ON Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:ON) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Thad Trent: Yes, well. I would start out by saying we’re making big investments in silicon carbide and EFK as I’ve mentioned. Now as you think about our capital expansion and expansion in just capacity is to support the LTSAs that we have, right? So this is not a situation where we’re building capacity hoping that we can fill it. So we’re very comfortable that with our margin projections that we can absorb that additional depreciation. I would tell you in general, I wouldn’t call it significant, but what you would see is offsetting revenue and gross margin to offset that depreciation.

Chris Danely: Perfect. Thanks guys.

Operator: Our next question comes from Toshiya Hari with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Toshiya Hari: Hi, good morning. Thanks so much for taking the question. I had a follow-up question on gross margins as well, Thad. Just curious on how we should be thinking about the timing of headwinds from both the silicon carbide ramp and the EFK ramp peaking? Is that sort of a second-half ‘23 dynamic or should we expect the headwinds to stay relatively elevated in the early part of ‘24? And also the benefits from your fab light strategy, I think you’ve sized it at $160 million and reduce costs over time once we expect those benefits to kick in?

Thad Trent: Yes. So the impact of the $160 million, I’ll start there. We expect to get that as we exit those fabs. We think that really starts to kick in in ‘24 and ‘25 it takes at least three years to exit a fab. So I think most of that starts to roll in ‘24 and ‘25. On the headwinds from silicon carbide and EFK, so the EFK has already hit us in Q1. You can think about that as being pretty consistent through the year. We think by early 2024, we can get that back in line and it isn’t the headwind that we that we got surprised with. On silicon carbide, it’s ahead of schedule, which is really great. It’s performing much better than we expected. There is a headwind there, we think it likely peaks, kind of, in that Q3 timeframe.

And then we think by the time we get to ‘24, it’s — those margins are at the corporate average, so that’s behind us as well. EFK will be a little bit of a drag as we’ve talked about previously in ‘24 and ’25, as we continue to do that foundry business for global foundries, but we think we can get the cost structure back in line this year.

Toshiya Hari: That’s helpful. Thank you. And then as my follow-up, one for Hassane, a little longer term. I think at your previous Analyst Day, you had guided revenue growth for the overall company in kind of the 7% to 9% range. I think that was a 2025 model, I think you have pretty good visibility given the LTSA pipeline, is the 7% to 9% range still the right range in your view as you think about the overall company over the several years? Or do you think with silicon carbide and some of the other opportunities that you’ve secured, you could potentially outgrow that? Thank you.

Hassane El-Khoury: Well, I would say, must be present to win. I’ll see you in — at our Analyst Day on May 16 for that one.

Toshiya Hari: Okay, I tried. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Harsh Kumar with Piper. Your line is open.

Harsh Kumar: Yes. Hey, guys. First of all, congratulations on a very successful transition so far, Hassane, Thad and team and then also the near-term results in a choppy environment. So first question I had is we had a peer of yours in another perhaps segment in the auto business that had poor results out of China or at least they blame China, EV slowdown. I was curious, given your position in China, if you could comment on what you’re seeing in the EV market, and then I’ve got a follow-up.

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