As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 26, 2016April 11, 2018

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM20-F

OR

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 20152017

OR

OR

Date of event requiring this shell company report    

For the transition period from    to        

Commission file number001-34841

NXP Semiconductors N.V.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

The Netherlands

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

High Tech Campus 60, Eindhoven 5656 AG, the Netherlands

(Address of principal executive offices)

Jean Schreurs, SVP and Chief Corporate Counsel, High Tech Campus 60, 5656 AG, Eindhoven, the Netherlands

Telephone: +31 40 2728686 /E-mail: jean.schreurs@nxp.com

(Name, Telephone,E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act.

None

(Title of class)

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act.

Common shares—par value EUR 0.20 per share

(Title of class)

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the Annual Report.

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

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.    ¨☐  Yes     x☒  No

Note—Checking the box above will not relieve any registrant required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 from their obligations under those Sections.

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.    x☒  Yes    ¨☐  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 RegulationS-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    x☒  Yes    ¨☐  No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, anon-accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer.an emerging growth company. See definition of “accelerated filer and large“large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, and “emerging growth company” in Rule12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one)

Large accelerated filer  x                 Accelerated filer  ¨                Non-accelerated filer  ¨

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.    Item 17  ¨☐    Item 18  ¨☐

If this is an Annual Report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    ¨☐  Yes     x☒  No

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

This Annual Report on Form20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 (the “Annual Report”) contains forward-looking statements that contain risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ significantly from future results as a result of factors such as those set forth in Part I. Item 3D.3.D. Risk Factors and Part I, Item 5G.5.G. Safe Harbor.

The financial information included in this Annual Report is based on United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP), unless otherwise indicated.

In presenting and discussing our financial position, operating results and cash flows, management uses certainnon-U.S. GAAP financial measures. Thesenon-U.S. GAAP financial measures should not be viewed in isolation or as alternatives to the equivalent U.S. GAAP measures and should be used in conjunction with the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measures. A discussion ofnon-U.S. GAAP measures included in this Annual Report and a reconciliation of such measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measures are set forth under “Use of CertainNon-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures” contained in this reportAnnual Report under Part I, Item 5A.5.A. Operating Results.

Unless otherwise required, all references herein to “we”, “our”, “us”, “NXP” and the “Company” are to NXP Semiconductors N.V. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

A glossary of abbreviations and technical terms used in this Annual Report is set forth on page 79.74.

PART I

Item 1. Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers

Not applicable.

Item 2. Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable

Not applicable.

Item 3. Key Information

On June 14, 2016, NXP announced an agreement to divest its Standard Products (“SP”) business to a consortium of financial investors consisting of Beijing JianGuang Asset Management Co., Ltd (“JAC Capital”) and Wise Road Capital LTD (“Wise Road Capital”). On February 6, 2017, we divested SP (subsequently named “Nexperia”), receiving $2.6 billion in cash proceeds, net of cash divested.

On February 20, 2018, NXP entered into an amendment (the “Purchase Agreement Amendment”) to that certain Purchase Agreement, dated as of October 27, 2016 (as amended, the “Purchase Agreement”), with Qualcomm River Holdings B.V. (“Buyer”), a wholly-owned, indirect subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated (“Qualcomm”). Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement Amendment, Buyer agreed to revise the terms of its tender offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of NXP and increase the offer price from $110 per share to $127.50 per share, less any applicable withholding taxes and without interest to the holders thereof, payable in cash, for estimated total cash consideration of $44 billion. The tender offer is not subject to any financing condition. In addition, Buyer and NXP agreed to reduce the minimum condition of outstanding common shares of NXP that must be validly tendered and not properly withdrawn from 80% of the outstanding common shares to 70% of the outstanding common shares as of the expiration of the tender offer. Pending the receipt of certain regulatory approvals, as well as satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, the proposed transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2018.

The Purchase Agreement contains certain termination rights for NXP and Buyer. If the Purchase Agreement is terminated under certain circumstances, including termination by NXP to enter into a superior proposal for an alternative acquisition transaction or a termination following a change of recommendation by the NXP Board, NXP will be obligated to pay to Buyer a termination compensation equal to $1.25 billion in cash. If the Purchase Agreement is terminated under certain circumstances, including circumstances relating to the failure to obtain antitrust approvals or failure to complete in all material respects certain internal reorganization steps and related dispositions with respect to NXP, Buyer will be obligated to pay to NXP a termination compensation equal to $2 billion in cash.

On November 6, 2017, Broadcom Limited (“Broadcom”) proposed an unsolicited offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Qualcomm, subject to a number of conditions, including regulatory approvals. On March 14, 2018, Broadcom withdrew and terminated its offer to acquire Qualcomm.

A. Selected Financial Data

The following table presents a summary of our selected historical consolidated financial data. We prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

The results of operations for prior years are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future period.

On February 6, 2017, we divested our Standard Products (“SP”) business, receiving $2.6 billion in cash proceeds, net of cash divested. Prior to February 6, 2017, the results of the SP business were included in the reportable segment SP.

On December 7, 2015, we acquired Freescale Semiconductor, Ltd. (“Freescale”) for a total consideration of approximately $11.6 billion (the “Merger”). The results of their operations and the estimated fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the business combination are included in our financial statements from the date of acquisition forward.

The selected historical consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with the discussion under Part I, Item 5A.5.A. Operating Results and the Consolidated Financial Statements and the accompanying notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

(8)	As adjusted for our cash and cash equivalents our net debt was calculated as follows:

Net debt is anon-GAAP financial measure. See “Use of CertainNon-GAAP Financial Measures” under Part I, 5A.5.A. Operating Results.

As used in this Annual Report, “euro”, or “€” means the single unified currency of the European Monetary Union. “U.S. dollar”, “USD”, “U.S. $” or “$” means the lawful currency of the United States of America. As used in this Annual Report, the term “noon buying rate” refers to the exchange rate for euro, expressed in U.S. dollars per euro, as announced by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for customs purposes as the rate in the city of New York for cable transfers in foreign currencies.

The table below shows the average noon buying rates for U.S. dollars per euro for the five years ended December 31, 2015.2017. The averages set forth in the table below have been computed using the noon buying rate on the next to last business day of each fiscal month during the periods indicated.

The following table shows the high and low noon buying rates for U.S. dollars per euro for each of the six months in thesix-month period ended February 12, 2016:April 2, 2018:

On February 12, 2016,April 2, 2018, the noon buying rate was $1.1235$1.2288 per €1.00.

Fluctuations in the value of the euro relative to the U.S. dollar have had a significant effect on the translation into U.S. dollar of our euro-denominated assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and may continue to do so in the future. For further information on the impact of fluctuations in exchange rates on our operations, see the “Fluctuations in Foreign Rates May Have An Adverse Effect On Our Financial Results” section in Part I, Item 3D.3.D. Risk Factors and the “Foreign Currency Risks” section in Part I, Item 11. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.

B. Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

D.Risk Factors

The following section provides an overview of the risks to which our business is exposed. You should carefully consider the risk factors described below and all other information contained in this Annual Report, including the Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes. The occurrence of the risks described below could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Various statements in this Annual Report, including the following risk factors, contain forward-looking statements. Please also refer to Part I, Item 5G.5.G. Safe Harbor, contained elsewhere in this Annual Report.

Risks related to our business

Our ongoing business is subjectThere are risks and uncertainties associated with the pending offer by Qualcomm River Holdings B.V. (“Buyer”), an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated, to certain risks related to our integrationpurchase all of Freescale.NXP’s outstanding common shares.

As described elsewhere in this Annual Report, we completedon February 20, 2018, Buyer and NXP entered into the Merger on December 7, 2015. The Merger involvedPurchase Agreement Amendment under which Buyer agreed to revise the integrationterms of two companies that previously operated independently with principal offices in two distinct locations. We are devoting significant management attention and resourcesits tender offer to integrating the companies. Potential difficulties we may encounter as partacquire all of the integration process includeissued and outstanding common shares of NXP and increase the offer price from $110 per share to $127.50 per share, less any applicable withholding taxes and without interest to the holders thereof, payable in cash, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions in the Purchase Agreement. There are a number of risks and uncertainties relating to this transaction, including the following:

Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our ability to maintainattract, recruit, retain and motivate current and prospective employees who may be uncertain about their future roles and relationships with customers, suppliers, employees and other constituencies or our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits of the Merger or could reduce our earnings or otherwise adversely affect our business and financial results.

Accordingly, there can be no assurance: (i) that the Merger will result in the realization of the full benefits of synergies, innovation and operational efficiencies that we currently expect; (ii) that these benefits will be achieved within the anticipated timeframe: (iii) that we will be able to fully and accurately measure any such synergies; or (iv) that we will be able to implement new strategies to transform the combined businesses of NXP and Freescale. Failure to successfully integrate the businesses and realize the projected synergies, innovation and operational efficiencies may have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.

Our future results may suffer if we do not effectively manage our expanded operationsus following the completion of the Merger.transaction may be adversely affected; and

Following

The semiconductor industry is highly cyclical.

Historically, the relationship between supply and demand in the semiconductor industry has caused a high degree of cyclicality in the semiconductor market. Semiconductor supply is partly driven by manufacturing capacity, which in the past has demonstrated alternating periods of substantial capacity additions and periods in which no or limited capacity was added. As a general matter, semiconductor companies are more likely to add capacity in periods when current or expected future demand is strong and margins are, or are expected to be, high. Investments in new capacity can result in overcapacity, which can lead to a reduction in prices and margins. In response, companies typically limit further capacity additions, eventually causing the market to be relatively undersupplied. In addition, demand for semiconductors varies, which can exacerbate the effect of supply fluctuations. As a result of this cyclicality, the semiconductor industry has in the past experienced significant downturns, such as in 1997/1998, 2001/2002 and in 2008/2009, often in connection with, or in anticipation of, maturing life cycles of semiconductor companies’ products and declines in general economic conditions. These downturns have been characterized by diminishing demand forend-user products, high inventory levels, under-utilization of manufacturing capacity and accelerated erosion of average selling prices. The foregoing risks have historically had, and may continue to have, a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Significantly increased volatility and instability and unfavorable economic conditions may adversely affect our business.

In 2008 and 2009, Europe, the United States and international markets experienced increased volatility and instability. In 2015, volatility and instability in financial markets continued following renewed investor concerns related to the economic situation in parts of the world, a decline in the growth rate of the Chinese economy, increased hostilities in the Middle East, and other world events. These, or other events, could further adversely affect the economies of the European Union, the United States and those of other countries and may exacerbate the cyclicality of our business. Among other factors, we face risks attendant to declines in generalunfavourable changes related to interest rates, rates of economic conditions,growth, fiscal, monetary and trade policies of governments, tax rates and policy and changes in demand forend-user products and changes in interest rates.

Despite indications of recovery and aggressive measures taken by governments and central banks, there is a significant risk that the global economy could fall into recession again. If economic conditions remain uncertain or deteriorate, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

As a consequence of the significantly increased volatility and instability, it is difficult for us, our customers and suppliers to forecast demand trends. We may be unable to accurately predict the extent or duration of cycles or their effect on our financial condition or result of operations and can give no assurance as to the timing, extent or duration of the current or future business cycles. A recurrent decline in demand or the failure of demand to return to prior levels could place pressure on our results of operations. The timing and extent of any changes to currently prevailing market conditions is uncertain and supply and demand may be unbalanced at any time.

The semiconductor industry is highly competitive. If we fail to introduce new technologies and products in a timely manner, this could adversely affect our business.

The semiconductor industry is highly competitive and characterized by constant and rapid technological change, short product lifecycles, significant price erosion and evolving standards. Accordingly, the success of our business depends to a significant extent on our ability to develop new technologies and products that are ultimately successful in the market. The costs related to the research and development necessary to develop new technologies and products are significant and any reduction of our research and development budget could harm our competitiveness. Meeting evolving industry requirements and introducing new products to the market in a timely manner and at prices that are acceptable to our customers are significant factors in determining our competitiveness and success. Commitments to develop new products must be made well in advance of any resulting sales, and technologies and standards may change during development, potentially rendering our products outdated or uncompetitive before their introduction. If we are unable to successfully develop new products, our revenue may decline substantially. Moreover, some of our competitors are well-established entities, are larger than us and have greater resources than we do. If these competitors increase the resources they devote to developing and marketing their products, we may not be able to compete effectively. Any consolidation among our competitors could enhance their product offerings and financial resources, further strengthening their competitive position. In addition, some of our competitors operate in narrow business areas relative to us, allowing them to concentrate their research and development efforts directly on products and services for those areas, which may give them a competitive advantage. As a result of these competitive pressures, we may face declining sales volumes or lower prevailing prices for our products, and we may not be able to reduce our total costs in line with this declining revenue. If any of these risks materialize, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In many of the market segments in which we compete, we depend on winning selection processes, and failure to be selected could adversely affect our business in those market segments.

One of our business strategies is to participate in and win competitive bid selection processes to develop products for use in our customers’ equipment and products. These selection processes can be lengthy and require us to incur significant design and development expenditures, with no guarantee of winning a contract or generating revenue. Failure to win new design projects and delays in developing new products with anticipated technological advances or in commencing volume shipments of these products may have an adverse effect on our business. This risk is particularly pronounced in markets where there are only a few potential customers and in the automotive market, where, due to the longer design cycles involved, failure to win adesign-in could prevent access to a customer for several years. Our failure to win a sufficient number of these bids could result in reduced revenue and hurt our competitive position in future selection processes because we may not be perceived as being a technology or industry leader, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The demand for our products depends to a significant degree on the demand for our customers’ end products.

The vast majority of our revenue is derived from sales to manufacturers in the automotive, identification, wireless infrastructure, lighting, industrial, mobile, consumer and computing markets. Demand in these markets fluctuates significantly, driven by consumer spending, consumer preferences, the development of new technologies and prevailing economic conditions. In addition, the specific products in which our semiconductors are incorporated may not be successful, or may experience price erosion or other competitive factors that affect the price manufacturers are willing to pay us. Such customers have in the past, and may in the future, vary order levels significantly from period to period, request postponements to scheduled delivery dates, modify their orders or reduce lead times. This is particularly common during periods of low demand. This can make managing our business difficult, as it limits the predictability of future revenue. It can also affect the accuracy of our financial forecasts. Furthermore, developing industry trends, including customers’ use of outsourcing and new and revised supply chain models, may affect our revenue, costs and working capital requirements. Additionally, a significant portion of our products is made to order.

If customers do not purchase products made specifically for them, we may not be able to resell such products to other customers or may not be able to require the customers who have ordered these products to pay a cancellation fee. The foregoing risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The semiconductor industry is characterized by continued price erosion, especially after a product has been on the market.

One of the results of the rapid innovation in the semiconductor industry is that pricing pressure, especially on products containing older technology, can be intense. Product life cycles are relatively short, and as a result, products tend to be replaced by more technologically advanced substitutes on a regular basis.

In turn, demand for older technology falls, causing the price at which such products can be sold to drop, in some cases precipitously. In order to continue profitably supplying these products, we must reduce our production costs in line with the lower revenue we can expect to generate per unit. Usually, this must be accomplished through improvements in process technology and production efficiencies. If we cannot advance our process technologies or improve our efficiencies to a degree sufficient to maintain required margins, we will no longer be able to make a profit from the sale of these products. Moreover, we may not be able to cease production of such products, either due to contractual obligations or for customer relationship reasons, and as a result may be required to bear a loss on such products. We cannot guarantee that competition in our core product markets will not lead to price erosion, lower revenue or lower margins in the future. Should reductions in our manufacturing costs fail to keep pace with reductions in market prices for the products we sell, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Goodwill and other identifiable intangible assets represent a significant portion of our total assets, and we may never realize the full value of our intangible assets.

