Significant Customers and Concentrations of Credit Risk

6 Months Ended

Oct. 01, 2011

Significant Customers and Concentrations of Credit Risk [Abstract]

Significant Customers and Concentrations of Credit Risk

Note 3. Significant Customers and Concentrations of Credit Risk

Avnet, Inc. (Avnet), one of the Company’s distributors, distributes the substantial majority of the Company’s products worldwide. As of October 1, 2011 and April 2, 2011, Avnet accounted for 84% and 79% of the Company’s total net accounts receivable, respectively.

Resale of product through Avnet accounted for 47% and 48% of the Company’s worldwide net revenues in the second quarter and the first six months of fiscal 2012, respectively. For the second quarter and the first six months of fiscal 2011, resale of product through Avnet accounted for 53% and 52% of the Company’s worldwide net revenues, respectively. The percentage of accounts receivable due from Avnet and the percentage of worldwide net revenues from Avnet are consistent with historical patterns.

Xilinx is subject to concentrations of credit risk primarily in its trade accounts receivable and investments in debt securities to the extent of the amounts recorded on the consolidated balance sheet. The Company attempts to mitigate the concentration of credit risk in its trade receivables through its credit evaluation process, collection terms, distributor sales to diverse end customers and through geographical dispersion of sales. Xilinx generally does not require collateral for receivables from its end customers or from distributors.

One end customer accounted for 14% and 11% of net revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2012 and 2011, respectively. One end customer accounted for 11% and 10% of net revenues for the first half of fiscal 2012 and 2011, respectively.

The Company mitigates concentrations of credit risk in its investments in debt securities by currently investing approximately 92% of its portfolio in AA or higher grade securities as rated by Standard & Poor’s or Moody’s Investors Service. The Company’s methods to arrive at investment decisions are not solely based on the rating agencies’ credit ratings. Xilinx also performs additional credit due diligence and conducts regular portfolio credit reviews, including a review of counterparty credit risk related to the Company’s forward currency exchange contracts. Additionally, Xilinx limits its investments in the debt securities of a single issuer based upon the issuer’s credit rating and attempts to further mitigate credit risk by diversifying risk across geographies and type of issuer.

As of October 1, 2011, approximately 1% of the Company’s $2.79 billion investment portfolio consisted of student loan auction rate securities and all of these securities are rated AAA with the exception of $3.4 million that were downgraded to an A rating during fiscal 2009. While these securities experienced failed auctions in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 due to liquidity issues in the global credit markets, which have not been completely resolved as of October 1, 2011, the Company has collected and expects to collect all interest payable on these securities when due. Substantially all of the underlying assets that secure these securities are pools of student loans originated under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), which are substantially guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education. Because there can be no assurance of a successful auction in the future, these student loan auction rate securities are classified as long-term investments on the consolidated balance sheets. The maturity dates range from December 2027 to May 2046.

As of October 1, 2011, approximately 28% of the portfolio consisted of mortgage-backed securities. All of the mortgage-backed securities in the investment portfolio were issued by U.S. government-sponsored enterprises and agencies and are rated AA+ by Standard & Poor’s and AAA by Moody’s Investors Service.

The global credit and capital markets have continued to experience adverse conditions that have negatively impacted the values of various types of investment and non-investment grade securities, and have experienced volatility and disruption due to instability in the global financial system, uncertainty related to global economic conditions and concerns regarding sovereign financial stability. While general conditions in the global credit markets have improved, there is a risk that the Company may incur other-than-temporary impairment charges for certain types of investments should credit market conditions deteriorate or the underlying assets fail to perform as anticipated. See “Note 5. Financial Instruments” for a table of the Company’s available-for-sale securities.