United
States
Securities
And Exchange Commission
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Form
10-K
(Mark
One)
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x
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Annual
Report
Pursuant
To
Section
13 Or
15(D) Of
The
Securities
Exchange
Act
Of 1934
For
the fiscal year ended February 28,
2010
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OR
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¨
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Transition
Report
Pursuant
To
Section
13 Or
15(D) Of
The
Securities
Exchange
Act Of 1934
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For
the transition period
from
to
..
Commission
file number 000-53633
OCZ
Technology Group, Inc.
(Exact
name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
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Delaware
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04-3651093
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(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
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(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)
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6373 San Ignacio Avenue
San Jose, California
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95119
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(Address of principal executive offices)
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(Zip Code)
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Registrant’s
telephone number, including area code: (408) 733-8400
Securities
registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None
Securities
registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
Common
stock, $0.0025 par value
Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in
Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ¨ No x
Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to
Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the
Act. Yes x No ¨
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 x No ¨
Indicate
by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of
Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) 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. x
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on
its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be
submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§229.405 of this
chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the
registrant was required to submit and post such files).
Yes ¨ No x
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
definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller
reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check
One):
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Large
Accelerated Filer
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¨
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Accelerated
Filer
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¨
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Non-Accelerated
Filer
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x
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Smaller
reporting company
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¨
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Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in
Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange
Act). Yes ¨ No x
The
aggregate market value of voting stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant
was approximately $14.3 million as of August 31, 2009, the last business day of
the Registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter. This
calculation does not reflect a determination that certain persons are affiliates
of the Registrant for any other purpose.
21,278,643
shares of the Registrant’s common stock, $0.0025 par value, and 60,990 shares of
Registrant’s Series A preferred stock, $0.0025 par value, were outstanding as of
the fiscal year ended February 28, 2010.
Documents Incorporated By
Reference
None.
OCZ
Technology Group, Inc.
Form
10-K
Index
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Page
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Forward
Looking Statements
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3
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Part
I
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Item
1.
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Business
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3
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Item
1A.
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Risk
Factors
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15
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Item
1B.
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Unresolved
Staff Comments
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29
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Item
2.
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Properties
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29
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Item
3.
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Legal
Proceedings
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30
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Item
4.
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(Removed
and Reserved)
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31
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Part
II
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Item
5.
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Market
for Registrant’s Common Equity. Related Stockholder Matters and
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
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32
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Item
6.
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Selected
Financial Data
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36
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Item
7.
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Management’s
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations
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37
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Item
7A.
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Quantitative
and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
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48
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Item
8.
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Financial
Statements and Supplementary Data
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49
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Item
9.
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Changes
in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial
Disclosure
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71
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Item
9A(t).
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Controls
and Procedures
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71
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Item
9B.
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Other
Information
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72
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Part
III
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Item
10.
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Directors,
Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
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73
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Item
11.
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Executive
Compensation
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78
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Item
12.
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Security
Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related
Stockholder Matters
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91
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Item
13.
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Certain
Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director
Independence
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92
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Item
14
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Principal
Accounting Fees and Services
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93
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Item
15
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Exhibits,
Financial Statement Schedules
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94
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Part
IV
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Signatures
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95
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Forward
Looking Statements
This
annual report on Form 10-K, including the following sections, contains
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, particularly, our expectations regarding results
of operations, our ability to expand our market penetration, our ability to
expand our distribution channels, customer acceptance of our products, our
ability to meet the expectations of our customers, product demand and revenue,
cash flows, product gross margins, our expectations to continue to develop new
products and enhance existing products, our expectations regarding the amount of
our research and development expenses, our expectations relating to our selling,
general and administrative expenses, our efforts to achieve additional operating
efficiencies and to review and improve our business systems and cost structure,
our expectations to continue investing in technology, resources and
infrastructure, our expectations concerning the availability of products from
suppliers and contract manufacturers, anticipated product costs and sales
prices, our expectations that we have sufficient capital to meet our
requirements for at least the next twelve months, and our expectations regarding
materials and inventory management. These forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties, and the cautionary statements set forth below
and those contained in the section entitled “Risk
Factors” identify important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those predicted in any such forward-looking
statements. We caution investors that actual results may differ
materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of
certain risk factors identified in this Form 10-K and other filings we have made
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. More information about
potential factors that could affect our business and financial results is set
forth under “Risk
Factors” and “Management’s
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations.”
Part
I
General
OCZ
Technology Group, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“OCZ”) was
formed in 2002. OCZ has two subsidiaries, OCZ Canada, Inc., a
Canadian corporation, and OCZ Technology Ireland Limited, an Irish corporation.
Unless the context requires otherwise, references in this document to “us” or
“we” are to OCZ on a consolidated basis.
Overview
We are a
leading provider of high performance solid state drives (“SSDs”) and
memory modules for computing devices and systems. Founded in 2002,
OCZ is incorporated in Delaware with headquarters in San Jose, California and
offices in Canada, the Netherlands, and Taiwan. Our fiscal year ends
on the last day of February.
Historically,
we primarily sold high performance memory modules to individual computing
enthusiasts through catalog and online retail channels. However, SSDs
have emerged as a strong market alternative to conventional disk drive
technology and SSDs are rooted in much of the same basic technological concepts
as our legacy memory module business. Today, as part of a
diversification strategy which began in fiscal year 2009, our product mix is
significantly more weighted toward the sale of SSDs and the SSD product line has
become central to our business. As a result, our target customers are
increasingly enterprises and original equipment manufacturers (or “OEMs”).
In
addition to our SSD and Memory Module product lines, we design, develop,
manufacture and distribute other high performance components for computing
devices and systems, including thermal management solutions and AC/DC switching
power supply units (“PSUs”). We
offer our customers flexibility and customization by providing a broad array of
solutions which are interoperable and can be configured alone or in combination
to make computers run faster, more reliably, efficiently and cost
effectively. Through our diversified and global distribution channel,
we offer more than 450 products to 376 customers, including leading retailers,
on-line retailers (“etailers”),
OEMs and computer distributors.
Our ten
largest customers measured by net revenue for our fiscal year ended February 28,
2010 are listed as follows in alphabetical order:
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D&H
Distribution Company;
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Memoryworld
GmbH & Co., KG;
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Micro
Center Corporation;
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NewEgg.com,
operated by Magnell Associate Inc.;
and
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These ten
customers represented approximately 51% our net revenue for the period set forth
above. Our largest customer is NewEgg.com, which represented
approximately 19% of our revenue. No other customer was responsible
for 10% or more of our net revenue.
We
develop flexible and customizable component solutions quickly and efficiently to
meet the ever changing market needs and provide superior customer
service. We believe our high performance computer components offer
the speed, density, size and reliability necessary to meet the special demands
of:
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industrial
equipment and computer systems;
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computer
and computer gaming and
enthusiasts;
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mission
critical servers and high end
workstations;
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personal
computer (“PC”)
upgrades to extend the useable life of existing
PCs;
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high
performance computing and scientific
computing;
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video
and music editing;
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home
theatre PCs and digital home convergence products;
and
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digital
photography and digital image manipulation
computers.
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We
perform the majority of our research and development efforts in-house, which
increases communication and collaboration between design teams, streamlines the
development process and reduces time-to-market.
We
commenced operations in 2002 and shares of our common stock began trading on the
Alternative Investment Market (“AIM”) of
the London Stock Exchange in June 2006. On April 28, 2006, we amended
our certificate of incorporation to, among other matters, affect a 3-for-1
forward stock split. In May 2007, we acquired PC Power and Cooling,
Inc., a privately-held manufacturer of PSUs that was based in San Diego,
California. We now offer both PC Power and Cooling, Inc. and OCZ
branded PSUs. In October 2007, we acquired substantially all of the
assets of Silicon Data Inc., doing business as Hypersonic PC Systems, a
privately-held manufacturer of high performance gaming PCs and laptops aimed at
the computer gaming community that was based in Great Neck, New
York. In March 2009, we amended our certificate of incorporation
primarily to increase the number of authorized shares and eliminate a number of
provisions which required us to comply with various United Kingdom laws in the
case of, among other things, takeovers and tender offers. On April 1,
2009, following appropriate stockholder approval, we voluntarily delisted our
common stock from trading on AIM. From January 14, 2010 to April 22,
2010 our common stock was quoted on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board (“OTCBB”). Since
April 23, 2010, our common stock has been quoted on The NASDAQ Capital
Market.
Currently,
our products are purchased by 376 customers, most of which are distributors or
etailers in 69 countries. For our fiscal years ended February 28,
2010, February 28, 2009 and February 29, 2008, our net sales were $144 million,
$156 million and $118.3 million, respectively, and our net income (loss) was
$(13.5) million, $(11.7) million and $1.4 million, respectively.
In
September 2009, we sold all inventory, patents and other assets related to our
Neural Impulse Actuator product line to BCInet, Inc., a Delaware corporation, in
exchange for notes with principal amounts in the aggregate of $895,415 and
shares of BCInet, Inc.’s Series A preferred stock, representing a 27%
equity stake in BCInet, Inc. Also in September 2009, we amended our
certificate of incorporation to affect a 1 for 2.5 reverse stock
split. All share amounts in this report have been adjusted for the
effect of this reverse split.
Under the
terms of our certificate of incorporation with respect to our Series A preferred
stock, each share of Series A preferred stock was to be automatically converted
into shares of common stock on the sixtieth (60th)
trading day following the commencement of trading of our common shares on a
public stock exchange, including OTCBB (“Mandatory
Conversion”). The trading of our common shares commenced on
OTCBB on February 10, 2010, and the 60th trading
day following the commencement of trading was May 4, 2010. The number
of shares of our common stock issued upon Mandatory Conversion was determined by
dividing $5.00 by the Denominator Price, which was determined as
follows: If the sixty (60) day per share average closing price of our
common stock on such public stock exchange (the “60 Day
Average”) is between $3.00 and $5.00, then the Denominator Price will be
the 60 Day Average. Based on the 60 Day Average of $4.86, and after
taking into account fractional shares, on May 4, 2010, 60,990 shares of our
Series A preferred stock were converted into 62,733 shares of our common stock,
and warrants to purchase 140,520 shares of our Series A preferred stock were
converted into warrants to purchase 144,541 shares of our common
stock.
Industry
Overview
PCs and
other industrial and consumer electronics products and systems are increasingly
complex and require additional functionality and processing power to allow more
effective gaming, high performance computing, scientific computing, video and
music editing, virtual home theatres, digital home convergence products, digital
photography and digital image manipulation. As these products and
systems increase in complexity, functionality and processing power, demand for
high performance components and solutions increases.
Anatomy
of the Computing Environment
A PC is
most often considered to be a desktop computer, a laptop computer, or a netbook
solution. PCs are most often utilized by consumers for work and
entertainment purposes. A typical PC contains the following key
components:
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1.