Goodwill and other identifiable intangible assets are recorded at fair value on the date of an acquisition. As a result of our acquisition of Freescale, we recognized goodwill of approximately $7.4 billion and intangible assets of approximately $8.5 billion. We review our goodwill and other intangible assets balance for impairment upon any indication of a potential impairment, and in the case of goodwill, at a minimum of once a year. Impairment may result from, among other things, a sustained decrease in share price, deterioration in performance, adverse market conditions, adverse changes in applicable laws or regulations, including changes that restrict the activities of or affect the products and services we sell, challenges to the validity of certain registered intellectual property, reduced sales of certain products incorporating registered intellectual property and a variety of other factors. The amount of any quantified impairment must be expensed immediately as a charge to results of operations. Depending on future circumstances, it is possible that we may never realize the full value of our intangible assets. Any future determination of impairment of goodwill or other identifiable intangible assets could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and stockholders’ equity.

As our business is global, we need to comply with laws and regulations in countries across the world and are exposed to international business risks that could adversely affect our business.

We operate globally, with manufacturing, assembly and testing facilities in several continents, and we market our products globally.

As a result, we are subject to environmental, labor and health and safety laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we operate. We are also required to obtain environmental permits and other authorizations or licenses from governmental authorities for certain of our operations and have to protect our intellectual property worldwide.operations. In the jurisdictions where we operate, we need to comply with differing standards and varying practices of regulatory, tax, judicial and administrative bodies.

In addition, the business environment is also subject to many economic and political uncertainties, including the following international business risks:

No assurance can be given that we have been or will be at all times in complete compliance with the laws and regulations to which we are subject or that we have obtained or will obtain the permits and other authorizations or licenses that we need. If we violate or fail to comply with laws, regulations, permits and other authorizations or licenses, we could be fined or otherwise sanctioned by regulators. In this case, or if any of the international business risks were to materialize or become worse, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, further increasing legal and financial compliance costs. These laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure.

Interruptions in our information technology systems could adversely affect our business.

We rely on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of complex information technology applications, systems and networks to operate our business. The reliability and security of our information technology infrastructure and software, and our ability to expand and continually update technologies in response to our changing needs is critical to our business. Any significant interruption in our business applications, systems or networks, including but not limited to new system implementations, computer viruses, cyberattacks, security breaches, facility issues or energy blackouts could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our computer systems and networks are subject to attempted security breaches and other cybersecurity incidents, which, if successful, could impact our business.

We have, from time to time, experienced attempted cyber-attacks of varying degrees to obtain access to our computer systems and networks. As of the date of this Annual Report, no such attacks have succeeded in obtaining access to our critical systems. However, such attacks may be successful in the future. Cyber-attacks could result in the misappropriation of our proprietary information and technology, the compromise of personal and confidential information of our employees, customers or suppliers or interrupt our business. In the current environment, there are numerous and evolving risks to cybersecurity and privacy, including criminal hackers, state-sponsored intrusions, industrial espionage, employee malfeasance, and human or technological error. Computer hackers and others routinely attempt to breach the security of technology products, services, and systems, and those of customers, suppliers, and some of those attempts may be successful. Such breaches could result in, for example, unauthorized access to, disclosure, modification, misuse, loss, or destruction of our, our customer, or other third party data or systems, theft of sensitive or confidential data including personal information and intellectual property, system disruptions, and denial of service. In the event of such breaches, we, our customers or other third parties could be exposed to potential liability, litigation, and regulatory action, as well as the loss of existing or potential customers, damage to our reputation, and other financial loss. In addition, the cost and operational consequences of responding to breaches and implementing remediation measures could be significant. As these threats continue to develop and grow, we have been adapting the security measures and we continue to increase the amount we allocate to implement, maintain and/or update security systems to protect data and infrastructure. As a global enterprise, we could also be impacted by existing and proposed laws and regulations, as well as government policies and practices related to cybersecurity, privacy and data protection. Additionally, cyber-attacks or other catastrophic events resulting in disruptions to or failures in power, information technology, communication systems or other critical infrastructure could result in interruptions or delays to us, our customers, or other third party operations or services, financial loss, potential liability, and damage our reputation and affect our relationships with our customers and suppliers.

In difficult market conditions, our high fixed costs combined with low revenue may negatively affect our results of operations.

The semiconductor industry is characterized by high fixed costs and, notwithstanding our utilization of third-party manufacturing capacity, most of our production requirements are met by our own manufacturing facilities. In less favorable industry environments, like we faced in the second half in 2011, we are generally faced with a decline in the utilization rates of our manufacturing facilities due to decreases in demand for our products. During such periods, our fabrication plants could operate at lower loading level, while the fixed costs associated with the full capacity continue to be incurred, resulting in lower gross profit.

The semiconductor industry is capital intensive and if we are unable to invest the necessary capital to operate and grow our business, we may not remain competitive.

To remain competitive, we must constantly improve our facilities and process technologies and carry out extensive research and development, each of which requires investment of significant amounts of capital. This risk is magnified by the indebtedness we currently have, since we are required to use a portion of our cash flow to service that debt. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow or raise sufficient capital to meet both our debt service and capital investment requirements, or if we are unable to raise required capital on favorable terms when needed, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely to a significant extent on proprietary intellectual property. We may not be able to protect this intellectual property against improper use by our competitors or others.

Our success and future revenue growth depends, in part, on our ability to protect our proprietary technology, our products, our proprietary designs and fabrication processes, and other intellectual property against misappropriation by others. We primarily rely on patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as nondisclosure agreements and other methods, to protect our intellectual property. We may have difficulty obtaining patents and other intellectual property rights to protect our proprietary products, technology and intellectual property, and the patents and other intellectual property rights we receive may be insufficient to provide us with meaningful protection or commercial advantage. We may not be able to obtain patent protection or secure other intellectual property rights in all the countries in which we operate, and under the laws of such countries, patents and other intellectual property rights may be or become unavailable or limited in scope. Even if new patents are issued, the claims allowed may not be sufficiently broad to effectively protect our proprietary technology, processes and other intellectual property. In addition, any of our existing patents, and any future patents issued to us may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented. The protection offered by intellectual property rights may be inadequate or weakened for reasons or circumstances that are out of our control. Further, our proprietary technology, designs and processes and other intellectual property may be vulnerable to disclosure or misappropriation by employees, contractors and other persons. It is possible that competitors or other unauthorized third parties may obtain, copy, use or disclose our proprietary technologies, our products, designs, processes and other intellectual property despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property. While we hold a significant number of patents, there can be no assurances that additional patents will be issued or that any rights granted under our patents will provide meaningful protection against misappropriation of our intellectual property. Our competitors may also be able to develop similar technology independently or design around our patents. We may not have foreign patents or pending applications corresponding to all of our primary patents and applications. Even if foreign patents are granted, effective enforcement in foreign countries may not be available. In particular, intellectual property rights are difficult to enforce in some countries, since the application

and enforcement of the laws governing such rights may not have reached the same level as compared to other jurisdictions where we operate, such as the United States, Germany and the Netherlands.operate. Consequently, operating in some countries may subject us to an increased risk that unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or otherwise use our intellectual property or the intellectual property of our suppliers or other parties with whom we engage. There is no assurance that we will be able to protect our intellectual property rights or have adequate legal recourse in the event that we seek legal or judicial enforcement of our intellectual property rights under the laws of such countries. Any inability on our part to adequately protect our intellectual property may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may become party to intellectual property claims or litigation that could cause us to incur substantial costs, pay substantial damages or prohibit us from selling our products.

We have from time to time received, and may in the future receive, communications alleging possible infringement of patents and other intellectual property rights of others. Further, we may become involved in costly litigation brought against us regarding patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or other intellectual property rights. If any such claims are asserted against us, we may seek to obtain a license under the third party’s intellectual property rights. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain any or all of the necessary licenses on satisfactory terms, if at all. In the event that we cannot obtain or take the view that we don’t need a license, these parties may file lawsuits against us seeking damages (and potentially treble damages in the United States) or an injunction against the sale of our products that incorporate allegedly infringed intellectual property or against the operation of our business as presently conducted. Such lawsuits, if successful, could result in an increase in the costs of selling certain of our products, our having to partially or completely redesign our products or stop the sale of some of our products and could cause damage to our reputation. Any litigation could require significant financial and management resources regardless of the merits or outcome, and we cannot assure you that we would prevail in any litigation or that our intellectual property rights can be successfully asserted in the future or will not be invalidated, circumvented or challenged. The award of damages, including material royalty payments, or the entry of an injunction against the manufacture and sale of some or all of our products, could affect our ability to compete or have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on strategic partnerships, joint ventures and alliances for manufacturing and research and development. However, we often do not control these partnerships and joint ventures, and actions taken by any of our partners or the termination of these partnerships or joint ventures could adversely affect our business.

As part of our strategy, we have entered into a number of long-term strategic partnerships with other leading industry participants. For example, we have entered into a joint venture with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (“TSMC”) called Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Company Pte. Ltd. (“SSMC”). We have also established Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation Limited (“ASMC”) together with a number of Chinese partners. Furthermore, together with Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (“ASE”), we established the assembly and test joint venture ASEN Semiconductors Co. Ltd. (“ASEN”). In 2015, we established WeEn Semiconductors, a Bipolar joint venture in China with JianGuang Asset Management Co, Ltd. See Part I, Item 4B.-4.A.Business Overview History and Development of the Company, “Other - Other Significant Transactions”.Transactions.

If any of our strategic partners in industry groups or in any of the other alliances we engage with were to encounter financial difficulties or change their business strategies, they may no longer be able or willing to participate in these groups or alliances, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We do not control some of these strategic partnerships, joint ventures and alliances in which we participate. We may also have certain obligations, including some limited funding obligations or take or pay obligations, with regard to some of our strategic partnerships, joint ventures and alliances. For example, we have made certain commitments to SSMC, in which we have a 61.2% ownership share, whereby we are obligated to make cash payments to SSMC should we fail to utilize, and TSMC does not utilize, an agreed upon percentage of the total available capacity at SSMC’s fabrication facilities if overall SSMC utilization levels drop below a fixed proportion of the total available capacity.

Notwithstanding the recent closing of the Merger, we may continue to make other acquisitions and engage in other transactions to complement or expand our existing businesses. However, we may not be successful in acquiring other suitable targets or we may not be successful in integrating Freescale or any such other target into our operations. Any acquisitions we make may lead to a diversion of management resources.

Our future success may depend on acquiring businesses and technologies, making investments or forming joint ventures that complement, enhance or expand our current portfolio or otherwise offer us growth opportunities. We may engage in acquisitions or strategic transactions or make strategic investments that could adversely affect our financial results or fail to enhance stockholder value. On December 7, 2015, we completed the Merger with Freescale. In pursuing further acquisitions, we may face competition from other companies in the semiconductor industry. We may have to expend substantial amounts of cash, incur debt, assume loss-making divisions and incur other types of expenses in order to pursue such further acquisitions. Our acquisitions or strategic investments may not generate financial returns or result in increased adoption or continued use of our technologies, products or services. In some cases, we may be required to consolidate or record our share of the earnings or losses of companies in which we have acquired ownership interests. In addition, we may record impairment charges related to our acquisitions or strategic investments. Any losses or impairment charges that we incur related to strategic investments or other transactions will have a negative impact on our financial results, and we may continue to incur new or additional losses related to strategic assets or investments that we have not fully impaired or exited.

Achieving the anticipated benefits of business acquisitions depends in part upon our ability to integrate the acquired businesses in an efficient and effective manner. The integration of companies that have previously operated independently involves significant challenges, including, among others: retaining key employees; successfully integrating new employees, business systems, technology and products; retaining customers and suppliers of the acquired business; consolidating research and development and/or supply operations; minimizing the diversion of management’s attention from ongoing business matters; and consolidating corporate and administrative infrastructures. We may not derive any commercial value from acquired technologies or products or from future technologies or products based on the acquired technologies, and we may be subject to liabilities that are not covered by indemnification protection that we may obtain, or we may become subject to litigation. We may also face challenges in successfully integrating Freescale or any such other acquired companies into our existing organization or in creating the anticipated cost synergies. Each of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may from time to time desire to exit certain product lines or businesses, or to restructure our operations, but may not be successful in doing so.

From time to time, we may decide to divest certain product lines and businesses or restructure our operations, including through the contribution of assets to joint ventures. We have, in recent years, exited several of our product lines and businesses, and we have closed several of our manufacturing and research facilities. We may continue to do so in the future. However, our ability to successfully exit product lines and businesses, or to close or consolidate operations, depends on a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control. For example, if we are seeking a buyer for a particular business line, none may be available, or we may not be successful in negotiating satisfactory terms with prospective buyers. In addition, we may face internal obstacles to our efforts. In particular, several of our operations and facilities are subject to collective bargaining agreements and social plans or require us to consult with our employee representatives, such as work councils which may prevent or complicate our efforts to sell or restructure our businesses. In some cases, particularly with respect to our European operations, there may be laws or other legal impediments affecting our ability to carry out such sales or restructuring.

If we are unable to exit a product line or business in a timely manner, or to restructure our operations in a manner we deem to be advantageous, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if a divestment is successful, we may face indemnity and other liability claims by the acquirer or other parties.

We may from time to time restructure parts of our processes. Any such restructuring may impact customer satisfaction and the costs of implementation may be difficult to predict.

Between 2008 and 2011, we executed a redesign program and, in 2013 we executed a restructuring initiative designed to improve operational efficiency and to competitively position the company for sustainable growth. In 2015, we began a restructuring initiative to prepare for and implement the integration of Freescale into our existing businesses. We plan to continue to restructure and make changes to parts of the processes in our organization. Furthermore, if the global economy remains volatile or if the global economy reenters a deeper and longer lasting recession, our revenues could decline, and we may be forced to take additional cost savings steps that could result in additional charges and materially affect our business. The costs of implementing any restructurings, changes or cost savings steps may differ from our estimates and any negative impacts on our revenues or otherwise of such restructurings, changes or steps, such as situations in which customer satisfaction is negatively impacted, may be larger than originally estimated.

If we fail to extend or renegotiate our collective bargaining agreements and social plans with our labor unions as they expire from time to time, if regular or statutory consultation processes with employee representatives such as works councils fail or are delayed, or if our unionized employees were to engage in a strike or other work stoppage, our business and operating results could be materially harmed.

We are a party to collective bargaining agreements and social plans with our labor unions. We are also required to consult with our employee representatives, such as works councils, on items such as restructurings, acquisitions and divestitures. Although we believe that our relations with our employees, employee representatives and unions are satisfactory, no assurance can be given that we will be able to successfully extend or renegotiate these agreements as they expire from time to time or to conclude the consultation processes in a timely and favorable way. The impact of future negotiations and consultation processes with employee representatives could have a material impact on our financial results. Also, if we fail to extend or renegotiate our labor agreements and social plans, if significant disputes with our unions arise, or if our unionized workers engage in a strike or other work stoppage, we could incur higher ongoing labor costs or experience a significant disruption of operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our working capital needs are difficult to predict.

Our working capital needs are difficult to predict and may fluctuate. The comparatively long period between the time at which we commence development of a product and the time at which it may be delivered to a customer leads to high inventory andwork-in-progress levels. The volatility of our customers’ own businesses and the time required to manufacture products also makes it difficult to manage inventory levels and requires us to stockpile products across many different specifications.

Our business may be adversely affected by costs relating to product defects, and we could be faced with product liability and warranty claims.

We make highly complex electronic components and, accordingly, there is a risk that defects may occur in any of our products. Such defects can give rise to significant costs, including expenses relating to recalling products, replacing defective items, writing down defective inventory and loss of potential sales. In addition, the occurrence of such defects may give rise to product liability and warranty claims, including liability for damages caused by such defects. If we release defective products into the market, our reputation could suffer and we may lose sales opportunities and incur liability for damages. Moreover, since the cost of replacing defective semiconductor devices is often much higher than the value of the devices themselves, we may at times face damage claims from customers in excess of the amounts they pay us for our products, including consequential damages. We also face exposure to potential liability resulting from the fact that our customers typically integrate the semiconductors we sell into numerous consumer products, which are then sold into the marketplace. We are exposed to product liability claims if our semiconductors or the consumer products based on them malfunction and result in personal injury or death. We may be named in product liability claims even if there is no evidence that our products caused the damage in question, and such claims could result in significant costs and expenses relating to attorneys’ fees and damages. In addition, our customers may recall their products if they prove to be defective or make compensatory payments in accordance with industry or business practice or in order to maintain good customer relationships. If such a recall or payment is caused by a defect in one of our products, our customers may seek to recover all or a portion of their losses from us. If any of these risks materialize, our reputation would be harmed and there could be a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business has suffered, and could in the future suffer, from manufacturing problems.

