nxpi-20f_20181231.htm

Jean Schreurs, SVP and Chief Corporate Counsel, High Tech Campus 60, 5656 AG, Eindhoven, the Netherlands

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ☒ Yes ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). ☒ Yes ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. Item 17 ☐ Item 18 ☐

If this is an Annual Report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). ☐ Yes ☒ No

This Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 (the “Annual Report”) contains forward-looking statements that contain risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ significantly from future results as a result of factors such as those set forth in Part I. Item 3.D. Risk Factors and Part I, Item 5.G. Safe Harbor.

The financial information included in this Annual Report is based on United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP), unless otherwise indicated.

In presenting and discussing our financial position, operating results and cash flows, management uses certain non-U.S. GAAP financial measures. These non-U.S. GAAP financial measures should not be viewed in isolation or as alternatives to the equivalent U.S. GAAP measures and should be used in conjunction with the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measures. A discussion of non-U.S. GAAP measures included in this Annual Report and a reconciliation of such measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measures are set forth under “Use of Certain Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures” contained in this Annual Report under Part I, Item 5.A. Operating Results.

Unless otherwise required, all references herein to “we”, “our”, “us”, “NXP” and the “Company” are to NXP Semiconductors N.V. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

A glossary of abbreviations and technical terms used in this Annual Report is set forth on page 76.

This Annual Report includes market data and certain other statistical information and estimates that are based on reports and other publications from industry analysts, market research firms, and other independent sources, as well as management’s own good faith estimates and analyses. NXP believes these third-party reports to be reputable, but has not independently verified the underlying data sources, methodologies or assumptions. The reports and other publications referenced are generally available to the public and were not commissioned by NXP. Information that is based on estimates, forecasts, projections, market research or similar methodologies is inherently subject to uncertainties and actual events or circumstances may differ materially from events and circumstances reflected in this information.

On December 6, 2018, NXP B.V., together with NXP Funding LLC, issued $1 billion of 4.875% Senior Unsecured Notes due March 1, 2024, $500 million of 5.350% Senior Unsecured Notes due March 1, 2026 and $500 million of 5.550% Senior Unsecured Notes due December 1, 2028. NXP used a portion of the net proceeds from the offering of these notes to repay the Bridge Loan, as described below. NXP intends to use the remaining proceeds for general corporate purposes, which may include the repurchase of additional shares of its stock.

On September 19, 2018, NXP B.V., together with NXP Funding LLC, entered into a $1 billion senior unsecured bridge term credit facility agreement under which an aggregate principal amount of $1 billion of term loans (the “Bridge Loan”) was borrowed. The Bridge Loan was to mature on September 18, 2019 and the interest at a LIBOR rate plus an applicable margin of 1.5 percent. NXP used the net proceeds of the Bridge Loan for general corporate purposes as well as to finance a portion of its announced equity buy-back program. On December 6, 2018, the Bridge Loan was repaid in full, as described above.

On September 10, 2018, NXP announced the initiation of a Quarterly Dividend Program under which the Company will pay a regular quarterly cash dividend. Accordingly, interim dividends of $0.25 per ordinary share were paid on October 5, 2018 and January 7, 2019.

On July 26, 2018, NXP received notice from Qualcomm Incorporated (“Qualcomm”) that Qualcomm had terminated, effective immediately, the purchase agreement between NXP and an affiliate of Qualcomm following the inability to obtain the required approval for the transaction from the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) of the People’s Republic of China prior to the end date stipulated by the parties under the purchase agreement.

On July 26, 2018, NXP received $2 billion in termination compensation per the terms of the purchase agreement. Effective July 26, 2018, the board of directors of NXP, as authorized by its annual general meeting of shareholders (the “AGM”), authorized the repurchase of $5 billion of the Company’s stock. In October 2018, the board of directors of NXP authorized the additional repurchase of shares up to a maximum of 20% (approximately 69 million shares) of the number of shares issued. As of year-end 2018, NXP repurchased 54.4 million shares, for a total of approximately $5 billion, of which a number of 17,300,143 shares has been cancelled, and as of year-end, NXP has a number of 292.8 million shares outstanding.

On June 14, 2016, NXP announced an agreement to divest its Standard Products (“SP”) business to a consortium of financial investors consisting of Beijing JianGuang Asset Management Co., Ltd (“JAC Capital”) and Wise Road Capital LTD (“Wise Road Capital”). On February 6, 2017, we divested SP (subsequently named “Nexperia”), receiving $2.6 billion in cash proceeds, net of cash divested.

The following table presents a summary of our selected historical consolidated financial data. We prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

The results of operations for prior years are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future period.

On July 26, 2018, we received $2 billion termination compensation from Qualcomm per the terms of the purchase contract.

On February 6, 2017, we divested our Standard Products (“SP”) business, receiving $2.6 billion in cash proceeds, net of cash divested. Prior to February 6, 2017, the results of the SP business were included in the reportable segment SP.

On December 7, 2015, we acquired Freescale Semiconductor, Ltd. (“Freescale”) for a total consideration of $11.6 billion (the “Merger”). The results of their operations and the estimated fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the business combination are included in our financial statements from the date of acquisition forward.

The selected historical consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with the discussion under Part I, Item 5.A. Operating Results and the Consolidated Financial Statements and the accompanying notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

	As of and for the years ended December 31,
($ in millions unless otherwise stated)	2018			2017⁽¹⁾			2016			2015			2014
Consolidated Statements of Operations:
Revenue⁽²⁾		9,407			9,256			9,498			6,101			5,647
Gross profit⁽³⁾		4,851			4,619			4,069			2,787			2,640
Total operating expenses⁽⁴⁾		(4,142	)		(4,092	)		(4,228	)		(2,035	)		(1,601	)
Other income (expense)⁽⁵⁾		2,001			1,575			9			1,263			10
Operating income (loss)		2,710			2,102			(150	)		2,015			1,049
Financial income (expense)		(335	)		(366	)		(453	)		(529	)		(410	)
Net income (loss) attributable to stockholders		2,208			2,215			200			1,526			539

Earnings per share data:
Net income per common share attributable to stockholders in $
● Basic		6.78			6.54			0.59			6.36			2.27
● Diluted		6.72			6.41			0.58			6.10			2.17
Weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the year (in thousands)
● Basic		325,781			338,646			338,477			239,764			237,954
● Diluted		328,606			345,802			347,607			250,116			248,609
Cash dividends declared per share⁽⁶⁾		0.50			-			-			-			-
Cash dividends declared per share in EUR⁽⁶⁾		0.43			-			-			-			-

Consolidated balance sheet data⁽⁷⁾:
Cash and cash equivalents		2,789			3,547			1,894			1,614			1,185
Total assets		21,530			24,049			24,898			26,354			6,850
Net assets		10,690			13,716			11,156			11,803			801
Working capital⁽⁸⁾		2,947			4,077			3,386			2,820			1,340
Total debt^(9), ⁽¹⁰⁾		7,354			6,565			9,187			9,212			3,956
Total stockholders’ equity		10,505			13,527			10,935			11,515			538
Common stock		67			71			71			68			51

Other operating data:
Capital expenditures		(611	)		(552	)		(389	)		(341	)		(329	)
Depreciation and amortization⁽¹¹⁾		1,987			2,173			2,205			517			405

Consolidated statements of cash flows data:
Net cash provided by (used for):
Operating activities		4,369			2,447			2,303			1,330			1,468
Investing activities		(522	)		2,072			(627	)		(430	)		(387	)
Financing activities⁽¹²⁾		(4,597	)		(2,886	)		(1,392	)		(449	)		(554	)
Net cash provided by (used for) continuing operations		(750	)		1,633			284			451			527

Net debt is a non-GAAP financial measure. See “Use of Certain Non-GAAP Financial Measures” under Part I, 5.A. Operating Results.

As used in this Annual Report, “euro”, or “€” means the single unified currency of the European Monetary Union. “U.S. dollar”, “USD”, “U.S. $” or “$” means the lawful currency of the United States of America. As used in this Annual Report, the term “noon buying rate” refers to the exchange rate for euro, expressed in U.S. dollars per euro, as announced by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for customs purposes as the rate in the city of New York for cable transfers in foreign currencies.

The table below shows the average noon buying rates for U.S. dollars per euro for the five years ended December 31, 2018. The averages set forth in the table below have been computed using the noon buying rate on the next to last business day of each fiscal month during the periods indicated.

The following table shows the high and low noon buying rates for U.S. dollars per euro for each of the six months in the six-month period ended February 22, 2019:

Fluctuations in the value of the euro relative to the U.S. dollar have had a significant effect on the translation into U.S. dollar of our euro-denominated assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and may continue to do so in the future. For further information on the impact of fluctuations in exchange rates on our operations, see the “Fluctuations in Foreign Rates May Have An Adverse Effect On Our Financial Results” section in Part I, Item 3.D. Risk Factors and the “Foreign Currency Risks” section in Part I, Item 11. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.

The following section provides an overview of the risks to which our business is exposed. You should carefully consider the risk factors described below and all other information contained in this Annual Report, including the Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes. The occurrence of the risks described below could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Various statements in this Annual Report, including the following risk factors, contain forward-looking statements. Please also refer to Part I, Item 5.G. Safe Harbor, contained elsewhere in this Annual Report.

Historically, the relationship between supply and demand in the semiconductor industry has caused a high degree of cyclicality in the semiconductor market. Semiconductor supply is partly driven by manufacturing capacity, which in the past has demonstrated alternating periods of substantial capacity additions and periods in which no or limited capacity was added. As a general matter, semiconductor companies are more likely to add capacity in periods when current or expected future demand is strong and margins are, or are expected to be, high. Investments in new capacity can result in overcapacity, which can lead to a reduction in prices and margins. In response, companies typically limit further capacity additions, eventually causing the market to be relatively undersupplied. In addition, demand for semiconductors varies, which can exacerbate the effect of supply fluctuations. As a result of this cyclicality, the semiconductor industry has in the past experienced significant downturns, such as in 1997/1998, 2001/2002 and in 2008/2009, often in connection with, or in anticipation of, maturing life cycles of semiconductor companies’ products and declines in general economic conditions. These downturns have been characterized by diminishing demand for end-user products, high inventory levels, under-utilization of manufacturing capacity and accelerated erosion of average selling prices. The foregoing risks have historically had, and may continue to have, a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Significantly increased volatility and instability and unfavorable economic conditions may adversely affect our business.

In 2008 and 2009, Europe, the United States and international markets experienced increased volatility and instability. In 2015, volatility and instability in financial markets continued following renewed investor concerns related to the economic situation in parts of the world, a decline in the growth rate of the Chinese economy, increased hostilities in the Middle East, and other world events. These, or other events, could further adversely affect the economies of the European Union, the United States and those of other countries and may exacerbate the cyclicality of our business. Among other factors, we face risks attendant to unfavorable changes related to interest rates, rates of economic growth, fiscal, monetary and trade policies of governments, tax rates and policy and changes in demand for end-user products and changes in interest rates.

There is a significant risk that the global economy could fall into recession again. If economic conditions remain uncertain or deteriorate, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

It is difficult for us, our customers and suppliers to forecast demand trends. We may be unable to accurately predict the extent or duration of cycles or their effect on our financial condition or result of operations and can give no assurance as to the timing, extent or duration of the current or future business cycles. A recurrent decline in demand or the failure of demand to return to prior levels could place pressure on our results of operations. The timing and extent of any changes to currently prevailing market conditions is uncertain and supply and demand may be unbalanced at any time.

The semiconductor industry is highly competitive. If we fail to introduce new technologies and products in a timely manner, this could adversely affect our business.

The semiconductor industry is highly competitive and characterized by constant and rapid technological change, short product lifecycles, significant price erosion and evolving standards. Accordingly, the success of our business depends to a significant extent on our ability to develop new technologies and products that are ultimately successful in the market. The costs related to the research and development necessary to develop new technologies and products are significant and any reduction of our research and development budget could harm our competitiveness. Meeting evolving industry requirements and introducing new products to the market in a timely manner and at prices that are acceptable to our customers are significant factors in determining our competitiveness and success. Commitments to develop new products must be made well in advance of any resulting sales, and technologies and standards may change during development, potentially rendering our products outdated or uncompetitive before their introduction. If we are unable to successfully develop new products, our revenue may decline substantially. Moreover, some of our competitors are well-established entities, are larger than us and have greater resources than we do. If these competitors increase the resources they devote to developing and marketing their products, we may not be able to compete effectively. Any consolidation among our competitors could enhance their product offerings and financial resources, further strengthening their competitive position. In addition, some of our competitors operate in narrow business areas relative to us, allowing them to concentrate their research and development efforts directly on products and services for those areas, which may give them a competitive advantage. As a result of these competitive pressures, we may face declining sales volumes or lower prevailing prices for our products, and we may not be able to reduce our total costs in line with this declining revenue. If any of these risks materialize, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In many of the market segments in which we compete, we depend on winning selection processes, and failure to be selected could adversely affect our business in those market segments.

One of our business strategies is to participate in and win competitive bid selection processes to develop products for use in our customers’ equipment and products. These selection processes can be lengthy and require us to incur significant design and development expenditures, with no guarantee of winning a contract or generating revenue. Failure to win new design projects and delays in developing new products with anticipated technological advances or in commencing volume shipments of these products may have an adverse effect on our business. This risk is particularly pronounced in markets where there are only a few potential customers and in the automotive market, where, due to the longer design cycles involved, failure to win a design-in could prevent access to a customer for several years. Our failure to win a sufficient number of these bids could result in reduced revenue and hurt our competitive position in future selection processes because we may not be perceived as being a technology or industry leader, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The demand for our products depends to a significant degree on the demand for our customers’ end products.

