AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Richard Shannon: Okay, fair enough. Two more questions for me. I’ll jump out of line. First one, just following up on the comments on micro-LED, I may have missed something in there with the spotty line here, but I guess my general question here is, how is the environment here and the importance of this to your certain customers out there relative to last quarter is? Are things holding in there in terms of timeframe and size, or is there more uncertainty here as the macros certainly seem to get worse over the last 90 days?

Morris Young: Well, I think the intention for customers to proceed is firming up. I do believe they’re coming. I think the only question I have is what the volume is going to be and how fast it’s going to ramp up to the next phase, et cetera. I mean, we’re given the initial ramp-up volume production, I think, it’s somewhere around mid-2025, and of course, it’s going to ramp gradually from next year onwards into the first stage of production is 2025, I think. And I think that timing, although it slipped from early predictions, but nevertheless, I think, the customer is committed to go ahead with it.

Richard Shannon: Okay. And the last question for Gary is on cash flow. I think last quarter you were talking about trying to generate some positive working capital here, and I see inventories are down slightly, but perhaps you’re expecting or hoping for a little bit more. What’s your general thought here as we look on operating cash flow and working capital benefits this quarter and into the near future?

Gary Fischer: Well, first of all, in terms of inventory, I have gone back with my coworker and sort of looked at some historic inventory levels when maybe we were doing $25 million a quarter, $30 million a quarter. So it illustrates to me that we should be able to take inventory down. So I am still targeting to do that. I think at a minimum, we should shrink it by at least $10 million. Reciprocally, it’s easy to do that if our run rates are high, and it’s harder to do that when our run rates are so frankly modest right now. So, I feel confident that we can do it and that we will do it. And if you look at our overall, like I was looking at the cash generated from operating activities in our internal cash flow thing, it’s negative $280,000 for the first nine months of this year.

Because you are adding back depreciation, you are adding back stock comp, and there are some low-hanging fruit items on the balance sheet. Inventory is one, accounts receivable is one. Especially in China we have three long day sales outstanding. So I’d like to bring that in. So yes, I think it’s okay. And I will, of course, be delighted to bank the IPO money. But in the meantime, I think, we’re safe.

Richard Shannon: Okay. Fair enough. That is all for me, guys. I will jump out of line.

Gary Fischer: Thanks, Richard. Christina, any more questions?

Operator: Yes. So there are no further questions at this time. So I will turn the floor back over to Dr. Morris Young.

Morris Young: Thank you for participating in our conference call. We will be presenting at the Needham Growth Conference in January, and looking forward to seeing many of you there. As always, feel free to contact me, Gary Fischer or Leslie Green, directly, if you would like to set up a call with us. We look forward to speaking with you in the near future.

Gary Fischer: Thanks, Morris.

Morris Young : Thank you all.

Operator: Thank you. And this does conclude today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.

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