이번 보고서
2024.12 분기보고서
10-Q · 기간 말 2024. 12. 29. · 제출 2025. 2. 5.
비교 기준
2024 연차보고서
10-K · 기간 말 2024. 9. 29.
34
새 리스크 항목
35
신규 문단
18
수정 문단
1
삭제
+5%
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AI 한국어 요약
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원문 비교
- Risk Factors Summary:
- Risk Factors:
- RISKS RELATED TO OUR OPERATING BUSINESSES
- Our business, particularly our semiconductor business, may suffer as a result of our customers vertically integrating (i.e., developing their own integrated circuit products).
- A significant portion of our business is concentrated in China, and the risks of such concentration are exacerbated by U.S./China trade and national security tensions.
- RISKS RELATED TO NEW INITIATIVES
- Our growth depends in part on our ability to extend our technologies and products into new and expanded product areas, and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets. Our research, development and other investments in these new and expanded product areas, industries and applications, and related technologies and products, as well as in our existing technologies and products, and new technologies, may not generate operating income or contribute to future results of operations that meet our expectations.
- We may engage in acquisitions and other strategic transactions or make investments, or be unable to consummate planned strategic acquisitions, which could adversely affect our results of operations or fail to enhance stockholder value.
- RISKS RELATED TO SUPPLY AND MANUFACTURING
- We depend on a limited number of third-party suppliers for the procurement, manufacture, assembly and testing of our products manufactured in a fabless production model. If we fail to execute supply strategies that provide supply assurance, technology leadership and reasonable margins, our business and results of operations may be harmed. We are also subject to order and shipment uncertainties that could negatively impact our results of operations.
- There are numerous risks associated with the operation and control of our manufacturing facilities, including a higher portion of fixed costs relative to a fabless model; environmental compliance and liability; impacts related to climate change; exposure to natural disasters, health crises, geopolitical conflicts and cyber-attacks; timely supply of equipment and materials; and various manufacturing issues.
- RISKS RELATED TO CYBERSECURITY OR MISAPPROPRIATION OF OUR CRITICAL INFORMATION
- Our business and operations could suffer in the event of security breaches of our IT systems, or other misappropriation of our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information.
- RISKS RELATED TO HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
- We may not be able to attract or retain qualified employees.
- RISKS SPECIFIC TO OUR LICENSING BUSINESS
- The continued and future success of our licensing programs requires us to continue to evolve our patent portfolio and to renew or renegotiate license agreements that are expiring.
- Efforts by some OEMs to avoid paying fair and reasonable royalties for the use of our intellectual property may require the investment of substantial management time and financial resources and may result in legal decisions or actions by governments, courts, regulators or agencies, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) or other industry organizations that harm our business.
- Changes in our patent licensing practices, whether due to governmental investigations, legal challenges or otherwise, could adversely impact our business and results of operations.
- RISKS RELATED TO REGULATORY AND LEGAL CHALLENGES
- Our business may suffer as a result of adverse rulings in governmental investigations or proceedings or other legal proceedings.
- RISKS RELATED TO INDUSTRY DYNAMICS AND COMPETITION
- Our revenues depend on our customers’ and licensees’ sales of products and services based on CDMA, OFDMA and other communications technologies, including 5G, and customer demand for our products based on these technologies.
- Our industry is subject to intense competition in an environment of rapid technological change. Our success depends in part on our ability to adapt to such change and compete effectively; and such change and competition could result in decreased demand for our products and technologies or declining average selling prices for our products or those of our customers or licensees.
- RISKS RELATED TO PRODUCT DEFECTS OR SECURITY VULNERABILITIES
- Failures in our products, or in the products of our customers or licensees, including those resulting from security vulnerabilities, defects or errors, could harm our business.
- RISKS RELATED TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- The enforcement and protection of our intellectual property may be expensive, could fail to prevent misappropriation or unauthorized use of our intellectual property, could result in the loss of our ability to enforce one or more patents, and could be adversely affected by changes in patent laws, by laws in certain foreign jurisdictions that may not effectively protect our intellectual property and by ineffective enforcement of laws in such jurisdictions.
