Microchip Technology (MCHP) 10-K2021 FY Annual report

We develop, manufacture and sell smart, connected and secure embedded control solutions used by our customers for a wide variety of applications. With over 30 years of technology leadership, our broad product portfolio is a Total System Solution (TSS) for our customers that provides a large portion of the silicon requirements in their applications. TSS is a combination of hardware, software and services which help our customers increase their revenue, reduce their costs and manage their risks compared to other solutions. Our synergistic product portfolio empowers disruptive growth trends, including 5G, artificial intelligence and machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving, and electric vehicles, in key end markets such as automotive, aerospace and defense, communications, consumer, data centers and computing, and industrial.

In the first half of fiscal 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a global disruption in economic activity by adversely affecting production, creating supply chain and market disruption, and adversely impacting businesses and individuals. In the second half of fiscal 2021, business conditions were unexpectedly strong as businesses and individuals adapted to the effects of the pandemic. Supply chains, however, were stressed as they were not expecting the level of economic strength that occurred. The impact of the pandemic on individuals and in certain locations in which we operate remains uncertain and will depend on many factors, such as the effectiveness of the pandemic containment efforts including the use and effectiveness of vaccines. We regularly monitor new information regarding the severity of COVID-19 and the ability to contain, treat, or prevent it.

In response to the early indications of the COVID-19 pandemic, we took proactive measures to safeguard the health of our employees, contractors, customers, suppliers, visitors to our facilities, other business partners, and our communities. While our global manufacturing sites are fully operational, we strategically implemented plans intended to provide more assurance of business continuity in the event severe outbreaks or government requirements were to impact our operations. We monitor governmental policies and CDC recommendations and take appropriate actions which are designed to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19.

Competitive pressures require OEMs of a wide variety of products to expand product functionality and provide differentiation while maintaining or reducing cost.  To address these requirements, manufacturers often use integrated circuit-based embedded control systems that enable them to: 

Embedded control systems typically incorporate a microcontroller as the principal active, and sometimes sole, component.  A microcontroller is a self-contained computer-on-a-chip consisting of a central processing unit, often with on-board non-volatile program memory for program storage, random access memory for data storage and various analog and digital input/output peripheral capabilities.  In addition to the microcontroller, a complete embedded control system often incorporates application-specific software, various analog, mixed-signal, timing, connectivity, security and non-volatile memory components such as EEPROMs and Flash memory.

The increasing demand for embedded control systems has made the market for microcontrollers a significant segment of the semiconductor market at $17.5 billion in calendar year 2020.  Microcontrollers are primarily available in 8-bit through 32-bit architectures.  8-bit microcontrollers remain very cost-effective and easy to use for a wide range of high-volume embedded control applications and, as a result, continue to represent a significant portion of the overall microcontroller market.  16-bit and 32-bit microcontrollers provide higher performance and functionality, and are generally found in more complex embedded control applications. FPGAs are programmable integrated circuits that are used to implement complex logic functions and can be re-programmed at any time, allowing for multiple implementations and revisions during or after the end customer system is manufactured. Some versions of FPGAs also include a microcontroller or microprocessor core to provide additional system on chip functionality for compute intensive tasks. The analog and mixed-signal segment of the semiconductor market was $54.0 billion in calendar year 2020, and this market is fragmented into a large number of sub segments.

Our strategic focus is on providing cost-effective embedded control solutions that also offer the advantages of small size, high performance, extreme low power usage, wide voltage range operation, mixed signal integration, and ease of development, thus enabling timely and cost-effective integration of our solutions by our customers in their end products.

We offer a broad family of proprietary general purpose microcontroller products marketed under multiple brand names.  We believe that our microcontroller product families provide leading function and performance characteristics in the worldwide microcontroller market. We target the 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit microcontroller and 32-bit embedded microprocessor markets.  We have shipped more than 29.5 billion microcontrollers to customers worldwide since 1990.  We also offer

We leverage our circuit design, process technologies, development tools, applications knowledge, and manufacturing experiences to enable our customers to implement various embedded control functions in their end systems with our microcontrollers.

Our analog product line consists of several families including power management, linear, mixed-signal, high voltage, thermal management, discrete diodes and MOSFETS, RF, drivers, safety, security, timing, USB, ethernet, wireless and other interface products.  

We market and sell our analog product line into our microcontroller, microprocessor and FPGA customer base, and to customers who use microcontrollers and FPGA products from other suppliers and to customers who use other products that may not fit our traditional microcontroller, FPGA and memory products customer base.

Our other product line includes FPGA products, royalties associated with licenses for the use of our SuperFlash and other technologies, sales of our intellectual property, fees for engineering services, memory products, timing systems, manufacturing services (wafer foundry and assembly and test subcontracting), legacy application specific integrated circuits, and products for aerospace applications.

Our technology licensing business generates license fees and royalties associated with technology licenses for the use of our SuperFlash® embedded flash and Smartbits® one time programmable NVM technologies. We also generate fees for engineering services related to these technologies. We license our NVM technologies to foundries, integrated device manufacturers and design partners throughout the world for use in the manufacture of their advanced microcontroller products, gate array, RF, analog and neuromorphic compute products that require embedded non-volatile memory.

Our memory products consist of EEPROMs, Serial Flash memories, Parallel Flash memories, Serial SRAM memories and EERAM. Serial EEPROMs, Serial Flash memories, Serial SRAMs and EERAM have a very low I/O pin requirement, permitting production of very small footprint devices. We sell our memory products primarily into the embedded control

We offer a comprehensive set of low-cost and easy-to-learn application development tools.  These tools enable system designers to quickly and easily program our microcontroller and microprocessor products for specific applications and, we believe, they are an important factor for facilitating design wins.

Many independent companies also develop and market application development tools that support our microcontroller and microprocessor product architectures, including an extensive amount of third-party tool suppliers whose products support our microcontroller architectures.

We believe that familiarity with and adoption of development tools from Microchip as well as third-party development tool partners by an increasing number of product designers will be an important factor in the future selection of our embedded

Our manufacturing operations include wafer fabrication, wafer probe, assembly and test.  The ownership of a substantial portion of our manufacturing resources is an important component of our business strategy, enabling us to maintain a high level of manufacturing control, resulting in us being one of the lowest cost producers in the embedded control industry.  By owning wafer fabrication facilities and our assembly and test operations, and by employing statistical techniques (statistical process control, designed experiments and wafer level monitoring), we have been able to achieve and maintain high production yields.  Direct control over manufacturing resources allows us to shorten our design and production cycles.  This control also allows us to capture a portion of the wafer manufacturing and assembly and testing profit margin. We do outsource a significant portion of our manufacturing requirements to third parties and the amount of our outsourced manufacturing has increased in recent years due to our acquisitions of Microsemi and other companies that outsource all or substantial portions of their manufacturing. We comply with several quality systems, including: ISO9001 (2015 version), IATF16949 (2016 version), AS9100 (2016 version), and TL9000.

Refer to "Item 2. Properties" for further information regarding the location and principal operations of our manufacturing facilities.

Fab 2 currently produces 8-inch wafers and supports various manufacturing process technologies, but predominantly utilizes our 0.25 microns to 1.0 microns processes.  During fiscal 2021, we increased Fab 2's capacity to support more advanced technologies by making process improvements, upgrading existing equipment, and adding equipment.

Fab 4 currently produces 8-inch wafers using predominantly 0.13 microns to 0.5 microns manufacturing processes.  During fiscal 2021, we increased Fab 4's capacity to support more advanced technologies by making process improvements, upgrading existing equipment, and adding equipment. A significant amount of additional clean room capacity in Fab 4 can be brought on line in the future to support incremental wafer fabrication capacity needs. 

During fiscal 2020, we announced our intention to re-purpose Fab 5 to manufacture discrete and specialty products in addition to a lower volume of a diversified set of standard products. In connection with these efforts, we reduced the clean room footprint and transferred certain higher volume products from Fab 5 to our 8-inch wafer fabrication facilities in Arizona and Oregon. These restructuring efforts were substantially completed as of March 31, 2021.

We believe the combined capacity of Fab 2, Fab 4, and Fab 5 will allow us to respond to future demand with incremental capital expenditures.

As a result of our acquisition of Microsemi, we acquired several smaller wafer fabrication facilities, which utilize older technologies that are appropriate for the discrete products they manufacture. We plan to operate these fabrication facilities with modest investment to keep them operational with the exception of the facility in Santa Clara, California, which we plan to close by December 2021.

We continue to transition products to more advanced process technologies to reduce future manufacturing costs.  We believe that our ability to successfully transition to more advanced process technologies is important for us to remain competitive.

We augment our internal manufacturing capabilities by outsourcing a significant portion of our wafer production requirements to third-party wafer foundries.  As a result of our acquisitions in recent years, we have become more reliant on outside wafer foundries for our wafer fabrication requirements.  In fiscal 2021, approximately 61% of our sales came from products that were produced at outside wafer foundries.

We perform product assembly and test at various facilities located around the world. During fiscal 2021, we increased capacity at our Thailand and Philippines facilities to support more technologies by making process improvements, upgrading existing equipment, and adding equipment. During fiscal 2021, approximately 53% of our assembly requirements were being performed in our internal facilities and approximately 57% of our test requirements were performed in internal facilities.  We

Due to the high fixed costs inherent in semiconductor manufacturing, consistently high manufacturing yields have significant positive effects on our gross profit and overall operating results.  Our continuous focus on manufacturing productivity has allowed us to maintain excellent manufacturing yields at our facilities.  Our manufacturing yields are primarily driven by a comprehensive implementation of statistical process control, extensive employee training and effective use of our manufacturing facilities and equipment.  Maintenance of manufacturing productivity and yields are important factors in the achievement of our operating results.  The manufacture of integrated circuits, particularly non-volatile, erasable complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) memory and logic devices, such as those that we produce, are complex processes.  These processes are sensitive to a wide variety of factors, including the level of contaminants in the manufacturing environment, impurities in the materials used and the performance of our manufacturing personnel and equipment.  As is typical in the semiconductor industry, we have from time to time experienced lower than anticipated manufacturing yields.  Our operating results will suffer if we are unable to maintain yields at or above approximately the current levels.

Historically, we have relied on our ability to respond quickly to customer orders as part of our competitive strategy, resulting in customers placing orders with relatively short delivery schedules.  In order to respond to such requirements, we have historically maintained a significant work-in-process and finished goods inventory. Refer to Note 5 for a summary of our long-lived assets, consisting of property, plant and equipment and right-of-use assets, by geography.

We have many suppliers of raw materials and subcontractors which provide our various materials and service needs. We generally seek to have multiple sources of supply for our raw materials and services, but, in some cases, we may rely on a single or limited number of suppliers.

We market and sell our products worldwide primarily through a network of direct sales personnel and distributors.

Our direct sales force focuses on a wide variety of strategic accounts in three geographical markets: the Americas, Europe and Asia.  We currently maintain sales and technical support centers in major metropolitan areas in all three geographic markets.  We believe that a strong technical service presence is essential to the continued development of the embedded control market.  Many of our CEMs, ESEs, and sales management have technical degrees or backgrounds and have been previously employed in high technology environments.  We believe that the technical and business knowledge of our sales force is a key competitive advantage in the sale of our products.  The primary mission of our ESE team is to provide technical assistance to customers and to conduct periodic training sessions for the balance of our sales team.  ESEs also frequently conduct technical seminars and workshops in major cities around the world or through online webcasts.

Our licensing division has dedicated sales, technology, design, product, test and reliability personnel that support the requirements of our licensees.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, we launched our Preferred Supply Program, which provides our customers with prioritized capacity beginning 6 months after their order of 12 months of continuous, non-cancellable and non-reschedulable backlog.

Our distributors focus primarily on servicing the product requirements of a broad base of diverse customers.  We believe that distributors provide an effective means of reaching this broad and diverse customer base.  We believe that customers recognize us for our products and brand name and use distributors as an effective supply channel.

In each of fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, we derived 50% of our net sales through distributors and 50% of our net sales from customers serviced directly by us. With the exception of Arrow Electronics, our largest distributor, which accounted for 10%

With the exception of orders placed under our Preferred Supply Program, we do not have long-term purchase commitments from our distributors and we, or our distributors, may each terminate our relationship with little or no advanced notice.  The loss of, or the disruption in the operations of, one or more of our distributors could reduce our future net sales in a given quarter and could result in an increase in inventory returns.

The semiconductor industry is intensely competitive and has been characterized by price erosion and rapid technological change.  We compete with major domestic and international semiconductor companies, some of which have greater market recognition and greater financial, technical, marketing, distribution and other resources than we have with which to pursue engineering, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of their products.  We also compete with a number of companies that we believe have copied, cloned, pirated or reverse engineered our proprietary product lines in such countries as China and Taiwan.  We are continuing to take actions to vigorously and aggressively defend and protect our intellectual property on a worldwide basis.

We currently compete principally on the basis of the technical innovation and performance of our embedded control products, including the following product characteristics: 

We believe that other important competitive factors in the embedded control market include: 

We believe that we compete favorably with other companies on all of these factors, but we may be unable to compete successfully in the future, which could harm our business.

