安費諾 (APH) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to the Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call for Amphenol Corporation. (Operator Instructions) At the request of the company, today's conference is being recorded. If anyone has any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to introduce your conference host, Mr. Craig Lampo, you may begin.

您好，歡迎參加安費諾公司第四季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）應公司要求，今天的會議正在錄音。如果有人有異議，此時可以斷開連接。現在我想介紹你們的會議主持人 Craig Lampo 先生，你們可以開始了。

Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone. This is Craig Lampo, Amphenol's CFO, and I'm here together with Adam Norwitt, our CEO. We would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and welcome you to our fourth quarter of '23 Conference Call.

非常感謝。大家下午好。我是安費諾公司的財務長克雷格‧蘭波 (Craig Lampo)，和我一起在場的還有我們的執行長亞當‧諾維特 (Adam Norwitt)。我們祝大家新年快樂，並歡迎您參加我們的 23 年第四季電話會議。

Our fourth quarter and full year '23 results were released this morning. I will provide some financial commentary, and then Adam will give an overview of the business and current trends. Then we will take questions. As a reminder, during the call, we may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures and make certain forward-looking statements. So please refer to the relevant disclosures in our press release for further information.

我們的第四季和 23 年全年業績於今天上午公佈。我將提供一些財務評論，然後亞當將概述業務和當前趨勢。然後我們將回答問題。提醒一下，在電話會議中，我們可能會參考某些非公認會計準則財務指標並做出某些前瞻性陳述。因此，請參閱我們新聞稿中的相關披露以獲取更多資訊。

The company closed the fourth quarter with sales of $3,327 million and record adjusted diluted EPS of $0.82. Fourth quarter sales were up 3% in U.S. dollars, 2% in local currencies and down 1% organically compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. Sequentially, sales were up 4% in U.S. dollars, 4% in local currencies and 2% organically. Adam will comment further on trends by market in a few minutes. For the full year of '23, sales were $12,555 million down 50 basis points in U.S. dollars, flat in local currencies and down 3% organically compared to 2022.

該公司第四季的銷售額為 33.27 億美元，調整後稀釋每股收益為 0.82 美元。與 2022 年第四季相比，第四季銷售額以美元計算成長 3%，以當地貨幣計算成長 2%，有機成長 1%。環比成長：以美元計算銷售額成長 4%，以當地貨幣計算銷售額成長 4%，有機成長 2%。幾分鐘後，亞當將進一步評論市場趨勢。 2023 年全年銷售額為 125.55 億美元，以美元計算下降 50 個基點，以當地貨幣計算持平，與 2022 年相比有機下降 3%。

Orders in the quarter were $3,164 million, up 10% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 and flat sequentially, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 0.95:1. For the full year, orders were $12,267 million, down 5% compared to 2022, resulting in a book-to-bill of 0.98:1. GAAP operating income and operating margin was $690 million and 20.7%, respectively, in the fourth quarter of '23 which increased 10 basis points compared to both the fourth quarter of '22 and the third quarter of '23.

本季訂單金額為 31.64 億美元，較 2022 年第四季成長 10%，與上一季持平，訂單出貨比為 0.95:1。全年訂單金額為 122.67 億美元，較 2022 年下降 5%，訂單出貨比為 0.98:1。 23 年第四季度，GAAP 營業收入和營業利潤率分別為 6.9 億美元和 20.7%，與 22 年第四季和 23 年第三季相比均增加了 10 個基點。

Adjusted operating income was $706 million, which excluded $16 million in acquisition-related costs. Adjusted operating margin was 21.2% during the fourth quarter and a new quarterly record for the company. On an adjusted basis, operating margin increased by 30 basis points compared to the fourth quarter of '22, and increased by 40 basis points sequentially. The year-over-year increase in adjusted operating margin was primarily driven by strong operating leverage on slightly higher sales levels as well as the benefit of pricing actions. These benefits were partially offset by the dilutive impact of recent acquisitions, most of which are currently operating below the corporate average.

調整後的營業收入為 7.06 億美元，其中不包括 1,600 萬美元的收購相關成本。第四季調整後的營業利益率為21.2%，創下公司季度新高。經調整後，營業利潤率較 2022 年第四季增加了 30 個基點，較上一季增加了 40 個基點。調整後營業利潤率的年增率主要得益於略高的銷售水準所帶來的強勁營業槓桿以及定價行動帶來的好處。這些收益被近期收購的稀釋影響部分抵消，其中大多數收購目前的營運水準低於企業平均值。

For the full year of 2023, GAAP operating income was $2,560 million, which included $35 million of acquisition-related costs and excluding these costs, adjusted operating income was $2,594 million. For the full year of '23, GAAP operating margin was 20.4% and adjusted operating margin was a strong 20.7%, consistent with our previous annual record margins achieved in 2022 and 2018. On a GAAP basis, operating margin decreased 10 basis points compared to 2022.

2023 年全年，GAAP 營業收入為 25.6 億美元，其中包括 3,500 萬美元的收購相關成本，扣除這些成本後，調整後的營業收入為 25.94 億美元。 23 年全年，GAAP 營業利益率為 20.4%，調整後營業利益率高達 20.7%，與我們 2022 年和 2018 年創下的年度最高利潤率持平。以 GAAP 計算，營業利潤率較 2022 年下降了 10 個基點。

Compared to 2022, adjusted operating margin was flat, which primarily was driven by strong operational performance as well as the benefit of pricing actions, partially offset by the dilutive impact of acquisitions. This was an impressive margin performance given the slight sales decline we experienced in 2023.

與 2022 年相比，調整後的營業利潤率持平，這主要得益於強勁的營運業績以及定價行動帶來的好處，但被收購的稀釋影響部分抵消。考慮到我們在 2023 年經歷的銷售額略有下降，這樣的利潤率表現令人印象深刻。

Our team continued to execute well in the quarter, and we are proud to have sustained these healthy levels of profitability despite the continued range of challenges around the world. Breaking down fourth quarter results by segment relative to the fourth quarter of 2022, sales in the Harsh Environment Solutions segment were $900 million an increase by 13% in U.S. dollars and 6% organically. Segment operating margin was 26.5%. Sales in the Communications Solutions segment were $1,345 million and declined by 6% in U.S. dollars and 7% organically. Segment operating margin was 23.1%.

我們的團隊在本季度繼續表現良好，儘管世界各地持續面臨各種挑戰，但我們仍保持了健康的盈利水平，對此我們深感自豪。按部門細分第四季業績，與 2022 年第四季相比，惡劣環境解決方案部門的銷售額為 9 億美元，以美元計算成長 13%，有機成長 6%。分部營業利益率為26.5%。通訊解決方案部門的銷售額為 13.45 億美元，以美元計算下降 6%，有機下降 7%。分部營業利益率為23.1%。

Sales in Interconnect and Sensor Systems segment were $1,082 million and increased by 7% in U.S. dollars and 2% organically. Segment operating margin was 18.5%.

互連和感測器系統部門的銷售額為 10.82 億美元，以美元計算成長 7%，有機成長 2%。分部營業利益率為18.5%。

Breaking down full year results by segment relative to 2022. Sales in the Harsh Environment Solutions segment were $3,531 million, an increase by 14% in U.S. dollars and 9% organically, and segment operating margin was 26.7%. Sales in the Communications Solutions segment were $4,913 million and declined by 13% in U.S. dollars and organically and segment operating margin was 21.6%. Sales in Interconnect and Sensor Systems Segment were $4,111 million, an increase by 6% in U.S. dollars and 3% organically and segment operating margin was 18.3%.

按部門細分 2022 年全年業績。惡劣環境解決方案部門的銷售額為 35.31 億美元，以美元計算成長 14%，有機成長 9%，部門營業利潤率為 26.7%。通訊解決方案部門的銷售額為 49.13 億美元，以美元計算下降 13%，部門營業利潤率為 21.6%。互連和感測器系統部門的銷售額為 41.11 億美元，以美元計算成長 6%，有機成長 3%，部門營業利潤率為 18.3%。

The company's GAAP effective tax rate for the fourth quarter was 22% and the adjusted effective tax rate was 24%, which compared to 19.2% and 24.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022, respectively. And for the full year of '23, the company's GAAP effective tax rate was 20.7% and the adjusted effective tax rate was 24%, which compared to 22.3% and 24.5% in 2022, respectively. In 2024, we expect our adjusted effective tax rate to be approximately 24%. GAAP diluted EPS was $0.83 in the fourth quarter, up 1% compared to the prior year period, and on an adjusted basis, diluted EPS increased to 5% to a record $0.82 compared to $0.78 in the fourth quarter of '22. This was an excellent result.

該公司第四季的 GAAP 有效稅率為 22%，調整後有效稅率為 24%，而 2022 年第四季分別為 19.2% 和 24.5%。 23 年全年，該公司的 GAAP 有效稅率為 20.7%，調整後有效稅率為 24%，而 2022 年分別為 22.3% 和 24.5%。 2024 年，我們預計調整後有效稅率約為 24%。第四季度，GAAP 稀釋每股收益為 0.83 美元，較去年同期成長 1%；經調整後，稀釋每股盈餘成長 5%，達到創紀錄的 0.82 美元，而 22 年第四季為 0.78 美元。這是一個極好的結果。

For the full year, GAAP diluted EPS was a record $3.11, a 2% increase from $3.06 in 2022. And adjusted diluted EPS was a record $3.01 in 2023, an increase from $3 in 2022. Operating cash flow in the fourth quarter was a record $842 million or 162% of adjusted net income. And net of capital spending, our free cash flow was a record $739 million or 142% of adjusted net income. We are pleased to have continued to deliver such a strong cash flow yield in the quarter and for the full year. In the full year, 2023 operating cash flow was a record $2,529 million or 130% of adjusted net income. Net of capital spending, our free cash flow for 2023 was a record $2,160 million or 111% of adjusted net income, a very strong result.

全年 GAAP 稀釋每股收益達創紀錄的 3.11 美元，較 2022 年的 3.06 美元增加 2%。 2023 年調整後稀釋每股盈餘達創紀錄的 3.01 美元，較 2022 年的 3 美元成長。第四季經營現金流達創紀錄的 8.42 億美元，佔調整後淨收入的 162%。扣除資本支出後，我們的自由現金流達到創紀錄的 7.39 億美元，佔調整後淨收入的 142%。我們很高興能夠在本季和全年繼續實現如此強勁的現金流收益。 2023 年全年經營現金流創下 25.29 億美元的新高，佔調整後淨收入的 130%。在扣除資本支出後，我們 2023 年的自由現金流達到創紀錄的 21.6 億美元，佔調整後淨收入的 111%，這是一個非常強勁的業績。

From a working capital standpoint, inventory days, days sales outstanding and payable days were 85, 70 and 55 days, respectively, all within our normal levels. And during the quarter, the company repurchased 1.3 million shares of common stock at an average price of approximately $86 bringing total repurchases during 2023 to 7.2 million shares or $585 million. When combined with our normal quarterly dividend, total capital returned to shareholders in 2023 was $1,086 million.

