Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2017

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Advertising Costs, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Advertising

Through cooperative advertising programs, such as our Intel Inside^® program, we reimburse customers for marketing activities for certain of our products. We accrue cooperative advertising obligations and record the costs at the same time that the related revenue is recognized. We record cooperative advertising costs as marketing, general and administrative (MG&A) expenses to the extent that an advertising benefit separate from the revenue transaction can be identified and the fair value of that advertising benefit received is determinable. We record any excess in cash paid to customers over the fair value of the advertising benefit we receive as a reduction in revenue.

We are transitioning customers from the current offerings under the Intel Inside^® program to cooperative advertising offerings more tailored to customers and their marketing audiences. In the second half of 2017, we are recording cooperative advertising costs as a reduction of revenue as we no longer meet the criteria for recording these expenses within MG&A.