Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes thereto included elsewhere in this report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements. Please see the “Cautionary Statement” and “Risk Factors” above for discussions of the uncertainties, risks and assumptions associated with these statements. Our fiscal year-end financial reporting periods are a 52- or 53-week fiscal year that ends on the Saturday closest to December 31. Fiscal 2021 had 52 weeks. Fiscal 2020 had 53 weeks with the extra week occurring in the first quarter of the year. Fiscal 2019 had 52 weeks. Fiscal 2021, 2020 and 2019 ended on January 1, 2022, January 2, 2021 and December 28, 2019, respectively.
Impact of COVID-19
A new strain of novel coronavirus which causes a severe respiratory disease (“COVID-19”) was identified in 2019, and subsequently declared a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organization. We implemented a response plan and continued operations while largely transitioning our global workforce to a remote work model. The third parties that perform our semiconductor manufacturing, assembly, packaging and testing have generally remained operational. The extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operational and financial performance will depend on future developments, including the duration, severity and spread of the pandemic, related restrictions on travel and transportation and other actions that may be taken by governmental authorities, the impact to the business of our suppliers or customers, and other items identified under “Risk Factors” above, all of which are uncertain and cannot be predicted. An extended period of global supply chain and economic disruption could materially affect our business, results of operations, access to sources of liquidity and financial condition.
Overview
We are a leader in secure, intelligent wireless technology for a more connected world. Our integrated hardware and software platform, intuitive development tools, industry leading ecosystem and robust support enable customers in building advanced industrial, commercial, home and life applications. We make it easy for developers to solve complex wireless challenges throughout the product lifecycle and get to market quickly with innovative solutions that transform industries, grow economies and improve lives. We provide analog-intensive, mixed-signal solutions for use in a variety of electronic products in a broad range of applications for the Internet of Things (IoT) including connected home and security, industrial automation and control, smart metering, smart lighting, commercial building automation, consumer electronics, asset tracking and medical instrumentation.
As a fabless semiconductor company, we rely on third-party semiconductor fabricators in Asia, and to a lesser extent the United States and Europe, to manufacture the silicon wafers that reflect our IC designs. Each wafer contains numerous die, which are cut from the wafer to create a chip for an IC. We rely on third parties in Asia to assemble, package, and, in most cases, test these devices and ship these units to our customers. Testing performed by such third parties facilitates faster delivery of products to our customers (particularly those located in Asia), shorter production cycle times, lower inventory requirements, lower costs and increased flexibility of test capacity.
The sales cycle for our ICs can be as long as 12 months or more. An additional three to six months or more are usually required before a customer ships a significant volume of devices that incorporate our ICs. Due to this lengthy sales cycle, we typically experience a significant delay between incurring research and development and selling, general and administrative expenses, and the corresponding sales. Consequently, if sales in any quarter do not occur when expected, expenses and inventory levels could be disproportionately high, and our operating results for that quarter and, potentially, future quarters would be adversely affected. Moreover, the amount of time between initial research and development and commercialization of a product, if ever, can be substantially longer than the sales cycle for the product. Accordingly, if we incur substantial research and development costs without developing a commercially successful product, our operating results, as well as our growth prospects, could be adversely affected.
Because some of our ICs are designed for use in consumer products, we expect that the demand for our products will be typically subject to some degree of seasonal demand. However, rapid changes in our markets and across our product areas make it difficult for us to accurately estimate the impact of seasonal factors on our business.