Edgar Filing: ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES INC

Document

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)



ý	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934.
	For the fiscal year ended December 29, 2018
	OR
¨	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934.
	For the transition period from to

Commission File Number 001-07882

ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



Delaware	94-1692300
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
2485 Augustine Drive, Santa Clara, California	95054
(Address of principal executive offices)	(Zip Code)

(408) 749-4000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:



(Title of each class)	(Name of each exchange on which registered)
Common Stock $0.01 par value per share	The NASDAQ Global Select Market

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ý No ¨

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ¨ No ý

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 ý 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 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files): Yes ý No ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ý

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



Large accelerated filer	ý	Accelerated filer	¨
Non-accelerated filer	¨	Smaller reporting company	¨

If an emerging growth company, 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 whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ¨ No ý

As of June 30, 2018, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $14.5 billion based on the reported closing sale price of $14.99 per share as reported on The NASDAQ Global Select Market (NASDAQ) on June 29, 2018, which was the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter.

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the registrant’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date: 1,005,298,882 shares of common stock, $0.01 par value per share, as of February 1, 2019.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s proxy statement for the 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (2019 Proxy Statement) are incorporated into Part III hereof. The 2019 Proxy Statement will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 29, 2018.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

FORM 10-K

For The Fiscal Year Ended December 29, 2018

INDEX



PART I		1

ITEM 1.	Business	1

ITEM 1A.	Risk Factors	14

ITEM 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	29

ITEM 2.	Properties	29

ITEM 3.	Legal Proceedings	29

ITEM 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	32

PART II		33

ITEM 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	33

ITEM 6.	Selected Financial Data	35

ITEM 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	36

ITEM 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure About Market Risk	46

ITEM 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	48

ITEM 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	92

ITEM 9A.	Controls and Procedures	92

ITEM 9B.	Other Information	93

PART III		94

ITEM 10.	Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance	94

ITEM 11.	Executive Compensation	94

ITEM 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	94

ITEM 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence	94



ITEM 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	94

PART IV		95

ITEM 15.	Exhibits, Financial Statements Schedules	95

ITEM 16.	Form 10-K Summary	104

SIGNATURES.		104

PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The statements in this report include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and beliefs and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof or as of the dates indicated in the statements and should not be relied upon as predictions of future events, as we cannot assure you that the events or circumstances reflected in these statements will be achieved or will occur. You can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology including “believes,” “expects,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “intends,” “plans,” “pro forma,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” or the negative of these words and phrases, other variations of these words and phrases or comparable terminology. The forward-looking statements relate to, among other things: possible impact of future accounting rules on AMD’s consolidated financial statements; demand for AMD’s products; the growth, change and competitive landscape of the markets in which AMD participates; the nature and extent of AMD’s future payments to GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. (GF) and the materiality of these payments; the materiality of AMD’s future purchases from GF; AMD’s ability to meet its wafer purchase target; the expected amounts to be received by AMD under the IP licensing agreement and AMD’s expected royalty payments from future product sales of China JVs’ products to be developed on the basis of such licensed IP; sales patterns of AMD’s PC products and semi-custom System-on-Chip (SoC) products for game consoles; the level of international sales as compared to total sales; international sales will continue to be a significant portion of total sales in the foreseeable future; that other unrecognized tax benefits will not materially change in the next 12 months; that AMD’s cash and cash equivalents balances together with the availability under that certain secured revolving line of credit (Secured Revolving Line of Credit) made available to AMD and certain of its subsidiaries under the Amended and Restated Loan Agreement, will be sufficient to fund AMD’s operations including capital expenditures over the next 12 months; AMD’s ability to obtain sufficient external financing on favorable terms, or at all; AMD’s expectation that based on the information presently known to management, the potential liability related to AMD’s current litigation will not have a material adverse effect on its financial condition, cash flows or results of operations; any amounts in addition to what has been already accrued by AMD for future remediation costs under clean-up orders will not be material; we expect to file future patent applications in both the United States and abroad on significant inventions, as we deem appropriate; anticipated increase in costs related to enhancing, implementing and monitoring information security controls, remediating any data security breaches and addressing related litigation, mitigating reputational harm and compliance with external regulations related to our IT assets; we expect to receive $448.5 million upon the exercise of a warrant by West Coast Hitech L.P. (WCH) and issue 75 million shares of our common stock to WCH; revenue allocated to remaining performance obligations that are unsatisfied which will be recognized over the next 12 months; and a small number of customers will continue to account for a substantial part of AMD’s revenue in the future. Material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, without limitation, the following: Intel Corporation’s dominance of the microprocessor market and its aggressive business practices may limit AMD’s ability to compete effectively; AMD has a wafer supply agreement with GF with obligations to purchase all of its microprocessor and APU product requirements, and a certain portion of its GPU product requirements, manufactured at process nodes larger than 7 nanometer (nm) from GF with limited exceptions. If GF is not able to satisfy AMD’s manufacturing requirements, AMD’s business could be adversely impacted; AMD relies on third parties to manufacture its products, and if they are unable to do so on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies, AMD’s business could be materially adversely affected; failure to achieve expected manufacturing yields for AMD’s products could negatively impact its financial results; the success of AMD’s business is dependent upon its ability to introduce products on a timely basis with features and performance levels that provide value to its customers while supporting and coinciding with significant industry transitions; if AMD cannot generate sufficient revenue and operating cash flow or obtain external financing, it may face a cash shortfall and be unable to make all of its planned investments in research and development or other strategic investments; the loss of a significant customer may have a material adverse effect on AMD; AMD’s receipt of revenue from its semi-custom SoC products is dependent upon its technology being designed into third-party products and the success of those products; global economic and market uncertainty may adversely impact AMD’s business and operating results; AMD’s products may be subject to security vulnerabilities that could have a material adverse effect on AMD; IT outages, data loss, data breaches and cyber-attacks could compromise AMD’s intellectual property or other sensitive information, be costly to remediate and cause significant damage to its business, reputation and operations; AMD’s operating results are subject to quarterly and seasonal sales patterns; AMD may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service its debt obligations or meet its working capital requirements; AMD has a large amount of indebtedness which could adversely affect its financial position and prevent it from implementing its strategy or fulfilling its contractual obligations; the agreements governing AMD’s notes and the Secured Revolving Line of Credit impose restrictions on AMD that may adversely affect AMD’s ability

to operate its business; the markets in which AMD’s products are sold are highly competitive; AMD’s worldwide operations are subject to political, legal and economic risks and natural disasters, which could have a material adverse effect on it; AMD’s issuance to West Coast Hitech L.P. (WCH) of warrants to purchase 75 million shares of its common stock, if and when exercised, will dilute the ownership interests of AMD’s existing stockholders, and the conversion of the 2.125% Convertible Senior Notes due 2026 (2.125% Notes) may dilute the ownership interest of AMD’s existing stockholders, or may otherwise depress the price of its common stock; uncertainties involving the ordering and shipment of AMD’s products could materially adversely affect it; the demand for AMD’s products depends in part on the market conditions in the industries into which they are sold. Fluctuations in demand for AMD’s products or a market decline in any of these industries could have a material adverse effect on its results of operations; AMD’s ability to design and introduce new products in a timely manner is dependent upon third-party intellectual property; AMD depends on third-party companies for the design, manufacture and supply of motherboards, software and other computer platform components to support its business; if AMD loses Microsoft Corporation’s support for its products or other software vendors do not design and develop software to run on AMD’s products, its ability to sell its products could be materially adversely affected; AMD’s reliance on third-party distributors and add-in-board (AIB) partners subjects it to certain risks; AMD may incur future impairments of goodwill and technology license purchases; AMD’s inability to continue to attract and retain qualified personnel may hinder its business; in the event of a change of control, AMD may not be able to repurchase its outstanding debt as required by the applicable indentures and its Secured Revolving Line of Credit, which would result in a default under the indentures and its Secured Revolving Line of Credit; the semiconductor industry is highly cyclical and has experienced severe downturns that have materially adversely affected, and may continue to materially adversely affect its business in the future; acquisitions, divestitures and/or joint ventures could disrupt its business, harm its financial condition and operating results or dilute, or adversely affect the price of, its common stock; AMD’s business is dependent upon the proper functioning of its internal business processes and information systems and modification or interruption of such systems may disrupt its business, processes and internal controls; if essential equipment, materials or manufacturing processes are not available to manufacture its products, AMD could be materially adversely affected; if AMD’s products are not compatible with some or all industry-standard software and hardware, it could be materially adversely affected; costs related to defective products could have a material adverse effect on AMD; if AMD fails to maintain the efficiency of its supply chain as it responds to changes in customer demand for its products, its business could be materially adversely affected; AMD outsources to third parties certain supply-chain logistics functions, including portions of its product distribution, transportation management and information technology support services; AMD’s stock price is subject to volatility; worldwide political conditions may adversely affect demand for AMD’s products; unfavorable currency exchange rate fluctuations could adversely affect AMD; AMD’s inability to effectively control the sales of its products on the gray market could have a material adverse effect on it; if AMD cannot adequately protect its technology or other intellectual property in the United States and abroad, through patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks and other measures, it may lose a competitive advantage and incur significant expenses; AMD is a party to litigation and may become a party to other claims or litigation that could cause it to incur substantial costs or pay substantial damages or prohibit it from selling its products; AMD’s business is subject to potential tax liabilities; and AMD is subject to environmental laws, conflict minerals-related provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act as well as a variety of other laws or regulations that could result in additional costs and liabilities.

For a discussion of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, see “Part I, Item 1A-Risk Factors” and the “Financial Condition” section set forth in “Part II, Item 7-Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” or MD&A, and such other risks and uncertainties as set forth below in this report or detailed in our other Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports and filings. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements.

General

We are a global semiconductor company primarily offering:

•x86 microprocessors, as standalone devices or as incorporated into an accelerated processing unit (APU), chipsets; discrete and integrated graphics processing units (GPUs), and professional GPUs; and

•server and embedded processors and semi-custom System-on-Chip (SoC) products and technology for game consoles.

We also license portions of our intellectual property portfolio.

For financial information about geographic areas and for segment information with respect to revenues and operating results, refer to the information set forth in Note 15 of our consolidated financial statements.

We use a 52 or 53 week fiscal year ending on the last Saturday in December. The years ended December 29, 2018, December 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016 included 52 weeks, 52 weeks and 53 weeks, respectively. References in this report to 2018, 2017 and 2016 refer to the fiscal year unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Additional Information

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) was incorporated under the laws of Delaware on May 1, 1969 and became a publicly held company in 1972. Our common stock is currently listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market (NASDAQ) under the symbol “AMD”. Our mailing address and executive offices are located at 2485 Augustine Drive, Santa Clara, California 95054, and our telephone number is (408) 749-4000. The SEC's website, www.sec.gov, contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

References in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to “AMD,” “we,” “us,” “management,” “our” or the “Company” mean Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. and our consolidated subsidiaries.

AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, Athlon, EPYC, FirePro, FreeSync, Geode, LiquidVR, Opteron, Radeon, Ryzen, Threadripper, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Microsoft, Windows, Direct X, Xbox 360 and Xbox One are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other jurisdictions.

PlayStation is a registered trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Inc.. Wii and Wii U are registered trademarks of Nintendo of America, Inc. ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited in the EU and other countries. Vulkan and the Vulkan logo are registered trademarks of Khronos Group Inc.

Other names are for informational purposes only and are used to identify companies and products and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Website Access to Our SEC Filings and Corporate Governance Documents

On the Investor Relations pages of our Website, http://ir.amd.com, we post links to our filings with the SEC, our Principles of Corporate Governance, our Code of Ethics for our executive officers, all other senior finance executives and certain representatives from legal and internal audit, our Worldwide Standards of Business Conduct, which applies to our Board of Directors and all of our employees, and the charters of the Audit and Finance, Compensation and Leadership Resources, Nominating and Corporate Governance and Innovation and Technology committees of our Board of Directors. Our filings with the SEC are posted as soon as reasonably practical after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. You can also obtain copies of these documents by writing to us at: Corporate Secretary, AMD, 7171 Southwest Parkway, M/S B100.T, Austin, Texas 78735, or emailing us at: Corporate.Secretary@amd.com. All of these documents and filings are available free of charge.

If we make substantive amendments to our Code of Ethics or grant any waiver, including any implicit waiver, to our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer, controller or persons performing similar functions, we intend to disclose the nature of such amendment or waiver on our Website.

The information contained on our Website is not incorporated by reference in, or considered to be a part of, this report.

Our Industry

We are a global semiconductor company. Semiconductors are components used in a variety of electronic products and systems. An integrated circuit (IC) is a semiconductor device that consists of many interconnected transistors on a single chip. Since the invention of the transistor in 1948, improvements in IC process and design technologies have led to the development of smaller, more complex and more reliable ICs at a lower cost-per-function.

The x86 Microprocessor and Chipset Markets

Central Processing Unit (CPU). A microprocessor is an IC that serves as the CPU of a computer. It generally consists of hundreds of millions or billions of transistors that process data in a serial fashion and control other devices in the system, acting as the “brain” of the computer. The performance of a microprocessor is a critical factor impacting the performance of computing and entertainment platforms, such as desktop PCs, notebooks and workstations. The principal elements used to measure CPU performance are work-per-cycle (or how many instructions are executed per cycle), clock speed (representing the rate at which a CPU’s internal logic operates, measured in units of gigahertz, or billions of cycles per second) and power consumption. Other factors impacting microprocessor performance include the process technology used in its manufacture, the number and type of cores, the ability of the cores to process multi-thread or process multiple

instructions simultaneously, the bit size of its instruction set (e.g., 32-bit vs 16-bit), memory size and data access speed.

Developments in IC design and manufacturing process technologies have resulted in significant advances in microprocessor performance. Since businesses and consumers require greater performance from their computer systems due to the growth of digital data and increasingly sophisticated software applications, multi-core microprocessors offer enhanced overall system performance and efficiency because computing tasks can be spread across two or more processing cores, each of which can execute a task at full speed. Multi-core microprocessors can simultaneously increase performance of a computer system without greatly increasing the total amount of power consumed and the total amount of heat emitted. Businesses and consumers also require computer systems with improved power management technology, which helps them to reduce the power consumption of their computer systems, enables smaller and more portable form factors, and can lower the total cost of ownership.

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). A GPU is a programmable logic chip that helps render images, animations and video and is increasingly being used to handle general computing tasks. GPUs are located in plug-in cards, as a discrete processor or in a chip on the motherboard, or in the same chip as the CPU as part of an accelerated processing unit (APU) or System-on-Chip (SoC). GPUs on stand-alone cards or discrete GPUs on the motherboard typically access their own memory, while GPUs in the chipset or CPU chip share main memory with the CPU.

GPUs perform parallel operations on data to render images for a video display and are essential to presenting computer generated images on that display, decoding and rendering animations and displaying video. The more sophisticated the GPU, the higher the resolution and the faster and smoother moving objects can be displayed on video display or in a virtual environment (virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)).

In addition to graphics processing, GPUs are used to perform parallel operations on multiple sets of data and are increasingly used to perform vector processing for non-graphics applications that require repetitive computations such as supercomputing, deep learning, artificial and machine intelligence, blockchain and various other applications (e.g., cryptocurrency mining, autonomous driving).

Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). Consumers increasingly demand computing devices with improved end-user experience, system performance and energy efficiency. Consumers also continue to demand thinner and lighter mobile devices, with better performance and longer battery life. We believe that a computing architecture that optimizes the use of its components can provide these improvements.

An APU is a processing unit that integrates a CPU and a GPU onto one chip (or one piece of silicon), along with, in some cases, other special-purpose components. This integration enhances system performance by “offloading” selected tasks to the best-suited component (i.e., the CPU or the GPU) to optimize component use, increasing the speed of data flow between the CPU and GPU through shared memory and allowing the GPU to function as both a graphics engine and an application accelerator. Having the CPU and GPU on the same chip also typically improves energy efficiency by, for example, eliminating connections between discrete chips.

System-on-Chip (SoC). An SoC is a type of IC with a CPU, GPU and other components, such as a memory controller and peripheral management, comprising a complete computing system on a single chip. By combining all of these elements as an SoC, system performance and energy efficiency is improved, similar to an APU.

Chipset. A chipset is a generic term referring to a device or a collection of devices that allow the microprocessor to connect to a wider range of peripheral devices in the system (such as storage, optical drives, and Universal Serial Bus (USB) peripherals). Chipsets can perform essential logic functions, and operate in concert with the microprocessor to manage system control and power management functions of all the devices in the system. Chipsets are most often found in larger form factor systems, typically desktop systems or larger notebook platforms, which require the expanded peripheral selection that is enabled by the chipset. Typical notebook platforms and small form factor desktop platforms typically do not utilize a chipset and instead rely on the capabilities of the APU to connect to all the required devices on the platform.

Our x86 Microprocessor and Chipset Products

Our microprocessors are incorporated into computing platforms, which are a collection of technologies that are designed to work together to provide a more complete computing solution and to enable and advance the computing components. We believe that integrated, balanced computing platforms consisting of microprocessors, chipsets (either as discrete devices or integrated into an SoC) and GPUs (either as discrete GPUs or integrated into an APU or SoC) that work together at the system level bring end users improved system stability, increased performance and enhanced power efficiency. In addition, we believe our customers also benefit from an all-AMD platform (consisting of an APU or CPU, a discrete GPU, and an AMD Fusion Controller Hub chip when needed), as we are able to optimize interoperability, provide our customers a single

point of contact for the key platform components and enable them to bring the platforms to market quickly in a variety of PC and server system form factors.

We currently base our microprocessors and chipsets on the x86 instruction set architecture and the AMD Infinity Fabric, which connects an on-chip memory controller and input/output (I/O) channels directly to one or more microprocessor cores. We typically integrate two or more processor cores onto a single die, and each core has its own dedicated cache, which is memory that is located on the semiconductor die, permitting quick access to frequently used data and instructions. Some of our microprocessors have additional levels of cache such as L2, or second-level cache, and L3, or third-level cache, to enable fast data access and high performance.

We focus on continually improving the energy efficiency of our products through our design principles and innovations in power management technology. To that end, we offer CPUs, GPUs, APUs, SoCs and chipsets with multiple low power states that are designed to utilize lower clock speeds and voltages to reduce processor power consumption during active and idle times. The use of intelligent, dynamic power management is designed to create lower energy use by allowing compute applications to be completed quickly and efficiently, enabling a return to the ultra-low power idle state.

Desktop. In February 2018, we introduced two AMD Ryzen™ desktop processors with built-in Radeon™ Vega graphics models. AMD Ryzen 5 2400G and AMD Ryzen 3 2200G processors combine four of the latest “Zen” CPU cores with advanced Radeon “Vega” architecture on a single chip. In April 2018, we announced the global availability of our second generation Ryzen desktop processors which include four models: Ryzen 7 2700X, Ryzen 7 2700, Ryzen 5 2600X, and Ryzen 5 2600 processors that are optimized for gamers, creators, and hardware enthusiasts. These four models use 12nm process technology to offer high gaming performance and multiprocessing performance. In August 2018, we announced the availability of our second generation AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ 2990WX processor with 32 cores and 64 threads and the Ryzen Threadripper 2950X with 16 cores and 32 threads. In September 2018, we launched a reimagined family of AMD Athlon™ desktop processors with Radeon™ Vega graphics: AMD Athlon 200GE, Athlon 220GE, and Athlon 240GE. These desktop processors combine our x86 “Zen” core and “Vega” graphics architectures on an SOC design. They are designed to offer responsive and reliable computing for web-browsing and video streaming. In October 2018, we launched two additional second generation AMD Ryzen Threadripper processor models, the Ryzen 2970WX with 24 cores and 48 threads and the Ryzen Threadripper 2920X with 12 cores and 24 threads. The Ryzen Threadripper WX series focuses on computational power for heavy workloads and the Ryzen Threadripper X series provides enthusiasts, gamers and streamers high performance and a smooth gaming experience.

Notebooks and 2-in-1s. We continue to invest in designing and developing high performing and low power APUs for notebook PC platforms for the consumer market. In 2018, we introduced the Ryzen 7 2700U Mobile processor with Radeon RX Vega 10 Graphics, the Ryzen 5 2500U Mobile Processor with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics, the Ryzen 3 2300U Mobile Processor with Radeon Vega 6 Graphics, and the Ryzen 3 2200U Mobile Processor with Radeon Vega 3 Graphics. In addition to the Ryzen™ Mobile family, we also continue to offer AMD A-Series APUs based on previous generation CPU and graphics architectures, primarily targeting the value and mainstream segments. In January 2019, we announced our mobility line-up encompassing all notebook segments: second generation AMD Ryzen 3000 Series Mobile Processors, powering ultrathin and gaming notebooks; AMD Athlon 300 Series Mobile Processors, powering mainstream notebooks with the “Zen” core; and optimized seventh generation A-Series processors, elevating performance for mainstream Chromebooks.

Chipsets. We offer a full suite of chipset products, the X470, the B450 and the A320 chipset, that are combined with AMD Ryzen processors for the AM4 desktop platform. The X470 chipset is designed for enthusiast desktop platforms while the B450 is targeted for the performance segment and the A320 is focused on affordable mainstream platforms. We also have the X300 and A300 chipsets designed for small form factors. We offer the X399 chipset, which pairs with our Ryzen Threadripper product line for High-End Desktops (HEDT) using the all-new socket TR4 platform. We also continue to offer AMD 9-Series chipsets for the Socket AM3/3+ platforms serving desktop PCs, and AMD A-Series Control Hubs for the Socket FM2/2+ platforms. We also offer AMD 785E, 780E, 780M, 690E, SR5690, SP5100, SB600, SB710, SB850 and M690E chipsets and AMD A-Series Controller Hubs for our embedded products.

Commercial. We offer enterprise-class desktop and notebook PC solutions sold as AMD PRO Mobile and AMD PRO desktop processors with Radeon Vega Graphics for the commercial client market. These solutions are designed to provide commercial-grade quality, platform longevity and extended image stability, and also include security and manageability features for enterprise customers. In May 2018, we announced the availability of our commercial-grade Ryzen™ PRO mobile processors with Radeon Vega graphics for high performance and energy efficient notebook platforms, including the Ryzen 7 PRO Mobile 2700U with Radeon Vega 10 Graphics, Ryzen 5 PRO Mobile 2500U with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics, and Ryzen 3 PRO Mobile 2300U with Radeon Vega 6 Graphics. In September 2018, we announced the availability of our commercial-grade Athlon™ PRO 200GE desktop processor, along with three 2^nd generation Ryzen™ PRO desktop processor

models for commercial, enterprise and the public sector: the Ryzen 7 PRO 2700X, Ryzen 7 PRO 2700, and Ryzen™ 5 PRO 2600 processors.

Graphics Market

The semiconductor graphics market addresses the need for improved visual and data processing in various computing devices. Many consumers value a rich visual experience to enable a more compelling and immersive experience, and, for these consumers, the PC has evolved from a traditional data processing and communications device to an entertainment platform. As a result, visual realism and graphical display capabilities are key product differentiation elements among computing devices. This has led to increasing creation and use of processing-intensive multimedia content for computing devices, including playing games, capturing media content, viewing online videos, editing photos and managing digital content. In turn, these trends have contributed to higher consumer demand for performance graphics solutions and to manufacturers designing computing devices with these capabilities. Industries that utilize computer assisted design (CAD), that develop content for media and entertainment markets and that generate professional visualizations and renderings can benefit greatly from graphics solutions optimized for the professional graphics market.

In addition to traditional graphics markets, there is a large and growing market for graphics compute which is primarily made up of high performance compute and machine learning/deep learning. Traditional high performance compute focuses on scientific research, model simulation, and exploration which is mainly driven by university and government research needs for high precision graphics compute workloads. The second market is the rapidly growing area of machine learning and deep learning workloads. Graphics processors are used both in the training of machine learning models as well as the application of models via inference. The expansion of compute workloads on graphics processors is driving market expansion for traditional graphics silicon.

Another area of the market for graphics compute is blockchain technology, which is a decentralized digital ledger used to securely store, transmit and process sensitive and valuable data. Currently, the most well-known use case of blockchain is cryptocurrency; however, the number of applications and the potential impact of blockchain technology goes much further. Blockchain applications are typically performed using specifically designed application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or a general purpose CPU or GPU.

Our Graphics Products

Graphics processing is a fundamental component of almost everything we create and can be found in an APU, CPU, SoC or a combination of a discrete GPU with one of the other foregoing products working in tandem. Our customers generally use our graphics solutions to increase the speed of rendering images, to help improve image resolution and color definition, and increasingly to process massive data sets for cloud and datacenter applications. We develop our graphics products for use in various computing devices and entertainment platforms, including desktop PCs, notebook PCs, 2-in-1s, All-in-Ones (AIOs), professional workstations, and the datacenter. With each of our graphics products, we have available drivers and supporting software packages that enable the effective use of these products under a variety of operating systems and applications.

Our APUs deliver visual processing functionality for value and mainstream PCs by integrating a CPU and a GPU on a single chip, while discrete GPUs (which are also known as dGPUs) offer high performance graphics processing across all platforms. AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing or General Purpose GPU (GPGPU) refers to a set of advanced hardware and software technologies that enable discrete AMD GPUs, working in concert with the CPU, to accelerate computational tasks beyond traditional CPU processing by utilizing the vast number of discrete GPU cores while working with the CPU to process information cooperatively. In addition, computing devices with heterogeneous computing features run computationally-intensive tasks more efficiently, which we believe provides a superior application experience to the end user. Moreover, heterogeneous computing allows for the elevation of the GPU to the same level as the CPU for memory access, queuing and execution.

Discrete Desktop and Notebook Graphics. Our discrete GPUs for desktop and notebook PCs support current generation application program interface (APIs) like DirectX® 12 and Vulkan™, support new displays using Radeon™ FreeSync™ and Radeon™ FreeSync HDR™ technologies, and are designed to support VR in PC platforms. In June 2018, we introduced the Radeon™ RX Vega56 Nano Edition bringing Vega graphics to small form factor PCs. In October 2018, we introduced new AMD Radeon Vega Mobile graphics processors for next generation notebooks powered by the AMD “Vega” architecture for cool and quiet operation. In November 2018, we introduced the Radeon RX 590 graphics card built upon 12 nm process technology. The Radeon RX 590 pairs with the advanced AMD Radeon FreeSync gaming display technology to deliver an exceptional gaming experience. In December 2018, we announced AMD Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition, the next generation of our software suite for AMD Radeon GPUs that provides gamers, creators and enthusiasts with new

immersive features for visual experiences. It provides high performance and enables streaming of PC-based games and video to mobile devices as well as to standalone VR headsets. In January 2019, we introduced the AMD Radeon™ VII, a premium graphics card for gamers, creators and enthusiasts. It is built on 7nm process technology and has 16GB of HBM2 memory and 1 TB/s memory bandwidth.

Professional Graphics. Our AMD Radeon™ Pro and AMD FirePro™ family of professional graphics products include 3D and 2D multi-view graphics cards and GPUs designed for integration in mobile and desktop workstations. AMD Radeon Pro graphics cards are designed for demanding use cases such as Design and Manufacturing for CAD and Media and Entertainment for broadcast and animation pipelines. AMD Radeon Pro supports end users utilizing GPU accelerated visualization for construction, architecture and mechanical design through gaming and visualization engines on high resolution displays or with VR and AR. Software drivers for AMD Radeon Pro cards are designed to deliver high stability and performance across a wide variety of software packages including those requiring certifications for end user use. Our AMD Radeon™ Instinct family of GPU products are specifically designed to address growing demand for datacenter applications, including deep learning training and inference, as well as traditional high performance computing (HPC) workloads such as simulation where the compute capabilities of GPUs provide exceptional flexibility and performance. Combined with our open-source software, Radeon Open Ecosystem (ROCm), we can deliver acceleration platforms to address intensive predictive data analytics challenges while minimizing power and space needs in the datacenter.

We also provide the AMD FirePro™ S-Series GPU products for the server market, which target HPC primarily focused on artificial and machine intelligence, deep neutral networks (DNN), geosciences, biosciences, academic and government workloads, and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) use cases primarily focused on workstation-class virtualization, remote desktop and content streaming workloads. In August 2018, we announced the AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 8200 graphics card for high-end workstation graphics performance. Also in August 2018, we announced the Radeon™ Pro V340 graphics card, a high-performance dual-GPU Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution purpose-built to power and accelerate datacenter visualization workloads, including CAD, design, Desktop as a Service (DaaS) and rendering. The AMD Radeon Pro V340 graphics card is a dual-GPU solution based on the advanced AMD “Vega” architecture. In November 2018, we announced AMD Radeon Instinct™ MI60 and MI50 accelerators, 7nm datacenter GPUs, designed to deliver the compute performance required for next-generation deep learning, HPC, cloud computing and rendering applications. The AMD Radeon Instinct MI60 and MI50 accelerators feature flexible mixed-precision capabilities, powered by high-performance compute units that expand the types of workloads these accelerators can address, including a range of HPC and deep learning applications.

Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom

The Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom Markets

Server. A server is a computer system that performs services for connected customer businesses as part of a client-server architecture. Many servers are designed to run an application or applications often for extended periods of time with minimal human intervention. Examples of servers include cloud, web, e-mail and print servers. These servers can run a variety of applications, including business intelligence, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and advanced scientific or engineering models to solve advanced computational problems in disciplines ranging from financial modeling to weather forecasting to oil and gas exploration. Servers are also used in cloud computing, which is a computing model where data, applications and services are delivered over the internet or an intranet which can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal effort. Today’s datacenters require new technologies and configuration models to meet the demand driven by the growing amount of data that needs to be stored, accessed and managed. Servers must be efficient, scalable and adaptable to meet the compute characteristics of new and changing workloads.

Embedded. Embedded products address computing needs in PC-adjacent markets, such as industrial control and automation, digital signage, point-of-sale/self-service kiosks, medical imaging and casino gaming machines as well as enterprise-class telecommunications, networking, security, storage systems and thin clients (which are computers that serve as an access device on a network). Typically, AMD embedded products are used in applications that require high to moderate levels of performance, where key features may include mobility, relatively low power, small form factor, and 24x7 operations. High-performance graphics are increasingly important in many embedded systems. Support for Linux^®, Windows^® and other operating systems as well as for increasingly sophisticated applications are also critical for some customers. Other requirements may include meeting rigid specifications for industrial temperatures, shock, vibration and reliability. The embedded market has moved from developing proprietary, custom designs to leveraging industry-standard instruction set architectures and processors as a way to help reduce costs and speed time to market.

Semi-Custom. We have leveraged our core IP, including our graphics and processing technologies developed for the gaming, VR, AR and machine intelligence markets, to develop semi-custom solutions for customers who want differentiation in their products. In this market, semiconductor suppliers work alongside system designers and manufacturers to enhance

the performance and overall user experience for semi-custom customers. AMD has used this type of collaborative development approach with many of today’s leading game console manufacturers and can also address customer needs in many other markets beyond game consoles. AMD leverages our existing IP to create a variety of products tailored to a specific customer’s needs, ranging from complex fully-customized SoCs to more modest adaptations and integrations of existing CPU, APU or GPU products.

Our Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom Products

Server Processors. Our microprocessors for server platforms currently include the AMD EPYC™ Series processors and AMD Opteron™ X and A-Series processors. The AMD EPYC 7000 Series of high performance processors that have up to 32 “Zen” compute cores and are designed to support a full range of integer, floating point, memory bandwidth and I/O benchmarks and workloads. The AMD Opteron X3000 Series APUs are a family of fully integrated CPU, GPU and I/O designed to provide processing and graphics performance for personal and small business needs.

Embedded Processors. Our embedded processors are increasingly driving intelligence into new areas of our lives, like interactive digital signage, casino gaming, and medical imaging devices. These products are designed to support greater connectivity and productivity, and we believe they can be a strong driver for the “internet of things” and “immersive computing” areas in the computing industry. Our products for embedded platforms include AMD Embedded R-Series APU, CPU and SoC, AMD Embedded G-Series SoC platform and AMD Embedded Radeon™ GPUs. In February 2018, we introduced two new product families, the AMD EPYC™ Embedded 3000 processor and AMD Ryzen™ Embedded V1000 processor. The AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 brings the power of “Zen” to a variety of new markets including networking, storage, and edge computing devices. AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 targets medical imaging, industrial systems, digital gaming and thin clients.

Semi-Custom. Our semi-custom products are tailored, high-performance, customer-specific solutions based on AMD’s CPU, GPU and multi-media technologies. We work closely together with our customers to define solutions to precisely match the requirements of the device or application. Historically we have leveraged our core graphics processing technology into the game console market by licensing our graphic technology in game consoles such as the Microsoft^® Xbox 360™ and Nintendo Wii and Wii U. We developed the semi-custom SoC products that power the current generation Sony PlayStation® 4 and PlayStation^® 4 Pro and Microsoft^® Xbox One™ and Xbox One S™ and Xbox One X™ game consoles.

Marketing and Sales

We sell our products through our direct sales force and through independent distributors and sales representatives in both domestic and international markets. Our sales arrangements generally operate on the basis of product forecasts provided by the particular customer, but do not typically include any commitment or requirement for minimum product purchases. We primarily use purchase orders, sales order acknowledgments and contractual agreements as evidence of our sales arrangements. Our agreements typically contain standard terms and conditions covering matters such as payment terms, warranties and indemnities for issues specific to our products.

We generally warrant that our products sold to our customers will conform to our approved specifications and be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and conditions for one year. We may also offer one to three year limited warranties based on product type and negotiated warranty terms with certain customers.

We market and sell our latest products under the AMD trademark. Our desktop PC product brands for microprocessors are AMD Ryzen™, AMD Ryzen™ PRO, Threadripper™, AMD A-Series, AMD FX™ , AMD Athlon™, AMD Athlon™ PRO, and AMD Pro A-Series processors. Our notebook and 2-in-1s for microprocessors are AMD Ryzen™ processors with Radeon™ Vega GPUs, AMD A-Series, AMD Athlon, AMD Ryzen™ PRO and AMD Pro A-Series processors. Our server brands for microprocessors are AMD EPYC™ and AMD Opteron™ processors. We also sell low-power versions of our AMD Opteron, AMD Athlon , as well as AMD Geode™, AMD Ryzen™, AMD EPYC™, AMD R-Series and G-Series processors as embedded processor solutions. Our product brand for the consumer graphics market is AMD Radeon™ graphics, and AMD Embedded Radeon™ graphics is our product brand for the embedded graphics market. Our product brand for professional graphics products are AMD Radeon™ Pro and AMD FirePro™ graphics as well as Radeon Instinct™ accelerators for servers. We also market and sell our chipsets under AMD trademarks.

We market our products through direct marketing and co-marketing programs. In addition, we have cooperative advertising and marketing programs with customers and third parties, including market development programs, pursuant to which we may provide product information, training, marketing materials and funds. Under our co-marketing development programs, eligible customers can use market development funds as reimbursement for advertisements and marketing programs related to our products and third-party systems integrating our products, subject to meeting defined criteria.

Customers

Our microprocessor customers consist primarily of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), large direct datacenters, original design manufacturers (ODMs), system integrators and independent distributors in both domestic and international markets. ODMs provide design and/or manufacturing services to branded and unbranded private label resellers, OEMs and system builders. Our graphics product customers include the foregoing as well as add-in-board manufacturers (AIBs). Large direct datacenters consist of cloud service providers.

Customers of our chipset products consist primarily of PC OEMs, often through ODMs or other contract manufacturers, who build the OEM motherboards, as well as desktop and server motherboard manufacturers who incorporate chipsets into their channel motherboards.

We work closely with our customers to define product features, performance and timing of new products so that the products we are developing meet our customers’ needs. We also employ application engineers to assist our customers in designing, testing and qualifying system designs that incorporate our products. We believe that our commitment to customer service and design support improves our customers’ time-to-market and fosters relationships that encourage customers to use the next generation of our products.

We also work with our customers to create differentiated products that leverage our CPU, GPU and APU technology. Customers of our semi-custom products pay us non-recurring engineering fees for design and development services and a purchase price for the resulting semi-custom products.

Our major customers, Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC and Microsoft Corporation, each accounted for more than 10% of our consolidated net revenue for the year ended December 29, 2018. Sales to Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC and Microsoft Corporation consisted of products from our Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom segment. A loss of any of these customers would have a material adverse effect on our business.

Original Equipment Manufacturers

We focus on three types of OEM customers: multi-nationals, selected regional accounts and some local system integrators, who target commercial and consumer end customers of all sizes. Large multi-nationals and regional accounts are the core of our OEM customers. Our OEM customers include numerous foreign and domestic manufacturers of servers and workstations, desktops, notebooks, PC motherboards and game consoles.

Third-Party Distributors

Our authorized channel distributors resell to sub-distributors and mid-sized and smaller OEMs and ODMs. Typically, distributors handle a wide variety of products, and may include those that compete with our products. Distributors typically maintain an inventory of our products. In most instances, our agreements with distributors protect their inventory of our products against price reductions and provide return rights with respect to any product that we have removed from our price book that is not more than 12 months older than the manufacturing code date. In addition, some agreements with our distributors may contain standard stock rotation provisions permitting limited levels of product returns.

Add-in-Board (AIB) Manufacturers and System Integrators

We offer component-level graphics and chipset products to AIB manufacturers who in turn build and sell board-level products using our technology to system integrators (SIs), retail buyers and sub distributors. Our agreements with AIBs protect their inventory of our products against price reductions. We also sell directly to our SI customers. SIs typically sell from positions of regional or product-based strength in the market. They usually operate on short design cycles and can respond quickly with new technologies. SIs often use discrete graphics solutions as a means to differentiate their products and add value to their customers.

Competition in the Microprocessor and Chipset Market

Intel Corporation has been the market share leader for microprocessors for many years. Intel’s market share, margins and significant financial resources enable it to market its products aggressively, to target our customers and our channel partners with special incentives and to influence customers who do business with us. These aggressive activities have in the past resulted in lower unit sales and a lower average selling price for many of our products and adversely affected our margins and profitability.

market requires of us. Intel also dominates the computer system platform, which includes core logic chipsets, graphics chips, networking devices (wired and wireless), non-volatile storage and other components necessary to assemble a computer system. OEMs that purchase microprocessors for computer systems are highly dependent on Intel, which can make them less innovative on their own and, to a large extent, can become distributors of Intel technology. Additionally, Intel is able to drive de facto standards and specifications for x86 microprocessors that could cause us and other companies to have delayed access to such standards.

As long as Intel remains in this dominant position, we may be materially adversely affected by Intel’s:


•	business practices, including rebating and allocation strategies and pricing actions which may limit our market share and margins;


•	product mix and introduction schedules;


•	product bundling, marketing and merchandising strategies;


•	exclusivity payments to its current and potential customers, retailers and channel partners that require or result in exclusive product arrangements;


•	de facto control over industry standards, and heavy influence on PC manufacturers and other PC industry participants, including motherboard, memory, chipset and basic input/output system (BIOS) suppliers and software companies as well as the graphics interface for Intel platforms; and


•	marketing and advertising expenditures in support of positioning the Intel brand over the brand of its OEM customers and retailers.

Intel could take actions that place our discrete GPUs at a competitive disadvantage, including giving one or more of our competitors in the graphics market, such as Nvidia Corporation, preferential access to its proprietary graphics interface or other useful information. Also, Intel has announced that it is developing their own high-end discrete GPUs. Intel’s position in the microprocessor market and integrated graphics chipset market, its introduction of competitive new products, its existing relationships with top-tier OEMs and its aggressive marketing and pricing strategies could result in lower unit sales and lower average selling prices for our products, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

Other competitors include a variety of companies providing or developing ARM-based designs at relatively low cost and low power processors for the computing market including tablets and thin-client form factors, as well as dense servers, set-top boxes and gaming consoles. ARM Holdings designs and licenses its ARM cores and architecture to third parties, including us, and offers supporting software and services. Our ability to compete with companies who use ARM-based solutions depends on our ability to timely design and bring to market energy-efficient, high-performing products at an attractive price point.

Competition in the Graphics Markets

In the graphics market, our competitors include suppliers of discrete graphics, embedded graphics processors and integrated graphics processor (IGP) chipsets. Intel manufactures and sells embedded graphics processors and IGP chipsets, and is a dominant competitor with respect to this portion of our business. Higher unit shipments of our APUs and Intel’s integrated graphics may drive computer manufacturers to reduce the number of systems they build paired with discrete graphics components, particularly for notebooks, because they may offer satisfactory graphics performance for most mainstream PC users, at a lower cost. Intel could take actions that place our discrete GPUs and IGP chipsets at a competitive disadvantage such as giving one or more of our competitors in the graphics market, such as Nvidia Corporation, preferential access to its proprietary graphics interface or other useful information. Also, Intel is developing its own high-end discrete GPUs.

Our principal competitor in the discrete graphics market is Nvidia and they are considered the market share leader. Other competitors include a number of smaller companies, which may have greater flexibility to address specific market needs, but less financial resources to do so, especially as we believe that the growing complexity of graphics processors and the associated research and development costs represent an increasingly higher barrier to entry in this market.

We are the market share leader in semi-custom game console products, where graphics performance is critical, we compete primarily against Nvidia.

Competition in the Server Markets

In the server market, we compete primarily against Intel.

Research and Development

We focus our research and development activities on improving product performance and enhancing product design. Our main area of focus is on delivering the next generation of CPU and GPU IP, and designing that IP into our SoCs for our next generation of products, with, in each case, improved system performance and performance-per-watt characteristics. For example, we are focusing on improving the battery life of our APU products for notebooks and the performance and power efficiency of our discrete GPUs and our microprocessors for servers. We are also focusing on delivering a range of low-power integrated platforms to serve key markets, including commercial clients, mobile computing and gaming. We believe that these platforms will bring customers increased performance and energy efficiency. We also work with industry leaders on process technology, software and other functional intellectual property and with others in the industry and industry consortia to conduct early stage research and development. We conduct product and system research and development activities for our products in the United States with additional design and development engineering teams located in Australia, China, Canada, India, Singapore and Taiwan, who undertake specific activities at the direction of our U.S. headquarters.

Manufacturing Arrangements and Assembly and Test Facilities

Third-Party Wafer Foundry Facilities

GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. On March 2, 2009, we entered into a Wafer Supply Agreement (WSA) with GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. (GF). The WSA governs the terms by which we purchase products manufactured by GF, a related party to us. Pursuant to the WSA, we are required to purchase all of our microprocessor and APU product requirements, and a certain portion of our GPU products from GF manufactured at process nodes larger than 7 nanometer (nm), with limited exceptions.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. We also have foundry arrangements with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for the production of wafers for certain products.

Other Third-Party Manufacturers. We outsource board-level graphics product manufacturing to third-party manufacturers.

Assembly, Test, Mark and Packaging Facilities

Wafers for our products are delivered from third-party foundries to our test, assembly and packaging partners located in the Asia-Pacific region who package and test our final semiconductor products. We are party to two assembly, test, mark and pack (ATMP) joint ventures (collectively, the JVs) with Tongfu Fujitsu Microelectronics Co., Ltd. The majority of our ATMP services are provided by the JVs,

Intellectual Property and Licensing

We rely on contracts and intellectual property rights to protect our products and technologies from unauthorized third-party copying and use. Intellectual property rights include copyrights, patents, patent applications, trademarks, trade secrets and mask work rights. As of December 29, 2018, we had approximately 5,000 patents in the United States and approximately 900 patent applications pending in the United States. In certain cases, we have filed corresponding applications in foreign jurisdictions. Including United States and foreign matters, we have approximately 10,600 patent matters worldwide consisting of approximately 8,000 issued patents and 2,600 patent applications pending. We expect to file future patent applications in both the United States and abroad on significant inventions, as we deem appropriate. We do not believe that any individual patent, or the expiration of any patent, is or would be material to our business.

As is typical in the semiconductor industry, we have numerous cross-licensing and technology exchange agreements with other companies under which we both transfer and receive technology and intellectual property rights. One such agreement is the cross-license agreement that we entered into with Intel on November 11, 2009. Under the cross-license agreement, we granted to Intel and Intel granted to us, non-exclusive, royalty-free licenses to all of each other’s patents that were first filed no later than November 11, 2014 and each party can exploit these patents anywhere in the world for making and selling certain semiconductor- and electronic-related products. Under the cross-license agreement, Intel has rights to make semiconductor products for third parties, but the third-party product designs are not licensed as a result of such manufacture. We have rights to perform assembly and testing for third parties but not rights to make semiconductor products for third parties. The term of the cross-license agreement continues until the expiration of the last to expire of the licensed patents, unless earlier terminated. A party can terminate the cross-license agreement or the rights and licenses of

the other party if the other party materially breaches the cross-license agreement and does not correct the noticed material breach within 60 days. Upon such termination, the terminated party’s license rights terminate but the terminating party’s license rights continue, subject to that party’s continued compliance with the terms of the cross-license agreement. The cross-license agreement will automatically terminate if a party undergoes a change of control (as defined in the cross license agreement), and both parties’ licenses will terminate. Upon the bankruptcy of a party, that party may assume, but may not assign, the cross-license agreement, and in the event that the cross-license agreement cannot be assumed, the cross-license agreement and the licenses granted will terminate.

Backlog

Sales are made primarily pursuant to purchase orders for current delivery or agreements covering purchases over a period of time. Some of these orders or agreements may be revised or canceled without penalty. Generally, in light of current industry practice, we do not believe that such orders or agreements provide meaningful backlog figures or are necessarily indicative of actual sales for any succeeding period. With respect to our semi-custom SoC products, our orders and agreements are more stringent resulting in meaningful backlog for the coming quarter.

Seasonality

Our operating results tend to vary seasonally. Historically, first quarter PC product sales are generally lower than fourth quarter sales and with respect to our semi-custom SoC products for game consoles our sales pattern usually reflects higher sales in the second and third quarters compared to the first and fourth quarters.

Employees

As of December 29, 2018, we had approximately 10,100 employees.

Environmental Regulations

Our operations and properties have in the past been and continue to be subject to various United States and foreign laws and regulations, including those relating to materials used in our products and manufacturing processes, discharge of pollutants into the environment, the treatment, transport, storage and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes and remediation of contamination. These laws and regulations require our suppliers to obtain permits for operations making our products, including the discharge of air pollutants and wastewater. Although our management systems are designed to oversee our suppliers' compliance, we cannot assure you that our suppliers have been or will be at all times in complete compliance with such laws, regulations and permits. If our suppliers violate or fail to comply with any of them, a range of consequences could result, including fines, suspension of production, alteration of manufacturing processes, import/export restrictions, sales limitations, criminal and civil liabilities or other sanctions. We could also be held liable for any and all consequences arising out of exposure to hazardous materials used, stored, released, disposed of by us or located at, under or emanating from our facilities or other environmental or natural resource damage. While we have budgeted for foreseeable associated expenditures, we cannot assure you that future environmental legal requirements will not become more stringent or costly in the future. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our costs of complying with current and future environmental and health and safety laws, and our liabilities arising from past and future releases of, or exposure to, hazardous substances will not have a material adverse effect on us.

Environmental laws are complex, change frequently and have tended to become more stringent over time. For example, the European Union (EU) and China are two among a growing number of jurisdictions that have enacted restrictions on the use of lead and other materials in electronic products. These regulations affect semiconductor devices and packaging. As regulations restricting materials in electronic products continue to increase around the world, there is a risk that the cost, quality and manufacturing yields of products that are subject to these restrictions, may be less favorable compared to products that are not subject to such restrictions, or that the transition to compliant products may not meet customer roadmaps, or produce sudden changes in demand, which may result in excess inventory. A number of jurisdictions including the EU, Australia, California and China are developing or have finalized market entry or public procurement regulations for computers and servers based on ENERGY STAR specifications as well as additional energy consumption limits. There is the potential for certain of our products being excluded from some of these markets which could materially adversely affect us.

Certain environmental laws, including the U.S. Comprehensive, Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, or the Superfund Act, impose strict or, under certain circumstances, joint and several liability on current and previous owners or operators of real property for the cost of removal or remediation of hazardous substances and impose liability for damages to natural resources. These laws often impose liability even if the owner or operator did not know of, or was not responsible for, the release of such hazardous substances. These environmental 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. Such persons can be responsible for cleanup costs even if they never owned or operated the contaminated facility.

We are named as a responsible party on Superfund clean-up orders for three sites in Sunnyvale, California that are on the National Priorities List. Since 1981, we have discovered hazardous material releases to the groundwater from former underground tanks and proceeded to investigate and conduct remediation at these three sites. The chemicals released into the groundwater were commonly used in the semiconductor industry in the United States in the wafer fabrication process prior to 1979.

In 1991, we received Final Site Clean-up Requirements Orders from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board relating to the three sites. We have entered into settlement agreements with other responsible parties on two of the orders. During the term of such agreements, other parties have agreed to assume most of the foreseeable costs as well as the primary role in conducting remediation activities under the orders. We remain responsible for additional costs beyond the scope of the agreements as well as all remaining costs in the event that the other parties do not fulfill their obligations under the settlement agreements.

To address anticipated future remediation costs under the orders, we have computed and recorded an estimated environmental liability of approximately $3 million and have not recorded any potential insurance recoveries in determining the estimated costs of the cleanup. Costs could also increase as a result of additional test and remediation obligations imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency or California Regional Water Quality Control Board. The progress of future remediation efforts cannot be predicted with certainty and these costs may change. We believe that the potential liability, if any, in excess of amounts already accrued, will not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, cash flows or results of operations.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected. In addition, you should consider the interrelationship and compounding effects of two or more risks occurring simultaneously.

Intel Corporation’s dominance of the microprocessor market and its aggressive business practices may limit our ability to compete effectively.

Intel Corporation has been the market share leader for microprocessors for many years. Intel’s market share, margins and significant financial resources enable it to market its products aggressively, to target our customers and our channel partners with special incentives and to influence customers who do business with us. These aggressive activities have in the past and are likely in the future to result in lower unit sales and a lower average selling price for many of our products and adversely affect our margins and profitability.

Intel exerts substantial influence over computer manufacturers and their channels of distribution through various brand and other marketing programs. As a result of Intel’s position in the microprocessor market, Intel has been able to control x86 microprocessor and computer system standards and benchmarks and to dictate the type of products the microprocessor market requires of us. Intel also dominates the computer system platform, which includes core logic chipsets, graphics chips, networking devices (wired and wireless), non-volatile storage and other components necessary to assemble a computer system. Additionally, Intel is able to drive de facto standards and specifications for x86 microprocessors that could cause us and other companies to have delayed access to such standards.

Intel has substantially greater financial resources than we do and accordingly spends substantially greater amounts on marketing and research and development than we do. We expect Intel to maintain its market position and to continue to invest heavily in marketing, research and development, new manufacturing facilities and other technology companies. To the extent Intel manufactures a significantly larger portion of its microprocessor products using more advanced process technologies, or introduces competitive new products into the market before we do, we may be more vulnerable to Intel’s aggressive marketing and pricing strategies for microprocessor products.

As long as Intel remains in this dominant position, we may be materially adversely affected by Intel’s:


•	business practices, including rebating and allocation strategies and pricing actions, designed to limit our market share and margins;

•product mix and introduction schedules;

•product bundling, marketing and merchandising strategies;

•exclusivity payments to its current and potential customers, retailers and channel partners;


•	de facto control over industry standards, and heavy influence on PC manufacturers and other PC industry participants, including motherboard, memory, chipset and basic input/output system (BIOS) suppliers and software companies as well as the graphics interface for Intel platforms; and


•	marketing and advertising expenditures in support of positioning the Intel brand over the brand of its original equipment manufacturer OEM customers and retailers.

Intel could also take actions that place our discrete GPUs at a competitive disadvantage, including giving one or more of our competitors in the graphics market, such as Nvidia Corporation, preferential access to its proprietary graphics interface or other useful information. Also, Intel recently announced that it is developing their own high-end discrete GPUs. Intel’s position in the microprocessor market and integrated graphics chipset market, its introduction of competitive new products, its existing relationships with top-tier OEMs, and its aggressive marketing and pricing strategies could result in lower unit sales and a lower average selling price for our products, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

We have a wafer supply agreement with GF with obligations to purchase all of our microprocessor and APU product requirements, and a certain portion of our GPU product requirements manufactured at process nodes larger than 7 nanometer from GF, with limited exceptions. If GF is not able to satisfy our manufacturing requirements, our business could be adversely impacted.

The wafer supply agreement (WSA) governs the terms by which we purchase products manufactured by GF. The WSA is in place until 2024. Pursuant to the WSA, we are required to purchase all of our microprocessor and APU product requirements, and a portion of our GPU product requirements from GF manufactured at process nodes larger than 7 nanometer (nm), with limited exceptions. If GF is unable to achieve anticipated manufacturing yields, manufacture our products on a timely basis at competitive prices or meet our capacity requirements, then we may experience supply shortages for certain products or increased costs and our business could be materially adversely affected.

In January 2019, we entered into the seventh amendment to the WSA with GF (the Seventh Amendment). The Seventh Amendment modifies certain purchase commitments, pricing and other terms of the WSA applicable to wafer purchases at the 12 nm technology node and above by us for the period commencing January 1, 2019 and continuing through March 1, 2024. If we fail to meet the agreed wafer purchase target during a calendar year we will be required to pay to GF a portion of the difference between our actual wafer purchases and the applicable annual purchase target. If our actual wafer requirements are less than the number of wafers required to meet the applicable annual wafer purchase target, we could have excess inventory or higher inventory unit costs, both of which may adversely impact our gross margin and our results of operations.

In addition, GF has relied on Mubadala Technology Investments LLC (Mubadala Tech) for its funding needs. If Mubadala Tech fails to adequately fund GF on a timely basis, or at all, and if GF is not otherwise able to adequately fund its operations, GF’s ability to manufacture products for us could be materially adversely affected.

We rely on third parties to manufacture our products, and if they are unable to do so on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies, our business could be materially adversely affected.

We rely on third-party wafer foundries to fabricate the silicon wafers for all of our products. We also rely on third-party manufacturers to assemble, test, mark and pack (ATMP) our products. It is important to have reliable relationships with all of these third-party manufacturing suppliers to ensure adequate product supply to respond to customer demand.

We cannot guarantee that these manufacturers or our other third-party manufacturing suppliers will be able to meet our near-term or long-term manufacturing requirements. If we experience supply constraints from our third-party manufacturing suppliers, we may be required to allocate the affected products amongst our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our relationships with these customers and on our financial condition. In addition, if we are unable to meet customer demand due to fluctuating or late supply from our manufacturing suppliers, it could result in lost sales and have a material adverse effect on our business.

We do not have long-term commitment contracts with some of our third-party manufacturing suppliers. We obtain some of these manufacturing services on a purchase order basis and these manufacturers are not required to provide us with any specified minimum quantity of product beyond the quantities in an existing purchase order. Accordingly, we depend on these suppliers to allocate to us a portion of their manufacturing capacity sufficient to meet our needs, to produce products of acceptable quality and at acceptable manufacturing yields and to deliver those products to us on a timely basis and at acceptable prices. The manufacturers we use also fabricate wafers and ATMP products for other companies, including certain of our competitors. They could choose to prioritize capacity for other customers, increase the prices that they charge us on short notice or reduce or eliminate deliveries to us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Other risks associated with our dependence on third-party manufacturers include limited control over delivery schedules and quality assurance, lack of capacity in periods of excess demand, misappropriation of our intellectual property, dependence on several small undercapitalized subcontractors and limited ability to manage inventory and parts. Moreover, if any of our third-party manufacturers suffer any damage to facilities, lose benefits under material agreements, experience power outages, lack sufficient capacity to manufacture our products, encounter financial difficulties, are unable to secure necessary raw materials from their suppliers or suffer any other disruption or reduction in efficiency, we may encounter supply delays or disruptions. If we are unable to secure sufficient or reliable supplies of products, our ability to meet customer demand may be adversely affected and this could materially affect our business.

If we transition the production of some of our products to new manufacturers, we may experience delayed product introductions, lower yields or poorer performance of our products. If we experience problems with product quality or are unable to secure sufficient capacity from a particular third-party manufacturer, or if we for other reasons cease utilizing one of those suppliers, we may be unable to secure an alternative supply for any specific product in a short time frame. We could experience significant delays in the shipment of our products if we are required to find alternative third-party manufacturers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We are party to two ATMP joint ventures (collectively, the JVs) with Tongfu Fujitsu Microelectronics Co., Ltd. The majority of our ATMP services are provided by the JVs and there is no guarantee that the JVs will be able to fulfill our long-term ATMP requirements. If we are unable to meet customer demand due to fluctuating or late supply from the JVs, it could result in lost sales and have a material adverse effect on our business.

Failure to achieve expected manufacturing yields for our products could negatively impact our financial results.

Semiconductor manufacturing yields are a result of both product design and process technology, which is typically proprietary to the manufacturer, and low yields can result from design failures, process technology failures or a combination of both. Our third-party foundries, including GF, are responsible for the process technologies used to fabricate silicon wafers. If our third-party foundries experience manufacturing inefficiencies or encounter disruptions, errors or difficulties during production, we may fail to achieve acceptable yields or experience product delivery delays. We cannot be certain that our third-party foundries will be able to develop, obtain or successfully implement leading-edge process technologies needed to manufacture future generations of our products profitably or on a timely basis or that our competitors will not develop new technologies, products

or processes earlier. Moreover, during periods when foundries are implementing new process technologies, their manufacturing facilities may not be fully productive. A substantial delay in the technology transitions to smaller process technologies could have a material adverse effect on us, particularly if our competitors transition to more cost effective technologies before us. For example, we are presently focusing our 7nm product portfolio on Taiwan Semiconductor Co., Ltd.’s (TSMC) 7nm process. If TSMC is not able to manufacture our products on 7nm in sufficient quantities to meet customer demand, it could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Any decrease in manufacturing yields could result in an increase in per unit costs, which would adversely impact our gross margin and/or force us to allocate our reduced product supply amongst our customers, which could harm our relationships and reputation with our customers and materially adversely affect our business.

The success of our business is dependent upon our ability to introduce products on a timely basis with features and performance levels that provide value to our customers while supporting and coinciding with significant industry transitions.

Our success depends to a significant extent on the development, qualification, implementation and acceptance of new product designs and improvements that provide value to our customers. Our ability to develop, qualify and distribute, and have manufactured, new products and related technologies to meet evolving industry requirements, at prices acceptable to our customers and on a timely basis are significant factors in determining our competitiveness in our target markets. As consumers have new product feature preferences or have different requirements than those consumers in the PC market, PC sales could be negatively impacted, which could adversely impact our business. Our product roadmap includes our next generation AMD Ryzen, AMD Radeon and AMD EPYC processors using 7 nm process technology. We cannot assure you that our efforts to execute our product roadmap will result in innovative products and technologies that provide value to our customers. If we fail to or are delayed in developing, qualifying or shipping new products or technologies that provide value to our customers and address these new trends or if we fail to predict which new form factors consumers will adopt and adjust our business accordingly, we may lose competitive positioning, which could cause us to lose market share and require us to discount the selling prices of our products. Although we make substantial investments in research and development, we cannot be certain that we will be able to develop, obtain or successfully implement new products and technologies on a timely basis or that they will be well-received by our customers. Moreover, our investments in new products and technologies involve certain risks and uncertainties and could disrupt our ongoing business. New investments may not generate sufficient revenue, may incur unanticipated liabilities and may divert our limited resources and distract management from our current operations. We cannot be certain that our ongoing investments in new products and technologies will be successful, will meet our expectations and will not adversely affect our reputation, financial condition and operating results.

Delays in developing, qualifying or shipping new products can also cause us to miss our customers’ product design windows or, in some cases, breach contractual obligations or cause us to pay penalties. If our customers do not include our products in the initial design of their computer systems or products, they will typically not use our products in their systems or products until at least the next design configuration. The process of being qualified for inclusion in a customer’s system or product can be lengthy and could cause us to further miss a cycle in the demand of end-users, which also could result in a loss of market share and harm our business. We also depend on the success and timing of our customers’ platform launches. If our customers delay their product launches or if our customers do not effectively market their platforms with our products, it could result in a delay in bringing our products to market and cause us to miss a cycle in the demand of end-users, which could materially adversely affect our business. In addition, market demand requires that products incorporate new features and performance standards on an industry-wide basis. Over the life of a specific product, the sale price is typically reduced over time. The introduction of new products and enhancements to existing products is necessary to maintain the overall corporate average selling price. If we are unable to introduce new products with sufficiently high sale prices or to increase unit sales volumes capable of offsetting the reductions in the sale prices of existing products over time, our business could be materially adversely affected.

If we cannot generate sufficient revenue and operating cash flow or obtain external financing, we may face a cash shortfall and be unable to make all of our planned investments in research and development or other strategic investments.

Our ability to fund research and development expenditures depends on generating sufficient revenue and cash flow from operations and the availability of external financing, if necessary. Our research and development expenditures, together with ongoing operating expenses, will be a substantial drain on our cash flow and may decrease our cash balances. If new competitors, technological advances by existing competitors, or other competitive factors require us to invest significantly greater resources than anticipated in our research and development efforts, our operating expenses would increase. If we are required to invest significantly greater resources than anticipated in research and development efforts without an increase in revenue, our operating results could decline.

We regularly assess markets for external financing opportunities, including debt and equity financing. Additional debt or equity financing may not be available when needed or, if available, may not be available on satisfactory terms. The health of the credit markets may adversely impact our ability to obtain financing when needed. Any downgrades from credit rating agencies such as Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s may adversely impact our ability to obtain external financing or the terms of such financing. Credit agency downgrades or concerns regarding our credit worthiness may impact relationships with our suppliers, who may

limit our credit lines. Our inability to obtain needed financing or to generate sufficient cash from operations may require us to abandon projects or curtail planned investments in research and development or other strategic initiatives. If we curtail planned investments in research and development or abandon projects, our products may fail to remain competitive and our business would be materially adversely affected.

The loss of a significant customer may have a material adverse effect on us.

We depend on a small number of customers for a substantial portion of our business and we expect that a small number of customers will continue to account for a significant part of our revenue in the future. If one of our key customers decides to stop buying our products, or if one of these customers materially reduces or reorganizes its operations or its demand for our products, our business would be materially adversely affected.

Our receipt of revenue from our semi-custom SoC products is dependent upon our technology being designed into third-party products and the success of those products.

The revenue that we receive from our semi-custom SoC products is in the form of non-recurring engineering fees charged to third parties for design and development services and revenue received in connection with sales of our semi-custom SoC products to these third parties. As a result, our ability to generate revenue from our semi-custom products depends on our ability to secure customers for our semi-custom design pipeline, our customers’ desire to pursue the project, and our semi-custom SoC products being incorporated into those customer’s products. Any revenue from sales of our semi-custom SoC products is directly related to sales of the third-party’s products and reflective of their success in the market. Moreover, we have no control over the marketing efforts of these third parties, and we cannot make any assurances that sales of their products will be successful in current or future years. Consequently, the semi-custom SoC product revenue expected by us may not be fully realized and our operating results may be adversely affected.

Global economic and market uncertainty may adversely impact our business and operating results.

Uncertain global economic conditions have in the past and may in the future adversely impact our business, including, without limitation, a slowdown in the Chinese economy, one of the largest global markets for desktop and notebook PCs. Uncertainty in the worldwide economic environment may negatively impact consumer confidence and spending causing our customers to postpone purchases. In addition, during challenging economic times, our current or potential future customers may experience cash flow problems and as a result may modify, delay or cancel plans to purchase our products. Additionally, if our customers are not successful in generating sufficient revenue or are unable to secure financing, they may not be able to pay, or may delay payment of, accounts receivable that they owe us. The risk related to our customers’ potentially defaulting on or delaying payments to us is increased because we expect that a small number of customers will continue to account for a substantial part of our revenue. Any inability of our current or potential future customers to pay us for our products may adversely affect our earnings and cash flow. Moreover, our key suppliers may reduce their output or become insolvent, thereby adversely impacting our ability to manufacture our products. In addition, uncertain economic conditions may make it more difficult for us to raise funds through borrowings or private or public sales of debt or equity securities.

Our products may be subject to security vulnerabilities that could have a material adverse effect on us.

The products that we sell are complex and may be subject to security vulnerabilities that could result in, among other things, the loss, corruption, theft or misuse of confidential data or system performance issues. Our efforts to prevent and address security vulnerabilities may decrease performance, be only partially effective or not successful at all. We may also depend on third parties, such as customers, vendors and end users, to deploy our mitigations or create their own, and they may delay, decline or modify the implementation of such mitigations. Our relationships with our customers could be adversely affected as some of our customers may stop purchasing our products, reduce or delay future purchases of our products, or use competing products. Any of these actions by our customers could adversely affect our revenue. We also are subject to claims and litigation related to side-channel exploits, such as Spectre, and may face additional claims or litigation for future vulnerabilities. Actual or perceived security vulnerabilities of our products may subject us to adverse publicity, damage to our brand and reputation, and could materially harm our business or financial results.

IT outages, data loss, data breaches and cyber-attacks could compromise our intellectual property or other sensitive information, be costly to remediate or cause significant damage to our business, reputation and operations.

In the ordinary course of our business, we maintain sensitive data on our information technology (IT) assets, and also may maintain sensitive information on our business partners’ and third party providers’ IT assets, including our intellectual property and proprietary or confidential business information relating to our business and that of our customers and business partners. Maintaining the security of this information is critical to our business and reputation. We believe that companies have been increasingly subject to a wide variety of security incidents, cyber-attacks, hacking and phishing attacks, and other attempts to gain unauthorized access. These threats can come from a variety of sources, all ranging in sophistication from an individual hacker or insider threat to a state-sponsored attack. Cyber threats may be generic, or they may be custom-crafted against our information systems. Cyber-attacks have become increasingly more prevalent and much harder to detect, defend against or prevent.

Our network and storage applications, as well as those of our customers, business partners, and third-party providers, may be subject to unauthorized access by hackers or breached due to operator error, malfeasance or other system disruptions.

It is often difficult to anticipate or immediately detect such incidents and the damage caused by such incidents. These data breaches and any unauthorized access, misuse or disclosure of our information or intellectual property could compromise our intellectual property and expose sensitive business information. Cyber-attacks on us or our customers, business partners or third party providers could also cause us to incur significant remediation costs, result in product development delays, disrupt key business operations and divert attention of management and key information technology resources. These incidents could also subject us to liability, expose us to significant expense and cause significant harm to our reputation and business. In addition, we are currently subject to claims and could be subject to additional claims in the future for damages resulting from loss of data from alleged vulnerabilities in the security of our processors. We also maintain confidential and personally identifiable information about our workers. The integrity and protection of our worker and consumer data is critical to our business and our workers and consumers have a high expectation that we will adequately protect their personal information. We anticipate an increase in costs related to:


•	enhancing and implementing information security controls, including costs related to upgrading application, computer, and network security components;

•training workers to maintain and monitor our security controls;

•remediating any data security breach and addressing the related litigation;

•mitigating reputational harm; and

•compliance with external regulations.

We often partner with third-party providers for certain worker services and we may provide certain limited worker information to such third parties based on the scope of the services provided to us. However, if these third parties fail to adopt or adhere to adequate data security practices, or in the event of a breach of their networks, our workers’ data may be improperly accessed, used or disclosed. A breach of data privacy is likely to cause significant disruption of our business operations. Failure to adequately maintain and update our security systems could materially adversely affect our operations and our ability to maintain worker confidence. Failure to prevent unauthorized access to electronic and other confidential information, IT outages, data loss and data breaches could materially adversely affect our financial condition, our competitive position and operating results.

Our operating results are subject to quarterly and seasonal sales patterns.

The profile of our sales may be weighted differently during the year. A large portion of our quarterly sales have historically been made in the last month of the quarter. This uneven sales pattern makes prediction of revenue for each financial period difficult and increases the risk of unanticipated variations in quarterly results and financial condition. In addition, our operating results tend to vary seasonally with the markets in which our products are sold. For example, historically, first quarter PC product sales are generally lower than fourth quarter sales and with respect to our semi-custom SoC products for game consoles our sales pattern usually reflects higher sales in the second and third quarters compared to the first and fourth quarters. Many of the factors that create and affect quarterly and seasonal trends are beyond our control.

We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service our debt obligations or meet our working capital requirements.

Our ability to make payments on and to refinance our debt will depend on our financial and operating performance, which may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter, and is subject to prevailing economic, financial and business conditions along with other factors, many of which are beyond our control. We cannot assure you that we will be able to generate cash flow or that we will be able to borrow funds, including under our secured revolving line of credit for a principal amount up to $500 million (our Secured Revolving Line of Credit), in amounts sufficient to enable us to service our debt or to meet our working capital requirements. If we are not able to generate sufficient cash flow from operations or to borrow sufficient funds to service our debt, we may be required to sell assets or equity, reduce expenditures, refinance all or a portion of our existing debt or obtain additional financing. We cannot assure you that we will be able to refinance our debt, sell assets or equity, borrow funds under our Secured Revolving Line of Credit or borrow more funds on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

We have a large amount of indebtedness which could adversely affect our financial position and prevent us from implementing our strategy or fulfilling our contractual obligations.

Our total debt as of December 29, 2018 was $1.3 billion, net of unamortized debt issuance costs and unamortized debt discount associated with the 2.125% Notes. Our large indebtedness may:


•	make it difficult for us to satisfy our financial obligations, including making scheduled principal and interest payments;


•	limit our ability to borrow additional funds for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and general corporate and other purposes;


•	limit our ability to use our cash flow or obtain additional financing for future working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other general corporate purposes;

•require us to use a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to make debt service payments;

•place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors with relatively less debt; and

•increase our vulnerability to the impact of adverse economic and industry conditions.

We enter into sale and factoring arrangements from time to time with respect to certain accounts receivables, which arrangements are non-recourse to us in the event that an account debtor fails to pay for credit-related reasons, and are not included in our indebtedness. We could become obligated to repurchase such accounts receivables or otherwise incur liability to the counterparties under these arrangements under certain circumstances, such as where a commercial dispute arises between us and an account debtor.

The agreements governing our notes and our Secured Revolving Line of Credit impose restrictions on us that may adversely affect our ability to operate our business.

The indentures governing our 6.75% Senior Notes due 2019 (6.75% Notes), 7.50% Senior Notes due 2022 (7.50% Notes) and 7.00% Senior Notes due 2024 (7.00% Notes) contain various covenants which limit our ability to, among other things:

•incur additional indebtedness;

•pay dividends and make other restricted payments;

•make certain investments, including investments in our unrestricted subsidiaries;

•create or permit certain liens;


•	create or permit restrictions on the ability of certain restricted subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other distributions to us;

•use the proceeds from sales of assets;

•enter into certain types of transactions with affiliates; and

•consolidate or merge or sell our assets as an entirety or substantially as an entirety.

In addition, the Amended and Restated Loan Agreement restricts our ability to make cash payments on the notes to the extent that, on the date of such payment, a default or event of default exists under the Amended and Restated Loan Agreement, or we have not had at all times during the 45 consecutive days immediately preceding such payment, or would not have, on a pro forma basis after giving effect to such payment, Excess Cash Availability (as defined in the Amended and Restated Loan Agreement) of at least $50 million. Any of our future debt agreements may contain similar restrictions. If we fail to make any cash payment on a series of notes when required by the applicable indenture, it would constitute an event of default under such indenture, which, in turn, would constitute an event of default under the agreements governing our other indebtedness.

Our Secured Revolving Line of Credit also contains various covenants which limit our ability to, among other things, make certain investments, merge or consolidate with other entities and permit certain subsidiaries from incurring indebtedness. In addition, further restrictions apply when certain payment conditions (the Payment Conditions) are not satisfied with respect to specified transactions, events or payments. The Payment Conditions include that (i) no default or event of default exists and (ii) at all times during the 45 consecutive days immediately prior to such transaction, event or payment and on a pro forma basis after giving effect to such transaction, event or payment and any incurrence or repayment of indebtedness in connection therewith, the Excess Cash Availability (as defined in the Amended and Restated Loan Agreement) available cash is greater than the greater of 15% of the total commitment amount and $75 million. If Payment Conditions are not satisfied under certain circumstances, we will become subject to various additional covenants which limit our ability to, among other things:


•	create liens upon any of the Loan Parties’ property (other than customary permitted liens and liens in respect of up to $1.5 billion of secured credit facilities debt, which amount includes our Secured Revolving Line of Credit);

•declare or make cash distributions;

•create any encumbrance on the ability of a subsidiary to make any upstream payments;


•	make asset dispositions other than certain ordinary course dispositions and certain supply chain finance arrangements;


•	make certain loans, make payments with respect to subordinated debt or certain borrowed money prior to its due date; and

•enter into any non-arm’s-length transaction with an affiliate (except for certain customary exceptions).

The agreements governing our notes and our Secured Revolving Line of Credit contain cross-default provisions whereby a default under one agreement would likely result in cross defaults under agreements covering other borrowings. For example,

the occurrence of a default with respect to any indebtedness or any failure to repay debt when due in an amount in excess of $50 million would cause a cross default under the indentures (to the extent such default would result in the acceleration of such indebtedness) governing our 6.75% Notes, 7.50% Notes, 7.00% Notes and 2.125% Notes, as well as under our Secured Revolving Line of Credit. The occurrence of a default under any of these borrowing arrangements would permit the applicable note holders or the lenders under our Secured Revolving Line of Credit to declare all amounts outstanding under those borrowing arrangements to be immediately due and payable. If the note holders or the trustee under the indentures governing our 6.75% Notes, 7.50% Notes, 7.00% Notes or 2.125% Notes or the lenders under our Secured Revolving Line of Credit accelerate the repayment of borrowings, we cannot assure you that we will have sufficient assets to repay those borrowings.

The markets in which our products are sold are highly competitive.

The markets in which our products are sold are very competitive and delivering the latest and best products to market on a timely basis is critical to achieving revenue growth. We believe that the main factors that determine our product competitiveness are timely product introductions, product quality, product features and capabilities (including enabling state-of-the-art visual and virtual reality experiences), energy efficiency (including power consumption and battery life), reliability, processor clock speed, performance, size (or form factor), selling price, cost, adherence to industry standards (and the creation of open industry standards), level of integration, software and hardware compatibility, security and stability, brand recognition and availability.

We expect that competition will continue to be intense due to rapid technological changes, frequent product introductions by our competitors or new competitors of products that may provide better performance/experience or may include additional features that render our products uncompetitive. We may also face aggressive pricing by competitors, especially during challenging economic times. In addition, our competitors have significant marketing and sales resources which could increase the competitive environment in such a declining market, leading to lower prices and margins. Some competitors may have greater access or rights to complementary technologies, including interface, processor and memory technical information. For instance, with our APU products and other competing solutions with integrated graphics, we believe that demand for additional discrete graphics chips and cards may decrease in the future due to improvements in the quality and performance of integrated graphics. If competitors introduce competitive new products into the market before us, demand for our products could be adversely impacted and our business could be adversely affected. In addition, Intel Corporation has announced that it plans to expand its position in integrated graphics for the PC market with high-end discrete graphics solutions for a broad range of computing segments, which may negatively impact our ability to compete in these computing segments.

In addition, we are entering markets with current and new competitors who may be able to adapt more quickly to customer requirements and emerging technologies. We cannot assure you that we will be able to compete successfully against current or new competitors who may have stronger positions in these new markets or superior ability to anticipate customer requirements and emerging industry trends. We may face delays or disruptions in research and development efforts, or we may be required to invest significantly greater resources in research and development than anticipated.

Our worldwide operations are subject to political, legal and economic risks and natural disasters, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

We maintain operations around the world, including in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia. We rely on third-party wafer foundries in Europe and Asia. Nearly all product assembly and final testing of our products is performed at manufacturing facilities, operated by third-party manufacturing facilities, in China, Malaysia and Taiwan. We also have international sales operations. International sales, as a percent of net revenue, were 80% in 2018. We expect that international sales will continue to be a significant portion of total sales in the foreseeable future.

The political, legal and economic risks associated with our operations in foreign countries include, without limitation:


•	expropriation;

•changes in a specific country’s or region’s political or economic conditions;

•changes in tax laws, trade protection measures and import or export licensing requirements;

•difficulties in protecting our intellectual property;

•difficulties in managing staffing and exposure to different employment practices and labor laws;

•changes in foreign currency exchange rates;

•restrictions on transfers of funds and other assets of our subsidiaries between jurisdictions;

•changes in freight and interest rates;

•disruption in air transportation between the United States and our overseas facilities;

•loss or modification of exemptions for taxes and tariffs; and


•	compliance with U.S. laws and regulations related to international operations, including export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

In addition, our worldwide operations (or those of our business partners) could be subject to natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, typhoons and volcanic eruptions that disrupt manufacturing or other operations. For example, our Santa Clara operations are located near major earthquake fault lines in California. There may be conflict or uncertainty in the countries in which we operate, including public health issues (for example, an outbreak of a contagious disease such as avian influenza, measles or Ebola), safety issues, natural disasters, fire, disruptions of service from utilities, nuclear power plant accidents or general economic or political factors. For example, the United Kingdom’s 2016 referendum, commonly referred to as “Brexit,” has created economic and political uncertainty in the European Union. Also, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation imposes significant new requirements on how we collect, process and transfer personal data, as well as significant fines for non-compliance. Also the United States administration has called for changes to domestic and foreign policy. The United States administration has announced tariffs on certain products imported into the United States with China as the country of origin, and we are taking steps to mitigate the impact of these tariffs on our business and AMD processor-based products. There is also a possibility of future tariffs imposed by the United States, China or other countries that could have a material adverse effect on our business. Any of the above risks, should they occur, could result in an increase in the cost of components, production delays, general business interruptions, delays from difficulties in obtaining export licenses for certain technology, tariffs and other barriers and restrictions, longer payment cycles, increased taxes, restrictions on the repatriation of funds and the burdens of complying with a variety of foreign laws, any of which could ultimately have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our issuance to West Coast Hitech L.P. (WCH) of warrants to purchase 75 million shares of our common stock, if and when exercised, will dilute the ownership interests of our existing stockholders, and the conversion of the 2.125% Notes may dilute the ownership interest of our existing stockholders, or may otherwise depress the price of our common stock.

Pursuant to the sixth amendment to the WSA (Sixth Amendment), we issued warrants to WCH to purchase 75 million shares of our common stock. Any issuance by us of shares of our common stock to WCH upon exercise of the warrants will dilute the ownership interests of our existing stockholders. Any sales in the public market by WCH of any shares owned by WCH could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock, and the anticipated exercise by WCH of the warrants could depress the price of our common stock. On February 5, 2019, WCH sold approximately 34.9 million shares of our common stock and notified us it would exercise its warrant to purchase 75 million shares of our common stock at a purchase price of $5.98 per share for a total amount of $448.5 million. We expect to receive proceeds of $448.5 million upon the exercise of the warrant and issue the 75 million shares of our common stock to WCH in accordance with the terms of the Warrant Agreement.

Also, the conversion of some or all of the 2.125% Notes may dilute the ownership interests of our existing stockholders. The 2.125% Notes will mature on September 1, 2026, unless earlier redeemed or repurchased by us or converted. For example, during the fourth quarter of 2018, the sale price for conversion was satisfied as of the end of December 31, 2018 and as a result, the 2.125% Notes are eligible for conversion during the first calendar quarter of 2019. Any sales in the public market of our common stock issuable upon such conversion could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock. In addition, the existence of the 2.125% Notes may encourage short selling by market participants because the conversion thereof could be used to satisfy short positions, or the anticipated conversion of the 2.125% Notes into cash and/or shares of our common stock could depress the price of our common stock.

Uncertainties involving the ordering and shipment of our products could materially adversely affect us.

We typically sell our products pursuant to individual purchase orders. We generally do not have long-term supply arrangements with our customers or minimum purchase requirements except that orders generally must be for standard pack quantities. Generally, our customers may cancel orders for standard products more than 30 days prior to shipment without incurring significant fees. We base our inventory levels in part on customers’ estimates of demand for their products, which may not accurately predict the quantity or type of our products that our customers will want in the future or ultimately end up purchasing. Our ability to forecast demand is even further complicated when our products are sold indirectly through downstream channel distributors and customers, as our forecasts for demand are then based on estimates provided by multiple parties throughout the downstream channel.

PC and consumer markets are characterized by short product lifecycles, which can lead to rapid obsolescence and price erosion. In addition, our customers may change their inventory practices on short notice for any reason. We may build inventories during periods of anticipated growth, and the cancellation or deferral of product orders or overproduction due to failure of anticipated orders to materialize, could result in excess or obsolete inventory, which could result in write-downs of inventory and an adverse effect on gross margins.

Factors that may result in excess or obsolete inventory, which could result in write-downs of the value of our inventory, a reduction in the average selling price or a reduction in our gross margin include:


•	a sudden or significant decrease in demand for our products;

•a production or design defect in our products;

•a higher incidence of inventory obsolescence because of rapidly changing technology and customer requirements;


•	a failure to accurately estimate customer demand for our products, including for our older products as our new products are introduced; or

•our competitors introducing new products or taking aggressive pricing actions.

The demand for our products depends in part on the market conditions in the industries into which they are sold. Fluctuations in demand for our products or a market decline in any of these industries could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Industry-wide fluctuations in the computer marketplace have materially adversely affected us in the past and may materially adversely affect us in the future. A large portion of our Computing and Graphics revenue is focused on the consumer desktop PC and notebook segments, which have in the past experienced a decline driven by, among other factors, the adoption of smaller and other form factors, increased competition and changes in replacement cycles. The success of our semi-custom SoC products is dependent on securing customers for our semi-custom design pipeline and consumer market conditions, including the success of the Sony PlayStation^®4, Sony PlayStation^®4 Pro, Microsoft^® Xbox One™ S and Microsoft^® Xbox One™ X game console systems worldwide. In addition, the GPU market has at times seen elevated demand due to the application of GPU products to cryptocurrency mining. For example, our GPU revenue has been affected in part by the volatility of the cryptocurrency mining market. Demand for cryptocurrency has changed and is likely to continue to change quickly. For example, China and South Korea have instituted restrictions on cryptocurrency trading and the valuations of the currencies, and corresponding interest in mining of such currencies, are subject to significant fluctuations. If we are unable to manage the risks related to the volatility of the cryptocurrency mining market, our GPU business could be materially adversely affected.

Our ability to design and introduce new products in a timely manner is dependent upon third-party intellectual property.

In the design and development of new and enhanced products, we rely on third-party intellectual property such as development and testing tools for software and hardware. Furthermore, certain product features may rely on intellectual property acquired from third parties. The design requirements necessary to meet customer demand for more features and greater functionality from semiconductor products may exceed the capabilities of the third-party intellectual property or development or testing tools available to us. If the third-party intellectual property that we use becomes unavailable, is not available with required functionality and performance in the time frame or price point needed for our new products or fails to produce designs that meet customer demands, our business could be materially adversely affected.

We depend on third-party companies for the design, manufacture and supply of motherboards, software and other computer platform components to support our business.

We depend on third-party companies for the design, manufacture and supply of motherboards, graphics cards, software (e.g. BIOS, operating systems, drivers) and other components that our customers utilize to support and/or use our microprocessor, GPU and APU offerings. We also rely on our add-in-board (AIB) partners to support our GPU and APU products. In addition, our microprocessors are not designed to function with motherboards and chipsets designed to work with Intel microprocessors. If the designers, manufacturers, AIBs and suppliers of motherboards, graphics cards, software and other components decrease their support for our product offerings, our business could be materially adversely affected.

If we lose Microsoft Corporation’s support for our products or other software vendors do not design and develop software to run on our products, our ability to sell our products could be materially adversely affected.

Our ability to innovate beyond the x86 instruction set controlled by Intel depends partially on Microsoft designing and developing its operating systems to run on or support our x86-based microprocessor products. With respect to our graphics products, we depend in part on Microsoft to design and develop its operating system to run on or support our graphics products. Similarly, the success of our products in the market, such as our APU products, is dependent on independent software providers designing and developing software to run on our products. If Microsoft does not continue to design and develop its operating systems so that they work with our x86 instruction sets or does not continue to develop and maintain their operating systems to support our graphics products, independent software providers may forego designing their software applications to take advantage of our innovations and customers may not purchase PCs with our products. In addition, some software drivers licensed for use with our products are certified by Microsoft. If Microsoft did not certify a driver, or if we otherwise fail to retain the support of Microsoft or other software vendors, our ability to market our products would be materially adversely affected.

Our reliance on third-party distributors and AIB partners subjects us to certain risks.

We market and sell our products directly and through third-party distributors and AIB partners pursuant to agreements that can generally be terminated for convenience by either party upon prior notice to the other party. These agreements are non-exclusive and permit both our distributors and AIB partners to offer our competitors’ products. We are dependent on our distributors and AIB partners to supplement our direct marketing and sales efforts. If any significant distributor or AIB or a substantial number of our distributors or AIB partners terminated their relationship with us, decided to market our competitors’ products over our products or decided not to market our products at all, our ability to bring our products to market would be impacted and we would be materially adversely affected. In addition, if we are unable to collect accounts receivable from our significant distributors and/

or AIB partners, it could have a material adverse effect on our business. If we are unable to manage the risks related to the use of our third-party distributors and AIB partners or offer appropriate incentives to focus them on the sale of our products, our business could be materially adversely affected.

Additionally, distributors and AIB partners typically maintain an inventory of our products. In most instances, our agreements with distributors protect their inventory of our products against price reductions, as well as provide return rights for any product that we have removed from our price book and that is not more than 12 months older than the manufacturing date. Some agreements with our distributors also contain standard stock rotation provisions permitting limited levels of product returns. Our agreements with AIB partners protect their inventory of our products against price reductions. In the event of a significant decline in the price of our products, the price protection rights we offer would materially adversely affect us because our revenue and corresponding gross margin would decline.

We may incur future impairments of goodwill and technology license purchases.

We perform our annual goodwill impairment analysis as of the first day of the fourth quarter of each year. Subsequent to our annual goodwill impairment analysis, we monitor for any events or changes in circumstances, such as significant adverse changes in business climate or operating results, changes in management’s business strategy, an inability to successfully introduce new products in the marketplace, an inability to successfully achieve internal forecasts or significant declines in our stock price, which may represent an indicator of impairment. The occurrence of any of these events may require us to record future goodwill impairment charges.

We license certain third-party technologies and tools for the design and production of our products. We report the value of those licenses as intangible assets on the balance sheet and we periodically evaluate the carrying value of those licenses based on their future economic benefit to us. Factors such as the life of the assets, changes in competing technologies, and changes to the business strategy may represent an indicator of impairment. The occurrence of any of these events may require us to record future technology license impairment charges. For example, during the fourth quarter of 2018, we recorded an impairment charge in Cost of sales of $45 million on technology licenses related to products that are no longer being used.

Our inability to continue to attract and retain qualified personnel may hinder our business.

Much of our future success depends upon the continued service of numerous qualified engineering, marketing, sales and executive personnel. Competition for highly skilled employees and executives in the technology industry is intense and our competitors have targeted our employees that have desired skills. If we are not able to continue to attract, train and retain qualified personnel necessary for our business, the progress of our product development programs could be hindered, and we could be materially adversely affected. To help attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel, we use share-based incentive awards such as employee stock options and non-vested share units (restricted stock units). If the value of such stock awards does not appreciate as measured by the performance of the price of our common stock, or if our share-based compensation otherwise ceases to be viewed as a valuable benefit, our ability to attract, retain and motivate personnel could be weakened, which could harm our results of operations. Also, if the value of our stock awards increases substantially, this could potentially create great personal wealth for our employees and affect our ability to retain these employees. In addition, any future restructuring plans may adversely impact our ability to attract and retain key employees.

In the event of a change of control, we may not be able to repurchase our outstanding debt as required by the applicable indentures and our Secured Revolving Line of Credit, which would result in a default under the indentures and our Secured Revolving Line of Credit.

Upon a change of control, we will be required to offer to repurchase all of our 6.75% Notes, 7.50% Notes, 7.00% Notes and 2.125% Notes then outstanding at 101% of the principal amount thereof, plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, up to, but excluding, the repurchase date. In addition, a change of control would be an event of default under our Secured Revolving Line of Credit. As of December 29, 2018, $70 million of borrowings were outstanding under the Secured Revolving Line of Credit, $26 million related to letters of credit under the Secured Revolving Line of Credit remained outstanding and $1.5 billion principal amount was outstanding under our notes. Future debt agreements may contain similar provisions. We may not have the financial resources to repurchase our outstanding notes and prepay all of our outstanding obligations under our Secured Revolving Line of Credit.

The semiconductor industry is highly cyclical and has experienced severe downturns that have materially adversely affected, and may continue to materially adversely affect, our business in the future.

The semiconductor industry is highly cyclical and has experienced significant downturns, often in conjunction with constant and rapid technological change, wide fluctuations in supply and demand, continuous new product introductions, price erosion and declines in general economic conditions. We have incurred substantial losses in recent downturns, due to:


•	substantial declines in average selling prices;

•the cyclical nature of supply and demand imbalances in the semiconductor industry;

•a decline in demand for end-user products (such as PCs) that incorporate our products; and

•excess inventory levels.

Industry-wide fluctuations in the computer marketplace have materially adversely affected us in the past and may materially adversely affect us in the future. For example, a large portion of our Computing and Graphics revenue is focused on consumer desktop PC and notebook segments. While overall growth in Computing and Graphics is stabilizing, the areas within Computing and Graphics are changing. Our ability to take advantage of the opportunities within Computing and Graphics is based on foreseeing those changes and making timely investments in the form factors that serve those growing sub-segments.

Global economic uncertainty and weakness have in the past impacted the semiconductor market as consumers and businesses have deferred purchases, which negatively impacted demand for our products. Our financial performance has been, and may in the future be, negatively affected by these downturns.

The growth of our business is also dependent on continued demand for our products from high-growth adjacent emerging global markets. Our ability to be successful in such markets depends in part on our ability to establish adequate local infrastructure, as well as our ability to cultivate and maintain local relationships in these markets. If demand from these markets is below our expectations, sales of our products may decrease, which would have a material adverse effect on us.

Acquisitions, divestitures and/or joint ventures could disrupt our business, harm our financial condition and operating results or dilute, or adversely affect the price of, our common stock.

Our success will depend, in part, on our ability to expand our product offerings and grow our business in response to changing technologies, customer demands and competitive pressures. In some circumstances, we may pursue growth through the acquisition of complementary businesses, solutions or technologies or through divestitures or joint ventures rather than through internal development. The identification of suitable acquisition or joint venture candidates can be difficult, time-consuming and costly, and we may not be able to successfully complete identified acquisitions or joint ventures. Moreover, if such acquisitions or joint ventures require us to seek additional debt or equity financing, we may not be able to obtain such financing on terms favorable to us or at all. Even if we successfully complete an acquisition or a joint venture, we may not be able to assimilate and integrate effectively or efficiently the acquired business, technologies, solutions, assets, personnel or operations, particularly if key personnel of the acquired company decide not to work for us. Acquisitions and joint ventures may also involve the entry into geographic or business markets in which we have little or no prior experience. Consequently, we may not achieve anticipated benefits of the acquisitions or joint ventures which could harm our operating results. In addition, to complete an acquisition, we may issue equity securities, which would dilute our stockholders’ ownership and could adversely affect the price of our common stock, as well as incur debt, assume contingent liabilities or have amortization expenses and write-downs of acquired assets, which could adversely affect our results of operations. Acquisitions and joint ventures may also reduce our cash available for operations and other uses, which could harm our business. Also, any failure on our part to effectively evaluate and execute new business initiatives could adversely affect our business. We may not adequately assess the risk of new business initiatives and subsequent events may arise that alter the risks that were initially considered.

Furthermore, we may not achieve the objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, products and services.The majority of our ATMP services are provided by the JVs and there is no guarantee that the JVs will be able to fulfill our long-term ATMP requirements. If we are unable to meet customer demand due to fluctuating or late supply from the JVs, it could result in lost sales and have a material adverse effect on our business.

In addition, we may not realize the anticipated benefits from any new business initiatives. We have a joint venture with Higon Information Technology Co., Ltd. (formerly, Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co., Ltd.) (THATIC), comprised of two separate legal entities, China JV1 and China JV2 (collectively, the THATIC JV). We may not realize the expected benefits from this joint venture, including the THATIC JV’s expected future performance, the receipt of any future milestone payments from certain licensed intellectual property, and the receipt of any royalty payments from future sales of products by the THATIC JV.

Our business is dependent upon the proper functioning of our internal business processes and information systems and modification or interruption of such systems may disrupt our business, processes and internal controls.

We rely upon a number of internal business processes and information systems to support key business functions, and the efficient operation of these processes and systems is critical to our business. Our business processes and information systems need to be sufficiently scalable to support the growth of our business and may require modifications or upgrades that expose us to a number of operational risks. As such, our information systems will continually evolve and adapt in order to meet our business needs. These changes may be costly and disruptive to our operations and could impose substantial demands on management time.

These changes may also require changes in our information systems, modification of internal control procedures and significant training of employees and third-party resources. We continuously work on simplifying our information systems and applications through consolidation and standardization efforts. There can be no assurance that our business and operations will not experience any disruption in connection with this transition. Our information technology systems, and those of third-party information technology providers or business partners, may also be vulnerable to damage or disruption caused by circumstances beyond our control including catastrophic events, power anomalies or outages, natural disasters, viruses or malware, cyber-

attacks, data breaches and computer system or network failures, exposing us to significant cost, reputational harm and disruption or damage to our business.

In addition, as our IT environment continues to evolve, we are embracing new ways of communicating and sharing data internally and externally with customers and partners using methods such as mobility and the cloud that can promote business efficiency. However, these practices can also result in a more distributed IT environment, making it more difficult for us to maintain visibility and control over internal and external users, and meet scalability and administrative requirements. If our security controls cannot keep pace with the speed of these changes, or if we are not able to meet regulatory and compliance requirements, our business would be materially adversely affected.

If essential equipment, materials or manufacturing processes are not available to manufacture our products, we could be materially adversely affected.

We may purchase equipment and materials for use by our back-end manufacturing service providers from a number of suppliers and our operations depend upon obtaining deliveries of adequate supplies of equipment and materials on a timely basis. Our third-party suppliers also depend on the same timely delivery of adequate quantities of equipment and materials in the manufacture of our products. In addition, as many of our products increase in technical complexity, we rely on our third-party suppliers to update their processes in order to continue meeting our back-end manufacturing needs. Certain equipment and materials that are used in the manufacture of our products are available only from a limited number of suppliers, or in some cases, a sole supplier. We also depend on a limited number of suppliers to provide the majority of certain types of integrated circuit packages for our microprocessors, including our APU products. Similarly, certain non-proprietary materials or components such as memory, printed circuit boards (PCBs), interposers, substrates and capacitors used in the manufacture of our products are currently available from only a limited number of sources. Because some of the equipment and materials that we and our third-party manufacturing suppliers purchase are complex, it is sometimes difficult to substitute one supplier for another. From time to time, suppliers may extend lead times, limit supply or increase prices due to capacity constraints or other factors. Also, some of these materials and components may be subject to rapid changes in price and availability. Interruption of supply or increased demand in the industry could cause shortages and price increases in various essential materials. Dependence on a sole supplier or a limited number of suppliers exacerbates these risks. If we are unable to procure certain of these materials for our back-end manufacturing operations, or our third-party foundries or manufacturing suppliers are unable to procure materials for manufacturing our products, our business would be materially adversely affected.

If our products are not compatible with some or all industry-standard software and hardware, we could be materially adversely affected.

Our products may not be fully compatible with some or all industry-standard software and hardware. Further, we may be unsuccessful in correcting any such compatibility problems in a timely manner. If our customers are unable to achieve compatibility with software or hardware, we could be materially adversely affected. In addition, the mere announcement of an incompatibility problem relating to our products could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Costs related to defective products could have a material adverse effect on us.

Products as complex as those we offer may contain defects or failures when first introduced or when new versions or enhancements to existing products are released. We cannot assure you that, despite our testing procedures, errors will not be found in new products or releases after commencement of commercial shipments in the future, which could result in loss of or delay in market acceptance of our products, material recall and replacement costs, loss of revenue, writing down the inventory of defective products, the diversion of the attention of our engineering personnel from product development efforts, defending against litigation related to defective products or related liabilities, including property damage, personal injury, damage to our reputation in the industry and loss of data or intangible property, and could adversely affect our relationships with our customers. In addition, we may have difficulty identifying the end customers of the defective products in the field. As a result, we could incur substantial costs to implement modifications to correct defects. Any of these problems could materially adversely affect our business.

We could be subject to potential product liability claims if one of our products causes, or merely appears to have caused, an injury, whether tangible or intangible. Claims may be made by consumers or others selling our products, and we may be subject to claims against us even if an alleged injury is due to the actions of others. A product liability claim, recall or other claim with respect to uninsured liabilities or for amounts in excess of insured liabilities could have a material adverse effect on our business.

If we fail to maintain the efficiency of our supply chain as we respond to changes in customer demand for our products, our business could be materially adversely affected.

Our ability to meet customer demand for our products depends, in part, on our ability to deliver the products our customers want on a timely basis. Accordingly, we rely on our supply chain for the manufacturing, distribution and fulfillment of our products. As we continue to grow our business, expand to high-growth adjacent markets, acquire new customers and strengthen relationships with existing customers, the efficiency of our supply chain will become increasingly important because many of our customers tend to have specific requirements for particular products, and specific time-frames in which they require delivery

of these products. If we are unable to consistently deliver the right products to our customers on a timely basis in the right locations, our customers may reduce the quantities they order from us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We outsource to third parties certain supply-chain logistics functions, including portions of our product distribution, transportation management and information technology support services.

We rely on third-party providers to operate our regional product distribution centers and to manage the transportation of our work-in-process and finished products among our facilities, to our manufacturing suppliers and to our customers. In addition, we rely on third parties to provide certain information technology services to us, including help desk support, desktop application services, business and software support applications, server and storage administration, datacenter operations, database administration and voice, video and remote access. We cannot guarantee that these providers will fulfill their respective responsibilities in a timely manner in accordance with the contract terms, in which case our internal operations and the distribution of our products to our customers could be materially adversely affected. Also, we cannot guarantee that our contracts with these third-party providers will be renewed, in which case we would have to transition these functions in-house or secure new providers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business if the transition is not executed appropriately.

Our stock price is subject to volatility.

Our stock price has experienced price and volume fluctuations and could be subject to wide fluctuations in the future. The trading price of our stock may fluctuate widely due to various factors including, actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial conditions and operating results, changes in financial estimates by us or financial estimates and ratings by securities analysts, changes in our capital structure, including issuance of additional debt or equity to the public, interest rate changes, news regarding our products or products of our competitors, and broad market and industry fluctuations. Stock price fluctuations could impact the value of our equity compensation, which could affect our ability to recruit and retain employees. In addition, volatility in our stock price could adversely affect our business and financing opportunities.

Worldwide political conditions may adversely affect demand for our products.

Worldwide political conditions may create uncertainties that could adversely affect our business. The United States has been and may continue to be involved in armed conflicts that could have a further impact on our sales and our supply chain. The consequences of armed conflict, political instability or civil or military unrest are unpredictable, and we may not be able to foresee events that could have a material adverse effect on us. Terrorist attacks or other hostile acts may negatively affect our operations, or adversely affect demand for our products, and such attacks or related armed conflicts may impact our physical facilities or those of our suppliers or customers. Furthermore, these attacks or hostile acts may make travel and the transportation of our products more difficult and more expensive, which could materially adversely affect us. Any of these events could cause consumer spending to decrease or result in increased volatility in the United States economy and worldwide financial markets.

Unfavorable currency exchange rate fluctuations could adversely affect us.

We have costs, assets and liabilities that are denominated in foreign currencies. As a consequence, movements in exchange rates could cause our foreign currency denominated expenses to increase as a percentage of revenue, affecting our profitability and cash flows. Whenever we believe appropriate, we hedge a portion of our short-term foreign currency exposure to protect against fluctuations in currency exchange rates. We determine our total foreign currency exposure using projections of long-term expenditures for items such as payroll. We cannot assure you that these activities will be effective in reducing foreign exchange rate exposure. Failure to do so could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow. In addition, the majority of our product sales are denominated in U.S. dollars. Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the local currency can cause increases or decreases in the cost of our products in the local currency of such customers. An appreciation of the U.S. dollar relative to the local currency could reduce sales of our products.

Our inability to effectively control the sales of our products on the gray market could have a material adverse effect on us.

We market and sell our products directly to OEMs and through authorized third-party distributors. From time to time, our products are diverted from our authorized distribution channels and are sold on the “gray market.” Gray market products result in shadow inventory that is not visible to us, thus making it difficult to forecast demand accurately. Also, when gray market products enter the market, we and our distribution channels compete with these heavily discounted gray market products, which adversely affects demand for our products and negatively impact our margins. In addition, our inability to control gray market activities could result in customer satisfaction issues because any time products are purchased outside our authorized distribution channels there is a risk that our customers are buying counterfeit or substandard products, including products that may have been altered, mishandled or damaged, or are used products represented as new.

If we cannot adequately protect our technology or other intellectual property in the United States and abroad, through patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks and other measures, we may lose a competitive advantage and incur significant expenses.

We rely on a combination of protections provided by contracts, including confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, copyrights, patents, trademarks and common law rights, such as trade secrets, to protect our intellectual property. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to adequately protect our technology or other intellectual property from third-party infringement or from misappropriation in the United States and abroad. Any patent licensed by us or issued to us could be challenged, invalidated or circumvented or rights granted there under may not provide a competitive advantage to us.

Furthermore, patent applications that we file may not result in issuance of a patent or, if a patent is issued, the patent may not be issued in a form that is advantageous to us. Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights, others may independently develop similar products, duplicate our products or design around our patents and other rights. In addition, it is difficult to monitor compliance with, and enforce, our intellectual property on a worldwide basis in a cost-effective manner. In jurisdictions where foreign laws provide less intellectual property protection than afforded in the United States and abroad, our technology or other intellectual property may be compromised, and our business would be materially adversely affected.

We are party to litigation and may become a party to other claims or litigation that could cause us to incur substantial costs or pay substantial damages or prohibit us from selling our products.

From time to time, we are a defendant or plaintiff in various legal actions. For example, as described in Note 19 of our consolidated financial statements, we have been subject to certain claims concerning federal securities laws and corporate governance. Our products are purchased by and/or used by consumers, which could increase our exposure to consumer actions such as product liability claims and consumer class action claims, including those described in Note 19 of our consolidated financial statements. On occasion, we receive claims that individuals were allegedly exposed to substances used in our former semiconductor wafer manufacturing facilities and that this alleged exposure caused harm. Litigation can involve complex factual and legal questions, and its outcome is uncertain. It is possible that if a claim is successfully asserted against us, including the claims described in Note 19 of our consolidated financial statements, it could result in the payment of damages that could be material to our business.

With respect to intellectual property litigation, from time to time, we have been notified of, or third parties may bring or have brought, actions against us and/or against our customers based on allegations that we are infringing the intellectual property rights of others, contributing to or inducing the infringement of the intellectual property rights of others, improperly claiming ownership of intellectual property or otherwise improperly using the intellectual property of others. If any such claims are asserted, we may seek to obtain a license under the third parties’ intellectual property rights. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain all of the necessary licenses on satisfactory terms, if at all. These parties may file lawsuits against us or our customers seeking damages (potentially up to and including treble damages) or an injunction against the sale of products that incorporate allegedly infringed intellectual property or against the operation of our business as presently conducted, which could result in our having to stop the sale of some of our products or to increase the costs of selling some of our products or which could damage our reputation. The award of damages, including material royalty payments, or other types of damages, or the entry of an injunction against the manufacture and sale of some or all of our products could have a material adverse effect on us. We could decide, in the alternative, to redesign our products or to resort to litigation to challenge such claims. Such challenges could be extremely expensive and time-consuming regardless of their merit, could cause delays in product release or shipment and/or could have a material adverse effect on us. We cannot assure you that litigation related to our intellectual property rights or the intellectual property rights of others can always be avoided or successfully concluded.

Even if we were to prevail, any litigation could be costly and time-consuming and would divert the attention of our management and key personnel from our business operations, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

Our business is subject to potential tax liabilities.

The Company is subject to income tax, indirect tax or other tax claims by tax agencies in jurisdictions in which it conducts business. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide provision for income taxes. Tax laws are dynamic and subject to change as new laws are passed and new interpretations of the law are issued or applied. The United States federal government enacted significant tax reform, and certain provisions of the new law may adversely affect us. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the Tax Reform Act) has resulted in significant changes to the United States corporate income tax system. These changes include a federal statutory rate reduction from 35% to 21%, the elimination or reduction of certain domestic deductions and credits and limitations on the deductibility of interest expense. The Tax Reform Act also transitions international taxation from a worldwide system to a modified territorial system and includes base erosion prevention measures on non-U.S. earnings, which has the effect of subjecting certain earnings of our foreign subsidiaries to United States taxation. These changes became effective in 2018.

In the ordinary course of our business, there are many transactions and calculations where the ultimate income tax, indirect tax, or other tax determination is uncertain. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, we cannot assure that the final

determination of any tax audits and litigation will not be materially different from that which is reflected in historical tax provisions and accruals. Should additional taxes be assessed as a result of an audit, assessment or litigation, there could be a material adverse effect on our cash, tax provisions and net income in the period or periods for which that determination is made.

We are subject to environmental laws, conflict minerals-related provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act as well as a variety of other laws or regulations that could result in additional costs and liabilities.

Environmental laws are complex, change frequently and have tended to become more stringent over time. For example, the European Union (EU) and China are two among a growing number of jurisdictions that have enacted restrictions on the use of lead and other materials in electronic products. These regulations affect semiconductor devices and packaging. As regulations restricting materials in electronic products continue to increase around the world, there is a risk that the cost, quality and manufacturing yields of products that are subject to these restrictions may be less favorable compared to products that are not subject to such restrictions, or that the transition to compliant products may not meet customer roadmaps, or produce sudden changes in demand, which may result in excess inventory. A number of jurisdictions including the EU, Australia, California and China are developing or have finalized market entry or public procurement regulations for computers and servers based on ENERGY STAR specifications as well as additional energy consumption limits. There is the potential for certain of our products being excluded from some of these markets which could materially adversely affect us.

Certain environmental laws, including the United States Comprehensive, Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, or the Superfund Act, impose strict or, under certain circumstances, joint and several liability on current and previous owners or operators of real property for the cost of removal or remediation of hazardous substances and impose liability for damages to natural resources. These laws often impose liability even if the owner or operator did not know of, or was not responsible for, the release of such hazardous substances. These environmental 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. Such persons can be responsible for cleanup costs even if they never owned or operated the contaminated facility. We have been named as a responsible party at three Superfund sites in Sunnyvale, California. Although we have not yet been, we could be named a potentially responsible party at other Superfund or contaminated sites in the future. In addition, contamination that has not yet been identified could exist at our other facilities.

Under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the SEC adopted disclosure and reporting requirements for companies that use “conflict” minerals originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo or adjoining countries. We continue to incur additional costs associated with complying with these requirements, such as costs related to developing internal controls for the due diligence process, determining the source of any conflict minerals used in our products, auditing the process and reporting to our customers and the SEC. In addition to the SEC regulation, the European Union, China and other jurisdictions are developing new policies focused on conflict minerals that may impact and increase the cost of our compliance program. Also, since our supply chain is complex, we may face reputational challenges if we are unable to sufficiently verify the origins of the subject minerals. Moreover, we are likely to encounter challenges to satisfy those customers who require that all of the components of our products are certified as “conflict free.” If we cannot satisfy these customers, they may choose a competitor’s products.

The United States federal government has issued new policies for federal procurement focused on eradicating the practice of forced labor and human trafficking. In addition, the United Kingdom, Australia and the State of California have issued laws that require us to disclose our policy and practices for identifying and eliminating forced labor and human trafficking in our supply chain. Several customers as well as the Responsible Business Alliance have also issued expectations to eliminate these practices that may impact us. While we have a policy and management systems to identify and avoid these practices in our supply chain, we cannot guarantee that our suppliers will always be in conformance to these laws and expectations. We may face enforcement liability and reputational challenges if we are unable to sufficiently meet these expectations. Moreover, we are likely to encounter challenges with customers if we cannot satisfy their forced and trafficked labor polices and they may choose a competitor’s product.


ITEM 1B.	UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.


ITEM 2.	PROPERTIES

As of December 29, 2018, we leased approximately 2.47 million square feet of space for research and development, engineering, administrative and warehouse use, including our headquarters in Santa Clara, California, our principal administrative facilities in Austin, Texas, our main facility with respect to graphics and chipset products located in Markham, Ontario, Canada and a number of smaller regional sales offices located in commercial centers near customers, principally in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia. These leases expire at varying dates through 2028, although some of these leases include optional renewals. We occupy 220,000 square feet of space in our headquarters in Santa Clara, California under a 10-year operating lease which commenced in August 2017. We have the option to extend the term of the lease for two additional 5-year periods. The lease for our principal administrative facilities in Austin, Texas expires in March 2025, and provides for one 10-year optional renewal. The leases for our facilities in Markham, Ontario, Canada expire in February 2028, and provide for one 5-year optional renewals.

We currently do not anticipate difficulty in either retaining occupancy of any of our facilities through lease renewals prior to expiration or through month-to-month occupancy, or replacing them with equivalent facilities.

We believe that our existing facilities are suitable and adequate for our present purposes, and that, the productive capacity of such facilities is substantially being utilized or we have plans to utilize such capacity.

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Shareholder Derivative Lawsuits (Wessels, Hamilton and Ha)

On March 20, 2014, a purported shareholder derivative lawsuit captioned Wessels v. Read, et al., Case No. 1:14 cv-262486 (Wessels) was filed against us (as a nominal defendant only) and certain of our directors and officers in the Santa Clara County Superior Court of the State of California. The complaint purports to assert claims against us and certain individual directors and officers for breach of fiduciary duty, waste of corporate assets and unjust enrichment. The complaint seeks damages allegedly caused by alleged materially misleading statements and/or material omissions by us and the individual directors and officers regarding our 32nm technology and “Llano” product, which statements and omissions, the plaintiffs claim, allegedly operated to artificially inflate the price paid for our common stock during the period. On April 27, 2015, a similar purported shareholder derivative lawsuit captioned Christopher Hamilton and David Hamilton v. Barnes, et al., Case No. 5:15-cv-01890 (Hamilton) was filed against us (as a nominal defendant only) and certain of our directors and officers in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

On September 29, 2015, a similar purported shareholder derivative lawsuit captioned Jake Ha v Caldwell, et al., Case No. 3:15-cv-04485 (Ha) was filed against us (as a nominal defendant only) and certain of our directors and officers in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit also seeks a court order voiding the stockholder vote on our 2015 proxy. The case was transferred to the judge handling the Hamilton Lawsuit and is now Case No. 4:15-cv-04485. The Wessels, Hamilton and Ha shareholder derivative lawsuits were stayed pending resolution of a class action lawsuit captioned Hatamian v. AMD, et al., C.A. No. 3:14-cv-00226 filed against us in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (the Hatamian Lawsuit). The Hatamian Lawsuit asserted claims against us and certain of our officers for alleged violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act), and SEC Rule 10b-5 concerning certain statements regarding our 32nm technology and “Llano” products. On October 9, 2017, the parties signed a definitive settlement agreement resolving the Hatamian Lawsuit and submitted it to the Court for approval. Under the terms of this agreement, the settlement was funded entirely by certain of our insurance carriers and the defendants continued to deny any liability or wrongdoing. On March 2, 2018, the court approved the settlement and entered a final judgment in the Hatamian Lawsuit.

On January 30, 2018, the Wessels and Hamilton plaintiffs amended their complaints. On February 2, 2018, the Ha plaintiff also filed an amended complaint. On February 22, 2018, we filed motions to dismiss the Hamilton and Ha plaintiffs’ amended complaints. On April 2, 2018, we filed a demurrer seeking to dismiss the Wessels amended complaint. On July 23, 2018, the Santa Clara Superior Court sustained our demurrer in the Wessels case, dismissing all claims in that matter with prejudice. The Wessels plaintiff filed a Notice of Appeal on September 27, 2018. On October 4, 2018, the Federal Court issued an order dismissing the Hamilton and Ha amended complaints. The Hamilton plaintiffs filed a Notice of Appeal on October 8, 2018, and the Ha plaintiffs filed a Notice of Appeal on October 15, 2018.

The Wessels, Hamilton, and Ha appeals are currently pending; the plaintiffs have not yet filed their opening briefs in any of the three matters. On November 19, 2018, the Hamilton and Ha plaintiffs filed a motion seeking summary reversal of the order dismissing their claims. We opposed this motion on December 13, 2018, and it remains pending.

Based upon information presently known to management, we believe that the potential liability, if any, will not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, cash flows or results of operations.

Kim Securities Litigation

On January 16, 2018, a putative class action lawsuit captioned Kim et al. v. AMD, et al., Case No. 3:18-cv-00321 was filed against us in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint purports to assert claims against us and certain individual officers for alleged violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act, and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. The plaintiff seeks to represent a proposed class of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired our common stock during the period February 21, 2017 through January 11, 2018. The complaint seeks damages allegedly caused by alleged materially misleading statements and/or material omissions by us and the individual officers regarding a security vulnerability (Spectre), which statements and omissions, the plaintiff claims, allegedly caused our common stock price to be artificially inflated during the purported class period. The complaint seeks unspecified compensatory damages, attorneys’ fees and costs. On August 3, 2018, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint with similar allegations and shortening the class period to June 29, 2017 through January 11, 2018. We filed a motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ claims on September 25, 2018, and plaintiffs filed an opposition to our motion to dismiss on November 14, 2018.

Hauck et al. Litigation

Since January 19, 2018, three putative class action complaints have been filed against us in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California: (1) Diana Hauck et al. v. AMD, Inc., Case No. 5:18-cv-0047, filed on January 19, 2018; (2) Brian Speck et al. v. AMD, Inc., Case No. 5:18-cv-0744, filed on February 4, 2018; and (3) Nathan Barnes and Jonathan Caskey-Medina, et al. v. AMD, Inc., Case No. 5:18-cv-00883, filed on February 9, 2018. On April 9, 2018, the court consolidated these cases and ordered that Diana Hauck et al. v. AMD, Inc. serve as the lead case. On June 13, 2018, six plaintiffs (from California, Louisiana, Florida, and Massachusetts) filed a consolidated amended complaint alleging that we failed to disclose our processors’ alleged vulnerability to Spectre. Plaintiffs further allege that our processors cannot perform at their advertised processing speeds without exposing consumers to Spectre, and that any “patches” to remedy this security vulnerability will result in degradation of processor performance. The plaintiffs seek damages under several causes of action on behalf of a nationwide class and four state subclasses (California, Florida, Massachusetts, Louisiana) of consumers who purchased our processors and/or devices containing AMD processors. The plaintiffs also seek attorneys’ fees, equitable relief, and restitution. Pursuant to the court’s order directing the parties to litigate only eight of the causes of action in the consolidated amended complaint initially, we filed a motion to dismiss on July 13, 2018. On October 29, 2018, after the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed one of their claims, the court granted our motion and dismissed six causes of action with leave to amend. The plaintiffs filed their amended consolidated complaint on December 6, 2018. On January 3, 2019, we again moved to dismiss the subset of claims currently at issue.

Quarterhill Inc. Litigation

On July 2, 2018, three entities named Aquila Innovations, Inc. (Aquila), Collabo Innovations, Inc. (Collabo), and Polaris Innovations, Ltd. (Polaris), filed separate patent infringement complaints against us in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. Aquila alleges that we infringe two patents (6,239,614 and 6,895,519) relating to power management; Collabo alleges that we infringe one patent (7,930,575) related to power management; and Polaris alleges that we infringe two patents (6,728,144 and 8,117,526) relating to control or use of dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM. Each of the three complaints seeks unspecified monetary damages, interest, fees, expenses, and costs against us; Aquila and Collabo also seek enhanced damages. Aquila, Collabo, and Polaris each appear to be related to a patent assertion entity named Quarterhill Inc. (formerly WiLAN Inc.). On November 16, 2018, AMD filed answers in the Collabo and Aquila cases and filed a motion to dismiss in the Polaris case. On January 25, 2019, we filed amended answers and counterclaims in the Collabo and Aquila cases.

Zeng Shareholder Derivative Lawsuit

On March 8, 2018, a purported shareholder derivative lawsuit captioned Zeng v. Su, et al., Case No. 18CIV01192 was filed against us (as a nominal defendant only) and certain of our directors and officers in the San Mateo County Superior Court of the State of California. The complaint purports to assert claims against us and certain individual directors and officers for breach of

fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, abuse of control, gross mismanagement and waste of corporate assets. The complaint seeks damages allegedly caused by alleged materially misleading statements and/or material omissions by us and the individual directors and officers regarding Spectre, which statements and omissions, the plaintiffs claim, allegedly operated to artificially inflate the price paid for our common stock during the period. On April 26, 2018, the lawsuit was transferred to Santa Clara County and assigned a new case number, 18CV327692. On August 14, 2018, the Court stayed this lawsuit pending a decision on the motion to dismiss in Kim et al. v. AMD, et al., Case No. 3:18-cv-00321 filed against us in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

In re Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Shareholder Derivative Litigation

Two purported shareholder derivative lawsuits were filed against us (as a nominal defendant only) and certain of our directors and officers in the United States District Court, Northern District of California: (1) Jacqueline Dolby, derivatively on behalf of AMD, Inc. v. Su et al., Case No. 5:18-cv-03575, filed on June 14, 2018; and (2) Gusinsky Trust, derivatively on behalf of AMD, Inc. v. Su et al., Case No. 5:18-cv-03811, filed on June 26, 2018. The complaints purport to assert claims against us and certain individual directors and officers for violation of Section 14(a) of the Exchange Act and SEC Rule 14a-9, breach of fiduciary duty, waste of corporate assets, and unjust enrichment. The complaints seek damages purportedly caused by alleged materially misleading statements and/or material omissions by us and the individual directors and officers regarding Spectre. The plaintiffs allege that these statements and omissions operated to artificially inflate the price paid for our common stock during the period. On July 12, 2018, the court consolidated the Dolby and Gusinsky Trust shareholder derivative lawsuits under the caption In re Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Shareholder Derivative Litigation. On August 10, 2018, the Court stayed this lawsuit pending a decision on the motion to dismiss in Kim et al. v. AMD, et al., Case No. 3:18-cv-00321 filed against us in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Dickey Litigation

On October 26, 2015, a putative class action complaint captioned Dickey et al. v. AMD, No. 15-cv-04922 was filed against us in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Plaintiffs allege that we misled consumers by using the term “eight cores” in connection with the marketing of certain AMD FX CPUs that are based on our “Bulldozer” core architecture. The plaintiffs allege these products cannot perform eight calculations simultaneously, without restriction. The plaintiffs seek to obtain damages under several causes of action for a nationwide class of consumers who allegedly were deceived into purchasing certain Bulldozer-based CPUs that were marketed as containing eight cores. The plaintiffs also seek attorneys’ fees. On December 21, 2015, we filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, which was granted on April 7, 2016. The plaintiffs then filed an amended complaint with a narrowed putative class definition, which the Court dismissed upon our motion on October 31, 2016. The plaintiffs subsequently filed a second amended complaint, and we filed a motion to dismiss the second amended complaint. On June 14, 2017, the Court issued an order granting in part and denying in part our motion to dismiss, and allowing the plaintiffs to move forward with a portion of their complaint. On March 27, 2018, plaintiffs filed their motion for class certification. On January 17, 2019, the Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. The class definition does not encompass our Ryzen^TM or EPYC^TM processors. On January 31, 2019, we filed a petition in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals seeking review of certain aspects of the January 17, 2019 class certification order.

Environmental Matters

Other Matters

We are a defendant or plaintiff in various actions that arose in the normal course of business. With respect to these matters, based on our management’s current knowledge, we believe that the amount or range of reasonably possible loss, if any, will not, either individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not Applicable.

PART II


ITEM 5.	MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock is listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market (NASDAQ) under the symbol “AMD”. On February 1, 2019, there were 4,614 registered holders of our common stock, and the closing price of our common stock was $24.51 per share as reported on NASDAQ.

For information about our equity compensation plans, see Part III, Item 11, below.

Performance Graph

Comparison of Five-Year Cumulative Total Returns

Advanced Micro Devices, S&P 500 Index and S&P 500 Semiconductor Index

The following graph shows a five-year comparison of cumulative total return on our common stock, the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Semiconductor Index from December 28, 2013 through December 29, 2018. The past performance of our common stock is no indication of future performance.



	Base Period	Years Ending
Company / Index	12/28/2013	12/27/2014	12/26/2015	12/31/2016	12/30/2017	12/29/2018
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.	100	70.11	77.25	300.00	271.96	471.43
S&P 500 Index	100	115.76	116.64	129.55	157.84	150.92
S&P 500 Semiconductors Index	100	139.35	140.00	175.90	239.79	224.48

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities

On December 26, 2018, we issued warrants to purchase 127,435 shares of our common stock to a commercial partner pursuant to a strategic arrangement with such partner. The warrants have an exercise price of $20.0423 per share and expire on December 26, 2021. The warrants were issued pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

During the fourth quarter of 2018, we settled $35 million in aggregate principal amount of our 7.00% Senior Notes due 2024 (7.00% Notes) with 1,789,751 treasury shares.


ITEM 6.	SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA



	2018⁽¹⁾		2017⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾			2016⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾			2015⁽¹⁾			2014⁽¹⁾
	In millions except per share amounts
Net revenue	$	6,475	$	5,253		$	4,319		$	3,991		$	5,506
Net income (loss) ^{(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)}	337		(33		)	(498		)	(660		)	(403		)
Earnings (loss) per share
Basic	$	0.34	$	(0.03	)	$	(0.60	)	$	(0.84	)	$	(0.53	)
Diluted	$	0.32	$	(0.03	)	$	(0.60	)	$	(0.84	)	$	(0.53	)
Shares used in per share calculation
Basic	982		952			835			783			768
Diluted	1,064		952			835			783			768
Long-term debt, net and other long term liabilities⁽⁸⁾⁽⁹⁾	$	1,306	$	1,443		$	1,559		$	2,093		$	2,110
Total assets⁽⁹⁾	$	4,556	$	3,552		$	3,328		$	3,084		$	3,737


⁽¹⁾	2018, 2017, 2015 and 2014 each consisted of 52 weeks, whereas 2016 consisted of 53 weeks.


⁽²⁾	2017 and 2016 amounts adjusted to reflect the retrospective application of Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Refer to Note 2 Summary of Significant Accounting Policies.

⁽³⁾

During the third quarter of 2016, we agreed to pay GF $100 million in installments related to the Sixth Amendment with GF starting in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2016 through the third quarter of 2017. As of December 30, 2017, we paid GF $100 million in aggregate. In addition, in 2016 we recorded a charge of $340 million in Cost of sales, consisting of the $100 million payment under the Sixth Amendment and the $240 million value of the warrant under the Warrant Agreement issued in consideration of the Sixth Amendment.


⁽⁴⁾	In 2015 and 2014, we implemented restructuring plans and incurred net charges of $53 million and $58 million in 2015 and 2014, respectively, which primarily consisted of severance and related employee benefits.


⁽⁵⁾	In 2015, we exited the dense server systems business, formerly SeaMicro resulting in a charge of $76 million in restructuring and other special charges, net. In 2014, we incurred other special charges of $13 million primarily related to the departure of a former CEO.

⁽⁶⁾

In 2014, we recorded a goodwill impairment charge of $233 million related to our Computing and Graphics segment. Also in 2014, we recorded a $58 million lower of cost or market inventory adjustment related to our second generation APU products. In 2015, we recorded an inventory write-down of $65 million, which was primarily the result of lower anticipated demand for older-generation APUs, and a technology node transition charge of $33 million.


⁽⁷⁾	In 2016, we recorded a cumulative pre-tax gain on the sale of our 85% equity interest in ATMP JV of $146 million which was recognized in Other income (expense) on our consolidated statements of operations.

⁽⁸⁾

Total long-term debt and other long term liabilities decreased by $534 million from 2015 to 2016, primarily due to $1,048 million of net debt repayment, partially offset by the issuance of $805 million in principal amount of 2.125% Notes net of unamortized discount of $308 million and unamortized financing cost of $14 million, and $38 million increase in other long-term liabilities mainly due to higher technology licenses payable.


(9)	Amounts retrospectively reflected adoption of FASB ASU 2015-03, Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs beginning in the first quarter of 2016. We reclassified debt issuance costs from long-term assets to long-term debt, net by $25 million and $30 million for 2015 and 2014, respectively, on our consolidated balance sheets.


ITEM 7.	MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements as of December 29, 2018 and December 30, 2017 and for each of the three years in the period ended December 29, 2018 and related notes, which are included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as with the other sections of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including “Part I, Item 1: Business,” “Part II, Item 6: Selected Financial Data” and “Part II, Item 8: Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

Introduction

We are a global semiconductor company primarily offering:


•	x86 microprocessors, as standalone devices or as incorporated into an accelerated processing unit (APU), chipsets, discrete and integrated graphics processing units (GPUs), and professional GPUs; and


•	server and embedded processors, semi-custom System-on-Chip (SoC) products and technology for game consoles.

We also license portions of our intellectual property (IP) portfolio.

In this management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A), we will describe the results of operations and the financial condition for us and our consolidated subsidiaries, including a discussion of our results of operations for 2018 compared to 2017 and 2017 compared to 2016, an analysis of changes in our financial condition and a discussion of our contractual obligations and off balance sheet arrangements.

Overview

Our 2018 financial results demonstrate the success of our strong product roadmap execution. Customers continued to adopt our high performance products as new products accounted for over 65% of our annual 2018 revenue. Net revenue for 2018 was $6.5 billion, an increase of 23% compared to 2017 net revenue of $5.3 billion. Gross margin, as a percentage of net revenue for 2018, was 38%, a 4% increase compared to 34% in 2017. Our operating income for 2018 improved to $451 million compared to operating income of $127 million for 2017. Our net income for 2018 improved to $337 million compared to a net loss of $33 million in the prior year.

We significantly expanded our desktop processor offerings in 2018 with the launch of our second-generation AMD Ryzen and high-end AMD Ryzen Threadripper™ WX processors for gamers, creators and hardware enthusiasts. We announced the availability of our first desktop consumer and commercial Ryzen and Ryzen PRO APUs that combine our high-performance “Zen” CPU and Radeon “Vega” graphics cores into a single chip. We also introduced the first entry-level processors based on our “Zen” CPU and “Vega” GPU cores for the consumer and commercial desktop PC market with the AMD Athlon™ and AMD PRO processors. In the notebook market, multiple customers launched premium consumer and commercial PCs featuring our mobile AMD Ryzen APUs, including our first enterprise-class notebooks powered by our new AMD Ryzen PRO APUs. For the high-performance embedded markets, we introduced the AMD EPYC™ Embedded 3000 processor and AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 processor families that bring new levels of computing and graphics performance to the thin client, digital signage, and infrastructure markets.

Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of December 29, 2018 were $1.16 billion, down from $1.18 billion at the end of 2017. Principal amount of total debt as of December 29, 2018 was $1.53 billion, compared to $1.70 billion as of December 30, 2017.

We intend the discussion of our financial condition and results of operations that follows to provide information that will assist in understanding our financial statements, the changes in certain key items in those financial statements from period to period, the primary factors that resulted in those changes, and how certain accounting principles, policies and estimates affect our financial statements.

Critical Accounting Estimates

Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP). The preparation of our financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts in our consolidated financial statements. We evaluate our estimates on an on-going basis, including those related to our revenue, inventories, goodwill impairments and income taxes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities. Although actual results have historically been reasonably consistent with

management’s expectations, the actual results may differ from these estimates or our estimates may be affected by different assumptions or conditions.

Management believes the following critical accounting estimates are the most significant to the presentation of our financial statements and require the most difficult, subjective and complex judgments.

Revenue recognition. In accordance with the adoption of the new revenue standard effective the beginning of the first quarter of 2018, we now recognize revenue upon the shipment of the product to our distributors (sell-in), rather than upon the resale of the product by our distributors to their customers (sell-through). Accordingly, we have established provisions for rights of return and price protection on unsold product held by our distributors.

Revenue Allowances. We record a provision for estimated sales returns and allowances on product sales for estimated future price reductions and other customer incentives in the same period that the related revenues are recorded. We base these estimates on actual historical sales returns, historical allowances, historical price reductions, market activity and other known or anticipated trends and factors. These estimates are subject to management’s judgment and actual provisions could be different from our estimates and current provisions, resulting in future adjustments to our revenue and operating results.

Inventory Valuation. At each balance sheet date, we evaluate our ending inventories for excess quantities and obsolescence based on projected sales outlook. This evaluation includes analysis of historical sales levels by product and projections of future demand. These projections assist us in determining the carrying value of our inventory. In addition, we write off inventories that we consider obsolete. We adjust the remaining specific inventory balances to approximate the lower of our standard manufacturing cost or net realizable value. Among other factors, management considers forecasted demand in relation to the inventory on hand, competitiveness of product offerings, market conditions and product life cycles when determining obsolescence and realizable value. If in any period we anticipate future demand or market conditions to be less favorable than our previous estimates, additional inventory write-downs may be required and would be reflected in cost of sales in the period the revision is made. This would have a negative impact on our gross margin in that period. If in any period we are able to sell inventories that were not valued or that had been written down in a previous period, related revenues would be recorded without any offsetting charge to cost of sales resulting in a net benefit to our gross margin in that period.

Goodwill. We perform our goodwill impairment analysis as of the first day of the fourth quarter of each year and, if certain events or circumstances indicate that an impairment loss may have been incurred, on a more frequent basis. The analysis may include both qualitative and quantitative factors to assess the likelihood of an impairment.

Qualitative factors include industry and market consideration, overall financial performance, share price trends and market capitalization and Company-specific events. We first analyze qualitative factors. If we conclude it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit exceeds its carrying amount, we do not proceed to perform a quantitative impairment test.

A quantitative impairment analysis, if necessary, considers the income approach, which requires estimates of the present value of expected future cash flows to determine a reporting unit’s fair value. Significant estimates include revenue growth rates and operating margins used to calculate projected future cash flows, discount rates, and future economic and market conditions. If we conclude it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying value, a quantitative goodwill impairment test will be performed by comparing the fair value of each reporting unit to its carrying value.

A goodwill impairment charge is recognized for the amount by which the reporting unit’s fair value is less than its carrying value. Any loss recognized should not exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit.

Income Taxes. In determining taxable income for financial statement reporting purposes, we must make certain estimates and judgments. These estimates and judgments are applied in the calculation of certain tax liabilities and in the determination of the recoverability of deferred tax assets which arise from temporary differences between the recognition of assets and liabilities for tax and financial statement reporting purposes.

We must assess the likelihood that we will be able to recover our deferred tax assets. If recovery is not likely, we must increase our charge to income tax expense in the form of a valuation allowance for the deferred tax assets that we estimate will not ultimately be recoverable. We consider past performance, future expected taxable income and prudent and feasible tax planning strategies in determining the need for a valuation allowance.

In addition, the calculation of our tax liabilities involves dealing with uncertainties in the application of complex tax rules and the potential for future adjustment of our uncertain tax positions by the Internal Revenue Service or other taxing authorities. If our estimates of these taxes are greater or less than actual results, an additional tax benefit or charge will result. We recognize the interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as interest expense and income tax expense, respectively.

In December 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (Tax Reform Act). The legislation significantly changes U.S. tax law by, among other things, lowering corporate income tax rates, implementing a modified territorial tax system and imposing a transition tax on deemed repatriated earnings of foreign subsidiaries. The Tax Reform Act permanently reduces the U.S. corporate income tax rate from a maximum of 35% to a flat 21% rate, effective January 1, 2018. The SEC staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (SAB 118) to address the application of U.S. GAAP in situations when a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared, or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail to complete the accounting for certain income tax effects of the Tax Reform Act. More specifically, SAB 118 allowed companies to record provisional amounts during a measurement period that is similar to the measurement period used when accounting for business combinations. As a result, we have recognized the provisional tax impacts related to deemed repatriated earnings and the revaluation of deferred tax assets and liabilities in our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 30, 2017. During 2018, we finalized our computation of the impact of the Tax Reform Act.

In January 2018, the FASB released guidance on the accounting for tax on the global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) provisions of the Tax Reform Act. The GILTI provisions impose a tax on foreign income in excess of a deemed return on tangible assets of foreign corporations. The guidance allows companies to make an accounting policy election to either (i) account for GILTI as a component of tax expense in the period in which they are subject to the rules (the period cost method), or (ii) account for GILTI in the Company’s measurement of deferred taxes (the deferred method). After completing the analysis of the GILTI provisions, we elected to account for GILTI using the period cost method.

Results of Operations

We report our financial performance based on the following two reportable segments:the Computing and Graphics segment and the Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom segment.

Additional information on our reportable segments is contained in Note 15: Segment Reporting of the Notes to Financial Statements (Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K).

Our operating results tend to vary seasonally. Historically, first quarter PC product sales were generally lower than fourth quarter sales and with respect to our semi-custom SoC products for game consoles our sales pattern usually reflects higher sales in the second and third quarters compared to the first and fourth quarters.

The following table provides a summary of net revenue and operating income (loss) by segment for 2018, 2017 and 2016.



	2018			2017			2016
	(In millions)
Net revenue:
Computing and Graphics	$	4,125		$	2,977		$	1,988
Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom	2,350			2,276			2,331
Total net revenue	$	6,475		$	5,253		$	4,319
Operating income (loss):
Computing and Graphics	$	470		$	92		$	(243	)
Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom	163			132			287
All Other	(182		)	(97		)	(417		)
Total operating income (loss)	$	451		$	127		$	(373	)

Computing and Graphics

Computing and Graphics net revenue of $4.1 billion in 2018 increased by 39%, compared to $3.0 billion in 2017, primarily as a result of a 15% increase in average selling price and a 17% increase in unit shipments. The increase in average selling price and unit shipments was primarily driven by higher demand for our Ryzen™ processors.

Computing and Graphics net revenue of $3.0 billion in 2017 increased by 50%, compared to $2.0 billion in 2016 as a result of a 38% increase in average selling price and a 1% increase in unit shipments. The increase in the average selling price was primarily driven by Ryzen desktop processor and Radeon graphics products sales. The increase in unit shipments was primarily attributable to higher demand for our Radeon graphics products.

Computing and Graphics operating income was $470 million in 2018 compared to operating income of $92 million in 2017. The improvement in operating income was primarily driven by higher demand for Ryzen and Radeon products as customers continued to adopt our new products, partially offset by a $195 million increase in operating expenses. Operating expenses increased for the reasons set forth under “Expenses” below.

Computing and Graphics operating income was $92 million in 2017, compared to an operating loss of $243 million in 2016. The improvement in operating results was primarily due to the increase in net revenue referenced above, partially offset by the related increase in cost of sales and operating expenses. Operating expenses increased for the reasons set forth under “Expenses” below.

Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom

Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom net revenue of $2.4 billion in 2018 increased by 3% compared to net revenue of $2.3 billion 2017. The increase in net revenue was primarily due to higher sales of our EPYC™ server products, partially offset by lower semi-custom revenue.

Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom net revenue of $2.28 billion in 2017 decreased by 2% compared to net revenue of $2.33 billion in 2016. IP related revenue and sales of our EPYC datacenter processors, which were launched in June of 2017, were mostly offset by a decrease in non-recurring engineering (NRE) revenue and lower sales of our semi-custom SoC products.

Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom operating income was $163 million in 2018 compared to operating income of $132 million in 2017. The improvement in operating income was due primarily to richer server and semi-custom product mix, partially offset by a $50 million increase in operating expenses and lower IP-related revenue. In 2017, operating income also included a licensing gain of $52 million. Operating expenses increased for the reasons set forth under “Expenses” below.

Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom operating income was $132 million in 2017 compared to operating income of $287 million in 2016. The decline in operating results was primarily due to an increase in operating expenses driven primarily by datacenter-related expenses and lower licensing gain recorded in 2017 related to the licensed IP to the THATIC JV compared to 2016. Operating expenses increased for the reasons set forth under “Expenses” below.

All Other

All Other operating loss of $182 million in 2018 included stock-based compensation expense of $137 million and an impairment of technology licenses of $45 million.

All Other operating loss of $97 million in 2017 was related to stock-based compensation expense.

All Other operating loss of $417 million in 2016 included a charge of $340 million, which was comprised of the $100 million payment under the Sixth Amendment and the $240 million value of the warrant under the Warrant Agreement with WCH, and stock-based compensation expense of $86 million, partially offset by restructuring reversals of $10 million.

Comparison of Gross Margin, Expenses, Interest Expense, Other Income (Expense), Net Income Taxes and Equity Loss in Investee

The following is a summary of certain consolidated statement of operations data for 2018, 2017 and 2016:



	2018			2017			2016
	(In millions, except for percentages)
Cost of sales	$	4,028		$	3,466		$	3,316
Gross margin	2,447			1,787			1,003
Gross margin percentage	38		%	34		%	23		%
Research and development	1,434			1,196			1,008
Marketing, general and administrative	562			516			466
Restructuring and other special charges, net	—			—			(10		)
Licensing gain	—			(52		)	(88		)
Interest expense	(121		)	(126		)	(156		)
Other income (expense), net	—			(9		)	80
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	(9		)	18			39
Equity loss in investee	$	(2	)	$	(7	)	$	(10	)

Gross Margin

Gross margin as a percentage of net revenue was 38% in 2018 compared to 34% in 2017. The improvement in gross margin was primarily driven by the ramp of new products with higher gross margin than the corporate average.

Gross margin as a percentage of net revenue was 34% in 2017 compared to 23% in 2016. Gross margin improved in 2017 primarily due to the absence of the charge of $340 million recorded in 2016, comprised of a $100 million payment under the Sixth Amendment and the value of the warrant of $240 million under the Warrant Agreement, which accounted for eight gross margin percentage points. In addition, the increase in gross margin percentage for 2017 compared to 2016 was due to a favorable shift in product mix to new Radeon GPU and Ryzen desktop processor products in the Computing and Graphics segment.

Expenses

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses of $1.4 billion in 2018 increased by $238 million, or 20%, compared to $1.2 billion in 2017. The increase was primarily driven by a $168 million increase in product engineering and design related costs attributable to both segments, and higher annual employee incentives driven by improved financial performance.

Research and development expenses of $1.2 billion in 2017 increased by $188 million, or 19%, compared to $1.0 billion in 2016. The increase was primarily due to a $136 million increase in product engineering and design related costs attributable to both segments, and higher annual employee incentives driven by improved financial performance.

Marketing, General and Administrative Expenses

Marketing, general and administrative expenses of $562 million in 2018 increased by $46 million, or 9%, compared to $516 million in 2017. The increase was primarily due to a $41 million increase in sales and marketing activities attributable to both segments and higher annual employee incentives driven by our improved financial performance.

Marketing, general and administrative expenses of $516 million in 2017 increased by $50 million, or 11%, compared to $466 million in 2016. The increase was primarily due to a $29 million increase in sales and marketing activities attributable to both segments and higher annual employee incentives driven by our improved financial performance.

Interest Expense

Interest expense of $121 million in 2018 decreased by $5 million compared to $126 million in 2017, primarily due to lower debt balances and lower weighted average interest rates.

Interest expense of $126 million in 2017 decreased by $30 million compared to $156 million in 2016, primarily due to lower weighted average interest rates and lower debt balances.

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other income (expense), net of zero in 2018 changed by $9 million compared to $9 million Other expense, net in 2017. The change from 2017 to 2018 was primarily due to $12 million higher interest income in 2018 mainly related to a withholding tax refund from a foreign jurisdiction.

Other expense, net of $9 million in 2017 changed by $89 million compared to $80 million Other income, net in 2016. The change from 2016 to 2017 was primarily due to the absence in 2017 of the substantial gain on sale of equity interests in ATMP JV that was partially offset by loss on debt redemption in 2016.

Provision (Benefit) For Income Taxes

We recorded an income tax benefit of $9 million in 2018 and an income tax provision of $18 million and $39 million in 2017 and 2016, respectively.

The income tax benefit in 2018 was primarily due to a $36 million refund of withholding tax from a foreign jurisdiction related to a legal settlement from 2010, offset by $13 million of U.S. income taxes resulting from the Tax Reform Act, $7 million tax provision in foreign locations and $7 million of withholding taxes on cross-border transactions.

The income tax provision in 2017 was primarily due to withholding taxes applicable to IP-related revenue and licensing gains from foreign locations.

The income tax provision in 2016 was primarily due to $41 million of foreign taxes in profitable locations including $27 million attributable to a gain on the sale of 85% of the ownership interest in the subsidiary operating a factory in Suzhou and $9 million of withholding taxes on cross-border transactions where no foreign tax credit is expected to be realizable, offset by $2 million of tax benefits for Canadian tax credits and the monetization of certain U.S. tax credits.

International Sales

International sales as a percentage of net revenue were 80% in 2018 and 74% in 2017. The increase in international sales as a percentage of net revenue in 2018 compared to 2017 was primarily driven by a higher proportion of revenue from China and Taiwan related to sales of our products within the Computing and Graphics segment.

International sales as a percentage of net revenue were 74% in 2017 and 79% in 2016. The decrease in international sales as a percentage of net revenue in 2017 compared to 2016 was primarily driven by a higher proportion of revenue from domestic sales of our desktop processors, graphics processors and semi-custom SoC products.

We expect that international sales will continue to be a significant portion of total sales in the foreseeable future. Substantially all of our sales transactions were denominated in U.S. dollars.

FINANCIAL CONDITION

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 29, 2018, our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $1.16 billion compared to $1.18 billion as of December 30, 2017. The percentage of cash and cash equivalents held domestically was 88% as of December 29, 2018, and 95% as of December 30, 2017. Our operating, investing and financing activities for fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016 were as follows:



	2018			2017			2016
	(In millions)
Net cash provided by (used in):
Operating activities	$	34		$	12		$	81
Investing activities	(170		)	(54		)	277
Financing activities	28			(33		)	122
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents, and restricted cash	$	(108	)	$	(75	)	$	480

Our aggregate principal debt obligations were $1.5 billion and $1.7 billion as of December 29, 2018 and December 30, 2017, respectively.

We believe our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities balance along with our Secured Revolving Line of Credit will be sufficient to fund operations, including capital expenditures, over the next 12 months. We believe we will be able to access the capital markets should we require additional funds. However, we cannot assure that such funds will be available on favorable terms, or at all.

Operating Activities

Net cash provided by operating activities was $34 million in 2018 compared to net cash provided by operating activities of $12 million in 2017. The increase in net cash provided in operating activities was primarily due to changes in working capital, largely driven by higher cash collections from increased revenue, partially offset by higher labor costs and timing of accounts payable payments.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $12 million in 2017 compared to net cash provided by operating activities of $81 million in 2016. The decrease in cash inflows from operating activities was primarily due to higher operating costs including higher wafer purchases and higher labor costs, partially offset by higher cash collection primarily due to higher revenue and lower interest payments resulting from debt reductions.

Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities was $170 million in 2018, which primarily consisted of $163 million for purchases of property and equipment, a net cash outflow from purchases and maturities of available-for-sale debt securities partially offset by collection of deferred proceeds on sale of receivables.

Net cash used in investing activities was $54 million in 2017, which consisted primarily of a cash outflow of $113 million for purchases of property and equipment, partially offset by collection of deferred proceeds on sale of receivables.

Net cash provided by investing activities was $277 million in 2016, which primarily consisted of a net cash inflow of $342 million from sale of equity interests in the ATMP JV, partially offset by purchases of property and equipment .

Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities was $28 million in 2018, which consisted of a net cash inflow of $69 million from the issuance of common stock through employee equity incentive plans, partially offset by the repurchase of an aggregate principal amount of $40 million of our outstanding 6.75% Senior Notes due 2019 (6.75% Notes) and 7.00% Senior Notes due 2024 (7.00% Notes) for $41 million in cash.

Net cash used in financing activities was $33 million in 2017, which primarily consisted of the repurchases of an aggregate principal amount of $103 million of our outstanding 6.75% Notes and 7.00% Notes for $110 million in cash and $13 million for tax withholding on the vesting of restricted stock, partially offset by the $70 million net proceeds from our Secured Revolving Line of Credit and the $20 million proceeds from issuance of common stock under stock-based compensation equity plans.

Net cash provided by financing activities was $122 million in 2016, which primarily consisted of the $782 million net proceeds from the issuance of our 2.125% Convertible Senior Notes due 2026 (2.125% Notes), the $667 million net proceeds from selling 115 million shares of our common stock and the $20 million proceeds from issuance of common stock under stock-based compensation equity plans, partially offset by the repurchases of an aggregate principal amount of $1.1 billion of our outstanding 6.75% Notes, 7.75% Senior Notes due 2020 (7.75% Notes), 7.50% Senior Notes due 2022 (7.50% Notes) and 7.00% Notes for $1.1 billion in cash and repayments in aggregate of $230 million of our Secured Revolving Line of Credit.

Contractual Obligations

The following table summarizes our consolidated principal contractual cash obligations, as of December 29, 2018, and is supplemented by the discussion following the table:



	Payment due by period
(In millions)	Total		2019		2020		2021		2022		2023		2024 and thereafter
Term Debt	$	1,458	$	66	$	—	$	—	$	337	$	—	$	1,055
Secured Revolving Line of Credit	70		70		—		—		—		—		—
Other long-term liabilities ⁽¹⁾	170		50		42		40		35		1		2
Aggregate interest obligation ⁽²⁾	349		63		61		61		60		35		69
Operating leases	322		54		48		43		40		35		102
Purchase obligations ⁽³⁾	337		287		29		15		4		2		—
Obligations to GF ⁽⁴⁾	2,435		1,200		715		520		—		—		—
Total contractual obligations ⁽⁵⁾	$	5,141	$	1,790	$	895	$	679	$	476	$	73	$	1,228


⁽¹⁾	Amounts largely represent future fixed and non-cancellable cash payments associated with software technology and licenses and IP licenses, including the payments due within the next 12 months.


⁽²⁾	Represents estimated aggregate interest obligations for our outstanding debt obligations that are payable in cash, excluding non-cash amortization of debt issuance costs and debt discount.


⁽³⁾	We have purchase obligations for goods and services where payments are based, in part, on the volume or type of services we acquire. In those cases, we only included the minimum volume of purchase obligations in the table above. Purchase orders for goods and services that are cancellable upon notice and without significant penalties are not included in the amounts above.

⁽⁴⁾

Subsequent to the year end, on January 28, 2019, we entered into a Seventh Amendment with GF, which among other terms modified our minimum wafer purchase obligations to GF which are reflected in the above table. These minimum purchase obligations are our contractual minimums and do not necessarily reflect our actual expected expenditures, which could be significantly different. We cannot meaningfully quantify or estimate our future purchase obligations to GF beyond 2021 but expect that our future purchases from GF will continue to be material.


⁽⁵⁾	Total amount excludes contractual obligations already recorded on our condensed consolidated balance sheets except for debt obligations and other liabilities related to software and technology licenses and IP licenses.

Senior Notes

6.75% Senior Notes Due 2019

On February 26, 2014, we issued $600 million of our 6.75% Notes. Our 6.75% Notes are our general unsecured senior obligations. Interest is payable on March 1 and September 1 of each year beginning September 1, 2014 until the maturity date of March 1, 2019. Our 6.75% Notes are governed by the terms of an indenture (the 6.75% Indenture) dated February 26, 2014 between us and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as trustee.

At any time before March 1, 2019, we may redeem some or all of our 6.75% Notes at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest and a “make whole” premium (as set forth in the 6.75% Indenture).

In 2016, we repurchased $404 million in aggregate principal amount of our 6.75% Notes pursuant to a partial tender offer for $442 million. In 2017, we settled $30 million in aggregate principal amount of our 6.75% Notes, of which $26 million was settled in cash and $5 million was settled in treasury stock. During 2018, we settled $101 million in aggregate principal amount of our 6.75% Notes, of which $14 million was settled in cash and $87 million was settled in treasury stock. As of December 29, 2018, the outstanding aggregate principal amount of our 6.75% Notes was $66 million.

See Note 13 of “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” below, for additional information regarding our 6.75% Notes.

7.50% Senior Notes Due 2022

On August 15, 2012, we issued $500 million of our 7.50% Notes. Our 7.50% Notes are our general unsecured senior obligations. Interest is payable on February 15 and August 15 of each year beginning February 15, 2013 until the maturity date of August 15, 2022. The 7.50% Notes are governed by the terms of an indenture (the 7.50% Indenture) dated August 15, 2012 between us and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as trustee.

Prior to August 15, 2022, we may redeem some or all of our 7.50% Notes at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest and a “make whole” premium (as set forth in the 7.50% Indenture).

In 2014, we repurchased $25 million in aggregate principal amount of our 7.50% Notes. In 2016, we repurchased $125 million in aggregate principal amount of our 7.50% Notes. In 2017, we settled $3 million in aggregate principal amount of our 7.50% Notes in treasury stock. During 2018, we settled $10 million in aggregate principal amount of our 7.50% Notes in treasury stock. As of December 29, 2018, the outstanding aggregate principal amount of our 7.50% Notes was $337 million.

See Note 13 of “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” below, for additional information regarding our 7.50% Notes.

7.00% Senior Notes Due 2024

On June 16, 2014, we issued $500 million of our 7.00% Notes. The 7.00% Notes are our general unsecured senior obligations. Interest is payable on January 1 and July 1 of each year beginning January 1, 2015 until the maturity date of July 1, 2024. The 7.00% Notes are governed by the terms of an indenture (the 7.00% Indenture) dated June 16, 2014 between us and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as trustee.

Prior to July 1, 2019, we may redeem some or all of the 7.00% Notes at a price equal to 100% of the principal amount plus accrued and unpaid interest and a “make whole” premium (as set forth in the 7.00% Indenture).

Starting July 1, 2019, we may redeem our 7.00% Notes for cash at the following specified prices plus accrued and unpaid interest:



Period	Price as Percentage of Principal Amount
Beginning on July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020	103.500%
Beginning on July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021	102.333%
Beginning on July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022	101.167%
On July 1, 2022 and thereafter	100.000%

In 2016, we settled $84 million in aggregate principal amount of our 7.00% Notes for $77 million in cash and $8 million with treasury stock. In 2017, we settled $105 million in aggregate principal amount of our 7.00% Notes for $84 million in cash and $26 million in treasury stock. During 2018, we settled $61 million in aggregate principal amount of our 7.00% Notes for $26 million in cash and $35 million in treasury stock. As of December 29, 2018, the outstanding aggregate principal amount of the 7.00% Notes was $250 million.

See Note 13 of “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” below, for additional information regarding our 7.00% Notes.

During 2018, we recorded $12 million in losses on extinguishment of debt associated with the debt repurchases noted above.

2.125% Convertible Senior Notes Due 2026

On September 14, 2016, we issued $700 million in aggregate principal amount of our 2.125% Notes. We also granted an option to the underwriters to purchase up to an additional $105 million aggregate principal amount of our 2.125% Notes. On September 28, 2016, this option was exercised in full and we issued an additional $105 million aggregate principal amount of our 2.125% Notes.

Our 2.125% Notes are our general unsecured senior obligations and will mature on September 1, 2026, unless earlier repurchased or converted. Interest is payable in arrears on March 1 and September 1 of each year beginning on March 1, 2017. Our 2.125% Notes are governed by the terms of a base indenture and a supplemental indenture (together the 2.125% Indentures) dated September 14, 2016 between us and Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., as trustee.

Holders may convert their notes at their option at any time prior to the close of business on the business day immediately preceding June 1, 2026 only under the following circumstances: (1) during any calendar quarter commencing after the calendar quarter ending on September 30, 2016 (and only during such calendar quarter), if the last reported sale price of our common stock for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) during a period of 30 consecutive trading days ending on the last trading day of the immediately preceding calendar quarter is greater than or equal to 130% of the conversion price on each applicable trading day; (2) during the five business day period after any 10 consecutive trading day period (the “measurement period”) in which the trading price per $1,000 principal amount of notes for each trading day of the measurement period was less than 98% of the product of the last reported sale price of our common stock and the conversion rate on each such trading day; or (3) upon the occurrence of specified corporate events. On or after June 1, 2026 and until the close of business on the business day immediately preceding the maturity date, holders may convert their notes at any time, regardless of the foregoing circumstances. Upon conversion, we will pay or deliver, as the case may be, cash, shares of our common stock or a combination of cash and shares of our common stock, at our election.

During the fourth quarter of 2018, the conversion conditions were satisfied and as a result, the 2.125% Notes are eligible for conversion during the first calendar quarter of 2019. We may not redeem the notes prior to the maturity date, and no sinking fund is provided for the notes.

The conversion rate is initially 125.0031 shares of common stock per $1,000 principal amount of notes (equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $8.00 per share of common stock). The conversion rate is subject to adjustment in some events but will not be adjusted for any accrued and unpaid interest. In addition, following certain corporate events that occur prior to the maturity date, we will increase the conversion rate for a holder who elects to convert its notes in connection with such a corporate event in certain circumstances.

If we undergo a fundamental change prior to the maturity date of the notes, holders may require us to repurchase for cash all or any portion of their notes at a fundamental change repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the notes to be repurchased plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the fundamental change repurchase date.

As of December 29, 2018, the outstanding aggregate principal amount of our 2.125% Notes was $805 million. See Note 13 of “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” below for additional information regarding our 2.125% Notes.

Potential Repurchase of Outstanding Notes

We may elect to purchase or otherwise retire all or a portion of our 6.75% Notes, 7.50% Notes, 7.00% Notes and 2.125% Notes with cash, stock or other assets from time to time in open market or privately negotiated transactions, either directly or through intermediaries or by tender offer when we believe the market conditions are favorable to do so.

Secured Revolving Line of Credit

On April 14, 2015, we and our subsidiary, AMD International Sales & Service, Ltd. (together, the Borrowers), ATI Technologies ULC (collectively with the Borrowers, the Loan Parties), a group of lenders and Bank of America N.A., acting as the agent for the lenders, entered into an amended and restated loan and security agreement, as amended (the Agreement). The Agreement provides for a secured revolving line of credit (the Secured Revolving Line of Credit) that allows the Borrowers to borrow, repay and re-borrow amounts from time to time up to $500 million with up to $45 million available for issuance of letters of credit, subject to certain conditions. Borrowings are limited up to a certain amount of eligible accounts receivable, as determined in accordance with the Agreement. The size of the commitment under the Secured Revolving Line of Credit may be increased by up to an aggregate amount of $200 million. The commitments under the Secured Revolving Line of Credit are available through

March 21, 2022. The Borrowers are subject to commitment fees and letter of credit facility fees. The Loan Parties are required to comply with certain covenants under the Agreement.

The Secured Revolving Line of Credit bears interest, at the option of the Borrowers, either at (a) a customary London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) plus an applicable margin (as determined in accordance with the agreement), or (b) (i) the greatest of (x) the bank’s prime rate, (y) the federal funds rate as published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York plus 0.50%, and (z) LIBOR for a one-month period plus 1.00%, plus (ii) an applicable margin.

As of December 29, 2018 and December 30, 2017, the Secured Revolving Line of Credit had an outstanding loan balance of $70 million at an interest rate of 6.00% and 4.75%. respectively. As of December 31, 2016, we had repaid an aggregate of $230 million of the Secured Revolving Line of Credit and we had no borrowings outstanding. As of December 29, 2018, the Secured Revolving Line of Credit had $26 million related to outstanding letters of credit and up to $175 million available for future borrowings. We report intra-period changes in revolving credit balance on a net basis in our condensed consolidated statement of cash flows as we intend the period of the borrowings to be brief, repaying borrowed amounts within 90 days. As of December 29, 2018, we were in compliance with all required covenants stated in the Loan Agreement.

The agreements governing our 6.75% Notes, 7.50% Notes, 7.00% Notes, 2.125% Notes and our Secured Revolving Line of Credit contain cross-default provisions whereby a default under one agreement would likely result in cross defaults under agreements covering other borrowings. The occurrence of a default under any of these borrowing arrangements would permit the applicable note holders or the lenders under the Secured Revolving Line of Credit to declare all amounts outstanding under those borrowing arrangements to be immediately due and payable.

Operating Leases

We lease certain of our facilities and in some jurisdictions we lease the land on which our facilities are built under non-cancellable lease agreements that expire at various dates through 2028. In addition, we lease certain office equipment for terms ranging from one to five years. Total future non-cancellable lease obligations as of December 29, 2018 were $322 million, including $259 million of future lease payments related to leases in Austin, Texas, Santa Clara, California, Markham, Canada, Singapore and Shanghai, China.

During the second quarter of 2018, we entered into a 10-year operating lease to occupy approximately 270,000 square feet of office space in Shanghai, China. Base rent payments commenced in October 2018 and the total estimated base rent payments over the life of the lease are approximately $72 million. As of December 29, 2018, the total estimate of future base rent over the life of the lease is approximately $68 million. In addition to the base rent payments, we are obligated to pay certain customary amounts for our share of operating expenses and tax obligations. We will also incur costs for capital projects for the new office space.

During the third quarter of 2016, we entered into a 10-year operating lease to occupy 220,000 square feet of new office space in Santa Clara. The base rent obligation commenced in August 2017. As of December 29, 2018, the total estimate of future base rent over the life of the lease is approximately $94 million, included in amounts above. In addition to the base rent payments, we will be obligated to pay certain customary amounts for our share of operating expenses and tax obligation. We will also incur costs for capital projects on the new office space. We have the option to extend the term of the lease for two additional five-year periods.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of December 29, 2018, we had no off-balance sheet arrangements.


ITEM 7A.	QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURE ABOUT MARKET RISK

Interest Rate Risk. Our exposure to market risk for changes in interest rates relates primarily to our investment portfolio and long-term debt. We usually invest our cash in investments with short maturities or with frequent interest reset terms. Accordingly, our interest income fluctuates with short-term market conditions. As of December 29, 2018, our investment portfolio consisted primarily of commercial paper. These investments were highly liquid. Due to the relatively short, weighted-average maturity of our investment portfolio and the current low interest rate environment, our exposure to interest rate risk is minimal.

As of December 29, 2018, all of our outstanding long term debt had fixed interest rates. Consequently, our exposure to market risk for changes in interest rates on reported interest expense and corresponding cash flows is minimal.

We will continue to monitor our exposure to interest rate risk.

Default Risk. We mitigate default risk in our investment portfolio by investing in only high credit quality securities and by constantly positioning our portfolio to respond to a significant reduction in a credit rating of any investment issuer or guarantor. Our portfolio includes investments in marketable debt securities with active secondary or resale markets to ensure portfolio liquidity. We are averse to principal loss and strive to preserve our invested funds by limiting default risk and market risk.

We actively monitor market conditions and developments specific to the securities and security classes in which we invest. We believe that we take a conservative approach to investing our funds in that we invest only in highly-rated debt securities with relatively short maturities and do not invest in securities which we believe involve a higher degree of risk. As of December 29, 2018, substantially all of our investments in debt securities were A-rated by at least one of the rating agencies. While we believe we take prudent measures to mitigate investment-related risks, such risks cannot be fully eliminated as there are circumstances outside of our control.

There were no significant sales of available-for-sale securities during 2018.

The following table presents the cost basis, fair value and related weighted-average interest rates by year of maturity for our investment portfolio and debt obligations as of December 29, 2018:



	2019			2020			2021			2022			2023			2024 and thereafter			Total			2018 Fair Value
	(In millions, except for percentages)
Investment Portfolio
Cash equivalents:
Fixed rate amounts	$	488		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	488		$	488
Weighted-average rate	2.45		%	—			—			—			—			—			2.45		%
Variable rate amounts	$	312		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	312		$	312
Weighted-average rate	2.29		%	—			—			—			—			—			2.29		%
Marketable securities
Fixed rate amounts	$	78		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	78		$	78
Weighted-average rate	2.77		%	—			—			—			—			—			2.77		%
Total Investment Portfolio	$	878		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	878		$	878
Debt Obligations
Fixed rate amounts	$	66		$	—		$	—		$	337		$	—		$	1,055		$	1,458		$	2,494
Weighted-average effective interest rate	6.75		%	—		%	—		%	7.50		%	—		%	3.28		%	4.41		%
Variable rate amounts	$	70		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	70		$	70
Weighted-average effective interest rate	6.00		%	—		%	—		%	—		%	—		%	—		%	6.00		%
Total Debt Obligations	$	136		$	—		$	—		$	337		$	—		$	1,055		$	1,528		$	2,564

Foreign Exchange Risk. As a result of our foreign operations, we incur costs and we carry assets and liabilities that are denominated in foreign currencies, while sales of products are primarily denominated in U.S. dollars.

We maintain a foreign currency hedging strategy which uses derivative financial instruments to mitigate the risks associated with changes in foreign currency exchange rates. This strategy takes into consideration all of our exposures. We do not use derivative financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes.

In applying our strategy, from time to time we use foreign currency forward contracts to hedge certain forecasted expenses denominated in foreign currencies. We designate these contracts as cash flow hedges of forecasted expenses to the extent eligible

under the accounting rules and evaluate hedge effectiveness prospectively and retrospectively. As such, the effective portion of the gain or loss on these contracts is reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and reclassified to earnings in the same line item as the associated forecasted transaction and in the same period during which the hedged transaction affects earnings. Any ineffective portion is immediately recorded in earnings.

We also use, from time to time, foreign currency forward contracts to economically hedge recognized foreign currency exposures on the balance sheets of various subsidiaries. We do not designate these forward contracts as hedging instruments. Accordingly, the gain or loss associated with these contracts is immediately recorded in earnings.

The following table provides information about our foreign currency forward contracts as of December 29, 2018 and December 30, 2017. All of our foreign currency forward contracts mature within 12 months.



	December 29, 2018						December 30, 2017
	Notional Amount		Average Contract Rate	Estimated Fair Value Gain (Loss)			Notional Amount		Average Contract Rate	Estimated Fair Value Gain (Loss)
	(In millions except contract rates)
Foreign currency forward contracts:
Canadian Dollar	$	110	1.3007	$	(5	)	$	111	1.2751	$	2
Malaysian Ringgit	12		4.1775	—			—		—	—
Indian Rupee	45		72.2338	—			33		66.1548	1
Singapore Dollar	26		1.3478	—			23		1.3553	—
Taiwan Dollar	21		29.6490	—			18		29.6586	—
Chinese Renminbi	182		6.5733	(3		)	115		6.7972	4
Total	$	396		$	(8	)	$	300		$	7


ITEM 8.	FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Operations ⁽¹⁾



	Year Ended
	December 29, 2018			December 30, 2017			December 31, 2016
	(In millions, except per share amounts)
Net revenue	$	6,475		$	5,253		$	4,319
Cost of sales	4,028			3,466			3,316
Gross margin	2,447			1,787			1,003
Research and development	1,434			1,196			1,008
Marketing, general and administrative	562			516			466
Restructuring and other special charges, net	—			—			(10		)
Licensing gain	—			(52		)	(88		)
Operating income (loss)	451			127			(373		)
Interest expense	(121		)	(126		)	(156		)
Other income (expense), net	—			(9		)	80
Income (loss) before income taxes and equity loss	330			(8		)	(449		)
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	(9		)	18			39
Equity loss in investee	(2		)	(7		)	(10		)
Net income (loss)	$	337		$	(33	)	$	(498	)
Earnings (loss) per share
Basic	$	0.34		$	(0.03	)	$	(0.60	)
Diluted	$	0.32		$	(0.03	)	$	(0.60	)
Shares used in per share calculation
Basic	982			952			835
Diluted	1,064			952			835



⁽¹⁾ Prior year amounts adjusted to reflect the retrospective application of ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Refer to Note 2.

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) ⁽¹⁾



	Year Ended
	December 29, 2018			December 30, 2017			December 31, 2016
	(In millions)
Net income (loss)	$	337		$	(33	)	$	(498	)
Other comprehensive income (loss):
Unrealized gains (losses) on available-for-sale securities:
Unrealized gains (losses) arising during period, net of tax effects of $0, $0 and $1	—			1			—
Unrealized gains (losses) on cash flow hedges:
Unrealized gains (losses) arising during period, net of tax effects of $0, $0 and $2	(19		)	17			1
Reclassification adjustment for (gains) losses realized and included in net income (loss), net of tax effect of $0, $1 and $0	5			(7		)	2
Total change in unrealized gains (losses) on cash flow hedges, net of tax	(14		)	10			3
Total other comprehensive income (loss)	(14		)	11			3
Cumulative-effect adjustment to accumulated deficit related to the adoption of ASU 2016-01, Financial Instruments	2			—			—
Total comprehensive income (loss)	$	325		$	(22	)	$	(495	)



⁽¹⁾ Prior year amounts adjusted to reflect the retrospective application of ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Refer to Note 2.

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Consolidated Balance Sheets⁽¹⁾



	December 29, 2018			December 30, 2017
	(In millions, except par value amounts)
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	1,078		$	1,185
Marketable securities	78			—
Accounts receivable, net	1,235			454
Inventories, net	845			694
Prepayment and receivables - related parties	52			33
Prepaid expenses	57			77
Other current assets	195			191
Total current assets	3,540			2,634
Property and equipment, net	348			261
Goodwill	289			289
Investment: equity method	58			58
Other assets	321			310
Total assets	$	4,556		$	3,552
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Short-term debt	$	136		$	70
Accounts payable	528			384
Payables to related parties	533			412
Accrued liabilities	763			555
Other current liabilities	24			92
Total current liabilities	1,984			1,513
Long-term debt, net	1,114			1,325
Other long-term liabilities	192			118
Commitments and contingencies (see Notes 18 and 19)
Stockholders’ equity:
Capital stock:
Common stock, par value $0.01; 2,250 shares authorized, 1,010 shares issued and 1,005 shares outstanding as of December 29, 2018; 1,500 shares authorized, 979 shares issued and 967 shares outstanding as of December 30, 2017	10			9
Additional paid-in capital	8,750			8,464
Treasury stock, at cost (5 shares as of December 29, 2018 and 12 shares as of December 30, 2017)	(50		)	(108		)
Accumulated deficit	(7,436		)	(7,775		)
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)	(8		)	6
Total stockholders’ equity	1,266			596
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	$	4,556		$	3,552

⁽¹⁾ Prior year amounts adjusted to reflect the retrospective application of ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Refer to Note 2.

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit) ⁽¹⁾

Three Years Ended December 29, 2018

(In millions)



	Number of shares	Common Stock		Additional paid-in capital		Treasury stock			Accumulated deficit			Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)			Total stockholders’ equity (deficit)
December 26, 2015	792	$	8	$	7,017	$	(123	)	$	(7,244	)	$	(8	)	$	(350	)
Net loss	—	—		—		—			(498		)	—			(498		)
Other comprehensive income	—	—		—		—			—			3			3
Common stock issued under employee equity incentive plans, net of tax withholding	27	—		20		(4		)	—			—			16
Stock-based compensation	—	—		86		—			—			—			86
Equity component of the 2.125% Notes, net	—	—		305		—			—			—			305
Warrant issued related to sixth amendment to the WSA	—	—		240		—			—			—			240
Issuance of common stock, net of issuance costs	115	1		666		—			—			—			667
Issuance of common stock to partially settle the 7.00% Notes	1	—		—		8			—			—			8
December 31, 2016	935	9		8,334		(119		)	(7,742		)	(5		)	477
Net loss	—	—		—		—			(33		)	—			(33		)
Other comprehensive income	—	—		—		—			—			11			11
Common stock issued under employee equity incentive plans, net of tax withholding	32	—		20		(13		)	—			—			7
Stock-based compensation	—	—		97		—			—			—			97
Issuance of treasury stock to partially settle the 6.75% notes and the 7.00% notes	—	—		13		24			—			—			37
December 30, 2017	967	9		8,464		(108		)	(7,775		)	6			596
Net income	—	—		—		—			337			—			337
Other comprehensive loss	—	—		—		—			—			(14		)	(14		)
Common stock issued under employee equity incentive plans, net of tax withholding	31	1		71		(6		)	—			—			66
Stock-based compensation	—	—		137		—			—			—			137
Issuance of treasury stock to partially settle the 6.75% notes, 7.5% notes and the 7.00% notes	7	—		78		64			—			—			142
Cumulative-effect adjustment to accumulated deficit related to the adoption of ASU 2016-01, Financial Instruments	—	—		—		—			2			—			2
December 29, 2018	1,005	$	10	$	8,750	$	(50	)	$	(7,436	)	$	(8	)	$	1,266



⁽¹⁾The cumulative-effect adjustment to Accumulated deficit related to the adoption of ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers as of December 26, 2015 was $62 million. Refer to Note 2.

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows ⁽¹⁾



	Year Ended
	December 29, 2018			December 30, 2017			December 31, 2016
	(In millions)
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net income (loss)	$	337		$	(33	)	$	(498	)
Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used in operating activities:
Net gain on sale of equity interests in ATMP JV	—			(3		)	(146		)
Net loss on disposal of property and equipment	27			—			1
Impairment of technology licenses	45			—			—
Depreciation and amortization	170			144			133
Deferred income taxes	(4		)	—			11
Stock-based compensation expense	137			97			86
Amortization of debt discount and issuance costs	38			36			21
Loss on debt redemption	12			12			68
Fair value of warrant issued related to sixth amendment to the WSA	—			—			240
Other	(1		)	3			(7		)
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable	(806