Rambus (RMBS) 10-K2023 FY Annual report

You can identify these and other forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “may,” “future,” “shall,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “intends,” “potential,” “continue,” “projecting” or the negative of such terms, or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements also include the assumptions underlying or relating to any of the foregoing statements.

Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under Item 1A, “Risk Factors.” All forward-looking statements included in this document are based on our assessment of information available to us at this time. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Rambus is a trademark of Rambus Inc. Other trademarks or copyrights that may be mentioned in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are the property of their respective owners.

As an industry pioneer with over 30 years of advanced semiconductor design experience, Rambus is dedicated to addressing the challenges of accelerating and protecting data in hardware for the data center and other growing markets. We are a leader in high-performance memory subsystems, providing chips, silicon intellectual property (“IP”) and innovations that maximize the performance and security in computationally intensive systems.

With the exponential increase in the complexity, size and number of advanced workloads, like generative artificial intelligence (“AI”), the demands on computing infrastructure continue to grow at an accelerated pace. The performance gap between processors and memory is an increasingly significant bottleneck in high-performance systems. Processors and accelerators continue to increase in speed and core count, while memory latency and bandwidth lag behind, creating a “memory wall” inhibiting overall system performance improvements.

Throughout our history, Rambus has been focused on advancing memory technologies and novel architectures, as well as delivering the solutions needed to break down the memory wall. We provide industry-leading memory interface chips that enable the highest bandwidth and capacity server memory modules, maximizing memory performance for data-intensive workloads.

The broadening adoption of AI also creates opportunities for our silicon IP solutions. Our high-performance digital controller cores are increasingly critical to accelerated computing chips. In addition, the proliferation of application-specific silicon creates increased vulnerabilities to attack as data is distributed across systems, amplifying the need for our industry-leading security IP.

Rambus offers a balanced and diverse portfolio of solutions across chips, silicon IP and patent licensing, each of them contributing at scale. The data center continues to be the Company’s primary focus market, demanding the highest performance and security, and represents greater than 75% of the revenue from Rambus chip and silicon IP sales. Benefiting from the increasing demands in data center, our product revenue, which consists primarily of memory interface chips, has grown at a 5-year compound annual growth rate of 42% from 2018 through 2023. Silicon IP has sustained momentum, driven by design wins at leading system on chip (“SoC”) customers, and is well positioned to capture the growing opportunities. In addition, this year Rambus successfully closed and extended key patent licensing agreements, solidifying our foundation of sustained cash generation to fuel investments in our product and technology roadmaps and delivering consistent return of value to stockholders.

Made for high performance, reliability and power efficiency, Rambus DDR memory interface chips for server memory modules (e.g., RDIMMs) enable increased bandwidth and expanded capacity in enterprise and cloud servers. The Rambus portfolio includes DDR5 and DDR4 memory interface chipsets. Our leading-edge DDR5 chipset solution includes the Registering Clock Driver (“RCD”), Serial Presence Detect Hubs (“SPD Hub”) and Temperature Sensors (“TS”).

We sell memory interface chips directly and indirectly to memory module manufacturers, OEMs and hyperscalers worldwide through multiple channels, including our direct sales force and distributors. We have sales operations in the United States, France, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China, where we employ sales personnel who serve our direct customers and manage our channel partners.

We operate a fabless business model and use third-party foundries and manufacturing contractors to fabricate, assemble and test our memory interface chips. We also inspect and test parts in our U.S.-based facilities. This outsourced manufacturing approach allows us to focus our investment and resources on the research, development, design, sale and marketing of our products. Outsourcing also allows us the flexibility needed to respond to new market opportunities, simplifies our operations and significantly reduces our capital requirements.

Rambus Silicon IP includes interface and security IP solutions that move and protect data in advanced data center, government and automotive applications. Our interface IP solutions feature both high-speed memory and chip-to-chip digital

We sell Silicon IP solutions to leading chip makers worldwide for integration into their SoC and FPGA designs. Rambus Silicon IP is sold primarily through our direct sales force operating out of offices in the United States, France, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China.

Our patented inventions are foundational to the semiconductor industry and are licensed to leading semiconductor and system companies around the world. Rambus continues to innovate and invent, thereby advancing semiconductor technology. With a broad worldwide portfolio of patents covering memory architecture, high-speed serial links and security, we enhance our value and relevance in our target markets and create a platform for investment in product development.

Our patent licenses enable our customers to use specified portions of our portfolio of patented inventions in the customer’s own digital electronics products, systems or services. These licenses may also define the specific field of use where our customers may use or employ our inventions in their products. License agreements are structured with fixed or variable, or a hybrid of fixed and variable royalty payments over certain periods typically ranging up to ten years. Leading semiconductor and electronic system companies, such as AMD, Broadcom, CXMT, IBM, Infineon, Kioxia, Marvell, MediaTek, Micron, Nanya, Nuvoton, NVIDIA, Phison, Qualcomm, Samsung, SK hynix, Socionext, STMicroelectronics, Toshiba, Western Digital and Winbond have licensed our patents for use in their own products. Additionally, from time to time, we enter into agreements to sell certain patent assets under agreements which may also include subsequent profit-sharing. The sale of these patents, as well as the subsequent profit-sharing, are included as part of our royalty revenue.

The semiconductor industry is intensely competitive and is characterized by rapid technological change, short product life cycles, cyclical market patterns, price erosion, increasing foreign and domestic competition and market consolidation. Rambus competes with product offerings from various companies depending upon the particular Rambus product line. In the memory interface chip market, we compete with international semiconductor companies, including Renesas and Montage Technology. In the Silicon IP market, Rambus competes with the in-house design teams at our potential customers, as well as with third-party IP suppliers, such as Cadence and Synopsys. Many of our competitors are larger and have better access to financial, technical, sales and marketing resources than we possess.

To the extent that alternative technologies, which might provide comparable system performance at lower or similar cost to our patented technologies, are perceived to require the payment of no or lower fees or royalties, or to the extent other factors influence the industry, our customers and prospective customers may adopt and promote such alternative technologies. Even to the extent we determine that such alternative technologies infringe our patents, there can be no assurance that we would be able to negotiate agreements that would result in royalties being paid to us without litigation, which could be costly and the results of which would be uncertain. As in the past, litigation may be required to enforce and protect our IP rights, on top of the substantial investments undertaken to research and develop our innovations and technologies.

Building upon our foundation of core semiconductor technologies, our research priorities focus on innovation and patent development that differentiate our product offerings in the market and enhance the value of our patent portfolio. Key to our efforts is continuing to hire and retain world-class inventors, scientists and engineers to lead the development and deployment of inventions and technology solutions for our intended markets.

To foster our research and development efforts, we have assembled a team of highly skilled inventors, engineers and scientists whose activities are focused on continually developing new innovations within our chosen technology fields, and have thereby secured the IP rights and legal protections for these ground-breaking inventions. Using this foundation of innovation, our technical teams develop new semiconductor solutions that enable increased performance, greater power efficiency and increased levels of security, as well as other improvements and benefits. Our solution design and development process is a multi-disciplinary effort requiring expertise in multiple fields across all of our operational units.

A significant number of our scientists and engineers spend all or a portion of their time on research and development. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, research and development expenses were $156.8 million, $158.8 million and $135.7 million, respectively. We expect to continue to invest substantial funds in research and development activities. In addition, because our customer agreements often call for us to provide engineering support, a portion of our total engineering costs are allocated to the cost of contract and other revenue.

As of December 31, 2023, we had 623 employees, of which approximately 42% were in the United States and 58% in other global regions. Additionally, approximately 69% of our employees were engineers with the remaining employees in sales, general and administrative positions. None of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements.

We believe that our future success largely depends upon our continued ability to identify, attract, motivate and retain qualified personnel. We provide our employees with competitive compensation, as well as opportunities for equity ownership and developmental programs that enable continued learning and growth. We also offer employees benefits such as life and health insurance, paid time off, paid parental leave and retirement savings plans. We utilize successful recruiting practices that yield qualified and dedicated employees who are driven to achieve our vision.

The employment market in the United States can be competitive, especially for technology companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere. Our human capital resources objectives, as described above, help us retain and motivate our existing employees, advisors and consultants, which is a key component of increasing stockholder value and the success of Rambus.

We are an equal opportunity employer and are committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive work environment. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion helps us attract and retain the best talent, enables employees to realize their full potential and drives high performance through innovation and collaboration. Because we know that diversity is truly a competitive advantage that helps drive innovation, we strive to maintain a best-in-class work environment that fosters respect for individuals, their ideas and contributions. We benefit from the innovation that results when people with differing experiences, perspectives and cultures work together to achieve a common goal.

We maintain and support an active program to protect our IP, primarily through the filing of patent applications and the defense of issued patents against potential infringement. As of December 31, 2023, our technologies are covered by 2,221 U.S. and foreign patents, having expiration dates ranging from 2024 to 2043. Additionally, we have 547 patent applications pending. Some of the patents and pending patent applications are derived from a common parent patent application or are foreign counterpart patent applications. We believe our patented innovations provide our customers with the legal rights and licenses to use our inventions to achieve improved performance, greater cost-effectiveness and other technological benefits in their own products and services. We intend to continue our innovation efforts and allocate significant investment in our IP development programs.

We have a program to file applications for and obtain patents in the United States and in selected foreign countries where we believe filing for such protection is appropriate and would further our overall business strategy and objectives. In some instances, obtaining appropriate levels of protection may involve prosecuting continuation and counterpart patent applications based on a common parent application. In addition, we attempt to protect our trade secrets and other proprietary information through agreements with current and prospective customers, and confidentiality agreements with employees and consultants and other security measures. We also rely on copyright, trademarks and trade secret laws to protect our IP and other proprietary assets.

Our sales of memory interface chips are generally made pursuant to short-term purchase orders. These purchase orders are made without deposits and may be, and often are, rescheduled, canceled or modified on relatively short notice, without substantial penalty. Therefore, we believe that purchase orders or backlog are not necessarily a reliable indicator of our future product sales.

Information concerning our revenue, results of operations and revenue by geographic area is set forth in Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and in Note 7, “Segments and Major Customers,” of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-K, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Information concerning identifiable assets and segment reporting is also set forth in Note 7, “Segments and Major Customers,” of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-K. Information on customers that comprise 10% or more of our consolidated revenue and risks attendant to our foreign operations is set forth below in Item 1A, “Risk Factors.”

Information regarding our current executive officers and their ages and positions is contained in the table below. Our executive officers are appointed by, and serve at the discretion of, our Board of Directors. There is no family relationship between any of our executive officers.

Because of the following factors, as well as other variables affecting our operating results, past financial performance may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not be used to anticipate results or trends in future periods. See also “Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” at the beginning of this report.

Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that you should consider before investing in our company, as fully described below. The principal factors and uncertainties that make investing in our company risky include, among others:

Our target customers are companies that develop and market high volume business and consumer products in semiconductors, computing, data centers, networks, tablets, handheld devices, mobile applications, gaming and graphics, high-definition televisions, cryptography and data security. The electronics industry is intensely competitive and has been impacted by rapid technological change, short product life cycles, cyclical market patterns, price erosion and increasing foreign and domestic competition. We are subject to many risks beyond our control that influence whether or not we are successful in winning target customers or retaining existing customers, including, primarily, competition in a particular industry, market acceptance of such customers’ products and the financial resources of such customers. In particular, DRAM manufacturers, which make up a significant part of our revenue, are prone to significant business cycles and have suffered material losses and other adverse effects to their businesses, leading to industry consolidation from time-to-time that may result in loss of revenue under our existing license agreements or loss of target customers. As a result of ongoing competition in the industries in which we operate and volatility in various economies around the world, we may achieve reduced market share, a reduced number of licenses or may experience tightening of customers’ operating budgets, difficulty or inability of our customers to pay our licensing fees, reduction in downstream demand, lengthening of the approval process for new products and licenses and consolidation among our customers. All of these factors may adversely affect the demand for our products and technologies and may cause us to experience substantial fluctuations in our operating results and financial condition.

We face competition from semiconductor and digital electronics products and systems companies, and other semiconductor IP companies that provide security and interface IP that are available to the market. We believe some of the competition for our technologies may come from our prospective customers, some of which are internally evaluating and developing products based on technologies that they contend or may contend will not require a license from us. Many of these companies are larger and may have better access to financial, technical and other resources than we possess and may be able to develop and advance competitive products more effectively.

To the extent that alternative technologies might provide comparable system performance at lower or similar cost to our technologies, or are perceived to require the payment of no or lower fees and/or royalties, or to the extent other factors influence the industry, our customers and prospective customers may adopt and promote such alternative technologies. Even to the extent we determine that such alternative technologies infringe our patents, there can be no assurance that we would be able to negotiate agreements that would result in royalties being paid to us without litigation, which could be costly and the results of which would be uncertain.

In addition, our efforts to expand into new markets subject us to additional risks. We may have limited or no experience in new products and markets, and our customers may not adopt our new offerings. These and other new offerings may present new and difficult challenges, which could negatively affect our operating results.

