博通 (AVGO) 2020 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to Broadcom Inc.'s Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2020 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, for opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to Beatrice Russotto, Director of Investor Relations for Broadcom Inc. Please go ahead, ma'am.

歡迎參加 Broadcom Inc. 2020 年第四季及財年財務業績電話會議。現在，我想將電話轉給 Broadcom Inc. 投資者關係總監 Beatrice Russotto。

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Joining me on today's call are Hock Tan, President and CEO; as well as the senior leadership team as announced this afternoon, including Tom Krause, President, Infrastructure Software Group; Charlie Kawwas, Chief Operating Officer; and Kirsten Spears, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝接線員，大家下午好。與我一起參加今天電話會議的還有總裁兼執行長 Hock Tan；以及今天下午宣布的高階領導團隊，包括基礎設施軟體集團總裁 Tom Krause；查理‧卡瓦斯，營運長；克斯汀‧斯皮爾斯 (Kirsten Spears)，財務長。

Broadcom also distributed a press release and financial tables after the market closed, describing our financial performance for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020. If you did not receive a copy, you may obtain the information from the Investors section of Broadcom's website at broadcom.com. This conference call is being webcast live, and a recording will be available via telephone playback for 1 week. It will also be archived in the Investors section of our website at broadcom.com.

Broadcom 也在收盤後分發了一份新聞稿和財務表格，描述了我們第四季度和 2020 財年的財務業績。本次電話會議正在進行網路直播，錄音將透過電話播放 1 週。它還將存檔在我們網站 Broadcom.com 的投資者部分。

During the prepared comments, Hock, Kirsten and Tom will be providing details of our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020 results, guidance for our first quarter as well as commentary regarding the business environment. We'll take questions after the end of our prepared comments. Please refer to our press release today and our filings with the SEC for information on the specific risk factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made on this call.

在準備好的評論中，Hock、Kirsten 和 Tom 將提供我們第四季度和 2020 財年業績的詳細資訊、第一季度的指導以及有關商業環境的評論。我們將在準備好的評論結束後回答問題。請參閱我們今天的新聞稿以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，以了解可能導致我們的實際結果與本次電話會議中所做的前瞻性聲明存在重大差異的具體風險因素的資訊。

In addition to U.S. GAAP reporting, Broadcom reports certain financial measures on a non-GAAP basis. A reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP measures is included in the tables attached to today's press release. Comments made during today's call will primarily refer to our non-GAAP financial results.

除了美國公認會計原則報告外，博通還根據非公認會計原則報告某些財務指標。今天新聞稿所附的表格中包含了公認會計原則和非公認會計原則措施之間的調節。今天電話會議期間發表的評論將主要涉及我們的非公認會計準則財務表現。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Hock.

然後，我會將電話轉給霍克。

Thank you, Bea. Before I discuss our results, I do want to highlight the senior leadership appointments we just made around the same time this afternoon, which is all about ensuring continued growth and success of Broadcom. But first and foremost, as you see here, I'm not going anywhere. I'm as committed and engaged as ever. But while you often see me and Tom, behind us, we have a very strong bench that has gotten us to where we are today. So today, we are elevating some of this deep bench into critical positions that will strengthen our organization going forward. Tom, Charlie and Kirsten are among the people who sustain the platform and make the phenomenal numbers I'm about to announce happen. And to showcase our deep bench of talent at Broadcom, starting in fiscal year '21, we plan to organize a series of analyst days on the various businesses where you can hear from our respective general managers about their businesses. And to kick this off, the first will occur this January, where Ram Velaga and Alexis Björlin will review our networking franchise.

謝謝你，碧。在討論我們的結果之前，我確實想強調我們今天下午同一時間剛剛做出的高級領導任命，這都是為了確保博通的持續增長和成功。但首先，正如你在這裡看到的，我不會去任何地方。我一如既往地投入和投入。但是，雖然你經常看到我和湯姆，但在我們身後，我們有一個非常強大的替補席，使我們達到了今天的水平。因此，今天，我們將一些深層人員提升到關鍵職位，這將加強我們組織的未來發展。湯姆、查理和克斯汀是這個平台的維護者，也是我即將宣布的驚人數字的實現者。為了展示我們在 Broadcom 的深厚人才儲備，從 21 財年開始，我們計劃組織一系列有關各種業務的分析師日，您可以在其中聽取我們各自總經理關於其業務的介紹。首先，第一次活動將於今年一月舉行，Ram Velaga 和 Alexis Björlin 將審查我們的網路特許經營權。

With this, let me now turn to our very strong fourth quarter results. We capped off fiscal 2020 with record quarterly revenue and profitability despite the ongoing pandemic and macroeconomic uncertainties. We delivered net revenue of $6.5 billion, above the midpoint of our guidance and up 11% sequentially and 12% -- up 12% year-on-year. Semiconductor solutions revenue was $4.8 billion, increasing 6% year-on-year and most notably representing a return to year-on-year revenue growth. Infrastructure software revenue was $1.6 billion, up 36% year-on-year, which of course, includes the contribution from Symantec.

現在讓我談談我們非常強勁的第四季業績。儘管疫情持續存在，宏觀經濟存在不確定性，但我們仍以創紀錄的季度收入和盈利能力為 2020 財年畫下句號。我們實現了 65 億美元的淨收入，高於我們指導的中位數，季增 11%，年增 12%。半導體解決方案營收為 48 億美元，年增 6%，最顯著的是恢復了年收入成長。基礎設施軟體營收為16億美元，年增36%，其中當然包括賽門鐵克的貢獻。

Let me now turn first to semiconductors. Networking, which represented approximately 35% of our semiconductor solution revenue in the quarter, was up 17% year-on-year, driven by the continued strength in cloud data center spending as well as continued spending by telcos in upgrading Edge and core networks. Moving on to Q1, we expect this trend of double-digit percentage year-on-year revenue growth to continue even as we expect enterprise campus spending to continue to soften.

現在讓我先談談半導體。網路業務約佔本季半導體解決方案營收的 35%，在雲端資料中心支出持續強勁以及電信公司在升級邊緣和核心網路方面持續支出的推動下，年增 17%。進入第一季度，我們預計這種兩位數年收入成長的趨勢將持續下去，儘管我們預計企業園區支出將繼續疲軟。

Turning to broadband, which represented approximately 14% of semiconductor solutions in the quarter. That was up 22% year-on-year. Growth was driven by the work-from-home environment and the need among service providers as well as consumers to upgrade broadband connectivity, too, as well as within the home. We experienced strong adoption of WiFi 6 in next-generation access gateways in telcos and consumers. In fact, in this environment, WiFi, where we are very well positioned as a leader, has turned into a substantial and growing business for the company. Beyond WiFi, we also experienced strong investment by service providers in GPON, that's fiber-to-the-home, and digital subscriber line copper as well as cable modems among the cable operators. All this more than offset a decline in video. We expect low to mid-teens percentage year-on-year growth -- revenue growth in broadband for Q1 as demand continues to remain strong.

轉向寬頻，該季度約佔半導體解決方案的 14%。較去年同期成長 22%。成長是由在家工作環境以及服務提供者和消費者升級寬頻連線以及家庭內部的需求所推動的。我們經歷了 WiFi 6 在電信公司和消費者的下一代存取網關中的廣泛採用。事實上，在這種環境下，我們在 WiFi 領域的領先地位已成為公司一項重要且不斷成長的業務。除了 WiFi 之外，我們還經歷了服務供應商對 GPON（即光纖到戶）、數位用戶銅纜以及有線營運商之間的電纜數據機的大力投資。所有這些都足以抵消影片數量的下降。我們預計，隨著需求持續保持強勁，第一季寬頻營收將實現低至中雙位數的年成長。

Moving on. Wireless revenue, which represented approximately 31% of semiconductor revenue in this quarter, was up 43% sequentially in Q4 with the launch of new generation flagship phone by a large North American OEM customer. Still, this was down 9% year-on-year given the 1-quarter delay in the ramp of production of that program. Accordingly, we expect Q1 fiscal '21 to now be the peak quarter of this seasonal ramp, and revenue will compare extremely favorably with the same quarter a year ago, and we expect that to be up over 50% year-on-year.

