Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Fusen Chen: Sure. So let me make this comment. I think that given in our business cycle the upturn actually starts from 2020 to 2021. So our 2020 revenue is 630 I think, if I recall right. And we end 2021 with $1.5 million. So actually the gross rate actually is up 168%. So I think in the downturn up to the second this, the trade restriction to China, actually a lot of people have dialed down the wafer set expansion, about roughly 15% to 20%. So this will also indirectly impact the demand for the back end. So we are positive of that. And in addition, I think the unit gross really also revised down. So therefore it’s very difficult to predict how the annual of FY 2023 is going to be ended. But up to the Q2 actually study internally, we feel like we comfortably can meet the 2018, which was a previous cycle pick it’s around $900 million.

Actually more precise is $890 million. We feel like this is achievable from our side and it’s quite difficult. And we feel like we can do at least or better than that. It’s quite difficult to predict that we guess. So that’s what I think. So we feel like, it’s probably 900, probably will be about like the highest sum, 240% down, but the upturn actually brought us about 168% up. And, the worst case scenario we are seeing, probably is something will bring us down about next month.

David Duley: Okay. Final question from me, Lester you mentioned how you’d seen improvement in the core wire bonded gross margin over the last two years. I think it was 340 basis points, a very robust number. But correct me if I’m wrong, don’t you have a new wire bonder coming out next calendar year that should also help improve gross margins? Could you elaborate a little bit more on that?

Lester Wong: Yes, we continue to introduce new products into our core business. So we believe that the ball bonder gross margin will continue to remain high and we’ll continue to look for ways to increase the margin on our core business in ball bonder as well as wedge bonder.

Fusen Chen: So David in downturn actually, the demand and the market share and the price is also have some correlation. So we’ll do the best to increase the gross margin while also make sure we get enough market share.

David Duley: Yes, I guess what I was referring to is, in the past you’ve talked about being able to improve overall margins by 400 or 500 basis points, and I think that was kind of from a 47% level. And I realized you’re going into a downturn, so during that period, gross margin improvement is, doesn’t happen. But when we get back to, I guess, normal levels at one point or another, do you still think you can improve the overall gross margins to that level?

Lester Wong: Yes. Our target has always been 50% gross margins in a non-downturn year, right? And we believe that in 2024 and beyond, we can reach that goal and go higher.

David Duley: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Our next questions come from the line of Craig Ellis with B. Riley. Please proceed with your questions.

Craig Ellis: Hey, thanks for taking the question. And team, congratulations on the dividend increase and cash used to share buybacks and some check focused M&A. So Fusen, I wanted to start just by seeing if you could provide some color around some of the fiscal 2023 commentary. So very helpful to hear that it seems reasonable from the company’s view that sales might be down 30% to 40%. The question is, as you look at that and going back to the comments about customer interaction and conviction that they have, that things can move up in the back half of the year, how should we look at trends for general semi, advanced display, auto and industrial and memory? Which of those would be relatively stronger next year, which relatively weaker based on what you’re hearing from your customers?