We manufacture, in our own factories as well as with third parties, our products using processes that are highly complex, require advanced and costly equipment and must continuously be modified to improve yields and performance. Difficulties in the production process can reduce yields or interrupt production, and, as a result of such problems, we may on occasion not be able to deliver products or do so in a timely or cost-effective or competitive manner. As the complexity of both our products and our fabrication processes has become more advanced, manufacturing tolerances have been reduced and requirements for precision have become more demanding. As is common in the semiconductor industry, we have in the past experienced manufacturing difficulties that have given rise to delays in delivery and quality control problems. There can be no assurance that any such occurrence in the future would not materially harm our results of operations. Further, we may suffer disruptions in our manufacturing operations, either due to production difficulties such as those described above or as a result of external factors beyond our control. We may, in the future, experience manufacturing difficulties or permanent or temporary loss of manufacturing capacity due to the preceding or other risks. Any such event could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on the timely supply of equipment and materials and could suffer if suppliers fail to meet their delivery obligations or raise prices. Certain equipment and materials needed in our manufacturing operations are only available from a limited number of suppliers.

Our manufacturing operations depend on deliveries of equipment and materials in a timely manner and, in some cases, on ajust-in-time basis. From time to time, suppliers may extend lead times, limit the amounts supplied to us or increase prices due to capacity constraints or other factors. Supply disruptions may also occur due to shortages in critical materials, such as silicon wafers or specialized chemicals. Because the equipment that we purchase is complex, it is frequently difficult or impossible for us to substitute one piece of equipment for another or replace one type of material with another. A failure by our suppliers to deliver our requirements could result in disruptions to our manufacturing operations. Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed if we are unable to obtain adequate supplies of quality equipment or materials in a timely manner or if there are significant increases in the costs of equipment or materials.

Failure of our third party suppliers to perform could adversely affect our ability to exploit growth opportunities.

We currently use outside suppliers for a portion of our manufacturing capacity. Outsourcing our production presents a number of risks. If our outside suppliers are unable to satisfy our demand, or experience manufacturing difficulties, delays or reduced yields, our results of operations and ability to satisfy customer demand could suffer. In addition, purchasing rather than manufacturing these products may adversely affect our gross profit margin if the purchase costs of these products are higher than our own manufacturing costs would have been. Prices for foundry products also vary depending on capacity utilization rates at our suppliers, quantities demanded, product technology and geometry. Furthermore, these outsourcing costs can vary materially from quarter to quarter and, in cases of industry shortages, they can increase significantly, negatively affecting our gross profit.

Loss of our key management and other personnel, or an inability to attract such management and other personnel, could affect our business.

We depend on our key management to run our business and on our senior engineers to develop new products and technologies. Our success will depend on the continued service of these individuals. Although we have several share based compensation plans in place, we cannot be sure that these plans will help us in our ability to retain key personnel, especially considering the fact that the stock options under some of our plans become exercisable upon a change of control (in particular, when a third party, or third parties acting in concert, obtains, whether directly or indirectly, control of us). The loss of any of our key personnel, whether due to departures, death, ill health or otherwise, could have a material adverse effect on our business. The market for qualified employees, including skilled engineers and other individuals with the required technical expertise to succeed in our business, is highly competitive and the loss of qualified employees or an inability to attract, retain and motivate the additional highly skilled employees required for the operation and expansion of our business could hinder our ability to successfully conduct research activities or develop marketable products. The foregoing risks could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Disruptions in our relationships with any one of our key customers could adversely affect our business.

A substantial portion of our revenue is derived from our top customers, including our distributors. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to generate similar levels of revenue from our largest customers in the future. If one or more of these customers substantially reduce their purchases from us, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We receive subsidies and grants in certain countries, and a reduction in the amount of governmental funding available to us or demands for repayment could increase our costs and affect our results of operations.

As is the case with other large semiconductor companies, we receive subsidies and grants from governments in some countries. These programs are subject to periodic review by the relevant governments, and if any of these programs are curtailed or discontinued, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. As the availability of government funding is outside our control, we cannot guarantee that we will continue to benefit from government support or that sufficient alternative funding will be available if we lose such support. Moreover, if we terminate any activities or operations, including strategic alliances or joint ventures, we may face adverse actions from the local governmental agencies providing such subsidies to us. In particular, such government agencies could seek to recover such subsidies from us and they could cancel or reduce other subsidies we receive from them. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Legal proceedings covering a range of matters are pending in various jurisdictions. Due to the uncertainty inherent in litigation, it is difficult to predict the final outcome. An adverse outcome might affect our results of operations.

We and certain of our businesses are involved as plaintiffs or defendants in legal proceedings in various matters. For example, we are involved in legal proceedings claiming personal injuries to the children of former employees as a result of employees’ alleged exposure to chemicals used in semiconductor manufacturing clean room environments operated by us or our former parent companies Philips and Motorola. Furthermore, because we continue to utilize these clean rooms, we may become subject to future claims alleging personal injury that may lead to additional liability. A judgment against us or material defense cost could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are exposed to a variety of financial risks, including currency risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, commodity price risk, credit risk and othernon-insured risks, which may have an adverse effect on our financial results.

We are a global company and, as a direct consequence, movements in the financial markets may impact our financial results. We are exposed to a variety of financial risks, including currency fluctuations, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, commodity price risk and credit risk and othernon-insured risks. We have euro-denominated assets and liabilities and, since our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar, the impact of currency translation adjustments to such assets and liabilities may have a negative effect on our stockholders’ equity. We continue to hold or convert a part of our cash in euros as a hedge for euro expenses and euro interest payments. We are exposed to fluctuations in exchange rates when we convert U.S. dollars to euro. We enter into diverse financial transactions with several counterparties to mitigate our currency risk. We only use derivative instruments for hedging purposes. The U.S. dollar-denominated debt issued by us and our subsidiary, NXP B.V., with functional currency euro may generate adverse currency results in our financial income and expenses. Part of this effect is mitigated due to the application of net investment hedge accounting, since May 2011, pursuant to which the currency results on (part of) the U.S. dollar-denominated debt is reported as part of other comprehensive income within equity instead of financial income and expense in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. Absent the application of net investment hedge accounting, we would have recorded an additional charge of $190 million, before tax, within financial income and expense in the 2015 statement of operations. As of January 1, 2016, as a result of the acquisition of Freescale, NXP has concluded that the functional currency of the holding company is USD. Beginning from January 1, 2016, our U.S. dollar-denominated notes and short-term loans will no longer need to be re-measured.

We are also a purchaser of certain base metals, precious metals, chemicals and energy used in the manufacturing process of our products, the prices of which can be volatile. Credit risk represents the loss that would be recognized at the reporting date if counterparties failed to perform upon their agreed payment obligations. Credit risk is present within our trade receivables. Such exposure is reduced through ongoing credit evaluations of the financial conditions of our customers and by adjusting payment terms and credit limits when appropriate. We invest available cash and cash equivalents with various financial institutions and are in that respect exposed to credit risk with these counterparties. We actively manage concentration risk on a daily basis adhering to a treasury management policy. We seek to limit the financial institutions with which we enter into financial transactions, such as depositing cash, to those with a strong credit rating wherever possible. If we are unable to successfully manage these risks, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The impact of a negative performance of financial markets and demographic trends on our defined benefit pension liabilities and costs cannot be predicted.

We sponsor defined benefit pension plans in a number of countries and a significant number of our employees are covered by our defined benefit pension plans. As of December 31, 2015,2017, we had recognized a net accrued benefit liability of $371$456 million, representing the unfunded benefit obligations of our defined pension plans. The funding status and the liabilities and costs of maintaining these defined benefit pension plans may be impacted by financial market developments. For example, the accounting for such plans requires determining discount rates, expected rates of compensation and expected returns on plan assets, and any changes in these variables can have a significant impact on the projected benefit obligations and net periodic pension costs. Negative performance of the financial markets could also have a material impact on funding requirements and net periodic pension costs. Our defined benefit pension plans may also be subject to demographic trends. Accordingly, our costs to meet pension liabilities going forward may be significantly higher than they are today, which could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition.

ChangesFuture changes to Dutch, U.S. and other foreign tax laws could adversely affect us.

The European Commission, U.S. Congress and Treasury Department, the Organization for EconomicCo-operation and Development, and other government agencies in jurisdictions where we and our affiliates do business have had an extended focus on issues related to the taxation of multinational corporations, particularly payments made between affiliates from a jurisdiction with high tax rates to a jurisdiction with lower tax rates. As a result, the tax laws in the tax deductibility of interest mayEuropean Union, U.S. and other countries in which we and our affiliates do business could change on a prospective or retroactive basis, and any such changes could adversely affect our financial positionus and our ability to serviceaffiliates.

Recent examples include the obligations underOrganization for EconomicCo-operation and Development’s recommendations on base erosion and profit shifting, the European Commission’sAnti-Tax Avoidance Directive and the Corporate Tax Package released in October 2016 which includes a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base. These initiatives include recommendations and proposals that, if enacted in countries in which we and our indebtedness.affiliates do business, could adversely affect us and our affiliates.

Effective January 1, 2013 certain new limitations apply toFor a discussion of the tax deductibility of interest expenseTax Cuts and Jobs Act, recently enacted in the Netherlands. A Dutch company that is consideredUnited States, please see the discussion below under the heading “We are exposed to be financed with excessive debt, may not be entitled to deduct interest expense on such excessive debt. Existing debt is not grandfathered under these rules. The measurementa number of whether there is excessive debt is based on arithmetic tests based on the amount of equity of the company in relation to the acquisition cost of and capital invested in the Netherlands and foreign subsidiaries of the Netherlands consolidated group. When the equity of the company is below a certain minimum threshold, the company may be considered todifferent tax uncertainties, which could have excessive debt. Certain safe harbor rules apply when new operational businesses are acquired by the company. Even though these limitationsan impact on tax deductibility have not yet impacted us, the application of the potential limitation on tax deductibility of interest expense in the future may adversely affect our financial position and our ability to service the obligations under our indebtedness.results”.

We are exposed to a number of different tax uncertainties, which could have an impact on tax results.

We are required to pay taxes in multiple jurisdictions. We determine the taxes we are required to pay based on our interpretation of the applicable tax laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate. We may be subject to unfavorable changes in the respective tax laws and regulations to which we are subject. Tax controls, audits, change in controls and changes in tax laws or regulations or the interpretation given to them may expose us to negative tax consequences, including interest payments and potentially penalties. We have issued transfer-pricing directives in the areas of goods, services and financing, which are in accordance with the Guidelines of the Organization of EconomicCo-operation and Development (OECD). As transfer pricing has a cross border effect, the focus of local tax authorities on implemented transfer pricing procedures in a country may have an impact on results in another country.

Transfer pricing uncertainties can also result from disputes with local tax authorities about transfer pricing of internal deliveries of goods and services or related to financing, acquisitions and divestments, the use of tax credits and permanent establishments, and tax losses carried forward. These uncertainties may have a significant impact on local tax results. We also have various tax assets resulting from acquisitions. Tax assets can also result from the generation of tax losses in certain legal entities. Tax authorities may challenge these tax assets. In addition, the value of the tax assets resulting from tax losses carried forward depends on having sufficient taxable profits in the future.

Additionally, in December of 2017, the United States enacted a budget reconciliation act amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”). The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act contains provisions affecting the tax treatment of both U.S. companies (such as certain of our subsidiaries) andnon-U.S. companies that could materially affect us. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act includes provisions that reduce the U.S. corporate tax rate, impose a base erosion minimum tax on income of a U.S. corporation determined without regard to certain otherwise deductible payments made to certain foreign affiliates, and impose aone-time transition tax on certain historic earnings and profits of U.S.-owned foreign subsidiaries. Many of the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will require guidance through the issuance of Treasury regulations or other guidance in order to assess their effect. There may be a substantial delay before such regulations are promulgated, increasing the uncertainty as to the ultimate effect of the statutory amendments on us. It is also possible that there will be technical corrections legislation proposed with respect to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act next year, the effect of which cannot be predicted. For further information regarding the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on us, please see Part I, Item 5.A. Operating Results.

We may not be able to maintain a competitive worldwide effective corporate tax rate.

We cannot give any assurance as to what our effective tax rate will be in the future, because of, among other things, uncertainty regarding the tax policies of the jurisdictions where we operate. Our actual effective tax rate may vary from our expectation and that variance may be material. Additionally, the tax laws of the Netherlands, the U.S., and other jurisdictions could change in the future, and such changes could cause a material change in our effective tax rate.

There may from time to time exist deficiencies in our internal control systems that could adversely affect the accuracy and reliability of our periodic reporting.

We are required to establish and periodically assess the design and operating effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Despite the compliance procedures that we have adopted to ensure internal control over financial controls, there may from time to time exist deficiencies in our internal control systems that could adversely affect the accuracy and reliability of our periodic reporting. Our periodic reporting is the basis of investors’ and other market professionals’ understanding of our businesses. Imperfections in our periodic reporting could create uncertainty regarding the reliability of our results of operations and financial results, which in turn could have a material adverse impact on our reputation or share price.

Environmental laws and regulations expose us to liability and compliance with these laws and regulations, and any such liability may adversely affect our business.

We are subject to many environmental, health and safety laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we operate, which govern, among other things, emissions of pollutants into the air, wastewater discharges, the use and handling of hazardous substances, waste disposal, the investigation and remediation of soil and ground water contamination and the health and safety of our employees. We are also required to obtain environmental permits from governmental authorities for certain of our operations. We cannot assure you that we have been or will be at all times in complete compliance with such laws, regulations and permits. If we violate or fail to comply with these laws, regulations or permits, we could be fined or otherwise sanctioned by regulators.

As with other companies engaged in similar activities or that own or operate real property, we face inherent risks of environmental liability at our current and historical manufacturing facilities. Certain environmental laws impose strict, and in certain circumstances, joint and several liability on current or previous owners or operators of real property for the cost of investigation, removal or remediation of hazardous substances as well as liability for related damages to natural resources. Certain of these laws also assess liability on persons who arrange for hazardous substances to be sent to disposal or treatment facilities when such facilities are found to be contaminated. While we do not expect that any contamination currently known to us will have a material adverse effect on our business, we cannot assure you that this is the case or that we will not discover new facts or conditions or that environmental laws or the enforcement of such laws will not change such that our liabilities would be increased significantly. In addition, we could also be held liable for consequences arising out of human exposure to hazardous substances or other environmental damage. In summary, we cannot assure you that our costs of complying with current and future environmental and health and safety laws, or our liabilities arising from past or future releases of, or exposures to, regulated materials, will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions and results of operations.

Scientific examination of, political attention to and rules and regulations on issues surrounding the existence and extent of climate change may result in an increase in the cost of production due to increase in the prices of energy and introduction of energy or carbon tax. A variety of regulatory developments have been introduced that focus on restricting or managing the emission of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases. Enterprises may need to purchase at higher costs new equipment or raw materials with lower carbon footprints. Environmental laws and regulations could also require us to acquire pollution abatement or remediation equipment, modify product designs, or incur expenses. New materials that we are evaluating for use in our operations may become subject to regulation. These developments and further legislation that is likely to be enacted could affect our operations negatively. Changes in environmental regulations could increase our production and operational costs, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Certain natural disasters, such as flooding, large earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or nuclear or other disasters, may negatively impact our business. There is increasing concern that climate change is occurring and may cause a rising number of natural disasters.

