Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Luis Muller: Well, Craig, as I said, we do expect third quarter orders to improve relative to Q2, right? So, I mean, I’m not going to say that’s necessarily at abnormal levels, but we do expect a turning of the quarter on bookings already at this quarter. From a normalization level I think automotive is going to start picking up, automotive and industrial are going to start picking up to normal levels in Q1 of next year. Mobility, quite frankly, I don’t know. We keep waiting for the signs of improvement. I think I’ve seen a couple of our customers put out earnings release here in the last 24, 48 hours that are a little bit more encouraging. We haven’t really seen ourselves yet that fast, that demand forecast. So I’m going to hold my forecast to that.

Computing, as you said, I mean, computing on a sequential basis, Q2 orders were already about 30% higher than first quarter. So it is – small numbers and computing is a smaller segment for us, but nevertheless, the data center hyper scaling business is starting to get some momentum. But honestly, I think, to – a return to normality requires both – first and foremost, and not just orders, but shipments, which I think recovers in the first half – sorry, in the first quarter of next year. And then a return of mobility, which is yet at this point something that is a little hard to pin down, we expect late this year, early next year, but at what magnitude, question mark. I don’t know the answer to that question on the mobility side.

Craig Ellis: Yes. That’s helpful, thank you. And then turning to comments that you made on the Philippines manufacturing expansion and that facility’s ability to go live next year, can you just provide some more color on what that means for the company’s ability to meet upside demand and what that expansion will mean from a cost standpoint and therefore a gross margin standpoint from levels that are already quite strong in the business?

Luis Muller: Yes, I’ll start on the first half of your question and let Jeff step in to talk about the gross margin impact. That new facility is going to give us an opportunity to increase output on the interface business by about 50%. So it adds about $65 million of incremental revenue opportunity out of that factory.

Jeff Jones: And with respect to gross margin, so that increase in volume help us leverage better some of the manufacturing fixed costs that we have. That business at the moment is running roughly in the 44% to 45% gross margin in the model. We have them closer to 47%, 48% which is achievable as we put all the pieces together here and add capacity and continue to leverage those costs.

Craig Ellis: That’s helpful. And then if I could just sneak in one more before going back into the queue, guys. Luis, I was hoping you and maybe Jeff since this is a longer term question dealing with just growing the business, but also focusing back on the mid-term target. Luis, you mentioned that that we’ve got the seeds of growth visible in order activity. We’ve heard that the gross margin is performing at above target levels for current revenue rates. So can you guys just address your confidence in getting back to the midterm targets, $1 billion in revenues and getting gross margin up to 49%, given the dynamics that you see in the business and the order that you’re starting to see? Thank you.

Luis Muller: Yes. The – honestly, the confidence is pretty good, Craig, I mean, this industry goes through its cycle, as you know, been in for long enough to know that we do hit some speed bumps in order and that’s where we are now. We’re sort of that trough of the cycle. And when business recovers, it’s not unheard of it going up 15%, 20% and a subsequent followed by another year of growth that could be 10%, 15% following that. So we have a pretty solid position in the automotive and industrial market with our thermal handlers. It’s a market that for the first time in years, it’s growing at a double-digit rate. The semiconductor industry part of it is growing at a double-digit rate. I happen to be in Asia this week, actually call from, and had an opportunity to visit five of our customers in the space, and pretty much all of them are doubling their footprint in test – assembly and test.

And I saw, got to see actually some of the factories being built that are coming up into production first and second half of next year. The opinion on the customer you think pick. So the opportunity in the automotive industrial markets is just and I think that ramp is happening next year. And probably for the foreseeable few years as more electric and ADAS capable vehicles come to market. The computing space we see the event of AI and AI-driven data center processors. We are seeing a little bit of that ramp. They’ll be – it’s a smaller market for us. And over the long haul that is going to drive a significant number of edge computing and communication chips that will also benefit the business, but in a different, sort of in a different dynamic than the automotive and industrial.