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Visual
Display Unit (Monitor)
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3.
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Central
Processing Unit (CPU)
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5.
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Graphics
Processing Unit (Video Card)
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6.
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Power
Supply and Chassis
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7.
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Optical
Drive (DVD-ROM, DVD Writer,
Blue-Ray)
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8.
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Storage
Drive (Traditional Hard Drive or Solid State
Drive)
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Corporations
or “enterprises”, in addition to deploying PCs for individual employee use,
perform a substantial amount of computing in “server rooms” housed in local
offices or “data centers” where computing resources are consolidated on a
regional or global basis. In both the server room and data center,
the computing resources are comprised of high performance servers
(which can be thought of as special purpose PCs often comprised of only a
motherboard, power supply and memory), storage arrays (banks of independently
housed storage drives with a power unit), and other network equipment
(infrastructure that facilitates communication between network
resources).
PCs are
primarily built by OEMs (such as Dell, Lenovo, and HP), valued-added resellers
(“VARs”) and
technically advanced consumers who prefer to assemble customized systems rather
than purchase pre-assembled computers. PC performance enhancements
are often necessary in order to take advantage of the latest applications and
increase the useable life of the PC. Historically, we have been
supplying high-performance memory (#4 above) for VARs and after-market
installation. Our product mix is now more heavily weighted toward
providing SSDs (#8) and power supply units (#6) for use in PCs and laptops with
an increasing emphasis for sales to OEM and enterprise customers.
Memory
Market
Memory is
a critical component of electronic products and systems and is used in a wide
variety of end markets, such as PCs and other industrial and consumer electronic
markets and is a key component in a variety of applications. As these
products and systems increase in complexity, functionality and processing power,
they require increasing amounts and densities of memory. Key drivers
of the demand for memory are both the increasing number and variety of
electronic products and systems and the increasing amount of memory they require
by such electronic products and systems. Demand for memory is also
fueled by a shift toward higher data rates, new operating systems that require
higher levels of memory, greater storage content in high-end computing, and
higher IT hardware replacement cycle and general corporate IT
spending.
Memory
semiconductors can be divided into two types, volatile and non-volatile
memory. Volatile memory, consisting of Dynamic Random Access Memory
(“DRAM”) and
Static Random Access Memory (“SRAM”),
maintains stored data only when connected to a power
source. Non-volatile memory, consisting principally of flash memory
(which are used to make SSDs), is able to maintain stored data even when the
power source is removed.
Solid
State Drives
SSDs use
flash memory chips, rather than the rotating platters used by hard disk drives
(“HDDs”), to
store data. Flash memory is a type of non-volatile memory, meaning
that it can continue to store information even when the power is turned
off. It also allows information to be erased and
rewritten. SSDs based on flash memory have a number of unique
advantages over conventional hard disk drive technology and represent the next
step in the evolution of storage technology:
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faster
start-up because, unlike HDDs, there is no spinning
disk;
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at
least 10x faster than HDDs, allowing quicker access to the stored data,
because no read/write head is
required;
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high
mechanical reliability and durability due to lack of moving
parts;
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far
more resistant to the failure due to shock, high altitude, vibration,
humidity, and extreme temperature;
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less
failure while writing or erasing data, which translates into lower chance
of irrecoverable data damage; and
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require
less power to operate and generate less heat than that of conventional
hard disk drives, resulting in decreased power consumption specifically in
data centers, which reduces operating costs significantly for data center
operators. The reduced power consumption also makes SSDs ideal
for use in laptop computers and appliances where battery life is a
consideration.
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Note the
numerous mechanical parts included in the traditional hard disk drive shown
above on the left picture. Solid state drives, pictured on the right,
have no moving parts.
According
to International Data Corporation (“IDC”) and
Web-Feet Research, Inc., the SSD market grew from approximately $400 million in
2007 to $700 million in 2008. According to IDC, the SSD market was
projected to have grown to $1.1 billion in 2009. In addition, the SSD
market is projected to grow from $1.8 billion in 2010 to $2.8 billion in
2011, to $3.9 billion in 2012 and to $5.3 billion by 2013. A
significant portion of this growth will be driven by penetration of SSDs into
the laptop and netbook markets.
We
believe the advantages of SSD technology are particularly beneficial to at least
five distinct market segments:
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enterprise
storage and video-on-demand (VoD)
applications;
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military
and industrial applications;
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servers
and workstations;
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portable,
ULPC and desktop PCs; and
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consumer
related markets.
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According
to IDC, these market segments are all expected to grow substantially in the near
and medium term.
Enterprise
SSDs
The
enterprise segment is comprised of high performance servers (a form of
specialized computer), storage arrays (banks of independently housed hard drives
or SSDs) and network equipment. Performance is paramount to this
segment of the market. Traditional enterprise storage solutions make
use of HDDs, whose ability to input and output data is limited by the maximum
speed of about 15,000 RPM with which the disk can rotate. To work
around the speed limitations of HDDs, existing solutions employ complex
strategies to speed up access to data on disk such as “striping” or
“short-stroke”. Although such strategies increase the speed with
which data can be read from and written to the disk they also reduce the usable
capacity of each disk. Less capacity per disk creates a need for
additional disks to achieve a desired total capacity. SSDs also have
faster read and write speeds, at least 10x that of HDDs, according to
LaptopAdvisor and Gartner, an independent analysis firm. Also, while
HDDs are highly economic on a cost per amount of storage basis at the time of
purchase, the total cost of ownership of an enterprise storage solution is
heavily influenced by the power consumption and heat
generation. Without moving parts, SSDs require significant less power
to operate compared to HDDs. This means less heat generation, which
in turn means lower power requirement for cooling at the system
level. Reduced power consumption and cooling requirements for the
datacenter translate into lower datacenter operating costs.
We have
focused on gaining market-share within the enterprise segment of the SSD market,
which we believe will be the highest margin segment of the
market. Our solutions are designed to address what we believe to be
the key challenges enterprises currently face with regard to high performance
storage solutions: performance, reliability, power consumption, and cooling
requirements. At this time we believe OCZ, STEC, Toshiba and Fusion
I/O are the only vendors currently shipping enterprise-ready SSD
products.
DRAM
DRAM is
the most common type of memory semiconductor. iSuppli Corporation, an
independent market research firm, projects DRAM to have a market size of
$31.9 billion in 2010, representing more than a 40% increase from the 2009
market size.
Flash
and Solid State Drive Technology
Flash
memory is a type of non-volatile memory, meaning that it can continue to store
information when the power to a particular device is turned off. It
also allows information to be erased and rewritten. Flash is the
largest segment of the non-volatile memory market according to Web-Feet
Research, Inc., an independent research firm. Many consumers are
familiar with a flash technology known as “NAND Flash,” which is typically used
in USB “memory sticks,” digital cameras and mobile phones. Flash
drives are increasing in density and capacity and are becoming alternatives to
traditional hard disk drives in certain devices such as personal MP3
players. According to In-Stat, an independent market research firm,
worldwide NAND flash revenues are expected to grow at a compound annual growth
rate (“CAGR”) of
29.7% during 2007-2012 and to reach $61 billion annually by 2012.
Memory
Modules
Memory
modules are compact circuit board assemblies consisting of DRAM or other
semiconductor memory devices and related circuitry. The use of memory
modules enables systems to be easily configured with a variety of different
levels of memory, thus increasing their flexibility to address multiple price
points or applications with a single base system design. In addition,
the use of memory modules provides a relatively easy path for upgradeability of
PCs or workstation, a feature of system design that is increasingly required by
end users. To achieve this flexibility and upgradeability, systems
are designed to use memory modules as a “daughter card,” reducing the need to
include memory devices on the motherboard. This design structure
frees up space on the motherboard and enables a single motherboard to be a
common central element for a variety of different systems, resulting in
significant cost savings.
The
market for memory modules includes both standard and specialty
modules. The high volume standard memory module market includes
modules that can be sourced from many module suppliers, and are designed to be
incorporated into a wide variety of equipment. These modules employ
designs meeting widely used industry specifications and are available with a
variety of options to address the needs of multiple users. Standard
memory modules are typically used in desktop PCs and printers and are sold to
OEMs and through computer resellers and directly to end users.
Specialty
memory modules include both custom and application specific
modules. The varying requirements of different electronic systems and
the increased number of memory device options have resulted in a market for
specialized memory modules that are designed to enhance the performance of a
particular system or a set of applications. These modules are based
on DRAM technologies and may include additional control
circuitry. Specialty memory modules are typically sourced from a
limited number of suppliers. Application specific and custom memory
modules are used in PCs, mobile computers and workstations for computer gaming,
video editing, and generally any area where higher performance and/or
reliability is a customer requirement.
Opportunity
for Manufacturers of Memory Modules
As the
variety of memory devices available to address specific high-performance
applications has expanded, the design and manufacture of memory modules have
increasingly become areas of opportunity for independent memory module
manufactures such as OCZ.
There are
two main types of suppliers of memory modules: memory semiconductor
manufacturers and independent “third party” memory module
manufacturers. The world’s largest memory semiconductor manufacturers
focus on industry standard memory modules for high volume applications such as
desktop PCs. Some independent memory module manufacturers also focus
on high volume industry standard applications; however, most independent memory
module manufacturers, including OCZ, focus on providing broad product portfolios
that cover a variety of type, density, data rate, voltage, packaging and other
increasingly complex features.
Power
Supply Units
Power
supply units are the main source of conversion between main alternating current
and the direct current used by computers and other electronic
devices. As modern electronics, computers, servers and workstations
become more complicated, the increased power handling and efficiency of AC/DC
conversion become paramount. Key drivers in the power supply unit
industry are the release of new PCs and industry standards, as well as growing
regulatory requirements in the European Union, North America and Japan for
increased power consumption. According to Databeans, an independent
marketing research firm, the global market for power management products for
2009 is estimated at $15.4 billion, and is expected to grow at 10% for
2010.
Thermal
Management
A
computer system’s components produce large amounts of heat during operation,
including integrated circuits such as central processing units (“CPUs”),
chipset and graphics cards, along with hard drives. This heat must be
dissipated in order to keep these components within their safe operating
temperatures. This is done mainly using heat sinks to increase the
surface area which dissipates heat, and, separately, fans to speed up the
exchange of air heated by the computer parts for cooler
ambient air. According to BCC Research, an independent market
research firm, the global market for thermal management technologies increased
from approximately $6.8 billion in 2008 to approximately $11.1 billion by 2013,
a compound annual growth rate of approximately 10.3%. Thermal
management hardware accounts for more than 80% of the total thermal management
market. The largest end-markets for thermal management technologies
in 2007 were the computer industry (57% of total revenues) and
telecommunications (16% of total revenue). By 2013, medical and
office electronics are expected to increase to 12% of total revenue, tying the
expected telecommunications market.
The
OCZ Approach
We
design, develop, manufacture and distribute high performance components for
computing devices and systems, including SSDs, other flash memory storage,
memory modules, thermal management solutions and PSUs. We believe our
primary competitive advantages arise from how we use our internal research and
development team to develop the intellectual property used in our component
solutions. These have enabled us to incorporate advanced
functionality and capabilities and to quickly and efficiently develop new
component solutions that are optimized for our customers’
requirements.
Flexible
and Customizable Component Solutions
We
provide flexible and customizable component solutions to address the specific
application needs of our end users. Our design principles allow us to
develop proprietary components to deliver a broad range of products with
superior features. As of our fiscal year ended February 28, 2010 we
offered over 450 SKUs including SKUs for memory, SSDs, laptop computers and
power supplies.
Rapid
Time to Market
We strive
to reduce the design and development time required to incorporate the latest
technologies and to deliver the next generation of products and
solutions. Our in-house design competencies and control of the design
of many of the pieces used within our component solutions enable us to rapidly
develop, build and test components.
Extensive
Distribution Channels
We have
built a diverse and extensive distribution network reaching a wide range of
customers in 69 countries. This network includes traditional
retailers and etailers, as well as OEMs, systems integrators and
distributors.
Strategic
Relationship
We have
engineering and marketing relationships (for example, being a nominated
“solutions partner” or “certified supplier”) with certain motherboard
manufacturers and integrated circuit manufacturers and chipset/platform
providers such as ATI Technologies, Inc., Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., NVIDIA
Corporation, DFI USA, MSI Computer Corporation and First International Computer,
Inc. We believe that these relationships enable us to respond to
changing consumer needs, to develop product ranges which are compatible with
multiple platforms and to develop other products designed to obtain optimum
performance from a specific platform.
Customer
Service
We seek
to build brand loyalty by offering product warranties, comprehensive return and
replacement policies and accessible technical support. Members of our
customer service staff have technical expertise which we believe supports us in
maintaining our reputation for technical expertise and attentive customer
care.
Strategy
Our goal
is to be a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of SSDs
and other high performance computer components and solutions. The following are
key elements of our strategy:
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increase
our penetration of the international consumer electronics and OEM markets
by expanding our sales and marketing
efforts;
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expand
and broaden our product line by leveraging our technology and design
expertise;
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build
strong supplier relationships with our primary component
vendors;
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identify
new applications and customers for our
technology;
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increase
our manufacturing efficiencies; and
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pursue
acquisitions of complementary businesses and
technologies.
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Our
Products and Services
We
provide our customers with a variety of advanced technological products,
including:
Solid
State Storage and Other Flash Memory Based Products
We design
and manufactures flash memory products in a broad variety of forms and
capacities. Our wide range of flash storage products come in a
variety of formats and interfaces. Our SSD products are predominantly
used in computers, servers and industrial equipment that require increased
speed, lower power consumption and or increased reliability. Our
Solid State storage products are available with a variety of interfaces
including PCIe, SATA, PATA, USB, IE 1394, SAS and mini PCIe and in various form
factors, including 3.5 inch, 2.5 inch as well as card based and external (pen
drive based formats). We also manufacture Secure Digital (“SD”) cards
meant for use primarily in consumer applications, such as digital
photography.
The
following table summarizes certain of our SSDs and other flash product
offerings:
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Product
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Density
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Features
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Applications
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MLC-
Based Solid State Disk Drives
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Up
to 2TB
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Low
power consumption Read/write speeds up to 1.3GB/s
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Mobile
computing, PCs, RAID controllers
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SLC-Based
Solid State Disk Drives
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Up
to 512GB
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Low
power consumption Read/write speeds up to 1.3GB/s, Lower
latency
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Enterprise,
Servers, workstations, storage area networks, high performance
computing
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USB
Key Drives
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128MB
-64GB
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18MB
per second read/write
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Mobile
computing, PCs
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Normal
and High Capacity SD and Micro SD Cards
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128MB-16GB
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Speeds
up to 25Mbs
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Notebooks,
networking, communications,
photography
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DRAM
Modules
We offer
a comprehensive lineup of DRAM memory modules utilizing a wide range of DRAM
technologies from legacy DDR SDRAM (double data rate synchronous dynamic random
access memory) to leading-edge high performance DDR3 SDRAM devices, the
evolutionary improvements over DDR SDRAM. These modules encompass a
broad range of form factors and functions including dual in-line memory modules
(“DIMMs”),
small outline dual in-line memory modules (“SODIMMs”),
and very low profile (“VLP”)
DIMMs and mini-DIMMs for space-constrained blade server, or 1.75 inch thin
computing server, and networking applications. These memory modules
come in configurations of up to 244 pins, which is the number of pins that plug
into a motherboard, and densities of up to 8GB. We also accommodate
custom module designs based on specific OEM requirements. Our modules
are tested at-speed on high-end proprietary functional testers utilizing
comprehensive test suites, enabling these modules to meet the
stringent requirements of our focus markets.
The
following table summarizes certain of our DRAM memory product
offerings:
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DDR3
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Density
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Speed (MHz)
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Applications
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High
Speed / Low Latency DIMMs
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512MB-8GB
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533-2133Mhz
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Overclocking,
gaming, home theater, 3d modeling and audio/video editing computers and
workstations
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High
Speed / Low Latency SODIMMs
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256MB-4GB
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533-1600Mhz
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High
performance notebooks, sub-notebooks
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Industry
Standard Unbuffered DIMM
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256MB-4GB
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400-1600Mhz
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PCs
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Registered
DIMMs
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512MB-8GB
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400/533/667
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Servers,
workstations, storage area networks, high performance
computing
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Industry
Standard SODIMMs
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256MB-4GB
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533/667
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Notebooks,
sub-notebooks
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Power
Supply
We
manufacture power supplies that are designed to power computers and industrial
devices while maintaining interoperability, adhering to industry standards and
increasing output efficiency through design. Our power supplies are
designed to operate at higher temperatures and under more demanding internal
conditions with stricter load regulation than is required under normal
circumstances.
The
following table contains some of our power supply product
offerings:
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Product
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Density
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Features
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Applications
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High
Wattage Power Supplies
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Up
to 1200 watts
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50
C operation, 80%+ efficiency and 1% load regulation, multiple
formats
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OEM
applications servers, workstations, storage area networks, high
performance computing
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Low
Noise Power Supplies
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Up
to 750 watts
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Low
audible noise
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Overclocking,
PCs and video/audio workstations
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Modular
PSUs
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Up
to 1000 watts
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Removable
reconfigurable cables
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End-user
upgrades, gaming computers and home theater PCs
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High
Efficiency PSUs
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Up
to 1000 watts
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Green
friendly with 85% plus efficiency
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End-user
upgrades, gaming computers and home theater
PCs
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Thermal
Management
We
design, manufacture and sell various computer related thermal management
products that sell through substantially the same sales channel as other OCZ
products. These products take advantage of OCZ developed technology
and concepts in order to deliver products that our customer base requests or
that we believe they will have interest in.
Suppliers
We do not
have any long term supplier contracts or obligations to purchase raw
materials.
Manufacturing
We
believe that one of the keys to our product development and manufacturing is our
speed testing and sorting of components, which enables us to grade components
and select the highest speed memory, and allows us to sell such memory at
premium prices. Our products are built to our requirements and
specifications in our own facilities as well as at several
contract-manufacturing facilities in the United States and Taiwan. In
order to maintain quality control, products are tested when they reach the point
of final assembly at our premises. Certain items are purchased
from several manufacturers with final assembly, testing and packaging completed
in our in-house manufacturing facilities.
In
September 2007, we established our own testing and manufacturing facilities in
Taiwan, followed by the addition, in August 2008, of our own surface mount
assembly equipment. The establishment of our manufacturing facilities
has helped improve and expand our ability to manufacture certain key components
and products, such as memory modules, in-house.
Research
and Development
We
believe that the timely development of new products is essential to maintaining
our competitive position. Our research and development activities are
focused primarily on new high-speed SSDs memory modules, flash technology, power
supplies and ongoing improvement in manufacturing processes and technologies and
continual improvement in test routines and software. We plan to
continue to devote research and development efforts to the design of new
products which address the requirements of our end users.
Our
engineering staff continually explores practical applications of new
technologies, works closely with our customers and provides services throughout
the product life cycle, including architecture definition, component selection,
schematic design, layout, manufacturing and test engineering. We
design our products to be compatible with existing industry standards and, where
appropriate, develop and promote new standards. An important aspect
of our research and development effort is to understand the challenges presented
by our customers’ requirements and satisfy them by utilizing our industry
knowledge, proprietary technologies and technical expertise.
Our
research and development expenses totaled $5.3 million, $2.6 million and $1.6
million in the fiscal years ended February 28, 2010, February 28, 2009 and
February 29, 2008, respectively.
Intellectual
Property
We
attempt to protect our intellectual property rights through a variety of
measures, including non-disclosure agreements, trade secrets and to a lesser
extent, patents and trademarks. We have three issued patents in the
United States that will expire between 2024 and 2025, and fifteen patent
applications pending in the United States. We expect to file new
patent applications where appropriate to protect our proprietary technologies;
however, we believe that our continued success depends primarily on factors such
as the know-how, technological skills and innovation of our personnel rather
than on patent protection.
Competition
The
market for our products is highly competitive, rapidly evolving and subject to
new technological developments, changing customer needs and new product
introductions. We compete primarily with large vendors of computer
components, and to a lesser extent, large vendors of PCs. In
addition, we also compete with a number of smaller vendors who specialize in the
sale of high performance products and computer systems and
components.
We
believe our principal competitors include:
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specialized
solid state storage makers such as STEC, Inc., Fusion I/O and Mtron
Storage Technology Co., Ltd.;
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global
technology vendors such as Intel Corporation and Samsung Electronics Co.,
Ltd.;
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specialized
memory module and flash product vendors such as Kingston Technology
Corporation, SanDisk Corporation, Crucial Technology, the consumer brand
of Micron Technology, Inc., and Corsair Memory, Inc.;
and
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specialized
power supply chassis and cooling manufacturers such as Antec, Inc.,
Thermaltake Technology Inc. USA and Enermax Technology
Corporation.
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We
believe that the principal competitive factors in our market include the
following:
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first
to market with new emerging
technologies;
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flexible
and customizable products to fit customers’
objectives;
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high
product performance reliability;
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§
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early
identification of emerging
opportunities;
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interoperability
of products;
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localized
and responsive customer support on a worldwide
basis.
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We
believe that we compete favorably with respect to most of these
factors. However, most of our competitors have longer operating
histories, significantly greater resources and greater name
recognition. They may be able to devote greater resources to the
development, promotion and sale of their products than we can, which could allow
them to respond more quickly to new technologies and changes in customer
needs.
Backlog
Sales of
our products are generally made pursuant to purchase orders. We
include in backlog only those customer orders for which we have accepted
purchase orders and to which we expect to ship within
45 days. Since orders constituting our current backlog are
subject to changes in delivery schedules or cancellation with only limited or no
penalties, we believe that the amount of our backlog is not necessarily an
accurate indication of our future net sales.
Employees
As of our
fiscal year ended February 28, 2010, we employed 312 full-time employees, of
which 202 were in general and administration (including operations, finance,
administration, information technology, quality assurance, procurement and
materials work), 76 were in research and development, and 34 were in sales and
marketing. Our employees are not represented by any collective
bargaining agreements and we have never experienced a work
stoppage. Our employees are located in San Jose and Carlsbad,
California; Ontario, Canada; the Netherlands and Taiwan.
Environmental
Matters
Our
business involves purchasing finished goods as components from different vendors
and then assembly of these components into finished products at our
facilities. Accordingly, we are not involved in the actual
manufacturing of components, which can often involve significant environmental
regulations with respect to the materials used, as well as work place safety
requirements. Our operations and properties, however, do remain
subject in particular to domestic and foreign laws and regulations governing the
storage, disposal and recycling of computer products. For example,
our products may be subject to the European Union’s Directive 2002/96/EC Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Directive 2002/95/EC on Restriction on
the Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic
Equipment. To date, we have not been the subject of any material
investigation or enforcement action by either U.S. or foreign environmental
regulatory authorities. Further, because we do not engage in primary
manufacturing processes like those performed by our suppliers who are industrial
manufacturers, we believe that costs related to our compliance with
environmental laws should not materially adversely affect us.
In
addition to the other information described elsewhere in this Annual Report, you
should carefully consider the following risk factors, which could materially
adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of
operations. The risks described below are not the only risks facing
OCZ. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or
that we currently deem to be immaterial may materially adversely affect our
business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks
Related to Our Business
We
are subject to the cyclical nature of the markets in which we compete and a
continued downturn could adversely affect our business.
The
markets in which we compete, including SSDs, flash, memory, thermal management
and power supply markets, are highly cyclical and characterized by constant and
rapid technological change, rapid product obsolescence and price erosion,
evolving standards, short product life cycles and wide fluctuations in product
supply and demand. These markets have experienced significant
downturns often connected with, or in anticipation of, maturing product cycles
of both manufacturers’ and their customers’ products and declines in
general economic conditions. These downturns have been characterized
by diminished product demand, production overcapacity, high inventory levels and
accelerated erosion of average selling prices.
Our
historical operating results have been subject to substantial fluctuations and
we may experience substantial period-to-period fluctuations in future operating
results. A downturn in these markets could have a material adverse
effect on the demand for our products and therefore a material adverse effect on
our business, financial condition and results of
operations. Moreover, changes in end-user demand for the products
sold by any individual customer can have a rapid and disproportionate effect on
demand for our products from that customer in any given period,
particularly if the customer has accumulated excess inventories of products
purchased from us. There can be no assurance that our net sales and
results of operations will not be materially and adversely affected in the
future due to changes in demand from individual customers or cyclical changes in
the industries utilizing our products.
We
have experienced quarterly and annual losses in the past and may experience
losses in the future.
We have
experienced losses on a quarterly and annual basis in the past. We
have expended, and will continue to expend, substantial funds to pursue
engineering, research and development projects, enhance sales and marketing
efforts and otherwise operate our business. There can be no assurance
that we will be profitable on a quarterly or annual basis in the
future.
Declines
in our average selling prices of DRAM may result in declines in our net sales
and gross profit.
Our
average selling prices may decline due to several factors. Over the
last few years, overcapacity in the DRAM memory component market resulted in
significant declines in component prices, which negatively impacted our average
selling prices and net sales. During periods of overcapacity, our net
sales may decline if we do not increase unit sales of existing products or fail
to introduce and sell new products in quantities sufficient to offset declines
in selling prices. Our efforts to increase unit sales, reduce costs
and develop new products to offset the impact of further declines in average
selling prices may not be successful. Declines in DRAM prices, which
represent a significant component of our memory sales could also (as they have
in the past) affect our gross profit and the valuation of our inventory, which
could harm our financial results.
Declines
in average selling prices would enable OEMs to pre-install higher capacity based
memory into new systems at existing price points and thereby reduce the demand
for future memory upgrades. Further, our net sales and gross profit
may be negatively affected by shifts in our product mix during periods of
declining average selling prices.
In
addition, the continued transition to smaller design geometries and the use of
300 millimeter wafers by existing memory manufacturers could lead to a
significant increase in the worldwide supply of DRAM. Increases in
the worldwide supply of memory components could also result from manufacturing
capacity expansions. If not offset by increases in demand, these
increases would likely lead to further declines in the average selling
prices of our products and have a material adverse effect on our business,
financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, even if
supply remains constant, if demand were to decrease, it would harm our average
selling prices.
Sales
to a limited number of customers represent a significant portion of our net
sales, and the loss of any key customer would materially harm our
business.
Our
dependence on a limited number of customers means that the loss of a major
customer or any reduction in orders by a major customer would materially reduce
our net sales and adversely affect our results of operations. We
expect that sales to relatively few customers will continue to account for a
significant percentage of our net sales for the foreseeable
future. However, there can be no assurance that any of these
customers or any of our other customers will continue to utilize our products at
current levels, if at all. We have no firm, long-term volume
commitments from any of our major customers and we generally enter into
individual purchase orders with our customers, in certain cases under master
agreements that govern the terms and conditions of the
relationship. We have experienced cancellations of orders and
fluctuations in order levels from period to period and expect that we will
continue to experience such cancellations and fluctuations in the
future. Customer purchase orders may be cancelled and order volume
levels can be changed, cancelled or delayed with limited or no
penalties. The replacement of cancelled, delayed or reduced purchase
orders with new orders cannot be assured.
For our
fiscal years ended February 28, 2010, February 28, 2009 and February 29, 2008,
our ten largest customers accounted for 51%, 49% and 47% of net sales,
respectively. For our fiscal years ended February 28, 2010, February
28, 2009 and February 29, 2008, NewEgg accounted for 19%, 19% and 12% of our net
sales, respectively. During these periods, no other customers
accounted for more than 10% of our net sales.
If
a standardized memory solution which addresses the demands of our customers is
developed, our net sales and market share may decline.
Many of
our memory subsystems are specifically designed for our OEM customers’ high
performance systems. In a drive to reduce costs and assure supply of
their memory module demand, our OEM customers may endeavor to design JEDEC
standard DRAM modules into their new products. This trend could
reduce the demand for our higher priced customized memory solutions which in
turn would have a negative impact on our financial results. In addition,
customers deploying custom memory solutions today may in the future choose to
adopt a JEDEC standard, and the adoption of a JEDEC standard module instead of a
previously custom module might allow new competitors to participate in a share
of our customers’ memory module business.
If our
OEM customers were to adopt JEDEC standard modules, our future business may be
limited to identifying the next generation of high performance memory demands of
OEM customers and developing solutions that addresses such
demands. Until fully implemented, this next generation of products
may constitute a much smaller market, which may reduce our net sales and market
share.
Our
customers are primarily in the computing markets and fluctuations in demand in
these markets may adversely affect sales of our products.
Sales of
our products are dependent upon demand in the computing markets. We
may experience substantial period-to-period fluctuations in future operating
results due to factors affecting the computing markets. From time to
time, these markets have experienced downturns, often in connection with, or in
anticipation of, declines in general economic conditions. A decline
or significant shortfall in demand in any one of these markets could have a
material adverse effect on the demand for our products and therefore a material
adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
Customer
demand is difficult to accurately forecast and, as a result, we may be unable to
optimally match production to customer demand.
We make
significant decisions, including determining the levels of business that we will
seek and accept, production schedules, component procurement commitments,
personnel needs and other resource requirements, based on our estimates of
customer’s future requirements. The short-term nature of commitments
by many of our customers and the possibility of unexpected changes in demand for
their products reduces our ability to accurately estimate future customer
requirements. On occasion, customers may require rapid increases in
production, which can challenge our resources and can reduce
margins. We may not have sufficient capacity at any given time to
meet our customers’ demands. Conversely, downturns in the markets in
which our customers compete can, and have, caused our customers to significantly
reduce the amount of products ordered from us or to cancel existing orders
leading to lower-utilization of our facilities. Because many of our
costs and operating expenses are relatively fixed, reduction in customer demand
would have an adverse effect on our gross margins, operating income and cash
flow.
During an
industry downturn, there is also a higher risk that our trade receivables would
be uncollectible, which would be materially adverse to our cash flow and
business.
Order
cancellations or reductions, product returns and product obsolescence could
result in substantial inventory write-downs.
To the
extent we manufacture products in anticipation of future demand that does not
materialize, or in the event a customer cancels or reduces outstanding orders,
we could experience an unanticipated increase in our
inventory. Slowing demand for our products may lead to product
returns which would also increase our inventory. In the past, we have had to
write-down inventory due to obsolescence, excess quantities and declines in
market value below our costs.
We
may be less competitive if we fail to develop new or enhanced products and
introduce them in a timely manner.
The
markets in which we compete are subject to rapid technological change, product
obsolescence, frequent new product introductions and enhancements, changes in
end-user requirements and evolving industry standards. Our ability to
successfully compete in these markets and to continue to grow our business
depends in significant part upon our ability to develop, introduce and sell new
and enhanced products on a timely and cost-effective basis, and to anticipate
and respond to changing customer requirements.
The
markets for our products are characterized by frequent transitions in which
products rapidly incorporate new features and performance
standards. A failure to develop products with required feature sets
or performance standards or a delay as short as a few months in bringing a new
product to market could significantly reduce our net sales for a substantial
period, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial
condition and results of operations.
We have
experienced, and may in the future experience, delays in the development and
introduction of new products. These delays could provide a competitor
a first-to-market opportunity and allow a competitor to achieve greater market
share. Defects or errors found in our products after commencement of
commercial shipment could result in delays in market acceptance of these
products. Lack of market acceptance for our new products will
jeopardize our ability to recoup research and development expenditures, hurt our
reputation and harm our business, financial condition and results of
operations. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that our future
product development efforts will result in future profitability or market
acceptance.
Our
dependence on a small number of suppliers for components, including integrated
circuit devices, and inability to obtain a sufficient supply of these components
on a timely basis could harm our ability to fulfill orders and therefore
materially harm our business.
Typically,
integrated circuit (“IC”)
devices represent a significant majority of our component costs for our memory
and SSD products. We are dependent on a small number of suppliers
that supply key components used in the manufacture of our
products. Since we have no long-term supply contracts, there is no
assurance that our suppliers will agree to supply the quantities of components
we may need to meet our production goals. Samsung, Toshiba and Intel
currently supply substantially all of the IC devices used in our Flash
memory products. Micron, Elpida and PSC (Powerchip) currently supply
substantially all of the DRAM IC devices used in our DRAM products.
Additionally,
because of constraints on working capital, we have delayed payments to a number
of vendors which could have an adverse effect on our ability to source
product. Moreover, from time to time, our industry experiences shortages
in IC devices and foundry services which have resulted
in foundries putting their customers, ourselves included, on component
allocation. While to date neither delayed payment nor component
shortages has disrupted our business in a material way, in the future,
we may not be able to obtain the materials that we need to fill orders in a
timely manner or at competitive prices. As a result, our reputation could
be harmed, we may lose business from our customers, our revenues may decline,
and we may lose market share to our competitors.
The
markets in which we compete are constantly evolving and competitive, and we may
not have rights to manufacture and sell certain types of products utilizing
emerging formats, or we may be required to pay a royalty to sell products
utilizing these formats.
The
markets in which we compete are constantly undergoing rapid technological change
and evolving industry standards. For example, many consumer devices,
such as digital cameras, PDAs and smartphones, are transitioning to emerging
flash memory formats, such as the Memory Stick and xD Picture Card formats,
which we do not currently manufacture and do not have rights to manufacture, and
which could result in a decline in demand, on a relative basis, for other
products that we manufacture such as CompactFlash and secured digital USB
drives. If we decide to manufacture products utilizing emerging
formats such as those mentioned, we will be required to secure licenses to give
us the right to manufacture such products which may not be available at
reasonable rates or at all. If we are not able to supply formats at
competitive prices or if we were to have product shortages, our net sales could
be adversely impacted and our customers would likely cancel orders or seek other
suppliers to replace us.
Our
growth strategy includes expanding our presence in the SSD and high performance
memory markets both of which are highly competitive.
SSD and
high performance memory markets are highly competitive. Certain of
our competitors are more diversified than us and may be able to sustain lower
operating margins in their SSD and high performance memory businesses based on
the profitability of their other businesses. We expect competition in
these markets to increase as existing manufacturers introduce new products and
process technologies, new manufacturers enter the market, industry-wide
production capacity increases and competitors aggressively price products to
increase market share. We only have limited experience competing in
these markets. Our growth strategy includes expanding our presence in these
markets, and there can be no assurance that we will be successful in doing
so.
The
market for enterprise Flash-based SSD products is relatively new and evolving,
which makes it difficult to forecast end user adoption rates and customer
demand, for our products.
The
enterprise Flash-based SSD market is new and rapidly evolving. As a
result, we may encounter risks and uncertainties related to our business and
future prospects. It is difficult to predict, with any precision, end
user adoption rates, customer demand for our products or the future growth rate
and size of this market. The rapidly evolving nature of the markets
in which we sell our products, as well as other factors that are beyond our
control, reduce our ability to accurately evaluate our future outlook and
forecast quarterly or annual performance. Furthermore, our ability to
predict future sales is limited and our SSD product may never reach mass
adoption.
Industry
consolidation could adversely affect our business by reducing the number of our
potential significant customers and increasing our reliance on our existing key
customers.
Many
significant participants in our customers’ industries are merging and
consolidating as a result of competitive pressures and we expect this trend to
continue. Consolidation will likely decrease the number of potential
significant customers for our products and services. Fewer
significant customers will increase our reliance on key customers and, due to
the increased size of these companies, may negatively impact our bargaining
position and profit margins. Consolidation in some of our customers’
industries may result in increased customer concentration and the potential loss
of customers. The loss of, or a reduced role with, key customers due
to industry consolidation could negatively impact our business.
We
may make acquisitions which involve numerous risks. If we are not
successful in integrating the acquisition, our operations may be adversely
affected.
As part
of our business and growth strategy, we expect to acquire or make significant
investments in businesses, products or technologies that allow us to complement
our existing product offering, expand our market coverage, increase our
engineering workforce or enhance our technological capabilities. For
example, in 2007, we acquired PC Power and Cooling, Inc., a producer of PC
thermal management products, and substantially all the assets of Silicon Data
Inc., doing business as Hypersonic PC Systems, a manufacturer of boutique high
performance gaming PCs and laptops. We stopped the manufacture and
sale of certain Hypersonic PC products in our fiscal year ended February 28,
2010. Any future acquisitions or investments would expose us to the
risks commonly encountered in acquisitions of businesses. Such risks
include, among others:
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lower
than anticipated sales and
profitability;
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problems
integrating the purchased operations, technologies or
products;
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costs
associated with the acquisition;
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negative
effects on profitability resulting from the
acquisition;
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adverse
effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and
customers;
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risks
associated with entering markets in which we have no or limited prior
experience;
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loss
of key employees of the acquired business;
and
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litigation
arising from the acquired company’s operations before the
acquisition.
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Our
inability to overcome problems encountered in connection with any acquisition
could divert the attention of management, utilize scarce corporate resources and
otherwise harm our business. In addition, we are unable to predict whether
or when any prospective acquisition candidate will become available or the
likelihood that any acquisition will be completed. Even if we do find
suitable acquisition opportunities, we may not be able to consummate the
acquisitions on commercially acceptable terms or realize the anticipated
benefits of any acquisitions we do undertake.
We
may make acquisitions that are dilutive to existing stockholders, result in
unanticipated accounting charges or otherwise adversely affect our results of
operations.
We may
grow our business through business combinations or other acquisitions of
businesses, products or technologies that allow us to complement our existing
product offerings, expand our market coverage, increase our engineering
workforce or enhance our technological capabilities. If we make any
future acquisitions, we could issue stock that would dilute our stockholders’
percentage ownership, incur substantial debt, reduce our cash reserves or assume
contingent liabilities. Furthermore, acquisitions may require
material charges and could result in adverse tax consequences, substantial
depreciation, deferred compensation charges, in-process research and development
charges, the amortization of amounts related to deferred compensation and
identifiable purchased intangible assets or impairment of goodwill, any of which
could negatively impact our results of operations.
We
may not be able to maintain or improve our competitive position because of the
intense competition in the markets we serve.
We
conduct business in markets characterized by intense competition, rapid
technological change, constant price pressures and evolving industry
standards. Our competitors include many large domestic and
international companies that have substantially greater financial, technical,
marketing, distribution and other resources, broader product lines, lower cost
structures, greater brand recognition and longer-standing relationships with
customers and suppliers than we do. As a result, our competitors may
be able to respond better to new or emerging technologies or standards and to
changes in customer requirements. Further, some of our competitors
are in a better financial and marketing position from which to influence
industry acceptance of a particular industry standard or competing technology
than we are. Our competitors may also be able to devote greater
resources to the development, promotion and sale of products, and may be able to
deliver competitive products at a lower price.
We
compete against global technology vendors such as Intel Corporation and Samsung
Electronics Co., Ltd. Our primary competitors in the specialized
memory module and flash products industry include Kingston Technology, SanDisk,
Crucial Memory and Corsair. Our primary competitors in the solid
state storage maker industry include STEC, Fusion I/O and Mtron. Our
primary competitors in the specialized power supply chassis and cooling
manufacturing industry include Antec, Inc., Thermaltake Technology Inc. USA and
Enermax Technology Corporation.
We expect
to face competition from existing competitors and new and emerging companies
that may enter our existing or future markets with similar or alternative
products, which may be less costly or provide additional features. In
the PC market in Asia, we expect to face increasing competition from local
competitors such as A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd. and GSkill International
Enterprise. We also face competition from current and prospective
customers that evaluate our capabilities against the merits of manufacturing
products internally. In addition, some of our significant suppliers,
including Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Infineon Technologies AG and Micron
Technology, Inc., are also our competitors, many of whom have the ability to
manufacture competitive products at lower costs as a result of their higher
levels of integration. Competition may also arise due to the
development of cooperative relationships among our current and potential
competitors or third parties to increase the ability of their products to
address the needs of our prospective customers. Accordingly, it is
possible that new competitors or alliances among competitors may emerge and
rapidly acquire significant market share.
We expect
that our competitors will continue to improve the performance of their current
products, reduce their prices and introduce new products that may offer greater
performance and improved pricing, any of which could cause a decline in sales or
loss of market acceptance of our products. In addition, our
competitors may develop enhancements to, or future generations of, competitive
products that may render our technology or products obsolete or
uncompetitive.
The
future growth of our OEM-focused products is dependent on achieving design wins
into commercially successful OEM systems and the failure to achieve design wins
or of OEM customers to incorporate our products in their systems could adversely
affect our operating results and prospects.
We rely
on OEMs to select our OEM-focused products to be designed into their systems,
which we refer to as a design win. We often incur significant
expenditures in the development of a new product without any assurance that an
OEM will select our product for design into its system. Additionally,
in some instances, we may be dependent on third parties to obtain or provide
information that we need to achieve a design win. Some of these third
parties may not supply this information to us on a timely basis, if at
all. Furthermore, even if an OEM designs one of our products into its
system, we cannot be assured that its product will be commercially successful or
that we will receive any net sales as a result of that design
win. Our OEM customers are typically not obligated to purchase our
products and can choose at any time to stop using our products if their own
systems are not commercially successful, if they decide to pursue other systems
strategies, or for any other reason. If we are unable to achieve
design wins or if our OEM customers’ systems incorporating our products are not
commercially successful, our net sales would suffer.
Our
future success is dependent on our ability to retain key personnel, including
our executive officers, and attract qualified personnel. If we lose
the services of these individuals or are unable to attract new talent, our
business will be adversely affected.
Our
future operating results depend in significant part upon the continued
contributions of our key technical and senior management personnel, many of whom
would be difficult to replace. We are particularly dependent on the
continued service of Ryan M. Petersen, our chief executive officer, Kerry T.
Smith, our chief financial officer, and Alex Mei, our chief marketing
officer. Our future operating results also depend in significant part
upon our ability to attract, train and retain qualified management,
manufacturing and quality assurance, engineering, marketing, sales and support
personnel. We are continually recruiting such
personnel. However, competition for such personnel is intense, and
there can be no assurance that we will be successful in attracting,
training or retaining such personnel now or in the future. There may
be only a limited number of persons with the requisite skills to serve in these
positions and it may be increasingly difficult for us to hire such persons over
time. The loss of any key employee, the failure of any key employee
to perform in his or her current position, our inability to attract, train and
retain skilled employees as needed or the inability of our officers and key
employees to expand, train and manage our employee base could materially and
adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
We
have and will continue to incur increased costs as a result of becoming a public
reporting company.
We have
incurred, and will continue to face, increased legal, accounting, administrative
and other costs as a result of becoming a reporting company that we did not
incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well
as rules subsequently implemented by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
“SEC”), and
the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, have required changes in the
corporate governance practices of public companies. We expect these
rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and
to make legal, accounting and administrative activities more time-consuming and
costly. We have also incurred substantially higher costs to obtain
directors’ and officers’ insurance. In addition, as we gain experience with the
costs associated with being a reporting company, we may identify and incur
additional overhead costs.