Environmental and other disasters, such as flooding, large earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or nuclear or other disasters, or a combination thereof may negatively impact our business. If flooding, a large earthquake, volcanic eruption or other natural disaster were to directly damage, destroy or disrupt our manufacturing facilities, it could disrupt our operations, delay new production and shipments of existing inventory or result in costly repairs, replacements or other costs, all of which would negatively impact our business. Even if our manufacturing facilities are not directly damaged, a large natural disaster may result in disruptions in distribution channels or supply chains and significant increases in the prices of raw materials used for our manufacturing process. For instance, the nuclear incident following the tsunami in Japan in 2011 impacted the supply chains of our customers and suppliers. Furthermore, any disaster affecting our customers (or their respective customers) may significantly negatively impact the demand for our products and our revenues.

The impact of any such natural disasters depends on the specific geographic circumstances but could be significant, as some of our factories are located in areas with known earthquake fault zones, flood or storm risks, including but not limited to the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia or Thailand. There is increasing concern that climate change is occurring that may cause a rising number of natural disasters with potentially dramatic effects on human activity. We cannot predict the economic impact, if any, of natural disasters or climate change.

The price of our common stock historically has been volatile. The price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly.

The stock market in recent years has experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated to the operating performance of companies. The market price for our common stock has varied between a high of $114.00$118.20 on June 1, 2015November 3, 2017 and a low of $72.05$96.00 on August 24, 2015January 23, 2017 in the twelve-month period ending on December 31, 2015. The2017. Although the pending Offer may reduce the volatility of the market price of our common stock is likelyin the near term, volatility may revert to continue to be volatile and subject to significant price and volume fluctuationshistorical levels for many reasons, including in response to the risks described in this section, including the risks associated with the Offer, or for reasons unrelated to our operations, such as reports by industry analysts, investor perceptions or negative announcements by our customers, competitors, peer companies or suppliers regarding their own performance, or announcements by our competitors of significant contracts, market perception of the Merger with Freescale or other acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, joint marketing relationships or capital commitments, the passage of legislation or other regulatory developments affecting us or our industry, as well as industry conditions and general financial, economic and political instability. In the past, following periods of market volatility, shareholders have instituted securities class action litigation. If we were involved in securities litigation, it could have a substantial cost and divert resources and the attention of executive management from our business regardless of the outcome of such litigation.

The Merger with Freescale may not be accretive and may cause dilution to our earnings per share, which may harm the market price of our shares of common stock.stock

We entered into the Merger with the expectation that it will be accretive to earnings per share in the near term. This expectation is based on preliminary estimates which may materially change. We could also encounter additional transaction and integration-related costs or other factors such as the failure to realize all of the benefits anticipated in the Merger. All of these factors could cause dilution to our earnings per share or decrease or delay the expected accretive effect of the Merger and cause a decrease in the price of our shares of common stock.

Future sales of our shares of common stock could depress the market price of our outstanding shares of common stock.

The market price of our shares of common stock could decline as a result of sales of a large number of shares of our common stock in the market, or the perception that these sales could occur. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.

In the future, we may issue additional shares of common stock in connection with acquisitions and other investments, as well as in connection with our current or any revised or new equity plans for management and other employees. The amount of our common stock issued in connection with any such transaction could constitute a material portion of our then outstanding common stock.

Our actual operating results may differ significantly from our guidance.

From time to time, we release guidance regarding our future performance that represents our management’s estimates as of the date of release. This guidance, which consists of forward-looking statements, is prepared by our management and is qualified by, and subject to, the assumptions and the other information contained or referred to in such release and the factors described under “Forward-Looking Statements”. Our guidance is not prepared with a view toward compliance with published guidelines of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and neither our independent registered public accounting firm nor any other independent expert or outside party compiles or examines the guidance and, accordingly, no such person expresses any opinion or any other form of assurance with respect thereto.

Our guidance is based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while presented with numerical specificity, is inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control and are based upon specific assumptions with respect to future business decisions, some of which will change. We generally state possible outcomes as high and low ranges which are intended to provide a sensitivity analysis as variables are changed but are not intended to represent that actual results could not fall outside of the suggested ranges. The principal reason that we release this data is to provide a basis for our management to discuss our business outlook with analysts and investors. We do not accept any responsibility for any projections or reports published by any such persons.

Guidance is necessarily speculative in nature, and it can be expected that some or all of the assumptions of the guidance furnished by us will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. Accordingly, our guidance is only an estimate of what management believes is realizable as of the date of release. Actual results will vary from the guidance and the variations may be material. Investors should also recognize that the reliability of any forecasted financial data diminishes the farther in the future the data is forecasted. In light of the foregoing, investors are urged to put the guidance in context and not to place undue reliance on it.

Any failure to successfully implement our operating strategy, or the occurrence of any of the events or circumstances set forth in, or incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report could result in the actual operating results being different than the guidance, and such differences may be adverse and material.

Charges to earnings resulting from the application of the purchase method of accounting in relation to the Merger may adversely affect the market value of our shares of common stock.

We have acquired Freescale for accounting purposes in accordance with U.S. GAAP and will account for the Merger using the acquisition method of accounting, which will result in charges to our earnings that could adversely affect the market value of our shares of common stock. Under the acquisition method of accounting, we will allocate the total purchase price to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed from Freescale based on their fair values as of the date of the completion of the Merger, and record any excess of the purchase price over those fair values as goodwill. For certain tangible and intangible assets, reevaluating their fair values as of the completion date of the Merger will result in our incurring additional depreciation and/or amortization expense that exceed the combined amounts recorded by NXP and Freescale prior to the Merger. This increased expense will be recorded by us over the remaining useful lives of the underlying assets. In addition, to the extent the value of goodwill or intangible assets were to become impaired, we may be required to incur charges relating to the impairment of those assets.

Risks related to our corporate structure

United States civil liabilities may not be enforceable against us.

We are incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands and substantial portions of our assets are located outside of the United States. In addition, certain members of our board, our officers and certain experts named herein reside outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon us or such other persons residing outside the United States, or to enforce outside the United States judgments obtained against such persons in U.S. courts in any action. In addition, it may be difficult for investors to enforce, in original actions brought in courts in jurisdictions located outside the United States, rights predicated upon the U.S. laws.

In the absence of an applicable treaty for the mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments (other than arbitration awards) in civil and commercial matters to which the United States and the Netherlands are a party, a judgment obtained against the Company in the courts of the United States, whether or not predicated solely upon the U.S. federal securities laws, including a judgment predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the U.S. securities law or securities laws of any State or territory within the United States, will not be directly enforceable in the Netherlands.

In order to obtain a judgment which is enforceable in the Netherlands, the claim must be relitigated before a competent court of the Netherlands; the relevant Netherlands court has discretion to attach such weight to a judgment of the courts of the United States as it deems appropriate; based on case law, the courts of the Netherlands may be expected to recognize and grant permission for enforcement of a judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction in the United States withoutre-examination or relitigation of the substantive matters adjudicated thereby, provided that (i) the relevant court in the United States had jurisdiction in the matter in accordance with standards which are generally accepted internationally; (ii) the proceedings before that court complied with principles of proper procedure; (iii) recognition and/or enforcement of that judgment does not conflict with the public policy of the Netherlands; and (iv) recognition and/or enforcement of that judgment is not irreconcilable with a decision of a Dutch court rendered between the same parties or with an earlier decision of a foreign court rendered between the same parties in a dispute that is about the same subject matter and that is based on the same cause, provided that earlier decision can be recognized in the Netherlands.

Based on the foregoing, there can be no assurance that U.S. investors will be able to enforce against us or members of our board of directors, officers or certain experts named herein who are residents of the Netherlands or countries other than the United States any judgments obtained in U.S. courts in civil and commercial matters.

In addition, there is doubt as to whether a Dutch court would impose civil liability on us, the members of our board of directors, our officers or certain experts named herein in an original action predicated solely upon the U.S. laws brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in the Netherlands against us or such members, officers or experts, respectively.

We are a Dutch public company with limited liability. The rights of our stockholders may be different from the rights of stockholders governed by the laws of U.S. jurisdictions.

We are a Dutch public company with limited liability (naamloze vennootschap). Our corporate affairs are governed by our articles of association and by the laws governing companies incorporated in the Netherlands. The rights of stockholders and the responsibilities of members of our board of directors may be different from the rights and obligations of stockholders in companies governed by the laws of U.S. jurisdictions. In the performance of its duties, our board of directors is required by Dutch law to consider the interests of our company, its stockholders, its employees and other stakeholders, in all cases with due observation of the principles of reasonableness and fairness. It is possible that some of these parties will have interests that are different from, or in addition to, your interests as a stockholder. See Part II, Item 16G. Corporate Governance.

Our articles of association, Dutch corporate law and our current and future debt instruments contain provisions that may discourage a takeover attempt.

Provisions contained in our articles of association and the laws of the Netherlands, the country in which we are incorporated, could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if doing so might be beneficial to our stockholders. Provisions of our articles of association impose various procedural and other requirements, which could make it more difficult for stockholders to effect certain corporate actions.

On June 2, 2015, our general meeting of shareholders has empowered our board of directors to issue additional shares and grant rights to subscribe for shares of common stock, up to 10% of the issued share capital which authorization can be used for general purposes and an additional 10% if the shares of common stock are issued or rights are granted in connection with an acquisition, merger or (strategic) alliance, and to restrict or exclude pre-emptive rights pertaining to (the right to subscribe for) shares for a period of 18 months from June 2, 2015 until December 2, 2016. On July 2, 2015, a separate authorization was approved by the general meeting of shareholders to issue additional shares to effect the Merger.

In addition, our debt instruments contain, and future debt instruments may also contain, provisions that require prepayment or offers to prepay upon a change of control. These clauses may also discourage takeover attempts.

We are a foreign private issuer and, as a result, are not subject to U.S. proxy rules but are subject to Exchange Act reporting obligations that, to some extent, are more lenient and less frequent than those of a U.S. issuer.

We report under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), as anon-U.S. company with foreign private issuer status. Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act and although we follow Dutch laws and regulations with regard to such matters, we are exempt from certain provisions of the Exchange Act that are applicable to U.S. public

companies, including: (i) the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act (ii) the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their stock ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time and (iii) the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the Commission of quarterly reports on Form10-Q containing unaudited financial and other specified information, or current reports on Form8-K, upon the occurrence of specified significant events. In addition, foreign private issuers are required to file their Annual Report on Form20-F by 120 days after the end of each fiscal year while U.S. domestic issuers that are large accelerated filers are required to file their Annual Report on Form10-K within 60 days after the end of each fiscal year. Foreign private issuers are also exempt from the Regulation Fair Disclosure, aimed at preventing issuers from making selective disclosures of material information. As a result of the above, even though we are contractually obligated and intend to make interim reports available to our stockholders, copies of which we are required to furnish to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on a Form6-K, and even though we are required to furnish reports on Form6-K disclosing whatever information we have made or are required to make public pursuant to Dutch law or distribute to our stockholders and that is material to our company, you may not have the same protections afforded to investors in companies that are not foreign private issuers.

We are a foreign private issuer and, as a result, in accordance with the listing requirements of the NASDAQNasdaq Global Select Market we rely on certain home country governance practices rather than the corporate governance requirements of the NASDAQNasdaq Global Select Market.

We are a foreign private issuer. As a result, in accordance with the listing requirements of the NASDAQNasdaq Global Select Market we rely on home country governance requirements and certain exemptions thereunder rather than relying on the corporate governance requirements of the NASDAQNasdaq Global Select Market. For an overview of our corporate governance principles, see Part II, Item 16G.-16.G.- Corporate Governance of our 2015 Annual Report,, including the section describing the differences between the corporate governance requirements applicable to common stock listed on the NASDAQNasdaq Global Select Market and the Dutch corporate governance requirements. Accordingly, you may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are not foreign private issuers.

Risks related to our indebtedness

Our debt obligations expose us to risks that could adversely affect our financial condition, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

As of December 31, 2015,2017, we had outstanding indebtedness with an aggregate principal amount of $9,380$6,650 million. Our substantial indebtedness could have a material adverse effect on our business by:

Despite our level of indebtedness, we may still incur significantly more debt, which could further exacerbate the risks described above and affect our ability to service and repay our debt.

If we do not comply with the covenants in our debt agreements or fail to generate sufficient cash to service and repay our debt, it could adversely affect our operating results and our financial condition.

The New RCF Agreement the Term Loans,and the indentures governing our Secured Notes and Unsecured Notesunsecured notes or any other debt arrangements that we may have require us to comply with various covenants. If there were an event of default under any of our debt instruments that was not cured or waived, the holders of the defaulted debt could terminate commitments to lend and cause all amounts outstanding with respect to the debt to be due and payable immediately, which in turn could result in cross defaults under our other debt instruments. Our assets and cash flow may not be sufficient to fully repay borrowings under all of our outstanding debt instruments if some or all of these instruments are accelerated upon an event of default.

Our ability to make scheduled payments or to refinance our debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance, which is subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations, or future borrowings under the New RCF Agreement or from other sources may not be available to us in an amount sufficient to enable us to repay our indebtedness, or to fund our other liquidity needs, including our working capital and capital expenditure requirements, and we may be forced to reduce or delay capital expenditures, sell assets or operations, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures, or to sell assets, seek additional capital, restructure or refinance our indebtedness or reduce or delay capital expenditures, strategic acquisitions, investments and alliances, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to obtain enough capital to service our debt and fund our planned capital expenditures and business plan. Our ability to restructure or refinance our debt will depend on the condition of the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. Any refinancing of our debt could be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. The terms of existing or future debt instruments may restrict us from adopting some of these alternatives. In addition, any failure to make payments of interest and principal on our outstanding indebtedness on a timely basis would likely result in a reduction of our credit rating, which could harm our ability to incur additional indebtedness. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations.

The rating of our debt by major rating agencies may further improve or deteriorate, which could affect our additional borrowing capacity and financing costs.

The major debt rating agencies routinely evaluate our debt. These ratings are based on current information furnished to the ratings agencies by us and information obtained by the ratings agencies from other sources. An explanation of the significance of such rating may be obtained from such rating agency. There can be no assurance that such credit ratings will remain in effect for any given period of time or that such ratings will not be lowered, suspended or withdrawn entirely by the rating agencies, if, in each rating agency’s judgment, circumstances so warrant. Actual or anticipated changes or downgrades in our credit ratings, including any announcement that our ratings are under further review for a downgrade, could affect our market value and/or increase our corporate borrowing costs.

Increases in interest rates could adversely affect our results of operations.

An increase in prevailing interest rates could adversely affect our financial condition. LIBOR (the interest rate index on which our variable rate debt is based) fluctuates on a regular basis. At December 31, 2015, we had approximately $3,483 million aggregate principal amount of variable interest rate indebtedness under our Term Loan agreements, which are subject to LIBOR floors. Any increased interest expense associated with increases in interest rates affects our cash flow and our ability to service our debt. Therefore, if the LIBOR rate exceeds the LIBOR floors on our Term Loan agreements, our cash interest obligation would increase and could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. At December 31, 2015, a 100 basis point increase in LIBOR rates from their then current levels would result in an increase in our interest expense of $30 million per year. Our New RCF Agreement, which was undrawn at December 31, 2015, also has a variable interest rate.

The conditional conversion feature of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.

In the event the conditional conversion feature of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes is triggered, holders thereof will be entitled to convert the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes solely into cash at any time during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes, we would be required to pay cash to settle any such conversion, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert their 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding aggregate principal of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which may adversely affect our net working capital.

The accounting for the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes results in recognized interest expense significantly greater than the stated interest rate of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes and may result in volatility to our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

We will settle conversions of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes entirely in cash. Accordingly, the conversion option that is part of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes is accounted for as a derivative pursuant to applicable accounting standards relating to derivative instruments and hedging activities. In general, this resulted in an initial valuation of the conversion option, which was bifurcated from the debt component of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes, resulting in an original issue discount. The original issue discount is amortized and recognized as a component of interest expense over the term of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes, which results in an effective interest rate reported in our Consolidated Statements of Operations significantly in excess of the stated coupon of 1.0%. This accounting treatment reduces our earnings, but does not affect the amount of cash interest paid to holders of Notes or our cash flows.

For each financial statement period after issuance of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes, a hedge gain or loss is reported in our Consolidated Statements of Operations to the extent the valuation of the conversion option changes from the previous period. The cash convertible note hedge transactions we entered into in connection with the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes are also accounted for as derivative instruments, generally offsetting the gain or loss associated with changes to the valuation of the conversion option. Although we do not expect there to be a material net impact to our Consolidated Statements of Operations as a result of issuing the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes and entering into the cash convertible note hedge transactions, we cannot assure you that these transactions will be completely offset, which may result in volatility to our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Item 4. Information on the Company

A. History and Development of the Company

Corporate Information

Our legal name is NXP Semiconductors N.V. and our commercial name is “NXP” or “NXP Semiconductors”.

We are incorporated in the Netherlands as a Dutch public company with limited liability (naamloze vennootschap).

On August 5, 2010, we made an initial public offering of 34 million shares of our common stock and listed our common stock on the NASDAQNasdaq Global Select Market.

On March 2, 2015, NXP announced that the company had entered into a definitive agreement under which it would merge with Freescale Semiconductor, Ltd. (“Freescale”) (the “Merger”). The Merger was consummated on December 7, 2015. As a result, Freescale’s results of operations are included in NXP’s Consolidated Statements of Operations for the period of December 7, 2015 through December 31, 2015.

NXP accounted for the Merger under the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Topic 805, Business Combinations, with NXP treated as the accounting acquirer, see further discussion below.

We are a holding company (the “holding” company) whose only material assets are the direct ownership of 100% of the shares of NXP B.V., a Dutch private company with limited liability (besloten vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid).

Our corporate seat is in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Our principal executive office is at High Tech Campus 60, 5656 AG Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and our telephone number is +31 40 2729233.2729999. Our registered agent in the United States is NXP Semiconductors USA, Inc., 411 East Plumeria Drive, San Jose, CA 95134,6501 William Cannon Dr. West, Austin, Texas 78735, United States of America, phone number +1 408 5185400.512 8952000.

Business Combinations

On February 20, 2018, Buyer and NXP entered into the Purchase Agreement Amendment under which Buyer agreed to revise the terms of its tender offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of NXP and increase the offer price from $110 per share to $127.50 per share, less any applicable withholding taxes and without interest to the holders thereof, payable in cash, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions in the Purchase Agreement. Pending the receipt of certain regulatory approvals, as well as satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, the proposed transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2018.

The Purchase Agreement contains certain termination rights for NXP and Buyer. If the Purchase Agreement is terminated under certain circumstances, including termination by NXP to enter into a superior proposal for an alternative acquisition transaction or a termination following a change of recommendation by the NXP Board, NXP will be obligated to pay to Buyer a termination compensation equal to $1.25 billion in cash. If the Purchase Agreement is terminated under certain circumstances, including circumstances relating to the failure to obtain antitrust approvals or failure to complete in all material respects certain internal reorganization steps and related dispositions with respect to NXP, Buyer will be obligated to pay to NXP a termination compensation equal to $2 billion in cash.

On December 7, 2015, NXP acquired Freescale in a stock and cash transaction for a total consideration of $11.6 billion. In connection with the Merger, each outstanding share of Freescale common stock was converted into 0.3521 shares of NXP common stock and $6.25 in cash, without interest. NXP issued 110 million shares of common stock to former holders of Freescale common stock, representing 32% of the 342 million total shares of outstanding NXP common stock after the Merger. Freescale’s financial results from the Merger date through December 31, 2017, are included in NXP’s Consolidated Statement of Operations, as discussed herein. NXP accounted for the Merger under the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Topic 805, Business Combinations, with NXP treated as the accounting acquirer, see further discussion below.

The Merger created a market leader in automotive, broad based microcontroller and security semiconductor solutions, with a highly complementary product portfolio. The Merger enables NXP to better serve a broader array of customers in strategic markets.

Other Significant Transactions

On March 27, 2018, NXP Semiconductors N.V. through its subsidiary NXP B.V., has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its 40% equity interest of Suzhou ASEN Semiconductors Co., Ltd. to J&R Holding Limited. The closing of this transaction is expected in the second quarter of 2018, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

On April 19, 2017, we sold our shares in Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation Ltd. (ASMC), representing a 27.47 percent ownership, for a total consideration of $54 million.

On June 14, 2016, we announced an agreement to divest our Standard Products (“SP”) business to a consortium of financial investors consisting of JAC Capital and Wise Road Capital. On February 6, 2017 NXP divested SP, receiving $2.6 billion in cash proceeds, net of cash divested.

On December 7, 2015, we divested our RF Power business to JAC Capital.

On November 9, 2015, we completed setting up WeEn Semiconductors, a Bipolar Power joint venture in China with JAC Capital. WeEn Semiconductors, in which JAC Capital owns 51% and we own 49%, combines our advanced technology from our former Bipolar Power business line with JAC Capital’s strong connections in the Chinese manufacturing network and distribution channels to lower manufacturing costs and boost profit margins of high end electronic products in China.

B.Business Overview

Semiconductor Market Overview

Semiconductors perform a broad variety of functions within electronic products and systems, including processing data, sensing, storing information and converting or controlling electronic signals. Semiconductors vary significantly depending upon the specific function or application of the end product in which the semiconductor is used and the customer who is deploying it. Semiconductors also vary on a number of technical characteristics including the degree of integration, level of customization, programmability and the process technology utilized to manufacture the semiconductor. Advances in semiconductor technology have increased the functionality and performance of semiconductors, improving their features and power consumption characteristics while reducing their size and cost. These advances have resulted in growth of semiconductors and electronic content across a diverse array of products. The semiconductor market totaled $336$412 billion in 2014.2017.

Merger

On December 7, 2015, we completed the Merger with Freescale in a stock and cash transaction.

In connection with the Merger, each outstanding share of Freescale common stock was converted into 0.3521 shares of NXP common stock and $6.25 in cash, without interest. NXP issued approximately 110 million shares of common stock to former holders of Freescale common stock, representing approximately 32% of the 342 million total shares of outstanding NXP common stock after the Merger. NXP was determined to be the accounting acquirer. Freescale’s financial results from the Merger date through December 31, 2015, are included in our Consolidated Statement of Operations, as discussed herein.

The Merger created a clear market leader in automotive, broad based microcontroller and security semiconductor solutions, with a highly complementary product portfolio. The Merger enables NXP to better serve a broader array of customers in strategic markets.

Integration

Integration planning commenced shortly after the announcement of the Merger in March 2015. We expect the full integration process to take several years, with the initial focus on management consolidation and process integration. Work streams are underway in all of our business lines and the support functions. Integration activities that likely will have a multi-year horizon include, but are not limited to, harmonizing brands, product and vendor selections, system integration and supply chain integration.

The priorities are maintaining business and customer continuity while identifying and accelerating synergies and integrating organizations, processes and systems.

The integration activities will transform the way NXP operates over the next few years. The remaining discussion in this “Business” section addresses the way we operate currently; however, the integration is likely to significantly impact most of these processes in future periods.

Other Significant Transactions

On December 7, 2015, we also announced the divestiture of our RF Power business to JAC Capital.

On November 9, 2015, we completed setting up WeEn Semiconductors, a Bipolar Power joint venture in China with JAC Capital. WeEn Semiconductors, in which JAC Capital owns 51% and we own 49%, combines our advanced technology from our former Bipolar Power business line with JAC Capital’s strong connections in the Chinese manufacturing network and distribution channels to lower manufacturing costs and boost profit margins of high end electronic products in China.

Our Company

We are a global semiconductor company and a long-standing supplier in the industry, with over 50 years of innovation and operating history. For the year ended December 31, 2015,2017, we generated revenue of $6,101$9,256 million, compared to $5,647$9,498 million for the year ended December 31, 2014.2016.

We provide leading High Performance Mixed Signal (HPMS) and, until February 6, 2017, Standard Product (SP) solutions that leverage our combined portfolio of intellectual property, deep application knowledge, process technology and manufacturing expertise in the domains of cryptography—security, high-speed interface, radio frequency (RF), mixed-signal analog-digital (mixed A/D), power management, digital signal processing and embedded system design.

Our product solutions are used in a wide range ofend-market applications including: automotive, personal security and identification, wireless and wireline infrastructure, mobile communications, multi-market industrial, consumer and computing. We engage with leading global original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and sell products in all major geographic regions.

Reporting Segments

Until February 6, 2017, NXP iswas organized into two market oriented reportable segments, High Performance Mixed Signal (“HPMS”) and Standard Products (“SP”). Corporate and Other represents the remaining portion (or “segment”) to reconcile to the Consolidated Financial Statements. You can find a description of each of our reportable segments below. We also have a manufacturing group that manages our manufacturing and supply chain activities.

Markets, applications and products

HPMS products consist of highly differentiated application-specific semiconductors and system solutions, which accounted for 79%99% of our total product revenue in 2015.2017. We believe the HPMS market is an attractive market due to the growth in excess of the overall semiconductor market, the high barriers to entry, the loyalty of the customer base, the relative pricing stability and lower long-term capital intensity.

SP products consistsconsisted primarily of discrete semiconductor devices that cancould be incorporated in many different types of electronics equipment, arewere typically sold to a wide variety of customers, and accounted for 21%1% of our total product revenue in 2015. NXP SP products are differentiated by our ability to consistently deliver cost effective, high unit volumes, which meet stringent quality levels and are a reflection of our long history of operational supply chain and continuously improved manufacturing processes. As a result we have been successful in improving the overall profitability of our SP segment.2017, as it was divested on February 6, 2017.

High Performance Mixed Signal

On January 1, 2015, NXP reorganized theThe HPMS segment from the four business lines: Automotive, Identification, Infrastructure & Industrial and Portable & Computing intoconsists of the following four business lines: Automotive, Secure Identification Solutions, Secure Connected Devices and Secure Interfaces and Power. Secure Interfaces and Power was later renamed to Secure Interfaces and Infrastructure. Effective with the Merger, the operations of Freescale were incorporated into the HPMS reportable segment. The former Freescale product groups were aligned with the NXP HPMS business lines as follows: RF and Digital Networking are reported under Secure Interfaces and Infrastructure; Automotive MCU and Analog & Sensors are reported under Automotive and Microcontrollers is reported under Secure Connected Devices. Additionally, certain portions of Freescale’s Analog & Sensor product group and other revenue is apportioned to various NXP operating segments consistent with NXP’s prior product and revenue classification approach, this included product-functionality alignment as well as IP sales and licensing revenue.

We focus on developing products and system andsub-system solutions that are innovative and allow our customers to bring their end products to market more quickly. Our products, particularly our application system andsub-system solutions, help our customers design critical parts of their end products and thus help many of them to differentiate themselves based on feature performance, advanced functionality, cost ortime-to-market.

We apply our technical expertise in the areas of RF, analog, power management, interface, security technologies and digital processing across our priority applications markets. Our strong RF capabilities are utilized in our high performance RF for wireless infrastructure and industrial applications, car security and car radio products, mobile connectivity and contactless identification products. Our power technologies and capabilities are applied inAC-DC power conversion, power management and audio power products, while our ability to designultra-low power semiconductors is used in a wide range of our products including our consumer, mobile, identification, healthcare products and our microcontrollers. Our high-speed interface design skills are applied in various interface products, and our security capability is used in our identification solutions, digital networking and microcontroller solutions. Finally, our digital processing capabilities are used in our microcontroller and application processor based products, our digital networking products, our Auto DSPs and the products leveraging our Coolfluxultra-low power DSPs, such as in our hearing aid products.

The below table provides an overview of the key applications per each business line, the leading market positions and our key customers.

The table above provides a list of our key OEM, ODM and electronic manufacturing services end customers in alphabetical order, based on 20152017 revenue, of which some of whom are supplied by distributors. Key distributors across these applications are Arrow, Avnet, Edom, Nexty, Vitec and WPG.

Automotive. Growth in semiconductor sales to the global automotive market relies on global economic trends, the unit growth of automobiles manufactured and the growth in semiconductor content per vehicle which is being driven by the proliferation of electronic features throughout the vehicle. Among the highest growth applications are advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), infotainment (information, convenience and connectivity), securein-vehicle networking and electrified powertrain (hybrid and electric vehicles).

Due to the high degree of regulatory scrutiny and safety requirements, the automotive semiconductor market is characterized by stringent qualification processes, zero defect quality processes, functionally safe design architecture, high reliability, extensivedesign-in timeframes and long product life cycles which results in significant barriers to entry.

Semiconductor content per vehicle continues to increase due to government regulation for improved safety and emissions, the standardization ofhigher-end options across a greater number of vehicle classes as well as consumer demand for greater fuel efficiency, advanced safety and multimedia applications. Automotive safety features are evolving from passive safety systems to active safety systems with ADAS such as radar, vision,vehicle-to-vehicle andvehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) systems. We believe regulatory actions and consumer demand in both the developed and emerging markets should drive the increase in applications such as ADAS, secure connectivity, electronic safety and stability control. Semiconductor content per vehicle is also increasing to address applications such as engine management, fuel economy improvement, driver comfort, convenience and user interface. In addition, with the increase in overall semiconductor content in modern automobiles, the demand for securein-vehicle networking continues to increase as various subsystems communicate within the automobile and with external devices and networks. Data integrity and security hardware features for safeguarding memory, communication and system data are also increasing in importance.

As a result of the Merger with Freescale, NXP became the largest semiconductor supplier to the automotive industry with strong positions in Car Entertainment,In-Vehicle Networking, Secure Car Access, Chassis & Safety and Powertrain. The combined portfolio is highly complementary, enabling NXP to address a broader scope of complete and complex solutions for our automotive partners. We continue to invest in growth areas including the evolution of the Secure Connected Car, ADAS and other safety and comfort applications.

In Car Entertainment, as a result of the Merger, we are the market leader with the broadest portfolio of products offerings addressing both audio and visualhead-end unit applications. Our leadership in audio processing formid-to-high-end car radio is driven by excellent reception performance as well as high-levels of integration of terrestrial, satellite and digital multi-band tuners. Within thelow-end and after-market car radio, our leadership is a result of highly integrated, single-chip radio solutions that offer our customers ease of implementation and lower total cost of ownership. In digital reception, we have developed multi-standard radios based on our software-defined radio implementation. In addition, we provideclass-AB andclass-D audio amplifiers and power analog products for car entertainment. Our i.MX applications processors, which are developed and brought to market by our Microcontroller and Processor teams, are highly integratedARM-based application processors with integrated audio, video and graphics capability.

In theIn-vehicle Networking market, we are the market leader, having played a defining role in settingin-vehicle networking standards including the CAN, LIN, FlexRay and more recently thetwo-wire automotive Ethernet standard. We are a leading supplier to major OEMs and continue to drive new system concepts, such as partial networking for enhanced energy efficiency.

In the Secure Car Access market, we are the market leader intwo-way secure entry products, and have pioneered the development of next generation passive keyless entry/start with our customers. As a result of our R&D innovations we are a key supplier to almost all major automobile manufacturers for secure access products.

In Chassis & Safety we offer a broad range of sensors and microcontrollers. Our inertial sensors enable vehicle stability control and airbag crash detection while our pressure sensors are well-positioned for continued growth in tire pressure monitoring, occupancy detection and engine control.

In Powertrain, we offer power management solutions which provide the intelligence engine management systems that reduce emissions and improve fuel efficiency. In December 2013, we announced a joint venture with Datang Telecom, targeting the China domestic hybrid and electrical car market. This joint venture became active in April 2014.

In ADAS, we are developing solutions for Radar, Vision and Secure V2X. In 2013, we made a strategic investment in Cohda Wireless, an equipment vendor in the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) market with whom weco-operate for V2X solutions. In December 2013, we also announced the intended sale of our Telematics Module business to Telit Communications which closed in March 2014.

We employ our proprietary processes for automotive-grade, high-voltage, RF andnon-volatile processes as well as our technology standards and leading edge security IP developed by our Secure Identification Solutions business, to deliver our automotive solutions. We design our products to be compliant with all key global relevant automotive quality standards (such as ISO/TS16949 and VDA6.3).

