Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Stefan Murry: Sure. So I think in 100 gig, we’re taking market share. I think there’s been some increase in purchasing with maybe a couple of customers, but I think we’re gaining market share there. We’ve talked about some of the dynamics, for example, that being a U.S.-based manufacturer gives us some advantages there in terms of being able to attract, I would say, more interest maybe than in the past relative to some of our competition in China. And that’s helpful for us in gaining this market share. As far as how that plays out in the future, I mean — I think, look, what we saw at 40 gig is that the older technology has a very long tail. I mean it’s — it lasts a long time, and that’s what I expect with 100 gig as well. I mean, I think that eventually, 100-gig will decline as 400-gig begins to grow but I don’t think it’s going to be dramatic.

I mean, I kind of feel like we tell the same story every time there’s a technology transition, right? Wall Street tends to think, well, one technology comes on and the other one goes away immediately. And we always try to caution that, no, that’s not what happens, right? It’s a gradual shift. The new technology tends to come on relatively quickly, but the old one tends to last a long time because there’s already a number of switches, for example, that are out there that haven’t been fully populated yet. They’re going to fill out those ports and those switches. And that portends a long period of, I would say, relatively flattish maybe down slightly, but relatively flattish demand. So I would caution not to remove 100 gig from the picture as quickly as you might be tempted to.

Dave Kang: Got it. And just wanted to clarify, did you say that for — regarding fourth quarter, expect similar revenue mix with third quarter? Did I hear that right?

Stefan Murry: We’re just saying that the datacenter portion of it will be consistent with Q3, right?

Thompson Lin: No, but yes, we’re going to see some growth, but the mix will be different because we’re going to see much more 400 gig than 100 gig.

Dave Kang: Okay, okay. Actually, yes, that’s what I was after.

Thompson Lin: The financial are not the same. It’s the 400 gig we call up, but 400 gig we call down.

Dave Kang: Got it. And my last question is regarding the termination, the fee of $3 million, who is responsible for that?

Stefan Murry: We believe that Yuhan is responsible for the breakup fee. We’re pursuing them for the payment of that.

Dave Kang: Okay, got it. Thank you.

Operator: Next, we have a follow-up question from Jeff Coach [Ph] with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Unidentified Analyst: Yes. Just really quickly, I just want to talk about your thoughts on datacenter going into March. Is it ridiculous to think that you could be up sequentially, again, I know historically, that’s not the strongest seasonally?

Stefan Murry: I mean I think it’s not ridiculous to think because, again, the 400-gig business that we’re talking about, the new programs with Microsoft will be ramping during the quarter. So you’re correct historically that ordinarily Q1 is sort of a challenging quarter, just seasonally. A large part of that is because historically, most of our datacenter products have been made in China, and we do have Chinese New Year, both in China and Taiwan. In this case, we’re producing more of these products in Taiwan and even in the U.S. And so the impact of Lunar New Year should be less for us. That in combination with the fact that the 400-gig will be ramping in terms of production capacity paints a pretty good picture in the March quarter for us, I think.

Unidentified Analyst: Great. Thank you so much.

Operator: At this time, we have no further questions. And I will turn the call over to Dr. Thompson Lin, AOI’s Founder, Chairman and CEO, for closing remarks.

Thompson Lin: Okay, thank you for joining us today. As always, what we want to extend a thank you to our investors, customers and employees. We will continue to support. We look forward to updating you on our next earnings call.

Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.

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