UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
 
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
x
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
 
For the fiscal year ended December 26, 2015.
 
or
¨
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
 
For the transition period from                      to                    .
Commission File Number 000-06217
 
INTEL CORPORATION
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware
 
94-1672743
State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization
 
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)
 
 
 
2200 Mission College Boulevard, Santa Clara, California
 
95054-1549
(Address of principal executive offices)
 
(Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code (408) 765-8080
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class
 
Name of each exchange on which registered
Common stock, $0.001 par value
 
The NASDAQ Global Select Market*
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None
 
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes x  No ¨
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 ¨  No x
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 whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate website, if any, every interactive data file required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 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 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.    ¨
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 the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer  x
 
Accelerated filer  ¨
 
Non-accelerated filer  ¨
 
Smaller reporting company  ¨
 
 

 
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)
 
 
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes ¨  No x
Aggregate market value of voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 26, 2015, based upon the closing price of the common stock as reported by The NASDAQ Global Select Market on such date, was
$147.3 billion
4,724 million shares of common stock outstanding as of February 5, 2016
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the registrant’s proxy statement related to its 2016 Annual Stockholders’ Meeting to be filed subsequently are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Except as expressly incorporated by reference, the registrant’s proxy statement shall not be deemed to be part of this report.


INTEL CORPORATION
 
FORM 10-K
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 26, 2015
INDEX
 
  
Page
 
Item 1.
Item 1A.
Item 1B.
Item 2.
Item 3.
Item 4.
 
Item 5.
Item 6.
Item 7.
Item 7A.
Item 8.
Item 9.
Item 9A.
Item 9B.
 
Item 10.
Item 11.
Item 12.
Item 13.
Item 14.
 
Item 15.

Table of Contents


PART I



ITEM 1.
BUSINESS
Company Overview
We are a leader in the design and manufacturing of advanced integrated digital technology platforms. A platform consists of a microprocessor and chipset, and may be enhanced by additional hardware, software, and services. We sell these platforms primarily to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), original design manufacturers (ODMs), and industrial and communications equipment manufacturers in the computing and communications industries. Our platforms are used across the compute continuum, in notebooks (including Ultrabook™ devices), 2 in 1 systems, desktops, servers, tablets, phones, and the Internet of Things (including wearables, retail devices, and manufacturing devices). We also develop and sell software and services primarily focused on security and technology integration. We were incorporated in California in 1968 and reincorporated in Delaware in 1989.
Company Strategy
Our vision is if it is smart and connected, it is best with Intel®. As a result, our strategy is to offer complete and connected platform computing solutions, consisting of both hardware and software, and to continue to drive "Moore’s Law." Through enhanced energy-efficient performance, connectivity, and security, we enable platform solutions that span the compute continuum, from high-performance computing systems running trillions of operations per second to embedded applications consuming milliwatts of power.
The boundaries of computing itself are expanding, with billions of devices connected to the Internet and to one another. Computing is becoming increasingly personal and enhancing nearly all aspects of life, an evolution that we refer to as the "personalization of compute." As the personalization of compute continues, we believe the following three key assumptions are critical to our strategy:
•
sensification of compute - as computing becomes increasingly personal, users will demand that it capture the human senses such as sight, sound, and touch;
•
smart and connected - more and more devices will be able to process data and connect to the cloud, other devices, or people; and
•
extension of you - increasingly personal digital devices and their many form factors will become even more ubiquitous in our lives.

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These assumptions drive us to develop complete and connected platform solutions and compelling user experiences. These assumptions also drive synergistic growth in our Data Center Group, Internet of Things Group, and Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group operating segments.
As more devices become smart and connected, specifically in the Internet of Things (IOT), there is greater demand for data centers to not only connect these devices, but also to capture and analyze the data they create. In addition, improvements in memory technology are enabling faster and more efficient microprocessors. We call the cycle of growth that occurs as these three market segments feed each other the “Virtuous Cycle of Growth.” As we execute to our strategy, these market segments will continue to have greater impact on our results and our future as a company.
We expect that our acquisition of Altera Corporation (Altera), completed subsequent to fiscal year-end 2015, will benefit this cycle of growth. The Altera acquisition is an example of our efforts to expand our reach within the compute continuum, as we believe that combining our leading-edge products and manufacturing process with Altera's leading field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology will enable new classes of platforms that meet customer needs in the data center and Internet of Things market segments.
Virtuous Cycle of Growth
To succeed in this changing computing environment, we have the following key objectives:
•
relentlessly pursue Moore's Law to maximize and extend our manufacturing technology leadership;
•
strive to ensure that Intel® technology is the best choice across the compute continuum and across any operating system;
•
enable smart and connected devices through continued development of industry-leading communications and connectivity technology;
•
expand platforms into adjacent market segments to bring compelling new platform solutions and user experiences to form factors across the compute continuum;
•
increase the utilization of our investments in intellectual property and research and development (R&D) across all market segments;
•
expand the data center, the Internet of Things, and next-generation memory;
•
scale our manufacturing capabilities into foundry; and
•
strive to increase the diversity and inclusion of our workforce, reduce the environmental footprint of our products and operations, and be an asset to the communities where we conduct business.
We use our core assets to meet these objectives. We believe that applying our core assets to our key objectives provides us with the scale, capacity, and global reach to establish new technologies and respond to customers’ needs quickly. Our core assets and key objectives include the following:
•
Silicon and Manufacturing Technology Leadership. We have long been a leader in silicon process technology and manufacturing, and we aim to continue our lead through investment and innovation in this critical area. Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted, in what has become known as Moore's Law, that transistor density on integrated circuits would double about every two years. We continue executing to Moore’s Law by enabling new devices with higher functionality and complexity while controlling power, cost, and size. In keeping with Moore's Law, we drive a regular and predictable upgrade cycle—introducing the next generation of silicon process technology approximately every two to three years. Through this cycle, we continue to push progress by designing and putting transistor innovations into high-volume production. We aim to have the best process technology, and unlike many semiconductor companies, we primarily manufacture our products in our own facilities. This in-house manufacturing capability enables us to optimize performance, shorten our time-to-market, and scale new products more rapidly. We believe this competitive advantage will be extended in the future as the costs to build leading-edge fabrication facilities increase, and as fewer semiconductor companies will be able to leverage platform design and manufacturing.

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•
Architecture and Platforms. We believe that users want consistent computing experiences and interoperable devices, and that users and developers value consistency of a standardized architecture. This standardized architecture provides a common framework that results in shortened time-to-market, increased innovation, and the ability to leverage technologies across multiple form factors. We have an advantage over most competitors because we are able to share intellectual property across our platforms and operating segments, which reduces our costs and provides a higher return on capital in our growth market segments (e.g., the data center, Internet of Things, and memory). The combination of our shared intellectual property portfolio and our interchangeable manufacturing and assembly and test assets allows us to seamlessly shift our production capabilities to respond to market demand. We believe that we can meet the needs of users and developers by offering complete solutions across the compute continuum through our partnership with the industry on open, standards-based platform innovation around Intel® architecture. We continue to invest in improving Intel architecture to deliver increased value to our customers and expand the capabilities of the architecture in adjacent market segments. For example, we focus on delivering improved energy-efficient performance, which involves balancing higher performance with the lowest power. In addition, the personalization of compute continues to drive our strategy as we focus on technologies such as perceptual computing, which brings exciting experiences through devices that sense, perceive, and interact with the user’s actions.
•
Software and Services. We offer software and services that provide solutions through a combination of hardware and software for consumer and corporate environments. Additionally, we seek to enable and advance the computing ecosystem by providing development tools and support to assist software developers in creating software applications that take advantage of our platforms. We seek to expedite growth in various market segments through our software offerings. We continue to collaborate with companies to develop software platforms that are optimized for Intel® processors, and that support multiple hardware architectures and operating systems.
•
Security. Through our expertise in hardware and software, we are able to embed security into many facets of computing and bring unique hardware, software, and end-to-end security solutions to the market. We offer proactive solutions and services to help secure the world’s most critical systems and networks. Additionally, through our McAfee® security products, we protect consumers and businesses of all sizes by helping detect and eliminate ever-evolving security threats.
•
Customer Orientation. We focus on providing compelling user experiences by developing our next generation of products based on customer needs and expectations. In turn, our products help enable the design and development of new user experiences, form factors, and usage models for businesses and consumers. For example, we enhance the computing experience by providing Intel® RealSense™ technology, password elimination, and our next-generation Thunderbolt™ 3 technology. Our latest Thunderbolt technology significantly increases the speed at which data and video can be transferred on a single cable, while simultaneously supplying power. We offer platforms that incorporate various components and capabilities designed and configured to work together to provide an optimized solution that customers can easily integrate into their products. Additionally, we have entered into strategic partnerships across multiple industries with a variety of manufacturers, including: Microsoft Corporation; Fossil Group, Inc.; LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE; SMS Audio, LLC; Opening Ceremony, LLC; and others. Furthermore, we promote industry standards that we believe will yield innovation and improved technologies for users.

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•
Acquisitions and Strategic Investments. In Q1 2016, we completed the acquisition of Altera. Altera is a global semiconductor company that designs and sells programmable semiconductors and related products, including programmable logic devices—which incorporate FPGAs and complex programmable logic devices—and highly integrated System-on-Chip (SoC) devices. As a result of the acquisition, we expect to integrate approximately 3,000 Altera employees. The acquisition of Altera reflects our strategy to drive Moore's Law and fuel growth in the data center and Internet of Things market segments. As we develop future platforms, the integration of PLDs into our platform solutions will improve the overall performance and lower the cost of ownership for our customers. Additionally, we make investments in companies around the world that we believe will further our vision, mission, and strategic objectives; support our key business initiatives; and generate financial returns. Our investments—including those made through Intel Capital—generally focus on companies and initiatives that we believe will stimulate growth in the digital economy, create new business opportunities for Intel, and expand global markets for our products. During 2015, we invested $966 million in Beijing UniSpreadtrum Technology Ltd. (UniSpreadtrum), a holding company under Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd. (an operating subsidiary of Tsinghua Holdings Co. Ltd.), to, among other things, jointly develop Intel architecture-based and communications-based solutions for phones. Additionally, we plan to continue to purchase and license intellectual property to support our current and expanding business.
•
Corporate Responsibility. Diversity and inclusion are integral parts of Intel's competitive strategy and vision. In January 2015, Intel announced the Diversity in Technology initiative, setting a goal to achieve higher representation of women and underrepresented minorities in Intel's U.S. workforce by 2020. We are also investing $300 million to help build the STEM pipeline, to support hiring and retaining more women and underrepresented minorities, and to fund programs to support more positive representation within the technology and gaming industries. We are committed to empowering people and expanding economic opportunity through education and technology, driven by our corporate and Intel Foundation programs, policy leadership, and collaborative engagements. In addition, we strive to cultivate an inclusive work environment in which engaged, energized employees can thrive in their jobs and in their communities. We work to develop energy-efficient technology solutions that can be used to address major global problems while reducing our environmental impact. We have also led the industry on the "conflict minerals" issue and have worked extensively since 2008 to put in place processes and systems to develop ethical sourcing of tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold for Intel and to prevent profits from the sale of those minerals from funding conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and adjoining countries.
We strive to strengthen our competitive position as we enter and expand into adjacent market segments. These market segments change rapidly, and we need to adapt to new environments. A key characteristic of these adjacent market segments is low power consumption based on SoC products. We are making significant investments in this area with the accelerated development of our SoC solutions based on the 64-bit Intel® Atom™ microarchitecture and Intel® Quark™ technology. We are also optimizing our server products for energy-efficient performance, as we believe that increased Internet traffic and the use of mobile devices, the Internet of Things, and data center applications have created the need for improved data center infrastructure and energy efficiency.

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Business Organization
In Q1 2015, we made changes in our organizational structure to reflect our strategy to address all aspects of the client computing market segment and utilize our intellectual property to offer compelling customer solutions. As of December 26, 2015, we manage our business through the following operating segments:
For a description of our operating segments, see "Note 26: Operating Segments and Geographic Information" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Products
Platforms
We offer platforms that incorporate various components and technologies, including a microprocessor and chipset, a stand-alone SoC, or a multichip package. A platform may be enhanced by additional hardware, software, and services.
A microprocessor—the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer system—processes system data and controls other devices in the system. We offer microprocessors with one or multiple processor cores. Multi-core microprocessors can enable improved multitasking and energy-efficient performance by distributing computing tasks across two or more cores. In addition, many of our processor families integrate graphics functionality onto the processor die.
A chipset sends data between the microprocessor and input, display, and storage devices, such as the keyboard, mouse, monitor, hard drive or solid-state drive, and optical disc drives. Chipsets extend the audio, video, and other capabilities of many systems and perform essential logic functions, such as balancing the performance of the system and removing bottlenecks.
We offer and continue to develop SoC products that integrate our CPUs with other system components, such as graphics, audio, imaging, communication and connectivity, and video, onto a single chip. SoC products are designed to reduce total cost of ownership, provide improved performance due to higher integration and the lowest power, and enable form factors such as tablets, phones, Ultrabook devices, and 2 in 1 systems, as well as notebooks, desktops, data center products, and the Internet of Things.
We offer a multichip package that integrates the chipset on one die, with the CPU and graphics on another die, connected via a lower-power, on-package interface. Similar to an SoC, the multichip package can provide improved performance due to higher integration coupled with the lowest power consumption, which enables smaller form factors. In 2015, we released our 6th generation Intel® Core™ processor, formerly code-named Skylake.

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We also offer features designed to improve our platform capabilities, such as:
•
Intel vPro™ technology, a solution for manageability, security, and business user experiences in the notebook, desktop, and 2 in 1 systems and select Internet of Things market segments. Intel vPro technology is designed to provide businesses with increased manageability, upgradeability, energy-efficient performance, and security while lowering the total cost of ownership;
•
Intel RealSense technology, which—in conjunction with the latest Intel processors—enables a device to perceive depth similar to how a person does. This technology brings new opportunities for the personalization of compute to evolve; and
•
True Key™ technology, which allows users to access devices through facial recognition and other biometric technologies, thereby eliminating the need for log-in passwords.

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We offer a range of platforms based upon the following microprocessors:
Intel Security Products
Through our McAfee products, we deliver innovative solutions that secure computers, mobile devices, and networks. Our security solutions follow the threat defense life cycle (protect, detect, correct) to defend consumers, small businesses, and enterprises from malware and emerging online threats. In 2015, Intel launched McAfee® Endpoint Security 10.X, which enables customers to tackle the threat defense life cycle with reduced complexity and better performance. McAfee Endpoint Security 10.X introduces a new platform built to enable real-time communication between threat defenses for more effective protection against emerging threats.

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Communication and Connectivity
Our communication and connectivity offerings for tablets, phones, and other connected devices include baseband processors, radio frequency transceivers, and power management integrated circuits. We also offer comprehensive tablet, phone, and Internet of Things solutions, which include multimode 4G LTE* modems, Bluetooth® technology and GPS receivers, software solutions, customization, and essential interoperability tests.
Non-Volatile Memory Solutions
We offer NAND flash memory products primarily used in solid-state drives. Our NAND flash memory products are manufactured by IM Flash Technologies, LLC (IMFT) and Micron Technology, Inc. (Micron). In 2015, Intel announced 3D XPoint™ technology, a non-volatile memory that has the potential to revolutionize devices, applications, or services that benefit from fast access to large sets of data. Jointly developed with Micron, 3D XPoint technology combines the performance, density, power, non-volatility, and cost advantages of existing NAND and conventional memories like DRAM.
Intel Custom Foundry
We offer manufacturing technologies and design services for our customers. Our foundry offerings include full custom silicon, packaging, and manufacturing test services. We also provide semi-custom services to tailor Intel architecture-based solutions with customers' intellectual property blocks. To enable our customers to use our custom foundry services, we offer industry-standard design kits, intellectual property blocks, and design services.
Products and Product Strategy by Operating Segment
Our Client Computing Group (CCG) operating segment is responsible for all aspects of the client computing continuum, which includes platforms that are incorporated in notebook (including Ultrabook devices), 2 in 1 systems, desktop computers for consumers and businesses, tablets, and phones. In addition, CCG offers home gateway products and set-top box components, and focuses on a broad range of wireless connectivity options that combine Intel® WiFi technology with our 2G and 3G technologies and accelerate industry adoption of 4G LTE. We have an array of innovative wired solutions such as Thunderbolt technology and client Ethernet solutions.
In 2015, we released the 6th generation Intel Core processor family for use in notebooks and desktops. These processors use 14-nanometer (nm) transistors and our Tri-Gate transistor technology. Our Tri-Gate transistor technology extends Moore’s Law by providing improved performance and energy efficiency. In combination, these enhancements can provide significant power savings and performance gains when compared to previous-generation processors.
In mobile communications, we expanded our product portfolio with the release of our Intel® Atom™ x5 and x7 processors, formerly code named Cherry Trail and designed for mainstream and premium tablet platforms. These processors may be paired with our second-generation 4G LTE solution, featuring CAT6 and carrier aggregation. We also released our Intel® Atom™ x3 processor, formerly coded named SoFIA 3G, our first integrated baseband and SoC application processor designed for entry and value phone and tablet platforms.
Notebook
Our strategy for the notebook computing market segment is to offer notebook technologies designed to bring exciting new user experiences to life and improve performance, battery life, wireless connectivity, manageability, and security. In addition, we design for innovative smaller, lighter, and thinner form factors. Our 6th generation Intel Core processor continues to deliver or enable increasing levels of performance, graphics, and energy efficiency, and will provide our customers and end users with multiple choices in processor cores, graphic performance, and battery life.
We have worked to help our customers develop a new class of personal computing devices that includes Ultrabook devices and 2 in 1 systems. These computers combine the energy-efficient performance and capabilities of today’s notebooks and tablets with enhanced graphics and improved user interfaces such as touch and voice in thin, light form factors that are highly responsive and secure, and that can seamlessly connect to the Internet. We believe the renewed innovation in the PC industry that we fostered with Ultrabook devices and expanded to 2 in 1 systems will continue.

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Desktop
Our strategy for the desktop computing market segment is to offer exciting new user experiences and products that provide increased manageability, security, and energy-efficient performance. For example, in 2015 we introduced a new user experience in the Intel® Compute Stick, a device that allows users to transform HDMI-capable monitors or TVs into complete computers to get the most out of their display devices. We also focus on lowering the total cost of ownership for businesses. The desktop computing market segment includes all-in-one products, which combine traditionally separate desktop components into one form factor. Additionally, all-in-one computers have transformed into portable and flexible form factors that offer users increased portability and new multi-user applications and uses. For desktop consumers, we also focus on the design of products for high-end enthusiast PCs and mainstream PCs with rapidly increasing audio and media capabilities.
Our Data Center Group (DCG) operating segment offers products designed to provide leading energy-efficient performance for all server, network, and storage platforms. In addition, DCG focuses on lowering the total cost of ownership and on other specific optimizations for the enterprise, cloud, communications infrastructure, and technical computing segments. In 2015, we launched the Intel® Xeon® processor D family, our first Intel Xeon processor-based SoC product family, which extends our portfolio for network, storage, and high-density servers. In addition, we launched the Intel Xeon processor E7 v3 family, targeted at platforms requiring four or more CPUs; this processor family delivers performance advancements over previous generations, along with industry-leading reliability, availability, and serviceability. We also released the Intel Xeon processor E3 v5 family on our 14nm process technology, targeted for entry-level servers and workstations. In 2016, we expect to release our next-generation Intel Xeon E5 and E7 families on our 14nm process technology. Additionally, we expect to release in 2016 our next-generation Intel® Xeon Phi™ product family, code-named "Knights Landing," with up to 72 high-performance Intel processor cores, integrated memory and fabric, and a common software programming model with Intel Xeon processors. Knights Landing is designed for highly parallel compute- and memory bandwidth-intensive workloads. Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors are positioned to increase the performance of supercomputers, enabling trillions of calculations per second, and to address emerging data analytics solutions. 
Our Internet of Things Group (IOTG) operating segment offers platforms designed for retail, transportation, industrial, buildings and home use, along with a broad range of other market segments. In addition, IOTG focuses on establishing an end-to-end manageable architecture that captures actionable information for consumers. In 2015, we announced three new Intel Quark processors, including the Intel® Quark™ SE SoC and the Intel Quark microcontrollers D1000 and D2000.
Our software and services operating segments seek to create differentiated user experiences on Intel®-based platforms. We differentiate by combining Intel platform features with enhanced software and services, and partnering closely with the external software developer ecosystem. Our three primary initiatives are:
•
enabling platforms that can be used across multiple operating systems, applications, and services across all Intel products;
•
optimizing features and performance by enabling the software ecosystem to quickly take advantage of new platform features and capabilities; and
•
protecting consumers, small businesses, and enterprises from malware and emerging online threats.

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Revenue by Major Operating Segment
Net revenue for the Client Computing Group (CCG) operating segment, the Data Center Group (DCG) operating segment, the Internet of Things Group (IOTG) operating segment, and the aggregated software and services (SSG) operating segments is presented as a percentage of our consolidated net revenue. SSG includes Intel Security Group and the Software and Services Group operating segments. The "all other" category consists primarily of revenue from the Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group (NSG) and the New Devices Group operating segments.
Percentage of Revenue by Major Operating Segment
(Dollars in Millions)
Percentage of Revenue by Principal Product from Reportable Segments
(Dollars in Millions)

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Competition
The computing industry continuously evolves with new and enhanced technologies and products from existing and new providers. The marketplace can change quickly in response to the introduction of such technologies and products and other factors such as changes in customer and end-user requirements, expectations, and preferences. As technologies evolve and new market segments emerge, the boundaries between the market segments that we compete in are also subject to change.
Intel faces significant competition in the development and market acceptance of our products in this environment. Our platforms, based on Intel architecture, are positioned to compete across the compute continuum, from the lowest power and mobile devices to the most powerful data center servers. Our platforms, which have integrated hardware and software, offer customers benefits such as ease of use, savings in total cost of ownership, and the ability to scale systems to accommodate increased usage.
Competitors
We compete against other companies that make and sell platforms, other silicon components, and software to businesses that build and sell computing and communications devices to end users. Our competitors also include companies that sell goods and services to businesses that use them for their internal and/or customer-facing processes (e.g., businesses running large data centers). In addition, we face competition from OEMs, ODMs, and other industrial and communications equipment manufacturers that, to some degree, choose to vertically integrate their own proprietary semiconductor and software assets. By doing so, these competitors may be attempting to offer greater differentiation in their products and to increase their share of the profits for each finished product they sell. Continuing changes in industry participants through, for example, acquisitions or business collaborations could also have a significant impact on our competitive position.
In the PC market segment, we are a leading provider of platforms for traditional desktops and notebooks. We face existing and emerging competition in these product areas. Tablets, phones, and other mobile devices offered by numerous vendors are significant competitors to traditional PCs for many usages. We are relatively recent providers of platforms for tablets and phones, and face strong competition from vendors that use applications processors based on the ARM* architecture; feature low-power, long battery-life operation; and are built in SoC formats that integrate numerous functions on one chip.
In the data center market segment, we are a leading provider of data center platforms and face competition from companies using ARM architecture or other technologies. Internet cloud computing, storage, and networking are areas of significant targeted growth for us in the data center segment, and we face strong competition in these market segments.
In the Internet of Things market segment, we have a long-standing position as a supplier of components and software for embedded products. This marketplace continues to significantly expand with increasing types and numbers of smart and connected devices for industrial, commercial, and consumer uses such as wearables. As this market segment evolves, we face numerous large and small incumbent competitors as well as new entrants that use ARM architecture and other operating systems and software.
Our security business operates in highly competitive, fragmented, and rapidly changing market segments. We are a major provider of cybersecurity products and services to both businesses and consumers. For businesses, we compete with companies selling individual point security products and companies selling multiple security products. We offer to businesses a portfolio of products that are integrated into a comprehensive security solution. For consumers, we primarily compete against other major security companies and providers of free security products. Our consumer offerings are designed to protect user data, identity, and devices across the compute continuum.
In the memory market segment, we compete against other providers of NAND flash memory products. We focus our efforts primarily on incorporating NAND flash memory into solution products, such as solid-state drives supporting consumer and enterprise applications. We believe that our memory offerings, including innovative developments such as 3D XPoint technology, will complement our other product offerings in our other segments.
Our products primarily compete based on performance, energy efficiency, integration, innovative design, features, price, quality, reliability, brand recognition, technical support, and availability. The importance of these factors varies by the type of end system for the products. For example, performance might be among the most important factors for our products for data center servers, while price and integration might be among the most important factors for our products for tablets, phones, and other mobile devices.

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Competitive Advantages
Our key competitive advantages include:
•
Transitions to next-generation technologies. We have a market lead in transitioning to the next-generation process technology and bringing products to market using such technology. Our products utilizing our 14nm process technology are in the market and we are continuing to work on the development of our next-generation 10nm process technology. We believe that these advancements will offer significant improvements in one or more of the following areas: performance, new features, energy efficiency, and cost.
•
Combination of our network of manufacturing and assembly and test facilities with our global architecture design teams. We have made significant capital and R&D investments into our integrated manufacturing network, which enables us to have more direct control over our design, development, and manufacturing processes; quality control; product cost; production timing; performance; power consumption; and manufacturing yield. The increased cost of constructing new fabrication facilities to support smaller transistor geometries and larger wafers has led to a reduced number of companies that can build and equip leading-edge manufacturing facilities. Most of our competitors rely on third-party foundries and subcontractors for manufacturing and assembly and test needs. We provide foundry services as an alternative to such foundries.
•
Products optimized to operate on multiple operating systems. Through our collaboration with our customers and other third parties, many of our products can operate on multiple operating systems in end-user products and platforms.
Manufacturing and Assembly and Test
As of December 26, 2015, 55% of our wafer fabrication, including microprocessors and chipsets, was conducted within the U.S. at our facilities in Arizona, Oregon, and New Mexico. Our Massachusetts fabrication facility was our last manufacturing facility on 200 millimeter (mm) wafers and ceased production in Q1 2015. The remaining 45% of our wafer fabrication was conducted outside the U.S. at our facilities in Ireland, Israel, and China. Our fabrication facility in Ireland has transitioned to our 14nm process technology, with manufacturing continuing to ramp in 2016. Wafer fabrication conducted within and outside the U.S. may be impacted by the timing of a facility’s transition to a newer process technology, as well as a facility’s capacity utilization.
As of December 26, 2015, we manufactured our products in wafer fabrication facilities at the following locations:
Products
 
Wafer Size
 
Process Technology
 
Locations
Microprocessors and other products
 
300mm
 
14nm
 
Arizona, Oregon, Ireland
Microprocessors and other products
 
300mm
 
22nm
 
Israel, Arizona, Oregon
Microprocessors and chipsets
 
300mm
 
32nm
 
New Mexico
Microprocessors
 
300mm
 
45nm
 
New Mexico
Microprocessors and chipsets
 
300mm
 
65nm
 
China
As of December 26, 2015, our microprocessors were manufactured on 300mm wafers, with a substantial majority manufactured using our 14nm, 22nm, and 32nm process technologies. As we move to each succeeding generation of manufacturing process technology, we incur significant start-up costs to prepare each factory for manufacturing. However, continuing to advance our process technology provides benefits that we believe justify these costs. The benefits of moving to each succeeding generation of manufacturing process technology can include using less space per transistor, reducing heat output from each transistor, and increasing the number of integrated features on each chip. These advancements can enable us to introduce new devices with higher functionality and complexity while controlling power, cost, and size. In addition, with each shift to a new process technology, we are able to produce more microprocessors per square foot of our wafer fabrication facilities. The costs to develop newer process technologies are significantly less than adding capacity by building additional wafer fabrication facilities using older process technologies.
We use third-party foundries to manufacture wafers for certain components, including communications, connectivity, and networking products. For example, the Intel Atom x3 processor is fabricated by a third-party foundry. In addition, we primarily use subcontractors to manufacture board-level products and systems. We purchase certain communications and connectivity products from external vendors primarily in the Asia-Pacific region.
Following the manufacturing process, the majority of our components are subject to assembly and test. We perform our components assembly and test at facilities in Malaysia, China, and Vietnam. To augment capacity, we use subcontractors to perform assembly and test of certain products, primarily chipsets and communications and connectivity products.

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Our NAND flash memory products are manufactured by IMFT and Micron using 20nm or 25nm process technology, and assembly and test of these products is performed by Micron and other external subcontractors. For further information, see "Note 5: Cash and Investments" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K. Additionally, in the second half of 2016, we will start using our facility in Dalian, China to help expand our manufacturing capacity in next-generation memory. The expansion is part of our multi-source supply strategy and will allow us to best serve our customers.
Our employment and operating practices are consistent with, and we expect our suppliers and subcontractors to abide by, local country law. Intel expects all suppliers to comply with our Code of Conduct and the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) Code of Conduct, both of which set standards that address the rights of workers to safe and healthy working conditions, environmental responsibility, compliance with privacy and data security obligations, and compliance with applicable laws.
We have thousands of suppliers, including subcontractors, providing our various materials, equipment, and service needs. We set expectations for supplier performance and reinforce those expectations with periodic assessments and audits. We communicate those expectations to our suppliers regularly and work with them to implement improvements when necessary. Where possible, we seek to have several sources of supply for all of these materials and resources, but we may rely on a single or limited number of suppliers, or upon suppliers in a single country. In those cases, we develop and implement plans and actions to reduce the exposure that would result from a disruption in supply. We have entered into long-term contracts with certain suppliers to help ensure a stable supply of silicon and semiconductor manufacturing tools.
Our products are typically manufactured at multiple Intel facilities around the world or by subcontractors. However, some products are manufactured in only one Intel or subcontractor facility, and we seek to implement action plans to reduce the exposure that would result from a disruption at any such facility. See "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of this Form 10-K.

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Research and Development
We are committed to investing in world-class technology development, particularly in the design and manufacture of integrated circuits. R&D expenditures were $12.1 billion in 2015 ($11.5 billion in 2014 and $10.6 billion in 2013).
Our R&D activities are directed toward the delivery of solutions consisting of hardware and software platforms and supporting services across a wide range of computing devices. We are focused on developing the technology innovations that we believe will deliver our next generation of products, which will in turn enable new form factors and usage models for businesses and consumers. We focus our R&D efforts on advanced computing technologies, developing new microarchitectures, advancing our silicon manufacturing process technology, delivering the next generation of platforms, improving our platform initiatives, developing new solutions in emerging technologies (including memory and the Internet of Things), and developing software solutions and tools. Our R&D efforts are intended to enable new levels of performance and address areas such as energy efficiency, system-level integration, security, scalability for multi-core architectures, system manageability, and ease of use.
As part of our R&D efforts, we plan to introduce a new Intel Core microarchitecture for desktops, notebooks (including Ultrabook devices and 2 in 1 systems), and Intel Xeon processors on a regular cadence. We expect to lengthen the amount of time we will utilize our 14nm and our next-generation 10nm process technologies, further optimizing our products and process technologies while meeting the yearly market cadence for product introductions.
Advances in our silicon technology have enabled us to continue making Moore’s Law a reality. In 2014, we began manufacturing our 5th generation Intel Core processor family using our 14nm process technology. In 2015, we released a new microarchitecture (our 6th generation Intel Core processor family), using our 14nm process technology. We also plan to introduce a third 14nm product, code-named "Kaby Lake." This product will have key performance enhancements as compared to our 6th generation Intel Core processor family. We are also developing 10nm manufacturing process technology, our next-generation process technology.
We have continued expanding on the advances anticipated by Moore’s Law by bringing new capabilities into silicon and producing new products optimized for a wider variety of applications. We expect these advances will result in a significant reduction in transistor leakage, lower active power, and an increase in transistor density to enable more smaller form factors, such as powerful, feature-rich phones and tablets with a longer battery life. For instance, we have accelerated the Intel Atom processor-based SoC roadmap for our mobile form factors (including tablets and phones), notebooks (including Ultrabook devices and 2 in 1 systems), the Internet of Things, and data center applications, on our 32nm, 22nm, and 14nm process technologies. In addition, we offer the Intel Quark SoC, an ultra-low-power and low-cost architecture designed for the Internet of Things such as industrial machines and wearable devices.
With our continued focus on silicon and manufacturing technology leadership, we entered into a series of agreements with ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) in 2012, certain of which were amended in 2014 to further define the commercial terms between the parties. These amended agreements, in which Intel agreed to provide R&D funding over five years, are intended to accelerate the development of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography projects and deep ultraviolet immersion lithography projects, including generic developments applicable to both 300mm and 450mm.

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Our R&D activities range from designing and developing new products and manufacturing processes to researching future technologies and products. We continue to make significant R&D investments in the development of SoC devices to enable growth in mobile form factors. In addition, we continue to make significant investments in communications and connectivity for tablets, phones, and other connected devices, including multimode LTE modems. Our investment in Cloudera, Inc. (Cloudera), completed in 2014, is evidence of our drive to bring big data analytics to the mainstream market through the joining of Cloudera's software platform and our data center architecture based on Intel Xeon processors. We also continue to invest in leading-edge foundry platforms and ecosystem partner development, graphics, high-performance computing, and communication and connectivity.
Our R&D model is based on a global organization that emphasizes a collaborative approach to identifying and developing new technologies, leading standards initiatives, and influencing regulatory policies to accelerate the adoption of new technologies, including joint pathfinding conducted between researchers at Intel Labs and our business groups. We centrally manage key cross-business group product initiatives to align and prioritize our R&D activities across these groups. In addition, we may augment our R&D activities by investing in companies or entering into agreements with companies that have similar R&D focus areas, as well as directly purchasing or licensing technology applicable to our R&D initiatives. To drive innovation and gain efficiencies, we intend to utilize our investments in intellectual property and R&D across our market segments.
Employees
As of December 26, 2015, we had 107,300 employees worldwide, with approximately 51% of those employees located in the U.S.
Sales and Marketing
Customers
We sell our products primarily to OEMs and ODMs. ODMs provide design and manufacturing services to branded and unbranded private-label resellers. In addition, we sell our products to other manufacturers, including makers of a wide range of industrial and communications equipment. Our customers also include those who buy PC components and our other products through distributor, reseller, retail, and OEM channels throughout the world.
Our worldwide reseller sales channel consists of thousands of indirect customers—systems builders that purchase Intel® microprocessors and other products from our distributors. We have a program that allows distributors to sell our microprocessors and other products in small quantities to customers of systems builders. Our microprocessors and other products are also available in direct retail outlets.
Hewlett-Packard Company, our largest customer in 2014, separated into HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company on November 1, 2015. In 2015, these entities collectively accounted for 18% of our net revenue (18% in 2014 and 17% in 2013), Dell Inc. accounted for 15% of our net revenue (16% in 2014 and 15% in 2013), and Lenovo Group Limited accounted for 13% of our net revenue (12% in 2014 and 12% in 2013). No other customer accounted for more than 10% of our net revenue during such periods. For information about net revenue and operating income by operating segment, and net revenue from unaffiliated customers by country, see "Note 26: Operating Segments and Geographic Information" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Sales Arrangements
Our products are sold through sales offices throughout the world. Sales of our products are frequently made via purchase order acknowledgments that contain standard terms and conditions covering matters such as pricing, payment terms, and warranties, as well as indemnities for issues specific to our products, such as patent and copyright indemnities. From time to time, we may enter into additional agreements with customers covering, for example, changes from our standard terms and conditions, new product development and marketing, private-label branding, and other matters. Our sales are routinely made using electronic and web-based processes that allow the customer to review inventory availability and track the progress of specific goods ordered. Pricing on particular products may vary based on volumes ordered and other factors. We also offer discounts, rebates, and other incentives to customers to increase acceptance of our products and technology.

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Our products are generally shipped under terms that transfer title to the customer, even in arrangements for which the recognition of revenue and related cost of sales is deferred. Our standard terms and conditions of sale typically provide that payment is due at a later date, usually 30 days after shipment or delivery. We assess credit risk through quantitative and qualitative analysis. From this analysis, we establish shipping and credit limits, and determine whether we will seek to use one or more credit support protection devices, such as obtaining a parent guarantee, standby letter of credit, or credit insurance. Credit losses may still be incurred due to bankruptcy, fraud, or other failure of the customer to pay. For information about our allowance for doubtful receivables, see "Schedule II—Valuation and Qualifying Accounts" in Part IV of this Form 10-K.
Our sales to distributors are typically made under agreements allowing for price protection on unsold merchandise and a right of return on stipulated quantities of unsold merchandise. Under the price protection program, we give distributors credits for the difference between the original price paid and the current price that we offer. Our products typically have no contractual limit on the amount of price protection, nor is there a limit on the time horizon under which price protection is granted. The right of return granted generally consists of a stock rotation program in which distributors are able to exchange certain products based on the number of qualified purchases made by the distributor. We have the option to grant credit for, repair, or replace defective products, and there is no contractual limit on the amount of credit that may be granted to a distributor for defective products.
Distribution
Distributors typically handle a wide variety of products, including those that compete with our products, and fill orders for many customers. Customers may place orders directly with us or through distributors. We have several distribution warehouses that are located in proximity to key customers.
Backlog
Over time, our larger customers have generally moved to lean-inventory or just-in-time operations rather than maintaining larger inventories of our products. As our customers continue to lower their inventories, our processes to fulfill their orders have evolved to meet their needs. As a result, our manufacturing production is based on estimates and advance non-binding commitments from customers as to future purchases. Our order backlog as of any particular date is a mix of these commitments and specific firm orders that are primarily made pursuant to standard purchase orders for delivery of products. Only a small portion of our orders are non-cancelable, and the dollar amount associated with the non-cancelable portion is not significant.
Seasonal Trends
Historically, our net revenue has typically been higher in the second half of the year than in the first half of the year, accelerating in the third quarter and peaking in the fourth quarter.
Marketing
Our global marketing objectives are to build a strong, well-known Intel corporate brand that connects with businesses and consumers, and to offer a limited number of meaningful and valuable brands in our portfolio to aid businesses and consumers in making informed choices about technology purchases. The Intel Core processor family and the Intel Quark, Intel Atom, Intel® Celeron®, Intel® Pentium®, Intel Xeon, Intel Xeon Phi, and Intel® Itanium® trademarks make up our processor brands.
We promote brand awareness and preference, and generate demand through our own direct marketing as well as through co-marketing programs. Our direct marketing activities primarily include advertising through digital and social media and television, as well as consumer and trade events, industry and consumer communications, and press relations. We market to consumer and business audiences, and focus on building awareness and generating demand for new form factors such as tablets, all-in-one devices, and 2 in 1 systems powered by Intel. Our key messaging focuses on increased performance, improved energy efficiency, and other capabilities such as connectivity, communications, and security.

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Purchases by customers often allow them to participate in cooperative advertising and marketing programs such as the Intel Inside® program. This program broadens the reach of our brands beyond the scope of our own direct marketing. Through the Intel Inside program, certain customers are licensed to place Intel® logos on computing devices containing our microprocessors and processor technologies, and to use our brands in their marketing activities. The program includes a market development component that accrues funds based on purchases and partially reimburses customers for marketing activities for products featuring Intel® brands, subject to customers meeting defined criteria. These marketing activities primarily include advertising through digital and social media and television, as well as press relations. We have also entered into joint marketing arrangements with certain customers.
Intellectual Property Rights and Licensing
Intel owns significant intellectual property (IP) and related IP rights around the world that relate to our products, services, R&D, and other activities and assets. Our IP portfolio includes patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, trade dress rights, and maskwork rights. We actively seek to protect our global IP rights and to deter unauthorized use of our IP and other assets. Such efforts can be difficult, however, particularly in countries that provide less protection to IP rights and in the absence of harmonized international IP standards. While our IP rights are important to our success, our business as a whole is not significantly dependent on any single patent, copyright, or other IP right. See "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A, and "Note 25: Contingencies" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
We have obtained patents in the U.S. and other countries. Because of the fast pace of innovation and product development, and the comparative pace of governments’ patenting processes, our products are often obsolete before the patents related to them expire; in some cases, our products may be obsolete before the patents related to them are granted. As we expand our products into new industries, we also seek to extend our patent development efforts to patent such products. In addition to developing patents based on our own R&D efforts, we purchase patents from third parties to supplement our patent portfolio. Established competitors in existing and new industries, as well as companies that purchase and enforce patents and other IP, may already have patents covering similar products. There is no assurance that we will be able to obtain patents covering our own products, or that we will be able to obtain licenses from other companies on favorable terms or at all.
The software that we distribute, including software embedded in our component-level and platform products, is entitled to copyright and other IP protection. To distinguish our products from our competitors’ products, we have obtained trademarks and trade names for our products, and we maintain cooperative advertising programs with customers to promote our brands and to identify products containing genuine Intel components. We also protect details about our processes, products, and strategies as trade secrets, keeping confidential the information that we believe provides us with a competitive advantage.
Compliance with Environmental, Health, and Safety Regulations
Our compliance efforts focus on monitoring regulatory and resource trends and setting company-wide performance targets for key resources and emissions. These targets address several parameters, including product design; chemical, energy, and water use; waste recycling; the source of certain minerals used in our products; climate change; and emissions.
As a company, we focus on reducing natural resource use, the solid and chemical waste by-products of our manufacturing processes, and the environmental impact of our products. We currently use a variety of materials in our manufacturing process that have the potential to adversely impact the environment and are subject to a variety of environmental, health, and safety (EHS) laws and regulations. Over the past several years, we have significantly reduced the use of lead and halogenated flame retardants in our products and manufacturing processes.
We work with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), OEMs, and retailers to help manage e-waste (including electronic products nearing the end of their useful lives) and to promote recycling. The European Union requires producers of certain electrical and electronic equipment to develop programs that let consumers return products for recycling. Many U.S. states and countries in Latin America and Asia also have or are developing similar e-waste take-back laws. Although these laws are typically targeted at the end electronic product and not components such as microprocessors, the inconsistency of many e-waste take-back laws, changes in our product offerings, and the lack of local e-waste management options in many areas pose a challenge for our compliance efforts.

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We are an industry leader in our efforts to build ethical sourcing of minerals for our products, including "conflict minerals" from the DRC and adjoining countries. In 2013, we accomplished our goal to manufacture microprocessors that are DRC conflict-free for tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold. We continue our work to establish DRC conflict-free supply chains for our company and our industry, and are moving beyond microprocessors to validate our broader product base as DRC conflict-free in 2016 for these four minerals.
We seek to reduce our global greenhouse gas emissions by investing in energy conservation projects in our factories and working with suppliers to improve energy efficiency. We take a holistic approach to power management, addressing the challenge at the silicon, package, circuit, microarchitecture, macroarchitecture, platform, and software levels. We recognize that climate change may cause general economic risk. For further information on the risks of climate change, see "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of this Form 10-K. We see a potential for higher energy costs driven by climate change regulations. This could include items applied to utility companies that are passed along to customers, such as carbon taxes or costs associated with obtaining permits for our manufacturing operations, emission cap and trade programs, or renewable portfolio standards.
We are committed to sustainability and take a leadership position in promoting voluntary environmental initiatives and working proactively with governments, environmental groups, and industry to promote global environmental sustainability. We believe that technology will be fundamental to finding solutions to the world’s environmental challenges, and we are joining forces with industry, business, and governments to find and promote ways that technology can be used as a tool to combat climate change.
We have been purchasing renewable energy at some of our major sites for several years. We purchase renewable energy certificates under a multi-year contract. This purchase has placed Intel at the top of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Green Power Partnership rankings for the past eight years and is intended to help stimulate the market for green power, leading to additional generating capacity and, ultimately, lower costs.
Distribution of Company Information
Our Internet address is www.intel.com. We publish voluntary reports on our website that outline our performance with respect to corporate responsibility, including EHS compliance.
We use our Investor Relations website, www.intc.com, as a routine channel for distribution of important information, including news releases, analyst presentations, and financial information. We post filings on our website the same day they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our annual and quarterly reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K; our proxy statements; and any amendments to those reports or statements. We post our quarterly and annual earnings results at www.intc.com/results.cfm, and do not distribute our financial results via a news wire service. All such postings and filings are available on our Investor Relations website free of charge. In addition, our Investor Relations website allows interested persons to sign up to automatically receive e-mail alerts when we post financial information. The SEC’s website, www.sec.gov, contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The content on any website referred to in this Form 10-K is not incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K unless expressly noted.

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Executive Officers of the Registrant
The following sets forth certain information with regard to our executive officers as of February 12, 2016 (ages are as of December 26, 2015):
Andy D. Bryant, age 65
 
Gregory R. Pearson, age 55
• 2012 – present
 
Chairman of the Board
 
• 2014 – present
 
Senior VP; General Manager, Sales and Marketing Group
• 2011 – 2012
 
Vice Chairman of the Board, Executive VP, Technology, Manufacturing and Enterprise Services; Chief Administrative Officer
 
 
 
 
 
 
• 2008 – 2013
 
General Manager, Worldwide Sales and Operations Group
 
 
 
 
 
• 2009 – 2011
 
Executive VP, Technology, Manufacturing, and Enterprise Services; Chief Administrative Officer
 
• Joined Intel in 1983
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dr. Venkata S.M. "Murthy" Renduchintala, age 50
• 2007 – 2009
 
Executive VP, Finance and Enterprise Services; Chief Administrative Officer
 
• 2015 – present
 
Executive VP; President, Client and Internet of Things (IoT) Businesses and Systems Architecture Group
 
 
 
 
 
• 2001 – 2007
 
Executive VP; Chief Financial and Enterprise Services Officer
 
 
 
 
 
 
• Joined Intel in 2015
• Member of Intel Corporation Board of Directors
 
 
• Member of Columbia Sportswear Company Board of Directors
 
Stacy J. Smith, age 53
 
• 2012 – present
 
Executive VP; Chief Financial Officer
• Member of McKesson Corporation Board of Directors
 
• 2010 – 2012
 
Senior VP; Chief Financial Officer
• Joined Intel in 1981
 
• 2007 – 2010
 
VP; Chief Financial Officer
 
 
• 2006 – 2007
 
VP; Assistant Chief Financial Officer
William M. Holt, age 63
 
• 2004 – 2006
 
VP; Finance and Enterprise Services, Chief Information Officer
• 2013 – present
 
Executive VP; General Manager, Technology and Manufacturing Group
 
 
 
 
 
 
• Member of Autodesk, Inc. Board of Directors
• 2006 – 2013
 
Senior VP; General Manager, Technology and Manufacturing Group
 
• Member of Virgin America, Inc. Board of Directors
 
 
 
• Joined Intel in 1988
• 2005 – 2006
 
VP; Co-General Manager, Technology and Manufacturing Group
 
 
 
 
 
 
• Joined Intel in 1974
 
 
 
 
 
Brian M. Krzanich, age 55
 
 
• 2013 – present
 
Chief Executive Officer
 
 
• 2012 – 2013
 
Executive VP; Chief Operating Officer
 
 
• 2010 – 2012
 
Senior VP; General Manager, Manufacturing and Supply Chain
 
 
 
 
 
 
• 2006 – 2010
 
VP; General Manager, Assembly and Test
 
 
• Member of Deere & Company Board of Directors
 
 
• Joined Intel in 1982
 
 



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ITEM 1A.
RISK FACTORS
The following risks could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations, and the trading price of our common stock could decline. These risk factors do not identify all risks that we face; our operations could also be affected by factors that are not presently known to us or that we currently consider to be immaterial to our operations. Due to risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, our past financial results may not be a reliable indicator of future performance, and historical trends should not be used to anticipate results or trends in future periods. You should also refer to the other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and our financial statements and the related notes.
Changes in product demand can harm our results of operation and financial condition.
Demand for our products is variable and hard to predict. Changes in the demand for our products may reduce our revenue, increase our costs, lower our gross margin percentage, or require us to write down the value of our assets. Important factors that could lead to variation in the demand for our products include changes in:
•
business conditions, including downturns in the computing industry, or in the global or regional economies;
•
consumer confidence or income levels caused by changes in market conditions, including changes in government borrowing, taxation, or spending policies; the credit market; or expected inflation, employment, and energy or other commodity prices;
•
the level of our customers’ inventories;
•
competitive and pricing pressures, including actions taken by competitors;
•
customer product needs;
•
market acceptance and industry support of our new and maturing products; and
•
the technology supply chain, including supply constraints caused by natural disasters or other events.
We face significant competition. The industry in which we operate is highly competitive and subject to rapid technological and market developments, changes in industry standards, changes in customer needs, and frequent product introductions and improvements. If we do not anticipate and respond to these developments, our competitive position may weaken, and our products or technologies might be uncompetitive or obsolete. In recent years, our business focus has expanded and now includes the design and production of platforms for tablets, phones, and other devices across the compute continuum, including products for the Internet of Things, and related services. As a result, we face new sources of competition, including, in certain of these market segments, from incumbent competitors with established customer bases and greater brand recognition. To be successful, we need to cultivate new industry relationships with customers and partners in these market segments. In addition, we must continually improve the cost, integration, and energy efficiency of our products, as well as expand our software capabilities to provide customers with comprehensive computing solutions. Despite our ongoing efforts, there is no guarantee that we will achieve or maintain consumer and market demand or acceptance for our products and services in these various market segments.
To compete successfully, we must maintain a successful R&D effort, develop new products and production processes, and improve our existing products and processes ahead of competitors. For example, we invest substantially in our network of manufacturing and assembly and test facilities, including the construction of new fabrication facilities to support smaller transistor geometries and larger wafers. Our R&D efforts are critical to our success and are aimed at solving complex problems, and we do not expect all of our projects to be successful. We may be unable to develop and market new products successfully, and the products we invest in and develop may not be well-received by customers. Our R&D investments may not generate significant operating income or contribute to our future operating results for several years, and such contributions may not meet our expectations or even cover the costs of such investments. Additionally, the products and technologies offered by others may affect demand for, or pricing of, our products.
If we are not able to compete effectively, our financial results will be adversely affected, including increased costs and reduced revenue and gross margin, and we may be required to accelerate the write-down of the value of certain assets.

