亞德諾半導體 (ADI) 2016 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. Welcome to the Analog Devices fourth-quarter and FY16 earnings conference call, which is being audio webcast via telephone and over the web. I'd like to now introduce your host for today's call, Mr. Ali Husain, Treasurer and Director of Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

早安.歡迎參加 Analog Devices 第四季及 2016 財年財報電話會議，本次會議將透過電話和網路進行音訊直播。現在我謹向大家介紹今天電話會議的主持人，財務長兼投資者關係總監阿里·侯賽因先生。先生，請您發言。

Great. Thank you, Jennifer. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining ADI's fourth-quarter and FY16 earnings conference call.

偉大的。謝謝你，珍妮弗。大家早安。感謝您參加ADI第四季及2016財年財報電話會議。

You can find our press release, relating financial schedules and the investor tool kit at their usual spot at investor.analog.com. Specifically about the investor tool kit, it's something we post on our website two hours before the earnings call and it's actually a pretty good summary of our prepared remarks. For those that are interested in kind of getting the early scoop, that's probably a good place to go as we file our press release.

您可以在 investor.analog.com 的老地方找到我們的新聞稿、相關財務報表和投資者工具包。具體來說，關於投資者工具包，我們會在財報電話會議前兩小時將其發佈在我們的網站上，它實際上是對我們準備好的發言的一個很好的總結。對於有興趣提前了解內幕消息的人來說，在我們發布新聞稿時，這可能是一個不錯的地方。

With me on today's call are ADI's CEO, Vincent Roche, and ADI's CFO, Dave Zinsner. Before we start, let's do our disclosers. Please note, the information we're about to discuss, including our objectives, outlook and the proposed acquisition of Linear Technology Corporation, includes forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those discussed in our earnings release and our most recent 10-K. These forward-looking statements reflect our opinion as of the date of this call and we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in light of few information or future events.

今天和我一起參加電話會議的還有 ADI 的執行長 Vincent Roche 和 ADI 的財務長 Dave Zinsner。開始之前，我們先來揭露一下資訊。請注意，我們即將討論的訊息，包括我們的目標、展望以及擬議收購凌力爾特公司，都包含前瞻性陳述。由於各種因素的影響，實際結果可能與這些前瞻性聲明有重大差異，這些因素包括我們在獲利報告和最新的 10-K 文件中討論的因素。這些前瞻性陳述反映了我們截至本次電話會議之日的觀點，我們不承擔因少量資訊或未來事件而更新這些前瞻性陳述的義務。

Our comments today will also include non-GAAP financial measures, which we've reconciled to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in today's earnings release, which we've posted at investor.analog.com. With all that behind us, let's get started. I'd like to turn the call over to Vincent Roche, our CEO.

我們今天的評論還將包括非GAAP財務指標，我們已在今天的收益報告中將其與最直接可比較的GAAP財務指標進行了核對，該收益報告已發佈在investor.analog.com上。一切準備就緒，讓我們開始吧。我想把電話交給我們的執行長文森羅奇。

Thank you, Ali, and good morning, everyone. By almost any measure, ADI had an excellent fourth quarter. To put it in perspective, we achieved record revenue of $1 billion, expanded operating margins to a record 38% of sales, and we generated record free cash flow margins of 44%.

謝謝你，阿里，大家早安。無論從哪個角度來看，ADI第四季的表現都非常出色。換個角度來看，我們實現了創紀錄的 10 億美元收入，營業利潤率擴大到創紀錄的 38% 銷售額，我們產生了創紀錄的 44% 自由現金流利潤率。

Throughout FY16, as you know, caution and uncertainty were in norm across the world. Nevertheless we executed well in a tough business environment, investing and positioning ourselves for future growth while remaining disciplined and making smart investment tradeoffs. All told, the actions we took during the year drove free cash flow margins to 33.7%, a 520-basis point improvement over the prior year, and I'm very proud of the stellar execution by our entire team.

如您所知，在整個 2016 財年，謹慎和不確定性成為全球常態。儘管如此，我們在艱難的商業環境中表現出色，透過投資和佈局，為未來的成長做好準備，同時保持自律，並做出明智的投資權衡。總而言之，我們在這一年中採取的行動使自由現金流利潤率達到 33.7%，比上一年提高了 520 個基點，我為我們整個團隊的出色執行力感到非常自豪。

For ADI it starts with an obsession for our customers' success and I personally spend, as you know, a lot of time talking to and listening to their needs. It's obvious to me from these conversations that ADI is an exceptional Company and we are more relevant to our customers than ever before. What is also clear is that our customers are seeking true innovation partners as they grow and evolve their businesses in the midst of unprecedented levels of complexity.

對於 ADI 而言，一切都始於對客戶成功的執著，正如您所知，我個人花費了大量時間與他們交談並傾聽他們的需求。從這些對話中我明顯感覺到，ADI 是一家卓越的公司，我們與客戶的關係比以往任何時候都更加密切。顯而易見的是，在空前複雜的市場環境中，我們的客戶在發展壯大業務的過程中，正在尋找真正的創新合作夥伴。

At the same time, our customers' hardware engineering talent is stretched thin. As a result, they're increasingly focusing their design efforts on systems and software, while turning the analog design challenge to ADI, where we have economies of scale and of scope. With the analog design challenges set to become even more complicated and critical in the area of IoT and industry 4.0, for example, helping our customers bridge the physical and digital domains in mission critical applications will, we believe, create tremendous opportunities for sustainable, profitable growth for ADI long into the future.

同時，我們客戶的硬體工程人才捉襟見肘。因此，他們越來越注重系統和軟體的設計，而將類比設計挑戰交給 ADI，因為我們在 ADI 領域擁有規模經濟和範圍經濟。例如，隨著物聯網和工業 4.0 領域模擬設計挑戰變得更加複雜和關鍵，我們相信，幫助我們的客戶在關鍵任務應用中連接物理和數位領域，將為 ADI 在未來長期實現可持續的、盈利的增長創造巨大的機會。

Customers choose us because we've been at this craft for over 50 years now and in our industry, brand matters. The ADI brand is synonymous with high quality and high performance and our customers rightly have full faith that ADI will support them today and well into the future. We have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to innovation that creates economic value for our customers by investing strongly in our own business.

顧客選擇我們是因為我們從事這項工藝已有 50 多年，而且在我們的行業中，品牌至關重要。ADI品牌是高品質和高效能的代名詞，我們的客戶完全有理由相信ADI會在現在和未來很長一段時間內為他們提供支援。我們始終堅定不移地致力於創新，透過大力投資自身業務，為客戶創造經濟價值。

Since the Great Recession, ADI has invested $4 billion in research and development alone, primarily in the B2B markets of industrial, automotive, and communications infrastructure. We've also made investments in quality, manufacturing, supply chain, and field operations, because being able to effectively and efficiently deliver high reliability innovation and customer support is just as important as the innovation itself.

自大衰退以來，ADI 僅在研發方面就投資了 40 億美元，主要集中在工業、汽車和通訊基礎設施的 B2B 市場。我們也對品質、製造、供應鏈和現場營運進行了投資，因為能夠有效率地提供高可靠性的創新和客戶支援與創新本身同樣重要。

In addition to these organic investments, we've been acquiring capability that not only builds our technology base but also enables ADI to move up the value stack. During the year we announced the proposed acquisition of Linear Technology, which, once complete, will create a high performance analog leader with the combined Company having a top-two market share position across all the key building blocks of the analog market, namely data converters, power management, amplifiers, interface and high performance RF and microwave. Once the transaction closes, we will have the ability to meet all of our customers' analog and mixed signal needs in sticky, long-life cycle, high-value applications in the industrial, automotive, and communications infrastructure markets.

除了這些內部投資之外，我們一直在獲取能力，這不僅增強了我們的技術基礎，而且使 ADI 能夠在價值鏈上向上發展。今年我們宣布了擬收購凌力爾特公司的計劃，一旦收購完成，合併後的公司將成為高性能模擬電路領域的領導者，在模擬電路市場的所有關鍵組成部分（即數據轉換器、電源管理、放大器、接口以及高性能射頻和微波）中，都將佔據前兩名的市場份額。交易完成後，我們將有能力滿足客戶在工業、汽車和通訊基礎設施市場中，在具有黏性、長生命週期和高價值的應用領域中，對模擬和混合訊號的所有需求。

During the year we also acquired some very interesting early stage technologies which we believe will help ADI move up the value stack, as we say, over time. The acquisition of SNAP Sensor gives ADI the ability to provide our customers with very high-dynamic range imaging capabilities important in smart city applications, as an example. For smart factory applications, we acquired Innovasic, a developer of the Deterministic Ethernet switching and software solutions to extend our reach in this core market.

今年我們也收購了一些非常有趣的早期技術，我們相信這些技術將幫助 ADI 隨著時間的推移提升其價值鏈。收購 SNAP Sensor 使 ADI 能夠為我們的客戶提供非常高的動態範圍成像能力，例如，這在智慧城市應用中非常重要。為了在智慧工廠應用領域拓展業務，我們收購了確定性乙太網路交換和軟體解決方案開發商 Innovasic。

We also acquired the cyber security solutions business of Cypress, giving ADI the ability to provide customers with a trusted sensor-to-cloud solution with security right down at the node. Just recently we announced the acquisition of some exciting lidar technology from Vescent Photonics that will enable ADI to develop a true solid-state scanning lidar system complimenting our existing radar-based ADAS offerings. These things are very important in autonomous driving applications.

我們還收購了 Cypress 的網路安全解決方案業務，使 ADI 能夠為客戶提供值得信賴的感測器到雲端解決方案，並在節點層面實現安全防護。就在不久前，我們宣布從 Vescent Photonics 收購了一些令人興奮的雷射雷達技術，這將使 ADI 能夠開發真正的固態掃描雷射雷達系統，以補充我們現有的基於雷達的 ADAS 產品。這些因素在自動駕駛應用中非常重要。

The investments we've made and continue to make are helping create economic value for our customers and I'd like to share a few examples of where ADI's technology is making a real difference. In the automotive space, our recently announced A2B Audio Bus structure provides vehicle manufacturers with high-end, in-cabin audio fidelity while reducing vehicle weight. We estimate that our solution helps save car manufacturers approximately $30 per vehicle in combined CO2 taxes and fuel efficiency.

我們已經進行並將繼續進行的投資正在幫助我們的客戶創造經濟價值，我想分享一些 ADI 技術正在發揮真正作用的例子。在汽車領域，我們最近發布的 A2B 音訊總線結構為汽車製造商提供了高端的車內音訊保真度，同時減輕了車輛重量。我們估計，我們的解決方案可以幫助汽車製造商在二氧化碳稅和燃油效率方面，每輛車可節省約 30 美元。

In the area of factory and process automation, our software configurable input/output solutions are solving significant channel density, physical space and terminal challenges while reducing system complexity and installation and wiring costs. In the healthcare arena, ADI's vital signs monitoring products are bringing clinical-grade care into the home, enabling high-quality remote patient monitoring that reduces or even eliminates the need for, and of cost of, a hospital stay.

在工廠和製程自動化領域，我們的軟體可配置輸入/輸出解決方案正在解決通道密度、實體空間和終端方面的重大挑戰，同時降低系統複雜性以及安裝和佈線成本。在醫療保健領域，ADI 的生命徵象監測產品將臨床級護理帶入家庭，實現了高品質的遠距病患監測，從而減少甚至消除了住院的必要性和成本。

Ours is a customer value creation journey, 51 years in the making. We have the intellectual capital and more importantly, we have a talented, passionate and engaged team at ADI to help serve our customers' needs today and well into the future. The combination with Linear Technology represents the next phase in this value creation journey. With our market-leading product portfolios tied to attractive markets, we believe we can create a free cash flow engine that will be unmatched in our industry and help provide investors with an attractive combination of growth and shareholder value for many years to come.

這是一趟歷經 51 年打造的顧客價值創造之旅。我們擁有智力資本，更重要的是，ADI 擁有一支才華橫溢、充滿熱情、積極投入的團隊，能夠幫助滿足客戶當前及未來的需求。與凌力爾特公司的合併標誌著這一價值創造之旅進入了下一個階段。憑藉我們市場領先的產品組合和極具吸引力的市場，我們相信我們可以打造一個業內無與倫比的自由現金流引擎，並在未來多年為投資者提供成長和股東價值的良好組合。

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Ali for details on our performance by end market in the fourth quarter.

接下來，我想把電話交給阿里，讓他詳細介紹我們第四季在終端市場的表現。

Thanks, Vince. Digging deeper into our results by end market, the industrial market, at 39% of revenue, increased 6% sequentially, a very strong result in what is typically a weaker period for the industrial business. Revenue from our broad base of small- and medium-size customers was better than seasonal and in fact increased sequentially. The expected rebound in the aerospace and defense sector was also pretty strong. Our healthcare business also posted record quarter, as we are now beginning to see the early returns from our investments in the healthcare sector.

謝謝你，文斯。按終端市場深入分析我們的業績，工業市場佔收入的 39%，環比增長 6%，這在工業業務通常較為疲軟的時期是一個非常強勁的成績。來自我們廣泛的中小客戶群的收入優於季節性因素，而且實際上逐週增長。航空航太和國防領域的預期反彈也相當強勁。我們的醫療保健業務也創下了季度紀錄，我們現在開始看到我們在醫療保健領域的投資的早期回報。

Compared to the prior year, the industrial market showed actually pretty considerable strength, growing 8% over the prior year and it was broad-based strength across all of the industrial sectors as we compare the year-on-year performance. The automotive market, at 14% of revenue, increased 5% sequentially and that was broad-based growth across really all sectors within this market. I'd say more importantly, automotive revenues increased 7% compared to the prior year.

與前一年相比，工業市場實際上表現出了相當大的強勁勢頭，比上一年增長了 8%，而且從同比表現來看，所有工業部門都呈現全面強勁的增長勢頭。汽車市場佔總收入的 14%，環比成長 5%，而該市場所有細分領域均實現了全面成長。更重要的是，汽車產業的收入比前一年成長了7%。

Communications infrastructure sales, at 17% of revenue, decreased slightly from the prior quarter. Both wireless and wire line application revenues decreased slightly sequentially but increased compared to the prior year, led by growth in the 100-gig-plus optical networking applications. The consumer market, at 29% of fourth-quarter revenue, increased 58% sequentially and decreased 7% compared to the prior year, with both sequential and year-over-year results largely due to portable consumer application sales.

通訊基礎設施銷售額佔總收入的 17%，較上一季略有下降。無線和有線應用收入環比略有下降，但與去年相比有所增長，這主要得益於 100G 以上光網路應用的成長。第四季度，消費者市場佔總營收的 29%，季增 58%，年減 7%，季減和年比業績均主要歸功於便攜式消費者應用銷售。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Dave for details of our financial performance in the fourth quarter and in FY16. With the exception of revenue, Dave's comments on fourth-quarter and FY16 P&L line items will exclude special items, which in the aggregate totaled $39 million for the quarter. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures and our calculation of free cash flow are on Schedules E and F in today's release.

現在我想把電話交給戴夫，讓他詳細介紹我們第四季和 2016 財年的財務表現。除了收入之外，戴夫對第四季度和 2016 財年損益表項目的評論將不包括特殊項目，該季度特殊項目總額為 3900 萬美元。這些非GAAP指標的調節表以及我們對自由現金流的計算結果，請參閱今天發布的附表E和附表F。

With that, Dave, it's all yours.

這樣一來，戴夫，一切都歸你了。

Thanks, Ali. The fourth quarter was once again a very strong and profitable quarter and we set records for revenue, operating margin, free cash flow generation and earnings per share. Revenue in the fourth quarter totaled $1 billion and diluted earnings per share was $1.05. Gross margins of 66.6% increased 60 basis points from the prior quarter and included a 120-basis point benefit relating to the sale of previously reserved portable consumer application inventory. Excluding this item, gross margins were in line with guidance, decreasing 60 basis points from the prior quarter due to mix.

謝謝你，阿里。第四季再次成為業績強勁且獲利豐厚的季度，我們在營收、營業利潤率、自由現金流和每股盈餘方面均創下歷史新高。第四季營收總計 10 億美元，稀釋後每股收益為 1.05 美元。毛利率為 66.6%，比上一季成長了 60 個基點，其中包括與先前預留的便攜式消費應用庫存銷售相關的 120 個基點收益。剔除該項目後，毛利率符合預期，但由於產品組合變化，比上一季下降了 60 個基點。

We continue to tightly manage inventories, and as a result, inventory on a dollars basis in the fourth quarter decreased $16 million sequentially and inventory on a days basis decreased 17 days to 105 days. Weeks of inventory in distribution were slightly below seven weeks and were at the leanest level in six years. Operating expenses increased 3% sequentially, lagging well behind the 15% sequential increase in revenue. As a result, operating profit hit a record 38.1% of revenue, expanding 400 basis points sequentially and 220 basis points over the prior year. Other expense in the fourth quarter was approximately $20 million.

我們繼續嚴格管理庫存，因此，第四季庫存金額較上季減少了 1,600 萬美元，庫存天數減少了 17 天，至 105 天。分銷庫存週數略低於七週，是六年來的最低水準。營運費用較上季成長 3%，遠低於營收季增 15% 的成長。因此，營業利潤佔收入的比例達到創紀錄的 38.1%，環比增長 400 個基點，比上年增長 220 個基點。第四季其他支出約 2000 萬美元。

Our tax rate in the fourth quarter was approximately 10% as we adjusted our full-year tax rate to approximately 11%. Excluding special items, our business delivered strong operating leverage, even with low utilization rates and diluted earnings per share grew 28% sequentially to the $1.05 per share, which was almost twice the rate of sequential revenue growth. We had a record cash generation quarter, with free cash flow margins of 44%, expanding 600 basis points compared to the year-ago period.

第四季我們的稅率約為 10%，因為我們將全年稅率調整至約 11%。除特殊項目外，我們的業務實現了強勁的經營槓桿，即使利用率較低，稀釋後每股收益環比增長 28% 至 1.05 美元，幾乎是環比收入增長率的兩倍。我們本季現金流創歷史新高，自由現金流利潤率達到 44%，比去年同期成長了 600 個基點。

Capital additions during the quarter were $41 million and we expect FY17 capital additions to be in the range of $125 million to $145 million. During the quarter we paid $130 million in dividends and our long-term financial model incorporates annual dividend increases of 5% to 10%. At the current stock price, ADI's dividend yield of $1.68 represents a dividend yield of approximately 2.5%, although it may be a little bit lower now that the stock rose today.

本季新增資本為 4,100 萬美元，我們預期 2017 財年新增資本將在 1.25 億至 1.45 億美元之間。本季我們支付了 1.3 億美元的股息，我們的長期財務模型包含每年 5% 至 10% 的股息成長。以目前股價計算，ADI 的股息殖利率為 1.68 美元，相當於約 2.5% 的股息殖利率，儘管由於今天股價上漲，股息殖利率可能會略有下降。

Now I'll take a moment to talk about our performance in 2016. Revenue of $3.4 billion was stable to the prior year and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share decreased 3% from the prior year, primarily due to lower gross margins and higher interest expense ahead of the Linear Tech deal close. The lower gross margins for the year were primarily the result of a very deliberate and disciplined inventory management program that reduced inventory on a dollars basis by $36 million, or 9%, and on a days basis reduced inventory in the fourth quarter by 9 days to 105 days.

現在我花點時間談談我們2016年的表現。營收為 34 億美元，與上年持平；非 GAAP 稀釋後每股收益較上年下降 3%，主要原因是毛利率下降以及在 Linear Tech 交易完成前利息支出增加。本年度毛利率下降主要是由於一項非常謹慎和嚴格的庫存管理計劃，該計劃按美元計算減少了 3600 萬美元，即 9%；按天數計算，第四季度庫存減少了 9 天，降至 105 天。

Nevertheless, gross margins remained relatively stable to the prior year as we minimized the impact of lower factory utilization rates through pricing and cost efficiencies. The good news is that inventory levels are now in excellent shape. All told, FY16 free cash flow margins expanded by over 500 basis points to 34%, setting a new Company record. During the year we also returned almost $900 million, or 77% of free cash flow, to shareholders via dividends and share buybacks.

儘管如此，由於我們透過定價和成本效益最大限度地減少了工廠利用率下降的影響，毛利率與前一年相比保持相對穩定。好消息是，目前的庫存水準非常理想。總的來說，2016 財年自由現金流利潤率成長超過 500 個基點，達到 34%，創下公司新紀錄。年內，我們也透過股利和股票回購向股東返還了近 9 億美元，即自由現金流的 77%。

Of course, the biggest news of the years was the proposed acquisition of Linear Technology. To date, we've received regulatory clearances in Israel, Germany, Japan, and the United States. We now expect the transaction to close by the end of our second quarter of FY17. Our integration planning teams are hard at work and we're very pleased with their progress. Vince has put me in charge of the integration effort and I'm confident that our combined Company will be greater than the sum of its parts.

當然，今年最大的新聞莫過於擬收購凌力爾特公司。迄今為止，我們已獲得以色列、德國、日本和美國的監管部門批准。我們現在預計該交易將於 2017 財年第二季末完成。我們的整合規劃團隊正在努力工作，我們對他們的進展感到非常滿意。文斯讓我負責整合工作，我相信我們合併後的公司將大於各部分總和。

We expect the transaction to be immediately accretive to non-GAAP EPS and free cash flow and for accretion levels to increase as we begin realizing the planned $150 million of annualized run rate synergies within 18 months of the transaction close. During the quarter we also made good progress on financing the transaction, locking up a $5 billion term loan facility. Based on our current expectations, we anticipate the all-in coupon rate related to the financing to be approximately 3%.