繼續前進。無線收入約佔本季半導體收入的 31%，隨著北美大型 OEM 客戶推出新一代旗艦手機，無線收入在第四季度環比增長了 43%。儘管如此，由於該專案的生產進度延遲了 1 個季度，這一數字仍同比下降了 9%。因此，我們預計 21 財年第一季將成為這一季節性增長的高峰季度，營收將與去年同期相比極為有利，我們預計同比增長將超過 50%。

Turning to server storage connectivity that represented approximately 14% of Q4 semiconductor revenue -- and was down 9% year-on-year, as expected, reflecting softness in enterprise demand. Turning to Q1, we expect revenue to continue to decline. And given the strong Q1 compare in fiscal '20, we expect this to be down double digits even as much as perhaps 20%.

伺服器儲存連線約佔第四季半導體營收的 14%，正如預期的那樣，年減 9%，反映出企業需求疲軟。談到第一季度，我們預計收入將繼續下降。鑑於 20 財年第一季的強勁表現，我們預計這一數字將下降兩位數，甚至可能高達 20%。

Last, turning to industrial, which represented approximately 3% of Q4 semiconductor solution revenue. We're seeing demand recovery especially out of China. And consolidated resales -- and here, we sell through distributors, of course, were up 4% year-on-year. And we forecast such resales in Q1 to start -- to accelerate to mid-teens year-on-year growth as the recovery in industrial and auto continues.

最後，轉向工業領域，該領域約佔第四季度半導體解決方案收入的 3%。我們看到需求復甦，尤其是來自中國的需求。綜合轉售—當然，我們透過分銷商進行的銷售同比增長了 4%。我們預計，隨著工業和汽車行業持續復甦，此類轉售將在第一季開始，年增速將加速至十幾歲左右。

So in summary, our semiconductor solutions segment was up 6% year-on-year in Q4, driven primarily by the ramp in wireless as well as continued strength in networking and broadband. Forecasting Q1, we expect this ramp in wireless to peak, and broadband and networking demand to remain strong. This will drive revenue in the semiconductor segment to increase in Q1 by high-teens percentage year-on-year.

總而言之，我們的半導體解決方案部門在第四季度同比增長了 6%，這主要是由無線業務的成長以及網路和寬頻領域的持續強勁推動的。預測第一季度，我們預計無線成長將達到峰值，寬頻和網路需求將保持強勁。這將推動半導體領域的營收在第一季同比增長十幾個百分點。

Turning to software. Let me reiterate our business model here. We focus, as we have said many times, only on the largest enterprise customers and seek to increase the adoption of the software products to a hybrid model, about 90% of which are recurring subscription revenue. We have stepped up investment in R&D focused on just these core customers. And we are able to do that by spending much less on our go-to-market outside of our large core enterprise customers unlike obviously the other software companies who are chasing every last dollar of revenue no matter how much it costs.

轉向軟體。讓我在這裡重申一下我們的商業模式。正如我們多次說過的那樣，我們只關注最大的企業客戶，並尋求將軟體產品的採用率提高到混合模式，其中約 90% 是經常性訂閱收入。我們加大了針對這些核心客戶的研發投資。我們能夠透過在大型核心企業客戶之外的市場推廣上花費更少的費用來做到這一點，這顯然不同於其他軟體公司，他們無論成本多少都追逐每一分錢的收入。

So let me tell you -- with 2 years of CA under our belt, let me tell you how we have done. Revenue-wise, after 2 years integrating CA onto our platform, Q4 '20 revenue was up 5% year-on-year. For Symantec, if you exclude services and hardware, Q4 product revenue of $380 million was up 10% from Q1 fiscal '20, which was obviously our first quarter after acquisition. But if we just look at revenue from our core accounts in CA, this was in fact up double digits, closer to 12% year-on-year, driven by bookings which have continued to grow double digits on an annualized basis. This is obviously -- this growth in core accounts has obviously more than offset the plain decline in services and attrition of accounts outside our core enterprise customers. That's how we expect to sustain our core software business long term albeit at low to mid-single-digit percentage revenue growth. But we intend to drive to a financial outcome that is consistent with the Broadcom model. You'll hear more on that from Kirsten when she talks about our financial model.

那麼，讓我告訴您—憑藉我們 2 年的 CA 經驗，讓我告訴您我們的表現如何。就收入而言，在將 CA 整合到我們的平台上兩年後，20 年第 4 季的營收年增了 5%。對於賽門鐵克來說，如果排除服務和硬件，第四季度產品收入為 3.8 億美元，比 20 財年第一季度增長 10%，這顯然是我們收購後的第一個季度。但如果我們只看我們在加州核心客戶的收入，實際上是在年化預訂量持續以兩位數增長的推動下，同比增長了兩位數，接近 12%。顯然，核心客戶的成長顯然足以抵消服務的大幅下降和核心企業客戶以外的客戶流失。這就是我們期望長期維持我們的核心軟體業務的方式，儘管收入成長率為低至中個位數百分比。但我們打算努力實現與博通模式一致的財務成果。當克爾斯滕談論我們的財務模型時，您會聽到更多相關內容。

So looking ahead to next quarter, on a year-on-year basis, we expect CA and Symantec software revenue to continue to grow in the mid-single digits. However, in Q1 fiscal '21, we expect Brocade to decline high single digits, consistent with softness in enterprise markets, resulting in our infrastructure software segment revenue to be flat to perhaps up low single-digit percentage year-over-year.

因此，展望下個季度，與去年同期相比，我們預計 CA 和賽門鐵克的軟體收入將繼續以中個位數成長。然而，在 21 財年第一季度，我們預計博科將出現高個位數下降，這與企業市場的疲軟一致，導致我們的基礎設施軟體部門營收同比持平，甚至可能成長低個位數百分比。

In summary, we expect Q1 consolidated net revenue of $6.6 billion, up approximately 13% year-over-year, all derived organically. Today, we are in a unique situation. We started fiscal 2021 with record backlog that has now grown to over $14 billion today. But the timing of this conversion of backlog to revenue won't be driven by a supply chain which continues to be tight.

總而言之，我們預計第一季合併淨收入為 66 億美元，年增約 13%，全部是有機產生的。今天，我們處於一個獨特的境地。 2021 財年伊始，我們的積壓訂單創歷史新高，目前已增至超過 140 億美元。但積壓訂單轉化為營收的時機不會由持續緊張的供應鏈所驅動。

Finally, I want to take the opportunity here to thank our team for all their work in fiscal 2020. This has undoubtedly been a challenging year, and through it all, all of our employees have demonstrated unwavering focus and resilience. Because of their hard work, our mission-critical technologies have never been more relevant than they are today.

最後，我想藉此機會感謝我們的團隊在2020 財年所做的所有工作。 。由於他們的辛勤工作，我們的關鍵任務技術從未像今天這樣重要。

And with that, let me turn you over to Kirsten.

接下來，讓我把你交給克斯汀。

Thank you, Hock. By way of background, while I've been a part of Broadcom for more than 6 years, my history in accounting and reporting roles from legacy companies, Avago and LSI, dates back over 20 years. I'm proud of the strong finance organization that Broadcom has built and I look forward to working together.

謝謝你，霍克。就背景而言，雖然我在 Broadcom 工作了 6 年多，但我在傳統公司 Avago 和 LSI 擔任會計和報告職位的歷史可以追溯到 20 多年前。我為 Broadcom 建立的強大財務組織感到自豪，並期待與您合作。

I know Hock just gave you the details on revenue, which I'll recap before moving down the P&L to discuss our fourth quarter performance, which clearly demonstrates our strong foundation for future growth. Consolidated net revenue for the fourth quarter was $6.5 billion, a 12% increase from a year ago. Semiconductor solutions revenue was $4.8 billion and represented 75% of our total revenue this quarter. This was up 6% year-on-year. Revenue for the infrastructure software segment was $1.6 billion and represented 25% of revenue. This was up 36% year-on-year given the inclusion of Symantec.

我知道霍克剛剛向您提供了有關收入的詳細信息，在向下移動損益表討論我們第四季度的業績之前，我將回顧一下這些詳細信息，這清楚地表明了我們未來增長的堅實基礎。第四季綜合淨收入為 65 億美元，比去年同期成長 12%。半導體解決方案營收為 48 億美元，佔本季總營收的 75%。較去年同期成長 6%。基礎設施軟體部門的收入為 16 億美元，佔收入的 25%。由於賽門鐵克的加入，這一數字比去年同期增長了 36%。

Continuing down the P&L. Gross margins were 74% of revenue in the quarter, up approximately 370 basis points year-on-year. The expansion in gross margin year-on-year was driven by favorable product mix in semiconductors and a higher percentage of software revenue. Operating expenses were $1.1 billion, up 10% year-on-year due primarily to the addition of Symantec. Operating income from continuing operations was $3.6 billion and represented 56% of revenue. Operating margins were up approximately 400 basis points year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA was $3.8 billion and represented 59% of revenue. This figure excludes $139 million of depreciation.

繼續降低損益表。該季度毛利率佔營收的 74%，年增約 370 個基點。毛利率年增率是由於半導體領域有利的產品組合和軟體收入比例的提高所推動的。營運費用為 11 億美元，年增 10%，主要由於賽門鐵克的加入。持續經營業務的營業收入為 36 億美元，佔營收的 56%。營業利益率年增約 400 個基點。調整後 EBITDA 為 38 億美元，佔營收的 59%。該數字不包括 1.39 億美元的折舊。

Gross margins for our semiconductor solutions segment were approximately 68% in Q4, up 320 basis points year-over-year, driven by an improved product mix. This mix included more networking products and less wireless. As you know, wireless carries around 10 points less margin on product profitability than the rest of our semiconductor portfolio. Operating expenses were $777 million in Q4 or 16% of semiconductor solutions revenue compared to $727 million in the prior year period as we continued to invest in our business. R&D cost as a percentage of revenue for Q4 was approximately 14%, and SG&A as a percentage of revenue was 2%. Operating margins for our semiconductor solutions segment were 52% in Q4, up 290 basis points year-on-year. All told, in semiconductor solutions, revenue was up 6% and operating profit grew 12%.

在產品組合改善的推動下，我們的半導體解決方案業務第四季的毛利率約為 68%，較去年同期成長 320 個基點。這種組合包括更多的網路產品和更少的無線產品。如您所知，無線產品的利潤率比我們半導體產品組合的其他產品低約 10 個百分點。由於我們繼續投資業務，第四季度的營運支出為 7.77 億美元，佔半導體解決方案收入的 16%，而去年同期為 7.27 億美元。第四季研發成本佔營收的百分比約為 14%，SG&A 佔營收的百分比為 2%。第四季我們的半導體解決方案部門的營運利潤率為 52%，較去年同期成長 290 個基點。總而言之，在半導體解決方案領域，營收成長了 6%，營業利潤成長了 12%。

Gross margins for our infrastructure software segment were 90% in Q4, up 130 basis points year-over-year. Cost of revenue primarily includes cost of product support, hosting for our SaaS products, professional services and hardware. Operating expenses were $338 million in Q4 or 21% of infrastructure software revenue compared to $290 million or 24% of revenue in the prior year period as we generate scale through the acquisition of Symantec. R&D cost as a percentage of revenue for Q4 was approximately 12%, and SG&A as a percentage of infrastructure software revenue was 9%. Operating margin was 69% in Q4, up 480 basis points year-over-year. Our operating margins reflect our model which is about focusing on the largest enterprise customers and increasing our share of their wallet in terms of our software portfolio. Given this model, we are able to focus our R&D investments on a strategic group of customers and, by doing so, reduce costs primarily on go-to-market. This is how we get to operating margin of about 69%, which we believe we can sustain.

第四季基礎設施軟體業務毛利率為 90%，較去年同期成長 130 個基點。收入成本主要包括產品支援成本、SaaS 產品託管成本、專業服務成本和硬體成本。第四季的營運支出為 3.38 億美元，佔基礎設施軟體收入的 21%，而去年同期的營運支出為 2.9 億美元，佔營收的 24%，因為我們透過收購賽門鐵克擴大了規模。第四季研發成本佔營收的百分比約為 12%，SG&A 佔基礎設施軟體收入的百分比為 9%。第四季營業利益率為 69%，較去年同期成長 480 個基點。我們的營業利潤率反映了我們的模式，即專注於最大的企業客戶，並增加我們在軟體產品組合方面在他們錢包中的份額。透過這種模式，我們能夠將研發投資集中在策略客戶群上，從而主要降低上市成本。這就是我們實現約 69% 營業利潤率的方法，我們相信我們可以維持這一水準。

Looking at cash flow. We had quarterly free cash flow of $3.2 billion, representing 50% of revenue. This is up 36% year-on-year as we managed our working capital more tightly during this pandemic.

看現金流。我們的季度自由現金流為 32 億美元，佔營收的 50%。由於我們在疫情期間更加嚴格地管理營運資金，這一數字年增了 36%。

Moving on to capital allocation for Q4. We paid our common stockholders $1.3 billion of cash dividends. We also paid $185 million in withholding taxes due on vesting of employee equity, resulting in the elimination of approximately 500,000 AVGO shares. We ended the quarter with 407 million outstanding common shares and 451 million diluted shares. Note that we expect the diluted share count to be 450 million in Q1. On the financing and balance sheet front, we reduced total debt by $3 billion in the quarter. All told, we ended the quarter with $7.6 billion of cash and currently have $12.6 billion of liquidity, including our $5 billion revolver. We ended the quarter with $41.1 billion of total debt, of which approximately $800 million in short term.

繼續第四季的資本配置。我們向普通股股東支付了 13 億美元的現金股利。我們也支付了 1.85 億美元的員工股權歸屬預扣稅，消除了約 50 萬股 A​​VGO 股票。本季末，我們擁有 4.07 億股已發行普通股和 4.51 億股稀釋股。請注意，我們預計第一季稀釋後的股份數量將為 4.5 億股。在融資和資產負債表方面，我們本季總債務減少了 30 億美元。總而言之，我們本季末擁有 76 億美元的現金，目前擁有 126 億美元的流動資金，其中包括我們 50 億美元的左輪手槍。本季末，我們的總債務為 411 億美元，其中約 8 億美元為短期債務。

I'll now turn the call over to Tom.

我現在會把電話轉給湯姆。

Thank you, Kirsten. Let me now recap our financial performance for fiscal year 2020. Our revenue hit a new record of $23.9 billion, growing 6% year-on-year. Semiconductor solutions revenue was $17.3 billion, down 1% year-over-year. Infrastructure software revenue was $6.6 billion, which included $1.5 billion from Brocade, which was down 17% year-on-year; $3.5 billion from CA, which was up 4% year-on-year; and the addition of Symantec, which was $1.6 billion.

謝謝你，克爾斯滕。現在讓我回顧一下我們 2020 財年的財務表現。半導體解決方案營收為 173 億美元，年減 1%。基礎設施軟體收入為66億美元，其中來自博科的15億美元，年減17%；來自CA的35億美元，年增4%；以及賽門鐵克的加入，價值 16 億美元。

Gross margin for the year was a record high of 73.5%, up from 71% a year ago. The addition of Symantec as well as a beneficial mix in semiconductor product sales drove the gross margin expansion. Additionally, operating expenses were $4.6 billion, which included the addition of Symantec. Operating income from continuing operations was $12.9 billion, up 8% year-over-year and represented 54% of net revenue. Adjusted EBITDA was $13.6 billion, up 8% year-over-year and represented 57% of net revenue. This figure excludes $570 million in depreciation. We accrued $644 million of restructuring and integration expenses and made $583 million of cash restructuring and integration payments in fiscal 2020. We spent $463 million on capital expenditures, and free cash flow represented 49% of revenue or $11.6 billion. Free cash flow grew 25% year-over-year.

全年毛利率創歷史新高，達 73.5%，高於一年前的 71%。賽門鐵克的加入以及半導體產品銷售的有利組合推動了毛利率的成長。此外，營運支出為 46 億美元，其中包括賽門鐵克的支出。持續經營業務的營業收入為 129 億美元，年增 8%，佔淨收入的 54%。調整後 EBITDA 為 136 億美元，年增 8%，佔淨收入的 57%。該數字不包括 5.7 億美元的折舊。 2020 財年，我們應計了6.44 億美元的重組和整合費用，並支付了5.83 億美元的現金重組和整合費用。億美元。自由現金流年增 25%。

Now on to capital allocation. For the year, we returned $6 billion to our common stockholders, consisting of $5.2 billion in the form of cash dividends and $800 million for the elimination of 2.6 million AVGO shares. We also paid $299 million in dividends to our preferred stockholders. I would also note through the refinancing and liability management activities we've undertaken this year, our weighted average debt maturity is now approximately 6 years with a weighted average interest rate of approximately 3.5%.

現在進行資本配置。今年，我們向普通股股東返還了 60 億美元，其中 52 億美元以現金股息形式，8 億美元用於註銷 260 萬股 A​​VGO 股票。我們也向優先股股東支付了 2.99 億美元的股息。我還想指出，透過我們今年進行的再融資和負債管理活動，我們的加權平均債務期限現在約為 6 年，加權平均利率約為 3.5%。

Looking ahead to fiscal 2021, we remain committed to returning approximately 50% of our prior year normalized free cash flow to stockholders in the form of cash dividends. With that, on the dividend, based on approximately $12 billion of free cash flow in fiscal year 2020, we are increasing our target quarterly common stock cash dividend starting this quarter to $3.60 per share. This constitutes an increase of 11% and assumes a basic outstanding share count of 413 million shares at the end of fiscal 2021. We plan to maintain this dividend payout throughout this year, subject to quarterly Board approval. Consistent with our capital allocation policy, we will reassess the dividend this time next year based on our fiscal '21 free cash flow results.

展望 2021 財年，我們仍致力於以現金股利的形式向股東返還上一年正常化自由現金流的約 50%。因此，在股利方面，基於 2020 財年約 120 億美元的自由現金流，我們將從本季開始將季度普通股現金股利目標提高至每股 3.60 美元。這相當於成長 11%，並假設到 2021 財年末基本流通股數為 4.13 億股 我們計劃在今年全年維持這一股息支付，但須經董事會季度批准。根據我們的資本配置政策，我們將在明年這個時候根據 21 財年的自由現金流結果重新評估股利。

With that, I'll turn the call back over to Bea.

說完，我會把電話轉回給 Bea。

Thank you, Tom. At this time, we'll open the call for questions. We have Hock, Tom, Kirsten and Charlie available to answer any questions. So operator, please go ahead and kick us off.

謝謝你，湯姆。此時，我們將開放提問。我們有 Hock、Tom、Kirsten 和 Charlie 可以回答任何問題。所以，接線員，請繼續，讓我們出發。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Craig Hettenbach with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自摩根士丹利的 Craig Hettenbach。

A question for Hock. I think on the call a year ago, you talked about an increase in R&D investment in those areas in cloud, photonics, I think wireless infrastructure. So I just wanted to get an update on how that's progressing and the visibility into kind of revenue from that R&D investment.

問霍克一個問題。我想在一年前的電話會議上，您談到了雲端、光子學、無線基礎設施等領域的研發投資的增加。所以我只是想了解最新進展以及研發投資收入的可見度。

Okay. That's a very good question. And the investment, we -- the cadence of the investment we're doing continues in areas that we see as very strategic in various businesses. And you've seen some of that coming out as we continue to do so. For instance, last week, we announced the introduction and ramp -- and introduction availability of the -- our 800-gig platform for switching, routing and interconnects in the basic size, retimers and all that, that goes hand in hand with it. So all about launching 800-gig platform and that comes in the form of our new product, Tomahawk 4.

好的。這是一個非常好的問題。我們正在繼續進行投資，在我們認為對各種業務具有戰略意義的領域進行投資。隨著我們繼續這樣做，您已經看到了其中一些結果。例如，上週，我們宣布推出和推出我們的 800 GB 平台，用於基本尺寸的交換、路由和互連、重定時器以及與之相關的所有功能。因此，所有關於推出 800G 平台的一切都以我們的新產品 Tomahawk 4 的形式出現。

And it's pretty interesting that we're launching it now because our previous generation, which is at 400-gig platform, Tomahawk 3, which we introduced over a year ago, of course 1.5 years ago, is just starting to ramp. We then will have -- in terms -- into a larger market. And we're already launching an 800 gig. So the speed and -- the regularity and the speed at which we are pushing this product is definitely something we intend to keep. We're coming out with a newer generation. Probably -- that is probably 2x throughput capacity and the regularity of 18 months to 2 years on a consistent basis because that's what our hyper cloud customers want. And it makes sense because we need to scale up data centers as CPUs start to hit the limitation of the Moore's Law. Now that's one example.

有趣的是，我們現在推出它是因為我們的上一代產品，即 400g 平台 Tomahawk 3，是我們一年多前推出的，當然是 1.5 年前，才剛開始發展。然後我們將進入一個更大的市場。我們已經推出了 800 場演出。因此，我們推動該產品的速度和規律性和速度絕對是我們打算保持的。我們即將推出新一代。可能——這可能是 2 倍的吞吐能力，並且持續 18 個月到 2 年的規律性，因為這就是我們的超級雲客戶想要的。這是有道理的，因為隨著 CPU 開始達到摩爾定律的限制，我們需要擴大資料中心的規模。這是一個例子。

As part of that, as we indicated a year ago, we're stepping our investment in areas of silicon photonics basically to enable interconnects at very high throughput, at very high bandwidth. And that's been going very, very well. It's a multiyear investment. And as we indicated from the last time we talked about it, we are now only on the second year, but we expect to have something that will make -- that will be out to the marketplace within a generation or 2 of our platforms in switching and routing. And that's on that aspect of it.

作為其中的一部分，正如我們一年前所指出的，我們正在增加對矽光子學領域的投資，基本上是為了實現非常高吞吐量和非常高頻寬的互連。一切進展得非常非常順利。這是一項多年投資。正如我們上次談到的那樣，我們現在才進入第二年，但我們希望能夠在我們的平台的一代或兩代之內將其推向市場。這就是它的那個面向。

In terms of further investments, we have stepped up investment, as I indicated in my report, on WiFi, on connectivity of base 802.11ax now. And we launched that platform 2 years ago, very successful. And we're already working on -- and we have invested a lot on the next-generation WiFi 7, successor to this WiFi 6. In between, we're putting out 6-gigahertz WiFi, that's WiFi 6E, which is the spectrum bandwidth recently was approved by the FCC not long ago. And we already have our first product certified by the FCC recently. We're the first out there. So we intend to be in the lead, for instance, in this wireless connectivity, which by the way, today, as I indicated, represents a very substantial and growing part of our business. And it's a testimonial to the reliable investment and success we've gotten in this area.

在進一步投資方面，正如我在報告中指出的那樣，我們現在加大了對 WiFi 和 802.11ax 連接的投資。我們兩年前推出了這個平台，非常成功。我們已經在努力開發下一代 WiFi 7，即 WiFi 6 的後繼產品。我們的第一個產品最近已經通過了 FCC 認證。我們是第一個出來的。因此，我們打算在無線連接方面處於領先地位，順便說一句，正如我所指出的，今天，無線連接代表了我們業務中非常重要且不斷增長的部分。這是我們在這一領域的可靠投資和成功的證明。

And so these are some of the things that we have. And most of this investment are multiyear, but you do start to see some of the bands, some of the products, some of the launches, some of the revenues starting to come in with this level of investments we are making in here.

這些是我們擁有的一些東西。大部分的投資都是多年的，但你確實開始看到一些樂團、一些產品、一些產品、一些收入開始隨著我們在這裡進行這種投資水平而來。

Our next question will come from Vivek Arya with Bank of America Securities.

我們的下一個問題將來自美國銀行證券公司的 Vivek Arya。

Good luck to Tom and Kirsten and Charlie in your new roles. Hock, the question is for you on supply constraints that several of your peers in semiconductors have mentioned, whether it's in substrates or wafers or foundry capacity. I'm curious where does Broadcom stand on this. Is supply a factor in your reported results or your Q1 outlook or something that you think can constrain the growth in fiscal '21? Just what steps are you taking to make sure it doesn't constrain growth and also, on the other side, make sure customers are not double ordering because of all these supply issues?

祝湯姆、克斯汀和查理在新角色中好運。 Hock，您面臨的問題是您的幾位半導體同行提到的供應限制，無論是基板、晶圓還是代工產能。我很好奇博通對此有何立場。供應是您報告的業績或第一季前景中的一個因素，還是您認為可能限制 21 財年成長的因素？您正在採取哪些措施來確保它不會限製成長，同時確保客戶不會因為所有這些供應問題而重複訂購？

Well, interesting question. We reported on -- by the way, we reported on this supply constraint at least 3 months ago when we did our earnings call, in fact probably even earlier than that. We have seen -- probably even 2 quarters ago, we have seen that supply constraint. And we were one of first to report on it. And that supply constraint continues from when we first touched on it 6 months ago. And it's -- in some area, it just seems to revolve in different specific areas, where it is. We talked about wafers then -- since then, as you correctly pointed out. And we hear in the news substrate is a consideration. And believe me, beyond that, wire-bonding is even a possible constraint depending on whether -- like it's more and more automotive legacy products come in.

嗯，有趣的問題。順便說一句，我們至少在 3 個月前召開財報電話會議時就報告了這種供應限制，事實上可能比那更早。我們已經看到——甚至可能在兩個季度前，我們就已經看到了供應限制。我們是最早報道此事的人之一。這種供應限制從我們 6 個月前第一次觸及它時就一直存在。在某些領域，它似乎只是在不同的特定領域旋轉。然後我們就討論了晶圓——從那時起，正如你正確指出的那樣。我們在新聞中聽到的基板是一個考慮因素。相信我，除此之外，引線鍵合甚至是一個可能的限制，這取決於是否越來越多的汽車傳統產品出現。

So we operate in an environment -- and I mentioned in my remarks that it's fairly unique. Here, we are in the middle of a pandemic. Here, we are where there are winners and losers even in the product lines, even in the industry we're in, where there are some businesses where demand is just booming. And we touched on that in networking, in broadband and some areas, particularly in enterprise, where they're not so strong. But what we also see is supply -- a capacity from our supply chain that is tight. That's what we're doing. And we have seen that for months, and we have taken a lot of actions to have address it and we continue to do that. We're also one of the largest consumer of those third-party manufacturers in semiconductors out there, be they wafers, be they substrates, be they back-end assembly or test capacity. We are all in there and we've been seeing it for 6 months.

所以我們在一個環境中運作——我在演講中提到它是相當獨特的。在這裡，我們正處於大流行之中。在這裡，即使在產品線中，甚至在我們所處的行業中，我們也有贏家和輸家，有些企業的需求正在蓬勃發展。我們在網路、寬頻和某些領域，特別是在企業領域，談到了這一點，他們在這些領域並不那麼強大。但我們也看到供應——我們供應鏈的產能緊張。這就是我們正在做的事情。幾個月來，我們已經看到了這一點，我們已經採取了很多行動來解決這個問題，我們將繼續這樣做。我們也是第三方半導體製造商的最大消費者之一，無論是晶圓、基板、後端組裝或測試能力。我們都在那裡，我們已經看到它 6 個月了。

So best answer is we're managing that. We have -- having said that, we have the backlog in place. And we have also, very early on in our fiscal '20, stretched out a supply chain not only based on what we're seeing but based on what we anticipate happening. And that has also enabled us to be able to, in a more orderly manner, in what I consider a more appropriate manner, put products in the hands of end users who need it at the appropriate time. We've done that very well. And having said all that, even as we do it, our backlog continues to grow. To give you a sense, I mentioned we have $14 billion -- over $14 billion of backlog today. When we started the quarter, our backlog -- and we're shipping in between since then, beginning of the quarter, our backlog was $12 billion. So it's accelerating.

所以最好的答案是我們正在管理這個問題。話雖如此，我們已經積壓了工作。我們也在 20 財年的早期就擴展了供應鏈，不僅基於我們所看到的情況，而且基於我們預期發生的情況。這也使得我們能夠以更有序的方式，以我認為更合適的方式，在合適的時間將產品送到有需要的最終用戶手中。我們在這方面做得很好。話雖如此，即使我們這樣做，我們的積壓工作仍在繼續成長。為了讓您有一個概念，我提到我們有 140 億美元——今天的積壓訂單超過 140 億美元。當我們本季開始時，我們的積壓訂單——從那時起，我們一直在發貨，本季初，我們的積壓訂單為 120 億美元。所以它正在加速。

But having said that, please don't get carried away in the other aspect. As you know, wireless business that we have is seasonal. So we are seeing -- obviously, wireless -- our wireless backlog is a significant part of a total backlog. But given the seasonality of it, we obviously have seen a deceleration in the bookings that are coming in from our wireless business. But we are seeing, on the other side, acceleration and continued strength in orders coming in from the other parts of our business. Networking has always remained strong. Broadband continues to be very strong. And now we start to see the smaller part of our business, industrial, coming in very, very strong. So one side is offsetting the other, and we continue to see this strong backlog, which in a way makes our planning in our supply chain easiest but in some ways poses other challenges of making sure we are delivering products to the right consumer -- customers at the right time.

但話雖如此，請不要在另一方面得意忘形。如您所知，我們的無線業務是季節性的。所以我們看到——顯然是無線——我們的無線積壓是總積壓的重要組成部分。但考慮到其季節性，我們顯然看到無線業務的預訂量下降。但另一方面，我們看到來自我們業務其他部門的訂單正在加速且持續強勁。網路始終保持強勁。寬頻仍然非常強勁。現在我們開始看到我們業務中較小的一部分，工業，變得非常非常強勁。因此，一方面抵消了另一方面，我們繼續看到這種大量的積壓，這在某種程度上使我們的供應鏈規劃變得最容易，但在某些方面也帶來了其他挑戰，以確保我們向正確的消費者（客戶）交付產品在正確的時間。

Our next question will come from Harlan Sur with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題將來自摩根大通的 Harlan Sur。

Great job on the quarterly execution, and congratulations to all on the executive appointments. Hock, we're still at the very start of the 400-gig networking upgrade cycle with your hyperscale customers. It seems like telco service providers are also starting to adopt the white box switch and routing model, which is good for your Tomahawk and Jericho chipsets, and then you guys are also benefiting from the optical connectivity that goes along with your switching solutions. Beyond this quarter, do you see sustainability of the networking upgrade and spending cycle through next year? And then given the wafer and substrate constraints, are your lead times in networking expanding beyond 6 months now?

季度執行工作非常出色，恭喜所有高階主管任命。 Hock，我們仍處於與您的超大規模客戶一起進行 400 GB 網路升級週期的開始階段。電信服務供應商似乎也開始採用白盒交換器和路由模型，這對您的 Tomahawk 和 Jericho 晶片組很有好處，然後你們也可以從交換解決方案附帶的光纖連接中受益。在本季之後，您認為明年網路升級和支出週期的可持續性嗎？然後，考慮到晶圓和基板的限制，您的網路交付週期現在是否會延長至 6 個月以上？

Very good question, Harlan, and thank you for your kind words. To answer the first part, yes, we -- our new product generation in 400G platform, as I mentioned earlier, is starting to ramp up in a big way this coming -- this fiscal '21, started in '20 with a couple of large hyperscale customers, and it's been a -- and it started ramping up with many more fiscal '21 and I'm sure it goes on to '22.

很好的問題，哈倫，謝謝你的客氣話。要回答第一部分，是的，我們——正如我之前提到的，我們在 400G 平台上的新一代產品即將開始大幅增長——這個 21 財年從 20 世紀開始，有幾個大型超大規模客戶，而且它已經開始在21 財年開始成長，我確信它會持續到22 財年。

And we do not see a slowdown in the demand. And you're correct. Operator -- service provider and operators are also adopting these merchant silicon in the routing platforms on their networks, as I mentioned, particularly in core as well as Edge. And we're seeing extreme -- very, very good demand and success, as evidenced by the backlog and orders we are getting from service providers and not just hyper cloud, particularly service providers on our merchant silicon Jericho family. So that's good. And do I see that continuing? Probably as far as you can see, '21. We have -- our lead times is now beyond 6 months to answer your question.

我們沒有看到需求放緩。你是對的。正如我所提到的，服務供應商和營運商也在其網路的路由平台中採用這些商業晶片，特別是在核心和邊緣。我們看到了極端的、非常非常好的需求和成功，我們從服務提供者那裡獲得的積壓和訂單就證明了這一點，而不僅僅是超級雲，特別是我們的商業晶片Jericho 系列上的服務提供商。所以這樣很好。我認為這種情況會持續下去嗎？據你所知，可能是'21。我們的交貨時間現在超過 6 個月來回答您的問題。

So -- and just to add a further thought, we have a policy in this company that we -- and adhere to very, very strictly for both -- because of financial governance, any orders placed on us do not -- we do not allow to be canceled. All our customers know that. All our partners know that. So we're actually seeing real demand out there at least 6 months. And that brings us pretty close to the second -- to the -- or that brings us in fact to the second half of fiscal '21 at that point and, I guess as many of you will know, just in time for the beginning of a seasonal ramp of the next-generation wireless products. So our '21 visibility appears to be remarkably better than we usually have at this point in the beginning of our fiscal year.

因此，為了進一步補充一點，我們在這家公司有一項政策，我們非常非常嚴格地遵守這項政策，因為財務治理，對我們下的任何訂單都沒有這樣做，我們不這樣做允許取消。我們所有的客戶都知道這一點。我們所有的合作夥伴都知道這一點。因此，我們實際上至少在 6 個月內看到了實際需求。這使我們非常接近第二個 - 到 - 或者實際上使我們到了 21 財年的下半年，我想你們很多人都會知道，正好趕上 21 財年的開始下一代無線產品的季節性增長。因此，我們 21 世紀的能見度似乎比我們財年初期通常的情況要好得多。

Our next question will come from Stacy Rasgon with Bernstein Research.

我們的下一個問題將來自伯恩斯坦研究中心的史黛西·拉斯貢（Stacy Rasgon）。

I had a question on the wireless trajectory. Last quarter, just given the change in seasonality, you had given us a little bit of color -- actually on this quarter, you said it would probably still grow sequentially. How should we think about the seasonality into -- I guess is it the May quarter or February just especially given there seems to have been a pushout. It looks like wireless in Q4 was -- actually came in a little lower than you had expected, and it sounds like some of that's pushing into Q1. So can you -- I guess given those dynamics and given that's the seasonal peak in Q1, can you give us some idea similar to what you did last quarter on what to expect for the wireless trajectory into fiscal Q2?

我有一個關於無線軌蹟的問題。上個季度，考慮到季節性的變化，您給了我們一點色彩——實際上在本季度，您說它可能仍會連續增長。我們應該如何考慮季節性因素——我想是五月季度還是二月，特別是考慮到似乎已經出現了延遲。看起來第四季度的無線業務實際上比您預期的要低一些，而且聽起來其中一些已經進入第一季。那麼，我想，考慮到這些動態，並考慮到第一季的季節性高峰，您能否給我們一些類似於上季度所做的想法，以了解對第二財季無線發展軌蹟的預期？

Well, that's a tough question. And to begin with, we generally don't talk much about Q2, though I did give you guys some indication based on backlog we're sitting today why it's unlikely to flow. But I mean you're right. I mean we have this $14 billion of backlog, which continues to grow. And substantially, most of it -- a lot of it will be filled between Q1 and Q2, to begin with and a bigger picture.

嗯，這是一個很難回答的問題。首先，我們通常不會過多談論第二季度，儘管我確實根據我們今天所坐的積壓工作向大家提供了一些指示，為什麼它不太可能流動。但我的意思是你是對的。我的意思是，我們有 140 億美元的積壓訂單，而且還在繼續成長。基本上，其中大部分將在第一季和第二季之間填補，首先是一個更大的圖景。

But in the way you ask in respect of wireless, you're correct also in pointing out when we do year-on-year comparisons now, it's very interesting because the Q4 fiscal '20, the quarter we just finished and reporting on, becomes the first quarterly ramp of our wireless business, and it compares to Q4 fiscal '19, which in typical cycles in the past is you see the peak quarter of revenue seasonally for our wireless business. So you're comparing an initial ramp against a peak quarter. And that's down, as I indicated, 9% year-on-year.

但是，按照您詢問無線方面的方式，您也正確地指出，當我們現在進行同比比較時，這非常有趣，因為 20 財年第四季度，即我們剛剛完成並報告的季度，變得這是我們無線業務的第一個季度成長，與19 財年第四季相比，在過去的典型週期中，您會看到我們無線業務季節性收入的峰值季度。因此，您正在將初始成長與高峰季度進行比較。正如我所指出的，這一數字比去年同期下降了 9%。

The big ramp now for this current generation of phones in our wireless business will be our Q1, the quarter we are in now. And that compares to the Q1 of fiscal '20 now, which is post big ramp of the last generation, which is why I also indicated we're likely to see a 50 -- around a 50% year-on-year step-up in our wireless revenue. Now we go on to Q2 -- and I think people -- probably things get back to more normalcy, and as always, expect wireless to demonstrate a seasonally -- seasonality as probably the bottom quarter of an annual cycle.

我們無線業務中目前這一代手機的大幅成長將是我們現在所處的第一季。與現在的 20 財年第一季相比，這是上一代大幅增長後的結果，這就是為什麼我還表示我們可能會看到 50——同比增長約 50%我們的無線收入。現在我們進入第二季度——我認為人們——情況可能會恢復到正常狀態，並且一如既往地預計無線將表現出季節性——季節性可能是年度週期的底部季度。

Our next question will come from John Pitzer with Credit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題將來自瑞士信貸銀行的約翰·皮策 (John Pitzer)。

Hock, glad to see that you're sticking around. I guess I want to ask some of the questions around the management change and specifically Tom's new position. I'm just kind of curious what that might mean for the software infrastructure business longer term and whether or not there's any sort of plan to potentially actually spin that business out. And I asked the question because clearly, when you look at the core IP you have in your silicon business around I/O, around acceleration and how important those IP blocks are, when you look at the sum of the part valuation of overall Broadcom, it just looks dirt cheap. You've doubled the operating margins in the software businesses since you acquired those companies and you've got great franchises in silicon and yet you're trading at a big discount. Is there a belief that perhaps the best way to get value longer term for these businesses might be a spin? And is that part of the rationale behind Tom's new position?

霍克，很高興看到你留下來。我想我想問一些有關管理層變動的問題，特別是湯姆的新職位。我只是有點好奇這對軟體基礎設施業務的長期影響意味著什麼，以及是否有任何計劃可以真正剝離該業務。我問這個問題是因為很明顯，當你查看你的晶片業務中圍繞 I/O、加速以及這些 IP 模組的重要性時所擁有的核心 IP，當你查看整個 Broadcom 的部分估值總和時，它看起來非常便宜。自從你收購了這些公司以來，你已經將軟體業務的營業利潤翻了一番，並且你在晶片方面擁有了巨大的特許經營權，但你卻以很大的折扣進行交易。是否有人相信，也許這些企業獲得長期價值的最佳方法可能是旋轉？這是湯姆擔任新職務的部分原因嗎？

No. I love the fact you speculate so vividly here. But no, there's no plan. I think it's just that the software businesses, especially go-to-market, is a very interesting play for this company because Broadcom as a whole -- and you look at us, we have around $20 billion, $25 billion roughly, give or take, a few billion in revenues, each 1 year. We're a technology company, purveyors out there, technology suppliers to an ecosystem. And by that, I mean an ecosystem addresses end users, be they hyper cloud, be they service providers or be they basic, large -- while we tend to focus large enterprises out there, like the banks, insurance companies, travel agency, whatever the end user. We look at this as our eventual end-use customers. That's our ecosystem. And as key product ecosystem, we have partners with the OEMs, some distributors, but largely, our key partners are on the OEMs. And these are our partners. These are, in a way, important partners that we often sell our products with and through. We look at it that way.

不，我喜歡你在這裡如此生動地推測。但不，沒有計劃。我認為軟體業務，尤其是進入市場，對這家公司來說是一個非常有趣的業務，因為博通作為一個整體 - 你看看我們，我們有大約 200 億美元，大約 250 億美元，給予或接受，每年收入數十億美元。我們是一家科技公司、供應商、生態系統的技術供應商。我的意思是，生態系統致力於解決最終用戶的問題，無論是超級雲端、服務供應商還是基本的大型企業，而我們傾向於專注於大型企業，例如銀行、保險公司、旅行社等最終用戶。我們將其視為我們的最終最終用戶。這就是我們的生態系統。作為關鍵的產品生態系統，我們與原始設備製造商、一些分銷商都有合作夥伴，但在很大程度上，我們的主要合作夥伴是原始設備製造商。這些是我們的合作夥伴。在某種程度上，這些都是我們經常與之銷售產品的重要合作夥伴。我們是這樣看的。

So when you look at it that way, end-use software, infrastructure software, it's no different than the silicon solutions, hardware and software tied to it that we sell out there. It's just that we tend to sell silicon software through partners, with partners who wrap in a system and go to end users versus infrastructure software where we tend to go direct though not all the time. Sometimes, we go with [MS GS], service providers like IBM, GTS or DXC that sells it through, but ultimately, those end users who uses our software. And we look at ecosystem that way, it makes total logical sense that we have a unified platform that does everything across. Because at the end of the day, we are still fulfilling to the same end users, whether they are semiconductor hardware solutions with software developer kit, SDK, or other operating system or straight infrastructure software, some with appliances too, I could add. And so that, to me -- to us, long term is very logical. They stay together.

因此，當你這樣看時，最終用途軟體、基礎設施軟體與我們出售的與之相關的晶片解決方案、硬體和軟體沒有什麼不同。只是我們傾向於透過合作夥伴銷售晶片軟體，合作夥伴將其包裝在系統中並提供給最終用戶，而我們傾向於直接銷售基礎設施軟體，儘管並非總是如此。有時，我們會與 [MS GS] 合作，IBM、GTS 或 DXC 等服務提供者透過但最終使用我們軟體的最終用戶來銷售軟體。我們以這種方式看待生態系統，我們擁有一個可以完成所有工作的統一平台，這完全符合邏輯。因為歸根結底，我們仍然滿足相同的最終用戶，無論他們是帶有軟體開發工具包、SDK 或其他作業系統的半導體硬體解決方案，還是直接的基礎設施軟體，我可以​​補充說，有些還帶有設備。因此，對我來說，對我們來說，長期發展是非常合乎邏輯的。他們呆在一起。

Our next question will come from Ross Seymore with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題將來自德意志銀行的羅斯·西莫爾。

Congrats to all the senior appointments. I guess this one could be for Hock, Tom or Kirsten. I want to talk about the capital allocation side. Versus a year ago, you've delevered the balance sheet, pushed out the maturities, locked in some good rates. So there doesn't seem to be an issue there. You're comfortable enough to raise your dividend significantly. So I wanted to hear what your thoughts are especially given the pandemics and what's going on with the backlog being as large as it is as far as how are you thinking about the other half of your capital. Any sort of update given the environment? Or is it as simple as you're just going to focus on either giving it back with shareholder returns via buybacks or do a deal?

恭喜所有高級任命。我猜這可能是給霍克、湯姆或克斯汀的。我想談談資本配置方面。與一年前相比，你已經降低了資產負債表的槓桿率，推遲了到期日，並鎖定了一些良好的利率。所以那裡似乎沒有問題。您有足夠的信心大幅提高股利。因此，我想聽聽您的想法，特別是考慮到大流行病，以及積壓的情況如此之大，以及您如何看待另一半資本。考慮到環境有什麼更新嗎？還是只是簡單地專注於透過回購或進行交易來回饋股東回報？

Ross, it's Tom. I'll take that one. I think it's very much back to business as usual. I think obviously, 2020, we got into the crisis mode earlier in the year. I think we focused a lot on pushing out maturities. We added the balance sheet from a liquidity standpoint, which we continue to do. And the markets were very favorable and we're able to do all that. I think obviously, business also came back and performed quite well. And as Hock's talked about, we've got a decent amount of visibility in the first half and we'll see what happens in the second half, but it seems like the year is set up for a reasonable amount of success.

羅斯，是湯姆。我會接受那個。我認為一切都恢復如常了。我認為顯然，2020 年，我們在今年早些時候就進入了危機模式。我認為我們非常注重推遲到期日。我們從流動性的角度增加了資產負債表，我們將繼續這樣做。市場非常有利，我們能夠做到這一切。我認為顯然，業務也有所恢復並且表現相當不錯。正如霍克所說，我們在上半年獲得了相當大的知名度，我們將看看下半年會發生什麼，但今年似乎已經為相當程度的成功做好了準備。

And so I think with that in mind, we're comfortable with our investment-grade credit rating. We have delevered. We paid down $3 billion of debt in Q4. We're upping the dividend, as you mentioned, and sticking to the policy of giving back about 50% of free cash flow. So that's going to leave us with some excess cash. And we always look at it as what are the right relative returns and what's best for shareholders, and that usually means buying back stock or doing M&A. And I think we'll certainly look at doing both. We're biased toward acquisitions historically, and I think we'll continue to be so as long as we can find the right targets and generate the right returns consistent with our business model. So I'd really say business as usual, Ross.

因此，我認為考慮到這一點，我們對我們的投資等級信用評級感到滿意。我們已經去槓桿化了。我們在第四季償還了 30 億美元的債務。正如您所提到的，我們正在提高股息，並堅持回饋約 50% 自由現金流的政策。所以這會給我們留下一些多餘的現金。我們總是將其視為正確的相對回報以及對股東最有利的回報，這通常意味著回購股票或進行併購。我認為我們肯定會考慮兩者兼而有之。我們歷來偏向收購，我認為只要我們能夠找到正確的目標並產生與我們的商業模式一致的正確回報，我們就會繼續這樣做。所以我真的想說一切如常，羅斯。

Our next question will come from Timothy Arcuri with UBS.

我們的下一個問題將來自瑞銀集團的提摩西·阿庫裡。

I guess I wanted to follow on John's question. So in addition to the management changes, you're pretty much giving us a full segment P&L, which you've never done before. So I guess the question is, why now? Is there some investor feedback on maybe that the segmentation will drive a better multiple? I mean, for sure, the stock is very inexpensive and it seems like sum of the parts would be a better way to value it. But is there some feedback that's giving you the -- driving you to sort of break out a segment P&L?

我想我想繼續回答約翰的問題。因此，除了管理層變動之外，您還向我們提供了完整的部門損益表，這是您以前從未做過的。所以我想問題是，為什麼是現在？是否有一些投資者反饋說，細分可能會帶來更好的本益比？我的意思是，當然，這隻股票非常便宜，而且似乎將各個部分相加是更好的估值方式。但是，是否有一些回饋可以為您帶來推動您分解部分損益表的動力？

Tim, you answered your own question perfectly, yes. We're doing it because we feel that we should give more disclosures, more specifics of our various businesses. As you noticed, in addition to giving full P&L, almost full P&L to the extent there is, because there's also some amount of allocation. But we try to be very representative of our 2 large -- of our 2 segments, semiconductors and infrastructure software.

提姆，你完美地回答了你自己的問題，是的。我們這樣做是因為我們認為我們應該披露更多信息，並更詳細地介紹我們的各種業務。正如您所注意到的，除了提供完整的損益之外，還提供了幾乎完整的損益，因為還有一定數量的分配。但我們努力讓我們的兩大細分市場——半導體和基礎設施軟體——具有代表性。

You will notice that we've been -- especially in semiconductors, we give you a lot now more color and breakdown on what drives, what -- which are the particular end-market applications in semiconductors and the behavior and the dynamics in each of those verticals. And something we understand, we have been perhaps more lacking in the past, which we try to remedy now by giving you guys much more details.

您會注意到，我們已經 - 特別是在半導體領域，我們現在為您提供了更多關於什麼驅動器，什麼 - 半導體中特定的終端市場應用以及每個領域的行為和動態的詳細信息。 。我們知道，過去我們可能更缺乏一些東西，現在我們試圖透過向你們提供更多細節來彌補這一點。

And it's also -- in this particular environment, it is very, very important. I think we give it because I cannot say that all cylinders are firing like crazy because as you all know, we all know, they're not in this environment. We have some cylinders -- and as we indicated very [lastly], there are some areas where we're very, very -- where it's performing very, very well. And it's performing very well, I should quickly hasten to add, not because we are super good in it, which we are, but we're also super good in the other areas that are not performing as well also. It's just the economy, the macro economy, the demand and unusual situation we're all in.

在這個特定的環境中，它也非常非常重要。我認為我們給出它是因為我不能說所有氣缸都瘋狂地燃燒，因為眾所周知，我們都知道，它們並不處於這種環境中。我們有一些氣缸 - 正如我們[最後]指出的那樣，在某些領域我們非常非常表現得非常非常好。它的表現非常好，我應該趕緊補充一下，不是因為我們在這方面非常出色（事實上我們確實如此），而是因為我們在其他表現不佳的領域也非常出色。這就是我們所處的經濟、宏觀經濟、需求和不尋常的情況。

And so we felt it is appropriate to give you guys more specifics what's driving the overall revenue and what has changed because as I also indicated in my last earnings call, when we began this year, we had a certain set of expectations, which has dramatically changed now that we finished the year. I expected -- I had expected semiconductor as an industry to recover from downturns of 2019, obviously, and that 2020 will be a slow, steady recovery, accelerating into the back end. What we didn't expect is in actual numbers, it did recover but not everything recovered. And it's -- in a sense, it's a response to the requirements, the situation of a pandemic and a work-from-home environment. And so we see those businesses that are doing superbly.

因此，我們認為有必要向大家提供更多具體信息，說明推動整體收入增長的因素以及發生的變化，因為正如我在上次財報電話會議中指出的那樣，當我們今年開始時，我們有一定的預期，這極大地提高了我們的預期。我預計——我預計半導體作為一個行業將從 2019 年的低迷中復甦，顯然，2020 年將是緩慢、穩定的復甦，並加速進入後端。我們沒想到的是，從實際數字來看，它確實恢復了，但並不是所有東西都恢復了。從某種意義上說，這是對大流行和在家工作環境的要求、情況的回應。所以我們看到那些表現出色的企業。

And to really explain it, we felt we had to give you more disclosures and which we are. And if we start giving you disclosure and as I give you -- go all the way and show you where -- even how the segment -- the 2 broad segment P&L look like. And one of the other things we want to also demonstrate to you guys, loud and clear, is that we have a business model in mind, a thesis, investment thesis when we go and bind these specific software companies, some of which may not be in favor when we bought them. But what we're looking at as we look at semiconductors is that these are very sustainable franchises, which with the right approach, with the right model and the right focus, which we like to think what we described to you as the approach we're taking, that we can make them into real, sustainable franchises and generate the kind of cash and profit returns that we are demonstrating to you today and that those are sustainable.

為了真正解釋這一點，我們認為我們必須向您提供更多資訊以及我們是誰。如果我們開始向您披露信息，正如我向您提供的那樣，一路向您展示兩個主要細分市場損益表的位置，甚至是細分市場的情況。我們還想大聲而清晰地向你們展示的另一件事是，當我們去綁定這些特定的軟體公司時，我們心中有一個商業模式、一篇論文、投資論文，其中一些可能不是當我們購買它們時受到青睞。但當我們審視半導體時，我們看到的是這些都是非常永續的特許經營權，它們採用正確的方法、正確的模式和正確的重點，我們喜歡將其視為我們向您描述的方法。我們認為，我們可以將它們打造成真正的、可持續的特許經營權，並產生我們今天向您展示的現金和利潤回報，而這些回報是可持續的。

And our final question today will come from Toshiya Hari with Goldman Sachs.

今天我們的最後一個問題將來自高盛的 Toshiya Hari。

I had a follow-up question for Tom. Now that you'll be leading the software business going forward, what are the 1 or 2 top priorities for you in running that business?

我有一個後續問題要問湯姆。既然您將領導軟體業務向前發展，那麼您在經營該業務時最優先考慮的一兩個事項是什麼？

And a clarification question. I think, Hock, in your prepared remarks, you talked about the long-term growth rate in your software business being in the low to mid-single digits. Is that an organic number? Or does that include M&A?

還有一個澄清問題。我認為，霍克，在您準備好的講話中，您談到了軟體業務的長期成長率處於中低個位數。這是有機數嗎？或者說這包括併購？

And then on M&A, Tom, if you can speak to the pipeline and software and your thoughts on valuation today, that would be helpful.

然後，關於併購，湯姆，如果您能談論管道和軟體以及您今天對估值的想法，那將會有所幫助。

There was just so many questions, I can barely remember the first one but I -- look, I'm excited. I think we've got a great team bringing together the go-to-market and the business units under one umbrella. I think it will allow us to scale, continue to grow, which we've been doing. We've had some early success, and we've got a lot to learn. And so I think this positions us well, and I'm looking forward to it. Beyond that, we'll take all the other follow-up questions on the call -- back call, but thanks very much.

問題太多了，我幾乎記不起第一個問題了，但我——看，我很興奮。我認為我們擁有一支出色的團隊，將市場推廣部門和業務部門整合在一起。我認為這將使我們能夠擴大規模，繼續發展，就像我們一直在做的那樣。我們已經取得了一些早期的成功，而且還有很多東西要學習。所以我認為這對我們來說是有利的，我對此充滿期待。除此之外，我們將在電話中回答所有其他後續問題——回電，但非常感謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today's question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Ms. Beatrice Russotto for any closing remarks.

女士們、先生們，感謝你們參加今天的問答環節。現在我想將電話轉回給 Beatrice Russotto 女士，讓其結束語。

Thank you, operator. So in closing, we did want to note that we'll be kicking off the presentation by our General Managers at the JPMorgan Tech Forum on Tuesday, January 12. Hock will be joined by Ram Velaga and Alexis Björlin from our networking division to present at that event.

謝謝你，接線生。因此，最後，我們確實想指出，我們將於 1 月 12 日星期二在摩根大通技術論壇上由總經理進行演講。

So thank you. That will conclude our earnings call today. And operator, you may end the call.

所以謝謝你。我們今天的財報電話會議到此結束。接線員，您可以結束通話了。

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

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。