We maintain a portfolio of U.S. and foreign patents, expiring on various dates from 2021 through 2039.  We also have numerous additional U.S. and foreign patent applications pending.  We do not expect that the expiration of any particular patent will have a material impact on our business.  While our intention is to continue to patent our technology and manufacturing processes, we believe that our continued success depends primarily on the technological skills and innovative capabilities of our personnel and our ability to rapidly commercialize new and enhanced products.  As with any operating company, the scope and strength of our intellectual property assets, including our pending and existing patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other intellectual property rights may be insufficient to provide meaningful protection or commercial advantage.  Moreover, pursuing violations of intellectual property rights on a worldwide basis is a complex challenge involving multinational patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws. Further, the laws of particular foreign countries often fail to protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the U.S.

We have also entered into certain in-bound and outbound intellectual property licenses and cross-licenses with other companies and those licenses relate to semiconductor products and manufacturing processes.  As is typical in the semiconductor industry, we and our customers from time to time receive, and may continue to receive, demand letters from third parties

We must comply with many different federal, state, local and foreign governmental regulations related to the use, storage, discharge and disposal of certain chemicals and gases used in our manufacturing processes.  Our facilities have been designed to comply with these regulations and we believe that our activities are conducted in material compliance with such regulations. Any changes in such regulations or in their enforcement could require us to acquire costly equipment or to incur other significant expenses to comply with environmental regulations.  Any failure by us to adequately control the storage, use, discharge and disposal of regulated substances could result in significant future liabilities.

Increasing public attention has been focused on the environmental impact of electronic manufacturing operations.  While we have not experienced any materially adverse effects on our operations from recently adopted environmental regulations, our business and results of operations could suffer if for any reason we fail to control the storage or use of, or to adequately restrict the discharge or disposal of, hazardous substances under present or future environmental regulations.

We invest in our highly-skilled global workforce of approximately 19,500 people in accordance with our Guiding Value: employees are our greatest strength. We believe that our culture, values, and organizational development and training programs provide an inclusive work environment where our employees are empowered and engaged to deliver the best embedded control solutions to our customers.

Before Microchip went public in 1993, Microchip created a cultural framework to unite its employees through shared workplace values, and to guide employees’ strategies, decisions, actions and job performance. Microchip’s culture is centered on a values-based, highly-empowered, continuous-improvement oriented approach. This corporate culture strengthens our business, and enables us to fulfill our purpose. Our focus on communication provides transparency among leadership, promotes trust among employees, and is a critical part of Microchip’s culture. Our culture is important to our employees, and is a key reason why we have had a strong worldwide retention rate for many years, and have a significant number of employees with long tenure with Microchip that have grown from individual contributors in the early stages of their careers into senior leadership positions today. This long tenure among our employee-base results in deep relationships and trust being built among colleagues, retention of our knowledge base, and continuation of our culture. More information on our Guiding Values can be found at www.microchip.com/en-us/about/investors/investor-information/mission-statement.

We promote employee adoption of our culture through a number of methods including training, mentorship, values-based performance reviews, employee engagement surveys, company-wide quarterly meetings, town hall meetings with the President and Chief Executive Officer and other executive team members, and an open-door policy of communication where employees are encouraged to interact directly with management.

Microchip’s culture focuses on continuous improvement. We provide training on our culture, management skills, communication, technical skills, and personal improvement. Microchip also has a leadership program that provides for the growth and development of its future leaders. This program helps us develop leaders that serve as role models of Microchip culture, and support empowerment and open communication.

We strive to provide competitive pay and benefits, that help meet the varying needs of our employees. Our total compensation package includes base pay, broad-based stock grants and bonuses, healthcare and retirement plans, employee stock purchase plans, and paid time off and family leave.

The following sets forth certain information regarding our executive officers as of April 30, 2021:

Microchip Technology Incorporated was incorporated in Delaware in 1989.  Our executive offices are located at 2355 West Chandler Boulevard, Chandler, Arizona 85224-6199 and our telephone number is (480) 792-7200.

Our Internet address is www.microchip.com.  We post the following filings on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC: 

Our operating results are affected by a wide variety of factors that could reduce our net sales and profitability, many of which are beyond our control. Some of the factors that may affect our operating results include:

Period-to-period comparisons of our operating results are not necessarily meaningful and you should not rely upon any such comparisons as indications of our future performance. In future periods, our operating results may fall below our public guidance or the expectations of public market analysts and investors, which would likely have a negative effect on the price of our common stock. Uncertain global economic and public health conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have caused or may cause our operating results to fluctuate significantly and make comparisons between periods less meaningful.

We regularly review the financial performance of our licensees, customers, distributors and suppliers. Any downturn in global economic conditions, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise, may adversely impact their financial viability. The financial failure of a large licensee, customer or distributor, an important supplier, or a group thereof, could have an adverse impact on our operating results and could result in our inability to collect our accounts receivable balances, higher allowances for credit losses, and higher operating costs as a percentage of net sales.

Our manufacturing operations require raw and processed materials and equipment that must meet exacting standards.  We generally have multiple sources for these supplies, but there may be a limited number of suppliers capable of meeting our standards.  We have experienced supply shortages from time to time in the past, and on occasion our suppliers have told us they need more time to fill our orders or that they will no longer support certain equipment with updates or parts. In particular, we have recently experienced longer lead times for some assembly raw materials required for production purposes. An interruption of any materials or equipment sources, or the lack of supplier support for a particular piece of equipment, could harm our business. The supplies necessary for our business could become more difficult to obtain as worldwide use of semiconductors increases. Additionally, consolidation in our supply chain due to mergers and acquisitions may reduce the number of suppliers or change our relationships with them. Also, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or the application of trade restrictions or tariffs by the U.S. or other countries may adversely impact the industry supply chain. For example, in 2019, the U.S. government increased tariffs on U.S. imports with China as their country of origin. Likewise, the China government increased tariffs on China imports with U.S. as their country of origin. We have taken steps to attempt to mitigate the costs of these tariffs on our business. Although these increases in tariffs did not significantly increase the operating costs of our business, they did, however, adversely impact demand for our products during fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2019. The additional tariffs imposed on components or equipment that we or our suppliers source from China will increase our costs and could have an adverse impact on our operating results in future periods. We may also incur increases in manufacturing costs in mitigating the impact of tariffs on our operations. This could also impair sourcing flexibility.

Our customers may also be adversely affected by these same issues. The supplies and equipment necessary for their businesses could become more difficult to obtain for various reasons not limited to business interruptions of suppliers, consolidation in their supply chain, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, or trade restrictions or tariffs that impair sourcing flexibility or increase costs. If our customers are not able to produce their products, then their need for our products will decrease. Such interruptions of our customers’ businesses could harm our business.

Sales to foreign customers account for a substantial portion of our net sales. During fiscal 2021, approximately 77% of our net sales were made to foreign customers, including 22% in China and 16% in Taiwan. During fiscal 2020, approximately 78% of our net sales were made to foreign customers, including 21% in China and 15% in Taiwan.

A strong position in the Chinese market is a key component of our global growth strategy. Although our sales in the Chinese market have been strong in recent quarters, competition in China is intense. Also, during the first quarter of fiscal 2021, economic weakness in the Chinese market adversely impacted our sales volumes in China. As discussed in the risk factor above, the trade relationship between the U.S. and China remains challenging, economic conditions in China remain uncertain, and we are unable to predict whether such uncertainty will continue or worsen in future periods. Weakening of foreign markets could result in lower demand for our products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial conditions.

We purchase a substantial portion of our raw materials and equipment from foreign suppliers. In addition, we own product assembly and testing facilities, and finished goods warehouses near Bangkok, Thailand, which has experienced periods of political instability and severe flooding in the past. There can be no assurance that any future flooding or political instability in Thailand would not have a material adverse impact on our operations. We have a test facility in Calamba, Philippines. We use foundries and other foreign contractors for a significant portion of our assembly and testing and wafer fabrication requirements.

Our reliance on foreign operations, foreign suppliers, maintenance of substantially all of our finished goods inventory at foreign locations and significant foreign sales exposes us to foreign political and economic risks, including, but not limited to:

If any of these risks occur or are worse than we anticipate, our sales could decrease and our operating results could suffer, we could face an increase in the cost of components, production delays, business interruptions, delays in obtaining export licenses, tariffs and other restrictions, longer payment cycles, increased taxes, restrictions on the repatriation of funds and the burdens of complying with a variety of foreign laws, any of which could ultimately have a material adverse effect on our business. Further changes in trade policy, tariffs, additional taxes, or restrictions on supplies, equipment, and raw materials including rare earth minerals, may limit our ability to produce products, increase our selling and/or manufacturing costs, decrease margins, reduce the competitiveness of our products, or inhibit our ability to sell products or purchase necessary equipment and supplies, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial conditions.

Our net sales in any given quarter depend upon a combination of shipments from backlog, and orders that are both received and shipped in the same quarter, which we call turns orders. We measure turns orders at the beginning of a quarter based on the orders needed to meet the shipment targets that we set entering the quarter. Historically, our ability to respond quickly to customer orders has been part of our competitive strategy, resulting in customers placing orders with relatively short delivery schedules. Shorter lead times generally mean that turns orders as a percentage of our business are relatively high in any particular quarter and reduce our visibility on future shipments. Turns orders correlate to overall semiconductor industry conditions and product lead times. Although our backlog has been very strong in recent periods due to favorable industry conditions and the impact of our Preferred Supply Program, turns orders remain important to our ability to meet our business objectives. Because turns orders can be difficult to predict, especially in times of economic volatility where customers may change order levels within the quarter, varying levels of turns orders make it more difficult to forecast net sales. As a significant portion of our products are manufactured at foundries, foundry lead times may affect our ability to satisfy certain turns orders. If we do not achieve a sufficient level of turns orders in a particular quarter relative to our revenue targets, our revenue and operating results will likely suffer.

In February 2021, we announced our Preferred Supply Program which offers our customers the ability to receive prioritized capacity in the second half of calendar 2021 and the first half of calendar 2022. To participate in the program, customers have to place 12 months of orders, which cannot be cancelled or rescheduled. The capacity priority will begin for shipments in July 2021. The program is not a guarantee of supply; however, it will provide the highest priority for those orders which are under this program, and the capacity priority will be on a first-come, first-served basis until the available capacity is booked. A significant portion of our capacity is booked under this new program. We believe this program will enable us to be in a stronger position to make capacity and raw material commitments to our suppliers, buy capital equipment with confidence, hire employees and ramp up manufacturing and manufacture products more efficiently. Since this is a new program, there can be no assurance that the program will be successful or that it will benefit our business. In the event that customers under this program attempt to cancel or reschedule orders, we may have to take legal or other action to enforce the terms of the program, and any such actions could result in damage to our customer relationships or cause us to incur significant costs.

We rely on outside wafer foundries for a significant portion of our wafer fabrication needs. Specifically, during each of fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, approximately 61% of our net sales came from products that were produced at outside wafer foundries. We also use several contractors located primarily in Asia for a portion of the assembly and testing of our products. Specifically, during fiscal 2021, approximately 47% of our assembly requirements and 43% of our test requirements were performed by third party contractors compared to approximately 55% of our assembly requirements and 46% of our test requirements during fiscal 2020. Due to increased demand for our products, we have recently taken actions to increase our capacity allocation from our wafer fabrication, assembly and test subcontractors. However, we expect foundry capacity to continue to be tight due to strong demand for wafers across the industry and there can be no assurance that we will be able to secure further additional capacity or that such capacity will be available on acceptable terms. We expect that our reliance on third party contractors may increase over time as our business grows.

Our use of third parties reduces our control over the subcontracted portions of our business. Our future operating results could suffer if a significant contractor were to experience production difficulties, insufficient capacity, decreased manufacturing, assembly and test yields, or increased costs due to disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, political upheaval

Certain of our SuperFlash and other technology licensees rely on wafer foundries. If our licensees experienced disruption in supply at such foundries, this would reduce the revenue from our technology licensing business and would harm our operating results.

The semiconductor industry is intensely competitive and faces price erosion and rapid technological change. We compete with major domestic and international semiconductor companies, many of which have greater market recognition and substantially greater financial, technical, marketing, distribution and other resources than we do. The semiconductor industry has experienced significant consolidation in recent years which has resulted in several of our competitors becoming much larger in terms of revenue, product offerings and scale. We may be unable to compete successfully in the future, which could harm our business. Our ability to compete successfully depends on a number of factors, including, but not limited to:

Historically, average selling prices in the semiconductor industry decrease over the life of a product.  The average selling prices of our microcontroller, FPGA products, and proprietary products in our analog product line have remained relatively constant over time, while average selling prices of our memory and non-proprietary products in our analog product line have declined over time. The overall average selling price of our products is affected by these trends; however, variations in our product and geographic mix of sales can cause wider fluctuations in our overall average selling price in any given period. Generally, the selling prices of our products increased during fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020 due to increased material costs and increased functionality of products.

We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, modest pricing declines in certain of our more mature proprietary product lines, primarily due to competitive conditions. We have moderated average selling price declines in many of our proprietary product lines by introducing new products with more features and higher prices. However, we may not be able to do so in the future. We have experienced in the past, and expect to continue to experience, competitive pricing pressures in our memory and non-proprietary products in our analog product line. We may be unable to maintain average selling prices due to increased pricing pressure, which could adversely impact our operating results.

Integrated circuits manufacturing processes are complex and sensitive to many factors, including contaminants in the manufacturing environment or materials used, the performance of our personnel and equipment, and other quality issues. As is typical in the industry, we have from time to time experienced lower than anticipated manufacturing yields. Our operating results will suffer if we are unable to maintain yields at or above approximately the current levels. This could include delays in the recognition of revenue, loss of revenue, and penalties for failure to meet shipment deadlines. Our operating results are adversely affected when we operate below optimal capacity. In fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, we operated at below normal capacity levels resulting in unabsorbed capacity charges of $29.6 million and $47.2 million, respectively.

The semiconductor industry is characterized by seasonality and wide fluctuations of supply and demand.  Historically, since a significant portion of our revenue is from consumer markets and international sales, our business generates stronger revenues in the first half and comparatively weaker revenues in the second half of our fiscal year. However, broad fluctuations in our business, changes in semiconductor industry and global economic conditions (including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or trade tensions) and our acquisition activity (including our acquisition of Microsemi) have had and can have a more significant impact on our results than seasonality. In periods when broad fluctuations, changes in business conditions or acquisitions occur, it is difficult to assess the impact of seasonality on our business. The semiconductor industry has had significant economic downturns, characterized by diminished product demand and production over-capacity. We have sought to reduce our exposure to this industry cyclicality by selling proprietary products, that cannot be quickly replaced, to a geographically diverse customer base across a broad range of market segments. However, we have experienced substantial period-to-period fluctuations in operating results and expect, in the future, to experience period-to-period fluctuations in operating results due to general industry or economic conditions.

Sales to distributors accounted for approximately 50% of our net sales in each of fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, and our largest distributor accounted for approximately 10% of our net sales in fiscal 2020. We do not have long-term purchase agreements with our distributors, and we and our distributors may each terminate our relationship with little or no advance notice.

Future adverse conditions in the U.S. or global economies (including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic) or credit markets could materially impact distributor operations. Any deterioration in the financial condition, or disruption in the operations of our distributors, could adversely impact the flow of our products to our end customers and adversely impact our results of operation. In addition, during an industry or economic downturn, there may be an oversupply and decrease in demand for our products, which could reduce our net sales in a given period and increase inventory returns. Violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or similar laws, by our distributors could have a material adverse impact on our business.

Our future operating results depend on our ability to develop and timely introduce new products that compete effectively on the basis of price and performance and which address customer requirements. The success of our new product introductions depends on various factors, including, but not limited to:

Because our products are complex, we have experienced delays from time to time in completing new product development. New products may not receive or maintain substantial market acceptance.  We may be unable to timely design, develop and introduce competitive products, which could adversely impact our future operating results.

Our success also depends upon our ability to develop and implement new design and process technologies. Semiconductor design and process technologies are subject to rapid technological change and require significant R&D expenditures. We and others in the industry have, from time to time, experienced difficulties in transitioning to advanced process technologies and have suffered reduced manufacturing yields or delays in product deliveries. Our future operating results could be adversely affected if any transition to future process technologies is substantially delayed or inefficiently implemented.

Operations at any of our facilities, at the facilities of any of our wafer fabrication or assembly and test subcontractors, or at any of our significant vendors, licensees or customers may be disrupted due to public health concerns (including outbreaks such as COVID-19), work stoppages, power loss, insufficient water, cyber attacks, computer network compromises, incidents of terrorism or security risk, political instability, telecommunications, transportation or other infrastructure failure, radioactive

Additionally, operations at our customers and licensees may be disrupted for a number of reasons. In April and May 2020, we received a greater number of order cancellations and requests by our customers to reschedule deliveries to future dates. Some customers requested order cancellations within our firm order window and claimed applicability of force majeure clauses. Likewise, if our licensees are unable to manufacture and ship products incorporating our technology, or if there is a decrease in product demand due to a business disruption, our royalty revenue may decline.

Also, Thailand has experienced periods of severe flooding in recent years. While our facilities in Thailand have continued to operate normally, there can be no assurance that future flooding in Thailand would not have a material adverse impact on our operations. If operations at any of our facilities, or our subcontractors' facilities are interrupted, we may not be able to timely shift production to other facilities, and we may need to spend significant amounts to repair or replace our facilities and equipment.  Business interruptions would likely cause delays in shipments of products to our customers, and alternate sources for production may be unavailable on acceptable terms. This could result in reduced revenues, cancellation of orders, or loss of customers. Although we maintain business interruption insurance, such insurance will likely not compensate us for any losses or damages, and business interruptions could significantly harm our business.

Our technology licensing business is based on our SuperFlash and other technologies. The success of our licensing business depends on the continued market acceptance of these technologies and on our ability to further develop such technologies and to introduce new technologies. To be successful, any such technology must be able to be repeatably implemented by licensees, provide satisfactory yield rates, address licensee and customer requirements, and perform competitively. The success of our technology licensing business depends on various other factors, including, but not limited to:

Because our licensed technologies are complex, there may be delays from time to time in developing and enhancing such technologies. There can be no assurance that our existing or any enhanced or new technology will achieve or maintain substantial market acceptance. Our licensees may experience disruptions in production or reduced production levels which would adversely affect the revenue that we receive. Our technology license agreements generally include a clause that indemnifies the licensee against liability and damages (including legal defense costs) arising from certain intellectual property matters. We could be exposed to substantial liability for claims or damages related to intellectual property matters or indemnification claims. Any claim could result in significant legal fees and require significant attention from our management. These issues may adversely impact the success of our licensing business and adversely affect our future operating results.

A significant portion of the sales of Microsemi, which we acquired in May 2018, are from or are derived from government agencies or customers who sell to U.S. government agencies.  Such sales are subject to uncertainties regarding governmental spending levels, spending priorities, regulatory and policy changes.  Future sales into U.S. government projects are subject to uncertain government appropriations and national defense policies and priorities, including the budgetary process, changes in the timing and spending priorities, the impact of any past or future government shutdowns, contract terminations or renegotiations, future sequestrations, or the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  For example, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have experienced suspensions and stop work orders for some of our subcontracts. Although such actions have not yet had a material adverse impact on our business, there can be no assurance as to the future costs or implications of such actions. Sales into government projects are also subject to uncertainties related to monetary, regulatory, tax and trade policies

In the past, Microsemi has experienced delays and reductions in appropriations on programs that included its products. For example, in 2018 there were two federal government shutdowns. Further delays, reductions in or terminations of government contracts or subcontracts, including those caused by any past or future shutdown of the U.S. federal government, could materially and adversely affect our operating results. If the U.S. government fails to complete its annual budget process or to provide for a continuing resolution to fund government operations, another federal government shutdown may occur, during which we may experience further delays, reductions in or terminations of government contracts or subcontracts, which could materially and adversely affect our operating results. While we generally function as a subcontractor in these type of transactions, further changes in U.S. government procurement regulations and practices, particularly surrounding initiatives to reduce costs or increase compliance obligations (such as the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification), may adversely impact the contracting environment and our operating results.

The U.S. government and its contractors may terminate their contracts with us at any time. For example, in 2014, the U.S. government terminated a $75 million contract with Microsemi.  Uncertainty in government spending and termination of contracts for government related projects could have a material adverse impact on the revenue from our Microsemi acquisition.  Our contracts with U.S. governmental agencies or prime customers requires us to comply with the contract terms, and governmental regulations, particularly for our facilities, systems and personnel that service such customers.  Complying with these regulations, including audit requirements, requires that we devote significant resources to such matters in terms of training, personnel, information technology and facilities.  Any failure to comply with these requirements may result in fines and penalties and loss of current or future business that may materially and adversely affect our operating results.

From time to time, we receive economic incentive grants and allowances from European governments, agencies and research organizations targeted at increasing employment at specific locations. The subsidy grant agreements typically contain economic incentive, headcount, capital and research and development expenditures and other covenants that must be met to receive and retain grant benefits, and these programs can be subjected to periodic review by the relevant governments. Noncompliance with the conditions of the grants could result in our forfeiture of all or a portion of any future amounts to be received, as well as the repayment of all or a portion of amounts received to date.

We have acquired, and expect in the future to acquire, additional businesses that we believe will complement or augment our existing businesses. In May 2018, we acquired Microsemi, which was our largest and most complex acquisition ever. Integration of our acquisitions is complex and may be costly and time consuming and include unanticipated issues, expenses and liabilities. We may not successfully or profitably integrate, operate, maintain and manage any newly acquired operations or employees. We may not be able to maintain uniform standards, procedures and policies. We may not realize the expected synergies and cost savings from the integration. There may be increased risk due to integrating financial reporting and internal control systems. It may be difficult to develop, manufacture and market the products of a newly acquired company, or grow the business at the rate we anticipate. Following an acquisition, we may not achieve the revenue or net income levels that justify the acquisition. We may suffer loss of key employees, customers and strategic partners of acquired companies and it may be difficult to implement our corporate culture at acquired companies. We have been and may in the future be subject to claims from terminated employees, shareholders of Microchip or the acquired companies and other third parties related to the transaction. In particular, in connection with our Microsemi and Atmel acquisitions, we became involved with third-party claims, litigation, governmental investigations and disputes related to such businesses and transactions. See Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements for information regarding such matters. Acquisitions may also result in charges (such as acquisition-related expenses, write-offs, restructuring charges, or future impairment of goodwill), contingent liabilities, adverse tax consequences, additional share-based compensation expense and other charges that adversely affect our operating results. To fund our acquisition of Microsemi, we used a significant portion of our cash balances and incurred approximately $8.10 billion of additional debt. We may fund future acquisitions of new businesses or strategic alliances by utilizing cash, borrowings under our Revolving Credit Facility, raising debt, issuing shares of our common stock, or other mechanisms.

Further, if we decide to divest assets or a business, it may be difficult to find or complete divestiture opportunities or alternative exit strategies, which may include site closures, timely or on acceptable terms. These circumstances could delay the achievement of our strategic objectives or cause us to incur additional expenses with respect to the desired divestiture, or the price or terms of the divestiture may be less favorable than we had anticipated. Even following a divestiture or other exit

In addition to acquisitions, we have in the past, and expect in the future, to enter into joint development agreements or other strategic relationships with other companies. These transactions are subject to a number of risks similar to those we face with our acquisitions including our ability to realize the expected benefits of any such transaction, to successfully market and sell products resulting from such transactions or to successfully integrate any technology developed through such transactions.

When we acquire a business, a substantial portion of the purchase price of the acquisition is allocated to goodwill and other identifiable intangible assets. The amount of the purchase price which is allocated to goodwill is determined by the excess of the purchase price over the net identifiable assets acquired. As of March 31, 2021, we had goodwill of $6.67 billion and net intangible assets of $4.79 billion. In connection with the completion of our acquisition of Microsemi in May 2018, our goodwill and intangible assets increased significantly. We review our indefinite-lived intangible assets, including goodwill, for impairment annually in the fourth fiscal quarter or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of those assets is more likely than not impaired.  Factors that may be considered in assessing whether goodwill or intangible assets may be impaired include a decline in our stock price or market capitalization, reduced estimates of future cash flows and slower growth rates in our industry.  Our valuation methodology for assessing impairment requires management to make judgments and assumptions based on experience and to rely heavily on projections of future operating performance.  Because we operate in highly competitive environments, projections of our future operating results and cash flows may vary significantly from our actual results.  No goodwill impairment charges were recorded in fiscal 2021 or fiscal 2020.  No intangible asset impairment charges were recorded in fiscal 2021 compared to $2.2 million in fiscal 2020. If in future periods, we determine that our goodwill or intangible assets are impaired, we will be required to write down these assets which would have a negative effect on our consolidated financial statements.

As discussed in Item 9A “Controls and Procedures” in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019, we identified a material weakness in our internal controls related to accounting for income taxes and we also identified a material weakness in our internal controls related to IT system access. Although such material weaknesses were remediated in fiscal 2020, there can be no assurance that similar control issues will not be identified in the future. If we cannot remediate future material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in a timely manner, or if we identify additional control deficiencies that individually or together constitute significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, our ability to accurately record, process, and report financial information and our ability to prepare financial statements within required time periods, could be adversely affected. Failure to maintain effective internal controls could result in violations of applicable securities laws, stock exchange listing requirements, and the covenants under our debt agreements, subject us to litigation and investigations, negatively affect investor confidence in our financial statements, and adversely impact our stock price and our ability to access capital markets.

Ensuring that we have adequate internal financial and accounting controls and procedures so that we can produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a costly and time-consuming effort that needs to be re-evaluated frequently. Our internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We are required to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 which requires an annual management assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting and a report by our independent auditors. In addition to the identified material weaknesses related to accounting for income taxes and to IT system access, which were remediated as of March 31, 2020, we have from time to time identified other significant deficiencies. If we fail to remediate any future material weaknesses or significant deficiencies or to maintain proper and effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, our ability to produce accurate and timely financial statements could be impaired, which could harm our operating results, harm our ability to operate our business and reduce the trading price of our stock.