我們預計該交易將立即增加非GAAP每股收益和自由現金流，並且隨著我們在交易完成後的18個月內開始實現計劃中的1.5億美元年度運行率協同效應，增幅水平將會提高。本季我們在交易融資方面也取得了良好進展，鎖定了 50 億美元的定期貸款額度。根據我們目前的預期，我們預計與融資相關的總票面利率約為 3%。

Now turning to our outlook and expectations for the first quarter of FY17 which, with the exception of revenue expectations, is on a non-GAAP basis and excludes known special items that are outlined in today's release. Order rates are currently stable across our business as we enter the seasonally slow January quarter. As a result, we expect revenue in the first quarter to decrease sequentially and be in the range of $840 million to $900 million, but to grow 9% to 17% over the prior year. With inventory levels and utilization rates in good shape, we anticipate gross margins in the first quarter to be between 65.5% and 66%.

現在轉向我們對 2017 財年第一季的展望和預期，除收入預期外，所有預期均以非 GAAP 為基礎，並且不包括今天發布的公告中概述的已知特殊項目。目前，隨著我們進入季節性淡季的一月份，我們業務的訂單量保持穩定。因此，我們預計第一季營收將環比下降，介於 8.4 億美元至 9 億美元之間，但比上年同期成長 9% 至 17%。由於庫存水準和利用率狀況良好，我們預計第一季的毛利率將在 65.5% 至 66% 之間。

We expect operating expenses in the first quarter to increase slightly sequentially and for operating profit before tax to be well north of 30%. We're planning for our tax rate to be approximately 11%, which is our planned non-GAAP rate until we close the Linear transaction. In total, excluding special items, we expect diluted earnings per share in the first quarter to be between $0.68 and $0.78, which would represent year-over-year earnings per share growth of 21% to 39%.

我們預計第一季的營運支出將較上季略有成長，稅前營業利潤將遠高於 30%。我們計劃將稅率定在 11% 左右，這是我們計劃在完成 Linear 交易之前採用的非 GAAP 稅率。總的來說，不計特殊項目，我們預計第一季稀釋後每股收益將在 0.68 美元至 0.78 美元之間，這將代表每股收益同比增長 21% 至 39%。

This was a great quarter for the Company and we're very proud of our achievements, but as Vince always says, we should be often pleased, but never satisfied. It is our job to make sure that we continue to exceed expectations. Our customers, employees, and shareholders would expect nothing less, and neither do we. With that, operator, let's open up the floor for questions.

對於公司來說，這是一個非常棒的季度，我們為所取得的成就感到非常自豪，但正如文斯常說的，我們應該經常感到高興，但永遠不要滿足。我們的職責就是確保我們不斷超越預期。我們的客戶、員工和股東都期望如此，我們自己也是如此。操作員，接下來我們開始接受提問。

We'll get to the questions in a second. Just a reminder to folks on the line, please limit yourself to one question. If you have a follow-up I'd ask that you please requeue. We do this in the spirit of fairness so that everybody who wants to ask a question gets to ask at least one of their questions. We're running this call until 11. I think that's plenty of time to get to everyone's questions.

我們馬上就來回答問題。再次提醒各位，請每人每次只提一個問題。如果您還有後續問題，請您重新排隊。我們本著公平的原則這樣做，讓每個想提問的人都能至少問一個問題。我們將持續進行此電話會議至11點。我覺得時間夠回答大家的問題了。

Jennifer, I think you've got the instructions.

珍妮弗，我想你已經收到說明了。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

Our first question comes from Ambrish Srivastava with BMO.

我們的第一個問題來自 BMO 的 Ambrish Srivastava。

Thank you. I know the rule, but I had a quick fact check for Dave and then I had a longer term for Vince. Dave, I apologize if I'm missing it. Usually in your prepared press release you do give the end market breakdown for the coming quarter. I don't think I saw it this time.

謝謝。我知道規則，但我還是先快速核實了一下戴夫的情況，然後又為文斯安排了一個更長的期限。戴夫，如果我錯過了什麼，我道歉。通常情況下，您會在準備好的新聞稿中提供下一季的終端市場細分資料。這次我好像沒看到。

Maybe we ordinarily do. We'll give you two questions, Ambrish, (technical difficulty). I would say just kind of directionally the B2B businesses, which we would consider industrial, automotive and communications, will roughly be down mid-single digits and of course consumer I think would be roughly in the 30% down range.

或許我們通常都會這樣做。安布里什，我們給你兩個問題（技術難度）。我認為，從大致方向來看，B2B 業務（例如工業、汽車和通訊行業）的降幅大致為個位數中段，而消費業務的降幅我認為大致在 30% 左右。

Okay.

好的。

What was your other question, Ambrish?

安布里什，你剛才問的另一個問題是什麼？

Thank you. For my other one was a bit of a longer term for you, Vince. This is going back to a conversation you and I had a while ago. I know you've been on a path to transforming ADI and you've talked about inorganic as well as organic and thinking more of value creation as opposed to what we are used to, design in, design out. You've kind of showed it in the consumer side so far that you're not a one-socket win.

謝謝。至於我的另一個項目，對你來說時間會更長一些，文斯。這要追溯到不久前你我之間的一次對話。我知道您一直在努力改變 ADI，您也談到了無機增長和有機增長，並且更多地思考價值創造，而不是我們習以為常的“設計輸入，設計輸出”。到目前為止，你在消費者方面的表現已經表明，你並不是一個單一的成功模式。

Give us a perspective of where we are. I know baseball season is over and I love cricket, but cricket is a bad analogy. There's only two innings. Where are we in the transformation, Vince? Just help us with that perspective. Thank you.

請您幫我們分析我們所處的位置。我知道棒球賽季已經結束了，我也很喜歡板球，但用板球來類比並不恰當。只有兩局。文斯，我們現在處於轉型的哪個階段？請您從這個角度幫我們分析一下。謝謝。

Thanks, Ambrish. Good question. Look, we're on a journey. We believe, we said several years ago, we believe that there's enough impetus in our business and that we have the balance sheet as well to help us get this Company towards $4 billion to $5 billion in sales in a reasonable period of time. We're well on track. I believe over the next several years we will be updating obviously when we integrate LTC. We'll be updating all the benchmarks around what we expect our revenue to be over time, profits, free cash flow and so on, so forth.

謝謝你，安布里什。問得好。你看，我們正在踏上旅程。幾年前我們就說過，我們相信公司業務有足夠的成長動力，而且我們的資產負債表也足以幫助我們在合理的時間內實現公司 40 億至 50 億美元的銷售額。我們進展順利。我相信在接下來的幾年裡，隨著 LTC 的整合，我們會進行更新。我們將更新所有基準指標，包括我們對未來一段時間的收入預期、利潤、自由現金流等等。

I don't know -- I'm not a cricket fan at all, Ambrish. I don't know cricket. I'm only an amateur in terms of understanding baseball. I would say we're still in the probably the first quarter of the transformation. We have --

我不知道——我根本不是板球迷，安布里什。我不了解板球。我對棒球的了解只是個業餘愛好者。我認為我們目前可能還處於轉型的第一階段。我們有——

Okay, that's football.

好了，這就是足球。

We have many, many years of upside. As I said, what makes me very optimistic about this business is that the analog domain essentially sets the performance for all the systems that make up this massive information communications technology sector. It's one of the foundational technologies. Our customers are asking us for more, more, more, and we're getting to the point now where we can be very, very choosey about the problems that we solve and we can solve those problems across the board from microwave to mixed signal to digital signal processing to power sensor technologies.

我們還有很多年的上漲空間。正如我所說，讓我對這個行業非常樂觀的原因是，模擬領域從根本上決定了構成這個龐大的資訊通信技術領域的所有系統的性能。它是基礎技術之一。我們的客戶要求我們做得更多、更多、更多，我們現在已經能夠非常、非常挑剔地選擇要解決的問題，並且能夠全面解決從微波到混合信號到數位訊號處理再到功率感測器技術等各種問題。

I think there's a huge innovation upside. That's the root of this Company. We're in a better and better position with our customers. I'm very optimistic that we can get this business well beyond $5 billion in a reasonable period of time.

我認為這裡蘊藏著巨大的創新潛力。這就是這家公司的根基。我們與客戶的關係越來越好。我非常樂觀地認為，我們可以在合理的時間內將這項業務的規模提升到 50 億美元以上。

Okay. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving, guys.

好的。謝謝。感恩節快樂，各位。

Many happy returns.

祝你生日快樂。

Thanks, Ambrish. Next question, please.

謝謝你，安布里什。下一個問題。

Your next question comes from Tore Svanberg with Stifel.

你的下一個問題來自 Stifel 公司的 Tore Svanberg。

Yes, great execution, guys. Dave, can you remind us where utilization is right now and what are your plans for the next quarter? Obviously, you've done a great job bringing the inventory days down, but kind of as we look forward from here on, how should we think about utilization and inventories? Thanks.

是的，執行得很棒，夥計們。Dave，你能提醒我們目前的使用率是多少，以及你們下一季的計畫是什麼嗎？顯然，你們在降低庫存週轉天數方面做得非常出色，但是展望未來，我們該如何看待利用率和庫存呢？謝謝。

Good question, Tore. Utilization was in the kind of high 60%s in the fourth quarter. I would expect it to be roughly in that range in the first quarter, which is somewhat atypical for us for a first quarter because generally we're working our inventory back down in the first quarter and with industrial usually having a sequential decline in the first quarter as well, that generally drives our utilization down a bit. Given that we have done so well, the operations group has done so well in terms of managing inventory this year, we can keep utilization a little bit higher going into the first quarter.

問得好，托雷。第四季利用率高達 60%。我預計第一季大致會在這個範圍內，這對我們來說第一季度有點不尋常，因為通常我們會在第一季度降低庫存，而且工業通常也會在第一季度環比下降，這通常會使我們的利用率略微下降。鑑於我們今年在庫存管理方面做得非常出色，營運團隊也做得非常出色，我們可以將利用率在進入第一季時保持在稍高的水平。

That's great. Happy Thanksgiving, guys. Thank you.

那太棒了。感恩節快樂，各位。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from Tristan Gerra with Baird.

下一個問題來自 Baird 公司的 Tristan Gerra。

Hi. Good morning. Related question on the gross margin guidance. When we adjust for the sale of previously reserved product, you had a sequential trend in gross margin guidance that's better than seasonal and you just mentioned the utilization rate being better than what you would see typically in the fiscal quarter. Is there anything else in terms of mix that also had an impact on the gross margin, maybe some weakness in base station or anything else that you could give us color on?

你好。早安.關於毛利率指引的相關問題。當我們調整先前預留產品的銷售額時，您的毛利率指引呈現出比季節性更好的連續趨勢，而且您剛才也提到，產能利用率比通常在財季看到的水平要好。還有其他因素對毛利率產生影響嗎？例如基地台方面存在一些弱點，或是其他什麼方面您能給我們詳細介紹一下？

I think it's generally utilization that's going to drive it. Because in reality, mix on a year-over-year basis is actually a little bit worse, because if you remember the first quarter was a pretty difficult quarter for us with regard to consumer, came down quite a bit. This year it won't haves as dramatic a decline. Mix is a little bit negative but utilization will offset.

