Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

It’s just that the IP business related to this, or the IP business in general, is going to grow at a lower rate this year than it was last year. This being said, we will start to see CXL product revenue towards the end of next year.

Mehdi Hosseini: Okay. Thanks for the clarification with that.

Luc Seraphin: Thank you, Mehdi.

Mehdi Hosseini: And the follow-up question for Des is the buffer chip gross margin had a dip. Should I — and I remember for calendar year 2022, you had guided to 60% to 65% gross margin, but you exited the year at 58%. How should we think about progression of buffer chip — of our product buffer chip gross margin throughout this year?

Desmond Lynch: Thanks for your question. As Luc mentioned, our product revenue execution and growth has been exceptional as we continue to grow the business. I think if you look on the full year basis for 2022, our product gross margins were around 61%, which was in line with our long-term target of 60% to 65%. When we look as a company, we manage our gross margins to long term. And depending where we are in the product cycle and what products are shipping, you can see our gross margins moving around quarter-to-quarter. So that is reflected in Q4. Our product gross margins were below this range, which was entirely driven by product mix in the quarter. And we do expect to see a similar product mix in Q1. With improvements in product mix and continued manufacturing cost reductions as we go throughout the year, we do expect product gross margins for 2023 to be within the long-term range of 60% to 65%, Mehdi.

Operator: And the next question comes from Sidney Ho of Deutsche Bank.

Sidney Ho: Just first one is just to follow up with the gross margin question. Just want to make sure I understand the product mix that you’re specifically talking about, is it the mix between DDR4 versus DDR5? Is it — just any color around that will be helpful in terms of when — also try to think about when these headwinds are going to start going the other way.

Desmond Lynch: Thanks for your question. You’re exactly correct on that one. We did see in Q4 a higher mix of our DDR4 revenue from there. And that’s what we expect to see going into sort of Q1. I think what we’ve talked about is that on the product side, we do expect to see softness in the first half of the year, which Luc mentioned in his prepared remarks with the recovery in the second half of the year, mainly driven by the DDR5 sort of revenue from there. And with that, we will see our sort of gross margins improve and come in line with the targeted range of the 60% to 65% that I’ve mentioned.

Sidney Ho: Okay. That’s clear. Maybe a follow-up question is, I think you guys — and in reference to an earlier question, you talked about you expect your product revenue in aggregate for the full year to grow year-over-year. But did I also hear correctly that you expect Q1 to be the trough quarter as well and then start growing from there? And how should I think about the mix as you exit the year? Even a range will be helpful between DDR4, DDR5 and maybe some companion chips.