- Claims by other companies that we infringe their intellectual property could adversely affect our business.
- Our use of open source software may harm our business.
- GENERAL RISK FACTORS
- Geopolitical conflicts, natural disasters, pandemics and other health crises, and other factors outside of our control, could significantly disrupt our business.
- Our business may suffer due to the impact of, or our failure to comply with, the various existing, new or amended laws, regulations, policies or standards to which we are subject.
- There are risks associated with our debt.
- Tax liabilities could adversely affect our results of operations.
- You should consider each of the following factors in evaluating our business and our prospects, any of which could negatively impact our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition, and require significant management time and attention. Further, the risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently consider immaterial may also negatively impact our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition, and require significant management time and attention. In such cases, the trading price of our common stock could decline. You should also consider the other information set forth in this
AnnualQuarterly Report in evaluating our business and our prospects, including but not limited to our financial statements and the related notes, and “PartII,I, Item7.2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” References to “and,” “or” and “and/or” should be read to include the others, as appropriate. - •We derive a significant portion of our revenues from a small number of customers and licensees, and particularly from their sale of premium-tier handset devices. If revenues derived from these customers or licensees decrease or the timing of such revenues fluctuates, our business and results of operations could be negatively affected.
- We derive a significant portion of our revenues from a small number of customers and licensees, and particularly from their sale of
premium tierpremium-tier handset devices. If revenues derived from these customers or licensees decrease or the timing of such revenues fluctuates, our business and results of operations could be negatively affected. - We derive a significant portion of our revenues from a small number of customers and licensees, and particularly from their sale of
premium tierpremium-tier handset devices, and we expect this trend to continue in the foreseeable future. The mobile industry is experiencing and may continue to experience concentration of device share among a few companies, particularly at the premium tier, contributing to this trend. Certain Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have increased and may continue to increase their device share in China and in certain regions outside of China, and we derive a significant portion of our revenues from a small number of these OEMs as well. See also “Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 2. Composition of Certain Financial Statement Items - Concentrations.” - Further, political actions, including trade and/or national security protection
policies,policies (for example, tariffs and other controls on imports or exports), or other actions by governments, particularly the U.S. and Chinese governments, have in the past, currently are and could in the future limit or prevent us from transacting business with certain of our customers, limit, prevent or discourage those customers from transacting business with us, or make it more expensive to do so, any of which could also significantly reduce the revenues we derive from these customers. See also the Risk Factor titled “A significant portion of our business is concentrated in China, and the risks of such concentration are exacerbated by U.S./China trade and national security tensions.” - If our customers begin using their own integrated circuit products rather than our products in some or all of their devices, or increase their use of their own integrated circuit products from current levels, our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial position could be materially adversely impacted. See also the Risk Factor titled “We derive a significant portion of our revenues from a small number of customers and licensees, and particularly from their sale of
premium tierpremium-tier handset devices. If revenues derived from these customers or licensees decrease or the timing of such revenues fluctuates, our business and results of operations could be negatively affected.” - Political actions, including trade protection and national security policies of the U.S. and Chinese governments, such as tariffs, bans or placing companies on restricted entity lists, have in the past, currently are and could in the future limit or prevent us from transacting business with certain of our Chinese customers or suppliers, limit, prevent or discourage certain of our Chinese customers or suppliers from transacting business with us, or make it more expensive to do so. Given our revenue concentration in China, if, due to actual, threatened or potential U.S. or Chinese government actions or policies: we were further limited in, or prohibited from, selling our integrated circuit products to Chinese customers; our non-Chinese OEM customers were limited in, or prohibited from, selling devices that incorporate our integrated circuit products