Rambus Inc (RMBS) 2019 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Rambus Fourth Quarter and FY '19 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

歡迎參加 Rambus 第四季和 19 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, Christine, and welcome to the Rambus Fourth Quarter 2019 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 number 3576589 when you hear the prompt. In addition, we are simultaneously webcasting this call. And along with the audio, we're 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.

謝謝 Christine，歡迎參加 Rambus 2019 年第四季業績電話會議。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 號碼 3576589 來收聽重播。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; products and 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; 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 file with the SEC, including our 8-Ks, 10-Qs and 10-Ks. These forward-looking statements may differ materially from our actual results, and we're under no obligation to update these comments.

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；產品和投資策略；預期產品發布的時間；對現有技術和新取得技術的需求；我們所服務的各個市場的成長機會；我們的合併、收購和剝離活動的預期效益，包括我們整合工作的成功；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。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評論。

In an effort to provide greater clarity in the 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 have 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.

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。

The order of our call today will be as follows: Luc starts 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. 2019 was a year of tremendous progress, propelled by strong execution across the company. Guided by our strategic objectives, we continue to focus on our core strength in semiconductor to optimize the company for operational efficiency and to leverage our strong cash generation to reinvest for growth. As a result, we had an excellent performance in Q4 and exceeded expectations with revenue of $59.9 million, delivering $224 million for the full year. We also continue to strengthen our balance sheet, generating $35.4 million in cash from operations in the fourth quarter. This brought our total cash from operations for the year to $128.5 million, which is up $41.4 million or 48% over 2018.

謝謝拉胡爾，大家下午好。2019 年是在公司強而有力的執行力推動下取得巨大進步的一年。在我們的策略目標的指導下，我們繼續專注於我們在半導體領域的核心優勢，以優化公司的營運效率，並利用我們強大的現金產生能力進行再投資以實現成長。結果，我們在第四季度取得了出色的業績，超出了預期，收入達到 5,990 萬美元，全年實現 2.24 億美元。我們也持續強化資產負債表，第四季營運產生 3,540 萬美元現金。這使得我們今年的營運現金總額達到 1.285 億美元，比 2018 年增加了 4,140 萬美元，即 48%。

In 2019, we redefined our perimeter with significant M&A activities throughout the year, focusing the company on silicon IP and chips solutions for the semiconductor market. We ended the year strong, completing both the sale of our Payments and Ticketing business to Visa as well as the purchase of the Secure silicon IP and Protocols businesses from Verimatrix, formerly INSIDE Secure.

2019 年，我們透過全年重大併購活動重新定義了我們的業務範圍，將公司的重點放在半導體市場的矽 IP 和晶片解決方案上。我們以強勁的業績結束了這一年，完成了向 Visa 出售支付和票務業務的交易，以及從 Verimatrix（原 INSIDE Secure）購買安全晶片 IP 和協議業務的交易。

Much like the purchase of digital controller company, Northwest Logic, earlier in the year, the INSIDE Secure teams and offerings augment our portfolio and expand our market position in data center, AI, networking and automotive. As we have mentioned previously, neither acquisition materially impacted our 2019 results, but we expect both to have a positive impact on the business and be accretive to revenue and earnings in 2020.

就像今年稍早收購數位控制器公司 Northwest Logic 一樣，INSIDE Secure 團隊和產品增強了我們的產品組合，並擴大了我們在資料中心、人工智慧、網路和汽車領域的市場地位。正如我們之前提到的，兩項收購均未對我們 2019 年的業績產生重大影響，但我們預計兩項收購都會對業務產生正面影響，並增加 2020 年的收入和收益。

In addition to the successful closing and integration of our acquisitions, we continue to execute and demonstrate success across our product lines throughout the year. 2019 was the second consecutive year of record revenue from products with combined results from our chips and silicon IP businesses, delivering over 64% growth year-over-year from 2018.

除了成功完成和整合收購之外，我們全年也繼續在我們的產品線中執行和展示成功。2019 年是我們的晶片和矽 IP 業務綜合業績的產品收入連續第二年創紀錄，較 2018 年同比增長超過 64%。

Memory Interface Chips was the fastest-growing segment of the business, with revenue almost doubling year-over-year. Driven by increased OEM and Data Center qualifications, we saw steady gains in our DDR4 memory interface chips market share and delivered the third consecutive quarter of record revenue.

記憶體介面晶片是該業務中成長最快的部分，營收幾乎比去年同期翻了一番。在 OEM 和資料中心資質不斷提高的推動下，我們的 DDR4 記憶體介面晶片市場份額穩步增長，並連續第三個季度實現創紀錄的收入。

Silicon IP also delivered record revenue in Q4 and drove sustained growth throughout the year, up 29% from 2018. We had numerous design wins at Tier 1 SoC customers across our target markets for both interface and security IP solutions. Most recently, we announced the win at Enflame for both our HBM2 PHY and controller as part of their next-generation AI training chip. In addition, the team continued to build out our portfolio of solutions, addressing the fast-growing and demanding applications in AI and 5G and data center with the launch of our comprehensive PCIe Gen 5 interface solution in Q4.

Silicon IP 在第四季度也創造了創紀錄的收入，並推動全年持續成長，較 2018 年成長 29%。我們在介面和安全 IP 解決方案的目標市場中贏得了眾多一級 SoC 客戶的設計勝利。最近，我們宣布我們的 HBM2 PHY 和控制器在 Enflame 中獲勝，作為其下一代 AI 訓練晶片的一部分。此外，該團隊繼續建立我們的解決方案組合，透過在第四季度推出全面的 PCIe Gen 5 介面解決方案來解決人工智慧、5G 和資料中心中快速成長且要求嚴格的應用。

In closing, Q4 was a fantastic quarter. We delivered record revenue from both chips and silicon IP and robust cash from operations. For 2019, we executed on our strategic objectives and successfully realigned the company around our core strength in semiconductor while strengthening the product portfolio. Now looking forward, we will continue to capitalize on high-growth market trends favorable to Rambus. With market share gains for chips alongside the memory cycle upswing and growth in the strong semi IP market catalyzed by AI and 5G, we will be very well positioned for continued success in 2020 and beyond.

最後，第四季是一個出色的季度。我們從晶片和矽 IP 中獲得了創紀錄的收入，並從營運中獲得了強勁的現金。2019年，我們執行了策略目標，圍繞我們在半導體領域的核心優勢成功地對公司進行了重組，同時加強了產品組合。現在展望未來，我們將繼續利用有利於 Rambus 的高成長市場趨勢。隨著晶片市場份額的成長、記憶體週期的上升以及人工智慧和 5G 推動的強大半 IP 市場的成長，我們將處於有利位置，在 2020 年及以後繼續取得成功。

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 fourth quarter. Let me start with some highlights on Slide 6. As Luc mentioned, we continue to execute on our product businesses and delivered solid financial results above our revenue and earnings expectations. We've adopted ASC 606 using the modified retrospective method, which does not restate prior periods but rather runs 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 our company's progress. We will continue to provide operational metrics, such as licensing billings, to give our investors better insight into our operational performance.

謝謝，盧克。我想先介紹我們第四季的財務業績。讓我從幻燈片 6 中的一些亮點開始。正如 Luc 所提到的，我們繼續執行我們的產品業務，並實現了高於我們收入和盈利預期的穩健財務業績。我們採用了採用修改後的追溯法的 ASC 606，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。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我們公司進展的準確方法。我們將繼續提供營運指標，例如授權帳單，以便我們的投資者更了解我們的營運績效。

We delivered revenue of $59.9 million and licensing billings of $63.8 million. Revenue was higher than our expectations due to strong buffer chip sales. We have a very strong balance sheet and ended the year with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $408 million, up from the previous quarter. For the year, cash from operations was $128.5 million, up nicely from last year. With $14.9 million of capital expenses, free cash flow for 2019 was $13.7 million (sic) [$113.7 million].

我們實現了 5,990 萬美元的收入和 6,380 萬美元的授權費用。由於緩衝晶片銷售強勁，收入高於我們的預期。我們擁有非常強勁的資產負債表，年末現金、現金等價物和有價證券為 4.08 億美元，高於上一季。今年營運現金為 1.285 億美元，較去年大幅成長。資本支出為 1,490 萬美元，2019 年自由現金流為 1,370 萬美元（原文如此）[1.137 億美元]。

Our continued execution on our strategy and our operational discipline has yielded excellent financial results and a strong balance sheet that afford us the flexibility on our strategic initiatives. We continue to leverage our high-margin historic businesses to fuel growth in adjacent areas where we have strong technical and market expertise with a focus on chips and silicon IP.

我們持續執行我們的策略和營運紀律，取得了出色的財務表現和強大的資產負債表，為我們的策略舉措提供了靈活性。我們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，重點是晶片和矽知識產權。

Now let me talk you through some revenue details on Slide 7. Revenue for the fourth quarter was $59.9 million, above our expected range due to market share gains in our buffer chip business. Royalty revenue for the fourth quarter was $19.4 million, while licensing billings was $63.8 million. The difference between licensing billings and royalty revenue primarily relates to timing as we don't always recognize revenue the same quarter we bill our customers.

現在讓我向您介紹投影片 7 上的一些收入細節。第四季的營收為 5,990 萬美元，高於我們的預期範圍，因為我們的緩衝晶片業務的市佔率有所增加。第四季的版稅收入為 1,940 萬美元，授權費用為 6,380 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。

Going into additional detail, our product revenue was $26.6 million, consisting primarily of our buffer chip business; our contracts and other revenue was $13.9 million, consisting primarily of our silicon IP business. As we expected, due to the timing of the close, our acquisition of the Silicon IP, Secure Protocols and Provisioning business from Verimatrix did not have a material impact on the fourth quarter.

更詳細地說，我們的產品收入為 2,660 萬美元，主要包括緩衝晶片業務；我們的合約和其他收入為 1390 萬美元，主要包括我們的矽 IP 業務。正如我們預期的那樣，由於交易完成的時間表，我們從 Verimatrix 收購矽 IP、安全協議和配置業務並未對第四季度產生重大影響。

For the year, our product revenue was $72.9 million, almost doubling year-over-year. Similarly, our contract and other revenue was $41.7 million, up 29% year-over-year. Our growth in these areas underlies the benefit of our focus and strategy. We recorded $0.9 million of revenue and $2.3 million in operating costs and expenses associated with our Payments and Ticketing business in Q4 prior to the sale to Visa.

今年，我們的產品收入為 7,290 萬美元，比去年同期幾乎翻了一番。同樣，我們的合約和其他收入為 4,170 萬美元，年增 29%。我們在這些領域的成長是我們的重點和策略的好處的基礎。在出售給 Visa 之前，我們第四季的支付和票務業務相關收入為 90 萬美元，營運成本和支出為 230 萬美元。

Let me walk you through our non-GAAP income statement on Slide 8. Along with our solid revenue performance in Q4, we 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 $62.3 million. This was towards the high end of our expectations due to higher COGS related to record buffer chip revenue. With higher revenue and disciplined execution on spending, our profit was nicely above our expectations.

讓我向您介紹投影片 8 上的非 GAAP 損益表。除了第四季度穩健的收入表現外，我們還實現了非 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 6,230 萬美元。由於與創紀錄的緩衝晶片收入相關的銷售成本較高，這接近我們預期的高端。憑藉更高的收入和嚴格的支出執行，我們的利潤遠遠超出了我們的預期。

We ended the quarter with head count of 685, down from 840 in the previous quarter primarily due to the divestiture of our Payments and Ticketing business. We added approximately 65 employees through our acquisition of the Silicon IP, Secure Protocols and Provisioning business from Verimatrix.

本季結束時，我們的員工人數為 685 人，低於上一季的 840 人，這主要是由於支付和票務業務的剝離。透過收購 Verimatrix 的 Silicon IP、安全協定和配置業務，我們增加了約 65 名員工。

Under ASC 606, we recorded $4.5 million of interest income related to the financing component of our fixed fee licensing agreements for which we've recognized revenue but not yet received payment. We incurred $0.6 million of interest expense related to the convertible notes 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 income for the first quarter of $5.5 million. Excluding the interest income related to the significant financing component related to ASC 606, this would have been $1 million. Using an assumed flat rate of 24% for non-GAAP pretax income, non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $2.4 million.

根據 ASC 606，我們記錄了與固定費用許可協議的融資部分相關的 450 萬美元利息收入，我們已確認該協議的收入但尚未收到付款。我們產生了 60 萬美元與 2017 年第四季發行的可轉換票據相關的利息費用。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，第一季的非 GAAP 利息和其他收入為 550 萬美元。不包括與 ASC 606 相關的重要融資部分相關的利息收入，這將是 100 萬美元。採用假定非 GAAP 稅前收入 24% 的統一稅率，該季度非 GAAP 淨利潤為 240 萬美元。

Now let me turn to the balance sheet details on Slide 9. We are very pleased with the strength of the balance sheet. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $407.7 million, up significantly from the previous quarter as cash from operations of $35.4 million and the proceeds from the sale of our Payments and Ticketing business to Visa was offset by cash used for the acquisition of the Silicon IP, Secure Protocols and Provisioning business from Verimatrix. Year-over-year, we've grown cash by $130 million. Our strong balance sheet allows us the flexibility to invest strategically in our patent portfolio and our growing product programs as well as provides firepower for additional inorganic activity.

現在讓我談談投影片 9 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計 4.077 億美元，較上一季度大幅增長，因為營運現金 3540 萬美元以及向 Visa 出售支付和票務業務的收益被用於收購 Silicon IP 的現金所抵消、Verimatrix 的安全協議和配置業務。我們的現金年增了 1.3 億美元。我們強大的資產負債表使我們能夠靈活地對我們的專利組合和不斷增長的產品計劃進行策略性投資，並為其他無機活動提供火力。

At the end of Q4, we had contract assets worth $528 million, which reflects the net present value of unbilled AR related to licensing agreements 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 agreements as several customers have royalty-based agreements that allow us to recognize revenue each quarter under ASC 606.

截至第四季末，我們的合約資產價值 5.28 億美元，這反映了與公司沒有未來履約義務的授權協議相關的未開票 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協議的全部價值，因為有些客戶擁有基於特許權使用費的協議，使我們能夠根據 ASC 606 每個季度確認收入。

As the sale of our Payments and Ticketing business did not close until October 21, at the end of Q3, we classified the assets and liabilities for this business as held for sale. The net carrying amount of this business as of the third quarter was $86.5 million, considering assets, liabilities and cumulative translation adjustments. After considering the $75 million purchase price and transaction costs, we recorded a recovery of $1.9 million in Q3 that offset the impairment charge in our Q2 GAAP results. In Q4, we recorded another recovery of $7.7 million upon the sale of this business, which resulted in a cumulative year-to-date loss of $7.4 million after considering the net carrying amount of this business of $86.1 million and net proceeds of $78.6 million.

由於我們的支付和票務業務的出售直到 10 月 21 日才結束，因此在第三季末，我們將該業務的資產和負債分類為持有待售。考慮到資產、負債和累計換算調整，截至第三季該業務的帳面淨值為 8,650 萬美元。考慮到 7,500 萬美元的購買價格和交易成本後，我們在第三季收回了 190 萬美元，抵銷了第二季 GAAP 業績中的減損費用。第四季度，我們在出售該業務後再次收回了 770 萬美元，考慮到該業務的賬面淨值 8610 萬美元和淨收益 7860 萬美元，導致年初至今累計虧損 740 萬美元。

Fourth quarter CapEx was $6.4 million, and depreciation was $4.9 million. Full year 2019 CapEx was $14.9 million, and depreciation was $15.2 million. As I mentioned earlier, we delivered $113.7 million of free cash flow in 2019. Looking forward, I expect roughly $16 million of CapEx for the first quarter and roughly $26 million for the full year of 2020. Half of that total amount is related to the relocation of our headquarters facility. I also expect depreciation of roughly $5 million for the first quarter and roughly $20 million for the full year of 2020. Overall, we have a strong balance sheet with limited debt and expect to continue to generate strong cash from operations in the future.

第四季資本支出為 640 萬美元，折舊為 490 萬美元。2019 年全年資本支出為 1,490 萬美元，折舊為 1,520 萬美元。正如我之前提到的，我們在 2019 年交付了 1.137 億美元的自由現金流。展望未來，我預計第一季的資本支出約為 1,600 萬美元，2020 年全年的資本支出約為 2,600 萬美元。其中一半與我們總部設施的搬遷有關。我還預計第一季折舊約為 500 萬美元，2020 年全年折舊約為 2,000 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 first quarter on Slide 10. As a reminder, our forward-looking guidance reflects our current best estimates, and our actual results could differ materially from what I'm about to review. In addition to 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 this period adjusted for certain differences.

現在讓我談談幻燈片 10 上我們對第一季的指導。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即將審查的結果有重大差異。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，反映了在此期間向我們的許可客戶開出的發票金額，並根據某些差異進行了調整。

As you see in the supplemental information we provided on Slide 15 of our earnings deck, licensing billings closely correlates with what we have historically reported as royalty revenue under ASC 605. With that said, under ASC 606, we expect revenue in the first quarter between $44 million and $50 million. We expect royalty revenue between $7 million and $13 million. We also expect licensing billings down between $60 million and $66 million. We expect Q1 non-GAAP total operating expenses, which includes COGS, to be between $64 million and $68 million.

正如您在損益表投影片 15 上提供的補充資訊中所看到的那樣，授權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。儘管如此，根據 ASC 606，我們預計第一季的營收將在 4,400 萬美元至 5,000 萬美元之間。我們預計特許權使用費收入將在 700 萬至 1300 萬美元之間。我們也預計授權費用將減少 6,000 萬至 6,600 萬美元。我們預計第一季非 GAAP 總營運支出（包括銷貨成本）將在 6,400 萬美元至 6,800 萬美元之間。

Under ASC 606 non-GAAP operating results for the first quarter is expected to be between a loss of $24 million and $14 million. For non-GAAP interest and other income and expense, which excludes interest income related to ASC 606, we would've expected $1 million in income, which includes $0.6 million of interest expense related to the notes due in 2023.

根據 ASC 606 非 GAAP 營運業績，第一季預計虧損 2,400 萬美元至 1,400 萬美元。對於非 GAAP 利息和其他收入和支出（不包括與 ASC 606 相關的利息收入），我們預計收入為 100 萬美元，其中包括與 2023 年到期票據相關的 60 萬美元利息支出。

Based on the new tax legislation passed at the end of 2017, we expect our pro forma tax rate in 2020 to remain consistent with our 2019 pro forma tax rate of 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 a benefit of $6 million and $3 million in Q1. We expect our Q1 share count to be roughly 115 million basic and diluted shares outstanding. This leads to between a non-GAAP loss per share of $0.15 and $0.09 for the quarter.

根據 2017 年底通過的新稅收立法，我們預計 2020 年的預估稅率將與 2019 年約 24% 的預期稅率保持一致。24% 高於 21% 的法定稅率，主要是因為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，這主要是由於我們與韓國合作夥伴簽訂的許可協議所致。我們預計第一季非 GAAP 稅收收益將在 600 萬美元至 300 萬美元之間。我們預計第一季的流通股基本股和稀釋股約為 1.15 億股。這導致本季非 GAAP 每股虧損 0.15 美元至 0.09 美元。

Looking ahead to 2020, I expect Q2 down 2% because of our typical seasonality and then modest growth in Q3. I expect Q4 to be roughly flat with Q3 due to the structure of our licensing agreements. As we've communicated previously, structural step-downs in several of our long-term licensing agreements impacted our 2019 revenue. Last year, our excellent product growth and operational efficiencies offset these structural step-downs.

展望 2020 年，由於我們典型的季節性因素，我預計第二季將下降 2%，然後第三季將出現溫和成長。由於我們的許可協議的結構，我預計第四季度將與第三季度大致持平。正如我們先前所傳達的，我們的幾項長期授權協議的結構性縮減影響了我們 2019 年的收入。去年，我們出色的產品成長和營運效率抵消了這些結構性下降。

In 2020, we had the last of structural step-downs under our current license agreements, after which patent licensing billings will level off. As we look to the future, I expect subsequent revenue growth in our product businesses to provide growth on both the top line and bottom line. We expect to deliver gross margins in the 55% to 60% range.

2020 年，我們根據目前的授權協議進行了最後一次結構性削減，此後專利授權費用將趨於穩定。展望未來，我預期我們產品業務的後續收入成長將帶來營收和利潤的成長。我們預計毛利率將在 55% 至 60% 範圍內。

From an expense perspective, we expect COGS to move in line with product shipments through the year. We anticipate operating expenses will come down gradually through the year due to the operational efficiencies we've already implemented.

從費用角度來看，我們預計銷貨成本將與全年產品出貨量保持一致。由於我們已經實施了營運效率，我們預計營運費用將在今年逐漸下降。

All told, these changes reflect $5 million of higher revenue and $0.02 of higher EPS than current analyst consensus estimates and expectations for 2020.

總而言之，這些變化反映了與當前分析師對 2020 年的共識估計和預期相比，收入增加了 500 萬美元，每股收益增加了 0.02 美元。

Let me finish with a summary on Slide 11. We're proud of the solid performance by our team and the progress we continue to make against our strategic initiatives to drive long-term profitable growth. We've had a significant amount of M&A activity as we refocus our company and are very pleased with our execution on organic and inorganic growth. While we understand that ASC 606 added a level of complexity to our financial reporting, it's important to reiterate that the underlying financial strength of our business remains strong, reflected in our demonstrated ability to generate cash.

最後讓我對投影片 11 進行總結。我們為團隊的穩健表現以及我們在推動長期獲利成長的策略性舉措方面不斷取得的進展感到自豪。隨著我們重新調整公司的重點，我們進行了大量的併購活動，並對我們在有機和無機成長方面的執行感到非常滿意。雖然我們知道 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，這反映在我們所展示的產生現金的能力上。

We have refocused our product portfolio around Rambus' core strength in the semiconductor industry, improved our operational efficiency and profitability, generated solid cash from operations and leveraged our strong balance sheet to support our strategic initiatives. We continue to focus on our core markets and are well positioned for 2020 and beyond.

我們圍繞Rambus 在半導體行業的核心優勢重新調整了我們的產品組合，提高了我們的營運效率和盈利能力，從營運中產生了穩定的現金，並利用我們強大的資產負債表來支持我們的戰略舉措。我們繼續專注於我們的核心市場，並為 2020 年及以後做好準備。

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

之後，我會將電話轉回克里斯汀開始問答。我們可以問第一個問題嗎？

First question comes from the line of Sidney Ho from Deutsche Bank.

第一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Sidney Ho。

Great. And congrats on solid results and guide. My first question is your licensing billing is better for both Q4 results and Q1 guide. Can you talk about what's driving the upside other than maybe timing of some of the contracts? And related to that, I appreciate you going through -- Rahul, going through the quarter-by-quarter for the next few quarters. But if you kind of look past beyond -- look past 2020, I think you talked about being -- licensing billing being roughly flat after seeing a structural step-down in 2020. Are there any other step-downs that we should be aware of going forward? And what type of licensing structures are you seeing in the recent deal?

偉大的。並祝賀取得了紮實的成果和指導。我的第一個問題是，你們的許可證計費對於第四季度的結果和第一季的指南來說都更好。除了某些合約的時機之外，您能否談談推動上漲的因素是什麼？與此相關的是，我感謝拉胡爾（Rahul）您在接下來的幾個季度中逐季度地經歷。但如果你放眼過去——看看 2020 年之後，我想你談到了——在 2020 年出現結構性下降之後，許可費用大致持平。未來我們還應該注意哪些其他的降級措施？您在最近的交易中看到了什麼類型的許可結構？

Sure. Thanks, Sidney, and let me see if I can answer your question. First, in terms of the trends of licensing billings back and forth, it's really just related to the structural agreements that we signed over the last several years. Our existing agreement all have disparate terms and conditions in terms of how we bill and invoice our partners. In some cases, they are royalty-based, and that will show up in our reported revenue. In other cases, they're fixed payments that are consistent on a quarterly basis, and that may just show up in our licensing billings. And in other cases, the payments are structured in a stairstep fashion, either going up and down or coming -- just going straight or even coming down in some cases. In any case, I wouldn't read too much into the quarterly changes between royalty revenue and licensing billing. I'd refer you back to the guidance that we provided at our Analyst Day where I think we said, at the midpoint, licensing billings for us in 2020 would be about $230 million. So that's what I kind of anticipate over the course of this year.

當然。謝謝，西德尼，讓我看看是否可以回答你的問題。首先，就許可帳單的趨勢而言，這實際上與我們過去幾年簽署的結構性協議有關。我們現有的協議在如何向合作夥伴開立帳單和發票方面都有不同的條款和條件。在某些情況下，它們是基於特許權使用費的，這將顯示在我們報告的收入中。在其他情況下，它們是按季度保持一致的固定付款，並且可能只顯示在我們的許可帳單中。在其他情況下，付款的結構是階梯式的，要么上升、下降，要么下降——在某些情況下直接下降，甚至下降。無論如何，我不會過多地了解特許權使用費收入和許可計費之間的季度變化。我想請您回顧我們在分析師日提供的指導，我認為我們說過，在中期，我們 2020 年的授權費用約為 2.3 億美元。這就是我對今年的預期。

If I recall your other question, you specifically talked about what that may look like going forward. As I mentioned in prepared remarks, after 2020, we expect this to be very stable over the next several years. We now see the last of the structural changes in 2020, and that was part of the quarterly guidance that I gave in my prepared remarks where I expect Q4 to be roughly flat for Q3, otherwise I would have expected Q4 to be up nicely from Q3 due to increased product revenue.

如果我記得你的其他問題，你特別談到了未來可能會是什麼樣子。正如我在準備好的發言中提到的，2020 年之後，我們預計未來幾年這種情況將非常穩定。我們現在看到了2020 年最後的結構性變化，這是我在準備好的演講中給出的季度指導的一部分，我預計第四季度將與第三季度大致持平，否則我預計第四季度將比第三季大幅成長由於產品收入增加。

Looking forward, most of our licensing billings are related to 3 big agreements with the CEM industry. And I think we can talk certainly there in terms of our expectations for renewals out in the future, but we feel very confident about our patent portfolio and the investments we make there and our ability to maintain that very profitable business for us in the future.

展望未來，我們的大部分授權費用都與與 CEM 行業的 3 項重大協議有關。我認為我們當然可以談論我們對未來續展的期望，但我們對我們的專利組合和我們在那裡所做的投資以及我們未來維持這一非常有利可圖的業務的能力非常有信心。

Great. That's super helpful. My follow-up question is on 5G infrastructure. In the past, you talked about benefiting from the deployment of 5G infrastructure, especially based on the PCIe Gen 5 interface. Can you give us an update on that market, what you're seeing there, especially after a very strong build in the second half of last year? And do you have any issues given the big portion of that build is coming from one big Chinese customer there?

偉大的。這非常有幫助。我的後續問題是關於 5G 基礎設施的。過去，您談到受益於5G基礎架構的部署，尤其是基於PCIe Gen 5介面的5G基礎架構。您能為我們介紹一下該市場的最新情況嗎？您在那裡看到了什麼，尤其是在去年下半年出現了非常強勁的成長之後？鑑於建築物的很大一部分來自那裡的一個中國大客戶，您是否有任何問題？

Sidney, this is Luc. So we continue to see traction from the 5G infrastructure development and deployment. And as we explained in earlier calls, the reason is that we are further down in the value chain. We actually provide IP to people who build the chips for that 5G infrastructure. We cannot see the revenue before the others do. One of the things that have happened to us over the last year is the acquisition of Northwest Logic allowed us to develop a complete solution for 5G. So we have combined PHY with their controller to have a complete 5G PCIe Gen 5 solution, and we continue to see traction with several customers as we move forward.

西德尼，這是路克。因此，我們繼續看到 5G 基礎設施開發和部署的吸引力。正如我們在先前的電話會議中所解釋的，原因是我們處於價值鏈的更下游。實際上，我們向為 5G 基礎設施構建晶片的人提供 IP。我們無法先於其他人看到收入。去年我們發生的事情之一是收購 Northwest Logic，讓我們能夠開發出完整的 5G 解決方案。因此，我們將 PHY 與其控制器結合，形成了完整的 5G PCIe Gen 5 解決方案，隨著我們的前進，我們繼續看到一些客戶的關注。

Okay. Maybe one last question, sticking with 5G chipset side -- memory chipset side. I think you mentioned revenue in the $75 million to $95 million range, and that's up from roughly $70 million in 2019, which doesn't seem like a lot of growth. How much DDR5 revenue are you expecting in your 2020 outlook? And can you talk about your market share expectations based on the design win activities for the next-generation 14-nanometers and 10-nanometer server products? Any color would be helpful.

好的。也許還有最後一個問題，那就是 5G 晶片組方面——記憶體晶片組方面。我想你提到的收入在 7500 萬美元到 9500 萬美元之間，這比 2019 年的大約 7000 萬美元有所增加，這看起來增長並不多。您對 2020 年 DDR5 收入的預期是多少？您能否談談基於下一代 14 奈米和 10 奈米伺服器產品設計獲勝活動的市場份額預期？任何顏色都會有幫助。

Yes. Great questions, Sidney. I think the revenue from DDR5 is going to be very modest in 2020. We will see the very initial shipments towards the end of the year in low volumes. So 2020 is still going to be a DDR4 market for buffer chip. The growth will depend on a couple of factors. We see the upswing of the market after a soft year last year in general terms. In addition to that, the speed of the growth will depend on how fast the market is going to transition from the current Intel platform to next-generation platform. So we certainly see growth potential for our business, for which we just gave you guidance.

是的。很好的問題，西德尼。我認為 2020 年 DDR5 的收入將非常有限。我們將在年底看到最初的少量發貨。所以2020年仍將是DDR4緩衝晶片市場。成長將取決於幾個因素。總體而言，我們看到市場在去年的疲軟之後出現回升。除此之外，成長速度將取決於市場從目前英特爾平台過渡到下一代平台的速度。因此，我們當然看到了我們業務的成長潛力，為此我們剛剛為您提供了指導。

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

您的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸銀行的約翰‧皮策 (John Pitzer)。

Well, I guess, for my first question, I think you said in your prepared comments that the Verimatrix acquisition added very little to the calendar fourth quarter. I'm wondering how we should think about its contribution both to the calendar first and to the full year.

好吧，我想，對於我的第一個問題，我想您在準備好的評論中說過，收購 Verimatrix 對第四季度的業績成長影響甚微。我想知道我們應該如何考慮它對日曆和全年的貢獻。

Sure. That's a great question, John. And yes, because of the timing of the close, there was minimal impact to our Q4 financial statements regarding the Verimatrix acquisition. What we said at our Analyst Day is that we expected roughly $20 million of revenue associated with that acquisition in 2020. And I think both that as well as the acquisition of Northwest Logic we said would be marginally accretive for us in 2020. Right now, I would just simply anticipate a roughly linear trend in terms of how much additional revenue we'd see in 2020 associated with that acquisition of the Verimatrix assets. So I'd say anywhere from $4 million to $5 million a quarter through 2020. Hopefully, that helps answer your question.

當然。這是一個很好的問題，約翰。是的，由於交易完成的時間安排，Verimatrix 收購對我們第四季的財務報表影響極小。我們在分析師日表示，我們預計 2020 年與此收購相關的營收約為 2,000 萬美元。我認為，這一切以及我們所說的收購 Northwest Logic 都將在 2020 年為我們帶來小幅增值。現在，我只是簡單地預測 2020 年與收購 Verimatrix 資產相關的額外收入將呈現大致線性趨勢。所以我想說，到 2020 年，每季的支出將在 400 萬美元到 500 萬美元之間。希望這有助於回答您的問題。

It does. And then maybe as a follow-up to Luc, just given the cash flow generation of the business model, should we think about 2020 as being another year of additional tuck-in acquisitions? Or is this a year where you kind of try to rationalize and exploit the acquisitions you did last year? And if the former, how should we think about the acquisition strategy and potential targets?

確實如此。然後，也許作為 Luc 的後續行動，考慮到商業模式的現金流生成，我們是否應該將 2020 年視為額外收購的另一年？或者說，今年您是否試圖合理化並利用去年進行的收購？如果是前者，我們該如何思考收購策略和潛在目標？

Yes. Thank you, John. So in terms of rationalizing the acquisitions we just made, we're moving really fast. The integration of both companies is going quite well and fast. And I think both are up and running, I would say, at this point in time. So we're quite pleased with that. It went really, really fast in terms of integration and focus on growing the business. Now we will continue to look very actively at possible acquisitions to strengthen our position either in the memory interface arena or in the embedded security arena. This is very, very active activity that we have internally. And because we do have this ability to generate cash, we have the ability to move fast if any of these opportunities comes to us with a high level of interest. So we will continue to do what we do, and we've been very fast in integrating the 2 we did last year, so no change there.

是的。謝謝你，約翰。因此，在合理化我們剛剛進行的收購方面，我們的進展非常快。兩家公司的整合進展順利且快速。我認為目前兩者都已經啟動並運行。所以我們對此非常滿意。在整合和專注於發展業務方面，它進展得非常非常快。現在，我們將繼續非常積極地尋找可能的收購，以加強我們在記憶體介面領域或嵌入式安全領域的地位。這是我們內部非常非常活躍的活動。因為我們確實有能力產生現金，所以如果我們對這些機會有很高的興趣，我們就有能力快速採取行動。因此，我們將繼續做我們所做的事情，我們非常快地整合了去年所做的兩項工作，所以沒有任何變化。

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。

Congratulations on the progress you're showing in the strategy of focusing on the core, so congrats on that. Rahul, I just wanted to sharpen my pencil here on some of the -- maybe the 605 kind of equivalent numbers here. Fourth quarter '19, I was getting $104.3 million and EPS around $0.28, $0.29. Does that sound like it's in the ballpark?

恭喜您在專注於核心的策略中所取得的進展，所以恭喜您。拉胡爾，我只是想在這裡削一下鉛筆——也許是 605 等類似的數字。19 年第四季度，我獲得了 1.043 億美元，每股收益約為 0.28 美元、0.29 美元。聽起來像在球場裡嗎？

So Suji, we can't produce 605 numbers anymore. But I think what you're doing is you're substituting licensing billings for what we reported as royalty revenue. And I think when you make that substitution and run it through, I'd get the same numbers that you would get.

所以 Suji，我們不能再生產 605 號碼了。但我認為你正在做的是用許可帳單代替我們報告的特許權使用費收入。我認為當你進行替換並運行它時，我會得到與你得到的相同的數字。

Great. And most importantly, for the guidance, I think you're coming in -- it's implying something around $100 million, a slight sequential decline, and $0.23 as you start out the year. I think that's kind of -- I want to just make sure that that's also ballpark. It sounds reasonable as well.

偉大的。最重要的是，對於指導，我認為你進來了——這意味著大約 1 億美元，環比略有下降，年初時為 0.23 美元。我認為這有點——我想確保這也是大概的。聽起來也很有道理。

Yes. And again, that's not numbers that we provide. But if I were to do the same math that you did, I'd get in the same place. And that decline is really just seasonal between the Q4 and Q1. We were delighted with our Q1 results, both on the top line as well as from a cash perspective.

是的。再說一遍，這不是我們提供的數字。但如果我跟你做同樣的數學計算，我也會得到同樣的結果。這種下降實際上只是第四季和第一季之間的季節性下降。我們對第一季的業績感到滿意，無論是從營收或現金角度來看。

Okay. Fair enough. And then switching to some of the business segments, the Silicon IP business is up 29% year-over-year. How much of that is organic versus inorganic? Was that all organic? And if so, what's a more normalized growth opportunity that's sustainable for that business? It sounds like it's on a tear really from a design ramp perspective. So curious how that can flow through the next year or 2?

好的。很公平。再轉向部分業務板塊，Silicon IP業務年增29%。其中有機物與無機物的比例是多少？那都是有機的嗎？如果是這樣，那麼對於該業務來說，更正常化、可持續的成長機會是什麼？從設計坡道的角度來看，這聽起來確實很困難。很好奇接下來的一兩年會如何發展？

Yes. No, that's a great question. So as I mentioned, we had minimal revenue from the assets we purchased from Verimatrix. We did have a couple of million dollars of revenue associated with the acquisition of Northwest Logic that closed in Q3. I think even without the acquisition, though, it was a very strong growth year-over-year, and we're very pleased with the performance. Our memory IP business has grown very nicely over the last several years and delighted with that growth rate. And I think we have a great opportunity to have growth in our security business as well. Looking forward, I would expect both of those to continue to grow. And with the acquisition of those businesses, we could be in a similar growth rate in 2020 over 2019.

是的。不，這是一個很好的問題。正如我所提到的，我們從 Verimatrix 購買的資產獲得的收入微乎其微。我們確實獲得了與第三季完成的 Northwest Logic 收購相關的數百萬美元收入。我認為即使沒有收購，同比成長也非常強勁，我們對業績非常滿意。我們的記憶體 IP 業務在過去幾年中成長得非常好，並且對這種成長率感到高興。我認為我們的安全業務也有很好的成長機會。展望未來，我預計這兩者都會繼續成長。透過收購這些業務，我們 2020 年的成長率可能與 2019 年類似。

That's helpful color there. And then on memory buffer, you started to talk about this, but what do you think your share is now? And where do you think it can go as you ramp up here in 2020? Obviously, the size of the market would be a factor there. And then is there any concentration in your current revenue run rate from a hyperscale customer or 2? Or is it diversified kind of from the end customer perspective, not the memory customers?

那是有用的顏色。然後在記憶體緩衝區上，你開始談論這個，但是你認為你現在的份額是多少？您認為 2020 年您的發展會走向何方？顯然，市場規模是其中的一個因素。那麼，您目前來自一個或兩個超大規模客戶的收入運行率是否集中？還是從最終客戶而不是記憶體客戶的角度來看是多元化的？

Yes, great question, Suji. Look, we estimate our share in 2019 to be around 15%, and it is growing. We'll surely go to 30% when we go to DDR5 because we were the first in DDR5, so we expect to have at least 1/3 of the market. And between now and then, we will continue to increase share. In terms of the structure of our customers, over time, our end customer profile has diversified. So the risk to the business has diminished. As we grow the business, the end customer has diversified, and as such, our risk has diminished in that area.

是的，很好的問題，蘇吉。看，我們估計 2019 年我們的份額約為 15%，而且還在成長。當我們轉向DDR5時，我們肯定會達到30%，因為我們是DDR5的第一家，所以我們預計至少有1/3的市場份額。從現在到那時，我們將繼續增加份額。從客戶結構來看，隨著時間的推移，我們的終端客戶群呈現多元化趨勢。因此，企業面臨的風險已經降低。隨著我們業務的發展，最終客戶已經多元化，因此我們在該領域的風險也隨之降低。

Your next question comes from the line of Gary Mobley from 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)。

Congrats on the strong quarter, a strong finish to the year. Rahul, I wanted to go back to some of your comments on fiscal year '20 guidance. If I recall correctly, at your Analyst Day in September, you gave sort of preliminary 2020 outlook, which included billings of $230 million, contract and other revenue of $80 million and product revenue of $85 million for a total of $395 million. I just wanted to clarify, you're suggesting that perhaps now we're starting the year out maybe just looking $5 million better. And if so, where does it come from in that 3 different categories?

恭喜季度的強勁表現，以及今年的強勁收官。Rahul，我想回顧一下您對 20 財年指導的一些評論。如果我沒記錯的話，在9 月的分析師日上，您給出了2020 年的初步展望，其中包括2.3 億美元的賬單、8000 萬美元的合約和其他收入以及8500 萬美元的產品收入，總計3.95 億美元。我只是想澄清一下，你的意思是，也許現在我們開始新的一年，也許只是看起來好 500 萬美元。如果是這樣，它來自這 3 個不同類別的哪裡？

Sure. And again, Gary, we don't add those numbers up because that wouldn't be something you do from a GAAP perspective. But what I said in our prepared remarks is we think we're going to be about $5 million better than where current analyst estimates are. And I think that's going to come predominantly from buffer chip and silicon IP. As I mentioned previously, the structure of our patent licensing agreements are fairly set. So those are largely predictable. But I think it's going to come from buffer chip and potentially the silicon IP businesses.

當然。蓋瑞，我們不會將這些數字相加，因為從 GAAP 角度來看，這不是你要做的事情。但我在準備好的發言中所說的是，我們認為我們的收入將比當前分析師的預期高出約 500 萬美元。我認為這將主要來自緩衝晶片和矽 IP。正如我之前提到的，我們的專利授權協議的結構是相當確定的。所以這些基本上是可以預測的。但我認為它將來自緩衝晶片和潛在的矽 IP 業務。

Okay. I want to switch gears and talk about the profitability of everything other than your patent licensing business. And so in the just reported fourth quarter, using that billings number as a substitute for royalties, you would get to roughly non-GAAP operating income of $42 million. In years past -- in quarters past, even maybe as recently as the midpoint of this past year, I would imagine that 90% of your operating profit came from the patent licensing side. But seemingly, now you're getting a lot -- much larger contribution presumably from your buffer chip business. So can you speak to the profitability of that business, where it sits today, where you see it materializing in 2020?

好的。我想換個話題，談談除專利授權業務以外的所有業務的獲利能力。因此，在剛剛報告的第四季度，使用該帳單數字作為特許權使用費的替代品，您將獲得約 4,200 萬美元的非 GAAP 營業收入。在過去的幾年裡，在過去的幾個季度，甚至可能在去年的中點，我可以想像你們 90% 的營業利潤來自專利授權方面。但看起來，現在你從你的緩衝晶片業務中得到了很多——更大的貢獻。那麼，您能否談談該業務目前的盈利能力以及您認為 2020 年將實現的盈利能力？

Yes. So I'll start. Thanks, Gary. We're pleased with the performance of our buffer chip business as we grew the business and that business would become profitable. And this is a high leverage business. So we can marginally invest in that business to continue to generate growth. As we move forward and look forward, that business is going to continue to be profitable and more profitable. On the IP side, what we've done over the last year is we have refocused our portfolio of offerings on to products and solutions that show high demand in the market. We mentioned earlier the PCIe Gen 5 solution using our PHY and our controller. So by focusing the portfolio and making portfolio decisions, we're going to accelerate the profitability of that IP business. That's the way to look at it.

是的。那我就開始吧。謝謝，加里。我們對緩衝晶片業務的表現感到滿意，因為我們的業務不斷成長，並且該業務將實現盈利。這是一項高槓桿業務。因此，我們可以對該業務進行少量投資，以繼續成長。隨著我們的前進和展望，該業務將繼續盈利，並且利潤更高。在智慧財產權方面，我們去年所做的是將我們的產品組合重新集中到市場需求旺盛的產品和解決方案。我們之前提到使用我們的 PHY 和控制器的 PCIe Gen 5 解決方案。因此，透過集中投資組合並做出投資組合決策，我們將加速該 IP 業務的獲利能力。這就是看待它的方式。

Okay. And related to that, I think in the second half of fiscal year '19, your product gross margin was around 65%. And that's about 10 percentage points higher than the first half. And so I'm curious to know how much of a trend line is the buffer chip business running compared to what you had most recently been guiding for? And can you give us sort of an update on how you view the gross margin profile of that business in 2020?

好的。與此相關的是，我認為在 19 財年下半年，你們的產品毛利率約為 65%。比上半年高出約10個百分點。因此，我很想知道與您最近指導的趨勢線相比，緩衝晶片業務的運行趨勢線有多少？您能否向我們介紹一下您如何看待該業務 2020 年毛利率狀況的最新情況？

Sure, Gary. That's a great question. I think what I mentioned in the prepared remarks is I expect that gross margin for our product business to be in the 55% to 60% range in 2020. We had some quarters with particularly high margins, and that's just simply a function of product mix as well as how much we were shipping. I think as we become larger and larger -- and I hope to beat the estimates that we provided today, but as we become larger and larger, then any small variation in mix will have a muted impact in terms of what the gross margins look like. But I feel pretty comfortable with the 55% to 60% gross margin. And as Luc mentioned earlier in your question about leverage on the product portfolio, because we have that product portfolio and as we ramp, there's minimal incremental investment, and so there's a pretty nice fall-through then to the bottom line. And I think that's what you saw also in Q4.

當然，加里。這是一個很好的問題。我認為我在準備好的演講中提到的是，我預計 2020 年我們產品業務的毛利率將在 55% 至 60% 的範圍內。我們有一些季度的利潤率特別高，這只是產品組合以及我們出貨量的函數。我認為，隨著我們變得越來越大，我希望超過我們今天提供的估計，但隨著我們變得越來越大，那麼組合中的任何微小變化都會對毛利率產生微小的影響。但我對 55% 到 60% 的毛利率感到相當滿意。正如盧克之前在關於產品組合槓桿問題中提到的那樣，因為我們擁有該產品組合，並且隨著我們的發展，增量投資很少，因此最終會出現相當不錯的下降。我認為這也是您在第四季度看到的。

Okay. I had a sort of final off-the-wall question about IP protection. So as part of the phase 1 U.S.-China trade agreement, we had some IP protection clauses built into the trade agreement. So I'm wondering if that changes any enforceability of your patents as it relates to some of the developers of China memory.

好的。我最後有一個關於智慧財產權保護的奇怪問題。因此，作為中美第一階段貿易協定的一部分，我們在貿易協定中內建了一些智慧財產權保護條款。所以我想知道這是否會改變你們專利的可執行性，因為它與一些中國記憶體開發人員有關。

So Gary, it's an interesting question. I think it's something that's still continuing to develop in terms of really what's going to happen with China and the trade balance. The way I look at it is that we are unique in that our direct exposure to China is actually relatively small, though, obviously, anything that impacts our customers long term will impact us. I think for us, China is actually an opportunity from a patent licensing perspective. What we see is, as the tech industry in China continues to grow and diversify and we're making great progress in our business areas, that it becomes an opportunity.

加里，這是一個有趣的問題。我認為，就中國和貿易平衡的實際情況而言，這個問題仍在繼續發展。我的看法是，我們的獨特之處在於，我們對中國的直接接觸實際上相對較小，但顯然，任何長期影響我們客戶的事情都會影響我們。我認為對我們來說，從專利許可的角度來看，中國實際上是一個機會。我們看到的是，隨著中國科技業的不斷發展和多元化，以及我們在業務領域的巨大進步，這成為了一個機會。

Now specific to licensing, China is investing tens of billions of dollars in the semiconductor industry. And as the industry grows, so does our relevance and opportunity in the market. So there are strategic options we have for patent licensing, and I think engaging earlier will actually yield benefits to us as well as our partners. I think one of the things that we see is that for our partners, taking an early license provides credibility and allows them to compete in the global marketplace.

現在，具體到許可方面，中國正在半導體產業投資數百億美元。隨著行業的發展，我們在市場中的相關性和機會也在不斷增長。因此，我們在專利許可方面有一些策略選擇，我認為儘早參與實際上會為我們以及我們的合作夥伴帶來好處。我認為我們看到的一件事是，對於我們的合作夥伴來說，儘早獲得許可可以提供信譽，並使他們能夠在全球市場上競爭。

So all told, we're actively engaged in China and continue to monitor the geopolitical environment, but we remain optimistic that our business will continue to grow. I think one of the things that I would see is that if we are able to announce a license agreement in China -- typically, our license terms are 5 to 7 years, and that's an early demonstration that the ongoing global relevance and validity of our portfolio will be there for many years to come, well beyond the terms of our existing licensees. And I think that would be a nice external validation.

總而言之，我們正在積極參與中國業務並繼續監控地緣政治環境，但我們仍然樂觀地認為我們的業務將繼續成長。我想我會看到的一件事是，如果我們能夠在中國宣布一項許可協議——通常，我們的許可期限為5 到7 年，這是一個早期的證明，表明我們的許可協議持續的全球相關性和有效性。產品組合將在未來很多年存在，遠遠超出我們現有被授權者的條款。我認為這將是一個很好的外部驗證。

But to what you said earlier, I think we also continue to monitor what happens from a global macroeconomic perspective but continue to invest in our portfolio and feel we're going to be very well positioned to take advantage of China as well as to continue to maintain our patent portfolio renewals going forward.

但對於你之前所說的，我認為我們也將繼續從全球宏觀經濟的角度監控發生的情況，但繼續投資我們的投資組合，並認為我們將處於非常有利的地位，可以利用中國的優勢，並繼續保持我們的專利組合續展。

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 for closing remarks.

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做總結演講。

Thank you for your continued interest and time, and have a very good day. Thank you.

感謝您持續的關注和時間，祝您有美好的一天。謝謝。

Thank you. This now concludes today's conference.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。