Aehr Test Systems (AEHR) 2027 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Aehr Test Systems fiscal 2027 first quarter financial results conference call. (Operator Instructions)

各位好，歡迎參加 Aehr Test Systems 2027 會計年度第一季財務業績電話會議。(接線員指示)

It is now my pleasure to hand the floor over to your host, Todd Kehrli of PondelWilkinson. Sir, the floor is yours.

現在我很榮幸將會議交給本次主持人——來自 PondelWilkinson 的 Todd Kehrli。先生，請開始。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Aehr Test Systems first quarter fiscal 2027 financial results conference call. Joining me on today's call are Gayn Erickson, Aehr Test's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Chris Siu, Chief Financial Officer. This afternoon, following the market close, Aehr Test issued a press release announcing its first quarter fiscal 2027 results. The release is available on the company's website at aehr.com. Today's call is being webcast live, and a replay will be available on the Investor Relations page of the company's website.

謝謝，接線員。各位下午好，歡迎參加 Aehr Test Systems 2027 會計年度第一季財務業績電話會議。今天與我一同出席的有 Aehr Test 總裁兼執行長 Gayn Erickson，以及財務長 Chris Siu。今天下午在收盤後，Aehr Test 發布新聞稿，公布其 2027 會計年度第一季業績。新聞稿可於公司網站 aehr.com 查閱。今天的電話會議將進行線上即時網路直播，重播將於公司網站的投資人關係頁面提供。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that management will make forward-looking statements today that are based on current information and estimates. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences are discussed in the company's most recent periodic and current reports filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements, including guidance provided during today's call, are valid only as of today's date, and Aehr undertakes no obligation to update them.

在開始之前，我想提醒各位，管理層今天將發表以前瞻性陳述為主的內容，這些陳述係基於目前資訊與估計。這些陳述存在風險與不確定性，可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的內容有重大差異。可能造成此類差異的因素，已在公司最近期向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）提交的定期與即時報告中討論。前瞻性陳述（包括今天電話會議中提供的指引）僅截至今日有效，Aehr 不承擔更新之義務。

Now I'd like to turn the conference call over to Gayn Erickson, President and Chief Executive Officer. Gayn?

現在我想把電話會議交給總裁兼執行長 Gayn Erickson。Gayn？

Thanks, Todd. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'll begin with a brief overview of our first quarter highlights and provide an update on the key customer programs and markets driving our business with a focus on the strong demand we're seeing in the AI and data center infrastructure markets. Chris will then review our financial results and outlook before we open the call for questions.

謝謝你，Todd。各位下午好，感謝各位加入我們。我將先簡要回顧第一季重點，並就推動我們業務的主要客戶專案與市場提供最新進展，特別聚焦於我們在 AI 與資料中心基礎設施市場看到的強勁需求。接著 Chris 將回顧我們的財務結果與展望，之後我們將開放提問。

We delivered an outstanding start to fiscal 2027 with record quarterly revenue, strong bookings and significant progress across several major AI semiconductor customer programs. First quarter revenue was a record $33.0 million, increasing 200% year over year and 75% sequentially. Non-GAAP net income was $9.4 million, up 163% sequentially, reflecting the operating leverage in our business as revenue scales. These results demonstrate expanding AI production demand and our ability to meet customer capacity requirements. Bookings totaled $46.7 million, representing a book-to-bill of 1.4. Our effective backlog, including bookings received after quarter end, reached $109.3 million as of November 1.

我們在 2027 會計年度取得了非常出色的開局，創下單季營收新高，訂單表現強勁，並在多個主要 AI 半導體客戶專案上取得重大進展。第一季營收創新高，達 3,300 萬美元，年增 200%，季增 75%。非 GAAP 淨利為 940 萬美元，季增 163%，反映出隨著營收規模擴大，我們業務的營運槓桿效益。這些結果顯示 AI 量產需求正在擴大，以及我們滿足客戶產能需求的能力。訂單金額合計 4,670 萬美元，出貨比（book-to-bill）為 1.4。包含季後取得的訂單在內，我們的有效積壓訂單截至 11 月 1 日達 1.093 億美元。

Based on our strong first quarter performance, substantial backlog and visibility in the customer production requirements, we're raising our fiscal 2027 revenue outlook to $150 million compared with our previous guidance range of $130 million to $150 million. This represents 200% revenue growth over fiscal 2026 and reflects our growing confidence in the production ramps and customer programs supporting our business. We expect non-GAAP net income of at least 20% of revenue for the full fiscal year. Chris will provide additional details on our financial outlook.

基於第一季的強勁表現、可觀的積壓訂單，以及對客戶量產需求的可視性，我們將 2027 會計年度營收展望上調至 1.5 億美元，相較於先前 1.3 億至 1.5 億美元的指引區間。這代表相較 2026 會計年度營收成長 200%，也反映我們對量產爬坡與支撐業務的客戶專案之信心提升。我們預期全年非 GAAP 淨利至少達營收的 20%。Chris 將提供更多財務展望細節。

Demand continues to accelerate across both wafer level and package level burn-in, driven by increasing semiconductor complexity, power requirements and deployment in mission-critical applications. As devices become more advanced, the need for comprehensive test and burn-in is becoming essential to ensure reliability and performance, which is driving growing adoption of our solutions across multiple markets. For Aehr, this is translating into expanding production demand from existing customers and new opportunities to qualify our solutions on additional devices with both those customers and new customers.

晶圓級與封裝級燒機（burn-in）需求持續加速，主要受半導體複雜度提升、功率需求增加，以及在任務關鍵型應用中的部署所驅動。隨著元件愈加先進，為確保可靠度與效能，全面性的測試與燒機變得不可或缺，進而推動我們解決方案在多個市場的採用率提升。對 Aehr 而言，這轉化為既有客戶的量產需求擴大，以及在這些客戶與新客戶的更多元件上導入並完成我們解決方案認證的新機會。

Starting with our wafer level burn-in business, demand for our FOX wafer-level burn-in solutions is accelerating. Our lead AI processor production customer continues to expand capacity. In August, we announced a $22 million follow-on order for multiple systems consisting of fully automated FOX-XP systems with integrated WaferPak auto liners and full sets of proprietary WaferPak full wafer contactors. We are executing against this customer's capacity expansion plans and are encouraged by its forecast for additional capacity in both the short and long term. We've also made significant progress with a major supplier of AI accelerators, CPUs and network processors that successfully completed a benchmark evaluation last quarter.

先從我們的晶圓級燒機業務談起，對我們 FOX 晶圓級燒機解決方案的需求正在加速。我們的主要 AI 處理器量產客戶持續擴充產能。8 月我們宣布取得一筆 2,200 萬美元的追加訂單，內容為多套系統，包括全自動 FOX-XP 系統（整合 WaferPak 自動內襯機 auto liners）以及全套專有 WaferPak 全晶圓接觸器（full wafer contactors）。我們正依該客戶的產能擴張計畫執行交付，並對其短期與長期的額外產能預測感到鼓舞。我們也在一家主要 AI 加速器、CPU 與網路處理器供應商方面取得重大進展，該客戶已在上一季成功完成基準評估（benchmark evaluation）。

This customer has decided to purchase a fully configured XP wafer-level burn-in test cell for installation at one of its key outsourced semiconductor assembly and test or OSAT partners in Taiwan, where the system will be evaluated in a high-volume production environment using the same device that was successfully tested in last quarter's benchmark. Installation is planned for early calendar 2027 with a decision regarding high-volume production anticipated within several months following installation and validation. We believe this customer represents one of the largest potential burn-in system opportunities Aehr has ever pursued with significant potential across multiple product lines and across multiple manufacturing locations.

該客戶已決定採購一套完整配置的 XP 晶圓級燒機測試單元（test cell），並安裝於其在台灣的一家關鍵委外半導體封裝與測試（OSAT）合作夥伴處；該系統將在高產量量產環境中進行評估，使用的同一款元件即為上一季基準測試成功的元件。預計於 2027 年曆年初完成安裝，並在安裝與驗證後數個月內，預期做出是否導入高產量量產的決策。我們相信該客戶代表 Aehr 迄今追求過的最大燒機系統機會之一，且在多條產品線與多個製造據點上具有顯著潛力。

This engagement represents an important step toward broader adoption of wafer-level burn-in for advanced AI processors as well as deployment of our wafer-level burn-in solutions across multiple products and product lines for a single customer. As these advanced processes are integrated into expensive multi-die packages that include other processors, high-bandwidth memory and other components such as electrical and optical I/O chips, identifying early life failures before final assembly can provide significant cost and reliability benefits. There's also a growing trend that some devices that customers are working on may require production burn-in screening at the wafer level as infant mortality failures of certain devices may simply not be able to be screened effectively at the package level.

此一合作代表朝向更廣泛採用先進 AI 處理器晶圓級燒機的重要一步，也代表我們的晶圓級燒機解決方案有機會在單一客戶的多項產品與多條產品線中部署。當這些先進製程被整合進昂貴的多晶粒（multi-die）封裝（其中包含其他處理器、高頻寬記憶體，以及電性與光學 I/O 晶片等元件）時，在最終組裝前辨識早期失效（early life failures）可帶來顯著的成本與可靠度效益。此外也有一個日益明顯的趨勢：客戶正在開發的某些元件，可能需要在晶圓層級進行量產燒機篩選，因為某些元件的嬰兒死亡期失效（infant mortality failures）可能無法在封裝層級有效篩除。

In silicon photonics, we received additional production orders from multiple customers for fully automated FOX-XP systems used to burn in photonic integrated circuits for high-speed optical interconnects and data center applications. We believe broader adoption of optical interconnects, including emerging co-packaged optics architectures will create additional demand for wafer-level reliability screening. In silicon carbide, additional WaferPak orders and increased utilization of installed FOX systems point to improving demand. We have direct evidence from EV automotive suppliers that companies using our wafer-level burn-in systems are being seen as preferred vendors for their quality and reliability screening. Increasingly, we see that companies performing reliability screening through wafer-level burn-in see it as a real differentiator in their markets.

在矽光子方面，我們收到多家客戶的額外量產訂單，採購用於高速光互連與資料中心應用之光子積體電路（PIC）的全自動 FOX-XP 系統進行燒機。我們相信光互連的更廣泛採用（包括新興的共封裝光學 co-packaged optics 架構）將帶動對晶圓級可靠度篩選的額外需求。在碳化矽方面，額外的 WaferPak 訂單以及已安裝 FOX 系統的使用率提升，顯示需求正在改善。我們從電動車汽車供應鏈廠商取得直接證據：使用我們晶圓級燒機系統的公司，因其品質與可靠度篩選能力而被視為優先供應商。我們也愈來愈常看到，透過晶圓級燒機進行可靠度篩選的公司，將其視為在市場上的真正差異化優勢。

We also continue to pursue gallium nitride and other power semiconductor applications where reliability screening has proven to be critical to their end markets as well. GaN has much broader application space than silicon carbide does today and has proven to be much harder to screen for early life failures. We feel we are the market leader in this area and have added two additional production customers in the last 6 months. In memory, we remain engaged with major manufacturers on next-generation wafer level burn-in. NAND flash opportunities are progressing more slowly than expected because of limited incremental manufacturing capacity and also the timing of new high-bandwidth flash architecture volumes.

我們也持續推進氮化鎵（gallium nitride, GaN）及其他功率半導體應用，在這些終端市場中，可靠度篩選同樣已被證明至關重要。相較於目前的碳化矽，GaN 的應用範圍更廣，且已證實更難以篩檢早期失效。我們認為我們在此領域為市場領導者，並在過去 6 個月新增了兩家量產客戶。在記憶體方面，我們仍與主要製造商就下一代晶圓級燒機保持合作。NAND 快閃記憶體的機會推進速度比預期慢，原因在於新增製造產能有限，以及新一代高頻寬快閃架構放量時點的影響。

Separately, emerging high-bandwidth memory architecture for DRAM with more complex logic in the base die may create wafer-level burn-in opportunities before integration into advanced memory packages. These engagements continue and Aer continues to feel these are long-term opportunities for us.

另外，DRAM 新興的高頻寬記憶體架構，其基底晶粒（base die）包含更複雜的邏輯，可能在整合進先進記憶體封裝之前，創造晶圓級燒機機會。這些合作仍在持續進行，Aehr 仍認為這些對我們而言是長期機會。

Now let me turn to package level. Our Sonoma high-power package level burn-in business is also expanding. We are shipping and installing more than a dozen systems per month to support our lead hyperscale customers' production ramp for its first AI processor using Sonoma. Our expanded manufacturing capacities are supporting this delivery pace. The same customer's second AI processor has successfully completed qualification on Sonoma.

現在讓我轉到封裝層級。我們的 Sonoma 高功率封裝層級燒機（burn-in）業務也在擴張。我們每月出貨並安裝超過十套系統，以支援我們主要超大規模（hyperscale）客戶使用 Sonoma 的首款 AI 處理器之量產爬坡。我們擴增的製造產能正支撐這樣的交付節奏。同一客戶的第二款 AI 處理器已在 Sonoma 上成功完成認證（qualification）。

As announced in October, we received follow-on orders for additional systems, burn-in modules and software enhancements to support initial production sampling and an anticipated production ramp in calendar 2027. Importantly, the customer forecasts that this second processor will ultimately reach higher production volumes than its first processor currently in production on Sonoma.

如同我們在 10 月所宣布的，我們已收到後續訂單，包含額外系統、燒機模組以及軟體強化，以支援初期量產取樣以及預期於 2027 年曆年進行的量產爬坡。重要的是，客戶預估這第二款處理器最終的產量將高於其目前在 Sonoma 上量產的第一款處理器。

This processor requires greater power and more sophisticated thermal management, including multiple independently controlled thermal zones within a single package. We're also advancing evaluations of our Sonoma high-power systems with additional AI processor suppliers and hyperscale customers for both engineering qualification and potential high-volume production applications. These engagements include bringing up processors here at Aehr as well as at customers' facilities here and in the US and in Asia. These processors include data center-focused processors for training and inference as well as very high-volume edge-based processors for mission-critical real-time inference applications. We continue to see package level applications driving our business in addition to the growth in wafer level.

這款處理器需要更高功率與更先進的熱管理能力，包括在單一封裝內具備多個可獨立控制的溫控區域。我們也正與更多 AI 處理器供應商及超大規模客戶推進對 Sonoma 高功率系統的評估，涵蓋工程認證以及潛在的大量生產應用。這些合作包括在 Aehr 這裡以及在客戶的設施（包含本地、美國與亞洲）進行處理器導入與啟動。這些處理器包含以資料中心為主、用於訓練與推論的處理器，以及用於關鍵任務即時推論應用、出貨量極高的邊緣端處理器。除了晶圓層級的成長之外，我們持續看到封裝層級應用也在推動我們的業務。

On our consumable business, complementing our system sales, our proprietary WaferPak contactors and Sonoma burn-in modules support customers' ongoing production requirements and new device introductions. We currently expect these products to represent about 35% of our fiscal '27 revenue. As our installed base expands across AI processors, silicon photonics, silicon carbide, gallium nitride applications, we see further opportunities for these engineering qualification and production-driven purchases. I also want to highlight an important change in the profile of our business that may not be fully apparent from the individual customer programs we've discussed.

在我們的耗材業務方面，作為系統銷售的補充，我們專有的 WaferPak 探針接觸器（contactors）與 Sonoma 燒機模組可支援客戶持續的量產需求以及新元件導入。我們目前預期這些產品約占我們 2027 會計年度營收的 35%。隨著我們在 AI 處理器、矽光子、碳化矽、氮化鎵等應用的裝機基礎擴大，我們看到更多工程認證與量產驅動的採購機會。我也想強調我們業務輪廓上的一項重要變化，這可能從我們剛才討論的各個客戶專案中不一定能完全看出來。

Historically, Aehr had only a handful of customers with the potential to generate significant production orders. Today, we see that potential across more than a dozen customers, spanning AI processors, silicon photonics, silicon carbide, gallium nitride and other applications. This represents meaningful diversification, not only across customers and end markets, but also across both our FOX wafer-level burn-in and Sonoma package level burn-in platforms. Individual customer orders and production ramps can still vary significantly from quarter-to-quarter, but we now have a much broader range of customer and production opportunities contributing to our growth outlook. We believe this breadth reduces our dependence on the timing of any single customer program and positions Aehr for more diversified, sustainable long-term growth.

過去，Aehr 只有少數幾個客戶具備產生大量量產訂單的潛力。如今，我們在超過十多個客戶身上都看到了這樣的潛力，涵蓋 AI 處理器、矽光子、碳化矽、氮化鎵及其他應用。這代表顯著的多元化，不僅在客戶與終端市場之間，也同時跨越我們的 FOX 晶圓層級燒機平台與 Sonoma 封裝層級燒機平台。單一客戶的訂單與量產爬坡在季度之間仍可能有很大波動，但我們現在有更廣泛的客戶與量產機會，為我們的成長展望提供貢獻。我們相信這樣的廣度降低了我們對任何單一客戶專案時程的依賴，並使 Aehr 更有利於實現更分散且可持續的長期成長。

Importantly, this expanding customer base, combined with the increased number of devices being qualified production and growing installed base of our systems is creating multiple opportunities for additional revenue growth beyond our fiscal year. To support expanding demand, we've increased our manufacturing capabilities, including in Southeast Asia. These investments are supporting our current customer production ramps and providing capacity for additional growth.

重要的是，這個持續擴大的客戶基礎，加上正在進行量產認證的裝置數量增加，以及我們系統裝機基礎的成長，正在創造多項機會，使我們在本會計年度之外仍可帶來額外的營收成長。為了支援擴增的需求，我們已提升製造能力，包括在東南亞的布局。這些投資正在支援我們目前客戶的量產爬坡，並為進一步成長提供產能。

We continue to work closely with suppliers to meet customer delivery requirements. We're also planning further manufacturing expansion and targeted investments in engineering, customer support and sales to support growth beyond fiscal 2027. Our priorities remain delivering on existing production commitments and advancing additional customer programs through qualification and validation.

我們持續與供應商密切合作，以滿足客戶的交付需求。我們也規劃進一步擴充製造規模，並在工程、客戶支援與銷售方面進行有針對性的投資，以支援 2027 會計年度之後的成長。我們的優先事項仍是履行既有的量產承諾，並推動更多客戶專案完成認證與驗證。

Before turning the call over to Chris, I'd like to welcome Vijay Rao to our Board of Directors. Vijay brings 30 years of technology industry experience and deep expertise in hyperscale data center infrastructure, including AI accelerators, high-performance memory and optical networking. His understanding of semiconductor reliability requirements will be valuable as we expand our presence in AI and data center applications.

在把電話會議交給 Chris 之前，我想歡迎 Vijay Rao 加入我們的董事會。Vijay 擁有 30 年科技產業經驗，並在超大規模資料中心基礎設施方面具備深厚專長，包括 AI 加速器、高效能記憶體與光學網路。隨著我們在 AI 與資料中心應用擴大布局，他對半導體可靠度需求的理解將非常有價值。

To close, our record revenue, strong quarterly bookings, record effective backlog and expanding customer opportunities have strengthened our confidence in the year ahead. With existing customers increasing production, additional AI processor programs advancing toward commercialization and a significantly broader pipeline of opportunities across both our wafer level and package level burn-in platforms, we believe Aehr is exceptionally well positioned for continued growth in fiscal 2027 and beyond. Our focus remains on executing against existing production commitments, expanding our installed base and converting additional qualification programs into long-term production business.

總結來說，我們創紀錄的營收、強勁的季度接單、創新高的有效積壓訂單（effective backlog）以及持續擴大的客戶機會，強化了我們對未來一年的信心。隨著既有客戶提升產量、更多 AI 處理器專案朝商業化推進，以及在我們晶圓層級與封裝層級燒機平台上都有顯著更廣的機會管線，我們相信 Aehr 在 2027 會計年度及其後續期間都具備極佳的持續成長定位。我們的重點仍是落實既有量產承諾、擴大裝機基礎，並將更多認證專案轉化為長期量產業務。

With that, I'll turn it over to Chris.

接下來，我把時間交給 Chris。

Thank you, Gayn, and good afternoon, everyone. Our first quarter results reflect strong execution against expanding customer demand with record first quarter revenue, bookings that exceeded revenue and significant operating leverage as we continue to scale our business. Importantly, we increased quarter end backlog to approximately $101 million despite substantial shipments during the quarter, and our effective backlog reached $109.3 million, providing substantial visibility into our fiscal 2027 outlook.

謝謝你，Gayn，各位下午好。我們第一季的結果反映出我們在面對持續擴大的客戶需求時執行有力：第一季營收創新高、接單金額超過營收，且隨著我們持續擴大業務規模，營運槓桿顯著提升。重要的是，儘管本季出貨量可觀，我們仍將季末積壓訂單提升至約 1.01 億美元，而有效積壓訂單達到 1.093 億美元，為我們 2027 會計年度展望提供了高度能見度。

I'll begin with a brief update on our manufacturing capacity followed by a review of bookings and backlog, first quarter financial results, cash flow and balance sheet and our updated fiscal 2027 outlook. During the first quarter, we continued expanding our manufacturing and customer support capabilities to meet growing demand. In addition to expanding our Fremont operations, we began shipping Sonoma systems from an existing contract manufacturer in Southeast Asia. This operation adds capacity for more than 20 additional Sonoma systems per month, giving us greater flexibility to support growing customer production requirements. During the quarter, we shipped multiple Sonoma systems from this facility to the Taiwan-based OSAT supporting our lead hyperscale customer and the ramp proceeded smoothly.

我將先簡要更新我們的製造產能，接著回顧接單與積壓訂單、第一季財務結果、現金流與資產負債表，以及我們更新後的 2027 會計年度展望。在第一季期間，我們持續擴充製造與客戶支援能力，以滿足日益成長的需求。除了擴大我們在 Fremont 的營運外，我們也開始透過東南亞既有的合約製造商出貨 Sonoma 系統。此營運可每月增加超過 20 套 Sonoma 系統的額外產能，使我們在支援客戶日益成長的量產需求時更具彈性。本季我們從該設施出貨多套 Sonoma 系統至位於台灣、為我們主要超大規模客戶提供支援的 OSAT，且爬坡進展順利。

This asset-light manufacturing approach allowed us to increase production capacity and responsiveness without a comparable increase in infrastructure or capital spending. We are also expanding our local support capabilities in Taiwan. Following the signing of a new lease in Hsinchu, we added customer service resources and planned selective hiring in sales and customer support as wafer level and package level burn-in programs move toward higher production volumes.

這種輕資產（asset-light）的製造方式，使我們能在不相應增加基礎設施或資本支出的情況下，提高產能與反應速度。我們也正在擴大在台灣的在地支援能力。在新竹簽署新的租約後，我們增加了客戶服務資源，並規劃在銷售與客戶支援方面進行選擇性招募，以因應晶圓層級與封裝層級燒機專案邁向更高的量產規模。

Turning to bookings and backlog. First quarter bookings totaled $46.7 million, an increase of more than 300% from $11.4 million in the prior year quarter. The increase was driven primarily by orders for FOX wafer-level burn-in systems, WaferPak contactors and auto aligners supporting AI processor and silicon photonics applications. Quarter end backlog was $100.9 million, up from $80.6 million at the end of fiscal 2026.

接著談接單與積壓訂單。第一季接單總額為 4,670 萬美元，較去年同期的 1,140 萬美元成長超過 300%。成長主要來自 FOX 晶圓層級燒機系統、WaferPak 接觸器以及自動對準機（auto aligners）的訂單，這些訂單用於支援 AI 處理器與矽光子應用。季末積壓訂單為 1.009 億美元，高於 2026 會計年度末的 8,060 萬美元。

Importantly, we increased backlog to above $100 million despite recognizing $33 million in revenue during the quarter, reflecting strong new order activity. Including $8.4 million in additional bookings received after quarter end, effective backlog reached $109.3 million as of November 1. This substantial backlog, combined with our expanded manufacturing capacity and visibility into existing production programs, provides a strong foundation for our updated fiscal 2027 revenue outlook.

重要的是，儘管本季認列了 3,300 萬美元營收，我們仍將積壓訂單提升至超過 1 億美元，反映出強勁的新訂單活動。若加計季末後收到的 840 萬美元額外接單，截至 11 月 1 日的有效積壓訂單達到 1.093 億美元。這筆可觀的積壓訂單，加上我們擴增的製造產能以及對既有量產專案的能見度，為我們更新後的 2027 會計年度營收展望提供了堅實基礎。

First quarter revenue was a record $33 million, increasing 200% from $11 million in the prior year quarter and 75% sequentially. The result exceeded consensus expectations and reflected strong execution across both package level and wafer level burning programs. Revenue included Sonoma system shipments to our lead hyperscale customer in Taiwan, multiple FOX-P system shipments, including a FOX-XP system and WaferPak auto aligners to our lead AI processor customer and FOX-NP system shipments to customers in the power semiconductor market. Revenue from contactors and related products, including WaferPaks for wafer level burn-in and burn-in modules and burn-in boards for package level burn-in totaled $13.5 million or 41% of total revenue.

第一季營收創紀錄達 3,300 萬美元，較去年同期的 1,100 萬美元成長 200%，並較前一季成長 75%。此結果高於市場共識預期，並反映我們在封裝層級與晶圓層級燒機專案上的強勁執行力。營收包含在台灣向我們主要超大規模客戶出貨的 Sonoma 系統、多套 FOX-P 系統出貨（其中包含一套 FOX-XP 系統）以及向我們主要 AI 處理器客戶出貨的 WaferPak 自動對準機，並包含向功率半導體市場客戶出貨的 FOX-NP 系統。接觸器及相關產品的營收（包括用於晶圓層級燒機的 WaferPaks，以及用於封裝層級燒機的燒機模組與燒機板）合計為 1,350 萬美元，占總營收的 41%。

This compares with $2.6 million or 24% of revenue in the prior year quarter, representing more than fivefold growth. This is an important component of our business model as our installed base expands and customers increase production volumes or introduce new devices, we expect additional demand for our proprietary contactors, WaferPaks, beams and bits. These repeat purchases complement system sales and provide opportunities for ongoing production-driven revenue, although the percentage of total revenue will vary quarter-to-quarter based on product mix and shipment timing.

相較之下，上一年度同季為260萬美元，約占營收的24%，代表超過五倍的成長。隨著我們的裝機基礎擴大，且客戶提高產量或導入新裝置，我們預期對自有接觸器（contactors）、WaferPaks、beams 與 bits 的額外需求將增加；這是我們商業模式的重要組成部分。這些重複採購可補充系統銷售，並帶來持續、由生產驅動的營收機會；不過，該項占總營收的比例將因產品組合與出貨時點而在各季度間有所波動。

Non-GAAP gross margin was 48.5% compared with 37.5% in the prior year quarter, an improvement of 11 percentage points. The improvement primarily reflected higher sales volumes and a more favorable product mix. The prior year quarter included a higher proportion of lower-margin third-party probers and an automated aligner upgrade sold as part of our complete solutions. Non-GAAP operating expenses were $7.8 million compared with $5.7 million in the prior year quarter. The increase primarily reflected additional research and development investments, including engineering headcounts and materials supporting AI-related programs.

非 GAAP 毛利率為48.5%，相較於上一年度同季的37.5%，提升了11個百分點。此改善主要反映較高的銷售量以及更有利的產品組合。上一年度同季包含較高比例的低毛利第三方探針台（probers），以及作為完整解決方案一部分所銷售的自動對準器（automated aligner）升級。非 GAAP 營業費用為780萬美元，相較於上一年度同季的570萬美元。增加主要反映額外的研發投資，包括工程人力編制以及支援 AI 相關專案的材料。

These investments are focused on specific opportunities, including wafer level burn-in validation for a major AI processor customer, next-generation package level burn-in programs and memory-related development. While non-GAAP operating expenses increased approximately 36% year over year, revenue increased 200%, demonstrating significant operating leverage as we scale.

這些投資聚焦於特定機會，包括為某主要 AI 處理器客戶進行晶圓級燒機（burn-in）驗證、下一代封裝級燒機計畫，以及與記憶體相關的開發。雖然非 GAAP 營業費用年增約36%，但營收成長200%，顯示我們在擴張規模時具備顯著的營運槓桿。

We recorded an income tax benefit of $0.3 million, resulting in an effective tax rate of negative 3.7%. The benefit primarily reflected discrete tax items, including disqualifying dispositions from stock options and excess tax benefits from divesting of restricted stock units. Non-GAAP net income was $9.4 million or $0.28 per diluted share compared with $0.2 million or $0.01 per diluted share in the prior year quarter. Sequentially, non-GAAP net income increased 163%. Non-GAAP net income excludes stock-based compensation and acquisition-related adjustments.

我們認列0.3百萬美元的所得稅利益，使有效稅率為負3.7%。該利益主要反映一次性稅務項目，包括股票選擇權的不合格處分（disqualifying dispositions）以及處分限制型股票單位（RSU）所產生的超額稅務利益。非 GAAP 淨利為940萬美元，或稀釋後每股0.28美元；相較於上一年度同季的20萬美元，或稀釋後每股0.01美元。以季比而言，非 GAAP 淨利增加163%。非 GAAP 淨利排除以股份為基礎的薪酬以及併購相關調整。

Turning to cash flow and our balance sheet. Cash used in operating activities was $3.1 million during the first quarter. We ended the quarter with $105.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash compared with $116.5 million at the end of fiscal 2026. Operating cash flow reflected working capital investments, including purchases of long lead item -- long lead time components to support anticipated AI-related production demand and customer delivery schedules. These investments are intended to ensure we have the materials needed as production volumes increase. Importantly, we remain debt-free and our strong liquidity position provides flexibility to fund these investments while supporting continued growth.

接著談現金流與資產負債表。第一季營運活動使用現金為310萬美元。本季末我們的現金、約當現金及受限制現金為1.051億美元，相較於2026會計年度期末的1.165億美元。營運現金流反映了營運資金投資，包括採購長交期項目——長交期零組件，以支援預期的 AI 相關量產需求與客戶交付時程。這些投資旨在確保隨著產量增加，我們具備所需材料。重要的是，我們仍維持零負債，而強勁的流動性部位使我們在支持持續成長的同時，也能靈活地為這些投資提供資金。

Turning to our fiscal 2027 outlook. Based on our strong first quarter performance, substantial backlog, expanded manufacturing capacity and increased visibility into customer production requirements, we are raising our full year revenue outlook to $150 million compared with our previous guidance range of $130 million to $150 million. This outlook represents 200% year over year revenue growth or triple fiscal 2026 revenue. We continue to expect non-GAAP net income of at least 20% of revenue for the full fiscal year. Our increased outlook reflects current backlog, anticipated demand from existing production ramps and delivery schedules.

接著談我們對2027會計年度的展望。基於第一季的強勁表現、可觀的在手訂單（backlog）、擴增的製造產能，以及對客戶生產需求更高的能見度，我們將全年營收展望上調至1.5億美元；先前的指引區間為1.3億至1.5億美元。此展望代表營收年增200%，亦即為2026會計年度營收的三倍。我們仍預期全年非 GAAP 淨利至少可達營收的20%。我們上調展望反映目前在手訂單、既有量產爬坡所帶來的預期需求，以及交付時程。

With expanded manufacturing capacity, a strong balance sheet and a substantial backlog, we believe we're well positioned to execute against our full year outlook while investing in growth opportunities beyond fiscal 2027. Before we open the call for questions, I would like to mention that Aehr plans to meet with investors at the NYC CEO Summit on December 15. We look forward to seeing some of you there. That concludes our prepared remarks.

在擴增的製造產能、強健的資產負債表以及可觀的在手訂單支持下，我們相信公司已具備良好條件，能在投資2027會計年度以後的成長機會之際，仍可達成全年展望。在開放提問之前，我想提到 Aehr 計畫於12月15日在 NYC CEO Summit 與投資人會面。期待在那裡見到各位中的一些人。以上為我們預先準備的發言。

Operator, we're now ready to take questions.

接線員，我們現在準備開始回答問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（接線員指示）

Christian Schwab, Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

Christian Schwab，Craig-Hallum Capital Group。

Congrats guys on a great quarter and outlook. Gayn, I want to come back to your commentary regarding the new wafer level benchmark and your commentary saying that you'll have an idea whether they put in high-volume orders. It sounds like sometime in the first half of calendar '27. But in particular, your commentary about the largest opportunity ever pursued by the company. I'm just wondering if you can give some relative color about the range of revenue potential that you're referring to there.

恭喜各位本季與展望都很出色。Gayn，我想回到你先前對新的晶圓級基準（benchmark）的評論，以及你提到你們將能判斷他們是否會下達大批量訂單。聽起來大概會在曆年2027年的上半年某個時間點。但特別是，你提到這是公司有史以來所追求的最大機會。我想請問你能否就你所指的潛在營收範圍，提供一些相對性的說明？

Okay. So beyond just the sheer numbers and size, it's the tone that's coming in from them and other customers particularly related to their new devices that are coming out. And I mean like coming up in '27 and '28, thinking like kind of near term, even '27, where the new processors, there's sort of a whole new generation of different types of flavors of processors that are going out there. And I'll talk generically, my intention is trying not to be too specific about anyone. So anything I say, I could point to 2 or more customers that are saying the same thing. But there are things where there are processors that are coming out that are described as a single processor, or like a single chip, if you will. But embedded in that chip might be 4 AI accelerator chips.

好的。所以除了單純的數字與規模之外，更重要的是他們以及其他客戶所傳達的語氣，特別是與他們即將推出的新裝置相關。我的意思是像在2027與2028年將推出的產品，從較近的時間點來看，甚至在2027年，新處理器會出現——某種程度上是一整個新世代、不同類型的處理器風味（flavors）將進入市場。我會用較概括的方式來談，我的用意是避免對任何一家客戶過於具體。因此我所說的任何內容，都可以對應到兩家或更多客戶也在表達同樣的看法。但確實有一些處理器即將推出，對外描述為單一處理器，或如果你願意，也可以說是一顆單一晶片。但在那顆晶片內部，可能嵌入了4顆 AI 加速器晶片。

There could be 12 stacks of high-bandwidth memory, another 4 or 8 optical or electrical I/O interconnect chips. That's in the near term. There's devices that are out there that have been being talked about publicly that have 12, 16 compute chips inside. The other thing is there's a shift going on with respect to just the sheer number of CPUs versus the accelerators and combinational CPU accelerator infrastructure devices that are very interesting. And so the complexity is going up, and it turns out as you mix even the same devices in the package, the burning challenges are very high because all of the devices run at different thermal levels and power levels based upon the physics of the process, and so once you attack put them together into the same substrate with the same heat sink, it becomes difficult or actually impossible to get the device to the optimum screening temperature because the one next to it is hotter or colder.

可能還會有12組高頻寬記憶體（HBM）堆疊，另外再加上4或8顆光學或電性 I/O 互連晶片。這是在較近的時間範圍內。市場上也有一些裝置已在公開場合被討論，內部包含12顆、16顆運算晶片。另外一點是，CPU 的純數量相對於加速器，以及結合 CPU 與加速器的基礎架構裝置，正在發生轉變，而這非常值得關注。因此複雜度正在上升；而事實上，即使在同一封裝中混合相同的裝置，燒機（burn-in）挑戰也非常高，因為所有裝置基於製程物理特性會在不同的熱與功耗水準下運作；因此一旦把它們放到同一基板上並共用同一散熱器，就會變得困難，甚至不可能讓裝置達到最佳的篩選溫度，因為旁邊那顆可能更熱或更冷。

And so we're able to isolate the die at the wafer level and maintain every single device at the exact same burn-in condition in terms of temperature and voltage and current that is not even feasible to do on package level burn-in systems, not ours, not anybody's. So that whole tone of like, hey, this is really important to us. And then instead of referring to one device under test that might be on Sonoma, it might be 4 devices or 8 devices that are -- so the actual quantity is higher. So we put some numbers together just to help people understand. If you look at one of our systems, our system is a 9 wafer for the AI configuration, let's say.

因此，我們能在晶圓層級隔離每一顆裸晶（die），並在溫度、電壓與電流等燒機條件上，讓每一個裝置都維持在完全相同的狀態；這在封裝級燒機系統上根本做不到——不論是我們的或任何人的系統都做不到。所以整體傳達出的語氣是：嘿，這對我們非常重要。而且他們不再只是指單一受測裝置（device under test），可能原本是在 Sonoma 上的一個裝置，現在可能是4個或8個裝置——因此實際數量更高。所以我們整理了一些數字，只是為了幫助大家理解。以我們的一套系統來看，假設是 AI 配置，我們的系統是9片晶圓（9 wafer）。

For every 1 million units shipped in a calendar year, that system would need to test -- you would need somewhere between 5 and 10 of our systems per million units per year. And that assumes pure linearity, meaning it ships the same amount the first day of the year as last year. So -- and keep in mind, that's times 9. So it's 45 to 90 wafers of capacity. And if you multiply that times our ASPs that can range, including the consumables, $6 million, $7-plus million, it's $35 million to $70 million for each million units. If you look at the accelerator markets that we have been seeing, accelerator markets in 2027 alone are somewhere around 25 million units or so total. This is between the GPUs of NVIDIA and AMD and the TPUs and other ASICs from everybody.

以每個曆年出貨每 100 萬個單位來看，那套系統就需要測試——也就是說，每年每 100 萬個單位，你大概需要我們的系統 5 到 10 套。而且那是假設完全線性，也就是一年第一天的出貨量跟最後一天一樣。所以——而且請記住，那還要乘以 9。所以產能相當於 45 到 90 片晶圓。如果再乘上我們的 ASP（平均銷售單價），包含耗材在內，範圍可能是 600 萬美元、700 多萬美元，那麼每 100 萬個單位就是 3,500 萬到 7,000 萬美元。如果你看我們目前看到的加速器市場，光是 2027 年的加速器市場總量大約就在 2,500 萬個單位左右。這包括 NVIDIA 與 AMD 的 GPU，以及各家公司的 TPU 和其他 ASIC。

And the CPUs are double that. So the numbers are staggering and sobering for us. So why we keep pounding the drum and talking about all the infrastructure that we're putting in place to be able to ship tens of these systems per month, for example, is because of these numbers. Now are we going to win them all? Someday maybe, but that's not what we're aiming for. But you pick up one, two, three high runners, and these are big numbers, you get a customer who's saying, I would like to be -- consider this for all my devices or most of my devices or every device you could do it. And all of a sudden, it becomes the biggest deal you've ever looked at before. So that's where those numbers come from.

而 CPU 的數量是那個的兩倍。所以這些數字對我們來說既驚人又令人警醒。這也是為什麼我們一直敲鼓、一直在談我們正在建置的所有基礎設施，例如要能夠每月出貨數十套這些系統，原因就在於這些數字。那我們會全部拿下嗎？也許有一天會，但那不是我們的目標。但你只要拿下一、兩個、三個高量客戶，而這些都是很大的數字；你得到一個客戶說，我希望——把這個納入我所有裝置、或大多數裝置、或你能做到的每一個裝置。突然之間，它就會變成你以前看過最大的案子。所以這些數字就是這樣來的。

And just a quick follow-up on the silicon carbide with the improving demand for vendor customer stats, et cetera. Can you remind us what your revenue to silicon carbide was in fiscal year '26 and a level of expectations that is reasonable to assume in fiscal year '27?

另外快速追問一下碳化矽（silicon carbide），隨著需求改善、供應商/客戶統計等因素。你能提醒我們你們在 26 財年的碳化矽營收是多少，以及在 27 財年合理的預期水準大概可以怎麼看嗎？

We always just overly simplified as saying of the $50 million we did in FY26, it was less than 10% or thereabouts. It's in silicon carbide. If I blurred GaN and silicon carbide, sometimes I do that with power semis, but it was -- the silicon carbide was that. That by contrast to silicon carbide was 90% of our revenue a couple of years earlier. So it was only about $10 million.

我們一向把它過度簡化地說：在 FY26 我們做的 5,000 萬美元裡面，碳化矽占比不到 10% 左右。是在碳化矽。如果我把 GaN（氮化鎵）和碳化矽混在一起，有時候談功率半導體我會這樣，但——碳化矽就是那個比例。相較之下，幾年前碳化矽曾經占我們營收的 90%。所以當時大概只有 1,000 萬美元左右。

And I think we already announced a $7 million order. I think we've already got orders maybe bigger than that already. So silicon carbide is going to grow this year. We've had some recent meetings with customers that are hopeful and optimistic. As I do say, I'm sort of in the -- we put the investments in place. We have the infrastructure. We know how to build these things in high volume, both the systems and the WaferPaks.

而且我想我們已經宣布了一筆 700 萬美元的訂單。我想我們可能已經拿到比那更大的訂單了。所以今年碳化矽會成長。我們最近和客戶開了一些會議，感覺是有希望、也很樂觀。就像我常說的，我算是處在——我們已經把投資到位。我們有基礎設施。我們知道如何以高產量來製造這些東西，包括系統本身以及 WaferPaks。

So I'll just announce them when they come in. But it does appear that everybody's utilization is about full, and there's people talking about continuing up the ramp of silicon carbide, mostly again for the traction inverters for EVs, some of the charging infrastructure of EVs and solar. And on the horizon more is all the data center stuff. It doesn't feel like yet that's really high volumes for -- in the immediate near term, but that's coming as well.

所以我就等訂單進來再宣布。但看起來大家的產能利用率幾乎都滿載，而且有人在談要持續拉升碳化矽的爬坡，主要還是用在電動車的牽引逆變器（traction inverters）、部分電動車充電基礎設施，以及太陽能。而更遠的方向則是所有資料中心相關的需求。目前短期內感覺那還不是非常高的量，但那也會到來。

Jed Dorsheimer, William Blair.

Jed Dorsheimer，William Blair。

Congratulations. Great quarter. Nice to see this breakout. Gayn, maybe just I think -- and I could be wrong here, but I think previously, you had mentioned the linearity of revenues or maybe it was Chris, in terms of weighted to front half. I'm just wondering whether or not that holds true in the context of raising the full year guide to the $150-plus million. How do you expect that linearity through the year?

恭喜。很棒的一季。很高興看到這樣的突破。Gayn，也許我想——我可能記錯，但我記得之前你提過營收的線性（linearity），或者是 Chris 提的，說會偏向上半年。我想問的是，在把全年指引上調到 1.5 億美元以上的情境下，這個說法是否仍然成立。你們預期全年各季的線性分布會是怎樣？

Well, we -- kind of a couple of months in, a month in or so into the quarter, customers started coming back and saying, "Hey, I know I scheduled them into your second quarter. Can you pull them in?" In fact, that's kind of everybody right now ship as quickly as you can. So we were able to smooth some things out a little bit by bringing in Q1 -- but I mean, if you just do the math, if you say you're $150 million and we did 33, you've got 120-ish, something like that left the math. It feels like it's kind of -- each quarter of that three will grow a little bit and see it sort of smooth them out. But it feels -- this quarter will be a little bit more than last, and we think the following quarter higher than that.

嗯，我們——大概在本季開始後一兩個月左右，客戶開始回來說：「嘿，我知道我原本排在你們第二季交付。你能不能提前？」其實現在大家都是：能多快出貨就多快出貨。所以我們能透過把一些原本在 Q2 的拉到 Q1，讓節奏稍微平滑一些——但我的意思是，如果你算一下數學，如果全年是 1.5 億美元，而我們做了 3,300 萬，那剩下大概還有 1.2 億左右，類似這樣。感覺接下來那三季每一季都會小幅成長，整體會比較平順。但感覺是——本季會比上一季高一點，而我們認為下一季會再更高。

And then the fourth quarter, maybe the highest of the year, we'll see. But a lot of this, too, is interesting, and I don't -- we just raised our guidance. I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but there are real potentials both in terms of potential demand and our ability to ship as we head into the second half. So I mean, we're feeling really good about the year and candidly, heading into the following year as well.

然後第四季可能是全年最高，我們再看看。不過這裡面也有很多有趣的地方，而且我不——我們才剛上調指引。我不想操之過急，但隨著我們進入下半年，不論是潛在需求，或是我們的出貨能力，都有很實質的上行可能。所以我們對今年的表現感覺非常好，坦白說，對進入下一年也同樣如此。

I just want to add for the second quarter will still be a very strong quarter for us, especially we have commitment to deliver our systems to our hyperscale customers. It's all in backlog. Q2, we ship it all. So if not all of them, most of it. So we still have a very strong quarter in the second quarter.

我只想補充，第二季對我們來說仍會是非常強勁的一季，特別是我們承諾要把系統交付給我們的超大規模（hyperscale）客戶。這些都在積壓訂單（backlog）裡。Q2 我們會把它全部出貨。就算不是全部，也會是大部分。所以第二季我們仍然會非常強勁。

And Chris, you bring up a good point. I mean a book-to-bill of 1.4 is great, but you typically -- particularly because you've been more of a turns business. As you kind of operate at these new levels and maybe gain your perspective on this, are you seeing any areas of your supply chain that are giving you any pause or in terms of operating at, say, at this level or you're talking about numbers that are much, much larger around this benchmark customer if they go. How are you thinking about shoring up the resilience of your supply chain? And then I have one more.

另外 Chris，你提到一個好點。我的意思是，1.4 的接單出貨比（book-to-bill）很棒，但你通常——特別是因為你們過去比較偏向短週期/即時型（turns）業務。當你們在這些新水位下運作，並且也許從你的角度來看，你是否看到供應鏈有任何地方讓你需要留意？不論是以目前這個水位運作，或是你們談到若那個標竿客戶（benchmark customer）真的放量，規模會大得多的那些數字。你們如何思考強化供應鏈的韌性？然後我還有一個問題。

So we've already been doing that. I mean we were talking up a storm a year ago about adding capacity, and it seemed a little odd that we were adding all this capacity if we're only doing $50 million for the year. And the answer was we could anticipate what they were saying and we were putting the infrastructure in place. So doing $33 million in the first quarter, 3x what it was the year before same quarter. We're already doing really well against it.

所以我們其實已經在做了。我的意思是，一年前我們就一直在大談要增加產能；如果我們全年只做 5,000 萬美元，卻要加這麼多產能，當時看起來有點奇怪。答案是，我們能預先判斷他們在說什麼，所以我們把基礎設施先建置起來。所以第一季做到 3,300 萬美元，是前一年同季的 3 倍。我們在這方面已經做得非常好。

Now candidly, having said that, we think we put infrastructure in place to be able to do above $150 million, and I'm pressing on the team to be able to put a lot more than that in place for the following year or maybe even pull in. So there are ways that we are working with our subcons. We do final assembly here of our wafer level systems. We can do final assembly of the package level systems at one of our subcons entirely now. Those are all shipping directly to our hyperscaler.

坦白說，講到這裡，我們認為我們已經建置好基礎設施，能夠做到超過1.5億美元，而我也在推動團隊，讓我們在隔年能夠建置遠超過這個水準的能力，甚至可能提前拉進來。因此，我們正在與我們的分包商以多種方式合作。我們在這裡進行晶圓級系統的最終組裝。我們現在也可以在其中一家分包商那裡，完全完成封裝級系統的最終組裝。這些都會直接出貨給我們的超大規模客戶（hyperscaler）。

We'll continue to do the final assembly of wafer level here for the foreseeable future, but the subcons are doing more and more of the subassemblies. So today, we have x hours to do a completion of a whole wafer-level burn-in system here. By the end of the year, I think we're down to one-third or so of that, which would allow us to do 3 times the capacity, if you will, kind of number. So we're continuing to move on all of those fronts. And we're also spending money. We're putting money down with suppliers and making sure we're buying long lead items and additional aligners and things like that to have some buffer so that we can also ship very quickly.

在可預見的未來，我們仍會在這裡進行晶圓級的最終組裝，但分包商正在承擔越來越多的次組裝工作。所以今天，我們需要x小時才能在這裡完成一套完整的晶圓級燒機（burn-in）系統。到今年年底，我認為我們會降到大約三分之一的時間，這將使我們的產能提升到3倍左右（如果你這麼看的話）。因此，我們正在持續在所有這些面向推進。而且我們也在投入資金。我們正在向供應商預付訂金，確保採購長交期物料、額外的對準機（aligners）等，以保留一些緩衝，讓我們也能非常快速地出貨。

Last question for me. That's helpful. Just around the benchmark customer and the wafer level burn-in, it does seem like escalation to purchase one of your systems and move it over to Asia. When do you -- do you have any expectation in terms of what that qualification process would look like that moves towards a PO? Is that something -- how should we be thinking about that?

我最後一個問題。這很有幫助。關於那個標竿客戶（benchmark customer）與晶圓級燒機，看起來他們正升級到要採購你們的一套系統並把它移到亞洲。你們對於那個走向採購訂單（PO）的資格認證流程會是什麼樣子，有沒有任何預期？這件事——我們應該怎麼看待？

We do. We have, I'd say, almost all of the final details on what we call a statement of work between the two companies that make it very clear what is required and needed. And we were, I think, pushing on them too, to push on us to ensure that what's in there makes it qualified as a real production system, too. Units per hour, uptime, all of those normal things you'd see with production. I think for them, it was like, okay, you were able to do it here in Fremont, that's great. But will you be able to do it under the scrutiny of our OSATs and volume production? We already know what that looks like. I mean, whether -- maybe we haven't shared all of the details along the way, but we actually have FOX systems installed in Taiwan.

有的。我想我們幾乎已經把兩家公司之間、我們所稱的工作說明書（statement of work）的最終細節都敲定了，裡面非常清楚地界定了需要與必須的事項。而且我認為我們也在推動他們、同時也讓他們推動我們，以確保文件中的內容也能讓它被認定為真正的量產系統。每小時產出（units per hour）、稼動率（uptime），以及你在量產環境會看到的所有常規指標。我想對他們而言，是這樣：好，你們在Fremont這裡做到了，很棒。但你們能否在我們的OSAT與量產環境的嚴格檢視下也做到？我們其實已經知道那會是什麼樣子。也就是說——也許我們一路上沒有分享所有細節，但我們確實已經在台灣安裝了FOX系統。

They happen to be very captive. I can't really go into it, but customers that have bought it and really locked it up for their specific requirements. So we know what high volume looks like on these. But this will be the first for them to really see it. And a lot of people are still just sort of getting their arms around the concept that you can actually test 9 wafers with several thousand watts a piece at a time and do it in high-volume production hands-free environment.

那些系統剛好是非常封閉（captive）的。我不太能深入說明，但那是一些客戶買下來並且為了他們特定需求而完全鎖定使用的。所以我們知道這些系統在高產量（high volume）下會是什麼樣子。但這將是他們第一次真正親眼看到。而且很多人仍在逐步理解這個概念：你其實可以一次測試9片晶圓、每片數千瓦功率，並且在高產量、免手動（hands-free）的量產環境中運作。

And when they see that, the lights sort of go on like, well, how many things I could do that with. So we have a good idea what it looks like. We have a gnat chart on the schedule. There's a lot of details that are working through that need to be done to make sure that they get the facility in place. And all that's part of the reason it will -- we will be able to ship it until the beginning of the year. It's actually their stuff.

當他們看到之後，就會突然恍然大悟：原來我可以用這個做多少事情。所以我們對它會是什麼樣子有很清楚的概念。我們在時程上有一份甘特圖（Gantt chart）。有很多細節正在推進，需要完成以確保他們把廠務設施建置到位。而這些也是為什麼——我們要到年初才能出貨的部分原因。其實是他們那邊的事項。

And we have some work to do. There are some things that we've shown them during the benchmark that were prototype, if you will, and validated, but we need to just show that in volume production configuration. It's -- there are some features that we can upgrade our installed base to, and they'll be seeing that for the first time in high-volume production. So I want to -- there's always a lot of work. I don't want anyone to think that this stuff is easy to do.

而我們也還有一些工作要做。在標竿測試期間，我們向他們展示了一些可以說是原型（prototype）的東西，並且已經驗證過，但我們需要在量產配置（volume production configuration）下再展示一次。也就是——有一些功能我們可以升級到既有裝機基礎（installed base）上，而他們將第一次在高產量量產環境中看到這些。所以我想說——總是有很多工作要做。我不希望任何人以為這些事情很容易。

But around January, February, March, they'll have seen the data. Should be able to be making some decisions around their capacity planning. We'll be working with them on their forecast and which devices they would want to go first on. And we're optimistic and hopeful, and we're going to try really hard. We met directly with them face-to-face. I have in the last one week. And we heard directly from their management that this is really important. They really want this to work. So that's usually a good sign.

但大約在1月、2月、3月，他們就會看過數據。應該就能針對他們的產能規劃做一些決策。我們會和他們一起討論他們的預測，以及他們希望先導入哪些裝置（devices）。我們保持樂觀與期待，也會非常努力去推動。我們已經直接與他們面對面會談。就在過去一週內。而且我們也直接從他們管理層聽到，這件事非常重要。他們真的很希望這能成功。所以這通常是個好跡象。

Max Michaelis, Lake Street.

Max Michaelis，Lake Street。

Just first question, you guys snuck it into the prepared remarks talking about consumables revenue mix. I think you said it was 35% for fiscal year '27 is the expectation. What was that in fiscal year '26? And I can't remember if you guys have shared sort of a long-term target. But if you have thought about that, I guess, as of recently, can you share what you expect that to be in the future?

第一個問題，你們在事先準備的講稿裡提到耗材（consumables）營收占比。我想你們說對於2027會計年度（fiscal year '27）的預期是35%。那在2026會計年度（fiscal year '26）是多少？另外我不記得你們是否分享過長期目標。但如果你們最近有思考過，能否分享一下你們對未來的預期？

Yeah. '26, if I recall correctly, that's in the 20s. But for the long-term model, we always think about around the 30%. That's kind of what we discussed. But obviously, this year, Q1 was exceptional 41%, but for FY27, we're looking at something like around 35%.

是的。'26如果我沒記錯的話，大概是在20%多。但就長期模型而言，我們一直是以大約30%來思考。這大致就是我們討論過的水準。不過顯然，今年第一季（Q1）非常突出，達到41%，但對FY27，我們看的是大約35%左右。

There are scenarios where it could be 50% and our business is strong. Why I say that is part of the, I guess, pros and cons of being in the consumable business proprietary to our things is that as you have an installed base of, say, 1,000 blades or 1,000 wafers of capacity, every one to three years, as new devices come out, they'll buy all new sets of WaferPaks. So for maybe 1,000 wafers of capacity out there, which would be 100-ish of our systems, let's say, 9. So you would get maybe 300 WaferPaks even though they didn't buy new systems that year. So over time, that number adds to the -- currently, about one-third of every sale is WaferPaks, two-third is systems. So when you think 30%, you're like, oh, that's just a good growth year, not a lot of rebuy. And that is somewhat true.

在某些情境下，它可能會到50%，而且我們的業務仍然很強。我之所以這麼說，是因為做我們這種與自家產品綁定的專有耗材生意，有一些優缺點：當你有一個裝機基礎，例如1,000片刀片（blades）或1,000片晶圓的產能時，每隔一到三年，隨著新裝置推出，他們就會購買一整套全新的WaferPaks。所以假設外面有大約1,000片晶圓的產能，約等於我們大概100台左右的系統（假設每台是9片）。那麼即使那一年他們沒有買新系統，你仍可能賣出大約300套WaferPaks。因此隨著時間推移，這個數字會累積——目前大約每一筆銷售中，三分之一是WaferPaks，三分之二是系統。所以當你想到30%時，你會覺得：喔，那只是成長不錯的一年，回購（rebuy）不多。而這在某種程度上確實如此。

So as we start to see that infrastructure -- in fact, that's the first indicator. The silicon carbide guys in the last 1.5 years have only been buying WaferPaks. And right now, they're leading with more forecast for more WaferPaks or more consumables. So maybe it could be 50%. And again, it could be 50% because you're having a bad year for systems, and it's all that. But I'm talking even in a good year, it could be 50%.

所以當我們開始看到那個基礎設施——事實上，那就是第一個指標。過去1.5年，碳化矽（silicon carbide）客戶只是在買WaferPaks。而現在，他們的預測也更偏向更多的WaferPaks或更多耗材。所以也許它可能到50%。再說一次，它也可能是因為系統那一年表現不好，才讓占比變成50%。但我說的是，即使在系統也表現不錯的一年，它也可能到50%。

Yes, I can double check for you Max.

是的，Max，我可以幫你再確認一次。

And then last question here. I mean, awesome guide, and you blew numbers out of the water this quarter took guidance up to the high end of the range from last quarter. So at $150 million. Looking out for the last three quarters, it's about $117 million to get there. You got about $109 million, $110 million in the backlog right now, really only calling for $7 million of orders.

然後這裡最後一個問題。我的意思是，指引非常出色，而且你們這一季的數字大幅超出預期，把指引從上一季的區間上緣再往上調。所以到1.5億美元。往後看剩下三個季度，要達到那個數字大概還需要1.17億美元。你們目前在手訂單（backlog）大概有1.09億到1.10億美元，等於只需要再新增約700萬美元的訂單。

Help me out if I'm thinking about this wrong, but it feels like it's almost conservative that you guys are only going to get $7 million or $8 million of orders by the end of, I mean, whatever the lead time is. So help me out there. Is there anything capacity, supply chain that you guys are conservative about or help me out there?

如果我這樣想有誤請指正，但感覺你們只預期在年底前（我是說，不管交期是多久）拿到700萬或800萬美元的新增訂單，幾乎有點保守。所以請幫我釐清一下。你們是不是在產能、供應鏈方面有什麼保守假設？或請幫我解釋一下？

I think we're trying to be conservative. Yes, that's fair. I mean that is not -- that's currently not us supply limited, meaning we can ship more than that. That is current customers orders and when they say they would like it shipped, I'd say, for the most part, across the board. And so they do schedule things, they anticipated. And so we could get additional orders and still ship it this year. And we just thought $150 is a pretty nice clean number for us to be conservative at this point.

我想我們是想採取保守一點的做法。是的，這樣說合理。我的意思是，那並不是——目前不是我們受供應限制，也就是說我們可以出貨比那更多。那是現有客戶的訂單，以及他們表示希望出貨的時間點；我會說大多數情況下都是如此。所以他們會排程、會提前規劃。因此我們仍可能拿到額外訂單，而且今年內也還是能出貨。我們只是覺得在這個時間點，以1.5億作為保守目標是一個相當漂亮、乾淨的數字。

Back to answer your question, WaferPak or contactless revenue was 29% last year. Consumables.

回到你的問題，WaferPak 或非接觸式（contactless）營收去年占比是29%。耗材。

Kevin Garrigan, Jefferies.

Kevin Garrigan，Jefferies。

Let me echo my congrats on the great results. Once this benchmark customer is kind of fully up and running with wafer level burn-in, I mean, do you expect that to accelerate adoption with other customers? Or are there any potential customers that are just waiting until they see additional customers adopt wafer level burn-in before they go online?

我也想附和一下，恭喜你們交出很棒的成績。當這家標竿客戶在晶圓級燒機（wafer level burn-in）方面完全上線並順利運作之後，你們是否預期會加速其他客戶的採用？或者是否有一些潛在客戶只是想等看到更多客戶採用晶圓級燒機之後才會開始導入？

I believe that this customer has very, very high visibility. And let me be clear, that imposes upside and risk, right? We're really excited about what we've shown them being able to do the proof of concept and everything here and validate it before we go. They have given us new devices. So far, we've been able to look at and say we can test all of them.

我相信這位客戶的能見度非常、非常高。我先說清楚，這同時帶來上行空間與風險，對吧？我們對於已向他們展示的能力感到非常興奮——能完成概念驗證（proof of concept）以及這裡的一切，並在正式推進前完成驗證。他們也提供了新的裝置給我們。到目前為止，我們看過後都能說：我們可以測試全部。

I'm sure they maybe they'll give us one we can't. But for the most part, I think they're trying to help us along too, let's say. But they -- I think it's not just them. What we're seeing is there's more and more buildup and chatter in the industry and on the RAs and the trade shows talking about wafer level burn-in. And I think it's funny sometimes people talk about wafer level burn-in as a test insertion and yet we're the only ones that can do it. So they talk about like as a segment, but we're really the only ones doing it right now, and people are giving us that.

我相信他們也許會給我們一個我們測不了的。但大致上，我覺得他們也在努力協助我們推進，可以這麼說。但——我認為不只是他們。我們看到的是，產業內對晶圓級燒機的累積動能與討論越來越多，在各種 RAs 和展會上都在談晶圓級燒機。我覺得有趣的是，有時候大家把晶圓級燒機當作一個測試插入點（test insertion）在談，但其實只有我們能做到。所以他們把它當成一個細分領域在談，但目前真正能做的只有我們，而大家也把這點歸功於我們。

So I think that this absolutely has the potential of -- as this goes well, other people will be even less concerned. Now to be fair, the very first wafer level burn-in customer that we did is also an AI accelerator supplier. They're using TSMC wafers. TSMC was involved in the qualification and the buyout process of what that looks like. And they, we believe, have been very visible to other customers who are aware of it, either they walk by it at the OSATs or they're just aware of it.

所以我認為這絕對有潛力——當這件事進展順利時，其他人會更不擔心。公平地說，我們做的第一個晶圓級燒機客戶也是一家 AI 加速器供應商。他們使用台積電（TSMC）的晶圓。台積電參與了資格認證（qualification）以及採購/買斷流程（buyout process），也就是整個流程會長什麼樣子。而且我們相信，他們對其他客戶而言也非常顯眼；其他客戶要嘛在 OSAT 廠走過時會看到，要嘛就是知道這件事。

And there have been even some rumors about them going out and publicly talking about it that I'm not ready to verify yet right now. But they're very happy with us, and we're a partner to them. So that itself has helped. In fact, there's some potential that they are the ones that caused the new benchmark customer to take interest once they understood that they were able to do it. So they all feed on each other, not dissimilar to some of the stuff that was going on silicon carbide before obviously, the EV sort of just went quiet, right? We were starting to win everything.

甚至還有一些傳聞說他們可能會對外公開談這件事，但我現在還不準備去證實。不過他們對我們非常滿意，而我們也是他們的合作夥伴。所以這本身就有幫助。事實上，也有可能正是他們在理解到我們能做到之後，讓新的標竿客戶產生興趣。所以它們彼此相互帶動，這跟之前碳化矽（silicon carbide）的一些情況並不太不同——當然，後來電動車（EV）那邊就突然安靜下來了，對吧？我們當時開始幾乎什麼案子都在贏。

Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. And then Chris, just on gross margins, they stepped up to 40.5% this quarter. How should we think about that going forward? I mean, is that kind of sustainable? And what are kind of the puts and takes there?

對，這非常合理。然後 Chris，關於毛利率，這一季提升到40.5%。我們接下來應該怎麼看？我的意思是，這樣的水準可持續嗎？其中有哪些拉動與抵銷因素（puts and takes）？

Yeah. I would say for the entire year FY27, that is -- that's the right range. Obviously, we're going to have variations between quarters and especially Q2, we're going to ship a lot of Sonoma systems to our hyperscale customers. So Q2 would probably be lower than what we're presenting -- what we presented in Q1. But for the year, it would be plus or 0.5 percentage, plus or minus.

是的。我會說就整個 FY27 來看，那——那就是合理的區間。當然，各季度之間會有波動，尤其是 Q2，我們會向超大規模（hyperscale）客戶出貨大量 Sonoma 系統。所以 Q2 可能會比我們在 Q1 所呈現的——所呈現的水準更低一些。但就全年而言，大概是正負0.5個百分點，上下浮動。

Edward Yang, Oppenheimer.

Edward Yang，Oppenheimer。

Chris, congrats on the nice quarter. My first one, just on this again, this benchmark AI processor opportunity seems to be progressing very nicely. But can you help us understand the pacing with the Taiwan installation not planned until early next year? Was this timetable consistent with your expectations?

Chris，恭喜這一季表現不錯。第一個問題，還是回到這點：這個標竿 AI 處理器的機會看起來進展得很順利。但能否幫我們理解一下節奏？因為台灣的安裝要到明年初才規劃進行。這個時程是否符合你們原先的預期？

Yeah, pretty close. I mean I think it's within maybe 30 days or so of what we were originally thinking. So I think that's pretty consistent. They've been -- we've been meeting with them regularly working through -- looking at WaferPak designs on multiple different devices. Part of it was we weren't even sure which device they wanted to do the production benchmark or production evaluation on.

是的，差不多。我的意思是，我覺得跟我們原本的想法相比，大概只差了30天左右。所以我認為這相當一致。他們一直——我們也一直定期跟他們開會，逐步推進——在多種不同裝置上檢視 WaferPak 設計。其中一部分原因是，我們一開始甚至不確定他們想用哪一個裝置來做量產標竿（production benchmark）或量產評估（production evaluation）。

They chose the one that we did the original benchmark on, but we weren't even sure if it was going to be that one or one of the others. And so I think we're working through that. And things take time. People are very busy right now, as you can imagine. And in the background, we're fully committed to work through these things.

他們選了我們最初做原始標竿的那一個，但我們當時甚至不確定會是那個，還是其他其中之一。所以我想我們正在把這些事情逐步釐清。而且事情需要時間。你可以想像，大家現在都非常忙。同時在背景裡，我們也全力投入把這些事情推進完成。

Some of the stuff I alluded to, and I'm just not going to go into the detail here related to some of the new features that we have in the system that we've actually patented and haven't gone without NDAs, we're just not talking about some of those features. We're just -- we're implementing those in the background and doing it. So their schedule hasn't slowed us down on that at all. But again, I would think somewhere in that first couple of few months of the quarter, they'll have seen enough to trigger kind of next steps. Maybe it will go sooner, we'll see. But if we can be successful at this and they continue to engage with us on the different devices they're talking about, that's fantastic.

我先前提到的一些事情——我這裡就不展開細節——與我們系統中的一些新功能有關；這些功能其實已經申請專利，而且在沒有簽 NDA 的情況下我們不會對外談，所以我們目前不談其中一些功能。我們只是——在背景中把那些功能實作並完成。所以他們的時程在這方面完全沒有拖慢我們。但再說一次，我認為在該季度的前幾個月內，他們就會看到足夠的成果，從而觸發下一步。也許會更早，我們再看看。但如果我們能在這件事上成功，而且他們也持續就他們談到的不同裝置與我們互動，那就太好了。

And for my follow-up, just on competition, one of the larger system-level test suppliers recently introduced what they call AI burn-in capabilities. It doesn't seem really comparable to what Aehr offers. But maybe talk us through how their approach differs from FOX's accelerated live screening.

關於我的追問，聚焦在競爭面：其中一家較大型的系統級測試供應商最近推出了他們所稱的 AI 燒機（burn-in）能力。看起來它並不太能與 Aehr 所提供的方案相提並論。但能否請你帶我們梳理一下，他們的方法與 FOX 的加速即時篩選（accelerated live screening）有何不同？

Okay. Well, they're within -- so first of all, as we understand what they're -- when people talk about screening and burn-in, all semiconductors are tested. They're tested good from bad, and they may be tested for how good they are, speed grade or whatever. And there's platforms out there, the two dominant platforms for all the AI high-performance computing platforms are the 93,000 from Advantest. I always remind people that, that came from my old company from HP, Agilent and Verigy. One of the greatest acquisition ever was when they bought Verigy because it's done so very well for them. And the Ultraflex from Teradyne, who's been gaining market share. But those are the two players. If you told me it was 99%, I believe you, okay?

好的。嗯，他們是在——首先，就我們對他們所做事情的理解——當人們談到篩選（screening）與燒機（burn-in）時，所有半導體都會被測試。會測試把良品與不良品分開，也可能會測試其良率/品質等級，例如速度等級之類。而市面上針對所有 AI 高效能運算平台，兩個主導平台分別是 Advantest 的 93,000（93K）。我總是提醒大家，那套系統源自我以前的公司：HP、Agilent 以及 Verigy。他們收購 Verigy 可說是史上最成功的併購之一，因為對他們的表現非常好。另一個是 Teradyne 的 UltraFlex，他們一直在提升市占。但基本上就是這兩家玩家。如果你告訴我它們合計是 99%，我也會相信，好嗎？

All testing is done at wafer and at a package level. When the device is good at the very end, right, a customer will take that, put it into a computer, put that into a rack and then ship it to the end customer, a data center. But what they're finding is those devices would fail early, days, weeks later. So what first was happening is the data center, the suppliers of the racks, computer Micro and Super Micro and these guys, they would actually do a burn-in of the rack, run it for a week to screen out infant mortality, they would call it, of the processors that were failing. And there were public comments by Jensen and others to say, listen, in a big white paper that was done by Meta that was talked about the failures that were happening in the data centers and now the people needed to implement burn-in and screening.

所有測試都會在晶圓（wafer）層級以及封裝（package）層級進行。當器件在最後端確認為良品後，客戶會把它裝進電腦，再把電腦裝進機櫃（rack），然後出貨給終端客戶，也就是資料中心。但他們發現這些器件會在早期失效，可能是幾天、幾週之後。所以一開始發生的情況是：資料中心端、機櫃供應商、像 Computer Micro、Super Micro 這些公司，會對整個機櫃做燒機，跑一週來篩掉他們所謂的「嬰兒死亡率」（infant mortality）——也就是那些會失效的處理器。而 Jensen 等人也曾公開評論：請注意，Meta 做了一份大型白皮書，談到資料中心正在發生的失效問題，現在大家需要導入燒機與篩選。

These are old -- these are techniques that have been used for years and years with the likes of Intel and AMD for screening their processors, but all of the new processor companies were fabless going through TSMC and didn't have any of the infrastructure in place. And so people are scrambling what do I do because I don't want to do it at the rack level. So one of the first things they did is they actually looked at what are called SLT machines. So in addition to the final test systems I described for Advantest and Teradyne, there's another insertion called an SLT insertion, which for all intents and purposes is to boot up the device in its native application. Think of it on its own motherboard.

這些都是老方法——像 Intel、AMD 多年來一直用這些技術來篩選他們的處理器；但所有新的處理器公司多半是無晶圓廠（fabless），透過台積電（TSMC）代工，並沒有任何既有的基礎設施。因此大家都在慌：我該怎麼做？因為我不想在機櫃層級做。所以他們最先做的事情之一，就是去看所謂的 SLT 機台。除了我剛才描述的 Advantest 與 Teradyne 的最終測試系統之外，還有另一道插入測試叫 SLT 插入（SLT insertion），其目的基本上是在原生應用中把器件開機跑起來。你可以把它想成在它自己的主機板上運作。

And there's companies like Han, Precision, Chroma, AEM, Teradyne has just introduced one, which is what I think you're alluding to with their Titan, I think Titan or Tritan, I forget which one, platform, which is an SLT machine, which is at speed, high speed, intended to look and feel like the actual application.

有像 Han、Precision、Chroma、AEM 這些公司；Teradyne 也剛推出一套，我想你指的就是他們的 Titan——我記得是 Titan 或 Tritan，我忘了是哪個——平台；那是一台 SLT 機，具備速度（at speed）、高速特性，目標是讓它看起來、感覺起來就像實際應用。

And that has -- they have great thermals on it, and they have ATE performance, but done for a specific insertion. Now you could do a burn-in on that thing. They typically are very expensive platforms that have high-speed digital signals, et cetera. And -- but one of the challenges is the burn-in condition for accelerating these infant mortalities is not the same as the user mode. We actually bring the devices up to much higher temperatures than they run in the normal user environment to basically strain them and age them.

那套系統——它的散熱（thermal）做得很好，也具備 ATE 的效能，但它是為特定插入測試而設計。你確實可以用那個來做燒機。但這類平台通常非常昂貴，因為需要高速數位訊號等等。不過其中一個挑戰是：用來加速這些嬰兒死亡率的燒機條件，並不等同於使用者模式（user mode）。我們會把器件拉到比正常使用環境更高的溫度，基本上是對它施加應力並讓它加速老化。

So within 3 hours, we might make the device look like it's several months old or more. And we can correlate to screen out those infant mortality rates by bringing the devices up to very high voltages and very high temperatures extremely accurately and basically precisely age them 3 months, not 3 years, okay?

因此在 3 小時內，我們可能就能讓器件呈現出像是已經使用了好幾個月甚至更久的狀態。而我們可以透過把器件拉到非常高的電壓與非常高的溫度、且極其精準地控制，來建立關聯性並篩掉那些嬰兒死亡率；也就是精準地把它「老化」到 3 個月，而不是 3 年，好嗎？

So we don't want to wear them out. And so that's what we do with our burn-in insertion. But there have been several companies out there that have talked about trying to use SLT derivatives, system-level test derivatives to try and do the burn-in. When we're engaged in package level burn-in deals right now, which there's a number of them going on, people are not talking to us about the SLT alternatives. They're looking for what they would call a real burn-in system like Sonoma that's aimed at addressing those high voltages and high temperatures and massive parallelism at low cost.

所以我們不希望把它們磨耗到報廢。這就是我們在燒機插入測試上所做的事。但市面上確實有幾家公司談過，嘗試用 SLT 的衍生方案、系統級測試（system-level test）的衍生方案來做燒機。然而我們目前正在洽談的封裝層級燒機案子（而且有好幾個正在進行），客戶並沒有跟我們談 SLT 替代方案。他們在找的是他們所謂的「真正的燒機系統」，像 Sonoma 這種，目標是以低成本達成高電壓、高溫度，以及大規模平行處理（massive parallelism）。

So we think we have the best package level burn-in system on the market with Sonoma, okay? But to be fair, there are other customers out there, other companies that make them. And in some cases, one of the challenges is they might make one for their own use, and they might have an advantage because they have some cost because they build it themselves. They may not be able to hit our performance, but maybe they're willing to make some of the other technical trade-offs.

所以我們認為，在市場上以 Sonoma 來看，我們擁有最好的封裝層級燒機系統，好嗎？但公平地說，市場上也有其他客戶、其他公司在做這類設備。而在某些情況下，其中一個挑戰是：他們可能是為自用而做，因此在成本上可能有優勢，因為是自己打造的。他們也許達不到我們的效能，但也許願意在其他技術面做一些取捨。

So in package level burn-in, we actually see that business growing and growing, and we think that the real competition isn't really an SLT machine, okay? But more interestingly, the real competition to package level is the FOX system from us. The wafer level system provides capabilities both technically. We can do things at wafer level that nobody, including us, can do a package level. And that -- we're proving that to customers through these benchmarks, which would get a customer to want to shift from package level to wafer level.

因此在封裝層級燒機方面，我們確實看到這個業務持續成長、愈來愈大；而我們認為真正的競爭對手其實不是 SLT 機台，好嗎？但更有意思的是：對封裝層級而言，真正的競爭其實是我們的 FOX 系統。晶圓層級系統在技術上提供了能力。我們能在晶圓層級做到一些事情，沒有人——包括我們自己——能在封裝層級做到。而我們正透過這些基準測試（benchmarks）向客戶證明這點，讓客戶想把流程從封裝層級轉移到晶圓層級。

And in that case, the only alternative, unless you want to violate our IP, and we ferociously will defend it is to try and use a standard prober and an ATE system coming down and trying to test as many devices you can at a time to try and get the cost effectiveness down.

在那種情況下，唯一的替代方案——除非你想侵犯我們的智慧財產權（IP），而我們會非常強硬地捍衛——就是嘗試用標準探針台（prober）搭配 ATE 系統下探，並盡可能同時測更多顆器件，以把成本效益壓下來。

So what we're able to do is we're often testing a quarter of a wafer at a time of all the processors, which people think is nuts, considering that the 93K and the UltraFlex are typically testing one device at a time. So we're testing a quarter of all the die in parallel on 9 die and 9 wafers at a time. Sometimes, by the way, we may test one-eight or something, but we're able to do that very cost effectively. And by doing it at wafer level, the cost to test at wafer level is a fraction of the yield improvement by moving it to wafer level. So we think that ultimately, that's where people will shift.

我們能做到的是：我們常常一次測四分之一片晶圓上的所有處理器；考量到 93K 與 UltraFlex 通常一次只測一顆器件，大家會覺得這很瘋狂。所以我們是在 9 顆晶粒（die）與 9 片晶圓同時進行時，把四分之一的所有晶粒做平行測試。順帶一提，有時我們可能測八分之一之類，但我們能非常具成本效益地做到。而且因為是在晶圓層級做，晶圓層級的測試成本，只是把它移到晶圓層級所帶來良率改善效益的一小部分。所以我們認為最終大家會往那個方向轉移。

And it's exciting and scary as you throw a party and what happens if every single person comes, but that's kind of where we're at. And it's -- we have a great front row seat using the Sonoma platform to have a conversation about people's next-generation devices that, in some cases, they say, you know what, we need to go to FOX by the time that part comes out. So we have a different -- we're playing with a different set of deck of cards, if you will, than our competitors are.

這既令人興奮也令人害怕，就像你辦派對，結果如果每個人都來了會怎樣——我們現在大概就是那種狀態。而且——我們透過 Sonoma 平台坐在第一排，能和客戶對話他們的下一代器件；在某些情況下，他們會說，你知道嗎，等那一代產品出來時，我們需要轉到 FOX。所以可以說，我們手上的牌組——如果你願意這麼比喻——跟競爭對手玩的不是同一副牌。

Larry Chlebina, Chlebina Capital.

Larry Chlebina，Chlebina Capital。

You mentioned that you're getting an opportunity on the HPC memory. And I think I heard you say via the base of the HPC stacks. Did I hear you correctly?

您提到在 HPC 記憶體方面正獲得一個機會。而且我想我聽到您說是透過 HPC 堆疊的基底。我聽得正確嗎？

Yeah. On the high-performance memory, HBM, HBM DRAM, there's a -- one of the features of the HBM standard to the JetX standard, and there's new devices coming out that are even outside of the normal JetX standard, where the DRAM devices are stacked on top of a logic interface chip that is done on a high-speed logic process. So like a TSMC would build it and then a Micron or Hynix would build the DRAM and put it on top of that, for example, or Samsung. And that a high-speed interface and other logic, including some built-in self-test features. But that device itself is subject to needing to be screened and bur in and have some sort of infant mortality because if it fails later, you might have 12 DRAM die on top of it, $500 or $1,000 worth of die.

是的。在高效能記憶體 HBM、HBM DRAM 方面，HBM 標準相對於 JetX 標準有一項特性，而且還有一些新器件甚至已經超出一般 JetX 標準的範疇：DRAM 裝置會堆疊在一顆邏輯介面晶片上，而那顆晶片是用高速邏輯製程做出來的。例如像台積電會把那顆邏輯晶片做出來，接著 Micron 或 Hynix（或三星）再製作 DRAM 並把它堆在上面。而那顆邏輯晶片上有高速介面與其他邏輯，包含一些內建自我測試（BIST）功能。但那顆器件本身需要做篩選與 burn-in，並且要處理某種程度的早期失效（infant mortality），因為如果它之後才故障，你上面可能堆了 12 顆 DRAM die，等於有價值 500 或 1,000 美元的 die 壓在上面。

And is that base die opportunity, is that coming through the paid evaluator? Is that one of the opportunities down the road?

那個基底 die 的機會，是透過付費評估（paid evaluator）進來的嗎？那是未來其中一個機會嗎？

We've heard about this opportunity from several different flavors of suppliers. How is that?

我們從幾種不同類型的供應商那裡都聽說過這個機會。這是怎麼回事？

Okay. You also at the CEO Summit at SEMICON West, you were telling us about this breakthrough that you had in the -- being able to control the temperature of each device on the wafer within a 0.5 degree centigrade, which is phenomenal. And that breakthrough involves a super-duper new WaferPak that you developed that you recently patented. Will this -- or this next step in the pay-to-value wafer, will that involve that full complement of nine super-duper WaferPaks? What are you calling them?

好的。你在 SEMICON West 的 CEO Summit 上也跟我們談到，你在一項突破上——能把晶圓上每一顆器件的溫度控制在攝氏 0.5 度以內，這非常驚人。而那個突破牽涉到你們開發的一個超級全新的 WaferPak，而且你們最近已經申請專利。那麼，這個——或說付費價值（pay-to-value）晶圓的下一步，會包含完整的九個超級 WaferPaks 嗎？你們怎麼稱呼它們？

Super-duper WaferPaks. No. We've been calling it the die TC for die temperature control. And it has the ability to actually independently manipulate the thermals of each of the die under test at the wafer level, which is nuts. People have never even contemplated that before. And it's integrated into our WaferPak and custom design for each of the wafers under test. So it's a pretty cool feature.

超級 WaferPaks。不。我們一直稱它為 die TC，也就是 die temperature control（晶粒溫度控制）。它能在晶圓層級，對每一顆受測 die 的熱行為進行獨立調控，這很瘋狂。以前人們甚至從未想過這件事。而且它整合在我們的 WaferPak 裡，並且會針對每一種受測晶圓做客製化設計。所以這是一個很酷的功能。

And that will be in that full production system that you're going to start the first of the year in the evaluation?

而這會包含在你們明年年初開始進行評估的那套量產系統裡嗎？

Yeah, it will be.

會的。

And well, that seems like a heck of a way to differentiate, actually be able to show that you can get a full burn-in system, actual burn-in and not burn out any devices that have a thermal runaway potential because of leakage and so on, as you described it.

那麼，這看起來確實是一個很強的差異化方式：實際展示你能做出一套完整的 burn-in 系統，是真正的 burn-in，而不是把那些因漏電等因素、可能發生熱失控的器件給 burn out（燒壞），就像你描述的那樣。

So it's actually even -- so you got it right, but it may be the opposite of -- if I describe it differently, it may be even more impactful. So if you go into thermal runaway, what happens when these devices heat up, they actually drop their resistance, which draws more current and then they heat up at the square of the current. You can see the problem. When they heat up, they drop more resistance, drop more current. In our world, that's called thermal runaway. The device immediately within milliseconds or seconds will go into thermal runaway and burn itself up and actually burn up. That's bad, okay?

其實甚至——你理解得沒錯，但如果我用不同方式描述，影響可能更大。如果進入熱失控（thermal runaway），這些器件一旦升溫，電阻會下降，因而拉更多電流，然後它們會以電流的平方來發熱。你可以看出問題所在。它們越熱，電阻越低、電流越大。在我們這個領域，這就叫熱失控。器件會在毫秒或幾秒內立刻進入熱失控，把自己燒掉，真的燒毀。這很糟，對吧？

So you're saying we can avoid doing that. That is true. But what's actually more critically important, if you look at some of these packages that are coming out, they may have multiple die inside, but they're all tied to the same substrate. The die don't all burn in and have the same leakages. So they're all going to generate different power and different heat, self-heating.

所以你是說我們可以避免這種情況。這沒錯。但更關鍵的是，如果你看一些正在推出的封裝，它們裡面可能有多顆 die，但都連到同一個基板上。這些 die 的 burn-in 行為與漏電並不相同。因此它們會產生不同的功耗與不同的熱量，也就是自我發熱。

The way people will do that is they actually self -- they look at the hottest die and control the temperatures on that one to avoid it from going in the thermal runaway. But when they do that, the coldest die isn't at the burn-in condition. And their customers are like, well, what are we going to do? So that device is actually not burned in optimally. So those -- that infant mortality or that failure rate will sneak through all the way to the data center. The physics. That's all we can do.

人們通常的做法是：看最熱的那顆 die，並控制那一顆的溫度，避免它進入熱失控。但這麼做時，最冷的那顆 die 就達不到 burn-in 條件。客戶就會說，那我們該怎麼辦？所以那個器件其實沒有被最佳化地 burn-in。因此那些——早期失效或故障率——就會一路漏過去，直到資料中心才出現。這是物理限制。我們能做的就只有這些。

The customer is actually paying for a burn-in and actually isn't getting it on the full package. So still suffering from mortality failures and use, you pay for it.

客戶其實付了 burn-in 的費用，但整個封裝並沒有真正得到完整的 burn-in。所以仍然會在使用中遭遇早期失效，你付了錢卻還是得承擔。

And if you take that to an extreme, which isn't that far out in time, you just simply won't be able to have an effective burn-in. And you're just going to have to say, well, I'm going to have failures in the data center. And some people say, you know what, those data centers are going to be a long ways away, and you can't have failures, right? And so we start using the term internally here. Terrestrial data centers are a lot easier than some of the new ones that are coming up.

如果把這推到更極端——而且離現在並不遠——你將根本無法做出有效的 burn-in。你只能說，好吧，我在資料中心就是會有故障。但有些人會說，你知道的，那些資料中心可能在很遠的地方，你不能有故障，對吧？所以我們在內部開始用一個說法。地面（terrestrial）資料中心比起一些即將出現的新型資料中心要容易得多。

And you start looking at these real-time edge inference devices where the failure is literally life and death. And so we're getting to these scenarios where you have to do the burn-in and people are like, but how are we going to do it, right? And so it's a great time to be in the burn-in business.

再看看那些即時邊緣推論（real-time edge inference）裝置，故障真的就是生死攸關。所以我們正走向一些情境：你必須做 burn-in，而人們會說，但我們要怎麼做，對吧？因此，現在正是投入 burn-in 產業的好時機。

It sounds like your wafer level burn-in system with your super-duper or die TC WaferPak ought be a slam dunk.

聽起來你們的晶圓級 burn-in 系統，搭配你們的超級——或 die TC——WaferPak，應該是十拿九穩。

I agree with you.

我同意。

How do you sell it? Sell it. All right. Good job. That's all I had.

你要怎麼賣？賣它。好吧。做得好。我就這些。

That concludes our Q&A session. I will now hand the conference back to management for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我現在把電話會議交回管理層作結語。請開始。

All right. Thank you, operator. And thank you, everybody. We really appreciate you guys joining in for this. This is an interesting one.

好的。謝謝，接線員。也謝謝各位。非常感謝大家參與。這次很有意思。

We were avoiding election day tomorrow, so didn't anticipate being opposite of Apple. So we appreciate those that are listening in or catching up afterwards. And as always, if you have any questions, please get in touch with IR, Chris or I, and we'll be happy to respond to you as fast as we can. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.

我們原本是想避開明天的選舉日，所以沒預期會跟 Apple 撞期。因此也感謝那些正在收聽、或之後再回聽的各位。一如往常，如果你有任何問題，請聯絡投資人關係（IR），找 Chris 或我，我們會盡快回覆。非常感謝。再見。

Thank you. Everyone, this concludes today's event. You may disconnect at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。各位，今天的活動到此結束。您現在可以掛線，祝您有美好的一天。感謝您的參與。