從營運資本角度來看，庫存天數、應收帳款天數和應付帳款天數分別為 85 天、70 天和 55 天，均在正常水準之內。本季度，該公司以平均約 86 美元的價格回購了 130 萬股普通股，使 2023 年的總回購量達到 720 萬股或 5.85 億美元。與我們正常的季度股利結合，2023 年返還給股東的總資本為 10.86 億美元。

Total debt on December 31 was $4.3 billion, and net debt was $2.7 billion. Total liquidity at the end of the quarter was $4.9 billion, which included cash and short-term investments on hand of $1.7 billion, plus availability under our existing credit facilities. Fourth quarter and full year 2023 EBITDA was $830 million and $3.1 billion, respectively. And at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, our net leverage was 0.9x. We are very pleased that the company's financial condition remains strong by any measure.

12 月 31 日的總債務為 43 億美元，淨債務為 27 億美元。本季末的總流動資金為 49 億美元，其中包括 17 億美元的現金和短期投資，以及我們現有信貸安排下的可用資金。 2023 年第四季和全年 EBITDA 分別為 8.3 億美元和 31 億美元。截至 2023 年第四季末，我們的淨槓桿率為 0.9 倍。我們非常高興，無論以何種標準衡量，公司的財務狀況依然強勁。

I will now turn the call over to Adam, who will provide some commentary on current market trends.

現在我將把電話轉給亞當，他將對當前的市場趨勢發表一些評論。

Well, Craig, thank you very much, and I'd like to extend my welcome to everybody on the phone here today. And I hope it's not too late to wish all of you a Happy New Year here from Wallingford, Connecticut. As Craig mentioned, I'm going to highlight some of our achievements in the fourth quarter and also for the full year of 2023. I'll then discuss our trends and progress across our served markets. I'll make some comments on our outlook for the first quarter, and then, of course, we'll have time for questions.

好吧，克雷格，非常感謝你，我想向今天透過電話聯繫的各位表示歡迎。我希望現在從康乃狄克州沃靈福德祝大家新年快樂還不算太晚。正如 Craig 所提到的，我將重點介紹我們在第四季以及 2023 年全年所取得的一些成就。然後，我將討論我們在服務市場的趨勢和進展。我將對第一季度的展望發表一些評論，然後，當然，我們將有時間回答問題。

Our results in the fourth quarter were stronger than expected, exceeding the high end of our guidance in sales and adjusted diluted earnings per share. Sales grew by 3% in U.S. dollars, 2% in local currencies, reaching $3,327 million. On an organic basis, our sales did decline by just 1%, with growth in commercial air, defense, automotive and IT datacom markets offset by declines across our other end markets. The company booked $3,164 million in orders in the fourth quarter. This was a 10% growth versus prior year and flat to last quarter, but did represent a book-to-bill of 0.95:1.

我們第四季的業績好於預期，超過了銷售額和調整後每股攤薄收益預期的上限。銷售額以美元計算成長 3%，以當地貨幣計算成長 2%，達到 33.27 億美元。從有機角度來看，我們的銷售額僅下降了 1%，但商用航空、國防、汽車和 IT 數據通訊市場的成長被其他終端市場的下滑所抵消。該公司第四季的訂單金額為31.64億美元。與上年相比，這一數字增長了 10%，與上一季持平，但訂單出貨比達到了 0.95:1。

We're very pleased to have delivered record adjusted operating margins of 21.2% in the quarter, a clear reflection of our team's outstanding execution and these margins increased 30 basis points from prior year and 40 basis points sequentially. Adjusted diluted EPS reached $0.82 in the quarter, representing a growth of 5% from prior year. I have to say that we were especially pleased that the company generated record operating and free cash flow of $842 million and $739 million, respectively, in the fourth quarter, both just really clear reflections of the quality of the company's earnings.

我們非常高興本季實現了創紀錄的 21.2% 的調整後營業利潤率，這清楚地反映了我們團隊的出色執行力，這些利潤率比去年同期增加了 30 個基點，比上一季增加了 40 個基點。本季調整後稀釋每股收益達 0.82 美元，較上年增長 5%。我必須說，我們特別高興的是，該公司第四季度的營業現金流和自由現金流分別創下了 8.42 億美元的紀錄和 7.39 億美元的紀錄，這兩項數據都清楚地反映了公司的獲利品質。

I come out of the fourth quarter, extremely proud of the Amphenol team. Our results this quarter once again reflect the discipline and agility of our entrepreneurial organization as we continue to perform well amidst the challenging and dynamic environment. We're also pleased that we announced this morning that we closed 4 acquisitions in the quarter, really in November and December. Based in Ohio, TPC Wire & Cable is a value-added provider of harsh environment, cable and cable assemblies for applications across the industrial market and this includes particularly factory automation and heavy equipment and TPC has annual sales of roughly $110 million.

第四節結束後，我為安費諾團隊感到無比自豪。本季的業績再次體現了我們創業型組織的紀律性和敏捷性，我們在充滿挑戰和活力的環境中繼續表現良好。我們也很高興今天上午宣布，我們在本季度（實際上是在 11 月和 12 月）完成了 4 項收購。 TPC Wire & Cable 總部位於俄亥俄州，是一家為整個工業市場（尤其包括工廠自動化和重型設備）提供惡劣環境電纜和電纜組件的增值供應商，TPC 的年銷售額約為 1.1 億美元。

Headquartered in New Hampshire and with annual sales of approximately $90 million, Airmar is a leading provider of sensors for the recreational marine, commercial fishing and industrial markets. LID technologies based in Toulouse, France, has annual sales of approximately $40 million. And LID is a high-technology supplier of sensor products to the industrial and automotive markets with a focus on tire pressure monitoring and the telematics associated with that. We also closed on the previously announced acquisition of PCTEL, a leading global provider of antennas for a broad array of markets, including in particularly the Internet of Things or industrial IoT market. PCTEL generated in 2023, approximately $85 million in sales.

Airmar 總部位於新罕布夏州，年銷售額約 9,000 萬美元，是休閒航海、商業捕魚和工業市場領先的感測器供應商。 LID技術公司總部位於法國圖盧茲，年銷售額約4000萬美元。 LID 是一家為工業和汽車市場提供感測器產品的高科技供應商，專注於輪胎壓力監測和與之相關的遠端資訊處理。我們也完成了先前宣布的對 PCTEL 的收購，PCTEL 是全球領先的天線供應商，其產品服務於廣泛的市場，特別是物聯網或工業物聯網市場。 PCTEL 2023 年的銷售額約為 8,500 萬美元。

As we welcome these outstanding new teams to Amphenol, I remain confident that our acquisition program will continue to create great value for the company. In fact, our acquisition program was very successful in 2023 and our pipeline of prospective deals remain strong as we enter the New Year. Indeed, we continue to see interesting near-term potential opportunities to bring outstanding and complementary organizations into the Amphenol family. Our ability to identify and execute upon acquisitions and then to successfully bring these companies into the Amphenol family remains a core competitive advantage for the company. As our organization has evolved and scaled, so too has our ability to effectively manage a greater number of acquisitions of all sizes.

在我們歡迎這些優秀的新團隊加入安費諾之際，我仍然相信我們的收購計畫將繼續為公司創造巨大的價值。事實上，我們的收購計畫在 2023 年非常成功，隨著新年的到來，我們的潛在交易管道仍然強勁。事實上，我們繼續看到有趣的近期潛在機會，將優秀且互補的組織納入安費諾家族。我們識別和執行收購，然後成功將這些公司納入安費諾家族的能力仍然是公司的核心競爭優勢。隨著我們組織的發展和規模的擴大，我們有效管理大量各種規模收購的能力也不斷增強。

Now turning to the full year of 2023, despite the demand challenges that we did experience in certain end markets in the year, I have to say that the Amphenol team delivered another successful year of performance. Amidst significant organic declines in the communications end markets due to inventory builds in 2022 as well as the more recent moderations in demand in the industrial market, our team was able to deliver overall sales that were only slightly down from prior year. This was a testament to the breadth and diversification of the company as well as our team's ability to capitalize in real time on opportunities for incremental sales across the entirety of our markets.

現在展望 2023 年全年，儘管我們在這一年確實在某些終端市場遇到了需求挑戰，但我不得不說，安費諾團隊又取得了成功的一年。由於 2022 年庫存增加以及近期工業市場需求放緩，通訊終端市場大幅有機下滑，但我們的團隊仍實現了僅比上年略有下降的整體銷售額。這證明了公司的廣度和多樣性，以及我們團隊即時利用整個市場增量銷售機會的能力。

Our full year 2023 adjusted operating margin of 20.7% was flat with our last year record levels in 2022 despite the organic sales decline. This excellent performance by our team allowed us to deliver adjusted diluted EPS of $3.01 which was just slightly above prior year levels. We also generated record operating and free cash flow of $2,529 million and $2,160 million, respectively, both confirmations of the company's superior execution and disciplined working capital management. Our acquisition program, which I just discussed really created a great value throughout the year with 10 new companies contributing annualized sales of more than $600 million joining Amphenol in 2023.

儘管有機銷售額下降，但我們 2023 年全年調整後的營業利潤率為 20.7%，與 2022 年的去年創紀錄水平持平。我們團隊的出色表現使我們實現了 3.01 美元的調整後稀釋每股收益，略高於去年同期的水平。我們也創造了創紀錄的 25.29 億美元營運現金流和 21.6 億美元自由現金流，這兩項數據都證明了公司卓越的執行力和嚴謹的營運資本管理。我剛才討論的我們的收購計劃確實在全年創造了巨大的價值，10 家新公司於 2023 年加入安費諾，貢獻了超過 6 億美元的年銷售額。

These new acquisitions enhanced our position across a broad array of technologies while bringing outstanding and talented individuals into the Amphenol organization. We're excited that these companies represent expanded platforms for the company's future performance and have deepened our already strong bench of leaders around the world. In addition, in 2023, we bought back over 7 million shares under our share buyback program, and increased our quarterly dividend by 5%, and that represented a total return of capital to shareholders of nearly $1.1 billion.

這些新的收購增強了我們在廣泛技術領域的地位，同時為安費諾帶來了優秀和有才華的人才。我們很高興這些公司為公司未來的業績提供了更廣闊的平台，並增強了我們在全球範圍內本已強大的領導團隊。此外，2023 年，我們根據股票回購計畫回購了超過 700 萬股股票，並將季度股利提高了 5%，這意味著向股東的總資本回報接近 11 億美元。

So while there continues to be a high level of volatility across the overall market environment in 2023, as we enter 2024, our agile entrepreneurial management team is confident that we have built further strength from which we can drive superior long-term performance.