For the full year 2015,2017, we had High Performance Mixed Signal revenue of $1,342$3,762 million in automotive applications, compared to $1,144$3,379 million in 2014,2016, which represents a 17.3%11% year over year increase. According to Strategy Analytics, the total market for automotive semiconductors was $29.8$34.1 billion in 2014,2016, and projects it will grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 6.1%5.9% between 20142016 and 2018.2020.

Secure Identification Solutions (SIS). The SIS business is focused on delivering solutions to address the security and privacy requirements of three specific end market dynamics: (1) the increasing adoption of chip-based banking cards (“Banking”); (2) the increasing usage of high-volume, single-payment platform systems for urban transportation (“Transit—Access”); and (3) the increased need to provide government sponsored products to assure privacy and secure cross-border movement of people (“eGov”).

Nearly all of SIS products consist of multi-functional solutions comprised of passive RF connectivity devices facilitating information transfer from the user document to reader infrastructure; secure, tamper-proof microcontroller devices in which information is securely encrypted (“secure element”); and secure real-time operating system software products to facilitate the encryption-decryption of data, and the interaction with the reader infrastructure systems. Our solutions are developed to assure extreme levels of security of user information, undergoing stringent and continued global governmental and banking certification processes, as well as delivering the highest level of device performance enabling significant throughput and productivity to our customers.

In the banking sector NXP is the market leader in the contact, contactless and dual-interface bank card market. We have innovated and deployed “multi-application” banking solutions which support a combination of payment, transit and access solutions all leveraging a single physical bank card. In the transit and access market, NXP’s MIFARE products are ubiquitous throughout the world, having been deployed in over 750 cities, facilitating the mass transit requirements of over one billion people per day. Additionally our transit and access products are deployed in application such as employee identification for facility access and security. We are also focused on deploying our technology into new emerging market applications such as interactive gaming, theme-park attendee management and supply chain and inventory product management to support high velocity supply chain management. In the eGovernment sector, NXP is a market leader providing solutions for chip-based cross-border passports, drivers-licenses, health cards and other government sponsored identification documents. We have also worked with emerging market government agencies to facilitate government sponsored identity cards which also serve as payment platforms helping the mass-population of under-banked.

For the full year 2015,2017, we had High Performance Mixed Signal revenue of $973$523 million in SIS, compared to $996$737 million in 2014,2016, which represents a 2.3%29% year over year decline. According to ABI Research, the market size for secure identification ICs was $3.5 billion in 2014,2016, and is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 6%3.9% to $4.5$4.1 billion in 2018.2020.

Secure Connected Devices (SCD). The SCD business is focused on delivering solutions to enable the future of connected devices – also known as “Internet of Things” (IoT). We believe the future growth of secure connected devices requires the ability to deliver four fundamental functional capabilities: (1) embedded microcontrollers; (2) connectivity – short range RF and wireless technology (Bluetooth LE, Zigbee, Thread and NFC); (3) security; and (4) sensor—both location and environmental sensors.sensor. We seeend-markets and applications emerging in the area of Mobile Payments, Smart Home-Health, Smart Cities, Wearables and Smart Industrial.

The SCD business has a broad portfolio products which we believe enables NXP to successfully compete and deliver all aspects of semiconductor-based technologies for connected devices including microcontrollers, secure mobile transactions solutions and various connectivity solutions.

Post-merger,

Post-Merger, we are the largest supplier of broad based microcontrollers. We differentiate ourselves versus our competitors with a broad portfolio of products addressing different processing power, connectivity standards, peripherals and security levels depending on customers evolving requirements.

We have a strong position in multi-purpose 32-bit ARM-based32-bitARM-based microcontrollers serving a broad array of applications. Our portfolio is highly scalable, and is coupled with our extensive software and design tools. This enables our customers todesign-in and deploy our MCUs families, leveraging a consistent software development environment. Due to the scalability of our portfolio we are able to help future-proof our customer’s products as their systems evolve, becoming more complex or requiring greater processing capabilities over time. As a result of the Merger, weWe believe we have the broadest ARM portfolio in the industry.

Our i.MX family of processors are designed in conjunction with a broad suite of additional products including power management solutions, audio codecs, touch sensors and accelerometers to provide full systems solutions across a wide range of operating systems and applications. Our i.MX 6 family of applications processors integrates one, two or four ARMCortex-A9 cores running up to 1.2 GHz and includes five devices: the single-core i.MX 6Solo and i.MX 6SoloLite, dual-core i.MX 6Dual and i.MX 6DualLite, and quad-core i.MX 6Quad processors. Together, these products provide a family of applications processors featuring software, power and pin compatibility across single, dual and quad core implementations. Software support includes Linux and Android implementations.

We are the market leader in secure mobile transactions. NXP has pioneered and led the development of the ISO standard for Near Field Communications (NFC), which is rapidly emerging as the de facto standard for secure short-range connectivity. In combination with our industry leading SmartMX family of secure element device as well as our secure operating system, NXP has garnered market leadership in the deployment of mobile wallets and mobile payment. Our position leverages our decades long position in cryptography and security in the Banking, Transit – Access and eGov sectors.

Post-merger NXP has a broad and diverse portfolio of connectivity assets, IP and application knowledge which we believe enables us to fulfill our customer’s connectivity requirements for IoT applications, including smart lighting, smart energy, wireless remote controls & switches and healthcare monitoring.

In February 2015 we acquired Quintic, which brought assets and IP to broaden our connectivity portfolio. Specifically, Quintic is an innovator in the area of Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE), a key connectivity standard for IoT devices.

Our mobile audio business focuses on smart speaker drivers and leverages many of the same core technologies and competencies as our personal healthcare business. We also sell software solutions for mobile phones through our NXP Software business. The NXP Software solutions business develops audio solutions that enable mobile device manufacturers to produce differentiated hand held products that enhance theend-user experience. Our software has been incorporated into over 1 billion mobile devices produced by many of the world’s leading mobile device manufacturers.

Our personal healthcare revenue is generated by our hearing aid products, which leverage our proprietary,ultra-low power Coolflux – brand of DSP devices, our low power audio IC design capabilities and our magnetic induction radio technology. We design customer-specific ICs for major hearing aid OEMs, and many of these customers fund our product development efforts.

Our overall High Performance Mixed Signal revenue in the SCD business was $1,261$2,587 million in 2015,2017, compared to $1,028$2,146 million in 2014,2016, which represents a 22.7%21% year over year growth. We estimate the worldwide market for Microcontrollers32-bit was $7.4$7.5 billion in 2014,2016, and we expect a compounded annual growth rate of 8.8%9.7% between 20142016 and 2018.2020.

Our leadership in secure/smartcard Microcontrollers and the combined Freescale and NXPour position in thenon-secure Microcontrollers outside Automotive creates a number one position in broad based Microcontrollers.

Secure Interfaces and Infrastructure (SI&I). Our SI&I businesses consist of: Digital Networking Processors, Secure Interface and System Management Products, High-performance RF Power-Amplifiers (HPRF) and Smart Antennae solutions.

As a result of the Merger, NXP becameis a significant participant in the communications infrastructure market. Our communications processors are programmable semiconductors that perform tasks related to control and management of digital data, as well as network interfaces. They are designed to handle tasks related to data transmission between nodes within a network, the manipulation of that data upon arrival at its destination and protocol conversion. Our product portfolio includes32-bit and64-bit offerings ranging from a single core to28- and45-nanometer multicore QorIQ communications processors. Wireless-infrastructure processors combine communication processors with DSP functionality and specific wireless acceleration technology. Our portfolio of secure wireless-infrastructure processors targets small cells and macro base stations. These products perform baseband processing and support multiple cellular-networkair-interfaces such asLTE-Advanced,TD-LTE, LTE, HSPA+,TD-SCDMA, and CDMA2000K. Used by leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)OEMs worldwide, our broad portfolio of wireless-infrastructure and communications processors satisfies wireless infrastructure requirements.

We are major supplier in the highly fragmented interface and system management products. Our products address many interface standards and we serve various applications across the mobile, computing, industrial, consumer and automotive markets. We have broad product portfolios including UARTs. Bridges-devices, I² C, SPI,LED-lighting controllers, low power real-time clocks and watch ICs, HDMI switches and transceivers, and display port multiplexers. Our core competency is the ability to deliver products that manage high speed data and system voltage over the same interface. We generate a large part of our revenue by selling products to a very broad customer base, which we serve through our distribution channel. We have successfully engaged with leading OEMs to drive semi-custom products which in turn allow us to refine and accelerate our innovation and product roadmaps. We are engaged in development activities and standard setting initiatives with many of the innovation leaders in each of these markets. Key growth drivers will be the adoption rate of new high-speed interface standards such as USBtype-C.

We are also active in high efficiencyAC-DC power conversion ICs for notebook personal computers. Our strength inAC-DC power conversion is based on our leading edge high-voltage power analog process technologies and engineering capabilities in designing high efficiency power conversion products. Due to worldwide conservation efforts, many countries, states and local governments have adopted regulations that increase the demand for higher power efficiency solutions in computing and consumer applications, especially in power conversion.

We are the market leader in HPRF power amplifiers for markets, such as mobile base stations, wireless connectivity, satellite and CATV infrastructure and receivers, industrial applications, and to a lesser extent the military and aerospace markets. We are engaged with the majority of the largest customers in mobile base stations and in several other application areas.

Both Freescale and NXP prior to the Merger were the main suppliers into the HPRF power amplifier market. As a result of the Merger, NXP was required to sell its HPRF business. On December 7, 2015 NXP completed the divestment of ourits RF Power business to JAC Capital.

We also have an emerginga business offering Smart Antennae solutions based on Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) technology. We engage and sell our Smart Antennae solutions to varied customers in the mobile, consumer electronics and cable television infrastructure markets.

Our overall revenue in these businesses was $1,144$1,873 million in 20152017 versus $1,040$1,824 million in 2014,2016, which represents an increase of 10.0%3% year over year.

Standard Products

Our Standard ProductsUntil February 6, 2017, our SP business suppliessupplied a broad range of standard semiconductor components, such as small signal discretes, power discretes, protection and signal conditioning devices and standard logic devices, which wewere largely produceproduced in dedicatedin-house high-volume manufacturing operations. Our portfolio consistsconsisted of a large variety of catalog products, using widely-known production techniques, with characteristics that arewere largely standardized throughout the industry as well as leading discrete solutions especially in the field of ESD protection / EMI filtering and low loss rectification and power switching. Our Standard Products areSP products were often sold as separate components, but in many cases, arewere used in conjunction with our High Performance Mixed SignalHPMS solutions, often within the same subsystems. Further, we arewere able to leverage customer engagements where we provideprovided standard products devices, as discrete components, within a system to identify and pursue potential High Performance Mixed SignalHPMS opportunities.

Our products arewere sold both directly to OEMs as well as through distribution, and arewere primarily differentiated on cost, packaging type and miniaturization, and supply chain performance. Alternatively, our innovative products include “design-in”included“design-in” products, which requirerequired significant engineering effort to be designed into an application solution. For these products, our efforts makemade it more difficult for a competitor to easily replace our product, which makesmade these businesses more predictable in terms of revenue and pricing than is typical for standard products.

Our key product applications, markets and customers are described in the table below.

The table above provides a list of our key OEM and electronic manufacturing services end customers in alphabetical order, based on 2015 revenue, of which some of whom are supplied by distributors. Key distributors across these applications are Arrow, Avnet, Future and WPG.

In 2015, our Standard Products business generated net revenue of $1,241 million, compared to $1,275 million in 2014, which represents a 2.7% year over year decline.

We are the number one global supplier of small-signal discretes with one of the broadest product portfolios in the industry. We have a strong position due to our strong cost competitiveness, supply chain performance, leverage of our OEM relationships and a broadening portfolio. We are focusing on expanding our share of higher margin products in this business. In addition, we are also building a small signal MOSFET product line, which leverages our small signal transistors and diodes packaging operations and strong customer relationships. In addition to our small signal discretes products, we have a Power MOSFET product line, which is focused on the low-voltage segment of the market. The majority of our revenue in Power MOSFETs is to automotive customers.

During 2015, we introduced a new range of Automotive Power MOSFET products in our Trench 6 manufacturing process.

We estimate that the market for discretes, excluding RF & Microwave, was $20 billion in 2014 and is expected to stay flat, between 2014 and 2018.

Additionally, the Standard Products segment also includes Standard Logic ICs. We have the number two position in Standard Logic IC markets based on worldwide revenue for 2014, which we deploy in a large number of our High Performance Mixed Signal solutions. We offer several product families for low-voltage applications in communication equipment, personal computers, personal computer peripherals and consumer and portable electronics. Our 3V and 5V families hold a leading share of the logic market. We continue to expand into the higher margin product range in this business by expanding, among others, our switches and translators (or custom logic) portfolio and optimizing our manufacturing. We estimate the worldwide Standard Logic market at $1.5 billion in 2014, and is estimated to grow with compound annual rate of 4.3% between 2014 and 2018.

Corporate and Other

We manufacture integrated circuits and discrete semiconductors through a combination of wholly owned manufacturing facilities, manufacturing facilities operated jointly with other semiconductor companies and third-party foundries and assembly and test subcontractors. Our manufacturing operations primarily focus on manufacturing and supplying products to our High Performance Mixed Signal and Standard Products businesses. We manage our manufacturing assets together through one centralized organization to ensure we realize scale benefits in asset utilization, purchasing volumes and overhead leverage across businesses.

In the future, we expect to outsource an increased part of our internal demand for wafer foundry and packaging services to third-party manufacturing sources in order to increase our flexibility to accommodate increased demand mainly in our High Performance Mixed Signal and to a lesser extent in Standard Products businesses.demand.

The manufacturing of a semiconductor involves several phases of production, which can be broadly divided into “front-end”“front-end” and “back-end”“back-end” processes.Front-end processes take place at highly complex wafer manufacturing facilities (called fabrication plants or “wafer fabs”), and involve the imprinting of substrate silicon wafers with the precise circuitry required for semiconductors to function. Thefront-end production cycle requires high levels of precision and involves as many as 300 process steps.Back-end processes involve the assembly, test and packaging of semiconductors in a form suitable for distribution. In contrast to the highly complexfront-end process,back-end processing is generally less complicated, and as a result we tend to determine the location of ourback-end facilities based more on cost factors than on technical considerations.

We primarily focus our internal and joint venture wafer manufacturing operations on running proprietary specialty process technologies that enable us to differentiate our products on key performance features, and we generally outsource wafer manufacturing in process technologies that are available at third-party wafer foundries when it is economical to do so. In addition, we increasingly focus ourin-house manufacturing on our competitive8-inch facilities, which predominantly run manufacturing processes in the 140 nanometer, 180 nanometer and 250 nanometer process nodes, and have concentrated the majority of our manufacturing base in Asia. This focus increases our return on invested capital and reduces capital expenditures.

Ourfront-end manufacturing facilities use a broad range of production processes and proprietary design methods, including CMOS, bipolar, bipolar CMOS (“BiCMOS”) and double-diffused metal on silicon oxide semiconductor (“DMOS”) technologies. Our wafer fabs produce semiconductors with line widths ranging from 90 nanometers to 3 microns for integrated circuits and 0.5 microns to greater than 4 microns for discretes. This broad technology portfolio enables us to meet increasing demand from customers for system solutions, which require a variety of technologies.

Ourback-end manufacturing facilities test and package many different types of products using a wide variety of processes. To optimize flexibility, we use shared technology platforms for ourback-end assembly operations. Most of our assembly and test activities are maintainedin-house. Finally, a number of our High Performance Mixed Signal products enjoy significant packaging cost and innovation benefits due to the scale of our Standard Products business, which manufactures tens of billions of units per year.

The following table shows selected key information with respect to our majorfront-end andback-end facilities:

We use a large number of raw materials in our front- andback-end manufacturing processes, including silicon wafers, chemicals, gases, lead frames, substrates, molding compounds and various types of precious and other metals. Our most important raw materials are the raw, or substrate, silicon wafers we use to make our semiconductors. We purchase these wafers, which must meet exacting specifications, from a limited number of suppliers in the geographic region in which our fabrication facilities are located. At our wholly owned fabrication plants, we use raw wafers ranging from 6 inches to 8 inches in size. Our SSMC wafer fab facility, which produces 8 inch wafers, is jointly owned by TSMC and ourselves. We are leveraging our experience in that fab facility in optimizing our remaining wholly owned Nijmegen and Hamburg wafer fabs.fab. The Merger has added multiple 8 inch fabs for production of a wide portfolio of analog, mixed signal and processors products and this large scale and knowledge base will enable us to further optimize processes. Our other remaining fabs are small and are focused exclusively on manufacturing power discretes. Emerging fabrication technologies employ larger wafer sizes and, accordingly, we expect that our production requirements will in the future shift towards larger substrate wafers.

We typically source our other raw materials in a similar fashion as our wafers, although our portfolio of suppliers is more diverse. Some of our suppliers provide us with materials on ajust-in-time basis, which permits us to reduce our procurement costs and the negative cash flow consequences of maintaining inventories, but exposes us to potential supply chain interruptions. We purchase most of our raw materials on the basis of fixed price contracts, but generally do not commit ourselves to long-term purchase obligations, which permits us to renegotiate prices periodically.

Sales, Marketing and Customers

We market our products worldwide to a variety of OEMs, ODMs, contract manufacturers and distributors. We generate demand for our products by delivering High Performance Mixed SignalHPMS solutions to our customers, and supporting their systemdesign-in activities by providing application architecture expertise and local field application engineering support.

Our sales and marketing teams are organized into six regions, which are EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), the Americas, Japan, South Korea, Greater China and Asia Pacific. These sales regions are responsible for managing the customer relationships,design-in and promotion of new products. We seek to further expand the presence of application engineers closely supporting our customers and to increase the amount of product development work that we can conduct jointly with our leading customers. Ourweb-based marketing tool is complementary to our direct customer technical support.

Our sales and marketing strategy focuses on deepening our relationship with our top OEMs and electronic manufacturing service customers and distribution partners and becoming their preferred supplier, which we believe assists us in reducing sales volatility in challenging markets. We have long-standing customer relationships with most of our customers. Our 10 largest OEM end customers, some of whom are supplied by distributors, in alphabetical order, are Apple, Bosch, Ericsson, Continental, Gemalto, Giesecke/ Devrient,Delphi, Denso, Huawei,LG, Samsung, Visteon and ZTE. When we target new customers, we generally focus on companies that are leaders in their markets either in terms of market share or leadership in driving innovation. We also have a strong position with our distribution partners being the number twoa top three semiconductor supplier (other than microprocessors and memory ICs) through distribution worldwide. Our 3 largest distribution partners are Arrow, Avnet and WPG.

Our revenue is primarily the sum of our direct sales to original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs plus our distributors’ resale of NXP products. Two distributorsOne distributor accounted for more than 10% of total 20152017 revenue: WPGAvnet accounted for 14%15% of our revenue in 2015,2017, 13% in 20142016 and 11%14% in 2013. Avnet2015. WPG accounted for 14%less than 10% of our revenue in 2015 and 13%2017, less than 10% of our revenue in 2014.2016 and 14% in 2015. No other distributor accounted for more than 10% of our revenue in 2015, 20142017, 2016 or 2013. No individual2015. With 11% of total revenue, Continental was the only OEM for which we had direct sales to that accounted for more than 10% of revenue in 2017. In 2016 and 2015, 2014 or 2013.this percentage was below 10%.

Research and Development, Patents and Licenses, etc.

See the discussion set forth under Part I, Item 5C.5.C. Research and Development, Patents and Licenses, etc.

Competition

We compete with many different semiconductor companies, ranging from multinational companies with integrated research and development, manufacturing, sales and marketing organizations across a broad spectrum of product lines, to “fabless” semiconductor companies, to companies that are focused on a single application market segment or standard product. Most of these competitors compete with us with respect to some, but not all, of our businesses. None of our competitors have operations across all of our business lines.

Our key competitors in alphabetical order include Analog Devices Inc., Atmel Corporation, Broadcom, Cavium, Diodes, Fairchild Semiconductors, Infineon, Intel, Linear Technology, Maxim Integrated Products, Microchip, Renesas, ON Semiconductor Corporation, Power Integrations, ROHM, Silicon Laboratories, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments.

The basis on which we compete varies across market segments and geographic regions. Our High Performance Mixed SignalHPMS businesses compete primarily on the basis of our ability to timely develop new products and the underlying intellectual property and on meeting customer requirements in terms of cost, product features, quality, warranty and availability. In addition, our High Performance Mixed SignalHPMS system solutions businesses requirein-depth knowledge of a given application market in order to develop robust system solutions and qualified customer support resources. In contrast, our Standard Products business competes primarily on the basis of manufacturing and supply chain excellence and breadth of product portfolio.

Legal Proceedings

The information set forth under the “Litigation” caption of note 1617 of our notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part III, Item 18 of this Annual Report is incorporated herein by reference. For additional discussion of certain risks associated with legal proceedings, see Part I, Item 3D.3.D. Risk Factors above..

Environmental Regulation

The information set forth under the “Environmental remediation” caption of note 1617 of our notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part III, Item 18 of this Annual Report is incorporated herein by reference. For additional discussion of certain risks associated with environmental regulation, see Part I, Item 3D.3.D. Risk Factors above..

C.Organizational Structure

A list of our significant subsidiaries, including name, country of incorporation or residence and proportion of ownership interest and voting power is provided as “Exhibit 21.1” under Part III, Item 19. Exhibits and is incorporated herein by reference.

CORPORATE STRUCTURE

The following chart reflects our corporate structure as of December 31, 2015.2017.

D.Property, Plant and Equipment

NXP uses 136 sites in 32 countries with approximately 14.0 million square feet of total owned and leased building space of which 10.6 million square feet is owned property.

The following table sets out our principal real property holdings as of December 31, 2015:

Areas which are not fully closed are not considered as buildings (eg. sport fields, parking space). If it is not possible to differentiate between production facility and offices in the same building all is considered manufacturing.

Item 4A. Unresolved Staff Comments

Not applicable.

Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects

Critical Accounting Estimates

The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in accordance with U.S. GAAP requires our management to make judgments, assumptions and estimates that affect the amounts reported in our Consolidated Financial Statements and the accompanying notes. Our management bases its estimates and judgments on historical experience, current economic and industry conditions and on various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

The methods, estimates, and judgments that we use in applying our accounting policies have a significant impact on the results that we report in our consolidated financial statements. Some of our accounting policies require us to make difficult and subjective judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates regarding matters that are inherently uncertain. Our most critical accounting estimates include:

In the following section, we discuss these policies further, as well as the estimates and judgments involved.

Inventories

Inventories are valued at the lower of cost or market. We regularly review our inventories and write down our inventories for estimated losses due to obsolescence. This allowance is determined for groups of products based on sales of our products in the recent past and/or expected future demand. Future demand is affected by market conditions, technological obsolescence, new products and strategic plans, each of which is subject to change with little or no forewarning. In estimating obsolescence, we utilize information that includes projecting future demand.

The need for strategic inventory levels to ensure competitive delivery performance to our customers are balanced against the risk of inventory obsolescence due to rapidly changing technology and customer requirements.

The change in our reserves for inventories was primarily due to the normal review and accrual of obsolete or excess inventory. If actual future demand or market conditions are less favorable than those projected by our management, additional inventory write-downs may be required.

Goodwill

Goodwill is required to be tested for impairment at least annually or sooner whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the assets may be impaired. Such events or changes in circumstances can be significant changes in business climate, operating performance or competition, or upon the disposition of a significant portion of a reporting unit. A significant amount of judgment is involved in determining if an indicator of impairment has occurred between annual test dates. This impairment review compares the fair value for each reporting unit containing goodwill to its carrying value. Determining the fair value of a reporting unit involves the use of significant estimates and assumptions, including projected future cash flows, discount rates based on weighted average cost of capital and future economic and market conditions. We base our fair-value estimates on assumptions we believe to be reasonable. Actual cash flow amounts for future periods may differ from estimates used in impairment testing.

For the annual impairment assessment in 2015, we determined that for each of our reporting units, it was more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting units exceeded the carrying value. During the fourth quarter of each of the prior two fiscal years, we have completed our annual impairment assessments and concluded that goodwill was not impaired in any of these years.

Impairment or disposal of identified intangible assets and tangible fixed assets

We perform reviews of property, plant and equipment, and certain identifiable intangibles, excluding goodwill, to determine if facts and circumstances indicate that the useful life is shorter than what we had originally estimated or that the carrying amount of assets may not be recoverable. If such facts and circumstances exist, we assess the recoverability of the long-lived assets by comparing the projected undiscounted net cash flows associated with the related asset or group of assets over their remaining lives against their respective carrying amounts. In the event such cash flows are not expected to be sufficient to recover the recorded value of the assets, the assets are written down to their estimated fair values based on the expected discounted future cash flows attributable to the assets or based on appraisals. Impairment losses, if any, are based on the excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of those assets.

The assumptions and estimates used to determine future values and remaining useful lives of our intangible and other long-lived assets are complex and subjective. They can be affected by various factors, including external factors such as industry and economic trends, and internal factors such as changes in our business strategy and our forecasts for specific product lines. In 2015, we recognized disposals of intangibles relative to our sale of the Bipolar and RF Power Businesses. No impairment or disposal of identified intangible assets and tangible fixed assets were required to be recognized in 2014 and 2013.

Revenue recognition

The Company’s revenue is derived from sales to distributors, made-to-order sales to Original Equipment Manufacturers (“OEMs”) and similar customers.

Revenue is recognized when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, delivery has occurred or the service has been provided, the sales price is fixed or determinable, and collection is reasonably assured, based on the terms and conditions of the sales contract. For made-to-order sales, these criteria are met at the time the product is shipped and delivered to the customer and title and risk have passed to the customer. Acceptance of the product by the customer is generally not contractually required, since, for made-to-order customers, design approval occurs before manufacturing and subsequently delivery follows without further acceptance protocols. Payment terms used are those that are customary in the particular geographic market. When management has established that all aforementioned conditions for revenue recognition have been met and no further post-shipment obligations exist, revenue is recognized.

For sales to distributors, revenue is recognized upon sale to the distributor (sell-in accounting). We record reductions to sales associated with reserves for allowances for collectability, discounts, price protection, product returns and distributor incentive programs at the time the related sale is recognized. The establishment of such reserves is dependent on a variety of factors, including contractual terms, analysis of historical data, current economic conditions, industry demand and both the current and forecasted pricing environments. The process of evaluating these factors is highly subjective and requires significant estimates, including, but not limited to, forecasted demand, returns, pricing assumptions and inventory levels. In future periods, additional provisions may be necessary due to a deterioration in the semiconductor pricing environment, reductions in anticipated demand for semiconductor products and/or lack of market acceptance for new products. If these factors result in a significant adjustment to our reserves, they could significantly impact our future operating results.

Distributor reserves estimate the impact of credits granted to distributors under certain programs common in the semiconductor industry whereby distributors receive certain price adjustments to meet individual competitive opportunities, or are allowed to return or scrap a limited amount of product in accordance with contractual terms agreed upon with the distributor, or receive price protection credits when our standard published prices are lowered from the price the distributor paid for product still in its inventory. The Company’s policy is to use a rolling historical experience rate, as well as a prospective view of products and pricing in the distribution channel for distributors who participate in our volume rebate incentive program, in order to estimate the proper provision for this program at the end of any given reporting period. We continually monitor the actual claimed allowances against our estimates, and we adjust our estimates as appropriate to reflect trends in pricing environments and inventory levels. Distributor reserves are also adjusted when recent historical data does not represent anticipated future activity.

Income taxes

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the expected tax consequences of temporary differences between the tax basis of assets and liabilities and their reported amounts. Measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities is based upon the enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. Deferred tax liabilities for withholding taxes on dividends from subsidiaries are recognized in situations where the company does not consider the earnings indefinitely reinvested and to the extent that these withholding taxes are not expected to be refundable.

Deferred tax assets, including assets arising from loss carryforwards, are recognized, net of a valuation allowance, if based upon the available evidence it is more likely than not that the asset will be realized.

The income tax benefit from an uncertain tax position is recognized only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained upon examination by the relevant taxing authorities. The income tax benefit recognized is measured based on the largest benefit that is more than 50% likely to be realized upon resolution of the uncertainty. Unrecognized tax benefits are presented as a reduction to the deferred tax asset for related net operating loss carryforwards, unless these would not be available, in which case the uncertain tax benefits are presented together with the related interest and penalties as a liability, under accrued liabilities and other non-current liabilities based on the timing of the expected payment. Penalties are recorded as income tax expense, whereas interest is reported as financial expense in the statement of operations.

Postretirement benefits

The Company’s employees participate in pension and other postretirement benefit plans in many countries. The costs of pension and other postretirement benefits and related assets and liabilities with respect to the Company’s employees participating in defined-benefit plans are based upon actuarial valuations.

The projected defined-benefit obligation is calculated annually by qualified actuaries using the projected unit credit method. For the Company’s major plans, the discount rate is derived from market yields on high quality corporate bonds. Plans in countries without a deep corporate bond market use a discount rate based on the local government bond rates.

In calculating obligation and expense, the Company is required to select actuarial assumptions. These assumptions include discount rate, expected long-term rate of return on plan assets and rates of increase in compensation costs determined based on current market conditions, historical information and consultation with and input from our actuaries. Changes in the key assumptions can have a significant impact to the projected benefit obligations, funding requirements and periodic pension cost incurred. A sensitivity analysis is provided in note 14, “Postretirement Benefit Plans”.

The Company determines the fair value of plan assets based on quoted prices or comparable prices for non-quoted assets. For a defined-benefit pension plan, the benefit obligation is the projected benefit obligation; for any other postretirement defined benefit plan it is the accumulated postretirement benefit obligation.

Share-based compensation

We recognize compensation expense for all share-based awards based on the grant-date estimated fair values, net of an estimated forfeiture rate. We use the Black-Scholes option pricing model to determine the estimated fair value for certain awards. Share-based compensation cost for restricted share units (“RSU“s) with time-based vesting is measured based on the closing fair market value of our common stock on the date of the grant, reduced by the present value of the estimated expected future dividends, and then multiplied by the number of RSUs granted. Share-based compensation cost for performance-based share units (“PSU“s) granted with performance or market conditions is measured using a Monte Carlo simulation model on the date of grant.

Our valuation models and generally accepted valuation techniques require us to make assumptions and to apply judgment to determine the fair value of our awards. These assumptions and judgments include estimating the volatility of our stock price, expected dividend yield, employee turnover rates and employee stock option exercise behaviors. Due to the lack of extensive history as a public company, the computation of the expected volatility assumptions used in the Black-Scholes calculations for grants was based on historical volatilities and implied volatilities of our peer group companies. When establishing the expected life assumption, we used the ‘simplified’ method prescribed in ASC Topic 718 for companies that do not have adequate historical data. The risk-free interest rate is measured as the prevailing yield for a U.S. Treasury security with a maturity similar to the expected life assumption. We also estimate a forfeiture rate at the time of grant and revise this rate in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures or vesting differ from the original estimates.

We evaluate the assumptions used to value our awards on a quarterly basis. If factors change and we employ different assumptions, share-based compensation expense may differ significantly from what we have recorded in the past. If there are any modifications or cancellation of the underlying unvested securities, we may be required to accelerate, increase or cancel any remaining unearned share-based compensation expense.

Litigation and claims

We are regularly involved as plaintiffs or defendants in claims and litigation relating to matters such as commercial transactions and intellectual property rights. In addition, our divestments sometimes result in, or are followed by, claims or litigation by either party. From time to time, we also are subject to alleged patent infringement claims. We rigorously defend ourselves against these alleged patent infringement claims. There can be no assurance that the Company’s accruals will be sufficient to cover the extent of its potential exposure to losses. Historically, legal actions have not had a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations or financial condition.

