Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. - Annual Report: 2015 (Form 10-K)

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 25, 2015

or

For the transition period from                     to                    

Commission file number 000-50646

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:

(510) 576-4400

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

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  ¨    No  x

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ¨    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 Web site, 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 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. (Check one):

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes  ¨    No  x

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant, based on the closing sale price of the Registrant’s common stock on June 26, 2015 as reported on the NASDAQ Global Market, was approximately $201.4 million. Shares of common stock held by each executive officer and director have been excluded from this computation. The determination of affiliate status for this purpose is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.

Number of shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding as of February 26, 2016: 32,400,410

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive proxy statement to be delivered to stockholders in connection with the 2015 annual meeting of stockholders are incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K where indicated. Such proxy statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 25, 2015.

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This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “targets,” “goals,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “continues,” “may,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely results,” variations of such words, and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the following: projections of our financial performance, our anticipated growth and trends in our business, levels of capital expenditures, the adequacy of our capital resources to fund operations and growth, our ability to compete effectively with our competitors, our strategies and ability to protect our intellectual property, future acquisitions, customer demand, our manufacturing and procurement process, employee matters, supplier relations, foreign operations (including our operations in China and Singapore), the legal and regulatory backdrop (including environmental regulation), our exposure to market risks and other characterizations of future events or circumstances described in this Annual Report. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including those identified below, under “Risk Factors,” and elsewhere herein. Therefore, actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements for any reason, except as required by law.

Overview

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (“UCT”, the “Company” or “We”) was founded in November 2002 for the purpose of acquiring Ultra Clean Technology Systems and Services, Inc. Ultra Clean Technology Systems and Service, Inc. was founded in 1991 by Mitsubishi Corporation and was operated as a subsidiary of Mitsubishi until November 2002, when it was acquired by UCT. UCT became a publicly traded company in March 2004. In June 2006, we completed the acquisition of Sieger Engineering, Inc. to better enhance our position as a subsystem supplier to the semiconductor, research, flat panel, energy and medical equipment industries. Ultra Clean Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd and Ultra Clean Micro-Electronics Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. were established in 2005 and 2007, respectively, to facilitate our operations in China. Ultra Clean Asia Pacific, Pte, Ltd. was established in 2008 to facilitate our operations in Singapore. In July 2012, we acquired American Integration Technologies LLC (“AIT”) to immediately add to our existing customer base in the semiconductor and medical spaces and to provide additional manufacturing capabilities. In November 2014, we launched Prototype Asia, our 3D printing business in Singapore, to develop additive manufacturing capabilities for our customer base. In February 2015, we acquired Marchi Thermal Systems, Inc. (“Marchi”), a designer and manufacturer of specialty heaters, thermocouples and temperature controllers. Marchi delivers flexible heating elements and thermal solutions to our customers. The Company believes heaters are increasingly critical in equipment design for the most advanced semiconductor nodes. In July 2015, we acquired MICONEX s.r.o. (“Miconex”), a privately-held provider of advanced precision fabrication of plastics, primarily for the semiconductor industry that, initially, has expanded our capabilities with existing customers.

We are a global leader in the design, engineering, and manufacture of production tools, modules and subsystems for the semiconductor capital equipment and equipment industry segments with similar requirements including consumer, medical and flat panel display. We focus on providing specialized engineering and manufacturing solutions for these highly complex, highly configurable, limited volume applications. We enable our customers to realize lower manufacturing costs and reduced design-to-delivery cycle times while maintaining high quality standards.

We provide our customers with complete solutions that combine our expertise in design, assembly, test and component characterization. Our customers value our highly flexible global manufacturing operations, our excellence in quality control and our scale and financial stability. Our global footprint helps us drive down total

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manufacturing costs, and reduce design-to-delivery cycle times while maintaining high quality standards for our customers. We believe these characteristics provide global solutions for our customers’ product demands. We have shipped a majority of our products to U.S. registered customers with locations both in and outside the U.S. In addition to U.S. manufacturing, we manufacture products in our Asian facilities to support local and U.S. based customers. We conduct our operating activities primarily through our wholly owned subsidiaries, Ultra Clean Technology Systems and Service, Inc., AIT, Ultra Clean Micro-Electronics Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Ultra Clean Asia Pacific, Pte Ltd., Marchi and Miconex. Our international sales represented 34.5%, 29.6% and 28.5% of sales for fiscal years ended 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. See Note 11 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information about our geographic areas.

Our Solution

We are a global leader in the design, engineering, and manufacturing of production tools, modules and subsystems for the semiconductor capital equipment industry and equipment industry segments with similar requirements including consumer, medical and flat panel display. Our focus is on providing specialized engineering and manufacturing solutions for these highly complex, highly configurable, limited volume applications. We enable our customers to realize lower manufacturing costs and reduced design-to-delivery cycle times while maintaining high quality standards. We offer our customers:

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Our Strategy

Our objective is to maintain our position as a leading solutions provider in the markets we serve, primarily the semiconductor capital equipment market while expanding to other technologically similar markets in the consumer, medical, energy, industrial, flat panel and research industries. Our strategy is comprised of the following key elements:

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Products

We design, develop, prototype, manufacture and test subsystems, primarily for semiconductor capital equipment, and also supporting customers in the consumer, medical, energy, industrial, flat panel and research industries. Our products include precision robotic solutions, gas delivery systems, a variety of industrial and automation production equipment products; subsystems that includes wafer cleaning sub-systems, chemical delivery modules, top-plate assemblies, frame assemblies, and process modules.

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Customers

We sell our products primarily to customers in the semiconductor capital equipment industry, and we also have sales to the consumer, medical, energy, industrial, flat panel and research equipment industries. The majority of our revenue is in the semiconductor capital equipment industry, which is highly concentrated, and we are therefore highly dependent upon a small number of customers. Our three largest customers in fiscal year 2015, 2014 and 2013 were Applied Materials, Inc., Lam Research Corporation and ASM International, Inc. Each of Lam Research Corporation and Applied Materials, Inc. accounted for more than 10.0% of our total sales in fiscal year 2015. Each of Applied Materials, Inc., Lam Research Corporation and ASM International, Inc. accounted for more than 10.0% of our total sales in fiscal years 2014 and 2013. As a group, the respective year’s top three customers accounted for 84.3%, 75.7% and 80.6% of the Company’s sales for fiscal years 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The composition of our most significant customers has changed from time to time based on various factors, including acquisition activity by our customers.

We have successfully qualified as a supplier with each of our customers who require it. This lengthy qualification process involves the inspection and audit of our facilities and evaluation by our customers of our engineering, documentation, manufacturing and quality control processes and procedures. Our customers generally place orders with suppliers who have met and continue to meet their qualification criteria.

Sales and Support

We sell our products through our direct sales force which, as of December 25, 2015, consisted of approximately 95 sales directors, account managers and sales support staff. Our sales directors are responsible for establishing sales strategy and setting the objectives for specific customer accounts. Each account manager is dedicated to a specific customer account and is responsible for the day-to-day management of that customer. Account managers work closely with customers and in many cases provide on-site support. Account managers often attend customers’ internal meetings related to production and engineering design and quality to ensure that customer expectations are interpreted and communicated properly to our operations group. Account managers also work with our customers to identify and meet their cost and design-to-delivery cycle time objectives.

We have dedicated business development managers responsible for new business development for gas delivery systems and other critical subsystems. Our new business development managers initiate and develop

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long-term, multilevel relationships with customers and work closely with customers on new business opportunities throughout the design-to-delivery cycle. Our sales force includes technical sales support for order placement, spare parts quotes and production status updates. We have a technical sales representative located at each of our manufacturing facilities. In addition, we have developed a service and support infrastructure to provide our customers with service and support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our dedicated global field service engineers provide customer support through the performance of on-site installation, servicing and repair of our subsystems.

Technology Development

We engage in ongoing technology development efforts in order to remain a technology leader for gas delivery systems and to further develop our expertise in other critical subsystems. Our design engineering and new product engineering groups support our technology development activities. Our technology development group works closely with our customers to identify and anticipate changes and trends in next-generation equipment. Our technology development group participates in customer technology partnership programs that focus on process application requirements for gas and liquid delivery systems and other critical subsystems. These development efforts are designed to meet specific customer requirements in the areas of subsystem design, materials, component selection and functionality. Our technology development group also works directly with our suppliers to help them identify new component technologies and make necessary changes in, and enhancements to, the components that we integrate into our products. Our analytical and testing capabilities enable us to evaluate multiple supplier component technologies and provide our customers with a wide range of appropriate component and design choices for their gas delivery systems and other critical subsystems.

Our analytical and testing capabilities also help us anticipate technological changes and requirements in component features for next-generation gas delivery systems and other critical subsystems. We are developing additional features to improve the performance and functionality of our gas delivery systems and other critical subsystems. Our technology development and new product engineering expenses were approximately $9.6 million, $7.1 million and $5.5 million for the 2015, 2014 and 2013 fiscal years, respectively. We perform our technology development activities principally at our facilities in Hayward, California.

Intellectual Property

Our success depends in part on our ability to maintain and protect our proprietary technology and to conduct our business without infringing the proprietary rights of others. Our business is largely dependent upon our design, engineering, manufacturing and testing know-how. We also rely on a combination of trade secrets and confidentiality provisions, and to a much lesser extent, patents, copyrights and trademarks, to protect our proprietary rights. We have four patents with various expiration dates ranging from 2016 to 2026 as a result of our acquisition of Marchi in February 2015. We have no pending U.S. patents. Intellectual property that we develop on behalf of our customers is generally owned exclusively by those customers.

We require our employees, suppliers and potential business partners to enter into confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements before we disclose to them any sensitive or proprietary information regarding our products, technology or business plans. We require employees to assign to us proprietary information, inventions and other intellectual property they create, modify or improve.

Competition

Our industry is highly fragmented. When we compete for new business, we face competition from other suppliers of gas delivery systems and other critical subsystems as well as the internal manufacturing groups of our customers. Customers that have elected to outsource their gas delivery systems and other critical subsystems could elect in the future to develop and manufacture these subsystems internally, leading to further competition.

Our principal competitor for our gas delivery systems is Ichor Systems, Inc., and our principal competitors for

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other critical subsystems are Flextronics International Ltd., Foxsemicon Integrated Technology Inc. and Celestica. Some of these competitors have substantially greater financial, technical, manufacturing and marketing resources than we do. We expect our competitors to continue to improve the performance of their current products and to introduce new products or new technologies that could adversely affect sales of our current and future products. In addition, the limited number of potential customers in our industry further intensifies competition. The primary competitive factors in our industry are price, technology, quality, design-to-delivery cycle time, reliability in meeting product demand, service and historical customer relationships. We anticipate that increased competitive pressures will cause intensified price-based competition and we may have to reduce the prices of our products. In addition, we expect to face new competitors as we enter new markets.

Employees

As of December 25, 2015, we had 1,817 employees, of which 89 were temporary. Of our total employees, there were 45 in engineering, 15 in technology development, 95 in sales and support, 1,044 in direct manufacturing, 488 in indirect manufacturing and 145 in executive and administrative functions. These figures include 672 employees in Asia and 245 employees in Europe. None of our employees are represented by a labor union and we have not experienced any work stoppages.

Governmental Regulation and Environmental Matters

Our operations are subject to federal, state and local regulatory requirements and foreign laws relating to environmental, waste management and health and safety matters, including measures relating to the release, use, storage, treatment, transportation, discharge, disposal and remediation of contaminants, hazardous substances and waste, as well as practices and procedures applicable to the construction and operation of our facilities.

Our past or future operations may result in injury or claims of injury by employees or the public which may result in material costs and liabilities to us. Although some risk of costs and liabilities related to these matters is inherent in our business, we believe that our business is in compliance with applicable regulations. However, new, modified or more stringent requirements or enforcement policies could be adopted, which could adversely affect us.

Available Information

We file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. You may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the Public Reference Room maintained by the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. You may also request copies of all or any portion of such material from the SEC at prescribed rates. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the public reference room. In addition, materials filed electronically with the SEC are available at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

In addition, we make available free of charge, on or through our website at http://www.uct.com, our annual, quarterly and current reports and any amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after electronically filing such reports with, or furnishing them to, the SEC. This website address is intended to be an inactive textual reference only; none of the information contained on our website is part of this report or is incorporated by reference herein.

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Executive Officers

Set forth below is information concerning our executive officers as of February 26, 2016.

James P. Scholhamer joined UCT as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of UCT in January 2015. Prior to joining UCT, Mr. Scholhamer served in various capacities with Applied Materials Inc., most recently as corporate vice president and general manager of the Equipment Products Group and Display Services Group within its Global Service Division from February 2011 to January 2015. Mr. Scholhamer was the corporate vice president and general manager of the Display Business Group from December 2008 to February 2011 and vice president of Operations-Energy for the Environmental and Display Products Division from July 2006 to December 2008 at Applied Materials, Inc. Mr. Scholhamer held various positions at Applied Films Corporation from August 1997 to July 2006, including chief operating officer, chief technology officer and executive vice president as well as vice president of Operations, Engineering and Research & Development. In addition to managing Applied Films Germany and Taiwan sites, Mr. Scholhamer served as vice president and general manager of the Thin Film Coating Division and the Thin Film Equipment Division in the company’s Colorado office from July 2000 to September 2004. Prior to that, Mr. Scholhamer held various operational and technical positions in several companies related to the design and fabrication of optical components such as Visible, UV and X-ray optics. Mr. Scholhamer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in materials and metallurgical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Kevin C. Eichler has served as our President and Chief Financial Officer since March 26, 2015 and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since July 2009. Prior to joining UCT, Mr. Eichler served on the Board of Directors of UCT from February 2004 to July 2009. Mr. Eichler was the senior vice president and chief financial officer of Credence Systems from January 2008 to November 2008, and the executive vice president of operations and chief financial officer of MarketTools from March 2006 to December 2007. He served as the vice president and chief financial officer of MIPS Technologies from June 1998 to February 2006. Prior to that, he held management positions with several technology companies including Visigenic Software, NeXT Software and Microsoft. Mr. Eichler holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from St. John’s University.

Sheri Brumm has served as our Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Accounting Officer since February 18, 2016. Ms. Brumm joined the Company as the Senior Director of Finance in April 2009. Prior to joining UCT, Ms. Brumm served at Credence Systems Corporation, a manufacturer of test equipment for the global semiconductor industry, as its corporate controller and Vice President of Finance from February 2008 to February 2009 and as Director of Internal Audit from May 2006 to February 2008. Prior to Credence Systems, Ms. Brumm served in various accounting and finance roles at Protiviti, a global business consulting and internal audit firm, and KLA-Tencor Corporation, a supplier of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related nanoelectronics industries. Ms. Brumm also served as Manager, Business Process Risk Accounting, at Arthur Anderson LLP, the former accounting firm, from May 1996 to October 1999. Ms. Brumm holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Managerial Economics from the University of California, Davis.

Bruce Wier has served as our Senior Vice President of Engineering since January 2007 and Vice President of Engineering since February 2000. Mr. Wier served as our Director of Design Engineering from July 1997 to

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February 2000. Prior to joining UCT in July 1997, Mr. Wier was the engineering manager for the Oxide Etch Business Unit at Lam Research from April 1993 to June 1997. Prior to that, Mr. Wier was the senior project engineering manager at Genus from May 1990 to April 1993, the mechanical engineering manager at Varian Associates from November 1985 to May 1990, and the principal engineer/project manager at Eaton Corporation from February 1981 to November 1985. Mr. Wier holds a Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in mechanical engineering from Syracuse University.

Deborah Hayward has served as our Senior Vice President of Global Account Management since January 2007 and Vice President of Sales since October 2002. Ms. Hayward served as our Senior Sales Director from May 2001 to October 2002, as Sales Director from February 1998 to May 2001 and as a major account manager from October 1995 to February 1998. Prior to joining UCT in 1995, she was a customer service manager and account manager at Brooks Instruments from 1985 to 1995.

Lavi A. Lev has served as our Senior Vice President of Asia since November 2011. Prior to joining UCT, Mr. Lev served in 2008 as a director and executive chairman of the Board of LTX-Credence Corporation, a provider of automated test equipment for the semiconductor industry. Mr. Lev was chief executive officer and president of Credence Systems Corporation from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that, Mr. Lev served as executive vice president and general manager of the products and solution business at Cadence Design Systems, Inc. from 2000. Mr. Lev has 30 years of business, research and development and operational management experience in the Microprocessor Chip Design, Electronic Design Automation Software (EDA), Test Equipment and Contract Manufacturing industries. Mr. Lev holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Technion, Israel Institute of Technology and also graduated from the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music.

Mark G. Bingaman has served as our Senior Vice President of Global Materials and Supply Chain Management since February 2010. Prior to joining UCT, Mr. Bingaman was the managing director at Applied Materials, Inc. in charge of the site in Tainan, Taiwan which manufactured equipment for solar, glass and display industries. He held additional senior management positions at Applied Materials, Inc. starting from 2000. From 1999 to 2000, Mr. Bingaman was the director for supply chain management integration for Eaton Corporation. Mr. Bingaman held multiple positions at Aeroquip-Vickers, Inc. from 1995 to 1999 including vice president for global supply chain management for Vickers, Incorporated. He held various positions at McDonnell Douglas from 1977 to 1994 including vice president of operations for the McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Company from 1990 to 1994. Mr. Bingaman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of Missouri and a Master of Science degree in management information systems from Southern Illinois University.

The cyclical and highly volatile nature of the industries we serve could harm our operating results.

Our business and operating results depend in significant part upon capital expenditures by manufacturers in the semiconductor capital equipment, consumer, medical, energy, industrial, flat panel and research industries, which in turn depend upon the current and anticipated market demand for such products. Historically, the industries we serve (in particular the semiconductor industry) have been highly cyclical, with recurring periods of over-supply of products that have had a severe negative effect on the demand for capital equipment used to manufacture such products. We have experienced and anticipate that we will continue to experience significant fluctuations in customer orders for our products through such cycles. Slowdowns in the industries we serve have had, and future slowdowns may also have, a material adverse effect on our operating results. During periods of decreasing demand for our products, we must be able to appropriately align our cost structure with prevailing market conditions, effectively manage our supply chain and motivate and retain employees. During periods of increased demand, we must increase manufacturing capacity and inventory to meet customer demands, effectively manage our supply chain and attract, retain and motivate a sufficient number of employees. If the industries we serve experience downturns, or if we are not able to timely and appropriately adapt to the changes in our business environment, our results of operations will be harmed. Also, the cyclical and volatile nature of the industries we serve make future revenues, results of operations and net cash flows difficult to estimate.

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We rely on a small number of original equipment manufacturing customers for a significant portion of our sales, and any adverse change in our relationships with these customers, including a decision by such customers not to continue to outsource critical subsystems to us or to give market share to one of our competitors, would adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our customers also exert a significant amount of negotiating leverage over us, which may require us to accept lower operating margins, increased liability risks or changes in our operations in order to retain or expand our market share with them.

A relatively small number of OEM customers have historically accounted for a significant portion of our sales, and we expect this trend to continue. As a group, the respective year’s top three customers accounted for 84.3%, 75.7% and 80.6% of our sales for fiscal years 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively, and we expect that our sales will continue to be concentrated among a small number of customers. In addition, our customer contracts generally do not require customers to place any orders. Accordingly, the success of our business depends on OEMs continuing to outsource the manufacturing of critical subsystems to us. Because of the small number of OEMs in the markets we serve, most of which are already our customers, it would be difficult to replace lost revenue resulting from the loss of, or the reduction, cancellation or delay in purchase orders by, any one of these customers, whether due to their decision to not continue to outsource all or a portion of their critical subsystems for their capital equipment to us, their giving market share to our competitors or for other reasons, such as a customer’s bankruptcy or insolvency or decreased demand for such customer’s products. We have in the past lost business from customers who have taken the manufacturing of our products in-house or given market share to our competitors. For example, in February 2015 UCT reached an agreement with ISI on the insourcing of manufacturing for its next generation robot, the da Vinci^® Xi™ Patient Side Cart. UCT continues to manufacture previous generation robots and also assist with machined components and spare parts for current and future ISI production. This was a mutual decision driven by ISI’s manufacturing needs at the time and our desire to adhere to our targeted gross margin profile. Further, since our customers generally own the designs and other intellectual property to the products we manufacture, we cannot prevent them from licensing such designs and other intellectual property to our competitors for the manufacture of such products. If we are unable to replace revenue from customers who determine to take subsystem assembly in-house or give market share to our competitors, such events could have a material adverse impact on our financial position and results of operations.

In addition, consolidation among our customers, or a decision by any one or more of our customers to outsource all or most manufacturing and assembly work to a single equipment manufacturer, may further concentrate our business in a limited number of customers and expose us to increased risks relating to dependence on an even smaller number of customers.

In addition, by virtue of our largest customers’ size and the significant portion of revenue that we derive from them, as well as the competitive landscape, our customers are able to exert significant influence and pricing pressure in the negotiation of our commercial agreements and individual purchase orders and on the conduct of our business with them. Our customers often require reduced prices or other pricing, quality or delivery commitments as a condition to their awarding of market share to us or the placement of orders with us in any given period, which may, among other things, result in reduced operating margins in order to maintain or expand our market share. Our customers’ negotiating leverage also can result in customer agreements or terms and conditions that may contain significant liability risk to us. For example, some of our customers insist that we provide them indemnification against certain liabilities in our agreements with them, including claims of losses by their customers caused by our products, which may be uncapped. In some cases, we have determined to self-insure against liability risk in our customer agreements, meaning that we may be directly responsible for high magnitude liability claims by our customers without recourse to insurance proceeds from third-party insurers. Our customers may also pressure us to make other concessions in order to preserve or expand our market share with them, which may harm our business. For example, one or more of our customers may require us to move the manufacture of our products from lower-cost geographies or locations such as China to higher-cost geographies or locations that are closer to such customer’s facilities, such as Singapore, which could result in reduced margins and a sub-optimal cost structure. If we are unable to retain and expand our business with our customers

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on favorable terms, or at all, our business and operating results will be adversely affected, or we may be susceptible to increased liability risk which, if realized, may have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, results of operations and financial condition.

We have also had to qualify, and are required to maintain our status, as a supplier for each of our customers. This is often a lengthy process that involves the inspection and approval by a customer of our engineering, documentation, manufacturing and quality control procedures before that customer will place volume orders. Our ability to lessen the adverse effect of any loss of, or reduction in sales to, an existing customer through the rapid addition of one or more new customers is limited because of these qualification requirements. Consequently, the risk that our business, operating results and financial condition would be adversely affected by the loss of, or any reduction in orders by, any of our significant customers is increased. Moreover, if we lost our existing status as a qualified supplier to any of our customers, such customer could cancel its orders from us or otherwise terminate its relationship with us, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

We are exposed to risks associated with weakness in the global economy.

We rely to a significant extent on OEM customers, whose business, in turn, depends largely on consumer spending and capital expenditures by businesses. Continuing uncertainty regarding the global economy continue to pose challenges to our business. Economic uncertainty and related factors, including current unemployment levels, uncertainty in European debt markets, fiscal uncertainty in the U.S. and China economies, market volatility and the slow rate of recovery of many countries from recent recessions, exacerbate negative trends in business and consumer spending and may cause certain of our customers to push out, cancel, or refrain from placing orders for products or services, which may reduce sales and materially affect our results of operations and financial condition. Difficulties in obtaining capital, uncertain market conditions, or reduced profitability may also cause some customers to scale back operations, exit businesses, merge with other manufacturers, or file for bankruptcy protection and potentially cease operations, leading to customers’ reduced research and development funding and/or capital expenditures and, in turn, lower orders from our customers and/or additional slow moving or obsolete inventory or bad debt expense for us. These conditions may also similarly affect key suppliers, which could impair their ability to deliver parts and result in delays for our products or require us to either procure products from high-cost suppliers, or if no additional suppliers exist, to reconfigure the design and manufacture of our products, and we may be unable to fulfill customer orders. For example, on October 6, 2014, one of our new customers GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT), filed for bankruptcy under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire which impaired the collectability of our outstanding accounts receivable as well as the value of our on-hand inventory related to GTAT and also resulted in a charge for non-cancelable vendor commitments.

We have significant existing indebtedness; the restrictive covenants under our credit agreement or other limitations on financing may limit our ability to expand or pursue our business strategy or make capital expenditures; if we are forced to pay some or all of our indebtedness prior to its maturity, our financial position could be severely and adversely affected.

On February 2, 2015, we entered into a new credit agreement by and among us, certain of our subsidiaries, East West Bank and City National Bank. This agreement was subsequently amended in December 2015 with such amendments effective as of December 25, 2015. This credit agreement provides for a term loan in an aggregate principal amount of $40.0 million and a revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of $40.0 million, a letter of credit facility in the aggregate availability amount of $20.0 million and a swingline sub-facility in the aggregate availability amount of $5.0 million. On February 2, 2015, we borrowed an aggregate of $46.5 million under this new credit agreement from East West Bank and City National Bank to repay the remaining outstanding balance from the loan obtained from Silicon Valley Bank, U.S. Bank National Association and HSBC Bank. On February 5, 2015, we borrowed an additional $29.7 million under this new credit agreement from East West Bank and City National Bank to finance the acquisition of Marchi. As of December 25, 2015, the

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long-term portion of our outstanding indebtedness under this new credit agreement, net of debt issuance costs, was $62.1 million, and the short-term portion was $9.9 million. In addition, we have $3.6 million of bank debt from an acquired company, Miconex.

Our new credit agreement contains certain covenants that restrict our ability to take certain actions, including our ability to:

The restrictive covenants in our credit agreement may therefore limit our strategic and financing options and our ability to return capital to our stockholders through dividends or stock buybacks.

Our new credit agreement also requires us to maintain certain financial and other covenants. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain compliance with such financial or other covenants. Our failure to comply with these covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, could result in the acceleration of all of our indebtedness, which would materially adversely affect our financial health if we are unable to access sufficient funds to repay all the outstanding amounts. Moreover, if we are unable to meet our debt obligations as they come due, we could be forced to restructure or refinance such obligations, seek additional equity financing or sell assets, which we may not be able to do on satisfactory terms, or at all.

In addition, the credit agreement has certain mandatory prepayment provisions, including annual prepayments of excess cash flow above certain thresholds. As long as our indebtedness remains outstanding, the restrictive covenants and mandatory prepayment provisions could impair our ability to expand or pursue our business strategies or obtain additional funding.

Our dependence on our suppliers may prevent us from delivering an acceptable product on a timely basis.

We rely on both single-source and sole-source suppliers, some of whom are relatively small, for many of the components we use in our products. In addition, our customers often specify components of particular suppliers that we must incorporate into our products. Our suppliers are under no obligation to provide us with components. As a result, the loss of or failure to perform by any of these suppliers could adversely affect our business and operating results. In addition, the manufacturing of certain components and subsystems is a complex process. Therefore, if a supplier were unable to provide the volume of components we require on a timely basis and at acceptable prices and quality, we would have to identify and qualify replacements from alternative sources. However, the process of qualifying new suppliers for complex components is lengthy and could delay our production, which would adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

We may also experience difficulty in obtaining sufficient supplies of components and raw materials in times of significant growth in our business. For example, we have in the past experienced shortages in supplies of various components, such as mass flow controllers, valves and regulators, and certain prefabricated parts, such as sheet metal enclosures, used in the manufacture of our products. In addition, one of our competitors

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manufactures mass flow controllers that may be specified by one or more of our customers. If we are unable to obtain these particular mass flow controllers from our competitor or convince a customer to select alternative mass flow controllers, we may be unable to meet that customer’s requirements, which could result in a loss of market share.

If we, or our suppliers, are unable to procure sufficient quantities of components or raw materials from suppliers, it could influence decisions by our customers to delay or cancel orders and decisions by our vendors to fulfill our purchase orders and, consequently, have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

We may not be able to respond quickly enough to changes in demand for our products.

Demand shifts in the industries we serve are rapid and difficult to predict, and we may not be able to anticipate or respond quickly enough to changes in demand. Our ability to increase sales of our products in periods of increasing demand depends, in part, upon our ability to:

If we are unable to respond to rapid increases in demand for our products on a timely basis or to manage any corresponding expansion of our manufacturing capacity effectively, our customers could increase their purchases from our competitors, which would adversely affect our business.

Our ability to remain profitable and mitigate the impact on our business in periods of decreasing demand depends, in part, upon our ability to:

We may not be able to fund our future capital requirements or strategic acquisitions from our operations, and financing from other sources may not be available on favorable terms or at all.

We made capital expenditures of approximately $10.0 million and $5.5 million for fiscal year 2015 and 2014, respectively related to our manufacturing facilities in the United States, China and Singapore. In February 2015, we paid approximately $29.9 million and issued 1,437,500 shares of our common stock in connection with our acquisition of Marchi. The cash portion of the merger consideration was financed through the new credit facility described above; of which an aggregate of $72.4 million was outstanding as of December 25, 2015. In July 2015, we acquired Miconex for total consideration of $20.7 million which includes $15.6 million paid in cash, 500,000 shares of Company’s common stock, and up to $4.0 million of potential cash “earn-out” payments over two-year period. The amount of our future capital requirements or strategic acquisitions will depend on many factors, including:

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We had $50.1 million in cash and cash equivalents as of December 25, 2015 of which $42.7 million was held by our foreign subsidiaries. If the cash and cash equivalents held by our foreign subsidiaries is needed for our operations or to fund capital expenditures or other strategic acquisitions in the U.S., we would be required to accrue and pay U.S. taxes to repatriate these funds.

Given our significant existing leverage, limited availability under our new revolving line of credit and the potential tax effects of repatriating foreign cash or other factors, we may need to raise additional funds through public or private equity or debt financing if our current domestic cash and cash flow from operations are insufficient to fund our future activities. We may not be able to obtain additional debt financing when and if necessary in a timely manner. Access to capital markets has, in the past, been unavailable to companies such as ours and there can be no assurance that we would be able to complete an equity or other financing arrangement with terms satisfactory to us or at all. In addition, equity financings could be dilutive to holders of our common stock, and debt financings would likely involve additional covenants that restrict our business operations. Any potential strategic acquisition or significant capital expenditure may also require the consent of our existing lenders. If we cannot raise funds on acceptable terms if and when needed, we may not be able to develop or enhance our products, take advantage of future opportunities, including potential acquisitions, grow our business or respond to competitive pressures or unanticipated requirements, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our quarterly revenue and operating results fluctuate significantly from period to period, and this may cause volatility in our common stock price.

Our quarterly revenue and operating results, including our gross margin, have fluctuated significantly in the past, and we expect them to continue to fluctuate in the future for a variety of reasons which may include:

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As a result of the foregoing, we believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our revenue and operating results may not be meaningful and that these comparisons may not be an accurate indicator of our future performance. Changes in the timing or terms of a small number of transactions could disproportionately affect our operating results in any particular quarter. Moreover, our operating results in one or more future quarters may fail to meet our guidance or the expectations of securities analysts or investors. If this occurs, we would expect to experience an immediate and significant decline in the trading price of our common stock.

We have established and, as markets will allow, intend to expand our operations in Asia, which exposes us to risks associated with operating in a foreign country.

We generated approximately 34.5% and 29.6% of our sales in international markets for fiscal 2015 and 2014, respectively. Depending on market conditions, we intend to expand our operations in Asia, principally in China and Singapore and in Europe. In addition, through our acquisition of AIT, we acquired a manufacturing facility in Cebu, Philippines. The carrying amount of our fixed assets in Asia and Europe were $9.3 million and $0.7 million, respectively as of December 25, 2015.

We are exposed to political, economic, legal and other risks associated with operating in Asia, including:

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In addition, due to generally lower labor and materials costs in the Asian markets in which we currently operate, a shift in the mix of orders from our customers away from such Asian markets could adversely affect our operating margins.

Our operations in Asia are also subject us to U.S. laws governing the export of equipment. These laws are complex and require us to obtain clearances for the export to Asia of certain equipment. We may fail to comply with these laws and regulations, which could require us to cease the export of certain equipment and expose us to fines or penalties.

Over the past several years, the Chinese government has pursued economic reform policies, including the encouragement of private economic activity and greater economic decentralization. The Chinese government may not continue these policies or may significantly alter them to our detriment from time to time without notice. Changes in laws and regulations or their interpretation, the imposition of confiscatory taxation policies, new restrictions on currency conversion or limitations on sources of supply could materially and adversely affect our Chinese operations, which could result in the partial or total loss of our investment in that country and materially and adversely affect our future operating results.

We are subject to order and shipment uncertainties and any significant reductions, cancellations or delays in customer orders could cause our revenue to decline and our operating results to suffer.

Our revenue is difficult to forecast because we generally do not have a material backlog of unfilled orders and because of the short time frame within which we are often required to design, produce and deliver products to our customers. Most of our revenue in any quarter depends on customer orders for our products that we receive and fulfill in the same quarter. We do not have long-term purchase orders or contracts that contain minimum purchase commitments from our customers. Instead, we receive non-binding forecasts of the future volume of orders from our customers. Occasionally, we order and build component inventory in advance of the receipt of actual customer orders. Customers may cancel order forecasts, change production quantities from forecasted volumes or delay production for reasons beyond our control. Furthermore, reductions, cancellations or delays in customer order forecasts, which may occur for various reasons, including reduced demand for our customer’s products, customer bankruptcies or customer insolvency, usually occur without penalty to, or compensation from, the customer. Reductions, cancellations or delays in forecasted orders could cause us to hold inventory longer than anticipated, which could reduce our gross profit, restrict our ability to fund our operations and cause us to incur unanticipated reductions or delays in revenue. Moreover, most of the products we manufacture are custom built for our customers and are therefore not fungible with products we sell to other customers. If we do not obtain orders as we anticipate, we could have excess component inventory for a specific product that we would not be able to sell to another customer, likely resulting in inventory write-offs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, because many of our costs are fixed in the short term, we could experience deterioration in our gross profit and operating margins when our production volumes decline.

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The manufacturing of our products is highly complex, and if we are not able to manage our manufacturing and procurement process effectively, our business and operating results will suffer.

The manufacturing of our products is a highly complex process that involves the integration of multiple components and requires effective management of our supply chain while meeting our customers’ design-to-delivery cycle time requirements. Through the course of the manufacturing process, our customers may modify design and system configurations in response to changes in their own customers’ requirements. In order to rapidly respond to these modifications and deliver our products to our customers in a timely manner, we must effectively manage our manufacturing and procurement process. If we fail to manage this process effectively, we risk losing customers and damaging our reputation. We may also be subject to liability under our agreements with our customers if we or our suppliers fail to re-configure manufacturing processes or components in response to these modifications, which may lead to product defect claims by our customers. In addition, if we acquire inventory in excess of demand or that does not meet customer specifications, we could incur excess or obsolete inventory charges. These risks are even greater during the current extended period of macroeconomic uncertainty and as we continue to expand our business beyond gas delivery systems into new subsystems. In the current economic environment, certain of our suppliers may be forced out of business, which could require us to either procure products from higher-cost suppliers or, if no additional suppliers exist, reconfigure the design and manufacture of our products. This could limit our growth and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.

If our new products are not accepted by OEMs or other customers or if we are unable to obtain historical margins on our new products, our operating results would be adversely impacted.

We design, develop and market critical systems and subsystems to OEMs and other customers. The introduction of new products is inherently risky because it is difficult to foresee the adoption of new standards, coordinate our technical personnel and strategic relationships and win acceptance of new products by OEMs and other customers. We may not be able to recoup design and development expenditures if our new products are not accepted by OEMs or other customers. Newly introduced products typically carry lower gross margins than existing products for several or more quarters following their introduction. If any of our new systems or subsystems are not successful in the market, or if we are unable to obtain gross margins on new products that are similar to the gross margins we have historically achieved, our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Interruption or failure of our information technology and communications systems could impair our ability to effectively deliver our products, which could cause us to lose customers and harm our results of operations.

The manufacture and delivery of our products depends on the continuing operation of our technology infrastructure and systems, particularly our data center located in California. Any damage to or failure of our systems could result in interruptions in our ability to manufacture or deliver products on agreed upon lead times, or at all, on a local or worldwide basis. Interruptions could reduce our sales and profits, and our reputation could be damaged if people believe our systems are unreliable. Our systems and operations are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, terrorist attacks, floods, fires, power loss, break-ins, hardware or software failures, telecommunications failures, computer viruses or other attempts to harm our systems, and similar events. The critical components of the system are not redundant and we currently do not have a backup data center. Accordingly, the risk associated with earthquakes, fire, power loss, telecommunications failure, and other events beyond our control is heightened.

Any unscheduled interruption in our manufacturing or deliveries would result in an immediate loss of sales and could have a material adverse effect on our results of operation and financial position. If we experience frequent or persistent system failures, the attractiveness of our products to customers could be permanently harmed. Any steps we take to increase the reliability and redundancy of our systems may be expensive, reduce our operating margin and may not be successful in reducing the frequency or duration of unscheduled interruptions.

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Acquisitions could result in operating and integration difficulties, dilution, margin deterioration and other consequences that may adversely impact our business and results of operations.

We have made, and may in the future make, acquisitions of, or significant investments in, businesses that offer complementary products, services, technologies or market access. We expect that management will evaluate potential strategic transactions regularly with its advisors and our board of directors in the ordinary course of business. We may not be successful in negotiating the terms of potential acquisitions or financing potential acquisitions, and our due diligence may fail to identify all of the problems, liabilities or other challenges associated with an acquired business, product or technology, including issues related to intellectual property, product quality or product architecture, regulatory compliance practices, revenue recognition or other accounting practices or employee or customer retention issues. In addition, we may not be successful in effectively integrating the acquired business, product or technology into our existing business and operations. The areas where we face risks include:

Our failure to address these risks or other problems encountered in connection with our past or future acquisitions and investments could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions or investments, incur unanticipated liabilities and substantial costs, and materially harm our business generally.

Our acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of our equity securities, the incurrence of debt, contingent liabilities, or amortization expenses, impairment charges and restructuring charges, any of which could harm our financial condition or results. Also, the anticipated benefits or value of our acquisitions or investments may not materialize. Even if an acquisition or other investment is not completed, we may incur significant management time and effort and financial cost in evaluating such acquisition or investment, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. Furthermore, due to limited liquidity in the credit market and our existing leverage, the financing of any such acquisition may be difficult to obtain, and the terms of such financing may not be favorable.

If we were required to write down all or part of our goodwill, our net income and net worth could be materially adversely affected.

We had $85.2 million of goodwill recorded on our consolidated balance sheet as of December 25, 2015. Goodwill represents the excess of cost over the fair market value of net tangible and finite lived, identifiable intangible assets acquired in business combinations. If our market capitalization drops significantly below the

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amount of net equity recorded on our balance sheet, it could indicate a decline in our value and would require us to further evaluate whether our goodwill has been impaired. During the fourth quarter of each year, we perform an annual review of our goodwill to determine if it has become impaired, in which case we would write down the impaired portion of our goodwill. We also evaluate goodwill for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. If we were required to write down all or a significant part of our goodwill, our financial results and net worth could be materially adversely affected.

Our business is largely dependent on the know-how of our employees, and we generally do not have an intellectual property position that is protected by patents.

Our business is largely dependent upon our design, engineering, manufacturing and testing know-how. We rely on a combination of trade secrets and contractual confidentiality provisions and, to a much lesser extent, patents, copyrights and trademarks to protect our proprietary rights. Accordingly, our intellectual property position is more vulnerable than it would be if it were protected primarily by patents. If we fail to protect our proprietary rights successfully, our competitive position could suffer, which could harm our operating results. We may be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our proprietary rights, and, in the event infringement or breach of our proprietary rights occurs, our competitive position in the market may be harmed. In addition, competitors may design around our technology or develop competing technologies and know-how. Further, since our customers generally own the designs and other intellectual property to the products we manufacture, we cannot prevent them from licensing such designs and other intellectual property to our competitors for the manufacture of such products.

Third parties have claimed and may in the future claim we are infringing their intellectual property, which could subject us to litigation or licensing expenses, and we may be prevented from selling our products if any such claims prove successful.

We have in the past and may in the future receive claims that our products, processes or technologies infringe the patents or other proprietary rights of third parties. In addition, we may be unaware of intellectual property rights of others that may be applicable to our products. Any litigation regarding our patents or other intellectual property could be costly and time-consuming and divert the attention of our management and key personnel from our business operations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. The complexity of the technology involved in our products and the uncertainty of intellectual property litigation increase these risks. Claims of intellectual property infringement may also require us to enter into costly license agreements. However, we may not be able to obtain licenses on terms acceptable to us, or at all. We also may be subject to significant damages or injunctions against the development, manufacture and sale of certain of our products if any such claims prove successful. We also rely on design specifications and other intellectual property of our customers in the manufacture of products for such customers. While our customer agreements generally provide for indemnification of us by our customers if we are subjected to litigation for third-party claims of infringement of such customer intellectual property, such indemnification provisions may not be sufficient to fully protect us from such claims, or our customers may breach such indemnification obligations to us, which could result in costly litigation to defend against such claims or enforce our contractual rights to such indemnification.

If we do not keep pace with developments in the industries we serve and with technological innovation generally, our products may not be competitive.

Rapid technological innovation in the markets we serve requires us to anticipate and respond quickly to evolving customer requirements and could render our current product offerings and technology obsolete. Technological innovations are inherently complex. We must devote resources to technology development in order to keep pace with such rapidly evolving technologies. We believe that our future success will depend upon our ability to design, engineer and manufacture products that meet the changing needs of our customers. This requires that we successfully anticipate and respond to technological changes in design, engineering and

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manufacturing processes in a cost-effective and timely manner. If we are unable to integrate new technical specifications into competitive product designs, develop the technical capabilities necessary to manufacture new products or make necessary modifications or enhancements to existing products, our business prospects could be harmed.

The timely development of new or enhanced products is a complex and uncertain process which requires that we:

If we are unsuccessful in keeping pace with technological developments for the reasons above or other reasons, our business prospects, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

The industries in which we participate are highly competitive and rapidly evolving, and if we are unable to compete effectively, our operating results will be harmed.

We face intense competition from subsystem and component manufacturers in the industries we serve. Increased competition has in the past resulted, and could in the future result, in price reductions, reduced gross margins or loss of market share, any of which would harm our operating results. We are subject to significant pricing pressure as we attempt to maintain and increase market share with our existing customers. Competitors may offer reduced prices or introduce new products for the markets currently served by our products. These products may have better performance, lower prices and achieve broader market acceptance than our products. Further, OEMs typically own the design rights to their products and may provide these designs to other subsystem manufacturers. If our competitors obtain proprietary rights to these designs such that we are unable to obtain the designs necessary to manufacture products for our OEM customers, our business, financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected.

Our competitors may have greater financial, technical, manufacturing and marketing resources than we do. As a result, they may be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements, devote greater resources to the development, promotion, sale and support of their products, and reduce prices to increase market share. Moreover, there may be merger and acquisition activity among our competitors and potential competitors that may provide our competitors and potential competitors an advantage over us by enabling them to expand their product offerings and service capabilities to meet a broader range of customer needs. Further, if one of our customers develops or acquires the internal capability to develop and produce critical systems or subsystems that we produce, the loss of that customer could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. The introduction of new technologies and new market entrants may also increase competitive pressures.

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We must achieve design wins to retain our existing customers and to obtain new customers.

New capital equipment typically has a lifespan of several years, and OEMs frequently specify which systems, subsystems, components and instruments are to be used in their equipment. Once a specific system, subsystem, component or instrument is incorporated into a piece of capital equipment, it will likely continue to be incorporated into that piece of equipment for at least several months before the OEM would be in a position to switch to the product of another supplier. Accordingly, it is important that our products are designed into the new capital equipment of OEMs, which we refer to as a design win, in order to retain our competitive position with existing customers and to obtain new customers.

We incur technology development and sales expenses with no assurance that our products will ultimately be designed into an OEM’s capital equipment. Further, developing new customer relationships, as well as maintaining and increasing our market share with existing customers, requires a substantial investment of our sales, engineering and management resources without any assurance from prospective customers that they will place significant orders. We believe that OEMs often consider long-term relationships in selecting and placing orders with suppliers. Accordingly, we may have difficulty achieving design wins from OEMs that are not currently our customers. Our operating results and potential growth could be adversely affected if we fail to achieve design wins with leading OEMs.

Defects in our products could damage our reputation, decrease market acceptance of our products, cause the unintended release of hazardous materials and result in potentially costly litigation or indemnification liability.

A number of factors, including design flaws, material and component failures, workmanship issues, contamination in the manufacturing environment, impurities in the materials used and unknown sensitivities to process conditions, such as temperature and humidity, as well as equipment failures, may cause our products to contain undetected errors or defects. Problems with our products may:

If any of our products contain defects or have reliability, quality or compatibility problems, our reputation might be damaged and customers might be reluctant to buy our products. We may also face a higher rate of product defects as we increase our production levels. Product defects could result in warranty and indemnification liability, the loss of existing customers or impair our ability to attract new customers. In addition, we may not find defects or failures in our products until after they are installed in a manufacturer’s fabrication facility. We may have to invest significant capital and other resources to correct these problems. Our current or potential customers also might seek to recover from us any losses resulting from defects or failures in our products. Hazardous materials flow through and are controlled by our products and an unintended release of these materials could result in serious injury or death. Liability claims could require us to spend significant time and money in litigation or pay significant damages or indemnification claims.

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The technology labor market is very competitive, and our business will suffer if we are unable to hire and retain key personnel.

Our future success depends in part on the continued service of our key executive officers, as well as our research, engineering, sales, manufacturing and administrative personnel, most of whom are not subject to employment or non-competition agreements. In addition, competition for qualified personnel in the technology industry is intense, and we operate in geographic locations in which labor markets are particularly competitive.

Our business is particularly dependent on expertise which only a limited number of engineers possess. The loss of any of our key employees and officers, including our Chief Executive Officer (CEO), our Chief Financial Officer, any of our Senior Vice Presidents or any of the senior managers, or the failure to attract and retain new qualified employees, could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

The challenges of employee retention has also increased during the integration process with the companies we have acquired because of the necessity of combining personnel with varied business backgrounds and combining different corporate cultures and objectives, and several acquired employees, including members of AIT’s senior management, have left our company. The process of integrating operations and making such adjustments could cause an interruption of, or loss of momentum in, the activities of one or more of our businesses and the loss of key personnel. Employee uncertainty, lack of focus or turnover during the integration process may also disrupt our businesses.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, we might not be able to report our financial results accurately or prevent fraud; in that case, our stockholders could lose confidence in our financial reporting, which would harm our business and could negatively impact the price of our stock.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. In addition, Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires us and our independent registered public accounting firm to evaluate and report on our internal control over financial reporting. The process of designing, implementing, maintaining and updating our internal controls and complying with Section 404 is expensive and time consuming, and requires significant attention from management and company resources. In addition, following the expiration of applicable grace periods, we are required to evaluate and report on the internal controls of the companies we acquire, and the attestation report we are required to obtain from our independent registered public accounting firm must include the internal control over financial reporting of the companies we acquire. Integrating acquired company’s internal control frameworks into the Company and upgrading acquired company’s controls to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has required and will require substantial resources, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully or effectively maintain adequate controls over our financial processes at our acquired companies, including AIT, Marchi and Miconex, or for our consolidated business. In addition, even though we have concluded, and our independent registered public accounting firm has concurred, that our internal control over financial reporting provides reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles as of December 25, 2015, because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect fraud or misstatements, and our internal control may not be effective as of future periods. Failure to maintain existing or implement new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation, could harm our results of operations or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. If we or our independent registered public accounting firm discover a material weakness, the disclosure of that fact, even if quickly remedied, could reduce the market’s confidence in our financial statements and harm our stock price.

Fluctuations in currency exchange rates may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Our international sales are denominated primarily, though not entirely, in U.S. dollars. Many of the costs and expenses associated with our Chinese subsidiaries, Singapore and Czech Republic subsidiaries are paid in Chinese Renminbi, Singapore dollars, and Euro respectively and we expect our exposure to Chinese Renminbi,

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Singapore dollars and Euro to increase as we increase production in those facilities. In addition, purchases of some of our components are denominated in Japanese Yen and Euros. Changes in exchange rates among other currencies in which our revenue or costs are denominated and the U.S. dollar may affect our revenue, cost of sales and operating margins.

The Company uses derivative instruments, such as foreign currency forward contracts, to hedge certain exposures to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. The use of such hedging activities may not offset any, or more than a portion, of the adverse financial effects of unfavorable movements in foreign exchange rates over the limited time the hedges are in place.

If environmental contamination were to occur in one of our manufacturing facilities, we could be subject to substantial liabilities.

We use substances regulated under various foreign, domestic, federal, state and local environmental laws in our manufacturing facilities. In addition, we may not be aware of or in compliance with all environmental laws or regulations that could subject us to liability in the U.S. or internationally. Our failure or inability to comply with existing or future environmental laws could result in significant remediation liabilities, the imposition of fines or the suspension or termination of the production of our products, and thus a material adverse impact on our business.

Our business is subject to the risks of earthquakes, fire, power outages, floods, and other catastrophic events, and to interruption by man-made disruptions, such as terrorism.

Our facilities could be subject to a catastrophic loss caused by natural disasters, including fires and earthquakes. We have facilities in areas with above average seismic activity, such as our manufacturing facility in South San Francisco, California and our manufacturing and headquarters facilities in Hayward, California. If any of our facilities were to experience a catastrophic loss, it could disrupt our operations, delay production and shipments, reduce revenue and result in large expenses to repair or replace the facility. In addition, we have in the past experienced, and may in the future experience, extended power outages at our facilities. We do not carry insurance policies that cover potential losses caused by earthquakes or other natural disasters or power loss.

In addition, disruption in supply resulting from natural disasters or other causalities or catastrophic events, such as earthquakes, severe weather such as storms or floods, fires, labor disruptions, power outages, terrorist attacks or political unrest, may result in certain of our suppliers being unable to deliver sufficient quantities of components or raw materials at all or in a timely manner, disruptions in our operations or disruptions in our customers’ operations. For example, in 2011, the northern region of Japan experienced a severe earthquake followed by a tsunami. These geological events caused significant damage in that region and adversely affected Japan’s infrastructure and economy. Some of our suppliers are located in Japan and they experienced, and may experience in the future, shutdowns or disruptions as a result of these types of events, and their operations may be negatively impacted by these events. Many of our customers and suppliers are also located in California, and may be subject to the same risk of seismic activity as described for us above.

To the extent that natural disasters or other calamities or causalities should result in delays or cancellations of customer orders, or the delay in the manufacture or shipment of our products or services, our business, financial condition and operating results would be adversely affected.

Changes in tax rates or tax assets and liabilities could affect results of operations.

As a global company, we are subject to taxation in the United States and various other countries. Significant judgment is required to determine and estimate worldwide tax liabilities. Our future annual and quarterly tax rates could be affected by numerous factors, including changes in the: (1) applicable tax laws; (2) amount and composition of pre-tax income in countries with differing tax rates; or (3) valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities.

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In addition, we are subject to regular examination by the Internal Revenue Service and other tax authorities, and from time to time we initiate amendments to previously filed tax returns. We regularly assess the likelihood of favorable or unfavorable outcomes resulting from these examinations and amendments to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes, which requires estimates and judgments. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, there can be no assurance that the tax authorities will agree with such estimates. We may have to engage in litigation to achieve the results reflected in the estimates, which may be time-consuming and expensive. There can be no assurance that we will be successful or that any final determination will not be materially different from the treatment reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

The market for our stock is subject to significant fluctuation.

The size of our public market capitalization is relatively small, and the average volume of our shares that are traded is relatively low. The market price of our common stock could be subject to significant fluctuations. Among the factors that could affect our stock price are:

The stock markets in general, and the markets for technology stocks in particular, have experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock.

New regulations related to conflict minerals could adversely impact our business.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act contains provisions to improve transparency and accountability concerning the supply of certain minerals, known as conflict minerals, originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and adjoining countries. As a result, in August 2012 the SEC adopted annual disclosure and reporting requirements for those companies who use conflict minerals mined from the DRC and adjoining countries in their products. These requirements require us to perform on-going due diligence efforts on our supply chain and require public disclosure of the nature and results of these efforts. We filed our most recent conflict minerals report on Form SD on June 1, 2015 reporting that we could not yet determine whether the conflict minerals we source were, directly or indirectly, used to finance or benefit armed groups in the Covered Countries. There have been and there will be costs associated with complying with these disclosure requirements to determine the sources of conflict minerals used in our products and other potential changes to products, processes or sources of supply as a consequence of such verification activities. Complying with these rules could adversely affect the sourcing, supply and pricing of materials used in our products and result in substantial additional costs. As there may be only a limited number of suppliers offering “conflict free” conflict minerals, we cannot be sure that we will be able to obtain necessary conflict minerals from such suppliers in sufficient quantities or at competitive prices. Also, we may face reputational challenges if

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we determine that certain of our products contain minerals not determined to be conflict free or if we are unable to sufficiently verify the origins for all conflict minerals used in our products through the procedures we may implement. In addition, if we are unable to comply with these rules, we could be subject to enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission and liability under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which could result in material adverse consequences to our business, as well as significant fines and penalties.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they issue an adverse opinion regarding our stock, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock is influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. If any of the analysts who cover us issue an adverse opinion regarding our stock, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our company or fails to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

We do not currently intend to pay dividends on our common stock and, consequently, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our common stock.

We do not intend to declare and pay dividends on our capital stock for the foreseeable future. We currently intend to invest our future earnings, if any, to fund our growth. Additionally, the terms of the credit agreement we entered into in February 2015 restrict our ability to pay dividends. Therefore, you are not likely to receive any dividends on your common stock for the foreseeable future.

None.

Our headquarters is located in a 108,000 square foot facility in Hayward, California. This is our principal administrative, sales and support, engineering and technology development and manufacturing facility. This lease expires in 2022. We also have manufacturing and engineering facilities in South San Francisco and Fremont, California, and Austin, Texas. In South San Francisco we lease an aggregate of approximately 124,000 square feet under several leases which expire in 2018. In Fremont, we lease approximately 9,000 square feet under a lease that expires in 2018. As a result of the acquisition of Marchi, also located in Hayward, California, we lease approximately 22,000 square feet under a lease that expires in 2020. We also have manufacturing facilities in Chandler, Arizona; Shanghai, China; Singapore; Cebu, Philippines and Liberec, Czech Republic. In Arizona, we lease approximately 120,000 square feet under leases that mostly expire in 2017. In Austin, we lease an aggregate of approximately 56,000 square feet under leases that expire in 2021. Approximately 14,000 square feet in Austin is a clean room manufacturing facility. In Shanghai, we lease approximately 136,000 square feet of commercial space under two leases that expire in 2016. Approximately 37,000 square feet of this space is a clean room facility. In Singapore, we lease approximately 88,000 square feet under two separate leases that expire in 2017 and 2022 with extension provisions. In the Philippines, we lease approximately 15,000 square feet under three separate leases that expire in 2016 and 2019. In 2015, we vacated the 31,000 square foot facility we lease in Pflugerville under a lease agreement that expires in June 2018. With the acquisition of Miconex in the Czech Republic, we have approximately 74,000 square feet of manufacturing facilities in under two separate leases that expire in 2019.

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The table below lists our properties as of March 9, 2016:

From time to time, we are subject to various legal proceedings and claims, either asserted or unasserted, that arise in the ordinary course of business. Although the outcome of the various legal proceedings and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, we have not had a history of outcomes to date that have been material to our statement of operations and do not believe that any of these proceedings or other claims will have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition or results of operations.

Not applicable.

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PART II

Our common stock has been traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “UCTT” since March 25, 2004. The following table sets forth for the periods indicated the high and low sales prices per share of our common stock as reported by the NASDAQ Global Market:

To date, we have not declared or paid cash dividends to our stockholders and we do not intend to do so for the foreseeable future in order to retain earnings for use in our business. Our credit facility also limits our ability to pay dividends. As of February 26, 2016, we had five stockholders of record. As of March 3, 2016, our closing stock price on the NASDAQ Global Market was $5.33.

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities

On February 5, 2015, we entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) in connection with the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Marchi. Upon completion of the acquisition on February 5, 2015 and pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, we issued 1,437,500 shares of our common stock to Marchi as part of the consideration we gave to Marchi in connection with the acquisition. The shares were issued in a private placement in reliance on the exemption from registration pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. No general solicitation was involved in connection with the offer and sale of such shares, and we relied upon the representations made by Marchi pursuant to the Purchase Agreement in determining that such exemption was available.

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In connection with the acquisition of Miconex, on July 31, 2015, we issued 500,000 shares of our common stock as part of the purchase price in reliance upon an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 provided by Section 4(a)(2) thereof. Former owners of Miconex made certain representations to the Company as to investment intent and that they possessed a sufficient level of financial sophistication. The unregistered shares are subject to restrictions on transfer absent registration under or in compliance with the Securities Act of 1933. The shares issued are also subject to certain lockup restrictions that terminate in equal semi-annual installments over two years from the closing date of the acquisition, beginning six months following the closing date.

You should read the following tables in conjunction with other information contained under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” our consolidated financial statements and related notes and other financial information contained elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Statements of Operations Data (in thousands, except per share amounts):

Consolidated Balance Sheet Data (in thousands):

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This section and other parts of this Annual Report on Form 10-K contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements can also be identified by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “project,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “can,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “objective,” and similar terms. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and our actual results may differ significantly from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in “Item 1A — Risk Factors” above. The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statement and notes thereto included in Item 8 of this report. We assume no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements for any reason, except as required by law.

Overview

We are a global leader in the design, engineering, and manufacture of production tools, modules and subsystems for the semiconductor capital equipment industry and industry segments with similar requirements including consumer, medical and flat panel display. We focus on providing specialized engineering and manufacturing solutions for these applications. We enable our customers to realize lower manufacturing costs and reduced design-to-delivery cycle times while maintaining high quality standards.

With our acquisition of Marchi on February 5, 2015, we expanded our capabilities to include the design and manufacture of application-specific thermal solutions to solve semiconductor equipment customers’ temperature management challenges. The acquisition of Marchi further expanded our footprint with our pre-existing customers and brings us closer to the customer in the design stage of new products and next generation equipment. Further, with our acquisition of Miconex on July 31, 2015, we further expanded our capabilities to include manufacturing services in advanced precision milling and welding of plastics for the semiconductor industry.

Our sales were $469.1 million for fiscal year 2015, $514.0 million for fiscal year 2014, and $444.0 million for fiscal year 2013. Our three largest customers in fiscal year 2015, 2014 and 2013 were Applied Materials, Inc., Lam Research Corporation and ASM International, Inc., each of which accounted for more than 10% of our total sales in fiscal year 2015, 2014 and 2013, with the exception of our sales to ASM International, Inc. in 2015. As a group, these customers accounted for 84.3%, 75.7% and 80.6% of the Company’s sales for fiscal years 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

In February 2015, we reached an agreement with ISI on the insourcing of manufacturing for their next generation robot, the da Vinci^® Xi™ Patient Side Cart. We will continue to manufacture previous generation robots and also assist with machined components and spare parts for current and future ISI production. This was a mutual decision driven by ISI’s manufacturing needs at the time and our desire to adhere to our targeted gross margin profile. This change resulted in a decrease in sales of approximately $26.9 million when compared to the previous year.

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Results of Operations

The following table sets forth income statement data for the periods indicated as a percentage of revenue:

Fiscal Year 2015 Compared With Fiscal Year 2014

Sales

Sales for fiscal year 2015 decreased $44.9 million, or 8.7% to $469.1 million from $514.0 million for fiscal year 2014. The decrease in sales for the fiscal year ended 2015 when compared to the same period of 2014 includes a decrease of $54.8 million in non-semiconductor sales attributable in part to the GTAT bankruptcy in 2014 and in part to ISI’s insourcing the manufacturing of its products in the first quarter of 2015. The decrease in non-semiconductor sales was offset by an increase in semiconductor sales of $10.0 million due primarily to the acquisitions of Marchi and Miconex in 2015. On a geographic basis, sales in the U.S. decreased by $54.2 million to $307.4 million, or 65.5% of sales, for the year ended December 25, 2015 as compared to $361.7 million, or 70.4% of sales for the same period of 2014. Foreign sales increased by $9.4 million to $161.7 million, or 34.5% of sales, for the year ended December 25, 2015 as compared to $152.3 million, or 29.6% of sales, for the same period of 2014. The increase in foreign sales is due primarily to the addition of the operations of Miconex in fiscal 2015 and to the migration of certain business with a U.S. customer from our U.S. operations to our Singapore location.

Gross Profit

Cost of goods sold consists primarily of purchased materials, inventory reserves and labor and overhead, including depreciation, associated with the design and manufacture of products sold. Gross profit for fiscal year 2015 decreased to $71.0 million or 15.1% of sales, from $73.1 million, or 14.2% of sales, for fiscal year 2014. Our gross margin percentage increased in fiscal 2015 from the comparable period in 2014 due primarily to the declaration of bankruptcy of GTAT whereby the cost of sales associated with the goods shipped to GTAT during the third quarter of fiscal 2014 did not have corresponding revenues and the on-hand and non-cancelable inventory commitments related to this customer of $4.6 million was charged. Gross margins for 2015 also increased in 2015 when compared to 2014 due to the acquisitions of Marchi and Miconex. The decrease in absolute dollars of gross profit when comparing fiscal year 2015 with 2014 is primarily due to lower sales volume. We expect gross profit to be slightly higher in the first quarter of 2016, as compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, primarily as a result of modestly higher expected sales in the first quarter of 2016.

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Research and Development Expense

Research and development expense consists primarily of activities related to new component testing and evaluation, test equipment and fixture development, product design, and other product development activities. Research and development expense for fiscal year 2015 was $9.6 million or 2.0% of sales, compared to $7.1 million, or 1.4% of sales, for fiscal year 2014. The increase in research and development expense in absolute dollars was due primarily to the inclusion of Miconex and Marchi’s research and development activities in 2015 and to a lesser degree, to an increase in headcount.

Sales and Marketing Expense

Sales and marketing expense consists primarily of salaries and commissions paid to our sales and service employees, salaries paid to our engineers who work with the sales and service employees to help determine the components and configuration requirements for new products and other costs related to the sales of our products. Sales and marketing expense increased $1.1 million, or 10.2%, to $11.5 million, or 2.5% of sales, compared to $10.4 million, or 2.0% of sales, in the comparable period of 2014. The increase in the sales and marketing expense was primarily due to an increase in headcount and related payroll expenses as well as to the inclusion of Marchi sales and marketing activities in 2015.

General and Administrative Expense

General and administrative expense consists primarily of salaries and overhead associated with our administrative staff and professional fees. General and administrative expense increased $6.1 million, or 16.2%, to $43.5 million, or 9.3% of sales, for fiscal year 2015 compared to $37.5 million, or 7.3% of sales, for fiscal year 2014. The increase in absolute dollars was primarily due to a $2.4 million payment to our former CEO in the first quarter of 2015 upon his retirement, $2.9 million amortization of finite-lived intangibles acquired in 2015 as a result of the acquisitions of Marchi and Miconex and $2.9 million general and administrative expense of Marchi and Miconex included in fiscal year 2015 primarily related to headcount and related payroll expense. These increases were offset by a decrease of $0.9 million in share-based compensation expense due to the cancellation of the unvested restricted stock units of our former CEO upon his retirement on January 19, 2015 and $1.6 million decrease in the amortization of finite-lived intangibles acquired in 2012 through our acquisition of AIT. We amortize AIT’s customer relationships and tradename using an accelerated method over the estimated economic life of these assets. In the fourth quarter of 2015, we wrote off the remaining $0.5 million of the tradename intangible we acquired from AIT as we no longer believe the AIT tradename has value to the Company.

Interest and Other Income (Expense), net

Interest and other income (expense), net is primarily comprised of interest expense related to our outstanding debt and, for fiscal year 2015 was $(2.2) million compared to $(1.9) million for fiscal year 2014. The increase in net expense was primarily due to the increase in outstanding debt in fiscal year 2015 as a result of the acquisition of Marchi in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.

Income Tax Provision

Income tax expense was $14.3 million for fiscal year 2015 compared to $5.0 million for fiscal year 2014. Our effective tax rate for fiscal year 2015 was 397.5% compared to 30.5% for fiscal year 2014. The change in respective rates reflects, primarily, a charge in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 related to recording a full valuation allowance on our U.S. federal and state net deferred tax assets. Our effective tax rate was higher than the statutory rates for fiscal year 2015 primarily due to the geographic distribution of our worldwide earnings in foreign jurisdictions with lower tax rates or tax holidays offset by the full valuation allowance against our U.S. federal and state net deferred tax assets. Our 2014 effective tax rate was lower than the statutory rates for fiscal year 2014 primarily due to the geographic distribution of our worldwide earnings in foreign jurisdictions with lower tax rates or tax holidays offset by a valuation allowance against our California and Oregon deferred tax assets.

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During the quarter ended December 25, 2015, we determined that it is no longer more likely than not that we have the ability to project sufficient domestic taxable income necessary over the foreseeable future to realize our U.S. federal and state deferred tax assets. Therefore, during the quarter ended December 25, 2015, the Company concluded that a valuation allowance is required on its U.S. federal and remaining state deferred tax assets. The resulting charge to income tax expense was $15.6 million. The Company continues to maintain the valuation allowance on its California and Oregon state net deferred tax assets in the amount of $2.8 million, as previously recorded in fiscal year 2014. The total U.S. federal and state valuation allowance as of December 25, 2015 was $18.4 million.

During the quarter ended December 25, 2015, we finalized the restructuring of certain of our operations in China. This restructuring resulted in our ability to use certain net operating loss carryforwards, and, accordingly, we concluded that a previously accrued valuation allowance was no longer required, resulting in an income tax benefit of $2.1 million.

During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 we recorded a full valuation allowance on the deferred assets of one of our Singapore subsidiaries in the amount of $0.3 million.

Our ability to realize deferred tax assets depends on our ability to generate sufficient taxable income within the carryback or carry forward periods. In assessing our future taxable income, we have considered all sources of future taxable income available to realize our deferred tax assets, including the taxable income from future reversal of existing temporary differences, carry forwards, taxable income in carryback years and tax-planning strategies. If changes occur in the assumptions underlying our tax planning strategies or in the scheduling of the reversal of our deferred tax liabilities, the valuation allowance may need to be adjusted in the future.

Beginning 2013, we determined that a portion of the current year annual earnings of one of our China subsidiaries may be remitted in the future to one of our foreign subsidiaries outside of mainland China and, accordingly, we provided for the related withholding taxes in our consolidated financial statements. Accordingly, no provisions for U.S. taxes have been provided thereon. In addition, if we change our intent to reinvest our undistributed foreign earnings indefinitely or if a greater amount of undistributed earnings are needed than the previously anticipated remaining unremitted foreign earnings, we could be required to accrue or pay U.S. taxes on some or all of these undistributed earnings.

Fiscal Year 2014 Compared With Fiscal Year 2013

Sales

Sales for fiscal year 2014 increased $69.9 million, or 15.8% to $514.0 million from $444.0 million for fiscal year 2013. The increase in sales for the fiscal year ended 2014 when compared to the same period of 2013 reflects an increase in semiconductor sales of $33.2 million and an increase in non-semiconductor sales of $36.8 million. The increase in overall sales for fiscal year 2014 compared to the same period in fiscal year 2013 was due primarily to an increase in the volume of products shipped, which was attributable to some recovery in customer demand from 2013 levels and, to a lesser degree, to the addition of a relatively new non-semiconductor customer, GTAT, who declared bankruptcy in October of 2014. On a geographic basis, sales in the U.S. increased by $44.1 million to $361.7 million, or 70.4% of sales, for the year ended December 26, 2014 as compared to $317.6 million, or 71.5% of sales for the same period of 2013. Foreign sales increased by $25.9 million to $152.3 million, or 29.6% of sales, for the year ended December 26, 2014 as compared to $126.4 million, or 28.5% of sales, for the same period of 2013. The increase in foreign sales was due in part to the recovery in customer demand as well as to the addition of the new customer discussed above in Asia (that subsequently declared bankruptcy in October 2014).

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Gross Profit

Gross profit for fiscal year 2014 increased to $73.1 million or 14.2% of sales, from $67.3 million, or 15.2% of sales, for fiscal year 2013. Our gross margin percentage decreased in fiscal 2014 from the comparable period in 2013 due primarily to the declaration of bankruptcy by GTAT whereby the cost of sales associated with the goods shipped to GTAT during the third quarter of fiscal 2014 did not have corresponding revenues and the on-hand and non-cancelable inventory commitments related to this customer of $4.6 million was charged to cost of goods sold. The increase in absolute dollars of gross profit when comparing fiscal year 2014 with 2013 was primarily due to higher sales volume, a sales mix which included higher margin products and certain improvements in operational efficiencies at our manufacturing locations in the U.S., which typically deliver lower margins due to higher labor and overhead costs, offset to a degree by the charges in the third quarter as described above related to the declaration of bankruptcy of GTAT.

Research and Development Expense

Research and development expense for fiscal year 2014 was $7.1 million or 1.4% of sales, compared to $5.5 million, or 1.2% of sales, for fiscal year 2013. The increase in research and development expense in absolute dollars was due primarily to the timing of reassignment of existing resources to research and development activities and, to a lesser degree, to an increase in headcount.

Sales and Marketing Expense

Sales and marketing expense increased $0.6 million, or 6.1%, to $10.4 million, or 2.0% of sales, compared to $9.8 million, or 2.2% of sales, in the comparable period of 2013. The increase in the sales and marketing expense was primarily due to higher salaries and commissions resulting from higher headcount and revenues.

General and Administrative Expense

General and administrative expense increased $1.4 million, or 3.9%, to $37.5 million, or 7.3% of sales, for fiscal year 2014 compared to $36.0 million, or 8.1% of sales, for fiscal year 2013. The increase was primarily due to headcount related costs, including salaries, bonuses and stock compensation, and by the write-off of $1.6 million of accounts receivable as a result of the bankruptcy of GTAT in October 2014, offset by a decrease in the amortization of finite-lived intangibles associated with the AIT acquisition.

Interest and Other Income (Expense), net

Interest and other income (expense), net for fiscal year 2014 was $(1.9) million compared to $(3.3) million for fiscal year 2013. The decrease in net expense was primarily due to the decrease in outstanding debt in fiscal year 2014.

Income Tax Provision

Our effective tax rate for fiscal year 2014 was 30.5% compared to 17.3% for fiscal year 2013. The change in respective rates reflects, primarily, a non-cash charge in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 related to recording a valuation allowance on our California and Oregon deferred tax assets, and to a lesser degree, a change in the geographic mix of worldwide earnings and financial results for fiscal year 2014 compared to fiscal year 2013. Our effective tax rate was lower than the statutory rates for fiscal year 2014 primarily due to the geographic distribution of our worldwide earnings in foreign jurisdictions with lower tax rates or tax holidays offset by a valuation allowance against our California and Oregon deferred tax assets. Our effective tax rate was lower than the statutory rates for fiscal year 2013 primarily due to the geographic distribution of our world-wide earnings in foreign jurisdictions with lower tax rates or tax holidays.

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As of December 26, 2014, we maintained a full valuation allowance on the deferred assets of one of our China subsidiaries in the amount of $1.4 million.

Critical Accounting Policies, Significant Judgments and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, which requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses and related disclosure at the date of our consolidated financial statements. On an on-going basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those related to sales, inventories, goodwill and intangible assets, stock compensation and income taxes. We base our estimates and judgments on historical experience and on various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis of our judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates. We consider certain accounting policies related to revenue recognition, inventory valuation, accounting for income taxes, business combinations, valuation of intangible assets and goodwill, and equity incentives to employees to be critical policies due to the estimates and judgments involved in each.

Revenue Recognition

Our revenue for fiscal years 2015, 2014 and 2013 was highly concentrated in a small number of OEM customers in the semiconductor capital equipment, consumer, medical, energy, industrial, flat panel and research industries. Our standard arrangement for our customers includes a signed purchase order or contract, no right of return of delivered products and no customer acceptance provisions. Revenue from sales of products is recognized when:

Revenue is recognized upon shipment of the product. In arrangements which specify title transfer upon delivery, revenue is not recognized until the product is delivered. In addition, if we have not fulfilled the terms of the agreement at the time of shipment, revenue recognition is deferred until fulfillment.

We assess collectability based on the creditworthiness of the customer and past transaction history. We perform on-going credit evaluations of, and do not require collateral from, our customers. We have not experienced significant collection losses in the past except for collection losses related to the bankruptcy of GTAT in fiscal 2014. A significant change in the liquidity or financial position of any one customer could make it more difficult for us to assess collectability.

Inventory Valuation

We write down the carrying value of our inventory to net realizable value for estimated obsolescence or unmarketable inventory in an amount equal to the difference between the cost of inventory and its estimated realizable value based upon assumptions about future demand and market conditions. We assess the valuation of all inventories, including raw materials, work-in-process, finished goods and spare parts on a periodic basis.

Obsolete inventory or inventory in excess of our estimated usage is written down to its estimated market value less costs to sell, if less than its cost. The inventory write-downs are recorded as an inventory valuation allowance established on the basis of obsolete inventory or specific identified inventory in excess of established

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usage. Inherent in our estimates of demand and market value in determining inventory valuation are estimates related to economic trends, future demand for our products and technological obsolescence of our products. If actual demand and market conditions are less favorable than our projections, additional inventory write-downs may be required. If the inventory value is written down to its net realizable value, and subsequently there is an increased demand for the inventory at a higher value, the increased value of the inventory is not realized until the inventory is sold either as a component of a subsystem or as separate inventory. For fiscal years 2015, 2014 and 2013, we wrote down $2.4 million, $4.6 million, including $2.6 million of inventory written off as part of the GTAT bankruptcy in the third quarter of 2014 and $1.5 million in inventory determined to be obsolete, respectively.

Accounting for Income Taxes

The determination of our tax provision is highly dependent upon the geographic composition of worldwide earnings and tax regulations governing each region and is subject to judgments and estimates. Management carefully monitors the changes in many factors and adjusts the effective tax rate as required. The carrying value of our net deferred tax assets, which consist primarily of future tax deductions, assumes we will be able to generate sufficient future income to fully realize these deductions. In determining whether the realization of these deferred tax assets may be impaired, we make judgments with respect to whether we are likely to generate sufficient future taxable income to realize these assets. In order to reverse a valuation allowance, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America suggest that we review our recent cumulative income/loss as well as determine our ability to generate sufficient future taxable income to realize our net deferred tax assets. As of December 25, 2015, we maintained full valuation allowances on our U.S. federal and state deferred tax assets in the amount of $18.7 million as we believe it is more likely than not that these deferred tax assets will not be realized. During the quarter ended December 25, 2015, we finalized the restructuring of certain of our operations in China. This restructuring resulted in our ability to use certain net operating loss carryforwards, and, accordingly, we concluded that a previously accrued valuation allowance was no longer required, resulting in an income tax benefit of $2.1 million.

In addition, the calculation of tax liabilities involves significant judgment in estimating the impact of uncertainties in the application of complex tax laws. Resolution of these uncertainties in a manner inconsistent with our expectations could have a material impact on our results of operations and financial position. We believe we have adequately reserved for our uncertain tax positions, however, no assurance can be given that the final tax outcome of these matters will not be different than what we expect. We adjust these reserves in light of changing facts and circumstances, such as the closing of a tax audit or the refinement of an estimate. To the extent that the final tax outcome of these matters is different than the amounts recorded, such differences will impact the provision for income taxes in the period in which such determination is made. The provision for income taxes includes the impact of reserve provisions and changes to reserves that are considered appropriate, as well as the related net interest.

We file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction, various states and foreign jurisdictions. Our 2012 through 2014 federal income tax returns are open to audit through the statute of limitations by the Internal Revenue Service. The Company’s 2011 through 2014 state income tax returns are open to audit by the California Franchise Tax Board. The Company is also subject to examination in various other jurisdictions for various periods.

Business Combinations

In accordance with business combination accounting, we allocate the purchase price of acquired companies to the tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair values. We may engage third-party valuation firms to assist management in reviewing management’s determination of the fair values of acquired intangible assets such as trade name and customer relationships. Such valuations require management to make significant estimates and assumptions. Management makes estimates of fair value based upon assumptions believed to be reasonable. These estimates are based on historical experience and information obtained from the management of the acquired companies and are inherently uncertain.

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Goodwill, Intangibles Assets, and Long-lived Assets

Goodwill is measured as the excess of the cost of an acquisition over the sum of the amounts assigned to identifiable assets acquired less liabilities assumed.

We evaluate our goodwill and indefinite life trade name for impairment on an annual basis, and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be fully recoverable. In addition, we evaluate our identifiable intangible assets and other long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Factors we consider important which could trigger an impairment review include the following:

We continually apply judgment when performing these evaluations and continuously monitor for events and circumstances that could negatively impact the key assumptions in determining fair value, including long-term revenue growth projections, undiscounted net cash flows, discount rates, recent market valuations from transactions by comparable companies, volatility in our market capitalization and general industry, market and macroeconomic conditions. It is possible that changes in such circumstances, or in the variables associated with the judgments, assumptions and estimates used in assessing fair value, would require us to record a non-cash impairment charge.

Equity Incentives to Employees

We issue stock options and restricted stock units to our employees and outside directors and provide our employees the right to purchase common stock under our employee stock purchase plan. Under current accounting guidance, stock-based compensation cost is measured at the grant date based on the fair value of the award and is recognized as expense over the service (vesting) period.

The Black-Scholes option-pricing model that we use was developed for use in estimating the fair value of short-lived exchange traded options that have no vesting restrictions and are fully transferable. In addition, option-pricing models require the input of highly subjective assumptions, including the option’s expected life and the price volatility of underlying stock. Our expected stock price volatility assumption was determined using the historical volatility of our common stock. We determined that historical volatility reflects market conditions and is a good indicator of future volatility. Our expected term represents the period that our stock-based awards are expected to be outstanding and was determined based on our historical experience with similar awards, giving consideration to the contractual terms of the stock-based awards and vesting schedules. See Note 9 to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for a detailed description.

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Unaudited Quarterly Financial Results

The following table sets forth statement of operations data for the periods indicated. The information for each of these periods is unaudited and has been prepared on the same basis as our audited consolidated financial statements included herein and includes all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments that we consider necessary for a fair presentation of our unaudited operations data for the periods presented. Historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected in the future (in thousands, except per share data):

Liquidity and Capital Resources

We have required capital principally to fund our acquisitions and working capital needs, satisfy our debt obligations, maintain our equipment and purchase new capital equipment. As of December 25, 2015, we had cash and cash equivalents of $50.1 million compared to $79.0 million as of December 26, 2014. The decrease in our cash position during 2015 was primarily due to cash paid for the acquisitions of Marchi and Miconex. Our cash and cash equivalents, as well as cash generated from operations, was our principal source of liquidity as of December 25, 2015.

For the twelve months ended December 25, 2015, we generated cash from operating activities of $0.9 million, a decrease of $29.4 million when compared to $30.4 million for fiscal 2014. Operating cash flows generated in the twelve months ended December 25, 2015, were from non-cash activity, including depreciation of equipment and leasehold improvements, amortization of intangible assets and debt issuance costs, excess tax benefit from stock-based compensation, and stock-based compensation aggregating $15.5 million. Operating cash flows were also generated by decreases in accounts receivable, deferred tax assets net of deferred tax liabilities, and increases in accrued compensation and other liabilities of $5.8 million, $10.4 million, $0.8 million and $1.6 million, respectively. These were offset by changes in the fair value of a contingent earn-out of $0.4 million, an increase in inventory, prepaid expenses and other non-current assets of $8.3 million and $1.0 million, respectively and by the net decrease in accounts payable and income tax payable of $12.6 million and $0.1 million, respectively.

Cash generated from operating activities for fiscal 2014 represented an increase of $0.5 million when compared to $29.9 million for fiscal 2013. Operating cash flows generated in the twelve months ended December 26, 2014, were from net income of $11.4 million; net non-cash activity, including depreciation of equipment and leasehold improvements, amortization of intangibles and debt issuance costs and stock-based

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compensation aggregating $12.8 million. Operating cash flows were also generated by decreases in accounts receivable, inventory and deferred income of $5.6 million, $7.1 million and $2.2 million, respectively. The decrease in inventory primarily reflects the write-off related to the GTAT bankruptcy. These were offset by a net decrease in accounts payable, accrued compensation and related benefits and other current liabilities aggregating $6.2 million, and an increase in prepaid expenses and other assets of $2.5 million.

Net cash used in investing activities for the twelve months ended December 25, 2015, was $55.2 million, consisting mainly of cash paid in connection with the acquisitions of Marchi and Miconex of $29.7 million and $15.6 million, respectively. Net cash used in investing activities also included capital expenditures of $10.2 million, primarily attributable to the expansion of our facility in the U.S. and in Singapore, offset by Miconex cash acquired of $0.2 million. The net cash used in investing activities in 2014 consisted mainly of purchases of equipment of $5.3 million.

Net cash provided in financing activities for the twelve months ended December 25, 2015, was $25.4 million, an increase of $32.0 million when compared to net cash used by financing activities of $6.6 million for the comparable period of 2014. The increase was due primarily to cash proceeds from bank borrowings of $79.2 million from our new credit facility and from Miconex bank borrowings and net proceeds from the issuance of common stock related to our employee stock plans of $2.4 million. These increases were offset by principal debt payments of $55.2 million related to the payoff of our old credit facility, payment of $0.6 million of debt issuance costs related to the new credit facility, $0.1 million excess tax benefit from stock-based compensation and $0.3 million of employees’ taxes paid upon vesting of restricted stock units. For the twelve months ended December 26, 2014, our cash provided by financing activities was due primarily to proceeds of $48.5 million from our revolving line of credit, offset by payments of $46.0 million to the same revolving line of credit. We also made payments of $10.0 million on our term loan.

We anticipate that our existing cash and cash equivalents balance and operating cash flow will be sufficient to service our indebtedness and meet our working capital requirements and technology development projects for at least the next twelve months. The adequacy of these resources to meet our liquidity needs beyond that period will depend on our growth, the state of the worldwide economy, our ability to meet our financial covenants with our credit facility, the cyclical expansion or contraction of the semiconductor capital equipment industry and the other industries we serve and capital expenditures required to meet possible increased demand for our products.

In order to expand our business or acquire additional complementary businesses or technologies, we may need to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings. If required, additional financing may not be available on terms that are favorable to us, if at all. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity or convertible debt securities, our stockholders’ equity interest will be diluted and these securities might have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our current stockholders. We may also require the consent of our new lenders to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings. No assurance can be given that additional financing will be available or that, if available, such financing can be obtained on terms favorable to our stockholders and us.

Beginning in 2013, we determined that a portion of the current year and future year earnings of one of our China subsidiaries may be remitted in the future to one of our foreign subsidiaries outside of mainland China and, accordingly, we provided for the related withholding taxes in our consolidated financial statements. Accordingly, no provisions for U.S. income taxes have been provided thereon. In addition, if we change our intent to reinvest our undistributed foreign earnings indefinitely or if a greater amount of undistributed earnings are needed than the previous anticipated remaining unremitted foreign earnings, we could be required to accrue or pay U.S. taxes on some or all of these undistributed earnings. As of December 25, 2015, we had undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries that are indefinitely invested outside of the U.S. of approximately $69.3 million. It is not practicable to determine the income tax liability that might be incurred if these earnings were to be distributed. We anticipate that we have adequate liquidity and capital resources and would not need to repatriate earnings to the U.S. As of December 25, 2015, we have cash of approximately $42.7 million in our foreign subsidiaries.

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Borrowing Arrangements

On February 2, 2015, we entered into a new credit agreement (the “Credit Agreement”) by and among us, certain of our subsidiaries, East West Bank and City National Bank (collectively, the “Lenders”). The Credit Agreement provides for a term loan in an aggregate principal amount of $40.0 million (the “New Term Loan”) and a revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of $40.0 million (the “New Revolving Credit Facility”), a letter of credit facility in the aggregate availability amount of $20.0 million (as a sublimit of such New Revolving Credit Facility) (the “L/C Facility”) and a swingline sub-facility in the aggregate availability amount of $5.0 million (as a sublimit of the New Revolving Credit Facility) (together with the Term Loan, the Revolving Credit Facility and the L/C Facility, the “Senior Secured Credit Facility”).

On February 2, 2015, we borrowed an aggregate of $40.0 million under the New Term Loan and approximately $6.5 million under the New Revolving Credit Facility. The borrowed funds were used to repay the outstanding balance to Silicon Valley Bank as lender under our prior Loan Agreement. The prior Loan Agreement was terminated in connection with this transaction and, as a result, the outstanding balance of the revolver of $31.3 million was classified as long-term debt as of December 26, 2014 in accordance with the terms of the new debt agreement. In addition, we expensed the unamortized debt issuance costs of approximately $0.7 million in the first quarter of 2015. On February 5, 2015, in order to finance the cash portion of the acquisition of Marchi, we borrowed an additional $29.7 million under the New Revolving Credit Facility.

The New Term Loan must be repaid in consecutive quarterly installments of $1.25 million for the first four installments and $2.9 million for the remaining twelve installments, with the first payment made on March 31, 2015, and with the balance of the outstanding principal amount of the New Term Loan due at the final maturity, which is February 2, 2019. The New Revolving Credit Facility is available for the four year period beginning on February 2015. The Credit Agreement includes customary representations, warranties, covenants and events of default. We have agreed to secure all of their obligations under the Credit Agreement by granting a first priority lien in substantially all of their respective personal property assets (subject to certain exceptions and limitations).

At our option, borrowings under the New Term Loan and New Revolving Credit Facility (subject to certain limitations) bear interest at either a base rate or at the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) (with the LIBOR being adjusted for certain Eurocurrency reserve requirements, if any, as described in the Credit Agreement), plus, in each case, an applicable margin based on our consolidated leverage ratio. All loans described above made on February 2, 2015 were initially base rate loans, carrying interest of 3.25%. The effective interest rate will be higher due to the incurrence of certain loan-related costs of $0.6 million that have been treated as a discount on the debt and amortized over the life of the loan.

As of December 25, 2015, the interest rates on the outstanding new Term Loan and new Revolving Credit facility were 2.98% (2.5% fixed and 0.48% variable based on LIBOR) and 3.5% fixed, respectively. In order to manage interest rate risk on the variable component of the New Term Loan we entered into an interest rate swap with the Lenders in September 2015 with a total notional amount of $20.0 million pursuant to which we pay the counterparty a fixed rate of 0.99% and receive interest at a variable rate equal to the LIBOR rate we are required to pay under our New Term Loan, or 0.5%, as of December 25, 2015. This interest rate swap effectively locks in a fixed interest rate of 3.49% on $19.3 million of the $36.3 million term loan balance outstanding as of December 25, 2015, with a decreasing notional amount based on prorated quarterly principal payments over the remaining period of the term loan.

The Credit Agreement requires us to maintain certain financial covenants including a consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio (as defined in the Credit Agreement) of at least 1.25 to 1.00 starting with the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2015 and a consolidated leverage ratio (as defined in the Credit Agreement) no greater than 3.5 to 1.00 starting with the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2015. The Credit Agreement also includes other customary affirmative and negative covenants. In December 2015, the Credit Agreement was amended to include a provision requiring the Company to maintain a cash balance of $35.0 million every quarter end. We are in compliance with all covenants for the quarter ended December 25, 2015.

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The Credit Agreement also contains provisions requiring the following mandatory prepayments (subject to certain exceptions and limitations): annual prepayments in an amount equal to (a) 33% of excess cash flow (as defined in the Credit Agreement) if the aggregate outstanding principal amount of the New Term Loan equals or exceeds $20.0 million and (b) 25% of excess cash flow if the aggregate outstanding principal amount of the New Term Loan equals or exceeds $10.0 million but is less than $20.0 million. The Credit Agreement also restricts us from declaring or paying any cash dividends.

As of December 25, 2015, we have outstanding amounts under the New Term Loan and New Revolving Credit Facility of $36.3 million and $36.2 million, respectively, which are gross of unamortized debt issuance costs of $0.5 million, for a total debt balance with this credit facility of $72.0 million. In addition, we have $3.6 million of bank debt under a credit facility in the Czech Republic, with interest rates ranges from 1.3% to 2.3% and a variable based on Euro Interbank Offered Rate and due dates from 2015 to 2020. As of December 25, 2015, our total outstanding debt was $76.1 million.

Capital Expenditures

Capital expenditures were $10.0 million for the year ended December 25, 2015 primarily attributable to the expansion of our Singapore and U.S. facilities.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

During the periods presented, we did not have any relations with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes.

Contractual Obligations

Other than operating leases for certain equipment and real estate and purchase order commitments primarily for inventory, we have no off-balance sheet transactions, unconditional purchase obligations or similar instruments and, other than the arrangements described under “Borrowing Arrangements” above, are not a guarantor of any other entities’ debt or other financial obligations. The following table summarizes our future minimum lease payments, principal payments under debt obligations and our purchase obligations for the purchase of inventory as of December 25, 2015:

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Recently Issued and Adopted Accounting Pronouncement

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) amended the existing accounting standards for revenue recognition. In August 2015, the FASB delayed the effective date of the amended accounting standard for revenue recognition by one year. The FASB also agreed to allow entities to choose to adopt the standard as of the original effective date. As such, the updated standard will be effective for us in the first quarter of 2018, with the option to adopt it in the first quarter of 2017. The Company is still evaluating the effect that the updated standard will have on the consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

In September 2015, the FASB issued updated guidance on the accounting for purchase accounting adjustments determined during the measurement period (i.e. up to one year after the acquisition). The new guidance requires an acquirer to recognize such adjustments in the reporting period in which the adjustment amounts are determined. Previously, such adjustments were required to be recorded on a retrospective basis. The Company has elected to early adopt this guidance beginning in the third quarter 2015 on a prospective basis. The adoption of this guidance did not have a significant impact on the condensed consolidated financial statements.

In July 2015, the FASB issued authoritative guidance that requires inventory to be measured at the lower of cost and net realizable value instead of at lower of cost or market. This guidance does not apply to inventory that is measured using last-in, first out or the retail inventory method but applies to all other inventory including those measured using first-in, first-out or the average cost method. The authoritative guidance will be effective for the Company in the first quarter of fiscal 2018 and should be applied prospectively. Early adoption is permitted as of the beginning of an interim or annual reporting period. The Company is currently evaluating the effect of this new guidance on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In April 2015, the FASB issued authoritative guidance that requires debt issuance costs to be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of the related debt liability, consistent with debt discounts. The authoritative guidance is effective for the Company in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 and should be applied retrospectively. Early adoption is permitted. The adoption of this guidance is not expected to have a significant impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In November 2015, the FASB issued authoritative guidance on income taxes, which simplifies the presentation of deferred income taxes by requiring deferred tax assets and liabilities be classified as noncurrent on the balance sheet. The updated standard is effective for us beginning on January 1, 2017 with early application permitted as of the beginning of any interim or annual reporting period. The Company is currently evaluating the effect of this new guidance on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In February 2016, the FASB issued guidance on leases, which amends the existing accounting standards for lease accounting, including requiring lessees to recognize most leases on their balance sheets and making targeted changes to lessor accounting. The standard is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2018, and interim periods within those years, with early adoption permitted. The standard requires a modified retrospective transition approach for all leases existing at, or entered into after, the date of initial application, with an option to use certain transition relief. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the new standard on its consolidated financial statements.

We are exposed to financial market risks, including changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates.

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Foreign Exchange Rates

Currently, a significant majority of our sales and arrangements with third-party suppliers provide for pricing and payment in US dollars, which are not subject to material exchange rate fluctuations. Increases in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies would make our products more expensive relative to competing products priced in such other currencies, which could negatively impact our ability to compete. Conversely, decreases in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies could result in our foreign suppliers raising their prices in order to continue doing business with us. However, we do not expect foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations to have a material effect on our results of operations.

Chinese authorities recently relaxed controls of China’s currency, the Renminbi, and allowed the currency to strengthen against other world currencies, including the U.S. dollar. We continue to monitor any potential impact of the depreciation or appreciation of the Renminbi on our operations in China as well as globally. Changes in the value of the Renminbi did not have a material impact on our results of operations for any period presented in this Form 10-K.

Miconex uses derivative instruments, such as foreign currency exchange contracts, to hedge certain exposures to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. These contracts reduce, but do not entirely eliminate the impact of currency exchange rates movement on Miconex’s assets and liabilities.

Interest Rates

Our interest rate risk relates primarily to outstanding amounts under our New Term Loan and New Revolving Credit Facility which totaled $72.0 million (net of debt issuance costs) as of December 25, 2015, and carries interest rates pegged to either the prime rate or LIBOR. To reduce our exposure to potentially rising interest rates, on September 17, 2015, we entered into an interest rate swap with the Lenders, encompassing $20.0 million of the New Term Loan. The interest rate swap exchanges the variable interest rate component where LIBOR was at 0.48% as of December 25, 2015, with a fixed interest rate of 0.99% over the remaining term of the New Term Loan. This interest rate swap is designated as a cash flow hedge of the interest rate risk attributable to forecasted variable interest payments.

An immediate increase in interest rates of 100 basis points would increase our interest expense by approximately $0.2 million per quarter. This would be partially offset by increased interest income on our invested cash. Conversely, an immediate decline of 100 basis points in interest rates would decrease our interest expense by approximately $0.2 million per quarter. This would be partially offset by decreased interest income on our invested cash.

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INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

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REPORTS OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRMS

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (the Company), as of December 25, 2015, and the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, stockholders’ equity and cash flows for the year ended December 25, 2015. We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 25, 2015, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. As discussed in Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting, on February 5, 2015, the Company acquired Marchi Thermal Systems, Inc. (Marchi) and on July 31, 2015 the Company acquired MICONEX s.r.o. (Miconex). For the purposes of assessing internal control over financial reporting, management excluded Marchi and Miconex, whose financial statements constitute 1.3% and 3.3% of the Company’s consolidated total assets (excluding $58.6 million of goodwill and intangible assets, net, which were integrated into the Company’s control environment), respectively, and 2.7% and 3.0% of consolidated net revenues as of and for the year ended December 25, 2015, respectively. Accordingly, our audit did not include the internal control over financial reporting of Marchi and Miconex. The Company’s management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these consolidated financial statements and an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit of the consolidated financial statements included examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements, assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, and evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audit also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

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In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc., as of December 25, 2015, and the consolidated results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 25, 2015, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc., maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 25, 2015, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.

/s/ Moss Adams LLP

San Francisco, California

March 9, 2016

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To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.

Hayward, California

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 26, 2014, and the related consolidated statements of operations, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 26, 2014. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, such consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. and subsidiaries as of December 26, 2014, and the results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the two years in the period ended December 26, 2014, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP

San Jose, California

March 11, 2015

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Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

(See notes to consolidated financial statements)

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Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Operations

(See notes to consolidated financial statements)

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Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income

(See notes to consolidated financial statements)

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Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity

(See notes to consolidated financial statements)

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Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(See notes to consolidated financial statements)

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Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

1. Organization and Significant Accounting Policies

Organization — Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (the “Company” or “UCT”) was founded in November 2002 for the purpose of acquiring Ultra Clean Technology Systems and Service, Inc. Ultra Clean Technology Systems and Service, Inc. was founded in 1991 by Mitsubishi Corporation and was operated as a subsidiary of Mitsubishi until November 2002, when it was acquired by UCT. UCT became a publicly traded company in March 2004. In June 2006, the Company completed the acquisition of Sieger Engineering, Inc. to enhance its position as a subsystem supplier to the semiconductor, research, flat panel, energy and medical equipment industries. Ultra Clean Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd (UCTS) and Ultra Clean Micro-Electronics Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (UCME) were established in 2005 and 2007, respectively, to facilitate the Company’s operations in China. In December 2015, UCTS merged into UCME. Ultra Clean Asia Pacific, Pte, Ltd. (Singapore) was established in fiscal year 2008 to facilitate the Company’s operations in Singapore. In July 2012, UCT acquired American Integration Technologies LLC (“AIT”) to add to the Company’s existing customer base in the semiconductor and medical spaces and to provide additional manufacturing capabilities. In November 2014, the Company launched Prototype Asia, its 3D printing business in Singapore, to develop additive manufacturing capabilities for the Company’s customer base. In February 2015, UCT acquired Marchi Thermal Systems, Inc. (“Marchi”), a designer and manufacturer of specialty heaters, thermocouples and temperature controllers. Marchi delivers flexible heating elements and thermal solutions to our customers. The Company believes heaters are increasingly critical in equipment design for the most advanced semiconductor nodes. In July 2015, UCT acquired MICONEX s.r.o. (“Miconex”), a privately-held provider of advanced precision fabrication of plastics, primarily for the semiconductor industry that, initially, is expected to expand the Company’s capabilities with existing customers.

Principles of Consolidation — The Company’s consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries and all intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The Company uses a 52-53 week fiscal year ending on the Friday nearest December 31. All references to quarters refer to fiscal quarters and all references to years refer to fiscal years.

Foreign Currency Translation and Remeasurement — The Company has one foreign subsidiary whose functional currency is not its local currency or the U.S. dollar. The Company remeasures the monetary assets and liabilities of this subsidiary into its functional currency. Gains and losses from these remeasurements are recorded in interest and other income (expense), net. The Company then translates the assets and liabilities of this subsidiary into the U.S. dollar. Gains and losses from these translations are recognized in foreign currency translation included in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) within stockholders’ equity. For the Company’s foreign subsidiaries where the U.S. dollar is the functional currency, any gains and losses resulting from the translation of the assets and liabilities of these subsidiaries are recorded in interest and other income (expense), net.

Use of Accounting Estimates — The presentation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and disclosures of contingent liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Such estimates and assumptions include reserves on inventory, valuation of deferred tax assets and impairment of goodwill and other long-lived assets. The Company bases its estimates and judgments on historical experience and on various other assumptions that it believes are reasonable under the circumstances. However, future events are subject to change and the best estimates and judgments routinely require adjustment. Actual amounts may differ from those estimates.

Concentration of Credit Risk — Financial instruments which subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist principally of cash and cash equivalents and accounts receivable. The Company sells its

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Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements—(Continued)

products primarily to semiconductor capital equipment manufacturers in the United States. The Company performs credit evaluations of its customers’ financial condition and generally requires no collateral.

Significant sales to customers — The Company’s most significant customers (having accounted for 10% or more of annual sales) and their related sales as a percentage of total sales for each of the previous three years, were as follows: