亞德諾半導體 (ADI) 2017 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Analog Devices Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2017 Earnings Conference Call, which is being audio webcast via telephone and over the web.

早安，歡迎參加 Analog Devices 2017 財年第三季財報電話會議，本次會議將透過電話和網路進行音訊直播。

I'd like to now introduce your host for today's call, Mr. Ali Husain, Treasurer and Head of Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

現在我謹向大家介紹今天電話會議的主持人，財務長兼投資人關係主管阿里‧侯賽因先生。先生，請您發言。

All right. Great. Thank you, Jennifer. Good morning to everybody on the line here. Thanks for joining the Analog Devices Third Quarter 2017 Earnings Conference Call.

好的。偉大的。謝謝你，珍妮弗。各位早安。感謝您參加Analog Devices 2017年第三季財報電話會議。

First, I'd like to get through our disclosures. Note that the information we're about to discuss, including our objectives and outlook, 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-Q. 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 new information or future events.

首先，我想先交代一下我們的資訊揭露事項。請注意，我們即將討論的訊息，包括我們的目標和展望，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-Q 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，我們不承擔因新資訊或未來事件而更新這些前瞻性陳述的義務。

Today's commentary about ADI's third quarter financial results will include non-GAAP financial measures. When comparing our third quarter results to our historical performance, special items are also excluded from the prior quarter and year-over-year results. Available reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures and additional information about our non-GAAP measures are included in today's earnings release and in our web schedules, which we've posted under the Quarterly Results section at investor.analog.com. Our web schedules also include a historical view of what the combined ADI and Linear Tech would have looked like by end market, by quarter for the last 3 years.

今天對ADI第三季財務業績的評論將包括非GAAP財務指標。在將我們第三季的業績與歷史業績進行比較時，上一季和上年同期業績中也排除了特殊項目。這些非GAAP指標與其最直接可比的GAAP指標的調節表以及有關我們非GAAP指標的更多信息，均包含在今天的收益報告中以及我們發佈在 investor.analog.com 網站“季度業績”欄目的網絡日程表中。我們的網路日程表還包括過去 3 年按終端市場和季度劃分的 ADI 和 Linear Tech 合併後的發展情況的歷史概覽。

And lastly, please note that ADI's first quarter of fiscal '18 will be a 14-week quarter so you should adjust your models for an additional week of revenue and additional week of expenses for that quarter.

最後，請注意，ADI 2018 財年第一季為 14 週，因此您應該調整您的模型，以增加該季度一周的收入和一周的支出。

And so with that, I'll turn it over to ADI's CEO, Vincent Roche. Vince's comments are on a non-GAAP basis and exclude special items outlined in today's release. So with that, Vince, it's all yours.

那麼，接下來我將把發言權交給ADI的執行長Vincent Roche。Vince 的評論是基於非 GAAP 準則，並且不包括今天發布的公告中概述的特殊項目。文斯，這樣一來，一切都歸你了。

Thanks very much, Ali, and good morning, everyone.

非常感謝阿里，大家早安。

Well, this is another very successful quarter for ADI, and I'm pleased to share our results with you this morning. Not only were our third quarter financial results stellar, we're also making excellent progress in integrating Linear Tech from an organization and a synergy capture perspective.

對於ADI來說，這又是一個非常成功的季度，我很高興今天早上與大家分享我們的業績。我們不僅第三季的財務表現非常出色，而且從組織和綜效獲取的角度來看，我們在整合凌力爾特方面也取得了顯著進展。

So let's start with our financial results for the third quarter. Total revenue was above the high end of guidance at $1.46 billion, primarily on broad-based strength in the highly diverse industrial markets. And this strong revenue growth, coupled with disciplined operational execution, delivered gross margins of 70.5% and operating margins of 40.5%. Importantly, the combined company has generated $1.9 billion of adjusted free cash flow over the past 12 months with associated margins of 34%, which are among the highest in the S&P 500.

那麼，讓我們先來看看第三季的財務表現。總收入超過預期上限，達到 14.6 億美元，主要得益於高度多元化的工業市場的全面強勁表現。強勁的收入成長，加上嚴謹的營運執行，實現了 70.5% 的毛利率和 40.5% 的營業利潤率。重要的是，合併後的公司在過去 12 個月中產生了 19 億美元的調整後自由現金流，相關利潤率為 34%，在標準普爾 500 指數中名列前茅。

Now, I'd like to give you some details on our performance by end market during the quarter. The industrial market represented 49% of sales and demand across all industrial sectors and regions was strong. ADI's industrial business is now nearing a $3 billion annual run rate and we see numerous opportunities to drive additional dollar content and revenue growth as customers increasingly rely on ADI to make their applications more intelligent, more connected and more efficient. For example, in factory automation, our software configurable I/O solution is making the factory floor more flexible and configurable. The value creation opportunity is highly compelling. Customers have the potential to save more than $2 million per typical installation and factory downtime during line changeovers can be reduced by more than 8 weeks. As the factory floor further automates, ADI's opportunity in the area of robotics doubles with the addition of sensing, signal processing, power delivery and connectivity. A new application such as in collaborative robotics expand our available market by around $300 million over the next 5 years.

現在，我想向大家詳細介紹一下本季我們按終端市場劃分的業績情況。工業市場佔銷售額的 49%，所有工業部門和地區的需求都很強勁。ADI 的工業業務目前年營業額已接近 30 億美元，我們看到了許多機會來推動更多的美元收入成長，因為客戶越來越依賴 ADI 來使他們的應用更聰明、更互聯、更有效率。例如，在工廠自動化領域，我們的軟體可配置 I/O 解決方案使工廠車間更加靈活和可配置。創造價值的機會極具吸引力。客戶每次安裝可節省超過 200 萬美元，生產線換型期間的工廠停機時間可減少 8 週以上。隨著工廠車間自動化程度的進一步提高，ADI 在機器人領域的機會也隨之翻倍，這得歸功於感測、訊號處理、電源傳輸和連接功能的加入。協作機器人等領域的新應用將在未來 5 年內將我們的可用市場擴大約 3 億美元。

Switching now to automotive. This market represented 16% of revenue and increased over the prior year. ADI's dollar content opportunity in a vehicle today is approximately $250, but we believe we can more than double this by 2025 from emerging megatrends such as autonomous driving and the electrification of the powertrain. For autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, ADI's 77 gigahertz radar solution delivers the highest levels of resolution and sensitivity, increasing spatial accuracy by a factor of 8 while making the radar 3x smaller. In addition, the desire to make cars more energy-efficient is driving the electrification of the vehicle powertrain. Here, ADI's battery management products are 3x more accurate than competing solutions, enabling more miles per battery charge.

現在轉到汽車行業。該市場佔總收入的 16%，並且比上一年有所增長。ADI 目前在汽車領域的美元內容機會約為 250 美元，但我們相信，到 2025 年，隨著自動駕駛和動力系統電氣化等新興大趨勢的發展，我們可以將這一數字翻一番以上。對於自動駕駛和半自動駕駛車輛，ADI 的 77 吉赫茲雷達解決方案可提供最高等級的解析度和靈敏度，將空間精度提高 8 倍，同時將雷達體積縮小 3 倍。此外，提高汽車能源效率的願望正在推動汽車動力系統的電氣化。在此方面，ADI 的電池管理產品比競爭解決方案的精度高出 3 倍，每次充電可行駛更長的里程。

The communications infrastructure market totaled 18% of sales in the third quarter. By application area, sequential strength in wireline offset a slower wireless sector. ADI's portfolio of RF and microwave and high-speed signal processing, coupled with power, is unmatched in breadth and depth with products that span the entire frequency spectrum to 100 gigahertz and beyond. For example, our software-defined radio transceivers dramatically simplify the base station radio card through aggressive integration and software configuration. This solution enables higher channel density and reduces our customers' time-to-market. Today, ADI solutions are pervasive in 5G field trials and we are well-positioned to benefit from the wave of 5G deployments that we believe will begin in 2019.

