UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
___________
FORM 10-Q
[X] QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
FOR THE FISCAL QUARTER ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 1999, OR
[_] TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM TO.
COMMISSION FILE NUMBER: 000-23193
___________
APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
DELAWARE 94-2586591
(State or other jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization) Identification No.)
6290 SEQUENCE DRIVE
SAN DIEGO, CA 92121
(Address of principal executive offices)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (619) 450-9333
___________
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, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), during the preceding 12 months (or for
such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports) and
(2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
YES [x] NO ___
As of October 31, 1999, 53,951,411 shares of the Registrant's Common Stock
were issued and outstanding.
APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION
INDEX
PAGE
----
Part I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION:
Item 1. a) Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets at September 30, 1999
(unaudited) and March 31, 1999...................................................... 3
b) Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income (unaudited) for the three months
ended and six months ended September 30, 1999 and 1998.............................. 4
c) Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (unaudited)
for the six months ended September 30, 1999 and 1998................................ 5
d) Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements (unaudited).................... 6
Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations... 8
Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.............................. 24
Part II. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1. Legal Proceedings....................................................................... 24
Item 2. Changes in Securities and Use of Proceeds............................................... 25
Item 3 Defaults upon Senior Securities......................................................... 25
Item 4. Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders..................................... 26
Item 5. Other Information,...................................................................... 27
Item 6. Exhibits and Reports on Form 8-K........................................................ 27
Signatures ........................................................................................ 27
================================================================================
PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION
ITEM 1. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in thousands, except par value)
SEPTEMBER 30, MARCH 31,
1999 1999
--------------------------------
(UNAUDITED)
ASSETS
------
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents........................................................... $ 26,836 $ 13,530
Short-term investments - available-for-sale......................................... 78,235 73,010
Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $324 and $177
at September 30, 1999 (unaudited) and March 31, 1999, respectively................ 18,861 19,275
Inventories......................................................................... 10,475 9,813
Deferred income taxes............................................................... 4,273 4,573
Notes receivable from officers and employees........................................ 75 815
Other current assets................................................................ 3,335 4,004
-------- --------
Total current assets...................................................... 142,090 125,020
Property and equipment, net.............................................................. 27,270 23,128
Other assets............................................................................. 2,168 2,507
-------- --------
Total assets........................................................................... $171,528 $150,655
======== ========
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
------------------------------------
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable.................................................................... $ 6,820 $ 5,131
Accrued payroll and related expenses................................................ 4,938 4,689
Other accrued liabilities........................................................... 5,252 7,207
Deferred revenue.................................................................... 2,174 1,439
Current portion of long-term debt................................................... 1,346 1,862
Current portion of capital lease obligations........................................ 872 1,075
-------- --------
Total current liabilities................................................. 21,402 21,403
Long-term debt, less current portion..................................................... 4,309 4,995
Long-term capital lease obligations, less current portion................................ 2,188 2,563
Stockholders' equity:
Preferred Stock, $0.01 par value:
2,000 shares authorized, none issued and outstanding............................... - -
Common Stock, $0.01 par value:
Authorized shares - 180,000
Issued and outstanding shares - 53,898 at September 30, 1999 (unaudited)
and 53,224 at March 31, 1999............................................ 539 532
Additional paid-in capital........................................................... 108,170 102,259
Deferred compensation, net........................................................... (1,815) (2,123)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss................................................. (207) (33)
Retained earnings.................................................................... 37,397 21,514
Notes receivable from stockholders................................................... (455) (455)
-------- --------
Total stockholders' equity.............................................. 143,629 121,694
-------- --------
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity...................................... $171,528 $150,655
======== ========
See accompanying Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
3
APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
(UNAUDITED)
(in thousands, except per share data)
THREE MONTHS SIX MONTHS
ENDED ENDED
SEPTEMBER 30, SEPTEMBER 30,
----------------------------------------
1999 1998 1999 1998
----------------------------------------
Net revenues.................................................... $37,898 $25,472 $69,541 $49,286
Cost of revenues................................................ 11,326 9,347 21,609 18,746
------- ------- ------- -------
Gross profit.................................................... 26,572 16,125 47,932 30,540
Operating expenses:
Research and development..................................... 7,194 5,454 13,548 10,347
Selling, general and administrative.......................... 6,548 4,296 12,117 8,460
------- ------- ------- -------
Total operating expenses................................... 13,742 9,750 25,665 18,807
------- ------- ------- -------
Operating income................................................ 12,830 6,375 22,267 11,733
Interest income, net............................................ 1,005 877 1,889 1,730
------- ------- ------- -------
Income before income taxes...................................... 13,835 7,252 24,156 13,463
Provision for income taxes...................................... 4,738 2,584 8,273 4,811
------- ------- ------- -------
Net income...................................................... $ 9,097 $ 4,668 $15,883 $ 8,652
======= ======= ======= =======
Basic earnings per share:
Earnings per share........................................... $ 0.17 $ 0.10 $ 0.31 $ 0.18
======= ======= ======= =======
Shares used in calculating basic earnings per share.......... 52,543 48,820 51,987 48,050
======= ======= ======= =======
Diluted earnings per share:
Earnings per share........................................... $ 0.16 $ 0.09 $ 0.28 $ 0.16
======= ======= ======= =======
Shares used in calculating diluted earnings per share........ 57,932 54,592 57,494 53,963
======= ======= ======= =======
See accompanying Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
4
APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(UNAUDITED)
(in thousands)
SIX MONTHS ENDED
SEPTEMBER 30,
-------------------
1999 1998
-------------------
Operating Activities
Net income........................................................................................ $ 15,883 $ 8,652
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization............................................................... 3,820 3,371
Amortization of deferred compensation....................................................... 308 121
Changes in assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable..................................................................... 414 (5,578)
Inventories............................................................................. (662) (1,265)
Other assets............................................................................ 908 126
Accounts payable........................................................................ 1,689 (535)
Accrued payroll and other accrued liabilities........................................... 422 2,320
Deferred income taxes................................................................... 300 383
Deferred revenue........................................................................ 735 (654)
-------- --------
Net cash provided by operating activities................................................... 23,817 6,941
Investing Activities
Proceeds from sales and maturities of short-term investments....................................... 68,976 93,046
Purchase of short-term investments................................................................. (74,375) (91,940)
Notes receivable from officers and employees....................................................... 840 235
Purchase of property and equipment................................................................. (7,962) (9,882)
-------- --------
Net cash used for investing activities...................................................... (12,521) (8,541)
Financing Activities
Proceeds from issuance of common stock, net........................................................ 3,800 6,201
Repurchase of restricted stock..................................................................... (10) -
Payments on capital lease obligations.............................................................. (578) (1,172)
Proceeds from long-term debt....................................................................... - 533
Payments on stockholders notes..................................................................... - 46
Payments on long-term debt......................................................................... (1,202) (465)
-------- --------
Net cash provided by financing activities................................................... 2,010 5,143
-------- --------
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents................................................... 13,306 3,543
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period.......................................................... 13,530 6,460
-------- --------
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period................................................................ $ 26,836 $ 10,003
======== ========
Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information:
Cash paid for:
Interest....................................................................................... $ 396 $ 251
======== ========
Income taxes................................................................................... $ 5,583 $ 4,838
======== ========
See accompanying Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
5
APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
(UNAUDITED)
1. BASIS OF PRESENTATION
INTERIM FINANCIAL INFORMATION (UNAUDITED)
The accompanying unaudited interim condensed financial statements of
Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (the "Company" or "AMCC") have been prepared
in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles for interim
financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information
and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete
financial statements. The accompanying financial statements reflect all
adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) which are, in the opinion
of management, considered necessary for a fair presentation of the results for
the interim periods presented. Interim results are not necessarily indicative of
results for a full year. The Company has experienced significant quarterly
fluctuations in operating results and it expects that these fluctuations in
sales, expenses and net income or losses will continue.
The preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally
accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and
assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and
disclosures made in the accompanying notes to the financial statements. These
estimates include assessing the collectability of accounts receivable, the use
and recoverability of inventory, estimates to complete engineering contracts,
costs of future product returns under warranty and provisions for contingencies
expected to be incurred. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
On September 1, 1999, the Company's stockholders approved an increase in
the authorized number of shares of common stock authorized to 180,000,000. On
September 9, 1999, the Company effected a two-for-one stock split (in the form
of a stock 100% dividend); accordingly, all prior share and per share amounts in
this Form 10-Q have been restated to reflect the stock split.
The financial statements and related disclosures have been prepared with
the presumption that users of the interim financial information have read or
have access to the audited financial statements for the preceding fiscal year.
Accordingly, these financial statements should be read in conjunction with the
audited financial statements and the related notes thereto contained in the
Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission for the year ended March 31, 1999.
