ANNUAL REPORT · FORM 10-K 

Qualcomm Inc/de,
Fiscal Year 2022.

Despite maintaining a leading global position in wireless semiconductor technology and achieving high revenue growth, Qualcomm faces simultaneous and severe structural headwinds that create significant uncertainty for future performance. Critical threats include geopolitical concentration tied to Chinese OEMs, the erosion of market share due to major customers developing their own chips, and persistent legal challenges to its high-margin licensing business. These long-term pressures are compounded by near-term weakness in the consumer smartphone market.

Accession 0000804328-22-000021 5 sections analysed
  SYMBOLOGY.ONLINE l2 SYNTHESIS 

QCOM · Form 10-K Analysis

Qualcomm maintains a leading global position in wireless semiconductor technology and IP licensing, supported by a dual-engine model that successfully drives high revenue growth (32% increase in FY 2022). However, this strong foundation is currently exposed to simultaneous, severe structural headwinds—including geopolitical tensions, customer vertical integration, and near-term macroeconomic weakness—that create significant uncertainty for future performance.

Strategic Posture and Business Model

Qualcomm’s revenue relies on two pillars: Semiconductor Sales (QCT) of integrated platforms like Snapdragon across mobile, automotive, and IoT markets; and Intellectual Property Licensing (QTL), which generates high-margin royalties from its extensive patent portfolio covering 3G through 5G.

The company is strategically focused on diversifying beyond the cyclical handset market by leveraging its "one technology roadmap" into high-growth areas:

  • Automotive: Targeting embedded cellular connectivity and ADAS/AD platforms, capitalizing on projected growth in new vehicles.
  • IoT Scaling: Aiming to capture a growing installed base of connected devices across industrial and consumer segments.
  • Technological Leadership: Sustained investment in 5G NR development (Releases 16–18) and expanding on-device AI capabilities through Hexagon processors.

Critical Risks and Management Framing

Management is highly transparent about the diverse, high-impact risks facing the company, framing them as both structural threats and near-term cyclical pressures:

Structural Threats:

  • Geopolitical Concentration (Critical): A substantial portion of revenue comes from Chinese OEMs. Escalating U.S./China trade tensions, coupled with Chinese government policies promoting domestic semiconductor self-sufficiency, pose an existential threat to a core revenue pillar.
  • Customer Vertical Integration (Critical): Several major customers, including Apple and Samsung, are actively developing their own in-house chips. This trend structurally erodes Qualcomm's addressable market among its highest-volume clients, forcing the company toward lower-margin products.
  • Licensing Business Vulnerability (High-Critical): The high-margin QTL segment faces persistent legal challenges regarding royalty disputes and FRAND compliance from OEMs and governments globally. Any forced modification to the licensing model could materially impair this revenue stream.

Near-Term Cyclical Pressures:

  • Management explicitly warns of a weakening macroeconomic environment, which is negatively impacting consumer demand for smartphones, leading to elevated customer inventory levels and expected near-term pressure on revenues and cash flows.
  • The fabless model dependency means Qualcomm has limited control over manufacturing costs; ongoing price increases from key foundry suppliers are compressing margins even as demand softens.

Operational Stability

Operationally, the company maintains strong financial health and robust internal controls. Management reported that its disclosure controls and procedures, along with Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICFR), were effective at the end of the reporting period, with no material weaknesses identified. The long-term strategy relies on successful execution in automotive and IoT—areas where high barriers to entry exist and design cycles are lengthy—to offset near-term handset market volatility.

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  FILING HISTORY 

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FY2021
FY2022
FY2023
FY2024
FY2025
  DOCUMENTS 

5 filing documents, in order.

§1
Market Risk
§2
Controls & Procedures
§3
Business Description
§4
Risk Factors
§5
Management Discussion
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Side-by-side against the prior Management Discussion.

Management Discussion

12 changes
de-emphasised 202124 141.17 3,366 2.66 3,008 6,374

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

Stock Repurchase ProgramDividendsTotal SharesAverage Price Paid Per ShareAmountPer ShareAmountAmount 202124 $141.17 $3,366 $2.66 $3,008 $6,374 202031 79.32 2,450 2.54 2,882 5,332 In fiscal 2018, we announced a stock repurchase program authorizing us to repurchase up to $30.0 billion of our common stock. On October 12, 2021, we announced a new $10.0 billion stock repurchase authorization, which is in addition to the remaining repurchase authority of $0.9 billion under the aforementioned program. The stock repurchase programs have no expiration date. Since September 26, 2021, we repurchased and retired 5.4 million shares of common stock for $703 million. Our stock repurchase programs are subject to periodic evaluations to determine when and if repurchases are in the best interests of our stockholders, and we may accelerate, suspend, delay or discontinue repurchases at any time. On October 13, 2021, we announced a cash dividend of $0.68 per share on our common stock, payable on December 16, 2021 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on December 2, 2021. We intend to continue to use cash dividends as a means of returning capital to stockholders, subject to capital availability and our view that cash dividends are in the best interests of our stockholders, among other factors. Additional Capital Requirements. We believe our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, our expected cash flow generated from operations and our expected financing activities will satisfy our working and other capital requirements for at least the next 12 months based on our current business plans. Recent and expected working and other capital requirements, in addition to the above matters, also include the items described below: •Our purchase obligations at September 26, 2021, which primarily relate to purchase commitments with certain suppliers of our integrated circuit products, including those under multi-year capacity commitments, and certain other expenses, some of which relate to research and development activities and capital expenditures, totaled $23.5 billion, of which, $12.9 billion is expected to be paid in the next 12 months. We expect an increase in operating cash outflows as compared to fiscal 2021 as we make payments under the multi-year capacity commitments and as we enter into additional agreements with certain suppliers of our integrated circuit products. •Our research and development expenditures were $7.2 billion in fiscal 2021 and $6.0 billion in fiscal 2020, and we expect to increase our investment in research and development in fiscal 2022, including in advancements in existing and new technologies and products. •Cash outflows for capital expenditures were $1.9 billion in fiscal 2021 and $1.4 billion in fiscal 2020. We expect capital expenditures to increase in fiscal 2022 to support the increase in our manufacturing and production capacity needs. •Amounts related to future lease payments for operating lease obligations at September 26, 2021 totaled $677 million, with $141 million expected to be paid within the next 12 months. •At September 26, 2021, $1.5 billion was accrued related to two fines imposed by the EC (based on the exchange rate at September 26, 2021, including related foreign currency gains and accrued interest). We have provided financial guarantees in lieu of cash payment to satisfy the obligations while we appeal the EU's decisions. Further, regulatory authorities in certain jurisdictions have investigated our business practices and instituted proceedings against us and they or other regulatory authorities may do so in the future. Additionally, certain of our direct and indirect customers and licensees have pursued, and others may in the future pursue, litigation or arbitration against us related to our business. Unfavorable resolutions of one or more of these matters have had and could in the future have a material adverse effect on our business, revenues, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. See "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies" and "Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors" in this Annual Report. 48

FY2022 10-K
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Filed Nov 2, 2022

Stock Repurchase ProgramDividendsTotal SharesAverage Price Paid Per ShareAmountPer ShareAmountAmount 202221 $149.95 $3,129 $2.86 $3,212 $6,341 202124 141.17 3,366 2.66 3,008 6,374 On October 12, 2021, we announced a $10.0 billion stock repurchase program. The stock repurchase program has no expiration date. At September 25, 2022, $8.1 billion remained authorized for repurchase under our stock repurchase program. Our stock repurchase programs are subject to periodic evaluations to determine when and if repurchases are in the best interests of our stockholders, and we may accelerate, suspend, delay or discontinue repurchases at any time. On October 14, 2022, we announced a cash dividend of $0.75 per share on our common stock, payable on December 15, 2022 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on December 1, 2022. We currently intend to continue to use cash dividends as a means of returning capital to stockholders, subject to capital availability and our view that cash dividends are in the best interests of our stockholders, among other factors. Additional Capital Requirements. We believe our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, our expected cash flow generated from operations and our expected financing activities will satisfy our working and other capital requirements for at least the next 12 months based on our current business plans. Recent and expected working and other capital requirements, in addition to the above matters, also include the items described below: •Our purchase obligations at September 25, 2022, which primarily relate to purchase commitments with certain suppliers of our integrated circuit products, including those under multi-year capacity commitments, and certain other expenses, some of which relate to research and development activities and capital expenditures, totaled $24.5 billion, of which, $13.3 billion is expected to be paid in the next 12 months. We expect a significant decrease in advance payments made under our multi-year capacity commitments as compared to fiscal 2022.

reworded Excess tax benefit associated with share-based awards(257)(265)

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

20212020 Expected income tax provision at federal statutory tax rate$2,158 $1,201 Benefit from FDII deduction(550)(381) Excess tax benefit associated with share-based awards(265)(83)

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

20222021 Expected income tax provision at federal statutory tax rate$3,150 $2,158 Benefit from FDII deduction(753)(550) Excess tax benefit associated with share-based awards(257)(265)

reworded Segment Results

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

Segment Results The following should be read in conjunction with the fiscal 2021 and 2020 results of operations for each reportable segment included in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 8. Segment Information."

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Segment Results The following should be read in conjunction with the fiscal 2022 and 2021 results of operations for each reportable segment included in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 8. Segment Information."

reworded (3) Includes revenues from products sold for use in automobiles, including connectivity, digital cockpit and advanced driver assistance and automated driving.

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

(3) Includes revenues from products sold for use in automobiles, including telematics, connectivity and digital cockpit. (4) Primarily includes products sold for use in the following industries and applications: consumer (including computing, voice and music and XR), industrial (including handhelds, retail, transportation and logistics and utilities) and edge networking (including mobile broadband and wireless access points).

FY2022 10-K
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(3) Includes revenues from products sold for use in automobiles, including connectivity, digital cockpit and advanced driver assistance and automated driving. (4) Primarily includes products sold for use in the following industries and applications: consumer (including computing, voice and music and XR), edge networking (including mobile broadband and wireless access points) and industrial (including handhelds, retail, transportation and logistics and utilities).

reworded (5) Earnings (loss) before income taxes.

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

(5) Earnings (loss) before income taxes. 44 Substantially all of QCT's revenues consist of equipment and services revenues, which were $26.6 billion and $16.1 billion in fiscal 2021 and 2020, respectively. QCT handsets, automotive and IoT revenues mostly relate to sales of our stand-alone Mobile Data Modems, Snapdragon platforms (which include processors and modems), radio frequency transceiver, power management and wireless connectivity integrated chipsets.

FY2022 10-K
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Filed Nov 2, 2022

(5) Earnings (loss) before income taxes. Substantially all of QCT's revenues consist of equipment and services revenues, which were $37.0 billion and $26.6 billion in fiscal 2022 and 2021, respectively. QCT handsets, automotive and IoT revenues mostly relate to sales of our Snapdragon platforms (which include processors and modems), stand-alone Mobile Data Modems, radio frequency transceiver, power management and wireless connectivity integrated chipsets.

reworded + higher automotive revenues, primarily driven by an increase in demand for digital cockpit products

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

+ higher RFFE product revenues, driven by an increase in demand for 4G/5G products from Apple and other major OEMs + higher automotive revenues, primarily driven by an increase in demand for telematics and digital cockpit products + higher IoT revenues, driven by $1.7 billion in higher shipments across consumer, edge networking and industrial products and $378 million in revenue per unit due to an increase in demand for 5G

FY2022 10-K
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Filed Nov 2, 2022

+ higher RFFE revenues, driven by an increase in demand for 4G/5G products from major OEMs + higher automotive revenues, primarily driven by an increase in demand for digital cockpit products + higher IoT revenues across consumer, edge networking and industrial products, driven by a $951 million increase in demand, with the remaining increase of $941 million primarily due to favorable mix and higher average selling prices

reworded + higher revenues

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

QCT EBT as a percentage of revenues increased in fiscal 2021 due to: + higher revenues + higher gross margin percentage, primarily driven by favorable mix and higher average selling prices, partially offset by higher average unit costs, all of which were due to an increase in demand for 5G products

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

QCT EBT as a percentage of revenues increased in fiscal 2022 due to: + higher revenues + higher gross margin percentage, primarily driven by higher average selling price and favorable mix towards higher-tier 5G products, partially offset by higher product costs

reworded 20222021Change

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

- higher operating expenses, primarily driven by higher research and development expenses QTL Segment (in millions, except percentages) 202120202021 vs. 2020 Change

FY2022 10-K
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Filed Nov 2, 2022

- higher operating expenses, primarily driven by higher research and development expenses QTL Segment (in millions, except percentages) 20222021Change

reworded Looking Forward

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

Looking Forward In the coming years, we expect new consumer demand for 3G/4G/5G multimode and 5G products and services to continue to ramp around the world as we continue to transition from 3G/4G multimode and 4G products and services. We believe that 5G will continue to drive adoption of certain technologies that are already commonly used in smartphones by industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, such as automotive and IoT. We believe it is important that we remain a leader in 5G technology development, standardization, intellectual property creation and licensing, and a leading developer and supplier of 5G integrated circuit products in order to sustain and grow our business long term.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Looking Forward In the coming years, we expect consumer demand for 3G/4G/5G multimode and 5G products and services to continue to ramp around the world as we continue to transition from 3G/4G multimode and 4G products and services. We believe that 5G combined with high-performance, low-power processing and on-device intelligence will continue to drive adoption of certain technologies that are already commonly used in smartphones by industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, such as automotive and IoT. We believe it is important that we remain a leader in 5G technology development, standardization, intellectual property creation and licensing, and a leading developer and supplier of 5G integrated circuit products in order to sustain and grow our business long term.

reworded •We expect continued intense competition, particularly in China.

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

•We expect continued intense competition, particularly in China. •Current U.S./China trade relations and/or national security protection policies may negatively impact our business, growth prospects and results of operations. See "Risk Factors" in this Annual Report, including the Risk Factor entitled "A significant portion of our business is concentrated in China, and the risks of such concentration are exacerbated by U.S./China trade and national security tensions." •We currently do not expect a significant impact on our results of operations in the future due to COVID-19. The degree to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our business, financial condition and results of operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain. See "Risk Factors" in this Annual Report, specifically the Risk Factor titled "The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had an adverse effect on our business and results of operations, and may continue to impact us in the future." In addition to the foregoing business and market-based matters, we continue to devote resources to working with and educating participants in the wireless industry and governments as to the benefits of our licensing program and our extensive technology investments in promoting a highly competitive and innovative wireless industry. However, we expect that certain companies may be dissatisfied with the need to pay reasonable royalties for the use of our technologies and not welcome the success of our licensing program in enabling new, highly cost-effective competitors to their products. Accordingly, such companies, and/or governments or regulators, may continue to challenge our business model in various forums throughout the world.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

•We expect continued intense competition, particularly in China. •Current U.S./China trade relations and/or national security protection policies may negatively impact our business, growth prospects and results of operations. See "Risk Factors" in this Annual Report, including the Risk Factor titled "A significant portion of our business is concentrated in China, and the risks of such concentration are exacerbated by U.S./China trade and national security tensions." The degree to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our business, financial condition and results of operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain. See "Risk Factors" in this Annual Report, specifically the Risk Factor titled "The COVID-19 pandemic, or a similar health crisis, may impact our business or results of operations in the future." In addition to the foregoing business and market-based matters, we continue to devote resources to working with and educating participants in the wireless industry and governments as to the benefits of our licensing programs and our extensive technology investments in promoting a highly competitive and innovative wireless industry. However, we expect that certain companies may be dissatisfied with the need to pay reasonable royalties for the use of our technologies and not welcome the success of our licensing programs in enabling new, highly cost-effective competitors to their products. Accordingly, such companies, and/or governments or regulators, may continue to challenge our business model in various forums throughout the world.

reworded Liquidity and Capital Resources

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

Further discussion of risks related to our business is provided in "Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors" included in this Annual Report. 46 Liquidity and Capital Resources Our principal sources of liquidity are our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, cash generated from operations and cash provided by our debt programs. The following table presents selected financial information related to our liquidity as of and for the years ended September 26, 2021 and September 27, 2020 (in millions):

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Further discussion of risks related to our business is provided in "Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors" included in this Annual Report. 44 Liquidity and Capital Resources Our principal sources of liquidity are our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, cash generated from operations and cash provided by our debt programs. The following table presents selected financial information related to our liquidity as of and for the years ended September 25, 2022 and September 26, 2021 (in millions):

reworded Critical Accounting Estimates

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

Critical Accounting Estimates The preparation of our consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We base our estimates on historical and anticipated results and trends and on various other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, including assumptions as to future events. By their nature, estimates are subject to an inherent degree of uncertainty. Although we believe that our estimates and the assumptions supporting our assessments are reasonable, actual results that differ from our estimates could be material to our consolidated financial statements. Refer to "Note 1. Significant Accounting Policies" and "Note 2. Composition of Certain Financial Statement Items" included in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements" for further information on our critical accounting estimates and policies, which are as follows. In addition, if the impact of changes in our critical accounting estimates are material or considered necessary to understand our results of operations for the periods presented, then such information is disclosed within this Annual Report in "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, Results of Operations." Revenue Recognition. We grant licenses or otherwise provide rights to use portions of our intellectual property portfolio, which, among other rights, includes certain patent rights essential to and/or useful in the manufacture, sale or use of certain wireless products. We estimate and recognize sales-based royalties on such licensed products in the period in which the licensees' sales occur, which is based largely on preliminary royalty estimates provided by our licensees. Actual amounts for sales-based royalties have been materially consistent with such estimates, and no significant reversals of revenues have been required as a result of adjustments to prior period royalty estimates. Significant evaluation and judgment were required in determining the appropriate accounting for the settlement agreement and the global patent license agreement with Huawei, which were signed in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. We considered, among other items, Huawei's commitment to perform under such agreements (including Huawei's intent and ability to pay amounts due), Huawei's performance as of the date of assessment under the agreements (including timely payments made), Huawei's then-current and projected financial condition (including the impact of enacted national security protection policies by the U.S. government on Huawei's business) and certain contractual protections that we obtained under these agreements. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, Huawei paid the final installment under the settlement agreement, and there were no changes to our previous judgments, estimates and initial evaluation related to the revenues recorded in fiscal 2020 under the settlement agreement. Impairment of Non-marketable Equity Investments. We monitor our investments for events or circumstances that could indicate impairment, including those that result from observable price adjustments. In fiscal 2021, we recorded impairment losses on other investments (which primarily related to our non-marketable equity investments) of $33 million, a decrease of $372 million compared to fiscal 2020. Significant evaluation and judgments were required in determining if the negative effects of COVID-19 indicated that such investments were impaired, and if so, the extent of such impairment. This included, among other items: (i) assessing the business impacts that COVID-19 had on our investees, including taking into consideration the investee's industry and geographic location and the impact to its customers, suppliers and employees, as applicable, (ii) evaluating the investees' ability to respond to the impacts of COVID-19, including any significant deterioration in the investee's financial condition and cash flows, as well as assessing liquidity and/or going concern risks and (iii) considering any appreciation in fair value that has not been recognized in the carrying values of such investments. Based on this evaluation, certain of our investments were impaired and written down to their estimated fair values in fiscal 2020 (a significant portion of which related to the full impairment of our investment in OneWeb, who filed for bankruptcy in the second quarter of fiscal 2020). For a significant portion of the impairment losses recorded in 2020, the estimated fair values resulted in a full write-off of the carrying value. In fiscal 2021, there were no significant impairment losses or adjustments to our previous judgments and estimates recorded. Inventories. We measure inventory at the lower of cost or net realizable value considering judgments related to future demand and market conditions, such as the impact of certain capacity constraints experienced across the semiconductor industry in fiscal 2021 and the impacts of COVID-19 in fiscal 2020. For fiscal 2021 and 2020, the overall net effect on our operating results from changes in this estimate were not material. Impairment of Goodwill and Long-Lived Assets. We monitor our goodwill and long-lived assets for the existence of impairment indicators and apply judgments in the valuation methods and underlying assumptions utilized in such assessments. During fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, impairment charges for long-lived assets were negligible. Additionally, the estimated fair values of our QCT and QTL reporting units, based on our qualitative assessment, were substantially in excess of their respective carrying values at September 26, 2021.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Critical Accounting Estimates The preparation of our consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities. We base our estimates on historical and anticipated results and trends and on various other assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances, including assumptions as to future events. By their nature, estimates are inherently subject to a degree of uncertainty. Although we believe that our estimates and the assumptions supporting our assessments are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from our estimates and assumptions, and could be material to our consolidated financial statements. In addition to our critical accounting estimates and policies below, refer to "Note 1. Significant Accounting Policies" and "Note 2. Composition of Certain Financial Statement Items" included in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements" for further information. If the impact of changes in our critical accounting estimates are material or considered necessary to understand our results of operations for the periods presented, then such information is disclosed within this Annual Report in "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." Revenue Recognition. We grant licenses or otherwise provide rights to use portions of our intellectual property portfolio, which, among other rights, includes certain patent rights essential to and/or useful in the manufacture, sale or use of certain wireless products. We estimate and recognize sales-based royalties on such licensed products in the period in which the licensees' sales occur, which is based largely on preliminary royalty estimates provided by our licensees. For fiscal 2022 and 46 2021, actual amounts for sales-based royalties have been materially consistent with such estimates, and no significant reversals of revenues have been required as a result of adjustments to prior period royalty estimates. Impairment of Non-marketable Equity Investments. We monitor our investments for events or circumstances that could indicate impairment, including those that result from observable price adjustments. In fiscal 2021, and to a lesser extent in fiscal 2022, significant evaluation and judgments were required in determining whether such investments were impaired due to the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (as well as the effects of other macroeconomic factors), and if so, the extent of such impairment. This included, among other items: (i) assessing the business impacts that COVID-19 had on our investees, including taking into consideration the investee's industry and geographic location and the impact to its customers, suppliers and employees, as applicable; (ii) evaluating the investees' ability to respond to the impacts of COVID-19, including any significant deterioration in the investee's financial condition and cash flows, as well as assessing liquidity and/or going concern risks; and (iii) considering any appreciation in fair value that has not been recognized in the carrying values of such investments. In fiscal 2022 and 2021, there were no significant impairment losses or adjustments to our previous judgments and estimates recorded. Inventories. We measure inventory at the lower of cost or net realizable value considering judgments and estimates related to future customer demand and other market conditions, such as the impact of certain capacity constraints experienced across the semiconductor industry through the third quarter of fiscal 2022 and in fiscal 2021, as well as the impact of the macroeconomic environment in fiscal 2022. Although we believe these estimates are reasonable, any significant changes in customer demand that are less favorable than our previous estimates may require additional inventory write-downs and would be reflected in cost of sales resulting in a negative impact to our gross margin in that period. For fiscal 2022 and 2021, the net effect from changes in this estimate and related reserves was less than 2% of cost of revenues during each period. Impairment of Goodwill, Other Indefinite-Lived Assets and Long-Lived Assets. We monitor our goodwill, other indefinite-lived assets and long-lived assets for the existence of impairment indicators and apply judgments in the valuation methods and underlying assumptions utilized in such assessments. During fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2021, impairment charges for long-lived assets were not material. Additionally, the estimated fair values of our QCT and QTL reporting units, based on our qualitative assessment, were substantially in excess of their respective carrying values at September 25, 2022. Legal and Regulatory Proceedings. We record our best estimate of a loss related to pending legal and regulatory proceedings when the loss is considered probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated. We face difficulties in evaluating or estimating likely outcomes or the amount of possible loss in certain legal and regulatory proceedings. Income Taxes. We make significant judgments and estimates in determining our provision for income taxes, including our assessment of our income tax positions given the uncertainties involved in the interpretation and application of complex tax laws and regulations in various taxing jurisdictions.

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Side-by-side against the prior Risk Factors.

Risk Factors

20 changes
escalated Item 1A. Risk Factors

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

Item 1A. Risk Factors You should consider each of the following factors in evaluating our business and our prospects. However, the risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently consider immaterial may also negatively impact our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition, and require significant management time and attention. In that case, the trading price of our common stock could decline. You should also consider the other information set forth in this Annual Report in evaluating our business and our prospects, including but not limited to our financial statements and the related notes, and "Part II, Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." References to "and," "or" and "and/or" should be read to include the others, as appropriate.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Item 1A. Risk Factors You should consider each of the following factors in evaluating our business and our prospects, any of which could negatively impact our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition, and require significant management time and attention. Further, the risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently consider immaterial may also negatively impact our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition, and require significant management time and attention. In such cases, the trading price of our common stock could decline. You should also consider the other information set forth in this Annual Report in evaluating our business and our prospects, including but not limited to our financial statements and the related notes, and "Part II, Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." References to "and," "or" and "and/or" should be read to include the others, as appropriate.

escalated We expect that our future success will depend on, among other factors, our ability to:

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

We expect that our future success will depend on, among other factors, our ability to: •differentiate our integrated circuit products with innovative technologies across multiple products and features (e.g., modem, radio frequency front-end (RFFE), including millimeter wave (mmWave), graphics and other processors, camera and connectivity) and with smaller geometry process technologies that drive both performance and lower power consumption; •develop and offer integrated circuit products at competitive cost and price points to effectively cover all geographic regions and all device tiers; •continue to be a leader in mobile, and drive the adoption of our technologies and integrated circuit products, including RFFE, into the most popular device models and across a broad spectrum of devices in mobile, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and other mobile computing devices; •increase or accelerate adoption of our technologies and products in industries and applications outside of mobile handsets, including automotive and IoT; 32 •maintain or accelerate demand for our integrated circuit products at the premium device tier, while also driving the adoption of our products into high, mid- and low-tier devices across all regions; •remain a leader in 5G (and 4G) technology development, standardization, intellectual property creation and licensing, and develop, commercialize and remain a leading supplier of 5G (and 4G) integrated circuit products, including RFFE products; •maintain access to sufficient capacity in the supply chain relative to our competitors to meet customer demand; •create standalone value and contribute to the success of our existing businesses through acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic transactions, and by developing customer, licensee, vendor, distributor and other channel relationships in new industries and applications; •identify potential acquisition targets that will grow or sustain our business or address strategic needs, reach agreement on terms acceptable to us, close the transactions and effectively integrate these new businesses, products and technologies; •provide leading products and technologies to OEMs, high level operating systems (HLOS) providers, operators, cloud providers and other industry participants as competitors, new industry entrants and other factors continue to affect the industry landscape; •be a preferred partner and sustain preferred relationships providing integrated circuit products that support multiple operating system and infrastructure platforms to industry participants that effectively commercialize new devices using these platforms; and •continue to develop brand recognition to effectively compete against better known companies in computing and other consumer driven segments and to deepen our presence in significant emerging regions and China. We compete with many different semiconductor companies, ranging from multinational companies with integrated research and development, manufacturing, sales and marketing organizations across a broad spectrum of product lines, to companies that are focused on a single application, industry or standard product, including those that produce products for mobile handsets, automotive and IoT, among others. Most of these competitors compete with us with respect to some, but not all, of our businesses or product lines. Companies that design integrated circuits based on CDMA, OFDMA, Wi-Fi or their derivatives are generally competitors or potential competitors. Examples (some of which are strategic partners of ours in other areas) include Broadcom, MediaTek, Nvidia, NXP Semiconductors, Qorvo, Samsung, Skyworks, Texas Instruments and UNISOC (formally known as Spreadtrum Communications). Some of these current and potential competitors may have advantages over us that include, among others: motivation by our customers in certain circumstances to use our competitors' integrated circuit products, to utilize their own internally-developed integrated circuit products and/or sell such products to others, or to utilize alternative technologies; lower cost structures or a willingness and ability to accept lower prices or lower margins for their products, particularly in China; foreign government support of other technologies, competitors or OEMs that sell devices that do not contain our integrated circuit products; better known brand names; ownership and control of manufacturing facilities and greater expertise in manufacturing processes; more extensive relationships with local distribution companies and OEMs in certain geographic regions (such as China); more experience in industries and applications beyond mobile handsets (such as automotive and IoT); and a more established presence in certain regions.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

We expect that our future success will depend on, among other factors, our ability to: •differentiate our integrated circuit products with innovative technologies across multiple products and features (e.g., modem, RFFE, including millimeter wave (mmWave), graphics and other processors, camera and connectivity) and with smaller geometry process technologies that drive both performance and lower power consumption; •develop and offer integrated circuit products at competitive cost and price points and to effectively cover all geographic regions and all device tiers; •continue to be a leader in mobile, and drive the adoption of our technologies and integrated circuit products, including RFFE, into the most popular device models and across a broad spectrum of devices in mobile, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and other mobile computing devices; •increase or accelerate adoption of our technologies and products in industries and applications outside of mobile handsets, including automotive and IoT; 30 •maintain or accelerate demand for our integrated circuit products at the premium device tier, while also driving the adoption of our products into high, mid- and low-tier devices across all regions; •remain a leader in 5G technology development, standardization, intellectual property creation and licensing, and develop, commercialize and remain a leading supplier of 5G integrated circuit products, including RFFE products; •maintain access to sufficient capacity in the supply chain relative to our competitors to meet customer demand; •create standalone value and contribute to the success of our existing businesses through acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic transactions, and by developing customer, licensee, vendor, distributor and other channel relationships in new industries and applications; •identify potential acquisition targets that will grow or sustain our business or address strategic needs, reach agreement on terms acceptable to us, close the transactions and effectively integrate these new businesses, products, technologies and employees; •provide leading products and technologies to OEMs, high level operating systems (HLOS) providers, operators, cloud providers and other industry participants as competitors, new industry entrants and other factors continue to affect the industry landscape; •be a preferred partner and sustain preferred relationships providing integrated circuit products that support multiple operating system and infrastructure platforms to industry participants that effectively commercialize new devices using these platforms; and •continue to develop brand recognition to effectively compete against better known companies in computing and other consumer driven segments and to deepen our presence in significant emerging regions and China. We compete with many different semiconductor companies, ranging from multinational companies with integrated research and development, manufacturing, sales and marketing organizations across a broad spectrum of product lines, to companies that are focused on a single application, industry or standard product, including those that produce products for mobile handsets, automotive or IoT, among others. Most of these competitors compete with us with respect to some, but not all, of our businesses or product lines. Companies that design integrated circuits based on CDMA, OFDMA, Wi-Fi or their derivatives are generally competitors or potential competitors. Examples (some of which are strategic partners of ours in other areas) include Apple, Broadcom, MediaTek, Nvidia, NXP Semiconductors, Qorvo, Samsung, Skyworks, Texas Instruments and UNISOC. Some of these current and potential competitors may have advantages over us that include, among others: motivation by our customers in certain circumstances to use our competitors' integrated circuit products, to utilize their own internally-developed integrated circuit products and/or sell such products to others, or to utilize alternative technologies; lower cost structures or a willingness and ability to accept lower prices or lower margins for their products, particularly in China; foreign government support of other technologies, competitors or OEMs that sell devices that do not contain our integrated circuit products; better known brand names; ownership and control of manufacturing facilities and greater expertise in manufacturing processes; the development and sale of infrastructure equipment for wireless networks, which may enable such competitors to better optimize their integrated circuit products for performance on those networks; more extensive relationships with local distribution companies and OEMs in certain geographic regions (such as China); more experience in industries and applications beyond mobile handsets (such as automotive and IoT); and a more established presence in certain regions. In addition, certain of our largest integrated circuit customers have in the past utilized, currently utilize and may in the future utilize our competitors' integrated circuit products in some or all of their devices, rather than our products. Further, certain of those customers have developed, are developing or may develop their own integrated circuit products (effectively making them competitors), which they have in the past utilized, currently utilize and may in the future utilize in some or all of their devices, rather than our products. See also the Risk Factor titled "Our business, particularly our semiconductor business, may suffer as a result of our customers vertically integrating (i.e., developing their own integrated circuit products)."

de-emphasised Tax liabilities could adversely affect our results of operations.

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

Tax liabilities could adversely affect our results of operations. We are subject to income taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in determining our provision for income taxes. We regularly are subject to examination of our tax returns and reports by taxing authorities in the United States federal jurisdiction and various state and foreign jurisdictions, most notably in countries where we earn a routine return and the tax authorities believe substantial value-add activities are performed, as well as countries where we own intellectual property. The final determination of tax audits and any related legal proceedings could materially differ from amounts reflected in our income tax provisions and accruals. In such case, our income tax provision, results of operations and cash flows in the period or periods in which that determination is made could be negatively affected. Tax rules may change in a manner that adversely affects our future reported results of operations or the way we conduct our business. In response to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and to better align our profits with our activities, we implemented certain restructuring in fiscal 2018 and 2019. After our restructuring, most of our income is taxable in the United States with a significant portion qualifying for preferential treatment as FDII (foreign-derived intangible income). Beginning in fiscal 2027, the effective tax rate for FDII increases from 13% to 16%. Further, if U.S. tax rates increase and/or the FDII deduction is eliminated or reduced, both of which have been proposed by the current U.S. presidential administration and Congress, our provision for income taxes, results of operations and cash flows would be adversely (potentially materially) affected beginning as early as the first quarter of fiscal 2022. Also, if our customers move manufacturing operations to the United States, our FDII deduction may be reduced. We have tax incentives in Singapore that require we meet specified employment and other criteria. Although our profit in Singapore has declined as a result of our 2018 restructuring and such tax incentives were not significant beginning in fiscal 2019, failure to meet these incentive requirements through March 2022 could require us to refund previously realized material tax benefits for 2017 and 2018. Further changes in the tax laws of foreign jurisdictions could arise as a result of the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project that was undertaken by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The OECD, which represents a coalition of member countries, recommended changes to numerous long-standing tax principles related to transfer pricing and continues to develop new proposals including allocating greater taxing rights to countries where customers are located and establishing a minimum tax on global income. These changes, as adopted by countries, may increase tax uncertainty and may adversely affect our provision for income taxes, results of operations and cash flows.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Tax liabilities could adversely affect our results of operations. We are subject to income taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in determining our provision for income taxes. We regularly are subject to examination of our tax returns and reports by taxing authorities in the United States federal jurisdiction and various state and foreign jurisdictions, most notably in 36 countries where we earn a routine return and the tax authorities believe substantial value-add activities are performed, as well as countries where we own intellectual property. The final determination of tax audits and any related legal proceedings could materially differ from amounts reflected in our income tax provisions and accruals. In such case, our income tax provision, results of operations and cash flows in the period or periods in which that determination is made could be negatively affected. Tax rules may change in a manner that adversely affects our future reported results of operations or the way we conduct our business. Most of our income is taxable in the United States with a significant portion qualifying for preferential treatment as FDII (foreign-derived intangible income). Beginning in fiscal 2027, the effective tax rate for FDII increases from 13% to 16%. Further, if U.S. tax rates increase and/or the FDII deduction is eliminated or reduced, our provision for income taxes, results of operations and cash flows would be adversely (potentially materially) affected. Also, if our customers move manufacturing operations to the United States, our FDII deduction may be reduced. Further changes in the tax laws of foreign jurisdictions could arise as a result of the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project that was undertaken by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The OECD, which represents a coalition of member countries, recommended changes to numerous long-standing tax principles related to transfer pricing and continues to develop new proposals including allocating greater taxing rights to countries where customers are located and establishing a minimum tax on global income. These changes, as adopted by countries, may increase tax uncertainty and may adversely affect our provision for income taxes, results of operations and cash flows.

reworded RISKS RELATED TO OUR OPERATING BUSINESSES

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

Although we have more than 300 licensees, we derive a significant portion of our licensing revenues from a limited number of licensees, which includes a number of Chinese OEMs. In the event that one or more of our significant licensees fail to meet their reporting and payment obligations, or we are unable to renew or modify one or more of their license agreements under similar terms as their existing agreements, our revenues, results of operations and cash flows would be adversely impacted. Moreover, the future growth and success of our core licensing business will depend in part on the ability of our licensees to develop, introduce and deliver high-volume products that achieve and sustain customer acceptance. We do not have control over the product development, sales efforts or pricing of products by our licensees, and our licensees might not be successful. Reductions in sales of our licensees' products, or reductions in the average selling prices of wireless devices sold by our licensees without a sufficient increase in the volumes of such devices sold, would generally have an adverse effect on our licensing revenues. Our business, particularly our semiconductor business, may suffer as a result of our customers vertically integrating (i.e., developing their own integrated circuit products). Certain of our largest integrated circuit customers (for example, Samsung) develop their own integrated circuit products, which they have in the past utilized, and currently utilize, in certain of their devices and may in the future utilize in some (or all) of their devices, rather than our products (and they have and may continue to sell their integrated circuit products to third parties, discretely or together with certain of their other products, in competition with us). 22 Apple has utilized modem products of one of our competitors in some of its devices rather than our products, and solely utilized one of our competitors' products in several of its prior device launches. In April 2019, we entered into a multi-year chipset supply agreement with Apple and began shipping modems under this agreement in the third quarter of fiscal 2020. In December 2019, Apple acquired Intel's modem assets and is developing its own modem products using these assets. Accordingly, Apple is expected to use its own modem products, rather than our products, in some (or all) of its future devices. Similarly, we derive a significant portion of our revenues from Chinese OEMs. Certain of our customers in China have developed, and others may in the future develop, their own integrated circuit products and use such integrated circuit products in their devices rather than our integrated circuit products, including due to pressure from or policies of the Chinese government (whose Made in China 2025 campaign targets 70% semiconductor self-sufficiency by 2025), concerns over losing access to our integrated circuit products as a result of actual, threatened or potential U.S. or Chinese government actions or policies, including trade protection or national security policies, or other reasons. In addition, supply/capacity constraints within the semiconductor industry may further incentivize our integrated circuit customers to vertically integrate in an effort to secure additional control over their supply chains. If some or all of our largest customers and/or the largest smartphone OEMs utilize their own integrated circuit/modem products in some (or all) of their devices rather than our products, our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial position could be materially adversely impacted. See also the Risk Factor titled "We derive a significant portion of our revenues from a small number of customers and licensees, and particularly from their sale of premium tier devices. If revenues derived from these customers or licensees decrease or the timing of such revenues fluctuates, our business and results of operations could be negatively affected." A significant portion of our business is concentrated in China, and the risks of such concentration are exacerbated by U.S./China trade and national security tensions. We derive a significant portion of our revenues from Chinese OEMs, and from non-Chinese OEMs that utilize our integrated circuit products in their devices and sell those devices into China, which has the largest number of smartphone users in the world. We also source certain critical integrated circuit products from suppliers in China. Due to various factors, including pressure, encouragement or incentives from, or policies of, the Chinese government (including its Made in China 2025 campaign), concerns over losing access to our integrated circuit products as a result of actual, threatened or potential U.S. or Chinese government actions or policies, including trade protection or national security policies, or other reasons, some of our Chinese integrated circuit customers have developed, and others may in the future develop, their own integrated circuit products and use such integrated circuit products in their devices, or use our competitors' integrated circuit products in their devices, rather than our products.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Although we have more than 300 licensees, we derive a significant portion of our licensing revenues from a limited number of licensees, which includes a number of Chinese OEMs. In the event that one or more of our significant licensees fail to meet their reporting and payment obligations, or we are unable to renew or modify one or more of their license agreements under similar terms as their existing agreements, our revenues, results of operations and cash flows would be adversely impacted. Moreover, the future growth and success of our core licensing business will depend in part on the ability of our licensees to develop, introduce and deliver high-volume products that achieve and sustain customer acceptance. We do not have control over the product development, sales efforts or pricing of products by our licensees, and our licensees might not be successful. Reductions in sales of our licensees' products, or reductions in the average selling prices of wireless devices sold by our licensees without a sufficient increase in the volumes of such devices sold, would generally have an adverse effect on our licensing revenues. Our business, particularly our semiconductor business, may suffer as a result of our customers vertically integrating (i.e., developing their own integrated circuit products). Certain of our largest integrated circuit customers (for example, Samsung) develop their own integrated circuit products, which they have in the past utilized, and currently utilize, in certain of their devices and may in the future utilize in some or all of their devices, rather than our products (and they have and may continue to sell their integrated circuit products to third parties, discretely or together with certain of their other products, in competition with us). Apple has utilized modem products of one of our competitors in some of its devices rather than our products, and solely utilized one of our competitors' products in several of its prior device launches. In December 2019, Apple acquired Intel's modem assets and is developing its own modem products using those assets. Accordingly, we expect Apple to use its own modem products, rather than our products, in some or all of its future devices. Similarly, we derive a significant portion of our revenues from Chinese OEMs. Certain of our customers in China have developed, and others may in the future develop, their own integrated circuit products and use such integrated circuit products in their devices rather than our integrated circuit products, including due to pressure from or policies of the Chinese government (whose Made in China 2025 campaign targets 70% semiconductor self-sufficiency by 2025), concerns over losing access to our integrated circuit products as a result of actual, threatened or potential U.S. or Chinese government actions or policies, including trade protection or national security policies, or other reasons. See also the Risk Factor titled "A significant portion of our business is concentrated in China, and the risks of such concentration are exacerbated by U.S./China trade and national security tensions." In addition, periodic supply/capacity constraints within the semiconductor industry may further incentivize our integrated circuit customers to vertically integrate in an effort to secure additional control over their supply chains. If some or all of our largest customers and/or the largest smartphone OEMs utilize their own integrated circuit/modem products in some or all of their devices rather than our products, our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial position could be materially adversely impacted. See also the Risk Factor titled "We derive a significant portion of our revenues from a small number of customers and licensees, and particularly from their sale of premium tier devices. If revenues derived from these customers or licensees decrease or the timing of such revenues fluctuates, our business and results of operations could be negatively affected." A significant portion of our business is concentrated in China, and the risks of such concentration are exacerbated by U.S./China trade and national security tensions. We derive a significant portion of our revenues from Chinese OEMs, and from non-Chinese OEMs that utilize our integrated circuit products in their devices and sell those devices into China, which has the largest number of smartphone users in the world. We also source certain critical integrated circuit products from suppliers in China. Due to various factors, including pressure, encouragement or incentives from, or policies of, the Chinese government (including its Made in China 2025 campaign), concerns over losing access to our integrated circuit products as a result of actual, threatened or potential U.S. or Chinese government actions or policies, including trade protection or national security policies, or other reasons, some of our Chinese integrated circuit customers have developed, and others may in the future develop, their own integrated circuit products and use such integrated circuit products in their devices, or use our competitors' integrated circuit products in their devices, rather than our products, which could materially harm our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial position. See also the Risk Factor titled "Our business, particularly our semiconductor business, may suffer as a result of our customers vertically integrating (i.e., developing their own integrated circuit products)." Political actions, including trade protection and national security policies of the U.S. and Chinese governments, such as tariffs, bans or placing companies on restricted entity lists, have in the past, currently are and could in the future limit or 20

reworded RISKS RELATED TO OUR OPERATING BUSINESSES

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

Political actions, including trade protection and national security policies of the U.S. and Chinese governments, such as tariffs, bans or placing companies on restricted entity lists, have in the past, currently are and could in the future limit or prevent us from transacting business with certain of our Chinese customers or suppliers, limit, prevent or discourage certain of our Chinese customers or suppliers from transacting business with us, or make it more expensive to do so. Given our revenue concentration in China, if, due to actual, threatened or potential U.S. or Chinese government actions or policies: we were further limited in, or prohibited from, selling our integrated circuit products to Chinese OEMs; if our non-Chinese OEM customers were limited in, or prohibited from, selling devices into China that incorporate our integrated circuit products; if Chinese OEMs develop and use their own integrated circuit products or use our competitors' integrated circuit products in some (or all) of their devices rather than our integrated circuit products; if Chinese tariffs on our integrated circuit products or on devices which incorporate our integrated circuit products made purchasing such products or devices more expensive to Chinese OEMs or Chinese consumers; or if our Chinese licensees delay or cease making payments of license fees they owe us, our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial position could be materially harmed. Similarly, if, due to U.S. or Chinese government actions or policies, we were limited in or prohibited from obtaining critical integrated circuit products from our suppliers in China, our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial position could be materially harmed. Finally, government policies in China that regulate the amount and timing of funds that may flow out of the country have impacted and may continue to impact the timing of our receipt of, and/or ability to receive, payments from our customers and licensees in China, which may negatively impact our cash flows.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

prevent us from transacting business with certain of our Chinese customers or suppliers, limit, prevent or discourage certain of our Chinese customers or suppliers from transacting business with us, or make it more expensive to do so. Given our revenue concentration in China, if, due to actual, threatened or potential U.S. or Chinese government actions or policies: we were further limited in, or prohibited from, selling our integrated circuit products to Chinese OEMs; our non-Chinese OEM customers were limited in, or prohibited from, selling devices into China that incorporate our integrated circuit products; Chinese OEMs develop and use their own integrated circuit products or use our competitors' integrated circuit products in some or all of their devices rather than our integrated circuit products; Chinese tariffs on our integrated circuit products or on devices which incorporate our integrated circuit products made purchasing such products or devices more expensive to Chinese OEMs or Chinese consumers; or our Chinese licensees delay or cease making payments of license fees they owe us, our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial position could be materially harmed. Similarly, if, due to U.S. or Chinese government actions or policies, we were limited in or prohibited from obtaining critical integrated circuit products from our suppliers in China, our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial position could be materially harmed. See also the Risk Factor titled "We derive a significant portion of our revenues from a small number of customers and licensees, and particularly from their sale of premium tier devices. If revenues derived from these customers or licensees decrease or the timing of such revenues fluctuates, our business and results of operations could be negatively affected." Finally, government policies in China that regulate the amount and timing of funds that may flow out of the country have impacted and may continue to impact the timing of our receipt of, and/or ability to receive, payments from our customers and licensees in China, which may negatively impact our cash flows.

reworded RISKS RELATED TO PRODUCT DEFECTS OR SECURITY VULNERABILITIES

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

In addition, the occurrence of defects, errors or security vulnerabilities may give rise to product liability claims, particularly if such defects, errors or security vulnerabilities in our products or the technology we use, or the products into which they are integrated, result in personal injury or death, and could result in significant costs, expenses and losses. If a product liability claim is brought against us, the cost of defending the claim could be significant, and could divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel and harm our business, even if we are successful. We may be named in product liability claims even if there is no evidence that our products caused the damage in question, and even though we may have indemnity from our customers, and such claims could result in significant costs and expenses. Further, our business liability insurance may be inadequate, or future coverage may be unavailable on acceptable terms, which could adversely impact our financial results. The above is exacerbated by the fact that our products may be used, and perform critical functions, in various high-risk applications such as (i) automobiles, including autonomous driver assistance programs; (ii) cameras and artificial intelligence, including home and enterprise security; (iii) home automation, including smoke and noxious gas detectors; (iv) medical condition monitoring; (v) location and asset tracking and management, including wearables for child safety and elderly health; (vi) robotics, including public safety drones and autonomous municipality vehicles; and (vii) extended reality (XR) for treatment of phobias or PTSD, early detection of disorders or special needs, among others. 34 Accordingly, defects, errors or security vulnerabilities in our products or the technologies we use could have an adverse impact on us, on our customers and the end users of our customers' products. If any of these risks materialize, there could be a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

In addition, the occurrence of defects, errors or security vulnerabilities may give rise to product liability claims, particularly if such defects, errors or security vulnerabilities in our products or the technology we use, or the products into which they are integrated, result in personal injury or death, and could result in significant costs, expenses and losses. If a product liability claim is brought against us, the cost of defending the claim could be significant, and could divert the attention of our technical and management personnel and harm our business, even if we are successful. We may be named in product liability claims even if there is no evidence that our products caused the damage in question, and even though we may have indemnity from our customers, and such claims could result in significant costs and expenses. We may also be required to indemnify and/or defend our customers from product liability claims relating to our products. Further, our business liability insurance may be inadequate, may not cover the claims, and future coverage may be unavailable on acceptable terms, which could adversely impact our financial results. The above is exacerbated by the fact that our products may be used, and perform critical functions, in various high-risk applications such as: automobiles, including ADAS/AD functions; cameras and artificial intelligence, including home and enterprise security; home automation, including smoke and noxious gas detectors; medical condition monitoring; location and asset tracking and management, including wearables for child safety and elderly health; robotics, including public safety drones and autonomous municipality vehicles; and extended reality (XR) for treatment of phobias or PTSD, early detection of disorders or special needs, among others. 32 Accordingly, defects, errors or security vulnerabilities in our products or the technologies we use could have an adverse impact on us, on our customers and the end users of our customers' products. If any of these risks materialize, there could be a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

reworded RISKS RELATED TO PRODUCT DEFECTS OR SECURITY VULNERABILITIES

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

RISKS RELATED TO PRODUCT DEFECTS OR SECURITY VULNERABILITIES Failures in our products, or in the products of our customers or licensees, including those resulting from security vulnerabilities, defects or errors, could harm our business. Our products (including for purposes of this Risk Factor, related software) are complex and may contain defects, errors or security vulnerabilities, or experience failures or unsatisfactory performance, due to any number of issues, including issues in materials, design, fabrication, packaging and/or use within a system. Development of products in new domains of technology, such as the transition to 5G, and the migration to integrated circuit technologies with smaller geometric feature sizes, increases complexity and adds risk to manufacturing yields and reliability, and increases the likelihood of product defects, errors or security vulnerabilities. Defects, errors, security vulnerabilities or other unintended functionality could also be introduced into our products by cyber-attacks or other actions by malicious actors, either directly or through third-party products or software used in our products or IT infrastructure (including applications). Further, because of the complexity of our products, defects, errors or security vulnerabilities might only be detected when the products are in use. Risks associated with product or technology defects, errors or security vulnerabilities are exacerbated by the fact that our customers typically integrate our products into consumer and other devices. The use of devices containing our products to interact with untrusted systems or otherwise access untrusted content creates a risk of exposing the system hardware and software in those devices to malicious attacks. Further, security vulnerabilities in our products or the technologies we use could expose our customers, or end users of our customers' products, to hackers or other unscrupulous third parties who develop and deploy malware that could attack our products or our customers' products or IT infrastructure. Such attacks could result in the disruption of our customers' businesses or the misappropriation, theft, misuse, disclosure, loss or destruction of the technology or intellectual property, or the proprietary, confidential or personal information, of our customers, their employees or the end users of our customers' devices. While we continue to focus on this issue and take measures to safeguard our products from cybersecurity threats, device capabilities continue to evolve, enabling more elaborate functionality and applications, and increasing the risk of security failures, and techniques used to perpetrate cybersecurity attacks are increasingly sophisticated and constantly evolving. See also the Risk Factor titled "Our business and operations could suffer in the event of security breaches of our IT systems, or other misappropriation of our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information." Our products may be responsible for critical functions in our customers' products and networks. Failure of our products to perform to specifications, or other product defects, errors or security vulnerabilities, could lead to substantial damage to the products we sell to our customers, the devices into which our products are integrated and the end users of such devices, and, potentially, to our customers' IT infrastructure. Such defects, errors or security vulnerabilities could give rise to significant costs, including costs related to developing solutions, recalling products, repairing or replacing defective products, writing down defective inventory, or indemnification obligations under our agreements, and could result in the loss of sales and divert the attention of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts. In addition, defects, errors or security vulnerabilities in our products could result in failure to achieve market acceptance, a loss of design wins, a shifting of business to our competitors, and litigation or regulatory action against us, and could harm our reputation, our relationships with customers and partners and our ability to attract new customers, as well as the perceptions of our brand. Other potential adverse impacts of product defects, errors or security vulnerabilities include shipment delays, write-offs of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, and losses on unfavorable purchase commitments. In addition, defects, errors or security vulnerabilities in the products of our customers or licensees could cause a delay or decrease in demand for the products into which our products are integrated, and thus for our products.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

RISKS RELATED TO PRODUCT DEFECTS OR SECURITY VULNERABILITIES Failures in our products, or in the products of our customers or licensees, including those resulting from security vulnerabilities, defects or errors, could harm our business. Our products are complex and may contain defects, errors or security vulnerabilities, or experience failures or unsatisfactory performance, due to any number of issues, including issues in materials, design, fabrication, packaging and/or use within a system. Development of products in new domains of technology, and the migration to integrated circuit technologies with smaller geometric feature sizes, increases complexity and adds risk to manufacturing yields and reliability, and increases the likelihood of product defects, errors or security vulnerabilities. Defects, errors, security vulnerabilities or other unintended functionality could also be introduced into our products by cyber-attacks or other actions by malicious actors, either directly or through third-party products or software used in our products or IT infrastructure (including applications). Further, because of the complexity of our products, defects, errors or security vulnerabilities might only be detected when the products are in use. Risks associated with product or technology defects, errors or security vulnerabilities are exacerbated by the fact that our customers typically integrate our products into consumer and other devices. The use of devices containing our products to interact with untrusted systems or otherwise access untrusted content creates a risk of exposing the system hardware and software in those devices to malicious attacks. Further, security vulnerabilities in our products or the technologies we use could expose our customers, or end users of our customers' products, to hackers or other unscrupulous third parties who develop and deploy malware that could attack our products or our customers' products or IT infrastructure. Such attacks could result in the disruption of our customers' businesses or the misappropriation, theft, misuse, disclosure, loss or destruction of the technology or intellectual property, or the proprietary, confidential or personal information, of our customers, their employees or the end users of our customers' devices. While we continue to focus on this issue and take measures to safeguard our products from cybersecurity threats, device capabilities continue to evolve, enabling more elaborate functionality and applications, and increasing the risk of security failures, and techniques used to perpetrate cybersecurity attacks are increasingly sophisticated and constantly evolving. See also the Risk Factor titled "Our business and operations could suffer in the event of security breaches of our IT systems, or other misappropriation of our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information." Our products may be responsible for critical functions in our customers' products and networks. Failure of our products to perform to specifications, meet certain regulatory or industry standards (including product safety and information security standards, which may differ by region, geography and industry, and which are particularly stringent in the automotive industry), or other product defects, errors or security vulnerabilities, could lead to substantial damage to the products we sell to our customers, the devices into which our products are integrated and the end users of such devices, and potentially to our customers' IT infrastructure. Such defects, errors or security vulnerabilities could give rise to significant costs, including costs related to developing solutions, recalling products, repairing or replacing defective products, writing down defective inventory or indemnification obligations under our agreements, and could result in the loss of sales and divert the attention of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts. In addition, defects, errors or security vulnerabilities in our products could result in failure to achieve market acceptance, a loss of design wins, a shifting of business to our competitors, and litigation or regulatory action against us, and could harm our reputation, our relationships with customers and partners and our ability to attract new customers, as well as the perceptions of our brand. Other potential adverse impacts of product defects, errors or security vulnerabilities include shipment delays, write-offs of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, and losses on unfavorable purchase commitments. In addition, defects, errors or security vulnerabilities in the products of our customers or licensees could cause a delay or decrease in demand for the products into which our products are integrated, and thus for our products.

reworded RISKS RELATED TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

Additionally, although our license agreements generally provide us with the right to audit the books and records of licensees, audits can be expensive, time consuming, incomplete and subject to dispute. Further, certain licensees may not comply with the obligation to provide full access to their books and records. To the extent we do not aggressively enforce our rights under our license agreements, licensees may not comply with their existing license agreements, and to the extent we do not aggressively pursue unlicensed companies to enter into license agreements with us for their use of our intellectual property, other unlicensed companies may not enter into license agreements. Similarly, we provide access to certain of our intellectual property and proprietary and confidential business information to our direct and indirect customers and licensees, who have in the past and may in the future wrongfully use such intellectual property and information or wrongfully disclose such intellectual property and information to third parties, including our competitors. See also the Risk Factor titled "Efforts by some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to avoid paying fair and reasonable royalties for the use of our intellectual property may require the investment of substantial management time and financial resources and may result in 35 legal decisions or actions by governments, courts, regulators or agencies, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) or other industry organizations that harm our business."

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Additionally, although our license agreements generally provide us with the right to audit the books and records of licensees, audits can be expensive, time consuming, incomplete and subject to dispute. Further, certain licensees may not comply with the obligation to provide full access to their books and records. To the extent we do not aggressively enforce our rights under our license agreements, licensees may not comply with their existing license agreements, and to the extent we do not aggressively pursue unlicensed companies to enter into license agreements with us for their use of our intellectual property, other unlicensed companies may not enter into license agreements. See also the Risk Factors titled "Efforts by some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to avoid paying fair and reasonable royalties for the use of our intellectual property may require the investment of substantial management time and financial resources and may result in legal decisions or actions by governments, courts, regulators or agencies, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) or other industry organizations that harm our business" and "Our business and 33 operations could suffer in the event of security breaches of our IT systems, or other misappropriation of our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information."

reworded RISKS RELATED TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

RISKS RELATED TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY The enforcement and protection of our intellectual property may be expensive, could fail to prevent misappropriation or unauthorized use of our intellectual property, could result in the loss of our ability to enforce one or more patents, and could be adversely affected by changes in patent laws, by laws in certain foreign jurisdictions that may not effectively protect our intellectual property and by ineffective enforcement of laws in such jurisdictions. We rely primarily on patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements, international treaties and other methods, to protect our intellectual property, including our patent portfolio. Policing unauthorized use of our products, technologies and intellectual property is difficult and time consuming. The steps we have taken have not always prevented, and we cannot be certain the steps we will take in the future will prevent, the misappropriation or unauthorized use of our products, technologies or intellectual property, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not protect our rights as fully or as readily as U.S. laws or where the enforcement of such laws may be lacking or ineffective. See also the Risk Factor titled "Our business and operations could suffer in the event of security breaches of our IT systems, or other misappropriation of our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information." Some industry participants who have a vested interest in devaluing patents in general, or standard-essential patents in particular, have mounted attacks on certain patent systems, increasing the likelihood of changes to established patent laws. In the United States, there is continued discussion regarding potential patent law changes and current and potential future litigation regarding patents, the outcomes of which could be detrimental to our licensing business. The laws in certain foreign countries in which our products are or may be manufactured or sold, including certain countries in Asia, may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws in the United States. We cannot predict with certainty the long-term effects of any potential changes. In addition, we cannot be certain that the laws and policies of any country or the practices of any standards bodies, foreign or domestic, with respect to intellectual property enforcement or licensing or the adoption of standards, will not be changed in the future in a way detrimental to our licensing program or to the sale or use of our products or technologies. We have had and may in the future have difficulty in certain circumstances in protecting or enforcing our intellectual property and contracts, including collecting royalties for use of our patent portfolio due to, among others: refusal by certain licensees to report and pay all or a portion of the royalties they owe to us; policies or political actions of governments, including trade protection and national security policies; challenges to our licensing practices under competition laws; adoption of mandatory licensing provisions by foreign jurisdictions; failure of foreign courts to recognize and enforce judgments of contract breach and damages issued by courts in the United States; and challenges before competition agencies to our licensing business and the pricing and integration of additional features and functionality into our chipset products. See also the Risk Factors titled "Efforts by some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to avoid paying fair and reasonable royalties for the use of our intellectual property may require the investment of substantial management time and financial resources and may result in legal decisions or actions by governments, courts, regulators or agencies, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) or other industry organizations that harm our business" and "Our business may suffer as a result of adverse rulings in governmental investigations or proceedings." We have engaged in litigation and arbitration in the past and may need to further litigate or arbitrate in the future to enforce our contract and intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets or determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights of others. As a result of any such litigation or arbitration, we could lose our ability to enforce one or more patents, portions of our license agreements could be determined to be invalid or unenforceable (which may in turn result in other licensees either not complying with their existing license agreements or initiating litigation or arbitration), license terms (including but not limited to royalty rates for the use of our intellectual property) could be imposed that are less favorable to us than existing terms, and we could incur substantial costs. Any action we take to enforce our contract or intellectual property rights could be costly and could absorb significant management time and attention, which, in turn, could negatively impact our results of operations and cash flows. Further, even a positive resolution to our enforcement efforts may take time to conclude, which may reduce our revenues and cash resources available for other purposes, such as research and development, in the periods prior to conclusion.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

RISKS RELATED TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY The enforcement and protection of our intellectual property may be expensive, could fail to prevent misappropriation or unauthorized use of our intellectual property, could result in the loss of our ability to enforce one or more patents, and could be adversely affected by changes in patent laws, by laws in certain foreign jurisdictions that may not effectively protect our intellectual property and by ineffective enforcement of laws in such jurisdictions. We rely primarily on patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements, international treaties and other methods, to protect our intellectual property, including our patent portfolio. Policing unauthorized use of our products, technologies and intellectual property is difficult and time consuming. The steps we have taken have not always prevented, and we cannot be certain the steps we take in the future will prevent, the misappropriation or unauthorized use of our products, technologies or intellectual property, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not protect our rights as fully or as readily as U.S. laws or where the enforcement of such laws may be lacking or ineffective. See also the Risk Factor titled "Our business and operations could suffer in the event of security breaches of our IT systems, or other misappropriation of our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information." Some industry participants who have a vested interest in devaluing patents in general, or standard-essential patents in particular, have mounted attacks on certain patent systems, increasing the likelihood of changes to established patent laws. We cannot predict with certainty the long-term effects of any potential changes. In the United States, there is continued discussion regarding potential patent law changes, and there is current and potential future litigation regarding patents, the outcomes of which could be detrimental to our licensing business. Further, the laws in certain foreign countries in which our patents are or may be licensed, or our products are or may be manufactured or sold, including certain countries in Asia, may not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws in the United States. In addition, we cannot be certain that the laws and policies of any country or the practices of any standards bodies, foreign or domestic, with respect to intellectual property enforcement or licensing or the adoption of standards, will not be changed in the future in ways that are detrimental to our licensing programs or to the sale or use of our products or technologies. We have had and may in the future have difficulty in certain circumstances in protecting or enforcing our intellectual property and contracts, including collecting royalties for use of our patent portfolio due to, among others: refusal by certain licensees to report and pay all or a portion of the royalties they owe to us; policies or political actions of governments, including trade protection and national security policies; challenges to our licensing practices under competition laws; adoption of mandatory licensing provisions by foreign jurisdictions; failure of foreign courts to recognize and enforce judgments of contract breach and damages issued by courts in the United States; and challenges before competition agencies to our licensing business or the pricing and integration of additional features and functionality into our chipset products. See also the Risk Factors titled "Efforts by some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to avoid paying fair and reasonable royalties for the use of our intellectual property may require the investment of substantial management time and financial resources and may result in legal decisions or actions by governments, courts, regulators or agencies, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) or other industry organizations that harm our business" and "Our business may suffer as a result of adverse rulings in governmental investigations or proceedings or other legal proceedings." We have engaged in litigation and arbitration in the past and may need to further litigate or arbitrate in the future to enforce our contract and intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets or determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights of others. As a result of any such litigation or arbitration, we could lose our ability to enforce one or more patents, portions of our license agreements could be determined to be invalid or unenforceable (which may in turn result in other licensees either not complying with their existing license agreements or initiating litigation or arbitration), license terms (including but not limited to royalty rates for the use of our intellectual property) could be imposed that are less favorable to us than existing terms, and we could incur substantial costs. Any action we take to enforce our contract or intellectual property rights could be costly and could absorb significant management time and attention, which, in turn, could negatively impact our results of operations and cash flows. Further, even a positive resolution to our enforcement efforts may take time to conclude, which may reduce our revenues and cash resources available for other purposes, such as research and development, in the periods prior to conclusion.

reworded Claims by other companies that we infringe their intellectual property could adversely affect our business.

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

Claims by other companies that we infringe their intellectual property could adversely affect our business. From time to time, companies have asserted, and may again assert, patent, copyright or other intellectual property claims against our products or products using our technologies or other technologies used in our industry. These claims have resulted and may again result in our involvement in litigation. We may not prevail in such litigation given, among other factors, the complex technical issues and inherent uncertainties in intellectual property litigation. If any of our products were found to infringe another company's intellectual property, we could be subject to an injunction or be required to redesign our products, or to license such intellectual property or pay damages or other compensation to such other company (any of which could be costly). If we are unable to redesign our products, license such intellectual property used in our products or otherwise distribute our products (e.g., through a licensed supplier), we could be prohibited from making and selling our products. Similarly, our suppliers could be found to infringe another company's intellectual property, and such suppliers could then be enjoined from providing products or services to us. In any potential dispute involving us and another company's patents or other intellectual property, our chipset foundries, semiconductor assembly and test providers and customers could also become the targets of litigation. We are contingently liable under certain product sales, services, license and other agreements to indemnify certain customers, chipset foundries and semiconductor assembly and test service providers against certain types of liability and damages arising from qualifying claims of patent infringement by products sold by us, or by intellectual property provided by us to our chipset foundries and semiconductor assembly and test service providers. Reimbursements under indemnification arrangements could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows. Furthermore, any such litigation could severely disrupt the supply of our products and the businesses of our chipset customers and their customers, which in turn could harm our relationships with them and could result in a decline in our chipset sales or a reduction in our licensees' sales, causing a corresponding decline in our chipset or licensing revenues. Any claims, regardless of their merit, could be time consuming to address, result in costly litigation, divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel or cause product release or shipment delays, any of which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows. We may continue to be involved in litigation and may have to appear in front of administrative bodies (such as the United States International Trade Commission) to defend against patent assertions against our products by companies, some of whom are attempting to gain competitive advantage or leverage in licensing negotiations. We may not be successful in such proceedings, and if we are not, the range of possible outcomes is very broad and may include, for example, monetary damages or fines or other orders to pay money, royalty payments, injunctions on the sale of certain of our integrated circuit products (or on the sale of our customers' devices using such products) or the issuance of orders to cease certain conduct or modify our business practices. Further, a governmental body in a particular country or region may assert, and may be successful in imposing, remedies with effects that extend beyond the borders of that country or region. In addition, a negative outcome in any such proceeding could severely disrupt the business of our chipset customers and their wireless operator customers, which in turn could harm our relationships with them and could result in a decline in our chipset sales or a reduction in our licensees' sales, causing corresponding declines in our chipset or licensing revenues. Certain legal matters, which may include certain claims by other companies that we infringe their intellectual property, are described more fully in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies."

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Claims by other companies that we infringe their intellectual property could adversely affect our business. From time to time, companies have asserted, and may again assert, patent, copyright or other intellectual property claims against us relating to our technologies or products, including those we have acquired from other companies. These claims have resulted and may again result in our involvement in litigation, and we are currently involved in such litigation, including those described in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies." We may not prevail in such litigation given, among other factors, the complex technical issues and inherent uncertainties in intellectual property litigation. If any of our products were found to infringe another company's intellectual property, we could be subject to an injunction or be required to redesign our products, or to license such intellectual property or pay damages or other compensation to such other company (any of which could be costly). If we are unable to redesign our products, license such intellectual property used in our products or otherwise distribute our products (e.g., through a licensed supplier), we could be prohibited from making and selling our products. Similarly, our suppliers could be found to infringe another company's intellectual property, and such suppliers could then be enjoined from providing products or services to us. In any potential dispute involving us and another company's patents or other intellectual property, our chipset foundries, semiconductor assembly and test providers and customers could also become the targets of litigation. We are contingently liable under certain product sales, services, license and other agreements to indemnify certain customers, chipset foundries and semiconductor assembly and test service providers against certain types of liability and damages arising from qualifying claims of patent infringement by products sold by us, or by intellectual property provided by us to our chipset foundries and semiconductor assembly and test service providers. Reimbursements under indemnification arrangements could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows. Furthermore, any such litigation could severely disrupt the supply of our products and the businesses of our chipset customers and their customers, which in turn could harm our relationships with them and could result in a decline in our chipset sales or a reduction in our licensees' sales, causing a corresponding decline in our chipset or licensing revenues. Any claims, regardless of their merit, could be time consuming to address, result in costly litigation, divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel and/or cause product release or shipment delays, any of which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows. We may continue to be involved in litigation and may have to appear in front of administrative bodies (such as the United States International Trade Commission) to defend against patent assertions against our products by companies, some of whom are attempting to gain competitive advantage or leverage in licensing negotiations. We may not be successful in such proceedings, and if we are not, the range of possible outcomes is very broad and may include, for example, monetary damages or fines or other orders to pay money, royalty payments, injunctions on the sale of certain of our integrated circuit products (or on the sale of our customers' devices using such products) or the issuance of orders to cease certain conduct or modify our business practices. Further, a governmental body in a particular country or region may assert, and may be successful in imposing, remedies with effects that extend beyond the borders of that country or region. In addition, a negative outcome in any such proceeding could severely disrupt the business of our customers and their wireless operator customers, which in turn could harm our relationships with them and could result in a decline in our chipset sales or a reduction in our licensees' sales, causing corresponding declines in our chipset or licensing revenues.

reworded RISKS RELATED TO NEW INITIATIVES

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

We engage in acquisitions and other strategic transactions, including joint ventures, and make investments, which we believe are important to the future of our business, with the goal of maximizing stockholder value. From time to time, we acquire businesses and other assets, including patents, technology and other intangible assets, enter into joint ventures or other strategic transactions and purchase minority equity interests in or make loans to companies, including those that may be private and early-stage. Our strategic activities are generally focused on opening or expanding opportunities for our products and technologies and supporting the design and introduction of new products (or enhancing existing products) for mobile handsets, and for new industries and applications beyond mobile handsets. Many of our strategic activities entail a high degree of risk and require the use of significant amounts of capital, and investments may not become liquid for several years after the date of the investment, if at all. Our strategic activities may not generate financial returns or result in increased adoption or continued use of our technologies or products. We may underestimate the costs or overestimate the benefits, including product, revenue, cost and other synergies and growth opportunities that we expect to realize, and we may not achieve those benefits. In some cases, we may be required to consolidate or record our share of the earnings or losses of companies in which we have acquired ownership interests. In addition, we have in the past recorded, and may in the future record, impairment or other charges related to our strategic activities. Any losses or impairment charges that we incur related to strategic activities will have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial condition, and we may continue to incur new or additional losses related to strategic assets or investments that we have not fully impaired or exited. Achieving the anticipated benefits of business acquisitions depends in part upon our ability to integrate the businesses in an efficient and effective manner and achieve anticipated synergies, and we may not be successful in these efforts. Such integration is complex and time consuming and involves significant challenges, including, among others: retaining key employees; successfully integrating new employees, facilities, technology, products, processes, operations (including supply and manufacturing operations), sales and distribution channels, business models and business systems; retaining customers and suppliers of the businesses; consolidating research and development operations; minimizing the diversion of management's attention from ongoing business matters; consolidating corporate and administrative infrastructures; and managing the increased scale, complexity and globalization of our business, operations and employee base. We may not derive any commercial value from associated technologies or products or from future technologies or products based on these technologies, and we may be subject to liabilities that are not covered by indemnification protection that we may obtain, and we may become subject to litigation. Additionally, we may not be successful in entering or expanding into new sales or 24 distribution channels, business or operational models, geographic regions, industries and applications served by or adjacent to the associated businesses or in addressing potential new opportunities that may arise out of our strategic acquisitions. If we do not achieve the anticipated benefits of business acquisitions or other strategic activities, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected, and we may not enhance stockholder value by engaging in these transactions. Many of our acquisitions and other strategic investments require approval by the United States and/or foreign government agencies. Certain agencies in the past have, and may in the future, deny the transaction or fail to approve in a timely manner, resulting in us not realizing the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction. Future acquisitions or other strategic investments may be more difficult, complex or expensive to the extent that our reputation for our ability to consummate acquisitions has been harmed. Further, if U.S./China relations remain strained, our ability to consummate any transaction that would require approval from the relevant regulatory agency(ies) in China may be severely impacted.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

We engage in acquisitions and other strategic transactions, including joint ventures, and make investments, which we believe are important to the future of our business, with the goal of maximizing stockholder value. We routinely acquire businesses and other assets, including patents, technology and other intangible assets, enter into joint ventures or other strategic transactions, and purchase minority equity interests in or make loans to companies, including those that may be private and early-stage. Our strategic activities are generally focused on opening or expanding opportunities for our products and technologies and supporting the design and introduction of new products (or enhancing existing products) for mobile handsets, and for industries and applications beyond mobile handsets. Many of our strategic activities entail a high degree of risk and require the use of significant amounts of capital, and investments may not become liquid for several years after the date of the investment, if at all. Our strategic activities may not be successful, generate financial returns or result in increased adoption or continued use of our technologies or products. We may underestimate the costs or overestimate the benefits, including product, revenue, cost and other synergies and growth opportunities that we expect to realize, and we may not achieve those benefits. In some cases, we may be required to consolidate or record our share of the earnings or losses of companies in which we have acquired ownership or variable interests. In addition, we have in the past recorded, and may in the future record, impairment or other charges related to our strategic activities. Any losses or impairment charges that we incur related to strategic activities will have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial condition, and we may continue to incur new or additional losses related to strategic assets or investments that we have not fully impaired or exited. Achieving the anticipated benefits of business acquisitions depends in part upon our ability to integrate the businesses in an efficient and effective manner and achieve anticipated synergies, and we may not be successful in these efforts. Such integration is complex and time consuming and involves significant challenges, including, among others: retaining key employees; successfully integrating new employees, facilities, technology, products, processes, operations (including supply and manufacturing operations), sales and distribution channels, business models and business systems; retaining customers and suppliers of the businesses; consolidating research and development operations; minimizing the diversion of management's attention from ongoing business matters; consolidating corporate and administrative infrastructures; and managing the increased scale, complexity and globalization of our business, operations and employee base. We may not derive any commercial value from associated technologies or products or from future technologies or products based on these technologies, and we may be subject to liabilities that are not covered by indemnification protection that we may obtain, and we may become subject to litigation. Additionally, we may not be successful in entering or expanding into new sales or distribution channels, business or operational models, geographic regions, industries and applications served by or adjacent to the associated businesses or in addressing potential new opportunities that may arise out of our strategic acquisitions. If we do not achieve the anticipated benefits of business acquisitions or other strategic activities, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected, and we may not enhance stockholder value by engaging in these transactions. Many of our acquisitions and other strategic investments require approval by the United States and/or foreign government agencies. Certain agencies in the past have, and may in the future, deny the transaction or fail to approve in a timely manner, resulting in us not realizing the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction. Future acquisitions or other strategic investments may be more difficult, complex or expensive to the extent that our reputation for our ability to consummate acquisitions has been or is in the future harmed. Further, if U.S./China relations remain strained, our ability to consummate any transaction that would require approval from the relevant regulatory agency(ies) in China may be severely impacted. In addition, acquisitions that we have completed could subsequently be reviewed and/or challenged by government agencies, which could result in fines, penalties or other liability, or requirements to divest all or a portion of an acquired business.

reworded RISKS RELATED TO NEW INITIATIVES

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

RISKS RELATED TO NEW INITIATIVES Our growth depends in part on our ability to extend our technologies and products into new and expanded product areas, and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets. Our research, development and other investments in these new and expanded product areas, industries and applications, and related technologies and products, as well as in our existing technologies and products, and new technologies, may not generate operating income or contribute to future results of operations that meet our expectations. While we continue to invest significant resources toward advancements primarily in support of 4G- and 5G-based technologies, we also invest in new and expanded product areas, and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, by utilizing our existing technical and business expertise and through acquisitions or other strategic transactions. 23 In particular, our future growth depends in part on new and expanded product areas, such as RFFE, and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, such as automotive and IoT; our ability to develop leading and cost-effective technologies and products for these new and expanded product areas, industries and applications; and third parties incorporating our technologies and products into devices used in these product areas, industries and applications. Accordingly, we intend to continue to make substantial investments in these new and expanded product areas, industries and applications, and in developing new products and technologies for these product areas, industries and applications. Our growth also depends significantly on our ability to develop and patent 5G technologies, and to develop and commercialize products using 5G technologies. However, our research, development and other investments in these new and expanded product areas, industries and applications, and corresponding technologies and products, as well as in our existing, technologies and products and new technologies, such as 5G, use of licensed, shared and unlicensed spectrum and convergence of cellular and Wi-Fi, may not succeed because, among other reasons: we may not be issued patents on the technologies we develop; the technologies we develop may not be incorporated into relevant standards; new and expanded product areas, industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, and consumer demand therein, may not develop or grow as anticipated; we may be unable to attract or retain employees with the necessary skills in such new and expanded product areas, industries and applications; our strategies or the strategies of our customers, licensees or partners may not be successful; alternate technologies may be better or may reduce the advantages we anticipate from our investments; competitors' technologies or products may be more cost effective, have more capabilities or fewer limitations or be brought to market faster than our new technologies or products; we may not be able to develop, or our competitors may have more established and/or stronger, customer, vendor, distributor or other channel relationships; and competitors may have longer operating histories in industries and applications that are new to us. We may also underestimate the costs of or overestimate the future revenues or margins that could result from these investments, and these investments may not, or may take many years to, generate material returns. Further, the automotive industry is subject to long design-in time frames, long product life cycles and a high degree of regulatory and safety requirements, necessitating suppliers to the industry to comply with stringent qualification processes, very low defect rates and high reliability standards, all of which results in significant barriers to entry and increased costs. In addition, in order to successfully extend our technologies and products into new and expanded product areas, and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, we may need to transition to new business models and transform aspects of our organization, and we may not be successful in doing so. If our new technologies and products are not successful, or are not successful in the time frames we anticipate, we may incur significant costs and asset impairments, our business and revenues may not grow or grow as anticipated, our revenues and margins may be negatively impacted, our stock price may decline and our reputation may be harmed. We may engage in acquisitions and other strategic transactions or make investments, or be unable to consummate planned strategic acquisitions, which could adversely affect our results of operations or fail to enhance stockholder value.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

