If in the unlikely event that we have an emergency during the short time that we're together, you can exit through the two doors in the back, the ones you came through, or there's also a door over here behind the stage, it takes you directly outside, but I don't think that's going to be needed. Okay. I think that's all we need. Mr. Chairman?
Okay. Good morning, everybody. The 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Texas Instruments is hereby called to order. I'm Rich Templeton, Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer, and it's my pleasure to welcome you to this year's meeting. Cynthia Trochu, Secretary of the company, will act as Secretary of this meeting. The Board of Directors has appointed an independent inspector to conduct the votes at this meeting. Cynthia has advised me that holders of more than 90% of the outstanding common stock are represented at the meeting by proxy or in person. This constitutes a quorum. Our purpose at this meeting today is to vote on directors and on three board proposals. At this time, I'm pleased to introduce the nominees for election to the TI Board, all except for Brian Crutcher, who were elected at last year's annual meeting.
As I introduce the director nominees, I ask that they please stand, face the audience, remain standing. In addition to myself, the nominees are Ralph Babb, Mark Blinn, Todd Bluedorn, Dan Carp, Janet Clark, Carrie Cox, Brian Crutcher, Jean Hobby, Ron Kirk, Pam Patsley, and Robert Sanchez. Thank you, directors. You may be seated. Each of these nominees and their qualifications as directors are listed in your proxy statement. No notice of other nominations has been submitted in accordance with the bylaws, the nominations are closed. We will now review the three board proposals. The first is an advisory vote on executive compensation, or as more commonly known, say-on-pay. Regarding this proposal, the Board of Directors ask that stockholders approve executive compensation for 2017 as listed in your proxy statement.
The second proposal is a vote to approve the Texas Instruments 2018 Director Compensation Plan. The Board asks the shareholders approve the plan. The third and final proposal on our agenda today is the request for stockholders to ratify the appointment of EY as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2018. The full text of the board proposals are in your proxy statement. This would be an appropriate time for comment on the director nominations and the board proposals. Please raise your hand if you would like to comment. Please limit your comments to a total of three minutes. Madam Secretary, we will now open the polls for voting so that anyone who has not already submitted their votes may do so at this time. Please raise your hand if you need a ballot.
The right to vote directly at this meeting is limited to stockholders of record and proxy holders. I will note that the votes of our 401(k) participants and the votes submitted prior to the start of this meeting, either by mail, phone, or internet, have already been counted. If any stockholder of record wishes to change a previously submitted vote, you may do so now also by raising your hand for a ballot. After voting, please return ballots to the administrators in the aisles. While the votes are being tabulated, I will take a few moments to provide an update on our strategy to continue to make TI stronger and our progress and performance to date. Having the right strategy at the right time is fundamental to a company's success. Thanks to the hard work and effort of TI employees around the world, that's where we find ourselves today.
We have a solid strategy in place with 30,000 people working towards common objectives designed to continue to position TI well among its peers and to make TI stronger in the years ahead. Let's take a closer look at what we've done and where we are going in what we believe is the most exciting period in TI's history. At TI, we're focused on the best products, Analog and Embedded Processing, and the best markets, industrial and automotive. We've made tremendous progress on centering up the company's resources and energies on these areas. At year-end, about 90% of TI's revenue came from Analog and Embedded Processing, up from 79% in 2013. About 54% of our revenue was sold into industrial and automotive markets, up 12 percentage points from 2013. Why the emphasis on these products and markets?
Simply put, we think they're the best ones in the semiconductor industry and will be for years to come. While not always the high-profile products and markets, the payoffs they provide to TI and its owners are steady, substantial, and sustainable. Here's why we like them. Analog and Embedded Processing are pervasive technologies. They underpin most electronic products today, and more importantly, are the enablers of electronics of tomorrow. That, combined with their long product life cycles, intrinsic diversity, and need for less capital-intensive manufacturing, makes them extremely attractive products with a demonstrated ability, history of stability, profitability, and strong cash generation that spans decades. While we see good opportunities in all markets we serve, we believe that industrial and automotive will be the primary growth drivers in our industry and at TI over the next decade or more.
