ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

In addition to the factors discussed elsewhere in this Form 10-K, the following are important factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of us.

We have experienced dramatic declines in average selling prices for our semiconductor memory products which have adversely affected our business.

If average selling prices for our memory products decrease faster than we can decrease per gigabit costs, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially adversely affected. We have experienced significant decreases in our average selling prices per gigabit in recent years as noted in the table below and may continue to experience such decreases in the future. In some prior periods, average selling prices for our memory products have been below our manufacturing costs and we may experience such circumstances in the future.

We may be unable to reduce our per gigabit manufacturing costs at the rate average selling prices decline.

Our gross margins are dependent upon continuing decreases in per gigabit manufacturing costs achieved through improvements in our manufacturing processes, including reducing the die size of our existing products. In future periods, we may be unable to reduce our per gigabit manufacturing costs at sufficient levels to improve or maintain gross margins. Factors that may limit our ability to reduce costs include, but are not limited to, strategic product diversification decisions affecting product mix, the increasing complexity of manufacturing processes, difficulty in transitioning to smaller line-width process technologies, technological barriers and changes in process technologies or products that may require relatively larger die sizes. Per gigabit manufacturing costs may also be affected by the relatively smaller production quantities and shorter product lifecycles of certain specialty memory products.

The semiconductor memory industry is highly competitive.

We face intense competition in the semiconductor memory market from a number of companies, including Elpida Memory, Inc.; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; SanDisk Corporation; SK Hynix Inc.; Spansion Inc. and Toshiba Corporation. Some of our competitors are large corporations or conglomerates that may have greater resources to withstand downturns in the semiconductor markets in which we compete, invest in technology and capitalize on growth opportunities. Our competitors seek to increase silicon capacity, improve yields, reduce die size and minimize mask levels in their product designs. Transitions to smaller line-width process technologies and product and process improvements have resulted in significant increases in the worldwide supply of semiconductor memory. Increases in worldwide supply of semiconductor memory also result from semiconductor memory fab capacity expansions, either by way of new facilities, increased capacity utilization or reallocation of other semiconductor production to semiconductor memory production. Our competitors may increase capital expenditures resulting in future increases in worldwide supply. Increases in worldwide supply of semiconductor memory, if not accompanied with commensurate increases in demand, would lead to further declines in average selling prices for our products and would materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

The European financial crisis and overall downturn in the worldwide economy may harm our business.

                                                   

The European financial crisis and the overall downturn in the worldwide economy have had an adverse effect on our business. A continuation or further deterioration of depressed economic conditions could have an even greater adverse effect on our business. Adverse economic conditions affect demand for devices that incorporate our products, such as personal computers, networking products and mobile devices. Reduced demand for these products could result in significant decreases in our average selling prices. A continuation of current negative conditions in worldwide credit markets would limit our ability to obtain external financing to fund our operations and capital expenditures. In addition, we may experience losses on our holdings of cash and investments due to failures of financial institutions and other parties. Difficult economic conditions may also result in a higher rate of loss on our accounts receivables due to credit defaults. As a result, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Inotera's financial situation may adversely impact the value of our interest and our supply agreement.

Due to significant market declines in the selling prices of DRAM, Inotera incurred net losses of $259 million for its six-month period ended June 30, 2012 and $737 million for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2011. Under generally accepted accounting principles in the Republic of China, Inotera reported a loss for its quarter ended September 30, 2012 of an additional New Taiwan dollars 4,390 million (approximately $150 million U.S. dollars). In addition, Inotera's current liabilities exceeded its current assets by $1.85 billion as of June 30, 2012, which exposes Inotera to liquidity risk. As of June 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, Inotera was also not in compliance with certain loan covenants and had not been in compliance for the past several years, which may result in its lenders requiring repayment of such loans during the next year. Inotera obtained a waiver from complying with its financial covenants through June 30, 2012 and has requested an additional waiver from these requirements. Inotera's management has developed plans to improve its liquidity. There can be no assurance that Inotera will be successful in obtaining an additional waiver or improving its liquidity. If Inotera is unable to adequately improve its liquidity, we may have to impair our investment in Inotera, which had a net carrying value of $321 million as of August 30, 2012 .

