In January 2015, Amkor entered into a settlement agreement with Tessera to resolve their outstanding litigation. Under the terms of the settlement, Amkor agreed to pay Tessera a total of $155 million in equal quarterly installments of $9.6875 million over the next four years in exchange for a mutual release and dismissal of all claims relating to their pending litigation and arbitration proceedings. As a result of the settlement, Amkor recorded the net present value of the settlement obligation ($137 million), less the previously accrued expense ($50 million), as a charge allocated between cost of sales ($75 million) and interest expense ($12 million). The remaining amount of the gross settlement charge ($18 million) will be accreted through interest expense over the four year term of the arrangement to reflect the impact of the time value of money due to the long term nature of the obligation and related payment terms. The settlement liability has been recorded in accrued expenses (current) and other long-term liabilities (non-current) for the present value of payments due within one year and those due in excess of one year, respectively.
Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical fact are considered forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements regarding our strategic initiatives, our 2015 sales and earnings growth and all of the statements made under "Business Outlook" above. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could affect future results and cause actual results and events to differ materially from historical and expected results and those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following:
- there can be no assurance that our new factory and research and development center in Korea will be completed, or that the actual scope, costs, timeline or benefits of the project will be consistent with our current expectations;
- the highly unpredictable nature and cyclicality of the semiconductor industry;
- timing and volume of orders relative to production capacity and the inability to achieve high capacity utilization rates, control costs and improve profitability;
- volatility of consumer demand, double booking by customers and deterioration in forecasts from our customers for products incorporating our semiconductor packages, including any slowdown in demand or changes in customer forecasts for smartphones or other mobile devices;
- delays, lower manufacturing yields and supply constraints relating to wafers, particularly for advanced nodes and related technologies;
- dependence on key customers and the impact of changes in our market share and prices for our services with those customers;
- the performance of our business, economic and market conditions, the cash needs and investment opportunities for the business, the need for additional capacity and facilities to service customer demand and the availability of cash flow from operations or financing;
- the effect of the global economy on credit markets, financial institutions, customers, suppliers and consumers, including the uncertain macroeconomic environment;
- the highly unpredictable nature and costs of litigation and other legal activities and the risk of adverse results of such matters and the impact of other legal proceedings;
- the negative impact on economic growth resulting from the action or inaction of the U.S. government relating to federal income tax increases for individuals or corporations, the federal debt ceiling, the federal deficit and government spending restrictions or shutdowns;
- changes in tax rates and taxes as a result of changes in U.S. or foreign tax law, the jurisdictions in which our income is determined to be earned and taxed, the outcome of tax audits and tax ruling requests, our ability to realize deferred tax assets and the expiration of tax holidays;
- curtailment of outsourcing by our customers;
- our substantial indebtedness and restrictive covenants;
- failure to realize sufficient cash flow or access to other sources of liquidity to fund capital additions;
- the effects of an economic slowdown in China, the U.S. and other major economies worldwide;
- disruptions in our business or deficiencies in our controls resulting from the integration of newly acquired operations or the implementation and security of, and changes to, our enterprise resource planning, factory shop floor systems and other management information systems;
- economic effects of terrorist attacks, natural disasters and military conflict;
- competition, competitive pricing and declines in average selling prices;
- fluctuations in manufacturing yields;
- dependence on international operations and sales and exchange rate fluctuations;
- dependence on raw material and equipment suppliers and changes in raw material and precious metal costs;
- dependence on key personnel;
- enforcement of and compliance with intellectual property rights;
- environmental and other governmental regulations; and
- technological challenges.
