges, $1.4 million in printed circuit board costs, $1.3 million in third party foundry cost and a decrease of $1.6 million in customer funded non-recurring engineering payments offset by a decrease of $4.7 million in development costs of a new processor core and $1.0 million in contractor costs. The total R&D expenses for fiscal 2010 also includes $6.2 million related to Veloce, our VIE.

Selling, General and Administrative. The decrease in SG&A expenses of 8.4% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 compared to the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, was primarily due to a decrease of $3.3 million in personnel costs, $1.3 million in contractor costs, $0.6 million in marketing communications, $0.5 million in consumable equipment and software costs, $0.4 million in facilities costs offset by an increase of $1.9 million in stock-based compensation charges.

 

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Stock-Based Compensation. The following table presents stock-based compensation expense for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2009, which was included in the tables above (dollars in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,     Increase      %
Change
 
     2010     2009       
     Amount      % of Net
Revenue
    Amount      % of Net
Revenue
      

Costs of revenues

   $ 587         0.3   $ 442         0.2   $ 145         32.8

Research and development

     6,268         3.0        3,845         1.8        2,423         63.0   

Selling, general and administrative

     6,827         3.3        4,954         2.3        1,873         37.8   
                                             
   $ 13,682         6.6   $ 9,241         4.3   $ 4,441         48.1
                                             

The increase in stock-based compensation for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 compared to the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 is primarily due to the EBITDA Grants issued during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 and the reversal of $1.3 million of stock-based compensation expense for performance based options during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009.

Goodwill Impairment Charges. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, we assessed goodwill for impairment since we observed there were indicators of impairment. Based upon an analysis performed in the fiscal year months ended March 31, 2009, which included a discounted cash flow analysis, we recorded an impairment of goodwill of $223.0 million to continuing operations in the consolidated statements of operations. The reporting units impaired were Process and Transport in the amounts of $101.5 million and $121.5 million, respectively. In addition, we recorded an impairment of goodwill of $41.2 million to discontinued operations for the Store reporting unit in the consolidated statements of operations.

Restructuring Charges, net. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, we moved some of our functions offshore, which will allow us to be much closer to our third party subcontract manufacturers, thus reducing costs by taking advantage of our global cost structure and improve efficiencies by eliminating the delays inherent in working in different time zones and to better align our global operations to achieve greater efficiencies. We believe this restructuring plan achieved its anticipated reduction in ongoing net operating expenses by approximately $1.5 million annually since we completed this restructuring plan. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, we implemented a restructuring program to reduce expenses and excess capacity in response to the worsening economic conditions. We believe this restructuring plan achieved its anticipated reduction in ongoing net operating expenses by approximately $13.8 million to $15.5 million annually since we completed this restructuring plan. For additional information on our restructuring activities, see Note 6 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part IV, Item 15, Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules, of this Annual Report.

Interest and Other Income, net. The following table presents interest income (expense) and other income, net for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2009 (dollars in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,     Increase
(Decrease)
    %
Change
 
     2010     2009      
     Amount     % of Net
Revenue
    Amount     % of Net
Revenue
     

Interest income (expense), net and other-than-temporary impairment

   $ 3,440        1.7   $ (8,073     (3.8 )%    $ 11,513        142.6

Other income (expense), net

   $ (1,551     (0.8 )%    $ 492        0.2   $ (2,043     (415.2 )% 

Interest Income (Expense) and Other-Than-Temporary Impairment, net. The increase in interest income (expense) and other-than-temporary impairment, net for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, compared to the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009 was primarily due to a $13.0 million decrease in other-than-temporary impairment charges offset by a decrease in interest income from lower interest rates.

 

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Other Income, net. The decrease in other income (expense), net for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, compared to the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009 was primarily due to a $2.0 million impairment charge for a strategic investment which we determined to be impaired during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010.

Income Taxes. The federal statutory income tax rate was 35% for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2009. The increase in the income tax benefit recorded for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 compared to the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, was primarily related to discontinued operations, other comprehensive income and an increase in refundable tax credits. The allocation of the current year tax provision included recognizing $10.4 million tax benefit arising from the loss from continuing operations and the offsetting tax expense was allocated on a pro rata basis to income from discontinued operations and other comprehensive income of $4.2 million and $6.2 million, respectively, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010.

Discontinued Operations. We completed the sale of our 3ware storage adapter business (“Storage Business”) to LSI Corporation on April 21, 2009.

The following table presents the operating results of the discontinued operations of our 3ware storage adapter business for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2009 (dollars in thousands):

3WARE STORAGE ADAPTER BUSINESS

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
             2010                     2009          
    

(In thousands, except

per share data)

 

Net revenues

   $ 3,690      $ 39,849   

Cost of revenues

     3,268        24,437   
                

Gross profit

     422        15,412   

Operating expenses:

    

Research and development

     687        11,470   

Selling, general and administrative

     807        9,561   

Amortization of purchased intangible assets

     —          1,260   

Restructuring charges, net

     —          126   

Goodwill impairment charges

     —          41,158   
                

Total operating expenses

     1,494        63,575   
                

Operating loss

     (1,072     (48,163

Gain on sale of Storage Business

     11,366        —     
                

Income (loss) from discontinued operations before income taxes

     10,294        (48,163

Income tax expense (benefit)

     4,182        72   
                

Net income (loss) from discontinued operations

   $ 6,112      $ (48,235
                

FINANCIAL CONDITION AND LIQUIDITY

As of March 31, 2011, our principal source of liquidity consisted of $168.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Working capital as of March 31, 2011 was $184.5 million. Total cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments available-for-sale decreased by $38.6 million during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, primarily due to the acquisition of TPack for $31.5 million, repurchases of our common stock for $40.1 million and purchase of property and equipment of $9.7 million, offset by net cash provided by

 

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operations of $30.9 million, net structured stock repurchase proceeds of $5.5 million, net proceeds from issuances of common stock of $5.3 million and proceeds from the sale of a strategic equity investment of $5.0 million. At March 31, 2011, we had contractual obligations not included on our balance sheet totaling $53.9 million, primarily related to facility leases, engineering design software tool licenses and non-cancelable inventory purchase commitments.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, we generated $31.0 million in cash from our operations, compared to $16.9 million in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. Our net loss of $1.0 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 included $39.9 million of non-cash charges consisting of $7.2 million of depreciation, $17.2 million of amortization of purchased intangibles, $16.7 million of stock-based compensation and a credit of $1.2 million related to the capitalization of prior years mask set costs. The remaining change in operating cash flows for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 primarily reflected decreases in accounts receivable and other assets and increases in inventories, accounts payable, accrued payroll and other accrued liabilities, and deferred revenue. Our overall days sales outstanding decreased to 32 days for the period ended March 31, 2011, compared to 36 days for the period ended March 31, 2010.

We used $39.3 million in cash from our investing activities during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, compared to generating $25.5 million during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, we used $3.1 million for short-term investment activities, net, $9.7 million for the purchase of property and equipment and $31.5 million for the acquisition of a business, offset by proceeds of $5.0 million from the sale of a strategic equity investment.

We used net cash of $29.8 million for our financing activities during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, compared to $19.1 million during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. The major financing use of cash for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 was the funding of our structured stock repurchase agreements for $10.0 million, $40.1 million for the repurchases of common stock, restricted stock units withheld for taxes of $2.7 million offset by proceeds of $15.5 million from the settlement of structured stock repurchase agreements, proceeds of $8.0 million from the issuances of our common stock.

In August 2004, our Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program for the repurchase of up to $200.0 million of our common stock. Under the program, we are authorized to make purchases in the open market or enter into structured agreements. In October 2008, our Board of Directors increased the stock repurchase program by $100.0 million. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, approximately 3.7 million shares were repurchased on the open market at a weighted average price of $10.70 per share. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, 1.1 million shares were repurchased on the open market at a weighted average price of $7.54 per share. All repurchased shares are retired upon delivery to us. In November 2010, we entered into a Rule 10b5-1 plan to repurchase up to 1.0 million shares of our common stock at various price parameters. The plan expired in February 2011 when we completed repurchases of the 1.0 million shares at a weighted average price of $10.05. In February 2011, we entered into another Rule 10b5-1 plan to repurchase up to 3.0 million shares of our common stock at various price parameters. This plan will expire on July 31, 2011. As of March 31, 2011, we repurchased approximately 0.7 million shares at a weighted average price of $10.01 per share under this Rule 10b5-1 plan.

We also utilize structured stock repurchase agreements to buy back shares which are prepaid written put options on our common stock. We pay a fixed sum of cash upon execution of each agreement in exchange for the right to receive either a pre-determined amount of cash or stock depending on the closing market price of our common stock on the expiration date of the agreement. Upon expiration of each agreement, if the closing market price of our common stock is above the pre-determined price, we will have our cash investment returned with a premium. If the closing market price is at or below the pre-determined price, we will receive the number of shares specified at the agreement inception. Any cash received, including the premium, is treated as additional paid in capital on the balance sheet.

 

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During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, we entered into structured stock repurchase agreements totaling $10.0 million. For those agreements that settled during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, we received $15.5 million in cash and 0.5 million in shares of our common stock at an effective purchase price of $10.01 per share from the settled structured stock repurchase agreements. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, we entered into structured stock repurchase agreements totaling $41.8 million. For those agreements that settled during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, we received $27.8 million in cash and 0.7 million shares of our common stock at an effective purchase price of $7.25 per share from the settled structured stock repurchase agreements. At March 31, 2011, we had no outstanding structured stock repurchase agreements and approximately $47.4 million remaining available to repurchase shares under the stock repurchase program.

On November 8, 2010, we amended the merger and certain other agreements with Veloce, initially entered into on May 17, 2009, pursuant to which Veloce has agreed to perform product development work for us on an exclusive basis for up to five years for cash and other consideration, including a warrant to purchase shares of our common stock, which will vest quarterly through December 2012.

Under the merger agreement between us and Veloce, we agreed to acquire Veloce if certain performance milestones and delivery schedules set forth under the merger and other agreements are achieved. We also have the unilateral option to acquire Veloce in the event Veloce fails to meet the milestones and delivery schedules. Should we acquire Veloce pursuant to the merger agreement, the purchase price is estimated to be in the range of approximately $7 million up to approximately $135 million, subject to adjustments. At this time the eventual outcome is not determinable and as such we are unable to provide a narrower range for the estimated merger consideration. We will update the range in the future when additional relevant information is available. We will determine the form of consideration used for the merger, cash or our stock, at the time of the merger. The merger agreement contains customary representations, warranties and covenants and may be terminated upon mutual agreement of the parties or unilaterally by us or Veloce if the other party fails to meet certain conditions set forth in the agreement.

In addition, we provided Veloce a promissory note of $1.5 million to be forgiven over eight quarters starting on March 31, 2011. If Veloce commits a material breach of the merger agreement, the outstanding principal amount of the note and accrued interest is due to us. If we commit a material breach of the merger agreement, the outstanding principal amount of the note and accrued interest is to be forgiven by us. The promissory note is eliminated in consolidation. In April 2011, we agreed to loan $5.0 million to Veloce. This loan will bear interest at a rate of 5% and the accrued interest and principal amount will be repaid when we make a decision to either spin in or to sever our relationship with Veloce. Re-payment can be in cash or as an adjustment against the eventual merger consideration should a merger occur. Pursuant to the product development agreement, as amended, we will pay Veloce $2.3 million per quarter for up to twelve consecutive quarters in order to assist Veloce in meeting its expenses to perform its obligations under the agreement and we will recognize the payments as R&D expenses when incurred. We have no direct equity interest in Veloce. We also paid, and will likely do so again, certain product development and manufacturing expenses incurred by Veloce.

On September 17, 2010, we acquired TPack, a Danish Corporation organized under the laws of Denmark, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the stock purchase agreement dated August 17, 2010. The total consideration paid at the closing of the transaction was approximately $32 million. The former TPack shareholders may also earn up to approximately $5 million in additional consideration, subject to the achievement of certain revenue and performance milestones by TPack within 18 months after the acquisition. Approximately $5 million was placed in escrow to secure the indemnification obligation of TPack. In addition, we recorded acquisition related transaction costs of $0.9 million, which were included in SG&A expense.

In July 2010, we entered into an agreement for a multi-year license with a leading semiconductor IP supplier, where the components of the licensed technology are expected to be delivered over multiple years. The Company does not regard the license as significant to its current business. We intend to use the license to develop new products. The aggregate licensing fees are approximately $18.1 million and are payable over five years. This is in addition to a technology license agreement we entered into in March 2010, for approximately $4.4 million which is payable over approximately one year.

 

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The following table summarizes our contractual operating leases and other purchase commitments as of March 31, 2011 (in thousands):

 

     Operating
Leases
     Other
Purchase
Commitments
     Total  

Fiscal Years Ending March 31, 2012

   $ 14,643       $ 36,844       $ 51,487   

2013

     2,271         —           2,271   

2014

     95         —           95   

2015 and thereafter

     —           —           —     
                          

Total minimum payments

   $ 17,009       $ 36,844       $ 53,853   
                          

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as at March 31, 2011.

We believe that our available cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments will be sufficient to meet our capital requirements and fund our operations for at least the next 12 months, although we could elect or could be required to raise additional capital during such period. There can be no assurance that such additional debt or equity financing will be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

 

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure About Market Risk.

Market risk is the potential loss arising from adverse changes in market rates and prices, such as foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates and a decline in the stock market. We are exposed to market risks related to changes in interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates.

We maintain an investment portfolio of various holdings, types of instruments and maturities. These securities are classified as available-for-sale and, consequently, are recorded on our consolidated balance sheets at fair value with unrealized gains or losses reported as a separate component of accumulated other comprehensive income or loss. We have established guidelines relative to diversification and maturities that attempt to maintain safety and liquidity. These guidelines are periodically reviewed and modified to take advantage of interest rate trends. We invest our excess cash in debt instruments of the U.S. Treasury, corporate bonds, mortgage-backed and asset backed securities, mutual funds and closed-end bond funds, with credit ratings as specified in our investment policy. We also have invested in preferred stocks, which pay quarterly fixed rate dividends. We generally do not utilize derivatives to hedge against increases in interest rates which decrease market values.

We are exposed to market risk as it relates to changes in the market value of our investments. At March 31, 2011, our investment portfolio included short-term securities classified as available-for-sale investments with an aggregate fair market value of $83.6 million and a cost basis of $78.5 million. These securities are subject to interest rate risk, as well as credit risk and liquidity risk, and will decline in value if interest rates increase or an issuer’s credit rating or financial condition is decreased.

The following table presents the hypothetical changes in fair value of our short-term investments held at March 31, 2011 (in thousands):

 

    Valuation of Securities Given an
Interest Rate Decrease of X Basis
Points (“BPS”)
    Fair Value
as of
March 31, 2011
    Valuation of Securities Given an
Interest Rate Increase of X Basis
Points (“BPS”)
 
    (150 BPS)     (100 BPS)     (50 BPS)       50 BPS     100 BPS     150 BPS  

Available-for-sale investments

  $ 87,630      $ 86,301      $ 84,967      $ 83,649      $ 82,359      $ 81,116      $ 79,941   
                                                       

 

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The modeling technique used measures the change in fair market value arising from selected potential changes in interest rates. Market changes reflect immediate hypothetical parallel shifts in the yield curve of plus or minus 50 basis points, 100 basis points, and 150 basis points. While this modeling technique provides a measure of our exposure to market risk, the current economic turbulence could cause interest rates to shift by more than 150 basis points.

We also invest in equity instruments of private companies for business and strategic purposes. These investments are valued based on our historical cost, less any recognized impairments. The estimated fair values are not necessarily representative of the amounts that we could realize in a current transaction.

We generally conduct business, including sales to foreign customers, in U.S. dollars, and as a result, we have limited foreign currency exchange rate risk. We did not enter into any forward currency exchange contract during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011. Gains and losses on foreign currency forward contracts that are designated and effective as hedges of anticipated transactions, for which a firm commitment has been attained, are deferred and included in the basis of the transaction in the same period that the underlying transaction is settled. Gains and losses on any instruments not meeting the above criteria are recognized in income or expenses in the consolidated statements of operations in the current period.

 

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

Refer to the Index to Financial Statements on Page F-l.

 

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.

None.

 

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.

Conclusion Regarding the Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports we file or submit with the SEC pursuant to the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), as appropriate, to allow for timely decisions regarding required disclosure. In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, and management is required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. In addition, the design of any system of controls also is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions; over time, a control may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may deteriorate. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

As required by Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(b), we conducted an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our CEO and CFO, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of March 31, 2011. Based on the foregoing, our CEO and CFO concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level.

 

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Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f). All internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation. Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our CEO and CFO, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting using the criteria in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on our evaluation using the criteria in Internal Control — Integrated Framework, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of March 31, 2011.

The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2011 has been audited by an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in its report, which is included herein.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the most recent quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

 

Item 9B. Other Information.

None.

PART III

 

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.

(a) Executive Officers — See the section entitled “Executive Officers of the Registrant” in Part I, Item 1, Business, of this Annual Report.

(b) Directors — The information required by this Part III, Item 10 is contained in the section entitled “Election of Directors” in our Definitive Proxy Statement to be filed with the SEC in connection with the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on August 16, 2011, which will be filed with the SEC within 120 days of March 31, 2011 (the “Proxy Statement”) and is incorporated herein by reference.

Additional information required by this Part III, Item 10 is incorporated by reference to the section entitled “Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance” in the Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.

We have adopted a code of business conduct and ethics that all executive officers and management employees must review and abide by (including our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer and controller, or persons performing similar functions), which we refer to as our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. The Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is available free of charge on our website at www.appliedmicro.com in the Investor Relations section under the heading “Corporate Governance” under the “Governance Documents” heading. We will promptly disclose on our website (1) the nature of any amendment to the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that applies to our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions, and (2) the nature of any waiver, including an implicit waiver, from a provision of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that is granted to one of these specified officers and the name of such person who is granted the waiver.

 

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Item 11. Executive Compensation.

The information required by this Part III, Item 11 is incorporated herein by reference from the section entitled “Executive Compensation” in the Proxy Statement.

 

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.

The information required by this Part III, Item 12 is incorporated herein by reference from the sections entitled “Security Ownership of Management and Directors” and “Equity Compensation Plan Information” in the Proxy Statement.

 

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.

The information required by this Part III, Item 13 is incorporated by reference to the sections entitled “Certain Transactions” and “Corporate Governance” in the Proxy Statement.

 

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.

The information required by this Part III, Item 14 is contained in the section entitled “Audit and Other Fees,” in the Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.

PART IV

 

Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.

(a) The following documents are filed as part of this Annual Report:

(1) Financial Statements

The financial statements of the Company are included herein as required under Part II, Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Annual Report. See Index to Financial Statements on page F-l.

(2) Financial Statement Schedule

For the three fiscal years ended March 31, 2011 — Schedule II Valuation and Qualifying Accounts

Schedules not listed above have been omitted because information required to be set forth therein is not applicable or is shown in the financial statements or notes thereto.

(3) Exhibits (numbered in accordance with Item 601 of Regulation S-K)

See Part IV, Item 15(b) below.

(b) The following exhibits are filed or incorporated by reference into this Annual Report:

 

  2.1(12)+

   Agreement and Plan of Merger between the Company, Espresso Acquisition Corporation and Veloce Technologies, Inc., dated May 17, 2009.

  2.2(21)+

   Stock Purchase Agreement among the Company, TPack A/S, Slottsbacken Fund II KY, Slottsbacken Fund Two KB, Vaekstfonden and Novi A/S, and the Sellers’ Representative named therein, dated as of August 17, 2010.

  2.3(21)+

   Amendment No. 1 to Stock Purchase Agreement by and among the Company and Vaekstfonden, as Sellers’ Representative, dated September 17, 2010.

 

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  2.4(22)^

   Amendment No. 1 to Agreement and Plan of Merger between the Company, Espresso Acquisition Corporation and Veloce Technologies, Inc., dated November 8, 2010.

  3.1(1)

   Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company.

  3.2(21)

   Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Company.

  3.3(17)

   Certificate of Amendment of Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company.

  4.1(3)

   Specimen Stock Certificate.

10.1(3)*

   Form of Indemnification Agreement between the Company and each of its officers and directors.

10.2(16)*

   Form of Restricted Stock Unit Agreement under the 1992 Equity Incentive Plan.

10.3(16)*

   Form of Option Agreement under the 1992 Equity Incentive Plan.

10.4(16)*

   1992 Equity Incentive Plan.

10.5(11)*

   1997 Directors’ Stock Option Plan, as amended, and form of Option Agreement.

10.6(3)*

   401(k) Plan effective April 1, 1985 and form of Enrollment Agreement.

10.24(5)*

   1998 Employee Stock Purchase Plan and form of Subscription Agreement.

10.30(6)

   Lease of Engineering Building by and between Kilroy Realty, L.P. and the Company dated February 17, 1999.

10.32(9)

   Amendment No. 1 to Lease of Engineering Building by and between Kilroy Realty, L.P. and the Company dated November 30, 1999.

10.33(4)*

   2000 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended, and form of Option Agreement.

10.34(16)*

   Form of Restricted Stock Unit Agreement under the 2000 Equity Incentive Plan.

10.35(7)

   Lease of Facilities in Andover, Massachusetts between 200 Minuteman Limited Partnership and Registrant dated September 13, 2000.

10.38(4)*

   AMCC Deferred Compensation Plan.

10.42(10)+

   Patent License Agreement between the Company and IBM dated September 28, 2003.

10.43(10)+

   Intellectual Property Agreement between the Company and IBM dated September 28, 2003.

10.53(14)*

   Offer of Employment dated September 14, 2005 by and between the Company and Robert Gargus.

10.58(15)*

   Executive Severance Benefit Plan dated September 19, 2007.

10.60(18)+

   Qualcomm Patent Purchase Agreement dated July 11, 2008.

10.61(18)+

   Qualcomm Patent Purchase Amendment dated July 11, 2008.

10.62(19)

   LSI Asset Purchase Agreement dated April 5, 2009 and Amendment No. 1 dated April 20, 2009.

10.63(13)+*

   Consulting Agreement with Cynthia J. Moreland entered into on October 21, 2009.

10.64(14)+*

   Letter Agreement with Cynthia J. Moreland entered into on December 18, 2009.

10.65(20)*

   Employment agreement dated December 29, 2009 by and between the Company and William Caraccio.

11.1(8)

   Computation of Per Share Data under ASC Topic 260-10.

21.1

   Subsidiaries of the Registrant.

23.1

   Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm – KPMG LLP.

 

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23.2

   Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm – Ernst & Young LLP.

24.1

   Power of Attorney. Reference is made to the signature page of this Annual Report.

31.1

   Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act, as amended.

31.2

   Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act, as amended.

32.1

   Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

32.2

   Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

 

* Management contract or compensatory plan.
+ The Company has been granted confidential treatment for certain portions of these agreements and certain terms and conditions have been redacted from the exhibits. Omitted portions have been filed separately with the SEC.
^ The Company has requested confidential treatment for certain portions of these agreements and certain terms and conditions have been redacted from the exhibits. Omitted portions have been filed separately with the SEC.
(1) Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 filed with the Company’s Registration Statement (No. 333-37609) filed October 10, 1997, and as amended by Exhibit 3.3 filed with the Company’s Registration Statement (No. 333-45660) filed September 12, 2000 and Exhibit 3.1 filed with the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 11, 2007.
(2) Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 filed with the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on May 1, 2009.
(3) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Registration Statement (No. 333-37609) filed October 10, 1997, or with any amendments thereto, which registration statement became effective November 24, 1997.
(4) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (No. 000-23193) for the quarter ended June 30, 2002.
(5) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (No. 000-23193) for the year ended March 31, 2001.
(6) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (No. 000-23193) for the year ended March 31, 1999.
(7) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (No. 000-23193) for the quarter ended September 30, 2000.
(8) The Computation of Per Share Data under ASC Topic 260-10 is included in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report.
(9) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (No. 000-23193) for the year ended March 31, 2000.
(10) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (No. 000-23193) for the quarter ended September 30, 2003.
(11) Effective March 31, 2005, our Board of Directors terminated our 1997 Directors’ Stock Option Plan (the “Directors Plan”). The Directors Plan provided for the automatic grant of stock options to our non-employee directors upon initial election to the Board of Directors and annually thereafter. The termination of the Directors Plan will not affect any stock options previously granted pursuant to the Directors Plan.
(12)

Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q/A for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. Schedules have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(b)(2)

 

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of Regulation S-K. The Company has furnished supplementally to the SEC copies of each of the omitted schedules.

(13) Incorporated by reference as Exhibit 10.1 filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2009.
(14) Incorporated by reference as Exhibit 10.2 filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2009.
(15) Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 99.1 filed with the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed September 24, 2007
(16) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2007.
(17) Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 filed with the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 11, 2007.
(18) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2008.
(19) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2009.
(20) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2010.
(21) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2010.
(22) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2010.

 

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

By:

 

/S/    DR. PARAMESH GOPI        

  Dr. Paramesh Gopi
  President and Chief Executive Officer

Date: May 9, 2011

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Dr. Paramesh Gopi and Robert G. Gargus, jointly and severally, his attorneys-in-fact, each with the power of substitution, for him or her in any and all capacities, to sign any amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and to file the same, with exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith with the Securities and Exchange Commission, hereby ratifying and confirming all that each of said attorneys-in-fact, or his substitute or substitutes, may do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

 

Signature

  

Title

 

Date

/S/    DR. PARAMESH GOPI        

Dr. Paramesh Gopi

  

Chief Executive Officer,

President and Director

(Principal Executive Officer)

  May 9, 2011

/S/    ROBERT G. GARGUS        

Robert G. Gargus

  

Senior Vice President and

Chief Financial Officer

(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

  May 9, 2011

/S/    CESAR CESARATTO        

Cesar Cesaratto

   Chairman of the Board   May 9, 2011

/S/    DONALD COLVIN        

Donald Colvin

   Director   May 9, 2011

/S/    H.K. DESAI        

H.K. Desai

   Director   May 9, 2011

/S/    DR. PAUL GRAY        

Dr. Paul Gray

   Director   May 9, 2011

/S/    FRED SHLAPAK        

Fred Shlapak

   Director   May 9, 2011

/S/    ARTHUR B. STABENOW        

Arthur B. Stabenow

   Director   May 9, 2011

/S/    DR. JULIE H. SULLIVAN        

Dr. Julie H. Sullivan

   Director   May 9, 2011

 

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INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

     Page  

Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firms

     F-2   

Consolidated Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2011 and 2010

     F-4   

Consolidated Statements of Operations for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009

     F-5   

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009

     F-6   

Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity for the fiscal years ended March  31, 2011, 2010 and 2009

     F-7   

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

     F-8   

 

F-1


Table of Contents

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The Board of Directors and Stockholders

Applied Micro Circuits Corporation:

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation and its subsidiaries (the Company) as of March 31, 2011 and 2010, and the related consolidated statements of operations, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the two-year period ended March 31, 2011. In connection with our audits of the consolidated financial statements, we also have audited financial statement schedule II as set forth under Item 15 for the years ended March 31, 2011 and 2010. We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2011, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). The Company’s management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements and financial statement schedule and an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

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

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation as of March 31, 2011 and 2010, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the two-year period ended March 31, 2011, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Also in our opinion, the related financial statement schedule, when considered in relation to the basic consolidated financial statements taken as a whole, presents fairly, in all material respects, the information set forth therein. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2011, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.

/s/ KPMG LLP

Mountain View, California

May 9, 2011

 

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

The Board of Directors and Stockholders

Applied Micro Circuits Corporation

We have audited the accompanying consolidated statements of operations, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation for the year ended March 31, 2009. Our audit also included the financial statement schedule listed in the Index at Part IV at Item 15(a). These financial statements and schedule are the responsibility of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and schedule based on our audit.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated results of operations and cash flows of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation for the year ended March 31, 2009, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Also, in our opinion, the related financial statement schedule, when considered in relation to the basic financial statements taken as a whole, presents fairly in all material respects the information set forth therein.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

San Jose, California

May 8, 2009

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

 

     March 31,  
     2011     2010  
     (In thousands, except par value)  
ASSETS     

Current assets:

    

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 84,402      $ 122,526   

Short-term investments-available-for-sale

     83,649        84,117   

Accounts receivable, net

     19,997        22,892   

Inventories

     26,561        15,387   

Other current assets

     16,784        18,098   
                

Total current assets

     231,393        263,020   

Property and equipment, net

     32,023        25,879   

Goodwill

     13,183        —     

Purchased intangibles

     23,388        16,850   

Other assets

     8,670        10,295   
                

Total assets

   $ 308,657      $ 316,044   
                
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY     

Current liabilities:

    

Accounts payable

   $ 24,431      $ 20,074   

Accrued payroll and related expenses

     7,261        4,682   

Other accrued liabilities

     12,748        9,606   

Deferred revenue

     2,407        808   
                

Total current liabilities

     46,847        35,170   

Commitments and contingencies (Notes 7 and 10)

    

Stockholders’ equity:

    

Preferred stock, $0.01 par value:

    

Authorized shares — 2,000, none issued and outstanding

     —          —     

Common stock, $0.01 par value:

    

Authorized shares — 375,000 at March 31, 2011 and 2010

    

Issued and outstanding shares — 63,666 at March 31, 2011 and 65,404 at March 31, 2010

     637        654   

Additional paid-in capital

     5,891,036        5,905,050   

Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)

     (1,597     2,430   

Accumulated deficit

     (5,628,266     (5,627,260
                

Total stockholders’ equity

     261,810        280,874   
                

Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity

   $ 308,657      $ 316,044   
                

See Accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011     2010     2009  
     (In thousands, except per share data)  

Net revenues

   $ 247,710      $ 205,598      $ 214,216   

Cost of revenues

     95,282        92,931        101,070   
                        

Gross profit

     152,428        112,667        113,146   

Operating expenses:

      

Research and development

     108,732        88,096        84,687   

Selling, general and administrative

     49,173        45,901        50,097   

Amortization of purchased intangible assets

     5,285        4,020        4,020   

Restructuring charges, net

     532        746        8,623   

Option investigation, net

     —          —          80   

Goodwill impairment charges

     —          —          222,972   

Litigation settlement, net

     —          —          130   
                        

Total operating expenses

     163,722        138,763        370,609   
                        

Operating loss

     (11,294     (26,096     (257,463

Interest income (expense), net and other-than-temporary impairment

     9,890        3,440        (8,073

Other income (expense), net

     797        (1,551     492   
                        

Loss from continuing operations before income taxes

     (607     (24,207     (265,044

Income tax expense (benefit)

     399        (10,610     (3,946
                        

Loss from continuing operations

     (1,006     (13,597     (261,098

Income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of taxes

     —          6,112        (48,235
                        

Net loss

   $ (1,006   $ (7,485   $ (309,333
                        

Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share:

      

Net loss per share from continuing operations

   $ (0.02   $ (0.21   $ (4.00

Net income (loss) per share from discontinued operations

     —          0.10        (0.74
                        

Net loss per share

   $ (0.02   $ (0.11   $ (4.74
                        

Shares used in calculating basic and diluted net income (loss) per share

     65,160        66,006        65,271   
                        

See Accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011     2010     2009  
     (In thousands)  

Operating activities:

      

Net loss

   $ (1,006   $ (7,485   $ (309,333

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by operating activities

      

Depreciation

     7,243        6,778        6,862   

Amortization of purchased intangibles

     17,162        16,117        23,060   

Goodwill impairment charges

     —          —          264,130   

Stock-based compensation expense:

      

Stock options

     5,592        4,125        5,139   

Restricted stock units

     11,092        9,557        5,245   

Non-cash restructuring charges

     —          359        1,989   

Litigation settlement

     —          —          130   

Capitalization of mask set cost

     (1,177     —          —     

Impairment of strategic investment

     —          2,000        —     

Impairment of short term investments and marketable securities

     —          4,287        17,144   

Tax benefit from other comprehensive income

     —          (6,204     —     

Net (loss) gain on disposals of property

     (322     145        48   

Net gain on sale of storage business unit

     —          (11,366     —     

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

      

Accounts receivable

     3,465        (5,355     11,263   

Inventories

     (11,174     10,754        3,414   

Other assets

     (1,561     (237     (4,939

Accounts payable

     1,842        2,245        (8,803

Accrued payroll and other accrued liabilities

     (1,162     (7,077     467   

Deferred tax liability

     —          —          (3,957

Deferred revenue

     956        (1,776     668   
                        

Net cash provided by operating activities

     30,950        16,867        12,527   
                        

Investing activities:

      

Proceeds from sales and maturities of short-term investments

     121,876        185,724        199,577   

Purchases of short-term investments

     (124,950     (173,265     (150,358

Purchase of property, equipment and other assets

     (9,740     (7,532     (7,259

Proceeds from the sale of strategic equity investment

     4,991        —          —     

Purchase of strategic investment

     (330     (1,000     —     

Proceeds from sale of storage business unit

     —          21,527        —     

Proceeds from sale of property, equipment and other assets

     365        —          —     

Net cash paid for acquisitions

     (31,484     —          —     
                        

Net cash (used for) provided by investing activities

     (39,272     25,454        41,960   
                        

Financing activities:

      

Proceeds from issuance of common stock

     8,045        3,825        2,713   

Funding of restricted stock units withheld for taxes

     (2,746     (870     (265

Repurchase of common stock

     (40,063     (8,076     —     

Funding of structured stock repurchase agreements

     (10,000     (41,797     —     

Funds received from structured stock repurchase agreements, including gains

     15,512        27,751        —     

Other

     (550     35        (287
                        

Net cash (used for) provided by financing activities

     (29,802     (19,132     2,161   
                        

Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents

     (38,124     23,189        56,648   

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year

     122,526        99,337        42,689   
                        

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year

   $ 84,402      $ 122,526      $ 99,337   
                        

Supplementary cash flow disclosure:

      

Cash paid for:

      

Interest

   $ —        $ —        $ 4   
                        

Income taxes

     327        48        1,078   
                        

See Accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

 

    Common Stock     Additional
Paid in
Capital
    Deferred
Compensation
    Accumulated
Other
Comprehensive
Income (Loss)
    Accumulated
Deficit
    Total
Stockholders’
Equity
 
    Shares     Amount            
    (In thousands)  

Balance, March 31, 2008

    64,779      $ 648      $ 5,896,616      $ —        $ (4,976   $ (5,311,576   $ 580,712   
                                                       

Issuance of common stock

    1,095        11        2,437        —          —          —          2,448   

Stock-based compensation expense (including discontinued operations)

    —          —          11,440        —          —          —          11,440   

Comprehensive loss:

             

Net loss

    —          —          —          —          —          (309,333     (309,333

Foreign currency translation loss

    —          —          —          —          (240     —          (240

Unrealized loss on short-term investments, net of tax

    —          —          —          —          (1,057     —          (1,057

Total comprehensive loss

    —          —          —          —          —          —          (310,630
                                                       

Balance, March 31, 2009

    65,874      $ 659      $ 5,910,493      $ —        $ (6,273   $ (5,620,909   $ 283,970   
                                                       

Issuance of common stock

    1,291        13        2,942        —          —          —          2,955   

Repurchase of common stock

    (1,072     (11     (8,065     —          —          —          (8,076

Funding of structured stock repurchase agreements

    (689     (7     (41,790     —          —          —          (41,797

Funds received from structured stock repurchase agreements including gains

    —          —          27,751        —          —          —          27,751   

Stock-based compensation expense

    —          —          13,719        —          —          —          13,719   

FAS 115-2 implementation

    —          —          —          —          (1,134     1,134        —     

FAS 115-2 disposition release

    —          —          —          —          140        —          140   

Comprehensive income (loss):

             

Net loss

    —          —          —          —          —          (7,485     (7,485

Foreign currency translation loss

    —          —          —          —          (148     —          (148

Unrealized gain on short-term investments, net of tax

    —          —          —          —          9,845        —          9,845   

Total comprehensive income

    —          —          —          —          —          —          2,212   
                                                       

Balance, March 31, 2010

    65,404      $ 654      $ 5,905,050      $ —        $ 2,430      $ (5,627,260   $ 280,874   
                                                       

Issuance of common stock

    2,481        25        5,274        —          —          —          5,299   

Repurchase of common stock

    (3,744     (37     (40,026     —          —          —          (40,063

Funding of structured stock repurchase agreements

    (475     (5     (9,995     —          —          —          (10,000

Funds received from structured stock repurchase agreements including gains

    —          —          15,512        —          —          —          15,512   

Stock-based compensation expense*

    —          —          15,221        —          —          —          15,221   

FAS 115-2 disposition release

    —          —          —          —          858        —          858   

Comprehensive income (loss):

             

Net loss

    —          —          —          —          —          (1,006     (1,006

Foreign currency translation loss

    —          —          —          —          (485     —          (485

Unrealized loss on short-term investments, net of tax

    —          —          —          —          (4,400     —          (4,400

Total comprehensive loss

    —          —          —          —          —          —          (5,891
                                                       

Balance, March 31, 2011

    63,666      $ 637      $ 5,891,036      $ —        $ (1,597   $ (5,628,266   $ 261,810   
                                                       

 

* Veloce’s stock-based compensation expense related to warrants is included in issuance of common stock.

See Accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Business

Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (“AppliedMicro”, “APM”, “AMCC” or the “Company”) is a leader in semiconductor solutions for the enterprise, telecom and consumer/small medium business (“SMB”) markets. The Company designs, develops, markets, sells and supports high-performance low power integrated circuits (“ICs”), which are essential for the processing, transporting and storing of information worldwide. In the telecom and enterprise markets, the Company utilizes a combination of design expertise coupled with system-level knowledge and multiple technologies to offer IC products for wireline and wireless communications equipment such as wireless access points, wireless base stations, multi-function printers, enterprise and edge switches, blade servers, storage systems, gateways, core switches, routers, metro, long-haul, and ultra-long-haul transport platforms. In the consumer/SMB markets, the Company combines optimized software and system-level expertise with highly integrated semiconductors to deliver comprehensive reference designs and stand-alone semiconductor solutions for wireline and wireless communications equipment such as wireless access points, network attached storage, and residential and smart energy gateways. The Company’s corporate headquarters are located in Sunnyvale, California. Sales and engineering offices are located throughout the world.

Basis of Presentation

The consolidated financial statements include all the accounts of AppliedMicro, its wholly-owned subsidiaries and Veloce, the Company’s variable interest entity (“VIE”) of which the Company is the primary beneficiary. A VIE is required to be consolidated by its primary beneficiary. The primary beneficiary is the party that absorbs a majority of the VIE’s anticipated losses and/or a majority of the expected returns. The Company has evaluated its strategic alliances for potential classification as variable interest entities by evaluating the sufficiency of each entity’s equity investment at risk to absorb losses and the Company’s share of the respective expected losses. The Company determined that it is the primary beneficiary of one variable interest entity and has included the accounts of this entity in the consolidated financial statements (see Note 12). All significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, the Company made a correction resulting in the recognition of an asset totaling $1.2 million for unamortized mask costs incurred in prior periods as it was determined that these costs represented pre-production costs instead of research and development (“R&D”) expenses. The unamortized costs will be amortized as cost of sales over a period of approximately three years. As part of this correction, the Company recognized a reduction to R&D expenses of approximately $1.2 million. The net adjustments to make the correction to capitalize mask costs were not material to any periods affected.

On September 17, 2010, the Company completed the purchase of TPack A/S (“TPack”) for approximately $32 million in cash, exclusive of $0.5 million cash acquired, and potential additional contingent consideration of up to $5 million that will be payable upon the attainment of certain milestones. For a complete discussion, see note 13, “Acquisition of TPack A/S”.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of net revenue and expenses in the reporting period. The Company regularly evaluates estimates and assumptions related to its capitalized mask sets, which affects cost of goods sold and property and equipment or R&D expenses, if not capitalized; inventory valuation, warranty liabilities, and revenue reserves, which affects revenues, cost of sales and gross margin; allowance for doubtful accounts, which affects operating expenses; the unrealized losses or other-than-temporary impairments

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

of short-term investments available for sale, which affects interest income (expense), net; the valuation of purchased intangibles and goodwill, which affects amortization and impairments of purchased intangibles and impairments of goodwill; the contingent consideration, which affects operating expenses; the valuation of restructuring liabilities, which affects the amount and timing of restructuring charges; the potential costs of litigation, which affects operating expenses; the valuation of deferred income taxes, which affects income tax expense (benefit); and stock-based compensation, which affects gross margin and operating expenses. The Company bases its estimates and assumptions on historical experience and on various other factors that it believes to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The actual results experienced by the Company may differ materially and adversely from management’s estimates. To the extent there are material differences between the estimates and the actual results, future results of operations will be affected.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with an original maturity from the date of purchase of 90 days or less to be cash equivalents.

Investments

The Company holds a variety of securities that have varied underlying investments. The Company reviews its investment portfolio periodically to assess for other-than-temporary impairment. The Company assesses the existence of impairment of its investments in order to determine the classification of the impairment as “temporary” or “other-than-temporary”. The factors used to determine whether an impairment is temporary or other-than-temporary involves considerable judgment. The recent economic climate and volatile financial markets have created an environment in which it may be difficult to make accurate estimates and assumptions on which the Company bases its judgments. The factors considered in determining whether any individual impairment is temporary or other-than-temporary are primarily the length of the time and the extent to which the market value has been less than amortized cost, the nature of underlying assets (including the degree of collateralization), the financial condition, credit rating, market liquidity conditions and near-term prospects of the issuer. If the fair value of a debt security is less than its amortized cost basis at the balance sheet date, an assessment would have to be made as to whether the impairment is other-than-temporary. If the Company decided to sell the security, an other-than-temporary impairment shall be considered to have occurred. However, if the Company does not intend to sell the debt security, the Company shall consider available evidence to assess whether it is more likely than not, it will be required to sell the security before the recovery of its amortized cost basis due to cash, working capital requirements, contractual or regulatory obligations indicate that the security will be required to be sold before a forecasted recovery occurs. If it is more likely than not that the Company will be required to sell the security before recovery of its amortized cost basis, an other-than-temporary impairment is considered to have occurred. If the Company does not expect to recover the entire amortized cost basis of the security, the Company would not be able to assert that it will recover its amortized cost basis even if it does not intend to sell the security. Therefore, in those situations, an other-than-temporary impairment shall be considered to have occurred. Use of present value cash flow models to determine whether the entire amortized cost basis of the security will be recovered is expected. The Company will compare the present value of cash flows expected to be collected from the security with the amortized cost basis of the security. An other-than-temporary impairment is said to have occurred if the present value of cash flows expected to be collected is less than the amortized cost basis of the security. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, the Company did not record any other-than-temporary impairment charges. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, the Company did not record an impairment charge in connection with other securities in a continuous loss position (fair value less than

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

carrying value) with unrealized losses of $1.3 million as we believe that such unrealized losses are temporary. As of March 31, 2011, we also had $6.5 million in unrealized gains. For the fiscal years ended March 31, 2010 and 2009, the Company recorded other-than-temporary impairment charges of $4.1 million and $17.1 million, respectively, to current earnings.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

Short term investments are recorded at fair value in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets and are categorized based upon the level of judgment associated with inputs used to measure their fair value. In April 2009, the FASB provided additional guidance in determining fair value when the volume and level of activity for the asset or liability have significantly decreased and on identifying transactions that are not orderly for making fair value measurements more consistent and provided guidance in determining whether a market is active or inactive, and whether a transaction is distressed. ASC Subtopic 820-10 defines a three-level valuation hierarchy for disclosure of fair value measurements. The Company currently classifies inputs to derive fair values for short term investments as Level 1 and 2. Instruments classified as Level 1 include highly liquid government and agency securities, money market funds and publicly traded equity securities in active markets. Instruments classified as Level 2 include corporate notes, asset-backed securities, commercial paper, preferred stock and closed-end bond funds.

Concentration of Credit Risk

Financial instruments, which potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk, consist principally of available-for-sale securities and trade receivables. The Company believes that the credit risk in its trade receivables is mitigated by the Company’s credit evaluation process, relatively short collection terms and dispersion of its customer base. The Company generally does not require collateral and losses on trade receivables have historically been within management’s expectations.

The Company invests its excess cash in debt instruments of the U.S. Treasury, corporate bonds, mutual funds, mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, preferred stocks, and closed-end bond funds primarily with investment grade credit ratings. The Company has established guidelines relative to diversification and maturities that attempt to maintain safety, yield and liquidity. These guidelines are periodically reviewed and modified to take advantage of trends in yields and interest rates.

Inventories

The Company’s policy is to value inventories at the lower of cost or market on a part-by-part basis. This policy requires it to make estimates regarding the market value of its inventories, including an assessment of excess or obsolete inventories. The Company determines excess and obsolete inventories based on an estimate of the future demand for its products within a specified time horizon, generally 12 months. The estimates used for future demand are also used for near-term capacity planning and inventory purchasing and are consistent with revenue forecasts. If the Company’s demand forecast is greater than its actual demand the Company may be required to take additional excess inventory charges, which would decrease gross margin and net operating results. Any impairment charges taken establishes a new cost basis for the underlying inventory and the cost basis for such inventory is not marked-up on changes in circumstances until the gain is realized upon its eventual sale. This accounting is consistent with the guidance provided by SAB Topic 5-BB.

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment are stated at cost and depreciated over the estimated useful lives of the assets ranging from 1 to 31.5 years using the straight line method. Leasehold improvements are stated at cost and amortized over the shorter of the term of the related lease or its estimated useful life.

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

The Company considers events and changes in circumstances that could indicate carrying amounts of the long-lived assets, including property and equipment and intangible assets, may not be recoverable. When such events or changes in circumstances occur, the Company assesses recoverability of long-lived assets.

Goodwill, Purchased Intangible Assets and Other Long-Lived Assets

The Company conducts a goodwill impairment analysis annually and as necessary if changes in facts and circumstances indicate that the fair value of the Company’s reporting units may be less than its carrying amount. The goodwill impairment test consists of two steps. The first step requires that the estimated fair value of the reporting units is compared to the carrying value of the reporting unit’s net assets, including goodwill. If the fair value of the reporting unit is greater than the carrying value of its net assets, goodwill is not considered to be impaired and no further testing is required. If the fair value of the reporting unit is less than the carrying value of its net assets, the Company would be required to complete the second step of the test by analyzing the fair value of its goodwill. If the carrying value of the goodwill exceeds its fair value, an impairment charge is recorded. The Company recently finalized its purchase price allocation for the TPack acquisition.

The determination of fair value requires significant judgment and estimates. The Company last recorded goodwill impairment charges in the year ended March 31, 2009 of $223.0 million to continuing operations and $41.2 million to discontinued operations.

The Company’s long-lived assets consist of property, plant and equipment and other acquired intangibles, excluding goodwill. Acquired intangibles with definite lives are amortized on a straight-line basis over the remaining estimated economic life of the underlying products and technologies. The Company reviews its definite-lived long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of a long-lived asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of an asset group is measured by comparison of its carrying amount to the expected future undiscounted cash flows that the asset group is expected to generate. If it is determined that an asset group is not recoverable, an impairment loss is recorded in the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset group exceeds its fair value. In addition, the Company assesses its long-lived assets for impairment if they are abandoned.

Revenue Recognition

The Company recognizes revenue based on four basic criteria: 1) there is evidence that an arrangement exists; 2) delivery has occurred; 3) the fee is fixed or determinable; and 4) collectability is reasonably assured. The Company recognizes revenue upon determination that all criteria for revenue recognition have been met. In addition, the Company does not recognize revenue until the applicable customer’s acceptance criteria have been met. The criteria are usually met at the time of product shipment. The Company’s standard terms and conditions of sale do not allow for product returns and it generally does not allow product returns other than under warranty or stock rotation agreements. Revenue from shipments to distributors is recognized upon shipment. In addition, the Company records reductions to revenue for estimated allowances such as returns not pursuant to contractual rights, competitive pricing programs and rebates. These estimates are based on our experience with stock rotations and the contractual terms of the competitive pricing and rebate programs. Royalty revenues are recognized when cash is received only when royalty amounts cannot be reasonably estimated. Royalty revenues are based upon sales of our customer’s products that include our software.

Shipping terms are generally FCA (Free Carrier) shipping point. If actual returns or pricing adjustments exceed our estimates, we would record additional reductions to revenue.

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

From time to time the Company generates revenue from the sale of internally developed IP. The Company generally recognizes revenue from the sale of IP when all basic criteria outlined above are met which generally occurs upon cash receipt.

Research and Development

R&D costs are expensed as incurred. Substantially all R&D expenses are related to new product development and designing significant improvements to existing products.

Mask Costs

The Company incurs significant costs for the fabrication of masks used by its contract manufacturers to manufacture its products. If the Company determines, at the time the cost for the fabrication of masks are incurred, that technological feasibility of the product has been achieved, it considers the nature of these costs to be pre-production costs. Accordingly, such costs are capitalized as property and equipment under machinery and equipment and are amortized as cost of sales over approximately three years, representing the estimated production period of the product. If the Company determines, at the time fabrication mask costs are incurred, that either technological feasibility of the product has not occurred or that the mask is not reasonably expected to be used in production manufacturing or that the commercial feasibility of the product is uncertain, the related mask costs are expensed to R&D in the period in which the costs are incurred. The Company also periodically assesses capitalized mask costs for impairment. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, total mask costs of $10.8 million were incurred, of which $6.1 million was expensed as R&D expense because technological feasibility had not been achieved and the remaining $4.7 million was capitalized.

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, the Company made a correction resulting in the recognition of an asset totaling $1.2 million for unamortized mask costs incurred in prior periods as it was determined that these costs represented pre-production costs instead of R&D expenses. The unamortized costs will be amortized as cost of sales over a period of approximately three years. As part of this correction the Company recognized a reduction to R&D expenses of approximately $1.2 million. Amortization of these capitalized mask set costs that have been recognized as cost of sales during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 was approximately $0.5 million. The net adjustments to make the correction to capitalize mask costs were not material to any periods affected.

Advertising Costs

Advertising costs of $1.2 million was last expensed and incurred for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009. Advertising costs were primarily related to our Storage Business which was sold to LSI on April 21, 2009.

Stock-Based Compensation

The Company accounts for stock based compensation activity using the modified prospective method. This method requires companies to estimate the fair value of stock-based compensation on the date of grant using an option-pricing model. The Company uses the Black-Scholes model to value stock-based compensation, excluding RSUs, which we use the fair market value of our common stock. The Black-Scholes model determines the fair value of share-based payment awards based on the stock price on the date of grant and is affected by assumptions regarding a number of highly complex and subjective variables. These variables include, but are not limited to, the Company’s stock price, volatility over the term of the awards and actual and projected employee stock option exercise behaviors. Option-pricing models were developed for use in estimating the value of traded options that have no vesting or hedging restrictions and are fully transferable. Although the fair value of stock options granted by the Company is estimated by the Black-Scholes model, the estimated fair value may not be indicative of the fair value observed in a willing buyer/willing seller market transaction.

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

The following table summarizes stock-based compensation expense related to stock options and restricted stock units for the three fiscal years ended March 31, 2011, which is as follows (in thousands, except per share data):

 

     Fiscal Year Ended March 31,  
     2011      2010     2009  

Stock-based compensation expense by type of award

       

Stock options (including employee stock purchase program)

   $ 5,600       $ 4,118      $ 4,520   

Restricted stock units

     11,062         9,601        4,648   
                         

Total stock-based compensation

     16,662         13,719        9,168   

Stock-based compensation expensed from (capitalized to) inventory

     22         (37     73   
                         

Total stock-based compensation expense

   $ 16,684       $ 13,682      $ 9,241   
                         

The following table summarizes stock-based compensation expense as it relates to the Company’s statement of operations (in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Year Ended March 31,  
     2011      2010     2009  

Stock-based compensation expense by cost centers

       

Cost of revenues

   $ 628       $ 624      $ 369   

Research and development

     9,001         6,268        3,845   

Selling, general and administrative

     7,033         6,827        4,954   
                         

Total stock-based compensation

     16,662         13,719        9,168   

Stock-based compensation expensed from (capitalized to) inventory

     22         (37     73   
                         

Total stock-based compensation expense

   $ 16,684       $ 13,682      $ 9,241   
                         

The fair value of the options granted is estimated as of the grant date using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model assuming the weighted-average assumptions listed in the following table:

 

     Employee Stock Options     Employee Stock
Purchase Plans
 
     Fiscal Years Ended
March 31,
    Fiscal Years Ended
March 31,
 
     2011     2010     2009     2011     2010     2009  

Expected life (years)

     4.0        3.9        3.9        0.5        0.5        0.5   

Risk-free interest rate

     1.6     1.8     2.5     0.2     0.2     1.3

Volatility

     0.51        0.59        0.49        0.50        0.51        0.57   

Dividend yield

     —       —       —       —       —       —  

Expected forfeiture rate

     6.6     5.9     5.2     —       —       —  

Weighted average fair value

   $ 4.85      $ 3.50      $ 2.50      $ 3.09      $ 2.30      $ 1.84   

Compensation Amortization Period. All stock-based compensation is amortized over the requisite service period of the awards, which is generally the same as the vesting period of the awards. The Company amortizes the fair value cost on a straight-line basis over the expected service periods.

Expected Life. The expected life of stock options granted represents the expected weighted average period of time from the date of grant to the estimated date that the stock option would be fully exercised. To calculate the expected term, the Company utilizes historical actual exercise data and assumes that unexercised stock options would be exercised at the midpoint of the valuation date of its analysis and the full contractual term of the option.

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

Expected Volatility. Expected volatility is a measure of the amount by which the stock price is expected to fluctuate. The Company estimates the expected volatility of its stock options at their grant date by equally weighting the historical volatility and the implied volatility of its stock. The historical volatility is calculated using the weekly stock price of its stock over a recent historical period equal to its expected life. The implied volatility is calculated from the implied market volatility of exchange-traded call options on its common stock.

Risk-Free Interest Rate. The risk-free interest rate is the implied yield currently available on zero-coupon government issues with a remaining term equal to the expected life.

Expected Dividends. The Company has never paid any cash dividends on its common stock and does not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Consequently, the Company uses an expected dividend yield of zero percent in valuation models.

Expected Forfeitures. As stock-based compensation expense recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three fiscal years ended March 31, 2011 are based on awards that are ultimately expected to vest, it should be reduced for estimated forfeitures. Forfeitures are required to be estimated at the time of grant and revised, if necessary, in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates. Pre-vesting forfeiture rates were based upon the average of expected forfeiture data using the Company’s current demographics and standard probabilities of employee turnover and the annual forfeiture rate based on the Company’s historical forfeiture rates.

The weighted average fair value per share of the restricted stock units awarded in the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009 was $10.69, $6.74 and $7.73, respectively. The weighted average fair value per share was calculated based on the fair market value of the Company’s common stock on the respective grant dates.

Stock-based compensation expense will continue to have a significant adverse impact on the Company’s reported results of operations, although it will have no impact on its overall financial position. The amount of unearned stock-based compensation currently estimated to be expensed from now through fiscal 2015 related to unvested share-based payment awards at March 31, 2011 is $26.7 million, which includes stock-based compensation for Veloce, the Company’s VIE. The weighted-average period over which the unearned stock-based compensation is expected to be recognized is approximately 2.1 years. If there are any modifications or cancellations of the underlying unvested securities, the Company may be required to accelerate, increase or cancel any remaining unearned stock-based compensation expense. Future stock-based compensation expense and unearned stock-based compensation will increase to the extent that the Company grants additional equity awards or assumes unvested equity awards in connection with acquisitions.

Income Taxes

The Company utilizes the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes as set forth in ASC Subtopic 740-10 (“ASC 740-10”). Under the asset and liability method, deferred taxes are determined based on the temporary differences between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates. A valuation allowance is recorded when it is more likely than not that some or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, the Company recorded a tax charge of approximately $4.2 million to discontinued operations in connection with the sale of the Company’s 3ware storage adapter business and concurrently recorded the same amount as an income tax benefit to continuing operations. In applying the exception to the general principle of intra-period tax allocations under ASC 740-10, the Company considered income recognized both in discontinued operations and other comprehensive income. Accordingly, the allocation of the prior year tax provision included recognizing a $10.4 million tax

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

benefit arising from the loss from continuing operations. The offsetting tax expense was allocated on a pro rata basis to discontinued operations and other comprehensive income in the amounts of $4.2 million and $6.2 million, respectively, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010.

Comprehensive Income (Loss)

ASC Subtopic 220-10, (“ASC 220-10”) establishes rules for the reporting and display of comprehensive income (loss) and its components. ASC 220-10 requires the change in net unrealized gains or losses on short-term investments and foreign currency translation gains and losses to be included in comprehensive income (loss). Comprehensive income (loss) is included in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity.

Components of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) consists of (in thousands):

 

     March 31,  
     2011     2010  

Unrealized (loss) gain on investments

   $ (4,400   $ 9,845   

Cumulative implementation reclassification for prior non-credit related other-than-temporary impairment charges

     —          (1,134

Release upon disposition of investment with cumulative implementation reclassification for prior non-credit related other-than-temporary impairment charges

     858        140   

Loss on foreign currency translation

     (485     (148
                
   $ (4,027   $ 8,703   
                

Segments of a Business Enterprise

The Company operates in one reportable operating segment. ASC Subtopic 280-10, (“ASC 280-10”), establishes standards for the way public business enterprises report information about operating segments in annual consolidated financial statements and requires that those enterprises report selected information about operating segments in interim financial reports. ASC 280-10 also establishes standards for related disclosures about products and services, geographic areas and major customers. Although the Company had two operating segments at March 31, 2011 — Process and Transport, under the aggregation criteria set forth in ASC 280-10, the Company operates in only one reportable operating segment.

Under ASC 280-10, two or more operating segments may be aggregated into a single operating segment for financial reporting purposes if aggregation is consistent with the objective and basic principles of ASC 280-10, if the segments have similar economic characteristics, and if the segments are similar in each of the following areas:

 

   

the nature of products and services;

 

   

the nature of the production processes;

 

   

the type or class of customer for their products and services; and

 

   

the methods used to distribute their products or provide their services.

Because the Company meets each of the criteria set forth in ASC 280-10 and the two operating segments as of March 31, 2011 share similar economic characteristics, the Company aggregates its results of operations into one reportable operating segment.

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In April 2010, the FASB issued ASU 2010-28, When to Perform Step 2 of the Intangibles-Goodwill and Others, to provide guidance on when to perform step 2 of the goodwill impairment test for reporting units with zero or negative carrying amounts. This amendment to ASC 350 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2010 for public companies. Transition requirements specify that companies must perform the Step 2 test on adoption for reporting units with a zero or negative carrying amount for which qualitative factors exist that indicate it is more likely than not that a goodwill impairment exists. Any resulting impairment charge would be recorded through a cumulative-effect adjustment to beginning retained earnings. This amendment is not expected to have a material impact for the Company.

2. Investments

The Company classifies its short-term investments as “available-for-sale” and records such assets at the estimated fair value with unrealized gains and losses excluded from net loss and reported, net of tax, in comprehensive income (loss). The portion of such unrealized losses that are deemed to be other-than-temporary in nature are charged to the statements of operations. The basis for computing realized gains or losses is by specific identification. In addition, the Company had approximately $0.9 million in restricted cash related to its voluntary disability insurance program as of March 31, 2011 and 2010.

The following is a summary of available-for-sale securities (in thousands):

 

    March 31, 2011     March 31, 2010  
    Amortized
Cost
    Gross Unrealized     Estimated
Fair Value
    Amortized
Cost
    Gross Unrealized     Estimated
Fair Value
 
      Gains     Losses         Gains     Losses    

Cash

  $ 8,766      $ —        $ —        $ 8,766      $ 9,126      $ —        $ —        $ 9,126   

Cash equivalents

    75,636        —          —          75,636        113,400        —          —          113,400   

U.S. Treasury securities and agency bonds

    9,685        4        58        9,631        4,024        1        3        4,022   

Corporate bonds

    6,428        32        48        6,412        11,086        92        23        11,155   

Mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities*

    9,281        271        45        9,507        13,076        285        114        13,247   

Mutual funds

    17,611        —          —          17,611        —          —          —          —     

Closed-end bond funds

    29,255        5,561        1,186        33,630        36,545        7,858        105        44,298   

Preferred stock

    6,209        649        —          6,858        10,664        731        —          11,395   
                                                               
  $ 162,871      $ 6,517      $ 1,337      $ 168,051      $ 197,921      $ 8,967      $ 245      $ 206,643   
                                                               

Reported as:

               

Cash and cash equivalents

        $ 84,402            $ 122,526   

Short-term investments available-for-sale

          83,649              84,117   
                           
        $ 168,051            $ 206,643   
                           

 

* At March 31, 2011 and 2010, approximately $6.5 million and $9.6 million of the estimated fair value presented were mortgage-backed securities, respectively.

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

The established guidelines for measuring fair value and expanded disclosures regarding fair value measurements are defined as a three-level valuation hierarchy for disclosure of fair value measurements as follows:

 

Level 1 —

   Inputs are unadjusted, quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities at the measurement date.

Level 2 —

   Inputs (other than quoted market prices included in Level 1) are either directly or indirectly observable for the asset or liability through correlation with market data at the measurement date and for the duration of the instrument’s anticipated life.

Level 3 —

   Inputs reflect management’s best estimate of what market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability at the measurement date. Consideration is given to the risk inherent in the valuation technique and the risk inherent in the inputs to the model. Valuation of instruments includes unobservable inputs to the valuation methodology that are significant to the measurement of the fair value of assets or liabilities.

The following is a summary of cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale investments by type of instruments measured at fair value on a recurring basis (in thousands):

 

     March 31, 2011      March 31, 2010  
     Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total      Level 1      Level 2      Level 3      Total  

Cash

   $ 8,766       $ —         $ —         $ 8,766       $ 9,126       $ —         $ —         $ 9,126   

Cash equivalents

     75,636         —           —           75,636         113,400         —           —           113,400   

U.S. Treasury securities and agency bonds

     9,631         —           —           9,631         4,022         —           —           4,022   

Corporate bonds

     —           6,412         —           6,412         —           11,155         —           11,155   

Mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities

     —           9,507         —           9,507         —           13,247         —           13,247   

Mutual funds

     17,611         —           —           17,611         —           —           —           —     

Closed-end bond funds

     33,630         —           —           33,630         44,298         —           —           44,298   

Preferred stock

     —           6,858         —           6,858         —           11,395         —           11,395   
                                                                       
   $ 145,274       $ 22,777       $ —         $ 168,051       $ 170,846       $ 35,797       $ —         $ 206,643   
                                                                       

There were no significant transfers in and out of Level 1 and Level 2 fair value measurements during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011.

The Company periodically reviews its strategic investments for other-than-temporary declines in fair value based on the specific identification method and writes down investments when an other-than-temporary decline has occurred. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, the Company recognized an impairment charge for one of its non-marketable strategic investments of $2.0 million in other income (expense), net. The fair value was estimated on a non-recurring basis based on Level 3 inputs. The Level 3 inputs used to estimate the fair value of this investment was based on the current cash position and recent operational performance of the investee. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, the Company invested $0.3 million and $1.0 million in non-marketable equity investments and this amount was carried at cost at year end, respectively.

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

At March 31, 2011, the cost and estimated fair values of available-for-sale securities with stated maturities are U.S. Treasury securities and agency bonds, corporate bonds and mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities by contractual maturity are as follows (in thousands):

 

     Cost      Fair Value  

Less than 1 year

   $ —         $ —     

Mature in 1 – 2 years

     2,075         2,065   

Mature in 3 – 5 years

     13,991         13,902   

Mature after 5 years

     9,328         9,583   
                 
   $ 25,394       $ 25,550   
                 

The following is a summary of gross unrealized losses (in thousands):

 

     Less Than 12 Months of
Unrealized Losses
     12 Months or More of
Unrealized Losses
     Total  
As of March 31, 2011    Estimated
Fair
Value
     Gross
Unrealized
Losses
     Estimated
Fair
Value
     Gross
Unrealized
Losses
     Estimated
Fair
Value
     Gross
Unrealized
Losses
 

U.S. Treasury securities and agency bonds

   $ 6,227       $ 58       $ —         $ —         $ 6,227       $ 58   

Corporate bonds

     3,672         48         —           —           3,672         48   

Mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities

     2,105         45         —           —           2,105         45   

Closed-end bond funds

     7,951         1,186         —           —           7,951         1,186   
                                                     
   $ 19,955       $ 1,337       $ —         $ —         $ 19,955       $ 1,337   
                                                     

 

     Less Than 12 Months of
Unrealized Losses
     12 Months or More of
Unrealized Losses
     Total  
As of March 31, 2010    Estimated
Fair
Value
     Gross
Unrealized
Losses
     Estimated
Fair
Value
     Gross
Unrealized
Losses
     Estimated
Fair
Value
     Gross
Unrealized
Losses
 

U.S. Treasury securities and agency bonds

   $ 4,012       $ 3       $ —         $ —         $ 4,012       $ 3   

Corporate bonds

     1,850         23         —           —           1,850         23   

Mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities

     1,931         114         —           —           1,931         114   

Closed-end bond funds

     7,821         105         —           —           7,821         105   
                                                     
   $ 15,614       $ 245       $ —         $ —         $ 15,614       $ 245   
                                                     

Other-Than-Temporary Impairment

Based on an evaluation of securities that have been in a loss position, the Company did not recognize an other-than-temporary impairment charge, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011. The Company considered various factors which included its intent and ability to hold the underlying securities until its estimated recovery of amortized cost. The other-than-temporary impairment charge for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009 was zero, approximately $4.1 million and $17.1 million, respectively. As of March 31, 2011 and 2010, the Company also had $6.5 million and $9.0 million in gross unrealized gains, respectively. The basis for computing realized gains or losses is by specific identification.

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

3. Certain Financial Statement Information

Accounts receivable:

 

     March 31,  
     2011     2010  
     (In thousands)  

Accounts receivable

   $ 21,321      $ 23,607   

Less: allowance for bad debts

     (1,324     (715
                
   $ 19,997      $ 22,892   
                

Inventories:

 

     March 31,  
     2011      2010  
     (In thousands)  

Finished goods

   $ 21,255       $ 12,888   

Work in process

     4,334         1,668   

Raw materials

     972         831   
                 
   $ 26,561       $ 15,387   
                 

Other current assets:

 

     March 31,  
     2011      2010  
     (In thousands)  

Prepaid expenses+

   $ 12,972       $ 7,882   

Executive deferred compensation assets

     2,003         3,213   

Deposits

     749         812   

Strategic investment*

     —           5,369   

Other

     1,060         822   
                 
   $ 16,784       $ 18,098   
                 

 

+ The increase is primarily due to a payment pursuant to a multi-year IP licensing agreement.
* The Company had a strategic investment in an investee that was acquired in April 2010 and this investment was liquidated.

Property and equipment:

 

     Useful
Life
     March 31,  
        2011     2010  
     (In years)      (In thousands)  

Machinery and equipment*

     5-7       $ 29,837      $ 29,252   

Leasehold improvements

     1-15         12,783        9,931   

Computers, office furniture and equipment

     3-7         37,664        43,789   

Buildings

     31.5         2,756        2,756   

Land

     N/A         9,800        9,800   
                   
        92,840        95,528   

Less: accumulated depreciation and amortization

        (60,817     (69,649
                   
      $ 32,023      $ 25,879   
                   

 

* Includes capitalized mask set costs

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

Goodwill and purchased intangible assets:

Goodwill is as follows (in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011     2010     2009  

Beginning balance, gross

   $ 4,441,026      $ 4,441,026      $ 4,441,026   

Accumulated amortization and impairments

     (4,441,026     (4,441,026     (4,176,896

Beginning balance, net

     —          —          264,130   

Impairment charges to continuing operations

     —          —          (222,972

Impairment charges to discontinued operations

     —          —          (41,158

Goodwill related to TPack acquisition (see note 13)

     13,183       —          —     
                        

Ending balance

   $ 13,183     $ —        $ —     
                        

Purchase-related intangibles were as follows (in thousands):

 

    March 31, 2011     March 31, 2010  
    Gross     Accumulated
Amortization
and
Impairments
    Net     Weighted
average
remaining
useful life
    Gross     Accumulated
Amortization
and
Impairments
    Net     Weighted
average
remaining
useful life
 

Developed technology/in-process research and development

  $ 441,300      $ (425,502   $ 15,798        5.2      $ 425,000      $ (413,625   $ 11,375        1.1   

Customer relationships

    12,830        (6,581     6,249        3.5        6,330        (5,226     1,104        4.4   

Patents/core technology rights/tradename

    63,206        (61,865     1,341        1.5        62,305        (57,934     4,371        1.2   
                                                   
  $ 517,336      $ (493,948   $ 23,388        $ 493,635      $ (476,785   $ 16,850     
                                                   

The change in gross carrying amount of the purchased intangible assets of approximately $23.7 million, was due to the acquisition of TPack (see Note 13).

The estimated future amortization expense of purchased intangible assets to be charged to cost of sales and operating expenses as of March 31, 2011, is as follows (in thousands):

 

     Cost of
Sales*
     Operating
Expenses
     Total  

Fiscal Years Ending March 31, 2012

   $ 3,434       $ 3,202       $ 6,636   

2013

     2,558         1,926         4,484   

2014

     2,558         1,189         3,747   

2015

     2,558         904         3,462   

2016

     2,558         369         2,927   

2017 and thereafter

     1,182         —           1,182   
                          

Total

   $ 14,848       $ 7,590       $ 22,438   
                          

 

* The amounts do not include approximately $1.0 million in in-process research and development.

 

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Table of Contents

APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

Other Assets:

 

     March 31,  
     2011      2010  
     (In thousands)  

Non-current portion of prepaid expenses

   $ 7,340       $ 9,295   

Strategic investments

     1,330         1,000   
                 
   $ 8,670       $ 10,295   
                 

Strategic Investments

The Company has entered into certain equity investments in privately held businesses for the promotion of business and strategic objectives. The Company’s investments in equity securities of privately held businesses are accounted for under the cost method. Under the cost method, strategic investments in which the Company holds less than a 20% voting interest and on which the Company does not have the ability to exercise significant influence are carried at the lower of cost or cost reduced by other-than-temporary impairments, as appropriate. These investments are included in other assets on the Company’s condensed consolidated balance sheets. The Company periodically reviews these investments for other-than-temporary declines in fair value based on the specific identification method and writes down investments when an other-than-temporary decline has occurred

Other accrued liabilities:

 

     March 31,  
     2011      2010  
     (In thousands)  

Employee related liabilities

   $ 2,306       $ 2,052   

Executive deferred compensation

     2,003         3,213   

Income taxes

     1,157         426   

Professional fees

     735         1,114   

Contingent consideration

     3,150         —     

Restructuring liabilities

     —           583   

Other

     3,397         2,218   
                 
   $ 12,748       $ 9,606   
                 

Warranty Reserves:

The Company’s products typically carry a one year warranty. The Company establishes reserves for estimated product warranty costs at the time revenue is recognized. Although the Company engages in extensive product quality programs and processes, its warranty obligation is affected by product failure rates, use of materials and service delivery costs incurred in correcting any product failure. Should actual product failure rates, use of materials or service delivery costs differ from the Company’s estimates, additional warranty reserves could be required, which could reduce its gross margin.

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

The following table summarizes warranty reserve activity (in thousands):

 

     Year Ended March 31,  
         2011             2010      

Beginning balance

   $ 169      $ 1,285   

Charged to (reductions in) costs of revenues*

     222        (766

Charges incurred

     (215     (350
                

Ending balance

   $ 176      $ 169   
                

 

* The amounts in the year ended March 31, 2010 include a $0.8 million reduction in warranty reserve related to the sale of our 3ware storage adapter business which was settled for $0.5 million.

Interest income (expense), net and other-than-temporary impairment:

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011      2010     2009  
     (In thousands)  

Interest income

   $ 6,163       $ 6,207      $ 9,753   

Net realized gain (loss) on short-term investments

     3,727         1,380        (682

Impairments of short-term investments and marketable securities

     —           (4,147     (17,144
                         
   $ 9,890       $ 3,440      $ (8,073
                         

Other income, net:

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
       2011          2010         2009    
     (In thousands)  

Impairment of strategic investment

   $ —         $ (2,000   $ —     

Net gain (loss) on disposals of property

     323         (103     (51

Other, net

     474         552        543   
                         
   $ 797       $ (1,551   $ 492   
                         

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

Net loss per share:

Shares used in basic net loss per share are computed using the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during each period. Shares used in diluted net income per share include the dilutive effect of common shares potentially issuable upon the exercise of stock options, vesting of restricted stock units (“RSUs”) and outstanding warrants. However, potentially issuable common shares are not used in computing diluted net loss per share as their effect would be anti-dilutive due to the loss recorded during the periods presented. The reconciliation of shares used to calculate basic and diluted net loss per share consists of the following (in thousands, except per share data):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011     2010     2009  

Net income (loss):

      

From continuing operations

   $ (1,006   $ (13,597   $ (261,098

From discontinued operations, net of taxes

     —          6,112        (48,235
                        

Net loss

   $ (1,006   $ (7,485   $ (309,333
                        

Shares used in net income (loss) per share computation:

      

Weighted average common shares outstanding

     65,160        66,006        65,271   

Net effect of dilutive common share equivalents

     —          —          —     
                        

Shares used in basic and diluted net loss per share computation

     65,160        66,006        65,271   
                        

Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share:

      

From continuing operations

   $ (0.02   $ (0.21   $ (4.00

From discontinued operations, net of taxes

     —          0.10        (0.74
                        

Net loss per share

   $ (0.02   $ (0.11   $ (4.74
                        

The effect of dilutive securities (comprised of options and restricted stock units) totaling 5.7 million, 8.5 million and 9.8 million equivalent shares for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively, have been excluded from the net loss per share computation, as their impact would be anti-dilutive because the Company has incurred losses in the periods presented.

4. Stockholders’ Equity

Preferred Stock

The Certificate of Incorporation allows for the issuance of up to two million shares of preferred stock in one or more series and to fix the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions thereof, including dividend rights, dividend rates, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption, redemption prices, liquidation preferences, and the number of shares constituting any series of the designation of such series, without further vote or action by the stockholders.

Common Stock

At March 31, 2011 the Company had 375.0 million shares authorized for issuance and approximately 63.7 million shares issued and outstanding. At March 31, 2010, there were approximately 65.4 million shares issued and outstanding.

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

Stock Repurchase Program

In August 2004, the Board authorized a stock repurchase program for the repurchase of up to $200.0 million of the Company’s common stock. Under the program, the Company is authorized to make purchases in the open market or enter into structured stock repurchase agreements. In October 2008, the Board increased the stock repurchase program by $100.0 million. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, 3.7 million shares were repurchased on the open market at a weighted average price of $10.70 per share. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, 1.1 million shares were repurchased on the open market at a weighted average price of $7.54 per share. From the time the program was first implemented in August 2004, the Company has repurchased on the open market a total of 13.7 million shares at a weighted average price of $11.13 per share. All repurchased shares were retired upon delivery to the Company. In November 2010, the Company entered into a Rule 10b5-1 plan to repurchase up to 1.0 million shares of its common stock at various price parameters. The plan expired in February 2011 when the Company completed its repurchases of the 1.0 million shares at a weighted average price of $10.05. In February 2011, the Company entered into another Rule 10b5-1 plan to repurchase up to 3.0 million shares of its common stock at various price parameters. This plan will expire on July 31, 2011. As of March 31, 2011, the Company repurchased approximately 0.7 million shares at a weighted average price of $10.01 per share under this Rule 10b5-1 plan.

The Company also utilizes structured stock repurchase agreements to buy back shares which are prepaid written put options on its common stock. The Company pays a fixed sum of cash upon execution of each agreement in exchange for the right to receive either a pre-determined amount of cash or stock depending on the closing market price of its common stock on the expiration date of the agreement. Upon expiration of each agreement, if the closing market price of its common stock is above the pre-determined price, the Company will have its cash investment returned with a premium. If the closing market price is at or below the pre-determined price, the Company will receive the number of shares specified at the agreement inception. The Company considers the guidance in ASC Topic 480-10, Accounting for Certain Financial Instruments with Characteristics of both Liabilities and Equity and ASC Topic 815-40, Accounting for Derivative Financial Instruments Indexed to, and Potentially Settled in, a Company’s Own Stock. Any cash received, including the premium, is treated as additional paid-in capital on the balance sheet.

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, the Company entered into structured stock repurchase agreements totaling $10.0 million. For those agreements that had been settled during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, the Company received $15.5 million in cash and 0.5 million in shares of its common stock at an effective purchase price of $10.01 per share from the settled structured stock repurchase agreements. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, the Company entered into structured repurchase agreements totaling $41.8 million. For those agreements that settled during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, the Company received $27.8 million in cash and 0.7 million in shares of its common stock at an effective purchase price of $7.25 per share from the settled structured stock repurchase agreements. At March 31, 2011, the Company had no outstanding structured stock repurchase agreements. From the inception of the Company’s most recent stock repurchase program in August 2004, it entered into structured stock repurchase agreements totaling $267.5 million. Upon settlement of these agreements, as of March 31, 2011, the Company received $179.8 million in cash and 9.0 million shares of its common stock at an effective purchase price of $9.79 per share.

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

The table below is a plan-to-date summary of the Company’s repurchase program activity as of March 31, 2011 (in thousands, except per share data):

 

     Aggregate
Price
     Repurchased
Shares
     Average Price
Per Share
 

Stock repurchase program

        

Authorized amount

   $ 300,000         —         $ —     

Open market repurchases

     152,106         13,671         11.13   

Structured stock repurchase agreements*

     100,517         8,962         11.22   
                          

Total repurchases

   $ 252,623         22,633       $ 11.16   
                          

Available for repurchase

   $ 47,377         
              

 

* The amounts above do not include gains recorded to additional paid-in-capital of $12.8 million from structured stock repurchase agreements which settled in cash. The average price per share for structured stock repurchase agreements adjusted for gains from settlements in cash would have been $9.79 per share and for total repurchases would have been $10.60 per share.

Stock Options

The Company has granted stock options to employees and non-employee directors under several plans. These option plans include two stockholder-approved plans (the 1992 Stock Option Plan and 1997 Directors’ Stock Option Plan) and four plans not approved by stockholders (the 2000 Equity Incentive Plan, Cimaron Communications Corporation’s 1998 Stock Incentive Plan assumed in the fiscal 1999 merger, and JNI Corporation’s 1997 and 1999 Stock Option Plans assumed in the fiscal 2004 merger). Certain other outstanding options were assumed through the Company’s various acquisitions.

The Board has delegated administration of the Company’s equity plans to the Compensation Committee, which generally determines eligibility, vesting schedules and other terms for awards granted under the plans. Options under the plans expire not more than ten years from the date of grant and are generally exercisable upon vesting. Vesting generally occurs over four years. New hire grants generally vest and become exercisable at the rate of 25% on the first anniversary of the date of grant and ratably on a monthly basis over a period of 36 months thereafter; subsequent option grants to existing employees generally vest and become exercisable ratably on a monthly basis over a period of 48 months measured from the date of grant.

In May 2009, Dr. Gopi, our CEO, was awarded 300,000 stock options for “Extraordinary Accomplishment.” The Black-Scholes value of these stock options is $1.1 million. These options will vest only if Company performance milestones are satisfied; otherwise they will expire unvested. The first milestone for 75,000 shares will vest only if we achieve an annual revenue target of $270 million or more for any fiscal year from fiscal 2010 through fiscal 2013. The next milestone for another 75,000 shares will vest only if we achieve an annual revenue target of $310 million or more for any fiscal year from fiscal 2010 through fiscal 2013 or an annual revenue target of $350 million or more for fiscal 2014. The last milestone for 150,000 shares will vest only if we achieve an annual operating margin of 13.5% of annual revenue or higher in fiscal 2013 or 15% or higher for any fiscal year from fiscal 2010 through fiscal 2012. The Company evaluates the probability of achieving the milestones and adjusts any stock option expense accordingly.

At March 31, 2011, 2010, and 2009 there were no shares of common stock subject to repurchase. Options are granted at prices at least equal to fair value of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant.

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

A summary of the Company’s stock option activity and related information is as follows (options in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011      2010      2009  
     Options     Weighted
Average
Exercise
Price
     Options     Weighted
Average
Exercise
Price
     Options     Weighted
Average
Exercise
Price
 

Outstanding at the beginning of the year

     6,310      $ 11.76         7,923      $ 13.60         9,214      $ 17.57   

Granted and assumed

     599        11.89         1,141        7.55         2,410        6.21   

Exercised

     (549     7.32         (407     4.92         (53     2.02   

Forfeited

     (970     13.60         (2,347     17.09         (3,648     18.90   
                                                  

Outstanding at the end of the year

     5,390      $ 11.90         6,310      $ 11.76         7,923      $ 13.60   
                                                  

Vested and expected to vest at the end of the year

     5,288      $ 11.96         6,156      $ 11.88         7,594      $ 13.85   
                                                  

Vested at the end of the year

     3,810      $ 13.35         4,125      $ 14.21         5,042      $ 17.04   
                                                  

While the Company’s stock options outstanding at the end of the year have decreased since the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, there has been a corresponding increase in the Company’s restricted stock unit activity. See “Restricted Stock Units.”

The following is a further breakdown of the options outstanding at March 31, 2011 (options in thousands):

 

Range of Exercise Prices

   Options
Outstanding
     Weighted
Average
Remaining
Contractual
Life
     Weighted
Average
Exercise Price
     Options
Exercisable
     Weighted
Average
Exercise Price
 

$  0.52 - $    7.12

     1,114         4.76       $ 6.17         401       $ 5.77   

    7.13 -       8.56

     1,130         5.49         7.85         731         7.84   

    8.57 -     12.84

     1,700         3.61         12.25         1,232         12.37   

  12.85 -     22.60

     1,087         2.61         14.50         1,087         14.50   

  22.61 -   152.25

     359         1.60         32.91         359         32.91   
                                            

$  0.52 - $152.25

     5,390         3.90       $ 11.90         3,810       $ 13.35   
                                            

As of March 31, 2011, the aggregate pre-tax intrinsic value of options outstanding and exercisable was $3.7 million and options outstanding was $7.6 million. The aggregate pre-tax intrinsic value of options exercised during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 was $2.1 million.

Restricted Stock Units

The Company has granted restricted stock units (“RSUs”) pursuant to its 2000 Equity Incentive Plan as part of its regular annual employee equity compensation review program as well as to new hires. RSUs are share awards that, upon vesting, will deliver to the holder shares of the Company’s common stock. Generally, RSUs vest ratably on a quarterly basis over four years from the date of grant. For employees hired after May 15, 2006, RSUs will vest on a quarterly basis over four years from the date of hire provided that no shares will vest during the first year of employment, at the end of which the shares that would have vested during that year will vest and the remaining shares will vest over the remaining 12 quarters.

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

In May 2009, the Company issued three-year RSU grants, or “EBITDA Grants.” Vesting for the EBITDA Grants is subject to (i) the Company’s performance as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”), and (ii) individual performance as measured by the accomplishment of goals and objectives. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, approximately 36% of the three-year performance pool is expected to vest because the Company’s performance exceeded its “stretch” EBITDA target. Approximately 34% vested for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, up to 30% of the remaining three-year performance pool can vest, after adjusting for individual performance factors. The Company evaluates the probability of achieving the milestones and adjusts any RSU expense which is included in stock-based compensation expense.

A summary of the Company’s restricted stock unit activity and related information in the three fiscal years ended March 31, 2011 is as follows (shares in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011     2010     2009  

Outstanding at the beginning of the year

     3,687        1,467        1,200   

Awarded during the year

     1,584        3,716        1,271   

Vested during the year

     (1,557     (624     (559

Cancelled during the year

     (640     (872     (445
                        

Outstanding at the end of the year

     3,074        3,687        1,467   
                        

The weighted average remaining contractual term for the restricted stock units outstanding as of March 31, 2011 was 1.9 years.

As of March 31, 2011, the aggregate pre-tax intrinsic value of restricted stock units outstanding was $31.9 million and the aggregate pre-tax intrinsic value of restricted stock units released during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 was $16.6 million.

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

The Company has in effect an employee stock purchase plan under which 4.8 million shares of common stock was reserved for issuance. In August 2010, the Company’s stockholders approved the proposal to increase the number of shares reserved for issuance to 6.3 million shares. Under the terms of this plan, purchases are made semiannually and the purchase price of the common stock is equal to 85% of the fair market value of the common stock on the first or last day of the offering period, whichever is lower. During the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, 0.4 million shares were issued each year under this plan. At March 31, 2011, 5.3 million shares had been issued under this plan and 1.0 million shares were available for future issuance.

Warrants

On May 17, 2009, the Company entered into a merger and other agreements with Veloce Technologies, Inc. (“Veloce”) pursuant to which Veloce has agreed, among other things, to perform development work for the Company on an exclusive basis for up to five years for cash and other consideration, including a warrant to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock. The warrant vesting schedule was amended in conjunction with the amended merger agreement on November 8, 2010.

The warrant expires on July 15, 2014 and has an exercise price of $0.01 per share. The warrant was 28% vested as of March 31, 2011. The remaining shares will vest quarterly through December 2012. A portion of the vested shares have been committed to be distributed to the employees of Veloce and will be settled in cash

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

instead of common stock. Veloce will sell the committed shares and distribute the proceeds to its employees. Therefore, the Company has recognized stock-based compensation expense which is included in R&D expense and recorded a corresponding liability for the amount to be distributed as of March 31, 2011. No stock-based compensation expense has been recognized for the portion of the warrants that have been retained by Veloce.

Common Shares Reserved for Future Issuance

At March 31, 2011, the Company has the following shares of common stock reserved for issuance upon the exercise of equity instruments (in thousands):

 

Options granted and outstanding

     5,390   

Restricted Stock Units

     3,074   

Options and RSUs authorized for future grants

     6,164   

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

     1,012   

Warrants outstanding

     474   
        
     16,114   
        

5. Income Taxes

Loss from continuing operations before income tax consists of the following (in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011     2010     2009  

Loss from continuing operations before income tax:

      

Domestic income (loss)

   $ 536      $   (26,229   $ (265,348

Foreign income (loss)

         (1,143     2,022        304   
                        
   $ (607   $ (24,207   $ (265,044
                        

Income tax expense (benefit) from continuing operations consists of the following (in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011     2010     2009  

Current:

      

Federal

   $ (17   $   (10,078   $ (375

Foreign

              285        213        311   

State

     131        (745     75   
                        

Total Current

     399        (10,610               11   

Deferred:

      

Federal

     —          —          (3,370

State

     —          —          (587
                        

Total Deferred

     —          —          (3,957
                        
   $ 399      $ (10,610   $ (3,946
                        

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

The provision (benefit) for income taxes reconciles to the amount computed by applying the federal statutory rate (35%) to loss before income taxes as follows for continuing operations (in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011     2010     2009  
     $     %     $     %     $     %  

Tax at federal statutory rate

   $ (212     35   $ (8,473     35   $ (92,767     35

Tax benefit from loss from continuing operations

     —          —          (10,386     43        —          —     

Goodwill

     —          —          —          —          57,807        (22

Other Permanent Differences

     1,903        (314     1,144        (5     —          —     

State taxes, net of federal benefit

     (30     5        (903     4        (9,899     4   

Federal tax credits

     (3,010     496        (1,746     7        (337     —     

State tax credits

     (409     67        (295     1        (1,110     —     

Valuation allowance

     1,441        (237     9,706        (40     39,532        (15

Change in contingency reserve

     94        (15 )     (36     —          123        —     

Other

     622        (102     379        (2     2,705        (1
                                                
   $ 399        (66 )%    $ (10,610     43   $ (3,946     1
                                                

Significant components of the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities for federal and state income taxes are as shown below (in thousands):

 

     March 31,  
     2011     2010  

Deferred tax assets:

    

Net operating loss carryforwards

   $ 278,615      $ 273,649   

Research and development credit carryforwards

     74,061        69,546   

Inventory write-downs and other reserves

     8,459        14,234   

Capitalization of research and development costs

     9,071        12,059   

Goodwill

     9,154        9,760   

Intangible assets

     53,153        53,026   

Investment impairment

     8,748        8,716   

Stock-based compensation

     27,071        27,088   

Other

     589        3,165   
                

Total deferred tax assets

     468,921        471,243   

Deferred tax liabilities:

    

Depreciation and amortization

     (7,155     (2,533

Intangible assets

     (494     (824
                

Net deferred tax asset

     461,272        467,886   

Valuation allowance

     (461,272     (467,886
                
   $ —        $ —     
                

Deferred tax liability — goodwill amortization

     —          —     
                
   $ —        $ —     
                

At March 31, 2011, the Company has federal and state R&D tax credit carryforwards of approximately $89.7 million and $49.8 million, respectively, which begin to expire in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013 unless previously utilized. The Company also has federal and state net operating loss carryforwards of

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

approximately $1,013.6 million and $591.7 million, respectively, which will begin to expire in fiscal year 2018 and fiscal year 2013, respectively. Federal and state laws impose restrictions on the utilization of net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards in the event of an “ownership change” for tax purposes as defined by Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code. The Company has completed a Section 382 analysis regarding the limitation of net operating loss and R&D tax credit carryforwards. There were no ownership changes identified.

As a result of the adoption of ASC 718-10, the Company recognizes tax benefits associated with the exercise of stock options directly to stockholders’ equity only when realized. Accordingly, deferred tax assets are not recognized for net operating loss carryforwards resulting from tax benefits occurring from April 1, 2006 onward. A windfall tax benefit occurs when the actual tax benefit realized upon an employee’s disposition of a share-based award exceeds the deferred tax asset, if any, associated with the award.

The Company has established a valuation allowance against its net deferred tax assets, due to uncertainty regarding their future realization. In assessing the realizability of its deferred tax assets, management considers cumulative losses, the scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities, projected future taxable income, and tax planning strategies. Based on the projections for future taxable income over the periods in which the deferred tax assets are realizable and the full utilization of the Company’s loss carryback potential, management concluded that a full valuation allowance should be recorded in 2011, 2010 and 2009.

The Company adopted the provisions of ASC 740-10 as it relates to accounting for uncertainty in income taxes, on April 1, 2007. The adoption of ASC 740-10 was not material to the financial statements due to a full valuation allowance against deferred tax assets. The total amount of unrecognized tax benefits as of the date of adoption was $37.4 million, including interest and penalties.

The following is a tabular reconciliation of the Unrecognized Tax Benefits activity during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011 (in thousands):

 

Opening Balance

   $ 38,719   

Gross increases — tax positions in prior period

     650   

Gross increases — current-period tax positions

     1,245   
        

Ending Balance

   $ 40,614   
        

If recognized, approximately $0.5 million of the $40.6 million of unrecognized tax benefits would affect the Company’s effective tax rate.

The Company recognizes interest accrued related to unrecognized tax benefits in interest expense and penalties in income tax expense. As of March 31, 2011, the Company has recognized $0.1 million of accrued interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions.

The Company is subject to taxation in the U.S. and various states and foreign jurisdictions.

Effectively, all of the Company’s historical tax years are subject to examination by the Internal Revenue Service and various state jurisdictions due to the generation of net operating loss and credit carryforwards. With few exceptions, the Company is no longer subject to foreign examinations by tax authorities for years before 2007.

The Company does not foresee significant changes to its unrecognized tax benefits within the next twelve months.