2. EARNINGS PER SHARE
The reconciliation of shares used to calculate basic and diluted earnings
per share consists of the following (in thousands):
THREE MONTHS SIX MONTHS
ENDED ENDED
SEPTEMBER 30, SEPTEMBER 30,
-----------------------------------------------------------
1999 1998 1999 1998
-----------------------------------------------------------
Shares used in basic earnings per share
computations-weighted average common shares
outstanding 52,543 48,820 51,987 48,050
Net effect of dilutive common share
equivalents based on the treasury stock method 5,389 5,772 5,507 5,913
------ ------ ------ ------
Shares used in diluted earnings per share
computations 57,932 54,592 57,494 53,963
====== ====== ====== ======
6
3. CERTAIN FINANCIAL STATEMENT INFORMATION
SEPTEMBER 30, MARCH 31,
1999 1999
-------------------------------------
Inventories (in thousands):
Finished goods $ 2,472 $ 975
Work in process 6,805 7,688
Raw materials 1,198 1,150
------- ------
$10,475 $9,813
======= ======
SEPTEMBER 30, MARCH 31,
1999 1999
-------------------------------------
Property and equipment
(in thousands):
Machinery and equipment $ 34,915 $ 33,280
Leasehold improvements 7,708 7,641
Computers, furniture and
office equipment 18,177 16,654
Land 4,808 1,133
-------- --------
65,608 58,708
Less accumulated depreciation
and amortization (38,338) (35,580)
-------- --------
$ 27,270 $ 23,128
======== ========
4. COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
The components of comprehensive income, net of tax, are as follows (in
thousands):
THREE MONTHS SIX MONTHS
ENDED ENDED
SEPTEMBER 30, SEPTEMBER 30,
-------------------------------------------------------
1999 1998 1999 1998
-------------------------------------------------------
Net income $9,097 $4,668 $15,883 $8,652
Change in net unrealized loss
on available-for-sale investments - - (174) -
------ ------ ------- ------
Comprehensive income $9,097 $4,668 $15,709 $8,652
====== ====== ======= ======
Accumulated other comprehensive loss presented in the accompanying consolidated
condensed balance sheets consists of the accumulated net unrealized loss on
available-for-sale investments.
7
5. CONTINGENCIES
The Company is party to various claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary
course of business, including notification of possible infringement on the
intellectual property rights of third parties. In addition, the Company has been
named as a potentially responsible party ("PRP") along with a large number of
other companies that used Omega Chemical Corporation ("Omega") in Whittier,
California to handle and dispose of certain hazardous waste material. The
Company is a member of a group of PRPs that has agreed to fund certain
remediation efforts at the Omega site. The Company has accrued approximately
$50,000 for its contributions to such efforts. Although the ultimate outcome of
these matters is not presently determinable, management believes that the
resolution of all such pending matters, net of amounts accrued, will not have a
material adverse effect on the Company's financial position or liquidity;
however, there can be no assurance that the ultimate resolution of these matters
will not have a material averse effect on the Company's results of operations in
any period.
On July 31, 1998, the Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation Limited
Partnership (the "Lemelson Partnership") filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District
Court for the District of Arizona against a number of companies, including AMCC,
engaged in the manufacture and/or sale of IC products. On November 25, 1998, the
Company was served a summons pursuant to this lawsuit. The complaint alleges
infringement by the defendants of certain U.S. patents (the "Lemelson Patents")
held by the Lemelson Partnership relating to certain semiconductor manufacturing
processes. The complaint seeks, among other things, injunctive relief and
unspecified treble damages. Previously, the Lemelson Partnership has offered the
Company a license under the Lemelson Patents. Although the ultimate outcome of
this matter is not currently determinable, the Company believes, based in part
on the licensing terms previously offered by the Lemelson Partnership, that the
resolution of this matter will not have a material adverse effect on the
Company's financial position or liquidity; however, there can be no assurance
that the ultimate resolution of this matter will not have a material adverse
effect on the Company's results of operations in any period.
ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the
Consolidated Financial Statements and the notes thereto and with Management's
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations that
are included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 1999
for Applied Micro Circuit Corporation. This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and
in particular this Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition
and Results of Operations, contains forward-looking statements regarding future
events or the future financial performance of the Company that involve certain
risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, those set forth in "The
Factors That May Affect Future Results" discussed below. Actual events or the
actual future results of the Company may differ materially from any forward-
looking statements due to such risks and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned
not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect
management's analysis only as of the date hereof. The Company assumes no
obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect actual results
or changes in factors or assumptions affecting such forward-looking assumptions.
OVERVIEW
AMCC designs, develops, manufactures and markets high-performance, high-
bandwidth integrated circuit silicon solutions for the world's optical networks.
The Company utilizes a combination of high-frequency analog, mixed-signal and
digital design expertise coupled with system-level knowledge and multiple
silicon process technologies to offer IC products for the wide area network
markets that address the SONET/SDH and ATM transmission standards and for the
fiber optic based portions of the local area network markets that address the
Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel transmission standards. The Company also
leverages its technology to provide IC products for the automated test equipment
(ATE), broadcast HDTV, high-speed computing and military markets.
8
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following table sets forth certain consolidated statement of operations
data as a percentage of revenues for the periods indicated:
THREE MONTHS ENDED SIX MONTHS ENDED
------------------------------ ------------------------------
SEPTEMBER 30, SEPTEMBER 30, SEPTEMBER 30, SEPTEMBER 30,
1999 1998 1999 1998
-------------- -------------- -------------- --------------
Net revenues................................................ 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Cost of revenues............................................ 29.9% 36.7% 31.1% 38.0%
----- ----- ----- -----
Gross profit................................................ 70.1% 63.3% 68.9% 62.0%
Operating expenses:
Research and development.................................. 19.0% 21.4% 19.5% 21.0%
Selling, general and administrative....................... 17.3% 16.9% 17.4% 17.2%
----- ----- ----- -----
Total operating expenses............................... 36.3% 38.3% 36.9% 38.2%
----- ----- ----- -----
Operating income............................................ 33.9% 25.0% 32.0% 23.8%
Interest income, net........................................ 2.6% 3.5% 2.7% 3.5%
----- ----- ----- -----
Income before income taxes.................................. 36.5% 28.5% 34.7% 27.3%
Provision for income taxes.................................. 12.5% 10.2% 11.9% 9.7%
----- ----- ----- -----
Net income.................................................. 24.0% 18.3% 22.8% 17.6%
===== ===== ===== =====
Net Revenues. Net revenues for the three months and six months ended
September 30, 1999 were $37.9 million and $69.5 million representing increases
of 49% and 41%, respectively, over net revenues of $25.5 million and $49.3
million for the three months and six months ended September 30, 1998,
respectively. Revenues from sales of communications products increased to 81%
and 76% of net revenues for the three months and six months ended September 30,
1999, respectively, from 52% and 51% of net revenues for the three months and
six months ended September 30, 1998, respectively. This increase reflects both
unit growth in shipments of existing products, as well as the introduction of
new products for these markets. Revenues from sales of non-communications
products, consisting of the ATE, high-speed computing and military products,
decreased to 19% and 24% of net revenues during the three months and six months
ended September 30, 1999, respectively, from 48% and 49% of net revenues for the
three months and six months ended September 30, 1998, respectively. Sales to
Nortel, the Company's largest customer, accounted for 36% and 33% of net
revenues for the three months and six months ended September 30,
1999,respectively, as compared to 16% and 17% for the three months and six
months ended September 30, 1998, respectively. Sales to Insight Electronics,
Inc., the Company's domestic distributor, accounted for 15% of net revenues for
both the three months and six months ended September 30, 1999 compared to 13%
and 11% in the three months and six months ended September 30, 1998,
respectively. Sales to Raytheon Systems Co. (including shipments of $0.5 million
and $3.8 million for the three months and six months ended September 30, 1999
relating to the partial fulfillment of an end-of-life order) accounted for 2%
and 6% of net revenues for the three months and six months ended September 30,
1999, respectively, compared to 18% and 12% for the three months and six months
ended September 30, 1998. Sales outside of North America accounted for 21% and
23% of net revenues for the three months and six months ended September 30,
1999, respectively, as compared to 26% and 27% for the three months and six
months ended September 30, 1998, respectively.
Gross Margin. Gross margin was 70.1% and 68.9% for the three months and six
months ended September 30, 1999, respectively, as compared to 63.3% and 62.0%
for the three months and six months ended September 30, 1998, respectively. The
increase in gross margin resulted from increased utilization of the Company's
wafer fabrication facility. The Company's gross margin is primarily impacted by
factory utilization, wafer yields, product mix and the Company's timing of
depreciation expense and other costs associated with expanding its manufacturing
capacity. Although AMCC does not expect its gross margin to continue to increase
at the rates reflected above, its strategy is to maximize factory utilization
whenever possible, maintain or improve its manufacturing yields, and focus on
the development and sale of high-performance products that can have higher gross
margins. There can be no assurance, however, that the Company will be successful
in achieving these objectives or that the trend of increasing gross margins will
continue. In addition, these factors can vary significantly from quarter to
quarter, which would likely result in fluctuations in quarterly gross margin and
net income.
