微晶片科技 (MCHP) 2026 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to Microchip's Q3 fiscal year '26 financial results conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

各位好，歡迎參加Microchip公司2026財年第三季財務業績電話會議。（操作說明）提醒各位，本次會議正在錄音。

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Eric Bjornholt, CFO. Thank you, Eric. You may begin.

現在我很榮幸地向大家介紹主持人，財務長埃里克·比約恩霍爾特。謝謝你，埃里克。你可以開始了。

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. Who wished 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，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表現做出預測和其他前瞻性陳述。特此提醒各位，此類聲明均為預測，實際事件或結果可能與預測有重大差異。我們建議您參閱我們今天發布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，其中列出了可能影響Microchip業務和經營業績的重要風險因素。

In attendance with me today are Steve Sanghi, Microchip's President and CEO; Ric Simoncic, Microchip's COO; Matthias Kaestner, Microchip's VP of Networking and Connectivity Business Units; and Sajid Daudi, Microchip's Head of Investor Relations.

今天與我一同出席的有：Microchip 總裁兼執行長 Steve Sanghi；Microchip 營運長 Ric Simoncic；Microchip 網路與連結業務部門副總裁 Matthias Kaestner；以及 Microchip 投資者關係主管 Sajid Daudi。

I will comment on our third quarter fiscal year 2026 financial performance. Matthias will provide an update on our networking and connectivity business. And Steve will then provide commentary on our results and an overview of the current business environment, our guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026. We will then be available to respond to specific investor and analyst questions.

我將對我們2026財年第三季的財務表現發表評論。Matthias 將介紹我們網路和連結業務的最新進展。然後，史蒂夫將對我們的業績進行評論，概述當前的商業環境，並展望我們對 2026 財年第四季的業績指引。屆時我們將解答投資人和分析師的具體問題。

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 earnings 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 leverage metrics on our website.

我們將在新聞稿和本次電話會議中提供有關各種 GAAP 和非 GAAP 指標的資訊。我們已在公司網站 www.microchip.com 的投資者關係頁面上發布了完整的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 財務報表調節表，並在我們的盈利新聞稿中包含了調節信息，我們相信您在比較我們的 GAAP 和非 GAAP 業績時會發現這些信息很有用。我們也在網站上發布了未償債務和槓桿指標的摘要。

I will now go over some of the 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 our acquisition activities, share based compensation, and certain other adjustments as described in our earnings press release and in the reconciliation on our website.

接下來我將介紹一些經營業績，包括淨銷售額、毛利率和營業費用。除了淨銷售額之外，我將以非GAAP準則來描述這些結果，該準則基於未計入收購活動、股份支付以及我們在盈利新聞稿和網站上的對帳中所述的某些其他調整的費用。

Net sales in the December quarter were $1.186 billion, which was up 4% sequentially and well above the high end of our original guidance provided on November 6. We have posted a summary of our net sales by product line and geography on our website for your reference.

12 月季度淨銷售額為 11.86 億美元，環比增長 4%，遠高於我們 11 月 6 日給出的最初指導的上限。我們已在網站上發布了按產品線和地理劃分的淨銷售額總表，供您參考。

On a non-GAAP basis, gross margins were 60.5%, including capacity underutilization charges of $51.7 million and new inventory reserve charges of $58.4 million. Operating expenses were at 32% of sales, and operating income was 28.5% of sales. Non-GAAP net income was $252.8 million and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share was $0.44, which was $0.04 above the high end of our original guidance.

以非GAAP準則計算，毛利率為60.5%，其中包括5,170萬美元的產能利用不足費用和5,840萬美元的新庫存準備金費用。營業費用佔銷售額的 32%，營業收入佔銷售額的 28.5%。非GAAP淨收入為2.528億美元，非GAAP稀釋後每股收益為0.44美元，比我們最初預期的上限高出0.04美元。

On a GAAP basis in the December quarter, gross margins were 59.6%. Total operating expenses were $555.2 million. And included acquisition intangible amortization of $107.6 million, special charges of $4.8 million, which were primarily driven by activities associated with our closure of Fab 2, share-based compensation of $62.1 million, and $1.1 million of other expenses. GAAP net income attributable to common shareholders was $34.9 million, or $0.06 per share.

以 GAAP 準則計算，12 月季度的毛利率為 59.6%。總營運支出為5.552億美元。其中包括收購無形資產攤銷 1.076 億美元、特殊費用 480 萬美元（主要由與我們關閉 Fab 2 相關的活動引起）、股份支付費用 6,210 萬美元，以及其他費用 110 萬美元。歸屬於普通股股東的GAAP淨利為3,490萬美元，即每股0.06美元。

Our non-GAAP cash tax rate was 9.6% in the December quarter. We expect to record a non-GAAP tax rate of about 10% for all of fiscal year 2026, which is exclusive of the transition tax and any tax audit settlements related to taxes accrued in prior fiscal years. Our inventory balance at December 31, 2025, was $1.058 billion, which was down $37.6 million from the balance at September 30, 2025. We had 201 days of inventory at the end of the December quarter. Included in our December quarter ending inventory was 17 days of long-life cycle, high-margin products, whose manufacturing capacity has been end of life by our supply chain partners.

我們12月季度的非GAAP現金稅率為9.6%。我們預計 2026 財年全年的非 GAAP 稅率約為 10%，這不包括過渡稅和與先前財政年度應計稅款相關的任何稅務審計和解。截至 2025 年 12 月 31 日，我們的庫存餘額為 10.58 億美元，比 2025 年 9 月 30 日的餘額減少了 3,760 萬美元。截至12月季末，我們的庫存週轉天數為201天。我們在 12 月季度末的庫存中包含了 17 天的長生命週期、高利潤產品，這些產品的生產能力已被我們的供應鏈合作夥伴終止。

Inventory at our distributors in the December quarter was at 28 days, which is in the range of what we would consider to be normal. Distribution sell-through was about $11.7 million higher than distribution sell-in. Our cash flow from operating activities was $341.4 million in the December quarter. Our adjusted free cash flow was $305.6 million in the December quarter. And as of December 31, our consolidated cash and total investment position was $250.7 million.

12 月季度，我們經銷商的庫存週轉天數為 28 天，這在我們認為的正常範圍內。分銷通路的銷售額比分銷通路的銷售額高出約 1,170 萬美元。我們在12月季度的營運活動現金流為3.414億美元。我們經調整後的12月季度自由現金流為3.056億美元。截至 12 月 31 日，我們的合併現金和總投資部位為 2.507 億美元。

Our total debt decreased by $12.1 million sequentially in the December quarter, and our net debt decreased by $26 million sequentially. Our adjusted EBITDA in the December quarter was $402 million and 33.9% of net sales. Our trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA was $1.23 billion. Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 4.18 at December 31, 2025, and was down from 4.69% at September 30, 2025.

12 月季度，我們的總債務較上季減少了 1,210 萬美元，淨債務較上季減少了 2,600 萬美元。我們在 12 月季度的調整後 EBITDA 為 4.02 億美元，佔淨銷售額的 33.9%。我們過去 12 個月的調整後 EBITDA 為 12.3 億美元。截至 2025 年 12 月 31 日，我們的淨負債與調整後 EBITDA 比率為 4.18，低於 2025 年 9 月 30 日的 4.69%。

Capital expenditures were $22.5 million in the December quarter. We expect capital expenditures for fiscal year 2026 to be at or below $100 million. Depreciation expense in the December quarter was $37.8 million.

12 月季度資本支出為 2,250 萬美元。我們預計 2026 財年的資本支出將達到或低於 1 億美元。12 月季度的折舊費用為 3,780 萬美元。

I will now turn it over to Matthias, who will provide an update on our efforts in the Ethernet T1S emerging standard for connectivity in the automotive and industrial space. Matthias?

現在我將把發言權交給 Matthias，他將介紹我們在乙太網路 T1S 新興標準所做的努力，該標準旨在為汽車和工業領域的連接提供支援。馬蒂亞斯？

Thank you, Eric, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm Matthias Kaestner, Corporate Vice President and Leader of the Data Center, Networking, Connectivity and Automotive business units at Microchip. Today, I want to report on the meaningful momentum in our connectivity business, driven by two primary architecture modernization cycles. Let's have a look at the automotive market segment first.

謝謝你，埃里克，大家下午好。我是馬蒂亞斯·凱斯特納，Microchip 公司企業副總裁兼資料中心、網路、連接和汽車業務部門負責人。今天，我想報告我們連結業務的顯著進展，這主要得益於兩個架構現代化週期。我們先來看汽車市場細分領域。

In today's cars, up to 20 different connectivity technologies are used to transmit data between electronic control units, while the amount of data is increasing exponentially. The resulting complexity is a major roadblock to implementing higher levels of self-driving capabilities, over-the-air updates, and advanced infotainment systems in a cost and time-efficient manner. Therefore, car manufacturers are moving away from the multitude of legacy connectivity standards towards networking architectures that are predominantly Ethernet-based. This, in turn, reduces software complexity and improves software reusability.

在當今的汽車中，多達 20 種不同的連接技術用於在電子控制單元之間傳輸數據，而數據量正在呈指數級增長。由此產生的複雜性，成為以經濟高效的方式實現更高水準的自動駕駛能力、空中升級和先進資訊娛樂系統的主要障礙。因此，汽車製造商正在摒棄眾多傳統的連結標準，轉而採用以乙太網路為主的網路架構。這反過來又降低了軟體的複雜性，提高了軟體的可重複使用性。

Ethernet, in particular, the new 10BASE-T1S standard, has the potential to replace several billion automotive legacy connectivity nodes per year. Microchip has developed automotive Ethernet solutions to support this transition, including a market-leading portfolio of 10BASE-T1S products, switches, transceivers, endpoints, and bridges.

以太網，特別是新的 10BASE-T1S 標準，每年有可能取代數十億個汽車傳統連接節點。Microchip 開發了汽車乙太網路解決方案來支援這項轉型，其中包括市場領先的 10BASE-T1S 產品組合、交換器、收發器、終端和橋接器。

Automotive Ethernet is complemented by PCI Express connectivity for the highest speed data communication needs in the main vehicle computer and by ASA, a new open standard that transfers high-speed raw camera data to the main vehicle computer efficiently. We derived automotive-grade PCIe solutions from our leading PCIe switches for data centers, and we were first to market with ASA Motion Link for standards-based high-speed ADAS camera and display connectivity.

汽車乙太網路輔以 PCI Express 連接，以滿足主車輛電腦中最高速度的資料通訊需求；此外，還輔以 ASA（一種新的開放標準），可高效地將高速原始相機資料傳輸到主車輛電腦。我們從領先的資料中心 PCIe 交換器衍生出汽車級 PCIe 解決方案，並且率先將 ASA Motion Link 推向市場，實現基於標準的高速 ADAS 攝影機和顯示器連接。

We believe Microchip is well positioned across these new connectivity standards. We have design wins and serious engagements with multiple leading global automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. Today, we issued a press release in which we announced a strategic collaboration with Hyundai Motor Group to integrate our 10BASE-T1S solutions into next-generation vehicle platforms. Designs are moving from sample evaluation and validation phases, representing platform commitments and next-generation vehicle architectures.

我們相信Microchip在這些新的連接標準方面處於有利地位。我們已贏得多個設計項目，並與多家全球領先的汽車OEM廠商和一級供應商建立了重要的合作關係。今天，我們發布了一份新聞稿，宣布與現代汽車集團進行策略合作，將我們的 10BASE-T1S 解決方案整合到下一代汽車平台中。設計正從樣品評估和驗證階段過渡到代表平台承諾和下一代車輛架構的階段。

The second growth driver for modern connectivity is Industry 4.0, an industrial modernization cycle across factories, robotics, automation systems, and autonomous logistics networks that all require real-time mission-critical connectivity. The industrial backbone is already Ethernet-based. However, many devices and systems are at the edge are connected to legacy connectivity standards such as industrial CAN, RS 232, RS485. These legacy standards are now being replaced by Ethernet solutions.

現代互聯的第二個成長驅動力是工業 4.0，這是一個涵蓋工廠、機器人、自動化系統和自主物流網路的工業現代化週期，所有這些都需要即時關鍵任務連接。工業骨幹網路已經是基於乙太網路的。然而，許多邊緣設備和系統仍然連接到傳統的連接標準，例如工業 CAN、RS 232、RS485。這些傳統標準現在正被乙太網路解決方案所取代。

Like in the Automotive segment, our comprehensive Ethernet portfolio, including single-pair Ethernet and EtherCAT, industrial PCIe switches and ASA camera connectivity solutions are well positioned to capture this opportunity and are already helping customers bridge legacy and advance industrial connectivity.

與汽車領域一樣，我們全面的乙太網路產品組合，包括單對乙太網路和 EtherCAT、工業 PCIe 交換器和 ASA 攝影機連接解決方案，都已做好充分準備抓住這一機遇，並正在幫助客戶跨越傳統和推進工業連接。

In both segments, automotive and industrial, we are tracking numerous design wins. We believe that our competitive advantage is straightforward. We offer a complete portfolio spanning multiple connectivity speed, integrated with microcontrollers and analog solutions. Customers deploy a unified Microchip system, including silicon and firmware rather than assemble components from multiple vendors, reducing complexity, cost, and time to market.

在汽車和工業這兩個領域，我們都取得了大量的設計成功案例。我們認為我們的競爭優勢顯而易見。我們提供涵蓋多種連接速度的完整產品組合，並整合了微控制器和類比解決方案。客戶部署統一的 Microchip 系統（包括晶片和韌體），而不是從多個供應商組裝組件，從而降低複雜性、成本和上市時間。

Industrial connectivity design cycles typically span 18 to 24 months from architecture decision to production revenue. Our recent engagement aligns with pilot production ramps expected in the second half of 2026 and ramping further into 2027. We feel that our market opportunity is substantial. While industry estimates vary, research suggests that the TAM for automotive and industrial Ethernet connectivity together represents tens of billions of dollars by 2030, reflecting a once in several decades modernization cycle.

從架構決策到生產收入，工業連接設計週期通常需要 18 到 24 個月。我們最近的合作與 2026 年下半年的試點生產爬坡計畫以及 2027 年的進一步爬坡計畫相吻合。我們認為我們的市場機會非常巨大。儘管行業估計各不相同，但研究表明，到 2030 年，汽車和工業乙太網路連接的總市場規模將達到數百億美元，這反映了數十年一次的現代化週期。

Looking ahead, we expect our connectivity business to be a significant contributor to company growth as these modernization cycles accelerate.

展望未來，隨著現代化進程的加速，我們預期我們的連結業務將成為公司成長的重要貢獻者。

I will pause here and turn the call over to Steve to provide an update on our business and the guidance going forward. Steve?

我將在此暫停一下，把電話交給史蒂夫，讓他介紹我們公司的最新情況以及未來的發展方向。史蒂夫？

Thank you, Matthias, and good afternoon, everyone. We had an excellent December quarter, and I will start by highlighting a few salient points of our financial results.

謝謝你，馬蒂亞斯，大家下午好。我們12月份的業績非常出色，首先我將重點介紹我們財務表現的幾個要點。

Our net sales grew 4% sequentially and 15.6% over the year-ago quarter. Net sales were up sequentially in the Americas and Europe and about flat in Asia. Sales from our microcontroller and analog businesses were both about flat sequentially, which was well above the typical seasonal level for the December quarter.

我們的淨銷售額較上季成長 4%，較去年同期成長 15.6%。美洲和歐洲的淨銷售額環比成長，亞洲的淨銷售額基本持平。我們的微控制器和類比電路業務的銷售額環比基本持平，遠高於 12 月季度的典型季節性水平。

The growth primarily came from our networking, data center, FPGA, and licensing business units. We are continuing to see the inventory go down at our distributors, at our distributors' customers, our direct customers, and contract manufacturers. The distributor sell-in versus sell-through gap shrank to only $11.7 million in the December quarter, down from $52.9 million in the September quarter. This is something we have been expecting for some time, and I have been telling you we also feel that this is a sign that the distribution inventory has largely corrected.

成長主要來自我們的網路、資料中心、FPGA 和授權業務部門。我們看到，我們的分銷商、分銷商的客戶、我們的直接客戶以及合約製造商的庫存都在持續下降。12 月季度分銷商的進貨額與實際銷售額之間的差距縮小至僅 1,170 萬美元，低於 9 月季度的 5,290 萬美元。這是我們期待已久的事情，我也一直告訴你們，我們認為這也是分銷庫存基本上得到糾正的跡象。

In the December quarter, non-GAAP gross margin was 379 basis points sequentially -- was up 379 basis points sequentially. Non-GAAP gross margin reached 60.5%. We had been expecting a 6 handle on non-GAAP gross margin percentage in the March quarter, but we achieved it a quarter earlier. Non-GAAP operating margin reached 28.5% in the December quarter and was up 418 basis points sequentially and up 800 basis points over the year ago quarter.

12 月季度，非 GAAP 毛利率較上季成長 379 個基點。非GAAP毛利率達60.5%。我們原本預計 3 月季度的非 GAAP 毛利率將達到 6%，但我們提前一個季度就實現了這一目標。12 月季度非 GAAP 營業利潤率達 28.5%，季增 418 個基點，較去年同期成長 800 個基點。

Now to the market environment. We are seeing recovery in most of our end markets, automotive, industrial, communication, data center, aerospace and defense, and consumer are all looking better. The strongest sales performance last quarter was in the A&D sector and in our networking data center solutions and licensing business units. We believe we are extremely well positioned with our Gen 6 PCIe switch with it being the only 3-nanometer-based device currently sampling in hyperscaler and enterprise data center customers, beating our competitors in virtually every specification metric.

