Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ:TXN) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

So since we’ve shared publicly our plans last February in capital management call, I just say that, that the response has been very, very strong. So those are really the three things that are adding to our confidence. You have a follow-up?

Chris Danely: Yes. One on inventory. So it’s bouncing up towards your long-term target. Can you talk about when you would start to ease back utilization rates to maintain that inventory? And then maybe spend a little bit of time on the mix. I know there’s still shortages out there. How do you think €“ how long do you think it’ll take to, I guess, balance out your inventory this year to achieve some sort of ideal mix?

Dave Pahl: Yes. So let me take that. And first, big picture let me point you to our scorecard. The one that we used for capital management when we talked about the objectives in €“ when it comes to inventory is to maintain high levels of customer service, keeping stable lead times while minimizing inventory obsolescence, our strategy and our portfolios such that it’s long-lived a very diverse, our customer base. So the risk of obsolescence is very low. So that’s a part of the equation. And the other part is the upside that we get by having that inventory both short-term and long-term to support customers. So that’s why we’re comfortable holding higher levels of inventory. I’ve been talking about from current levels we could add a $1 billion to $2 billion of additional inventory.

And the timing, that all depends on revenue trends. So if they’re higher, then it’ll take longer. If those serving trends are a little weaker, then it’ll be a little faster to get there. On the mix is a number of angles on that, chip stock versus finished goods, we have a mix of both of those. In some cases, it makes sense to have more of one than the other, but they’re both very low risk. So that’s how we think about it.

Chris Danely: Great. Thank you.

Dave Pahl: Yes. We’ll go to the next caller, please.

Operator: Toshiya Hari of Goldman Sachs.

Toshiya Hari: Hey, how’s it going? Thank you so much for taking the question. Dave, hoping you guys could talk a little bit about trends in China, what you saw in Q4, if there was any choppiness toward the end of the quarter, and more importantly, how you’re thinking about Q1 and beyond. I guess, there’s hope out there that China as an economy bounces back in 2023. Are you guys seeing any early signs of a recovery in terms of end consumption of your products?

Dave Pahl: Yes, I’d say, some of the disruptions that we saw earlier in the year, we didn’t see any of that here in the fourth quarter. And so nothing exceptional to report with China as a region versus the other regions. And we long held the practice that we call it out if there’s something going on. So really nothing exceptional. And certainly, as that economy comes back and consumption increases in China, obviously helping the world GDP, but that would obviously help us as well. It was what we would expect. So you have a follow-on?

Toshiya Hari: Yes, I do. Your analog business in the quarter was down 5% year-to-year and obviously you guys are the first to report. So it’s hard for us to compare and contrast. How you guys did relative to your competition or your peer group. But it feels like you may have underperformed in the quarter, and I realize it’s only one quarter. What’s the competitive landscape like today? What kind of pricing trends are you seeing as demand patterns start to soften? Thank you.