我認為總體而言，利用率將是驅動因素。因為實際上，年比來看，產品組合實際上更糟一些，因為如果你還記得的話，第一季對我們來說是一個相當艱難的季度，消費者方面下滑了不少。今年不會像去年那樣劇烈的下滑。結構略有不利，但利用率會彌補這一不足。

I would say the other thing just anecdotally is the operations group has done a very good job on the spending side, just really managing the expenses there. We've incrementally, I'd say, every year been doing a bit better in terms of spending. On top of that, there's obviously, as I think I mentioned in the prepared remarks, we've been focused on pricing as well. I think those things have just had an incrementally little bit of a benefit every quarter and then of course utilization drives a lot of it and the offset would be mix sequentially.

我個人認為，營運團隊在支出方面做得非常好，他們很好地控制了開支。我認為，我們在支出方面每年都在逐步改善。除此之外，正如我在準備好的演講稿中提到的，我們顯然也一直在關注定價問題。我認為這些措施每季都只是略有成效，當然，利用率在很大程度上決定了這些成效，而抵消作用則體現在產品組合的周期性變化上。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Your next question comes from Craig Hettenbach with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的克雷格·赫滕巴赫。

We've had cricket, football, baseball. We had some game, set, match with tennis in there. On industrial, and I understanding there's a macro of (inaudible) to industrial, but nice to see the broad-based strength. Can you talk about, Vince, just maybe some of the applications or product that you're excited about in terms of where you're seeing some investment by your industrial customers?

我們看過板球、足球和棒球比賽。我們玩了一些網球比賽，打了幾局。關於工業，我了解到工業領域存在宏觀（聽不清楚）現象，但很高興看到其廣泛的強勁勢頭。Vince，您能否談談您比較看好哪些應用或產品，以及您看到哪些工業客戶在這些領域進行了投資？

I mentioned in the prepared remarks there, Craig, for example in our core businesses, like robotics, for example, there's a need to be able to push the speed and the accuracy of these robots to ever-higher levels. That's a tremendous digital signal processing challenge and we've been building complete solutions that are only coming to fruition now for that area to enable much higher speeds in the operation of the robot with lower power, much greater accuracy. It's a complete signal chain of digital signal processing technology and mixed signal technology.

克雷格，我在事先準備好的演講稿中提到過，例如，在我們核心業務領域，例如機器人領域，我們需要不斷提高這些機器人的速度和精確度。這是一個巨大的數位訊號處理挑戰，我們一直在建立完整的解決方案，而這些解決方案現在才剛剛在這個領域取得成果，使機器人能夠在更低的功耗下實現更高的運行速度和更高的精度。它是一套完整的數位訊號處理技術和混合訊號技術的訊號鏈。

I mentioned in the prepared remarks as well some of these software-defined input/output structures that are enabling our customers to deepen the penetration of sensors into their environments and to dramatically reduce the complexity of installation and the cost. Energy's another area. It's a slow-burn market but it's an area where we have tremendous technology in transmission and distribution and also in the metering of energy. Those are just a couple of areas.

我在準備好的演講稿中也提到了一些軟體定義的輸入/輸出結構，這些結構使我們的客戶能夠更深入地將感測器滲透到他們的環境中，並大幅降低安裝的複雜性和成本。能源是另一個領域。這是一個發展緩慢的市場，但我們在輸配電以及能源計量方面擁有非常強大的技術。以上僅列舉了其中幾個面向。

I should say as well, we combine -- we just lump healthcare into the industrial sector as well and we've seen -- this is a market where we've been investing, I would say modestly, but very determinedly, over the last seven or eight years and we're beginning to really see the returns come good there in terms of revenue and profit. I'll give you an example. Using integrated silicon photonics and signal processing technology, we've changed the way our customers can implement CT scanning and digital x-ray. We're bringing clinical-grade vital signs monitoring beyond the hospital into the clinic and the home.

我還應該補充一點，我們將醫療保健也納入了工業領域，而且我們已經看到——在過去的七八年裡，我們一直在這個市場進行投資，雖然投資規模不大，但力度非常大，現在我們開始真正看到收入和利潤方面的回報。我給你舉個例子。利用整合矽光子學和訊號處理技術，我們改變了客戶實施 CT 掃描和數位 X 光的方式。我們將臨床級生命徵象監測從醫院帶到診所和家庭。

Those are all things that are making a big difference to ADI. I should point out, by the way, as well, that we're on a $0.25 billion run rate now with our healthcare business with very, very good profits and a good outlook. Again, it's a slower burn business but it's a terrific bet for the future for ADI.

這些因素都對ADI產生了重大影響。順便一提，我還應該指出，我們目前的醫療保健業務年化收入為 2.5 億美元，利潤非常非常好，前景良好。雖然這是一個發展速度較慢的業務，但對ADI來說，這是一個極具發展潛力的未來投資。

Great. Thanks for all that color.

偉大的。謝謝你帶來的繽紛色彩。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from Chris Danely with Citigroup.

下一個問題來自花旗集團的克里斯·丹利。

Hey, thanks, guys. I'm going to ask the Trump question since I get it five or six times a day. Who knows what this guy's going to come up with policy wise, but maybe if you could share with us your sort of thoughts on how you think this impacts you, what your concerns are, what you think any positives could come out of it for ADI and the industry? Any thoughts there would be appreciated.

嘿，謝謝大家。因為我每天都會被問到五、六次關於川普的問題，所以我就問這個問題吧。誰也不知道這個人會在政策方面提出什麼方案，但或許您可以和我們分享一下您對這項政策如何影響您、您有哪些擔憂、以及您認為這項政策對ADI和整個行業可能帶來的積極影響的看法？歡迎大家提出任何想法。

It's a good question. We're getting into our 52nd year now as a Company, so we've gone through many regime changes across the world and many, many -- how many American presidents is that? I think it's just wait and see. We don't know.

這是個好問題。公司成立至今已有 52 年，我們經歷了世界各地的多次政權更迭，以及數不清的美國總統——那得有多少位美國總統啊？我覺得只能靜觀其變了。我們不知道。

We hear -- like everybody else, we hear the rhetoric. We've yet got to see what the policy's going to look like. Maybe on the margins, it will be good at least for the American business environment.

我們聽到了——和所有人一樣，我們也聽到了這些言論。我們目前還無法看到這項政策的具體內容。或許從某些方面來看，這至少對美國的商業環境是有益的。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from Amit Daryanani with RBC Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的 Amit Daryanani。

Thanks. Good morning, guys. Congrats on a really nice quarter here. I just want to go back to the Linear transaction for a second. You've had more time to go you through this and review this.

謝謝。各位早安。恭喜你們本季業績非常出色。我只想回到線性事務那邊一會兒。您有更多的時間來仔細閱讀和回顧這篇文章。

I'd say the number one question we tend to get is how much of -- what sort of manufacturing optimization savings could you get from the transaction over time? What sort of upside would that yield versus $150 million you've talked about? Anything you can talk about just manufacturing integration optimization you can do and if that would be incremental to what you've talked about?

我想說，我們最常被問到的問題是，隨著時間的推移，透過這項交易，您可以獲得多少——在製造優化方面可以節省多少成本？與您之前提到的 1.5 億美元相比，這會帶來怎樣的潛在收益？關於製造整合優化方面，您能談談您能做些什麼，以及這是否會對您之前談到的內容有所補充？

Thanks, Amit. That's a good question. Let me start though, since you opened up the Linear question, why don't we just start at the top here. We've actually spent the last several months really focusing on how the integration will goes as of day one. I would tell you that where we have gotten a lot more optimism is around the revenue side.

謝謝你，阿米特。這是個好問題。不過，既然你提出了線性問題，那我們就從頭開始吧。實際上，過去幾個月我們一直專注於研究從第一天起整合工作將如何進行。我想說的是，我們對收入方面的前景更加樂觀。

We were already coming into this, and this is the reason you do an acquisition like this is to get revenue synergies, we were already coming into the acquisition thinking that we would get hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue upside over time. Of course, it takes a while to get that revenue upside, but eventually.

我們原本就打算進行這樣的收購，而進行此類收購的原因就是為了獲得收入綜效，我們收購之初就認為，隨著時間的推移，我們將獲得數億美元的收入成長。當然，要實現收入成長需要一段時間，但最終會實現的。

I would say that we're even more optimistic about getting revenue synergies. The teams have sat a number of times and talked through where there might be opportunities for the combined Company to really address markets and deliver products that we hadn't in the past. The fruits of that, those conversations have been very, very positive.

我認為我們對實現收入協同效應更加樂觀。各團隊已經多次坐下來討論，合併後的公司有哪些機會可以真正開拓市場，推出我們過去沒有做過的產品。這些對話的成果非常非常正面。

On the manufacturing side, I think that right now we're going to go in with the footprint that we have and what we do and what we've always done is optimize that to our needs. We'll continue to look at it. I don't know beyond -- I think we had roughly thought that there's about $50 million of manufacturing synergies through purchasing power and so forth. Whether there will be more several years down the road we'll just have to wait and see. For now, I would call it $50 million.

在生產製造方面，我認為目前我們將沿用現有的規模和做法，並且我們一直以來的做法都是根據我們的需求進行最佳化。我們會繼續關注此事。我不知道更遠——我想我們之前粗略估計，透過購買力等方式，製造業協同效應大約有 5000 萬美元。幾年後是否還會有更多，我們只能拭目以待了。目前，我暫且稱之為 5,000 萬美元。

Then we expect there's probably another $100 million of OpEx synergies. There's a lot of early wins that we've identified through the efforts and planning the integration with obviously the public company expenses but there's a lot of things that we spend in terms of outside services and so forth that we don't need to spend two of and so I think we'll get some very quick cost savings out of that activity. If anything, I think we're very positive.

那我們預計可能還有1億美元的營運支出綜效。透過努力和規劃整合，我們已經取得了一些早期成果，當然也包括上市公司的開支，但我們在外部服務等方面的支出有很多是不必要的，所以我認為我們將從這項活動中很快節省一些成本。如果有什麼變化的話，我認為我們非常樂觀。

I would tell you that the other thing we talked about when we announced the acquisition was that we thought our tax, blended tax rate would be 19.5%. I think today now we believe that's more like 15%. That actually pushes up the near-term accretion number from about 10% to probably about 15%. If anything, we're more optimistic about the near term and incredibly optimistic about the long term.

我想告訴大家，我們在宣布收購時還談到了另一件事，那就是我們認為我們的綜合稅率將是 19.5%。我認為現在我們認為這個比例更接近 15%。實際上，這將使近期吸積率從大約 10% 提高到大約 15%。如果有什麼改變的話，那就是我們對近期前景更樂觀，對長期前景更是無比樂觀。

Perfect. Thank you guys.