The estimated aggregate range of reasonably possible losses is based on currently available information in relation to the claims that have arisen and on the Company’s best estimate of such losses for those cases for which such estimate can be made. For certain claims, the Company believes that an estimate cannot currently be made. The estimated aggregate range requires significant judgment, given the varying stages of the proceedings (including the fact that many of them are currently in preliminary stages), the existence of multiple defendants (including the Company) in such claims whose share of liability has yet to be determined, the numerous yet-unresolved issues in many of the claims, and the attendant uncertainty of the various potential outcomes of such claims. Accordingly, the Company’s estimate will change from time to time, and actual losses may be more than the current estimate.

Use of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Net debt is a non-GAAP financial measure and represents total debt (short-term and long-term) after deduction of cash and cash equivalents. Management believes this measure is an appropriate reflection of our net leverage.

We understand that, although net debt is used by investors and securities analysts in their evaluation of companies, this concept has limitations as an analytical tool and it should not be used as an alternative to any other measure in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

A.Operating Results

Year Ended December 31, 2015 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2014

Results of Operations

The following table presents the composition of operating income for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014.

Revenue

The following table presents revenue by segment for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014.

Revenue increased by $454 million to $6,101 million in 2015 compared to $5,647 million in 2014, a nominal increase of 8.0%. The increase was driven by growth in our HPMS segment, offset by a decrease in SP and Corporate and Other.

Our HPMS segment saw an increase in revenue of $512 million to $4,720 million in 2015 compared to $4,208 million in 2014. The increase was primarily driven by the acquisition of Freescale and the inclusion of their activity from December 7, 2015, onward, increased demand in Secure Connected Devices with the ramp up of mobile transactions in high-end smartphone and tablet platforms and increased demand in Automotive, driven mainly by car entertainment products. These increases were partially offset by the divestment of RF Power on December 7, 2015. Our Secure Identification Solutions business remained essentially flat year on year.

Revenue for our SP segment decreased by $34 million to $1,241 million in 2015, compared to $1,275 million in 2014. The decrease was primarily due to decreased demand in general applications.

Revenue for Corporate and Other amounted to $140 million in 2015, compared to $164 million in 2014 and mainly related to our manufacturing operations.

Gross Profit

The following table presents gross profit by segment for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014.

Gross profit in 2015 was $2,787 million, or 45.7% of revenue compared to $2,640 million, or 46.8% of revenue in 2014, an increase of $147 million. Our gross profit is heavily influenced by customer mix, product mix and manufacturing costs.

Our HPMS segment had a gross profit of $2,367 million, or 50.1% of revenue in 2015, compared to $2,253 million, or 53.5% of revenue in 2014. The decrease in the gross profit percentage of 3.4 points as a percentage of revenue was primarily driven by the impact of purchase accounting on inventory of $149 million and property, plant and equipment of $15 million, as a result of the merger with Freescale.

Gross profit in our SP segment was $417 million, or 33.6% of revenue in 2015, compared to $382 million, or 30.0% of revenue in 2014. The increase in the gross profit percentage of 3.6 points was primarily driven by a more beneficial product mix and improved manufacturing costs.

Operating Expenses

The following table presents operating expenses by segment for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014.

The following table below presents the composition of operating expenses by line item in the statement of operations.

Operating expenses were $2,035 million, or 33.4% of revenue in 2015, compared to $1,601 million, or 28.4% of revenue in 2014, an increase of $434 million, or an increase of 5.0 points as a percentage of revenue. The increase in operating expenses was primarily due to the acquisition of Freescale: the inclusion of their activity from December 7, 2015 onward and the related amortization of acquisition related intangibles of $105 million, the restructuring charge of $226 million, the charge for the acceleration of share-based compensation costs of $49 million for employees terminated in relation to the Merger and $42 million of merger-related costs.

In our HPMS segment, operating expenses amounted to $1,674 million, or 35.5% of revenue in 2015, compared to $1,278 million, or 30.4% of revenue in 2014. The increase was primarily driven by the acquisition of Freescale—the inclusion of their activity from December 7, 2015 onward and the related amortization of acquisition related intangibles of $105 million, the restructuring charge of $226 million and the charge for the acceleration of share-based compensation costs of $49 million for employees terminated in relation to the Merger.

Operating expenses in our SP segment decreased to $223 million, or 18.0% of revenue in 2015 compared to $262 million or 20.5% of revenue in 2014. The decrease in operating expenses was mainly driven by a strong focus on cost control to compensate for the decrease in revenue.

Operating expenses in Corporate and Other increased by $77 million to $138 million in 2015 compared to $61 million in 2014. The increase compared to the prior year period was primarily due to merger-related costs in connection with the acquisition of Freescale as noted above.

Restructuring Charges

Total restructuring and restructuring related costs amounted to $264 million in 2015 compared to $57 million in 2014.

In 2015, restructuring charges included employee severance costs of $239 million, and other exit costs of $27 million. The majority of these costs related to the acquisition of Freescale.

In 2014, we had restructuring charges, which related to a workforce reduction charge as a result of redundancy at our ICN 8 wafer fab in Nijmegen of $16 million and at our wafer fab in Hamburg of $5 million. The remaining restructuring and restructuring related costs were for the cumulative impact of specific targeted actions.

Other Income (Expense)

The following table presents other income (expense) for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014.

Other income (expense) reflects income of $1,263 million for 2015 compared to $10 million of income in 2014. Included in 2015 is the gain on the sale of NXP’s Bipolar Power business line and RF Power business to JAC Capital in the fourth quarter average of 2015. We established a 49% owned joint venture (JV) with JAC Capital to combine NXP’s advanced technology from its Bipolar Power business line with JAC Capital’s connections in the Chinese manufacturing network and distribution channels. The results of the Bipolar Power business were previously consolidated in the reportable segment SP. The new joint venture will be reported in Corporate and Other going forward. The results of the RF Power business were previously consolidated in the reportable segment HPMS.

Financial Income (Expense)

Financial income (expense) was an expense of $529 million in 2015, compared to an expense of $410 million in 2014. In 2015, financial income (expense) included a loss of $193 million as a result of changes in foreign exchange rates mainly applicable to the re-measurement of our U.S. dollar-denominated notes and short-term loans, which reside in a euro functional currency entity, compared to a loss of $246 million in 2014. Net interest expense amounted to $221 million in 2015 compared to $155 million in 2014. The increase in net interest expense was due to interest on our outstanding Term Loans, the Cash Convertible Senior Notes and the Secured Notes that we assumed in the acquisition of Freescale, together with the amortization of related debt issuance costs and the accretion of the debt discount on the newly issued Term Loan B and on the Cash Convertible Senior Notes. Starting in 2016, we expect to incur significantly higher aggregate interest expense due to the full annual effect of the borrowings we incurred to acquire Freescale, including the impact of purchase accounting on such debt. The related debt issuance costs will be charged to interest expense using the effective interest method over the respective borrowing terms. The change in fair value of the warrant liability, an expense of $31 million, resulted from the mark-to-market adjustment on the Warrant liability due to the increase in NXP’s share price over the 12-month period (2014: $2 million). In 2015, other included expenses of $71 million related to the financing activities for the acquisition of Freescale. As of January 1, 2016, as a result of the acquisition of Freescale, NXP has concluded that the functional currency of the holding company is USD. Beginning from January 1, 2016, the warrants will now be classified in stockholders’ equity, and mark-to-market accounting will no longer be applicable. In addition our U.S. dollar-denominated notes and short-term loans will no longer need to be re-measured.

Benefit (Provision) for Income Taxes

The effective tax rate was (7.0)% for 2015 compared with 6.3% for 2014. Our effective tax rate reflects the impact of our earnings being taxed in foreign jurisdictions at rates below the Netherlands statutory rate of 25.0%, and the relative mix of income and losses in these foreign jurisdictions including those where a full valuation allowance is recorded, in addition to tax incentives in certain jurisdictions. We recognized a benefit from income taxes of $104 million in 2015 compared with a provision for income taxes of $40 million in 2014. In 2015 we recognized a benefit from income taxes compared to a tax expense in 2014 due to increased tax benefits for R&D tax allowances & incentives, tax benefits from a change in the valuation allowance and the impact of purchase accounting on intangible assets in relation to the acquisition of Freescale.

Results Relating to Equity-accounted Investees

Results relating to the equity-accounted investees amounted to a gain of $9 million in 2015, compared to a gain of $8 million in 2014.

Non-controlling Interests

Non-controlling interests are related to the third party share in the results of consolidated companies, predominantly SSMC. Their share of non-controlling interests amounted to a profit of $73 million in 2015, compared to a profit of $68 million in 2014.

Year Ended December 31, 2014 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2013

Results of Operations

The following table presents the composition of operating income for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013.

Revenue

The following table presents revenue by segment for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013.

Revenue increased by $832 million to $5,647 million in 2014 compared to $4,815 million in 2013, a nominal increase of 17.3%. The increase was driven by strong growth in all of our business lines, highlighted by the growth in our HPMS segment.

Our HPMS segment saw an increase in revenue of $675 million to $4,208 million in 2014 compared to $3,533 million in 2013. The increase was primarily driven by increased demand in all four business lines—Automotive, Identification, Infrastructure & Industrial and Portable & Computing. The increase in Automotive was driven by our In-Vehicle Networking products. The increase in Identification was primarily driven by our embedded secure solutions associated with the ramp up of mobile transactions used in high-end smartphone and tablet platforms and continued demand for banking dual-interface cards. The increase in Infrastructure & Industrial was mainly in RF Power, in connection with the roll out of 4G base stations. The increase in Portable & Computing was driven by our microcontrollers and interface products.

Revenue for our SP segment increased by $130 million to $1.275 million in 2014, compared to $1,145 million in 2013. The increase was primarily due to increased demand in general applications, as a result of market share gains.

Revenue for Corporate and Other amounted to $164 million in 2014, compared to $137 million in 2013 and mainly related to our manufacturing operations.

Gross Profit

The following table presents gross profit by segment for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013.

Gross profit in 2014 was $2,640 million, or 46.8% of revenue compared to $2,177 million, or 45.2% of revenue in 2013, an increase of $463 million. This increase was primarily attributable to market share gains in all business lines but primarily in our HPMS segment. Our gross profit rate, up 1.6 points when compared to 2013, is heavily influenced by our product mix and the end customer mix in our business lines.

Our HPMS segment had a gross profit of $2,253 million, or 53.5% of revenue in 2014, compared to $1,905 million, or 53.9% of revenue in 2013. The decrease in the gross profit percentage of 0.4 points was driven by changes in our product mix primarily in our Identification business line as well as new product introduction costs.

Gross profit in our SP segment was $382 million, or 30.0% of revenue in 2014, compared to $285 million, or 24.9% of revenue in 2013. The increase in the gross profit percentage of 5.1 points was driven by the benefit of market share gains, favorable pricing, product mix and improved manufacturing costs, partly from lower depreciation expenses.

Operating Expenses

The following table presents operating expenses by segment for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013.

The following table below presents the composition of operating expenses by line item in the statement of operations.

Operating expenses were $1,601 million, or 28.4% of revenue in 2014, compared to $1,535 million, or 31.9% of revenue in 2013, an increase of $66 million, or a decrease of 3.5 points as a percentage of revenue. The increase in operating expenses was primarily due to higher share-based compensation costs and an increased investment in research and development. The increase was offset by lower PPA expenses mainly due to certain intangible assets becoming fully amortized in the course of 2014. The decrease of operating expenses as a percentage of revenue was primarily driven by our continued focus on cost controls in SG&A.

In our HPMS segment, operating expenses amounted to $1,278 million, or 30.4% of revenue in 2014, compared to $1,193 million, or 33.8% of revenue in 2013. The increase was primarily driven by increased investment in research and development and increased share-based compensation costs.

Operating expenses in our SP segment increased to $262 million, or 20.5% of revenue in 2014 compared to $247 million or 21.6% of revenue in 2013. The increase in operating expenses was mainly driven by higher share-based compensations costs.

Operating expenses in Corporate and Other decreased by $34 million to $61 million in 2014 compared to $95 million in 2013. The decrease compared to the prior year period was primarily due to lower restructuring and restructuring-related costs.

Other Income (Expense)

The following table presents other income (expense) for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013.

Other income (expense) reflects income of $10 million for 2014 compared to $9 million of income in 2013.

Restructuring Charges

Restructuring and restructuring related costs amounted to $57 million in 2014 compared to $40 million in 2013.

In 2014, we had restructuring charges, which related to a workforce reduction charge as a result of redundancy at our ICN 8 wafer fab in Nijmegen of $16 million and for our wafer fab in Hamburg of $5 million. The remaining restructuring and restructuring related costs were for the cumulative impact of specific targeted actions.

In 2013, we had restructuring charges related mainly to a charge of $16 million associated with onerous contracts relating to leased office buildings in the Netherlands and France. The remaining restructuring and restructuring related costs were for the cumulative impact of specific targeted actions.

Operating Income (Loss)

The following table presents operating income (loss) by segment for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013.

The table below summarizes the PPA effects for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 on operating income (loss) by segment.

The table below depicts the PPA effects within the Statement of Operations for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013.

“PPA effects” reflect the amortization in the period related to fair value adjustments resulting from acquisition accounting and other acquisition adjustments charged to the income statement applied to the formation of NXP on September 29, 2006 and all subsequent acquisitions. The PPA effect on the Company’s gross profit refers to additional depreciation charges on tangible fixed assets, resulting from the step-up in fair values. The amortization charges related to long-lived intangible assets are reflected in general and administrative expenses.

The decrease in PPA effects results in part from certain items becoming fully amortized during the course of 2014.

Financial Income (Expense)

Financial income (expense) was an expense of $410 million in 2014, compared to an expense of $274 million in 2013. Extinguishment of debt in 2014 amounted to a loss of $3 million compared to a loss of $114 million in 2013. In 2014, financial income (expense) included a loss of $246 million as a result of changes in foreign exchange rates mainly applicable to re-measurement of our U.S. dollar-denominated notes and short-term loans, which reside in a euro functional currency entity, compared to a gain of $62 million in 2013. The net interest expense amounted to $155 million in 2014 compared to $211 million in 2013. This was mainly attributable to a lower average interest rate on our long-term debt of 3.9% in 2014 compared to 5.2% in 2013.

Benefit (Provision) for Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes was $40 million for the year ended December 31, 2014, compared to $20 million for the year ended December 31, 2013, and the effective income tax rates were 6.3% and 5.3%, respectively. The effective income tax rates were impacted by foreign earnings taxed at lower rates than the Netherlands statutory rate, tax incentives in certain jurisdictions, and the mix of income and losses in various jurisdictions.

Results Relating to Equity-accounted Investees

Results relating to the equity-accounted investees amounted to a gain of $8 million in 2014, compared to a gain of $58 million in 2013. The gain in 2013 primarily reflects a $46 million release of the contingent liability related to an arbitration commenced by ST. By ruling of April 2, 2013, the ICC arbitration tribunal dismissed all claims made by ST in this arbitration. No appeal is available to ST. Based on this award, the provision amounting to $46 million, established in 2012 was released.

Non-controlling Interests

Non-controlling interests are related to the third party share in the results of consolidated companies, predominantly SSMC. Their share of non-controlling interests amounted to a profit of $68 million in 2014, compared to a profit of $67 million in 2013.

B.5.B.Liquidity and Capital Resources

Liquidity, under the captions 2017 Financing Activities, 2016 Financing Activities and Capital Resources

As2015 Financing Activities.

(6)

On March 27, 2018, we entered into a definitive agreement to sell our 40% equity interest of December 31, 2015, our cash balance was $1,614 million, of which $485 million was held by SSMC, our consolidated joint venture company with TSMC. Under the terms of our joint venture agreement with TSMC, a portionASEN. The closing of this cash can be distributed by waytransaction is expected in the second quarter of a dividend2018, subject to us, but 38.8%customary regulatory approvals.

D. Property, Plant and Equipment

NXP uses 95 sites in 30 countries with 10.9 million square feet of total owned and leased building space of which 9.5 million square feet is owned property.

The following table sets out our principal real property holdings as of December 31, 2017: