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SILICON LABORATORIES INC.

For the period ended Oct 4, 2025. Filed Nov 4, 2025.

View on SEC.gov

About this filing

A company's report for each of its first three quarters. The financial statements are not audited. It shows how the business has moved since the last annual report, and what management says changed.

Oct 4, 2025 · Filed Nov 4, 2025

SLAB$221.50+0.1%Stored close · as of Nov 6, 2026

What changed in Risk Factors?

Read the current filing

Previous report: 10-Q

Period ended 2025-07-05; filed 2025-08-05.

0001038074-25-000014

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Current report: 10-Q

Period ended 2025-10-04; filed 2025-11-04.

0001038074-25-000023

Item 1A. Risk Factors

The baseline is this issuer’s latest earlier reporting period of the same form that was filed before the current report. A previous 10-Q is a different quarter, not a year-over-year comparison. Amendments are excluded.

Compared 228 previous paragraphs and 226 current paragraphs.

215 unchanged; 11 reworded; 0 added; 0 removed; 2 previous and 0 current paragraphs rearranged.

Tables are not compared: 0 previous and 0 current tables excluded. Dates, whitespace, punctuation and numbering changes are ignored; changes to financial figures remain significant.

A changed paragraph is not evidence that risk increased or decreased. An unchanged paragraph does not establish that risk stayed the same.

Reworded paragraphs (11)

Previous wording

Restrictions on international trade, such as tariffs and other controls on imports or exports of goods and technology can adversely affect our business and supply chain. These trade restrictions may impact the cost and availability of raw materials, components, and finished goods, which could lead to supply chain disruptions, increased costs, and lower margins. There is currently significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the U.S. and various other countries with respect to trade policies, treaties, tariffs, and taxes. The global trade situation has been highly dynamic during the first half of 2025, and in addition to the possibility of new or modified tariffs, sector-based trade measures may be implemented. For example, the U.S. Department of Commerce initiated an investigation into imports of semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and related products. The rapid and fluctuating changes in global trade policies have contributed to greater market volatility and general economic uncertainties, including the risk of inflation and recession, and could adversely affect customer demand, delay purchasing decisions, or limit our ability to operate efficiently in key markets. If we are unable to mitigate any negative impacts of tariffs, trade restrictions, or related market volatility through pricing adjustments, operational efficiencies, or alternative sourcing strategies, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Current wording

Restrictions on international trade, such as tariffs and other controls on imports or exports of goods and technology can adversely affect our business and supply chain. These trade restrictions may impact the cost and availability of raw materials, components, and finished goods, which could lead to supply chain disruptions, increased costs, and lower margins. There is currently significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the U.S. and various other countries with respect to trade policies and tariffs. Export restrictions imposed by the U.S. government, including the addition of licensing requirements by the United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) through the addition of companies to the BIS Entity List, could require us to suspend our business with certain entities if we conclude or are notified by the U.S. government that such business presents a risk of noncompliance with U.S. regulations. The global trade situation has been highly dynamic during fiscal 2025, and we cannot predict what actions may be taken with respect to tariffs or trade relations, what products may be subject to such actions, or what actions may be taken by other countries in response. In addition to the possibility of new or modified tariffs, sector-based trade measures may be implemented. For example, the U.S. Department of Commerce initiated an investigation into imports of semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and related products. The rapid and fluctuating changes in global trade policies have contributed to greater market volatility and general economic uncertainties, including the risk of inflation and recession, and could adversely affect customer demand, delay purchasing decisions, or limit our ability to operate efficiently in key markets. If we are unable to mitigate any negative impacts of tariffs, trade restrictions, or related market volatility through pricing adjustments, operational efficiencies, or alternative sourcing strategies, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Previous wording

The markets for semiconductors in general, and for mixed-signal products in particular, are intensely competitive. We expect that the market for our products will continually evolve and will be subject to rapid technological change. For example, new products and disruptive technologies are being developed, and companies with which we compete have implemented artificial intelligence (“AI”) strategies for products and service offerings. This rapid pace of technological change can create opportunities for our competitors and harm our competitiveness in the market if our products do not evolve or we are unable to effectively keep up with such changes. In addition, as we target and supply products to numerous markets and applications, we face competition from a relatively large number of competitors. We compete with

Current wording

The markets for semiconductors in general, and for mixed-signal products in particular, are intensely competitive. We expect that the market for our products will continually evolve and will be subject to rapid technological change. For example, new products and disruptive technologies are being developed, and companies with which we compete have implemented artificial intelligence (“AI”) strategies for products and service offerings. This rapid pace of technological change can create opportunities for our competitors and harm our competitiveness in the market if our products do not evolve or we are unable to effectively keep up with such changes. In addition, as we target and supply products to numerous markets and applications, we face competition from a relatively large number of competitors. We compete with Broadcom, Espressif, Infineon, MediaTek, Microchip, Nordic Semiconductor, NXP, Qualcomm, Renesas, STMicroelectronics, Synaptics, Telink, Texas Instruments and others. We expect to face competition in the future from our current competitors, other manufacturers and designers of semiconductors, and start-up semiconductor design companies. As the markets for communications products grow, we also may face competition from traditional communications device companies. These companies may enter the mixed-signal semiconductor market by introducing their own products or by entering into strategic relationships with or acquiring other existing providers of semiconductor products. In addition, large companies may restructure their operations to create separate companies or may acquire new businesses that are focused on providing the types of products we produce or acquire our customers.

Previous wording

Information technology system and/or network disruptions, regardless of the cause, but including acts of sabotage, error, or other actions, could harm our operations. Failure to effectively prevent, detect, and recover from security breaches, including cyber-attacks, could result in the misuse of company assets, disruption to the company, diversion of management resources, regulatory inquiries, legal claims or proceedings, reputational damage, loss of sales and other costs to the company. We routinely face attacks that attempt to breach our security protocols, gain access to or disrupt our computerized systems or steal proprietary company, customer, partner or employee information. These attacks are sometimes successful. These attacks may be due to security breaches, employee error, theft, malfeasance, phishing schemes, ransomware, faulty password or data security management, or other irregularities. Additionally, we use AI-driven efficiencies in our software development and customer support services. Our use of AI may increase vulnerability to cybersecurity risks, including through unauthorized use or misuse of AI tools and bad inputs or logic or the introduction of malicious code incorporated into AI generated code. AI and machine learning also may be used for certain cybersecurity attacks, improving or expanding the existing capabilities of threat actors in manners we cannot predict at this time, resulting in greater risks of security incidents and breaches. The theft, loss, destruction, unavailability or misuse of personal or business data collected, used, stored or transferred by us to run our business could result in increased security costs or costs related to defending legal claims. Industrial espionage, theft or loss of our intellectual property data could lead to counterfeit products or harm the competitive position of our products and services. Costs to implement, test and maintain measures to promote compliance with applicable privacy and data security laws as well as to protect the overall security of our system have been and are expected to continue to be significant. While we have dedicated resources to privacy and security incident response capabilities, our response process may not be adequate, may fail to accurately assess the severity of an incident, may not be fast enough to prevent or limit harm, or may fail to sufficiently remediate an incident. Attempted or successful attacks against our products and services could damage our reputation with customers or users and reduce demand for our products and services.

Current wording

Information technology system and/or network disruptions, regardless of the cause, but including acts of sabotage, error, or other actions, could harm our operations. Failure to effectively prevent, detect, and recover from security breaches, including cyber-attacks, could result in the misuse of company assets, disruption to the company, diversion of management resources, regulatory inquiries, legal claims or proceedings, reputational damage, loss of sales and other costs to the company. We routinely face attacks that attempt to breach our security protocols, gain access to or disrupt our computerized systems or steal proprietary company, customer, partner or employee information. These attacks are sometimes successful. These attacks may be due to security breaches, employee error, theft, malfeasance, phishing schemes, ransomware, faulty password or data security management, or other irregularities. Additionally, we use AI-driven efficiencies in our software development and customer support services. Our use of AI may increase vulnerability to cybersecurity risks, including through unauthorized use or misuse of AI tools and bad inputs or logic or the introduction of malicious code incorporated into AI generated code. AI and machine learning also may be used for certain cybersecurity attacks, improving or expanding the existing capabilities of threat actors in manners we cannot predict at this time, resulting in greater risks of security incidents and breaches. The theft, loss, destruction, unavailability or misuse of personal or business data collected, used, stored or transferred by us to run our business could result in increased security costs or costs related to defending legal claims. Industrial espionage, theft or loss of our intellectual property data could lead to counterfeit products or harm the competitive position of our products and services. Costs to implement, test and maintain measures to promote compliance with applicable privacy and data security laws as well as to protect the overall security of our system have been and are expected to continue to be significant. While we have dedicated resources to privacy and security incident response capabilities, our response process may not be adequate, may fail to accurately assess the severity of an incident, may not be fast enough to prevent or limit harm, or may fail to sufficiently remediate an incident. Attempted or successful attacks against our products and services could damage our reputation with customers or users and reduce demand for our products and services. Additionally, there is an increased risk that we may experience cybersecurity-related events such as phishing attacks and other security challenges as a result of hybrid working arrangements and employees and our service providers working remotely.

Previous wording

We have established international subsidiaries and have opened offices in international markets to support our activities in Asia, the Americas and Europe. This has included the establishment of a headquarters in Singapore for non-U.S. operations. During the six months ended July 5, 2025, the percentage of our revenues derived from outside of the United States was 89% (and the revenue associated with end customers in China was 13%, and revenue attributed to China based on shipped-to location was 32%). We may not be able to maintain or increase global market demand for our products. Our international operations are subject to a number of risks, including:

Current wording

We have established international subsidiaries and have opened offices in international markets to support our activities in Asia, the Americas and Europe. This has included the establishment of a headquarters in Singapore for non-U.S. operations. During the nine months ended October 4, 2025, the percentage of our revenues derived from outside of the United States was 89% (and the revenue associated with end customers in China was 14%, and revenue attributed to China based on shipped-to location was 32%). We may not be able to maintain or increase global market demand for our products. Our international operations are subject to a number of risks, including:

Previous wording

•Risks that demand and the supply chain may be adversely affected by military conflict (including the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine), terrorism, sanctions or other geopolitical events globally;

Current wording

•Risks that demand and the supply chain may be adversely affected by military conflict (including the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East), terrorism, sanctions or other geopolitical events globally;

Previous wording

Our products serve as components and solutions in electronic devices in various markets. As a result, we have devoted and expect to continue to devote a large amount of resources to develop products based on new and emerging technologies and standards that will be commercially introduced in the future. Research and development expense during the six months ended July 5, 2025 was $176.0 million, or 47.5% of revenues. A number of companies are actively involved in the development of these new technologies and standards. Should any of these companies delay or abandon their efforts to develop commercially available products based on new technologies and standards, our research and development efforts with respect to these technologies and standards likely would have no appreciable value. In addition, if we do not correctly anticipate new technologies and standards, or if the products that we develop based on these new technologies and standards fail to achieve market acceptance, our competitors may be better able to address market demand than we would. Furthermore, if markets for these new technologies and standards develop later than we anticipate, or do not develop at all, demand for our products that are currently in development would suffer, resulting in lower sales of these products than we currently anticipate.

Current wording

Our products serve as components and solutions in electronic devices in various markets. As a result, we have devoted and expect to continue to devote a large amount of resources to develop products based on new and emerging technologies and standards that will be commercially introduced in the future. Research and development expense during the nine months ended October 4, 2025 was $263.7 million, or 45.7% of revenues. A number of companies are actively involved in the development of these new technologies and standards. Should any of these companies delay or abandon their efforts to develop commercially available products based on new technologies and standards, our research and development efforts with respect to these technologies and standards likely would have no appreciable value. In addition, if we do not correctly anticipate new technologies and standards, or if the products that we develop based on these new technologies and standards fail to achieve market acceptance, our competitors may be better able to address market demand than we would. Furthermore, if markets for these new technologies and standards develop later than we anticipate, or do not develop at all, demand for our products that are currently in development would suffer, resulting in lower sales of these products than we currently anticipate.

