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

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Joshua Buchalter: Thanks, guys. Appreciate the color.

Operator: Our next question is from Matthew Prisco with Evercore. Your line is now open.

Matthew Prisco: Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the question. To kick off just on Mohawk Valley, as we look past the 20% utilization rate with Siler City starting to ramp, right, as you hit 20%, how are you thinking of that cadence? How quickly will you turn ramp up that utilization rate at Mohawk Valley? When do you expect to hit that 30%, 40% level?

Gregg Lowe: We are in construction right now on the JP in Siler City, it’s going vertical right now. So the shell is kind of going up, and the expectation is that in the June quarter, we would begin — June quarter of next year, we would begin producing 200-millimeter crystals out of that facility. And that lines up pretty nicely with the increase that we would want at that time coming out of Mohawk Valley — yes, coming from the Mohawk Valley. Additionally, we have other projects going on here locally in North Carolina that are working on getting more capacity out of our current footprint. And those come in two kind of flavors. One is R&D, where we’ve got projects that will get more wafers per crystal run. So obviously, higher throughput for the existing facility.

And the second is expansion into a couple of nearby sites and one in Dallas area that are going to help us with expansion. And another way of describing that is giving us a little bit of cushion on the ramp of the JP. So getting a little bit more capability out of our existing and our local facilities.

Matthew Prisco: Interesting. And then I guess, as you think about that ramp, obviously, some delays going on at Durham. What gives you the confidence that that Siler City will be able to ramp on time? Is it just taking a learning out here and applying [directly] (ph) because it’s a new fab, maybe a little new process, it’s completely new?

Gregg Lowe: So there’s a lot of work to be done on that for sure. But we are right now tracking to the schedule that I just talked about. We have demonstrated that we can increase our capacity and create 200-millimeter crystal growth machines and are producing them in high quality. So we’ve already demonstrated that we could sit out a new facility, which is so-called Building 10 here in our camp here. The city — I think the JP in Siler City not that far away, so we’ll be using the same team to ramp that facility. So I think we’ve done it once, and doing it again, will be, I would say, something we’ve already learned from.

Matthew Prisco: Got you. And then just quickly on the material side, few changes recently with the Renesas deal competitor announcement. And given your delays that you’ve seen for now having used more internally, how are you thinking about the material targets that you provided at your last Analyst Day? Are those still right ballpark to think about from a revenue and share perspective? Or have things kind of changed in front of your eyes?

Gregg Lowe: Well, the one thing — first off, no, we wouldn’t be changing the target. So — but I would say, in between then and now, we’ve obviously signed up a very big supply agreement with Renesas. And that is now part of our plan. And I would say, as I said in my prepared remarks, the demand right now for silicon carbide, both devices and materials, is very, very high.

Matthew Prisco: Perfect. Thanks, guys.

Gregg Lowe: Thank you.

Operator: Our next question is from Natalia Winkler with Jefferies. Your line is now open.

Natalia Winkler: Thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to follow up on the Siler City ramp. Could you guys please remind us how large is that JP-related CapEx? What’s the kind of the timeline for the entire ramp? And how should we think about any potential depreciation headwind from the JP ramp?

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