Some of our customers require that we implement practices that are more stringent than those required by applicable laws

Our success depends upon our personnel. The loss of or inability to attract key personnel, or the loss of or inability to attract sufficient numbers of non-key personnel, particularly production specialists in our manufacturing operations, could harm our business. We have no employment agreements with any member of our senior management team. 

We have insurance coverage related to many different types of risk; however, we self-insure for some potentially significant risks and obligations, because we believe that it is more cost effective for us to self-insure than to pay the high premium costs. The risks and exposures that we self-insure include, but are not limited to, employee health matters, certain property matters, product defects, cybersecurity matters, employment risks, environmental matters, political risks, and intellectual property matters. Should there be a loss or adverse judgment in an area for which we are self-insured, then our financial condition, results of operations and liquidity may be materially adversely affected.

From time to time, we have experienced verifiable attacks on our IT systems and data, including network compromises, attempts to breach our security measures and attempts to introduce malicious software into our IT systems. For example, in fiscal 2019, we learned of an ongoing compromise of our computer networks by what is believed to be sophisticated hackers. We engaged experienced legal counsel and a leading forensic investigatory firm with experience in such matters. We took various steps to identify malicious activity on our network including a compromise of our network and, in May 2019, we began implementing a containment plan. We routinely evaluate the effectiveness of the containment mechanisms that were implemented and continue to implement additional measures from time to time. We have analyzed and continue to analyze the amount and content of the information that was compromised. We do not believe that this IT system compromise has had a material adverse effect on our business or resulted in any material damage to us. As a result of the IT system compromise, our management, including our chief executive officer and our chief financial officer, concluded that our internal controls related to IT system access were not effective resulting in a material weakness in our internal controls for fiscal 2019. Although this material weakness in our internal control was remediated in fiscal 2020, there can be no assurance that similar control issues will not be identified in future periods.

Due to the types of products we sell and the significant amount of sales we make to government agencies or customers whose principal sales are to U.S. government agencies, we have experienced and expect to continue to experience in the future, attacks on our IT systems and data, including attempts to breach our security, network compromises and attempts to introduce malicious software into our IT systems. Were any future attacks to be successful, we may be unaware of the incident, its magnitude, or its effects until significant harm is done. In recent years, we have regularly implemented improvements to our

Third-party service providers, such as wafer foundries, assembly and test contractors, distributors, credit card processors and other vendors have access to portions of our and our customers' data. In the event that these service providers do not properly safeguard the data that they hold, security breaches and loss of data could result. Any such breach or loss of data by our third-party service providers could negatively impact our business, operations and financial results, as well as our relationship with our customers.

We are subject to numerous laws and regulations in the U.S. and internationally regarding privacy and data protection such as the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the U.K. equivalent to the GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act, and the California Privacy Rights Act. The scope of these laws and regulations is rapidly evolving, subject to differing interpretations, and may be inconsistent among jurisdictions. Some of these laws create a broad definition of personal information, establish data privacy rights, impose data breach notification requirements, and create potentially severe statutory damages frameworks and private rights of action for certain data breaches. Some of the laws and regulations also place restrictions on our ability to collect, store, use, transmit and process personal information and other data across our business. For example, the GDPR restricts the ability of companies to transfer personal data from the European Economic Area (EEA) to the U.S. and other countries. Further, such laws and regulations have resulted and will continue to result in significantly greater compliance burdens and costs for companies such as us that have employees, customers, and operations in the EEA.

In order to comply with the GDPR, we have relied mainly on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), for transfers of personal information from the EEA to the U.S. or other countries. However, the Court of Justice of the EU in a July 2020 decision (Schrems II) invalidated the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, and also called for stricter conditions in the use of the SCCs. Following the Schrems II decision, certain data protection authorities in the EU have issued statements advising companies within their jurisdiction not to transfer personal data to the U.S. under the SCCs. At present, there are few, if any, viable alternatives to the SCCs. If we are unable to implement sufficient safeguards to ensure that our transfers of personal information from the EEA are lawful, we may face increased exposure to regulatory actions and substantial fines and injunctions against processing personal information from the EEA. The loss of our ability to lawfully transfer personal data out of the EEA may cause reluctance or refusal by European customers to communicate with us as they are currently, and we may be required to increase our data processing capabilities in the EEA at significant expense. Additionally, other countries outside of the EEA have passed or are considering passing laws requiring local data residency which could increase the cost and complexity of providing our products in those jurisdictions.

Furthermore, the GDPR and the U.K. equivalent of the GDPR expose us to two parallel data protection regimes in Europe, each of which potentially authorizes fines and enforcement actions for certain violations. Substantial fines may be imposed for breaches of data protection requirements, which can be up to 4% of a company’s worldwide revenue or 20 million Euros, whichever is greater. Although the U.K. data protection regime currently permits data transfers from the U.K. to the EEA and other third countries, covered by a European Commission 'adequacy decision' through the continued use of SCCs and binding corporate rules, these laws and regulations are subject to change, and any such changes could have adverse implications for our transfer of personal data from the U.K. to the EEA and other third countries.

While we plan to continue to undertake efforts to conform to current regulatory obligations and evolving best practices, such efforts may be unsuccessful or result in significant costs. We may also experience reluctance, or refusal by European or multi-national customers to continue to provide us with personal data due to the potential risk exposure of personal data transfers and the current data protection obligations imposed on them by applicable data protection laws or by certain data

We are currently, and in the future may be, involved in legal proceedings, investigations or claims regarding intellectual property rights, product failures, our Microsemi acquisition, contracts and other matters. As is typical in the semiconductor industry, we receive notifications from third parties from time to time who believe that we owe them indemnification or other obligations related to claims made against us, our direct or indirect customers, or our licensees. These legal proceedings and claims, even if meritless, have in the past and could in the future result in substantial costs to us. If we are unable to resolve or settle a matter, obtain necessary licenses on reasonable terms, reengineer products or processes to avoid infringement, provide a cost-effective remedy, or successfully prosecute or defend our position, we could incur uninsured liability in any of them, be required to take a charge to operations, be enjoined from selling a material portion of our products or using certain processes, suffer a reduction or elimination in the value of our inventories, and our business, financial condition or results of operations could be harmed.

It is also possible that from time to time we may be subject to claims related to the manufacture, performance, or use of our products. These claims may be due to injuries, economic damage or environmental exposures related to manufacturing, a product's nonconformance to our or our customer’s specifications, changes in our manufacturing processes, or unexpected customer system issues due to the integration of our products or insufficient design or testing by our customers. We could incur significant expenses related to such matters, including, but not limited to:

Because the systems into which our products are integrated have a higher cost of goods than the products we sell, the expenses and damages we are asked to pay may be significantly higher than the revenue and profits we received. While we exclude consequential damages in our standard terms and conditions, certain of our contracts may not exclude such liabilities. Further, our ability to avoid such liabilities may be limited by law. We have liability insurance which covers certain damages arising out of product defects, but we do not expect that insurance will fully protect against such claims. Payments we may make in connection with these customer claims may adversely affect the results of our operations.

Further, we sell to customers in industries such as automotive, aerospace, defense, safety, security, and medical, where failure of the application could cause damage to property or persons. We may be subject to claims if our products, or the integration of our products, cause system failures. We will face increased exposure to claims if there are substantial increases in either the volume of our sales into these applications or the frequency of system failures integrating our products.

With the exception of orders placed under our Preferred Supply Program, we do not typically enter into long-term contracts with our non-distributor customers, and therefore we cannot be certain about future order levels from our customers. When we do enter into customer contracts, the contract is generally cancelable at the customer’s convenience. While we had approximately 114,000 customers, and our ten largest direct customers accounted for approximately 11% of our total revenue for fiscal 2021, and five of our top ten direct customers are contract manufacturers that perform manufacturing services for many customers, cancellation of customer contracts could have an adverse impact on our revenue and profits. For example, due to uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced an increase in order cancellations and requests to reschedule deliveries to future dates in the first quarter of fiscal 2021.

Certain customer contracts differ from our standard terms of sale. For some of the markets that we sell into, such as the automotive and personal computer markets, our customers may have negotiating leverage over us as a result of their market size. For example, under certain contracts we may commit to supply products on scheduled delivery dates, or extend our obligations for liabilities such as warranties or indemnification for quality issues or intellectual property infringement. If we are

Our ability to obtain patents, licenses and other intellectual property rights covering our products and manufacturing processes is important for our success. To that end, we have acquired certain patents and licenses and intend to continue to seek patents on our technology and manufacturing processes. The process of seeking patent protection can be expensive, and patents may not be issued from currently pending or future applications. In addition, our existing and new patents, trademarks and copyrights that are issued may not have sufficient scope or strength to provide meaningful protection or commercial advantage to us. We may be subject to, or may initiate, interference proceedings in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, patent offices of a foreign country or U.S. or foreign courts, which can require significant financial resources. In addition, the laws of certain foreign countries do not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the U.S. Infringement of our intellectual property rights by a third party could result in uncompensated lost market and revenue opportunities for us. Although we continue to aggressively defend and protect our intellectual property on a worldwide basis, there can be no assurance that we will be successful.

A significant portion of our sales require export and import activities. Our U.S.-manufactured products or products based on U.S. technology are subject to laws and regulations on international trade, including but not limited to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, EARs, International Traffic in Arms Regulations and trade sanctions against embargoed countries and denied entities, including those administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control. Licenses or license exceptions are required for the shipment of our products to certain countries. Our inability to timely obtain a license, for any reason, including a delay in license processing due to a federal government shutdown like that which occurred in 2018, could cause a delay in scheduled shipments which could have a material adverse impact on our revenue within the quarter of a shutdown, and in following quarters depending on the extent that license processing is delayed. Further, determination by a government that we have failed to comply with trade regulations or anti-bribery regulations can result in penalties which may include denial of export privileges, fines, penalties, and seizure of products, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, sales and earnings. A change in laws and regulations could restrict our ability to transfer product to previously permitted countries, customers, distributors or others. For example, in fiscal 2019, the U.S. Commerce Department banned U.S. companies from selling products or transferring technology to ZTE, a Chinese company, and certain subsidiaries. This ban was lifted in July 2018. In fiscal 2020, the U.S. Commerce Department banned U.S. companies from selling products or transferring technology to certain Chinese companies, including Huawei and certain subsidiaries. In fiscal 2020, the U.S. Federal Acquisition Regulation prohibited U.S. governmental agencies from buying equipment using covered telecommunications equipment as a substantial component or critical technology where the technology came from certain Chinese companies. On July 14, 2020, this was expanded to prohibit U.S. governmental agencies from entering into a contract with any company that uses covered telecommunications equipment whether or not the Chinese technology is related to the

The U.S. and other countries have levied tariffs and taxes on certain goods, implemented trade restrictions, and introduced national security protection policies. Trade tensions between the U.S. and China, which escalated in 2018, have continued and include the U.S. increasing tariffs on Chinese origin goods and China increasing tariffs on U.S. origin goods. Some of our products were adversely affected and are continuing to be affected by the increased tariffs. We took steps to mitigate the costs of these tariffs on our business by making adjustments in operations and supply. Although these tariff increases did not result in a material adverse impact on our operating costs in fiscal 2019 or fiscal 2020, they did reduce demand for our products during fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2020. Increased tariffs on our customers' products could adversely impact their sales, and increased tariffs on our products in comparison to those of our competitors could each result in lower demand for our products.

Further changes in trade or national security protection policy, tariffs, additional taxes, restrictions on exports or other trade barriers, may limit our ability to produce products, increase our selling and/or manufacturing costs, decrease margins, reduce the competitiveness of our products, or reduce our ability to sell products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial conditions.

We are subject to examination of our U.S. and certain foreign income tax returns for fiscal 2007 and later. We regularly assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes of these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes and have reserved for potential adjustments that may result from current or future examinations. There can be no assurance that the final determination of any of these or any future examinations will not have an adverse effect on our effective tax rates, financial position and results of operations.

We are a U.S.-based multinational company subject to tax in many U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. Our income tax obligations could be affected by many factors, including changes to our operating structure, intercompany arrangements and tax planning strategies.

Our income tax expense is computed based on tax rates at the time of the respective financial period. Our future effective tax rates, financial condition and results from operations could be unfavorably affected by changes in the tax rates in jurisdictions where our income is earned, by changes in the tax rules and regulations or the interpretation of tax rules and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we do business or by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets.

Currently, a majority of our revenue is generated from customers located outside the U.S., and a substantial portion of our assets, including employees, are located outside of the U.S. The adoption of the TCJA significantly changed the taxation of U.S.-based multinational corporations, by, among other things, reducing the U.S. corporate income tax rate, adopting elements of a territorial tax system, assessing a one-time transition tax on earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries that were previously tax deferred, and creating new taxes on certain foreign-sourced earnings. The TCJA is unclear in some respects and will require interpretations and implementing regulations by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as well as state tax authorities, and the legislation could be subject to potential amendments and technical corrections, any of which could lessen or increase certain adverse impacts of the legislation. Changes to the taxation of certain foreign earnings resulting from the TCJA, along with the state tax impact of these changes and potential future cash distributions, will likely have an adverse effect on our effective tax rate. Furthermore, changes to the taxation of undistributed foreign earnings could change our future plans regarding reinvestment of such earnings. The foregoing items could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flow, results of operations or financial conditions.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has been working on a Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project, and issued a report in 2015, an interim report in 2018, and is expected to continue to issue guidelines and proposals that may change aspects of the existing framework under which our tax obligations are determined in many of the countries where

As a result of the outcome of the 2020 U.S. elections, the new administration could make significant legislative and policy changes in areas including but not limited to tax, trade, labor and the environment. If implemented, these changes could increase our effective tax rate, and increase our selling and/or manufacturing costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial conditions. Changes in tax policy, trade regulations or other matters, and any uncertainty surrounding the scope or timing of such changes, could negatively impact the stock market, and reduce the trading price of our stock.

We must comply with federal, state, local and foreign governmental regulations related to the use, storage, discharge and disposal of hazardous substances used in our products and manufacturing processes. Our failure to comply, or the failure of entities that we have acquired over time to have complied, with regulations could result in significant fines, liability for clean-up, suspension of production, cessation of operations or future liabilities. Such regulations have required us in the past, and could require us in the future, to incur significant expenses to comply with such regulations. Our failure to control the use of, or adequately restrict the discharge of, hazardous substances could impact the health of our employees and others and could impact our ability to operate. Such failure could also restrict our ability to ship certain products to certain countries, require us to modify our logistics, or require us to incur other significant costs and expenses. Environmental laws continue to expand with a focus on reducing or eliminating hazardous substances in electronic products and shipping materials. Future environmental regulations could require us to reengineer certain of our existing products and may make it more expensive for us to manufacture, sell and ship our products. In addition, the number and complexity of laws focused on the energy efficiency of electronic products, the recycling of electronic products, and the reduction in the amount and the recycling of packing materials have expanded significantly. It may be difficult for us to timely comply with these laws and we may have insufficient quantities of compliant products to meet customers' needs, thereby adversely impacting our sales and profitability. We may have to write off inventory if we hold unsaleable inventory as a result of changes to regulations. We expect these risks to continue. These requirements may increase our own costs, as well as those passed on to us by our supply chain.

Climate change regulations could require us to limit emissions, change manufacturing processes, substitute materials which may cost more or be less available, fund offset projects, obtain new permits or undertake other costly activities. Failure to obtain permits could result in fines, suspension or cessation of production. Restrictions on emissions could result in significant costs such as higher energy costs, carbon taxes, and emission cap and trade programs. The cost of compliance with such regulations could restrict our manufacturing operations, and have an adverse effect on our operating results.

Further, sustained adverse change in climate could have a direct adverse economic impact on us, such as utility shortages, and higher costs of utilities. Certain of our operations are located in arid or tropical regions, which some experts believe may become vulnerable to fires, storms, severe floods and droughts. While our business recovery plans are intended to allow us to recover from natural disasters or other disruptive events, our plans may not protect us from all events. 

Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, in August 2012, the SEC released investigation, and disclosure requirements regarding the use of "conflict" minerals mined from the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries. We filed a Form SD with the SEC regarding such matters on May 29, 2020. Other countries are considering similar regulations. If we cannot certify that our supply chain is free from the risk of irresponsible sourcing, customers may demand that we change the sourcing of materials used in the manufacture of our products, even if the costs for compliant materials significantly increases or availability is limited.  If we change materials or suppliers, there will likely be costs associated with qualifying new suppliers and production capacity and quality could be negatively impacted.  Our relationships with customers and suppliers may be adversely affected if we are unable to certify that our products are free from the risk of irresponsible sourcing. We have incurred, and expect in the future to incur, additional costs associated with complying with these disclosure requirements, such as costs related to determining the source of any conflict minerals used in our products.  We may be unable to satisfy customers who require that all of the components of our products be certified as

In addition to concerns over “conflict” minerals mined from the Democratic Republic of Congo, our customers may require that other minerals and substances used within our supply chain be evaluated and reported on. An increase in reporting obligations will increase associated operating costs. This could have negative effects on our overall operating profits.

In connection with our acquisitions of Microsemi and Atmel, we assumed pension plans that cover certain French and German employees. Most of these plans are unfunded in compliance with statutory requirements, and we have no immediate intention of funding these plans. The projected benefit obligation totaled $83.0 million at March 31, 2021. Benefits are paid when amounts become due. We expect to pay approximately $1.6 million in fiscal 2022 for benefits earned. Should regulations require funding of these plans in the future, it could negatively affect our cash position and operating capital.

The market price of our common stock has fluctuated significantly in the recent past and is likely to fluctuate in the future. The future trading price of our common stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control, including, but not limited to:

In addition, the stock market has recently and in the past experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have affected the market prices for many companies and that often have been unrelated to their operating performance. These broad market fluctuations and other factors have harmed and may harm the market price of our common stock. The foregoing factors could also cause the market price of our Convertible Debt to decline or fluctuate substantially.

As of March 31, 2021, the principal amount of our outstanding indebtedness was $9.21 billion. As a result of our acquisition of Microsemi, we have substantially more debt than we had prior to May 2018. At March 31, 2021, we had $2.35 billion in outstanding borrowings under our Revolving Credit Facility which provides up to $3.57 billion of revolving loan commitments that terminate in 2023. At March 31, 2021, we had $5.6 billion in aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes and $1.26 billion in aggregate principal of Convertible Debt outstanding. In fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, we repurchased $3.27 billion and $615.0 million, respectively, in principal amount of our convertible debt and repaid all amounts outstanding under our Term Loan Facility primarily through borrowings under our Revolving Credit Facility, issuance of senior notes, and issuance of convertible debt.

Our maintenance of substantial levels of debt could adversely affect our ability to take advantage of opportunities and could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. We may need or desire to refinance our current or future debt and there can be no assurance that we will be able to do so on reasonable terms, if at all.

Our ability to make scheduled payments of principal, interest, or to refinance our indebtedness, including our outstanding Convertible Debt and Senior Notes, depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, competitive and other factors including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our business may not continue to generate sufficient cash flow to service our debt and to fund capital expenditures, dividend payments, share repurchases or acquisitions. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to undertake alternatives, such as selling assets, restructuring debt or obtaining additional equity capital on onerous or highly dilutive terms. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. Our senior secured notes are rated by certain major credit rating agencies. These credit ratings impact our cost of borrowing and our ability to access the capital markets and are based on our financial performance and financial metrics including debt levels. There is no assurance that we will maintain our current credit ratings. A downgrade of our credit rating by a major credit rating agency could result in increased borrowing costs and could adversely affect our ability to access the debt markets to refinance our existing debt or finance future debt.

The conversion of some or all of our outstanding Convertible Debt will dilute the ownership interest of our existing stockholders to the extent we deliver common stock upon conversion of such debt. Upon conversion, we may satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering cash, shares of common stock or any combination, at our option. If upon conversion we elect to deliver cash for the lesser of the conversion value and principal amount of the Convertible Debt, we would pay the holder the cash value of the applicable number of shares of our common stock. Upon conversion, we intend to satisfy the lesser of the principal amount or the conversion value in cash. If the conversion value of the Convertible Debt exceeds the principal amount, we may also elect to deliver cash in lieu of common stock for the conversion value in excess of the one thousand dollars principal amount (i.e., the conversion spread). There would be no adjustment to the numerator in the net income per common share computation for the cash settled portion of the Convertible Debt as that portion of the debt instrument will always be settled in cash. The conversion spread will be included in the denominator for the computation of diluted net income per common share. Any sales in the public market of any common stock issuable upon conversion of our Convertible Debt could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock. In addition, the existence of the Convertible Debt may encourage short selling by market participants because the conversion of the Convertible Debt could be used to satisfy short positions, or anticipated conversion of the Convertible Debt into shares of our common stock could depress the price of our common stock.

We use forward currency exchange contracts in an attempt to reduce the adverse earnings impact from the effect of exchange rate fluctuations on our non-U.S. dollar net balance sheet exposures. Nevertheless, in periods when the U.S. dollar significantly fluctuates in relation to the non-U.S. currencies in which we transact business, the value of our non-U.S. dollar transactions can have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. In particular, in periods when the value of a non-U.S. currency significantly declines relative to the U.S. dollar, customers transacting in that currency may be unable to fulfill their contractual obligations or to undertake new obligations to make payments or purchase products. In periods when the U.S. dollar declines significantly relative to the British pound, Euro, Thai baht and Taiwan dollar, the operational costs in our European and Thailand subsidiaries are adversely affected. Although our business has not been materially adversely impacted by recent changes in the value of the U.S. dollar, there can be no assurance as to the future impact that any weakness or strength in the U.S. dollar will have on our business or results of operations.

None.

At March 31, 2021, we owned and used the facilities described below:

In addition to the facilities we own, we lease several manufacturing, research and development facilities and sales offices in North America, Europe and Asia.

We currently believe that our existing facilities are suitable and will be adequate to meet our requirements for at least the next 12 months.

See page 42 for a discussion of the capacity utilization of our manufacturing facilities.

Refer to Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements for information regarding legal proceedings.

Not applicable.

Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "MCHP."

The following graph and table show a comparison of the five-year cumulative total stockholder return, calculated on a dividend reinvestment basis, for Microchip Technology Incorporated, the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Stock Index, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Data acquired by Research Data Group, Inc. (www.researchdatagroup.com)

On May 7, 2021, there were approximately 567 holders of record of our common stock.  This figure does not reflect beneficial ownership of shares held in nominee names.

For a description of our dividend policies, see Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources," included herein.

 

Refer to "Item 12. Security Ownership Of Certain Beneficial Owners And Management And Related Stockholder Matters," at page 49 below, for the information required by Item 201(d) of Regulation S-K with respect to securities authorized for issuance under our equity compensation plans at March 31, 2021.

From time to time, our Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of shares of our common stock in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. In January 2016, our Board of Directors authorized an increase in the then existing share repurchase program to 15.0 million shares of common stock. There were no repurchases of common stock during fiscal 2021.  There is no expiration date associated with this repurchase program.

Part II, Item 6 is no longer required as the Company has elected to early adopt the change to Item 301 of Regulation S-K contained in SEC Release No. 33-10890.

This report, including “Item 1. Business,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors,” and “Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding our strategy, financial performance and revenue sources.  We use words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "expect," "future," "continue," "intend" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements.  Our actual results could differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors including those set forth under "Risk Factors," beginning at page 12 and elsewhere in this Form 10-K.  Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.  You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.  We disclaim any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement.  These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the following:

Our actual results could differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors including those set forth in "Item 1A. Risk Factors," and elsewhere in this Form 10-K.  Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.  You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.  We disclaim any obligation to update the information contained in any forward-looking statement.

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the related notes that appear elsewhere in this document, as well as with other sections of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data." For an overview of our business, refer to “Part I Item 1. Business."

We begin our Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A) with a summary of COVID-19 developments followed by a discussion of the Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates that we believe are important to understanding the assumptions and judgments incorporated in our reported financial results.  We then discuss our results of operations for fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020, followed by an analysis of changes in our balance sheet and cash flows, and discuss our financial commitments in the section titled “Liquidity and Capital Resources.” Our liquidity and capital resources section generally discusses fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020. For our discussion of our fiscal 2020 results compared to fiscal 2019 for both our results of operations and our liquidity and capital resources sections, refer to “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 filed with the SEC on May 22, 2020, which is incorporated by reference herein.

In the first half of fiscal 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a global disruption in economic activity by adversely affecting production, creating supply chain and market disruption, and adversely impacting businesses and individuals. In the second half of fiscal 2021, business conditions were unexpectedly strong as businesses and individuals adapted to the effects of the pandemic. Supply chains, however, were stressed as they were not expecting the level of economic strength that occurred. The impact of the pandemic on individuals and in certain locations in which we operate remains uncertain and will depend on many factors, such as the effectiveness of containment efforts including the use and effectiveness of vaccines. We regularly monitor new information regarding the severity of COVID-19 and the ability to contain, treat, or prevent it.

Demand for our products that serve certain markets, such as consumer, automotive, and industrial increased in the second half of fiscal 2021, offsetting the adverse demand fluctuations in the early part of fiscal 2021 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the markets that benefited earlier in fiscal 2021 from the stay-at-home economy, such as datacenters and communications reverted to normal demand levels by the second half of fiscal 2021 and remained at such levels at the end of fiscal 2021. While we have a diverse customer base operating in diverse industries, the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on demand for our products depends on unpredictable future developments.

We continuously assess our efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic which have included the following:

We believe these actions are important and will help preserve the health of our team members, customers, suppliers, visitors to our facilities, people with whom we conduct business and our communities, and allow us to safely continue operations. However, we cannot predict how these actions, or the actions taken by government entities, suppliers, or customers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will impact our business, revenues, or results of operations.

Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.  We review the accounting policies we use in reporting our financial results on a regular basis.  The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses and related disclosure of contingent liabilities.  On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates, including those related to revenue recognition, business combinations, share-based compensation, inventories, income taxes, Convertible Debt and contingencies.  We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources.  Our results may differ from these estimates due to actual outcomes being different from those on which we based our assumptions.  We review these estimates and judgments on an ongoing basis.  We believe the following critical accounting policies affect our more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. 

We generate revenue primarily from sales of our semiconductor products to distributors and non-distributor customers (direct customers) and, to a lesser extent, from royalties paid by licensees of our intellectual property. We apply the following five-step approach to determine the timing and amount of revenue recognition: (i) identify the contract with the customer, (ii) identify performance obligations in the contract, (iii) determine the transaction price, (iv) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract, and (v) recognize revenue when the performance obligation is satisfied.

Sales to our distributors are governed by a distributor agreement, a purchase order, and an order acknowledgment. Sales to distributors do not meet the definition of a contract until the distributor has sent in a purchase order, we have acknowledged the order, we have deemed the collectability of the consideration to be probable, and legally enforceable rights and obligations have been created; this generally occurs 30 days prior to the estimated ship date. As is customary in the semiconductor industry, we offer price concessions and stock rotation rights to many of our distributors. As these are forms of variable consideration, we estimate the amount of consideration to which we will be entitled using recent historical data and applying the expected value method. Usually, there is only a single performance obligation in the contract, and therefore the entire transaction price is allocated to the single performance obligation. After the transaction price has been allocated, we recognize revenue when the performance obligation is satisfied. Substantially all of the revenue generated from contracts with distributors is recognized at the time risk and title of the inventory transfers to the distributor.

Sales to our direct customers are generally governed by a purchase order and an order acknowledgment. Sales to direct customers usually do not meet the definition of a contract until shipment of the product occurs. Generally, the transaction price associated with contracts with direct customers is set at the standalone selling price and is not variable. Usually, there is only a

Revenue generated from our licensees is governed by licensing agreements. Our primary performance obligation related to these agreements is to provide the licensee the right to use the intellectual property. The final transaction price is determined by multiplying the usage of the license by the royalty, which is fixed in the licensing agreement. Revenue is recognized as usage of the license occurs.

All of our business combinations are accounted for at fair value under the acquisition method of accounting.  Under the acquisition method of accounting, (i) acquisition-related costs, except for those costs incurred to issue debt or equity securities, will be expensed in the period incurred; (ii) non-controlling interests will be valued at fair value at the acquisition date; (iii) in-process research and development will be recorded at fair value as an intangible asset at the acquisition date and amortized once the technology reaches technological feasibility; (iv) restructuring costs associated with a business combination will be expensed subsequent to the acquisition date; and (v) changes in deferred tax asset valuation allowances and income tax uncertainties after the acquisition date will be recognized through income tax expense.  The measurement of the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed requires significant judgment.  The valuation of intangible assets, in particular, requires that we use valuation techniques such as the income approach.  The income approach includes the use of a discounted cash flow model, which includes discounted cash flow scenarios and requires the following significant estimates:  revenue, expenses, capital spending and other costs, and discount rates based on the respective risks of the cash flows.  Under the acquisition method of accounting, the aggregate amount of consideration we pay for a company is allocated to net tangible assets and intangible assets based on their estimated fair values as of the acquisition date.  The excess of the purchase price over the value of the net tangible assets and intangible assets is recorded to goodwill. On an annual basis, we test goodwill for impairment and through March 31, 2021, we have never recorded an impairment charge related to goodwill. 

 

We measure at fair value and recognize compensation expense for all share-based payment awards, including grants of employee stock options, RSUs and employee stock purchase rights, to be recognized in our financial statements based on their respective grant date fair values.  We utilize RSUs as our primary equity incentive compensation instrument for employees.  Share-based compensation cost is measured on the grant date based on the fair market value of our common stock discounted for expected future dividends and is recognized as expense on a straight-line basis over the requisite service periods. Total share-based compensation expense recognized during the fiscal 2021 was $198.3 million, of which $171.7 million was reflected in operating expenses and $26.6 million was reflected in cost of sales. Total share-based compensation included in our inventory was $10.2 million at March 31, 2021. 

If there are any modifications or cancellations of the underlying unvested securities, we may be required to accelerate, increase or cancel any remaining unearned share-based compensation expense.  Future share-based compensation expense and unearned share-based compensation will increase to the extent that we grant additional equity awards to employees or we assume unvested equity awards in connection with acquisitions.

Inventories are valued at the lower of cost or net realizable value using the first-in, first-out method.  We write down our inventory for estimated obsolescence or unmarketable inventory in an amount equal to the difference between the cost of inventory and the estimated net realizable value based upon assumptions about future demand and market conditions.  If actual market conditions are less favorable than those we projected, additional inventory write-downs may be required.  Inventory impairment charges establish a new cost basis for inventory and charges are not subsequently reversed to income even if circumstances later suggest that increased carrying amounts are recoverable. In estimating our inventory obsolescence, we primarily evaluate estimates of demand over a 12-month period and record impairment charges for inventory on hand in excess of the estimated 12-month demand. Estimates for projected 12-month demand are generally based on the average shipments of the prior three-month period, which are then annualized to adjust for any potential seasonality in our business. The estimated 12-month demand is compared to our most recently developed sales forecast to further reconcile the 12-month demand estimate. Management reviews and adjusts the estimates as appropriate based on specific situations. For example, demand can be adjusted up for new products for which historic sales are not representative of future demand. Alternatively, demand can be adjusted down to the extent any existing products are being replaced or discontinued. 

In periods where our production levels are substantially below our normal operating capacity, the reduced production levels of our manufacturing facilities are charged directly to cost of sales. As a result of production being below normal operating levels in our wafer fabrication facilities, approximately $29.6 million and $47.2 million was charged to cost of sales in fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, respectively.

As part of the process of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we are required to estimate our income taxes in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate.  This process involves estimating our actual current tax exposure together with assessing temporary differences resulting from differing treatment of items for tax and accounting purposes.  These differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities, which are included within our consolidated balance sheets.  We must then assess the likelihood that our deferred tax assets will be recovered from future taxable income within the relevant jurisdiction and to the extent we believe that recovery is not likely, we must establish a valuation allowance.  We provided valuation allowances for certain of our deferred tax assets, where it is more likely than not that some portion, or all of such assets, will not be realized.  

Various taxing authorities in the U.S. and other countries in which we do business scrutinize the tax structures employed by businesses.  Companies of our size and complexity are regularly audited by the taxing authorities in the jurisdictions in which they conduct significant operations.  We are currently being audited by the tax authorities in the U.S. and in various foreign jurisdictions. At this time, we do not know what the outcome of these audits will be. We record benefits for uncertain tax positions based on an assessment of whether it is more likely than not that the tax positions will be sustained based on their technical merits under currently enacted law. If this threshold is not met, no tax benefit of the uncertain tax position is recognized. If the threshold is met, we recognize the largest amount of the tax benefit that is more than 50% likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement.  

The accounting model related to the valuation of uncertain tax positions requires us to presume that the tax position will be examined by the relevant taxing authority that has full knowledge of all relevant information and that each tax position will be evaluated without consideration of the possibility of offset or aggregation with other positions.  The recognition requirement for the liability exists even if we believe the possibility of examination by a taxing authority or discovery of the related risk matters is remote or where we have a long history of the taxing authority not performing an exam or overlooking an issue.  We will record an adjustment to a previously recorded position if new information or facts related to the position are identified in a subsequent period.  All adjustments to the positions are recorded through the income statement.  Generally, adjustments will be recorded in periods subsequent to the initial recognition if the taxing authority has completed an audit of the period that results in the position being effectively settled or if the statute of limitation expires.  Due to the inherent uncertainty in the estimation process and in consideration of the criteria of the accounting model, amounts recognized in the financial statements in periods subsequent to the initial recognition may significantly differ from the estimated exposure of the position under the accounting model.

 

Upon issuance, we separately account for the liability and equity components of our Convertible Debt by estimating the fair values of the i) liability component without a conversion feature and ii) the conversion feature. This results in a bifurcation of a component of the debt, classification of that component in equity and the accretion of the resulting discount on the debt to be recognized as part of interest expense in our consolidated statements of income.

Upon settlement of our Convertible Debt instruments, we allocate the total consideration between the liability and equity components based on the fair value of the liability component without the conversion feature. The difference between the consideration allocated to the liability component and the net carrying value of the liability component is recognized as an extinguishment loss or gain. The remaining settlement consideration is allocated to the equity component and recognized as a reduction of additional paid-in capital in our consolidated balance sheets. In addition, if the terms of the settlement are different from the contractual terms of the original instrument, we recognize an inducement loss, which is measured as the difference between the fair value of the original terms of the instrument and the fair value of the settlement terms.

Determining the fair value of the liability component without the conversion feature upon issuance and settlement involves estimating the equivalent borrowing rate for a similar non-convertible instrument. Given the values of these transactions, fair value estimates are sensitive to changes in the equivalent borrowing rate conclusions. The measurement of the equivalent borrowing rate requires that we make estimates of volatility and credit spreads to align observable market inputs with the instrument being valued.

Lastly, we include the dilutive effect of the shares of our common stock issuable upon conversion of the outstanding Convertible Debt in our diluted income per share calculation regardless of whether the market price triggers or other contingent conversion features have been met. We apply the treasury stock method as we have the intent and have adopted an accounting policy to settle the principal amount of the Convertible Debt in cash. This method results in incremental dilutive shares when the average fair value of our common stock for a reporting period exceeds the conversion prices per share and adjusts as dividends are recorded in the future.

In the ordinary course of our business, we are exposed to various liabilities as a result of contracts, product liability, customer claims, governmental investigations and other matters.  Additionally, we are involved in a limited number of legal actions, both as plaintiff and defendant.  Consequently, we could incur uninsured liability in any of those actions.  We also periodically receive notifications from various third parties alleging infringement of patents or other intellectual property rights, or from customers requesting reimbursement for various costs.  With respect to pending legal actions to which we are a party and other claims, although the outcomes are generally not determinable, we believe that the ultimate resolution of these matters will not have a material adverse effect on our financial position, cash flows or results of operations.  Litigation, governmental investigations and disputes relating to the semiconductor industry are not uncommon, and we are, from time to time, subject to such litigation, governmental investigations and disputes.  As a result, no assurances can be given with respect to the extent or outcome of any such litigation, governmental investigations or disputes in the future.

We accrue for claims and contingencies when losses become probable and reasonably estimable. As of the end of each applicable reporting period, we review each of our matters and, where it is probable that a liability has been or will be incurred, we accrue for all probable and reasonably estimable losses. Where we can reasonably estimate a range of losses we may incur regarding such a matter, we record an accrual for the amount within the range that constitutes our best estimate. If we can reasonably estimate a range but no amount within the range appears to be a better estimate than any other, we use the amount that is the low end of such range. Contingencies of an acquired company that exist as of the date of the acquisition are measured at fair value if determinable, which generally is based on a probability weighted model. If fair value is not determinable, contingencies of an acquired company are recognized when they become probable and reasonably estimable.

The following table sets forth certain data as a percentage of net sales for fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020:

We operate in two industry segments and engage primarily in the design, development, manufacture and sale of semiconductor products as well as the licensing of our SuperFlash and other technologies.  We sell our products to distributors and OEMs in a broad range of markets, perform ongoing credit evaluations of our customers and generally require no collateral.  In certain circumstances, a customer's financial condition may require collateral, and, in such cases, the collateral would be typically provided in the form of letters of credit.

The increase in net sales in fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020 was primarily due to strength in our microcontroller product line. The net sales value of inventory at our distributor customers decreased $10.4 million during fiscal 2021 compared to a decrease of $68.2 million during fiscal 2020. Excluding the impact of changes in distributor inventory levels on net sales, net sales increased by 2.0% in fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020 and was positively impacted by strength in our microcontroller product line. Due to the size, complexity and diversity of our customer base, we are not able to quantify any material factor contributing to the change other than net demand fluctuations in the end markets that we serve.

Other factors that we believe contributed to changes in our reported net sales for fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020 and which are drivers of long-term trends in our net sales but which factors we are not able to quantify include:

We sell a large number of products to a large and diverse customer base and there was not any single product or customer that accounted for a material portion of the change in our net sales in fiscal 2021 or fiscal 2020. The overall average selling price of our products is affected by pricing declines over the life of individual products; however, variations in our product and geographic mix of sales can cause wider fluctuations in our overall average selling price in any given period. Generally, selling prices of our products increased during fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020 due to increased material costs and increased functionality of products.

Net sales by product line for fiscal 2021 and 2020 were as follows (dollars in millions):

Our microcontroller product line represents the largest component of our total net sales.  Microcontrollers and associated application development systems accounted for approximately 54.5% and 53.4% of our net sales in fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, respectively.

Net sales of our microcontroller products increased approximately 5.1% in fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020. The increase in net sales was due primarily to strength in demand for our microcontroller products in end markets that we serve.

Historically, average selling prices in the semiconductor industry decrease over the life of any particular product.  The overall average selling prices of our microcontroller products have remained relatively constant over time due to the proprietary nature of these products.  We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, moderate pricing pressure in certain microcontroller product lines, primarily due to competitive conditions. We have in the past been able to, and expect in the future to be able to, moderate average selling price declines in our microcontroller product lines by introducing new products with more features and higher prices.  We may be unable to maintain average selling prices for our microcontroller products as a result of increased pricing pressure in the future, which would adversely affect our operating results. The average selling price of our microcontroller products is affected by these trends; however, variations in our product and geographic mix of sales can cause wider fluctuations in the average selling price of our microcontroller products in any given period.

Our analog product line includes analog, interface, mixed signal and timing products. Our analog product line accounted for approximately 27.9% and 28.7% of our net sales in fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, respectively.

We consider a majority of the products in our analog product line to be proprietary in nature, where prices are relatively stable, similar to the pricing stability experienced in our microcontroller products. The non-proprietary portion of our analog product line will experience price fluctuations, driven primarily by the current supply and demand for those products. We may be unable to maintain the average selling prices of our analog product line as a result of increased pricing pressure in the future, which would adversely affect our operating results.

Our other product line includes FPGA products, royalties associated with licenses for the use of our SuperFlash and other technologies, sales of our intellectual property, fees for engineering services, memory products, timing systems, manufacturing services (wafer foundry and assembly and test subcontracting), legacy application specific integrated circuits, and products for aerospace applications. Revenue from these services and products accounted for approximately 17.6% and 17.9% of our net sales in fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, respectively.

Net sales related to these products and services increased approximately 1.3% in fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020. Net sales of our other product line can fluctuate over time based on general economic and semiconductor industry conditions as well as changes in demand for our FPGA products, licenses, engineering services, memory products, and manufacturing services (wafer foundry and assembly and test subcontracting).

Distributors accounted for approximately 50% of our net sales in each of fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020. With the exception of Arrow Electronics, our largest distributor, which represented 10% of our net sales in fiscal 2020, no other distributor or end customer accounted for more than 10% of our net sales in fiscal 2021 or fiscal 2020. Our distributors focus primarily on servicing the product requirements of a broad base of diverse customers. We believe that distributors provide an effective means of reaching this broad and diverse customer base.  We believe that customers recognize Microchip for its products and brand name and use distributors as an effective supply channel.

Generally, we do not have long-term agreements with our distributors and we, or our distributors, may terminate our relationships with each other with little or no advance notice.  The loss of, or the disruption in the operations of, one or more of our distributors could reduce our future net sales in a given quarter and could result in an increase in inventory returns.

At March 31, 2021, our distributors maintained 22 days of inventory of our products compared to 29 days at March 31, 2020. Over the past ten fiscal years, the days of inventory maintained by our distributors have fluctuated between approximately 22 days and 47 days. Our distributor inventory days were at historic lows due to the imbalance between the supply of and the demand for our products in the current supply-constrained environment.

Sales by geography for fiscal 2021 and 2020 were as follows (dollars in millions):

Americas sales include sales to customers in the U.S., Canada, Central America and South America. Sales to foreign customers accounted for approximately 77% and 78% of our net sales in fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, respectively. Substantially all of our foreign sales are U.S. dollar denominated. In fiscal 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic and the responses to it significantly affected our net sales by geography. Sales to customers in Europe as a percentage of total sales decreased in fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020 primarily due to high COVID-19 infection rates and extensive governmental restrictions, which constrained demand at various times during the fiscal year. High infection rates also constrained demand in the Americas at various times during fiscal 2021, however, less stringent governmental restrictions resulted in only a slight decrease in Americas sales as a percentage of total sales in fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020. Sales to customers in Asia as a percentage of total sales increased significantly in fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic was largely under control in China and Taiwan in early fiscal 2021 and China and Taiwan represent the highest percentage of our net sales

Our gross profit in fiscal 2021 was $3.38 billion or 62.1% of net sales, compared to $3.24 billion, or 61.5% of net sales, in fiscal 2020. The following table summarizes the material and primary drivers of our change in gross profit as a percentage of net sales, with the material factors discussed in more detail below the table (dollars in millions):

Our overall inventory levels were $665.0 million at March 31, 2021, compared to $685.7 million at March 31, 2020. We maintained 112 days of inventory on our balance sheet at March 31, 2021 compared to 122 days of inventory at March 31, 2020. We expect our days of inventory levels at June 30, 2021 to be flat to down 5 days compared to the March 31, 2021 levels.

We anticipate that our gross margins will fluctuate over time, driven primarily by capacity utilization levels, the overall product mix of microcontroller, analog, FPGA products, memory products, and technology licensing revenue and the percentage of net sales of each of these products in a particular quarter, as well as manufacturing yields, fixed cost absorption, and competitive and economic conditions in the markets we serve. We continue to transition products to more advanced process technologies to reduce future manufacturing costs.

During fiscal 2020, we announced our intention to re-purpose Fab 5 to manufacture discrete and specialty products in addition to a lower volume of a diversified set of standard products. In connection with these efforts, we reduced the clean room footprint and transferred certain higher volume products from Fab 5 to our 8-inch wafer fabrication facilities in Arizona and Oregon. During fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, we incurred $8.0 million and $18.0 million, respectively, in costs associated with these actions all of which have been recorded within the special charges and other, net line item in our statements of income. These restructuring efforts were substantially completed as of March 31, 2021, and we anticipate that these actions will result in significant cost savings over the next several years.

We operate assembly and test facilities in Thailand, the Philippines, and other locations throughout the world. During fiscal 2021, approximately 53% of our assembly requirements were performed in our internal assembly facilities, compared to approximately 45% during fiscal 2020.  During fiscal 2021, approximately 57% of our test requirements were performed in our internal test facilities, compared to approximately 54% during fiscal 2020.  The increases in the percentage of assembly and test operations that were performed internally in fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020 are primarily due to our investments in

We rely on outside wafer foundries for a significant portion of our wafer fabrication requirements. Approximately 61% of our net sales came from products that were produced at outside wafer foundries in each of fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020.

Our use of third parties involves some reduction in our level of control over the portions of our business that we subcontract.  While we review the quality, delivery and cost performance of our third-party contractors, our future operating results could suffer if any third-party contractor is unable to maintain manufacturing yields, assembly and test yields and costs at approximately their current levels.

R&D expenses for fiscal 2021 were $836.4 million, or 15.4% of net sales, compared to $877.8 million, or 16.6% of net sales, for fiscal 2020. We are committed to investing in new and enhanced products, including development systems software, and in our design and manufacturing process technologies.  We believe these investments are significant factors in maintaining our competitive position.  R&D costs are expensed as incurred.  Assets purchased to support our ongoing research and development activities are capitalized when related to products which have achieved technological feasibility or that have alternative future uses and are amortized over their expected useful lives.  R&D expenses include labor, depreciation, masks, prototype wafers, and expenses for the development of process technologies, new packages, and software to support new products and design environments.

R&D expenses decreased $41.4 million, or 4.7%, for fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020. The primary reason for the decrease in R&D expenses in fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020 was due to management of discretionary spending, including reduced headcount costs due to reductions in compensation and travel expenses, in response to uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

R&D expenses fluctuate over time, primarily due to revenue and operating expense investment levels.

Selling, general and administrative expenses for fiscal 2021 were $610.3 million, or 11.2% of net sales, compared to $676.6 million, or 12.8% of net sales, for fiscal 2020.  Our goal is to continue to be more efficient with our selling, general and administrative expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses include salary expenses related to field sales, marketing and administrative personnel, advertising and promotional expenditures and legal expenses as well as costs related to our direct sales force, CEMs and ESEs who work remotely from sales offices worldwide to stimulate demand by assisting customers in the selection and use of our products.

Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased $66.3 million, or 9.8%, for fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020. The primary reasons for the decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses were due to management of discretionary spending, including reduced headcount costs due to reductions in compensation and travel expenses, in response to uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic as well as lower professional services and legal costs associated with our acquisitions and security remediation costs related to network compromises.

Selling, general and administrative expenses fluctuate over time, primarily due to revenue and operating expense investment levels.

Amortization of acquired intangible assets in fiscal 2021 was $932.3 million compared to $993.9 million in fiscal 2020. The primary reason for the decrease in acquired intangible asset amortization was lower amortization from our acquisition of Microsemi and from our prior acquisitions.

During fiscal 2021, we incurred special charges and other, net of $1.7 million primarily related to the restructuring of our wafer fabrication operations partially offset by asset sales and other acquisition related activity. During fiscal 2020, we incurred special charges and other, net of $46.7 million comprised primarily of restructuring charges of $31.0 million and legal contingencies of $15.7 million. Restructuring expenses incurred during fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020 include $15.0 million and $18.0 million, respectively, related to the restructuring of our wafer fabrication operations. Other restructuring expenses incurred during fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020 were related to our most recent business acquisitions, and resulted from workforce, property and other operating expense rationalizations as well as combining product roadmaps and manufacturing operations.

Interest income in fiscal 2021 was $1.7 million compared to $2.8 million in fiscal 2020.

Interest expense in fiscal 2021 was $356.9 million compared to $497.3 million in fiscal 2020. The primary reason for the decrease in interest expense in fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020 relates to the cumulative pay down of our debt and lower interest rates on our outstanding variable rate debt.

During fiscal 2021, we recognized losses of $299.6 million related to the settlement of a portion of our outstanding 2015 Senior Convertible Debt, our 2017 Senior Convertible Debt, and our 2017 Junior Convertible Debt as well as the payment of all amounts outstanding under our Bridge Loan Facility, and our Term Loan Facility. During fiscal 2020, we recognized losses of $5.4 million, consisting of $2.0 million primarily related to the voluntary prepayment of a portion of the outstanding balance on our Term Loan Facility and $3.4 million related to the settlement of $615.0 million in principal of our 2015 Senior Convertible Debt. The net losses recognized on the settlement of our Convertible Debt are comprised of two components (i) the inducement loss, which is the excess of the fair value of the consideration provided to the holder over the fair value of the debt and (ii) the extinguishment loss or gain, which is the difference between the fair value of the debt component and the carrying value on the settlement date.

Other loss, net, in fiscal 2021 was $3.8 million compared to other income, net of $3.2 million in fiscal 2020. The primary reason for the change in other (loss) income, net during fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020 related to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.

Our provision or benefit for income taxes is attributable to U.S. federal, state, and foreign income taxes. A comparison of our effective tax rates in fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020 is not meaningful due to the amount of pre-tax income, and income tax benefits recorded during the period.

Our effective tax rate in fiscal 2021 includes a $48.4 million tax benefit received from current year generated R&D credits, which reduced our effective tax rate by 14.3%; a $12.3 million tax benefit for share-based compensation deductions, which reduced our effective tax rate by 3.6%; a $4.4 million tax benefit related to audit closures and expirations of statute of limitations on various tax reserves, which reduced our effective tax rate by 1.3%; a $101.8 million tax expense for global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) and foreign-derived intangible income (FDII), net of credits, which increased our effective tax rate by 30.0%; a $48.1 million tax benefit related to the settlement of convertible debt, which reduced our effective tax rate by 14.2%; and a $63.8 million tax benefit related to intra-group transfers of certain intellectual property rights, which reduced our effective tax rate by 18.8%. The tax benefit for the intra-group asset transfers primarily consisted of $155.5 million recorded as a deferred tax asset which represents the book and tax basis difference on the transferred assets measured based on the new applicable statutory tax rate, as well as, the reversal of the pre-existing deferred tax asset of $90.3 million, which represents the book and tax basis difference on the transferred assets measured based on the applicable statutory tax rate prior to the transfer. Over the next 15 years, we expect to be able to realize the future tax benefit of the deferred tax assets resulting from the intra-group asset transfers. It is not uncommon for taxing authorities of different countries to have conflicting views, for instance, with respect to, among other things, the manner in which the arm’s length standard is applied with respect to the valuation of intellectual property rights. The taxing authorities of jurisdictions in which we operate may challenge our methodologies for valuing the intellectual property rights transferred, which could increase our future effective income tax rate and harm our future results of operations.

Our effective tax rate in fiscal 2020 includes a $40.8 million tax benefit received from current year generated R&D credits, which reduced our effective tax rate by 27.2%; an $11.1 million tax benefit for share-based compensation deductions, which reduced our effective tax rate by 7.4%; a $28.5 million tax benefit related to audit closures and expirations of the statute of

We are subject to taxation in many jurisdictions in which we have operations. The effective tax rates that we pay in these jurisdictions vary widely, but they are generally lower than our combined U.S. federal and state effective tax rate. Our domestic statutory tax rate in each of fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020 was approximately 22%. Our non-U.S. blended statutory tax rates in fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020 were much lower than this amount. The difference in rates applicable in foreign jurisdictions results from a number of factors, including lower statutory rates, tax holidays, financing arrangements and other factors. Our effective tax rate has been, and will continue to be impacted by the geographical dispersion of our earnings and losses.

Our foreign tax rate differential benefit primarily relates to our operations and assets in Thailand, Malta and Ireland. Our Thailand manufacturing operations are currently subject to numerous tax holidays granted to us based on our investment in property, plant and equipment in Thailand. Our tax holiday periods in Thailand expire at various times in the future; however, we actively seek to obtain new tax holidays, otherwise we will be subject to tax at the statutory tax rate of 20%. We do not expect the future expiration of any of our tax holiday periods in Thailand to have a material impact on our effective tax rate.  The remaining material components of foreign income taxed at a rate lower than the U.S. are earnings accrued in Ireland at a 12.5% statutory tax rate and earnings accrued in Malta at a 0% to 5% tax rate.

Various taxing authorities in the U.S. and other countries in which we do business are increasing their scrutiny of the tax structures employed by businesses.  Companies of our size and complexity are regularly audited by the taxing authorities in the jurisdictions in which they conduct significant operations.  For U.S. federal, and in general for U.S. state tax returns, our fiscal 2007 and later tax returns remain effectively open for examination by the taxing authorities. We are currently being audited by the tax authorities in the U.S. and in various foreign jurisdictions. At this time, we do not know what the outcome of these audits will be. We record benefits for uncertain tax positions based on an assessment of whether it is more likely than not that the tax positions will be sustained based on their technical merits under currently enacted law. If this threshold is not met, no tax benefit of the uncertain tax position is recognized. If the threshold is met, we recognize the largest amount of the tax benefit that is more than 50% likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement.

In July 2015, in Altera Corp. v. Commissioner, the U.S. Tax Court issued an opinion related to the treatment of stock-based compensation expense in an intercompany cost-sharing arrangement. In the July 2015 ruling, the Tax Court concluded that the sharing of the cost of employee stock compensation in a company’s cost-sharing arrangement was invalid under the U.S. Administrative Procedures Act. In June 2019, a panel of the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed this decision. In July 2019, Altera petitioned U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to hold an en banc rehearing of the case. In November 2019, the en banc rehearing petition was denied, and Altera asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a judicial review. In June 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to issue a writ of certiorari in Altera v Commissioner, leaving intact the decision reached by the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Based on the Ninth Circuit Opinion, we recorded a cumulative income tax expense of $23.3 million in fiscal 2021.

We had $282.0 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments at March 31, 2021, a decrease of $121.0 million from the March 31, 2020 balance.  

Net cash provided by operating activities was $1.92 billion for fiscal 2021 compared to $1.54 billion for fiscal 2020. The increase in net cash provided by operating activities in fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020 was primarily due to efforts focused on working capital and discretionary spending management.

Net cash used in investing activities was $173.3 million for fiscal 2021 compared to $133.2 million for fiscal 2020. Fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020 investing cash flows primarily related to capital purchases and investments in other assets.

Our level of capital expenditures varies from time to time as a result of actual and anticipated business conditions. Capital expenditures were $92.6 million and $67.6 million in fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, respectively. Capital expenditures, which were comparatively lower in fiscal 2020 and through the first half of fiscal 2021, related primarily to the expansion of production capacity and the addition of research and development equipment. Towards the second half of fiscal 2021 we started to invest more significantly to expand manufacturing capacity in response to supply constraints relative to current demand levels and we expect this to continue in fiscal 2022. We currently intend to invest between $225 million and $275 million in equipment and facilities during the next twelve months. We believe that the capital expenditures anticipated to be incurred over the next twelve months will provide sufficient manufacturing capacity to support the growth of our production capabilities for our new products and technologies and to bring in-house more of the assembly and test operations that are currently outsourced. We expect to finance our capital expenditures through our existing cash balances and cash flows from operations. 

 

Net cash used in financing activities was $1.86 billion for fiscal 2021 compared to net cash used in financing activities of $1.44 billion for fiscal 2020. Significant transactions affecting our net financing cash flows include:

In March 2020 and September 2019, we amended our Credit Agreement dated May 29, 2018, to, among other things, reduce the margin added to the interest rate on revolving loans under the Credit Agreement and amend certain negative covenants, including covenants that restrict our and our subsidiaries’ ability to, among other things, incur subsidiary indebtedness, grant liens and enter into certain restrictive agreements. The amendments also allow us the option to factor receivables and certain related assets. The amendments lowered the Revolving Credit Facility thereunder to $3.57 billion from $3.60 billion. The revolving loan commitments terminate in May 2023 and bear interest, at our option, at the base rate plus a spread of 0.00% to 0.75% or an adjusted LIBOR rate plus a spread of 1.00% to 1.75%, in each case, with such spread being determined based on the consolidated senior leverage ratio for the preceding four fiscal quarter period.

As of March 31, 2021, the principal amount of our outstanding indebtedness was $9.21 billion. At March 31, 2021, we had $2.35 billion of outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility compared to $2.39 billion at March 31, 2020. During fiscal 2021, we used borrowings under our Revolving Credit Facility and proceeds from the issuance of our 0.972% 2024 Notes to repay all amounts outstanding under our Term Loan Facility. See Note 7 of the notes to our consolidated financial statements for more information regarding our contractual obligations related to our long-term debt.

The enactment of the TCJA imposed a tax on all previously untaxed earnings of non-U.S. subsidiaries of U.S. corporations. Due to this change, the jurisdiction in which our cash is at any given point in time no longer has a significant impact on our liquidity.  Future distributions of a significant portion of our non-U.S. assets to the U.S. will no longer be subject to U.S. federal taxation.  We intend to invest substantially all of our foreign subsidiary earnings, as well as our capital in our foreign subsidiaries, indefinitely outside of the U.S. in those jurisdictions in which we would incur significant, additional costs upon repatriation of such amounts. During fiscal 2018, we recognized a one-time transition tax on accumulated unrepatriated foreign earnings, of which we expected cash payments of approximately $290.3 million. This tax is payable over a period of eight years, with 8% of the transition tax payable each year for fiscal 2019 through fiscal 2023, and 15%, 20%, and 25%,

We enter into derivative transactions from time to time in an attempt to reduce our exposure to currency rate fluctuations.  Although none of the countries in which we conduct significant foreign operations has had a highly inflationary economy in the last five years, there is no assurance that inflation rates or fluctuations in foreign currency rates in countries where we conduct operations will not adversely affect our operating results in the future.  At March 31, 2021, we had no foreign currency forward contracts outstanding.

There were no repurchases of common stock in fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020. As of March 31, 2021, we held approximately 11.0 million shares as treasury shares.

On October 28, 2002, we announced that our Board of Directors had approved and instituted a quarterly cash dividend on our common stock.  To date, our cumulative dividend payments have totaled approximately $4.5 billion. Cash dividends paid per share were $1.494 and $1.465 during fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, respectively. Total dividend payments amounted to $388.3 million and $350.1 million during fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, respectively. A quarterly dividend of $0.413 per share was declared on May 6, 2021 and will be paid on June 4, 2021 to stockholders of record as of May 21, 2021. We expect the aggregate cash dividend for the June 2021 quarter to be approximately $113.0 million. Our Board is free to change our dividend practices at any time and to increase or decrease the dividend paid, or not to pay a dividend on our common stock on the basis of our results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements and future prospects, and other factors deemed relevant by our Board.  Our current intent is to provide for ongoing quarterly cash dividends depending upon market conditions, our results of operations, and potential changes in tax laws.

We believe that our existing sources of liquidity combined with cash generated from operations and borrowings under our Revolving Credit Facility will be sufficient to meet our currently anticipated cash requirements for at least the next 12 months. However, the semiconductor industry is capital intensive.  In order to remain competitive, we must constantly evaluate the need to make significant investments in capital equipment for both production and research and development.  We may increase our borrowings under our Revolving Credit Facility or seek additional equity or debt financing from time to time to maintain or expand our wafer fabrication and product assembly and test facilities, for cash dividends, for share repurchases or for acquisitions or other purposes.  The timing and amount of any such financing requirements will depend on a number of factors, including our level of dividend payments, changes in tax laws and regulations regarding the repatriation of offshore cash, demand for our products, changes in industry conditions, product mix, competitive factors and our ability to identify suitable acquisition candidates.  We may from time to time seek to refinance certain of our outstanding notes or Convertible Debt through issuances of new notes or convertible debt, tender offers, exchange transactions or open market repurchases. Such issuances, tender offers or exchanges or purchases, if any, will depend on prevailing market conditions, our ability to negotiate acceptable terms, our liquidity position and other factors. There can be no assurance that any financing will be available on acceptable terms due to uncertainties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic or other factors, and any additional equity financing would result in incremental ownership dilution to our existing stockholders.

Refer to Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements regarding recently issued accounting pronouncements.

As of March 31, 2021, our long-term debt totaled $9.21 billion. We have no interest rate exposure to rate changes on our fixed rate debt, which totaled $6.86 billion as of March 31, 2021. We do have interest rate exposure with respect to the $2.35 billion of our variable interest rate debt outstanding as of March 31, 2021. A 50 basis point increase in interest rates would impact our expected annual interest expense for the next 12 months by approximately $11.7 million.

The consolidated financial statements listed in the index appearing under Item 15(a)(1) hereof are filed as part of this Form 10-K.  See also Index to Financial Statements below.

None.

As of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report on Form 10-K, as required by paragraph (b) of Rule 13a-15 or Rule 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, we evaluated under the supervision of our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) or 15d-15(e) of the Exchange Act).  Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective to ensure that information we are required to disclose in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act (i) is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms, and (ii) is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.  Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management.  Our disclosure controls and procedures include components of our internal control over financial reporting.  Management's assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting is expressed at the level of reasonable assurance because a control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that the control system's objectives will be met.

Our management, including our principal executive officer and our principal financial officer, is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of our financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S. GAAP.  Internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on our financial statements.

Based on our assessment, management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of the end of the fiscal year to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with U.S. GAAP.  We reviewed the results of management's assessment with the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors.

Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, who audited our consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K has issued an attestation report on our internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2021, which is included on page F-5.

During the three months ended March 31, 2021, we transitioned certain of Microsemi's processes to our internal control processes and we expect to transition more of such processes throughout the remainder of calendar year 2021. Other than with respect to our transition of Microsemi to our systems and control environment as described above, during the three months ended March 31, 2021, there was no change in our internal control over financial reporting identified in connection with the evaluation required by paragraph (d) of Rule 13a-15 or Rule 15d-15 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

J. Eric Bjornholt, our Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Mitch Little, our Senior Vice President, Worldwide Client Engagement, Steve Drehobl, our Senior Vice President, MCU8 and MCU16 Business Units, Rich Simoncic, our Senior Vice President, Analog Power and Interface Business Units, Esther Johnson, our Board Member, L.B. Day, our Board Member, and Matthew W. Chapman, our Board Member, have entered into trading plans as contemplated by Rule 10b-5-1 under the Exchange Act and periodic sales of our common stock have occurred and are expected to occur under such plans.

The foregoing disclosure is being made on a voluntary basis and not pursuant to any specific requirement under Form 10‑K, Form 8‑K or otherwise.

Information on the members of our Board of Directors is incorporated herein by reference to our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders under the captions "The Board of Directors," and "Proposal One – Election of Directors."

Information on the composition of our audit committee and the members of our audit committee, including information on our audit committee financial experts, is incorporated by reference to our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders under the caption "The Board of Directors – Committees of the Board of Directors – Audit Committee."

Information on our executive officers is provided in Item 1, Part I of this Form 10-K under the caption "Executive Officers of the Registrant" at page 11, above.

Information with respect to our code of ethics that applies to our directors, executive officers (including our principal executive officer and our principal financial and accounting officer) and employees is incorporated by reference to our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders under the caption "Code of Business Conduct and Ethics."  A copy of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is available on our website at the Investor Relations section under Mission Statement/Corporate Governance on www.microchip.com.

Information regarding material changes, if any, to procedures by which security holders may recommend nominees to our Board of Directors is incorporated by reference to our proxy statement for the 2021 annual meeting of stockholders under the caption "Requirements, Including Deadlines, for Receipt of Stockholder Proposals for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders; Discretionary Authority to Vote on Stockholder Proposals."

Information with respect to executive compensation is incorporated herein by reference to the information under the caption "Executive Compensation" in our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders.

Information with respect to director compensation is incorporated herein by reference to the information under the caption "The Board of Directors – Director Compensation" in our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders.

Information with respect to compensation committee interlocks and insider participation in compensation decisions is incorporated herein by reference to the information under the caption "The Board of Directors – Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation" in our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders.

Our Board compensation committee report on executive compensation is incorporated herein by reference to the information under the caption "Executive Compensation – Compensation Committee Report on Executive Compensation" in our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders.

Information with respect to securities authorized for issuance under our equity compensation plans is incorporated herein by reference to the information under the caption "Executive Compensation – Equity Compensation Plan Information" in our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders.

Information with respect to security ownership of certain beneficial owners, members of our Board of Directors and management is incorporated herein by reference to the information under the caption "Security Ownership of Principal Stockholders, Directors and Executive Officers" in our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders.

The information required by this Item pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K is incorporated by reference to the information under the caption "Certain Transactions" contained in our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders.

The information required by this Item pursuant to Item 407(a) of Regulation S-K regarding the independence of our directors is incorporated by reference to the information under the caption "Meetings of the Board of Directors" contained in our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders.

The information required by this Item related to principal accountant fees and services as well as related pre-approval policies is incorporated by reference to the information under the caption "Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm" contained in our proxy statement for our 2021 annual meeting of stockholders.

Not applicable.