科林研發 (LRCX) 2021 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Lam Research's December Quarter Financial Conference Call. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Ms. Tina Correia, Corporate Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, ma'am.

大家好，歡迎參加 Lam Research 12 月季度財務電話會議。此時，我謹將會議交給公司財務和投資者關係副總裁蒂娜·科雷亞女士。請便，女士。

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Lam Research Quarterly Earnings Conference Call. With me today are Tim Archer, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Doug Bettinger, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. During today's call, we will share our overview on the business environment, and we'll review our financial results for the December 2020 quarter and our outlook for the March 2021 quarter.

謝謝大家，大家下午好。歡迎參加 Lam Research 季度財報電話會議。今天陪同我出席的有總裁兼執行長提姆·阿徹，以及執行副總裁兼財務長道格·貝廷格。在今天的電話會議上，我們將分享我們對商業環境的概述，並回顧我們 2020 年 12 月季度的財務業績以及我們對 2021 年 3 月季度的展望。

The press release detailing our financial results was distributed a little after 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time this afternoon. The release can also be found on the Investor Relations section of the company's website along with the presentation slides that accompany today's call.

詳細介紹我們財務表現的新聞稿已於下午 1 點剛過發布。太平洋時間今天下午。該新聞稿以及今天電話會議的簡報也可在公司網站的投資者關係部分找到。

Today's presentation and Q&A include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties reflected in the risk factors disclosed in our SEC public filings. Please see accompanying slides in the presentation for additional information.

今天的演示和問答環節包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到風險和不確定性的影響，這些風險和不確定性已在我們的美國證券交易委員會公開文件中披露。更多資訊請參閱簡報中的配套幻燈片。

Today's discussion of our financial results will be presented on a non-GAAP financial basis, unless otherwise specified. A detailed reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP results can be found in today's earnings press release.

除非另有說明，我們今天對財務表現的討論將以非公認會計準則（non-GAAP）為基礎。今天的盈利新聞稿中提供了 GAAP 和非 GAAP 結果之間的詳細調整表。

This call is scheduled to last until 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time. A replay of this call will be made available later this afternoon on our website.

本次通話預計持續到下午3點。太平洋時間。今天下午晚些時候，我們將在網站上提供本次通話的錄音回放。

And with that, I'll hand the call over to Tim.

那麼，我就把電話交給提姆了。

Thanks, Tina, and good afternoon, everyone. 2020 was a remarkable year for Lam Research. Our global teams rose to meet the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and delivered the best year in our history.

謝謝蒂娜，大家下午好。2020年對Lam Research來說是意義非凡的一年。我們的全球團隊迎難而上，應對了新冠肺炎疫情帶來的前所未有的挑戰，並取得了公司歷史上最好的業績。

Total revenue of $11.9 billion and earnings per share of $20.45 were both record highs for the company, driven by served available market, market share and customer support business growth. Through the year, we also launched new products and announced breakthrough technology solutions that we believe lay the foundation for our continued success.

該公司總收入達到 119 億美元，每股收益達到 20.45 美元，均創歷史新高，主要得益於服務市場、市場份額和客戶支援業務的成長。今年，我們也推出了新產品，並宣布了突破性的技術解決方案，我們相信這些將為我們持續成功奠定基礎。

Before going into details, I want to express my sincere thanks to our teams for their incredible execution in an extraordinarily difficult environment and to our customers and suppliers for their partnership and support as we all adapted to the unforeseen events of 2020. We entered the new year with hope that the world would soon emerge from the COVID-19 health crisis and move towards a global recovery.

在詳細介紹之前，我要衷心感謝我們的團隊在極其困難的環境下出色地完成了工作，還要感謝我們的客戶和供應商，感謝他們在我們共同適應 2020 年發生的種種不可預見的事件時給予的合作與支持。我們懷著希望進入了新的一年，希望世界能盡快擺脫新冠肺炎疫情危機，走向全球復甦。

From our view, WFE spending in 2020 ended in the high $50 billion range. This is about what we estimated at our Investor Day in March just before the extent of COVID-19's impact was known. We saw spending growth across all segments of the market, led by a recovery in NAND, continued expansion in foundry/logic and a slight pickup in DRAM. China domestic spending for the year was in the $10 billion-plus range.

我們認為，2020 年 WFE 的支出最終達到了 500 億美元以上。這與我們3月份投資者日上的估計大致相同，當時COVID-19的影響程度還不為人知。我們看到市場各個細分領域的支出均有所成長，其中 NAND 快閃記憶體復甦，晶圓代工/邏輯晶片持續擴張，DRAM 晶片略有回升。中國當年的國內消費支出超過100億美元。

As we look to 2021, we see strong momentum across all parts of our business. Our early view is for substantial WFE growth to the high $60s billion to $70 billion range, supported by the ongoing migration to higher layer counts in NAND, a strong spending environment in DRAM and increased investment in foundry/logic, as indicated by recent customer commentary. Currently, we are seeing spending biased somewhat towards the first half of 2021.

展望 2021 年，我們看到公司各個業務領域都呈現出強勁的發展動能。我們初步認為，WFE 市場將大幅成長至 600 億美元至 700 億美元，這得益於 NAND 快閃記憶體層數不斷增加、DRAM 市場支出環境強勁以及代工/邏輯領域投資增加（正如近期客戶評論所表明的那樣）。目前，我們看到支出在一定程度上偏向 2021 年上半年。

While today's absolute levels of WFE are significantly higher than a few years ago, we believe the rapid digitization of the global economy, combined with rising capital intensity due to greater process complexity, supports robust multiyear WFE spending.

雖然如今 WFE 的絕對水準比幾年前高得多，但我們認為，全球經濟的快速數位化，加上流程複雜性增加導致的資本密集度上升，支撐著多年強勁的 WFE 支出。

In fact, if there's a common theme that underpins our outlook for the next several years, it is that sustainable growth throughout the semiconductor value chain will be driven by the proliferation of artificial intelligence, high performance computing, IoT, 5G and the incredible societal advances and user experiences these technologies enable.

事實上，如果說未來幾年我們的展望有一個共同的主題，那就是整個半導體價值鏈的可持續增長將由人工智慧、高效能運算、物聯網、5G 的普及以及這些技術帶來的令人難以置信的社會進步和用戶體驗所驅動。

We expect strong demand from a diverse set of end-use markets to positively impact semiconductor and semiconductor equipment growth in 2021 and beyond. Take, for example, the $200 billion global online gaming market. Nearly 3 billion people worldwide actively play video games across a variety of platforms, generating over the last 5 years more than a 50% CAGR in data growth as users embrace realistic experiences enabled by more powerful processors, faster memory and higher graphics resolution.

我們預計，來自各種終端用戶市場的強勁需求將在 2021 年及以後對半導體和半導體設備的成長產生積極影響。以價值 2000 億美元的全球線上遊戲市場為例。全球近 30 億人活躍於各種平台上玩電子遊戲，過去 5 年的數據成長率超過 50%，這得益於更強大的處理器、更快的記憶體和更高的圖形解析度所帶來的逼真體驗。

If you just look at a subsegment of the broader gaming market, namely gaming consoles, the number of these units shipped annually is much smaller than the number of smartphones sold. However, when you consider that a GPU for a gaming console is approximately 4x the size of a smartphone application processor, this is an important driver of incremental WFE.

如果只看遊戲市場的一個細分領域，也就是遊戲主機，那麼這些主機每年的出貨量遠小於智慧型手機的銷售量。然而，考慮到遊戲主機的 GPU 大約是智慧型手機應用處理器的 4 倍大小，這是 WFE 增量的重要驅動因素。

From a memory and storage perspective, newer consoles utilize approximately twice the DRAM bits and employ SSD-based storage versus HDD in prior generations. Add rising capital intensity trends on top of this semiconductor content growth, and the impact on WFE increases further. We estimate that a 5% upside in the gaming console market has the potential to drive about $500 million of incremental WFE. And this is just one end-use market example.

從記憶體和儲存的角度來看，較新的遊戲機使用的 DRAM 位數大約是前幾代的兩倍，並且採用 SSD 儲存而不是 HDD 儲存。在半導體含量成長的同時，資本密集度也不斷上升，這對WFE的影響將進一步加劇。我們估計，遊戲機市場 5% 的成長潛力有可能帶來約 5 億美元的額外 WFE。這只是終端用戶市場的一個例子。

If we similarly look at the impact of the 5G phone market, we see that 5% incremental demand in 5G units has the potential to drive close to $1 billion in incremental WFE. It is demand drivers such as these that have strengthened our conviction around the sustainability of WFE spending over a multiyear period.

如果我們同樣觀察 5G 手機市場的影響，就會發現 5G 設備 5% 的增量需求有可能帶來近 10 億美元的 WFE 增量。正是這些需求驅動因素增強了我們對 WFE 支出在多年內可持續性的信念。

It is against this positive backdrop that Lam remains focused on executing to our long-term objectives for SAM expansion, market share gains and installed base business growth we described at our Investor Day last March.

正是在這種積極的背景下，林氏集團繼續專注於執行我們在去年三月投資者日上提出的長期目標，包括SAM擴張、市場份額增長和已安裝基礎業務增長。

In NAND, we continue to extend our strong leadership position. We estimate that our tools have now cumulatively processed approximately 37 million more wafers than our nearest competition through the 3 most critical 3D NAND applications.

在NAND領域，我們繼續鞏固並擴大我們強大的領先地位。我們估計，透過 3 個最關鍵的 3D NAND 應用，我們的工具目前累積處理的晶圓數量比最接近的競爭對手多出約 3700 萬片。

Since we first provided this metric at our Investor Day, less than 1 year ago, we have widened the wafers processed experience gap by more than 40%. The accelerated learning that comes from our installed base of 3D NAND systems puts Lam in the best position to deliver the solutions needed to meet our customers' next-generation manufacturing challenges. It also allows us to gain early insight into new opportunities being created by technology inflections.

自從不到一年前我們在投資者日首次提出這項指標以來，晶圓加工經驗差距已經擴大了 40% 以上。我們已安裝的 3D NAND 系統帶來的加速學習，使 Lam 處於最佳位置，能夠提供滿足客戶下一代製造挑戰所需的解決方案。它也使我們能夠及早洞察技術變革帶來的新機會。

For example, in 2020, we announced our new Striker FE atomic layer deposition system, which employs a unique ICEFill capability for high aspect ratio dielectric gapfill. This tool addresses a new technology need for 3D NAND devices scaling to 128 layers or more. And production ramp of Striker FE is underway at multiple customers.

例如，在 2020 年，我們發布了新的 Striker FE 原子層沉積系統，該系統採用獨特的 ICEFill 功能，可實現高縱橫比介電間隙填充。該工具滿足了 3D NAND 裝置擴展到 128 層或更多層的新技術需求。Striker FE 的量產工作已在多家客戶處展開。

2020 also saw the launch of Sense.i, our next-generation etch platform. And today, we announced our new Vantex high aspect ratio dielectric etch module on Sense.i. Vantex features advanced RF technology and new uniformity enhancements to enable next-generation device road maps. Vantex and Sense.i together collect more data per wafer than ever before, enabling advanced equipment intelligence and -- to deliver new levels of productivity and process control.

2020 年，我們也推出了新一代蝕刻平台 Sense.i。今天，我們在 Sense.i 上發布了我們新的 Vantex 高縱橫比介質蝕刻模組。Vantex 採用先進的射頻技術和新的均勻性增強技術，為下一代設備路線圖的製定奠定了基礎。Vantex 和 Sense.i 共同收集的每片晶圓的數據量比以往任何時候都多，從而實現了先進的設備智能，並帶來了更高水平的生產力和製程控制。

The timing of our Vantex launch intercepts DRAM and NAND road maps facing increasingly complex node-to-node scaling challenges. As a result, Vantex is already in qualification with both DRAM and NAND customers, and repeat orders have been received to ramp this system into high-volume production in 2021.

Vantex 的發佈時機恰逢 DRAM 和 NAND 的發展路線圖面臨日益複雜的節點間擴展挑戰。因此，Vantex 已經獲得了 DRAM 和 NAND 客戶的認可，並收到了重複訂單，以便在 2021 年將該系統投入大規模生產。

For foundry/logic, we continue to target new technology inflections to expand our opportunity and position. Our KIYO GX conductor etch system has been engineered with an advanced RF pulsing capability to meet the unique requirements of extremely narrow high aspect ratio features. It also provides extendability to future devices featuring nanowire or nanosheet architectures.

對於晶圓代工/邏輯電路，我們將繼續瞄準新的技術變革，以擴大我們的機會和地位。我們的 KIYO GX 導體蝕刻系統採用先進的射頻脈衝功能設計，以滿足極窄高縱橫比特徵的獨特要求。它還可擴展到未來採用奈米線或奈米片結構的設備。

Leading-edge foundry/logic customers are increasingly adopting KIYO GX for their most critical front-end-of-line applications at 5-nanometer and beyond, where the need for atomic-level precision etch becomes more acute.

領先的代工廠/邏輯客戶越來越多地採用 KIYO GX 來滿足其 5 奈米及更高精度製程的最關鍵的前端應用，因為在這些應用中，對原子級精度蝕刻的需求變得更加迫切。

Moreover, as devices scale, parasitic RC degrades transistor performance. As a result, we are seeing increasing customer pull for Lam's etch and deposition solutions designed to reduce our RC effects, including atomic layer etch for self-aligned contacts, new functional films and optimized metal solutions, which reduce wear and line resistance by simplifying middle-of-line and back-end-of-line process flows.

此外，隨著裝置尺寸的縮小，寄生RC會降低電晶體的效能。因此，我們看到客戶對 Lam 的蝕刻和沈積解決方案的需求日益增長，這些解決方案旨在減少我們的 RC 效應，包括用於自對準接觸的原子層蝕刻、新型功能薄膜和優化的金屬解決方案，這些解決方案透過簡化生產線中間和後端製程來減少磨損和線路電阻。

In DRAM, we are seeing incremental share in SAM growth also coming from growing complexity of node transitions. We assess that we have greater than 50% etch market share in DRAM. And due to the importance of high-quality hard masks and mask open etches with EUV, we expect additional patterning share gains in etch and deposition as EUV passes increase at future nodes.

在 DRAM 領域，我們看到 SAM 份額的逐步成長也源自於節點過渡日益複雜化。我們估計我們在DRAM蝕刻市場佔有率超過50%。由於高品質硬掩模和掩模開口蝕刻對於 EUV 的重要性，我們預計隨著未來節點 EUV 掃描次數的增加，蝕刻和沈積的圖形化份額將進一步提高。

Adoption of EUV in foundry/logic and DRAM is also creating a significant SAM expansion opportunity for Lam's dry photoresist solution. Using this new technology, we believe we can accelerate our growth in both foundry/logic and DRAM by disrupting the existing wet photoresist equipment market.

EUV 在晶圓代工/邏輯元件和 DRAM 領域的應用也為 Lam 的乾式微膠解決方案創造了重要的 SAM 擴展機會。我們相信，利用這項新技術，我們可以顛覆現有的濕式光阻設備市場，加速我們在晶圓代工/邏輯晶片和DRAM領域的成長。

Our solution is gaining significant traction with leading customers as they look to improve the cost metrics of EUV patterning. Changes of this magnitude do take time to realize, but with tools now being installed and wafers being run for top DRAM and foundry/logic customers, we are pleased with our progress readying this innovative technology for production.

我們的解決方案正在獲得領先客戶的廣泛認可，因為他們希望改善 EUV 圖案化的成本指標。如此巨大的變化確實需要時間才能實現，但隨著工具的安裝和晶圓的運行，我們為頂級 DRAM 和代工/邏輯客戶帶來了新的成果，我們對這項創新技術投入生產所取得的進展感到滿意。

And finally, 2020 was another outstanding year for our Customer Support Business Group. Our installed base has now reached nearly 66,000 chambers, and CSBG revenue growth exceeded chamber growth by a factor of more than 2x for the 2020 calendar year.

最後，2020 年對我們的客戶支援業務集團來說又是出色的一年。目前，我們的安裝基礎已達到近 66,000 個商鋪，2020 年 CSBG 的營收成長比商舖的成長高出 2 倍以上。

We generated record revenues for all subsegments within CSBG. Growth in our Reliant business was driven by automotive, 5G and consumer electronics, and we expect these areas to continue to outpace overall market growth in coming years.

CSBG旗下所有子業務板塊均創下營收紀錄。我們 Reliant 業務的成長主要得益於汽車、5G 和消費性電子產品，我們預計這些領域在未來幾年將繼續超過整體市場成長速度。

Meanwhile, we delivered on the expectations we set on our last earnings call for calendar year growth of 25% in productivity-focused services and 6x growth in remote support engagements. We are excited about the trajectory and broad strength of this business and especially its proven ability to deliver world-class support of complex technologies in high-volume manufacturing.

同時，我們實現了上次財報電話會議上設定的預期，即以生產力為中心的服務業務在日曆年內成長 25%，遠端支援業務成長 6 倍。我們對這項業務的發展軌跡和整體實力感到興奮，尤其對其在大批量生產中為複雜技術提供世界一流支援的能力感到振奮。

To wrap up, Lam marked its 40th anniversary in 2020 with record financial performance, a strong slate of innovative new products and services and solid execution on our strategy to expand leadership across markets. As our March quarter guidance suggests, we are optimistic about the opportunities that lie ahead for Lam and believe we are in an excellent position to win. Thanks again. And now here's Doug.

綜上所述，2020 年，林氏集團迎來了成立 40 週年，並取得了創紀錄的財務業績，推出了一系列創新產品和服務，並在擴大市場領導地位的策略方面取得了穩健的執行。正如我們三月的季度業績指引所示，我們對 Lam 未來的發展機會持樂觀態度，並相信我們處於非常有利的地位，能夠取得成功。再次感謝。現在請道格上場。

Excellent. Thank you, Tim. Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us today on what I know is a very busy earnings time. I hope you and your families have been safe and healthy since we last spoke with you. I'm really quite pleased to be reporting these outstanding results.

出色的。謝謝你，提姆。下午好，感謝各位在今天這個財報季非常繁忙的時候參加我們的節目。希望自從我們上次通話以來，您和您的家人都平安健康。我非常高興地向大家報告這些優異的成績。

We came in at the high end or exceeded the range for all guided metrics in the December quarter. Despite the challenges we faced during 2020 related to the global pandemic, Lam delivered record financial performance in revenue, operating income dollars and earnings per share.

我們在12月季度的所有指導指標中都達到了上限或超過了預期範圍。儘管我們在 2020 年面臨與全球疫情相關的挑戰，但 Lam 在收入、營業收入和每股盈餘方面都取得了創紀錄的財務業績。

Our December quarter revenue came in at $3.46 billion, at the high end of our guidance range, and represented an increase of 9% from the September quarter. The strength of our performance was driven by investments in all device segments as our customers ramped to meet the demands from a diverse set of end markets such as data centers, smartphones, PCs, gaming consoles, IoT and automotive.

我們 12 月季度的營收為 34.6 億美元，處於我們預期範圍的高端，比 9 月季度增長了 9%。我們業績的強勁成長得益於對所有設備領域的投資，因為我們的客戶正在加大投入，以滿足來自資料中心、智慧型手機、個人電腦、遊戲機、物聯網和汽車等各種終端市場的需求。

Overall, our revenue increase was not only driven by the wafer fab equipment needs of the industry, but also by the continuous growth of our installed base. We continue to add value to our customers by delivering spare parts, equipment upgrades, refurbished tools and advanced service offerings.

整體而言，我們的營收成長不僅得益於產業對晶圓製造設備的需求，也得益於我們裝機量的持續成長。我們透過提供備件、設備升級、翻新工具和先進的服務產品，持續為客戶創造價值。

Looking at the details of our systems revenue, the memory segment was strong in the December quarter, coming in at 68% of systems revenue. This strength was driven by the NAND segment, which represented 51% of our systems revenue versus 39% in the prior quarter. December was a record revenue level of NAND quarterly revenue dollars for the company.

從系統收入的詳細數據來看，記憶體業務在 12 月季度表現強勁，佔系統收入的 68%。這一成長主要得益於 NAND 業務板塊，該板塊占我們系統收入的 51%，而上一季這一比例為 39%。12 月份，該公司 NAND 快閃記憶體季度營收創下歷史新高。

We have clear leadership positions in the NAND segment, with customers investing in equipment for 64-, 96- and 128-layer devices.

我們在 NAND 領域擁有明顯的領導地位，客戶正在投資 64 層、96 層和 128 層設備的設備。

DRAM investments contributed 17% of our systems revenue. DRAM spending was spread over the 1Y, 1Z and 1-alpha nodes. The revenue percentage was down slightly from the 19% in the September quarter. We expect continuing healthy investments in the combined memory market as we see prudent inventory and profitability management.

DRAM投資為我們的系統收入貢獻了17%。DRAM 的支出分散在 1Y、1Z 和 1-alpha 節點上。營收佔比較9月季度的19%略有下降。我們預計，隨著審慎的庫存和獲利能力管理，合併記憶體市場將繼續保持健康的投資態勢。

On the foundry segment side, spending remains robust. We concluded 2020 with a record level of revenue dollars in this segment. The majority of the investments in the December quarter were concentrated at the leading-edge 7- and 5-nanometer nodes. Foundry represented 26% of our systems revenue for the quarter versus 36% in the September quarter.

在晶圓代工領域，支出依然強勁。2020 年，我們在該業務板塊實現了創紀錄的收入。12 月季度的大部分投資都集中在領先的 7 奈米和 5 奈米節點上。本季度，鑄造業務占我們系統收入的 26%，而 9 月的季度這一比例為 36%。

Rounding out the systems revenue picture, logic and other contributed the remaining 6% of systems revenue in the December quarter, which was flat with the prior quarter level.

邏輯和其他業務在 12 月季度貢獻了系統收入的剩餘 6%，與上一季持平，這進一步完善了系統收入的組成。

From a regional revenue perspective, we continue to see solid levels of investment in the China region, coming in at 35% of total revenues. Different than the last several quarters, the majority of the China spending this quarter came from our global multinational customers investing in their China-located fabs.

從區域收入的角度來看，我們繼續看到中國地區的投資保持穩健水平，佔總收入的 35%。與過去幾季不同的是，本季中國的大部分支出來自我們的全球跨國客戶對其位於中國的工廠進行投資。

As Tim noted, we achieved another record quarter of revenue for our Customer Support Business Group, coming in at $1.1 billion, which is an increase of 12% from the September quarter and over 35% higher than the same quarter in 2019. The growth we've seen in each of the subsegments of this business is a testament to the value we're providing to our customers for technology and productivity enhancements.

正如蒂姆所指出的那樣，我們的客戶支援業務集團又實現了創紀錄的季度收入，達到 11 億美元，比 9 月的季度增長了 12%，比 2019 年同期增長了 35% 以上。該業務各個細分領域的成長證明了我們為客戶提供的技術和生產力提升方面的價值。

We remain very comfortable with our commitment to deliver greater than 40% cumulative CSBG revenue growth between 2019 and 2023, as we outlined at our Investor Day in March of last year.

我們仍然非常有信心實現 2019 年至 2023 年間 CSBG 累計收入成長超過 40% 的目標，正如我們在去年 3 月的投資者日上所概述的那樣。

The December quarter gross margin was 46.6%, generally in line with our expectations. As I've noted in the past, gross margin could fluctuate quarter-to-quarter due to overall business levels, along with customer and product mix.

12 月季度的毛利率為 46.6%，基本上符合我們的預期。正如我之前提到的，由於整體業務水平以及客戶和產品組合的變化，毛利率可能會逐季波動。

In the quarter, our factory utilization levels improved with the increased business volume. I would mention we do have continued headwinds to gross margin related to elevated costs for airfreight that will impact us until freight claims get back to more normalized levels.

本季度，隨著業務量的增加，我們的工廠利用率有所提高。我想指出的是，由於空運成本高企，我們的毛利率持續受到不利影響，這種情況將持續到貨運索賠恢復到正常水平為止。

Operating expenses for December came in at $563 million, which is an increase from the prior quarter, largely as a result of increased incentive compensation expense that was tied to our higher profitability levels.

12 月的營運支出為 5.63 億美元，比上一季增加，這主要是由於與我們更高的獲利水準相關的激勵性薪資支出增加所致。

During calendar year 2020, we spent over $1.3 billion in research and development, which represents approximately 2/3 of our operating expenses. The R&D focus is a fundamental part of offering differentiated products and capabilities like Sense.i and Vantex, enhanced ALD and dry resist that deliver on our long-term growth objectives.

2020 年，我們在研發方面投入了超過 13 億美元，約占我們營運支出的 2/3。研發重點是提供差異化產品和能力（如 Sense.i 和 Vantex、增強型 ALD 和乾式光阻）的基本組成部分，這些產品和能力能夠實現我們的長期成長目標。

We had over $1 billion in operating income in the December quarter for the first time in company history, with operating margin at the high end of the guidance range, coming in at 30.3%. This was due to our strong revenue and gross margin.

該公司歷史上首次在 12 月季度實現了超過 10 億美元的營業收入，營業利潤率也達到了預期範圍的高端，為 30.3%。這得益於我們強勁的營收和毛利率。

Our non-GAAP tax rate for the quarter was 11.5%. As we've discussed in the past, we will have fluctuations in tax rate from quarter-to-quarter, and you should continue to expect the ongoing tax rate to be in the low teens level for the 2021 calendar year. I would mention we are monitoring potential tax changes that may arise from the new administration in the United States.

本季我們的非GAAP稅率為11.5%。正如我們過去討論過的，稅率會逐季度波動，您應該繼續預期 2021 年的稅率將保持在十幾個百分點的低點。我想提一下，我們正在密切關注美國新政府可能帶來的潛在稅收變化。

Other income and expense was approximately $53 million in expense, fairly flat with the prior quarter. I would like to remind you that beginning in the March 2020 quarter, the benefits and costs of our employee deferred compensation plan are no longer mismatched in our non-GAAP results. They are mismatched in the GAAP results. This mismatch was $24 million in the December quarter. You can see this in the GAAP reconciliation table of our earnings release. The fluctuations were higher this quarter due to the volatility in the market.

其他收入和支出約為 5,300 萬美元，與上一季基本持平。我想提醒各位，從 2020 年 3 月季度開始，我們員工遞延薪酬計劃的收益和成本在我們的非 GAAP 業績中不再不匹配。根據公認會計準則（GAAP），它們的結果不符。12 月季度，這種供需不匹配高達 2,400 萬美元。您可以在我們的獲利報告的 GAAP 調節表中看到這一點。由於市場波動，本季波動幅度較大。

Let me now turn to our capital return activity. For the December quarter, we paid $188 million in dividends and allocated [$723 million] (corrected by company after the call) towards share repurchase. During the quarter, our Board approved an additional $5 billion share repurchase authorization. For calendar year 2020, we repurchased 3.8 million shares, deploying $1.4 billion at an average repurchase price of approximately $360 per share. We also paid out dividends totaling approximately $686 million during the year. In total, our capital return activities represented close to 100% of our free cash flow.

現在讓我來談談我們的資本回報活動。在 12 月季度，我們支付了 1.88 億美元的股息，並將 [7.23 億美元]（公司在電話會議後進行了更正）分配給了股票回購。本季度，董事會批准了額外50億美元的股票回購授權。2020 年，我們回購了 380 萬股股票，投入了 14 億美元，平均回購價格約為每股 360 美元。年內我們也支付了總計約 6.86 億美元的股息。總的來說，我們的資本回報活動佔自由現金流的近 100%。

I'd also mention that since we increased the level of our capital return back in 2017, we've paid out $2.1 billion in dividends and deployed $9.3 billion towards buybacks, repurchasing 47.3 million shares at an average price of $198 per share. Diluted earnings per share came in at $6.03, a little above the guidance range and more importantly at an all-time high for the company. Our diluted share balance was down slightly from the September quarter, coming in at 146 million shares, pretty much as we forecast. The share count includes the dilutive impact of approximately 800,000 shares from the 2041 convertible notes.

我還想提一下，自從我們在 2017 年提高了資本回報水準以來，我們已經支付了 21 億美元的股息，並投入了 93 億美元用於股票回購，以每股 198 美元的平均價格回購了 4,730 萬股股票。稀釋後每股收益為 6.03 美元，略高於預期範圍，更重要的是，創下公司歷史新高。我們的稀釋後股本餘額較 9 月季度略有下降，為 1.46 億股，基本上符合我們的預測。股份數量包括 2041 年可轉換債券約 80 萬股的稀釋影響。

Let's now look at the balance sheet. Cash and short-term investments, including restricted cash, decreased to $6.3 billion from $6.9 billion in the prior quarter, largely due to the capital return activities that I discussed previously.

現在我們來看一下資產負債表。現金和短期投資（包括受限現金）從上一季的 69 億美元減少到 63 億美元，這主要是由於我之前討論過的資本回報活動。

Days sales outstanding increased to 76 days in the December quarter from 66 days in September. The increase is largely due to revenue linearity and the timing of collections that fell in the March fiscal quarter. I just mentioned that we collected $136 million on the first day of the March 2021 quarter and over $570 million during the first week.

12 月季度應收帳款週轉天數從 9 月的 66 天增加到 76 天。成長主要歸因於收入的線性成長以及3月份財季的收款時間。我剛才提到，我們在 2021 年 3 月季度的第一天就收到了 1.36 億美元的收入，第一週就收到了超過 5.7 億美元的收入。

Inventory turns were slightly up from the prior quarter level, coming in at 3.2x. Cash flow from operations came in at $345 million, which is somewhat depressed as a result of the growth in accounts receivable and inventory. We've grown inventory to support the higher expected March business volumes and to mitigate supply chain risks from any potential disruption from the COVID-19 environment.

庫存週轉率較上一季略有上升，達 3.2 倍。經營活動產生的現金流量為 3.45 億美元，由於應收帳款和庫存的成長，這一數字略有下降。我們增加了庫存，以應對預計 3 月更高的業務量，並降低 COVID-19 環境可能造成的供應鏈中斷風險。

Noncash expenses included approximately $52 million for equity compensation, $59 million for depreciation and $17 million for amortization.

非現金支出包括約 5,200 萬美元的股權補償、5,900 萬美元的折舊和 1,700 萬美元的攤銷。

Capital expenditures for the December quarter increased from September to a total of $92 million. We are investing to support the expanding operations at our new Malaysia factory, our manufacturing facility in Ohio that's focused on critical spare parts and the recently announced Korea Technology Center. We expect to see somewhat higher levels of capital expenditures in 2021 as we support these critical initiatives.

12 月季度的資本支出比 9 月季度增加至 9,200 萬美元。我們正在投資以支持我們在馬來西亞新工廠、俄亥俄州專注於關鍵備件的製造工廠以及最近宣布成立的韓國技術中心的不斷擴大的業務。我們預計，為支持這些關鍵舉措，2021 年的資本支出水準將略有提高。

Ending headcount for the December quarter was approximately 12,200 regular full-time employees. Resources have been added to support the increased business volume in our factories, to service our customers in the field and to further enhance our R&D capabilities.

截至 12 月季末，公司正式全職員工人數約 12,200 人。我們增加了資源，以支援工廠業務量的成長，為現場客戶提供服務，並進一步增強我們的研發能力。

Now looking ahead, I'd like to provide our non-GAAP guidance for the March 2021 quarter. We're expecting revenue of $3.7 billion, plus or minus $200 million; gross margin of 46%, plus or minus 1 percentage point; operating margins of 30.5%, plus or minus 1 percentage point; and finally, earnings per share of $6.55, plus or minus $0.40 based on a share count of approximately 145 million shares.

展望未來，我想提供我們 2021 年 3 月季度的非 GAAP 業績指引。我們預計營收為 37 億美元，上下浮動 2 億美元；毛利率為 46%，上下浮動 1 個百分點；營業利潤率為 30.5%，上下浮動 1 個百分點；最後，每股收益為 6.55 美元，上下浮動 0.40 美元（基於約 1.45 億股的股份數量）。

Tim has already given you our outlook for 2021 WFE. I'd just reiterate, we do think it will be a somewhat first half-weighted spend, although things could change as the year unfolds. You should take that into account as you build your models for the year.

Tim 已經向大家介紹了我們對 2021 年 WFE 的展望。我只想重申一下，我們認為這筆支出將主要集中在上半年，儘管隨著時間的推移，情況可能會改變。在製定年度模型時，你應該將這一點考慮在內。

So in summary, we just concluded the best financial year in Lam Research's history. Additionally, we provided guidance for March that represents another record level of financial performance. The company is executing well in a challenging environment. We're delivering on our near-term objectives of laying the framework for continued long-term execution. This is a testament to Lam's leadership team and our dedicated employees.

總而言之，我們剛結束了 Lam Research 史上業績最好的一個財年。此外，我們也提供了3月的業績指引，這代表財務表現將再創歷史新高。公司在充滿挑戰的環境下表現出色。我們正在實現近期目標，為持續的長期執行奠定基礎。這充分證明了林氏領導團隊和我們敬業員工的實力。

Operator, that concludes my prepared remarks. Tim and I would now like to open up the call for questions.

操作員，我的發言到此結束。提姆和我現在想開始接受提問。

(Operator Instructions) And we'll take our first question today from John Pitzer with Crédit Suisse.

（操作說明）今天我們首先來回答來自瑞士信貸的約翰‧皮策提出的問題。

Congratulations on the great results. Tim, I just want to go back to your WFE target guide for this year of high $60s million to $70 million. Now if you harken back to the Analyst Day almost a year ago, your 3- to 4-year target out was sort of a range of $60 million to $70 million. And so I'm curious, how should we think about how quickly we've gotten here? Do we worry about cyclical overheating?

祝賀你們取得如此優異的成績。提姆，我只想回到你今年的WFE目標指南，即6000萬美元到7000萬美元。現在，如果你回想一下差不多一年前的分析師日，你給的 3 到 4 年目標範圍大概是 6000 萬美元到 7000 萬美元。所以我很好奇，我們該如何看待我們如此迅速地走到今天這一步？我們是否擔心週期性過熱？

And in a similar vein, as you think about this year being perhaps a little bit more first half-weighted, is that really a commentary on normal seasonality? You want to add capacity in the first half for demand in the second half? Or as you look at the bottoms-up, are you worried about any areas that are kind of perhaps cyclically heating up a little bit too much?

同樣地，考慮到今年上半年的權重可能略高一些，這是否真的反映了正常的季節性因素？你想在上半年增加產能，以滿足下半年的需求嗎？或者，從下往上看，你是否擔心某些地區可能會週期性地過熱？

Well, a lot of questions in there, John. But maybe -- yes, there was a comment in my script even that was -- that said, in many cases, the outlook we gave at Investor Day, that was formulated before we really knew about COVID-19, before we saw all of these tremendous work-from-home drivers, a lot of the things that just really have kind of changed maybe the way semiconductors have -- and the role semiconductors have played kind of in the world in the last 12 months.

約翰，這裡面有很多問題。但也許——是的，我的稿子裡甚至有這樣一段話——意思是，在很多情況下，我們在投資者日上給出的展望，是在我們真正了解 COVID-19 之前製定的，是在我們看到所有這些巨大的居家辦公驅動因素之前製定的，很多事情確實改變了半導體行業的方式——以及半導體在過去 12 個月中在世界上扮演的角色。

And so we gave our best view when we gave it. And at that time, we thought a range of $60 billion to $70 billion seemed pretty reasonable, given what we thought about demand. Clearly, some segments of the market have been growing a lot faster, as we just mentioned, from those demand trends. When you look at it, there is an urgency to get tooling to meet demand. And that's not just -- that's not our customers. That's also us as we look -- Doug talked about investment in our Ohio facility to build critical spare parts as factories are running at very high levels of utilization.

所以，我們盡力展現了我們最好的觀點。當時，考慮到我們對需求的看法，我們認為 600 億美元到 700 億美元的範圍似乎相當合理。顯然，正如我們剛才提到的，受這些需求趨勢的影響，市場某些細分領域的成長速度要快得多。從這個角度來看，迫切需要工具來滿足需求。而且這不僅僅是——這不僅僅是我們的客戶。我們也看到了這一點——道格談到了對我們在俄亥俄州工廠的投資，以生產關鍵的備件，因為工廠的利用率非常高。

So we're investing. Our customers are investing. I think the outlook is -- yes, it's difficult to say. We're telling you right now, it looks like it's first half -- somewhat first half-weighted. But I also talked about long-term demand drivers that we think fundamentally continue to become growth drivers for this industry in the long term. And we've just seen growth in -- I gave you a couple of examples, 5G, gaming consoles. Everybody has read about the shortages in automotive, image sensors. There's just such a role that semiconductors play today.

所以我們正在投資。我們的客戶正在進行投資。我認為前景是——是的，很難說。我們現在就可以告訴你，看起來是上半年——某種程度上來說，上半年的權重比較大。但我同時也談到了我們認為從根本上將繼續成為該行業長期成長驅動力的長期需求驅動因素。我們已經看到成長——我舉了幾個例子，5G，遊戲機。大家都聽說過汽車影像感測器短缺的問題。半導體如今扮演著如此重要的角色。

I don't think there's any segment we would point to that we feel is overheating relative to the long-term trends we've talked about.

我認為，就我們討論過的長期趨勢而言，我們並不認為有任何過熱的細分市場。

Just one example because I know we'll get the question at some point on NAND. We talked about the recovery in NAND. But if you look at the spending on NAND over the last 3 years and we average that out, it's actually very close to the average annual spending that we've outlined for a couple of years at the Flash Memory Summit, which says that you need roughly $70 billion over a 5- year period to hit the high 30s demand in bit growth rate.

舉個例子，因為我知道我們遲早會遇到關於 NAND 的問題。我們討論了NAND​​快閃記憶體的資料恢復。但如果你看一下過去 3 年在 NAND 上的支出，並取平均值，它實際上非常接近我們在閃存峰會上概述的過去幾年的平均年度支出，這表明你需要大約 700 億美元才能在 5 年內達到 30% 以上的比特增長率。

And so we feel reasonably comfortable with the demand profiles across all the segments right now. And there'll be changes quarter-to-quarter and such. But long term, we think they're in line with the demand we're seeing.

因此，我們對目前所有細分市場的需求狀況都比較滿意。而且每季都會有變化等等。但從長遠來看，我們認為它們符合我們目前看到的需求。

Next we'll hear from Krish Sankar with Cowen and Company.

接下來我們將聽聽來自 Cowen and Company 的 Krish Sankar 的演講。

Just to follow-up on the WFE commentary. Is there a way to quantify it, how much is it front half versus back half? And if there's any upside to back half, whether it's going to really come from memory, domestic China, anything? And then I have a quick follow-up.

補充一下WFE的評論。有沒有辦法量化一下，前半部和後半部分別佔多少比例？如果下半年還有任何利多因素，這究竟是來自記憶力、中國國內市場，還是其他因素？然後我還有一個簡短的後續問題。

Yes. It's -- well, we haven't quantified it, and I don't think we're going to do so right now. Doug is shaking his head, no. Not going to right now. But I think that to your point, and Doug kind of mentioned, it's like, this is our view now. You can always feel the demand and the urgency for the next couple of quarters is much, much stronger than the quarters further out.

是的。嗯……我們還沒有量化它，而且我認為我們現在也不會去量化它。道格搖了搖頭，表示不。現在不打算去。但我認為，正如你所說，而且道格也提到過，這就是我們現在的觀點。你總能感受到，未來幾季的需求和緊迫性要比更遠幾季強得多。

So I think to your question, which is where might we see changes later in the year, I think you have to look at some of the demand drivers. And again, there's a broadening of demand across -- it's not just driven by leading-edge. In fact, we were looking at the amount of foundry spending, for instance, that's coming from 28-nanometer-and-above. It's a very high level these days. You see that in strength that gets reported into our CSBG business, the Reliant business.

所以，對於你的問題，也就是今年稍後我們可能會看到哪些變化，我認為你必須看看一些需求驅動因素。而且，需求正在不斷擴大——這不僅僅是由尖端技術驅動的。事實上，我們當時正在研究代工廠的支出金額，例如，來自 28 奈米及以上製程的支出。如今的水平非常高。您可以在我們CSBG業務和Reliant業務的報告中看到這種實力。

I think you can continue to see strength there. It's how semiconductor is being incorporated into everything. The content in cars and such is just increasing at quite a rapid rate. And those tend to drive kind of that off-leading-edge business at a very rapid pace.

我認為你仍然可以看到這方面的優勢。這就是半導體如何被應用到所有事物的方式。汽車等產品中的含氫化合物含量正以相當快的速度成長。而這些因素往往會以非常快的速度推動那些非前沿業務的發展。

Where that gets manufactured? I mean, there is a fair bit of investment in China, for instance, that is at those trailing edge nodes. And I think that's why we have seen strength in China and why we actually believe that China, especially at those trailing edge nodes, continues to be an area of strength as they satisfy a lot of that domestic demand for those kinds of applications like 5G and cars and other things. So I guess you could say there might be added strength in those broader demand drivers that could surprise us later in the year.

那是在哪裡生產的？我的意思是，例如在中國，有很多投資都集中在那些落後的節點上。我認為這就是為什麼我們看到中國實力強勁，也是為什麼我們相信中國，尤其是在後緣節點方面，仍然是一個強國，因為它們滿足了國內對 5G、汽車等應用的大量需求。所以，可以說這些更廣泛的需求驅動因素可能會進一步增強，並在今年稍後給我們帶來驚喜。

Got it. That's super-helpful, Tim. Just a quick follow-up. Your WFE assumption for this year, what are you modeling for domestic channel? You're saying it's $10 billion last year. I'm just kind of curious where it's shaping out for this year?

知道了。提姆，這太有幫助了。再補充一點。今年您對WFE（出貨效率）的假設是什麼？您對國內通路的建模是什麼？你是說去年是100億美元。我只是有點好奇今年的情況會如何發展？

I don't think we're ready to give like an exact number. But what we've said is it's $10 billion-plus this year, and we expect growth this year. I don't know if Doug wants to add anything to that.

我認為我們現在還無法給出一個確切的數字。但我們說過，今年將超過 100 億美元，我們預計今年還會成長。我不知道道格是否想補充什麼。

It's probably in the same range, Krish, plus/minus a little bit is kind of how we're thinking about it.

克里什，大概就在這個範圍內，上下浮動一點點，我們就是這麼想的。

Next we'll hear from Timothy Arcuri with UBS.

接下來我們將聽聽瑞銀集團的 Timothy Arcuri 的演講。

I guess, Doug, I wanted to ask the prior question maybe a little bit differently. You said WFE this year, it's probably $58.5 billion -- I'm sorry, not this year, last year, probably about $58.5 billion. So your share grew about 100 basis points up to like 13.6%. So if I assume that the service business -- maybe you could help tell me if this is right, but it seems like service is going to be maybe [1225] or [1250] in March. So if you use that same share number, you get like an $18.5 billion -- $18.3 billion, $18.5 billion worth of WFE in Q1. So that's almost $74 billion annualized.

我想，道格，我之前的問題或許可以換個方式問。你說今年的WFE可能是585億美元──抱歉，不是今年，是去年，可能大約是585億美元。所以你的份額增加了大約 100 個基點，達到 13.6%。所以如果我假設服務業——也許你能幫我看看這個假設是否正確，但看起來服務業在三月可能會是 [1225] 或 [1250]。所以，如果使用相同的股份數量，你就會得到 WFE 在第一季的價值約為 185 億美元——183 億美元，185 億美元。這樣算下來，年化收入接近740億美元。

So I sort of look at the full year number of -- you're guiding high $60s billion to $70 billion. So that would sort of imply that the back half of the year has to be, at least for the industry, has to be down pretty substantially off of where the first half of the year is. Or at least off of where Q1 is running. So I'm just kind of wondering if you can comment on that and sort of like double-click on that. And then I have a follow-up.

所以我大致看一下全年的數字——你們預計在 600 億美元到 700 億美元之間。所以這似乎意味著，至少對於整個產業而言，下半年的業績必然會比上半年大幅下滑。或至少比Q1的運作情況好。所以我想問您能否對此發表一下評論，或雙擊一下。然後我還有一個後續問題。

Yes, see, I'm not going to unpeel the whole number. So we do -- and I can't go through all the numbers as I sit here that you just spit out. I'm sure you're doing the right math or close. As we look into the year, it does look like a first half-weighted year. Things move around. Things change. I think probably NAND is first half-weighted. I think foundry/logic probably a little bit also. And I think DRAM probably through the years is fairly steady.

是的，你看，我不會把整個數字都揭開。所以，我們確實這麼做了──我坐在這裡沒辦法一一細數你剛才說的所有數字。我相信你的計算結果是正確的，或至少接近正確。回顧今年，上半年的表現似乎會比較突出。事物會移動。世事變遷。我認為NAND快閃記憶體可能是第一個半權重記憶體。我認為 Foundry/Logic 可能也有一點。我認為DRAM的價格這些年來應該相當穩定。

Things move around, things change. We always have pretty good visibility at this point into the first half, and the second half is far enough away that it can move around. So that's why we kind of try to put some ranges. You guys will do the math to kind of think it through. I don't know if I'm helping here, but that's generally what I'm seeing and how I'm thinking about.

事物總會變化，世事難料。到目前為止，我們對上半場比賽的情況總是有相當清晰的了解，而下半場比賽還很遙遠，所以情況可能會有所變化。所以這就是為什麼我們要盡量設定一些範圍的原因。你們自己算算，好好想想。我不知道我這樣做是否有幫助，但這大致就是我看到的和我思考的方式。

Okay. Cool. And then, I guess, my second question is on NAND. So it looks like CapEx is going to run above EBITDA this year for the industry. I mean you're going to -- the industry probably does $19 billion in NAND. I don't know if you'd agree with that, $19 billion WFE this year. So that's pretty substantially above the $14 billion run rate that you get when you divide your $70 billion by $5 billion. So I guess when you take those 2 factors and you look at CapEx being above EBITDA, usually, that's not all that sustainable. So I guess, what's the tone of your customers? Do you -- does that concern you at all? Just sort of curious on that.

好的。涼爽的。那麼，我的第二個問題是關於NAND快閃記憶體的。看來今年該產業的資本支出將超過 EBITDA。我的意思是，NAND 產業可能會達到 190 億美元。我不知道你是否同意，今年WFE的預算是190億美元。所以這比用 700 億美元除以 50 億美元得到的 140 億美元的年均成長率要高得多。所以我覺得，當你把這兩個因素考慮進去，並且發現資本支出高於 EBITDA 時，通常來說，這種情況是不可持續的。所以我想問的是，您的客戶的語氣如何？你——你對此有任何擔憂嗎？只是有點好奇而已。

Tim, when you look at this, it will go up, it will go down. Nothing goes up every quarter. It ebbs and it flows. And if you go back to '19, it was pretty low. We go through '20, it went up a little bit. '21, flat to up a little bit? Maybe, yes, probably. And then it will course-correct based on whatever demand looks like. I mean when we step back to -- and the reason Tim and I both talked about these long-term demand drivers is that the important thing to think about over the next several years for the industry. It won't go up every quarter. It never does. You know that better than I do or as well as I do.

提姆，你看，這個價格會漲，會跌。沒有什麼東西會每季都上漲。它時而上漲，時而下跌。如果回顧 2019 年，這個數字相當低。到了2020年，它略有上漲。21年，持平或略有上漲？也許吧，是的，大概吧。然後它會根據市場需求情況進行調整。我的意思是，當我們回顧過去——我和提姆都談到這些長期需求驅動因素的原因是，這是未來幾年該行業需要考慮的重要事情。它不會每個季度都上漲。從來都不是。你比我更清楚這一點，或至少跟我一樣清楚。

And timing of fab investment, when things come in, it will go up, it will go down. That is what always happens and is what will happen in 2021, most likely.

晶圓廠投資的時機，當資金到位時，價格會有上漲，也會有下跌。這種情況一直都會發生，而且很可能在 2021 年也會發生。

Yes. And I think if I were just to add, Tim, I mean it's -- the absolute spending in any given year is somewhat out of our control. But I mean what we do control is how we continue to expand share of every dollar of WFE spend. And that's why I talked about how we've leveraged the learning we're getting from being the company that runs the vast majority of the critical applications in NAND to identify new opportunities and new applications and grow into those. So at the next node, our share of WFE goes higher.

是的。提姆，我想補充一點，我的意思是——任何一年的絕對支出在某種程度上是我們無法控制的。但我的意思是，我們能夠控制的是，我們如何繼續擴大 WFE 每一美元支出所佔的份額。這就是為什麼我談到我們如何利用我們作為 NAND 領域絕大多數關鍵應用的營運商所獲得的經驗，來發現新的機會和新的應用，並發展壯大。因此，在下一個節點，我們的 WFE 份額會更高。

And yes, I talked about Striker FE, the ALD tool for gapfill, brand new application for us, competes in the space where we didn't compete before. And as -- node transitions occur into the future means that our share of WFE increases. It's also important to remember that our share of every dollar of WFE spent on node transitions actually is the highest. And that's simply because of the role that etch and deposition play in those transitions.

是的，我談到了 Striker FE，這是一款用於間隙填充的 ALD 工具，對我們來說是一個全新的應用，它進入了我們以前從未涉足的領域。隨著節點轉換在未來發生，這意味著我們在 WFE 中的份額將會增加。還需要記住的是，WFE 在節點轉換上的每一美元支出中，我們所佔的份額實際上是最高的。這完全是因為蝕刻和沈積在這些轉變過程中所扮演的角色。

So if you end up in a year, let's say, and I'm not characterizing any given year in this way, but if you end up in a year where you do have lots of wafer starts, people become concerned that, that might be just bit of overheating with new capacity. But actually we look at it as adding to what we would consider to be kind of our 3D annuity -- the 3D NAND annuity, which says the installed base is larger, which means that the next transition, Lam will get an even greater share of the spending that is required to move that entire 3D NAND installed base forward to the next node.

所以，假設某一年（我並不是特別指某一年），但如果你遇到晶圓開工量很大的一年，人們就會擔心，這可能只是新產能過剩造成的。但實際上，我們將其視為對我們所謂的 3D 年金——3D NAND 年金——的補充，這意味著安裝基礎更大，這意味著在下一次過渡中，Lam 將獲得將整個 3D NAND 安裝基礎向前推進到下一個節點所需的支出中更大的份額。

So as Doug said, any given year, something happens. But in the long-term trend, we think Lam's opportunity continues to grow with 3D NAND.

正如道格所說，每年都會發生一些事情。但從長遠來看，我們認為隨著 3D NAND 的發展，林氏的機會將會持續成長。

We'll now hear from B.J. (sic) [C. J.] Muse with Evercore.

現在我們將聽聽 B.J.（原文如此）[C.J.] Muse 與 Evercore。

Question 3 on CSBG business. Is your commentary on the first half-weighted year reflective for that business as well? And as part of that, if I hold the business just flat at Q4 level, that business could run about 68% in calendar '21. So how should we think about the growth rate this year? And then I have a quick follow-up.

關於 CSBG 業務的第三個問題。您對上半年加權業績的評論是否也適用於該業務？作為其中的一部分，如果我將業務維持在第四季度的水平，那麼該業務在 2021 年的日曆年可能會成長約 68%。那我們該如何看待今年的成長率呢？然後我還有一個簡短的後續問題。

Yes. C.J., my commentary on first half, second half was very much targeted at WFE, not necessarily installed base. Now on the installed base won't necessarily grow every single quarter, will grow every single year, like we've been saying. We feel really good about where we're at, though. I mean it's -- we're record after record. And Tim shared the chamber count with you. It's up kind of like it's been up over the last several years. So the tailwind there is really very good.

是的。C.J.，我對上半場和下半場的評論主要針對的是WFE（女性觀眾），而不是已安裝的用戶群。現在，用戶基數不一定會每季都會成長，而是每年都會成長，就像我們一直說的。不過，我們對目前的狀況非常滿意。我的意思是——我們不斷刷新紀錄。提姆把彈膛數量也告訴你了。它現在的狀態和過去幾年差不多。所以那裡的順風條件非常好。

Yes. And I guess I'd just add, at our Investor Day, we talked about the goal we had to expand the number of products and services available for the installed base as a way of increasing revenue per chamber. And I think you've seen our progress in that area in this past year. And we'd expect that to continue to increase going forward as we focus on equipment intelligence and remote services and a lot of database productivity enhancers.

是的。我想補充一點，在我們的投資者日上，我們討論了擴大現有客戶群可獲得的產品和服務數量這一目標，以此來增加每個商舖的收入。我想你們已經看到了我們在過去一年在該領域的進展。我們預計，隨著我們專注於設備智慧、遠端服務以及眾多資料庫生產力增強技術，這一趨勢還將繼續增長。

That's great. And as a quick follow-up, on your last call, you talked about how -- given the performance of manufacturing in Fremont, you couldn't ship to one large logic player in China. Curious if you've been able to get a license. And as part of that, are you including the spend there in your 2021 domestic China outlook?

那太棒了。另外，上次通話中，您提到，鑑於弗里蒙特工廠的生產性能，您無法向中國的一家大型邏輯設備製造商供貨。想知道你是否已經拿到駕照了。作為其中的一部分，您是否將這部分支出納入了 2021 年中國國內市場展望？

So where we're at right now, C.J., is we're still in the application process for the license, haven't heard back. When we look at China, that's plus or minus how we described, flat to up. There's a range around it. But at this point, we haven't heard back on the license we have applied, and we're waiting.

C.J.，我們現在的情況是，我們仍在申請許可證的過程中，還沒有收到回覆。當我們審視中國時，情況正如我們所描述的那樣，要么持平，要么上升。它周圍有一個範圍。但目前我們還沒有收到申請許可證的回复，我們正在等待。

Next we'll hear from Harlan Sur with JPMorgan.

接下來我們將聽取摩根大通的哈蘭·蘇爾的演講。

Congratulations on the solid results and execution. For all of the leading-edge growth trends that you highlighted in your prepared remarks, Tim, there's a corresponding significant attach rate of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors to these applications. Additionally, some of your customers are moving to 12-inch analog manufacturing. And then we know that there's pretty significant tightness in foundry capacity for lagging edge 28- and 40-nanometer CMOS.

恭喜你們取得了紮實的成果和出色的執行力。Tim，正如你在準備好的發言稿中所強調的那樣，所有前緣成長趨勢都伴隨著模擬和混合訊號半導體在這些應用中的顯著成長。此外，你們的一些客戶正在轉向 12 英寸模擬製造。我們知道，目前 28 奈米和 40 奈米 CMOS 製程的代工廠產能非常緊張。

So approximately -- and obviously, I think you mentioned this is driving some of the strength in your business. Approximately what percent of your overall business is lagging-edge technology nodes? And do you see this expanding as the year unfolds?

所以大致如此——而且很明顯，我認為您提到過，這正是貴公司實力強勁的部分原因。在您的整體業務中，大約有多少百分比是技術落後的節點？你認為隨著時間的推移，這種情況會擴大嗎？

Yes. We're -- I mean we don't break out exactly what percentage of our business is in that segment. But I did say we do see that area continuing to grow again. And it's -- that's like what we would almost consider to be the strongest secular growing part of our market, because it's being driven by almost every aspect of the economy in terms of the types of products that semiconductor is going into that are manufactured at those trailing-edge nodes.

是的。我們—我的意思是，我們不會具體公佈該業務板塊占我們業務的百分比。但我確實說過，我們看到該領域仍在繼續成長。而且，這幾乎可以說是我們市場中成長最強勁的長期成長部分，因為它幾乎受到經濟各個方面的推動，尤其是半導體應用於那些採用尖端節點製造的產品類型。

And so we just -- we've seen -- I don't -- maybe -- I think it's something like -- I could get it wrong. It's 8 or 9 quarters, I think, in a row that we've now had reported record revenues in that trailing-edge space. So one, we feel like we know how to compete and address that market. And we think that it's going to be just one that just continues to grow, maybe not quarter over quarter over quarter, but records every quarter. But certainly, year to year to year, it will continue to be an area of strength for us.

所以我們就——我們已經看到——我不——也許——我覺得有點像——我可能會弄錯。我想，這已經是連續 8 或 9 個季度，我們在這個新興領域實現了創紀錄的營收。所以，第一，我們覺得我們知道如何在這個市場競爭並滿足市場需求。我們認為它會繼續成長，也許不會每季都會成長，但每季都會創下新紀錄。但可以肯定的是，年復一年，這將繼續是我們的優勢領域。

And Harlan, I'll just remind you what we said back at the Investor Day in March and still believe that this segment of WFE will outgrow the rest of the market by, I don't know, 2x, maybe 3x, although the leading-edge stuff has ticked up since then. But it's still a very good growth area for us.

哈蘭，我只想提醒你一下我們在三月的投資者日上說過的話，我仍然相信WFE的這一細分市場將比其他市場增長2倍，甚至3倍，儘管從那以後，尖端技術的增長有所加快。但這仍然是我們一個非常好的成長領域。

Yes. And then to kind of follow-up on C.J.'s question, in calendar year '20, as you mentioned, services grew 22%. That's not only double your installed base growth CAGR over the past few years, but it's double the trend line target of around 10% as it relates to your 2023, 2024 financial model. And if you just look at the continued complexity on these next-generation leading-edge tools, the strong demand for lagging-edge nodes, it appears that the service business is going to continue to grow faster than this 10% growth target that you guys have put out there, upgrades, advanced services, Reliant refurbished tools.

是的。然後，為了進一步回答 C.J. 的問題，正如您所提到的，在 2020 年，服務業成長了 22%。這不僅是過去幾年安裝基礎成長複合年增長率的兩倍，而且是與 2023 年、2024 年財務模型相關的約 10% 的趨勢線目標的兩倍。如果你看看這些新一代尖端工具的持續複雜性，以及對落後節點的強勁需求，就會發現服務業務的成長速度將繼續超過你們提出的 10% 的成長目標，包括升級、高級服務和 Reliant 翻新工具。

So would you broadly agree with that? Or are there some offsets that we should be thinking about that could dampen the year-over-year services trajectory back to that kind of normalized kind of 10% to 12% level?

所以你大致上同意這種說法嗎？或者，我們應該考慮一些抵消因素，以使服務業的年增率放緩至 10% 到 12% 的正常水平？

Yes. I don't think we're ready to up our long-term objective just yet. But I think you're pointing out some of the things that are doing quite well in that part of the business around advanced services. And we talked about a 6x increase in remote support engagements. I think if we look, one, we put out that model at Investor Day. As I mentioned, as COVID -- as the COVID environment kind of evolved, some of the advanced services, the database services, the pull for the idea of, like, less people-related maintenance using data and remote capabilities, clearly caught a lot more traction in the second half of the year.

是的。我認為我們現在還不是時候提高長期目標。但我認為你指出的正是該業務領域中一些在高級服務方面做得相當不錯的方面。我們也討論了遠端支援服務量成長 6 倍的情況。我認為，如果我們回顧一下，首先，我們在投資者日上發布了該模型。正如我之前提到的，隨著 COVID-19 環境的演變，一些先進的服務，例如資料庫服務，以及利用數據和遠端功能減少人工維護的想法，在下半年明顯獲得了更大的發展動力。

We need to see how much of that sticks as we kind of come out of this environment. But we believe that those things are -- those capabilities are now trying and demonstrating their value, and a lot of that will stay. Those will be strong drivers.

我們需要看看當我們逐漸走出這種環境後，這些經驗有多少能真正發揮作用。但我們相信，這些能力正在嘗試並證明其價值，而且其中許多都會保留下來。這些都將成為強勁的驅動因素。

The other thing that happened in 2020 is there probably were some instances of spares being ordered a bit ahead of normal trend, as everybody, including LAM, you see in some of our inventory numbers, tried to hedge against disruptions due to COVID-19. And so you might see some moderation if you're looking for offsets in that space. So we feel, as Doug said, very comfortable about hitting the objective we put out at the Investor Day. But we're not ready to set a new growth target for that business until we see a little bit more of the trend this year.

2020 年發生的另一件事是，可能有一些備件的訂購量略高於正常趨勢，因為包括 LAM 在內的所有人（從我們的一些庫存數據中可以看出）都試圖對沖 COVID-19 造成的干擾。因此，如果您在該領域尋找抵消因素，可能會看到一些緩和。正如道格所說，我們對實現投資者日上提出的目標感到非常有信心。但在今年看到更多趨勢之前，我們還不打算為該業務設定新的成長目標。

We'll move on to Vivek Arya with Bank of America.

接下來，我們將採訪美國銀行的維韋克·阿亞。

For the first one, I'm curious, what do you think is the right way to gauge the utilization of your NAND shipments last year? Is there some engagement with those customers on the CSBG side that gives you insight into what type installed base utilization is? Because I imagine the NAND number, at least to us, was somewhat of an upside surprise, and I just wanted to understand what's driving that.

第一個問題，我很好奇，您認為衡量去年 NAND 出貨量利用率的正確方法是什麼？CSBG方面是否與這些客戶進行過一些互動，從而能夠深入了解已安裝基礎的利用情況？因為我想 NAND 快閃記憶體數量的成長，至少對我們來說，算是一個意外之喜，我只是想了解是什麼因素推動了這個成長。

Well, I guess, if I understand the question about -- you're kind of asking how much the tools that we've shipped are being utilized in our customers' fabs, and that's not something I can really comment on. Obviously, through our engagement with customers, we have good insight into that, but it's not something we can really talk about. If I misunderstood the question maybe...

嗯，我想，如果我理解你的問題——你是在問我們已經交付的工具在客戶的工廠中得到了多大的利用，而這我真的無法評論。顯然，透過與客戶的互動，我們對此有很好的了解，但這並不是我們能真正談論的事情。如果我誤解了問題，也許…

Or maybe if -- Tim, what do you think is a supply-demand balance for NAND right now among your customers?

或者，Tim，你認為目前你的客戶對 NAND 快閃記憶體的供需平衡情況如何？

Well, I think we -- I think if you consider that we talked about further strength in the NAND market into 2021, I would say that there is a sense that more equipment is needed to bring on additional capabilities in NAND at this point in time, for sure.

嗯，我認為——我認為，考慮到我們之前討論過 NAND 市場在 2021 年的進一步強勁發展，我認為目前確實需要更多的設備來增強 NAND 的更多功能。

Got it. And as a quick follow-up, Doug, I think you alluded to some cost headwinds from airfreight. Some of your semiconductor peers, I think, have managed to kind of pass on increasing costs in other areas, foundries and wafers and substrates and so forth. Do you think this is the kind of cost you could pass on? I'm trying to think, how do you go from your operating margins right now to the 32% to 34% kind of range you had outlined at your Analyst Day at similar level of annualized sales?

知道了。道格，我還有一個後續問題，我想你之前提到過空運成本的一些不利因素。我認為，你們的一些半導體同行已經設法將其他領域（例如代工廠、晶圓和襯底等）不斷上漲的成本轉嫁給了消費者。你認為這種成本你能轉嫁出去嗎？我正在思考，如何在保持年銷售額基本持平的情況下，將目前的營業利潤率提高到您在分析師日上提出的 32% 到 34% 的水平？

Yes, Vivek. I mean we're always trying to get the best pricing that we can get. It's hard at times, though, to kind of pass stuff like this through. We're doing our best. And it is a bit of a headwind. So I guess we're not able to push it through at this point. I do think this part of things will mitigate at some point as the world gets back to normal and freight lanes get back to normal. Things are just constrained right now. We fly things in and out of our factory a lot. Oftentimes -- at least, we used to on the belly of a commercial aircraft carrier at times, and they're just not flying at the volume that they used to be. I do think that could stack at some point once we get COVID under control in the world.

是的，維韋克。我的意思是，我們一直在努力爭取最優惠的價格。不過，有時候要把這類事情傳達出去卻很難。我們正在盡力。而且這有點逆風。所以我想我們現在無法推進這件事了。我認為隨著世界恢復正常，貨運線路恢復正常，這種情況遲早會得到緩解。目前情況比較受限。我們工廠經常空運貨物進出。很多時候——至少我們以前有時會在商用航空母艦的腹部看到它們，但它們的飛行量​​已經不如以前那麼大了。我認為一旦全球新冠疫情得到控制，這種情況可能會在某個時候疊加起來。

Any way to quantify the headwind, Doug? Is it like 100 basis points to gross margin, 50 basis points? Any...

道格，有什麼辦法量化逆風的影響嗎？是毛利率的 100 個基點，還是 50 個基點？任何...

Yes, Vivek , I haven't given a hard number, but I would tell you, it's noticeable. It's meaningful. It's a meaningful headwind, or I wouldn't be talking about it. And we're doing our best to manage it, and I do believe it will get better over time. But I haven't quantified it.

是的，維韋克，我沒有給出確切的數字，但我可以告訴你，這是很明顯的。這很有意義。這是一股不容忽視的逆風，否則我就不會談論它了。我們正在盡最大努力應對，我相信隨著時間的推移情況會好轉。但我還沒有對其進行量化。

Next we'll hear from Joe Moore with Morgan Stanley.

接下來我們將聽取摩根士丹利的喬·摩爾的發言。

You talked about the drivers of the higher WFE in calendar '21. You talked about migration to higher layer counts in NAND as well as DRAM and foundry. I guess in the NAND side, does that mean you think NAND spending is higher for the year? Or are you not going to go that far?

你談到了2021年WFE（工作效率）上升的驅動因素。您談到了 NAND 和 DRAM 以及晶圓代工向更高層數的遷移。我猜在 NAND 快閃記憶體方面，這是否意味著您認為今年的 NAND 快閃記憶體支出會更高？還是你根本不打算走到那一步？

And then for DRAM, it seems like the economics are improving. Do you think that's -- were people spending sort of independent of that, just thinking maybe you get a technology migration? Or have you seen sort of stronger spending, because the market has been stabilizing and improving?

至於DRAM，其經濟效益似乎正在改善。你認為這是──人們的消費是否與此無關，只是認為可能會出現技術遷移？或者，您看到消費有所成長，因為市場已經趨於穩定且改善？

Yes, Joe, I'll start and then I'll let Tim add on as well. As we look into 2021 right now, pretty much we see every segment of our business up, right? It's up in foundry/logic, it's up in NAND, it's up in DRAM to different degrees. And like I kind of alluded to earlier, things can change, but that's our outlook right now. And again, we see these longer-term demand drivers as a large part of what's going on. I don't know, Tim, if you want to add anything.

好的，喬，我先開始，然後提姆再補充。展望 2021 年，我們看到公司業務的幾乎所有部分都在成長，對嗎？晶片製造/邏輯電路、NAND快閃記憶體、DRAM等各領域都有不同程度的成長。就像我之前暗示的那樣，情況可能會發生變化，但這就是我們目前的看法。我們再次認為，這些長期需求驅動因素是當前情勢的重要組成部分。提姆，我不知道你是否還有什麼要補充的。

No, I think you pretty much got it. I mean I think if you -- you started the question about NAND. I mean, again, it's -- again, this layer transition is a way for customers to reduce their cost and -- but those transitions are complex from an etch and dep perspective, so creating a lot of demand for our tools to help enable those transitions.

不，我覺得你已經基本理解了。我的意思是，我認為如果你——是你提出了關於 NAND 的問題。我的意思是，再說一遍，這種層過渡是客戶降低成本的一種方式，但是從蝕刻和沈積的角度來看，這些過渡很複雜，因此對我們的工具的需求很大，以幫助實現這些過渡。

And to the extent that a lot of the NAND spending is on layer count migration rather than adding incremental wafers, I mean, does that -- wouldn't Lam normally outgrow the WFE in that kind of environment, assuming there isn't like a lot of capacity being added in NAND.

如果 NAND 的大部分支出都用於層數遷移而不是增加晶圓，我的意思是，在這種情況下，假設 NAND 的產能沒有大幅增加，Lam 通常不會超過 WFE 的產能嗎？

Yes, Joe. And the conversion, as Tim alluded to earlier, when you're just doing the layer count conversion, that's a sweet spot for us in terms of the percent of spend. So the answer is yes, with the caveat that everybody's installed base is a little bit different. There's always a handful of new wafers coming in. You've got to kind of peel the onion back to the next layer and look at what's going on in any one period. But I would agree with your comment that in a layer count conversion, that's a good spot for us.

是的，喬。正如 Tim 之前提到的，當你只進行層數轉換時，就支出百分比而言，這對我們來說是一個理想的點。所以答案是肯定的，但要注意的是，每個人的安裝基礎都略有不同。總是會有一些新的晶圓運到。你必須一層一層地剝開洋蔥，看看每一階段發生了什麼事。但我同意你的觀點，在圖層數量轉換中，這對我們來說是一個很好的切入點。

Toshiya Hari with Goldman Sachs has the next question.

高盛的 Toshiya Hari 提出了下一個問題。

Congrats on the strong results. I had 2 as well. My first one is somewhat related to Joe's question. Wanted to get your thoughts on your ability to outperform WFE in 2021, Tim. Given sort of the application wins that you have in the bag and given sort of the device-type mix that you guys are assuming internally, would it be fair to assume kind of a similar magnitude of outperformance in your systems business in 2021 vis-à-vis 2020? Or do you think 2020 was a little bit unique, given how strong NAND was in the year.

恭喜你們取得優異成績。我也有兩份。我的第一個問題與喬的問題有些相關。Tim，我想聽聽你對你在 2021 年超越 WFE 的能力有何看法。考慮到你們已經贏得的應用領域以及你們內部假設的設備類型組合，是否可以合理地假設你們的系統業務在 2021 年相對於 2020 年也能取得類似幅度的業績增長？或者，考慮到 NAND 在 2020 年的強勁表現，你認為 2020 年有點特殊嗎？

That's a lot of information you're asking for. As we look -- I mean, Doug just mentioned, I mean, clearly, we see strength across all parts of the business. I mean NAND expansion is clearly good for us. We have, as I mentioned in my comments, more than 50% share in DRAM etch. We're expanding our deposition. So DRAM is good. Foundry/logic is an area where, obviously, from an exposure perspective, Lam has -- it's been less in the past, but we've talked about our improvements there.

你問的資訊量真大。正如我們所看到的——我的意思是，就像道格剛才提到的那樣，很明顯，我們看到公司各個部門都展現出了強大的實力。我的意思是，NAND快閃記憶體的擴展顯然對我們有利。正如我在評論中提到的，我們在DRAM蝕刻領域擁有超過50%的市場份額。我們正在擴大沉積規模。所以DRAM很好。從曝光度的角度來看，Foundry/logic 顯然是 Lam 有所涉獵的領域——雖然過去涉獵較少，但我們已經討論過我們在該領域的改進。

And so I think even there as the nodes move forward, some of these new products we're talking about, whether it's dry resist, that might not be a '21 story, maybe -- but more of a '22 and beyond story. But we're working hard to increase our SAM as a percent of WFE. And so I guess what I'd just say is, in terms of outperformance, you've got to go back to what we said at Investor Day, which is the way -- our path to outperformance is to expand our SAM. And coming from where we are in the high 30s, we said we're going to get to 40% SAM as a percent of WFE. That's increasing our opportunity.

所以我認為，即使隨著節點的推進，我們正在討論的一些新產品，無論是乾式抗蝕劑，可能都不是 2021 年的故事，而更像是 2022 年及以後的故事。但我們正在努力提高 SAM 佔 WFE 的百分比。所以我想說的是，就超額收益而言，你必須回到我們在投資者日上所說的，那就是——我們實現超額收益的途徑是擴大我們的證券資產規模。我們當時的情況是，SAM 佔 WFE 的比例在 30% 以上，所以我們說我們要把 SAM 佔 WFE 的比例提高到 40%。這增加了我們的機會。

And then we do think with new products like the Vantex and Sense.i and other products that are kind of in the pipeline to come later this year, those will be market share drivers for us. And so combination of SAM expansion and market share gains ultimately lead to continued outperformance of the market.

而且我們認為，像 Vantex 和 Sense.i 這樣的新產品，以及其他一些正在研發中、將於今年稍後推出的產品，都將成為我們市場份額的驅動力。因此，SAM 的擴張和市場份額的成長最終導致了其持續優於市場的表現。

Yes. That's helpful. And then, Tim, as my follow-up, you just mentioned Vantex, pretty fascinating technology. Wondering if you could kind of give us some color on areas or points of differentiation vis-à-vis your nearest competitor in Asia? And if you can remind us what your market share aspirations are in dielectric etch over the next couple of years, that would be super-helpful. Just given how, relatively speaking, you've been stronger in conductor etch, so I think the opportunity set is bigger in dielectric.

是的。那很有幫助。然後，提姆，我想接著問你剛才提到的Vantex，這真是一項非常迷人的技術。能否請您介紹一下貴公司與亞洲最接近的競爭對手相比，有哪些差異化優勢或優勢領域？如果您能提醒我們您未來幾年在介質蝕刻領域的市佔率目標，那將非常有幫助。鑑於您在導體蝕刻方面相對而言實力更強，我認為您在介電材料方面的機會更大。

Yes. Okay. Great. Well, just a couple of things. I mean, one, the Vantex story is really like 2 parts. One is, it is the first module on the new Sense.i platform. So again, when you're thinking about Sense.i, you're thinking about tremendous amounts of data collection and using that not only to improve the productivity of the platform and the maintenance and such, but also process control. And as you look at now in that dielectric high aspect ratio etch, which is where Vantex is targeted, those etches are becoming incredibly difficult, both in NAND and DRAM, where that product is really targeted.

是的。好的。偉大的。嗯，就兩件事。我的意思是，首先，Vantex 的故事實際上分為兩個部分。首先，它是全新 Sense.i 平台上的第一個模組。所以，再次強調，當您考慮 Sense.i 時，您想到的是大量的資料收集，並利用這些資料不僅來提高平台的生產力、維護等等，而且還能進行流程控制。現在，在Vantex的目標領域——介電高縱橫比蝕刻領域，無論是NAND快閃記憶體還是DRAM（該產品的真正目標領域），這些蝕刻都變得極其困難。

We've leveraged the learning from all of those wafers I talked about. We've been running relative to the competition in 3D NAND to really understand what it takes to build the world-class high aspect ratio etch, and that's what we think we've delivered to the market. We do really well in dielectric etch, quite honestly, in both DRAM and NAND already. But we're not going to -- we haven't quantified, I believe, our dielectric etch ambition. But clearly, it's higher in years to come. And we think Vantex on Sense.i is the platform to do that.

我們充分利用了我剛才提到的所有晶圓所累積的經驗。我們一直在 3D NAND 領域與競爭對手進行對比，以真正了解構建世界一流的高縱橫比蝕刻工藝需要什麼，而我們認為我們已經為市場帶來了這樣的成果。坦白說，我們在介質蝕刻方面做得非常出色，無論是在DRAM還是NAND領域。但是我們不會——我相信我們還沒有量化我們的介電蝕刻目標。但很顯然，未來幾年這個數字還會更高。我們認為 Vantex on Sense.i 是實現這一目標的理想平台。

We'll now hear from Blayne Curtis with Barclays.

接下來我們將聽取巴克萊銀行的布萊恩‧柯蒂斯的發言。

I just wanted to go back, the last quarter, you talked about -- obviously, you didn't want to guide WFE, so you gave us some guideposts. And obviously, DRAM was the strongest. Now fast forward, we've all seen big foundry CapEx numbers, but your NAND came in strong as well. Can you talk us through, over the last 3 months, what kind of improved for you? I know you don't want to spell some purchases for the year, but just trying to still get a better feel as to what you're expecting between those 2 segments.

我只是想回到上個季度，你談到了——顯然，你不想指導 WFE，所以你給了我們一些指導方針。顯然，DRAM 的效能最強。現在快轉到今天，我們都看到了晶圓代工廠巨額的資本支出，但你們的 NAND 快閃記憶體也表現強勁。能否請您詳細介紹一下，在過去的三個月裡，您的情況有哪些改善？我知道你不想透露今年的某些採購計劃，但我只是想更了解你對這兩個階段的預期。

I don't know, Blayne. Obviously, one large foundry customer upsized their CapEx. I think everybody understands what happened there. I don't think any of us saw the totality of that coming. So clearly, that was a bit of the upside. Maybe that would be the only thing I would specifically point to.

我不知道，布萊恩。顯然，一家大型代工廠客戶增加了資本支出。我想大家都明白那裡發生了什麼事。我想我們誰都沒有預料到事情會發展到如此地步。所以很明顯，這算是個好消息。或許這是我唯一會特別指出的一點。

Got you. And then just back on gross margin, obviously, you have the higher freight cost. You're guiding it down a bit, revenue up. Can you just kind of walk us through the March guide and then just opportunities for leverage, either on gross margin or even on OpEx as you look through the rest of the year?

抓到你了。然後，就毛利率而言，顯然，運費成本更高。你引導它稍微下降，收入卻在上升。您能否簡要介紹三月的業績指南，以及在今年剩餘時間裡，在毛利率或營運支出方面有哪些可以利用的機會？

Yes, Blayne, thanks for the question. I think you know and everybody knows, this isn't really a huge fixed cost business. So when revenue goes up, it matters, but it's not what matters as much as in -- like our customers' business. Product mix matters, customer mix matters. Customer concentration moves gross margin around. That's happening probably a little bit in the March quarter, a little bit of a headwind.

是的，布萊恩，謝謝你的提問。我想你我都明白，大家都知道，這不是一個固定成本很高的產業。所以，當收入成長時，這固然重要，但這遠不如我們客戶的業務重要。產品組合很重要，客戶組合也很重要。客戶集中度會影響毛利率。這種情況可能在三月那一季有所發生，會遇到一些阻力。

If I think about the longer-term, getting to that financial model that we put out for '23, 2 things I would point you to on the gross margin and operating income for that matter. One is this freight headwind that we're dealing with. Second, I referred to ramping the factory in Malaysia. That's going to be a somewhat more efficient, a little bit bigger factory, a little bit more cost-efficient factories. So there's some upside that we're going to see in gross margin there. And that's really from where we are today to where we're trying to get to or where we're going to get to what gets you there.

如果從長遠來看，為了實現我們為 2023 年制定的財務模型，關於毛利率和營業收入，我想指出兩點。一是我們正在應對的貨運逆風。其次，我指的是提高馬來西亞工廠的產能。那將會是個效率更高、規模更大、成本效益更高的工廠。因此，毛利率方面會有一些上升空間。這就是從我們今天的處境到我們努力想要達到的目標，或是我們將要達到的目標，以及實現目標的途徑。

Our next question will come from Atif Malik with Citi.

下一個問題將來自花旗銀行的阿提夫·馬利克。

Tim, you guys have seen strong growth in 3D devices, particularly in NAND area, and are announcing the new technology for high aspect ratio. My question is on the logic side. As the logic devices are now moving in 3 dimensions, horizontal, nanosheet, the 3-nanometer Korean foundry this year, how does that impact the deposition and etch opportunity? And should we be looking at that as a major inflection?

Tim，你們在 3D 設備領域，尤其是在 NAND 領域，取得了強勁的成長，並且正在發布用於高縱橫比的新技術。我的問題涉及邏輯方面。隨著邏輯元件向三維、水平、奈米片方向發展，以及今年韓國代工廠推出的 3 奈米工藝，這對沉積和蝕刻工藝的發展機會有何影響？我們是否應該將此視為一個重大轉折點？

I would hope you would be. We've been talking about really -- at some point along the road maps, every device ultimately is inflecting to 3D, simply because that's how you get continued scaling. And so I talked about our KIYO GX tool. One of the -- you start seeing new types of technologies come in, in the etch and also deposition space. I mentioned that tool with its atomic layer etch capabilities, those tools are well suited to the types of 3D devices you're going to see in nanosheet or nanowire architectures.

我希望你會如此。我們一直在討論——在發展路線圖的某個階段，每個設備最終都會向 3D 過渡，因為只有這樣才能實現持續擴展。於是我介紹了我們的 KIYO GX 工具。其中之一是——你開始看到蝕刻和沈積領域出現新的技術。我之前提到過那種具有原子層蝕刻能力的工具，這些工具非常適合用於製造奈米片或奈米線結構的 3D 裝置。

There will also be other tools, which we haven't really talked about so publicly, that they are in the hands of our customers around selective etch that will become much more prevalent within 3D logic/foundry devices, and then a whole of new deposition films that also help. I mentioned some of the RC and such. So yes, I think it's an area where we can continue to expand our SAM by catching kind of those 3D inflections in logic and foundry. And our R&D that Doug talked about is really targeted a lot towards growing our opportunity in that space.

還有其他一些工具，我們還沒有公開談論過，這些工具已經交付給我們的客戶，用於選擇性蝕刻，這將在 3D 邏輯/代工器件中變得更加普遍，此外還有一系列新的沉積薄膜也有助於此。我提到了一些遙控模型之類的東西。所以，是的，我認為這是一個我們可以繼續擴展我們的SAM的領域，透過捕捉邏輯和代工領域的3D轉折點。Doug提到的我們的研發工作，實際上很大程度上是為了擴大我們在該領域的機會。

Great. And Doug, you have heard about supply constraints in chips and printed circuit boards. Is the availability of a chip impacting your capability to (inaudible) for your customers?

偉大的。道格，你聽過晶片和印刷電路板的供應緊張嗎？晶片的可用性是否影響您為客戶提供（聽不清楚）服務的能力？

Yes. In any supply chain as complex as ours is with as many suppliers as we have, there's always something that you're working your way through. And certainly, there's a handful of those things today, given volume is inflecting up. But we're managing through it pretty well.

是的。在任何像我們這樣擁有眾多供應商、供應鏈如此複雜的供應鏈中，總是會有一些事情需要我們解決。而且，鑑於成交量正在上升，今天確實有一些這樣的事情發生。但我們目前應對得還不錯。

Operator, we have time for one more question, please.

接線員，我們還有時間再問一個問題。

Our final question will come from Joe Quatrochi with Wells Fargo.

最後一個問題來自富國銀行的喬·夸特羅奇。

On your expectations for domestic China being flat to up, how are you thinking about the efficiency of spending this year as the customers continue to ramp up their technology curves?

鑑於您對中國國內市場持平或成長的預期，您如何看待今年客戶的技術升級速度加快所帶來的支出效率問題？

In China specifically, Joe, is that your question?

喬，你的問題是具體在中國嗎？

Yes, for your domestic China customers. I think in the past, you talked about there's some level of inefficient spend, just given that they're still kind of learning.

是的，是針對您在中國國內的客戶。我認為你之前說過，由於他們還在學習階段，所以存在一定程度的低效率支出。

Yes. Our domestic China customer base is very broad. It's much broader, I think, perhaps than all of you realize. And you've got people at all kinds of different points along ramping technologies. Some are -- have been doing it for a really long time. Some are brand new to certain technologies. When a customer is new to a technology, it takes a little while to get to an efficient ramp point. So it's a broad set of customers that are at different points, I think, is what I would describe, again, depending on how long they've been doing what they're doing.

是的。我們在中國國內的客戶群非常廣泛。我認為，它的範圍要廣得多，或許比你們所有人意識到的都要廣。而且，人們在科技發展的各個階段都處於不同的階段。有些人——已經做了很長時間了。有些人對某些技術是完全陌生的。當客戶初次接觸某項技術時，需要一段時間才能達到高效率的上手狀態。所以，我認為，這是一群處於不同階段的廣泛客戶，這再次取決於他們從事這項工作的時間長短。

Okay. Fair enough. And then quickly on just the CSBG side. How are you thinking about the improvement of memory fab productivity last year contributing to the growth? And then how do we think about that this year? Because I assume that the spare costs business would be more of a modest contributor to growth for that business this year?

好的。很公平。然後迅速地只關注 CSBG 這邊。您認為去年記憶體製造廠產能的提升對經濟成長起了怎樣的作用？那麼，今年我們該如何看待這個問題呢？因為我假設今年備用成本業務對該業務的成長貢獻會比較有限？

Let me think about that question. And I don't know, Tim, if you have anything you want to add. I mean consumption of spares will ebb and flow across every one of our end markets with utilization. When the utilization is high, spare part consumption is somewhat higher. It's just to make sure how -- it's a consumable part, obviously. So you just go along with volume. I don't know if I'm answering your question. But that's true in the memory fabs, that's true in foundry and logic as well. As Tim suggested -- maybe there was a little bit of buy ahead, maybe a little bit, but I don't think that was huge. I don't know if...

讓我思考一下這個問題。提姆，我不知道你還有什麼要補充的。我的意思是，隨著利用率的增加，我們所有終端市場的備件消耗量都會出現波動。利用率高時，備件消耗量也會隨之增加。只是為了確認一下——顯然，這是一個消耗品。所以你就順著銷量走就行了。我不知道我是否回答了你的問題。但記憶體製造廠的情況確實如此，代工廠和邏輯電路製造廠的情況也是如此。正如蒂姆所說——也許有一些提前購買的商品，也許只有一點點，但我認為數量並不多。我不知道是否…

No. And I don't think that it was something that would be specific to memory. But in general, a couple of comments we've made about spare parts, maybe just to comment, is we have always been focused on the critical applications, because critical applications, you have to keep those chambers in very pristine condition in order to be able to deliver the (inaudible) the customer needs. They tend to be bigger drivers of spare parts. And so I think as each of these technology nodes gets more complex, spare parts and the capability of those spares continues to grow. That's good for our business.

不。我不認為這是記憶特有的現象。但總的來說，關於備件，我們曾經發表過一些評論，也許只是想提一下，那就是我們一直專注於關鍵應用，因為對於關鍵應用，你必須保持這些腔室處於非常完美的狀態，才能滿足客戶的需求。它們是備件需求量較大的驅動因素。因此，我認為隨著這些技術節點變得越來越複雜，備件及其效能也會不斷提高。這對我們的業務有好處。

But the flip side of that, of course, is that's customers' cost. And so that's why we are continuously looking for things like the new Sense.i platform to help our customer reduce maintenance cost and running cost of the systems. I mentioned Sense.i and Vantex, the first adopters and the first ones to ramp that production are going to be in the memory space, and that's simply because it delivers technology as high productivity. And that's really the key.

當然，另一方面，這都是客戶的成本。因此，我們一直在尋找像 Sense.i 這樣的新平台，以幫助我們的客戶降低系統的維護成本和運作成本。我提到了 Sense.i 和 Vantex，首批採用並率先擴大生產規模的公司將位於記憶體領域，這僅僅是因為該技術能夠帶來高生產力。這才是關鍵所在。

How do you find that balance of getting the results on the wafer without consuming too many spare parts and without consuming too much of the tool equipment time. And I think Lam has become very good at that. And I think that, again, let me point to the volume of learning we have in high-volume production across NAND and DRAM. Cost-sensitive applications, I think we may be the best at that.

如何在不消耗過多備件和不消耗過多設備時間的情況下，找到在晶圓上獲得所需結果的平衡點？我認為林在這方面做得非常出色。而且我認為，再次強調一下，我們在 NAND 和 DRAM 的大批量生產中積累了大量的經驗。對於成本敏感型應用，我認為我們可能是最好的。

That will conclude today's question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call over to Ms. Correia for any additional or closing remarks.

今天的問答環節到此結束。現在我將把電話交給科雷亞女士，請她補充或作總結發言。

We just wanted to thank everyone for joining today, and we will talk to you all again soon. Thank you.

我們非常感謝大家今天的參與，我們很快就會再次與大家見面。謝謝。

That will conclude today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。