接下來談談市場環境。我們看到大多數終端市場都在復甦，汽車、工業、通訊、資料中心、航空航太和國防以及消費品市場的情況都在好轉。上個季度銷售業績最強勁的領域是航空航太與國防產業以及我們的網路資料中心解決方案和授權業務部門。我們相信，我們的第六代 PCIe 交換器擁有極其優越的市場地位，它是目前唯一一款在超大規模資料中心和企業資料中心客戶中提供樣品的 3 奈米製程設備，幾乎在所有規格指標上都勝過我們的競爭對手。

Today, I have three design wins to report on our PCIe Express Gen 6 switch, each without the customer's name. The first one is a small design win that will start production in second half of this year. It is a small win but significant for us in establishing credibility based on who the customer is. The second one is a larger win and will start production in CQ1 2027. Based on current customer forecast, this win is expected to bring $100-plus million in revenue in calendar year 2027.

今天，我要報告我們 PCIe Express Gen 6 交換器的三個設計成功案例，但每個案例都沒有透露客戶名稱。第一個項目是一個小型設計訂單，將於今年下半年開始生產。這雖是小小的勝利，但對我們建立基於客戶群的信譽而言意義重大。第二個項目規模更大，將於 2027 年第一季開始投產。根據目前客戶的預測，預計此次合作將在 2027 年帶來超過 1 億美元的收入。

The third win is a small win with an established long-term customer who buys our prior generation Gen 4, Gen 5 products and will be buying our Gen 6 product. This design goes to production in late 2027, early 2028, and we are working hard to win a lot of other large and small designs.

第三個勝利是與一位長期客戶取得的小勝利，該客戶購買了我們上一代 Gen 4、Gen 5 產品，並且將會購買我們的 Gen 6 產品。該設計將於 2027 年底或 2028 年初投入生產，我們正在努力爭取贏得更多其他大大小小的設計項目。

As Matthias said in his prepared remarks, we're also doing extremely well in the automotive and industrial networking space with T1S, ASA, and PCIe connectivity products.

正如 Matthias 在事先準備好的演講稿中所說，我們在汽車和工業網路領域也憑藉 T1S、ASA 和 PCIe 連接產品取得了非常好的成績。

Now let's get into our guidance for the March quarter. The bookings for the December quarter were significantly higher than those for the September quarter. The book-to-bill ratio for the December quarter was well above 1, resulting into a much higher backlog entering the March quarter compared to when we entered the December quarter.

現在讓我們來看看我們對三月季度的業績預期。12月季度的預訂量明顯高於9月季度的預訂量。12 月季度的訂單出貨比遠高於 1，導致 3 月季度的積壓訂單量比 12 月季度開始時要高得多。

A comment about lead times. While lead time for our products have been four to eight weeks for some time, we are continuing to experience lead times bounce off the bottom, and we are experiencing increases on some of our products. We're running into challenges on certain kind of substrates and subcontracting capacity and also some foundry constraints on very advanced nodes. These challenges were isolated to specific areas but are now starting to spread more broadly. Our customer requests for expedited shipments have increased significantly from a couple of quarters ago, pointing to some customers' inventories running low. T

關於交貨週期的說明。雖然我們產品的交貨週期在一段時間內一直為四到八週，但我們持續經歷交貨週期從底部反彈，並且我們一些產品的交貨週期正在增加。我們在某些​​類型的基板和分包能力方面遇到了挑戰，而且在非常先進的節點上，代工廠也存在一些限制。這些挑戰最初局限於特定地區，但現在正開始更廣泛地蔓延。與幾個季度前相比，客戶對加急發貨的需求顯著增加，這表明一些客戶的庫存正在減少。T

aking all these factors into account, we expect our net sales for the March quarter to be $1.26 billion, plus or minus $20 million. This at the midpoint would be 6.2% sequential growth and up 29.8% from the year-ago quarter. We expect our non-GAAP gross margin to be between 60.5% and 61.5% of sales. We expect our non-GAAP operating expenses to be between 31.3% and 31.7% of sales, and we expect our non-GAAP operating profit to be between 28.8% and 30.2% of sales. We expect our non-GAAP diluted earnings per share to be between $0.48 and $0.52 per share.

考慮到所有這些因素，我們預計 3 月季度的淨銷售額為 12.6 億美元，上下浮動 2,000 萬美元。以中間值計算，這將比上一季成長 6.2%，比去年同期成長 29.8%。我們預期非GAAP毛利率將佔銷售額的60.5%至61.5%。我們預期非GAAP營業費用佔銷售額的31.3%至31.7%，非GAAP營業利潤佔銷售額的28.8%至30.2%。我們預計非GAAP稀釋後每股盈餘將在0.48美元至0.52美元之間。

Finally, a comment on our capital return program for shareholders. Last quarter, we decreased our net debt balance by $26 million as we produced free cash flow that exceeded our dividend commitment. In future quarters, as we have excess free cash flow above dividends, we intend to continue to use this to bring down our borrowings.

最後，我想就我們的股東資本回報計畫談幾點看法。上個季度，由於我們產生的自由現金流超過了我們的股息承諾，我們的淨債務餘額減少了 2,600 萬美元。未來幾個季度，由於我們有超過股息的自由現金流，我們打算繼續利用這些資金來減少借款。

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

那麼，操作員，請問大家有什麼問題嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Matthew Prisco, Cantor Fitzgerald.

（操作說明）Matthew Prisco，Cantor Fitzgerald。

I guess to kick off, when thinking about the above seasonal guide for margin and growth beyond, how should we be thinking about that continued strength versus seasonality? And what gives you confidence there? Is that the tailwind from the closing of the sell-in versus sell-through gap theoretically fades? Is that based on -- is it better end demand, potential restocking, idiosyncratic opportunities or perhaps something else? Thanks.

首先，在考慮上述季節性指導原則以及未來的成長時，我們該如何看待這種持續的強勁勢頭與季節性因素之間的關係呢？為什麼對此充滿信心？理論上，賣出與賣出缺口縮小帶來的順風是否會消失？這是基於——更好的最終需求、潛在的補貨、特殊機會，還是其他因素？謝謝。

So this is Eric. I think it's a variety of things, right? So we feel that distribution inventory is pretty much corrected at this point in time, but there's still customers that we sell to directly and customers that our distributors are selling to that are still burning through some inventory. We have really strong backlog for the current quarter, and the bookings have been quite high. So the backlog is continuing to grow.

這位是埃里克。我覺得是多種因素造成的，對吧？因此，我們認為目前分銷庫存基本上已得到糾正，但我們直接銷售的客戶以及我們的分銷商銷售的客戶仍然在消耗一些庫存。我們本季的訂單積壓情況非常好，預訂量也相當高。因此，積壓案件仍在不斷增加。

We can't say that we have great visibility outside of the current quarter because lead times are still short, but we can see the order book growing, and through discussions with customers, we feel confident that heading into what is typically seasonally our strongest quarters of the year, which is the June and September quarter, that we are really poised nicely for growth.

我們不能說我們對當前季度以外的情況有很好的了解，因為交貨週期仍然很短，但我們可以看到訂單量在增長，並且通過與客戶的討論，我們有信心，在通常來說一年中業績最好的季度（即 6 月和 9 月季度）到來之際，我們已經為增長做好了充分的準備。

And then maybe on the gross margin front, can you give us an update on how we should be thinking about the inventory reserve and underutilization charges rolling off? And as we move more squarely into this broad-based recovery, are there other levers for gross margins that should really move the needle here? Thank you.

那麼，關於毛利率方面，您能否為我們介紹一下，我們應該如何看待庫存準備金和未充分利用費用的取消？隨著我們更加穩定地邁入全面復甦階段，是否還有其他能夠真正推動毛利率成長的因素？謝謝。

So we feel that as we move through the current quarter, that the inventory reserves are pretty much going to be normalized at this point in time. We're guiding at a midpoint to 61% non-GAAP gross margin. Inventory reserves are a little bit unpredictable, but we feel that those charges are definitely going to continue to come down this quarter compared to the prior quarter and get to more normalized levels.

因此我們認為，隨著本季的推進，庫存儲備目前應該基本上恢復正常。我們預計非GAAP毛利率中位數為61%。庫存準備金雖然有些難以預測，但我們認為，與上一季相比，本季這些費用肯定會繼續下降，並達到更正常的水平。

The underutilization charges, which were a little over $50 million last quarter, are going to continue. We are ramping the factories this quarter, but yeah, this is going to be a couple-of-year process for us to kind of get those inventory charges for underutilization down.

上季未充分利用資金造成的損失略高於 5,000 萬美元，這種情況還將持續。本季我們將提高工廠產能，但要降低因產能利用不足而產生的庫存費用，我們需要幾年的時間。

So they'll be modestly down in the current quarter, which I think Steve said in his prepared remarks, but still at a relatively high level. And that's really the biggest driver as we move outside of this quarter to improving gross margin outside of improved product mix over time.

因此，本季度他們的業績會略有下降，我認為史蒂夫在他的準備好的發言稿中也提到了這一點，但仍然會保持在相對較高的水平。隨著本季結束，除了產品組合的改善之外，提高毛利率才是真正最大的驅動因素。

We've talked about some of these growth vectors. Last quarter, we talked about our data center business. This quarter, we're talking about our Ethernet and connectivity businesses. And these are areas where the gross margin can be quite high. And we think that as we see the revenue from that come through, will help from a product mix perspective to keep gross margins high and eventually take us back to our 65% long-term target.

我們已經討論過其中一些成長方向。上個季度，我們討論了我們的資料中心業務。本季度，我們將重點討論乙太網路和連接業務。而這些領域的毛利率可能相當高。我們認為，隨著收入的逐步到位，從產品組合的角度來看，這將有助於維持較高的毛利率，並最終使我們回到 65% 的長期目標。

Vivek Arya, Bank of America Securities.

Vivek Arya，美國銀行證券。

For the first one, I just wanted to get a clarification. For December, your microcontroller and analog segments were kind of flattish, which I realize is better than seasonal, but the growth came from the other segment. I'm curious, is that what you had planned for originally -- basically, what really drove the December upside versus your original guidance? Was it what I'm just calling the product segments? Or was it more the other?

第一個問題，我只是想弄清楚。12 月份，你們的微控制器和類比電路部分銷量比較平淡，我知道這比季節性波動要好，但成長主要來自其他部分。我很好奇，這是否符合你最初的計劃——基本上，是什麼真正推動了 12 月份的業績成長，而不是你最初的預期？那是我剛才所說的產品細分市場嗎？或者，更確切地說，是另一種情況？

And then similarly, as we start the March quarter, what are you expecting from the product segments versus the other segment just so that we can model it appropriately?

同樣地，在三月季度開始時，您對各個產品細分市場與其他細分市場有何預期，以便我們能夠進行適當的建模？

So Vivek, the higher revenue on the licensing side was modeled in our original guidance. So that's not where the upside came from. It was up substantially from the prior quarter, but that was in our model. The upside came on the products. The microcontrollers, the analog, the FPGA, and all the other businesses were substantially stronger. Remember, in December quarter, usually is down minus 3% to minus 4%, minus 3% to minus 5%.

所以 Vivek，授權方面的較高收入是我們最初預期中的預期。所以上漲的動力並不來自那裡。與上一季相比大幅成長，但這只是我們模型預測的結果。產品方面表現良好。微控制器、類比電路、FPGA 以及所有其他業務都實力顯著增強。請記住，在 12 月季度，通常會下降 -3% 至 -4%，或 -3% 至 -5%。

But the fact that microcontroller and analog were flat, so that's where the upside came from, and so was the FPGA and some other product lines.

但微控制器和類比電路的效能都比較平庸，所以效能提升的空間就在這裡，FPGA 和其他一些產品線也是如此。

And March, Steve, how are you thinking about kind of just relative segment behavior versus the 6% sequential guidance?

史蒂夫，三月份，你如何看待各業務板塊的相對錶現與 6% 的環比成長預期之間的關係？

March looks quite strong. Seasonally, March is up usually 2% to 3% and after producing a very large upside in the December quarter. Our original guidance for the December quarter, I think, was $1,129, and we produced $1,186. So even after such a large increase and some of that came in with the customers pulling their backlog from March into December, but the March kept filling up even further.

三月的走勢看起來相當強勁。從季節性來看，3 月通常會上漲 2% 到 3%，並且在 12 月季度取得了非常大的漲幅。我認為，我們最初對 12 月季度的預期是 1129 美元，而我們實際實現了 1186 美元。因此，即使經歷如此大幅度的成長，其中一些成長來自於客戶將3月份的積壓訂單轉移到12月份，但3月份的訂單量仍持續增加。

So despite pulling a lot of product from March into December, the March quarter backlog started very strong. And that's why we gave a 6.2% sequential guidance, much above typical seasonality. And pretty much most product lines are positive. So microcontroller is growing, analog is growing, FPGA is growing further, networking connectivity business, data center timing business, they all essentially seem higher in the current quarter.

因此，儘管將許多產品從 3 月推遲到 12 月，但 3 月季度的積壓訂單開局非常強勁。因此，我們給出了 6.2% 的環比成長預期，遠高於典型的季節性成長。而且幾乎所有產品線都是正面的。因此，微控制器業務正在成長，模擬業務正在成長，FPGA業務在進一步成長，網路連接業務、資料中心定時業務，所有這些業務在本季度似乎都在成長。

Got it. And then on the gross margin, very strong drop-through in December, you're guiding it to 61% for March. What is the time line to get to this mid-60s target? Like if we just assume normal seasonality for the next several quarters, is that something that Microchip could get to sometime this calendar year? Or do you think that it would require a much faster growth and it's more a '27 outcome?

知道了。至於毛利率，由於 12 月大幅下降，您預計 3 月的毛利率將達到 61%。達到60年代中期目標的時間表是什麼？如果我們假設未來幾季的季節性波動正常，Microchip 能否在今年內實現這一目標？或者你認為這需要更快的成長，而且更有可能在 2027 年實現？

So I think I can't give you the exact timing. But for the last several quarters, we've been doing the math for you with the product gross margin being above 65% but having two charges bring it down. One was the inventory write-off charge and second one was the underutilization charge.

所以我想我無法給出確切的時間。但在過去幾個季度裡，我們已經為您計算過了，產品毛利率高於 65%，但兩項費用都拉低了毛利率。其中一項是存貨減損費用，另一項是產能利用不足費用。

The inventory charge has dropped quite a bit. And as Eric said, we expect that the inventory charge will be about normal this quarter, may have a little more to go, but largely normalizes. And then you're left with about a $50 million underutilization charge, which will take some time to go away and bring the additional 400-plus basis points of gross margin, which will get us to our model. And how fast we ramp the factories and how fast that underutilization charge goes down really depends on the growth here in the coming quarters and the next year here.

庫存費用已經大幅下降。正如艾瑞克所說，我們預計本季的庫存費用將基本正常，可能會略有增加，但總體上會恢復正常。這樣一來，就會產生大約 5000 萬美元的產能利用不足費用，這需要一段時間才能消除，並帶來額外的 400 多個基點的毛利率，從而達到我們的目標。工廠產能提升的速度以及產能利用率不足的損失下降的速度，實際上取決於未來幾季和明年這裡的經濟成長。

And it depends on the growth really from internal products. we do about 37% to 40% of the products internal and 60%-plus external. The underutilization largely is in our internal factories. So it largely depends on the growth from the internally produced products. And it's hard to predict out in time. But every quarter, you should see some improvement and eventually taking it to 65% gross margin.

這主要取決於內部產品的成長。我們大約37%到40%的產品是內部生產的，60%以上是外部生產的。產能利用不足的情況主要出現在我們內部的工廠。因此，這很大程度上取決於內部生產產品的成長。而且很難及時預測。但每季都應該有所改善，最終毛利率將達到 65%。

Yeah. I totally agree with everything Steve said. I would just say I don't want the Street to get ahead of where they should be, and it would not be our expectation that I don't know if you said this calendar year or fiscal year that -- or this next fiscal year that we can get to that mid-60s. I am not predicting that's going to happen. I think it's going to be steady growth from where we're at guiding at for this quarter.

是的。我完全同意史蒂夫說的每一句話。我只想說，我不希望華爾街的預期過高，而且我們也不期望——我不知道您指的是本日曆年還是本財政年度——或者下一個財政年度我們能夠達到 60% 左右的水平。我並不是預測這種情況會發生。我認為本季將保持穩定成長，與我們目前的預期一致。

Jim Snyder, Goldman Sachs.

吉姆·斯奈德，高盛集團。

I was wondering if you can maybe talk to your customers' inventory behavior, specifically OEM inventories. It sounds like customers are still maybe drawing down inventories a little bit. I'm curious if you're seeing any signs of customers restocking their own internal inventories. And if so, are you seeing that across any specific verticals? Or are we still in reduction mode?

我想問您是否可以談談您客戶的庫存行為，特別是OEM庫存。聽起來顧客們可能還在稍微減少庫存。我很想知道你是否看到任何跡象表明客戶正在補充他們自己的內部庫存。如果是這樣，您是否在哪些特定垂直領域中觀察到了這種情況？或者我們仍然處於縮減模式？

So we're not seeing customers restocking, but we've got thousands of customers. And not every customer is in the same place on inventory. What we're seeing is that the direct customer inventory was high. So if you go back 1.5 years ago, 2 years ago, inventories were quite high. Some customers had up to a year worth of inventory, and they have been taking that inventory down and customers don't only buy one SKU. The customers who buy 100. I know a customer that buys 500 SKUs.

所以我們沒有看到顧客補貨，但我們有成千上萬的顧客。而且，並非所有客戶的庫存狀況都相同。我們看到的情況是，直接客戶的庫存很高。所以，如果你回顧1.5年前、2年前，庫存水準相當高。有些客戶的庫存量高達一年，他們一直在減少庫存，而且客戶購買的商品種類不只一種。購買 100 件的顧客。我知道有個客戶一次購買 500 個 SKU。

So as the inventory comes down, it's like the water in the lake. When it starts coming down, the lake bottom is never flat. The rock starts showing up. So that's kind of what's happening. As the customer inventory has come down, the rocks are showing up, which is leading to this expedite, which is exponentially up from a couple of quarters ago. But there are some other products at the customer which still have inventory, and they're continuing to reduce that inventory.

所以隨著庫存減少，就像湖水減少一樣。當冰層開始下降時，湖底永遠不會平坦。岩石開始顯現出來。事情大概就是這樣。隨著客戶庫存的減少，問題也隨之出現，這導致了這種加速生產，其速度比幾季前呈指數級增長。但客戶還有一些其他產品仍有庫存，他們正在繼續減少庫存。

But on the remaining products, on some products, they're starting to buy at their consumption rate. And every month, more and more products are falling into that position where the inventory has corrected and they're buying at the consumption rate.

但其餘產品，對於某些產品，他們開始以消費速度購買。每個月，越來越多的產品都處於庫存調整狀態，他們開始以消耗速度購買。

The restocking phenomena, I think I say restocking when customers are increasing their inventory, buying more than their consumption. I don't think that is happening yet because lead times are still relatively in check. But as I said, the constraints are broadening, even a run-of-the-mill foundry process and for confidentiality, I can't name the foundry or the specific node, but it's a very generic run-of-the-mill foundry process, and it's full. So when that starts to happen, the next step is the capacity goes tight.

補貨現象，我認為應該說是補貨，指的是顧客增加庫存，購買的數量超過他們的消費量。我認為這種情況目前還沒有發生，因為交貨週期仍然相對可控。但正如我所說，限制範圍越來越廣，即使是普通的鑄造流程，出於保密原因，我不能透露鑄造廠或具體節點的名稱，但它是一個非常普通的鑄造流程，而且已經飽和了。所以當這種情況開始發生時，下一步就是產能緊張。

Now when the capacity goes tight, one thing that happens is pricing firms up, not necessarily increase price, but the customer conversation leads with availability rather than price. So that is healthy too for the business. And I think we're approaching where relatively soon in a quarter or so, we'll be facing a situation where customer is more worried about availability than price.

現在，當產能緊張時，會出現一種情況，那就是定價趨於穩定，不一定是提高價格，而是與客戶的溝通重點會放在供貨情況上，而不是價格上。所以這對企業來說也是一件好事。我認為，在不久的將來（大約一個季度後），我們將面臨這樣一種局面：客戶更關心的是產品的供應情況，而不是價格。

And then maybe could you just sort of speak to the backlog you're seeing building for the June quarter, if at all? You talked about the higher starting backlog for the March quarter. Maybe talk about sort of the level of orders you've seen thus far this year and sort of where you expect the June quarter to potentially fall from a normal seasonal basis. Thank you.

那麼，您能否談談您認為六月季度積壓的訂單情況（如果有的話）？您提到了三月季度的初始積壓訂單量較高。或許可以談談今年到目前為止的訂單水平，以及你預計六月的訂單量與正常季節性水平相比可能會下降多少。謝謝。

So the month of January was extremely strong, uncharacteristic because it kind of starts out slow and a lot of people don't return from the holidays until January 7 or something, depending on where the calendar falls. If there are two or three days after January 1, it's kind of a very dead time usually until the following Monday.

所以一月份的銷售情況異常強勁，這很不尋常，因為一月份通常開始得比較慢，而且很多人要到 1 月 7 日左右才會結束假期回來，具體時間取決於日曆上的日期。1 月 1 日之後的兩三天，通常到下週一之前都是一段比較清閒的時期。

But January backlog was extremely strong. December backlog was extremely strong. People kept booking parts through the holidays. You may recall, we were very conservative going into the quarter because of Thanksgiving as well as Christmas holidays. Thanksgiving came and went, and the momentum continued. Then we were worried about Europe shutting down in the middle of December. Usually, that happens because of Christmas and other holidays.

但1月的積壓訂單量非常強勁。12月份的訂單積壓情況非常強勁。即使在假期期間，人們也一直在預訂零件。您可能還記得，由於感恩節和聖誕節假期，我們本季的預算非常保守。感恩節過去了，這股動能依然強勁。當時我們擔心歐洲會在12月中旬停擺。通常，這種情況是由於聖誕節和其他節日造成的。

And everything just kept going strong. Bookings were very good. And then we were concerned about the start of the new year, which always starts slow, but it was January was extremely strong. And now we are watching the Chinese New Year, which starts next week, and we'll find out whether we miss something on the Chinese New Year.

一切都進展順利。預訂情況非常好。然後我們擔心新年伊始的情況，新年伊始總是比較緩慢，但一月份的業績卻異常強勁。現在我們正在關注下週開始的中國新年，看看我們是否會錯過中國新年的某些精彩內容。

But really, it has all been very, very strong, and that's why we just continue to post good numbers and keep guiding stronger, and I'm fairly optimistic on the business. If you look at the next quarter as of today, so today is February 5. The June quarter backlog is higher today than the March quarter backlog was on November 5. That's the way to measure it at the same point in time. So we are optimistic that we'll have a good June quarter.

但實際上，一切都非常非常強勁，這就是為什麼我們能夠持續發布良好的業績數據並不斷加強業績預期，我對公司業務相當樂觀。如果以今天（2月5日）為基準來看下一季的情況。截至目前，6 月份季度的積壓訂單量高於 11 月 5 日 3 月份季度的積壓訂單量。這是在同一時間點進行測量的正確方法。因此，我們對六月的業績持樂觀態度。

I don't know if I have anything else to add.

我不知道還有什麼要補充的。

Blayne Curtis, Jefferies.

布萊恩·柯蒂斯，傑富瑞。

I had two. I want to ask, I know it's small numbers, but I'm just kind of curious to move. The other product revenue was up 18% sequentially. I think you said in the filing, it was a license sale. So I don't know if you can add any color to that. And then does that not repeat into March?

我有兩個。我想問一下，我知道人數不多，但我只是有點好奇想搬家。其他產品收入較上季成長18%。我認為你在文件中說過，這是一次許可證出售。所以我不知道你是否能為它添加顏色。然後這種情況不會持續到三月嗎？

It was not only licensing. In others, we have licensing, we have FPGA, we have memory.

不僅僅是許可證的問題。在其他方面，我們有授權許可、FPGA 和記憶體。

Timing systems.

計時系統。

Timing systems. So there's another phenomenon happening in memory. As you know, high-bandwidth memory is really constrained. And in general, just the NAND as well as the flash node flash memory is very constrained. And some of that shares capacity with our Serial e-Square business.

計時系統。所以，記憶中還存在著另一種現象。如您所知，高頻寬記憶體的資源非常有限。總的來說，NAND 快閃記憶體以及快閃記憶體節點的快閃記憶體都受到很大限制。其中一部分產能與我們的 Serial e-Square 業務共享。

So a lot of our competitors, especially in Asia, are moving that Serial e-Square capacity into the broader flash memory. And therefore, we are picking up market share, and we're getting a lot of strength in our memory business because our Serial e-Square memory business is largely produced in our internal fabs where we have a lot of capacity, and we still have a fair amount of inventory. And that falls into others. So we're getting some strength there also, which is quite sustainable because this entire memory shortage isn't going away anytime soon. It could be a couple of year phenomenon.

因此，我們的許多競爭對手，尤其是在亞洲的競爭對手，正在將串列 e-Square 容量轉移到更廣泛的快閃記憶體中。因此，我們正在贏得市場份額，並且在記憶體業務方面獲得了很大的優勢，因為我們的串行 e-Square 記憶體業務主要是在我們內部的晶圓廠生產的，我們在那裡擁有很大的產能，而且我們仍然有相當多的庫存。而這又可以歸入其他類別。所以我們也在這方面獲得了一些優勢，而且這種優勢是相當可持續的，因為整個記憶體短缺問題不會很快消失。這可能是一種持續幾年的現象。

And as we look towards the March quarter and the June quarter, memory business looks quite strong, too, so does FPGA with a lot of strength coming from aerospace and defense and industrial also. And our networking and connectivity business backlog is very strong and so is our data center.

展望三月季度和六月季度，記憶體業務看起來也相當強勁，FPGA 業務也是如此，其中航空航太、國防和工業領域都貢獻了很大一部分成長動力。我們的網路和連接業務訂單儲備非常充足，資料中心業務也是如此。

And just to add on to one point there that you had asked, we are not expecting the same benefit that we got on the licensing business in the December quarter to repeat in the March quarter. And in spite of that, we're still guiding up 6.2% at the midpoint.

另外，關於您剛才問到的一點，我們預計在 3 月的季度中，我們不會像 12 月那樣從授權業務中獲得相同的收益。儘管如此，我們仍預期該股中點將上漲 6.2%。

Yeah. I guess that maybe follows into my gross margin question because you are guiding kind of flat. I think if you calculate the inventory write-off, like 5 percentage points of a headwind, you won't get it all back. But it sounded like you expect it to do step down in March. So shouldn't you get a couple of percent benefit from that? I'm just trying to understand the moving pieces in the March on gross margin.

是的。我想這可能與我的毛利率問題有關，因為你給出的指導意見比較平穩。我認為，如果你把庫存減損計算在內，比如說 5 個百分點的逆風，你就無法全部收回成本。但聽起來你似乎預計它會在三月卸任。那麼，你不應該從中獲得幾個百分點的利益嗎？我只是想了解3月毛利率變動背後的各種因素。

So we are guiding up. The midpoint of guidance on gross margin is 61% versus the 60.5% we produced last quarter on a non-GAAP basis. And again, that licensing benefit that we got in the December quarter, that's 100% gross margin that doesn't repeat. So again, that is a headwind in the current quarter to gross margin. And in spite of that, we're showing some nice growth, and that's our expectation that those inventory reserves continue to come down to be more normalized this quarter.

所以我們正在向上引導。毛利率預期中位數為 61%，而上一季以非 GAAP 準則計算的毛利率為 60.5%。此外，我們在 12 月獲得的授權收益，毛利率高達 100%，而且這種收益不會再次出現。所以，這又對本季的毛利率構成不利影響。儘管如此，我們還是取得了一些不錯的成長，我們預計本季庫存儲備將繼續下降，並趨於正常化。

Did that address your question?

這樣回答了你的問題嗎？

Yeah, makes sense. Thank you.

嗯，有道理。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Vijay Rakesh, Mizuho Securities.

（操作員指示）Vijay Rakesh，瑞穗證券。

Eric, just a quick question. Where are fab utilizations now blended? And how should we look at OpEx for the rest of the year? And a quick follow-up. Thanks.

艾瑞克，問你個問題。目前晶圓廠的利用率都集中在哪些地方？那麼，我們該如何看待今年剩餘時間的營運支出呢？還有一個後續問題。謝謝。

We don't break out the fab utilization numerically. We just guide you whether it's going up or down. We run a very complex product process mix. So it's not a fab that just has dynamic RAM process and you can say whether the utilization is 80% or 70% or 60%. We run a very complex mix with hundreds of different processes for our microcontroller, analog, memory, and other products. And there's a different utilization factor on different processes.

我們不提供晶圓廠利用率的詳細數值資料。我們只是引導你了解它是上升還是下降。我們的產品流程非常複雜。所以這不是只有動態 RAM 製程的晶圓廠，你可以說它的利用率是 80%、70% 還是 60%。我們的微控制器、類比電路、記憶體和其他產品都運行著非常複雜的混合系統，其中包含數百種不同的製程。不同工藝的利用率也不同。

So really averaging it is really not very meaningful. But having said that, I would say our current factory utilization is quite low. And therefore, there's a significant upside of the order of $50 million or so in gross margin eventually as we bring the factories to full production.

所以，取平均值其實意義不大。但話雖如此，我認為我們目前的工廠利用率相當低。因此，隨著工廠全面投產，最終毛利有望大幅成長，達到 5,000 萬美元左右。

And the other piece of his question was?

他問題的另一部分是？

The second piece was on OpEx. So you can see based on our guidance that OpEx is growing in dollars in the current quarter and it's coming down as a percentage of revenue. And we've been kind of signaling to analysts and investors that there's investments that we need to make in our people, right? We need to bring bonuses back to target levels. That is factored into what we're guiding to in the current quarter.

第二部分是關於營運支出的。因此，根據我們的指導意見，可以看出本季營運支出（以美元計）正在成長，但其占收入的百分比正在下降。我們一直在向分析師和投資者發出信號，我們需要對員工進行投資，對吧？我們需要將獎金恢復到目標水準。這一點已納入我們對本季業績的預期之中。

And then we've got pent-up demand for raises. We had people on a pay cut last year and cash raises need to come back. And that's really what's driving the increase in OpEx, but we're still laser-focused on bringing OpEx down as a percentage of sales and driving towards over time, our long-term model, which is 25% of revenue, but we've got a ways to go to get there. But these investments are really required to make sure we are retaining and attracting talent that we need to drive the R&D efforts of the company, the product development efforts and the sales support activities to drive the health of our business three and five years out in time.

而且，我們還面臨積壓已久的加薪需求。去年我們給一些員工減薪，現在需要恢復現金加薪。而這正是導致營運支出增加的真正原因，但我們仍專注於降低營運支出佔銷售額的比例，並逐步實現我們的長期模式，即營運支出佔收入的 25%，但我們距離目標還有很長的路要走。但這些投資確實必不可少，以確保我們能夠留住並吸引所需的人才，從而推動公司的研發工作、產品開發工作和銷售支援活動，以在未來三到五年內保持業務的健康發展。

And just a quick one. Aerospace defense, I think this has been a huge driver for Microchip. I think you guys are one of the biggest suppliers there. Any thoughts on how we should look at how that segment does '26, '27, I guess? Thanks.

就簡單問一個。我認為航空航太國防一直是Microchip公司發展的重要驅動力。我認為你們是那裡最大的供應商之一。對於我們該如何看待2026年、2027年這一部分的表現，大家有什麼想法嗎？謝謝。

So I think if you just look at what's happening geopolitically, starting from the US, there's a -- one of the largest defense budget in the US. Microchip is in every offensive and defensive weapon in our military arsenal. There's also commercial airplane production that's building up with -- Boeing wasn't building MAX planes for a while, and now they're building MAX planes at a record speed. So that's doing very well.

所以我覺得，如果你看看地緣政治局勢，從美國開始，你會發現美國擁有世界上最大的國防預算之一。我們軍事武器庫中的每一種進攻性和防禦性武器都含有微晶片。此外，商用飛機的生產也在加速——波音公司有一段時間沒有生產MAX飛機，而現在他們正在以創紀錄的速度生產MAX飛機。所以這方面做得非常好。

Now when you go to Europe, Europe is under a lot of pressure. NATO countries are under a lot of pressure to double or triple their defense budget because they haven't spent what they were supposed to spend under the NATO treaty. And so they're increasing their budgets, and we are handsomely benefiting with a lot of European customers doubling, tripling their production.

現在你去歐洲，會發現歐洲面臨很大的壓力。北約國家面臨著將國防預算增加兩倍甚至三倍的巨大壓力，因為它們沒有按照北約條約的規定支出應有的國防開支。因此，他們增加了預算，我們也從中受益匪淺，許多歐洲客戶的產量翻了一番、兩番。

And I think the last piece would be everybody is exploring space. I mean, even India landed a rover on the dark side of the moon. It was loaded with our products. So as space exploration picks up and with all these new companies like SpaceX and all that launching satellites and others, they all have essentially our products in it. So it's facing multiple wins on the back that's driving A&D sector.

我認為最後一點是，每個人都在探索太空。我的意思是，就連印度都成功地將探測車送上月球背面了。裡面裝滿了我們的產品。隨著太空探索的興起，以及像 SpaceX 這樣的新公司不斷發射衛星等等，它們基本上都使用了我們的產品。因此，推動航空航太與國防產業的多重利好因素正在顯現。

And it's also -- one other comment there, too, there's also quite a bit of investment in new defense and new aerospace as well. Drone manufacturers and new defense manufacturers that are popping up and also consuming quite a bit of those products.

還有一點要補充的是，國防和航空航太領域的新投資也相當可觀。無人機製造商和新興的國防製造商也消耗了大量此類產品。

Joe Moore, Morgan Stanley.

喬摩爾，摩根士丹利。

You mentioned the FPGA business a couple of times within the other category. Can you give us a sense for what kind of growth you're seeing there? And generally, anything we should be thinking about from a growth or market share perspective in this coming year in FPGAs?

您在其他類別中曾經幾次提到FPGA業務。您能大致描述一下您那裡的成長嗎？總的來說，從成長或市佔率的角度來看，我們明年在FPGA領域有哪些需要考慮的問題？

Well, FPGA is seeing a very good growth, and I would say, very large growth, and we're gaining share in FPGA. Considering that it's very hard to get competitors' FPGA numbers where Xilinx is buried in AMD and Alterra is now private, so we can't get their numbers. I think giving our FPGA number would just be giving benefits to the others. So we're not ready to kind of break it out.

FPGA 的發展勢頭非常好，可以說發展非常迅猛，我們在 FPGA 領域的市佔率正在擴大。考慮到很難獲得競爭對手的 FPGA 數據，因為 Xilinx 已被 AMD 收購，而 Alterra 現在又是私有的，所以我們無法取得他們的數據。我認為提供我們的FPGA編號只會讓其他人受益。所以我們還沒準備好把它公佈出來。

After the year finishes the fiscal year, maybe we'll give you some sort of bracketed number. But for now, I would say we're gaining share over the others and is seeing a very large growth.

等到財政年度結束後，我們或許會給你一個括號的數字。但就目前而言，我認為我們正在超越其他競爭對手，並實現了非常大的成長。

And then if I could follow up on the PCI Express switching comments on the hyperscale side. You talked about the three customers and $100 million customer next year. Can you give us a sense for -- are those scale-up types of applications? And what does the roadmap look like? Do you need to move to Gen 7? Do you move to eLink, UALink? Like how do you maintain the revenue momentum once you've established it?

然後，我能否就超大規模資料中心方面的 PCI Express 交換問題進行一些補充說明？你提到了三位客戶，以及明年一位價值 1 億美元的客戶。您能否為我們介紹一下—這些是可擴展類型的應用程式嗎？那麼，路線圖是什麼樣的呢？你需要升級到第七代嗎？你們會遷移到 eLink 或 UALink 嗎？一旦建立了營收成長勢頭，如何才能保持下去？

So Gen 6 has quite a bit of runway. I mean, we are hardly getting started. On the research side, we're already working on Gen 7. So Gen 7 is already underway, and it has been for about, I would say, nine months to a year.

所以第六世代還有相當大的發展空間。我的意思是，我們才剛開始。在研發方面，我們已經在著手研發第七代產品了。所以第七代產品已經上市，而且已經上市大約九個月到一年了。

But on the Gen 6, now is in the design phase with the customers. We have a number of engagements. We released three design wins, and hopefully, we'll be coming up with additional design wins in the coming quarters.

但第六代產品目前正處於與客戶共同進行的設計階段。我們有很多工作安排。我們發布了三件設計獲獎作品，希望在接下來的幾季中能夠獲得更多設計獲獎作品。

We're working on some mega design wins. I don't have one to announce yet. And if we get some, then this $100 million could look small.

我們正在努力爭取一些重量級的設計項目。我目前還沒有任何消息可以宣布。如果我們能籌集到一些資金，那麼這1億美元可能就顯得微不足道了。

(multiple speakers) question was on scale up versus scale out. I don't know if Steve or Matthias wants to address that.

（多位發言者）問題是關於向上擴展還是向外擴展。我不知道史蒂夫或馬蒂亞斯是否想談論這個問題。

I don't know if we are willing to disclose that. I just think it's a very sensitive subject because of how some of the competitors are with the customers. And any competitor -- I'm sorry, any customer who is openly known to then buy from Microchip could get the wrath of one of the competitors. So we're really keeping it very guarded.

我不知道我們是否願意透露此事。我覺得這是一個很敏感的話題，因為有些競爭對手對待顧客的方式很敏感。任何競爭對手——抱歉，是任何公開承認從 Microchip 購買產品的客戶——都可能招致競爭對手的憤怒。所以我們對此嚴加保密。

Chris Caso, Wolfe Research.

克里斯‧卡索，沃爾夫研究公司。

First question is about gross margins and just coming back to the progress on gross margins as we proceed here and presumably as revenue gets better. Eric, in the past, we've used a fall-through model, maybe something in the mid-70s or so of incremental revenue falling through.

第一個問題是關於毛利率的，隨著我們業務的進展以及收入的改善，毛利率的進展將會如何變化。艾瑞克，過去我們採用的是逐步取消模型，大概是 70 多美元左右的增量收入取消模型。

Now that the inventory reserves, they sound like they're going to normalize in the March quarter. Is that the right way to look at it? And if so, what would be the fall-through level?

現在看來，庫存儲備將在三月的季度恢復正常。這樣看待這個問題是否正確？如果真是這樣，那麼跌破閾值會是多少？

Yeah. I mean, I know that makes it easiest to model. I'm not uncomfortable with using something like that, but it will absolutely be lumpier. It's not going to be as smooth as just putting it in a forecast. It's going to be how we ramp the factories, what the mix of product is in any given quarter.

是的。我的意思是，我知道這樣最容易建模。我不介意使用類似的東西，但它肯定會比較粗糙。這不會像直接把它放到天氣預報裡那麼簡單。關鍵在於我們如何提高工廠產能，以及每季的產品組合是什麼。

But clearly, we still have ways to go from 61% to our 65% target. And again, I'm not uncomfortable with it being modeled that way, but it will -- clearly, the quarterly results will be a bit different than kind of straight lining it.

但顯然，我們距離 65% 的目標還有一段路要走。再次強調，我並不反對採用這種建模方式，但顯然，季度結果會與直線成長的方式略有不同。

I would add -- let me add this thing. I think we are seeing stronger growth on the products that we get from foundry versus inside. FPGA is 100% outside, doesn't run inside our fabs. Data center products 100% outside, do not run in our fabs. Our networking products, T1S products that Matthias talked about are all running outside. They do not run inside. Maybe some runs inside, but mostly outside that business unit.

我還要補充一點——讓我補充一點。我認為，與內部生產的產品相比，從代工廠採購的產品成長更為強勁。FPGA 完全位於外部，不在我們的晶圓廠內運作。資料中心產品 100% 外部生產，不在我們的晶圓廠內運作。Matthias提到的T1S網路產品，也就是我們的網路產品，都是在戶外運作的。它們不會跑進室內。可能有一些跑腿是在該業務部門內部進行的，但大部分跑腿是在該業務部門外部進行的。

So there is a lot of growth coming from outside. And this underutilization is largely in our fabs inside. So that's why the underutilization part would take longer and be slower to come. But all these products that are running outside, these are all very high-margin products, well above corporate average. So what we will not get on the utilization side will pick it up in the higher than corporate margin on these high-growth products from outside. So gross margin will still continue to accrete.

因此，許多成長都來自外部。而這種產能利用不足的情況主要發生在我們內部的晶圓廠。所以，這就是未充分利用部分需要更長、更緩慢才能實現的原因。但所有這些在戶外銷售的產品，都是利潤率非常高的產品，遠高於企業平均。因此，我們在利用率方面無法獲得的收益，將從外部獲得高於公司利潤率的高成長產品收益。因此，毛利率將持續成長。

Right. But it's happening because of mix as opposed to utilization.

正確的。但這種情況的出現是因為產品組合的變化，而不是因為利用率的變化。

It's both. I mean, utilization is increasing also, but I just want to make the point that the gross margin improvement is not going to come 100% from the utilization only because mix is richening.

兩者兼具。我的意思是，產能利用率也在提高，但我只想指出，毛利率的提高不會 100% 來自產能利用率的提高，因為產品組合正在變得更加豐富。

Right. So in our fabs, today, we are significantly underproducing compared to what we're shipping, and that's why inventory is coming down. And so that will change gradually over time, and we'll grow back into the capacity. So underutilization will come down as we move ahead but not at a lightning speed.

正確的。所以，目前我們工廠的產量遠低於出貨量，這就是庫存下降的原因。因此，隨著時間的推移，這種情況會逐漸改變，我們將恢復到原來的產能。因此，隨著時間的推移，資源利用不足的情況會減少，但不會以閃電般的速度減少。

I can almost guess your next question. If all these products have higher than corporate gross margin and they're growing faster, then is our long-term model higher?

我幾乎可以猜到你下一個問題了。如果所有這些產品的毛利率都高於公司平均水平，且成長速度更快，那麼我們的長期模型是否更高？

Let us get there first.

我們先到那裡去。

Okay. I won't to ask that follow-up then. As a follow-up, on the use of cash, and you had talked about a desire to take down debt. Could you go in a little more detail there? And does that mean that you're going to be pausing buybacks even as cash flow improves and prioritize the reduction of debt? And if so, what level of debt are you targeting? How long does that continue for prioritization of debt?

好的。那我就不問後續問題了。作為後續問題，關於現金的使用，您曾談到想要償還債務。能再詳細解釋一下嗎？那是否意味著，即使現金流改善，你們也會暫停股票回購，並將減少債務作為首要任務？如果是這樣，你們的目標債務水準是多少？債務優先償還政策會持續多久？

So I think I don't have a hard number for you, but I can talk about it in general. We are honestly spooked by this last cycle, how difficult this cycle was and how close we came with a high level of debt. And as the profits came down with the down cycle, the leverage was going to go above 6 almost, which would be a junk rating, and we had to go raise $1.5 billion of almost this preferred convert to keep our debt rating and all that. So we're largely spooked by a very large debt.

所以，我可能無法給你一個確切的數字，但我可以大致談談這個問題。說實話，我們對上一輪經濟週期感到害怕，這一輪週期有多麼艱難，我們差點就背負了巨額債務。隨著經濟下行週期導致利潤下降，槓桿率幾乎超過 6 倍，這將使信用評級降至垃圾級，我們不得不籌集近 15 億美元的優先可轉換債券來維持我們的債務評級等等。所以，我們很大程度上是被巨額債務嚇到了。

So we're going to be bringing down debt for quite some time and keep the dividend flat and not do any buyback until the debt has come down significantly and debt leverage has come down significantly to a number that I can't give right now because we haven't figured that number out.

因此，我們將在相當長的一段時間內降低債務，保持股息不變，並且在債務大幅下降、債務槓桿率大幅下降到我現在無法給出的某個數字（因為我們還沒有確定這個數字）之前，不會進行任何股票回購。

Right. So you remember way back in late 2021 at our Analyst Day, we set a 1.5 times net leverage target. And we did better than that in the up cycle, but that was on earnings that really weren't sustainable looking back.

正確的。所以你還記得嗎？早在 2021 年底的分析師日上，我們就設定了 1.5 倍的淨槓桿目標。在經濟上行週期中，我們的表現比這更好，但事後看來，當時的獲利水準是不可持續的。

So we want to be conservative from a balance sheet perspective, get debt down. And we're -- this is the -- the quarter we just completed was the first quarter in a long time that our adjusted free cash flow exceeded our dividend payments. So debt's coming down, that's heading in the right direction, but we've got a ways to go, as Steve said.

所以從資產負債表的角度來看，我們希望保持保守，降低債務。而且，我們——剛結束的這個季度是很長一段時間以來，我們調整後的自由現金流首次超過了股息支付。所以債務正在下降，這是朝著正確方向發展，但正如史蒂夫所說，我們還有很長的路要走。

Our debt leverage was over 4. It was 4.18. So trying to drive a number right now based on any past experience of 1.5 or so is a mute exercise. I mean we're so far away. So let us make some progress. And as we get closer, then we'll try to drive to a number.

我們的債務槓桿比率超過 4。當時是 4.18。所以現在試圖根據過去 1.5 左右的經驗來推算數字是毫無意義的。我的意思是，我們離得太遠了。那麼，讓我們取得一些進展吧。當我們越來越接近目標時，我們會嘗試開車前往某個數字。

Harlan Sur, JPMorgan.

哈蘭‧蘇爾，摩根大通。

Steve, relative to 90 days ago when you guys guided revenues down 1% sequentially with the view that customers are wanting to take down their inventories into year-end. Comparing that to what you just delivered, I mean, it looks like your returns to business, your short lead time orders booked and shipped in the same quarter came in much stronger than expected.

史蒂夫，與 90 天前你們預測收入將環比下降 1% 的情況相比，當時你們認為客戶希望在年底前減少庫存。與你剛剛交付的數據相比，我的意思是，你的業務回報，以及在同一季度預訂和發貨的短期訂單，看起來都比預期要強勁得多。

So is it fair to assume that returns to business as a percent of total revenues came in well above historical trends? Typically, which is what you would expect, right, in the early phases of an up cycle. And are you still seeing the same or higher level of turns mix this quarter and expedite requests so far increasing this quarter as well?

那麼，假設企業報酬率佔總收入的百分比遠高於歷史趨勢是否合理呢？通常情況下，這正是你所預期的，對吧，在上升週期的早期階段。本季您是否仍看到相同或更高的轉彎率，加急請求在本季也是否有所增加？

Yes, correct. January was very, very strong. The turns component in the bookings was quite high. We continue to get the pull-in request.

是的，沒錯。一月份表現非常非常強勁。預訂中的轉售率相當高。我們持續收到拉取請求。

See, a lot of the backlog was getting pulled in from January into December based on customer requests. And now we're seeing the same thing. A lot of the backlog is being pulled from April into this quarter based on customer requests and bookings are strong, and they're replacing that backlog for April while they're pulling the existing one into this quarter.

你看，很多積壓的工作都是依照顧客的要求，從一月一直延續到十二月。現在我們看到的情況也是如此。由於客戶要求和預訂情況良好，許多四月份的積壓訂單都被轉移到了本季度，他們在將現有訂單轉移到本季度的同時，也在填補四月份的積壓訂單。

I think the largest piece was somehow because of less inventory, everybody worked through holidays. People didn't stop in Thanksgiving; they didn't stop in Christmas. They didn't stop in the New Year holidays, and we'll find out what happened in the Chinese New Year. So usually, for example, a lot of the distribution business is based on a number of shipping days. And if you have a bunch of holidays where warehouses are closed, then it affects revenue.

我認為最大的損失可能是由於庫存減少，而且大家都在假期加班造成的。人們在感恩節沒有停止慶祝，在聖誕節也沒有停止慶祝。他們並沒有在新年假期停止犯案，我們將了解春節期間究竟發生了什麼事。例如，許多分銷業務都是基於一定的發貨天數來計算的。如果假日期間倉庫關閉，就會影響收入。

Nothing affected revenue last quarter. We just kept getting upside. Everybody wanted product. Bookings were very strong. They were pulling it in. They were expediting. There were just all sorts of -- it was an upcycle kind of behavior, which was really suddenly, we didn't model that going into the December quarter. And all that is continuing in the current quarter.

上季營收未受到任何影響。我們一直都在上漲。每個人都想要產品。預訂情況非常熱門。他們正在把它拉回來。他們正在加快進度。當時出現了各種各樣的情況——這是一種上升週期的行為，這真的非常突然，我們在進入 12 月季度時並沒有對此進行建模。所有這些情況在本季度仍在繼續。

I expect 6.2% sequential growth to be a very strong guidance. I mean, we haven't grown 6.2% in a very long time sequentially. So this is very, very good.

我預計環比增長 6.2% 將是一個非常強勁的業績指引。我的意思是，我們已經很久沒有連續成長 6.2% 了。這非常好。

I appreciate that. And if I ex out licensing revenues, your other segment still grew close to like 8% sequentially, right? As you mentioned, some of the product growth was FPGA, data center memory, networking. I didn't hear you mention this, but I seem to recall historically that the team has had very strong traction in data center SSD controllers, both the chip, but even more importantly, like you guys, I think, have a very strong firmware stack.

我很感激。如果剔除授權收入，你們的其他業務部門仍較上季成長了近 8%，對吧？正如您所提到的，部分產品成長來自 FPGA、資料中心記憶體和網路領域。我沒聽你提起過這一點，但我記得從歷史來看，該團隊在資料中心 SSD 控制器領域一直有著非常強大的影響力，無論是晶片，還是更重要的是，我認為，和你們一樣，他們擁有非常強大的韌體堆疊。

Right now, data center SSD demand is very strong, right? AI compute is finding all of these new use cases for SSDs. Is the Microchip team benefiting from this? Are you guys still committing R&D investments to the data center SSD franchise?

目前資料中心對固態硬碟的需求非常強勁，對吧？人工智慧運算正在發現固態硬碟的所有這些新用途。Microchip團隊是否從中受益？你們還在繼續對資料中心固態硬碟（SSD）產品線進行研發投入嗎？

Yeah, absolutely. So we support and continue investing in the storage segment of data centers into the switching segment of data centers, both for -- and the storage, both for flash as well as for HDB. So we've got three solid product lines that we are supporting and continue to invest in.

是的，絕對的。因此，我們支援並繼續投資資料中心的儲存部分和交換部分，包括快閃記憶體和 HDB 儲存。因此，我們有三條穩定的產品線，我們正在支持並將繼續投資。

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to pass the call back over to Steve for any closing remarks.

謝謝。目前沒有其他問題了。我想把電話轉回給史蒂夫，讓他做最後的總結發言。

Well, we want to thank all the investors for sticking with us through this last year of recovery. And we finished the year pretty good, and we're looking for an outstanding calendar year 2026. And we'll see some of you on the road as we go to some conferences this quarter. Thank you.

在此，我們要感謝所有投資人在過去一年的復甦過程中與我們攜手共進。我們今年的成績相當不錯，期待2026年能取得輝煌的成績。本季我們將參加一些會議，屆時我們將在路上見到你們中的一些人。謝謝。

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以在此時斷開線路。感謝您的參與。