At a glance
MaxLinear Inc is worth $6.84B. Revenue grew 29.7% to $467.6M in fiscal 2025, at a loss; over 5 years it has grown 0.5% a year. It pays no dividend; it spent $75.1M buying back its shares over FY2021–FY2025. The stock returned +376.5% over the past year with dividends reinvested and +4.3% a year over five years, against +11.5% and +11.7% for the S&P 500. At its worst it fell 56.6% in the 2020 crash (S&P 500: 33.7%) and 59.6% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%), and was back at its earlier high 1 month and 43 months after the lows.
The business in plain English
MaxLinear, based in Carlsbad, California, designs communications chips called systems-on-chip, or SoCs. These are single chips that combine the radio, analog, digital signal processing, security and power management parts of a high-speed data connection. MaxLinear is a fabless company, which means it designs the chips and pays outside manufacturers to make them. The company believes that putting analog and digital circuits on one chip, using mainstream CMOS chipmaking, gives it lower cost and lower power use than its rivals.
MaxLinear does not sell to consumers. Its customers are mainly electronics distributors, module makers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs). They build its chips into cable, fiber and DSL broadband modems, Wi-Fi and home routers, 4G and 5G base-station radios and backhaul links, and optical transceivers for hyperscale data centers. Its power management and interface chips also go into industrial equipment.
Revenue was $467.6 million in the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. Broadband chips were the largest product group, with $204.4 million, or 43.7% of sales. Infrastructure, which covers chips for data centers and 5G wireless networks, made up 31.7%. Connectivity products such as Wi-Fi and Ethernet made up 16.7%, and Industrial and multi-market made up 7.9%.
Price history
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MXL +376.5% over the year to Oct 28, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
How it makes money
By product or service
| Broadband | $204.4M | 43.7% |
| Infrastructure | $148.2M | 31.7% |
| Connectivity | $78.0M | 16.7% |
| Industrial and multi-market | $37.1M | 7.9% |
Latest results
- In Q3 FY2026 (ended Sep 30, 2026), revenue was $218.1M, up 72.4% from a year earlier, and net income was $28.9M.
- For fiscal 2025, revenue was $467.6M (+29.7% year over year; -0.5% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a -29.2% net margin.
Financial health check
| Revenue growth a year (FY2020–FY2025) | -0.5% weak |
|---|---|
| Operating margin | -27.1% weak |
| Free cash flow margin | 1.5% watch |
| Return on equity (FY2025) | -30.2% weak |
| Return on assets (FY2025) | -17.2% weak |
| Net cash (cash minus debt) | $-83.0M weak |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | $478.6M | $-98.6M | $61.1M |
| FY2021 | $892.4M | $42.0M | $129.1M |
| FY2022 | $1.12B | $125.0M | $347.5M |
| FY2023 | $693.3M | $-73.1M | $29.9M |
| FY2024 | $360.5M | $-245.2M | $-63.0M |
| FY2025 | $467.6M | $-136.7M | $7.0M |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $6.84B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | — |
| Dividend yield | None |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Market value at each year end
MaxLinear’s market value went from $1.77B at the end of 2017 to $6.84B on Oct 28, 2026, about 3.9 times as much; since the end of 2025 it is up 349%.
Show as a table
| Year end | Market value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2026 | $6.84B | +349.0% |
| 2025 | $1.52B | -8.7% |
| 2024 | $1.67B | -13.9% |
| 2023 | $1.94B | -27.3% |
| 2022 | $2.67B | -53.9% |
| 2021 | $5.79B | +104.2% |
| 2020 | $2.83B | +85.5% |
| 2019 | $1.53B | +25.8% |
| 2018 | $1.21B | -31.4% |
| 2017 | $1.77B |
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MXL price data to Oct 28, 2026 | +331.1% | +376.5% | +71.4% | +4.3% | +15.1% |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | +331.1% |
| 2025 | -11.9% |
| 2024 | -16.8% |
| 2023 | -30.0% |
| 2022 | -55.0% |
| 2021 | +97.4% |
| 2020 | +80.0% |
| 2019 | +20.6% |
| 2018 | -33.4% |
| 2017 | +21.2% |
| 2016 | +48.0% |
| 2015 | +98.8% |
| 2014 | -28.9% |
| 2013 | +107.8% |
| 2012 | +5.7% |
| 2011 | -55.9% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Before this security existed |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Lost 52% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 56.6%, back to its old high 1.4 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Lost 59.6% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 59.6%, back to its old high 42.6 months after the low |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-10-31 to 2026-10-31 (25 read): 0 open-market purchases and 30 sales ($60.1M), 3 of them under pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plans.
| Date | Insider | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 2026 | Kishore Seendripu Chairman, President and CEO, Director, 10% owner | sell | $6.6M |
| Aug 14, 2026 | Kishore Seendripu Chairman, President and CEO, Director, 10% owner | sell | $6.6M |
| Aug 17, 2026 | Kishore Seendripu Chairman, President and CEO, Director, 10% owner | sell | $6.3M |
| Aug 17, 2026 | Kishore Seendripu Chairman, President and CEO, Director, 10% owner | sell | $6.2M |
| Aug 17, 2026 | Kishore Seendripu Chairman, President and CEO, Director, 10% owner | sell | $5.9M |
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| BlackRock, Inc. | 14.2% | Mar 31, 2025 |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | 7.82% | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Vanguard Capital Management | 4.94% | Sep 30, 2026 |
| STATE STREET CORPORATION | 4.8% | Jun 30, 2026 |
| FMR LLC | 1.8% | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Invesco Ltd. | 0.4% | Dec 31, 2024 |
ETFs with the most weight in MXL
| QQQS Invesco NASDAQ Future Gen 200 ETF | 0.43% |
| ETHO Amplify Etho Climate Leadership U.S. ETF | 0.31% |
| CARZ First Trust S-Network Future Vehicles & Technology ETF | 0.29% |
| ISMD Inspire Small/Mid Cap ETF | 0.22% |
| VIOV Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF | 0.17% |
| SLYV SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF | 0.15% |
| IJS iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF | 0.13% |
| JMEE JPMorgan Small & Mid Cap Enhanced Equity ETF | 0.09% |
What could go wrong
- Fallout from the terminated Silicon Motion merger. MaxLinear's merger agreement with Silicon Motion was terminated, and legal proceedings followed. Any damages or settlement could be large enough to use up all its credit lines and cash, and that might still fall short.
- A few customers drive much of revenue. A small number of customers bring in a large share of sales. Losing one of them, or a big cut in its orders, has hurt revenue and results before and could again.
- Heavy dependence on broadband operators. Broadband chips were 43.7% of revenue in fiscal 2025. If cable, satellite pay-TV and broadband operators delay their plans or merge with each other, demand for MaxLinear's modem and gateway chips could fall.
- Export controls, tariffs and trade tensions. MaxLinear needs government licenses to export some products and technology, and losing them would cost sales. Tariffs and trade wars have cut demand before and can push customers to demand lower prices.
- Deep swings in a cyclical industry. Chip demand runs in cycles. MaxLinear's revenue rose from $478.6 million in 2020 to $1.12 billion in 2022, then fell to $360.5 million in 2024. It lost money in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
- Intense competition and falling selling prices. MaxLinear expects competition to increase, and the average prices it gets for its chips have fallen before. Staying competitive takes heavy research and development spending, which it may not be able to keep up.
Recent events
- Major agreement signed; Quarterly results released; New debt or financial obligation
- Quarterly results released
- Change of auditor
- Executive or board change; Shareholder vote results
- Major agreement signed; Quarterly results released; New debt or financial obligation
- Executive or board change
- Quarterly results released
- Other company announcement
For income and retirement investors
MaxLinear pays no dividend, and its 10-K says it does not plan to pay one for the foreseeable future. For income investors, that means the stock pays them nothing. Anyone who needs cash from the holding would have to sell shares. The company spent $75.1 million on buybacks (purchases of its own shares) from fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2025, including $20 million in fiscal 2025. Even so, the share count grew 18.6%, from 76.7 million in October 2021 to 91.0 million as of October 15, 2026, so each existing share became a smaller slice of the company.
The stock has fallen hard in market downturns. In the 2020 COVID crash it dropped 56.6% between February 19 and March 18, 2020, then recovered by April 29, 2020. In the 2022 bear market it fell 59.6%. It did not get back to its January 3, 2022 peak until May 1, 2026, about 42.6 months later. A single stock like this carries more risk than a diversified fund.
Questions investors ask
How does MaxLinear make money?
MaxLinear designs communications chips and sells them to companies that build them into their own equipment. It is fabless, so outside manufacturers make the chips. Buyers include distributors, module makers and equipment manufacturers that produce broadband modems, Wi-Fi routers, 5G base-station radios and data center optical transceivers. In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, revenue was $467.6 million. Broadband made up 43.7% of that, Infrastructure 31.7%, Connectivity 16.7%, and Industrial and multi-market 7.9%.
Does MaxLinear pay a dividend?
No. MaxLinear paid no dividends from fiscal 2021 through fiscal 2025. Its 10-K, filed January 29, 2026, says it does not plan to pay dividends for the foreseeable future. Instead, it has returned some cash through buybacks, spending $75.1 million on its own shares over those five years. Even so, the share count rose 18.6% between October 2021 and October 2026, so the buybacks did not keep up with new shares.
Is MaxLinear profitable?
Not for a full year since fiscal 2022. In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, MaxLinear lost $136.7 million on revenue of $467.6 million, or $1.58 per diluted share. That was its third annual loss in a row. The quarter ended September 30, 2026 was better: revenue rose 72.4% from a year earlier to $218.1 million, and net income was $28.9 million. On that date it held $81.1 million in cash and investments and owed $164.1 million in debt.
What happened to MaxLinear's merger with Silicon Motion?
The merger agreement between MaxLinear and Silicon Motion was terminated, and legal proceedings followed. MaxLinear's 10-K, filed January 29, 2026, says the termination and the proceedings have cost it a great deal and may distract management. MaxLinear could be ordered to pay damages for an alleged breach of the agreement, or it could agree to a settlement. Either amount could be large enough to use up all its credit lines and cash, and that might not be enough. It may also be unable to borrow on good terms.
Is MaxLinear stock volatile?
Yes, very. As of October 28, 2026, the shares were up 331.1% year to date and 376.5% over one year. They also fell 55.3% from a peak during that year. Over one year, the stock's beta was 3.77. Beta measures how sharply a stock moves compared with the overall market. Before this run-up, the stock lost value in every calendar year from 2022 through 2025, including a 55% drop in 2022. Its deepest decline over its full trading history was 88.1%.