因此，儘管 2023 年整體市場環境仍然波動較大，但隨著我們進入 2024 年，我們敏捷的創業管理團隊相信，我們已經建立了進一步的實力，可以推動卓越的長期業績。

Now turning to the trends and our progress across our served markets. I would just comment that we remain very pleased that the company's end market exposure is still highly diversified, balanced and broad with no end market representing more than 25% of our sales in 2023. This market diversity helps to insulate us from the effect of any given markets volatility while also exposing us to the exciting revolutions happening across the electronics industry.

現在來談談我們所服務市場的趨勢和進展。我只想說，我們仍然非常高興地看到，公司的終端市場覆蓋範圍仍然高度多樣化、均衡和廣泛，到 2023 年，沒有一個終端市場占我們銷售額的 25% 以上。這種市場多樣性有助於使我們免受任何特定市場波動的影響，同時也讓我們了解電子產業正在發生的令人興奮的革命。

Turning first to the defense market. Our sales represented 12% of our total in the fourth quarter and 11% for the full year 2023. Fourth quarter sales once again grew strongly from prior year, increasing by 18% in U.S. dollars and 17% in local currency. On an organic basis, sales in the defense market increased by 15%, with broad-based growth across virtually all defense applications, particularly strong in naval helicopters communications and airframe applications. Sequentially, our sales increased by a better-than-expected 4% from the third quarter.

首先談談國防市場。我們的銷售額佔第四季總銷售額的 12%，佔 2023 年全年總銷售額的 11%。第四季銷售額較上年再次強勁成長，以美元計算成長 18%，以當地貨幣計算成長 17%。從有機角度來看，國防市場的銷售額成長了 15%，幾乎所有國防應用都實現了廣泛成長，尤其是海軍直升機通訊和機身應用表現強勁。與第三季相比，我們的銷售額成長了 4%，好於預期。

For the full year of 2023, sales in the defense market grew by 20% in U.S. dollars and local currency and by 18% organically. This reflected our operational execution as well as broad strength across most segments of the defense market, and that particularly related to naval, aircraft engine, helicopter, communications and space-related applications.

2023年全年，國防市場銷售額以美元和當地貨幣計算成長20%，有機成長18%。這反映了我們的營運執行力以及在國防市場大多數領域的廣泛實力，特別是與海軍、飛機發動機、直升機、通訊和太空相關應用相關的實力。

Looking ahead, we expect sales in the first quarter to decline in the mid-single digits sequentially, and we remain very encouraged by the company's strengthened position in the defense market, where we continue to offer the industry's widest range of high-technology interconnect products. Amidst today's dynamic geopolitical environment, countries around the world are expanding their investments in both current and next-generation defense technologies, thereby increasing the long-term demand potential for Amphenol. We are well positioned to accelerate our new product development and increase our capacity to support this demand long into the future.

展望未來，我們預計第一季的銷售額將環比下降中等個位數，但我們對公司在國防市場地位的加強感到非常鼓舞，我們將繼續提供業界最廣泛的高科技互連產品。在當今動態的地緣政治環境中，世界各國都在擴大對現有和下一代國防技術的投資，從而增加了安費諾的長期需求潛力。我們已做好準備，加速新產品的開發，並提高我們在未來長期滿足這項需求的能力。

The commercial air market represented 3% of our sales in the quarter and 4% of our sales for the full year 2023. In the fourth quarter, our sales grew by a very strong 25% in U.S. dollars and 23% in local currency and organically, and this was driven by broad-based strength across all aircraft applications.

商用航空市場占我們本季銷售額的 3%，占我們 2023 年全年銷售額的 4%。第四季度，我們的銷售額以美元計算增長了 25%，以當地貨幣計算增長了 23%，有機增長了 25%，這得益於所有飛機應用領域的廣泛實力。

Sequentially, our sales grew by 1% from the third quarter, which was actually ahead of our expectations for a modest seasonal decline. For the full year of 2023, sales increased by a very robust 36% in U.S. dollar, local currency and organically, reflecting our strong design-in positions on a broad range of platforms as well as broad-based demand across all aircraft applications.

與第三季相比，我們的銷售額成長了 1%，這實際上超出了我們對季節性小幅下降的預期。 2023 年全年，銷售額以美元、當地貨幣和有機成長強勁增長 36%，反映了我們在廣泛平台上的強大設計地位以及所有飛機應用的廣泛需求。

Looking into the first quarter, we expect sales to remain at these lofty fourth quarter levels. I'm truly proud of our team working in the commercial air market. With the ongoing recovery in travel and thus demand for jetliners, our efforts to strengthen our breadth of high-technology interconnect products, while diversifying our market position into next-generation aircraft are paying real dividends. We continue to see great long-term opportunities for expansion of our technology offering to this important market and look forward to realizing the benefits of those growth initiatives for many years to come.

展望第一季度，我們預計銷售額將保持在第四季度的高水準。我為我們在商業航空市場工作的團隊感到非常自豪。隨著旅遊業的持續復甦以及對噴射客機需求的不斷增長，我們努力加強高科技互連產品的廣度，同時將我們的市場地位多元化到下一代飛機，這些努力正在獲得真正的回報。我們繼續看到向這一重要市場擴展我們的技術產品的巨大長期機遇，並期待在未來許多年內實現這些成長舉措帶來的好處。

The industrial market represented 23% of our sales in the quarter and 25% of our sales for the full year. Our sales in the fourth quarter did decline by 4% in U.S. dollars, 5% in local currencies and 12% organically as growth that we realized in oil and gas, rail mass transit and marine applications, was more than offset by moderations in demand in other segments, including battery and electric heavy vehicles, building automation, transportation and heavy equipment. In addition, our sales into the industrial distribution channel continued to be more muted than they were a year ago.

工業市場占我們本季銷售額的 23%，占我們全年銷售額的 25%。我們第四季度的銷售額以美元計算下降了 4%，以當地貨幣計算下降了 5%，有機增長了 12%，因為我們在石油和天然氣、軌道交通和船舶應用方面實現的增長被其他領域（包括電池和電動重型車輛、樓宇自動化、運輸和重型設備）需求的放緩所抵消。此外，我們在工業分銷管道的銷售與一年前相比持續低迷。

On a sequential basis, sales grew by 1%, but that was driven primarily by acquisitions that we did close in the quarter.

與上一季相比，銷售額成長了 1%，但這主要得益於我們在本季完成的收購。

For the full year 2023, sales were flat in U.S. dollars and local currency and declined by 7% organically as the contribution from acquisitions was offset by weakness in instrumentation, battery and electric heavy vehicles, factory automation and heavy equipment applications in particular. Looking into the first quarter, we expect sales to remain at these levels as the benefit of recent acquisitions offset the modest organic sequential decline. Despite this near-term demand pause driven in particular by elevated inventory levels, both in the distribution channel as well as in certain end markets, I remain proud of our outstanding global team working in the industrial market.

2023 年全年，銷售額以美元和當地貨幣計算持平，有機下降 7%，因為收購的貢獻被儀器儀表、電池和電動重型車輛、工廠自動化和重型設備應用方面的疲軟所抵消。展望第一季度，我們預計銷售額將保持在現有水平，因為近期收購帶來的好處抵消了連續輕微的有機下滑。儘管近期需求暫停，特別是由於分銷管道和某些終端市場的庫存水平上升，但我仍然為我們在工業市場工作的傑出的全球團隊感到自豪。

We are very excited by the additions of TPC, Airmar, LID and PCTEL, each of which adds complementary new interconnect sensor and antenna technologies to our industrial product offering. And I'm confident that our long-term strategy to expand our high-technology interconnect, antenna and sensor offering, both organically and through complementary acquisitions has positioned us to capitalize on the many revolutions that will no doubt continue to occur across the industrial electronics market. The automotive market represented 24% of our sales in the quarter and 23% of our sales for the full year. Sales in the fourth quarter grew by a robust 16% in U.S. dollars and 15% in local currency, and on an organic basis, our sales to the automotive market increased by 12%. That was really driven by broad-based strength across most automotive applications, including electric and hybrid electric vehicles. Sequentially, our automotive sales increased by 8%, which was better than our expectations coming into the quarter.

我們對 TPC、Airmar、LID 和 PCTEL 的加入感到非常高興，它們為我們的工業產品提供了互補的新型互連感測器和天線技術。我相信，我們的長期策略是透過有機成長和互補收購來擴大我們的高科技互連、天線和感測器產品，這使我們能夠利用工業電子市場無疑將繼續發生的眾多革命。汽車市場占我們本季銷售額的 24%，占我們全年銷售額的 23%。第四季銷售額以美元計算強勁成長 16%，以當地貨幣計算成長 15%，而以有機基礎計算，我們在汽車市場的銷售額成長了 12%。這實際上是由大多數汽車應用（包括電動和混合動力電動車）的廣泛實力推動的。與上一季相比，我們的汽車銷量成長了 8%，這比我們本季的預期好。

For the full year 2023, I'm pleased that our sales increased by a strong 12% in U.S. dollars, 13% in local currency and 12% organically, and that reflected broad strength across the automotive market, including, in particular, next-generation electronics, for example, electric and hybrid drivetrains. Looking into 2024, we expect a high single-digit sequential seasonal moderation in sales in the first quarter from these levels.

就 2023 年全年而言，我很高興看到我們的銷售額以美元計算強勁增長了 12%，以當地貨幣計算增長了 13%，有機增長了 12%，這反映了整個汽車市場的廣泛實力，特別是下一代電子產品，例如電動和混合動力傳動系統。展望 2024 年，我們預計第一季的銷售額將以這些水準為基礎，出現高個位數的連續季節性放緩。

I'm truly proud of our team working in the automotive market. Their performance in 2023 is yet another confirmation of the benefits of their focus on driving new design wins with customers who are implementing a wide array of new technologies into their vehicles. It's really a multitude of applications, including electrified drivetrains, but not just that, many other applications. We look forward to benefiting from that strong position for many years to come.

我為我們在汽車市場工作的團隊感到非常自豪。他們在 2023 年的表現再次證明了他們專注於推動新設計贏得客戶的好處，客戶正在將各種新技術應用到他們的車輛中。它確實有多種應用，包括電動傳動系統，但不僅如此，還有許多其他應用。我們期待在未來的許多年裡能夠受益於此強勢地位。

The mobile devices market represented 11% of our sales in the quarter and 10% of our sales for the full year 2023. Our fourth quarter sales moderated by 3% in U.S. dollars, local currency and organic as robust growth in smartphones was once again more than offset by declining sales into tablets, laptops and wearables. Sequentially, our sales increased by 9% which was much better than our expectation coming into the quarter for a high single-digit decline. For the full year of 2023, sales in the mobile devices market declined by 12% in U.S. dollars and 10% organically as strong growth in smartphones was more than offset by declines in other mobile device applications.

