Everspin Technologies Inc (MRAM) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the conference call to discuss Everspin Technologies Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this call is being recorded today, Wednesday, March 1, 2023.

下午好，歡迎參加電話會議，討論 Everspin Technologies 第四季度和 2022 年全年業績。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，今天，即 2023 年 3 月 1 日，星期三，正在錄製此電話。

Before we begin the call, I want to remind you that this conference call contains forward-looking statements regarding future events, including, but not limited to, our expectations for Everspin's future business, financial performance and goals, customer and industry adoption of MRAM technology, successfully bringing to market and manufacturing products in Everspin's design pipeline and executing on its business plan. These forward-looking statements are based on estimates, judgments, current trends and market conditions and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements.

在我們開始通話之前，我想提醒您，本次電話會議包含有關未來事件的前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於我們對 Everspin 未來業務的預期、財務業績和目標、客戶和行業對 MRAM 技術的採用，成功地將 Everspin 的設計管道中的產品推向市場並製造產品，並執行其業務計劃。這些前瞻性陳述基於估計、判斷、當前趨勢和市場條件，涉及可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中包含的結果存在重大差異的風險和不確定性。

We would encourage you to review our SEC filings, including our annual report Form 10-K, which will be filed with the SEC on March 2, 2023, and the other SEC filings made from time to time, in which we may discuss risk factors associated with investing in Everspin.

我們鼓勵您查看我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，包括我們將於 2023 年 3 月 2 日向美國證券交易委員會提交的年度報告 10-K 表格，以及不時提交給美國證券交易委員會的其他文件，我們可能會在其中討論風險因素與投資 Everspin 有關。

All forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this call, and except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made on this call to update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

所有前瞻性陳述均在本次電話會議召開之日作出，除法律要求外，我們沒有義務更新本次電話會議上作出的任何前瞻性陳述以更新或更改我們的前瞻性陳述，無論是作為新信息、未來事件或其他原因的結果。

The financial results discussed today reflect our -- preliminary estimates are based on the information available as of the date hereof and are subject to further review by Everspin and its internal auditors. Our actual results may differ materially from those estimates as a result of completion of our financial closing procedures, final adjustments and other developments arising between now and the time that our financial results for this period are finalized.

今天討論的財務結果反映了我們的初步估計，該估計基於截至本文發布之日可用的信息，並有待 Everspin 及其內部審計師進一步審查。我們的實際結果可能與這些估計存在重大差異，因為我們完成了財務結算程序、最終調整以及從現在到我們本期財務結果最終確定時的其他發展。

Additionally, the company's press release and statements made during this conference call will include discussions of certain measures and financial information in GAAP and non-GAAP terms. Included in the company's press release are definitions and reconciliations of GAAP net income to adjusted EBITDA, which provide additional details. A copy of the press release is posted in the Investor Relations section of Everspin's website at www.everspin.com.

此外，公司在本次電話會議期間發布的新聞稿和聲明將包括以 GAAP 和非 GAAP 條款討論某些措施和財務信息。公司新聞稿中包含 GAAP 淨收入與調整後 EBITDA 的定義和對賬，其中提供了更多詳細信息。新聞稿的副本張貼在 Everspin 網站 www.everspin.com 的投資者關係部分。

And now, I'd like to turn the call over to Everspin's President and Chief Executive Officer, Sanjeev Aggarwal. Sanjeev, please go ahead.

現在，我想把電話轉給 Everspin 的總裁兼首席執行官 Sanjeev Aggarwal。 Sanjeev，請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and thanks, everyone, for joining us on the call today. Everspin delivered quarterly revenue of $15.7 million, above the high end of guidance, leading to an all-time record full year revenue of $60 million for 2022. We were GAAP net income positive for the seventh quarter in a row, which continues to be a focus for the company. A few records we reached in Q4 for the full year 2022 include record annual total revenue, record annual product revenue, record annual net income, record annual cash flow from operations, record annual EBITDA, record annual design wins again in 2022 after setting a record in 2021.

謝謝接線員，也感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。 Everspin 實現了 1570 萬美元的季度收入，高於指導值的上限，導致 2022 年的全年收入創歷史新高，達到 6000 萬美元。我們連續第七個季度的 GAAP 淨收入為正，這仍然是專注於公司。我們在 2022 年全年第四季度創下的一些記錄包括創紀錄的年度總收入、創紀錄的年度產品收入、創紀錄的年度淨收入、創紀錄的年度運營現金流、創紀錄的年度 EBITDA、創紀錄的 2022 年再次創紀錄的年度設計勝利2021年。

Next, a few highlights for Q4 2022 and the full year 2022 include: Revenue for Q4 was $15.7 million, up 3% quarter-over-quarter; full year revenue was $60 million, up 9% year-over-year; product sales were $14.6 million, consistent quarter-over-quarter; product sales for the full year were $55 million, up 25% year-over-year; cash flow from operations was $5.2 million in Q4, totaling $9.5 million for the full year; GAAP gross margin was 56.6% for the year; and GAAP net income was $6.1 million for the year.

接下來，2022 年第四季度和 2022 年全年的一些亮點包括：第四季度收入為 1570 萬美元，環比增長 3%；全年收入為 6000 萬美元，同比增長 9%；產品銷售額為 1460 萬美元，環比一致；全年產品銷售額為5500萬美元，同比增長25%；第四季度運營現金流為 520 萬美元，全年總計 950 萬美元；全年 GAAP 毛利率為 56.6%；當年 GAAP 淨收入為 610 萬美元。

Our business outlook, our product backlog for balance of 2023 as of December 31, 2022, continues to be high, although we are experiencing some headwinds from the semiconductor downturn. We continue to alleviate some of our foundry supply chain constraints, which is helping address our unfulfilled Toggle demand.

我們的業務前景，即我們截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日的 2023 年餘額產品積壓，仍然很高，儘管我們正經歷半導體低迷帶來的一些不利因素。我們繼續緩解我們的一些代工供應鏈限制，這有助於解決我們未滿足的 Toggle 需求。

Turning to technology. Everspin remains confident in its future opportunities and continues to invest in our leadership in STT-MRAM technology. We have tuned our STT-MRAM technology to deliver high-performance, persistent products for multiple nonvolatile memory markets, including DRAM, SRAM and NOR Flash. Our STT-MRAM products targeting the replacement of battery-backed DRAM started production in 2017, and are currently shipping in 256 megabit and 1 gigabit densities with DDR3 and DDR4 derivative interfaces. These products are delivering significant value to SSD, persistent memory cards, fabric accelerators and other applications in the data center market.

轉向技術。 Everspin 對其未來的機會充滿信心，並繼續投資於我們在 STT-MRAM 技術方面的領先地位。我們調整了 STT-MRAM 技術，為多個非易失性存儲器市場提供高性能、持久的產品，包括 DRAM、SRAM 和 NOR 閃存。我們旨在替代電池供電 DRAM 的 STT-MRAM 產品於 2017 年開始生產，目前以 256 兆位和 1 千兆位密度出貨，具有 DDR3 和 DDR4 衍生接口。這些產品正在為 SSD、持久性存儲卡、結構加速器和數據中心市場中的其他應用程序帶來巨大價值。

In 2022, we introduced an xSPI family of STT-MRAM products that was developed by tuning our STT-MRAM technology for DRAM to scale our Toggle MRAM offerings to higher densities on advanced CMOS nodes. These products are available on 28-nanometer CMOS node in densities from 8 megabit to 128 megabit with standardized SPI, Quad-SPI and Octo-SPI interfaces. These products are enabling our customers to simplify the system architecture and easily replace legacy memory components like SRAM and ferroelectric memories or FRAM.

2022 年，我們推出了一個 xSPI 系列的 STT-MRAM 產品，該產品是通過調整我們的 DRAM STT-MRAM 技術開發的，以將我們的 Toggle MRAM 產品擴展到高級 CMOS 節點上的更高密度。這些產品可用於 28 納米 CMOS 節點，密度從 8 兆位到 128 兆位，具有標準化的 SPI、Quad-SPI 和 Octo-SPI 接口。這些產品使我們的客戶能夠簡化系統架構，並輕鬆替換 SRAM 和鐵電存儲器或 FRAM 等傳統存儲器組件。

Based on the strong interest and feedback from our customers in this new xSPI family of STT-MRAM devices, we designed and taped out and optimized solution on 28-nanometer CMOS for lower densities from 4 meg to 16 megabit in Q4 of 2022. This allows us to better compete with alternate memory solutions in this density range. This family of products are ideal for use in electronic systems like industrial IoT, network, enterprise infrastructure, process automation and control, aeronautics, medical and gaming.

基於我們的客戶對這個新的 xSPI 系列 STT-MRAM 設備的強烈興趣和反饋，我們在 2022 年第四季度設計、流片和優化了 28 納米 CMOS 的解決方案，以實現從 4 兆位到 16 兆位的更低密度。這允許我們可以更好地與此密度範圍內的替代內存解決方案競爭。該系列產品非常適合用於工業物聯網、網絡、企業基礎設施、過程自動化和控制、航空、醫療和遊戲等電子系統。

Due to the limitations of NOR scaling past 45 nanometer, we believe there is a potential for STT-MRAM for discrete NOR Flash replacement, similar to the embedded market. We tuned our STT-MRAM technology and introduced the first STT-MRAM product addressing this segment of the market in 2022 as well and are currently shipping in 16-megabit to 128-megabit densities. Everspin, with its experience in higher density greater than 256-megabit STT-MRAM products, is uniquely positioned to design and manufacture monolithic high-density discrete parts for NOR replacement.

由於 NOR 縮放超過 45 納米的限制，我們認為 STT-MRAM 有潛力替代分立的 NOR 閃存，類似於嵌入式市場。我們調整了 STT-MRAM 技術，並於 2022 年推出了首款針對該細分市場的 STT-MRAM 產品，目前以 16 兆位至 128 兆位的密度出貨。 Everspin 憑藉其在高於 256 兆比特 STT-MRAM 產品方面的經驗，在設計和製造用於 NOR 替代的單片高密度分立部件方面具有獨特的優勢。

The first such product is in the design phase, and when available, would be ideal for replacing NOR, for example, in FPGA systems to store configuration memory and simultaneously enabling 100x faster over-the-air updates.

第一個此類產品正處於設計階段，一旦可用，將是替代 NOR 的理想選擇，例如，在 FPGA 系統中存儲配置內存，同時實現 100 倍的無線更新速度。

Switching to a different technology that could benefit greatly from STT-MRAM. In Q4 2022, we announced a collaborative engagement to develop strategic radiation-hardened FPGA technology. As part of the collaboration, Everspin will provide an STT-MRAM solution that acts as a configuration memory in the FPGA, thus eliminating the off- or on-chip NOR die and the SRAM cells that execute the lookup tables. This solution will promote enhanced security and enable instant-on characteristics.

切換到可以從 STT-MRAM 中受益匪淺的不同技術。 2022 年第四季度，我們宣布合作開發戰略性抗輻射 FPGA 技術。作為合作的一部分，Everspin 將提供一個 STT-MRAM 解決方案，作為 FPGA 中的配置存儲器，從而消除片外或片上 NOR 芯片和執行查找表的 SRAM 單元。該解決方案將提高安全性並實現即時啟動特性。

Further, the STT-MRAM-based configuration memory can be programmed multiple times with fast OTA updates or can be hardcoded, depending on the application. Since STT-MRAM can be scaled to advanced nodes and is already available on 22 nanometer and below, monolithic embedded solutions will be possible. We believe this solution from Everspin will play an important role in next-generation FPGAs.

此外，基於 STT-MRAM 的配置存儲器可以通過快速 OTA 更新進行多次編程，也可以根據應用進行硬編碼。由於 STT-MRAM 可以擴展到高級節點，並且已經可用於 22 納米及以下，因此單片嵌入式解決方案將成為可能。我們相信 Everspin 的這一解決方案將在下一代 FPGA 中發揮重要作用。

I will now turn it over to our CFO, Anuj Aggarwal, who will take you through our fourth quarter financials and first quarter 2023 guidance. Anuj?

我現在將把它交給我們的首席財務官 Anuj Aggarwal，他將向您介紹我們第四季度的財務狀況和 2023 年第一季度的指導意見。阿努吉？

Thank you, Sanjeev, and good afternoon, everyone. As part of the fourth quarter 2022 financial results, Everspin Technologies is pleased to announce its seventh consecutive quarter of positive, meaningful net income. In addition, we generated positive cash flows from operations resulted in a healthy cash balance of $26.8 million. We delivered solid quarterly results above the high end of guidance with revenue of $15.7 million compared to $15.2 million last quarter, and $18.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. We also had positive net income of $0.6 million and positive cash flow from operations of $5.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2022.

謝謝你，Sanjeev，大家下午好。作為 2022 年第四季度財務業績的一部分，Everspin Technologies 很高興地宣布其連續第七個季度實現有意義的正淨收入。此外，我們從運營中產生了正現金流，從而使現金餘額達到 2680 萬美元。我們的季度業績穩健，高於指導的上限，收入為 1570 萬美元，上一季度為 1520 萬美元，2021 年第四季度為 1820 萬美元。我們還獲得了 60 萬美元的正淨收入和 5.2 美元的運營現金流。萬 2022 年第四季度。

MRAM product sales in the fourth quarter, which included both Toggle and STT-MRAM revenue, was $14.6 million, consistent with the prior quarter, and an increase from $12.6 million in Q4 2021. Licensing, royalties, patents and other revenue in the fourth quarter was $1.1 million compared to $0.7 million in the previous quarter and $5.6 million in Q4 2021. Shipments to suppliers for our largest end customer who we serve with our high-density STT product for data center applications represented 5% of revenue in the quarter versus 19% of revenue in Q3, and 16% in Q4 '21.

包括 Toggle 和 STT-MRAM 收入在內的第四季度 MRAM 產品銷售額為 1460 萬美元，與上一季度持平，高於 2021 年第四季度的 1260 萬美元。第四季度的許可、特許權使用費、專利和其他收入為 110 萬美元，而上一季度為 70 萬美元，2021 年第四季度為 560 萬美元。我們為數據中心應用提供高密度 STT 產品服務的最大最終客戶的供應商出貨量佔本季度收入的 5%，而 19%佔第三季度收入的百分比，以及 21 年第四季度的 16%。

Turning to gross margin. GAAP gross margin for the first -- fourth quarter of 2022 was 51.4% versus 58.8% in the prior quarter, and 62.8% in Q4 '21. GAAP operating expenses for the fourth quarter of '22 were $7.5 million versus $7.1 million in the prior quarter, and $7.7 million in the fourth quarter 2021. The higher operating expenses in the quarter sequentially was primarily driven by increased costs to support the new STT industrial product that went into low-volume production in Q4.

轉向毛利率。 2022 年第一季度和第四季度的 GAAP 毛利率為 51.4%，而上一季度為 58.8%，21 年第四季度為 62.8%。 22 年第四季度的 GAAP 運營費用為 750 萬美元，上一季度為 710 萬美元，2021 年第四季度為 770 萬美元。本季度運營費用環比增加的主要原因是支持新 STT 工業的成本增加在第四季度進入小批量生產的產品。

We are pleased to report fourth quarter positive net income of $0.6 million or $0.03 per basic share, based on 20.1 million basic weighted average shares outstanding. This compares to a GAAP net income of $1.9 million or $0.09 per basic share in the third quarter of '22, and net income of $3.7 million or $0.19 per basic share in the fourth quarter of '21.

我們很高興地報告第四季度正淨收入為 60 萬美元或每股 0.03 美元，基於 2010 萬股基本加權平均流通股。相比之下，22 年第三季度的 GAAP 淨收入為 190 萬美元或基本股每股 0.09 美元，21 年第四季度的淨收入為 370 萬美元或基本股每股 0.19 美元。

Basic EPS of $0.03 was better than the midpoint of our guidance range, reflecting our strategic operational discipline and ability to drive profitability in the face of tightening supplies and macroeconomic uncertainties. Adjusted EBITDA continues to remain positive. For Q4 '22, adjusted EBITDA was $2.1 million compared to $3.4 million in the prior quarter and $4.8 million in Q4 '21. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year of '22 is at a record high of $11.8 million. Cash and cash equivalents increased to $26.8 million at the end of the fourth quarter compared to $23.4 million at the end of the prior quarter, and $21.4 million in Q4 '21. Cash flow from operations was $5.2 million for the current quarter, increasing the year's cash flow from operations to $9.5 million.

0.03 美元的基本每股收益優於我們指導範圍的中點，反映了我們的戰略運營紀律和在供應緊張和宏觀經濟不確定性的情況下推動盈利的能力。調整後的 EBITDA 繼續保持正值。對於 22 年第四季度，調整後的 EBITDA 為 210 萬美元，而上一季度為 340 萬美元，21 年第四季度為 480 萬美元。 22 年全年調整後的 EBITDA 達到 1180 萬美元的歷史新高。現金和現金等價物在第四季度末增加到 2680 萬美元，而上一季度末為 2340 萬美元，21 年第四季度為 2140 萬美元。本季度運營現金流為 520 萬美元，使全年運營現金流增加至 950 萬美元。

Turning to our first quarter of 2023 guidance, Everspin is confident in its opportunities and ability to navigate the semiconductor macroeconomic challenges. Demand for our Toggle products remains strong. Everspin expects total revenue in the range of $14.1 million to $14.8 million, and Everspin expects GAAP net income per basic share to be breakeven to $0.05, primarily influenced by expenses related to our next-generation 20-nanometer STT-MRAM product development and price increases from our suppliers.

談到我們 2023 年第一季度的指引，Everspin 對其應對半導體宏觀經濟挑戰的機會和能力充滿信心。對我們的 Toggle 產品的需求依然強勁。 Everspin 預計總收入在 1,410 萬美元至 1,480 萬美元之間，Everspin 預計 GAAP 每股基本淨收入將達到收支平衡至 0.05 美元，這主要受到與我們的下一代 20 納米 STT-MRAM 產品開發和價格上漲相關的費用的影響來自我們的供應商。

I now turn it back over to Sanjeev for some brief additional commentary before we open it up for questions.

在我們開始提問之前，我現在將它轉回給 Sanjeev 進行一些簡短的補充評論。

Thanks, Anuj. In summary, Everspin reported the best financial year in the company's history with strong fourth quarter results. We continue to build towards the future of profitable, sustainable growth, thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Everspin employees. We are confident in our future opportunities and are excited to see the interest from our customers in our STT-MRAM products.

謝謝，阿努吉。總之，Everspin 報告了公司歷史上最好的財政年度，第四季度業績強勁。由於 Everspin 員工的辛勤工作和奉獻精神，我們將繼續朝著盈利、可持續增長的未來邁進。我們對未來的機會充滿信心，並很高興看到客戶對我們的 STT-MRAM 產品感興趣。

Thank you for joining us today. Operator, you may now open the line for questions.

感謝您今天加入我們。接線員，您現在可以打開問題熱線。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from the line of Richard Shannon with Craig Hallum.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自理查德香農和克雷格哈勒姆。

I think the first one I'd like to ask, guys, is in the broader dynamics in the semiconductor space here, we've seen some inventory builds, and a lot of companies have seen some pretty significant burns here of late. You're not seeing it, at least so far, but I know you've got some capacity constraints you're still working through. So I guess I'd love to get your best take on the degree to which -- or I guess, maybe to think about -- first about when do you expect these constraints to be overcome? And do you worry, and have you talked to your customers about backlogs and bookings that may fall off as they become more comfortable with the inventory that they can get from you?

伙計們，我想我想問的第一個問題是這裡半導體領域的更廣泛動態，我們已經看到了一些庫存增加，而且很多公司最近在這裡看到了一些相當大的燒傷。你沒有看到它，至少到目前為止，但我知道你有一些你仍在努力解決的能力限制。所以我想我很樂意讓您最好地了解您希望這些限制在什麼時候被克服？您是否擔心，您是否與客戶討論過積壓訂單和預訂可能會隨著他們對從您那裡獲得的庫存感到更加滿意而下降？

Richard, this is Anuj. Yes, great question. So let me try to take it in a couple of pieces. So as we look at the backlog, right, it continues to be healthy. So in 2023, we've got solid demand, we have demand going out to 2024. So from that perspective, things are looking good, really high visibility into 2024 as well, right? There have been, I mean, some cancellations, some pushouts, so there has been some macroeconomic effects that we've seen. But I think, overall, what we've been able to do is because of the high amount of backlog, we've been able to pull in demand from future quarters and really work through that.

理查德，這是阿努吉。是的，很好的問題。所以讓我試著把它分成幾部分。因此，當我們查看積壓訂單時，它仍然是健康的。所以在 2023 年，我們有穩定的需求，我們的需求會持續到 2024 年。所以從這個角度來看，情況看起來不錯，到 2024 年的可見度也很高，對吧？我的意思是，有一些取消，一些取消，所以我們已經看到了一些宏觀經濟影響。但我認為，總的來說，我們能夠做的是因為大量積壓，我們能夠從未來幾個季度拉動需求並真正解決這個問題。

Now from a customer standpoint, I think you're asking about that as well, we've been working very closely with our customers to understand not only what their current demands are in the current quarter and future quarters, but then also working with them to understand when there are opportunities and capacity frees up, are they interested in getting the product sooner? And so we're working very closely with them to pull in demand where it makes sense, as capacity frees up.

現在從客戶的角度來看，我想你也在問這個問題，我們一直在與客戶密切合作，不僅要了解他們當前季度和未來幾個季度的當前需求，還要與他們合作了解何時有機會和產能釋放，他們是否有興趣盡快獲得產品？因此，隨著產能釋放，我們正在與他們密切合作，在合理的地方拉動需求。

Okay. Okay. Fair enough. I might come back to this topic here in a second. Maybe asking a more technical question here in the first quarter. I know you don't really delineate with any specifics about how you're building up to the quarter here. But I would assume that there's probably a big chunk of licensing revenue falling off quarter-on-quarter with some more modest drop-off in Toggle to get to the revenues, kind of the midpoint of the revenues. Is that a fair way to think about this? Or is Toggle and product revenue is going to be down more than licensing?

好的。好的。很公平。我可能會在一秒鐘內回到這個話題。也許在第一季度在這裡問一個更技術性的問題。我知道你並沒有真正描述你是如何在這裡建立季度的任何細節。但我認為，可能有很大一部分許可收入環比下降，而 Toggle 的下降幅度較小，以達到收入，即收入的中點。這是一個公平的思考方式嗎？還是 Toggle 和產品收入的下降幅度會超過許可？

Yes. So the way I think about it is the way we built the $14 million to $14.8 million guidance in revenue, we continue to feel that Toggle is strong. The backlog is very promising in 2023 going out to '24. So I think that piece is strong. The part that's a little bit of a challenge that I think we've shared before is we've seen STT demand with our key customers, that's kind of tapered off a little bit. But it's strong in that perspective from a total product revenue standpoint. From licensing, that continues to go up and down, right? So as we see opportunities for patent deals and things like that, none of that's incorporated into the guidance.

是的。因此，我認為這是我們建立 1400 萬至 1480 萬美元收入指導的方式，我們繼續認為 Toggle 很強大。積壓在 2023 年到 24 年非常有希望。所以我認為那篇文章很強。我認為我們之前分享過的有點挑戰的部分是我們已經看到我們的主要客戶對 STT 的需求，這有點逐漸減少。但從產品總收入的角度來看，它在這個方面很強大。從許可來看，它會繼續上下波動，對嗎？因此，當我們看到專利交易和類似事情的機會時，這些都沒有納入指南。

Okay. That is helpful. Maybe another line here on the income statement to talk about here, both for the fourth quarter and going forward here. Gross margins, and I'd like to focus on the product gross margins, if I did my math right, did roughly 49% in the fourth quarter. Well, first 3 quarters of the year, you're between 54% and 58%. I think you had a more optimal mix in the past quarters, but also some strong yields. So how do you explain the drop-offs here into the fourth quarter? How much of that was yields, product mix and other dynamics?

好的。這很有幫助。也許損益表上的另一行在這裡討論，包括第四季度和未來。毛利率，我想關注產品毛利率，如果我沒記錯的話，第四季度的毛利率約為 49%。好吧，今年前三個季度，你在 54% 到 58% 之間。我認為你在過去幾個季度有更優化的組合，但也有一些強勁的收益率。那麼，您如何解釋第四季度的下降呢？其中有多少是產量、產品組合和其他動態？

Yes. So I'll try to be a little careful here because I know we don't provide too much guidance on gross margin, right? I'll say that we've always communicated that our internal model is between the low to mid-50s. I think as you're seeing the yield stabilizing and the product mix stabilizing, you're getting back to a more normal expected range for the gross margin, and that's evident in the guidance that we're providing. In Q4, we did see a little bit higher supplier cost and things like that. But overall, we feel like it's more in line with the internal model that we've shared in the past.

是的。所以我在這裡會盡量小心一點，因為我知道我們不會提供太多關於毛利率的指導，對吧？我會說我們一直在傳達我們的內部模型介於 50 年代中期之間。我認為當你看到收益率穩定和產品組合穩定時，你正在回到更正常的毛利率預期範圍，這在我們提供的指導中很明顯。在第 4 季度，我們確實看到供應商成本有點高，諸如此類。但總的來說，我們覺得它更符合我們過去共享的內部模型。

Okay. Fair enough. Let me jump over to Sanjeev, talking about the new SPI product here. I just want to kind of ask a big-picture, top-down question here on how you see this product ramping up this year. And if you could give us some maybe bottoms-up thoughts here on attach to FPGAs, MCUs and others, and which densities you're seeing to pick up? And ultimately, how can we think about revenue contribution from that product line this year?

好的。很公平。讓我跳到 Sanjeev，在這裡談論新的 SPI 產品。我只想在這裡問一個宏觀的、自上而下的問題，關於你如何看待這個產品今年的增長。如果您能在這裡給我們一些關於附加到 FPGA、MCU 和其他設備的自下而上的想法，以及您看到的是哪些密度？最終，我們如何考慮該產品線今年的收入貢獻？

Richard, thank you for your question. I think it's an important question to understand our revenue profile going forward. So I think the way to think about it is that most of our adoption is in the industrial markets. So it is a long cycle time for qualification. So I don't think you're going to see significant revenue from the 64 meg or the 16 meg in 2023.

理查德，謝謝你的提問。我認為了解我們未來的收入狀況是一個重要的問題。所以我認為考慮它的方式是我們的大部分採用是在工業市場。所以這是一個很長的資格認證週期。所以我認為你不會在 2023 年看到 64 兆或 16 兆的可觀收入。

Having said that, we have seen strong traction with our customers in Q4 and in Q3 last year, which actually prompted us to tape out a more optimized density and die size at 16 meg. And what that did for us is it actually opened up the customers that were using alternate memories like SRAM, nvSRAM or ferroelectric memories FRAM.

話雖如此，我們在去年第四季度和第三季度看到了我們客戶的強大牽引力，這實際上促使我們將更優化的密度和芯片尺寸流片為 16 兆。這對我們所做的是，它實際上打開了使用替代存儲器（如 SRAM、nvSRAM 或鐵電存儲器 FRAM）的客戶的大門。

So I think, think about us taking over some of the market with the lower density parts from nvSRAM and FRAM. And then the higher density, the 64 meg and the 32 meg, for example, they're going to basically attached to industrial IoT applications, aerospace and defense, process automation, the standard applications that you've seen Toggle MRAM get into over the last decade or so.

所以我認為，考慮一下我們用 nvSRAM 和 FRAM 的低密度部件接管一些市場。然後是更高的密度，例如 64 兆和 32 兆，它們將基本上附加到工業物聯網應用、航空航天和國防、過程自動化，以及您看到的標準應用 Toggle MRAM 進入過去十年左右。

Okay. That's fair enough. One last question for me, I'll jump on line here, on OpEx here. You've had -- you talked about the last couple of quarters about OpEx coming up here as you're investing more in this new STT-MRAM line. How much longer are we going to see kind of elevated levels of investment mostly from the R&D line? And then do we see it getting back down to levels seen earlier last year? Or how do we think about that long term?

好的。這很公平。我的最後一個問題是，我會在此處在線，在 OpEx 上在線。你已經 - 你談到了過去幾個季度關於 OpEx 的問題，因為你正在對這條新的 STT-MRAM 生產線進行更多投資。我們還要多長時間才能看到主要來自研發線的投資水平提高？然後我們會看到它回到去年早些時候的水平嗎？或者我們如何看待這個長期？

Yes. No, great question. And so we don't normally provide guidance on the OpEx. But what I can share is, we expect it to be a little bit higher in Q1, right, as we're getting ready and taking out the lower-density product and getting everything ready. But I expect it to kind of level off and slightly decrease as the year progresses. So if that helps.

是的。不，很好的問題。因此，我們通常不會提供有關 OpEx 的指導。但我可以分享的是，我們預計第一季度它會高一點，因為我們正在準備並取出低密度產品並準備好一切。但我預計隨著時間的推移它會趨於平穩並略有下降。所以如果這有幫助。

And our next question comes from the line of Rajvindra Gill with Needham & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Needham & Company 的 Rajvindra Gill。

Yes. And congrats on solid results in light of a very kind of tumultuous environment. Just Sanjeev, a question on the xSPI family and the ability to replace discrete NOR for certain industrial applications, IoT applications. Now that you have kind of a higher density range with respect to the xSPI family, what has been the feedback from the customers in terms of the cost-benefit of replacing discrete NOR with STT-MRAM. Is it on the cost side? Is it on the instant-on access side? What's been kind of the feedback? That's been the thesis for a while is that MRAM combines the benefits of volatile and nonvolatile, but the issue has been kind of around density. So just curious on what you're hearing from customers?

是的。並祝賀在非常混亂的環境下取得了可喜的成果。只是 Sanjeev，一個關於 xSPI 系列的問題，以及為某些工業應用、IoT 應用替換分立 NOR 的能力。既然 xSPI 系列具有更高的密度範圍，客戶就用 STT-MRAM 替換分立 NOR 的成本效益方面的反饋是什麼。是成本方面的嗎？它是在即時訪問端嗎？有什麼樣的反饋？一段時間以來，人們一直認為 MRAM 結合了易失性和非易失性的優點，但問題一直圍繞著密度。所以只是想知道您從客戶那裡聽到了什麼？

Yes, Raji, good question. Basically, if you look at the way the NOR is used in current FPGAs, right, it's basically, it takes forever to write, but the read speeds are pretty fast. So that's where STT-MRAM is actually being appreciated by some of our customers. It's basically the fast -- the writes are much faster, so faster over-the-air updates. The read speeds are similar. Then the other thing that it does is it actually allows you to store multiple bit streams in the memory. So in that way, you can actually have 2 streams or 3 streams stored, depending on the number of lots and the number of -- and the density of the STT-MRAM that you're using.

是的，拉吉，問得好。基本上，如果你看看 NOR 在當前 FPGA 中的使用方式，對，基本上，寫入需要很長時間，但讀取速度非常快。這就是 STT-MRAM 真正受到我們一些客戶讚賞的地方。它基本上是快速的——寫入速度更快，因此無線更新速度更快。讀取速度相似。然後它做的另一件事是它實際上允許您在內存中存儲多個比特流。因此，通過這種方式，您實際上可以存儲 2 個流或 3 個流，具體取決於批次的數量和數量 - 以及您使用的 STT-MRAM 的密度。

So where people value the faster write speeds, the longer endurance and the lower power to actually write those configuration streams, I think that's where we're getting good traction from our customers. But where we are in a cost-competitive environment, NOR is obviously much cheaper than STT-MRAM, and that's where we're seeing less of a traction. So again, just like our previous applications, customers that value our performance are adopting our parts.

因此，在人們重視更快的寫入速度、更長的耐久性和實際寫入這些配置流的更低功率的地方，我認為這就是我們從客戶那裡獲得良好牽引力的地方。但是，在我們處於成本競爭環境中的情況下，NOR 顯然比 STT-MRAM 便宜得多，這就是我們看到牽引力較小的地方。因此，就像我們以前的應用一樣，重視我們性能的客戶正在採用我們的零件。

And when we're thinking about calendar '24, so first, the opportunity with the Department of Defense for the RAD-Hard product, where the designs are going to -- you find the extension of the RAD-Hard deal, which will -- has built in some technical milestones before the licensing revenue will come and then the broader push there. Can we talk about kind of that opportunity on the RAD-Hard in calendar '24?

當我們考慮 24 年日曆時，首先，與國防部合作的 RAD-Hard 產品的機會，設計將 - 你會發現 RAD-Hard 交易的擴展，這將 - - 在許可收入到來之前建立了一些技術里程碑，然後在那裡進行更廣泛的推動。我們能談談 24 年日曆中關於 RAD-Hard 的那種機會嗎？

And then you also talked about the industrial, since the design cycles are taking long, take a fair amount of time, that you won't see it in 2023, but you'll see it in 2024. And so how do we think about that impact potentially on 2024 with those 2 budding opportunities? And then for this year, in 2023, what do you think will be the kind of the main growth driver for this year?

然後你還談到了工業，因為設計週期很長，需要相當多的時間，你不會在 2023 年看到它，但你會在 2024 年看到它。那麼我們如何看待這兩個嶄露頭角的機會可能會對 2024 年產生影響嗎？然後對於今年，在 2023 年，您認為今年的主要增長動力是什麼？

Right. If I deviate from the question, please stop me, okay? So I'll answer. So for -- I'll start with the last question. For 2023, what are the growth paths? And I think, there, you're seeing our 16-meg and 64-meg STT-MRAM part, I think those getting traction and starting to see initial revenue from there. It's not going to be huge numbers, but it's going to be decent numbers that we'll actually talk about by the end of the year. The other thing to look at is these parts, again, the 16 and 64 in 2024, I think will drive significant revenue growth as they get adopted and qualified in the various systems over there.

正確的。如果我偏離了問題，請阻止我，好嗎？所以我會回答。所以 - 我將從最後一個問題開始。 2023年，增長路徑是什麼？而且我認為，在那裡，你看到了我們的 16 兆和 64 兆 STT-MRAM 部分，我認為那些正在獲得牽引力並開始從那裡看到初始收入。這不會是一個巨大的數字，但它會是一個體面的數字，我們將在年底前真正討論。另一件要看的是這些部分，同樣是 2024 年的 16 和 64，我認為隨著它們在那邊的各種系統中被採用和合格，將推動顯著的收入增長。

Now switching to the RAD-Hard product that we're talking about, I just want to comment a little bit over here. So when you are looking at our 16-meg and 64-meg STT-MRAM for NOR placement, that is different than the deal that we have signed to develop this strategic RAD-Hard FPGA technology. There, you're actually replacing the NOR as well as the SRAM cells that execute the lookup tables. So that is a totally different solution that we have developed based on STT-MRAM. I think for that, you will see there are some milestones to be achieved, but then you're going to see royalty -- sorry, not royalty, licensing revenue and NRE revenue from that project through 2023.

現在切換到我們正在談論的 RAD-Hard 產品，我只想在這裡發表一些評論。因此，當您查看我們用於 NOR 放置的 16 兆和 64 兆 STT-MRAM 時，這與我們為開發這種戰略性 RAD-Hard FPGA 技術而簽署的協議不同。在那裡，您實際上是在替換 NOR 以及執行查找表的 SRAM 單元。所以這是我們基於STT-MRAM開發的完全不同的解決方案。我認為為此，你會看到有一些里程碑要實現，但隨後你會看到版稅——抱歉，不是版稅、該項目到 2023 年的許可收入和 NRE 收入。

And then I think in 2024 would be the point where we can actually take this technology that we developed for this radiation-hard project and then try and deploy it on advanced nodes in the commercial market. And I think that work needs to be done in 2023, so that we are actually ready for potential new revenue streams in 2024. Did I answer all your questions, Raji? I'm not sure.

然後我認為到 2024 年我們可以真正採用我們為這個抗輻射項目開發的這項技術，然後嘗試將其部署在商業市場的先進節點上。我認為這項工作需要在 2023 年完成，這樣我們才能真正為 2024 年潛在的新收入來源做好準備。Raji，我是否回答了你所有的問題？我不知道。

No, it did. And I just want to make sure, the end product would be reconfigurable and it would be an instant-on FPGA? Is that the ultimate kind of goal?

不，確實如此。我只是想確定一下，最終產品是可重新配置的，而且是即時啟動的 FPGA？這是最終的目標嗎？

That is correct. That is correct.

那是對的。那是對的。

Got it. Okay. Very good. And I guess last question for me. If I'm looking at kind of historically the product growth for the company, it has been quite impressive. If I have the math right, it's kind of grown from $40-odd million in 2020 to about $55 million in 2022. So that's a little less than 40% growth, while the licensing has kind of been -- has been lumpy as expected. That kind of product growth that you've been seeing in the last couple of years, maybe you could just summarize just for everybody's purposes, what's been driving that growth?

知道了。好的。非常好。我想我的最後一個問題。如果我從歷史上看公司的產品增長，那真是令人印象深刻。如果我算對的話，它會從 2020 年的 40 多萬美元增長到 2022 年的約 5500 萬美元。所以增長略低於 40%，而許可有點像預期的那樣起伏不定。你在過去幾年中看到的那種產品增長，也許你可以為了每個人的目的總結一下，是什麼推動了這種增長？

And when we're thinking about longer term in terms of the product growth acceleration, it seems like that the revenue could kind of inflect potentially higher in 2024 with some of these new initiatives with the xSPI family. So just kind of maybe if you could summarize how do we get here and kind of where are we going with the -- on the product side?

當我們考慮產品增長加速的長期問題時，似乎在 2024 年，隨著 xSPI 系列的一些新舉措，收入可能會有所增加。所以，也許你可以總結一下我們是如何走到這一步的，以及我們將在產品方面走向何方？

Raji, this is Anuj. Yes, just to kind of reiterate, right, so the product revenue at the end of '21 was about $44 million, and it grew to about $55 million in 2022 for the full year. A lot of that has been around refocus for Toggle, right? We've had a lot of record design win years last couple of years. This year as well was a record design win for us, where we had 210 design wins. Before that, a couple of years of 180 or so design wins. And I think that reinvigoration and that importance of going back to the customers and really looking at the cash cow business for us, right, and making sure we could get those design wins because as you know, in industrial, for example, the customer stays for 10, 20 years, and that's critical for us in order to really lock in revenue for long periods of time.

Raji，這是 Anuj。是的，只是重申一下，對，所以 21 年底的產品收入約為 4400 萬美元，到 2022 年全年增長到約 5500 萬美元。其中很多都圍繞著 Toggle 的重新聚焦，對吧？在過去的幾年裡，我們贏得了很多唱片設計大獎。今年我們也獲得了創紀錄的設計勝利，我們獲得了 210 項設計勝利。在此之前，大約 180 年的設計獲勝。而且我認為重振和回歸客戶並真正為我們著眼於搖錢樹業務的重要性，並確保我們能夠獲得這些設計勝利，因為如你所知，例如在工業中，客戶留下來10 年、20 年，這對我們來說至關重要，這樣才能真正長期鎖定收入。

So as we've seen our data center customer, their revenue has maybe gone up and down and been a little challenging over the last few quarters, we've really been able to make up with it from all the hard work on the Toggle side over the last few years with the design wins. And so that continues to be our focus as we look into this year, and I think that's also what you see in the backlog as well.

因此，當我們看到我們的數據中心客戶時，他們的收入在過去幾個季度可能會上下波動並且有點挑戰，我們真的能夠通過 Toggle 方面的所有辛勤工作來彌補它在過去的幾年中，設計獲勝。因此，這仍然是我們今年的重點，我認為這也是您在積壓工作中看到的。

So to add to that, Raji, your question on how do we see that in 2023 to 2024, right? So what we have done is we have taken our STT-MRAM technology and we've actually tuned it so that it actually extends our Toggle MRAM road map. So our Toggle road map basically ended at 16 megabit or 32 megabit parallel. And our serial was only at 1 meg and 4 megs and with single SPI. So by tuning this technology and making it similar to Toggle MRAM, we've now been able to actually extend the density all the way from 4 meg to 128 megabit. And I think that opens up markets for us, and I think that's what's going to lead to the growth in '23 and '24.

因此，除此之外，拉吉，你的問題是我們如何看待 2023 年到 2024 年，對嗎？所以我們所做的是我們採用了我們的 STT-MRAM 技術，並且我們實際上已經對其進行了調整，以便它實際上擴展了我們的 Toggle MRAM 路線圖。所以我們的 Toggle 路線圖基本以 16 兆或 32 兆並行結束。我們的序列號只有 1 兆和 4 兆，並且只有一個 SPI。因此，通過調整這項技術並使其類似於 Toggle MRAM，我們現在實際上已經能夠將密度從 4 兆位一直擴展到 128 兆位。我認為這為我們打開了市場，我認為這將導致 23 和 24 年的增長。

And the next question comes from John Fichthorn with Dialectic Capital.

下一個問題來自 Dialectic Capital 的 John Fichthorn。

A nice year on a tricky environment. I was just -- you've answered a lot of my questions, but just hoping you could give a little more granular cover on the color and the shape of this year in megs or however you're comfortable talking about the growth path.

在棘手的環境中度過美好的一年。我只是 - 你已經回答了我的很多問題，但只是希望你能以 megs 為單位對今年的顏色和形狀進行更詳細的介紹，或者你可以輕鬆地談論增長路徑。

It looks like your customer concentration has dropped a lot, which is really encouraging and makes you think you've got a lot more customers and a lot more diversification in your revenue stream at this point, which seems like it should be more stable, you should have more visibility. You've got a lot of industrial designs, should give you more visibility. You've got decent backlog. You had growth in design wins. All of these things make you think I'm looking at a business that (inaudible) has base here from which it can grow. So I just had kind of some thoughts on that. But then also, what does this year look like? Is it seasonal? Is it macro? Is it a pretty linear growth?

看起來你的客戶集中度下降了很多，這真的很令人鼓舞，讓你覺得你現在有更多的客戶，收入來源也更加多樣化，這似乎應該更穩定，你應該有更多的知名度。你有很多工業設計，應該會給你更多的知名度。你有不錯的積壓工作。你在設計勝利方面有所增長。所有這些都讓你覺得我正在尋找一個（聽不清）有基礎的企業，它可以從中成長。所以我對此有一些想法。但話又說回來，今年會是什麼樣子？是季節性的嗎？是宏嗎？這是一個相當線性的增長嗎？

Help us understand what kind of dynamics are going to push and pull the growth path, and we're assuming it is a growth path, and help me think about the backlog, the pipeline, the visibility and that kind of diversified customer base you've got here, if I am kind of thinking about it the right way?

幫助我們了解什麼樣的動力將推動和拉動增長路徑，我們假設這是一條增長路徑，並幫助我考慮積壓、管道、可見性和那種多元化的客戶群已經到了這裡，如果我以正確的方式思考它？

John, this is Anuj. Let me try to tackle that, and if I miss something, let me know. So just in terms of the full year, right, we typically only provide guidance for Q1, but what I can say is, directionally, without providing guidance, we believe that there is potential for a recovery in the second half as we kind of look at things.

約翰，這是阿努傑。讓我嘗試解決這個問題，如果我遺漏了什麼，請告訴我。所以就全年而言，我們通常只提供第一季度的指導，但我能說的是，在沒有提供指導的情況下，我們認為下半年有可能複蘇，因為我們有點看在事情上。

From a backlog standpoint, it continues to remain strong. We have a lot of good visibility into 2024. And like I was mentioning before, there is uncertainty that we've seen because of the macroeconomic challenges within the semi industry, right? And so we have seen some pushouts and cancellations, but that's really been limited, right? And as we look at the full backlog picture, we've been able to pull in a lot of demand from the big backlog that we have, right? So from that standpoint, things have been going well.

從積壓的角度來看，它繼續保持強勁。我們對 2024 年有很好的預見性。就像我之前提到的，由於半導體行業的宏觀經濟挑戰，我們已經看到了不確定性，對吧？所以我們看到了一些推出和取消，但那真的很有限，對吧？當我們查看完整的積壓情況時，我們已經能夠從我們擁有的大量積壓中提取大量需求，對嗎？所以從這個角度來看，事情進展順利。

In terms of your comments about customer concentration, yes, you're absolutely right. As we've diversified into RAD-Hard businesses, as we've grown the Toggle business and gotten a lot more design wins and now introducing the new 6-meg product as well, we're starting to see the customer base really increase. So we went from 1,200 customers to about 1,300 customers in 2022. And so that customer base continues to increase. And as we get design wins, we only expect that to continue to improve, right? And so from a concentration perspective, you'll see that we've reduced the concentration on our big data center customer quite a bit, and that's helped us to achieve some of the numbers that we've shared last few quarters.

就您對客戶集中度的評論而言，是的，您完全正確。隨著我們多元化進入 RAD-Hard 業務，隨著我們發展 Toggle 業務並獲得更多設計勝利，現在也推出新的 6 兆產品，我們開始看到客戶群真正增加。因此，我們在 2022 年從 1,200 名客戶增加到約 1,300 名客戶。因此客戶群繼續增加。當我們獲得設計勝利時，我們只希望它繼續改進，對嗎？因此，從集中度的角度來看，您會發現我們已經大大降低了對大數據中心客戶的關注度，這幫助我們實現了過去幾個季度分享的一些數字。

At this time, I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Aggarwal for closing comments.

在這個時候，我想把會議轉回給 Aggarwal 先生作閉幕評論。

Okay. With that said, we'll conclude today's call. Thank you all for joining us, and we look forward to reporting our progress and results on next quarter's call. Operator, you may now disconnect the call.

好的。話雖如此，我們將結束今天的電話會議。感謝大家加入我們，我們期待在下一季度的電話會議上報告我們的進展和結果。接線員，您現在可以掛斷電話了。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。