Wolfspeed, Inc. (NYSE:WOLF) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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So we’ll forecast Durham just kind of back to what we’ve always kind of historically talked about like $100 million or so order for power devices. And we were ahead of that last quarter. And this quarter, we’ll just kind of forecast back to that kind of normal mean. In the meantime then, if you look out to the future, any substantial growth from a revenue perspective really comes from the Mohawk Valley.

Jed Dorsheimer: Got it. Thank you. I’ll jump back in the queue.

Operator: Our next question is from Brian Lee with Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open.

Unidentified Analyst: Hey, Gregg. Hey, Neill. Thanks for taking the questions. This is Grace on for Brian. I guess my first question, maybe this is more for you, Neill, just trying to understand the cadence of the start-up and underutilization costs moving through 2024 as you continue to ramp Mohawk Valley and build out Siler City fab. When can we see those costs coming down? And how quickly can they ever go to zero? Thanks.

Neill Reynolds: Yes, they’ll eventually go to zero. Once you get the utilization up to north of, say, 70% or so, you’ll see that the [indiscernible] that’s kind of the marker we use, so to speak. But I think it is important that I unpack maybe the gross margins a bit to kind of explain these different pieces. So, if you look at the midpoint of what we just guided with these presentation changes, gross margin is going to be at about 14% at the midpoint. As I said in the prepared remarks, that’s about — negative 16 points of impact from underutilization, which represents about $37 million of impact. So, as you look forward, gross margin expansion is going to be driven really by two things. First, as we start driving higher levels of utilization in the fab and a 20% utilization as you look out to the end of the fiscal year, we’ll see that $37 million of underutilization get down to the low $30 million-s just as we drive more revenue through the business.

So that will be a significant positive. So based on the new presentation, utilization will actually be the largest impact on gross margin as we start to move forward. Now there’s a second piece to that as well. Underlying performance, excluding utilization, should improve modestly as well. So, as we drive more of the business through Mohawk Valley, we’ll start to see the benefits of those 200-millimeter substrates. And we’ll start to see that margin expand as well. So, overall, we expect — as you take a look at both of these areas or these two areas, we would expect to get, on the new presentation basis, to the low to mid 20%-s from a gross margin perspective as you look at the new P&L up to the end of the fiscal year.

Unidentified Analyst: Great. That’s super helpful. And my second question, just a follow-up to the previous question on the ramp of the Mohawk Valley fab. Now you got like all these financing overhang out the way, is there any ability to pull forward the Mohawk Valley ramp? Why or why not? Thanks.

Neill Reynolds: Look, I think from a Mohawk Valley perspective, if we look across our business, we have a couple of focuses right now. And really what that is, is drive Mohawk Valley to 20% utilization and build out the JP. And I think if you look across our business today, and you look at the — our employees and our resources, that is our — those are our two main focuses, and we’re bringing everything we can to the table every day to be focused on that and drive that as fast as we can. And that’s what — sorry, that’s what you see here in the outlook today.

Unidentified Analyst: Okay. Thank you. I’ll take the rest offline. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question is from Edward Snyder with [Charity] (ph) Equity Research. Your line is now open.

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