In a separate press release, Microchip also announced the promotion of Mr. Ganesh Moorthy to President and Chief Operating Officer.

"Our December quarter results were strong amidst a very turbulent macro and semiconductor industry backdrop.  The quarterly results in non-GAAP revenue, gross margin percentage, operating expense percentage and operating profit percentage were all better than the midpoint of our guidance given on November 4," said Steve Sanghi, Chairman and CEO.  "Additionally, our non-GAAP diluted earnings per share came in at 64 cents which is above the 62 to 63 cents upwardly revised guidance we provided in the announcement of our preliminary results on January 19, 2016."

Mr. Sanghi added, "Our solid financial results in the December quarter position us well as we prepare for our acquisition of Atmel, which we expect to close in the second calendar quarter of 2016."

"Our microcontroller revenue was down 3.5% in the December quarter compared to the September quarter.  We experienced the same broad-based weakness that the industry is experiencing.  In calendar year 2015, our microcontroller business revenue was down 1.4% compared to calendar year 2014, and while we are not happy about the decline, we are confident that we are gaining market share in every microcontroller market that we compete in during what was a difficult year for the overall industry," said Ganesh Moorthy, President and Chief Operating Officer.  "We are continuing to deliver innovative new 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit microcontrollers that we believe will enable us to grow faster than the market and gain further market-share."

Mr. Moorthy added, "Our analog business revenue, which includes Micrel, was up 4.1% in the December quarter compared to the September quarter, and was up 3.6% compared to the year-ago quarter.  In calendar year 2015, our analog business revenue was up 22.4% compared to calendar year 2014.  The strong growth and increase in market-share in 2015 was the result of our organic growth initiatives as well as our Micrel acquisition.  Our analog business represented 31.2% of Microchip's overall revenue in the December quarter, the highest percentage of our total revenue it has ever been.  We continue to develop and introduce a wide range of innovative and proprietary new products to fuel the future growth of our analog business, complemented by the products added to our portfolio through acquisitions."

Eric Bjornholt, Microchip's Chief Financial Officer, said, "Our cash generation in the December quarter excluding our acquisition activities, our dividend payment, and changes in borrowing levels under our revolving line of credit was $172 million.  As of December 31, 2015, our consolidated cash and total investment position was $2.40 billion.  The dividend we announced today marks the 48th occasion that we have increased our dividend payment, and cumulative dividends paid are now at $2.73 billion."

Mr. Sanghi concluded, "We believe that our business has stabilized and that the majority of the inventory correction is behind us.  The March quarter will be impacted negatively by the Chinese New Year holidays in Asia but it is also the strongest quarter of the year for Microchip in Europe.  Based on our analysis of economic and semiconductor industry conditions, as well as our own business indicators, we are guiding the March quarter non-GAAP net sales to be flat to up 3% sequentially."

Microchip's Highlights for the Quarter Ended December 31, 2015:

• Microchip's LoRa® Wireless Module, the RN2483, was the world's first to pass LoRa Alliance's LoRaWAN™ certification. The LoRaWAN standard enables low-data-rate Internet of Things and Machine-to-Machine wireless communication with a range of up to 10 miles, a battery life of 10 years, and the ability to connect millions of wireless sensor nodes to LoRaWAN gateways.
• In order to address both automotive and industrial Ethernet applications, Microchip announced the new KSZ8061 single-chip 10BASE-T/ 100BASE-TX Ethernet physical-layer transceiver with Quiet-WIRE® technology. This Ethernet PHY transceiver provides reduced line emissions and superior receiver immunity over unshielded twisted pair cables.
• Microchip introduced its first 16-bit PIC® MCU with 1 MB of Flash, its largest 16-bit MCU memory size, which enables Microchip to serve applications that need additional on-chip memory and low power consumption such as electricity metering, HVAC control, fingerprint scanners, and gaming.
• Microchip expanded its USB Port Power Controller portfolio with the capability to support two ports of USB charging, versus the single port supported by its existing devices. The new dual-channel device, the UCS2112, maximizes system reliability and uptime using dynamic thermal management.
• Microchip launched the PIC32 MPLAB® Harmony Ecosystem Development Program, which offers embedded software developers access to comprehensive tools and news markets. The new program provides developers multiple channels for increasing business and marketing to the rapidly growing PIC32 MPLAB Harmony user base.
• Expanding on its established MOST150 technology for automotive applications, Microchip announced the new MOST150 Coaxial Transceiver, which enables powerful, robust, and cost-efficient automotive infotainment networks based on coaxial cables. The OS82150 extends the usage of coaxial cabling to powerful infotainment networks based on MOST150 technology.
• Microchip continued to demonstrate that MOST® technology is a leading standard for automotive infotainment, announcing several new design wins for the technology.
• Microchip expanded its development platform for its 8-bit PIC MCUs with core-independent peripherals. Designers can combine these building blocks to perform application functions autonomously, and they can be interconnected with an increasing amount of integrated intelligent analog peripherals. Microchip also introduced version 3.0 of its MPLAB® Code Configurator and released the Curiosity Development board to support its 8-bit PIC MCUs.
• In order to keep up with the USB-C™ connector revolution, Microchip added the UTC2000, a USB-C controller, to its leading portfolio of USB devices.
• Microchip expanded its high-performance 32-bit MCU family with an integrated floating point unit series. The 48-member PIC32MZ EF series integrated 2 MB Flash, 512 KB RAM, 18 MSPS 12-bit ADC, FPU, crypto engine, Hi-Speed USB, 10/100 Ethernet, CAN and best-in-class peripheral options.
• Three of Microchip's products were named on EDN Magazine's Hot 100 Products of 2015. EDN Editors selected them from thousands of products launched in 2015. The products included were the MGC3030 3D gesture controller (in the sensors category) and the dsPIC33EP "GS" Digital Signal Controller and the PIC16F1579 family of 8-bit MCUs (in the microcontroller category).
• Embedded Computing Design Magazine chose Microchip's PIC16F1579/PIC16F18877 8-bit MCUs as its September 2015 Editor's Choice Product.

Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2016 Outlook:

The following statements are based on current expectations.  These statements are forward-looking, and actual results may differ materially.  Due to our recent acquisition of Micrel and the related purchase accounting and revenue differences related to revenue recognition in our distribution channel, we are not able to provide GAAP guidance at this time. We are able to provide the following non-GAAP guidance: