Arteris Inc (AIP) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Arteris Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Earnings Call. Please note, this call is being recorded and simultaneously webcast. All material contained in the webcast is sole property and copyright of Arteris, Inc. with all rights reserved.

大家下午好，歡迎參加 Arteris 2024 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。請注意，本次通話將會被錄音並同時進行網路直播。網路廣播中包含的所有資料均為 Arteris, Inc. 的獨有財產和版權，保留所有權利。

For opening remarks and introductions, I will now turn the call over to Erica Mannion of Sapphire Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

為了致開幕詞和介紹，我現在將電話轉給 Sapphire 投資者關係部的 Erica Mannion。請繼續。

Thank you, and good afternoon. With me today from Arteris are Charlie Janac, Chief Executive Officer; and Nick Hawkins, Chief Financial Officer. Charlie will begin with a brief review of the business results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2024. Nick will review the financial results for the fourth quarter followed by the company's outlook for the first quarter and full year of 2025.

謝謝，下午好。今天與我一起的還有 Arteris 的執行長 Charlie Janac 和財務長 Nick Hawkins。查理將首先簡要回顧截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的第四季和年度的業務表現。尼克將回顧第四季的財務業績，隨後展望公司 2025 年第一季和全年的前景。

We will then open the call for questions. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that management will make statements during this call that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These statements involve material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to materially differ from those anticipated, and you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

然後我們將開始提問。在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，管理層將在本次電話會議中發表符合聯邦證券法含義的前瞻性聲明。這些聲明涉及重大風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果或事件與預期有重大差異，而您不應過度依賴前瞻性聲明。

Additional information regarding these risks, uncertainties and factors that could cause results to differ appear in the press release Arteris issued today and in the documents and reports filed by Arteris from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Please note, during this call, we will cite certain non-GAAP measures, including non-GAAP net loss, non-GAAP net loss per share and free cash flow, which are not measures prepared in accordance with US GAAP.

有關這些風險、不確定性和可能導致結果不同的因素的更多信息，請參閱 Arteris 今天發布的新聞稿以及 Arteris 不時向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件和報告。請注意，在本次電話會議中，我們將引用某些非公認會計準則指標，包括非公認會計準則淨虧損、非公認會計準則每股淨虧損和自由現金流，這些指標並非依照美國公認會計準則編制。

The non-GAAP measures are presented as we believe that they provide investors with the means of evaluating and understanding how the company's management evaluates the company's operating performance. These non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation from, as substitutes for, or superior to financial measures prepared in accordance with US GAAP.

我們認為採用非公認會計準則衡量指標可以提供投資人評估和了解公司管理階層如何評估公司經營績效的手段。這些非公認會計準則指標不應被視為與依照美國公認會計準則編製的財務指標分離的、替代的或優於後者。

A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the nearest GAAP measure can be found in the press release for the quarter ended December 31, 2024. In addition, for a definition of certain of the key performance indicators used in this presentation such as annual contract value, confirmed design starts, active customers and remaining performance obligations, please see the press release for the quarter ended December 31, 2024.

這些非 GAAP 指標與最接近的 GAAP 指標的對帳可以在截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的季度新聞稿中找到。此外，有關本簡報中使用的某些關鍵績效指標的定義，例如年度合約價值、確認的設計開始時間、活躍客戶和剩餘履約義務，請參閱截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的季度新聞稿。

Listeners who do not have a copy of the press release for the quarter ended December 31, 2024, may obtain a copy by visiting the Investor Relations section of the company's website. In addition, management will be referring to the fourth quarter 2024 earnings presentation which can be found in the Investor Relations section of the company's website under the events and presentations tab.

尚未獲得截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的季度新聞稿副本的聽眾，可以訪問公司網站的投資者關係部分獲取副本。此外，管理層將參考 2024 年第四季度收益報告，該報告可在公司網站的「投資者關係」部分的活動和演示標籤下找到。

Now I will turn the call over to Charlie.

現在我將電話轉給查理。

Thank you, Erica, and thanks to everyone for joining us on our call today. In the fourth quarter of 2024, we achieved a record annual contract value, plus royalties, of $65.1 million as demand for commercial semiconductor system IP products continues to grow. Our success during the quarter was fueled by increased adoption of AI-driven enterprise computing and automotive SoCs.

謝謝你，艾麗卡，也謝謝大家今天參加我們的電話會議。2024 年第四季度，隨著商業半導體系統 IP 產品需求的持續增長，我們的年度合約價值（加上特許權使用費）達到了創紀錄的 6,510 萬美元。我們本季的成功得益於人工智慧驅動的企業運算和汽車 SoC 的採用率不斷提高。

We also continue to generate growing momentum in other key verticals including microcontrollers or MCUs. Business in the fourth quarter was driven by a mix of the addition of new customers, including several market leaders, as well as increased penetration in our current customer base, demonstrating the success of our land and expand strategic approach.

我們也將繼續在包括微控制器或 MCU 在內的其他關鍵垂直領域創造成長動能。第四季業務的成長得益於新客戶的增加，其中包括幾位市場領導者，以及我們現有客戶群滲透率的提高，這證明了我們土地和擴張策略方針的成功。

For example, the largest win in the quarter came from a global top five technology company that expanded its use of the Arteris product portfolio, complementing previous NoC IP orders with the addition of Magillem and CSRCompiler SoC integration automation software for their high-end AI SoCs for enterprise computing applications.

例如，本季最大的勝利來自一家全球五大科技公司，該公司擴大了對 Arteris 產品組合的使用，為其用於企業運算應用的高階 AI SoC 增加了 Magillem 和 CSRCompiler SoC 整合自動化軟體，補充了先前的 NoC IP 訂單。

Also, a major automotive OEM and a top five automotive semiconductor company expanded their use of Arteris products for several additional SoCs given the combination of superior performance, power and area efficiency as well as functional safety for their mission-critical applications. Last quarter, we shared that we are strategically expanding into the microcontroller, or MCU space, where designs have grown in complexity in recent years to benefit from low latency, flexible power and area efficient commercial NoC IPs.

此外，一家大型汽車 OEM 廠商和一家排名前五的汽車半導體公司擴大了對 Arteris 產品的使用，用於其他幾款 SoC，因為這些產品兼具卓越的性能、功率和麵積效率以及功能安全性，非常適合其關鍵任務應用。上個季度，我們分享了我們正在策略性地擴展到微控制器或 MCU 領域，近年來，該領域的設計變得越來越複雜，以受益於低延遲、靈活的功率和麵積高效的商業 NoC IP。

We are pleased to report the strategic expansion has already started to bear fruit with Infineon, the leading microcontroller manufacturer becoming a new customer standardizing on Arteris NoCs from automotive MCUs, which serves many of the world's top automotive tier 1 vendors and OEMs. We believe this strategic MCU win will help to accelerate our growing royalty stream.

我們很高興地報告，這項策略擴張已開始取得成果，領先的微控制器製造商英飛凌已成為汽車 MCU 標準化 Arteris NoC 的新客戶，為全球許多頂級汽車一級供應商和原始設備製造商提供服務。我們相信，這項策略性的 MCU 勝利將有助於加速我們不斷增長的版稅流。

Another key customer win was GigaDevice, where Arteris was selected by the microcontroller business unit as a result of our optimization in interconnect area and power consumption while ensuring functional safety. We're also seeing increased adoption of Arteris technology for chiplets, particularly for high-performance enterprise computing applications, sophisticated autonomous driving and smart edge devices across market-leading companies, midsized players and innovative startups.

另一個關鍵客戶是 GigaDevice，由於我們在確保功能安全的同時優化了互連面積和功耗，Arteris 被微控制器業務部門選中。我們也看到 Arteris 小晶片技術的應用日益廣泛，尤其是在市場領導者、中型企業和創新新創公司的高性能企業運算應用、複雜的自動駕駛和智慧邊緣設備中。

These customers are increasingly pursuing a multi-die strategy to expand compute power with Arteris as the core interconnect IP for each chiplet due to our technologies, superior power, performance and area, or PPA. One such example was Tenstorrent, which expanded the deployment of Arteris NoCs for their next generation of chiplet-based AI solutions for high-performance, energy-efficient RISC-V computing for AI and HPC data centers.

由於我們的技術、卓越的功率、性能和麵積（PPA），這些客戶越來越多地追求多晶片策略，以使用 Arteris 作為每個晶片的核心互連 IP 來擴展運算能力。其中一個例子是 Tenstorrent，它擴展了 Arteris NoC 的部署，用於其下一代基於小晶片的 AI 解決方案，為 AI 和 HPC 資料中心提供高效能、節能的 RISC-V 運算。

Similarly, Menta deployed Arteris for their edge IP chiplet to ensure better performance and area efficiency for edge AI and IoT computing. As we look back on 2024, we witnessed accelerating industry demand Arteris technology, which we believe was fueled by increased penetration of AI into not only high-end data centers and autonomous driving but a wide range of new products, including edge devices.

同樣，Menta 為其邊緣 IP 晶片部署了 Arteris，以確保邊緣 AI 和 IoT 運算具有更好的效能和麵積效率。回顧 2024 年，我們見證了業界對 Arteris 技術的需求不斷加速，我們認為，這得益於人工智慧不僅在高端資料中心和自動駕駛領域，而且在包括邊緣設備在內的各種新產品中的滲透率不斷提高。

Complexity has, and we believe, will continue to impact high-end compute and traditional lower-end technologies, including MCUs, driving demand for efficiency that is enabled by Arteris Network-on-Chip technology. This has resulted in additional 14 new customers and increased wallet share of Arteris products in customers ranging from top five technology companies down to new innovative start-ups, with our technology now being part of nearly 850 designs to date.

我們相信，複雜性將繼續影響高端運算和傳統的低端技術（包括 MCU），從而推動對 Arteris 片上網路技術實現的效率的需求。這為 Arteris 帶來了 14 個新客戶，並增加了 Arteris 產品在客戶群中的錢包份額，這些客戶既包括五大科技公司，也包括新興的創新新創企業，迄今為止，我們的技術已成為近 850 個設計的一部分。

Last year, we also saw increased adoption of the physically aware FlexNoC 5, which leverages advanced node and placement information to enable up to 5x faster physical coverage while supporting best-in-class PPA. We are happy to highlight that in the fourth quarter, over 75% of FlexNoC interconnect IP customers chose this more advanced version, which was introduced just 1.5-years ago.

去年，我們還看到物理感知 FlexNoC 5 的採用率不斷提高，它利用先進的節點和佈局信息，實現高達 5 倍的物理覆蓋速度，同時支援一流的 PPA。我們很高興地強調，在第四季度，超過 75% 的 FlexNoC 互連 IP 客戶選擇了這個更先進的版本，該版本僅在一年半前推出。

Also noteworthy, last year's addition of tiling and expanding mesh technology in FlexNoC and Ncore product lines, along with Armv9 support helped to advance Arteris as the right partner to support the most innovative chip designs. Moreover, I'm very excited to announce today our FlexGen smart NoC IP, which has the potential of -- to revolutionize semiconductor designs by delivering up to 10x engineering productivity and lowering power consumption and improving overall PPA.

同樣值得注意的是，去年在 FlexNoC 和 Ncore 產品線中增加了平鋪和擴展網格技術，以及 Armv9 支持，有助於 Arteris 成為支持最具創新性的晶片設計的合適合作夥伴。此外，我今天非常高興地宣布我們的 FlexGen 智慧 NoC IP，它有可能透過提供高達 10 倍的工程生產力、降低功耗和提高整體 PPA 來徹底改變半導體設計。

FlexGen builds upon the silicon proven and physically aware FlexNoC 5 IP to automate the creation of high-performance Network-on-Chip, NoC designs. Supported by AI-driven automation, FlexGen reduces manual iteration by over 90%, providing expert level NoC topologies in hours or days instead of weeks as demonstrated by Dream Chip under ADAS SoC as well as multiple other designs.

FlexGen 以經過矽驗證且具有物理感知能力的 FlexNoC 5 IP 為基礎，自動建立高效能片上網路 (NoC) 設計。在人工智慧驅動的自動化支援下，FlexGen 將手動迭代減少了 90% 以上，在數小時或數天內（而不是數週）提供專家級 NoC 拓撲，正如 ADAS SoC 下的 Dream Chip 以及其他多種設計所證明的那樣。

FlexGen is now ready for production deployments and has been delivered for evaluations to over 10 companies, some of which have been working with this technology for more than six months. FlexGen is the combination of years of groundbreaking innovation and multiple patents with the goal of boosting productivity while improving quality of results to overcome extreme design challenges semiconductor and system companies face when creating today's chips or chiplets, which often contain 5 to 20 NoCs each.

FlexGen 現已準備好投入生產部署，並已交付給 10 多家公司進行評估，其中一些公司已經使用這項技術超過六個月。FlexGen 融合了多年的突破性創新和多項專利，旨在提高生產力，同時改善結果質量，以克服半導體和系統公司在創建當今晶片或小晶片（每個通常包含 5 到 20 個 NoC）時面臨的極端設計挑戰。

We expect FlexGen to have a positive impact on our customers and on our business going forward. Lastly, our long-standing position as a neutral IT provider was illustrated in our continued success with Arm-based designs, customers using RISC-V and x86 CPU IP architectures. To further support this expanding processor IP ecosystem, last quarter we announced a partnership with MIPS to provide a pre-verified RISC-V reference platform to support mutual customers.

我們期望 FlexGen 能夠對我們的客戶和未來的業務產生積極的影響。最後，我們作為中立 IT 供應商的長期地位體現在我們在基於 Arm 的設計、使用 RISC-V 和 x86 CPU IP 架構的客戶方面取得的持續成功。為了進一步支援這個不斷擴展的處理器 IP 生態系統，上個季度我們宣布與 MIPS 合作，提供預先驗證的 RISC-V 參考平台來支援共同的客戶。

The goal is to improve interoperability and shortened SoC integration for chip designs for automotive, enterprise computing and edge AI applications using Arteris as their essential connectivity backbone. We believe that the scale and scope of our long-term opportunity remains robust and is supported by our current products and strong product pipeline of new system IP technologies as well as growing relationships with some of the largest and most advanced electronics companies in the world.

目標是使用 Arteris 作為其基本連接主幹，提高汽車、企業運算和邊緣 AI 應用晶片設計的互通性並縮短 SoC 整合。我們相信，我們長期機會的規模和範圍仍然強勁，並得到我們現有產品和強大的新系統 IP 技術產品線以及與世界上一些最大和最先進的電子公司日益增長的關係的支持。

Our customers continue to innovate in exciting high-growth areas such as generative AI, autonomous driving, using Arteris technologies and global support.

我們的客戶利用 Arteris 技術和全球支持，不斷在生成式人工智慧、自動駕駛等令人興奮的高成長領域進行創新。

With that, I'll turn it over to Nick to discuss our financial results in more detail.

接下來，我將把話題交給尼克，讓他更詳細地討論我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Charlie, and good afternoon, everyone. As I review our fourth quarter results today, please note, I'll be referring to GAAP as well as non-GAAP metrics. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financials is included in today's earnings release, which is available on our website. Also, as a reminder, I will be referring to 4Q 2024 earnings presentation, which can be found in the Investor Relations section of the company's website under the Events and Presentations tab.

謝謝你，查理，大家下午好。當我今天回顧我們的第四季度業績時，請注意，我將參考 GAAP 和非 GAAP 指標。今天的收益報告中包含了 GAAP 與非 GAAP 財務狀況的對賬，您可以在我們的網站上查閱。另外，提醒一下，我將參考 2024 年第四季的收益報告，該報告可在公司網站的「活動和演示」標籤下的「投資者關係」部分中找到。

Turning to slide 5 of the presentation. Total revenue for the fourth quarter was $15.5 million, up 24% year-over-year, and above the midpoint of our guidance range. At the end of the fourth quarter, annual contract value, or ACV plus royalties, was $65.1 million, slightly above the midpoint of our guidance range, and a record high for the company.

翻到簡報的第 5 張投影片。第四季總營收為 1,550 萬美元，年增 24%，高於我們預期範圍的中點。第四季末，年度合約價值（ACV）加上特許權使用費為 6,510 萬美元，略高於我們指導範圍的中點，創下了公司的歷史新高。

Remaining performance obligations, or RPO, at the end of the fourth quarter were $88.4 million, representing 22% year-over-year increase and growing to the highest level we have ever reported. Non-GAAP gross profit for the quarter was $14.2 million, representing a gross margin of 91%. GAAP gross profit for the quarter was $13.9 million, representing a gross margin of 90%.

第四季末的剩餘履約義務（RPO）為 8,840 萬美元，年增 22%，達到我們報告以來的最高水準。本季非公認會計準則毛利為 1,420 萬美元，毛利率為 91%。本季 GAAP 毛利為 1,390 萬美元，毛利率為 90%。

For the full year, non-GAAP gross profit was $52.7 million, representing a gross margin of 91%. GAAP gross profit was $51.8 million, representing gross margin of 90%. Now moving to slide 6. Non-GAAP operating expense in the quarter was $16.9 million, flat sequentially and only 1% higher year-over-year. This reflects the team's continued focus on prudent management of our operating expense.

全年非公認會計準則毛利為 5,270 萬美元，毛利率為 91%。GAAP 毛利為 5,180 萬美元，毛利率為 90%。現在轉到投影片 6。本季非公認會計準則營運費用為 1,690 萬美元，與上一季持平，年比僅成長 1%。這反映了團隊對審慎管理營運費用的持續關注。

Total GAAP operating expense in the fourth quarter was $21 million, representing a 4% year-over-year increase. For the full year, non-GAAP operating expense was $67.6 million, a decline of 2% from prior year. Total GAAP operating expense of $83.4 million, a slight decline from prior year. As we look ahead, we plan to continue to limit spending to strategically critical areas while investing in profitable revenue growth.

第四季 GAAP 總營運費用為 2,100 萬美元，較去年同期成長 4%。全年非公認會計準則營業費用為 6,760 萬美元，較上年下降 2%。總 GAAP 營運費用為 8,340 萬美元，較前一年略有下降。展望未來，我們計劃繼續將支出限制在具有戰略意義的關鍵領域，同時投資於獲利性收入成長。

Non-GAAP operating loss in the quarter was $2.8 million, which came in above the top end of our guidance range. This represents a $2.7 million improvement compared to a loss of $5.5 million in the prior year period, and a $0.6 million improvement sequentially. GAAP operating loss for the fourth quarter was $7.1 million compared to a loss of $9.2 million in the prior year period, and $7.9 million in the third quarter.

本季非公認會計準則營業虧損為 280 萬美元，高於我們預期範圍的上限。與去年同期 550 萬美元的虧損相比，這一數字下降了 270 萬美元，與上一季相比，下降了 60 萬美元。第四季 GAAP 營業虧損為 710 萬美元，而去年同期的虧損為 920 萬美元，第三季的虧損為 790 萬美元。

For the full fiscal year, non-GAAP operating loss was $14.8 million, representing a $5 million improvement compared to the prior year. GAAP operating loss for the fourth quarter was $31.6 million, representing an improvement of $3.5 million from the prior year. Non-GAAP net loss in the quarter was $3.9 million, or diluted net loss per share of $0.10, based on approximately 40.2 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding.

整個財年，非公認會計準則營業虧損為 1,480 萬美元，較前一年減少 500 萬美元。第四季 GAAP 營業虧損為 3,160 萬美元，較上年同期減少 350 萬美元。本季非公認會計準則淨虧損為 390 萬美元，或每股攤薄淨虧損 0.10 美元，以約 4,020 萬股加權平均稀釋流通股數。

GAAP net loss for the quarter was $8.2 million or diluted net loss per share of $0.20. For the full fiscal year, non-GAAP net loss was $16.9 million or diluted net loss per share of $0.43, based on approximately 38.9 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding. GAAP net loss for the year was $33.6 million or diluted net loss per share of $0.86. Moving to slide 7 and turning to the balance sheet and cash flow.

本季以美國通用會計準則 (GAAP) 計算的淨虧損為 820 萬美元，即每股攤薄淨虧損 0.20 美元。全年以非美國通用會計準則 (Non-GAAP) 計算的淨虧損為 1,690 萬美元，即每股攤薄淨虧損 0.43 美元，基於約 3,890 萬股加權平均稀釋流通股。本年度 GAAP 淨虧損為 3,360 萬美元，每股稀釋淨虧損 0.86 美元。請移至第 7 張投影片，查看資產負債表和現金流量表。

We ended the quarter with $52.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments, and we have no financial debt. Free cash flow, which includes capital expenditure, was negative $2.7 million in the fourth quarter and negative $1.0 million for the full year. This was below our guidance due to short-term working capital timing changes at the end of the year, with some customer payments that were forecasted for the fourth quarter being received shortly after the fourth quarter close.

本季末，我們的現金、現金等價物和投資為 5,230 萬美元，且沒有任何金融債務。包括資本支出在內的自由現金流在第四季為負 270 萬美元，全年為負 100 萬美元。由於年底短期營運資本時間變化，這一數字低於我們的預期，部分預計在第四季度支付的客戶付款在第四季度結束後不久就收到了。

This along with strong order growth resulted in an increase in our accounts receivable balance of $11.9 million from the prior quarter end. I would now like to turn to our outlook for the first quarter and the full year and refer now to slide 8. For the first quarter of 2025, we expect ACV plus royalties of $65.5 million to $67.5 million; revenue of $15.7 million to $16.1 million with non-GAAP operating loss of $4 million to $3 million; non-GAAP free cash flow of negative $2 million to positive $2 million.

再加上訂單的強勁成長，我們的應收帳款餘額較上一季末增加了 1,190 萬美元。現在我想談談我們對第一季和全年的展望，請參閱第 8 張投影片。對於 2025 年第一季度，我們預計 ACV 加上特許權使用費為 6,550 萬美元至 6,750 萬美元；營收為 1,570 萬美元至 1,610 萬美元，非 GAAP 營運虧損為 400 萬美元至 300 萬美元；非 GAAP 自由現金流為負 200 萬美元。

For full year 2025, our guidance is as follows. ACV plus royalties to exit 2025 at $73 million to $77 million; revenue of $66.0 million to $70 million; non-GAAP operating loss of between $12.5 million to $8.5 million; and non-GAAP free cash flow of positive $1 million to positive $7 million. We are encouraged by the strong deal flow exiting the year and our effective cost management that resulted in better-than-expected performance in non-GAAP operating income in 2024. And this positions us for further improvements in our key financial metrics in 2025.

對於 2025 年全年，我們的指導如下。到 2025 年，平均每股收益加上特許權使用費將達到 7,300 萬美元至 7,700 萬美元；營收將達到 6,600 萬美元至 7,000 萬美元；非公認會計準則下的營業虧損將達到 1,250 萬美元至 850 萬美元；非公認會計準則下的營業虧損將達到 1,250 萬美元至 850 萬美元；非會計準則下的公認正流至 1,250 萬美元至 850 萬美元；非會計準則我們對今年強勁的交易流量和有效的成本管理感到鼓舞，這使得 2024 年非 GAAP 營業收入的表現優於預期。這為我們在 2025 年進一步改善關鍵財務指標奠定了基礎。

With that, I will turn the call over to the operator and open it up for questions. Operator?

說完這些，我將把電話轉給接線員並開始回答問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Gus Richard, Northland.

（操作員指示）葛斯‧理查德 (Gus Richard)，北國。

I guess, Nick, first for you, by my calculation, your bookings were over $30 million in the quarter, and that would kind of help explain the increase in deferred revenue and balance in accounts receivable. Am I in the right zip code?

我想，尼克，首先，根據我的計算，本季度你的預訂額超過 3000 萬美元，這在某種程度上有助於解釋遞延收入和應收帳款餘額的增加。我的郵遞區號正確嗎？

Gus, welcome to the call. Nice to speak to you again. So we don't actually specifically talk about bookings, it's not one of our metrics that we publish. But we have characterized the fourth quarter as a strong deal flow quarter. Fourth quarter is always our strongest deal flow quarter of the year, and this was no exception.

格斯，歡迎來電。很高興能再次和你交談。因此，我們實際上並沒有具體談論預訂量，這不是我們發布的指標之一。但我們將第四季度描述為交易流量強勁的季度。第四季始終是我們一年中交易量最大的季度，今年也不例外。

Okay. And Charlie, for you, just -- could you talk a little bit more about FlexGen and a 10x increase in productivity is a lot. Is that place and route? Or is it just doing the NoCs? And just can you talk a little bit more about how the product works and how it's different from prior versions? You still there?

好的。查理，對您來說，您能否再多談談 FlexGen 以及生產率提高 10 倍意味著什麼。那是地點和路線嗎？或者它只是在做 NoC？您能否再多談談該產品的工作原理以及它與先前版本有何不同？你還在嗎？

I wonder whether Charlie might be on mute. Let me just --

我不知道查理是否處於靜音狀態。讓我——

Sorry I apologize, I was on mute, yes. So FlexGen is based on FlexNoC 5, so you have all of the manual editing capability that you had before. But what FlexGen does, is you basically feed it a connectivity map, a list of all the connections, locations of all the IP block exit ports and a floor plan, and it gives you basically a NoC, a NoC topology in minutes -- or hours to minutes versus days.

抱歉，我道歉，是的，我靜音了。因此 FlexGen 是基於 FlexNoC 5，因此您擁有先前的所有手動編輯功能。但 FlexGen 所做的基本上是，你只需要給它一個連接圖、所有連接的清單、所有 IP 區塊出口連接埠的位置和平面圖，它基本上就會在幾分鐘內（或幾小時到幾分鐘而不是幾天）為你提供一個 NoC、一個 NoC 拓撲。

And this has been validated by a large number of benchmarks. So the productivity increase is huge, but it's not enough. So we've also been able to achieve superior wire length. So sometimes, depending on the benchmark, it can be from relatively modest for something like a small microcontroller, all the way to 30% for -- up to 30% for very complex large SoCs.

並且這已經得到了大量基準測試的驗證。因此，生產率的提高是巨大的，但還不夠。因此，我們也能夠實現更長的電線長度。因此，有時，根據基準，對於小型微控制器來說，它可能相對較低，對於非常複雜的大型 SoC 來說，則高達 30%。

And that gives you improvements in latency and gives you improvements in power. So we think that the three years of work that we have put into this is generating some very good results. And as we had in the script, we've basically shipped this to about 10 companies. And I think three more in the last 1.5 months as well. So I think we're up to 13 or so. And the take-up of the product has been very strong.

這會改善延遲並提高功率。因此我們認為，我們為此付出的三年努力正在產生非常好的成果。正如我們在腳本中所述，我們基本上已經將其發送給了大約 10 家公司。我認為在過去 1.5 個月內還發生了 3 起。所以我認為我們已經達到 13 左右了。該產品的接受度非常高。

And then last one for me. If I recall, the uplift on this product is about a 30% increase in ASP. Is that right?

這是我的最後一個。如果我沒記錯的話，這款產品的平均售價上漲了約 30%。是嗎？

That's right.

這是正確的。

Kevin Garrigan, Rosenblatt Securities.

羅森布拉特證券的凱文·加里根 (Kevin Garrigan)。

Congrats on the solid results and solid 2024. Charlie, just kind of going off of Gus's last question. Can you just kind of talk about ASP trends per project? I think previously, you were looking to hit kind of $1 million in 2026. So where did they kind of finish out for 2024? And is that $1 million ASP still kind of on track?

恭喜您取得堅實的成績並取得輝煌的 2024 年。查理，我只是想回答一下格斯的最後一個問題。能簡單談談每個專案的 ASP 趨勢嗎？我認為您之前的目標是在 2026 年達到 100 萬美元。那麼他們在 2024 年的成績如何呢？那麼 100 萬美元的平均銷售價格是否仍處於正軌上？

Yes. It is. But you asked a good question on the third quarter earnings call is we've announced that we're going to enter the microcontroller business. And we've been able to demonstrate success with two customers, Infineon and Giga, and you asked a good question is what's the ASP on the microcontrollers. And the answer is that while we're going after entire product lines in microcontrollers, on an individual basis, the ASP there is going to be lower because those do not really need FlexGen.

是的。這是。但是您在第三季財報電話會議上問了一個很好的問題，我們已經宣布將進軍微控制器業務。我們已經能夠向兩家客戶英飛凌和 Giga 展示成功，您問了一個很好的問題，即微控制器的 ASP 是多少。答案是，雖然我們追求微控制器的整個產品線，但從個別角度來看，那裡的 ASP 會更低，因為它們實際上不需要 FlexGen。

They may or may not need physical awareness and the interconnects, while getting much more complex, a little bit simpler. But for the complex SoCs, we're definitely on track for $1 million ASPs on the average. And we know this because we're getting $1 million per project deals now, it's just not necessarily the average. And if you were to buy everything from us right now, you'll be looking at kind of a reasonable industry discount, about $1.5 million.

它們可能需要也可能不需要物理意識和互連，同時變得更加複雜，也更加簡單​​。但對於複雜的 SoC，我們肯定會實現平均 100 萬美元的 ASP。我們之所以知道這一點，是因為我們現在每個項目的交易額是 100 萬美元，但這不一定是平均值。如果您現在從我們這裡購買所有產品，您將享受到合理的行業折扣，大約 150 萬美元。

So -- if you were to buy everything from us. So as we deliver these new products and as the amount of system IP that's being used increases per project, we're on track for that $1.6 million -- I'm sorry, $1 million ASP. But the caveat is that you have to exclude the micro controllers.

所以——如果您要從我們這裡購買所有東西。因此，隨著我們推出這些新產品，並且每個項目使用的系統 IP 數量不斷增加，我們有望實現 160 萬美元——抱歉，是 100 萬美元的平均銷售價格。但需要注意的是，您必須排除微控制器。

Okay. Got it. That makes sense. So that actually leads me into my next question. And you're looking at complex designs in the MCU market, but maybe not as complex as those in enterprise computing or AI machine learning. So now that you kind of have Infineon and Giga under the belt, is -- the time between design starts production, is it similar to your typical average? Or is it kind of maybe accelerated because they're not -- they may not need as much?

好的。知道了。這很有道理。這實際上引出了我的下一個問題。您正在研究 MCU 市場中的複雜設計，但可能不如企業運算或 AI 機器學習中的設計那麼複雜。那麼，現在您已經擁有了英飛凌和 Giga 的經驗，那麼從設計到生產之間的時間是否與您的平均值相似？或者可能是因為他們不需要那麼多，所以才加速？

So our target is to essentially establish relationships with the large microcontroller vendors. And they typically build generations of microcontrollers every three years. So from that perspective, the design start windows are longer. However, once they start designing a generation of microcontrollers, they may design 6 to 10, maybe even more, maybe up to 15 microcontrollers per generation.

因此，我們的目標是與大型微控制器供應商建立關係。他們通常每三年就會生產一代微控制器。因此從這個角度來看，設計開始視窗更長。然而，一旦他們開始設計一代微控制器，他們每代可能會設計 6 到 10 個，甚至更多，最多可能 15 個微控制器。

And so the time between those design starts is actually very, very short, right? So what you have to do is you have to hit the time where the customer is doing a new generation of microcontrollers and then the design start window gets relatively short of that particular generation of microcontrollers. It's a pretty different dynamic than you see in the automotive or AI SoC space.

那麼從設計開始到現在的時間其實非常非常短，對嗎？因此，您要做的就是，您必須抓住客戶開發新一代微控制器的時間，然後設計開始視窗就會相對較短。這與汽車或 AI SoC 領域中看到的動態截然不同。

Congrats on the results.

恭喜取得成果。

(Operator Instructions) Ethan Potasnick, TD Cowen.

（操作員指示）伊森·波塔斯尼克（Ethan Potasnick），TD Cowen。

Congrats on the great results. I wanted to kind of dig into licensing and royalty results. Kind of considering the broader macro backdrop and particularly what's occurring in the automotive space. So maybe to get some expanded thoughts there would be helpful.

恭喜您取得如此優異的成績。我想深入了解許可證和版稅結果。考慮更廣泛的宏觀背景，特別是汽車領域正在發生的事情。因此，也許獲得一些擴展的想法會有所幫助。

Nick, this is for you -- yes, you take this one. You're the royalty king.

尼克，這是給你的——是的，你拿著這個。你是皇室之王。

Yes. So yes, so the astute observers among you will have spotted that the royalties and other line was slightly lower year-over-year. There's two real causes for that. One is that, as you'll recall from previous calls, we had some onetime benefits, particularly around royalty audits, fairly substantial in 2023, and those were later in 2024. So we tend to look at variable royalties as a better sort of trend guide.

是的。是的，你們當中敏銳的觀察者會發現，版稅和其他費用比去年同期略有下降。造成這種情況有兩個真正的原因。一是，正如您在之前的電話會議中記得的那樣，我們在 2023 年獲得了一些一次性福利，特別是在特許權使用費審計方面，這些福利相當可觀，而這些福利是在 2024 年晚些時候獲得的。因此，我們傾向於將可變版稅視為更好的趨勢指南。

And variable royalties, which is -- that's still the bulk of that total income line, were 20% up year-over-year. Remember also that Mobileye had a sort of fairly major inventory correction particularly at the beginning of 2024, as I'm sure you'll remember. And so if you exclude Mobileye from that trend, which is quite a big royalty contributor, the overall variable royalty growth year-over-year was in excess of 30%.

而可變特許權使用費，即仍然是總收入的主要部分，同比增長了 20%。還記得嗎，Mobileye 進行了一次相當大的庫存調整，特別是在 2024 年初，我相信你會記得。因此，如果將 Mobileye 排除在該趨勢之外（Mobileye 是特許權使用費的巨大貢獻者），則整體可變特許權使用費同比增長將超過 30%。

So we are seeing some -- if you look at the concentration of royalties, in 2024 versus 2023, the proportion of total variable royalties that came from automotive was, of course, a little lower than it was in previous years because of the Mobileye impact. But it's still around half of the total.

因此，我們看到——如果你看一下特許權使用費的集中度，與 2023 年相比，來自汽車的總可變特許權使用費的比例當然比前幾年略低，這是由於 Mobileye 的影響。但仍佔總數的一半左右。

Okay. Got it. Understood. And then to kind of piggyback on a prior question about pricing and the incorporation, I guess, of new products and the foray into MCUs, with FlexNoC 5 carrying a higher ASP, which is great to see. But how should we think about kind of the profitability trajectory for this year and perhaps the free cash flow positive target this year kind of exiting 2025? How are things going there?

好的。知道了。明白了。然後，我想結合先前關於定價和新產品的納入以及進入 MCU 的問題，FlexNoC 5 具有更高的 ASP，這是很高興看到的。但是，我們該如何看待今年的獲利軌跡，以及在 2025 年實現自由現金流正值的目標呢？那邊的情況怎麼樣？

So let me take that one real quick. So the -- just first on free cash flow. We're right at that point where we're flipping from negative to positive. So we mentioned in the call that we had a small number of customers who just missed the cutoff at the end of the year. Relatively minor impact, but it turned the plus sign into a slightly minus sign, but very small either side.

所以讓我快速地回答這個問題。所以 — — 首先是自由現金流。我們正處於從消極轉為積極的階段。因此，我們在電話會議中提到，我們有少數客戶剛好錯過了年底的截止日期。影響相對較小，但它將加號變成了略微減號的減號，但兩邊的減號都很小。

The reason we're so confident about the full year is that we're growing the top line, as you know, in the high teens, low 20s percent, and that's basically our cash inflow, and we're constraining the OpEx and the cost of revenue growth, which is essentially our cost base, at half of that. So we naturally grow cash flow just automatically by our control of that metric, the OpEx being 50% of the top line growth and the growth at the top line is growing at high teens, low 20s percent.

我們對全年業績如此有信心的原因是，正如你所知，我們的營業收入增長率在百分之十幾到二十幾之間，這基本上就是我們的現金流入，而我們正在限制運營支出和收入增長成本（這基本上是我們的成本基礎），控制在一半的水平。因此，我們透過控制該指標自然增加現金流，營運支出佔營業收入成長的 50%，而營業收入的成長速度在百分之十幾到二十幾之間。

Now with -- one additional piece of color for you on that, Ethan, is that the free cash flow is always weighted towards the second half or generally speaking, last quarter -- the fourth quarter was a bit of an anomaly because of this small working capital shift. But generally speaking, we received most of our cash inflow in the second half.

現在，Ethan，我要向您補充一點，那就是自由現金流總是集中在下半年，或者一般來說，上個季度——由於這一小筆營運資本轉移，第四季度有點異常。但整體來說，我們大部分的現金流入都是在下半年。

And we have some reasonably substantial sort of nonlinear cash outflows, particularly around management bonuses, for example, and around the high commissions and the annual accelerators all happened in the first quarter. So there's a little bit of seasonality around it, which basically pushes most of the cash generation into the second half, and that's traditionally what we've seen year-over-year. Does that give you a good feel?

我們出現了相當多的非線性現金流出，特別是圍繞管理獎金、高額佣金和年度加速器等，這些都發生在第一季。因此，這其中存在一些季節性因素，基本上將大部分現金產生推到下半年，這也是我們傳統上逐年看到的情況。這讓你感覺良好嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Gus Richard, Northland.

葛斯‧理查德 (Gus Richard)，北國。

Great results, guys. Just, Charlie, you mentioned your architecture-agnostic RISC, Arm, x86. And I'm kind of surprised to hear you list x86. Can you talk about the reasons you might be involved with that particular architecture?

很棒的結果，夥計們。剛才，查理，你提到了與架構無關的 RISC、Arm、x86。聽到您列出 x86 我有點驚訝。您能談談您參與該特定架構的原因嗎？

PC chipsets.

PC 晶片組。

I'm sorry, say again?

對不起，請再說一次？

PC chipsets. So we are in some PC chipset designs.

PC 晶片組。所以我們參與了一些 PC 晶片組設計。

Got it. And then -- you also mentioned multiple NoCs per design. Do all of the fabric or the network-on-the-chip have to be from the same vendor? Or can you mix and match NoCs? For example, some of the x86 guys have their own fabrics.

知道了。然後——您還提到每個設計有多個 NoC。所有結構或片上網路都必須來自同一供應商嗎？或者您可以混合搭配 NoC 嗎？例如，有些 x86 廠商有自己的結構。

Absolutely. That's a great question. So our products are designed for mix and match. I would say there are some designs where Arteris is 100% of all the interconnects. But I would say a majority of them have some other types of interconnect in them either because of legacy reasons or other reasons, right? So for example, one common -- reasonably common configuration would be the Arm, CMN cache coherent interconnect with FlexNoC, the non-coherent one.

絕對地。這是一個很好的問題。因此我們的產品是混合搭配設計的。我想說，在某些設計中，Arteris 負責所有互連的 100%。但我想說的是，由於遺留原因或其他原因，它們中的大多數都有其他類型的互連，對嗎？例如，一種常見的－相當常見的配置是 Arm、CMN 快取一致性互連與 FlexNoC（非一致性互連）。

So that would be fairly common. Another one would be an internal fabric with Ncore or FlexNoC. So we are designed for mix and match, and this is where frequently -- this is frequently what occurs. But of course, over time, we would like Arteris to be more and more 100% of all the interconnects, but we're designed for mix and match.

所以這是相當常見的。另一個是具有 Ncore 或 FlexNoC 的內部結構。所以我們的設計是為了混合搭配，這就是經常發生的情況。但當然，隨著時間的推移，我們希望 Arteris 能夠越來越多地實現所有互連的 100%，但我們的設計適合混合搭配。

Got it. And then the last one for me. Again, you mentioned a number of chiplet designs. And I'm just wondering if you could talk a little bit about -- as people chop up chips and use chiplets, how does your opportunity change? And how does that change the competitive landscape for you all?

知道了。對我來說這是最後一個。再次，您提到了許多小晶片設計。我只是想知道您是否可以稍微談談——隨著人們切碎晶片並使用小晶片，您的機會發生了怎樣的變化？這如何改變你們的競爭格局？

So it makes the interconnect a lot more complex, right? Because now you no longer -- you're not just in a die, but you're sending data back and forth between different pieces of silicon. So that raises the ASP. We're also finding out that in these chiplet projects, multiple -- there are multiple companies involved, so that involves multiple licenses. And of course, we treat each die as a separate project.

所以它使得互連變得更加複雜，對嗎？因為現在你不再——你不只是在一個晶片中，而是在不同的矽片之間來回發送資料。因此這就提高了 ASP。我們也發現，在這些 chiplet 專案中，有多家公司參與，因此涉及多個授權。當然，我們將每個模具視為一個單獨的項目。

So when there were questions about the $1 million ASP, I think Kevin asked that the chiplets are going -- and I said the microcontrollers may lower the ASP, but the chiplet projects will increase it because there's multiple dies and even multiple companies involved in those projects. So that increases the revenue opportunity for Arteris significantly.

因此，當有人質疑 100 萬美元的 ASP 時，我認為 Kevin 詢問的是小晶片的價格——我說微控制器可能會降低 ASP，但小晶片專案會提高它，因為這些專案涉及多個晶片，甚至多家公司。這大大增加了 Arteris 的收入機會。

Got it. And then there's alphabet of standards connecting chiplets together. Does that have any -- do you ride on top of those? Or do they ride on top of you? How do those different protocols impact your opportunity? Does it make it more -- again, add to complexity or -- and again, sort of if you can help explain what layer you live in and what layers those live in and sort of how they play together?

知道了。然後還有將晶片連接在一起的標準字母表。有沒有什麼——你騎在它們上面嗎？還是他們騎在你上面？這些不同的協議如何影響您的機會？這是否會使其更加 — — 再次增加複雜性或 — — 再次，您是否可以幫助解釋您處於哪一層以及那些處於哪一層以及它們如何協同作用？

So there's multiple layers, but the layer that we're involved with is a data transport layer. And so we basically interface to physical layer IPs, such as those made by Synopsys. And so we're kind of in the digital domain, and we ride on top of the physical layers, which are heavily analog. And as far as the different protocols, it's a trade-off, right. We tried to conform to protocols that are used by our major customers, but standards are beneficial to the industry.

因此有多個層，但我們涉及的層是資料傳輸層。因此，我們基本上與實體層 IP 進行接口，例如 Synopsys 製造的 IP。因此，我們處於數位領域，並且處於實體層之上，而物理層是高度模擬的。至於不同的協議，這是一種權衡，對吧。我們試圖遵守主要客戶使用的協議，但標準對產業有益。

And so we're -- and one of the -- somebody said that the good thing about standard, there's so many to choose from. What we're trying to do working with our partners and the ecosystem to kind of create major standards that the industry can rally around and lower costs. And in the chiplet companies, that would be UCIe, it would be CHI over UCIe, those kinds of things. So it's kind of a trade-off.

因此，有人說，標準的好處是有很多選擇。我們正在嘗試與我們的合作夥伴和生態系統合作，創建行業可以遵循並降低成本的主要標準。在小晶片公司中，這將是 UCIe，它將是 UCIe 上的 CHI，諸如此類的東西。所以這是一種權衡。

And the more standards you have, the higher your costs, right, because you have to do fairly expensive developments to conform to a large variety of standards.

標準越多，成本就越高，對吧，因為你必須進行相當昂貴的開發才能符合各種各樣的標準。

There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call over to Charlie Janac for closing remarks. Sir, please go ahead.

目前沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉給查理·賈納克 (Charlie Janac) 做最後發言。先生，請繼續。

Yes. Thank you for your time and interest in Arteris. I think it was quite a positive quarter and a year. And we look forward to meeting with you at the upcoming investor conferences we're participating in during the next couple of months. And we look forward to updating you on all our business progress in the quarters to come. Thank you for your support.

是的。感謝您對 Arteris 的時間和關注。我認為這是一個非常積極的季度和一年。我們期待在接下來的幾個月參加即將舉行的投資者會議上與您會面。我們期待在未來幾季向您通報我們所有的業務進度。感謝您的支持。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you very much for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。非常感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。