RISKS RELATED TO NEW INITIATIVES Our growth depends in part on our ability to extend our technologies and products into new and expanded product areas, and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets. Our research, development and other investments in these new and expanded product areas, industries and applications, and related technologies and products, as well as in our existing technologies and products, and new technologies, may not generate operating income or contribute to future results of operations that meet our expectations. While we continue to invest significant resources toward advancements primarily in support 5G-based technologies, we also invest in new and expanded product areas, and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, by utilizing our existing technical and business expertise and through acquisitions or other strategic transactions. In particular, our future growth depends in part on new and expanded product areas, and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, such as automotive and IoT; our ability to develop leading and cost-effective technologies and products for these new and expanded product areas, industries and applications; and third parties incorporating our technologies and products into devices used in these product areas, industries and applications. Accordingly, we intend to continue to make substantial investments in these new and expanded product areas, industries and applications, and in developing new products and technologies for these product areas, industries and applications. Our growth also depends significantly on our ability to develop and patent 5G technologies, and to develop and commercialize products using 5G technologies. However, our research, development and other investments in these new and expanded product areas, industries and applications, and corresponding technologies and products, as well as in our existing technologies and products and new technologies in mobile handsets, may not succeed because, among other reasons: we may not be issued patents on the technologies we develop; the technologies we develop may not be incorporated into relevant standards; new and expanded product areas, industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, and consumer demand therein, may not develop or grow as anticipated; we may be unable to attract or retain employees with the necessary skills in such new and expanded product areas, industries and applications; our strategies or the strategies of our customers, licensees or partners may not be successful; alternate technologies or products may be better or may reduce the advantages we anticipate from our investments; competitors' technologies or products may be more cost effective, have more capabilities or fewer limitations or be brought to market faster than our new technologies or products; we may not be able to develop, or our competitors may have more established and/or stronger, customer, vendor, distributor or other channel relationships; and competitors may have longer operating histories in industries and applications that are new to us. We may also underestimate the costs of, or overestimate the future revenues or margins that could result from these investments, and these investments may not, or may take many years to, generate material returns. Further, the automotive industry is subject to long design-in time frames, long product life cycles and a high degree of regulatory and safety requirements, necessitating suppliers to the industry to comply with stringent qualification processes, very low defect rates and high reliability standards, all of which results in significant barriers to entry and increased costs. If our products fail to perform to specifications, compete with the product quality of our competitors or meet quality and/or regulatory standards of a particular industry or application (including product safety and information security standards, which may differ by region, geography and industry, and which are particularly stringent in the automotive industry), we may be unable to successfully expand our business in that industry or application, and our growth could be limited. In addition, in order to successfully extend our technologies and products into new and expanded product areas, and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, we may need to transition to new business models and transform aspects of our organization, and we may not be successful in doing so. 21 If we are not successful in extending our technologies and products into new and expanded product areas, and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, if our new technologies and products are not successful, or if we are not successful in the time frames we anticipate, we may incur significant costs and asset impairments, our business and revenues may not grow or grow as anticipated, our revenues and margins may be negatively impacted, our stock price may decline and our reputation may be harmed. We may engage in acquisitions and other strategic transactions or make investments, or be unable to consummate planned strategic acquisitions, which could adversely affect our results of operations or fail to enhance stockholder value.

reworded RISKS RELATED TO SUPPLY AND MANUFACTURING

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

RISKS RELATED TO SUPPLY AND MANUFACTURING We depend on a limited number of third-party suppliers for the procurement, manufacture, assembly and testing of our products manufactured in a fabless production model. If we fail to execute supply strategies that provide supply assurance, technology leadership and reasonable margins, our business and results of operations may be harmed. We are also subject to order and shipment uncertainties that could negatively impact our results of operations. We primarily utilize a fabless production model, which means that we do not own or operate foundries for the production of silicon wafers from which our integrated circuits are made. Other than the facilities we own that manufacture certain of our RFFE modules and RF (radio frequency) filter products, we rely on third-party suppliers to perform the manufacturing and assembly, and most of the testing, of our integrated circuits. Our suppliers are also responsible for the procurement of most of the raw materials used in the production of our integrated circuits. There are a limited number of such third-party suppliers, and even fewer who are capable of manufacturing at the leading process technology nodes or who are willing to operate at older process technology nodes. The semiconductor manufacturing foundries that supply our products are primarily located in Asia, as are our primary warehouses where we store finished goods for fulfillment of customer orders. The following issues related to our third-party suppliers could have an adverse effect on our ability to meet customer demand and negatively impact our revenues, business operations, profitability and cash flows: •a reduction, interruption, delay or limitation in our product supply sources; •a failure by our suppliers to procure raw materials or allocate adequate raw materials for our products; •an inability to procure or utilize raw materials, components or products from our suppliers due to government prohibitions or restrictions on transactions with certain countries and/or companies, and alternative suppliers, raw material sources or raw materials are not available or not available in acceptable time frames or upon acceptable terms; •a failure by our suppliers to allocate adequate manufacturing, assembly or test capacity for our products; •our suppliers' inability to react to shifts in product demand or an increase in raw material or component prices; •our suppliers' inability to develop or maintain, or a delay in developing or building out, manufacturing capacity for leading process technologies, including transitions to smaller geometry process technologies; •the loss of a supplier or the inability of a supplier to meet performance, quality or yield specifications or delivery schedules; •additional expense or production delays as a result of qualifying a new supplier and commencing volume production or testing in the event of a loss of, or a decision to add or change, a supplier; •natural disasters, the effects of climate change or geopolitical conflicts impacting our suppliers; •health crises, including epidemics or pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and government and business responses thereto, which impact our suppliers, including as a result of quarantines or closures; •cyber-attacks on our suppliers' information technology (IT) systems, including those related to their manufacturing foundries or assembly, test or other facilities; and •trade or national security protection policies, particularly U.S. or Chinese government policies, that limit or prevent us from transacting business with suppliers of critical integrated circuit products, or that limit or prevent such suppliers from transacting business with us or from procuring materials, machinery or technology necessary to manufacture goods for us. While we have established alternate suppliers for certain technologies, there are a limited number of such suppliers, and even fewer who are capable of operating at the leading process technology nodes or who are willing to operate at older process technology nodes. We rely on sole- or limited-source suppliers for certain products, which may exacerbate the risks identified above, and subject us to other significant risks, including poor product performance and reduced control over delivery schedules, manufacturing capability and yields, quality assurance, quantity and costs. To the extent we have established or in the future establish alternate suppliers, these suppliers may require significant amounts of time and levels of 25

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

RISKS RELATED TO SUPPLY AND MANUFACTURING We depend on a limited number of third-party suppliers for the procurement, manufacture, assembly and testing of our products manufactured in a fabless production model. If we fail to execute supply strategies that provide supply assurance, technology leadership and reasonable margins, our business and results of operations may be harmed. We are also subject to order and shipment uncertainties that could negatively impact our results of operations. We primarily utilize a fabless production model, which means that we do not own or operate foundries for the production of silicon wafers from which our integrated circuits are made. Other than the facilities we own that manufacture certain of our RFFE modules and RF (radio frequency) filter products, we rely on third-party suppliers to perform the manufacturing and assembly, and most of the testing, of our integrated circuits. Our suppliers are also responsible for the procurement of most of the raw materials used in the production of our integrated circuits. There are a limited number of such third-party suppliers, and even fewer who are capable of manufacturing at the leading process technology nodes or who are willing to operate at older process technology nodes necessary for certain of our integrated circuit products. The semiconductor manufacturing 22 foundries that supply our products are primarily located in Asia, as are the primary warehouses where we store finished goods for fulfillment of customer orders. The following issues related to our third-party suppliers could have an adverse effect on our ability to meet customer demand and negatively impact our revenues, business operations, profitability and cash flows: •our suppliers' failure or inability to react to shifts in product demand, including situations where demand for integrated circuits exceeds suppliers' capacity to meet that demand; •a failure or inability by our suppliers to procure raw materials or allocate adequate raw materials for our products, or an increase in prices for raw materials or components; •an inability to procure or utilize raw materials, components or products from our suppliers due to government prohibitions or restrictions on transactions with certain countries and/or companies, and alternative suppliers, raw material sources or raw materials are not available or not available in acceptable time frames or upon acceptable terms; •a failure by our suppliers to allocate adequate manufacturing, assembly or test capacity for our products; •our suppliers' failure or inability to develop or maintain, or a delay in developing or building out, manufacturing capacity for leading process technologies, including transitions to smaller geometry process technologies; •the loss of a supplier or the failure or inability of a supplier to meet performance, quality or yield specifications or delivery schedules; •additional expense or production delays as a result of qualifying a new supplier and commencing volume production or testing in the event of a loss of, or a decision to add or change, a supplier; •natural disasters, the effects of climate change, acts of war or other geopolitical conflicts impacting the regions in which our suppliers and their manufacturing foundries or assembly, test or other facilities are located; •health crises, including epidemics or pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and government and business responses thereto, which impact our suppliers, including as a result of quarantines or closures; •cyber-attacks on our suppliers' information technology (IT) systems, including those related to their manufacturing foundries or assembly, test or other facilities; •trade or national security protection policies, particularly U.S. or Chinese government policies, that limit or prevent us from transacting business with suppliers of critical integrated circuit products, or that limit or prevent such suppliers from transacting business with us or from procuring materials, machinery or technology necessary to manufacture goods for us; and

reworded •any other reduction, interruption, delay or limitation in our product supply sources.

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

We have manufacturing facilities in Asia and Europe. If tsunamis, flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, drought or other natural disasters, effects of climate change or geopolitical conflicts, were to damage, destroy or disrupt our manufacturing facilities, it could disrupt our operations, delay production and shipments of inventory and result in costly repairs, replacements or other costs. In addition, natural disasters, effects of climate change or geopolitical conflicts may result in disruptions in transportation, distribution channels and supply chains, and significant increases in the prices of raw materials. Further, health crises, including epidemics or pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and government and business responses thereto, could affect our manufacturing facilities, including by resulting in quarantines and/or closures, which would result in disruptions to and potential closures of our manufacturing operations. Our manufacturing operations could also be disrupted by cyber-attacks on our IT systems, as described in the Risk Factor below titled "Our business and operations could suffer in the event of security breaches of our IT systems, or other misappropriation of our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information." Our manufacturing operations depend on securing raw materials and other supplies in adequate quality and quantity in a timely manner from multiple suppliers, and in some cases, we rely on a limited number of suppliers, including in some cases sole suppliers, particularly in Asia. There may be cases where supplies of raw materials and other products are interrupted by disaster, accident or some other event at a supplier; supply is suspended due to quality or other issues; there is a shortage of supply due to a rapid increase in demand; and/or we or our suppliers are prohibited from utilizing certain raw materials, or products or components that incorporate such raw materials, due to government restrictions related to the countries from which such raw materials originate, and acceptable alternative suppliers, raw materials or raw materials sources are not available or not available in acceptable time frames or upon acceptable terms, among others, which could impact production and prevent us from supplying our products to our customers. If the supply-demand balance is disrupted, it may considerably increase costs of manufacturing due to increased prices we pay for raw materials. From time to time, suppliers may extend lead times, limit amounts supplied to us or increase prices due to capacity constraints or other factors. Additionally, supply and costs of raw materials may be negatively impacted by trade and/or national security protection policies, such as tariffs, or actions by governments that limit or prevent us from transacting business with certain countries or companies or that limit or prevent certain companies from transacting business with us, or trade tensions, particularly with countries in Asia. Further, it may be difficult or impossible to substitute one piece of equipment for another or replace one type of material with another. A failure by our suppliers to deliver our requirements could result in disruptions to our manufacturing operations. Our manufacturing processes are highly complex, require advanced and costly equipment and must be continuously modified to improve yields and performance. Difficulties in the production process can reduce yields or interrupt production, and as a result, we may not be able to deliver our products or do so in a timely, cost-effective or competitive manner. Further, to remain competitive and meet customer demand, we may be required to improve our facilities and process technologies and 27 carry out extensive research and development, each of which may require investment of significant amounts of capital and may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. Finally, we typically begin manufacturing our products using our or our customers' forecasts of demand for our products, which are based on a number of assumptions and estimates and may not be covered by long-term purchase commitments. As a result, we incur inventory and manufacturing costs in advance of anticipated sales, which sales ultimately may not materialize or may be lower than expected. If we or our customers overestimate demand, or if demand is impacted by factors outside of our or our customers' control such as the COVID-19 pandemic or trade or national security protection policies, that is not under a binding commitment from our customers, we may experience higher inventory carrying and operating costs and/or increased excess or obsolete inventory, which would negatively impact our results of operations

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Climate change concerns and the potential resulting environmental impact may result in new environmental, health and safety laws and regulations that may affect us, our suppliers and our customers. Such laws or regulations could cause us to incur additional direct costs for compliance, including costs associated with changes to manufacturing processes or the procurement of raw materials used in manufacturing processes, as well as increased indirect costs resulting from our customers, suppliers or both incurring additional compliance costs that are passed on to us. These costs may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition. In addition, climate change could cause certain natural disasters, such as drought, wildfires, storms, flooding or rising sea levels, to occur more frequently or with greater intensity, which could pose physical risks to our manufacturing facilities or our suppliers' facilities, could disrupt the availability of water necessary for the operation of such facilities, and could increase or decrease temperatures resulting in increased operating costs and/or business disruption. We have manufacturing facilities in Asia and Europe, and the primary warehouses where we store finished goods are located in Asia. If tsunamis, flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, drought or other natural disasters, effects of climate change, acts of war or other geopolitical conflicts were to damage, destroy or disrupt any of these facilities, it could disrupt our operations, cease or delay production and shipments of inventory and result in costly repairs, replacements or other costs and lost business. In addition, natural disasters, effects of climate change, acts of war or other geopolitical conflicts may result in disruptions in transportation, distribution channels and supply chains and significant increases in the prices of raw materials. Further, health crises, including epidemics or pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and government and business responses thereto, could affect our manufacturing facilities, including by resulting in quarantines and/or closures, which would result in disruptions to and potential closures of our manufacturing operations. Our manufacturing operations could also be disrupted by cyber-attacks on our IT systems, as described in the Risk Factor below titled "Our business and operations could suffer in the event of security breaches of our IT systems, or other misappropriation of our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information." Our manufacturing operations depend on securing raw materials, equipment and other supplies in adequate quality and quantity in a timely manner from multiple suppliers, and in some cases, we rely on a limited number of suppliers, including in some cases sole suppliers, particularly in Asia. There may be cases where supplies of raw materials, equipment and other products are interrupted or limited by natural disaster, geopolitical conflict, accident or some other event affecting a supplier or source of raw materials; supply is suspended due to quality or other issues; there is a shortage of supply due to a rapid increase in demand; and/or we or our suppliers are prohibited from utilizing certain raw materials, or products or components that incorporate such raw materials, due to government restrictions related to the countries from which such raw materials originate, and acceptable alternative suppliers, raw materials or raw materials sources are not available or not available in acceptable time frames or upon acceptable terms, among others, which could impact production and prevent us from supplying our products to our customers. If the supply-demand balance is disrupted, it may considerably increase costs of manufacturing due to increased prices we pay for raw materials. From time to time, suppliers may extend lead times, limit amounts supplied to us or increase prices due to capacity constraints or other factors. Additionally, supply and costs of raw materials, equipment and other products may be negatively impacted by trade and/or national security protection policies, such as tariffs, or actions by governments that limit or prevent us from transacting business with certain countries or companies or that limit or prevent certain companies from transacting business with us, or trade tensions, particularly with countries in Asia. Further, it may be difficult or impossible to substitute one piece of equipment for another or replace one type of material with another. A failure by our suppliers to deliver our requirements could result in disruptions to our manufacturing operations. Our manufacturing processes are highly complex, require advanced and costly equipment and must be continuously modified to improve yields and performance. Difficulties in the production process can reduce yields or interrupt production, and as a result, we may not be able to deliver our products or do so in a timely, cost-effective or competitive manner. Further, to remain competitive and meet customer demand, we may be required to improve our facilities and process technologies and carry out extensive research and development, each of which may require investment of significant amounts of capital and may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

reworded •any other reduction, interruption, delay or limitation in our product supply sources.

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

support to bring such technologies to production, both of which may increase for complex or leading process technologies. As a result, we may invest a significant amount of effort and resources and incur higher costs to support and maintain such alternate suppliers. Further, the elimination or limitation of a foundry supplier's ability to manufacture components or products for us due to trade or national security protection policies could increase our vulnerability to sole- or limited-source arrangements and limit or prevent us from procuring critical components or products from those suppliers. Future consolidation of foundry suppliers could also increase our vulnerability to sole- or limited-source arrangements and reduce our suppliers' willingness to negotiate pricing, which could negatively impact our ability to achieve cost reductions, increase our manufacturing costs and limit the amount of capacity available to us. Our arrangements with our suppliers may obligate us to incur costs to manufacture, assemble and test our products that do not decrease at the same rate as decreases in pricing to our customers. Our ability, and that of our suppliers, to develop or maintain leading process technologies, including transitions to smaller geometry process technologies (which adds risk to manufacturing yields and reliability), and to effectively compete with the manufacturing processes and performance of our competitors, could impact our ability to introduce new products and meet customer demand, could increase our costs (possibly decreasing our margins) and could subject us to the risk of excess inventories. Any of the above could negatively impact our business, results of operations and cash flows. Although we have long-term contracts with our suppliers, some of these contracts do not provide for long-term capacity commitments. To the extent we do not have firm commitments from our suppliers over a specific time period or for any specific quantity, our suppliers may allocate, and in the past have allocated, capacity to the manufacture, assembly and testing of products for their other customers (including our competitors) while reducing or limiting capacity to manufacture, assemble or test our products, and such capacity may be limited based on our suppliers' ability and willingness to invest in the capital required to manufacture in the leading process technologies. Our suppliers or potential alternate suppliers may also manufacture their own integrated circuits that compete with our products. Such suppliers have in the past and could again elect to allocate raw materials and manufacturing capacity to their own products and reduce or limit the production of our products. Accordingly, capacity for our products may not be available when we need it. To the extent we do obtain long-term capacity commitments, we may incur additional costs related to those commitments or make non-refundable payments for capacity commitments that are not used. In addition, we may not receive reasonable pricing, manufacturing or delivery terms from our suppliers, and our ability to obtain favorable terms may be diminished during times of high demand and/or limited manufacturing capacity for integrated circuit products. We cannot guarantee that the actions of our suppliers will not cause disruptions in our operations that could harm our ability to meet our delivery obligations to our customers or increase our cost of sales. To the extent we are unable to obtain adequate supply to meet our delivery obligations, we may be obligated to make payments to our customers for such shortfalls. Currently, the global semiconductor industry is experiencing demand for integrated circuits that exceeds the industry's capacity to meet that demand. Our ability to meet increased demand for our products has been and may continue to be limited due to the inability to obtain the additional manufacturing, assembly and test capacity necessary to fully meet such demand. If we are unable to fully meet customer demand, this could result in lost sales opportunities, reduced revenue growth and harm to our customer relationships. These issues may be exacerbated if customers overstate their expected demand requirements in order to procure additional supply, which could negatively impact our ability to forecast and to allocate supply appropriately among our customers. These issues may also be exacerbated with respect to our platform solutions, which already entail a great deal of complexity due to differing lead-times, technologies and suppliers for each integrated circuit product included in such solutions. Additionally, we place orders with our suppliers using our and our customers' forecasts of demand for our products, which are based on a number of assumptions and estimates. As we move to smaller geometry process technologies, the manufacturing lead-time increases. As a result, the orders we place with our suppliers are generally only partially covered by commitments from our customers. If we, or our customers, overestimate demand, or if demand is impacted by factors outside of our or our customers' control, and such demand is not covered by a binding commitment from our customers, we may experience increased excess or obsolete inventory, which would negatively impact our results of operations.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

•any other reduction, interruption, delay or limitation in our product supply sources. We rely on sole- or limited-source suppliers for certain products, which may exacerbate the risks identified above, and subject us to other significant risks, including poor product performance and reduced control over delivery schedules, manufacturing capability and yields, quality assurance, quantity and costs. While we have established and may in the future establish alternate suppliers for certain products, these suppliers may require significant amounts of time and levels of support to bring such products to production, both of which may increase for complex or leading process technologies. As a result, we may invest a significant amount of effort and resources and incur higher costs to support and maintain such alternate suppliers. Further, the elimination or limitation of a foundry supplier's ability to manufacture components or products for us due to trade or national security protection policies could increase our vulnerability to sole- or limited-source arrangements and limit or prevent us from procuring critical components or products from those suppliers. Future consolidation of foundry suppliers could also increase our vulnerability to sole- or limited-source arrangements and reduce our suppliers' willingness to negotiate pricing, which could negatively impact our ability to achieve cost reductions, increase our manufacturing costs and limit the amount of capacity available to us. Our arrangements with our suppliers may obligate us to incur costs to manufacture, assemble and test our products that do not decrease at the same rate as decreases in pricing to our customers. Our ability, and that of our suppliers, to develop or maintain leading process technologies, including transitions to smaller geometry process technologies (which adds risk to manufacturing yields and reliability), and to effectively compete with the manufacturing processes and performance of our competitors, could impact our ability to introduce new products and meet customer demand, could increase our costs (possibly decreasing our margins) and could subject us to the risk of excess inventories. Any of the above could negatively impact our business, results of operations and cash flows. Although we have long-term contracts with our suppliers, some of these contracts do not provide for long-term capacity commitments. To the extent we do not have firm commitments from our suppliers over a specific time period or for any specific quantity, our suppliers may allocate, and in the past have allocated, capacity to the manufacture, assembly and testing of products for their other customers (including our competitors) while reducing or limiting capacity to manufacture, assemble or test our products, and such capacity may be limited based on our suppliers' ability and willingness to invest in the capital required to manufacture in the leading process technologies. Our suppliers or potential alternate suppliers may also manufacture their own integrated circuits that compete with our products. Such suppliers have in the past allocated and may again allocate raw materials and manufacturing capacity to their own products and reduce or limit the production of our 23 products. To the extent we do obtain long-term capacity commitments, we may incur additional costs related to those commitments or make non-refundable payments for capacity commitments that are not used. Further, certain of our suppliers have in the past attempted, and may in the future attempt, to unilaterally reduce their capacity commitments to us. Accordingly, capacity for our products may not be available when we need it. Finally, we may not receive reasonable pricing, manufacturing or delivery terms from our suppliers, and our ability to obtain favorable terms may be diminished during times of high demand and/or limited manufacturing capacity for integrated circuit products. We cannot guarantee that the actions of our suppliers will not cause disruptions in our operations that could harm our ability to meet our delivery obligations to our customers or increase our cost of sales. To the extent we are unable to obtain adequate supply to meet our delivery obligations, we may be obligated to make payments to our customers for such shortfalls. Recently, the global semiconductor industry experienced demand for integrated circuits that exceeded the industry's capacity to meet that demand. Our ability to meet increased demand for our products has been and may in the future be limited due to the inability to obtain the additional manufacturing, assembly and test capacity necessary to fully meet such demand. If we are unable to fully meet customer demand, this could result in lost sales opportunities, reduced revenue growth and harm to our customer relationships. These issues may be exacerbated if customers overstate their expected demand requirements in order to procure additional supply, which could negatively impact our ability to forecast and to allocate supply appropriately among our customers. The above issues may also be exacerbated with respect to our platform solutions, which already entail a great deal of complexity due to differing lead-times, technologies and suppliers for each integrated circuit product included in such solutions. Additionally, our suppliers have in the past and may in the future increase their prices during periods of capacity constraints, or for other reasons, thus increasing our costs. While capacity constraints have largely abated, we continue to see price increases from certain of our key semiconductor manufacturing suppliers which, without corresponding increases in the prices of our products, would negatively impact our margins.

reworded RISKS RELATED TO CYBERSECURITY OR MISAPPROPRIATION OF OUR CRITICAL INFORMATION

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

RISKS RELATED TO CYBERSECURITY OR MISAPPROPRIATION OF OUR CRITICAL INFORMATION Our business and operations could suffer in the event of security breaches of our IT systems, or other misappropriation of our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information. Third parties regularly attempt to gain unauthorized access to our IT systems, and many such attacks are increasingly more sophisticated. The perception that the COVID-19 pandemic has made companies' IT systems more vulnerable has increased the already significant volume of such attacks. These attacks, which might be related to industrial, corporate or other espionage, criminal hackers or state-sponsored intrusions, include trying to covertly introduce malware to our computers and networks, including those in our manufacturing operations, and impersonating authorized users, among others. We may also be subject to ransom-style cyber-attacks, which could impact our IT systems and cause widespread disruption to our business, including our manufacturing operations, and expose our confidential or propriety information. Third parties that store and/or process our confidential information, or that provide products, software or services used in our IT infrastructure (including applications), may be subject to similar attacks, which could also result in malware being introduced into our IT infrastructure, e.g., through the third parties' software updates. Such attacks could result in the misappropriation, theft, misuse, disclosure, loss or destruction of the technology, intellectual property, or the proprietary, confidential or personal information, of us or our employees, customers, licensees, suppliers or other third parties, as well as damage to or disruptions in our IT systems. We believe that we have a robust cybersecurity program that is aligned to international cybersecurity frameworks, and that we leverage industry best practices across people, processes and technologies in an attempt to mitigate cybersecurity threats. However, we may not be able to anticipate, detect, repel or implement effective preventative measures against all cybersecurity threats, particularly because the techniques used are increasingly sophisticated and constantly evolving. Attempts to gain unauthorized access to our IT systems or other attacks have in the past, in certain instances and to certain degrees, been successful (but have not caused significant harm), and may in the future be successful, and in some cases, we might be unaware of an incident or its magnitude and effects. In addition, employees and former employees, in particular former employees who become employees of our competitors, customers, licensees or other third parties, including state actors, have in the past and may in the future misappropriate, use, publish or provide to our competitors, customers, licensees or other third parties, including state actors, our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information. This risk is exacerbated as competitors for talent, particularly engineering talent, increasingly attempt to hire our employees. See also the Risk Factor titled "We may not be able to attract and retain qualified employees, and our attempts to fully reopen our offices and operate under a hybrid working environment may not be successful." Similarly, we provide access to certain of our technology, intellectual property and other proprietary or confidential information to our direct and indirect customers and licensees and certain of our consultants, who have in the past and may in the future wrongfully use such technology, intellectual property or information, or wrongfully disclose such technology, intellectual property or information to third parties, including our competitors or state actors. We also provide access to certain of our technology, intellectual property and other proprietary or confidential information to certain of our joint venture partners, including those affiliated with state actors and including in foreign jurisdictions where ownership restrictions may require us to take a minority ownership interest in the joint venture. Such joint venture partners may wrongfully use such technology, intellectual property or information, or wrongfully disclose such technology, intellectual property or information to third parties, including our competitors or state actors. The misappropriation, theft, misuse, disclosure, loss or destruction of the technology, intellectual property, or the proprietary, confidential or personal information, of us or our employees, customers, licensees, suppliers or other third parties, could harm our competitive position, reduce the value of our investment in research and development and other strategic initiatives, cause us to lose business, damage our reputation, subject us to legal or regulatory proceedings, cause us to incur other loss or liability and otherwise adversely affect our business. We expect to continue to devote significant resources to the security of our IT systems, and our technology, intellectual property and proprietary and confidential information. Further, China has implemented, and other countries or regions may implement, cybersecurity laws that require our overall IT security environment to meet certain standards and/or be certified. Such laws may be complex, ambiguous and subject to interpretation, which may create uncertainty regarding compliance. As a result, our efforts to comply with such laws may be expensive and may fail, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and cash flows. 28

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

RISKS RELATED TO CYBERSECURITY OR MISAPPROPRIATION OF OUR CRITICAL INFORMATION Our business and operations could suffer in the event of security breaches of our IT systems, or other misappropriation of our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information. Third parties regularly attempt to gain unauthorized access to our IT systems, and many such attacks are increasingly more sophisticated. These attacks, which might be related to industrial, corporate or other espionage, criminal hackers or state-sponsored intrusions, include trying to covertly introduce malware to our computers and networks, including those in our manufacturing operations, exploiting vulnerabilities in hardware, software or other IT infrastructure and impersonating authorized users, among others. We are also subject to ransom-style cyber-attacks, which could expose our confidential or proprietary information, request payment of money and/or impact our IT systems and cause widespread disruption to our business, including our manufacturing operations. Third parties that store and/or process our confidential information, or that provide products, software or services used in our IT infrastructure (including applications), may be subject to similar attacks, which could also result in malware being introduced into our IT infrastructure, e.g., through the third parties' software and/or software updates. Such attacks could result in the misappropriation, theft, misuse, disclosure, loss or destruction of the technology, intellectual property, or the proprietary, confidential or personal information, of us or our employees, customers, licensees, suppliers or other third parties, as well as damage to or disruptions in our IT systems. We believe that we have a robust cybersecurity program that is aligned to international cybersecurity frameworks, and that we leverage industry best practices across people, processes and technologies in an attempt to mitigate cybersecurity threats. However, we cannot anticipate, detect, repel or implement fully effective preventative measures against all cybersecurity threats, particularly because the techniques used are increasingly sophisticated and constantly evolving. As part of our cybersecurity program, we seek to identify and remediate vulnerabilities in our IT systems and software (including third party software used in our IT systems) that could be exploited by hackers or other malicious actors. However, we may not be aware of all such vulnerabilities, and we may fail to identify and/or remediate such vulnerabilities before they are exploited. Attempts to gain unauthorized access to our IT systems or other attacks have in the past, in certain instances and to certain degrees, been successful (but have not caused significant harm), and may in the future be successful, and in some cases, we might be unaware of an incident or its magnitude and effects. In addition, employees and former employees, in particular former employees who become employees of our competitors, customers, licensees or other third parties, including state actors, have in the past and may in the future misappropriate, wrongfully use, publish or provide to our competitors, customers, licensees or other third parties, including state actors, our technology, intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information. This risk is exacerbated as competitors for talent, particularly engineering talent, increasingly attempt to hire our employees. See also the Risk Factor titled "We may not be able to attract and retain qualified employees, and our attempts to operate under a hybrid work model may not be successful." Similarly, we provide access to certain of our technology, intellectual property and other proprietary or confidential information to our direct and indirect customers and licensees and certain of our consultants, who have in the past and may in the future wrongfully use such technology, intellectual property or information, or wrongfully disclose such technology, intellectual property or information to third parties, including our competitors or state actors. We also provide access to certain of our technology, intellectual property and other proprietary or confidential information to certain of our joint venture partners, including those affiliated with state actors and including in foreign jurisdictions where ownership restrictions may require us to take a minority ownership interest in the joint venture. Such joint venture partners may wrongfully use such technology, intellectual property or information, or wrongfully disclose such technology, intellectual property or information to third parties, including our competitors or state actors. Our technology, intellectual property and other proprietary or confidential information that we have provided to customers, licensees or other business partners could also be wrongfully obtained by third parties through cyber-attacks on such customers', licensees' or other business partners' IT systems. The misappropriation, theft, misuse, disclosure, loss or destruction of the technology, intellectual property, or the proprietary, confidential or personal information, of us or our employees, customers, licensees, suppliers or other third parties, could harm our competitive position, reduce the value of our investment in research and development and other strategic initiatives, cause us to lose business, damage our reputation, subject us to legal or regulatory proceedings, cause us to incur other loss or liability and otherwise adversely affect our business. We expect to continue to devote significant resources to the security of our IT systems and our technology, intellectual property and proprietary and confidential information.

reworded We may not be able to attract and retain qualified employees, and our attempts to operate under a hybrid work model may not be successful.

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

RISKS RELATED TO HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT We may not be able to attract and retain qualified employees, and our attempts to fully reopen our offices and operate under a hybrid working environment may not be successful. Our future success depends upon the continued service of our executive officers and other key management and technical personnel, and on our ability to continue to identify, attract, retain and motivate them. Implementing our business strategy requires specialized engineering and other talent, as our revenues are highly dependent on technological and product innovations. In addition, in order to extend our business into certain new and expanded product areas and/or industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, we will be required to attract, retain and motivate engineering and other technical personnel with specialized skills in these areas, and these skills are in high demand among our competitors. The market for employees in our industry is extremely competitive, and competitors for talent, particularly engineering talent, increasingly attempt to hire, and to varying degrees have been successful in hiring, our employees or employment candidates, including by establishing or expanding local offices near our headquarters in San Diego, California. Further, the increased availability of remote working arrangements, largely driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, has expanded the pool of companies that can compete for our employees and employment candidates. A number of such competitors for talent are significantly larger than us and are able to offer compensation in excess of what we are able to offer or other benefits that we generally do not offer, such as the ability to permanently work from home. Further, existing immigration laws make it more difficult for us to recruit and retain highly skilled foreign national graduates of universities in the United States, making the pool of available talent even smaller. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified employees, our business may be harmed. The COVID-19 pandemic caused us to modify our workforce practices, including having the vast majority of our employees work from home. As we reopen our offices, we intend to operate under a "hybrid" working environment, meaning that the majority of our employees will have the flexibility to work remotely at least some of the time, for the foreseeable future. The hybrid working environment may impair our ability to maintain our collaborative and innovative culture, and may cause disruptions among our employees, including decreases in productivity, challenges in communications between on-site and off-site employees and, potentially, employee dissatisfaction and attrition. If our attempts to safely reopen our offices and operate under a hybrid working environment are not successful, our business could be adversely impacted.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

RISKS RELATED TO HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT We may not be able to attract and retain qualified employees, and our attempts to operate under a hybrid work model may not be successful. Our future success depends upon the continued service of our executive officers and other key management and technical personnel, and on our ability to continue to identify, attract, retain and motivate them. Implementing our business strategy requires specialized engineering and other talent, as our revenues are highly dependent on technological and product innovations. In addition, in order to extend our business into certain new and expanded product areas and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, we need to attract, retain and motivate engineering and other technical personnel with specialized skills in these areas, and these skills are in high demand among our competitors. The market for employees in our industry is extremely competitive, and competitors for talent, particularly engineering talent, increasingly attempt to hire, and to varying degrees have been successful in hiring, our employees or employment candidates, including by establishing or expanding local offices near our headquarters in San Diego, California. Further, the increased availability of remote working arrangements has expanded the pool of companies that can compete for our employees and employment candidates. A number of such competitors for talent are significantly larger than us and/or offer compensation in excess of what we offer or other benefits that we generally do not offer, such as the ability to permanently work from home. Further, existing immigration laws make it more difficult for us to recruit and retain highly skilled foreign national graduates of universities in the United States, making the pool of available talent even smaller. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified employees, our business may be harmed. The COVID-19 pandemic caused us to modify our workforce practices, including having the vast majority of our employees work from home. While we have generally reopened our offices, we are currently operating under a hybrid work model, meaning that the majority of our employees have the flexibility to work remotely at least some of the time. The hybrid work model may impair our ability to maintain our collaborative and innovative culture, and may cause disruptions among our employees, including decreases in productivity, challenges in communications between on-site and off-site employees and, potentially, employee dissatisfaction and attrition. Further, any future attempt to transition away from the hybrid work model to more stringent on-site work requirements may result in employee dissatisfaction and attrition. If we fail to retain key employees or maintain employee productivity as a result of the hybrid work model or an attempt to return to more on-site work, our business could be adversely impacted.

reworded RISKS SPECIFIC TO OUR LICENSING BUSINESS

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

We have been in the past and are currently subject to various litigation and/or governmental investigations and proceedings. Certain of these matters are described more fully in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies." We may become subject to other litigation or governmental investigations or proceedings in the future. Additionally, certain of our direct and indirect customers and licensees have pursued, and others may in the future pursue, litigation or arbitration against us related to our business. Unfavorable resolutions of one or more of these matters have had and could in the future have a material adverse effect on our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. See also the Risk Factors below titled "Changes in our patent licensing practices, whether due to governmental investigations, legal challenges or otherwise, could adversely impact our business and results of operations" and "Our business may suffer as a result of adverse rulings in governmental investigations or proceedings." In addition, in connection with our participation in SDOs, we, like other patent owners, generally have made contractual commitments to such organizations to license those of our patents that would necessarily be infringed by standard-compliant products as set forth in those commitments (referred to as standard-essential patents). Some manufacturers and users of standard-compliant products advance interpretations of these commitments that are adverse to our licensing business, including interpretations that would limit the amount of royalties that we could collect on the licensing of our standard-essential patent portfolio. Further, some third parties have proposed significant changes to existing intellectual property policies for implementation by SDOs and other industry organizations with the goal of significantly devaluing standard-essential patents. For example, some have put forth proposals which would require a maximum aggregate intellectual property royalty rate for the use of all standard-essential patents owned by all of the member companies to be applied to the selling price of any product implementing the relevant standard. They have further proposed that such maximum aggregate royalty rate be apportioned to each member company with standard-essential patents based upon the number of standard-essential patents held by such company. Others have proposed that injunctions should not be an available remedy for infringement of standard-essential patents and have made proposals that could severely limit damage awards and other remedies by courts for patent infringement (e.g., by limiting the base upon which the royalty rate may be applied). A number of these strategies are purportedly based on interpretations of the policies of certain SDOs concerning the licensing of patents that are or may be essential to industry standards and on our (or other companies') alleged failure to abide by these policies. Some SDOs, courts and governmental agencies have adopted, and may in the future adopt, some or all of these interpretations or proposals in a manner adverse to our interests, including in litigation to which we may not be a party. Further, SDOs in certain countries may attempt to modify widely accepted standards and claim the resulting standard as their own. We expect that such proposals, interpretations and strategies will continue in the future, and if successful, our business model would be harmed, either by limiting or eliminating our ability to collect royalties (or by reducing the royalties we can collect) on all or a portion of our standard-essential patent portfolio, limiting our return on investment with respect to new technologies, limiting our ability to seek injunctions against infringers of our standard-essential patents, constraining our ability to make licensing commitments when submitting our technologies for inclusion in future standards (which could make our technologies less likely to be included in such standards) or forcing us to work outside of SDOs or other industry groups to promote our new technologies, and our revenues, results of operations and cash flows could be negatively impacted. In addition, the legal and other costs associated with asserting or defending our positions have been and may in the future be significant. We expect that such challenges, regardless of their merits, will continue into the foreseeable future and will require the investment of substantial management time and financial resources. Changes in our patent licensing practices, whether due to governmental investigations, legal challenges or otherwise, could adversely impact our business and results of operations. As described in the Risk Factor below titled "Our business may suffer as a result of adverse rulings in governmental investigations or proceedings," we have been in the past and may in the future be subject to various governmental investigations and legal proceedings challenging our patent licensing (or chipset sales) practices. We are currently subject to certain governmental investigations and/or legal proceedings described more fully in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies." We believe that one intent of certain of these governmental investigations and legal proceedings has been to reduce the amount of royalties that licensees are required to pay to us for their use of our intellectual property. 30

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

We have been in the past and are currently subject to various litigation and/or governmental investigations and proceedings. Certain of these matters are described in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies." We may become subject to other litigation or governmental investigations or proceedings in the future. Additionally, certain of our direct and indirect customers and licensees have pursued, and others may in the future pursue, litigation or arbitration against us related to our business. Unfavorable resolutions of one or more of these matters have had and could in the future have a material adverse effect on our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. See also the Risk Factors below titled "Changes in our patent licensing practices, whether due to governmental investigations, legal challenges or otherwise, could adversely impact our business and results of operations" and "Our business may suffer as a result of adverse rulings in governmental investigations or proceedings or other legal proceedings." In addition, in connection with our participation in SDOs, we, like other patent owners, generally have made contractual commitments to such organizations to license those of our patents that would necessarily be infringed by standard-compliant products as set forth in those commitments (referred to as standard-essential patents). Some manufacturers and users of standard-compliant products advance interpretations of these commitments that are adverse to our licensing business, including interpretations that would limit the amount of royalties that we could collect on the licensing of our standard-essential patent portfolio. Further, some third parties have proposed significant changes to existing intellectual property policies for implementation by SDOs and other industry organizations with the goal of significantly devaluing standard-essential patents. For example, some have put forth proposals which would require a maximum aggregate intellectual property royalty rate for the use of all standard-essential patents owned by all of the member companies to be applied to the selling price of any product implementing the relevant standard. They have further proposed that such maximum aggregate royalty rate be apportioned to each member company with standard-essential patents based upon the number of standard-essential patents held by such company. Others have proposed that injunctions should not be an available remedy for infringement of standard-essential patents and have made proposals that could severely limit damage awards and other remedies by courts for patent infringement (e.g., by limiting the base upon which the royalty rate may be applied). A number of these strategies are purportedly based on interpretations of the policies of certain SDOs concerning the licensing of patents that are or may be essential to industry standards and on our (or other companies') alleged failure to abide by these policies. Some SDOs, courts and governmental agencies have adopted, and may in the future adopt, some or all of these interpretations or proposals in a manner adverse to our interests, including in litigation to which we may not be a party. Further, SDOs in certain countries may attempt to modify widely accepted standards and claim the resulting standard as their own. We expect that such proposals, interpretations and strategies will continue in the future, and if successful, our business model would be harmed, either by limiting or eliminating our ability to collect royalties (or by reducing the royalties we can collect) on all or a portion of our standard-essential patent portfolio, limiting our return on investment with respect to new technologies, limiting our ability to seek injunctions against infringers of our standard-essential patents, constraining our ability to make licensing commitments when submitting our technologies for inclusion in future standards (which could make our technologies less likely to be included in such standards) or forcing us to work outside of SDOs or other industry groups to promote our new technologies, and our revenues, results of operations and cash flows could be negatively impacted. In addition, the legal and other costs associated with asserting or defending our positions have been and may in the future be significant. We expect that such challenges, regardless of their merits, will continue into the foreseeable future and will require the investment of substantial management time and financial resources. Changes in our patent licensing practices, whether due to governmental investigations, legal challenges or otherwise, could adversely impact our business and results of operations. As described in the Risk Factor below titled "Our business may suffer as a result of adverse rulings in governmental investigations or proceedings or other legal proceedings," we have been in the past, currently are and may in the future be subject to various governmental investigations and/or legal proceedings challenging our patent licensing practices. Certain of these matters are described in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 7. Commitments and Contingencies." We believe that one intent of certain of these governmental investigations and legal proceedings has been to reduce the amount of royalties that licensees are required to pay to us for their use of our intellectual property. If we were required to reduce the royalty rates in our patent license agreements, our revenues, earnings and cash flows would be negatively impacted absent a sufficient increase in the volume of sales of devices upon which royalties are paid. 28

reworded RISKS SPECIFIC TO OUR LICENSING BUSINESS

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

If we were required to reduce the royalty rates in our patent license agreements, our revenues, earnings and cash flows would be negatively impacted absent a sufficient increase in the volume of sales of devices upon which royalties are paid. Similarly, if we were required to reduce the base on which our royalties are calculated, our revenues, results of operations and cash flows would be negatively impacted unless there was a sufficient increase in the volume of sales of devices upon which royalties are paid or we were able to increase our royalty rates to offset the decrease in revenues resulting from such lower royalty base (assuming the absolute royalty dollars were below any relevant royalty caps). If we were required to grant patent licenses to chipset manufacturers (which could lead to implementing a more complex, multi-level licensing structure in which we license certain portions of our patent portfolio to chipset manufacturers and other portions to OEMs), we would incur additional transaction costs, which may be significant, and we could incur delays in recognizing revenues until license negotiations were completed. In addition, our licensing revenues and earnings would be negatively impacted if we were not able to obtain, in the aggregate, equivalent revenues under such a multi-level licensing structure. If we were required to sell chipsets to OEMs that do not have a license to our patents, our licensing program could be negatively impacted by patent exhaustion claims raised by such unlicensed OEMs (i.e., claims that our sale of chipsets to such OEMs forecloses us from asserting any patents substantially embodied by the chipsets against such OEMs). Such sales would provide OEMs with a defense in the event we asserted our patents against them to obtain licensing revenue for those patents. This could have a material adverse effect on our licensing program and our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. To the extent that we were required to implement any of these new licensing and/or business practices, including by modifying or renegotiating our existing license agreements or pursuing other commercial arrangements, we would incur additional transaction costs, which may be significant, we could incur delays in recognizing revenues until license negotiations were completed, and our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition could be harmed. The impact of any such changes to our licensing practices could vary widely and by jurisdiction, depending on the specific outcomes and the geographic scope of such outcomes. In addition, if we were required to make modifications to our licensing practices in one jurisdiction, licensees or governmental agencies in other jurisdictions may attempt to obtain similar outcomes for themselves or for such other jurisdictions, as applicable, which would result in increased legal costs.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Similarly, if we were required to reduce the base on which our royalties are calculated (e.g., license at the chipset level rather than at the device level), our revenues, earnings and cash flows would be negatively impacted unless there was a sufficient increase in the volume of sales of devices upon which royalties are paid or we were able to increase our royalty rates to offset the decrease in revenues resulting from such lower royalty base (assuming the absolute royalty dollars were below any relevant royalty caps). If we were required to grant patent licenses to chipset manufacturers (which could lead to implementing a more complex, multi-level licensing structure in which we license certain portions of our patent portfolio to chipset manufacturers and other portions to OEMs), we would incur additional transaction costs, which may be significant, and we could incur delays in recognizing revenues until license negotiations were completed. In addition, our licensing revenues and earnings would be negatively impacted if we were not able to obtain, in the aggregate, equivalent revenues under such a multi-level licensing structure. If we were required to sell chipsets to OEMs that do not have a license to our patents, our licensing programs could be negatively impacted by patent exhaustion claims raised by such unlicensed OEMs (i.e., claims that our sale of chipsets to such OEMs forecloses us from asserting any patents substantially embodied by the chipsets against such OEMs). Such sales could provide OEMs with a defense in the event we asserted our patents against them to obtain licensing revenue for those patents. This could have a material adverse effect on our licensing programs and our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition. To the extent that we were required to implement any of these licensing and/or business practices, including by modifying or renegotiating our existing license agreements or pursuing other commercial arrangements, we would incur additional transaction costs, which may be significant, we could incur delays in recognizing revenues until license negotiations were completed, and our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition could be harmed. The impact of any such changes to our licensing practices could vary widely and by jurisdiction, depending on the specific outcomes and the geographic scope of such outcomes. In addition, if we were required to make modifications to our licensing practices in one jurisdiction, licensees or governmental agencies in other jurisdictions may attempt to obtain similar outcomes for themselves or for such other jurisdictions, as applicable, which could result in increased legal costs and further harm to our business, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

reworded RISKS RELATED TO INDUSTRY DYNAMICS AND COMPETITION

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

RISKS RELATED TO INDUSTRY DYNAMICS AND COMPETITION Our revenues depend on our customers' and licensees' sales of products and services based on CDMA, OFDMA and other communications technologies, including 5G, and customer demand for our products based on these technologies. We develop, patent and commercialize technology and products based on CDMA, OFDMA and other communications technologies, which are primarily wireless. We depend on our customers and licensees to develop devices and services based on these technologies with value-added features to drive consumer demand for new 3G/4G and 3G/4G/5G multimode devices, as well as 4G single-mode devices, and to establish the selling prices for such devices. Further, the timing of our shipments of our products is dependent on the timing of our customers' and licensees' deployments of new devices and services based on these technologies. Increasingly, we also depend on operators of wireless networks, our customers and licensees and other third parties to incorporate these technologies into new device types and into industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, such as automotive and IoT, among others. We have historically been successful during wireless technology transitions, including 3G, 4G and now 5G. Commercial deployments of 5G networks and devices have begun and will continue. However, the timing and scale of such deployments, in certain regions, have been and may in the future be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our revenues and growth in revenues could be negatively impacted, our business may be harmed and our substantial investments in these technologies may not provide us an adequate return, if: our customers' and licensees' revenues and sales of products, particularly premium-tier products, and services using these technologies, and average selling prices of such products, decline due to, for example, the maturity of smartphone penetration in developed regions, including China; we do not continue to maintain our intellectual property and technical leadership in 5G, including in ongoing 5G standardization efforts; we are unable to drive the adoption of our products into networks and devices, including devices beyond mobile handsets; or consumers' rates of replacement of smartphones and other computing devices decline. Our industry is subject to intense competition in an environment of rapid technological change. Our success depends in part on our ability to adapt to such change and compete effectively; and such change and competition could result in decreased demand for our products and technologies or declining average selling prices for our products or those of our customers or licensees. Our products and technologies face significant competition. Competition may intensify as our current competitors expand their product offerings, improve their products or reduce the prices of their products as part of a strategy to maintain existing business and customers or attract new business and customers, as new opportunities develop, and as new competitors enter the industry. Competition in wireless communications is affected by various factors that include, among others: OEM concentrations; vertical integration; competition in certain geographic regions; government intervention or support of national industries or competitors; the ability to maintain product differentiation as the result of evolving industry standards and speed of technological change (including the transition to smaller geometry process technologies and the demand for always on, always connected capabilities); access to capacity in the supply chain; and value-added features that drive selling prices and consumer demand for new 3G/4G and 3G/4G/5G multimode devices, as well as 3G and 4G single-mode devices. We anticipate that additional competitors will introduce products as a result of growth opportunities in wireless communications, the trend toward global expansion by foreign and domestic competitors, and technological and public policy changes. Additionally, the semiconductor industry has experienced and may continue to experience consolidation, which could result in significant changes to the competitive landscape. For example, if any key supplier of technologies and intellectual property to the semiconductor industry was sold to one of our competitors, it could negatively affect our ability to procure or license such technologies and intellectual property in the future, at all or upon acceptable terms which could have wide-ranging impacts on our business and operations.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

RISKS RELATED TO INDUSTRY DYNAMICS AND COMPETITION Our revenues depend on our customers' and licensees' sales of products and services based on CDMA, OFDMA and other communications technologies, including 5G, and customer demand for our products based on these technologies. We develop, patent and commercialize technology and products based on CDMA, OFDMA and other communications technologies, which are primarily wireless. We depend on our customers and licensees to develop devices and services based on these technologies to drive consumer demand for new 3G/4G/5G multimode and single-mode devices, and to establish the selling prices for such devices. Further, the timing of our shipments of our products is dependent on the timing of our customers' and licensees' deployments of new devices and services based on these technologies. Increasingly, we also depend on operators of wireless networks, our customers and licensees and other third parties to incorporate these technologies into new device types and into industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, such as automotive and IoT, among others. Commercial deployments of 5G networks and devices have begun and are expected to continue for the foreseeable future. However, the timing and scale of such deployments, in certain regions, have been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and may be further delayed for reasons that are beyond our control. Our revenues and growth in revenues could be negatively impacted, our business may be harmed and our substantial investments in these technologies may not provide us an adequate return, if: our customers' and licensees' revenues and sales of products, particularly premium-tier products, and services using these technologies, and average selling prices of such products, decline due to, for example, the maturity of smartphone penetration in developed regions, including China; we do not continue to maintain our intellectual property and technical leadership in 5G, including in ongoing 5G standardization efforts; we are unable to drive the adoption of our products into networks and devices, including devices beyond mobile handsets; or consumers' rates of replacement of smartphones and other devices decline. Our industry is subject to intense competition in an environment of rapid technological change. Our success depends in part on our ability to adapt to such change and compete effectively; and such change and competition could result in decreased demand for our products and technologies or declining average selling prices for our products or those of our customers or licensees. Our products and technologies face significant competition. Competition may intensify as our current competitors expand their product offerings, improve their products or reduce the prices of their products as part of a strategy to maintain existing business and customers or attract new business and customers, as new opportunities develop, and as new competitors enter the industry. Competition in wireless communications is affected by various factors that include, among others: OEM concentrations; vertical integration; competition in certain geographic regions; government intervention or support of national industries or competitors; the ability to maintain product differentiation in light of evolving industry standards and speed of technological change (including the transition to smaller geometry process technologies and the demand for always on, always connected capabilities); access to capacity in the supply chain; and value-added features that drive selling prices and consumer demand for new 3G/4G/5G multimode and single-mode devices. We anticipate that additional competitors will introduce products as a result of growth opportunities in wireless communications, the trend toward global expansion by foreign and domestic competitors, and technological and public policy changes. Additionally, the semiconductor industry has experienced and may continue to experience consolidation, which could result in significant changes to the competitive landscape. For example, if any key supplier of technologies and intellectual property to the semiconductor industry was sold to one of our competitors, it could negatively affect our ability to procure or license such technologies and intellectual property in the future, at all or upon acceptable terms which could have wide-ranging impacts on our business and operations.

  symbology.online · text diffs 

Side-by-side against the prior Business Description.

