Rambus Inc (RMBS) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Rambus First Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

歡迎參加 Rambus 2024 財年第一季財報電話會議。 （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 Desmond Lynch, Chief Financial Officer. You may proceed.

我現在想將會議交給財務長德斯蒙德林奇 (Desmond Lynch)。您可以繼續。

Thank you, operator, and welcome to the Rambus First Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. I am Desmond Lynch, Chief Financial Officer at Rambus, and on the call with me today is Luc Seraphin, our CEO.

謝謝營運商，歡迎參加 Rambus 2024 年第一季業績電話會議。我是 Rambus 財務長 Desmond Lynch，今天與我通話的是我們的執行長 Luc Seraphin。

The press release for the results that we will be discussing today has been filed with the SEC on Form 8-K. A replay of this call will be available for the next week at (866) 813-9403. 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. A replay of this call can be accessed on our website beginning today at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

我們今天討論的結果新聞稿已透過 8-K 表格提交給 SEC。下週可撥打 (866) 813-9403 重播此電話會議。此外，我們同時對本次電話會議進行網路廣播，並與音訊一起網路廣播投影片，我們將在今天電話會議的部分內容中引用這些投影片。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 discussions today will contain forward-looking statements, including our expectations regarding projected financial results, financial prospects, market growth, demand for our solutions and other market factors and the effects of ASC 606 on reported revenue amongst other items. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may be discussed during this call and are more fully described in the documents we file 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，包括我們對預期財務表現、財務前景、市場成長、對我們解決方案的需求和其他市場因素的預期，以及 ASC 606 對報告收入等項目的影響。這些聲明受到本次電話會議期間可能討論的風險和不確定性的影響，並且在我們向 SEC 提交的文件中進行了更全面的描述，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 are under no obligation to update these statements. In an effort to provide greater clarity in the financials, we are using both GAAP and non-GAAP financial presentations in both our press release and on this call. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financials to the most directly comparable GAAP measures has been included in our press release, in our slide presentation and on our website at rambus.com on the Investor Relations page under Financial Releases. In addition, we will continue to provide operational metrics such as licensing billings to give our investors better insight into our operational performance.

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。為了讓財務數據更加清晰，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、幻燈片演示以及我們網站 rambus.com 投資者關係頁面的財務發布下。此外，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, 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，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？

Thank you, Des, and good afternoon, everyone.

謝謝你，德斯，大家下午好。

In Q1, we continued our disciplined execution as we remain strategically focused on addressing the needs of traditional and AI servers. In the quarter, we expanded our market opportunity with the introduction of new leadership products and performed well across all of our businesses. With that, we delivered solid Q1 results and demonstrating our ongoing commitment to stockholder return, we completed a $50 million accelerated share repurchase which brings the total return of cash to our stockholders over the past 3 years to $350 million.

在第一季度，我們繼續嚴格執行，繼續策略性地專注於滿足傳統和人工智慧伺服器的需求。本季度，我們透過推出新的領先產品擴大了市場機會，並在所有業務中表現良好。至此，我們交付了堅實的第一季業績，並展示了我們對股東回報的持續承諾，我們完成了 5000 萬美元的加速股票回購，這使得過去 3 年股東的現金回報總額達到 3.5 億美元。

With strong execution, we delivered first quarter product revenue of $50 million and also continued our investments in new products to drive future growth. As the accelerated pace of new compute platform rollouts continues, we have multiple generations of DDR5 RCVs progressing through different stages of qualification and production and the latest generation sampling to customers. We are, therefore, well positioned for the DDR5 product cycle and expect this to drive approximately 10% product revenue growth in the second quarter. Additionally, we are confident in the longer-term outlook for the data center beyond the current softness in the traditional server market.

憑藉強大的執行力，我們第一季產品收入達到 5000 萬美元，並繼續投資新產品以推動未來成長。隨著新運算平台推出的步伐不斷加快，我們有多代 DDR5 RCV 正在經歷不同的資格和生產階段，並向客戶提供最新一代樣品。因此，我們在 DDR5 產品週期中處於有利位置，預計這將推動第二季約 10% 的產品收入成長。此外，我們對資料中心的長期前景充滿信心，超越當前傳統伺服器市場的疲軟。

While we continue to see modest consumptions of DDR4 customer inventory, the industry is moving in earnest to DDR5 and the transition is amplified by increasing demand for performance from generative AI and other advanced workloads. The rapid evolution of traditional NAI servers requires the constant advancement of new products and architectures to address the growing memory performance requirements. As such, expanding our leadership product portfolio to meet these requirements is a key element of our long-term growth strategy.

雖然我們繼續看到 DDR4 客戶庫存的消耗量不大，但該行業正在認真轉向 DDR5，並且由於生成式 AI 和其他高級工作負載對性能的需求不斷增加，這一轉變得到了放大。傳統NAI伺服器的快速發展需要新產品和架構的不斷進步，以滿足不斷增長的記憶體效能需求。因此，擴大我們的領先產品組合以滿足這些要求是我們長期成長策略的關鍵要素。

In line with that strategy, we just announced the expansion of our chip offering with the availability of our new family of DDR5 server PMICs, completing our memory interface companion chipset for DDR5 RDIMMs. This new product line includes the industry's first extreme current server PMIC that will enable high-bandwidth, high-capacity DDR5 modules for leading-edge servers in the data center. We are currently in qualification with major memory vendors and are receiving positive feedback.

根據這項策略，我們剛剛宣布推出新系列 DDR5 伺服器 PMIC，擴大我們的晶片產品範圍，完善我們的 DDR5 RDIMM 記憶體介面配套晶片組。此新產品線包括業界首款極限電流伺服器 PMIC，將為資料中心的尖端伺服器提供高頻寬、高容量 DDR5 模組。我們目前正在與主要記憶體供應商進行資格認證，並收到積極的回饋。

Power Management solutions are a critical and challenging component of today's server memory subsystems. In order to achieve the increased bandwidth and capacity of DDR5, the industry made a major change to the power management architecture by moving the PMIC from the motherboard to the individual memory modules. The resulting DDR5 server PMICs are required to deliver reliable power at the lower voltages and tighter tolerances of the latest DRAM chips while operating in a very challenging environment. We have built upon our memory subsystem expertise and proven track record of delivering robust module-based solutions to deliver a PMIC family optimized to efficiency power delivery under demanding noise, thermal and space conditions.

電源管理解決方案是當今伺服器記憶體子系統的關鍵且具挑戰性的元件。為了實現DDR5更高的頻寬和容量，業界對電源管理架構進行了重大改變，將PMIC從主機板移至單獨的記憶體模組。由此產生的 DDR5 伺服器 PMIC 需要在最新 DRAM 晶片的較低電壓和更嚴格的容差下提供可靠的電源，同時在極具挑戰性的環境中運作。我們憑藉我們的記憶體子系統專業知識和提供穩健的基於模組的解決方案的良好記錄，提供了經過優化的 PMIC 系列，可在苛刻的噪音、熱量和空間條件下提高電力傳輸效率。

Given our heritage and mission to advance memory performance, we identified power management as a critical technology to unlocking higher memory bandwidth and capacity. We made the strategic decision to invest, build a world-class team and are now intercepting the market with leadership products to address the need. This new server PMIC product family amplifies our market opportunity and lays the foundation for our road map of future power management chips. As AI expands from training to insurance, increasing demands and performance will extend beyond servers to client systems and drive the need for new PMIC solutions tailored for emerging use cases and form factors.

鑑於我們提升記憶體效能的傳統和使命，我們將電源管理確定為釋放更高記憶體頻寬和容量的關鍵技術。我們做出了投資、建立世界一流團隊的策略決策，現在正在利用領先產品搶佔市場以滿足需求。這個新的伺服器 PMIC 產品系列擴大了我們的市場機會，並為我們未來電源管理晶片的路線圖奠定了基礎。隨著人工智慧從培訓擴展到保險，不斷增長的需求和效能將從伺服器擴展到客戶端系統，並推動對新興用例和外形尺寸量身定制的新 PMIC 解決方案的需求。

Continued advances in the data center and AI are also driving momentum in our Silicon IP business, with strong design wins led by HBM, CXL, PCIe Express and security IP. With the industry's most advanced interface and security IP portfolio for AI, we are making great progress and are on track for our annual growth targets. As part of our continued leadership, we introduced the industry's first GDDR7 memory controller, which delivers the performance needed by next wave of inference chips for Edge AI.

資料中心和人工智慧的持續進步也推動了我們矽 IP 業務的發展勢頭，以 HBM、CXL、PCIe Express 和安全 IP 為主導的強大設計成果。憑藉業界最先進的人工智慧介面和安全 IP 產品組合，我們正在取得巨大進步，並有望實現年度成長目標。作為我們持續領先地位的一部分，我們推出了業界首款 GDDR7 記憶體控制器，它提供了下一代 Edge AI 推理晶片所需的性能。

The ever-increasing volume of data is pushing chip interface speeds and memory bandwidth requirements higher and higher. At the same time, the value of the data itself is also going up. And with that, so does the risk and impact of a breach. Our differentiated Silicon IP solutions offer chip designers, top-of-the-line performance and advanced protection against attacks, making them essential to enabling faster and more secure SoCs for the data center and adjacent markets.

不斷增加的資料量對晶片介面速度和記憶體頻寬的要求越來越高。同時，數據本身的價值也在不斷上升。隨之而來的是，違規的風險和影響也隨之增加。我們的差異化矽 IP 解決方案為晶片設計人員提供頂級效能和進階攻擊保護，使其對於為資料中心和鄰近市場實現更快、更安全的 SoC 至關重要。

As we look forward, generative AI and other data-intensive workloads will further accelerate the demands on performance and security across the computing landscape. We continue to focus on the ongoing scaling of memory capacity and bandwidth through novel memory form factors and architectures such as [multi-rank] solutions and serial attached memory that would be critical to improving efficiency and performance in computing systems from the data center to clients. In addition, ongoing advancements in security, including quantum safe solutions will be essential to protecting valuable hardware and data.

展望未來，生成式人工智慧和其他資料密集型工作負載將進一步加速整個運算領域對效能和安全性的需求。我們繼續專注於透過新穎的記憶體外形尺寸和架構（例如[多列]解決方案和串列連接記憶體）來持續擴展記憶體容量和頻寬，這對於提高從資料中心到客戶端的運算系統的效率和效能至關重要。此外，安全方面的持續進步，包括量子安全解決方案，對於保護寶貴的硬體和資料至關重要。

As demonstrated in this quarter, through our newly introduced offerings, we continue to execute on our product road map for both chips and IP, unlocking new levels of system performance and expanding our market opportunity. Recent announcements by leaders in the AI industry serve as proof points of the importance of memory for system performance improvement with the latest systems featuring more than double the memory bandwidth and capacity. As we look forward, those requirements will only grow, and our strategy and road map are well aligned to address the market needs.

正如本季所展示的，透過我們新推出的產品，我們繼續執行晶片和 IP 的產品路線圖，解鎖新的系統性能水平並擴大我們的市場機會。人工智慧產業領導者最近發布的公告證明了記憶體對於系統效能改進的重要性，最新的系統具有雙倍以上的記憶體頻寬和容量。展望未來，這些需求只會成長，我們的策略和路線圖非常適合滿足市場需求。

In closing, Q1 was a solid quarter for the company that was achieved through disciplined execution of a clear strategy. We delivered on our commitments across the board and continued our innovation in the market. Our focus on high-performance products for the data center and AI, positions us well to drive the long-term profitable growth of the company and our strong balance sheet enables us to deliver consistent return of value to our stockholders. As always, I'd like to thank our customers, partners and employees for their ongoing support.

最後，第一季對於公司來說是一個穩定的季度，這是透過嚴格執行明確的策略而實現的。我們全面兌現了我們的承諾，並繼續在市場上進行創新。我們專注於資料中心和人工智慧的高效能產品，這使我們能夠很好地推動公司的長期獲利成長，而我們強大的資產負債表使我們能夠為股東提供持續的價值回報。一如既往，我要感謝我們的客戶、合作夥伴和員工的持續支持。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Des to discuss the quarterly financial results. Des?

接下來，我會將電話轉給 Des，討論季度財務表現。德斯？

Thank you, Luc. I'd like to begin with a summary of our financial results for the first quarter on Slide 5.

謝謝你，呂克。我想先在投影片 5 上總結我們第一季的財務表現。

We delivered solid results in the quarter as a result of the company's ongoing disciplined execution and focus on our strategic initiatives. We are pleased to have launched our new power management products, which demonstrate the translation of new product investments to expanded market opportunity.

由於公司持續嚴格的執行和對策略性舉措的關注，我們在本季度取得了穩健的業績。我們很高興推出新的電源管理產品，這表明新產品投資已轉化為擴大的市場機會。

Continuing our strong track record of returning cash back to stockholders in Q1, we executed a $50 million accelerated share repurchase program that retired approximately 800,000 shares. Through a robust balance sheet, driven by our strong cash generation, we have returned a total of $350 million in cash to our stockholders over the last 3 years, which shows our consistent commitment to capital return.

延續第一季向股東返還現金的良好記錄，我們執行了 5,000 萬美元的加速股票回購計劃，回購了約 80 萬股股票。在我們強大的現金產生能力的推動下，透過穩健的資產負債表，我們在過去三年中向股東返還了總計 3.5 億美元的現金，這表明了我們對資本回報的一貫承諾。

Let me walk you through our non-GAAP income statement on Slide 6. Revenue for the first quarter was $117.9 million, which was above our expectations. Royalty revenue was $47.5 million, while licensing billings was $63.2 million. The difference between licensing billings and royalty revenue mainly relates to timing as we don't always recognize revenue in the same quarter as we bill our customers.

讓我向您介紹投影片 6 上的非 GAAP 損益表。版稅收入為 4,750 萬美元，授權費用為 6,320 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。

Product revenue was $50.4 million, consisting primarily of memory interface chips. Contract and other revenue was $20 million, consisting predominantly of silicon IP. As a reminder, only a portion of our silicon IP revenue is reflected in contract and other revenue and the remaining portion is reported in royalty revenue as well as in licensing billings.

產品收入為 5,040 萬美元，主要由記憶體介面晶片組成。合約和其他收入為 2000 萬美元，主要由矽 IP 組成。提醒一下，我們的矽 IP 收入中只有一部分反映在合約和其他收入中，其餘部分則在特許權使用費收入和許可帳單中報告。

Total operating costs, including cost of goods sold for the quarter were $74.2 million, Operating expenses of $53.7 million were in line with our expectations as we continue to be disciplined in our expense management. And we ended the quarter with a total head count of 622.

本季的總營運成本（包括銷售成本）為 7,420 萬美元，營運費用為 5,370 萬美元，符合我們的預期，因為我們繼續嚴格執行費用管理。本季結束時，我們的員工總數為 622 人。

GAAP interest and other income for the first quarter was $4.2 million, which includes $200,000 of ASC 606 interest income. Using an assumed flat tax rate of 22% for non-GAAP pretax income, non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $37.4 million.

第一季 GAAP 利息和其他收入為 420 萬美元，其中包括 20 萬美元的 ASC 606 利息收入。採用假設非 GAAP 稅前收入 22% 的統一稅率，該季度非 GAAP 淨利潤為 3740 萬美元。

Now let me turn to the balance sheet details on Slide 7. We ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaling $391.1 million. This is down from Q4, mainly due to the $50 million accelerated share repurchase program that we completed in the quarter. Cash from operations for the quarter was $39.1 million. First quarter CapEx was $7 million, while depreciation expense was $6.1 million. We delivered $32.1 million of free cash flow in the quarter.

現在讓我看一下投影片 7 上的資產負債表詳細資料。這比第四季有所下降，主要是由於我們在本季完成了 5,000 萬美元的加速股票回購計畫。本季營運現金為 3,910 萬美元。第一季資本支出為 700 萬美元，折舊費用為 610 萬美元。本季我們交付了 3,210 萬美元的自由現金流。

Now let me turn to our guidance for the second quarter on Slide 8. As a reminder, the forward-looking guidance reflects our current best estimates at this time. We continue to actively monitor the macro environment and our actual results could differ materially from what I'm about to review.

現在讓我轉向投影片 8 上的第二季指引。我們將繼續積極監控宏觀環境，我們的實際結果可能與我即將審查的結果有重大差異。

In addition to the financial outlook under ASC 606, we also provide 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 we have reported historically, licensing billings closely correlates with what we had historically reported as royalty revenue under ASC 605.

除了 ASC 606 規定的財務前景外，我們還提供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。正如我們歷史上所報告的那樣，許可費用與我們歷史上根據 ASC 605 報告的特許權使用費收入密切相關。

Under ASC 606, we expect revenue in the second quarter to be between $130 million and $136 million. We expect royalty revenue to be between $55 million and $61 million and licensing billings between $61 million and $67 million. We expect Q2 non-GAAP total operating costs, which includes COGS to be between $80 million and $76 million. We expect Q2 CapEx to be approximately $13 million.

根據 ASC 606，我們預計第二季的營收將在 1.3 億美元至 1.36 億美元之間。我們預計特許權使用費收入將在 5,500 萬美元至 6,100 萬美元之間，授權費用將在 6,100 萬美元至 6,700 萬美元之間。我們預計第二季非 GAAP 總營運成本（包括銷貨成本）將在 8,000 萬美元至 7,600 萬美元之間。我們預計第二季資本支出約為 1300 萬美元。

Under ASC 606, non-GAAP operating results for the second quarter is expected to be between a profit of $50 million and $60 million. For non-GAAP interest and other income and expense, we expect $3 million of interest income. We expect the pro forma tax rate to be approximately 22%, with non-GAAP taxes expected to be between an expense of $12 million and $14 million in Q2. We expect Q2 share count to be 109 million diluted shares outstanding. Overall, we anticipate the Q2 non-GAAP earnings per share range between $0.38 and $0.45.

根據 ASC 606，第二季非 GAAP 營運業績預計將在 5,000 萬美元至 6,000 萬美元之間。對於非 GAAP 利息和其他收入和支出，我們預計利息收入為 300 萬美元。我們預計第二季的預估稅率約為 22%，非 GAAP 稅費預計將在 1,200 萬美元至 1,400 萬美元之間。我們預計第二季稀釋後流通股數將為 1.09 億股。總體而言，我們預計第二季非 GAAP 每股盈餘範圍為 0.38 美元至 0.45 美元。

Let me finish with a summary on Slide 9. I am pleased with the team's continued execution as we navigate dynamic market conditions in the short term. We are pleased to see continued momentum across all of our businesses, fueled by our leading-edge products in both chips and silicon IP. Our innovation, diversified portfolio and disciplined model continues to drive profitable growth and strong cash generation. Our solid balance sheet enables investments into market expansion opportunities in the data center and AI, while consistently delivering value to our stockholders.

最後讓我對投影片 9 進行總結。我們很高興看到我們所有業務的持續發展勢頭，受到我們晶片和矽 IP 領域領先產品的推動。我們的創新、多元化投資組合和嚴格的模式繼續推動獲利成長和強勁的現金產生。我們穩健的資產負債表使我們能夠投資資料中心和人工智慧的市場擴張機會，同時持續為股東創造價值。

Before I open up the call to Q&A, I would like to thank our employees for their continued teamwork and execution. With that, I'll turn the call back to our operator to begin Q&A. Could we have our first question?

在開始問答之前，我要感謝我們的員工持續的團隊合作和執行力。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) And the first question is from the line of Gary Mobley with Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自富國銀行的加里·莫布里（Gary Mobley）。

With the product revenue expected to increase about 9% sequentially. Is that an indication of the market turning more positive specific to register clock driver sales? And then maybe you can parse out some distinction between DDR4 and DDR5 and then related to the companion chip sales maybe you can share with us your latest view on the timing of ramp for those companionships?

產品收入預計將比上一季成長約9%。這是否表明市場在寄存器時鐘驅動器銷售方面變得更加積極？然後也許您可以解析 DDR4 和 DDR5 之間的一些區別，然後與配套晶片銷售相關，也許您可以與我們分享您對這些配套晶片的增長時間的最新看法？

Thanks, Gary, for your question. So yes, we are pleased with the execution for the first half of this year. We had solid results in Q1, and we expect, as you said, growth into Q2. We still see for the fourth quarter in a row, a slight decline of DDR4 inventories, which is a good sign. Our predominant sales continue to be DDR5 into the first half.

謝謝加里提出的問題。所以，是的，我們對今年上半年的執行感到滿意。我們在第一季取得了堅實的業績，正如您所說，我們預計第二季會出現成長。我們仍然看到DDR4庫存連續第四季小幅下降，這是一個好兆頭。上半年我們的主要銷售仍然是 DDR5。

But what we see going into the second half of the year is that we expect a modest recovery in DDR4 following the inventory digestion. We also expect a recovery in a standard server demand with a refresh cycle coming on board. And we will start to see more contribution from our companionships. The two companionships that we already had sampled to customers in prior quarters, but also now with our newly introduced PMIC. So we do see growth in the second half based on these 3 main factors.

但進入下半年，我們預計 DDR4 在庫存消化後將出現溫和復甦。我們也預計標準伺服器需求將隨著更新周期的到來而復甦。我們將開始看到我們的友誼做出更多貢獻。我們在前幾個季度已經向客戶提供了這兩種合作夥伴的樣品，現在也透過我們新推出的 PMIC 提供了樣品。因此，基於這三個主要因素，我們確實看到了下半年的成長。

Okay. Had a follow-up about your silicon IP business. You mentioned in your prepared remarks that you're on track for your fiscal year '24 targets. Refresh my memory. Is that $120 million in annual sales in that business? And maybe if you can give us a sense of how that business seems to be performing better than expectations? Is it driven by the memory and high-speed SerDes controller IP? Or is it driven by more sort of the security side of the business?

好的。對您的矽 IP 業務進行了跟進。您在準備好的發言中提到，您正在實現 '24 財年的目標。刷新我的記憶。該業務的年銷售額是 1.2 億美元嗎？或許您能讓我們了解該業務的表現如何優於預期？它是由記憶體和高速 SerDes 控制器 IP 驅動的嗎？或者它是由更多業務安全方面驅動的？

Gary, it's Des here. We're very pleased with our performance in silicon IP. If you take our adjusted number for last year, which excludes the PHY divestiture. This was about $110 million. And what we've talked is growing the business at 10% to 15%, in line with our long-term targeted growth rate.

加里，我是德賽爾。我們對我們在矽 IP 方面的表現非常滿意。如果你看我們去年調整後的數字，其中不包括 PHY 剝離。這大約是 1.1 億美元。我們所說的是業務成長 10% 到 15%，這與我們的長期目標成長率一致。

What we've seen in the first half of the year, if you take our Q1 actuals and plus the midpoint of our guidance that we will be up double digits in the silicon IP revenue, which is really driven really across all components of our portfolio. We're seeing strong performance by our security revenue really led by Root of Trust and MACsec solutions. And also on the interface side, we're also seeing really nice growth across HBM, CXL and PCIe.

我們在今年上半年看到的情況是，如果你看第一季的實際情況，再加上我們指導的中點，我們的矽IP 收入將實現兩位數增長，這確實是由我們投資組合的所有組成部分推動的。我們看到我們的安全收入表現強勁，真正由信任根和 MACsec 解決方案引領。同樣在介面方面，我們也看到 HBM、CXL 和 PCIe 的成長非常好。

Yes. What I would add to this, Des, is we've really worked on our silicon IP offering focus. So if you look at the type of IP we provide, they are really well targeted to AI type of applications. We had several generations of HBM in the market, HBM2, HBM2e, HBM3, HBM3e, which we announced in our Q4 of last year. We have PCIe from PCIe 3.0 to PCIe 6.0.

是的。 Des，我想補充的是，我們確實致力於矽 IP 提供的重點。因此，如果您查看我們提供的 IP 類型，您會發現它們確實非常適合 AI 類型的應用程式。我們在市場上有幾代 HBM，HBM2、HBM2e、HBM3、HBM3e，這是我們在去年第四季宣布的。我們有從 PCIe 3.0 到 PCIe 6.0 的 PCIe。

We announced last quarter CXL 3.1. And on the security IP, as Des mentioned, with all of these data moving around into these fragmented architectures, the importance of security becomes more and more important. So last year, we refocused our IP portfolio. We're doubling down on that portfolio, and that explains the growth that we're starting to see with that very focused portfolio for AI in particular.

我們上季發布了 CXL 3.1。在安全 IP 上，正如 Des 所提到的，隨著所有這些資料都轉移到這些碎片化的架構中，安全性的重要性變得越來越重要。因此，去年我們重新調整了知識產權組合的重點。我們正在加倍投資該產品組合，這解釋了我們開始看到特別專注於人工智慧的產品組合的成長。

The next question is from the line of Mehdi Hosseini with SIG.

下一個問題來自 SIG 的 Mehdi Hosseini。

Two follow-ups from my end. Just double clicking on silicon IP. It's been kind of flattish into the Q2. Should we expect additional incremental revenues so that you would have a growth on a Q-over-Q into the second half? And I have a follow up.

我的最後兩個後續行動。只需雙擊 Silicon IP。第二季的情況有些平淡。我們是否應該期待額外的增量收入，以便下半年能季成長？我有一個後續行動。

Mehdi, its Des. That's a good question. As I mentioned, just to Gary, a minute ago, we are performing -- we saw a sort of 10% growth if you take the first half of 2024 and compare that against 2023. We're performing very well.

邁赫迪，它的德斯。這是個好問題。正如我剛才對加里提到的，一分鐘前，我們正在表現——如果你將 2024 年上半年與 2023 年進行比較，我們會看到 10% 的增長。

I think Luc gave some really nice color on some of the drivers we're seeing on the growth. And we do expect that, that will continue to grow into the back half of the year given our expanded sort of offering that Luc talked about, we're seeing really nice traction on the controller side as well as the security side. So we do expect to see sequential growth on our silicon IP business as we move throughout the year.

我認為盧克對我們在成長中看到的一些驅動因素給出了一些非常好的描述。我們確實預計，鑑於 Luc 談到的我們擴展的產品類型，這種情況將在今年下半年繼續增長，我們看到控制器方面和安全方面都具有非常好的吸引力。因此，隨著我們全年的發展，我們確實預計我們的矽 IP 業務將持續成長。

Okay. So the first half to second half comment [there --] it was more of an overall revenue, it wasn't just a product revenue, right?

好的。因此，上半年到下半年的評論[那裡——]更多的是整體收入，而不僅僅是產品收入，對吧？

The comment was relating to silicon IP revenue, Mehdi from near, the 10% growth. I think Luc also mentioned in his prepared remarks that if you take the Q2 guidance midpoint on the product side, we are seeing almost double-digit growth on the product revenue side as well. So we're performing very well in Q2 from there.

該評論與矽 IP 收入有關，Mehdi 近 10% 的成長。我認為盧克在他準備好的演講中也提到，如果你把第二季的指導中點當作產品方面的指標，我們會看到產品收入方面也幾乎實現兩位數的成長。因此，我們在第二季的表現非常好。

Sure. And with the higher mix of DDR5 should I also expect gross margins finally to show meaningful improvement in the second half of the year? Gross margin for product revenues.

當然。隨著 DDR5 的更高組合，我是否還應該預期毛利率最終會在今年下半年顯示出有意義的改善？產品收入的毛利率。

Yes. That's the way I would think of it, Mehdi. In Q1, our gross margins were approximately 61%. That was anticipated by us. As we move throughout the year, what we will see is a higher concentration mix of DDR5 on some of the new products that are coming out. And we'll continue to be disciplined in our ASP management. And as always, we will continue to drive product cost reductions to maintain a healthy gross margins.

是的。我就是這麼想的，邁赫迪。第一季度，我們的毛利率約為 61%。這是我們預料到的。隨著全年的發展，我們將看到一些即將推出的新產品將更加集中地混合使用 DDR5。我們將繼續嚴格執行 ASP 管理。一如既往，我們將繼續推動產品成本降低，以維持健康的毛利率。

But overall, for the year, I would expect our product gross margins to be in line with our long-term gross margin target of 60% to 65% on the products.

但總體而言，我預計今年我們的產品毛利率將符合我們 60% 至 65% 的產品長期毛利率目標。

The next question is from the line of Kevin Cassidy with Rosenblatt.

下一個問題來自凱文·卡西迪和羅森布拉特。

Congratulations on the solid results. Just on -- as we're coming into the second half of the year, as you've mentioned, there's a product refresh and -- can you give us an idea of the mix that you're expecting to ship of DDR5 RCDs that are Gen 1, 2 and 3?

祝賀取得了紮實的成果。就在我們即將進入下半年的時候，正如您所提到的，我們進行了一次產品更新，並且您能否告訴我們您期望交付的 DDR5 RCD 的組合是第1 代、第2 代和第3 代嗎？

Thanks, Kevin. That's a difficult question. We have actually three generations of DDR5 layering up. There are different stages of qualification and production with different customers. So it makes life a little more challenging in terms of managing the backlog and the inventory.

謝謝，凱文。這是一個很難的問題。我們實際上已經有三代 DDR5 了。不同的客戶有不同的資格和生產階段。因此，在管理積壓訂單和庫存方面，這讓生活變得更具挑戰性。

But we do see DDR5 growing in earnest. Gen 1 is well in production. Gen 2 is ramping, and we're shipping parts for the preparation of Gen 3. And we are -- depending on the modules and depending on the customers, we have different stages of qualification and production.

但我們確實看到 DDR5 正在蓬勃發展。 Gen 1 正在順利生產。第 2 代正在加速生產，我們正在運送零件，為第 3 代做好準備。

What we can say is, as we said earlier, DDR5 remains small for the first quarter -- DDR4 remains small for the first quarter. We expect some slight recovery in DDR4 starting in the second half. But we expect this to be having a long tail. The majority of our business will continue to be DDR5 across those generations of DDR5.

我們可以說的是，正如我們之前所說，DDR5 第一季的規模仍然較小——DDR4 第一季的規模仍然較小。我們預計 DDR4 從下半年開始將出現小幅復甦。但我們預計這將有一個長尾。在這幾代 DDR5 中，我們的大部分業務仍將是 DDR5。

Okay. Great.

好的。偉大的。

Kevin maybe just to add on to for -- Luc said, regardless of what generation shifts on DDR5, we have a strong qualification footprint across all generations, and we're really pleased with our market position on DDR5.

Kevin 也許只是補充一下 -- Luc 說，無論 DDR5 發生哪一代，我們在所有世代中都擁有強大的資質足跡，而且我們對 DDR5 的市場地位感到非常滿意。

Yes. That goes right to my next question. I was wondering what the competitive landscape is if there's any lead time issues.

是的。這就是我的下一個問題。我想知道如果有任何交貨時間問題，競爭格局會是什麼樣子。

So on the lead time issues, there are no lead time issues. I think from a supply standpoint, we are in good shape. And as Des mentioned, in terms of qualification, as we move from generation to generation, our footprint continues to improve. So depending on the mix of these 3 generations for this year, whatever that mix is, we feel confident with that DDR5 ramp in the market. Our footprint across the generations of DDR5 is larger than what we had in DDR4. So that market transition is positive for us.

因此，在交貨時間問題上，不存在交貨時間問題。我認為從供應的角度來看，我們的狀況良好。正如 Des 所提到的，就資格而言，隨著我們代代相傳，我們的足跡不斷改善。因此，根據今年這 3 代產品的組合，無論該組合是什麼，我們對 DDR5 在市場上的成長充滿信心。我們在各代 DDR5 的足跡比 DDR4 的足跡更大。因此，市場轉型對我們來說是正面的。

The next question is from the line of Nam Kim with Arete Research.

下一個問題來自 Arete Research 的 Nam Kim。

My question -- one question for PMIC and the other one is on (inaudible). Can you provide us some reasons on why you may be (inaudible) companies -- and what's your [common market share growth] in PMIC and RDIMM?

我的問題──一個是針對 PMIC 的問題，另一個是關於（聽不清楚）的問題。您能否提供我們一些理由，說明您為何成為（聽不清楚）公司，以及您在 PMIC 和 RDIMM 領域的[共同市場佔有率成長]是多少？

Thank you, Nam. If I understood your question well, your question was why we're introducing PMIC against the incumbents and how we expect to grow share.

謝謝你，南。如果我很好地理解你的問題，你的問題是為什麼我們要針對現有企業引入 PMIC，以及我們期望如何增加份額。

Yes. The competitiveness on your PMIC, what does that -- your PMIC is better than incumbent -- PMIC (inaudible)?

是的。你們的 PMIC 的競爭力，這代表什麼──你們的 PMIC 比現有的 PMIC 更好──PMIC（聽不清楚）？

Thank you, Nam. So yes, let me give you a little bit of color regarding the announcement we just made on PMIC. As the workloads for traditional servers and AI service continue to increase, we believe that power management has become a critical component on the system performance of the DIMM. The -- as you know, the power management chip distributes power in a reliable manner to different power domains that sits on the R DIMMs, and R DIMMs is very, very dense. It's one of the most dense electronic systems that you can find and you have to deliver that power. And these power management chip must demonstrate efficiency, how much power you use for the power you deliver. Accuracy and stability because of the tolerances of the devices on these DIMMs. But also a good behavior when you ramp up or ramp down power. So it's a very complex chip.

謝謝你，南。所以，是的，讓我為您介紹一下我們剛剛在 PMIC 上發布的公告。隨著傳統伺服器和人工智慧服務的工作負載不斷增加，我們相信電源管理已成為影響 DIMM 系統效能的關鍵元件。如您所知，電源管理晶片以可靠的方式將電源分配到 R DIMM 上的不同電源域，而 R DIMM 非常非常密集。它是您能找到的最密集的電子系統之一，您必須提供這種電力。這些電源管理晶片必須展示效率，即您使用多少功率來提供功率。由於這些 DIMM 上的設備具有容差，因此具有準確性和穩定性。而且當您增加或減少功率時也是一種良好的行為。所以這是一個非常複雜的晶片。

And we thought that at Rambus, this is going to become a core competency in the long run. We have invested in power management for a couple of years now. We're still growing the team and the investments in that area. We are capitalizing on our deep understanding of the DIMM at the system level, which I think is really, really important. And as you saw in the announcement, we talked about the extreme PMIC, which is the name specified by JEDEC. But the extreme PMIC is actually a PMIC that goes into the most challenging DIMMs in terms of speed and density. And we targeted that because this is where we could show that we could have products that were better than our competitors by targeting the most difficult ones to do.

我們認為，從長遠來看，這將成為 Rambus 的核心競爭力。我們在電源管理方面的投資已經有幾年了。我們仍在擴大該領域的團隊和投資。我們正在利用我們對系統層級 DIMM 的深入了解，我認為這非常非常重要。正如您在公告中看到的，我們談到了極端 PMIC，這是 JEDEC 指定的名稱。但極端的 PMIC 實際上是在速度和密度方面進入最具挑戰性的 DIMM 的 PMIC。我們之所以瞄準這一點，是因為我們可以透過瞄準最難做的產品來證明我們可以擁有比競爭對手更好的產品。

We have sampled customers in some large quantities now. We are in qualification process. And the feedback we have from customers on that most difficult PMIC to make is very, very positive. And in the long run, what this tells us is that these extreme PMIC performance and our ability to make them is going to trickle down other applications for the high current PMIC or the low current PMIC, but also for PMIC that will be used in other systems down the road.

我們現在已經給客戶大批量打樣了。我們正在進行資格審查過程。我們從客戶那裡得到的關於最難製造的 PMIC 的回饋非常非常積極。從長遠來看，這告訴我們的是，這些極端的 PMIC 性能以及我們製造它們的能力將滲透到高電流 PMIC 或低電流 PMIC 的其他應用中，而且也適用於將用於其他應用的 PMIC。在路上。

So the first PMIC is the extreme PMIC. That's a very difficult one to make. It's targeting high density, high bandwidth DIMMs. And we've got really good results with customers, and this is what gives us confidence in this.

所以第一個PMIC是極端的PMIC。這是一件非常難做的事。它的目標是高密度、高頻寬 DIMM。我們與客戶取得了非常好的成果，這讓我們對此充滿信心。

I would end by saying, if you look at DIMMs at Rambus, we always say that. It's about signal integrity and signal integrity is about the RCD and it's about power integrity and power integrity is about the PMIC. So we're very excited. We've worked on this for a couple of years. And we're introducing one product at this point in time, one product family. But over time, it's going to trickle down the different applications in memory subsystems.

最後我想說，如果你看看 Rambus 的 DIMM，我們總是這麼說。它涉及訊號完整性，訊號完整性涉及 RCD，涉及電源完整性，而電源完整性涉及 PMIC。所以我們非常興奮。我們在這方面已經工作了幾年。我們目前正在推出一種產品，一個產品系列。但隨著時間的推移，它將滲透到記憶體子系統中的不同應用程式中。

It sounds like (inaudible) the AI server, which you acquired very high bandwidth and high capacity, is that right? And what's your target market share in PMIC in the longer term?

聽起來（聽不清楚）AI伺服器，你獲得了非常高的頻寬和高容量，是嗎？從長遠來看，您在 PMIC 的目標市佔率是多少？

So it is true that if you take a CPU and an AI server, they typically maximize the number of DIMMs per channel. But they also try to maximize the density. So definitely, the extreme PMIC is a good -- or the AI servers are a good target for the extreme PMIC. So you're absolutely right with that.

因此，如果您採用 CPU 和 AI 伺服器，它們通常會最大化每個通道的 DIMM 數量，這是事實。但他們也試圖最大化密度。因此，極端 PMIC 肯定是一個好選擇，或者說人工智慧伺服器是極端 PMIC 的一個很好的目標。所以你的說法完全正確。

In terms of market share, we've always said that we target in the long run to get to 20% share when we are in [huge] production, fully qualified on our PMIC family. But we're going to ramp our way through that. We're going to ship initial volumes in the second half of this year. We're going to see some production volume next year. And our target is to eventually get to 20% share.

就市場份額而言，我們一直說，從長遠來看，當我們進行[大規模]生產時，我們的目標是達到 20% 的份額，並且完全符合我們的 PMIC 系列要求。但我們將逐步解決這個問題。我們將於今年下半年出貨。明年我們將看到一些產量。我們的目標是最終達到 20% 的份額。

Okay. One more question, if I can, then I will be back in queue. DRAM prices have been increasing quite dramatically since December quarter last year. I'm just curious on RCD pricing going forward, did the RCD chip price usually just stable relative to RDIMM price? Or do you think there is some room to raise the price when RDIMM price are up quite significantly?

好的。還有一個問題，如果可以的話，我會重新排隊。自去年第四季以來，DRAM 價格一直在大幅上漲。我只是對未來的 RCD 定價感到好奇，RCD 晶片價格相對於 RDIMM 價格通常是否穩定？或者說，當RDIMM價格大幅上漲時，您認為還有上漲的空間嗎？

Now typically, the R DIMM prices and the RCD prices are not correlated. The R DIMM prices grow with DRAM supply and demand situation. The RCD prices typically defined by the competitive environment on the RCD supply. So there's no correlation between the R DIMM prices and the RCD prices. The only thing I would add, though, is that when we move from generation to generation from DDR5 Gen 1 to DDR5 Gen 2 to DDR5 Gen 3, there's an uptick in pricing on the RCD, that has to do with the introduction of new technology. But as these technologies ramp into production, we see the standard price erosion on each one of those generation.

現在，R DIMM 價格和 RCD 價格通常不相關。 R DIMM 價格隨著 DRAM 供需情況而上漲。 RCD 價格通常由 RCD 供應的競爭環境決定。因此 R DIMM 價格和 RCD 價格之間沒有相關性。不過，我唯一要補充的是，當我們從 DDR5 Gen 1 到 DDR5 Gen 2 再到 DDR5 Gen 3 一代又一代地過渡時，RCD 的價格會上漲，這與新技術的引入有關。但隨著這些技術投入生產，我們看到每一代技術的標準價格都在下降。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question is from the line of Mehdi Hosseini with SIG.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 SIG 的 Mehdi Hosseini。

Yes, just a couple of follow-ups. This -- actually for the DIMM, when do you expect incremental PMIC revenue to start impacting the top line? And would PMIC also be in the product revenue?

是的，只有幾個後續行動。實際上對於 DIMM，您預計 PMIC 收入增量何時開始影響營收？ PMIC 也會包含在產品收入中嗎？

Mehdi, it's Des. As Luc mentioned, we're very pleased to announce our PMIC solutions today. We do expect to have a revenue contribution in the second half of the year, and that will continue to grow into 2025, as Luc mentioned into the production volumes then. You are correct, this will show up under product revenue, that's the right categorization for the PMIC revenue.

麥赫迪，我是德賽爾。正如 Luc 所提到的，我們今天非常高興地宣布我們的 PMIC 解決方案。我們確實預計下半年會有收入貢獻，並將繼續成長到 2025 年，正如 Luc 在產量中提到的那樣。您是對的，這將顯示在產品收入下，這是 PMIC 收入的正確分類。

Okay. And then just a clarification on the product gross margin, 60% in Q1. I think I heard you saying that most of the products were for DDR5. Is there like a startup cost associated with your foundry partners? Or what is it that is adversely impacting your Q1 product gross margin? And I'm under the assumption that DDR5 has a higher gross margin than DDR4.

好的。然後澄清一下產品毛利率，第一季為 60%。我想我聽到你說大多數產品都是針對 DDR5 的。您的代工廠夥伴是否有啟動成本？或者是什麼對您第一季的產品毛利率產生了不利影響？我假設 DDR5 的毛利率高於 DDR4。

Mehdi, it's a good question. As it relates to our product gross margins, we continue to manage these for the long term. And we do have a healthy gross margin profile. If you take last year 2023, for the full year, it was 63% on the gross margin side.

邁赫迪，這是個好問題。由於它與我們的產品毛利率有關，因此我們將繼續長期管理這些毛利率。我們確實擁有健康的毛利率狀況。若以去年 2023 年為例，全年毛利率為 63%。

In Q1, our gross margins on the product side were 60% -- approximately 61%, which was down from 63% in Q4, maybe. The sequential decline in gross margin was driven by anticipated ASP erosion, which was in the low single digits. And we also did have some onetime manufacturing costs that were incurred in Q1.

第一季度，我們產品方面的毛利率為 60%——約 61%，可能比第四季的 63% 有所下降。毛利率環比下降是由於預期的平均售價下降所致，該數字為較低的個位數。我們在第一季也確實產生了一些一次性製造成本。

As a company, we have been and will continue to be disciplined in our ASP management, and we will continue to drive product cost reductions to maintain our healthy product gross margins. But overall, for the year, I would expect that our product gross margins will be in line with our long-term target of 60% to 65%.

作為一家公司，我們一直並將繼續嚴格遵守 ASP 管理規定，並將繼續推動產品成本降低，以維持健康的產品毛利率。但總體而言，我預計今年我們的產品毛利率將符合我們 60% 至 65% 的長期目標。

Sure. And if I may, just to squeeze in one more follow-up. And this is also for the DIMM. What happens if demand for DDR4 actually were to be there, especially for some of the low in-server application or even maybe for inferencing. Are you anticipating just focusing on DDR5? Or would there be a scenario where DDR4 actually -- there is no [any life] and there's -- there will be kind of a steady demand for it?

當然。如果可以的話，我想再擠出一個後續行動。這也適用於 DIMM。如果確實存在對 DDR4 的需求，特別是對於一些低伺服器內應用程序，甚至可能用於推理，會發生什麼。您是否期望只專注於 DDR5？或者是否會出現這樣一種情況：DDR4 實際上沒有[任何壽命]，但存在——會對它有某種穩定的需求？

We expect to have some long-term demand for DDR5. We see Gen 1 in production today. Gen 2 has been launched. We have customer orders in Gen 2, we have customer orders on Gen 3 as well. Gen 4 was introduced and we were the first one to introduce Gen 4 in December of last year. And the industry is anticipating to continue to develop DDR5 based solutions for the data center.

我們預計對 DDR5 會有一些長期需求。我們今天看到第一代產品已投入生產。第二代已經推出。我們有第 2 代的客戶訂單，也有第 3 代的客戶訂單。 Gen 4 已推出，我們是去年 12 月第一個推出 Gen 4 的公司。業界預計將繼續為資料中心開發基於 DDR5 的解決方案。

So we expect that to continue. With respect to DDR4, as we said earlier, we see a long tail of DDR4 demand not necessarily high. The vast majority of sales going forward is going to be -- for the data center is going to be DDR5.

所以我們預計這種情況會持續下去。至於DDR4，正如我們之前所說，我們看到DDR4需求的長尾並不一定很高。未來的絕大多數銷售將是——因為資料中心將是 DDR5。

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 Seraphin.

目前，沒有其他問題了。問答環節到此結束。我現在想將會議轉回給 Luc Seraphin。

Thank you, everyone, who have joined the call with us today. Thank you for your continued interest and time, and we look forward to speaking with you again soon. Have a great day. Thank you.

謝謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。感謝您的持續關注和時間，我們期待很快再次與您交談。祝你有美好的一天。謝謝。

Thank you. This now concludes today's conference.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。