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Other Investments | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2017
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Other Investments | 8. OTHER INVESTMENTS In September 2015, Intersil Corporation (“Intersil”) acquired, through a statutory merger, Great Wall Semiconductor Corporation (“GWS”), in which the Company held non-voting convertible preferred stock. GWS and its subsidiary designed and sold semiconductors, conducted research and development activities, and developed and licensed patents. A director of the Company was the founder, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), as well as the majority voting shareholder, of GWS. The Company accounted for its investment in GWS under the equity method. The Company determined, while GWS was a variable interest entity, the Company was not the primary beneficiary. The key factors in the Company’s assessment were that the CEO of GWS had: (i) the power to direct the activities of GWS that most significantly impact its economic performance, and (ii) an obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits from GWS, respectively, that could potentially be significant to GWS. At the time of the merger transaction, the Company’s gross investment totaled $4,999,719. However, during the fourth quarter of 2008, the Company determined a decline in value judged to be other-than-temporary had occurred and, as such, the investment’s recorded value on the Consolidated Balance Sheet, as of December 31, 2008, was reduced to zero. Management’s decision to reduce the remaining investment balance to zero at that time was based on GWS’ continued operating losses, the impact of the global economic crisis on the current and short-term outlook for its operations, a negative working capital position as of December 31, 2008, and a valuation based on discounted cash flows. Under the terms of the merger agreement between GWS and Intersil, and in accordance with the terms of the shareholder agreement under which the Company made its investments, all preferred stock was redeemed at full preference value (i.e., purchased for cash equal to the original investment amount). Therefore, the Company’s gross investment value of $4,999,719 was recorded as a Gain from sales of equity method investment, net of tax in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. The Company and GWS were parties to an intellectual property cross-licensing agreement, a license agreement, and two supply agreements, under which the Company purchased certain components from GWS. Intersil, through the merger transaction, has assumed all of GWS’ rights and obligations under these agreements. Company purchases from GWS totaled approximately $1,662,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, the approximate time of the sale.

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