SiTime Corp (SITM) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to SiTime's fourth quarter 2024 financial results conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded, February 5, 2025.

下午好，歡迎參加 SiTime 2024 年第四季財務業績電話會議。(操作員指示) 提醒一下，本次電話會議將於 2025 年 2 月 5 日錄音。

I would now like to turn the call over to Brett Perry of Shelton Group Investor Relations. Brett, please go ahead.

現在，我想將電話轉給 Shelton Group 投資者關係部門的 Brett Perry。布雷特，請繼續。

Thank you, Lisa. Good afternoon, and welcome to SiTime's fourth quarter 2024 financial results conference call. Joining us on today's call from SiTime are Rajesh Vashist, Chief Executive Officer; and Beth Howe, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，麗莎。下午好，歡迎參加 SiTime 2024 年第四季財務業績電話會議。參加今天 SiTime 電話會議的有執行長 Rajesh Vashist；以及財務長 Beth Howe。

Before we begin, I'd like to point out that during the course of this call, the company may make forward-looking statements regarding expected future results, including financial position, strategy and plans, future operations, the timing market, and other areas of discussion. It's not possible for the company's management to predict all risks nor can the company assess the impact of all factors on its business or the extent to which any factor or combination of factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.

在我們開始之前，我想指出的是，在本次電話會議的過程中，公司可能會對預期的未來結果做出前瞻性的陳述，包括財務狀況、策略和計劃、未來營運、時機市場和其他討論領域。公司管理階層不可能預測所有風險，也無法評估所有因素對其業務的影響，或任何因素或因素組合可能導致實際結果與任何前瞻性陳述中的結果有重大差異的程度。

In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed during this call may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied. Neither the company nor any person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements.

鑑於這些風險、不確定性和假設，本次電話會議中討論的前瞻性事件可能不會發生，實際結果可能與預期或暗示的結果有重大不利差異。本公司或任何個人均不對前瞻性陳述的準確性和完整性承擔責任。

The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this conference call to conform statements to actual results or to changes in the company's expectations. For more detailed information on risks associated with the business, we refer you to the risk factors described in the 10-K filed on February 26, 2024, as well as the company's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

本公司不承擔在本次電話會議召開日後以任何理由公開更新前瞻性聲明以使聲明符合實際結果或本公司預期的變更的義務。有關與業務相關的風險的更多詳細信息，請參閱 2024 年 2 月 26 日提交的 10-K 文件中描述的風險因素，以及公司隨後向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中。

During the call, we'll refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, which are considered to be an important measure of company performance. These non-GAAP financial measures are provided in addition to and not as a substitute for, nor superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with US GAAP.

在電話會議中，我們將參考某些非 GAAP 財務指標，這些指標被視為公司績效的重要衡量標準。這些非公認會計準則財務指標是根據美國公認會計準則所編製的財務績效指標的補充，而非替代，也不優於這些指標。

The GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation includes stock-based compensation expense, amortization of acquired intangibles and acquisition-related expenses, which include transaction and certain other cash costs associated with business acquisition as well as changes in the estimated fair value of contingent consideration and earn-out liabilities. Please refer to the company's press release issued earlier today for a detailed reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP results.

公認會計準則與非公認會計準則的對帳包括股票薪酬費用、收購無形資產攤銷和收購相關費用，其中包括與業務收購相關的交易和某些其他現金成本以及或有對價和盈利負債的估計公允價值變動。有關 GAAP 和非 GAAP 結果之間的詳細對賬，請參閱該公司今天早些時候發布的新聞稿。

With that, it's now my pleasure to turn the call over to SiTime's CEO, Rajesh. Please go ahead.

現在我很高興將電話轉給 SiTime 的執行長 Rajesh。請繼續。

Thanks, Brett. Good afternoon. I'd like to welcome new as well as existing investors to SiTime's fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. SiTime is the leader in a dynamic new semiconductor category that we call "Precision Timing," which is the heartbeat of modern electronics. Whether it's in AI, datacenters, networking infrastructure, automated vehicles, personal mobility or IoT, SiTime's Precision Timing delivers better performance and reliability. SiTime's Precision Timing products use semiconductor technology to reimagine time and transform the $10 billion timing market.

謝謝，布雷特。午安.我歡迎新投資者和現有投資者參加 SiTime 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。SiTime 是我們稱為「精密定時」的動態新型半導體類別的領導者，它是現代電子產品的心跳。無論是在人工智慧、資料中心、網路基礎設施、自動駕駛汽車、個人移動或物聯網領域，SiTime 的精確時間都能提供更好的效能和可靠性。SiTime 的精準計時產品利用半導體技術重新定義時間並改變價值 100 億美元的計時市場。

Revenue for Q4 2024 grew 61% year-over-year with strong profitability. For all of 2024, we delivered 41% growth, which is well above our target. Our strong fourth-quarter results demonstrate the diversity of SiTime across customer segments and geographies. Each of our customer segments and regions delivered double-digit percentage growth with Comms-Enterprise-Datacenter, what we call CED, growing significantly. We exited the quarter with strong bookings for 2025, giving us a bright outlook for the year.

2024 年第四季營收年增 61%，獲利能力強勁。在整個 2024 年，我們實現了 41% 的成長，遠高於我們的目標。我們強勁的第四季業績體現了 SiTime 在不同客戶群和地理位置的多樣性。我們的每個客戶群和地區都實現了兩位數的百分比成長，其中，通訊-企業-資料中心（我們稱之為 CED）的成長最為顯著。本季結束時，我們獲得了 2025 年強勁的預訂量，這為我們對今年的前景感到樂觀。

Looking back, FY 2024 was a year of recovery and growth. As forecasted in the previous year, 2023, we started growing sequentially in Q2 '24. Every customer segment delivered double-digit percentage year-over-year growth in Q2, Q3, and Q4 of 2024, while CED delivered triple-digit growth. We believe that this strength in all of our customer segments is a big positive. Our business model is structured to deliver profitable growth while serving different customer segments with different growth rates at different times.

回顧過去，2024財年是復甦和成長的一年。正如前一年（2023 年）的預測一樣，我們在 2024 年第二季開始連續成長。2024 年第二季度、第三季度和第四季度，每個客戶群都實現了兩位數的同比增長，而 CED 則實現了三位數的增長。我們相信，對於我們所有客戶群而言，這項優勢都是巨大的正面因素。我們的商業模式旨在實現獲利性成長，同時在不同時期以不同的成長率服務於不同的客戶群。

Product innovation plays a key role in fulfilling our strategy of producing high-differentiation, high-value timing products. Since Q2 2023, we have introduced 10 new platforms that deliver 40 products with ASPs or average selling prices ranging from $1 to over $200. These will be critical for growth in revenue and gross margin for the next several years. As electronic devices incorporate intelligent features, they will need faster processing, connectivity reliability--and SiTime is the leader in delivering these benefits.

產品創新對於實現我們生產高差異化、高價值計時產品的策略起著關鍵作用。自 2023 年第二季以來，我們推出了 10 個新平台，提供 40 種產品，平均售價或平均售價從 1 美元到 200 多美元不等。這些對於未來幾年的收入和毛利率的成長至關重要。隨著電子設備融入智慧功能，它們將需要更快的處理速度和連接可靠性——而 SiTime 則是提供這些優勢的領導者。

Our Comms-Enterprise-Datacenter business demonstrates the value of our portfolio. We expect CED to continue to lead our growth in 2025 as newer generations of servers in AI and networking equipment are rolled out.

我們的通訊企業資料中心業務體現了我們產品組合的價值。隨著人工智慧和網路設備中新一代伺服器的推出，我們預計 CED 將在 2025 年繼續引領我們的成長。

Turning to recent news in AI, we forecast that the need for higher bandwidth and lower latency will continue to increase. This is true regardless of traditional or low-cost AI models and regardless of general-purpose or reasoning LLM models. Applications such as Active Cables, AECs, GPU switches, SmartNIC cards are solving bandwidth and utilization problems through architectural innovations as well as moving to higher interconnect speeds. And these trends are driving the demand for more Precision Timing with higher dollar content per application.

回顧人工智慧的最新消息，我們預測對更高頻寬和更低延遲的需求將持續增加。無論是傳統或低成本的人工智慧模型，無論是通用或推理的 LLM 模型，都是如此。有源電纜、AEC、GPU 交換器、SmartNIC 卡等應用正在透過架構創新以及向更高的互連速度解決頻寬和利用率問題。這些趨勢正在推動對更精確計時的需求，每個應用程式的成本會更高。

For example, our oscillators have significant market share in 800G optical modules, and we have a compelling road map for future generations of 1.6 terabit and 3.2 terabit modules.

例如，我們的振盪器在 800G 光模組中佔有相當大的市場份額，並且我們為未來幾代 1.6 太比特和 3.2 太比特模組制定了引人注目的路線圖。

In switches and NIC, or NIC cards, SiTime's recently introduced 5977 Super-TCXO solves GPU utilization and reliability problems by delivering up to 3x better synchronization, 4x smaller size, and 20 times better reliability.

在交換器和 NIC 或 NIC 卡中，SiTime 最近推出的 5977 Super-TCXO 透過提供高達 3 倍的同步性、4 倍的體積和 20 倍的可靠性解決了 GPU 利用率和可靠性問題。

But it's not all about AI datacenters in our CED market. It's also about the breadth of other applications. We've seen increasing demand in Communications where our Epoch product, our OCXO, solves timing problems in 5G base stations. We continue to expect success in this subsegment starting in 2026.

但我們的 CED 市場並非全是 AI 資料中心。它也與其他應用的廣度有關。我們看到通訊領域的需求不斷增長，其中我們的 Epoch 產品 OCXO 解決了 5G 基地台的計時問題。我們繼續期待從 2026 年開始這一子領域取得成功。

Now let's talk about growth opportunities for SiTime beyond CED. In the broader industrial market, new use cases and the adoption of new technologies are driving the need for more Precision Timing with higher dollar content. For example, autonomous technology that uses our timing products is being adopted in mining and construction equipment as well as precision agriculture. This is a $50 million market for SiTime, and we expect to get the majority share because of greater resilience.

現在讓我們來談談 SiTime 在 CED 之外的成長機會。在更廣泛的工業市場中，新的用例和新技術的採用正在推動對更精確計時和更高美元價值的需求。例如，使用我們的計時產品的自主技術正在被採礦和建築設備以及精準農業所採用。對於 SiTime 來說，這是一個價值 5000 萬美元的市場，由於其更強的彈性，我們預計能夠獲得大部分份額。

Similarly, the need for more precise and robust positioning is driving adoption of our products in drones, handheld military radios, and Assured PNT or precision navigation and timing systems. This is a $25 million-market for SiTime, and we expect, again, to get a majority share because of our higher performance, smaller size, and lower power.

同樣，對更精確、更穩健定位的需求也推動了我們的產品在無人機、手持軍用無線電以及保證 PNT 或精密導航和授時系統中的應用。對於 SiTime 來說，這是一個價值 2500 萬美元的市場，我們預計，憑藉更高的性能、更小的尺寸和更低的功耗，我們將再次獲得大部分份額。

To summarize, we expect our growth to continue in 2025. The breadth and diversity of our products, applications and customers are delivering the growth that we have worked for. I'm confident of our success now and in the future.

總而言之，我們預計我們的成長將在 2025 年持續。我們的產品、應用和客戶的廣度和多樣性正在實現我們努力實現的成長。我對我們現在和將來的成功充滿信心。

And now I'll turn the call over to Beth, our CFO, to discuss our financial results in more detail. Beth?

現在我將把電話轉給我們的財務長貝絲，更詳細地討論我們的財務表現。貝絲？

Thanks, Rajesh, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, I'll discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2024 results, and then I'll provide our outlook for the first quarter of 2025. As a reminder, I'll focus my discussion on non-GAAP financial results, which are reconciled to our GAAP financials in our press release.

謝謝，Rajesh，大家下午好。今天，我將討論我們的 2024 年第四季和全年業績，然後我將提供我們對 2025 年第一季的展望。提醒一下，我將重點討論非 GAAP 財務結果，該結果與我們新聞稿中的 GAAP 財務結果相協調。

We are pleased with our performance as we continue to execute our financial model. We delivered remarkable results with strong revenue growth and even greater profit expansion, reflecting the scalability of the business. Importantly, this performance was driven by broad-based strength across our customer segments. Our performance this quarter demonstrates our ability to successfully invest in our business while delivering strong financial results.

我們繼續執行我們的財務模型，對我們的表現感到滿意。我們取得了令人矚目的成績，營收成長強勁，利潤擴大甚至更大，反映了業務的可擴展性。重要的是，這項業績是由我們整個客戶群的廣泛實力所推動的。本季的表現證明了我們有能力成功投資我們的業務，同時實現強勁的財務表現。

For the full year, we delivered revenue of $202.7 million, up 41% from the prior year. Non-GAAP gross margins were 58.2% and non-GAAP operating expenses were $117.5 million. For the fiscal year, we generated non-GAAP net income of $22.2 million, non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.93, and cash flow from operations of $23.3 million.

全年，我們營收 2.027 億美元，比上年成長 41%。非公認會計準則毛利率為 58.2%，非公認會計準則營業費用為 1.175 億美元。在本財政年度，我們創造了非公認會計準則淨收入 2,220 萬美元、非公認會計準則每股收益 0.93 美元和經營活動現金流 2,330 萬美元。

Looking at the details of the December quarter, Q4 was a strong finish to the year with revenue increasing 61% year-on-year and 18% sequentially to $68.1 million. Revenue by customer segment was sales into Communications, Enterprise, and Datacenter market of $24.8 million or 37% of sales, up 156% year-on-year. Sales into the Automotive, Industrial and Aerospace market were $20.5 million or 30% of sales, increasing 32% year-on-year.

綜觀 12 月季度的具體情況，第四季業績表現強勁，營收年增 61%，季增 18%，達到 6,810 萬美元。按客戶細分的收入包括通訊、企業和資料中心市場的銷售額為 2,480 萬美元，佔銷售額的 37%，較去年同期成長 156%。汽車、工業和航空航太市場的銷售額為 2,050 萬美元，佔銷售額的 30%，較去年同期成長 32%。

And sales into the mobile, IoT, and consumer market were $22.8 million or 33% of sales, up 33% year-on-year, with sales to our largest end customer totaling $16.4 million or 24% of sales.

行動、物聯網和消費市場的銷售額為 2,280 萬美元，佔銷售額的 33%，年增 33%，其中對最大終端客戶的銷售額總計 1,640 萬美元，佔銷售額的 24%。

Non-GAAP gross margins were 58.8%, up 70 basis points sequentially, and a bit better than expected due to favorable product mix. Total non-GAAP operating expenses for the quarter were $32.5 million, with R&D expense of $19.4 million and SG&A expense of $13.1 million. As expected, the increase in R&D spend was due to investments in new products that we are bringing to market.

非公認會計準則毛利率為 58.8%，比上一季成長 70 個基點，且由於產品組合良好而略好於預期。本季非 GAAP 營業費用總額為 3,250 萬美元，其中研發費用為 1,940 萬美元，銷售、一般及行政開支為 1,310 萬美元。正如預期的那樣，研發支出的增加是由於對我們推向市場的新產品的投資。

Fourth-quarter non-GAAP operating income was $7.6 million, an improvement of $3.6 million sequentially. Interest and other income was $4.5 million. Fourth-quarter non-GAAP net income was $11.8 million or $0.48 per share compared with $0.40 per share in Q3.

第四季非公認會計準則營業收入為 760 萬美元，比上一季增加 360 萬美元。利息和其他收入為450萬美元。第四季非 GAAP 淨收入為 1,180 萬美元，即每股 0.48 美元，而第三季每股 0.40 美元。

Turning to the balance sheet. Accounts receivable were $38.1 million, with DSOs of 50 days, up 3 days from Q3 due to revenue linearity. Inventory at the end of the quarter was $76.7 million, compared with $71.9 million in Q3.

轉向資產負債表。應收帳款為 3,810 萬美元，DSO 為 50 天，由於收入線性，比第三季增加了 3 天。本季末庫存為 7,670 萬美元，而第三季為 7,190 萬美元。

During the quarter, we generated $13.6 million in cash flow from operations, invested $16 million in capital purchases, and paid $7 million to Aura Semiconductor. At the end of the fourth quarter, we had $419 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments.

在本季度，我們從經營活動中產生了 1,360 萬美元的現金流，投資了 1,600 萬美元用於資本購買，並向 Aura Semiconductor 支付了 700 萬美元。截至第四季末，我們擁有 4.19 億美元現金、現金等價物和短期投資。

Now I'd like to provide our outlook for the March quarter. We expect typical seasonality in Q1 with revenue of $53 million to $55 million, an increase of 64% year-over-year at the midpoint, and gross margins of approximately 57%. We expect operating expenses to be roughly flat sequentially even as we absorb the higher beginning-of-the-year payroll taxes, and we expect interest income of roughly $4 million to $4.5 million. As a result, we expect Q1 non-GAAP EPS to be in the range of $0.09 to $0.13 per share.

現在我想提供我們對三月季度的展望。我們預計第一季將呈現典型的季節性特徵，營收為 5,300 萬美元至 5,500 萬美元，中位數年增 64%，毛利率約為 57%。我們預計，即使我們吸收了較高的年初工資稅，營業費用仍將與上一季基本持平，我們預計利息收入約為 400 萬美元至 450 萬美元。因此，我們預計第一季非 GAAP 每股收益將在 0.09 美元至 0.13 美元之間。

In closing, we are pleased with our strong results and we believe we are well positioned for growth in 2025. Our product portfolio continues to expand with differentiated products that address large and growing markets, and our customers are clearly recognizing our value proposition. All in all, we are executing our strategy, and our strategy is working.

最後，我們對強勁的業績感到滿意，並相信我們已為 2025 年的成長做好了準備。我們的產品組合不斷擴大，差異化的產品滿足了龐大且不斷增長的市場需求，我們的客戶也清楚地認識到我們的價值主張。總而言之，我們正在執行我們的策略，而我們的策略正在發揮作用。

With that, I'd like to hand the call back to the operator for questions and answers.

說到這裡，我想把電話交還給接線員，好讓他們回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Tore Svanberg, Stifel.

(操作員指令) Tore Svanberg，Stifel。

Yes, thank you and congratulations on the strong results. So, Rajesh, you talked about strong bookings momentum going into 2025. If you look at your three segments, could you just give us a little bit of a sense for where those bookings are coming? And then as we think about growth in '25, where would the relative strength come from the three segments?

是的，謝謝你，並祝賀你取得的優異成績。Rajesh，您談到了 2025 年強勁的預訂勢頭。如果您看一下這三個部分，能否讓我們稍微了解一下這些預訂的來源？然後，當我們思考25年的成長時，這三個部分的相對優勢來自哪裡？

Right, thanks. Sorry, yeah. So, it's no surprise that most of the growth in '25 will also come from the CED portion of the market, the Communications, Enterprise, and Datacenter portion of the market. I think we'll see growth in Consumer Mobile IoT, and we'll see growth in Industrial, Automotive, and Military Aerospace, but perhaps not to the same extent for these two segments that we see for the first one that I mentioned. So we still expect to be on that one for a while.

好的，謝謝。抱歉，是的。因此，毫不奇怪，25 年的大部分成長也將來自 CED 市場部分、通訊、企業和資料中心市場部分。我認為我們將看到消費者行動物聯網的成長，我們也將看到工業、汽車和軍事航空航太領域的成長，但這兩個領域的成長幅度可能不會與我提到的第一個領域相同。因此我們仍然期望能夠堅持一段時間。

Great. And if I can zoom into the CED segment. You've talked about selling into four different applications for an AI-based server. And I'm just wondering if we look at calendar '25 again, whether it's switches or NIC cards or AECs, where do you see the biggest strength within those applications in 2025?

偉大的。如果我可以放大 CED 部分。您曾經談到將基於 AI 的伺服器銷售給四種不同的應用程式。我只是想知道，如果我們再次查看日曆 '25，無論是交換器、NIC 卡還是 AEC，您認為 2025 年這些應用程式中最大的優勢是什麼？

Yeah, in general, we sell more units into AECs, NIC cards, and smaller units into GPUs and some of these other ones. Also in the more quantity, more units is also in the optical modules as we have said before. The pricing for the products in the GPUs is probably higher, but the volumes are not as high. So I think it just depends on which one does better, but we expect all of these segments to grow.

是的，總的來說，我們賣出更多的 AEC、NIC 卡單元，以及 GPU 和其他一些較小的單元。正如我們之前所說，數量越多，光學模組中的單元也越多。GPU 產品的定價可能更高，但產量並沒有那麼高。所以我認為這只取決於哪一個做得更好，但我們預計所有這些細分市場都會成長。

That's helpful. I have a couple more, but I'll go back in line. Thank you.

這很有幫助。我還有一些，但我會回去排隊。謝謝。

Quinn Bolton, Needham & Company.

奎因博爾頓，Needham & Company。

Hey guys, let me offer my congratulations as well. I guess maybe just big picture, Rajesh and Beth, you've talked about a target of 25% to 30% in '25-'26, obviously, very solid foundation in '24. But are you still feeling pretty good about your ability to hit that kind of longer-term growth rate, both this year and next?

嘿夥計們，我也要向你們表示祝賀。我想也許只是從大局來看，Rajesh 和 Beth，你們談到了 25-26 年 25％ 到 30％ 的目標，顯然，24 年的基礎非常堅實。但是，您是否仍然對自己在今年和明年實現這種長期成長率的能力感到十分自信呢？

Yeah, I think that's a good target for us, Quinn. I think that's -- we see that kind of growth coming from the breadth of the market that we address and the broad level of activity in these markets with our latest products. So yes, I would agree that we're probably good for that as a target right now.

是的，我認為這對我們來說是一個很好的目標，奎因。我認為，我們看到這種成長來自於我們所涉及的市場的廣度，以及我們最新產品在這些市場的廣泛活動水平。所以是的，我同意我們現在可能適合實現這個目標。

Perfect. And then, I guess, Beth, on the gross margin, the step down to 57%, probably a little bit lower than at least I had modeled. Wondering if you could just sort of walk us through some of the puts and takes. I know revenue, lower revenue probably means absorption is an issue. But you guys spent, I think you said, $16 million in CapEx in the quarter. I wonder if there's also some additional depreciation or costs for new products that you guys may be absorbing in the near term before those have sort of fully ramped. And so how much of it is just revenue stepping down? How much of it is perhaps the ramp in new products that aren't yet at mature yields or sort of fully ramped up on the supply chain?

完美的。然後，我想，貝絲，就毛利率而言，會下降到 57%，可能比我預測的要低一點。想知道您是否可以向我們簡單介紹一下其中的一些情況。我知道收入，收入較低可能意味著吸收是一個問題。但我想你們說過，你們本季的資本支出為 1600 萬美元。我想知道，在這些產品全面普及之前，你們是否還會在短期內吸收一些額外的折舊或新產品的成本。那麼其中有多少只是收入的減少呢？其中有多少可能是尚未達到成熟產量或供應鏈尚未完全成熟的新產品的成長？

Sure, Quinn. Thanks for the question. I think you hit the nail on the head. So, when we've got the revenue seasonality and the manufacturing absorption is the most significant part of that. And then we do have additional depreciation as we're ramping new products. And so we, kind of as expected, have a step down in the gross margin here.

當然，奎因。謝謝你的提問。我認為你說到了點子上。因此，當我們獲得收入季節性時，製造業吸收是其中最重要的部分。隨著我們推出新產品，我們確實會有額外的折舊。因此，正如我們預期的那樣，這裡的毛利率有所下降。

As we've talked about, we're on the path that we've been on in terms of bringing these new products to market, working through the yield improvements, the cost downs, improving test times and other things as we mature these products. So over time, we do expect gross margins to improve. But the combination of the typical seasonality and lower revenue in Q1 combined with these ramps is driving the gross margin this quarter.

正如我們所討論的，我們正致力於將這些新產品推向市場，隨著這些產品的成熟，我們正努力提高產量，降低成本，縮短測試時間以及其他方面。因此隨著時間的推移，我們確實預期毛利率會提高。但典型的季節性和第一季的收入較低加上這些增長推動了本季的毛利率。

If I could just take a quick follow-up. You've talked about hoping to get back to 60% gross margin. Obviously, you're maybe starting a little bit lower because of the absorption issue in March. Do you think you can get to 60% sometime in the back half of '25 or should we be thinking 60% might now be pushed out to calendar '26?

如果我可以快速跟進一下的話。您曾說過希望恢復到 60% 的毛利率。顯然，由於三月的吸收問題，你的起點可能會更低。您認為您能在 2025 年下半年的某個時候達到 60% 嗎，或者我們應該認為 60% 可能會被推遲到 2026 年？

We're still targeting that as something we want and we can address.

我們仍將其作為我們想要並能夠解決的目標。

Great. Okay. I'll go back in queue. Thank you.

偉大的。好的。我會重新排隊。謝謝。

Suji Desilva, ROTH Capital.

羅仕資本（ROTH Capital）的蘇吉·德席爾瓦（Suji Desilva）。

Rajesh and Beth, congrats on the progress here. Just a quick follow-up on Tore's question about bookings. Are you seeing the improvement? Is that a customer preference or some of your newer products? Or have the lead times moved at all? Or are customers just acknowledging long lead times? Any color on why the bookings are improving would be helpful.

Rajesh 和 Beth，恭喜你們取得的進展。只是想快速跟進一下 Tore 關於預訂的問題。你看到進步了嗎？這是顧客偏好還是您的一些新產品？或交貨時間是否有所變動？還是客戶只是承認交貨時間較長？任何有關預訂量增加原因的詳細資訊都會有所幫助。

Yeah, I think bookings are just strong on the back of demand. We just see a pretty good demand coming from all sectors. Our lead times are pretty solid where they were. We just see a lot of -- when we look at the end markets, whether it is the Industrial, Military, Aerospace, Automotive or it's the Mobile IoT consumer, and of course, we've talked about CED, we just see demand coming through. I'm not saying that it's some kind of an over-the-top demand. I'm just saying it looks solid.

是的，我認為預訂量強勁是因為需求旺盛。我們看到各個領域都有相當好的需求。我們的交貨時間非常穩定。我們看到很多——當我們看終端市場時，無論是工業、軍事、航空航太、汽車還是行動物聯網消費者，當然，我們已經討論了 CED，我們都看到需求正在湧現。我並不是說這是一種過度的要求。我只是說它看起來很堅固。

Okay. That's helpful. And then separately, on the timing product, the Aura acquisition, maybe you can give us an update on where the road map, product road map and synergies are there and where some of the traction is as you kind of put the products together in there?

好的。這很有幫助。然後分別討論時機產品、Aura 收購，您能否向我們介紹一下路線圖、產品路線圖和協同效應的最新進展，以及在將產品整合到一起時，一些牽引力在哪裡？

Yeah, so we had taken that product mostly for the higher end of our market, mostly for the CED market and some portions of the Military, Aerospace and some portions of the Industrial market. And that is completely playing out. So, Aura has done, of course, a fantastic job, I've said this several times, in delivering the products that they were supposed to deliver. And we are really pleased with the level of support that they have given us and the integrity with which they have been dealing with us. So that's an absolute positive.

是的，我們將產品主要推向高端市場，主要針對 CED 市場以及部分軍事、航空航太和部分工業市場。這一切都正在發生。因此，Aura 當然做得非常出色，我已經說過好幾次了，他們交付了應該交付的產品。我們對他們給予我們的支持程度以及與我們打交道時的誠信感到非常滿意。這絕對是正面的。

But the second part is that those products combined, those clocking products, the jitter attenuators, the buffers, the clock generators, combined with our higher-end oscillator products, have worked according to plan, have been 1 plus 1 equals 3 as we go to some of these customers that I mentioned earlier.

但第二部分是，這些產品結合起來，這些時鐘產品、抖動衰減器、緩衝器、時鐘發生器，與我們高端的振盪器產品結合起來，已經按照計劃運行，就像我們面對我之前提到的一些客戶時那樣，是1加1等於3。

So it's coming exactly according to plan. As we mentioned, these kinds of products take a longer time to design in. But we're still thinking that in the next few years, the revenue from clocking could be approaching $100 million.

一切正如計劃所料。正如我們所提到的，這類產品的設計需要更長的時間。但我們仍然認為，在未來幾年，來自計時的收入可能會接近 1 億美元。

Very helpful color, Rajesh. Thanks.

非常有用的顏色，Rajesh。謝謝。

Chris Caso, Wolfe Research.

克里斯·卡索（Chris Caso），沃爾夫研究公司。

Thank you. Good evening. I guess the first question is on OpEx. And as you deliver on -- hopefully deliver on some of the growth that you're expecting this year and next year, what should we expect with regard to OpEx and getting some leverage on that growth? Where is your expense level relative to where you need to be to get to the growth that you're targeting?

謝謝。晚安.我想第一個問題是關於 OpEx 的。當您實現預期今年和明年的成長時，我們應該對營運支出 (OpEx) 抱持怎樣的期望，以及如何利用這種成長？您的支出水準與達到目標成長所需的水準相比如何？

If we look at operating expenses, I think as we've been saying, I expect that we can grow revenue much faster than OpEx. Again, we were at $32.5 million in Q4. I think we'll be roughly in that same range for Q1 with some puts and takes. For example, in Q1, we've got to absorb the higher payroll taxes that we have at the beginning of the year. So, there'll be some offsets in there sequentially.

如果我們看一下營運費用，我想正如我們所說的那樣，我預計我們的收入成長速度可以比營運支出快得多。我們第四季的營收再次達到了 3,250 萬美元。我認為，第一季的情況將大致處於相同的範圍內，但會有一些波動。例如，在第一季，我們必須吸收年初較高的薪資稅。因此，其中會有一些連續的偏移。

And as we look forward, we're going to continue to make strategic investments in R&D, in go-to-market as we continue to grow the revenue. But again, I think you can think about it growing certainly, probably not more than half as fast as revenue.

展望未來，我們將繼續對研發和行銷進行策略性投資，並不斷增加收入。但我再說一次，我認為你可以考慮它的成長速度，但可能不會超過收入成長速度的一半。

That is helpful. If I could ask another question with regard to the auto business. And there's a trend that's becoming clearer where the center of gravity of auto is kind of moving a bit more to China. Certainly, there's some share shift going on. Can you speak to SiTime's position in China auto as compared to Western auto? Do you -- is the share similar, the opportunity is similar, your ability to penetrate those customers similar if we continue to see this trend?

這很有幫助。我可以再問一個有關汽車業務的問題嗎？現在越來越明顯的趨勢是汽車產業的重心正在轉移到中國。當然，一些份額正在發生轉移。您能談談與西方汽車相比 SiTime 在中國汽車中的地位嗎？如果我們繼續看到這種趨勢，那麼份額是否相似，機會是否相似，您滲透這些客戶的能力是否相似？

So, it's always helpful to think of SiTime customers using us in their most innovative products. So that's kind of the heuristic. SiTime's products are more innovative than other timing products, and therefore, they get used in our customers' more innovative products.

因此，想到 SiTime 客戶在其最具創新性的產品中使用我們產品，總是有幫助的。這是一種啟發式方法。SiTime 的產品比其他計時產品更具創新性，因此，它們被用於我們客戶更具創新性的產品中。

In the case of Automotive, it turns out that there -- while there are a few innovative American companies, Tesla comes to mind and some of the others, the more automotive innovative companies that have been changing the world of auto -- of cars is, of course, coming from China, whether they're electric vehicles or around automation, I think that's coming from China. So necessarily, there will be a bigger use case coming out of China.

就汽車產業而言，事實證明，雖然有幾家美國創新公司，例如特斯拉和其他一些公司，但更多改變汽車世界的汽車創新公司當然都來自中國，無論是電動車還是自動化汽車，我認為都來自中國。因此，中國必然會出現更大的用例。

Having said that, as United States companies and European companies and for that matter, Japanese companies start adopting some of the same technologies, we expect to get more and more of that penetration. So at this point, about, in our automotive business, I'd say about 30% to 40% of our business is coming from China.

話雖如此，隨著美國公司、歐洲公司以及日本公司開始採用一些相同的技術，我們預計這種滲透將越來越廣泛。因此目前，在我們的汽車業務中，我想說大約 30% 到 40% 的業務來自中國。

Got it. That's helpful. Thank you.

知道了。這很有幫助。謝謝。

Tore Svanberg, Stifel

托爾·思文伯格（Tore Svanberg），Stifel

Yeah, thank you. The first one is on your largest customer. As we look at 2025, is there something going on there that is unusual, whether it's new products from them that you might be in or whether you're expecting any new content growth in any other existing devices? Just a sort of better read on what could potentially be going on with your largest customer in '25.

是的，謝謝。第一個是關於您的最大客戶。展望 2025 年，是否會發生一些不尋常的事情，無論是他們推出的新產品，還是您預計其他現有設備中會出現新的內容增長？這只是對您 25 年最大的客戶可能發生的情況的一種更好的解讀。

Yeah, as you know, we haven't seen any press releases out there just like, I guess you haven't seen any press releases. So, we get our information in the same way on new products from them that the world does. So let's just wait and see what happens with all of that.

是的，如你所知，我們沒有看到任何新聞稿，就像我猜你也沒有看到任何新聞稿一樣。因此，我們與世界一樣，以相同的方式從他們那裡獲取新產品的資訊。因此，我們只需拭目以待，看看接下來會發生什麼。

Yeah, that's fair, Rajesh. And then my other follow-up was on Aura. So, you talked about that $100 million business target. But I noticed you did pay them some money this -- well, you had a payout this quarter. So, I'm just wondering, should we assume that those clocks are now already starting to generate revenue? And I assume that the margin profile for that $100 million would be higher than the corporate average.

是的，這很公平，拉傑什。然後我的另一個後續行動是關於 Aura。所以，您談到了 1 億美元的商業目標。但我注意到你確實向他們支付了一些錢 - 嗯，你本季已經付款了。所以，我只是想知道，我們是否應該假設這些時鐘現在已經開始產生收入了？我認為這 1 億美元的利潤率將高於企業平均。

Thanks, Tore. So yes, we are starting to see some revenue from the Aura products. As we've talked about, we got the assets that have been -- having to get the design wins and some have come through, maybe a little faster, and so are starting to see some revenue in 2024, expect that to continue to build in '25 and beyond. So that's good news in terms of our products and the trajectory for those clocks.

謝謝，托爾。所以是的，我們開始看到來自 Aura 產品的一些收入。正如我們所討論的，我們獲得了一些資產——必須獲得設計勝利，有些已經實現了，可能速度更快一些，因此我們將在 2024 年開始看到一些收入，預計這種收入將在 25 年及以後繼續增長。這對我們的產品和這些時鐘的發展軌跡來說是個好消息。

And yes, the gross margins are generally accretive to the corporate average. And so as we continue to build that business, it's both good revenue as well as good margin.

是的，毛利率通常會增加企業平均值。因此，隨著我們繼續發展這項業務，我們既能獲得良好的收入，也能獲得良好的利潤。

Excellent. Thank you so much.

出色的。太感謝了。

Thank you. And there are no more questions in the queue. I would like to turn the call back over to management for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

謝謝。隊列中沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉回給管理階層，請他們作最後發言。請繼續。

Well, thank you very much. We said goodbye to 2024. It was a wonderful year in growth and settling down the company. We look forward to a very good 2025 and hope to see you across all the earnings quarters. So thank you again.

好吧，非常感謝。我們與2024年告別了。這是公司成長和穩定美好的一年。我們期待 2025 年會圓滿成功，並希望在所有獲利季度中都能見到您。再次感謝您。

Thank you all for participating in today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。您現在可以斷開連線。