Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

So there’s a mix of backlog and products we ship in any particular quarter will vary, and they all change. But it doesn’t change the fact that we have still a very, very strong backlog. And what we’re shipping, which is most important in the current quarter, we believe, is what we are reflecting as end demand for our products.

Operator: One moment for our next question. That will come from the line of Stacy Rasgon with Bernstein.

Stacy Rasgon: So Hock, I guess just to ask the question explicitly. Last quarter, I think you said your semiconductor backlog was $31 billion and your lead times were still 50 weeks, give or take. What are those numbers now? Like, where is backlog and where are lead times?

Kirsten Spears: Stacy, this is Kirsten Spears. We’re not going to guide the year. So, we’re not providing that…

Stacy Rasgon: I’m not asking you to guide the year. I’m not asking you to guide the year.

Kirsten Spears: Right. We’re fully booked for the year. So, if I give you the backlog number, I’m effectively guiding you to the year. So, we’ve chosen not to provide that data at this time.

Stacy Rasgon: Okay. I guess, can you just tell me, has it gone up, flat or down?

Hock Tan: Our forecast for the year, if you want to call it, forecast base — our backlog, it’s not our forecast. We’ll continue — for the year, we’ll continue to grow. Other than that, I’m not telling you what it is. We don’t guide.

Stacy Rasgon: Got it. But you think that backlog will grow for the year is what you’re saying?

Hock Tan: Our year forecast will grow.

Stacy Rasgon: Got it. Got it. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. That will come from the line of Harlan Sur with JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Harlan Sur: Hock, your server storage connectivity business has been extremely strong, right, up 50% plus in fiscal €˜22. And more importantly, that business continues to sustain based on the January quarter outlook. We typically tend to think about HDD controllers and preamps, but your business is much more diverse than this. So, can you just, first of all, walk us through like what percentage is MegaRAID, PCIe or what I call overall storage connectivity versus your storage controller business, which is primarily HDD controller and preamps? And maybe what’s driving the near-term growth in the storage franchise when many of your storage competitors and customers are seeing major weakness in this segment?

Hock Tan: Well, that’s an interesting question. It’s — our server storage connectivity — and you’re right, which includes nearline hard drives, which includes some, what we call, on-prem server storage connectivity, host bus adapters included is broad. And I don’t have the numbers on my mind exactly what it is. Just broad-based, particularly from the MegaRAID business, as I said, a big part of the growth, the big dollar — the big percentage growth, as I indicated before, is due to the fact that the new generation of products are all subsystems, our boards. We’re not just shipping chips. So, that counts for a big part of the growth. Notwithstanding, unit growth is up, but not as much as the 50% we announced, obviously. A big part of 50% is content growth as we ship subsystems and boards versus chips. But even then unit growth is up, and it’s across the board, and it’s not everything that grows. But enough said that overall, it grows.

Operator: One moment for our next question. That will come from the line of Timothy Arcuri with UBS.