Qorvo - Q1 2024

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Greetings, welcome to Qorvo Inc. Q1 2024 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Doug DeLieto, Vice President, Investor Relations. Thank you, Mr. DeLieto. You may begin.

Doug DeLieto (VP of Investor Relations)

Thanks very much. Hello, everybody, and welcome to Qorvo's fiscal 2024 first quarter earnings conference call. This call will include forward-looking statements that involve risk factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from management's current expectations. We encourage you to review the safe harbor statement contained in the earnings release published today, as well as the risk factors associated with our business in our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC, because these risk factors may affect our operations and financial results. In today's release and on today's call, we provide both GAAP and non-GAAP financial results. We provide this supplemental information to enable investors to perform additional comparisons of operating results and to analyze financial performance without the impact of certain non-cash expenses or other items that may obscure trends in our underlying performance.

During our call, our comments and comparisons to income statement items will be based primarily on non-GAAP results. For a complete reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures, please refer to our earnings release issued earlier, earlier today, available on our investor relations website at ir.qorvo.com under Financial Releases. Joining us today are Rob Bruggeworth, President and CEO, Grant Brown, CFO, Dave Fullwood, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and other members of Qorvo's management team. With that, I'll turn the call over to Rob.

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

Thanks, Doug, and welcome everyone to Qorvo's fiscal 2024 first quarter call. Revenue, margin, and EPS were all above the midpoint of the outlook we provided on our May 3rd earnings call. End market demand in the June quarter was consistent with our expectations. Within the Android ecosystem, channel inventories continued to be consumed, and Qorvo continued to undership to end-market demand. We expect continued reduction in channel inventories in the September quarter, and we see Android channel inventories normalizing by calendar year-end. In other markets, relative strength in the areas like defense and aerospace and automotive was offset by inventory consumption across consumer markets and weak demand in 5G infrastructure. In some of these markets, we expect inventory consumption to extend into next year.

Qorvo has worked diligently since last fall to aggressively drive down channel inventories in multiple markets, while at the same time prioritizing new product development and securing customer designs. This has enabled us to drive growth in large customer programs, and it positions Qorvo for incremental growth as end markets recover. As we have stated in the past, Qorvo's growth targets by segment are for strong double-digit growth in Connectivity and Sensors, double-digit growth in High Performance Analog, and mid to high single-digit growth in Advanced Cellular. Design wins during the quarter in HPA were diversified across customers, end markets, and included large defense programs extending multiple years. In Connectivity and Sensors, design activities span a variety of applications, including highly integrated IoT connectivity solutions, Wi-Fi 7 RF front ends, and force-sensing touch sensors.

We have a broad range of growth drivers in CSG, and we are pleased with our increasing design activity in new growth areas like sensors and ultra-wideband. Over time, we see HPA and CSG contributing increasingly to growth, diversification, and margin expansion. In Advanced Cellular, design activity continued to be favorable across all leading smartphone OEMs. We are growing our content in next-generation 5G smartphones at our largest customers, and we are capturing new content in the Android ecosystem as 4G units transition to 5G and enter our SAM. In calendar 2023, approximately 45% of Android smartphones will be 5G, and we expect Android 5G smartphone unit growth to post double-digit CAGR for several years. Now, let's turn to some quarterly highlights.

In automotive applications, Qorvo was selected by an automotive Tier 1 to supply ultra-wideband connectivity for an upcoming EV launch by a US-based manufacturer. We are pleased with this win and the growing content opportunity in automotive, where the ultra-wideband content inside the car will typically include 5-7 placements, plus one placement in each key fob. We also secured touch sensor design wins, enabling force-level detection in a range of smart interior applications, including center console, door panel, steering wheel, and display. These are multiple design wins totaling $multiple millions of dollars. In automotive connectivity, we were selected by a leading automotive antenna supplier to provide cellular V2X front-end modules and BAW coexistence filters for use by a major European-based OEM. Lastly, we expanded our automotive footprint with an automotive radar design win to supply a receive amplifier for a major US-based automotive OEM.

