Transphorm, Inc. (NASDAQ:TGAN) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Primit Parikh: So, yeah, you got that part right. We are well poised actually on the reactor, the hard work our team has put in last several quarters is now paying off. Our Japan reactors are already ramped into production. And then very exciting for us is the development of the global wafer partnerships in Taiwan, which stays exactly on track. So we have two reactors there. Now in process of development already released for development now. So that’s very exciting. And those will — we expect to be in production first calendar quarter of 2024. So we would have by that at that time six out of eight reactors in production. And then two more, we are triggering the use appropriate triggers of the ramp. So we are going per plan or I would say even slightly ahead of plan in getting all of our MOCVD reactors into production.

Craig Ellis: Yep. And Primit, do you think you’ll be running at full utilization as you ramp those up or would initial utilization be much lower as you get test wafers through and issue fine-tuned yields as you ramp up new equipment? How should we think about yield issues and utilization issues as that comes up?

Primit Parikh: Yes. So let me answer that in two parts. First, having been through bringing reactors of different type in production. Our team, we remain quite confident of our ability to do that now. Secondly, any reactor coming into production in our plants that we have, we always we never assume zero to 100% turn on even in our operation plan. We always assume gradual turn on over three to four months of the reactor or even three to six months to go to 100% sometimes if it is a brand new different type of reactor, right? So we bake that in our plants. But given now we have demonstrated on various platforms, we feel confident to bring up the new reactors quickly.

Craig Ellis: That sounds constructive. And then lastly, just on the auto opportunity, which has always been a very significant and attractive end market. Given the evolution of the relationship with Nexperia, Primit, what’s the best way to look at where the company would start to generate auto revenues, which sockets because there are many for which your technology is applicable and over what time period and are there specific customers that you’re engaged with there yet? Or is that something that happens as we go through the back half of the year? Thanks, guys.

Primit Parikh: Sure. So yes, Nexperia remains an important customer partner for us with the shipment and supply of wafers. A lot of that also targeted for end automotive customers, then Transphorm’s direct automotive customers like we have said is in the near term EV two and three wheelers that remains a very exciting market for us. We stand by our goal of getting the first design win by end of this calendar year and then ramping in calendar year 2024 to significant numbers. We’ve actually added some slots there. So we are looking at EV chargers. So these are both we are looking at onboard chargers as well as portable chargers from 300 watts to 2 kilowatts. And we are actively sampling Asia customers right now with solutions actually in that — in those segments from 300 watt to 2 kilowatt.