If
we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls over financial
reporting, we may not be able to report our financial results accurately or
detect fraud, which could harm our business and the trading price of our common
stock.
Effective
internal controls are necessary for us to produce reliable financial reports and
are important in our effort to prevent financial fraud. Beginning
with our fiscal year ended February 28, 2011, we are required to periodically
evaluate the effectiveness of the design and operation of our internal
controls. These evaluations may result in the conclusion that
enhancements, modifications or changes to our internal controls are necessary or
desirable. While management evaluates the effectiveness of our
internal controls on a regular basis, these controls may not always be
effective. There are inherent limitations on the effectiveness of
internal controls including collusion, management override, and failure of
human judgment. Because of this, control procedures are designed to
reduce rather than eliminate business risks. If we fail to maintain
an effective system of internal controls or if management or our independent
registered public accounting firm were to discover material weaknesses in our
internal controls, we may be unable to produce reliable financial reports or
prevent fraud and it could harm our financial condition and results of
operations and result in loss of investor confidence and a decline in our share
price.
Our
indemnification obligations to our customers and suppliers for product defects
could require us to pay substantial damages.
A number
of our product sales and product purchase agreements provide that we will
defend, indemnify and hold harmless our customers and suppliers from damages and
costs which may arise from product warranty claims or claims for injury or
damage resulting from defects in our products. We maintain insurance
to protect against certain claims associated with the use of our products, but
our insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover all or any part of the
claims asserted against us. A successful claim brought against us
that is in excess of, or excluded from, our insurance coverage could
substantially harm our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
Our
operations in the United States and foreign countries are subject to political
and economic risks, which could have a material adverse effect on our business
and operating results.
Our
financial success may be sensitive to adverse changes in general political and
economic conditions in the United States such as changes in regulatory
requirements, taxes, recession, inflation, unemployment and interest
rates. Such changing conditions could reduce demand in the
marketplace for our products or increase the costs involved for us to
manufacture our products.
Sales
outside of the United States accounted for approximately 57% of net sales for
the fiscal year ended February 28, 2010. Sales outside of the United
States accounted for approximately 61% and 63% of net sales in fiscal years
ended February 28, 2009 and February 29, 2008, respectively. We
anticipate that international sales will continue to constitute a meaningful
percentage of our total net sales in future periods. In
addition, a significant portion of our design and manufacturing is performed at
our facilities in Taiwan. As a result, our operations may be subject
to certain risks, including changes in regulatory requirements, tariffs and
other barriers, increased price pressure, timing and availability of export
licenses, difficulties in accounts receivable collections, difficulties in
protecting our intellectual property, natural disasters, difficulties in
staffing and managing foreign operations, difficulties in managing distributors,
difficulties in obtaining governmental approvals for products that may require
certification, restrictions on transfers of funds and other assets of our
subsidiaries between jurisdictions, foreign currency exchange fluctuations, the
burden of complying with a wide variety of complex foreign laws and treaties,
potentially adverse tax consequences and uncertainties relative to regional,
political and economic circumstances.
We are
also subject to the risks associated with the imposition of legislation and
regulations relating to the import or export of high technology
products. We cannot predict whether quotas, duties, taxes or other
charges or restrictions upon the importation or exportation of our products will
be implemented by the United States or other countries. Some of our
customers’ purchase orders and agreements are governed by foreign laws, which
often differ significantly from those of the United
States. Therefore, we may be limited in our ability to enforce our
rights under such agreements and to collect damages, if
awarded. These factors may have a material adverse effect on our
business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our
inability to effectively manage our operations in foreign countries could harm
our operating results.
A
significant portion of our design and manufacturing operations are carried out
outside of the United States at our foreign facilities. Further,
international sales have accounted for a significant portion of our overall
sales. In some of the countries in which we operate or sell our
products, it is difficult to recruit, employ and retain qualified personnel to
manage and oversee our local operations, sales and other
activities. Further, given our executive officers’ existing
managerial burdens, their lack of physical proximity to the activities being
managed and the inherent limitations of cross-border information flow, our
executive officers who reside in the United States may be unable to effectively
oversee the day-to-day management of our foreign subsidiaries and
operations. The inability of or failure by our domestic and
international management to effectively and efficiently manage our overseas
operations could have a negative impact on our business and adversely affect our
operating results.
Worldwide
economic and political conditions may adversely affect demand for our
products.
The
current economic slowdown in the United States and worldwide has adversely
affected and may continue to adversely affect demand for our
products. Another decline in the worldwide computing markets or a
future decline in economic conditions or consumer confidence in any significant
geographic area would likely decrease the overall demand for our products, which
could have a material adverse effect on us. For example, a decline in
economic conditions in China could lead to declining worldwide economic
conditions. If economic conditions decline, whether in China or
worldwide, we could be materially adversely affected.
The
occurrence and threat of terrorist attacks and the consequences of sustained
military action in the Middle East have in the past, and may in the future,
adversely affect demand for our products. In addition, terrorist
attacks may negatively affect our operations directly or indirectly and such
attacks or related armed conflicts may directly impact our physical facilities
or those of our suppliers or customers. Furthermore, these attacks
may make travel and the transportation of our products more difficult and more
expensive, ultimately affecting our sales.
Also as a
result of terrorism, the United States has been and may continue to be involved
in armed conflicts that could have a further impact on our sales, our supply
chain and our ability to deliver products to our customers. Political
and economic instability in some regions of the world could negatively impact
our business. The consequences of armed conflicts are unpredictable
and we may not be able to foresee events that could have a material adverse
effect on us.
More
generally, any of these events could cause consumer confidence and spending to
decrease or result in increased volatility to the United States economy and
worldwide financial markets. Any of these occurrences could have a
material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
Unfavorable
currency exchange rate fluctuations could result in our products becoming
relatively more expensive to our overseas customers or increase our
manufacturing costs, each of which could adversely affect our
profitability.
Our
international sales and our operations in foreign countries make us subject to
risks associated with fluctuating currency values and exchange
rates. Because sales of our products have been denominated to date
primarily in U.S. dollars, increases in the value of the U.S. dollar could
increase the price of our products so that they become relatively more expensive
to customers in the local currency of a particular country, leading to a
reduction in sales and profitability in that country. Future
international activity may result in increased foreign currency denominated
sales. Gains and losses on the conversion to U.S. dollars of accounts
receivable, accounts payable and other monetary assets and liabilities arising
from international sales or operations may contribute to fluctuations in our
results of operations. In addition, as a result of our foreign sales
and operations, we have revenues, costs, assets and liabilities that are
denominated in foreign currencies. Therefore, decreases in the value
of the U.S. dollar could result in significant increases in our manufacturing
costs that could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of
operations.
Our
worldwide operations could be subject to natural disasters and other business
disruptions, which could materially adversely affect our business and increase
our costs and expenses.
Our
worldwide operations could be subject to natural disasters and other business
disruptions, which could harm our future revenue and financial condition and
increase our costs and expenses. For example, our corporate
headquarters in San Jose, California and our manufacturing facilities in Taiwan
are located near major earthquake fault lines. Taiwan is also subject
to typhoons during certain times of the year. In the event of a major
earthquake, typhoon or hurricane, or other natural or manmade disaster, we could
experience business interruptions, destruction of facilities and/or loss of
life, any of which could materially adversely affect our business and increase
our costs and expenses.
Our
ability to compete successfully and achieve future growth will depend, in part,
on our ability to protect our intellectual property, as well as our ability to
operate without infringing the intellectual property of others.
We
attempt to protect our intellectual property rights through trade secret laws,
non-disclosure agreements, confidentiality procedures and employee disclosure
and invention assignment agreements. To a lesser extent, we also
protect our intellectual property through patents, trademarks and
copyrights. It is possible that our efforts to protect our
intellectual property rights may not:
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prevent
our competitors from independently developing similar products,
duplicating our products or designing around the patents owned by
us;
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prevent
third-party patents from having an adverse effect on our ability to do
business;
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provide
adequate protection for our intellectual property
rights;
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prevent
disputes with third parties regarding ownership of our intellectual
property rights;
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prevent
disclosure of our trade secrets and know-how to third parties or into the
public domain;
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prevent
the challenge, invalidation or circumvention of our existing
patents;
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result
in patents that lead to commercially viable products or provide
competitive advantages for our products;
and
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result
in issued patents and registered trademarks from any of our pending
applications.
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If any of
our issued patents are found to be invalid or if any of our patent applications
are rejected, our ability to exclude competitors from making, using or selling
the same or similar products as ours could be compromised. We have
occasionally applied for and may in the future apply for patent protection in
foreign countries. The laws of foreign countries, however, may not
adequately protect our intellectual property rights. Many U.S. companies
have encountered substantial infringement problems in foreign countries.
Because we conduct a substantial portion of our operations and sell some
of our products overseas, we have exposure to foreign intellectual property
risks.
In
addition, the industries in which we compete are characterized by vigorous
protection and pursuit of intellectual property rights. We believe
that it may be necessary, from time to time, to initiate litigation against one
or more third parties to preserve our intellectual property
rights. From time to time, we have received, and may receive in
the future, notices that claim we have infringed upon, misappropriated or
misused other parties’ proprietary rights. Any of the foregoing
events or claims could result in litigation. Such litigation, whether
as plaintiff or defendant, could result in significant expense to us and divert
the efforts of our technical and management personnel, whether or not such
litigation is ultimately determined in our favor. In the event of an
adverse result in such litigation, we could be required to pay substantial
damages, cease the manufacture, use and sale of certain products, expend
significant resources to develop or acquire non-infringing technology,
discontinue the use of certain processes or obtain licenses to use the infringed
technology. Product development or license negotiating would likely
result in significant expense to us and divert the efforts of our technical and
management personnel. We cannot assure you that we would be
successful in such development or acquisition or that necessary licenses would
be available on reasonable terms, or at all.
Our
indemnification obligations for the infringement by our products of the
intellectual property rights of others could require us to pay substantial
damages.
We
currently have in effect a number of agreements in which we have agreed to
defend, indemnify and hold harmless our customers and suppliers from damages and
costs which may arise from the infringement by our products of third-party
patents, trademarks or other proprietary rights. We may periodically
have to respond to claims and litigate these types of indemnification
obligations. Any such indemnification claims could require us to pay
substantial damages. Our insurance does not cover intellectual
property infringement.
We
could incur substantial costs as a result of violations of or liabilities under
environmental laws.