into China; Chinese OEMs develop and use their own integrated circuit products or use our competitors’ integrated circuit products in some or all of their devices rather than our integrated circuit products; Chinese tariffs on our integrated circuit products or on devices which incorporate our integrated circuit products made purchasing such products or devices more expensive to our Chinese customers or Chinese consumers; or our Chinese licensees delay or cease making payments of license fees they owe us, our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial position could be materially harmed. Similarly, if, due to U.S. or Chinese government actions or policies, we were limited in or prohibited from obtaining critical integrated circuit products from our suppliers in China, or we or our customers were limited in or prohibited from selling in the United States products containing technologies with Chinese-origin content, our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial position could be materially harmed. See also the Risk Factors titled “We derive a significant portion of our revenues from a small number of customers and licensees, and particularly from their sale of
premium tierpremium-tier handset devices. If revenues derived from these customers or licensees decrease or the timing of such revenues fluctuates, our business and results of operations could be negatively affected” and “Our business, particularly our semiconductor business, may suffer as a result of our customers vertically integrating (i.e., developing their own integrated circuit products).” - Although we maintain a cybersecurity program to manage cybersecurity risks, as
more fullydescribed in the “Cybersecurity” section ofthisour 2024 AnnualReport,Report on Form 10-K, we cannot anticipate, detect, repel or implement fully effective preventative measures against all cybersecurity threats, particularly because the techniques used are increasingly sophisticated and constantly evolving. For example, as AI continues to evolve, cyber-attackers could also use AI to develop malicious code and increasingly sophisticated phishing attempts. As part of our cybersecurity program, we seek to identify and remediate vulnerabilities in our IT systems and software (including third party software used in our IT systems) that could be exploited by hackers or other malicious actors. However, we may not be aware of all such vulnerabilities, and we may fail to identify and/or remediate such vulnerabilities before they are exploited. Attempts to gain unauthorized access to our IT systems or other attacks have in the past, in certain instances and to certain degrees, been successful (but have not caused significant harm), and may in the future be successful, and in some cases, we might be unaware of an incident or its magnitude and effects. - The patent license agreements that generate a significant portion of our licensing revenues are effective for a specified term. To receive royalties after the expiration date of the specified term, we will need to extend or modify such license agreements or enter into new license agreements with the applicable licensees. We might not be able to extend or modify such license agreements, or enter into new license agreements,
in the futurewithout negatively affecting the material terms and conditions of our license agreements with such licensees, and such modifications or new agreements may negatively impact our revenues. In some circumstances, we may extend, modify or enter into new license agreements as a result of arbitration or litigation, and terms imposed by arbitrators or courts may be less favorable to us than existing terms, and may impact the financial or other terms of license agreements not subject to the litigation or arbitration. If there is a delay in extending, modifying or entering into a new license agreement with a licensee, there would be a delay in our ability to recognize revenues related to that licensee’s product sales. Further, if we are unable to reach agreement on such modifications or new agreements, it could result in patent infringement and/or other litigation with such licensees. Finally, certain of our license agreements contain binding renewal provisions which provide that if the parties are unable to agree upon the terms and conditions of a new license agreement by a specified date, either party may initiate binding arbitration proceedings to establish such terms and conditions, which would become effective immediately after the expiration of the prior agreement. Nonetheless, in either event, we may not be able to recognize some or any revenues related to that licensee’s product sales until such new license agreement is finalized. - We have been in the past and are currently subject to various litigation and/or governmental investigations and proceedings. Certain of these matters are described in this
