Rambus Inc (RMBS) 2021 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Rambus First Quarter and Fiscal Year 2021 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

歡迎參加 Rambus 第一季和 2021 財年財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，本次電話會議正在錄音。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Rahul Mathur, Chief Financial Officer. You may begin your conference.

我現在想將會議交給財務長拉胡爾·馬圖爾 (Rahul Mathur)。您可以開始您的會議了。

Thank you, operator, and welcome to the Rambus First Quarter 2021 Results Conference Call. I'm Rahul Mathur, CFO. And on the call with me today is Luc Seraphin, our CEO. The press release for the results that we will be discussing today have been furnished to the SEC on Form 8-K. A replay of this call will be available for the next week at (855) 859-2056. You can hear the replay by dialing the toll-free number and then entering ID# 3985069 when you hear the prompt.

謝謝營運商，歡迎參加 Rambus 2021 年第一季業績電話會議。我是財務長拉胡爾·馬圖爾。今天與我通話的是我們的執行長 Luc Seraphin。我們今天將討論的結果新聞稿已透過 8-K 表格提交給 SEC。下週可撥打 (855) 859-2056 重播此電話會議。您可以撥打免費電話，然後在聽到提示時輸入 ID# 3985069 來收聽重播。

In addition, we are simultaneously webcasting this call. And along with the audio, we are webcasting slides that we will reference during portions of today's call. So even if you're joining us via conference call, you may want to access the webcast with the slide presentation. A replay of this call can be accessed on our website beginning today at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

此外，我們正在同時對本次電話會議進行網路直播。除了音訊之外，我們還播放了網路廣播幻燈片，我們將在今天電話會議的部分內容中參考這些幻燈片。因此，即使您透過電話會議加入我們，您也可能想要存取帶有幻燈片簡報的網路廣播。從今天下午 5:00 開始，您可以在我們的網站上觀看本次電話會議的重播。太平洋時間。

Our discussion today will contain forward-looking statements, including our financial guidance for future periods, product investment strategies, timing of expected product launches, demand for existing and newly acquired technologies, the growth opportunities of the various markets we serve, the expected benefits of our merger, acquisition and divestiture activity, including the success of our integration efforts. Risks and potential adverse impacts related to or arising from COVID-19 and the effects of ASC 606 on reported revenue, amongst other things. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that are discussed during this call and may be more fully described in the documents we filed with the SEC, including our 8-Ks, 10-Qs and 10-Ks.

我們今天的討論將包含前瞻性陳述，包括我們對未來時期的財務指導、產品投資策略、預期產品發布的時間、對現有和新獲得的技術的需求、我們服務的各個市場的成長機會、預期收益我們的合併、收購和剝離活動，包括我們整合工作的成功。與 COVID-19 相關或由其引起的風險和潛在不利影響以及 ASC 606 對報告收入的影響等。這些聲明受到本次電話會議期間討論的風險和不確定性的影響，並且可能在我們向 SEC 提交的文件中進行更全面的描述，包括我們的 8-K、10-Q 和 10-K。

These forward-looking statements may differ materially from our actual results and we're under no obligation to update these statements. In an effort to provide greater clarity to our financials, we're using both GAAP and non-GAAP financial presentations in both our press release and also on this call. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financials to the most directly comparable GAAP measures has been included in our press release and our slide presentation and on our website at rambus.com on the Investor Relations page under Financial Releases.

這些前瞻性陳述可能與我們的實際結果有重大差異，我們沒有義務更新這些陳述。為了讓我們的財務狀況更加清晰，我們在新聞稿和本次電話會議中同時使用 GAAP 和非 GAAP 財務簡報。這些非 GAAP 財務數據與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的對帳已包含在我們的新聞稿和幻燈片簡報中，以及我們網站 rambus.com 投資者關係頁面的財務發布下。

We adopted ASC 606 in 2018 using the modified retrospective method, which did not restate prior periods, but rather ran the cumulative effect of the adoption through retained earnings as a beginning balance sheet adjustment. Any comparison between our results under ASC 606 and prior results under ASC 605 is not an accurate way to track the company's progress. We will continue to provide operational metrics such as licensing billings to give our investors better insight into our operational performance.

我們在2018年採用了ASC 606，採用了修改後的追溯法，該方法沒有重述前期，而是透過留存收益來計算採用的累積效應作為期初資產負債表調整。我們在 ASC 606 下的結果與先前在 ASC 605 下的結果之間的任何比較都不是追蹤公司進展的準確方法。我們將繼續提供許可帳單等營運指標，讓投資者更了解我們的營運績效。

The order of our call today will be as follows: Luc will start with an overview of the business. I will discuss our financial results, including our guidance for future periods. And then we will end with Q&A.

我們今天的電話會議順序如下：Luc 首先概述業務。我將討論我們的財務業績，包括我們對未來時期的指導。然後我們將以問答結束。

I'll now turn the call over to Luc to provide an overview of the quarter. Luc?

我現在將把電話轉給 Luc，以提供本季的概述。呂克？

Thanks, Rahul, and good afternoon, everyone. Q1 was a strong quarter for the company, delivering at the high end of expectations for revenue and profitability. We continue to meet or beat expectations, and I'm very proud of the team's continued execution. Our cash generation remained strong with $39.5 million in cash from operations and continues to fuel our ongoing investment in our product road map. As anticipated, our memory interface chip business rebounded to over $30 million, and we continue to expect our annual product growth to significantly outpace the market. We also see a positive trajectory in silicon IP customer engagements with the opportunity to build enterprise-level relationships. Ongoing share gains and strong demand in our target markets are driving growth for the company with data center as the primary catalyst across all of our businesses.

謝謝拉胡爾，大家下午好。第一季對該公司來說是一個強勁的季度，收入和盈利能力達到了預期的上限。我們繼續滿足或超越期望，我為團隊的持續執行力感到非常自豪。我們的現金產生能力仍然強勁，營運現金達 3,950 萬美元，並繼續推動我們對產品路線圖的持續投資。正如預期的那樣，我們的記憶體介面晶片業務反彈至超過 3000 萬美元，我們繼續預計我們的年度產品成長將顯著超過市場。我們也看到矽 IP 客戶互動的正面軌跡，並有機會建立企業級關係。我們目標市場的持續份額成長和強勁需求正在推動公司的成長，資料中心是我們所有業務的主要催化劑。

We are actively building our ecosystem and expanding our reach through partnerships and collaboration and are confident in our ability to deliver profitable top line growth. Over the past few quarters, we've discussed some of the company's vectors for growth at a high level, and I wanted to provide more detail on some of the more exciting trends shaping our road map and market opportunity.

我們正在積極建立我們的生態系統，並透過合作夥伴關係和協作擴大我們的影響力，並對我們實現盈利性營收成長的能力充滿信心。在過去的幾個季度中，我們在高層討論了公司的一些成長向量，我想提供有關塑造我們的路線圖和市場機會的一些更令人興奮的趨勢的更多詳細資訊。

We see 3 fundamental trends that are driving growth at the market, system and chip level. First is the accelerated transition from enterprise to cloud. Second, is the sustained increase in data generation and usage. And third is the proliferation of AI and data-intensive applications across all markets. Beyond the secular growth in data center, these trends are increasing demand for performance with rising AI/ML workloads driving server growth at the system level. And at the chip level, the need for more data to feed these systems is driving memory bandwidth and big growth. As a result, data delivery, particularly in the memory subsystem, is now on the critical path for meeting ongoing performance requirements.

我們看到了推動市場、系統和晶片層面成長的三個基本趨勢。首先是從企業到雲端的加速轉型。其次，數據產生和使用的持續成長。第三是人工智慧和數據密集型應用在所有市場的激增。除了資料中心的長期成長之外，這些趨勢還增加了對效能的需求，不斷增加的 AI/ML 工作負載推動了系統層級的伺服器成長。在晶片層面，對更多數據來滿足這些系統的需求正在推動記憶體頻寬和大幅成長。因此，資料傳輸（尤其是記憶體子系統中的資料傳輸）現在已成為滿足持續效能要求的關鍵路徑。

Additionally, the emergence of new architectures and growing need for privacy create a necessity for securing data at rest and in motion, where we have built a distinctive portfolio of IP offerings. The combination of these factors has created an amplified market opportunity and a growing time for Rambus. Our company's TAM expansion is driven by a number of factors. In the near term, Intel's latest DDR4 platform supports a higher maximum memory module attach rate. This platform is currently ramping and will enable an optional increase in corresponding modules to box in high-end systems.

此外，新架構的出現和對隱私日益增長的需求創造了保護靜態和動態資料的必要性，為此我們建立了獨特的 IP 產品組合。這些因素的結合為 Rambus 創造了更大的市場機會和成長時間。我們公司的 TAM 擴張受到多種因素的推動。短期內，英特爾最新的 DDR4 平台支援更高的最大記憶體模組連接速率。該平台目前正在逐步完善，將能夠選擇性地增加相應的模組以裝入高階系統。

As the industry transitions to DDR5 beginning later this year, the growing complexity at higher speeds will require additional companionships like temperature sensors, power management integrated circuits, also known as PMICs, and serial presence detect hubs, also known as SPD hubs. Each of these provides an adjacent chip opportunity for Rambus, and we expect to see an increase in our portion of chip content per module.

隨著產業從今年稍後開始向DDR5 過渡，更高速度日益增長的複雜性將需要額外的配套，例如溫度感測器、電源管理集成電路（也稱為PMIC）和串行存在檢測集線器（也稱為SPD 集線器）。其中每一個都為 Rambus 提供了相鄰的晶片機會，我們預計每個模組的晶片內容部分會增加。

Looking to next year and beyond, the industry is converging on the use of Compute Express Link or CXL as part of a differentiated memory interface architecture in addition to traditional DIMMs to expand system bandwidth and capacity. We are actively engaged with the ecosystem on the design and development of these new memory interface products. And finally, as we look a bit further out in the future, there are opportunities to leverage those same high-speed links as part of new disaggregated architectures that can boost utilization and efficiency and reduce total cost of ownership for data center customers.

展望明年及以後，業界將集中使用 Compute Express Link 或 CXL 作為除傳統 DIMM 之外的差異化記憶體介面架構的一部分，以擴展系統頻寬和容量。我們積極參與生態系統設計和開發這些新型記憶體介面產品。最後，當我們展望未來時，有機會利用這些相同的高速鏈路作為新的分解架構的一部分，從而提高利用率和效率，並降低資料中心客戶的總擁有成本。

It is also important to point out that security has become a critical concern that must be addressed at the hardware level to deliver both performance and protection in future architectures. We see a growing number of industry standards and customer requirements to security as part of chip and system specifications. As an industry pioneer with over 30 years of experience in high-speed interfaces and an extensive portfolio of security offerings, Rambus is ideally suited to address these challenges. We see many opportunities for our product road map and focused R&D investments to drive TAM expansion and expect the long-term profitable growth of the company to outpace that of the market.

還需要指出的是，安全性已成為必須在硬體層級解決的關鍵問題，以便在未來架構中提供效能和保護。我們看到越來越多的行業標準和客戶要求將安全性作為晶片和系統規範的一部分。作為在高速介面和廣泛的安全產品組合方面擁有 30 多年經驗的行業先驅，Rambus 非常適合應對這些挑戰。我們看到我們的產品路線圖和重點研發投資有許多機會來推動 TAM 擴張，並預計公司的長期獲利成長將超過市場。

Now let's get back to our product business. The industry has returned to healthy memory consumption levels following the short-term inventory digestion in the second half of last year. We remain confident that we have the supply chain in place to satisfy our ongoing customer demand and support share growth. As I mentioned previously, our first quarter product revenue returns to over $30 million, and we'll continue to build as demand for server memory is expected to remain robust throughout 2021 and into 2022. We expect our annual product growth to significantly outpace the market, driven by share gains in DDR4 and ramping volumes in DDR5.

現在讓我們回到我們的產品業務。經過去年下半年的短期庫存消化後，產業已恢復到健康的記憶體消費水準。我們仍然相信，我們的供應鏈能夠滿足我們持續的客戶需求並支援份額成長。正如我之前提到的，我們第一季的產品收入恢復到3000 萬美元以上，並且我們將繼續增加，因為伺服器記憶體的需求預計在2021 年和2022 年保持強勁。我們預計我們的年度產品成長將顯著超過市場受 DDR4 份額增長和 DDR5 銷量增加的推動。

We continue to improve our market position in DDR4 through superior execution and expect incremental gains given our larger qualification footprint on Intel's most recent DDR4 platform. With respect to DDR5, we are in a leading position for qualification with our memory customers on both Intel and AMD DDR5 platforms. All of the major DRAM suppliers are shipping DDR5 modules with our chips for end customer qualification, and we expect volume to ramp in the second half of the year. We continue to invest in the development of companionship for DDR5 platforms and look forward to sharing more in the near future.

我們將透過卓越的執行力繼續提高我們在 DDR4 領域的市場地位，並預計由於我們在英特爾最新 DDR4 平台上的資格覆蓋範圍更大，我們將獲得增量收益。就 DDR5 而言，我們在英特爾和 AMD DDR5 平台上的記憶體客戶資格認證中處於領先地位。所有主要 DRAM 供應商都在出貨 DDR5 模組以及我們的晶片，以供最終客戶認證，我們預計下半年銷售將會增加。我們將繼續投資 DDR5 平台伴侶的開發，並期待在不久的將來分享更多。

In closing, I'm very proud of the company's performance in the first quarter. We are well positioned for above-market growth, and I'm excited about the many opportunities this year and beyond. The health and safety of our global workforce, customers and partners remain our top priority. We approach people, culture and diversity with the same level of passion and dedication as our technology leadership, profitability and capital investments. And we remain committed to responsible and sustainable environmental and social practices as we deliver products to our customers.

最後，我對公司第一季的業績感到非常自豪。我們已經做好了實現高於市場成長的準備，我對今年及以後的許多機會感到興奮。我們全球員工、客戶和合作夥伴的健康和安全仍然是我們的首要任務。我們以與我們的技術領先地位、盈利能力和資本投資相同的熱情和奉獻精神對待人才、文化和多樣性。在向客戶提供產品時，我們仍然致力於負責任和永續的環境和社會實踐。

With that, I turn the call over to Rahul to discuss the quarterly financial results. Rahul?

就這樣，我把電話轉給拉胡爾，討論季度財務表現。拉胡爾？

Thanks, Luc. I'd like to begin with a summary of our financial results for the first quarter on Slide 8. Once again, we delivered a solid quarter and are very pleased with the ongoing execution on our growth initiatives. We delivered financial results at the high end of our revenue and earnings expectations.

謝謝，盧克。我想先在投影片 8 上總結我們第一季的財務業績。我們再次實現了穩健的季度業績，並對我們成長計畫的持續執行感到非常滿意。我們的財務表現超出了收入和盈利預期的上限。

Our product revenue grew 41% quarter-over-quarter. We generated $39.5 million in cash from operations, bringing our total cash position to $529.1 million. Our execution and operational discipline have yielded solid financial results and a strong balance sheet that enables us to support our strategic initiatives.

我們的產品收入較上季成長 41%。我們透過營運產生了 3,950 萬美元的現金，使我們的現金頭寸總額達到 5.291 億美元。我們的執行和營運紀律取得了穩健的財務表現和強大的資產負債表，使我們能夠支持我們的策略舉措。

Let me talk you through some financial highlights on Slide 9. We continue to be focused on profitable growth and have demonstrated this over the past many years. As Luc mentioned earlier, the significant growth in our chip and silicon IP revenues is a result of our focused R&D investments in the exciting cloud and data center market.

讓我向您介紹幻燈片 9 上的一些財務亮點。我們繼續關注盈利增長，並在過去多年中證明了這一點。正如 Luc 之前提到的，我們的晶片和矽 IP 收入的顯著增長是我們在令人興奮的雲端和資料中心市場集中研發投資的結果。

We have dramatically improved our cash from operations and free cash flow. This has allowed us to return capital to shareholders, while also further strengthening our balance sheet. Let me walk you through our non-GAAP income statement on Slide 10. Revenue for the first quarter was $70.4 million towards the high end of our expected range. Royalty revenue was $28.9 million, while licensing billings was $63.5 million. The difference between licensing billings and royalty revenue primarily relates to timing as we don't always recognize revenue in the same quarter as we bill our customers.

我們大大改善了營運現金和自由現金流。這使我們能夠向股東返還資本，同時進一步加強我們的資產負債表。讓我向您介紹幻燈片 10 上的非 GAAP 損益表。第一季的收入為 7040 萬美元，接近我們預期範圍的高端。版稅收入為 2,890 萬美元，授權費用為 6,350 萬美元。授權帳單和特許權使用費收入之間的差異主要與時間安排有關，因為我們並非總是向客戶開立帳單的同一季度確認收入。

Our buffer chip business rebounded in the first quarter as we work through the inventory digestion in the supply chain we had anticipated and discussed previously. Product revenue was $30.8 million, consisting primarily of our buffer chip business. Our contract and other revenue was $10.7 million, consisting primarily of our silicon IP business. Total operating expenses, including COGS for the quarter, came in at $58.2 million. Operating expenses of $45.3 million were lower than our expectations due to our continued focus on operational efficiency.

隨著我們之前預期和討論的供應鏈庫存消化工作的完成，我們的緩衝晶片業務在第一季出現反彈。產品收入為 3080 萬美元，主要由我們的緩衝晶片業務組成。我們的合約和其他收入為 1070 萬美元，主要包括我們的矽 IP 業務。包括本季銷貨成本在內的總營運費用為 5,820 萬美元。由於我們持續專注於營運效率，營運費用為 4,530 萬美元，低於我們的預期。

We ended the quarter with headcount of 589, lower than 623 in the previous quarter, as we continue to align our product programs with growth markets. Under ASC 606, we recorded $2.8 million of interest income related to the financing component of our fixed fee licensing arrangements for which we have recognized revenue, but not yet received payment. We incurred $0.7 million of interest expense, primarily associated with our convertible notes. This was offset by incremental interest income related to the return on our cash and investment portfolio. After adjusting for noncash interest expense on our convertible notes, this resulted in non-GAAP interest and other income for the quarter of $2.2 million, assuming -- using an assumed flat rate of 24% for non-GAAP pretax income, non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $10.9 million. With continued focus on cost and disciplined execution, we delivered profit that was nicely above our expectations.

本季結束時，我們的員工人數為 589 人，低於上一季的 623 人，我們繼續根據成長市場調整我們的產品計劃。根據 ASC 606，我們記錄了與固定費用許可安排的融資部分相關的 280 萬美元利息收入，我們已確認收入，但尚未收到付款。我們產生了 70 萬美元的利息費用，主要與我們的可轉換票據相關。這被與我們的現金和投資組合回報相關的增量利息收入所抵消。在可轉換票據的非現金利息支出進行調整後，本季的非 GAAP 利息和其他收入為 220 萬美元，假設非 GAAP 稅前收入採用 24% 的假設統一利率，非 GAAP 淨額該季度的收入為1090 萬美元。透過持續關注成本和嚴格執行，我們實現的利潤遠高於我們的預期。

Now let me turn to the balance sheet details on Slide 11. We have consistently generated cash. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $529.1 million, up from the previous quarter, primarily due to cash from operations of $39.5 million. As we deliver on the top line and execute on operational efficiency, we expect to continue to deliver strong cash from operations in the future.

現在讓我看一下幻燈片 11 上的資產負債表詳細資料。我們一直在產生現金。現金、現金等價物和有價證券總計 5.291 億美元，較上一季增加，主要是因為營運現金 3,950 萬美元。隨著我們實現營收並提高營運效率，我們預計未來將繼續從營運中獲得強勁的現金。

At the end of Q1, we had contract assets worth $344.7 million, which reflects the net present value of unbilled AR related to licensing arrangements for which the company has no future performance obligations. I expect this number to continue to trend down as we bill and collect for these contracts. It's important to note that this metric doesn't represent the entire value of our existing licensing arrangements as several customers have royalty-based agreements that allow us to recognize revenue each quarter.

截至第一季末，我們的合約資產價值 3.447 億美元，這反映了與公司沒有未來履約義務的許可安排相關的未開票 AR 的淨現值。我預計隨著我們為這些合約開立帳單和收取費用，這個數字將繼續下降。值得注意的是，該指標並不代表我們現有授權安排的全部價值，因為一些客戶簽訂了基於特許權使用費的協議，使我們能夠每季確認收入。

First quarter CapEx was $6.6 million, while depreciation was $4.7 million. We delivered $32.8 million of free cash flow in the quarter. Looking forward, I expect CapEx for the second quarter to be less than $5 million. I also expect depreciation of roughly $20 million for the full year of 2021.

第一季資本支出為 660 萬美元，折舊為 470 萬美元。本季我們交付了 3,280 萬美元的自由現金流。展望未來，我預計第二季的資本支出將低於 500 萬美元。我還預計 2021 年全年折舊約為 2000 萬美元。

Now let me turn to our guidance for the second quarter on Slide 12. As a reminder, our forward-looking guidance reflects our current best estimates that our actual results could differ materially from what I'm about to review.

現在讓我轉向投影片 12 上的第二季指引。提醒一下，我們的前瞻性指引反映了我們目前的最佳估計，即我們的實際結果可能與我將要審查的結果有重大差異。

In addition to the financial outlook under ASC 606, we've also been providing information on licensing billings, which is an operational metric that reflects amounts invoiced to our licensing customers during the period adjusted for certain differences. As you see in the supplemental information we provide on Slide 16 of our earnings deck, licensing billings closely correlates with what we had historically reported as royalty revenue under ASC 605. Under ASC 606, we expect revenue in the second quarter between $76 million and $82 million. We expect royalty revenue between $32 million and $38 million. We also expect licensing billings between $60 million and $66 million.

除了 ASC 606 規定的財務前景外，我們還提供了有關許可帳單的信息，這是一個營運指標，反映了在針對某些差異進行調整的期間向我們的許可客戶開出的發票金額。正如您在收益表幻燈片16 上提供的補充資訊中看到的那樣，許可帳單與我們歷史上根據ASC 605 報告的特許權使用費收入密切相關。根據ASC 606，我們預計第二季的收入在7,600 萬美元至82 美元之間百萬。我們預計特許權使用費收入將在 3,200 萬美元至 3,800 萬美元之間。我們也預計許可證費用在 6,000 萬至 6,600 萬美元之間。

As Luc mentioned, we continue to closely monitor our supply chain. We're upholding our lead time commitments to our customers. Additionally, we maintain inventory to respond to unforeseen events and customer upside. We remain confident in our ability to fulfill customer demand. Our expected Q2 non-GAAP total operating costs and expenses, which includes COGS, we expect to be between $61 million and $57 million as we continue to invest in programs. Under ASC 606, non-GAAP operating results for the second quarter is expected to be between a $15 million and $25 million profit. For non-GAAP interest and other income and expense, which excludes interest income related to ASC 606, we expect approximately $1 million of expense, which includes $0.6 million of interest expense related to the notes due in 2023.

正如 Luc 所提到的，我們將繼續密切監控我們的供應鏈。我們恪守對客戶的交貨時間承諾。此外，我們還維持庫存，以應對不可預見的事件和客戶需求。我們對滿足客戶需求的能力仍然充滿信心。隨著我們繼續投資項目，我們預計第二季非 GAAP 總營運成本和費用（包括銷貨成本）將在 6,100 萬美元至 5,700 萬美元之間。根據 ASC 606，第二季非 GAAP 營運業績預計將在 1,500 萬美元至 2,500 萬美元之間。對於非 GAAP 利息和其他收入和費用（不包括與 ASC 606 相關的利息收入），我們預計費用約為 100 萬美元，其中包括與 2023 年到期票據相關的 60 萬美元利息費用。

We expect our pro forma tax rate to remain consistent at roughly 24%. The 24% is higher than the statutory rate of 21%, primarily due to higher tax rates in our foreign jurisdictions. As a reminder, we paid roughly $20 million of cash taxes each year, driven primarily by our licensing agreements with our partners in Korea. We expect non-GAAP taxes to be between an expense of $3 million and $6 million in Q2. We expect our Q2 share count to be roughly 116 million basic and diluted shares outstanding. This leads you to between a GAAP profit per share of $0.09 and $0.16 for the quarter.

我們預計預計稅率將維持在 24% 左右。 24% 高於 21% 的法定稅率，主要是由於我們外國司法管轄區的稅率較高。提醒一下，我們每年繳納約 2000 萬美元的現金稅，這主要是由我們與韓國合作夥伴簽訂的許可協議推動的。我們預計第二季非 GAAP 稅費將在 300 萬美元至 600 萬美元之間。我們預計第二季的流通股基本股和稀釋股約為 1.16 億股。這導致本季 GAAP 每股利潤在 0.09 美元到 0.16 美元之間。

Our product businesses are well positioned relative to market, and we anticipate steady execution across our strategic priorities. With that said, while we don't provide guidance beyond Q2, consensus estimates for our top line and bottom line growth in the remaining quarters of 2021 reflect our belief that our product growth will continue to outpace the broader semiconductor industry.

我們的產品業務相對於市場而言處於有利地位，我們預期我們的策略重點將得到穩定執行。話雖如此，雖然我們不會提供第二季度之後的指引，但對 2021 年剩餘季度營收和利潤增長的一致估計反映了我們的信念，即我們的產品增長將繼續超過更廣泛的半導體行業。

Let me finish with a summary on Slide 13. We are proud of the excellent execution by our team. Over the past several years, we've made substantial progress strategically, operationally and financially. We've realigned our portfolio to address data center and cloud opportunities and to support our long-term growth strategy. We are consistently improving our profitability, investing in the growth opportunities Luc mentioned previously and delivering value to our shareholders.

最後讓我對投影片 13 進行總結。我們為我們團隊的出色執行力感到自豪。在過去的幾年裡，我們在策略、營運和財務方面取得了實質進展。我們重新調整了我們的產品組合，以應對資料中心和雲端機會並支持我們的長期成長策略。我們不斷提高獲利能力，投資於盧克之前提到的成長機會，並為我們的股東創造價值。

Before I open up the call to Q&A, I would once again like to thank our employees for their continued teamwork and execution resilience during these uncertain times. Everyone, please stay safe and take care of yourself and your families.

在開始問答之前，我要再次感謝我們的員工在這個不確定的時期持續的團隊合作和執行力。請大家注意安全，照顧好自己和家人。

With that, I'll turn the call back to our operator to begin Q&A. Could we please have our first question?

之後，我會將電話轉回給我們的接線生以開始問答。我們可以問第一個問題嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Sidney Ho with Deutsche Bank.

（操作員指示）您的第一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Sidney Ho 線路。

My first question is related to supply constraints that we've been hearing all over semiconductor supply chain. Has that been a headwind for you? Or do you expect that to be headwind either directly or indirectly for both your memory chipset business as well as the silicon IP business?

我的第一個問題與我們在整個半導體供應鏈中聽到的供應限制有關。這對你來說是一個逆風嗎？或者您預計這會直接或間接對您的記憶體晶片組業務以及矽 IP 業務造成不利影響？

Sidney, great question. At this point in time, we don't see this as a headwind. We hear what's happening in the market at large. But we have built for many years, our supply chain and inventory profile for growth. We knew that our strategy for buffer chip was to gain share, and so the whole supply chain strategy has been built around that. And this means that today, we feel confident that we can supply to our customers. We actually believe that we can supply higher than what the demand will be in the next few quarters. Yes, some lead times have increased a bit, but we also have increased our lead time for orders to our suppliers, and they can supply to us. So at this point in time, we continue to be confident in our ability to supply. As I said, the whole supply chain on our side was built on a view that our share would grow and our business would grow and that holds true now. Now you're absolutely right. There's always a possible risk that another device might disrupt supply chain. But in our case, again, on the module, you don't have many devices. You have a circuit printed board, you have memories and you have buffer chip and a few other devices. So at this point in time, we've not seen any of these situations popping up. But that's something we are constantly watching.

西德尼，好問題。目前，我們並不認為這是一個逆風。我們了解整個市場正在發生的事情。但我們已經建立了多年的供應鏈和庫存狀況以實現成長。我們知道我們的緩衝晶片戰略是獲得份額，因此整個供應鏈戰略都是圍繞著這一戰略建立的。這意味著今天我們對向客戶供貨充滿信心。我們實際上相信，未來幾季我們的供應量將高於需求量。是的，一些交貨時間增加了一點，但我們也增加了向供應商訂購的交貨時間，他們可以向我們供貨。所以在這個時候，我們仍然對我們的供應能力充滿信心。正如我所說，我們這邊的整個供應鏈都是建立在我們的份額將會成長、我們的業務將會成長的基礎上的，現在也是如此。現在你是完全正確的。始終存在其他設備可能擾亂供應鏈的風險。但在我們的例子中，在模組上，您沒有很多設備。你有一塊電路印刷板，你有記憶體，你有緩衝晶片和一些其他設備。所以目前，我們還沒有看到任何這些情況出現。但這是我們一直在關注的事情。

Great. That's helpful. Maybe my follow-up question is, you talked about the Compute Express Link architecture. Maybe can you talk about what that means to your revenue opportunity versus the traditional DDR5 DIMMs from a product revenue standpoint as well as royalty licensing. And when do you expect the ramp-up of CXL to begin, understanding that DDR5 opportunity is already higher than DDR4?

偉大的。這很有幫助。也許我的後續問題是，您談到了 Compute Express Link 架構。也許您可以從產品收入和版稅授權的角度談談與傳統 DDR5 DIMM 相比，這對您的收入機會意味著什麼。鑑於 DDR5 的機會已經高於 DDR4，您預計 CXL 何時會開始加速？

That's a great question. So we do see the DDR5 opportunity and adding to the revenue growth potential starting next year. CXL is going to significantly contribute to revenue starting in 2023 into 2024. But the designs for CXL chips are going to start now -- are starting now actually. So it's a bit like what happens in the buffer chip area, designs and architectures are very early. And 3 years down the road, you start to see revenue ramp. But if you do add the DDR5 potential to which we currently see on DDR4 plus the CXL potential, we expect the TAM for our overall buffer chip business to more than double by 2024.

這是一個很好的問題。因此，我們確實看到了 DDR5 的機會，並增加了明年開始的收入成長潛力。從 2023 年到 2024 年，CXL 將為收入做出重大貢獻。但 CXL 晶片的設計現在就要開始——實際上現在就開始。所以這有點像是緩衝晶片領域發生的事情，設計和架構都非常早期。三年後，您開始看到收入成長。但如果將 DDR5 的潛力加上我們目前在 DDR4 上看到的 CXL 潛力，我們預計到 2024 年，我們整個緩衝晶片業務的 TAM 將增加一倍以上。

Your next question comes from the line of Mehdi Hosseini with SIG.

您的下一個問題來自 SIG 的 Mehdi Hosseini。

Just want to follow up to Sidney's. And want to dig into silicon IP opportunities, especially with AI and machine learning. And this is something that, in my opinion, we're still in the early phase. But I want to see how much of those incremental opportunities are part of your expectation? Or would this actually provide any upside to your overall opportunities for this year and beyond? And I have a follow-up.

只是想跟進西德尼的情況。並希望挖掘矽知識產權機會，尤其是人工智慧和機器學習的機會。在我看來，我們仍處於早期階段。但我想看看這些增量機會中有多少是您期望的一部分？或者這實際上會為您今年及以後的整體機會帶來任何好處嗎？我有一個後續行動。

The AI and ML opportunities do add potential revenue for our IP cores, especially HBM where we do show a very high-bandwidth capability. AI is going to be consuming a large portion of the data center growth going forward. So anyone building a chip for AI that goes into data center, will eventually need these high-speed interfaces, mostly HBM, to some extent, GDDR6. So these growth of AI into the data center, the data center market growth itself are driving growth for IP cores. IP core business is growing in double-digit growth, but the AI through HBM GDDR6 are the main drivers for that.

人工智慧和機器學習機會確實增加了我們 IP 核的潛在收入，尤其是 HBM，我們確實展示了非常高的頻寬能力。人工智慧將消耗資料中心未來成長的很大一部分。因此，任何構建用於資料中心的 AI 晶片的人最終都將需要這些高速接口，主要是 HBM，在某種程度上是 GDDR6。因此，人工智慧在資料中心的成長，資料中心市場的成長本身正在推動IP核的成長。 IP核心業務正以兩位數的速度成長，但透過HBM GDDR6實現的人工智慧是其主要驅動力。

So -- but would it be possible that this were early in adoption and perhaps if it materializes, it may provide upside to your expectation for this year and beyond? Or is it already dialed into what you have communicated for opportunities?

那麼，但這是否有可能是早期採用的，也許如果它成為現實，它可能會為您今年及以後的預期帶來好處？或者它已經融入了您所傳達的機會？

Maybe it is dialed in what we have communicated for our opportunities. The Rambus strategy has always been to focus on data centers and high-speed interfaces. So what we've done over the last few years is we focus our portfolio on the IP that serves those markets and HBM, GDDR6 controller and PHY as well as a security IP focus on to benefiting from that market growth. So this is dialed in our expectations.

也許這就是我們為機會所傳達的內容。 Rambus 的策略始終是專注於資料中心和高速介面。因此，我們過去幾年所做的就是將我們的產品組合重點放在服務這些市場的 IP 以及 HBM、GDDR6 控制器和 PHY 以及安全 IP 上，以從市場成長中受益。所以這符合我們的期望。

Got it. And just a quick follow-up. Your pro forma OpEx over the past fourth quarter has remained below $50 million. Is this something that we should be thinking of over the next 4 to 8 quarters like at most $50 million of OpEx?

知道了。只是快速跟進。過去第四季的預計營運支出仍低於 5,000 萬美元。這是我們應該在未來 4 到 8 個季度考慮的事情，例如最多 5000 萬美元的營運支出嗎？

Mehdi, it's Rahul. Thanks very much for the question, and we're delighted to have you on the call today. In terms of an OpEx perspective, look, I think we've done a fantastic job of improving our operational efficiency and in particularly taking cost out of SG&A. What you've seen is that we've taken probably about $20 million of cost out compared to where we were a couple of years ago. My expectation is that from an overall OpEx perspective, our SG&A through the course of this year should stay roughly flat on a quarterly basis. There's always some ins and outs on a quarterly basis related to tax or hiring or other things as well. What I'd expect, though, is that if we had some increases in spend, it would be on the R&D side. We are investing in these very exciting product programs that Luc was talking about earlier, both on the chip side as well as on the silicon IP side. So you might see a little bit of increase on the R&D side from a quarter-to-quarter perspective. But I think that $50 million a quarter, we should be under that through the course of this year. But I'd like to see us continue to invest in R&D towards the back half of this year and then out in the future to fuel these products -- plans that are growing very nicely. Maybe to the question you're asking earlier, we look at our silicon IP business on total, as Luc mentioned, growing kind of in the double-digit range on an annual basis. And that's embedded, I think, in the growth estimates that you see for analysts and consensus estimates. And I think I mentioned that in our prepared remarks.

邁赫迪，我是拉胡爾。非常感謝您提出這個問題，我們很高興今天接到您的電話。從營運支出的角度來看，我認為我們在提高營運效率方面做得非常出色，特別是在降低 SG&A 成本方面。您看到的是，與幾年前相比，我們節省了大約 2000 萬美元的成本。我的預期是，從整體營運支出的角度來看，我們今年的銷售、管理及行政費用應與季度基本持平。每季總是會有一些與稅收、招聘或其他事情相關的細節。不過，我預計，如果我們的支出增加，那將是在研發方面。我們正在投資 Luc 之前談到的這些非常令人興奮的產品計劃，無論是在晶片方面還是在矽 IP 方面。因此，從季度到季度的角度來看，您可能會看到研發方面有一點成長。但我認為，今年我們應該保持在每季 5,000 萬美元的水平之下。但我希望看到我們在今年下半年繼續投資研發，並在未來為這些產品提供動力——這些計劃發展得非常好。也許對於您之前提出的問題，正如 Luc 提到的那樣，我們總體上審視了我們的矽 IP 業務，每年以兩位數的速度成長。我認為，這已經包含在分析師和共識預測的成長預測中。我想我在我們準備好的發言中提到了這一點。

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

您的下一個問題來自富國銀行證券公司的加里‧莫布里 (Gary Mobley)。

I want to ask about your supply chain. I noticed that in the first quarter, your product gross margins were down about 400 basis points from where they were last year. And I know they're exceptionally high last year. Is that a function of having to pay for higher input costs, in particular, finished wafers? And I want to ask the -- converse, I guess, go from a different angle from a question asked earlier. And I know your 2 main competitors in buffer chips are also fabless. Any chance that you could benefit from those 2 competitors perhaps being capacity constrained.

我想問一下你們的供應鏈。我注意到，第一季度，你們的產品毛利率比去年下降了約 400 個基點。我知道去年的數字非常高。這是因為必須支付更高的投入成本，特別是成品晶圓嗎？我想問——相反，我想，從與之前提出的問題不同的角度來問。我知道你們在緩衝晶片方面的兩個主要競爭對手也是無晶圓廠的。您有機會從這兩個競爭對手那裡受益，也許是產能有限。

Gary, it's Rahul. Great to hear from you. I think in terms of your questions, we've been very consistent that we think our buffer chip gross margin should be in the 60% or 65% range. As you mentioned, we had a couple of few quarters earlier that were higher than that, which was wonderful to see. But I think us dropping in any period is really related more to product mix more than anything else. It's not associated with any expedite or other costs that we have associated with the supply chain. It really is mix. And the margins that we printed last quarter, I think, are very consistent with what we expect from a longer-term basis. Does that help answer your question?

加里，我是拉胡爾。很高興聽到你的消息。我認為就您的問題而言，我們一直非常一致地認為我們的緩衝晶片毛利率應該在 60% 或 65% 的範圍內。正如您所提到的，我們之前幾個季度的價格都高於這個水平，這真是太好了。但我認為我們在任何時期的下降實際上與產品組合的關係比其他任何因素都更重要。它與我們與供應鏈相關的任何加急或其他成本無關。這確實是混合的。我認為，我們上季公佈的利潤率與我們的長期預期非常一致。這有助於回答您的問題嗎？

Sure. And just a question about your competition and their supply chain.

當然。只是關於您的競爭對手及其供應鏈的問題。

Yes. So I think we've done a very nice job of gaining share from our competitors. If you see our numbers for Q1 versus Q4 versus some of the other competitors who have announced, clearly, we bounced back up and other folks haven't shown that 41% growth quarter-over-quarter. I think it's really more associated with design win activity. This is one of the things that we've talked about fairly consistently is that we get access to the design wins, and that's what gives us confidence in our ability to continue to grow. That actually gives us confidence in talking about the back half of this year in growth and growth in things like DDR5 as well. So I think it's really design win, which is a key part of it is winning at the socket with the technology and speed and performance. As Luc mentioned earlier, certainly, we designed a supply chain to grow with us. And so maintaining some of that strategic inventory to quickly satisfy demand has helped us. I think that was one of the reasons that we had such nice growth, particularly in the first half of last year as well. So hopefully, that answers that part of that question as well.

是的。所以我認為我們在從競爭對手那裡獲得份額方面做得非常好。如果你看到我們第一季與第四季的數據以及其他一些已宣布的競爭對手的數據，很明顯，我們已經反彈，而其他人並沒有顯示出 41% 的季度環比增長。我認為這確實與設計獲勝活動更相關。這是我們一直在談論的事情之一，那就是我們能夠獲得設計勝利，這讓我們對自己繼續發展的能力充滿信心。這實際上讓我們有信心談論今年下半年的成長以及 DDR5 等產品的成長。所以我認為這確實是設計的勝利，其中的關鍵部分是透過技術、速度和效能在插座上獲勝。正如盧克之前提到的，當然，我們設計了一條與我們一起成長的供應鏈。因此，維持一些策略庫存以快速滿足需求對我們很有幫助。我認為這是我們取得如此良好成長的原因之一，特別是在去年上半年。希望這也能回答問題的一部分。

Gary, I think demand grew because of our design win activities. And as we said earlier, from day 1, we built the supply chain and inventory profile for growth, so that we could benefit from those design wins. And what it means is that we have built redundancy in our supply chain. We have strategic inventories placed in our supply chain. And we also own more and more our own testing. So we can maintain that growth trajectory through these market share increase.

加里，我認為需求成長是因為我們的設計獲勝活動。正如我們之前所說，從第一天開始，我們就建立了供應鏈和庫存概況以實現成長，以便我們可以從這些設計勝利中受益。這意味著我們在供應鏈中建立了冗餘。我們在供應鏈中放置了戰略庫存。我們也擁有越來越多的自己的測試。因此，我們可以透過增加市場份額來維持這種成長軌跡。

Appreciate that. I had a follow-up question about DDR5. You mentioned some revenue in the back half of this year. I would assume a fairly immaterial amount, correct me if I'm wrong there. And then you mentioned a 3D solution in DDR5 and I believe for DDR4, it's a 2D solution. Is it too simple to think that, that translates into a 50% boost in your bill material per DIMM? And if not, could you give us some sense of the ASP boost for you?

感謝。我有一個關於 DDR5 的後續問題。您提到了今年下半年的一些收入。我會假設一個相當無關緊要的金額，如果我錯了，請糾正我。然後您提到了 DDR5 中的 3D 解決方案，我相信對於 DDR4，它是 2D 解決方案。認為每個 DIMM 的帳單資料增加 50% 是不是太簡單了？如果沒有，可以為我們介紹一下您的 ASP 提升情況嗎？

Sure. So to the first question, DDR5 is going to ramp in the market in earnest in 2022, but we should expect customers to place orders before that to feel their channels. So we should see some preproduction orders in the second half of this year and the large production orders in 2022. We are currently shipping DDR5 in some volume to the memory module vendors as they go through their qualification process with their own customers. So that's the profile we see for DDR5. So you should expect some revenue in the second half of the year, but this ramping in earnest in 2022. With respect to the ASP, there's a combination of a new generation of product coming to market that typically gives a pop to the ASP and the potential for additional chips. So we will certainly see overall an increase of ASP on the DDR5 platform, which, yes, I think you mentioned 50%. That could be in that range. And then over time, just like every generation, this will decay at least on the same chips. But we have the opportunity for additional chips, you're right.

當然。那麼第一個問題，DDR5將在2022年正式上市，但我們應該預期客戶在此之前下訂單，以感受他們的管道。因此，我們應該會在今年下半年看到一些預生產訂單，並在2022 年看到大量生產訂單。目前，我們正在向記憶體模組供應商運送一定數量的DDR5，因為他們正在與自己的客戶進行資格認證過程。這就是我們看到的 DDR5 的概況。因此，您應該預期下半年會出現一些收入，但這種成長將在 2022 年真正實現。就 ASP 而言，上市的新一代產品通常會推動 ASP 的流行，而額外晶片的潛力。因此，我們肯定會看到 DDR5 平台上的 ASP 整體成長，是的，我想你提到了 50%。可能在這個範圍內。隨著時間的推移，就像每一代一樣，這種情況至少會在相同的晶片上衰減。但我們有機會獲得額外的籌碼，你是對的。

Your next question comes from the line of John Pitzer with Crédit Suisse.

您的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸銀行的約翰‧皮策 (John Pitzer)。

Luc, I'm curious, in your opening comments, you talked about Ice Lake and the benefit of moving up the number of memory channels. I would be curious, though, if you could talk a little bit about your opportunity to grow in the memory buffer space outside of Intel and either x86 or ARM. And I just wanted to ask the question because you're putting up good year-over-year growth at a time where there's server -- Intel server business isn't. And so I'd be curious as to kind of helping to better understand your opportunities outside of the largest provider right now?

Luc，我很好奇，在您的開場白中，您談到了 Ice Lake 以及增加記憶體通道數量的好處。不過，我很好奇，如果您能談談您在 Intel 以及 x86 或 ARM 之外的記憶體緩衝區空間中發展的機會。我只是想問這個問題，因為在有伺服器的時代，你們實現了良好的同比增長——而英特爾伺服器業務卻沒有。因此，我很好奇是否可以幫助您更好地了解目前最大的提供者之外的機會？

Yes, correct. We mentioned the platform from Intel. We do have the same types of engagements with AMD. So we are at the same levels of qualifications on Intel platforms or AMD platforms. So when there's a market share change between the 2, we continue to grow. And that's also true for the next generation of memories. We engaged with the 2 main vendors there. We also engaged with, I would say, nascent vendors who are starting to develop their own processors for data centers. And that will create some additional opportunity down the road, not this year or next year, but the year after. So we try to engage with everyone developing chips for data centers, whether it's the traditional AMD or Intel or the people developing their own chips, especially the cloud guys.

是，對的。我們提到了英特爾的平台。我們確實與 AMD 有著相同類型的合作。所以我們在Intel平台或AMD平台上的資格等級是相同的。因此，當兩者之間的市場份額發生變化時，我們就會繼續成長。對於下一代記憶也是如此。我們與那裡的兩家主要供應商進行了接觸。我想說，我們也與新興供應商合作，他們開始為資料中心開發自己的處理器。這將在未來創造一些額外的機會，不是今年或明年，而是後年。因此，我們嘗試與每個為資料中心開發晶片的人合作，無論是傳統的 AMD 或英特爾，還是開發自己的晶片的人，尤其是雲端公司。

And then, Luc, as my follow-up, you've talked about kind of the long design cycles as we go from DDR4 to DDR5 and your optimism around kind of your ability to continue to grow share through that transition. I'm curious, is it too early on the CXL side to talk about what the design funnel looks like and kind of what your position is in that design funnel?

Luc，作為我的跟進者，您談到了從 DDR4 到 DDR5 的漫長設計週期，以及您對透過此過渡繼續增加份額的能力的樂觀態度。我很好奇，在 CXL 方面談論設計漏斗是什麼樣子以及您在設計漏斗中的位置是否還為時過早？

It's a bit early to say where we are in the design funnel. What I would say is we think the industry first has converged mostly to the CXL interface. The architecture of the chips for sector interfaces are being defined as we speak. And we are thankful to those discussions with memory vendors, processor vendors and the cloud guys. I think we are in the phase of defining chip architectures and memory subsystem architecture. And we're taking a good part or a central part to those discussions.

現在說我們處於設計漏斗的哪個階段還為時過早。我想說的是，我們認為業界首先主要集中到 CXL 介面。正如我們所說，扇區介面晶片的架構正在被定義。我們感謝與記憶體供應商、處理器供應商和雲端專家的討論。我認為我們正處於定義晶片架構和記憶體子系統架構的階段。我們正在這些討論中發揮重要作用或核心作用。

Then we will go into a phase of development and market ramp, as I said, the volume for CXL buffer in earnest will start sometime in 2023 and 2024. But the things that have changed since last time we've talked is that the industry has aligned around CXL interfaces. The architectures are being defined, and we are part of those discussions with the industry. The other thing that is happening for Rambus, and I think we're uniquely positioned for that is that a lot of the IP contained is CXL buffer, IP that we have developed as part of our IT business. CXL interface is actually 32-gig PHY and a controller. We have part -- we have this as part of our offering in our IT core business. The CXL buffers will require security functions. We have this as part of our IT business. So from an IP content standpoint, that goes into these chips. I think we're uniquely positioned to be successful in that space.

然後我們將進入開發和市場成長階段，正如我所說，CXL 緩衝器的量產將在 2023 年和 2024 年的某個時候真正開始。但自上次我們討論以來發生的變化是，該行業已經圍繞CXL 介面對齊。架構正在被定義，我們正在參與與業界的討論。 Rambus 正在發生的另一件事，我認為我們在這方面的獨特定位是，其中包含的許多 IP 都是 CXL 緩衝區，這是我們作為 IT​​ 業務的一部分開發的 IP。 CXL 介面其實是 32-g PHY 和控制器。我們將其作為我們 IT 核心業務產品的一部分。 CXL 緩衝器需要安全功能。我們將此作為我們 IT 業務的一部分。因此，從 IP 內容的角度來看，這些內容都包含在這些晶片中。我認為我們擁有獨特的優勢，能夠在該領域取得成功。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of Mark Lipacis with Jefferies.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自 Mark Lipacis 和 Jefferies 的線路。

A couple of questions. Luc, you -- in the past, you've successfully used inventory strategically to meet upside. And today, you had mentioned again that you often have -- or you have like some strategic inventory placed in the supply chain. Can you -- if I look at your balance sheet, it looks like your inventories are kind of flattish year-on-year, but you're expecting more revenues this year. So where is the strategic inventory? Is it on other -- is there other places in the supply chain not showing up on your balance sheet where you have access to it? If you could help explaining like how you're positioned right now with the ability to meet upside should it manifest?

有幾個問題。路克，你——在過去，你已經成功地策略性地利用庫存來實現成長。今天，您再次提到您經常有 - 或者您在供應鏈中放置了一些戰略庫存。如果我看一下你們的資產負債表，你們的庫存似乎與去年同期持平，但你們預計今年的收入會增加。那麼戰略庫存在哪裡呢？是否在其他方面——供應鏈中是否還有其他地方沒有出現在您可以存取的資產負債表上？您是否可以幫助解釋一下，您現在的定位如何，並且有能力實現上行，如果它會顯現出來？

Mark, it's Rahul. Thanks, and it's a great question. What I'll tell you is that inventory report is at a point in time at the end of the quarter. And so clearly, over the some part of the quarter, it will go up a little bit higher and sometimes it will go a little lower. We do have some inventory that's placed with some distributors, and that helps us solve the inventory or request from partners on a quick basis. And so that's not going to show up in our balance sheet. But hopefully, that's a little bit of additional color.

馬克，我是拉胡爾。謝謝，這是一個很好的問題。我要告訴你的是，庫存報告是在季度末的某個時間點。很明顯，在本季的某些時候，它會上升一點，有時會下降一點。我們確實有一些庫存存放在一些經銷商處，這有助於我們快速解決合作夥伴的庫存或請求。所以這不會出現在我們的資產負債表中。但希望這是一點額外的色彩。

That's helpful. And then a follow-up, if I may. Can you talk about like the visibility you see and again, on the DDR product side, the visibility you have into orders from the hyperscale customers? It seems like these are products that you're making that would go into the hyperscale data centers. And we hear from other semiconductor companies that supply the hyperscalers, the planning is fairly robust and they typically get very good visibility. And most we spoke with have believed that there's very good visibility into growth in the second half of the year. So I guess I'm wondering can you characterize the visibility you see from that kind of class of customer? Does it come directly? Do you get visibility directly from the consumer here, the hyperscale company or you get it through your -- the memory module makers themselves or the PC OEMs?

這很有幫助。如果可以的話，然後是後續行動。您能否談談您所看到的可見性，以及在 DDR 產品方面，您對超大規模客戶訂單的可見性？看起來這些是您正在製造的將進入超大規模資料中心的產品。我們從供應超大規模設備的其他半導體公司得知，他們的規劃相當穩健，通常可以獲得非常好的可見性。我們採訪的大多數人都認為下半年的成長前景非常好。所以我想我想知道您能否描述一下您從此類客戶中看到的可見度？是直接來的嗎？您是直接從這裡的消費者、超大規模公司獲得可見性，還是透過記憶體模組製造商本身或 PC OEM 獲得可見性？

Yes. Thanks. We see it from both. From the cloud guys, what we see is the aggregate growth, especially driven by the need for their AI applications. So that confirms the growth that we see in our forecast. Then from the memory vendors, we do see how this growth translates into different types of platforms, especially this year, where there's introduction of a lot of different platforms, the last generation of DDR4 platforms in both AMD and Intel, and is the first generation of DDR5 platforms from the same vendors. So that transition is going to translate into demand mix that we're watching carefully for the second half of the year. But in aggregate, all of these fuels the growth driven by the data center guys, which are the end users.

是的。謝謝。我們從兩者都看到了這一點。從雲端運算人員那裡，我們看到的是整體成長，尤其是受到人工智慧應用程式需求的推動。因此，這證實了我們預測中的成長。然後從記憶體供應商那裡，我們確實看到這種成長如何轉化為不同類型的平台，尤其是今年，推出了許多不同的平台，AMD 和 Intel 的最後一代 DDR4 平台，以及第一代來自同一供應商的DDR5 平台。因此，這種轉變將轉化為我們下半年密切關注的需求組合。但總的來說，所有這些都推動了資料中心人員（即最終用戶）推動的成長。

At this time, there are no further questions. This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the conference back over to Luc.

目前，沒有其他問題了。問答環節到此結束。我現在想把會議轉回給呂克。

Thank you for your interest in Rambus, and we wish you all health, and I hope to talk to you soon. Thank you.

感謝您對 Rambus 的興趣，祝您身體健康，希望盡快與您交談。謝謝。

Thank you. This now concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。