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

6. Restructuring Charges

The Company recognizes restructuring costs associated with exit or disposal activities. Cost relating to facilities closure or lease commitments are recognized when the facility has been exited. Termination costs are recognized when the cost are deemed both probably and estimable. Over the last several years, the Company has undertaken significant restructuring activities under several plans in an effort to reduce operating costs. A combined summary of the activity of the restructuring programs initiated by the Company is as follows (in thousands):

 

     Workforce
Reduction
    Facilities
Consolidation
and
Operating
Lease
Commitments
    Property and
Equipment
Impairments
and Contract
Cancellations
    Total  

Liability, March 31, 2009

   $ 1,568      $ 1,074      $ 1,500      $ 4,142   
                                

Charged to continuing operations

     666        —          359        1,025   

Cash payments

     (1,687     (759     (1,500     (3,946

Non-cash charges

     —          —          (359     (359

Reductions to estimated liability

     (154     (125     —          (279
                                

Liability, March 31, 2010

   $ 393      $ 190      $ —        $ 583   
                                

Charged to continuing operations

     486        112        —          598   

Cash payments

     (831     (284     —          (1,115

Reductions to estimated liability

     (48     (18     —          (66
                                

Liability, March 31, 2011

   $ —        $ —        $ —        $ —     
                                

 

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NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

The following table provides detailed activity related to the restructuring programs as of March 31, 2011 (in thousands):

 

     Workforce
Reduction
    Facilities
Consolidation
and
Operating
Lease
Commitments
    Property and
Equipment
Impairments
and Contract
Cancellations
    Total  

Prior Fiscal Years’ Completed Restructuring Programs:

        

Liability, March 31, 2009

   $ 94      $ 282      $ —        $ 376   
                                

Cash payments

     —          (282     —          (282

Reductions to estimated liability

     (94     —          —          (94
                                

Liability, March 31, 2010

   $ —        $ —        $ —        $ —     
                                

February 2009 Restructuring Program

        

Liability, March 31, 2009

   $ 1,474      $ 792      $ 1,500      $ 3,766   
                                

Cash payments

     (1,414     (477     (1,500     (3,391

Reductions to estimated liability

     (60     (125     —          (185
                                

Liability, March 31, 2010

   $ —        $ 190      $ —        $ 190   
                                

Charged to continuing operations

     —          90        —          90   

Cash payments

     —          (262     —          (262

Reductions to estimated liability

     —          (18     —          (18
                                

Liability, March 31, 2011

   $ —        $ —        $ —        $ —     
                                

January 2010 Restructuring Program

        

Charged to continuing operations

   $ 666      $ —        $ 359      $ 1,025   

Cash payments

     (273     —          —          (273

Non-cash charges

     —          —          (359     (359
                                

Liability, March 31, 2010

   $ 393      $ —        $ —        $ 393   
                                

Charged to continuing operations

     486        22        —          508   

Cash payments

     (831     (22     —          (853

Reductions to estimated liability

     (48     —          —          (48
                                

Liability, March 31, 2011

   $ —        $ —        $ —        $ —     
                                

Prior Fiscal Years’ Completed Restructuring Programs

The March 2008 restructuring program was implemented to reduce job redundancies and consisted of the elimination of 20 positions. As a result of the March 2008 restructuring program, the Company recorded a net charge of $1.6 million, consisting of $0.4 million for employee severances, $0.9 million for operating lease impairment and $0.3 million for an asset impairment. During fiscal 2009, the Company paid down part of its remaining liabilities related to this restructuring program and recorded a reversal for part of its liabilities which was no longer required to complete the restructuring activities. During fiscal 2010, the Company paid all remaining liabilities related to this restructuring program.

The September 2008 restructuring program was implemented to realign and focus the Company’s resources on its core competencies and consisted of the elimination of 30 positions. As a result of the September 2008 restructuring program, the Company recorded a net charge of $1.2 million to continuing operations and $0.1

 

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NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

million to discontinued operations. During fiscal 2009, the Company paid down part of its remaining liabilities related to this restructuring program. During fiscal 2010, the Company recorded a reversal of approximately $0.1 million for the remaining restructuring liability accrual, which was no longer required to complete the restructuring activities.

February 2009 Restructuring Program

The February 2009 restructuring program was implemented to reduce its expenses and excess capacity in response to the worsening economic conditions. The restructuring program consisted of the elimination of approximately 100 positions. As a result of the February 2009 restructuring program, the Company recorded a net charge of $7.8 million, consisting of $4.7 million for employee severances, $0.8 million for operating lease impairments, $1.5 million in contract cancellation charges for a cancelled project and $0.8 million for an asset impairment.

January 2010 Restructuring Program

The January 2010 restructuring program was implemented as part of the Company’s ongoing cost reduction efforts and to better align its global operations to achieve greater efficiencies. The Company moved some of its functions offshore, which will allow it to be much closer to its third party subcontract manufacturers, thus reducing costs by taking advantage of its global cost structure and improving efficiencies by eliminating the delays inherent in working in different time zones. The January 2010 restructuring plan includes eliminating or relocating 63 positions. As a result of the January 2010 restructuring program, the Company recorded a charge of $1.0 million, consisting of $0.6 million for employee severances and $0.4 million for an asset impairment in fiscal 2010. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, the Company recorded an additional charge of $0.5 million for employee severances.

7. Commitments

The Company leases certain of its facilities under long-term operating leases, which expire at various dates through the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014. The lease agreements frequently include renewal or other provisions, which require the Company to pay taxes, insurance, maintenance costs or defined rent increases. The Company also leases certain engineering design software tools under non-cancelable operating leases.

The following table summarizes the Company’s contractual operating leases as of March 31, 2011 (in thousands):

 

     Operating
Leases
 

Fiscal Years Ending March 31, 2012

   $ 14,643   

2013

     2,271   

2014

     95   

2015 and thereafter

     —     
        

Total minimum payments

   $ 17,009   
        

The Company did not have any off balance sheet arrangements at March 31, 2011.

Rent expense (including short-term leases and net of sublease income) for the years ended March 31, 2011, 2010, and 2009 was $2.9 million, $3.0 million, and $3.1 million, respectively.

 

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NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

8. Employee Retirement Plan

Effective January 1, 1986, the Company established a 401(k) defined contribution retirement plan (“Retirement Plan”) covering all full-time employees. The Retirement Plan provides for voluntary employee contributions from 1% to 20% of annual compensation, subject to a maximum limit allowed by Internal Revenue Service guidelines. The Company may contribute such amounts as determined by the Board. Employer contributions vest to participants at a rate of 33% per year of service for the first three years of service and 100% thereafter for each year of service. The total contributions to the plan charged to operations totaled zero, zero, and $0.7 million for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

9. Significant Customer and Geographic Information

Based on direct shipments, net revenues to customers that was equal to or greater than 10% of total net revenues in any of the three fiscal years ended March 31, 2011 were as follows:

 

     2011     2010     2009  

Avnet (distributor)

     29     30     25

Hon Hai (sub-contract manufacturer)

     14     13     *   

 

* Less than 10% of total net revenues for period indicated.

Net revenues by geographic region were as follows (in thousands):

 

     Fiscal Years Ended March 31,  
     2011      2010      2009  

United States of America

   $ 81,113       $ 68,817       $ 63,619   

Taiwan

     45,489         33,118         27,401   

Hong Kong

     24,747         16,171         12,365   

China

     9,030         15,427         26,652   

Europe

     45,714         35,372         34,102   

Other Asia

     38,765         28,143         32,359   

Other

     2,852         8,550         17,718   
                          
   $ 247,710       $ 205,598       $ 214,216   
                          

As of March 31, 2011 and 2010, long-lived assets, which represent property, plant and equipment, goodwill and intangible assets, net of accumulated depreciation and amortization, located outside the Americas were not material.

10. Contingencies

Legal Proceedings

The Company acquired JNI Corporation (“JNI”) in October 2003. In November 2001, a class action lawsuit was filed against JNI and the underwriters of its initial and secondary public offerings of common stock in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, case no. 01 Civ 10740 (SAS). The complaint alleged that defendants violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), in connection with JNI’s public offerings. This lawsuit was among more than 300 class action lawsuits pending in this District Court that have come to be known as the “IPO laddering cases.” Pursuant to In re Initial Public Offering

 

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NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

Securities Litigation, No. 21 MC 92 (SAS), in mid-2009 a settlement was reached in all of the cases. In October 2009, the Court issued an order granting final approval of the settlement and dismissing the case. The settlement did not have a material impact on the Company. The Court subsequently issued a final judgment. Several appeals of the settlement and judgment were filed between October 29 and November 4, 2009. Should the settlement be overturned on appeal and the final judgment vacated, the Company’s liability, if any, could not be reasonably estimated at this time.

In 1993, the Company was named as a Potentially Responsible Party (“PRP”) along with more than 100 other companies that used an Omega Chemical Corporation waste treatment facility in Whittier, California (the “Omega Site”). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has alleged that Omega failed to properly treat and dispose of certain hazardous waste materials at the Omega Site. The Company is a member of a large group of PRPs, known as the Omega Chemical Site PRP Organized Group (“OPOG”), that has agreed to fund certain on-going remediation efforts at the Omega Site. In February 2001, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California approved a consent decree between the EPA and the OPOG to study contamination and evaluate cleanup options at the Omega Site. In January 2009, the District Court ordered that two amendments be entered and made part of the consent decree, the first expanding the scope of work to mitigate volatile organic compounds affecting indoor air quality near the Omega Site and the second adding settling parties to the consent decree. In November 2007, Angeles Chemical Company filed Angeles Chemical Company, Inc. et al. v. Omega Chemical PRP Group, LLC, et al., in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against OPOG for cost recovery and indemnification for future response costs resulting from an alleged regional groundwater contamination plume originating at the Omega Site. In March 2008, the Court granted OPOG’s motion to stay the action pending EPA’s determination of how to investigate and remediate the regional groundwater. In 2010, certain PRPs challenged the criteria previously used to allocate liability among the PRPs and, in early 2011 the OPOG established an allocation committee that has proposed a re-allocation process which, if approved, could increase the Company’s overall share of liability within the PRP group. In February 2011, a new toxic tort litigation was commenced against Omega in Los Angeles Superior Court by a group of nine employees of the Tri-Cities Regional Occupational Program located near the Omega Site. The plaintiffs claim, among other things, negligence, unlawful discharge of pollutants and public nuisance, and seek monetary damages for a variety of alleged injuries. Given that the litigation is in its early phases, there is no estimate of potential liability. Liability, if any, stemming from this litigation could flow through to the PRPs. Although the Company considers a loss relating to the Omega Site probable, its share of any obligation for the remediation of the Omega Site is not currently believed to be material to the Company’s financial statements, based on the Company’s approximately 0.5% contribution to the total waste tonnage sent to the site and current estimates of the potential remediation costs. Based on currently available information, the Company has a loss accrual that is not material and believes that the actual amount of costs will not be materially different from the amount accrued. However, proceedings are ongoing and the eventual outcome of the clean-up efforts and the pending litigation matters is uncertain at this time. Based on currently available information, the Company does not believe that any eventual outcome will have a material adverse effect on its operations.

Tpack, the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary acquired in September 2010, is involved in a contractual dispute with Xtera Communications Inc. and its subsidiary Meriton Networks, Canada Inc. (collectively, “Xtera”). In August 2009, Xtera filed an action against Tpack in the United States District Court for the Eastern Division of Texas. In October 2010, the action was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. A related lawsuit, for contract damages brought by Tpack against Xtera in September 2009 in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Canada, resumed activity in March 2011 and is currently pending. Further actions for contract damages may be initiated by Tpack or Xtera with respect to the subject matter of the foregoing cases. The Company does not currently anticipate that the Tpack/Xtera legal proceedings will have a material adverse effect on Tpack, the Company or their respective operations.

 

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NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

On or about November 10, 2010, a complaint was filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware by Nortel Networks, Inc., (“Nortel”) against AMCC Sales Corporation (“AMCC Sales”), one of our wholly owned subsidiaries. The Complaint alleges that in the 90 days prior to Nortel’s bankruptcy filing, which occurred on January 14, 2009, AMCC Sales received approximately $548,000 of payments that were preferential and that the transfer of such funds is subject to avoidance and recovery by Nortel pursuant to Sections 547, 550, 551 and/or 502(d) of Title 11 of the United States Code. AMCC Sales denied any liability in the action and, on or about March 17, 2011, Nortel dismissed the complaint in its entirety with prejudice.

11. Sale of the 3ware Storage Adapter Business to LSI Corporation

On April 5, 2009, the Company entered into a Purchase Agreement with LSI Corporation (“LSI”). Under the Purchase Agreement, the Company agreed to sell to LSI substantially all of the operating assets (other than patents) primarily used or held for use in its 3ware storage adapter business (the “Storage Business”) but retaining certain assets, including patents, cash, accounts receivable and accounts payable, even if related to the Storage Business (the “Transaction”). The assets sold included customer contracts, inventory, fixed assets, certain intellectual property and other assets, as well as rights to the name “3ware.”

The Company completed the Transaction on April 21, 2009. After adjustments for the level of inventory of $0.7 million and products in the channel of $0.8 million, the final adjusted price of the Transaction was approximately $21.5 million for a gain of $11.4 million. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, the Company and LSI reached an agreement to end the warranty support portion of the Purchase Agreement. As a result of the Transaction, the Company decreased its number of full-time employees by 56.

The Company has reclassified the financial results of the 3ware storage adapter business as discontinued operations for all periods presented.

12. Veloce

On November 8, 2010, the Company and Veloce amended certain agreements, initially entered into on May 17, 2009, pursuant to which Veloce has agreed to perform product development work for the Company on an exclusive basis for up to five years for cash and other consideration, including a warrant to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock, which will vest in quarterly increments through December 2012. A portion of the vested shares have been committed to be distributed to the employees of Veloce and will be settled in cash instead of common stock. Therefore, the Company has recognized stock-based compensation expense in R&D expense and recorded a corresponding liability for this distribution in the Company’s consolidated financial statements. The warrant was 28% vested as of March 31, 2011. A portion of the vested shares have been committed to be distributed to the employees of Veloce and will be settled in cash instead of common stock. Therefore, the Company has recognized stock-based compensation expense included in R&D expense and recorded a corresponding liability for the portion that was not yet distributed as at March 31, 2011 in the Company’s consolidated financial statements. In addition, Veloce has also granted stock options pursuant to its own stock incentive plan. Stock-based compensation expense recognized in connection with this plan was not material and is included in R&D expense.

The Company has determined that Veloce, a California corporation, is a VIE by evaluating the sufficiency of the entity’s equity investment at risk to absorb losses and the Company’s share of respective expected losses and determined that the Company is the primary beneficiary of the VIE. The Company has included the accounts of Veloce in the consolidated financial statements and all significant intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The Company does not hold any direct equity interest in Veloce.

Under the amended merger agreement between the Company and Veloce, which has been approved by Veloce’s Board of Directors and stockholders, the Company agreed to acquire Veloce if certain performance milestones and delivery schedules set forth under the merger and other agreements are achieved. The Company

 

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NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

also has the unilateral option to acquire Veloce in the event Veloce fails to meet the milestones and delivery schedules. Should the Company acquire Veloce pursuant to the merger agreement, the purchase price payable by the Company is estimated to be in the range of approximately $7 million up to approximately $135 million, subject to additional adjustments. The final price would be based upon the achievement and timing of multiple development and performance milestones. At this time the eventual outcome is not determinable and as such the Company is unable to provide a narrower range for the estimated merger consideration. The Company will update the range in the future when additional relevant information is available. The form of consideration used for the merger, cash or the Company’s stock, would be determined by the Company at the time of the merger. The merger agreement contains customary representations, warranties and covenants and may be terminated upon mutual agreement of the parties or unilaterally by the Company or Veloce if the other party fails to meet certain conditions set forth in the agreement. The amended agreements permit the Company to appoint two individuals to serve on Veloce’s Board of Directors and Board committees. The Company’s chief executive officer and another member of the Company’s Board of Directors have been appointed to Veloce’s Board of Directors. As of March 31, 2011, the performance milestones and delivery schedules set forth under the merger and other agreements are not considered probable of being achieved as of March 31, 2011.