第三季通訊基礎設施市場佔銷售額的 18%。按應用領域劃分，有線領域的順序優勢彌補了無線領域的劣勢。ADI 的射頻、微波和高速訊號處理產品組合，加上強大的功率，在廣度和深度上是無與倫比的，其產品涵蓋了從 100 吉赫茲到更高頻率的整個頻譜。例如，我們的軟體定義無線電收發器透過積極的整合和軟體配置，大大簡化了基地台無線電卡。此解決方案可提高通路密度，並縮短客戶的產品上市時間。如今，ADI 解決方案已廣泛應用於 5G 現場試驗，我們已做好充分準備，從我們認為將於 2019 年開始的 5G 部署浪潮中受益。

The consumer market represented 17% of sales in the third quarter, increasing both sequentially and year-over-year across prosumer and portable consumer applications. We've built a strong consumer franchise that focuses on solving our customers' toughest engineering challenges, providing them with a high level of differentiation and, in turn, driving very strong profitability and free cash flow for ADI.

第三季度，消費市場佔銷售額的 17%，在專業用戶和便攜式消費應用領域，環比和同比增長均有所增長。我們建立了一個強大的消費者品牌，專注於解決客戶最棘手的工程難題，為他們提供高度差異化的產品，從而為 ADI 帶來非常強勁的盈利能力和自由現金流。

So in summary, this was an excellent quarter and we believe that we are better positioned than ever to drive long-term profitable growth and free cash flow.

總而言之，這是一個非常出色的季度，我們相信我們比以往任何時候都更有能力推動長期獲利成長和自由現金流。

So with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Ali for details of our financial performance in the quarter.

那麼，接下來我將把電話交給阿里，讓他詳細介紹我們本季的財務表現。

Okay. Thanks, Vince, and good morning, again, everyone.

好的。謝謝你，文斯，再次祝大家早安。

Before we move to the quarterly results, please note that with the exception of nonoperating expense, my comments on the P&L line items exclude special items outlined in today's release and our web schedules can be found on the IR page.

在介紹季度業績之前，請注意，除非經營性支出外，我對損益表各項目的評論不包括今天發布的公告中列出的特殊項目，我們的網絡時間表可在投資者關係頁面上找到。

Okay. So as Vince just outlined, this was another really solid quarter for ADI with all line items of the P&L exceeding the high end of our guidance range on very strong business performance and operational execution. So total revenue increased to $1.46 billion with a $393 million contribution from Linear Technology. ADI's standalone revenue increased 6% sequentially and 23% over the prior year and this reflected strong and broad-based demand, particularly in the industrial market.

好的。正如 Vince 剛才所概述的那樣，對於 ADI 來說，這又是一個非常穩健的季度，損益表的所有項目都超過了我們預期範圍的上限，這得益於非常強勁的業務表現和營運執行。因此，總收入增加至 14.6 億美元，其中凌力爾特公司貢獻了 3.93 億美元。ADI 的獨立收入較上季成長 6%，較去年同期成長 23%，這反映了強勁而廣泛的需求，尤其是在工業市場。

Gross margins in the third quarter were 70.5%, above our guidance range, primarily on a higher industrial revenue mix and cost synergy capture.

第三季毛利率為 70.5%，高於我們的預期範圍，主要得益於工業收入佔比提高和成本綜效的實現。

Dollars of inventory increased $40 million sequentially as we ramped production to match strong demand, but on a days basis, inventory was stable at around 106 days.

由於我們提高了產量以滿足強勁的需求，庫存金額環比增加了 4000 萬美元，但以天數計算，庫存穩定在 106 天左右。

Deferred revenue for shipments into distribution increased 11% sequentially and weeks of inventory in distribution were, again, at 7 weeks, which has been very consistent over many, many quarters now.

出貨至分銷通路的遞延收入環比成長 11%，分銷通路的庫存週數再次達到 7 週，這在許多季度以來一直非常穩定。

Operating expenses in the third quarter were $437 million or 30% of revenue and, as a result, operating margins expanded to 40.5%, which was above the high end of guidance.

第三季營運支出為 4.37 億美元，佔營收的 30%，因此，營運利潤率擴大至 40.5%，高於預期上限。

Nonoperating expense in the third quarter was $68 million, reflecting a full quarter of interest expense with the financing related to the Linear Tech acquisition in place. Our expectation is for nonoperating expense to be approximately $65 million, both in the fourth quarter of 2017 and in the 14-week first quarter of 2018, and to decrease to $55 million to $60 million per quarter for the remainder of fiscal '18.

第三季非經營性支出為 6,800 萬美元，反映了與收購 Linear Tech 相關的融資所產生的整季利息支出。我們預計 2017 年第四季和 2018 年第一季（14 週）的非經營性支出約為 6,500 萬美元，並在 2018 財年剩餘時間內每季減少至 5,500 萬美元至 6,000 萬美元。

Our third quarter non-GAAP tax rate was 10.8%. We expect our fourth quarter non-GAAP tax rate to be approximately 10% and for it to be approximately 15% in 2018.

我們第三季的非GAAP稅率為10.8%。我們預計第四季非GAAP稅率約為10%，2018年約為15%。

Diluted share count increased to 371 million shares in the third quarter, primarily due to the equity consideration relating to the acquisition. Excluding special items, diluted earnings per share in the third quarter of '17 was $1.26. That was $0.05 above the high end of guidance.

第三季稀釋後股份數量增至 3.71 億股，主因是收購相關的股權對價。不計特殊項目，2017 年第三季稀釋後每股收益為 1.26 美元。這比預期上限高出0.05美元。

During the quarter, we completed a restructuring of our legal entities related to the Linear Tech acquisition. This resulted in a onetime cash payment of $750 million. Excluding this item, ADI generated $322 million of adjusted free cash flow in the quarter and $1.9 billion for the combined company on a trailing 12-month basis.

本季度，我們完成了與收購 Linear Tech 相關的法律實體重組。這導致一次性支付了7.5億美元現金。在剔除該項目後，ADI 本季產生了 3.22 億美元的調整後自由現金流，合併後的公司在過去 12 個月中產生了 19 億美元的調整後自由現金流。

During the quarter, we paid down $600 million of the debt associated with the Linear Tech acquisition, which helped reduce our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to 2.9x. We expect to pay down our debt at a rate of approximately $1 billion per year and are planning to achieve a 2x net debt-to-EBITDA leverage ratio by the first half of fiscal 2019. Once we achieve this leverage ratio, we plan to reinstitute or reinstate our share buyback program and target an overall cash return to shareholders of 80% to 100% after debt service.

本季度，我們償還了與收購 Linear Tech 相關的 6 億美元債務，這有助於將我們的淨債務與 EBITDA 比率降低至 2.9 倍。我們預計每年償還債務約 10 億美元，並計劃在 2019 財年上半年實現淨債務與 EBITDA 槓桿率 2 倍。一旦達到這個槓桿率，我們計劃重新啟動或恢復股票回購計劃，目標是在償還債務後，向股東返還 80% 至 100% 的現金。

So moving on to fixed asset additions, which in the third quarter were $64 million for the combined company and are planned to be approximately $200 million for fiscal '17. And this is probably a good opportunity to also point out that our model is for CapEx to run at approximately 4% of revenue on an ongoing basis.

接下來是固定資產新增部分，合併後的公司第三季新增固定資產 6,400 萬美元，計劃在 2017 財年新增固定資產約 2 億美元。這或許也是一個好機會，可以指出我們的模式是讓資本支出持續維持在收入的 4% 左右。

During the quarter, we also paid $166 million in dividends and, earlier this week, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.45 per outstanding share of common stock payable on September 19 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 8. And that dividend payment now represents $1.80 per share annualized dividend payment.

