⚡What does NXP do, in 30 seconds?
NXP is a Dutch company that designs and makes chips for cars, factories, phones and secure cards 22 9. It had revenue of $12.3bn ✓ in FY2025. Cars brought in 58% of that 2025 revenue 14316.
📱What does NXP sell?
NXP reports its revenue by channel, meaning how its chips reach buyers, so the cards below show distributors and direct sales. What it makes falls into four end markets 9.
Automotive was the biggest in 2025, at $7,116 million 3. It covers car processors, radar chips for driver assistance, battery chips for electric cars and car-access chips 9. Industrial & IoT brought in $2,273 million 3. Its chips run factory machines, smart homes and buildings, appliances, energy systems and health devices 9.
Mobile brought in $1,584 million 3. It focuses on chips for phone wallets, Ultra-Wideband location and charging 9. Communication Infrastructure & Other brought in $1,296 million 3. It covers chips for passports, ID, bank and transport cards, plus parts for 5G base stations and networks 9.
Through distributors
Distributors are firms that buy chips in bulk and resell them to many device makers. This is NXP's biggest channel, bringing in $7.1bn ✓ in 2025. One distributor, Avnet, accounted for 23% of NXP's revenue on its own 23.
👥 Device makers of all sizes that buy through a middleman instead of from NXP itself.
Direct to customers
Chips NXP sells straight to big customers, worth $5.1bn ✓ in 2025. Its 10 largest end customers included Apple, Bosch, Denso, Hyundai and Samsung 2. No direct customer was more than 10% of revenue 2.
👥 Large car-parts suppliers, carmakers and phone makers.
Other
A small slice of revenue outside the two main channels. It came to $0.1bn ✓ in 2025, about 1% ✓ of the total.
👥 A mix of smaller sales.
How the mix has shifted
Where the customers are
The United States was NXP's biggest single country in FY2025, at 26% ✓ of revenue. Germany added 19% ✓ and China 17% ✓. Revenue booked in China, including Hong Kong, rose 6.0% in 2025, while the APAC, Americas and EMEA regions all declined 3.
💸How does NXP make money?
Follow the money from left to rightfrom top to bottom: what customers pay for, what it costs to make, and what is left as profit.
NXP had revenue of $12.3bn ✓ in FY2025. Making those chips cost $5.6bn ✓. What is left is gross profit, the money kept after paying for what was sold. That came to $6.7bn ✓.
Next come the costs of running the company. Research and development took $2.4bn ✓, and sales, marketing and admin took $1.2bn ✓. What remains is operating profit, the profit from the main business, which was $3.0bn ✓. NXP carries a lot of debt, and interest on it cost $0.5bn ✓. After that and tax of $0.5bn ✓, net income was $2.0bn ✓. Put simply, out of every hundred dollars of revenue, NXP kept about $17 ✓ as profit.
Out of every $100 customers paid in FY2025…
⏱️ NXP by the clock
Spread the FY2025 totals evenly over its 365 days and you get this. Source: NXP Semiconductors N.V. 10-K [4].
📈How is NXP doing?
NXP's sales shrank for two years, with growth of -5.0% ✓ in FY2024 and -2.7% ✓ in FY2025, before picking up in 2026. Over the longer run, sales grew 7.2% ✓ a year on average from FY2015 to FY2025. Much of that came in one jump of 55.7% ✓ in FY2016. Sales rose in only 5 ✓ of those 10 ✓ years. Gross margin rose from 45.7% ✓ to 54.7% ✓, but operating margin slipped from 33.0% ✓ to 24.8% ✓.
The latest four quarters, to 29 March 2026, look a little better. Sales reached $12.6bn ✓, up 2.4% ✓ on the four quarters before. Operating margin was 30.4% ✓. In February 2026, inside that period, NXP sold its MEMS sensors business and booked a one-time gain of $627 million 20. Growth then sped up: third-quarter 2026 revenue was $3,786 million, up 19% on a year earlier 17. Free cash flow was $2.4bn ✓ in FY2025 and $2.7bn ✓ over the latest four quarters.
📝 The report card
NXP scores well on profit and cash, but poorly on growth, debt and steadiness, like most of its chip peers. Every company is graded on the same fixed scale, so an A means the same thing on every page. The strip shows where NXP (orange) and its 4 peers land; further right is better.
Growth
NXP's sales changed by -2.4% ✓ a year over its last three fiscal years, which earns an F ✓ on the fixed scale. Most peers shrank too, and only Qualcomm grew, by 0.1% ✓ a year, for a D ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
Growing sales is the engine of a business. Mature giants rarely grow fast, so 5% a year already earns a C.
Profitability
Over the last three years combined, NXP kept 26.5% ✓ of sales as operating profit, a B ✓. That is close to Analog Devices at 26.8% ✓, while Texas Instruments kept 37.0% ✓ for an A ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
Operating margin is the share of each sales dollar left after running the business. Software and platforms often clear 30%; hardware makers usually sit below 10%.
Cash generation
Over the last three years combined, NXP turned 18.8% ✓ of sales into free cash flow, a B ✓, just short of the top mark. Analog Devices did much better at 33.5% ✓, an A ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
Free cash flow is the cash left after paying for factories, data centres and equipment. It funds dividends, buybacks and new bets.
Balance sheet
NXP owes far more than it holds in cash and investments. Its net cash (cash and investments minus borrowings; leases not counted) was -89.3% ✓ of a year's sales, an F ✓. Microchip is even deeper in debt at -111.5% ✓ of sales.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
More cash than debt gives a company room to ride out bad years. Some debt is normal; a lot of it makes a company fragile.
Steadiness
NXP's yearly growth rates swing a lot, with a standard deviation of 20.0% ✓, which earns an F ✓. Big moves like 55.7% ✓ in FY2016 and 28.5% ✓ in FY2021 add to that. Texas Instruments is steadier at 12.3% ✓, a D ✓.
Why this measure? (lower is better)
Steady growers are easier to plan around. Big swings mean sales depend on product cycles, the economy or one-off events.
🧑🏫 How the grades work
- Same scale for everyone. Each measure has fixed cut-offs (shown under each strip). Clear the A line and you get an A, whatever your peers do.
- Three years together. Profitability and cash generation add up the last three fiscal years before dividing, so one unusual year counts for less than it would on its own (a year much bigger than the others still weighs most).
- Peers for context. The rank shows how NXP compares with the group. Companies within 0.1 percentage point share a rank.
- Same source. Every company's figures come from its own latest annual report (10-K), so fiscal years end in different months.
- Judgement, openly stated. The cut-offs are QuantVantage.ai's view of what good looks like for a large, established company. They are not a forecast or a recommendation.
11 years at a glance
Where the cash goes
From FY2015 to FY2025, NXP handed back nearly all of its free cash flow. It spent $23.1bn ✓ on buybacks and dividends, against $24.8bn ✓ of free cash flow. In 2025 it returned $1,924 million, split between $1,025 million of dividends and $899 million of buybacks 19. In October 2026 the board approved a new $5 billion buyback program 2917.
🧮Ratios 101: what are NXP's key financial ratios?
Ratios shrink NXP's big numbers into easy comparisons, and most of them show a company close to its peers but carrying more debt. A ratio divides one number by another so companies of any size can be compared. Each card shows the formula with NXP's real FY2025 numbers, the peer median and the trend.
💰 Profitability: how much of each sale is kept?
Gross margin
What is left from each sale after paying to make the product or deliver the service.
👉 At 54.7% ✓, up from 45.7% ✓ in FY2015, NXP sits a little below the 57.4% ✓ peer median. Its gross margin fell in 2025 mainly because of pricing and product mix 19.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 40% usually signals pricing power or a big software or services mix.
Operating margin
What is left after also paying for research, marketing and running the company.
👉 NXP's 24.8% ✓ trails the 27.3% ✓ peer median and its own 33.0% ✓ of FY2015.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 20% is strong for a large company.
Net margin
The bottom line: profit after interest and taxes, per dollar of sales.
👉 NXP keeps 16.5% ✓ of sales as final profit, level with the 16.5% ✓ peer median but down from 25.0% ✓ in FY2015.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 15% is strong; one-off tax items can move it in a single year.
Return on equity (ROE)
Profit earned for each dollar that shareholders have left in the company.
👉 ROE of 20.1% ✓ beats the 16.4% ✓ peer median and 13.3% ✓ in FY2015. NXP also carries debt of 1.4x ✓ its equity, and borrowing can lift ROE without lifting profit.
📏 Rule of thumb: Around 15% or more is good, but buybacks shrink equity and can make ROE look huge.
⚙️ Efficiency: how hard do the assets work?
Return on assets (ROA)
Profit earned from everything the company owns, however it was paid for.
👉 ROA of 7.6% ✓ is close to the 7.9% ✓ peer median and up from 5.8% ✓ in FY2015.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 10% is strong; banks and factories usually earn less.
Asset turnover
Dollars of sales squeezed out of each dollar of assets.
👉 NXP's sales are 0.5x ✓ the value of everything it owns, a bit above the 0.4x ✓ peer median and up from 0.2x ✓ in FY2015.
📏 Rule of thumb: Retailers often top 2x; asset-heavy businesses can sit below 0.5x.
Inventory days
How many days of products sit in warehouses before they are sold.
👉 NXP holds about 169 ✓ days of stock, near the peer median of 166 ✓ days and down from 207 ✓ days in FY2015.
📏 Rule of thumb: Fewer days means less cash tied up and less risk of products going stale.
🛟 Safety: could it survive a bad year?
Current ratio
Can short-term assets (cash, money owed by customers, stock) pay the bills due within a year?
👉 At 2.0x ✓, NXP has twice as many short-term assets as bills due within a year, below the 2.5x ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 1.0x is the classic comfort line, but cash-rich giants can run below it on purpose.
Debt to equity
How much the company has borrowed for each dollar shareholders have in it.
👉 NXP's 1.4x ✓ is well above the 0.8x ✓ peer median and its own 0.8x ✓ in FY2015.
📏 Rule of thumb: Below 1.0x is conservative. Like ROE, it can rise when buybacks shrink equity, even if debt has not changed.
Interest cover
How many times over operating profit could pay the year's interest bill.
👉 Operating profit covers interest 6.5x ✓, comfortable but below the 9.2x ✓ peer median and 8.9x ✓ in FY2015.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 5x is comfortable; below 2x is a warning sign.
💵 Cash and owners: where does the money end up?
Cash conversion
Does reported profit turn into real cash? Free cash flow is operating cash minus capital spending.
👉 NXP turns profit into cash at 1.2x ✓, up from 0.6x ✓ in FY2015 but below the 2.1x ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Near or above 1.0x means profits are backed by cash.
R&D intensity
How much of each sales dollar goes into inventing future products.
👉 NXP spends 19.2% ✓ of sales on R&D, up from 14.6% ✓ in FY2015 and just above the 18.2% ✓ peer median. About 11,034 of its staff work in research and development 25.
📏 Rule of thumb: Tech companies often spend 10% to 20%; more is not always better if it does not pay off.
Stock pay
Pay given to staff in shares instead of cash. It is a real cost to owners because it adds shares.
👉 Stock pay is 3.8% ✓ of sales, a little below the 4.2% ✓ peer median and close to 3.5% ✓ in FY2015.
📏 Rule of thumb: Under 5% of sales is modest for a tech company.
Shareholder payout
How much of the year's profit was handed back to owners.
👉 NXP returned 95.2% ✓ of FY2025 profit, up from 31.1% ✓ in FY2015 but well below the 203.8% ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 100% means it returned more than it earned, using cash savings or debt.
Ratios use fiscal-year-end balance sheet values. Inputs are shown rounded, so dividing them can differ from the result in the last digit. A peer median leaves out peers that do not report the inputs, or where the ratio means nothing (for example, negative shareholders' equity). Rules of thumb are general guides from QuantVantage.ai, not hard limits. No share-price ratios (like price-to-earnings) are shown on this page.
🥊Who are NXP's competitors?
NXP competes with other big makers of chips for cars, factories and connected devices. Its 10-K names Analog Devices, Microchip, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments among its main public competitors 14.
| Company | Where they compete | Revenue | Growth/yr (3y) | Op. margin | FCF margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NXP (NXPI, FY2025) | Chips for Automotive, Industrial & IoT, Mobile, and Communication Infrastructure 9 | $12.3bn | -2.4% | 24.8% | 19.7% |
| Analog Devices (ADI, FY2025) | Chips for cars, such as battery management 1011 | $11.0bn | -2.8% | 26.6% | 38.8% |
| Microchip (MCHP, FY2026) | Microcontrollers and processors for cars and factories 1213 | $4.7bn | -17.6% | 10.4% | 18.5% |
| Qualcomm (QCOM, FY2025) | Processors and wireless chips for cars and connected devices 14315 | $44.3bn | 0.1% | 27.9% | 28.9% |
| Texas Instruments (TXN, FY2025) | Microcontrollers, processors and analog chips for cars and factories 14316 | $17.7bn | -4.1% | 34.1% | 14.7% |
NXP's 10-K also names Broadcom, Infineon, Renesas and STMicroelectronics among its main public competitors 14. Most rivals compete with NXP in some product lines but not all, and many focus on single markets 14.
🧭NXP SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
💪 Strengths
- Cars are NXP's largest end market, bringing in $7,116 million in 2025 3.
- Car chips face strict quality and safety rules and long design-in times, which NXP calls significant barriers to entry 9.
- NXP calls itself the market leader in security chips for passports, ID cards and payment cards 9.
- Over the last three years combined, NXP kept 26.5% ✓ of sales as operating profit, a B ✓ on our report card.
🩹 Weaknesses
- Debt is heavy: net cash was -$11.0bn ✓ at the end of FY2025, meaning borrowings far exceeded cash.
- Gross margin fell to 54.7% in 2025 from 56.4% in 2024, mainly because of pricing and product mix 19.
- One distributor, Avnet, accounted for 23% of revenue in 2025 23.
- Sales shrank in both FY2024 and FY2025, with growth of -2.7% ✓ in the latest year.
🚀 Opportunities
- In January 2026 NXP launched its S32N7 processors, which it says will help carmakers digitalize core vehicle functions 20.
- BMW plans to use NXP's Ultra-Wideband and radar products across its fleet 17.
- In 2025 NXP bought TTTech Auto (car software), Aviva Links (in-car connectivity) and Kinara (AI chips) 19.
- In the third quarter of 2026, Industrial & IoT revenue rose 39% year on year 17.
⚠️ Threats
- Tariffs, export controls and tension between China and Taiwan could disrupt trade and NXP's supply chains 21.
- NXP faces many large rivals, including Infineon, Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics 14.
- Communication Infrastructure & Other revenue fell 23.6% in 2025, mainly on lower processor sales 3.
- Heavy borrowing brings a steady cost: interest took $0.5bn ✓ in FY2025.
🏰Does NXP have a moat?
Why 4?
Car chips face strict qualification, zero-defect and safety rules, long design-in times and long product lives 9. NXP calls these significant barriers to entry 9. Its microcontroller families share one software toolset, so customers can grow their designs over time 9. NXP says it has long-standing ties with most of its customers 2.
A moat is what keeps rivals from taking a company's customers and profits. Scores are QuantVantage.ai's judgement (5 = strongest), set with the same rubric on every explainer (orange is NXP; grey dots are peers).
🔭What should you watch next?
Fourth-quarter 2026 results
NXP guided revenue of $3,750 million to $3,950 million, up 15% year on year at the midpoint 17. Figures on this page run to FY2025 and the four quarters to 29 March 2026.
Sale of the Oak Hill site in Austin, Texas
In October 2026 NXP expected to complete the sale of the site's buildings and land within six months 29.
Malaysia expansion
NXP signed a $250 million loan with the European Investment Bank to expand its assembly and test site in Kuala Lumpur 30.
Tariffs and export controls
NXP lists tariffs, export controls and China-Taiwan tension among risks to trade and its supply chains 21.
📚Learn the words
❓Frequently asked questions about NXP
How does NXP make money?
NXP makes money by selling chips, mostly for cars. Automotive brought in $7,116 million in 2025 3. In total, NXP had revenue of $12.3bn ✓ in FY2025.
What chips does NXP make for cars?
NXP makes many kinds of car chips. They include vehicle processors, 77GHz radar chips for driver assistance, battery chips for electric cars, in-car networking chips and secure car-access chips 9.
Is NXP's revenue growing?
Yes, again, after two weaker years. In FY2025, sales growth was -2.7% ✓. Third-quarter 2026 revenue was $3,786 million, up 19% on a year earlier 17.
Who are NXP's biggest competitors?
NXP's main public competitors include Analog Devices, Broadcom, Infineon, Microchip, Qualcomm, Renesas, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments 14.
Who are NXP's biggest customers?
NXP's 10 largest end customers in 2025 included Apple, Aptiv, Bosch, Denso, Hyundai and Samsung 2. The distributor Avnet alone accounted for 23% of revenue 23.
Is NXP a Dutch or an American company?
NXP is Dutch, with its main office in Eindhoven, the Netherlands 22. Its shares trade on Nasdaq, and it files annual 10-K reports with the US SEC 23.
🎮Play: higher or lower, then test yourself
Figures come from each company's latest annual report (10-K); fiscal years end in different months. Sources: [4] [6] [8] [5] [7].
🧠 Test yourself
5 quick questions. Score: 0 / 5
2. In which country is NXP based?
3. How does most of NXP's revenue reach its buyers?
4. What does UWB, a chip technology NXP sells for phones and cars, stand for?
🔎Sources and method
Every figure comes from a source listed here or is calculated from those sources (marked ✓). Company financials are taken from SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q) as tagged in XBRL. Peer grades rank the same measures across the company and its peers. This page contains no share-price data and no valuation.
- NXP (NXPI) Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, filed 2026-02-19 — revenue by product, segment and geography (accessed 2026-10-28)
- NXP 10-K FY2025 (filed 2026-02-19) — Sales channels, largest customers and distributors (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP 10-K FY2025 (filed 2026-02-19) — Revenue by end market, channel and region, 2025 vs 2024 (accessed 2026-10-29)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: NXP (NXPI) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: QUALCOMM INC/DE (QCOM) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: ANALOG DEVICES INC (ADI) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC (TXN) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INC (MCHP) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- NXP 10-K FY2025 (filed 2026-02-19) — End markets and products (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP Semiconductors 10-K, 2025 (filed 2026-02-19) — Named competitors; 2025 revenue by end market (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Analog Devices 10-K, fiscal 2025 (filed 2025-11-25) — Item 1: end markets and customer applications (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microchip 10-K FY2026 (Item 1, Business) — Company overview, product lines and development tools (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP Semiconductors 10-K for 2025 (Business; MD&A) — NXP's named competitors, products and automotive revenue (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP 10-K FY2025 (filed 2026-02-19) — Patents and named competitors (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Qualcomm 10-K FY2025 (filed 2025-11-05) — QCT revenue by handsets, automotive and IoT, fiscal 2025; QCT products (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Texas Instruments 10-K FY2025 (filed 2026-02-06) — TI markets and their share of 2025 revenue; product segments (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP Q3 2026 results press release (8-K exhibit 99.1, 2026-10-27) — Q3 2026 results, end markets, highlights, Q4 2026 guidance (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP 10-K FY2025 (filed 2026-02-19) — Manufacturing model, fabs and joint ventures (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP 10-K FY2025 (filed 2026-02-19) — CEO change, acquisitions, gross margin, capital return (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP Q1 2026 results press release (8-K exhibit 99.1, 2026-04-28) — Q1 2026 highlights: MEMS sale, product launches, collaborations (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP 10-K FY2025 (filed 2026-02-19) — Trade and geopolitical risks (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP 10-K FY2025 (filed 2026-02-19) — Company overview: incorporation, seat, reporting segment, fiscal year (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP 10-K FY2025 (filed 2026-02-19) — Listing and quarterly dividend per share (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP quarterly dividend press release (8-K exhibit 99.1, 2026-08-28) — Q3 2026 interim dividend and Dutch withholding tax (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP 10-K FY2025 (filed 2026-02-19) — Executive officers and employees (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP 10-K FY2025 (filed 2026-02-19) — 2006 intellectual property agreement with Philips (accessed 2026-10-29)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: NXP (NXPI) — quarterly 10-Q/10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: NXP (NXPI) — balance sheet at 2026-03-29 (accessed 2026-10-28)
- NXP 10-Q for the quarter ended 2026-09-27 (filed 2026-10-27) — Share repurchase programs, VSMC and ESMC commitments, Oak Hill site sale (accessed 2026-10-29)
- NXP 8-K, 2026-09-02 (European Investment Bank facility) — $250 million loan facility for Kuala Lumpur back-end expansion (accessed 2026-10-29)