Qorvo's automotive opportunities include DC-to-DC converters, onboard chargers, smart interiors, RF front ends for 5G, Wi-Fi and V2X connectivity, radars, and ultra-wideband secure car access for key fobs and inside cars. In Wi-Fi, we secured several Wi-Fi 7 design wins with access point providers for our Wi-Fi 7 BAW filters, enabling full coverage of 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz bands. We also began sampling Tier 1 customers for our next generation Wi-Fi 7 FEMs, which pair with multiple chipsets. In our Connectivity Systems business, we were among the first to achieve Matter 1.1 certification for our ConcurrentConnect integrated solutions for gateways and devices. This expands our market opportunity in support of the top smart home ecosystem customers, whose installed base exceeds 150 million home networks.

In silicon carbide, we booked a multimillion-dollar customer order for silicon carbide power devices supporting AI servers and other data center applications. Design win funnel for Qorvo silicon carbide power devices is increasing, and we continue to expand our supply base to support our customers. In addition to the previously announced supply agreement with SK Siltron, we also have agreements in place with Wolfspeed and Coherent. For broadband applications, we extended our leadership in DOCSIS 4.0, with customer sampling of our 1.8 GHz hybrid power doubler. This solution delivers more RF power with lower power consumption than competing solid-state solutions. In cellular infrastructure, we released the highly integrated 3.4 to 3.8 GHz, 8 W PAM that simplifies 5G massive MIMO system design. We also began sampling the industry's first C-band discrete BAW band pass filter for 5G small cell radios.

For defense communications, we began sampling the industry's first 2-18 GHz transmit/receive front-end module, delivering 10 watts of transmit power. This highly integrated wideband solution integrates the PA, switch, LNA, and limiter. It leverages Qorvo's advanced packaging and process technologies to maximize power efficiency in a miniaturized footprint. The form factor and functional density of our solution is especially critical, given the trend in our defense and aerospace business of one to many. In addition to manned aircraft, there will be many more drones. In addition to large GEO satellites, there will be many more LEO satellites. These future communication systems and system upgrades incorporate more electronics, requiring greater integration across higher volumes. For smartphone OEMs, we began sampling Android smartphone customers, Qorvo's newest highly integrated PAD, which combines in a single placement, the low, mid, and high-band main path functionality that is currently offered in 2 placements.

This new architecture reduces surface area by 40% to meaningfully simplify design and decrease time to market for mass-tier 5G phones. This follows on the heels of our announcement last quarter that we've begun sampling a mid/high-band PAD that combines the main path and diversity receive content for the mid and high bands. Both placements leverage a broad range of Qorvo process technologies, including our newest BAW and SAW filters. Lastly, we commenced customer sampling of our next-generation antenna tuners, which deliver best-in-class linearity, the industry's smallest solution size, and compatible with all major chipsets. I want to thank the Qorvo team for continued operational excellence. We have made significant progress clearing channel inventories while developing new technologies and securing new design wins that enhance our customers' products and expand our addressable market. In the September quarter, our outlook primarily reflects new products ramping at our largest customer.

Later in the year, we expect Android revenues to reflect a healthier channel and Qorvo shipments that are more closely aligned with end market demand. We are very encouraged by customer design activity we've seen so far this year. We expect revenue growth and margin expansion as product mix favors our high-growth investment businesses, and we are positioned for incremental growth as end markets recover. With that, I'll hand the call off to Grant.

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Thanks, Rob, good afternoon, everyone. Revenue for the quarter was $651 million. non-GAAP gross margin was 42.9%, non-GAAP EPS was $0.34. Relative to our expectations as provided on our May earnings call, results exceeded the midpoint of guidance despite the macro environment and channel inventory reduction efforts. Consistent with our guidance, factory production levels improved modestly but remained low, which created an underutilization impact during the quarter of approximately 800 basis points. The sequential improvement in gross margin and upside to the midpoint of our guidance was due to higher production levels and product mix. non-GAAP operating expenses in the quarter were $233 million, approximately in line with our expectations.

We continue to invest in new product development that targets multi-year growth opportunities across all three segments, as well as in the teams that directly support our customers. In total, non-GAAP operating income in the quarter was $47 million or 7% of sales, which increased modestly relative to last quarter. Breaking out operating margin by each segment, ACG was 11%, HPA was 17%, and CSG was negative 20%. During the quarter, Qorvo Biotechnologies reduced CSG operating income by approximately $2 million. As a reminder, we are currently in the process of seeking strategic alternatives for this business. Non-GAAP net income was $34 million, representing diluted earnings per share of $0.34. Moving on to the cash flow statement. Free cash flow was $5 million, and capital expenditures were $39 million.

During the quarter, we repurchased $100 million worth of shares at an average price of $96.81. The rate and pace of our repurchases is based on our long-term outlook, free cash flow, low leverage, alternative uses of cash, and other factors. Turning to the balance sheet. As of quarter end, we had approximately $2 billion of debt outstanding, with no near-term maturities, and $744 million of cash and equivalents. Cash benefited from the sale of our Farmers Branch campus, which was completed during the quarter. Consistent with our expectations and commentary from our prior earnings call, our net inventory balance ended the quarter was up $121 million-$917 million, driven by the seasonal ramp at our largest customer.

Turning to our current quarter outlook, we expect quarterly revenue of approximately $1 billion ±$15 million. Non-GAAP gross margin between 45% and 46%, and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of approximately $1.75 at the midpoint of the revenue range. Our outlook contemplates the current demand environment, further consumption of channel inventory, and seasonal factors. Our non-GAAP guidance for fiscal Q2 excludes any costs related to the divestiture of the biotech business, but includes ongoing operating expenses until it is divested. We project non-GAAP operating expenses in the September quarter will be approximately $240 million. In addition to growth-oriented investments across our product and technology portfolios, we are also targeting enterprise-wide productivity initiatives. We are simplifying and rationalizing processes and upgrading the core systems we use to run the business.

We will present these productivity investments as non-GAAP, other operating expenses. These multi-year efforts will support future growth and enhance profitability as we upgrade, modernize, and standardize around the latest tools and best practices. Below the operating income line, non-operating expense is expected to be approximately $10 million, reflecting the interest paid on our fixed rate debt, offset by interest income earned on our cash balances, FX gains or losses, along with other items. Our non-GAAP tax rate for fiscal 2024 is expected to be within a range of 13%-15%. We expect our inventory balance will decrease in the September quarter as we support a seasonal ramp at our largest customer. In terms of channel inventory, the environment continues to improve. Inventories of our components in the Android channel will reduce during the June quarter by approximately 20%.

This follows greater than 20% reductions in the prior two quarters. We anticipate channel inventories will continue to decline this quarter. Later this calendar year, we expect Android channel inventories will normalize. Outside of the Android ecosystem, there are smaller pockets of channel inventory that will take longer to digest. For the full year, there is no change to the full fiscal 2024 commentary provided last quarter. To reiterate, we forecast fiscal 2024 revenue will be above fiscal 2023 and expect to benefit from strong dollar content growth at our largest customer. For the full year, fiscal 2024 non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be approximately 44%, with variability on a quarterly basis, primarily tracking utilization and mix. During the second half of the fiscal year, we expect sequential declines in gross margin during Q3 and again in Q4, primarily related to utilization and mix.

Non-GAAP operating expenses for Q3 and Q4 are expected to be approximately $240 million-$245 million per quarter, with variability related to the timing of product development spend, investments in core systems and related productivity initiatives, incentive compensation based on our expectations for improved financial performance, the timing of the biotechnology business disposition, as well as other items. Qorvo enjoys multi-year growth drivers across our three segments. We are leveraging a broad portfolio of technologies and capabilities to grow content this year on large customer programs.... We are uniquely positioned across leading customers in large markets. We're investing to drive outsized growth in diverse businesses, to broaden our market exposure and accelerate growth. At this time, please open the line for questions. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove yourself from the question queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. As a reminder, please restrict yourself to one question and one follow-up. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. The first question comes from the line of Karl Ackerman with BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Karl Ackerman (Managing Director of Semiconductors and Networking Hardware Equity Research)

Yes, thank you. 2 questions if I may, gentlemen. First, could you comment on your ability to secure gallium and germanium substrates for your products? I guess, what are your thoughts on the ability to pass along higher substrate costs if that were to occur going forward?

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Sure. Thanks for the question, Karl. This is Grant. We, we currently do not believe the export ban will have a meaningful near-term impact. It took effect yesterday, as you know, but it was communicated well in advance, and I credit our ops and sales team for acting quickly to assess the supply needs and communicate with customers and suppliers, and ultimately for increasing our raw material coverage with our direct suppliers wherever needed. We have not observed any notable changes in our customers' behavior or supplier lead times. We remain in close contact with our suppliers, and they have assured us of their ability to support our demands down to individual purchase orders, on committed delivery dates. In terms of pricing, we, again, haven't seen anything abnormal there, as of today.

Karl Ackerman (Managing Director of Semiconductors and Networking Hardware Equity Research)

Very helpful. I guess if I could just maybe zoom out for a second. You know, I was hoping you could discuss the timing of the automotive design wins you've mentioned in your prepared remarks across many applications, really, silicon carbide, ultra-wideband, force sensing. My understanding was that automotive represented kind of a mid-single-digit portion of your sales. I could be wrong, but that clearly appears to be expanding. Could you comment on whether maybe your automotive business doubles for you by 2025? Thanks.

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

Thanks, Karl. This is Rob. Appreciate the question. As you well know, the nice thing about automotive is when you win, you get great visibility for multiple years, unlike the smartphone industry, where, you know, today we get a little bit of visibility, but you have to then earn it the following models, where in automotive, as you pointed out, you go out several years. We've got great visibility. At this time, we're not sizing it, but I think based on the volume of opportunities that we shared in my prepared remarks, plus in the press release, it is our expectations, as you pointed out, as we move out into calendar year 2025 and 2026, it will become a much more meaningful part of our business. As you pointed out, we're already participating in some of the automotive applications today.

I will comment, the electric vehicle manufacturers do seem to move a little bit faster than the traditional gas engine manufacturers. We do look forward to continuing to report our progress.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Ruben Roy with Stifel Nicolaus. Please go ahead.

Ruben Roy (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you. Rob, if I can follow up, right where you left off on auto. Can you talk about or characterize the types of automobiles where you're winning? Is it sort of flagship versions, or flagship autos or, mid-tier, high-end, or across the board? At this point, is there a way to think about content per auto in dollars?

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

Sure, thanks. I'm gonna have Dave get into some of the details on that, Ruben.

Dave Fullwood (Senior VP of Sales and Marketing)

Yeah, so you can imagine some of these products that we're talking about, they're gonna start in the higher tier of, you know, of the auto from, you know, ultra-wideband or, you know, the sensors that are going into the cockpit. You know, electric vehicles certainly are a focus there, but even some of the higher-end, gas-powered vehicles. Over time, we expect that to go down market. On some of the connectivity side, though, that can go more broadly across the portfolio in the OEMs, because there you're talking about connectivity within the vehicle, connectivity from, you know, vehicle to outside of the vehicle. Some of those are more, you know, driven by the governments, and those requirements are gonna be, you know, across all vehicles, regardless of the tier where that model sits.

Ruben Roy (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. Thank you. As a follow-up, Grant, I caught the operating margin numbers you gave for the segments. I don't know if I missed this, but I don't have it. Can you give us the dollars or, or, or kind of the performance for the segments in the June quarter? Then, you know, obviously, you've got strong content gains at the largest customer driving the September, you know, revenue expectation. If you can give us any granularity in how you're thinking about the other segments as you proceed, any changes to how you're thinking about those segments through the rest of the year? Thanks.

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Sure, Ruben. Revenue by segment was $412 million for ACG, $140 million for HPA, and $99 million for CSG. In ACG, our fiscal Q1 is the lowest seasonal point for those largest customers. Despite that, the top line for ACG was approximately flat or down about 1% or so. Both HPA and CSG saw sequential growth in the quarter, up 5% and 21% sequentially. As I commented in the prepared remarks, operating income was 11% for ACG, 17% for HPA, and -20% for CSG, which was a notable sequential improvement for CSG. We don't guide by segment, looking out into September, the primary driver is the content gains at our largest customer within ACG. Revenue is not supported by existing inventory.

It's built and shipped in line with the seasonal ramp, so it's not burdened with those higher costs of some of the Android inventory, for example. That benefits gross margin and, and has been factored into our, into our guidance.

Ruben Roy (Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst)

Appreciate it.

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Operator?

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

Operator, next question, please.

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Operator, are you there?

Operator (participant)

This is the operator. Should I... Is the question over?

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

Yes, please. Next question, please.

Operator (participant)

Just a moment. Our next question comes from the line of Gary Mobley with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Gary Mobley (Senior Analyst)

Hey, guys. I wasn't sure if I was getting my question in. Good afternoon. I was observing that your first half of fiscal year 2024 appears to be running about 3% above your, your May commentary or about $50 million. What's driving that minor variance? Is there anything to call out that, that may be offsetting that?

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Sure. Thanks, Gary. Good to get the question. I think it's fair to say that the quarter played out better than we had forecast when we provided our May guidance. You know, if you, if you look into that revenue, it was strength in the areas that we had, that we had talked about. At our largest customer, and then, you know, within having cleared some of the channel inventory, we're, you know, still benefiting to a, a modest degree there. Generally speaking, the quarter played out better.

You know, in terms of the drivers on, on maybe the EPS beat to go a little further than just revenue, you know, that was primarily gross margin improvement, which was partially driven by the revenue upside, but was also a factor there of lower factory variances, including utilization, better utilization and continuing cost reduction efforts. Those were partially offset by some inventory-related charges and typical price erosion along with inflation. You know, generally speaking, the quarter was better than we had forecasted in May.

Gary Mobley (Senior Analyst)

Got it. Thanks, Grant. You're guiding the September quarter revenue at about $1 billion, which takes us back to a similar level to the June quarter of fiscal year 2023, when gross margins were 450 basis points higher. I, I presume the difference today is that, you know, you just have too much inventory and you just can't fully utilize the manufacturing operations. My question is, under what circumstances, you know, can we see a return to that 50% gross margin?

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Sure. We still have visibility to 50%. As I pointed out on the call, we have about 800 basis point headwind from utilization in the prior quarter. You know, looking forward, we still have those same issues from a utilization perspective, as you pointed out on inventory. I think as we clear the channel inventory across Android, and utilization returns to a level in which we're shipping to end market demand, we should have a clear path back towards the 50% gross margins we've enjoyed in the past. You know, those are really twofold.

There's the inventory we have on hand, which is already burdened with the cost, of, of that, underutilization in the past, and then there's the forward-looking utilization, within the current quarter as we meet future demand or build product for future demand. Both of those can, can weigh on, on the quarter and are in that 800 basis points that I quoted. The underutilization in the current period can, if it's extreme, can hit as period charges, and we've experienced some of those as well. It's really as we resynchronize our factories to end market demand, we should have a clear path back.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Srinivas Pajjuri with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Srinivas Pajjuri (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

... Thank you. Rob, on the Android inventory, you seem pretty optimistic that, you know, it's going to normalize by end of the calendar year. I, I guess, as we look out to the March quarter and, and next calendar year, what's the, I guess, you know, strategy for, you know, I guess, whether you call it refilling the channel or, or maybe, you know, just trying to think about how, how, you know, the seasonality might get impacted once the inventory normalizes.

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

Thanks, Srini, for your question. Yeah, we are, we are getting pretty comfortable with, you know, the progress we're making, and as, as both Grant and I have commented, the team's done a great job of, you know, managing the inventory down, working with our customers, working with some of our distributors to do that. Our expectations are now we should be able to, by the end of the calendar year, things will normalize. Obviously, as that happens, we're not expecting end demand to change at all from where we are. In fact, as we sit here today reporting the most recent quarter, and we were a quarter ago, our numbers for units of Android phone-- smartphones has not changed. We think things are stabilizing some. Yes, the market's been down here, a little bit up there, but overall.

As we look out into 2024, calendar 2024, fiscal 2025 for us, you know, we're not ready to make any calls on what's going to happen with the macroeconomy and things like that. Clearly, as we've come down to normalized inventories, you know, that headwind turns into a tailwind, so we'll watch how that plays out.

Srinivas Pajjuri (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Yeah, that's great. Then maybe one for Grant. Grant, you know, you kind of highlighted underutilization as one of the issues with the gross margin, but I guess the other issue is the high cost inventory. I guess, at what point, you know, that, you know, stops to become a headwind, you know, to your gross margin and maybe potentially a tailwind?

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Sure. We haven't commented beyond fiscal 2024, I won't do that here. In our guidance, you know, with a sequential drop in Q3, you start to see some improvement there, and then in Q4, again, you start to see even more improvement as we sell through some of the channel inventory. Now, gross margin will be sequentially down in the sense that we're selling through some of that inventory, but, you know, we do expect to resynchronize utilization towards the end of our fiscal year and into fiscal 2025, but we haven't commented specifically beyond that.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Vivek Arya with Bank of America Securities. Please go ahead.

Vivek Arya (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you for taking my question. Rob, you are sounding more confident about the top line growth, but since the last time Qorvo reported, there has been kind of this pronounced slowdown in China. Even if the Android, you know, customer inventory might be getting cleaned up, your large customer still has China as an important end market. I'm curious that, you know, in the last call, you suggested that December sales could be flattish, right, and March would be down, just kind of seasonal. Is that still the right way to think about December and March, or do you think we should be reflecting any macro effects that we are seeing by way of sell-through and just consumer demand?

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Thanks, Vivek. This is Grant. Let me take that one. You know, beyond the specific September quarter guidance that we just provided, there's no change to the fiscal 2024 commentary that we provided last quarter. As Rob pointed out, our expectations for sell-through and in the channel remain the same. Absent any macro-related disruptions, which we're not predicting, we do forecast and continue to think fiscal 2024 revenue will be above fiscal 2023, as you mentioned, and we're benefiting from some strong dollar content growth at our largest customer, and then later in the year, we'll benefit from the actions we've taken in connection with our customers to clear that channel inventory.

To be clear, we are calling for very modest growth on the year, which is consistent. In fact, our forecast does not anticipate a significant rebound in Android units. It's a Qorvo specific situation as we process through the channel inventory and then return to shipping to end market demand. Beyond revenue, just for the year, there's also no change to our fiscal 2024 non-GAAP gross margin. Still expect it to be approximately 24% ±, with some variability on a quarterly basis, tracking, utilization, and mix, which I've already talked about. This is important to understand. Mix will shift seasonally, over fiscal Q3, and even more so in fiscal toward Q4, towards higher cost inventories.

Utilization is also important, as I pointed out, because it supports that incremental forward-looking demand, but also because severe underutilization can lead to period costs, as I mentioned earlier. You know, we've, we've been very transparent there and continue to expect those sequential declines in gross margin, and that's factored into our 44% guide. I covered OpEx a bit in my prepared remarks, but it's important to know that we are investing for the future. We're investing in large customer programs where we have the technologies to win. We're investing in diversifying businesses like silicon carbide, UWB, Matter, SOCs, and power management. Finally, we're investing in ourselves by upgrading our core systems and numerous productivity initiatives. On the whole, there's no change to our fiscal 2024 guidance, and our view of the market remains the same.

Vivek Arya (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Thanks, Grant. Very helpful. Then on gross margins, apologize if you had answered this before, but again, from the last call, I think you had mentioned December could be down 100-150 basis points, and then March would be down another 200-300 basis points as you work through some of the higher-priced component inventory. What would make that, you know, component inventory cost go down, right? I, I imagine there's been more inflation over time. I guess this is a, this is a long-winded way of asking that as we start the next fiscal year, what is the right baseline of gross margins we should think about? Is it that 43%-44% level as you're exiting March? Is it the average level that you have in this fiscal year?

What, what is the right way to just think about the, the baseline level of gross margin as you enter the next fiscal year?

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Sure, I might think about it two different ways. I wouldn't characterize Q1 of fiscal 2025 as baseline revenue. I think it's appropriate to build off of what you are modeling in Q4 of fiscal 2024. We haven't provided explicit, explicit guidance to that.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Tim Arcuri with UBS. Please go ahead.

Timothy Arcuri (Managing Director and Head of U.S. Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment Equity Research)

Hi, yeah, this is Aman, calling in for Tim. I just one question from me. Just wanted to ask about the used phone market for iPhone as potentially changing the trajectory of the recovery on the Android side. Because I know that, you know, the iPhone market, the used phone market is growing substantially. I just wanted to try to get a sense for if that sort of, like a headwind to the recovery on the Android side?

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

The iPhone refurbished market has been around for quite a long time. At least when we model that, coupled with everything else that we do in our normal research for phone usage, different segments, all those things that we feed into our model, we've taken all that into account for all the comments that we've made this evening, last quarter, the quarter before that, and the quarter before that. It's all in our calculus already.

Timothy Arcuri (Managing Director and Head of U.S. Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment Equity Research)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Matt Ramsay with TD Cowen and Company. Please go ahead.

Matthew Ramsay (Corporate VP of Financial Strategy and Investor Relations)

Thank you, guys. Good afternoon. There's a couple of calls going on at the same time, so I apologize if I missed a little bit of this. Guys, I, I heard all the comments going into the back half of the year regarding inventory in the handset market and also, your sales potentially getting better with, with the large customer. I wanted to ask, the Qualcomm guys mentioned tonight not having a license to ship into Huawei for 5G, and there's some pretty well-documented reports about HiSilicon doing a modem with SMIC for some of those phones, and it's uncertain about volumes. Could you guys tell us if you would be allowed to participate in those handset builds and if you have the sort of export license to do so? Thanks.

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

Matt, thanks for the question. I don't believe there's any company in the U.S. that has a license to ship to Huawei for a 5G phone. They've become a very small customer of ours, so there's no real impact from that perspective. As you pointed out, we'll see if they're successful or not, won't impact our business at this time.

Matthew Ramsay (Corporate VP of Financial Strategy and Investor Relations)

Got it. No, that was my assumption, but I, I had a few people ask me to clarify that. I guess as, as my follow-up, you guys have spent a lot of time talking about diversification of the company outside of the wireless market, and it's not lost on us through the press release and some of your communications, that the first bunch of bullets was about things in the automotive market and in defense and aerospace, and a bunch of markets, silicon carbide, a bunch of things outside of the handset market. There's also been some pretty dynamic macroeconomic conditions in all of those markets as well, like, nothing's really immune from the macro.

Maybe you guys could give us a little bit of an update outside of the handset market, how inventory for the company is overall at customers in the channel. It's well documented what the inventory headwinds are to gross margin and the recovery in your handset business, and we all follow that closely. Are there any things that we should know about outside of the handset market from an inventory perspective, or do you feel like things are relatively clean there? Thank you.

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Sure. This is Grant. Let me take, maybe the two-part question, and then I'll ask Dave to step in if I missed anything. The question about the growth drivers, if you look at or think about the phases of growth that we're looking at right now, you know, you could, as we've commented on, return to shipping and to end-market demand is relatively near term. Beyond that, you know, we're continuing to work with our customers and believe that, you know, we'll benefit as the volume levels return. So, you know, beyond just shipping to end-market demand, we should see some growth and return to normalcy over the coming years. And then, maybe beyond that, even into the longer term, we should see the benefits from the investments we're making.

You know, that would be sort of beyond 5G. Then you're looking into the migration to DOCSIS 4.0 within HPA, the one to many phenomenon Rob commented on. Defense and aerospace will continue. Within CSG, there's the move to Wi-Fi 7, among many other things that we're, we're investing in and expect to see growth there. In the near term on inventory, to that piece of the question, we are seeing pockets, which we've talked about before, in, in base station and, and partially in Wi-Fi and some consumer areas, which will take longer for us to work through versus Android. Dave, I don't know if you have anything further.

Dave Fullwood (Senior VP of Sales and Marketing)

Yeah. No, I think you hit it right, Grant. The, you know, the inventories in the channel for, for most of the components outside of Android will, will probably be on a similar cadence maybe into early next year other than base station. We don't have as good a visibility into our customers' end markets and how much inventory may be there that they need to work for. That's probably a little bit of uncertainty for us.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Christopher Rolland with Susquehanna. Please go ahead.

Christopher Rolland (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Hey, guys. Congrats on the great guidance. Sorry if these were answered, but December, did you still expect that to be flat revenues, flattish from September? Any other thoughts on seasonality moving forward? Grant, I know you expect revenue to grow fiscal year-on-year. Any chance that EPS could grow as well, or is that a little too far of a long shot?

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Sure. Thanks, Chris. I'm glad you asked the question actually on December. When we made the comment to a flattish December, it was on our previously anchored to our last quarter guidance. I would expect that, you know, right now, given that we're not anticipating significant growth in fiscal 2024, that, you know, I would, I would couch that with the comments we made last quarter. It could end up being slightly down to flattish. Then, of course, some seasonal decline in March, potentially less than normal as we clear the channel. That question hadn't been asked. I'm glad you went there. In terms of EPS, you know, I've given a majority of the P&L, but haven't commented specifically on annual EPS relative to fiscal 2023.

Christopher Rolland (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Hmm. Then I thought it was interesting you mentioned silicon carbide. I believe it was for AI servers, if I got that right. Is that like DC to DC or into power supplies or any other detail there would be great, if I got that right?

Grant Brown (Senior VP and CFO)

Yeah. Yeah, you got that right. It's, it's for power supplies into, into servers. You know, of course, AI and, and any, any type of application like that is gonna drive demand there, so that's good for us. Yeah, that's, that's a, a strong market for us as we, we grow our silicon carbide business.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Edward Snyder with Charter Equity Research. Please go ahead.

Edward Snyder (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Thanks, Agah. Thanks a lot. Based on everything you've said here, and you're a bit stronger than expected guidance in September, and everything you've said about Android, you're not expecting a rebound, et cetera, that suggests that the extra strength is coming from your content gains in your largest customer, and doesn't that imply, given your share and all that, that you're going to see, well, year-over-year in content, it's gonna have to be up much more significantly than 40%, overall? Have I got that math right?

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

Thanks, Ed. I think you're consistent with what we've been saying. We're gonna have significant content gain in our largest customer, as I've said in other public forums, that's primarily in products that we already participated in, where we've been able to grow our share, as well as they're adding content.

Edward Snyder (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Right. That was my second question, because you have been clear that the content gains are, are kind of a mix of both, share gains and new content. Does that mean that we'll see you in sections of the RFFE that we haven't seen you in the past, when you talk about new content? Or is it just additions to areas you've, you've been very strong in previously? How sticky do you feel those share gains will be over the next year or so, especially the ones that you're, you're taking from other folks, just curious?

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

Yeah. Thanks, Ed. What I've said publicly is, you know, in which I know it's hard for many of you to find in the antenna tuner space, along with some of the other small components that are in there that, you know, quite honestly, a lot of you missed. They're not on the motherboard. They're in various other flex circuits and things like that. It's, Ed, gaining there and, you know, in the ultra-high band, we've talked, you know, it's a PA and BAW filter, and we've been in it for about 3 years. That, that's the area, so it's really in those 2 areas primarily.

Edward Snyder (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Those areas that you guys have actually been quite strong in, they're expanding, given all the new connectivity going on here, makes sense. We've highlighted every 10 tuners. I think, I think you're up to, like, 12 to 15 in the last model, plus a couple of impedance tuners, too. That's generally what we're talking about in, in most of the gains?

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

Your number is not mine. I'm, I'm not gonna comment on the units, number of units per phone. I will say you're in the right area. And I'd also point out, we've publicly said the last couple quarterly calls as well, that, you know, we still believe there's lots of opportunity for us to grow with that customer as we look forward in the coming years.

Edward Snyder (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Great. Thank you, Rob.

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the floor back over to the management for closing comments.

Robert Bruggeworth (President and CEO)

Well, thank everyone for joining us on today's call. We appreciate your time and look forward to speaking with you at upcoming investor events. Thank you, and hope you have a good night.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.