We have a high degree of revenue concentration. Our top five customers for each reporting period represented approximately 62%, 58% and 56% of our revenue for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. We expect to continue to experience significant revenue concentration for the foreseeable future. Our customers’ demand for our products may fluctuate due to factors beyond our control. We could experience fluctuations in our customer base or the mix of revenue by customer as markets and strategies evolve. A disruption in our relationship with any of our customers could adversely affect our business. In addition, any consolidation of our customers could reduce the number of customers to whom our products may be sold or the demand for our products. Our inability to meet our customers’ requirements or to qualify our products with them could adversely impact our revenue. The loss of, or restrictions on our ability to sell to, one or more of our major customers or any significant reduction in orders from, or a shift in product mix by customers, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

In addition, our license agreements are complex and some contain terms that require us to provide certain customers with the lowest royalty rate that we provide to other customers for similar technologies, volumes and schedules. These clauses may limit our ability to effectively price differently among our customers, to respond quickly to market forces, or otherwise to compete on the basis of price. These clauses may also require us to reduce royalties payable by existing customers when we enter into or amend agreements with other customers. Any adjustment that reduces royalties from current customers or licensees may have a material adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

We continue to negotiate with customers and prospective customers to enter into license agreements. Any future agreement may trigger our obligation to offer comparable terms or modifications to agreements with our existing customers, which may be

We have no control over our customers’ pricing of their products and there can be no assurance that licensed products will be competitively priced or will sell in significant volumes. Any premium charged by our customers in the price of memory and controller chips or other products over alternatives must be reasonable. If the benefits of our technology do not match the price premium charged by our customers, the resulting decline in sales of products incorporating our technology could harm our operating results.

Prior to purchasing our products, our customers often require that our products undergo extensive qualification processes, which involve testing of our products in the customers’ systems, as well as testing for reliability. This qualification process may continue for several months. However, qualification of a product by a customer does not assure any sales of the product to that customer. Even after successful qualification and sales of a product to a customer, a subsequent revision in third-party manufacturing processes may require a new qualification process with our customers, which may result in delays and in our holding excess or obsolete inventory. After our products are qualified, it can take several months or more before the customer commences volume production of components or systems that incorporate our products. Despite these uncertainties, we devote substantial resources, including design, engineering, sales, marketing and management efforts, to qualify our products with customers in anticipation of sales. If we are unsuccessful or delayed in qualifying any of our products with a customer, sales of those products to the customer may be precluded or delayed, which may impede our growth and cause our business to suffer.

Products that do not meet their specifications or that contain, or are perceived by our customers to contain, defects could impose significant costs on us or otherwise materially adversely affect our operating results and financial condition. From time to time, we experience problems with nonconforming, defective, or incompatible products after we have shipped such products. In recent periods, we have further expanded our product offerings, which could potentially increase the chance that one or more of our products could fail to meet specifications in a particular application. Our products and technologies may be deemed fully or partially responsible for functionality in our customers’ products and may result in sharing or shifting of product or financial liability from our customers to us for costs incurred by the end user as a result of our customers’ products failing to perform as specified. In addition, if our products and technologies perform critical functions in our customers’ products or are used in high-risk consumer end products, such as automotive products, our potential liability may increase. We could be adversely affected in several ways, including the following:

We operate in rapidly changing, highly competitive markets. Technological advances, the introduction of new products and new design techniques could adversely affect our business unless we are able to adapt to changing conditions. Technological

Our existing product offerings may present new and difficult challenges, and we may be subject to claims if customers of our offerings experience delays, failures, non-performance or other quality issues. In particular, we may experience difficulties with product design, qualification, manufacturing, including supply chain disruptions or shortages that might lead to an inability to meet customer demand, marketing or certification that could delay or prevent our development, introduction or marketing and sales of products. Although we intend to design our products to be fully compliant with applicable industry standards, proprietary enhancements may not in the future result in full conformance with existing industry standards under all circumstances. Further, our products must be enhanced periodically to keep up with evolving system requirements. Our introduction of new products could reduce the demand and revenue of our older products or affect their pricing.

Our research and development efforts with respect to new technologies may not result in customer or market acceptance. Some or all of those technologies may not successfully make the transition from the research and development stage to cost-effective production as a result of technology problems, competitive cost issues, yield problems, and other factors. Even if we successfully complete a research and development effort with respect to a particular technology, our customers may decide not to introduce or may terminate products utilizing the technology for a variety of reasons, including difficulties with other suppliers of components for the products, superior technologies developed by our competitors and unfavorable comparisons of our products with these technologies, price considerations and lack of anticipated or actual market demand for the products.

Our business model continues to transform towards greater reliance on product revenue. We could experience a slowdown in our customers’ demand for our products in the near term, however, we anticipate our memory interface chips will contribute to continued long-term growth. If sales of our memory interface chips do not grow as anticipated, then our business could suffer as a result. Our business could be harmed if we are unable to develop and utilize new technologies that address the needs of our customers, or our competitors or customers develop and utilize new technologies more effectively or more quickly than we can. A transition by our customers to different business models could also result in reduced revenue. We cannot guarantee that we will be successful in keeping pace with all, or any, of the customer trends. Any investments made to enhance or develop new technologies that are not successful could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

We sell our memory interface chips directly and indirectly to memory module manufacturers and OEMs worldwide for integration into server memory modules. We cannot be assured that our customers’ products will be commercially successful over time or at all as a result of factors beyond our control. If products incorporating our technologies are not commercially successful or experience rapid decline, our revenue and business will suffer. Further, we are continuing to expand into new segments and if our memory interface chips fail to achieve acceptance by customers in such segments, then our business could suffer as a result. Changes in our customers’ order patterns could result in us holding excess quantities of inventory which could result in us recording reserves for excess and obsolete inventory. Any such reserves would have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.

As a fabless semiconductor company, we purchase our inventory from third-party manufacturers in advance of selling our products. We place orders with our manufacturers based on existing and expected orders from our customers for particular products. We are also subject to increased inventory risks and costs because we build our products based on forecasts provided by customers before receiving purchase orders for the product. While most of our contracts with our customers and distributors include lead time requirements and cancellation penalties that are designed to protect us from misalignment between customer orders and inventory levels, we must nonetheless make some predictions when we place orders with our manufacturers and we are not always able to make adjustments to align with our inventory needs. Our customers may cancel orders for many reasons, including but not limited to trends in the global economy, business challenges, supply chain constraints, longer than expected inventory digestion or other changes in their business requirements. In the event that our predictions are inaccurate due to unexpected increases in orders or our manufacturers are unable to provide the inventory that we require, we may have insufficient inventory to meet our customers’ demands. In addition, a perceived negative trend in market conditions could lead us to decrease the manufacturing volume of our products to avoid excess inventory. If we inaccurately assess market conditions for our products, we could have insufficient inventory to meet our customer demands resulting in loss of revenue. In the event that we order products that we are unable to sell due to a decrease in orders, unexpected order cancellations, import/export

The cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry has resulted in periods when demand for our products has increased or decreased rapidly. If we overbuild inventory in a period of decreased demand, or we expand our operations too rapidly or procure excessive resources in anticipation of increased demand for our products, and that demand does not materialize at the pace at which we expect, or declines, our operating results may be adversely affected as a result of charges related to obsolete inventory, inventory write-downs, increased operating expenses or reduced margins.

We may in the future experience periods of customer inventory adjustments that may adversely affect our operating results. In addition, we may not be able to expand our operations in a sufficiently timely manner, procure adequate resources and raw materials, locate suitable third-party suppliers or respond effectively to changes in demand for our existing products or to demand for new products requested by our customers, and our current or future business could be materially and adversely affected.

We periodically transition to newer generations of our semiconductor products as the market shifts to demand for such products. While we have managed prior product transitions and have previously sold multiple generations of products at the same time, these transitions are difficult to forecast and may result in under-supply or over-supply of inventory by product generation, which may negatively impact revenue and inventory reserves.

Various target markets for our products, such as AI, may develop slower than anticipated or could utilize competing technologies. The markets for some of these products depend in part upon the continued development and deployment of various other technologies, which may or may not address the needs of the users of these products. We cannot predict the size or growth rate of these markets or the market share we will achieve or maintain in these markets in the future.

Our ability to generate significant revenue from new markets will depend on various factors, including the development and growth of these markets; the ability of our technologies and products to address the needs of these markets; the price and performance requirements of our customers, and the preferences of end users; and our ability to provide our customers with products that provide advantages compared with alternative products.

Our ongoing success in these markets will require us to offer better performance alternatives to other products at competitive costs. The failure of any of these target markets to develop as we expect, or our failure to serve these markets to a significant extent, will impede the sales growth of products incorporating our technology, which could harm our operating results.

While our business model continues to transform towards greater reliance on product revenue, a large portion of our revenue still consists of fees paid for access to our patented technologies, existing technology and other development and support services we provide to our customers. Our ability to secure and renew the licenses from which that revenue is derived depends on our customers adopting our technology and using it in the products they sell. If customers do not upgrade or enhance their product offerings to include such technologies, our revenue and operating results may be adversely affected. Once secured, license revenue may be negatively affected by factors within and outside our control, including reductions in our customers’ sales prices, sales volumes, our failure to timely complete engineering deliverables and the actual terms of such licenses themselves. In addition, our licensing cycle for new licensees, as well as for renewals for existing licensees is lengthy, costly and unpredictable. We cannot provide any assurance that we will be successful in signing new license agreements or renewing existing license agreements on equal or favorable terms or at all. If we do not achieve our revenue goals, our results of operations could decline.

The process of persuading customers to adopt and license our chip interface, data security IP and other technologies can be lengthy. Even if successful, there can be no assurance that our technologies will be used in a product that is ultimately brought to market, achieves commercial acceptance or results in significant royalties to us. We generally incur significant marketing and sales expenses prior to entering into our license agreements, generating a license fee and establishing a royalty stream from

From time to time, we enter into license agreements that automatically convert from royalty generating arrangements to fully paid-up licenses under which the customer is no longer required to make payments for all or certain components of the licensed technology or IP upon expiration or upon reaching certain milestones. We may not receive further royalties from customers for any licensed technology under those agreements if they convert to fully paid-up licenses because such customers will be entitled to continue using some, if not all, of the relevant IP or technology under the terms of the license agreements without further payment, even if relevant patents or technologies are still in effect. If we cannot find another source of royalties to replace the royalties from those license agreements that convert to fully paid-up licenses, our results of operations following such conversion could be adversely affected.

As we commercially launch each of our products, the sales volume of and resulting revenue from such products in any given period will be difficult to predict. Our lengthy license negotiation cycles could make a considerable portion of our future revenue difficult to predict because we may not be successful in entering into or renewing licenses with our customers on our anticipated timelines.

In addition, while some of our license agreements provide for fixed, quarterly royalty payments, many of our license agreements provide for volume-based royalties and may also be subject to caps on royalties in a given period. The sales volume and prices of our customers’ products in any given period can be difficult to predict. Under the revenue recognition standard (“ASC 606”) adopted during the first quarter of 2018, our revenue may vary greatly from quarter to quarter. As a result of the foregoing items, our actual results may differ substantially from analyst estimates or our forecasts in any given quarter.

Also, a portion of our revenue comes from development and support services provided to our customers. Depending upon the nature of the services, a portion of the related revenue may be recognized ratably over the support period or may be recognized according to contract revenue accounting. Contract revenue accounting may result in deferral of the service fees until the completion of the contract or may result in the recognition of service fees over the period in which services are performed on a percentage-of-completion basis.

We provide guidance regarding our expected financial and business performance including our anticipated future revenue, operating expenses and other financial and operation metrics. Correctly identifying the key factors affecting business conditions and predicting future events is an inherently uncertain process. Any guidance that we provide may not always be accurate, or may vary from actual results, due to our inability to correctly identify and quantify risks and uncertainties to our business and to quantify their impact on our financial performance. We offer no assurance that such guidance will ultimately be accurate, and investors should treat any such guidance with appropriate caution. If we fail to meet our guidance or if we find it necessary to revise such guidance, even if such failure or revision is seemingly insignificant, investors and analysts may lose confidence in us and the market value of our common stock could be materially adversely affected.

For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, revenue received from our international customers constituted approximately 62%, 39% and 36%, respectively, of our total revenue. We expect that future revenue derived from international sources will continue to represent a significant portion of our total revenue.

To the extent that customer sales are not denominated in U.S. dollars, any royalties that are based on a percentage of the customers’ sales and which we receive as a result of such sales could be subject to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. In addition, if the effective price of licensed products sold by our foreign customers were to increase as a result of fluctuations in the exchange rate of the relevant currencies, demand for licensed products could fall, which in turn would reduce our royalties. From time to time, we use limited financial instruments to hedge foreign exchange rate risk, however such instruments may not be sufficient to cover such risk.

