慧榮科技 (SIMO) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Silicon Motion Technology Corporation's Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) This conference call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加慧榮科技 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）本次電話會議包含 1933 年《證券法》第 27A 條和經修訂的 1934 年《證券交易法》第 21E 條含義內的前瞻性陳述。

Such forward-looking statements include, without limitations, statements regarding trends in the semiconductor industry and our future results operations, financial conditions and business prospects. Although such statements are based on our own information and information from other sources we believe to be reliable, you should not place undue reliance on them.

此類前瞻性陳述包括但不限於有關半導體產業趨勢以及我們未來業績營運、財務狀況和業務前景的陳述。儘管此類聲明基於我們自己的資訊以及我們認為可靠的其他來源的信息，但您不應過度依賴它們。

These statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual market trends and our results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements for a variety of reasons. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, continued competitive pressure in the semiconductor industry and the effect of such pressure on prices, unpredictable changes in technology and consumer demand for multimedia consumer electronics, the state of and any change in our relations with our major customers and changes in political, economic, legal and social conditions in Taiwan.

這些陳述涉及風險和不確定性以及實際市場趨勢，由於各種原因，我們的結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果有重大差異。潛在的風險和不確定性包括但不限於半導體產業持續的競爭壓力以及這種壓力對價格的影響、技術和消費者對多媒體消費電子產品的需求的不可預測的變化、我們與客戶關係的狀況和任何變化。我們的主要客戶以及台灣政治、經濟、法律和社會狀況的變化。

For additional discussions of these risks and uncertainties and other factors, please see the documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligations to update any forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this conference call. Please be advised that today's call is being recorded.

有關這些風險和不確定性以及其他因素的更多討論，請參閱我們不時向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務，這些陳述僅適用於本次電話會議之日。請注意，今天的通話正在錄音。

I would now like to hand the call over to Mr. Jason Tsai, Vice President of IR and Finance. Please go ahead.

現在我想將電話轉交給投資者關係和財務副總裁 Jason Tsai 先生。請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to Silicon Motion's Fourth Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast. Joining me today is Wallace Kou, our President and CEO. Wallace will first provide a key -- a review of our key business developments, and then I will discuss our fourth quarter results and outlook. Following our prepared remarks, we will conclude with a Q&A session.

謝謝大家，大家早安，歡迎參加慧榮科技 2023 年第四季財務業績電話會議和網路廣播。今天加入我的是我們的總裁兼執行長郭建華。華萊士將首先提供一個關鍵——對我們主要業務發展的回顧，然後我將討論我們第四季度的業績和前景。在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將以問答環節結束。

Before we get started, I'd like to remind you of our safe harbor policy, which was right at the start of this call. For a comprehensive overview of the risks involved in investing in our securities, please refer to our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. For more details on our financial results, please refer to our press release, which was filed on Form 6-K after the close of market yesterday.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您我們的安全港政策，該政策就在本次電話會議開始時。有關投資我們的證券所涉及風險的全面概述，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。有關我們財務業績的更多詳細信息，請參閱我們在昨天收市後以 6-K 表格形式提交的新聞稿。

This webcast will be available for replay on the Investor Relations section of our website for a limited time. To enhance investors' understanding of our ongoing economic performance, we will discuss non-GAAP information during this call. We use non-GAAP financial measures internally to evaluate and manage our operations. We have, therefore, chosen to provide this information to enable you to perform comparisons of our operating results in a manner similar to how we analyze our own operating results.

該網絡廣播將在我們網站的投資者關係部分限時重播。為了增強投資者對我們當前經濟表現的了解，我們將在本次電話會議上討論非公認會計準則資訊。我們在內部使用非公認會計準則財務指標來評估和管理我們的營運。因此，我們選擇提供此信息，以便您能夠以類似於我們分析我們自己的經營業績的方式對我們的經營業績進行比較。

The reconciliation of the GAAP to non-GAAP financial data can be found in our earnings release issued yesterday. We ask that you review it in conjunction with this call. As we have previously shared, Silicon Motion filed its notice of arbitration against MaxLinear for the willful, the material breaches of the merger agreement that was signed on May 5, 2022. The company is seeking payment of the termination fee of $160 million, substantial damages, interest and costs.

公認會計原則與非公認會計原則財務數據的調節可以在我們昨天發布的收益報告中找到。我們要求您結合本次電話會議進行審查。正如我們先前所分享的，慧榮針對 MaxLinear 故意重大違反 2022 年 5 月 5 日簽署的合併協議的行為提交了仲裁通知。該公司正在尋求支付 1.6 億美元的終止費和巨額賠償、利息和成本。

The company filed its notice of arbitration claim against MaxLinear in the Singapore International Arbitration Center on October 5, 2023. The arbitration process is confidential, and we will, therefore, not be commenting further on this matter today.

該公司於 2023 年 10 月 5 日向新加坡國際仲裁中心提交了針對 MaxLinear 的仲裁索賠通知。仲裁過程是保密的，因此，我們今天不會就此事進一步發表評論。

With that, I will turn the call over to Wallace.

這樣，我就把電話轉給華萊士。

Thank you, Jason. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We are pleased by the steady recovery across our business throughout 2023, with fourth quarter revenue and gross margin exceeding expectations. We benefited in the quarter from stronger demand from both our SSD and eMMC+UFS controllers and saw pricing and mix improved to drive stronger gross margin improvement for our business than originally expected.

謝謝你，傑森。大家好，感謝您今天加入我們。我們對整個 2023 年業務的穩步復甦感到高興，第四季度收入和毛利率超出預期。本季我們受惠於 SSD 和 eMMC+UFS 控制器的強勁需求，定價和產品組合得到改善，推動我們業務的毛利率改善幅度超出最初預期。

More importantly, our technology leadership in controller and our unveiling engagement with our customers, both flash makers and module makers has laid the foundation for strong 2024 growth despite only modest growth expecting in the PC and smartphone device markets, driven largely by our ongoing share gains with our customers.

更重要的是，我們在控制器方面的技術領先地位以及我們與客戶（閃存製造商和模組製造商）的密切合作，為2024 年的強勁增長奠定了基礎，儘管PC 和智慧型手機設備市場預計將出現溫和成長，這主要是由我們持續的份額成長推動的與我們的客戶。

Over the past 6 months, we have been busy making organizational changes to better position Silicon Motion for the future. We restructured our business to better engage in a new opportunity in the market and spend a lot of time reengaging with the customers to win back their confidence in us as a long-term partner.

在過去的 6 個月裡，我們一直忙於組織變革，以便為慧榮的未來做好更好的定位。我們重組了業務，以更好地抓住市場上的新機遇，並花費大量時間與客戶重新互動，以重新贏得他們對我們作為長期合作夥伴的信心。

As you saw, we formed 2 new business units, client and automotive storage, [CAS,] and our enterprise storage and display interface solution, [ASDI] groups. Our new organizational structure allow us to be more focused on each segment to have a dedicated industry veterans as a leader enable our team to be more agile and responsive to the market and to better engage with customers and anticipate their need with truly differentiated high-performance and classify solutions.

如您所看到的，我們組建了 2 個新的業務部門：客戶端和汽車儲存 [CAS] 以及我們的企業儲存和顯示介面解決方案 [ASDI] 部門。我們新的組織結構使我們能夠更加專注於每個細分市場，擁有敬業的行業資深人士作為領導者，使我們的團隊能夠更加敏捷和響應市場，並以真正差異化的高性能更好地與客戶互動並預測他們的需求並對解決方案進行分類。

We are seeing the successes of this already as our CAS group have been increasing share as our customers by winning significant new designs with both flash makers and module makers for the PC, smartphone, automotive, industrial and other markets.

我們已經看到了這一成功，因為我們的 CAS 團隊贏得了快閃記憶體製造商和模組製造商針對 PC、智慧型手機、汽車、工業和其他市場的重要新設計，從而不斷增加作為客戶的份額。

Our ASDI Group has also made incredible progress with some tightened product in a short amount of time, securing more than a dozen sampling customer ready. With these changes, we are better positioned than ever before and look forward to demonstrating the ongoing strength of our business to our investor each quarter.

我們的 ASDI 集團在短時間內在一些收緊產品方面也取得了令人難以置信的進展，確保了十多個樣品客戶準備就緒。透過這些變化，我們比以往任何時候都處於更好的地位，並期待每季向投資者展示我們業務的持續實力。

Now let me move into our business and give you an update on the NAND market dynamic we are seeing today and what we are expecting for 2024. Pricing for NAND flash has been steadily increasing and expected to continue to improve throughout 2024 and into 2025. NAND makers are being disciplined in their production and limiting output, resulting in higher NAND flash prices.

現在讓我談談我們的業務，向您介紹我們今天看到的 NAND 市場動態以及我們對 2024 年的預期。NAND 快閃記憶體的定價一直在穩步上漲，預計在 2024 年和 2025 年將繼續改善。NAND製造商正在嚴格生產並限制產量，導致NAND 快閃記憶體價格上漲。

Demand is also expected to pick up this year as both the smartphone and PC markets will grow modestly after 2 years of meaningful decline in unit shipments. While higher pricing may limit the activity we typically see from our module maker customers, many have prebought low-cost NAND in the second half of last year, and we have secured significant wins with them for upcoming products this year. We believe our business with module maker will grow this year despite the headwinds created by higher NAND flash prices.

預計今年的需求也會回升，因為智慧型手機和個人電腦市場在出貨量連續兩年大幅下降後將溫和成長。雖然較高的定價可能會限制我們通常從模組製造商客戶那裡看到的活動，但許多人在去年下半年預購了低成本 NAND，並且我們在今年即將推出的產品中與他們取得了重大勝利。我們相信，儘管 NAND 快閃記憶體價格上漲帶來了阻力，今年我們與模組製造商的業務仍將成長。

For flash makers, while higher flash prices over the past few months have improved their profitability, most are still facing negative or very low margin, and this is why we are seeing them increasingly focused on profitability. Flash makers need to prioritize their focused investments from developing new generation of NAND to developing storage solutions to satisfy a wide range of end market requirement.

對於閃存製造商來說，雖然過去幾個月閃存價格上漲提高了他們的盈利能力，但大多數製造商仍然面臨負利潤或非常低的利潤率，這就是為什麼我們看到他們越來越關注盈利能力。快閃記憶體製造商需要優先考慮從開發新一代 NAND 到開發儲存解決方案的重點投資，以滿足廣泛的終端市場需求。

These solutions range from high performance to value-oriented using DRAM and DRAM-less and as well as utilizing TLC or QLC to serve a broad range of end market need in eMMC+UFS, client SSD, embedded enterprise and industrial applications. We are seeing flash maker focus on their own effort on leading-edge high-performance solution where margin and profitability tend to be highest, and they are turning to us as a partner of choice to help bolster their portfolio with high-performance, lower-cost solutions, utilizing their latest generation of high-performance, high density NAND to serve a broader range of market requirements.

這些解決方案涵蓋從高效能到使用 DRAM 和無 DRAM 的價值導向，以及利用 TLC 或 QLC 來滿足 eMMC+UFS、客戶端 SSD、嵌入式企業和工業應用等廣泛的終端市場需求。我們看到快閃記憶體製造商專注於領先的高性能解決方案的開發，這些解決方案的利潤和盈利能力往往最高，並且他們正在將我們作為首選合作夥伴，以幫助增強他們的產品組合，提供高性能、低成本的解決方案。成本解決方案，利用最新一代高效能、高密度 NAND 來滿足更廣泛的市場需求。

Our progress with our flash maker partner over the past year has resulted in strong backlog of new wins across all our product groups that will drive meaningfully higher share and faster growth this year and lay the foundation for strong long-term growth.

在過去一年中，我們與快閃記憶體製造商合作夥伴的進展為我們所有產品組帶來了大量新成果，這將推動今年顯著提高的份額和更快的成長，並為強勁的長期成長奠定基礎。

We continue to grow our customer relationships and are on track to grow our business with every NAND flash customer we have this year. Our revenue from flash maker expected to grow approximately 50% this year, a design win across our controller program ramp meaningfully throughout 2024.

我們將繼續發展我們的客戶關係，並預計在今年與每位 NAND 快閃記憶體客戶一起發展我們的業務。我們來自快閃記憶體製造商的收入預計今年將成長約 50%，我們控制器專案的設計勝利將在 2024 年實現有意義的成長。

Turning to our SD controllers. We take our first PCIe Gen 5 8 channel controller last quarter and have already secured 3 flash maker win and this product as well as several module maker wins. This is the first time that flash makers adopt our controller for high-end notebook models. We expect sales of this high-performance controller to begin late this year. We are engaging with other flash makers as well as numerous other module makers expect to win more designs through 2024.

轉向我們的 SD 控制器。上個季度我們推出了首款 PCIe Gen 5 8 通道控制器，並且已經贏得了 3 家快閃記憶體製造商的青睞，該產品以及幾家模組製造商的勝利。這是快閃記憶體製造商首次在高階筆記型電腦型號中採用我們的控制器。我們預計這款高性能控制器將於今年稍後開始銷售。我們正在與其他快閃記憶體製造商以及眾多其他模組製造商合作，預計到 2024 年將贏得更多設計。

Our second PCIe Gen 5 controller will be taped out early in the third quarter this year, and we already have significant interest from both flash makers and module makers for the mainstream Gen 5 solution that are expected to ramp in late 2025. While we are excited by our progress with PCIe Gen 5, it's important to point out that we continue to win significant new programs with several flash makers with older generation interface well, including 2 new SSD programs, several PCIe Gen 4 SSD, including while using next-generation QLC flash on the value of PC OEM market and several USB 3.2 portable SSD projects.

我們的第二個PCIe Gen 5 控制器將於今年第三季初流片，快閃記憶體製造商和模組製造商已經對我們的主流Gen 5 解決方案產生了濃厚的興趣，該解決方案預計將在2025 年末推出。透過我們在PCIe Gen 5 方面的進展，需要指出的是，我們繼續贏得了幾家具有老一代接口良好的閃存製造商的重要新項目，包括2 個新的SSD 項目、幾個PCIe Gen 4 SSD，包括使用下一代QLC 時快閃記憶體對 PC OEM 市場的價值和幾個 USB 3.2 便攜式 SSD 項目。

Our QLC controller with our proprietary 3D RAID and more advanced LDPC for better aero correction and data protection and recovering offer no compromise solution that maintains high performance and reliability while utilizing the most cost-effective flash to further improve affordability. We are seeing strong traction of QLC controller with both our flash makers and module maker customer and more widespread adoption by PC OEM as well.

我們的QLC 控制器採用我們專有的3D RAID 和更先進的LDPC，可實現更好的航空校正以及資料保護和恢復，提供不妥協的解決方案，保持高效能和可靠性，同時利用最具成本效益的快閃記憶體進一步提高可承受性。我們看到 QLC 控制器受到我們的快閃記憶體製造商和模組製造商客戶的強烈關注，並且 PC OEM 也得到了更廣泛的採用。

Moving on to our eMMC+UFS controller solution. We are taking out our UFS 4.0 solution this quarter and remain on track to ramp with a flash maker customer later this year as well as several module makers targeting the smartphone market. UFS 4 remains a flagship and premium solution this year and expected to expand into high-end mainstream handset market in 2024 and after, aligned with when our solution with our flash maker and module maker customer expected to ramp UFS 3.1 and 2.2 remains a primary solution for mainstream smartphones this year, and we are seeing continuing strong demand for our current UFS controller with additional flash makers and module makers.

繼續我們的 eMMC+UFS 控制器解決方案。我們將於本季推出 UFS 4.0 解決方案，並預計在今年稍後與一家快閃記憶體製造商客戶以及幾家瞄準智慧型手機市場的模組製造商合作。 UFS 4 今年仍然是旗艦和高端解決方案，預計將在2024 年及之後擴展到高階主流手機市場，與我們與快閃記憶體製造商和模組製造商客戶的解決方案預計將提升UFS 3.1 和2.2 仍然是主要解決方案的時間一致今年的主流智慧型手機，我們看到更多快閃記憶體製造商和模組製造商對我們目前的 UFS 控制器的需求持續強勁。

We see flash makers focusing on their own internal controller development on the latest flagship generation of UFS, where they get the highest premium for their higher performance solution. As each of UFS generation moved from flagship to mainstream, we are seeing flash maker turning to us to utilize our controller paired with their newest NAND that offer high performance and lower cost, ideal for the mainstream smartphone market.

我們看到快閃記憶體製造商專注於最新一代旗艦 UFS 上自己的內部控制器開發，他們透過更高性能的解決方案獲得了最高的溢價。隨著每一代 UFS 從旗艦產品轉向主流產品，我們看到快閃記憶體製造商轉向我們使用我們的控制器與其最新的 NAND 搭配，提供高性能和低成本，非常適合主流智慧型手機市場。

It is a symbolic relationship that has driven our strong partnership with flash makers and driving move more win and long-term growth for our eMMC+UFS controller business.

這種象徵性的關係推動了我們與快閃記憶體製造商的牢固合作關係，並推動我們的 eMMC+UFS 控制器業務取得更多勝利和長期成長。

Now let me give you an update on the progress of our MonTitan enterprise SSD development platform. We started sampling MonTitan to customers at the end of last year, and we are excited to announce that more than a dozen customers, many of them Tier 1 end companies ranging from NAND flash makers, hyperscaler, storage solution provider, enabler as well as module makers are in the process of evaluating the solution. MonTitan, a highly differentiated storage solution, provides support of both high-performing TLC SSD as well as high-capacity QLC SSD.

現在讓我來跟大家介紹一下我們MonTitan企業級SSD開發平台的最新進展。我們在去年年底開始向客戶提供MonTitan 樣品，我們很高興地宣布，已有十多家客戶，其中許多是一級終端公司，包括NAND 閃存製造商、超大規模提供商、存儲解決方案提供商、推動者以及模組製造商正在評估解決方案。 MonTitan是一款高度差異化的儲存解決方案，同時支援高效能TLC SSD和大容量QLC SSD。

We are finding that this ideal balance of performance and features is appealing to customers across all enterprise and data center makers market segment. Based on our ability to support a wide range of customer engagement model from the turnkey to layer firmware stack development, MonTitan accelerates the asset to an extensive amount of data (inaudible), speed ideal for a variety of applications, including high-performance edge computing and AI interference and machine learning.

我們發現，這種效能和功能的理想平衡對所有企業和資料中心製造商細分市場的客戶都有吸引力。基於我們支援從交鑰匙到層固件堆疊開發的廣泛客戶參與模型的能力，MonTitan 將資產加速到大量數據（聽不清楚），速度非常適合各種應用程序，包括高效能邊緣運算以及人工智慧幹擾和機器學習。

We are confident that we will continue to make it enroll during the Gen 5 transition into the AI era, and expect to secure our first design win in the next few months and generate clearly revenue by the end of this year.

我們有信心在第 5 代向人工智慧時代過渡期間繼續使其註冊，並期望在未來幾個月內獲得第一個設計勝利，並在今年年底前產生明顯的收入。

Overall, I'm excited by the opportunity ahead of us in 2024. Our team dedicating to maintaining our technology leadership and our varying commitment to our customers has enabled us to continue to win socket after socket and position us strong share growth this year and beyond.

總體而言，我對2024 年擺在我們面前的機會感到興奮。我們的團隊致力於保持我們的技術領先地位以及我們對客戶的不同承諾，使我們能夠繼續贏得一個又一個插座，並使我們在今年及以後的市佔率成長強勁。

Our position with our flash maker customer has never been stronger as new design wins are expected to ramp (inaudible) this year. Our module maker customers are coming into 2024 with strong inventory of low-cost NAND and choosing us to help them bring competitive SSD and embedded solutions to the market. We are well positioned to continue to further strengthen our design pipeline in 2024 to drive growth in 2025.

我們在快閃記憶體製造商客戶中的地位從未如此強大，因為預計今年新設計的勝利將會增加（聽不清楚）。進入 2024 年，我們的模組製造商客戶將擁有大量低成本 NAND 庫存，並選擇我們幫助他們將有競爭力的 SSD 和嵌入式解決方案推向市場。我們處於有利位置，可以在 2024 年繼續進一步加強我們的設計管道，以推動 2025 年的成長。

Now let me turn the call over to Jason to go over our financial results and outlook.

現在讓我把電話轉給傑森，討論我們的財務表現和前景。

Thank you, Wallace, and good morning, everyone. I will discuss additional details of our fourth quarter results and then provide our guidance. Please note that my comments today will focus primarily on our non-GAAP results, unless otherwise specifically noted.

謝謝你，華萊士，大家早安。我將討論我們第四季度業績的更多細節，然後提供我們的指導。請注意，除非另有特別說明，否則我今天的評論將主要集中在我們的非公認會計準則績效上。

Reconciliation of our GAAP to non-GAAP data is included with the earnings release issued yesterday. In the fourth quarter, we grew sales 17% sequentially to $202 million. SSD controller sales grew 15% to 20% sequentially. eMMC and UFS controller sales grew 25% to 30% sequentially and SSD solution sales decreased 5% to 10% sequentially.

我們的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 數據的調整包含在昨天發布的收益報告中。第四季度，我們的銷售額較上季成長 17%，達到 2.02 億美元。 SSD 控制器銷量較上月成長 15% 至 20%。 eMMC 和 UFS 控制器銷售額較上季成長 25% 至 30%，SSD 解決方案銷售額較上季下降 5% 至 10%。

Gross margins in the fourth quarter increased to 44.1%, reflecting both better mix and higher ASPs. Operating expenses in the fourth quarter were $61.5 million, $12 million higher than the prior quarter due to higher R&D expenses to support our technology leadership. Operating margin in the fourth quarter was 13.8%, flat from the third quarter.

第四季毛利率增加至 44.1%，反映出更好的產品組合和更高的平均售價。第四季的營運費用為 6,150 萬美元，比上一季增加 1,200 萬美元，原因是支持我們技術領先地位的研發費用增加。第四季營業利益率為13.8%，與第三季持平。

Effective tax rate in the fourth quarter was 2.3%, a decrease from the 22.8% tax rate in the third quarter primarily due to a tax reversal in the quarter. Excluding this, tax rate would have been 28%. Earnings per ADS were $0.93, 48% higher sequentially. The stock-based compensation in our operating expense, which we exclude from our non-GAAP results, was $5.7 million, and we had $369 million in cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term equivalents -- short-term investments at the end of the fourth quarter compared to $350.3 million at the end of the third quarter.

第四季的有效稅率為2.3%，較第三季的22.8%有所下降，主要是由於本季的稅收逆轉。排除這一點，稅率將為28%。每份 ADS 收益為 0.93 美元，比上一季成長 48%。我們的營運費用中基於股票的薪酬（我們將其排除在非公認會計準則績效之外）為 570 萬美元，我們擁有 3.69 億美元的現金、現金等價物、限制性現金和短期等價物（短期投資）。第四季末的銷售額為3.503 億美元，而第三季末的銷售額為3.503 億美元。

Inventory increased sequentially in the fourth quarter to $217 million from $199 million in the third quarter.

第四季庫存季增，從第三季的 1.99 億美元增至 2.17 億美元。

Now let me turn to our first quarter and full year 2024 guidance and forward-looking business trends. For the first quarter, we expect revenue to be down 10% to 15% sequentially to approximately $172 million to $182 million. We expect SSD controller sales will decline slightly in the first quarter and eMMC and UFS controller sales will decrease.

現在讓我談談我們的 2024 年第一季和全年指引以及前瞻性業務趨勢。我們預計第一季營收將季減 10% 至 15%，至約 1.72 億至 1.82 億美元。我們預計第一季SSD控制器銷量將小幅下降，eMMC和UFS控制器銷量將下降。

First quarter gross margin is expected to be in the range of 44% to 45%. First quarter operating margin will be in the range of 10.5% to 11.5%. First quarter effective tax rate to be approximately 19%. And in the first quarter, we expect stock-based compensation and dispute-related expenses to be in the range of $6 million to $7 million.

第一季毛利率預計在44%至45%之間。第一季營業利潤率將在 10.5% 至 11.5% 之間。第一季有效稅率約為19%。我們預計第一季的股票薪酬和爭議相關費用將在 600 萬美元至 700 萬美元之間。

For the full year 2024, revenue will increase 20% to 25% to $765 million to $800 million. Gross margin is expected to be in the range of 45% to 47%. Operating margin should be in the range of 14.7% to 16.7%, and our effective tax rate for the year is expected to be approximately 19%. Full year stock-based compensation dispute and related expenses will be in the range of $31 million to $33 million.

2024 年全年營收將成長 20% 至 25%，達到 7.65 億美元至 8 億美元。毛利率預計在45%至47%之間。營業利潤率應在14.7%至16.7%之間，我們今年的有效稅率預計約為19%。全年股票薪酬糾紛及相關費用將在 3,100 萬美元至 3,300 萬美元之間。

Let me provide some additional color on our first quarter and full year expectations. As Wallace mentioned, we are making strong progress with our flash maker customers. We have a strong pipeline of design wins and are positioned to gain meaningful share this year. We expect our revenue from all of our flash maker customers will grow in 2024 and to increase approximately 50% this year.

讓我對我們第一季和全年的預期提供一些額外的資訊。正如華萊士所提到的，我們與快閃記憶體製造商客戶的合作正在取得巨大進展。我們擁有強大的設計優勢，今年可望獲得有意義的份額。我們預計來自所有快閃記憶體製造商客戶的收入將在 2024 年成長，今年將成長約 50%。

In addition, we have high visibility that 2 additional flash makers will be ramping new projects with us this year in eMMC and UFS and in SSD controllers, and we will be able to grow revenue from each of these flash makers very meaningfully. We expect normal seasonality to impact our business in the first quarter but are confident that we are well positioned to grow sequentially throughout the rest of the year based upon our strong backlog of wins and project ramps.

此外，我們非常清楚，另外兩家快閃記憶體製造商今年將與我們一起在 eMMC 和 UFS 以及 SSD 控制器領域推出新項目，我們將能夠從這些快閃記憶體製造商中獲得非常有意義的收入成長。我們預計正常的季節性因素將影響我們第一季的業務，但我們相信，基於我們大量的訂單積壓和項目的增加，我們有能力在今年剩餘時間內實現連續成長。

We expect to see consistent improvement in our gross margins this year, driven by better mix towards newer generation interfaces in our eMMC and UFS and SSD controller sales, a number of new projects ramping and overall pricing starting to normalize and improve.

我們預計今年毛利率將持續改善，這得益於我們的 eMMC 和 UFS 以及 SSD 控制器銷售中新一代介面的更好組合、一些新項目的增加以及整體定價開始正常化和改善。

For operating expenses, we'll continue to invest in maintaining our technology leadership in the market, including the tape-out of 2 6-nanometer controllers, 1 in Q1 for UFS 4 and 1 in Q3 for a second PCIe Gen 5 SSD controller. This will lead to elevated operating expenses in those quarters.

對於營運費用，我們將繼續投資以保持我們在市場上的技術領先地位，包括2 個6 奈米控制器的流片，其中1 個在第一季度用於UFS 4，1 個在第三季度用於第二個PCIe Gen 5 SSD 控制器。這將導致這些季度的營運費用增加。

This concludes our prepared remarks. We'll now open the call for your questions.

我們準備好的演講到此結束。我們現在將開始電話詢問您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) First question comes from the line of Mehdi Hosseini from Susquehanna International Group.

（操作員說明） 第一個問題來自 Susquehanna International Group 的 Mehdi Hosseini。

Yes, I have 2. Wallace, can you help me understand what you're seeing in SSD solutions business segment? I understand your continued traction with flash makers and a new product ramps that are more focused on SSD controller and the smartphone, but you could give us a feel for SSD solution and whether you would be able to actually slow down the decline in revenues here? And I have a follow-up.

是的，我有 2. Wallace，您能幫我了解一下您在 SSD 解決方案業務領域所看到的情況嗎？我了解您對快閃記憶體製造商的持續關注以及更專注於 SSD 控制器和智慧型手機的新產品的推出，但您可以讓我們了解 SSD 解決方案以及您是否能夠真正減緩這裡的收入下降？我有一個後續行動。

I think our SSD solution Ferri has been stable, and we are seeing a strong pipeline of win. I think for Q4 revenue decline due to some of multi-customer see the inventory pile-up and we do see 2024, we have accumulated more design. But we see we have a stronger growth in 2025 from an automotive customer for our Ferri product.

我認為我們的 SSD 解決方案 Ferri 一直很穩定，我們看到了強大的成功管道。我認為第四季度收入下降是由於一些多客戶看到庫存堆積，我們確實看到了 2024 年，我們累積了更多設計。但我們看到汽車客戶對我們的 Ferri 產品的成長將在 2025 年實現更強勁。

Okay. Great. And your 2024 guide is very encouraging. You also ramping a 6-nanometer takeout. I understand what's driving the OpEx increase. I also look at your cash, you have almost $10 of net cash per share. Your just operations should help with additional cash generated, you sound very confident. Why not revisit the capital return, especially with the buyback, especially with the investors that have been patient? Any thoughts, any color here would be appreciated.

好的。偉大的。你們的 2024 年指南非常令人鼓舞。您還加大了 6 奈米的投入。我了解是什麼推動了營運支出的成長。我還看一下你的現金，你每股有近 10 美元的淨現金。你的公正營運應該有助於產生額外的現金，你聽起來非常有信心。為什麼不重新檢視資本回報，尤其是回購，尤其是對於那些一直有耐心的投資者呢？任何想法、任何顏色都將不勝感激。

Yes. Thanks for the question, Mehdi. Look, that's a good question. If we look at our capital allocation program constantly, right? That's something we review with our Board regularly. We have the dividend policy that we've been paying for a very long number of years with the exception of when we were in the acquisition process.

是的。謝謝你的提問，邁赫迪。聽著，這是個好問題。如果我們不斷地審視我們的資本配置計劃，對吧？這是我們定期與董事會審查的內容。除了我們在收購過程中的情況外，我們多年來一直在實施股利政策。

Strategy behind the dividend, as you know, has been always a set it at a level that's comfortably affordable and we'll continue to evaluate going forward, whether to increase the dividend in a future time as business continues to scale and cash flow increases longer term.

如您所知，股息背後的策略始終是將其設定在一個可以輕鬆負擔的水平，我們將繼續評估未來是否隨著業務不斷擴大和現金流增加更長的時間而增加股息學期。

In terms of things like a share repurchase, as you know, our share repurchase program in the past has been opportunistic. We do not have a program in place today, but the Board is always evaluating ways of returning cash to shareholders, and share repurchase is something they'll continue to look at.

在股票回購方面，如您所知，我們過去的股票回購計畫是機會主義的。我們目前還沒有製定計劃，但董事會一直在評估向股東返還現金的方式，而股票回購是他們將繼續關注的問題。

Next question comes from the line of Quinn Bolton from Needham.

下一個問題來自李約瑟的奎因·博爾頓。

Congratulations on the results and outlook. I wanted to follow up, Wallace on your comments. Very encouraging to hear that you'll grow with every NAND manufacturer in 2024. But I think one of the concerns we've heard from investors is that as UFS 4.0 becomes mainstream, that one of your customers that's in-sourced, UFS 4.0 that may be a headwind more in '25 than '24. And so I'm not trying to get you to give guidance for '25.

祝賀結果和前景。華萊士，我想跟進你的評論。很高興聽到您將在 2024 年與每家 NAND 製造商一起成長。但我認為我們從投資者那裡聽到的擔憂之一是，隨著 UFS 4.0 成為主流，您的一位內購客戶 UFS 4.0 25 年的阻力可能比24 年更大。所以我並不是想讓你為 25 年提供指導。

But overall, would you expect your business in aggregate with NAND vendors to continue to grow in 2025 as UFS 4.0 becomes more mainstream? And then I got a follow-up.

但總體而言，隨著 UFS 4.0 變得更加主流，您是否期望您與 NAND 供應商的業務在 2025 年繼續成長？然後我得到了跟進。

Yes, we believe we definitely, we can continue to grow from our mobile controller for both UFS and eMMC. As you know very well, the UFS 4.0 still remains the high end for 2024 and 2025 and probably will go to mainstream up to second half of 2026. And we have a very strong UFS 3.1, 2.2 today, not only for existing NAND partner but also winning 1 to 2 additional NAND maker business and going to ramp in 2024 and 2025.

是的，我們相信我們絕對可以透過 UFS 和 eMMC 的行動控制器繼續發展。如您所知，UFS 4.0 在2024 年和2025 年仍然是高端產品，並且可能會在2026 年下半年成為主流。今天我們擁有非常強大的UFS 3.1、2.2，不僅對於現有的NAND 合作夥伴，而且對於還贏得了 1 到 2 個額外的 NAND 製造商業務，並將在 2024 年和 2025 年實現成長。

In addition, we also see NAND makers, they focus on the new development. So when UFS 4.0 becomes mainstream, their R&D focuses on UFS 5.0 development and sometimes outsourcing the new UFS 4.0 project to Silicon Motion because our new laser controller can capture the latest new generation high-performing I/O NAND with higher density NAND. So that will become much more attractive and value add to the -- to our [name] partner, extend the product life cycle.

另外，我們也看到NAND廠商，他們注重新的發展。因此，當UFS 4.0成為主流時，他們的研發重點是UFS 5.0開發，有時會將新的UFS 4.0專案外包給慧榮，因為我們的新雷射控制器可以捕獲具有更高密度NAND的最新一代高性能I/O NAND。因此，對於我們的[名稱]合作夥伴來說，這將變得更具吸引力並增加價值，延長產品生命週期。

So we see our position very well with NAND maker as well as growing margin maker who are moving from eMMC to UFS.

因此，我們對 NAND 製造商以及從 eMMC 轉向 UFS 的利潤成長製造商的定位感到非常滿意。

And I think also that it's becoming a much more diversified business. It's no longer really driven by one customer. We have a multitude of flash makers and module makers that address the smartphone market all very effectively. And so as we ramp up with these new flash makers and module makers, we're confident that we can continue to grow this business long term.

我還認為它正在成為一個更加多元化的業務。它不再真正由一位客戶驅動。我們擁有眾多快閃記憶體製造商和模組製造商，可以非常有效地滿足智慧型手機市場的需求。因此，當我們與這些新的快閃記憶體製造商和模組製造商合作時，我們有信心能夠繼續長期發展這項業務。

Great. My second question is more a clarification about the 2 new NAND vendors that ramp this year. Can you give us any color? Is that specifically on the eMMC UFS business? Is it across both mobile as well as the SSD business? Just any color? And then, Jason, just a quick looks like OpEx for the full year probably comes in at about $240 million or on average about $60 million a quarter. I know there's some tape-outs in Q1 and Q3 that will probably increase R&D in that -- in those quarters. But is that sort of $240 million not the right range to be thinking about for OpEx in calendar '24?

偉大的。我的第二個問題更多的是關於今年新增的兩家 NAND 供應商的澄清。你能給我們任何顏色嗎？這是專門針對 eMMC UFS 業務的嗎？行動業務和 SSD 業務都是如此嗎？隨便什麼顏色都可以嗎？然後，傑森，粗略地看一下，全年的營運支出可能約為 2.4 億美元，或平均每季約為 6,000 萬美元。我知道第一季和第三季有一些流片可能會增加這兩個季度的研發。但是，2.4 億美元不是 24 世紀營運支出考量的正確範圍嗎？

The 2 NAND makers, I think, really is one is for UFS, one is eMMC, but we are continuing looking for engagement with the NAND makers.

我認為，這兩家 NAND 製造商確實是一家是 UFS，一家是 eMMC，但我們正在繼續尋求與 NAND 製造商的合作。

Yes. And for OpEx, I think -- yes, I think it's in that range. $230 million to $240 million is probably the way to look at it.

是的。對於營運支出，我認為 - 是的，我認為它在這個範圍內。 2.3 億至 2.4 億美元可能是看待這個問題的方式。

Next question comes from the line of Gokul Hariharan from JPMorgan Chase.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Gokul Hariharan。

First question is on enterprise, given that you have -- you are getting pretty good traction with your new product and you also reorganized the organization to focus more on enterprise. Wallace, could you give us a little bit more color on how big is the enterprise addressable market or Silicon Motion? What is something that you can really achieve over the next maybe 3, 4 years in terms of the enterprise traction?

第一個問題是關於企業的，因為你的新產品獲得了相當好的吸引力，並且你也重組了組織以更專注於企業。 Wallace，您能給我們更多關於企業或慧榮的潛在市場有多大的資訊嗎？就企業吸引力而言，在接下來的三、四年內，您真正可以實現什麼目標？

And could you also give us a little bit of color in terms of what kind of design wins are you getting? Are you getting more design wins on like core storage products? Or is it like making OEMS and hyperscalers? Is there any mix in terms of where you're getting the payments? Maybe that you will give us a little bit more color on the enterprise addressable market.

您能否向我們介紹一下您獲得了哪些設計勝利？您是否在核心儲存產品等方面獲得了更多設計勝利？或者就像製造 OEM 和超大規模廠商一樣？您收到付款的方式是否有混合情況？也許您會給我們更多有關企業目標市場的資訊。

So it's a very good question. I think that we are seeing very good traction today as we continue to sample and go through the qualification process with these Tier 1 customers and by a dozen customers from U.S. and to Taiwan, China. And see, I cannot give you the quantized number. I think by end of 2024, we'll have meaningful revenue.

所以這是一個非常好的問題。我認為，今天我們看到了非常好的吸引力，因為我們繼續與這些一級客戶以及來自美國和中國台灣的十幾家客戶進行抽樣並完成資格流程。你看，我無法給你量化的數字。我認為到 2024 年底，我們將獲得可觀的收入。

We have much bigger revenue in 2025 and 2026.

2025 年和 2026 年我們的收入會大得多。

The reason we get traction not only the standard NVMe, we're gaining momentum because the high-performance and all the number index that exceed expectation, but also we get a traction due to the QLC SSD coming into the data center.

我們受到關注的原因不僅是標準 NVMe，因為高效能和超出預期的所有數位指標，我們獲得了動力，而且由於 QLC SSD 進入資料中心，我們也受到了關注。

And then see, this is for twofold. One is [FTP] standard for QLC, also low NAND space for QLC in China. I think U.S., one customer is also very interested for low NAND space. So that makes us a very differentiated compared with conventional easy solution. Due to the AI server demand and AI demand, I think Gen 5 SSD become much more attractive. So this is a similar our demand, and that's why many customers in Gen 4 qualify our Gen 5 solution.

然後看，這是雙重的。一是QLC的[FTP]標準，也是中國QLC的低NAND空間。我認為美國的一位客戶也對低 NAND 空間非常感興趣。因此，與傳統的簡單解決方案相比，這使我們非常與眾不同。由於AI伺服器需求和AI需求，我認為Gen 5 SSD變得更具吸引力。因此，這與我們的需求類似，這就是為什麼許多第 4 代客戶認可我們的第 5 代解決方案的原因。

Got it. For -- my next question is more near term. For 2024, you have a 20% to 25% revenue guidance. Could you give us some color on how you expect client SSD to grow and mobile to grow? And within mobile, recently, we are hearing some concerns about the end of restocking for some of the Chinese customers. Are you seeing the China -- the smartphone customers being a little bit more conservative in terms of procurement in the near term?

知道了。因為——我的下一個問題是更近期的問題。對於 2024 年，您的收入指引為 20% 至 25%。您能否告訴我們您期望客戶端 SSD 和行動裝置如何發展？最近，在行動領域，我們聽到了一些對一些中國客戶的補貨結束的擔憂。您是否認為中國智慧型手機客戶近期在採購上更加保守？

Yes. I think for client SSD, last year, our market share -- global market share is around 25%, 26%. We believe this year will grow to 30% to 32% range because total overall SSD number overall will grow another probably $10 million to $20 million for global unit shipment.

是的。我認為對於客戶端SSD，去年我們的市佔率－全球市佔率約為25%、26%。我們相信今年的成長率將達到 30% 到 32%，因為全球 SSD 出貨量總數可能會再成長 1,000 萬美元到 2,000 萬美元。

For mobile, we will grow faster and stronger because we have more customers in the pipeline not only the existing NAND maker, they continue to grow compared with last year, but also we have 2 additional NAND maker who joined the group to grow and module maker, we see they will grow even stronger. And we also have a platform development with both Qualcomm and MediaTek. We also have direct engagement with smartphone maker to strengthening our position and technology and pacing for 2025 growth.

對於行動設備，我們將發展得更快、更強大，因為我們有更多的客戶，不僅是現有的NAND 製造商，他們與去年相比繼續成長，而且我們還有另外2 家NAND 製造商加入該集團以實現成長，還有模組製造商，我們看到他們會變得更加強大。我們也與高通和聯發科都有平台開發。我們也與智慧型手機製造商直接合作，以加強我們的地位和技術，並為 2025 年的成長做好準備。

Our next question comes from the line of Anthony Stoss from Craig-Hallum.

我們的下一個問題來自 Craig-Hallum 的 Anthony Stoss。

Jason, I was trying to write as fast as I could. On the tapeout commentary, could you just break that out again by quarter and kind of the cost that you expect for the quarter? And then I had a follow-up for Wallace.

傑森，我試著盡可能快地寫。關於流片評論，您能否按季度再次細分一下，以及您預計該季度的成本？然後我對華萊士進行了後續報道。

Yes. So we're expecting to tape out our UFS 4 6-nanometer controller here in the first quarter, and then we'll take out our second PCIe Gen 5 controller early in the third quarter. So that's going to result in more elevated OpEx kind of similar to what you saw here in the fourth quarter for each of those 2 quarters.

是的。因此，我們預計在第一季將 UFS 4 6 奈米控制器流片，然後我們將在第三季初推出第二個 PCIe Gen 5 控制器。因此，這將導致營運支出更高，類似於您在第四季度看到的這兩個季度的情況。

And then in Q2 and Q4, that should revert back down to a more normalized level because of those -- because those peers don't have the tape-out. Those tape-outs as we have said in the past, are typically north of $15 million in terms of total development and investment cost for us. So during the quarter, where they're taping out, it's certainly a big step up on the OpEx.

然後在第二季度和第四季度，這應該會恢復到更正常化的水平，因為這些同業沒有流片。正如我們過去所說，就我們的總開發和投資成本而言，這些流片通常超過 1500 萬美元。因此，在他們進行流片的本季度，營運支出無疑是一個巨大的進步。

Okay. Got it. And then Wallace, I'd love to hear a little bit more last quarterly conference call, you talked about a new Korean NAND maker coming on as a customer. I'm curious to your view on how quickly they could wrap and could they be a, let's say, a top 3 customer in 2025?

好的。知道了。然後華萊士，我很想在上個季度的電話會議上聽到更多信息，你談到了一家新的韓國 NAND 製造商即將成為客戶。我很好奇您對他們的包裝速度有多快有何看法，以及他們能否在 2025 年成為前三名客戶？

We cannot comment individual NAND maker customers about their revenue, but we definitely look forward to stronger engagement and broaden our product line and design win. I think we're looking forward to embrace the NAND maker who really can outsource more projects to Silicon Motion, and we add value to them. I think that 2024, '25, there are really a good timing for us to show our technology and serve our NAND maker -- select their R&D extension and looking forward to more exciting results. And we will definitely rollout this year.

我們無法評論個別 NAND 製造商客戶的收入，但我們絕對期待更強有力的參與並擴大我們的產品線和設計勝利。我認為我們期待著擁抱真正可以將更多項目外包給慧榮的 NAND 製造商，我們為他們增加價值。我認為2024年，25年，確實是我們展示我們的技術並服務我們的NAND製造商的好時機——選擇他們的研發延伸並期待更多令人興奮的結果。我們今年一定會推出。

Okay. And if I could sneak in one more on your MonTitan SSD, you talked about having secured one design win. Can you give us any color on if it's a data center hyperscaler NAND maker. And then how quickly do you think you can secure additional out of those 12 that have sampled?

好的。如果我可以在您的 MonTitan SSD 上再偷偷介紹一下，您談到已經獲得了一項設計勝利。如果它是一家資料中心超大規模 NAND 製造商，您能給我們透露一下嗎？那麼您認為多久可以從這 12 個樣本中獲得更多樣本呢？

We cannot comment the customer and the type, but I think with Tier 1 customers and with that, we believe we will secure the second one in the second half of 2024. So I think we're confident to win at least 2 Tier 1 customers by end of 2024.

我們無法評論客戶和類型，但我認為對於 1 級客戶，我們相信我們將在 2024 年下半年獲得第二位客戶。所以我認為我們有信心贏得至少 2 個 1 級客戶到 2024 年底。

Next question comes from Craig Ellis from B. Riley Securities.

下一個問題來自 B. Riley 證券公司的 Craig Ellis。

Wallace, I wanted to start with you and follow up on some of the outsourcing questions from the call, but also really continue the conversation that you and I have had over the last couple of years. So I think we both expected that there would be an increase in outsourcing from NAND customers.

華萊士，我想從您開始，跟進電話中的一些外包問題，但也真正繼續您和我在過去幾年中進行的對話。所以我認為我們都預期 NAND 客戶的外包將會增加。

And the question is this, as you look across the increase in activity that you've observed over the last 12 months or so, can you characterize how extensive that is from OEMs that are maybe just doing 1 or 2 new products to much more wholesale changes? What's happening on the continuum a little bit to a lot? And how much of that is baked into the guidance that you and Jason have given for calendar '24? And then I had a couple of follow-ups.

問題是，當您觀察過去 12 個月左右觀察到的活動增加時，您能否描述一下 OEM 廠商（可能只生產 1 或 2 個新產品）到更多批發產品的活動範圍有多大？變化？從一點點到很多連續體上發生了什麼事？其中有多少內容被納入您和 Jason 為日曆 '24 提供的指導中？然後我進行了一些後續行動。

I think the -- as you can see through the 2023, it was a difficult year for all the NAND makers because the weak demand and the oversupply, the NAND price declined sharply and nobody really make any planning. Everybody is margin negative. And we are able to gain share because I think we are treated due, recognize the extension of NAND makers on R&D.

我認為，正如你所看到的，2023 年對於所有 NAND 製造商來說都是艱難的一年，因為需求疲軟和供應過剩，NAND 價格大幅下跌，而且沒有人真正做出任何規劃。每個人的保證金都是負數。我們能夠獲得份額是因為我認為我們受到了應有的對待，認可了 NAND 製造商在研發方面的擴展。

So that's why we have been developed such relationship recognition, trust and respect for the past 15 years. And we're capable and handling. So NAND makers, their focus now is not focused on market share. They focus on profitability. So they are not either invest more CapEx in the NAND capacity. They only invest the technology they want to deliver. So their focus on the development is between the high end, more value, they can maximize the profitability they can get.

這就是為什麼我們在過去 15 年裡建立了這種認可、信任和尊重的關係。我們有能力、有能力處理。所以對於NAND製造商來說，他們現在的重點不是市佔率。他們注重盈利能力。因此他們也不會在 NAND 產能上投入更多資本支出。他們只投資他們想要提供的技術。所以他們的發展重點是在高端之間，更多的價值，他們能夠最大化他們所能獲得的獲利能力。

And the mainstream waterline, they will try to also to third party like Silicon Motion, which we can help them and diversify and bring a more portfolio offered to the very end customer. So this is the idea we bring to the table, and we see more and more outsourcing opportunity from NAND maker when they make a business decision, they tend to go to the third party like Silicon Motion.

對於主流水線，他們也會嘗試像慧榮這樣的第三方，我們可以幫助他們多元化，並為最終客戶提供更多的產品組合。這就是我們提出的想法，我們看到 NAND 製造商有越來越多的外包機會，當他們做出業務決策時，他們傾向於選擇像慧榮這樣的第三方。

Got it. And then the follow-up question is just a continuation. What are the things that you're looking at that will indicate that this is not only a trough cycle reaction from NAND OEMs, but through the sweet spot of the cycle and towards the peak of the cycle, they would sustain this level of outsourcing or perhaps even grow it. And then the follow-up is for Jason. Jason, is MonTitan ramps in calendar '24? How should we think of the gross margin implications relative to corporate average?

知道了。然後後續的問題只是延續。您正在關注的哪些事情將表明這不僅是 NAND OEM 的低谷週期反應，而且通過週期的最佳點並走向週期的頂峰，他們將維持這種水平的外包或也許甚至可以種植它。接下來是傑森的。 Jason，MonTitan 會在 24 年月曆中推出嗎？我們該如何看待毛利率相對於企業平均的影響？

We see this cycle because now NAND is well being shortage. So NAND maker, they carefully to value all the priority inside the company. Every NAND may have a different strategy, and we cannot comment for that. But we believe the cycle will continue until middle of 2025 or late 2025, when supply demand reached balance and NAND makers start to invest more about the CapEx and to meet the higher demand.

我們看到這個週期是因為現在 NAND 非常短缺。所以NAND製造商，他們小心翼翼地重視公司內部的所有優先事項。每個 NAND 可能有不同的策略，我們無法對此發表評論。但我們相信這個週期將持續到 2025 年中期或 2025 年末，屆時供應需求達到平衡，NAND 製造商開始增加資本支出投資，以滿足更高的需求。

And I also think that -- I think to your question about how much of this outsourcing is temporary versus more of a structural shift. We have wins going into 2025 and further out. So I think this isn't something where they were just using us for a short-term stop gap. This is something where we're building much more substantial long-term relationships with them.

我還認為，對於你的問題，這種外包有多少是暫時的，而不是更多的結構性轉變。我們在 2025 年乃至更遠的將來都取得了勝利。所以我認為這不僅僅是他們利用我們作為短期的權宜之計。我們正在與他們建立更實質的長期關係。

In terms of the MonTitan revenue ramp and margin impact, that's not going to expect it to happen until late into Q4 -- late into 2024, excuse me, in Q4. So it's too early to say what impact it will have more meaningful ramp in 2025.

就 MonTitan 的營收成長和利潤率影響而言，預計要到第四季末才會發生——對不起，是在 2024 年第四季末。因此，現在判斷 2025 年它會產生什麼更有意義的影響還為時過早。

And certainly, as we have better visibility around that, around timing of wins and scale of the wins, we'll be able to provide more color. But right now, it's a little too early to talk about the impact of both revenue and margins at this point.

當然，隨著我們對勝利的時間和勝利的規模有了更好的了解，我們將能夠提供更多的色彩。但現在談論收入和利潤率的影響還為時過早。

Got it. And the gross margin color on calendar '24 guide was quite helpful. Can you talk about the visibility that you have, Jason, to gross margins ultimately reattaining that more normalized 50% level?

知道了。 24 日曆指南上的毛利率顏色非常有幫助。 Jason，您能談談您對毛利率最終重新達到更標準化的 50% 水平的可見度嗎？

Yes. I think we're feeling pretty good about that just given the mix of new products, new projects, new technologies that are coming to market that we already have strong design win and pipeline for. As each day passes, we're also seeing these new engagements bring with them healthier pricing levels at healthier margins, and we're certainly working on our own back end and production to also improve costs as well.

是的。我認為，考慮到即將推出的新產品、新項目、新技術的組合，我們對此感覺非常好，我們已經擁有強大的設計勝利和管道。隨著時間一天天過去，我們也看到這些新的合作帶來了更健康的定價水平和更健康的利潤，而且我們當然也致力於我們自己的後端和生產，以提高成本。

So I think we're on a good track here and the guidance that we provided, we believe that it's attainable.

因此，我認為我們目前進展順利，並且根據我們提供的指導，我們相信這是可以實現的。

Our next question comes from Suji Desilva from ROTH MKM.

我們的下一個問題來自 ROTH MKM 的 Suji Desilva。

Jason can congrats on the good guidance here. You talked about the module makers securing lower-cost NAND in late '23 that they're selling through now. Can you just talk about the behavior you'd expect as that lower cost NAND gets worked through and how they respond? Would they then look to market conditions? Or just any thoughts there on how that might impact the financials after that gets worked through?

Jason 可以在這裡祝賀您的良好指導。您談到了模組製造商在 23 世紀末獲得了低成本 NAND，他們現在正在銷售這些產品。您能否談談您對低成本 NAND 的預期表現以及它們的反應？然後他們會關注市場狀況嗎？或者只是關於這可能會如何影響解決後的財務狀況的任何想法？

Most of our leading module makers I think they have been in the market for a long time. So they understand NAND price trend. So they procure a very large amount of NAND through last August to November. So that really is prepared for NAND price up. They understand NAND price, NAND will be in shortage and NAND price will go continually throughout the entire '24. So they're procuring advance and to balance their cost. They will continue to buy some of NAND this year, but the product mix and NAND different pricing makes them to be more competitive to compete with other module makers.

我認為我們大多數領先的模組製造商已經進入市場很長時間了。所以他們了解NAND價格趨勢。所以他們從去年8月到11月採購了大量的NAND。所以這確實是為 NAND 價格上漲做好了準備。他們了解NAND價格，NAND將出現短缺，並且NAND價格將在整個'24年持續上漲。因此，他們正在採購預付款並平衡成本。今年他們將繼續購買一些NAND，但產品組合和NAND不同的定價使他們在與其他模組製造商競爭時更具競爭力。

Okay. All right. And then my other question is on the MonTitan as it ramps up. Is that the right way to think about that, that maybe some of the AI servers out there creates opportunity for attach rates and content increases in MonTitan? Or is that not the right framework for what might be causing some...

好的。好的。然後我的另一個問題是關於 MonTitan 的升級。這是正確的思考方式嗎？也許某些人工智慧伺服器為 MonTitan 的附加率和內容增加創造了機會？或者這不是可能導致某些問題的正確框架嗎？

I cannot comment on that, but I think the current demand is in the very wide range from the hyperscalers and from AI server, from all-flash array, from conventional servers. So I think we're definitely looking forward to -- but the more important is a Tier 1 customer who have a really good volume, and we believe we can -- we have a secured one. We're looking forward to see your second one by second half of 2024.

我無法對此發表評論，但我認為當前的需求範圍非常廣泛，從超大規模伺服器到人工智慧伺服器，從全快閃陣列到傳統伺服器。所以我認為我們絕對期待 - 但更重要的是擁有非常好的銷售量的一級客戶，我們相信我們可以 - 我們有一個安全的客戶。我們期待在 2024 年下半年見到您的第二次。

We have a follow-up questions from Mehdi Hosseini from Susquehanna International Group.

我們收到了來自薩斯奎哈納國際集團 (Susquehanna International Group) 的 Mehdi Hosseini 的後續問題。

Yes. Jason, I understand the 6-nanometer tape-out is going to keep your R&D in the $47 million to $48 million a quarter this year. Should we expect additional tape-outs next year? In other words, should R&D stay at these elevated levels into 2025? Or would it taper off?

是的。 Jason，據我了解，6 奈米流片將使您今年每季的研發費用保持在 4,700 萬至 4,800 萬美元。我們是否應該期待明年會有更多的流片？換句話說，研發是否應該在 2025 年之前保持在這樣的高水準？還是會逐漸減少？

I think we'll continue to invest here. I think it's a little too early for us to comment about what 2025 OpEx looks like at this point. But obviously, it's important for us to continue to invest, to continue to stay ahead. We tape out a 6-nanometer because it's what we need to do.

我想我們會繼續在這裡投資。我認為現在評論 2025 年營運支出還為時過早。但顯然，對我們來說繼續投資、持續保持領先地位很重要。我們流片了 6 奈米，因為這是我們需要做的。

The technology requirements for performance and power, you can only get both of those to the right levels when you go down to this lower process geometry. I think there are options for us to look at ways of reducing tape-out costs and foundry costs longer term that we're exploring. So stay tuned as we have more to share on that. We will. But certainly, our goal here is to continue to invest, but invest responsibly and try to bring the cost down as much as we can, but still maintain our technology leadership.

對於性能和功耗的技術要求，只有當您採用較低的製程幾何結構時，才能將這兩者達到正確的水平。我認為我們可以選擇一些方法來尋找我們正在探索的長期降低流片成本和代工成本的方法。因此，請繼續關注，我們還有更多相關內容要分享。我們將。但當然，我們的目標是繼續投資，但要負責任地投資，並盡力降低成本，但仍保持我們的技術領先地位。

That's fair. Ultimately, we're just trying to figure out if the company is still targeting mid- to high 20% operating margin and OpEx is a factor here. So any thoughts on the longer-term operating margin target since...

這還算公平。最終，我們只是想弄清楚該公司是否仍以 20% 的中高營運利潤率為目標，而營運支出是否是其中的一個因素。因此，自…以來對長期營業利潤率目標有什麼想法嗎？

Yes, that hasn't changed. I think if you take a look at our business in the past, we are typically 48%, 50-plus percent gross margin company and operating margins in that 25% to 30%. There's nothing fundamentally different about our business today that says that, that's not an achievable target for us longer term.

是的，這一點沒有改變。我想如果你看看我們過去的業務，我們通常是毛利率48%、50%以上的公司，營業利潤率在25%到30%之間。我們今天的業務沒有什麼本質上的不同，這表明這不是我們長期可以實現的目標。

We also have a follow-up question from Craig Ellis from B. Riley Securities.

我們還有來自 B. Riley Securities 的 Craig Ellis 提出的後續問題。

Wallace, you mentioned the company has a collaboration with both MediaTek and Qualcomm. And I was hoping you could comment a little bit further on that, both on the duration of those 2 partnership engagements. And two, the nature of them, are you a reference design partner for those solutions? And if so, to what extent? And to what extent have those been part of UFS revenues in the past? And are they expected to be in '24 and '25?

Wallace，您提到該公司與聯發科和高通都有合作。我希望您能對此發表進一步評論，包括這兩次合作的持續時間。第二，它們的性質，您是這些解決方案的參考設計夥伴嗎？如果是這樣，程度如何？過去這些在多大程度上是 UFS 收入的一部分？他們預計會在 24 年和 25 年出現嗎？

It's important for our new products and to qualify on leading SoC provider, like the Qualcomm and MTK for the mobile platform. And then normally, we have direct engagement also through our customer, joint qualification. So they help us to resolve some issue during the preproduction qualification. So this is a joint prequalification and help us to gain confidence for our quality for firmware as well as ASIC.

對於我們的新產品來說，獲得領先 SoC 供應商（例如行動平台的高通和 MTK）的資格非常重要。通常情況下，我們也會透過我們的客戶、聯合資格進行直接參與。因此，他們幫助我們解決了預生產資格期間的一些問題。因此，這是一次聯合預審，有助於我們對韌體和 ASIC 的品質充滿信心。

And we also -- and what we serve Qualcomm for automotive platform qualification. So they extended our product line like Ferri and MediaTek and other NXP. So this is the platform for partner and platform engagement to help accelerate our product readiness, also help our customers to end the production sooner.

我們也為高通提供汽車平台資格認證。因此他們像 Ferri 和 MediaTek 以及其他 NXP 一樣擴展了我們的產品線。因此，這是合作夥伴和平台參與的平台，可以幫助加快我們的產品準備工作，也可以幫助我們的客戶更快地結束生產。

And how material are those relative to the revenue that we've been seeing and that you would expect to see in 2024?

與我們已經看到的以及您預計 2024 年看到的收入相比，這些收入有多重要？

I cannot quantize the numbers, but I tell you it's very helpful and our company put a big effort for platform qualification and team and dedicated to help our product line.

我無法量化這些數字，但我告訴你這非常有幫助，我們公司在平台資格和團隊方面付出了巨大的努力，並致力於幫助我們的產品線。

Next up, we also have a follow-up question from Gokul Hariharan from JPMorgan Chase.

接下來，我們還有來自摩根大通的 Gokul Hariharan 的後續問題。

I had one question on AI. Wallace, you did highlight the AI adoption on the enterprise side. Could you also talk broadly on what happens when you have more AI adoption on edge devices, especially most of your PC and smartphone customers are launching AI-enabled PCs and smartphones this year and probably more next year? What does it do to NAND flash content? And what does it do to your controller ASPs or controller specs?

我有一個關於人工智慧的問題。 Wallace，您確實強調了企業方面人工智慧的採用。您能否廣泛地談談當您在邊緣設備上採用更多人工智慧時會發生什麼，特別是您的大多數PC 和智慧型手機客戶今年都推出了支援AI 的PC 和智慧型手機，明年可能還會推出更多？它對 NAND 快閃記憶體內容有何作用？它對您的控制器 ASP 或控制器規格有何影響？

So these are very good questions. Naturally, not only us, all the NAND maker, I think, have spent probably at least half year looking forward to how the AI will impact for storage solution and what a controller maker need to do to improve our value and to enhance AI application. So there's a lot of exciting applications for AI PC. You're looking from the Intel, AMD, the SoC, also Qualcomm and NVIDIA coming provide the solution. They are also third-party (inaudible) SoC for PC, but not for the notebook, but for desktop and for PC workstation.

所以這些都是非常好的問題。當然，不只是我們，我想所有的NAND廠商都花了至少半年的時間來期待AI對儲存解決方案的影響，以及控制器廠商需要做些什麼來提高我們的價值和增強AI應用。因此，AI PC 有許多令人興奮的應用。你正在尋找英特爾、AMD、SoC，還有高通和 NVIDIA 來提供解決方案。它們也是適用於 PC 的第三方（聽不清楚）SoC，但不是針對筆記型電腦，而是針對桌上型電腦和 PC 工作站。

So we are involving for what our company is for enterprise AI, the SSD probably because the enterprise -- the server AI is more important for compute. So it's storage solution is really a system role. So the regular latency and sequential results very critical and to supporting the -- all the AI server requirement.

因此，我們公司之所以涉及企業人工智慧，SSD可能是因為企業——伺服器人工智慧對於運算來說更重要。所以它的儲存解決方案確實是一個系統角色。因此，定期延遲和順序結果對於支援所有人工智慧伺服器要求非常重要。

But for the AI PC, that's a story because you cannot use HBN for the PC. You cannot use a very, very high density and limited density for DRAM, so the swapping become very critical. So several technologies, several requirement is really neither SSD controller and a solution to provide to allow to make the edge AI to be more meaningful and more practical. And I cannot go to detail. I'd just say this is all the area we are looking for to add value and study. I think all NAND makers and leading control makers are looking for to provide solution and be part of the edge AI trend.

但對於 AI PC 來說，這是一個故事，因為你不能在 PC 上使用 HBN。 DRAM 不能使用非常非常高的密度和有限的密度，因此交換變得非常關鍵。如此多種技術、多種要求實際上既不是SSD控制器，也不是提供一個解決方案，讓邊緣AI變得更有意義、更實用。我無法詳細說明。我只想說這就是我們正在尋找增加價值和研究的所有領域。我認為所有 NAND 製造商和領先的控制製造商都在尋求提供解決方案並成為邊緣人工智慧趨勢的一部分。

Okay. And second, on PCIe Gen 5, could you talk a little bit about the pricing uplift you're expecting as you go from PCIe Gen 4 to PCIe Gen 5? I remember I think you talked about significant premium in the last call. Could you talk a little bit about what you're seeing in the market for the flagship products? And how that is likely to shape out as we get into more mainstream PCIe Gen 5 products towards next year as well?

好的。其次，關於 PCIe Gen 5，您能否談談從 PCIe Gen 4 升級到 PCIe Gen 5 時您預期的價格上漲？我記得我認為您在上次通話中談到了巨額溢價。您能談談您在市場上看到的旗艦產品嗎？當我們明年進入更主流的 PCIe Gen 5 產品時，這可能會如何發展？

I think -- I cannot give you exact number, but our high-end PCIe Gen 5 channel controller is about 2x of PCIe Gen 4 controller today. We are very exciting to see our high-end PCIe Gen 5 controller adopted by 3 NAND maker. We believe there will be additional join in later this year. So this is very important for us to expand our market share for a notebook for PC OEM as well as we see the increase in our sales revenue as well as margin.

我認為——我無法給您確切的數字，但我們的高階 PCIe Gen 5 通道控制器大約是當今 PCIe Gen 4 控制器的 2 倍。我們非常高興看到我們的高階 PCIe Gen 5 控制器被 3 NAND 製造商採用。我們相信今年晚些時候還會有更多的人加入。因此，這對於我們擴大 PC OEM 筆記型電腦市佔率非常重要，而且我們的銷售收入和利潤率也有所增加。

And this is a very important milestone. And the PCIe Gen 5 and the high-end controller can also be adopted by the server for boot storage. And I think there's a trend we're seeing. And not just for notebook, but PC for workstation, for gaming PC will be high-end PCIe Gen 5 channel controller.

這是一個非常重要的里程碑。伺服器也可以採用PCIe Gen 5和高階控制器作為啟動儲存。我認為我們看到了一種趨勢。不僅適用於筆記型電腦，適用於工作站、遊戲 PC 的 PC 也將採用高階 PCIe Gen 5 通道控制器。

With that, I would like to hand the call back to the management for closing remarks.

至此，我想將電話轉交給管理階層以供結束語。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today and for your continued interest in Silicon Motion. We will be attending several investor conferences over the next few months. The schedule of this event will be posted on the Investor Relations section of our corporate website. Thank you, everyone, for joining today. Goodbye for now.

感謝大家今天加入我們，並感謝大家對慧榮科技的持續關注。我們將在接下來的幾個月內參加幾次投資者會議。本次活動的日程安排將發佈在我們公司網站的投資者關係部分。謝謝大家今天的加入。暫時再見了。

That does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。現在您可以斷開線路。