stockrowWhat it does
Cirrus Logic designs low-power mixed-signal semiconductor components. These chips process signals that move between the analog and digital parts of electronic devices. Its customers include electronics manufacturers that incorporate the components into their own products. Founded in 1981, Cirrus Logic is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
The company has two product lines: Audio and high-performance mixed-signal, or HPMS. Its audio components include amplifiers, codecs and digital signal processors. A codec combines analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters on one chip; a smart codec also incorporates digital signal processing. Cirrus Logic sells these products for devices including smartphones, PCs, tablets, wearables and entertainment systems.
HPMS products are primarily used in smartphones. They include camera controllers for autofocus and image stabilization, haptic and sensing components that provide tactile feedback, and battery and power chips. The product line also serves automotive, industrial and imaging applications.
Cirrus Logic develops both custom components and products for the general market. Its engineers work with customer product teams on technical and price requirements, and the company also supplies software and algorithms alongside hardware. It is a fabless semiconductor company: it designs its products but contracts with other companies to fabricate, assemble and test them.
How it makes money
Cirrus Logic earns revenue by selling semiconductor components to electronics manufacturers, either directly or through intermediaries. Its customers specify components for their product designs, while purchases may be made by the customers themselves, distributors or contract manufacturers. Sales are primarily made under short-term purchase orders, and customers frequently revise quantities and shipment schedules without significant penalty.
The company operates as one reportable segment and reports revenue by Audio and HPMS product line. Audio includes amplifiers, codecs and processors, as well as SoundClear tools, software and algorithms. HPMS includes camera, haptic, sensing, battery and power components. The lines share customers and support functions, and Cirrus Logic does not maintain discrete financial information for them beyond reported revenue performance.
Fiscal year 2026 net sales were $2.00 billion; Q2 fiscal 2027 revenue was $559.5 million.
The company seeks to win a place in a customer’s device design by meeting its technical and price requirements. An initial design win can lead to additional content through new features, integration of other system components or new products. Cirrus Logic expects its current generation of custom-boosted amplifier and smart codec to follow the longevity of prior generations, which shipped in flagship devices for 5 and 6 years, respectively. Future orders and pricing nevertheless depend on customer needs and industry conditions.
Fiscal year 2026 gross margin was 52.8 percent. In Q2 fiscal 2027, non-GAAP gross margin was 53.8%; it benefited from lower wafer costs under prior agreements and lower production ramp expenses.
Customers and how it sells
Cirrus Logic sells to electronics manufacturers worldwide. It generally regards the end customer as the company that specifies its component in a product design, even when a distributor or a third-party contract manufacturer makes the purchase. Its sales force works directly with customers and is supplemented by external representatives and distributors.
Apple, Inc. accounted for 91.0% of fiscal year 2026 revenue. Apple purchased through multiple contract manufacturers. The ten largest end customers accounted for 96.0% of fiscal year 2026 revenue, and no other customer or distributor represented more than 10 percent of net sales that year.
The company has direct sales offices primarily in California and Texas, and international sales staff in Japan, China, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Its primary facility is in Austin, Texas, and houses engineering, sales and marketing, and administrative functions. Cirrus Logic also has offices elsewhere in the United States and internationally.
International sales represented 99 percent of net sales in fiscal year 2026. That measure includes sales to U.S.-based end customers whose products are manufactured overseas by contract manufacturers or at overseas plants. Sales are denominated primarily in U.S. dollars.
Suppliers and costs
Cirrus Logic contracts out wafer fabrication, product assembly and testing. Its wafers are primarily supplied by GlobalFoundries and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. After fabrication, third-party vendors package the wafer dies and test the finished products before shipment. Assembly and test providers include Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Amkor Technology, STATS ChipPAC, SFA Semicon and Siliconware Precision Industries.
The outsourced model lets Cirrus Logic focus on design while minimizing fixed costs and capital expenditures. The company uses multiple foundries and assembly and test sources to help address capacity constraints, although an interruption at one or more foundries could materially affect it. Its subcontractors purchase the silicon, metals, plastics, gases and chemicals used in production; limited materials or foundry capacity can affect availability and prices.
Cirrus Logic has wafer agreements that provide some certainty on pricing and capacity. It recently signed a GlobalFoundries agreement securing dedicated wafer capacity and pricing for calendar years 2027 and 2028. The company also says back-end capacity is tight and requires frequent management.
Research and development is another expense. Fiscal year 2026 research and development expenses were $434.0 million. Cirrus Logic expects fiscal year 2027 operating expenses to increase as it invests in research and development.
- Revenue$2.0B
- Cost of revenue−$943.2M
- Research and development−$434.0M
- Selling, general and administrative−$159.8M
- Operating income$460.4M
Competitive position
Cirrus Logic competes with suppliers of standard semiconductors, application-specific products and customized chips, including products with embedded software and board-level components. Its named competitors include Analog Devices, Qualcomm, Skyworks Solutions, Synaptics and Texas Instruments. No single company competes with Cirrus Logic across all its product lines, but the company faces competition in every market where its products are available.
The factors that determine competition include time to market, hardware and software design, price, performance, access to manufacturing and packaging technologies, and technical support. Short consumer-product design cycles give competitors opportunities to win positions in new generations of devices; they also give Cirrus Logic opportunities to displace other suppliers.
Cirrus Logic works with customers from concept through design, launch and production. Many of its products combine programmable hardware with algorithms using its own, partners’ or customers’ intellectual property. As of March 28, 2026, the company held approximately 4,340 pending and issued patents worldwide.
Our reading: Close engineering work and customer-specific designs can support durable relationships, but repeated design cycles leave those positions open to challenge. Our reading: The patent portfolio supports protection of its technology, although the company says its business is not dependent on any one patent or group of patents.
| Competitor | Where they compete | Threat (our reading) |
|---|---|---|
| Analog Devices Inc. | Semiconductor components; specific product overlap not disclosed | Medium |
| QUALCOMM Incorporated | Semiconductor components; specific product overlap not disclosed | Medium |
| Skyworks Solutions Inc. | Semiconductor components; specific product overlap not disclosed | Medium |
| Synaptics Incorporated | Semiconductor components; specific product overlap not disclosed | Medium |
| Texas Instruments, Inc. | Semiconductor components; specific product overlap not disclosed | Medium |
Growth opportunities
Cirrus Logic’s strategy is to maintain its smartphone audio position, increase HPMS content in smartphones and use its audio and mixed-signal expertise in additional applications and markets. Within existing customer relationships, it seeks more content through broader adoption of current components and the introduction of new ones.
The company has taped out a fourth-generation camera controller and expects it to enter production in calendar year 2028. It is also designing a smart power chip for 3D sensing and developing another custom power and battery product. Cirrus Logic expects successive product launches to bring higher adoption of several existing chips, followed by additional components now in development.
Beyond smartphones, Cirrus Logic has developed audio components for PCs. It taped out a second-generation smart codec for AI-enabled PCs and expects to sample it to customers in the coming calendar year. It has also begun sampling analog front-end components for smart metering and received its first production orders for new industrial imaging components. The company expects mass production of the imaging products to begin in the December quarter.
After the end of Q2 fiscal 2027, Cirrus Logic completed the acquisition of INVENTVM, an Italian fabless semiconductor company specializing in mixed-signal power management and audio chips. Cirrus Logic says the combined team expands its engineering capacity and portfolio for consumer wearables and AI gadgets. It also intends to keep evaluating acquisitions that broaden its markets.
- $1.8BFY2022
- $1.9BFY2023
- $1.8BFY2024
- $1.9BFY2025
- $2.0BFY2026
Structural risks
- Customer concentration: Apple, Inc. represented 91.0% of fiscal year 2026 revenue. Losing a key customer or a significant reduction in its orders or product pricing could significantly reduce sales and profitability.
- Manufacturing and supply: Cirrus Logic depends on outside foundries and assembly and test providers. Foundry interruptions could materially affect the company, and capacity or material constraints can affect suppliers’ ability to meet demand and the prices charged.
- Orders and inventory: Customers frequently revise order quantities and shipment schedules without significant penalty. Actual demand can differ from forecasts used to value inventory, potentially affecting operating results and financial position.
- Competition and product development: The company faces competition in all its markets and must develop products on time, transfer them to volume production and win positions in manufacturers’ designs. Short consumer-product cycles give competitors recurring opportunities to win designs.
- PC and trade exposure: Cirrus Logic says memory and other component shortages and related price increases are weighing on PC demand, while some manufacturers have delayed new models. U.S. export controls also limit its ability to support certain Chinese customers.
Bottom line
Our reading
Our reading: Cirrus Logic is a design-led chip supplier whose customer engineering relationships and intellectual property help it pursue additional content in devices. Its dependence on Apple and outsourced manufacturing leaves results exposed to customer decisions and supply constraints. New power, PC and industrial products offer routes into more applications, but they sit alongside a business currently concentrated in a single major customer.