NOTE 13 - SUBSEQUENT EVENTS	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Subsequent Events [Abstract]
NOTE 13 - SUBSEQUENT EVENTS	On October 25th, 2012, we announced the appointment of Anthony Ambrose as President and Director effective immediately and as Chief Executive Officer effective November 14, 2012. Prior to joining Data I/O, Mr. Ambrose, age 51, was Owner and Principal of Cedar Mill Partners, LLC a strategy consulting firm. Until 2011, he was Vice President and General Manager at RadiSys Corporation where he led three product divisions and worldwide engineering. Until 2007, Anthony was general manager and held several other progressively responsible positions at Intel Corporation. Pursuant to NASDAQ rules, the initial equity compensation for Anthony Ambrose was approved by the independent directors and will be classified as an employment inducement grant on October 25, 2012 consisting of 200,000 Non-Qualified Stock Options vesting quarterly over 4 years with a six year life and a 75,000 Restricted Stock Award vesting annually over 4 years. Subsequent to the end of the quarter ended September 30, 2012, we repatriated $1 million of cash without foreign tax pursuant to a tax holiday incentive arrangement, representing full distribution of earnings under that arrangement.

NOTE 13 - SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

On October 25th, 2012, we announced the appointment of Anthony Ambrose as President and Director effective immediately and as Chief Executive Officer effective November 14, 2012. Prior to joining Data I/O, Mr. Ambrose, age 51, was Owner and Principal of Cedar Mill Partners, LLC a strategy consulting firm. Until 2011, he was Vice President and General Manager at RadiSys Corporation where he led three product divisions and worldwide engineering. Until 2007, Anthony was general manager and held several other progressively responsible positions at Intel Corporation.

Pursuant to NASDAQ rules, the initial equity compensation for Anthony Ambrose was approved by the independent directors and will be classified as an employment inducement grant on October 25, 2012 consisting of 200,000 Non-Qualified Stock Options vesting quarterly over 4 years with a six year life and a 75,000 Restricted Stock Award vesting annually over 4 years.

Subsequent to the end of the quarter ended September 30, 2012, we repatriated $1 million of cash without foreign tax pursuant to a tax holiday incentive arrangement, representing full distribution of earnings under that arrangement.