In the second quarter of 2012, we contributed $170 million to Inotera, which increased our ownership percentage from 29.7% to 39.7% . We may not continue to make equity contributions to Inotera, which may further increase their liquidity risk. We have a supply agreement with Inotera, under which Nanya is also a party, for the rights and obligations to purchase 50% of Inotera's wafer production capacity (the "Inotera Supply Agreement"). As a result of our March 7, 2012 equity contribution to Inotera, we expect to receive a higher share of Inotera's 30-nanometer output when it becomes available as a result of Inotera capital investments enabled by our $170 million equity investment. In the fourth quarter of 2012, we purchased $170 million of DRAM products from Inotera and our supply from Inotera accounted for 47% of our aggregate DRAM gigabit production. As a result, if our supply of DRAM from Inotera is impacted, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Our Inotera Supply Agreement involves numerous risks.

Our Inotera Supply Agreement involves numerous risks including the following:

We may make future acquisitions and/or alliances, which involve numerous risks.

Acquisitions and the formation or operation of alliances, such as joint ventures and other partnering arrangements, involve numerous risks including the following:

In recent years, supply of memory products has significantly exceeded customer demand resulting in significant declines in average selling prices of DRAM, NAND Flash and NOR Flash products. Resulting operating losses have led to the deterioration in the financial condition of a number of industry participants, including the liquidation of Qimonda AG and the recent bankruptcy filing by Elpida Memory, Inc. These types of proceedings often lead to confidential court-directed processes involving the sale of related businesses or assets. We believe the global memory industry is experiencing a period of consolidation as a result of these market conditions and other factors, and we have engaged, and expect to continue to engage, in discussions regarding potential acquisitions and similar opportunities arising out of these industry conditions, such as our pending acquisition of Elpida. To the extent we are successful in completing any such transactions, we could be subject to some or all of the risks described above, including the risks pertaining to funding, assumption of liabilities, integration challenges and increases in debt that may accompany such transactions. Acquisitions of, or alliances with, high-technology companies are inherently risky and may not be successful and may materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our pending acquisitions of Elpida and Rexchip involve numerous risks.

On July 2, 2012, we entered into a sponsor agreement with the trustees of the Elpida Companies that provides for, among other things, our acquisition of 100% of the equity of Elpida. Under the sponsor agreement, we committed to support plans of reorganization for the Elpida Companies that would provide for payments to the secured and unsecured creditors of the Elpida Companies in an aggregate amount of 200 billion yen (or approximately $2.5 billion ), less certain expenses of the reorganization proceedings and certain other items. As a condition of the sponsor agreement, we deposited 1.8 billion yen (or approximately $23 million) into an escrow account in July 2012 which will be applied to the share acquisition payments at closing. Of the aggregate amount, we will fund 60 billion yen (or approximately $750 million ) through a cash payment to Elpida at the closing, in exchange for 100% ownership of Elpida's equity. The remaining 140 billion yen (or approximately $1.75 billion ) of payments will be made by the Elpida Companies in six annual installments payable at the end of each calendar year beginning in 2014, with payments of 20 billion yen (or approximately $250 million ) in each of 2014 through 2017, and payments of 30 billion yen (or approximately $375 million ) in each of 2018 and 2019.

On that same date, we entered into a share purchase agreement with Powerchip and certain of its affiliates, under which we will purchase approximately 714 million shares of the common stock of Rexchip, a manufacturing joint venture formed by Elpida and Powerchip, for approximately 10 billion New Taiwan dollars (or approximately $334 million ). If the transactions contemplated by these two agreements are completed, we will own 100% of Elpida and, directly or indirectly through Elpida, approximately 89% of Rexchip.

There can be no assurance that these transactions will close when expected or at all, or that the acquisition of Elpida will ultimately be consummated on the terms and conditions set forth in the sponsor agreement. The transactions remain subject to bankruptcy and/or regulatory approval in various jurisdictions including the People's Republic of China. These regulatory authorities may not approve the transactions or may impose modifications, conditions or restrictions that adversely impact the value of the transactions to Micron. In addition, the proposed plan of reorganization of the trustees, which contemplates Micron's acquisition of Elpida pursuant to the sponsor agreement, remains subject to approval of both the court and the creditors of Elpida, neither of which can be assured. Various creditors are challenging the trustees' proposed plan of reorganization, and certain creditors have proposed an alternative plan of reorganization that does not contemplate Micron's acquisition of Elpida. If the requisite court and creditor approvals are not obtained, Micron will not be able to close the acquisitions.

In addition to the risks described in the immediately preceding risk factor relating to acquisitions generally and to Micron's ability to consummate the transaction described in the preceding paragraph, these acquisitions are expected to involve the following significant risks:

Our pending acquisitions of Elpida and Rexchip are inherently risky, may not be successful and may materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our pending acquisitions of Elpida and Rexchip expose us to significant risks from changes in currency exchange rates.

Under the sponsor agreement, we committed to support plans of reorganization for Elpida that would provide for payments to the secured and unsecured creditors of Elpida in an aggregate amount of 200 billion yen. Also, under the share purchase agreement with Powerchip, we agreed to pay approximately 10 billion New Taiwan dollars to purchase approximately 714 million shares of Rexchip common stock. These payments in yen and New Taiwan dollars expose us to significant risks from changes in currency exchange rates.

On July 2, 2012, we executed a series of separate currency exchange transactions pursuant to which we purchased call options to buy 200 billion yen with a weighted-average strike price of 79.15 (yen per dollar). In addition, to reduce the cost of these call options, we sold put options to sell 100 billion yen with a strike price of 83.32 and we sold call options to buy 100 billion yen with a strike price of 75.57 . The net cost of these call and put options, which expire on April 3, 2013, of $49 million is payable upon settlement. These currency options mitigate the risk of a strengthening yen for our yen-denominated payments under the sponsor agreement while preserving some ability for us to benefit if the value of the yen weakens relative to the U.S. dollar. On July 25, 2012, we executed a series of separate currency exchange transactions pursuant to which we purchased call options to buy 10 billion New Taiwan dollars with a weighted-average strike price of 29.21 (New Taiwan dollars per U.S. dollars). The net cost of these options, which expire on April 2, 2013, of $3 million is payable upon settlement. These currency options mitigate the risk of a strengthening New Taiwan dollar for our payments under the Rexchip Share Purchase Agreement. These yen and New Taiwan dollar option contracts were not designated for hedge accounting and are remeasured at fair value each period with gains and losses reflected in our results of operations. Therefore, changes in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the yen and the New Taiwan dollar could have a significant impact on our results of operations.

The acquisition of our ownership interest in Inotera from Qimonda has been legally challenged by the administrator of the insolvency proceedings for Qimonda.

On January 20, 2011, Dr. Michael Jaffé, administrator for Qimonda AG ("Qimonda") insolvency proceedings, filed suit against us and Micron Semiconductor B.V., our Netherlands subsidiary, in the District Court of Munich, Civil Chamber. The complaint seeks to void under Section 133 of the German Insolvency Act a share purchase agreement between us and Qimonda signed in fall 2008 pursuant to which we purchased all of Qimonda's shares of Inotera Memories, Inc. and seeks an order requiring us to retransfer the Inotera shares purchased from Qimonda to the Qimonda estate. The complaint also seeks to terminate under Sections 103 or 133 of the German Insolvency Code a patent cross license between us and Qimonda entered into at the same time as the share purchase agreement. A three-judge panel will render a decision after a series of hearings with pleadings, arguments and witnesses. A first hearing was held on September 25, 2012. The next hearing is scheduled for February 5, 2013. We are unable to predict the outcome of this lawsuit and therefore cannot estimate the range of possible loss. The final resolution of this lawsuit could result in the loss of the Inotera shares or equivalent monetary damages and the termination of the patent cross license, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation or financial condition. As of August 30, 2012, the Inotera shares purchased from Qimonda had a net carrying value of $177 million.

Our future success may depend on our ability to develop and produce competitive new memory technologies.

Our key semiconductor memory technologies of DRAM, NAND Flash and NOR Flash face technological barriers to continue to meet long-term customer needs. These barriers include potential limitations on the ability to shrink products in order to reduce costs, meet higher density requirements and improve power consumption and reliability. To meet these requirements, we expect that new memory technologies will be developed by the semiconductor memory industry. Our competitors are working to develop new memory technologies that may offer performance and/or cost advantages to our existing memory technologies and render existing technologies obsolete. Accordingly, our future success may depend on our ability to develop and produce viable and competitive new memory technologies . There can be no assurance of the following:

If our efforts to develop new semiconductor memory technologies are unsuccessful, our business, results of operations or financial condition may be adversely affected.

We may be unable to generate sufficient cash flows or obtain access to external financing necessary to fund our operations and make adequate capital investments.

Our cash flows from operations depend primarily on the volume of semiconductor memory sold, average selling prices and per unit manufacturing costs. To develop new product and process technologies, support future growth, achieve operating efficiencies and maintain product quality, we must make significant capital investments in manufacturing technology, capital equipment, facilities, R&D and product and process technology. We estimate that capital spending for 2013 will be approximately $1.6 billion to $1.9 billion. As of August 30, 2012 , we had cash and equivalents of $2,459 million and short-term investments of $ 100 million . Cash and investments included $157 million held by IMFT, which is generally not available to finance our other operations. In the past we have utilized external sources of financing when needed . As a result of our current debt levels, general economic conditions and adverse conditions in the credit markets , it may be difficult for us to obtain financing on terms acceptable to us. There can be no assurance that we will be able to generate sufficient cash flows, access capital markets or find other sources of financing to fund our operations, make adequate capital investments to remain competitive in terms of technology development and cost efficiency. Our inability to do the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Debt obligations could adversely affect our financial condition.

We are engaged in a capital intensive business subject to significant changes in supply and demand and product pricing and recent periods of consolidation, any of which could result in our incurrence or assumption of indebtedness. In recent periods, our debt levels have increased and are expected to continue to increase through 2013. As of August 30, 2012 , we had $3.3 billion of debt, including $949 million principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2014. In September and October 2012, we entered into financing arrangements that allow for borrowings up to $469 million. In addition, if we are able to complete the Elpida acquisition, we will fund 60 billion yen (or approximately $750 million) through a cash payment to Elpida at the closing, in exchange for 100% ownership of Elpida's equity. The remaining 140 billion yen (or approximately $1.75 billion) of payments will be made by the Elpida Companies in six annual installments payable at the end of each calendar year beginning in 2014, with payments of 20 billion yen (or approximately $250 million) in each of 2014 through 2017, and payments of 30 billion yen (or approximately $375 million) in each of 2018 and 2019. We may need to incur additional debt in the future.

Our debt could adversely impact us. For example it could:

Our ability to meet our payment obligations under our debt instruments depends on our ability to generate significant cash flow in the future. This, to some extent, is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative and regulatory factors as well as other factors that are beyond our control. There can be no assurance that our business will generate cash flow from operations, or that additional capital will be available to us, in an amount sufficient to enable us to meet our payment obligations under the convertible notes and our other debt and to fund other liquidity needs. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow to service our debt obligations, we may need to refinance or restructure our debt, including the convertible notes, sell assets, reduce or delay capital investments, or seek to raise additional capital. If we were unable to implement one or more of these alternatives, we may be unable to meet our payment obligations under the convertible notes and our other debt.

Our joint ventures and strategic partnerships involve numerous risks.

We have entered into partnering arrangements to manufacture products and develop new manufacturing process technologies and products. These arrangements include our IMFT NAND Flash joint venture with Intel, our Inotera DRAM joint venture with Nanya, our MP Mask joint venture with Photronics, our Transform joint venture with Origin Energy and our CMOS image sensor wafer supply agreement with Aptina . These joint ventures and strategic partnerships are subject to various risks that could adversely affect the value of our investments and our results of operations. These risks include the following:

If our joint ventures and strategic partnerships are unsuccessful, our business, results of operations or financial condition may be adversely affected. Specifically, as a result of a liquidation plan approved by the Board of Directors of Transform in May 2012, we recognized a charge of $69 million .

An adverse outcome relating to allegations of anticompetitive conduct could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

On May 5, 2004, Rambus, Inc. ("Rambus") filed a complaint in the Superior Court of the State of California (San Francisco County) against us and other DRAM suppliers which alleged that the defendants harmed Rambus by engaging in concerted and unlawful efforts affecting Rambus DRAM by eliminating competition and stifling innovation in the market for computer memory technology and computer memory chips.  Rambus' complaint alleged various causes of action under California state law including, among other things, a conspiracy to restrict output and fix prices, a conspiracy to monopolize, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, and unfair competition. Rambus sought a judgment for damages of approximately $3.9 billion, joint and several liability, trebling of damages awarded, punitive damages, a permanent injunction enjoining the defendants from the conduct alleged in the complaint, interest, and attorneys' fees and costs. Trial began on June 20, 2011, and the case went to the jury on September 21, 2011. On November 16, 2011, the jury found for us on all claims. On April 2, 2012, Rambus filed a notice of appeal to the California 1st District Court of Appeal.

We are unable to predict the outcome of this matter. An adverse court determination of any lawsuit alleging violations of antitrust laws could result in significant liability and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

An adverse determination that our products or manufacturing processes infringe the intellectual property rights of others could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

On January 13, 2006, Rambus filed a lawsuit against us in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Rambus alleges that certain of our DDR2, DDR3, RLDRAM, and RLDRAM II products infringe as many as fourteen Rambus patents and seeks monetary damages, treble damages, and injunctive relief. The accused products account for a significant portion of our net sales. On June 2, 2006, we filed an answer and counterclaim against Rambus alleging, among other things, antitrust and fraud claims. On January 9, 2009, in another lawsuit involving us and Rambus and involving allegations by Rambus of patent infringement against us in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, Judge Robinson entered an opinion in favor of us holding that Rambus had engaged in spoliation and that the twelve Rambus patents in the suit were unenforceable against us. Rambus subsequently appealed the Delaware Court's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. On May 13, 2011, the Federal Circuit affirmed Judge Robinson's finding of spoliation, but vacated the dismissal sanction and remanded the case to the Delaware District Court for analysis of the remedy based on the Federal Circuit's decision. The Northern District of California Court stayed the trial of the patent phase of the Northern District of California case upon appeal of the spoliation issue to the Federal Circuit. In addition, others have asserted, and may assert in the future, that our products or manufacturing processes infringe their intellectual property rights. (See "Item 3. Legal Proceedings" for additional details on these lawsuits.)

We are unable to predict the outcome of assertions of infringement made against us. A court determination that our products or manufacturing processes infringe the intellectual property rights of others could result in significant liability and/or require us to make material changes to our products and/or manufacturing processes. Any of the foregoing results could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

We have a number of patent and intellectual property license agreements. Some of these license agreements require us to make one time or periodic payments. We may need to obtain additional patent licenses or renew existing license agreements in the future. We are unable to predict whether these license agreements can be obtained or renewed on acceptable terms.

Products that fail to meet specifications, are defective or that are otherwise incompatible with end uses could impose significant costs on us.

Products that do not meet specifications or that contain, or are perceived by our customers to contain, defects or that are otherwise incompatible with end uses could impose significant costs on us or otherwise materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition. In recent periods we have further diversified and expanded our product offerings which could potentially increase the chance that one or more of our products could fail to meet specifications in a particular application. If problems with nonconforming, defective or incompatible products occur after we have shipped such products, we could be adversely affected in several ways, including the following:

New product development may be unsuccessful.

We are developing new products that complement our traditional memory products or leverage their underlying design or process technology. We have made significant investments in product and process technologies and anticipate expending significant resources for new semiconductor product development over the next several years. The process to develop DRAM, NAND Flash, NOR Flash and certain specialty memory products requires us to demonstrate advanced functionality and performance, many times well in advance of a planned ramp of production, in order to secure design wins with our customers. There can be no assurance that our product development efforts will be successful, that we will be able to cost-effectively manufacture new products, that we will be able to successfully market these products or that margins generated from sales of these products will allow us to recover costs of development efforts.

Consolidation of industry participants and governmental assistance to some of our competitors may contribute to uncertainty in the semiconductor memory industry and negatively impact our ability to compete.

In recent years, supply of memory products has significantly exceeded customer demand resulting in significant declines in average selling prices of DRAM, NAND Flash and NOR Flash products and substantial operating losses by us and our competitors. The operating losses as well as limited access to sources of financing have led to the deterioration in the financial condition of a number of industry participants. Some of our competitors may try to enhance their capacity and lower their cost structure through consolidation. In addition, some governments have provided, and may be considering providing, significant financial assistance to some of our competitors. Consolidation of industry competitors could put us at a competitive disadvantage.

We may incur additional material restructure charges in future periods.

In response to severe downturns in the semiconductor memory industry and global economic conditions, we implemented restructure plans in prior periods and may need to implement restructure initiatives in future periods. As a result, we could incur restructure charges, lose production output, lose key personnel and experience disruptions in our operations and difficulties in the timely delivery of products.

The limited availability of raw materials, supplies or capital equipment could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our operations require raw materials that meet exacting standards. We generally have multiple sources of supply for our raw materials. However, only a limited number of suppliers are capable of delivering certain raw materials that meet our standards. In some cases, materials are provided by a single supplier. Various factors could reduce the availability of raw materials such as silicon wafers, photomasks, chemicals, gases, photoresist, lead frames and molding compound. Shortages may occur from time to time in the future. In addition, disruptions in transportation lines could delay our receipt of raw materials. Lead times for the supply of raw materials have been extended in the past. If our supply of raw materials is disrupted or our lead times extended, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Our operations are dependent on our ability to procure advanced semiconductor equipment that enables the transition to lower cost manufacturing processes. For certain key types of equipment, including photolithography tools, we are sometimes dependent on a single supplier. In recent periods we have experienced difficulties in obtaining some equipment on a timely basis due to the supplier's limited capacity. Our inability to timely obtain this equipment could adversely affect our ability to transition to next generation manufacturing processes and reduce costs. Delays in obtaining equipment could also impede our ability to ramp production at new facilities and increase our overall costs of the ramp. If we are unable to timely obtain advanced semiconductor equipment, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Our results of operations could be affected by natural events in the locations in which we or our customers or suppliers operate.

We have manufacturing and other operations in locations subject to natural occurrences such as severe weather and geological events including earthquakes or tsunamis that could disrupt operations.  In addition, our suppliers and customers also have operations in such locations.  A natural disaster that results in a prolonged disruption to our operations, or the operations of our customers or suppliers, may adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards may be limited.

We have a valuation allowance against substantially all U.S. net deferred tax assets. As of August 30, 2012, our federal, state and foreign net operating loss carryforwards were $3.5 billion , $2.2 billion and $737 million , respectively. If not utilized, substantially all of our federal and state net operating loss carryforwards will expire in 2023 to 2032 and the foreign net operating loss carryforwards will begin to expire in 2017. As of August 30, 2012, our federal and state tax credit carryforwards were $208 million and $203 million respectively. If not utilized, substantially all of our federal and state tax credit carryforwards will expire in 2013 to 2032. As a consequence of prior business acquisitions, utilization of the tax benefits for some of the tax carryforwards is subject to limitations imposed by Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code and some portion or all of these carryforwards may not be available to offset any future taxable income. The determination of these tax limitations is complex and requires a significant amount of judgment by us with respect to analysis of past transactions.

Changes in foreign currency exchange rates could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Across our multi-national operations, there are transactions and balances denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar (our reporting currency), primarily the Singapore dollar, euro, shekel and yen. We recorded net losses from changes in currency exchange rates of $6 million for 2012, $6 million for 2011 and $23 million for 2010. Based on our foreign currency exposures from monetary assets and liabilities, offset by balance sheet hedges, we estimate that a 10% adverse change in exchange rates versus the U.S. dollar would result in losses of approximately U.S. $8 million as of August 30, 2012 and U.S. $9 million as of September 1, 2011. In the event that the U.S. dollar weakens significantly compared to the Singapore dollar, euro, shekel or yen, our results of operations or financial condition may be adversely affected.

In connection with the Elpida sponsor agreement and Rexchip share purchase agreement, we entered into currency option transactions to mitigate the risk that increases in exchange rates have on our planned yen and New Taiwan dollar payments. We estimate that, as of August 30, 2012, a 10% decrease in exchange rates for the yen and New Taiwan dollar compared with U.S. dollar would result in losses of approximately U.S. $108 million for these currency options. Additionally, we estimate that, as of August 30, 2012, a 10% decrease in exchange rates for the yen and New Taiwan dollar compared with U.S. dollar would result in a decrease of U.S. $239 million of our planned payments under the Elpida sponsor agreement and Rexchip share purchase agreement.

We face risks associated with our international sales and operations that could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Sales to customers outside the United States approximated 85% of our consolidated net sales for 2012. In addition, a substantial portion of our manufacturing operations are located outside the United States. In particular, a significant portion of our manufacturing operations are concentrated in Singapore. Our international sales and operations are subject to a variety of risks, including:

These factors may materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

If our manufacturing process is disrupted, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

We manufacture products using highly complex processes that require technologically advanced equipment and continuous modification to improve yields and performance. Difficulties in the manufacturing process or the effects from a shift in product mix can reduce yields or disrupt production and may increase our per gigabit manufacturing costs. Additionally, our control over operations at our IMFT, Inotera and MP Mask joint ventures is limited by our agreements with our partners. From time to time, we have experienced disruptions in our manufacturing process as a result of power outages, improperly functioning equipment and equipment failures. If production at a fabrication facility is disrupted for any reason, manufacturing yields may be adversely affected or we may be unable to meet our customers' requirements and they may purchase products from other suppliers. This could result in a significant increase in manufacturing costs or loss of revenues or damage to customer relationships, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Breaches of our network security could expose us to losses.

We manage and store on our network systems, various proprietary information and sensitive or confidential data relating to our operations. We also process, store, and transmit large amounts of data for our customers, including sensitive personal information. Computer programmers and hackers may be able to gain unauthorized access to our network system and steal proprietary information, compromise confidential information, create system disruptions, or cause shutdowns. These parties may also be able to develop and deploy viruses, worms, and other malicious software programs that disrupt our operations and create security vulnerabilities. Attacks on our network systems could result in significant losses and damage our reputation with customers.

We are subject to counterparty default risks.

We have numerous arrangements with financial institutions that subject us to counterparty default risks, including cash deposits, investments, foreign currency option and forward contracts, and capped-call contracts on our stock. As a result, we are subject to the risk that the counterparty to one or more of these arrangements will default on its performance obligations. A counterparty may default rapidly and without notice to us, which could limit our ability to take action to mitigate our exposure. Additionally, our ability to mitigate our exposures may be constrained by the terms of our contractual arrangements or because market conditions prevent us from taking effective action. If one of our counterparties becomes insolvent or files for bankruptcy, our ability to recover any losses suffered as a result of that counterparty's default may be limited by the liquidity of the counterparty or the applicable laws governing the bankruptcy proceeding. In the event of such default, we could incur significant losses, which could adversely impact our business, results of operations or financial condition.