Research and Development. Research and development ("R&D") expenses
increased to $7.2 million, or 19.0% of net revenues, for the three months ended
September 30, 1999, from $5.5 million, or 21.4% of net revenues, for the three
months ended September 30, 1998, and increased to $13.5
9
million, or 19.5% of net revenues, for the six months ended September 30, 1999
from $10.3 million, or 21.0% of net revenues for the six months ended September
30, 1998. The increase in R&D expenses was due to accelerated new product and
process development efforts and an increase in personnel costs as a result of
additional R&D personnel. The Company believes that a continued commitment to
R&D is vital to maintain a leadership position with innovative communications
products. Accordingly, the Company expects R&D expenses to increase in absolute
dollars in the future. Currently, R&D expenses are primarily focused on the
development of products and processes for the communications market, and the
Company expects to continue this focus
Selling, General and Administrative. Selling, general and administrative
("SG&A") expenses were $6.5 million (17.3% of net revenues) and $12.1 million
(17.4% of net revenues), for the three months and six months ended September 30,
1999, compared to $4.3 million (16.9% of net revenues) and $8.5 million (17.2%
of net revenues), for the three months and six months ended September 30, 1998.
The increase in SG&A expenses in absolute dollars for the three months and six
months ended September 30, 1999, primarily reflected increased compensation and
travel costs related to additional sales and administrative personnel, increases
in legal and accounting costs and increases in product promotion expenses.
Operating Margin. The Company's operating margin increased to 33.9% and
32.0% of net revenues for the three months and six months ended September 30,
1999, respectively, compared to 25.0% and 23.8% for the three months and six
months ended September 30, 1998, respectively, principally as a result of the
increase in gross margin.
Interest Income, net. Interest income,net increased to $1.0 million for the
three months ended September 30, 1999 from $877,000 for the three months ended
September 30, 1998 and increased to $1.9 million for the six months ended
September 30, 1999 from $1.7 million for the six months ended September 30,
1998. This increase was due principally to higher interest income from larger
cash and short-term investment balances.
Income Taxes. The Company's estimated annual effective tax rate used for
the six months ended September 30, 1999 was 34.3%, compared to an effective tax
rate of 35.7% for the six months ended September 30, 1998. This decrease in the
Company's estimated effective tax rate is a result of a decrease in the
Company's estimated effective state tax rate and the utilization of certain tax
credits.
Deferred Compensation. In connection with the grant of certain stock
options to employees during the six months ended September 30, 1997, the Company
recorded aggregate deferred compensation of $599,000, representing the
difference between the deemed fair value of the Common Stock at the date of
grant for accounting purposes and the option exercise price of such options.
Additionally, during the year ended March 31, 1999, the Company recorded
deferred compensation of $2.5 million related to restricted stock and options
granted to founders and employees of Cimaron. Such amounts are presented as a
reduction of stockholders' equity and amortized ratably over the vesting period
of the applicable options. Amortization of deferred compensation recorded for
the three months and six months ended September 30, 1999 was $154,000 and
$308,000; respectively compared to $62,000 and $121,000 for the three months and
six months ended September 30, 1998. The Company currently expects to record
amortization of deferred compensation with respect to these restricted stock and
option grants of approximately $658,000, $543,000, $414,000, $330,000 and
$178,000 during the fiscal years ending March 31, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and
2004, respectively.
Backlog. The Company's sales are made primarily pursuant to standard
purchase orders for delivery of products. Quantities of the Company's products
to be delivered and delivery schedules are frequently revised to reflect changes
in customer needs, and customer orders can be canceled or rescheduled without
significant penalty to the customer. For these reasons, the Company's backlog as
of any particular date is not representative of actual sales for any succeeding
period, and the Company therefore believes that backlog is not a good indicator
of future revenue. The Company's backlog for products requested to be shipped
and nonrecurring engineering services to be completed in the next six months was
$45.8 million on September 30, 1999, compared to $40.0 million on September 30,
1998. Included in backlog at September 30, 1999 is $5.4 million remaining on the
Raytheon Systems Co. end-of-life buy for integrated circuits used in its high-
speed radar systems.
10
Year 2000 Compliance. As a semiconductor manufacturer with its own wafer
fabrication facility, the Company is dependent on computer systems and
manufacturing equipment with embedded hardware or software to conduct its
business. The Company has developed and is currently executing a plan designed
to make its computer systems, applications and manufacturing equipment and
facilities Year 2000 ready. The plan covers five stages including (i) inventory,
(ii) assessment, (iii) remediation, (iv) testing, and (v) contingency planning.
The Company has completed the inventory and assessment stages and has completed
remediation and testing on critical applications. The final remediation, testing
and contingency planning stages are targeted to be completed by the end of
November 1999.
The Company is also actively working with suppliers of its raw materials
and services to determine the extent to which the suppliers' operations and the
products and services they provide are Year 2000 capable, and to monitor their
progress toward Year 2000 capability. Highest priority is being placed on
working with critical suppliers whose failure would shut down manufacturing or
other critical operations within a short period of time. The Company has made
inquiries of its major suppliers and has received responses to its initial
inquiries from 100% of critical suppliers.
Follow-up activities seek to determine whether the supplier is taking all
appropriate steps to fix Year 2000 problems and to be prepared to continue
functioning effectively as a supplier in accordance with the Company's
requirements. Plans are being developed to address issues related to suppliers
that are not considered to be making sufficient progress in becoming Year 2000
capable.
The Company believes that its most reasonably likely worst-case Year 2000
scenarios would relate to problems with the systems of third parties rather than
with the Company's internal systems or its products. Because the Company has
less control over assessing and correcting the Year 2000 problems of third
parties, the Company believes the risks are greatest with critical suppliers of
materials and services, telecommunications, transportation supply channels and
infrastructure such as electricity supply, water and sewer service. A worst-case
scenario involving the failure of one or more of the Company's critical third
party suppliers or failure of the Company to execute its compliance plan would
be the partial or complete inability to provide customers with products or
services on a timely basis.
The Company is not in the position to identify or to avoid all possible
scenarios; however, the Company is currently assessing scenarios and taking
steps to mitigate the impacts of various scenarios if they were to occur.
Preliminary contingency plans for critical business operations are in place and
these plans involve, among other actions, adjusting inventory levels, manual
workarounds, and adjusting staffing strategies.
The Company has incurred and expensed approximately $650,000 related to the
Year 2000 project and expects to incur an additional $250,000 on completing the
Year 2000 project. Approximately one-half of the costs associated with the Year
2000 project are expected to relate to internal resources that have been
reallocated from other projects, with the balance of costs reflecting
incremental spending for equipment and software upgrades. The costs of the Year
2000 project are expected to be funded through operating cash flows, with the
cost of internal resources expensed as incurred and the cost of equipment and
software upgrades capitalized or expensed in accordance with the Company's
policy on property and equipment.
The costs of the project and the date on which the Company plans to
complete the Year 2000 modifications are based on management's best estimates,
which were derived utilizing numerous assumptions of future events including the
continued availability of certain resources, third party modification plans and
other factors. However, there can be no guarantee that these estimates will be
achieved and actual results could differ materially from those plans. Specific
factors that might cause such material differences include, but are not limited
to, the availability and cost of personnel trained in this area, the ability to
locate and correct all relevant computer codes and the ability to identify and
correct equipment with embedded hardware or software and similar uncertainties.
11
Liquidity and Capital Resources
The Company's principal source of liquidity as of September 30, 1999
consisted of $105.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term
investments. Working capital as of September 30, 1999 was $120.7 million,
compared to $103.6 million as of March 31, 1999. This increase in working
capital was primarily due to net cash provided by operating activities,
partially offset by the purchase of property and equipment.
For the six months ended September 30, 1999 and 1998, net cash provided by
operating activities was $23.8 million and $6.9 million, respectively. Net cash
provided by operating activities for the six months ended September 30, 1999
primarily reflected net income before depreciation and amortization expense, a
decrease in accounts receivable and other assets and an increase in accounts
payable, other accrued liabilities and deferred revenue. Net cash provided by
operating activities for the six months ended September 30, 1998 primarily
reflected net income before depreciation and amortization expense, offset by
increases in accounts receivable and inventory.
Capital expenditures totaled $8.0 million for the six months ended
September 30, 1999 and included the payment of $3.7 million to complete the
purchase of land under a contract entered into in June 1998, compared to capital
expenditures of $9.9 million for the six months ended September 30, 1998. The
Company intends to increase its capital expenditures for manufacturing
equipment, test equipment and computer hardware and software.