Our
business involves purchasing finished goods as components from different vendors
and then assembly of these components into finished products at our
facilities. We therefore are not involved in the actual manufacturing
of components, which can often involve significant environmental regulations
with respect to the materials used, as well as work place safety
requirements. Our operations and properties, however, do remain
subject in particular to domestic and foreign laws and regulations governing the
storage, disposal and recycling of computer products. For example,
our products may be subject to the European Union’s Directive 2002/96/EC Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Directive 2002/95/EC on Restriction
on the Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic
Equipment. Our failure to comply with present and future requirements
could cause us to incur substantial costs, including fines and penalties,
investments to upgrade our product cycle or curtailment of
operations. Further, the identification of presently unidentified
environmental conditions, more vigorous enforcement by regulatory agencies,
enactment of more stringent laws and regulations, or other unanticipated events
may arise in the future and give rise to material environmental liabilities and
related costs which could have a material adverse effect on our business,
financial condition and results of operations.
We
are subject to a variety of federal, state and foreign laws and regulatory
regimes. Failure to comply with governmental laws and regulations
could subject us to, among other things, mandatory product recalls, penalties
and legal expenses which could have an adverse effect on our
business.
Our
business is subject to regulation by various federal and state governmental
agencies. Such regulation includes the radio frequency emission
regulatory activities of the Federal Communications Commission, the anti-trust
regulatory activities of the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice,
the consumer protection laws of the Federal Trade Commission, the import/export
regulatory activities of the Department of Commerce, the product safety
regulatory activities of the Consumer Products Safety Commission, the regulatory
activities of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the
environmental regulatory activities of the Environmental Protection Agency, the
labor regulatory activities of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and
tax and other regulations by a variety of regulatory authorities in each of the
areas in which we conduct business. We are also subject to regulation
in other countries where we conduct business. In certain
jurisdictions, such regulatory requirements may be more stringent than in the
United States. We are also subject to a variety of federal and state employment
and labors laws and regulations, including the Americans with Disabilities Act,
the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the WARN Act and other regulations related
to working conditions, wage-hour pay, over-time pay, employee benefits,
anti-discrimination, and termination of employment.
We have
voluntarily disclosed potential violations of the Iranian Transaction
Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations of the U.S. Department of
Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.S. Department of Commerce,
Office of Export Enforcement as a result of recently discovered actions by a
former employee.
Noncompliance
with applicable regulations or requirements could subject us to investigations,
sanctions, mandatory product recalls, enforcement actions, disgorgement of
profits, fines, damages, civil and criminal penalties, or
injunctions. In addition from time to time we have received, and
expect to continue to receive, correspondence from former employees terminated
by us who threaten to bring claims against us alleging that we have violated one
or more labor and employment regulations. In certain instances former
employees have brought claims against us and we expect that we will encounter
similar actions against us in the future. An adverse outcome in any
such litigation could require us to pay contractual damages, compensatory
damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs.
Any
enforcement action could harm our business, financial condition and results of
operations. If any governmental sanctions are imposed, or if we do
not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation in the future, our
business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially
adversely affected. In addition, responding to any action will likely
result in a significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and an
increase in professional fees.
Changes
in the applicable tax laws could materially affect our future
results.
We
operate in different countries and are subject to taxation in different
jurisdictions. As a result, our future effective tax rates could be
impacted by changes in the applicable tax laws of such jurisdictions or the
interpretation of such tax laws. For example, on May 5, 2009,
President Obama and the U.S. Treasury Department proposed changing certain tax
rules for U.S. corporations doing business outside the U.S. The
proposed changes would restrict the ability of U.S. corporations to transfer
funds between foreign subsidiaries without triggering U.S. income tax, limit the
ability of U.S. corporations to deduct expenses attributable to un-repatriated
foreign earnings and modify the foreign tax credit rules. These
changes have been proposed to be effective beginning January 1,
2011. We cannot determine whether these proposals will be enacted
into law or what changes, if any, may be made to such proposals prior to their
being enacted into law. Depending on their content, such proposals
(if enacted) or other changes in the applicable tax laws could increase our
effective tax rate and adversely affect our after-tax
profitability.
Risks
Related to our Debt
Our
indebtedness could impair our financial condition, harm our ability to operate
our business, limit our ability to borrow additional funds or capitalize on
acquisition or other business opportunities.
We have
entered into a Sale of Accounts and Security Agreement with Faunus Group
International, Inc, pursuant to which we may factor our foreign receivables up
to $10 million in the aggregate (as amended, the “FGI
Agreement”). We have entered into a Loan and Security
Agreement with Silicon Valley Bank dated as of July 2009 (as amended, the “SVB
Agreement” and collectively with the FGI Agreement, the “Factoring Loan
Agreements”) to factor all our domestic receivables up to $10 million in
the aggregate. As of May 10, 2010, the SVB Agreement also caps the
aggregate debt under both Factoring Loan Agreements to $17.5
million. Under the Factoring Loan Agreements we have guaranteed our
obligations thereunder and have pledged substantially all of our assets as
security. As of our fiscal year ended February 28, 2010, the
outstanding loan balances under the Factoring Loan Agreements were $10.4 million
in the aggregate. Also, we may incur additional debt in the future,
subject to certain limitations contained in our debt instruments.
The
degree to which we are leveraged and the restrictions governing this
indebtedness, such as a minimum Quick Ratio, (our cash and accounts receivable
divided by current liabilities) could have important consequences including, but
not limited to, the following:
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it
may limit our ability to service all of our debt
obligations;
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it
may impair our ability to incur additional indebtedness or obtain
additional financing in the future for working capital, capital
expenditures, acquisitions, general corporate purposes or other
purposes;
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some
of our debt is and will continue to be at variable rates of interest,
which may result in higher interest expense in the event of increases in
interest rates;
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our
debt agreements contain, and any agreements to refinance our debt likely
will contain, financial and restrictive covenants, and our failure to
comply with them may result in an event of default which, if not cured or
waived, could have a material adverse effect on
us;
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our
level of indebtedness will increase our vulnerability to general economic
downturns and adverse industry
conditions;
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our
debt service obligations could limit our flexibility in planning for, or
reacting to, changes in our business and our industry;
and
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it may limit our ability to
engage in certain transactions or capitalize on acquisition or other
business opportunities.
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The
Factoring Loan Agreements also have “material adverse change” provisions that
essentially grant the lenders broad discretion in determining whether to
accelerate the payment of all amounts due under the Factoring Loan Agreements
when adverse events occur with respect to our Company, its business, financial
condition, results of operation, assets, liabilities or prospects. As
of November 30, 2008 and February 28, 2009 we failed to comply with one or more
loan covenants under the loan agreement with Silicon Valley Bank which was the
predecessor to the Factoring Loan Agreements. We received a waiver from
Silicon Valley Bank for such non-compliances. We cannot assure that we
will not violate one or more loan covenants in the future. As we are in
violation of covenants in either of the Factoring Loan Agreements and do not
receive a waiver, the lender could choose to accelerate payment on all
outstanding loan balances. There can be no assurance that we would be able
to quickly obtain equivalent or suitable replacement financing in this event.
If we are unable to secure alternative sources of funding, such
acceleration would have a material adverse impact on our financial
condition.
To
service our debt, we will require cash and we may not be able to generate
sufficient cash flow from operations to satisfy these obligations or to
refinance these obligations on acceptable terms, or at all.
Our
ability to generate cash depends on many factors beyond our
control. Our ability to make payments on our debt and to fund working
capital requirements, capital expenditures and research and development efforts
will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future. Our
historical financial results have been, and we expect our future financial
results will be, subject to substantial fluctuation based upon a wide variety of
factors, many of which are not within our control including, among others, those
described in this section.
Unfavorable
changes in any of these factors could harm our operating results and our ability
to generate cash to service our debt obligations. If we do not
generate sufficient cash flow from operations to satisfy our debt obligations,
we may have to undertake alternative financing plans, such as refinancing or
restructuring our debt, selling assets, reducing or delaying capital investments
or seeking to raise additional capital. Also, certain of these
actions would require the consent of our lenders. The terms of our
financing agreements contain limitations on our ability to incur
debt. We cannot assure you that any refinancing would be possible,
that any assets could be sold, or, if sold, of the timing of the sales and the
amount of proceeds realized from those sales, or that additional financing could
be obtained on acceptable terms, if at all, or would be permitted under the
terms of our various debt instruments then in effect. Our inability
to generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our debt obligations, or to
refinance our obligations on commercially reasonable terms, would have an
adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
Risks
Related to our Common Stock
The
price of our common stock may be volatile and subject to wide
fluctuations.
The
market price of the securities of technology companies has been especially
volatile. In addition, our common stock was listed on the OTCBB since
January 14, 2009 and only recently began trading on The NASDAQ Capital Market on
April 23, 2010. Accordingly, we have an extremely limited history of
public trading of our common stock within the United States. Thus,
the market price of our common stock may be subject to wide
fluctuations. If our net sales do not increase or increase less than
we anticipate, or if operating or capital expenditures exceed our expectations
and cannot be adjusted accordingly, or if some other event adversely affects us,
the market price of our common stock could decline. Broad market and
industry factors may adversely affect the market price of our common stock,
regardless of our actual operating performance. Factors that could
cause fluctuations in our stock price may include, among other
things:
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§
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actual
or anticipated variations in quarterly operating
results;
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§
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changes
in financial estimates by us or by any securities analysts who might cover
our stock, or our failure to meet the estimates made by securities
analysts;
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§
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changes
in the market valuations of other companies operating in our
industry;
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§
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announcements
by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic
partnerships or divestitures;
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§
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additions
or departures of key personnel; and
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§
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a general downturn in the stock
market.
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The
market price of our stock also might decline in reaction to events that affect
other companies in our industry, even if these events do not directly affect us.
In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market
price of their stock have been the subject of securities class action
litigation. If we were to become the subject of securities class action
litigation, it could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s
attention and resources.
We
may experience significant period-to-period quarterly and annual fluctuations in
our net sales and operating results, which may result in volatility in our share
price.
We may
experience significant period-to-period fluctuations in our net sales and
operating results in the future due to a number of factors and any such
variations may cause our share price to fluctuate. It is likely that
in some future period our operating results will be below the expectations of
securities analysts or investors. If this occurs, our share price
could drop significantly.
A number
of factors, in addition to those cited in other risk factors applicable to our
business, may contribute to fluctuations in our sales and operating results,
including:
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§
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the
timing and volume of orders from our
customers;
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§
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the
rate of acceptance of our products by our customers, including the
acceptance of design wins;
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§
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the
demand for and life cycles of the products incorporating our
products;
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§
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the
rate of adoption of our products in the end markets we
target;
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§
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cancellations
or deferrals of customer orders in anticipation of new products or product
enhancements from us or our competitors or other
providers;
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§
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changes
in product mix; and
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§
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the
rate at which new markets emerge for products we are currently developing
or for which our design expertise can be utilized to develop products for
these new markets.
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The
sale of our outstanding common stock and exercise of outstanding warrants and
options are not subject to lock-up restrictions and may have an adverse effect
of the market price of the our stock.
