Amtech Systems, Inc.

Good day, and welcome to the AMTEC Systems Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2021 Earnings Conference Call. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Erica Mannion of Sapphire Investor Relations.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for AMTEC Systems Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Conference Call. With me on the call today are Mike Wang, Chief Executive Officer, Lisa Gibbs, Chief Financial Officer, Paul Lancaster, Vice President of Sales and Customer Service. After close of market today, Amtech released its financial results for the fiscal fourth quarter and full year of 2021. The earnings release is posted on the company's website at www.amtechsystems.com in the Investors section. During today's call, management will make forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements are based on information available as of this date, and the company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and actual results could differ materially from current expectations. Among the important factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are changes in the technologies used by customers and competitors, change in volatility and the demand for products, the effect of changing worldwide political and economic conditions, including trade sanctions, the effect of overall market conditions, including the equity and credit markets, and market acceptance risks, ongoing logistics and supply chain challenges, capital allocation plans, and the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. All risk factors are detailed in the company's SEC filings, including its Form 10-K and Forms 10-Q. I will now turn the call over to Mike Wang, Chief Executive Officer.

Thank you, Erica. Fiscal 2021 was a strong year for Amtech, with over $115 million in bookings, $85.2 million in revenue, and $44.1 million in backlog exiting the year. representing year-over-year growth rates of 84%, 30%, and 217%, respectively. Driving this performance during the year was the acceleration of advanced packaging spending, which began in 2020, followed by a return of SMT and high temp furnace demand following the pandemic. Exiting the year, the run rate demand for our products remained strong, with Q4 reported bookings of $34.2 million, up 10% sequentially and nearly 150% year-over-year, and revenues of $24.3 million, a record over the past three years. While we are encouraged to see the strength continuing into 2022, ongoing logistical challenges related to container availability and rising costs are impacting our ability to ship products, some Q4 revenue moving into the following quarter. Our supply chain teams continue to actively work the situation, and many of those products which were delayed have now shipped. However, given the ongoing strength in demand and continuing global logistical challenges, it is likely similar in the quarter timing volatility will continue until conditions normalize. As it relates to component and raw material supply, while overall tightening continues due to the global shortages and the ripple effects of production outages on part of our suppliers, thus far we are navigating the situation through rigorous planning. As such, material supply has not yet severely impacted our ability to manufacture against orders received. Fortunately, as evidenced by our strong bookings and backlog, the persistent component shortages being felt globally in several cases translates to an increased need for Amtek's production equipment. As we look to the drivers behind this robust demand, activity within the semi-market continues at a strong pace with continued record bookings and further upside opportunities across our served markets. For our advanced packaging products, the last 18 months have been characterized by very strong order rates driven by end-of-market growth. Strength in this market continued in Q4 and again into Q1, with some orders extending to Q2 as our customers timed shipments to align with their capital expansion needs. For products targeted at the SMT market, demand remains strong across all geographies with an incremental emphasis on the automotive sector given the ongoing supply constraints. As we mentioned last quarter, to service the increased orders, in August we moved into a larger manufacturing facility in Shanghai. I am pleased to report the transition went smoothly and we have returned to normalized production levels with the ability to increase as demand warrants. Within the power semi-market, we continue to have strong engagements with our customers as they move forward with their capacity expansion plans. In some instances, in addition to placing new orders, customers have asked us to accelerate delivery of prior orders, which has been difficult given the supply chain constraints I referenced earlier. We view this as a strong signal, both to the underlying demand in the market but also in our leadership position as a tool of record for nearly all of the power chip manufacturers already producing on 300 millimeter. As these and other manufacturers continue to build that capacity, we believe we are well positioned to capture additional opportunities as they emerge. Moving on to our material and substrate segment, in Q4, we saw an improved mix in equipment shipments as customers once again began expanding capacity following the pandemic. Within the silicon carbide wafer market, we continue to have healthy discussions with our customers on an ongoing basis. Recently, these have become more productive with discussions around production planning as capacity constraints begin to emerge. Given our market-leading position in consumables, roadmap for new machine platforms, and recently completed capacity expansion investments, we remain as excited as ever about the mid- to long-term opportunities in front of us. While we are encouraged by heightened demand across all of our supermarkets, as we mentioned last quarter, we remain cautious about the ongoing market uncertainties, which we do not directly control. Industry-wide challenges such as supply chain constraints, inflation, and significant increases to freight costs and availability require ongoing management and vigilance. Looking beyond these near-term uncertainties, we strongly believe our leadership in the market segments with exposure to several secular tailwinds creates a significant opportunity to drive increased profitability and shareholder value as demand accelerates and we realize the operating leverage built into our current business model. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Lisa.