The Company is exploring alternatives for the expansion of its
manufacturing capacity which would likely occur after fiscal year 2000,
including further expansion of its current 4" wafer fabrication facility,
building a new wafer fabrication facility, purchasing a wafer fabrication
facility and/or entering into strategic relationships to obtain additional
capacity. Any of these alternatives could require a significant investment by
the Company including an investment in excess of $80.0 million if the Company
chose to or was required to build a new wafer fabrication facility. The Company
would anticipate financing any such investment through a combination of
available cash, cash equivalents and short term investments, cash from
operations and additional equity, debt and lease financing. Although the Company
believes that it will be able to obtain financing for a significant portion of
the planned capital expenditures at competitive rates and terms from its
existing and new financing sources, there can be no assurance that the Company
will be successful in these efforts. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that
any of the alternatives for expansion of its manufacturing capacity will be
available on a timely basis or at all.
The Company believes that its available cash, cash equivalents and short-
term investments, and cash generated from operations, will be sufficient to meet
the Company's capital requirements for at least the next 12 months, although the
Company could be required, or could elect, to seek to raise additional capital
during such period. The Company expects that it will need to raise additional
debt or equity financing in the future. There can be no assurance that such
additional debt or equity financing will be available on commercially reasonable
terms.
Factors That May Affect Future Results
Our operating results may fluctuate because of many factors, many of which are
beyond our control
If our operating results are below the expectations of public market
analysts or investors, then the market price of our common stock could be
materially and adversely affected. Some of the factors that affect our quarterly
and annual results, but which are difficult to control or predict are:
. the rescheduling or cancellation of orders by customers;
. fluctuations in the timing and amount of customer requests for product
shipments;
. fluctuations in manufacturing output, yields and inventory levels;
. changes in the mix of products that our customers buy;
. our ability to introduce new products and technologies on a timely basis;
. the announcement or introduction of products and technologies by our
competitors;
. the availability of external foundry capacity, purchased parts and raw
materials;
. competitive pressures on selling prices;
. the amounts and timing of costs associated with warranties and product
returns;
12
. the amounts and timing of investments in research and development;
. market acceptance of our products and of our customers' products;
. the timing of depreciation and other expenses that we expect to incur in
connection with any expansion of our manufacturing capacity;
. costs associated with compliance with applicable environmental regulations
or remediation;
. costs associated with litigation, including without limitation, litigation
or settlements relating to the use or ownership of intellectual property;
. the ability of our customers to obtain components from their other
suppliers;
. general semiconductor industry conditions; and
. general economic conditions.
Our expense levels are relatively fixed and are based, in part, on our
expectations of future revenues. We are continuing to increase our operating
expenses for personnel and new product development. However, we have a limited
ability to reduce expenses quickly in response to any revenue shortfalls.
Consequently, our business, financial condition and operating results would be
adversely affected if we do not achieve increased revenues. We can have revenue
shortfalls for a variety of reasons, including:
. significant pricing pressures that occur because of declines in average
selling prices over the life of a product;
. sudden shortages of raw materials or production capacity constraints that
lead our suppliers to allocate available supplies or capacity to customers
with resources greater than us and, in turn, interrupt our ability to meet
our production obligations;
. fabrication, test or assembly capacity constraints for internally
manufactured devices which interrupt our ability to meet our production
obligations; and
. the rescheduling or cancellation of customer orders.
In addition, our business is characterized by short-term orders and
shipment schedules, and customer orders typically can be canceled or rescheduled
without significant penalty to the customer. Due to the absence of substantial
noncancellable backlog, we typically plan our production and inventory levels
based on internal forecasts of customer demand, which are highly unpredictable
and can fluctuate substantially. In addition, from time to time, in response to
anticipated long lead times to obtain inventory and materials from our outside
foundries, we may order materials in advance of anticipated customer demand,
which might result in excess inventory levels or unanticipated inventory write-
downs if expected orders fail to materialize, or other factors render the
customers' products less marketable. Furthermore, we currently anticipate that
an increasing portion of our revenues in future periods will be derived from
sales of application-specific standard products ("ASSPs"), as compared to
application-specific integrated circuits ("ASICs"). Customer orders for ASSPs
typically have shorter lead times than orders for ASICs, which may make it
increasingly difficult for us to predict revenues and inventory levels and
adjust production appropriately. If we are unable to plan inventory and
production levels effectively, our business, financial condition and operating
results could be materially adversely affected.
One example of the volatility of our results is that we experienced revenue
fluctuations and incurred net losses in fiscal 1995 and 1996. These revenue
fluctuations and net losses were caused by the termination of a relationship
with a strategic foundry partner, decreased orders from two major customers,
charges associated with a reduction in our workforce and charges for excess
inventory. Accordingly, we believe that period-to-period comparisons of
operating results should not be relied upon as an indication of future
performance. In addition, the results of any quarterly period are not indicative
of results to be expected for a full fiscal year.
Our operating results depend substantially on manufacturing output and yields,
which may not meet expectations.
AMCC Fabrication
We manufacture most of our semiconductors at our San Diego 4" wafer
fabrication facility. The manufacturing of semiconductors requires the use of
manufacturing tools which are unique to each product being produced. If one of
these unique manufacturing tools was damaged or destroyed our ability to
manufacture the related product would be impaired and our revenue would decline
and our business would suffer until the tool were repaired or replaced.
Our yields decline whenever a substantial percentage of wafers must be
rejected or a significant number of die on each wafer are nonfunctional. Such
declines can be caused by many factors, including minute levels of contaminants
in the
13
manufacturing environment, design issues, defects in masks used to print
circuits on a wafer and difficulties in the fabrication process. The ongoing
expansion of the manufacturing capacity of our existing wafer fabrication
facility could increase the risk of contaminants in the facility. In addition,
many of these problems are difficult to diagnose, and are time consuming and
expensive to remedy and can result in shipment delays.
Because the majority of our costs of manufacturing are relatively fixed,
maintenance of the number of shippable die per wafer is critical to our results
of operations. Yield decreases can result in substantially higher unit costs and
may result in reduced gross profit and net income. In the past we have
experienced yield problems in connection with the manufacture of our products.
We estimate yields per wafer in order to estimate the value of inventory. If
yields are materially different than projected, work-in-process inventory may
need to be revalued. We have in the past, and may in the future from time to
time, take inventory write-downs as a result of decreases in manufacturing
yields. We may suffer periodic yield problems in connection with new or existing
products or in connection with the commencement of production in a new or
expanded manufacturing facility.
Fabrication by Third Parties
Semiconductor manufacturing yields are a function both of product design
and process technology. When our products are manufactured by an outside
foundry, the process technology is typically proprietary to the manufacturer.
Since low yields may result from either design or process technology failures,
yield problems may not be effectively determined or resolved until an actual
product exists that can be analyzed and tested to identify process sensitivities
relating to the design rules that are used. As a result, yield problems may not
be identified until well into the production process, and resolution of yield
problems may require cooperation between ourselves and our manufacturer. In some
cases this risk could be compounded by the offshore location of certain of our
manufacturers, increasing the effort and time required to identify, communicate
and resolve manufacturing yield problems.
If we develop relationships with additional outside foundries, yields could
be adversely affected due to difficulties associated with adapting our
technology and product design to the proprietary process technology and design
rules of these new foundries. Because of our limited access to wafer fabrication
capacity from outside foundries for certain products, any decrease in
manufacturing yields of such products could result in an increase in our per
unit costs for such products and force us to allocate available product supply
among customers, which could potentially adversely impact customer relationships
as well as revenues and gross margin. Our outside foundries may not achieve or
maintain acceptable manufacturing yields in the future. Furthermore, we also
face the risk of product recalls resulting from design or manufacturing defects
which are not discovered during the manufacturing and testing process.
Our business strategy is based on increasing dependence on the Wide Area Network
(WAN) and Local Area Network (LAN) communications markets.
An important part of our strategy is to continue our focus on the WAN
market and to leverage our technology and expertise to penetrate further the LAN
market for high-speed ICs. If we are unable to penetrate these markets further,
our revenues could stop growing and may decline. We anticipate that sales to our
other traditional markets will grow more slowly or not at all and, in some
instances, as in the case of military markets, may decrease over time.
The communications markets are characterized by:
. extreme price competition;
. rapid technological change;
. industry standards that are continually evolving; and
. in many cases, short product life cycles.
14
These markets frequently undergo transitions in which products rapidly
incorporate new features and performance standards on an industry-wide basis. If
our products are unable to support the new features or performance levels
required by OEMs in these markets, we would be likely to lose business from an
existing or potential customer and, moreover, would not have the opportunity to
compete for new design wins until the next product transition occurs. If we fail
to develop products with required features or performance standards for the WAN
or LAN markets, or if we experience a delay as short as a few months in bringing
a new product to market, or if our WAN or WAN customers fail to achieve market
acceptance of their products, our revenues could be significantly reduced for a
substantial period.
