Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the first quarter 2024 Magnet Ship Semiconductor Corporation earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised today's conference is being recorded. I would like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Stephen Palayo. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss MagnaChip's financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024. The first quarter earnings release that was issued today after the market closed can be found on the company's investor relations website. The webcast replay of today's call will be archived on our website shortly afterwards. Joining me today are Y.J. Kim, MagnaChip's Chief Executive Officer, and Shin Young Park, our Chief Financial Officer. Y.J. will discuss the company's recent operating performance and business overview. and Chin Young will review financial results for the quarter and provide guidance for the second quarter. There will be a Q&A session following the prepared remarks. During the course of this conference call, we may make forward-looking statements about MagnaCHIP's business outlook and expectations. Our forward-looking statements and all other statements that are not historical facts reflect our beliefs and predictions as of today and therefore are subject to risks and uncertainties as described in the State Harbor Statement found in our SEC filing. Such statements are based upon information available to the company as of the date hereof and are subject to change for future development. Except as required by law, the company does not undertake any obligation to update these statements. During the call, we also will discuss non-GAAP financial measures. The non-GAAP measures are not prepared in accordance with a generally accepted accounting principles, but are intended as supplemental measures of magnet chips operating performance that may be useful to investors. The reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be found in our first quarter earnings release in the investor relations section of our website. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Y.J. Kim. Y.J.?

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today, and welcome to MagnetChip's Q1 earnings call. Our overall Q1 results were in line with our guidance. Q1 revenue was $49.1 million. down 13.9% year over year, and down 3.5% sequentially. Consolidated gross profit margin was 18.3%, down 2.9 percentage points year over year, and 4.4 percentage points sequentially, mostly due to the wind down of the transitional foundry services. Excluding transitional foundry services, revenue in our standard product business which is comprised of MSS and PAS businesses, was up 10.6% sequentially, while gross margin was 21.2%, down 1.7 percentage points sequentially. The decline in gross margin was mostly due to lower GumiFab utilization driven by the wind down of the transitional foundry services. which also impacts PAS margins because they share the fab. Despite typical Chinese New Year seasonality, the solid sequential revenue growth of our standard product business in Q1 suggests overall market conditions are improving with the inventory correction possibly nearing an end for some verticals. In particular, we saw improvement in the inventory channel for our PAS business. We also saw better than expected demand from our design for the after-service OLED display market, and we benefited from increased demand in our automotive display business. The PAS business strength was primarily from smartphones, e-motors, consumer appliances, and server power applications. Now, let me provide more detailed comments for each of our standard product business lines. Beginning with MSS, Q1 revenue was in line with our guidance at $9.0 million, down 29.7% year-over-year, and up 5.2% sequentially. As we mentioned before, the quarter-over-quarter revenue growth was due to increased demand from automotive LCD and OLED products. Overall, we continue to collaborate with several OLED panel makers and smartphone OEMs targeting the China market. While third-party market researcher Omnia predicts only slight growth in the global smartphone market in 2024, the top five China brands are forecast to enjoy more than 18% growth in OLED smartphone treatments. As a reminder, we have DDIC designs and customer engagements underway that span the entire smartphone market spectrum, from the mass market tier to the premium tier segments, as well as other display markets, such as automotive. We had an additional two new OLED designs this quarter that we'll discuss more in detail later. more specifically during the quarter our display ic business had a new design in of a high-end oled smartphone for top tier chinese smartphone vendor this design in is based on our 2hd plus oily ddic that we sampled into 1 to 1024. this chip provides the latest a transistor LTPO panel feature support and is produced in 28 nanometer. We expect this design to go into production by the end of the year. We also started the initial ramp into one for our first generation OLED DDIC chip for China that we taped out in 2022 for the after service market. We are now working to expand this segment with other China panel makers. As mentioned previously, we received a pilot production PO as a second source supplier from a leading Chinese smartphone OEM. We expect revenue to begin in the second half of the year. Moreover, we also have been chosen to work with them on their fall 2024 model with our next generation chip that we taped out and expect to sample in Q2 this quarter. Finally, we taped out in Q1 and expect sample in Q2, our first smartwatch OLED DDIC. We're excited about this partnership with a smartwatch solution provider in China, as it showcases our strategies to expand into new high-growth adjacent markets. With regard to our automotive DDIC business, we saw strength in the first quarter that we're likely to continue in Q2. Notably, we had a new OLED design win in EV that has come as production in Q2 targeted for a leading European automaker. Our PowerC business is now including MSS. We saw sequential strengths from LED TVs during Q1 and expect business to broaden to include multiple notebooks and tablet models in Q2. We continue to secure new design wins with a major Korean customer. Moving on to PAS. Q1 revenue was $36.5 million, down 5.6% year-over-year, and up 12% quarter-to-quarter. The sequential increase was due primarily to increased demand for medium voltage MOSFETs for industrial e-motor markets in China, consumer appliances, and server power. The results are in line with our earlier expectation for gradual recovery in our part business during the first half of 2024 and are further supported by initial signs of inventory reduction in the distribution channel for our PAS products. More specifically, We saw strength in the high-speed e-motor market for scooters and motorcycles where we benefit from the approximate doubling of the bill of materials compared to a traditional e-bike. We believe our power solution for e-motors are now outperforming our competition. We are seeing steady demand in low-voltage MOSFETs due to contribution from new high-end smartphone models as well as increased demand in mid-range smartphones. Further, the PAS design pipeline looks solid for the next generation of smartphones coming in late 2024 and into 2025. We saw a sequential uptick in demand for our Super Junction MOSFETs and obtained a 600V design win in the PC power and power supply markets. We also had an IGBT design win at 650 volts from a major Korean appliance company. Lastly, with an automotive power, we had our first medium voltage MOSFET design win for an electric cooling fan with a China-based SUV supplier, as well as additional power steering related win in Korea. We have a strong product pipeline for power in 2024, and they are on track. These products expect to contribute revenue by end of the year. The new 650 volt IGBT finished the qualification and expect to begin commercial samples this month. Sixth generation IGBT and super junction samples will begin this quarter Q2 and eighth generation LV MOSFET samples is ready and 8th generation MB MOSFET samples are ready in this second quarter 24. In summary, PAS shows strong sequential growth in Q1. With the addition of new products and streamlined channel inventory, we are optimistic for the growth trajectory in 2024. In MSS, we're executing our China-focused strategy and making steady inroads with the top-tier panel makers and major smartphone OEMs. I will come back to wrap up the call after Xinyang gives you more details about financial performance in the first quarter and provide Q2 guidance. Xinyang?

Thank you, AJ, and welcome everyone on the call. Let's start with key financial metrics for Q1. The total revenue in Q1 was $49.1 million, which came slightly above the midpoint of our guidance range of $46 to $51 million. This was down 13.9% year-over-year and down 3.5% sequentially. Revenue from MSS business was $9 million, at the midpoint of our guidance range of $8 to $10 million. This was down 29.7% year-over-year, but up 5.2% sequentially. PAF business revenue was $36.5 million, and the point of guidance range of $35 to $38 million. This was down 5.6% year-over-year, but up 12% sequentially. Revenue from transitional boundary services declined to $3.5 million, as we continue to wind down this service over the next couple of quarters, as we've explained previously. Consolidated growth by homogeny Q1 was 18.3%, leaving our guidance range of 17 to 20%, but down from 21.2% year-over-year, and down from 22.7% sequentially. MSS gross profit margin in Q1 was 44.6%, above the upper end of the guidance range of 40-43%, up from 30.2% in Q1-23, and up from 41.3% in Q4-23. The margin expansion was primarily due to non-recurring engineering revenue and higher-than-expected revenue from our first-generation BGIC for the after-service markets. The volatility of MSS gross profit margin is also due to the smaller relative size of each revenue. PAS gross profit margin in Q1 was 15.4%, below the midpoint of the violence range of 15 to 18%, down from 26.7% in Q1-23, and down from 18.1% in Q4-23. The year-over-year and sequential decline was mainly due to a lower green capitalization rate from the wind down of traditional larger services and unfavorable product mix. Turning now to operating expenses, Q1 SG&A was $11.3 million as compared to $12.1 million in Q4 2023 and $12.2 million in Q1 last year. The sequenture and the over-year decline in SG&A was primarily attributable to our cost reduction efforts with respect to certain one-time employee-related benefits. Q1 R&D was $11.2 million as compared to $16.4 million in Q4-23 and $13.3 million in Q1 last year. As a reminder, R&D expense in Q4 last year included higher max set costs due to the timing of project development. Stock compensation charges included operating expenses were $0.9 million in Q1 compared to $1.7 million in Q4 and $1.1 million in Q1 loss. Q1 operating loss was $13.5 million. This compares to an operating loss of $15.9 million in Q4 and operating loss of $21.8 million in Q1 2020. On a non-GAAP basis, Q1 adjusted operating loss was $12.6 million compared to adjusting operating loss of $14.1 million in Q4 and $12.2 million in Q1 last year. Net loss in Q1 was as compared with a net loss of $6 million in Q4 and a net loss of $21.5 million in Q1 last year. Q1 adjusted GDP debt was negative $8.4 million. This compares to a negative $10 million in Q4 and negative $7.9 million in Q1 last year. Our gas diluted loss per share in Q1 was 40 cents. as compared with diluted loss per share of $0.16 in 2004 and diluted loss per share of $0.49 in Q1 last year. Our non-diluted loss per share in Q1 was $0.28. This compares with diluted loss per share of $0.21 in Q4 and $0.24 in Q1 last year. Our weighted average diluted shares are standing at number one with 38.5 million shares. Under our $50 million stock buyback program, authorized in July 2023, we will purchase in Q1 2024 approximately 0.6 million shares for $4.1 million, leaving about $32.3 million remaining in authorization at the end of March 2021. Moving to the balance sheet. We ended Q1 with cash of $171.6 million, which includes approximately $29.7 million in long-term borrowing, up from $158.1 million at the end of Q4 2020. We added the long-term borrowing in March this year in order to opportunistically take advantage of variable world finance returns while exploring strategy options, including share buybacks and strategy investments to enhance shareholder value. This loan bears a variable interest rate, and the initial interest rate was 4.86% per annum and matures on March 26, 2027. We've clashed our previous properties as collateral. Please refer to the Form 8-K filed on March 29, 2024 for further details. Net accounts receivable at the end of the quarter totaled $33.3 million, which represents a decrease of 7.2% from Q4 2023. Our day sales outstanding for Q1 was 66 days and compares to 9 days in Q4. Our average days in inventory for Q1 was 71 days and compares to 77 days in Q4. Inventories net at the end of the quarter toward $31.5 million and $32.7 million in Q4 2020. Lastly, Q1 capped at $4.7 million. For the full year 2024, we anticipate to spend approximately $10 to $12 million, primarily for our PAS business and community effects. This includes approximately $3 to $4 million of long-time capex for our newly established operating entity in China. Now moving to our second quarter and full year 2024 guidance. While actual reserves may vary, for Q2 2024, Magnet just currently expects consolidated revenue to be in the range of $49 to $54 million, including about approximately $1.5 million of conditional bond due services. MSS revenue to be in the range of $9.5 to $11.5 million. This compares with MSS equivalence revenue of $9 million in Q1 2024 and $12.4 million in Q2 2022. PAS revenue to be in the range of $38 to $41 million. This compares with PAS equivalent revenue of $36.5 million in Q1 2024 and $39 million in Q3 2022. Consolidated gross profit margin to be in the range of 17% to 19%. MSS gross profit margin to be in the range of 30% to 33%. This compares with MSS equivalent gross profit margin of 44.6% in Q1 2024, which included non-recurring engineering revenue, and 36.4% in Q2 2023. PAS gross profit margin to be in the range of 15% to 17%, primarily as a result of the impact of either capacity or the expected decline in transitional bonds or services revenue. This compares with PAS equivalent gross profit margin of 16.4% in June 2024 and 23.1% in June 2022. For the whole year 2024, we reiterate our prior guidance. MSS revenue to the road rose double digits year-over-year as compared with MSS equivalent revenue of $44.4 million in 2023. PAS revenue to growth double digits year-over-year as compared with PAS equivalent revenue of $161.3 million in 2020. Consolidated revenue flexed up slightly year-over-year as recovery MSS and PAS is offset by the base out of transitional voluntary services. Consolidated prospecting margin between 17 to 20%, primarily as a result of the impact of idle capacity expected from the raise out of transitional boundary services. This compares with the consolidated prospecting margin of 22.4% in 2023. Thank you, and now I'll turn the call back over to YJ for his point and remarks. YJ?

As we noted in our previous audience call, We are undergoing a substantial transformation in our business over the next couple of years. One, we have shifted the priorities in our display business to be laser focused primarily on China business expansion. We have now begun operations at our new Chinese entity, Magnet Chip Technology Company, MTC, with our China headquarters now up and running. And we expect to significantly expand our China operation into 2024. We are strengthening strategic relationship with panel customers, OEMs, and suppliers. I am encouraged with the progress thus far. Q1 is the first period in our financial results to reflect the operating performance under the new MSS and PAS structure. The separation of those businesses streamlines our go-to-market strategy, strengthens the potential for increased shareholder value via strategic investment, and also improves transparency for investors. Three, we are working very hard to fill ideal FAP capacity in our Gumi FAP, caused by the wind-down of the transitional boundary services. Our current power products are experiencing an increase in demand, and we are launching a new slate of higher margin products throughout the year. I look forward to sharing updates and our progress on future earnings calls. Now, I will turn the call back to Stephen. Stephen?

Thank you. That concludes our remarks section of the call today. Operator, you may now open up the call for questions.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. If you have a question or a comment at this time, please press star 1-1 on your telephone. If your question has been answered and you wish to move yourself from the queue, please press star 1-1 again. We will pause for a moment while we compile our Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Quinn Bolton with Needham. Your line is open.

Hey, guys. Can you hear me?

We can, but it is breaking up.

Okay. Hopefully this comes through. I guess I wanted to ask, YJ, the biggest, you've introduced a number of new products in the MSS segment over the last, you know, 12 to 24 months, and it sounds like a lot of those are slotted to start to go into production, you know, towards the end of this year and into early 2025 and I guess, you know, as you look at the number of new products, could you kind of just rank order, which do you think are going to be the biggest contributors to growth in the second half in the MSS segment?

Okay. Very good, Quinn. Thank you. So the initial business ramp right now study with first-generation product we taped out in 2002, that's the app service market. And then we announced the win with our second generation product with one of the key Chinese phone maker that expect to go to revenue in second half. And today we taped out and it's going to sample the third generation product. And that one will also go into production towards the fall or end of the year. And then we will have another product that will hit the market that takes out and sample this in the next quarter. So, in terms of the volume products, it's going to be the second generation product that we talked about that we want that will go production in second half. And then the trip that we will sample this quarter in the second quarter that will be aligned with the fall model. Those two will be the high-volume model. Additionally, we also said we sample QHD plus high-end model, and that will also drive a decent revenue starting end of the year. And then there's a smartwatch that we tape that will sample. So those are the products that will drive the revenue. And I think the high-end and the second generation and the first, third generation, you know, have a good potential towards the end of the year.

Okay. So it sounds like, to summarize, that the second generation products where you already have a win with the China smartphone maker going to production in the second half and then the third generation product, which you expect to start to ramp perhaps a little bit later in the fall. But before you're on, those are the two sort of highest volume runners as you see it today.

Yeah, and then I would say because the QHD is a high end, even the volume may be a little lower, but the higher ASP, so that we sample, that will also hit towards the end of the year. That will have probably decent revenue as well.

Got it. Okay, perfect. And then just kind of looking at the PAS segment, you commented that you're starting to see some signs of inventory clearance, kind of wondering how much longer do you think inventory is going to be a headwind? Do you think it's sort of continues into the second half of the calendar year? Do you think we'll be mostly through it by the end of the second quarter? Just any update on kind of where you think we are on inventory clearance? And I guess a related question, as you get better line of sight into inventory in a channel, do you have any sense, where do you think consumption is today of your product versus what you're shipping, which I imagine you're still shipping below end consumption? Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Quinn. So, you know, we sell about the, I would say about 80% in Asian region and then 20% in the Europe and U.S. And for the industrial market and automotive tend to be very big portion for other power makers. They tend to be maybe 78%. But for us, industrial automotive is like And so for us, the consumer communication and computing already went through the inventory correction a year and a half. So in the first quarter, our industry segment actually grew over the fourth quarter. And even this quarter, we expect the industry to grow. On the consumer, we grew in Q1. And then we expect flattish in computing. We grew and expect flattish in Q2. Communication was slightly down in Q1, but we expect strong growth in Q2. So, you know, for us, the inventory correction in industrial segment for us seems to have gone away, so already adjusted. And the usually second half, the Q3, Q4, is a strong quarter or season for us, given that we have more consumer communication and computing segment, which tend to be cyclical. So we are guiding up in the Q2, and then we see a strong Q3. So that's how we see based on today's indicators.

Got it. One last quick just clarification. I think you said it was consumer and comms where you had sort of a flatter outlook in the second quarter. Is that just more what you would call seasonality or are there other factors slowing in demand that are leading to a flatter outlook for those two segments?

I think it's also really aligning with some of the consumer or computing communication models. So I think it's, I wouldn't say it's really turned to seasonality, but it's also model alignment and so forth. So, you know, I think it goes up and down for us. So I don't think it's a pure seasonality. The Q2 is a seasonality as overall is better for us. Yeah. Got it. Okay. Thank you.

Yeah. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Andrew Northcutt with Oppenheimer. Your line is open.

Hey, guys. This is Andrew from Martin. Thanks for taking the question. You touched upon it a little bit, but can you talk a little bit about how much exposure the PAS segment has to the consumer home appliance market? And how do you think China's recently announced home appliance trade and subsidy will impact the business?

Thank you. Could you repeat the subsidy on consumer appliance by whom? China?

Yes, by China.

Okay. So, you know, mostly the consumer, you know, is mostly in Korea at the moment. We do some in consumer in China. We do more of the industry like e-bikes and communications and cell phone in China. But I think that will also, if they are doing that, I think that will also help us out because China definitely is about 45%, 40 to 45% of revenue for us in PAS. Yes.

Perfect, thank you.

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Suji De Silva with Roth MKM.

Hi, YJ. Hi, Shen Yong. So, YJ, the China smartphone wins, can you talk about whether those are a premium model or mainstream or across the platform, trying to understand what the initial ramp can look like for those wins?

Yeah, the one that we announced a new win, it's a really high end. It's a QHD+. The QHD+, as you know, is higher than the WXGA, which is a resolution of iPhone. So it's higher than that. So we see that segment growing starting this year. So we are preparing more solution around there. And this is the first one that we are going there with a new model and that's for the top three Chinese smartphone maker.

Okay.

Okay. And then you talked about in the power segment, you talked about server opportunity. Can you talk about whether that's early or that's starting to ramp and what the kind of opportunity is, whether it's AI type servers or just some color there as to what the opportunities that seems like it's newer to you and the competitive landscape there perhaps would be interesting to know as well.

Yeah. Yeah, so we are starting the server powers. So we got qualified and start shipping. And we do hear that the AI portion of servers are the fastest growing within the server segment. So we look forward to see whether we get more subsequent design in the AI servers in the future. But it's for the server power supply.

One last quick question. The formation of the MTC, the China organization, their entity, just wondering what the implications of that are from MX perspective and sort of running the business and thoughts is what that maybe allows you to do that you maybe couldn't in the past. Any thoughts?

Yes, the creation of MPC is to address the Chinese customer well with a local presence. I think given the sensitivity there politically, I think it's good to have a local company focused on Chinese suppliers and then have an independent operation. to service and support and grow opportunity with independent operation. So that's the idea, and that's been very welcomed by the Chinese customers.

Okay.

All right. Thanks, Wajid.

Thank you. And I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Stephen for any closing remarks.

Great. Thank you. This concludes our Q1 earnings conference call. Please look for details of our future events on Magnet's investor relation website. Thank you and take care.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's presentation. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.