Intel 2007 Annual Report Download - page 23

Table of Contents
Our licenses with other companies and our participation in industry initiatives may allow other companies, including our
competitors, to use our patent rights.
Companies in the semiconductor industry often rely on the ability to license patents from each other in order to compete.
Many of our competitors have broad licenses or cross-
licenses with us, and under current case law, some of these licenses may
permit these competitors to pass our patent rights on to others. If one of these licensees becomes a foundry, our competitors
might be able to avoid our patent rights in manufacturing competing products. In addition, our participation in industry
initiatives may require us to license our patents to other companies that adopt certain industry standards or specifications, even
when such organizations do not adopt standards or specifications proposed by us. As a result, our patents implicated by our
participation in industry initiatives might not be available for us to enforce against others who might otherwise be deemed to
be infringing those patents, our costs of enforcing our licenses or protecting our patents may increase, and the value of our
intellectual property may be impaired.
Changes in our decisions with regard to our announced restructuring and efficiency efforts, and other factors, could affect
our results of operations and financial condition.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations with regard to our announced restructuring
include:
In order to compete, we must attract, retain, and motivate key employees, and our failure to do so could harm our results of
operations.
In order to compete, we must attract, retain, and motivate executives and other key employees, including those in managerial,
technical, sales, marketing, and support positions. Hiring and retaining qualified executives, scientists, engineers, technical
staff, and sales representatives are critical to our business, and competition for experienced employees in the semiconductor
industry can be intense. To help attract, retain, and motivate qualified employees, we use share-
based incentive awards such as
employee stock options and non-vested share units (restricted stock units). If the value of such stock awards does not
appreciate as measured by the performance of the price of our common stock or if our share-based compensation otherwise
ceases to be viewed as a valuable benefit, our ability to attract, retain, and motivate employees could be weakened, which
could harm our results of operations.
Our results of operations could vary as a result of the methods, estimates, and judgments that we use in applying our
accounting policies.
The methods, estimates, and judgments that we use in applying our accounting policies have a significant impact on our results
of operations (see “Critical Accounting Estimates” in Part II, Item 7 of this Form 10-K). Such methods, estimates, and
judgments are, by their nature, subject to substantial risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, and factors may arise over time that
lead us to change our methods, estimates, and judgments. Changes in those methods, estimates, and judgments could
significantly affect our results of operations.
Our failure to comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations worldwide could harm our business and results
of operations.
The manufacturing and assembling and testing of our products require the use of hazardous materials that are subject to a
broad array of environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations. Our failure to comply with any of these applicable laws
or regulations could result in:
In addition, our failure to manage the use, transportation, emission, discharge, storage, recycling, or disposal of hazardous
materials could subject us to increased costs or future liabilities. Existing and future environmental laws and regulations could
also require us to acquire pollution abatement or remediation equipment, modify our product designs, or incur other expenses
associated with such laws and regulations. Many new materials that we are evaluating for use in our operations may be subject
to regulation under existing or future environmental laws and regulations that may restrict our use of one or more of such
materials in our manufacturing, assembly and test processes, or products. Any of these restrictions could harm our business
and results of operations by increasing our expenses or requiring us to alter our manufacturing and assembly and test
processes.
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timing and execution of plans and programs that may be subject to local labor law requirements, including consultation
with appropriate works councils;
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changes in assumptions related to severance and postretirement costs;
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future dispositions;
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new business initiatives and changes in product roadmap, development, and manufacturing;
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changes in employment levels and turnover rates;
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changes in product demand and the business environment; and
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changes in the fair value of certain long
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lived assets.
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regulatory penalties, fines, and legal liabilities;
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suspension of production;
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alteration of our fabrication and assembly and test processes; and
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curtailment of our operations or sales.