The vast majority of our revenue is derived from sales to manufacturers in the automotive, identification, wireless infrastructure, lighting, industrial, mobile, consumer and computing markets. Demand in these markets fluctuates significantly, driven by consumer spending, consumer preferences, the development of new technologies and prevailing economic conditions. In addition, the specific products in which our semiconductors are incorporated may not be successful, or may experience price erosion or other competitive factors that affect the price manufacturers are willing to pay us. Such customers have in the past, and may in the future, vary order levels significantly from period to period, request postponements to scheduled delivery dates, modify their orders or reduce lead times. This is particularly common during periods of low demand. This can make managing our business difficult, as it limits the predictability of future revenue. It can also affect the accuracy of our financial forecasts. Furthermore, developing industry trends, including customers’ use of outsourcing and new and revised supply chain models, may affect our revenue, costs and working capital requirements. Additionally, a significant portion of our products is made to order.

If customers do not purchase products made specifically for them, we may not be able to resell such products to other customers or may not be able to require the customers who have ordered these products to pay a cancellation fee. The foregoing risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The semiconductor industry is characterized by continued price erosion, especially after a product has been on the market.

One of the results of the rapid innovation in the semiconductor industry is that pricing pressure, especially on products containing older technology, can be intense. Product life cycles are relatively short, and as a result, products tend to be replaced by more technologically advanced substitutes on a regular basis.

In turn, demand for older technology falls, causing the price at which such products can be sold to drop, in some cases precipitously. In order to continue profitably supplying these products, we must reduce our production costs in line with the lower revenue we can expect to generate per unit. Usually, this must be accomplished through improvements in process technology and production efficiencies. If we cannot advance our process technologies or improve our efficiencies to a degree sufficient to maintain required margins, we will no longer be able to make a profit from the sale of these products. Moreover, we may not be able to cease production of such products, either due to contractual obligations or for customer relationship reasons, and as a result may be required to bear a loss on such products. We cannot guarantee that competition in our core product markets will not lead to price erosion, lower revenue or lower margins in the future. Should reductions in our manufacturing costs fail to keep pace with reductions in market prices for the products we sell, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Goodwill and other identifiable intangible assets represent a significant portion of our total assets, and we may never realize the full value of our intangible assets.

Goodwill and other identifiable intangible assets are recorded at fair value on the date of an acquisition. As a result of our acquisition of Freescale in 2015, we recognized goodwill of $7.4 billion and intangible assets of $8.5 billion. We review our goodwill and other intangible assets balance for impairment upon any indication of a potential impairment, and in the case of goodwill, at a minimum of once a year. Impairment may result from, among other things, a sustained decrease in share price, deterioration in performance, adverse market conditions, adverse changes in applicable laws or regulations, including changes that restrict the activities of or affect the products and services we sell, challenges to the validity of certain registered intellectual property, reduced sales of certain products incorporating intellectual property and a variety of other factors. The amount of any quantified impairment must be expensed immediately as a charge to results of operations. Depending on future circumstances, it is possible that we may never realize the full value of our intangible assets. Any future determination of impairment of goodwill or other identifiable intangible assets could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and stockholders’ equity.

As our business is global, we need to comply with laws and regulations in countries across the world and are exposed to international business risks that could adversely affect our business.

We operate globally, with manufacturing, assembly and testing facilities in several continents, and we market our products globally.

As a result, we are subject to environmental, labor and health and safety laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we operate. We are also required to obtain environmental permits and other authorizations or licenses from governmental authorities for certain of our operations. In the jurisdictions where we operate, we need to comply with differing standards and varying practices of regulatory, tax, judicial and administrative bodies.

In addition, the business environment is also subject to many economic and political uncertainties, including the following international business risks:

No assurance can be given that we have been or will be at all times in complete compliance with the laws and regulations to which we are subject or that we have obtained or will obtain the permits and other authorizations or licenses that we need. If we violate or fail to comply with laws, regulations, permits and other authorizations or licenses, we could be fined or otherwise sanctioned by regulators. Furthermore, if one or more of our customers are sanctioned by regulators for non-compliance with laws and regulations, we could experience a decrease in demand for our products. In this case, or if any of the international business risks were to materialize or become worse, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, further increasing legal and financial compliance costs. These laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure.

Interruptions in our information technology systems could adversely affect our business.

We rely on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of complex information technology applications, systems and networks to operate our business. The reliability and security of our information technology infrastructure and software, and our ability to expand and continually update technologies in response to our changing needs is critical to our business. Any significant interruption in our business applications, systems or networks, including but not limited to new system implementations, computer viruses, cyberattacks, security breaches, facility issues or energy blackouts could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our computer systems and networks are subject to attempted security breaches and other cybersecurity incidents, which, if successful, could impact our business.

We have, from time to time, experienced attempted cyber-attacks of varying degrees to obtain access to our computer systems and networks. To date, none have resulted in any material adverse impact to our business or operations. Such incidents, whether or not successful, could result in the misappropriation of our proprietary information and technology, the compromise of personal and confidential information of our employees, customers or suppliers or interrupt our business. In the current environment, there are numerous and evolving risks to cybersecurity and privacy, including criminal hackers, state-sponsored intrusions, industrial espionage, employee malfeasance, and human or technological error. Computer hackers and others routinely attempt to breach the security of technology products, services, and systems, and those of customers, suppliers, and some of those attempts may be successful. Such breaches could result in, for example, unauthorized access to, disclosure, modification, misuse, loss, or destruction of our, our customer, or other third party data or systems, theft of sensitive or confidential data including personal information and intellectual property, system disruptions, and denial of service. In the event of such breaches, we, our customers or other third parties could be exposed to potential liability, litigation, and regulatory action, as well as the loss of existing or potential customers, damage to our reputation, and

other financial loss. In addition, the cost and operational consequences of responding to breaches and implementing remediation measures could be significant. As these threats continue to develop and grow, we have been adapting the security measures and we continue to increase the amount we allocate to implement, maintain and/or update security systems to protect data and infrastructure. As a global enterprise, we could also be impacted by existing and proposed laws and regulations, as well as government policies and practices related to cybersecurity, privacy and data protection. Additionally, cyber-attacks or other catastrophic events resulting in disruptions to or failures in power, information technology, communication systems or other critical infrastructure could result in interruptions or delays to us, our customers, or other third party operations or services, financial loss, potential liability, and damage our reputation and affect our relationships with our customers and suppliers.

In addition, we may be subject to theft, loss, or misuse of personal data about our employees, customers, or other third parties, which could increase our expenses, damage our reputation, or result in legal or regulatory proceedings. The theft, loss, or misuse of personal data collected, used, stored, or transferred by us to run our business could result in significantly increased business and security costs or costs related to defending legal claims. Global privacy legislation, enforcement, and policy activity in this area are rapidly expanding and creating a complex regulatory compliance environment. Costs to comply with and implement these privacy-related and data protection measures could be significant. In addition, even our inadvertent failure to comply with federal, state, or international privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities or others.

In difficult market conditions, our high fixed costs combined with low revenue may negatively affect our results of operations.

The semiconductor industry is characterized by high fixed costs and, notwithstanding our utilization of third-party manufacturing capacity, most of our production requirements are met by our own manufacturing facilities. In less favorable industry environments, like we faced in the second half in 2011, we are generally faced with a decline in the utilization rates of our manufacturing facilities due to decreases in demand for our products. During such periods, our fabrication plants could operate at lower loading level, while the fixed costs associated with the full capacity continue to be incurred, resulting in lower gross profit.

The semiconductor industry is capital intensive and if we are unable to invest the necessary capital to operate and grow our business, we may not remain competitive.

To remain competitive, we must constantly improve our facilities and process technologies and carry out extensive research and development, each of which requires investment of significant amounts of capital. This risk is magnified by the indebtedness we currently have, since we are required to use a portion of our cash flow to service that debt. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow or raise sufficient capital to meet both our debt service and capital investment requirements, or if we are unable to raise required capital on favorable terms when needed, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely to a significant extent on proprietary intellectual property. We may not be able to protect this intellectual property against improper use by our competitors or others.

Our success and future revenue growth depends, in part, on our ability to protect our proprietary technology, our products, our proprietary designs and fabrication processes, and other intellectual property against misappropriation by others. We primarily rely on patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as nondisclosure agreements and other methods, to protect our intellectual property. We may have difficulty obtaining patents and other intellectual property rights to protect our proprietary products, technology and intellectual property, and the patents and other intellectual property rights we receive may be insufficient to provide us with meaningful protection or commercial advantage. We may not be able to obtain patent protection or secure other intellectual property rights in all the countries in which we operate, and under the laws of such countries, patents and other intellectual property rights may be or become unavailable or limited in scope. Even if new patents are issued, the claims allowed may not be sufficiently broad to effectively protect our proprietary technology, processes and other intellectual property. In addition, any of our existing patents, and any future patents issued to us may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented. The protection offered by intellectual property rights may be inadequate or weakened for reasons or circumstances that are out of our control. Further, our proprietary technology, designs and processes and other intellectual property may be vulnerable to disclosure or misappropriation by employees, contractors and other persons. It is possible that competitors or other unauthorized third parties may obtain, copy, use or disclose our proprietary technologies, our products, designs, processes and other intellectual property despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property. While we hold a significant number of patents, there can be no assurances that additional patents will be issued or that any rights granted under our patents will provide meaningful protection against misappropriation of our intellectual property. Our competitors may also be able to develop similar technology independently or design around our patents. We may not have foreign patents or pending applications corresponding to all of our primary patents and applications. Even if foreign patents are granted, effective enforcement in foreign countries may not be available. In particular, intellectual property rights are difficult to enforce in some countries, since the application and enforcement of the laws governing such rights may not have reached the same level as compared to other jurisdictions where we operate. Consequently, operating in some countries may subject us to an increased risk that unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or otherwise use our intellectual property or the intellectual property of our suppliers or other parties with whom we engage. There is no assurance that we will be able to protect our intellectual property rights or have adequate legal recourse in the event that we seek legal or judicial enforcement of our intellectual property rights under the laws of such countries. Any inability on our part to adequately protect our intellectual property may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may become party to intellectual property claims or litigation that could cause us to incur substantial costs, pay substantial damages or prohibit us from selling our products.

We have from time to time received, and may in the future receive, communications alleging possible infringement of patents and other intellectual property rights of others. Further, we may become involved in costly litigation brought against us regarding patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets or other intellectual property rights. If any such claims are asserted against us, we may seek to obtain a license under the third party’s intellectual property rights. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain any or all of the necessary licenses on satisfactory terms, if at all. In the event that we cannot obtain or take the view that we don’t need a license, these parties may file lawsuits against us seeking damages (and potentially treble damages in the United States) or an injunction against the sale of our products that incorporate allegedly infringed intellectual property or against the operation of our business as presently conducted. Such lawsuits, if successful, could result in an increase in the costs of selling certain of our products, our having to partially or completely redesign our products or stop the sale of some of our products and could cause damage to our reputation. Any litigation could require significant financial and management resources regardless of the merits or outcome, and we cannot assure you that we would prevail in any litigation or that our intellectual property rights can be successfully asserted in the future or will not be invalidated, circumvented or challenged. The award of damages, including material royalty payments, or the entry of an injunction against the manufacture and sale of some or all of our products, could affect our ability to compete or have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

From time to time, we may rely on strategic partnerships, joint ventures and alliances for manufacturing and research and development. However, we often do not control these partnerships and joint ventures, and actions taken by any of our partners or the termination of these partnerships or joint ventures could adversely affect our business.

As part of our strategy, we have historically entered into a number of long-term strategic partnerships with other leading industry participants, and may do so again in the future. For example, we have entered into a joint venture with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (“TSMC”) called Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Company Pte. Ltd. (“SSMC”). See Part I, Item 4.A. History and Development of the Company - Other Significant Transactions.

If any of our strategic partners in industry groups or in any of the other alliances we engage with were to encounter financial difficulties or change their business strategies, they may no longer be able or willing to participate in these groups or alliances, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We do not control some of these strategic partnerships, joint ventures and alliances in which we participate. We may also have certain obligations, including some limited funding obligations or take or pay obligations, with regard to some of our strategic partnerships, joint ventures and alliances. For example, we have made certain commitments to SSMC, in which we have a 61.2% ownership share, whereby we are obligated to make cash payments to SSMC should we fail to utilize, and TSMC does not utilize, an agreed upon percentage of the total available capacity at SSMC’s fabrication facilities if overall SSMC utilization levels drop below a fixed proportion of the total available capacity.

We may from time to time desire to exit certain product lines or businesses, or to restructure our operations, but may not be successful in doing so.

From time to time, we may decide to divest certain product lines and businesses or restructure our operations, including through the contribution of assets to joint ventures. We have, in recent years, exited several of our product lines and businesses, and we have closed several of our manufacturing and research facilities. We may continue to do so in the future. However, our ability to successfully exit product lines and businesses, or to close or consolidate operations, depends on a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control. For example, if we are seeking a buyer for a particular business line, none may be available, or we may not be successful in negotiating satisfactory terms with prospective buyers. In addition, we may face internal obstacles to our efforts. In particular, several of our operations and facilities are subject to collective bargaining agreements and social plans or require us to consult with our employee representatives, such as work councils which may prevent or complicate our efforts to sell or restructure our businesses. In some cases, particularly with respect to our European operations, there may be laws or other legal impediments affecting our ability to carry out such sales or restructuring.

If we are unable to exit a product line or business in a timely manner, or to restructure our operations in a manner we deem to be advantageous, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if a divestment is successful, we may face indemnity and other liability claims by the acquirer or other parties.

