新思科技 (SNPS) 2020 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Synopsys earnings conference call for fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020. (Operator Instructions)

各位女士、先生，感謝您稍候並參與，歡迎收聽新思科技（Synopsys）2020 會計年度第四季暨全年財報電話會議。（接線員指示）

As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Lisa Ewbank, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

提醒各位，今天的電話會議將進行錄音。現在我想將會議交給投資人關係副總裁 Lisa Ewbank。請開始。

Thank you, Rich. Good afternoon, everyone. Hosting the call today are Aart de Geus, Chairman and Co-CEO of Synopsys; and Trac Pham, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，Rich。各位下午好。今天主持會議的是新思科技董事長兼共同執行長 Aart de Geus，以及財務長 Trac Pham。

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 and performance are subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. In addition to any risks that we highlight during the call, important factors that may affect our future results are described in our most recent SEC reports and today's earnings press release.

在開始之前，我想提醒各位，在本次電話會議過程中，新思科技將討論與公司及其財務結果相關的預測、目標及其他前瞻性陳述。雖然這些陳述代表我們截至今日對未來結果與表現所做的最佳當前判斷，但我們的實際結果與表現仍受多項風險與不確定性影響，可能導致實際結果與我們預期出現重大差異。除我們在會議中可能強調的任何風險外，可能影響我們未來結果的重要因素亦載於我們最新的 SEC 報告以及今日的財報新聞稿中。

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

此外，我們在討論中將引用非 GAAP 財務衡量指標。與其最直接可比的 GAAP 財務衡量指標之調節表，以及補充財務資訊，可在我們今日稍早發布的財報新聞稿、財務補充資料與 8-K 中找到。上述所有資料，加上最新的投資人簡報，皆可於我們的網站 synopsys.com 取得。此外，準備好的講稿將在電話會議結束後張貼於網站上。

Finally, we are all again participating from different locations today, so please forgive any delays or technology glitches or awkward handoffs in the Q&A session that occur as a result.

最後，今天我們再次分別在不同地點參與會議，因此若在問答環節因而出現任何延遲、技術問題或交接不順之處，敬請見諒。

And with that, I will turn the call over to Aart de Geus.

接下來，我將把電話會議交給 Aart de Geus。

Good afternoon. I'm pleased to report another outstanding year for Synopsys. Despite unprecedented macro challenges, we built considerable financial, technology and customer momentum. We substantially exceeded our original plan with business strengthening through the year.

各位下午好。我很高興報告，新思科技又度過了表現卓越的一年。儘管面臨前所未有的總體環境挑戰，我們仍建立了可觀的財務、技術與客戶動能。隨著業務在全年持續強化，我們大幅超越了原先的計畫。

We grew revenue nearly 10% to $3.685 billion, led by EDA software and IP, expanded non-GAAP operating margin by 3 percentage points, delivered more than 20% non-GAAP earnings growth and record cash flow of $991 million. Contributing to these very positive results were the new EDA and IP products we've introduced over the past few years. We expect to further build on this momentum with several groundbreaking technologies that we launched this year. In addition, our reenergized Software Integrity business is on its way to scaling to the next level and reaccelerating growth.

我們的營收成長近 10%，達到 36.85 億美元，主要由 EDA 軟體與 IP 帶動；非 GAAP 營業利益率提升 3 個百分點；非 GAAP 獲利成長超過 20%；並創下 9.91 億美元的現金流量紀錄。促成這些非常正面的成果之一，是我們在過去幾年推出的新 EDA 與 IP 產品。我們預期將在今年推出的多項突破性技術上，進一步延續並擴大這股動能。此外，我們重新振作的軟體完整性（Software Integrity）業務正邁向下一階段的規模化，並重新加速成長。

About 2 years ago, we communicated a 3-year financial plan to drive double-digit non-GAAP earnings growth through a combination of top line growth and operating margin expansion to the high 20s by 2021. We achieved our initial ops margin target a year early and have consistently delivered high single-digit revenue growth. As we enter 2021, we expect to surpass $4 billion in revenue, with non-GAAP operating margins of 29% to 30%, low to mid-teens non-GAAP EPS growth and more than $1 billion in operating cash flow. Beyond 2021, we will raise our ambition to a Rule of 45 as we drive revenue growth and further operating margin expansion. Trac will discuss the financials in more detail.

約在 2 年前，我們對外溝通了一項 3 年財務計畫，透過營收成長與營業利益率擴張相結合，在 2021 年前將非 GAAP 營業利益率提升至接近 20% 後段（high 20s），以推動非 GAAP 獲利達到兩位數成長。我們提前一年達成最初的營業利益率目標，並持續交出高個位數的營收成長。展望 2021 年，我們預期營收將突破 40 億美元，非 GAAP 營業利益率為 29% 至 30%，非 GAAP 每股盈餘（EPS）成長為低到中段十位數（low to mid-teens），營運現金流量超過 10 億美元。2021 年之後，隨著我們推動營收成長並進一步擴張營業利益率，我們將把企圖心提升至「45 法則（Rule of 45）」。Trac 將更詳細說明財務狀況。

Meanwhile, design activity remains strong across the board. Opportunities in key end markets such as AI and machine learning, high-performance computing and cloud, 5G and automotive are massive as all drive increasing adoption of our advanced solutions at a time that Synopsys enjoys particularly strong differentiation. This includes ambitious companies such as AI start-ups and cloud hyperscalers as they position themselves to leverage big data generated by the billions of cloud-connected IoT devices. They need a trusted partner who not only has the most advanced high-impact products today but complete solutions capable of scaling well beyond the traditional demands of Moore's Law into the powerful intersection of hardware and software.

同時，整體設計活動仍然強勁。AI 與機器學習、高效能運算與雲端、5G 與車用等關鍵終端市場的機會極為龐大；在新思科技享有特別強的差異化優勢之際，這些趨勢都在推動客戶更廣泛採用我們的先進解決方案。這其中包括具雄心的公司，例如 AI 新創與雲端超大規模業者（hyperscalers），他們正定位自己以運用由數十億台雲端連網 IoT 裝置所產生的大數據。他們需要一個值得信賴的合作夥伴，不僅擁有當今最先進、最具影響力的產品，還能提供完整解決方案，能夠在摩爾定律傳統需求之外持續擴展，並深入硬體與軟體交會的強大領域。

Let me provide some highlights. In EDA, our unrelenting innovation push in digital design has strengthened our long-standing market leadership. More than 95% of advanced designs today rely on our Fusion Design Platform and over the past year, revenue growth has accelerated. In particular, we continue to see strong adoption momentum for our Fusion Compiler product, the industry's premier digital design solution. Fusion Compiler significantly exceeded its orders target, increasing 140% in 2020. The progression from technical benchmarks to competitive wins to growing orders and production proliferation is trending even better than we anticipated. We've seen widespread adoptions from customers ranging from the largest global communications, processor and graphics firms; to high-impact cloud hyperscalers; to influential system houses and AI start-ups.

我提供幾項重點。在 EDA 方面，我們在數位設計領域持續不懈的創新推進，強化了我們長期以來的市場領導地位。如今超過 95% 的先進設計仰賴我們的 Fusion Design Platform，而在過去一年中，營收成長也加速。尤其是，我們持續看到業界首屈一指的數位設計解決方案 Fusion Compiler 具備強勁的採用動能。Fusion Compiler 的訂單大幅超越目標，2020 年成長 140%。從技術基準測試到競爭性勝出，再到訂單成長與量產擴散的進程，趨勢甚至比我們預期更好。我們已看到廣泛採用，客戶涵蓋全球最大的通訊、處理器與圖形公司；高影響力的雲端超大規模業者；以及具指標性的系統公司與 AI 新創。

For our customers, production deployment yielded excellent results as evidenced by 5x the number of tape-outs in FY '20 compared to last year, and for us, a rapidly growing pipeline across many market segments. The Fusion Technology foundation also dovetails exceptionally well with the challenges inherent in the next wave of chip and system design. Specifically, Synopsys is addressing new TAM opportunities in AI-driven design flows, in 3D multichip design and in the new area of silicon life cycle management.

對客戶而言，量產部署帶來了極佳成果，證據是 2020 會計年度的 tape-out 數量為去年 5 倍；對我們而言，則是在多個市場區隔中快速成長的管線。Fusion Technology 的基礎也與下一波晶片與系統設計所固有的挑戰高度契合。具體而言，新思科技正著手開拓新的 TAM 機會，包括 AI 驅動的設計流程、3D 多晶片設計，以及新的「矽生命週期管理」領域。

Let me start with our DSO.ai product, where DSO stands for design space optimization. Our combination of Fusion and AI learns and automatically adjusts and optimizes design exploration for both better results and faster time to market. With it, design teams can also tackle larger blocks and more projects, thus focusing on more value-added tasks. Even in this early stage, the power and potential of DSO.ai is being widely recognized as it received a 2020 World Electronics Achievement award for Innovative Product of the Year.

先從我們的 DSO.ai 產品談起，其中 DSO 代表 design space optimization（設計空間最佳化）。我們將 Fusion 與 AI 結合，使系統能學習並自動調整與最佳化設計探索，以同時取得更佳結果並加速上市時間。透過它，設計團隊也能處理更大的模組與更多專案，從而把重心放在更具附加價值的工作上。即使仍在早期階段，DSO.ai 的威力與潛力已廣受肯定，並獲得 2020 World Electronics Achievement 年度創新產品獎。

Next is our extremely timely 3DIC Compiler solution with disruptive technology that enables the design and analysis of multiple die together on a chip. At the very moment, that system architects are augmenting traditional chip complexity by connecting multiple chips very tightly together, our 3DIC product provides far better performance and capacity than conventional disaggregated chip-in-package approaches.

接著是我們極為切合時機的 3DIC Compiler 解決方案，其顛覆性技術可在同一顆晶片上，讓多顆晶粒（die）共同進行設計與分析。正當系統架構師透過將多顆晶片緊密互連來提升傳統晶片複雜度之際，我們的 3DIC 產品相較於傳統的分離式 chip-in-package 方法，提供更佳的效能與容量。

Finally, we launched the industry's first silicon life cycle management platform just last month. On-chip sensors and monitors feed into data analytics engines integrated with leading test and yield management. This provides visibility into critical performance, reliability and security issues for the entirety of a chip's lifespan from design to in-field operation. Early customer interest in all of these new solutions is very high.

最後，我們就在上個月推出了業界第一個矽生命週期管理平台。晶片內建的感測器與監測器將資料輸入至資料分析引擎，並與領先的測試與良率管理整合。這使得從設計到現場運作的整個晶片生命週期中，關鍵效能、可靠度與安全性議題都能被清楚掌握。客戶對這些新解決方案的早期興趣都非常高。

Turning to custom design. Momentum for our Custom Compiler product accelerated with more than 30 new logos and 15-plus full-flow competitive displacements during the year. This resulted in over 50% revenue growth. Having seen the power of our innovations targeting advanced [system] designs, a number of the highest impact semiconductor and systems companies are putting their trust in us.

接著談客製化設計（custom design）。我們的 Custom Compiler 產品動能加速，全年新增超過 30 個新客戶標誌（new logos），並完成 15 件以上的全流程（full-flow）競品替換。這帶動營收成長超過 50%。在見識到我們針對先進系統設計所推出創新的威力後，多家最具影響力的半導體與系統公司正把信任交付給我們。

Let me now move to our Verification Continuing Platform, which combines market-leading anchor products into a seamless, high-efficiency solution. With the complexity increase of intersecting chips, systems and software, the need for Verification continues to rise. Our #1 market share position in both software and hardware puts us at the center of this wave as we continue to innovate aggressively in state-of-the-art native integration of the fastest engines. Contributing to our solid growth on the software side are influential high-profile customers ranging from hyperscalers to AI to automotive and mobile.

接下來談我們的 Verification Continuing Platform（驗證持續平台），它將市場領先的核心產品整合為無縫、高效率的解決方案。隨著晶片、系統與軟體交織所帶來的複雜度提升，對驗證的需求持續上升。我們在軟體與硬體兩方面皆居市場第一的市占地位，使我們站在這波浪潮的中心；同時我們也持續積極創新，在最快引擎的最先進原生整合方面保持領先。推動我們軟體端穩健成長的，是一批具影響力的指標客戶，涵蓋超大規模業者、AI、車用以及行動領域。

Our hardware-based Verification products are totally focused on unmatched speed, highest capacity, lowest cost of ownership and lowest power consumption for high complexity designs. Building on our record year in 2019, in 2020 we again expanded our customer base, adding more than 50 new customers and well over 100 repeat orders. This includes major expansions at some of the world's largest semiconductor and systems companies.

我們以硬體為基礎的驗證產品，完全聚焦於為高複雜度設計提供無可匹敵的速度、最高容量、最低總持有成本，以及最低功耗。在 2019 年創下紀錄的一年之後，2020 年我們再次擴大客戶基礎，新增超過 50 家新客戶，並取得遠超過 100 筆的重複訂單。其中包括在全球一些最大的半導體與系統公司中的重大擴張。

Now to IP, where strong market demand for our rich portfolio drove another record year, growing approximately 20% to more than $900 million in revenue. Our strength is broad-based across all regions and key market segments, particularly high-performance compute, cloud and networking, AI and automotive. In automotive, momentum continued in 2020 as we have achieved more than 400 wins on advanced processes across more than 30 major semiconductor companies. An area of particular automotive strength is our ARC processor. This year, we extended our lead in automotive-qualified titles by delivering the industry's first processor certified for full ISO 26262 Automotive Safety Integrity Level D compliance. We also broadened our portfolio, introducing DSPs, higher-performance embedded vision and a 64-bit processor family. As the undisputed leader in interface IP, we continue to see very strong adoption of generation upon generation of important titles, including PCI Express, memory interfaces and MIPI, which had an exceptional year.

接著談 IP。在市場對我們豐富產品組合的強勁需求帶動下，我們再度創下紀錄的一年，營收成長約 20%，突破 9 億美元。我們的優勢在各地區與關鍵市場區隔皆相當全面，尤其是在高效能運算、雲端與網路、AI 與車用領域。在車用方面，2020 年動能持續，我們已在先進製程上於 30 多家主要半導體公司取得超過 400 項勝出（wins）。車用領域中特別強勢的一項是我們的 ARC 處理器。今年我們透過交付業界第一款通過完整 ISO 26262 車用安全完整性等級 D（ASIL D）合規認證的處理器，進一步擴大在車規產品的領先地位。我們也擴充了產品組合，推出 DSP、更高效能的嵌入式視覺，以及 64 位元處理器家族。作為無可爭議的介面 IP 領導者，我們持續看到一代又一代重要產品獲得非常強勁的採用，包括 PCI Express、記憶體介面與 MIPI，而 MIPI 在今年表現尤為出色。

In USB, we extended our leadership by introducing the industry's first USB4 IP. We also saw continued traction in very high-speed SerDes with multiple 56- and 112-gig wins. Building on our lead in foundation IP, we expanded our portfolio to include specialty memories used in AI and cloud compute and general purpose IOs, which had an excellent year.

在 USB 方面，我們透過推出業界首款 USB4 IP 進一步擴大領先地位。我們也在超高速 SerDes 持續取得進展，贏得多個 56G 與 112G 的案子。在我們於基礎 IP 的領先優勢之上，我們擴展產品組合，納入用於 AI 與雲端運算的特殊記憶體，以及通用 IO，且這些產品今年表現非常出色。

Finally, our track record of being first to market with IP and advanced process nodes continues and is highly valued by our customers. We announced a full portfolio of 5-nanometer IP with multiple silicon proof points, including our industry-leading PCIe 5.0 and USB4 solutions. With already more than 50 5-nanometer design wins, we started development of next-generation 3-nanometer products, targeting high-end mobile and high-performance compute.

最後，我們在 IP 與先進製程節點上率先上市的紀錄仍在延續，並深受客戶重視。我們宣布推出完整的 5 奈米 IP 產品組合，並具備多個矽驗證（silicon proof point），其中包括我們業界領先的 PCIe 5.0 與 USB4 解決方案。隨著已取得超過 50 個 5 奈米設計案，我們已開始開發下一代 3 奈米產品，鎖定高階行動裝置與高效能運算。

Now to Software Integrity, testing software code for security vulnerabilities and quality issues. This area contributed approximately 10% of our revenue. The market opportunity is vast with the need to address critical security challenges steadily increasing in importance. As the industry leader with the broadest portfolio of products and services available today, we're well positioned to serve this growing space. Over the past several years, we have successfully expanded our customer base with enterprise companies now representing about 75% of revenue. In 2020, we saw an increasing number of customers adopting multiple products and services, leveraging our broad portfolio. An important example is a Fortune 100 technology, industrial and aerospace conglomerate. The depth and breadth of our products and services allow them to consolidate from multiple vendors to Synopsys while significantly expanding their investment and user base.

接著談 Software Integrity，也就是針對軟體程式碼進行安全弱點與品質問題的測試。此領域約貢獻我們 10% 的營收。市場機會非常龐大，因為解決關鍵資安挑戰的需求正穩步提升其重要性。作為擁有目前最廣產品與服務組合的產業領導者，我們具備良好條件來服務這個成長中的領域。過去幾年，我們成功擴大客戶基礎，如今企業客戶約占營收的 75%。在 2020 年，我們看到越來越多客戶採用多項產品與服務，運用我們廣泛的產品組合。一個重要例子是一家《財富》100 強的科技、工業與航太綜合企業。我們產品與服務的深度與廣度，使其得以從多家供應商整併至 Synopsys，同時大幅擴大其投資規模與使用者基礎。

Having said that, Software Integrity is one area that saw an impact from COVID as well as some near-term operational transitions. Our new General Manager hit the ground running a little over 3 months ago and has already made significant enhancements in 3 areas. First, we evolved our go-to-market strategy and customer success organization to better address and serve new and existing customers. This includes timing our sales coverage and building an indirect sales channel. Second, we are bolstering our strategic consulting capabilities. And third, we are evolving our product roadmap to capitalize on security trends in DevOps and cloud adoption.

話雖如此，Software Integrity 也是一個同時受到 COVID 影響以及一些短期營運轉換衝擊的領域。我們的新任總經理在 3 個多月前上任後立即投入，並已在 3 個方面做出重大強化。第一，我們調整了市場進入（go-to-market）策略與客戶成功（customer success）組織，以更好地觸及並服務新舊客戶。這包括調整銷售覆蓋的時機並建立間接銷售通路。第二，我們正在強化策略顧問能力。第三，我們正在演進產品藍圖，以掌握 DevOps 與雲端採用中的資安趨勢。

The recent moves are encouraging, and we expect to see continuous progress towards ending the year with reaccelerated growth. We're very optimistic about the long-term opportunity as we work to scale past the $0.5 billion mark next.

近期的調整令人鼓舞，我們預期將持續取得進展，並在年底以前讓成長重新加速。我們對長期機會非常樂觀，並將努力把規模推進至下一個超過 5 億美元的里程碑。

In summary, we're entering 2021 with significant momentum. Market demand is strong, fueled by complex technologies and a multitude of high-profile verticals. Our innovation engine continues to deliver advanced capabilities as our product offering is increasing in differentiation while seeing strong adoption. Financially, we're executing very well and raising our long-term ambition. Thank you to our dedicated employees who quickly and effectively adapted to unprecedented challenges this year and to our customers and partners for their commitment and support.

總結而言，我們帶著強勁動能邁入 2021 年。市場需求強勁，受複雜技術與多個高能見度垂直領域所驅動。我們的創新引擎持續交付先進能力，產品供給的差異化不斷提升，同時也看到強勁採用。在財務面，我們執行得非常出色，並提高了長期企圖心。感謝我們敬業的員工在今年面對前所未有的挑戰時迅速且有效地適應，也感謝客戶與合作夥伴的承諾與支持。

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

接下來我把時間交給 Trac。

Thanks, Aart. Good afternoon, everyone. 2020 was another excellent year. We reported record results in all key metrics, including revenue, non-GAAP EPS and operating cash flow. We finished the year well ahead of our initial expectations.

謝謝你，Aart。各位下午好。2020 年又是非常出色的一年。我們在所有關鍵指標上都創下紀錄，包括營收、非 GAAP 每股盈餘（EPS）與營運現金流。我們以遠優於最初預期的表現結束了這一年。

Our ongoing financial success reflects our dynamic end markets, our portfolio of best-in-class solutions, our resilient business model with nearly 90% recurring revenue and our return -- our determined execution. We're entering 2021 well positioned to exceed $4 billion in annual revenue and further expand non-GAAP operating margin. As a result, we are on track to deliver strong double-digit non-GAAP earnings growth and more than $1 billion in operating cash flow.

我們持續的財務成功反映了我們充滿活力的終端市場、同級最佳的解決方案組合、近 90% 經常性收入所帶來的韌性商業模式，以及我們堅定的執行力。我們以良好態勢進入 2021 年，有望使年度營收超過 40 億美元，並進一步擴大非 GAAP 營業利益率。因此，我們正按計畫交付強勁的雙位數非 GAAP 獲利成長，以及超過 10 億美元的營運現金流。

I'll now review our full year 2020 results. We generated total revenue of $3.685 billion, up nearly 10% over the prior year with strength across all geographies. Backlog grew approximately $500 million during the year to $4.9 billion. Total consolidated GAAP costs and expenses were $3.065 billion and total non-GAAP costs and expenses were $2.654 billion, resulting in a non-GAAP operating margin of 28%. GAAP earnings per share were $4.27, and non-GAAP earnings per share were $5.55, up nearly 22% over the prior year.

我現在回顧我們 2020 全年的業績。我們創造總營收 36.85 億美元，較前一年成長近 10%，且各地區皆表現強勁。積壓訂單（backlog）全年增加約 5 億美元至 49 億美元。合併 GAAP 成本與費用總計 30.65 億美元，合併非 GAAP 成本與費用總計 26.54 億美元，使非 GAAP 營業利益率達 28%。GAAP 每股盈餘為 4.27 美元，非 GAAP 每股盈餘為 5.55 美元，較前一年成長近 22%。

Semiconductor & System Design segment revenue was $3.3 billion, with particular strength in EDA software and IP. Adjusted operating margin was 30%. Software Integrity segment revenue was 385 -- $358 million with adjusted operating margin of 11%. While Software Integrity results were affected by COVID and our near-term operational transition, we are enthusiastic about the dynamic market and our leading industry position. Our long-term objective remains to grow Software Integrity in the 15% to 20% range, exceeding market growth as we and the industry evolve. We believe operating margin can reach or exceed our corporate average over time.

半導體與系統設計（Semiconductor & System Design）事業部營收為 33 億美元，其中 EDA 軟體與 IP 表現尤為強勁。調整後營業利益率為 30%。Software Integrity 事業部營收為 385 -- 3.58 億美元，調整後營業利益率為 11%。雖然 Software Integrity 的結果受到 COVID 與我們短期營運轉換的影響，但我們對充滿活力的市場以及我們領先的產業地位感到振奮。我們的長期目標仍是讓 Software Integrity 維持 15% 至 20% 的成長區間，隨著我們與產業的演進而超越市場成長。我們相信其營業利益率可隨時間推進至達到或超過公司平均水準。

For 2021, as our operational adjustments take hold, we expect business levels to ramp throughout the year and to achieve 15% to 20% orders growth for the full year. Revenue will feather in overtime due to our time-based model. Our objective is to exit the year with double-digit growth in Q4 with a full year in the high single-digit range, then accelerate in 2022. We'll increase the level of internal investments in 2021 as we implement our adjustments, and we intend to resume margin expansion in 2022.

展望 2021 年，隨著營運調整逐步到位，我們預期業務水準將在全年逐季提升，並在全年達成 15% 至 20% 的訂單成長。由於我們採用按時間認列的模式，營收將隨時間逐步反映。我們的目標是在第四季以雙位數成長的態勢結束年度，全年則落在高個位數成長區間，並於 2022 年加速。我們將在 2021 年提高內部投資水準以落實調整，並計畫在 2022 年恢復利潤率擴張。

Turning to cash. Operating cash flow for the year was a record $991 million, reflecting our strong results as well as robust collections. We ended the year with a cash balance of $1.2 billion with total debt of $128 million. During the year, we completed buybacks of $242 million. At this time, we expect to increase our total buyback in 2021 versus 2020.

接著談現金。全年營運現金流創下紀錄，達 9.91 億美元，反映我們強勁的業績以及穩健的收款。我們年底現金餘額為 12 億美元，總負債為 1.28 億美元。全年我們完成 2.42 億美元的庫藏股回購。目前我們預期 2021 年的回購總額將高於 2020 年。

Now to guidance, which assumes there are no changes to the current Entity List restrictions. For fiscal 2021, revenue of $4.0 billion to $4.05 billion; total GAAP costs and expenses between $3.226 billion and $3.271 billion; total non-GAAP costs and expenses between $2.825 billion and $2.855 billion; a non-GAAP operating margin of 29% to 30%; other income and expenses between minus $11 million and minus $7 million; non-GAAP normalized tax rate of 16%; GAAP earnings of $4.39 to $4.54 per share; non-GAAP earnings of $6.23 to $6.30 per share; cash flow from operations of $1.2 to $1.3 billion; and capital expenditures of approximately $100 million.

接著是財測，該財測假設目前的 Entity List 限制沒有變化。2021 會計年度：營收 40.0 億至 40.5 億美元；GAAP 成本與費用總計 32.26 億至 32.71 億美元；非 GAAP 成本與費用總計 28.25 億至 28.55 億美元；非 GAAP 營業利益率 29% 至 30%；其他收入與費用介於負 1,100 萬至負 700 萬美元；非 GAAP 正常化稅率 16%；GAAP 每股盈餘 4.39 至 4.54 美元；非 GAAP 每股盈餘 6.23 至 6.30 美元；營運現金流 12 億至 13 億美元；資本支出約 1 億美元。

Now to the targets for the first quarter. Revenue between $935 million and $965 million, total GAAP costs and expenses between $767 million and $785 million, total GAAP -- non-GAAP costs and expenses between $674 million and $684 million. GAAP earnings of $1.05 to $1.16 per share and non-GAAP earnings of $1.44 to $1.49 per share.

接著是第一季目標：營收 9.35 億至 9.65 億美元，GAAP 成本與費用總計 7.67 億至 7.85 億美元，GAAP -- 非 GAAP 成本與費用總計 6.74 億至 6.84 億美元。GAAP 每股盈餘 1.05 至 1.16 美元，非 GAAP 每股盈餘 1.44 至 1.49 美元。

Longer term, we are raising our financial objectives. We intend to manage to a Rule of 45 over the next several years through a combination of solid revenue growth and continued operating margin expansion beyond 30%.

從更長期來看，我們正在上調財務目標。我們計畫在未來幾年透過穩健的營收成長與持續將營業利益率擴張至 30% 以上的組合，來達成「45 法則（Rule of 45）」。

In conclusion, we enter 2021 with excellent momentum, reflecting the strong markets we serve, the resiliency of our business model and the outstanding execution of our team.

總結而言，我們以極佳的動能進入 2021 年，反映我們所服務市場的強勁、商業模式的韌性，以及團隊卓越的執行力。

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

接下來我把時間交給接線員進行提問。

(Operator Instructions) And we'll start the Q&A with Rich Valera with Needham.

（接線員指示）我們將從 Needham 的 Rich Valera 開始問答。

Congratulations on delivering some really solid results in challenging conditions this year. And with that, you finished off the year with another really strong quarter in Asia Pac, second quarter in a row, and I'm guessing China was a factor in that. And one of the concerns that's raised is that maybe some of that business is being pulled forward for various reasons. But just wanted to get your thoughts on the strength out of Asia Pac, in particular, China. And if you guys have any concerns about maybe some of that business having been pulled forward and what that implies for next year?

恭喜你們在今年充滿挑戰的環境下交出相當扎實的成績。你們在亞太地區又以非常強勁的一季為今年畫下句點，這已是連續第二季，我猜中國是其中一個因素。外界提出的一個疑慮是，可能因為各種原因，有些業務被提前拉貨（pulled forward）。想請教你們對亞太、特別是中國需求強勁的看法。你們是否擔心有些業務可能已被提前拉動？這對明年意味著什麼？

Thank you, Rich. It was indeed a very good year, and China definitely contributed substantially. In general, Asia Pac overall was very, very strong. We have no indication of pull forward from China. Obviously, there's always questions around that, but nothing really out of the ordinary, except the fact that we had very strong business with also quite a number of additional new customers.

謝謝你，Rich。今年確實是非常好的一年，中國的確做出了相當大的貢獻。整體而言，亞太地區非常、非常強勁。我們沒有看到任何來自中國的提前拉貨跡象。當然，外界總會對此有所疑問，但除了我們業務非常強勁、同時也新增了相當多的新客戶之外，並沒有什麼特別異常之處。

Got it. And just a follow-up on the SI business. Are there any sort of green shoots you can point to at this point? I know you've made a lot of nice sort of organizational and structural changes. Are you seeing anything on kind of the bookings pipeline or funnel that might show some of those are actually starting to have an impact?

了解。再追問一下 SI 業務。目前你們是否看到任何可以指出的「綠芽」跡象？我知道你們已經做了很多不錯的組織與結構調整。你們在接單管線或漏斗上，是否看到一些跡象顯示這些調整開始產生影響？

No, we cannot say that yet because Jason Schmitt, the new GM, has been there for just about 100 days. He has made already a lot of very good changes, specifically on the whole go-to-market side, where we have been able, I think, to optimize much better. So as indicated, our expectation is that through this year, we'll gradually see the growth rate accelerate again because the business is fundamentally actually the right thing at the right time. And so I think as our execution improves, we will see the results probably fairly quickly.

不，我們現在還不能這麼說，因為新任總經理 Jason Schmitt 到任大約才 100 天。他已經做了很多非常好的改變，特別是在整體 go-to-market（市場進入）面向，我認為我們已能更好地進行最佳化。如同先前所提，我們的預期是，在今年之內，我們會逐步看到成長率再次加速，因為這個業務從根本上來說其實是在對的時間做對的事。因此我認為，隨著我們的執行力提升，我們可能會相當快看到成果。

We'll now go to the line of Tom Diffely with D.A. Davidson.

接下來我們轉到 D.A. Davidson 的 Tom Diffely。

So, Aart, first question for you is, based on the news we got out of Intel this summer, a little hiccup in a node transition. So just a bigger, broader question, what is the impact to you in the EDA industry when a large customer stalls out a bit in node transition? I know that they'll redesign at the current node for a while, but just in general, what -- how does that impact EDA?

Aart，我先問你第一個問題。根據我們今年夏天從 Intel 得到的消息，在節點轉換上出現了一點小插曲。更大、更廣泛的問題是：當一個大型客戶在節點轉換上稍微停滯時，對你們 EDA 產業的影響是什麼？我知道他們會在現有節點上先做一段時間的重新設計，但整體而言，這——這會如何影響 EDA？

Well, Tom, as you know, I never comment about individual customers. But one of the things that we know well for many decades is if anybody at any point in time stumbles a bit or gets ahead, the race is on among everybody. And at this point in time, I think all the companies that aspire to be at the leading end in technology are investing and moving very fast to move the ball forward. Now this is not just because they want to be first in line with their technology, it's that the demand of the market is very high. So it's not only do you have the latest node, it's also can you deliver in volume with the right level of yield because the production rates are pretty high. So to us, this is all good news. It is good news because we see a strong wave of new designs. The new designs are very much aimed at the latest technology. So people are taking advantage of that. And in parallel to this de facto continuation of, let me call it, Moore's Law classic, we also see more and more customers now very actively looking at multichip -- or multi-chiplets in a design. And so I think the hunger for more capability is insatiable.

Tom，如你所知，我從不評論個別客戶。不過我們在過去幾十年很清楚的一點是：無論任何人在任何時間點稍微踉蹌一下或是領先一步，所有人之間的競賽就會全面展開。而在目前這個時間點，我認為所有志在技術領先端的公司都在投資，並且非常快速地推動進展。這不只是因為他們想在技術上搶得頭香，更因為市場需求非常強勁。所以不僅是你是否擁有最新節點，還包括你是否能以正確的良率水準進行量產交付，因為生產速率相當高。對我們而言，這些都是好消息。之所以是好消息，是因為我們看到一波強勁的新設計浪潮，而這些新設計非常明確地瞄準最新技術，大家正在善用這些技術。與此同時，除了我姑且稱之為摩爾定律（Moore's Law）經典路線的事實上延續之外，我們也看到越來越多客戶現在非常積極地在設計中採用多晶片——或多 chiplet。總之，對更多能力的渴求是無止境的。

This is Trac. I just want to add that you're going to see this in the 10-K in a couple of weeks, but I'll highlight that we continue to do very well at Intel, and our business there has grown in 2020.

我是 Trac。我想補充一下：你們會在幾週後的 10-K 裡看到，但我先強調，我們在 Intel 仍然表現非常好，而且我們在那裡的業務在 2020 年有所成長。

So just to reiterate Aart's points.

所以只是再重申 Aart 的觀點。

Yes. Makes sense. And then Trac, I guess, in the comments -- the transcript, you talked a bit about the Software Integrity and putting in an indirect sales channel. Is that a different sales line -- a sales approach than before? And is that going to have any impact on the margin of profitability?

是的。合理。接著 Trac，我想在你剛才的評論——逐字稿裡，你談到一些關於 Software Integrity，以及導入間接銷售通路。那是否是不同於以往的銷售線——銷售方式？而這會對利潤率或獲利能力的毛利/利潤率造成任何影響嗎？

If I may chime in, I think I may have misspoken about the indirect sales channel. It's really a parallel utilization of a channel that typically goes to large companies that actually help install things at our customers. And so it's really sort of working more closely with the existing ecosystem and not really a different sales channel.

如果我可以補充一下，我想我可能把「間接銷售通路」說得不太精確。實際上是並行運用一個通路，該通路通常面向大型公司，這些公司會協助在我們客戶端進行安裝部署。因此這更像是與既有生態系更緊密合作，而不是真正不同的銷售通路。

Okay. Great. Thanks for the clarification.

好的。很棒。謝謝你的澄清。

Yes. Sorry, I got in the middle of almost cough and started to misspeak, my apologies.

是的。抱歉，我剛好在快咳嗽的時候插話，結果開始講錯了，向各位致歉。

We'll now go to the line of Joe Vruwink with Baird.

接下來我們轉到 Baird 的 Joe Vruwink。

I wanted to start with the cash flow outlook for next year. It's quite strong and a pretty nice step up. Can you maybe provide a bit of a bridge other than just the improvement in net income and the reduction in CapEx that factors into the improvement in cash conversion next year?

我想先從明年的現金流展望談起。它相當強勁，而且是很不錯的一個躍升。除了淨利改善與資本支出（CapEx）下降之外，你能否提供一些「橋接」說明，解釋還有哪些因素促成明年現金轉換率的改善？

Joe, that's -- those 2 things that you highlight are really the biggest contributor. The fact that we are growing op income and reducing our CapEx spend. The other thing I'll highlight is, over the last couple of years, as I've mentioned, we've had some unusual onetime events that has hit us. And we've always described that heading into 2021, things will start to normalize a bit with regards to onetime adjustments, whether it's tax-related or legal settlement related or build-out of our facilities. But going back to the point, it's -- the biggest part of the fact that we are driving margin expansion up in '21 that's contributing to the strong cash flows.

Joe，你點出的那兩點確實是最大的貢獻來源：我們的營業利益在成長，同時也在降低 CapEx 支出。另一點我想強調的是，過去幾年如我提過，我們遇到一些不尋常的一次性事件對我們造成影響。我們也一直說，進入 2021 年後，與一次性調整相關的事項會開始稍微正常化，無論是稅務相關、法律和解相關，或是我們設施的擴建。回到重點，最大的部分在於我們在 2021 年推動利潤率擴張，這也促成強勁的現金流。

Okay. Great. And then it's a really strong improvement in backlog here at year-end, nice to see the acceleration. I'm wondering if you could maybe help decompose some of the bigger contributors. I'm sure there's quite a bit contributing. But if I kind of step back and think, it probably helps that the broader environment seems to be improving now in terms of R&D activity accelerating into next year. So I'm sure that helps across the portfolio. But in terms of any of the individual product contributors, is it really just increased momentum behind, Aart, some of the things you called out in your prepared remarks, so things like Fusion and Verification Continuum? Anything else you would maybe point to as being, I'll say, extra good here at year-end?

好的。很棒。接著，年末的在手訂單（backlog）改善非常強勁，很高興看到加速。我想請你協助拆解一些較大的貢獻來源。我確定有很多因素共同推動。但如果我退一步看，整體環境似乎正在改善，研發活動看起來在明年會加速，所以我相信這對整個產品組合都有幫助。但就個別產品的貢獻而言，是否主要就是 Aart 你在事先準備的講稿中提到的那些項目動能提升，例如 Fusion 和 Verification Continuum？還有沒有其他你會指出在年末表現「特別好」的地方？

Sure. Well, if I were to find a common denominator among all of those things, it is the adoption of advanced technologies. And the reason for that is that the race is so much on in everything that has to do with big data, be it from transport to storage, and of course, especially to computation, i.e., various forms of machine learning, et cetera, that people want to adopt the most advanced technologies. In order to do that, they really need to have the most advanced tools. And Fusion Compiler is really doing terrifically well. We can see the benefits. Our customers see that, and it's in broad deployment. But the other thing is the building blocks and the building blocks are IP blocks. And those IP blocks with the advanced nodes are becoming more and more difficult to do for many of our customers or just economically not all that viable if they do it themselves. And we are absolutely ready for the most advanced nodes as they come out. And so those are the areas that stand out.

當然。如果我要在所有這些因素中找出一個共同分母，那就是先進技術的採用。原因在於，凡是與大數據相關的一切競賽都非常激烈，無論是運輸到儲存，當然尤其是運算，也就是各種形式的機器學習等等，因此大家都想採用最先進的技術。要做到這點，他們確實需要最先進的工具。Fusion Compiler 的表現非常出色。我們看得到效益，客戶也看得到，而且已在廣泛部署中。另一個重點是「積木」——也就是 IP 模組。隨著先進節點演進，這些 IP 模組對許多客戶而言越來越難自行完成，或是從經濟性角度來看自行開發並不那麼可行。而我們已完全準備好迎接最先進節點的推出。因此，這些是特別突出的領域。

The last one I would just highlight is that with all these systems that use more and more and more transistors, these transistors have one mission in life, which is have software run on it. And so the intersection between hardware and software, which we often refer to as prototyping, overall, is also very healthy.

最後我想強調的是，隨著所有這些系統使用越來越多的電晶體，這些電晶體一生的使命只有一個：讓軟體在上面運行。因此，硬體與軟體的交會點——我們常稱之為原型驗證（prototyping）——整體而言也非常健康。

Joe, I'd also add that it's great to have $4.9 billion of backlog and have that certainty and the visibility to the future. And it does reflect the broad-based strength that Aart's described. More importantly, I think a more critical measure for us is run rate, and that was up pretty substantially for the quarter and the year as well, which is the one thing that we are more encouraged by when we look at the key metrics for our business.

Joe，我也想補充：能有 49 億美元的在手訂單（backlog），並對未來具備確定性與能見度，這非常好。這也反映了 Aart 所描述的廣泛性強勁表現。更重要的是，我認為對我們而言更關鍵的衡量指標是 run rate（運行率/年化收入動能），而它在本季以及全年都相當明顯地上升；這是我們在檢視業務關鍵指標時更受鼓舞的一點。

We'll now go to the line of Mitch Steves with RBC Capital Markets.

接下來我們轉到 RBC Capital Markets 的 Mitch Steves。

Just wanted to double-click a little bit on the operating margin implied guidance here. When I look at the EPS growth, it looks like you're implying somewhere around 12%, 12%, 13%. That would be kind of the lowest you guys have put up over the last 4 years, 5 years or so, just looking over the past performance. Just curious as to why the incremental margin driving for '21 would be lower relative to the last 3 years or so?

我想更深入追問一下這裡隱含的營業利益率指引。當我看 EPS 成長時，看起來你們隱含大約在 12%、12%、13% 左右。就過去表現來看，這大概是你們過去 4 年、5 年左右所給出的最低水準。想請教，為什麼 2021 年的增量利潤率（incremental margin）推動，相較於過去 3 年左右會比較低？

The margin story, I think, is very constructive. We're driving margins up between 1 or 2 points. And remember, Mitch, this is coming off a what I consider a pretty extraordinary year, right, both in terms of strong revenue growth and margin improvement. At this point, this is the best visibility that we have in the business, and I think it's a pretty constructive outlook for growth profitability as well as cash flows. So a pretty strong outlook for the year, and we feel pretty good about it at this point.

我認為利潤率的故事是非常正向的。我們正把利潤率提高 1 到 2 個百分點。並且記得，Mitch，這是建立在我認為相當非凡的一年之上，無論是強勁的營收成長或利潤率改善。就目前而言，這是我們對業務所能掌握的最佳能見度，我認為這對成長、獲利能力以及現金流都是相當正向的展望。因此今年的展望相當強勁，而在此刻我們對此感覺相當不錯。

Okay. Fair enough. And then just on the Software Integrity business, is there any sort of update you guys can give us for like the long-term trajectory there? I know you guys moved over a lot of the salespeople and kind of the strategy there. So maybe you can put up a big picture as to what that should look like over the next few years or so?

好的。這樣說得通。接著就軟體完整性（Software Integrity）業務而言，你們能否提供一些更新，例如那邊的長期發展軌跡？我知道你們把不少銷售人員調整過去，也調整了那邊的策略。所以也許你可以從大方向談談，未來幾年大概會是什麼樣子？

Sure. So aside of the go-to-market improvements and accelerations in some areas, there are 2 other things that we look at. One is to increase our consulting capabilities because there's demand for that, and they have a big impact on how well the rest of the business does. And secondly, on the product side, sort of a double focus. A focus on one hand of making sure that each one of our individual products increase more and more of their differentiation because they do battle with a lot of small companies. And simultaneously that the overall platform really becomes more and more integrated because there's a lot of demand from the larger companies to be able to look at their overall risk management picture as it applies to software. And the more we can provide multiple tools that are integrated and that can jointly report on the status, that is very helpful to the CSOs or heads of IT that are typically in charge of that.

當然。除了在某些領域的市場推進（go-to-market）改善與加速之外，我們還看兩件事。第一是提升我們的顧問服務能力，因為市場對此有需求，而且這對其他業務的表現有很大的影響。第二是在產品面，算是雙重聚焦。一方面要確保我們每一個單一產品都能持續提升差異化，因為它們要與許多小公司競爭。同時，整體平台也要變得越來越整合，因為大型公司有很強的需求，希望能從軟體風險管理的角度看到整體全貌。我們能提供越多彼此整合、並能共同回報狀態的工具，對通常負責此事的資安長（CSO）或 IT 主管而言就越有幫助。

We'll now go to the line of Jackson Ader with JPMorgan.

接下來我們請 JPMorgan 的 Jackson Ader 提問。

Just, Aart, on the growth in Fusion, I think you mentioned it was like 140% growth in orders. Is that order count? And is that also -- I mean, are ASPs basically coming in line with what you had expected, so total contract value is also exceeding your expectations with Fusion Compiler?

Aart，關於 Fusion 的成長，我想你提到訂單成長大約 140%。那是指訂單數量（order count）嗎？另外——我的意思是，平均售價（ASP）是否基本符合你們原先的預期，因此 Fusion Compiler 的總合約價值（total contract value）也超出你們的預期？

Yes. Fusion is doing very well in every dimension. And as you know, this was a long road to get -- it's not only a product, but it's a whole platform to get it to really -- to the point that certainly is across the bridge where it became markedly differentiated versus any competition. And we see that not only with Fusion Compiler as -- is the core product, which, for those of you are not familiar, it does both synthesis and place and route, but also has embedded in it, timing and power and test and a number of other things. In other words, it's the intersection of many things that you look for on a design. It is also the linchpin for brand-new products such as 3DIC and also connected very well to the Silicon Lifecycle Management capabilities. And so in many ways, we feel that we have literally entered now the next decade of being able to build on that backbone that we have invested in for quite a number of years. And so both the technical stats, the booking stats and the revenue stats are all looking very encouraging.

是的。Fusion 在各個面向都表現得非常好。如你所知，這一路走來花了很長時間——它不只是單一產品，而是一整個平台——要把它真正做到……到達一個關鍵點，也就是跨過那座橋，讓它相較任何競品都呈現出明顯的差異化。我們不只在 Fusion Compiler 上看到這點——它是核心產品；對不熟悉的人來說，它同時涵蓋綜合（synthesis）以及佈局繞線（place and route），而且內建時序（timing）、功耗（power）、測試（test）以及其他多項功能。換句話說，它是你在設計中會尋找的多種要素的交會點。它同時也是像 3DIC 這類全新產品的關鍵支點（linchpin），並且與 Silicon Lifecycle Management 的能力連結得非常好。因此在很多方面，我們覺得我們現在確實已經進入下一個十年，可以在我們多年投入所打造的骨幹之上持續建構。所以無論是技術指標、訂單（booking）指標或營收指標，看起來都非常令人鼓舞。

Okay. Great. And then a financial follow-up. Time-based license was -- time-based licenses actually came down sequentially. That's a pretty rare phenomenon. In fact, it doesn't -- it's not like it never happens, but in a fourth quarter, I think it's even rarer than in another quarter. So anything that we should be aware of just in the mix between time-based and services?

好的。很好。接著一個財務追問。按期授權（time-based license）——按期授權其實季比下降了。這是相當罕見的現象。事實上，並不是從未發生，但在第四季我覺得比其他季度更罕見。所以在按期授權與服務之間的組合（mix）方面，有沒有什麼我們需要留意的？

No, Jackson, there's really nothing unusual there. Over time, the time-based is pretty steady. But from quarter-to-quarter, you'll see it be a little bit more volatile given the timing of contracts and what gets added or falls off. So it's really nothing unusual in the business.

沒有，Jackson，這裡其實沒有什麼不尋常。長期來看，按期授權相當穩定。但就季度對季度而言，因為合約簽訂時點以及新增或到期的項目，你會看到它有些波動。所以這在業務上並沒有什麼異常。

We'll now go to the line of Gal Munda with Berenberg Capital Markets.

接下來我們請 Berenberg Capital Markets 的 Gal Munda 提問。

The first one for the team is just around China. If I did my calculation right based on your disclosure, it grew about 30% this year, even more than that. I guess I'm trying to look a few years out, and it now represents low teens in your revenue as a proportion of total revenue. So we've seen that it can reach -- if it continues to grow that rate, it could be up to kind of high teens. Is that something that you would expect to happen in the long term, especially considering your comments earlier that you have been really seeing pull forward that this is a structural growth the way you're seeing it?

第一個問題是關於中國。如果我根據你們的揭露計算得沒錯，今年它成長大約 30%，甚至更高。我想把視角拉到未來幾年來看，目前它占你們總營收的比重已經到低十位數百分比（low teens）。我們看到如果它持續以這樣的速度成長，可能會到高十位數（high teens）。這是你們長期會預期發生的情況嗎？特別是考量你們先前提到，你們確實看到需求提前（pull forward），而且你們認為這是結構性成長。

Well, as you know, the Chinese economy has rebounded post-COVID, but in general, is in a phase of growth where technology is important to where that country is going. And we see many new companies entering the fray for chip design and other areas that we can provide them with tools with. And of course, we see many of the companies that have now a number of years under their belt designing much more sophisticated chips. So I expect that to continue for a long, long, long time. And when you say a decade, it doesn't phase me at all. On the contrary, I think that's absolutely what's going to happen. And so our job will be to service that market as well as we can because it's a great opportunity. Now I would add to that, that the countries around China are doing quite well also. And so the whole Asia environment is absolutely moving forward on technology. And we have -- we're thankful that we have a very good connection in all these countries, be it ranging from Korea, Taiwan, but also Japan that is rebounding somewhat with the China phenomenon.

嗯，如你所知，中國經濟在 COVID 之後已經反彈，但整體而言正處於一個成長階段，科技對該國未來走向非常重要。我們看到許多新公司加入晶片設計等領域的競爭，而我們可以提供他們所需的工具。當然，我們也看到許多已經累積多年經驗的公司，正在設計更複雜的晶片。所以我預期這會持續很長、很長、很長的時間。你提到十年，對我來說一點也不意外；相反地，我認為這絕對就是會發生的事。因此，我們的工作就是盡可能把這個市場服務好，因為這是很棒的機會。另外我也要補充，中國周邊的國家表現也相當不錯。所以整個亞洲環境在科技上確實正在向前推進。我們也很感謝我們在這些國家都有非常好的連結，從韓國、台灣到日本——日本也在某種程度上受惠於中國現象而有所回升。

Got you. And then the second one, I just wanted to follow up a little bit on the margin itself. If I look at the incremental margins you guys have achieved this year, it has been quite remarkable, around 60%. Your higher end of the guidance kind of implies 45% for next year. Is that really a reflection of the fact that perhaps COVID situation made it a little bit of a more inexpensive year this year and some of the investments might come back just generally in terms of the hiring and stuff? And is 45% something that you feel comfortable kind of then achieving on an ongoing basis as we move past FY '21, incremental margin.

了解。第二個問題我想再追問一下毛利率本身。如果我看你們今年達成的增量利潤率（incremental margins），相當驚人，大約 60%。你們明年指引的高端大概暗示 45%。這是否主要反映了 COVID 讓今年成為相對低成本的一年，而一些投資可能會回來，例如整體招聘等？另外，當我們走過 FY '21 之後，45% 的增量利潤率是否是你們覺得可以在往後持續達成的水準？

Yes. So Gal, I would say that you're right with regards to COVID. We did get some benefit of COVID in 2020. So -- and that was for most of the year. And as we look at 2021, we do expect things to sort of stay that way for the first half, but we do expect some resumption of normal activity. So that's a bit of a drag on margins. But overall, as we said, we're expecting to drive margins up this year. With regards to the question regarding incremental margins, we'll have more to say throughout the year because we're in the process of further refining our next multiyear financial plan. But if you think about our -- the objective of Rule of 45 and the idea of driving really strong growth while expanding margins towards a Rule of 45, you're going to see pretty healthy incremental margin improvements year-over-year. So we'll have -- like I said, we'll have more to -- more specific details to provide as we progress in the year.

是的。Gal，我會說你關於 COVID 的看法是對的。我們在 2020 年確實從 COVID 中獲得了一些好處——而且那幾乎涵蓋了大部分年度。當我們看 2021 年時，我們預期上半年大致仍會維持那樣的狀態，但也確實預期一些正常活動會恢復。因此這會對利潤率造成一些拖累。不過整體而言，如我們所說，我們預期今年會推動利潤率上升。至於你問到增量利潤率，我們在今年會有更多說明，因為我們正在進一步精煉下一個多年期財務計畫。但如果你從我們「Rule of 45」的目標來看，也就是在推動強勁成長的同時，把利潤率擴張到接近 Rule of 45，你會看到相當健康的年對年增量利潤率改善。所以——如我所說——我們會在今年推進的過程中提供更具體的細節。

We'll now go to the line of Jay Vleeschhouwer with Griffin Securities.

接下來我們請 Griffin Securities 的 Jay Vleeschhouwer 提問。

Aart, let me start with you on the Silicon Lifecycle Management strategy and platform. When we look at the stack of that platform and as you depicted at your design symposium a couple of months ago, it looks like there would seem to be some logical connections that you could make between that and core EDA and/or perhaps even SIG. So perhaps talk about what your plans might be, what the road map might be for connecting SLM to one or both of the remainder of the businesses?

Aart，我先從 Silicon Lifecycle Management（SLM）的策略與平台談起。當我們看那個平台的堆疊（stack），以及你在幾個月前設計研討會上所展示的內容，看起來你們似乎可以在它與核心 EDA，或甚至 SIG 之間建立一些合乎邏輯的連結。能否談談你們可能的計畫、以及把 SLM 與其餘一個或兩個業務連結起來的路線圖（road map）會是什麼？

And then for Trac, to clarify on your comment earlier about business with your largest customer, I assume you meant in dollars, not necessarily as a percentage of revenue. But given the extent of the decline of that business in 2019 versus 2018 in dollars, could you say whether you got back to the 2018 level or not in 2020?

另外給 Trac，釐清你先前關於與你們最大客戶業務的評論，我猜你指的是以美元金額計，而不一定是占營收的百分比。但考量該業務在 2019 年相較 2018 年以美元計的下滑幅度，你能否說明 2020 年是否已回到 2018 年的水準？

Okay. Jay, you opened a very big box with Silicon Lifecycle Management because there are multiple entry points to that. One of the entry points that's sort of obvious and actually has been asked for many years is for chips that are in the midst of a situation that could be life-threatening, i.e., in charge of a car or the brake system of a car. So you really would like to know is the chips still working. And if the answer is no, you really want to know what to do with that answer or how do you stop the car or whatever you have to do. And so that is already a first example where, for a number of years, people have started to put different mechanism inside of a chip via test connections to know is something broken, is the software still running correctly or are there heat situations and so on. And so from there, to go to the notion of, well, why don't we start to add some additional sensors? And by the way, sensors are very little things. So you can easily find a corner somewhere to put them in. That brings very quickly the next question, well, why don't we then take some data inside of the chip? And can we make the decision if the chip still works inside of it? With other words, can you have some machine learning that gets interpreted inside of the chip? In contrast to say, oh, we can now read out a lot of this data from the chip that comes from these sensors and use external learning or external interpretation of the data so that we can make better chips going forward.

好的。Jay，你用「矽生命週期管理」（Silicon Lifecycle Management）打開了一個非常大的話題，因為它有多個切入點。其中一個相對明顯、而且其實多年來一直有人提出需求的切入點，是針對處於可能危及生命情境中的晶片，也就是例如負責汽車或汽車煞車系統的晶片。所以你真的會想知道晶片是否仍在正常運作。如果答案是否定的，你也會非常想知道該如何處理這個結果，或是你要如何讓車停下來，或不管你必須做什麼。因此，這已經是第一個例子：多年來，人們開始透過測試連接在晶片內部放入不同的機制，來判斷是否有東西壞了、軟體是否仍正確運行、是否出現過熱情況等等。接著就會延伸到一個概念：那為什麼不開始加入一些額外的感測器？順帶一提，感測器是非常小的東西，所以你很容易在某個角落找到位置把它們放進去。這很快就帶來下一個問題：那我們為什麼不在晶片內部取得一些資料？我們能不能在晶片內部就做出「晶片是否仍可運作」的判斷？換句話說，你能不能讓某種機器學習在晶片內部被解讀/執行？相對於例如：我們現在可以把這些感測器產生的大量資料從晶片讀出來，然後用外部的學習或外部的資料解讀，讓我們未來能做出更好的晶片。

And so I'm trying to just give you a little bit of a visceral sense that the minute you put observation points in anything, but certainly, on the inside of a chip, and you have a way to either bring the data out or use it on-site, so to speak, all kinds of new doors open up. And that is why this is exciting because on one hand, you could say, well, nothing new here. On the other hand, you'd say, there's a lot new here and a lot new opportunity in specifically the AI that can be applied with that. So hopefully, it gives you a little bit of a sense that the opportunity space is very big. The good news is we are in a leading position with our test capabilities. So we have good connectors there. We have very strong machine learning capabilities. We can use that. And by the way, our own IP has already used a number of these type of mechanisms for a number of years. So technically, we know what to do.

我只是想讓你有一點更直觀的感受：你一旦在任何東西上放入觀測點——當然尤其是在晶片內部——而且你有方法可以把資料帶出來，或是就地使用它（可以這麼說），各式各樣的新大門就會被打開。這也是為什麼這件事令人興奮：一方面你可以說，嗯，這裡沒有什麼新東西；但另一方面你也可以說，這裡有很多新東西，特別是可以應用在其上的 AI，帶來很多新的機會。所以希望這能讓你稍微感受到，機會空間非常大。好消息是，我們在測試能力方面處於領先地位，所以我們在連接器/介面上有很好的基礎；我們也有非常強的機器學習能力，可以加以運用。而且順帶一提，我們自己的 IP 多年來已經使用了不少這類機制。所以在技術上，我們知道該怎麼做。

Jay, this is Trac. So on your question, you're right. Thanks for clarifying that. The dollar revenues at our largest customer is up this year. I know that you like reading our K, so I don't want to give away too much. That's going to come out in a couple of weeks, and you can see the details of that relative to the prior years.

Jay，我是 Trac。針對你的問題，你說得對，謝謝你澄清。今年我們最大客戶的美元營收是成長的。我知道你喜歡讀我們的 10-K，所以我不想透露太多。那份文件會在幾週後公布，你可以看到相對於前幾年的細節。

Okay. Okay. Just a quick follow-up, if I may. I don't think you used the word record to talk about either hardware or IP revenues for the quarter. But certainly, for hardware, it looks like it had a record quarter and possibly for IP as well. If you could clarify those.

好的。好的。如果可以的話，我再快速追問一下。我不覺得你用「創紀錄」（record）這個詞來形容本季的硬體或 IP 營收。但就硬體而言，看起來是創紀錄的一季，IP 可能也是。如果你能澄清一下這兩點。

Yes. We had a really good year, a good year for -- good quarter and good year for hardware, and it was down slightly versus a record year in 2019. But nonetheless, a really strong revenue year for us. And same with IP. IP, I want to say, actually, is a record year for us overall.

是的。我們今年表現非常好——硬體在本季與全年都表現很好；但相較於 2019 年的創紀錄年度，全年略微下降。不過，對我們而言仍然是非常強勁的營收年度。IP 也是一樣。IP 我想說，整體來看其實是我們的創紀錄年度。

We'll now go to the line of Jason Celino with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

接下來我們轉到 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Jason Celino。

The first one, going into the introduction of the Rule of 45 a little bit, how much of achieving this goal is based on the SIG business being higher margin than the corporate average?

第一個問題，稍微深入談一下「45 法則」（Rule of 45）的引入：達成這個目標有多少是建立在 SIG 業務的毛利率高於公司平均之上？

I think, for the most part, Jason -- and we'll provide more details throughout the year like I said because we are in the midst of developing that multiyear view. But for us to continue to drive margins north of 30%, a lot of it is going to come from the rest of the business, the 90% of the business that is driving the growth and profitability. Now longer term, there -- as we said pretty consistently, there's nothing structural about Software Integrity that would prevent it from converging towards the corporate margins. But that's a bit -- that's some time out. In the next few years, as we think about it, a lot of it's going to come across -- some of it's going to be contributed, I'd say, but a large portion will continue to be driven by the semi business.

我認為大致上是這樣，Jason——而且如我所說，我們會在今年持續提供更多細節，因為我們正在制定那個多年期的展望。不過，對我們而言，要持續把毛利率推升到 30% 以上，很大一部分將來自於其他業務，也就是推動成長與獲利的那 90% 的業務。長期來看，正如我們一直相當一致地說明的，Software Integrity 並沒有任何結構性的因素會阻止它向公司整體毛利率收斂。但那還需要一些時間。在接下來幾年，從我們的思考來看，其中一部分我會說會有貢獻，但很大一部分仍將由半導體業務所驅動。

Okay. And then...

好的。然後……

And Jason, I would add that throughout the company, everybody understands presently our objective of the Rule of 40. And so it really applies to all of the businesses to do their best to move in that direction. But SIG is only about 10% of Synopsys. Now that's -- it's a high potential 10%. And so your conjecture that it will need to both grow and improve its margin is absolutely true. But for the numbers that we -- or the direction we're indicating to you, we think that we have a number of engines that are doing quite well.

Jason，我再補充一下：在公司內部，大家目前都理解我們對「40 法則」（Rule of 40）的目標。因此，這其實適用於所有業務，要求各業務盡其所能朝那個方向前進。但 SIG 只占 Synopsys 大約 10%。當然——那是很有潛力的 10%。所以你推測它需要同時成長並改善毛利率，這完全正確。不過就我們向你指出的數字或方向而言，我們認為我們有多個引擎運作得相當不錯。

Okay. Great. And then one more quick one. The 20% growth in the IP business, I think that's what you mentioned in the prepared remarks. But I widely understood the tailwinds, the design starts and outsourcing, but what are you seeing on the competitive side? Any competitive changes on the IP side?

好的。很好。然後再一個快速問題。你在事先準備的講稿中提到 IP 業務成長 20%，我想你是這麼說的。大家普遍理解順風因素，包括設計案啟動（design starts）與外包，但在競爭面你看到了什麼？IP 這邊有任何競爭態勢的變化嗎？

No, not really. There are a number of other companies that provide either very specialized capabilities, and I could mention ARM as a actually very good partner to Synopsys. And then we have some direct competitors that compete on some of the blocks that we do. And in general, if a market is competitive, that's actually a good sign that there is opportunity for growth and doing more. I think we will all be very busy because I do think that there's a lot of market demand, and I think it will increase. I think Synopsys is particularly well placed because increasingly, IP is very much a trust business. These things are very complex. And somewhat tongue-in-cheek, I've often said that it's a little bit like organ transplants. You want to make really sure that you're getting some very good quality solutions into your chip because otherwise, it causes all kinds of other issues. And so it is very much a trust business, and I think Synopsys is doing very well in that regard.

沒有，並不特別。市場上有一些公司提供非常專門化的能力；我可以提到 ARM，它其實是 Synopsys 非常好的合作夥伴。然後我們也有一些直接競爭對手，在我們所做的某些 IP 模組（blocks）上與我們競爭。一般來說，如果一個市場競爭激烈，這其實是個好跡象，代表有成長機會、也有更多事情可做。我認為大家都會非常忙，因為我確實認為市場需求很大，而且會持續增加。我認為 Synopsys 的定位特別好，因為 IP 越來越是一門「信任」的生意。這些東西非常複雜。我半開玩笑地常說，這有點像器官移植：你會非常想確保你把高品質的解決方案放進晶片裡，否則會引發各式各樣的其他問題。所以這確實是一門信任的生意，而我認為 Synopsys 在這方面做得非常好。

Next, we'll go to the line of Vivek Arya with Bank of America Securities.

接下來我們轉到 Bank of America Securities 的 Vivek Arya。

I think you have given us nice sales growth number for next year, about just over 9%. I was hoping if you could give us some relative indication growth in the different segments? And I think, Aart, in your prepared remarks, I thought you said growth acceleration from 2022, and I'm not sure whether you meant just in the SIG business or whether you were talking about the overall company growth rate?

我想你已經給了我們明年不錯的銷售成長數字，大約略高於 9%。我希望你能否提供一些不同事業部之間相對成長的指引？另外我想，Aart，在你準備的講稿中，我以為你提到相較 2022 年會有成長加速，但我不確定你是指 SIG 業務，還是指整體公司的成長率？

Well, let me start with that part. What I meant at that point in time, I was talking about SIG because obviously, SIG is lower than our intent and our expectations. And so the changes that we've made, I think, are all in the direction to vitalize specifically the go-to-market function and really align better at the product, consulting and go to market, 3 steps for bigger business. So I was talking about that part of Synopsys accelerating back to where it should be. For the rest of the company, I think we're doing very well. I must say that it's very difficult to predict what 2021 will look like in general. There is high hope that, as you heard in second half of the year, not only the Far East will do better from an economic point of view, but also Europe and the U.S. with the coming about of vaccines. But it's not a simple situation. Having said that, I think the semiconductor segment and the technologies around that are almost immune to that part of the economy because the needs are so high. And many of the very things that got started under COVID, such as the work from home, such as the massive communication, the massive amounts of data being used, are just going to continue to be accelerated themselves.

好，我先從那一部分開始。我當時的意思是在談 SIG，因為很明顯 SIG 低於我們的意圖與預期。因此，我們所做的改變，我認為都是朝著讓特別是 go-to-market（市場推進）職能更有活力的方向，並且在產品、顧問服務與 go-to-market 這三個步驟上更好地對齊，以做出更大的業務。所以我是在談 Synopsys 的那一部分要加速回到它應有的位置。至於公司其他部分，我認為我們做得非常好。我必須說，要預測 2021 年整體會是什麼樣子非常困難。大家高度期待，正如你在今年下半年聽到的，不僅遠東在經濟面會表現更好，隨著疫苗的出現，歐洲與美國也會改善。但這不是一個簡單的情況。話雖如此，我認為半導體領域以及其周邊技術幾乎不受那部分經濟影響，因為需求非常高。而且許多在 COVID 期間啟動的事情，例如居家辦公、巨量通訊、使用的海量資料，都只會持續加速。

Got it. And for my follow-up, we are starting to see ARM expand into new markets, Macs and other high-performance markets in the data center, even supercomputing. Is that a net positive for you? Or does it just cannibalize your presence in the x86 market?

了解。那我的追問是：我們開始看到 ARM 擴展到新市場，包括 Mac，以及資料中心的其他高效能市場，甚至超級運算。這對你們是淨正面嗎？還是只是侵蝕你們在 x86 市場的既有布局？

No, no -- well, we ourselves are not in the x86 market. We provide all the building blocks around these key processes, right? And so if that part of the market wants to go accelerate themselves through a massive food fight, by all means, go at it because acceleration, in general, tends to use more technology and newer technologies. And so I don't want to handicap any of the players. These are all very, very, very competent and great companies. But I think that the applicability of various forms of cloud computing is broadening. And what we're going to see is that there will be more and more specialty areas, not only in general processing, but various applications, of course, of graphics processors. But let's not forget, we are serving 200-or-so companies all doing the best ever AI chip. And these are all specialized computation machines that will -- many of those will be very valuable for certain specific applications. So there's no slowdown by any means here.

不，不——嗯，我們自己並不在 x86 市場。我們提供的是圍繞這些關鍵流程的所有基礎構件，對吧？所以如果市場的那一部分想要透過一場大規模的激烈競爭來加速發展，儘管去做，因為一般而言，加速往往會使用更多技術以及更新的技術。因此我不想去限制任何一方的發揮。這些都是非常、非常、非常有能力且很優秀的公司。但我認為，各種形式的雲端運算適用範圍正在擴大。我們將會看到的是，專業領域會越來越多，不僅是在通用運算上，當然也包括圖形處理器的各種應用。但別忘了，我們正在服務約 200 家公司，它們都在打造史上最強的 AI 晶片。而這些都是專用的運算機器——其中許多在某些特定應用上會非常有價值。所以這裡完全沒有任何放緩。

Next, we'll go to the line of Pradeep Ramani with UBS.

接下來我們轉到 UBS 的 Pradeep Ramani 專線。

First, I guess, for Trac, can you sort of help us shape the year in terms of how the revenues are going to be weighted first half versus second half? And on the margin front, it almost feels, if my math is correct, most of the upside in margins is going to come from your semiconductor SSD business, basically. Is that correct? Or am I sort of missing something there?

首先，我想，給 Trac 的問題是：你能否幫我們勾勒一下今年的情況，也就是營收在上半年與下半年之間大概會如何分配？另外在毛利率方面，如果我的計算沒錯，感覺毛利率上行的大部分動能基本上會來自你們的半導體 SSD 業務。這樣理解正確嗎？還是我漏掉了什麼？

You're right, Pradeep. I'll start with the second part of it, the -- where the margin expansion is coming from. For '21, specifically, given that we will make some additional investments in Software Integrity to get it on a -- to reaccelerate growth, you'll see more of that margin improvement being driven by the semi business. With regards to the quarterly profile, it's certainly going to be a better profile this year than what we saw in 2020. Closer to fairly even, but still a strong second half.

你說得對，Pradeep。我先從第二部分開始，也就是——毛利率擴張的來源。就 2021 年而言，特別是考量到我們會在 Software Integrity 上做一些額外投資，讓它——重新加速成長，你會看到更多的毛利率改善是由半導體業務所帶動。至於季度分佈，今年的走勢肯定會比我們在 2020 年看到的更好。會更接近相對平均，但下半年仍然會更強。

Okay. And for my follow-up, actually, when I look at ARM from a different angle, do you feel that customers are sort of indicating greater interest in ARC simply because of the uncertainty around the ARM's situation? And is that a positive for you guys? And maybe, does ARC actually grow -- is that -- is it growing faster than your other IP business?

好的。那我的追問是：其實當我從另一個角度看 ARM 時，你是否覺得客戶因為 ARM 情勢的不確定性，而在某種程度上表達出對 ARC 更高的興趣？這對你們來說是正面因素嗎？另外，ARC 的成長——它是否——成長速度是否比你們其他 IP 業務更快？

Well, I don't really want to comment too much about ARM as they are a strong partner. I would say that there are many different applications for different types of processors. And we have never really competed with ARM in its main area, which has been very much the strong processors for mobility that are driven at a low power level in order to work well in a portable phone. And so we do an enormous number of what we do. Our customers do an enormous number of the ARM cores with our tools, I should say, and we drive them as hard as we possibly can. ARC has done particularly well in super low-power situations or in a number of specialty areas where the processors just suited the build particularly well. And automotive is one of those areas because there's all kinds of other requirements around automotive that have to be followed very strictly. And as we put a major effort in quality overall and in quality, specifically for automotive, we paid attention for that for ARC specifically, and that's why it's doing well.

嗯，我不太想對 ARM 多做評論，因為他們是很強的合作夥伴。我會說，不同類型的處理器有許多不同的應用。我們其實從未在 ARM 的主要領域與其競爭；ARM 的強項一直是行動裝置用的高效處理器，並且以低功耗驅動，才能在可攜式手機上良好運作。因此我們做了大量的——應該說，我們的客戶用我們的工具做了大量的 ARM 核心，而我們也盡可能把它們推到極致。ARC 在超低功耗情境或一些處理器特別適配的專業領域表現尤其好。汽車就是其中之一，因為汽車領域還有各種其他要求必須非常嚴格地遵循。當我們在整體品質、以及特別針對汽車的品質上投入重大努力時，我們也特別關注 ARC 的相關要求，這也是它表現良好的原因。

Next, we'll go to the line of Krish Sankar with Cowen & Company.

接下來我們轉到 Cowen & Company 的 Krish Sankar 專線。

I have 2 of them. One on -- I just wanted to -- first question on IP business. You kind of mentioned on the IP side, like building IP blocks is getting more difficult with the advanced nodes for your customers. Is there a way to quantify what the percentage of outsourced IP blocks to the EDA companies was like, let's say, 28 or 20 nanometer? And what is it today at like 5 nanometer? Is there a way to quantify the percentage? And then I have a follow-up.

我有兩個問題。第一個是——我想先問 IP 業務。你提到在 IP 端，隨著先進製程節點的推進，為客戶打造 IP 模組變得更困難。是否有辦法量化一下：在例如 28 或 20 奈米時，外包給 EDA 公司的 IP 模組比例大概是多少？而今天在例如 5 奈米時又是多少？有辦法量化這個比例嗎？然後我還有一個追問。

Well, to be honest, there's probably a very good way to quantify it, but I cannot do that live for you here because I don't have the credibility, I would have to talk to the people in the IP group. Generically, though, I can absolutely say that 28 nanometer feels like a long, long, long, long time ago. And at that point in time, we are probably in the 20% or 30% of outsourcing. Now we're much higher. But what has really changed is that the complexity of the blocks since that time, there are certain blocks, especially all these big controller and communication interfaces, they have become particularly tough to do. And they are exactly the area where maybe some customers could do it themselves. And why would they? Because there are often standards. And being better than a standard is the same as being worse than the standard. You're not the standard. And so I think that has benefited our taking on more and more of the area around chips. If you add to that, the fact that there's a large, large number of embedded memory, that covers a large swath of a chip as well. So from that perspective, we keep moving up in the percentage of what we do. But what we do itself is moving up in its complexity and in its transistor density on an ongoing basis. And I think that's why this business is very healthy, is likely to continue to grow well. And we will be very close to the differentiation side of our customers.

嗯，老實說，應該有很好的方式可以量化，但我沒辦法在這裡即時給你答案，因為我沒有足夠的把握；我得去跟 IP 團隊的人確認。不過概括來說，我可以非常肯定地說，28 奈米感覺已經是很、很、很、很久以前了。在那個時間點，我們的外包比例大概在 20% 或 30%。現在高得多。但真正改變的是，自那時以來模組的複雜度提升了；有些模組，尤其是這些大型控制器與通訊介面，變得特別難做。而這正是某些客戶也許可以自己做的領域。那他們為什麼要自己做？因為往往有標準存在，而比標準更好其實就等同於比標準更差——你不是標準。因此我認為，這讓我們在晶片周邊承接的範圍越來越大而受益。再加上還有大量、大量的嵌入式記憶體，也覆蓋了晶片很大一部分。所以從這個角度看，我們所做的占比持續上升。但我們所做的事情本身，也在複雜度與電晶體密度上持續提升。我想這就是為什麼這個業務非常健康、很可能會持續良好成長的原因。而且我們會非常貼近客戶的差異化需求端。

Got it. Got it. That's helpful. And then just as a follow-up. It's a longer-term question. In the past, when customer consolidation happened within your semiconductor customers, like Avago, Broadcom, et cetera, there's a view that it's going to be negative for EDA companies, which did not happen. But also at the same time, the EDA companies also consolidated. So therefore, your customers went with the biggest supplier. Now when I look forward, like there's still a lot of semi M&A left to be done. With future customer consolidation, there seems like there's [not] the tailwind of the supply consolidation. So do you feel like that would make a difference in the future? Or do you think it doesn't make a difference, R&D is going to be spent?

了解，了解。這很有幫助。那接著追問一個較長期的問題：過去當你們的半導體客戶發生整併時，例如 Avago、Broadcom 等，市場上有一種看法認為這會對 EDA 公司不利，但結果並沒有發生。不過同時，EDA 公司也在整併，因此你們的客戶會選擇最大的供應商。現在往前看，半導體產業仍然還有很多併購（M&A）會發生。未來客戶端的整併，似乎就沒有供應端整併所帶來的順風了。你覺得未來這會造成差異嗎？還是你認為不會有差別，研發支出仍然會投入？

Well, it's a good question because many, many years ago, you recall it well every time that the word M&A in your customer base came up, it felt like a 4-letter word. And actually, it wasn't because the one thing that doesn't disappear are the very designers that are being M&A-ed around, so to speak. And so from that perspective, it didn't harm EDA and IP businesses as much as initially expected. Secondly, you're absolutely correct that we have done a certain amount of consolidation in our market. Largely to actually stay at critical mass in order to be able to afford the amount of R&D needed for all of these new capabilities. Now I think in our core technology, we are very well equipped to do these things ourselves and invest in it. But on the -- sort of what's sitting at the boundary between existing SAM and new TAM, there a lot of new opportunities that are opening up. And so if you take, for example, the Silicon Lifecycle Management, we have acquired some capabilities. We are developing a lot of capabilities ourselves. But it's a new territory. It's a new TAM. Maybe a little hard to describe how big it will be, but the promise is extremely good. And so from that perspective, I think we will grow with our customer base in aggregate, and I think that our customer base is doing well because they are at the center of what will drive the technologies of the next decade. So we will race with them.

嗯，這是個好問題。因為很多很多年前，你也記得很清楚，每次客戶群裡提到 M&A 這個詞，都讓人覺得像是個不吉利的字眼。其實並不是，因為有一件事不會消失：那些被併購整合的設計師本身，換句話說，仍然存在。因此從這個角度看，它對 EDA 與 IP 業務的傷害並沒有一開始預期的那麼大。第二，你說得完全正確，我們在自己的市場也做了一定程度的整併，主要是為了維持關鍵規模，才能負擔這些新能力所需的研發投入。現在我認為，在我們的核心技術上，我們非常有能力自行完成並投資。但在——介於既有 SAM 與新增 TAM 邊界的那一側，正有許多新機會在開啟。舉例來說，Silicon Lifecycle Management，我們收購了一些能力，也自行開發了很多能力。但那是一個新領域，是一個新的 TAM。它會有多大可能有點難描述，但其前景極其良好。因此從這個角度看，我認為我們會隨著客戶群的整體成長而成長；而我也認為我們的客戶群表現良好，因為他們正處於將驅動未來十年技術發展的核心位置。所以我們會與他們一起競速前進。

And with that, we've exhausted the Q&A queue. Please continue.

至此，我們已經用完問答隊列。請繼續。

Well, with that, thank you so much for participating today. We hope, of course, that all of you have stayed healthy within your family and yourself. It's not always been an easy time for everybody, but we appreciate the very fact that many of you have stayed in contact with us through the entire year. We look forward to 2021 with momentum, and we hope that, that momentum also includes your health and your well-being. We look forward to talk to you soon again.

那麼，感謝各位今天的參與。我們當然希望各位以及家人都保持健康。這段時間對每個人來說都不總是容易，但我們很感謝許多人在整個年度都持續與我們保持聯繫。我們期待 2021 年在動能中前進，也希望這份動能同樣包含各位的健康與福祉。我們期待不久後再次與各位交流。

Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference for today.

各位女士、先生，今天的會議到此結束。