Aehr Test Systems (AEHR) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Aehr Test Systems Fiscal 2023 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Aehr Test Systems 2023 財年第四季度和全年財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）今天的演示結束後，將有機會提問。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Jim Byers, MKR Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給 MKR 投資者關係部的吉姆·拜爾斯 (Jim Byers)。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and welcome to Aehr Test Systems fiscal 2023 fourth quarter and full year 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, Chris Siu. Before I turn the call over to Gayn and Chris, I'd like to cover a few items. This afternoon right after market close, Aehr Test issued a press release announcing its fiscal 2023 fourth quarter and full year results. That release is available on the company's website at aehr.com. This call is being broadcast live over the Internet for all interested parties, and the webcast will be archived in the Investor Relations page of the Aehr website.

謝謝你，接線員。下午好，歡迎參加 Aehr Test Systems 2023 財年第四季度和全年財務業績電話會議。參加今天電話會議的有 Aehr Test Systems 總裁兼首席執行官 Gayn Erickson；及首席財務官蕭先生。在將電話轉給蓋恩和克里斯之前，我想先介紹一些內容。今天下午收盤後，Aehr Test 發布新聞稿，宣布其 2023 財年第四季度和全年業績。該版本可在該公司網站 aehr.com 上獲取。此次電話會議將通過互聯網向所有感興趣的各方進行現場直播，網絡廣播將存檔在 Aehr 網站的投資者關係頁面中。

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，管理層將在今天做出前瞻性聲明，這些聲明基於當前信息和估計，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預期結果存在重大差異。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向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新定期報告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，僅在當前日期有效，Aehr Test Systems 不承擔更新前瞻性陳述的義務。

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

話雖如此，我想將電話轉給總裁兼首席執行官蓋恩·埃里克森 (Gayn Erickson)。

Thanks, Jim. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our fiscal 2023 fourth quarter and full year earnings conference call. Thanks for joining us today. Let's start with a quick summary of the highlights of the quarter and fiscal year we just completed in May and the continued momentum we're experiencing in the semiconductor wafer level test and burn-in markets, then our new CFO, Chris Siu, let me make sure I get that right, Chris Siu, sorry, that's awful, who is sitting here with myself and Ken Spink, who is retiring soon, will go over the financials in more detail, after that, we'll open up the lines to take your questions.

謝謝，吉姆。大家下午好，歡迎參加我們的 2023 財年第四季度和全年收益電話會議。感謝您今天加入我們。讓我們首先快速總結一下我們剛剛在 5 月份完成的季度和財年的亮點，以及我們在半導體晶圓級測試和老化市場中所經歷的持續勢頭，然後我們的新任首席財務官 Chris Siu，讓我介紹一下確保我弄對了，Chris Siu，抱歉，這太糟糕了，我和我以及即將退休的 Ken Spink 一起坐在這裡，他將更詳細地討論財務狀況，之後，我們將開放線路回答你的問題。

We're pleased to report record financial performance for both the quarter as well as the entire fiscal 2023 year ended May 31. For fiscal '23, our total revenue grew 28% to a record $65 million. Bookings reached a record $78.3 million, and our GAAP profit of $14.6 million and non-GAAP profit of $17.3 million were also records, growing 54% and 62% year-over-year, respectively. This record performance was significantly driven by bookings and revenue shipments of our wafer level test and burn-in systems and Contactors for silicon carbide semiconductors used in electric vehicles and electric vehicle charging infrastructure and silicon photonics devices used in data -- data and telecommunications infrastructure as well as an up-and-coming new application for chip-to-chip optical I/O that I'll provide more detail on later in this call.

我們很高興地報告本季度以及截至 5 月 31 日的整個 2023 財年的財務業績創歷史新高。23 財年，我們的總收入增長了 28%，達到創紀錄的 6500 萬美元。預訂量達到創紀錄的 7830 萬美元，我們的 GAAP 利潤為 1460 萬美元，非 GAAP 利潤為 1730 萬美元，分別同比增長 54% 和 62%。這一創紀錄的業績很大程度上得益於我們的晶圓級測試和老化系統以及電動汽車和電動汽車充電基礎設施中使用的碳化矽半導體接觸器以及數據中使用的矽光子設備的預訂和收入發貨——數據和電信基礎設施以及即將推出的芯片到芯片光學 I/O 新應用，我將在本次電話會議稍後提供更多詳細信息。

We saw fiscal 2023 as a breakout year for our unique wafer level test and burn-in products. These products provide complete solutions for semiconductor manufacturers for high volume tests, burn-in and stabilization of semiconductors such as those used in electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, photovoltaic or solar power conversion and data and telecommunications infrastructure. We also see on the horizon a significant new market opportunity for test and burn-in of semiconductors, such as silicon photonics devices used in optical input/output or optical I/O and co-packaged optics for data farms, computing and artificial intelligence markets.

我們認為 2023 財年是我們獨特的晶圓級測試和老化產品突破的一年。這些產品為半導體製造商提供了完整的解決方案，用於半導體的大批量測試、老化和穩定，例如用於電動汽車、電動汽車充電基礎設施、光伏或太陽能轉換以及數據和電信基礎設施的半導體。我們還看到了半導體測試和老化的重大新市場機會，例如用於光輸入/輸出或光 I/O 的矽光子器件以及用於數據場、計算和人工智能市場的共同封裝光學器件。

So let me start with the increasing momentum we're seeing for wafer level test and burn-in for silicon carbide devices. During the fiscal fourth quarter, we received the first purchase order from another new silicon carbide semiconductor company for our production FOX-XP multi-wafer solution that will be used for volume production wafer level test and burn-in of silicon carbide devices for electric vehicles, trucks and train traction inverter modules. The train traction inverter application represents an exciting new market driver for our FOX production test solutions due to the extreme reliability and length of service requirements of this application leading to prolonged test times. This new customer is a multinational industrial conglomerate and manufacturer of semiconductors, including power semiconductors.

因此，讓我首先介紹一下我們所看到的碳化矽器件晶圓級測試和老化的不斷增長的勢頭。在第四財季，我們收到了另一家新碳化矽半導體公司的第一筆採購訂單，用於生產 FOX-XP 多晶圓解決方案，該解決方案將用於電動汽車碳化矽器件的量產晶圓級測試和老化、卡車和火車牽引逆變器模塊。火車牽引逆變器應用代表了我們 FOX 生產測試解決方案的令人興奮的新市場驅動力，因為該應用的極高可靠性和服務長度要求導致測試時間延長。這個新客戶是一家跨國工業集團和半導體（包括功率半導體）製造商。

They are forecasting to grow their silicon carbide business significantly to meet the market demand, which we forecast will in turn drive incremental capacity of our FOX systems and our proprietary WaferPak full wafer Contactors. William Blair forecasts total demand for silicon carbide wafers just for electric vehicles, which include EV inverters, on-board and off-board chargers to grow from 220,000 wafers in 2022 to over 4.5 million 6-inch equivalent wafers in 2030, a greater than 45% compound annual growth rate and over 20x larger in 2030 than in 2022. In addition, William Blair expects demand for industrial applications, trains, energy conversion and RF amplifiers of silicon carbide to drive another 2.8 million wafers in 2030. This expands our silicon carbide test and burn-in market even more.

他們預計將大幅增長碳化矽業務以滿足市場需求，我們預測這將反過來推動我們的 FOX 系統和我們專有的 WaferPak 全晶圓接觸器的產能增量。 William Blair 預測，電動汽車（包括電動汽車逆變器、車載和非車載充電器）對碳化矽晶圓的總需求將從 2022 年的 22 萬片增長到 2030 年超過 450 萬片 6 英寸等效晶圓，增幅超過 45 % 複合年增長率，到 2030 年將比 2022 年增長 20 倍以上。此外，William Blair 預計對碳化矽的工業應用、火車、能源轉換和射頻放大器的需求將在 2030 年另外驅動 280 萬片晶圓。這擴大了我們的碳化矽產能測試和老化市場更是如此。

With the addition of this latest new customer, we've significantly expanded our customer base by adding a total of 4 new silicon carbide customers this year. Each of these new customers is already ramping or plans to ramp our products into high-volume production using our multi-wafer test and burn-in systems. We continue to be excited about the incredible growth and production ramp of our lead silicon carbide customer that's using our wafer level test and burn-in systems and WaferPaks to meet capacity increases from their current customers in addition to many new design wins. In early June, we announced another $13.7 million in follow-on orders for WaferPaks from them. That includes both current design capacity increases and several new designs that are expected to ramp to volume production after their customer qualification is completed.

隨著這個最新客戶的加入，我們今年總共增加了 4 個新的碳化矽客戶，顯著擴大了我們的客戶群。這些新客戶中的每一個都已經或計劃使用我們的多晶圓測試和老化系統將我們的產品投入大批量生產。我們繼續對我們的主要碳化矽客戶令人難以置信的增長和產量增長感到興奮，他們使用我們的晶圓級測試和老化系統以及 WaferPaks 來滿足當前客戶的產能增長以及許多新設計的勝利。 6 月初，我們宣布向他們追加 1,370 萬美元的 WaferPaks 後續訂單。這包括當前設計能力的增加以及預計在客戶資格完成後投入批量生產的幾種新設計。

During the quarter, we also announced an order for production quantities of WaferPak full wafer Contactors from our second major silicon carbide customer. That will be used with previously ordered FOX-XP systems for test and burn-in of wafers in their production facility. We believe this customer who serves several significant markets that include the electric vehicle industry as well as other industrial applications will purchase a large number of our FOX-XP systems to meet their publicly announced significant increase in plant capacity and revenue growth over the next several years and through the end of the decade and longer.

在本季度，我們還宣布從我們的第二大碳化矽客戶處獲得了 WaferPak 全晶圓接觸器的生產訂單。它將與之前訂購的 FOX-XP 系統一起使用，在其生產設施中進行晶圓測試和老化。我們相信，該客戶服務於包括電動汽車行業以及其他工業應用在內的多個重要市場，將購買大量我們的 FOX-XP 系統，以滿足他們公開宣布的未來幾年工廠產能和收入增長的顯著增長並持續到本世紀末或更長時間。

Now let me move to our benchmarks and engagements with prospective new customers, which continue to make great progress. We continue to work closely with one of the largest silicon carbide players in the world on a large wafer level benchmark and qualification for automotive and other markets. While candidly, this has taken much longer than we thought it would, we're excited that this qualification continues to make good progress, and we remain confident that it will result in them moving to our FOX wafer level systems and WaferPaks for their volume production. They have told us that their plan is to move all new production capacity to wafer level burn-in and away from packaged part burn-in. This is because they're not only mostly moving to multichip modules and known-good die sales, but also for the lower cost of tests associated with wafer level burn-in over packaged burn-in as well as the significant improvements in yield they achieve with wafer level burn-in.

現在讓我談談我們的基準以及與潛在新客戶的互動，這些都在繼續取得巨大進展。我們繼續與世界上最大的碳化矽生產商之一密切合作，為汽車和其他市場提供大型晶圓級基準和資格認證。坦率地說，這比我們想像的要長得多，但我們很高興這項資格繼續取得良好進展，並且我們仍然相信這將導致他們轉向我們的 FOX 晶圓級系統和 WaferPaks 進行批量生產。他們告訴我們，他們的計劃是將所有新產能轉移到晶圓級老化，而不是封裝部件老化。這是因為他們不僅主要轉向多芯片模塊和已知良好的芯片銷售，而且還因為與封裝老化相比晶圓級老化相關的測試成本更低，以及他們實現的良率顯著提高具有晶圓級老化。

For those listening in that are new to our story, we provide our customers with a unique low cost way to do extended burn-in stress testing that removes the early extrinsic failures of devices like silicon carbide semiconductors before they're put into packages. This saves in cost of overall manufacturing as you're not only avoiding throwing away the cost of the package, but in scenarios where multiple of these devices are put into a single package, which is referred to as multichip modules, this also saves significant costs as the other devices in the same module are not thrown away when one of the devices failed during burn-in. The savings in yield is much more than the actual cost of wafer level burn-in. Multiple companies have announced silicon carbide hybrid modules used for EV traction inverters that have up to 48 die in a single module.

對於那些不熟悉我們故事的人來說，我們為客戶提供了一種獨特的低成本方法來進行擴展的老化壓力測試，以消除碳化矽半導體等設備在裝入封裝之前的早期外在故障。這節省了總體製造成本，因為您不僅避免了丟棄封裝成本，而且在將多個這些設備放入單個封裝（稱為多芯片模塊）的情況下，這也節省了大量成本因為當其中一個器件在老化過程中出現故障時，同一模塊中的其他器件不會被丟棄。節省的良率遠遠超過晶圓級老化的實際成本。多家公司已推出用於電動汽車牽引逆變器的碳化矽混合模塊，單個模塊中最多有 48 個芯片。

Imagine the implication of the greater than 1% failure rate experienced in burn-in on a module with 48 die. The extrinsic failure rate of high-power silicon carbide MOSFETs could cause 25% to 50% yield loss of these modules. For all intents and purposes, this is unmanageable without wafer level burn-in. So wafer level burn-in actually enables these kinds of high-density multichip modules. In addition to our momentum in silicon carbide, we also have multiple potential new customers inquiring about our systems with the new 2000 volt high-voltage option that we introduced last year to test and burn-in devices such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride semiconductors for power conversion applications. Gallium nitride is another wide-bandgap compound semiconductor being applied for efficient high-speed power conversion and amplifier applications.

想像一下，在具有 48 個芯片的模塊上進行老化時，故障率超過 1%，這意味著什麼。高功率碳化矽 MOSFET 的外在故障率可能會導致這些模塊 25% 至 50% 的良率損失。無論如何，如果沒有晶圓級老化，這是無法管理的。因此，晶圓級預燒實際上可以實現此類高密度多芯片模塊。除了我們在碳化矽領域的發展勢頭之外，我們還有多個潛在的新客戶詢問我們的系統，該系統配備了我們去年推出的新 2000 伏高壓選項，用於測試和老化設備，例如碳化矽和氮化鎵半導體，用於功率轉換應用。氮化鎵是另一種寬帶隙化合物半導體，用於高效高速功率轉換和放大器應用。

These new potential customer inquiries include several gallium nitride semiconductor devices ranging from RF or radio frequency to power conversion. We're currently working with a large multinational semiconductor supplier to move forward with a full wafer level burn-in evaluation of gallium nitride devices. This evaluation includes our new high-voltage option for doing the critical High Temperature Reverse Bias stress test needed for gallium nitride MOSFETs and amplifiers. The gallium nitride market appears to be a potentially significant growth driver for our systems and WaferPak full wafer Contactors, particularly for automotive and photovoltaic applications, where burn-in appears to be critical for meeting the initial quality and reliability needs of those markets.

這些新的潛在客戶詢問包括多種氮化鎵半導體器件，範圍從射頻或射頻到功率轉換。我們目前正在與一家大型跨國半導體供應商合作，推進氮化鎵器件的全晶圓級老化評估。此評估包括我們新的高壓選項，用於執行氮化鎵 MOSFET 和放大器所需的關鍵高溫反向偏置應力測試。氮化鎵市場似乎是我們的系統和 WaferPak 全晶圓接觸器的潛在重要增長動力，特別是對於汽車和光伏應用，其中老化似乎對於滿足這些市場的初始質量和可靠性需求至關重要。

Now moving to silicon photonic semiconductor burn-in and stabilization and the new significant market opportunity we see on the horizon. As a reminder for 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. 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 optical data transmission technology into other devices like chipsets and processors themselves. We see the potential to integrate the photonics integrated circuit devices into multichip modules as another major market opportunity for Aehr. There are several names for this application ranging from co-packaged optics, heterogeneous integration and optical I/O that use silicon photonics integrated circuits for use in optical chip-to-chip communication. This market is in addition to the current photonics transceiver market used in data and telecommunications, where we currently have 6 customers that have adopted our FOX-XP and NP systems for production use of their silicon photonics wafer and die/module level burn-in.

現在轉向矽光子半導體老化和穩定以及我們即將看到的新的重大市場機會。對於那些不熟悉矽光子學的人來說，這就是業界所說的將電氣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。我們仍然對這個市場充滿熱情，特別是因為它希望從僅僅用於光纖收發器擴展到將光學數據傳輸技術集成到芯片組和處理器本身等其他設備中的嵌入式市場。我們認為將光子集成電路器件集成到多芯片模塊中的潛力是 Aehr 的另一個主要市場機會。該應用有多個名稱，包括共封裝光學、異構集成和使用矽光子集成電路用於光學芯片到芯片通信的光學 I/O。該市場是除當前用於數據和電信的光子收發器市場之外的市場，目前我們有 6 個客戶已採用我們的 FOX-XP 和 NP 系統來生產其矽光子晶圓和芯片/模塊級預燒。

Multiple companies such as Intel, NVIDIA, AMD, TSMC and GlobalFoundries have made public announcements regarding their product road maps for co-packaged photonics integrated circuits with microprocessors, graphics processors, chipsets for computing and also artificial intelligence applications. Our FOX wafer level test and burn-in solution with our proprietary WaferPak full wafer Contactors are a great fit for the silicon photonic semiconductor market as we can test and burn in the devices while still in die or wafer form before they're integrated into the multichip modules for the same reason as discussed before due to module yield improvement. Also, because the burn-in conditions of the photonic integrated circuits are very different than the other chips in the multichip module that they're integrated with, burn-in in the photonics integrated circuit in the module would also pose real thermal and power challenges to the silicon photonics part and also the devices that are integrated into the same module. During the fourth quarter, we received our first order from a current major silicon photonics customer for a new volume production at FOX-XP system configuration that enables cost-effective production test of full wafers of next-generation photonic integrated circuits up to 3,500 watts of power per wafer. This system can test new high-power density devices that can be used in new optical I/O or heterogeneous integrated packages. This customer is one of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers, and we expect to receive orders for additional production systems as they increase production of these devices.

英特爾、英偉達、AMD、台積電和格羅方德等多家公司已公開宣布其與微處理器、圖形處理器、計算芯片組以及人工智能應用共同封裝的光子集成電路的產品路線圖。我們的 FOX 晶圓級測試和老化解決方案採用我們專有的 WaferPak 全晶圓接觸器，非常適合矽光子半導體市場，因為我們可以在器件集成到芯片或晶圓之前對其進行測試和老化。多芯片模塊的原因與之前討論的相同，由於模塊產量的提高。此外，由於光子集成電路的老化條件與與其集成的多芯片模塊中的其他芯片有很大不同，因此模塊中光子集成電路的老化也會帶來真正的熱和功率挑戰矽光子部分以及集成到同一模塊中的器件。在第四季度，我們收到了當前主要矽光子客戶的第一筆訂單，要求在 FOX-XP 系統配置下進行新的批量生產，從而能夠對功率高達 3,500 瓦的下一代光子集成電路的全晶圓進行經濟有效的生產測試。每個晶圓的功率。該系統可以測試可用於新型光學 I/O 或異構集成封裝的新型高功率密度器件。該客戶是世界上最大的半導體製造商之一，隨著他們增加這些設備的產量，我們預計會收到額外生產系統的訂單。

These next-generation silicon photonics-based integrated circuits can require up to 2x to 4x as much power for full wafer test, burn-in and stabilization of the silicon photonics devices. Our new FOX production system configuration, which can be used to test and burn in these new optical I/O devices up to 3,500 watts per wafer expands the market opportunities of the FOX-XP system even further. Its ability to test, burn-in and stabilize up to 9 300-millimeter wafers in parallel with up to 3.5 kilowatts of power per wafer is beyond the wafer parallelism and power capacity of any system on the market. This test ability is unprecedented in the industry as there are no other competitors that can even test one wafer at a time at these power levels, and our FOX-XP with our proprietary WaferPak Contactors enables the test of up to 9 of these wafers at a time in a single system. The applications that have been announced by these major semiconductor players for optical chip-to-chip communication include high-performance microprocessors, graphics processors and processor to peripheral device chipsets.

這些基於矽光子的下一代集成電路可能需要高達 2 倍至 4 倍的功率來進行矽光子器件的全晶圓測試、老化和穩定。我們新的 FOX 生產系統配置可用於測試和燒錄這些新的光學 I/O 設備，每片功率高達 3,500 瓦，進一步擴大了 FOX-XP 系統的市場機會。其並行測試、老化和穩定多達 9 300 毫米晶圓的能力以及每晶圓高達 3.5 千瓦的功率超出了市場上任何系統的晶圓並行度和功率容量。這種測試能力在業界是史無前例的，因為沒有其他競爭對手能夠在這些功率水平下一次測試一個晶圓，而我們的 FOX-XP 與我們專有的 WaferPak 接觸器能夠以相同的速度測試多達 9 個晶圓。單一系統中的時間。這些主要半導體廠商已宣布的光學芯片到芯片通信應用包括高性能微處理器、圖形處理器以及處理器到外圍設備芯片組。

These known devices have been predicted to dramatically improve the communication bandwidth between semiconductor devices beyond the bottleneck of traditional electrical interfaces used today. This is an exciting opportunity, and we believe these devices will ramp to high-volume production over the next several years. We believe silicon photonics can become a significant market for wafer level test and burn-in and could become as large or larger than the silicon carbide market for our products later in this decade.

預計這些已知設備將顯著提高半導體設備之間的通信帶寬，超越當今使用的傳統電氣接口的瓶頸。這是一個令人興奮的機會，我們相信這些設備將在未來幾年內實現大批量生產。我們相信矽光子可以成為晶圓級測試和老化的重要市場，並且在本十年晚些時候可能會變得與我們產品的碳化矽市場一樣大或更大。

Now let me spend a minute or two on our R&D initiatives. This past year, we introduced several significant test system enhancements that extend the market leadership of our FOX products for full wafer test and burn-in and open new markets for our products. These include added voltage ranges, increased parallelism per wafer, new burn-in and stress conditions and a new fully automated FOX WaferPak Aligner configured to fully integrate with our FOX-XP multi-wafer systems to enable hands-free operation. Our new Bipolar Voltage Channel Module or BVCM for the FOX-P platform of products, which includes our FOX-XP, NP and CP extends our test and burn-in capability to provide a wide range of positive and negative voltage programmability applied to the gate for positive High Temperature Gate Bias or negative HTGB testing. The BVCM can supply gate bias voltage to more than 3,000 die per wafer, while being able to monitor individual die performance and detect individual die failures. Enabling these tests is particularly essential in threshold voltage and gate oxide stabilization and screening. Our new Very High Voltage Channel Module or VHVCM, which is an option released this fiscal year, enables High Temperature Reverse Bias testing of silicon carbide and gallium nitride devices on wafers of up to 2000 volts using our proprietary WaferPak Contactors.

現在讓我花一兩分鐘介紹一下我們的研發計劃。去年，我們推出了多項重要的測試系統增強功能，擴大了 FOX 產品在全晶圓測試和老化方面的市場領先地位，並為我們的產品開闢了新市場。其中包括增加的電壓範圍、增加每個晶圓的並行度、新的老化和應力條件以及新的全自動 FOX WaferPak Aligner，該對準器配置為與我們的 FOX-XP 多晶圓系統完全集成，以實現免提操作。我們針對 FOX-P 產品平台（包括 FOX-XP、NP 和 CP）的新型雙極電壓通道模塊或 BVCM 擴展了我們的測試和老化能力，以提供應用於柵極的廣泛正負電壓可編程性用於正高溫柵極偏置或負 HTGB 測試。 BVCM 可以為每個晶圓 3,000 多個芯片提供柵極偏置電壓，同時能夠監控單個芯片的性能並檢測單個芯片的故障。啟用這些測試對於閾值電壓和柵極氧化物穩定和篩選尤其重要。我們的新型超高壓通道模塊或 VHVCM 是本財年發布的一個選件，可使用我們專有的 WaferPak 接觸器在高達 2000 伏的晶圓上對碳化矽和氮化鎵器件進行高溫反向偏壓測試。

Our WaferPaks and the FOX-XP and NP systems include patented anti-arcing capabilities that are necessary to avoid the high-voltage electrical arcing between devices running at these voltages or between the devices and the streets on the wafer that at distances as small as less than 200 microns apart from each other. The amazing part of this is we can manage anti-arcing across the entire wafer, whereas semiconductor functional automated test equipment or ATE tested today are only able to keep devices from arcing in very small areas, such as only one or a few devices at a time. This allows an unprecedented low cost of test and burn-in for high-voltage wafers such as silicon carbide devices used for electric vehicles, trucks and trains with voltage specifications up to 1700 volts and above.

我們的 WaferPaks 以及 FOX-XP 和 NP 系統包括獲得專利的防電弧功能，這些功能對於避免在這些電壓下運行的器件之間或器件與晶圓上距離小至以下的街道之間產生高壓電弧是必要的。彼此之間的距離大於200微米。令人驚奇的是，我們可以管理整個晶圓上的防電弧，而今天測試的半導體功能自動化測試設備或 ATE 只能防止器件在非常小的區域內產生電弧，例如同一時間只有一個或幾個器件。時間。這使得高壓晶圓的測試和老化成本達到了前所未有的低成本，例如用於電動汽車、卡車和火車的碳化矽器件，電壓規格高達 1700 伏及以上。

We're excited that we received customer final acceptance of this new high-voltage solution and WaferPaks in our fiscal fourth quarter. During the fiscal year, we completed a multiyear development of our new fully automated FOX WaferPak Aligner. Our new WaferPak Aligner allows hands-free operation of WaferPak handling and Alignment and is available either as a stand-alone configuration with movement between the Aligner and portable carts or in a full integration configuration integrated with the FOX-XP system. The WaferPak AutoAligner automatically takes wafers from cassettes or FOUPs ranging from 100-millimeter wafers to 300-millimeter wafers and automatically aligns and loads wafers into our proprietary WaferPak cartridges, which provide contact with 100% of the die on the wafer.

我們很高興在第四財季獲得了客戶對這款新型高壓解決方案和 WaferPaks 的最終認可。在本財年中，我們完成了新型全自動 FOX WaferPak Aligner 的多年開發。我們的新型 WaferPak Aligner 可以實現 WaferPak 處理和對準的免提操作，並且可以作為在 Aligner 和便攜式推車之間移動的獨立配置，也可以作為與 FOX-XP 系統集成的完全集成配置。 WaferPak AutoAligner 自動從晶圓盒或 FOUP 中取出晶圓（尺寸範圍從 100 毫米晶圓到 300 毫米晶圓），並自動將晶圓對齊並加載到我們專有的 WaferPak 晶圓盒中，從而與晶圓上的芯片實現 100% 的接觸。

WaferPaks can be brought to and from the AutoAligner in WaferPak carts in what we refer to as the stand-alone configuration. This allows one AutoAligner to work with multiple FOX-XP systems, which each can have up to 18 WaferPaks with 18 wafers in them tested at the same time. This is great for very long test and burn-in times, such as 24 hours to 48 hours or more. Alternatively, the AutoAligner can be configured to dock directly to the front of a FOX-XP system such that all material handling and WaferPak movement is done 100% hands-free, hands-free up to and including fully lights-out operation. As capacity and volume forecasts grow, eliminating all manual interfaces for automated handling can become critical to our customers. The added automation capability of our new Aligner gives our wafer level test and burn-in offering even greater value and opened several significant incremental markets to Aehr, such as high-volume processors and chipsets with integrated photonics transceivers, flash and ultimately, DRAM memories.

WaferPak 可以通過 WaferPak 推車中的 AutoAligner 進出，我們稱之為獨立配置。這使得一台 AutoAligner 可以與多個 FOX-XP 系統配合使用，每個系統最多可以有 18 個 WaferPaks，其中可同時測試 18 個晶圓。這非常適合很長的測試和老化時間，例如 24 小時到 48 小時或更長時間。或者，AutoAligner 可以配置為直接對接到 FOX-XP 系統的前端，這樣所有材料處理和 WaferPak 移動都是 100% 免提操作，甚至包括完全熄燈操作。隨著容量和數量預測的增長，消除所有手動界面以進行自動化處理對於我們的客戶來說至關重要。我們新的 Aligner 增加的自動化功能為我們的晶圓級測試和老化提供了更大的價值，並為 Aehr 打開了幾個重要的增量市場，例如帶有集成光子收發器、閃存和最終 DRAM 存儲器的大容量處理器和芯片組。

And higher mix devices requiring extremely high reliability and 100% burn-in such as automotive microcontrollers and sensors. We have received positive feedback on our new Aligner from multiple current and prospective customers across several markets and believe it will be an important addition to our product portfolio going forward. We have now installed both the stand-alone and integrated configurations of our new WaferPak Aligner at multiple customers with a stand-alone Aligner accepted and released into production just this week. And the FOX-XP with the integrated Aligner is expected to receive production acceptance yet this current fiscal quarter. We see a mix of customers that will purchase our WaferPak AutoAligners in stand-alone and integrated configurations. Most customers feel very passionate that one way is absolutely better than the other way. And basically, we just agree with them. We offer both to our customers.

以及需要極高可靠性和 100% 老化的更高混合設備，例如汽車微控制器和傳感器。我們已經從多個市場的多個當前和潛在客戶那裡收到了對我們的新對準器的積極反饋，並相信它將成為我們未來產品組合的重要補充。我們現已為多個客戶安裝了新型 WaferPak Aligner 的獨立和集成配置，其中獨立的 Aligner 已於本週接受並投入生產。帶有集成對準器的 FOX-XP 預計將在本財季獲得生產驗收。我們看到各種各樣的客戶將購買我們的 WaferPak AutoAligner 的獨立和集成配置。大多數客戶都非常熱衷於認為一種方式絕對比另一種方式更好。基本上，我們只是同意他們的觀點。我們為客戶提供這兩種服務。

Each of these new product enhancements broadens our total available market and extends our cost competitiveness and application space for our FOX products. 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. Our customers use our products to test, burn-in and stabilize semiconductors used for applications where safety, security, quality and reliability are absolutely critical, including electric vehicles, electric vehicle chargers, photovoltaic/solar, power conversion, industrial and data and telecommunication applications. Our FOX multi-wafer test and burn-in systems proprietary WaferPak full wafer Contactors and newly introduced fully automated WaferPak Aligner puts us in an excellent position to continue to gain significant market share of these new market opportunities.

這些新產品的每一項增強功能都拓寬了我們的可用市場總量，並擴大了我們 FOX 產品的成本競爭力和應用空間。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。我們的客戶使用我們的產品來測試、老化和穩定半導體，這些半導體用於安全、安保、質量和可靠性絕對至關重要的應用，包括電動汽車、電動汽車充電器、光伏/太陽能、電力轉換、工業和數據和電信應用。我們的 FOX 多晶圓測試和老化系統專有的 WaferPak 全晶圓接觸器和新推出的全自動 WaferPak 對準器使我們處於有利地位，能夠繼續在這些新的市場機會中獲得重要的市場份額。

Our customers require semiconductors to be tested and burned in and stabilized prior to integration in the customer systems and in particular, multichip modules, heterogeneous integrated packages or co-packaged optics, and we believe this is -- this is the very beginning of a wave of applications using our FOX products. The market forecast for wafer level burn-in products is significant. William Blair estimates the total available market for wafer level burn-in products for silicon carbide alone to be over $400 million by 2027. We believe Aehr has the potential to capture a significant portion of that market based on the level of silicon carbide engagements we have with the customers across the globe. To meet this demand, we have begun to significantly ramp up the production capacity of our systems and WaferPak full wafer Contactors, increasing our production capacity to 3x or by over 200% during this past fiscal year, and we plan to double this production capacity by the end of this new fiscal year. We also have the supply chain and infrastructure to increase capacity significantly as the market demand warrants.

我們的客戶要求在集成到客戶系統中之前對半導體進行測試、燒錄和穩定，特別是多芯片模塊、異構集成封裝或共同封裝光學器件，我們相信這是——這是浪潮的開始使用我們的 FOX 產品的應用程序。晶圓級老化產品的市場預測意義重大。 William Blair 估計，到 2027 年，僅碳化矽晶圓級預燒產品的可用市場總額就將超過 4 億美元。我們相信，根據我們所擁有的碳化矽業務水平，Aehr 有潛力佔領該市場的很大一部分。與全球客戶合作。為了滿足這一需求，我們已經開始大幅提高我們的系統和 WaferPak 全晶圓接觸器的產能，在上一財年將我們的產能提高到 3 倍或超過 200%，並且我們計劃將這一產能提高一倍本新財政年度結束時。我們還擁有供應鍊和基礎設施，可以根據市場需求大幅增加產能。

To conclude, we're very encouraged by the continued positive momentum and expanding growth opportunities we see with our current and prospective customers. We start fiscal 2024 with an effective backlog of almost $40 million and a strong forecast from our current and prospective customers. Our engagements with numerous potential new customers gives us confidence in our growth expectations over the next several years, including projections for record revenue and profit again for this fiscal year that ends next May, particularly as the positive momentum in demand for silicon carbide and electric vehicle continues to accelerate. We're very pleased to report a significant forecasted growth in our fiscal 2024 financials. For the fiscal year ending May 31, 2024, Aehr expects total revenue to be at least $100 million, representing a growth of over 50% year-over-year, and a GAAP net income of at least $28 million, representing earnings growth greater than 90% year-over-year.

總而言之，我們對現有和潛在客戶持續的積極勢頭和不斷擴大的增長機會感到非常鼓舞。 2024 財年伊始，我們的有效積壓訂單已接近 4000 萬美元，並且我們現有和潛在客戶的預測也十分強勁。我們與眾多潛在新客戶的合作使我們對未來幾年的增長預期充滿信心，包括預計明年 5 月結束的本財年收入和利潤將再次創紀錄，特別是在碳化矽和電動汽車需求出現積極勢頭的情況下繼續加速。我們非常高興地報告 2024 財年財務數據預計將出現顯著增長。截至 2024 年 5 月 31 日的財年，Aehr 預計總收入至少​​為 1 億美元，同比增長超過 50%，GAAP 淨利潤至少為 2800 萬美元，意味著盈利增長超過同比增長 90%。

Before I turn the call over to Chris, I'd like to take a moment to welcome him to Aehr. Chris is a semiconductor industry veteran who has served in senior financial positions with several much larger public companies in the semiconductor and semiconductor equipment space, including most recently at Ultra Clean Technologies. We're excited to have him join the company and look forward to working together. I also want to thank again Ken Spink for his leadership and many contributions during his 15 years at Aehr. This includes helping us identify and select Chris as our new CFO and also staying on to help complete our fiscal year and annual 10-K filing and work with Chris and I to ensure a smooth transition. On behalf of the Board and the entire Aehr team, we wish Ken and his family the best in his retirement.

在將電話轉給 Chris 之前，我想花一點時間歡迎他來到 Aehr。 Chris 是一位半導體行業資深人士，曾在半導體和半導體設備領域的多家大型上市公司擔任高級財務職位，其中包括最近在 Ultra Clean Technologies 擔任過高級財務職務。我們很高興他加入公司，並期待著一起工作。我還要再次感謝 Ken Spink 在 Aehr 的 15 年間的領導才能和做出的許多貢獻。這包括幫助我們確定並選擇 Chris 作為我們的新首席財務官，並繼續幫助我們完成財政年度和年度 10-K 申報，並與 Chris 和我一起確保順利過渡。我們代表董事會和整個 Aehr 團隊，祝愿 Ken 和他的家人在退休後一切順利。

With that, let me turn the call over to Chris before we open up the lines for questions.

就這樣，在我們開始提問之前，讓我把電話轉給克里斯。

Thank you, Gayn. Good afternoon, everyone. I would like to begin by saying that I'm thrilled to have joined Aehr Test, and we're very excited about the opportunities ahead of us. On today's call, I will summarize our results for the fiscal year 2023 and Q4 as well as provide our guidance for fiscal 2024. As Gayn noted, we reported record financial performance for both the fourth quarter and the fiscal year 2023. On a year-over-year basis, revenue increased by 28% to a record $65 million. GAAP gross margin increased by 390 basis points to 50.4%. Our full year non-GAAP net income increased by 62% to a record $17.3 million. We generated a record $10 million in operating cash flows in fiscal 2023, up more than 500% from the prior year. In the fiscal year, demand for our products was very strong with record annual bookings of $78.3 million, up 30% from our total bookings of $60.2 million for the prior fiscal year. Bookings in the fourth quarter was $15.2 million. Backlog as of year-end was $24.5 million, up 121% from a year ago. With more than [$15 million] bookings received in the first 6 weeks of the first quarter of fiscal 2024, we now have an effective backlog of nearly $40 million.

謝謝你，蓋恩。大家下午好。首先我想說，我很高興加入 Aehr Test，我們對面前的機會感到非常興奮。在今天的電話會議上，我將總結 2023 財年和第四季度的業績，並提供 2024 財年的指導。正如 Gayn 指出的那樣，我們報告了第四季度和 2023 財年的創紀錄的財務業績。收入同比增長 28%，達到創紀錄的 6500 萬美元。 GAAP 毛利率增長 390 個基點，達到 50.4%。我們全年非 GAAP 淨利潤增長 62%，達到創紀錄的 1730 萬美元。 2023 財年，我們產生了創紀錄的 1000 萬美元運營現金流，比上一年增長了 500% 以上。在本財年，對我們產品的需求非常強勁，年度預訂量達到創紀錄的 7,830 萬美元，比上一財年 6,020 萬美元的總預訂量增長了 30%。第四季度的預訂量為 1520 萬美元。截至年底，積壓訂單為 2,450 萬美元，比去年同期增長 121%。 2024 財年第一季度的前 6 週內收到的預訂超過 [1500 萬美元]，我們現在的有效積壓訂單已接近 4000 萬美元。

Moving to our Q4 results. We delivered record quarterly revenue of $22.3 million, up 10% from $20.3 million year-over-year. Demand for our FOX-P systems drove the record revenue in the fourth quarter. We're encouraged to see that the installed base of our systems continues to grow as our product solutions are validated and recognized by our existing and new customers. WaferPak and DiePak consumables revenue accounted for 38% of our total revenue in the fourth quarter compared to 45% of revenue in the prior year quarter. As we have noted before, customers typically purchase our FOX systems and WaferPaks at separate times and also staggered delivery.

轉向我們的第四季度業績。我們實現了創紀錄的季度收入 2,230 萬美元，比去年同期的 2,030 萬美元增長了 10%。對 FOX-P 系統的需求推動了第四季度創紀錄的收入。隨著我們的產品解決方案得到現有和新客戶的驗證和認可，我們很高興地看到我們系統的安裝基礎持續增長。 WaferPak 和 DiePak 耗材收入佔第四季度總收入的 38%，而去年同期為 45%。正如我們之前指出的，客戶通常會在不同時間購買我們的 FOX 系統和 WaferPaks，並且會交錯交付。

GAAP gross margin for the fourth quarter came in at 51.5% compared to 51.6% last year. Margins can be influenced by fluctuations in product mix as well as material and transportation costs. Operating expenses in the fourth quarter were $5.8 million, up 26% from $4.6 million year-over-year, primarily driven by increased headcount-related expenses to support sales initiatives and R&D programs. As we noted on the Q3 call, the company increased its worldwide sales and marketing efforts with the addition of 3 senior sales executives who have already begun making a positive impact. We continue to invest in R&D to enhance our existing market-leading products and to introduce new products to making our competitive advantages and expand our applications and addressable markets.

第四季度 GAAP 毛利率為 51.5%，去年同期為 51.6%。利潤可能受到產品組合以及材料和運輸成本波動的影響。第四季度運營費用為 580 萬美元，比去年同期的 460 萬美元增長 26%，主要是由於支持銷售計劃和研發計劃的人員相關費用增加。正如我們在第三季度電話會議中指出的那樣，該公司增加了 3 名高級銷售主管，增加了全球銷售和營銷力度，他們已經開始產生積極影響。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，以形成我們的競爭優勢並擴大我們的應用和潛在市場。

The increase in R&D is primarily due to costs associated with development programs from new automated WaferPak Aligner and our very High Voltage Channel Module and Bipolar Voltage Channel Module, which enable new advanced test and burn-in capabilities for silicon carbide and gallium nitride power semiconductors on Aehr's FOX-P wafer level test and burn-in systems. The first order for our Automated Aligner was shipped during Q4 of fiscal 2023 and was just accepted this week. Non-GAAP net income, which excludes the impact of stock-based compensation, was $6.8 million or $0.23 per diluted share for the fourth quarter. This compares to non-GAAP net income of $6.5 million or $0.23 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.

研發費用的增加主要是由於與新的自動化 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，這些模塊為碳化矽和氮化鎵功率半導體提供了新的先進測試和老化功能Aehr 的 FOX-P 晶圓級測試和老化系統。我們的自動對準器的第一個訂單已於 2023 財年第四季度發貨，並於本周剛剛接受。第四季度非 GAAP 淨利潤（不包括股票薪酬的影響）為 680 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.23 美元。相比之下，2022 財年第四季度的非 GAAP 淨利潤為 650 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.23 美元。

Turning to the balance sheet. We finished the year with a strong cash position. Our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were $47.9 million at year-end, up 52% from $31.5 million year-over-year. We generated $5.8 million in operating cash flows during the quarter, up more than 800% year-over-year. We have 0 debt and continue to invest our excess cash and short-term investments to take advantage of higher interest rates. Interest income [earned] in the fourth quarter was nearly $0.5 million compared to just $22,000 in the fourth quarter last year. During the third quarter, we announced an ATM offering of up to $25 million in shares of the company's common stock on the open market. As we reported on our last call, during the third quarter, we received gross proceeds of $7.3 million on the sale of 209,000 shares at an average price of $34.78 per share. We did not sell any shares under the ATM in our fourth quarter. but we expect to sell shares in fiscal 2024 to receive the remaining $17.7 million available under the ATM.

轉向資產負債表。我們以強勁的現金狀況結束了這一年。截至年底，我們的現金、現金等價物和短期投資為 4790 萬美元，比去年同期的 3150 萬美元增長 52%。本季度我們產生了 580 萬美元的運營現金流，同比增長超過 800%。我們的債務為零，並繼續投資多餘的現金和短期投資，以利用更高的利率。第四季度[賺取的]利息收入接近 50 萬美元，而去年第四季度僅為 22,000 美元。第三季度，我們宣佈在公開市場通過 ATM 發行最多 2500 萬美元的公司普通股。正如我們在上次電話會議中報告的那樣，第三季度，我們以每股 34.78 美元的平均價格出售 209,000 股股票，獲得了 730 萬美元的總收益。第四季度我們沒有通過 ATM 出售任何股票。但我們預計在 2024 財年出售股票，以獲得 ATM 下剩餘的 1770 萬美元。

Now turning to our outlook for the current fiscal 2024 that ends on May 31, 2024. We expect full year total revenue to be at least $100 million, representing growth of over 50% year-over-year, 50% year-over-year, and GAAP net income of at least $28 million, representing earnings growth of greater than 90% year-over-year. Lastly, looking at the Investor Relations calendar, Aehr Test will be meeting with investors virtually at the Needham Virtual Semiconductor and SemiCap One-on-One Conference on Tuesday, August 22. And then the following week, we will be meeting with investors in person on Tuesday, August 29 at the Jefferies Semiconductor, IT Hardware Communications Software and Infrastructure Summit taking place in Chicago. We hope to see some of you at these conferences.

現在轉向我們對截至 2024 年 5 月 31 日的當前 2024 財年的展望。我們預計全年總收入至少​​為 1 億美元，同比增長超過 50%，同比增長 50% ，GAAP 淨利潤至少 2800 萬美元，意味著盈利同比增長超過 90%。最後，查看投資者關係日曆，Aehr Test 將於 8 月 22 日星期二在 Needham 虛擬半導體和 SemiCap 一對一會議上與投資者進行虛擬會面。然後在接下來的一周，我們將親自與投資者會面8 月 29 日星期二，在芝加哥舉行的 Jefferies 半導體、IT 硬件通信軟件和基礎設施峰會上。我們希望在這些會議上見到你們中的一些人。

This concludes our prepared remarks, and we are now ready to take your questions. Operator, please go ahead.

我們準備好的發言到此結束，現在我們準備回答你們的問題。接線員，請繼續。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Christian Schwab with Craig-Hallum.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Christian Schwab 和 Craig-Hallum。

I just have a few. So, Ken, when would you expect to file your 10-K?

我只有幾個。那麼，Ken，您預計什麼時候提交 10-K 表格？

We're filing our 10-K at the end of August. I think August 28 is our proposed filing date right now.

我們將在 8 月底提交 10-K。我認為 8 月 28 日是我們現在提議的提交日期。

Could you be willing to share if there was more than one 10% customer and exactly if there was only one -- exactly how much revenue came from just the one customer?

如果有超過 10% 的客戶，如果只有一個客戶，您是否願意分享 - 到底有多少收入來自於一位客戶？

Yes, absolutely. We did actually have 2 customers over 10%, one at 79% of revenues and the other at 10% of revenues.

是的，一點沒錯。實際上，我們確實有 2 個客戶的份額超過 10%，其中一個佔收入的 79%，另一個佔收入的 10%。

Excellent. And Ken, when you guys are talking about your greater than $100 million expectation for revenue next fiscal year, how many 10% customers are you assuming in that guidance?

出色的。 Ken，當你們談論下一財年超過 1 億美元的收入預期時，您在該指導中假設有多少 10% 的客戶？

Let me try and field that one. Maybe almost better I don't have it in front of me because I don't want to get too specific on it. But I think we expect several, maybe [3 or 4]. So there will be -- we're obviously very heavily focused on our big silicon carbide customer this last year. And we expect while they will continue to be a great customer and certainly a 10% customer for years to come that there will be less of a focus in terms of concentration with them.

讓我嘗試一下並派上用場。也許更好的是我沒有把它放在我面前，因為我不想太具體。但我認為我們預計會有幾個，也許是 [3 或 4]。因此，去年我們顯然非常關注我們的碳化矽大客戶。我們預計，儘管他們將在未來幾年繼續成為優秀客戶，並且肯定是 10% 的客戶，但對他們的關注將減少。

Excellent. And in the [3 to 4], I assume that will be -- we've talked about before, obviously, of the customer. We've gotten orders from our second major silicon customer. Should we assume that the third-party silicon customer, should we expect business from that customer in the next fiscal year as well then?

出色的。在[3到4]中，我認為這將是——我們之前已經討論過，顯然是客戶。我們已經收到了來自第二大芯片客戶的訂單。我們是否應該假設第三方芯片客戶，我們是否也應該期望在下一財年從該客戶那裡獲得業務？

Yes.

是的。

Excellent. Excellent. And then as we think about mix for the quarter, Ken, I know we have $40 million in backlog as we -- as you stated, do we expect mix as we think above the shape of the quarters for next year? Should we assume roughly 40% in the first half and 60% in the second half again or would that mix be something different?

出色的。出色的。然後，當我們考慮本季度的組合時，Ken，我知道我們有 4000 萬美元的積壓，正如您所說，我們是否預期會像我們對明年季度的形狀所考慮的那樣進行組合？我們是否應該再次假設上半年約為 40%，下半年約為 60%，還是這種組合會有所不同？

You should see his eyebrows raised right now. But let me field that one, maybe for Chris and I, because Ken is going to be riding off in a sunset here, and won't have to live with it like this. I actually do think that's probably fair. We think that the second half is going to be stronger than the first half, maybe a little less dramatic as it has been in the last couple of years, but that may be a fair way of thinking about. Now for everybody on the call, we don't give quarterly guidance, so I need to be careful because I'm guessing your next question can be about next quarter, so please don't.

你現在應該看到他揚起了眉毛。但讓我派出那個，也許是為了克里斯和我，因為肯將在這裡的日落中騎馬離開，而不必像這樣忍受它。我確實認為這可能是公平的。我們認為下半年會比上半年更強，也許不像過去幾年那樣戲劇化，但這可能是一個公平的思考方式。現在，對於參加電話會議的每個人來說，我們不提供季度指導，所以我需要小心，因為我猜你的下一個問題可能是關於下個季度的，所以請不要這樣做。

All right. I'll save that for offline. And then my last question is, were there any shipments in Q4? It sounds like there was one, but a dollar amount of shipments in Q4 ['24] that weren't recognized in revenue that can be recognized?

好的。我會將其保存為離線狀態。然後我的最後一個問題是，第四季度有發貨嗎？聽起來好像有一個，但是第四季度 ['24] 的一美元出貨量沒有在可以確認的收入中確認？

We did. And we had teed that up pretty hard right before at the last call because we were anticipating shipping the Aligners as well as an Aligner tied to a FOX-XP system. And so we did get the revenue for the -- a couple of NPs that we had with the high-voltage option, but the integrated FOX-XP and Aligner pushed into this quarter as we expected. And in fact, I think we shipped it right -- literally right after the -- I think it was on June 2 or something like that. So it didn't ship yet, but it was right there. We had customer acceptance during the quarter, but we would expect to see revenue for this quarter upon its acceptance. The first Aligners were actually shipped during the last quarter for the stand-alone Aligners, and they -- like you said, we just got acceptance on the first one of those this week. So we're pretty happy about that.

我們做到了。我們在上次電話會議之前就已經做好了充分的準備，因為我們預計會運送對準器以及與 FOX-XP 系統綁定的對準器。因此，我們確實獲得了一些帶有高壓選項的 NP 的收入，但集成的 FOX-XP 和 Aligner 正如我們預期的那樣推到了本季度。事實上，我認為我們發貨是正確的——實際上是在 6 月 2 日或類似的時間之後。所以它還沒有發貨，但它就在那裡。我們在本季度獲得了客戶的認可，但我們預計在接受後將看到本季度的收入。第一批對準器實際上是在上個季度為獨立對準器發貨的，正如您所說，我們本周剛剛收到了其中第一個對準器的驗收。所以我們對此感到非常高興。

Great. And then just if I could slip one last question in. The difference between -- you said at least $100 million, what should we be looking for or moderate throughout the course of the year to say that revenue goes $100 million, $105 million, what would it take for revenue to be $120 million or $130 million? Is there 1 or 2 things you could point us to that you're thinking about or is it just too early to think about that?

偉大的。然後，如果我可以插入最後一個問題。您說至少 1 億美元，我們應該在一年中尋找什麼或適度地說收入達到 1 億美元，1.05 億美元，什麼之間的區別收入需要達到 1.2 億美元還是 1.3 億美元？您是否可以向我們指出您正在考慮的一兩件事，還是現在考慮這一點還為時過早？

Yes. I mean it's too early. A lot of this is just still uncertainty and timing of customer ramps themselves. That's one of the challenges with this thing. I mean, an ASP of a system with a set of WaferPaks at $4 million, plus or minus a couple of days is a big number, right, on a quarter and on a year. But for us to be able to look out there and try and understand what it was, I think we're confident, that's why we use at least $100 million. But as things firm up and we get a little bit more visibility, and we believe that we will -- it gets a lot stronger, we'll let you guys know. But we're starting off with a great backlog. We have great forecast of current and perspective, which we believe are likely to be customer wins this year.

是的。我的意思是現在還太早。其中很大一部分仍然是不確定性和客戶增加本身的時間安排。這是這件事的挑戰之一。我的意思是，帶有一組 WaferPaks 的系統的 ASP 價格為 400 萬美元，加上或減去幾天，對於一個季度和一年來說都是一個很大的數字，對吧。但為了讓我們能夠觀察並嘗試了解它是什麼，我認為我們有信心，這就是我們至少使用 1 億美元的原因。但隨著事情的穩定，我們的知名度會更高一些，我們相信我們會——它會變得更加強大，我們會讓你們知道的。但我們一開始就積壓了大量訂單。我們對當前和前景有很好的預測，我們相信這可能是今年客戶的勝利。

And as those things firm up, I mean it's boding well, and we think that it's -- we're just right at the start where a lot of these companies are starting to kick in the silicon carbide plants. This last year was kind of a big number for us in terms of just sort of the initial progress, got us to test our wheels to be able to ramp up our production and things like that, but we're just going to be continuing to ramp as we go into the end of -- into this year and certainly into the next year.

隨著這些事情的確定，我的意思是這是一個好兆頭，我們認為我們正處於起步階段，許多公司開始啟動碳化矽工廠。就初步進展而言，去年對我們來說是一個很大的數字，讓我們測試了我們的輪子，以便能夠提高我們的產量和類似的事情，但我們將繼續當我們進入今年年底，當然也進入明年時，就會有所增加。

The next question comes from Jed Dorsheimer with William Blair.

下一個問題來自傑德·多斯海默和威廉·布萊爾。

Congratulations on the quarter. Ken, I hope you have some good travel plans and Chris, welcome. It's been a while since the AEA days at meeting with you at Trident. So welcome to Aehr.

祝賀本季度。肯，我希望你有一些好的旅行計劃，克里斯，歡迎。距離 AEA 在 Trident 與您會面已經有一段時間了。歡迎來到艾爾。

Thank you.

謝謝。

And then I'd be remiss, Gayn, thanks for the technology primer. So I appreciate that. I guess just want to dig into basically what Christian was kind of coming to and maybe just take a different -- a slightly different angle, which is around the [sausage] making for this -- for your -- your full year guide. And specifically if we look at this past year and your largest customer being [$52 million] based on the 79% and their targets of growing 300% over the next few years. I would assume that, that creates a solid base for your business. So as you look at already having [$8 million to $10 million] booked on that #2, you're really talking about a [$30 million] incremental number to hit that minimum threshold and you've already got 3 customers. So could you just walk us through sort of how when Vernon brings the spreadsheet of the customers, how you're thinking about the puts and takes for that level of confidence in terms of that guide? And then I have a few follow-ups.

那麼我就失職了，蓋恩，謝謝你的技術入門。所以我很欣賞這一點。我想只是想深入了解克里斯蒂安的基本情況，也許只是採取一個不同的——一個稍微不同的角度，這是圍繞著為這個——為你的——你的全年指南製作的[香腸]。具體來說，如果我們看看過去的一年，您最大的客戶是 [5200 萬美元]，基於 79% 以及未來幾年增長 300% 的目標。我認為這將為您的業務奠定堅實的基礎。因此，當您看到已經在 #2 上預訂了 [800 萬至 1000 萬美元] 時，您實際上是在談論 [3000 萬美元] 的增量數字來達到最低閾值，並且您已經擁有 3 個客戶。那麼，您能否向我們介紹一下，當 Vernon 帶來客戶電子表格時，您是如何考慮該指南的信心水平的看跌期權和索取金額的？然後我有一些後續行動。

Sure, Jed. As I hear you talk through that, I felt like you were going to end it with why we're such sandbaggers but anyhow...

當然，傑德。當我聽到你談論這個時，我覺得你會以為什麼我們是沙袋工來結束它，但無論如何......

I would never say that again.

我再也不會這麼說了。

So we actually -- we -- if you were to look at Vernon, Vernon, by the way is our VP of Sales and his team, if you were to look at their funnel, it's pretty impressive. There are a very large number of companies that are expressing interest and leaning forward with us for our wafer level test and burn-in products across several markets. It's going to be a very busy year for us. The forecast does include a good number. I'm not sure we want to start putting numbers on it of new customers both for bookings as well as turns, but customers that are expected to book and ship within the year. We still have a wide range of forecasts from people. It's interesting even with current customers, candidly, their ability to forecast is all over the map. And so I think we've taken a conservative stance here. But it provides us with confidence to be able to hit that number. And we don't need any miracles to happen, if you will.

所以我們實際上 - 我們 - 如果你看看弗農，弗農，順便說一句，是我們的銷售副總裁和他的團隊，如果你看看他們的漏斗，那是相當令人印象深刻的。有很多公司對我們跨多個市場的晶圓級測試和老化產品表示了興趣並願意與我們合作。對我們來說，這將是非常忙碌的一年。預測確實包含了一個不錯的數字。我不確定我們是否要開始統計新客戶的預訂和輪換數量，但預計會在一年內預訂和發貨的客戶。人們仍然對我們做出了各種各樣的預測。坦率地說，即使對於當前的客戶來說，他們的預測能力也是很有趣的。所以我認為我們在這裡採取了保守的立場。但這讓我們有信心能夠達到這個數字。如果你願意的話，我們不需要任何奇蹟發生。

I don't want to get into talking about how much upside there is to it. I will say that we have considerable upside in terms of capacity and the ability to serve the market. The old adage, what if you invite everybody and they all show up? And so we're looking at it that way. We want to make sure that if the customer select us that we will be able to ship them in short lead times and high volumes with the level of confidence that they would want. And so hopefully, that gives you a little bit more color. Again, it's not all about 1, 1 or even 2 companies. As we go forward, we're going to see a lot of breadth. Many of those will just be starting. The classic, they take their first system and there's a little digestion, which I think will bode well for us as we head into the following fiscal year as well.

我不想談論它有多少好處。我想說的是，我們在產能和服務市場的能力方面有相當大的優勢。老話說，如果你邀請所有人並且他們都出現怎麼辦？所以我們就是這樣看待它的。我們希望確保，如果客戶選擇我們，我們將能夠在短時間內大批量發貨，並充滿信心地滿足他們的需求。希望這能給你帶來更多的色彩。再說一遍，這並不全是 1、1 家甚至 2 家公司的事。隨著我們的前進，我們將看到很多廣度。其中許多才剛剛開始。經典的是，他們採用了他們的第一個系統，並且進行了一些消化，我認為這對我們來說也是個好兆頭，因為我們即將進入下一個財政年度。

Got you. That's helpful. I guess just as a follow-up on sort of #2 through #4 of the -- or #5, I guess, of the incremental customers. In terms of the discussions, so as you ship out these 2 systems or as you ship the 2 systems, you recognize the revenues. Are the conversations that such that if this tool hits this specification, we expect to come back with 5 tools or 10 tools or 20 tools or 3 tools or what level of visibility. I know as you mentioned, there's a bit of movement amongst your customers, but what level of visibility are they providing you so that you're making your decision?

明白你了。這很有幫助。我想這只是對增量客戶的#2 到#4 或#5 的後續行動。就討論而言，當您發貨這兩個系統或發貨這兩個系統時，您就確認了收入。對話是否是這樣的：如果該工具符合此規範，我們期望返回 5 個工具或 10 個工具或 20 個工具或 3 個工具或什麼級別的可見性。我知道正如您所提到的，您的客戶之間存在一些變化，但是他們為您提供了何種程度的可見性以便您做出決定？

Yes, Jed, I mean, I don't mean to be vague or illusive, but it really depends on the customer. But I would say even within -- one thing in common with all of them is, there's still some pretty broad ranges. It's just, they're trying to figure out the timing of their customer wins or their customer capacity needs. There's certainly an element of test times and what quality requirements will be needed for different customer levels. The higher the quality requirements, the larger the test times, which have a direct linear impact on us. We've heard customers talk about, well, different markets can get away with lower quality than others. That's very odd or interesting to me, but those are clearly things we keep to ourselves about who's saying those type of things. But we hope to make it get easier.

是的，傑德，我的意思是，我並不是含糊其辭或虛幻的，但這確實取決於客戶。但我想說，即使在其中——所有這些的一個共同點是，仍然存在一些相當廣泛的範圍。只是，他們試圖弄清楚贏得客戶的時間或客戶容量需求。當然有測試時間以及不同客戶級別需要什麼質量要求的因素。質量要求越高，測試次數就越大，這對我們有直接的線性影響。我們聽客戶說過，不同市場的質量可能比其他市場低。這對我來說很奇怪或很有趣，但顯然我們對誰說這些話保密。但我們希望讓它變得更容易。

I mean one of the challenges that we face is, we're very -- there's -- customers can be very lumpy and there's these variabilities. The nice thing is, is we do expect to wake up here in the not too far distant future with a lot more customers. And so while it may seem like we're better at planning, we're probably just averaging a bunch of random uncertainties, if you will. Random is way overstated. We have pretty darn good visibility of what people are doing. One of the things we look at the most candidly is what their actual plans are. You go look at their buildings, you watch them being built, you look at their public statements about the capacity they're putting in place. We have a pretty good idea of what the average test times are amongst the OEMs around the world, and we do our back-of-the-envelope numbers.

我的意思是，我們面臨的挑戰之一是，我們的客戶可能非常不穩定，並且存在這些變化。令人高興的是，我們確實希望在不久的將來在這裡醒來，並擁有更多的客戶。因此，雖然看起來我們更擅長規劃，但如果你願意的話，我們可能只是對一堆隨機不確定性進行平均。隨機性被誇大了。我們非常清楚人們在做什麼。我們最坦率地看待的事情之一就是他們的實際計劃是什麼。你去看看他們的建築物，你看看它們正在建造，你看看他們關於他們正在建設的能力的公開聲明。我們非常清楚世界各地原始設備製造商的平均測試時間是多少，並且我們提供了粗略的數字。

Sometimes those numbers are bigger than what the customers are saying. And candidly, that has happened in the past where we built when a customer said, we're going to buy X, we were building 2X and they came back and said, I need 3X. So -- and we were able to actually quickly ramp to them. So I know you're looking for better color. I hope that gives you some, but it's not that clear to you, I realize.

有時這些數字比客戶所說的還要大。坦率地說，這種情況在過去發生過，當客戶說我們要購買 X 時，我們正在構建 2X，他們回來說，我需要 3X。因此，我們實際上能夠快速實現這些目標。所以我知道您正在尋找更好的顏色。我希望這能給你一些幫助，但我意識到你並不太清楚。

No, no, listen, it's helpful. I'm -- I know I'm going to be asked these questions. So I just wanted to get it from the horse's mouth. I guess just before I jump back in queue, your high voltage product, congratulations. That takes you into -- opens up a few doors for you.

不不不，聽聽，這很有幫助。我——我知道我會被問到這些問題。所以我只想從馬口中得到它。我想就在我重新排隊之前，恭喜你的高壓產品。這會帶你進入——為你打開幾扇門。

It does.

確實如此。

I was wondering if you might just elaborate on that. I know you mentioned it for the silicon -- you mentioned silicon photonics, but does that also change the calculus for trench in silicon carbide? And then how does that play for memory too?

我想知道你能否詳細說明一下。我知道你提到了矽——你提到了矽光子學，但這是否也改變了碳化矽溝槽的計算？那麼這對記憶又有何影響呢？

Yes. Okay. Well, for memory, it doesn't apply. For trench or gallium nitride, there are different burn-in processes that can be used to accelerate different failures, and depending on what the customer failures may be seen, this gives them all the tools for them to be able to apply it. And so candidly we're just there for them. A lot of people are trying to get away from high voltage. I mean, it's more expensive than the gate bias, even from us, even though we're a fraction of the other guys, but it's still cheaper to do the gate bias only. And so people are playing around with recipes and mixes of how much high voltage do they need, how much gate bias do they need and different things and they're all trying to optimize. And then of course, we can't share anyone else's secret.

是的。好的。嗯，對於記憶來說，它不適用。對於溝槽或氮化鎵，有不同的老化工藝可用於加速不同的故障，並且根據客戶可能看到的故障，這為他們提供了能夠應用它的所有工具。坦率地說，我們只是為他們服務。許多人都在試圖遠離高壓。我的意思是，它比門偏置更昂貴，即使對我們來說也是如此，儘管我們只是其他人的一小部分，但僅進行門偏置仍然更便宜。因此，人們正在研究他們需要多少高電壓、需要多少柵極偏壓以及不同的東西的配方和組合，並且他們都在嘗試優化。當然，我們不能分享任何人的秘密。

So we're just giving them the tools and being supportive. The nice thing is, you can buy a system from us that can do all of the above. In fact, you can buy a blade that can do all of the above in one blade. You can optimize it depending on test times. Let's say your test time for high voltage is X, but your test time for gate is 10X, you can optimize the systems and you can reconfigure them in the field on. So it gives us a lot of -- it gives customers a lot of flexibility and we kind of arm them with those tools and are supportive, and we don't have to say no to anything, that's key. And then things like gallium nitride, where the primary, if not maybe only the only real failure mode has to do with the High Temp Reverse Bias, which is a high voltage gate breakdown. And so in that case they need the high voltage for it. And so that's a critical piece to it. And the fact that we can do it at much higher voltages than anyone else without arcing across a whole wafer.

所以我們只是為他們提供工具並提供支持。令人高興的是，您可以從我們這裡購買一個可以完成上述所有操作的系統。事實上，您可以購買一把可以在一個刀片中完成上述所有操作的刀片。您可以根據測試時間對其進行優化。假設您的高電壓測試時間是 X，但您的門測試時間是 10X，您可以優化系統，並且可以在現場重新配置它們。因此，它為我們提供了很多——它為客戶提供了很大的靈活性，我們為他們提供了這些工具並提供支持，我們不必拒絕任何事情，這是關鍵。然後是像氮化鎵這樣的東西，其中主要的（如果不是唯一的）真正的故障模式與高溫反向偏壓有關，這是高壓柵極擊穿。因此在這種情況下他們需要高電壓。所以這是一個關鍵的部分。事實上，我們可以在比其他任何人高得多的電壓下做到這一點，而不會在整個晶圓上產生電弧。

GaN devices also tend to be smaller, so they have a much higher quantity per wafer, even the competitors of ours that talk about having the ability to test a wafer, do it with lower quantity than we do. So we have an advantage there as well, and it seems to be coming out from our -- the customer inquiries. So it's nice to have these options. You mentioned memory. Memory, if you mentioned to a memory guy, 2000 volts, it might -- they'll get a [eek] sound out of ours. And so they're like don't get that near my device. So high voltage is really more to do with these compound semiconductor devices for power management than is for memory. Memory tends to be lower voltage. And I'll tell you what, let me just cover that rather than -- let me say, so we have been having discussions with respect to some memory folks related to both the new Auto Aligner as well as our long-term road map. And I always allude to that sometime on these calls again, investors in Aehr Test are -- can be confident that we have oars in the water and are working towards long-term goals of being in memory.

GaN 器件也往往更小，因此每片晶圓的數量要高得多，即使我們的競爭對手聲稱有能力測試晶圓，但其數量卻比我們少。所以我們在這方面也有優勢，這似乎來自我們的客戶詢問。所以很高興有這些選擇。你提到了記憶。記憶，如果你向記憶專家提到，2000 伏，他們可能會從我們的聲音中聽到[eek]聲音。所以他們就像不要讓它靠近我的設備。因此，高電壓實際上更多地與這些用於電源管理的化合物半導體器件有關，而不是與存儲器有關。內存往往電壓較低。我會告訴你，讓我簡單介紹一下這一點，而不是 - 讓我說，所以我們一直在討論與新的自動對準器以及我們的長期路線圖相關的一些內存人員。我總是在這些電話會議上再次提到，Aehr Test 的投資者可以相信我們已經在水中划槳，並且正在努力實現被銘記的長期目標。

Memory makes sense for wafer level burn-in. NAND is easier and closer. DRAM, there's a path to wafer level burn-in. We have and can share our opinions with people about how to get there using some design for test methodologies that we can provide our opinions on to help the DRAM guys get there as well. That's going to take longer in time. But personally, at some point out, whether it's the end of the decade or what, I can see companies getting there, and we want to be their partner.

存儲器對於晶圓級老化很有意義。 NAND 更容易、更接近。 DRAM，有一條通往晶圓級老化的道路。我們已經並且可以與人們分享我們的意見，了解如何使用一些測試方法設計來實現這一目標，我們可以提供我們的意見來幫助 DRAM 人員也實現這一目標。這將需要更長的時間。但就我個人而言，在某個時刻，無論是在本世紀末還是其他什麼時候，我都可以看到公司正在實現這一目標，我們希望成為他們的合作夥伴。

(Operator Instructions) The next question comes from Larry Chlebina with Chlebina Capital.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自 Chlebina Capital 的 Larry Chlebina。

Larry, it's clearly -- Larry, are you there?

拉里，很明顯——拉里，你在嗎？

Yes, I'm there. Gayn, you started to answer my question, my primary question, when you might have an evaluation tool to -- since you have a fully automated machine now, it seems like one of these memory guys might be interested in evaluating it for future fabs?

是的，我在那裡。 Gayn，你開始回答我的問題，我的主要問題，當你可能有一個評估工具時——因為你現在有一台全自動機器，似乎其中一個內存人員可能有興趣為未來的晶圓廠評估它？

I agree. If I were a memory guy, I would want to evaluate our tool as well. So that is something that is important to us. I often tell people, be careful, don't assume we're going to be having revenue anytime immediately, but it is absolutely something that we are -- that we're working towards. And, for sure, our new WaferPak Automated Aligner is a key piece of that. And we did get feedback from multiple memory companies on that configuration and its capability. I will share that with you. So I'm very -- for people that know me or have seen the picture of me smiling next to it before we shipped the first one, it's a passionate project for me, and this team is very, very proud of that. So I'll leave it at that, Larry.

我同意。如果我是一個記憶力很強的人，我也會想評估我們的工具。這對我們來說很重要。我經常告訴人們，要小心，不要以為我們會立即獲得收入，但這絕對是我們正在努力的目標。當然，我們的新型 WaferPak 自動對準器是其中的關鍵部分。我們確實從多家內存公司獲得了有關該配置及其功能的反饋。我將與您分享。所以我非常——對於那些認識我或者在我們發貨第一張照片之前看過我在旁邊微笑的照片的人來說，這對我來說是一個充滿激情的項目，這個團隊對此非常非常自豪。所以我就這樣吧，拉里。

Very good. Well, I'll leave it at that also. But great guide. I appreciate how you did that. I think it makes sense. And having seen the full automation, I completely agree with you. I think it's a fantastic offering. So, great job. Take care of you guys.

非常好。好吧，我也就這樣吧。但很棒的指導。我很欣賞你是如何做到的。我認為這是有道理的。看到完全自動化後，我完全同意你的觀點。我認為這是一個很棒的產品。所以，幹得好。照顧好你們。

Thank you. Thank you, Larry.

謝謝。謝謝你，拉里。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Last call, folks. All right, operator, then are there no other calls?

最後一次通話，各位。好的，接線員，那麼沒有其他電話了嗎？

Yes, we have one more. The next question comes from Tom Diffely with D.A. Davidson.

是的，我們還有一個。下一個問題來自 Tom Diffely 和 D.A.戴維森。

I appreciate the chance to ask a question. I was curious about the leverage in the model itself, and maybe this is a question for Ken. But I think in the past, you talked about roughly a $30 million breakeven and then a 45%, 50% drop-through thereafter. A lot has gone on over the last year. So I'm curious if you can give us an update on that now?

我很高興有機會提問。我對模型本身的槓桿作用很好奇，也許這是 Ken 的問題。但我認為過去，您談到了大約 3000 萬美元的盈虧平衡，然後是 45%、50% 的下降。去年發生了很多事情。所以我很好奇您現在是否可以向我們提供最新情況？

Yes, I'd be happy to chat with you about it. Yes, I think the number that you're talking about when I spoke previously was $36 million number and said [$0.50] for every incremental dollar fell to the bottom line. And if you actually followed and compared to our revenue number that we came in at $65 million, it was within like $100,000 of that model. So I was pretty excited, and thank you very much for asking. We're going to incur some significantly higher expenses in this upcoming year. And just from a model standpoint, our gross margin standpoint, you could see us ranging from anywhere from a 49% to 52% margin plus, very similar to what we've recognized in the past.

是的，我很樂意與您討論此事。是的，我認為我之前發言時您所談論的數字是 3600 萬美元，並且每增加一美元就會下降到底線 [0.50 美元]。如果你真的關注並與我們 6500 萬美元的收入數字進行比較，你會發現它與該模型的收入相差大約 10 萬美元。所以我很興奮，非常感謝你的提問。來年我們將承擔一些顯著增加的費用。僅從模型的角度來看，我們的毛利率的角度來看，您可以看到我們的利潤率在 49% 到 52% 之間，與我們過去所認識到的非常相似。

However, because -- and I think Chris could probably touch more on this is we're moving (inaudible) holding company, a significant amount of cost associated with G&A. We also have R&D initiatives that we are implementing also continuing during the year and we've added sales and marketing. So there is a significant amount of overhead and OpEx manufacturing spending. So that $36 million number is really going to go up by several millions of dollars, and...

然而，因為——我認為克里斯可能會更多地談論這一點，因為我們正在轉移（聽不清）控股公司，與一般管理費用相關的大量成本。我們還實施了研發計劃，並在這一年中繼續實施，並且增加了銷售和營銷。因此，存在大量管理費用和運營支出製造支出。因此，3600 萬美元的數字實際上會增加數百萬美元，而且......

And then the same probably 50% dropping.

然後同樣可能下降 50%。

Yes.

是的。

Yes. So let me add on that what Ken just said, Tom, is as you know our market cap [exceeds $1 billion]. So the SEC requires anything over $700 million public float to be -- to report the financial statements and as a large accelerator filer that includes SOX attestation. So that means there'll be more work from internal control perspective from our auditors. And what it means is we need to beef up our resources, meet that compliance requirement. So as a result, our OpEx would increase accordingly.

是的。因此，讓我補充一點，湯姆，肯剛才說的是，正如您所知，我們的市值[超過 10 億美元]。因此，SEC 要求任何超過 7 億美元的公眾持股量都必須報告財務報表，並作為包括 SOX 證明的大型加速器文件管理器。因此，這意味著我們的審計師將從內部控制的角度開展更多工作。這意味著我們需要加強我們的資源，滿足合規要求。因此，我們的運營支出也會相應增加。

There are downsides to a large market cap. One of them is, unless you're an auditor, then it's fantastic, because they make so much more money, but okay.

大市值也有缺點。其中之一是，除非你是一名審計師，否則這太棒了，因為他們賺了更多的錢，但是沒關係。

Well, it seems like a pretty fair trade off. Appreciate your time.

嗯，這似乎是一個相當公平的權衡。珍惜您的時間。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

All right, folks. Let me go ahead and take that. Thank you, everybody, for joining the call. And we really appreciate you joining us for -- we're very proud of how the year went. And I can tell you, we're on the edge of our seat excited about heading into this new fiscal year, with a great backlog, a great bunch of customers, a great bunch of potential customers and a great team. And so we really appreciate you folks joining us. As always, we do try and make ourselves available. If you happen to be in the Silicon Valley Bay area to set up an appointment, come by and take a look. Our manufacturing floor is a buzzing and it is exciting to look at. It's another thing we're very proud of. And so we appreciate everybody's, I guess, involvement and cheerleading us on as we head into this next fiscal year, and we will talk to you next quarter. Bye-bye.

好吧，伙計們。讓我繼續吧。謝謝大家加入這次通話。我們非常感謝您加入我們——我們對這一年的進展感到非常自豪。我可以告訴你，我們對進入這個新的財政年度感到興奮不已，我們有大量的積壓訂單、大量的客戶、大量的潛在客戶和一支優秀的團隊。因此，我們非常感謝你們加入我們。一如既往，我們確實盡力讓自己有空。如果您恰好在矽谷灣地區預約，請過來看看。我們的生產車間熱鬧非凡，令人興奮不已。這是我們非常自豪的另一件事。因此，我想，在我們進入下一個財政年度時，我們感謝每個人的參與和為我們加油，我們將在下個季度與您交談。再見。

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

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。你們現在可以斷開連接了。