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

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Gregg Lowe: I would say both, with the Building 10 crystal growth operation is in excellent shape right now. The quality of the crystals is great, and that’s translating into very good defect density at the wafer level. Probably, epi is also very good, and we’re ramping that capacity. I would say it’s a dramatic bottleneck right now. There are some pinch points, but that’s expanding as well. And then we flow materials to Mohawk Valley, it runs through the fab, and then it goes through test sites, inspect and back end packaging and so forth. So pretty — I would say the — as we ramp this fab, there’s going to be different pinch points. But I would say right now, there’s not a dramatic capacity shortage right now as we ramp towards 20% utilization.

Edward Snyder: Great. Okay. So it sounds like the chain is moving along as it should have versus some of the stuff you had in the past. And then, Neill real quick. I mean, you had a taller bull problem several quarters ago. And you built a lot of material where the COGS was higher because your yields were lower, and that’s working through your revenue line now, or, correct me if I’m wrong, is it already through there? And if it isn’t through there, how much of an impact to gross margins was the bull problem in the quarter?

Neill Reynolds: I think from a longer bull perspective on yield, that’s multi behind us, I think we were — we kind of worked through that during the fourth quarter. So, as we move to 1Q, we’re seeing more consistent performance from a materials perspective on 150-millimeter platform. We anticipate to see kind of sustained solid performance from there going forward.

Edward Snyder: So, you weren’t passing any high-cost inventory through revenue this — in the June quarter…

Neill Reynolds: There were some in the Q4 quarter, and I think that’s behind us now and we are moving to 1Q.

Edward Snyder: Okay. And does that provide any relief? I mean, apples-to-apples, if nothing else changed, I’m just curious how much of an impact it had in the fourth quarter.

Neill Reynolds: Well, if you look at fourth quarter, we were down several points of margin going from 3Q into 4Q. And that was really related to two things I call. I would call the quarter somewhat transitional, really based on two pieces. One was working through the yield challenges we have in longer gold. And again, I think we’ve seen good solid performance from that. The team did a good job there and we worked through that during Q4. And the other piece with the transition to more automotive output for customers that were originally slated for Mohawk Valley and going to feed those out of Durham. So we made that — started to make that transition as well. So I think what you’re seeing in Q4 is kind of a transitional period.

We’ve kind of hit the bottom in terms of managing through those things. And I think from a Durham perspective, we anticipate seeing sustained performance going forward. I think that’s reflected in the pickup in gross margin versus Q4 going into Q1 on an underlying basis ex utilization.

Edward Snyder: Okay. And so — sorry, but it’s a confusing quarter. So it’s safe to say then, as you move into Mohawk Valley and you build more product out of that, you don’t have the problems with the 150-millimeter automotive stuff out of Durham. So that improves gross margins. But the 200-millimeter bull — I’m sorry, the thicker bull problems that had plagued the June quarter — or the March quarter are pretty much wound out by the time you get into September and December?

Neill Reynolds: Correct. So, we should — as we — what we talked about previously is behind us. And as we get more utilization and benefit from 200-millimeter wafers in Mohawk Valley, we’ll see more revenue, and we’ll see improved margin. We’ll see better margin improvement as we work through here.

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