In addition, the Company has provided Veloce a promissory note of $1.5 million to be forgiven over eight quarters beginning on March 31, 2011. If Veloce commits a material breach of the merger agreement, the outstanding principal amount of the note and accrued interest is due to the Company. If the Company commits a material breach of the merger agreement, the outstanding principal amount of the note and accrued interest is to be forgiven by the Company. The $1.5 million promissory note is eliminated in consolidation. In April 2011, the Company agreed to loan $5.0 million to Veloce. This loan will bear interest at a rate of 5% and the accrued interest and principal amount will be repaid when the Company makes a decision to either spin in or to sever its relationship with Veloce. Re-payment can be in cash or as an adjustment against the eventual merger consideration should a merger occur. Pursuant to the product development agreement, as amended, the Company will pay Veloce $2.3 million per quarter for up to twelve consecutive quarters in order to assist Veloce in meeting its expenses to perform its obligations under the agreement and the Company will recognize the payments as R&D expenses when such operating costs have been incurred by Veloce. During the fiscal years ended March 31, 2011 and 2010, the Company recognized $11.2 million and $6.2 million as R&D expense, respectively. The Company also paid, and will likely do so again, certain product development and manufacturing expenses incurred by Veloce.

13. Acquisition of TPack A/S

On September 17, 2010, the Company acquired all of the shares of TPack, a Danish Corporation organized under the laws of Denmark. The Company believes the acquisition of TPack, a provider of silicon intellectual property for Mapping and Switching functions to leading telecom and networking equipment suppliers, will enable AppliedMicro to expand its presence and customer relationships in the rapidly growing OTN and Carrier Ethernet markets.

The total consideration paid at the closing of the transaction (the “Closing”) was approximately $32 million, exclusive of $0.5 million cash acquired. Following certain working capital adjustments, deductions for transaction expenses, including without limitation, those related to certain change in control bonuses owed by the former shareholders of TPack to TPack’s employees, and indemnity escrow holdbacks of approximately $5 million, a balance of approximately $22.6 million was paid at the Closing to the former shareholders of TPack. The former TPack shareholders may also earn up to approximately $5 million in additional consideration, subject to the achievement of certain revenue and performance milestones by TPack during the 18 month period following the Closing. The Company recorded the initial fair value of the contingent consideration liability which was calculated based on a weighted probability assessment. The liability will continue to be measured at fair value at the end of each reporting period. In addition, we recorded acquisition related transaction costs of $0.9 million, which were included in SG&A expenses.

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

The Company has calculated the fair value of the tangible and intangible assets acquired to allocate the purchase price as of the acquisition date. The excess of purchase price over the aggregate fair values was recognized as goodwill. Based upon these calculations, the preliminary purchase price of the transaction was allocated as follows (in thousands), and also includes the estimated amortization period of the acquired intangibles:

 

     Estimated
Useful Life
(In years)
     Purchase
price
 

Purchased intangible assets

     

Developed Technology

     6       $ 15,350   

Existing customer contracts

     5         4,000   

Partner relationship

     2         2,500   

Trademarks and tradenames

     3         650   

Covenants not-to-compete

     3         250   

In-process R&D

     —           950   

Goodwill (non tax deductible)

        13,183   

Contingent consideration (payable)

        (3,150

Net liabilities

      $ (1,699
           

Cash consideration

        32,034   

Contingent consideration

        3,150   
           

The total consideration issued in the acquisition

      $ 35,184   
           

The fair values of the TPack intangible assets were determined using the income approach with significant inputs that are not observable in the market. Key assumptions included expected future cash flows and discount rates consistent with the assessment of risk. Purchased intangible assets, including IPR&D, are amortized using a method that reflects the pattern in which the economic benefits of the intangible assets are consumed or otherwise used, or if that pattern cannot be reliably determined, using a straight-line amortization method.

The financial information in the table below summarizes the combined results of operations of the Company and TPack, on a proforma basis, as though the companies have been combined as of the beginning of the fiscal years of the periods presented. The proforma financial information is presented for informational purposes only and is not indicative of the results of operations that would have been achieved if the acquisition had taken place on April 1, 2009 or of results that may occur in the future. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, it was not practical to obtain TPack financial information in US GAAP for proforma financial information.

 

     Fiscal Year Ended
March 31,
 
     2011     2010  

Net revenues

   $ 250,607      $ 210,214   

Net loss

     (1,905     (9,968

 

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APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—(Continued)

 

14. Quarterly Financial Information (unaudited)

The following table sets forth unaudited consolidated statements of operations data for each of the Company’s last eight quarters. This quarterly information is unaudited and has been prepared on the same basis as the annual consolidated financial statements. In the Company’s opinion, this quarterly information reflects all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of the periods presented. The operating results for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of results for any future period.

 

     Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2011     Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2010  
     Q1     Q2(1)      Q3     Q4(2)     Q1(3)     Q2(4)     Q3     Q4(5)  
     (In thousands, except per share data)  

Net revenues

   $ 60,810      $ 65,953       $ 62,364      $ 58,583      $ 45,052      $ 49,232      $ 53,704      $ 57,610   

Cost of revenues

     22,485        23,435         23,886        25,476        22,175        23,796        24,173        22,787   
                                                                 

Gross profit

     38,325        42,518         38,478        33,107        22,877        25,436        29,531        34,823   

Total operating expenses

     38,775        41,669         42,934        40,344        30,784        33,699        36,058        38,222   
                                                                 

Operating income (loss)

     (450     849         (4,456     (7,237     (7,907     (8,263     (6,527     (3,399

Interest and other income (expense)

     2,081        3,102         2,325        3,179        1,589        (3,425     1,619        2,106   
                                                                 

Income (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes

     1,631        3,951         (2,131     (4,058     (6,318     (11,688     (4,908     (1,293

Income tax expense (benefit)

     240        376         (170     (47     (3,519     (3,617     (2,248     (1,226
                                                                 

Income (loss) from continuing operations

     1,391        3,575         (1,961     (4,011     (2,799     (8,071     (2,660     (67

Income (loss) from discontinued operations

     —          —           —          —          5,697        1,347        (934     2   
                                                                 

Net income (loss)

   $ 1,391      $ 3,575       $ (1,961   $ (4,011   $ 2,898      $ (6,724   $ (3,594   $ (65
                                                                 

Basic income (loss) per share:

                 

Loss per share from continuing operations(6)

   $ 0.02      $ 0.05       $ (0.03   $ (0.06   $ (0.04   $ (0.12   $ (0.04   $ (0.00

Income (loss) per share from discontinued operations(6)

     0.00        0.00         (0.00     (0.00     0.08        0.02        (0.01     (0.00
                                                                 

Net income (loss) per share

   $ 0.02      $ 0.05       $ (0.03   $ (0.06   $ 0.04      $ (0.10   $ (0.05   $ (0.00
                                                                 

Shares used in calculating basic net income (loss) per share

     66,005        65,752         64,647        64,236        66,070        66,469        66,139        65,345   
                                                                 

Diluted income (loss) per share:

                 

Loss per share from continuing operations(6)

   $ 0.02      $ 0.05       $ (0.03   $ (0.06   $ (0.04   $ (0.12   $ (0.04   $ (0.00

Income (loss) per share from discontinued operations(6)

     0.00        0.00         (0.00     (0.00     0.08        0.02        (0.01     (0.00
                                                                 

Net income (loss) per share

   $ 0.02      $ 0.05       $ (0.03   $ (0.06   $ 0.04      $ (0.10   $ (0.05   $ (0.00
                                                                 

Shares used in calculating diluted net income (loss) per share

     68,735        68,021         64,647        64,236        66,733        66,469        66,139        65,345   
                                                                 

 

(1) The consolidated operating results for the second quarter of fiscal 2011 included $0.9 million in TPack acquisition related transaction costs.
(2) The consolidated operating results in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 included reversal of $1.5 million in bonus expense and $0.9 million in EBITA performance stock-based compensation expense.
(3) The consolidated operating results for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 included a $0.2 million impairment of marketable securities. Discontinued operations for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 included a gain of $10.7 million on the sale of the 3ware storage adapter business to LSI Corporation.
(4) The consolidated operating results for the second quarter of fiscal 2010 included a $3.1 million impairment of marketable securities and a $2.0 million impairment of a strategic equity investment. Discontinued operations for the second quarter of fiscal 2010 included an additional gain of $0.7 million on the settlement to end the warranty support portion of the 3ware storage adapter business Purchase Agreement with LSI Corporation.
(5) The consolidated operating results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 included a $1.0 million restructuring charge.
(6) The difference between the sum of the quarters and the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 is due to rounding.

 

F-39


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SCHEDULE II — VALUATION AND QUALIFYING ACCOUNTS

 

Description

  Balance at
Beginning of
Period
    Charged (Credited)
to Costs and
Expenses
    From
Acquisition
    Deductions     Balance at
End of
Period
 
    (In thousands)  

Year ended March 31, 2011:

         

Allowance for doubtful accounts

  $ 715      $ 125      $ 484     $ —        $ 1,324   
                                       

Year ended March 31, 2010:

         

Allowance for doubtful accounts

  $ 1,151      $ (404   $ —        $ 32      $ 715   
                                       

Year ended March 31, 2009:

         

Allowance for doubtful accounts

  $ 1,313      $ (68   $ —        $ 94      $ 1,151   
                                       


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Exhibit Index

 

  2.1(12)+

   Agreement and Plan of Merger between the Company, Espresso Acquisition Corporation and Veloce Technologies, Inc., dated May 17, 2009.

  2.2(21)+

   Stock Purchase Agreement among the Company, TPack A/S, Slottsbacken Fund II KY, Slottsbacken Fund Two KB, Vaekstfonden and Novi A/S, and the Sellers’ Representative named therein, dated as of August 17, 2010.

  2.3(21)+

   Amendment No. 1 to Stock Purchase Agreement by and among the Company and Vaekstfonden, as Sellers’ Representative, dated September 17, 2010.

  2.4(22)^

   Amendment No. 1 to Agreement and Plan of Merger between the Company, Espresso Acquisition Corporation and Veloce Technologies, Inc., dated November 8, 2010.

  3.1(1)

   Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company.

  3.2(21)

   Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Company.

  3.3(17)

   Certificate of Amendment of Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of the Company.

  4.1(3)

   Specimen Stock Certificate.

10.1(3)*

   Form of Indemnification Agreement between the Company and each of its officers and directors.

10.2(16)*

   Form of Restricted Stock Unit Agreement under the 1992 Equity Incentive Plan.

10.3(16)*

   Form of Option Agreement under the 1992 Equity Incentive Plan.

10.4(16)*

   1992 Equity Incentive Plan.

10.5(11)*

   1997 Directors’ Stock Option Plan, as amended, and form of Option Agreement.

10.6(3)*

   401(k) Plan effective April 1, 1985 and form of Enrollment Agreement.

10.24(5)*

   1998 Employee Stock Purchase Plan and form of Subscription Agreement.

10.30(6)

   Lease of Engineering Building by and between Kilroy Realty, L.P. and the Company dated February 17, 1999.

10.32(9)

   Amendment No. 1 to Lease of Engineering Building by and between Kilroy Realty, L.P. and the Company dated November 30, 1999.

10.33(4)*

   2000 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended, and form of Option Agreement.

10.34(16)*

   Form of Restricted Stock Unit Agreement under the 2000 Equity Incentive Plan.

10.35(7)

   Lease of Facilities in Andover, Massachusetts between 200 Minuteman Limited Partnership and Registrant dated September 13, 2000.

10.38(4)*

   AMCC Deferred Compensation Plan.

10.42(10)+

   Patent License Agreement between the Company and IBM dated September 28, 2003.

10.43(10)+

   Intellectual Property Agreement between the Company and IBM dated September 28, 2003.

10.53(14)*

   Offer of Employment dated September 14, 2005 by and between the Company and Robert Gargus.

10.58(15)*

   Executive Severance Benefit Plan dated September 19, 2007.

10.60(18)+

   Qualcomm Patent Purchase Agreement dated July 11, 2008.

10.61(18)+

   Qualcomm Patent Purchase Amendment dated July 11, 2008.

10.62(19)

   LSI Asset Purchase Agreement dated April 5, 2009 and Amendment No. 1 dated April 20, 2009.

10.63(13)+*

   Consulting Agreement with Cynthia J. Moreland entered into on October 21, 2009.

10.64(14)+*

   Letter Agreement with Cynthia J. Moreland entered into on December 18, 2009.

10.65(20)*

   Employment agreement dated December 29, 2009 by and between the Company and William Caraccio.

11.1(8)

   Computation of Per Share Data under ASC Topic 260-10.

21.1

   Subsidiaries of the Registrant.


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23.1

   Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm – KPMG LLP.

23.2

   Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm – Ernst & Young LLP.

24.1

   Power of Attorney. Reference is made to the signature page of this Annual Report.

31.1

   Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act, as amended.

31.2

   Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act, as amended.

32.1

   Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

32.2

   Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

 

* Management contract or compensatory plan.
+ The Company has been granted confidential treatment for certain portions of these agreements and certain terms and conditions have been redacted from the exhibits. Omitted portions have been filed separately with the SEC.
^ The Company has requested confidential treatment for certain portions of these agreements and certain terms and conditions have been redacted from the exhibits. Omitted portions have been filed separately with the SEC.
(1) Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 filed with the Company’s Registration Statement (No. 333-37609) filed October 10, 1997, and as amended by Exhibit 3.3 filed with the Company’s Registration Statement (No. 333-45660) filed September 12, 2000 and Exhibit 3.1 filed with the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 11, 2007.
(2) Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 filed with the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on May 1, 2009.
(3) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Registration Statement (No. 333-37609) filed October 10, 1997, or with any amendments thereto, which registration statement became effective November 24, 1997.
(4) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (No. 000-23193) for the quarter ended June 30, 2002.
(5) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (No. 000-23193) for the year ended March 31, 2001.
(6) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (No. 000-23193) for the year ended March 31, 1999.
(7) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (No. 000-23193) for the quarter ended September 30, 2000.
(8) The Computation of Per Share Data under ASC Topic 260-10 is included in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Annual Report.
(9) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (No. 000-23193) for the year ended March 31, 2000.
(10) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (No. 000-23193) for the quarter ended September 30, 2003.
(11) Effective March 31, 2005, our Board of Directors terminated our 1997 Directors’ Stock Option Plan (the “Directors Plan”). The Directors Plan provided for the automatic grant of stock options to our non-employee directors upon initial election to the Board of Directors and annually thereafter. The termination of the Directors Plan will not affect any stock options previously granted pursuant to the Directors Plan.
(12) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q/A for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. Schedules have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(b)(2) of Regulation S-K. The Company has furnished supplementally to the SEC copies of each of the omitted schedules.
(13) Incorporated by reference as Exhibit 10.1 filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2009.


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(14) Incorporated by reference as Exhibit 10.2 filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2009.
(15) Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 99.1 filed with the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed September 24, 2007
(16) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2007.
(17) Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 filed with the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 11, 2007.
(18) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2008.
(19) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2009.
(20) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2010.
(21) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2010.
(22) Incorporated by reference to identically numbered exhibit filed with the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2010.