Earnings Call Transcript - ACMR Q1 2024

Steven Pelayo, Managing Director

Good day, everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss first quarter 2024 results, which we released before the U.S. market opened today. The release is available on our website, as well as from Newswire services. There is also a supplemental slide deck posted to the investors section of our website that we will reference during our prepared remarks. On the call with me today are our CEO, Dr. David Wang; our CFO, Mark McKechnie; and Lisa Feng, our CFO of our operating subsidiary ACM Shanghai. Before continuing, please turn to Slide 2. Let me remind you that the remarks made during this call may include predictions, estimates or other information that might be considered forward-looking. These forward-looking statements represent ACM's current judgment for the future. However, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Those risks are described under Risks Factors and elsewhere in ACM's filings with the SEC. Please do not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect ACM's opinions only as of the date of this call. ACM is not obliged to update you on any revisions to these forward looking statements. Certain of the financial results that we provide on the call will be on a non-GAAP basis, which excludes stock-based compensation and an unrealized gain and loss on short-term investments. For our GAAP results and reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP amounts, you should refer to our earnings release, which is posted on the IR section of our website and to Slide 12. Let me now turn the call over to David Wang, who will begin with Slide 3.

David Wang, CEO

Thanks, Steven. Hello, everyone, and welcome to ACM Research's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Please turn to Slide 3. I'm pleased with our results; it's a solid start to the year for the first quarter. Revenue was $152.2 million, up 105%. Profitability was good with a gross margin of 52.5% and an operating margin of 26.2%. We ended the quarter with just over $288 million in cash and time deposits. Shipments for the first quarter were $245 million, up 175%. As expected, first quarter shipments were higher due to the delivery of our finished goods that were not shipped in the fourth quarter of last year, and we also had an exclusion from our production team during the Lunar New Year holiday period. I will now provide details on products. Please turn to Slide 4. Revenue from the single wafer cleaning Tahoe and semi-critical cleaning product grew 199% in Q1 and represented 72% of the total revenue. ACM offers what we believe is the industry's most comprehensive cleaning portfolio. We support nearly 90% of all cleaning process SAPS for memory and logic devices. At the high end, we believe our flagship SAPS Tahoe and TEBO single wafer cleaning products deliver technical features not available from any of our competitors. At the lower end, our semi-critical tools, including auto bench, have seen incremental growth for our cleaning category over the past two years. We have recently made progress in the SPM market, which we believe is resulting in growth for our cleaning business starting this year. Let me provide more detail. SPM stands for sulfuric acid peroxide mixing. These SAPS are normally used to clean wafers after the photoresist removal process and post-CMP cleaning. We estimate the total available market for the SAM of our SPM tools is 25% to 30% of the total front-end cleaning market. Today, SPM has been a small contribution to our business. Our SPM tools, including Tahoe and our low and high temperature single wafer SPM tools, are gaining traction. We believe there has been only one major supplier of high temperature single wafer SPM tools. Our engineering team has recently made significant technical progress with our high temperature tool, and we believe ACM can now participate as an alternative supplier. This is especially important as we believe our customers generally prefer a one-stop shop for all their SPM cleaning SAPS. With the high temperature SPM tool, we believe ACM now has a full product line to meet our customers’ requirements. Additionally, Tahoe has been qualified for production by multiple customers and is beginning to ramp up space with a substantial number of orders planned for delivery in 2024. The enhancements made to this performance allow the tool to match more efficiency with the single wafer process while reducing sulfuric usage by 50% to 70%. We now expect a meaningful ramp of SPM tools this year as we begin volume delivery across a number of key customers. Finishing up on cleaning, we also expect our bevel etcher cleaning tool to contribute meaningful revenue in 2024, and we are on track to complete the evaluation of a single critical CO2 dry cleaning tool this year for revenue in 2025. Revenue from ECP furnaces and other technology declined 3% in Q1 and represented 70% of the total revenue. As mentioned last quarter, we hit an important milestone for this category in 2023 with more than $100 million in revenue. The year-over-year revenue decline is primarily due to quarterly fluctuations. In fact, we shipped 3 times more ECP tools in Q1 '24 versus the same period last year, and we expect revenue growth for this category for the full year. As noted in the prior calls, we believe the furnace product cycle is perhaps a year and so behind ECP. We have a broader footprint of customer activities with more than a handful of first tools currently under evaluation and multiple customers. We are optimistic this will result in qualification and follow-on orders in the coming quarters. Revenue from advanced packaging, which excludes ECP but includes service and spare parts, grew 53.2% in Q1 and represented 11% of total revenue. This category includes a range of packaging tools such as the coder, developer, scrubber, PR stripper, and wet etchers, and we continue to explore new products and technology to participate in the next generation of advanced packaging. We believe ACM is one of the only companies that offer a full set of wet tools, polishing tools, and copper plating tools for advanced packaging. In Q1, we delivered our ULTRA C v Vacuum Cleaning Tool for major customers to meet the flux removal requirements for chiplets and other advanced 3D packaging structures. Today we also introduced the Frame Wafer Cleaning Tool. This tool is designed for post-debonding wafer cleaning that enables nearly 100% recycle solvent and attrition. We have successfully completed the installation and qualification of the first tool with a key customer. Finishing up on products, we are making good progress with our Track and PECVD platform. We believe our advisory technology is producing both tools successfully for Mainland China and also for global customers. We are engaged with multiple customers that we expect have substantial growth progress in product development and evaluation this year with revenue anticipated in 2025 and beyond. Now, moving on to our customers, please turn to Slide 7. In China, we believe we have a leading position in cleaning. We have become a multiple product company with competitive offerings in plating and furnaces, and we have a solid evaluation pipeline for Track and PECVD. Our sales and service teams are now driving deeper adoption of our products across our customer base. Our growth is also being driven by new entrants. On the international front, we plan to deliver ULTRA C v backside cleaning and a bevel etcher tool in the second quarter of 2024 to a large U.S. manufacturer that was qualified as the first SAP cleaning tool for revenue last year. This demonstrates a deepening relationship, which we believe can lead to production orders across multiple product lines. Moreover, ACM's brand and reputation are gaining recognition among other U.S. chip makers with new engagements and the potential opportunity to penetrate their global manufacturing sites. We recently hired additional seasonal marketing and sales professionals who are establishing relationships with key U.S. semiconductor players. In Europe, we installed our first ever evaluation tool, the ULTRA C SAPS V cleaning tool, at a major global semiconductor manufacturer in the fourth quarter last year. The initial feedback has been positive, and we are optimistic about the potential for volume production orders by the middle of the year. We see opportunities with SK Hynix's high bandwidth memory product and potential gains with our SAPS cleaning tool for high aspirational vehicles as well as ultra ECP for TSV applications. To support growth, we made progress in our facility expansion in China and other regions. Please turn to Slide 8. In China, the construction of our Lingang production R&D center is nearly complete, and we expect production to commence later this year. In Korea, we are making progress with key customers, and we believe that a strong commitment to Korea can improve our relationship with key Korean customers. Our resource in Korea can also provide a basis for supporting international customers in the U.S., Europe, and other parts of Asia. We recently hired a new leader to run our Korea operations, David Kim, who is a long-time veteran of SK Hynix. We are optimistic his experience and relationships will help accelerate our adoption of technology and business in the region. We continue to invest in our Oregon site to enhance service, support, and demonstration capabilities for R&D and customer activities in the U.S. and Europe. I would now provide our outlook. Please turn to Slide 9. We believe WFE spending in China will remain solid as the country continues its goal to match production capacity with end-market consumption. We are focused on gaining market share in China, introducing new products, and expanding our business to new customers in the U.S., Korea, Europe, and other Asian markets. We are reaffirming our 2024 revenue outlook to be in the range of $650 to $725 million. This implies year-over-year growth at the middle point, and we expect our full-year revenue growth for 2024 to outpace both the China and global WFE growth rates.

Mark McKechnie, CFO

Thank you, David, and good day, everyone. Please turn to Slide 11. Unless I note otherwise, I'll refer to non-GAAP financial measures, which exclude stock-based compensation and unrealized gains and losses on short-term investments. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP measures is included in our earnings release. Unless otherwise noted, the following figures refer to the first quarter of 2024 and comparisons are with the first quarter of 2023. I will now provide financial highlights for the first quarter of 2024. Revenue was $152.2 million for the first quarter, up 105%. Revenue from single wafer cleaning Tahoe and semi-critical cleaning was $109.5 million, up 199%. Revenue from ECP, furnace and other technologies was $25.8 million, down 3%. As David noted, we anticipate good growth for the full year 2024 in this category. Revenue from advanced packaging, excluding ECP services and spares was $16.9 million, up 53.2%. Total shipments were $245 million for the first quarter, up 175%. Gross margin was 52.5% versus 54%. This exceeded our normal expected range of 40% to 45%. For the full year, we now expect gross margins to fall in the upper end of our target range. We do continue to expect gross margins to vary from period to period due to a variety of factors such as sales volumes, product mix and currency impacts. Operating expenses were $40.1 million for the first quarter, up from $29.2 million. R&D expenses were $19.4 million versus $13.3 million. The year-over-year increase reflects additional personnel and other expenses to support our product development pipeline, while the decline versus Q4 '23 was primarily due to reduced spending on internal R&D development tools. Sales and marketing expenses were $11.1 million versus $8.9 million, and G&A was $9.5 million versus $6.9 million. For 2024, we plan for R&D expenses in the 13% to 15% range, Sales and marketing in the 7% to 8% range, and G&A in the 5% to 6% range. Operating income was $39.8 million for the first quarter, up from $10.9 million. Operating margin was 26.2%, up from 14.7%. We recorded a realized gain of $0.3 million for the first quarter from the sale of short-term investments. Recall that realized gains are included in non-GAAP earnings. Income tax expense was $4.4 million for the first quarter versus $2.9 million. For the full year, we plan for an effective tax rate on non-GAAP pre-tax income in the 15% to 20% range. Net income attributable to ACM Research was $34.6 million for the first quarter, up from $9.9 million. Net income per diluted share was $0.52 for the first quarter versus $0.15. Our non-GAAP net income excludes $14.6 million or $0.22 per share in stock-based compensation expense, which reflects the full quarter impact of the significant grant of ACM Shanghai shares made in the third quarter of last year, in addition to our normal ACM Research grants. Our management team considers the grant as a critical differentiator to attract new talent for product development and to retain key employees. I will now review selected balance sheet items. Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and time deposits were $288.3 million versus $304.5 million at the end of the last quarter. Total inventory was $581.1 million versus $545.4 million at the end of the last quarter. This includes raw materials and work in progress, which totals $318.2 million, and finished goods inventory of $262.9 million. Finished goods inventory mainly includes first tools and evaluation tools at our customers and finished goods at ACM’s facilities. Capital expenditures were $25.4 million. For the full year, we expect to spend about $100 million in capital expenditures. This primarily includes continued investments in our Lingang facilities, remodeling for our new headquarters for ACM Shanghai, and investments in Korea, the U.S., and some fixed asset expenditures. That concludes our prepared remarks. Now let's open the call for any questions that you may have.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. Our first question comes from Suji Desilva from Roth. You're now connected.

Suji Desilva, Analyst

Hi David. Hi Mark. Congratulations on the progress here.

David Wang, CEO

Hi, Suji.

Suji Desilva, Analyst

Just a couple. Maybe some high-level questions. So outside of the core SAPS products, which of the new product categories is going to help drive the highest growth in ’24? Just to understand, are you diversifying the product categories?

David Wang, CEO

Yeah, good question. As I mentioned, cleaning tools continue to be our major portion of revenue. We see potential in the SPM tool with cover middle and lower temperatures for Tahoe and also single wafer. Additionally, we have our mega breakthrough in the high temperature SPM tool, which will also drive growth. On top of that, our bevel etcher will grow alongside our auto bench for the mature auto nodes. Looking ahead to next year, we're also expecting our semi-critical CO2 tools to start contributing to our revenue. In terms of the ECP, we are also seeing continued growth both in front-end and advanced packaging, and we have a solid backlog in ECP. Additionally, the furnace is expected to contribute to our revenue this year, with PECVD and AOD also in the product evaluation stage, while vacuum tools continue to make it to market. So those are the main driving forces for our revenue contribution this year. Mark, anything you want to add?

Mark McKechnie, CFO

Yeah, no, thanks, David, and thanks, Suji. I think one of the things we wanted to stress on this call is that, within cleaning, even though we've been engaged in this sector for a while, we have a few strong product cycles underneath that can drive additional growth. Additionally, as we consider the international scope, it’s difficult to predict exactly how our product mix will evolve as we progress through this and next year, as many of our new customers might initially start with cleaning as well. So, I'll leave it at that, Suji.

Suji Desilva, Analyst

Okay, great. Yeah, my second question was similar on the geographic diversification. Maybe I can hone in on the U.S. customer base, and perhaps you can provide a sense of what some of the next milestones or steps are since you seem to be making good progress there.

David Wang, CEO

Yeah, as I mentioned, we're continuing to increase marketing spending within the U.S. customer base. One of our key customers is about to receive our second type of tool, which includes bevel and wet etch features. Meanwhile, we're also engaging with multiple U.S. customers both for the front end and the packaging side. Thus, we see a growing potential within the U.S. market. Furthermore, we're also penetrating markets in Singapore and Europe, where we've delivered our first tool to a key European customer. We are currently in the qualification phase and anticipate this first tool could lead to a repeat order. So, yes, that’s where we stand, right? Mark, anything to add?

Mark McKechnie, CFO

Yeah, that’s right David. Internationally, when we discussed our guidance during the last quarter, it was clear that there would be contributions from international markets. This year is primarily a build year, and we are hopeful to see orders soon following the qualification from our U.S. customer, but we are not certain how much will contribute this year versus next, which has been part of our strategy. Hence, we would expect some contributions, yet the significant orders may likely be allocated for shipments thereafter.

Suji Desilva, Analyst

Okay, thanks, David. Thanks, Mark. I'll pass it along.

David Wang, CEO

Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from the line of Christian Schwab from Craig-Hallum. Your line is open.

Christian Schwab, Analyst

Hey great. Thanks for taking my question. I just have one follow-up to the earlier conversation. Now that you're seeing broadening potential success in the international market, it seems that, on a bigger picture multi-year basis, I know you've outlined $1 billion of sales in China and the market outside of China for your products is materially greater. On a multi-year outlook, do you have increased conviction that this business can be much bigger than $1 billion?

David Wang, CEO

Yes, in our outlook, we are quite confident that we're going to reach and potentially exceed that market driven solely by the Chinese market. At the same time, we are also penetrating and exploring international markets with our distinct technology. We note the trend is increasingly favorable, and we are pursuing key customers in the U.S. as well as in their manufacturing in Singapore, and we have recently hired a core key account manager for our Korean operations, David Kim, who is a veteran of SK Hynix. We are committed to exerting significant effort in marketing and selling our products globally. In the long term, we aim to achieve revenue during which half will come from China and half from outside China. This remains our goal.

Christian Schwab, Analyst

Fantastic. No other questions. Thanks.

David Wang, CEO

Thank you. Next question.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Ross Cole from Needham. Your line is open.

Ross Cole, Analyst

Great. Thank you for taking my question on behalf of Charles here today. So shipments in the first quarter were pretty high. And I know you don't typically guide shipments, but do you have any thoughts on the rest of the year? Do you expect the Q1 shipment level to sustain through a similar level or possibly go higher or lower in the next three quarters?

David Wang, CEO

Yeah, okay, let me answer. Maybe Mark can follow. Obviously, first quarter shipments were higher partially due to our delayed shipments in Q4 of last year. That's one reason, plus also the challenges we faced with manufacturing in the Lunar New Year. So we might expect Q2 to be slightly lower than Q1; however, we also anticipate that we will continue to see growth in Q2, Q3, and Q4. Mark, anything you want to comment?

Mark McKechnie, CFO

Yeah, thanks, Ross. We still expect shipments growth to outpace our revenue growth for the year. It's been a solid shipment year. As David noted, Q2 may normalize a bit relative to inventory, but we anticipate a shift upwards again in Q3 and Q4.

Ross Cole, Analyst

Great. Thank you. That was my only question.

David Wang, CEO

Great. Thanks, Ross.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Charlie Chan from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Charlie Chan, Analyst

Hi, David, Mark, thanks for taking my question and congrats on the very good results. So, I'm not sure, but I feel like this time around you are more open to talk about Hynix, SPM business, no matter cleaning or the ECP business opportunity. May I know if you have significant revenue there? I remember you had some demo tools there, but now you said that you're confident about project wins with potential recurring orders.

David Wang, CEO

Yes, Hynix is one of our key customers, and they have been a long-term partner. We now have a flagship SAPS megasonic cleaning tool that can offer much more uniform energy contribution. It effectively cleans every via of the wafer, which is crucial for TSV and the process. Additionally, our copper plating technology is being engaged for use in advanced packaging, including 3D chip technology, among others. We're making significant efforts in this area.

Charlie Chan, Analyst

Yeah, and my second question is about international markets. I remember four years ago there was a question when we were going to get into TSMC, and now I feel like TSMC business should be a very important target. They continue to open new fabs not just in the U.S. but also in Japan and Germany, including both the mature nodes and leading edge. What steps do you need to take to win this customer? Can you provide some insight on whether it's technology, production location, or pricing that is holding you back?

David Wang, CEO

Yes, TSMC is undoubtedly one of our key target customers. We have been collaborating with them for over a year now and are still engaged in evaluation and discussions. We recognize that all cleaning and copper plating are critical products that differentiate us from other players. We remain confident in our engagement with TSMC and aim to solidify this potential customer relationship moving forward.

Charlie Chan, Analyst

Okay, that's all the questions I have. Thank you for your time.

David Wang, CEO

Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Mark Miller from the Benchmark Company. Your line is open.

Mark Miller, Analyst

Congratulations on another upside report. I was wondering if you're seeing any impacts from slowing demand in China, such as push-outs from EB? Are you encountering any challenges in this area?

David Wang, CEO

That's a good question. We see that customers are focusing on their IGBT production line and we're witnessing continued growth there due to the early-stage development for IGBT in China. Customers continue investing in IGBT projects and we have strong cleaning and furnace products to support this venture. Regarding cash flow, did we consume cash during the quarter?

Mark McKechnie, CFO

Yes, cash flow from operations was $9.6 million, meaning we consumed about $9.6 million.

David Wang, CEO

Thank you.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. I'm not showing any further questions in the queue. I’d like to turn the call back over to Steven for any closing remarks.

Steven Pelayo, Managing Director

Okay. Thank you, operator, and thank you all for participating in today's call and for your support. Before we close, let me just mention a couple of upcoming Investor Relations events. On May 29th, we will present at Craig-Hallum’s 21st Annual Institutional Investor Conference in Minneapolis. From June 25th to 26th, we will present at the 10th Annual Roth London Conference at the Four Seasons Park Lane, London. Attendance at the conference is by invitation only, and interested investors may contact their respective sales representatives to register and schedule one-on-one meetings with the management team. This concludes today's call, and you may now disconnect.

Operator, Operator

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the program. You may now disconnect. Everyone have a great day.