These markets are in the early stages of semiconductor adoption as manufacturers make their products smarter, safer, more connected, and more efficient. We're all familiar with the growing electronic content in our own cars. That trend will accelerate as the number of hybrid and electric vehicles increases, as more safety features are added to vehicles that operate more autonomously. The potential in industrial is even greater, as it is larger, more diverse, and still in its infancy of chip adoption. Industrial applications are broad ranging, from smart thermostats that sense motion, humidity, and temperature, to more complex applications like smart factories with motors that use less energy, robotic assembly lines that operate more autonomously and accurately, and sensors that gauge fluid levels and dispatch an alert when a refill is required.
These capabilities are finding their way into hundreds of industrial applications which require Analog and Embedded Processing technology. That translates into new and exciting opportunities. Bottom line, we expect the Analog and Embedded and industrial and automotive to outperform the overall semiconductor market and be our primary growth engines in the coming years. As such, we've made accelerating their growth a priority. Over time, we've invested and enforced sustainable competitive advantages that combine with our business model, which focuses on the best products and the best markets, and are designed to create long-term value for our owners. One, strong foundation of manufacturing and differentiated technology. Two, a broad portfolio of differentiated Analog and Embedded products. Three, the broadest reach of market channels. Four, the diversity and longevity of our products, markets, and customer positions. Each of these advantages have served TI well.
For example, we do most of our manufacturing in-house and on 300 millimeter wafers, cost advantage capacity that our peers cannot match. Our broad product portfolio means we have more differentiated parts to meet our customers' needs than our competitors, giving us more access to more customers and more opportunities to solve their problems. Similarly, our market reach, whether through direct sales and applications teams or through ti.com, gives us access to more customers, more projects, and more sockets for each of those projects than our peers. Finally, we also see strength in diversity, whether it's products, markets, or customers, as we're not singularly dependent on the next hot product or market. Longevity with life cycles that could be measured in years or even decades, translates into higher return on investment. We intend to strengthen and leverage these advantages with a view towards the long term.
Taken together, our competitive advantages provide tangible benefits such as growth, profitability, and strong cash flow generation that few of our peers can match. After investing for growth, we're committed to returning all of our free cash flow to our owners. 2017 marked this year of solid performance for our company. Top line revenue grew 12% compared to 2016, driven by Analog and Embedded Processing. Gross margin and operating margin grew to 64% and 41% respectively. We converted 31.2% of our revenue into free cash flow, and we generated $4.7 billion of free cash flow and returned $4.7 billion to our owners through a combination of dividends and stock repurchases. Most of you know, we announced in the first quarter that Brian Crutcher will assume the role of President and CEO effective June 1st, and I will continue as Chairman.
I have every confidence in Brian's leadership, his strategic thoughtfulness, and competitive drive. I know the company will be in great hands. One of objectives for most CEOs is to leave the company better positioned than when you began. With that as the benchmark, I look forward to watching the progress that Brian and his team will make during their years of stewardship, making TI stronger, fostering the ethical and innovative culture that is at the core of this company and exemplified by our people every day, delivering more value to our customers and our owners. Madam Secretary, have you received the results of the voting?
Mr. Chairman. According to the report of the inspectors, the 12 persons nominated by the board have been elected. Each received at least 87% support, with no more than 13% voting against and less than 1% abstaining. The advisory vote regarding executive compensation received approximately 94% support, with approximately 6% voting to disapprove and less than 1% abstaining. The Board of Directors' proposal to approve the Texas Instruments 2018 Director Compensation Plan was also approved. The proposal received approximately 96% support, with approximately 4% voting against and less than 1% abstaining. Lastly, the board's proposal to ratify the appointment of Ernst & Young as the company's independent registered public accounting firm was also approved. The proposal received approximately 96% support, with approximately 3% voting against and less than 1% abstaining. That concludes my report.
At this time, I will open the floor to questions or comments. As a courtesy to all present or listening via webcast, our rules call for comments to be limited to five minutes per person, regardless of the number of topics you wish to address. If you have any questions, please go to the microphone, state your name, and express your question or comment. If we have no questions, I will close the meeting. I want to emphasize that we are pleased to have you as the stockholders of Texas Instruments. We will stay focused on making your investment in TI more valuable. Thank you for coming today. We are hereby adjourned. Thank you.