Basis of Presentation (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Basis of Presentation

For financial reporting purposes, LSI Corporation (“LSI” or the “Company”) reports on a 13- or 14-week quarter with the year ending December 31. The third quarters of 2012 and 2011consisted of 13 weeks each and ended on September 30, 2012 and October 2, 2011, respectively. The results of operations for the quarter ended September 30, 2012 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year.

On January 3, 2012, the Company completed the acquisition of SandForce, Inc. (“SandForce”) for total consideration of approximately $346.4 million, net of cash acquired. SandForce was a provider of flash storage processors for enterprise and client flash solutions and solid state drives. The acquisition was accounted for under the purchase method of accounting. Accordingly, the results of operations of SandForce and the estimated fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed were included in the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements from January 3, 2012.

On May 6, 2011, the Company completed the sale of substantially all of its external storage systems business to NetApp, Inc. (“NetApp”). The results of the external storage systems business are presented as discontinued operations in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations and, as such, have been excluded from all line items other than “(Loss)/income from discontinued operations” for all periods presented.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Actual results could differ significantly from these estimates.

In management’s opinion, the accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements contain all normal recurring adjustments necessary for a fair statement of the Company’s financial position, results of operations, comprehensive income and cash flows for the interim periods presented. While the Company believes that the disclosures are adequate to make the information not misleading, these financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued additional guidance on fair value measurements and related disclosures. The new guidance clarifies the application of existing guidance on fair value measurement for non-financial assets and requires the disclosure of quantitative information about the unobservable inputs used in a fair value measurement. The Company adopted this guidance in the first quarter of 2012. The adoption did not impact the Company’s results of operations or financial position.

In June 2011, the FASB issued amended guidance regarding the presentation of comprehensive income. The amended guidance gives an entity the option to present the total of comprehensive income, the components of net income, and the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. The amended guidance eliminates the option to present the components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of changes in stockholders’ equity. The Company adopted this guidance in the first quarter of 2012. The adoption did not impact the Company’s results of operations or financial position.