微晶片科技 (MCHP) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to Microchip's Third Quarter Fiscal 2020 Financial Results Conference Call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Eric Bjornholt, our CFO. Please go ahead, sir.

大家好，歡迎參加 Microchip 2020 財年第三季度財務業績電話會議。提醒一下，今天的通話正在錄音中。在這個時候，我想把電話轉給我們的首席財務官 Eric Bjornholt 先生。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. During the course of this conference call, we will be making projections and other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company. We wish to caution you that such statements are predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We refer you to our press releases of today as well as our recent filings with the SEC that identify important risk factors that may impact Microchip's business and results of operations.

謝謝，大家下午好。在本次電話會議期間，我們將對未來事件或公司未來的財務業績做出預測和其他前瞻性陳述。我們想提醒您，此類陳述是預測，實際事件或結果可能存在重大差異。請參閱我們今天的新聞稿以及我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，這些文件確定了可能影響 Microchip 的業務和運營結果的重要風險因素。

In attendance with me today are Ganesh Moorthy, Microchip's President and CEO; Steve Sanghi, Microchip's Executive Chair; and Sajid Daudi, Microchip's Head of Investor Relations. I will comment on our third quarter financial performance. Ganesh will then provide commentary on our results and discuss the current business environment as well as our guidance, and Steve will provide an update on our cash return strategy. We will then be available to respond to specific investor and analyst questions.

今天和我一起出席的有 Microchip 總裁兼首席執行官 Ganesh Moorthy； Microchip 執行主席 Steve Sanghi；和 Microchip 投資者關係主管 Sajid Daudi。我將評論我們第三季度的財務業績。 Ganesh 隨後將對我們的結果發表評論並討論當前的商業環境以及我們的指導意見，而 Steve 將提供我們現金回報策略的最新信息。然後我們將可以回答具體的投資者和分析師問題。

We are including information in our press release and on this conference call on various GAAP and non-GAAP measures. We have posted a full GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation on the Investor Relations page of our website at www.microchip.com, and included reconciliation information in our press release, which we believe you will find useful when comparing our GAAP and non-GAAP results. We have also posted a summary of our outstanding debt and our leverage metrics on our website.

我們在新聞稿和本次電話會議中包含了有關各種 GAAP 和非 GAAP 措施的信息。我們在我們網站 www.microchip.com 的投資者關係頁面上發布了完整的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 對帳，並在我們的新聞稿中包含了對帳信息，我們相信您在比較我們的 GAAP 和非 GAAP 時會發現這些信息很有用結果。我們還在我們的網站上發布了未償債務和槓桿指標的摘要。

I will now go through some of our operating results, including net sales, gross margin and operating expenses. Other than net sales, I will be referring to these results on a non-GAAP basis, which is based on expenses prior to the effects of acquisition activities, share-based compensation and certain other adjustments as described in our press release and in the reconciliations on our website.

我現在將介紹我們的一些經營業績，包括淨銷售額、毛利率和經營費用。除淨銷售額外，我將在非 GAAP 基礎上提及這些結果，這是基於收購活動影響之前的費用、基於股份的薪酬以及我們的新聞稿和對賬中所述的某些其他調整在我們的網站上。

Net sales in the December quarter were $2.169 billion, which was up 4.6% sequentially. We have posted a summary of our GAAP net sales by product line and geography on our website for your reference. On a non-GAAP basis, gross margins were a record at 68.1%, operating expenses were 20.6% and operating income was a record 47.5%. Non-GAAP net income was a record $863.7 million. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share was a record $1.56 and at the high end of our guidance range.

去年第四季度的淨銷售額為 21.69 億美元，環比增長 4.6%。我們在我們的網站上發布了按產品線和地理位置劃分的 GAAP 淨銷售額摘要，供您參考。按非美國通用會計準則計算，毛利率達到創紀錄的 68.1%，營業費用為 20.6%，營業收入達到創紀錄的 47.5%。非 GAAP 淨收入達到創紀錄的 8.637 億美元。非 GAAP 每股攤薄收益達到創紀錄的 1.56 美元，處於我們指導範圍的高端。

On a GAAP basis in the December quarter, gross margins were a record at 67.8%. Total operating expenses were $659.2 million and included acquisition intangible amortization of $167.4 million, special charges of $6.5 million and $0.3 million of acquisition-related and other costs, and share-based compensation of $37.1 million.

在 12 月季度的 GAAP 基礎上，毛利率達到創紀錄的 67.8%。總運營費用為 6.592 億美元，包括 1.674 億美元的收購無形攤銷、650 萬美元的特殊費用和 30 萬美元的收購相關及其他成本，以及 3710 萬美元的股份補償。

GAAP net income was a record $580.3 million, resulting in a record $1.04 in earnings per diluted share. As compared to a year ago quarter, our December quarter GAAP tax expense was impacted by a variety of factors, notably the tax expense recorded as a result of the capitalization of R&D expenses for tax purposes.

GAAP 淨收入達到創紀錄的 5.803 億美元，每股攤薄收益達到創紀錄的 1.04 美元。與去年同期相比，我們 12 月季度的 GAAP 稅費受到多種因素的影響，特別是由於出於稅收目的將研發費用資本化而記錄的稅費。

Our non-GAAP cash tax rate was 11.9% in the December quarter. We now expect our non-GAAP cash tax rate for fiscal '23 to be about 11%, exclusive of the transition tax and any tax audit settlements related to taxes accrued in prior fiscal years. A reminder of what we communicated over the past couple of quarters. Our fiscal '23 cash tax rate is higher than our fiscal '22 tax rate for a variety of factors, including lower availability of tax attributes, such as net operating losses and tax credits as well as the impact of current tax rules requiring the capitalization of R&D expenses for tax purposes.

我們在 12 月季度的非 GAAP 現金稅率為 11.9%。我們現在預計 23 財年的非 GAAP 現金稅率約為 11%，不包括過渡稅和與前一財政年度應計稅款相關的任何稅務審計結算。提醒我們在過去幾個季度中交流的內容。由於多種因素，我們的 23 財年現金稅率高於 22 財年的稅率，包括稅收屬性的可用性較低，例如淨營業虧損和稅收抵免，以及現行稅法要求資本化的影響出於稅收目的的研發費用。

We are still hopeful that the tax rules requiring companies to capitalize R&D expenses will be pushed out or repealed. If this were to happen, we would anticipate about a 300 basis point favorable adjustment to Microchip's non-GAAP tax rate in future periods.

我們仍然希望要求公司將研發費用資本化的稅收規則能夠被推出或廢除。如果發生這種情況，我們預計未來期間 Microchip 的非 GAAP 稅率將進行約 300 個基點的有利調整。

Our inventory balance at December 31, 2022, was $1.165 billion. We had 152 days of inventory at the end of the December quarter, which was up 13 days from the prior quarter's level. We have increased our raw materials inventory to help protect our internal manufacturing supply lines. We are carrying higher work in progress to help maximize the utilization of constrained equipment as well as to position ourselves to take advantage of new equipment installations, which should relieve bottlenecks.

截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日，我們的庫存餘額為 11.65 億美元。截至 12 月季度末，我們有 152 天的庫存，比上一季度的水平增加了 13 天。我們增加了原材料庫存，以幫助保護我們的內部製造供應線。我們正在進行更高的工作，以幫助最大限度地利用受限設備，並定位自己以利用新設備的安裝，這應該可以緩解瓶頸。

We are investing in building inventory for long-lived, high-margin products whose manufacturing capacity is being end of life by our supply chain partners. We need to take actions to help ensure that our supply lines can feed growth beyond what we expect in the March 2023 and June 2023 quarters, and our reported days of inventory is a backward-looking indicator.

我們正在投資建立長期、高利潤產品的庫存，這些產品的製造能力正在被我們的供應鏈合作夥伴淘汰。我們需要採取行動幫助確保我們的供應線能夠滿足我們在 2023 年 3 月和 2023 年 6 月季度的預期增長，而我們報告的庫存天數是一個回顧性指標。

As gross margins rise, the effective days of inventory for the same physical inventory rises and with every 100 basis points of gross margin growth, it creates approximately 3 incremental days of inventory. Inventory at our distributors in the December quarter was at 22 days, which was up 3 days from the prior quarter's level.

隨著毛利率上升，相同實物庫存的庫存有效天數增加，毛利率每增長 100 個基點，就會增加大約 3 個庫存天數。我們分銷商在 12 月季度的庫存為 22 天，比上一季度的水平增加了 3 天。

Our cash flow from operating activities was a record $1.278 billion in the December quarter. Included in our cash flow from operating activities was $385 million of long-term supply assurance receipts. We are going to adjust these items out of our free cash flow to determine the adjusted free cash flow that we will return to shareholders as these payments will be refundable over time as purchase commitments are fulfilled.

我們來自經營活動的現金流在 12 月季度達到創紀錄的 12.78 億美元。我們的經營活動現金流中包括 3.85 億美元的長期供應保證收據。我們將從我們的自由現金流中調整這些項目，以確定我們將返還給股東的調整後的自由現金流，因為隨著購買承諾的履行，這些付款將隨著時間的推移而退還。

Our adjusted free cash flow was $751.6 million and 34.6% of net sales in the December quarter. As of December 31, our consolidated cash and total investment position was $288.9 million. We paid down $719.1 million of total debt in the December quarter, and our net debt was reduced by $701.2 million. Over the last 18 full quarters since we closed the Microsemi acquisition and incurred over $8 billion in debt to do so, we have paid down almost $6.2 billion of the debt and continue to allocate substantially all of our excess cash beyond dividends and stock buyback to bring down this debt.

我們調整後的自由現金流為 7.516 億美元，佔 12 月季度淨銷售額的 34.6%。截至 12 月 31 日，我們的合併現金和總投資頭寸為 2.889 億美元。我們在 12 月季度償還了 7.191 億美元的總債務，淨債務減少了 7.012 億美元。自從我們完成對 Microsemi 的收購併為此承擔了超過 80 億美元的債務以來的過去 18 個完整季度中，我們已經償還了近 62 億美元的債務，並繼續分配除股息和股票回購之外的大部分多餘現金，以帶來減掉這筆債務。

Our adjusted EBITDA in the December quarter was a record at $1.106 billion and 51% of net sales. Our trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA was also a record at $4.051 billion. Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 1.56 at December 31, 2022, down from 1.84 at September 30, 2022, and down from 2.58% at December 31, 2021. Capital expenditures were $141.3 million in the December quarter. Our expectation for capital expenditures for fiscal year 2023 is between $525 million and $545 million as we continue to take actions to support the growth of our business and ramp our manufacturing operations accordingly.

我們在 12 月季度調整後的 EBITDA 達到創紀錄的 11.06 億美元，占淨銷售額的 51%。我們過去 12 個月的調整後 EBITDA 也創下了 40.51 億美元的歷史新高。截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日，我們的調整後 EBITDA 淨債務為 1.56，低於 2022 年 9 月 30 日的 1.84，低於 2021 年 12 月 31 日的 2.58%。12 月季度的資本支出為 1.413 億美元。我們對 2023 財年資本支出的預期在 5.25 億美元至 5.45 億美元之間，因為我們將繼續採取行動支持我們的業務增長並相應地擴大我們的製造業務。

We continue to prudently add capital equipment to maintain, grow and operate our internal manufacturing operations to support the expected long-term growth of our business. We expect these capital investments will bring gross margin improvements to our business and give us increased control over our production during periods of industry-wide constraints. Depreciation expense in the December quarter was $55.3 million.

我們繼續謹慎地增加資本設備，以維持、發展和運營我們的內部製造業務，以支持我們業務的預期長期增長。我們預計這些資本投資將為我們的業務帶來毛利率改善，並讓我們在全行業受限期間加強對生產的控制。 12 月季度的折舊費用為 5530 萬美元。

I will now turn it over to Ganesh to give us comments on the performance of the business in the December quarter as well as our guidance for the March quarter. Ganesh?

我現在將其轉交給 Ganesh，讓我們對 12 月季度的業務表現以及我們對 3 月季度的指導意見發表評論。像頭神？

Thank you, Eric, and good afternoon, everyone. Our December quarter results were well above the midpoint of our revenue guidance, marked by our disciplined execution as well as our resilient end markets. Net sales grew 4.6% sequentially and 23.4% on a year-over-year basis to achieve another all-time record of $2.17 billion.

謝謝埃里克，大家下午好。我們 12 月季度的業績遠高於我們收入指引的中點，其特點是我們嚴格的執行以及我們富有彈性的終端市場。淨銷售額環比增長 4.6%，同比增長 23.4%，再創歷史新高 21.7 億美元。

The December quarter also marked our ninth consecutive quarter of growth. Non-GAAP gross margins came in above the high end of our guidance at a record 68.1%, up 38 basis points from the September quarter and up 202 basis points from the year ago quarter. Non-GAAP operating margin also came in above the high end of our guidance at a record 47.5%, up 62 basis points from the September quarter and up 283 basis points from the year ago quarter.

十二月季度也標誌著我們連續第九個季度增長。非 GAAP 毛利率高於我們指引的上限，達到創紀錄的 68.1%，比 9 月份季度增長 38 個基點，比去年同期增長 202 個基點。非 GAAP 營業利潤率也高於我們指導的上限，達到創紀錄的 47.5%，比 9 月份季度增長 62 個基點，比去年同期增長 283 個基點。

Due to a rapid increase in net sales over the last 2 years, operating expenses at 20.65% were 185 basis points below the low end of our long-term model range of 22.5% to 23.5%. Our long-term operating expense model will continue to guide our investment actions to drive the long-term growth, profitability and durability of our business.

由於過去 2 年淨銷售額的快速增長，營業費用為 20.65%，比我們長期模型範圍 22.5% 至 23.5% 的低端低 185 個基點。我們的長期運營費用模型將繼續指導我們的投資行動，以推動我們業務的長期增長、盈利能力和持久性。

Our consolidated non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was at the high end of our guidance at a record $1.56 per share, up 30% from the year ago quarter. Adjusted EBITDA at 51% of net sales and adjusted free cash flow at 34.6% of net sales were both very strong in the December quarter, continuing to demonstrate the robust cash generation capabilities of our business.

我們的合併非 GAAP 攤薄每股收益處於我們指導的高端，達到創紀錄的每股 1.56 美元，比去年同期增長 30%。調整後的 EBITDA 占淨銷售額的 51%，調整後的自由現金流占淨銷售額的 34.6%，在 12 月季度都非常強勁，繼續證明我們業務強大的現金生成能力。

As Eric mentioned, we have excluded $385 million of long-term supply assurance payments made by customers from our adjusted free cash flow calculation since these payments are refundable when customers fulfill their purchase commitments. Net debt declined by $701.2 million, driving our net leverage ratio down to 1.56x exiting the December quarter.

正如 Eric 提到的，我們已將客戶支付的 3.85 億美元長期供應保證付款排除在我們調整後的自由現金流計算之外，因為這些付款在客戶履行購買承諾時可以退還。淨債務減少了 7.012 億美元，使我們的淨槓桿率在 12 月季度降至 1.56 倍。

During the December quarter, we returned $409.8 million to shareholders in dividends and share repurchases, representing 60% of the prior quarter's free cash flow. We expect to get below 1.5x net leverage by the end of the March quarter. And as Steve will share with you later, the Microchip Board has decided to increase the rate at which capital will be returned to shareholders starting in the June quarter.

在 12 月季度，我們以股息和股票回購的形式向股東返還了 4.098 億美元，佔上一季度自由現金流的 60%。我們預計到 3 月季度末，淨槓桿率將低於 1.5 倍。正如史蒂夫稍後將與您分享的那樣，Microchip 董事會已決定從 6 月季度開始提高向股東返還資本的比率。

My heartfelt gratitude to all our stakeholders who enabled us to achieve these outstanding results and especially to the worldwide Microchip team whose tireless efforts and strong sense of ownership are what enable us to navigate effectively in the midst of turbulent times.

我衷心感謝所有使我們取得這些傑出成果的利益相關者，尤其是全球 Microchip 團隊，他們的不懈努力和強烈的主人翁意識使我們能夠在動蕩的時代中有效地航行。

Taking a look at our net sales from a product line perspective, our Microcontroller net sales was sequentially up 3.5% in the December quarter and set another all-time record. On a year-over-year basis, our December quarter microcontroller net sales were up 25.6%. Microcontrollers represented 56.3% of our net sales in the December quarter. Our analog net sales were sequentially up 5.9% in the December quarter and also set an all-time record. On a year-over-year basis, our December quarter analog net sales were up 21.2%. Analog represented 28% of our net sales in the December quarter.

從產品線的角度來看我們的淨銷售額，我們的微控制器淨銷售額在 12 月季度環比增長 3.5%，再創歷史新高。與去年同期相比，我們 12 月季度的微控制器淨銷售額增長了 25.6%。微控制器占我們 12 月季度淨銷售額的 56.3%。我們的模擬淨銷售額在 12 月季度環比增長 5.9%，也創下了歷史新高。與去年同期相比，我們 12 月季度的模擬淨銷售額增長了 21.2%。模擬產品占我們 12 月季度淨銷售額的 28%。

In the December quarter, our FPGA net sales also achieved a new record. While our overall business remained strong in the December quarter, the consumer appliance end market was weak as was our overall business in China. Our China business was initially impacted by COVID lockdowns and then subsequently impacted by the rapid transmission of COVID when lockdowns were lifted. Both actions adversely impacted our customers' operations during the December quarter, resulting in inventory at many customers and distributors being higher than normal.

在 12 月季度，我們的 FPGA 淨銷售額也創下新紀錄。雖然我們的整體業務在 12 月季度保持強勁，但家電終端市場和我們在中國的整體業務一樣疲軟。我們的中國業務最初受到 COVID 封鎖的影響，隨後在封鎖解除後受到 COVID 快速傳播的影響。這兩項行動都對我們客戶在 12 月季度的運營產生了不利影響，導致許多客戶和分銷商的庫存高於正常水平。

In response to the weaker business environment in China, and a small but increasing number of other customers who have inventory and requested pushouts, we took action in the December quarter to delay or redirect some shipments and plan to do more of the same in the March quarter. This is designed to reduce customer and channel inventory overbuild, but will also increase the inventory on our balance sheet in the near term. In the medium term, we expect this will give us a better chance to achieve a soft landing and position us well to respond to a stronger demand growth as the macro environment improves.

為了應對中國疲軟的商業環境，以及少量但越來越多的其他客戶有庫存並要求推出，我們在 12 月季度採取行動延遲或重新定向部分發貨，併計劃在 3 月做更多同樣的事情四分之一。這是為了減少客戶和渠道庫存的過度構建，但也會在短期內增加我們資產負債表上的庫存。從中期來看，我們預計這將使我們有更好的機會實現軟著陸，並使我們能夠更好地應對宏觀環境改善時更強勁的需求增長。

As a result of the uncertain macro environment and the multiple quarters worth of backlog in our books, most of which is noncancelable, our bookings have slowed down, as we expected. Given the circumstances, we view the booking slowdown as a positive, which will serve to preserve the quality of new backlog that gets placed. Our unsupported backlog, which represents backlog customers wanted to ship to them in the December quarter, but which we could not deliver in the December quarter, remained well in excess of the actual net sales we achieved. Unsupported backlog did decline slightly for the first time in 9 quarters, and we are continuing to work hard to further reduce our unsupported backlog as well as our lead times to more manageable levels.

由於不確定的宏觀環境和我們書籍中的多個季度積壓，其中大部分是不可取消的，我們的預訂已經放緩，正如我們預期的那樣。鑑於這種情況，我們認為預訂放緩是積極的，這將有助於保持新訂單的質量。我們不受支持的積壓訂單（代表積壓客戶希望在 12 月季度向他們發貨，但我們無法在 12 月季度交付）仍然遠遠超過我們實現的實際淨銷售額。不受支持的積壓確實在 9 個季度中首次略有下降，我們將繼續努力進一步減少我們不受支持的積壓以及我們的交貨時間到更易於管理的水平。

While we have seen an increase in request to push out or cancel backlog, these requests remain a small fraction of the very large backlog we have over multiple quarters, and hence, they have not had a material effect on our business. Despite supply gradually improving, we expect to have supply constraints through much of 2023.

雖然我們看到推遲或取消積壓的請求有所增加，但這些請求仍然是我們多個季度積壓的大量積壓中的一小部分，因此它們沒有對我們的業務產生實質性影響。儘管供應逐漸改善，但我們預計在 2023 年的大部分時間裡供應將受到限制。

However, in order to achieve a more healthy and sustainable business environment, we are driving to bring average lead times down to 26 weeks or less by the time we get to the second half of 2023, and we will be publishing a customer letter to this effect shortly.

然而，為了實現更健康和可持續的商業環境，我們正努力在 2023 年下半年將平均交貨時間縮短至 26 週或更短，我們將為此發布一封客戶信函效果很快。

We believe there are 3 reasons why Microchip's business is demonstrating more resilience in the midst of the weakness seen by some other semiconductor companies. First, on the demand side, the industrial, automotive, aerospace and defense, data center and communications infrastructure end markets, which make up approximately 86% of our net sales remains solid. The consumer end market, which is about 14% of our net sales, is experiencing some weakness, but is dominated by home appliances, which are comparatively more resilient.

我們認為，Microchip 的業務在其他一些半導體公司表現疲軟的情況下表現出更強的彈性有 3 個原因。首先，在需求方面，占我們淨銷售額約 86% 的工業、汽車、航空航天和國防、數據中心和通信基礎設施終端市場仍然穩健。消費終端市場約占我們淨銷售額的 14%，正在經歷一些疲軟，但以相對更具彈性的家用電器為主。

There are some signs that the data center end market could see some headwinds in 2023 although our business remains strong based on the market share gains we have had. Hence, our overall demand remains quite durable because of the end market mix we have consciously gravitated towards over the years.

有跡象表明，數據中心終端市場在 2023 年可能會遇到一些不利因素，儘管我們的業務基於我們已經獲得的市場份額增長仍然強勁。因此，由於多年來我們有意識地傾向於終端市場組合，我們的整體需求仍然相當持久。

Second, on the supply side, a vast majority of our products are built on specialized technologies requiring trailing edge capacity. This is the capacity that has been most constrained over the last 2 years which still remains constrained and where there was less opportunity to overship to consumption. And last but not least, our laser focus on organic growth through total system solutions and higher-growth megatrends from multiple years is giving us increased design win momentum, further share gains and a result in revenue tailwind.

其次，在供應方面，我們的絕大多數產品都建立在需要後端能力的專業技術之上。這是過去 2 年中受到最大限制的產能，目前仍然受到限制，並且過剩消費的機會較少。最後但並非最不重要的一點是，我們通過整體系統解決方案和多年來的高速增長大趨勢專注於有機增長，這為我們增加了設計獲胜勢頭，進一步增加了份額，並帶來了收入順風。

If you review Microchip's peak to trough performance through the business cycles over the last 15-plus years, you will observe our robust and consistent cash generation, gross margin and operating margin results. The investor presentation posted on our IR website has details of our performance through the business cycles. We remain cautiously optimistic about navigating to a soft landing for our business, and expect our cash generation, gross margin and operating margin to once again demonstrate consistency and resiliency through the cycle.

如果您回顧 Microchip 在過去 15 多年的業務週期中從高峰到低谷的業績，您會發現我們穩健且穩定的現金生成、毛利率和營業利潤率結果。我們 IR 網站上發布的投資者介紹詳細介紹了我們在整個商業周期中的表現。我們對實現業務軟著陸持謹慎樂觀態度，並預計我們的現金生成、毛利率和營業利潤率將在整個週期中再次表現出一致性和彈性。

Last quarter, we mentioned that Microchip was in the early stages of considering building a 300-millimeter U.S.-based fab for specialized trailing edge technologies. After a detailed analysis, we have concluded not to move forward with this project and that our business objectives would likely be better achieved through our relationships with our foundry suppliers with lower execution risk and a better return on invested capital.

上個季度，我們提到 Microchip 正處於考慮在美國建造一個 300 毫米晶圓廠用於專業後緣技術的早期階段。經過詳細分析，我們得出的結論是不會推進該項目，並且我們的業務目標可能會通過我們與代工供應商的關係以更低的執行風險和更好的投資資本回報率更好地實現。

The CHIPS Act is already making a positive impact on our business. through the investment tax credit, which started on January 1, and with impending capacity expansion grants that we will be seeking with several of our U.S. semiconductor factories. We believe the CHIPS Act is good for the semiconductor industry and for America as it enables critical investments, which will help even the global playing field while being strategically important for American economic and national security.

CHIPS 法案已經對我們的業務產生了積極影響。通過從 1 月 1 日開始的投資稅收抵免，以及我們將與我們的幾家美國半導體工廠尋求的即將到來的產能擴張補助。我們認為 CHIPS 法案對半導體行業和美國都有好處，因為它可以促成關鍵投資，這將有助於全球競爭環境，同時對美國經濟和國家安全具有重要戰略意義。

Now let's get into the guidance for the March quarter. Our backlog for the March quarter is strong, and we have more capacity improvements coming into effect. However, we are also taking active steps to help customers with inventory positions to selectively push out some of their backlog. Taking all the factors we have discussed on the call today into consideration, we expect our net sales for the March quarter to be up between 1% and 4% sequentially. Further, we expect sequential net sales growth again in the June quarter. At the midpoint of our net sales guidance, our year-over-year growth for the March quarter would be a strong 20.6%.

現在讓我們進入 3 月季度的指導。我們在 3 月季度的積壓工作量很大，而且我們有更多的產能改進措施正在生效。但是，我們也在採取積極措施，幫助有庫存的客戶有選擇地推出一些積壓訂單。考慮到我們今天在電話會議上討論的所有因素，我們預計 3 月季度的淨銷售額將環比增長 1% 至 4%。此外，我們預計 6 月季度的淨銷售額將再次環比增長。根據我們淨銷售額指引的中點，我們 3 月季度的同比增長將強勁 20.6%。

We expect our non-GAAP gross margin to be between 68.1% and 68.3% of sales. We expect non-GAAP operating expenses to be between 20.6% and 20.8% of sales. We expect non-GAAP operating profit to be between 47.3% and 47.7% of sales. And we expect our non-GAAP diluted earnings per share to be between $1.61 per share and $1.63 per share. At the midpoint of our earnings per share guidance, our year-over-year growth for the March quarter would be a strong 20% despite a much higher tax rate than the year ago quarter.

我們預計我們的非 GAAP 毛利率將在銷售額的 68.1% 至 68.3% 之間。我們預計非 GAAP 運營費用將佔銷售額的 20.6% 至 20.8% 之間。我們預計非 GAAP 營業利潤將佔銷售額的 47.3% 至 47.7% 之間。我們預計我們的非 GAAP 每股攤薄收益將在每股 1.61 美元至 1.63 美元之間。在我們每股收益指引的中點，儘管稅率比去年同期高得多，但我們 3 月季度的同比增長將強勁 20%。

Finally, as you can see from our December quarter results and our March quarter guidance, our Microchip 3.0 strategy, which we launched 15 months ago is firing on all cylinders as we continue to build and improve what we believe is one of the most diversified, defensible, high growth, high margin, high cash generating businesses in the semiconductor industry.

最後，正如您從我們 12 月季度的業績和 3 月季度的指導中看到的那樣，我們在 15 個月前推出的 Microchip 3.0 戰略正在全力以赴，因為我們繼續構建和改進我們認為最多元化的戰略之一，半導體行業中具有防禦性、高增長、高利潤、高現金產生能力的企業。

Our Board of Directors and leadership team operate just as long-term owners of the business would, thoughtfully making the key investments in people, technology, capacity, culture and sustainability required to thrive in the long term while being prudent, pragmatic and nimble about whatever short-term adjustments may be required. We are confident we will effectively navigate through whatever macro business challenges may unfold in 2023.

我們的董事會和領導團隊的運作方式與企業的長期所有者一樣，深思熟慮地對長期繁榮所需的人員、技術、能力、文化和可持續性進行關鍵投資，同時在任何事情上都保持謹慎、務實和靈活可能需要進行短期調整。我們有信心，我們將有效應對 2023 年可能出現的任何宏觀業務挑戰。

Let me now pass the baton to Steve to talk more about our cash return to shareholders. Steve?

現在讓我將接力棒交給史蒂夫，更多地談談我們對股東的現金回報。史蒂夫？

Thank you, Ganesh, and good afternoon, everyone. I would like to reflect on our financial results announced today and provide you further updates on our cash return strategy.

謝謝 Ganesh，大家下午好。我想回顧一下我們今天公佈的財務業績，並為您提供有關我們現金回報策略的進一步更新。

Reflecting on our financial results, I continue to be very proud of all employees of Microchip that have delivered another exceptional quarter while making new records in many respects, namely record net sales, record non-GAAP gross margin percentage, record non-GAAP operating margin percentage record non-GAAP EPS and record adjusted EBITDA and all that in a continuing challenging supply environment.

回顧我們的財務業績，我繼續為 Microchip 的所有員工感到自豪，他們又交付了一個出色的季度，同時在許多方面創造了新紀錄，即創紀錄的淨銷售額、創紀錄的非 GAAP 毛利率百分比、創紀錄的非 GAAP 營業利潤率百分比創紀錄的非公認會計原則每股收益和創紀錄的調整後 EBITDA 以及在持續充滿挑戰的供應環境中的所有這些。

The Board of Directors announced an increase in the dividend of 9.1% from last quarter to $0.358 per share. This is an increase of 41.5% from the year ago quarter. During the last quarter, we purchased $229.5 million of our stock in the open market. We also paid out $180.3 million in dividends. Thus, the total cash return was $409.8 million. This amount was 60% of our actual free cash flow of $682.9 million during the September 2022 quarter.

董事會宣布將上一季度的股息增加 9.1% 至每股 0.358 美元。這比去年同期增長了 41.5%。在上個季度，我們在公開市場上購買了 2.295 億美元的股票。我們還支付了 1.803 億美元的股息。因此，總現金回報為 4.098 億美元。這一數額占我們 2022 年 9 月季度實際自由現金流 6.829 億美元的 60%。

Our paydown of debt as well as record adjusted EBITDA drove down our net leverage at the end of December 2022 quarter to 1.56 from 1.84 at the end of September. Ever since we achieved an investment-grade rating for our debt in November 2021 and pivoted to increasing our capital return to shareholders, we have returned $1.867 billion to shareholders through December 31, 2022, by a combination of dividends and share buybacks.

我們償還債務以及創紀錄的調整後 EBITDA 使我們在 2022 年 12 月季度末的淨槓桿率從 9 月底的 1.84 降至 1.56。自從我們的債務在 2021 年 11 月獲得投資級評級並轉向增加對股東的資本回報以來，截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日，我們已通過股息和股票回購相結合的方式向股東返還了 18.67 億美元。

In the current March quarter, we will use the adjusted free cash flow from the December quarter to target the amount of cash returned to shareholders. The adjusted free cash flow excludes $385 million that we collected from our customers for long-term supply assurance payments. These payments are refundable when customers fulfill their purchase commitments. The adjusted free cash flow for December quarter was $751.6 million. We plan to return 62.5% or $469.8 million of that amount to our shareholders with the dividend expected to be approximately $196 million and the stock buyback expected to be approximately $273.8 million.

在當前的 3 月季度，我們將使用 12 月季度調整後的自由現金流來確定返還給股東的現金金額。調整後的自由現金流不包括我們從客戶那裡收取的用於長期供應保證付款的 3.85 億美元。當客戶履行其購買承諾時，這些付款可退還。 12 月季度調整後的自由現金流為 7.516 億美元。我們計劃將其中的 62.5% 或 4.698 億美元返還給我們的股東，股息預計約為 1.96 億美元，股票回購預計約為 2.738 億美元。

We also want to provide guidance for our planned cash return to shareholders beyond this quarter. We expect our net debt leverage at the end of March quarter to be less than 1.5. Therefore, our Board of Directors decided that beginning with the June quarter, we will accelerate the cash return to shareholders. We laid out a strategy for our cash return to shareholders at an Analyst and Investor Day in November 2021. We began with returning 50% of the free cash flow of the prior quarter and increasing it by 2.5 percentage points every quarter.

我們還希望為我們計劃在本季度之後向股東返還現金提供指導。我們預計我們在 3 月季度末的淨債務槓桿率將低於 1.5。因此，我們的董事會決定，從 6 月季度開始，我們將加快向股東返還現金。我們在 2021 年 11 月的分析師和投資者日制定了向股東返還現金的戰略。我們首先返還上一季度自由現金流的 50%，然後每季度增加 2.5 個百分點。

With these increases, we'll be returning 62.5% of last quarter's adjusted free cash flow to investors this quarter. Beginning in June quarter, we expect to double the rate at which we are increasing the percentage of free cash flow returned to shareholders. In other words, in June quarter, we expect to return 75% of our adjusted free cash flow from March quarter. Then in September quarter, we expect to return 72.5% of adjusted free cash flow from the June quarter, and so on, 5 percentage point increase every quarter. At this rate, we would approach 100% return of our adjusted free cash flow in about 8 quarters.

隨著這些增長，我們將在本季度向投資者返還上一季度調整後自由現金流的 62.5%。從 6 月季度開始，我們預計將增加返還給股東的自由現金流百分比的速度提高一倍。換句話說，在 6 月季度，我們預計將從 3 月季度返還 75% 的調整後自由現金流。然後在 9 月季度，我們預計將從 6 月季度返還 72.5% 的調整後自由現金流，依此類推，每個季度增加 5 個百分點。按照這個速度，我們將在大約 8 個季度內接近 100% 的調整後自由現金流回報率。

We realize that we are still carrying a debt burden of $6.62 billion in a rising interest rate environment. As some of our debt matures, we will likely be renewing it at a higher interest rate than we are currently paying on such debt. Our strategy of accelerating our cash return to shareholders over several quarters will help us pay down some additional debt and lower our debt service costs.

我們意識到，在利率上升的環境下，我們仍然背負著 66.2 億美元的債務負擔。隨著我們的一些債務到期，我們可能會以比目前為此類債務支付的利率更高的利率續約。我們在幾個季度內加速向股東返還現金的戰略將幫助我們償還一些額外的債務並降低我們的償債成本。

With that, operator, will you please poll for questions?

有了這個，接線員，你能輪詢一下問題嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Toshiya Hari with Goldman Sachs.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自高盛的 Toshiya Hari。

I had a question on the pricing environment. In calendar '22, you grew your business about 25%. What percentage of that was pricing versus volume? As you look ahead to calendar '23, considering the demand backdrop, considering potential price hikes from some of your foundry partners, how do you think about pricing? And how do you see pricing play out and any implications for your margin profile in calendar '23?

我對定價環境有疑問。在日曆 '22 中，您的業務增長了約 25%。其中定價與數量的百分比是多少？當您展望 23 年日曆時，考慮到需求背景，考慮到您的一些代工合作夥伴的潛在價格上漲，您如何看待定價？您如何看待定價結果以及對您在 23 年日曆中的利潤率狀況的影響？

So the price increases in 2022 were at various stages and different based on customer, what contractual agreements we had with them. Our philosophy is the price increases are there to cover the cost increases that we saw in 2022. And so we don't have a nice easy breakout of what was cost driven -- price driven increase versus product shipment increases. That is a component of both, obviously.

因此，2022 年的價格上漲處於不同階段，並且根據客戶以及我們與他們簽訂的合同協議而有所不同。我們的理念是，價格上漲是為了彌補我們在 2022 年看到的成本上漲。因此，我們無法輕鬆區分成本驅動的因素——價格驅動的增長與產品出貨量的增長。顯然，這是兩者的組成部分。

The intensity of cost increases we're seeing in 2023 are less than what they were in 2022. And we have not really made any judgment yet on price increases for this calendar year. Our intent would be that at some point, we'll look at it and again, have the same philosophy that we want to make sure that the cost increases are covered in any price increases we make.

我們在 2023 年看到的成本增加強度低於 2022 年。而且我們還沒有真正對本日曆年的價格上漲做出任何判斷。我們的意圖是，在某個時候，我們會再次審視它，並秉持相同的理念，即我們希望確保成本增加包含在我們所做的任何價格上漲中。

Pricing for us is a strategic exercise. It is intended to make sure that customers get comfort in being able to design, proprietary designs that they're going to run with us for a long time. It is not a tactical exercise to be able to maximize either the price or the revenue or the profits that come from.

定價對我們來說是一項戰略活動。它旨在確保客戶能夠設計出他們將長期與我們一起運行的專有設計。能夠使價格或收入或利潤最大化不是一種戰術練習。

Our next question comes from the line of Vivek Arya with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Vivek Arya。

Ganesh, I'm curious, do you think the share gains that you're seeing when I compare your sequential or year-on-year growth in calendar Q1 versus your peers, is that a cyclical thing? Is that a structural thing? Because many of your peers also have lower consumer exposure, they have high industrial, automotive exposure. And many of them have guided sales down, yet you're guiding it up in March and suggesting that they could grow again in June.

Ganesh，我很好奇，當我將日曆第一季度的連續或同比增長與同行進行比較時，你認為你看到的份額增長是周期性的嗎？那是結構性的東西嗎？由於您的許多同行的消費者曝光度也較低，因此他們在工業、汽車領域的曝光度較高。他們中的許多人引導銷售額下降，但你在 3 月份引導它上升，並暗示它們可能會在 6 月份再次增長。

So I'm curious how much of this is just a cyclical issue where you just had a difference in when supply was available. Or is it really you're gaining share or there is something more structural and you can maintain this kind of market share gain advantage over time?

所以我很好奇這有多少只是一個週期性問題，你只是在供應時間上有所不同。還是你真的在獲得份額，或者有更多結構性的東西，你可以隨著時間的推移保持這種市場份額獲得優勢？

Yes. As I mentioned, in the 3 categories of what we believe is differentiating our results. A part of it, which is structural, is what we have done for multiple years on how do we grow organically, how does the total system solutions approach, which is a huge amount of work across the company come in and then it takes time for it to pay off. That's been happening for multiple years. How do we focus on higher growth opportunities from a market megatrend standpoint. Those are all, we believe, unique growth drivers for Microchip and are, in fact, structural growth that is being built into what our long-term growth will be.

是的。正如我所提到的，在我們認為使我們的結果與眾不同的 3 個類別中。它的一部分是結構性的，是我們多年來所做的關於我們如何有機增長，整體系統解決方案方法的方法，這是整個公司的大量工作，然後需要時間它得到回報。這種情況已經發生多年了。我們如何從市場大趨勢的角度關注更高的增長機會。我們相信，這些都是 Microchip 獨特的增長動力，事實上，這些都是我們長期增長的結構性增長。

Our next question comes from the line of Gary Mobley with Wells Fargo Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行證券公司的 Gary Mobley。

I realize that you got out of the business of providing some estimation as to how many quarters in a row you may be able to grow sequentially into the future. But since you did comment on the June quarter, I was hoping that maybe you can share with us the magnitude of the sequential increase you might see in June and perhaps may this sequential growth continue beyond the June quarter.

我意識到你已經退出了提供一些關於你可能能夠連續增長到未來多少個季度的估計的業務。但既然你對 6 月季度發表了評論，我希望你可以與我們分享你在 6 月可能看到的連續增長的幅度，也許這種連續增長可能會持續到 6 月季度之後。

Firstly, we're not trying to guide anything beyond the June quarter. And for June, like we did in prior quarters, we're giving you a directional expectation that we have, but not an absolute expectation that we have. And we'll get to that when we get to the May conference call. But for now, we feel confident we can grow in the June quarter on top of the guidance we're providing in the March quarter.

首先，我們不會試圖指導 6 月季度之後的任何事情。對於 6 月，就像我們在前幾個季度所做的那樣，我們給你一個方向性的期望，但不是我們的絕對期望。當我們參加 5 月的電話會議時，我們會談到這一點。但就目前而言，我們有信心在 3 月季度提供的指導基礎上，在 6 月季度實現增長。

Our next question comes from the line of Josh Buchalter with Cowen & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Cowen & Company 的 Josh Buchalter。

This is Josh Buchalter on behalf of Matt Ramsey. I wanted to ask about the capital return program. I think some expected a more binary event where when you hit the leverage target, but you're taking a more gradual approach. You called out the rate environment.

我是 Josh Buchalter，代表 Matt Ramsey。我想問一下資金返還計劃。我認為有些人預計會出現更二元的事件，即當您達到槓桿目標時，您會採取更漸進的方法。您調用了費率環境。

Can you walk us through sort of why the decision to more gradually take it up? And then also, is there, I guess, an intermediate target leverage where you would stop doing debt repayments altogether and just do 100% repurchases and dividends?

你能告訴我們為什麼決定更逐步地接受它嗎？然後，我猜，是否有一個中間目標槓桿，你可以完全停止償還債務，只進行 100% 回購和分紅？

So what Board has decided is that given $6.62 billion still owing on the debt. And some of that debt, I think at least $2 billion of that debt have an interest rate of below 100 bps. And when that comes up for maturity, we will be renewing it. If we were renewing it today, it will be over 5%. So in that kind of current environment and interest rates are still rising, the Board decided to not go to 100% cash return right away today. They decided to do that over 8 quarters.

因此，鑑於仍欠債 66.2 億美元，董事會的決定是。其中一些債務，我認為至少有 20 億美元的債務利率低於 100 個基點。當它成熟時，我們將更新它。如果我們今天更新它，它將超過 5%。因此，在當前這種環境和利率仍在上升的情況下，董事會決定今天不立即實現 100% 的現金回報。他們決定在 8 個季度內完成這項工作。

We doubled the rate at which we are increasing the cash return. We were increasing it like 60% going to 62.5%, going to 65%. And what we have said is now we will go up 500 bps every quarter. So current quarter, 62.5%. Next quarter, 67.5%, then 72.5% and 77.5%. At that rate, I think in 7 quarters or so, we'll be 97.5% and then go to 100%. I think that's a more reasonable approach to pay down some more debt along in the next 8 quarters.

我們將增加現金回報的速度提高了一倍。我們正在增加它，比如 60% 到 62.5%，到 65%。我們所說的是現在我們將每季度上漲 500 個基點。所以本季度，62.5%。下個季度，67.5%，然後是 72.5% 和 77.5%。按照這個速度，我認為在 7 個季度左右，我們將達到 97.5%，然後達到 100%。我認為這是在未來 8 個季度內償還更多債務的更合理方法。

Josh, if I would add to it. I think circumstances have changed from 2021 when interest rates were very low, money was freely available to where we are. And we have to adjust as the circumstances change. And that's what the Board in its deliberation had to think about and decided in terms of how we're going to go forward. We're absolutely committed to what we said. But we're going at a glide slope that is different today given what we know is the circumstances today.

喬希，如果我想補充的話。我認為情況已經從 2021 年開始發生變化，當時利率非常低，我們可以自由使用資金。我們必須隨著情況的變化進行調整。這就是董事會在其審議中必須考慮並決定我們將如何前進的內容。我們絕對致力於我們所說的話。但鑑於我們所知道的今天的情況，我們今天正處於一個不同的滑坡上。

Thanks for the color congrats on the results.

感謝您對結果的顏色祝賀。

Our next question comes from the line of Raji Gill with Needham & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Raji Gill 與 Needham & Company 的合作。

Congrats as well. I wanted to get a view on trailing edge capacity. How do you see investments in trailing edge capacity going forward with future projects on 300 millimeter? There's chatter that other major companies are increasing CapEx significantly. So I just wanted to get a sense of the view of the industry on lagging edge capacity, that's obviously been the issue with supply constraints. And how do you think the industry is adjusting to that dynamic?

也祝賀你。我想了解後緣容量。您如何看待未來 300 毫米項目對後緣容量的投資？有傳言說其他大公司正在大幅增加資本支出。所以我只是想了解一下行業對落後產能的看法，這顯然是供應限制的問題。您認為該行業如何適應這種動態？

From our perspective, we did that analysis. And in the process of doing the analysis, we had to validate which assumptions we were making that were reasonable assumptions, which assumptions perhaps are changing over the next 3 to 5 years of time.

從我們的角度來看，我們進行了分析。在進行分析的過程中，我們必須驗證我們所做的哪些假設是合理的假設，哪些假設可能會在未來 3 到 5 年內發生變化。

And we don't know about industry investments necessarily, but we do know that our partners and us in the communication that we have had, have a high confidence path to being able to satisfy the 300-millimeter trailing edge capacity requirements that our business requires. And with our partners and us, we have concluded that our business is best met with the best overall results in partnership with them.

我們不一定了解行業投資，但我們確實知道我們的合作夥伴和我們在我們所擁有的溝通中，有信心能夠滿足我們業務所需的 300 毫米後緣容量要求.與我們的合作夥伴和我們一起，我們得出的結論是，與他們合作，我們的業務最好地實現最佳的整體結果。

And for my follow-up. With respect to lead times, as the lead times come in, you did mention that you're starting to see some order pushouts. Your goal is to kind of get to 26 weeks by the second half of the calendar year.

對於我的後續行動。關於交貨時間，隨著交貨時間的到來，您確實提到您開始看到一些訂單推出。您的目標是在日曆年下半年達到 26 週。

I'm just wondering if you could elaborate a little bit further on customers and their backlog. As you -- as they start to reduce long lead time orders as more supply comes online, do you anticipate more order volatility? Or how do you manage that?

我只是想知道您是否可以進一步詳細說明客戶及其積壓工作。當你——隨著更多供應上線，他們開始減少長交貨期訂單時，你預計訂單波動會更大嗎？或者你是如何管理的？

Long lead times are never a good thing for either the customer or for us. There's more uncertainty the further out in time you go. So providing shorter lead times and working towards getting it is in the best interest of our customer and what they need to plan for and for us and what we need to plan for.

交貨期長對客戶或我們來說都不是一件好事。你走得越遠，不確定性就越大。因此，提供更短的交貨時間並努力實現它符合我們客戶的最大利益，也符合他們需要為我們計劃的內容以及我們需要計劃的內容。

And we expect that the bookings and backlog will reflect that change in lead time out in time. Now we're not there today. We're expecting to get there in the second half of the year, and it will still take time through much of this year that we have to get through the constraints. It also has an unknown, which is what happens in the back half of this year on the demand side of the equation.

我們希望預訂和積壓將及時反映交貨時間的變化。現在我們今天不在那裡。我們預計會在今年下半年到達那裡，但今年大部分時間我們仍需要時間來克服這些限制。它也有一個未知數，即今年下半年在需求方面發生的情況。

And if you remember, over the last 2 years, the lead times have been driven not because we didn't increase supply, it's because demand increased faster than we could bring out supply every single quarter for about 8 quarters. And so we're working hard to be able to get that supply line improvement to bring lead times into a more manageable situation, to bring backlog into a more manageable time frame. And then the demand side of the equation may or may not affect it further as we go into the second half of the year.

如果你還記得，在過去的 2 年裡，交貨時間的縮短不是因為我們沒有增加供應，而是因為需求的增長速度超過了我們在大約 8 個季度中每個季度都可以提供的速度。因此，我們正在努力改進供應線，使交貨時間更易於管理，積壓的時間框架更易於管理。然後，隨著我們進入今年下半年，等式的需求方面可能會或可能不會進一步影響它。

Our next question comes from the line of Tore Svanberg with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自 Tore Svanberg 與 Stifel 的合作。

I had a question on both internal and channel inventory. So it sounds like near term, you want to build a little bit more internally to kind of manage it externally or manage the channel. I was just hoping you could give us some numbers on where you intend the targets to go. I mean, I know what your targets are for channel inventory, but perhaps for the next couple of quarters, how do you view the internal inventory days going versus those in the channel?

我對內部和渠道庫存都有疑問。所以這聽起來像是短期的，你想在內部建立更多一點，以便在外部管理它或管理渠道。我只是希望你能給我們一些數字，說明你打算把目標放在哪裡。我的意思是，我知道你的渠道庫存目標是什麼，但也許在接下來的幾個季度裡，你如何看待內部庫存天數與渠道內的庫存天數？

So we would expect that our internal inventory is likely to go up from where it is. It will get to a point where it will reverse course. I don't have a precise time for when it will. The channel inventory is really in the hands of the channel for them to decide at what level of inventory do they want to run consistent with their working capital, their customer support requirements and all of that. I don't know, Eric, if you want to add more on that.

因此，我們預計我們的內部庫存可能會從現在的位置上升。它會達到一個點，它會逆轉方向。我沒有確切的時間。渠道庫存實際上掌握在渠道手中，他們可以根據自己的營運資金、客戶支持要求等來決定他們希望運行的庫存水平。埃里克，我不知道你是否想補充更多。

Yes. So we specifically guided in our release today for inventory days ending March to be between 157 and 164 days. Beyond that, we really haven't given any color, but we'll continue to manage our manufacturing operations and our purchases from our suppliers to be in the right spot to support our customers.

是的。因此，我們在今天的發布中特別指導了截至 3 月的庫存天數在 157 到 164 天之間。除此之外，我們真的沒有給出任何顏色，但我們將繼續管理我們的製造業務和我們從供應商處的採購，以便在正確的位置為我們的客戶提供支持。

The way to think about the inventory is this is inventory of product that are very long lifetimes. There is no absolute risk on them. It is positioned well to respond to customers and their requirements. If there is a stronger up cycle in the second half of the year, it gets us on a running start to be able to go do that. So we don't see the inventory levels that we are seeing today and predicting for this quarter as anywhere close to being an issue for us.

考慮庫存的方法是這是壽命很長的產品庫存。他們沒有絕對的風險。它能夠很好地響應客戶及其要求。如果今年下半年出現更強勁的上升週期，那麼我們就有了一個良好的開端，能夠做到這一點。因此，我們認為我們今天看到的和本季度預測的庫存水平對我們來說不是一個問題。

Our next question comes again from the line of Toshiya Hari with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題再次來自高盛的 Toshiya Hari。

Maybe one for Steve. Just on kind of the philosophy or the approach toward the PSP, I personally was under the impression that you were pretty adamant about customers taking product, at least business that was tied to PSP. It sounds like you're being a lot more flexible with that.

也許一個給史蒂夫。就 PSP 的哲學或方法而言，我個人的印像是你非常堅持客戶接受產品，至少是與 PSP 相關的業務。聽起來你在這方面要靈活得多。

I guess what's changed over the past couple of months? I completely agree with you. It's a win-win. If you I guess, go for a soft landing, but curious what's changed internally and around the philosophy there?

我想過去幾個月發生了什麼變化？我完全同意你的看法。這是雙贏的。如果我猜你會選擇軟著陸，但好奇內部和周圍的哲學發生了什麼變化？

Toshi, let me have Ganesh answer that.

Toshi，讓我讓 Ganesh 回答這個問題。

So the philosophy of PSP backlog being high-quality backlog, something we would like to get and have on our books, hasn't really changed. The noncancelability of PSP backlog hasn't really changed. What we have always said is that the noncancelable part of it is not where we are willing to negotiate. It's on the nonreschedulability or the ability to push it out that we are.

因此，PSP backlog 的哲學是高質量的 backlog，我們希望得到並記錄在冊的東西，並沒有真正改變。 PSP 積壓的不可取消性並沒有真正改變。我們一直說的是，不可取消的部分不是我們願意談判的地方。這是關於不可重新安排或將其推出的能力。

And we are working to make sure that where we see customers who have inventory and other customers who don't have product being able to take and redeploy from one to the other, and that's a common sense way of helping 2 customers with 1 action that we would go do.

我們正在努力確保我們看到有庫存的客戶和其他沒有產品的客戶能夠從一個客戶那裡重新部署到另一個客戶，這是幫助 2 個客戶採取 1 個行動的常識性方式我們會去做。

On the other hand, where we see potential customers who need some help in terms of pushing inventory out, quarter boundaries as the case might be, we'll work with them. These are long-term customer relationships that we want to have. But what we've always wanted was responsibility from a customer placing PSP backlog on us to be able to honor the noncancelability because we make commitments based on that responsibility to our supply chain. And I think you got to have some reliability in the people in that chain who make and meet commitments on the noncancelability.

另一方面，如果我們看到潛在客戶在推出庫存方面需要一些幫助，視情況而定，我們將與他們合作。這些是我們希望擁有的長期客戶關係。但我們一直想要的是客戶將 PSP 積壓的責任放在我們身上，以便能夠兌現不可取消性，因為我們根據對供應鏈的責任做出承諾。而且我認為您必須對該鏈中做出並履行不可取消性承諾的人員有一定的可靠性。

Our next question comes from the line of William Stein with Truist Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 William Stein。

You noted that OpEx is tracking below your long-term target right now. And I'm hoping you can help us understand where -- or maybe give us some expectations as to where that should trend through the year and then longer term, should we expect this percentage to increase?

您注意到 OpEx 目前低於您的長期目標。我希望你能幫助我們了解在哪裡——或者可能給我們一些關於全年和長期趨勢的預期，我們應該期望這個百分比增加嗎？

Yes. So we would expect that over time, that percentage will increase to be within our long-term model range, which we shared with the Street last November or November 2021 at our Analyst Day. And so we're well below that today. We've had a couple of fantastic growth years, and it's been difficult to keep up with the spend and particularly hiring people, and we're seeing some of that free up to date.

是的。因此，我們預計隨著時間的推移，該百分比將增加到我們的長期模型範圍內，我們在去年 11 月或 2021 年 11 月的分析師日與華爾街分享了這一範圍。所以我們今天遠低於這個水平。我們經歷了幾年的驚人增長，很難跟上支出，尤其是招聘人員，我們看到其中一些是最新的。

So we are still continuing to hire and add people to our teams to make sure we are supporting the long-term growth of the business with having the people and processes and systems in place to drive that. So yes, you should expect over time that it will gradually inch its way up, but it's not something that happens overnight. You've been seeing that we've been investing significantly in increased operating expense dollars over many quarters now and just haven't been able to keep up with the rate of revenue growth.

因此，我們仍在繼續招聘和增加人員到我們的團隊，以確保我們通過擁有適當的人員、流程和系統來推動業務的長期增長。所以是的，你應該期待隨著時間的推移它會逐漸上升，但這不是一夜之間發生的事情。您已經看到，我們現在已經在多個季度中大量投資於增加的運營費用美元，但無法跟上收入增長率。

And actually, in the current quarter. The midpoint of our guidance is actually just slightly higher in percentage terms than what we achieved last quarter. I think it's 20.7% this quarter versus the 20.65%. Again, it's a net, but we are continuing to invest and making progress on the higher end front.

實際上，在本季度。我們指導的中點實際上僅略高於我們上個季度取得的百分比。我認為本季度為 20.7%，而 20.65%。同樣，它是一個網絡，但我們將繼續在更高端方面進行投資並取得進展。

Well, the way I think about it philosophically also is that the OpEx investments we make are also the critical investments that drive future gross margin improvements, future innovation which we're delivering to our customers. And the whole growth and profitability of the company is dependent on making good operating expense investments. And so that's why it's important to keep the investments consistent with where growth is, but for long-term growth and profitability.

好吧，我從哲學上思考它的方式也是我們進行的 OpEx 投資也是推動未來毛利率提高的關鍵投資，也是我們為客戶提供的未來創新。公司的整體增長和盈利能力取決於良好的運營費用投資。這就是為什麼保持投資與增長保持一致的重要性，但對於長期增長和盈利能力而言。

Our next question comes from the line of Ambrish Srivastava with BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO Capital Markets 的 Ambrish Srivastava。

I'll speak for myself, Ganesh and Steve. You guys have proven me wrong. I thought, how can it be? We have never seen this kind of "soft landing." So 2 quarters in a row you have shown and you've given guidance beyond the quarter. So kudos to you for that.

我會代表我自己、Ganesh 和史蒂夫發言。你們已經證明我錯了。我想，怎麼可能呢？我們從未見過這種“軟著陸”。所以你已經連續兩個季度展示了你在這個季度之後給出的指導。為此，我向你表示敬意。

I just wanted to drill in a little bit into a point you made, Ganesh. You said that the lead times coming down to 26 weeks and you made some comments on the PSP as well. Sort of make sure I understood. So what are your assumptions for the second half demand that is kind of baked into your comments that you can get lead times down to 26 weeks in the back half?

Ganesh，我只是想深入了解你提出的觀點。你說交貨時間縮短到 26 週，你也對 PSP 發表了一些評論。有點確保我理解。那麼，您對下半年需求的假設是什麼，這些假設已經融入您的評論中，您可以在後半年將交貨時間縮短至 26 週？

We're not getting into specific guidance on second half growth and where it's going to be. I think we're judging based on what are we doing to be able to continue to improve the supply lines, both our own as well as what we're doing with our partners. We're judging where we expect demand to be out in time, but we don't have any certainty around it. And those are -- it's a multivariable equation that if you project out under certain circumstances, certain assumptions that you make that we can, in the second half of the year, begin to get closer to that 26-week lead time.

我們沒有就下半年的增長及其發展方向提供具體指導。我認為我們正在根據我們正在做的事情來判斷，以便能夠繼續改善供應線，包括我們自己的以及我們與合作夥伴正在做的事情。我們正在判斷我們預計需求會及時出現在哪裡，但我們對此沒有任何確定性。這些是 - 這是一個多變量方程式，如果你在某些情況下進行預測，你做出的某些假設我們可以在今年下半年開始接近 26 週的提前期。

We could be wrong. The demand could come back roaring in the second half that we're not thinking about as it did in '21 -- 2020 and 2021. But under a reasonable set of expectations that we are internally modeling but we're not externally communicating, we think that's what we can get to. And we think that's where we need to get to, to kind of run this business on a consistent basis and have it as a strong way in which our customers and us together can plan for business.

我們可能錯了。下半年需求可能會猛增，我們沒有像在 21 年、2020 年和 2021 年那樣考慮。但在合理的預期下，我們正在內部建模，但我們沒有進行外部溝通，我們認為這就是我們可以做到的。我們認為這就是我們需要達到的目標，即在一致的基礎上經營這項業務，並將其作為我們的客戶和我們共同規劃業務的一種強有力的方式。

Let me add to that a bit. As you have seen, many of our competitors and others in the semiconductor industry, actually go down sequentially for the last couple of quarters, and most of them are guiding down for the March quarter. We have been growing every quarter. And Ganesh mentioned that earlier, has to do with our end market mix, focus on mega trends, focus on total system solutions, and we've been gaining share.

讓我補充一點。正如您所看到的，我們的許多競爭對手和半導體行業的其他公司實際上在過去幾個季度中連續下滑，其中大多數都在三月份的季度出現下滑。我們每個季度都在增長。 Ganesh 早些時候提到，與我們的終端市場組合有關，專注於大趨勢，專注於整體系統解決方案，我們一直在獲得份額。

So not having gone down all this time, and still guiding growth in March as well as June quarter. When you get to the second half, it's quite possible that others are saying second half demand will pick up again, that we get the wind on the back in the second half while never had gone down in the last 2 quarters and the forward-looking couple of quarters. So that's the thesis of soft landing where we just didn't go down so far, and we pick up wind again in the second half. So looking at the that way, how we are differentiating ourselves.

因此，一直沒有下降，並且仍在引導 3 月和 6 月季度的增長。當你進入下半場時，其他人很可能會說下半場需求將再次回升，我們在下半場得到了支持，而在過去的兩個季度中從未下降過，而且前瞻性幾個季度。所以這就是軟著陸的論點，我們只是沒有走得太遠，我們在下半場再次起風。所以從那個角度來看，我們是如何讓自己與眾不同的。

And by the way, you can go back in 2020 and look at the fourth quarter performance in 2020 and you will see that we had barely a ripple in the first half and strong growth in the second half.

順便說一句，你可以回到 2020 年，看看 2020 年第四季度的表現，你會發現我們上半年幾乎沒有波瀾，下半年增長強勁。

Our next question comes from the line of Harlan Sur with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自 Harlan Sur 與摩根大通的對話。

On the commentary on higher inventory levels driven by some of the supply and demand dislocations in China due to the easing of the zero-COVID policy, it looks like you guys are proactively helping customers here by pushing out shipments, maybe decreasing your sell-in into the channels in that region.

關於因零疫情政策放寬導致中國部分供需錯位導致庫存水平上升的評論，看來你們是在積極幫助這裡的客戶，推出發貨，可能會降低你們的銷售量進入該地區的渠道。

Does this imply that within your March quarter guidance, that China region revenues will be down sequentially? And just given that China is through the first waves of COVID here this quarter, are you starting to see some signs of demand improvement?

這是否意味著在您的 3 月季度指導中，中國地區的收入將連續下降？鑑於中國本季度在這裡經歷了第一波 COVID，您是否開始看到一些需求改善的跡象？

So while we don't break out guidance by end market, in the March quarter, China -- Greater China has always had a decline. There are 7 to 10 days of holidays for Chinese New Year. And we don't expect this year is any different. What we are cautiously optimistic is that with the worst of COVID behind in the December and January time frame, that post Chinese New Year, which is right about now, China will come back and have a more constructive approach to where their economy and therefore, our business will go as well.

因此，雖然我們沒有按終端市場劃分指引，但在 3 月季度，中國——大中華區一直在下滑。農曆新年有7到10天的假期。我們預計今年不會有任何不同。我們謹慎樂觀的是，隨著 COVID 最糟糕的時期在 12 月和 1 月的時間框架內，即農曆新年之後，也就是現在，中國將回來並對他們的經濟發展採取更具建設性的態度，因此，我們的生意也會繼續。

I can't give you that as an absolute it's going to go happen. And so we are modeling for a normal China quarter this quarter and something more could happen depending on how business comes back post-Chinese New Year.

我不能給你絕對會發生的事情。因此，我們正在為本季度正常的中國季度建模，並且可能會發生更多情況，具體取決於農曆新年過後業務的恢復情況。

In vast number of cases, majority of the cases when we help the customer in China or distributor to not get the product because they had inventory, we had so much other demand for that product in U.S. or Europe, and other customers because we're still carrying huge amount of unsupported backlog. So in most cases, where we accommodated a customer, we ship that product to somebody else.

在大多數情況下，大多數情況下，當我們幫助中國客戶或分銷商因為他們有庫存而無法獲得產品時，我們在美國或歐洲以及其他客戶對該產品有很多其他需求，因為我們仍然背負著大量不受支持的積壓。所以在大多數情況下，當我們接待客戶時，我們會將產品運送給其他人。

Our next question comes from the line of Christopher Rolland with Susquehanna.

我們的下一個問題來自 Christopher Rolland 和 Susquehanna 的台詞。

This is Matt Myers on for Chris. I just wanted to circle back on your PSP for a second. I was curious because you guys have said in the past that your PSP is well over 50% of your backlog. I was just curious where that is now, and what the differences are between PSP versus non-PSP backlog.

這是克里斯的馬特邁爾斯。我只是想在你的 PSP 上轉一圈。我很好奇，因為你們過去曾說過你們的 PSP 遠遠超過你們積壓的 50%。我只是好奇現在在哪裡，以及 PSP 與非 PSP 積壓之間的區別。

It remains well over 50% to this day.

直到今天，它仍然超過 50%。

Got it. That's helpful. And then do you have any updates on utilizations and how they've changed in the quarter and kind of what your expectations are going ahead?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後，您是否有任何關於利用率的最新信息，以及它們在本季度的變化情況，以及您對未來的期望是什麼？

So really, really no change. The manufacturing facilities are running hard. So we've been bringing in a lot of equipment and bringing that online. So no real change to report there.

所以真的，真的沒有改變。生產設施正在努力運轉。因此，我們一直在引進大量設備並將其上線。所以在那里報告沒有真正的變化。

I mean utilization is essentially 100%, right? every wafer we can move and every unit we can move to the factory, we're moving it.

我的意思是利用率基本上是 100%，對嗎？我們可以移動的每個晶圓和我們可以移動到工廠的每個單元，我們正在移動它。

Our next question comes from the line of Vijay Rakesh with Mizuho Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞穗證券的 Vijay Rakesh。

Just a quick question on inventory levels. I was wondering if you could give some color on what [events] look like at the customer side, if you were to look at the different segments, industrial or orders?

只是一個關於庫存水平的快速問題。我想知道如果您要查看不同的細分市場、工業或訂單，您是否可以為客戶方面的 [事件] 提供一些顏色？

So we don't really have that information to share. We just have anecdotal information from individual customer conversations, Vijay. So we don't get any sort of reporting on inventory being held by any of the end customers. We get that through distribution, and we shared that in my prepared remarks, the distribution inventory was up 3 days in the quarter. Outside of that, I don't have anything else to say. I don't know if Ganesh or Steve would add anything.

所以我們真的沒有這些信息可以分享。 Vijay，我們只是從個別客戶談話中獲得軼事信息。所以我們沒有得到任何關於任何最終客戶持有的庫存的報告。我們通過分銷獲得這一點，我們在我準備好的發言中分享了這一點，該季度分銷庫存增加了 3 天。除此之外，我無話可說。我不知道 Ganesh 或 Steve 是否會添加任何內容。

The only thing I would say is that we don't have a customer that is so large that their business or their inventory would change our business materially. You can take any of the customers and if they are public companies, you can do an analysis of what inventory they carry. And we do that, but we don't know what the inventory is.

我唯一要說的是，我們沒有一個大到他們的業務或他們的庫存會對我們的業務產生重大影響的客戶。您可以選擇任何客戶，如果他們是上市公司，您可以分析他們持有的庫存。我們這樣做了，但我們不知道庫存是多少。

And in many cases where we are shipping product that is from constrained corridors from legacy technologies that don't have as much excess capacity, we don't believe our inventories are what they're carrying. But honestly, we don't know and they don't report the same way as our distribution channel partners report to us.

在許多情況下，我們從沒有那麼多過剩產能的傳統技術的受限走廊運輸產品，我們不相信我們的庫存是他們所攜帶的。但老實說，我們不知道，而且他們的報告方式與我們的分銷渠道合作夥伴向我們報告的方式不同。

Got it. And then on the lead times, obviously, a good thing that they are coming in. But is that a function of broad industry supply improving? Or is it more a reflection of demand? Or how would you parse it? I guess, especially if we look at the different markets, right, every market will be different?

知道了。然後在交貨時間上，顯然，他們的到來是一件好事。但這是否是廣泛行業供應改善的結果？還是更多是需求的反映？或者你會如何解析它？我想，特別是如果我們看不同的市場，對吧，每個市場都會不同？

Well, you need both sides of that equation, right? So our supply lines are improving. The fact that parts of the industry have slowed down, has opened up capacity incrementally to us. Our lead times are still long. And it's really -- there's a tremendous amount of work we have to do over the next 6, 9, 12 months to one by one by one, get it back into a range.

好吧，你需要等式的兩邊，對吧？所以我們的供應線正在改善。事實上，部分行業已經放緩，逐漸向我們開放了產能。我們的交貨時間仍然很長。這真的是——在接下來的 6、9、12 個月裡，我們必須做大量的工作，一個接一個，讓它回到一個範圍內。

And we're still expecting that the 26 weeks is kind of an average lead time. We're going to have some that are longer, some that are shorter than where we go. But directionally, it's where we want to go. It's what makes it constructive for our customers to plan better and for us to serve them better.

我們仍然預計 26 周是平均交貨時間。我們將有一些比我們去的地方更長，一些更短。但在方向上，這是我們想要去的地方。這就是讓我們的客戶更好地規劃和讓我們更好地為他們服務的建設性原因。

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Danely with Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Chris Danely。

I guess one clarification and a question. You seem to indicate that there was some weakness in China, but I think Ganesh or Steve, you just mentioned that you're planning for a normal quarter in China in Q1. So any delineation there? And then for the question, you mentioned that some "other customers" have too much inventory. Is there any rhyme or reason there? Any commonality between end markets or geographies? Or is it just sort of spread out all over the place?

我想一個澄清和一個問題。你似乎表明中國存在一些弱點，但我認為 Ganesh 或史蒂夫，你剛剛提到你計劃在第一季度在中國有一個正常的季度。那麼那裡有任何劃定嗎？然後對於這個問題，你提到一些“其他客戶”的庫存過多。那裡有什麼押韻或理由嗎？終端市場或地域之間有什麼共性嗎？或者它只是散佈在整個地方？

Let me take them one by one. So what I said was that China had weakness in the December quarter, and they were from 2 different COVID events. First, the lockdowns then the reopening and the spread of COVID that took place. And that caused havoc at many, many of our customers and where it was at. We're expecting that those are behind us in this quarter, and that's what the information we have and the early signs we have are.

讓我一一帶走。所以我說的是中國在 12 月季度表現疲軟，它們來自 2 個不同的 COVID 事件。首先是封鎖，然後是重新開放和 COVID 的傳播。這對我們的許多客戶及其所在地造成了嚴重破壞。我們預計這些在本季度已經落後於我們，這就是我們所擁有的信息和我們所擁有的早期跡象。

And so a good chunk of this quarter is still ahead of us. We've just gone through January, almost 10 days of that were used for the Chinese New Year. And so we have all of February and all of March. And so in that context, we think China will be normal in this quarter. There's no incremental weakness compared to last quarter. And in fact, the COVID issues are largely behind where they were last quarter.

因此，本季度的很大一部分仍然領先於我們。我們剛剛過了一月，其中將近 10 天用於農曆新年。所以我們有整個二月和整個三月。因此，在這種情況下，我們認為本季度中國將正常。與上一季度相比，沒有增量弱點。事實上，COVID 問題很大程度上落後於上個季度。

In terms of customers who have inventory position, this is not something new. We've mentioned it in prior quarters as well is that if someone self-identifies as having product that they would like to get later, we will take that information and find other customers to the extent we can who can use that product and are short today so that we match where there is a supply-demand imbalance, but it's in the customer's location to be able to do it.

對於有庫存的客戶來說，這並不是什麼新鮮事。我們在前幾個季度也提到過，如果有人自我認定擁有他們希望稍後獲得的產品，我們將獲取該信息並儘可能找到其他客戶，他們可以使用該產品並且短缺今天，我們在供需不平衡的地方進行匹配，但它是在客戶所在的位置才能做到的。

And there's no particular end market where that is giving us grievance, et cetera. Clearly, the whole appliance market is one relative to some of the others where there is more weakness than that. But there's always going to be customers who can be in any end market who ask for relief to be able to help other customers. And we will, to the extent we can.

並且沒有特定的終端市場讓我們感到不滿，等等。很明顯，整個家電市場相對於其他一些市場來說是一個弱點。但是，在任何終端市場中，總會有一些客戶要求減輕負擔，以便能夠幫助其他客戶。我們會盡我們所能。

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Caso with Credit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的 Chris Caso。

I have a question about the manufacturing plan, given your decision not to go forward with the 300-millimeter investment. I guess for one, just what's driving that decision? And does that remove any possibility of internal capacity expansion going forward? And then following that, what do you think that means for Microchip competitively? Are you confident in your ability to get third-party wafers at competitive prices to support your growth going forward?

鑑於您決定不繼續進行 300 毫米的投資，我對製造計劃有疑問。我想，一方面，是什麼推動了這個決定？這是否消除了未來內部產能擴張的任何可能性？然後，您認為這對 Microchip 的競爭力意味著什麼？您是否有信心以有競爭力的價格獲得第三方晶圓以支持您的未來發展？

Yes. So let me parse your question. So number one, we are continuing to expand the existing facilities we have. Those are the 3 fabs in the U.S., our assembly and test facilities in the Far East, et cetera. So there is no backing off from capacity where we believe we can bring on cost-effective capacity that will go forward.

是的。所以讓我解析你的問題。所以第一，我們正在繼續擴大我們現有的設施。這些是美國的 3 家晶圓廠，我們在遠東的組裝和測試設施，等等。因此，我們相信我們可以帶來具有成本效益的產能，這將繼續向前發展。

Now 300-millimeter was a fairly large step for us, right? We don't have that infrastructure. We had a lot of thinking to do on how would we load a fab because you can build a fab and you can get the help to get the government funding, whatever else, to do that. But still, at the end of the day, there are several things that are important to have. And the most important one is do you have enough wafers to load it and have the cost per wafer and the absorption cost effective or not. That was going to be a challenge we knew at all times.

現在 300 毫米對我們來說是相當大的一步，對吧？我們沒有那種基礎設施。我們對如何加載晶圓廠進行了很多思考，因為您可以建造晶圓廠，並且可以獲得政府資金的幫助，無論其他什麼，都可以做到這一點。但是，歸根結底，有幾樣東西是重要的。最重要的是你是否有足夠的晶圓來加載它，每個晶圓的成本和吸收成本是否有效。這將是一個我們一直都知道的挑戰。

And second, we need to be able to license the technologies because unlike in 200-millimeter where we own the vast majority of our technologies, in 300 millimeters, we would need to license that technology from our partners.

其次，我們需要能夠許可這些技術，因為與我們擁有絕大多數技術的 200 毫米不同，在 300 毫米中，我們需要從我們的合作夥伴那裡獲得該技術的許可。

That all said, as we looked at on balance, how could we achieve our business objectives. In the conversations we were able to have at the highest levels of our partners, we came away with plans and commitments for what was needed to support our business that we felt very confident that being able to work in the model we have today with our partners was completely supportive of our business and substantially derisk the execution of a greenfield 300-millimeter fab.

綜上所述，正如我們所看到的那樣，我們如何才能實現我們的業務目標。在我們能夠與合作夥伴的最高級別進行的對話中，我們提出了支持我們業務所需的計劃和承諾，我們非常有信心能夠以我們今天與合作夥伴的模式開展工作完全支持我們的業務，並大大降低了新建 300 毫米晶圓廠的執行風險。

As a follow-up, there's obviously been a lot of discussion about the PSP program. And I wanted to ask on it, in the context of as you achieve your goals of getting lead times down, what do you expect your customers' reaction to be? Obviously, the PSP program and bookings so far ahead was something we hadn't typically seen in the industry for Microchip generally. Do you expect that customers would naturally wean themselves off of PSP or at least put a smaller part of the backlog in PSP if the lead times come down? And clearly, it sounds like that's not happening right now.

作為後續行動，顯然有很多關於 PSP 程序的討論。我想問一下，在您實現縮短交貨時間的目標的背景下，您期望客戶的反應是什麼？顯然，到目前為止，PSP 計劃和預訂是我們在 Microchip 行業中通常沒有看到的。如果交貨時間縮短，您是否認為客戶會自然而然地擺脫 PSP，或者至少將一小部分積壓工作放在 PSP 中？很明顯，這聽起來現在還沒有發生。

It's -- the jury is still out. But let me tell you right in the middle of all of this, we continue to have customers approaching us for long-term supply agreements, long-term supply agreements that are predominantly in a 5-year window of time. So many, many of our customers build substantially valuable end equipment. I mean if you think of aerospace defense, commercial aviation, medical, automotive, many of the large industrial equipment, et cetera, they are trying to have assurance of supply as the most critical element of what they are planning for.

這是 - 陪審團還在外面。但是讓我告訴你，在所有這一切的中間，我們繼續有客戶與我們聯繫以獲得長期供應協議，主要是在 5 年時間窗口內的長期供應協議。我們的許多客戶建造了非常有價值的終端設備。我的意思是，如果你想到航空航天防禦、商業航空、醫療、汽車、許多大型工業設備等等，他們正試圖將供應保證作為他們計劃中最關鍵的要素。

Now how they want to do it with us, whether it is standard backlog, PSP backlog, long-term supply agreements is really a business decision that they need to make on the risk rewards or where they want to go. But I can tell you that for the customers that we're dealing with for many, many, many of them, the value of the supply assurance is extremely high on their agenda and is the reason why they are continuing to be a participant in the PSP program and signing up to be an increasing number of long-term supply agreements that they're signing up for.

現在他們想如何與我們合作，無論是標準積壓、PSP 積壓、長期供應協議，這實際上是他們需要根據風險回報或他們想去的地方做出的商業決策。但我可以告訴你，對於我們正在為他們中的許多人打交道的客戶來說，供應保證的價值在他們的議程中非常重要，這也是他們繼續參與其中的原因PSP 計劃並簽署了越來越多的長期供應協議。

We said in our prepared remarks that we collected $385 million just last quarter from customers who signed up for a long-term supply agreement. So our customers do not see the environment that has lots of excess capacity and people are shutting down factories and laying off people. The capacity on the nodes that we use is still largely constrained and customers are still concerned about getting long-term capacity, and they're giving us money and signing up long-term supply agreements for us to put that capacity in place ourselves or to sign up with our foundry partners.

我們在準備好的評論中說，我們僅在上個季度就從簽署長期供應協議的客戶那裡收取了 3.85 億美元。所以我們的客戶看不到產能過剩的環境，人們正在關閉工廠和裁員。我們使用的節點上的容量在很大程度上仍然受到限制，客戶仍然擔心獲得長期容量，他們給我們錢並簽署長期供應協議，讓我們自己將容量到位或與我們的鑄造合作夥伴簽約。

Yes, Chris, a lot of conversations are taking place at the CEO, CPO levels for these. And I think customers are much more thoughtful about a long-term view. They're not looking at a 1- or 2-quarter. The cycle may be slower than what we thought. They're as much worried about what happens in 2024 and what happens in 2025 and how do they build a supply chain that is reliable, resilient and enables their growth on these very, very high valued and equipment.

是的，克里斯，在 CEO 和 CPO 級別進行了很多對話。而且我認為客戶更注重長遠眼光。他們不是在看 1 或 2 個季度。週期可能比我們想像的要慢。他們同樣擔心 2024 年和 2025 年會發生什麼，以及他們如何建立一個可靠、有彈性的供應鏈，並使他們能夠在這些非常、非常高價值的設備上實現增長。

Our next question comes from the line of Joe Moore with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Joe Moore。

I wonder how you see the progression of bookings here. You've got this elevated backlog. You have lead times coming in. It seems like the book-to-bill should go pretty far below 1, but then we probably -- it's just math at that point, it's not really that there's an air pocket at the end. But I guess, historically, a lot of times, there's been air pockets at the end.

我想知道您如何看待這裡的預訂進度。你有這個升高的積壓。你有交貨時間。看起來訂單到賬單應該遠低於 1，但我們可能 - 在這一點上只是數學，最後並不是真的有氣穴。但我想，從歷史上看，很多時候末端都有氣穴。

So as -- I know you guys have seen a lot of these types of environments. Just how are you thinking about it? And how will you know if that lead time reduction means you need to take more action to kind of -- the actions you've already discussed to protect your earnings power?

所以——我知道你們已經看到了很多這種類型的環境。你是怎麼想的？你怎麼知道交貨時間的縮短是否意味著你需要採取更多的行動——你已經討論過的行動來保護你的盈利能力？

Joe, book-to-bill in our business has never been a meaningful indicator. We're making proprietary products, but the customer doesn't buy from anybody else. It has always been an indicator of what is the customer sentiment about where the business is going and what kind of lead times are they going to have to prepare for. So clearly, in an environment in which lead times will start to come in, customers will pull back on some of the bookings. And I actually -- I said that in my prepared remarks as well.

喬，在我們的業務中，訂單到賬單從來都不是一個有意義的指標。我們正在生產專有產品，但客戶不會從其他任何人那裡購買。它一直是客戶對業務發展方向的看法以及他們必須準備什麼樣的交貨時間的指標。很明顯，在交貨時間開始到來的環境中，客戶將取消部分預訂。事實上，我也在準備好的發言中說過。

It doesn't mean that their needs have changed. It doesn't mean that they're usage patterns are going to change, right? It's just how they want to work with us. Now customers also have been burned pretty badly over the last couple of years on trying to kind of optimize the last 5% of where they're going to hold inventory, et cetera. And so they do have an approach that is not tactical. They're trying to be more strategic in how they think about things. And where the bookings are low, our bookings are high, we know that they're going to come.

這並不意味著他們的需求已經改變。這並不意味著他們的使用模式會改變，對吧？這正是他們希望與我們合作的方式。現在，在過去的幾年裡，客戶也因為試圖優化他們將持有庫存的最後 5% 的位置等而被嚴重燒毀。所以他們確實有一種非戰術性的方法。他們試圖在思考問題時更具戰略性。在預訂量低的地方，我們的預訂量高，我們知道他們會來。

And if I go back 4 quarters ago, bookings were out of this world. And we were seeing levels of bookings that were incredible. But that didn't mean we expected business was going to double next quarter or the quarter after that. They were being placed out in time. And so we feel good about where our backlog still is. We still have multiple quarters of backlog. We're still getting bookings that are coming in at a lower rate, but we think they're high-quality bookings because we're not expecting that they have to place backlog beyond a point where they're comfortable with. So I think it's a good environment at this point and bookings are low, but that's okay.

如果我回到 4 個季度前，預訂量會超出這個世界。我們看到了令人難以置信的預訂水平。但這並不意味著我們預計下個季度或之後的一個季度業務將翻一番。他們被及時安置了。因此，我們對我們的積壓工作仍在何處感到滿意。我們仍然有多個季度的積壓。我們仍在以較低的速度收到預訂，但我們認為它們是高質量的預訂，因為我們不希望他們不得不將積壓的訂單超出他們可以接受的程度。所以我認為目前這是一個很好的環境，預訂量很低，但沒關係。

Our next question comes from the line of Vivek Arya with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Vivek Arya。

Actually, just a comment and a question. Comment, if I just annualize your March quarter guidance, it suggests annual sales growth somewhere in the 10% to 11% for this year, and I just wanted to make sure that, that is kind of the message you are giving.

實際上，只是一個評論和一個問題。評論，如果我只是將你的 3 月季度指導年度化，它表明今年的年銷售額增長在 10% 到 11% 之間，我只是想確保，這就是你要傳達的信息。

My question is on gross margin. Usually, when you grow sales, you have been able to grow gross margin. But I know I'm nitpicking, but I think for March, you are guiding gross margins to go down somewhat and you're also kind of at the higher end of your gross margin outlook. So what's happening to gross margins? Why are they going down? And is 68.5% kind of that final destination or is there more leverage in the model?

我的問題是關於毛利率。通常，當你增加銷售額時，你就能夠增加毛利率。但我知道我在吹毛求疵，但我認為 3 月份，你正在引導毛利率有所下降，而且你也處於毛利率前景的較高端。那麼毛利率發生了什麼變化？他們為什麼會下降？ 68.5% 是最終目的地還是模型中有更多影響力？

Okay. So I'll take both the questions and Ganesh or Steve can add on to it. So you're asking a guidance for the next year, does 10% or 11% make sense. We've made no comment beyond what we're going to grow in the March quarter other than we will grow again in the June quarter. So I can't really provide any color on what you're saying there.

好的。所以我會回答這兩個問題，Ganesh 或史蒂夫可以補充。所以你問的是明年的指導，10% 或 11% 是否有意義。除了我們將在 6 月季度再次增長之外，我們沒有對 3 月季度的增長發表任何評論。所以我真的不能為你在那裡說的話提供任何顏色。

On gross margin, we are actually guiding gross margins to be up modestly in the quarter. Last quarter, we were at 68.1% non-GAAP gross margin. And if you look at the guidance table in our release, the midpoint of guidance is 68.2%. There's a GAAP and a non-GAAP column in there, and maybe you're just looking at the wrong one, but non-GAAP and GAAP margins should both be up in the quarter.

關於毛利率，我們實際上指導毛利率在本季度適度上升。上個季度，我們的非 GAAP 毛利率為 68.1%。如果您查看我們發布的指導表，指導的中點是 68.2%。那裡有一個 GAAP 和一個非 GAAP 列，也許你只是看錯了，但非 GAAP 和 GAAP 利潤率在本季度都應該有所上升。

And any leverage beyond the 68.5%, Eric?

還有任何超過 68.5% 的槓桿，埃里克？

So we aren't at 68.5% yet. We're guiding to 68.2%. Our long-term model is a range of 67.5% to 68.5%. And we've done extremely well. We got to where we are very quickly. We just announced those targets at our Analyst Day in November of 2021. And we are always looking to continuously improve. So I would say that over time, as the top line grows, we think we will be efficient. We will be introducing highly value-added products that can drive higher gross margins, but we have not changed that target at this point.

所以我們還沒有達到 68.5%。我們指導為 68.2%。我們的長期模型是 67.5% 到 68.5% 的範圍。我們做得非常好。我們很快就到了我們所在的地方。我們剛剛在 2021 年 11 月的分析師日宣布了這些目標。我們一直在尋求不斷改進。所以我想說，隨著時間的推移，隨著收入的增長，我們認為我們會變得高效。我們將推出可以推動更高毛利率的高附加值產品，但我們目前尚未改變該目標。

And Vivek, we're always balancing growth and gross margin, right? We want both. And so we got to be careful that we don't take one up so high that it affects the other. So we will improve but we also want growth to continue at the rate that we want.

而 Vivek，我們一直在平衡增長和毛利率，對嗎？我們都想要。所以我們必須小心，不要把其中一個抬得太高以至於影響到另一個。所以我們會改進，但我們也希望增長繼續以我們想要的速度進行。

Next question comes again from the line of Harlan Sur with JPMorgan.

下一個問題再次來自摩根大通的 Harlan Sur。

So with fiscal '23 almost behind us, wondering if you have an update for us on your total system solution strategy. I went to 2 of your major distributors' websites and I think they listed over 4,000 reference designs for Microchip, and that's up substantially from a few years ago. How effective are these reference designs in helping to drive TSS? And do you have any metrics you can share with us on increasing dollar content for customer engagement?

因此，隨著 23 財年即將過去，想知道您是否有關於您的整體系統解決方案戰略的最新消息。我訪問了你們兩個主要分銷商的網站，我認為他們列出了 4,000 多種 Microchip 參考設計，與幾年前相比大幅增加。這些參考設計在幫助推動 TSS 方面的效果如何？您是否有任何指標可以與我們分享關於增加客戶參與度的美元內容？

So clearly, the reference designs, both ourselves, our partners and how we go are a key element of how we go and provide total system solutions. But really, we've taken it from just reference designs and products at the design stage to how are we conceiving our solutions, how our businesses working together to create products in parallel that together create the hardware, software and services that are needed for customers to be able to adopt a large portion of their design with our products.

很明顯，參考設計，包括我們自己、我們的合作夥伴以及我們的發展方式，都是我們如何提供整體系統解決方案的關鍵要素。但實際上，我們已經從設計階段的參考設計和產品轉變為我們如何構思我們的解決方案，我們的業務如何協同工作以並行創建產品，從而共同創建客戶所需的硬件、軟件和服務能夠在我們的產品中採用他們的大部分設計。

And so it's a complex set of processes that we are working on. You're seeing some of the benefits in terms of the differential results that you've seen with us. There is not an easy equation I can plug into that tells you, okay, this is the rate at which it's going. But you can see in the total results for the company, and it does come from years of honing in all aspects of the total system solutions from development to go-to-market to sales to how do we ensure that those designs stay and stay sticky with the Microchip solutions.

因此，這是我們正在處理的一組複雜流程。您在與我們一起看到的不同結果方面看到了一些好處。沒有一個簡單的方程式可以告訴你，好吧，這就是它的速度。但是你可以從公司的總體結果中看到，它確實來自於從開發到上市再到銷售到我們如何確保這些設計保持並保持粘性的整個系統解決方案各個方面的多年磨練與 Microchip 解決方案。

Our next question comes again from the line of Ambrish Srivastava with BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題再次來自 BMO Capital Markets 的 Ambrish Srivastava。

I had a question on 300 millimeters, Steve. I thought when you started to talk about it, you made a very compelling argument of why there hasn't been enough capacity, and then ROIC is a very compelling argument of why not doing it.

我有一個關於 300 毫米的問題，史蒂夫。我想當你開始談論它時，你就為什麼沒有足夠的能力提出了一個非常有說服力的論點，然後 ROIC 是一個非常有說服力的論點為什麼不這樣做。

I just wanted to make sure I understand the comment you made, Ganesh, that with your partners, you feel comfortable that they would be investing and we won't be back to that again in a -- I don't know how many quarters from now that we're again sitting here and saying, hey, look, there isn't enough capacity. So we feel comfortable enough to not go forward because of the commitment from your partners. Is that the right takeaway?

Ganesh，我只是想確保我理解你的評論，即與你的合作夥伴一起，你對他們的投資感到很舒服，我們不會再回到那個 - 我不知道有多少個季度從現在開始，我們再次坐在這裡說，嘿，看，沒有足夠的容量。因此，由於您的合作夥伴的承諾，我們感到很自在，不會繼續前進。這是正確的外賣嗎？

Yes. So we've had extensive discussions about options by which we could move forward, options that our partners were exercised to be able to support what we need, and we've had those at the highest levels of our partners' management. And we are confident that what we need in partnership with our supply chain, our key supply chain partners can be met. And as I said, it does it at a far lower risk and a far better ROIC.

是的。因此，我們已經就我們可以前進的選項進行了廣泛的討論，我們的合作夥伴行使了能夠支持我們需要的選項，並且我們已經在合作夥伴的最高管理層進行了討論。我們有信心，我們與供應鏈合作所需的東西，我們的主要供應鏈合作夥伴可以得到滿足。正如我所說，它以低得多的風險和更好的 ROIC 來做到這一點。

There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Moorthy, I'd like to turn the call back to you for closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。 Moorthy 先生，我想將電話轉回給您，請您作結束語。

Great. Thank you, and thank you to everyone who joined us on the call today, and we'll be seeing many of you on some of the events that are coming up this quarter, but have a good evening. Bye-bye.

偉大的。謝謝，也感謝今天加入我們電話會議的每一個人，我們將在本季度即將舉行的一些活動中見到你們中的許多人，祝大家晚上愉快。再見。

This concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開線路。

Joe, thank you very much, if you're still online, and we'll see you in a quarter.

喬，非常感謝你，如果你還在線的話，我們下季度見。