Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation (MX)
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Earnings Call: Q3 2022

Nov 2, 2022

Operator

Hello, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q3 2022 Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. It is now my pleasure to introduce Investor Relations Representative, Yujia Zhai.

Yujia Zhai
Investor Relations Representative, The Blueshirt Group

Hi, everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss Magnachip's financial results for the Q3 ended September 30, 2022. The Q3 earnings release that was issued today after the stock market close can be found on the company's investor relations website. The webcast replay of today's call will be archived on our website shortly afterwards. Joining me today are YJ Kim, Magnachip's Chief Executive Officer, and Shinyoung Park, our Chief Financial Officer. YJ will discuss the company's recent operating performance and business overview. Shinyoung will review the financial results for the quarter and provide guidance for the Q4 of 2022. There will be a Q&A session following the prepared remarks. During the course of this conference call, we may make forward-looking statements about Magnachip's business outlook and expectations.

Our forward-looking statements and all other statements that are not historical facts reflect our beliefs and predictions as of today, and therefore are subject to risks and uncertainties as described in the safe harbor statement found in our SEC filings. During the call, we will also discuss non-GAAP financial measures. The non-GAAP measures are not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles but are intended to illustrate an alternative measure of Magnachip's operating performance that may be useful. The reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be found in our Q3 earnings release available on our website under the Investor Relations section at www.magnachip.com. I will now turn the call over to YJ Kim. YJ?

YJ Kim
CEO, Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today, and welcome to Magnachip's Q3 earnings call. First, let me say that our hearts and prayers are with the families affected by Halloween incident over the weekend in Seoul, and we wish a quick recovery for all those who are injured. Moving on to our results. We closed Q3 revenue at USD 71.2 million, which was within the guidance range that we provided, an 8% decrease sequentially. This result is obviously not satisfactory. As we indicated last quarter, our H2 is being severely impacted by several macro challenges that I will detail as I discuss each of our two main businesses. Beginning with our display business, Q3 revenue was USD 6.4 million, down 89.1% year-over-year and 77.6% sequentially.

These results were primarily due to the supply shortages of 28 nm 12 in OLED wafers in the H2 of this year that impacted design and projects from our large panel customer in Korea, which are typically awarded in advance based on future wafer supply allocation. In addition, Chinese COVID lockdowns and the dramatic slowdown in consumer spending as a result of global inflationary pressures reduced demand for smartphones, particularly in China, and resulted in an oversupply of channel inventories. This caused our large customer in Korea to significantly reduce orders to normalize inventory levels. Unfortunately, we believe these poor dynamics will continue in the near future, but we expect inventory levels will normalize by the middle of next year.

As the global geopolitical situation and economy remains uncertain, we are focusing on executing the initiatives that are in our control and delivering a strong recovery of our display business in 2023. During Q3, we made progress in the following areas. First, regarding our new top tier panel customer, last quarter we disclosed that the timing of our mass production ramp was delayed due to the customer requesting a feature change, so we had to make modification to our product. In the beginning of October, we successfully released the new modified OLED DDIC to this customer and is now undergoing customer qualification. We anticipate this customer to complete qualification by the end of this year. However, due to the continued weak consumer demand and channel inventory oversupply in China, we expect the production to commence towards end of Q1 2023.

While this is unfortunate, the good news is that we received a second design-in project with this large customer. We are extremely excited about this new award as it presents greater volume potential than the first project and also demonstrates our committed partnership. We expect to begin taping out this new part in November this year and begin mass production in late 2023. Over the next few years, OLED production in this region of the world is expected to more than double. We are obviously excited about our growing relationship with this customer. Second, in September, we met several leading OLED manufacturers in this region, and their interests in our products are very high due to our product competitiveness and differentiated capabilities. We are continuously discussing with them for our future product business opportunities.

Third, regarding our large panel customer in Korea, last quarter, we announced we kicked off the development of two new OLED driver IC projects with them. We expect to take out one of the new projects this month and anticipate mass production by H2 of next year. Finally, regarding OLED wafer capacity, with the global economic slowdown, we are seeing more wafer availability at most foundries. As a result, we are now in discussions with multiple foundries for 2023 wafer capacity, as well as locking in agreements for longer-term supply. We believe our 2023 wafer supply will be more than 2x higher than 2022. In summary, our near-term OLED results are very disappointing, and we expect demand weakness to continue in the near future.

However, looking forward to 2023, we remain focused on executing towards a strong recovery of our OLED business, driven by a significant improvement in both wafer supply and organic demand from our top-tier customers and new design wins. Now, let's turn to the power solutions business. Q3 revenue was USD 56.4 million, down 4.2% year-over-year and 10.4% sequentially, in line with the broader slowdown we are seeing in the global economy, particularly in consumer end markets. For example, our Q3 revenue was affected by lower demand for TVs, e-bikes, smartphone, and computing applications. Similar to our display business, we expect this soft demand environment to continue in the near term as the economy further slows due to inflationary pressures and consumers work through the excess inventories that have built up in the channel.

On a positive note, our higher margin premium tier products remained resilient in Q3 and grew 5.8% year-over-year and 2.3% sequentially, driven by record demand for our IGBT product for industrial solar applications, which was up 80.4% year-over-year and 24.3% sequentially. We are extremely excited about this trend as the solar industry is benefiting from strong tailwinds, such as the rising energy prices and favorable regulatory conditions globally as the world accelerates its clean energy initiatives. In our Super Junction MOSFET product line, we continue to see resilient demand as revenue only decreased 0.7% sequentially, despite slowdown from TVs that was mostly offset from strengths in industrial applications like LED lighting due to higher energy efficiency requirements.

During the quarter, we were also awarded several new design wins with our 600 and 650-volt Super Junction MOSFET with a leading TV manufacturer and an adapter OEM. In Q3, we continued to develop new power products. In September, we introduced a new 200-volt medium voltage MOSFET that incorporates a third-generation trench technology that reduces capacitance by 50% versus the prior generation and significantly improves energy efficiency as a result of faster switching and a higher power density. This product is able to operate in temperature between negative 55 degrees Celsius and 175 degrees Celsius and is perfect for light EV motor controllers and industrial power supplies requiring high efficiency and stable power supply in various rough conditions.

To summarize, our power solution business is not immune to slowdowns in the broader economy, but we are confident our technology, diversified product portfolio, and product roadmap will help us remain resilient and recover with the market. With that said, we are cautious of the semi cycle we are entering and are planning to reduce our 2023 CapEx spending by nearly 60% from 2020 levels. Shinyoung will provide more details in our section. In closing, unfortunately, everyone is already too familiar with the inflationary environment that's pressuring consumer spending. Not to mention the other challenges like Ukraine, trade tensions between U.S. and China, and the energy crisis in Europe.

However, we have a strong balance sheet to weather this down cycle, and we continue to remain focused on executing our 2023 recovery plan. We are making progress by winning new designs with our panel customers and expanding customers, as well as revitalizing new products in both of our businesses. In addition, our OLED wafer capacity challenges will be resolved next year, and we are looking forward to a return to growth. Before I turn the call over to Shinyoung, I do want to address the CHIPS and Science Act that was enacted in October. At this moment, we do not expect any direct impact on our business in connection with its policies as our product utilizes legacy technologies. Now, I turn the call over to Shinyoung to go over Q3 results and give our Q4 guidance. Shinyoung?

Shinyoung Park
CFO, Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

Thank you, YJ, and welcome to everyone on the call. Let's start with key financial metrics for Q3. Total revenue in Q3 was USD 71.2 million, down 29.8% sequentially and down 43.9% year-over-year. Revenue from the Standard Products business was USD 62.8 million, down 31.2% from Q2 and down 46.5% year-over-year. As YJ already mentioned, both the sequential and year-over-year decreases were mainly attributable to the supply constraints for wafers in our OLED business and slow demand for Chinese and Korean smartphone models as a result of the global downturn in the smartphone market. Revenue from our power solutions business was USD 56.4 million, down 10.4% sequentially and down 4.2% year-over-year.

The sequential decline was due to a slowdown in TV, e-bikes, and computing applications affected by COVID lockdowns in China, although partially offset by higher demand in solar and industrial. Gross profit margin in Q3 was 24.2%, below the low end of our guidance range, as we recorded a USD 3.3 million charge to scrap 12 in wafers as a result of slowing demand caused by elevated smartphone inventories in China. Excluding this charge, our gross profit margin would have been 28%, slightly above the high end of our guidance range. In addition to the scrap cost, our lower gross profit margin year-over-year was driven by a lower utilization rate at Fab 3, higher third-party foundry costs, and unfavorable product mix. Turning now to operating expenses.

Q3 SG&A was USD 11.4 million as compared to USD 12.7 million in Q2, 2022, and USD 12.6 million in Q3 last year. Q3 R&D was USD 13.3 million as compared to USD 13.4 million in Q2, 2022, and USD 12.3 million in Q3 last year. Stock compensation charges included in operating expenses were USD 0.9 million in Q3, compared to USD 2 million in Q2 and USD 2 million in Q3, 2021. In Q3, our operating loss was USD 10 million compared to operating income of USD 2 million in Q2 and USD 20 million in Q3, 2021.

Adjusted operating loss in Q3 was USD 6.6 million compared to adjusted operating income of USD 4.8 million in Q2 and USD 22.7 million in Q3 a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA in Q3 was -USD 3 million compared to USD 8.5 million in Q2 and USD 26.4 million in Q3 a year ago. We recognize a tax benefit of USD 3.9 million in Q3, due primarily to pre-tax book loss of our operating entity in Korea, mainly driven by non-cash foreign currency translation losses in connection with its intercompany loans. For the full year 2022, we expect GAAP tax to fall in the range of a benefit of USD 2 million to an expense of USD 4 million, excluding the impact of any further FX volatility.

This wide range is due to multiple tax items in multiple jurisdictions, such as realized foreign currency gains at our operating entity in Korea, expected U.S. taxes from the application of Section 174 of the U.S. Tax Code and other book and cash tax timing differences. Net loss in Q3 was USD 17.2 million, as compared with USD 3.3 million in Q2 and a USD 7.8 million in Q3 a year ago. Our GAAP diluted loss per share in Q3 was USD 0.38, as compared with a loss per share of USD 0.07 in Q2 and earnings per share of USD 0.23 in Q3 last year. Our non-GAAP diluted earnings per share in Q3 was USD 0.02, down from USD 0.23 in Q2 and down from USD 0.42 in Q3 last year.

Our diluted shares outstanding for the quarter were about 45.7 million shares, which reflects shares repurchased as part of our extended share repurchase program that we announced in mid-September, and we continue to exercise the buybacks that was authorized by the board. Moving to the balance sheet. Our cash balance at the end of Q3 was USD 250.8 million. This compares to USD 273.8 million at the end of Q2. Accounts receivable net totaled USD 36.8 million, decreased 38.5% from Q2. Our days sales outstanding for Q3 was 47 days, and 54 days in Q2. The decrease in accounts receivable net in Q3 was attributable to the decrease in quarterly revenue, along with the timing of related payments from certain customers.

Inventories net totaled USD 37.3 million compared to USD 36.2 million in Q2. Our average days inventory for Q3 was 64 days and 45 days in Q2. Regarding our CapEx plan, Q3 CapEx was USD 10.3 million, and we now anticipate total 2022 capital expenditures to be approximately USD 23.5 million, which is lower than our prior plan of USD 20 million, including about USD 8 million special CapEx for factory capacity upgrade. This reduction is a result of negotiating better pricing terms and delaying the deployment of certain capital equipment. For 2023, we now anticipate CapEx to be approximately USD 10 million, which is nearly 60% lower from the 2022 level. Before turning to our guidance, I want to provide some clarity on our year-to-date and Q3 cash flows that you see in our financial statements.

As a result of this year's Korean won volatility against the U.S. dollars, our reporting translation from functional currency Korean won to U.S. dollars may provide a confusing operating cash flow picture. On a pro forma basis, excluding the impact of FX translation, our operating cash flow for the quarter was about -USD 450,000. From a commercial standpoint, the majority of our sales are contractually in U.S. dollars, but about half of our spending are denominated in Korean won. Our cash balance is also predominantly in U.S. dollars. Therefore, our policy is to hedge the risk of U.S. dollars being weaker than our expectation by entering into certain hedging instruments, whose impact turns out to be negative to our revenue in the recent quarters due to the current Korean won volatility against the U.S. dollars. Now moving to our Q4 guidance.

While actual results may vary, for Q4, Magnachip currently expects revenue to be in the range of USD 57 million-USD 62 million, including about USD 7 million of transition of factory foundry services. Our Q4 guidance includes an estimated USD 5 million revenue loss from foreign currency exchange hedging instruments. Gross profit margin to be in the range of 26%-28%. Thank you. Now I'll turn the call back over to Yujia . Yujia?

Yujia Zhai
Investor Relations Representative, The Blueshirt Group

Thanks, Shinyoung. That concludes the prepared remarks section of this earnings call. Operator, please begin the Q&A session.

Operator

Certainly. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. Once again, to ask a question, please press star one one. One moment, please. Our first question comes from [audio distortion] with Needham & Company.

Rajvindra Singh Gill
Managing Director and Semiconductors and Automotive Technology Research, Needham & Company

Yeah, thanks for taking my questions. YJ , just a few questions on the OLED business. You talked about the smartphone inventory levels won't normalize until mid-2023. Just wondering if you could, you know, from your vantage point, characterize the amount of channel inventory that exists in the Chinese handset market right now. The market's been coming down in terms of units all year, but it doesn't seem like we're still at the bottom yet. Just any clarity on how much channel inventory is still there? Your comment about mid-2023, if I think I heard you correctly, maybe provide some insight on that timeframe.

YJ Kim
CEO, Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

Yes, Raj, thanks for asking the question. You know, we can't really tell each customer by customer or the vendor, silicon vendor by silicon vendor, but that's the signs that we see for ourselves. I think you know, as you know that we have a new product that we taped out and sampled, and it being qualified, we expect to go to production in first half with that product. We also built a lot of inventories between Q2 and Q3 this year. We expect to consume that in the first half and middle of next year. Then, you know, we expect to tape out two new product this month, and that we expect to go to production by H2 .

Our, you know, comments based on that knowledge with our customers and our programs, but I can't say for the industry and what they may be. That's what we can say.

Rajvindra Singh Gill
Managing Director and Semiconductors and Automotive Technology Research, Needham & Company

Got it. Okay. It makes sense. You mentioned that you are, you know, you're seeing, you know, shortages on 20 nm 12 in that impacted your design and panel at Samsung Display. You also mentioned that, because of the reduction in demand, that there is more capacity that's being freed up. Particularly in 2023. Just kind of reconcile, I guess, what's happening on 28 nm, 12 in and kind of the commentary about 2023.

YJ Kim
CEO, Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

Yes. You know, we have qualified three 20 nm and, you know, with the slowdown in the economy, we do see better availability. We are working with all the foundries and working out the arrangement and allocation for 2023 and 2024. We do have either written or verbal commitment from our partners. We see more activity as a result as our customers also crosscheck with the foundries. We see more RFQs that's coming in from our customers. Also there have been more top-level meeting involving myself with our customers. You know, we are working to come out and recover next year and beyond.

Rajvindra Singh Gill
Managing Director and Semiconductors and Automotive Technology Research, Needham & Company

Got it. Just last question, you know, you're sitting on, you know, USD 250 million of cash on the balance sheet. The market cap is currently sitting around USD 460 million, so almost half of the market cap is in cash. What are the intentions for that cash on the balance sheet given where your stock price is now? Thank you.

YJ Kim
CEO, Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

Yeah. You know, we do have a strategy review committee that's formed, and we are looking at every option to maximize shareholder value. One of them is a stock buyback, which we started to implement, and we're still doing that. We're looking at all the various means to maximize shareholder value. Also, during this downturn, strong balance sheet will help us come out of the downturn as well.

Rajvindra Singh Gill
Managing Director and Semiconductors and Automotive Technology Research, Needham & Company

Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Martin Yang with Oppenheimer.

Martin Yang
Managing Director and Senior Analyst, Oppenheimer

Hi, YJ. Thank you for taking my question. Can you first talk about some of the associated expenses that potentially will be invested in relating to the new customers you're engaging in China?

Shinyoung Park
CFO, Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

That's Martin. I mean, well, currently we are incurring some R&D expenses, and that's why you are seeing that, I mean, our OpEx in Q3 was a little lower. That's mainly due to some kind of write-down of our stock compensation expenses. I mean, our R&D is not really going down, and that's mainly due to kind of to support those design R&D activities to support the new panel customer.

Martin Yang
Managing Director and Senior Analyst, Oppenheimer

Got it. As you expand your business in China, do you see, you know, how has the COVID-related restrictions impact your business development activities in China?

YJ Kim
CEO, Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

Yeah, Martin, this is YJ. Thank you. I mean, we send our engineers and FAEs there. They have to go through quarantine just like anyone else. It doesn't, you know, deter us from working with our new customer. We're hoping that China becomes more available and reduce quarantine and trades more freely with the Western parts of the world.

Martin Yang
Managing Director and Senior Analyst, Oppenheimer

Thank you. Last question from me. Are you seeing any capacity constraints for yourself, either at 28 nm or 40 nm today?

YJ Kim
CEO, Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

You know, most of our product in OLED is 20 nm. We are seeing more availability of those. As I said before, we have three foundries that we have qualified 20 nm. Either written or verbally, we have a better commitment for 2023 and 2024. We expect to you know have long-term supply agreements with many of them and also grow the business together. We are excited to see that the capacity will not be a limiting factor, but more design wins. We started to see the design win activities picked up.

Martin Yang
Managing Director and Senior Analyst, Oppenheimer

Got it. Thank you very much. That's it for me.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Suji Desilva with Roth Capital.

Suji Desilva
Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst, Roth Capital Partners

Hi, YJ and Shinyoung. For the China business, I'm curious what the foundries you're securing. Do you have domestic China foundry supply available to support that, just to reduce de-risk kind of the geopolitical potential issues?

YJ Kim
CEO, Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

Yeah, Suji, hi. You know, we have the older 12 in foundries, as you know, is located outside Korea. You know, other than the GlobalFoundries, we haven't really disclosed. You know, we are working out through the geopolitical situation as well as make sure that the customers, our panel customers are comfortable using the foundry that we choose for them. That's how we work out the relationship. That's what we are doing.

Suji Desilva
Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst, Roth Capital Partners

Okay. That helps me understand that. Thanks. For the power business, you said that was impacted by consumer spending. How does the next few quarters kind of lay out for that? Is there inventory that has to be worked down in that segment, or is that, you know, maybe kind of reaching toward the back end of that inventory adjustment?

YJ Kim
CEO, Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

As I said before today, the consumer segment seems to be a little soft, but we still see strong industrial and the other premium product lines. As soon as the consumer sector becomes more normalized, I think we should be okay. That's our current outlook, obviously, at this time.

Suji Desilva
Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst, Roth Capital Partners

Okay. My last question is on the gross margin. You know, beyond the guidance for Q4, what's the intermediate term outlook here, maybe into 2023? What are some of the puts and takes on gross margin we should be thinking about as the year progresses?

Shinyoung Park
CFO, Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

I mean, we only guide one quarter at a time, so we haven't really guided for the full year 2023. Gross margin, there are like multiple factors like that's affecting our gross margin. The product mix, obviously, but at the same time utilization of our internal fab and foundry cost, external foundry cost for 12 in wafers note that we're gonna be impacting our 2023. We don't really disclose our kind of target for 2023, but we are trying to get back to a little. 'Cause the past two quarters, we had kinda one-time hit from the recognition of the inventory reserves and the scrap costs. We are trying to kinda get back to some normalized levels next year.

Suji Desilva
Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst, Roth Capital Partners

Okay. Thanks, Shinyoung. Thanks, YJ.

Operator

Thank you.

YJ Kim
CEO, Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation

Thank you.

Operator

I'm showing no further questions. I'll now hand the call back over to investor relations representative, Yujia Zhai, for any closing remarks.

Yujia Zhai
Investor Relations Representative, The Blueshirt Group

Thanks, operator. That concludes our Q3 earnings conference call. Please look for details of our future events on Magnachip's Investor Relations website. Thanks, everyone. Take care.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

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