Business Description

20 changes
escalated Operating Segments

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

Operating Segments We have three reportable segments. We conduct business primarily through QCT and QTL, while QSI makes strategic investments. Additional information regarding our operating segments is provided in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 8. Segment Information." QCT Segment. QCT is a leading developer and supplier of integrated circuits and system software based on 3G/4G/5G and other technologies for use in wireless voice and data communications, networking, computing, multimedia and GPS products. QCT's integrated circuit products are sold and its system software is licensed to manufacturers that use our products in a broad range of devices, from low-tier, entry-level devices primarily for emerging regions to premium-tier devices, including but not limited to mobile devices (primarily smartphones), tablets, laptops, XR headsets, data modules, gaming devices, voice and music devices, wearable devices, wireless access points and routers, broadband gateway equipment, data cards and infrastructure equipment, sensor hubs and other industrial equipment and automotive systems for telematics, connectivity and digital cockpit. Our 3G/4G/5G modem roadmap delivers the latest network technologies across multiple product tiers and devices. This roadmap is the result of extensive collaboration with manufacturers, operators, developers, systems integrators, cloud providers, tool vendors, service providers, governments and industry standards organizations, as well as our years of research into emerging network standards and the development of integrated circuits, that takes advantage of these new standards, while maintaining backward compatibility with existing standards. We have leveraged and expect to continue to leverage the foundational technologies initially developed and commercialized for use in mobile handset devices, such as our core baseband modem and processor technologies and our other wireless connectivity products in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and precise positioning technologies, to extend into new product categories, industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, such as automotive and IoT (which includes the industries and applications of consumer, industrial and edge networking). The Snapdragon family of highly integrated, system-based solutions include the Snapdragon mobile, compute, sound and automotive platforms. Each platform consists of application processors and wireless connectivity capabilities, including our cellular modem that provides core baseband modem functionality for voice and data communications, non-cellular wireless 12 connectivity (such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) and global positioning functions. Our Snapdragon application processor functions include CPU, security, graphics, display, audio, video, camera and AI. Our CPUs are designed based on the ARM architecture and are designed to deliver high levels of compute performance with optimized power consumption. Our Qualcomm® Hexagon™ processors are designed to support a variety of signal processing applications, including AI, audio and sensor processing. Our Qualcomm® Adreno™ graphics processing units are designed to deliver high quality graphics performance for visually rich 3D gaming and user interfaces. In addition to the highly integrated core SoC, we also design and supply supporting components, including the RF transceiver, PM (power management), audio, codecs, speaker amps and additional wireless connectivity integrated circuits. These supporting components, in addition to our cellular modems and application processors comprising our core SoC, are also sold as individual components. The combination of the Snapdragon SoC, system software and supporting components provide an overall platform with optimized performance and efficiency, enabling manufacturers to design and deliver powerful, slim and power-efficient devices ready for integration with the complex cellular networks worldwide. Our portfolio of RF products includes Qualcomm® RFFE components that are designed to simplify the RF design for 5G front-end, LTE multimode and multiband mobile devices, including sub-6 GHz and mmWave devices, to reduce power consumption and to improve radio performance. We provide comprehensive RFFE product offerings with system level performance from the modem and transceiver to the antenna that include complex 4G/5G transmit and receive modules, power tracking, tuning systems, multimode-multiband power amplification, low noise amplifiers and mmWave antenna solutions, in addition to discrete filtering products, for devices and applications across the mobile handsets, automotive and IoT industries. We have also integrated our Snapdragon platform with our RFFE components to create our Snapdragon 5G modem-RF products, the world's first commercial modem-to-antenna 5G solution designed to maximize data speeds and performance, support superior call connectivity and coverage and extend battery life.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Operating Segments We have three reportable segments. We conduct business primarily through QCT and QTL, while QSI makes strategic investments. Additional information regarding our operating segments is provided in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 8. Segment Information." QCT Segment. QCT is a leading developer and supplier of integrated circuits and system software based on 3G/4G/5G and other technologies for use in wireless voice and data communications, networking, computing, multimedia and GPS products. QCT's integrated circuit products are sold and its system software is licensed to manufacturers that use our 10 products in a broad range of devices, from low-tier, entry-level devices primarily for emerging regions to premium-tier devices, including but not limited to mobile devices, wireless networks, devices used in IoT, broadband gateway equipment, consumer electronic devices and automotive systems for connectivity, digital cockpit and advanced driver assistance and automated driving. Our one technology roadmap delivers the latest network technologies across multiple product tiers and devices. This roadmap is the result of extensive collaboration with manufacturers, operators, developers, systems integrators, cloud providers, tool vendors, service providers, governments and industry standards organizations, as well as our years of research into emerging network standards and the development of integrated circuits. Our roadmap takes advantage of new standards, while maintaining backward compatibility with existing standards. We have leveraged and expect to continue to leverage the foundational technologies initially developed and commercialized for use in mobile handset devices, such as our core baseband modem and processor technologies and our other wireless connectivity products including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and precise positioning technologies, to extend into product categories, industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, such as automotive and IoT (which includes the industries and applications of consumer, industrial and edge networking). The Snapdragon family of highly integrated, system-based solutions include the Snapdragon mobile, compute, sound and automotive platforms. Each platform consists of application processors and wireless connectivity capabilities, including our cellular modem that provides core baseband modem functionality for voice and data communications, non-cellular wireless connectivity (such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) and global positioning functions. Our Snapdragon application processor functions include CPU, security, graphics, display, audio, video, camera and AI. Our CPUs are designed to deliver high levels of compute performance with optimized power consumption. Our Qualcomm® Hexagon™ processors are designed to support a variety of signal processing applications, including AI, audio and sensor processing. Our Qualcomm® Adreno™ graphics processing units are designed to deliver high quality graphics performance for visually rich 3D gaming and user interfaces. In addition to the highly integrated core SoC, we also design and supply supporting components, including the RF transceiver, PM (power management), audio, codecs, speaker amps and additional wireless connectivity integrated circuits. These supporting components, in addition to our cellular modems and application processors comprising our core SoC, are also sold as individual components. The combination of the Snapdragon SoC, system software and supporting components provide an overall platform with optimized performance and efficiency, enabling manufacturers to design and deliver powerful, slim and power-efficient devices ready for integration with the complex cellular networks worldwide. Our portfolio of RF products includes Qualcomm® RFFE components that are designed to simplify the RF design for 5G front-end, LTE multimode and multiband mobile devices, including sub-6 GHz and mmWave devices, to reduce power consumption and to improve radio performance. We provide comprehensive RFFE product offerings with system level performance from the modem and transceiver to the antenna that include complex 4G/5G transmit and receive modules, power tracking, tuning systems, multimode-multiband power amplification, low noise amplifiers and mmWave antenna solutions, in addition to discrete filtering products, for devices and applications across the mobile handsets, automotive and IoT industries. We have also integrated our Snapdragon platform with our RFFE components to create our Snapdragon 5G modem-RF products, the world's first commercial modem-to-antenna 5G solution designed to maximize data speeds and performance, support superior call connectivity and coverage and extend battery life. Our wireless connectivity products also consist of integrated circuits and system software for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and frequency modulation, as well as technologies that support location data and services, including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, NavIC and BeiDou. Our wireless connectivity products provide additional connectivity for mobile devices, tablets, laptops, XR headsets, voice and music devices, wearable devices, along with other IoT devices and applications, automotive connectivity, digital cockpit and ADAS/AD, utility meters and logistic trackers and industrial sensors. QCT also offers standalone Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, fingerprint sensor, applications processor and Ethernet products utilized within these devices and systems. Our networking products include Wi-Fi, Ethernet and Powerline chips, network processors, wireless access points and routers, broadband gateway equipment and software. These products help enable home and business networks to support the growing number of connected devices, digital media and data services.

de-emphasised Human Capital

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

help cultivate a productive work environment, while also focusing on our employees' wellbeing. We have commenced a phased approach to returning our employees onsite, which included modifications to certain of our existing office locations as we adapt to a hybrid work environment that provides flexibility, while maintaining our strong culture of innovation, collaboration, openness and camaraderie, in addition to a safe working environment for our employees. We continue to monitor the state of the pandemic and gather additional feedback during the reopening of our offices to ensure the continued health, safety and wellness of our employees working onsite. Compensation and Benefits. We provide robust compensation and benefits programs to help meet the needs of our employees. In addition to salaries, these programs (which vary by country/region) include annual bonuses, stock awards, an employee stock purchase plan, a 401(k) plan, healthcare and insurance benefits, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off, family leave, family care resources, flexible work schedules, adoption and surrogacy assistance, employee assistance programs, tuition assistance and on-site services, such as health centers and fitness centers, among many others. In addition to our broad-based equity award programs, we have used targeted equity-based grants with vesting conditions to facilitate retention of personnel, particularly those with critical engineering skills and experience. Talent Development. We invest significant resources to develop the talent needed to remain a world-leading wireless innovator. We deliver numerous training opportunities, provide rotational assignment opportunities, have expanded our focus on continuous learning and development, and implemented "industry-leading" methodologies to manage performance, provide feedback and develop talent. Our talent development programs provide employees with the resources they need to help achieve their career goals, build management skills and lead their organizations. We provide a series of employee workshops around the globe that support professional growth and development. Additionally, our manager and employee forum programs provide an ongoing opportunity for employees to practice and apply learning around conversations aligned with our annual review process. We also have an employee development website that provides quick access to learning resources that are personalized to the individual's development needs. Building Connections - With Each Other and our Communities. We believe that building connections between our employees, their families and our communities creates a more meaningful, fulfilling and enjoyable workplace. Through our engagement programs, our employees can pursue their interests and hobbies, connect to volunteering and giving opportunities and enjoy unique recreational experiences with family members. Leveraging our partnerships with various local arts and culture organizations, we have created numerous unique experiences for employees and their families around the world. Since our employees are passionate about many causes, our corporate giving and volunteering programs support and encourage employees by engaging with those causes. In our offices around the world, our employee-led Giving Committees select local organizations to support, often in the form of grants that are primarily funded by the Qualcomm Foundation (which was established in 2011 to support charitable giving and volunteerism). We also frequently collaborate with these organizations on volunteer activities for our employees. Additionally, during fiscal 2021, thousands of our employees around the world utilized our charitable match program, benefiting more than 1,600 charitable organizations.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Compensation and Benefits. We provide robust compensation and benefits programs to help meet the needs of our employees. In addition to salaries, these programs (which vary by country/region) include annual bonuses, stock awards, an employee stock purchase plan, a 401(k) plan, healthcare and insurance benefits, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off, family leave, family care resources, flexible work schedules, adoption and surrogacy assistance, 16 employee assistance programs, tuition assistance, and on-site services such as health centers and fitness centers, among others. In addition to our broad-based equity award programs, we have used targeted equity awards with vesting conditions to facilitate retention of personnel, particularly those with critical engineering skills and experience. Talent Development. We invest significant resources to develop the talent needed to remain a world-leading wireless innovator. We deliver numerous training opportunities, provide rotational assignment opportunities, focus on continuous learning and development and have implemented what we believe are industry-leading methodologies to manage performance, provide feedback and develop talent. Our talent development programs are designed to provide employees with the resources they need to help achieve their career goals, build management skills and lead their organizations. We provide a series of employee workshops around the globe that support professional growth and development. Additionally, our manager and employee forum programs provide an ongoing opportunity for employees to practice and apply learning around conversations aligned with our annual review process. We also have an employee development website that provides quick access to learning resources that are personalized to the individual's development needs. Building Connections - With Each Other and our Communities. We believe that building connections between our employees, their families and our communities creates a more meaningful, fulfilling and enjoyable workplace. Through our engagement programs, our employees can pursue their interests and hobbies, connect to volunteering and giving opportunities and enjoy unique recreational experiences with family members. Leveraging our partnerships with various local arts and culture organizations, we have created numerous unique experiences for employees and their families around the world. Since our employees are passionate about many causes, our corporate giving and volunteering programs support and encourage employees by engaging with those causes. In our offices around the world, our employee-led Giving Committees select local organizations to support, often in the form of grants that are primarily funded by the Qualcomm Foundation (which was established in 2011 to support charitable giving and volunteerism). We also frequently collaborate with these organizations on volunteer activities for our employees. Additionally, during fiscal 2022, thousands of our employees around the world utilized our charitable match program, benefiting more than 1,500 charitable organizations.

de-emphasised Industry Trends

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

have embedded cellular connectivity, as compared to 55% in 2020 (Strategy Analytics, October 2021), which includes growth in 5G connectivity. Digitalization of the automotive cockpit continues to transform the in-vehicle experience, enabling greater personalization of content and settings for both drivers and passengers as automakers respond to growing interest from consumers to bring their digital lifestyles into the vehicle. Car-to-cloud platform solutions are helping automakers improve cost efficiencies, create new service opportunities throughout the lifecycle of a vehicle with over-the-air (OTA) update capabilities and receive valuable vehicle and usage analytics. High-performance, low-power computing technologies from mobile are being used to improve advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) features and will continue progression towards supporting higher levels of automation and safety. Transforming Other Industries: IoT. Demand for connected devices beyond smartphones continues to grow at a rapid pace across consumer, edge networking and industrial applications, in part due to the expanded use cases enabled by 5G technologies. The installed base of IoT devices, which includes everything from wearables to industrial handhelds to gateways, is projected to more than double between 2021 and 2025 to over 27 billion (IoT Analytics, October 2021). The growth in IoT devices is a catalyst in driving demand in edge networking platforms. Trends such as remote working, distance learning and telehealth have also helped accelerate the adoption of fast, reliable wireless technologies and driven the demand for connected devices and networking equipment. We expect many of these trends to continue well into the future. According to survey data, 79% of executives plan to allow employees to continue to work remotely at least part time (WeWork/Workplace Intelligence, April 2021), and over 70% of employees want flexible remote work options to remain in place (Microsoft, March 2021). In the United States alone, the virtual care market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 40% through 2025 (Frost & Sullivan, March 2021), signaling projected demand for remote connectivity. Consumer. Consumer IoT demand is being fueled by the adoption of the latest mobile technologies in consumer electronics products, including personal computing (e.g., tablets and personal computers), connected audio (e.g., wireless earbuds, speakers and soundbars), wearables (e.g., smart watches and XR) and others (e.g., camera and video collaboration, exercise equipment and home appliances). Connectivity brought to these devices enables new services, applications and experiences. Edge Networking. Growth in demand for connected devices, along with advances in wireless technology, are driving increased demand for edge networking products (including mobile broadband and wireless access points). 5G brings a broadband connection to the home via wireless technologies that allows for the delivery of high-speed, low-latency connections, enabling operators to replace traditional "last-mile" wired broadband connections. Advances in Wi-Fi alongside 5G technologies are driving consumer and enterprise demand for the latest Wi-Fi 6 access point technologies that leverage increased network speed, capacity and efficiency to support the increased number of connected devices at home and at work. Industrial. The digital transformation happening across industries, which is being driven by the adoption of mobile technologies, is fueling the growth of and new use cases for industrial IoT. Central to this transformation is the combination of connectivity, computing, on-device AI and big data that brings real time data and insights that are helping companies in industries such as retail, transportation, logistics and asset tracking and utilities gain new knowledge and insights about their products and services, manufacturing processes and more, which will help drive efficiencies and transform the way companies operate.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Digitalization of the automotive cockpit continues to transform the in-vehicle experience, enabling greater personalization of content and settings for both drivers and passengers as automakers respond to growing interest from consumers to bring their digital lifestyles into the vehicle. Car-to-cloud platforms are helping automakers improve cost efficiencies, create new service opportunities throughout the lifecycle of a vehicle with over-the-air (OTA) update capabilities and valuable vehicle and usage analytics. This is driving the development of a new architecture for the software-defined vehicle. High-performance, low-power computing technologies from mobile are being used to improve vehicles with advanced driver assistance and automated driving features that we expect to scale across vehicle tiers and continue the progression toward higher levels of autonomy, safety and convenience. Analysts estimate that 19% of new vehicles sold globally in 2025 will have Level 2 (i.e., partial driving automation) or higher autonomy, compared to an estimated 9% of new vehicles sold globally in 2022 (Strategy Analytics, October 2022). Transforming Other Industries: IoT. Demand for connected devices beyond smartphones continued to grow across consumer, edge networking and industrial applications in fiscal 2022, in part due to the expanded use cases enabled by 5G technologies. The installed base of IoT devices, which includes everything from wearables to industrial handhelds to gateways, is projected to more than double between 2022 and 2026 to over 27 billion (IoT Analytics, October 2022). The growth in IoT devices is an important catalyst in driving digital transformation across industries. Consumer. Consumer IoT products continue to adopt the latest mobile connectivity, processing and intelligence technologies, including personal computing (e.g., tablets and personal computers), connected audio (e.g., wireless earbuds, speakers and soundbars), wearables (e.g., smart watches), XR devices (e.g., VR headsets and AR glasses) and others (e.g., camera and video collaboration, exercise equipment and home appliances). This is enabling new services, applications and experiences. Edge Networking. Growth in demand for connected devices, the transition to hybrid work environments and advances in wireless technology are driving increased demand for edge networking products (including mobile broadband and wireless access points). 5G provides the flexibility to support both mobile and fixed wireless users with the delivery of high-speed, low-latency connections, enabling operators to replace traditional "last-mile" wired broadband connections. Additionally, advancements in Wi-Fi are driving consumer and enterprise demand for the latest Wi-Fi 6 and 6E access point technologies that leverage increased network speed, capacity and efficiency to support the increased number of connected devices at home and at work. Industrial. The combination of IoT devices with connectivity, computing and on-device AI along with the cloud are helping to bring near real-time data and insights in industries such as retail, transportation, logistics, mining and energy. This allows companies to gain new knowledge and insights about their products and services, manufacturing processes and more, which should help to transform, optimize and innovate their business.

de-emphasised Other (Non-Cellular) Wireless Technologies. There are other, non-cellular wireless technologies that have also been widely adopted.

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

Other (Non-Cellular) Wireless Technologies. There are other, non-cellular wireless technologies that have also been broadly adopted. Wireless Local Area Networks. Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), such as Wi-Fi, link two or more nearby devices wirelessly and usually provide connectivity through an access point. We are actively involved in innovative programs developed in the context of the Wi-Fi Alliance, a non-profit organization that drives global Wi-Fi adoption and evolution. Wi-Fi systems are based primarily on standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11 Working Group. Amendments of the 802.11 standard are commonly referred to by the names made popular by the Wi-Fi Alliance (for example, 802.11ax is known as Wi-Fi 6). Wi-Fi 6 adds advanced features such as downlink and uplink OFDMA and uplink multiple-user MIMO. This technology primarily targets connectivity for mobile devices, tablets, laptops and other consumer electronic devices using the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrum bands. 1200MHz of new spectrum has been added in the 6GHz band in the United States, Brazil, Canada, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and other countries, which triples the available spectrum for unlicensed technologies, such as Wi-Fi, which can be used by new Wi-Fi 6E devices. Europe has added 480 MHz of spectrum in the 6GHz band for unlicensed operation. For 60GHz mmWave technology, 802.11ay adds wider channel bandwidth and the use of MIMO to the existing 802.11ad (also known as Gigabit Wi-Fi or WiGig) standard. 802.11ah targets sub-1 GHz spectrum. We played a leading role in the development of 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11ay, 802.11ah and 802.11ad, and continue to play a leading role in the evolution of the 802.11 family of standards with the development of the new 802.11be standard, which is expected to be known as Wi-Fi 7. The 802.11be specification is expected to standardize technologies such as Multi-Link Operation, 4K QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation), wider channel bandwidth modes (up to 320 MHz) and low latency enhancements. Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a wireless personal area network that provides wireless connectivity between devices over short distances ranging from a few centimeters to approximately one hundred meters. Bluetooth technology provides wireless connectivity to a wide range of fixed or mobile consumer electronic devices. Bluetooth functionalities are standardized by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group in various versions of the specification (from 1.0 to 5.3), which include different functionalities, such as enhanced data rate, low energy and mesh technologies. We are a leading contributor to Bluetooth technologies in the areas of mobile devices and audio and mesh technologies. Location Positioning Technologies. Location positioning technologies continue to evolve in order to deliver an enhanced commercial location experience and comply with new mandates on location for E911 (enhanced 911) calls. We are a key developer of the Assisted-GPS (A-GPS), Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS) and WLAN positioning technologies used in most cellular handsets today. For uses requiring the best reliability and accuracy for E911 services and navigational based services, A-GPS, A-GNSS and WLAN provide leading-edge solutions. We continue to invest in the standardization and productization of many 4G- and 5G-based positioning capabilities, including in 3GPP Release 16. The industry continues to evolve to support additional inputs for improving the location experience. Our products and intellectual property now support multiple constellations for A-GNSS, including: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, NavIC and BeiDou; Wi-Fi-based and Bluetooth-based positioning for WLAN, including Wi-Fi RSSI (received signal strength 11 indication) and Wi-Fi RTT (round-trip time) signals for indoor location; observed time difference of arrival positioning for LTE access (e.g., in rural and indoor areas); and third-party inertial sensors. The combination of these different location solutions is used to ensure accurate location availability in all areas. Other Significant Technologies used in Cellular and Certain Consumer Electronic Devices and Networks. We have played and continue to play a leading role in developing and/or have acquired many of the other technologies used across the wireless system, including in cellular handsets and certain other consumer electronic devices and networks: •on-device AI features, including machine learning platforms and the application of AI and machine learning techniques to edge computing and other use cases; •graphics and display processing functionality; •video coding based on the HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) standard, which is being deployed to support 4K video and immersive media content, the next generation VVC (Versatile Video Coding) and the MPEG-5 EVC (Essential Video Coding) standard, which is designed to power the creation and consumption of rich digital media experiences; •audio coding, including EVS (enhanced voice services) and MPEG-H 3D Audio; •the latest version of 3GPP's codec for multimedia use and for voice/speech use; •camera functions; •operating system and user interface features; •XR platform features such as 6DoF (six-degrees of freedom) head tracking and controller capabilities, 3D Reconstruction, 3D audio and video pass-through, and embedded cellular connectivity for new types of user experiences; •security and content protection systems for enhanced device security without compromising the user experience and ultrasonic fingerprint readers for single touch authentication; •volatile (LP-DDR4, 5) and non-volatile (eMMC) memory and related controllers; •fast charging features, enabling devices to charge quickly, safely and efficiently; •Qualcomm® Smart Transmit™ technology, a modem-to-antenna technology that optimizes data speeds while complying with RF transmit power limits;

