activities for fiscal year 2014 increased from fiscal year 2013 driven primarily by capital expenditures in fiscal year 2014 for new technology licenses and leasehold improvements at our facilities in various locations.



Cash used in investing activities for fiscal year 2013 decreased from fiscal year 2012 due primarily to the acquisition of Icera in fiscal year 2012. We used $183.3 million towards capital expenditures in fiscal year 2013 mainly for the purchase of new research and development equipment, testing equipment to support our increased production requirements, technology licenses, software, intangible assets and leasehold improvements at our facilities in various locations.

 

Financing activities



Financing activities consist primarily of borrowing activities, such as convertible debt issuances or capital leases, and equity-related activities such as stock repurchases and dividend payments.



Cash provided by financing activities increased in fiscal year 2014 due primarily to the net proceeds of $1.48 billion we received from the convertible note offering that was completed during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2014 as well as cash proceeds of $70.2 million from common stock issued under our employee stock plans. Concurrent with the convertible note offering, we used net proceeds of $108 million to fund the related note hedge and warrant transactions. During fiscal year 2014, we also used $887.3 million to repurchase shares of our common stock and paid $181.3 million of cash dividends to shareholders.



Cash used in financing activities in fiscal year 2013 was due primarily to our repurchase of $100.0 million of shares of our common stock and our first quarterly cash dividend payment of $46.9 million. These uses of cash were offset by cash proceeds of $64.9 million from common stock issued under our employee stock plans and a non-cash tax benefit of $68.7 million related to employee stock-based compensation.



Liquidity



Our primary source of liquidity is cash generated by our operations. Our investment portfolio consisted of cash and cash equivalents, commercial paper, mortgage-backed securities issued by government-sponsored enterprises, money market funds and debt securities of corporations, municipalities and the United States government and its agencies. These investments are denominated in United States dollars. As of January 26, 2014, we did not have any investments in auction-rate preferred securities.



All of the cash equivalents and marketable securities are treated as “available-for-sale”. Investments in both fixed and floating rate interest earning instruments carry a degree of interest rate risk. Fixed rate debt securities may have their market value adversely impacted due to a rise in interest rates, while floating rate securities may produce less income than expected if interest rates fall. Due in part to these factors, our future investment income may fall short of expectations due to changes in interest rates or if the decline in fair value of our publicly traded debt or equity investments is judged to be other-than-temporary. We may suffer losses in principal if we are forced to sell securities