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Changes in the mix of products sold may harm our financial results. Prices differ widely among the platforms we offer in our various market segments due to differences in features offered or manufacturing costs. For example, product offerings range from lower-priced and entry-level platforms, such as those based on Intel Quark or Intel Atom processors, to higher-end platforms based on Intel Xeon and Intel Itanium processors. If demand shifts from our higher-priced to lower-priced platforms in any of our market segments, our gross margin and revenue would decrease. In addition, when products are introduced, they tend to have higher costs because of initial development costs and lower production volumes relative to the previous product generation, which can impact gross margin.
We operate globally and are subject to significant risks in many jurisdictions.
Global or regional conditions may harm our financial results. We have manufacturing, assembly and test, R&D, sales, and other operations in many countries, and some of our business activities may be concentrated in one or more geographic areas. Moreover, sales outside the U.S. accounted for approximately 80% of our revenue for the fiscal year ended December 26, 2015. As a result, our operations and our financial results, including our ability to manufacture, assemble and test, design, develop, or sell products, may be adversely affected by a number of factors outside of our control, including:
•
global and local economic conditions;
•
geopolitical and security issues, such as armed conflict and civil or military unrest, crime, political instability, and terrorist activity;
•
natural disasters, public health issues, and other catastrophic events;
•
inefficient infrastructure and other disruptions, such as supply chain interruptions and large-scale outages or unreliable provision of services from utilities, transportation, data hosting, or telecommunications providers;
•
government restrictions on, or nationalization of our operations in any country, or restrictions on our ability to repatriate earnings from a particular country;
•
differing employment practices and labor issues;
•
formal or informal imposition of new or revised export and/or import and doing-business regulations, which could be changed without notice;
•
ineffective legal protection of our IP rights in certain countries; and
•
local business and cultural factors that differ from our normal standards and practices.
We are subject to laws and regulations worldwide, which may differ among jurisdictions, affecting our operations in areas including, but not limited to: IP ownership and infringement, tax, import and export requirements, anti-corruption, foreign exchange controls and cash repatriation restrictions, data privacy requirements, anti-competition, advertising, employment, environment, health, and safety. Compliance with such requirements may be onerous and expensive, and may otherwise impact our business operations negatively. Although we have policies, controls, and procedures designed to help ensure compliance with applicable laws, there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors, suppliers, and/or agents will not violate such laws or our policies. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines; criminal sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees; prohibitions on the conduct of our business; and damage to our reputation.
We may be affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates. We are potentially exposed to adverse as well as beneficial movements in currency exchange rates. Although most of our sales occur in U.S. dollars, expenses may be paid in local currencies. An increase in the value of the dollar could increase the real cost to our customers of our products in those markets outside the U.S. where we sell in dollars, and a weakened dollar could increase the cost of expenses such as payroll, utilities, tax, and marketing expenses, as well as overseas capital expenditures. We also conduct certain investing and financing activities in local currencies. Our hedging programs reduce, but do not eliminate, the impact of currency exchange rate movements; therefore, changes in exchange rates could harm our results of operations and financial condition.

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Catastrophic events or geopolitical conditions could have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial results. Our operations or systems could be disrupted by natural disasters; geopolitical conditions; terrorist activity; public health issues; cybersecurity incidents; interruptions of service from utilities, transportation or telecommunications providers; or other catastrophic events. Such events could make it difficult or impossible to manufacture or deliver products to our customers, receive production materials from our suppliers, or perform critical functions, which could adversely affect our revenue and require significant recovery time and expenditures to resume operations. While we maintain business recovery plans that are intended to enable us to recover from natural disasters or other events that can be disruptive to our business, some of our systems are not fully redundant and we cannot be sure that our plans will fully protect us from all such disruptions.
We maintain a program of insurance coverage for a variety of property, casualty, and other risks. The types and amounts of insurance we obtain vary depending on availability, cost, and decisions with respect to risk retention. Some of our policies have large deductibles and broad exclusions. In addition, one or more of our insurance providers may be unable or unwilling to pay a claim. Losses not covered by insurance may be large, which could harm our results of operations and financial condition.
We operate our own fabrication facilities and, as a result, are vulnerable to manufacturing-related risks.
Due to the variability in demand for our products, we may be unable to timely respond to reduce costs when demand declines or to increase production when demand increases. Our operations have high costs that are either fixed or difficult to reduce in the short term, including our costs related to manufacturing, such as facility construction and equipment, R&D, and the employment and training of a highly skilled workforce. If product demand decreases or we fail to forecast demand accurately, we could be required to write off inventory or record excess capacity charges, which would lower our gross margin. Our manufacturing or assembly and test capacity could be underutilized, and we may be required to write down our long-lived assets, which would increase our expenses. Factory-planning decisions may shorten the useful lives of facilities and equipment and cause us to accelerate depreciation.
Conversely, if product demand increases, we may be unable to add capacity fast enough to meet market demand. Our revenue and gross margin can also be affected by the timing of our product introductions and related expenses, including marketing expenses.
We are subject to risks associated with the development and implementation of new manufacturing process technology. We may not be successful or efficient in developing or implementing new production processes. Production of integrated circuits is a complex process. We are continually engaged in the transition from our existing process to the next-generation process technology. This consistent innovation involves significant expense and carries inherent risks, including difficulties in designing and developing next-generation process technologies, development and production timing delays, lower than anticipated manufacturing yields, and product defects and errata. Disruptions in the production process can also result from errors, defects in materials, delays in obtaining or revising operating permits and licenses, interruption in our supply of materials or resources, and disruptions at our fabrication and assembly and test facilities due to accidents, maintenance issues, or unsafe working conditions—all of which could affect the timing of production ramps and yields. Production issues can lead to increased costs and may affect our ability to meet product demand, which could adversely impact our business and the results from operations.
We face supply chain risks. Thousands of suppliers provide materials that we use in production and other aspects of our business. Where possible, we seek to have several sources of supply for all of those materials. However, for certain materials, we may rely on a single or a limited number of suppliers, or upon suppliers in a single location. In addition, consolidation among suppliers could impact the nature, quality, availability, and pricing of the products and services available to us. The inability of suppliers to deliver adequate supplies of production materials or other supplies could disrupt our production processes or make it more difficult for us to implement our business strategy. Production could be disrupted by the unavailability of resources used in production, such as water, silicon, electricity, gases, and other materials. The unavailability or reduced availability of materials or resources may require us to reduce production or incur additional costs, which could harm our business and results of operations.

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We also rely on third-party providers to manufacture and assemble and test certain components or products, particularly those related to networking, mobile and communications, and NAND flash memory. If any of these third parties are unable to perform these services on a timely basis, we may encounter supply delays or disruptions that could adversely affect our financial results.
In addition, there are regulatory and other requirements, restrictions, and requests from various constituencies regarding sourcing practices and supplier conduct, with a trend toward expanding the scope of materials and locations where materials originate, regulating supplier behaviors, and increasing the required disclosures regarding such matters by public companies. Increased regulation and public pressure in this area would cause our compliance costs to increase and could negatively affect our reputation given that we use many materials in the manufacturing of our products and rely on many suppliers to provide these materials, but do not directly control their procurement or employment practices.
We are subject to the risks of product defects and errata. Product defects and errata (deviations from published specifications) may result from problems in our product design or our manufacturing and assembly and test processes. Components and products we purchase or license from third-party suppliers may also contain defects.
Costs from defects and errata could include:
•
writing off some or all of the value of inventory;
•
recalling products that have been shipped;
•
providing product replacements or modifications; and
•
defending against resulting litigation.
These costs could be large and may increase expenses and lower gross margin, and result in delay or loss of revenue. Any product defects, errata, or other issues that we do not detect or fix could also damage our reputation, negatively affect product demand, delay product releases, or result in legal liability. The announcement of product defects and errata could cause customers to purchase products from competitors as a result of possible shortages of our components or for other reasons. Any of these occurrences could harm our business and financial results.
We are subject to risks associated with environmental laws and regulations. The manufacturing and assembly and test of our products require the use of hazardous materials that are subject to a broad array of EHS laws and regulations. Our failure to comply with these laws or regulations could result in:
•
regulatory penalties, fines, and legal liabilities;
•
suspension of production;
•
alteration of our fabrication and assembly and test processes;
•
reputational challenges; and
•
restrictions on our operations or sales.
Our failure to manage the use, transportation, emissions, discharge, storage, recycling, or disposal of hazardous materials could lead to increased costs or future liabilities. Our ability to expand or modify our manufacturing capability in the future may be impeded by environmental regulations, such as air quality and wastewater requirements. Environmental laws and regulations could also require us to acquire pollution abatement or remediation equipment, modify product designs, or incur other expenses. Many new materials that we are evaluating for use in our operations may be subject to regulation under environmental laws and regulations. These restrictions could harm our business and results of operations by increasing our expenses or requiring us to alter manufacturing and assembly and test processes.
Climate change may also pose regulatory and environmental risks that could harm our results of operations and affect the way we conduct business. For example, climate change regulation could result in increased manufacturing costs associated with air pollution control requirements, and increased or new monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. We also see the potential for higher energy costs driven by climate change regulations if, for example, utility companies pass on their costs to their customers. Furthermore, many of our operations are located in semi-arid regions that may become increasingly vulnerable to prolonged droughts due to climate change. Our fabrication facilities require significant water use and, while we recycle and reuse a portion of the water used, we may have difficulties obtaining sufficient water to fulfill our operational needs due the lack of available infrastructure. 

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We are subject to IP risks and risks associated with litigation and regulatory proceedings.
We may be unable to enforce or protect our IP rights. We regard our patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and other IP rights as important to the success of our business. We rely on IP law as well as confidentiality and licensing agreements with our customers, employees, technology development partners, and others to protect our IP rights. Our ability to enforce these rights is subject to general litigation risks, as well as uncertainty as to the enforceability of our IP rights in various countries. When we seek to enforce our rights, we may be subject to claims that the IP rights are invalid, not enforceable, or licensed to the opposing party. Our assertion of IP rights may result in the other party seeking to assert claims against us, which could harm our business. Governments may adopt regulations—and governments or courts may render decisions—requiring compulsory licensing of IP rights, or governments may require products to meet standards that serve to favor local companies. Our inability to enforce our IP rights under any of these circumstances may harm our competitive position and business. In addition, the theft or unauthorized use or publication of our trade secrets and other confidential business information could harm our competitive position and reduce acceptance of our products; as a result, the value of our investment in R&D, product development, and marketing could be reduced.
Our licenses with other companies and participation in industry initiatives may allow competitors to use our patent rights. Companies in our industry often bilaterally license patents between each other to settle disputes or as part of business agreements. Our competitors may have licenses to our patents, and under current case law, some of the licenses may exhaust our patent rights as to licensed product sales under some circumstances. Our participation in industry standards organizations or with other industry initiatives may require us to license our patents to companies that adopt industry-standard specifications. Depending on the rules of the organization, we might have to grant these licenses to our patents for little or no cost, and as a result, we may be unable to enforce certain patents against others, our costs of enforcing our licenses or protecting our patents may increase, and the value of our IP rights may be impaired.
Third parties may assert claims based on IP rights against us or our products, which could harm our business. We may face claims based on IP rights from individuals and companies, including those who have acquired patent portfolios to assert claims against other companies. We are normally engaged in a number of litigation matters involving IP rights. Claims that our products or processes infringe the IP rights of others, whether or not meritorious, could cause us to incur large costs to respond to, defend, and resolve, and they may divert the efforts and attention of management and technical personnel. In addition, we may face claims based on the theft or unauthorized use or disclosure of third-party trade secrets and other confidential business information or end-user data that we obtain in conducting our business. Any such incidents and claims could severely disrupt our business, and we could suffer losses, including the cost of product recalls and returns, and reputational harm. Furthermore, we have agreed to indemnify customers for certain IP rights claims against them. As a result of IP rights claims, we could:
•
pay monetary damages, including payments to satisfy indemnification obligations;
•
stop manufacturing, using, selling, offering to sell, or importing products or technology subject to claims;    
•
develop other products or technology not subject to claims, which could be time-consuming or costly; and/or
•
enter into settlement and license agreements, which agreements may not be available on commercially reasonable terms.
These IP rights claims could harm our competitive position, result in expenses, or require us to impair our assets. If we alter or stop production of affected items, our revenue could be harmed.
We rely on access to third-party IP, which may not be available to us on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Many of our products include third-party IP and/or implement industry standards, which may require licenses from third parties. Based on past experience and industry practice, we believe such licenses generally can be obtained on commercially reasonable terms. However, there is no assurance that the necessary licenses can be obtained on acceptable terms or at all. Failure to obtain the right to use third-party IP, or to use such IP on commercially reasonable terms, could preclude us from selling certain products or otherwise have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results.

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We are subject to the risks associated with litigation and regulatory proceedings. We may face legal claims or regulatory matters involving stockholder, consumer, competition, and other issues on a global basis. As described in "Note 25: Contingencies" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K, we are engaged in a number of litigation and regulatory matters. Litigation and regulatory proceedings are inherently uncertain, and adverse rulings could occur, including monetary damages, or an injunction stopping us from manufacturing or selling certain products, engaging in certain business practices, or requiring other remedies, such as compulsory licensing of patents. An unfavorable outcome may result in a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, financial position, and overall trends. In addition, regardless of the outcome, litigation can be costly, time-consuming, disruptive to our operations, and distracting to management.
We must attract, retain, and motivate key employees.
To be competitive, we must attract, retain, and motivate executives and other key employees. Hiring and retaining qualified executives, scientists, engineers, technical staff, and sales representatives are critical to our business, and competition for experienced employees can be intense. To help attract, retain, and motivate qualified employees, we use share-based and other performance-based incentive awards such as restricted stock units (RSUs) and cash bonuses. If our share-based or other compensation programs cease to be viewed as competitive and valuable benefits, our ability to attract, retain, and motivate employees could be weakened, which could harm our results of operations.
We are subject to cybersecurity and privacy risks.
Third parties attempt to gain unauthorized access to our network, products, services, and infrastructure. We regularly face attempts by others to gain unauthorized access through the Internet or to introduce malicious software to our information technology (IT) systems. Additionally, malicious hackers may attempt to gain unauthorized access and corrupt the processes of hardware and software products that we manufacture and services we provide. Due to the widespread use of our products and the high profile of our commercial security products, we or our products and services are a frequent target of computer hackers and organizations that intend to sabotage, take control of, or otherwise corrupt our manufacturing or other processes, products, and services. We are also a target of malicious attackers who attempt to gain access to our network or data centers or those of our customers or end users; steal proprietary information related to our business, products, employees, and customers; or interrupt our systems and services or those of our customers or others. We believe such attempts are increasing in number and in technical sophistication. From time to time, we encounter intrusions or unauthorized access to our network, products, services, or infrastructure. To date, none have resulted in any material adverse impact to our business or operations. In some instances, we, our customers, and the users of our products and services might be unaware of an incident or its magnitude and effects. While we seek to detect and investigate all unauthorized attempts and attacks against our network, products, and services, and to prevent their recurrence where practicable through changes to our internal processes and tools and/or changes or patches to our products and services, we remain potentially vulnerable to additional known or unknown threats. Such incidents, whether successful or unsuccessful, could result in our incurring significant costs related to, for example, rebuilding internal systems, reduced inventory value, providing modifications to our products and services, defending against litigation, responding to regulatory inquiries or actions, paying damages, or taking other remedial steps with respect to third parties. In addition, these threats are constantly evolving, thereby increasing the difficulty of successfully defending against them or implementing adequate preventative measures. Publicity about vulnerabilities and attempted or successful incursions could damage our reputation with customers or users, and reduce demand for our products and services.
We may be subject to theft, loss, or misuse of personal data about our employees, customers, or other third parties, which could increase our expenses, damage our reputation, or result in legal or regulatory proceedings. The theft, loss, or misuse of personal data collected, used, stored, or transferred by us to run our business could result in significantly increased security costs or costs related to defending legal claims. Global privacy legislation, enforcement, and policy activity in this area are rapidly expanding and creating a complex regulatory compliance environment. Costs to comply with and implement these privacy-related and data protection measures could be significant. In addition, even our inadvertent failure to comply with federal, state, or international privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities or others.

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We are subject to risks associated with transactions.
We invest in companies for strategic reasons and may not realize a return on our investments. We make investments in public and private companies around the world to further our strategic objectives and support key business initiatives. Many of the instruments in which we invest are non-marketable at the time of our initial investment. Companies in which we invest range from early-stage companies still defining their strategic direction to mature companies with established revenue streams and business models. The success of our investment in any company is typically dependent on the availability to the company of additional funding on favorable terms, or a liquidity event, such as a public offering or acquisition. If any of the companies in which we invest fail, we could lose all or part of our investment. If we determine that an other-than-temporary decline in the fair value exists for an investment, we write down the investment to its fair value and recognize a loss.
Our acquisitions, divestitures, and other transactions could fail to achieve strategic objectives, disrupt our ongoing business, and harm our results of operations. In pursuing our business strategy, we routinely conduct discussions, evaluate opportunities, and enter into agreements for possible acquisitions, divestitures, and other transactions, such as joint ventures. Given that our resources are limited, our decision to complete an acquisition has opportunity costs and we may need to forgo the prospect of acquiring other companies or technologies that could help us achieve our strategic objectives. In addition to opportunity costs, these transactions involve large challenges and risks, including risks that:
•
the transaction may not advance our business strategy;
•
we may be unable to identify opportunities on terms acceptable to us;
•
we may not realize a satisfactory return;
•
we may experience disruption of our ongoing operations;
•
we may be unable to retain key personnel;
•
we may experience difficulty in integrating new employees, business systems, and technology;
•
acquired businesses may not have adequate controls, processes, and procedures to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, and our due diligence process may not identify compliance issues or other liabilities;
•
we may have difficulty entering new market segments;
•
we may be unable to retain the customers and partners of acquired businesses; and/or
•
there may be unknown, underestimated, and/or undisclosed commitments or liabilities.
When we decide to sell assets or a business, we may have difficulty selling on acceptable terms in a timely manner, and the agreed-upon terms and financing arrangements could be renegotiated due to changes in business or market conditions. These circumstances could delay the achievement of our strategic objectives or cause us to incur additional expense, or we may sell a business at a price or on terms that are less favorable than we had anticipated, resulting in a loss on the transaction.
If we do enter into agreements with respect to acquisitions, divestitures, or other transactions, we may fail to complete them due to factors such as:
•
failure to obtain regulatory or other approvals;    
•
IP disputes or other litigation; or
•
difficulties obtaining financing for the transaction.
We are subject to sales-related risks.
We face risks related to sales through distributors and other third parties. We sell a significant portion of our products through third parties such as distributors, value-added resellers, OEMs, ODMs, Internet service providers, and channel partners (collectively referred to as distributors). Using third parties for distribution exposes us to many risks, including competitive pressure, concentration, credit risk, and compliance risks. Distributors may sell products that compete with our products, and we may need to provide financial and other incentives to focus distributors on the sale of our products. We may rely on one or more key distributors for a product, and the loss of these distributors could reduce our revenue. Distributors may face financial difficulties, including bankruptcy, which could harm our collection of accounts receivable and financial results. Violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or similar laws by distributors or other third-party intermediaries could have a material impact on our business. Failure to manage risks related to our use of distributors may reduce sales, increase expenses, and weaken our competitive position.

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We face risks related to business transactions with U.S. government entities. We receive proceeds from services and products we provide to the U.S. government. U.S. government demand and payment may be affected by public sector budgetary cycles and funding authorizations. U.S. government contracts are subject to oversight, including special rules on accounting, IP rights, expenses, reviews, information handling, and security. Failure to comply with these rules could result in civil and criminal penalties and sanctions, including termination of contracts, fines, and suspensions, or debarment from future U.S. government business.
Our results of operations could vary as a result of the methods, estimates, and judgments that we use in applying accounting policies.
The methods, estimates, and judgments that we use in applying accounting policies have a large impact on our results of operations. For more information, see "Critical Accounting Estimates" in Part II, Item 7 of this Form 10-K. These methods, estimates, and judgments are subject to large risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, and changes could affect our results of operations.
Changes in our effective tax rate may reduce our net income.
A number of factors may increase our effective tax rates, which could reduce our net income, including:    
•
the jurisdictions in which profits are determined to be earned and taxed;
•
the resolution of issues arising from tax audits;
•
changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, and in deferred tax valuation allowances;
•
adjustments to income taxes upon finalization of tax returns;
•
increases in expenses not deductible for tax purposes, including impairments of goodwill;
•
changes in available tax credits;
•
changes in tax laws or their interpretation, including changes in the U.S. to the taxation of manufacturing enterprises and of non-U.S. income and expenses;
•
changes in U.S. generally accepted accounting principles; and
•
our decision to repatriate non-U.S. earnings for which we have not previously provided for U.S. taxes.
We may have fluctuations in the amount and frequency of our stock repurchases.
The amount, timing, and execution of our stock repurchase program may fluctuate based on our priorities for the use of cash for other purposes—such as investing in our business, including operational spending, capital spending, and acquisitions, and returning cash to our stockholders as dividend payments—and because of changes in cash flows and changes in tax laws.
Workforce restructuring actions may be disruptive to our operations and adversely affect our financial results.
In response to the business environment and to accomplish our strategic objectives, from time to time we may restructure our operations or make other adjustments to our workforce. Such workforce changes can result in restructuring charges in addition to those described in "Note 13: Restructuring and Asset Impairment Charges" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K. Such workforce changes can also temporarily reduce workforce productivity, which could be disruptive to our business and adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, we may not achieve or sustain the expected cost savings or other benefits of our restructuring plans, or do so within the expected time frame.
There are inherent limitations on the effectiveness of our controls.
We do not expect that our disclosure controls or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well-designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. The design of a control system must reflect the fact that resource constraints exist, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Further, because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected. The design of any system of controls is based in part on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of controls to future periods are subject to risks. Over time, controls may become inadequate due to changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures. If our controls become inadequate, we could fail to meet our financial reporting obligations, our reputation may be adversely affected, our business and operating results could be harmed, and the market price of our stock could decline.

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ITEM 1B.
UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Not applicable.
ITEM 2.
PROPERTIES
As of December 26, 2015, our major facilities consisted of:
(Square Feet in Millions)
 
United
States
 
Other
Countries
 
Total
Owned facilities1 
 
30.7

 
17.2

 
47.9

Leased facilities2 
 
2.1

 
6.0

 
8.1

Total facilities
 
32.8

 
23.2

 
56.0

1 
Leases on portions of the land used for these facilities expire on varying dates through 2062.
2 
Leases expire on varying dates through 2030 and generally include renewals at our option.
Our principal executive offices are located in the U.S. and a majority of our wafer fabrication activities are also located in the U.S. We completed construction of development fabrication facilities in Oregon during 2014 that we expect will enable us to maintain our process technology lead. We also completed construction of a large-scale fabrication building in Arizona in 2013. A portion of the new Oregon and Arizona facilities are currently not in use and we are reserving the new buildings for additional capacity and future technologies. Incremental construction and equipment installation are required to ready the facilities for their intended use. Our Massachusetts fabrication facility was our last manufacturing facility on 200mm wafers and ceased production in Q1 2015. Outside the U.S., we have wafer fabrication facilities in Ireland, Israel, and China. Our fabrication facility in Ireland has transitioned to our 14nm process technology, with manufacturing continuing to ramp in 2016. Additionally, in the second half of 2016, we will start using our facility in Dalian, China to help expand our manufacturing capacity in next-generation memory. Our assembly and test facilities are located in Malaysia, China, and Vietnam. In addition, we have sales and marketing offices worldwide that are generally located near major concentrations of customers.
We believe that the facilities described above are suitable and adequate for our present purposes and that the productive capacity in our facilities is substantially being utilized or we have plans to utilize it.
We do not identify or allocate assets by operating segment. For information on net property, plant and equipment by country, see "Note 26: Operating Segments and Geographic Information" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
ITEM 3.
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
For a discussion of legal proceedings, see "Note 25: Contingencies" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
ITEM 4.
MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.

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PART II



ITEM 5.
MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Information regarding the principal U.S. market in which Intel common stock is traded, including the market price range of Intel common stock and dividend information, can be found in "Financial Information by Quarter (Unaudited)" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
As of February 5, 2016, there were approximately 130,000 registered holders of record of Intel’s common stock. A substantially greater number of holders of Intel common stock are "street name" or beneficial holders, whose shares of record are held by banks, brokers, and other financial institutions.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
We have an ongoing authorization, originally approved by our Board of Directors in 2005, and subsequently amended, to repurchase up to $65.0 billion in shares of our common stock in open market or negotiated transactions. As of December 26, 2015, $9.4 billion remained available for repurchase under the existing repurchase authorization limit.
Common stock repurchase activity under our stock repurchase plan during each quarter of 2015 was as follows:
Period
 
Total Number of
Shares Purchased
(In Millions)
 
Average Price
Paid Per Share
 
Dollar Value of
Shares That May
Yet Be Purchased
(In Millions)
December 28, 2014 – March 28, 2015
 
21.3

 
$
35.14

 
$
11,643

March 29, 2015 – June 27, 2015
 
23.6

 
31.83

 
10,893

June 28, 2015 – September 26, 2015
 
34.8

 
28.78

 
9,892

September 27, 2015 – December 26, 2015
 
16.0

 
31.24

 
$
9,391

Total
 
95.7

 
$
31.36

 
 
Common stock repurchase activity under our stock repurchase plan during Q4 2015 was as follows:
Period
 
Total Number of
Shares Purchased
(In Millions)
 
Average Price
Paid Per Share
 
Dollar Value of
Shares That May
Yet Be Purchased
Under the Plans
(In Millions)
September 27, 2015 – October 24, 2015
 
16.0

 
$
31.24

 
$
9,391

October 25, 2015 – November 21, 2015
 
—

 
—

 
9,391

November 22, 2015 – December 26, 2015
 
—

 
—

 
$
9,391

Total
 
16.0

 
$
31.24

 
 
In our consolidated financial statements, we treat shares of common stock withheld for tax purposes on behalf of our employees in connection with the vesting of RSUs as common stock repurchases because they reduce the number of shares that would have been issued upon vesting. These withheld shares of common stock are not considered common stock repurchases under our authorized common stock repurchase plan and accordingly are not included in the common stock repurchase totals in the preceding table.
For further discussion, see "Note 19: Common Stock Repurchases" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

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Stock Performance Graph
The line graph that follows compares the cumulative total stockholder return on our shares of common stock with the cumulative total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Technology Index* and the Standard & Poor’s S&P 500* Index for the five years ended December 26, 2015. The graph and table assume that $100 was invested on the last day of trading for the fiscal year 2010 in each of our shares of common stock, the Dow Jones U.S. Technology Index, and the S&P 500 Index, and that all dividends were reinvested. Cumulative total stockholder returns for our shares of common stock, the Dow Jones U.S. Technology Index, and the S&P 500 Index are based on our fiscal year.
Comparison of Five-Year Cumulative Return for Intel,
the Dow Jones U.S. Technology Index*, and the S&P 500* Index
  
 
2010
 
2011
 
2012
 
2013
 
2014
 
2015
Intel Corporation
 
$
100

 
$
122

 
$
104

 
$
137

 
$
207

 
$
199

Dow Jones U.S. Technology Index
 
$
100

 
$
100

 
$
110

 
$
141

 
$
175

 
$
179

S&P 500 Index
 
$
100

 
$
102

 
$
116

 
$
157

 
$
157

 
$
152



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ITEM 6.
SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Years Ended
(Dollars in Millions, Except Per Share Amounts)
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Dec 28,
2013
 
Dec 29,
2012
 
Dec 31,
2011
Net revenue
 
$
55,355

 
$
55,870

 
$
52,708

 
$
53,341

 
$
53,999

Gross margin
 
$
34,679

 
$
35,609

 
$
31,521

 
$
33,151

 
$
33,757

Gross margin percentage
 
62.6
%
 
63.7
%
 
59.8
%
 
62.1
%
 
62.5
%
Research and development (R&D)
 
$
12,128

 
$
11,537

 
$
10,611

 
$
10,148

 
$
8,350

Marketing, general and administrative (MG&A)
 
$
7,930

 
$
8,136

 
$
8,088

 
$
8,057

 
$
7,670

R&D and MG&A as percentage of revenue
 
36.2
%
 
35.2
%
 
35.5
%
 
34.1
%
 
29.7
%
Operating income
 
$
14,002

 
$
15,347

 
$
12,291

 
$
14,638

 
$
17,477

Net income
 
$
11,420

 
$
11,704

 
$
9,620

 
$
11,005

 
$
12,942

Effective tax rate
 
19.6
%
 
25.9
%
 
23.7
%
 
26.0
%
 
27.2
%
Earnings per share of common stock
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Basic
 
$
2.41

 
$
2.39

 
$
1.94

 
$
2.20

 
$
2.46

Diluted
 
$
2.33

 
$
2.31

 
$
1.89

 
$
2.13

 
$
2.39

Weighted average diluted shares of common stock outstanding
 
4,894

 
5,056

 
5,097

 
5,160

 
5,411

Dividends per share of common stock
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Declared
 
$
0.96

 
$
0.90

 
$
0.90

 
$
0.87

 
$
0.7824

Paid
 
$
0.96

 
$
0.90

 
$
0.90

 
$
0.87

 
$
0.7824

Net cash provided by operating activities
 
$
19,017

 
$
20,418

 
$
20,776

 
$
18,884

 
$
20,963

Additions to property, plant and equipment
 
$
7,326

 
$
10,105

 
$
10,711

 
$
11,027

 
$
10,764

Repurchase of common stock
 
$
3,001

 
$
10,792

 
$
2,147

 
$
4,765

 
$
14,133

Payment of dividends to stockholders
 
$
4,556

 
$
4,409

 
$
4,479

 
$
4,350

 
$
4,127

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(Dollars in Millions)
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Dec 28,
2013
 
Dec 29,
2012
 
Dec 31,
2011
Property, plant and equipment, net
 
$
31,858

 
$
33,238

 
$
31,428

 
$
27,983

 
$
23,627

Total assets
 
$
103,065

 
$
91,900

 
$
92,297

 
$
84,285

 
$
71,083

Debt
 
$
22,670

 
$
13,655

 
$
13,385

 
$
13,382

 
$
7,295

Temporary equity
 
$
897

 
$
912

 
$
—

 
$
—

 
$
—

Stockholders’ equity
 
$
61,085

 
$
55,865

 
$
58,256

 
$
51,203

 
$
45,911

Employees (in thousands)
 
107.3

 
106.7

 
107.6

 
105.0

 
100.1

During Q4 2015, the closing stock price conversion right condition of the 2009 debentures continues to be met and the debentures will be convertible at the option of the holders during Q1 2016. The excess of the amount of cash payable if converted over the carrying amount of the 2009 debentures was classified as temporary equity on our consolidated balance sheet. For further information, see "Note 15: Borrowings" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
During 2013 and 2015, management approved several restructuring actions, including targeted workforce reductions as well as exit of certain businesses and facilities. For further information, see "Note 13: Restructuring and Asset Impairment Charges" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.



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ITEM 7.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Our Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A) is provided in addition to the accompanying consolidated financial statements and notes to assist readers in understanding our results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows. MD&A is organized as follows:
•
Overview. Discussion of our business and overall analysis of financial and other highlights affecting the company in order to provide context for the remainder of MD&A.
•
Critical Accounting Estimates. Accounting estimates that we believe are most important to understanding the assumptions and judgments incorporated in our reported financial results and forecasts.
•
Results of Operations. Analysis of our financial results comparing 2015 to 2014 and comparing 2014 to 2013.
•
Liquidity and Capital Resources. Analysis of changes in our balance sheets and cash flows, and discussion of our financial condition and potential sources of liquidity.
•
Fair Value of Financial Instruments. Discussion of the methodologies used in the valuation of our financial instruments.
•
Contractual Obligations and Off-Balance-Sheet Arrangements. Overview of contractual obligations, contingent liabilities, commitments, and off-balance-sheet arrangements outstanding as of December 26, 2015, including expected payment schedule.
The various sections of this MD&A contain a number of forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "goals," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "continues," "may," "will," "should," and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to projections of our future financial performance, our anticipated growth and trends in our businesses, uncertain events or assumptions, and other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on our current expectations and could be affected by the uncertainties and risk factors described throughout this filing and particularly in "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of this Form 10-K. Our actual results may differ materially, and these forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any divestitures, mergers, acquisitions, or other business combinations that had not been completed as of February 12, 2016, except for our acquisition of Altera completed on December 28, 2015 as discussed in “Note 8: Acquisitions” in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Overview
Our results of operations for each period were as follows:
 
 
Three Months Ended
 
Twelve Months Ended
(Dollars in Millions, Except Per Share Amounts)
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Change
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Change
Net revenue
 
$
14,914

 
$
14,721

 
$
193

 
$
55,355

 
$
55,870

 
$
(515
)
Gross margin
 
$
9,590

 
$
9,621

 
$
(31
)
 
$
34,679

 
$
35,609

 
$
(930
)
Gross margin percentage
 
64.3
%
 
65.4
%
 
(1.1) pts

 
62.6
%
 
63.7
%
 
(1.1) pts

Operating income
 
$
4,299

 
$
4,453

 
$
(154
)
 
$
14,002

 
$
15,347

 
$
(1,345
)
Net income
 
$
3,613

 
$
3,661

 
$
(48
)
 
$
11,420

 
$
11,704

 
$
(284
)
Diluted earnings per share of common stock
 
$
0.74

 
$
0.74

 
$
—

 
$
2.33

 
$
2.31

 
$
0.02

Effective tax rate
 
16.0
%
 
21.4
%
 
(5.4) pts

 
19.6
%
 
25.9
%
 
(6.3) pts


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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

We achieved record net revenue for Q4 2015 of $14.9 billion, up 1% from Q4 2014. We continue to see our business evolve as we execute on our strategy to leverage the "Virtuous Cycle of Growth" with higher DCG platform, NSG, and IOTG platform revenue. These operating segments made up nearly 40% of our revenue and more than 60% of our operating profit for full year 2015. DCG and IOTG both posted record net revenue for the quarter and was partially offset by lower CCG platform revenue. We continue to believe that the worldwide PC supply chain is healthy, with appropriate levels of inventory.
Gross margin of 64% decreased by approximately one percentage point from Q4 2014, primarily due to higher platform unit costs that resulted in part from a higher mix of 14nm platforms, and lower platform unit sales. These decreases were partially offset by higher platform average selling prices and, to a lesser extent, lower factory start-up costs. Gross margin increased approximately two percentage points compared to the midpoint of the Business Outlook in October 2015, primarily driven by lower platform unit costs, lower factory start-up costs, and higher platform average selling prices.
For full year 2015, our net revenue of $55.4 billion was down 1% from 2014, operating income of $14.0 billion, was down 9% from 2014, and diluted earnings per share of $2.33 were up 1% from 2014. CCG net revenue was down 8% as we continued to see weakness in the macroeconomic environment and, in particular, the PC market as we were coming off of a strong growth rate in the second half of 2014 with the Microsoft Windows* XP refresh. We continue to see growth in DCG, with net revenue up 11% and platform unit sales and average selling prices up 8% and 3%, respectively.
Gross margin of 63% was down approximately one point from 2014, driven by higher platform unit costs on 14nm and lower platform unit sales. These decreases were partially offset by higher platform average selling prices, primarily driven by a higher mix of DCG platforms and higher average selling prices on a richer mix of platforms within the desktop and DCG platforms. To a lesser extent, the decrease in gross margin was also partially offset by lower factory start-up costs on 14nm as well as lower production costs on 14nm, which were treated as a period charge in 2014. Operating profit was $14.0 billion in 2015, a decrease of $1.3 billion from 2014, driven by lower gross margin and increased investments in our growth market segments of the data center, Internet of Things, and memory. Our operating profit decrease was partially offset by lower investment in the PC market segment. Our effective tax rate for 2015 of 19.6% decreased 6.3 points from 2014, driven by one-time items and our decision to indefinitely reinvest certain prior years’ non-U.S. earnings.
The cash generation from our business remained strong, with cash from operations of $19.0 billion in 2015. During 2015, we purchased $7.3 billion of capital assets, down $2.8 billion from 2014. This change was primarily driven by our new strategy on next-generation process technology and manufacturing efficiencies, namely that we extended the length of time we plan to use the 14nm process technology by introducing a third 14nm product, code-named "Kaby Lake." This product will have key performance enhancements as compared to our 6th generation Intel Core processor family. We also returned cash to stockholders by both paying $4.6 billion in dividends and repurchasing $3.0 billion of common stock through our stock repurchase program. We ended the year with an investment portfolio of $25.3 billion, up approximately $11.3 billion from a year ago. That investment portfolio consisted of cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, and trading assets. We issued approximately $9.5 billion of long-term debt to finance our Altera acquisition. For further information, see "Note 15: Borrowings" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K. Effective in Q1 2016, our annual dividend increased $0.08 to $1.04 per share and our Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.26 per share of common stock.
Early in Q1 2016, we completed the acquisition of Altera. The acquisition will couple Intel’s leading-edge products and manufacturing process with Altera’s leading FPGA technology. The combination is expected to enable new classes of products that meet customer needs in the data center and Internet of Things market segments. We believe our product offerings and architectures will continue to enable innovation and growth in the data center and the Internet of Things market segments. The impact of the Altera acquisition has been reflected in our Business Outlook published in our January 2016 earnings release. For further information, see "Note 8: Acquisitions" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Our Business Outlook for Q1 2016 and full year 2016 includes, where applicable, our current expectations for revenue, gross margin percentage, spending (R&D plus MG&A), and capital expenditures. We publish our Business Outlook in our quarterly earnings release.

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Our Business Outlook and any updates thereto are publicly available on our Investor Relations website, www.intc.com. This Business Outlook is not incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K. We expect that our corporate representatives will, from time to time, meet publicly or privately with investors and others, and may reiterate the forward-looking statements contained in the Business Outlook or in this Form 10-K. The statements in the Business Outlook and forward-looking statements in this Form 10-K are subject to revision during the course of the year in our quarterly earnings releases and SEC filings and at other times. The forward-looking statements in the Business Outlook will be effective through the close of business on March 18, 2016, unless updated earlier. From the close of business on March 18, 2016 until our quarterly earnings release is published, currently scheduled for April 19, 2016, we will observe a "quiet period." During the quiet period, the Business Outlook and other forward-looking statements first published in our Form 8-K filed on January 14, 2016, and other forward-looking statements disclosed in the company's news releases and filings with the SEC, as reiterated or updated as applicable in this Form 10-K, should be considered historical, speaking as of prior to the quiet period only and not subject to update. During the quiet period, our representatives will not comment on our Business Outlook or our financial results or expectations. The exact timing and duration of the routine quiet period, and any others that we utilize from time to time, may vary at our discretion.
Critical Accounting Estimates
The methods, estimates, and judgments that we use in applying our accounting policies have a significant impact on the results that we report in our consolidated financial statements. Some of our accounting policies require us to make difficult and subjective judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates regarding matters that are inherently uncertain. Our most critical accounting estimates include:
•
the valuation of non-marketable equity investments and the determination of other-than-temporary impairments, which impact gains (losses) on equity investments, net when we record impairments;
•
the determination of useful lives for our property, plant and equipment and the related timing of when depreciation should begin;
•
the valuation and allocation of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in connection with business combinations;
•
the valuation and recoverability of long-lived assets (property, plant and equipment; identified intangibles and goodwill), which impact gross margin or operating expenses when we record asset impairments or accelerate their depreciation or amortization;
•
the recognition and measurement of current and deferred income taxes (including the measurement of uncertain tax positions), which impact our provision for taxes;
•
the valuation of inventory, which impacts gross margin; and
•
the recognition and measurement of loss contingencies, which impact gross margin or operating expenses when we recognize a loss contingency, revise the estimate for a loss contingency, or record an asset impairment.
In the following section, we discuss these policies further, as well as the estimates and judgments involved.
Non-Marketable Equity Investments
We regularly invest in non-marketable equity instruments of private companies, which range from early-stage companies that are often still defining their strategic direction to more mature companies with established revenue streams and business models. The carrying value of our non-marketable equity investment portfolio, excluding equity derivatives, totaled $4.5 billion as of December 26, 2015 ($3.2 billion as of December 27, 2014).
Our non-marketable equity investments are recorded using the cost method or the equity method of accounting, depending on the facts and circumstances of each investment. Our non-marketable equity investments are classified within other long-term assets on the consolidated balance sheets.
Non-marketable equity investments are inherently risky, and their success depends on product development, market acceptance, operational efficiency, and other key business factors. The companies could fail or not be able to raise additional funds when needed, or they may receive lower valuations with less favorable investment terms than previous financings. These events could cause our investments to become impaired. In addition, financial market volatility could negatively affect our ability to realize value in our investments through liquidity events such as initial public offerings, mergers, and private sales. For further information about our investment portfolio risks, see "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of this Form 10-K.

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

We determine the fair value of our non-marketable equity investments portfolio quarterly for impairment and disclosure purposes; however, the investments are recorded at fair value only if an impairment is recognized. The measurement of fair value requires significant judgment and includes a qualitative and quantitative analysis of events or circumstances that impact the fair value of the investment. Qualitative analysis of our investments involves understanding each investee’s revenue and earnings trends relative to pre-defined milestones and overall business prospects; the technological feasibility of our investee’s products and technologies; the general market conditions in the investee’s industry or geographic area, including adverse regulatory or economic changes; and the management and governance structure of the investee. Quantitative assessments of the fair value of our investments are developed using the market and income approaches. The market approach includes the use of financial metrics and ratios of comparable public companies, such as revenue, earnings, comparable performance multiples, recent financing rounds, the terms of investees’ issued interests, and the level of marketability of the investments. The selection of comparable companies requires management judgment and is based on a number of factors, including comparable companies’ sizes, growth rates, industries, and development stages. The income approach includes the use of a discounted cash flow model, which requires significant estimates regarding the investees' revenue, costs, and discount rates based on the risk profile of comparable companies. Estimates of revenue and costs are developed using available market, historical, and forecast data.
If the fair value of an investment is below our carrying value, we determine whether the investment is other-than-temporarily impaired based on our quantitative and qualitative analysis, which includes assessing the severity and duration of the impairment and the likelihood of recovery before disposal. If the investment is considered to be other-than-temporarily impaired, we record the investment at fair value by recognizing an impairment. Impairments of non-marketable equity investments were $166 million in 2015 ($140 million in 2014 and $112 million in 2013).
Property, Plant and Equipment Depreciation
Management judgment is required in determining the estimated economic useful lives of our property, plant and equipment, which can materially impact our depreciation expense. Accordingly, at least annually, we evaluate the period over which we expect to recover the economic value of these assets. During the assessment performed in Q4 2015, we considered factors such as the lengthening of the process technology cadence resulting in longer node transitions on both 14nm and 10nm products. With those longer transitions, we added a third product to our 14nm roadmap. We have also increased re-use of machinery and tools across each generation of process technology. As a result, we determined that the useful lives of machinery and equipment in our wafer fabrication facilities should be increased from four to five years. We will account for this as a change in estimate that will be applied prospectively, effective in Q1 2016. This change in depreciable life drives approximately $1.5 billion in lower depreciation expense for 2016. Approximately half of this benefit will increase gross margin (impacting both unit cost and start-up costs), approximately one-fourth will decrease R&D expenses, and the remaining one-fourth will result in lower inventory costs and ending inventory values.
As part of our long-range capacity planning, construction on certain facilities is on hold, and the facilities are not in use. These facilities are being held in a safe state, and we have plans to place them into service at a future date. The time at which these assets are placed into service depends on our existing manufacturing capacity, market demand for specific products, and where we are in the transition of products on our roadmap. Management is required to make judgments as to the timing of when these facilities will be readied for their intended use and placed into service for the manufacturing of our products, which is when depreciation begins.

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Business Combinations
Accounting for acquisitions requires our management to estimate the fair value of the assets and liabilities acquired, which involves a number of judgments, assumptions, and estimates that could materially affect the timing or amounts recognized in our financial statements. The items involving the most significant assumptions, estimates, and judgments include determining the fair value of the following:
•
Intangible assets, including valuation methodology, estimations of future cash flows, and discount rates, as well as the estimated useful life of the intangible assets;
•
the acquired company’s brand, as well as assumptions about the period of time the acquired brand will continue to be used;
•
deferred tax assets and liabilities, uncertain tax positions, and tax-related valuation allowances, which are initially estimated as of the acquisition date;
•
inventory; property, plant and equipment; pre-existing liabilities or legal claims; deferred revenue; and contingent consideration, each as may be applicable, and
•
goodwill as measured as the excess of consideration transferred over the net of the acquisition date fair values of the assets acquired and the liabilities assumed.
We allocate goodwill and intangible assets to the reporting unit(s) based on the reporting unit(s) that are expected to benefit from the business combination. Upon any reorganization of our operating segments, we reevaluate our reporting units and, if necessary, reassign goodwill using a relative fair value allocation approach. 
Our assumptions and estimates are based upon comparable market data and information obtained from our management and the management of the acquired companies. While we use our best estimates and assumptions to accurately value assets acquired and liabilities assumed at the acquisition date, our estimates are inherently uncertain and subject to refinement. As a result, during the measurement period, which may be up to one year following the acquisition date, we record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed with the corresponding offset to goodwill.
Long-Lived Asset Impairments
Property, Plant and Equipment
We assess property, plant and equipment for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of the assets or the asset grouping may not be recoverable. Factors that we consider in deciding when to perform an impairment review include significant under-performance of a business or product line in relation to expectations, significant negative industry or economic trends, and significant changes or planned changes in our use of the assets. We measure the recoverability of assets that we will continue to use in our operations by comparing the carrying value of the asset grouping to our estimate of the related total future undiscounted net cash flows. If an asset grouping’s carrying value is not recoverable through the related undiscounted cash flows, the asset grouping is considered to be impaired. We measure the impairment by comparing the difference between the asset grouping’s carrying value and its fair value. Property, plant and equipment is considered a non-financial asset and is recorded at fair value only if an impairment charge is recognized.
Impairments are determined for groups of assets related to the lowest level of identifiable independent cash flows. Due to our asset usage model and the interchangeable nature of our semiconductor manufacturing capacity, we must make subjective judgments in determining the independent cash flows that can be related to specific asset groupings.
In addition, as we make manufacturing process conversions and other factory planning decisions, we must make subjective judgments regarding the remaining useful lives of assets, primarily process-specific semiconductor manufacturing tools and building improvements. When we determine that the useful lives of assets are shorter than we had originally estimated, we accelerate the rate of depreciation over the assets’ new, shorter useful lives. Based on our analysis, impairments and accelerated depreciation of our property, plant and equipment totaled $151 million in 2015 ($115 million in 2014 and $172 million in 2013).

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Identified Intangibles
We make judgments about the recoverability of purchased finite-lived intangible assets whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that an impairment may exist. Recoverability of finite-lived intangible assets is measured by comparing the carrying amount of the asset to the future undiscounted cash flows that the asset is expected to generate. We perform an annual impairment assessment in the fourth quarter of each year for indefinite-lived intangible assets, or more frequently if indicators of potential impairment exist, to determine whether it is more likely than not that the carrying value of the assets may not be recoverable. Recoverability of indefinite-lived intangible assets is measured by comparing the carrying amount of the asset to the future discounted cash flows that the asset is expected to generate. If we determine that an individual asset is impaired, the amount of any impairment is measured as the difference between the carrying value and the fair value of the asset.
The assumptions and estimates used to determine future values and remaining useful lives of our intangible and other long-lived assets are complex and subjective. They can be affected by various factors, including external factors such as industry and economic trends, and internal factors such as changes in our business strategy and our forecasts for specific product lines. Based on our impairment assessment, we recognized impairment charges of $7 million in 2015 ($36 million in 2014 and $17 million in 2013).
Goodwill
Goodwill is recorded when the purchase price of an acquisition exceeds the fair value of the net tangible and identified intangible assets acquired. Goodwill is allocated to our reporting units based on the relative expected fair value provided by the acquisition. Reporting units may be operating segments as a whole or an operation one level below an operating segment, referred to as a component, and are consistent with the operating segments identified in "Note 26: Operating Segments and Geographic Information" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
We perform an annual impairment assessment in the fourth quarter of each year, or more frequently if indicators of potential impairment exist, to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit in which goodwill resides is less than its carrying value. For reporting units in which this assessment concludes that it is more likely than not that the fair value is more than its carrying value, goodwill is not considered impaired and we are not required to perform the two-step goodwill impairment test. Qualitative factors considered in this assessment include industry and market considerations, overall financial performance, and other relevant events and factors affecting the reporting unit. Additionally, as part of this assessment, we may perform a quantitative analysis to support the qualitative factors above by applying sensitivities to assumptions and inputs used in measuring a reporting unit’s fair value. For reporting units in which the impairment assessment concludes that it is more likely than not that the fair value is less than its carrying value, we perform the first step of the goodwill impairment test, which compares the fair value of the reporting unit to its carrying value. If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds the carrying value of the net assets assigned to that reporting unit, goodwill is not considered impaired and we are not required to perform additional analysis. If the carrying value of the net assets assigned to the reporting unit exceeds the fair value of the reporting unit, then we must perform the second step of the goodwill impairment test to determine the implied fair value of the reporting unit’s goodwill. If we determine during the second step that the carrying value of a reporting unit’s goodwill exceeds its implied fair value, we record an impairment loss equal to the difference.
Determining the fair value of a reporting unit involves the use of significant estimates and assumptions. Our goodwill impairment test uses a weighting of the income method and the market method to estimate a reporting unit’s fair value. The income method is based on a discounted future cash flow approach that uses the following assumptions and inputs: revenue, based on assumed market segment growth rates and our assumed market segment share; estimated costs; and appropriate discount rates based on a reporting unit's weighted average cost of capital as determined by considering the observable weighted average cost of capital of comparable companies. Our estimates of market segment growth, our market segment share, and costs are based on historical data, various internal estimates, and a variety of external sources. These estimates are developed as part of our routine long-range planning process. The same estimates are also used in planning for our long-term manufacturing and assembly and test capacity needs as part of our capital budgeting process, and for long-term and short-term business planning and forecasting. We test the reasonableness of the inputs and outcomes of our discounted cash flow analysis against available comparable market data. The market method is based on financial multiples of comparable companies and applies a control premium. A reporting unit’s carrying value represents the assignment of various assets and liabilities, excluding certain corporate assets and liabilities, such as cash, investments, and debt.

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

For the annual impairment assessment in 2015, we determined that for each of our reporting units with significant amounts of goodwill, it was more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting units exceeded the carrying value. As a result, we concluded that performing the first step of the goodwill impairment test was not necessary for those reporting units. During the fourth quarter of each of the prior three fiscal years, we completed our annual impairment assessments and concluded that goodwill was not impaired in any of these years.
Income Taxes
We must make estimates and judgments in determining the provision for taxes for financial statement purposes. These estimates and judgments occur in the calculation of tax credits, benefits, and deductions, and in the calculation of certain tax assets and liabilities that arise from differences in the timing of recognition of revenue and expense for tax and financial statement purposes, as well as the interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions. Significant changes in these estimates may result in an increase or decrease to our tax provision in a subsequent period.
We must assess the likelihood that we will be able to recover our deferred tax assets. If recovery is not more likely than not, we must increase our provision for taxes by recording a valuation allowance against the deferred tax assets that we estimate will not ultimately be recoverable. We believe that we will ultimately recover the deferred tax assets recorded on our consolidated balance sheets. However, should a change occur in our ability to recover our deferred tax assets, our tax provision would increase in the period in which we determined that the recovery is not more likely than not. Recovery of a portion of our deferred tax assets is impacted by management’s plans with respect to holding or disposing of certain investments; therefore, changes in management’s plans with respect to holding or disposing of investments could affect our future provision for taxes.
We use a two-step process to recognize liabilities for uncertain tax positions. The first step is to evaluate the tax position for recognition by determining whether the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of related appeals or litigation processes, if any. If we determine that a tax position will more likely than not be sustained on audit, the second step requires us to estimate and measure the tax benefit as the largest amount that is more than 50% likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement. We consider many factors when evaluating and estimating our tax positions and tax benefits, which may require periodic adjustments and may not accurately forecast actual outcomes. Determining whether an uncertain tax position is effectively settled requires judgment. Such a change in recognition or measurement would result in the recognition of a tax benefit or an additional charge to the tax provision.
We have not recognized U.S. deferred income taxes on certain undistributed non-U.S. earnings because we plan to indefinitely reinvest such earnings outside the U.S. Remittances of non-U.S. earnings are based on estimates and judgments of projected cash flow needs, as well as the working capital and investment requirements of our non-U.S. and U.S. operations. Material changes in our estimates of cash, working capital, and investment needs in various jurisdictions could require repatriation of indefinitely reinvested non-U.S. earnings, which would be subject to U.S. income taxes and applicable non-U.S. income and withholding taxes.
Inventory
Intel has a product development life cycle that corresponds with substantive engineering milestones. These engineering milestones are regularly and consistently applied in assessing the point at which our activities, and associated costs, change in nature from R&D to cost of sales. In order for a product to be manufactured in high volumes and sold to our customers under our standard warranty, it must meet our rigorous technical quality specifications. This milestone is known as product release qualification (PRQ). We have identified PRQ as the point at which the costs incurred to manufacture our products are included in the valuation of inventory.
To determine which costs can be included in the valuation of inventory, we must determine normal capacity at our manufacturing and assembly and test facilities, based on historical loadings compared to total available capacity. If the factory loadings are below the established normal capacity level, a portion of our manufacturing overhead costs would not be included in the cost of inventory; therefore, it would be recognized as cost of sales in that period, which would negatively impact our gross margin. We refer to these costs as excess capacity charges. Excess capacity charges were insignificant in 2015 (insignificant in 2014 and $319 million in 2013).

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Inventory is valued at the lower of cost or market, based upon assumptions about future demand and market conditions. Product-specific facts and circumstances reviewed in the inventory valuation process include a review of our customer base, the stage of the product life cycle of our products, consumer confidence, customer acceptance of our products, and an assessment of selling price in relation to product cost. If the estimated market value of the inventory is less than the carrying value, we write down the inventory and record the difference as a charge to cost of sales. Inventory reserves increased by approximately $185 million in 2015 compared to 2014.
The valuation of inventory also requires us to estimate obsolete and excess inventory, as well as inventory that is not of saleable quality. The demand forecast is utilized in the development of our short-term manufacturing plans to enable consistency between inventory valuation and build decisions. The estimate of future demand is compared to work-in-process and finished goods inventory levels to determine the amount, if any, of obsolete or excess inventory. If our demand forecast for specific products is greater than actual demand and we fail to reduce manufacturing output accordingly, we could be required to write off inventory, which would negatively impact our gross margin.
Loss Contingencies
We are subject to loss contingencies, including various legal and regulatory proceedings and asserted and potential claims, accruals related to repair or replacement of parts in connection with product defects, as well as product warranties and potential asset impairments that arise in the ordinary course of business. An estimated loss from such contingencies is recognized as a charge to income if it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. Disclosure of a loss contingency is required if there is at least a reasonable possibility that a material loss has been incurred. The outcomes of legal and administrative proceedings and claims, and the estimation of product warranties and asset impairments, are subject to significant uncertainty. Significant judgment is required in both the determination of probability and the determination as to whether a loss is reasonably estimable. At least quarterly, we review the status of each significant matter, and we may revise our estimates. These revisions could have a material impact on our results of operations and financial position.


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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Results of Operations
Consolidated statements of income data as a percentage of net revenue for each period were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions, Except Per Share Amounts)
 
December 26, 2015
 
December 27, 2014
 
December 28, 2013
 
Dollars
 
% of Net
Revenue
 
Dollars
 
% of Net
Revenue
 
Dollars
 
% of Net
Revenue
Net revenue
 
$
55,355

 
100.0
 %
 
$
55,870

 
100.0
%
 
$
52,708

 
100.0
 %
Cost of sales
 
20,676

 
37.4
 %
 
20,261

 
36.3
%
 
21,187

 
40.2
 %
Gross margin
 
34,679

 
62.6
 %
 
35,609

 
63.7
%
 
31,521

 
59.8
 %
Research and development
 
12,128

 
21.9
 %
 
11,537

 
20.6
%
 
10,611

 
20.1
 %
Marketing, general and administrative
 
7,930

 
14.3
 %
 
8,136

 
14.6
%
 
8,088

 
15.3
 %
Restructuring and asset impairment charges
 
354

 
0.6
 %
 
295

 
0.5
%
 
240

 
0.5
 %
Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles
 
265

 
0.5
 %
 
294

 
0.5
%
 
291

 
0.6
 %
Operating income
 
14,002

 
25.3
 %
 
15,347

 
27.5
%
 
12,291

 
23.3
 %
Gains (losses) on equity investments, net
 
315

 
0.6
 %
 
411

 
0.7
%
 
471

 
0.9
 %
Interest and other, net
 
(105
)
 
(0.2
)%
 
43

 
0.1
%
 
(151
)
 
(0.3
)%
Income before taxes
 
14,212

 
25.7
 %
 
15,801

 
28.3
%
 
12,611

 
23.9
 %
Provision for taxes
 
2,792

 
5.1
 %
 
4,097

 
7.4
%
 
2,991

 
5.6
 %
Net income
 
$
11,420

 
20.6
 %
 
$
11,704

 
20.9
%
 
$
9,620

 
18.3
 %
Diluted earnings per share of common stock
 
$
2.33

 
 
 
$
2.31

 
 
 
$
1.89

 
 
Our net revenue in 2015 decreased by $515 million, or 1%, compared to 2014. Platform unit sales were down 9% due to challenging macroeconomic conditions, particularly in the first half of the year, and higher PC demand in 2014 driven by the Microsoft Windows XP refresh. The decrease in PC demand was partially offset by higher DCG and IOTG platform unit sales. The decrease in revenue was partially offset by higher platform average selling prices, which were up 8%, as we benefited from a higher mix of DCG platform unit sales and higher average selling prices on desktop and DCG platforms. To a lesser extent, the decrease in revenue was partially offset by higher NSG revenue.
Our overall gross margin percentage was 62.6% in 2015, down from 63.7% in 2014. The decrease in gross margin percentage was primarily due to the gross margin decrease in the CCG operating segment. We derived a substantial majority of our overall gross margin dollars for 2015 and 2014 from the sale of platforms in the CCG and DCG operating segments. Our overall gross margin dollars in 2015 decreased by $930 million, or 3%, compared to 2014. The following results drove the change in gross margin in 2015 compared to 2014 by approximately the amounts indicated:
(In Millions)
 
Gross Margin Reconciliation (2015 compared to 2014):
$
(1,965
)
 
Higher platform unit costs, primarily driven by the ramp of our 14nm process technology
400

 
Lower factory start-up costs, primarily driven by the ramp of our 14nm process technology
205

 
Lower production costs primarily on our 14nm products, which were treated as period charges in 2014, partially offset by higher pre-qualification product costs on 14nm products
430

 
Other
$
(930
)
 
 


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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Our net revenue for 2014 was up $3.2 billion, or 6%, compared to 2013. Platform unit sales were up 19%, primarily driven by the ramp of our tablet platform and strength in the traditional PC business. To a lesser extent, higher NSG revenue also contributed to the increase. These increases were partially offset by lower platform average selling prices, which were down 10% primarily on mix shift on significantly higher tablet and phone platform unit sales and cash consideration associated with integrating our tablet and phone platforms. To a lesser extent, lower CCG phone component unit sales partially offset the increase in revenue.
Our overall gross margin percentage was 63.7% in 2014, up from 59.8% in 2013. The increase in gross margin percentage was primarily due to the gross margin increase in the CCG and DCG operating segments. We derived most of our overall gross margin dollars for 2014 and 2013 from the sale of platforms in the CCG and DCG operating segments. Our overall gross margin dollars for 2014 increased by $4.1 billion, or 13%, compared to 2013. The following results drove the change in gross margin in 2014 compared to 2013 by approximately the amounts indicated:
(In Millions)
 
Gross Margin Reconciliation (2014 compared to 2013):
$
2,575

 
Lower platform unit costs
1,160

 
Higher gross margin from platform revenue1
860

 
Lower factory start-up costs, primarily driven by our 14nm process technology
(507
)
 
Other
$
4,088

 
 
1  
Higher gross margin from platform revenue was driven by higher platform unit sales, which were partially offset by lower platform average selling prices. The decrease in platform average selling prices was due to a shift in market segment mix (higher tablet and phone platform unit sales with higher cash consideration to our customers associated with integration of our platform) and lower notebook platform average selling prices.
Client Computing Group
The revenue and operating income for the CCG operating segment for 2015 and 2014 were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Change
 
% Change
Platform
 
$
30,654

 
$
33,210

 
$
(2,556
)
 
(8
)%
Other
 
1,565

 
1,662

 
(97
)
 
(6
)%
Net revenue
 
$
32,219

 
$
34,872

 
$
(2,653
)
 
(8
)%
Operating income
 
$
8,165

 
$
10,323

 
$
(2,158
)
 
(21
)%
CCG platform unit sales
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(11
)%
CCG platform average selling prices
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4
 %
Our CCG platform unit sales decreased in 2015 compared to 2014 due to challenging macroeconomic conditions, particularly in the first half of the year, and higher PC demand in 2014 driven by the Microsoft Windows XP refresh. Our results, as compared to the prior year, did benefit from a richer mix of high-performance platforms. Within the CCG operating segment, the following results drove the change in revenue in 2015 compared to 2014:
(In Millions)
 
Revenue Reconciliation (2015 compared to 2014):
$
(2,304
)
 
Lower desktop platform unit sales, down 16%
(1,695
)
 
Lower notebook platform unit sales, down 9%
760

 
Higher desktop platform average selling prices, up 6%
300

 
Higher notebook platform average selling prices, up 2%
272

 
Higher tablet platform average selling prices
14

 
Other
$
(2,653
)
 
 

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

The following results drove the change in CCG operating income in 2015 compared to 2014 by approximately the amounts indicated:
(In Millions)
 
Operating Income Reconciliation (2015 compared to 2014):
$
(2,060
)
 
Higher CCG platform unit costs
(1,565
)
 
Lower CCG platform revenue1
435

 
Lower factory start-up costs, primarily driven by the ramp of our 14nm process technology
430

 
Lower production costs primarily on our 14nm products, which were treated as a period charges in 2014
375

 
Lower operating expense
227

 
Other
$
(2,158
)
 
 
1  
Lower gross margin from lower CCG platform revenue was driven by lower CCG platform unit sales, partially offset by higher CCG platform average selling prices. CCG platform average selling prices increased due to higher average selling prices on desktop, notebook, and tablet platforms, partially offset by a market segment mix to phone platform from tablet and desktop platforms.
The revenue and operating income for the CCG operating segment for 2014 and 2013 were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Dec 28,
2013
 
Change
 
% Change
Platform
 
$
33,210

 
$
32,385

 
$
825

 
3
 %
Other
 
1,662

 
2,260

 
(598
)
 
(26
)%
Net revenue
 
$
34,872

 
$
34,645

 
$
227

 
1
 %
Operating income
 
$
10,323

 
$
8,708

 
$
1,615

 
19
 %
CCG platform unit sales
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
20
 %
CCG platform average selling prices
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(15
)%
Our CCG operating segment results benefited from strength in the traditional PC business driven by the Microsoft Windows XP refresh. Within the CCG operating segment, the following market segment results drove the change in revenue in 2014 compared to 2013:
(In Millions)
 
Revenue Reconciliation (2014 compared to 2013):
$
2,101

 
Higher notebook platform unit sales, up 11%
501

 
Higher desktop platform unit sales, up 3%
305

 
Higher tablet platform unit sales
(1,514
)
 
Lower notebook platform average selling prices, down 7%
(711
)
 
Lower tablet platform average selling prices, primarily driven by higher cash consideration to our customers associated with integrating our platform
(515
)
 
Lower phone component unit sales
60

 
Other
$
227

 
 

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

The following results drove the change in CCG operating income in 2014 compared to 2013 by approximately the amounts indicated:
(In Millions)
 
Operating Income Reconciliation (2014 compared to 2013):
$
2,160

 
Lower CCG platform unit costs
915

 
Lower factory start-up costs, primarily driven by our 14nm process technology
80

 
Lower operating expense
(990
)
 
Lower gross margin from CCG platform revenue1
(345
)
 
Lower phone component revenue
(205
)
 
Other
$
1,615

 
 
1  
Lower gross margin from CCG platform revenue was driven by lower CCG platform average selling prices, partially offset by higher CCG platform unit sales. Lower CCG platform average selling prices were due to a shift in market segment mix (higher tablet and phone platform unit sales) and lower notebook and tablet platform average selling prices.
Data Center Group
The revenue and operating income for the DCG operating segment for 2015 and 2014 were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Change
 
% Change
Platform
 
$
14,882

 
$
13,366

 
$
1,516

 
11
%
Other
 
1,095

 
1,021

 
74

 
7
%
Net revenue
 
$
15,977

 
$
14,387

 
$
1,590

 
11
%
Operating income
 
$
7,844

 
$
7,390

 
$
454

 
6
%
DCG platform unit sales
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8
%
DCG platform average selling prices
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3
%
Our DCG platform revenue increased primarily due to growth in the Internet cloud computing market segment. To a lesser extent, growth in the communications infrastructure market segment also contributed to the increase. The following results drove the change in DCG revenue in 2015 compared to 2014:
(In Millions)
 
Revenue Reconciliation (2015 compared to 2014):
$
1,023

 
Higher DCG platform unit sales
493

 
Higher DCG platform average selling prices
74

 
Other
$
1,590

 
 
The following results drove the change in DCG operating income in 2015 compared to 2014 by approximately the amounts indicated:
(In Millions)
 
Operating Income Reconciliation (2015 compared to 2014):
$
1,415

 
Higher DCG platform revenue
(725
)
 
Higher operating expense, primarily driven by higher shared product development costs
(236
)
 
Other
$
454

 
 

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

The revenue and operating income for the DCG operating segment for 2014 and 2013 were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Dec 28,
2013
 
Change
 
% Change
Platform
 
$
13,366

 
$
11,219

 
$
2,147

 
19
%
Other
 
1,021

 
944

 
77

 
8
%
Net revenue
 
$
14,387

 
$
12,163

 
$
2,224

 
18
%
Operating income
 
$
7,390

 
$
5,456

 
$
1,934

 
35
%
DCG platform unit sales
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8
%
DCG platform average selling prices
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
10
%
Our DCG platform revenue continued to benefit from growth in the cloud and technical computing market segments, with continued strengthening of the enterprise market segment. The following results drove the change in DCG revenue in 2014 compared to 2013:
(In Millions)
 
Revenue Reconciliation (2014 compared to 2013):
$
1,200

 
Higher DCG platform average selling prices
947

 
Higher DCG platform unit sales
77

 
Other
$
2,224

 
 
The following results drove the change in DCG operating income in 2014 compared to 2013 by approximately the amounts indicated:
(In Millions)
 
Operating Income Reconciliation (2014 compared to 2013):
$
2,020

 
Higher DCG platform revenue
220

 
Lower DCG platform unit costs
(465
)
 
Higher operating expense, primarily driven by higher direct and shared product development costs
159

 
Other
$
1,934

 
 
Internet of Things Group
The revenue and operating income for the IOTG operating segment for 2015 and 2014 were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Change
 
% Change
Platform
 
$
1,976

 
$
1,814

 
$
162

 
9
 %
Other
 
322

 
328

 
(6
)
 
(2
)%
Net revenue
 
$
2,298

 
$
2,142

 
$
156

 
7
 %
Operating income
 
$
515

 
$
583

 
$
(68
)
 
(12
)%
Net revenue for the IOTG operating segment increased in 2015 compared to 2014, primarily due to higher IOTG platform unit sales based on strength in the retail market segment. The increase was partially offset by lower IOTG platform average selling prices.
Operating income for the IOTG operating segment decreased in 2015 compared to 2014, driven by continued investment in product development across our operating segments, including the Internet of Things market segment. This decrease was partially offset by lower unit costs related to product transition and higher IOTG platform revenue.

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

The revenue and operating income for the IOTG operating segment for 2014 and 2013 were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Dec 28,
2013
 
Change
 
% Change
Platform
 
$
1,814

 
$
1,485

 
$
329

 
22
%
Other
 
328

 
316

 
12

 
4
%
Net revenue
 
$
2,142

 
$
1,801

 
$
341

 
19
%
Operating income
 
$
583

 
$
532

 
$
51

 
10
%
Net revenue for the IOTG operating segment increased by $341 million, or 19%, in 2014 compared to 2013. The increase was primarily due to higher IOTG platform unit sales based on strength in the retail and industrial market segments.
Operating income for the IOTG operating segment increased by $51 million, or 10%, in 2014 compared to 2013. The increase was primarily due to higher IOTG platform revenue, partially offset by higher IOTG platform operating expenses.
Software and Services Operating Segments
The revenue and operating income for the SSG operating segments, including the Intel Security Group and the Software and Services Group, for 2015 and 2014 were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Change
 
% Change
Net revenue
 
$
2,167

 
$
2,216

 
$
(49
)
 
(2
)%
Operating income
 
$
210

 
$
81

 
$
129

 
159
 %
Operating income for the SSG operating segments increased in 2015 compared to 2014, driven by $132 million of lower operating expense.
The revenue and operating income for the SSG operating segments for 2014 and 2013 were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Dec 28,
2013
 
Change
 
% Change
Net revenue
 
$
2,216

 
$
2,188

 
$
28

 
1
%
Operating income
 
$
81

 
$
57

 
$
24

 
42
%
Operating Expenses
Operating expenses for each period were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Dec 28,
2013
Research and development (R&D)
 
$
12,128

 
$
11,537

 
$
10,611

Marketing, general and administrative (MG&A)
 
$
7,930

 
$
8,136

 
$
8,088

R&D and MG&A as percentage of net revenue
 
36
%
 
35
%
 
35
%
Restructuring and asset impairment charges
 
$
354

 
$
295

 
$
240

Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles
 
$
265

 
$
294

 
$
291

Research and Development
R&D spending increased by $591 million, or 5%, in 2015 compared to 2014. The increase was due to higher investment in our products—primarily server, Internet of Things, and new devices—as well as expenses of newly acquired entities and higher process development costs for our 10nm process technology. This increase was partially offset by lower profit-dependent compensation and savings from the implementation of efficiencies within our CCG operating segment.

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

R&D spending increased by $926 million, or 9%, in 2014 compared to 2013. The increase was due to higher process development costs for our 10nm process technology, higher compensation expenses for both profit-dependent compensation and annual salary increases, as well as higher investments in our products, primarily server and new devices. This increase was partially offset by lower product investments in our phone, tablet, and Intel Media businesses.
Marketing, General and Administrative
MG&A expenses decreased by $206 million, or 3%, in 2015 compared to 2014. This decrease was due to lower profit-dependent compensation as well as lower expenses from businesses that have been divested. MG&A expenses increased by $48 million in 2014 compared to 2013.
Restructuring and Asset Impairment Charges
Restructuring and asset impairment charges by program for each period were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Dec 28,
2013
2015 restructuring program
 
$
264

 
$
—

 
$
—

2013 restructuring program
 
90

 
295

 
240

Total restructuring and asset impairment charges
 
$
354

 
$
295

 
$
240

2015 Restructuring Program. Beginning in Q2 2015, management approved and commenced implementation of restructuring actions, primarily targeted workforce reductions, as we adjusted resources from areas of disinvestment to areas of investment. This program was substantially complete by the end of 2015.
Restructuring and asset impairment charges for the 2015 restructuring program in 2015 were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 26,
2015
Employee severance and benefit arrangements
 
$
250

Asset impairments and other restructuring charges
 
14

Total restructuring and asset impairment charges
 
$
264

Restructuring and asset impairment activities for the 2015 restructuring program in 2015 were as follows:
(In Millions)
 
Employee Severance and Benefits
 
Asset Impairments and Other
 
Total
Accrued restructuring balance as of December 27, 2014
 
$
—

 
$
—

 
$
—

Additional accruals
 
292

 
14

 
306

Adjustments
 
(42
)
 
—

 
(42
)
Cash payments
 
(225
)
 
(1
)
 
(226
)
Non-cash settlements
 
—

 
(6
)
 
(6
)
Accrued restructuring balance as of December 26, 2015
 
$
25

 
$
7

 
$
32

We recorded the additional accruals as restructuring and asset impairment charges in the consolidated statements of income and within the “all other” operating segments category. A substantial majority of the accrued restructuring balance as of December 26, 2015 is expected to be paid within the next 12 months, and was recorded as a current liability within accrued compensation and benefits on the consolidated balance sheets.
Restructuring actions related to this program that were approved in 2015 impacted approximately 4,000 employees. We estimate that employee severance and benefit charges to date will result in gross annual savings of approximately $400 million, which will be realized within R&D, cost of sales, and MG&A. We began to realize these savings in Q2 2015 and expect to fully realize these savings after the actions are complete.


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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

2013 Restructuring Program. Beginning in Q3 2013, management approved and commenced implementation of several restructuring actions, including targeted workforce reductions and the exit of certain businesses and facilities. These actions include the wind down of our 200mm wafer fabrication facility in Massachusetts, which ceased production in Q1 2015, and the closure of our assembly and test facility in Costa Rica, which ceased production in Q4 2014. These targeted reductions will enable us to better align our resources in areas providing the greatest benefit in the current business environment. This program was substantially complete by the end of 2015.
Restructuring and asset impairment charges for the 2013 restructuring program for each period were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Dec 28,
2013
Employee severance and benefit arrangements
 
$
82

 
$
265

 
$
201

Asset impairments and other restructuring charges
 
8

 
30

 
39

Total restructuring and asset impairment charges
 
$
90

 
$
295

 
$
240

Restructuring and asset impairment activities for the 2013 restructuring program for each period were as follows:
(In Millions)
 
Employee Severance and Benefits
 
Asset Impairments and Other
 
Total
Accrued restructuring balance as of December 28, 2013
 
$
183

 
$
—

 
$
183

Additional accruals
 
252

 
31

 
283

Adjustments
 
13

 
(1
)
 
12

Cash payments
 
(327
)
 
(6
)
 
(333
)
Non-cash settlements
 
—

 
(13
)
 
(13
)
Accrued restructuring balance as of December 27, 2014
 
121

 
11

 
132

Additional accruals
 
101

 
9

 
110

Adjustments
 
(19
)
 
(1
)
 
(20
)
Cash payments
 
(171
)
 
(10
)
 
(181
)
Non-cash settlements
 
—

 
(3
)
 
(3
)
Accrued restructuring balance as of December 26, 2015
 
$
32

 
$
6

 
$
38

We recorded the additional accruals and adjustments as restructuring and asset impairment charges in the consolidated statements of income and within the "all other" operating segments category. Substantially all of the accrued restructuring balance as of December 26, 2015 is expected to be paid within the next 12 months, and was recorded as a current liability within accrued compensation and benefits on the consolidated balance sheets.
Restructuring actions related to this program that were approved in 2015 impacted approximately 940 employees. Since Q3 2013, we have incurred a total of $625 million in restructuring and asset impairment charges. These charges include $548 million related to employee severance and benefit arrangements for approximately 8,500 employees, and $77 million in asset impairment charges and other restructuring charges.
We estimate that employee severance and benefit charges to date will result in gross annual savings of approximately $600 million, which will be realized within R&D, MG&A, and cost of sales. We began to realize these savings in Q4 2013 and expect to fully realize these savings after the actions are complete.

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Share-Based Compensation
Share-based compensation totaled $1.3 billion in 2015 ($1.1 billion in 2014 and $1.1 billion in 2013). Share-based compensation was included in cost of sales and operating expenses.
As of December 26, 2015, unrecognized share-based compensation costs and the weighted average periods over which the costs are expected to be recognized were as follows:
(Dollars in Millions)
 
Unrecognized
Share-Based
Compensation
Costs
 
Weighted
Average
Period
Restricted stock units
 
$
1,789

 
1.2 years
Stock options
 
$
13

 
8 months
Stock Purchase Plan
 
$
14

 
2 months
Gains (Losses) on Equity Investments and Interest and Other, Net
Gains (losses) on equity investments, net and interest and other, net for each period were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Dec 28,
2013
Gains (losses) on equity investments, net
 
$
315

 
$
411

 
$
471

Interest and other, net
 
$
(105
)
 
$
43

 
$
(151
)
We recognized lower net gains on equity investments in 2015 compared to 2014 due to lower gains on sales of equity investments, partially offset by higher gains on third-party merger transactions.
We recognized lower net gains on equity investments in 2014 compared to 2013 due to lower gains on sales of equity investments, partially offset by higher gains on third-party merger transactions. The majority of gains on sales, net for 2014 resulted from gains on private equity sales. Net gains on equity investments for 2013 included gains of $439 million on the sales of our interest in Clearwire Communications, LLC and our shares in Clearwire Corporation in Q3 2013. For further information on these transactions, see "Note 5: Cash and Investments" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
We recognized an interest and other net loss in 2015 compared to a net gain in 2014 primarily due to higher interest expense, which includes the 2015 issuances of our $9.5 billion aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes. For further information on these transactions, see "Note 15: Borrowings" in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
We recognized an interest and other net gain in 2014 compared to a net loss in 2013 due to a gain recognized on the divestiture of our Intel Media assets in 2014.
Provision for Taxes
Our provision for taxes and effective tax rate for each period were as follows:
Years Ended
(In Millions)
 
Dec 26,
2015
 
Dec 27,
2014
 
Dec 28,
2013
Income before taxes
 
$
14,212

 
$
15,801

 
$
12,611

Provision for taxes
 
$
2,792

 
$
4,097

 
$
2,991

Effective tax rate
 
19.6
%
 
25.9
%
 
23.7
%
Most of the decrease in our effective tax rate in 2015 compared to 2014 was driven by one-time items, a higher proportion of our income from lower tax jurisdictions, and our decision to indefinitely reinvest certain prior years’ non-U.S. earnings positively impacted our effective income tax rate.
A substantial majority of the increase in our effective tax rate between 2014 and 2013 was driven by the reenacted U.S. R&D tax credit in 2013 containing two years' worth of R&D tax credits. The U.S. R&D tax credit was reenacted in Q4 2014 retroactive for the full year. It was also reenacted in Q1 2013 retroactive to the beginning of 2012.

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS (Continued)

Liquidity and Capital Resources
(Dollars in Millions)