Aehr Test Systems (AEHR) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to the Aehr Test Systems Fiscal 2023 Third Quarter Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions). Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jim Byers of MKR Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

您好，歡迎參加 Aehr Test Systems 2023 財年第三季度財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）。請注意正在記錄此事件。我現在想將會議轉交給 MKR 投資者關係部的 Jim Byers。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and welcome to Aehr Test Systems Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. With me on today's call are Aehr Test Systems' President and Chief Executive Officer, Gayn Erickson; and Chief Financial Officer, Ken Spink.

謝謝你，運營商。下午好，歡迎來到 Aehr Test Systems 第三季度 2023 財年財務業績電話會議。 Aehr Test Systems 總裁兼首席執行官 Gayn Erickson 和我一起參加今天的電話會議；和首席財務官 Ken Spink。

Before I turn the call over to Gayn and Ken, I'd like to cover a few quick items. This afternoon, right after market close, Aehr Test issued a press release announcing its third quarter fiscal 2023 results. That release is available on the company's website at aehr.com. This call is also being broadcast live over the Internet for all interested parties, and the webcast will be archived on the Investor Relations page of the company's website.

在我將電話轉給 Gayn 和 Ken 之前，我想簡要介紹一些內容。今天下午，收盤後，Aehr Test 發布了一份新聞稿，宣布了其 2023 財年第三季度的業績。該新聞稿可在公司網站 aehr.com 上獲取。該電話會議還通過互聯網向所有感興趣的各方進行現場直播，網絡直播將在公司網站的投資者關係頁面上存檔。

I'd like to remind everyone that on today's call, management will be making forward-looking statements today that are based on current information and estimates and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors that may cause results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are discussed in the company's most recent periodic and current reports filed with the SEC. These forward-looking statements, including guidance provided during today's call, are only valid as of this date, and Aehr Test Systems undertakes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements.

我想提醒大家，在今天的電話會議上，管理層今天將根據當前信息和估計做出前瞻性陳述，並受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，這些風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果與報告中的結果大不相同前瞻性陳述。這些可能導致結果與前瞻性陳述中的結果存在重大差異的因素在公司最近提交給美國證券交易委員會的定期和當前報告中進行了討論。這些前瞻性陳述，包括今天電話會議期間提供的指導，僅在該日期有效，Aehr Test Systems 不承擔更新前瞻性陳述的義務。

And now with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Gayn Erickson, President and CEO.

現在，我想把電話轉給總裁兼首席執行官 Gayn Erickson。

Thanks, Jim. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our third quarter fiscal '23 earnings call. Appreciate you guys joining us today. Let's start with a quick summary of the highlights of the quarter and the continued momentum we're seeing in the semiconductor wafer level test and burn-in market, then Ken will go over the financials in more detail. Then after that, we'll open up the lines to take your questions. .

謝謝，吉姆。大家下午好，歡迎來到我們第三季度的 23 財年財報電話會議。感謝你們今天加入我們。讓我們首先快速總結一下本季度的亮點以及我們在半導體晶圓級測試和老化市場中看到的持續勢頭，然後 Ken 將更詳細地介紹財務狀況。然後，我們將開通線路來回答您的問題。 .

Aehr had another great quarter in Q3, with revenue and net income ahead of consensus estimates. We finished the quarter with record bookings for a single quarter of $33.3 million and a strong backlog of $31.6 million at the end of the quarter. Our effective backlog, which includes all orders received since the end of the quarter or since March 1, the beginning of the fourth quarter, are $41 million. Our total bookings for the fiscal year-to-date is already $72.5 million.

Aehr 在第三季度又迎來了一個偉大的季度，其收入和淨收入超出了市場普遍預期。本季度結束時，我們以創紀錄的單季度 3330 萬美元預訂量和本季度末 3160 萬美元的強勁積壓訂單結束。我們的有效積壓訂單（包括自本季度末或自 3 月 1 日（第四季度初）以來收到的所有訂單）為 4100 萬美元。我們本財年迄今的總預訂量已經達到 7250 萬美元。

Let me start with the increasing momentum we're seeing in wafer level test and burn-in for silicon carbide. Companies are adding significant capacity in silicon carbide semiconductors to address the incredible forecasted demand, particularly for the electric vehicle and electric vehicle charger markets. The silicon carbide market for electric vehicles and its supporting infrastructure requirements are growing at a tremendous rate. Forecast from William Blair estimate that the silicon carbide market for devices in electric vehicles alone, such as traction inverters and onboard chargers is expected to grow from 119,000 6-inch equivalent silicon carbide wafers for EVs in 2021 to more than 4.1 million 6-inch equivalent wafers in 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of 48.4%. This equates to almost 35x larger in 2030 than in 2021. Also, 6-inch equivalent silicon carbide wafers for other markets such as solar, industrial and other electrification infrastructure are expected to grow to at least another 3 million wafers by 2030. This expands our silicon carbide testing market -- test and burn-in market even more.

讓我從我們在晶圓級測試和碳化矽老化中看到的日益增長的勢頭開始。公司正在增加碳化矽半導體的大量產能，以滿足令人難以置信的預測需求，尤其是電動汽車和電動汽車充電器市場。用於電動汽車的碳化矽市場及其配套基礎設施需求正在以驚人的速度增長。 William Blair 的預測估計，僅電動汽車設備的碳化矽市場，例如牽引逆變器和車載充電器，預計將從 2021 年的 119,000 個 6 英寸等效碳化矽晶圓增長到超過 410 萬個 6 英寸等效2030年晶圓複合年增長率為48.4%。這相當於到 2030 年比 2021 年大近 35 倍。此外，到 2030 年，用於太陽能、工業和其他電氣化基礎設施等其他市場的 6 英寸等效碳化矽晶圓預計將增長到至少 300 萬片晶圓。這擴大了我們碳化矽測試市場——測試和老化市場更是如此。

During the quarter, our second major silicon carbide semiconductor customer moved from an initial FOX-NP dual wafer test and burn-in system of ours used for engineering and device qualification to purchasing their first FOX-XP systems to be used for production test and burn-in other silicon carbide wafers. Last week, we announced a follow-on order from this customer for production quantities of our WaferPak full wafer Contactors, which will begin shipping this quarter to be used with these systems in production. We believe this customer who serves several significant markets, including the electric vehicle industry as well as other industrial applications will purchase a large number of our FOX-XP systems to meet the publicly announced significant increase in plant capacity and revenue growth over the next several years and to end of the decade.

在本季度，我們的第二個主要碳化矽半導體客戶從我們最初用於工程和設備鑑定的 FOX-NP 雙晶圓測試和老化系統轉向購買他們的第一個 FOX-XP 系統用於生產測試和燃燒-在其他碳化矽晶圓中。上週，我們宣布了來自該客戶的後續訂單，要求我們的 WaferPak 全晶圓接觸器量產，該接觸器將於本季度開始發貨，用於生產中的這些系統。我們相信，這個服務於幾個重要市場（包括電動汽車行業以及其他工業應用）的客戶將購買大量我們的 FOX-XP 系統，以滿足公開宣布的未來幾年工廠產能和收入增長的顯著增長到本世紀末。

These systems include our new very high voltage channel module option, enabling high-temperature reverse bias or HTRB as it's known in the industry, testing of silicon carbide devices using our proprietary WaferPak Contactors, which include patented anti-artine capability that is necessary to avoid high voltage electrical arching between devices or between devices and the streets on the wafer. This solves a challenge with high-voltage wafer level test and burn-in. These systems were also purchased with our new fully integrated and automated WaferPak Aligners, which will begin shipping this fiscal quarter we're in right now.

這些系統包括我們新的超高壓通道模塊選項，可實現高溫反向偏置或業內眾所周知的 HTRB，使用我們專有的 WaferPak 接觸器測試碳化矽設備，其中包括獲得專利的抗藝術能力，這對於避免器件之間或器件與晶圓上的街道之間的高壓電弧。這解決了高壓晶圓級測試和老化的挑戰。這些系統還與我們新的完全集成和自動化的 WaferPak Aligners 一起購買，它將在我們現在所在的本財政季度開始發貨。

As I've noted before, adding automation to our FOX production systems through our new Aligner gives our wafer level test and burn-in offering even greater value and opens up several large incremental markets to Aehr, such as high-volume processes and chipsets with integrated photonics transceivers, high-volume memory devices and also high-volume high-mix devices require an extremely high reliability and 100% burn-in such as automotive microcontrollers and sensors. We have the new automated WaferPak Aligners here at our facility in Fremont going through customer benchmarks, and completing system integration with our fully integrated FOX-XP multi-wafer test and burn-in system, so customers can come in and see the aligners in action. We also had several potential new customers come in to see the automated WaferPak Aligners in operation.

正如我之前提到的，通過我們的新 Aligner 將自動化添加到我們的 FOX 生產系統中，為我們的晶圓級測試和老化提供了更大的價值，並為 Aehr 開闢了幾個大的增量市場，例如大批量工藝和芯片組集成光子收發器、大容量存儲設備以及大容量高混合設備需要極高的可靠性和 100% 老化，例如汽車微控制器和傳感器。我們在弗里蒙特的工廠擁有新的自動化 WaferPak 對準器，通過客戶基準測試，並與我們完全集成的 FOX-XP 多晶圓測試和老化系統完成系統集成，因此客戶可以參觀並查看對準器的運行情況.我們還有幾位潛在的新客戶前來觀看自動化 WaferPak 對準器的運行。

Our lead silicon carbide customer continued to ramp up the production and the use of our FOX-XP production systems and WaferPak Contactors. During the quarter, we received a $25 million order for a significant number of additional FOX-XP wafer-level test and burn-in systems scheduled to ship over the next 6 to 7 months to meet their increased capacity needs for producing silicon carbide devices for electric vehicles, chargers and electrification infrastructure.

我們的主要碳化矽客戶繼續提高我們的 FOX-XP 生產系統和 WaferPak 接觸器的生產和使用。本季度，我們收到了一份價值 2500 萬美元的大量額外 FOX-XP 晶圓級測試和老化系統的訂單，計劃在未來 6 到 7 個月內發貨，以滿足他們為生產碳化矽器件而增加的產能需求電動汽車、充電器和電氣化基礎設施。

Earlier this month, we also announced a $6.7 million follow-on order for WaferPaks from them, representing about half of the total WaferPak full wafer contactors needed for these FOX-XP systems. Each of these FOX-XP systems has the capacity to test and burn-in 18 full wafers of devices at a time.

本月早些時候，我們還宣布從他們那裡獲得價值 670 萬美元的 WaferPak 後續訂單，約佔這些 FOX-XP 系統所需的 WaferPak 全晶圓接觸器總量的一半。這些 FOX-XP 系統中的每一個都具有一次測試和老化 18 個完整晶圓的能力。

Now let me tell you about our benchmarks and engagements with prospective new customers. We also continue to make great progress with our previously announced benchmarks and engagements. We continue to work closely with one of the largest silicon carbide players in the world on a large wafer level benchmark and qualification. We're excited that this qualification continues towards success as the company finishes their internal processes to complete the qualification. As with our other large silicon carbide customers, we expect the silicon carbide supplier to require significant capacity of wafer level test and burn-in systems to meet the fast-growing demand for silicon carbide devices and electric vehicles over the next decade. We understand that this has taken a long time, but we're confident that this will result in success for both them and Aehr Test in using the FOX wafer-level systems and WaferPaks for their volume production.

現在讓我告訴您我們的基準和與潛在新客戶的互動。我們還繼續在之前宣布的基準和約定方面取得重大進展。我們繼續與世界上最大的碳化矽生產商之一就大型晶圓級基準和資格認證密切合作。我們很高興隨著公司完成其內部流程以完成資格認證，這一資格認證將繼續取得成功。與我們的其他大型碳化矽客戶一樣，我們預計碳化矽供應商將需要大量的晶圓級測試和老化系統，以滿足未來十年對碳化矽設備和電動汽車快速增長的需求。我們知道這需要很長時間，但我們相信這將使他們和 Aehr Test 在使用 FOX 晶圓級系統和 WaferPaks 進行量產方面取得成功。

We also had a very productive quarter in terms of new customer engagement, which has continued into this quarter and even multiple new potential customers visiting Aehr just this week. With essentially all COVID-related restrictions behind us throughout the world, our customer-facing meetings and our progress on new customer opportunities has grown substantially. Since last quarter's conference call, 3 additional companies currently making silicon carbide devices decided to move forward with full wafer level evaluations and are directly to purchase our systems. We're seeing companies shift from long-term road maps to near-term execution of the product and production plans for silicon carbide devices and are internalizing the critical need for long wafer level test and burn-in times. As such, some companies that we had only met with briefly in the past are coming to us with their wafer designs in asking for quick feasibility studies, quotations and lead times. It's unbelievably exciting time in the silicon carbide industry and the markets that silicon carbide semiconductors are serving.

我們在新客戶參與方面也有一個非常富有成效的季度，這種情況一直持續到本季度，甚至有多個新的潛在客戶就在本周訪問了 Aehr。由於在全球範圍內基本上所有與 COVID 相關的限制都已過去，我們面向客戶的會議和我們在新客戶機會方面的進展有了顯著增長。自上個季度的電話會議以來，另外 3 家目前生產碳化矽器件的公司決定推進全晶圓級評估，並直接購買我們的系統。我們看到公司從長期路線圖轉向近期執行碳化矽器件的產品和生產計劃，並且正在內化對長晶圓級測試和老化時間的關鍵需求。因此，一些我們過去只短暫見過面的公司帶著他們的晶圓設計來找我們，要求我們進行快速的可行性研究、報價和交貨時間。這是碳化矽行業和碳化矽半導體所服務市場令人難以置信的激動人心的時刻。

In addition to our momentum in silicon carbide, we're now engaged with several gallium nitride semiconductor suppliers ranging from radio frequency or RF devices to power devices. Since our last call, we also received a firm commitment from a very large multinational semiconductor supplier to move forward with a full wafer level evaluation of gallium nitride devices. This evaluation includes our new high-voltage option for doing the critical HTRB stress needed for gallium nitride MOSFETs and amplifiers.

除了我們在碳化矽方面的發展勢頭之外，我們現在還與多家氮化鎵半導體供應商合作，從射頻或射頻設備到功率設備。自我們上次通話以來，我們還收到了一家超大型跨國半導體供應商的堅定承諾，將推進對氮化鎵器件的全晶圓級評估。該評估包括我們新的高壓選項，用於處理氮化鎵 MOSFET 和放大器所需的關鍵 HTRB 應力。

We believe gallium nitride will be a significant market, driven by some of the very -- some very high-volume applications such as RF amplifiers, consumer electronic power converters and chargers, solar power inverters and charger and converter applications in both standard and electric vehicles. Feedback from companies has been that several of these applications will require production burn-in to meet the application's critical quality and reliability needs. With our proven FOX-XP wafer level burden solution and its cost-effective ability to test thousands of advices in parallel and up to 9 wafers at a time with the high-voltage capability option, we believe we are well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity and believe gallium nitride can expand our total addressable market in a meaningful way.

我們相信氮化鎵將成為一個重要的市場，由一些非常 - 一些非常大批量的應用驅動，例如射頻放大器、消費電子電源轉換器和充電器、太陽能逆變器以及標準和電動汽車中的充電器和轉換器應用.來自公司的反饋是，其中一些應用程序將需要生產老化以滿足應用程序的關鍵質量和可靠性需求。憑藉我們久經考驗的 FOX-XP 晶圓級負載解決方案及其具有成本效益的並行測試數千條建議的能力以及一次測試多達 9 個晶圓的高壓能力選項，我們相信我們已準備好利用這一機會並相信氮化鎵可以以有意義的方式擴大我們的總潛在市場。

In just the last 2 months, I've personally met with over a dozen companies across Europe, the U.S. and Asia and demand is extremely strong across the world. We've had questions about China since COVID restrictions have "eased." From our perspective, the customer pull has been much greater for our solution outside of China so far. Having said that, we've recently seen activity pick up at several of the larger silicon carbide suppliers and electric vehicle producing companies in China. It's becoming clearer to them that wafer level burn-in is critically important to remove the infant mortality or early failures of silicon carbide devices before they're put into modules and for certain before installing them into an inverter or a drive unit or heaven forbid, the electric vehicle itself.

在過去的兩個月裡，我親自會見了歐洲、美國和亞洲的十幾家公司，全世界的需求都非常強勁。自 COVID 限制“放寬”以來，我們一直對中國有疑問。從我們的角度來看，到目前為止，我們在中國以外的解決方案對客戶的吸引力要大得多。話雖如此，我們最近看到中國幾家較大的碳化矽供應商和電動汽車生產公司的活動有所增加。他們越來越清楚，晶圓級老化對於消除碳化矽器件在被放入模塊之前的嬰兒死亡率或早期故障至關重要，並且在將它們安裝到逆變器或驅動單元或天堂禁止之前肯定，電動汽車本身。

Each individual silicon carbide MOSFET, which acts as an electrical switch has a failure rate of typically as much as 1% or more during the stress test burn-in conditions that correlate to the actual use and conditions and time that these devices are expected to endure or the life of the electric vehicle. This is referred to in the auto industry as the mission profile. This profile is equivalent to several hundred thousand driving miles and the time the electric vehicle would be running to drive that far, including idle time, et cetera.

每個用作電氣開關的碳化矽 MOSFET 在壓力測試老化條件下的故障率通常高達 1% 或更高，這與實際使用以及這些設備預期承受的條件和時間相關或電動汽車的壽命。這在汽車行業中稱為任務配置文件。這個配置文件相當於幾十萬英里的行駛里程和電動汽車行駛那麼遠的行駛時間，包括怠速時間等。

Semiconductor suppliers in critical applications such as silicon carbide MOSFETs that are used in the drive unit inverter of electric vehicles, must not only prove to the auto suppliers or OEMs as they're called, that their devices will last for the life of the mission profile, but they must also show how they will ensure production test screening to remove devices that will or are likely to fail. This is where production burn-in comes in.

關鍵應用中的半導體供應商，例如用於電動汽車驅動單元逆變器的碳化矽 MOSFET，不僅必須向汽車供應商或 OEM 證明他們的設備將在任務簡介的整個生命週期內持續使用，但他們還必須展示他們將如何確保生產測試篩選以移除將或可能失敗的設備。這是產品老化的地方。

Our solutions can apply industry standard and/or customers custom stress conditions such as high and low negative voltages at elevated temperatures to induce failures on weak devices without damaging good devices. We do this on every device up to thousands of devices on a time on every wafer with 100% traceability. We then test up to 18 wafers at a time in a single pass on a single FOX-XP system. This parallelism is literally unprecedented. No company has ever done this before Aehr Test nor is anyone else doing this today.

我們的解決方案可以應用行業標準和/或客戶定制的應力條件，例如高溫下的高負電壓和低負電壓，以在不損壞良好設備的情況下引發弱設備故障。我們在每個晶圓上一次對每個設備執行此操作多達數千個設備，具有 100% 的可追溯性。然後，我們在單個 FOX-XP 系統上一次測試多達 18 個晶圓。這種並行性實際上是前所未有的。在 Aehr Test 之前，沒有一家公司這樣做過，今天也沒有其他人這樣做過。

We have a significant number of patents that protect key technical features and functionality of this solution, and we believe any other company that tries to build something like our solution or any company using such a solution would be violating our intellectual property and patents. We maintain our patents across the world, including major semiconductor and automotive supplier hubs such as the United States, Germany, Italy, Korea, Japan, Singapore and even China.

我們擁有大量專利來保護該解決方案的關鍵技術特性和功能，我們相信任何其他試圖構建類似我們解決方案的公司或任何使用此類解決方案的公司都會侵犯我們的知識產權和專利。我們在世界各地維護我們的專利，包括美國、德國、意大利、韓國、日本、新加坡甚至中國等主要半導體和汽車供應商中心。

Our wafer parallelism and price point leads to an unprecedentaly low test cost for whole wafer test and burn-in. At capital depreciation rates of less than USD 5 per hour per wafer on a full wafer of silicon carbide MOSFETs to be used in electric vehicle, inverters or chargers, our customers can cost effectively apply a burn-in stress condition to weed out early life failures and to stabilize the threshold voltage of these devices for use in power modules for up to 24 hours or more without driving up their cost of the devices. And the yield improvement of removing the failure before they are put into the power modules actually lowers their overall manufacturing costs.

我們的晶圓平行度和價格點使整個晶圓測試和老化的測試成本前所未有地低。在電動汽車、逆變器或充電器中使用的全碳化矽 MOSFET 晶圓的資本折舊率低於每小時 5 美元的情況下，我們的客戶可以經濟高效地應用老化應力條件來消除早期故障並在不增加設備成本的情況下穩定這些設備的閾值電壓，以便在電源模塊中使用長達 24 小時或更長時間。在將它們放入電源模塊之前消除故障的良率提高實際上降低了它們的整體製造成本。

Our FOX wafer level test and burn-in solution with our proprietary WaferPak full wafer Contactors are a fantastic fit for the silicon photonic semiconductor market, and we're hearing this directly from customers and potential customers.

我們的 FOX 晶圓級測試和老化解決方案與我們專有的 WaferPak 全晶圓接觸器非常適合矽光子半導體市場，我們直接從客戶和潛在客戶那裡聽到了這一點。

Now let me move on to silicon photonic semiconductor burn-in and stabilization. As a reminder, to clarify those not familiar with silicon photonics, this is what the industry calls the devices where both electrical semiconductor integrated circuits are combined with photonics or light-based transmitters and receivers. The classic initial device was a device that integrated an optical transceiver with an integrated circuit into a fiber optic transceiver component. This technology was heralded as a way to massively increase the manufacturing capacity and to significantly lower the cost of fiber optic communication transmission in data centers and server farms.

現在讓我繼續談談矽光子半導體的老化和穩定。提醒一下，為了澄清那些不熟悉矽光子學的人，這就是業界所說的將電子半導體集成電路與光子學或基於光的發射器和接收器相結合的設備。經典的初始設備是將帶有集成電路的光收發器集成到光纖收發器組件中的設備。這項技術被譽為可大幅提高製造能力並顯著降低數據中心和服務器場中光纖通信傳輸成本的一種方式。

This was considered a major breakthrough and was key to long-term data bandwidths and to lower power data centers has really only been proven over the last several years. The pandemic actually slowed down or even stopped the initial production ramps of customers of these devices, but is now picking back up as a viable and lower cost alternative to the higher-cost discrete transceivers built over the last 20 years.

這被認為是一項重大突破，是長期數據帶寬和低功耗數據中心的關鍵，實際上只是在過去幾年才得到證實。大流行病實際上減緩甚至停止了這些設備客戶的初始生產速度，但現在正在重新成為過去 20 年製造的成本較高的分立式收發器的可行且成本較低的替代品。

We continue to be very enthusiastic about this market, especially as it looks to expand beyond just being used for fiber optic transceivers to becoming an embedded market that integrates the fiber optic technology into other devices such as chipsets and processors themselves. Multiple market leaders, including companies like Intel, AMD, NVIDIA and others have publicly discussed their investments to integrate silicon photonics transceivers into their microprocessors, graphics processors and chipsets. While we believe this transition is still several years out, we also believe it represents an enormous opportunity for Aehr Test with our unique position of having a proven and cost-effective multi-wafer solution testing and burning-in and stabilizing silicon photonics devices at a massive scale while still in the wafer form.

我們繼續對這個市場充滿熱情，尤其是當它希望從僅僅用於光纖收發器擴展到成為將光纖技術集成到其他設備（如芯片組和處理器本身）的嵌入式市場時。包括英特爾、AMD、NVIDIA 等公司在內的多個市場領導者已經公開討論了他們將矽光子收發器集成到他們的微處理器、圖形處理器和芯片組中的投資。雖然我們認為這種轉變還需要幾年時間，但我們也相信這對 Aehr Test 來說是一個巨大的機會，因為我們擁有經過驗證且具有成本效益的多晶圓解決方案測試以及老化和穩定矽光子器件的獨特地位。大規模，同時仍處於晶圓形式。

We are currently today testing 150-millimeter, 200-millimeter as well as 300-millimeter photonics-based wafers with our current FOX wafer-level test and burn-in systems at customers today. We also have provided customers with our FOX-NP and XP systems using our DiePaks for testing singulated die and photonics modules. We're beginning to see the front end of this opportunity with a strong recovery of silicon photonics from the weakness we saw during the pandemic.

我們目前正在使用我們當前的 FOX 晶圓級測試和老化系統在客戶處測試 150 毫米、200 毫米和 300 毫米基於光子學的晶圓。我們還為客戶提供了我們的 FOX-NP 和 XP 系統，使用我們的 DiePaks 來測試單片和光子模塊。我們開始看到這個機會的前端，矽光子學從我們在大流行期間看到的疲軟中強勁復甦。

Aehr currently has systems installed at over half a dozen customers for 100% test and burn-in of silicon photonics devices used in 5G infrastructure, data and telecommunication transceivers and a few additional applications yet to be introduced. As the market expands, we believe there'll be more business for both engineering and characterization qualification of devices upfront as well as for production wafer level test and burn-in. Over the next several years, we believe silicon photonics will become a significant market for wafer level test and burn-in and could become as large or larger than silicon carbide later in the decade.

Aehr 目前已為超過六家客戶安裝了系統，用於 5G 基礎設施、數據和電信收發器以及一些尚未推出的其他應用中使用的矽光子器件的 100% 測試和老化。隨著市場的擴大，我們相信將有更多的業務用於設備的前期工程和特性鑑定以及生產晶圓級測試和老化。在接下來的幾年裡，我們相信矽光子學將成為晶圓級測試和老化的重要市場，並可能在十年後變得與碳化矽一樣大或更大。

To conclude, we're very encouraged by the continued positive momentum and expanding growth opportunities we see with our current and prospective customers and continue to be very confident in the guidance we've shared for revenue at least $60 million to $70 million for our current fiscal year that ends May 31, which represents growth of at least 18% to 30% year-over-year and revenue growth of between 35% and 75% in the second half of this fiscal year compared to the first half of the year. We also remain confident that our bookings will grow faster than revenue this fiscal year as the ramp in demand for silicon carbide and electric vehicle increases, setting us up for strong momentum heading into our fiscal '22 that begins in June.

總而言之，我們對當前和潛在客戶的持續積極勢頭和不斷擴大的增長機會感到非常鼓舞，並且繼續對我們分享的指導充滿信心，我們目前的收入至少為 6000 萬至 7000 萬美元截至 5 月 31 日的財政年度，與上半年相比，本財政年度下半年的收入同比增長至少 18% 至 30%，收入增長 35% 至 75%。我們也仍然相信，隨著對碳化矽和電動汽車需求的增加，本財年我們的預訂量增長速度將快於收入增長，這為我們進入 6 月開始的 '22 財年的強勁勢頭做好了準備。

Lastly, before I turn the call over to our CFO, Ken, I want to announce that after 15 years with Aehr Test, Ken has indicated his intention to retire from the company after finishing this fiscal year and after the fiscal year reporting period. Ken has been our CFO and VP of Finance since 2015 and has been an amazing contributor and a great partner to me during a key phase in Aehr's development and growth. Ken and I have discussed this, and we feel this is actually a pretty good time for this, and it's a great time for a new CFO to come on board to help Aehr with the tremendous growth opportunity and plans ahead of us. Aehr has engaged a professional recruiting firm, and Ken is already providing help to the Board and me to find an exceptional finance executive and will provide assistance and support when a candidate is identified. We're very confident that this change when it happens, will be a seamless transition.

最後，在我將電話轉給我們的首席財務官 Ken 之前，我想宣布，在 Aehr Test 工作 15 年後，Ken 表示他打算在本財年結束和財年報告期結束後從公司退休。 Ken 自 2015 年以來一直擔任我們的首席財務官和財務副總裁，在 Aehr 發展和成長的關鍵階段，他一直是我的傑出貢獻者和偉大的合作夥伴。肯和我已經討論過這個問題，我們認為這實際上是一個很好的時機，現在是新首席財務官上任幫助 Aehr 實現巨大增長機會和計劃的好時機。 Aehr 聘請了一家專業的招聘公司，Ken 已經在幫助董事會和我尋找一位傑出的財務主管，並將在確定候選人後提供幫助和支持。我們非常有信心，當這種變化發生時，將是一個無縫過渡。

With that, let me call -- turn it over to you, Ken, and then we'll open it up for questions.

有了這個，讓我打電話 - 把它交給你，Ken，然後我們會打開它來提問。

Thank you, Gayn, and good afternoon, everyone. As Gayn noted, we had another solid quarter in Q3 with strong sequential and year-over-year growth in our revenue and net income, beating analyst estimates in both the top and bottom lines. We also reported record quarterly bookings and a strong backlog. In addition, with over $9 million already in bookings in the first month of the quarter, we now have an effective backlog of $41 million.

謝謝你，蓋恩，大家下午好。正如 Gayn 指出的那樣，我們在第三季度又迎來了一個穩定的季度，收入和淨收入環比和同比增長強勁，在營收和利潤方面都超過了分析師的預期。我們還報告了創紀錄的季度預訂和大量積壓。此外，本季度第一個月的預訂額已超過 900 萬美元，我們現在的有效積壓訂單為 4100 萬美元。

Looking at our financial results in more detail. Net sales in the third quarter were $17.2 million, up 16% sequentially from $14.8 million in the second quarter and up 13% from $15.3 million in the third quarter last year. The sequential increase in net sales from Q2 includes an increase in systems revenue of $2.5 million and customer service revenues of $278,000. This was partially offset by a decrease in WaferPak and DiePak revenues of $308,000. These consumables revenues accounted for 37% of our total revenue compared to 45% of revenue in the preceding second quarter.

更詳細地查看我們的財務結果。第三季度淨銷售額為 1720 萬美元，比第二季度的 1480 萬美元環比增長 16%，比去年第三季度的 1530 萬美元增長 13%。第二季度淨銷售額環比增長包括系統收入增加 250 萬美元和客戶服務收入增加 278,000 美元。這部分被 WaferPak 和 DiePak 收入減少 308,000 美元所抵消。這些消耗品收入占我們總收入的 37%，而上一季度佔總收入的 45%。

Customers typically purchase our FOX systems and WaferPaks at separate times and also stagger their delivery. Still, our Contactor revenue grows both with increased installations of our systems and also with the increase with the installed base. Customers purchased new contactors with new wafer or device designs, not just with new system capacity put in place.

客戶通常在不同的時間購買我們的 FOX 系統和 WaferPaks，並錯開交貨時間。儘管如此，我們的接觸器收入隨著我們系統安裝量的增加以及安裝基數的增加而增長。客戶購買了具有新晶圓或設備設計的新接觸器，而不僅僅是新系統容量到位。

Gross profit in the third quarter was $8.9 million or 51.6% of sales, down 1.8 percentage points from gross profit of $7.9 million or 53.4% of sales in the preceding second quarter and up from gross profit of $6.4 million or 41.9% of sales in the third quarter of the previous year. Last year's fiscal third quarter, gross profit includes the impact of a $1 million adjustment for excess and obsolete inventory related to legacy products. Excluding the impact of this adjustment, gross margin in the third quarter last year was 48.6%. The variance in gross margin from prior quarter included a negative impact of 1.4 percentage points due to product mix shift and another negative 1.2 percentage points due to the last quarter's favorable freight and tariff costs, warranty provision and inventory reserves. This was partially offset by a 0.8 percentage point benefit due to a decrease in overhead cost to cost of goods sold, resulting from higher revenue levels in the quarter and an increase in capitalization of costs to inventory.

第三季度毛利潤為 890 萬美元，佔銷售額的 51.6%，比上一季度的毛利潤 790 萬美元或銷售額的 53.4% 下降 1.8 個百分點，高於第二季度的毛利潤 640 萬美元，佔銷售額的 41.9%。去年第三季度。去年第三財季的毛利潤包括對與遺留產品相關的過剩和過時庫存進行的 100 萬美元調整的影響。剔除此次調整的影響，去年三季度毛利率為48.6%。毛利率與上一季度的差異包括由於產品組合轉變導致的 1.4 個百分點的負面影響，以及由於上一季度有利的運費和關稅成本、保修條款和庫存儲備而產生的另外 1.2 個百分點的負面影響。這被 0.8 個百分點的收益部分抵消，這是由於本季度較高的收入水平和存貨成本資本化增加導致的間接費用佔銷售商品成本的減少。

With our relatively fixed manufacturing overhead, benefits gross margin are recognized while revenues grow. Non-GAAP net income in the third quarter was $4.7 million or $0.16 per diluted share, which was a strong 27.5% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP net income of $4.5 million or $0.16 per diluted share in the preceding second quarter and non-GAAP net income of $3.1 million or $0.11 per diluted share in the third quarter of fiscal 2022. Non-GAAP net income excludes the impact of stock-based compensation. Operating expenses in the third quarter were $5.1 million, an increase of $656,000 or 15% from $4.4 million in the preceding second quarter and up $941,000 or 23% from $4.1 million in the third quarter of the previous year.

由於我們相對固定的製造費用，收益毛利率在收入增長的同時得到確認。第三季度非 GAAP 淨收入為 470 萬美元或每股攤薄收益 0.16 美元，佔收入的 27.5%。相比之下，上一季度非 GAAP 淨收入為 450 萬美元或稀釋後每股收益 0.16 美元，2022 財年第三季度非 GAAP 淨收入為 310 萬美元或稀釋後每股收益 0.11 美元。非 GAAP 淨收入不包括基於股票的薪酬的影響。第三季度的運營費用為 510 萬美元，比上一季度的 440 萬美元增加 656,000 美元或 15%，比去年第三季度的 410 萬美元增加 941,000 美元或 23%。

The increase from the preceding second quarter includes increases in SG&A of $375,000, primarily due to employment-related expenses, and an increase in R&D of $281,000 related to increased spending on development programs. The increase to SG&A includes increases in headcount, salaries, recruiting fees, and also commissions, bonuses and profit sharing based on increased bookings, revenues and profits. During the quarter, the company increased its worldwide sales and marketing efforts with the addition of 3 senior sales executives. We are already seeing positive impacts of those additions and are very excited to have these sales professionals already making an impact.

較上一季度的增長包括 SG&A 增加 375,000 美元，這主要是由於與就業相關的費用，以及與開發項目支出增加相關的研發增加 281,000 美元。 SG&A 的增加包括員工人數、薪水、招聘費用的增加，以及基於預訂量、收入和利潤增加的佣金、獎金和利潤分成。本季度，公司增加了 3 名高級銷售主管，加強了其全球銷售和營銷工作。我們已經看到這些增加的積極影響，並且非常高興這些銷售專業人員已經產生了影響。

The increase in R&D is primarily due to costs associated with development programs for our new automated WaferPak Aligner and our very high voltage channel module and bipolar voltage channel module. Our new very high-voltage channel module option enables high-temperature reverse bias testing of silicon carbide devices using our proprietary WaferPak Contactors, which include patented anti-arcing capabilities that is necessary to avoid high-voltage electrical arcing between devices or between devices and the streets on the wafer that can be under 200 microns in distance. This solves a key challenge with high-voltage wafer level test and burn-in.

研發的增加主要是由於與我們新的自動化 WaferPak Aligner 以及我們的超高壓通道模塊和雙極電壓通道模塊的開發計劃相關的成本。我們新的超高壓通道模塊選項支持使用我們專有的 WaferPak 接觸器對碳化矽器件進行高溫反向偏置測試，其中包括獲得專利的抗電弧功能，這是避免器件之間或器件與器件之間的高壓電弧所必需的晶圓上的街道距離可能小於 200 微米。這解決了高壓晶圓級測試和老化的關鍵挑戰。

We continue to invest in R&D to enhance our existing market-leading products and to introduce new products to maintain our competitive advantages and to expand our applications in addressable markets. These R&D programs include enhancements that we believe increase our competitive advantage in all our key target markets, including silicon carbide and gallium nitride power semiconductors, silicon photonics and other photonic semiconductors, mobile 2D and 3D sensing devices and memory and data storage semiconductors.

我們繼續投資於研發以增強我們現有的市場領先產品並推出新產品以保持我們的競爭優勢並擴大我們在目標市場的應用。這些研發計劃包括我們認為可以提高我們在所有主要目標市場的競爭優勢的增強功能，包括碳化矽和氮化鎵功率半導體、矽光子學和其他光子半導體、移動 2D 和 3D 傳感設備以及內存和數據存儲半導體。

Turning to the balance sheet for the third quarter. We finished the quarter with a very strong balance sheet. Our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were $42.8 million at February 28, up $6.2 million from $36.6 million at the end of the preceding second quarter and up $10.7 million from $32 million at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2022. We continue to invest excess cash and short-term investments to take advantage of increases in interest rates. Interest income in the third quarter was $374,000, up from just $1,000 in the third quarter last year. As noted in our prior 8-K filing, we were not impacted by the closure of Silicon Valley Bank. We hold over $39 million of our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments at Morgan Stanley, a highly regarded banking institution, and only maintain our operating accounts at SVB. The SVB closure did not impact our customers, employees or vendors, and we continue to operate without any interruptions or impact to our operations.

轉向第三季度的資產負債表。我們以非常強勁的資產負債表結束了本季度。截至 2 月 28 日，我們的現金、現金等價物和短期投資為 4280 萬美元，比上一季度末的 3660 萬美元增加了 620 萬美元，比 2022 財年第三季度末的 3200 萬美元增加了 1070 萬美元。我們繼續投資多餘的現金和短期投資，以利用利率上升的機會。第三季度的利息收入為 374,000 美元，高於去年第三季度的 1,000 美元。正如我們之前的 8-K 文件所述，我們沒有受到矽谷銀行關閉的影響。我們在備受推崇的銀行機構摩根士丹利持有超過 3900 萬美元的現金、現金等價物和短期投資，並且僅在 SVB 維持我們的運營賬戶。 SVB 關閉並未影響我們的客戶、員工或供應商，我們繼續運營，沒有任何中斷或影響我們的運營。

During the quarter, we announced an at-the-market offering of up to $25 million in shares of the company's common stock on the open market. As of quarter end, the company has received gross proceeds of $7.3 million on the sale of 208,917 shares at an average price of $34.78 per share. $17.7 million remains available under the ATM.

本季度，我們宣佈在公開市場上公開發售價值高達 2500 萬美元的公司普通股。截至本季度末，公司以每股 34.78 美元的平均價格出售 208,917 股股票，已收到 730 萬美元的總收益。 ATM 下仍有 1770 萬美元可用。

Under the terms of the ATM equity distribution agreement, the company may not sell shares during the company's closed trading windows when it is deemed the company may be in possession of material nonpublic information. Also, the company only plans on selling shares against the ATM during open trading windows and when it believes it would provide the best source of capital with minimum dilution to existing shareholders.

根據 ATM 股權分配協議的條款，當公司被認為可能擁有重大非公開信息時，公司不得在公司關閉的交易窗口期間出售股票。此外，該公司僅計劃在開放交易窗口期間以及在其認為可以提供最佳資本來源且對現有股東的稀釋最小的情況下通過 ATM 出售股票。

Working capital at February 28 was $67.2 million. This represents an increase of $12.4 million from Q2 and an increase of $18.2 million from Q3 of the prior year. Inventories at the end of the third quarter were $21.6 million, an increase of $3.6 million from the preceding quarter and up $6.5 million from the third quarter of fiscal 2022. We are increasing inventory to support our backlog and our near-term revenue projections and to ensure adequate supply to meet current customer and future market demand. Our highly differentiated FOX family of systems allows us to purchase material that is leveraged across many customers and markets. This provides us confidence in our ability to meet the significant market opportunities without having to purchase unique material that is only sellable to 1 customer or 1 market.

2 月 28 日的營運資金為 6720 萬美元。這比第二季度增加了 1240 萬美元，比去年第三季度增加了 1820 萬美元。第三季度末的庫存為 2160 萬美元，比上一季度增加 360 萬美元，比 2022 財年第三季度增加 650 萬美元。我們正在增加庫存以支持我們的積壓訂單和我們的近期收入預測，並確保充足的供應以滿足當前客戶和未來市場的需求。我們高度差異化的 FOX 系列系統使我們能夠購買可用於許多客戶和市場的材料。這使我們相信我們有能力迎接重要的市場機會，而不必購買只能賣給 1 個客戶或 1 個市場的獨特材料。

During the quarter, we renewed our lease for our corporate offices and manufacturing facilities. The amendment extends the term of the lease for a period of 86 calendar months commencing on August 1, 2023, and includes an option for the company to further extend the lease for 1 additional period of 5 years after the expiration date. With this renewal, the company recorded operating lease right-of-use assets of $5.7 million with corresponding short- and long-term operating lease liabilities.

本季度，我們續簽了公司辦公室和製造設施的租約。該修正案將租期從 2023 年 8 月 1 日開始延長 86 個日曆月，並包括公司可以選擇在到期日後將租期再延長 1 個額外的 5 年期。通過此次續約，公司記錄了 570 萬美元的經營租賃使用權資產以及相應的短期和長期經營租賃負債。

We finished the quarter with record bookings for a single quarter of $33.3 million. Backlog as of February 28 was $31.6 million compared to $15.5 million at the end of the preceding second quarter and $26.9 million at the end of the third quarter last year. Our effective backlog, which includes all orders since the end of the third quarter is $41 million. Total bookings for the fiscal year-to-date, including the over $9 million received in March is $72.5 million, exceeding our total bookings of $62.2 million for the full prior fiscal year.

本季度結束時，單季度預訂量達到創紀錄的 3330 萬美元。截至 2 月 28 日，積壓訂單為 3160 萬美元，而上一季度末為 1550 萬美元，去年第三季度末為 2690 萬美元。我們的有效積壓訂單（包括自第三季度末以來的所有訂單）為 4100 萬美元。本財年迄今的總預訂量，包括 3 月份收到的超過 900 萬美元，為 7250 萬美元，超過我們上一財年的總預訂量 6220 萬美元。

Now turning to our outlook for 2023 fiscal year, which ends on May 31, 2023, we are confident in the company's growth trajectory and our unique capabilities and product offerings to meet customer demand. As such, we are reiterating our previously provided guidance for full yield total revenue of at least $60 million to $70 million representing growth of at least 18% to 38% year-over-year, with strong profit margins similar to last year. We continue to expect bookings to grow faster than revenues in fiscal 2023 as the ramp in demand for silicon carbide and electric vehicles increases, and we build momentum going into fiscal 2024. We expect to provide guidance for fiscal 2024 during our July earnings call.

現在轉向我們對 2023 年 5 月 31 日結束的 2023 財年的展望，我們對公司的增長軌跡以及我們滿足客戶需求的獨特能力和產品充滿信心。因此，我們重申我們之前提供的指導，即全收益總收入至少為 6000 萬至 7000 萬美元，同比增長至少 18% 至 38%，利潤率與去年相似。隨著對碳化矽和電動汽車的需求增加，我們繼續預計 2023 財年的預訂量增長速度將快於收入增長，並且我們將在 2024 財年建立勢頭。我們預計將在 7 月份的財報電話會議上為 2024 財年提供指導。

Lastly, looking at the Investor Relations calendar, Aehr Test will participate in 3 investor conferences over the next month -- next few months. We will be meeting with investors virtually at the Oppenheimer Emerging Growth Conference on May 11 and in person at the Craig-Hallum Institutional Investor Conference taking place in Minneapolis on May 31, and we will be presenting and meeting with investors in person on June 6 at the William Blair Growth Conference (sic) [William Blair Growth Stock Conference] taking place in Chicago. We hope to see some of you at these conferences.

最後，看看投資者關係日曆，Aehr Test 將在下個月——接下來的幾個月——中參加 3 場投資者會議。我們將在 5 月 11 日的奧本海默新興增長會議上與投資者進行虛擬會面，並在 5 月 31 日在明尼阿波利斯舉行的 Craig-Hallum 機構投資者會議上親自與投資者會面，我們將於 6 月 6 日在威廉布萊爾成長大會（原文如此）[William Blair Growth Stock Conference] 在芝加哥舉行。我們希望在這些會議上見到你們中的一些人。

Before I turn it over to the operator for questions, I'd like to add to Gayn's earlier comments regarding my pending retirement. With the market opportunities, increase in customers and customer engagements and the expected growth for Aehr Test moving forward, this is an excellent time and opportunity for a new CFO to build their team and take the company to the next level. I greatly value the last 15 years with Aehr Test, and I appreciate the opportunities it's presented.

在我將其轉交給接線員提問之前，我想補充一下 Gayn 之前關於我即將退休的評論。隨著市場機會、客戶和客戶參與度的增加以及 Aehr Test 的預期增長，這是新 CFO 建立團隊並將公司提升到一個新水平的絕佳時機和機會。我非常珍惜過去 15 年與 Aehr Test 的合作，我很感激它提供的機會。

As Gayn noted, I'll stay on as CFO until a suitable replacement can be found, and I will also ensure that a clean and successful transition takes place before I leave.

正如 Gayn 指出的那樣，在找到合適的替代者之前，我將繼續擔任首席財務官一職，並且我還將確保在我離開之前進行乾淨、成功的過渡。

I know that my wife who retired a couple of years ago, actually, is excited for that to happen as soon as possible so we can move on to the next chapter in our lives. This concludes our prepared remarks. Now we're ready to take your questions. Operator, please go ahead.

我知道我幾年前退休的妻子，實際上，很高興這件事能盡快發生，這樣我們就可以進入生活的下一個篇章。我們準備好的發言到此結束。現在我們準備好回答您的問題了。接線員，請繼續。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Today's first question comes from Christian Schwab with Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

今天的第一個問題來自 Craig-Hallum Capital Group 的 Christian Schwab。

Ken, congratulations on retiring, well-deserved opportunity to go, spend free time with the people you love, good for you. So I just have a few quick questions. Thank you for all the clarity that you gave, Gayn. Just as far as it relates to the third customer, the large customer, would you expect production orders in your next fiscal year from them?

肯，恭喜你退休，當之無愧的離開的機會，與你愛的人共度空閒時間，對你有好處。所以我有幾個簡單的問題。 Gayn，感謝你提供的所有清晰信息。就第三個客戶，即大客戶而言，您是否希望他們在下一個財政年度收到生產訂單？

We've actually announced a total of 4 customers in silicon carbide so far. We expect production orders from all of them during the next fiscal year.

到目前為止，我們實際上已經宣布了總共 4 個碳化矽客戶。我們預計下一財年所有這些公司的生產訂單。

Perfect. That answers the question. And then on silicon photonics and the 6 different customers, when would you anticipate the first meaningful orders from that new area. Is that something that could happen as soon this next fiscal year? Or is that 2 to 3 years out?

完美的。這回答了問題。然後是矽光子學和 6 個不同的客戶，您預計什麼時候會從這個新領域獲得第一批有意義的訂單。下一個財政年度可能會發生這種情況嗎？還是 2 到 3 年後？

So I mean, we think that based on some of the customer forecasts that we're seeing that we're actually going to see just call it, rising tide of the previous just the transceiver business. I mean, candidly, we're seeing the same forecast they told us back in '19 that they plan to buy in '20 and didn't when COVID happened. So we think there'll be a rising tide of that. I think maybe more importantly, what you're trying to get to is when is that next big wave. We've already seen some purchases and are doing some early qualification work on some of those new types of products. And we think that, that can continue on next year as well.

所以我的意思是，我們認為，根據我們看到的一些客戶預測，我們實際上將看到的只是所謂的，以前只是收發器業務的上升趨勢。我的意思是，坦率地說，我們看到的預測與他們在 19 年告訴我們的相同，他們計劃在 20 年購買，而在 COVID 發生時沒有購買。所以我們認為這種趨勢將會上升。我認為也許更重要的是，你想要了解的是下一次大浪潮的時間。我們已經看到了一些採購，並且正在對其中一些新型產品進行一些早期的資格認證工作。我們認為，明年也可以繼續這樣做。

I think the over, under is really when do we start to see the front end of any meaningful production. And right now, we're still kind of assuming it's going to be out a couple of few years, but it could turn quickly. And there's been some news out there on the Internet and some of the company making announcements, et cetera. So we're really close to it. We have the products. I mean we can -- based on what customers are telling us, we can test those devices in each of the different wafer forms or even singulated die with what we have today. And with the new automated aligner, we can even do it with more automation and hands-free, et cetera.

我認為結束，真正是我們什麼時候開始看到任何有意義的產品的前端。現在，我們仍然假設它會在幾年內推出，但它可能會很快轉向。互聯網上出現了一些新聞，一些公司發布了公告，等等。所以我們真的很接近它。我們有產品。我的意思是我們可以——根據客戶告訴我們的情況，我們可以用我們今天擁有的各種不同的晶圓形式或什至單個芯片來測試這些設備。有了新的自動對準器，我們甚至可以通過更多的自動化和免提等方式來完成。

So I think we're really well positioned and what we're doing is we're just focusing to be that engineering tool to begin with and be the plan of record, if you will, when they go to production. And then as we hit it a little closer, we'll see. But I don't know, I probably wouldn't put a lot of revenue expectations for next year, but there certainly will be some, okay?

所以我認為我們的定位非常好，我們正在做的就是專注於成為開始的工程工具，並成為記錄計劃，如果你願意的話，當他們投入生產時。然後當我們靠近一點時，我們會看到。但我不知道，我可能不會對明年的收入預期有很多，但肯定會有一些，好嗎？

Great. And then the expansion of opportunity to domestic Chinese providers of silicon carbide. Is that something where you would expect substantial shipments to occur maybe next fiscal year? Or is that something where negotiations and get to know you has just started?

偉大的。然後將機會擴大到中國國內的碳化矽供應商。這是您預計下個財政年度可能會出現大量出貨的地方嗎？或者這是談判和了解你才剛剛開始的事情？

We'll see. I mean for clarity, we currently believe there's a pretty reasonable or significant -- I use that word a lot, but we're getting to get a lot of purchases we think, for our systems, for companies that serve the China market that are not in China. So there -- we already are doing that today. We know that that's going to grow. I think there's not all silicon carbide for China is going to be built in China, for example, okay? We are also talking to suppliers in China as well as OEMs in China. So we're kind of making our way up the food chain, if you will, with several conversations with Tier 1s and OEMs, which as people that are close to this realize that is a completely new thing.

我們拭目以待。我的意思是為了清楚起見，我們目前認為有一個相當合理或重要的 - 我經常使用這個詞，但我們認為我們正在為我們的系統，為服務於中國市場的公司進行大量採購不在中國。所以那裡 - 我們今天已經在這樣做了。我們知道這將會增長。例如，我認為並非所有用於中國的碳化矽都將在中國製造，好嗎？我們也在與中國的供應商以及中國的 OEM 商談。因此，如果您願意的話，我們正在通過與一級供應商和原始設備製造商的幾次對話，在食物鏈上向上攀登，因為接近這一點的人意識到這是一件全新的事情。

Prior to COVID, none of the automotive guys talk to the semiconductor guys, right? They all worked with Tier 1s and then the Tier 1s bought from the semiconductor guys. But with all the craziness that went on supply chain, automotive guys who realize they need to go directly to and talk to the semiconductor guys. Well, we're taking a step further, they're talking to us. So there's another way of creating clarity around what we offer, the traceability, the confidence in our solution, et cetera. And so I think we have several oars in the water in China. Having said that, we're very confident in next year and how things are going and candidly, without trying to be in a significant portion of it, I would say that would be upside to our plans.

在 COVID 之前，沒有一個汽車專家與半導體專家交談，對吧？他們都與一級供應商合作，然後一級供應商從半導體專家那裡購買。但是隨著供應鏈上的所有瘋狂行為，汽車業的人意識到他們需要直接與半導體人交談。好吧，我們正在更進一步，他們正在與我們交談。因此，還有另一種方法可以明確我們提供的產品、可追溯性、對我們解決方案的信心等等。所以我認為我們在中國的水中有幾隻槳。話雖如此，我們對明年以及事情的進展和坦率的方式非常有信心，而不是試圖參與其中的很大一部分，我會說這對我們的計劃來說是有利的。

Great. So I just want to be clear, Gayn. When you talked about China silicon carbide, you were talking about the 6 -- I think I wrote 6 customers, that is Chinese domestic producers more than likely for Chinese domestic demand. Is that correct?

偉大的。所以我只想說清楚，Gayn。當你談到中國碳化矽時，你在談論 6 個——我想我寫了 6 個客戶，即中國國內生產商更有可能滿足中國國內需求。那是對的嗎？

It's my -- by the way, I'm not sure I've ever said 6. When I talk about 6, it was silicon photonics type people that we're currently in. But if there are 6 big players in China that are saying they're going to be in silicon carbide, I believe you, okay? It is my belief that those companies are most likely targeting the Chinese domestic to them markets. But having said that, a lot of Chinese automotive suppliers today are buying silicon carbide from the companies outside of China. And so we think that we can play in China, both with nondomestic suppliers but also domestic suppliers over time. Domestic to China, if you will, right?

這是我的 - 順便說一句，我不確定我是否說過 6。當我談論 6 時，我們目前所在的是矽光子類型的人。但是如果中國有 6 個大玩家說他們要用碳化矽，我相信你，好嗎？我相信，這些公司最有可能瞄準中國國內市場。但話雖如此，如今許多中國汽車供應商都在從中國以外的公司購買碳化矽。因此，我們認為我們可以在中國開展業務，隨著時間的推移，既可以與非國內供應商合作，也可以與國內供應商合作。中國國內，如果你願意，對吧？

Correct. Great. And just a quick -- one last quick question. On the -- as we -- as far as backlog is concerned, would you expect kind of similar trajectory as last year, where we did have a very strong February quarter of backlog. We've worked through some of that and then enter the next fiscal year with a very strong idea of what the year will look like. Are we going to enter that do you believe with a really strong backlog number? Too early to tell? If you can kind of talk about growth trajectory for next year.

正確的。偉大的。最後一個簡短的問題。關於 - 正如我們 - 就積壓而言，您是否期望與去年類似的軌跡，我們確實有非常強勁的 2 月季度積壓。我們已經完成了其中的一些工作，然後帶著對這一年會是什麼樣子的非常強烈的想法進入下一個財政年度。我們是否會進入您認為真正強大的積壓數量？說得太早了？如果你能談談明年的增長軌跡。

I mean we haven't been doing a lot of -- we really don't give quarterly guidance. But then if you give annual guidance on top of 3 quarters, it's pretty clear what the quarter is. I realize, but that's still revenue focus. The reality is that I see things picking up. There's not a dwarf. There seems to be a lot of people accelerating their plans right now. We're having -- we're putting out a lot of quotes. There's a lot of people asking for lead times on top of each other. And I believe we'll go into next year with a lot more visibility than even last year.

我的意思是我們沒有做太多——我們真的沒有給出季度指導。但是如果你在 3 個季度的基礎上給出年度指導，那麼這個季度是什麼就很清楚了。我意識到，但這仍然是收入重點。事實上，我看到事情正在好轉。沒有一個侏儒。現在似乎有很多人在加速他們的計劃。我們有 - 我們正在提供很多報價。有很多人互相要求交貨時間。而且我相信我們將以比去年更多的知名度進入明年。

Having said that, it will be distributed across a much larger number of customers, which I guess there's some averaging going on in terms of that -- it's not all or nothing with 1 or 2 customers. But we also think that the large customers are going to continue to buy. So I don't know how many different ways I can describe our optimism, but Aehr's -- I mean, people are really recognizing the value that we add and are seeking us out in addition to us knocking on all the right doors. And I'm super enthusiastic about heading into next year.

話雖如此，它將分佈在更多的客戶中，我想這方面有一些平均 - 它不是 1 或 2 個客戶的全部或全部。但我們也認為大客戶將繼續購買。所以我不知道我可以用多少種不同的方式來描述我們的樂觀情緒，但是 Aehr 的——我的意思是，人們真的認識到我們所增加的價值，並且除了我們敲所有正確的門之外，還在尋找我們。我非常熱衷於進入明年。

The next question comes from Jed Dorsheimer with William Blair.

下一個問題來自 Jed Dorsheimer 和 William Blair。

Ken, I'll echo the congrats.

肯，我會恭喜你。

thanks, Jed.

謝謝，傑德。

So I guess first question, Gayn or maybe, Ken, maybe you want to take either one. But the guide and kind of reiterating the numbers suggest a pretty wide variance at this stage in the game, $17 million to $27 million. And I know that there were 2 tools with the -- that we weren't -- that you weren't sure were not you get the rev rec to fall into the quarter. But I'm wondering, is that the only thing that sort of kind of the difference of that $10 million? Or is there something else that you can probably provide a bit more color on?

所以我想第一個問題，Gayn 或者 Ken，也許你想選一個。但指南和重申數字表明在遊戲的這個階段存在相當大的差異，從 1700 萬美元到 2700 萬美元。而且我知道有 2 個工具 - 我們不是 - 你不確定你是否讓 rev rec 落入本季度。但我想知道，這是否是這 1000 萬美元的唯一區別？或者還有什麼你可以提供更多顏色的東西嗎？

That's a big chunk. And for folks that are -- Aehr Test, along with most, I think, all capital equipment companies have revenue recognition policies related to when you can score revenue and that is different than when you get paid, by the way. Our policy, I think, is very conservative. If we have a new product, particularly to a new customer, but if we have a brand-new product that has never been proven or installed and accepted by the customer, we simply don't take revenue for it until that milestone. Even though we know it's working here, it's been completely proven out, et cetera. But until the customer actually signs off on it, we won't score revenue recognition.

那是一大塊。對於那些 - Aehr Test 以及我認為的大多數人來說，所有資本設備公司都有收入確認政策，這些政策與你何時可以獲得收入有關，順便說一下，這與你何時獲得報酬有關。我認為我們的政策非常保守。如果我們有一個新產品，特別是針對一個新客戶，但如果我們有一個從未被客戶證明或安裝和接受的全新產品，我們就不會在那個里程碑之前從中獲得收入。儘管我們知道它在這裡起作用，但它已被完全證明，等等。但在客戶實際簽署之前，我們不會對收入確認進行評分。

And we gave that as a pretty big heads-up going in. That's why a lot more detail than normal. And candidly, we'll probably be pulling back on detail related to things. It's just to make sure that our shareholders understand that we've got some pretty large revenue number of things that are shipping during the quarter, but may or may not score revenue. And you have several multimillion dollar tool that misses by a few days, and it's pretty easy.

我們把它作為一個非常重要的單挑。這就是為什麼比平常更多的細節。坦率地說，我們可能會撤回與事物相關的細節。這只是為了確保我們的股東了解我們在本季度出貨的產品中獲得了相當大的收入，但可能會或可能不會獲得收入。你有幾個價值數百萬美元的工具，幾天就錯過了，這很容易。

What I want to make sure that -- and I'll be explicit even though it's just been implied, we're just talking about whether it comes in, in Q4 or Q1. So that's the bulk of it. We also have a lot of new WaferPak designs. These are new customer wafers folks. I think we have almost right now, 20 designs of WaferPaks that are in process. Those designs are all like the timing of when those first ones ship, et cetera, not so much revenue recognition just with the timing. But those all are expected to then go into volume production as well into next year. So there's some of that, too, that adds up. I mean, we're not trying to be coy.

我想確保的是——即使只是暗示，我也會明確說明，我們只是在談論它是在第四季度還是第一季度出現。這就是大部分內容。我們還有很多新的 WaferPak 設計。這些是新客戶晶圓的人。我認為我們現在幾乎有 20 種 WaferPak 設計正在進行中。這些設計都像是第一批產品的出貨時間，等等，而不是僅僅根據時間確認收入。但這些都有望在明年開始量產。因此，其中一些也加起來了。我的意思是，我們並不是要害羞。

We -- I'll tell you, we've treaded over how do we redescribe where we're at, but that's a realistic range of where we think we're still at. And again, we have not lost any deals, not -- we don't -- we've not identified any new competitors that are threatening or more threatening to us. We -- our momentum has picked up in terms of customer enthusiasm, but they're still -- as a public company, you still have this quarterly milestone thing. And like how do you describe it? So comfortable with the numbers. There's some variation in there. Probably going to come down in the last week 2 for us to know exactly where it ends up. And if not, it will probably already scored by the time we have our earnings call what in July. So we'll see how it goes. Sorry about that.

我們 - 我會告訴你，我們已經了解如何重新描述我們所處的位置，但這是我們認為我們仍處於的現實範圍。再一次，我們沒有失去任何交易，沒有——我們沒有——我們沒有發現任何對我們構成威脅或威脅更大的新競爭對手。我們——我們的勢頭在客戶熱情方面有所回升，但他們仍然——作為一家上市公司，你仍然有這個季度里程碑的事情。就像你如何描述它一樣？對數字很滿意。那裡有一些變化。可能會在最後 2 週下降，以便我們確切知道它的最終位置。如果沒有，到我們 7 月份的財報電話會議時，它可能已經得分。所以我們會看看進展如何。對於那個很抱歉。

No, the color is helpful. I guess if you could just help me reconcile just 2 moving parts. Inventory, not surprisingly picked up as you talked about in terms of ramping some of these products. But customer deposits dropped off on the balance sheet. I was wondering if you could just provide a bit more color there. Is that a timing issue? Or how should we read those 2 vectors, if you will?

不，顏色很有用。我想如果你能幫我調和 2 個移動部件。當您談到增加其中一些產品時，庫存回升並不令人意外。但資產負債表上的客戶存款減少了。我想知道你是否可以在那裡提供更多顏色。那是時間問題嗎？或者，如果您願意，我們應該如何讀取這 2 個向量？

Yes. That's a good observation and good sleuthing. So we actually have taken with some specific terms and conditions with customers. There are circumstances where we do not take down payments. It's a pretty good threshold contractually for them to actually do that. I have also, at times, on a brand-new product with a new customer, waived the down payment to begin with because it's a little odd to tell them we guarantee it's going to work and then at the same time, we holding their money. And candidly, people are pushing back harder and harder on some of those deposits. Ken, I think a lot of it is that they can earn a lot more money on that, too. But there's a little bit of examples where some of the backlog is not all out of deposit, and that's what you're seeing.

是的。這是一個很好的觀察和很好的偵查。所以我們實際上已經接受了客戶的一些特定條款和條件。在某些情況下，我們不接受預付款。從合同上來說，這是一個很好的門檻，讓他們真正做到這一點。有時，我也會在新客戶的全新產品上放棄首付，因為告訴他們我們保證它會起作用有點奇怪，同時我們持有他們的錢.坦率地說，人們對其中一些存款的抵制力度越來越大。肯，我認為很多是因為他們也可以從中賺到更多的錢。但是有一些例子，其中一些積壓工作並沒有全部用完，這就是你所看到的。

Got it. And then last question for me. Just as we run through, I guess, the announced but not named customers, which I think memory serves, there's 4 of them at this point. But the second one that you've talked about that, I think, previously have said -- has not publicly announced their intention into silicon carbide. This is a major semiconductor provider. They have at this point put out an announcement in silicon carbide. I just want to make sure that, that is correct.

知道了。然後是我的最後一個問題。正如我們經歷的那樣，我猜，已宣布但未命名的客戶，我認為記憶服務，此時有 4 個。但是你談到的第二個，我想，之前已經說過 - 沒有公開宣布他們進入碳化矽的意圖。這是一家主要的半導體供應商。他們在這一點上發布了碳化矽公告。我只是想確保那是正確的。

I believe they have not. They have still not said they're in it. I should go look again, but at least about a week ago, they still hadn't. So still quiet, pretty interesting. Yes.

我相信他們沒有。他們還沒有說他們在裡面。我應該再去看看，但至少大約一周前，他們還沒有。所以仍然很安靜，很有趣。是的。

The next question is from Dylan Patel with Semianalysis.

下一個問題來自 Semianalysis 的 Dylan Patel。

Gayn, great quarter. I wanted to ask about the aligners because I'm having trouble with like the new automated aligner, how does that impact revenue? How does that impact the growth over time? Right now, you have the manual aligner. I think. When I visited a month ago, you folks told me it's more like 3 sort of FOX systems, the XP systems can get configured or treated by 1 aligner, but the automated aligner is a one-to-one. How should I think about -- what is the penetration of that automated aligner that you're going to sell and develop versus the manual aligners over time everything going to go automated or...

蓋恩，偉大的季度。我想詢問有關對準器的問題，因為我在使用新的自動對準器時遇到了麻煩，這對收入有何影響？隨著時間的推移，這對增長有何影響？現在，您擁有手動對準器。我認為。當我一個月前訪問時，你們告訴我它更像是 3 種 FOX 系統，XP 系統可以配置或由 1 個對準器處理，但自動對準器是一對一的。我應該如何考慮——隨著時間的推移，你將要銷售和開發的自動對準器與手動對準器的滲透率是多少，一切都會自動化或……

Yes. All right. So for clarity, yes, we actually make -- today, we make and sell 2 types of aligners. We've actually had an automated aligner for years installed in multiple customers. And we also have what we call a manual aligner. The automated aligner allows you to walk up with a WaferPak and a FOUP wafers or cassette wafers. And then it will automatically take a wafer, put it into a WaferPak. And then present that WaferPak in a platform, we call it. So it's actually now this cartridge that you can place into our system up to 18 of them, for example, okay? That's an automated aligner.

是的。好的。所以為了清楚起見，是的，我們實際上製造 - 今天，我們製造和銷售兩種類型的對準器。事實上，多年來，我們已經為多個客戶安裝了自動對準器。我們還有所謂的手動對準器。自動對準器允許您攜帶 WaferPak 和 FOUP 晶圓或盒式晶圓走上去。然後它會自動取出晶圓，放入 WaferPak 中。然後在我們稱之為平台的平台上展示 WaferPak。所以現在實際上是這個墨盒，你可以在我們的系統中放置多達 18 個，例如，好嗎？那是一個自動對準器。

We also make a manual aligner, which is a really cool tool that we had internally developed that customers came and said we want them, and they allow you to do a very quick alignment process. It's still sort of a proprietary sequence. But a user can be trained to do that and it's great for engineering, but people actually use it for production as well. It is something that has the interaction of the operator, it follows a certain sequence, but you can very repeatably and consistently do that for both engineering and production. Manual tends to be more operator intervention. Automated, you just push a button, okay?

我們還製作了一個手動對準器，這是我們內部開發的一個非常酷的工具，客戶來了並說我們需要它們，它們可以讓你進行非常快速的對準過程。它仍然是一種專有序列。但是用戶可以接受培訓來做到這一點，這對工程來說非常有用，但人們實際上也將它用於生產。它需要操作員的交互，它遵循一定的順序，但您可以非常重複和一致地為工程和生產執行此操作。手動往往需要更多的操作員干預。自動化，你只需按下一個按鈕，好嗎？

We have developed a new automated aligner. It's really considered our fourth generation. We've been working on it now solidly for over 3 years. And it's the one we said that we began shipments on this fiscal quarter. We've already taken multiple customer orders for it, right? Interestingly, the way we designed it, for those people at least in our company know this is one of my passionate babies, if you will. It's very -- that I'm going to say how well thought out it is. But the team really did a good job of thinking through all of our learnings over this, and we know, I think, more about wafer level burn-in than anyone else in the world.

我們開發了一種新的自動對準器。它真的被認為是我們的第四代。 3 年多來，我們一直致力於此。這就是我們所說的我們在本財政季度開始發貨的那個。我們已經為它接受了多個客戶訂單，對吧？有趣的是，我們設計它的方式，至少我們公司的那些人知道這是我的熱情寶貝之一，如果你願意的話。這非常——我要說的是它的深思熟慮。但是團隊確實很好地思考了我們在這方面的所有知識，而且我認為，我們比世界上任何其他人都更了解晶圓級老化。

And some -- one of the subtle things is that -- or not so subtle, it can be in what we call a stand-alone mode where you can have feed at cassettes a wafers, and it will automatically align wafers and then put them into a cart. And so you can load up a cart with 18 wafers and that cart then can be moved over to one of our systems. You open the door and you put 18 wafers in, close the door and hit go, okay? So it's more automated than our current one, which only does one WaferPak at a time. This can actually move the WaferPaks around and load up a cart. But in that case, it's offline and you can share it amongst multiple FOX-XP systems.

還有一些——其中一個微妙的事情是——或者不是那麼微妙，它可以在我們所說的獨立模式下，你可以在晶圓盒中餵入晶圓，它會自動對齊晶圓，然後將它們放入進購物車。因此，您可以將裝有 18 個晶圓的推車裝上，然後該推車可以移到我們的一個系統中。你打開門，放入 18 個晶圓，關上門，然後點擊開始，好嗎？所以它比我們目前的自動化程度更高，後者一次只處理一個 WaferPak。這實際上可以移動 WaferPaks 並裝上推車。但在那種情況下，它是離線的，您可以在多個 FOX-XP 系統之間共享它。

That exact same aligner can also dock to an XP. And instead of a cart in back, it has an XP in back, and it will open and close each of the blades and allow you to have a continuous flow of 18 wafers at a time in this very small footprint. Now some companies feel passionate if that's the only way to go. And some companies think, no, I want them off-line. And candidly, we don't argue with them. Whichever way you want is fine with us. But if you feel you need automation, we got you covered. If you feel I like to do it manual, I want it to feed. There's different reasons people do it. We have that covered as well. And in fact, we've taken orders for both.

完全相同的對齊器也可以連接到 XP。它後面沒有手推車，而是後面有一個 XP，它會打開和關閉每個刀片，讓您在這個非常小的佔地面積中一次連續流動 18 個晶圓。現在，如果這是唯一的出路，一些公司會充滿熱情。有些公司認為，不，我希望他們下線。坦率地說，我們不與他們爭論。無論您想要哪種方式，我們都可以。但是，如果您覺得需要自動化，我們可以滿足您的需求。如果你覺得我喜歡手動操作，我希望它能餵食。人們這樣做有不同的原因。我們也涵蓋了這一點。事實上，我們已經接受了兩者的訂單。

So -- and you can interchange them. If you wanted to, you could take an automated aligner that's in a stand-alone and we can adapt it probably in a day or so and move it and have an XP dock up to it. So it's really well thought out. It's 1 product that will work across multiple customers. It will work across 100-millimeter wafers for RF, GaN devices and like those types. 150-millimeter type devices from GaN and silicon carbide. 200-millimeter GaN, silicon carbide and silicon photonics-type devices. 300-millimeter silicon photonics, memory devices, large-scale microcontrollers and other processors. So it's a very flexible system that we're really proud of. So I hope that helps.

所以 - 你可以互換它們。如果你願意，你可以使用一個獨立的自動對準器，我們可能會在一天左右的時間內調整它並移動它並讓 XP 對接它。所以這真的是經過深思熟慮的。這是一種適用於多個客戶的產品。它適用於 RF、GaN 設備等類型的 100 毫米晶圓。 GaN 和碳化矽製成的 150 毫米型器件。 200 毫米 GaN、碳化矽和矽光子類器件。 300 毫米矽光子、存儲設備、大型微控制器和其他處理器。所以這是一個非常靈活的系統，我們真的很自豪。所以我希望能有所幫助。

So to add to that Gayn, the topic of rev rec. Yes, absolutely. We do have the automated aligners that we have not recognized revenue yet because they have not been accepted at the customer. So those fall into the same criteria that you had talked about earlier in our rev rec policy.

因此，要添加到 Gayn，rev rec 的主題。是的，一點沒錯。我們確實有我們尚未確認收入的自動對準器，因為它們尚未被客戶接受。因此，這些符合您之前在我們的 rev rec 政策中談到的相同標準。

And by the way -- sorry, just one more thing. And a customer that places an order for an integrated system with both the XP and the aligner, if we ship the XP ahead of time and then upgrade it, we still don't recognize the XP revenue, okay? Because we have a continuation of that until those aligners are accepted. And that's right now, kind of that's what's got a lot of this stuff related to when is the revenue going to happen? Is it going to be Q4 or Q1? Okay? Sorry, go ahead.

順便說一句——抱歉，還有一件事。而一個客戶下單了XP和矯正器的集成系統，如果我們提前出貨XP然後升級，我們還是不承認XP的收入，好嗎？因為我們會繼續這樣做，直到這些對齊器被接受為止。那就是現在，這就是與收入何時發生相關的很多東西？ Q4還是Q1？好的？對不起，繼續。

Should I think about this as a way to increase tool utilization from the companies that kind of like it a lot? Or or more so is it -- but while it does increase your -- the FOX-XP utilization, there's also they're paying a bit more for the 1:1 with the aligners that are automated and made it directly to the XP. How should I think about that for you and your revenue going forward, right? Because it isn't a cheap thing, right? It is an increased cost and revenue per sort of XP that you deployed?

我是否應該將此視為提高非常喜歡它的公司的工具利用率的一種方式？或更多是這樣——但雖然它確實增加了你的——FOX-XP 利用率，但他們也為 1:1 支付了更多的費用，這些對準器是自動化的，並直接用於 XP。我應該如何考慮你和你未來的收入，對嗎？因為它不便宜，對吧？您部署的每一種 XP 都會增加成本和收入嗎？

It has some efficiencies, advantages by being integrated that offset the fact that you would have one of them per system versus maybe 1 or 3 or 4. It allows -- and I -- actually I'm choosing not to go into all those competitive reasons, candidly. But there are absolutely advantages to being integrated by contrast to, well, doesn't it drive some of the ASP up. There's also companies that are passionate about not wanting to have any manual operations in their factory, and not having WaferPaks moving around, and other people that are passionate that, that is the best way to do it. And so we just offer that to them. I would tell you that you could make the argument that they're similar in cost of test. And one just has the advantage of automation. The other one has an advantage of potentially some flexibility on test times and fungibility of tools across the floor.

它具有一些效率和優勢，通過集成抵消了這樣一個事實，即每個系統可能有一個，而不是 1 個或 3 個或 4 個。它允許——而且我——實際上我選擇不進入所有那些競爭原因，坦率地說。但是相比之下，集成絕對有優勢，好吧，它不會提高一些 ASP。還有一些公司熱衷於不想在他們的工廠中進行任何手動操作，並且不想讓 WaferPaks 到處移動，而其他人對此充滿熱情，這是最好的方法。因此，我們只是將其提供給他們。我會告訴你，你可以論證它們在測試成本方面是相似的。一個只是具有自動化的優勢。另一個具有在測試時間和整個樓層工具的可替代性方面可能具有一定靈活性的優勢。

One last little comment I wanted to hone in on you mentioned GaN a couple of times. You haven't talked about GaN too much in the past. Is the burn-in -- are you thinking that the burn-in times are going to be long for GaN? Is the customers that are doing silicon carbide, some of them are -- or at least the major companies are doing GaN as well. Do you think that they would use -- would they use a lot of burn-in there as well for these sorts of application? Yes. Could you talk about that a bit more?

最後一個小評論我想對你提到 GaN 幾次。您過去沒有過多地談論 GaN。是老化——您是否認為 GaN 的老化時間會很長？是在做碳化矽的客戶，其中一些是——或者至少大公司也在做 GaN。你認為他們會使用——他們會在這些類型的應用程序中使用大量的老化嗎？是的。你能再談談嗎？

I think that's what shifted. If you would kind of look at the breadcrumbs over the last couple of quarters, I think maybe 2 quarters ago, I mentioned GaN for the first time, maybe last quarter, I said, "Hey, we're starting to talk to some people about it." We now have people specifically describing requirements for production burn-in and test times that are significant that make it an attractive market for us. That includes -- it seems more obvious for the automotive guys, but there's actually other applications as well that would require production burn-in. The way to interpret that is these devices have an infant mortality rate that exceeds the applications need, okay?

我認為這就是轉變的原因。如果你看一下過去幾個季度的麵包屑，我想可能是兩個季度前，我第一次提到 GaN，也許是上個季度，我說，“嘿，我們開始與一些人交談關於它。”我們現在有人專門描述了對生產老化和測試時間的要求，這些要求對我們來說是一個有吸引力的市場。這包括——這對汽車行業的人來說似乎更明顯，但實際上還有其他應用程序也需要生產老化。解釋的方法是這些設備的嬰兒死亡率超過了應用程序的需要，好嗎？

By the way, one of the things we brought up is there are devices that have been shipping in the industry for decades that still have production burn-in. Even though they have high infant mortality rates by using a production burn-in, you can weed out those devices and ship it into the application. An example of that would be DRAM, right? So DRAM, one of the most commoditized products that has been around since 1980 if you will, and Aehr Test was one of the market leaders in what put us on the map was building production burn-in systems. They're still being burned in. So it doesn't always go away.

順便說一句，我們提出的一件事是，有些設備已經在行業中運輸了幾十年，但仍然存在生產老化現象。即使通過使用生產老化，它們的嬰兒死亡率很高，您也可以淘汰這些設備並將其運送到應用程序中。 DRAM 就是一個例子，對吧？所以 DRAM，如果你願意的話，它是自 1980 年以來最商品化的產品之一，而 Aehr Test 是市場領導者之一，它讓我們在地圖上建立生產老化系統。它們仍在燃燒。所以它並不總是會消失。

And what we're seeing is silicon carbide, silicon photonics, these compound semiconductors are kind of a hotspot both in terms of applicability for new applications, driving things like electric vehicles or fiber optic communications but also need this infant mortality rate and seem very susceptible to the desire for wafer level burn-in because the devices are going to be put in multi-chip modules with other devices. So it's -- the GaN devices specifically are being put into automotive applications. There are people for power. And we've even seen RF people talk to us about wanting a production burn-in. So it's the first time we're getting that message out. And we now have engagements with several of them. One of them has already given us drawings to move forward with the wafer level burn-in application for a long test and burn-in application they need.

我們看到的是碳化矽、矽光子學，這些化合物半導體在新應用的適用性、驅動電動汽車或光纖通信等方面都是一個熱點，但也需要這種嬰兒死亡率，而且似乎很容易受到影響對晶圓級老化的期望，因為這些設備將與其他設備一起放入多芯片模塊中。所以它 - GaN 設備專門用於汽車應用。有人是為了權力。我們甚至看到 RF 人員與我們談論想要進行生產老化。所以這是我們第一次發布該消息。我們現在與其中幾個有接觸。其中之一已經給了我們圖紙，以推進晶圓級老化應用，以進行他們需要的長期測試和老化應用。

Your next question comes from Matt Winthrop with Equitable Research. (Operator Instructions)

您的下一個問題來自 Equitable Research 的 Matt Winthrop。 （操作員說明）

I just want -- Gayn, I just wanted to once again congratulate you on all the effort. And thank you, my friend, because I have so many happy and successful clients based on the due diligence side did and the tenacity and go get or ship that you have led this company and I'm just so tickled to think that you're doing great, keep up the good work and your PR guys, by the way, Jim Byers, I think, don't get enough -- congratulations, but they've been diligent on this, too. So I just want to thank you for it.

我只想——蓋恩，我只想再次祝賀你所做的所有努力。謝謝你，我的朋友，因為我有這麼多快樂和成功的客戶，基於你領導這家公司的盡職調查和堅韌不拔的精神，我很高興認為你是做得很好，保持良好的工作，順便說一句，吉姆拜爾斯，我認為，你的公關人員還不夠——恭喜，但他們也一直在努力。所以我只想感謝你。

Thank you. And you know what, if you walk around this building, there's a lot of happy, proud people here because it's -- there's -- it's funny. We all believed it. Everybody has been working their (expletive) off. Like if we build it, they'll come. And we are just believed in our hearts that this would play out and for having sake, sometimes it works out. And we're seeing it's not just silicon. I think silicon carbide will go down as the one thing that was sort of the one that really pushed the industry over to widely adopt wafer level burn-in, but then it's going to -- we're already seeing people saying, well, if you use it for that, can I use it for this as well. So it's been a long time coming, and we have a long way to go. It's really exciting .

謝謝。你知道嗎，如果你在這座大樓裡走走，就會發現這裡有很多快樂、自豪的人，因為它——那裡——很有趣。我們都相信了。每個人都在努力（咒罵）。就像如果我們建造它，他們就會來。而且我們只是在心里相信這會發揮作用並且出於緣故，有時它會奏效。我們看到的不僅僅是矽。我認為碳化矽將作為真正推動行業廣泛採用晶圓級老化的一件事而下降，但它會——我們已經看到人們說，好吧，如果你用它，我也可以用它嗎？所以它已經很長時間了，我們還有很長的路要走。這真的很令人興奮。

At this time, there are no further questions in the queue, and I'd like to turn back to management for closing remarks.

此時，隊列中沒有其他問題了，我想回到管理層發表結束語。

All right. Well, I really appreciate folks, everyone's time here. And we're really excited to be serving our customers. We'll just -- as we have always offered, if you folks happen to be in town here in the Bay Area in Fremont, California, manufacturing floor is just a buzz. We'd love to host you and answer any questions for you, and we look forward to seeing many of you at some of the conferences that are coming up. And then if not, we'll have a chance to talk to you on our next call as we talk about our next fiscal year. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.

好的。好吧，我真的很感謝大家，每個人都在這裡。我們真的很高興能為我們的客戶服務。我們只是 - 正如我們一直提供的那樣，如果你們碰巧在加利福尼亞州弗里蒙特灣區的鎮上，製造車間只是一個嗡嗡聲。我們很樂意接待您並為您回答任何問題，我們期待在即將舉行的一些會議上見到您中的許多人。如果沒有，我們將有機會在我們談論下一個財政年度的下一次電話會議上與您交談。非常感謝。再見。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for participating in today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。