行動裝置市場占我們本季銷售額的 11%，占我們 2023 年全年銷售額的 10%。我們的第四季銷售額以美元、當地貨幣和有機計算下降了 3%，因為智慧型手機的強勁成長再次被平板電腦、筆記型電腦和穿戴式裝置銷售額的下滑所抵消。與上一季相比，我們的銷售額成長了 9%，這比我們預期的本季高個位數下降要好得多。 2023 年全年，行動裝置市場銷售額以美元計算下降 12%，有機下降 10%，因為智慧型手機的強勁成長被其他行動裝置應用的下滑所抵消。

Looking into the first quarter, we do anticipate a typical seasonal sequential decline of approximately 35%. While mobile devices will always remain 1 of our most volatile markets, our outstanding and agile team is poised as always to capture any opportunities for incremental sales that may arise in 2024 and beyond. Our leading array of antennas, interconnect products and mechanisms continues to enable a broad range of next-generation mobile devices, which positions us well for the long term.

展望第一季度，我們預計典型的季節性環比下降約為 35%。雖然行動裝置始終是我們最不穩定的市場之一，但我們優秀而敏捷的團隊將一如既往地抓住 2024 年及以後可能出現的任何增量銷售機會。我們領先的天線、互連產品和機制將繼續為廣泛的下一代行動裝置提供支持，這為我們長期發展奠定了良好的基礎。

The mobile networks market represented 3% of our sales in the quarter and 4% of our sales for the full year. Sales in this market declined from prior year by 26% in U.S. dollars, 27% in local currency and 34% organically as we continue to manage through a broad-based reduction in spending by network operators and wireless equipment manufacturers. Sequentially, our sales decreased by 6%, which was in line with our expectations. For the full year, sales declined by 26% from prior year and 32% organically driven by the spending reductions that we've discussed throughout the year.

行動網路市場占我們本季銷售額的 3%，占我們全年銷售額的 4%。由於我們繼續透過網路營運商和無線設備製造商的廣泛支出削減來應對，該市場的銷售額與上年相比以美元計算下降了 26%，以當地貨幣計算下降了 27%，有機下降了 34%。與上一季相比，我們的銷售額下降了 6%，這符合我們的預期。就全年而言，銷售額較上年下降了 26%，其中自然下降 32%，這是由於我們全年討論的支出削減所致。

Looking ahead, we expect a modest increase in sales from these fourth quarter levels. And despite this more challenging short-term wireless investment environment, our team continues to work aggressively to realize the benefits of our efforts to expand our position in next-generation 5G equipment and networks around the world. When customers once again drive renewed wireless investments, we look forward to benefiting from the increased potential that comes from our position with both equipment manufacturers and mobile service providers. The information technology and data communications market represented 20% of our sales in the quarter and 19% of our sales for the full year.

展望未來，我們預期銷售額將在第四季的基礎上小幅成長。儘管短期無線投資環境更具挑戰性，我們的團隊仍將繼續積極努力，以實現我們的努力成果，擴大我們在全球下一代 5G 設備和網路中的地位。當客戶再次推動新的無線投資時，我們期待從我們與設備製造商和行動服務提供者的地位所帶來的更大潛力中獲益。資訊科技和數據通訊市場占我們本季銷售額的 20%，占我們全年銷售額的 19%。

We're very pleased that our sales in the fourth quarter returned to growth compared to prior year, with sales in U.S. dollars and local currency increasing by 6% and organically by 5%. Sequentially, our sales increased by a much better-than-expected 6%. As we continue to benefit from our strong presence with AI data center customers as well as some overall improved demand.

我們非常高興，第四季度的銷售額與去年同期相比恢復成長，以美元和當地貨幣計算的銷售額成長了 6%，有機成長了 5%。與上一季相比，我們的銷售額成長了 6%，遠超預期。我們繼續受益於我們在人工智慧資料中心客戶的強大影響力以及整體需求的改善。

For the full year 2023, our sales in the IT datacom market declined 13% in U.S. dollars and organically as strong demand for AI-related applications was more than offset by inventory adjustments that we saw amongst our traditional IT datacom applications.

2023 年全年，我們在 IT 數據通訊市場的銷售額以美元計算下降了 13%，這是由於人工智慧相關應用的強勁需求被我們在傳統 IT 數據通訊應用中看到的庫存調整所抵消。

Looking ahead, we do expect in the first quarter a mid-single-digit sequential seasonal decline in sales. I have to say coming out of what was a challenging year in the overall IT datacom market that we're more encouraged than ever by the company's position in this space. Our team continues to do an outstanding job securing future business on next-generation IT systems, particularly those enabling artificial intelligence.

展望未來，我們確實預期第一季銷售額將出現中等個位數的季節性連續下降。我必須說，在經歷了整個 IT 數據通訊市場充滿挑戰的一年後，我們對公司在該領域的地位比以往任何時候都更加鼓舞。我們的團隊將繼續出色地確保下一代 IT 系統（尤其是支援人工智慧的系統）上的未來業務。

Indeed, the revolution in AI has created a unique opportunity for Amphenol given our leading high-speed power and fiber optic interconnect products. With machine learning driving a more intensive usage of these highest technology interconnect products, we are very well positioned for the future. This creates a continued long-term growth opportunity for Amphenol.

事實上，人工智慧革命為安費諾創造了一個獨特的機會，使我們擁有領先的高速電源和光纖互連產品。隨著機器學習推動這些最高技術互連產品的更密集使用，我們為未來做好了充分的準備。這為安費諾創造了持續的長期成長機會。

The broadband communication market represented 4% of our sales in the quarter and 4% for the year. Sales in the fourth quarter were down 31% in U.S. dollars and 32% organically as broadband operators continued to moderate their procurement levels. On a sequential basis, sales did decline by 12%, which was worse than our expectations coming into the quarter when we anticipated more of a modest increase. For the full year of 2023, sales were down by 7% in U.S. dollars and organically driven by the continued pause in broadband operator spending. Looking ahead, we expect sales in the first quarter to increase modestly from these levels.

寬頻通訊市場占我們本季銷售額的 4%，佔全年銷售額的 4%。由於寬頻業者繼續降低採購水平，第四季銷售額以美元計算下降了 31%，有機下降了 32%。與上一季相比，銷售額確實下降了 12%，這比我們預期的季度溫和成長要差。 2023 年全年銷售額以美元計算下降了 7%，這是由於寬頻業者支出持續暫停所致。展望未來，我們預計第一季的銷售額將在這些水準上小幅成長。

Regardless of the current demand dynamics, we do remain encouraged by the company's strengthened position in the broadband market. We look forward to continuing to support our service provider customers around the world, all of whom are working to increase their network coverage and bandwidth to support the proliferation of high-speed data applications to homes and businesses.

無論當前的需求動態如何，我們仍然對該公司在寬頻市場地位的加強感到鼓舞。我們期待繼續為世界各地的服務供應商客戶提供支持，他們都在努力擴大網路覆蓋範圍和頻寬，以支援高速資料應用向家庭和企業的普及。

And finally, turning to our outlook. There's no doubt that the current economic environment remains somewhat uncertain. Assuming the continuation of these current market conditions and also assuming constant exchange rates, for the first quarter, we expect sales in the range of $3,040 million to $3.1 billion and adjusted diluted EPS in the range of $0.71 to $0.73. This would represent sales growth of 2% to 4% and adjusted diluted EPS growth of 3% to 6% compared to the first quarter of 2023.

最後，談談我們的展望。毫無疑問，當前的經濟環境仍存在一些不確定性。假設當前市場狀況持續下去，並假設匯率保持不變，我們預計第一季銷售額將在 30.4 億美元至 31 億美元之間，調整後稀釋每股收益將在 0.71 美元至 0.73 美元之間。與 2023 年第一季相比，這意味著銷售額成長 2% 至 4%，調整後稀釋每股盈餘成長 3% 至 6%。

I remain confident in the ability of our outstanding management team to adapt to the many opportunities and challenges in the current environment and to continue to grow Amphenol's market position while driving sustainable and strong profitability over the long term.

我仍然相信我們優秀的管理團隊有能力適應當前環境中的許多機會和挑戰，並繼續提升安費諾的市場地位，同時實現長期可持續的強勁盈利能力。

And finally, I just want to take this opportunity to thank our entire global team around the world, including all of those who work across our factories, touch our products, and ultimately deliver to our customers what they need. I'm just truly grateful for all of their outstanding efforts both here in the fourth quarter, but moreover, for the entirety of 2023. Without them, we wouldn't be able to make it happen like we do.

最後，我只想藉此機會感謝我們遍布全球的整個團隊，包括所有在我們的工廠工作、接觸我們的產品並最終向客戶提供他們所需的產品的人員。我由衷感謝他們在第四季以及整個 2023 年所做的傑出努力。沒有他們，我們就不可能實現這個目標。

And with that, operator, we'd be very happy to take any questions.

接線員，我們非常樂意回答您的任何問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

The first call is to Amit Daryanani with Evercore.

第一個電話是打給 Evercore 的 Amit Daryanani 的。

One question for me would be, can you press on the weakness on the industrial market space you talked about seeing softness there, a little bit of inventory (inaudible). I'm curious, is that stable versus what you saw like today? Or do you feel like it's getting worse as you head into '24? And then secondly you can talk about do you see the risk of this (technical difficulty).

對我來說，一個問題是，您是否可以強調工業市場領域的疲軟，您談到那裡出現疲軟，庫存有點多（聽不清楚）。我很好奇，與您今天看到的情況相比，這是否穩定？或者您覺得進入 24 年後情況會變得更糟？其次，您可以談談您是否看到了這方面的風險（技術難度）。

Yes, Amit, I didn't perfectly hear the second part of your question. There's a little bit of a connection issue. But I think relative to your question, which was, is industrial stable, versus 90 days ago. I mean, look, I think we came into the quarter with an expectation of kind of a modest reduction in sales -- our sales, we're essentially in the line with that. So I think it was kind of what we expected it to be. I would say that the book-to-bill in industrial was a bit weaker.

是的，阿米特，我沒有完全聽清楚你問題的第二部分。存在一點連接問題。但我認為相對於你的問題，與 90 天前相比，工業是穩定的。我的意思是，你看，我認為我們進入本季度時預計銷售額會略有下降——我們的銷售額基本上與此相符。所以我認為這就是我們所期望的。我想說的是，工業領域的訂單出貨比有點弱。

I mean, if we think about why our book-to-bill was 0.95:1. I mean the real driver for that was industrial on 1 side. And we did see in the IT datacom market a little bit of a softer book-to-bill. But that is really just a little bit more of an equalization from very high books-to-bill that we've seen over the prior couple of quarters. So I don't think the IT datacom book-to-bill is at all representative of the demand environment. But I think, in the industrial market, we did see bookings a little softer than we had anticipated.

我的意思是，如果我們思考為什麼我們的訂單出貨比是 0.95:1。我的意思是，真正的驅動力一方面是工業。我們確實看到 IT 數據通訊市場的訂單出貨比略有下降。但這實際上只是與我們在前幾季看到的非常高的訂單出貨比相比略有均衡。因此，我認為 IT 數據通訊訂單出貨比根本不能代表需求環境。但我認為，在工業市場，我們確實看到訂單量比我們預期的要低。

I'm going to assume that your second question is how do we see that going forward and where do we see that kind of cycle in industrial. And -- I think it's early to tell. I mean the beauty of our industrial business is it so broad. And so we're not levered on to one or another of the individual segments. And there are so many segments across the industrial market that we participate in. And we don't have any of those that are really disproportionate to our overall business.

我假設你的第二個問題是我們如何看待未來的發展以及我們如何在工業中看到這種循環。而且——我認為現在下結論還為時過早。我的意思是，我們的工業業務的美妙之處在於它非常廣泛。因此，我們不會依賴某個單獨的部分。我們參與的工業市場領域非常廣泛，沒有任何一個領域與我們的整體業務不成比例。

And we continue to see some of those segments, areas like marine and oil and gas, rail mass transit, medical during the course of this year. They still had very robust demand. But no doubt about it, areas like factory automation, instrumentation, those are areas where we've seen more marked reductions in demand and also more impact from the distribution channel. When is that going to be worked out in the distribution channel, the inventory, when does some of that demand return in some of those segments.

今年我們將繼續關注這些領域，例如海洋、石油和天然氣、軌道運輸、醫療等領域。他們仍然有非常強勁的需求。但毫無疑問，在工廠自動化、儀器等領域，我們看到需求大幅減少，而且分銷管道的影響也更大。分銷管道和庫存什麼時候能解決這個問題，什麼時候部分需求才能在某些細分市場中恢復。

I think it's a little too early to tell. And as we go through the course of this year, we'll try to give you a really good read on that. I mean as we look into here now the first quarter, as I said in my prepared remarks, we do anticipate in the first quarter, a kind of a modest level, but really supported by the acquisitions that we've made. And on an organic basis, we see the first quarter, again, modestly down from our current levels.

我認為現在說這個還為時過早。隨著今年的到來，我們將盡力為您提供有關此方面的詳細資訊。我的意思是，當我們回顧第一季時，正如我在準備好的發言中所說的那樣，我們確實預計第一季度的業績會處於一個適度的水平，但這確實受到了我們所進行的收購的支持。從有機基礎來看，我們預計第一季的業績將再次較目前水準略有下降。

Next question comes from Asiya Merchant from Citigroup.

下一個問題來自花旗集團的 Asiya Merchant。

Hopefully, you can hear me clearly, and I don't have an echo, I will try. On the IT datacom market, if you guys think we share some insight, looks like this market is ramping up quite nicely for you guys. If you could elaborate a little bit on how you think about your wins in the AI segment and how you're able to ramp that into revenues going forward, especially given constraints on supply on the GPU side, how do you guys think you can ramp for AI for the remainder of the year?

希望您能清楚地聽到我的聲音，並且我沒有迴聲，我會盡力的。在 IT 數據通訊市場，如果你們認為我們分享了一些見解，那麼看起來這個市場對你們來說正在很好地發展。如果您可以稍微詳細說明您如何看待您在人工智慧領域的勝利，以及如何將其轉化為未來的收入，特別是考慮到 GPU 方面的供應限制，您認為您如何在今年剩餘時間內提升人工智慧？

Yes. Well, thank you very much, and welcome to our call. I look forward to getting to meet you in person. We're really excited about the progress that the company has made in AI. And I just want to reflect on 1 aspect, which is that AI is not new to us. While the world over the course of the last year has sort of woken up to AI with the advent a year ago, November of ChatGPT and the sort of revolution of generative AI. Our team has been working on the interconnect architecture surrounding AI for a long, long time.

是的。好的，非常感謝，歡迎您來電。我期待與您親自見面。我們對公司在人工智慧領域的進展感到非常興奮。我只想反思一個方面，那就是人工智慧對我們來說並不新鮮。而隨著一年前 11 月 ChatGPT 的出現以及生成式人工智慧的革命，世界在過去一年中開始意識到人工智慧。我們的團隊長期致力於圍繞人工智慧的互連架構研究。

And so it is only now that maybe there is this acceleration almost, you could call it even a kind of revolution or a gold rush around AI, but we've been building the capability, building the product capability, building the manufacturing capability and capacity to support that for a long time. And I think this year, one of the ways that we were able to maybe even get a disproportionate share of some of the more urgent demand was that we were very quick to flex our capacity in favor of customers who needed products and when they needed it.

所以直到現在才有可能出現這種加速，你甚至可以稱之為人工智慧領域的一場革命或淘金熱，但我們長期以來一直在建構這種能力，建構產品能力，建構製造能力和支持這種能力的能力。我認為，今年我們能夠滿足部分緊急需求的其中一種方法是，我們能夠迅速調整產能，以滿足需要產品的客戶的需要，並在他們需要的時候滿足他們的需求。

And I think our team has always showed the ability to have that agility in reacting to upticks of demand. And I think that this AI is no different. I'm really proud of our team and how they've done that.

我認為我們的團隊始終表現出對需求上升做出靈活反應的能力。我認為這個人工智慧也沒有什麼不同。我為我們的團隊以及他們所取得的成就感到非常自豪。

Looking forward, it's still too early to say what does that look like over the long term. But there's no question in my mind that AI seems like something that is not such a small deal. It seems like something where there are real economics behind it where large companies are making significant investments into AI and where ultimately our architecture -- our interconnect architecture is a very critical component together with the chips that you alluded to.

展望未來，現在判斷長期前景如何還為時過早。但我心裡毫無疑問，人工智慧並不是一件小事。這似乎有真正的經濟效益，大公司正在對人工智慧進行大量投資，最終我們的架構——我們的互連架構與您提到的晶片一起成為非常關鍵的組件。

Now relative to shortages of chips, that's -- I mean, we hope that there are significant investments in chip manufacturing because in our industrial business, we do supply a lot of interconnect products that go into the industry for semiconductor manufacturing. I don't think that we've necessarily seen that as a governor on our output or on our customers' demand right now. But we'll see. It's not something that would directly impact except that maybe customers, if they couldn't get enough chips, they would moderate their overall construction.

現在相對於晶片短缺，那是——我的意思是，我們希望在晶片製造方面進行大量投資，因為在我們的工業業務中，我們確實為半導體製造業提供了大量互連產品。我認為，我們目前還未必將其視為影響我們產量或顧客需求的決定因素。但我們會看到。這不會產生直接影響，但如果客戶無法獲得足夠的晶片，他們可能會調整整體建設。

But we haven't seen that yet. And I think our team is just doing a fabulous job dealing with the surge in demand that we saw this year. And it came at a time when overall IT demand was down. But in fact, some of the products were very different products. So it wasn't just that we were able to reallocate capacity from IT products that were not being consumed as much into these, there was a lot of new stuff that we had to do, and I think we did a really great job executing on that.

但我們還沒有看到這一點。我認為我們的團隊在應對今年激增的需求方面做得非常出色。而這發生在整體 IT 需求下降的時期。但事實上，有些產品是非常不同的產品。因此，我們不僅能夠將那些消費量不大的 IT 產品產能重新分配到這些產品中，而且還要做很多新的事情，我認為我們在這方面做得非常出色。

Our next caller comes from Luke Junk with Baird.

我們的下一位來電者是來自 Baird 的 Luke Junk。

Adam, just hoping you could comment on pricing dynamics into 2024, especially in which parts of the portfolio you might look at as more normal with respect to price downs this year versus areas of the business that could be a laggard in that respect? And then the related question would just be how you're feeling about delivering productivity of your supply chain and your operations to offset any price downs you might face this year.

亞當，只是希望您能對 2024 年的價格動態發表評論，特別是您認為今年投資組合中哪些部分的價格下跌更為正常，而哪些業務領域在這方面可能會落後？然後相關的問題是，您如何看待提高供應鏈和營運的生產力來抵消今年可能面臨的價格下跌。

Luke, it's Craig. I'll take that one for Adam. I think as we think about pricing, '23, certainly, we talked about the fact that we didn't necessarily -- we saw pricing coming back to normal. I mean, '22 we talked a lot about pricing adjustments we are making to try to catch up to inflation -- inflationary increases on costs that we saw. And I think that as we came into '23, sequentially, we did a great job on the profitability, but that wasn't necessarily the pricing dynamics. That was more really just operational execution. .

盧克，我是克雷格。我要把這個送給亞當。我認為，當我們考慮定價時，『23，當然，我們談到了我們不一定看到價格恢復正常的事實。我的意思是，『22 年我們討論了很多我們正在進行的價格調整，試圖趕上通貨膨脹——我們看到的成本通貨膨脹上漲。我認為，隨著我們進入 23 年，我們在獲利能力方面做得非常出色，但這不一定是定價動態。這實際上只是操作執行而已。 。

And I think the pricing in '23 and as we look into '24 is certainly a more normalized and that the price and cost environment is more balanced. I wouldn't say that the cost environment necessarily has decreased at all. I think there is certainly an elevated level of cost, but they're just not increasing at the pace that we saw a year ago.

我認為 23 年和 24 年的定價肯定更加正常化，價格和成本環境也更加平衡。我不會說成本環境必然有所下降。我認為成本水準肯定有所上升，但成長速度已不像一年前那麼快。

So from that perspective, I think the pricing environment is in more of a normal situation. And as we move into '24, I don't necessarily think we're going to get necessarily the benefit of price. And historically, that's not something that we would see anyways. And typically, if you have a normal cost environment and normal price environment, I think you'll see kind of typical kind of margins and margin increases from a profitability perspective. We talked about 25% as being a typical target that we have in a normal environment. And I think as we move into '24, I would expect that to be the case kind of sequentially as we move into it.

因此從這個角度來看，我認為定價環境更加正常。隨著我們進入 24 世紀，我認為我們不一定能獲得價格上的好處。從歷史上看，我們無論如何都不會看到這樣的事。通常情況下，如果您處於正常的成本環境和正常的價格環境中，我認為從盈利能力的角度來看，您會看到典型的利潤率和利潤率的增長。我們說 25% 是我們在正常環境下的典型目標。我認為，隨著我們進入 24 年，我預計這種情況會逐漸出現。

So really happy with where we actually ended the year here at record operating levels. So we're really well positioned, I think, as we move into '24. I mean if you look at our margin improvements, I think that that's something that I'm really proud of the team to be able to actually execute so well during the year to get to these profitability levels. So as we move into '24, I expect that overall environment to be the same, and I certainly expect the team to be able to execute at a similar level.

我們真的很高興看到我們以創紀錄的營運水準結束了這一年。因此，我認為，隨著我們進入 24 年，我們的定位確實非常有利。我的意思是，如果你看看我們的利潤率提高，我認為這是一件讓我感到非常自豪的事情，因為團隊能夠在今年表現得如此出色，達到這樣的盈利水平。因此，當我們進入 24 年時，我預計整體環境將會保持不變，我當然希望團隊能夠以類似的水平執行。

Next question comes from Wamsi Mohan from Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Wamsi Mohan。

Adam, you called out the weakness in 2023 in the communication-related markets, but you did exceed your expectations in the fourth quarter. Do you see a greater than normal organic growth rate over the next 2 years in these markets given the historically easier compares here? And if you could also just talk about the environment in China, that would be really helpful.

亞當，您指出了 2023 年通訊相關市場將出現疲軟，但第四季度的表現確實超出了您的預期。考慮到歷史上更容易進行比較，您是否認為未來兩年​​這些市場的有機成長率會高於正常水平？如果您能談談中國的環境，那將會非常有幫助。

Well, thank you very much, Wamsi. Well, you're asking me to do a tough thing, which is to talk about the next 2 years, in a very volatile space, which is communications. I think that's hard to say what will be the overall growth across communications. I would tell you we see great opportunities across each of those areas with different things going on because remember, communications, not just IT datacom, it includes mobile networks, it includes mobile devices and obviously, broadband. And I think there's different stuff going on in each of those areas.

好吧，非常感謝，Wamsi。嗯，你要求我做一件困難的事情，那就是談論未來兩年非常動盪的領域，也就是通訊領域。我認為很難說整個通訊行業的整體成長將會如何。我想告訴你，我們在每個領域都看到了巨大的機遇，並且正在發生不同的事情，因為請記住，通信不僅僅是 IT 數據通信，它還包括移動網絡，包括移動設備，當然還有寬頻。我認為每個領域都發生著不同的事情。

If you talk just about IT datacom, which is the biggest part of our communications business, I mean there is no doubt that, as I mentioned earlier, these investments in AI, I think we're in early days on this. I think that there are going to be more and more developments around the real kind of creation of new economic models around AI and then the investments to support that. That's already been broadly talked about. You've heard folks talking about pretty significant investments in these next-generation systems.

如果你只談論 IT 數據通信，它是我們通信業務中最大的一部分，我的意思是毫無疑問，正如我之前提到的，這些對人工智慧的投資，我認為我們在這方面還處於早期階段。我認為圍繞人工智慧真正創建新的經濟模式以及支持該模式的投資將會有越來越多的發展。這已經被廣泛討論過了。您已經聽到人們談論對這些下一代系統的相當大的投資。

And again, the interconnect products are a really integral part of those systems. So I think on that front, I'm not getting out too ahead of my skis to say that I think at least specific to AI in IT datacom, I would expect over the coming couple of years to see some great opportunities. I don't know about the base of IT datacom over the next 2 years. I couldn't -- I can barely give you a 90-day kind of a very inaccurate guidance for mobile devices.

再次強調，互連產品是這些系統真正不可或缺的一部分。因此我認為在這方面，我不會太超前地說，我認為至少對於 IT 數據通訊中的人工智慧而言，我預計在未來幾年會看到一些很好的機會。我不知道未來兩年 IT 數據通訊的基礎。我無法——我幾乎無法給你提供針對行動裝置的 90 天非常不準確的指導。

I think that on wireless, we're going through a cycle, which is a typical cycle where they invest in a new type of a standard, they wait to see and by day, I mean the service providers, the operators, they wait to see how does that settle out, how do customers take it? Are customers willing to pay more for the functionality that's delivered by that.

我認為，在無線領域，我們正在經歷一個週期，這是一個典型的周期，他們投資於一種新型標準，然後等待觀察，而服務提供者、營運商則在等待觀察結果如何，客戶如何接受？客戶是否願意為其提供的功能支付更多費用？

And then there starts usually another round of the investments around that. And I think we're in that low period right now. I couldn't tell you when that low period will inflect and become more investment. But I can tell you, for sure, that in the coming years, there will need to be more investments around 5G and ultimately 6G and all the wireless networks because the vast majority of people connecting to the Internet are doing it not on a connection like a Cat 5 cable or in an office, they're doing it on a wireless basis, while they're moving around the world. And so that network is going to have to keep up with the data traffic that continues to expand kind of on an unabated basis.

然後通常會開始新一輪的投資。我認為我們現在正處於低谷期。我無法告訴你什麼時候低迷期會結束並帶來更多投資。但我可以肯定地告訴你，在未來幾年，我們需要在 5G、最終是 6G 和所有無線網路方面進行更多的投資，因為絕大多數人連接到互聯網不是通過 Cat 5 電纜或在辦公室進行連接，而是在世界各地移動時以無線方式進行。因此，網路必須跟上持續不斷擴大的數據流量。

And then finally, broadband. Broadband is an area where I think there is a lot of push in countries like ours and others to ensure that there is both the capacity and the coverage for broadband access because it's viewed not as a luxury, but rather as a necessity that folks can have broadband access. And so I think long term, there's good opportunities there as well.

最後是寬頻。我認為，寬頻是一個在我們這樣的國家以及其他國家大力推動的領域，以確保寬頻存取的容量和覆蓋範圍，因為寬頻存取不被視為一種奢侈品，而是人們能夠擁有寬頻存取的必需品。所以我認為從長遠來看，那裡也存在著很好的機會。

Relative to China, I think I'm very happy to see that the sort of geopolitics of China and the U.S. seems to be the pendulum is swinging towards a more moderate phase. There's more people talking and all of that. And we're encouraged by that. I think the world is a better place when countries are talking rather than arguing and I think that's a good thing. I think there's a lot written about the Chinese macro environment, and I'm not the expert to sort of go off on that.

相對於中國，我認為我很高興地看到，中國和美國的地緣政治似乎正擺向更溫和的階段。有更多的人在談論諸如此類的事情。我們對此感到鼓舞。我認為，當各國對話而不是爭論時，世界會變得更美好，我認為這是一件好事。我認為關於中國宏觀環境的文章已經很多了，但我並不是這方面的專家。

But what I will say is that in those areas of the electronics industries, where we support in China, places like the automotive industry, places like the industrial market, we continue to see great opportunities, and our team continues to do a fabulous job of capitalizing on those opportunities for the domestic market. And we feel really good about the position that we have as a company who is, of course, a global company but who operates through our unique organizational approach as a local company in that environment. And being the best of both worlds at a time like this when the world is somewhat uncertain, is a really good advantage for Amphenol.

但我想說的是，在我們支持的中國電子產業領域，例如汽車產業、工業市場，我們持續看到巨大的機遇，我們的團隊也持續出色地利用這些機會來開拓國內市場。我們對自己作為一家全球性公司所處的地位感到非常滿意，但我們作為一家本地公司，透過我們獨特的組織方式在這種環境下開展運營。在當今世界充滿不確定性的時期，能夠兼顧兩方面的優勢，對安費諾來說是一個真正的優勢。

And our next caller is Samik Chatterjee with JPMorgan.

我們的下一位嘉賓是摩根大通的 Samik Chatterjee。

I guess, Adam, I wanted to see if you can share your thoughts around organic growth opportunities for the company in 2024 related to inorganic growth. You have a strong pipeline of revenue from the acquisitions you've closed that you're onboarding, maybe share your thoughts about how you think about the rest of the business growing, whether they are more positive related to negatives in 2024. And what is the average sort of growth average expected of the acquisitions that you closed more recently for 2024?

亞當，我想看看您是否可以分享您對公司 2024 年與無機成長相關的有機成長機會的看法。您從已完成的收購中獲得了強大的收入管道，也許您可以分享您對其他業務成長的看法，看看它們在 2024 年是更積極還是更消極。您最近完成的收購在 2024 年的平均預期成長是多少？

Yes. Thank you very much, Samik. Again, there seems to be a little bit of a cut out of the sound there. But I think your question is, how do I see the organic growth prospects as opposed to just the acquisitions and I think we feel good about the organic prospects of the company, given all what I talked about each of our individual markets, and I'm not going to go through each of them once again. But I will just tell you that the investments that we've made in next-generation technologies, the work that we've done to support customers when they need us the most over the last 2, 3, 4 years, has positioned us very, very strongly organically to have a strong, robust performance in the years to come.

是的。非常感謝，薩米克。再次，那裡的聲音似乎有點中斷。但我認為你的問題是，我如何看待有機成長前景，而不僅僅是收購，我認為我們對公司的有機前景感到滿意，考慮到我對每個單獨市場的討論，我不會再一次討論每一個市場。但我只想告訴你們，我們對下一代技術的投資，以及過去 2、3、4 年裡我們在客戶最需要我們的時候為他們提供支持的工作，已經為我們在未來幾年取得強勁、穩健的表現奠定了非常強大的基礎。

And the other thing I would say as well is we think about acquisitions and obviously, in the first year that you own a company that's considered acquired growth. But we're focused much more on what happens thereafter. And are we acquiring companies that become platforms of future organic growth for the company. And I would tell you, all these 10 companies that we acquired this year, the -- nearly 30 companies that we've acquired since 2019.

我想說的另一件事是，我們考慮收​​購，顯然，在你擁有一家公司的第一年，這被認為是收購成長。但我們更關注的是此後發生的事情。我們收購的公司是否會成為公司未來有機成長的平台？我想告訴你們，我們今年收購了這 10 家公司，自 2019 年以來我們已經收購了近 30 家公司。

To me, these companies all represent expanded platforms for future organic growth for the company which makes me feel confident that over time, we will have subject to all of the market dynamics that, for sure, we are not immune to that the company is positioned to have really great organic growth potential.

對我來說，這些公司都代表著公司未來有機成長的擴展平台，這讓我有信心，隨著時間的推移，我們將受到所有市場動態的影響，當然，我們也不能倖免於公司擁有真正巨大的有機成長潛力。

And our next caller is Andrew Buscaglia with BNP.

我們的下一位嘉賓是法國巴黎銀行的 Andrew Buscaglia。

I just wanted to ask on IT datacom, again, with AI, the past couple of quarters, you called out sequential -- attributed sequential improvements to AI. But would you say the same thing took place in Q4? And then that plus your guidance, would you imply -- is this -- because we can't see that AI piece in that business. Would you say it's continuing to accelerate on a sequential basis?

我只是想問 IT 數據通訊方面的問題，對於人工智慧，在過去的幾個季度裡，您提到了連續的改進——將連續的改進歸功於人工智慧。但您認為第四季也發生了同樣的事情嗎？然後再加上您的指導，您是否暗示——這是因為我們在該業務中看不到人工智慧部分。您是否認為它會繼續連續加速？

Thank you very much, Andrew. Yes, I think what I said in my remarks is that we saw growth in AI, and we saw also growth in the underlying business. So I think over the last couple of quarters, I've described that all of our upside, all of our sequential growth really did come from AI. I think that this quarter, it's some of each, which is actually really encouraging for us that we've seen maybe what one could call a bottoming of the underlying IT demand.

非常感謝，安德魯。是的，我認為我在發言中說過，我們看到了人工智慧的成長，我們也看到了基礎業務的成長。所以我認為在過去幾個季度裡，我已經描述了我們所有的優勢、所有的連續成長確實都來自於人工智慧。我認為本季各方面都有所改善，這對我們來說確實令人鼓舞，因為我們可能已經看到了所謂的潛在 IT 需求觸底的跡象。

Are we continuing to make progress in AI? Do we see continued acceleration opportunities? Yes, I wouldn't say that every quarter, it's going to accelerate in lockstep like it did over the course of Q2 and Q3. But for sure, we see opportunities long term to be generating sales related to AI that are greater than we are today.

我們在人工智慧領域是否持續進步？我們是否看到持續加速的機會？是的，我不會說每季都會像第二季和第三季一樣同步加速。但可以肯定的是，從長遠來看，我們看到了創造與人工智慧相關的銷售額的機會，其規模將比現在更大。

And our next caller is Mark Delaney with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一位嘉賓是高盛的馬克·德萊尼。

Happy New Year to all of you as well. Automotive has been a fast-growing market for the company. However, several auto OEMs have been seen slower EV sales and they said they're going to rethink how fast they want to shift their production towards EVs. And so I'm hoping to better understand if you think that will create any meaningful near to intermediate-term challenges for Amphenol that could limit the company's growth over market or perhaps lead to some inventory destocking?

也祝大家新年快樂。汽車一直是該公司快速成長的市場。然而，一些汽車原始設備製造商發現電動車銷售放緩，他們表示將重新考慮將生產轉向電動車的速度。因此，我希望更好地了解您是否認為這會給安費諾帶來任何有意義的近期或中期挑戰，這可能會限制該公司在市場上的成長或可能導致一些庫存去庫存？

Well, thank you very much, Mark, and Happy New Year to you as well. Look, we read all the same papers, and we hear about the sort of discussions about slowdowns in EV sales. And I think we shouldn't forget that this is a fairly western dynamic. I don't think we hear, for example, in Asia and specifically in the largest car market in the world, China, about folks turning their back on EVs and going back to internal combustion engine. But we do hear a little bit about that, I think, here and in Europe.

好吧，非常感謝你，馬克，也祝你新年快樂。你看，我們讀過同樣的報紙，也聽過關於電動車銷售放緩的討論。我認為我們不應該忘記，這是相當西方化的動態。例如，在亞洲，特別是在世界上最大的汽車市場中國，我們並沒有聽說人們放棄電動車並重新使用內燃機。但我認為，我們在這裡和歐洲確實聽說過一些有關這方面的事情。

And as I've described, I mean, we don't care if a car has an EV drivetrain or not. What we care about, does a car have a lot of electronics in it and new electronic systems. Among those systems are certainly electrified drivetrains or hybrid electric drivetrains. And I think that what we've seen in Asia, what we've seen in Europe, what we've seen in North America is that there is a real acceleration of the adoption of electronics in cars period. And some of that may actually be related to the fact that EVs tend to be a little more fancy electronically.

正如我所描述的，我的意思是，我們並不關心汽車是否配備電動車傳動系統。我們關心的是，汽車裡是否有許多電子設備和新的電子系統。這些系統中肯定包括電動傳動系統或混合電動傳動系統。我認為，我們在亞洲、歐洲和北美看到的情況是，汽車採用電力產品的進程正在真正加速。其中一些可能實際上與電動車在電子方面往往更加花哨這一事實有關。

And I think car companies are seeing that and upgrading their standard companies to incorporate more electronic functionality. And whenever you have electronic functionality in a car, regardless of the drivetrain, you're going to have new interconnect solutions. You're going to have new sensor solutions. You're going to have new antenna solutions. And those are the 3 areas of our participation in the automotive market. For sure, if I go to like the largest EV market, China, for example, I mean, there continues to be unabated a real adoption.

我認為汽車公司已經看到了這一點，並正在升級其標準公司以納入更多的電子功能。只要汽車具有電子功能，無論採用何種動力傳動系統，您都將擁有新的互連解決方案。您將擁有新的感測器解決方案。您將獲得新的天線解決方案。以上就是我們參與汽車市場的三個領域。當然，如果我去最大的電動車市場，例如中國，我的意思是，那裡的電動車實際採用率持續有增無減。

And I would almost say that EVs in that market have kind of reached a sort of escape velocity where they're just really normal. I mean you see them all over the place. And I think our team there just did a fabulous job of getting a breadth of penetration across both domestic and international EV manufacturers, whereby we really are able to enjoy the benefits of that.

我幾乎可以說，該市場的電動車已經達到了一種逃逸速度，變得非常正常。我的意思是，你隨處都能看到它們。我認為我們的團隊做得非常出色，並廣泛滲透了國內外電動車製造商，我們真正能夠享受由此帶來的好處。

And I think in Europe and in North America, we've done a great job, but we've also done a really great job on capitalizing upon some of these new electronics. And so I wouldn't put any dynamic here in the category of something that we view as a real near or medium-term challenge. I think quite the contrary, as car companies struggle to figure out how they can sell their products and make more money from doing it, they're always going to fall back on electronics as the way to do that. And that's a good thing for Amphenol.

我認為，在歐洲和北美，我們做得很好，但我們在利用一些新電子產品方面也做得非常出色。因此，我不會將任何動態歸入我們認為的真正的近期或中期挑戰類別。我認為恰恰相反，當汽車公司努力尋找如何銷售他們的產品並從中賺取更多利潤時，他們總是依靠電子產品來實現這一目標。這對安費諾來說是件好事。

Our next caller is William Stein with Truist Securities.

我們的下一位嘉賓是 Truist Securities 的 William Stein。

Adam, I'm hoping you can comment on the aperture for M&A and products within it. I think historically, you've talked about not wanting to acquire system-level solutions. And I think at least 1 of the acquisitions you've done recently has such products. And I wonder if that could potentially be something you'll grow into and expand or if we should see you perhaps shyaway of that business going forward?

亞當，我希望你能對併購的範圍和其中的產品進行評論。我認為從歷史上看，您曾談到不想獲得系統級解決方案。我認為您最近進行的收購中至少有一項包含此類產品。我想知道這是否是你們未來發展和擴張的潛力領域，或者我們應該看到你們今後放棄這項業務？

Well, thank you so much. I think what you're alluding to is PCTEL and the fact that they have a very small test and measurement business and really wonderful people, wonderful products, but that's not why we bought PCTEL. And just -- you'll recall, we've acquired companies in the past, some of which are not purely the things that we were looking to acquire. And we're always very sensitive that we're never going to put ourselves in a competitive situation with our customers. And really PCTEL is known for their antenna technologies, which are fabulous. Not to say a bad word about their team that works in test and measurement, but we're not adopting a strategy to go after system-level products.

嗯，非常感謝。我認為您指的是 PCTEL，事實上他們的測試和測量業務規模很小，但擁有非常優秀的人才和優秀的產品，但這不是我們收購 PCTEL 的原因。而且──你會記得，我們​​過去收購過一些公司，其中一些並不是我們純粹想要收購的。我們始終非常敏感，我們永遠不會讓自己與客戶處於競爭的境地。 PCTEL 確實因其出色的天線技術而聞名。並不是說他們的測試和測量團隊不好，但我們採取的策略並不是追求系統級產品。

In terms of our aperture for M&A, I mean we just see fabulous opportunities. I mentioned it in my prepared remarks, I think we have demonstrated an ability to acquire companies really across the board from a size perspective. We've demonstrated the ability to acquire a lot of companies and to process those effectively. And our small little headquarters team here, they may have been a little bit busier than normal over the last year with these 10 acquisitions. But the beauty is because of our organizational structure, now having 14 groups across 3 global divisions, we have the wherewithal to make sure that those acquisitions get really their due attention when they become part of Amphenol.

就我們的併購前景而言，我們看到了絕佳的機會。我在準備好的發言中提到過，我認為我們已經展示了從規模角度全面收購公司的能力。我們已經證明了我們有能力收購大量公司並有效地處理這些公司。我們這裡的總部小團隊，由於去年完成了 10 項收購，可能會比平常忙一些。但美妙之處在於我們的組織結構，現在我們在全球 3 個部門設有 14 個組，我們有足夠的資金確保這些收購在成為安費諾的一部分時得到應有的關注。

And I think the near-term pipeline remains a very robust pipeline, and we look forward to taking advantage of that. We will always remain a very disciplined buyer as we have forever, I am willing to walk away at the very last moment, if I have to, if something we find is not to our liking, we'll always pay a reasonable price, a fair price for great companies. We may not always be the highest priced buyer, but I think we are often the best buyer because of our effectiveness, our willingness to work aggressively to get things done.

我認為近期的管道仍然非常強勁，我們期待利用這一點。我們將一如既往地保持非常自律的買家身份，如果必須的話，如果發現某些東西不符合我們的喜好，我願意在最後一刻放棄，我們總是會為優秀的公司支付合理的、公平的價格。我們可能不會總是出價最高的買家，但我認為我們往往是最好的買家，因為我們高效，並且願意積極努力地完成任務。

And the fact is our organizational structure allows those newly acquired companies to become part of Amphenol in a very unobtrusive fashion. They joined seamlessly. They come in and on Day 1, they just keep operating like they were doing on all the days before. And that is a relatively low-risk approach to acquisition because we're not going in and just over -- just sort of having these kind of convulsive restructurings of the company, where you run the risk of destroying what you didn't even know you had. So we look forward to continuing to have great acquisitions in the future, but we're not going to be a kind of a system-level company.

事實上，我們的組織結構允許那些新收購的公司以非常不引人注目的方式成為安費諾的一部分。他們無縫銜接。他們進來的第一天，就繼續像前幾天一樣運作。這是一種風險相對較低的收購方式，因為我們不會介入，也不會對公司進行大規模重組，在這種情況下，你可能會面臨摧毀你甚至不知道自己擁有的東西的風險。因此，我們期待未來繼續進行重大收購，但我們不會成為一家系統級公司。

We know what we are. We're an interconnect company. There are wonderful opportunities for interconnect products to be expanded, both organically and through acquisition going forward, lots of really attractive companies out there, and we'll continue to position ourselves so the ones that match with us, the ones that go through our really rigorous kind of rubicon of deciding whether or not to buy them, we'll be in a good position to execute on those over the near, medium and long term.

我們知道我們是什麼。我們是一家互連公司。互連產品未來將有極好的擴展機會，無論是透過有機成長還是透過收購，市場上有很多真正有吸引力的公司，我們將繼續定位自己，以便那些與我們匹配的公司，那些經過我們非常嚴格的審核來決定是否購買的公司，我們將處於有利地位，可以在短期、中期和長期內執行這些計劃。

And our next call is Chris Snyder with UBS.

我們下一個要致電的是瑞銀的克里斯·斯奈德 (Chris Snyder)。

I wanted to follow-up on some of the earlier conversation on AI. So it sounds like book-to-bill for AI moderated sequentially, maybe after some early outsized orders just given the company's foundation in that market. So I guess the question is, do you think that this moderation is a single quarter phenomenon? Or would you expect that to persist for multiple quarters? Because it does seem like the top line is still continuing to grow sequentially?

我想跟進之前關於人工智慧的一些討論。因此，聽起來 AI 的訂單出貨比會連續放緩，也許是因為該公司在該市場建立了基礎，所以才在早期獲得了一些超大訂單。所以我想問題是，您是否認為這種緩和是一個單一季度的現象？或者您預計這種情況會持續多個季度？因為看起來營業額似乎仍在持續持續成長？

Thanks very much, Chris. Yes. I mean, look, I don't usually talk about book-to-bill by submarkets. But I will tell you that, for sure, I mean, we had very strong bookings in AI-related applications in Q2 and Q3. And so it's not surprising that here in Q4, our IT datacom book-to-bill was a bit below and -- sorry, a bit below 1. And because of those significant orders that we received, which customers wanted to place because they need the product and then we're executing upon those orders.

非常感謝，克里斯。是的。我的意思是，你看，我通常不會談論按子市場劃分的訂單出貨比。但我可以肯定地告訴你，我們在第二季和第三季在人工智慧相關應用方面的預訂量非常強勁。因此，在第四季度，我們的 IT 數據通訊訂單出貨比略低於 1，這並不奇怪。這是因為我們收到了一些重要的訂單，這些訂單是客戶需要產品而下達的，然後我們正在執行這些訂單。

And yes, I think that our IT datacom business is in a good position looking forward. I mean our guidance for the first quarter is to have a little moderation, which is not abnormal this time of year -- actually quite normal, let me say that. And layered on top of that, I think the AI is a good thing to have. So -- no, I think you characterized it quite well.

是的，我認為我們的 IT 數據通訊業務前景良好。我的意思是，我們對第一季的預期是略微放緩，這在每年的這個時候並不異常——實際上相當正常，讓我這麼說吧。除此之外，我認為人工智慧是件好事。所以——不，我認為你對它的描述相當準確。

Our next call is Joseph Giordano with TD Cowen.

我們接下來致電的是 TD Cowen 的 Joseph Giordano。

This is Michael on for Joe. So earlier, you had mentioned commentary regarding orders and specific markets. Can you just provide like a high level, maybe book-to-bill on a consolidated basis for the quarter? Or any color there?

這是麥可為喬表演的。所以之前，您提到了有關訂單和特定市場的評論。您能否提供本季的綜合訂單出貨比數據？或有任何顏色嗎？

About earlier that our book-to-bill was 0.95:1 for the quarter.

早些時候，我們本季的訂單出貨比為 0.95:1。

Our next caller is Steven Fox with Fox Advisors.

我們的下一位嘉賓是 Fox Advisors 的 Steven Fox。

I guess broadly speaking, the latest round of acquisitions were around sensors, antennas and assemblies. I was just curious, like, Adam, your updated thoughts on your M&A focus by technology, especially in the context of what looks like gross margins that are now at the 33% level. I guess some of these products have lower gross margins, some have higher. I don't know if there's a mix impact that's influencing the gross margin now with the M&A. But just broadly speaking, when you -- the general buckets of technology that you look at, what is your thinking of what you've done and where you need to go now?

我想從廣義上講，最新一輪的收購是圍繞著感測器、天線和組件進行的。我只是很好奇，亞當，你對按技術劃分的併購重點的最新想法，特別是在毛利率目前達到 33% 水平的情況下。我猜有些產品的毛利率較低，有些則較高。我不知道現在的併購是否會產生影響毛利率的混合效應。但從廣義上講，當你看到各種技術時，你對自己所做的事情以及現在需要去哪裡有什麼看法？

Well, thanks very much, Steve. Yes. I mean, look, in the quarter, we acquired companies who make sensors, antennas, cable and cable assemblies and really high-technology cable actually that has really great value for its customers. And we continue to see acquisition opportunities across really all of our interconnect products from discrete connectors to cable, cable assembly, value-add -- complex value-add interconnect products, sensors, complex sensor interconnect assemblies, antennas and the like.

好吧，非常感謝，史蒂夫。是的。我的意思是，在本季度，我們收購了生產感測器、天線、電纜和電纜組件以及真正高科技電纜的公司，這些公司實際上對客戶具有巨大的價值。我們繼續看到所有互連產品的收購機會，從分立連接器到電纜、電纜組件、增值產品——複雜的增值互連產品、感測器、複雜的感測器互連組件、天線等等。

And we're really pleased to continue to find companies across all of those products. I wouldn't tell you that we think so much about gross margin by product. We see great margin opportunities as you know. And Craig has said it so many times, we're very much focused on operating margins. And yes, I mean, some of these companies do operate below our corporate average, not all of them, by the way, but some of them do.

我們非常高興能夠繼續找到生產所有這些產品的公司。我不會告訴你我們對產品的毛利率考慮那麼多。如您所知，我們看到了巨大的利潤機會。克雷格已經說過很多次了，我們非常關注營業利潤率。是的，我的意思是，其中一些公司的營運水平確實低於我們的企業平均水平，順便說一句，不是全部，但其中一些公司確實如此。

And I think we -- that doesn't relate at all to their product type. We don't believe that there is a correlation between whether someone makes a connector, a sensor and antenna a cable or a cable assembly that, that is necessarily going to put them in a certain bucket of profit potential. We actually see great profit potential for all companies. And that's 1 of the ways we screen for acquisitions. I mean we're not going to buy a company if we don't see the long-term potential for that company to elevate its profitability to at or above our corporate average.

我認為——這與他們的產品類型完全無關。我們不認為製造連接器、感測器和天線與製造電纜或電纜組件之間存在關聯，這必然會為他們帶來一定的利潤潛力。我們實際上看到所有公司都具有巨大的獲利潛力。這是我們篩選收購對象的方法之一。我的意思是，如果我們看不到一家公司長期提升獲利能力至我們公司平均或以上的潛力，我們就不會收購它。

Now we do have industry-leading margins. And so most of the companies that we do acquire tend to be lower than we are. And then it's our job and their job becoming part of the Amphenol family to bring those margins up over time. But it's really not at all correlated to the type of products that they sell.

現在我們確實擁有業界領先的利潤率。因此，我們收購的大多數公司的股價往往低於我們。然後，我們的工作和他們的工作就是成為安費諾家族的一部分，隨著時間的推移提高這些利潤率。但這實際上與他們銷售的產品類型沒有任何關聯。

And our last question comes from Matt Sheerin with Stifel.

我們的最後一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Matt Sheerin。

Yes. Adam, in your commentary on mobile devices, you mentioned that tablets and notebook PCs continue to be weak. But we are hearing some chatter about expectations for a potential refresh -- PC refresh cycle playing out in the next year or 2. So wondering if you have any visibility into that? And can you give us a sense of the content opportunity for Amphenol within notebooks, particularly in the next-generation so-called AI-enabled PCs?

是的。亞當，在您對行動裝置的評論中，您提到平板電腦和筆記型電腦仍然表現疲軟。但是，我們聽到一些關於潛在更新的預期——PC 更新週期將在未來一兩年內出現。所以想知道您是否對此有所了解？您能否向我們介紹安費諾在筆記型電腦領域，特別是在下一代所謂的人工智慧個人電腦領域的內容機會？

Great. Thanks so much, Matt. Look, I hope what you say is the case. We certainly hope that there is a refresh. Look, I think we've talked about this year and even a little bit last year, the strength that we've seen in phones this year, which was more than offset, in particular, by things like laptops and tablets. It had to do with the clear fact that during the pandemic and when everybody went to work from home and study from home, there was an enormous rush to buy new devices, which caused a surge and really kind of upset the normal replacement cycle of those products.

偉大的。非常感謝，馬特。瞧，我希望你所說的情況確實如此。我們當然希望能有所更新。聽著，我想我們已經談論過今年，甚至去年的一些情況，我們看到今年手機市場表現強勁，但這一勢頭被筆記型電腦和平板電腦等產品所抵消。這與一個明顯的事實有關：在疫情期間，當每個人都在家工作和學習時，人們爭相購買新設備，這導致了激增，並嚴重擾亂了這些產品的正常更換週期。

And so I guess that one could expect that if everybody bought a bunch of stuff in 2020 and 2021 and if those things tend to last 3, 4, 5 years, that eventually you would hope to see a little bit of a refresh. I don't know -- I can't tell you I have any information to support that. I'm sure you're getting your information from even wiser sources than I would have. Relative to the content, we do see great content opportunities in these devices as they get more complex, as they get more different wireless standards that they have to support, as they have higher speeds, as they have more fine pitch and more precision inside of them, all of these create opportunities for Amphenol long term.

因此我想，如果每個人都在 2020 年和 2021 年購買了一堆東西，而這些東西往往能使用 3、4、5 年，那麼最終你會希望看到一點點更新。我不知道——我無法告訴你我有任何資訊可以支持這一點。我確信您從比我更明智的來源獲取資訊。就內容而言，我們確實看到了這些設備中的巨大內容機會，因為它們變得越來越複雜，因為它們必須支援更多不同的無線標準，因為它們具有更高的速度，因為它們內部具有更精細的間距和更高的精度，所有這些都為安費諾創造了長期機會。

We've always said about the mobile device market, and that includes tablets and laptops and the like, that to the extent that there is a premium on the hardware of the product that can create opportunities for Amphenol over the long term. And I think that will -- whether that's related to AI or not, that I have -- I can't necessarily connect those dots. But for sure, people are going to need new devices in the future, and we'll be happy to enable the interconnect products across those devices.

我們一直在談論行動裝置市場，包括平板電腦和筆記型電腦等，只要產品硬體有溢價，就可以為安費諾創造長期機會。我認為無論這是否與人工智慧有關，我都無法將這些點連結起來。但可以肯定的是，人們將來會需要新的設備，我們很樂意在這些設備上啟用互連產品。

Well, operator, if that was our last question, I guess I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everybody here today for spending a little bit of your time with us. I wish that you all have a good continuation of your winter weather wherever you may be. And we look forward to talking to all of you just 90 days from now. Thanks so much.

好吧，接線員，如果這是我們的最後一個問題，我想我要藉此機會感謝今天在座的各位花費一點時間與我們交談。我祝福無論你們身在何處，都能享受美好的冬季天氣。我們期待著 90 天後與大家進行交談。非常感謝。

Thanks, everybody.

謝謝大家。

And this concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating. You may disconnect at this time, and have a great rest of your day.

今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。現在您可以斷開連接，並享受剩餘的美好時光。