完美的。謝謝大家。

Your next question comes from Craig Ellis with B. Riley.

你的下一個問題來自 Craig Ellis 和 B. Riley。

Thanks for taking the question and congratulations on the excellent execution, guys.

感謝各位回答這個問題，也祝賀你們出色地完成了任務。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Just looking the model bottoms up and going back a bit to Ambrish's question, if my model's correct not only did you have record margins in the quarter but auto and industrial also had record quarters. As I look at the outlook, the 13% midpoint year-on-year growth relative to ADI's history and global GDP growth, I think we would typically look at the analog industry growing at a 2 to 2-1/2 times multiple, you're growing at 4 times that. As we look at the business and where it is now and the early payoff in some of the platform investments the Company has made, are we seeing the Company start to move into a phase where its growth rate relative to its own history and relative to the industry is now at a nice premium to what we would have seen in the post-Lehman and even pre-Lehman periods?

從模型底部往回看，再回到 Ambrish 的問題，如果我的模型是正確的，不僅你們本季的利潤率創下歷史新高，而且汽車和工業的季度業績也創下歷史新高。從前景來看，相對於 ADI 的歷史數據和全球 GDP 成長率，13% 的年增長率中位數，我認為我們通常會看到類比電路產業的成長倍數為 2 到 2.5 倍，而你們的成長倍數是這個數字的 4 倍。當我們審視公司的業務現狀以及公司在一些平台投資方面取得的早期回報時，我們是否看到公司開始進入一個階段，在這個階段，其相對於自身歷史和行業的增長率，現在比我們在雷曼兄弟倒閉後甚至倒閉前時期所看到的增長率有了相當大的溢價？

I think firstly, you've got to take growth over a longer period of time. It's a longer integral. Yes, as I've said, what makes me very optimistic about things is that we're innovating like never before and our -- we're solving big, meaningful problems of greater impact and our customer relationships are such that I think we're very, very well positioned to be able to partner with them, to really uncover what they believe to be the most intractable challenges both in terms of their innovation and their commercial impact.

我認為首先，成長需要更長的時間。這是一個較長的積分。是的，正如我所說，讓我非常樂觀的是，我們正在以前所未有的速度進行創新，我們正在解決影響更大的重大而有意義的問題，而且我們與客戶的關係也非常好，我認為我們完全有能力與他們合作，真正發現他們認為在創新和商業影響方面最棘手的挑戰。

So yes, I think we're innovating in a way that gives us tremendous opportunity for growth and as I said, we've got the customers with us. I think I would expect -- we've said that our long-term growth model is 2 to 3 times GDP. I think we're well positioned to at least deliver that organically and as I said when Ambrish asked the question earlier, we will be updating our models over the coming couple of quarters once we integrate LTC here. We'll give you more color and visibility.

所以，是的，我認為我們正在以一種能為我們帶來巨大成長機會的方式進行創新，正如我所說，我們得到了客戶的支持。我認為應該如此──我們說過，我們的長期成長模式是GDP的2到3倍。我認為我們有能力至少以有機的方式實現這一點，正如我之前在 Ambrish 問這個問題時所說，一旦我們將 LTC 整合到這裡，我們將在接下來的幾個季度更新我們的模型。我們將為您帶來更豐富的色彩和更清晰的視覺效果。

All right. Thanks, Craig. Next question.

好的。謝謝你，克雷格。下一個問題。

Your next question comes from Stacy Rasgon with Bernstein Research.

下一個問題來自伯恩斯坦研究公司的史黛西·拉斯貢。

Hi, guys, thanks for taking my question. I guess I also had a housekeeping question. Dave, you mentioned that you thought consumer would be down in the ballpark of 30% sequentially next quarter, but just mathematically that doesn't give me the B2B down mid-single digits. B2B, to fit the guidance, would be down more than that. Were you just sort of rounding on the consumer number or is there something else going on with the math?

大家好，感謝你們回答我的問題。我好像還有個家事方面的問題。Dave，你提到你認為下個季度消費者支出將環比下降約 30%，但僅從數學角度來看，這並不能解釋為何 B2B 支出會下降個位數中段。根據指導意見，B2B業務的降幅還會更大。你對消費者數量只是簡單地進行了四捨五入，還是計算中還有其他因素？

I was rounding on the consumer number.

我當時對消費者數量進行了四捨五入。

You expect it to be down more?

你預期價格還會進一步下跌嗎？

A little bit more.

再多一點。

Got it. That's the housekeeping question. If I could ask the real question now. Just last year you gave us a little bit of color on content increases for Apple and obviously the businesses, consumer was down a little bit this year but not much with the content increase offsetting the inventory reduction. What do you guys see for content increase on the next cycle for that product?

知道了。這是家務問題。如果我現在能問出真正的問題就好了。就在去年，您向我們簡要介紹了蘋果的內容成長情況，顯然，今年消費者業務略有下降，但下降幅度不大，因為內容成長抵消了庫存減少的影響。你們覺得該產品下一週期內容成長會如何？

I think it's too early to tell right now. I think we feel good about our content right now. Whether there will be any additional items is, I think, difficult to say right now.

我覺得現在下結論還太早。我認為我們現在對自己的內容很有信心。目前很難說是否還會有其他項目。

Got it. Thank you, guys.

知道了。謝謝大家。

Your next question comes from Blayne Curtis with Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的布萊恩‧柯蒂斯。

Hey, guys, thanks for taking my question. Actually just a follow-up there on the consumer side. The 30%-ish decline seems fairly normal, so just wondering if you could compare and contrast this year versus last year. You have additional components. Are you seeing any yield issues or anything like you saw in (inaudible) this year or is it fairly smooth?

嘿，各位，謝謝你們回答我的問題。實際上，這裡只是想從消費者的角度補充一些資訊。30%左右的跌幅似乎相當正常，所以想請問您能否將今年與去年進行比較和對比？您還有其他組件。你們今年有沒有遇到任何產量問題，或是像（聽不清楚）那樣的情況，還是情況比較順利？

We don't -- it's fairly smooth. I think what you saw kind of on a year-over-year basis is we came down a little bit while increasing content. The driver of the opposite kind of force here was obviously the inventory build that happened last year that doesn't appear to be happening this year. It's kind of tracking as you would normally expect.

我們沒有——它相當流暢。我認為，從年比來看，我們雖然增加了內容，但支出卻略有下降。顯然，造成這種相反趨勢的原因是去年出現的庫存積壓，而今年似乎並沒有出現這種情況。它的追蹤情況基本上符合預期。

Great. Thanks.

偉大的。謝謝。

Your next question comes from Ross Seymore with Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的羅斯·西摩。

Hi, guys. Thanks for letting me ask a question. On the OpEx side of things, I realize you only have a couple quarters left before Linear comes into the equation. Dave, can you walk us through why you're guiding at up sequentially? If I look historically I can't find a quarter in the last four, five years where it was actually up. How do you plan to manage the organic OpEx up until that Linear integration?

嗨，大家好。謝謝允許我提問。從營運支出來看，我知道在 Linear 投入使用之前，你們只剩下幾個季度的時間了。Dave，你可以跟我們解釋一下為什麼要依序向上引導嗎？如果我回顧歷史數據，我找不到過去四、五年中任何一個季度出現過上漲的情況。在線性整合之前，您計劃如何管理有機營運支出？

Well, I'll take the second question first, which is very carefully. We're not looking to build or add a lot of resources right now because we're going to inherit a lot of resources from Linear Tech.

好的，我先回答第二個問題，這個問題需要非常謹慎。我們目前不打算建造或增加大量資源，因為我們將從凌力爾特公司繼承大量資源。

We want to optimize that combined workforce that we're going to have going forward. We're very, very, very cautiously managing OpEx. I would say for the most part keeping headcount flat. Maybe there's one or two people here or there that we need to add for one reason or the other.

我們希望優化未來將要擁有的綜合勞動力。我們對營運支出管理得非常、非常、非常謹慎。我認為大部分情況下都會保持員工人數不變。或許基於這樣或那樣的原因，我們需要增加一兩個人。

There is a dynamic within our compensation plan, variable compensation plan, that makes this phenomenon happen every so often. That's a situation where on a year-over-year basis we have pretty meaningful growth, which is a component of our variable comp and so while as you point out, we do a pretty good job with the fixed expenses, bringing them down in the first quarter on a sequential basis, and generally the same thing happens with the variable compensation. In this particular quarter, that's not going to be the case because of the year-over-year component is going to actually drive a higher bonus payout.

我們的薪酬方案，特別是浮動薪酬方案，其中存在一種動態機制，使得這種現象時不時地發生。這種情況是，從年比來看，我們實現了相當可觀的成長，這是我們浮動薪酬的一部分。正如你所指出的，我們在固定支出方面做得相當不錯，第一季環比下降了固定支出，浮動薪酬通常也是如此。但就本季而言，情況並非如此，因為同比因素實際上會推動更高的獎金發放。

That's really the dynamic there. Otherwise, it would have been kind of largely as you would have expected it to be managed in the first quarter.

這就是那裡的真實情況。否則，第一季的管理情況基本上就會如你所預期的。

I think as you mentioned, Dave, in the prepared remarks, the operating margin in the first quarter is still going to be I think at the midpoint around 32%, which is pretty strong. I think you'd have to go back five or six years to see those kinds of operating margins in the first quarter.

戴夫，我認為正如你在準備好的演講稿中提到的那樣，第一季的營業利潤率仍然會在 32% 左右，這相當強勁。我認為要找到第一季能達到這種營業利潤率的例子，恐怕要追溯到五、六年前。

Good question. Next caller, please.

問得好。請下一位來電。

Your next question comes from David Wong with Wells Fargo.

下一個問題來自富國銀行的David Wong。

Thanks very much. Your B2B segments, industrial, automotive comps, they've all swung from year-over-year declines a couple of quarters ago to solid 6% to 7% growth in October. Sounds like your January comp guidance assumes about the same. Are you seeing any sub-segments of these accelerating or actually strengthening from that very good October level?

非常感謝。您的 B2B 業務板塊、工業板塊、汽車板塊的同比增速，在幾個季度前都出現了同比下滑，而到了 10 月份，這些板塊的同比增速都達到了 6% 到 7%。聽起來你們一月份的薪資預期也大致如此。你認為這些板塊中有哪些子板塊在10月份的良好水平基礎上加速上漲或進一步走強？

I think they're all pretty much behaving as you might expect. There are areas that we're obviously seeing just strength in general. Vince mentioned the healthcare space. Clearly the aerospace and defence business has been good. Areas around IoT that we focused on have done well.

我認為他們的表現基本上都在意料之中。有些領域顯然整體實力強勁。文斯提到了醫療保健領域。顯然，航空航天和國防產業發展良好。我們重點關注的物聯網領域都取得了不錯的成績。

There are sub-segments of the auto space like ADAS and powertrain and so forth. Vince mentioned the A2B platform that we have in auto for infotainment area. All those things are doing probably on the margin a little bit better. I would say it is a very, very broad-based situation with the B2B space and pretty much every sub-segment is doing well.

汽車領域還有ADAS、動力系統等細分領域。Vince提到了我們在汽車資訊娛樂領域擁有的A2B平台。所有這些方面可能都略有改善。我認為B2B領域的情況非常非常廣泛，幾乎每個細分領域都發展得很好。

Great. Thanks very much.

偉大的。非常感謝。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Your next question is from Steve Smigie with Raymond James.

下一個問題來自 Raymond James 的 Steve Smigie。

Great. Thanks a lot, guys. Just was hoping to get some quick color on lidar opportunity. What do you see that opportunity for you guys, as in what does your acquisition bring to the table versus some of the competition out there?

偉大的。非常感謝各位。只是想快速了解雷射雷達成像技術。你們認為這次收購對你們來說有什麼機會？與市場上的一些競爭對手相比，你們的收購能帶來什麼優勢？

Good question. Basically, the technology we've acquired is liquid crystal optical wave guide technology and it's a solid-state approach to a very, very difficult problem, basically using a solid-state approach to optical beam steering. That's critical if you're going to really push the resolution of lidar in the future. In contrast to other beams theory methods, for example, like MEMS mirrors, the spinners that you've seen running around highway 101 there are optical phased arrays.

問得好。基本上，我們所掌握的技術是液晶光波導技術，它是一種固態方法來解決一個非常非常困難的問題，基本上就是利用固態方法來實現光束控制。如果你將來真的想提高光達的分辨率，這一點至關重要。與其他光束理論方法（例如 MEMS 反射鏡）相比，你在 101 號高速公路上看到的旋轉器是光學相控陣。

The technology we've acquired doesn't have any sensitivity to vibration, for example. Technically, we get great frame rates, no blind spots and we can randomly steer the beam as well. This technology, we believe, puts us firmly on the lidar roadmap and combined with our radar-based advanced driver assistance technology at 24 and 77 gig, really gives us two of the very critical technology modalities to enable not only greater safety, which everybody craves in transportation, but also it puts us well on the path to enabling our customers to get closer to realizing autonomous driving as a major trend in the transportation sector.

例如，我們所掌握的技術對振動沒有任何敏感性。從技術上講，我們可以獲得很高的幀速率，沒有盲區，而且我們還可以隨機控制光束方向。我們相信，這項技術使我們穩穩地走在了光達路線圖上，並與我們24和77G的基於雷達的高級駕駛輔助技術相結合，真正為我們提供了兩種非常關鍵的技術模式，不僅可以實現每個人都渴望的更高安全性，而且還能使我們走上幫助客戶更接近實現自動駕駛這一交通運輸領域主要趨勢的道路。

That's essentially what we see. It's a potentially beyond $1 billion semiconductor TAM for this thing for us, so it could be potentially a wave. That's why we've bought the technology. It is reasonably early stage, but the technology is working. Now we've got to get it installed and make it work in the application.

我們看到的基本上就是這樣。對我們來說，這塊半導體市場的潛在市場規模可能超過 10 億美元，所以它有可能掀起一波。這就是我們購買這項技術的原因。雖然還處於相當早期的階段，但這項技術是有效的。現在我們需要把它安裝好，並讓它在應用程式中運行。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from William Stein with SunTrust.

下一個問題來自 SunTrust 銀行的 William Stein。

Great. Thanks for taking my question. I'm hoping you can address the reasoning behind the greater optimism for revenue synergies. Specifically, is this more of an inside-out view when you sit down with engineers and think about the products that you might be able to deliver or is it more customer driven where you're hearing feedback that requests a combination of products, let's say? Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝您回答我的問題。我希望您能解釋一下為何人們對營收協同效應更加樂觀。具體來說，當你和工程師坐下來思考你可能交付的產品時，這種觀點是更偏向於由內而外的視角，還是更偏向於以客戶為導向的視角，例如你會聽到客戶回饋要求組合多種產品？謝謝。

I would say it's a combination. Vince can add color if he wants. I would say it's a combination of clearly the business units, call it the engineering portion of the business units, do see opportunities for products that they could make that would be special. I think a lot of it comes from just the sales force of the combined Company looking at the other Company's portfolio and licking their chops at what they could do with that, those products in their geographies, their customers and so forth. I think that's really where we see a lot of the kind of near-side opportunities.

我認為是兩者兼而有之。如果文斯願意，他可以添加一些色彩。我認為這是各個業務部門，或者說是業務部門的工程部分，共同看到了他們可以製造一些特殊產品的機會。我認為這很大程度上是因為合併後公司的銷售人員看著另一家公司的產品組合，垂涎三尺地想著他們可以利用這些產品在各自的地理、客戶群等方面做些什麼。我認為這正是我們看到許多近端鋒機會的地方。

I think maybe as well in some -- particularly of the larger customers, there's an open door invitation to do more together with the portfolios that we have on hand as well as getting our engineering teams together to figure out how to create even more value and future together, in terms of how we invest in R&D and apply it.

我認為，對於某些客戶，尤其是一些大客戶，我們或許可以敞開大門，邀請他們與我們利用現有的產品組合開展更多合作，並讓我們的工程團隊齊聚一堂，共同探討如何在研發投資和應用方面創造更大的價值和未來。

Thanks and congratulations.

謝謝，也恭喜你。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from Vivek Arya with Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

下一個問題來自美國銀行美林證券的維韋克·阿亞。

Thanks for taking my question and congrats on the great execution and the recovery in the B2B segment. My question, though, is related to the consumer segment. What is the right way to model that segment for the next two years?

感謝您回答我的問題，並祝賀您在B2B領域取得了出色的執行力和復甦。不過，我的問題與消費者群體有關。未來兩年，如何正確地對該細分市場進行建模？

If you were in our shoes, would you model that segment to be flat, up or down? Just given the large influence of one of your customers in that segment, it's really hard to model that. I was just wondering how you would be modeling it if you were in our shoes. Thank you.

如果你是我們，你會把那一段建模成平坦的、向上的還是向下的？鑑於您的一位客戶在該細分市場中的巨大影響力，這真的很難建模。我只是想知道，如果你處在我們的位置，你會如何建模。謝謝。

From a top-line perspective, I'd say if we could get 10% growth compounded for the next few years in that business, we'd be very, very satisfied.

從整體來看，如果未來幾年該業務能夠實現 10% 的複合成長率，我們就會非常非常滿意。

Do you see -- do you have visibility for that, Vince?

文斯，你看到了嗎？你能看到這一點嗎？

Well, look, do you really have visibility into anything? I mean, we work hard on building great products. We're working very, very hard on deepening our penetration, not just in one customer but in several customers.

你看，你真的了解事情的真相嗎？我的意思是，我們努力打造優秀的產品。我們正在非常努力地加深市場滲透，不僅要滲透到單一客戶，還要滲透到多個客戶。

It's a rapid cycle business as well and things can change. Markets can change. Applications or products can hit, not hit. Products get -- can even at the customer level be brought to market or canceled.

這是一個週期很快的產業，情況瞬息萬變。市場瞬息萬變。應用程式或產品可能會成功，也可能不會成功。產品甚至可以在客戶層面被推向市場或取消。

As best we can tell, we're happy with the position we're in, in terms of the products and technology we have, the relationships we've got with the critical customers in this space, so I'm optimistic that we can grow this business at the level I've said. Time will tell. We don't know. We can't predict because also it's a market with relatively fickle customers on the other side of things. I think we're well positioned to pick the upside. That's pretty much what I've got to say about it.

就我們目前的情況來看，我們對自身的產品和技術，以及與該領域關鍵客戶建立的關係都感到滿意，所以我樂觀地認為，我們可以按照我所說的水平發展這項業務。時間會證明一切。我們不知道。我們無法預測，因為這是一個顧客喜怒無常的市場。我認為我們已經做好充分準備，抓住上漲的機會。這就是我對這件事的全部看法。

One thing I would add is that we do track kind of the opportunity set and we certainly have the opportunities to do what Vince said and it is a matter of markets and applications taking off and so forth. From an opportunity perspective, we're optimistic about what we can do in the consumer space.

我想補充一點，我們確實會關注各種機會，我們當然有機會做到文斯所說的那樣，這取決於市場和應用是否能夠蓬勃發展等等。從機會的角度來看，我們對在消費領域的發展前景持樂觀態度。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from John Pitzer with Credit Suisse.

下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的約翰‧皮策。

Thanks for letting me ask the question. Congratulations on strong results. I guess, Vince, an earlier questioner rightly pointed out that within your B2B business, industrial and auto kind of established new all-time quarterly highs in the October quarter.

謝謝您允許我提問。祝賀取得優異成績。我想，Vince，之前一位提問者正確地指出，在你的 B2B 業務中，工業和汽車行業在 10 月的季度中創下了歷史新高。

I was hoping you could talk a little about the communications sector, still about $40 million below kind of peak revenue run rate a few years ago. I know not all of Hittite gets wrapped up in the coms, but especially given the success at least on a design side from the Hittite acquisition, I'm just kind of curious how you view the outlook for the coms business. Why is that the business that's still kind of struggling relative to past ties and what are kind of the growth drivers you see from here?

我希望您能談談通訊行業的情況，該行業目前的營收水準比幾年前的峰值低了約 4000 萬美元。我知道 Hittite 並非全部都與通訊有關，但尤其考慮到 Hittite 收購後至少在設計方面取得了成功，我很好奇您如何看待通訊業務的前景。為什麼這家企業相對於以往的業績仍有些掙扎？您認為它未來的成長動力是什麼？

I think you've got to take a very long-term view to the consumer space. We have been playing in this business from 1G into 4G. We're helping our customers with 4.5G. We're at the early stages of helping them architect 5G technologies as well.

我認為你必須以非常長遠的眼光看待消費領域。我們從1G時代就開始涉足這個產業，一直到4G時代。我們正在幫助我們的客戶使用 4.5G 技術。我們也正處於幫助他們建構 5G 技術架構的早期階段。

It's an important market for ADI. With Hittite, we're able to bring a level of completeness to our customers' solutions. We're seeing the growth we expected out of Hittite that we had thought was there. We're getting the growth.

對ADI來說，這是一個重要的市場。借助 Hittite，我們能夠為客戶的解決方案帶來更高的完整性。我們看到了我們預期的赫梯成長，而我們之前就認為它會成長。我們正在實現成長。

We're well positioned with our customers and we're grinding out results in 4G. I think we are getting share in 4G. In some of the older technologies, some of the 2.5, 3G technologies, clearly there's price erosion, which offsets to some extent the growth we get in 4G.

我們與客戶建立了良好的關係，並且在 4G 領域取得了顯著成果。我認為我們在4G市場正在獲得份額。在一些較老的技術中，例如一些 2.5G、3G 技術，價格明顯下降，這在一定程度上抵消了我們在 4G 中獲得的成長。

I think the customers are facing increasingly difficult challenges in this space. We're helping them solve them at an ever-increasing level of sophistication. It's a wave for the future and we'll grind out the results quarter by quarter, year by year.