As of our
fiscal year ended February 28, 2010, we had 60,990 shares of Series A preferred
stock outstanding (which were converted into 62,733 shares of common stock on
May 4, 2010), 21,278,643 shares of common stock outstanding, 2,779,111 options
to purchase an aggregate of 2,779,111 shares of common stock outstanding,
140,520 warrants to purchase an aggregate of 140,520 shares of Series A
preferred stock outstanding (which were converted into warrants to purchase
144,541 shares of common stock on May 4, 2010) and 142,564 warrants to purchase
an aggregate of 142,564 shares of common stock outstanding. Since
only 1,405,199 shares of our common stock are subject to lock-up restrictions,
we cannot assure investors that the holders of our stock will not sell
substantial amounts of their holdings of our stock. The sale or even
the possibility of sale of such stock or the stock underlying the options and
warrants could have an adverse effect on the market price for our securities or
on our ability to obtain a future public financing. If and to the
extent that warrants and/or options are exercised, stockholders could be
diluted.
Future
sales of shares could depress our share price.
As of our
fiscal year ended February 28, 2010, we had 21,278,643 shares of common
stock outstanding. On May 20, 2010 we expect to file a
registration statement with the SEC pursuant to which we would register the
resale of 5,244,105 shares of common stock, as well as shares issuable upon the
exercise of warrants, for a total of 8,338,866 shares of our common
stock. Sales by the Selling Stockholders (as defined in the
registration statement) thereunder, especially if in heavy volume and at the
same time, could negatively affect our stock price. Moreover, the
perception in the public market that these stockholders might sell our common
stock could depress the market price of the common
stock. Additionally, we may sell or issue shares of common stock in a
public offering or in connection with acquisitions, which will result in
additional dilution and may adversely affect market prices for our common
stock.
No
prediction can be made as to the precise effect, if any, that sales of shares of
our common stock or the availability of such shares for sale will have on the
market prices prevailing from time to time. Nevertheless, the
possibility that substantial amounts of common stock may be sold in the public
market may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our common stock and
could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of our equity
securities.
Anti-takeover
provisions in our organizational documents may discourage our acquisition by a
third party, which could limit your opportunity to sell your shares at a
premium.
Our
fourth amended and restated certificate of incorporation (“Certificate of
Incorporation”) includes provisions that could limit the ability of
others to acquire control of us, modify our structure or cause us to engage in
change of control transactions, including, among other things, provisions that
restrict the ability of our stockholders to call meetings and provisions that
authorize our board of directors, without action by our stockholders, to issue
additional common stock. These provisions could deter, delay or
prevent a third party from acquiring control of us in a tender offer or similar
transactions, even if such transaction would benefit our
stockholders.
Item
1B. Unresolved
Staff Comments
Not Applicable.
Item
2.
Properties
We lease
the following properties:
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Property
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Square Feet
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Lease Expiration
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Property Uses
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6373
San Ignacio Avenue
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41,000
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July
31, 2011
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-Corporate
Headquarters
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San
Jose, California, USA
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-General,
administrative, sales and
marketing
office
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-Research
and Development
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-Warehouse
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160
Konrad Crescent, Unit #1,
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3,375
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June
30, 2010
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-Sales
and marketing office
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Markham,
Ontario, Canada
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-Warehouse
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Kleveringweg
23, Unit 6
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3,229
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May
31, 2010
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-Sales
and marketing office
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Delft,
The Netherlands
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-Warehouse
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16F-3,
No. 700, Chung Cheng
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2,334
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August
31, 2011
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-Sales
and marketing office
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Road
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-Research
and Development
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Chung
Ho City, Taipei County
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-Purchasing
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Taiwan,
235, RoC
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No. 165,
Changrong Road,
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40,920
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June
15, 2011
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-Research
and Development
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Lujhu
Township, Taiwan RoC
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-Manufacturing
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-Warehouse
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5995
Avenida Encinas, Suite 101
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13,031
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March
31, 2012
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-Research
and Development
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Carlsbad,
California, USA
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-Warehouse
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We
consider each facility to be in good operating condition and adequate for its
present use, and believe that each facility has sufficient capacity to meet our
current and anticipated operating requirements.
Item
3.
Legal Proceedings
We are
from time to time involved in legal matters that arise in the normal course of
business. We do not believe that the ultimate resolution of any
current matters, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse
effect on our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
In 2009,
we received inquiries from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation regarding the potential re-export of our products from
the United Arab Emirates into Iran. We consequently launched an
internal investigation performed by outside counsel. The
investigation concluded that while between 2004 and 2008, we maintained a
relationship with a distributor in the United Arab Emirates, we have not found
any specific facts confirming these suspicions or any information about when
such re-exports would have occurred or who may have received the
products. However, we did provide approximately $500 in sales support
materials to the distributor in connection with a sales presentation in
Iran. We have terminated our relationship with this
distributor.
The
investigation separately discovered that in 2007 and 2008, in a total of three
instances, we sent one of our high speed Reaper memory module products free of
charge as either samples or replacement parts to individuals in Iran and an
individual who claimed an address in Cuba but subsequently changed the address
to one in Mexico.
We also
have received information that a distributor in Lebanon to whom we sold Neural
Impulse Actuators September 2008 may have re-exported one of these units into
Syria and in general was interested in distributing our products in Syria, but
we have not found specific facts confirming when such re-export would have
occurred or who may have received the product. We have terminated our
relationship with this distributor.
We have
voluntarily disclosed these transactions to the U.S. Department of Commerce and
the U.S. Department of the Treasury and have cooperated fully with requests for
information from these entities as well as the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. Should the U.S. government allege that we have
violated the Iranian Transaction Regulations and/or Export Administration
Regulations, the maximum fine for each violation that we could be subject to
would be the greater of $250,000 or two times the value of the illegal
transaction. Based on the list price of the products in question, we
believe the maximum fine per violation would be $250,000. We believe,
however, there is a good faith basis for leniency if any fines are assessed,
given the relatively small number of units and revenue at issue, our full
cooperation with the U.S. government and our immediate attention to rectifying
the underlying causes of the problems. As a result of the discovery
of these events, we have implemented more stringent export control procedures to
prevent inadvertent transfers and retransfers to sanctioned
countries.
Item
4.
(Removed and Reserved)
Part
II
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Item 5.
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Market
for Registrant’s Common
Equity. Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of
Equity Securities
|
From June
21, 2006 through April 1, 2009, our common stock was traded on the Alternative
Investment Market (“AIM”) of
the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “OCZ.” On January 14, 2010 our
common stock was listed on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board (“OTCBB”), and was traded on the
OTCBB from February 10, 2010 to April 22, 2010. Since April 23, 2010, our
common stock has been quoted on The NASDAQ Capital Market. The
quotations below reflect the high and low bid prices for our common stock since
May 31, 2007 as reported on AIM, OTCBB and The NASDAQ Capital Market, as
applicable. The quotations below reflect inter-dealer prices, without
retail mark-up, mark-down or commission and may not necessarily represent actual
transactions.
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The
NASDAQ Capital Market
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High
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Low
|
|
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2010:
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Period
of April 23 – May 14, 2010
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$ |
5.05 |
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$ |
3.75 |
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OTCBB
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High
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Low
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2010:
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Period
of March 1 – April 22, 2010
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$ |
6.00 |
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$ |
3.95 |
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Period
of January 14 – February 28, 2010
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$ |
6.25 |
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$ |
5.25 |
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AIM
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High
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Low
|
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2009:
|
|
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Period
of March 1 – April 1, 2009
|
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$ |
0.36 |
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$ |
0.12 |
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|
4th
Quarter (February 28, 2009)
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|
$ |
0.51 |
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$ |
0.11 |
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2008:
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
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3rd
Quarter (November 30, 2008)
|
|
$ |
0.65 |
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|
$ |
0.38 |
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2nd Quarter
(August 31, 2008)
|
|
$ |
1.25 |
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$ |
0.75 |
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1st Quarter
(May 31, 2008)
|
|
$ |
1.88 |
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$ |
0.90 |
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2
Month Period Ended February 29, 2008
|
|
$ |
2.28 |
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|
$ |
1.48 |
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|
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|
|
|
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|
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2007:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4th
Quarter (December 31, 2007)
|
|
$ |
7.28 |
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|
$ |
2.10 |
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|
3rd
Quarter (September 30, 2007)
|
|
$ |
9.72 |
|
|
$ |
6.00 |
|
|
2nd Quarter
(June 30, 2007)
|
|
$ |
8.78 |
|
|
$ |
5.65 |
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The
closing sales price for our common stock on May 14, 2010 was $4.04, as
reported by The NASDAQ Capital Market.
As of our
fiscal year ended February 28, 2010 we have approximately 167 stockholders
and 130 holders of outstanding options.
As of our
fiscal year ended February 28, 2010, 60,990 shares of our Series A preferred
stock (which were converted into 62,733 shares of common stock on May 4, 2010),
21,278,643 shares of our common stock, and 2,779,111 shares of our common stock
subject to options were issued and outstanding. In addition, there
were warrants to purchase (i) 140,520 shares of our Series A preferred stock at
an exercise price of $5.00 per share, and (ii) 142,564 shares of our common
stock at exercise prices ranging between $2.25 and $3.90 and an average exercise
price of $2.80 per share outstanding.
Dividends
We have
not paid any dividends on any of our shares to date, and we do not anticipate
declaring or paying any dividends on our common stock. Any future
determination as to the declaration and payment of dividends, if any, will be at
the discretion of our Board of Directors (the “Board”)
and will be contingent upon our then existing conditions, operating results,
revenues and earnings, if any, contractual restrictions, capital requirements,
business prospects and general financial condition, and other factors our Board
may deem relevant. The payment of any dividends will also be subject
to the requirements of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) and
certain restrictions contained in the Factoring Loan Agreements for our credit
lines from Silicon Valley Bank and Faunus Group International. For as
long as such agreements remain in effect, we would need both lenders’ written
consent before making a cash dividend payment. There are currently no
restrictions that materially limit our ability to pay stock dividends, or that
we reasonably believe are likely to limit materially the future payment of stock
dividends.
Equity
Compensation Plan Information
In
December 2004, our Board adopted and our stockholders approved a stock incentive
plan with 1,800,000 shares of common stock authorized for issuance (the “Stock Incentive
Plan”). The shares subject to the Stock Incentive Plan was
subsequently increased to 5,232,873. The shares to be purchased are
subject to forfeiture conditions, rights of repurchase, rights of first refusal
and other transfer restrictions as the Board may determine. The
purpose of the Stock Incentive Plan is to offer selected providers the
opportunity to acquire equity in OCZ through awards of options over common stock
(which may constitute incentive stock options (an “ISO”) or
non-statutory stock options (an “NSO”)) and
the award or sale of common stock. The options granted will expire in
a term not to exceed 10 years.
The
following table summarizes our equity compensation plans as of our fiscal year
ended February 28, 2010: