Rambus Inc (RMBS) 2018 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Rambus Third Quarter and Fiscal Year 2018 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

歡迎參加 Rambus 第三季和 2018 財政年度收益電話會議。（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 Third Quarter 2018 Results Conference Call. I'm Rahul Mathur, CFO, and on the call with me today is Luc Seraphin, our CEO.

謝謝營運商，歡迎參加 Rambus 2018 年第三季業績電話會議。我是財務長 Rahul Mathur，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 have been furnished to the SEC on Form 8-K. A replay of this call will be available until next week at (855) 859-2056. You can hear the replay by dialing the toll-free number, and then entering ID number 4888626 when you hear the prompt.

我們今天將討論的結果新聞稿已透過 8-K 表格提交給 SEC。本次電話會議的重播將於下週之前撥打 (855) 859-2056。您可以撥打免費電話，然後在聽到提示時輸入 ID 號碼 4888626 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。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 regarding our financial guidance for future periods, including Q4 2018 and beyond, prospects, product strategies, timing of expected product launches, demand for existing and newly acquired technologies, the growth opportunity for the various markets we serve and changes that we will experience in our financial reporting due to our adoption of the new revenue recognition standard that started in Q1 2018, amongst other things.

我們今天的討論將包含有關我們未來時期財務指引的前瞻性陳述，包括2018 年第四季及以後、前景、產品策略、預期產品發布的時間、對現有和新收購技術的需求、我們各個市場的成長機會由於我們採用了 2018 年第一季開始的新收入確認標準等，我們將在財務報告中經歷一些服務和變化。

These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that are discussed during this call and may be more fully described in the documents we file with the SEC, including our 8-K's, 10-Q's and 10-K's. These forward-looking statements may differ materially from our actual results, and we are under no obligation to update these statements.

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。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。

In an effort to provide greater clarity to our financials, we are using both GAAP and non-GAAP financial presentations in both our press release and also on this call. We have posted on our website a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financials to the most directly comparable GAAP measures in our press release and our slide presentation. You can see this on our website at rambus.com on the Investor Relations page under Financial Releases.

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。我們在我們的網站上發布了這些非公認會計準則財務數據與我們的新聞稿和幻燈片演示中最直接可比較的公認會計準則衡量指標的調節表。您可以在我們的網站 rambus.com 的「投資者關係」頁面上的「財務發布」下看到此資訊。

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 the guidance we issued in today's press release; 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，包括我們在今天的新聞稿中發布的指導；然後我們將以問答結束。

I will 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, Rahul, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm very pleased to be taking on the role of CEO and excited about our prospects as a company as we drive towards greater value creation for our customers and shareholders. For Q3, we delivered solid results. We've continued progress in our businesses as we execute on strategy and improve profitability.

謝謝拉胡爾，大家下午好。我很高興擔任首席執行官，並對我們公司的前景感到興奮，因為我們致力於為客戶和股東創造更大的價值。第三季度，我們取得了紮實的成果。隨著我們執行策略和提高獲利能力，我們的業務不斷取得進展。

From a financial perspective, our performance was in line with our expectations, delivering GAAP revenues of $59.8 million under ASC 606, and generating $32 million in cash from operations. For reference, our third quarter revenue under the prior ASC 605 accounting standard would have been $99.8 million. If we compare under the same accounting standard and exclude the impact of our Lighting division, this equates to a 5% increase year-over-year. Overall, we executed well with strong execution in our product groups and continued technology leadership on strategic programs. Our licensing program remains strong with new deals and renewals closed in Q3, including Socionext, Phison, Infineon and Nvidia.

從財務角度來看，我們的業績符合我們的預期，根據 ASC 606 實現 GAAP 收入 5,980 萬美元，並從營運中產生 3,200 萬美元現金。作為參考，根據先前的 ASC 605 會計準則，我們第三季的收入將為 9,980 萬美元。如果我們在相同的會計標準下進行比較並排除照明部門的影響，這相當於同比增長 5%。整體而言，我們的產品組表現出色，執行力強勁，並且在策略計畫上持續保持技術領先地位。我們的授權計畫依然強勁，新交易和續約已在第三季完成，其中包括 Socionext、Phison、Infineon 和 Nvidia。

For the Memory and Interface Division, Q3 was another positive quarter, with broad OEM and cloud customer qualifications ongoing in chips and steady revenue for IP cores. Our DDR4 memory buffer chip business continues to grow with steady gains in market share and revenue growth, supported by a series of OEM design wins. As a result, we continue to hit our financial targets with $6 million in Q1, $8 million in Q2, $11 million in Q3 and remain on track to hit our target of $35 million to $40 million for the year. As we look forward to next year, we expect that growth to continue with an anticipated revenue range of $50 million to $70 million for the buffer chip program.

對於記憶體和介面部門來說，第三季度又是一個積極的季度，晶片領域不斷獲得廣泛的 OEM 和雲端客戶資格，IP 核收入穩定。在一系列 OEM 設計勝利的支持下，我們的 DDR4 記憶體緩衝晶片業務持續成長，市場份額和收入穩步增長。因此，我們繼續實現第一季 600 萬美元、第二季 800 萬美元、第三季 1,100 萬美元的財務目標，並有望實現今年 3,500 萬至 4,000 萬美元的目標。展望明年，我們預計這種成長將持續下去，緩衝晶片專案的預期收入範圍為 5,000 萬美元至 7,000 萬美元。

For next-generation DDR5 memory buffer chips, we maintained our leadership position as the first and only supplier with working silicon that supports the top-end speeds for both the RCD and DB chips. We are leveraging our head start in product development, with samples being validated by our partners and continue to have strong collaboration with the memory vendors as well as the broader ecosystem.

對於下一代 DDR5 記憶體緩衝晶片，我們作為第一家也是唯一一家提供支援 RCD 和 DB 晶片高端速度的工作晶片的供應商，保持了領先地位。我們正在利用我們在產品開發方面的領先地位，樣品由我們的合作夥伴進行驗證，並繼續與內存供應商以及更廣泛的生態系統保持強有力的合作。

Following the record revenue from our high-speed IP cores in the first half, we continue our leadership with further development of high-end and high-bandwidth SerDes and memory IP cores in advanced process nodes. We increased traction from a growing number -- we see increased traction from a growing number of customers across multiple high-performance applications, including AI, automotive, data center and networking.

繼上半年我們的高速 IP 核收入創紀錄之後，我們進一步開發先進製程節點中的高階、高頻寬 SerDes 和記憶體 IP 核，繼續保持領先地位。我們看到越來越多的客戶對多種高效能應用程式（包括人工智慧、汽車、資料中心和網路）的吸引力不斷增加。

Turning now to Security. The division remains focused on enabling trusting devices and their connection to the cloud as well as protecting digital assets through tokenization and encryption. As the importance of semiconductor device level security grows, our Cryptography group is seeing increased traction and opportunities in market segments like IoT, automotive and networking. We see rapidly increasing interest and new requirements for establishing and managing the identity of devices throughout their life cycle, starting on the factory floor. With nearly 5 billion devices provisioned to date by our CryptoManager Infrastructure product, Rambus remains the most mature provider of at-scale device level provisioning solutions and expect to see steady growth in demand and customer traction.

現在轉向安全。該部門仍然專注於支援信任設備及其與雲端的連接，以及透過標記化和加密來保護數位資產。隨著半導體設備級安全的重要性日益增長，我們的密碼學團隊在物聯網、汽車和網路等細分市場中看到了越來越多的吸引力和機會。我們看到，從工廠車間開始，人們對在設備整個生命週期中建立和管理設備身分的興趣和新要求迅速增長。迄今為止，我們的 CryptoManager 基礎設施產品已配置了近 50 億台設備，Rambus 仍然是大規模設備級配置解決方案最成熟的供應商，並預計需求和客戶吸引力將穩定成長。

As part of our ongoing efforts to make it simple and fast for our customers to implement security by design, we are systematically increasing our product portfolio. We now offer the general availability of our RISC-V-based programmable CryptoManager Hardware Root Of Trust, a full suite of DPA-resistant crypto cores for commercial and government applications, and an enhanced DPA workstation with expanded side-channel attack testing capabilities through our partnership with Riscure.

我們不斷努力讓客戶能夠簡單、快速地透過設計實現安全性，為此，我們正在系統地增加我們的產品組合。我們現在提供基於 RISC-V 的可編程 CryptoManager 硬體信任根的全面可用性、用於商業和政府應用的全套抗 DPA 加密核心，以及透過我們的擴展側通道攻擊測試功能增強的 DPA 工作站。與 Riscure 合作。

The quarter also marked a commercial milestone for one of our existing customers, Cybertrust Japan. This subsidiary of Softbank announced the availability of their software development kit, allowing customers to evaluate the IoT security platform, which integrate our CryptoManager IoT Security Service. We are pleased with the progress of this group and look forward to meeting the market growing demand.

該季度也標誌著我們現有客戶之一 Cyber​​trust Japan 的商業里程碑。軟銀的這家子公司宣布推出其軟體開發套件，使客戶能夠評估整合了我們的 CryptoManager 物聯網安全服務的物聯網安全平台。我們對這個團隊的進步感到高興，並期待滿足市場不斷增長的需求。

As we look now to our Ticketing and Payment groups, market traction and product development for tokenization continue to progress. This year, we have expanded our tokenization solutions for mobile payments and retail to account-based payments, e-commerce and now, the blockchain. Q3 saw announcements from both groups, introducing new customers, partners and products. The Ticketing group announced the selection and deployment of our transport tokenization solution for mobile ticketing on Scotland's national rail network. And our Payment group made announcements with the retail group, Coles in Australia, as well as Visa and American Express for our retail and e-commerce tokenization products, supporting a major industry shift from carbon file to document file.

當我們現在關注我們的票務和支付團隊時，代幣化的市場吸引力和產品開發不斷取得進展。今年，我們將行動支付和零售的代幣化解決方案擴展到基於帳戶的支付、電子商務以及現在的區塊鏈。第三季度，兩個集團都發布了公告，介紹了新客戶、合作夥伴和產品。票務集團宣布選擇並部署我們的運輸標記化解決方案，用於蘇格蘭國家鐵路網路上的行動票務。我們的支付團隊與零售集團、澳洲 Coles 以及 Visa 和 American Express 就我們的零售和電子商務標記化產品發布了公告，支持產業從碳文件到文件文件的重大轉變。

Finally, last week, we launched Vaultify Trade, the first solution to offer bank-grade tokenization and encryption technologies to secure the transaction and storage of crypto assets on blockchain.

最後，上週，我們推出了 Vaultify Trade，這是第一個提供銀行級代幣化和加密技術以確保區塊鏈上加密資產交易和儲存安全的解決方案。

Our strategy of leveraging innovation and IP to develop differentiated products for high-growth markets remains. While we are pleased with the progress in our software-based Payments and Ticketing programs and see increasing market traction for tokenization solutions, we acknowledge that these businesses are far from our core in the semiconductor space. With that, we are exploring strategic options to maximize the market opportunity and success of these businesses.

我們利用創新和智慧財產權為高成長市場開發差異化產品的策略依然存在。雖然我們對基於軟體的支付和票務計劃的進展感到高興，並且看到代幣化解決方案的市場吸引力不斷增加，但我們承認這些業務距離我們在半導體領域的核心還很遠。為此，我們正在探索策略選擇，以最大限度地提高這些業務的市場機會和成功。

In closing, Q3 was a strong quarter that continued to reinforce our confidence in our strategy and execution to plan. We are creating the foundation for future profitable growth as we continue to roll out products, improve operational efficiency and generate cash.

最後，第三季度是一個強勁的季度，繼續增強了我們對策略和計劃執行的信心。隨著我們不斷推出產品、提高營運效率並創造現金，我們正在為未來的獲利成長奠定基礎。

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

接下來，我將打電話給拉胡爾，討論季度財務表現。拉胡爾？

Thanks, Luc. I'd like to begin with our financial results for the quarter. Let me start with some highlights on Slide 5.

謝謝，盧克。我想先介紹一下我們本季的財務表現。讓我從幻燈片 5 的一些亮點開始。

As Luc mentioned, we delivered solid financial results in line with our revenue and EPS expectations. As you know, we've chosen to adopt the new revenue accounting standard, ASC 606, using the modified retrospective method, which does not restate prior periods, but rather runs a cumulative effect of the adoption through retained earnings as a beginning balance sheet adjustment. As a result, any comparison between third quarter 2018 results under ASC 606 and prior results under ASC 605 is not the best way to track the company's progress.

正如 Luc 所提到的，我們實現了穩健的財務業績，符合我們的收入和每股盈餘預期。如您所知，我們選擇採用新的收入會計準則 ASC 606，使用修改後的追溯法，該方法不會重述前期，而是透過留存收益作為期初資產負債表調整來計算採用的累積效應。因此，將 ASC 606 下的 2018 年第三季業績與 ASC 605 下的先前業績進行比較並不是追蹤公司進展的最佳方式。

We are required to present a footnote that presents our 2018 results as if we continue to recognize revenue under the old standard. To make this transition easier to the readers of our financial statements, we will continue to present our results under both ASC 606 and ASC 605 through this transition period of 2018. This way, we can have a meaningful discussion regarding the performance of our business instead of focusing on accounting changes.

我們需要提供一個腳註來介紹我們 2018 年的業績，就好像我們繼續按照舊準則確認收入一樣。為了讓財務報表的讀者更容易完成這項過渡，我們將在 2018 年過渡期內繼續根據 ASC 606 和 ASC 605 公佈我們的業績。這樣，我們就可以就我們的業務績效進行有意義的討論，而不是專注於會計變更。

Under the new accounting standard ASC 606, we delivered revenue of $59.8 million. Under ASC 605, we would have delivered revenue of $99.8 million. Under ASC 606, we delivered non-GAAP diluted loss per share of negative $0.01. Under ASC 605, we would have delivered non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.22. We delivered solid results, while continuing to leverage our high-margin historic businesses to fuel growth in adjacent areas where we have strong technical and market expertise with the focus on memory and security.

根據新會計準則 ASC 606，我們實現了 5,980 萬美元的收入。根據 ASC 605，我們將實現 9,980 萬美元的收入。根據 ASC 606，我們的非 GAAP 攤薄每股虧損為負 0.01 美元。根據 ASC 605，我們將實現非 GAAP 每股收益 0.22 美元。我們取得了堅實的成果，同時繼續利用我們的高利潤歷史業務來推動鄰近領域的成長，在這些領域我們擁有強大的技術和市場專業知識，重點是記憶體和安全性。

Now let me talk you through some revenue details on Slide 6. Revenue for the third quarter was $59.8 million under the new revenue accounting standard, higher than our expectations due to licensing agreements signed in the quarter. Revenue would have been $99.8 million under ASC 605, in line with our expectations. Year-over-year, excluding the Lighting business we shut down in Q1, our business is up 5%.

現在讓我向您介紹投影片 6 上的一些收入詳細資料。根據新的收入會計準則，第三季的收入為 5,980 萬美元，由於該季度簽署的許可協議，高於我們的預期。根據 ASC 605，營收將為 9,980 萬美元，符合我們的預期。與去年同期相比，不包括我們在第一季關閉的照明業務，我們的業務成長了 5%。

As we've mentioned previously, the new revenue recognition standard has a material difference in the timing of revenue recognition for our fixed fee licensing arrangements. Our Licensing business continues to perform well as the foundation of our success is core to our initiative in both memory and security and will continue to generate cash in years to come.

正如我們之前提到的，新的收入確認標準對我們的固定費用授權安排的收入確認時間有重大差異。我們的授權業務繼續表現良好，因為我們成功的基礎是我們在記憶體和安全方面的舉措的核心，並將在未來幾年繼續產生現金。

Going into additional detail under ASC 605, our Memory and Interface revenue would have been $79.8 million and our Security business revenue would have been $20.1 million. As we mentioned last quarter, we've been restructuring the pipeline for our tokenization and embedded security businesses.

根據 ASC 605 的更多細節，我們的記憶體和介面收入將為 7,980 萬美元，我們的安全業務收入將為 2,010 萬美元。正如我們上季度提到的，我們一直在重組代幣化和嵌入式安全業務的管道。

While we are pleased with our progress on the security initiatives, in particular, our recent announcement, the revenue profile has continued to change. As a result, we now expect security revenue in 2018 to be down year-over-year, so we remain confident in this business long term and are excited by the growing number of product and technology announcements and customer engagement.

雖然我們對安全措施方面取得的進展（特別是我們最近的公告）感到滿意，但收入狀況仍在不斷變化。因此，我們現在預計 2018 年的安全收入將同比下降，因此我們對該業務的長期發展仍然充滿信心，並對不斷增加的產品和技術公告以及客戶參與度感到興奮。

Let me walk you through our non-GAAP income statement on Slide 7. Along with our solid revenue performance in Q3, we once again met our profitability targets on a non-GAAP basis. Cost of revenue plus operating expenses, or what we refer to as total operating expenses, for the quarter came in at $67.6 million. We ended the quarter with headcount of 814, up from 791 in the previous quarter. Over the course of 2018, we expect to invest in headcount to support our growth initiatives in our Memory and Security businesses.

讓我向您介紹投影片 7 上的非 GAAP 損益表。除了第三季穩健的收入表現外，我們再次實現了非 GAAP 基礎上的獲利目標。該季度的收入成本加上營運費用，或我們所說的總營運費用，為 6760 萬美元。本季結束時，我們的員工人數為 814 人，高於上一季的 791 人。2018 年，我們預計將投資於員工隊伍，以支援我們記憶體和安全業務的成長計畫。

Revenue and operating expenses under ASC 605 led to operating income of $32.2 million. We recorded $6.5 million of interest income under ASC 606 related to the significant financing component of licensing agreements for which we have not yet received payment but recognized revenue under the new accounting standard.

ASC 605 下的收入和營運支出帶來了 3,220 萬美元的營運收入。我們根據 ASC 606 記錄了 650 萬美元的利息收入，這些利息收入與許可協議的重要融資部分相關，我們尚未收到付款，但根據新會計準則確認了收入。

We incurred $0.7 million of interest expense, primarily related to the convertible notes we issued in Q4 2017. This was offset by incremental interest income related to the return on our cash portfolio. After adjusting for noncash interest expense on our convertible notes, this resulted in non-GAAP interest and other expense for the third quarter of $0.3 million, down from Q2. On a GAAP basis, we recorded a valuation allowance of roughly $90 million in Q3. As you may recall from our adoption of ASC 606, we accelerated a significant portion of our revenues, mostly from patent licensing, resulting in a roughly $820 million adjustment to retained earnings at the beginning of 2018. The acceleration of revenue resulted in roughly $157 million of foreign tax credits being utilized to offset the tax obligation.

我們產生了 70 萬美元的利息費用，主要與我們在 2017 年第四季發行的可轉換票據有關。這被與我們現金投資組合回報相關的增量利息收入所抵銷。對可轉換票據的非現金利息支出進行調整後，第三季的非公認會計準則利息和其他支出為 30 萬美元，低於第二季。根據 GAAP 基礎，我們第三季的估值準備金約為 9,000 萬美元。您可能還記得，我們​​採用 ASC 606 後，我們的大部分收入（主要來自專利授權）加速成長，導致 2018 年初留存收益調整約為 8.2 億美元。收入的加速導致約 1.57 億美元的外國稅收抵免被用來抵消稅務義務。

Given that we expect much of our growth to come outside of the U.S. in subsequent years, at a domestic level, we may still generate losses in future periods. Furthermore, the decrease in our effective tax rate after last year's tax reform reduces our ability to utilize any domestic deferred tax assets for future periods, hence the valuation allowance. Using an assumed flat rate of 24% for non-GAAP pretax income, non-GAAP net income for the quarter would have been $24.2 million under ASC 605 or $0.22 a share at the midpoint of our guidance.

鑑於我們預計未來幾年我們的大部分成長將來自美國以外的國內層面，因此我們在未來時期仍可能會產生損失。此外，去年稅制改革後我們的有效稅率下降，降低了我們在未來期間利用任何國內遞延稅資產的能力，從而降低了估值備抵。使用假設的非 GAAP 稅前收入 24% 的統一稅率，根據 ASC 605，該季度的非 GAAP 淨利潤將為 2420 萬美元，或按照我們指導的中點計算每股 0.22 美元。

Now let me turn to the balance sheet details on Slide 8. We are very pleased with the strength of our balance sheet. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $248.2 million, down $50 million from the previous quarter as cash from operations of $32 million helped to offset the remaining $81.2 million pay down on the 2018 convertible notes that came due in Q3. As part of settling the 2018 notes, we also issued 424,000 shares. We expect to maintain our ability to generate cash from operations in Q4. This will be an important metric to monitor as we adopt ASC 606.

現在讓我來看看投影片 8 上的資產負債表詳細資料。我們對資產負債表的實力感到非常滿意。現金、現金等價物和有價證券總額為2.482 億美元，比上一季減少5,000 萬美元，因為來自營運的現金3,200 萬美元幫助抵消了第三季度到期的2018 年可轉換票據剩餘的8,120 萬美元首付款。作為結算 2018 年票據的一部分，我們還發行了 424,000 股股票。我們預計第四季將保持營運產生現金的能力。當我們採用 ASC 606 時，這將是一個需要監控的重要指標。

As a result of adopting ASC 606, at the end of Q3, we had contract assets worth $700 million, which reflects a net present value of unbilled AR related to licensing arrangements for which the company has no performance -- no future performance obligations. I expect this number to continue to trend down as we bill and collect for these contracts and the reduction approximates the difference between our reported royalty revenue under ASC 606 and our licensing billings.

由於採用了 ASC 606，在第三季末，我們擁有價值 7 億美元的合約資產，這反映了與公司沒有履行義務（沒有未來履行義務）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，這個數字將繼續呈下降趨勢，並且減少量大約等於我們根據 ASC 606 報告的特許權使用費收入與我們的許可帳單之間的差額。

Third quarter CapEx was $2.6 million and depreciation was $2.6 million. Looking forward, I expect roughly $2.7 million of CapEx for the fourth quarter and roughly $10.5 million for the full year of 2018. I also expect depreciation of roughly $3 million per quarter in 2019 and CapEx of $11 million for next year. Overall, we have a strong balance sheet with limited debt and expect to continue to generate strong cash from operations in the future.

第三季資本支出為 260 萬美元，折舊為 260 萬美元。展望未來，我預計第四季的資本支出約為 270 萬美元，2018 年全年的資本支出約為 1,050 萬美元。我還預計 2019 年每季折舊約 300 萬美元，明年資本支出為 1,100 萬美元。總體而言，我們擁有強勁的資產負債表和有限的債務，預計未來將繼續從營運中產生強勁的現金。

Now let me turn to our guidance for the fourth quarter on Slide 9. As a reminder, our forward-looking guidance reflects our best estimates at this point in time, and our actual results could differ materially from what I'm about to review. To provide our investors and the analysts additional transparency during this accounting transition, we're also providing financial outlook as if we were still under ASC 605 as well as ASC 606 during this transition period, which ends in 2018. Please note that the presentation under ASC 605 is not a substitute for the new ASC 606 revenue recognition standard under GAAP. Future revenue under ASC 606 will be volatile from period-to-period due to the timing and structure of our licensing arrangements. We will continue to focus on leveraging our vast patent portfolio to maximize the value for our business as well as to provide the best economic structure for our customers.

現在讓我談談幻燈片 9 上我們對第四季度的指導。提醒一下，我們的前瞻性指導反映了我們目前的最佳估計，我們的實際結果可能與我將要審查的結果有重大差異。為了在會計過渡期間為我們的投資者和分析師提供額外的透明度，我們還提供了財務前景，就好像我們在這一過渡期間（截至 2018 年）仍處於 ASC 605 和 ASC 606 之下。請注意，ASC 605 下的列報不能取代 GAAP 下新的 ASC 606 收入確認標準。由於我們許可安排的時間安排和結構，ASC 606 下的未來收入將隨時間波動。我們將繼續專注於利用我們龐大的專利組合來最大化我們的業務價值，並為我們的客戶提供最佳的經濟結構。

To offer additional transparency, 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. The differences between licensing billings and royalty revenue under ASC 605 are primarily related to timing as we don't always recognize revenue the same quarter we bill our customers.

為了提高透明度，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。ASC 605 下的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，因為我們並不總是在向客戶開立帳單的同一季度確認收入。

As you see in the supplemental information we provided on Slide 16 of our earnings deck, on an annual basis, licensing billings closely correlates with what we reported as royalty revenue under ASC 605, given this timing lag. We'll continue to provide licensing billings as another operational metric to help our investors understand the underlying performance of our company. With that said, under the new ASC 606 revenue standard, we expect revenue in the fourth quarter between $56 million and $62 million.

正如您在損益表投影片 16 上提供的補充資訊中看到的那樣，考慮到此時間滯後，每年的授權費用與我們根據 ASC 605 報告的特許權使用費收入密切相關。我們將繼續提供許可帳單作為另一個營運指標，以幫助我們的投資者了解我們公司的基本績效。話雖如此，根據新的 ASC 606 收入標準，我們預計第四季度的收入將在 5,600 萬美元至 6,200 萬美元之間。

Under the ASC 605 revenue standard, we expect revenue in the fourth quarter will be between $99 million and $105 million. Excluding the impact of the Lighting division, this is up 4% year-over-year. As a reminder, our ability to meet our financial commitment on a quarterly basis is heavily dependent on our ability to continue to renew our licensing agreements on a timely basis. We typically have multiple partners coming up for renewal each quarter, and not closing these on schedule could cause us to materially miss our financial commitments for the quarter.

根據ASC 605營收標準，我們預計第四季營收將在9,900萬美元至1.05億美元之間。排除照明部門的影響，這一數字年增 4%。提醒一下，我們按季度履行財務承諾的能力在很大程度上取決於我們繼續及時更新許可協議的能力。我們通常每個季度都會有多個合作夥伴進行續約，如果不按計劃完成這些合作夥伴可能會導致我們嚴重錯過本季度的財務承諾。

We expect Q4 non-GAAP total operating expenses, which includes COGS, to be between $65 million and $61 million, down from Q3 spend due to our cost controls. Over the course of 2018, we expect the operating expenses roughly flat as revenue grows, providing leverage to our financial model. I expect total operating expenses, which includes COGS related to our buffer chip business, to grow through 2019 as we ship more product. We continue to target $35 million to $40 million in buffer chip revenue in 2018, and to see this business grow to $50 million to $70 million in 2019.

由於我們的成本控制，我們預計第四季非 GAAP 總營運支出（包括銷貨成本）將在 6,500 萬美元至 6,100 萬美元之間，低於第三季支出。2018 年，我們預計營運費用隨著收入的成長而大致持平，從而為我們的財務模型提供槓桿作用。我預計隨著我們出貨更多產品，總營運費用（包括與緩衝晶片業務相關的銷貨成本）將在 2019 年成長。我們繼續將 2018 年緩衝晶片收入目標定為 3,500 萬至 4,000 萬美元，並預計該業務在 2019 年將成長至 5,000 萬至 7,000 萬美元。

Under the new 606 revenue standard, non-GAAP operating results for the fourth quarter is expected to be between a loss of $9 million and income of $1 million. Under the ASC 605 revenue standard, non-GAAP operating income for the fourth quarter is expected to be between $34 million and $48 million -- excuse me, $34 million and $44 million.

根據新的 606 收入標準，第四季非 GAAP 營運業績預計將在虧損 900 萬美元和收入 100 萬美元之間。根據 ASC 605 收入標準，第四季度非 GAAP 營業收入預計在 3,400 萬美元至 4,800 萬美元之間——對不起，是 3,400 萬美元至 4,400 萬美元。

For non-GAAP interest and other income and expense, we expect roughly $5 million income for ASC 606 and $1.4 million expense under ASC 605. This includes $0.8 million of interest expense related to the notes due in 2023.

對於非 GAAP 利息和其他收入和支出，我們預計 ASC 606 的收入約為 500 萬美元，ASC 605 的支出約為 140 萬美元。這包括與 2023 年到期票據相關的 80 萬美元利息支出。

Based on the new tax legislation passed at the end of December, we expect our pro forma tax rate to drop to roughly 24%. The 24% is higher than the new statutory rate of 21%, primarily due to higher tax rates in our foreign jurisdictions. As a reminder, we pay roughly $20 million of cash taxes each year, driven primarily by our licensing agreements with our partners in Korea.

根據 12 月底通過的新稅法，我們預計預計稅率將降至 24% 左右。24% 高於新的法定稅率 21%，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。

Under ASC 606 and based on a 24% tax rate, we expect GAAP taxes between a benefit of $1 million and a tax of $1.4 million in Q4. We expect our Q4 share count to be roughly 108 million basic shares outstanding and 110 million fully diluted shares. This leads you to between a non-GAAP loss per share of $0.03 and a non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.04 for the quarter.

根據 ASC 606 和 24% 的稅率，我們預計第四季度的 GAAP 稅款將在 100 萬美元的收益和 140 萬美元的稅款之間。我們預計第四季的流通股數量約為 1.08 億股基本股和 1.1 億股完全稀釋股。這導致本季非 GAAP 每股虧損為 0.03 美元，非 GAAP 每股收益為 0.04 美元。

Under ASC 605, using the same assumptions for operating expenses, $8 million to $10 million for taxes and 110 million fully diluted share count, we would expect between $25 million and $32 million of non-GAAP net income and between $0.23 and $0.29 of non-GAAP earnings per share for the quarter.

根據ASC 605，使用相同的營運費用假設、800 萬至1000 萬美元的稅費和1.1 億股完全攤薄後的股票數量，我們預計非GAAP 淨利潤為2500 萬至3200 萬美元，非GAAP 淨利潤為0.23 至0.29 美元。本季 GAAP 每股盈餘。

While we do not issue annual guidance, looking ahead to 2019, as we've disclosed previously, we have structural step downs in a number of our long-term licensing agreements, which impacts our 2019 revenue. We expect the growth we see in our product programs to offset the structural step downs. However, given the structure of these agreements and what we're seeing from a macroeconomic perspective, we expect to see roughly flat revenue year-over-year. As our Payments and Ticketing business is roughly breakeven, I do not expect any changes to overall profit as we explore strategic options in the future, though operating margins will improve significantly. Through our continued cost management, we also expect roughly flat earnings in 2019 as we've maintained our commitment to earnings and cash flow and continue to invest in our product programs, which are growing nicely.

雖然我們不發布年度指引，但展望 2019 年，正如我們之前所披露的那樣，我們的許多長期許可協議都出現了結構性下降，這影響了我們 2019 年的收入。我們預計產品計劃的成長將抵消結構性下降。然而，考慮到這些協議的結構以及我們從宏觀經濟角度看到的情況，我們預計收入將比去年同期大致持平。由於我們的支付和票務業務大致實現盈虧平衡，我預計隨著我們未來探索策略選擇，整體利潤不會發生任何變化，儘管營業利潤率將顯著提高。透過我們持續的成本管理，我們也預計 2019 年的利潤將大致持平，因為我們保持了對盈利和現金流的承諾，並繼續投資於我們的產品計劃，這些計劃增長良好。

Let me finish with a summary on Slide 10. We are proud of the solid performance by our team and the progress we continue to make against our strategic initiatives. While we understand that the adoption of ASC 606 adds a level of complexity to our financial reporting, it's important to reiterate that the underlying financial strength of our business remains strong.

最後讓我對投影片 10 進行總結。我們為我們團隊的穩健表現以及我們在策略性舉措方面不斷取得的進展感到自豪。雖然我們知道採用 ASC 606 增加了我們財務報告的複雜性，但重要的是要重申我們業務的潛在財務實力仍然強勁。

In closing, we are systematically improving our operational performance, while rolling out compelling product offerings and gaining traction with our customers. We continue to generate solid cash from operations and remain very well positioned for continued success as we close the year and head to 2019.

最後，我們正在系統地提高我們的營運績效，同時推出引人注目的產品並贏得客戶的青睞。我們繼續從營運中產生豐厚的現金，並在年底和 2019 年即將到來之際，保持良好的狀態以繼續取得成功。

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

之後，我會將電話轉回傑羅姆開始問答。我們可以問第一個問題嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Gary Mobley from Benchmark.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 Benchmark 的 Gary Mobley。

Congrats on the full appointment, Luc. Wanted to start with sort of dissecting the revenue for fiscal year '18, with revenue just over $400 million. Memory, I'm assuming, will be $305 million to $310 million for the year, [contracting] out roughly $50 million in cores and $37.5 million in buffer chip revenue. It looks like your patent licensing is somewhere around, what, 220 -- $220 million?

恭喜你獲得全面任命，盧克。我想從剖析 18 財年的營收開始，該財年的營收剛好超過 4 億美元。我假設今年的記憶體收入將達到 3.05 億至 3.1 億美元，[承包]大約 5,000 萬美元的核心收入和 3,750 萬美元的緩衝晶片收入。看起來你的專利授權大約是 220 - 2.2 億美元？

Gary, thanks very much for the question, and I think Luc appreciates your congratulations. I think your overall forecast for memory is roughly correct. The cores number, for us, that I typically talk about, roughly $50 million, includes not just our Memory cores but our Security cores as well. So I think you'd see -- maybe that cores number would be slightly lower than what you talked about, perhaps it could be slightly higher. But I think the forecast you have at Memory being between $305 million and $310 million for the year seem about right.

加里，非常感謝你提出這個問題，我想呂克也很感謝你的祝賀。我認為您對記憶體的整體預測大致正確。對於我們來說，我通常談論的核心數量約為 5000 萬美元，不僅包括我們的記憶體核心，還包括我們的安全核心。所以我想你會看到 - 也許核心數量會比你所說的略低，也許會略高。但我認為您對 Memory 今年的營收預測在 3.05 億至 3.1 億美元之間似乎是正確的。

Okay. Well, that's kind of starting up the main question, that is really what are the puts and takes on the patent licensing side? I think in the recent comments that you made, you mentioned some step down, which may represent a delta of about $15 million or so, and I know you've just gone through a wave of license renewals. And so all factors considered, how do you see that business, patent licensing trending long term? I think you've mentioned flattish, but what about for next year, 2019?

好的。嗯，這就是主要問題的開始，那就是專利授權的看跌期權和索取金額到底是什麼？我認為在您最近發表的評論中，您提到了一些降級，這可能代表大約 1500 萬美元左右的增量，而且我知道您剛剛經歷了一波許可證續約。考慮到所有因素，您如何看待業務、專利授權的長期趨勢？我想你已經提到了扁平化，但明年，2019 年呢？

Yes. So Gary, that's a great question. And as I've mentioned publicly, and I think this has been disclosed in some of our larger agreements, we have certain customers who have contractual step downs just in terms of the licensing. So one particular has a step down about $4 million per quarter, but there's a few others as well because I think our partners try to manage their cash flow and what they thought was going to happen with our industry. What we've talked about historically is that the backbone of our business, which is the patent licensing in our cores, stays roughly flat. So I think that does come down a bit for us in 2019, hence the muted outlook that I talked about a few moments ago for 2019. But what I'd expect to see is that you'd continue to have product revenue that would grow and that would offset some of that licensing step downs that we have structurally. So specifically, we've seen very good success in our cores business, and we're very pleased that we're meeting our commitment to this year from the buffer chip business as well.

是的。加里，這是一個很好的問題。正如我公開提到的，我認為這已在我們的一些較大協議中披露，我們有某些客戶僅在許可方面減少了合約。因此，其中一個具體的費用每季減少約 400 萬美元，但還有其他一些費用，因為我認為我們的合作夥伴試圖管理他們的現金流以及他們認為我們行業將會發生的情況。我們過去討論過的是，我們業務的支柱，即我們核心的專利許可，大致保持不變。因此，我認為 2019 年我們的情況確實有所下降，因此我剛才談到了 2019 年的前景黯淡。但我期望看到的是，產品收入將繼續成長，這將抵消我們在結構上的一些授權下降。具體來說，我們在核心業務方面取得了非常好的成功，我們很高興我們在緩衝晶片業務方面也實現了今年的承諾。

Okay. And just to change gears on the -- to the Rambus security side of the business. I'm curious to sort of get into the considerations for possibly selling this business. Was this -- this contemplation, was it driven by somebody approaching Rambus to buy it? Or was it a function of some management transitions? I know Ron was putting a lot of time and effort into this business group, and Luc, I know your lineage is from the memory side of the business. So does that play into it as well?

好的。只是為了改變 Rambus 安全方面的業務。我很想了解可能出售該業務的考慮因素。這是——這個沉思，是有人接近 Rambus 購買它所驅使的嗎？還是這是某些管理階層變動的結果？我知道羅恩在這個業務部門投入了大量的時間和精力，而盧克，我知道你的血統來自該業務的內存方面。那麼這也起作用嗎？

Gary, Luc. I'll start by saying that we are still very excited by the progress and opportunities that we have in the Payment and Ticketing programs. And we continue to see market traction for tokenization in a growing number of verticals. But these businesses are far from our foundation in semiconductor, as much as our embedded security is very close to our core. We have about 70% overlap on our customer base. We have the same delivery mechanisms. The structure of Payments and Ticketing is going further and further away from our core. But their performance is really, really good. So with that, we've made the decision to explore strategic options to maximize the market opportunity and success. But we are in the early stages, and it can take any form at this point in time, we just want to give them the opportunity to continue on their growth path, which is diverging from the growth path we are on for our core business, including the embedded security, which is very close to our core.

蓋瑞、路克.首先我要說的是，我們仍然對支付和票務計劃中所取得的進展和機會感到非常興奮。我們繼續看到越來越多的垂直領域對代幣化的市場吸引力。但這些業務距離我們的半導體基礎還很遠，就像我們的嵌入式安全非常接近我們的核心一樣。我們的客戶群大約有 70% 的重疊。我們有相同的交付機制。支付和票務的結構離我們的核心越來越遠。但他們的表現真的非常非常好。因此，我們決定探索策略選擇，以最大限度地提高市場機會和成功。但我們正處於早期階段，目前可以採取任何形式，我們只是想讓他們有機會繼續他們的成長道路，這與我們核心業務的成長道路不同，包括嵌入式安全，它非常接近我們的核心。

Okay. I guess, the main question that may come up is then what becomes the growth driver for Rambus with the buffer chip business demonstrating a revenue delta of $20 million or $30 million annually? And it's a fairly finite survey of the market there, and you can only expect so much market share. And so therefore, what drives the growth from this point forward, if it isn't security side of the business?

好的。我想，可能出現的主要問題是，隨著緩衝晶片業務的年收入增量達到 2000 萬美元或 3000 萬美元，什麼成為 Rambus 的成長動力？這是對那裡市場的相當有限的調查，你只能期望這麼多的市場份額。那麼，如果不是業務的安全面，是什麼推動了從現在開始的成長呢？

I think we see tremendous opportunities in the embedded security space. You saw the recent press releases about what happened with the chip on the microchip board. I think it's just a reminder to everyone that embedded security is becoming critical to the industry. So that's where we're going to invest. We have a very broad, I think the broadest lineup of off-the-shelf products to offer today in embedded security. And that's never been the case before. And we make the consumption of what we offer in embedded security more easily consumable, if you wish. We're moving our cores, embedded cores, to a RISC-V architecture, which makes them broader and more programmable. And our delivery mechanism of keys into silicon is proven now. We've had 5 billion chips using that technology, and we're expanding our customer base. So between the fact that we are expanding our product portfolio, we're making the offering more easily consumable by customer, and we are approaching the similar set of customers we have seen in the business model, makes us confident that we can grow in that area. And again, I would say that we are very pleased with the performance of Ticketing and Payments. They're just diverging and going into different markets. And as we look at strategic options for them, this will allow us to also focus better on what we do best. And that's why we're confident in further growth in the embedded security space.

我認為我們在嵌入式安全領域看到了巨大的機會。您看到了最近關於微晶片板上的晶片發生的情況的新聞稿。我認為這只是提醒每個人嵌入式安全對於行業來說變得至關重要。這就是我們要投資的地方。我們擁有非常廣泛的、我認為是當今嵌入式安全領域最廣泛的現成產品陣容。以前從未有過這樣的情況。如果您願意，我們可以更輕鬆地使用我們在嵌入式安全中提供的產品。我們正在將我們的核心（嵌入式核心）轉移到 RISC-V 架構，這使得它們更廣泛、更可編程。我們將密鑰傳送到晶片中的機制現已驗證。我們已經擁有 50 億塊使用該技術的晶片，並且我們正在擴大我們的客戶群。因此，我們正在擴大我們的產品組合，我們正在使我們的產品更容易被客戶消費，並且我們正在接近我們在商業模式中看到的類似客戶群，這讓我們有信心在這一領域取得成長區域。我再說一遍，我們對票務和支付的表現非常滿意。他們只是分道揚鑣，進入不同的市場。當我們為他們考慮戰略選擇時，這將使我們能夠更好地專注於我們最擅長的事情。這就是為什麼我們對嵌入式安全領域的進一步成長充滿信心。

Your next question comes from the line of Sidney Ho from Deutsche Bank.

您的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Sidney Ho。

This is Melissa on behalf of Sidney. Congrats, Luc, on getting the official role. I'm going to keep it high level at first, but I was wondering if you guys could you remind us or I guess clarify which parts of the business you see as a stable recurring set of revenues? And then where do you see the more incremental revenues but less recurring quarter-on-quarter?

我是梅麗莎，代表西德尼。恭喜 Luc，獲得正式角色。我首先要保持高水平，但我想知道你們能否提醒我們，或者我想澄清一下你們認為業務的哪些部分是穩定的經常性收入？那麼您在哪裡看到增量收入更多但季度環比經常性收入減少？

Sure. Melissa, this is Rahul. Let me see if I can help. Certainly one of the things that's very attractive about Rambus is we have a long-term licensing revenue, which is very fixed, very stable, very predictable. So ironically, the one thing that makes us very attractive, I think from an -- one of the things that makes us very attractive from an investment perspective is also what causes the confusion on 605 and 606. So just from a base business, as I've talked about, I think that backbone of licensing and cores is generally roughly about $300 million a year. As I mentioned previously, not just on this call, but in prior quarters, we have some structural step downs on the licensing side, which I think will be offset by growth on the core side. So you have a base of licensing and then you have growth, as Luc talked about, on the core side as well as on the buffer chip side, as well as in other places in terms of embedded security. And I think that's where you'll start to really see some leverage in our model.

當然。梅麗莎，這是拉胡爾。讓我看看是否可以提供幫助。當然，Rambus 非常有吸引力的事情之一是我們擁有長期的授權收入，這是非常固定、非常穩定、非常可預測的。諷刺的是，我認為，從投資角度來看，使我們非常有吸引力的一件事也是導致 605 和 606 混亂的原因之一。因此，正如我所談到的，僅從基礎業務來看，我認為許可證和核心的支柱通常每年約為 3 億美元。正如我之前提到的，不僅在這次電話會議上，而且在前幾個季度，我們在許可方面進行了一些結構性的削減，我認為這將被核心方面的增長所抵消。因此，您擁有許可基礎，然後正如 Luc 談到的那樣，在核心方面、緩衝晶片方面以及嵌入式安全方面的其他方面都有增長。我認為這就是您開始真正看到我們模型的一些槓桿作用的地方。

Okay, great. That's helpful. And then one other question. I know you guys are tied to the servers market, a little bit with your chipsets, and I was hoping you could give some color. There's been, obviously, really high-growth in the market recently, and as of this quarter, people have started to wonder when it's going to start slowing down. So I guess my question is how do you guys see that dynamic playing out for your business if the market were ever -- were to slow down? And then also, the transition to new generations of server products, how are you guys looking at that impacting your business as well?

好的，太好了。這很有幫助。然後還有一個問題。我知道你們與伺服器市場有一定的聯繫，有點與你們的晶片組聯繫在一起，我希望你們能給一些建議。顯然，最近市場確實出現了高速成長，從本季開始，人們開始想知道它什麼時候會開始放緩。所以我想我的問題是，如果市場曾經放緩，你們如何看待這種動態對你們的業務的影響？然後，向新一代伺服器產品的過渡，你們如何看待這對你們業務的影響？

This is Luc. We still have a relatively small share in the market for buffer chip. So just by that fact, we see growth going forward. And as you could see from the last few quarters, we systematically increased our revenue from quarter-to-quarter in buffer chip, and we see that trend continuing for us. And the reason we see that trend continuing for us is that we're also tracking the progress we make in qualifications with end customers and a number of qualifications we had for our chipset. Going forward, in the current platforms and the future platforms, keeps increasing quarter-over-quarter. So although we cannot see this macro movements in the market, we are confident with our growth in our buffer chip business.

這是呂克.我們在緩衝晶片市場上的市佔率還比較小。因此，僅憑這一事實，我們就看到了未來的成長。正如您從過去幾個季度中看到的那樣，我們在緩衝晶片方面逐季度系統地增加了收入，並且我們看到這種趨勢仍在繼續。我們看到這種趨勢持續存在的原因是，我們還在追蹤我們在最終客戶資格認證方面取得的進展以及我們對晶片組的一些資格認證。展望未來，在當前平台和未來平台中，季度環比持續成長。因此，儘管我們看不到市場的宏觀走勢，但我們對緩衝晶片業務的成長充滿信心。

Your next question comes from the line of Suji Desilva from Roth Capital.

您的下一個問題來自 Roth Capital 的 Suji Desilva。

So following up on the last question in terms of memory buffer, how much of the -- thanks for the guidance into '19 as well as '18. How much of that growth is coming from existing designs that will ramp to more full volume versus newer designs supporting the incremental revenue -- coming to production supporting the revenue?

因此，繼續討論記憶體緩衝區方面的最後一個問題，即記憶體緩衝區的大小，感謝您對 '19 和 '18 的指導。其中有多少成長來自現有設計，這些設計將增加產量，而新設計將支持增量收入——即將投入生產以支持收入？

I would say it's a mix. I think in the next 6 to 8 months, we see this growth coming from existing designs. As you know, there's a new platform we introduced in market on a regular basis, and we track our design wins with those new platforms. So we're very confident in our current designs generating growth in the first half of next year. And we're also confident with the second half of the year, given the traction we have with those customers. In the future, as you know, we also invest in DDR5. We have a need in that space, we believe with offering both the DB and RCD chip, we engaged very early with the ecosystem, which gives us a head start in the market. History have shown that first time to market typically translates in higher market share. So my view is we caught up on the DDR4 generation as the rollout of new processors happen, we'll have more and more design wins that creates the growth in DDR4. And I think we have a leading position in DDR5.

我想說這是一個混合體。我認為在接下來的 6 到 8 個月內，我們會看到這種增長來自現有設計。如您所知，我們定期在市場上推出一個新平台，並且我們透過這些新平台追蹤我們的設計勝利。因此，我們對目前的設計在明年上半年實現成長非常有信心。鑑於我們對這些客戶的吸引力，我們對下半年也充滿信心。未來，大家知道，我們也會投資DDR5。我們在這個領域有需求，我們相信透過提供 DB 和 RCD 晶片，我們很早就參與了生態系統，這使我們在市場上處於領先地位。歷史表明，首次上市通常意味著更高的市場份額。因此，我的觀點是，隨著新處理器的推出，我們趕上了 DDR4 世代，我們將獲得越來越多的設計勝利，從而推動 DDR4 的成長。我認為我們在 DDR5 方面處於領先地位。

So to be clear, the new platform is coming out, your DDR4 design win activity is up versus the prior performance?

那麼需要明確的是，新平台即將推出，您的 DDR4 設計獲勝活動與先前的表現相比有所提升嗎？

Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. They are up and we were earlier in the designs than we used to be in the past. So it gives us a lot of confidence.

是的。絕對地。絕對地。它們已經起來了，我們的設計比過去更早。所以這給了我們很大的信心。

Okay. That's helpful. And then on the redeployment, I guess, Security business, is it -- are any R&D assets or personnel being redeployed? And if so, to what areas are some of the investments being focused on? And maybe you could talk about the opportunity for growth, inorganic opportunities you might be considering versus the organic growth that's been talked about in the Q&A thus far?

好的。這很有幫助。然後，關於重新部署，我想，安全業務，是否有任何研發資產或人員被重新部署？如果是的話，有些投資集中在哪些領域？也許您可以談談成長機會，您可能正在考慮的無機機會與迄今為止在問答中討論的自然增長？

Sure. Suji, it's Rahul. So there's no assets that are being redeployed. We're still fully investing in these businesses, and think we're -- that they have a very bright future ahead of them. Certainly, we continue to invest in them from a people perspective, from a resource perspective, from a market awareness perspective as well. I don't know if you had a chance to look at some of the materials we recently published in terms of a launch of Vaultify Trade, but really pulling together a lot of these very key portions of our tokenization business in an exciting new market. So there's nothing from a refocus perspective in terms of those resources. However, what this change does allow us to do is operationally go back and focus on that [core] semiconductor business that we've had in the past. And as Luc mentioned earlier, I think 2/3 or 70% of our customers on the Security core side are the same as our customers on the memory core side. And as we just look to the go to market for that business, it's certainly very different than what we're seeing similar engagements for on the security side in terms of tokenization. But certainly in the business -- the Payments and Ticketing business, we're continuing to invest in those businesses because they have bright futures ahead of them.

當然。蘇吉，我是拉胡爾。因此，沒有資產被重新部署。我們仍在全力投資這些業務，並認為它們有著非常光明的未來。當然，我們會繼續從人的角度、從資源的角度、從市場意識的角度來投資它們。我不知道您是否有機會查看我們最近發布的有關 Vaultify Trade 發布的一些資料，但實際上在一個令人興奮的新市場中將我們代幣化業務的許多非常關鍵的部分整合在一起。因此，從重新聚焦的角度來看，這些資源沒有任何意義。然而，這項變更確實讓我們能夠在營運上回歸並專注於我們過去擁有的[核心]半導體業務。正如 Luc 之前提到的，我認為我們安全核心側的客戶中有 2/3 或 70% 與記憶體核心側的客戶相同。由於我們只是著眼於該業務的進入市場，它肯定與我們在安全方面看到的類似的代幣化業務有很大不同。但當然在支付和票務業務方面，我們將繼續投資這些業務，因為它們有著光明的未來。

And then, Rahul, perhaps you can talk on inorganic opportunities versus the organic opportunities you see in front of you.

然後，拉胡爾，也許你可以談談你眼前看到的無機機會和有機機會。

Yes. We've actually spent a lot of energy internally, just as part of Luc coming in, reorganizing to where we have even more focus in terms of potential inorganic opportunities as well. I think that we have had rabid appetites for looking at things that would make sense to us, that would help support those core businesses that we have. And I think there's many opportunities that we look at on a daily basis. But what we look for is something that is going to be the right fit for our company, something that we can help grow and be successful as part of Rambus.

是的。事實上，我們在內部花費了很多精力，就像盧克進來的一部分一樣，重組到我們更加關注潛在的無機機會的地方。我認為我們對尋找對我們有意義的事物有著強烈的興趣，這將有助於支持我們擁有的核心業務。我認為我們每天都會看到很多機會。但我們尋找的是適合我們公司的東西，是我們能夠幫助 Rambus 成長並取得成功的東西。

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

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

Congrats on the appointment, Luc. First question, is it the change in management that triggered kind of an audit in the strategy? And I'm wondering if there's potentially other changes from the previous track you guys were on from here?

恭喜你的任命，盧克。第一個問題，管理階層的變動是否引發了策略審核？我想知道你們之前的曲目是否還有其他潛在的變化？

No. Not necessarily at this point in time.

不。不一定是在這個時間點。

And I can help bridge that gap a bit, Mark. I've been with the company for -- not as long as Luc has, but certainly have been part of this conversation. For some time, we've been talking about making sure that we continue to invest in portfolios that are part of that core and part of where we continue to have traction with our customers. I think if you go back to even 1.5 years ago, and I apologize to the competitor conference in January of last year, what we talked about is in the next 18 months, we'll know which one of these investments are working and which ones haven't. And if you look at our performance over the last 18 months or so, that's what you've seen, right? What you've seen is that us continue to focus on areas where we have customer traction, where we have growth, where we're being successful and then reducing investments from our company in areas where we haven't had that traction. So this is something that we've been doing fairly consistently over the last 1.5 years or so. And one of the things that I think is easy to lose sight of is really just our improved financial performance because what you've seen is a relatively stable top line as we refocus into areas where we have this expertise and we're being successful, but what you're seeing is a dramatically better bottom line. I think if you look at the midpoint of our guidance for 2018, that comes out to about $0.91 of earnings for the year, up pretty significantly from last year. And we continue then to show better earnings. We also continue to show strong cash flow. Last year, we had about $117 million of cash from operations. We had a lot of collections activity that was pretty strong for us last quarter. I don't know if we'll get that high. But I think we could be somewhere in the $90 million to $100 million range again this year, and certainly that cash flow machine and engine just continues. So that's a relatively long answer to your question, but I think this is part of our company continuing to focus in areas where we're going to be successful. And I think today's announcement, both with Luc as well as our announcement on Payment and Ticketing, is just part of that evolution.

我可以幫忙彌補一點差距，馬克。我在公司工作的時間雖然沒有 Luc 長，但我肯定參與了這場對話。一段時間以來，我們一直在談論確保我們繼續投資於作為核心的一部分的投資組合，也是我們繼續吸引客戶的一部分。我想，如果你回到 1.5 年前，我向去年 1 月的競爭對手會議致歉，我們談論的是在接下來的 18 個月內，我們會知道這些投資中哪些是有效的，哪些是有效的沒有。如果您查看我們過去 18 個月左右的表現，您會發現這就是您所看到的，對嗎？你所看到的是，我們繼續專注於有客戶吸引力、有成長、取得成功的領域，然後減少公司在沒有這種吸引力的領域的投資。所以這是我們在過去 1.5 年左右的時間裡一直在做的事情。我認為很容易忽略的一件事實際上是我們財務表現的改善，因為隨著我們重新專注於我們擁有專業知識並且我們正在取得成功的領域，您所看到的是相對穩定的營收線，但你所看到的是明顯更好的利潤。我認為，如果你看看我們 2018 年指導的中點，你會發現當年的收益約為 0.91 美元，比去年大幅成長。然後我們繼續展示更好的收益。我們也持續表現出強勁的現金流。去年，我們的營運現金約為 1.17 億美元。上個季度我們開展了很多催收活動，這些活動對我們來說非常強勁。我不知道我們能否達到那麼高。但我認為今年我們可能會再次達到 9,000 萬至 1 億美元的水平，而且現金流機器和引擎肯定會繼續下去。這是對你的問題的一個相對較長的答案，但我認為這是我們公司繼續專注於我們將取得成功的領域的一部分。我認為今天與 Luc 的公告以及我們關於支付和票務的公告只是這一演變的一部分。

That's helpful. And a follow-up, if I may. Can you share with us the size and profitability of those businesses, Ticketing and Payments?

這很有幫助。如果可以的話，還有後續行動。您能否與我們分享票務和支付業務的規模和獲利能力？

Yes. Sure, sure. As I mentioned in my prepared remarks, I mean that business is roughly breakeven. It's a high-growth business. So we continue to invest in it to continue to grow from a top line perspective. And from a 2019 perspective, I think we expected those businesses to be somewhere between $35 million and $40 million of revenue for us for 2019. So what I'd expect is that, as we identify really what these options are for the business, it won't necessarily impact us from a bottom line perspective. But I would expect the company to then have dramatic improvements in terms of operating margin because that business is roughly breakeven as we're investing in it.

是的。一定一定。正如我在準備好的演講中提到的，我的意思是業務大致達到收支平衡。這是一項高成長的業務。因此，我們繼續對其進行投資，以從收入的角度繼續成長。從 2019 年的角度來看，我認為我們預計這些業務 2019 年的收入將在 3,500 萬美元至 4,000 萬美元之間。因此，我期望的是，當我們真正確定這些選項對業務的意義時，它不一定會從底線的角度影響我們。但我預計該公司的營業利潤率將大幅提高，因為隨著我們的投資，該業務大致實現了損益平衡。

Got you. That's helpful. And last question if I may. DDR5, when do you expect that to ramp in volume?

明白你了。這很有幫助。最後一個問題，如果可以的話。DDR5，您預期其銷售量何時會增加？

So we expect to see some growth in 2019 and ramping volume towards the end of '20 to 2021.

因此，我們預計 2019 年將出現一些成長，並在 20 世紀 20 年底至 2021 年期間銷售增加。

Thank you. At this time, there are no further questions. This concludes today's question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the conference back over to the company.

謝謝。目前，沒有其他問題了。今天的問答環節到此結束。我現在想將會議轉回公司。

As you can see, we continue to demonstrate our leadership and ability to execute across the company with tremendous opportunity ahead. And I look forward to leading Rambus to its next stage of success.

正如您所看到的，我們繼續展示我們的領導力和在整個公司的執行能力，並面臨巨大的機會。我期待著帶領 Rambus 邁向下一階段的成功。

So thank you, everyone, for your continued interest, and have a good day. Thank you.

謝謝大家一直以來的關注，祝您有美好的一天。謝謝。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。

You may now disconnect.

您現在可以斷開連線。