我認為客戶在這個領域正面臨越來越嚴峻的挑戰。我們正在幫助他們解決這些問題，而且解決的難度也越來越高。這是未來的一股浪潮，我們將第一季第一季、一年一年地努力取得成果。

I think, as I said, we are in an increasingly good position to gain share in the space, particularly as we begin to push our products as well towards single-chip radio solutions in the future. I think there are very few companies standing in the radio who can build a sustainable business for the long term and ADI will be right at the top of that stack.

我認為，正如我所說，我們越來越有能力在這個領域獲得市場份額，尤其是在未來我們將開始推動我們的產品向單晶片無線電解決方案發展。我認為，在廣播業中，能夠建立長期可持續發展業務的公司寥寥無幾，而 ADI 將會是其中的佼佼者。

Thanks, John. Next question.

謝謝你，約翰。下一個問題。

Your next question comes from Chris Caso with CLSA.

下一個問題來自里昂證券的克里斯·卡索。

Thank you. Good morning. Wonder if you could talk about what you consider to be normal seasonality for the April quarter. I ask because last year was the first quarter of the substantial revenue from the consumer segment but that was undergoing the inventory adjustment. If we normalize for that inventory adjustment, what would your expectations be for a normal April?

謝謝。早安.想請您談談您認為四月份季度的正常季節性波動是什麼樣的。我這麼問是因為去年是消費者業務收入大幅成長的第一個季度，但當時正處於庫存調整期。如果將庫存調整因素考慮在內，您對四月份的正常預期會是什麼樣的？

That's a good question, Chris. We're kind of in new territory, so I'll take a crack at it but don't hold me to it. I would expect, as is typical, the industrial and automotive sectors to have pretty good sequential growth. I think the industrial sector usually has about 10% and usually the automotive sector is a little bit below 10% but they're both pretty strong.

克里斯，你問得好。我們現在算是進入了一個全新的領域，所以我嘗試一下，但不要太當真。我預計，工業和汽車行業將像往常一樣實現相當不錯的環比增長。我認為工業部門通常佔10%左右，汽車部門通常略低於10%，但它們都相當強勁。

Coms will do what it does. It's more cyclical than seasonal, I think, in most cases.

通訊功能會依其正常程序運作。我認為，在大多數情況下，它更多的是週期性的而不是季節性的。

The consumer business, which is the big wild card, I'm going to guess that it's down probably the same kind of level sequentially as it was in the first quarter, probably in the 30% plus or minus or something like that in the second quarter again. Then of course we'll have a rebound after that in the third and fourth quarter as it seasonally does. Hard to say, but that would be my guess.

消費者業務是最大的不確定因素，我猜測它可能會像第一季一樣環比下降，第二季可能再次下降 30% 左右。當然，之後我們會像往常一樣，在第三季和第四季出現反彈。很難說，但這大概是我的猜測。

That's helpful. Thank you.

那很有幫助。謝謝。

Your next question comes from Toshiya Hari with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的 Toshiya Hari。

Great. Thanks for taking my question. Congrats on a very strong quarter.

偉大的。謝謝您回答我的問題。恭喜你們本季業績非常出色。

I had a question on your incremental gross margins. I think for the October quarter on a year-over-year basis most of your revenue growth dropped through to the gross margin line and also for the January quarter, if we take the midpoint of your revenue and gross margin guide, again, I think close to 90% or 100% of your revenue growth is dropping through the bottom line. I guess I'm curious, is this just product mix or are there other factors at play here? Thank you.

我有一個關於你們增量毛利率的問題。我認為，就 10 月份的季度而言，與去年同期相比，你們的大部分收入增長都體現在了毛利率上；同樣，就 1 月份的季度而言，如果我們取你們收入和毛利率指引的中點，我認為你們近 90% 或 100% 的收入增長都體現在了淨利潤上。我很好奇，這只是產品組合的問題，還是有其他因素在起作用？謝謝。

Drop-through works when there isn't a lot of changes going on around working capital and so forth. I think that's kind of masking things a bit.

當營運資金等方面沒有太多變化時，這種「直接撥付」方式是有效的。我覺得這有點掩蓋真相了。

For example, in the fourth quarter, as I talked about, and we had this inventory release which drove up the gross margin, so you have to kind of strip that away before you even look at it. Then in the first quarter we are -- because we normally have this kind of utilization decline in the first quarter. We're not going to have that because the really good discipline we had through the year this year in terms of inventory management, it's instead of the utilization level that's kind of atypical for us.

例如，正如我之前提到的，在第四季度，我們進行了庫存釋放，這推高了毛利率，所以你必須先把這部分因素剔除才能進行分析。然後在第一季度，我們——因為我們通常在第一季會出現這種利用率下降的情況。我們不會出現這種情況，因為我們今年在庫存管理方面一直保持著非常良好的紀律，而不是像往常那樣保持著不尋常的利用率水準。

I'm not sure drop-through is the best way to look at it. It's more a function of -- at least in the first quarter it's more a function of utilization levels. They're going to be in the kind of mid- to high-60%s. That's going to be really beneficial relative to where we were last year at this time, which is kind of unusual for us.

我不確定用“下沉式”來描述這個問題是否恰當。至少在第一季度，這更多地取決於利用率水平。他們的佔比應該在 60% 到 70% 之間。與去年同期相比，這將對我們大有裨益，這對我們來說有點不尋常。

Okay. Great. Thank you.

好的。偉大的。謝謝。

Sure.

當然。

Your next question comes from CJ Muse with Evercore.

你的下一個問題來自 Evercore 的 CJ Muse。

Thank you for taking my question. I was hoping to revisit earlier comments regarding a 10% CAGR for consumer. If you look at your top customers in that bucket, I think 13% of your total revs in FY16, that would imply your other consumer business declined about 25% year on year. Curious, the 10% CAGR is that a reflection of your vision to rising content at your very large customer there or is it a reflection of seeing greater breadth with other consumer customers as you look out over the next one, two, three years?

感謝您回答我的問題。我原本希望重新討論一下先前關於消費者10%複合年增長率的評論。如果你看一下該類別中的頂級客戶，我認為他們佔你 2016 財年總收入的 13%，這意味著你的其他消費者業務同比下降了約 25%。令人好奇的是，10% 的複合年增長率是否反映了您對提升您那家大型客戶的內容的願景，還是反映了您展望未來一、二、三年內對其他消費者客戶更廣泛需求的願景？

I think it's a combination of all of the above. It's a long-term prediction. We have, as I said, we've certainly got the customer engagements. We have the -- we've got the technologies and products and I think we're solving problems that really matter.

我認為這是以上所有因素的綜合作用。這是一個長期預測。正如我所說，我們確實已經與客戶建立了聯繫。我們擁有相關的技術和產品，我認為我們正在解決真正重要的問題。

What I'm indicating is that to my mind it's probably more about how the market performs than individual, if you like, dynamics around engagement and individual customers. It's really more about the market.

我的意思是，在我看來，這可能更多地取決於市場表現，而不是個體（如果你願意這麼說的話）參與度和個別客戶的動態。其實這更與市場有關。

I think what we're talking about is a long-term expectation. We're investing at a rate that should enable us to get those kind of growth rates.

我認為我們討論的是一種長期預期。我們目前的投資速度應該能讓我們獲得這樣的成長率。

I will say as well that we have funded our B2B businesses. We're spending more than [90]% of the Company's R&D on our B2B businesses to make sure that we drive growth and capture the opportunity that's available to us in those sectors. We're all the time making tradeoffs in investment between the various applications in the B2B area and we're very carefully picking out the vital few opportunities in consumer, where we think our technology makes an enormous difference to the user experience.

我還要補充一點，我們已經為我們的B2B業務提供了資金。我們將公司超過 90% 的研發投入到 B2B 業務中，以確保我們能夠推動成長並抓住這些領域為我們帶來的機會。我們一直在 B2B 領域的各種應用之間權衡投資，同時也非常謹慎地挑選消費者領域中至關重要的少數機會，因為我們認為我們的技術能夠極大地改善用戶體驗。

Just a clarification. The outside of the portables business within consumer, outside of portables, consumer was up sequentially and was about stable to the prior year. Okay. Next question.

澄清一下。便攜式設備業務以外的消費品業務，即便攜式設備業務以外的消費品業務，環比增長，與上年基本持平。好的。下一個問題。

Your next question comes from Romit Shah with Instanet.

你的下一個問題來自 Instanet 的 Romit Shah。

Yes, hi. Just regarding the merger, it sound like early indications are good but one of the things that's come up is just employee retention. Something to that extent was mentioned in the proxy and one of the -- for some of us who have followed Linear over the years know that it's kind of a different culture, West Coast company. I'm just curious how are you guys incentivizing the Linear people to stay at the organization? Dave, as we put our merger models together, should we assume that OpEx and stock comp sort of step up on a like-for-like basis after the deal closes?

是的，你好。就合併而言，初步跡像似乎不錯，但其中一個問題是員工留任。代理文件中提到了類似的事情，而且——對於我們這些多年來一直關注 Linear 的人來說，這是一家文化略有不同的西海岸公司。我只是好奇你們是如何激勵Linear員工留在公司的？Dave，在我們建立合併模型時，是否應該假設交易完成後，營運支出和股票補償會以同等水準逐步提高？

Well, we do have -- we have a retention plan in place for them, so near term we're not too worried about it. I would tell you that my own view on this, Vince can probably opine, is that engineers stay with a company or come to a company based on what they're doing and whether they're doing exciting things and are granted the opportunity to work on really difficult problems and do amazing things. That's the environment we intend to create for both the ADI and Linear Tech engineers.

嗯，我們確實有——我們已經為他們制定了留任計劃，所以短期內我們並不太擔心。我個人的看法是，Vince 可能也會同意，工程師們之所以留在一家公司或加入一家公司，是因為他們所做的事情，以及他們是否在做令人興奮的事情，是否有機會解決真正困難的問題並做出驚人的成就。這就是我們希望為 ADI 和 Linear Tech 的工程師創造的環境。

I'm not particularly worried about it. No, our compensation plan in the near term for ADI and Linear Tech people is to maintain what both of them have. Over time they'll be homogenized but I think a way that -- a manner in which we wouldn't see a negative impact.

我並不太擔心。不，我們近期對 ADI 和 Linear Tech 員工的薪酬計畫是維持他們兩家公司現有的薪資水準。隨著時間的推移，它們會趨於同質化，但我認為這種同質化方式不會產生負面影響。

Just a little more color to what Dave has said, Romit. I've spent a lot of time, as many of our leaders have, with the LTC engineering community, the business community, the operations community and we share a very similar view of the world. We understand each other's businesses very, very well.

羅米特，再給戴夫的話補充一些細節。和我們許多領導人一樣，我花了很多時間與 LTC 工程界、商業界、營運界人士交流，我們對世界的看法非常相似。我們對彼此的業務都非常了解。

We share a very similar value system, how we believe value gets created and captured. I think there's tremendous excitement, by the way, all through both companies, incidentally, about how we can combine the complementary technology suites of both companies to do really marvelous things in the future.

我們擁有非常相似的價值觀，對價值的創造和獲取方式有著相同的理解。順便說一句，我認為兩家公司上下都對如何將兩家公司互補的技術組合起來，在未來創造真正了不起的成就感到無比興奮。

As Dave said earlier, that our sales forces are really chomping at the bit to get the two bags, for the ADI people to get the LT power bag and the LT salespeople to get the ADI mixed signal bag and really capture the opportunity that we think is available to both of us over the next three or four years.

正如戴夫之前所說，我們的銷售團隊都迫不及待地想要拿到這兩款產品，ADI 的人員想要拿到 LT 電源包，LT 的銷售人員想要拿到 ADI 混合信號包，真正抓住我們認為在未來三四年內對我們雙方都有的機會。

I think as Dave said, a part of retention is a sense of equity and fair treatment in terms of compensation and we pay a lot of attention to that. The soft side of the adventure that people can undertake here and work together to do amazing things into the future, solving really critical, meaningful problems with the world, that's what people want to do. I will tell you as well, we pay a lot of attention to retention and I'm pleased to say that things are very, very stable on both sides of the fence.

我認為正如戴夫所說，留住人才的一部分在於薪資方面的公平感和公正待遇，我們非常重視這一點。這裡人們可以體驗到冒險的溫情一面，大家可以攜手合作，在未來創造奇蹟，解決世界面臨的真正關鍵、有意義的問題，這正是人們想要做的。我還要告訴你們，我們非常重視員工留存率，我很高興地說，目前員工留存率在雙方都非常非常穩定。

All right, thanks. Next question.

好的，謝謝。下一個問題。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from Ian Ing with MKM Partners.

下一個問題來自 MKM Partners 的 Ian Ing。

Thanks for fitting me in. You mentioned pricing efficiencies helping gross margins year over year, looking for color on that. You have a pretty capable team in place now for a while. I've been assuming you have been pricing by value of solutions.

謝謝你安排我過來。您提到定價效率的提高有助於毛利率逐年成長，想了解具體情況。你們現在已經擁有一支相當稱職的團隊，而且這種狀態已經持續了一段時間。我一直以為你們是用解決方案的價值來定價的。

It's basically that. As Vince mentioned, I think in one of the questions, we're increasingly putting more and more robust technology in the products, some cases algorithms, some cases other software, some cases it's just hardware. It's just solving a really challenging problem and what we do is work to try to get commensurate price for that value that we create. Not surprisingly, in a big organization sometimes a little bit of that slips through the cracks and what we've been doing over the last few years is plugging those holes.

基本上就是這樣。正如 Vince 所提到的，我認為在其中一個問題中，我們正在越來越多地將更強大的技術融入產品中，有些是演算法，有些是其他軟體，有些只是硬體。這只是在解決一個非常具有挑戰性的問題，而我們所做的就是努力為我們創造的價值爭取相應的價格。毫不奇怪，在一個大組織裡，有時候難免會有一些疏漏，而我們在過去幾年裡所做的就是堵住這些漏洞。

We're not looking to gouge our customers, by any means. We're looking to find the optimal level of price per value and that's what we do every day. I think we've done an increasingly better job at that over time.

我們絕不會想辦法敲詐顧客。我們力求找到性價比的最佳水平，這也是我們每天都在做的事情。我認為隨著時間的推移，我們在這方面做得越來越好了。

Thanks, Ian.

謝謝你，伊恩。

Thank you, Dave.

謝謝你，戴夫。

Next question.

下一個問題。

Your next question is from Harsh Kumar with Stephens.

下一個問題來自史蒂芬斯的哈什庫馬爾。

On that answer you gave, there seems to be some trend among semiconductor companies that they can actually get paid very well for what they're doing. Historically it's always been downward pricing, but now I think some of the companies are trying to raise prices and maybe get paid fairly. I'm curious, you mentioned, you touched upon it in the previous answer, but I'm curious where your philosophy is as a company with that and how much of an impact did pricing have and margins for the last quarter?

根據你給出的答案，半導體公司似乎有一種趨勢，那就是他們可以透過自己所做的工作獲得非常豐厚的回報。從歷史上看，價格一直呈下降趨勢，但現在我認為有些公司正試圖提高價格，或許是為了獲得公平的回報。我很好奇，您在先前的回答中提到過，也略有提及，但我很好奇貴公司對此的理念是什麼，以及定價對上個季度的利潤率產生了多大的影響？

I think, Harsh, I would say that some companies who have been drifting into the 40%s and maybe very low 50%s in terms of gross margin, they got to get a whole new kind of philosophy in place for pricing. We already had 60%-plus gross margin, so we were actually pretty good at executing a strategy around this. It was more just cleaning up a little bit around the edges where we probably weren't executing as well.

哈什，我認為，有些公司的毛利率已經跌至 40% 甚至 50% 左右，他們必須建立一個全新的定價概念。我們當時的毛利率已經超過 60%，所以我們其實很擅長執行圍繞這一目標制定的策略。更多的是在一些我們可能執行得不夠好的地方進行一些收尾工作。

Hard to put a number on it for the quarter. I would say, though, that on the average over the last, say, four years, our ASPs are probably up 30%, 40%, probably. It's obviously been a pretty big impact in terms of our gross margins.

很難給出本季的具體數字。不過，我想說的是，在過去四年左右的時間裡，我們的平均售價可能上漲了 30%、40%，大概吧。這顯然對我們的毛利率產生了相當大的影響。

Great. Congratulations, guys.

偉大的。恭喜各位！

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question is from Cody Acree with Drexel Hamilton.

下一個問題來自德雷塞爾·漢密爾頓學院的科迪·阿克里。

Thanks for taking my question and congrats on the progress. Any more color you could give on the wireline business? You made some comments about strength you're seeing in the 100 gig.

感謝您解答我的問題，也祝賀您的進展。關於有線通訊業務，您還能提供更多細節嗎？你曾就100場演出中展現出的力量發表過一些評論。

Yes, so, we've a reasonably significant business in the optical space and providing precision measurement and control for the various parts of the optical system. It's grown well for the Company over several years and I think as the need for data center infrastructure build out continues, medium and long haul, back haul connectivity continues to be pressured, we see it as a good bet for the future and probably at the higher end of the spectrum of growth that we have put into our model.

是的，我們在光學領域擁有相當可觀的業務，為光學系統的各個部分提供精密測量和控制。多年來，它為公司帶來了良好的發展。我認為，隨著資料中心基礎設施建設需求的持續增長，中長途回程連接持續面臨壓力，我們認為它對未來來說是一個不錯的選擇，而且可能處於我們模型中設定的增長範圍的高端。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks, Cody. We'll get to our last caller.

謝謝你，科迪。我們這就接聽最後一位來電者。

Our last question comes from Steven Chin with UBS.

最後一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Steven Chin。

Hi and thanks for squeezing me in. I had a question on wireless infrastructure. I know that was down in the quarter. Was that broad-based softness in that business or were there any pockets of positive demand? Also related to that, how would you characterize the current, I guess, level of rollout for 4G and 4.5G overall? Are there any more greenfield or upgrade opportunities left around the world in the next couple years? Thanks.

你好，謝謝你們擠出時間陪我。我有一個關於無線基礎設施的問題。我知道那段時間球隊表現不佳。該行業的疲軟是普遍現象，還是存在一些需求旺盛的領域？另外，關於這一點，您如何評價目前4G和4.5G的整體部署水準？未來幾年，世界各地是否還有新建案或升級改造的機會？謝謝。

I guess in the quarter, the macro base station and the back haul were down for the quarter. Our small selectivity was up. I think China's reasonably strong.

我猜想，本季宏碁站和回程連結都宕機了。我們的小規模選擇性提高了。我認為中國實力相當強勁。

Our transceiver pipeline, by the way, across the board, not just in base station technology, but across the board, is continuing to build a nice pipeline of opportunity and also we're converting the pipeline into decent revenue. I think we're still in the reasonably -- I mean, 4G is going to be around for a long, long time to come. The largest part of the world, by the way, is still on 2, 2.5 and 3G networks. 4G will have a long life ahead of it and as I said, we'll be grinding out share gains there in an increasingly thinning atmosphere here, if you like, in terms of suppliers.

順便一提，我們的收發器產品線，不僅在基地台技術領域，而是在所有領域，都在持續建構良好的發展機遇，而且我們也將這些機會轉化為可觀的收入。我認為我們仍然處於相對合理的階段——我的意思是，4G 技術將在未來很長一段時間內存在。順便一提，世界上大部分地區仍然在使用 2G、2.5G 和 3G 網路。4G 還有很長的路要走，正如我所說，我們將在供應商日益稀少的市場環境下，努力爭取市場份額。

5G is on its way. As I said, we're in the earlier stages of helping our customers to architect 5G solutions, but I think it's going to be many, many years out yet. I think it will be -- I don't expect to see capital deployments from the carriers change an awful lot. I think it will be a slow and steady increase in the build out of 4G and I think that will be the environment until we get to 5G and see another specific step function ramp here.

5G時代即將來臨。正如我所說，我們目前還處於幫助客戶建立 5G 解決方案的早期階段，但我認為這還需要很多很多年的時間。我認為會是這樣——我不認為航空公司的資本部署會發生太大變化。我認為4G的建設將會是一個緩慢而穩定的成長過程，而且我認為在5G時代到來之前，4G網路的發展環境將會一直如此，屆時我們將看到另一個明顯的階躍式成長。

All right. Thanks, Stephen. That looks like it's the end of the call.

好的。謝謝你，史蒂芬。看來通話結束了。

We had a good quarter. The deal here for Linear Tech continues to stay on track, progressing well here for a close. Inventory, as Dave has talked about, is in great shape, gives us good gross margin leverage going into 2017.

我們這個季度表現不錯。凌力爾特公司的這筆交易繼續按計劃進行，進展順利，並有望完成。正如戴夫所說，庫存狀況良好，這為我們進入 2017 年提供了良好的毛利率槓桿。

Our business is now showing some really good momentum, especially in the B2B markets. You guys saw the results of some pretty strong operational execution this quarter, with our free cash flow margins up pretty significantly.

我們的業務目前發展勢頭良好，尤其是在B2B市場。各位已經看到了本季我們強勁的營運執行成果，自由現金流利潤率顯著提高。

We appreciate you guys calling in and we'll look to talk to you soon. Thanks.

感謝各位的來電，我們期待盡快與您聯繫。謝謝。

Happy Thanksgiving.

感恩節快樂。

Thank you.

謝謝。

This concludes today's Analog Devices conference call. You may now disconnect.

今天的Analog Devices電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線了。