AnnualQuarterly Report in “Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, Note7.5. Commitments and Contingencies.” We may become subject to other litigation or governmental investigations or proceedings in the future. Additionally, certain of our direct and indirect customers and licensees have pursued, and others may in the future pursue, litigation or arbitration against us related to our business. Unfavorable resolutions of one or more of these matters have had and could in the future have a material adverse effect on our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. See also the Risk Factors below titled “Changes in our patent licensing practices, whether due to governmental investigations, legal challenges or otherwise, could adversely impact our business and results of operations” and “Our business may suffer as a result of adverse rulings in governmental investigations or proceedings or other legal proceedings.” - As described in the Risk Factor below titled “Our business may suffer as a result of adverse rulings in governmental investigations or proceedings or other legal proceedings,” we have been in the past, currently are and may in the future be subject to various governmental investigations and/or legal proceedings challenging our patent licensing practices. Certain of these matters are described in this
AnnualQuarterly Report in “Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, Note7.5. Commitments and Contingencies.” We believe that one intent of certain of these governmental investigations and legal proceedings has been to reduce the amount of royalties that licensees are required to pay to us for their use of our intellectual property. - We have been in the past and currently are subject to various governmental investigations and/or legal proceedings. Certain of these matters are described in this
AnnualQuarterly Report in “Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, Note7.5. Commitments and Contingencies.” Key allegations or findings in those matters include or have in the past included, among others: that we violate FRAND licensing commitments by refusing to grant licenses to chipset manufacturers; that our royalty rates are too high; that the base on which our royalties are calculated should be something less than the wholesale (i.e., licensee’s) selling price of the applicable device (minus certain permitted deductions); that we unlawfully require customers to execute a patent license before we sell them cellular modem chipsets; that we have entered into exclusive agreements with chipset customers that foreclose competition; that we leverage our position in baseband chipsets in the RFFE space; and that we violate antitrust laws and engage in anticompetitive conduct and unfair methods of competition. We may become subject to other litigation or governmental investigations or proceedings in the future. - We have engaged in litigation and arbitration in the
past, are currently engaged in litigation,past and may need to further litigate or arbitrate in the future to enforce our contract and/or intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets or determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights of others. As a result of such litigation or arbitration, we could lose our ability to enforce one or more patents, portions of our license agreements could be determined to be invalid or unenforceable (which may in turn result in other licensees either not complying with their existing license agreements or initiating litigation or arbitration), license terms (including but not limited to royalty rates for the use of our intellectual property) could be imposed that are less favorable to us than existing terms, and we could incur substantial costs. Actions we take to enforce our contract or intellectual property rights could be costly and could absorb significant management time and attention, which, in turn, could negatively impact our results of operations and cash flows. Further, even a positive resolution to our enforcement efforts may take time to conclude, which may reduce our revenues and cash resources available for other purposes, such as research and development, in the periods prior to conclusion. - From time to time, companies have asserted, and may again assert, patent, copyright, trademark or other intellectual property claims against us relating to our technologies or products, including those we have acquired from other companies. These claims have resulted and may again result in our involvement in litigation, and we are currently involved in such litigation, including certain matters described in this
AnnualQuarterly Report in “Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, Note7.5. Commitments and Contingencies.” We may not prevail in such litigation given, among other factors, the complex technical issues and inherent uncertainties in intellectual property litigation. If any of our products were found to infringe another company’s intellectual property, we could be subject to an injunction or be required to redesign our products, or to license such intellectual property or pay damages or other compensation to such other company (any of which could be costly). If we are unable to redesign our products, license such intellectual property used in our products or otherwise distribute our products (e.g., through a licensed supplier), we could be prohibited from making and selling our products. Similarly, our suppliers could be found to infringe another company’s intellectual property, and such suppliers could then be enjoined from providing products or services to us. - We operate in the highly cyclical semiconductor industry, which is subject to significant downturns. We are also susceptible to declines in global, regional and local economic conditions generally. Our stock price and financial results are subject to substantial quarterly and annual fluctuations due to these dynamics, among others.
- Our stock price and financial results have fluctuated in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future. Factors that may have a significant impact on the market price of our stock and our financial results include those identified above and throughout this Risk Factors section, as well as: volatility of the stock market in general and technology and semiconductor companies in particular; announcements concerning us, our suppliers, our competitors or our customers or licensees, including any announcement concerning the initiation of, or any developments in, any lawsuit or governmental investigation or proceeding against us; and variations between our actual financial results or guidance and expectations of securities analysts or investors, among others. In the past, securities class action litigation has been brought against companies following periods of volatility in the market price of their securities, among other reasons. We are and may in the future be the target of securities litigation. Securities litigation could result in substantial uninsured costs and divert management’s attention and our resources. Certain legal matters, including certain securities litigation brought against us, are described in this
AnnualQuarterly Report in “Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, Note7.5. Commitments and Contingencies.” - We have operations and facilities in the United States and many other countries throughout the world. We derive a significant portion of our revenues from Chinese OEMs and from non-Chinese OEMs that utilize our integrated circuit products in devices they sell into China (which has the largest number of smartphone users in the world); our key suppliers and their manufacturing foundries and assembly, test and other facilities are primarily located in Taiwan and Korea; our manufacturing facilities for RFFE and RF products are located in China, Germany and Singapore; the primary warehouses where we store finished goods for fulfillment of customer orders are located in Singapore; and a significant portion of our workforce (including engineering and other technical personnel) is based in India. Acts of war, terrorism, geopolitical conflicts, political instability or tensions such as the current geopolitical tensions involving China and Taiwan, natural disasters, the effects of climate change, pandemics or other health crises affecting any of the regions in which we operate, and particularly those in which our customers, suppliers, manufacturing facilities and/or significant portions of our workforce are concentrated, could significantly disrupt our business by, among others: reducing demand for our products and services or end-user devices incorporating our products or intellectual property; impairing our customers’ or licensees’ ability to purchase or pay for our products, services or intellectual property; delaying or preventing our suppliers from providing us with critical components or raw materials; delaying or preventing our foundry or semiconductor assembly and test providers from manufacturing, assembling or testing our products; preventing us from manufacturing products or shipping finished products; damaging or destroying inventory; delaying or preventing network operators from upgrading their wireless networks to meet new technology standards; or preventing a significant number of our employees, or employees who perform critical functions, from performing their duties for us. For example, our business depends on our ability to receive consistent and reliable chipset supply from our foundry partners, particularly in Taiwan. Consequently, a significant or prolonged military or other geopolitical conflict involving China and Taiwan could severely limit or prevent us from receiving chipset supply from Taiwan, which would have a material adverse impact on our business (and likely on the semiconductor industry as a whole). In addition, acts of war, terrorism, geopolitical conflicts, political instability or tensions, natural disasters, the effects of climate change, pandemics or other health crises impacting any of these regions could also result in a decline in global, regional or local economic conditions generally, or increased volatility in financial markets, which could have adverse effects on our business and financial results. See also the Risk Factor titled “We operate in the highly cyclical semiconductor industry, which is subject to significant downturns. We are also susceptible to declines in global, regional and local economic conditions generally. Our stock price and financial results are subject to substantial quarterly and annual fluctuations due to these dynamics, among others.” Any such events may also have the effect of exacerbating the other risks discussed in this “Risk Factors” section.
- Tax rules may change in a manner that adversely affects our future reported results of operations or the way we conduct our business. Most of our income is taxable in the United States with a significant portion qualifying for preferential treatment as FDII (foreign-derived intangible income). Beginning in fiscal 2027, the effective tax rate for FDII increases from 13% to 16%. Further, if U.S. tax rates increase and/or the FDII deduction is eliminated or reduced,
both of which have been proposed by the current U.S. presidential administration,our provision for income taxes, results of operations and cash flows would be adversely (potentially materially) affected. Also, if our customers move manufacturing operations to the United States, our FDII deduction may be reduced. Further, if the requirement to capitalize certain research and development expenditures for federal income tax purposes is changed, as has been proposed by Congress, this would negatively affect our provision for income taxes and results of operations (although it would have a favorable impact on our cash flows from operations due to lower cash tax payments). - Product revenues from Huawei in fiscal 2024, prior to our license being revoked on May 7, 2024, were approximately $560 million.
- In any potential dispute involving us and another company’s patents, copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property, our chipset foundries, semiconductor assembly and test providers and customers could also become the targets of litigation. We are contingently liable under certain product sales, services, license and other agreements to indemnify certain customers, chipset foundries and semiconductor assembly and test service providers against certain types of liability and damages arising from qualifying claims of patent infringement by products sold by us, or by intellectual property provided by us to our chipset foundries and semiconductor assembly and test service providers. Reimbursements under indemnification arrangements could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows. Furthermore, litigation could severely disrupt the supply of our products and the businesses of our chipset customers and their customers, which in turn could harm our relationships with them and could result in a decline in our chipset sales or a reduction in our licensees’ sales, causing a corresponding decline in our chipset or licensing revenues. Any claims, regardless of their merit, could be time consuming to address, result in costly litigation, divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel, cause product release or shipment delays and/or cause damage to our customer relationships, any of which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows.