What is a cash flow waterfall?

A cash flow waterfall is a bar chart that walks from operating cash flow through capital expenditure to free cash flow, then shows how the remaining cash is allocated — acquisitions, buybacks, dividends, debt, and other financing — ending at the net change in cash. Each step is colour-coded: green bars add to the running total, red bars subtract.

How does Microchip Technology (MCHP) spend its free cash flow?

For TTM through Q1 2026, Microchip Technology generated $962M of operating cash flow and $871M of free cash flow — a free cash flow margin of 90.5% of operating cash flow. The waterfall breaks down how the remaining cash was allocated across investing and financing activities.

How much did Microchip Technology (MCHP) return via buybacks and dividends?

The waterfall shows buybacks (share repurchases) and dividends paid as separate steps in the financing section. Together these represent Microchip Technology's shareholder returns for TTM through Q1 2026. You can compare these against free cash flow to assess the capital-return payout ratio.

Microchip Technology (MCHP) Cash Flow Waterfall

Operating CF

$962M

Capex

-$91.1M

Free Cash Flow

$871M

FCF Margin

+90.5%

Cash flow waterfall for Microchip Technology (MCHP) — TTM through Q1 2026

Free cash flow: $871M

Cash flow breakdown for Microchip Technology (MCHP) — TTM through Q1 2026

Line item	Amount	Running total
Operating Cash Flow	$962M	$962M
Capital Expenditure	-$91.1M	$871M
Free Cash Flow	$871M	$871M
Other Investing	-$104M	$767M
Dividends Paid	-$1.09B	-$326M
Net Debt Change	-$128M	-$454M
Other Financing & FX	-$77.6M	-$531M
Net Cash Decrease	-$531M	-$531M

Operating Cash Flow$962M
Capital Expenditure-$91.1M
Free Cash Flow$871M
Other Investing-$104M
Dividends Paid-$1.09B
Net Debt Change-$128M
Other Financing & FX-$77.6M
Net Cash Decrease-$531M

Want to see what drove the FCF change?Free Cash Flow Bridge

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