A significant portion of our revenues in recent periods has been, and is
expected to continue to be, derived from sales of products based on the
Synchronous Optical Network, or SONET, the Synchronous Digital Hierarchy, or SDH
and the Asynchronous Transfer Mode, or ATM, transmission standards. If the
communications market evolves to new standards, we may not be able to
successfully design and manufacture new products that address the needs of our
customers or gain substantial market acceptance. Although we have developed
products for the Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel communications standards,
volume sales of these products are modest, and we may not be successful in
addressing the market opportunities for products based on these standards.
Our business could be adversely affected if we do not adequately address the
risks associated with our recent acquisition of Cimaron Communications
Corporation.
In March 1999, we completed the acquisition of Cimaron Communications
Corporation. This transaction is accompanied by a number of risks, including:
. the difficulty of assimilating the operations and personnel of Cimaron;
. the potential disruption of AMCC's and Cimaron's ongoing business and
distraction of management;
. possible unanticipated expenses related to technology integration;
. the potential impairment of relationships with employees and customers as a
result of any integration of new management personnel; and
. potential unknown liabilities associated with acquired businesses.
We may not be successful in addressing these risks or any other problems
encountered in connection with the Cimaron acquisition.
In addition, the market price of our common stock could decline as a result
of the merger if:
. the integration of AMCC and Cimaron is unsuccessful;
. the combined company does not achieve the perceived benefits of the merger
as rapidly or to the extent anticipated by financial analysts;
. the effect of the merger on the combined company financial results is not
consistent with the expectations of financial analysts; or
. the Company is unsuccessful in the management of Cimaron employees who are
geographically distant from our headquarters, but engaged in developing
technology and products that are vital for future revenues.
We have accounted for the merger under the pooling-of-interests accounting
method and financial reporting rules. To qualify the merger as a pooling-of-
interests for accounting purposes, AMCC and Cimaron and their respective
affiliates must meet the criteria for pooling-of-interests accounting
established in opinions published by the Accounting Principles Board and
interpreted by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Securities and
Exchange Commission. These opinions are complex, and the interpretation of them
is subject to change. However, the availability of pooling-of-interests
accounting treatment for the merger depends in part, upon circumstances and
events occurring after the effective time. For example, there must be no
significant changes in the business of the combined company, including
significant dispositions of assets, for a period of two years following the
effective time. The failure of the merger to qualify for pooling-of-interests
accounting treatment for financial reporting purposes for any reason would
materially and adversely affect our reported earnings and likely, the price of
our common stock.
15
Our business strategy is also based on increasing dependence on application-
specific standard products.
We have under development a number of ASSPs for the communications markets,
from which we expect to derive an increasing portion of our future revenues. Our
relationships with certain customers in these markets have only been established
recently. Our future success in selling ASSPs, and in particular, selling ASSPs
to customers in the telecommunications and data communications markets, will
depend in large part on whether our ASSPs are developed on a timely basis and
whether such products achieve market acceptance among new and existing
customers, and on the timing of the commencement of volume production of
products incorporating our ASSPs. We have in the past encountered difficulties
in introducing new products in accordance with customers' delivery schedules and
initial expectations. We may encounter similar difficulties in the future, and
we may not be able to develop and introduce ASSPs in a timely manner so as to
meet customer demands.
We currently derive revenues from non-communications markets including the
automated test equipment market, the high-speed computing market and the
military market but we believe that revenues from these markets will decline in
future periods and that our gross margin on sales of products for these markets
may also decline in future periods.
We have historically derived significant revenues from product sales to
customers in the Automated Test Equipment, or ATE, high-speed computing and
military markets and currently anticipate that we will continue to derive
revenues from sales to customers in these markets in the near term. However, we
are not currently funding product development efforts in these markets and as a
result we expect that revenues from products in these markets will decline in
future periods.
In addition, the market for ATE and high-speed computing IC products is
subject to extreme price competition, and we may not be able to reduce the costs
of manufacturing high-speed computing IC products in response to declining
average selling prices. Even if we successfully utilize new processes or
technologies to reduce the manufacturing costs of our high-speed computing
products in a timely manner, our customers in the ATE and high-speed computing
markets may not purchase these products.
Furthermore, we expect that certain competitors will seek to develop and
introduce products that integrate the functions performed by our ATE and high-
speed computing IC products on single chips. In addition, one or more of our
customers may choose to utilize discrete components to perform the functions
served by our high-speed computing IC products or may use their own design and
fabrication facilities to create a similar product. In either case, the need for
ATE and high-speed computing customers to purchase our IC products could be
eliminated.
Our markets are subject to rapid technological change, so our success depends
heavily on our ability to develop and introduce new products.
The markets for our products are characterized by:
. rapidly changing technologies;
. evolving and competing industry standards;
. short product life cycles;
. changing customer needs;
. emerging competition;
. frequent new product introductions and enhancements;
. increased integration with other functions; and
. rapid product obsolescence.
To develop new products for the communications markets, we must develop,
gain access to and use leading technologies in a cost-effective and timely
manner and continue to develop technical and design expertise. In addition, we
must have our products designed into our customers' future products and maintain
close working relationships with key customers in order to develop new products,
particularly ASSPs, that meet customers'
16
changing needs. We also must respond to changing industry standards, trends
towards increased integration and other technological changes on a timely and
cost-effective basis. Furthermore, if we fail to achieve design wins with key
customers our business will be significantly hurt because once a customer has
designed a supplier's product into its system, the customer typically is
extremely reluctant to change its supply source due to significant costs
associated with qualifying a new supplier.
Products for communications applications, as well as for high-speed
computing applications, are based on industry standards that are continually
evolving. Our ability to compete in the future will depend on our ability to
identify and ensure compliance with these evolving industry standards. The
emergence of new industry standards could render our products incompatible with
products developed by major systems manufacturers. As a result, we could be
required to invest significant time and effort and to incur significant expense
to redesign our products to ensure compliance with relevant standards. If our
products are not in compliance with prevailing industry standards for a
significant period of time, we could miss opportunities to achieve crucial
design wins. In addition, we may not be successful in developing or using new
technologies or in developing new products or product enhancements that achieve
market acceptance. Our pursuit of necessary technological advances may require
substantial time and expense.
The markets in which we compete are highly competitive and subject to rapid
technological change, price erosion and heightened international competition.
The communications, ATE and high-speed computing industries are intensely
competitive. We believe that the principal factors of competition in our markets
are price, product performance, product quality and time-to-market. Our ability
to compete successfully in our markets depends on a number of factors,
including:
. success in designing and subcontracting the manufacture of new products
that implement new technologies;
. product quality;
. reliability;
. price;
. the efficiency of production;
. design wins for our IC products;
. expansion of production of our products for particular systems
manufacturers;
. end-user acceptance of the systems manufacturers' products;
. market acceptance of competitors' products; and
. general economic conditions.
In addition, our competitors or customers may offer enhancements to our
existing products or offer new products based on new technologies, industry
standards or customer requirements including, but not limited to, all optical
networking systems that are available to customers on a more timely basis than
comparable products from us or that have the potential to replace or provide
lower-cost or higher performance alternatives to our products. The introduction
of enhancements or new products by our competitors could render our existing and
future products obsolete or unmarketable. In addition, we expect that certain of
our competitors and other semiconductor companies may seek to develop and
introduce products that integrate the functions performed by our IC products on
a single chip, thus eliminating the need for our products.
In the communications markets, we compete primarily against Conexant, Giga,
Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, Maxim, Philips, Sony, Texas Instruments,
TriQuint and Vitesse. Some of these companies use gallium arsenide ("GaAs")
process technologies for certain products. In certain circumstances, most
notably with respect to ASICs supplied to Nortel, our customers or potential
customers have internal IC manufacturing capabilities. In the ATE market, our
products compete primarily against GaAs based products offered by Vitesse and
silicon ECL and BiCMOS products offered principally by semiconductor
manufacturers such as Analog Devices, Lucent Technologies and Maxim. In the
high-speed computing market, we compete primarily against Chrontel, Cypress,
ICS, PLX and Tundra. Many of these companies and potential new competitors have
significantly greater financial, technical, manufacturing and marketing
resources than we do.
17
If we are not successful in expanding our manufacturing capacity, on time, we
may face serious capacity constraints.
We currently manufacture a majority of our IC products at our 4" wafer
fabrication facility located in San Diego, California. We believe that we will
be able to satisfy our production needs from this fabrication facility through
the end of fiscal 2000, although this date may vary depending on, among other
things, our rate of growth. We will be required to hire, train and manage
additional production personnel in order to increase production capacity as
scheduled. To expand our capacity beyond our existing wafer fabrication
facility, we are in the process of negotiating a foundry agreement with a third
party wafer fabrication facility. We will have to install our fabrication
processes at this foundry, qualify our processes at this foundry and then ramp
production volumes at this foundry. If we cannot expand our capacity on a timely
basis, we could experience significant capacity constraints that could render us
unable to meet customer demand or force us to spend more to meet demand.
We are exploring alternatives for the further expansion of our
manufacturing capacity which would likely occur after fiscal year 2001,
including expanding our current 4" wafer fabrication facility, building a new
wafer fabrication facility, purchasing a wafer fabrication facility and/or
entering into strategic relationships to obtain additional capacity. Any of
these alternatives could require a significant investment by the Company
including an investment in excess of $80.0 million if we chose to or were
required to build a new wafer fabrication facility. There can be no assurance
that any of the alternatives for expansion of our manufacturing capacity will be
available on a timely basis or that, we will be able to manage our growth and
effectively integrate our expansion into our current operations.
The cost of any investment the Company may have to make in expanding our
manufacturing capacity is expected to be funded through a combination of
available cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, cash from
operations and additional debt, lease or equity financing. We may not be able to
obtain the additional financing necessary to fund the construction and
completion of the new manufacturing facility. Our existing wafer fabrication
facility is, and the potential new wafer fabrication facility may be, located in
Southern California and these facilities may be subject to natural disasters
such as earthquakes or floods. A significant natural disaster, such as an
earthquake or flood, could have a material adverse impact on our business,
financial condition and operating results. In addition, the depreciation and
other expenses that we will incur in connection with the expansion of our
manufacturing capacity may adversely affect our gross margin in any future
fiscal period.
Expanding our current 4" wafer fabrication facility, building a new wafer
fabrication facility or purchasing a wafer fabrication facility entails
significant risks, including:
. shortages of materials and skilled labor;
. unforeseen environmental or engineering problems;
. work stoppages;
. weather interferences; and
. unanticipated cost increases.
Any one of these risks could have a material adverse effect on the
building, equipping and production start-up of a new facility or the expansion
of our existing facility. In addition, unexpected changes or concessions
required by local, state or federal regulatory agencies with respect to
necessary licenses, land use permits, site approvals and building permits could
involve significant additional costs and delay the scheduled opening of the
expansion or new facility and could reduce our anticipated revenues. Also, the
timing of commencement of operation of our expanded or new facility will depend
upon the availability, timely delivery, successful installation and testing of
the necessary process equipment. As a result of the foregoing and other factors,
our expanded or new facility may not be completed and in volume production
within its current budget or within the period currently scheduled. Furthermore,
we may be unable to achieve adequate manufacturing yields in our expanded or new
facility in a timely manner, and our revenues may not increase commensurate with
the anticipated increase in manufacturing capacity associated with the expanded
or new facility. In addition, in the future, we may be required for competitive
reasons to make capital investments in the existing wafer fabrication facility
or to accelerate the timing of the construction of a new wafer fabrication
facility in order to expedite the manufacture of products based on more advanced
manufacturing processes.
18
The markets for our products are characterized by rapid changes in manufacturing
process technologies; therefore, to provide competitive products to our target
markets, we must develop or otherwise gain access to improved process
technologies.
Our future success will depend, in large part, upon our ability to continue
to improve existing process technologies, to develop new process technologies
including silicon germanium, or SiGe, processes, and to adapt our process
technologies to emerging industry standards. In the future, we may be required
to transition one or more of our products to process technologies with smaller
geometries, other materials or higher speeds in order to reduce costs and/or
improve product performance. We may not be able to improve our process
technologies and develop or otherwise gain access to new process technologies,
including, but not limited to SiGe process technologies, in a timely or
affordable manner. In addition, products based on these technologies may not
achieve market acceptance.
Our dependence on third-party manufacturing and supply relationships increases
the risk that we will not have an adequate supply of products to meet demand or
that our cost of materials will be higher than expected.
We rely on outside foundries for the manufacture of certain products,
including all of our products designed on CMOS processes and all products that
we anticipate will be designed on silicon germanium processes. We generally do
not have long-term wafer supply agreements with our outside foundries that
guarantee wafer or product quantities, prices or delivery lead times. Instead,
our products that are manufactured by outside foundries are manufactured on a
purchase order basis. We expect that, for the foreseeable future, certain
products will be manufactured by a single outside foundry. Because establishing
relationships with new outside foundries takes several months, there is no
readily available alternative source of supply for these products. A
manufacturing disruption experienced by one or more of our outside foundries
would impact the production of certain of our products for a substantial period
of time. Furthermore, the transition to the next generation of manufacturing
technologies at one or more of our outside foundries could be unsuccessful or
delayed.
There are additional risks associated with our dependence upon third-party
manufacturers for certain products. These include, but are not limited to:
. reduced control over delivery schedules and quality;
. risks of inadequate manufacturing yields and excessive costs;
. the potential lack of adequate capacity during periods of excess demand;
. limited warranties on wafers or products supplied to us;
. potential increases in prices; and
. potential misappropriation of our intellectual property.
With respect to certain of our products, we depend upon external foundries
to produce wafers and, in some cases finished products of acceptable quality, to
deliver those wafers and products to us on a timely basis and to allocate to us
a portion of their manufacturing capacity sufficient to meet our needs. On
occasion, we have experienced difficulties with our suppliers failing to produce
goods of sufficient quality or quantity or failing to meet delivery deadlines.
Our wafer and product requirements typically represent a very small portion of
the total production of these external foundries. As a result, we are subject to
the risk that a producer will cease production on an older or lower-volume
process that is used to produce our parts. Additionally, we cannot be certain
our external foundries will continue to devote resources to the production of
our products or continue to advance the process design technologies on which the
manufacturing of our products are based.
Certain of our products are assembled and packaged by third-party
subcontractors. We do not have long-term agreements with any of these
subcontractors. Assembly and packaging is conducted on a purchase order basis.
As a result, we cannot directly control product delivery schedules. This could
lead to product shortages or quality assurance problems that could increase the
costs of manufacturing, assembly or packaging of our products. In addition, we
may, from time to time, be required to accept price increases for assembly or
packaging services. Due to the amount of time normally required to qualify
assembly and packaging subcontractors, product shipments could be delayed
significantly if we are required to find alternative subcontractors. In the
future, we may contract with third
19
parties for the testing of our products. Any problems associated with the
delivery, quality or cost of the assembly, testing or packaging of our products
could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Due to an industry transition to six-inch and eight-inch wafer fabrication
facilities, there is a limited number of suppliers of the four-inch wafers that
we use to build products in our existing manufacturing facility, and we rely on
a single supplier for these wafers. Although we believe that we will have
sufficient access to four-inch wafers to support production in our existing
fabrication facility for the foreseeable future, we cannot be certain that our
current supplier will continue to supply us with four-inch wafers on a long-term
basis. Additionally, the availability of manufacturing equipment needed for a
four-inch process is limited, and certain new equipment required for more
advanced processes may not be available for a four-inch process.
Our customers are concentrated, so the loss of one or more key customers could
significantly reduce our revenues and profits.
Historically, a relatively small number of customers has accounted for a
significant portion of our revenues in any particular period. For example, our
five largest customers accounted for approximately 44%, 46% and 59% of our
revenues in fiscal 1997, 1998 and 1999, respectively, accounted for 60% and 71%
for the three months ended September 30, 1998 and 1999, respectively and
accounted for 54% and 68% for the six months ended September 30, 1998 and 1999,
respectively. Sales to Nortel accounted for approximately 20%, 21% and 20% of
our revenues in fiscal 1997, 1998 and 1999, respectively, accounted for 16% and
36% for the three months ended September 30, 1998 and 1999, respectively and
accounted for 17% and 33% for the six months ended September 30, 1998 and 1999,
respectively. However, we have no long-term volume purchase commitments from any
of our major customers. We anticipate that sales of products to relatively few
customers will continue to account for a significant portion of our revenues. A
reduction, delay or cancellation of orders from one or more significant
customers or the loss of one or more key customers could significantly reduce
our revenues and profits. We cannot assure you that our current customers will
continue to place orders with us, that orders by existing customers will
continue at current or historical levels or that we will be able to obtain
orders from new customers.
Our strategy is based on growth, and periods of rapid growth and expansion have
placed, and could continue to place, a significant strain on our limited
personnel and other resources
To manage expanded operations effectively, we will be required to continue
to improve our operational, financial and management systems and to successfully
hire, train, motivate and manage our employees. In addition, the integration of
past and future potential acquisitions, the expansion of our manufacturing
capacity will require significant management, technical and administrative
resources. We cannot be certain that we will be able to manage our growth or
effectively integrate a new or expanded wafer fabrication facility into our
current operations.
