CEVA, Inc.

Good day and welcome to the SEVA Inc. first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Richard Kingston, Vice President of Market Intelligence and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to SEVA's first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Joining me today are Amir Panoush, Chief Executive Officer, and Yaniv Ariely, Chief Financial Officer of SEVA. Before handing over to Amir, I would like to remind everyone that today's discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that if they materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of SEVA to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our strategy and growth opportunities, market positioning, trends and dynamics, including with respect to significantly expanding market share in wireless communication IP and to momentum in diversifying our royalty customer base. Expectations regarding demand for and benefits of our technologies and revenues. Expectations regarding technology innovations, including timeline to revenue generation, our sales pipeline and backlog, and our financial goals and guidance regarding future performance. DIVA assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information which speaks as of their respective dates. We will also be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe provide a more meaningful analysis of our core operating results and comparison of quarterly results. A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures is included in the earnings release we issued this morning and in the SEC filing section of our Investors Relations website. With that said, I'd like to turn the call over to Amir, who will review our business performance for the quarter and provide some insight into our ongoing business. Amir?

Thank you, Richard. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. In the quarter, we delivered solid progress in our licensing business, reinforcing our long-term growth strategy, and expanding our customer engagement across all of our targeted use cases. Connect, Sense, and Insert, enabling Edge AI. Wealthy revenue fell short of expectations due to a combination of soft, low-cost smartphone shipments and an industrial customer who had a slower product ramp-up than in the prior year. However, by implementing cost control measures, we mitigated some of the revenue impact and achieved profitability close to non-GAAP EPS consensus. Importantly, our design wins this quarter not only strengthened our long-standing partnerships with key connectivity customers, but also expanded our footprint with new customers, embracing our sensing and AGI IPs, laying a strong foundation for future growth. Total revenue for the quarter came in at $24.2 million, up 10% year-over-year. Licensing revenue was $50 million, with 11 deals concluded in the quarter, including a number of notable strategic deals, which I will elaborate on now in the context of the three use cases that underpin our business. Connectivity serves as the foundational pillar of Edge AI, enabling seamless communication between devices and data centers. For this use case, we have solidified our market leadership position by securing several strategic agreements with multiple key Bluetooth and Wi-Fi customers, reinforcing our position in their long-term roadmap. One of our current highest volume customers, who has a well-established global customer base, and who is already shipping in volume single and multi-protocol combo chips based on several Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 6 IPs, has selected our Wi-Fi 7 IP for its next-generation products, demonstrating their trust and long-term partnership with us. In addition to this customer, we also signed a new long-term Wi-Fi 6 deal with another high-volume customer, a Bluetooth 6 Wi-Fi 6 combo deal with a top 10 MCU vendor. A next-generation Bluetooth deals with two of our leading audio customers as they continue to expand their connectivity offerings based on CIVA's market-leading technology. The second pillar enabling Edge AI is the sensing use case, which includes inputs and outputs that help devices better understand their surroundings. and deliver enhanced user experiences, such as improved audio performance. For this use case, we secured multiple deals, most notably an agreement for our real-space special audio software, which will be integrated into professional headsets and other audio devices from a leading PC OEM. This marks a significant milestone as it validates the quality and robustness of our special audio software solution. After sensing data about the environment, inferencing such data enables devices to better interpret their environment and proactively suggest appropriate courses of action. For this use case, we signed an important deal for our high-performance NupoM Edge AI NPU with Nextchip, a Korean automotive semiconductor for the next-generation Ada solutions. Let me explain a bit more about this use case and why we were selected. The overall performance and safety of Ada systems continue to rapidly advance thanks to cutting-edge advancements in AI, such as vision transformers. Vision transformers are a way for AI to analyze an image holistically, as opposed to traditional convolution neural networks that analyze images pixel by pixel. This brings significant benefits and superior performance for ADAS vision systems, including object recognition, segmentation, and free space detection in complex scenes. The Neopore AMP supports for vision transformers coupled with its ability to process multiple video streams and AI models all in parallel make it ideal for next-generation ADO systems. We are currently engaged in multiple discussions related to AI inferencing using our Neopore NPU family, including several automotive players for their next-generation platforms, that require processors, upgrades to support these latest AI advancements and techniques. In royalties, while overall revenue declined for the reasons previously mentioned, shipments volume remains strong, and we remain very positive about the long-term potential of our royalty business. Also, we have several notable achievements that highlight other royalty drivers for the business. In this regard, I'm pleased to share that we received the first royalty report from a leading US OEM using our technology in their in-house 5G model. As I discussed on our last earning calls, we anticipate this customer will significantly expand our market share in wireless communication IP and generate a meaningful long-term royalty stream in the years to come. Additionally, Our Wi-Fi royalties grew 183% year-over-year from a 12% increase in unit shipments. This growth was driven by a favorable product mix shift towards Wi-Fi 6, which commands a higher royalty ASP compared to previous generations. This is a strong indicator that our Wi-Fi 6 customers are continuing to gain traction, particularly in the consumer and industrial IoT markets. All in all, our first quarter licensing performance and continued momentum in diversifying our loyalty customer base reinforce the success of our transformation into a highly diversified IP powerhouse. We serve a broad range of end markets with a portfolio of high-value products and solutions that enable any smart edge device to connect, send, and infer data. As a reminder, success in the IP licensing business is measured over a horizon of several years. The innovations and technologies our engineers are designing today will reach commercial products and begin to generate royalties within three to five years. This long cycle view underpins how we think and manage our business and shape our strategy focus on accumulated and sustained value creation over time. Our priorities remain clear. Continue innovating for our customers, deepen our technology leadership, and building a strong future loyalty stream while managing expenses with discipline. I'm confident in our ability to navigate the short-term volatility while focusing on our mission to be the IP partner of choice for companies building smart edge devices that connect, send, and infer data. Now, I will turn the call over to Yaniv for the financials.

Thank you, Amir. Good morning. I'll now start by reviewing the results of our operations for the first quarter of 2025. Revenue for the first quarter increased 10% to $24.2 million, as compared to $22.2 million for the same quarter last year. The revenue breakdown is as follows. Licensing and related revenues increased 32% to $15 million, reflecting 62% of our total revenues. as compared to $11.4 million for the first quarter of 2024. Wealthy revenue decreased 14% to $9.2 million, reflecting 38% of our total revenue, down from $10.7 million for the same quarter last year. Quarterly gross margins came in 1% lower than forecasted and guided. 86% on gap basis, and 87% on non-gap basis. If you recall, we discussed the allocation of design activities for the strategic customer in the satellite modem space. So some R&D costs for these efforts are presented in the cost of revenue and not in the R&D expense line. Total gross operating expenses for the first quarter was at the low end of our guidance range at $25.1 million. Total non-GAAP operating expenses for the first quarter, excluding equity-based compensation expense, amortization of intangibles, and deal costs were $20.7 million below the low end of our guidance and similar to last year's level. Gap operating loss for the first quarter was $4.4 million, down from gap operating loss of $5 million in the same quarter a year ago. Non-gap operating margins and income were 1% of revenues and $0.3 million. compared to operating loss margin of 4% and operating loss of $0.8 million recorded for the first quarter of 2024, respectively. Expense monitoring contributed to partially offset lower-than-expected total revenues. Financial income was $2.1 million, compared to $1.3 million income for the first quarter of 2024's significantly higher than our estimates and per year. This was due to a significant increase in value of the Euro versus the U.S. dollar for the first quarter of over 7%, impacting the value of our Euro-dominated assets, especially French tax receivables. Gap and down-gap taxes were approximately $1 million, slightly lower than our guidance, and affected by the geography of the revenue recognized from deals and the world's revenues. Gap net loss for the first quarter was $3.3 million, and diluted loss per share was $0.14, as compared to a net loss of $5.4 million, and diluted loss per share of $0.23 for the first quarter of 2024. Non-GAAP net income and deleted earnings per share for the first quarter of 2025 was $1.4 million and 6 cents, respectively, as compared to a net loss of $1.3 million and deleted loss per share of 5 cents reported for the same quarter last year. With respect to other related data, Shipped units by CIVA licensees during the first quarter of 2025 were 420 million units. Up 13% from the first quarter of 2024 reported shipment. Of the 420 million units reported, 49% million or 12% were for mobile handset modems. 337 million units were for consumer IoT markets, up 19% from 284 million units in the first quarter of 2024. 34 million units were for industrial IoT markets, up 26% from 27 million units in the first quarter of 2024. Mutual shipments were 233 million units in the quarter, up 15% from 202 million units in the first quarter of 2024. Solar IoT shipments were 48 million units, up 31% year-over-year. Last Wi-Fi shipments were 35 million units, up 12% from 31 million units a year ago. Wi-Fi royalty revenue, however, were up 183% year-over-year due to a strong contribution from Wi-Fi 6 shipments, which carry a higher ASP than the older Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 standards. Overall, royalties were below our expectations, primarily due to slower smartphone ship units for the low-cost smartphone markets and an industrial customer who had a slower product ramp-up than a year ago. As for the balance sheet items, as of the end of March, Steve's cash, cash equivalent balances, marketable securities, and bank deposits were approximately $158 million. DSOs for the first quarter were 54-day, similar to prior quarters. During the first quarter, we used $7 million cash from operating activities, Our ongoing depreciation and amortization was $0.9 million, and purchase of fixed assets was $0.3 million. At the end of the first quarter, our headcount was 435 people, of whom 354 were engineers. Now for the guidance. As we discussed in our prepared remarks, our licensing business continues to perform well with robust entrance in our Edge AI portfolio and continued expansion of our wireless leadership. In royalties, we highlighted a U.S. smartphone OEM that reported its first 5G modem royalties to us in the quarter and the ASP Uplift in Wi-Fi 6 as our customer volume shipments increase. As for the global microenvironment and tariffs, while we don't see any direct impact from tariffs, the indirect impact on consumer demand, among other factors, has increased the uncertainty about the year. Given these evolving dynamics, and a year lower than anticipated revenues for the first quarter, we're adopting a more cautious outlook for the rest of the year, lowering 2025 revenue guidance from high single-digit range to a low single-digit range for growth over 2024 annual revenues. On the expense side, we are lowering our overall expense level, cost of revenue, and optics together from a range of 2% to 6% over 2024 to in line with 2024 or $96 million to $100 million with non-GAAP optics slightly lower than 2024. Based on these changes, we anticipate a double-digit percentage increase in non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating margins, non-GAAP net income, and fully diluted non-GAAP EPS relative to 2024, but at a lower percentage than our earlier guidance. Specifically for the second quarter of 2025, On royalties, we expect sequential growth due to the seasonality and expansion of the SIVA-powered 5G smartphone modem in the second quarter and beyond. Total revenue is forecasted to be $23.7 million to $27.7 million. Commerce margin is expected to be similar to the first quarter we just reported. We forecast approximately 86% on non-GAAP basis and 87% on non-GAAP basis. Excluding an aggregate of $0.1 million for equity-based compensation expenses of $0.1 million, the motivation was acquired in cash flows. GAAP OPEX for the second quarter of 2025 is expected to be in the range of 25.1 to 26.1 million dollars. And the anticipated total operating expenses for the first quarter $4.5 million is expected to be attributed to equity-based compensation expense, $0.2 million for amortization of acquired intangibles, and $0.1 million for cost associated with business acquisitions. Non-GAAP OPEX is expected to be similar to the first score level and in the range of $20.3 to $21.3 million. also lower than the second quarter 2024 OPEX level. Net interest income is expected to be approximately $1.3 million. Taxes for the second quarter expected to be approximately $1.2 million. And the share count for the second quarter is expected to be 25.6 million shares. Danielle, you could open the Q&A session, please.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then 1 on your touch-tone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time a question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star, then 2. The first question comes from Kevin Cassidy from Rosenblatt Securities. Please go ahead.

Yes, thanks for taking my question. Congratulations on the AI NPU ADAS win. But can you say whether, was this just a win with the Tier 1 supplier or does the Tier 1 supplier have a program at an automotive OEM that's, you know, secured?

Yes, Kevin, thanks for the question. First, this is a very important design win for us with the new POEM. This really validates the technology and the maturity to go all the way into ADOS automotive market segment. And we believe that also will propel a significant addition of design wins as we go into Q2 and the rest of the year. Specifically to your question, This is a design with the tier ones. They already have secured so-called OEM customers, but it's not going to go into only one specific OEM, but that they will, it will be part of their next generation platform that will go into multiple sockets.

Okay, great. Congratulations. And you showed great increase with the transition to Wi-Fi 6. With Wi-Fi 7 designs being one now, Is there a similar, I guess, increase in ASPs with Wi-Fi 7, or is it even greater than the transition from 5 to 6?

Yeah, thanks for the question, Kevin. So this is Amir. So a few things here to unpack and talk about the whole licensing deal together this quarter and the impacts for us, so-called moving forward in the long term. So first, we are really happy to see multiple of our customers that have licensed the previous generation, now adding either Bluetooth Wi-Fi or the combination. And we had two new deals of a Bluetooth Wi-Fi 6 combination this quarter. But also, we are very happy to see one of our highest volume customers of Wi-Fi 4 that is already migrating to Wi-Fi 6, now licensing Wi-Fi 7 for us. Again, great testimony to see how our customers trust our technology. And overall, we keep expanding our leadership position in the marketplace. Specifically for AFP, as illustrated from the numbers this quarter, when the volume shipments grew by about 12% year over year, the revenue grew by more than 180%. And this has really contributed to the transition from Wi-Fi 4 to Wi-Fi 6. So with that migration, we would see a major uplift and the average ASP. On top of that, if customers will migrate in volume production to Wi-Fi 7, we expect to see another uplift. But of course, this is that those designs in production and volume will come later in the future years. So already to 25, and as we talked also 26 and beyond, we will see tremendous so-called increase in volume as well as average ASP for Wi-Fi, the transition to Wi-Fi 6. On top of that, Wi-Fi 7 will generate another update.

Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, Kevin.

As a reminder, if you have a question, please press star 1. The next question comes from David O'Connor from BNP Paribas.

Please go ahead.

Yeah, great. Good morning, Annette. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe just to carry on from Kevin's question there, just on the new A-desk win, Amir, can you kind of give us a sense of the competitive environment kind of around that win? Kind of what other type of solutions was the customer looking at? Was it kind of internal? the other off-the-shelf solutions and kind of just the key metrics really um that allowed you to kind of get that design went over the line and i have another follow-up thanks yeah definitely david so if we look overall in the market right now for ai npu high-end solution for the edge

What is happening is really the migrating to the more advanced models using transformer, in that specific case, vision transformers. But for the edge, it really requires a combination of extremely power-efficient solution, as well as smaller in size or cost structure, and very, very importantly for automotive, extremely low latency. The reaction and so-called the ability to interrupt the data needs to be very, very quickly in nanoseconds or milliseconds. So our technology really excels in those metrics as we put them together, coming from our ability and history and DNA in edge devices and low-power devices. But on top of that is really the combination of the hardware and the software integrated and scalable to go into the different tiers of performance that those customers need. As I mentioned, for the last several quarters, we have really built a scalable architecture for NPU that can go from several tops all the way to hundreds of tops, and with that, all the software stack is supported. And I think this gives us really great advantage in the market, and I strongly believe that we will see more and more design wins so far a new PoEM or high-end NPU in the marketplace this year and through the quarters.

That's very helpful. Great call there, Amir.

Thank you for... Sorry, David, one last comment. Just to remind everyone, we talked about two other customers that are already doing a ramping right now in 2025 based on our Vision AI DSP technology. And so not only we are winning designs, but also we see a world event this year in the automotive space.

Thanks. Awesome. Thank you, Amir, for that. Maybe just another question. Just on the softness you saw on the kind of low end of the smartphone market, was that kind of anything tariff related in your view? Was it kind of customer product transition? Is that just kind of expectation there, just a one-quarter impact you'd expect that to recover? Any color on that kind of lower end of the market there that kind of stands out to you guys? And I have one last follow-up. Thank you.

Yeah, David, great question. Let me unpack really what happens in Q1 related to our smartphone customers and just overall how we see the market. So overall, in Q1, we have seen a slower start than what we expected. The seasonality of the customer from Q4 to Q1 dropped more than we anticipated. And due to some of the supply chain activities that people needed to address in Q1. But after my discussion with the customers and overall my understanding of the markets, is that overall, these customers will be able to ramp on a quarterly sequential volume ramp doing very well and according to basically what we've seen in 2024. So overall, we anticipate the customers to contribute nicely, the same as we saw in 2024. And the last piece I will mention about it is this customer shifts The majority of the volume worldwide outside the U.S., so we don't expect so-called direct impacts of tariffs on this customer, and that we expect much throughout the year.

Very helpful. Thank you. Thank you for that. And maybe just one for Yaniv, just on the licensing pipeline, How would you kind of describe that? I know you've given the guide for the year, but just kind of over through Q1, are you seeing kind of an acceleration in that in terms of design activity, any kind of change in customer kind of behavior, pushing out design decisions maybe, anything kind of along those lines, just kind of with an eye on kind of tariffs and macro concern in the background, any color around that kind of activity and momentum? It would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Sure. So it's a good question. I think this is a concern that's around many, many companies in the technology space. We haven't seen such decisions in the first quarter or postponing deals or decisions because of the macro. Obviously this is a concern that is out there and this is why we're taking, we decided to take a more cautious approach for the rest of the year. In theory, things like that can happen. When we guide, and we have guided last couple of quarters, we don't break out the licensing and the royalties, and we don't have the crystal ball ahead of the beginning of the quarter. But the level that we just reported, and if you look at the Q3, Q4 of last year, And the average of the first and second quarter of last year, this is a decent, more or less, plus minus, this is a decent range in the level that we want to continue to do with our licensing activity. And obviously, if things look better, then maybe things could get up there at the pace. And if there will be some concerns by different plans, maybe it should be part of the macro, not necessarily tariffs directly, but just macro overall. And then maybe some decisions will not have been made. So for now, we've not seen that happening per se.

The other thing, David, I will add on that. I think also what we see actually is an IP supplier is also the opportunity, so-called, potentially picking up thanks to the localization, and they need to have the technology, so-called, within those specific regions. So, yeah, on a mix, there's definitely risk of... headwinds coming with just the softness of the market potentially because of tariffs and consumer demand. On the other hand, definitely there are the tailwinds of our customers looking to have their own access and capabilities to drive their own technology and web net. That's the thing I keep from us.

Very helpful, Carter. Thank you, guys. Thanks, David.

The next question comes from Chris Reimer from Barclays. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my question. I'm sorry if this was asked already. I was cut off earlier and didn't hear the first part of the questions. I'm just wondering about the gross margin and this one design customer that you mentioned. Can you give us an idea of maybe what person? Hello?

Yeah, we're here. Can you hear me?

Yeah. Can you give us an idea of what percent that actually is of the overall? And how much longer do you expect to continue with the extra allocation there?

Sure. So last year we talked about really few design wins with 5G advanced solutions, very high-end, very sophisticated, to many new use cases. Some of them are satellites, some are base stations, and not necessarily those new customers and those new spaces know how to deal with a modem and how to build the right use case that they need. And one of the advantages that we could offer is some customization and some help in the design activity of changing or adopting from an off-the-shelf type of modem to something that fits their use case in a more efficient way. So we have a group of engineers that are dedicated for that project. It's usually a couple of quarters or anywhere between one to a year type of project. And if you look at an example in the first quarter of last year when we recorded 90% gross margin, about $2.2 million. The following quarter was $2.5 million, $2.6 million. That's probably a pretty clean margin. a quarter without those efforts, and probably a million dollars or more above that. This is some of the allocation just from R&D. It doesn't change the overall cost of the company. It just records some of these efforts for a specific customer. This is one of the advantages for us in a very advanced economy like 5G, advanced to win new business. Because if not, they would not have taken that risk. of such a new and complicated design. And, you know, for a few quarters, you could see 1% or 2% lower margins, but this is still an IP business model with a 90-ish plus or plus-minus percent gross margins. Every once in a while, if you have these activities, you would have a million, a million and a half. And when that is done and the services are done, then we bring them back to the R&D line and focus those costs on new technologies and future developments.

Yeah, the other thing I will add on top of that, Amir, is that all that customization and enhanced features that we are building, it's all our IP, and we intend and can leverage that to other customers as well. So while there is so-called a short-term impact on potential, one or two percentage of the gross margin, at the end of the day, this is only being asked to secure those sockets, very high-end sockets, and driving long-term royalties, as well as advance the technology overall.

Great. Thanks. That's really great, caller. And just touching on shipments, you mentioned the slowness in the SART phone and that the customer would begin ramping up. So given your reduced outlook, is there any other area you're concerned about or is it just an overall proactive conservatism issue?

And there's two aspects to that question. One, as Amir explained, the low-cost smartphone was a bit slower for the beginning of the year. We believe it's just a tiny issue, and we believe to see a ramp-up in the second quarter, and therefore, Q3 and Q4, we have seen that trend for many years. The extent of how the year starts, and we said that the falloff from Q4 to Q1 varies from year to year, but Q1 is usually lowest for many for a long, long period of time, and then it kicks in with the highest numbers and volumes and royalties for us by the fourth quarter. The other new design wind, not a design wind, it's really going into production. And we all know it didn't have a full quarter, so we'll see much more of that being reported to us and sold on a three-month full quarter basis in the second quarter. And that's here to stay for the foreseeable future. We're looking and we're very excited about this opportunity. For sure Q2 is going to have higher numbers, and this is why we guided sequential growth from Q1 to Q2, and that should continue throughout the rest of the year with new bodies coming out later in the year. So I think this is the way to look at it from the handset perspective. From all the other market segments that we talked about, consumer IoT, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Stellar IP, a very nice start for the year on the volume perspective and also the Wi-Fi ASP. And so if we didn't have that timing issue, we could have posted a very nice start for the year. But the rest of the cost is just due to the market conditions.

Yeah, maybe it is. Maybe I'll unpack it a little bit further and provide more colors. So as we look at Q1, And we are very happy to see a very solid licensing execution. And with that, we're really solidifying our leadership in wireless communication, as well as penetrating more and winning in the AI space. And so we're extremely encouraged by the licensing that we got in Q1. Definitely on the royalty, that came below our expectation due to the two customers that we mentioned in the prepared remarks. But with that said, on the mobile side, mobile handset, one, with that customer, we expect the revenue to pick up nicely through the years and to basically meet what we have seen in 2024, as well as, of course, demand on top of the new customers overall gaining market share. So that's in mobile. So this is a very strong tailwind for us this year. The other one is on Wi-Fi 6 that we have talked about for a while, both volume ramp as well as ASP, significant ASP increase. And for those two tailwinds and overall the portfolio that we have in IT to drive licensing, we feel good about it, an overall perspective for the year. With that said, considering Q1 came short to our expectation on the top line, as well as just the macroeconomics that have changed quite a bit since our last call three months ago, we believe it's prudent to take more cautious approach for the rest of the year. And with that, we basically guided down still a growth year, but we guided down the expectation for the revenue growth. So all in all, in terms of our technologies and our ability to go drive growth and success both in 2025 and in the long run, we are very confident about that. But we cannot ignore overall the market sentiment out there and that we have a Q1 that was lower than our expectation on the top line. With that, we reduce the guidance for you. Still a growth year, but a single-digit growth target.

Got it. Thanks a lot for the call. That's it for me.

Thank you, Chris.

There's a follow-up question from Kevin Cassidy from Rosenblatt. Please go ahead.

Oh, yeah, thanks for taking my follow-up. And, you know, just as far as customer behavior goes, you know, investors got into a bit of a panic, we'll say, about DeepSeq and these other low-cost and, say, smaller LLMs that are coming into the market. Can you say how that's changing your demand for your NPU IP?

Yes. for the question. Actually, this is, that transition is great for us. For AI, we've seen the success and the growth mostly on the cloud for now for several few years. And that's, of course, we keep going very nicely in the coming few years. But the transition from running the models on the cloud, in case of inference, really running the model on real time, the transition from the cloud to the edge is hasn't really a big number started yet. Now it's really happening. It's so-called the beginning of 2024 and now moving into the next few years. Models like DeepSeq and actually what we see right now also from the other Western large LLM companies that are building those models, they are all coming with more optimized LLM models that can be run way more efficiently on edge devices. So we believe that we will see a major transition where smartphone, PC, tablets, automotive systems, other smart edge devices will integrate more and more AI or NPU capabilities, and we'll be able to run much more efficiently those models because they will be smaller, more optimized, and with that lower latency and lower power. So actually DPC coming with this technology and what's coming now in the Western world as well, extremely encouraging to enable our future growth in the marketplace.

Okay, great. Thanks for clarifying.

And we bet we are looking to support those models, of course.

Yes, sir. Right. Yeah.

The next question comes from Suji De Silva from Roth Capital.

Please go ahead.

Hi, Amir. Hi, Aniv. Can you talk about maybe with the, given all the macro and tariff uncertainty, if you've seen any impact in the licensing environment, if You're seeing any programs that were underway being pushed, or if the activity remains unimpacted so far?

Yeah, thanks, Suji, for the question. So, for just to clarify, we don't see direct impact of tariffs in terms of so-called paying taxes, or our customers need to pay taxes, unlike we've seen with technology. The indirect demand, in Q1, we've seen very strong demand, and with that, we have been able to close... both a good number of deals as well as very strategic deal for us. We have very good pipeline for Q2 and the rest of the year. We haven't seen that pipeline decreased. But overall, when we talk with customers, I would say on average, people are a little bit more cautious out there. And just more than anything, most customers say, we don't know what we don't know and we need to see how things will shape up. And I think that's overall what we hear out there. So with that, of course, considering Q1 and what we said, be more prudent with the cautious outlook, we guided lower for the year. But when we go and specifically talk with customers and work on programs that are in the making, we haven't seen any impact.

Okay, Amir. Appreciate the candid response there. And then looking at your royalty units and Wi-Fi, are those wins ramping and tracking to follow the share success you've had with Bluetooth? Is there any impact there as well, or are those programs coming to market?

Actually, on that, we are extremely encouraged. We have licensed to tens of customers our Wi-Fi 6 technology. And many, many of them are ramping volume production. And on average, we are really encouraged by our customers able to so-called integrate the technology, take it to PayPal, and now take it into volume production. So we are actually exactly on track to what we want to achieve in terms of the Wi-Fi ramp in the coming few years. And now, of course, with that, there will be the transition to Wi-Fi 7 as well. Although I would say the comparative landscape is such that we are really becoming not only the de facto IP supplier for Bluetooth, but as well as for Wi-Fi. And we get Wi-Fi 6 and then transition to Wi-Fi 7. Okay.

Very good. Thanks, Amir. Thanks, everybody.

Thank you.

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Richard Kingston for closing remarks.

Thank you, Danielle. Thank you, everybody. As a reminder, the prepared remarks of this conference call are filed as an exhibit to the current report on Form 8K and accessible through the investor section of our website. With regards to upcoming events, we will be participating in the following conferences. The J.P. Morgan 53rd Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference, May 13 and 14 in Boston. Oppenheimer 26th Annual Israeli Conference, May 18th in Tel Aviv. The Stifel Boston Cross-Sector One-on-One Conference, June 3rd and 4th in Boston. The Rosenblatt Fifth Annual Technology Summit, The Age of AI, on June 10th, being held virtually. 15th Annual Roth London Conference, June 24th and 25th in London. And the Northland Growth Conference 2025 on June 25th, also being held virtually. More information on these events and all events we will be participating in can be found on the Investors section of our website. Thank you and goodbye.

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.