1. Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Description of Business

MaxLinear, Inc. (the Company) was incorporated in Delaware in September 2003. The Company is a provider of integrated, radio-frequency and mixed-signal semiconductor solutions for broadband communications applications whose customers include module makers, original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, and original design manufacturers, or ODMs, who incorporate the Company’s products in a wide range of electronic devices including cable and terrestrial set top boxes, DOCSIS data and voice gateways, digital televisions, mobile handsets, personal computers, netbooks and in-vehicle entertainment devices. The Company is a fabless semiconductor company focusing its resources on the design, sales and marketing of its products.

Initial Public Offering

In March 2010, the Company completed the initial public offering, or IPO, of its Class A common stock in which it sold and issued 5.9 million shares of Class A common stock at an issue price of $14.00 per share. The Company raised a total of $82.9 million in gross proceeds in the IPO, or approximately $72.9 million in net proceeds after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions of $5.8 million and other offering costs of $4.2 million. Immediately prior to the closing of the IPO, all shares of the Company’s then-outstanding convertible preferred stock automatically converted into 14.5 million shares of Class B common stock.

Basis of Presentation and Principles of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of MaxLinear, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries. All intercompany transactions and investments have been eliminated in consolidation.

The functional currency of certain foreign subsidiaries is the local currency. Accordingly, assets and liabilities of these foreign subsidiaries are translated at the current exchange rate at the balance sheet date and historical rates for equity. Revenue and expense components are translated at weighted average exchange rates in effect during the period. Gains and losses resulting from foreign currency translation are included as a component of stockholders’ equity. Foreign currency transaction gains and losses are included in the results of operations and, to date, have not been significant.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes of the consolidated financial statements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. Cash equivalents are recorded at cost, which approximates market value.

Accounts Receivable

The Company performs ongoing credit evaluations of its customers and adjusts credit limits based on each customers’ credit worthiness, as determined by the Company’s review of current credit information. The Company monitors collections and payments from its customers and maintains an allowance for doubtful accounts based upon its historical experience, its anticipation of uncollectible accounts receivable and any specific customer collection issues that the Company has identified. As of December 31, 2012, the Company had recorded an allowance for doubtful accounts of $0.1 million. As of December 31, 2011, the Company did not have an allowance for doubtful accounts recorded.

Inventory

Inventory is stated at the lower of cost or market. Cost approximate actual cost on a first-in, first-out basis and market reflects current replacement cost (e.g. net replacement value) which cannot exceed net realizable value or fall below net realizable value less an allowance for an approximately normal profit margin. The Company reduces its inventory to its lower of cost or market on a part-by-part basis to account for its obsolescence or lack of marketability. Reductions are calculated as the difference between the cost of inventory and its market value based upon assumptions about future demand and market conditions. Once established, these adjustments are considered permanent and are not revised until the related inventory is sold or disposed of.

Investments, Available-for-Sale

The Company classifies all investments as available-for-sale, as the sale of such investments may be required prior to maturity to implement management strategies. These investments are carried at fair value, with unrealized gains and losses reported as accumulated other comprehensive income until realized. The cost of debt securities is adjusted for amortization of premiums and accretion of discounts to maturity. Such amortization and accretion, as well as interest and dividends, are included in interest income. Realized gains and losses from the sale of available-for-sale investments, if any, are determined on a specific identification basis and are also included in interest income.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The carrying amount of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts payable and accrued expenses and compensation are considered to be representative of their respective fair value because of the short-term nature of these items. Investment securities, available-for-sale, are carried at fair value. Based on the borrowing rates currently available to the Company for loans with similar terms, the Company believes the fair value of long-term capital lease obligations approximates its carrying value.

Property and Equipment

Property and equipment is carried at cost and depreciated over the estimated useful lives of the assets, ranging from two to five years, using the straight-line method. Leasehold improvements are stated at cost and amortized over the shorter of the estimated useful lives of the assets or the lease term.

Production Masks

Production masks with alternative future uses or discernible future benefits are capitalized and amortized over their estimated useful life of two years. To determine if the production mask has alternative future uses or benefits, the Company evaluates risks associated with developing new technologies and capabilities, and the related risks associated with entering new markets. Production masks that do not meet the criteria for capitalization are expensed as research and development costs.

 

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

The Company regularly reviews the carrying amount of its long-lived assets, as well as the useful lives, to determine whether indicators of impairment may exist which warrant adjustments to carrying values or estimated useful lives. An impairment loss would be recognized when the sum of the expected future undiscounted net cash flows is less than the carrying amount of the asset. Should impairment exist, the impairment loss would be measured based on the excess of the carrying amount of the asset over the asset’s fair value.

Intangible Assets

Technologies acquired or licensed from other companies are capitalized and amortized over the greater of the terms of the agreement, or estimated useful life, not to exceed three years.

Revenue Recognition

Revenue is generated from sales of the Company’s integrated circuits. The Company recognizes revenue when all of the following criteria are met: 1) there is persuasive evidence that an arrangement exists, 2) delivery of goods has occurred, 3) the sales price is fixed or determinable and 4) collectibility is reasonably assured. Title to product transfers to customers either when it is shipped to or received by the customer, based on the terms of the specific agreement with the customer.

Revenue is recorded based on the facts at the time of sale. Transactions for which the Company cannot reliably estimate the amount that will ultimately be collected at the time the product has shipped and title has transferred to the customer are deferred until the amount that is probable of collection can be determined. Items that are considered when determining the amounts that will be ultimately collected are: a customer’s overall creditworthiness and payment history; customer rights to return unsold product; customer rights to price protection; customer payment terms conditioned on sale or use of product by the customer; or extended payment terms granted to a customer.

A portion of the Company’s revenues are generated from sales made through distributors under agreements allowing for pricing credits and/or stock rotation rights of return. Revenues from the Company’s distributors accounted for 40% of net revenue for the year ended December 31, 2012. Revenues from the Company’s distributors accounted for 71% of net revenue in the year ended December 31, 2011. Pricing credits to the Company’s distributors may result from its pricing credit and unit rebate provisions, among other factors. These pricing credits and/or stock rotation rights prevent the Company from being able to reliably estimate the final sales price of the inventory sold and the amount of inventory that could be returned pursuant to these agreements. As a result, for sales to distributors, the Company has determined that it does not meet all of the required revenue recognition criteria at the time it delivers its products to distributors as the final sales price is not fixed or determinable.

For these distributor transactions, revenue is not recognized until product is shipped to the end customer and the amount that will ultimately be collected is fixed or determinable. Upon shipment of product to these distributors, title to the inventory transfers to the distributor and the distributor is invoiced, generally with 30 day terms. On shipments to the Company’s distributors where revenue is not recognized, the Company records a trade receivable for the selling price as there is a legally enforceable right to payment, relieving the inventory for the carrying value of goods shipped since legal title has passed to the distributor, and records the corresponding deferred profit in the consolidated balance sheet as a component of deferred revenue, representing the difference between the receivable recorded and the cost of inventory shipped. Future pricing credits and/or stock rotation rights from the Company’s distributors may result in the realization of a different amount of profit included in the Company’s future consolidated statements of operations than the amount recorded as deferred profit in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets.

The Company records reductions in revenue for estimated pricing adjustments related to price protection and unit rebate agreements with the Company’s end customers in the same period that the related revenue is recorded. Price protection pricing adjustments are recorded at the time of sale as a reduction to revenue and an increase in the Company’s accrued liabilities. The Company may enter into unit rebate agreements with end customers based on volume purchases. The Company estimates that all of the unit rebates will be achieved based on the history of these programs, reduces the average selling price of the product sold under the rebate program and defers revenue for the difference between the amount billed to the customer and the adjusted average selling price. Once the targeted level is achieved, the deferred revenue is recognized as revenue as rebated products are shipped to the end customer. Deferred revenue associated with rebate programs is included in deferred revenue and deferred profit in the consolidated balance sheet.

Stock Repurchase

The Company records the excess of repurchase price over par value to accumulated deficit upon repurchase and retirement of shares of its Class A common stock and Class B common stock in accordance with the accounting standard for equity.

Warranty

The Company generally provides a warranty on its products for a period of one year. The Company makes estimates of product return rates and expected costs to replace the products under warranty at the time revenue is recognized based on historical warranty experience and any known product warranty issues. If actual return rates and/or replacement costs differ significantly from these estimates, adjustments to recognize additional cost of net revenue may be required in future periods. At December 31, 2012 and 2011, no accrual for warranty costs was recorded based on the Company’s analysis.

Segment Information

The Company operates in one segment as it has developed, marketed and sold primarily only one class of similar products, integrated radio frequency analog and mixed signal semiconductor solutions for broadband communication applications.

The Company’s chief operating decision-maker is its chief executive officer, who reviews operating results on an aggregate basis and manages the Company’s operations as a single operating segment.

The Company has assessed its products on an individual basis and determined that they are similar based on the following reasons:

 

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The Company’s portfolio of products share similar economic characteristics as they have a similar long term business model, operate at gross margins similar to the Company’s consolidated gross margin, and have similar research and development expenses and similar selling, general and administrative expenses;

 

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The causes for variation within the Company’s portfolio of products are the same and include factors such as (i) life cycle and price and cost fluctuations, (ii) number of competitors, (iii) extent of product differentiation relative to the Company’s competition, and (iv) the sensitivity to the overall cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry;

 

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The Company’s product portfolio and development roadmap is managed by a common Vice President and General Manager, and the technology across products within the portfolio is so similar that the Company’s engineering resources are highly fungible and commonly work across product families;

 

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The Company’s integrated circuits all use the same standard CMOS manufacturing processes and provide the same fundamental functionality in the electronics platforms in which they reside;

 

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The integrated circuits marketed are sold to one type of customer: manufacturers of wired and wireless communications equipment, which incorporate the Company’s integrated circuits into their electronic products; and

 

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All of the Company’s integrated circuits are sold through a centralized sales force and common distributors.

Concentration of Credit Risk and Significant Customers

Financial instruments, which potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk, consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents and accounts receivable. The Company limits its exposure to credit loss by placing its cash with high credit quality financial institutions. At times, such deposits may be in excess of insured limits. The Company has not experienced any losses on its deposits of cash and cash equivalents.

The Company markets its products and services to consumer electronics and communications companies throughout the world. The Company makes periodic evaluations of the credit worthiness of its customers and does not require collateral for credit sales.

Customers greater than 10% of net revenue for each of the periods are as follows:

 

		Years Ended December 31,
		2012				2011				2010
Percentage of total net revenue
Arris			25	%			11	%			*
Pace			10				*				*
Panasonic			*				14				16
Toshiba			*				*				10

 

*	Represents less than 10% of the net revenue for the respective period.

 

Products shipped to international destinations representing greater than 10% of net revenue for each of the periods are as follows:

 

		Years Ended December 31,
		2012				2011				2010
Percentage of total net revenue
China			38	%			15	%			24	%
Taiwan			31				30				13
Japan			14				39				57

The determination of which country a particular sale is allocated to is based on the destination of the product shipment.

Balances greater than 10% of accounts receivable are as follows:

 

		December 31,
		2012				2011
Percentage of gross accounts receivable:
Unihan Corporation			24	%			12	%
Moly Tech Limited			20				19
Asia Fortune Electronics Enterprise			*				20

 

*	Represents less than 10% of the gross accounts receivable for the respective period end.

Stock-based Compensation

The Company measures the cost of employee services received in exchange for equity incentive awards, including stock options, employee stock purchase rights, restricted stock units and restricted stock awards based on the grant date fair value of the award. The Company uses the Black-Scholes valuation model to calculate the fair value of stock options and employee stock purchase rights granted to employees. The Company calculates the fair value of restricted stock units and restricted stock awards based on the fair market value of its Class A common stock on the grant date. Stock-based compensation expense is recognized over the period during which the employee is required to provide services in exchange for the award, which is usually the vesting period. The Company recognizes compensation expense over the vesting period using the straight-line method and classifies these amounts in the statements of operations based on the department to which the related employee reports.

The Company accounts for stock options issued to non-employees in accordance with authoritative guidance for equity based payments to non-employees. Stock options issued to non-employees are accounted for at their estimated fair value determined using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The fair value of options granted to non-employees is re-measured as they vest, and the resulting increase in value, if any, is recognized as expense during the period the related services are rendered. The Company calculates the fair value of restricted stock units issued to non-employees based on the fair market value of our Class A common stock on the grant date and the resulting stock-based compensation expense is recognized over the period during which the non-employee is required to provide services in exchange for the award, which is usually the vesting period.

 

Research and Development

Costs incurred in connection with the development of the Company’s technology and future products are charged to research and development expense as incurred.

Income Taxes

The Company provides for income taxes utilizing the asset and liability approach of accounting for income taxes. Under this approach, deferred taxes represent the future tax consequences expected to occur when the reported amounts of assets and liabilities are recovered or paid. The provision for income taxes generally represents income taxes paid or payable for the current year plus the change in deferred taxes during the year. Deferred taxes result from the differences between the financial and tax bases of the Company’s assets and liabilities and are adjusted for changes in tax rates and tax laws when changes are enacted. Valuation allowances are recorded to reduce deferred tax assets when a judgment is made that is considered more likely than not that a tax benefit will not be realized. A decision to record a valuation allowance results in an increase in income tax expense or a decrease in income tax benefit. If the valuation allowance is released in a future period, income tax expense will be reduced accordingly.

Comprehensive Income (Loss)

Comprehensive income (loss) is defined as the change in equity (net assets) of a business entity during a period from transactions and other events and circumstances from nonowner sources. Other comprehensive income (loss) includes certain changes in equity that are excluded from net income (loss), such as unrealized holding gains and losses on available-for-sale investments, net of tax, and translation gains and losses.

Net Income (Loss) per Share

Basic net income (loss) per share is computed by dividing net income (loss) attributable to the Company by the weighted average number of shares of Class A and Class B common stock outstanding during the period. For diluted net income (loss) per share, net income attributable to the Company is divided by the sum of the weighted average number of shares of Class A and Class B common stock outstanding and the potential number of shares of dilutive Class A and Class B common stock outstanding during the period.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Effective January 1, 2012, the Company adopted the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s, or FASB, updated guidance on fair value measurements that clarifies the application of existing guidance and disclosure requirements, changes certain fair value measurement principles and requires additional disclosures about fair value measurements. The Company’s adoption of the updated guidance did not have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

Effective January 1, 2012, the Company adopted the FASB’s new standard regarding the presentation of comprehensive income. The new standard requires the presentation of comprehensive income, the components of net income and the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. The new standard also requires presentation on the face of the financial statements of reclassification adjustments for items that are reclassified from other comprehensive income to net income in the statement where the components of net income and the components of other comprehensive income are presented.