Our future success depends in part on the continued service of our key design
engineering, sales, marketing and executive personnel and our ability to
identify, hire and retain additional personnel.
There is intense competition for qualified personnel in the semiconductor
industry, in particular design engineers, and we may not be able to continue to
attract and train engineers or other qualified personnel necessary for the
development of our business or to replace engineers or other qualified personnel
who may leave our employ in the future. Our anticipated growth is expected to
place increased demands on our resources and will likely require the addition of
new management personnel and the development of additional expertise by existing
management personnel. Although we have entered into an "at-will" employment
agreement with David M. Rickey, the President and Chief Executive Officer, we
have not entered into fixed term employment agreements with any of our other
executive officers except for one-year employment agreements with Ram Sudireddy,
Vice President, Cimaron, and Gary Martin, Vice President and Chief Technical
Officer, Cimaron. In addition, we have not obtained key-person life insurance on
any of our executive officers or key employees. Loss of the services of, or
failure to recruit, key design engineers or other technical and management
personnel could be significantly detrimental to our product and process
development programs.
20
We anticipate that we will need to raise additional capital in the future, and
we cannot be certain that additional debt, lease or equity financing will be
available on commercially reasonable terms or at all.
We require substantial working capital to fund our business, particularly
to finance inventories and accounts receivable and for capital expenditures. We
believe that our available cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments and
cash generated from operations, will be sufficient to meet our capital
requirements through the next 12 months, although we could be required, or could
elect, to seek to raise additional financing during this period. Our future
capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
. the costs associated with the expansion of manufacturing operations;
. the rate of revenue growth;
. the timing and extent of spending to support research and development
programs and expansion of sales and marketing;
. the timing of introductions of new products and enhancements to existing
products; and
. market acceptance of our products.
Additionally, we may elect to acquire other businesses, which would entail
the issuance of stock and/or the payment of cash. We may elect to raise
additional cash to finance such transactions. We may need to raise additional
debt or equity financing in the future, primarily for purposes of financing the
expansion of our manufacturing capacity.
We may not be able to protect our intellectual property adequately.
We rely in part on patents to protect our intellectual property. There can
be no assurance that our pending patent applications or any future applications
will be approved, or that any issued patents will provide us with competitive
advantages or will not be challenged by third parties, or that if challenged,
will be found to be valid or enforceable, or that the patents of others will not
have an adverse effect on our ability to do business. Furthermore, others may
independently develop similar products or processes, duplicate our products or
processes or design around any patents that may be issued to us.
To protect our intellectual property, we also rely on the combination of
mask work protection under the Federal Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of
1984, trademarks, copyrights, trade secret laws, employee and third-party
nondisclosure agreements and licensing arrangements. Despite these efforts, we
cannot be certain that others will not independently develop substantially
equivalent intellectual property or otherwise gain access to our trade secrets
or intellectual property, or disclose such intellectual property or trade
secrets, or that we can meaningfully protect our intellectual property.
Our business, operating results and financial condition could be materially
adversely affected by litigation involving patents and proprietary rights.
As a general matter, the semiconductor industry is characterized by
substantial litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights.
We have, in the past and may, in the future, be notified that we may be
infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties. We have certain
indemnification obligations to customers with respect to the infringement of
third-party intellectual property rights by our products. We cannot be certain
that infringement claims by third parties or claims for indemnification by
customers or end users of our products resulting from infringement claims will
not be asserted in the future or that such assertions, if proven to be true,
will not materially adversely affect our business. On July 31, 1998, the
Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation Limited Partnership filed a
lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona against a number
of companies, including us, engaged in the manufacture and/or sale of IC
products. The complaint alleges infringement by the defendants of certain U.S.
patents held by the Lemelson Partnership relating to certain semiconductor
manufacturing processes. On November 25, 1998, we were served a summons pursuant
to this lawsuit. The complaint seeks, among other things, injunctive relief and
unspecified treble damages. Previously, the Lemelson Partnership has offered us
a license under the Lemelson patents. Although the ultimate outcome of this
matter is not currently determinable, we believe, based in part on the licensing
terms
21
previously offered by the Lemelson Partnership, that the resolution of this
matter will not have a material adverse effect on our financial position or
liquidity; however, there can be no assurance that the ultimate resolution of
this matter will not have a material adverse effect on our results of operations
for any quarter. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that we would prevail in
any such litigation.
Any litigation relating to the intellectual property rights of third
parties, including the Lemelson Patents, whether or not determined in our favor
or settled by us, would at a minimum be costly and could divert the efforts and
attention of our management and technical personnel. In the event of any adverse
ruling in any such litigation, we could be required to pay substantial damages,
cease the manufacturing, use and sale of infringing products, discontinue the
use of certain processes or obtain a license under the intellectual property
rights of the third party claiming infringement. A license might not be
available on reasonable terms, or at all.
Our operating results are subject to fluctuations because we rely substantially
on foreign customers.
International sales (including sales to Canada) accounted for 40%, 42% and
41% of revenues for the years ended March 31, 1997, 1998 and 1999, respectively
and 39% and 54% for the three months ended September 30, 1998 and 1999,
respectively. For the six months ended September 30, 1998 and 1999,
international sales (including sales to Canada) accounted for 41% and 53% of
revenues, respectively. International sales may increase in future periods and
may account for an increasing portion of our revenues. As a result, an
increasing portion of our revenues may be subject to certain risks, including:
. changes in regulatory requirements;
. tariffs and other barriers;
. timing and availability of export licenses;
. political and economic instability;
. difficulties in accounts receivable collections;
. natural disasters;
. difficulties in staffing and managing foreign subsidiary and branch
operations;
. difficulties in managing distributors;
. difficulties in obtaining governmental approvals for communications and
other products;
. foreign currency exchange fluctuations;
. the burden of complying with a wide variety of complex foreign laws and
treaties; and
. potentially adverse tax consequences.
We are subject to the risks associated with the imposition of legislation
and regulations relating to the import or export of high technology products. We
cannot predict whether quotas, duties, taxes or other charges or restrictions
upon the importation or exportation of our products will be implemented by the
United States or other countries. Because sales of our products have been
denominated to date primarily in United States dollars, increases in the value
of the United States dollar could increase the price of our products so that
they become relatively more expensive to customers in the local currency of a
particular country, leading to a reduction in sales and profitability in that
country. Future international activity may result in increased foreign currency
denominated sales. Gains and losses on the conversion to United States dollars
of accounts receivable, accounts payable and other monetary assets and
liabilities arising from international operations may contribute to fluctuations
in our results of operations. Some of our customer purchase orders and
agreements are governed by foreign laws, which may differ significantly from
United States laws. Therefore, we may be limited in our ability to enforce our
rights under such agreements and to collect damages, if awarded.
22
We could incur substantial fines or litigation costs associated with our
storage, use and disposal of hazardous materials.
We are subject to a variety of federal, state and local governmental
regulations related to the use, storage, discharge and disposal of toxic,
volatile or otherwise hazardous chemicals used in our manufacturing process. Any
failure to comply with present or future regulations could result in the
imposition of fines, the suspension of production or a cessation of operations.
In addition, these regulations could restrict our ability to expand our
facilities at the present location or construct or operate a new wafer
fabrication facility or could require us to acquire costly equipment or incur
other significant expenses to comply with environmental regulations or clean up
prior discharges. Since 1993, we have been named as a potentially responsible
party, or PRP, along with a large number of other companies that used Omega
Chemical Corporation in Whittier, California to handle and dispose of certain
hazardous waste material. We are a member of a large group of PRPs that has
agreed to fund certain remediation efforts at the Omega site, which efforts are
ongoing. To date, our payment obligations with respect to these funding efforts
have not been material, and we believe that our future obligations to fund these
efforts will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial
condition or operating results. Although we believe that we are currently in
material compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations, we
cannot assure you that we are or will be in material compliance with these laws
or regulations or that our future obligations to fund any remediation efforts,
including those at the Omega site, will not have a material adverse effect on
our business.
Our ability to manufacture sufficient wafers to meet demand could be severely
hampered by a shortage of water.
We use significant amounts of water throughout our manufacturing process.
Previous droughts in California have resulted in restrictions being placed on
water use by manufacturers and residents in California. In the event of future
drought, reductions in water use may be mandated generally, and it is unclear
how such reductions will be allocated among California's different users. We
cannot be certain that near term reductions in water allocations to
manufacturers will not occur.
Our stock price is volatile.
The market price of our common stock has fluctuated significantly to date.
In the future, the market price of our common stock could be subject to
significant fluctuations due to general market conditions and in response to
quarter-to-quarter variations in:
. our anticipated or actual operating results;
. announcements or introductions of new products;
. technological innovations or setbacks by us or our competitors;
. conditions in the semiconductor, telecommunications, data communications,
ATE, high-speed computing or military markets;
. the commencement of litigation;
. changes in estimates of our performance by securities analysts;
. announcements of merger or acquisition transactions;
. other events or factors; and.
. general economic and market conditions.
In addition, the stock market in recent years has experienced extreme price
and volume fluctuations that have affected the market prices of many high
technology companies, particularly semiconductor companies, and that have often
been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of companies.
These fluctuations, as well as general economic and market conditions, may
adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
If we are not adequately prepared for the transition to Year 2000, our business,
operating results and financial condition could suffer.
23
As discussed earlier, we have developed and are currently executing a plan
designed to make our computer systems, applications, computer and manufacturing
equipment and facilities Year 2000 ready. However, there can be no guarantee
that these plans will be successfully implemented, and actual results could
differ materially from those plans. Among the factors that might cause such
material differences are:
. the availability and cost of personnel trained in this area;
. the ability to locate and correct all relevant computer codes; and
. the ability to identify and correct equipment with embedded hardware or
software and similar uncertainties.
The anti-takeover provisions of our certificate of incorporation and of the
Delaware General Corporation Law may delay, defer or prevent a change of
control.
Our board of directors has the authority to issue up to 2,000,000 shares of
preferred stock and to determine the price, rights, preferences and privileges
and restrictions, including voting rights, of those shares without any further
vote or action by our stockholders. The rights of the holders of common stock
will be subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders
of any shares of preferred stock that may be issued in the future. The issuance
of preferred stock may delay, defer or prevent a change in control of AMCC, as
the terms of the preferred stock that might be issued could potentially prohibit
our consummation of any merger, reorganization, sale of substantially all of our
assets, liquidation or other extraordinary corporate transaction without the
approval of the holders of the outstanding shares of preferred stock. In
addition, the issuance of preferred stock could have a dilutive effect on
stockholders of AMCC. Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, to
which we are subject, restricts certain business combinations with any
"interested stockholder" as defined by this statute. The statute may also delay,
alter or prevent a change of control.
ITEM 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALTITATIVE DISCLOSURE ABOUT MARKET RISK
At September 30, 1999, the Company's investment portfolio includes fixed-
income securities of $78.2 million. These securities are subject to interest
rate risk and will decline in value if interest rates increase. Due to the short
duration of the Company's investment portfolio, an immediate 100 basis point
increase in interest rates would have no material impact on the Company's
financial condition or results of operations.
The Company generally conducts business, including sales to foreign
customers, in U.S. dollars and as a result, has limited foreign currency
exchange rate risk. The effect of an immediate 10% change in foreign exchange
rates would not have a material impact on the Company's financial condition or
results of operations.
PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
From time to time, the Company may be involved in litigation relating to
claims arising out of its operations on the normal course of business. As of the
date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, the Company is not engaged in any
legal proceedings that are expected, individually or in the aggregate, to have a
material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition or
operating results.
24
ITEM 2. CHANGES IN SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS
(c) Use of Proceeds
(1) Initial Public Offering
The Company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-1 (the "Registration
Statement"), File No. 333-37609, which was declared effective by the Securities
and Exchange Commission on November 24, 1997, relating to the initial public
offering of the Company's Common Stock. The managing underwriters of the
offering were BankAmerica Robertson Stephens, NationsBanc Montgomery Securities
LLC, and Cowen & Company. The Registration Statement registered an aggregate
11,106,000 shares of Common Stock and the price to the public was $4.00 per
share. Of such shares, 7,076,896 were sold by the Company (which includes the
underwriter's over-allotment of 1,665,900 shares) and 5,695,004 were sold by
certain shareholders of the Company.
The Company incurred $3,196,718 of total expenses in connection with the
IPO consisting of $1,981,531 in underwriting discounts and commissions and
$1,215,187 in other expenses. All such expenses were direct or indirect payments
to others. The net offering proceeds to the Company after deducting the
$3,196,718 of total expenses were approximately $25,111,000.
As of September 30, 1999, the Company has expended approximately $4,808,000
for the purchase of land for future capacity expansion and invested the
remaining proceeds of $20,303,000 in short-term investments consisting of United
States Treasury Notes, obligations of United States government agencies and
corporate bonds with maturities ranging from October 1, 1999 to March 31, 2001.
The use of proceeds described herein does not represent a material change in the
use of proceeds described in the prospectus of the Registration Statement.
(2) Secondary Public Offering
The Company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-1, File No. 333-46071
(the "Secondary Registration Statement"), which was declared effective by the
Securities and Exchange Commission on March 12, 1998, relating to the secondary
public offering of the Company's Common Stock. The managing underwriters for the
Offering were BancAmerica Robertson Stephens, NationsBanc Montgomery Securities
LLC, and Cowen & Company. The Registration Statement registered an aggregate of
7,060,000 shares of the Common Stock and the price to the public was $9.6875 per
share. Of such shares, 3,000,000 shares were sold by the Company, and 5,119,000
shares were sold by certain stockholders of the Company (which includes the
underwriter's overallotment of 1,059,000 shares).
The expenses incurred by the Company in connection with the Offering were
approximately $2,181,000, of which $1,515,000 constituted underwriting discounts
and commissions and approximately $666,000 constituted other expenses including
registration and filing fees, printing, accounting and legal expenses. No direct
or indirect payments were made to any directors, officers, owners of ten percent
or more of any class of the Company's equity securities, or other affiliates of
the Company other than for reimbursement of expense incurred on the road show.
Net offering proceeds to the Company after deducting these expenses were
approximately, $26,882,000.
The Company has invested the net offering proceeds in short-term
investments consisting of United States Treasury Notes, obligations of United
States government agencies and corporate bonds with maturities ranging from
October 1, 1999 to March 31, 2001. The use of proceeds described herein does not
represent a material change in the use of proceeds described in the prospectus
of the Secondary Registration Statement.
ITEM 3. DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES
None
25
ITEM 4. SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS
(1) The Company held its Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Annual
Meeting") on August 3, 1999. Of the 53,483,896 shares of Common Stock
which could be voted at the Annual Meeting, 46,609,362 shares of
Common Stock, representing 87%, were represented at the Annual Meeting
in person or by proxy, which constituted a quorum. Voting results were
as follows:
(a) Election of the following persons to the Company's Board of
Directors, to hold office until the next annual meeting of
stockholders and until their successors have been duly elected
and qualified:
For Withheld
---------- --------
William K. Bowes, Jr. 46,571,876 37,486
R. Clive Ghest 46,573,876 35,486
Franklin P. Johnson, Jr. 46,571,876 37,486
David M. Rickey 46,572,764 36,589
Roger A. Smullen, Sr. 46,569,932 39,430
Arthur B. Stabenow 46,453,962 155,400
Harvey P. White 46,573,876 35,486
(b) Approval of the amendment to the Company's 1992 Stock Option
increasing the number of shares authorized for future grant by
7,600,000 to an aggregate of 19,654,608 shares:
For Against Abstain Broker non-vote
-------- ---------- ------- ---------------
28,136,984 14,896,727 50,260 3,525,394
(c) Ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the
independent auditors of the Company for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2000:
For Against Abstain
---------- ------- -------
46,283,542 265,612 60,208
(2) The Company also held a Special Meeting of Stockholders (the
"Special Meeting") on September 1, 1999. Of the 53,744,924 shares of
Common Stock which could be voted at the Special Meeting, 32,138,982
shares of Common Stock, representing 60%, were represented in person
or by proxy, which constituted a quorum. Voting results were as
follows:
a) Approval of the amendment to the Company's Amended and
Restated Certificate of Incorporation to increase the Company's
authorized shares of Common Stock from 60,000,000 shares to
180,000,000 shares:
For Against Abstain
---------- ------- -------
31,208,926 915,536 14,520
26
ITEM 5 OTHER INFORMATION
None
ITEM 6. EXHIBITS AND REPORTS ON FORM 8-K
(A) EXHIBITS
10.3 1992 Stock Option Plan, as amended
10.26 1998 Stock Incentive Plan of Cimaron Communications
Corporation, as amended, adopted by the registrant in
merger transaction, effective March 17, 1999
27.1 Financial Data Schedule
(B) The Registrant filed the following current reports on Form 8-K
with the Commission during the during the quarter ended September
30, 1999:
1) On September 1, 1999, the Company filed a current report on
form 8-K to announce the stockholder approval of the amendment to
the Company's Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
to increase the Company's authorized shares of Common Stock from
60,000,000 shares to 180,000,000 shares and the Board approval of
a two-for one stock split implemented through a 100% stock
dividend.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this Report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Date: November 12, 1999 Applied Micro Circuits Corporation
By: /s/ William Bendush
-------------------
William Bendush
Vice President, Finance and Administration
And Chief Financial Officer
(Duly Authorized Signatory and Principal
Financial and Accounting Officer)
27