Previous wording

We believe our future success will depend in large part upon our ability to attract and retain highly skilled managerial, engineering, sales and marketing personnel. We believe that our future success will be dependent on retaining the services of our key personnel, developing their successors and certain internal processes to reduce our reliance on specific individuals, and on properly managing the transition of key roles when they occur. Competition for qualified personnel with significant experience in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing and sales of analog and mixed-signal products has been, and continues to be, intense. Our key technical personnel represent a significant asset and serve as the primary source for our technological and product innovations. We may not be successful in attracting and retaining sufficient numbers of technical personnel to support our anticipated growth. The loss of any of our key employees or the inability to attract or retain qualified personnel both in the United States and internationally, including engineers, sales, applications and marketing personnel, could delay the development and introduction of, and negatively impact our ability to sell, our products. In addition, changes to immigration laws and visa policies in the United States and other jurisdictions may restrict our ability to recruit or retain foreign nationals in key technical roles. These regulatory constraints, including increased scrutiny or delays in visa processing, could limit our access to highly specialized talent and adversely affect our hiring flexibility and long-term innovation capacity.

Current wording

We believe our future success will depend in large part upon our ability to attract and retain highly skilled managerial, engineering, sales and marketing personnel. We believe that our future success will be dependent on retaining the services of our key personnel, developing their successors and certain internal processes to reduce our reliance on specific individuals, and on properly managing the transition of key roles when they occur. Competition for qualified personnel with significant experience in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing and sales of analog and mixed-signal products has been, and continues to be, intense. Our key technical personnel represent a significant asset and serve as the primary source for our technological and product innovations. We may not be successful in attracting and retaining sufficient numbers of technical personnel to support our anticipated growth. The loss of any of our key employees or the inability to attract or retain qualified personnel both in the United States and internationally, including engineers, sales, applications and marketing personnel, could delay the development and introduction of, and negatively impact our ability to sell, our products. In addition, changes to immigration laws and visa policies in the United States and other jurisdictions may restrict our ability to recruit or retain foreign nationals in key technical roles. For example, the September 2025 Presidential Proclamation on Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers imposes a $100,000 filing fee on all new H-1B visa petitions submitted after September 21, 2025, which increases the cost of hiring foreign national employees, and the Department of Homeland Security has proposed rules to implement a weighted lottery system based on wage levels for H-1B visas, which could disadvantage our ability to hire early-career or entry-level foreign national personnel. These regulatory constraints, including increased scrutiny or delays in visa processing, could limit our access to highly specialized talent and adversely affect our hiring flexibility and long-term innovation capacity.

Previous wording

The future growth of our business will depend in large part on our ability to manage our relationships with current and future distributors and sales representatives, develop additional channels for the distribution and sale of our products and manage these relationships. During the six months ended July 5, 2025, 68% of our revenue was derived from distributors (and 47% of our revenue was derived from our two largest distributors). As we execute our indirect sales strategy, we must manage the potential conflicts that may arise with our direct sales efforts. For example, conflicts with a distributor may arise when a customer begins purchasing directly from us rather than through the distributor. The inability to successfully execute or manage a multi-channel sales strategy could impede our future growth. In addition, relationships with our distributors often involve the use of price protection and inventory return rights. This often requires a significant amount of sales management’s time and system resources to manage properly.

Current wording

The future growth of our business will depend in large part on our ability to manage our relationships with current and future distributors and sales representatives, develop additional channels for the distribution and sale of our products and manage these relationships. During the nine months ended October 4, 2025, 70% of our revenue was derived from distributors (and 48% of our revenue was derived from our two largest distributors). As we execute our indirect sales strategy, we must manage the potential conflicts that may arise with our direct sales efforts. For example, conflicts with a distributor may arise when a customer begins purchasing directly from us rather than through the distributor. The inability to successfully execute or manage a multi-channel sales strategy could impede our future growth. In addition, relationships with our distributors often involve the use of price protection and inventory return rights. This often requires a significant amount of sales management’s time and system resources to manage properly.

Previous wording

Additionally, we have used and may increase our use of new technology such as AI or generative AI to enhance our products, decrease our development times, or improve our customers’ efficiency. Although we maintain AI governance programs and internal oversight committees, the use of AI technologies is still in the early stages and these new technologies may not always operate as expected and deliver our intended results, may produce output that contain errors and incorrect information or other unintended consequences, including cyber security vulnerabilities. Any ineffective AI usage could negatively impact our or our customer’s business reputation and negatively impact our competitive standing.

Current wording

Additionally, we have used and may increase our use of new technology such as AI or generative AI to enhance our products, decrease our development times, or improve our customers’ efficiency. Evolving rules, regulations and industry standards governing AI may require us to incur greater compliance costs and restrict the use of AI in our products or technologies. Although we maintain AI governance programs and internal oversight committees, the use of AI technologies is still in the early stages and these new technologies may not always operate as expected and deliver our intended results, may produce output that contain errors and incorrect information or other unintended consequences, including risks related to intellectual property infringement or misappropriation, data privacy and cyber security vulnerabilities. Any ineffective AI usage could negatively impact our or our customer’s business reputation and negatively impact our competitive standing.

Previous wording

Our ability to make the required payments when due on any debt we may incur depends upon our future performance, which will be subject to general economic conditions, industry cycles and other factors affecting our operations, including risk factors described herein, many of which are beyond our control. Our credit facility also contains covenants, including financial covenants. In May 2024, we received a waiver of the requirement that we meet an interest coverage test for each fiscal quarter through the fiscal first quarter of 2025 and in February 2025 received a waiver through the third quarter of 2025. We did not have any outstanding indebtedness under the credit facility at the time the waiver was granted, and the waiver allowed us to borrow under the facility without compliance with that specific financial covenant, although we have not borrowed under the facility while the waiver has been in effect. If we are unable to satisfy or otherwise obtain waivers of the covenants under our credit facility, we may be prohibited from borrowing thereunder. Further, if we breach any of the covenants under our credit facility and do not obtain appropriate waivers, then, subject to any applicable cure periods, any outstanding indebtedness thereunder could be declared immediately due and payable.

Current wording

Our ability to make the required payments when due on any debt we may incur depends upon our future performance, which will be subject to general economic conditions, industry cycles and other factors affecting our operations, including risk factors described herein, many of which are beyond our control. Our credit facility also contains covenants, including financial covenants. In May 2024, we received a waiver of the requirement that we meet an interest coverage test for each fiscal quarter through the fiscal first quarter of 2025 and in February 2025 we received an extension of the waiver through the third quarter of 2025. We did not have any outstanding indebtedness under the credit facility while the waiver was in effect. We have not renewed or extended the waiver as of October 4, 2025. However, if we breach any of the covenants under our credit facility and do not obtain appropriate waivers, then, subject to any applicable cure periods, any outstanding indebtedness thereunder could be declared immediately due and payable.

Previous wording

Provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws could have the effect of discouraging, delaying or preventing a merger or acquisition that a stockholder may consider favorable. For example, our certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide for:

Current wording

Provisions of our certificate of incorporation and by-laws could have the effect of discouraging, delaying or preventing a merger or acquisition that a stockholder may consider favorable. For example, our certificate of incorporation and by-laws provide for:
Rearranged previous paragraphs (2)

Previous report — wording carried elsewhere

Broadcom, Espressif, Infineon, MediaTek, Microchip, Nordic Semiconductor, NXP, Qualcomm, Renesas, STMicroelectronics, Synaptics, Telink, Texas Instruments and others. We expect to face competition in the future from our current competitors, other manufacturers and designers of semiconductors, and start-up semiconductor design companies. As the markets for communications products grow, we also may face competition from traditional communications device companies. These companies may enter the mixed-signal semiconductor market by introducing their own products or by entering into strategic relationships with or acquiring other existing providers of semiconductor products. In addition, large companies may restructure their operations to create separate companies or may acquire new businesses that are focused on providing the types of products we produce or acquire our customers.

Previous report — wording carried elsewhere

Additionally, there is an increased risk that we may experience cybersecurity-related events such as phishing attacks and other security challenges as a result of hybrid working arrangements and employees and our service providers working remotely.