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Published on April 15, 2008
WILSON SONSINI
GOODRICH & ROSATI LETTERHEAD
April
15, 2008
VIA
EDGAR
Securities
and Exchange Commission
Division
of Corporate Finance
100
F Street, N.E.
Washington,
DC 20549
Attention: Jay
Webb, Division of Corporate Finance
|
Re:
|
Microchip
Technology Incorporated
|
Form
10-K for fiscal year ended March 31, 2007
Commission
File No. 0-21184
Ladies
and Gentlemen:
On
behalf of Microchip Technology Incorporated (the “Company”), we are transmitting
the Company’s Memorandum of Response (the “Response Letter”) to the comments of
the Staff (the “Staff”) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
“Commission”) contained in the Staff’s letter dated March 25, 2008 relating to
the Company’s Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007.
If
you should have any questions or additional comments regarding the Company’s
Response Letter, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned at (512)
338-5400.
Very
truly yours,
|
WILSON
SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI
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Professional
Corporation
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/s/J.
Robert Suffoletta
|
J. Robert
Suffoletta, Esq.
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Enclosure
MICROCHIP
TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED
MEMORANDUM
OF RESPONSE TO SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION COMMENTS
AS
SET FORTH IN THE STAFF’S LETTER DATED MARCH 25, 2008
This
memorandum sets forth the response of Microchip Technology Incorporated (“we” or the “Company”) to the
comments of the Staff (the “Staff”) of the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) as set
forth in the Staff’s letter dated March 25, 2008 relating to the Company’s Form
10-K for fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 and Form 10-Q for fiscal quarter ended
December 31, 2007.
This
Memorandum is being filed via EDGAR. For convenience, the Company has
incorporated the Staff’s comments in bold typeface before each of its
responses.
Form 10-K for the
Fiscal-Year ended March 31, 2007
Executive Compensation, page
38
1.
|
We
note your response to comment 3 in your letter dated February 19,
2008. Please provide us with a more detailed explanation as to
why disclosure of the undisclosed specific revenue growth goals under your
Executive Management Incentive Compensation Plan on a historical basis
would cause substantial competitive harm. For example, describe for us
what information your competitors could derive from such disclosure and
how such information could be used to cause substantial competitive
harm. Also, please tell us why the disclosure of such
information would not be material to an investors’ understanding of your
compensation policies and
decisions.
|
Microchip
Response:
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we will include the specific revenue growth
goals under our Executive Management Incentive Compensation Plan on a historical
basis in our future annual meeting proxy statement.
Consolidated Financial
Statements
Note
1: Significant Accounting Policies, page F-6
Revenue Recognition, Page
F-6
2.
|
We
note your response to prior comment 5. In light of the fact
that you are unable to estimate the product returns and the price
discounts you issue under arrangements with your distributors and,
therefore, an unknown portion of the amount recorded as “deferred income
on shipments to distributors” will never be recognized as revenue, please
tell us how you concluded that “deferred income” is an appropriate title
for the liability account. We note that Regulation S-X calls
for financial statement caption titles that reflect the significance and
the character of the items being presented. Please tell us, for
example, whether you considered a title of the account such as “customer
deposit, net of deferred inventory costs” or other such titles that better
depict the nature of the
liability.
|
Microchip
Response:
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we advise the Staff that we believe “deferred
income on shipments to distributors” accurately reflects the significance and
the character of the items presented, as contemplated in Regulation S-X, as the
substantial majority of the amount reflected in this item will be recognized as
income as the distributor sells the products to their customers. We
also note that “deferred income on shipments to distributors” is a commonly used
industry description, and one that is used by numerous semiconductor companies
that employ similar revenue recognition policies. Further, we believe
alternatives such as “deferred revenue”, “deferred income”, or simply the
classification of the balance within “accrued liabilities,” would be less
descriptive and would not accurately reflect the character of the items being
presented.
While a
portion of the amount recorded as deferred income may never be recognized, this
fact is disclosed in the footnotes to the financial statements that accompany
the statement of operations. We believe our disclosure, coupled with
the expanded footnote disclosure which we intend to include in future filings,
provides appropriate disclosure.
3.
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In
future filings, please revise the notes to your financial statements to
include the significant information outlined in your response to our prior
comment 5. At a minimum, please address the
following:
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a.
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Specifically
disclose why you defer revenue – i.e., (i) you are unable to estimate the
amount of products that could be returned and (ii) because of the price
discounts you frequently provide to your distributors, the ultimate sales
price of your transactions with distributors is not fixed or determinable
until the distributors has sold to the end
user.
|
Microchip
Response:
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we will expand the disclosures to discuss why
we defer revenue on distributor sales.
b.
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Disclose
the significant terms of your sales agreement with distributors, including
a brief summary of the return rights and price protection or price
concession rights you grant them; the situations under which the
distributors may exercise those rights; whether returns or price discounts
credits are capped to a certain percentage of sales price or margins; and
whether any of your arrangements with distributors would allow or require
you to grant price discounts below the cost of the
product.
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Microchip
Response:
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we will expand the disclosures to discuss
significant terms of our sales arrangements with distributors.
c.
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Provide
a discussion of your policies for testing and accounting for the
impairment of the deferred cost of sale amounts or, as your indicated, the
inventory still held by distributors which may be returned to you or on
which you may have to provide
discounts.
|
Microchip
Response:
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we will expand the disclosures to discuss that
our deferred costs have low risk of material impairment and that product returns
from distributors that are ultimately scrapped have historically been immaterial
and price protection or other discounts granted below the cost of our products
are rare due to the margins we earn on the sales of our products.
4.
|
Please
tell us the amounts of gross deferred revenues and gross deferred costs of
sales presented in the deferred income caption of your balance sheets as
of March 31, 2007 and December 31, 2007. In addition, as we
note that impairments of the deferred costs and price discounts are
reasonably likely to have a material impact on your results of operations,
liquidity or capital resources, please revise MD&A in future filings
to include similar disclosure accompanied by a discussion of the impact in
each reported period. Your discussion could also include a
roll-forward of your deferred distributor income liability
account. Further, please discuss any trends noted over the
reported periods. Refer to Item 303(a) of Regulation
S-K.
|
2
Microchip
Response:
In
response to the Staff’s comment, we advise the Staff of the amounts of gross
deferred revenue and gross deferred cost of sales at March 31, 2007 and December
31, 2007 are as follows:
(in
thousands)
|
March
31,
2007
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December
31,
2007
|
||||||
Gross
Deferred Revenue
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$ | 126,401 | $ | 129,725 | ||||
Gross
Deferred Cost of Sales
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(35,038 | ) | (36,376 | ) | ||||
Deferred
Income on Shipments to Distributors
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$ | 91,363 | $ | 93,349 |
In future
filings, if impairments of the deferred costs and price discounts were to
materially fluctuate and impact our results of operations, liquidity, or capital
resources, we will include in MD&A a discussion of trends over the reported
periods.
General
Matters:
In
addition, the Company acknowledges the following:
·
|
the
Company is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in
the filing;
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·
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staff
comments or changes in disclosure in response to comments do not foreclose
the Commission from taking any action with respect to the filing;
and
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·
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the
Company may not assert staff comments as a defense in any proceeding
initiated by the Commission or any person under the federal securities
laws of the United States.
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Microchip
Technology Incorporated
By: /s/
Gordon Parnell
Gordon
Parnell,
Chief
Financial Officer
3