Trade-related government actions, whether implemented by the United States, China, the European Union or other countries, that impose barriers or restrictions impacting our ability to sell or ship products to certain customers may have a negative impact on our financial condition and results of operations. We cannot predict the actions government entities may take in this context and may be unable to quickly offset or effectively react to government actions that restrict our ability to sell to certain customers or in certain jurisdictions. Government actions that affect our customers’ ability to sell products or access critical elements of their supply chains may result in a decreased demand for their products, which may consequently reduce their demand for our products.

In addition, the U.S. government has announced controls affecting the ability to send certain products and technology related to semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing and supercomputing to China without an export license and added additional entities to restricted party lists. While the Company currently has not been materially adversely impacted by these new restrictions, we may be impacted in the future if such controls are expanded to cover our key products/markets.

We currently have international business, business development, and design operations in Bulgaria, Canada, China, India, Finland, France, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Taiwan. Our international operations and revenue are subject to a variety of risks that are beyond our control, including:

We and our customers are subject to many of the risks described above with respect to companies which are located in different countries. There can be no assurance that one or more of the risks associated with our international operations will not result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our operations and performance depend significantly on worldwide economic conditions. Current and future uncertainty in the worldwide economy due to inflation, geopolitics, major central bank policies including interest rate increases or related changes, public health crises or other global factors could adversely affect our business. Adverse economic conditions could also affect demand for our products and our customers’ products. If our customers experience reduced demand or excess inventory as a result of global or regional economic conditions or otherwise, this could result in reduced royalty revenue and/or product sales and our business and results of operations could be harmed. Inflationary pressures and shortages have increased, and may continue to increase, costs for materials, supplies and labor, which could cause our expenses to increase at a rate faster

Additionally, deterioration of conditions in worldwide credit markets could limit our ability to obtain external financing, if needed, to fund our operations and capital expenditures. In addition, we may experience losses on our holdings of cash and investments due to failures of financial institutions and other parties. Difficult economic conditions may also result in a higher rate of losses on our accounts receivable due to credit defaults. As a result, downturns in the worldwide economy could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our customers depend on our support organization to resolve technical issues and provide ongoing maintenance relating to our products and services. We may be unable to respond quickly enough to accommodate short-term increases in customer demand for support services. Increased customer demand for these services, without corresponding revenue, could increase costs and adversely affect our operating results. In addition, our sales process is highly dependent on our offerings and business reputation and on positive recommendations from our existing customers. Any failure to maintain high-quality technical support, or a market perception that we do not maintain high-quality support, could adversely affect our reputation, our ability to sell our solutions to existing and prospective customers and our business, operating results and financial position.

The United States has recently experienced historically high levels of inflation. While inflation rates have moderated in recent quarters, if the inflation rate increases again as a result of increases in the costs of labor and supplies, it will affect our expenses, such as employee compensation and research and development charges. Research and development expenses account for a significant portion of our operating expenses. Additionally, the United States is experiencing an acute workforce shortage of qualified applicable talent, which in turn, has created a competitive wage environment that may increase our operating costs. To the extent inflation results in rising interest rates and has other adverse effects on the market, it may adversely affect our consolidated financial condition and results of operations.

Semiconductor supply chain disruptions have been well publicized in the recent past. We believe that we could experience various supply constraints related to our memory interface chip business in the future. In particular, to the extent we do not have sufficient wafer and packaging substrate firm commitments from our third-party suppliers or they are otherwise unable to provide such services and materials, we may not obtain the materials needed on our desired timelines or at reasonable prices.

Additionally, various sources of supply-chain risk, including strikes or shutdowns at delivery ports or loss of or damage to our products while they are in transit or storage, IP theft, losses due to tampering, third-party vendor issues with quality or sourcing control, failure by our suppliers to comply with applicable laws and regulations, potential tariffs or other trade restrictions, geopolitical uncertainty and related military actions or other similar problems could limit or delay the supply of our products. Any interruption or delay in manufacturing or component supply, any increases in manufacturing or component costs, or the inability to obtain these services or components from alternate sources at acceptable prices and within a reasonable amount of time would harm our ability to provide our products to customers on a timely basis. This could harm our relationships with our customers, prevent us from acquiring new customers and materially and adversely affect our business.

We rely on subcontractors to manufacture and package our products using highly complex processes that require technologically advanced equipment and continuous modification. Our subcontractors maintain operations and continuously implement new product and process technology at facilities which are dispersed in multiple locations in Asia. As a result of the necessary interdependence within our network of manufacturing and packaging facilities, an operational disruption at one of our or a subcontractor’s facilities may have a disproportionate impact on our ability to produce many of our products.

From time to time, there have been disruptions in our subcontractors’ operations as a result of power outages, improperly functioning equipment, disruptions in supply of raw materials or components or equipment failures. Our subcontractors have manufacturing and other operations in locations subject to natural disasters and possible climate changes, such as severe and variable weather and geological events resulting in increased costs, or disruptions to our manufacturing operations or those of our suppliers or customers. In addition, climate change may pose physical risks to our manufacturing facilities or our suppliers’ facilities, including increased extreme weather events that could result in supply delays or disruptions. Other events, including political or public health crises, such as an outbreak of contagious diseases like COVID-19, may also affect our subcontractors’ production capabilities.

If production is disrupted for any reason, manufacturing yields may be adversely affected, or we may be unable to meet our customers’ requirements and they may purchase products from other suppliers. This could result in a significant increase in manufacturing costs, loss of revenue or damage to customer relationships, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We rely on third-party providers to supply data center hosting facilities, equipment, maintenance and other services in order to enable us to provide some of our services and have entered into various agreements for such services. The continuous availability of our services depends on the operations of those facilities, on a variety of network service providers and on third-party vendors. In addition, we depend on our third-party facility providers’ ability to protect these facilities against damage or interruption from natural disasters, power or telecommunications failures, criminal acts, cyber-attacks and similar events. If there are any lapses of service or damage to a facility, we could experience lengthy interruptions in our service, as well as delays and additional expenses in arranging new facilities and services. Even with current and planned disaster recovery arrangements, our business could be harmed. Any interruptions or delays in our service, whether as a result of third-party error, our own error, natural disasters, criminal acts, security breaches or other causes, whether accidental or willful, could harm our relationships with customers, harm our reputation and cause our revenue to decrease and/or our expenses to increase. Also, in the event of damage or interruption, our insurance policies may not adequately compensate us for any losses that we may incur. These factors in turn could further reduce our revenue, subject us to liability and cause us to issue credits or cause us to lose customers, any of which could materially adversely affect our business.

Some of our products and services contain or function with software and/or IP blocks licensed from third parties. Some of these licenses may not be available to us in the future on terms that are acceptable to us or allow our products to remain competitive. The loss of these licenses or the inability to maintain any of them on commercially acceptable terms could delay development of future offerings or the enhancement of existing products and services. We may also choose to pay a premium price for such a license in certain circumstances where continuity of the licensed product would outweigh the premium cost of the license. The unavailability of these licenses or the necessity of agreeing to commercially unreasonable terms for such licenses could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flow.

Attempts by others to gain unauthorized access to and disrupt our information technology systems are becoming more sophisticated. These attempts, which might be related to industrial or other espionage, may include covertly introducing malware to our computers and networks (or those of our customers) and impersonating authorized users, phishing attempts and other forms of social engineering, employee or contractor malfeasance, denial of service attacks and ransomware attacks, among others. We seek to detect and investigate all security incidents impacting our systems and to prevent their recurrence, but in some cases, we might be unaware of an incident or its magnitude and effects. We also utilize third-party service providers to host, transmit or otherwise process electronic data in connection with our business activities, including our supply chain processes, operations and communications. Our customers also often have access to and host our confidential IP and business information on their own internal and directed third-party systems. We, our customers, and/or our third-party service providers have faced and may continue to face security threats and attacks from a variety of sources. Our data, corporate systems, third-party systems and security measures and those of our customers or vendors may be subject to breaches or intrusions due to the actions of outside parties, employee error, malfeasance, a combination of these or otherwise, including social engineering and employee and contractor error or malfeasance, especially as certain of our employees engage in work from home arrangements, and, as a result, an unauthorized party may obtain access to our systems, networks or data, including IP and confidential business information of ourselves and our customers. There have been and may continue to be significant supply chain attacks, and we cannot guarantee that our or our third-party service providers’ systems and networks have not been breached or that they do not contain exploitable defects or bugs that could result in a breach of or disruption to our systems and networks or the systems and networks of our customers or of third parties that support us and our services. We and our service providers may face difficulties or delays in identifying or responding to any actual or perceived security breach or incident. The theft or other unauthorized acquisition of, unauthorized use or publication of or access to our IP and/or confidential business information could harm our competitive position and reputation, reduce the value of our investment in research and development and other strategic initiatives or otherwise adversely affect our business. In the event of any security breach or incident, including any breach or incident that results in inappropriate access to, or loss, corruption, unavailability or unauthorized acquisition, disclosure or other processing of our or our customers’ confidential information or any personally identifiable information we or our third-party service providers maintain, including that of our employees, we could suffer a loss of IP or loss of data, may be subject to claims, liability and proceedings and may incur liability and otherwise suffer financial harm.

Any actual, alleged or perceived breach of security in our systems or networks, or any other actual, alleged or perceived data security incident we or our third-party service providers or customers suffer, could result in damage to our reputation, negative publicity, loss of customers and sales, harm to our market position, increased costs to remedy any problems and otherwise respond to any incident, regulatory investigations and enforcement actions, claims, litigation, proceedings and other liability. In addition, we may incur significant costs and operational consequences of investigating, remediating, eliminating and putting in place additional tools and devices designed to prevent actual or perceived security breaches and other security incidents, as well as the costs to comply with any notification or other legal obligations resulting from any security incidents. Any of these negative outcomes could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources, distract management and technical personnel, adversely impact our sales and reputation and seriously harm our business or operating results.

Although we maintain insurance coverage that may cover certain liabilities in connection with some security breaches and other security incidents, we cannot be certain our insurance coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred, that insurance will continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms (if at all) or that any insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large

Our products and services are highly technical and complex, and among our various businesses our products and services are crucial to providing security and other critical functions for our customers’ operations. Our products and services have from time to time contained and may in the future contain undetected errors, bugs, defects or other security vulnerabilities. Some errors in our products and services may only be discovered after a product or service has been deployed and used by customers and may in some cases only be detected under certain circumstances or after extended use. In addition, because the techniques used by hackers to access or sabotage our products and services and other technologies change and evolve frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate, detect or prevent these techniques and may not address them in our data security technologies. Any errors, bugs, defects or security vulnerabilities discovered in our solutions after commercial release could adversely affect our revenue, our customer relationships and the market’s perception of our products and services. We may not be able to correct any errors, bugs, defects, security flaws or vulnerabilities promptly or at all. Any breaches, defects, errors or vulnerabilities in our products and services could result in:

We prepare our financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States and these principles are subject to interpretation by the SEC, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) and various bodies formed to interpret and create appropriate accounting principles and guidance. A change in these principles or application guidance, or in their interpretations, may have a material effect on our reported results, as well as our processes and related controls, and may retroactively affect previously reported results. For instance, we adopted ASC 606, the Revenue Standard, effective for us on January 1, 2018, on a modified retrospective basis, with a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of accumulated deficit on January 1, 2018. The Revenue Standard materially impacted the timing of revenue recognition for our fixed-fee IP licensing arrangements (including certain fixed-fee agreements that license our existing IP portfolio, as well as IP added to our portfolio during the license term) as a majority of such revenue would be recognized at inception of the license term (as opposed to over time as was the case under prior U.S. GAAP). We have enhanced the form and content of some of our guidance metrics that we provide following implementation of the Revenue Standard. We expect that any change to current revenue recognition practices may significantly increase volatility in our quarterly revenue, financial results and trends, and may impact our stock price.

From time to time, we engage in acquisitions, strategic transactions, strategic investments, divestitures and potential discussions with respect thereto. For example, in 2019, we acquired Northwest Logic, Inc. and the Secure Silicon IP and Protocols business from Verimatrix, formerly Inside Secure. Further, we acquired AnalogX Inc. in July 2021, PLDA Group in August 2021 and Hardent, Inc. in May 2022. In July 2023, we entered into an asset purchase agreement with Cadence Design Systems to sell our PHY IP group, and the sale was completed in September 2023. Many of our acquisitions or strategic investments entail a high degree of risk, including those involving new areas of technology and such investments may not become accretive for several years after the date of the investment, if at all. Our acquisitions or strategic investments may not provide the advantages that we anticipated or generate the financial returns we expect, including if we are unable to close any pending acquisitions. For example, for any pending or completed acquisitions, we may discover unidentified issues not discovered in due diligence, and we may be subject to regulatory approvals or liabilities that are not covered by indemnification protection or become subject to litigation.

Achieving the anticipated benefits of business acquisitions depends in part upon our ability to integrate the acquired businesses in an efficient and effective manner and achieve anticipated synergies, and we may not be successful in these efforts. The integration of companies that have previously operated independently is complex and time consuming and may result in significant challenges, including, among others: retaining key employees; successfully integrating new employees, facilities, products, processes, operations, business models and systems, technology and sales and distribution channels; retaining customers and suppliers of the acquired business; minimizing the diversion of management’s and other employees’ attention from ongoing business matters; coordinating geographically separate organizations; consolidating research and development operations; consolidating corporate and administrative infrastructures; implementing controls, processes and policies appropriate for a public company at acquired companies that may have previously lacked such controls, processes and policies; and managing the increased scale, complexity and globalization of our business, operations and employee base.

Additional risks related to our acquisitions or strategic investments include, but are not limited to:

Our strategic investments in new areas of technology may involve significant risks and uncertainties, including distraction of management from current operations, greater than expected liabilities and expenses, inadequate return of capital and unidentified issues not discovered in due diligence. These investments are inherently risky and may not be successful.

In addition, we may record impairment charges related to our acquisitions or strategic investments. Any losses or impairment charges that we incur related to acquisitions, strategic investments or sales of assets will have a negative impact on our financial results and the market value of our common stock, and we may continue to incur new or additional losses related to acquisitions or strategic investments.

We may have to incur debt or issue equity securities to pay for any future acquisitions, which debt could involve restrictive covenants or which equity security issuance could be dilutive to our existing stockholders. We may also use cash to pay for any future acquisitions which will reduce our cash balance.

From time to time, we may also divest certain assets. These divestitures or proposed divestitures may involve the loss of revenue and/or potential customers, and the market for the associated assets may dictate that we sell such assets for less than

Any downturn in economic conditions or other business factors could threaten the financial health of our counterparties, including companies with which we have entered into licensing, asset/product sale and/or settlement agreements, and their ability to fulfill their financial and other obligations to us. Such financial pressures on our counterparties may eventually lead to bankruptcy proceedings or other attempts to avoid financial obligations that are due to us. Because bankruptcy courts have the power to modify or cancel contracts of the petitioner which remain subject to future performance and alter or discharge payment obligations related to pre-petition debts, we may receive less than all of the payments that we would otherwise be entitled to receive from any such counterparty as a result of bankruptcy proceedings.

Our success is dependent upon our ability to identify, attract, compensate, motivate and retain qualified personnel, especially engineers, senior management and other key personnel. The loss of the services of any key employees could be disruptive to our development efforts, business relationships and strategy and could cause our business and operations to suffer.

Our future success depends in large part upon the continued service and enhancement of our management team and our employees. If there are unexpected changes in management, such changes could be disruptive and could negatively affect our sales, operations, culture, future recruiting efforts and strategic direction. Competition for qualified executives is intense, and if we are unable to compensate our key talent appropriately and continue expanding our management team, or successfully integrate new additions to our management team in a manner that enables us to scale our business and operations effectively, our ability to operate effectively and efficiently could be limited or negatively impacted. In addition, changes in key management positions may temporarily affect our financial performance and results of operations as new management becomes familiar with our business, processes and strategy. The loss of any of our key personnel, or our inability to attract, integrate and retain qualified employees who join us organically and through acquisitions, could require us to dedicate significant financial and other resources to such personnel matters, disrupt our operations and seriously harm our operations and business.

Our business operations depend on our ability to maintain and protect our facilities, computer systems and personnel, which are primarily located in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States, Bulgaria, Canada, France, India, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Taiwan. The San Francisco Bay Area is in close proximity to known earthquake fault zones and sites of recent historic wildfires. Our facilities and transportation for our employees are susceptible to damage from earthquakes and other natural disasters such as fires, floods, droughts, extreme temperatures and similar events. Should a catastrophe disable our facilities, we do not have readily available alternative facilities from which we could conduct our business, so any resultant work stoppage could have a negative effect on our operating results. We also rely on our network infrastructure and technology systems for operational support and business activities which are subject to physical and cyber damage, and also susceptible to other related vulnerabilities common to networks and computer systems.

New epidemics, pandemics or outbreaks of novel diseases may arise at any time. The COVID-19 pandemic or other disease outbreak may continue to adversely affect the economies and financial markets of many countries, resulting in an economic downturn that may impact overall technology spending, adversely affecting demand for our products and impacting our operating results. Furthermore, such disruption in the global financial markets may reduce our ability to access capital or our customers’ ability to pay us for past or future purchases, which could negatively affect our liquidity.

We and our suppliers could be affected by laws and regulations enacted in response to concerns regarding climate change, conflict minerals, responsible sourcing practices, public health crises, contagious disease outbreaks or other matters, which could limit the supply of our materials and/or increase the cost. Environmental regulations could limit our ability to procure or use certain chemicals or materials in our operations or products. In addition, disruptions in transportation lines could delay our receipt of materials.

Acts of terrorism, climate-change related risk, widespread illness or global pandemics, international conflict, war and any event that causes failures or interruption in our network infrastructure and technology systems could have a negative effect at our international and domestic facilities and could harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

Many of our license agreements require our customers to document the manufacture and sale of products that incorporate our technology and report this data to us on a quarterly basis. While licenses with such terms give us the right to audit books and records of our customers to verify this information, audits rarely are undertaken because they can be expensive, time consuming and potentially detrimental to our ongoing business relationship with our customers. Therefore, we typically rely on the accuracy of the reports from customers without independently verifying the information in them. Our failure to audit our customers’ books and records may result in our receiving more or less royalty revenue than we are entitled to under the terms of our license agreements. If we conduct royalty audits in the future, such audits may trigger disagreements over contract terms with our customers and such disagreements could hamper customer relations, divert the efforts and attention of our management from normal operations and impact our business operations and financial condition.

From time to time, we may undertake restructurings of our business, including discontinuing certain products, services and technologies and planned reductions in force. There are several factors that could cause restructurings to have adverse effects on our business, financial condition and results of operations. These include potential disruption of our operations, the development of our technology, the deliveries to our customers and other aspects of our business. Loss of sales, service and engineering talent, in particular, could damage our business. Any restructuring would require substantial management time and attention and may divert management from other important work. Employee reductions or other restructuring activities also would cause us to incur restructuring and related expenses such as severance expenses. Moreover, we could encounter delays in executing any restructuring plans, which could cause further disruption and additional unanticipated expense.

We rely on our information systems and those of third parties for fulfilling licensing and contractual obligations, processing customer orders, delivering products, providing services and support to our customers, billing and tracking our customer orders, performing accounting operations and otherwise running our business. If our systems fail, our disaster and data recovery planning and capacity may prove insufficient to enable timely recovery of important functions and business records. Any disruption in our information systems and those of the third parties upon whom we rely could have a significant impact on our business. For example, in the third quarter of 2023, we commenced operating a new ERP system. Any failures of this system to operate as intended could impact our ability to timely and accurately manage our business and publicly report our financial results. Additionally, our information systems may not support new business models and initiatives and significant investments could be required in order to upgrade them. Delays in adapting our information systems to address new business models and accounting standards could limit the success or result in the failure of such initiatives and impair the effectiveness of our internal controls. Even if we do not encounter these adverse effects, the implementation of these enhancements may be much more costly than we anticipated. If we are unable to successfully implement the information systems enhancements as planned, our operating results could be negatively impacted.

We use open source software in our services and we intend to continue to use open source software in the future. From time to time, there have been claims challenging the ownership of open source software against companies that incorporate open source software into their products or alleging that these companies have violated the terms of an open source license. As a result, we could be subject to lawsuits by parties claiming ownership of what we believe to be open source software or alleging that we have violated the terms of an open source license. Litigation could be costly for us to defend, have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our solutions. In addition, if we were to combine our proprietary software solutions with open source software in certain

If we are not able to comply with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or if we are unable to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures, we may not be able to produce timely and accurate financial statements or guarantee that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file with the SEC is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms. In connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2020, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting that impacted our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures as of and for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, and revised our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018. While we believe this material weakness has been remediated, we cannot assure you that we have identified all of our existing material weaknesses, or that we will not in the future have additional material weaknesses. Any failure of our internal control over financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures could result in material misstatements of our consolidated financial statements, which could cause our investors to lose confidence in our publicly reported information, cause the market price of our stock to decline, expose us to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities, or impact our results of operations.

We are subject to income taxes in both the United States and various foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide provision for income taxes and, in the ordinary course of business, there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Our effective tax rate could be adversely affected by several factors, many of which are outside of our control, including changes in the mix of earnings and losses in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in tax laws, rates, treaties and regulations or the interpretation of the same, changes to the financial accounting rules for income taxes, the outcome of current and future tax audits, examinations or administrative appeals and certain non-deductible expenses. Our tax determinations are regularly subject to audit by tax authorities and developments in those audits could adversely affect our income tax provision, and we are currently undergoing such audits of certain of our tax returns. Although we believe that our tax estimates are reasonable, the final determination of tax audits or tax disputes may be different from what is reflected in our historical income tax provisions, which could affect our operating results.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has proposed imposing a 15% global minimum tax, and the Council of the European Union adopted this proposal for implementation by member states by December 31, 2023. Further, the United States has recently enacted the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes, among other changes, a 1% excise tax on certain stock repurchases and a 15% alternative minimum tax on adjusted financial statement income. If we are subject to additional tax liabilities, our financial performance may be adversely affected. In addition, many jurisdictions are actively considering changes to existing tax laws or have proposed or enacted new laws that could increase our tax obligations in countries where we do business or cause us to change the way we operate our business. Any of these developments or changes in federal, state or international tax laws or tax rulings could adversely affect our effective tax rate and our operating results.

Various countries have adopted controls, license requirements and restrictions on the export, import and use of products or services that contain encryption technology. In addition, governmental agencies have proposed additional requirements for encryption technology, such as requiring the escrow and governmental recovery of private encryption keys. Restrictions on the sale or distribution of products or services containing encryption technology may impact our ability to license data security technologies to the manufacturers and providers of such products and services in certain markets or may require us or our customers to make changes to the licensed data security technology that is embedded in such products to comply with such restrictions. Government restrictions, or changes to the products or services of our customers to comply with such restrictions,

We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States, the European Union and other countries that involve, for example, user privacy, data protection and security, content and consumer protection. For example, in 2016, a new European Union data protection regime, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) was adopted, with it fully effective on May 25, 2018. The GDPR includes significant penalties for noncompliance, which may result in monetary penalties of up to the higher of €20 million or 4% of a group’s worldwide turnover for the preceding financial year for the most serious violations. The United Kingdom’s version of the GDPR, which it maintains along with its Data Protection Act, also provides for substantial penalties that, for the most serious violations, can go up to the greater of £17.5 million or 4% of a group’s worldwide turnover for the preceding financial year. In the United States, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which became effective on January 1, 2020. The CCPA includes a framework with potentially severe statutory damages and private rights of action. Moreover, a new privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), was approved by California voters in November 2020. The CPRA significantly modifies the CCPA, effective as of January 1, 2023. Numerous other states have passed laws that share similarities with the CCPA and CPRA, and other states are considering such legislation. The U.S. federal government also is contemplating federal privacy legislation. The GDPR and CCPA, new and evolving laws such as the CPRA and other future changes in laws or regulations relating to cross-border data transfer, data localization and other aspects of privacy, data protection and information security may require us to modify our existing practices with respect to the collection, use, disclosure and other processing of data. The GDPR, CCPA and other existing and proposed laws and regulations can be costly and challenging to comply with and can delay or impede the development of new products, result in negative publicity, increase our operating costs and subject us to claims or other remedies.

We are subject to disclosure and reporting requirements for companies that use “conflict” minerals mined from the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries in their products, whether or not these products are manufactured by third parties. These requirements could affect the sourcing and availability of minerals that are used in the manufacture of our products. We have to date incurred costs and expect to incur significant additional costs associated with complying with the disclosure requirements, including for example, due diligence in regard to the sources of any conflict minerals used in our products, in addition to the cost of remediation and other changes to products, processes or sources of supply as a consequence of such verification activities. Additionally, we may face reputational challenges with our customers and other stakeholders if we are unable to sufficiently verify the origins of all minerals used in our products through the due diligence procedures that we implement. We may also face challenges with government regulators and our customers and suppliers if we are unable to sufficiently verify that the metals used in our products are conflict free.

We may be subject to legal claims or regulatory matters involving consumer, stockholder, employment, competition, IP and other issues on a global basis. Litigation can be lengthy, expensive and disruptive to our operations, and results cannot be predicted with certainty. An adverse decision could include monetary damages or, in cases for which injunctive relief is sought, an injunction prohibiting us from manufacturing or selling one or more of our products or technologies. If we were to receive an unfavorable ruling on a matter, our business, operating results or financial condition could be materially harmed.

We seek to diligently protect our IP rights and will continue to do so. While we are not currently involved in IP litigation, any future litigation, whether or not determined in our favor or settled by us, would be expected to be costly, may cause delays applicable to our business (including delays in negotiating licenses with other actual or potential customers), would be expected to discourage future design partners, would tend to impair adoption of our existing technologies and would divert the efforts and attention of our management and technical personnel from other business operations. In addition, we may be unsuccessful in any litigation if we have difficulty obtaining the cooperation of former employees and agents who were involved in our business during the relevant periods related to our litigation and are now needed to assist in cases or testify on our behalf. Furthermore, any adverse determination or other resolution in litigation could result in our losing certain rights beyond the

An adverse resolution by or with a governmental agency could result in severe limitations on our ability to protect and license our IP and could cause our revenue to decline substantially. Third parties have and may attempt to use adverse findings by a government agency to limit our ability to enforce or license our patents in private litigation, to challenge or otherwise act against us with respect to such government agency proceedings.

Further, third parties have sought and may seek review and reconsideration of the patentability of inventions claimed in certain of our patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) and/or the European Patent Office (the “EPO”). Any re-examination or inter partes review proceedings may be initiated by the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”). The PTAB and the related former Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences have previously issued decisions in a few cases, finding some challenged claims of our patents to be valid and others to be invalid. Decisions of the PTAB are subject to further USPTO proceedings and/or appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. A final adverse decision, not subject to further review and/or appeal, could invalidate some or all of the challenged patent claims and could also result in additional adverse consequences affecting other related U.S. or European patents, including in any IP litigation. If a significant number of such patents are impaired, our ability to enforce or license our IP would be significantly weakened and could cause our revenue to decline substantially.

The pendency of any governmental agency acting as described above may impair our ability to enforce or license our patents or collect royalties from existing or potential customers, as any litigation opponents may attempt to use such proceedings to delay or otherwise impair any pending cases and our existing or potential customers may await the final outcome of any proceedings before agreeing to new licenses or to paying royalties.

Our research and development and product programs are in highly competitive fields in which numerous third parties have issued patents and patent applications with claims closely related to the subject matter of our programs. We and/or our customers may be named as a defendant in lawsuits claiming that our technology infringes upon the IP rights of third parties. As we develop additional products and technology, we may face claims of infringement of various patents and other IP rights by third parties. In the event of a third-party claim or a successful infringement action against us, we may be required to pay substantial damages, to stop developing and licensing our infringing technology, to develop non-infringing technology and to obtain licenses, which could result in our paying substantial royalties or our granting of cross licenses to our technologies. We may not be able to obtain licenses from other parties at a reasonable cost, or at all, which could cause us to expend substantial resources, or result in delays in, or the cancellation of, new products. Moreover, customers and/or suppliers of our products may seek indemnification for alleged infringement of IP rights. We could be liable for direct and consequential damages and expenses including attorneys’ fees. A future obligation to indemnify our customers and/or suppliers may harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

We have an active program to protect our proprietary inventions through the filing of patents. There can be no assurance, however, that:

If any of the above were to occur, our operating results could be adversely affected.

Furthermore, patent reform legislation, such as the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, could increase the uncertainties and costs surrounding the prosecution of any patent applications and the enforcement or defense of our licensed patents. The federal courts, the USPTO, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. International Trade Commission have also recently taken certain actions and issued rulings that have been viewed as unfavorable to patentees. While we cannot predict what form any new patent reform laws or regulations may ultimately take, or what impact recent or future reforms may have on our business, any laws or regulations that restrict or negatively impact our ability to enforce our patent rights against third parties could have a material adverse effect on our business.

In addition, our patents will continue to expire according to their terms, with expected expiration dates ranging from 2024 to 2043. Our failure to continuously develop or acquire successful innovations and obtain patents on those innovations could significantly harm our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

We rely primarily on a combination of license, development and nondisclosure agreements, trademark, trade secret and copyright law and contractual provisions to protect our non-patentable IP rights. If we fail to protect these IP rights, our customers and others may seek to use our technology without the payment of license fees and royalties, which could weaken our competitive position, reduce our operating results and increase the likelihood of costly litigation. The growth of our business depends in part on the use of our IP in the products of third-party manufacturers, and our ability to enforce IP rights against them to obtain appropriate compensation. In addition, effective trade secret protection may be unavailable or limited in certain foreign countries. Although we intend to protect our rights vigorously, if we fail or are otherwise unable to do so, our business will suffer.

Effective protection of trademarks, copyrights, domain names, patent rights and other IP rights is expensive and difficult to maintain, both in terms of application and maintenance costs, as well as the costs of defending and enforcing those rights. The efforts we have taken to protect our IP rights may not be sufficient or effective. Our IP rights may be infringed, misappropriated or challenged, which could result in them being narrowed in scope or declared invalid or unenforceable. In addition, the laws or practices of certain countries do not protect our proprietary rights to the same extent as do the laws of the United States. Significant impairments of our IP rights, and limitations on our ability to assert our IP rights against others, could have a material and adverse effect on our business.

Our success and ability to compete are also dependent upon our ability to operate without infringing upon the patent, trademark and other IP rights of others. Third parties may claim that our current or future products or services infringe upon their IP rights. Defense of any such claim, with or without merit, could be time consuming, divert management’s attention from our business operations and result in significant expenses. We cannot assure you that we would be successful in defending against any such claims. In addition, parties making these claims may be able to obtain injunctive or other equitable relief affecting our ability to commercialize the products that incorporate the challenged IP. As a result of such claims, we may be required to obtain licenses from third parties, develop alternative technology or redesign our products. We cannot be sure that such licenses would be available on terms acceptable to us, if at all. If a successful claim is made against us and we are unable to develop or license alternative technology, our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

In any potential dispute involving our products, our customers could also become the target of litigation. Some of our agreements provide for indemnification, and some require us to provide technical support and information to a customer that is involved in litigation involving use of our technology. In addition, we may be exposed to indemnification obligations, risks and liabilities that were unknown at the time that we acquired assets or businesses for our operations. Any of these indemnification

We may from time to time be subject to warranty, service level agreement and product liability claims with regard to product performance and our services. We could incur material losses as a result of warranty, support, repair or replacement costs in response to customer complaints or in connection with the resolution of contemplated or actual legal proceedings relating to such claims. In addition to potential losses arising from claims and related legal proceedings, warranty and product liability claims could affect our reputation and our relationship with customers. We generally attempt to limit the maximum amount of indemnification or liability that we could be exposed to under our contracts, however, this is not always possible.

We and certain of our current and former officers and directors, as well as our current independent auditors, have been subject to several stockholder derivative actions, securities fraud class actions and/or individual lawsuits filed in federal court. The complaints generally alleged that the defendants violated the federal and state securities laws and stated state law claims for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. Although to date these complaints have either been settled or dismissed, the amount of time to resolve any future lawsuits is uncertain, and these matters could require significant management and financial resources. Unfavorable outcomes and significant judgments, settlements and legal expenses in litigation related to any future securities law claims could have material adverse impacts on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and the trading price of our common stock.

In the course of our participation in the development of emerging standards for some of our present and future products, we may be obligated to grant to all other participants a license to our patents that are essential to the practice of those standards on reasonable and non-discriminatory, or RAND, terms. As a result of such obligations, we may be required to license our patents or other IP to others in the future, which could limit the value of the patents and effectiveness of our patents against competitors.

Our common stock is listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “RMBS.” The trading price of our common stock has at times experienced price volatility and may continue to fluctuate significantly in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. Some of these factors include:

In addition, the stock market in general, and prices for companies in our industry in particular, have experienced extreme volatility that often has been unrelated to the operating performance of such companies. The trading price of our common stock may fluctuate widely due to various factors, including, but not limited to, actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial condition and operating results, changes in financial forecasts or estimates by us or financial or other market estimates and ratings by securities and other analysts, changes in our capital structure, including issuance of additional debt or equity to the public, interest rate changes, regulatory changes, news regarding our products or products of our competitors and broad market and industry fluctuations. While the trading price of our common stock has been trending upward, there is no guarantee that the trading price will continue to increase.

Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure have historically created uncertainty for companies such as ours. Any new or changed laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations due to their lack of specificity, and as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that might enable our management to discourage, delay or prevent a change in control. In addition, these provisions could limit the price that investors would be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. Pursuant to such provisions:

We are also subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which provides, subject to enumerated exceptions, that if a person acquires 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock, the person is an “interested stockholder” and may not engage in any “business combination” with us for a period of three years from the time the person acquired 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock.

Our amended and restated bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (or, if the Court of Chancery does not have jurisdiction, another state court in Delaware or the federal district court for the District of Delaware) is the exclusive forum for the following (except for any claim as to which such court determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of such court (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of such court within ten days following such determination), which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than such court or for which such court does not have subject matter jurisdiction):

This provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the U.S. federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.

Our amended and restated bylaws further provide that the federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

These exclusive-forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to these provisions. There is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such provisions, and the enforceability of similar choice of forum provisions in other companies’ charter documents has been challenged in legal proceedings. It is possible that a court could find these types of provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable, and if a court were to find either exclusive-forum provision in our amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could seriously harm our business.

None.

We have established policies and processes for assessing, identifying, and managing material risk from cybersecurity threats, and have integrated these processes into our overall risk management systems and processes. We routinely assess potential material risks from cybersecurity threats, including any potential unauthorized occurrence on or conducted through our information systems that may result in adverse effects on the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of our information systems or any information residing therein.

We conduct periodic risk assessments to identify cybersecurity threats, as well as assessments in the event of a material change in our business practices that may affect information systems that are vulnerable to such cybersecurity threats. These risk assessments include identification of reasonably foreseeable internal and external risks, the likelihood and potential damage that could result from such risks, and the sufficiency of existing policies, procedures, systems, and safeguards in place to manage such risks.

Following these risk assessments, if material risks and/or gaps are identified, we will re-design, implement, and maintain reasonable safeguards to minimize identified risks; reasonably address any identified gaps in existing safeguards; and regularly monitor the effectiveness of our safeguards. We devote significant resources and designate high-level personnel, including our Chief Information Security Officer who reports to our Chief Information Officer, to manage the risk assessment and mitigation process.

As part of our overall risk management system, we monitor and test our safeguards and train our employees on these safeguards, in collaboration with IT. Personnel at all levels and departments are made aware of cybersecurity issues through trainings.

We engage third party assessors/consultants in connection with our risk assessment processes. These service providers assist us to design and implement our cybersecurity policies and procedures, as well as to monitor and test our safeguards. We conduct vendor risk assessments before onboarding identified third-party service providers to review each such service provider’s cybersecurity practices and to assess factors such as access controls, incident response capabilities, overall cyber maturity and applicable certifications.

For additional information regarding whether any risks from cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any previous cybersecurity incidents, have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect our company, including our business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition, please refer to Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” in this Form 10-K.

One of the key functions of our board of directors is informed oversight of our risk management process, including risks from cybersecurity threats. Our board of directors is responsible for monitoring and assessing strategic risk exposure, and our executive officers are responsible for the day-to-day management of the material risks we face. Our board of directors administers its cybersecurity risk oversight function directly as a whole, as well as through the Cyber Risk Committee.

Our Chief Information Officer, Chief Information Security Officer and our Security Team, which includes Security Engineers, our Senior Manager of Cybersecurity and our Chief Information Security Officer, are primarily responsible to assess and manage our material risks from cybersecurity threats. Our Security Team has deep expertise in cybersecurity practices, including security threat evaluation, security operations, incident response, investigations, forensics, threat containment, data security vulnerability management, security policies and procedures, vulnerability scans, penetration testing, infrastructure security, network security, cloud security, identity and access management, role-based access, server and endpoint security, e-mail security, security awareness, logging, security governance and risk mitigations. Our Chief Information Security Officer has over twenty years of experience in security leadership over all aspects of cybersecurity, including security operations, security incident management and cybersecurity governance, policies and procedures, as well as deep expertise in defense in depth, zero trust security architectures and security controls for perimeter, network, endpoint, application and data security layers.

Our Chief Information Security Officer and our Security Team oversee our cybersecurity policies and processes, including those described in “Risk Management and Strategy” above. The processes by which our Chief Information Security Officer and our Security Team are informed about and monitor the prevention, detection, mitigation and remediation of cybersecurity incidents include the following: regular penetration testing, independent security posture assessments, phishing tests (with trainings for the failed users), general cybersecurity and phishing training for all Rambus personnel and tabletop exercises to simulate threats and identify gaps.

In the event of a cybersecurity incident, our Chief Information Security Officer and our Security Team are equipped with a well-defined incident response plan to guide response actions. This incident response plan includes immediate actions to mitigate the impact of the incident, long-term strategies for remediation and prevention of future incidents, and provides for internal notification of the incident to functional areas, as well as senior leadership and the Cyber Risk and/or Audit Committees of our board of directors, as appropriate.

Our Chief Information Security Officer also provides quarterly briefings to the Cyber Risk Committee regarding our company’s cybersecurity risks and activities, including any recent cybersecurity incidents of interest and related responses, cybersecurity systems testing, applicable activities of third parties, and the like. Our Cyber Risk Committee provides regular updates to the board of directors on such reports.

As of December 31, 2023, we occupied offices in the leased facilities described below:

We are not currently a party to any material pending legal proceeding; however, from time to time, we may become involved in legal proceedings or be subject to claims arising in the ordinary course of our business. Although the results of litigation and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, we currently believe that the final outcome of these ordinary course matters will not have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial position or cash flows. Regardless of the outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management attention and resources and other factors.

Not applicable.

Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “RMBS.”

The graph below compares the cumulative five-year total return of holders of Rambus Inc.’s common stock with the cumulative total returns of the NASDAQ Composite index and the RDG Semiconductor Composite index. The graph tracks the performance of a $100 investment in our common stock and in each index (with the reinvestment of all dividends) from December 31, 2018 to December 31, 2023.

Information regarding our securities authorized for issuance under equity compensation plans will be included in Item 12, “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters,” of this report on Form 10-K.

As of January 31, 2024, there were 454 holders of record of our common stock. Since many of the shares of our common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of beneficial stockholders represented by these record holders.

We have never paid or declared any cash dividends on our common stock or other securities.

On October 29, 2020, our board of directors (the “Board”) approved a new share repurchase program authorizing the repurchase of up to an aggregate of 20.0 million shares (the “2020 Repurchase Program”). Share repurchases under the 2020 Repurchase Program may be made through the open market, established plans or privately negotiated transactions in accordance with all applicable securities laws, rules, and regulations. There is no expiration date applicable to the 2020 Repurchase Program.

As part of the broader share repurchase program authorized by our Board on October 29, 2020, we entered into an accelerated share repurchase program with Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch as counterparty, through its agent Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. (“Deutsche Bank”) on November 11, 2020 (the “2020 ASR Program”), which was completed in the second quarter of 2021. In the second quarter of 2021, we entered into another accelerated share repurchase program with Deutsche Bank on June 15, 2021 (the “2021 ASR Program”), which was completed in the fourth quarter of 2021. In the third quarter of 2022, we entered into an accelerated share repurchase program with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association (“Wells Fargo”) on September 9, 2022 (the “2022 ASR Program”), which was completed in the fourth quarter of 2022. In the third quarter of 2023, we entered into an accelerated share repurchase program with Royal Bank of Canada (“RBC”) on August 10, 2023 (the “2023 ASR Program”), which was also completed in the third quarter of 2023.

After giving effect to the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 ASR programs and the Buying Plan, detailed in the table below, there remained an outstanding authorization to repurchase approximately 7.9 million shares of our outstanding common stock under the 2020 Repurchase Program.

We record stock repurchases as a reduction to stockholders’ equity. We record a portion of the purchase price of the repurchased shares as an increase to accumulated deficit when the price of the shares repurchased exceeds the average original proceeds per share received from the issuance of common stock.

None.

None.

We are an industry-leading provider of chips, silicon IP and innovations that address the fundamental challenges of accelerating data and enabling critical performance improvements for data center and other growing markets. The ongoing growth of the cloud, along with the widespread advancement of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and other data-intensive workloads, continue to drive an exponential increase in data usage and demands on data infrastructure. Creating fast and safe

As an industry pioneer with over 30 years of advanced semiconductor design experience, we are ideally positioned to address the challenges of moving and protecting data. We are a leader in high-performance memory subsystems, providing chips, silicon intellectual property (“IP”) and innovations that maximize the performance and security in computationally intensive systems. Whether in the cloud, at the edge or in your hand, real-time and immersive applications depend on data throughput and integrity. Our products and innovations deliver the increased bandwidth, capacity and security required to meet the world’s data needs and drive ever-greater end-user experiences.

Our strategic objectives include focusing our product portfolio and research around our core strength in semiconductors, optimizing operational efficiency and leveraging strong cash generation to re-invest for growth. We continue to maximize synergies across our businesses and customer base, leveraging the significant overlap in our ecosystem of customers, partners and influencers. Our product and technology roadmap, as well as our go-to-market strategy, are driven by the application-specific requirements of our focus markets.

The Company’s continued execution delivered strong results during fiscal year 2023, driven by continued demand for our memory interface chips and our Silicon IP solutions, and continued stability from our royalties revenue.

Highlights from our annual results for the year ended December 31, 2023 were as follows:

We generated product revenue of $224.6 million in 2023 which declined modestly as compared to 2022 in a market that declined during the period. We completed a $100.0 million accelerated share repurchase program. We completed the sale of our PHY IP group, strengthening our focus on chips and digital IPs. We also extended our comprehensive patent license agreement with SK hynix by 10 years through 2034.

The Company’s consolidated revenue is comprised of product revenue, contract and other revenue and royalties.

Product revenue consists primarily of memory interface chips and is increasing in strategic significance. Our memory interface chips are sold to major DRAM manufacturers, Micron, Samsung and SK hynix, as well as directly to system manufacturers and cloud providers, for integration into server memory modules. Product revenue accounted for 49%, 50% and 44% of our consolidated revenue for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Royalty revenue is derived from our patent licenses, through which we provide our customers certain rights to our broad worldwide portfolio of patented inventions. Our patent licenses enable our customers to use a portion of our patent portfolio in their own digital electronics products. The licenses typically range in term up to ten years and may define the specific field of use where our customers may utilize our inventions in their products. Royalties may be structured as fixed, variable or a hybrid of fixed and variable royalty payments. Leading semiconductor and electronic system companies such as AMD, Broadcom, CXMT, IBM, Infineon, Kioxia, Marvell, MediaTek, Micron, Nanya, Nuvoton, NVIDIA, Phison, Qualcomm, Samsung, SK hynix, Socionext, STMicroelectronics, Toshiba, Western Digital, and Winbond have licensed our patents. The vast majority of our patents originate from our internal research and development efforts. Additionally, from time to time, we enter into agreements to sell certain patent assets under agreements which may also include subsequent profit-sharing. The sale of these patents, as well as the subsequent profit-sharing, are included as part of our royalty revenue. Revenue from royalties accounted for 32%, 31% and 42% of our consolidated revenue for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Contract and other revenue consists primarily of Silicon IP, which is comprised of our high-speed interface and security IP. Revenue sources under contract and other include our IP core licenses, software licenses and related implementation, support and maintenance fees and engineering services fees. The timing and amounts invoiced to customers can vary significantly depending on specific contract terms and can therefore have a significant impact on deferred revenue or accounts receivable in

Cost of product revenue decreased approximately $4.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily due to a change in product mix and lower product revenue.

Cost of contract and other revenue increased approximately $0.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022. The increase was primarily due to higher engineering services associated with the contracts.

Research and development expenses continue to play a key role in our efforts to drive product innovations. Our research and development expenses decreased approximately $2.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily due to decreases in consulting expenses of $3.4 million, retention bonus expense related to acquisitions of $1.6 million, an increase in engineering costs allocated to cost of revenue of $0.8 million, as well as decreases in prototyping costs of $0.8 million and bonus expense of $0.7 million, offset by an increase in headcount-related expenses of $1.8 million, stock-based compensation expense of $1.4 million, depreciation expense of $1.1 million and facilities costs of $0.9 million. The cumulative decrease was largely due to the sale of our PHY IP group in the third quarter of 2023, partially offset by increases in research and development for other core initiatives.

Total sales, general and administrative costs increased approximately $1.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily due to increases in stock-based compensation expense of $8.0 million and accounting and audit fees of $0.6 million, offset by decreases in acquisition related costs of $3.7 million, bonus expense related to acquisitions of $1.7 million, rent and facility expenses of $1.1 million and recruiting expense of $0.6 million.

There are a number of trends that may have a material impact on us in the future, including but not limited to, the evolution of memory technology, adoption of security solutions, the use and adoption of our inventions or technologies generally, industry consolidation and global economic conditions with the resulting impact on sales of consumer electronic systems.

We have a high degree of revenue concentration. Our top five customers represented 62% of our revenue for 2023 as compared to 58% in 2022 and 56% in 2021. The particular customers which account for revenue concentration have varied from period-to-period as a result of the addition of new contracts, expiration of existing contracts, renewals of existing contracts, industry consolidation and the volumes and prices at which the customers have recently sold to their customers. These variations are expected to continue in the foreseeable future.

Our revenue from companies headquartered outside of the United States accounted for 62% of total revenue in 2023 as compared to 39% in 2022 and 36% in 2021. We expect that revenue derived from international customers will continue to represent a significant portion of our total revenue in the future. Currently, our revenue from international customers is predominantly denominated in U.S. dollars. For additional information concerning international revenue, refer to Note 7, “Segments and Major Customers,” of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-K.

The royalties we receive from our semiconductor customers are partly a function of the adoption of our technologies by system companies. Many system companies purchase semiconductors containing our technologies from our customers and do not have a direct contractual relationship with us. Our customers generally do not provide us with details as to the identity or volume of licensed semiconductors purchased by particular system companies. As a result, we face difficulty in analyzing the extent to which our future revenue will be dependent upon particular system companies. Several of our licensees have renewed or extended their license agreements with us during the year ended December 31, 2023, including SK hynix and Socionext.

As a part of our overall business strategy, from time to time, we evaluate businesses and technologies for potential acquisitions that are aligned with our core business and designed to supplement our growth, including the acquisition of Hardent in the second quarter of 2022 and the acquisitions of AnalogX and PLDA in the third quarter of 2021. Similarly, we evaluate our current businesses and technologies that are not aligned with our core business for potential divestiture, such as the sale of our PHY IP group to Cadence in the third quarter of 2023. We expect to continue to evaluate and potentially enter into strategic acquisitions or divestitures which will impact our business and operating results.

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the percentage of total revenue represented by certain items reflected in our consolidated statements of operations:

Product revenue consists of revenue from the sale of memory and security products. Product revenue declined modestly by approximately $2.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022 in a market that declined during the period. Product revenue increased approximately $83.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to 2021. The increase was primarily due to continued market share gains of our memory interface chips.

Growth in our product revenue is dependent on, among other things, the industry transition to a new generation of memory, as well as our ability to continue to obtain orders from customers, meet our customers’ demands and mitigate any supply chain and economic disruption.

Royalty revenue, which includes patent and technology license royalties, increased approximately $10.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022. Royalty revenue increased approximately $3.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to 2021. The increases were primarily due to the timing and structure of license renewals for both periods.

We are continuously in negotiations for licenses with prospective customers. We expect patent royalties will continue to vary from period to period based on our success in adding new customers, renewing or extending existing agreements, as well as the level of variation in our customers’ reported shipment volumes, sales price and mix, offset in part by the proportion of customer payments that are fixed or hybrid in nature. We also expect that our technology royalties will continue to vary from period to period based on our customers’ shipment volumes, sales prices and product mix.

Contract and other revenue consists of revenue from technology development projects. Contract and other revenue decreased approximately $1.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022. The decrease was primarily due to lower revenue resulting from the sale of our PHY IP group in the third quarter of 2023. Contract and other revenue increased approximately $40.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to 2021. The increase was primarily due to higher revenue associated with our Silicon IP offerings.

We believe that contract and other revenue will fluctuate over time based on our ongoing technology development contractual requirements, the amount of work performed, the timing of completing engineering deliverables and the changes to work required, as well as new technology development contracts booked in the future.

Cost of product revenue includes costs attributable to the sale of memory and security products. Cost of product revenue decreased approximately $4.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022. The decrease was primarily due to a change in product mix and lower product revenue. Cost of product revenue increased approximately $39.6 million for the year ended December 31 2022 as compared to 2021. The increase was primarily due to increases in sales volumes of our memory interface chips.

In the near term, we expect cost of product revenue to fluctuate due to changes in product mix and the timing of orders.

Cost of contract and other revenue reflects the portion of the total engineering costs which are specifically devoted to individual customer development and support services. Cost of contract and other revenue increased approximately $0.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022. The increase was primarily due to higher engineering services associated with the contracts. Cost of contract and other revenue remained flat for the year ended December 31 2022 as compared to 2021.

In the near term, we expect cost of contract and other revenue to vary from period to period based on varying revenue recognized from contract and other revenue.

Research and development expenses are those expenses incurred for the development of applicable technologies.

Total research and development expenses decreased approximately $2.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily due to decreases in consulting expenses of $3.4 million, retention bonus expense related to acquisitions of $1.6 million, an increase in engineering costs allocated to cost of revenue of $0.8 million, as well as decreases in prototyping costs of $0.8 million and bonus expense of $0.7 million, offset by an increase in headcount-related expenses of $1.8 million, stock-based compensation expense of $1.4 million, depreciation expense of $1.1 million and facilities costs of $0.9 million. The cumulative decrease was largely due to the sale of our PHY IP group in the third quarter of 2023, partially offset by increases in research and development for other core initiatives.

Total research and development expenses increased approximately $23.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to 2021, primarily due to increased headcount-related expenses of $8.3 million, engineering development tool costs of $3.4 million, stock-based compensation expense of $2.9 million, consulting costs of $2.5 million, prototyping costs of $2.0 million, bonus accrual expenses of $1.9 million, depreciation expense of $1.0 million and allocated information technology costs of $0.6 million, offset by a decrease in facilities costs of $1.3 million and retention bonus expense related to acquisitions of $0.7 million.

We will continue to make investments in the infrastructure and technologies required to maintain our product innovation in semiconductor, security and other technologies.

Sales, general and administrative expenses include expenses and costs associated with trade shows, public relations, advertising, litigation, general legal, insurance and other sales, marketing and administrative efforts. Consistent with our business model, our licensing, sales and marketing activities aim to develop or strengthen relationships with potential new and current customers. In addition, we work with current customers through marketing, sales and technical efforts to drive adoption of their products that use our innovations and solutions, by system companies. Due to the long business development cycles we face and the semi-fixed nature of sales, general and administrative expenses in a given period, these expenses generally do not correlate to the level of revenue in that period or in comparable recent or future periods.

Total sales, general and administrative costs increased approximately $1.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily due to increases in stock-based compensation expense of $8.0 million and accounting and audit fees of $0.6 million, offset by decreases in acquisition related costs of $3.7 million, bonus expense related to acquisitions of $1.7 million, rent and facility expenses of $1.1 million and recruiting expense of $0.6 million.

Total sales, general and administrative costs increased approximately $15.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to 2021, primarily due to increased stock-based compensation expense of $5.0 million, headcount-related expenses of $3.4 million, rent and facility expenses of $2.0 million, bonus accrual expense of $1.8 million, acquisition-related costs (including retention bonus expenses) of $1.8 million, travel expenses of $0.9 million and general legal fees of $0.7 million,

In the future, sales, general and administrative expenses will vary from period to period based on the trade shows, advertising, legal, acquisition and other sales, marketing and administrative activities undertaken, and the change in sales, marketing and administrative headcount in any given period. In the near term, we expect our sales, general and administrative expenses to remain relatively flat.

Amortization expense is related to various acquired IP.

Total amortization of acquired intangible assets decreased approximately $0.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022. In the third quarter of 2023, we divested our PHY IP group and as a result, we disposed of approximately $7.4 million of net intangible assets, which reduced our amortization expense in future periods. Refer to Note 6, “Intangible Assets and Goodwill,” of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-K for additional information.

Total amortization of acquired intangible assets decreased approximately $1.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to 2021, primarily due to certain intangible assets being fully amortized, partially offset by additional amortization from intangible assets acquired in 2022.

In June 2023, we initiated a restructuring program to reduce overall expenses to improve future profitability by reducing our overall spending (the “2023 Restructuring Plan”). In connection with this restructuring program, we initiated a plan resulting in a reduction of 42 employees. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we recorded charges of approximately $9.4 million related to the reduction in workforce, as well as write-downs of obligations related to certain IP development costs and software licenses for engineering development tools.

In November 2020, we initiated a restructuring plan to reduce overall expenses to improve future profitability by reducing spending on research and development efforts and sales, general and administrative programs (the “2020 Restructuring Plan”). During the year ended December 31, 2021, we recorded charges of approximately $0.4 million, related primarily to the reduction in workforce. The 2020 Restructuring Plan was completed in the second quarter of 2021.

Refer to Note 17, “Restructuring and Other Charges,” of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-K for additional information.

In July 2023, we entered into an asset purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (the “Purchaser”), pursuant to which we agreed to sell certain assets and the Purchaser agreed to assume certain liabilities from us, in each case with respect to our PHY IP group. The decision to sell this business reflects the evolution of our core semiconductor business to focus on the development of digital IP and chips, including novel memory solutions for high-performance computing, to support the continued advancement of the data center and artificial intelligence.

Consequently, we recognized a net gain of approximately $90.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2023. Refer to Note 20, “Divestiture,” of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-K for additional information.

Concurrent with the sale of our PHY IP group to Cadence, we recorded a charge of approximately $10.0 million in our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2023. The charge was primarily related to the accelerated amortization of software licenses that were not directly part of the PHY IP disposal group, but where acceleration was warranted due to the lower headcount and corresponding excess capacity for such licenses. Refer to Note 20, “Divestiture,” of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-K for additional information.

The changes in the fair value of the earn-out liability related to the 2021 acquisition of the PLDA Group (“PLDA”), which is subject to certain revenue targets of the acquired business for a period of three years from the date of acquisition, and which is settled annually in shares of our common stock based on the fair value of that common stock fixed at the time we acquired PLDA. The fair value of the earn-out liability is remeasured each quarter, depending on the acquired business’s revenue performance relative to target over the applicable period, and adjusted to reflect changes in the per share value of our common stock.

During the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, we remeasured the fair value of the earn-out liability, which resulted in additional expense of $9.2 million and $3.1 million, respectively, in our Consolidated Statements of Operations of this Form 10-K.

Interest income and other income (expense), net, includes interest income from our investment portfolio and from the significant financing component of licensing agreements, as well as any gains or losses from the re-measurement of our monetary assets or liabilities denominated in foreign currencies. For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, interest income and other income (expense), net, consisted primarily of interest income from our investment portfolio of $10.6 million, and $1.0 million, respectively, as well as interest income from the significant financing component of licensing agreements of $2.2 million, and $5.6 million, respectively.

The gain on fair value of equity security was $3.5 million in 2022 and related to the sale of an equity security with an immaterial carrying value in our Consolidated Statement of Operations of this Form 10-K.

The $83.6 million loss on extinguishment of debt and the $10.6 million loss on fair value adjustment of derivatives, net, for the year ended December 31, 2022, related to the repurchases of $162.1 million aggregate principal amount of our 1.375% Convertible Senior Notes due 2023 (the “2023 Notes”) and the settlement of the related convertible senior note hedges and warrants.

The $0.2 million loss on fair value adjustment of derivatives, net, for the year ended December 31, 2023, related to the settlement of the remaining outstanding warrants in the first quarter of 2023.

We made an investment in a non-marketable equity security of a private company in 2018. We accounted for this investment under the equity method of accounting and recorded our share of the income (loss). During the fourth quarter of 2023, we sold our 25% ownership share in the equity investment for approximately $25.0 million, which was included, net of withholding taxes paid, in prepaid and other current assets in our Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2023. We recognized a net gain of approximately $23.9 million related to the sale in our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2023 after offsetting $1.1 million of transaction costs from the $25.0 million selling price. Refer to Note 9, “Fair Value of Financial Instruments,” of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements of this Form 10-K for additional information.

Interest expense consists primarily of interest expense associated with long term software licenses for the year ended December 31, 2023. Prior to the second quarter of 2023, interest expense consisted primarily of interest expense associated with long term software licenses, the non-cash interest expense related to the amortization of the debt issuance costs on the 2023 Notes, as well as the coupon interest related to these notes. The remaining outstanding 2023 Notes were paid in full upon maturity in the first quarter of 2023.

Interest expense remained relatively flat for the year ended December 31, 2023 as compared to 2022. Interest expense decreased approximately $8.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to 2021, primarily due to the partial repurchases of the 2023 Notes in the first and third quarters of 2022 and the adoption of ASU 2020-06 on January 1, 2022.

Our effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2023, differed from the U.S. statutory rate primarily due to the valuation allowance release on our U.S. deferred tax assets, as well as state income taxes and the tax effect of stock-based compensation. Our effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2022, differed from the U.S. statutory rate primarily due to the foreign-derived intangible income deduction, acquisition indebtedness and certain capitalized research expenditures, partially offset by the change in the valuation allowance against our U.S. deferred tax assets.

We recorded a benefit from income taxes of $146.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, which was primarily driven by the $177.9 million valuation allowance release on our U.S. deferred tax assets, as well as tax benefits from excess stock-based compensation deductions. For the year ended December 31, 2023, we paid withholding taxes of $22.9 million. We recorded a provision for incomes taxes of $6.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, which was primarily comprised of taxes on foreign earnings, withholding tax expense and tax expense from the amortization of indefinite-lived intangibles. For the year ended December 31, 2022, we paid withholding taxes of $21.1 million.

We periodically evaluate the realizability of our net deferred tax assets based on all available evidence, both positive and negative. The realizability of our net deferred tax assets is dependent on our ability to generate sufficient future taxable income during periods prior to the expiration of tax attributes to fully utilize these assets. During the second quarter of 2023, based on all available positive and negative evidence, we determined that it was appropriate to release the valuation allowance on the majority of our U.S. federal and other state deferred tax assets. During the third quarter of 2023, we further adjusted our valuation allowance release as a result of a change in our forecasted income and tax expense, primarily due to the sale of intangible assets as part of our PHY IP group divestiture.

During the second quarter of 2023, we reached a cumulative income position over the previous three years. The cumulative three-year income is considered positive evidence, which is considered objective and verifiable, and thus received significant weighting. Additional positive evidence considered by us in our assessment included recent utilization of tax attribute carryforwards and future forecasts of continued profitability in the United States. Negative evidence we considered included economic uncertainties, including volatility of the industry, and the possibility of a recession or a decline in the market.

Upon considering the relative impact of all evidence during the second quarter of 2023, both negative and positive, and the weight accorded to each, we concluded that it was more likely than not that the majority of our deferred tax assets would be realizable, with the exception of primarily our California research and development credits that have not met the “more likely than not” realization threshold criteria. As a result, we released the related valuation allowance against the majority of our federal and state deferred tax assets. The effect of the valuation allowance release is included as a component of the benefit from income taxes in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations of this Form 10-K.

We have U.S. federal deferred tax assets related to research and development credits, foreign tax credits and other tax attributes that can be used to offset U.S. federal taxable income in future periods. These credit carryforwards will expire if they are not used within certain time periods. It is possible that some or all of these attributes could ultimately expire unused.

We currently anticipate that existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities balances and cash flows from operations will be adequate to meet our cash needs for at least the next 12 months. Additionally, the majority of our cash and cash equivalents is in the United States. Our cash needs for the year ended December 31, 2023 were funded primarily from cash collected from our customers.

We do not anticipate any liquidity constraints as a result of either the current credit environment or investment fair value fluctuations. Additionally, we have the intent and ability to hold our debt investments that have unrealized losses in accumulated other comprehensive gain (loss) for a sufficient period of time to allow for recovery of the principal amounts invested. We continually monitor the credit risk in our portfolio and mitigate our credit risk exposures in accordance with our policies.

As a part of our overall business strategy, from time to time, we evaluate businesses and technologies for potential acquisitions that are aligned with our core business and designed to supplement our growth.

To provide us with more flexibility in returning capital to our stockholders, on October 29, 2020, our Board approved a share repurchase program authorizing the repurchase of up to an aggregate of 20.0 million shares (the “2020 Repurchase Program”). Share repurchases under the 2020 Repurchase Program may be made through the open market, established plans or privately negotiated transactions in accordance with all applicable securities laws, rules and regulations. There is no expiration

As of December 31, 2023, our material contractual obligations were as follows:

On October 29, 2020, our Board approved the 2020 Repurchase Program authorizing the repurchase of up to an aggregate of 20.0 million shares. Share repurchases under the 2020 Repurchase Program may be made through the open market, established plans or privately negotiated transactions in accordance with all applicable securities laws, rules and regulations. There is no expiration date applicable to the 2020 Repurchase Program. The 2020 Repurchase Program replaced the previous program approved by the Board in January 2015 and canceled the remaining shares outstanding as part of the previous authorization.

On November 11, 2020, we entered into the 2020 ASR Program with Deutsche Bank. The 2020 ASR Program was part of the 2020 Repurchase Program. Under the 2020 ASR Program, we pre-paid to Deutsche Bank the $50.0 million purchase price for our common stock and, in turn, we received an initial delivery of approximately 2.6 million shares of our common stock from Deutsche Bank in the fourth quarter of 2020, which were retired and recorded as a $40.0 million reduction to stockholders’ equity. The remaining $10.0 million of the initial payment was recorded as a reduction to stockholders’ equity as an unsettled forward contract indexed to our stock. During the second quarter of 2021, the accelerated share repurchase program was completed and we received an additional 0.1 million shares of our common stock, which were retired, as the final settlement of the accelerated share repurchase program.

On June 15, 2021, we entered into the 2021 ASR Program with Deutsche Bank. The 2021 ASR Program was part of the 2020 Repurchase Program. Under the 2021 ASR Program, we pre-paid to Deutsche Bank the $100.0 million purchase price for

On September 9, 2022, we entered into the 2022 ASR Program with Wells Fargo. The 2022 ASR Program was part of the 2020 Repurchase Program. Under the 2022 ASR Program, we pre-paid to Wells Fargo the $100.0 million purchase price for our common stock and, in turn, we received an initial delivery of approximately 3.1 million shares of our common stock from Wells Fargo in the third quarter of 2022, which were retired and recorded as an $80.0 million reduction to stockholders’ equity. The remaining $20.0 million of the initial payment was recorded as a reduction to stockholders’ equity as an unsettled forward contract indexed to our stock. During the fourth quarter of 2022, the accelerated share repurchase program was completed and we received an additional 0.1 million shares of our common stock, which were retired, as the final settlement of the accelerated share repurchase program.

As of December 31, 2023, there remained an outstanding authorization to repurchase approximately 7.9 million shares of our outstanding common stock under the 2020 Repurchase Program.

We record share repurchases as a reduction to stockholders’ equity. We record a portion of the purchase price of the repurchased shares as an increase to accumulated deficit when the price of the shares repurchased exceeds the average original proceeds per share received from the issuance of common stock. During the year ended December 31, 2023, the cumulative price of $94.7 million was recorded as an increase to accumulated deficit.

The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates, including those related to revenue recognition, investments, income taxes, litigation and other 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 values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

We believe the following critical accounting policies affect our more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

We recognize revenue upon transfer of control of promised goods and services in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to receive in exchange for those goods and services. Goods and services that are distinct are accounted for as separate performance obligations.

Where an arrangement includes multiple performance obligations, the transaction price is allocated to these on a relative standalone selling price basis. We have established standalone selling prices for the majority of our distinct offerings - specifically, the same pricing methodology is consistently applied to all licensing arrangements; all services offerings are priced within tightly controlled bands and all contracts that include support and maintenance state a renewal rate or price that is systematically enforced. For certain contracts, we utilize the residual approach to estimate standalone selling prices primarily for service offerings sold to customers at highly variable pricing.

Our revenue consists of product, royalty and contract and other revenue. Products primarily consist of memory interface chips sold directly and indirectly to module manufacturers and OEMs worldwide through multiple channels, including our direct sales force and distributors. Royalty revenue consists of patent and technology license royalties. Contract and other revenue consists of software license fees, engineering fees associated with integration of our technology solutions into our customers’ products and support and maintenance fees.

Product revenue is recognized upon shipment of product to customers, net of accruals for estimated sales returns and allowances, and to distributors, net of accruals for price protection and rights of return on products unsold by the distributors. To date, none of these accruals have been material. We transact with direct customers primarily pursuant to standard purchase orders for delivery of products and generally allow customers to cancel or change purchase orders within limited notice periods prior to the scheduled shipment date.

Our patent and technology licensing arrangements generally range between one year and ten years in duration and generally grant the licensee the right to use applicable portions of our entire IP portfolio as it evolves over time. These arrangements do not typically grant the licensee the right to terminate for convenience and where such rights exist, termination is prospective, with no refund of fees already paid or cancellation of fees already incurred by the licensee.

Patent and technology licensing arrangements result in fixed payments received over time, with guaranteed minimum payments on occasion, variable payments calculated based on the licensee’s sale or use of the IP, or a mix of fixed and variable payments.

Contract and other revenue consists of software license fees and engineering fees associated with integration of our technology solutions into our customers’ products, and support and maintenance.

An initial software arrangement may consist of a term-based or perpetual license, significant software customization services and support and maintenance services that include post-implementation customer support and the right to unspecified software updates and enhancements on a when and if available basis. We recognize license and customization services revenue at a point in time when final delivery is made or based on an over time model, depending on the nature and amount of

We recognize support and maintenance revenue over time.

The only significant judgment required in determining the amount and timing of revenue from our contracts with customers is determining the estimated man-months necessary for completing development and customization services. We have adequate tools and controls in place, and substantial experience and expertise in timely and accurately tracking man-months incurred in completing customization and other professional services, and quantifying significant changes in estimates.

Key estimates used in recognizing revenue predominantly consist of the following:

Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net tangible and identifiable intangible assets acquired in each business combination. Goodwill is not subject to amortization, but is subject to at least an annual assessment for impairment. We perform our impairment analysis of goodwill on an annual basis during the fourth quarter of the year unless conditions arise that warrant a more frequent evaluation.

When goodwill is assessed for impairment, we have the option to perform an assessment of qualitative factors of impairment (optional assessment) prior to necessitating a quantitative impairment test. Should the optional assessment be used for any given year, qualitative factors to consider for a reporting unit include: cost factors; financial performance; legal, regulatory, contractual, political, business, or other factors; entity specific factors; industry and market considerations; macroeconomic conditions; and other relevant events and factors affecting the reporting unit. If we determine in the qualitative assessment that it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying value, a quantitative test is then performed. Otherwise, no further testing is required. For a reporting unit tested using a quantitative approach, we compare the fair value of the reporting unit with the carrying amount of the reporting unit, including goodwill. The fair value of the reporting unit is estimated using an income approach.

Under the income approach, we measure fair value of the reporting unit based on a projected cash flow method using a discount rate determined by our management which is commensurate with the risk inherent in its current business model. Our discounted cash flow projections are based on annual financial forecasts developed internally by us for use in managing our business. If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds its carrying value, goodwill is not impaired and no further testing is required. If the fair value of the reporting unit is less than the carrying value, then the amount of goodwill impairment will be the amount by which the reporting unit’s carrying value exceeds its fair value, not to exceed the carrying amount of goodwill.

Intangible assets are comprised of existing technology, customer contracts and contractual relationships, and other definite-lived and indefinite-lived intangible assets. Identifiable intangible assets resulting from the acquisitions of entities accounted for using the purchase method of accounting are estimated by management based on the fair value of assets received. Identifiable definite-lived intangible assets are being amortized over the period of estimated benefit using the straight-line method and estimated useful lives ranging from six months to ten years.

Acquired indefinite-lived intangible assets related to our IPR&D are capitalized and subject to impairment testing until completion or abandonment of the projects. Upon successful completion of each project, we make a separate determination of the useful life of the acquired indefinite-lived intangible assets and the related amortization is recorded as an expense over the estimated useful life of the specific projects. Indefinite-lived intangible assets are subject to at least an annual assessment for impairment, applying a fair-value based test. We first perform a qualitative assessment to determine whether it is more likely than not (more than 50 percent likelihood) that the indefinite-lived intangible assets are impaired. If after assessing the totality of events and circumstances and their potential effect on significant inputs to the fair value determination, we determine that it is more likely than not that the indefinite-lived intangible assets are impaired, then we perform a quantitative impairment test by comparing the fair value of the intangible assets with its carrying amount. We measure fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible assets under the income approach based on a projected cash flow method using a discount rate determined by our management which is commensurate with the risk inherent in our current business model. Our discounted cash flow projections are based on our annual financial forecasts developed internally by our management for use in managing our business. If the fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible assets exceeds its carrying value, the indefinite-lived intangible assets are not impaired and no further testing is required. If the implied fair value of the indefinite-lived intangible assets is less than the carrying value, the difference is recorded as an impairment loss.

As part of preparing our consolidated financial statements, we are required to calculate the income tax expense (benefit) which relates to the pretax income or loss for the period. In addition, we are required to assess the realization of the deferred tax asset or liability to be included in the Consolidated Balance Sheet as of the reporting dates.

As of December 31, 2023, our Consolidated Balance Sheet included net deferred tax assets, before valuation allowance, of approximately $148.5 million, which consists of net operating loss carryovers, tax credit carryovers, capitalized research, amortization, employee stock-based compensation expenses, certain liabilities and certain assets. As of December 31, 2023, we have a valuation allowance of $25.1 million, resulting in net deferred tax assets of $123.4 million.

We periodically evaluate the realizability of our net deferred tax assets based on all available evidence, both positive and negative. The realizability of our net deferred tax assets is dependent on our ability to generate sufficient future taxable income during periods prior to the expiration of tax attributes to fully utilize these assets. During the second quarter of 2023, based on all available positive and negative evidence, we determined that it was appropriate to release the valuation allowance on the majority of our U.S. federal and other state deferred tax assets. During the third quarter of 2023, we further adjusted our valuation allowance release as a result of a change in forecasted income and tax expense, primarily due to the sale of intangible assets as part of the PHY IP group divestiture. We recognized a $177.9 million tax benefit during the year ended December 31, 2023 as a result of the valuation allowance release.

We maintain liabilities for uncertain tax positions within our long-term income taxes payable accounts and as a reduction to existing deferred tax assets or other refundable taxes to the extent tax attributes are available to offset such liabilities. These liabilities involve judgment and estimation and are monitored by us based on the best information available including changes in tax regulations, the outcome of relevant court cases and other information.

The calculation of our tax liabilities involves uncertainties in the application of complex tax law and regulations in a multitude of jurisdictions. Although ASC 740, “Income Taxes,” provides further clarification on the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes, significant judgment is required by us. If the ultimate resolution of tax uncertainties is different from what is currently estimated, it could materially affect income tax expense.

We maintain stock plans covering a broad range of equity grants including stock options, nonvested equity stock and equity stock units and performance-based instruments. In addition, we sponsor an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”), whereby eligible employees are entitled to purchase common stock semi-annually, by means of limited payroll deductions, at a 15% discount from the fair market value of the common stock as of specific dates.

The accounting guidance for share-based payments requires the measurement and recognition of compensation expense in our Consolidated Statements of Operations for all share-based payment awards made to our employees, directors and consultants including employee stock options, nonvested equity stock and equity stock units, and employee stock purchase grants. Stock-based compensation expense is measured at grant date, based on the estimated fair value of the award, reduced by an estimate of the annualized rate of expected forfeitures, and is recognized as expense over the employees’ expected requisite service period, generally using the straight-line method. In addition, the accounting guidance for share-based payments requires the benefits of tax deductions in excess of recognized compensation expense to be reported as a financing cash flow. Our forfeiture rate represents the historical rate at which our stock-based awards were surrendered prior to vesting. The accounting

We account for acquisitions of businesses using the purchase method of accounting, which requires us to recognize separately from goodwill the assets acquired and the liabilities assumed at their acquisition date fair values. While we use our best estimates and assumptions to accurately value assets acquired and liabilities assumed at the acquisition date, as well as contingent consideration, where applicable, the estimates are inherently uncertain and subject to refinement. As a result, during the measurement period, which may be up to one year from the acquisition date, we may record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed with the corresponding offset to goodwill. Upon the conclusion of the measurement period or final determination of the values of assets acquired or liabilities assumed, whichever comes first, any subsequent adjustments are recorded in our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Accounting for business combinations requires us to make significant estimates and assumptions, especially at the acquisition date including our estimates for intangible assets, contractual obligations assumed and pre-acquisition contingencies where applicable. Although we believe the assumptions and estimates made in the past have been reasonable and appropriate, they are based in part on historical experience and information obtained from the management of the acquired companies and are inherently uncertain. Significant estimates and assumptions made by us in estimating the fair value of the existing technologies included revenue growth rates, operating expense margins, technology obsolescence rates and discount rates. Unanticipated events and circumstances may occur that may affect the accuracy or validity of such assumptions, estimates or actual results.

Our policy specifically prohibits trading securities for the sole purpose of realizing trading profits, however, we may liquidate a portion of our portfolio if we experience unforeseen liquidity requirements. In such a case, if the environment has been one of rising interest rates, we may experience a realized loss. Similarly, if the environment has been one of declining interest rates, we may experience a realized gain. As of December 31, 2023, we had an investment portfolio of fixed income marketable securities of $337.4 million, including cash equivalents. If market interest rates were to increase immediately and uniformly by 1.0% from the levels as of December 31, 2023, the fair value of the portfolio would decline by approximately $1.9 million. Actual results may differ materially from this sensitivity analysis.

We invoice the majority of our customers in U.S. dollars. Although the fluctuation of currency exchange rates may impact our customers, and thus indirectly impact us, we do not attempt to hedge this indirect and speculative risk, other than as noted in the paragraph below. Our overseas operations consist primarily of international business operations in France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, design centers in Bulgaria, Canada, India, and Finland and small business development offices in China, South Korea and Taiwan. We monitor our foreign currency exposure and, as disclosed below, we have entered into foreign currency forward contracts to partially mitigate the exposure in currencies where we believe this is appropriate.

We have on occasion, entered into foreign currency forward contracts (the “Contracts”) to manage our exposure related to certain foreign currency denominated monetary assets (the “Hedging Program”) and to minimize the related impact of foreign currency fluctuations on our earnings. The hedged monetary assets primarily consisted of certain euro-denominated cash and accounts receivable balances. Contracts are typically entered into at the end of a month, with an approximately one month duration at inception. As of December 31, 2023, no Contracts were outstanding.

Refer to Item 15, “Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules,” of this Form 10-K for required financial statements and supplementary data.

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports we file or submit pursuant to the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Management, with the participation of the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Exchange Act as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that, as of December 31, 2023, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective.

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act. Our internal control over financial reporting is a process designed by, or under the supervision of, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and effected by our board of directors, management and other personnel, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and includes those policies and procedures that:

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023. In making this assessment, our management used the criteria set forth in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”). Based on this assessment, our management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2023, our internal control over financial reporting was effective.

The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which appears herein.

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting identified in management’s evaluation pursuant to Rules 13a-15(d) or 15d-15(d) of the Exchange Act during the quarter ended December 31, 2023, that materially affected, or that we believe are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

No other directors or officers, as defined in Rule 16a-1(f), adopted, modified and/or terminated a “Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement,” or a “non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement,” each as defined in Item 408 of Regulation S-K, during our last fiscal quarter.

The following consolidated financial statements of the Registrant and Report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm, are included herewith:

All schedules are omitted because they are not applicable or the required information is shown in the Consolidated Financial Statements or the notes thereto.