新思科技 (SNPS) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Synopsys Earnings Conference Call for the Fourth Quarter and Fiscal year 2023. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's call is being recorded.

女士們、先生們，歡迎參加 Synopsys 2023 財年第四季及全年業績電話會議。 （操作說明）提醒各位，本次電話會議正在錄音。

I would now like to turn the call over to Trey Campbell, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我將把電話交給投資者關係高級副總裁特雷·坎貝爾。請開始吧。

Thanks, Lisa. Good afternoon, everyone. With us today are Aart De Geus, Chair and CEO of Synopsys; Sassine Ghazi, President and COO; and Shelagh Glaser, CFO.

謝謝麗莎。大家下午好。今天和我們一起的有：Synopsys董事長兼執行長Aart De Geus；總裁兼營運長Sassine Ghazi；以及財務長Shelagh Glaser。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that during the course of this conference call, Synopsys will discuss forecasts, targets and other forward-looking statements regarding the company and its financial results. While these statements represent our best current judgment about future results and performance as of today, our actual results are subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect.

在會議開始之前，我想提醒各位，在本次電話會議中，Synopsys 將討論有關公司及其財務業績的預測、目標和其他前瞻性聲明。儘管這些聲明代表了我們目前對未來業績和表現的最佳判斷，但實際業績受諸多風險和不確定因素的影響，可能導致實際業績與預期有重大差異。

In addition to any risk that we highlight during this call, important factors that may affect our future results are described in our most recent SEC reports and today's earnings press release. In addition, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures during the discussion. Reconciliations to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and supplemental financial information can be found in the earnings press release, financial supplement and 8-K that we released earlier today.

除了本次電話會議中提及的風險外，可能影響我們未來業績的重要因素已在最新的美國證券交易委員會（SEC）報告和今天的盈利新聞稿中進行了描述。此外，我們將在討論中提及某些非公認會計準則（非GAAP）財務指標。這些指標與最直接可比較的公認會計準則（GAAP）財務指標的調節表以及補充財務信息，請參閱我們今天早些時候發布的盈利新聞稿、財務補充文件和8-K表格。

All of these items, plus the most recent investor presentation are available on our website at www.synopsys.com. In addition, the prepared remarks will be posted on our website at the conclusion of the call.

所有這些資料，以及最新的投資者演示文稿，都可以在我們的網站 www.synopsys.com 上找到。此外，準備好的演講稿將在電話會議結束後發佈在我們的網站上。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Aart De Geus.

接下來，我將把電話交給 Aart De Geus。

Good afternoon. In Q4, we exceeded the high end of all our guidance targets and delivered another quarterly revenue high at $1.599 billion. Q4 just capped a record year, growing revenue by 15% to $5.84 billion with strong orders expanding backlog by $1.5 billion to $8.6 billion. We further improved non-GAAP operating margin to 35.1%, increased non-GAAP EPS by 26%, generated $1.7 billion in operating cash flow, while maintaining an exceptionally strong balance sheet.

午安.第四季度，我們超額完成了所有預期目標，營收再創新高，達到15.99億美元。第四季為創紀錄的全年業績畫上了圓滿的句號，營收成長15%至58.4億美元，強勁的訂單使積壓訂單增加15億美元，達到86億美元。我們進一步提升了非GAAP營業利潤率至35.1%，非GAAP每股收益成長26%，創造了17億美元的營運現金流，同時維持了極為穩健的資產負債表。

Truly, Synopsys has moved forward with sustained momentum. Over the last 5 years, we've grown revenue at 13% CAGR, expanded non-GAAP operating margin by 13 points and increased non-GAAP EPS at a 23% CAGR. Through the year, we also widened our differentiation by substantially expanding our AI-driven product capabilities, but also through unique collaborations that strengthened our customers' differentiation while cementing deep, long-term relationships. We thank our employees for their passion and dedication and our customers for their business and trust in Synopsys.

Synopsys 的發展勢頭強勁，持續穩定前進。過去五年，我們的營收年複合成長率達到 13%，非 GAAP 營業利潤率提升 13 個百分點，非 GAAP 每股盈餘年複合成長率達到 23%。此外，我們透過大幅擴展人工智慧驅動的產品功能，以及進行獨特的合作，進一步提升了自身的差異化優勢。這些合作不僅增強了客戶的差異化競爭力，也鞏固了雙方深厚的長期合作關係。我們衷心感謝員工的熱情付出和敬業精神，也感謝客戶對 Synopsys 的信任與支持。

Meanwhile, dark geopolitical clouds are inflecting unimaginable harm in multiple conflict zones. Our hearts hurt with deep compassion for our employees, families, colleagues, customers and all others impacted by pain, loss and uncertainty. Yet, we will never give up the leaving in the positive potential of humanity. It is thus heartwarming to see how fast our teams have turned compassion into caring, caring into action. And our respect and support for each other is that active norm at Synopsys.

同時，地緣政治陰雲籠罩著多個衝突地區，造成難以想像的破壞。我們深切同情我們的員工、家人、同事、客戶以及所有受痛苦、損失和不確定性影響的人。然而，我們永遠不會放棄對人性的積極潛能的信念。因此，我們欣慰地看到，我們的團隊迅速將同情轉化為關懷，並將關懷轉化為行動。在Synopsys，彼此尊重和支持已成為一種積極的準則。

Let me now briefly share some thoughts on the state of the industry and our company before I pass the baton to Sassine. From the first days of Synopsys 37 years ago, Synopsys has enabled and navigated the exponential ambition that came to be defining the semiconductor industry and which, in turn, radically impacted the world. Our initial contribution, Synthesis, revolutionized digital design. We ushered in the transition from CAD, computer-aided design, to EDA, electronic design automation, so far delivering roughly a 10 million x increase in design productivity.

在將麥克風交給薩辛之前，我想先簡單談談我對產業現狀和公司的一些看法。自37年前新思科技（Synopsys）成立以來，我們始終致力於推動半導體產業的指數級成長，並引領產業發展，最終對世界產生了深遠的影響。我們最初的貢獻——Synthesis——徹底革新了數位設計。我們引領了從電腦輔助設計（CAD）到電子設計自動化（EDA）的轉變，迄今為止，設計效率已提升了約1000萬倍。

During Synopsys' entire existence, the vast majority of our products have been the state-of-the-art. Together with the leading foundries with us empowered digital age exponential referred to as Moore's Law. And then at the very moment that the economics of classic Moore's Law are slowing down in terms of transistor performance and cost improvements, the era of big data and AI becomes real, triggering enormous compute needs on the horizon.

在 Synopsys 的整個發展歷程中，我們絕大多數的產品始終代表著業界領先水準。我們與領先的代工廠攜手，共同推動了數位時代的指數級成長，即摩爾定律。然而，正當經典摩爾定律在電晶體性能和成本提升方面開始放緩之際，大數據和人工智慧時代已然到來，並預示著未來將出現巨大的運算需求。

About 8 years ago, Synopsys forecasted, this age of Smart Everything would become the driver for the semiconductor growth to $1 trillion in this decade. And here we are. This year's generative AI advances and furious adoption clearly fulfill our vision. As pervasive AI is now massively underway, the classic Moore's Law era in turn, is morphing into the SysMoore era, systemic complexity, but still with a Moore's Law exponential ambition. SysMoore is happening in front of our eyes by reinventing architectures not based on a single chip but on multiple chips, tightly connected or even stacked on top of each other with extreme proximity. These so-called software-defined multi-die architectures will enable massive increases in the number of transistors available. And again, Synopsys is at the heart of the heart of capitalizing exponential impact.

大約八年前，Synopsys 預測，萬物互聯的時代將成為推動半導體產業在本十年內達到兆美元規模的驅動力。如今，我們已然預見這一願景。今年生成式人工智慧的進步和迅猛的應用，清楚地印證了我們的預測。隨著普適人工智慧的大規模普及，經典的摩爾定律時代正向系統摩爾時代轉型——系統複雜性的提升，但仍秉持著摩爾定律的指數級成長目標。系統摩爾時代正在我們眼前發生，它重塑了基於多晶片而非單晶片的架構，這些晶片緊密連接，甚至以極高的精度堆疊在一起。這些所謂的軟體定義多晶片架構將大幅提升電晶體的可用數量。而 Synopsys 再次成為掌握這指數級成長機會的核心力量。

Our investments in multi-die design, our massive collection of IP building blocks in many silicon technologies, our prototyping and electronic digital twinning technology that lets customers run software before the hardware actually exists are all essential enablers driving the new race into AI-driven computation. Adding one more spark to our technical leadership, Synopsys has also pioneered the use of deep learning AI and chip design. Applied to optimization, verification and test, production results are outstanding and adoption is broad and rapid.

我們在多晶片設計上的投入、涵蓋多種矽技術的龐大IP建置模組庫、以及能夠讓客戶在硬體實際生產之前運行軟體的原型設計和電子數位孿生技術，都是推動人工智慧驅動運算新時代發展的關鍵因素。此外，Synopsys也率先將深度學習人工智慧應用於晶片設計，進一步鞏固了我們在技術上的領先地位。這項技術應用於最佳化、驗證和測試，取得了卓越的生產成果，並得到了廣泛而迅速的應用。

Most recently, our announcement of exciting gen AI capabilities adds yet another angle to driving the state-of-the-art for it. If nothing else, my enthusiasm for both the SysMoore opportunity and for our technology advances to give you a sense of Synopsys is on the move.

最近，我們發布了令人振奮的新一代人工智慧技術，為我們推動人工智慧領域的尖端發展增添了新的視角。總而言之，我對SysMoore專案以及我們的技術進步充滿熱情，希望能藉此機會讓您更了解Synopsys。

Talking about on the move, we're also well on the way in our executive leadership transition. I have great confidence, expectations and enthusiasm for Sassine Ghazi as our next CEO. Sassine, please give us your perspective, vision and ambition for Synopsys. The floor is all yours.

說到人事變動，我們的高階主管團隊交接工作也進展順利。我對下一任執行長薩辛·加齊充滿信心、期待和熱情。薩辛，請您談談您對新思科技的願景、抱負和抱負。現在輪到您發言了。

Thank you, Aart, for your pioneering work in our industry and for building Synopsys into one of the world's essential semiconductor ecosystem companies. I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to succeed you as CEO, building on our strong foundation and propelling Synopsys to the next wave of growth.

Aart，感謝您在業界的開創性工作，以及您將 Synopsys 打造成全球半導體生態系統中不可或缺的公司之一。我非常榮幸有機會接任您的職位，擔任 CEO，在現有堅實的基礎上，帶領 Synopsys 邁向下一個成長階段。

Let's turn to market trends. Despite global macroeconomic uncertainty, our customers continue to prioritize R&D investments and chip design starts remain robust. We leave 2023 with $8.6 billion in noncancelable backlog and have a time-tested business model that balances dynamic growth with macro resiliency. We expect solid growth across our geographies in 2024, but our outlook reflects a continued challenging near-term growth environment in China.

讓我們來看看市場趨勢。儘管全球宏觀經濟存在不確定性，但我們的客戶仍優先考慮研發投資，晶片設計專案啟動量依然強勁。截至2023年底，我們擁有86億美元的不可取消訂單，並且我們擁有久經考驗的商業模式，該模式能夠平衡動態成長與宏觀經濟韌性。我們預計2024年我們將在各個業務區域穩健成長，但我們的展望也反映了中國市場近期成長環境持續充滿挑戰。

China is an adaptable and large market. However, given the combination of entity list and technology restrictions and a weaker macroeconomic outlook, we believe more pragmatism in our 2024 China forecast is appropriate.

中國是一個適應性強且規模龐大的市場。然而，考慮到實體清單和技術限制以及疲軟的宏觀經濟前景，我們認為在對2024年中國市場進行預測時採取更務實的態度是恰當的。

Technology trends continue to create a rising tide for our business. Chief among those trends is a new era of AI-driven productivity. AI is reshaping industries and providing breakthrough solutions for intractable challenges, like the 15% to 30% design resource shortage that semiconductor is facing this decade. We pioneered AI-driven semiconductor design and are relentlessly advancing our AI capabilities so that we can drive step-up function improvement in our customers' productivity, and thus, play a greater role in their success.

技術趨勢持續推動著我們業務的發展。其中最主要的趨勢是人工智慧驅動生產力的新時代。人工智慧正在重塑各行各業，並為棘手的挑戰提供突破性解決方案，例如半導體產業在本十年面臨的15%至30%的設計資源短缺問題。我們率先推出了由人工智慧驅動的半導體設計，並不斷提升自身的人工智慧能力，從而顯著提高客戶的生產力，並在他們的成功中發揮更大的作用。

Recently, at Microsoft's Ignite Conference, we announced a breakthrough generative AI capability for accelerating chip design, Synopsys.ai Copilot. The new capability is the result of a strategic collaboration with Microsoft to integrate Azure's service that brings the power of gen AI into one of the most complex engineering challenges, the design process for semiconductors. The integration of gen AI across Synopsys.ai provides chip designers with collaborative capabilities that offer expert tool guidance, generative capabilities to enable RTL and collateral creation, and fully autonomous capabilities for workflow creation from natural language.

最近，在微軟 Ignite 大會上，我們發布了突破性的生成式人工智慧 (AI) 功能 Synopsys.ai Copilot，旨在加速晶片設計。這項新功能是與微軟策略合作的成果，旨在將 Azure 服務與 Synopsys.ai Copilot 集成，從而將生成式 AI 的強大功能應用於最複雜的工程挑戰之一——半導體設計流程。 Synopsys.ai Copilot 整合了生成式 AI，為晶片設計人員提供協作功能，包括專家工具指導、用於創建 RTL 和相關組件的生成式功能，以及基於自然語言的完全自主工作流程創建功能。

We're engaged with leading chip makers, including AMD, Intel and Microsoft to deliver the value of gen AI across the Synopsys.ai full EDA stack, from design, verification, test to manufacturing. We are at a very early stage of this new AI era, but our initial customer results are exceptional. AI is key to massively unlocking customer productivity. And we are increasing our investment to accelerate the Synopsys.ai road map.

我們正與包括AMD、英特爾和微軟在內的領先晶片製造商合作，致力於在Synopsys.ai全套EDA技術堆疊中，從設計、驗證、測試到製造，全面發揮新一代人工智慧的價值。我們正處於人工智慧新時代的早期階段，但我們已取得卓越的客戶成果。人工智慧是大幅提升客戶生產力的關鍵。我們將加大投入，加速推進Synopsys.ai的發展路線圖。

Beyond AI, we see multiple other secular tailwinds providing our design automation and design IP business expanding growth opportunities. With the slowing of Moore's Law, increasingly, architecture and design automation are the main levers in delivering semiconductor PPA gains even as insatiable use case demand push the frontiers of performance and performance per watt. Multi-die implementations are accelerating as our customers seek to optimize cost and yield for these large complex designs. And our customers who rely on our critical competencies from silicon to software now requires systems-level approach both at the semiconductor device level with multi-die and the electronic design, software bring-up and software validation of full systems like today's software-defined cars.

除了人工智慧之外，我們還看到其他許多長期利好因素為我們的設計自動化和設計IP業務帶來了不斷擴大的成長機會。隨著摩爾定律的放緩，架構和設計自動化日益成為提升半導體裝置效能和每瓦效能的關鍵手段，而永無止境的應用需求也不斷推動效能和每瓦效能的極限。隨著客戶尋求優化大型複雜設計的成本和良率，多晶片實現正在加速發展。如今，依賴我們從晶片到軟體關鍵能力的客戶需要係統級的解決方案，這不僅包括半導體裝置層面的多晶片設計，還包括電子設計、軟體調試和軟體驗證等完整系統，例如當今的軟體定義汽車。

Our design IP business also has strong wind in its sails. Applications claimed ever faster ingest and throughput, resulting in faster protocol migrations and increasing IP content value per device. Customers are prioritizing scarce design resources to focus on their critical architectural differentiations and turning to us as an integral part of their chip design development teams for their foundation and interface IP needs. And now all 3 leading edge foundries are making Synopsys the advanced node IP vendor of choice. They are partnering with us on a broad range of IP titles to minimize risk and accelerate silicon success.

我們的設計IP業務也蓬勃發展。應用需求不斷增長，對資料攝取和吞吐量的要求也越來越高，從而加快了協定遷移速度，並提升了每個設備的IP內容價值。客戶優先分配有限的設計資源，專注於其關鍵的架構差異化，並將我們視為晶片設計開發團隊不可或缺的一部分，以滿足其基礎IP和介面IP的需求。如今，三大領先的晶圓代工廠都將Synopsys視為其首選的先進節點IP供應商。他們正與我們在廣泛的IP產品領域展開合作，以最大限度地降低風險並加速晶片的成功開發。

Our design automation and design IP businesses have both leadership technology and market positions with industry trends playing to our strengths. We're increasing our investment in these segments to capture more of this growing TAM. We started our investments in software integrity with the acquisition of Coverity in 2014. Software Security was a pain point for every company and risk services were expanding. Customers were searching for innovative approaches in quality and security testing to help reduce the risk of software failures and security breaches. And we developed the broadest portfolio to meet that need.

我們在設計自動化和設計智慧財產權業務方面均擁有領先的技術和市場地位，產業趨勢也充分發揮了我們的優勢。我們正在加大對這些領域的投資，以期在不斷成長的潛在市場中佔據更大的份額。我們於2014年收購Coverity，由此開啟了軟體完整性領域的投資。軟體安全是當時每家公司都面臨的痛點，風險管理服務也不斷擴展。客戶一直在尋求創新的品質和安全測試方法，以降低軟體故障和安全漏洞的風險。為此，我們開發了最全面的產品組合，以滿足此需求。

Flash forward to today, our Software Integrity business has become the leader in application security testing with industry-leading team delivering over $0.5 billion in trailing 12 months revenue at mid-teens non-GAAP operating margin.

時至今日，我們的軟體完整性業務已成為應用程式安全測試領域的領導者，擁有業界領先的團隊，在過去 12 個月中實現了超過 5 億美元的收入，非 GAAP 營業利潤率達到 15% 左右。

We are proud of the significant progress we've made over the last 9 years and believe the future opportunity remains attractive. At the same time, we have compelling investment opportunities in design automation and design IP with much higher expected growth and return profiles.

我們為過去九年所取得的顯著進展感到自豪，並相信未來的機會依然充滿吸引力。同時，我們在設計自動化和設計智慧財產權領域擁有極具吸引力的投資機會，這些領域預期成長和回報更高。

Following our strategic portfolio review, and in consultation with the company's Board of Directors, we have decided to explore strategic alternatives for the Software Integrity business. As part of this process, we're considering full range of strategic opportunities. We will provide an update after we conclude that process.

經過策略組合評估，並與公司董事會協商後，我們決定探索軟體完整性業務的策略替代方案。作為此過程的一部分，我們正在考慮所有可能的策略機會。待過程結束後，我們將發布最新進展。

Based on these market and technology trends, and with high confidence in our business, here are our 2024 guidance targets.

基於這些市場和技術趨勢，我們對自身業務充滿信心，以下是我們 2024 年的業績指引目標。

We expect 2024 revenue between $6.57 billion and $6.63 billion. We expect to deliver 37% non-GAAP operating margin, a 200 basis point improvement versus last year. We expect full year non-GAAP EPS between $13.33 and $13.41. Shelagh will discuss the financials in more detail.

我們預計2024年營收將在65.7億美元至66.3億美元之間。我們預期非GAAP營業利潤率將達到37%，較前一年提高200個基點。我們預計全年非GAAP每股收益將介於13.33美元至13.41美元之間。 Shelagh將對財務數據進行更詳細的討論。

Now I'll share some segment highlights starting with Design Automation. This quarter, Synopsys.ai was selected by AspenCore to receive the World Electronics Achievement Award for EDA Software of the Year. We're proud of the recognition but even more excited by the strong customer adoption for Synopsys.ai across the design flow. A major North American hyperscaler made a major commitment to use DSO.ai after demonstrating PPA and productivity benefits on consecutive HPC projects.

現在我將分享一些亮點，首先是設計自動化 (EDA) 部分。本季度，Synopsys.ai 榮獲 AspenCore 頒發的「世界電子成就獎年度最佳 EDA 軟體」獎。我們為獲得此項殊榮感到自豪，但更令我們興奮的是 Synopsys.ai 在整個設計流程中獲得了客戶的廣泛認可。一家北美大型超大規模資料中心在連續的高效能運算 (HPC) 專案中驗證了 DSO.ai 在提升 PPA 和生產力方面的優勢後，做出了重大承諾，將採用 DSO.ai。

In verification, we engaged with over 20 customers in Q4, demonstrating up to 10x faster turnaround time. While in test, we added 8 new customer engagements with Kioxia publicly highlighting more than 50% pattern reduction. Finally, we and TSMC announced that our analog migration flow through Synopsys.ai is enabled across TSMC's advanced process technologies. We are also seeing great results deploying Synopsys.ai internally with our IP teams. Internal IP teams are seeing 10x turnaround time improvements in time to target verification coverage and have deployed analog design migration flows for TSMC 2-nanometer.

在驗證階段，我們在第四季與超過 20 家客戶合作，展示了高達 10 倍的周轉時間提升。在測試階段，我們新增了 8 家客戶，其中 Kioxia 公開展示了超過 50% 的圖案減少。最後，我們和台積電宣布，我們基於 Synopsys.ai 的模擬遷移流程已在台積電的先進製程技術中得到應用。我們也看到，在內部 IP 團隊中部署 Synopsys.ai 也取得了顯著成效。內部 IP 團隊在達到目標驗證覆蓋率方面實現了 10 倍的周轉時間提升，並已為台積電 2 奈米製程部署了模擬設計遷移流程。

Fusion Compiler continues to win key designs, including the leading-edge ARM mobile core for the industry's first implementation for a gate all around based mobile SoC. In combination with DSO.ai, Fusion Compiler also delivered 10% better power on gate all-around based mobile GPU and modem designs. We saw continued momentum in sign-off delivered by our leadership family of prime tools. We won multiple engagements with PrimeTime, PrimeClosure and Prime Shield and saw the world's top 3 data center providers adopt PrimeClosure to get the fastest ECO closure time for 5 3-nanometer SoCs.

Fusion Compiler持續贏得關鍵設計項目，包括業界首個基於全環閘極（GEAT）的行動SoC實現方案－領先的ARM移動核心。結合DSO.ai，Fusion Compiler也讓基於全環閘極的行動GPU和數據機設計功耗降低了10%。我們領先的Prime工具系列在專案驗收方面持續保持強勁勢頭。我們以PrimeTime、PrimeClosure和Prime Shield贏得了多個項目，並見證了全球三大資料中心供應商採用PrimeClosure，為5款3奈米SoC實現了最快的ECO驗收速度。

Expanding our multi-die ecosystem, we received a prestigious leadership award from TSMC, OIP 2023 Partner of the Year, for developing the industry's first 3DIC design prototyping solution, supporting the new industry standard 3Dblox. Verification, product momentum also remains strong. This quarter, we announced our AI-driven next-generation [VRD] solution, which continues its lead in functional debug with deployment already at more than 10 top semiconductor companies. In hardware-assisted verification, we delivered another record year. In Q4, ZeBu won against competition at 2 large North American hyperscalers and we expanded our [HAPS] footprint with a large North American systems company and a large Asian semiconductor company.

在拓展多晶片生態系統方面，我們憑藉開發業界首個支援全新產業標準 3Dblox 的 3DIC 設計原型解決方案，榮獲台積電頒發的 2023 年度 OIP 合作夥伴獎這一極具聲望的領導力獎項。驗證和產品發展勢頭依然強勁。本季度，我們發布了 AI 驅動的下一代 [VRD] 解決方案，該方案在功能調試領域繼續保持領先地位，目前已在 10 多家頂級半導體公司部署使用。在硬體輔助驗證方面，我們再創佳績。第四季度，ZeBu 在兩家北美大型超大規模資料中心擊敗競爭對手，並拓展了 [HAPS] 業務，新增客戶包括一家北美大型系統公司和一家亞洲大型半導體公司。

Now turning to design IP. This quarter, we won our first 2-nanometer interface IP engagement with a leading mobile company and are now in production at 3-nanometer with foundation IP for a high-volume PC chip.

現在轉向設計IP。本季度，我們贏得了與一家領先的行動公司合作的首個2奈米介面IP項目，目前正在進行3奈米製程的基礎IP生產，用於一款大批量PC晶片。

We delivered a key multi-die proof point in concert with Intel and TSMC on UCIe interoperability. The demonstration at Intel Innovation showed die-to-die interconnect over UCIe between Synopsys IP on TSMC and CE and Intel foundry silicon. We saw two other key technology proof points this quarter. We demonstrated interoperability for our 224 gig Ethernet PHY IP and PCIe 6.0 IP, both industry firsts. On the processor IP side, we announced a new addition to the ARC processor IP portfolio, the RISC-V ARC-V processor IP. This product allows customers to choose from a broad range of flexible, extensible processor options that deliver optimal power performance efficiency for their target applications. Finally, we delivered a significant win in automotive, displacing competition at a marquee customer in a multi-generation multiple project agreement.

我們與英特爾和台積電合作，在UCIe互通性方面取得了關鍵的多晶片驗證成果。在英特爾創新大會上，我們展示了台積電和CE晶片上的Synopsys IP與英特爾代工廠晶片之間基於UCIe的晶片間互連。本季度，我們也取得了另外兩項關鍵技術驗證成果。我們展示了224G乙太網路PHY IP和PCIe 6.0 IP的互通性，這兩項技術均為業界首創。在處理器IP方面，我們宣布ARC處理器IP產品組合新增RISC-V ARC-V處理器IP。該產品為客戶提供了一系列靈活、可擴展的處理器選項，可針對其目標應用提供最佳的功耗效能效率。最後，我們在汽車領域取得了重大勝利，並在與知名客戶簽訂的多代多專案協議中擊敗了競爭對手。

Now to the Software Integrity segment. which delivered solid growth against the backdrop of continued macro headwinds for enterprise software. In Q4, we saw over 50% year-over-year growth in our Polaris Software Integrity Platform. Polaris is a SaaS-based application security testing solution optimized for the needs of development and Dev SecOps teams.

接下來是軟體完整性板塊。儘管企業軟體市場持續面臨宏觀不利因素，但該板塊仍實現了穩健成長。第四季度，我們的 Polaris 軟體完整性平台年增超過 50%。 Polaris 是一款基於 SaaS 的應用程式安全測試解決方案，專為滿足開發和 DevSecOps 團隊的需求而最佳化。

We were also recently recognized as a leader in the Forrester Wave for software composition analysis. This was based on an evaluation of Black Duck, our software composition analysis solution.

我們最近也被 Forrester Wave 評為軟體成分分析領域的領導者。這項評選是基於對我們的軟體成分分析解決方案 Black Duck 的評估。

In summary, we had an outstanding Q4 and FY 2023 financial results and operational execution and take tremendous forward momentum into 2024. We have a resilient business model and our customers continue to prioritize investments in the chips and systems that position them for future growth. We are aligning our portfolio investment with the greatest return potential to accelerate our growth. Deepest thanks to our employees, partners and customers for their passion and commitment.

總而言之，我們在2023財年第四季和全年取得了卓越的財務業績和營運執行力，並帶著強勁的發展勢頭邁入2024年。我們擁有穩健的商業模式，客戶也持續優先投資於能夠協助其未來發展的晶片和系統。我們將投資組合調整至最具回報潛力的領域，以加速成長。衷心感謝我們的員工、合作夥伴和客戶的熱情付出和堅定承諾。

With that, I'll turn it over to Shelagh.

接下來，我將把麥克風交給謝拉格。

Thank you, Sassine. 2023 was an excellent year highlighted by record revenue, record non-GAAP operating margin and record earnings. We continue our strong execution with financial discipline and are confident in our business heading into 2024, driven by our execution and leadership position across our segments robust chip and system design activity by our customers who continue to invest through semiconductor cycles and with $8.6 billion in noncancelable backlog, the stability and resilience of our time-based business model. As a result, while the macro environment is uncertain, we expect to grow revenue 12.4% to 13.5%, expand non-GAAP operating margin by approximately 2 percentage points and drive non-GAAP EPS growth of 19% to 20% in 2024.

謝謝薩辛。 2023年是業績斐然的一年，營收、非GAAP營業利潤率和獲利均創歷史新高。我們將繼續保持強勁的執行力和嚴謹的財務管理，並對2024年的業務充滿信心。這得益於我們在各個業務板塊的卓越執行力和領先地位，客戶在半導體週期中持續投資，以及我們高達86億美元的不可取消訂單儲備，也體現了我們基於時間的商業模式的穩定性和韌性。因此，儘管宏觀環境存在不確定性，我們預期2024年營收將成長12.4%至13.5%，非GAAP營業利潤率將提升約2個百分點，非GAAP每股收益將成長19%至20%。

Let me provide some highlights of our full year 2023 results. We generated total revenue of $5.84 billion, up 15% over the prior year, with double-digit growth across all key products and geographies. Total GAAP costs and expenses were $4.6 billion, and total non-GAAP costs and expenses were $3.8 billion, resulting in non-GAAP operating margin of 35.1%. GAAP earnings per share were $7.92 and non-GAAP earnings per share were $11.19 up 26% year-over-year.

讓我來介紹一下我們2023財年業績的亮點。我們實現了58.4億美元的總收入，年增15%，所有主要產品和地區均實現了兩位數的成長。總GAAP成本和費用為46億美元，總非GAAP成本和費用為38億美元，非GAAP營業利潤率為35.1%。 GAAP每股收益為7.92美元，非GAAP每股收益為11.19美元，較去年同期成長26%。

Now on to our segment. Design Automation segment revenue was $3.78 billion, up 14%, driven by strength in EDA software and hardware. Design Automation adjusted operating margin was 38.1%. Design IP segment revenue was $1.54 billion, up 17%, driven by broad-based strength. Design IP adjusted operating margin was 34.5%. Software Integrity revenue was $525 million, up 13% and adjusted operating margin was 14.5%.

接下來是我們的板塊。設計自動化板塊營收為37.8億美元，較去年成長14%，主要得益於EDA軟體和硬體的強勁表現。設計自動化板塊的調整後營業利益率為38.1%。設計IP板塊營收為15.4億美元，年增17%，主要得益於整體業務的強勁成長。設計IP板塊的調整後營業利益率為34.5%。軟體完整性板塊營收為5.25億美元，年增13%，調整後營業利益率為14.5%。

Turning to cash. Operating cash flow for the year was $1.7 billion. We ended the year with cash and short-term investments of $1.59 billion and total debt of $18 million. During the year, we completed buybacks of $1.2 billion or 80% of free cash flow.

現金方面，本年度經營現金流為17億美元。年末，我們持有現金及短期投資15.9億美元，總負債為1,800萬美元。年內，我們完成了12億美元的股票回購，佔自由現金流的80%。

Now to targets, which reflects the impact from export control regulations and assume no further changes for the year. Based on our current assessment of timing of hardware and IP deliveries, we expect the first half, second half split of approximately 48% to 52% for revenue and non-GAAP EPS.

接下來是目標，這些目標反映了出口管制法規的影響，並假設全年不會再有其他變化。根據我們目前對硬體和智慧財產權交付時間的評估，我們預計上半年和下半年的營收和非GAAP每股收益將佔比約48%至52%。

For fiscal year 2024, the full year targets are: revenue of $6.57 billion to $6.63 billion; total GAAP costs and expenses between $5.0 billion and $5.05 billion; total non-GAAP costs and expenses between $4.14 billion and $4.18 billion, resulting in non-GAAP operating margin improvement of roughly 2 percentage points. Non-GAAP tax rate of 15%; GAAP earnings of $9.07 to $9.25 per share, non-GAAP earnings of $13.33 to $13.41.

2024財年全年目標如下：營收65.7億美元至66.3億美元；GAAP總成本及費用50億美元至50.5億美元；非GAAP總成本及費用41.4億美元至41.8億美元，非GAAP營業利潤率將提升約2個百分點。非GAAP稅率為15%；GAAP每股盈餘9.07美元至9.25美元，非GAAP每股盈餘13.33美元至13.41美元。

Cash flow from operations of approximately $1.4 billion which includes an impact of approximately $200 million of 2023 taxes that we will pay in '24 and approximately $400 million of higher cash taxes due to the amortization of R&D expenses. Following 2024, we expect cash tax growth rate to be approximately in line with operating income growth over a multiyear period.

經營活動產生的現金流量約為14億美元，其中包括約2億美元的2023年應繳稅款（將於2024年支付）以及約4億美元的研發費用攤提導致的額外現金稅款。 2024年之後，我們預計未來幾年現金稅款成長率將與營業收入成長率大致持平。

Now to targets for the first quarter, which includes an extra week compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2023. Revenue between $1.63 billion and $1.66 billion, which includes approximately $70 million from the extra week, total GAAP costs and expenses between $1.22 billion and $1.24 billion, total non-GAAP costs and expenses between $1.02 billion and $1.03 billion; GAAP earnings of $2.40 to $2.50 per share, non-GAAP earnings of $3.40 to $3.45 per share, including approximately $0.14 from the extra week.

現在來看第一季的目標，與 2023 財年第一季相比，第一季多了一週。營收預計在 16.3 億美元至 16.6 億美元之間，其中包括額外一周帶來的約 7,000 萬美元；GAAP 總成本和費用預計在 12.2 億美元至 12.4 億美元之間；非 GAAP 總成本和費用預計在 10.2 億美元至 10.3 億美元之間預計 50.AP 5.505 美元；每股收益預計在 3.40 美元至 3.45 美元之間，其中包括額外一周帶來的約 0.14 美元。

Our press release and financial supplement include additional targets and GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation. I also want to highlight that we will be hosting our Investor Day on March 20, which will be held in conjunction with our Synopsys Users Group event in Santa Clara. We look forward to seeing many of you there.

我們的新聞稿和財務補充文件包含更多目標以及GAAP與非GAAP準則的調整說明。此外，我想強調的是，我們將於3月20日舉辦投資者日活動，該活動將與我們在聖克拉拉舉辦的Synopsys用戶小組活動同期舉行。我們期待屆時與各位相聚。

In conclusion, we entered 2024 with momentum and confidence reflecting our leadership position across our segment, robust design activity by our customers who continue to invest through semiconductor cycles and the stability and resiliency of our time-based business.

總而言之，我們帶著強勁的勢頭和十足的信心進入了 2024 年，這反映了我們在整個細分市場的領先地位、客戶在半導體週期中持續投資的強勁設計活動，以及我們基於時間的業務的穩定性和韌性。

With that, I'll turn it over to the operator for questions.

這樣，我就把電話交給接線生回答問題了。

(Operator Instructions) We'll take our first question from Harlan Sur with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）我們首先來回答摩根大通的哈蘭‧蘇爾提出的問題。

Congratulations on the strong execution and fiscal '24 guidance. Hardware verification emulation prototype (inaudible), I mean, this has been a big contributor to your double-digit revenue growth profile over the past number of years. Lots of customers focusing on verification on these very complex chip design, a lot of them wanting to get a head start on the embedded and application software development. Is the team anticipating another strong year next year for hardware?

恭喜你們在執行上表現出色，並發布了2024財年的業績指引。硬體驗證模擬原型（聽不清楚），我的意思是，這在過去幾年裡一直是你們兩位數營收成長的重要貢獻者。許多客戶都專注於對這些非常複雜的晶片設計進行驗證，他們中的許多人都希望在嵌入式和應用軟體開發方面搶佔先機。團隊是否預計明年硬體業務將持續保持強勁成長？

Will it be growing at a double-digit sort of growth rate within your fiscal '24 guidance? And if I look at inventories, right, they're up 53% year-over-year to kind of record levels, which I think is a good indicator of a strong hardware pipeline, but wanted to get your views.

在您2024財年的業績預期中，它能否維持兩位數的成長率？另外，我看一下庫存，同比增長了53%，達到了歷史新高，我認為這很好地表明了硬體產品線的強勁，但我想聽聽您的看法。

Yes. Thanks for the question. In terms of the need, exactly the way you highlighted it, the requirements to develop software early and having a hardware-assisted verification to enable that step in the process is not only continuing, is accelerating with many system companies are trying to design their chip. Or even if they're getting a chip from a semiconductor company, they want to start their software development and verification of the system early.

是的，謝謝你的提問。關於需求方面，正如你所強調的，儘早開發軟體並藉助硬體輔助驗證來實現這一步驟的要求不僅持續存在，而且隨著許多系統公司嘗試設計晶片，這種需求還在加速增長。即使他們從半導體公司獲得晶片，他們也希望儘早開始系統的軟體開發和驗證。

And this is where our HAPS and Zebu platform comes in to enable that part of the solution. We're anticipating that to continue into 2024. As you saw as well, we had a record year for our hardware-assisted verification in '23, and we don't anticipate anything different that will change going into 2024. As for the inventory comment, I'll turn it to Shelagh for comments.

而這正是我們的HAPS和Zebu平台發揮作用的地方，它們為解決方案的這一部分提供了支援。我們預計這種情況將持續到2024年。正如您所看到的，我們在2023年硬體輔助驗證方面取得了創紀錄的成績，我們預計2024年也不會出現任何變化。至於庫存方面的問題，我將請Shelagh發表意見。

Sure. As Sassine said, we had a record in 2023. We expect another record in 2024, and we're building inventory to be able to fulfill our customer demand.

當然。正如薩辛所說，我們在2023年創下了紀錄。我們預計2024年將再次創下紀錄，我們正在增加庫存以滿足客戶需求。

Perfect. And maybe a similar question on your IP business, strong growth last year, right, up 17% going forward. I mean just continued tailwinds, right? Chip design complexity, driving more reliance on off-the-shelf IP licensing. And just as importantly, right, there's some pretty big transitions on the interface and connectivity side, PCIe gen 5, CXL, DDR5, HBM3E looking at your pipeline backlog, customer programs, will the IP business be growing slower, faster in line with the fiscal '24 sort of total revenue profile?

完美。或許可以問一個關於你們IP業務的類似問題，去年成長強勁，對吧？預計未來還會成長17%。我的意思是，這完全是順風順水，對吧？晶片設計的複雜性促使你們更加依賴現成的IP授權。同樣重要的是，介面和連接方面也出現了一些重大變革，例如PCIe Gen 5、CXL、DDR5、HBM3E。看看你們的訂單儲備和客戶項目，IP業務的成長速度會比2024財年整體營收成長速度更快還是更慢？

So again, exactly the way you're outlining the requirement. There is two factors. There's the complexity. And then there is 0the different methods of designing an SoC or chip with multi-die is opening up the door for new protocols, UCIe, the PCIe, the CXL, the one that you've listed. There are different protocols for various markets for automotive.

所以，正如您所概述的需求，這裡有兩個因素。一是複雜性，二是採用不同的方法設計多晶片SoC或晶片，這為新的協定打開了大門，例如UCi、PCIe、CXL，以及您提到的那些協定。針對汽車產業的不同市場，有不同的協議。

As they expand their sophistication in developing the electronic system, it requires different requirements for the IP, interface IP for an automotive application. What we outlined in the script as well is today, we are the leading supplier for TSMC, Samsung and Intel foundry business. And that puts us in a great position because most of these complex chip developments are on these advanced foundries. And today, we are in a very fortunate position to be the partner and the leader in providing the IP for that business. So we expect that growth to continue, given the market demand for the sophisticated chips will continue.

隨著電子系統開發技術的不斷進步，汽車應用對IP和介面IP的要求也隨之改變。正如我們在簡報中所提到的，如今我們是台積電、三星和英特爾晶圓代工業務的主要供應商。這讓我們處於非常有利的地位，因為大多數複雜的晶片開發都由這些先進的晶圓代工廠完成。如今，我們非常榮幸能夠成為這些業務的合作夥伴和IP供應商。鑑於市場對高階晶片的需求將持續成長，我們預計這一成長動能將持續保持。

We'll take our next question from Joe Vruwink with Baird.

接下來，我們將回答 Joe Vruwink 和 Baird 提出的下一個問題。

Great. Maybe want to start by parsing out some of the demand commentary. So first, there was a big step up in backlog I'd imagine that bodes well for 2024 and 2025 is positive to revenue. At the same time, maybe the incremental moderation you're signaling in China, as I think about just the last 12 months, I think China contributed about 2 points worth of revenue growth, just the incremental revenue contribution from China. So arriving at the 13% growth guidance, are you (inaudible) than 13%. And then China is maybe just a more neutral factor in your outlook?

好的。或許可以先分析一下需求方面的評論。首先，積壓訂單大幅成長，我認為這對2024年和2025年的營收成長來說是個好兆頭。同時，您提到的中國市場成長放緩，在我看來，過去12個月裡，中國市場對營收成長的貢獻大約只有2個百分點，這僅僅是來自中國的增量收入貢獻。所以，您給出的13%的成長預期，是否比13%更低？那麼，中國市場在您的展望中是否只是一個比較中性的因素？

We really took a balanced approach as we look at the guidance and the forecast for FY '24. We took into account some of the headwinds that we're seeing and of course, the number of the tailwinds that we are observing in the market. A couple of the headwinds, as we mentioned, one of them is China. And the 2 factors. One is the continued export restrictions and the other one that I'm sure all of you are observing, which is the macro economy inside China. The other headwind we took into account is the continued stress and pressure from enterprise software spending that does impact our software integrity business. Some tailwinds, and this is where we get excited about is exactly what we're seeing.

在製定2024財年業績指引和預測時，我們採取了平衡的策略。我們考慮到了目前面臨的一些不利因素，當然也考慮了市場中存在的許多好因素。正如我們之前提到的，不利因素之一是中國市場。這主要體現在兩個方面：一是持續的出口限制，二是中國宏觀經濟的現狀，我相信大家都能感受到這一點。此外，我們也考慮到了企業軟體支出持續帶來的壓力，這確實會影響到我們的軟體完整性業務。而真正讓我們感到振奮的是，我們目前也看到了一些利多因素。

The AI as a megatrend is driving amazing silicon demand and that silicon demand is complex. It's on the most advanced nodes and it's giving us an amazing opportunity for our design automation and design IP. So as we took into account the both headwinds and the tailwinds. We came with a balanced view of the guidance around 13% midpoint for FY '24.

人工智慧作為一股發展大趨勢，正推動著對晶片的驚人需求，而這種需求又十分複雜。它需要最先進的製程工藝，並為我們的設計自動化和設計智慧財產權提供了絕佳的機會。因此，在綜合考慮了各種利好和不利因素後，我們對2024財年的業績預期給出了較為平衡的預測，中位數為13%。

Okay. That's clear. And then just on the topic of generative AI. I did want to maybe get your take, if it's possible to contrast just the pace of product development incorporating such a technology relative to what you've done in the past? And I guess the context for this question, as I think back to DAC in July, there were actually members of the Microsoft verification team speaking about how they wanted more robust tools from their EDA vendors that incorporated gen AI and we're not very far from July. And here you are with a product in conjunction with Microsoft and now Microsoft verification is using this in their workflows. So it seems like a very quick turnaround. Is it that much quicker than maybe what Synopsys was able to do in the past?

好的，明白了。接下來，我想談談生成式人工智慧。我想聽聽您對目前產品開發速度的看法，看看能否將這項技術與您過去的做法進行比較？我想，之所以問這個問題，是因為回想起七月份的DAC大會，當時微軟驗證團隊的成員就曾表示，他們希望EDA供應商能夠提供更強大的工具，將生成式人工智慧融入其中。而現在距離七月也不遠。你們已經與微軟合作開發了一款產品，微軟的驗證團隊也正在使用這項技術。這看起來進展非常迅速。這比Synopsys過去的做法快很多嗎？

Maybe we made it look too easy, Joe, but there was a lot of work that started well ahead of the DAC time frame. If I take a quick step back, when we talk about Synopsys.ai, there are really 4 pillars under it. The one that we -- the first one we did produce was DSO.ai in the 2020 time frame. That was focused mostly on optimizing the -- our product and using every opportunity to leverage machine learning and AI in the product and around the product.

喬，或許我們把事情搞得太輕鬆了，但實際上，在DAC發布之前，我們已經做了很多準備工作。簡單回顧一下，當我們談到Synopsys.ai時，它實際上包含四大支柱。我們最早推出的產品是2020年左右的DSO.ai。它主要專注於優化我們的產品，並利用一切機會在產品內部及週邊應用機器學習和人工智慧技術。

The second pillar, which is what we're calling a collaborative capability using gen AI, and that's what we announced with Microsoft, which is using a CoPilot approach for supporting our users for knowledge-based or workflow base or results, CoPilot and assistance. And that's in our announcement where AMD, Intel, Microsoft were some of the early users of the technology. Then we talked a little bit about what's coming down the path, which is around both generative and autonomous capability using gen AI and natural language. We're super excited actually about the early results we're seeing with the CoPilot in terms of the productivity of our customers and users.

第二個支柱，我們稱之為利用生成式人工智慧的協作能力，這是我們與微軟共同宣布的，它採用 CoPilot 方法為用戶提供基於知識庫、工作流程庫或結果的支持，以及 CoPilot 的輔助功能。在我們的公告中，AMD、英特爾和微軟等公司都是這項技術的早期用戶。之後，我們簡要討論了未來的發展方向，即利用生成式人工智慧和自然語言實現生成式和自主式功能。我們對 CoPilot 在提升客戶和用戶生產力方面取得的早期成果感到非常興奮。

We'll take our next question from Vivek Arya with Bank of America Securities.

接下來，我們將回答來自美國銀行證券的維韋克·阿亞提出的問題。

If I remove the -- I think you said about $17 million or so impact of the extra week. You're guiding to roughly 12% sales growth right, which seems to be very conservative relative to the strong backlog that you have built up. So I'm curious, Sassine, I think you mentioned the impact of China and enterprise software and AI is kind of neutral, but then when I look at the 12% growth that is lower than what you had in the last 3 years, even though there is all this AI excitement that's starting now. So is it conservative? How should we kind of put this 12% in the context of the kind of growth rates we are used to seeing from Synopsys over the last 3 years?

如果我排除——我記得您說過額外一周帶來的大約1700萬美元的影響——您預計銷售增長約為12%，對嗎？考慮到您累積的強勁訂單儲備，這個預測似乎非常保守。所以，Sassine，我很好奇，您提到中國市場、企業軟體和人工智慧的影響基本上持平，但當我看到12%的成長率時，它低於過去三年的成長率，即使現在人工智慧領域正蓬勃發展。那麼，這個預測是否保守？我們該如何看待這12%的成長率，並將其與Synopsys過去三年的成長率進行比較？

So Vivek, thanks for the question. This is Shelagh. I'll jump in on that. So we're obviously taking a balanced stance as Sassine talked about at the we're at a 13% growth year-over-year. And we're seeing design automation, design IP have incredibly strong momentum. You mentioned the $8.6 billion backlog. We're seeing that growth in line with our long-term targets.

維韋克，謝謝你的提問。我是謝拉格，我來回答。正如薩辛所說，我們顯然採取了平衡的策略，目前年增13%。設計自動化和設計智慧財產權的發展勢頭非常強勁。你提到了86億美元的積壓訂單。我們看到這一成長符合我們的長期目標。

And we're seeing AI as a catalyst, but it's in its early inning. So we think it's a long-term growth catalyst. And we're looking forward to having it be able to help drive our business over the horizon. But the 2 headwinds are China, as we've talked about, the macro situation in China and the restrictions that have been imposed on China, are having some dampening effect.

我們認為人工智慧是一種催化劑，但它仍處於發展初期。因此，我們認為它是一個長期的成長催化劑。我們期待它能夠幫助我們的業務實現長遠發展。但正如我們之前討論過的，中國面臨的兩大不利因素——中國的宏觀經濟情勢以及對中國實施的限制——正在產生一定的抑製作用。

We expect China to grow in '24, but at a lesser rate than it grew in '23. And the other headwind that we have is we are expecting a muted environment for enterprise software spend to impact our Software Integrity business, and we're assuming that, that business will be single-digit growth in 2024. So it's the combination of those headwinds and tailwinds that's leading to our 13% growth rate at the midpoint.

我們預期中國經濟在2024年將維持成長，但成長速度將低於2023年。另一個不利因素是，我們預期企業軟體支出疲軟的環境將影響我們的軟體完整性業務，我們假設該業務在2024年將維持個位數成長。因此，正是這些利好和不利因素的綜合作用，導致我們預測的中位數成長率為13%。

Got it. And for my follow-up, the AI CoPilot, seems like a very interesting new product. I'm curious what is the right way to track how you are able to monetize it? Are you selling it as incremental feature. Are you selling it as a separate tool, right? What is the right way to just kind of track how successful you are with this capability?

明白了。關於AI CoPilot，這看起來是一個非常有趣的新產品。我很好奇，你們是如何追蹤其獲利情況的？你們是把它當作一項增量功能出售，還是作為一款獨立的工具出售？怎樣才能有效衡量這項功能的成功程度呢？

So the way we're thinking and we expect this over the last few calls, which is AI will be offered to our customers through a subscription license, meaning, if a customer wants to use an AI capability, be it a DSO.ai or VSO.ai, it will be offered as an incremental spend for the customer to get access to that technology.

因此，根據我們最近幾次電話會議的思考和預期，我們將透過訂閱許可的方式向客戶提供人工智慧服務，這意味著，如果客戶想要使用人工智慧功能，無論是 DSO.ai 還是 VSO.ai，都將以額外支出的形式提供給客戶，以便他們獲得該技術的使用權。

And in some early adopter cases where they're still not ready to make the long-term commitment, we're offering it as well in terms of consumption base. They may be looking for one project to use it, et cetera. And the CoPilot in particular case, it's still very early, very early stage in terms of us to talk about monetization and how is it contributing overall. But those are the flexibility tools per se, we're providing the customer to get access to it.

對於一些尚未準備好做出長期承諾的早期用戶，我們也提供按需消費的服務。他們可能只想在一個專案中使用，等等。就 CoPilot 而言，目前仍處於非常早期的階段，我們還無法討論其獲利模式以及對整體貢獻。但這些工具本身俱有靈活性，我們為客戶提供了存取的途徑。

We'll take our next question from Jason Celino with KeyBanc.

接下來，我們將回答來自 KeyBanc 的 Jason Celino 提出的問題。

Great. The backlog number, it's quite impressive. Looking back at the last couple of years, it looks like it's sequentially the biggest quarter-over-quarter increase we've ever seen, up 20% year-over-year. Just wanted to check how much of this has been driven just from the AI design activity or the AI tool revenue. It sounds like it was more broad-based, but just wanted to check.

太好了。積壓訂單數量相當驚人。回顧過去幾年，這似乎是我們見過的最大季度環比增幅，比去年同期成長20%。我只是想確認一下，這其中有多少是人工智慧設計活動帶來的，又有多少是人工智慧工具收入帶來的。聽起來好像是更廣泛的成長，但我還是想確認一下。

With AI, we communicated last quarter that what we're observing on average and that's average -- emphasizing the average because in some cases, we're seeing a much bigger number or lesser number. About 20% contract over contract growth when a customer is renewing their EDA agreement and asking for the AI capability to be added.

上個季度，我們談到了人工智慧方面的情況，我們觀察到的平均成長情況——強調「平均」是因為在某些情況下，我們看到的數字會更大或更小。當客戶續簽EDA協議並要求添加人工智慧功能時，合約成長率約為20%。

The other point that I made earlier with Vivek, I'd like to emphasize as well, that we are in early stages of that monetization with AI. We still have customers that they are in early adoption, meaning if they have x number of projects, they may be using it on 1 or 2 projects and other customers, they stopped early and they're going more aggressively. But to give you a sense, it's roughly 20% on the EDA side, contract over contract growth we're observing.

我之前和Vivek提到的另一點，我也想再次強調，那就是我們目前在人工智慧的商業化方面還處於早期階段。我們仍然有一些客戶處於早期採用階段，也就是說，如果他們有一定數量的項目，可能只在1到2個項目上使用；而另一些客戶則進展緩慢，他們正在採取更積極的策略。但總的來說，我們觀察到，在EDA（探索性數據分析）方面，合約數量的成長大約達到了20%。

Okay. Interesting. And then one question on the OCF guidance. It will be down next year. Are you saying that there's a $600 million headwind from cash taxes and then additional amortization and then are you saying it's going to grow just in line with net income growth that you're after? Can you clarify?

好的，很有意思。關於營運現金流（OCF）指引，我還有一個問題。明年OCF會下降。您是指6億美元的現金稅和額外的攤銷會造成不利影響，然後您又說OCF的成長將與您預期的淨利成長一致嗎？能否解釋一下？

Yes, Jason, thanks for the question. So the total impact from taxes is $600 million as we're moving to the new tax guidance where R&D is capitalized. Out of that $600 million, $200 million of it was payable in November. We've already paid it, which was for 2023 and then $400 million of that $600 million is for 2024. And again, both of those are impacted by the amortization of R&D. As we move forward, as we move into 2025 and beyond, we anticipate that the growth of the cash tax rate will align with the growth of our operating income. So there is a bit of a big step up this year. We do not anticipate that same level step up as we move forward.

是的，Jason，謝謝你的提問。由於我們採用了新的稅收指導原則，研發支出需要資本化，因此稅收總影響為 6 億美元。在這 6 億美元中，2 億美元已於 11 月支付，這部分稅款用於 2023 年；另外 4 億美元用於 2024 年。同樣，這兩筆稅金都受到研發攤銷的影響。展望未來，進入 2025 年及以後，我們預期現金稅率的成長將與我們的營業收入成長保持一致。因此，今年的稅率會有較大幅度的成長。我們預計未來不會有如此大幅度的成長。

Got. But this is the new base level, right?

明白了。但這是新的基本水平，對吧？

It is because we're now going forward for the foreseeable future, we will be amortizing R&D. And for us, about half of our R&D is in the U.S. and about half of our R&D is outside the U.S. So that new scheme is with us for the foreseeable future.

這是因為我們將在可預見的未來繼續推動研發支出攤銷。對我們而言，大約一半的研發支出在美國，另一半在美國以外。因此，這項新方案將在可預見的未來繼續實施。

We'll take our next question from Jay Vleeschhouwer with Griffin Securities.

接下來，我們將回答來自 Griffin Securities 的 Jay Vleeschhouwer 提出的問題。

For Aart and Sassine, first, then a financial follow-up for Shelagh. For Aart and Sassine, one of the tailwinds that you've had for the last number of years, and we've spoken about this often is what you've referred to as domain-specific architectures on the part of your customers or specialty chips. And AI is probably a very special case of that. The question is, how do you think the whole phenomenon of the main specific design at either the chip or system level is going to be fundamentally altered by the AI phenomenon? And in turn, what does it mean for any additional investments you need to make outside of R&D, for example, in AE capacity services, et cetera?

首先，請談談Aart和Sassine的情況，然後再談談Shelagh的財務狀況。對於Aart和Sassine來說，過去幾年你們一直受益於一個有利因素，我們也多次討論過，那就是你們所說的客戶或專用晶片的領域特定架構。人工智慧可能是一個非常特殊的案例。問題是，你們認為人工智慧的出現將從根本上改變晶片或系統層面的主要特定設計模式？反過來，這意味著你們需要在研發之外進行哪些額外投資，例如在應用增強能力服務等方面？

Yes. Thank you, Jay, for the question. You're right. The whole domain-specific architecture I want to say, about 6, 7 years ago, we started seeing a number of customers investing in it mostly hyperscalers. And you can argue before that couple of the mobile companies started optimizing based on their own system software optimizing their silicon.

是的。謝謝你的提問，Jay。你說得對。關於整個領域特定架構，我想說的是，大約六、七年前，我們開始看到一些客戶，主要是超大規模資料中心，開始投資這方面。你也可以說，在此之前，一些行動公司已經開始基於自己的系統軟體來優化晶片，從而進行最佳化。

With the hyperscalers, initially, the target was -- can they -- based on the workload -- on a specific workload, can they develop a chip that is more effective for power, performance cost, et cetera. And the answer is yes, and they made a number of these investments. Now you're seeing another wave of expanded investment around AI and how can they train the models that they are creating for, again, their specific applications.

最初，超大規模資料中心的目標是：基於特定的工作負載，他們能否開發出在功耗、效能、成本等方面更有效率的晶片？答案是肯定的，他們也做了許多相關投資。現在，我們看到新一輪的投資浪潮正圍繞著人工智慧展開，他們致力於訓練為特定應用場景創建的模型。

And I'm sure you've noticed in the last couple of weeks almost the top 3 hyperscalers announce their own silicon investments and chips for AI specific training to drive more optimization and efficiency for their workloads. What that means for Synopsys is not only it's another chip that our customer base is investing in, which drives both EDA and IP, typically, they are the most advanced node and different methodology in many cases, they're pushing towards multi-die and chiplets, which opens up the door for IP and the comments I made earlier.

我相信您在過去幾週也注意到了，排名前三的超大規模資料中心營運商幾乎都宣布了他們自己的晶片投資項目，這些晶片將用於人工智慧訓練，以進一步優化和提高其工作負載的效率。這對 Synopsys 來說意味著，我們的客戶群不僅在晶片領域又投入了一筆資金，這推動了 EDA 和 IP 的發展，而且通常情況下，這些晶片採用的是最先進的製程工藝和不同的設計方法，他們正在向多晶片和晶片組方向發展，這為 IP 的發展以及我之前提到的內容打開了大門。

From our solution point of view, yes, we're expanding the solution offering to enable our customers to design these complex chips. On IP, I want to say it's fairly straightforward. You deliver 2 standards to connect these chips. But the work is not straightforward, but the road map is fairly straightforward what you need to do. On the EDA side, we have a number of those customers using 3DIC Compiler, which gives them the ability to architect that chip for that system in that case.

從我們的解決方案角度來看，是的，我們正在擴展解決方案範圍，以幫助客戶設計這些複雜的晶片。關於IP，我想說這相當簡單明了。我們提供兩種標準來連接這些晶片。但實際工作並非如此簡單，不過路線圖清楚地指明了您需要做什麼。在EDA方面，我們有許多客戶使用3DIC Compiler，它使他們能夠針對特定係統設計晶片架構。

SLM, the silicon life cycle management to give them the ability to trace the health and the connectivity of these dies into the system and all the way in the field or in the hyperscale case as it sits into their data center and it's up and running. So we have a number of expansions in our portfolio in order to support these opportunities. And that's why we are bullish and excited about the opportunity to continue the growth for design, automation and design IP.

SLM（矽生命週期管理）使用戶能夠追蹤晶片在系統中的健康狀況和連接情況，無論是在現場還是在超大規模資料中心運作期間。為了支持這些機遇，我們已在產品組合中進行了多項擴展。正因如此，我們對設計、自動化和設計IP領域的持續成長充滿信心和期待。

Okay. For Shelagh, one of the largest components of your backlog has been FSAs which are, I would assume, largely related to IP. Is there any reason to believe that in future, the pull down of FSAs for IP consumption would be faster or larger than has been the case to date. And for that matter, were FSA is a large component of the $1.5 billion sequential increase in backlog, which you noted.

好的。對於謝拉格來說，你積壓訂單中最大的組成部分之一是FSA（功能性服務協議），我猜這主要與智慧財產權相關。有沒有理由相信，未來智慧財產權消費對FSA的需求下降速度會更快或幅度會更大？另外，你提到的15億美元積壓訂單中，FSA是否佔了很大一部分？

There's not a -- I wouldn't note a different percent of FSAs. It's certainly something that many of our customers who are purchasing IP preferred that model, but there's not a different mix.

並沒有——我不會注意到FSA（靈活支出帳戶）的比例有所不同。當然，我們許多購買IP（智慧財產權）的客戶都更喜歡這種模式，但並沒有不同的組合。

We'll take our next question from Charles Shi with Needham.

接下來，我們將回答史志強和李約瑟提出的問題。

Congrats on the very strong results, guidance and the backlog number. I want to ask a little bit -- I think a little bit more into the backlog number because you have relatively consistent, I mean, ratios in terms of how much backlog goes into RPO, how much RPO goes into current RPO and how much the current RPO covers next year's revenue. With that at the same ratio as in the past few years, I thought you would have guided a little bit higher given that $8.6 billion backlog.

恭喜你們取得了非常亮眼的業績、明確的業績指引以及86億美元的積壓訂單量。我想就積壓訂單量再問幾個問題，因為你們的各項指標都相對穩定，例如積壓訂單中有多少用於RPO（響應式採購計劃），RPO中有多少用於當前RPO，以及當前RPO涵蓋了明年的收入。鑑於這些指標與過去幾年的比例基本相同，考慮到86億美元的積壓訂單量，我原本以為你們的業績指引會更高一些。

So how should I reconcile this? Is it something like at this time, the average contract duration is a little bit longer within that $8.6 billion backlog? Or there's some conservatism around what will you want to guide for '24?

那我該如何解釋這種情況呢？是不是說，目前這86億美元的積壓訂單中，平均合約期限略長一些？或者說，對於2024年的業績指引，你們持較保守的態度？

Yes. Thanks for the question. So the backlog was broad-based. It was across multiple customers. And as Sassine said, some of them was larger renewals and new deals that we booked. There was -- there's no change in the duration in our contracts. So there's no change from our typical duration. As we were putting the forecast together for the year, we are really balancing the headwinds and tailwinds that we're seeing in the business, and we're seeing -- because of the backlog, we're seeing very strong momentum in the core business in design automation and design where we're seeing the headwinds is on China, in particular, which obviously has been a large growth driver for us for the last several years.

是的，謝謝你的提問。積壓訂單範圍很廣，涉及多個客戶。正如薩辛所說，其中一些是較大的續約訂單和我們新簽的合約。我們的合約期限沒有變化，與我們通常的合約期限相同。在製定年度預測時，我們正在權衡業務中遇到的各種利弊。由於積壓訂單的存在，我們在設計自動化和設計這一核心業務領域看到了非常強勁的成長動能。而我們面臨的阻力主要來自中國市場，尤其是在過去幾年裡，中國市場一直是我們主要的成長動力。

We're seeing that growth rate slower and then the other one is SIG, which the Software Integrity business is still -- we anticipate going to be impacted by a difficult software enterprise purchasing environment. And so that's why we've got that business forecast at single-digit growth. So it's really the balancing of those things. But we are seeing design automation and design IP aligned with our long-term goals for those businesses.

我們看到成長速度有所放緩，而軟體完整性業務（SIG）預計仍將受到企業軟體採購環境艱難的影響。因此，我們對該業務的成長預測為個位數。所以，這其實是在權衡各種因素。但我們看到設計自動化和設計智慧財產權與我們這些業務的長期目標相符。

Yes. Maybe a quick follow-up on the half-over-half profile for next year because I mean, I would think that EDA revenue, I mean, because of its time-based nature and you guys keep signing bigger contracts, you tend to be like up to the right kind of profile through the year. but you're relatively flattish half-over-half profile seems to suggest that the IP maybe some of the hardware is going to be a little bit front half loaded. Is that the case? And why is that a thing?

是的。或許可以快速跟進一下明年的「半月/半月」收入結構，因為我的意思是，EDA收入，考慮到它的時效性，以及你們不斷簽訂更大的合同，應該能夠全年保持理想的收入結構。但你們相對平緩的「半月/半月」收入結構似乎表明，IP或部分硬體的收入可能會集中在前半部。情況真是如此嗎？為什麼會這樣呢？

Yes. It's really just the balance of how we see the customers wanting to ingest our hardware and our IP business. So it's fairly aligned also with what we saw in '23 and fairly aligned with what we saw in '21.

是的。這實際上取決於我們如何平衡客戶對我們硬體和知識產權業務的需求。因此，這與我們在2023年和2021年看到的情況基本一致。

Maybe, Charles, if I'll add a couple of comments to what Shelagh just said. Rough numbers, our design automation is about 65% of our business and then design IP, 25% and software -- 10% and the $8.6 billion is mostly those agreements in EDA and IP and given the large percentage of the overall revenue we have, which is 25% is IP. There's a different pull down and development of the IP, especially on the advanced nodes, when we're talking about we're developing our IP portfolio on the most advanced foundries, from the day you sign an agreement to the day you deliver, there's a time lapse by when did you deliver the IP and you get the pull down.

查爾斯，或許我可以補充幾句謝拉格剛才說的話。粗略估計，我們的設計自動化業務約佔65%，設計IP佔25%，軟體佔10%。這86億美元的收入主要來自EDA和IP方面的協議。考慮到IP在我們總收入中所佔比例很高（25%），IP的開發和交付流程會有所不同，尤其是在先進製程節點上。當我們談到在最先進的代工廠開發我們的IP組合時，從簽署協議到交付產品之間存在時間差，也就是IP交付的時間，這會影響最終的收入。

So while the backlog number, the $8.6 billion is large, we need to get, I would say, used to that the consumption for EDA and IP will be very different across that backlog number and the timing of the renewal et cetera.

因此，雖然積壓訂單數量高達 86 億美元，但我們需要習慣的是，EDA 和 IP 的消耗量會因積壓訂單數量和續約時間等因素而大相徑庭。

Thanks, Charles. Let's do one more question and then if you could turn it back over to me, Lisa.

謝謝，查爾斯。我們再問最後一個問題，然後麗莎，請你把問題交還給我。

We'll take our next question from Gianmarco Conti with Deutsche Bank.

接下來，我們將回答來自德意志銀行的 Gianmarco Conti 提出的問題。

So I guess the first one would be, how should we think about the recurring revenue rate into 2024? Is it fair to assume that given that we're expecting another record hard of the year into '24, it will inch closer to 80%.

所以我想第一個問題是，我們該如何看待2024年的經常性收入率？考慮到我們預計2024年又將迎來創紀錄的銷售旺季，假設經常性收入率將接近80%是否合理？

And secondly, could you provide some more color on the SIG strategic initiatives that you're considering?

其次，您能否詳細介紹您正在考慮的 SIG 策略舉措？

Maybe I'll talk about the SIG initiative, and Shelagh will comment on the backlog. The -- what we've said in the remarks that we went through a strategic portfolio review, just to put some context around what we went through. As I stated earlier, we have the 3 business segments and we are truly fortunate that we have a leading position in each one of those segments. As we look at the opportunities over the next 5 to 10 years of these market segments, I cannot express how excited we are about the opportunities we have in design automation and design IP. And the more we can expand our portfolio within these market segments.

也許我會談談SIG計劃，Shelagh會就積壓的工作發表意見。正如我們在演講中提到的，我們進行了一次策略組合審查，這裡簡單介紹一下我們審查的內容。正如我之前所說，我們有三大業務板塊，而且非常幸運的是，我們在每個板塊都佔據領先地位。展望未來5到10年這些細分市場的機遇，我對設計自動化和設計智慧財產權領域的機會感到無比興奮。我們越能拓展在這些細分市場的產品組合，就越令人振奮。

So that led us to discuss and make a decision to explore the strategic alternatives for software integrity to put priority of where to make our investments and where we believe there's a higher ROI for the investments based on the 90% of our portfolio between the design automation and design IP business segments. So that's really the process that we went through in order to get to that point.

因此，我們開始討論並決定探索軟體完整性方面的策略選擇，優先考慮投資方向，以及我們認為投資回報率更高的領域，因為我們90%的業務組合都集中在設計自動化和設計知識產權業務板塊。這就是我們最終得出這個結論的過程。

Yes. And I would add that on the recurring revenue question, we're not expecting a substantial change in that. We've had a record hardware year in '22 and '23, and we're expecting another one in '24, but the overall business is growing too. So it won't substantially change the mix of recurring revenue.

是的。關於經常性收入的問題，我還要補充一點，我們預期不會有實質的改變。 2022年和2023年我們的硬體銷售額都創下了歷史新高，我們預計2024年也將如此，但整體業務也在成長。因此，這不會對經常性收入的組成產生實質的影響。

Thanks, Johnny. Let me turn it over to Aart for some closing remarks.

謝謝你，強尼。現在把發言權交給阿特，請他做些總結發言。

Thank you. A couple of personal words in closure here. Since the IPO in 1992, this is my 128th earnings call. I did not miss a single one, but I suspect that literally only (inaudible) remembers exactly what was said at each one of these calls. So a big thank you to you, Jay. But really huge gratitude to all of you for your feedback, your write-ups, your advocacy on the market. but also for never giving up on asking questions where you perfectly well know that we will never answer them.

謝謝大家。最後我想說幾句。自從1992年公司上市以來，這已經是我參加的第128次財報電話會議了。我一次都沒錯過，但我估計只有（聽不清楚）一個人能準確記住每次會議的內容。所以，傑伊，非常感謝你。但更要衷心感謝大家，感謝你們的回饋、文章、在市場上的支持，也感謝你們明知我們不會回答卻依然堅持提問。

So I really hope that you will keep that up with Sassine, but more importantly, a gratitude for having been travel made and family members in raising this fragile Synopsys start-up child into the strong worldwide market and technology leader that is today. Thank you.

所以我真心希望您能繼續與Sassine保持這種勢頭，但更重要的是，我要感謝您和家人一路以來的付出，是你們讓Synopsys這家曾經脆弱的初創公司成長為如今強大的全球市場和技術領導者。謝謝。

Now some CEO transitions are hard, but I think we're doing very well. Sassine is the perfect choice for CEO. He already leads with ambition, heart and smart and of course, his 25 years of experience at Synopsys is comprehended is complemented, I should say, by great customer relationships and very importantly, trust. Sassine has my respect, my enthusiasm and my full support. So please give him your support as well. With that, I look forward to from time to time, touching base with you, so until then, be well and thank you very much.

執行長的更迭總是充滿挑戰，但我認為我們目前進展順利。薩辛是執行長的理想人選。他展現出了卓越的領導能力、熱情和智慧，當然，他在新思科技25年的經驗也為他奠定了堅實的基礎，更重要的是，他與客戶建立了良好的關係，贏得了客戶的信任。我對薩辛充滿敬意，並給予他全力支持。也請大家給他同樣的支持。我期待與大家不時保持聯繫，在此之前，祝一切順利，非常感謝。

Thanks, everyone, for joining the call. Lisa, can you close this out?

謝謝大家參加這次通話。麗莎，你能結束這通通話嗎？

Thank you. And that does conclude today's presentation. Thank you for your participation today. You may now disconnect. And that does conclude today's presentation. Thank you.

謝謝。今天的演講到此結束。感謝各位的參與。現在可以斷開連線了。今天的演講到此結束。謝謝。