本季度，我們還支付了 1.66 億美元的股息。本週早些時候，我們的董事會宣布派發每股普通股 0.45 美元的季度現金股息，將於 9 月 19 日支付給 9 月 8 日營業結束時登記在冊的股東。該股息支付相當於每股年化股息 1.80 美元。

Okay. So with that, I'll turn it back over to Vince for our outlook for the fourth quarter of '17, which exclude special items outlined in today's release.

好的。那麼，接下來我將把發言權交還給 Vince，讓他為大家展望 2017 年第四季度，其中不包括今天發布的新聞稿中概述的特殊項目。

Thanks, Ali.

謝謝你，阿里。

After a strong third quarter, we're planning for revenue in the fourth quarter of 2017 to be in the range of $1.45 billion to $1.55 billion. By end market, we're planning for the industrial and communications infrastructure sectors to be approximately flat sequentially and for the automotive and consumer markets to grow from their third quarter levels. Gross margins are expected to remain stable at approximately 70.5% as cost synergies offset the anticipated mix of revenue. Operating expenses are estimated to be down 3% to flat sequentially. At the midpoint of this guidance, these inputs translate into an operating expense ratio of approximately 29% and operating margins of approximately 42% in the fourth quarter. Based on these estimates and excluding special items, diluted earnings per share are planned to be in the range of $1.29 to $1.43.

在經歷了強勁的第三季之後，我們預計 2017 年第四季的營收將在 14.5 億美元至 15.5 億美元之間。按終端市場劃分，我們預計工業和通訊基礎設施領域將與上一季基本持平，而汽車和消費市場將比第三季的水平有所增長。預計毛利率將保持穩定在 70.5% 左右，因為成本協同效應抵消了預期的收入組合變化。預計營運費用將較上季下降 3% 或持平。根據該指導意見的中點，這些投入轉化為第四季約 29% 的營運費用率和約 42% 的營運利潤率。根據這些估計，不計特殊項目，稀釋後每股收益計劃在 1.29 美元至 1.43 美元之間。

As you likely saw as well, we recently announced our new CFO, Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, who will be joining us at the end of September. I'm really looking forward to Prashanth's arrival and getting the benefit of his strategic insight and strong operational focus as we continue our long-term customer and shareholder value creation journey.

正如您可能已經看到的，我們最近宣布了新的財務長 Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah，他將於 9 月底加入我們。我非常期待 Prashanth 的到來，並希望他能憑藉其戰略洞察力和強大的營運能力，繼續為我們創造長期客戶和股東價值。

We believe that our organization, portfolio and customer relationships have never been in better shape and our technology never more essential to an ever more connected and intelligent world. Our operating model calls for some of the highest margins in our industry and, indeed, in the S&P 500. Operating margins that are in the range of 39% to 45% and free cash flow margins in the range of 34% to 42%. And we're only getting started.

我們相信，我們的組織、產品組合和客戶關係從未像現在這樣好，而我們的技術對於一個日益互聯和智慧化的世界來說也從未像現在這樣重要。我們的營運模式要求我們獲得業界乃至標普500指數中最高的利潤率。營業利益率介於 39% 至 45% 之間，自由現金流利潤率在 34% 至 42% 之間。而這只是個開始。

So with that, we will take your questions.

那麼，接下來我們將回答您的問題。

Okay. Thanks, Vince.

好的。謝謝你，文斯。

So let's get to our Q&A session. (Operator Instructions) So operator, can we have our first question, please?

那麼，讓我們進入問答環節。（操作員指示）操作員，請問我們可以問第一個問題嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Tore Svanberg with Stifel.

（操作說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Stifel 公司的 Tore Svanberg。

My first question is perhaps a bit more longer term for you, Vince. But as we now look at ADI, Linear and Hittite combined, can you give us any examples on how that combination really strengthens your barriers to entry? I mean, I know you're obviously working on a lot of new products with the 3 combined, but if you can give us any insight into how that positions ADI from a competitive perspective, that would be great.

文斯，我的第一個問題可能對你來說有點長遠。但我們現在來看 ADI、Linear 和 Hittite 三家公司合併後的情況，您能否舉例說明這種合併是如何真正加強你們的進入障礙的？我的意思是，我知道你們顯然正在與這三家公司合作開發很多新產品，但如果你們能從競爭角度為我們提供一些關於這如何使 ADI 定位的見解，那就太好了。

Yes, Tore. Well, if you look across the analog sector, we've now got all the building blocks focused at solving the toughest challenges that our customers face across every facets of -- whether it's sensing, measuring, interpreting, powering the signal chains. And that's the brand that we've been building for several years at ADI, that's the brand that both Hittite and the RF and microwave space and LT and the power and mixed signal space were building as well independently. So under one roof now, we can tackle our customers' toughest challenges, whether it's in communications infrastructure, in autonomous driving, in making our customers' installed factory automation and process control machines more intelligent, more connected. And clearly, that's the brand that we convey to our customers, that's the brand that our customers are buying and engaging with across all these different areas.

是的，托雷。縱觀整個模擬領域，我們現在擁有所有必要的構建模組，致力於解決客戶在各個方面面臨的最嚴峻挑戰——無論是感測、測量、解釋還是為訊號鏈供電。這就是我們在 ADI 多年來一直在打造的品牌，也是 Hittite 以及射頻和微波領域、LT 以及功率和混合訊號領域各自獨立打造的品牌。因此，現在我們可以在同一屋簷下應對客戶面臨的最嚴峻挑戰，無論是通訊基礎設施、自動駕駛，還是讓客戶已安裝的工廠自動化和製程控制機器更加智慧、更加互聯。顯然，這就是我們向客戶傳達的品牌，也是我們的客戶在所有這些不同領域中購買和參與的品牌。

So we are investing around now $1 billion of combined R&D across the 3 enterprises under one roof. So we're all the time looking to broaden and deepen our competitive mold and we believe we're in a better position now than ever across all these various markets and with larger customers. And with the addition of LT as well, we now got the chance to directly address more medium-sized and smaller customers directly.

因此，我們目前在三家企業中，在同一屋簷下，共同投入約 10 億美元的研發資金。因此，我們一直在尋求拓寬和深化我們的競爭格局，我們相信，在所有這些不同的市場和更大的客戶群中，我們現在都處於比以往任何時候都更好的地位。隨著 LT 的加入，我們現在有機會直接面對更多的中小型客戶。

Tore, did you have a follow-up?

托雷，你還有後續問題嗎？

Yes. So there's -- I have a follow-up on the communications bucket. So obviously, that's been more mixed here the last few quarters. I assume that's more related to wireless infrastructure, but you mentioned 5G coming online and it seems like maybe it's coming online sooner at least than I was thinking. So maybe you could elaborate a little bit on when you start to -- when you expect to start to see more material growth in the communications part of the business?

是的。所以，關於通訊方面，我還有一些後續工作要做。很顯然，過去幾季情況比較複雜。我猜這更多是與無線基礎設施有關，但你提到了 5G 即將上線，而且看起來它可能比我想像的要早一些上線。那麼，您能否詳細說明一下，您預計何時——何時才能在業務的傳播部分看到更實質的成長？

Yes. Well, Tore, we are playing in the field trials with virtually everybody today in the 5G area. My sense is that China and perhaps Japan will be first to market with 5G systems. And there are lots of definitions for what 5G really means, but I think the early systems will be massive MIMO-based, more like 4.5 plus, moving up to much higher frequencies over the next 5 years or so into the -- well into the gigahertz, the 20-, 30-gigahertz arena. So my sense is that 2019 is when we're going to see the first deployments in Asia in particular, and Europe and America a little bit longer, I think, to figure out exactly what standards and what frequencies they're going to target and to get into the field trial area.

是的。托雷，我們今天幾乎和所有 5G 領域的公司都在進行實地試驗。我的感覺是，中國，或許還有日本，將率先把5G系統推向市場。關於 5G 的真正含義有很多定義，但我認為早期系統將基於大規模 MIMO，更像是 4.5GHz 以上，並在未來 5 年左右的時間裡提升到更高的頻率，進入千兆赫茲、20GHz 或 30GHz 的領域。所以我的感覺是，2019 年我們將看到亞洲地區的首次部署，而歐洲和美洲的部署時間可能會稍長一些，我認為，以便確定他們究竟要採用哪些標準和頻率，並進入實地試驗階段。

Yes. And, Tore, I'll just to add, from a positioning standpoint, ADI's particularly well-positioned to benefit from these 5G deployments. Inherently, when you're enabling more bandwidth, you're going to need more radios, and that's really where we focus is on the radio. So the more radios that are out there, the better it is for ADI.

是的。托雷，我還要補充一點，從市場定位的角度來看，ADI 處於非常有利的位置，可以從這些 5G 部署中受益。從本質上講，當你啟用更多頻寬時，你就需要更多無線電模組，而這正是我們真正關注的重點——無線電模組。因此，市面上的無線電設備越多，對ADI就越有利。

And secondly, as you're moving faster -- to faster speeds and higher standards, you need to move up the frequency spectrum. And so with our addition of the Hittite portfolio, we're particularly well-positioned as we move up the frequency spectrum in areas like microwave and millimeter wave.

其次，隨著你前進的速度越來越快——朝著更快的速度和更高的標準邁進，你需要提升頻率頻譜。因此，隨著我們收購了 Hittite 產品組合，我們在微波和毫米波等頻段向上擴展時，就處於非常有利的地位。

Our next question is from Harlan Sur with JP Morgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的哈蘭‧蘇爾。

In automotive core ADI, I think the team has been driving sort of solid year-over-year growth over the past few quarters. And I think, combined with Linear, you guys drove sort of mid-single digits year-over-year growth in Q3. And then, if I look at Q4, right, that typically tends to be stronger. You guys are guiding for growth, but that would imply sort of a range of sort of anywhere from low single digits to mid-single digits year-over-year growth in Q4. Just given the momentum that you guys have, rising content on new model deployments, should we anticipate that -- embedded within your guidance that auto is probably growing kind of more towards that mid-single digits year-over-year growth range?

在汽車核心業務ADI領域，我認為該團隊在過去幾季一直保持著穩健的年成長。我認為，加上 Linear 的貢獻，你們在第三季度實現了個位數的年增長。然後，如果我看一下第四季度，對吧，那通常往往會更強勁。你們的預期是成長，但這可能意味著第四季同比成長速度會在個位數低段到個位數中段之間。鑑於你們目前的發展勢頭，以及新車型部署相關內容的不斷增加，我們是否可以預期——正如你們所預測的那樣——汽車行業的年增長率可能會達到個位數中段？

Okay. Let me take part of that and maybe for the longer-term piece, I can let Vince answer that.

好的。讓我來回答一部分，至於更長遠的問題，或許我可以請文斯來解答。

Okay. So in the quarter, automotive revenues were pretty stable sequentially. They were certainly ahead of the guidance range that we provided investors with. And it really was a tale of 2 cities in the automotive space or 2 businesses, frankly, because while the ADI standalone automotive business did, in fact, decrease in line with seasonality, again, on a sequential basis, the LTC automotive business recovered very, very strongly on a sequential basis. I call that because of a recovery in the powertrain sector specifically in China. So I think when you look at the tale of those 2 businesses combined, you see a pretty stable third quarter result.

好的。因此，本季汽車業務收入季比相當穩定。他們的業績確實超出了我們向投資者提供的預期範圍。坦白說，這真是汽車領域兩個截然不同的城市或兩家企業的故事，因為雖然 ADI 的獨立汽車業務確實隨著季節性因素而環比下降，但 LTC 的汽車業務卻環比強勁復甦。我之所以這麼說，是因為中國動力總成產業出現了復甦。所以我覺得，當你把這兩家公司的情況結合起來看時，你會發現第三季的業績相當穩定。

On a year-over-year basis, the ADI standalone revenue did grow in the high single digits, but as we point out in the schedule that we provided you, it appears to look like a mid-single-digit growth rate. And again, it's because of the Linear Tech business that's lower on a year-over-year basis around this powertrain business. Again, we're seeing a pretty good recovery in that space right now. So that -- I just want to give you a little bit of color on how the quarter turned out.

從同比來看，ADI 的獨立收入確實實現了高個位數的成長，但正如我們在提供給您的表格中所指出的那樣，其成長率似乎只有中等個位數。再次強調，這是因為凌力爾特（Linear Tech）的動力總成業務年比有所下降。目前我們看到該領域正在出現相當不錯的復甦。所以——我只是想向你們簡單介紹一下本季的最終結果。

In terms of the guidance for next quarter, all we can tell you, Harlan, is what we see in the order book and the order book supports a pretty seasonal fourth quarter. So it could be, on a year-over-year basis, anywhere from kind of the mid-single digits to high single-digit rate.

至於下一季的業績指引，哈蘭，我們只能告訴你，我們從訂單簿上看到的情況，而訂單簿顯示第四季會呈現明顯的季節性波動。因此，與年比來看，成長率可能在個位數中段到個位數高段之間。

The one thing I would point out is there's obviously been a lot of noise around SAR and we obviously look at all that information as well and we have access to that data as well as you do. And I'd be perfectly candid with you to tell you that for -- we are Tier 2 suppliers into Tier 1 suppliers who are supplying to OEMs. I think if any semiconductor company sits around and tells you that SAR has a direct impact on their revenue, it's frankly very, very hard for us to tell. All we can tell you is what's in the order book and the order book supports a pretty seasonal quarter in the fourth quarter.

我想指出的一點是，SAR領域顯然存在著許多噪音，我們當然也會關注所有這些訊息，而我們和你們一樣也能獲得這些數據。我可以坦誠地告訴你，我們是二級供應商，而一級供應商又是向原始設備製造商 (OEM) 供貨的。我認為，如果任何一家半導體公司坐下來告訴你 SAR 對其收入有直接影響，坦白說，我們很難判斷。我們只能告訴你訂單簿上的信息，而訂單簿顯示第四季度有明顯的季節性波動。

Great. And then, just a quick follow-up. Same question I had last quarter, which is obviously you guys talked about distribution inventory still being very disciplined on lead times. Again, looking at some of your peers, there appears to be some pockets of products that are seeing tightness of supply. Last quarter, you guys talked about being very comfortable satisfying customer demand within your normal 4 to 6-week lead times. I'm just wondering if that's still the case?

偉大的。然後，還有一個簡短的後續問題。我上個季度也問過同樣的問題，顯然你們談到了分銷庫存仍然在交貨週期方面保持著非常嚴格的紀律。再看看你們的一些同行，似乎有些產品出現了供應緊張的情況。上個季度，你們提到完全有能力在正常的 4 到 6 週交貨期內滿足客戶需求。我只是想知道現在情況是否仍然如此？

Yes. Good question. We obviously pay a lot of attention to that particularly because it is a customer service commitment that we have. And so absolutely, the lead times have remained very stable at 4 to 6 weeks and really not a whole lot of change there. We do have about 3.5 months worth of inventory on our own balance sheet. We have 7 weeks of inventory in distribution. And I'd say those metrics have been very, very stable.

是的。問得好。我們當然非常重視這一點，因為這是我們對客戶服務的承諾。所以，交貨週期確實一直非常穩定，保持在 4 到 6 週，並沒有太大的變化。我們自己的資產負債表上大約有3.5個月的庫存。我們目前有足夠7週的庫存正在配送中。我認為這些指標一直都非常非常穩定。

Our next question is from Ambrish Srivastava with BMO.

我們的下一個問題來自BMO的Ambrish Srivastava。

My question is on the Linear integration. And it looks like some of the synergies, especially on the margin front, are showing up earlier, but if I were to pick something that, at least to me, doesn't looked that positive is the free cash flow. And I'm not judging you on a quarterly basis. But even if I x out the onetime payment, free cash flow margin looks on the lower side. Could you please address that?

我的問題是關於線性積分的。而且看起來一些協同效應，尤其是在利潤率方面，已經提前顯現出來，但如果要我選一個至少在我看來不太樂觀的方面，那就是自由現金流。我不會按季度評判你。但即使我剔除一次性付款，自由現金流利潤率看起來也偏低。請問您能解答一下這個問題嗎？

Yes. No, sure. And again, that's a metric that we look at very, very closely as well because even though we're at 34% free cash flow margins on a trailing 12-month basis -- and again, that is probably at the very high end of the S&P 500 -- I think the combination of these 2 businesses and how we think about the future here would suggest that we can really get these free cash flow margins really humming. So even though we're kind of at the high end of the free cash flow spectrum on the S&P 500, in terms of our free cash flow model, we're certainly at the lower end of that, which is 34% to 42% is the range.

是的。不，當然。再次強調，這也是我們非常密切關注的指標，因為儘管我們過去 12 個月的自由現金流利潤率達到了 34%——而且這可能在標普 500 指數中處於非常高的水平——但我認為這兩項業務的結合以及我們對未來的展望表明，我們真的可以大幅提高自由現金流利潤率。所以，儘管我們在標普 500 指數的自由現金流方面處於較高水平，但就我們的自由現金流模型而言，我們肯定處於較低水平，即 34% 到 42% 的範圍內。

So yes, I would just point out, as you mentioned, Ambrish, the -- looking at free cash flow in any one quarter is -- obviously has a lots of puts and takes to it. The third quarter tends to be a quarter that's a seasonally weaker quarter for free cash flow generation. We tend to have a couple of things that go on in the third quarter. So really the compare is to last year. And I think we were at 25% last year and we're probably around 22% this year.

所以，是的，正如你所提到的，Ambrish，我想指出的是——在任何一個季度來看自由現金流——顯然有很多利弊權衡。第三季通常是自由現金流產生較為疲軟的季度。第三季我們通常會發生幾件事。所以實際上，比較的對像是去年。我認為我們去年的比例是 25%，今年大概是 22% 左右。

There's a couple of items that are incremental, I guess, this year relative to last in the third quarter. One is we're obviously in a better business environment. And so when you do that, you tend to build inventory and ship inventory to customers, your accounts receivable goes up. Of course, all that converts into cash in the following quarter. But in any event, in the third quarter, we basically saw a use of cash in the working capital section of the free cash flow statement as a result of really better business conditions.

我想，今年第三季有幾項內容相對於去年同期增加。首先，我們顯然處於更好的商業環境。因此，當你這樣做時，你往往會增加庫存並將庫存運送給客戶，你的應收帳款就會增加。當然，所有這些都會在下一季轉化為現金。但無論如何，在第三季度，由於業務狀況的顯著改善，我們在自由現金流量表的營運資本部分基本上看到了現金的使用。

The other item I'd point out relative to last year is we are obviously carrying a debt load related to the acquisition. And related to that debt load, there are 2 really semiannual payments that we need to make related to that debt load. One of those payments falls in the third quarter. So I think you saw a depressed free cash flow number this quarter. It really was kind of the perfect storm for cash flow this quarter. But I think over the longer term, we're very well-positioned to drive our 34% to 42% free cash flow margin model range.

與去年相比，我想指出的另一點是，我們顯然背負著與收購相關的債務。與該債務相關的還有兩筆半年一次的還款。其中一筆款項將在第三季支付。所以，我認為你們已經看到了本季自由現金流數據下滑的情況。本季現金流確實遭遇了各種不利因素的完美風暴。但我認為從長遠來看，我們完全有能力實現 34% 至 42% 的自由現金流利潤率模型目標。

Did you have a follow-up?

您有後續跟進嗎？

Yes, I did. And you addressed the auto question that Harlan asked of you. But similarly on industrial -- and on industrial, we don't have any SAR number that we can look at and say, "Hey, look, SAR is at this and so your business should be doing this." How would you characterize what you're seeing in the industrial end market because there's obviously a whole bunch of cross currents there as well?

是的，我做了。你回答了哈蘭問你的關於汽車方面的問題。但同樣地，在工業領域——在工業領域，我們沒有任何SAR數據可以參考，然後說：「嘿，你看，SAR值是多少，所以你的企業應該這樣做。」您會如何描述您在工業終端市場看到的情況？因為顯然那裡也存在著許多相互交織的因素。

Yes. I think, Ambrish, at this point, it's true to say -- I've talked with a lot of our -- the executives at our industrial customers over the last several months. I'd say there is generally optimism. I think people are pragmatic in terms of the CapEx environment, but what I will tell you is that there's a general sense that there's a better -- obviously a better economic environment in America, in particular for laying out CapEx and improving, I would say, the efficiency of the machinery, the installed base. So there's what our customers would call a brownfield upgrade in place. I think as well, China is on the track of mass automation, what they call China 2025, and that's having a huge effect obviously in our business in China and Japan.

是的。安布里什，我認為，就目前而言，可以這樣說——在過去的幾個月裡，我與我們工業客戶的許多高階主管都談過。我認為總體上是樂觀的。我認為人們在資本支出方面是務實的，但我可以告訴你的是，人們普遍認為美國的經濟環境更好——顯然，美國的經濟環境更好，尤其是在規劃資本支出和提高機器效率、改善已安裝基礎方面。所以，這就是我們的客戶所說的棕地升級改造。我認為，中國也正在走上大規模自動化的道路，也就是所謂的“中國2025”，這顯然對我們在中國和日本的業務產生了巨大的影響。

So I think, overall, there's strength across all the various sectors, whether it's automation, aerospace and defense or ATE, and all the geos are doing well at this point in time. And I think there's a good balance between the consumption of our products and the supply of our products at this point in time.

所以我認為，總體而言，各個領域都表現出色，無論是自動化、航空航太和國防或ATE，所有地區目前都發展良好。我認為目前我們的產品消費量和產品供應量之間達到了良好的平衡。

Our next question is from Craig Ellis with B. Riley.

下一個問題來自 Craig Ellis 和 B. Riley。

Vince, I wanted to follow-up on a comment that you made in your prepared remarks regarding the automotive business and the potential for ADI content to double from now to the 2025 period. As investors look ahead to the next one to 2 years, where should they expect content to start to increase towards that $500 level from what is $250 now? What are the early signposts that they can look to for an increase in content?

文斯，我想就你在準備好的發言稿中提到的汽車行業以及從現在到 2025 年 ADI 含量可能翻一番的問題進行補充說明。展望未來一到兩年，投資者應該預期內容價格何時會從目前的 250 美元開始上漲到 500 美元？他們可以關注哪些早期跡象來判斷內容是否會增加？

Yes, Craig. Good question. So obviously, autonomous driving, there are various levels of autonomous driving, but we're moving steadily towards a car that is using predictive safety more and more. So our radar solutions are doing well today and we have a great crop of new products at the very, very high-frequency level with tremendous spatial accuracy and very, very high channel count, so highly integrated. So that's one area where we will get a lot more penetration.

是的，克雷格。問得好。顯然，自動駕駛有各種不同的級別，但我們正穩步朝著越來越多地使用預測性安全技術的汽車發展。因此，我們目前的雷達解決方案表現良好，我們在非常非常高的頻率水平上擁有大量具有極高空間精度和非常非常高通道數的新產品，因此高度整合。所以，這是我們能夠獲得更大市場滲透率的一個領域。

Obviously, we're able to attach the power solutions as well of LT into those areas. So that probably -- between the radar solution itself and the combination with LT, that probably doubles the available market, bringing LT doubles the available socket value for ADI, if you like, in the radar area.

顯然，我們也能夠將LT的電力解決方案應用到這些領域。因此，雷達解決方案本身以及與 LT 的結合，可能會使可用市場翻倍，引入 LT 也可能使 ADI 在雷達領域的可用插槽價值翻倍。

We're starting to trial a solid-state LIDAR solution that will start to -- hopefully, in that period of time, over the next 5 years, we'll start to see some significant contribution in terms of revenue there. We've already announced new products that, A2B, for example, that move information around the car very efficiently and very cost-effectively. And we've more generations of that plus new variants of that coming.

我們正在試用固態雷射雷達解決方案，希望在未來 5 年內，該方案能夠開始在收入方面做出重大貢獻。我們已經發布了一些新產品，例如 A2B，它們可以非常有效率且經濟高效地在車內傳輸訊息。而我們還有更多世代這樣的產品，以及新的變種產品即將推出。

On the electrification side, we've built a very attractive sensor portfolio -- magnetic sensor portfolio, for example, for controlling movement in the car and measuring movement in the car with a lot of attached precision signal processing. So those are some examples. And obviously, with the -- on the electrification theme as well, the addition of LT's battery controllers is very exciting to our customers across the globe. And again, there are many ongoing sockets that we've been supplying for many, many years in areas like infotainment, audio, video interface. So all those areas we're building a very, very nice pipeline, which gives us tremendous confidence.

在電氣化方面，我們建立了一個非常有吸引力的感測器產品組合——例如，磁性感測器產品組合，用於控制汽車中的運動和測量汽車中的運動，並附帶許多精確的訊號處理功能。以上是一些例子。顯然，就電氣化主題而言，LT 電池控制器的加入也令我們全球的客戶感到非常興奮。此外，多年來，我們一直在資訊娛樂、音訊、視訊介面等領域提供各種持續使用的插座。所以，在所有這些領域，我們正在建立一條非常非常好的管道，這給了我們極大的信心。

Great. Ali, the follow-up question is for you. I appreciate the heads-up on the extra week in the fiscal first quarter of next year. As a backdrop to that, can you just help us, as you look at the combined business, what would normal seasonality be for the fiscal first quarter with Linear Tech in the portfolio?

偉大的。阿里，下一個問題是問你的。感謝您提前告知明年第一財季將多出一週時間。在此背景下，您能否幫我們分析一下，在合併後的業務中，如果將凌力爾特納入投資組合，第一財季的正常季節性情況會是怎樣的？

Yes. No, I'd say it's -- that's a good question, Craig. I'd say the ADI B2B markets and the Linear Tech B2B markets probably are pretty similar in terms of how they would behave seasonally. We've also, by the way, put a schedule up on our IR page, which shows 3 years worth of data of what the combined company would have looked like by quarter. So we're also -- you guys can go and calculate the seasonality based on that data as well.

是的。不，我覺得──問得好，克雷格。我認為 ADI B2B 市場和 Linear Tech B2B 市場在季節性變化方面可能非常相似。順便一提，我們也在投資者關係頁面上發布了一個時間表，顯示了合併後的公司未來三年的季度數據。所以你們也可以根據這些數據計算季節性。

The way to think about the first quarter is, generally speaking, it's a pretty weak quarter. It's a January quarter for ADI so not only do we get the December holidays, but we also get the January holidays that impact that quarter. And generally speaking, it's weaker for industrial and automotive and communications infrastructure as well.

一般來說，第一季是個比較疲軟的季度。ADI 的季度是 1 月份，所以我們不僅會受到 12 月份假期的影響，還會受到 1 月份假期的影響，這些都會影響該季度的業績。總的來說，它在工業、汽車和通訊基礎設施方面的性能也較弱。

On the consumer side, I think if you kind of back into the fourth quarter guidance that we've given you for consumer, the year-over-year growth rate is down actually. So it's -- and I'd expect that weakness to continue in the first quarter and into the second quarter as well of next year.

從消費者方面來看，我認為，如果你回顧一下我們之前給出的第四季度消費者業績指引，就會發現同比增速實際上是下降的。所以——而且我預計這種疲軟態勢將持續到明年第一季和第二季。

But coming back to the point about seasonality in the first quarter, because we are expecting an additional week of revenue in the first quarter, I just tack in an additional week of revenue, additional week of OpEx. And then, the second quarter, generally you see a recovery in the industrial and automotive markets sequentially, although this time my sense is that recovery will probably be a little bit more muted just simply because you get the additional week in the first quarter. And consumer, generally you see a bit of a leg down from its first quarter levels. And then, the third and fourth quarters are, again, seasonally pretty stable for the B2B markets and consumer tends to recover. So that's probably the way to think about 2018 and the impact of the extra week and the 14-week quarter of 1Q '18.

但回到第一季的季節性問題，因為我們預計第一季會多一週的收入，所以我只需額外增加一週的收入和一週的營運支出。然後，通常在第二季度，工業和汽車市場會環比復甦，儘管這次我的感覺是復甦可能會比較溫和，原因很簡單，因為第一季度多了一周的時間。而消費者方面，通常你會看到價格從第一季的水平略有回落。然後，第三季和第四季對於 B2B 市場來說，季節性上通常比較穩定，而消費者往往會復甦。所以，這大概就是看待 2018 年以及多出的一周和 2018 年第一季（14 週）的影響的方式。

Our 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。

First question on the consumer segment. It's good to see that it's now less than 20% of sales. But do you think it's at a point where your large portable customer have sort of stabilized somewhat on a content basis so we don't have to worry about any big fluctuations that are content-related? I understand the seasonal swings in consumer, but at what point can we start to finding normal seasonality and not have to worry about content swings at large customers?

關於消費者群體的第一個問題。很高興看到現在佔銷售額的比例已經低於20%。但您認為目前您的大型行動用戶在內容方面是否已經趨於穩定，以至於我們不必擔心與內容相關的任何重大波動？我理解消費者的季節性波動，但是我們什麼時候才能開始發現正常的季節性變化，而不必擔心大客戶的內容波動呢？

Yes. Well, as we talked about at the Analyst Day there a while ago, we are -- our sense is that our position in the portable space is strong in the areas that we care about. Obviously, the adoption cycles and the life cycles are shorter than in the areas like industrial, for example. So we have to -- there is a dynamic there where we have to fight for sockets continuously. But I think as we pointed out at the Analyst Day, we're expecting a level of stability at a lower run rate, perhaps down, in the portable area, of 20% in the coming year. That's what we're planning for and we're shooting for. And obviously, there may be upside to that, but that's how we think about it at this point in time.

是的。正如我們前段時間在分析師日上討論的那樣，我們認為，在我們所關注的便攜式設備領域，我們的地位非常穩固。顯然，與工業等領域相比，這些領域的採用週期和生命週期要短。所以我們必須——這裡存在著一種動態，我們必須不斷地爭奪插槽。但我認為，正如我們在分析師日上指出的那樣，我們預計未來一年便攜式設備領域的穩定性將有所下降，成長可能會降低 20%。這就是我們正在計劃和努力的方向。顯然，這樣做也可能有好處，但目前我們就是這樣看待這個問題的。

Yes. I'll just add, Vivek. It's obvious. We have really no visibility into what 2018 is going to do in consumer, although we do have a good sense that our content in these devices is pretty platform-specific. And our sense is that, that mix is going to be weaker next year.

是的。我再補充一點，維韋克。顯而易見。我們目前對 2018 年消費者市場的發展趨勢尚無定論，儘管我們確實感覺到，我們在這些設備上的內容很大程度上是平台特定的。我們的感覺是，明年這種組合會變得更弱。

As Vince pointed out, frankly, we were asked at the Analyst Day as well, it's just very hard to model that business. And so I've heard estimates from analysts to be down, that business, 20% to 30%. Our sense is that 30% is probably a worse case scenario in the consumer space for next year.

正如文斯所指出的那樣，坦白說，我們在分析師日上也被問到過這個問題，要對這種業務進行建模是非常困難的。我從分析師那裡了解到，該業務預計會下降 20% 到 30%。我們認為，明年消費領域的最壞情況可能是 30%。

Got it. Very helpful. And as my follow-up, now that you have achieved your 70%-plus kind of gross margin target, what are the next few milestones? And how should we think about the impact of mix versus utilization versus call synergies from here?

知道了。很有幫助。我的後續問題是，既然你們已經達成了 70% 以上的毛利率目標，那麼接下來的幾個里程碑是什麼？那麼，我們該如何看待產品組合、利用率和呼叫協同效應之間的關係呢？

Yes. No, that's a good question. I think, Vivek, it's -- these 70.5% gross margins, 70-plus percent gross margins that we're putting up right now are a function of -- obviously, we're pretty well-utilized in our fabs given the current business conditions. In addition, the industrial market is really driving a lot of growth for us right now and that tends to drive pretty solid margins as well. In addition, we moved pretty early this quarter to capture some cost synergies in the gross margin line and that obviously helped as well.

是的。不，這確實是個好問題。我認為，Vivek，我們現在實現的 70.5% 甚至 70% 以上的毛利率，顯然是因為——鑑於目前的商業環境，我們的晶圓廠產能利用率相當高。此外，工業市場目前確實為我們帶來了很大的成長動力，而且往往也能帶來相當可觀的利潤率。此外，我們本季很早就採取行動，在毛利率方面實現了成本協同效應，這顯然也起到了幫助作用。

I think, as we look into next year, if business conditions remain in there, if business conditions are led by the industrial market, we do have more synergies on to come on that gross margin line. We should do better. But again, it's all going to be very much specific to the environment that we're in next year.

我認為，展望明年，如果商業環境維持現狀，如果商業環境由工業市場主導，那麼我們在毛利率方面將有更大的綜效。我們應該做得更好。但話說回來，這一切都將取決於我們明年所處的具體環境。

Got it. So even if consumer declines next year, that should be helpful for gross margin line?

知道了。所以即使明年消費者數量下降，也應該對毛利率有利吧？

Well, I mean, I would say our margins across all of our businesses are actually quite good. So I don't expect that to be a big needle mover.

嗯，我的意思是，我認為我們所有業務的利潤率實際上都相當不錯。所以我並不認為這會對結果產生重大影響。

Our 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。

Vince, one for you back on the industrial side. If I look at your growth year-over-year, I think the combined mix that you guys talked about has it up 27%. I think your guidance is up 10% to 20%, 25% year-over-year. That's really impressive, but almost so much so that I wonder if there's something company-specific going on. Is that -- that number is really about 2x what your competition is doing and much higher than anything you have done yourself in the last 5 years. So, I guess, given that, what's driving such strong growth? And how sustainable do you view that growth rate?

文斯，為你介紹一下工業領域的東西。如果我看一下你們的同比增長率，我認為你們討論的綜合因素使增長率達到了 27%。我認為你們的業績預期是年增 10% 到 20%，甚至 25%。這確實令人印象深刻，但幾乎讓我懷疑這背後是否有公司特有的因素。也就是說——這個數字實際上是你的競爭對手的兩倍左右，而且比你過去 5 年裡自己取得的任何成就都要高得多。那麼，鑑於此，是什麼因素推動瞭如此強勁的成長呢？您認為這種成長率的可持續性如何？

Yes, Ross. I think there are a number of factors in the response here. Firstly, '16 wasn't a strong year, in particular on the industrial side of things. We have a strong play. We made a pivot as a company several years ago. We pivoted R&D and focus into areas like aerospace and defense. Hittite, obviously, has helped us a lot in the penetration of that space. Our automation business is strong across the globe. We've seen -- China has become a bigger part of what we do in the industrial area. So I think those things have helped us a lot. And obviously, with LT's focus as well, the mix of LT's business being skewed towards heavily B2B applications and particularly industrial, that helps everything. So I think there are a number of factors that are related to just a stronger market and ADI's position within the market.

是的，羅斯。我認為這個問題的答案會受到多種因素影響。首先，2016 年並不是一個強勁的年份，尤其是在工業方面。我們打得很好。幾年前，我們公司進行了一次轉型。我們將研發重心轉向航太和國防等領域。顯然，赫梯人對我們深入那個領域有了極大的幫助。我們的自動化業務在全球範圍內都非常強勁。我們已經看到——中國在我們工業領域的業務中扮演著越來越重要的角色。所以我覺得這些對我們幫助很大。顯然，LT 的業務重點也在於此，LT 的業務組合主要偏向 B2B 應用，尤其是工業領域，這對一切都有幫助。所以我認為有很多因素與市場走強以及ADI在市場中的地位有關。

Yes. And I'd just add to that, Ross. On a year-over-year basis, aerospace and defense and automated test equipment were up very, very strongly. And so we do have this broad base of customers and they've certainly done well as well, but we've also got a couple of these more programmatic areas like I just mentioned that really we're very strong on a year-over-year basis. And we look at these growth rates as well and we say, "Boy, this is really good growth. I would love to keep this going." But our sense is, at least from a supply chain perspective, that things are pretty stable, at least for the things that we can see. And I tend to look at the distie channels, see how that's doing, and that's been like clockwork at 7 weeks every quarter. And we did that again this quarter. So it's the best that we can tell you at this stage.

是的。我還要補充一點，羅斯。與去年同期相比，航太與國防以及自動化測試設備的成長非常非常強勁。因此，我們擁有廣泛的客戶群體，他們的業績確實不錯，但我們也有一些像我剛才提到的程序化領域，這些領域在同比方面表現非常強勁。我們觀察這些增長率，然後說：“哇，這增長真不錯。”我非常希望這種合作能夠持續下去。 「但至少從供應鏈的角度來看，我們的感覺是情況相當穩定，至少就我們目前所能看到的而言是如此。我通常會查看分銷管道，看看情況如何，而這種情況一直像鐘錶一樣準時，每季度 7 週一次。本季我們再次做到了這一點。所以，目前我們只能告訴你這些。

Great. I guess, as my follow-up, switching over to the Linear Tech side. I believe last quarter, you talked about having $20 million out of the original $100 million in OpEx synergies already captured. Can you give us an update on what you've captured so far?

偉大的。我想，接下來我會轉投凌力爾特陣營。我記得上個季度您提到過，在最初的 1 億美元營運支出綜效中，已經實現了 2000 萬美元。可否向我們介紹一下目前為止你們的拍攝成果？

And then, at your analyst meeting, a similar follow-up. You had -- you added $100 million with a longer time frame and made it a $250 million synergy target. Is that $100 million incremental more on the COGS side or more on the OpEx side?

然後，在分析師會議上，進行類似的後續追蹤。你們增加了 1 億美元，延長了時間跨度，並將綜效目標提高到 2.5 億美元。這1億美元的增量是增加到銷售成本方面，還是增加到營運成本方面？

Okay. Good question. So on the initial $150 million synergy that as, Ross, you point out, there was $20 million of public company costs that came out in the second quarter when we combined the companies. In the third quarter, there was an additional $20 million of synergies that we realized. And in the fourth quarter guidance -- and again, all this is embedded in the guidance -- there's an additional $45 million of cost synergies.

好的。問得好。因此，正如羅斯你指出的那樣，最初的 1.5 億美元協同效應中，有 2000 萬美元的上市公司成本，這些成本在第二季度合併公司時產生。第三季度，我們實現了額外的 2000 萬美元協同效應。第四季業績指引中——同樣，所有這些都已包含在業績指引中——還有額外的 4500 萬美元成本協同效應。

So the way to think about it is by the end of the fourth quarter, we would have realized $85 million of the $150 million. And of that $85 million, the split on the P&L would be approximately 2/3 in the OpEx line and about 1/3 in the cost of sales line. Now, there's still an additional $65 million remaining that we expect to start recognizing ratably in the first quarter of '18 and ending by the fourth quarter of '18. And displayed on that, we expect to be about 2/3 cost of sales and 1/3 OpEx. So that's $150 million locked and loaded. We are obviously recognizing and realizing those synergies a little faster than we perhaps pointed to in the past, but I'll take it.

所以，我們可以這樣理解：到第四季末，我們將實現 1.5 億美元目標中的 8,500 萬美元。在這 8,500 萬美元中，損益表中約 2/3 計入營運支出，1/3 計入銷售成本。目前，還有 6,500 萬美元的剩餘款項，我們預計將在 2018 年第一季開始按比例確認，並在 2018 年第四季結束。據估計，其中約 2/3 為銷售成本，1/3 為營運成本。這樣一來，1.5億美元的資金就到位了。顯然，我們認識到並實現這些協同效應的速度比我們過去可能指出的速度要快一些，但我對此表示歡迎。

And then, the $100 million of additional synergies that we talked about in the 3 to 5-year time frame, I would say we've identified those areas. I think, naturally, when you put 2 companies together, you're going to have efficiencies that take place and some of those are earlier, some of those are later. And in the 3 to 5-year time frame, we've got those synergies identified. It's just a question of communicating it to The Street and once we have that planned, we'll certainly do it.

至於我們之前提到的 3 到 5 年內可實現的 1 億美元額外協同效應，我認為我們已經確定了這些領域。我認為，很自然地，當兩家公司合併時，就會產生效率提升，有些效率提升來得早，有些則來得晚。在 3 到 5 年的時間範圍內，我們已經確定了這些協同效應。這只是向華爾街傳達這一訊息的問題，一旦我們制定了計劃，我們一定會去做。

Our 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。

Yes. I wanted to follow-up on the automotive side, particularly for BMS. Now that you have Linear's business in-house, just want to get a sense of just kind of design pipeline and how you're viewing that market over the intermediate to longer term.

是的。我想跟進汽車方面的信息，特別是電池管理系統（BMS）。既然Linear的業務已經納入你們的內部管理，我只是想了解你們的設計流程，以及你們如何看待中長期市場發展。

A lot of the activity, Craig, over the last couple of years for LT in that space has been in China and Asia in general. There has been an aggressive shift to penetrate the market as well in the U.S. and merging in Europe as well. So I would say given the pipeline, given the products that we have and given the penetration that we've got into some new areas as well, I think over the next 5 years it would be a significant growth contributor for ADI.

克雷格，在過去幾年裡，LT在該領域的許多活動都集中在中國和整個亞洲地區。在美國，企業也採取了積極的市場滲透策略；在歐洲，企業也採取了併購策略。所以，考慮到我們的產品線、現有產品以及我們在一些新領域的滲透率，我認為在未來 5 年內，它將成為 ADI 的重要成長貢獻者。

Got it. And then, just want to follow-up on the CFO hire. Understanding Prashanth will be starting at the end of September, but just maybe just taking a step back and, Vince, if you could just shed light on kind of your process, how you evaluate different types of candidates and why you think he was the best fit for you?

知道了。然後，我想跟進一下財務長的聘用情況。了解 Prashanth 的過程將從九月底開始，但或許我們可以先退一步，Vince，你能簡單介紹一下你的招募流程嗎？你是如何評估不同類型的候選人的？以及為什麼你認為他最適合你？

Yes. So first and foremost, I was looking for a very seasoned CFO with an understanding of the technology environment. In fact, Prashanth ticks all of those boxes. He's been in the world of technology for a quarter of a century. He's a chemical engineer by background. So I think -- and his track record has proven that he can run complex financial operations. And what I'm looking for is somebody to obviously run the financial operation of ADI flawlessly, make sure that we integrate LTC flawlessly and as well work with myself and the leadership team here at ADI to look for areas of trapped value that we can unlock in the years ahead. So I think as well Prashanth will be -- he will be a great cultural fit for ADI. And so we're obviously very excited to have him come on board in the next few weeks. And I think we have a world-class CFO now coming on board and with a great future ahead of us that he would help us unlock.

是的。首先，我需要一位經驗非常豐富的財務官，並且他對技術環境有深入的了解。事實上，Prashanth 完全符合這些條件。他從事科技業已有四分之一世紀了。他的專業背景是化學工程。所以我認為——而且他的過往業績也證明他能夠管理複雜的金融業務。我正在尋找一位能夠完美地管理 ADI 財務運營，確保我們完美地整合 LTC，並與我和 ADI 的領導團隊合作，尋找我們可以在未來幾年釋放的潛在價值領域的人。所以我認為 Prashanth 也會非常契合 ADI 的文化。因此，我們非常高興他將在未來幾週內加入我們。我認為我們現在迎來了一位世界級的財務官，他將幫助我們開啟美好的未來。

Our next question is 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。

I guess, a couple of questions. One, on the automotive side. I realize you guys are guiding for a seasonal recovery or improvement in the upcoming quarter. But given the improvement you're seeing in the powertrain side at Linear, which is a legal part of the revenue, why do you think growth is not better than seasonal trends in the upcoming quarter on automotive?

我想問幾個問題。第一，汽車方面。我知道你們的目標是讓球隊在下一季實現季節性復甦或改善。但考慮到Linear動力總成業務的改善（這是其合法收入的一部分），您認為下一季汽車產業的成長為何沒有達到季節性趨勢？

Yes. Amit, I would just point out all we can tell you is what we see in our order book and the order book supports the kind of guidance that we provided.

是的。阿米特，我只想指出，我們只能告訴你我們從訂單簿上看到的情況，而訂單簿也印證了我們提供的指導意見。

Did you have a follow-up?

您有後續跟進嗎？

I do. I guess, just on the gross margin side, you guys had really impressive upside on gross margins this quarter in July, but as I look at October, you guys are kind of guiding flat gross margins despite revenues improving and the potential of Linear benefit. So beyond mix, I guess, what are the headwinds that might be there for gross margins in October?

我願意。我想，就毛利率而言，你們在7月份的季度毛利率增長非常可觀，但展望10月份，儘管收入有所改善，而且Linear可能帶來收益，但你們卻預計毛利率將持平。所以除了產品組合之外，我想，10 月毛利率可能面臨的不利因素有哪些？

Yes. So I think Vince mentioned it in his prepared remarks. We expect our growth in the fourth quarter to be led by the automotive and consumer markets. And those 2 markets tend to carry, again, very good gross margins, but they're slightly dilutive to the overall company. And so as a result, actually I think the great result that we can keep gross margin stable next quarter despite the mix or the anticipated mix. And the way we're going to do that is to realize more of the cost synergies like we talked about before.

是的。所以我覺得文斯在他的準備好的演講稿裡提到了這一點。我們預計第四季度的成長將主要由汽車和消費品市場帶動。而且，這兩個市場的毛利率往往非常高，但對公司整體而言，它們會略微稀釋利潤。因此，我認為最大的結果是，儘管產品組合或預期產品組合有所不同，我們仍能在下個季度維持毛利率穩定。而我們實現這一目標的方式，就是像我們之前討論的那樣，進一步發揮成本協同效應。

All righty. Thanks, Amit.

好的。謝謝你，阿米特。

Okay. So everybody, thanks for joining us this morning. A copy of this transcript will be available on our website and all available reconciliations and additional information can also be found on the Quarterly Results section of our Investor Relations site at investor.analog.com.

好的。各位，感謝你們今天早上收看我們的節目。本報告的副本將在我們的網站上提供，所有可用的對帳單和補充資訊也可以在我們的投資者關係網站 investor.analog.com 的季度業績部分找到。

So thank you very much for dialing in and have a great Labor Day, everybody.

非常感謝大家的撥入，祝大家勞動節快樂！

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。