Quantum-Si Inc (QSI) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Quantum-Si first-quarter 2025 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

您好，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Quantum-Si 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。

I would now like to turn the conference over to today's speaker, Katherine Atkinson. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給今天的演講者凱瑟琳·阿特金森。請繼續。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Earlier today, Quantum-Si released financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025. A copy of the press release is available on the company's website. Joining me today are Jeff Hawkins, our President and Chief Executive Officer; as well as Jeff Keyes, our Chief Financial Officer.

大家下午好，感謝大家的參與。今天早些時候，Quantum-Si 發布了截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日的第一季財務業績。新聞稿副本可在該公司網站上查閱。今天與我一起出席的還有我們的總裁兼執行長傑夫霍金斯 (Jeff Hawkins)；以及我們的財務長 Jeff Keyes。

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that management will be making certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal security laws. These statements involve material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to materially differ from those anticipated. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties appears in the section entitled forward-looking statements of our press release. For a more complete list and description of risk factors, please see the company's filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，管理階層將根據聯邦安全法做出某些前瞻性陳述。這些聲明涉及重大風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果或事件與預期有重大差異。有關這些風險和不確定性的更多資訊出現在我們新聞稿中題為前瞻性陳述的部分。有關風險因素的更完整清單和描述，請參閱本公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。

This conference call contains time sensitive information that is accurate only as of the live broadcast date today, May 15, 2025. Except as required by law, the company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. During this call, we will also be referring to certain financial measures that are not prepared in accordance with us generally accepted accounting principle or GAAP. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is included in the press release filed earlier today.

本次電話會議包含時間敏感訊息，僅截至今天（2025 年 5 月 15 日）的直播日期準確。除法律要求外，本公司不承擔更新或修改任何前瞻性聲明的意圖或義務。在本次電話會議中，我們也將參考某些未依照美國公認會計原則或 GAAP 編製的財務指標。今天稍早提交的新聞稿中包含了這些非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的對帳。

With that, let me turn the call over to Jeff Hawkins.

說完這些，讓我把電話轉給傑夫霍金斯。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. On today's call, we will provide a business update and review our operating results for the first quarter of 2025. After that, we will open the call for questions.

下午好，感謝您加入我們。在今天的電話會議上，我們將提供業務更新並回顧 2025 年第一季的營運表現。之後，我們將開始提問。

I'll begin with a reminder of our three corporate priorities: To accelerate commercial adoption, deliver on our innovation road map, and to preserve our financial strength. Our first corporate priority is to accelerate commercial adoption. During the first quarter, we launched the Platinum Pro system and completed our first customer sales. Our first quarter revenue of $842,000 is an 84% increase over the first quarter of 2024, though this result was slightly below our expectations.

首先，我想回顧我們的三個公司優先事項：加速商業應用、實現我們的創新路線圖以及維持我們的財務實力。我們的首要任務是加速商業應用。第一季度，我們推出了Platinum Pro系統並完成了第一批客戶銷售。我們第一季的營收為 842,000 美元，比 2024 年第一季成長了 84%，儘管這一結果略低於我們的預期。

During the quarter, we observed a significant slowdown in new instrument purchases in the US academic market due to the ongoing market uncertainties related to NIH funding and indirect cost caps. We expect these uncertainties to continue to impact new instrument sales in the US academic market into at least the fall of 2025 when a federal budget is estimated to be approved by Congress. That said, our existing US academic customers continue to purchase consumables during the first quarter, and we have no indication from customers that this pattern will change.

在本季度，由於 NIH 資金和間接成本上限相關的持續市場不確定性，我們觀察到美國學術市場新儀器採購量顯著放緩。我們預計，這些不確定性將持續影響美國學術市場的新儀器銷售，至少持續到 2025 年秋季，屆時聯邦預算預計將獲得國會批准。也就是說，我們現有的美國學術客戶在第一季繼續購買消耗品，我們沒有從客戶那裡得到任何跡象表明這種模式會改變。

Turning to other segments in the US market, we continue to believe that pharma, biotech and government laboratories represent a good opportunity for continued growth in terms of both new instrument sales and ongoing consumable sales. With the NIH funding uncertainties expected to persist for the foreseeable future, we are putting greater emphasis on the pharma and biotech opportunity with our US commercial team and distribution partner.

談到美國市場的其他領域，我們仍然相信製藥、生物技術和政府實驗室在新儀器銷售和持續消耗品銷售方面都代表著持續成長的良好機會。由於預計 NIH 資金的不確定性在可預見的未來仍將持續存在，我們將與美國商業團隊和分銷合作夥伴更加重視製藥和生物技術機會。

To that end, we are pleased to report that we have recently completed the training of Avantor, our North American distribution partner. We are working closely with the Avantor sales team as they build their sales funnels and begin progressing opportunities through the sales process.

為此，我們很高興地報告，我們最近完成了對北美分銷合作夥伴 Avantor 的培訓。我們正在與 Avantor 銷售團隊密切合作，協助他們建立銷售管道並開始透過銷售流程來拓展機會。

Turning now to international markets. We exited the first quarter with 23 international distribution partners. Overall, our international business performed well during the first quarter, and we are pleased with the continued interest we are seeing from potential customers across all international distribution partner territories. We continue to believe that our low capital cost, simplified workflow and automated data analysis is a compelling option for researchers in these regions looking to integrate an advanced proteomics platform into their research.

現在轉向國際市場。第一季末，我們有 23 個國際分銷合作夥伴。總體而言，我們的國際業務在第一季表現良好，我們很高興看到所有國際分銷合作夥伴地區的潛在客戶繼續表現出興趣。我們始終相信，我們的低資本成本、簡化的工作流程和自動化的數據分析對於這些地區希望將先進的蛋白質組學平台整合到他們的研究中的研究人員來說是一個有吸引力的選擇。

While the NIH uncertainty may impact short-term commercial results, we are optimistic about the opportunity to continue to grow our customer base in pharma and biotech and across the countries covered by our international distribution network. Additionally, we remain confident in the long-term market opportunity in proteomics and the technology roadmap we are executing on to capitalize on that opportunity.

儘管 NIH 的不確定性可能會影響短期商業業績，但我們對繼續擴大製藥和生物技術領域以及國際分銷網絡覆蓋的國家的客戶群的機會持樂觀態度。此外，我們仍然對蛋白質體學的長期市場機會以及我們正在執行的技術路線圖充滿信心，以利用這一機會。

Our second priority is to deliver on our innovation roadmap. We continue to have high confidence in our technology roadmap and our R&D team's ability to deliver on that roadmap as they have done over the past two years.

我們的第二個優先事項是實現我們的創新路線圖。正如過去兩年來所做的那樣，我們對我們的技術路線圖以及我們的研發團隊實現該路線圖的能力仍然充滿信心。

As a commercial stage company, we interact with customers, prospective customers and distribution partners every day and consistently receive feedback that confirms our view that whole proteome sequencing is the long-term future in proteomics.

作為一家商業階段的公司，我們每天都與客戶、潛在客戶和分銷合作夥伴互動，並不斷收到回饋，這證實了我們的觀點，即全蛋白質體定序是蛋白質體學的長期未來。

Our version 4 Sequencing Kit remains on track for a third quarter 2025 launch. We expect that this kit will further increase proteome coverage via increased amino acid detection and the addition of a new enzyme that is engineered specifically to provide high-efficiency cutting of the amino acid directly preceding a proline. We believe this combination of improvements will allow customers to analyze more peptides per protein and detect more amino acids within the peptides present, especially those positioned behind a proline.

我們的 4 版定序試劑盒仍有望於 2025 年第三季推出。我們期望該試劑盒能夠透過增加氨基酸檢測和添加專門設計用於高效切割脯氨酸前面的氨基酸的新酶來進一步增加蛋白質組的覆蓋率。我們相信，這些改進的組合將允許客戶分析每個蛋白質的更多勝肽，並檢測肽中存在的更多氨基酸，特別是位於脯氨酸後面的氨基酸。

Turning now to library preparation. We are pleased to share that we have made great progress in our innovation program aimed at enhancing library preparation performance and now expect to be able to release a version 3 of our Library Preparation Kit by the end of 2025. While we are still early in the development program, the initial data gives us confidence that there is a clear path to reduce the sample input requirement for our kit. We believe that our ability to lower the protein input requirement will enable our customers to pursue an even greater range of biological samples and proteins of interest and the early data suggests that we will be able to make a very meaningful improvement in this area.

現在轉向圖書館準備。我們很高興地告訴大家，我們在旨在提高文庫製備性能的創新計劃中取得了巨大進展，現在預計能夠在 2025 年底發布文庫製備工具包第 3 版。雖然我們仍處於開發計劃的早期階段，但初步數據讓我們相信，有一條明確的途徑可以減少我們試劑盒的樣本輸入要求。我們相信，降低蛋白質輸入要求的能力將使我們的客戶能夠追求更大範圍的生物樣本和感興趣的蛋白質，早期數據表明我們將能夠在這一領域做出非常有意義的改進。

Next, I would like to provide an update on the Proteus development program. As a reminder, Proteus incorporates a new instrument and consumable architecture that will offer significantly more reads per sample, more samples per run and greater workflow automation than our current platforms. We are pleased to report that we remain on track to successfully perform protein sequencing on a prototype Proteus system by the end of 2025. Hitting this milestone in 2025 sets us up well to deliver on the launch of Proteus in the second half of 2026.

接下來，我想提供有關 Proteus 開發計劃的最新進展。提醒一下，Proteus 採用了新的儀器和耗材架構，與我們目前的平台相比，它將提供每個樣本更多的讀數、每次運行更多的樣本以及更高的工作流程自動化。我們很高興地報告，我們預計在 2025 年底前在原型 Proteus 系統上成功進行蛋白質定序。2025 年實現這一里程碑將為我們在 2026 年下半年推出 Proteus 奠定良好基礎。

In terms of interim milestones of the Proteus development program, we achieved two important milestones since our last call. First, we have been able to successfully demonstrate the full fabrication process from raw material to finished wafer. This was an important step as it provides us with confidence that we can produce the quantity of consumables that we need to support the ongoing development efforts.

就 Proteus 開發計畫的中期里程碑而言，自上次會議以來，我們已經實現了兩個重要里程碑。首先，我們已經能夠成功地展示從原料到成品晶圓的整個製造過程。這是重要的一步，因為它使我們有信心能夠生產出支持持續開發工作所需的消耗品數量。

Second, we have demonstrated a set of fluorescent dyes that are compatible with the new technology architecture, and we have enough distinct dyes to support moving our current sequencing chemistry over to the Proteus platform.

其次，我們已經展示了一組與新技術架構相容的螢光染料，並且我們有足夠的不同染料來支援將我們目前的定序化學轉移到 Proteus 平台。

In addition, we are in the late stages of completing the delivery of additional dyes that proactively position us for an expanded set of amino acid recognizers that we anticipate bringing to market as part of the Proteus platform launch in the second half of 2026.

此外，我們正處於完成額外染料交付的後期階段，這將為我們擴展一組氨基酸識別器做好準備，我們預計將於 2026 年下半年作為 Proteus 平台發布的一部分將其推向市場。

Finally, I would like to spend a few minutes updating you on the broader opportunity for our core technology beyond protein sequencing.

最後，我想花幾分鐘時間向您介紹我們的核心技術除了蛋白質定序之外的更廣泛機會。

During our November 2024 Investor and Analyst Day, we shared data from our research initiatives that showed the vast capabilities of our core technology to be extended into other areas of proteomics beyond protein sequencing. Based on the data presented, we believe our core technology is the only commercially available technology that can enable single molecule, top-down and bottoms-up proteomics methods. Because of this, we believe that our Proteus platform and core technology will be capable of addressing the broadest range of proteomics analysis methods of any technology in the market today.

在 2024 年 11 月的投資者和分析師日上，我們分享了研究計畫的數據，這些數據展示了我們的核心技術在蛋白質定序之外擴展到蛋白質體學其他領域的巨大潛力。根據所提供的數據，我們相信我們的核心技術是唯一可以實現單分子、自上而下和自下而上的蛋白質體學方法的商業化技術。正因為如此，我們相信我們的 Proteus 平台和核心技術將能夠解決當今市場上任何技術中最廣泛的蛋白質體學分析方法。

To accelerate the realization of that opportunity and in response to customer and partner interest, today, we released additional information about the application of our core technology to ultrasensitive protein detection. With only a modest amount of investment to date and using off-the-shelf affinity reagents, we have demonstrated sensitivity in the low femtomolar range working directly from serum and generating results in about two hours. This is all enabled on our low-cost Platinum Pro instrument and does not require any additional readout using PCR or NGS.

為了加速實現這一機會並響應客戶和合作夥伴的興趣，今天我們發布了有關我們的核心技術在超靈敏蛋白質檢測中的應用的更多資訊。到目前為止，我們只花了少量的投資並使用現成的親和試劑，就證明了其在低飛摩爾範圍內的靈敏度，可直接從血清中進行測定並在大約兩小時內產生結果。這一切都在我們的低成本 Platinum Pro 儀器上實現，不需要使用 PCR 或 NGS 進行任何額外的讀數。

Through partnerships and collaborations with organizations that have highly optimized affinity reagents, we believe the assay performance would only improve from here. We are sharing this information today to make our capabilities more visible to the broader market and thereby accelerate the path to unlocking this capability via strategic partnerships and collaborations over the coming quarters.

透過與高度優化親和試劑的組織建立夥伴關係和協作，我們相信檢測性能只會從現在開始提高。我們今天分享這些資訊是為了讓更廣泛的市場更了解我們的能力，從而加速在未來幾季透過策略夥伴關係和合作釋放這種能力的進程。

Our third priority is to preserve our financial strength. While the current market uncertainty may impact short-term commercial results, we remain confident in the long-term market opportunity in proteomics and the technology roadmap we are executing on to capitalize on that opportunity.

我們的第三個優先事項是維持我們的財務實力。雖然當前市場的不確定性可能會影響短期商業結果，但我們仍然對蛋白質體學的長期市場機會以及我們正在執行的技術路線圖充滿信心，以利用這一機會。

We believe that we are the clear technology leader with the only commercially available next-generation protein sequencing platform, and we expect to continue to build upon that leadership position going forward. We have a strong balance sheet, and we'll continue to invest our capital in an efficient manner that maximizes long-term shareholder value.

我們相信，我們是當之無愧的技術領導者，擁有唯一可商業化的下一代蛋白質定序平台，我們期望在未來繼續鞏固這一領導地位。我們擁有強大的資產負債表，我們將繼續以高效的方式投資我們的資本，以最大化長期股東價值。

I will now turn the call over to Jeff to review our financial results.

現在我將把電話轉給傑夫來審查我們的財務結果。

Thanks, Jeff. Now, I'll review the details of our operating results for the first quarter of 2025. Revenue in Q1 2025 was $842,000, which consisted of revenue from our Platinum line of instruments, consumable kits and related services. Gross profit was $486,000 and gross margin was 58%. As I have said in the past, our gross margin percentage will be somewhat variable for the foreseeable future as we work through our continued commercialization efforts and may be impacted by the timing and mix of instruments versus consumable sales.

謝謝，傑夫。現在，我將回顧我們 2025 年第一季的經營業績詳情。2025 年第一季的收入為 842,000 美元，其中包括我們的 Platinum 系列儀器、耗材套件和相關服務的收入。毛利為486,000美元，毛利率為58%。正如我過去所說的那樣，隨著我們不斷進行商業化努力，我們的毛利率在可預見的未來將有所變化，並且可能會受到儀器與消耗品銷售的時間和組合的影響。

Our margin has also been impacted and may continue to be impacted by the acquisition costs and any accounting adjustments to underlying inventory, some of which predates the commercial launch of the Platinum line of instruments. Our gross margin for Q1 2025 includes approximately a 7% benefit for inventory utilized during the quarter that was carried at low or no value.

我們的利潤率也受到了影響，並且可能繼續受到收購成本和對基礎庫存的任何會計調整的影響，其中一些調整早於白金系列儀器的商業推出。我們 2025 年第一季的毛利率包括本季使用的低價值或無價值庫存的約 7% 收益。

Turning to operating expenses. GAAP total operating expenses for the first quarter of 2025 were $25.6 million compared to $23.6 million in the first quarter of 2024, while adjusted operating expenses were $22.9 million for the first quarter of 2025 compared to $21.9 million for the first quarter of 2024. Overall, we have continued to manage our operating expenses tightly while continuing to fund our investment in our commercialization efforts and funding our various development programs, including our Proteus development program, which was launched in November of 2024.

談到營運費用。2025 年第一季的 GAAP 總營運費用為 2,560 萬美元，而 2024 年第一季為 2,360 萬美元；2025 年第一季的調整後營運費用為 2,290 萬美元，而 2024 年第一季為 2,190 萬美元。總體而言，我們繼續嚴格管理營運費用，同時繼續為商業化努力的投資和各種開發計劃提供資金，包括 2024 年 11 月啟動的 Proteus 開發計劃。

Our dividend and interest income for the first quarter of 2025 was $2.5 million compared to $3.6 million in the first quarter of 2024. Overall, 2024 benefited year over year from higher interest rates relative to our overall cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities position. As of March 31, 2025, we had $232.6 million in cash and cash equivalents and investments in marketable securities.

我們 2025 年第一季的股息和利息收入為 250 萬美元，而 2024 年第一季為 360 萬美元。整體而言，相對於我們的整體現金、現金等價物和有價證券部位而言，2024 年的利率年增。截至 2025 年 3 月 31 日，我們擁有 2.326 億美元的現金和現金等價物以及有價證券投資。

At a broader market level, we are tracking the potential impacts that evolving tariffs enacted by the United States and other countries throughout the world may have on our operations. Tariffs have the potential to impact us from both the acquisition cost of our inventory and from import tariffs that could impact our sales channels outside of the United States.

從更廣泛的市場層面來看，我們正在追蹤美國和世界其他國家不斷變化的關稅可能對我們的營運產生的潛在影響。關稅可能會對我們的庫存採購成本和進口關稅產生影響，並可能影響我們在美國以外的銷售管道。

Regarding inventory acquisition costs, we have completed a preliminary analysis and have determined the tariff impacts would not have a material impact on our inventory acquisition costs in the near term. In addition, for much of our underlying materials, we have supply available for several months and up past a year, limiting our near-term exposures. However, to reduce any impact in the long term, we have several mitigation strategies in play, including but not limited to, sourcing raw materials and supplies from lower tariff countries or within the United States directly as well as potential commitments to higher volume purchases that reduce our overall cost per unit, balancing the cost of materials with the added tariff.

關於庫存採購成本，我們已經完成初步分析，並確定關稅影響不會在短期內對我們的庫存採購成本產生重大影響。此外，對於我們的許多基礎材料，我們可以供應幾個月甚至一年以上，這限制了我們的短期風險敞口。然而，為了減少長期影響，我們採取了幾種緩解策略，包括但不限於從低關稅國家或直接在美國採購原材料和供應品，以及承諾進行更大批量的採購，以降低我們的單位總成本，平衡材料成本和增加的關稅。

Regarding the import tariffs related to other countries we sell into, to date, we have not seen an impact or not anticipating any impact as scientific and medical devices have historically been exempted for import tariffs. As Jeff mentioned earlier, the NIH funding environment and the related proposed indirect reimbursement rate cost caps are causing uncertainty in the United States academic market. Given the current environment, we are working to mitigate any potential impact by focusing on market segments and geographies that are not impacted by this NIH uncertainty, including biotech and pharma as well as customers outside the United States, either directly or through our 23 international channel partners.

關於我們銷售到的其他國家的進口關稅，到目前為止，我們還沒有看到影響或預計不會有任何影響，因為科學和醫療設備歷來免徵進口關稅。正如 Jeff 之前提到的，NIH 的資助環境和相關提議的間接報銷率成本上限正在為美國學術市場帶來不確定性。鑑於當前環境，我們正在努力減輕任何潛在影響，並專注於不受 NIH 不確定性影響的細分市場和地區，包括生物技術和製藥以及美國以外的客戶，無論是直接還是透過我們的 23 個國際通路合作夥伴。

While we are confident in the long-term proteomics market and the value Platinum Pro plays in delivering value to the market, the current environment makes it challenging to provide any clarity around top line financial guidance. As we get more information and certainty in relation to the NIH funding and indirect cost caps, we hope to be able to provide more transparency in future quarters.

雖然我們對長期蛋白質體學市場以及 Platinum Pro 在為市場創造價值方面所發揮的作用充滿信心，但當前的環境使得我們很難提供任何有關頂線財務指導的明確資訊。隨著我們獲得有關 NIH 資金和間接成本上限的更多資訊和確定性，我們希望能夠在未來幾季提供更高的透明度。

From an adjusted operating expense and cash perspective, we're still anticipating adjusted operating expenses to be $103 million or less for 2025 and total cash used for 2025 to be $95 million or less. And finally, we remain confident that our current level of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities will provide runway into the second half of 2027.

從調整後的營運費用和現金角度來看，我們仍然預計 2025 年調整後的營運費用將達到 1.03 億美元或更少，2025 年使用的總現金將達到 9,500 萬美元或更少。最後，我們仍然相信，我們目前的現金、現金等價物和有價證券水準將為 2027 年下半年提供支撐。

Now, I'll turn the call over to the operator to open the line for questions.

現在，我將把電話轉給接線員，以便解答疑問。

(Operator Instructions) Kyle Mikson, Canaccord.

（操作員指示）Kyle Mikson，Canaccord。

Hey guys, thanks for the questions. So I guess good to hear that you are pretty confident in the biopharma side of your business, just given the issues on the US academic research side. However, there has been talking potential tariffs over there on the pharma side as well as the most peer nations and potential as well on the pricing there.

嘿夥計們，謝謝你們的提問。因此，考慮到美國學術研究方面的問題，我很高興聽到您對自己的生物製藥業務非常有信心。然而，製藥業以及大多數同行國家一直在談論潛在的關稅，而那裡的定價也存在潛力。

So just in general, it seems like spending and budgets and so forth in the biopharma world are a little bit pressured or at least uncertain right now. So could you just walk through what in your recent conversations with those partners have given you confidence that you'll be able to continue to successfully penetrate that end market as well as maybe accelerate a bit to and make up for the lost research revenue?

因此，總的來說，目前生物製藥領域的支出和預算等似乎有點壓力，或至少是不確定的。那麼，您能否簡單介紹一下，最近與這些合作夥伴的談話中哪些內容讓您有信心能夠繼續成功滲透到終端市場，並可能加速發展以彌補研究收入的損失？

Thanks for the question, Kyle. I think our -- I'd say a couple of things. The first is some of the various policy-related items that are being discussed, those relate a lot to on-market drugs or therapeutics and the cost of those and such. And it's obviously a complex topic that goes well beyond just the pricing from the individual pharma company. But in general, we're not seeing any trickle through right now to where there are changes being made to sort of R&D priorities or funding.

謝謝你的提問，凱爾。我想我們的——我想說幾件事。首先是正在討論的一些與政策相關的項目，這些項目與市場上的藥物或治療方法以及它們的成本等有很大關係。顯然，這是一個複雜的話題，遠遠超出了單一製藥公司的定價範圍。但總體而言，我們目前尚未看到研發重點或資金有任何變化。

I think a lot of the funding levels and areas of focus for at least the biotech and pharma companies that we're speaking with, they've sort of been set in motion. Some of those have been adjusted historically to the levels they were comfortable with. So we're not seeing any of the headlines sort of trickle through to a change in the engagement from those partners. So that's what really gives us the confidence that we're solving for a problem that does fit something they're focused on, which is how do they work more efficiently and more cost effectively.

我認為，至少對於我們正在洽談的生技和製藥公司來說，許多融資水準和重點領域都已經開始實施。其中一些已經根據歷史情況進行了調整，達到了他們感到舒適的水平。因此，我們並沒有看到任何頭條新聞表明這些合作夥伴的參與度發生了變化。因此，這確實讓我們有信心，我們正在解決的問題確實符合他們關注的重點，那就是如何更有效率、更經濟地工作。

All right. That's great. And then with the Platinum Pro launch -- and I know it's super early -- but some of these early adopters, what's the feedback been like? And how is that different from maybe like initial kind of almost like beta or alpha use of the product?

好的。那太棒了。然後隨著 Platinum Pro 的推出——我知道現在還為時過早——但是對於這些早期採用者來說，他們的反饋如何？這與產品的初步測試版或 alpha 版使用有何不同？

And as you think about that feedback, I mean, how locked down is the platform, I guess, until you kind of get the Proteus later on?

當您考慮該回饋時，我的意思是，在您稍後獲得 Proteus 之前，該平台的鎖定程度如何？

Yes. I think the Platinum Pro system is -- we would consider that locked down. That was certainly not what I would consider an early access or some sort of minimal commercial release sort of approach. We released -- we're making the device with our contract manufacturing partner. We've had great success producing it. We've been able to deliver it and installations and usage sort of reliability has been fine.

是的。我認為 Platinum Pro 系統是——我們認為它是被鎖定的。這當然不是我所認為的早期訪問或某種最低限度的商業發布方式。我們發布了——我們正在與我們的合約製造合作夥伴一起製造該設備。我們在製作它方面取得了巨大的成功。我們已經能夠交付它，並且安裝和使用可靠性都很好。

As we've talked about on prior calls, the customers adopting it right now tend to be customers who either want access to the open mode or what we call pro mode of the device or perhaps want access to the ability to do some level of data analysis on the device. Perhaps they have institutional policies around the access to the cloud and other things. And then you always have some number of people who just prefer to have the newest device.

正如我們在之前的電話會議中討論過的，目前採用它的客戶往往是那些想要使用開放模式或我們稱之為設備專業模式的客戶，或者可能想要能夠在設備上進行一定程度的數據分析的客戶。也許他們有關於訪問雲端和其他事物的機構政策。但總會有一部分人只是喜歡擁有最新的設備。

And to be clear, we still are selling some Platinum devices. We had some inventory of those coming out of the end of 2024, and we are continuing to sell those, and we expect to be able to sell through that inventory over the course of the coming months.

需要明確的是，我們仍在銷售一些白金設備。我們有一些 2024 年底上市的庫存，我們正在繼續銷售這些庫存，我們預計能夠在未來幾個月內銷售這些庫存。

Got it. And maybe just going a step further, could you talk about what's going to happen, I guess, with the cost of goods and the gross margin profile going forward given this almost like transition? As well as you have this installed base of over 50 units out there already. I would imagine that utilization has sort of like ramped up over time. And at this point, some people are probably relatively comfortable leveraging and using these instruments. So how should that progress this year as we think about what happened in the first quarter and some of the challenges and pressures that are happening from macro perspective?

知道了。也許再進一步，您能否談談，考慮到這種幾乎像是過渡的情況，未來的商品成本和毛利率狀況將會發生什麼變化？而且您已經安裝了超過 50 個單元。我可以想像，隨著時間的推移，利用率會逐漸上升。此時，有些人可能相對習慣利用和使用這些工具。那麼，當我們思考第一季發生的情況以及從宏觀角度來看正在發生的一些挑戰和壓力時，今年該如何發展？

Let me start and talk a little bit about utilization, then I'll turn it to Jeff to talk more about gross margin and what we're doing to manage cost of goods in the current landscape. On the utilization front, I would say a couple of things.

首先，我先談一下利用率，然後我會讓傑夫進一步談談毛利率以及我們在當前情況下為管理商品成本所做的工作。在利用率方面，我想說幾件事。

The first is, as we said in our prepared remarks, our US academic customers are continuing to purchase consumables. So we haven't seen some sort of change in their ability to purchase consumables and continue to perform experiments. We certainly do see utilization rates that vary across different customers or different segments. But I would say the overall trend we're seeing is consistent with what we would expect, which is an increasing level of utilization of consumables by existing customers as they adopt the platform, get it into their workflow and sort of get comfortable with its capabilities and how to apply it.

首先，正如我們在準備好的發言中所說，我們的美國學術客戶正在繼續購買消耗品。因此，我們還沒有看到他們購買消耗品和繼續進行實驗的能力發生某種變化。我們確實看到不同客戶或不同細分市場的使用率有所不同。但我想說，我們看到的整體趨勢與我們的預期是一致的，即隨著現有客戶採用該平台、將其納入他們的工作流程並逐漸熟悉其功能和應用方法，他們對耗材的利用率不斷提高。

The other thing I would say is we have a very focused effort from our application scientists, both in our direct channels, but also in support of our international partners to really make sure that we're there to help customers as they want to tackle different types of applications or analysis to really make sure we're doing everything we can to proactively help the lower utilizers increase their utilization and help those who utilize it at a higher rate, make sure they're unlocking sort of every application they would like to do.

我想說的另一件事是，我們的應用科學家非常專注，不僅在我們的直接管道，也支持我們的國際合作夥伴，以真正確保我們能夠幫助客戶解決不同類型的應用或分析，真正確保我們正在盡一切努力主動幫助利用率較低的人提高他們的利用率，並幫助那些利用率較高的人，確保他們能夠解鎖他們想要做的每一個應用程序。

And maybe, Jeff, you want to speak to cost of goods and margin?

傑夫，也許你想談談商品成本和利潤？

So Kyle, historical margin has been hovering between that 40% to 50% range. Obviously, we had 58% this quarter, but I commented that 7% of that was from low or no-cost parts that predated commercialization. We generally expect that we're going to be in that same range going forward. And obviously, that's a mix of consumables and hardware. We're still ramping up commercially. So there's going to be just variability on a quarter-by-quarter basis on hardware units and consumable units. But I would say the cost of goods sold for the new Platinum Pro is fairly consistent with our existing Platinum.

凱爾，歷史利潤率一直徘徊在 40% 到 50% 之間。顯然，本季度我們的份額為 58%，但我評論說其中 7% 來自商業化之前的低成本或無成本零件。我們普遍預期未來我們將處於同樣的範圍內。顯然，這是消耗品和硬體的混合。我們仍在大力推進商業化進程。因此，硬體單位和消耗品單位每季都會有所不同。但我想說，新款 Platinum Pro 的銷售成本與我們現有的 Platinum 相當一致。

Obviously, it's got some more features and things that we've added to it, but it's in the same general ballpark. And then finally, on tariffs and things like that in my prepared remarks, I talked about that a bit. We're managing that. I wouldn't say the number is zero, but it's really not material that we can see from a forward standpoint, but we're going to continue to manage through that. And obviously, the part that we don't know is what the administration is going to do, and we closely watch that and adjust as needed.

顯然，它具有我們添加的更多功能和內容，但總體來說還是差不多的。最後，關於關稅等問題，我在準備好的演講中談了一些。我們正在處理此事。我不會說這個數字是零，但從未來的角度來看，這確實不是什麼重要的事情，但我們會繼續努力。顯然，我們不知道政府將會做什麼，我們會密切關注並根據需要進行調整。

All right. Great. And then maybe sticking on that side, the financial side. So I understand you guys have cash until, I guess, through 2027. So solid runway. However, the top line is relatively like a moderate base, let's call it, and even Street estimates are just above $50 million for revenue in '27. So it sounds like -- given your burn, it sounds like beyond '27, it could be -- you're going to have to layer on to the balance sheet. And then in there you have the Proteus kind of like upgrade cycle as well probably, and if that freezes things too for a bit. So how do you think about maybe like pulling back on R&D or marketing or SG&A, let's say, sales in that event, I guess, and just comfortability on -- from a cash perspective, given, again, some of these macro issues?

好的。偉大的。然後也許堅持財務方面。所以我知道你們有現金，我想可以到 2027 年。跑道如此堅固。然而，營收相對來說就像一個適度的基礎，甚至華爾街估計 27 年的營收也略高於 5,000 萬美元。因此，考慮到你的資金狀況，聽起來在 27 年之後，你可能就必須在資產負債表上進行分層了。然後在那裡你可能也有類似 Proteus 的升級週期，如果它也會暫時凍結事情。那麼，考慮到一些宏觀問題，您如何看待削減研發、行銷或銷售、一般及行政費用，比如說，在這種情況下削減銷售額，以及從現金角度來看是否舒服？

Yes, Kyle, I think -- so first, yes, we have cash. We said we have cash that carries us out into the second half of 2027. We feel comfortable with that guidance even in light of what's happening in the macro environment. The way we think about this is sort of twofold.

是的，凱爾，我認為——首先，是的，我們有現金。我們說過，我們擁有的現金可以支撐我們到 2027 年下半年。即使考慮到宏觀環境的變化，我們對指引仍然感到滿意。我們對此的看法有兩種。

One is, I think we've taken a lot of steps in our commercial strategy to strike that balance between where to make the direct investments and have our own employees doing certain activities, some level of sales, some marketing, some of the application support, but have also been very proactive in the utilization of channel partners.

一是，我認為我們在商業策略中採取了很多措施來取得平衡，既要進行直接投資，又要讓我們自己的員工從事某些活動、一定程度的銷售、營銷和應用支持，同時還要非常積極地利用渠道合作夥伴。

We have our international distribution network with 23 partners, and we have our North American distribution partner, Avantor. And I think those are good examples of gaining footprint in terms of the number of people out talking about our product every day without us having sort of the direct carrying cost of those folks in the event revenues are choppy or the macroeconomic picture was to change. So I think in that regard, we're being very thoughtful.

我們擁有由 23 個合作夥伴組成的國際分銷網絡，並且擁有北美分銷合作夥伴 Avantor。我認為這些都是很好的例子，我們每天都會吸引大量人來談論我們的產品，而當收入出現波動或宏觀經濟情勢發生變化時，我們無需承擔這些人的直接持有成本。所以我認為在這方面我們考慮得非常周到。

We don't have significant plans to expand our investments. They're very sort of targeted investing in those areas and really leveraging those partners. From an R&D perspective, I feel like we've done a lot there over the last two years to really get the R&D investment and priorities really aligned, get the right road maps in place and really deliver the innovations to the market.

我們沒有擴大投資的重大計劃。他們非常有針對性地投資這些領域並真正利用這些合作夥伴。從研發的角度來看，我覺得我們在過去兩年裡做了很多工作，真正讓研發投資和優先事項真正保持一致，制定了正確的路線圖，並真正將創新推向市場。

I think at the end of the day, us continuing to keep our technology leadership and deliver on the Proteus launch and the various improvements to the library prep and chemistry are key to succeeding in the market, they're key to having the most competitive product. And we're playing the long game. We think the current challenges are short term in nature. They're going to, at some point, resolve, and we're going to continue to invest in the business.

我認為，最終，我們繼續保持技術領先地位並實現 Proteus 的發布，而對文庫製備和化學的各種改進是我們在市場上取得成功的關鍵，也是擁有最具競爭力的產品的關鍵。我們正在打一場持久戰。我們認為當前的挑戰本質上是短期的。他們最終會解決這個問題，而我們也會繼續對這項業務進行投資。

I think our view on cash is simply we are capitalized out into the second half of '27. We're going to invest wisely. We think there'll be a lot of value creation opportunities between here and the end of '26, none the least of which is the launch of the Proteus platform.

我認為我們對現金的看法很簡單，我們將在 27 年下半年將現金資本化。我們將進行明智的投資。我們認為從現在到 26 年底將會有很多價值創造機會，其中最重要的就是 Proteus 平台的推出。

And I think we'll sort of evaluate when we get there, what are the various strategic options and what's the best way to capitalize the company to the extent we need additional capital to carry us out. So I think we're really focused on what we do between here and there to really add value and get to that launch and then really look at the strategic options and what's the best thing for the company and the best thing for our shareholders.

我認為，當我們到達那裡時，我們會進行評估，有哪些不同的策略選擇，以及在我們需要額外資本來開展業務的範圍內，利用公司資本的最佳方式是什麼。因此，我認為我們真正關注的是在此期間所做的事情，以真正增加價值並實現發布，然後真正考慮策略選擇以及什麼對公司和股東最有利。

All right. Perfect. And finally, last one on your international presence. I think you said you have 23 partners. And recently, I saw like that was 18 partners. So you're kind of increasing that. So that's good. Could you just clarify how many, let's say, countries or maybe like more detailed regions, let's say, that gives you access to? And then maybe just a little bit of like a flavor for the tariff situation, I guess, and how you see it in those areas?

好的。完美的。最後，我想談談您的國際影響力。我想你說過你有 23 個合作夥伴。最近，我看到有 18 個合作夥伴。所以你在某種程度上增加了這一點。這很好。您能否說明一下，您可以造訪多少個國家或更詳細的地區？然後也許只是對關稅情況有一點了解，我想，您如何看待這些地區的情況？

So first, on the tariff situation, as Jeff said in his prepared remarks, we haven't seen any impact to date in terms of importation-related tariffs that would increase the cost for those partners to bring our product into the country. We haven't seen that happen, and that's pretty consistent with historical practices, which are scientific and medical instrumentation has largely been exempted from those things in the past. So we're watching it closely, but nothing to report at this point.

首先，關於關稅情況，正如傑夫在準備好的演講中所說，到目前為止，我們還沒有看到與進口相關的關稅產生任何影響，這會增加合作夥伴將我們的產品帶入該國的成本。我們還沒有看到這種情況發生，這與歷史實踐非常一致，科學和醫療儀器在過去基本上不受這些事情的影響。因此我們正在密切關注，但目前還沒有任何可報告的消息。

In terms of the partners themselves, most of our partners cover more than one country. You have some instances where it's a more significant country in terms of size and perhaps they cover a single country. They cover Singapore, maybe as an example or Japan as an example. But when you get into some areas of the world like Eastern European, you might see one distributor have three, four, or five countries. So there is some mix in terms of the number of countries each partner covers.

就合作夥伴本身而言，我們的大多數合作夥伴涵蓋多個國家。在某些情況下，從面積上看，它是一個更重要的國家，也許它們只涵蓋一個國家。他們可能以新加坡或日本為例。但是當你進入東歐等世界某些地區時，你可能會看到一個分銷商有三個、四個或五個國家。因此，每個合作夥伴所涵蓋的國家數量有一定差異。

You are correct that we expanded that network a bit to 23. We think we're largely complete with that build-out. There are a couple of countries left that we think represent good proteomics opportunities and have existing established markets that we could tap into. So we may add a few more partners to that mix over the coming quarters, but we think we're largely complete with that build-out.

您說得對，我們將該網絡稍微擴展至 23 個。我們認為我們的建設工作已基本完成。我們認為剩下的幾個國家代表著良好的蛋白質體學機會，並且擁有我們可以利用的成熟市場。因此，我們可能會在未來幾季增加更多的合作夥伴，但我們認為我們的建設已基本完成。

All right, great. Thanks so much, guys.

好的，太好了。非常感謝大家。

Scott Henry, AGP.

斯科特·亨利（Scott Henry），AGP。

Thank you, and good afternoon. A big picture question. You may have mentioned it already, but I think it's worth doubling down on it. When you think about your total market, US, OUS, all segments, what percent do you think of your target market falls in that kind of NIH/academic US-based market? Just trying to get a sense of the magnitude because I know you do a lot overseas as well.

謝謝，下午好。一個大問題。您可能已經提到過它，但我認為值得加倍重視。當您考慮您的整個市場、美國、OUS 和所有細分市場時，您認為您的目標市場有多少百分比屬於美國 NIH/學術市場？我只是想了解規模，因為我知道你在海外也做了很多事。

Yes. So maybe I can give a couple of data points that help to elucidate that. I think maybe one general comment I would make, Scott, is that, obviously, at the current commercial scale we're at, the market is very large. So we're not in a situation where we've maximized penetration and even the slightest change in a market size is going to, in some way, constrain us.

是的。因此也許我可以提供一些數據點來幫助闡明這一點。史考特，我想我可能要說的一個一般性評論是，顯然，以我們目前的商業規模來看，市場非常大。因此，我們還沒有達到最大化滲透率的境地，即使市場規模發生最輕微的變化，也會在某種程度上限制我們。

So I think from a macro perspective, obviously, large markets with fairly modest penetration, so a lot of upside to go tackle. A couple of data points we can give you. One is, if you think about our customer mix, so like maybe just think about it in terms of instrument installations, where are those at? So at the end of the quarter, we're at about -- 60% of our instrument installations are in laboratories outside of the US and about 40% of those are in the US. So that gives you a little flavor for the diversification of the base of installed instruments today.

因此我認為從宏觀角度來看，顯然大型市場滲透率相當適中，因此有很大的上升空間可以解決。我們可以為您提供一些數據點。一是，如果你考慮我們的客戶組合，那麼也許只需從儀器安裝的角度來考慮，它們在哪裡？因此，在本季末，我們大約 60% 的儀器安裝在美國以外的實驗室，其中約 40% 在美國。這樣您就可以稍微體會一下現今安裝的儀器基礎的多樣化。

And in terms of the US market, the data point we can give you is around 20% of the total business we have is in the US academic market. So if you think about all machines placed globally, about 20% of those are in US academic markets. Again, those people are still buying consumables. But if you want to sort of have, a, way to think about the instrument sort of distribution today that I think those two data points give you a couple of ways to think about it.

就美國市場而言，我們可以提供的數據是，我們的總業務的 20% 左右在美國學術市場。因此，如果你考慮全球範圍內的所有機器，其中約有 20％ 位於美國學術市場。再說了，這些人仍在購買消耗品。但是如果你想要以一種方式來思考當今儀器的分佈，我認為這兩個數據點可以為你提供幾種思考方式。

Yes, that's really helpful. I appreciate that. And then the spending patterns, certainly, Q1 was lower sequentially from R&D and SG&A. The question is, do you think is that a seasonality or might we be seeing some lower cost structure? And I know the Avantor situation helps on that front.

是的，這確實很有幫助。我很感激。然後是支出模式，當然，第一季的研發和銷售、一般及行政費用較上季下降。問題是，您認為這是季節性現象還是我們可能會看到一些較低的成本結構？我知道 Avantor 的情況在這方面有所幫助。

Scott, this is Jeff. Well, there's always a little variability quarter-to-quarter on how spend goes out, probably more in the R&D bucket as we go through development stages of our products. And so that's why we provide guidance for the full year on what we're going to do from a total OpEx spend of that $103 million or less.

斯科特，這是傑夫。嗯，每季的支出狀況總會有一點變化，隨著我們產品進入開發階段，研發方面的支出可能會更多。這就是為什麼我們要為全年提供指導，說明我們將如何在 1.03 億美元或更少的總營運支出範圍內開展工作。

What I can say, as we went through the end of last year, we did a restructuring of our R&D department and really overall organization to really focus resources to development of the Proteus project. We kind of right-sized everything and fully funded that Proteus development spend to be within that $103 million. So there may be some variability on a quarter to quarter, but for the full year, we're well on the track to kind of hit that number or below. But always some variability just depending on the stage and the activities that are going on in the R&D department.

我可以說的是，去年年底，我們對研發部門和整個組織進行了重組，以便真正集中資源開發 Proteus 專案。我們對一切都進行了適當的調整，並將 Proteus 的開發費用全額資助在 1.03 億美元以內。因此，每個季度之間可能會存在一些差異，但就全年而言，我們預計會達到或低於這個數字。但總是會有一些變化，取決於研發部門所處的階段和活動。

Okay. Great. Final question, just on the Avantor relationship. I mean it looks like training is complete. Any comments on the progress there? Is it matching up with your expectations? Just any kind of feedback on the early returns to that?

好的。偉大的。最後一個問題，關於 Avantor 的關係。我的意思是看起來訓練已經完成了。對那裡的進展有何評論？符合你的期望嗎？對於早期的回報有什麼回饋嗎？

Yes. So as you said, the training and onboarding of their team has been completed. We'll continue to obviously provide continuing education and assistance where they need it, but they are trained. They're out now building those sales funnels.

是的。正如您所說，他們的團隊的培訓和入職培訓已經完成。我們顯然會繼續在他們需要的地方提供繼續教育和援助，但他們已經接受過培訓。他們現在正在建立這些銷售管道。

We have regular calls, both at what I would call more of a regional level between one of our sales professionals and a smaller number of theirs, but also at the executive level between our company and the folks over there that lead their broader teams. And as part of those interactions, they share with us sort of their activity metrics, and we have visibility to that sort of on a regional level.

我們定期進行電話會議，既包括我所說的區域級別的我們的銷售專業人員和他們的少數銷售專業人員之間的電話會議，也包括我們公司和領導他們更廣泛團隊的人員之間的高管級別的電話會議。作為這些互動的一部分，他們與我們分享他們的活動指標，我們可以在區域層面上看到這些指標。

And I would say, while it's early days, we've been quite pleased with the activity level we're seeing across all the regions, and it's just something we have to stay on top of and continue to make sure we're both monitoring it, but also providing the support.

我想說，雖然現在還處於早期階段，但我們對所有地區的活動水平感到非常滿意，我們必須密切關注並繼續確保我們既對其進行監控，又提供支援。

And I think we're starting to see our teams work together to progress opportunities through the sales funnel. So we're not -- Avantor is no less immune to that there's a sales cycle and a sales process than anybody else. So I think we'll work through those processes. But right now, the early data says we're seeing a nice level of activity and engagement and pretty uniformly across all the different regions they have.

我認為我們開始看到我們的團隊齊心協力，透過銷售管道推進機會。所以我們不是——Avantor 對銷售週期和銷售流程的免疫力並不比其他人差。所以我認為我們會完成這些流程。但目前，早期數據顯示，我們看到他們的活動和參與度處於良好的水平，並且在所有不同地區都相當一致。

Okay, great. Thank you for taking the questions.

好的，太好了。感謝您回答這些問題。

(Operator Instructions) Swayampakula Ramakanth, HCW.

（操作員說明）Swayampakula Ramakanth，HCW。

Thank you. This is RK from H.C. Wainwright. On the next version of the sequencing kit that you plan to release in the coming quarter, I'm trying to understand like how do you make it -- I mean, first of all, do these sequencing kits, are they different in terms of efficiency or the speed with which the -- I know you have a separate one for making the sample as well. When you -- when somebody thinks through for an industry or biopharma use versus an academic use, is there any differential at all, first of all? And then two, as you improve these versions, so what are people getting in the next version and the next version?

謝謝。我是來自 H.C. 的 RK。溫賴特。關於您計劃在下一季發布的下一版測序試劑盒，我想了解您是如何製作它的——我的意思是，首先，這些測序試劑盒在效率或速度方面是否不同——我知道您還有一個單獨的試劑盒用於製作樣本。當你——當有人仔細考慮工業或生物製藥用途與學術用途時，首先，是否存在任何差異？其次，隨著這些版本的改進，人們在下一個版本和下一個版本中會得到什麼？

So I would say two things. One is there is not a different kit in terms of sequencing that we -- that, let's say, an academic researcher would use than a biopharma or government lab might use. I think we -- when we go through these sequencing kit evolutions, there's ultimately a period where both the current version and the new one are offered. But then reasonably short after the launch of a new kit, we tend to phase out the prior kit and all customers move over to the new one. So in that regard, sort of uniform kit used across all the segments.

所以我想說兩件事。一是就定序而言，學術研究人員使用的試劑盒與生物製藥或政府實驗室使用的試劑盒沒有什麼不同。我認為，當我們經歷這些定序試劑盒的演變時，最終會有一個同時提供當前版本和新版本的時期。但是在新套件推出後不久，我們就會逐步淘汰之前的套件，所有客戶都會轉向新的套件。因此從這個方面來說，所有部分都使用統一的套件。

A very similar sort of explanation about library prep as well. I think when we move between these kits, what we really look at, RK, is when do we have enough individual changes that when combined together lead to a meaningful improvement in performance. And when I say meaningful improvement in performance, what we're really looking at is, are customers going to be able to get more information when they sequence? Will they see more peptides? Will they see more amino acids?

關於圖書館準備也有非常類似的解釋。我認為，當我們在這些套件之間移動時，我們真正關注的是，RK，我們何時有足夠的單獨變化，當結合在一起時會導致性能的顯著改善。當我說效能有顯著提升時，我們真正關注的是，客戶在排序時是否能夠獲得更多資訊？他們會看到更多的勝肽嗎？他們會看到更多的胺基酸嗎？

We're also -- obviously, as we're out in the market, we know what applications or proteins people maybe have wanted to try to sequence and perhaps an older version of the kit wasn't capable of that, we add new capabilities. We can also see how many of those additional sort of applications or proteins of interest would now be accessible to customers. So we look for things like that.

顯然，當我們進入市場時，我們知道人們可能想要嘗試測序哪些應用或蛋白質，也許舊版本的套件無法做到這一點，我們會添加新的功能。我們還可以看到現在有多少額外的應用程式或感興趣的蛋白質可供客戶使用。所以我們尋找類似的東西。

And as an example, the addition of the cutter, we discussed in the prepared remarks, to cut through the amino acid directly before proline, that really opens up a lot of amino acids that sit downstream of that proline. And as an example, antibody QC, the antibodies tend to be fairly rich in proline.

舉個例子，我們在準備好的評論中討論過，添加切割劑，直接在脯氨酸之前切割氨基酸，這實際上打開了位於脯氨酸下游的許多氨基酸。舉個例子，抗體 QC，抗體往往富含脯氨酸。

So having the ability to cut through those and sequence the remainder of those peptides should help us in that example to be able to cover more of the types of QC applications people might want to do with antibodies. So that's just sort of one example. But that's sort of how we look at it. It's really that what additional applications or proteins or capabilities would customers get and when do we have enough of those to put into a kit. And for us, that's been sort of on that cadence of about every nine months or so, we've been able to make enough improvements that we really think there's a meaningful lift for customers, and therefore, it's worth the R&D investment.

因此，有能力切分這些勝肽並對剩餘的勝肽進行定序應該有助於我們在這個例子中能夠涵蓋人們可能想要用抗體進行的更多類型的 QC 應用。這只是一個例子。但我們就是這樣看待它的。真正的問題是客戶將獲得哪些額外的應用程式、蛋白質或功能，以及我們何時才有足夠的這些來放入套件中。對我們來說，大約每九個月左右就會出現一次這樣的節奏，我們已經能夠做出足夠多的改進，我們真的認為這對客戶來說是有意義的提升，因此，值得進行研發投資。

Okay. The last time when we were talking, you're telling or we were discussing that you always want to keep a distance between yourself and the next competitor. And in a market like this, since you have the little bit of the cushion that you have on the financial side, you always want to maintain the distance or even try to increase the distance artificially if the other competitor doesn't have enough financing.

好的。上次我們談話時，您說過或我們討論過，您總是想與下一個競爭對手保持距離。在這樣的市場中，由於你在財務方面擁有一點緩衝，你總是希望保持距離，甚至如果其他競爭對手沒有足夠的資金，你還會試圖人為地擴大距離。

But having said that, as this was about 1.5 months ago and now it's probably you have a little bit more insight into how your various customers are behaving, does that still resonate between you and the Board and everybody in the company in terms of keeping that a couple of steps ahead of the competition? Or do you see that at some point, you might also have to slow down a bit just to conserve cash and maintain the runway?

但話雖如此，因為這已經是大約一個半月前的事了，現在您可能對各種客戶的行為有了更多的了解，在保持領先於競爭對手幾步方面，您和董事會以及公司所有人之間是否仍然有共鳴？或者您是否認為，在某個時候，您可能也必須放慢速度，以節省現金並維持跑道？

I think, RK, it's a fair question I think consistent with what I said to Kyle on a similar thread. I think our view is -- one is our view is that, yes, we are still well ahead of other technologies attempting to do something very similar to us, trying to sequence proteins at the amino acid level.

我認為，RK，這是一個公平的問題，我認為與我在類似主題上對 Kyle 所說的一致。我認為我們的觀點是——我們的觀點是，是的，我們仍然遠遠領先於其他試圖做與我們非常相似的事情的技術，試圖在氨基酸水平上對蛋白質進行測序。

We have technology road maps. While we're investing in a healthy way in R&D, I can tell you that we have more ideas than we do programs. So we are making decisions every day on where to apply that investment in an effort to continue to extend that market leadership but not spend above what we think is prudent for the stage of the business, the market dynamics, cash balance, et cetera. So this is something we, as a management team, closely sort of watch and talk about.

我們有技術路線圖。雖然我們在研發方面投入了大量資金，但我可以告訴你，我們的想法比專案多。因此，我們每天都在決定將投資用在何處，以繼續擴大市場領導地位，但支出不會超出我們認為對業務階段、市場動態、現金餘額等合理的範圍。因此，作為管理團隊，我們會密切關注並討論這個問題。

We have mechanisms in place to really monitor the way we're allocating that R&D investment across those maybe longer-term investments in research or innovation versus the product development efforts that will directly lead to product launches in the nearer term and can be capitalized on commercially. So we're very careful with those allocations. And these are all things we discuss very openly and candidly with our Board and get great counsel and advice from those folks.

我們已經建立了機制來真正監控我們在那些可能是長期研究或創新投資與直接導致近期產品上市並可在商業上利用的產品開發工作之間的研發投資分配方式。所以我們對這些分配非常謹慎。這些都是我們與董事會非常公開和坦誠討論的事情，並從他們那裡得到了很好的建議和意見。

And I think right now, we collectively are comfortable with the way we're investing. We're comfortable with where our runway is. But we are taking in data and watching the markets and the trends just as everybody else is. And if things were to deteriorate in the macroeconomy in some way, I think we've shown a willingness in the past to be proactive here and make changes when they're called for. But at this point, we think we've done that -- some of that hard work, really have the investments focused the right way and believe we've got it allocated to the most high-value programs, and we're sort of continuing with that approach at this time. But always monitoring, watching and prepared to react if indeed sort of it's required.

我認為現在我們對我們的投資方式感到滿意。我們對我們的跑道位置很滿意。但我們和其他人一樣，也在收集數據並關注市場和趨勢。如果宏觀經濟情勢出現某種惡化，我認為我們過去已經表現出積極主動的意願，並在需要時做出改變。但目前，我們認為我們已經做到了這一點——一些艱苦的工作確實將投資集中在正確的方向上，並相信我們已經將其分配給了最有價值的項目，我們目前正在繼續採用這種方法。但總是要監視、觀察，並準備在確實需要時做出反應。

Okay. And then for this morning, there was a webinar by one of the academicians who has been using your system. And how are such conversations by the academicians to other academicians, how is that helping you out? And is that the sort of thing that you're trying to do in terms of, in a softer manner, how to propagate the utility of your systems?

好的。今天上午，一位使用過你們系統的院士舉辦了一場網路研討會。院士們與其他院士之間的對話對您有何幫助？這就是您想以更溫和的方式傳播您的系統的實用性嗎？

I think the way to think about it is we see peer-to-peer as a very powerful sort of medium to gain awareness and interest in the technology. I think in this case, you're talking about a webinar that a customer did. But we also, RK, have hosted, sort of, what we call user group meetings where we invite both current and prospective customers to virtual events, where they're able to hear about the type of research our customers around the world are doing with the technology, hear what other people are doing, ask questions about how the technology has performed, what it's been like to implement it in their laboratories. So I think that adds on top of the posters that get presented at meetings or the papers that get published.

我認為我們應該將點對點視為一種非常強大的媒介，可以讓人們對該技術產生認識和興趣。我認為在這種情況下，您正在談論客戶舉辦的網路研討會。但是，RK 也主辦了所謂的使用者小組會議，邀請現有客戶和潛在客戶參加虛擬活動，他們可以了解我們世界各地的客戶使用該技術進行的研究類型，了解其他人在做什麼，詢問該技術的表現如何，以及在他們的實驗室中實施該技術的感受如何。所以我認為這是對會議上展示的海報或發表的論文的補充。

So I think, to me, it's a collective of activities that are about customers and researchers sharing their experiences and trying to provide people with their perspective and really just build that peer-to-peer, sort of, those linkages. I think it's a nice complement to the direct selling activities you do, and I think it's an important part of bringing new technologies to market and doing so in a very high integrity, high scientific sort of focus.

所以我認為，對我來說，這是一個集體活動，關於客戶和研究人員分享他們的經驗，並試圖向人們提供他們的觀點，並真正建立點對點的聯繫。我認為這是對你們所從事的直銷活動的一個很好的補充，而且我認為這是將新技術推向市場的一個重要部分，並且是以高度的誠信和高度的科學性為重點來實現的。

Thank you. Thank you, Jeff, for taking my questions and talk to you soon.

謝謝。謝謝傑夫回答我的問題，我們很快就會再聊。

Thank you. And this does conclude today's Q&A session. I would like to turn the call back to Jeff Hawkins for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

謝謝。今天的問答環節到此結束。我想請傑夫霍金斯作最後發言。請繼續。

Thank you for attending our call today. We look forward to providing more business updates during our next earnings call.

感謝您今天參加我們的電話會議。我們期待在下次收益電話會議中提供更多業務更新。

Thank you for participating in today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的電話會議。您現在可以斷開連線。