We may from time to time restructure parts of our processes. Any such restructuring may impact customer satisfaction and the costs of implementation may be difficult to predict.

Between 2008 and 2011, we executed a redesign program and, in 2013 we executed a restructuring initiative designed to improve operational efficiency and to competitively position the company for sustainable growth. In 2015, we began a restructuring initiative to prepare for and implement the integration of Freescale into our existing businesses. We plan to continue to restructure and make changes to parts of the processes in our organization. Furthermore, if the global economy remains volatile or if the global economy reenters a recession, our revenues could decline, and we may be forced to take additional cost savings steps that could result in additional charges and materially affect our business. The costs of implementing any restructurings, changes or cost savings steps may differ from our estimates and any negative impacts on our revenues or otherwise of such restructurings, changes or steps, such as situations in which customer satisfaction is negatively impacted, may be larger than originally estimated.

If we fail to extend or renegotiate our collective bargaining agreements and social plans with our labor unions as they expire from time to time, if regular or statutory consultation processes with employee representatives such as works councils fail or are delayed, or if our unionized employees were to engage in a strike or other work stoppage, our business and operating results could be materially harmed.

We are a party to collective bargaining agreements and social plans with our labor unions. We are also required to consult with our employee representatives, such as works councils, on items such as restructurings, acquisitions and divestitures. Although we believe that our relations with our employees, employee representatives and unions are satisfactory, no assurance can be given that we will be able to successfully extend or renegotiate these agreements as they expire from time to time or to conclude the consultation processes in a timely and favorable way. The impact of future negotiations and consultation processes with employee representatives could have a material impact on our financial results. Also, if we fail to extend or renegotiate our labor agreements and social plans, if significant disputes with our unions arise, or if our unionized workers engage in a strike or other work stoppage, we could incur higher ongoing labor costs or experience a significant disruption of operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our working capital needs are difficult to predict and may fluctuate. The comparatively long period between the time at which we commence development of a product and the time at which it may be delivered to a customer leads to high inventory and work-in-progress levels. The volatility of our customers’ own businesses and the time required to manufacture products also makes it difficult to manage inventory levels and requires us to stockpile products across many different specifications.

Our business may be adversely affected by costs relating to product defects, and we could be faced with product liability and warranty claims.

We make highly complex electronic components and, accordingly, there is a risk that defects may occur in any of our products. Such defects can give rise to significant costs, including expenses relating to recalling products, replacing defective items, writing down defective inventory and loss of potential sales. In addition, the occurrence of such defects may give rise to product liability and warranty claims, including liability for damages caused by such defects. If we release defective products into the market, our reputation could suffer and we may lose sales opportunities and incur liability for damages. Moreover, since the cost of replacing defective semiconductor devices is often much higher than the value of the devices themselves, we may at times face damage claims from customers in excess of the amounts they pay us for our products, including consequential damages. We also face exposure to potential liability resulting from the fact that our customers typically integrate the semiconductors we sell into numerous consumer products, which are then sold into the marketplace. We are exposed to product liability claims if our semiconductors or the consumer products based on them malfunction and result in personal injury or death. We may be named in product liability claims even if there is no evidence that our products caused the damage in question, and such claims could result in significant costs and expenses relating to attorneys’ fees and damages. In addition, our customers may recall their products if they prove to be defective or make compensatory payments in accordance with industry or business practice or in order to maintain good customer relationships. If such a recall or payment is caused by a defect in one of our products, our customers may seek to recover all or a portion of their losses from us. If any of these risks materialize, our reputation would be harmed and there could be a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business has suffered, and could in the future suffer, from manufacturing problems.

We manufacture, in our own factories as well as with third parties, our products using processes that are highly complex, require advanced and costly equipment and must continuously be modified to improve yields and performance. Difficulties in the production process can reduce yields or interrupt production, and, as a result of such problems, we may on occasion not be able to deliver products or do so in a timely or cost-effective or competitive manner. As the complexity of both our products and our fabrication processes has become more advanced, manufacturing tolerances have been reduced and requirements for precision have become more demanding. As is common in the semiconductor industry, we have in the past experienced manufacturing difficulties that have given rise to delays in delivery and quality control problems. There can be no assurance that any such occurrence in the future would not materially harm our results of operations. Further, we may suffer disruptions in our manufacturing operations, either due to production difficulties such as those described above or as a result of external factors beyond our control. We may, in the future, experience manufacturing difficulties or permanent or temporary loss of manufacturing capacity due to the preceding or other risks. Any such event could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on the timely supply of equipment and materials and could suffer if suppliers fail to meet their delivery obligations or raise prices. Certain equipment and materials needed in our manufacturing operations are only available from a limited number of suppliers.

Our manufacturing operations depend on deliveries of equipment and materials in a timely manner and, in some cases, on a just-in-time basis. From time to time, suppliers may extend lead times, limit the amounts supplied to us or increase prices due to capacity constraints or other factors. Supply disruptions may also occur due to shortages in critical materials, such as silicon wafers or specialized chemicals. Because the equipment that we purchase is complex, it is frequently difficult or impossible for us 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 business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed if we are unable to obtain adequate supplies of quality equipment or materials in a timely manner or if there are significant increases in the costs of equipment or materials.

Failure of our third party suppliers to perform could adversely affect our ability to exploit growth opportunities.

We currently use outside suppliers for a portion of our manufacturing capacity. Outsourcing our production presents a number of risks. If our outside suppliers are unable to satisfy our demand, or experience manufacturing difficulties, delays or reduced yields, our results of operations and ability to satisfy customer demand could suffer. In addition, purchasing rather than manufacturing these products may adversely affect our gross profit margin if the purchase costs of these products are higher than our own manufacturing costs would have been. Prices for foundry products also vary depending on capacity utilization rates at our suppliers, quantities demanded, product technology and geometry. Furthermore, these outsourcing costs can vary materially from quarter to quarter and, in cases of industry shortages, they can increase significantly, negatively affecting our gross profit.

Loss of our key management and other personnel, or an inability to attract such management and other personnel, could affect our business.

We depend on our key management to run our business and on our senior engineers to develop new products and technologies. Our success will depend on the continued service of these individuals. Although we have several share based compensation plans in place, we cannot be sure that these plans will help us in our ability to retain key personnel, especially considering the fact that the stock options under some of our plans become exercisable upon a change of control (in particular, when a third party, or third parties acting in concert, obtains, whether directly or indirectly, control of us). The loss of any of our key personnel, whether due to departures, death, ill health or otherwise, could have a material adverse effect on our business. The market for qualified employees, including skilled engineers and other individuals with the required technical expertise to succeed in our business, is highly competitive and the loss of qualified employees or an inability to attract, retain and motivate the additional highly skilled employees required for the operation and expansion of our business could hinder our ability to successfully conduct research activities or develop marketable products. The foregoing risks could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Disruptions in our relationships with any one of our key customers could adversely affect our business.

A substantial portion of our revenue is derived from our top customers, including our distributors. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to generate similar levels of revenue from our largest customers in the future. If one or more of these customers substantially reduce their purchases from us, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We receive subsidies and grants in certain countries, and a reduction in the amount of governmental funding available to us or demands for repayment could increase our costs and affect our results of operations.

As is the case with other large semiconductor companies, we receive subsidies and grants from governments in some countries. These programs are subject to periodic review by the relevant governments, and if any of these programs are curtailed or discontinued, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. As the availability of government funding is outside our control, we cannot guarantee that we will continue to benefit from government support or that sufficient alternative funding will be available if we lose such support. Moreover, if we terminate any activities or operations, including strategic alliances or joint ventures, we may face adverse actions from the local governmental agencies providing such subsidies to us. In particular, such government agencies could seek to recover such subsidies from us and they could cancel or reduce other subsidies we receive from them. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Legal proceedings covering a range of matters are pending in various jurisdictions. Due to the uncertainty inherent in litigation, it is difficult to predict the final outcome. An adverse outcome might affect our results of operations.

We and certain of our businesses are involved as plaintiffs or defendants in legal proceedings in various matters. For example, we are involved in legal proceedings claiming personal injuries to the children of former employees as a result of employees’ alleged exposure to chemicals used in semiconductor manufacturing clean room environments operated by us or our former parent companies Philips and Motorola. Furthermore, because we continue to utilize these clean rooms, we may become subject to future claims alleging personal injury that may lead to additional liability. A judgment against us or material defense cost could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are exposed to a variety of financial risks, including currency risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, commodity price risk, credit risk and other non-insured risks, which may have an adverse effect on our financial results.

We are a global company and, as a direct consequence, movements in the financial markets may impact our financial results. We are exposed to a variety of financial risks, including currency fluctuations, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, commodity price risk and credit risk and other non-insured risks. We have euro-denominated assets and liabilities and, since our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar, the impact of currency translation adjustments to such assets and liabilities may have a negative effect on our stockholders’ equity. We continue to hold or convert a part of our cash in euros as a hedge for euro expenses and euro interest payments. We are exposed to fluctuations in exchange rates when we convert U.S. dollars to euro. We enter into diverse financial transactions with several counterparties to mitigate our currency risk. We only use derivative instruments for hedging purposes.

We are also a purchaser of certain base metals, precious metals, chemicals and energy used in the manufacturing process of our products, the prices of which can be volatile. Credit risk represents the loss that would be recognized at the reporting date if counterparties failed to perform upon their agreed payment obligations. Credit risk is present within our trade receivables. Such exposure is reduced through ongoing credit evaluations of the financial conditions of our customers and by adjusting payment terms and credit limits when appropriate. We invest available cash and cash equivalents with various financial institutions and are in that respect exposed to credit risk with these counterparties. We actively manage concentration risk on a daily basis adhering to a treasury management policy. We seek to limit the financial institutions with which we enter into financial transactions, such as depositing cash, to those with a strong credit rating wherever possible. If we are unable to successfully manage these risks, they could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The impact of a negative performance of financial markets and demographic trends on our defined benefit pension liabilities and costs cannot be predicted.

We sponsor defined benefit pension plans in a number of countries and a significant number of our employees are covered by our defined benefit pension plans. As of December 31, 2018, we had recognized a net accrued benefit liability of $416 million, representing the unfunded benefit obligations of our defined pension plans. The funding status and the liabilities and costs of maintaining these defined benefit pension plans may be impacted by financial market developments. For example, the accounting for such plans requires determining discount rates, expected rates of compensation and expected returns on plan assets, and any changes in these variables can have a significant impact on the projected benefit obligations and net periodic pension costs. Negative performance of the financial markets could also have a material impact on funding requirements and net periodic pension costs. Our defined benefit pension plans may also be subject to demographic trends. Accordingly, our costs to meet pension liabilities going forward may be significantly higher than they are today, which could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition.

Future changes to Dutch, U.S. and other foreign tax laws could adversely affect us.

The European Commission, U.S. Congress and Treasury Department, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and other government agencies in jurisdictions where we and our affiliates do business have had an extended focus on issues related to the taxation of multinational corporations, particularly payments made between affiliates from a jurisdiction with high tax rates to a jurisdiction with lower tax rates. As a result, the tax laws in the European Union, U.S. and other countries in which we and our affiliates do business could change on a prospective or retroactive basis, and any such changes could adversely affect us and our affiliates.

Recent examples include the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s recommendations on base erosion and profit shifting, the European Commission’s Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive, the Corporate Tax Package released in October 2016 which includes a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted by the United States in 2017 and the changes in the Dutch corporate income tax law enacted in 2018. These initiatives include recommendations and proposals that, if enacted in countries in which we and our affiliates do business, could adversely affect us and our affiliates.

We are exposed to a number of different tax uncertainties, which could have an impact on tax results.

We are required to pay taxes in multiple jurisdictions. We determine the taxes we are required to pay based on our interpretation of the applicable tax laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate. We may be subject to unfavorable changes in the respective tax laws and regulations to which we are subject. Tax controls, audits, change in controls and changes in tax laws or regulations or the interpretation given to them may expose us to negative tax consequences, including interest payments and potentially penalties. We have issued transfer-pricing directives in the areas of goods, services and financing, which are in accordance with the Guidelines of the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). As transfer pricing has a cross border effect, the focus of local tax authorities on implemented transfer pricing procedures in a country may have an impact on results in another country.

Transfer pricing uncertainties can also result from disputes with local tax authorities about transfer pricing of internal deliveries of goods and services or related to financing, acquisitions and divestments, the use of tax credits and permanent establishments, and tax losses carried forward. These uncertainties may have a significant impact on local tax results. We also have various tax assets resulting from acquisitions. Tax assets can also result from the generation of tax losses in certain legal entities. Tax authorities may challenge these tax assets. In addition, the value of the tax assets resulting from tax losses carried forward depends on having sufficient taxable profits in the future.

Additionally, in December of 2017, the United States enacted a budget reconciliation act amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”) and, in 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department issued regulations to clarify certain provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act contains provisions affecting the tax treatment of both U.S. companies (such as certain of our subsidiaries) and non-U.S. companies that could materially affect us. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act includes provisions that reduce the U.S. corporate tax rate, impose a base erosion minimum tax on income of a U.S. corporation determined without regard to certain otherwise deductible payments made to certain foreign affiliates, impose a global intangible low-income tax on foreign earnings made by U.S. corporations’ foreign subsidiaries, and impose a one-time transition tax on certain historic earnings and profits of U.S.-owned foreign subsidiaries. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act also includes provisions that provide a deduction for certain foreign-derived intangible income. The U.S. Treasury Department has issued temporary and proposed regulations providing guidance on the application of many of the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. However, there may continue to be a substantial delay before all such regulations are promulgated and/or finalized, increasing the uncertainty as to the ultimate effect of the statutory amendments on us. It is also possible that there will be technical corrections legislation proposed with respect to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the effect of which cannot be predicted. For further information regarding the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on us, please see Part I, Item 5.A. Operating Results.

We may not be able to maintain a competitive worldwide effective corporate tax rate.

We cannot give any assurance as to what our effective tax rate will be in the future, because of, among other things, uncertainty regarding the tax policies of the jurisdictions where we operate. Our actual effective tax rate may vary from our expectation and that variance may be material. Additionally, the tax laws of the Netherlands, the U.S., and other jurisdictions could change in the future, and such changes could cause a material change in our effective tax rate.

There may from time to time exist deficiencies in our internal control systems that could adversely affect the accuracy and reliability of our periodic reporting.

We are required to establish and periodically assess the design and operating effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Despite the compliance procedures that we have adopted to ensure internal control over financial controls, there may from time to time exist deficiencies in our internal control systems that could adversely affect the accuracy and reliability of our periodic reporting. Our periodic reporting is the basis of investors’ and other market professionals’ understanding of our businesses. Imperfections in our periodic reporting could create uncertainty regarding the reliability of our results of operations and financial results, which in turn could have a material adverse impact on our reputation or share price.

Environmental laws and regulations expose us to liability and compliance with these laws and regulations, and any such liability may adversely affect our business.

We are subject to many environmental, health and safety laws and regulations in each jurisdiction in which we operate, which govern, among other things, emissions of pollutants into the air, wastewater discharges, the use and handling of hazardous substances, waste disposal, the investigation and remediation of soil and ground water contamination and the health and safety of our employees. We are also required to obtain environmental permits from governmental authorities for certain of our operations. We cannot assure you that we have been or will be at all times in complete compliance with such laws, regulations and permits. If we violate or fail to comply with these laws, regulations or permits, we could be fined or otherwise sanctioned by regulators.

As with other companies engaged in similar activities or that own or operate real property, we face inherent risks of environmental liability at our current and historical manufacturing facilities. Certain environmental laws impose strict, and in certain circumstances, joint and several liability on current or previous owners or operators of real property for the cost of investigation, removal or remediation of hazardous substances as well as liability for related damages to natural resources. Certain of these laws also assess liability on persons who arrange for hazardous substances to be sent to disposal or treatment facilities when such facilities are found to be contaminated. While we do not expect that any contamination currently known to us will have a material adverse effect on our business, we cannot assure you that this is the case or that we will not discover new facts or conditions or that environmental laws or the enforcement of such laws will not change such that our liabilities would be increased significantly. In addition, we could also be held liable for consequences arising out of human exposure to hazardous substances or other environmental damage. In summary, we cannot assure you that our costs of complying with current and future environmental and health and safety laws, or our liabilities arising from past or future releases of, or exposures to, regulated materials, will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions and results of operations.

Scientific examination of, political attention to and rules and regulations on issues surrounding the existence and extent of climate change may result in an increase in the cost of production due to increase in the prices of energy and introduction of energy or carbon tax. A variety of regulatory developments have been introduced that focus on restricting or managing the emission of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases. Enterprises may need to purchase at higher costs new equipment or raw materials with lower carbon footprints. Environmental laws and regulations could also require us to acquire pollution abatement or remediation equipment, modify product designs, or incur expenses. New materials that we are evaluating for use in our operations may become subject to regulation. These developments and further legislation that is likely to be enacted could affect our operations negatively. Changes in environmental regulations could increase our production and operational costs, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Certain natural disasters, such as flooding, large earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or nuclear or other disasters, may negatively impact our business. There is increasing concern that climate change is occurring and may cause a rising number of natural disasters.

Environmental and other disasters, such as flooding, large earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or nuclear or other disasters, or a combination thereof may negatively impact our business. If flooding, a large earthquake, volcanic eruption or other natural disaster were to directly damage, destroy or disrupt our manufacturing facilities, it could disrupt our operations, delay new production and shipments of existing inventory or result in costly repairs, replacements or other costs, all of which would negatively impact our business. Even if our manufacturing facilities are not directly damaged, a large natural disaster may result in disruptions in distribution channels or supply chains and significant increases in the prices of raw materials used for our manufacturing process. For instance, the nuclear incident following the tsunami in Japan in 2011 impacted the supply chains of our customers and suppliers. Furthermore, any disaster affecting our customers (or their respective customers) may significantly negatively impact the demand for our products and our revenues.

The impact of any such natural disasters depends on the specific geographic circumstances but could be significant, as some of our factories are located in areas with known earthquake fault zones, flood or storm risks, including but not limited to the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia or Thailand. There is increasing concern that climate change is occurring that may cause a rising number of natural disasters with potentially dramatic effects on human activity. We cannot predict the economic impact, if any, of natural disasters or climate change.

The price of our common stock historically has been volatile. The price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly.

The stock market in recent years has experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated to the operating performance of companies. The market price for our common stock has varied between a high of $125.71 on February 22, 2018 and a low of $67.71 on December 24, 2018 in the twelve-month period ending on December 31, 2018. The market price of our common stock is likely to continue to be volatile and subject to significant price and volume fluctuations for many reasons, including in response to the risks described in this section, changes in our dividend or share repurchase policies, or for reasons unrelated to our operations, such as reports by industry analysts, investor perceptions or negative announcements by our customers, competitors, peer companies or suppliers regarding their own performance, or announcements by our competitors of significant contracts, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, joint marketing relationships or capital commitments, the passage of legislation or other regulatory developments affecting us or our industry, as well as industry conditions and general financial, economic and political instability. In the past, following periods of market volatility, shareholders have instituted securities class action litigation. If we were involved in securities litigation, it could have a substantial cost and divert resources and the attention of executive management from our business regardless of the outcome of such litigation.

The amount, timing, and execution of our stock repurchases may fluctuate based on our priorities for the use of cash for other purposes—such as investing in our business, including operational spending, capital spending, and acquisitions, and returning cash to our stockholders as dividend payments—and because of changes in cash flows, tax laws, and the market price of our common stock.

Future sales of our shares of common stock could depress the market price of our outstanding shares of common stock.

The market price of our shares of common stock could decline as a result of sales of a large number of shares of our common stock in the market, or the perception that these sales could occur. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.

In the future, we may issue additional shares of common stock in connection with acquisitions and other investments. The amount of our common stock issued in connection with any such transaction could constitute a material portion of our then outstanding common stock.

Our board of directors has adopted a dividend policy pursuant to which we currently pay a cash dividend on our ordinary shares on a quarterly basis. The declaration and payment of any dividend is subject to the approval of our board and our dividend may be discontinued or reduced at any time. There can be no assurance that we will declare cash dividends in the future in any particular amounts, or at all.

Future dividends, if any, and their timing and amount, may be affected by, among other factors: management’s views on potential future capital requirements for strategic transactions, including acquisitions; earnings levels; contractual restrictions; cash position and overall financial condition; and changes to our business model. The payment of cash dividends is restricted by applicable law, contractual restrictions and our corporate structure.

From time to time, we release guidance regarding our future performance that represents our management’s estimates as of the date of release. This guidance, which consists of forward-looking statements, is prepared by our management and is qualified by, and subject to, the assumptions and the other information contained or referred to in such release and the factors described under “Forward-Looking Statements”. Our guidance is not prepared with a view toward compliance with published guidelines of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and neither our independent registered public accounting firm nor any other independent expert or outside party compiles, reviews or examines the guidance and, accordingly, no such person expresses any opinion or any other form of assurance with respect thereto.

Our guidance is based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while presented with numerical specificity, is inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control and are based upon specific assumptions with respect to future business decisions, some of which will change. We generally state possible outcomes as high and low ranges which are intended to provide a sensitivity analysis as variables are changed but are not intended to represent that actual results could not fall outside of the suggested ranges. The principal reason that we release this data is to provide a basis for our management to discuss our business outlook with analysts and investors. We do not accept any responsibility for any projections or reports published by any such persons.

Guidance is necessarily speculative in nature, and it can be expected that some or all of the assumptions of the guidance furnished by us will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. Accordingly, our guidance is only an estimate of what management believes is realizable as of the date of release. Actual results will vary from the guidance and the variations may be material. Investors should also recognize that the reliability of any forecasted financial data diminishes the farther in the future the data is forecasted. In light of the foregoing, investors are urged to put the guidance in context and not to place undue reliance on it.

Any failure to successfully implement our operating strategy, or the occurrence of any of the events or circumstances set forth in, or incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report could result in the actual operating results being different than the guidance, and such differences may be adverse and material.

We are incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands and substantial portions of our assets are located outside of the United States. In addition, certain members of our board, our officers and certain experts named herein reside outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult for investors to effect service of process within the United States upon us or such other persons residing outside the United States, or to enforce outside the United States judgments obtained against such persons in U.S. courts in any action. In addition, it may be difficult for investors to enforce, in original actions brought in courts in jurisdictions located outside the United States, rights predicated upon the U.S. laws.

In the absence of an applicable treaty for the mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments (other than arbitration awards) in civil and commercial matters to which the United States and the Netherlands are a party, a judgment obtained against the Company in the courts of the United States, whether or not predicated solely upon the U.S. federal securities laws, including a judgment predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the U.S. securities law or securities laws of any State or territory within the United States, will not be directly enforceable in the Netherlands.

In order to obtain a judgment which is enforceable in the Netherlands, the claim must be relitigated before a competent court of the Netherlands; the relevant Netherlands court has discretion to attach such weight to a judgment of the courts of the United States as it deems appropriate; based on case law, the courts of the Netherlands may be expected to recognize and grant permission for enforcement of a judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction in the United States without re-examination or relitigation of the substantive matters adjudicated thereby, provided that (i) the relevant court in the United States had jurisdiction in the matter in accordance with standards which are generally accepted internationally; (ii) the proceedings before that court complied with principles of proper procedure; (iii) recognition and/or enforcement of that judgment does not conflict with the public policy of the Netherlands; and (iv) recognition and/or enforcement of that judgment is not irreconcilable with a decision of a Dutch court rendered between the same parties or with an earlier decision of a foreign court rendered between the same parties in a dispute that is about the same subject matter and that is based on the same cause, provided that earlier decision can be recognized in the Netherlands.

Based on the foregoing, there can be no assurance that U.S. investors will be able to enforce against us or members of our board of directors, officers or certain experts named herein who are residents of the Netherlands or countries other than the United States any judgments obtained in U.S. courts in civil and commercial matters.

In addition, there is doubt as to whether a Dutch court would impose civil liability on us, the members of our board of directors, our officers or certain experts named herein in an original action predicated solely upon the U.S. laws brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in the Netherlands against us or such members, officers or experts, respectively.

We are a Dutch public company with limited liability. The rights of our stockholders may be different from the rights of stockholders governed by the laws of U.S. jurisdictions.

We are a Dutch public company with limited liability (naamloze vennootschap). Our corporate affairs are governed by our articles of association and by the laws governing companies incorporated in the Netherlands. The rights of stockholders and the responsibilities of members of our board of directors may be different from the rights and obligations of stockholders in companies governed by the laws of U.S. jurisdictions. In the performance of its duties, our board of directors is required by Dutch law to consider the interests of our company, its stockholders, its employees and other stakeholders, in all cases with due observation of the principles of reasonableness and fairness. It is possible that some of these parties will have interests that are different from, or in addition to, your interests as a stockholder. See Part II, Item 16G. Corporate Governance.

We are a foreign private issuer and, as a result, are not subject to U.S. proxy rules but are subject to Exchange Act reporting obligations that, to some extent, are more lenient and less frequent than those of a U.S. issuer.

We report under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), as a non-U.S. company with foreign private issuer status. Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act and although we follow Dutch laws and regulations with regard to such matters, we are exempt from certain provisions of the Exchange Act that are applicable to U.S. public companies, including: (i) the sections of the Exchange Act regulating the solicitation of proxies, consents or authorizations in respect of a security registered under the Exchange Act (ii) the sections of the Exchange Act requiring insiders to file public reports of their stock ownership and trading activities and liability for insiders who profit from trades made in a short period of time and (iii) the rules under the Exchange Act requiring the filing with the Commission of quarterly reports on Form 10-Q containing unaudited financial and other specified information, or current reports on Form 8-K, upon the occurrence of specified significant events. In addition, foreign private issuers are required to file their Annual Report on Form 20-F by 120 days after the end of each fiscal year while U.S. domestic issuers that are large accelerated filers are required to file their Annual Report on Form 10-K within 60 days after the end of each fiscal year. Foreign private issuers are also exempt from the Regulation Fair Disclosure, aimed at preventing issuers from making selective disclosures of material information. As a result of the above, even though we are contractually obligated and intend to make interim reports available to our stockholders, copies of which we are required to furnish to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on a Form 6-K, and even though we are required to furnish reports on Form 6-K disclosing whatever information we have made or are required to make public pursuant to Dutch law or distribute to our stockholders and that is material to our company, you may not have the same protections afforded to investors in companies that are not foreign private issuers.

We are a foreign private issuer and, as a result, in accordance with the listing requirements of the Nasdaq Global Select Market we rely on certain home country governance practices rather than the corporate governance requirements of the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

We are a foreign private issuer. As a result, in accordance with the listing requirements of the Nasdaq Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”) we rely on home country governance requirements and certain exemptions thereunder rather than relying on the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq. For an overview of our corporate governance principles, see Part II, Item 16.G. Corporate Governance, including the section describing the differences between the corporate governance requirements applicable to common stock listed on Nasdaq and the Dutch corporate governance requirements. Accordingly, you may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are not foreign private issuers.

Our debt obligations expose us to risks that could adversely affect our financial condition, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

As of December 31, 2018, we had outstanding indebtedness with an aggregate principal amount of $7,400 million. Our substantial indebtedness could have a material adverse effect on our business by:

Despite our level of indebtedness, we may still incur significantly more debt, which could further exacerbate the risks described above and affect our ability to service and repay our debt.

If we do not comply with the covenants in our debt agreements or fail to generate sufficient cash to service and repay our debt, it could adversely affect our operating results and our financial condition.

The RCF Agreement and the indentures governing our unsecured notes or any other debt arrangements that we may have require us to comply with various covenants. If there were an event of default under any of our debt instruments that was not cured or waived, the holders of the defaulted debt could terminate commitments to lend and cause all amounts outstanding with respect to the debt to be due and payable immediately, which in turn could result in cross defaults under our other debt instruments. Our assets and cash flow may not be sufficient to fully repay borrowings under all of our outstanding debt instruments if some or all of these instruments are accelerated upon an event of default.

Our ability to make scheduled payments or to refinance our debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance, which is subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations, or future borrowings under the RCF Agreement or from other sources may not be available to us in an amount sufficient to enable us to repay our indebtedness, or to fund our other liquidity needs, including our working capital and capital expenditure requirements, and we may be forced to reduce or delay capital expenditures, sell assets or operations, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures, or to sell assets, seek additional capital, restructure or refinance our indebtedness or reduce or delay capital expenditures, strategic acquisitions, investments and alliances, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to obtain enough capital to service our debt and fund our planned capital expenditures and business plan. Our ability to restructure or refinance our debt will depend on the condition of the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. Any refinancing of our debt could be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. The terms of existing or future debt instruments may restrict us from adopting some of these alternatives. In addition, any failure to make payments of interest and principal on our outstanding indebtedness on a timely basis would likely result in a reduction of our credit rating, which could harm our ability to incur additional indebtedness. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations.

The rating of our debt by major rating agencies may further improve or deteriorate, which could affect our additional borrowing capacity and financing costs.

The major debt rating agencies routinely evaluate our debt. These ratings are based on current information furnished to the ratings agencies by us and information obtained by the ratings agencies from other sources. An explanation of the significance of such rating may be obtained from such rating agency. There can be no assurance that such credit ratings will remain in effect for any given period of time or that such ratings will not be lowered, suspended or withdrawn entirely by the rating agencies, if, in each rating agency’s judgment, circumstances so warrant. Actual or anticipated changes or downgrades in our credit ratings, including any announcement that our ratings are under further review for a downgrade, could affect our market value and/or increase our corporate borrowing costs.

The conditional conversion feature of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.

In the event the conditional conversion feature of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes is triggered, holders thereof will be entitled to convert the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes solely into cash at any time during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes, we would be required to pay cash to settle any such conversion, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert their 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding aggregate principal of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which may adversely affect our net working capital.

The accounting for the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes results in recognized interest expense significantly greater than the stated interest rate of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes and may result in volatility to our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

We will settle conversions of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes entirely in cash. Accordingly, the conversion option that is part of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes is accounted for as a derivative pursuant to applicable accounting standards relating to derivative instruments and hedging activities. In general, this resulted in an initial valuation of the conversion option, which was bifurcated from the debt component of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes, resulting in an original issue discount. The original issue discount is amortized and recognized as a component of interest expense over the term of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes, which results in an effective interest rate reported in our Consolidated Statements of Operations significantly in excess of the stated coupon of 1.0%. This accounting treatment reduces our earnings, but does not affect the amount of cash interest paid to holders of Notes or our cash flows.

For each financial statement period after issuance of the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes, a hedge gain or loss is reported in our Consolidated Statements of Operations to the extent the valuation of the conversion option changes from the previous period. The cash convertible note hedge transactions we entered into in connection with the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes are also accounted for as derivative instruments, generally offsetting the gain or loss associated with changes to the valuation of the conversion option. Although we do not expect there to be a material net impact to our Consolidated Statements of Operations as a result of issuing the 2019 Cash Convertible Senior Notes and entering into the cash convertible note hedge transactions, we cannot assure you that these transactions will be completely offset, which may result in volatility to our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Our legal name is NXP Semiconductors N.V. and our commercial name is “NXP” or “NXP Semiconductors”.

We are incorporated in the Netherlands as a Dutch public company with limited liability (naamloze vennootschap).

On August 5, 2010, we made an initial public offering of 34 million shares of our common stock and listed our common stock on Nasdaq.

We are a holding company (the “holding” company) whose only material assets are the direct ownership of 100% of the shares of NXP B.V., a Dutch private company with limited liability (besloten vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid).

Our corporate seat is in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Our principal executive office is at High Tech Campus 60, 5656 AG Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and our telephone number is +31 40 2729999. Our registered agent in the United States is NXP USA, Inc., 6501 William Cannon Dr. West, Austin, Texas 78735, United States of America, phone number +1 512 9338214.

On October 27, 2016, NXP entered into a purchase agreement (the “purchase agreement”) with Qualcomm River Holdings B.V. (“Buyer”), a wholly-owned, indirect subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated (“Qualcomm”). Pursuant to the purchase agreement, Buyer commenced a tender offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of NXP for $110 per share in cash, for estimated total cash consideration of $38 billion. On February 20, 2018, NXP entered into an amendment (the “purchase agreement amendment”) to the purchase agreement with Buyer. Pursuant to the purchase agreement amendment, Buyer agreed to revise the terms of its tender offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of NXP and increase the offer price from $110 per share to $127.50 per share, for estimated total cash consideration of $44 billion. On April 19, 2018, NXP and Buyer further amended the purchase agreement to extend the date that either Buyer or NXP would have the right to terminate the purchase agreement to July 25, 2018, subject to the terms of the purchase agreement.

On July 26, 2018, NXP received notice from Qualcomm that it had terminated, effective immediately, the purchase agreement, as amended, between NXP and Buyer following the inability to obtain the required approval for the transaction from the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) of the People’s Republic of China prior to the end date stipulated by the parties under the purchase agreement. On July 26, 2018, NXP received $2 billion termination compensation per the terms of the purchase agreement.

On December 7, 2015, NXP acquired Freescale in a stock and cash transaction for a total consideration of $11.6 billion. In connection with the merger, each outstanding share of Freescale common stock was converted into 0.3521 shares of NXP common stock and $6.25 in cash, without interest. NXP issued 110 million shares of common stock to former holders of Freescale common stock, representing 32% of the 342 million total shares of outstanding NXP common stock after the merger. Freescale’s financial results from the merger date through December 31, 2017, are included in NXP’s Consolidated Statement of Operations, as discussed herein. NXP accounted for the merger under the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Topic 805, Business Combinations, with NXP treated as the accounting acquirer, see further discussion below.

On July 10, 2018, NXP completed the sale of its 40% equity interest of Suzhou ASEN Semiconductors Co., Ltd. to J&R Holding Limited, receiving $127 million in cash proceeds.

In June 2018, NXP completed the sale of 24% of its equity interest in WeEn to Tianjin Ruixin Semiconductor Industry Investment Centre LLP, receiving $32 million in cash proceeds. At December 31, 2018, due to the intended sale of the remaining interest in WeEn, NXP transferred the remaining holding to other current assets.

On April 19, 2017, we sold our shares in Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation Ltd. (ASMC), representing a 27.47 percent ownership, for a total consideration of $54 million.

On June 14, 2016, we announced an agreement to divest our Standard Products (“SP”) business to a consortium of financial investors consisting of JAC Capital and Wise Road Capital. On February 6, 2017 NXP divested SP, receiving $2.6 billion in cash proceeds, net of cash divested.

See Part I, Item 5.B Liquidity and Capital Resources for a discussion of our principal capital expenditures.

Semiconductors perform a broad variety of functions within electronic products and systems, including processing data, sensing, storing information and converting or controlling electronic signals. Semiconductors vary significantly depending upon the specific function or application of the end product in which the semiconductor is used and the customer who is deploying it. Semiconductors also vary on a number of technical characteristics including the degree of integration, level of customization, programmability and the process technology utilized to manufacture the semiconductor. Advances in semiconductor technology have increased the functionality and performance of semiconductors, improving their features and power consumption characteristics while reducing their size and cost. These advances have resulted in growth of semiconductors and electronic content across a diverse array of products. The semiconductor market totaled $469 billion in 2018.

We are a global semiconductor company and a long-standing supplier in the industry, with over 50 years of innovation and operating history. For the year ended December 31, 2018, we generated revenue of $9,407 million, compared to $9,256 million for the year ended December 31, 2017.

We provide leading High Performance Mixed Signal (HPMS) and, until February 6, 2017, Standard Product (SP) solutions that leverage our combined portfolio of intellectual property, deep application knowledge, process technology and manufacturing expertise in the domains of cryptography—security, high-speed interface, radio frequency (RF), mixed-signal analog-digital (mixed A/D), power management, digital signal processing and embedded system design.

Our product solutions are used in a wide range of end-market applications including: automotive, personal security and identification, wireless and wireline infrastructure, mobile communications, multi-market industrial, consumer and computing. We engage with leading global original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and sell products in all major geographic regions.

Until February 6, 2017, NXP was organized into two market oriented reportable segments, High Performance Mixed Signal (“HPMS”) and Standard Products (“SP”). Corporate and Other represents the remaining portion to reconcile to the Consolidated Financial Statements. You can find a description of each of our reportable segments below. We also have a manufacturing group that manages our manufacturing and supply chain activities.

Effective January 1, 2019, NXP removed the reference to HPMS in its organizational structure in acknowledgment of the one reportable segment representing the entity as a whole. In addition, as of January 1, 2019, the Company will report its revenue across the following four end-markets – Automotive; Industrial & IoT; Mobile; and Communications Infrastructure & Other and no longer through the four business lines that are discussed below.

HPMS products consist of highly differentiated application-specific semiconductors and system solutions. We believe the HPMS market is an attractive market due to the growth in excess of the overall semiconductor market, the high barriers to entry, the loyalty of the customer base, the relative pricing stability and lower long-term capital intensity.

SP products consisted primarily of discrete semiconductor devices that could be incorporated in many different types of electronics equipment, were typically sold to a wide variety of customers, and was divested on February 6, 2017.

The HPMS segment consists of the following four business lines: Automotive, Secure Identification Solutions, Secure Connected Devices and Secure Interfaces and Infrastructure.

We focus on developing products and system and sub-system solutions that are innovative and allow our customers to bring their end products to market more quickly. Our products, particularly our application system and sub-system solutions, help our customers design critical parts of their end products and thus help many of them to differentiate themselves based on feature performance, advanced functionality, cost or time-to-market.

We apply our technical expertise in the areas of RF, analog, power management, interface, security technologies and digital processing across our priority applications markets. Our strong RF capabilities are utilized in our high performance RF for wireless infrastructure and industrial applications, car security and car radio products, mobile connectivity and contactless identification products. Our power technologies and capabilities are applied in AC-DC power conversion, power management and audio power products, while our ability to design ultra-low power semiconductors is used in a wide range of our products including our consumer, mobile, identification, healthcare products and our microcontrollers. Our high-speed interface design skills are applied in various interface products, and our security capability is used in our identification solutions, digital networking and microcontroller solutions. Finally, our digital processing capabilities are used in our microcontroller and application processor based products, our digital networking products, our Auto DSPs and the products leveraging our Coolflux ultra-low power DSPs, such as in our hearing aid products.

The below table provides an overview of the key applications per each business line, the leading market positions and our key customers.

The table above provides a list of our key OEM, ODM and electronic manufacturing services end customers in alphabetical order, based on 2018 revenue, of which some of whom are supplied by distributors. Key distributors across these applications are Arrow, Avnet, Edom, Nexty, Vitec and WPG.

Historically, our net revenue has typically been higher in the second half of the year than in the first half of the year.

Automotive. Growth in semiconductor sales to the global automotive market relies on global economic trends, the unit growth of automobiles manufactured and the growth in semiconductor content per vehicle which is being driven by the proliferation of electronic features throughout the vehicle. Among the highest growth applications are advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), infotainment (information, convenience and connectivity), secure in-vehicle networking and electrified powertrain (hybrid and electric vehicles).

Due to the high degree of regulatory scrutiny and safety requirements, the automotive semiconductor market is characterized by stringent qualification processes, zero defect quality processes, functionally safe design architecture, high reliability, extensive design-in timeframes and long product life cycles which results in significant barriers to entry.

Semiconductor content per vehicle continues to increase due to government regulation for improved safety and emissions, the standardization of higher-end options across a greater number of vehicle classes as well as consumer demand for greater fuel efficiency, advanced safety and multimedia applications. Automotive safety features are evolving from passive safety systems to active safety systems with ADAS such as radar, vision, vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) systems. We believe regulatory actions and consumer demand in both the developed and emerging markets should drive the increase in applications such as ADAS, electric and hybrid powertrains, vehicle gateway and secure connectivity, electronic safety, as well as stability control. Semiconductor content per vehicle is also increasing to address applications such as engine management, fuel economy improvement, driver comfort, convenience and user interface. In addition, with the increase in overall semiconductor content in modern automobiles, the demand for secure in-vehicle networking continues to increase as various subsystems communicate within the automobile and with external devices and networks. Data integrity and security hardware features for safeguarding memory, communication and system data are also increasing in importance.

As a result of the Merger with Freescale, NXP became the largest semiconductor supplier to the automotive industry with strong positions in Car Entertainment, In-Vehicle Networking, Secure Car Access, Chassis & Safety and Powertrain. The combined portfolio is highly complementary, enabling NXP to address a broader scope of complete and complex solutions for our automotive partners. We continue to invest in growth areas including the evolution of the Secure Connected Car, ADAS, electrification of powertrains and other safety and comfort applications.

In Car Entertainment, we are the market leader with the broadest portfolio of products addressing both audio and visual head-end unit applications. Our leadership in audio processing for mid-to-high-end car radio is driven by excellent reception performance as well as high-levels of integration of terrestrial, satellite and digital multi-band tuners. Within the low-end and after-market car radio, our leadership is a result of highly integrated, single-chip radio solutions that offer our customers ease of implementation and lower total cost of ownership. In digital reception, we have developed multi-standard radios based on our software-defined radio implementation. In addition, we provide class-AB and class-D audio amplifiers and power analog products for car entertainment. Our i.MX applications processors, which are developed and brought to market by our Microcontroller and Processor teams, are highly integrated ARM-based application processors with integrated audio, video and graphics capability.

In the In-vehicle Networking market, we are the market leader, having played a defining role in setting in-vehicle networking standards including the CAN, LIN, FlexRay and more recently the two-wire automotive Ethernet standard. We are a leading supplier to major OEMs and continue to drive new system concepts, such as partial networking for enhanced energy efficiency. To strengthen our Ethernet position, in 2018 NXP acquired OmniPHY, a supplier of Gbit automotive Ethernet and SerDes IP.

In the Secure Car Access market, we are the market leader in two-way secure entry products, and have pioneered the development of next generation passive keyless entry/start with our customers. As a result of our R&D innovations we are a key supplier to almost all major automobile manufacturers for secure car access products.

In the Chassis & Safety domain, we offer a broad range of sensors and microcontrollers. Our inertial sensors enable vehicle stability control and airbag crash detection while our pressure sensors are well-positioned for continued growth in tire pressure monitoring, occupancy detection and engine control.

For Powertrains, we offer microcontroller and precision analog components which provide the intelligence needed for engine management systems that reduce emissions and improve fuel efficiency. In December 2013, we announced a joint venture with Datang Telecom, targeting the China domestic hybrid and electrical car market. This joint venture became active in April 2014.

For the electrification of vehicles, we have introduced a portfolio of battery cell controllers suitable for a wide range of automotive battery management systems, designed to deliver industry leading measurement accuracy and scalable, coherent functional safety mechanism up to ASIL-D. The new Battery Cell Controllers combined with NXP’s comprehensive portfolio of world-class automotive microcontrollers, power management system basis chips and communication transceivers are a perfect solution for car makers to electrify their entire fleet across 12V, 48V, Plug-in Hybrid and electrical vehicles.

In ADAS, we are developing solutions for Radar, Vision and Secure V2X , including high-performance microcontrollers as well as precision analog radio frontends. In 2013, we made a strategic investment in Cohda Wireless, an equipment vendor in the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) market with whom we co-operate for V2X solutions. In December 2013, we also announced the intended sale of our Telematics Module business to Telit Communications which closed in March 2014.

We employ both proprietary in-house processes with automotive-grade, high-voltage, RF and non-volatile capabilities as well as advanced submicron foundry processes. We also deploy specialty IP such as leading edge security IP developed by our Secure Identification Solutions business, to enhance our automotive solutions. We design our products to be compliant with all key global relevant automotive quality standards (such as ISO/TS16949, AEC-Q-100 and VDA6.3).

For the full year 2018, we had High Performance Mixed Signal revenue of $3,953 million in automotive applications, compared to $3,762 million in 2017, which represents a 5.1% year over year increase. According to Strategy Analytics, the total market for automotive semiconductors was $37.6 billion in 2017, and projects it will grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.5% between 2017 and 2021.

Secure Identification Solutions (SIS). The SIS business is focused on delivering solutions to address the security and privacy requirements of three specific end market dynamics: (1) the increasing adoption of chip-based banking cards (“Banking”); (2) the increasing usage of high-volume, single-payment platform systems for urban transportation (“Transit—Access”); and (3) the increased need to provide government sponsored products to assure privacy and secure cross-border movement of people (“eGov”).

Nearly all of SIS products consist of multi-functional solutions comprised of passive RF connectivity devices facilitating information transfer from the user document to reader infrastructure; secure, tamper-proof microcontroller devices in which information is securely encrypted (“secure element”); and secure real-time operating system software products to facilitate the encryption-decryption of data, and the interaction with the reader infrastructure systems. Our solutions are developed to assure extreme levels of security of user information, undergoing stringent and continued global governmental and banking certification processes, as well as delivering the highest level of device performance enabling significant throughput and productivity to our customers.

In the banking sector NXP is one of the leading suppliers in the contact, contactless and dual-interface bank card market. We have innovated and deployed “multi-application” banking solutions which support a combination of payment, transit and access solutions all leveraging a single physical bank card. In the transit and access market, NXP’s MIFARE products are ubiquitous throughout the world, having been deployed in over 750 cities, facilitating the mass transit requirements of over one billion people per day. Additionally our transit and access products are deployed in application such as employee identification for facility access and security. We are also focused on deploying our technology into new emerging market applications such as interactive gaming, theme-park attendee management and supply chain and inventory product management to support high velocity supply chain management. In the eGovernment sector, NXP is a market leader providing solutions for chip-based cross-border passports, drivers-licenses, health cards and other government sponsored identification documents. We have also worked with emerging market government agencies to facilitate government sponsored identity cards which also serve as payment platforms helping the mass-population of under-banked.

For the full year 2018, we had High Performance Mixed Signal revenue of $554 million in SIS, compared to $523 million in 2017, which represents a 5.9% year over year increase. According to ABI Research, the market size for secure identification ICs was $3.3 billion in 2017, and is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 1% to $3.4 billion in 2021.

Secure Connected Devices (SCD). The SCD business is focused on delivering solutions to enable the future of connected devices – also known as “Internet of Things” (IoT). We believe the future growth of secure connected devices requires the ability to deliver four fundamental functional capabilities: (1) embedded microcontrollers; (2) connectivity – short range RF and wireless technology (Bluetooth LE, Zigbee, Thread and NFC); (3) security; and (4) sensor. We see end-markets and applications emerging in the area of Mobile Payments, Smart Home-Health, Smart Cities, Wearables and Smart Industrial.

The SCD business has a broad portfolio of products which we believe enables NXP to successfully compete and deliver all aspects of semiconductor-based technologies for connected devices including microcontrollers, secure mobile transactions solutions and various connectivity solutions.

Post-Merger, we are one of the largest supplier of broad based microcontrollers. We differentiate ourselves versus our competitors with a broad portfolio of products addressing different processing power, connectivity standards, peripherals and security levels depending on customers evolving requirements.

We have a strong position in multi-purpose 32-bit ARM-based microcontrollers serving a broad array of applications. Our portfolio is highly scalable, and is coupled with our extensive software and design tools. This enables our customers to design-in and deploy our MCUs families, leveraging a consistent software development environment. Due to the scalability of our portfolio we are able to help future-proof our customer’s products as their systems evolve, becoming more complex or requiring greater processing capabilities over time. We believe we have the broadest ARM portfolio in the industry.

Our i.MX family of processors are designed in conjunction with a broad suite of additional products including power management solutions, audio codecs, touch sensors and accelerometers to provide full systems solutions across a wide range of operating systems and applications. Our i.MX 8 family of applications processors is a feature and performance scalable multi-core platform that includes single, dual and quad-core families based on the Arm Cortex architecture for advanced graphics, imaging, machine vision, audio, voice, video, and safety-critical applications. Together, these products provide a family of applications processors featuring software, power and pin compatibility across single, dual and quad core implementations. Software support includes Linux and Android implementations.

We are the market leader in secure mobile transactions. NXP has pioneered and led the development of the ISO standard for Near Field Communications (NFC), which is rapidly emerging as the de facto standard for secure short-range connectivity. In combination with our industry leading SmartMX family of secure element device as well as our secure operating system, NXP has garnered market leadership in the deployment of mobile wallets and mobile payment. Our position leverages our decades long position in cryptography and security in the Banking, Transit – Access and eGov sectors.

NXP has a broad and diverse portfolio of connectivity assets, IP and application knowledge which we believe enables us to fulfill our customer’s connectivity requirements for IoT applications, including smart lighting, smart energy, wireless remote controls & switches and healthcare monitoring.

In February 2015 we acquired Quintic, which brought assets and IP to broaden our connectivity portfolio. Specifically, Quintic is an innovator in the area of Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE), a key connectivity standard for IoT devices.

Our mobile audio business focuses on smart speaker drivers and leverages many of the same core technologies and competencies as our personal healthcare business. We also sell software solutions for mobile phones through our NXP Software business. The NXP Software solutions business develops audio solutions that enable mobile device manufacturers to produce differentiated hand held products that enhance the end-user experience. Our software has been incorporated into over 1 billion mobile devices produced by many of the world’s leading mobile device manufacturers.

Our personal healthcare revenue is generated in different segments. First, we have our hearing instrument and hearable products, which leverage our ultra-low power DSP, NVM, magnetic induction and 2.4GHz audio streaming radio technology. Second, we co-develop and manufacture custom medical imaging sensors for selected customers. Finally, we offer single chip solutions for monitoring patients’ therapy compliance.

Our overall High Performance Mixed Signal revenue in the SCD business was $2,723 million in 2018, compared to $2,587 million in 2017, which represents a 5.3% year over year increase. The worldwide market for Microcontrollers 32-bit was $9.0 billion in 2017, and we expect a compounded annual growth rate of 6.0% between 2017 and 2021.

Our leadership in secure/smartcard Microcontrollers and our position in the non-secure Microcontrollers outside Automotive creates a strong position in broad based Microcontrollers.

Secure Interfaces and Infrastructure (SI&I). Our SI&I businesses consist of: Digital Networking Processors, Secure Interface and System Management Products, High-performance RF Power-Amplifiers (HPRF) and Smart Antenna solutions.

NXP is a significant participant in the communications infrastructure market. Our communications processors are programmable semiconductors that perform tasks related to control and management of digital data, as well as network interfaces. They are designed to handle tasks related to data transmission between nodes within a network, the manipulation of that data upon arrival at its destination and protocol conversion. Our product portfolio includes 32-bit and 64-bit offerings ranging from a single core to 28- and 45-nanometer multicore QorIQ communications processors. Wireless-infrastructure processors combine communication processors with DSP functionality and specific wireless acceleration technology. Our portfolio of secure wireless-infrastructure processors targets small cells and macro base stations. These products perform baseband processing and support multiple cellular-network air-interfaces such as 5G, LTE-Advanced, TD-LTE, LTE, HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, and CDMA2000K. Used by leading OEMs worldwide, our broad portfolio of wireless-infrastructure and communications processors satisfies wireless infrastructure requirements.

We are a major supplier in interface, power, authentication and high-performance analog products. Our products address many interface and power standards and we serve various applications across the mobile, computing, industrial, consumer and automotive markets. We have broad product portfolios including I² C/PC, GPIO, LED controllers, real-time clocks, signal and load switches, signal integrity products, wired and wireless charging solutions, DC-DC, AC-DC converters and authentication products. We generate our revenue by selling products to a very broad customer base, which we serve through our distribution channel. We have successfully engaged with leading OEMs to drive custom and semi-custom products which in turn allow us to refine and accelerate our innovation and product roadmaps. We are engaged in development activities and standard setting initiatives with many of the innovation leaders in each of these markets.

Key growth drivers will be the adoption of fast wired USB-C and fast Qi wireless charging in mobile applications. Our value proposition is to provide differentiating and complete NXP end-to-end fast-charging solutions, for both wired and wireless charging. In AC-DC conversion application, we are a market leader in resonant power conversion below 300W. Our differentiation is based on our high-voltage power process technologies and engineering capabilities in designing high-efficiency power conversion products. In the computing market, we have industry-leading linear redriver products for 10-20Gbps signal integrity applications. In the audio market, we are a market leader in smart phones, as well as hearing instruments and hearables. We add value by combining low-power IC design and audio enhancement software for our customers. Our extensive I2C and GPIO portfolios serve very fragmented market segments, generating long-lived revenue with long-tail customers of varied applications. NXP is co-author to I3C and will lead in I3C product innovation.

Combined with NXP processors and complete with differentiating software, our analog, interface and power solutions provide customers with differentiating and complete solutions in focused IOT verticals, such as smart home and Industry 4.0.

We are the market leader in HPRF power amplifiers for markets, such as mobile base stations, wireless connectivity, satellite and CATV infrastructure and receivers, industrial applications, and to a lesser extent the military and aerospace markets. We are engaged with the majority of the largest customers in mobile base stations and in several other application areas.

Both Freescale and NXP prior to the Merger were the main suppliers into the HPRF power amplifier market. As a result of the Merger, NXP was required to sell its HPRF business. On December 7, 2015 NXP completed the divestment of its RF Power business to JAC Capital.

We also have a business offering Smart Antenna solutions focused on high-performance RF amplifiers. This business utilizes RF technologies optimized for various applications in the smartphone, consumer, industrial and infrastructure markets.

Our overall revenue in these businesses was $1,792 million in 2018 versus $1,873 million in 2017, which represents a decrease of 4.3% year over year.

Until February 6, 2017, our SP business supplied a broad range of standard semiconductor components, such as small signal discretes, power discretes, protection and signal conditioning devices and standard logic devices, which were largely produced in dedicated in-house high-volume manufacturing operations. Our portfolio consisted of a large variety of catalog products, using widely-known production techniques, with characteristics that were largely standardized throughout the industry as well as leading discrete solutions especially in the field of ESD protection / EMI filtering and low loss rectification and power switching. Our SP products were often sold as separate components, but in many cases, were used in conjunction with our HPMS solutions, often within the same subsystems. Further, we were able to leverage customer engagements where we provided standard products devices, as discrete components, within a system to identify and pursue potential HPMS opportunities.

Our products were sold both directly to OEMs as well as through distribution, and were primarily differentiated on cost, packaging type and miniaturization, and supply chain performance. Alternatively, our innovative products included “design-in” products, which required significant engineering effort to be designed into an application solution. For these products, our efforts made it more difficult for a competitor to easily replace our product, which made these businesses more predictable in terms of revenue and pricing than is typical for standard products.

We manufacture integrated circuits and discrete semiconductors through a combination of wholly owned manufacturing facilities, manufacturing facilities operated jointly with other semiconductor companies and third-party foundries and assembly and test subcontractors. We manage our manufacturing assets together through one centralized organization to ensure we realize scale benefits in asset utilization, purchasing volumes and overhead leverage across businesses.

In the future, we expect to outsource an increased part of our internal demand for wafer foundry and packaging services to third-party manufacturing sources in order to increase our flexibility to accommodate increased demand.

The manufacturing of a semiconductor involves several phases of production, which can be broadly divided into “front-end” and “back-end” processes. Front-end processes take place at highly complex wafer manufacturing facilities (called fabrication plants or “wafer fabs”), and involve the imprinting of substrate silicon wafers with the precise circuitry required for semiconductors to function. The front-end production cycle requires high levels of precision and involves as many as 300 process steps. Back-end processes involve the assembly, test and packaging of semiconductors in a form suitable for distribution. In contrast to the highly complex front-end process, back-end processing is generally less complicated, and as a result we tend to determine the location of our back-end facilities based more on cost factors than on technical considerations.

We primarily focus our internal and joint venture wafer manufacturing operations on running proprietary specialty process technologies that enable us to differentiate our products on key performance features, and we generally outsource wafer manufacturing in process technologies that are available at third-party wafer foundries when it is economical to do so. In addition, we increasingly focus our in-house manufacturing on our competitive 8-inch wafer facilities, which predominantly run manufacturing processes in the 140 nanometer, 180 nanometer and 250 nanometer process nodes, and have concentrated the majority of our manufacturing base in Asia. This focus increases our return on invested capital and reduces capital expenditures.

Our front-end manufacturing facilities use a broad range of production processes and proprietary design methods, including CMOS, bipolar, bipolar CMOS (“BiCMOS”) and double-diffused metal on silicon oxide semiconductor (“DMOS”) technologies. Our wafer fabs produce semiconductors with line widths ranging from 90 nanometers to 3 microns for integrated circuits and 0.5 microns to greater than 4 microns for discretes. This broad technology portfolio enables us to meet increasing demand from customers for system solutions, which require a variety of technologies.

Our back-end manufacturing facilities test and package many different types of products using a wide variety of processes. To optimize flexibility, we use shared technology platforms for our back-end assembly operations. Most of our assembly and test activities are maintained in-house.

The following table shows selected key information with respect to our major front-end and back-end facilities:

Site	Ownership			Wafer sizes used		Line widths used (vm)		Technology/Products
						(Microns)
Front-end
Singapore⁽¹⁾		61.2	%	8”		0.14-0.25		CMOS
Nijmegen, the Netherlands		100	%	8”		0.14-0.80		CMOS, BiCMOS, LDMOS
Oak Hill, Austin, US		100	%	8”			0.25	CMOS, BiCMOS, Sensors, LDMOS, HDTMOS, PowerCMOS
Chandler, US		100	%	8”		0.25-0.50		CMOS, eNVM, PowerCMOS
Austin Technology and Manufacturing Center, US		100	%	8”		0.09-0.18		CMOS, eNVM, PowerCMOS, Advanced CMOS, SoC

Back-end⁽²⁾
Kaohsiung, Taiwan		100	%		—		—	NFC, Automotive Car-access, Micro-controllers
Bangkok, Thailand		100	%		—		—	Automotive In-Vehicle Networking and Sensors, Banking and e-Passport modules, Standard Logic
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia		100	%		—		—	Micro-processors, Micro-controllers, Power Management, Analog and Mixed Signal, RF devices
Tianjin, China		100	%		—		—	Micro-controllers, Analog and Sensors

We use a large number of raw materials in our front- and back-end manufacturing processes, including silicon wafers, chemicals, gases, lead frames, substrates, molding compounds and various types of precious and other metals. Our most important raw materials are the raw, or substrate, silicon wafers we use to make our semiconductors. We purchase these wafers, which must meet exacting specifications, from a limited number of suppliers in the geographic region in which our fabrication facilities are located. At our wholly owned fabrication plants, we use raw wafers ranging from 6 inches to 8 inches in size. Our SSMC wafer fab facility, which produces 8 inch wafers, is jointly owned by TSMC and ourselves. Emerging fabrication technologies employ larger wafer sizes and, accordingly, we expect that our production requirements will in the future shift towards larger substrate wafers.

We typically source our other raw materials in a similar fashion as our wafers, although our portfolio of suppliers is more diverse. Some of our suppliers provide us with materials on a just-in-time basis, which permits us to reduce our procurement costs and the negative cash flow consequences of maintaining inventories, but exposes us to potential supply chain interruptions. We purchase most of our raw materials on the basis of fixed price contracts, but generally do not commit ourselves to long-term purchase obligations, which permits us to renegotiate prices periodically.

We market our products and solutions worldwide to a variety of OEMs, ODMs, contract manufacturers and distributors. We generate demand for our products by delivering HPMS solutions to our customers, and supporting their system design-in activities by providing application architecture expertise and local field application engineering support.

Our sales and marketing teams are organized into five regions, which are EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), the Americas, Japan, South Korea and Greater China (including Asia Pacific). These sales regions are responsible for managing customer relationships and creating demand for our solutions through the full ecosystem development, including our distributors and at our large number of mass market customers.

Our sales and marketing strategy focuses on key defined verticals in Automotive, Mobile, Industrial and IoT and Communication Infrastructure, deepening our relationship with our top OEMs and electronic manufacturing service customers, expanding our reach to our mass market customers, startups and our distribution partners and becoming their preferred supplier, which we believe assists us in reducing sales volatility in challenging markets. We have long-standing customer relationships with most of our customers. Our 10 largest OEM end customers, some of whom are supplied by distributors, in alphabetical order, are Apple, Aptiv, Bosch, Continental, Denso, Ericsson, Huawei, LG, Samsung and Visteon. We also have a strong position with our distribution partners being a top three semiconductor supplier (other than microprocessors and memory ICs) through distribution worldwide. Our 3 largest distribution partners are Arrow, Avnet and Nexty.

Our revenue is primarily the sum of our direct sales to OEMs plus our distributors’ resale of NXP products. Avnet accounted for 14% of our revenue in 2018, 15% in 2017 and 13% in 2016. Arrow accounted for 10% of our revenue in 2018 and less than 10% of our revenue in 2017 and 2016. No other distributor accounted for greater than 10% of our revenue. With 11% of total revenue, Continental was the only OEM for which we had direct sales to that accounted for more than 10% of revenue in 2018 and 2017. In 2016, this percentage was below 10%.

See note 22 “Segments and Geographical Information” to the Consolidated Financial Statements for a breakdown of total revenue by segment and geographic market for the last three financial years.

See the discussion set forth under Part I, Item 5.C. Research and Development, Patents and Licenses, etc.

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 “fabless” semiconductor companies, to companies that are focused on a single application market segment or standard product. Most of these competitors compete with us with respect to some, but not all, of our businesses.

Our key competitors in alphabetical order include Analog Devices Inc., Broadcom, Infineon, Intel, Marvell, Maxim Integrated Products, Microchip, Renesas, Power Integrations, Silicon Laboratories, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments.

The basis on which we compete varies across market segments and geographic regions. Our HPMS businesses compete primarily on the basis of our ability to timely develop new products and the underlying intellectual property and on meeting customer requirements in terms of cost, product features, quality, warranty and availability. In addition, our HPMS system solutions businesses require in-depth knowledge of a given application market in order to develop robust system solutions and qualified customer support resources.

The information set forth under the “Litigation” caption of note 16 of our notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part III, Item 18 of this Annual Report is incorporated herein by reference. For additional discussion of certain risks associated with legal proceedings, see Part I, Item 3.D. Risk Factors.

The information set forth under the “Environmental remediation” caption of note 16 of our notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part III, Item 18 of this Annual Report is incorporated herein by reference. For additional discussion of certain risks associated with environmental regulation, see Part I, Item 3.D. Risk Factors.

A list of our significant subsidiaries, including name, country of incorporation or residence and proportion of ownership interest and, if different, by proportion of voting power is provided as “Exhibit 21.1” under Part III, Item 19. Exhibits and is incorporated herein by reference.

NXP uses 97 sites in 30 countries with 11.0 million square feet of total owned and leased building space of which 9.7 million square feet is owned property.

The following table sets out our principal real property holdings as of December 31, 2018:

Areas which are not fully closed are not considered as buildings (eg. sport fields, parking space). If it is not practicable to differentiate between production facility and offices in the same building all is considered manufacturing.

The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in accordance with U.S. GAAP requires our management to make judgments, assumptions and estimates that affect the amounts reported in our Consolidated Financial Statements and the accompanying notes. Our management bases its estimates and judgments on historical experience, current economic and industry conditions and on various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

The methods, estimates, and judgments that we use in applying our accounting policies have a significant impact on the results that we report in our Consolidated Financial Statements. Some of our accounting policies require us to make difficult and subjective judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates regarding matters that are inherently uncertain. Our most critical accounting estimates include:

In the following section, we discuss these policies further, as well as the estimates and judgments involved.

Inventories are valued at the lower of cost or market. We regularly review our inventories and write down our inventories for estimated losses due to obsolescence. This allowance is determined for groups of products based on sales of our products in the recent past and/or expected future demand. Future demand is affected by market conditions, technological obsolescence, new products and strategic plans, each of which is subject to change with little or no forewarning. In estimating obsolescence, we utilize information that includes projecting future demand.

The need for strategic inventory levels to ensure competitive delivery performance to our customers are balanced against the risk of inventory obsolescence due to rapidly changing technology and customer requirements.

The change in our reserves for inventories was primarily due to the normal review and accrual of obsolete or excess inventory. If actual future demand or market conditions are less favorable than those projected by our management, additional inventory write-downs may be required.

Goodwill is required to be tested for impairment at least annually or sooner whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the assets may be impaired. Such events or changes in circumstances can be significant changes in business climate, operating performance or competition, or upon the disposition of a significant portion of a reporting unit. A significant amount of judgment is involved in determining if an indicator of impairment has occurred between annual test dates. This impairment review compares the fair value for each reporting unit containing goodwill to its carrying value. Determining the fair value of a reporting unit involves the use of significant estimates and assumptions, including projected future cash flows, discount rates based on weighted average cost of capital and future economic and market conditions. We base our fair-value estimates on assumptions we believe to be reasonable. Actual cash flow amounts for future periods may differ from estimates used in impairment testing.

For the annual impairment assessment in 2018, we determined that for each of our reporting units, it was more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting units exceeded the carrying value. During the fourth quarter of each of the prior two fiscal years, we have completed our annual impairment assessments and concluded that goodwill was not impaired in any of these years.

Impairment or disposal of identified intangible assets and tangible fixed assets

We perform reviews of property, plant and equipment, and certain identifiable intangibles, excluding goodwill, to determine if facts and circumstances indicate that the useful life is shorter than what we had originally estimated or that the carrying amount of assets may not be recoverable. If such facts and circumstances exist, we assess the recoverability of the long-lived assets by comparing the projected undiscounted net cash flows associated with the related asset or group of assets over their remaining lives against their respective carrying amounts. In the event such cash flows are not expected to be sufficient to recover the recorded value of the assets, the assets are written down to their estimated fair values based on the expected discounted future cash flows attributable to the assets or based on appraisals. Impairment losses, if any, are based on the excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of those assets.

The assumptions and estimates used to determine future values and remaining useful lives of our intangible and other long-lived assets are complex and subjective. They can be affected by various factors, including external factors such as industry and economic trends, and internal factors such as changes in our business strategy and our forecasts for specific product lines. In 2018, we had no impairments. In 2017, we recognized impairment charges of $23 million, of which $16 million (2016: $89 million) relative to IPR&D that was acquired from Freescale.

The Company recognizes revenue under the core principle to depict the transfer of control to customers in an amount reflecting the consideration the Company expects to be entitled. In order to achieve that core principle, the Company applies the following five step approach: (1) identify the contract with a customer, (2) identify the performance obligations in the contract, (3) determine the transaction price, (4) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract, and (5) recognize revenue when a performance obligation is satisfied.

The vast majority of the Company’s revenue is derived from the sale of semiconductor products to distributors, Original Equipment Manufacturers (“OEMs”) and similar customers. In determining the transaction price, the Company evaluates whether the price is subject to refund or adjustment to determine the consideration to which the Company expects to be entitled. Variable consideration is estimated and includes the impact of discounts, price protection, product returns and distributor incentive programs. The estimate of variable consideration is dependent on a variety of factors, including contractual terms, analysis of historical data, current economic conditions, industry demand and both the current and forecasted pricing environments. The estimate of variable consideration is not constrained because the Company has extensive experience with these contracts.

Revenue is recognized when control of the product is transferred to the customer (i.e., when the Company’s performance obligation is satisfied), which typically occurs at shipment. In determining whether control has transferred, the Company considers if there is a present right to payment and legal title, and whether risks and rewards of ownership having transferred to the customer.

For sales to distributors, revenue is recognized upon transfer of control to the distributor. For some distributors, contractual arrangements are in place which allow these distributors to return products if certain conditions are met. These conditions generally relate to the time period during which a return is allowed and reflect customary conditions in the particular geographic market. Other return conditions relate to circumstances arising at the end of a product life cycle, when certain distributors are permitted to return products purchased during a pre-defined period after the Company has announced a product’s pending discontinuance. These return rights are a form of variable consideration and are estimated using the most likely method based on historical return rates in order to reduce revenues recognized. However, long notice periods associated with these announcements prevent significant amounts of product from being returned. For sales where return rights exist, the Company has determined, based on historical data, that only a very small percentage of the sales of this type to distributors is actually returned. Repurchase agreements with OEMs or distributors are not entered into by the Company.

Sales to most distributors are made under programs common in the semiconductor industry whereby distributors receive certain price adjustments to meet individual competitive opportunities. These programs may include credits granted to distributors, or allow distributors to return or scrap a limited amount of product in accordance with contractual terms agreed upon with the distributor, or receive price protection credits when our standard published prices are lowered from the price the distributor paid for product still in its inventory. In determining the transaction price, the Company considers the price adjustments from these programs to be variable consideration that reduce the amount of revenue recognized. The Company’s policy is to estimate such price adjustments using the most likely method based on rolling historical experience rates, as well as a prospective view of products and pricing in the distribution channel for distributors who participate in our volume rebate incentive program. We continually monitor the actual claimed allowances against our estimates, and we adjust our estimates as appropriate to reflect trends in pricing environments and inventory levels. The estimates are also adjusted when recent historical data does not represent anticipated future activity. Historically, actual price adjustments for these programs relative to those estimated have not materially differed.

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the expected tax consequences of temporary differences between the tax basis of assets and liabilities and their reported amounts. Measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities is based upon the enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. Deferred tax liabilities for withholding taxes on dividends from subsidiaries are recognized in situations where the company does not consider the earnings indefinitely reinvested and to the extent that these withholding taxes are not expected to be refundable.

Deferred tax assets, including assets arising from loss carryforwards, are recognized, net of a valuation allowance, if based upon the available evidence it is more likely than not that the asset will be realized.

The income tax benefit from an uncertain tax position is recognized only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained upon examination by the relevant taxing authorities. The income tax benefit recognized is measured based on the largest benefit that is more than 50% likely to be realized upon resolution of the uncertainty. Unrecognized tax benefits are presented as a reduction to the deferred tax asset for related net operating loss carryforwards, unless these would not be available, in which case the uncertain tax benefits are presented together with the related interest and penalties as a liability, under accrued liabilities and other non-current liabilities based on the timing of the expected payment. Penalties are recorded as income tax expense, whereas interest is reported as financial expense in the statement of operations.

The Company’s employees participate in pension and other postretirement benefit plans in many countries. The costs of pension and other postretirement benefits and related assets and liabilities with respect to the Company’s employees participating in defined-benefit plans are based upon actuarial valuations.

The projected defined-benefit obligation is calculated annually by qualified actuaries using the projected unit credit method. For the Company’s major plans, the discount rate is derived from market yields on high quality corporate bonds. Plans in countries without a deep corporate bond market use a discount rate based on the local government bond rates.

In calculating obligation and expense, the Company is required to select actuarial assumptions. These assumptions include discount rate, expected long-term rate of return on plan assets and rates of increase in compensation costs determined based on current market conditions, historical information and consultation with and input from our actuaries. Changes in the key assumptions can have a significant impact to the projected benefit obligations, funding requirements and periodic pension cost incurred. A sensitivity analysis is provided in note 14, “Postretirement Benefit Plans”.

The Company determines the fair value of plan assets based on quoted prices or comparable prices for non-quoted assets. For a defined-benefit pension plan, the benefit obligation is the projected benefit obligation; for any other postretirement defined benefit plan it is the accumulated postretirement benefit obligation.

We recognize compensation expense for all share-based awards based on the grant-date estimated fair values, net of an estimated forfeiture rate. We use the Black-Scholes option pricing model to determine the estimated fair value for certain awards. Share-based compensation cost for restricted share units (“RSU”s) with time-based vesting is measured based on the closing fair market value of our common stock on the date of the grant, reduced by the present value of the estimated expected future dividends, and then multiplied by the number of RSUs granted. Share-based compensation cost for performance-based share units (“PSU”s) granted with performance or market conditions is measured using a Monte Carlo simulation model on the date of grant.

Our valuation models and generally accepted valuation techniques require us to make assumptions and to apply judgment to determine the fair value of our awards. These assumptions and judgments include estimating the volatility of our stock price, expected dividend yield, employee turnover rates and employee stock option exercise behaviors. When establishing the expected life assumption, we used the ‘simplified’ method prescribed in ASC Topic 718 for companies that do not have adequate historical data. The risk-free interest rate is measured as the prevailing yield for a U.S. Treasury security with a maturity similar to the expected life assumption. We also estimate a forfeiture rate at the time of grant and revise this rate in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures or vesting differ from the original estimates.

We evaluate the assumptions used to value our awards on a quarterly basis. If factors change and we employ different assumptions, share-based compensation expense may differ significantly from what we have recorded in the past. If there are any modifications or cancellation of the underlying unvested securities, we may be required to accelerate, increase or cancel any remaining unearned share-based compensation expense.

We are regularly involved as plaintiffs or defendants in claims and litigation related to our past and current business operations. The claims can cover a broad range of topics, including intellectual property, reflecting the Company’s identity as a global manufacturing and technology business. The Company vigorously defends itself against improper claims, including those asserted in litigation. Due to the unpredictable nature of litigation, there can be no assurance that the Company’s accruals will be sufficient to cover the extent of its potential exposure to losses but, historically, legal actions have not had a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations or financial condition.

The estimated aggregate range of reasonably possible losses is based on currently available information in relation to the claims that have arisen and on the Company’s best estimate of such losses for those cases for which such estimate can be made. For certain claims, the Company believes that an estimate cannot currently be made. The estimated aggregate range requires significant judgment, given the varying stages of the proceedings (including the fact that many of them are currently in preliminary stages), the existence of multiple defendants (including the Company) in such claims whose share of liability has yet to be determined, the numerous yet-unresolved issues in many of the claims, and the attendant uncertainty of the various potential outcomes of such claims. Accordingly, the Company’s estimate will change from time to time, and actual losses may be more than the current estimate.

Net debt is a non-GAAP financial measure and represents total debt (short-term and long-term) after deduction of cash and cash equivalents. Management believes this measure is an appropriate reflection of our net leverage.

We understand that, although net debt is used by investors and securities analysts in their evaluation of companies, this concept has limitations as an analytical tool and it should not be used as an alternative to any other measure in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

The following table presents the composition of operating income for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017.

The following table presents revenue by segment for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017.

Title of each class		Name of each exchange on which registered
Common shares—par value euro (EUR) 0.20 per share		The Nasdaq Global Select Market

Class		Outstanding at December 31, 2018
Ordinary shares, par value EUR 0.20 per share		328,702,719 shares

		Page
Introduction		1
Part I
Item 1.	Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers	2

Item 2.	Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable	2

Item 3.	Key Information	2
	A. Selected Financial Data	2
	B. Capitalization and Indebtedness	4
	C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds	5
	D. Risk Factors	5

Item 4.	Information on the Company	18
	A. History and Development of the Company	18
	B. Business Overview	19
	C. Organizational Structure	26
	D. Property, Plant and Equipment	28

Item 4A.	Unresolved Staff Comments	28

Item 5.	Operating and Financial Review and Prospects	28
	A. Operating Results	31
	B. Liquidity and Capital Resources	37
	C. Research and Development, Patents and Licenses, etc.	42
	D. Trend Information	43
	E. Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements	44
	F. Tabular Disclosure of Contractual Obligations	44
	G. Safe Harbor	44

Item 6.	Directors, Senior Management and Employees	45
	A. Directors and Senior Management	45
	B. Compensation	48
	C. Board Practices	54
	D. Employees	56
	E. Share Ownership	56

Item 7.	Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions	57
	A. Major Shareholders	57
	B. Related Party Transactions	57
	C. Interests of Experts and Counsel	57

Item 8.	Financial Information	57
	A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information	57
	B. Significant Changes	57

Item 9.	The Offer and Listing	57
	A. Offer and Listing Details	57
	B. Plan of Distribution	58
	C. Markets	58
	D. Selling Shareholders	58
	E. Dilution	58
	F. Expenses of the Issue	58

Item 10.	Additional Information	58
	A. Share Capital	58
	B. Memorandum and Articles of Association	58
	C. Material Contracts	58
	D. Exchange Controls	59
	E. Taxation	59
	F. Dividends and Paying Agents	64
	G. Statement by Experts	64
	H. Documents on Display	64
	I. Subsidiary Information	64

Item 11.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	64

Item 12.	Description of Securities Other than Equity Securities	65

($ in millions)	2018			2017			2016			2015			2014
Long-term debt		6,247			5,814			8,766			8,656			3,936
Short-term debt		1,107			751			421			556			20
Total debt		7,354			6,565			9,187			9,212			3,956
Less: cash and cash equivalents		(2,789	)		(3,547	)		(1,894	)		(1,614	)		(1,185	)
Net debt		4,565			3,018			7,293			7,598			2,771

	Year ended December 31,
	2018		2017		2016		2015		2014
Average $ per €		1.1794		1.1310		1.1065		1.1150		1.3297

Large accelerated filer	☒	Accelerated filer	☐

Non-accelerated filer	☐	Emerging growth company	☐

		Page
Part II
Item 13.	Defaults, Dividend Arrearages and Delinquencies	66

Item 14.	Material Modifications to the Rights of Security Holders and Use of Proceeds	66

Item 15.	Controls and Procedures	66

Item 16.	A. Audit Committee Financial Expert	66
	B. Code of Ethics	67
	C. Principal Accountant Fees and Services	67
	D. Exemptions from the Listing Standards for Audit Committees	68
	E. Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers	68
	F. Change in Registrant’s Certifying Accountant	68
	G. Corporate Governance	69
	H. Mine Safety Disclosures	70

Part III
Item 17.	Financial Statements	71

Item 18.	Financial Statements	71

Item 19.	Exhibits	72

GLOSSARY		75

Financial Statements		F-1

Month	High		Low
	($ per €)
2018
August		1.1720		1.1332
September		1.1773		1.1566
October		1.1594		1.1332
November		1.1459		1.1281
December		1.1456		1.1300
2019
January		1.1524		1.1322

	Automotive	Secure Identification Solutions	Secure Connected Devices	Secure Interfaces and Infrastructure
Key applications	• Car access & immobilizers • In vehicle networking • Car entertainment • ADAS • Telematics • ABS • Transmission/ throttle control • Automotive Lighting • Gateways • Battery Management • Sensors	• Secure identity • Tagging	• Secure transactions • Smartphone • Tablet • Personal computer • Smart buildings • White goods & home appliances • Medical/Personal Healthcare • Industrial/ IoT • Consumer/TV/Set top box	• Wireless base stations • Networking • Satellite & CATV infra • Radar • Power supplies • Lighting • Smartphone • Personal computer • Pachinko machines

Selected market leading positions	• #1 in Automotive semiconductors • #1 Can/LIN/ Flex Ray in-vehicle networking • #1 passive keyless entry/ immobilizers • #1 automotive applications processors• #1 car radio • #1 Chassis & Safety • #2 Powertrain • #2 automotive MCU • #2 audio amplifiers	• #1 e-Government • #1 Transport & Access management • #2 Banking	• #1 NFC/Secure Element • #3 I broad based MCU	• #1 in RF Power • #2 in communication processors

Key OEM and electronic manufacturing services (EMS) end customers	• Autoliv • Bosch • Continental • Delphi • Denso • Fujitsu Ten • Lear • TRW • Valeo • Visteon	• Avery Dennison • Bundesdruckerei • China Vision Microelectronic • Chutian Dragon • Eastcompeace • Gemalto • Giesecke • HID • Linxens • Smartrac	• Amazon • Apple • BBK • Bosch • Huawei • LG • Reliance • Samsung • Visteon • ZLG Electronics	• Apple • Arris • Cisco • Ericsson • Huawei • Fujitsu • NEC • Nokia • Samsung • ZTE

Location	Use	Owned/leased	Building space (square feet)
Eindhoven, the Netherlands	Headquarters	Leased		163,188
Nijmegen, the Netherlands	Manufacturing	Owned		1,515,550
Singapore (SSMC) *	Manufacturing	Owned		971,936
Bangkok, Thailand	Manufacturing	Owned		547,882
Kaohsiung, Taiwan	Manufacturing	Owned		636,400
Tianjin, China	Manufacturing	Owned		447,624
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Manufacturing	Owned		828,858
Chandler, United States	Manufacturing	Owned		1,173,196
Austin (Oak Hill), United States	Manufacturing	Owned		1,511,861
Austin (Ed Bluestein), United States	Manufacturing	Owned		1,158,731

($ in millions, unless otherwise stated)	2018			2017
Revenue		9,407			9,256
% nominal growth		1.6			(2.5	)
Gross profit		4,851			4,619
Research and development		(1,700	)		(1,554	)
Selling, general and administrative (SG&A)		(993	)		(1,090	)
Amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets		(1,449	)		(1,448	)
Other income (expense)		2,001			1,575
Operating income (loss)		2,710			2,102