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Other (Non-Cellular) Wireless Technologies. There are other, non-cellular wireless technologies that have also been widely adopted. Wireless Local Area Networks. Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), such as Wi-Fi, link two or more nearby devices wirelessly and usually provide connectivity through an access point. We are actively involved in innovative programs developed in the context of the Wi-Fi Alliance, a non-profit organization that drives global Wi-Fi adoption and evolution. Wi-Fi systems are based primarily on standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11 Working Group. Amendments of the 802.11 standard are commonly referred to by the names made popular by the Wi-Fi Alliance (for example, 802.11ax is known as Wi-Fi 6). Wi-Fi 6 adds advanced features such as downlink and uplink OFDMA and uplink multiple-user MIMO. This technology primarily targets connectivity for mobile devices, tablets, laptops and other consumer electronic devices using the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrum bands. We continue to play a leading role in the evolution of the 802.11 family of standards with the development of the new 802.11be standard, which is expected to be known as Wi-Fi 7. Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a wireless personal area network that provides wireless connectivity between devices over short distances ranging from a few centimeters to approximately one hundred meters using the 2.4GHz industrial, scientific and medical spectrum band. Bluetooth technology provides wireless connectivity to a wide range of fixed or mobile consumer electronic devices. Bluetooth functionalities are standardized by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group in various versions of the specification (Bluetooth Core specification versions range from 1.0 to 5.3), which include different functionalities, such as enhanced data rate, low energy, mesh, audio, telephony, automotive, human interface device and location technologies. We are a leading contributor to Bluetooth technologies in the areas of mobile devices and audio and mesh technologies. 9 Location Positioning Technologies. Location positioning technologies continue to evolve in order to deliver an enhanced commercial location experience and comply with new mandates on location for E911 (enhanced 911) calls. We are a key developer of the Assisted-GPS (A-GPS), Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS) and WLAN positioning technologies used in most cellular handsets today. For uses requiring the best reliability and accuracy for E911 services and navigational based services, A-GPS, A-GNSS and WLAN provide leading-edge solutions. We continue to invest in the standardization and productization of many 4G- and 5G-based positioning capabilities, including in 3GPP Releases 16, 17 and 18. The industry continues to evolve to support additional inputs for improving the location experience. Our products and intellectual property now support multiple constellations for A-GNSS, including: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, NavIC and BeiDou; Wi-Fi-based and Bluetooth-based positioning for WLAN, including Wi-Fi RSSI (received signal strength indication) and Wi-Fi RTT (round-trip time) signals for indoor location; observed time difference of arrival positioning for LTE access (e.g., in rural and indoor areas); and third-party inertial sensors. The combination of these different location solutions is used to ensure accurate location availability in all areas. We are also a leader in the standardization of high accuracy position techniques for 5G NR access and support techniques to improve resilience of location.

reworded Item 1. Business

FY2021 10-K
Removed
Filed Nov 3, 2021

Item 1. Business We incorporated in California in 1985 and reincorporated in Delaware in 1991. We operate and report using a 52-53 week fiscal year ending on the last Sunday in September. Our 52-week fiscal years consist of four equal fiscal quarters of 13 weeks each, and our 53-week fiscal years consist of three 13-week fiscal quarters and one 14-week fiscal quarter. The financial results for our 53-week fiscal years and our 14-week fiscal quarters will not be exactly comparable to our 52-week fiscal years and our 13-week fiscal quarters. The fiscal years ended September 26, 2021, September 27, 2020 and September 29, 2019 included 52 weeks.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Item 1. Business We incorporated in California in 1985 and reincorporated in Delaware in 1991. We operate and report using a 52-53 week fiscal year ending on the last Sunday in September. Our 52-week fiscal years consist of four equal fiscal quarters of 13 weeks each, and our 53-week fiscal years consist of three 13-week fiscal quarters and one 14-week fiscal quarter. The financial results for our 53-week fiscal years and our 14-week fiscal quarters will not be exactly comparable to our 52-week fiscal years and our 13-week fiscal quarters. Our fiscal years for 2022, 2021 and 2020 included 52 weeks.

reworded Overview

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

Overview We are a global leader in the development and commercialization of foundational technologies for the wireless industry. Our technologies and products are used in mobile devices and other wireless products, and are sold across industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, including automotive and the internet of things (IoT) (which includes the industries and applications of consumer, industrial and edge networking), among others. Our inventions have helped power the growth in smartphones, which have connected billions of people. We are a leader in 3G (third generation), 4G (fourth generation) and 5G (fifth generation) wireless technologies. We derive revenues principally from sales of integrated circuit products, including our Snapdragon® family of highly-integrated, system-based solutions, and licensing of our intellectual property, including patents and other rights. The foundational technologies we invent help power the modern mobile experience, impacting how the world connects, computes and communicates. We share these inventions broadly through our licensing program, enabling wide ecosystem access to technologies at the core of mobile innovation, and through the sale of our wireless integrated circuit platforms (also known as integrated circuit products, chips or chipsets) and other products. We collaborate across the ecosystem, including manufacturers, operators, developers, system integrators, cloud providers, tool vendors, service providers, governments and industry standards organizations, to enable a global environment to drive continued progress and growth. We have a long history of driving innovation. We have played and continue to play a leading role in developing system level inventions that serve as the foundation for 3G, 4G and 5G wireless technologies. This includes technologies such as the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) families of technologies, with the latter encompassing LTE (Long Term Evolution) and 5G NR (New Radio), which are the primary digital technologies currently used to transmit voice or data over radio waves using a public or private cellular wireless network. We own significant intellectual property, including patents, patent applications and trade secrets, applicable to products that implement any version of CDMA and/or OFDMA technologies. Companies in the mobile industry generally recognize that any company seeking to develop, manufacture and/or sell devices or infrastructure equipment that use CDMA-based and/or OFDMA-based technologies will require a license or other rights to use our patents. We also develop and commercialize numerous other key technologies used in mobile and other wireless devices, and we own substantial intellectual property related to these technologies. Some of these inventions are contributed to and commercialized as industry standards, such as for certain video and audio codecs, Wi-Fi, GPS (Global Positioning System) and Bluetooth®. We have also developed other 7 technologies that are used by wireless devices that are not related to industry standards, such as operating systems, user interfaces, graphics and camera processing functionality, RF (radio frequency), RFFE (radio frequency front-end) and antenna designs, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques and application processor architectures. Our patents cover a wide range of technologies across the entire wireless system (including wireless devices and network infrastructure equipment), not just the portion of such patented technologies incorporated into chipsets. We are organized on the basis of products and services and have three reportable segments. We conduct business primarily through our QCT (Qualcomm CDMA Technologies) semiconductor business and our QTL (Qualcomm Technology Licensing) licensing business. QCT develops and supplies integrated circuits and system software based on 3G/4G/5G and other technologies, including RFFE, for use in mobile devices, automotive systems for telematics, connectivity and digital cockpit (also known as infotainment) and IoT including wireless networks, broadband gateway equipment, consumer electronic devices and industrial devices. QTL grants licenses or otherwise provides rights to use portions of our intellectual property portfolio, which includes certain patent rights essential to and/or useful in the manufacture and sale of certain wireless products. Our QSI (Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives) reportable segment makes strategic investments. We also have nonreportable segments, including QGOV (Qualcomm Government Technologies) and our cloud AI inference processing initiative and other technology and service initiatives.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Overview We are a global leader in the development and commercialization of foundational technologies for the wireless industry, including 3G (third generation), 4G (fourth generation) and 5G (fifth generation) wireless technologies and processor technologies including high-performance, low-power computing and on-device artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Our technologies and products are used in mobile devices and other wireless products. Our inventions have helped power the growth in smartphones and other cellular enabled devices. As a connected processor company, we are scaling our innovations using our one technology roadmap to enable the connected intelligent edge (the next generation of smart devices) across industries and applications beyond handsets, including automotive and the internet of things (IoT). In IoT, our inventions have helped power growth in industries and applications such as consumer (including computing, voice and music and XR), edge networking (including mobile broadband and wireless access points) and industrial (including handhelds, retail, transportation and logistics and utilities). In automotive, our connectivity, digital cockpit and advanced driver assistance and automated driving (ADAS/AD) platforms are helping to connect the car to its environment and the cloud, create unique in-cabin experiences and enable a comprehensive assisted and automated driving solution. We derive revenues principally from sales of integrated circuit products, including our Snapdragon® family of highly-integrated, system-based solutions, and licensing of our intellectual property, including patents and other rights. The foundational technologies we invent help power the modern mobile experience, impacting how the world connects, computes and communicates. We share these inventions broadly through our licensing programs enabling wide ecosystem access to technologies at the core of mobile innovation, and through the sale of our wireless integrated circuit platforms (also known as integrated circuit products, chips, chipsets or modules) and other products. We collaborate across the ecosystem, including with manufacturers, operators, developers, system integrators, cloud providers, test tool vendors, service providers, governments and industry standards organizations, to enable a global environment of continued progress and growth. We have a long history of driving innovation. We have played and continue to play a leading role in developing system level inventions that serve as the foundation for 3G, 4G and 5G wireless technologies. This includes technologies such as CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) families of technologies, with the latter encompassing LTE (Long Term Evolution) and 5G NR (New Radio), which are the primary digital technologies currently used to transmit voice or data over radio waves using a public or private cellular wireless network. We own significant intellectual property, including patents, patent applications and trade secrets, applicable to products that implement any version of CDMA and/or OFDMA technologies. The mobile industry generally recognizes that any 6 company seeking to develop, manufacture and/or sell devices or infrastructure equipment that use CDMA-based and/or OFDMA-based technologies requires a license or other rights to use our patents. We also develop and commercialize numerous other key technologies used in mobile and other wireless devices, and we own substantial intellectual property related to these technologies. Some of these inventions are contributed to and commercialized as industry standards, such as for certain video and audio codecs, Wi-Fi, GPS (Global Positioning System), UWB (ultra-wideband) and Bluetooth®. We have also developed other technologies that are used by wireless devices that are not related to industry standards, such as operating systems, user interfaces, graphics and camera processing functionality, RF (radio frequency), RFFE (radio frequency front-end) and antenna designs, AI and machine learning techniques and application processor architectures. Our patents cover a wide range of technologies across the entire wireless system (including wireless devices and network infrastructure equipment), not just the portion of such patented technologies incorporated into chipsets. We are organized on the basis of products and services and have three reportable segments. We conduct business primarily through our QCT (Qualcomm CDMA Technologies) semiconductor business and our QTL (Qualcomm Technology Licensing) licensing business. QCT develops and supplies integrated circuits and system software based on 3G/4G/5G and other technologies, including RFFE, for use in mobile devices; automotive systems for connectivity, digital cockpit and ADAS/AD; and IoT including consumer electronic devices; industrial devices; and edge networking products. QTL grants licenses or otherwise provides rights to use portions of our intellectual property portfolio, which includes certain patent rights essential to and/or useful in the manufacture and sale of certain wireless products. Our QSI (Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives) reportable segment makes strategic investments. We also have nonreportable segments, including QGOV (Qualcomm Government Technologies) and our cloud AI inference processing initiative.

reworded Corporate Structure

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

Corporate Structure We operate our businesses through our parent company, QUALCOMM Incorporated, and multiple direct and indirect subsidiaries. We have developed our corporate structure in order to address various legal, regulatory, tax, contractual compliance, operational and other matters. Substantially all of our products and services businesses, including QCT, and substantially all of our engineering, research and development functions, are operated by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated, and QTI's subsidiaries. QTL is operated by QUALCOMM Incorporated, which owns the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Neither QTI nor any of its subsidiaries has any right, power or authority to grant any licenses or other rights under or to any patents owned by QUALCOMM Incorporated.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Corporate Structure We operate our businesses through our parent company, QUALCOMM Incorporated, and multiple direct and indirect subsidiaries. We have developed our corporate structure in order to address various legal, regulatory, tax, contractual compliance, operational and other matters. Substantially all of our products and services businesses, including QCT, and substantially all of our engineering and research and development functions, are operated by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), a subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated, and QTI's subsidiaries. QTL is operated by QUALCOMM Incorporated, which owns the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Neither QTI nor any of its subsidiaries has any right, power or authority to grant any licenses or other rights under or to any patents owned by QUALCOMM Incorporated.

reworded Revenue Concentrations and Significant Customers

FY2021 10-K
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Revenue Concentrations and Significant Customers A small number of customers/licensees historically have accounted for a significant portion of our consolidated revenues. In fiscal 2021, revenues from Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi each comprised 10% or more of our consolidated revenues. Additional information regarding revenue concentrations is provided in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 1. Significant Accounting Policies" and "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 8. Segment Information."

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Revenue Concentrations and Significant Customers A small number of customers/licensees historically have accounted for a significant portion of our consolidated revenues. In fiscal 2022, revenues from Apple and Samsung each comprised 10% or more of our consolidated revenues. Additional information regarding revenue concentrations is provided in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 1. Significant Accounting Policies" and "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 8. Segment Information."

reworded Research and Development

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

Research and Development The wireless communications industry is characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, frequent new product introductions and, with the use of 5G, the expansion into new industries or applications such as automotive and IoT, requiring a continuous effort to enhance existing products and technologies and to develop new products and technologies. We have significant engineering resources, including engineers with substantial expertise in modem technologies, radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), RFFE, multimedia (camera, video, display, computer vision), advanced SoC, which includes specialized engines, such as CPU and GPU, to enable high performance and low-power computing and other optimization techniques, AI, packaging, and a broad range of other technologies. We expect to continue to invest in research and development in a variety of ways in an effort to extend the demand for our products and technologies and to utilize that research and development in industries and applications beyond mobile handsets (such as automotive and IoT), including continuing the development of new modem and multimedia technologies and other technologies (such as ADAS and XR), developing alternative technologies for certain specialized applications, participating in the formulation of new voice and data communication standards and technologies and assisting in deploying digital voice and data communications networks around the world. Our research and development team has a demonstrated track record of innovation in voice and data communication technologies and application processor technology, among others. We continue to invest significant resources towards advancements in OFDMA-based technologies and products (including LTE and 5G). We also engage in acquisitions and other transactions, such as joint ventures, to meet certain technology needs, to obtain development resources or open or expand opportunities for our technologies and to support the design and introduction of new products and services (or enhancing existing products and services) for voice and data communications and new industries and applications beyond mobile handsets. We make investments to provide our integrated circuit customers with chipsets designed on leading-edge technology nodes that combine multiple technologies for use in consumer electronic devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, laptops, voice and music devices, wearable devices, XR devices) and other products (e.g., access points and routers, data cards and infrastructure equipment). In addition to 3G, 4G and 5G technologies, our chipsets support other wireless and wired connectivity technologies, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, location positioning and Powerline communication. Our integrated chipsets often include multiple technologies, including advanced multimode modems, application processors and graphics engines, as well as the tools to connect these diverse technologies. We continue to support Android, Windows and other client software environments in our chipsets. We develop on our own, and with our partners, innovations that are integrated into our product portfolio to further expand the opportunity for wireless communications and enhance the value of our products and services. These innovations are expected to enable our customers to improve the performance or value of their existing services, offer these services more affordably and introduce revenue-generating broadband data services ahead of their competition. We have research and development centers in various locations throughout the world that support our global development activities and ongoing efforts to develop and/or advance 4G, 5G, RFFE and a broad range of other technologies. We continue to use our substantial engineering resources and expertise to develop new technologies, applications and services and make them available to licensees to help grow the communications industry and generate new or expanded licensing opportunities.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Research and Development The wireless communications industry is characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards, frequent new product introductions and, with the use of 5G, the expansion into industries and applications beyond mobile handsets such as automotive and IoT, requiring a continuous effort to enhance existing products and technologies and to develop new products and technologies. We have significant engineering resources, including engineers with substantial expertise in modem, radio-frequency integrated circuit, RFFE, multimedia (camera, video, display and computer vision), sensor perception and drive policy, advanced SoC, which includes specialized engines such as CPU and GPU to enable high performance and low-power computing and other optimization techniques, AI, packaging and a broad range of other technologies. We expect to continue to invest in research and development in a variety of ways in an effort to extend the demand for our products and technologies and to utilize that research and development in industries and applications beyond mobile handsets (such as automotive and IoT), including continuing the development of new modem and multimedia technologies and other technologies (such as ADAS/AD and XR), developing alternative technologies for certain specialized applications, participating in the formulation of new voice and data communication standards and technologies and assisting in deploying digital voice and data communications networks around the world. We continue to invest significant resources towards advancements in OFDMA-based technologies and products (including LTE and 5G). We also engage in acquisitions and other transactions to meet certain technology needs, to obtain development resources or open or expand opportunities for our technologies and to support the design and introduction of new products and services (or enhance existing products and services) for voice and data communications and industries and applications beyond mobile handsets, such as ADAS/AD. We make investments to provide our integrated circuit customers with chipsets designed on leading-edge technology nodes that combine multiple technologies for use in consumer electronic devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, laptops, voice and music devices, wearable devices and XR devices) and other products (e.g., access points and routers, data cards and infrastructure equipment). In addition to 3G, 4G and 5G technologies, our chipsets support other wireless and wired connectivity technologies, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, location positioning and Powerline communication. Our integrated chipsets often include multiple technologies, including advanced multimode modems, application processors and graphics engines, as well as the tools to connect these diverse technologies. We continue to support Android, Windows and other client software environments in our chipsets. We develop innovations that are integrated into our product portfolio to further expand the opportunity for wireless communications and enhance the value of our products and services. These innovations are expected to enable our customers to improve the performance or value of their existing services, offer these services more affordably and introduce revenue-generating broadband data services ahead of their competition. 14 We have research and development centers in various locations throughout the world that support our global development activities and ongoing efforts to develop and/or advance 4G, 5G, RFFE and a broad range of other technologies. We continue to use our substantial engineering resources and expertise to develop new technologies, applications and services and make them available to licensees to help grow the communications industry and generate new or expanded licensing opportunities.

reworded Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Human Capital

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Human Capital For decades, our innovations have helped transform industries, enhance people's lives and address some of society's biggest challenges. With the world becoming increasingly connected, we have a tremendous opportunity to shape a better future. We believe in the power of technology. As such, our corporate responsibility vision is to be a facilitator of innovation for a sustainable world, connected wirelessly. We have integrated corporate responsibility throughout our business, from our daily operations to our executive leadership and our Board of Directors (Board). The Governance Committee of our Board provides oversight on corporate 16 responsibility matters, including ESG policies, programs and initiatives, and the HR and Compensation Committee of our Board provides oversight on our workforce diversity and inclusion programs and initiatives. Our Corporate Responsibility Leadership Committee, composed of executives and senior management, provides guidance on global corporate responsibility issues. Our Corporate Responsibility Governance Committee implements directives from the Corporate Responsibility Leadership Committee, measures progress on achieving our goals, and reports to management on accomplishments and challenges.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Human Capital We believe that our innovations have helped transform industries, enhance people's lives and address some of society's biggest challenges. With the world becoming increasingly connected, we have an opportunity to shape a better future. We believe in the power of technology. As such, our corporate responsibility vision is to be a facilitator of innovation for a sustainable world, connected wirelessly. We have integrated corporate responsibility throughout our business, from our daily operations to our executive leadership and our Board of Directors (Board). The Governance Committee of our Board provides oversight on corporate responsibility matters, including ESG policies, programs and initiatives, and the HR and Compensation Committee of our Board provides oversight on our workforce diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives. Our ESG Leadership Committee, composed of executives and senior management, provides guidance on global corporate responsibility issues. Our ESG Governance Committee implements directives from the ESG Leadership Committee, measures progress on achieving our goals and reports to management on accomplishments and challenges.

reworded •Reducing our absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 30% from global operations, compared to a 2014 baseline.

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

2025 Goals. In addition to the human capital goals discussed below, our 2025 Goals related to corporate responsibility include, among others: •Reduce our absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 30% from global operations, compared to a 2014 baseline.

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

2025 Goals. In addition to the human capital goals discussed below, our 2025 Goals related to corporate responsibility include, among others: •Reducing our absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 30% from global operations, compared to a 2014 baseline.

reworded Human Capital

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

Human Capital In order to continue to produce the innovative, breakthrough technologies for which we are known, it is crucial that we continue to attract and retain top talent. To facilitate talent attraction and retention, we strive to make Qualcomm a diverse, inclusive and safe workplace, with opportunities for our employees to grow and develop in their careers, supported by strong compensation, benefits and health and wellness programs and by programs that build connections between our employees and their communities. At September 26, 2021, we had approximately 45,000 full-time, part-time and temporary employees, the overwhelming majority of which were full-time employees. During fiscal 2021, the number of employees increased by approximately 4,000, primarily due to increases in engineering resources. Our employees are represented by more than 100 self-identified nationalities working in over 150 locations in 33 different countries around the world. Collectively, we speak more than 90 different languages. Our global workforce is highly educated, with the substantial majority of our employees working in engineering or technical roles (many of whom help develop foundational technologies for both our QCT semiconductor business and our QTL licensing business). During fiscal 2021, our voluntary turnover rate was less than 7%, below the technology industry benchmark, which is comprised of certain of our key competitors (Aon, 2021 Salary Increase and Turnover Study - Second Edition, September 2021). Diversity and Inclusion. We believe that a diverse workforce is critical to our success, and we continue to focus on the hiring, retention and advancement of women and underrepresented populations. Our recent efforts have been focused in three areas: inspiring innovation through an inclusive and diverse culture; expanding our efforts to recruit and hire world-class diverse talent; and identifying strategic partners to accelerate our inclusion and diversity programs. We have employee networks that enhance our inclusive and diverse culture, including global network groups focused on supporting women, LGBTQ+ employees and employees with disabilities, in addition to U.S.-based employee networks that focus on Black and African American employees, Hispanic and Latinx employees and U.S. military members and veterans. We continue to recruit technical talent in diverse communities, including by engaging as a high-level sponsor of professional conferences, such as the Grace Hopper Celebration, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers National Convention and the National Society of Black Engineers National Convention. We also continue to recruit from a variety of colleges including Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Women's Colleges. Our continued engagement with organizations that work with diverse communities has been vital to our efforts to increase women and minority representation in our workforce. For example, we partner with AnitaB.org to benchmark our progress and identify promising practices for recruiting, retaining and advancing women technologists and support its research initiatives related to attracting and retaining women and underrepresented minority students in computing majors. We, alongside other top technology companies, helped form the Reboot Representation Tech Coalition, which aims to double the number of Black, Latinx and Native American women receiving computing degrees by 2025. In collaboration with the National Foundation for Autism Research, we started an internship program to welcome those with autism into our Company. Through our collaboration with Disability:IN's Inclusion Works program, we have increased our ability to address the needs of individuals with disabilities. We publish our most recent Consolidated EEO-1 reports on our website to provide additional transparency into our efforts to increase underrepresented populations in our workforce. From a governance perspective, the HR and Compensation Committee of our Board, through its charter, provides oversight of our policies, programs and initiatives focusing on workforce diversity and inclusion. Health, Safety and Wellness. The success of our business is fundamentally connected to the well-being of our people. Accordingly, we are committed to the health, safety and wellness of our employees. We provide our employees and their families with access to a variety of innovative, flexible and convenient health and wellness programs, including benefits that provide protection and security concerning events that may require time away from work or that impact their financial well-being; that support their physical and mental health by providing tools and resources to help them improve or maintain their health status and encourage engagement in healthy behaviors; and that offer choice where possible so they can customize their benefits to meet their needs and the needs of their families. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, we implemented significant changes that we determined were in the best interest of our employees, as well as the communities in which we operate, and which comply with government regulations. This included having the vast majority of our employees work from home, while implementing additional safety measures for employees continuing critical on-site work. We introduced our Live+Well, Work+Well program, designed to 18

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Human Capital In order to continue to produce the innovative, breakthrough technologies for which we are known, it is crucial that we continue to attract and retain top talent. To facilitate talent attraction and retention, we strive to make Qualcomm a diverse, inclusive and safe workplace, with opportunities for our employees to grow and develop in their careers, supported by strong compensation, benefits and health and wellness programs and by programs that build connections between our employees and their communities. At September 25, 2022, we had approximately 51,000 full-time, part-time and temporary employees, the overwhelming majority of which were full-time employees. During fiscal 2022, the number of employees increased by approximately 6,000, primarily due to increases in engineering resources, including those hired through acquisitions. Our employees are represented by more than 100 (self-identified) nationalities working in over 150 locations in 37 different countries around the world. Collectively, we speak more than 90 different languages. Our global workforce is highly educated, with the substantial majority of our employees working in engineering or technical roles (many of whom help develop foundational technologies for both our QCT semiconductor business and our QTL licensing business). During fiscal 2022, our voluntary turnover rate was less than 10%, lower than the technology industry benchmark, which is comprised of certain of our key competitors (Aon, 2022 Salary Increase and Turnover Study - Second Edition, September 2022). Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. We believe that a diverse workforce is important to our success, and we continue to focus on the hiring, retention and advancement of women and underrepresented populations. Our recent efforts have been focused in three areas: inspiring innovation through an inclusive and diverse culture; expanding our efforts to recruit and hire world-class diverse talent; and identifying strategic partners to accelerate our inclusion, equity and diversity programs. We have employee networks that enhance our inclusive and diverse culture, including global network groups focused on supporting women, LGBTQ+ employees and employees with disabilities, in addition to U.S.-based employee networks that focus on Black and African American employees, Hispanic and Latinx employees and U.S. military members and veterans. We continue to recruit technical talent in diverse communities, including by engaging as a high-level sponsor of professional conferences, such as the Grace Hopper Celebration, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers National Convention and the National Society of Black Engineers National Convention. We also continue to recruit from a variety of colleges including Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Women's Colleges. Our continued engagement with organizations that work with diverse communities has been vital to our efforts to increase women and minority representation in our workforce. For example, we partner with AnitaB.org to benchmark our progress and to identify promising practices for recruiting, retaining and advancing women technologists, and we support its research initiatives related to attracting and retaining women and underrepresented minority students in computing majors. We, alongside other top technology companies, helped form the Reboot Representation Tech Coalition, which aims to double the number of Black, Latinx and Native American women receiving computing degrees by 2025. Through our collaboration with Disability:IN's Inclusion Works program, we have increased our ability to address the needs of individuals with disabilities. We publish our most recent Consolidated EEO-1 reports on our website to provide additional transparency into our efforts to increase underrepresented populations in our workforce. We have also publicly set 2025 goals around diverse workforce and leadership representation, as described below. From a governance perspective, the HR and Compensation Committee of our Board provides oversight of our policies, programs and initiatives focusing on workforce diversity, equity and inclusion. Health, Safety and Wellness. The success of our business is fundamentally connected to the well-being of our people. Accordingly, we are committed to the health, safety and wellness of our employees. We provide our employees and their families with access to a variety of innovative, flexible and convenient health and wellness programs, including benefits that provide protection and security concerning events that may require time away from work or that impact their financial well-being; that support their physical and mental health by providing tools and resources to help them improve or maintain their health status and encourage engagement in healthy behaviors; and that offer choice where possible so they can customize their benefits to meet their needs and the needs of their families. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we took a variety of measures that we determined were in the best interests of our employees, as well as the communities in which we operate, and we have recently implemented a "hybrid" work model, meaning that the majority of our employees have flexibility to work remotely at least some of the time. The hybrid work model is intended to provide increased flexibility and support employee health and safety, while maintaining our strong culture of innovation, collaboration, openness and camaraderie. We continue to monitor the state of the pandemic and gather additional feedback to facilitate the continued health, safety and wellness of our employees working onsite. We also introduced our Live+Well, Work+Well program, designed to help cultivate a productive work environment, while also focusing on our employees' well-being.

reworded 2025 Goals. We set the following 2025 Goals related to human capital, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion:

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

2025 Goals. We set the following 2025 Goals related to human capital, with a focus on diversity and inclusion: •Increase women in leadership by 15% (defined as individuals at the principal and above level in technical roles, and director and above in non-technical roles). •Increase underrepresented minorities (URM) in leadership by 15% (for technical positions, "URM" includes Black, Latinx, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Native American; for non-technical positions, URM also includes Asian).

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

2025 Goals. We set the following 2025 Goals related to human capital, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion: •Increase women in leadership by 15% (defined as individuals at the principal and above level in technical roles, and director and above in non-technical roles). •Increase underrepresented minorities (URM) in leadership by 15% (for technical positions, "URM" includes Black, Hispanic or Latinx, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Native American; for non-technical positions, URM also includes Asian).

reworded •Increase overall URM representation by 20%.

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

•Increase overall URM representation by 20%. Human Capital Advancements Added to our Executive Compensation. As previously disclosed in our 2021 Proxy Statement, and in response to stockholder feedback, our HR and Compensation Committee allocated 10% of our executives' fiscal 2021 bonus to be based upon human capital advancements. The HR and Compensation Committee then adopted a framework for human capital advancements to include advancement of our 2025 diversity and inclusion goals, workforce stability and responsiveness to COVID-19. The foregoing discussion includes information regarding Human Capital matters that we believe may be of interest to stockholders generally. We recognize that certain other stakeholders (such as customers, employees and non-governmental organizations), as well as certain of our stockholders, may be interested in more detailed information on these topics. We encourage you to review the "Our People" section of our most recent Qualcomm Corporate Responsibility Report (located on our website) for more detailed information regarding our Human Capital goals, programs and initiatives. Nothing on our website, including our Consolidated EEO-1 reports, our Qualcomm Corporate Responsibility Report or sections thereof, shall be deemed incorporated by reference into this Annual Report. 19

FY2022 10-K
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Filed Nov 2, 2022

•Increase overall URM representation by 20%. Human Capital Advancements Linked to our Executive Compensation. The HR and Compensation Committee of our Board will consider human capital advancements in determining our executives' fiscal 2022 bonus. For fiscal 2022, progress towards human capital advancements serves as a non-financial performance modifier that can adjust the executives' bonus payout by a multiple of 0.9 to 1.1. The foregoing discussion includes information regarding Human Capital matters that we believe may be of interest to stockholders generally. We recognize that certain other stakeholders (such as customers, employees and non-governmental organizations), as well as certain of our stockholders, may be interested in more detailed information on these topics. We encourage you to review the "Our People" section of our most recent Qualcomm Corporate Responsibility Report (located on our website) for more detailed information regarding our Human Capital goals, programs and initiatives. Nothing on our website, including our Consolidated EEO-1 reports, our Qualcomm Corporate Responsibility Report or sections thereof, shall be deemed incorporated by reference into this Annual Report.

reworded Industry Trends

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

Industry Trends As the largest technology platform in the world, mobile has transformed the way we connect, compute and communicate. Advanced connectivity and high-performance, low-power computing technologies from mobile are also impacting industries beyond wireless, empowering new services, new business models and new ways to engage and interact with customers. Our breakthrough inventions, along with our flexible and transparent licensing program, have been integral to the growth and evolution of the mobile industry. Advancing Connectivity. 3G technology introduced the world to the potential of the mobile internet, and the ability to access the internet virtually anytime and anywhere. 4G brought mobile broadband speeds that helped fuel the smartphone era, forever changing the way we work, live and connect with others. 4G has become the foundational technology to many of the applications and services used today, including e-commerce, video streaming, video calling, social media and gaming. Building on foundational innovations developed for 3G and 4G, the mobile industry is quickly moving to 5G technology. Beginning with the Release 15 specification issued by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), an organization that develops technical specifications, 5G is designed to support multi-gigabit data rates, low latency and greater capacity than previous generations of mobile technology to enable enhanced mobile broadband experiences, including ultra-high definition (4K) video streaming and sharing, near-instantaneous access to cloud services, immersive cloud gaming and extended reality (XR), which includes augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR). 5G's performance and capacity improvements are also enabling operators to offer new consumer and enterprise services while also reducing their operating costs. Although 5G networks are being deployed at a faster pace as compared to the transition from 3G to 4G technologies, as with previous generations of mobile networks, it will take time. Since the first commercial 5G networks were launched in April of 2019, 180 operators in more than 70 countries have commercially launched 5G, with more than 280 additional operators investing to deploy the technology as of September 30, 2021 (GSA, October 2021). Most 5G devices include multimode support for 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi technologies, enabling service continuity where 5G has yet to be deployed. They also allow mobile operators to utilize existing 3G and/or 4G network infrastructure, enabling them to roll out 5G services over time, while also helping to maximize previous generation equipment investments. As of September 30, 2021, there were approximately 7.0 billion 3G/4G/5G connections globally, representing 85% of total mobile connections (GSMA Intelligence, November 2021). By 2025, global 3G/4G/5G connections are projected to reach 8.4 billion, with approximately 86% of these connections in emerging regions and China (GSMA Intelligence, November 2021). Consumer Demand in Smartphones. From October 2020 through September 2021, approximately 1.4 billion smartphones are estimated to have shipped globally, representing a year-over-year increase of approximately 8%, primarily driven by a recovery from the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which negatively impacted consumer demand for smartphones (IDC, Mobile Phone Tracker, 2021Q2). Smartphone shipments in calendar 2022 are expected to increase by approximately 3% year-over-year (IDC, Mobile Phone Tracker, 2021Q2), reflecting modest growth in emerging regions. We estimate that 5G smartphone shipments will be between 500 and 550 million in calendar 2021, more than doubling compared to the prior year. Looking beyond 2022, we expect modest smartphone growth in emerging regions to continue along with relatively flat demand in developed regions. Consumer demand for new experiences, combined with the needs of mobile operators and device manufacturers to provide differentiated features and services, is driving continued innovation within the smartphone across connectivity, processing, AI, multimedia, imaging, audio and more. As a result, the smartphone continues to be the go-to device for social networking, music and video streaming, photography and video capture, e-commerce, gaming, email, web browsing and more. 5G enables these experiences to be more immersive, intuitive and interactive. Transforming Other Industries: Automotive. The automotive industry continues to adopt advanced connectivity and compute technologies from mobile. According to analyst data, more than 70% of new vehicles sold in 2027 are projected to 8

FY2022 10-K
Added
Filed Nov 2, 2022

Industry Trends As the largest technology platform in the world, mobile has transformed the way we connect, compute and communicate. Advanced connectivity and high-performance, low-power computing technologies from mobile are also impacting industries beyond wireless, empowering new services, new business models and new ways to engage and interact with customers. Our breakthrough inventions, along with our licensing programs, have been integral to the growth and evolution of the mobile industry. Connected Intelligent Edge. Advancements in processor technologies have allowed for new levels of on-device processing (also known as edge computing). Edge computing brings processing closer to where data is generated, helping to reduce response time, improve security and enable greater personalization. As 5G and other forms of wireless connectivity converge with high-performance, low-power processing and on-device intelligence, devices at the edge are able to share data with cloud-based applications and each other. This is enabling expanded functionality and use cases, which we believe will have significant impact across industries. It is leading to the creation of the connected intelligent edge, where we expect billions of smart devices to be deployed. Advancing Connectivity. 3G technology introduced the world to the potential of the mobile internet, and the ability to access the internet virtually anytime and anywhere. 4G brought mobile broadband speeds that helped fuel the smartphone era, forever changing the way we work, live and connect with others. 4G has become the foundational technology to many of the applications and services used today, including e-commerce, video streaming, video calling, social media and gaming. Building on foundational innovations developed for 3G and 4G, the mobile industry continues to quickly move to 5G technology. Beginning with the Release 15 specification issued by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), an organization that develops technical specifications, 5G is designed to support multi-gigabit data rates, low latency and greater capacity than previous generations of mobile technology to enable enhanced mobile broadband experiences, including ultra-high definition (4K) video streaming and sharing, near-instantaneous access to cloud services, immersive cloud gaming and extended reality (XR), which includes augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR). 5G's performance and capacity improvements are also enabling operators to offer new consumer and enterprise services while also reducing their operating costs. Although 5G networks are being deployed at a faster pace as compared to the transition from 3G to 4G networks, as with previous generations of mobile networks, it will take time. Since the first commercial 5G networks were launched in April 2019, 226 operators in more than 90 countries have commercially launched 5G, with more than 500 operators investing to deploy the technology as of September 30, 2022 (GSA, October 2022). Many 5G devices include multimode support for 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi technologies, enabling service continuity where 5G has yet to be deployed. This allows mobile operators to utilize existing 3G and/or 4G network infrastructure, enabling operators to roll out 5G services over time, while also helping to maximize previous generation equipment investments. As of September 30, 2022, there were approximately 7.5 billion 3G/4G/5G connections globally, representing 88% of total mobile connections (GSMA Intelligence, October 2022). By 2026, global 3G/4G/5G connections are projected to reach 8.7 billion, with approximately 86% of these connections in emerging regions and China (GSMA Intelligence, October 2022). Consumer Demand in Smartphones. For calendar year 2022, we estimate that 3G, 4G, and 5G handset volumes will decrease by low-double digits year-over-year, with 5G smartphone shipments estimated between 600 and 650 million. Such expected decline in demand is primarily driven by the negative effects of the macroeconomic environment and the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic measures in China. 7 Consumer demand for new experiences, combined with the needs of mobile operators and device manufacturers to provide differentiated features and services, is driving continued innovation within the smartphone across connectivity, processing, AI, multimedia, imaging, audio and more. As a result, the smartphone continues to be the go-to device for social networking, music and video streaming, photography and video capture, e-commerce, gaming, email, web browsing and more. 5G enables these experiences to be more immersive, intuitive and interactive. Transforming Other Industries: Automotive. According to analyst data, more than 70% of new vehicles produced in 2028 are projected to have embedded cellular connectivity, with 60% of cellular connected vehicles featuring 5G connectivity. By comparison, 60% of vehicles produced in 2021 had embedded cellular connectivity, with 5G connectivity expected to ramp in 2023 (Strategy Analytics, October 2022).

reworded Information about our executive officers (and their ages as of November 1, 2022) are as follows:

FY2021 10-K
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Filed Nov 3, 2021

Information about our Executive Officers Our executive officers (and their ages as of November 1, 2021) are as follows: Cristiano R. Amon, age 51, has served as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director since June 2021. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer-elect from January 2021 to June 2021 and as President from January 2018 to January 2021. He served as Executive Vice President, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (QTI), and President, QCT, from November 2015 to January 2018. He served as Executive Vice President, QTI and Co-President, QCT from October 2012 to November 2015, Senior Vice President and Co-President, QCT from June 2012 to October 2012 and as Senior Vice President, QCT Product Management from October 2007 to June 2012, with responsibility for our product roadmap, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms. Mr. Amon joined Qualcomm in 1995 as an engineer and throughout his tenure at Qualcomm has held several other technical and leadership positions. Mr. Amon holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an honorary doctorate from UNICAMP, the State University of Campinas, Brazil. Heather Ace, age 51, has served as Chief Human Resources Officer since March 2020. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Ms. Ace was Senior Vice President, Human Resources at DexCom, Inc., a provider of continuous glucose monitoring, from July 2016 to March 2020. Prior to DexCom, she was Executive Vice President, Human Resources at Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., a developer of treatments for obesity, from January 2016 to July 2016. Ms. Ace was Integration Leader for Royal Philips, leading the cross-functional integration of Philips Healthcare's acquisition of Volcano Corporation, from January 2015 to January 2016. She was Executive Vice President, Human Resources at Volcano Corporation from May 2012 to January 2015. Prior to May 2012, Ms. Ace served in various senior executive roles in human resources, post-acquisition/merger integration and employment law at Life Technologies Corporation. She began her career at Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich (now DLA Piper) as a litigation and transactional employment attorney, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Ms. Ace holds a B.A. in Law & Society from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a J.D. from Santa Clara School of Law. Ann Cathcart Chaplin, age 48, has served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary since November 2021. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Ms. Chaplin served at General Motors Company as Corporate Secretary and Deputy General Counsel, U.S., Transformation Initiatives and Corporate Securities from February 2021 to November 2021, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, North America, Transformation Projects and Compliance from April 2019 to February 2021, Deputy General Counsel, Commercial, Transportation as a Service, Litigation and Regulation from January 2018 to April 2019, Deputy General Counsel, Intellectual Property, Regulation and Litigation from June 2017 to January 2018 and Deputy General Counsel, Litigation from December 2015 to June 2017. Prior to General Motors, Ms. Chaplin was Litigation Practice Group Leader/Litigation Equity Principal at the law firm of Fish & Richardson P.C. from February 2001 to December 2015. She began her career as an intellectual property litigation associate at the law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP. Ms. Chaplin holds a B.A in Sociology of Law from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Akash Palkhiwala, age 46, has served as Chief Financial Officer since November 2019. He served as Senior Vice President and Interim Chief Financial Officer from August 2019 to November 2019. He served as Senior Vice President, QCT Finance, QTI from December 2015 to August 2019 and Senior Vice President and Treasurer from October 2014 to December 2015. Mr. Palkhiwala served as Vice President, QCT Finance from October 2012 to October 2014 and Vice President, QCT Finance, QTI from October 2009 to October 2012. He served in various other finance roles since joining Qualcomm in March 2001. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Mr. Palkhiwala was an Analyst at KeyBank. Mr. Palkhiwala has an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from L.D. College of Engineering in India and an M.B.A from the University of Maryland. Alexander H. Rogers, age 64, has served as President, QTL and Global Affairs since June 2021. He served as President, QTL from October 2016 to June 2021. He served as Senior Vice President and President, QTL from September 2016 to October 2016, Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and General Manager, QTL from March 2016 to September 2016, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel from October 2015 to March 2016 and Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel from April 2007 to October 2015. Prior to transitioning to QTL, Mr. Rogers led Qualcomm's litigation group. Mr. Rogers joined Qualcomm in January 2001 as an attorney. Prior to joining Qualcomm, he was a partner at the law firm of Gray, Cary, Ware & Freidenrich (now DLA Piper), specializing in intellectual property and commercial litigation. Mr. Rogers holds a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. James H. Thompson, age 57, has served as Chief Technology Officer, QTI since March 2017. He served as Executive Vice President, Engineering, QTI from October 2012 to March 2017 and as Senior Vice President, Engineering from July 1998 to October 2012. Dr. Thompson joined Qualcomm in 1992 as a senior engineer and throughout his tenure at Qualcomm 20 has held several other technical and leadership positions. Dr. Thompson holds a B.S., an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin.

FY2022 10-K
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Information about our Executive Officers Information about our executive officers (and their ages as of November 1, 2022) are as follows: Cristiano R. Amon, age 52, has served as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors since June 2021. Mr. Amon served as President and Chief Executive Officer-elect from January 2021 to June 2021 and President from January 2018 to January 2021. He served as Executive Vice President, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. 17 (QTI), a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, and President, QCT, from November 2015 to January 2018. He served as Executive Vice President, QTI and Co-President, QCT from October 2012 to November 2015, Senior Vice President and Co-President, QCT from June 2012 to October 2012 and as Senior Vice President, QCT Product Management from October 2007 to June 2012, with responsibility for our product roadmap, including the Snapdragon platforms. Mr. Amon joined Qualcomm in 1995 as an engineer and throughout his tenure at Qualcomm has held several other technical and leadership positions. Mr. Amon holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an honorary doctorate from UNICAMP, the State University of Campinas, Brazil. Heather Ace, age 52, has served as Chief Human Resources Officer since March 2020. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Ms. Ace was Senior Vice President, Human Resources at DexCom, Inc., a provider of continuous glucose monitoring, from July 2016 to March 2020. Prior to DexCom, she was Executive Vice President, Human Resources at Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., a developer of treatments for obesity, from January 2016 to July 2016. Ms. Ace was Integration Leader for Royal Philips, leading the cross-functional integration of Philips Healthcare's acquisition of Volcano Corporation, from January 2015 to January 2016. She was Executive Vice President, Human Resources at Volcano Corporation from May 2012 to January 2015. Prior to May 2012, Ms. Ace served in various senior executive roles in human resources, post-acquisition/merger integration and employment law at Life Technologies Corporation. She began her career at Gray, Cary, Ware & Freidenrich (now DLA Piper) as a litigation and transactional employment attorney, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. Ms. Ace holds a B.A. in Law & Society from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a J.D. from Santa Clara School of Law. James J. Cathey, age 58, has served as Chief Commercial Officer, QTI since April 2022. Mr. Cathey served as Senior Vice President, Global Business Operations, QTI from December 2018 to April 2022, Senior Vice President, QTI and President, APAC and India from May 2016 to December 2018, Vice President, QTI and President, APAC and India from December 2015 to May 2016 and Vice President, QTI and President, Qualcomm Japan from December 2014 to December 2015. He served in various other operational and leadership roles since joining Qualcomm in September 2006. Prior to joining Qualcomm, he was an executive at Micron Technology, Inc., MicroDisplay Corp. and PixTech Inc. Mr. Cathey holds a B.B.A. from Boise State University. Ann Chaplin, age 49, has served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary since November 2021. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Ms. Chaplin served at General Motors Company as Corporate Secretary and Deputy General Counsel, U.S., Transformation Initiatives and Corporate Securities from February 2021 to November 2021, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, North America, Transformation Projects and Compliance from April 2019 to February 2021, Deputy General Counsel, Commercial, Transportation as a Service, Litigation and Regulation from January 2018 to April 2019, Deputy General Counsel, Intellectual Property, Regulation and Litigation from June 2017 to January 2018 and Deputy General Counsel, Litigation from December 2015 to June 2017. Prior to General Motors, Ms. Chaplin was an attorney at Fish & Richardson P.C. from February 2001 to December 2015, last holding the position of Litigation Practice Group Leader/Litigation Equity Principal. She began her career as an intellectual property litigation associate at the law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP. Ms. Chaplin holds a B.A in Sociology of Law from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Akash Palkhiwala, age 47, has served as Chief Financial Officer since November 2019. Mr. Palkhiwala served as Senior Vice President and Interim Chief Financial Officer from August 2019 to November 2019. He served as Senior Vice President, QCT Finance, QTI from December 2015 to August 2019 and Senior Vice President and Treasurer from October 2014 to December 2015. Mr. Palkhiwala served in various other finance and leadership roles since joining Qualcomm in March 2001. Prior to joining Qualcomm, he was an Analyst at KeyBank. Mr. Palkhiwala holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from L.D. College of Engineering in India and an M.B.A from the University of Maryland. Alexander H. Rogers, age 65, has served as President, QTL and Global Affairs since June 2021. Mr. Rogers served as President, QTL from October 2016 to June 2021, Senior Vice President and President, QTL from September 2016 to October 2016, Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and General Manager, QTL from March 2016 to September 2016, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel from October 2015 to March 2016 and Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel from April 2007 to October 2015. Prior to QTL, he led Qualcomm's litigation group. Mr. Rogers joined Qualcomm in January 2001 as an attorney. Prior to joining Qualcomm, he was a partner at the law firm of Gray, Cary, Ware & Freidenrich (now DLA Piper), specializing in intellectual property and commercial litigation. Mr. Rogers holds a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

reworded Technology Overview

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Wireless Technologies Overview The worldwide demand in the use of wireless devices and for data services and applications requires continuous innovation to improve the user experiences, support new services, increase network capacity, make use of different frequency bands and allow for dense network deployments. To meet these requirements, different wireless communications technologies continue to evolve. We have a long history of investing heavily in research and development and have developed foundational technologies that help drive the continued evolution of the wireless industry, including CDMA and OFDMA. As a result, we have developed and acquired (and continue to develop and acquire) significant related intellectual property. This intellectual property has been incorporated into the most widely accepted and deployed cellular wireless communications technology standards, and we have licensed it to several hundred licensees, including all the leading handset manufacturers.

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Technology Overview The worldwide demand for wireless devices, data services and applications requires continuous innovation to improve the user experiences, support new services, increase network capacity, make use of different frequency bands and allow for dense network deployments. To meet these requirements, different wireless communications technologies continue to evolve. We have a long history of investing heavily in research and development and have developed foundational technologies, including CDMA and OFDMA, that help drive the continued evolution of the wireless industry. As a result, we have developed and acquired (and continue to develop and acquire) significant related intellectual property. This intellectual property has been incorporated into the most widely accepted and deployed cellular wireless communications technology standards, and we have licensed it to several hundred licensees, including all of the leading handset manufacturers.

reworded •power management systems for improved battery life and device charging; and

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•power management systems for improved battery life and device charging; and •System on Chip (SoC) architecture with heterogeneous computing features, which uses different types of specialized engines (Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)) to enable high performance and low-power computing and other optimization techniques.

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•power management systems for improved battery life and device charging; and •SoC architecture with heterogeneous computing features, which uses different types of specialized engines (Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)) to enable high performance and low-power computing and other optimization techniques.

reworded Acquisitions

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Acquisitions We make strategic investments and acquisitions to: open new opportunities for our technologies, supporting the design and introduction of new products and services (or enhancing existing products or services); obtain development resources; grow our patent portfolio; or pursue new businesses as part of our strategic plan. Information regarding acquisitions is provided in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 9. Acquisitions" and "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 12. Subsequent Events."

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Acquisitions We make strategic investments and acquisitions in order to open new opportunities for our technologies, support the design and introduction of new products and services (or enhance existing products or services), obtain development resources, grow our patent portfolio or pursue new businesses as part of our strategic plan. Information regarding our acquisitions is provided in this Annual Report in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 9. Acquisitions."

reworded Operating Segments

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QSI Segment. QSI makes strategic investments primarily through our Qualcomm Ventures arm that are focused on expanding or opening new opportunities for our technologies as well as supporting the design and introduction of new products and services (or enhancing existing products or services). Many of these strategic investments are in early-stage companies in a variety of industries and applications, including, but not limited to, 5G, AI, automotive, consumer, enterprise, cloud and IoT. Investments primarily include non-marketable equity securities and, to a lesser extent, marketable equity securities (the majority of which resulted from initial public offerings of certain non-marketable equity investments) and convertible debt instruments. In addition, QSI segment results include revenues and related costs associated with development contracts with one of our investees. As part of our strategic investment activities, we generally intend to pursue various exit strategies for each of our QSI investments in the foreseeable future. Other Businesses. Nonreportable segments include our Qualcomm Government Technologies or QGOV business, our cloud AI inference processing initiative and other technology and service initiatives. QGOV provides development and other services and sells related products to U.S. government agencies and their contractors. Seasonality. Information regarding seasonality is provided in this Annual Report in "Part II, Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the "Our Business and Operating Segments" section under the heading "Seasonality." 15

FY2022 10-K
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QSI Segment. QSI makes strategic investments primarily through our Qualcomm Ventures arm that are focused on expanding or opening new opportunities for our technologies as well as supporting the design and introduction of new products and services (or enhancing existing products or services). Many of these strategic investments are in early-stage companies in a variety of industries and applications, including, but not limited to, 5G, AI, automotive, consumer, enterprise, cloud, IoT and XR. Investments primarily include non-marketable equity securities and, to a lesser extent, marketable equity securities and convertible debt instruments. In addition, QSI segment results include revenues and related costs associated with certain development contracts with one of our investees. As part of our strategic investment activities, we generally intend to pursue various exit strategies for each of our QSI investments in the foreseeable future. Other Businesses. Nonreportable segments include our QGOV business, our cloud AI inference processing initiative and other technology and service initiatives. QGOV provides development and other services and sells related products to U.S. government agencies and their contractors. Seasonality. Information regarding seasonality is provided in this Annual Report in "Part II, Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the "Our Business and Operating Segments" section under the heading "Seasonality."