NASDAQ:CAMT Camtek Q3 2024 Earnings Report $68.57 +2.69 (+4.08%) Closing price 05/2/2025 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$68.56 -0.01 (-0.01%) As of 05/2/2025 07:14 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast Camtek EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.75Consensus EPS $0.69Beat/MissBeat by +$0.06One Year Ago EPS$0.46Camtek Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$112.30 millionExpected Revenue$108.51 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$3.79 millionYoY Revenue Growth+39.50%Camtek Announcement DetailsQuarterQ3 2024Date11/12/2024TimeBefore Market OpensConference Call DateTuesday, November 12, 2024Conference Call Time9:00AM ETUpcoming EarningsCamtek's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Thursday, May 8, 2025, with a conference call scheduled at 9:00 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Q1 2025 Earnings ReportConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by Camtek Q3 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrNovember 12, 2024 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 12 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I would like to welcome all of you to Camtek's results Zoom webinar. My name is Kenny Green, and I am part of the Investor Relations team at Camtek. All participants, other than the presenters, are currently muted. Following the formal presentation, I will provide some instructions for participating in the live Q and A session. Operator00:00:19I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded, and the recording will be available on Camtek's Web site from tomorrow. With me today on the call, we have Mr. Rafi Amik, Camtek's CEO Mr. Moshe Eisenberg, Camtek's CFO and Mr. Rami Lango, Camtek's COO. Operator00:00:44Rafi will open by providing an overview of Camtek's results and discuss recent market trends. Moshe will then summarize the financial results of the quarter. Following that, Rafi Moshe and Rami will be available to take your questions. Before we start, I would like to note that certain statements made on this call constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended and the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may use terminology such as believes, expects, may, will, should, anticipates, plans or similar expressions to identify forward looking statements. Operator00:01:27Such statements reflect only current beliefs, expectation and assumptions of Camtek. However, actual results, performance or achievements of Camtek may differ materially as they are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those that are described in Camtek's most recent Annual Report on Form 20 F and as may be supplemented from time to time in Camtek's Camtek's other filings with the SEC, including today's earlier filing of the earnings PR, all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Camtek undertakes no obligation to update any such forward looking statements unless required by law. Camtek's public filings are available on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov and may also be obtained from Camtek's website at www.camtek.com. Operator00:02:19Also, today's call will include certain non GAAP financial numbers. For a reconciliation between GAAP and non GAAP results, please see the table included in today's press release, which is also posted on the IR section of Camtek's website. And I would now like to hand the call over to Rafi, Camtek's CEO. Rafi, please go ahead. Speaker 100:02:44Thanks, Kenny. Good morning or good afternoon, everyone. Camtek ended this quarter with a record quarterly revenue of $112,000,000 representing 40% growth compared with Q3 2023. The distribution of revenue in this quarter is as follows: around 50% of our sales were for HPC or high performance computing related products for the Q3 in a row. Approximately 20% for other applications of advanced packaging and the rest were split between other segments. Speaker 100:03:34This trend in product mix resulted in favorable profitability parameters of 51% gross margin and slightly over 30% operating margin. The main growth driver in the semiconductor market continues to be HPC modules for generative AI for which we are a key equipment provider. The demand in the HPC segment remained healthy, and overall, we expect the contribution of HPC to our business this year to be around 50%. Our future forecast take into consideration a positive HPC trend. From order we have on hand, in our pipeline and from discussion with customers, we expect demand for our system for HPC related products to continue into 2025. Speaker 100:04:42We also see increased demand for our systems for a wide range of other applications. Based on our current order flow, backlog and pipeline, our revenue guidance for the Q4 is around $115,000,000 representing about 30% growth year over year with sequential growth in Q1 2025. Given the guidance for Q4, we expect 2024 to be a record year for Camtek with revenue around $427,000,000 representing 35% growth year over year. Our expectation is that 2025 will be another year of growth. During Semicon Taiwan, in early September, we introduced our 5th generation of the Eagle system, Eagle G5. Speaker 100:05:49The new system offers superior wafer throughput coupled with improved optical resolution, meeting both current market demand and the customer's future roadmap. Since the introduction, as we announced last week, we have already received order for over $20,000,000 with delivery starting in Q4 this year. This system is the first in several new products that we have been developing in the recent years and will provide inspection and metrology solutions for the upcoming advanced packaging technologies that are characterized by the fine pitch or micro bump and hybrid bonding interconnects. In addition to the Eagle G5, which has been officially presented, we also introduced our new and advanced system for the next generation of advanced packaging to several key customers. Some of them have already installed the new system for qualification, while others have placed initial orders for it. Speaker 100:07:14This new system will be officially launched in Semicon Korea in the beginning of 2025 and is expected to contribute tens of 1,000,000 of dollars already within 2025. I would like to add a comment about the confusing estimates regarding the growth forecast of the HPC segment in 2025. Our understanding is that the demand for HPC modules continues to be high, and the reason some see a slowdown is due to a lack of production capacity. The the cornerstones of HPC modules are logic and HBM components and the 2.5 d substrate that pack all the components into 1 module. In our caution opinion, the bottleneck is currently due to missing capacity of 2.5 D substrates. Speaker 100:08:22We estimate that this bottleneck will be released in 2025. The strong order flow and backlog for delivery in 2025 gives us a relatively clear long term vision, which allows us to organize our operations efficiently to meet the expected demand, and as indicated in previous calls, we are adding new manufacturing capacity in Europe that will start operating in 2025. To sum it up, I am excited about our business and outlook and expect 2025 to be another year of growth. And now Moshe will review the financial result. Moshe? Speaker 200:09:14Thanks, Raffi. In my financial summary ahead, I will provide the results on a non GAAP basis. The reconciliation between the GAAP results and the non GAAP results appear in the tables at the end of the press release issued earlier today. Revenue for the Q3 came in at a record $112,300,000 an increase of 40% compared with the Q3 of 2023 and a sequential increase of 10% from the Q2 of 2024. The geographic revenue split for the quarter was as follows: Asia was 87%, U. Speaker 200:09:54S. And Europe accounted for 13%. Gross profit for the quarter was $57,100,000 The gross margin for the quarter was 50.8%, similar to the Q2 of 2024 and improved from 49% in the Q3 of 2023. This is within our expected range with the changes from prior periods mainly due to product mix in the quarter and increased revenue from last year. We expect similar levels in the next couple of quarters. Speaker 200:10:31Operating expenses in the quarter were $22,900,000 compared to $18,600,000 in the Q3 of last year and $21,600,000 in the previous quarter. The increase is mostly due to a planned expansion to support growth of operations and the continued investment in the development of new products referred to by Rafi. We expect a similar level of OpEx in Q4 as well. Operating profit in the quarter was $34,200,000 compared to the $22,200,000 reported in the Q3 of last year and $30,800,000 in the previous quarter. The increase is mostly due to the increase in revenue and the improvement in the gross profit from last year. Speaker 200:11:26Operating margin was 30.4% compared to 30% and 27.6% respectively. Financial income for the quarter was $6,400,000 compared to the $5,700,000 reported in the Q3 of last year and $5,000,000 in the previous quarter. The increase is mostly due to the increased cash balances and the positive impact of exchange rate differences. Net income for the Q3 of 2024 was $37,000,000 or $0.75 per diluted share. This is compared to a net income of $25,200,000 or $0.51 per share in the Q3 of last year. Speaker 200:12:16Total number diluted of shares as of the end of the Q3 was $49,400,000 Turning to the balance sheet and the cash flow metrics. Cash and cash equivalents, including short and long term deposits and marketable securities as of September 30, 2024 were $489,000,000 This compared with $454,000,000 at the end of the second quarter. We generated $36,000,000 in cash from operations in the quarter on the back of an increased revenue and profitability and strong collection. Inventory level increased by $7,000,000 to $116,000,000 The increase over the previous quarter is to support the anticipated sales growth in the coming quarters. Accounts receivables increased slightly from $68,200,000 to $70,700,000 in the quarter. Speaker 200:13:19I'm especially pleased to report that our days sales outstanding continue to improve and they now stand at just 57 days, down from over 100 days last year. As Rafi said before, we expect revenue of around $115,000,000 in the Q4 with sequential growth in Q1 of 2025. And with that, Rafi, Rami and I will be open the call to take your questions. Operator00:13:50Thank you, Moshe. At this time, we'll begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please raise your hand on the Zoom platform. I'll introduce you and Our first question will be from Charles Hsie of Needham. Charles, you may go ahead. Speaker 300:14:17Yes. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Thanks for the color. Look, the Camtek's understanding about the HPC market going forward with respect to the pretty much a lot of noise about HVM overcapacity concerns. Speaker 300:14:41So I do want to ask a little bit more on this topic because from your perspective, it does sound like the chiplet side of the HPC demand, maybe it will be stronger next year given that it seems like it's the bottleneck for the industry. But on the other hand, it does sound like on the HBM alone, not just the overall HPC, on the HBM alone, you are still expecting a good year next year. I want to understand if this is the understanding of the management, maybe add Chipot grow a little bit faster next year, HBM still grow but not growing as much as the chiplet side. I wonder if this is the case. Speaker 400:15:33Hi, Charles. This is Rami. No, Look, this is enhanced, and I think in Rafi in his prepared notes, the HPC includes the triplets and the HBMs. And they basically go hand by hand, and the growth will be together. Now what we do see, you know, it's a quarter by quarter and, you know, it depends on the order entry. Speaker 400:15:58So it's not that every order we get exactly the same percentages, they may differ from quarter to quarter. But as we go into 'twenty five, we expect to see a similar pattern as this year with growth on both the giblet side and the HBM side. Speaker 300:16:19Thanks. On the other hand, I think I want to ask about China used to be contributing more than 40% of the revenue for Camtek last year and the year before. But what's the expectation for China this year as a percentage of revenue? And any early view on 2025, whether that the China contribution will go up or stay where it is this year or go down? Thanks. Speaker 400:16:52So first of all, this year, it will be lower. It will be in the range of about 30% to 35%. Going into 'twenty five, China in general seems the business seems to be solid, seems to be healthy. So we expect it will be at least similar or maybe a little bit larger than this year. But all in all, China continues to invest. Speaker 300:17:22Thanks. Operator00:17:25Thanks, Charles. Our next question is going to be from Brian Chin of Stifel. Brian, you may go ahead and ask. Speaker 500:17:36Hi, there. Good afternoon. Thanks for letting us ask a few questions. Maybe given with the commentary around kind of explaining some of the confusion about whether a slowdown or pause that some suppliers maybe have referenced around AI advanced packaging is more supply or demand related. You talked about constraints for advanced packaging substrates. Speaker 500:18:05I'm curious when in 2025 do you think those constraints will be relieved? And do you see that impacting either your 4Q revenue outlook or revenue trajectory into Q1 of next year? Speaker 400:18:17So let's see what we see today and what we see. So first of all, we continue to see a positive trend of the HPC, which means both the 2.5 day substrates and the HBM. Now, we continue to see the pattern. We feel very comfortable based on our backlog and our pipeline regarding the business in Q4. And we said that there will be a sequential growth into the Q1 of 2025. Speaker 400:18:51And this is something that is very visible to us. Looking ahead, definitely, we believe that HPC will be a main contributor to our business next year. To go into better or more accurate numbers, obviously, it is a little bit too early. But we are very confident about the Q4 and the Q1. Speaker 500:19:16Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe referencing the new product and then being sensitive that it hasn't formally or won't be formally introduced into Q1 until Q1 of next year. But since you have referenced it in the slide, can you share some details on maybe the types of applications for this new product or 1,000,000, maybe $20,000,000 $30,000,000 something like that, contribution $25,000,000 What's the addressable market? And I guess also in terms of that tens of 1,000,000, do you think it will be more Q1 first half or second half or kind of across the year? Speaker 400:20:04So, first of all, of course, we will start the launch and gradually ramp it up to production. So, there will be an increased revenues over the year, as this is a new product. And I think Rafi discussed it in his prepared remarks. This is a high end product that will go side by side with the Eagle. It will go to the higher end applications. Speaker 400:20:31We're talking about here obviously inspection what we call 2 d capabilities where we're looking at much faster machine and also with the ability to see much smaller than defects than we are currently that we currently inspect on the Eagle machine. So, basically, this is application such as the hybrid bonding and other applications in the advanced packaging such as the discussion that, you know, the number of bumps is going up to 100 of millions of bumps per wafer with very fine pitch going down to 5 micron pitch. These are the kind of applications that this machine will address. Rafi, you want to add anything? Speaker 100:21:18No, I think actually you summarized very well and okay. If they understand the roadmap of the customer, where they want to go or what does it mean, you know, small pitch to go from 15 micron to 5, 6, or 8 micron? What does it mean in term of amount of bumps? All of it, you cannot do it with the current system because you need much more, I would say, better accuracy and also customer expect higher throughput. So this is totally a new platform that can meet this type of demand. Speaker 500:22:03Okay. Maybe just one quick clarification on that. Do you think that in terms of this increased sensitivity and productivity, do you think that sort of is ushered in with HBM4 as an example and maybe more TSV interconnects? Is that sort of an example of where these capabilities would be required? Speaker 400:22:26Well, you know, I wouldn't go now to specific applications as TSVs, but in general, the capabilities of this machine in the inspection space are far more superior than what we can achieve on our current machines. From the total available market, definitely, it will substantially increase our total available market. It's hard for us to say at this stage to take a number, but definitely, it will significantly increase it. Speaker 600:22:57Okay. Speaker 500:22:58Thank you. Operator00:23:00Thanks, Brian. Our next question is going to be from Tom O'Malley from Barclays. Tom, you may go ahead and ask. Speaker 700:23:09Hey, guys. Thank you for taking my questions. So this is Kyle Blustein on for Tom. The first question I have is, last earnings, you guys kind of talked about countries investing in domestic manufacturing as one of your growth drivers, and it seems like most of your geos were up sequentially. So my question is, how much of like that sequential growth was from like the memory guys in each country, either increasing orders or versus some of those domestic initiatives that you guys talked about last time? Speaker 200:23:38We're not sure that we fully understand the question. If you can just repeat it again for us. Speaker 700:23:45Sure. So like one of on the last earnings call, you guys mentioned sovereign growth being like a potential driver that companies invested like independent like semiconductor assets to build up their domestic manufacturing. So with all your geos pretty much doing better sequentially, I was curious like how much of that is from like are you seeing from those countries like initiatives for domestic manufacturing versus just some of your large like memory customers in Korea or the U. S. Increasing their own orders? Speaker 700:24:11Like if there's like kind of sizing split of what caused the sequential increase? Speaker 400:24:16So I think our discussion on longer term geographic diversity of manufacturing, this is something that is ongoing, but it's not something that happened this quarter. And I think we will see probably new facilities in different geographies going up. It will take some time. But I think definitely from longer term prediction, definitely will contribute to our business, but it's not in the short term. Speaker 700:24:43Okay. That makes a lot of sense. And then just a quick follow-up on that. You talked about like your new capacity that you guys are building in Europe. Do you what is like the total revenue number that you guys are able to support? Speaker 700:24:53I think last time I have it, it was greater than $600,000,000 And like, you have, like, an expectation of I know this is, like, a longer term trail question, like, when you might be able to get closer to filling that capacity or when you would need to increase it again? Speaker 400:25:07So at this stage, in our current capacity, in our current facility, we can go over 600,000,000. We are adding at least 10% in this European location, which will happen next year. So this will bring us closer to 660 and that capacity can be grown further. So definitely from capacity point of view, we don't have any limitations to grow in the foreseeable future. Speaker 700:25:36All right. Awesome. Thank you guys for taking my questions. Operator00:25:40Thanks, Tom. Our next question will be from Craig Ellis from B. Riley. Craig, you may go ahead and ask. Speaker 800:25:49Thanks for taking the question, guys, and congratulations on the NICE execution. I wanted to start just by asking a contextual question for some of the NICE comments around the Q4 guide and the Q1 strength. And that is, can you comment a little bit on what you've seen over the last 3 months with just pipeline discussions with customers on the chiplet and HBM side and the degree to which activity is trending versus what you saw in the first half of the year or accelerating or decelerating as we think about the implications for 2025? Speaker 400:26:36You know, it's obviously, there is a lot of discussions about HBM and you know how much the capacity will grow and the 2.5 gs substrates. From the discussions with our customers, most of the players are very optimistic and continue to add capacity. So we don't see at this stage something that is going slow or less optimism. I think there is a lot of the discussions are ongoing. And then it's you know, it goes to a customer by customer. Speaker 400:27:14Some are ready to commit and asking for slots. Some are a little bit more hesitant. But overall, I think the atmosphere specifically about the HPC in general is positive. Speaker 800:27:31That's helpful, Rami. And to clarify some of those comments, are you seeing yet because we're seeing it reported especially out of Eastern press, intends to pull in either HBM4 or 16 high or 20 high stacks. Are you seeing customers engaged at the pipeline level for those things? Or is that still further out in time? Speaker 400:27:58I think it's a little bit further out in time. I don't think there is a pulling at this stage. Speaker 800:28:03Got it. And then looking at the color on calendar 'twenty five continuing to reiterate growth potential. The question is after all the attention on chiplets and HBM, can you comment on the degree to which other things, whether it's a recovery in the CMOS image sensor side of the business, things like the potential benefit from specialty materials, so where silicon carbide or other things are going to contribute to growth next year? Thank you. Speaker 600:28:40[SPEAKER THOMAS E. SALMON BERRY GLOBAL GROUP, INC.:] Salmon Berry Global Group, Speaker 400:28:41Inc.:] So that's interesting. You're asking, yes, it is. Actually, CMOS image sensors is starting to we're seeing a lot of interest, a lot of discussions from customers. And it seems that this market is going to contribute a lot more than it has contributed over the last couple of years that this business was pretty down. So definitely, there is growth there. Speaker 400:29:04I think on the fan out, there is going to be more activities than we saw lately. So definitely, we're seeing interest in actually shipping machines to these applications. We are seeing more and more front end applications and we are getting more market traction and I think we will make some progress or increase our market share. And definitely silicon carbide, which was very low in the last 12 months was not really in a good shape. I think it's starting to pick up. Speaker 800:29:37Got it. And is the silicon carbide point a point that dovetails with growth in China next year? Or is that another region, Srami? Speaker 400:29:47I think it's also China. Speaker 800:29:51Got it. Thanks, guys. Appreciate the help. Operator00:29:54Thank you. Thanks, Craig. Our next question is going to be from Gus Richard of Northland. Gus, you may go ahead. Speaker 600:30:04Thanks for taking the questions and congratulations on the strong results. I'm curious about the increase in demand for fan out. Can you provide any more color on what that application is? Is it mobile phones? Is it regular PCs? Speaker 600:30:22Can you just talk a little bit about where that's coming from? Speaker 400:30:27This is coming from OSAT. So here, we don't really see the application. They're sort of very careful about letting you know we sometimes they need support in the application. Sometimes they don't even need that. But what I'm seeing is more requests for fan out. Speaker 400:30:46I do not have the information about the specific applications here. Speaker 600:30:55Got it. And okay. I think that's it for me. Thanks so much. Operator00:31:00All right. Fine, Gus. Thanks, Gus. Our next question is going to be from Vivek Arya from Bank of America. Vivek, you may go ahead and ask. Speaker 900:31:12This is Michael Mani on for Vivek Arya. Thanks for taking our questions. So to start, it seems like it's been well reported that one of your customers may be encountering some issues in the qualification process for their latest HBM products. So in the scenario that they might be unsuccessful in qualification, how should we think about any impact to your ability to grow next year? And should we think about this demand potentially being made up somewhere else at another customer? Speaker 900:31:41Thank you. Speaker 400:31:44This is a question that we've always been asked. If I can look at 24, I think all the players made investments. Moving forward, obviously, this may change, but then you would probably see more capacity requests on the others that are serving this market. But at least at this stage, we did not encounter any changes in our customers' plans. But I don't think this will make a major change next year. Speaker 900:32:19I see. Thank you. And just on gross margins, just what are the puts and takes for gross margins heading into next year, especially as you release these new products and they ramp it to production? Should we think about them as potential tailwinds given that they're coming at higher ASPs and what I'm assuming is a more margin accretive profile? Thanks a lot. Speaker 200:32:41Hi, Michael. This is Moshe. In the last year and a half, we've made we took certain initiatives to improve gross margin, but the main factor around gross margin is, as you said, is the product mix. We are currently operating at a range of, I would say, between 50.5 to 51.5, could be even 52. So that's kind of the range. Speaker 200:33:12It will be highly impacted by the product mix. And yes, the new product offering may be gross margin accretive, but still early to assess the contribution. And yes, we did mention that we expect tens of millions of contribution, but in the big picture, it's not going to be the majority. So it can have a slightly positive impact, but not much. Speaker 900:33:52Great. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:33:53Thank you. Operator00:33:56Thanks, Vivek. Our next question is going to be from Vedmati Shrutra from Evercore. Vedmati, you may go ahead and ask your question. Speaker 1000:34:07Thanks for taking my question. So the first one I had was, I think last quarter you talked about the HPC contribution being 50% to 60% for the total year and now it's 50%. Is there is there something in the second half that that that sort of pull down pulled it down to 50%? Just trying to make sure I I fully understand that change. Speaker 400:34:32Hi, Vedmati. This is Rami. So when we looked at the beginning of the year, we had this discussion, and we said we'll do 50% to 60% in revenues for the HPC. At that time, the revenues we assumed for this year were lower than what we eventually finished the year or going to finish the year with our estimates for the Q4. So actually, from the numbers we anticipated that we will do for the HPC, we are very close to the target. Speaker 400:35:06And therefore, the 50% is really for the good news of the whole business this year and rather bad news, it's not a bad news for the HPC there. We're really on the target that we anticipated. Speaker 1000:35:19Noted. The second question I had was more longer term. So, you know, we're transitioning into HPM 3E and then potentially HPM 4, maybe end of 25, 26. How is this impacting the inspection or the 3 d metrology intensity you're seeing on your tools? Maybe are you seeing more color on how that's shaping up to be? Speaker 400:35:45No. I don't think that we are going to see any change in the intensity. In general, we are looking for the no good guys in this part of the business. And therefore, even if the yield changes, Steel Steel are going to inspect the entire wafer to make sure there is a known good guy. From the what we are seeing, obviously, is that the HBM's are having more stacks, and this really means that we are going to scan more wafers. Speaker 400:36:16So from that point of view, as they continue into 12/16 stacks, this is good news for us from the business point of view. And, yes, we are involved in this, in the develop of the of these generations. We're working very closely with our customers, trying to add more steps in inspection and metrology. And that's something ongoing that hasn't changed in the last year, and I don't think will change at least in in 'twenty five. Speaker 1000:36:45Understood. And then on the HPM side, are you, is there a hypothesis that it's been 1 year where the capacity has doubled and tripled and now next year seems like the demand will be strong. Are the Korean manufacturers sort of looking for local suppliers within Korea that that kind of help their process? Is that is that something that's shaping up? Are you seeing more competitors, come out as as this continues to be strong? Speaker 400:37:21You know, there is in Korea a small competitor that we know very well, but I don't think we've known him for, I don't know, 10 years he's been out there. But no, I don't think that he is here a major contender in this market. I think it's really from the most of the businesses between us and Ontho, and they are also a little bit with KLA, but I think it's we are here the main players. I don't think there's really anything drastic changing in the from this point of view, and I don't see any local contenders in Korea at this stage. Speaker 1000:38:06Understood. Thank you. That's all Speaker 400:38:08from my end. Thank you. Operator00:38:10Thanks, Abati. Our next question is going to be from Blayne Curtis of Jefferies. Blayne, you may go ahead and ask. Speaker 1100:38:19Thanks so much. I have two questions. I just wanted to go back to the outlook for HBC. I mean, this has been much covered that there's lack of cleanroom space. If you look at additions of co op capacity, it does seem to incrementally go up every quarter. Speaker 1100:38:33So I'm just kind of curious, is the equipment orders a little bit more lumpy? And when you say growth in March, are you expecting it to resume there or is it further in 2025? Speaker 400:38:46So yes, first of all, you're correct that there is also a discussion about rooms, clean room space and how they are going to make and find the capacity. This has been ongoing in Taiwan for the past few quarters, but I think they are managing to find a place in getting hold of cleanroom space and that's at least the information that I have. And there are not too many competitors there or players there. So I think from capacity point of view, they are on track. I think that from the forecast that we are seeing, and I said it earlier, we have very good visibility 6 months forward. Speaker 400:39:33And of course, we understand how the business is going, but our visibility is not as good when we look further into next year. What we're seeing today is, as we said, we gave the guidance for the Q4. We will have sequential growth in the Q1. And definitely, we have a positive outlook into 'twenty five that we feel that it will be and we expect it to be a growth year. And this is more or less what we can really see today or can discuss it. Speaker 400:40:06I mean, more details about it. I think things will come more clear as we go into the beginning of finish this year, get into the beginning of next year. People will make their plans. And obviously, the picture will get clearer, but always it's around 2 quarters ahead that we really have a very good closure and understanding of the situation. Speaker 1100:40:32Thanks. And then maybe I'll reverse the question for my second one. Just if HBM, it sounds like you're not seeing a huge pickup even in Q1. So, can you talk about the strength you're seeing outside of HBC, particularly September quarter? I think you mentioned compound savings. Speaker 1100:40:47What else grew in kind of September? Where are you seeing the strength that's giving you this growth while you wait for HBM to reaccelerate? So, Speaker 400:40:57first of all, let's clear it. HBM is on track and the business is healthy into the Q1. As we said, the 4th and in the Q1 is HPC, which includes the chiplet business and the HBM, both are healthy. Where we are seeing, we're starting to see some pickup in others, as I said, signals image sensors picking up, fan out and other smaller applications that we have and definitely so. So we see a lot of interest from many other customers, a lot of ones and tools. Speaker 400:41:34We are shipping machines to about close to 40 machines every 40 customers? Close to 40 customers every quarter. So, we have a lot of smaller players that are starting to buy equipment for all kind of applications and obviously a few big ones for the agency and other applications that obviously take a larger number of machines. So if we look at the entire picture, this is where our positive outlook is coming from. Operator00:42:11Thank you. Thank you, Blaine. And that will end the question and answer session. Before I hand back over to Raffi, I would like to let you all know that in the coming hours, we will upload the recording of the conference call to the Investor Relations section of Camtek's website at camtek.com. I would like to thank everybody for joining this call and hand back to Raffi for his closing statements. Speaker 100:42:34Okay. I would like to thank you all for your continued interest in our business. I want especially to thank the employees and my management team for their tremendous performance. To our investor, I thank you for your long term support. I look forward to talking with you again next quarter. Speaker 100:42:58Thank you, and goodbye.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallCamtek Q3 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K) Camtek Earnings HeadlinesCamtek (CAMT) Projected to Post Earnings on ThursdayMay 1 at 3:51 AM | americanbankingnews.comCamtek Ltd. Shareholders Approve Proposals at Annual MeetingApril 29, 2025 | tipranks.comAltucher: Turn $900 into $108,000 in just 12 months?We are entering the final Trump Bump of our lives. But the biggest returns will not be in the stock market.May 4, 2025 | Paradigm Press (Ad)Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) Upgraded at StockNews.comApril 26, 2025 | americanbankingnews.comCamtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) & Odysight.Ai (NASDAQ:ODYS) Head to Head ContrastApril 26, 2025 | americanbankingnews.comCamtek price target lowered to $85 from $120 at BarclaysApril 24, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.comSee More Camtek Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Camtek? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Camtek and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About CamtekCamtek (NASDAQ:CAMT), together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells inspection and metrology equipment for semiconductor industry. The company provides Eagle-i, a system that delivers 2D inspection and metrology capabilities; Eagle-AP, which addresses the advanced packaging market using software and hardware technologies that deliver superior 2D and 3D inspection and metrology capabilities on the same platform; and Golden Eagle, a panel inspection and metrology system to address the challenges fanout wafer level packaging applications. It also develops automatic defect classification, which provides automatic defect classification of color images utilizing deep learning techniques to reduce and eliminate manual verification. In addition, the company offers MicroProf AP, a wafer metrology tool for applications at 3D packaging process steps; MicroProf DI, an optical inspection tool that enables inspection of structured and unstructured wafers for manufacturing process; MicroProf FE, a 2D/3D wafer metrology tool that serve front end HVM fab; MicroProf FS, an wafer metrology tool configurable for wafer foundry; MicroProf PT for hybrid metrology applications to common panel sizes; MicroProf MHU metrology tool, a material handling unit for semiconductor, MEMS, sapphire, and LED industries; MicroProf TL, an optical surface measurement tool for fully automatic 3D surface measurements; MicroProf 100, a universal surface metrology tool for determination of topography and film and sample thickness; MicroProf 200, a measuring device for contactless and non-destructive characterization of surfaces and films; and MicroProf 300, a SurfaceSens technology for quality assurance, development, and manufacturing. It serves semiconductor manufacturers, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test, integrated device manufacturers, and wafer level packaging subcontractors. Camtek Ltd. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Migdal Haemek, Israel.View Camtek ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Amazon Earnings: 2 Reasons to Love It, 1 Reason to Be CautiousMeta Takes A Bow With Q1 Earnings - Watch For Tariff Impact in Q2Palantir Earnings: 1 Bullish Signal and 1 Area of ConcernVisa Q2 Earnings Top Forecasts, Adds $30B Buyback PlanMicrosoft Crushes Earnings, What’s Next for MSFT Stock?Qualcomm's Earnings: 2 Reasons to Buy, 1 to Stay AwayAMD Stock Signals Strong Buy Ahead of Earnings Upcoming Earnings Palantir Technologies (5/5/2025)Vertex Pharmaceuticals (5/5/2025)Realty Income (5/5/2025)Williams Companies (5/5/2025)CRH (5/5/2025)Advanced Micro Devices (5/6/2025)American Electric Power (5/6/2025)Constellation Energy (5/6/2025)Marriott International (5/6/2025)Energy Transfer (5/6/2025) Get 30 Days of MarketBeat All Access for Free Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools. 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There are 12 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I would like to welcome all of you to Camtek's results Zoom webinar. My name is Kenny Green, and I am part of the Investor Relations team at Camtek. All participants, other than the presenters, are currently muted. Following the formal presentation, I will provide some instructions for participating in the live Q and A session. Operator00:00:19I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded, and the recording will be available on Camtek's Web site from tomorrow. With me today on the call, we have Mr. Rafi Amik, Camtek's CEO Mr. Moshe Eisenberg, Camtek's CFO and Mr. Rami Lango, Camtek's COO. Operator00:00:44Rafi will open by providing an overview of Camtek's results and discuss recent market trends. Moshe will then summarize the financial results of the quarter. Following that, Rafi Moshe and Rami will be available to take your questions. Before we start, I would like to note that certain statements made on this call constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended and the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may use terminology such as believes, expects, may, will, should, anticipates, plans or similar expressions to identify forward looking statements. Operator00:01:27Such statements reflect only current beliefs, expectation and assumptions of Camtek. However, actual results, performance or achievements of Camtek may differ materially as they are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those that are described in Camtek's most recent Annual Report on Form 20 F and as may be supplemented from time to time in Camtek's Camtek's other filings with the SEC, including today's earlier filing of the earnings PR, all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Camtek undertakes no obligation to update any such forward looking statements unless required by law. Camtek's public filings are available on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov and may also be obtained from Camtek's website at www.camtek.com. Operator00:02:19Also, today's call will include certain non GAAP financial numbers. For a reconciliation between GAAP and non GAAP results, please see the table included in today's press release, which is also posted on the IR section of Camtek's website. And I would now like to hand the call over to Rafi, Camtek's CEO. Rafi, please go ahead. Speaker 100:02:44Thanks, Kenny. Good morning or good afternoon, everyone. Camtek ended this quarter with a record quarterly revenue of $112,000,000 representing 40% growth compared with Q3 2023. The distribution of revenue in this quarter is as follows: around 50% of our sales were for HPC or high performance computing related products for the Q3 in a row. Approximately 20% for other applications of advanced packaging and the rest were split between other segments. Speaker 100:03:34This trend in product mix resulted in favorable profitability parameters of 51% gross margin and slightly over 30% operating margin. The main growth driver in the semiconductor market continues to be HPC modules for generative AI for which we are a key equipment provider. The demand in the HPC segment remained healthy, and overall, we expect the contribution of HPC to our business this year to be around 50%. Our future forecast take into consideration a positive HPC trend. From order we have on hand, in our pipeline and from discussion with customers, we expect demand for our system for HPC related products to continue into 2025. Speaker 100:04:42We also see increased demand for our systems for a wide range of other applications. Based on our current order flow, backlog and pipeline, our revenue guidance for the Q4 is around $115,000,000 representing about 30% growth year over year with sequential growth in Q1 2025. Given the guidance for Q4, we expect 2024 to be a record year for Camtek with revenue around $427,000,000 representing 35% growth year over year. Our expectation is that 2025 will be another year of growth. During Semicon Taiwan, in early September, we introduced our 5th generation of the Eagle system, Eagle G5. Speaker 100:05:49The new system offers superior wafer throughput coupled with improved optical resolution, meeting both current market demand and the customer's future roadmap. Since the introduction, as we announced last week, we have already received order for over $20,000,000 with delivery starting in Q4 this year. This system is the first in several new products that we have been developing in the recent years and will provide inspection and metrology solutions for the upcoming advanced packaging technologies that are characterized by the fine pitch or micro bump and hybrid bonding interconnects. In addition to the Eagle G5, which has been officially presented, we also introduced our new and advanced system for the next generation of advanced packaging to several key customers. Some of them have already installed the new system for qualification, while others have placed initial orders for it. Speaker 100:07:14This new system will be officially launched in Semicon Korea in the beginning of 2025 and is expected to contribute tens of 1,000,000 of dollars already within 2025. I would like to add a comment about the confusing estimates regarding the growth forecast of the HPC segment in 2025. Our understanding is that the demand for HPC modules continues to be high, and the reason some see a slowdown is due to a lack of production capacity. The the cornerstones of HPC modules are logic and HBM components and the 2.5 d substrate that pack all the components into 1 module. In our caution opinion, the bottleneck is currently due to missing capacity of 2.5 D substrates. Speaker 100:08:22We estimate that this bottleneck will be released in 2025. The strong order flow and backlog for delivery in 2025 gives us a relatively clear long term vision, which allows us to organize our operations efficiently to meet the expected demand, and as indicated in previous calls, we are adding new manufacturing capacity in Europe that will start operating in 2025. To sum it up, I am excited about our business and outlook and expect 2025 to be another year of growth. And now Moshe will review the financial result. Moshe? Speaker 200:09:14Thanks, Raffi. In my financial summary ahead, I will provide the results on a non GAAP basis. The reconciliation between the GAAP results and the non GAAP results appear in the tables at the end of the press release issued earlier today. Revenue for the Q3 came in at a record $112,300,000 an increase of 40% compared with the Q3 of 2023 and a sequential increase of 10% from the Q2 of 2024. The geographic revenue split for the quarter was as follows: Asia was 87%, U. Speaker 200:09:54S. And Europe accounted for 13%. Gross profit for the quarter was $57,100,000 The gross margin for the quarter was 50.8%, similar to the Q2 of 2024 and improved from 49% in the Q3 of 2023. This is within our expected range with the changes from prior periods mainly due to product mix in the quarter and increased revenue from last year. We expect similar levels in the next couple of quarters. Speaker 200:10:31Operating expenses in the quarter were $22,900,000 compared to $18,600,000 in the Q3 of last year and $21,600,000 in the previous quarter. The increase is mostly due to a planned expansion to support growth of operations and the continued investment in the development of new products referred to by Rafi. We expect a similar level of OpEx in Q4 as well. Operating profit in the quarter was $34,200,000 compared to the $22,200,000 reported in the Q3 of last year and $30,800,000 in the previous quarter. The increase is mostly due to the increase in revenue and the improvement in the gross profit from last year. Speaker 200:11:26Operating margin was 30.4% compared to 30% and 27.6% respectively. Financial income for the quarter was $6,400,000 compared to the $5,700,000 reported in the Q3 of last year and $5,000,000 in the previous quarter. The increase is mostly due to the increased cash balances and the positive impact of exchange rate differences. Net income for the Q3 of 2024 was $37,000,000 or $0.75 per diluted share. This is compared to a net income of $25,200,000 or $0.51 per share in the Q3 of last year. Speaker 200:12:16Total number diluted of shares as of the end of the Q3 was $49,400,000 Turning to the balance sheet and the cash flow metrics. Cash and cash equivalents, including short and long term deposits and marketable securities as of September 30, 2024 were $489,000,000 This compared with $454,000,000 at the end of the second quarter. We generated $36,000,000 in cash from operations in the quarter on the back of an increased revenue and profitability and strong collection. Inventory level increased by $7,000,000 to $116,000,000 The increase over the previous quarter is to support the anticipated sales growth in the coming quarters. Accounts receivables increased slightly from $68,200,000 to $70,700,000 in the quarter. Speaker 200:13:19I'm especially pleased to report that our days sales outstanding continue to improve and they now stand at just 57 days, down from over 100 days last year. As Rafi said before, we expect revenue of around $115,000,000 in the Q4 with sequential growth in Q1 of 2025. And with that, Rafi, Rami and I will be open the call to take your questions. Operator00:13:50Thank you, Moshe. At this time, we'll begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please raise your hand on the Zoom platform. I'll introduce you and Our first question will be from Charles Hsie of Needham. Charles, you may go ahead. Speaker 300:14:17Yes. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Thanks for the color. Look, the Camtek's understanding about the HPC market going forward with respect to the pretty much a lot of noise about HVM overcapacity concerns. Speaker 300:14:41So I do want to ask a little bit more on this topic because from your perspective, it does sound like the chiplet side of the HPC demand, maybe it will be stronger next year given that it seems like it's the bottleneck for the industry. But on the other hand, it does sound like on the HBM alone, not just the overall HPC, on the HBM alone, you are still expecting a good year next year. I want to understand if this is the understanding of the management, maybe add Chipot grow a little bit faster next year, HBM still grow but not growing as much as the chiplet side. I wonder if this is the case. Speaker 400:15:33Hi, Charles. This is Rami. No, Look, this is enhanced, and I think in Rafi in his prepared notes, the HPC includes the triplets and the HBMs. And they basically go hand by hand, and the growth will be together. Now what we do see, you know, it's a quarter by quarter and, you know, it depends on the order entry. Speaker 400:15:58So it's not that every order we get exactly the same percentages, they may differ from quarter to quarter. But as we go into 'twenty five, we expect to see a similar pattern as this year with growth on both the giblet side and the HBM side. Speaker 300:16:19Thanks. On the other hand, I think I want to ask about China used to be contributing more than 40% of the revenue for Camtek last year and the year before. But what's the expectation for China this year as a percentage of revenue? And any early view on 2025, whether that the China contribution will go up or stay where it is this year or go down? Thanks. Speaker 400:16:52So first of all, this year, it will be lower. It will be in the range of about 30% to 35%. Going into 'twenty five, China in general seems the business seems to be solid, seems to be healthy. So we expect it will be at least similar or maybe a little bit larger than this year. But all in all, China continues to invest. Speaker 300:17:22Thanks. Operator00:17:25Thanks, Charles. Our next question is going to be from Brian Chin of Stifel. Brian, you may go ahead and ask. Speaker 500:17:36Hi, there. Good afternoon. Thanks for letting us ask a few questions. Maybe given with the commentary around kind of explaining some of the confusion about whether a slowdown or pause that some suppliers maybe have referenced around AI advanced packaging is more supply or demand related. You talked about constraints for advanced packaging substrates. Speaker 500:18:05I'm curious when in 2025 do you think those constraints will be relieved? And do you see that impacting either your 4Q revenue outlook or revenue trajectory into Q1 of next year? Speaker 400:18:17So let's see what we see today and what we see. So first of all, we continue to see a positive trend of the HPC, which means both the 2.5 day substrates and the HBM. Now, we continue to see the pattern. We feel very comfortable based on our backlog and our pipeline regarding the business in Q4. And we said that there will be a sequential growth into the Q1 of 2025. Speaker 400:18:51And this is something that is very visible to us. Looking ahead, definitely, we believe that HPC will be a main contributor to our business next year. To go into better or more accurate numbers, obviously, it is a little bit too early. But we are very confident about the Q4 and the Q1. Speaker 500:19:16Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe referencing the new product and then being sensitive that it hasn't formally or won't be formally introduced into Q1 until Q1 of next year. But since you have referenced it in the slide, can you share some details on maybe the types of applications for this new product or 1,000,000, maybe $20,000,000 $30,000,000 something like that, contribution $25,000,000 What's the addressable market? And I guess also in terms of that tens of 1,000,000, do you think it will be more Q1 first half or second half or kind of across the year? Speaker 400:20:04So, first of all, of course, we will start the launch and gradually ramp it up to production. So, there will be an increased revenues over the year, as this is a new product. And I think Rafi discussed it in his prepared remarks. This is a high end product that will go side by side with the Eagle. It will go to the higher end applications. Speaker 400:20:31We're talking about here obviously inspection what we call 2 d capabilities where we're looking at much faster machine and also with the ability to see much smaller than defects than we are currently that we currently inspect on the Eagle machine. So, basically, this is application such as the hybrid bonding and other applications in the advanced packaging such as the discussion that, you know, the number of bumps is going up to 100 of millions of bumps per wafer with very fine pitch going down to 5 micron pitch. These are the kind of applications that this machine will address. Rafi, you want to add anything? Speaker 100:21:18No, I think actually you summarized very well and okay. If they understand the roadmap of the customer, where they want to go or what does it mean, you know, small pitch to go from 15 micron to 5, 6, or 8 micron? What does it mean in term of amount of bumps? All of it, you cannot do it with the current system because you need much more, I would say, better accuracy and also customer expect higher throughput. So this is totally a new platform that can meet this type of demand. Speaker 500:22:03Okay. Maybe just one quick clarification on that. Do you think that in terms of this increased sensitivity and productivity, do you think that sort of is ushered in with HBM4 as an example and maybe more TSV interconnects? Is that sort of an example of where these capabilities would be required? Speaker 400:22:26Well, you know, I wouldn't go now to specific applications as TSVs, but in general, the capabilities of this machine in the inspection space are far more superior than what we can achieve on our current machines. From the total available market, definitely, it will substantially increase our total available market. It's hard for us to say at this stage to take a number, but definitely, it will significantly increase it. Speaker 600:22:57Okay. Speaker 500:22:58Thank you. Operator00:23:00Thanks, Brian. Our next question is going to be from Tom O'Malley from Barclays. Tom, you may go ahead and ask. Speaker 700:23:09Hey, guys. Thank you for taking my questions. So this is Kyle Blustein on for Tom. The first question I have is, last earnings, you guys kind of talked about countries investing in domestic manufacturing as one of your growth drivers, and it seems like most of your geos were up sequentially. So my question is, how much of like that sequential growth was from like the memory guys in each country, either increasing orders or versus some of those domestic initiatives that you guys talked about last time? Speaker 200:23:38We're not sure that we fully understand the question. If you can just repeat it again for us. Speaker 700:23:45Sure. So like one of on the last earnings call, you guys mentioned sovereign growth being like a potential driver that companies invested like independent like semiconductor assets to build up their domestic manufacturing. So with all your geos pretty much doing better sequentially, I was curious like how much of that is from like are you seeing from those countries like initiatives for domestic manufacturing versus just some of your large like memory customers in Korea or the U. S. Increasing their own orders? Speaker 700:24:11Like if there's like kind of sizing split of what caused the sequential increase? Speaker 400:24:16So I think our discussion on longer term geographic diversity of manufacturing, this is something that is ongoing, but it's not something that happened this quarter. And I think we will see probably new facilities in different geographies going up. It will take some time. But I think definitely from longer term prediction, definitely will contribute to our business, but it's not in the short term. Speaker 700:24:43Okay. That makes a lot of sense. And then just a quick follow-up on that. You talked about like your new capacity that you guys are building in Europe. Do you what is like the total revenue number that you guys are able to support? Speaker 700:24:53I think last time I have it, it was greater than $600,000,000 And like, you have, like, an expectation of I know this is, like, a longer term trail question, like, when you might be able to get closer to filling that capacity or when you would need to increase it again? Speaker 400:25:07So at this stage, in our current capacity, in our current facility, we can go over 600,000,000. We are adding at least 10% in this European location, which will happen next year. So this will bring us closer to 660 and that capacity can be grown further. So definitely from capacity point of view, we don't have any limitations to grow in the foreseeable future. Speaker 700:25:36All right. Awesome. Thank you guys for taking my questions. Operator00:25:40Thanks, Tom. Our next question will be from Craig Ellis from B. Riley. Craig, you may go ahead and ask. Speaker 800:25:49Thanks for taking the question, guys, and congratulations on the NICE execution. I wanted to start just by asking a contextual question for some of the NICE comments around the Q4 guide and the Q1 strength. And that is, can you comment a little bit on what you've seen over the last 3 months with just pipeline discussions with customers on the chiplet and HBM side and the degree to which activity is trending versus what you saw in the first half of the year or accelerating or decelerating as we think about the implications for 2025? Speaker 400:26:36You know, it's obviously, there is a lot of discussions about HBM and you know how much the capacity will grow and the 2.5 gs substrates. From the discussions with our customers, most of the players are very optimistic and continue to add capacity. So we don't see at this stage something that is going slow or less optimism. I think there is a lot of the discussions are ongoing. And then it's you know, it goes to a customer by customer. Speaker 400:27:14Some are ready to commit and asking for slots. Some are a little bit more hesitant. But overall, I think the atmosphere specifically about the HPC in general is positive. Speaker 800:27:31That's helpful, Rami. And to clarify some of those comments, are you seeing yet because we're seeing it reported especially out of Eastern press, intends to pull in either HBM4 or 16 high or 20 high stacks. Are you seeing customers engaged at the pipeline level for those things? Or is that still further out in time? Speaker 400:27:58I think it's a little bit further out in time. I don't think there is a pulling at this stage. Speaker 800:28:03Got it. And then looking at the color on calendar 'twenty five continuing to reiterate growth potential. The question is after all the attention on chiplets and HBM, can you comment on the degree to which other things, whether it's a recovery in the CMOS image sensor side of the business, things like the potential benefit from specialty materials, so where silicon carbide or other things are going to contribute to growth next year? Thank you. Speaker 600:28:40[SPEAKER THOMAS E. SALMON BERRY GLOBAL GROUP, INC.:] Salmon Berry Global Group, Speaker 400:28:41Inc.:] So that's interesting. You're asking, yes, it is. Actually, CMOS image sensors is starting to we're seeing a lot of interest, a lot of discussions from customers. And it seems that this market is going to contribute a lot more than it has contributed over the last couple of years that this business was pretty down. So definitely, there is growth there. Speaker 400:29:04I think on the fan out, there is going to be more activities than we saw lately. So definitely, we're seeing interest in actually shipping machines to these applications. We are seeing more and more front end applications and we are getting more market traction and I think we will make some progress or increase our market share. And definitely silicon carbide, which was very low in the last 12 months was not really in a good shape. I think it's starting to pick up. Speaker 800:29:37Got it. And is the silicon carbide point a point that dovetails with growth in China next year? Or is that another region, Srami? Speaker 400:29:47I think it's also China. Speaker 800:29:51Got it. Thanks, guys. Appreciate the help. Operator00:29:54Thank you. Thanks, Craig. Our next question is going to be from Gus Richard of Northland. Gus, you may go ahead. Speaker 600:30:04Thanks for taking the questions and congratulations on the strong results. I'm curious about the increase in demand for fan out. Can you provide any more color on what that application is? Is it mobile phones? Is it regular PCs? Speaker 600:30:22Can you just talk a little bit about where that's coming from? Speaker 400:30:27This is coming from OSAT. So here, we don't really see the application. They're sort of very careful about letting you know we sometimes they need support in the application. Sometimes they don't even need that. But what I'm seeing is more requests for fan out. Speaker 400:30:46I do not have the information about the specific applications here. Speaker 600:30:55Got it. And okay. I think that's it for me. Thanks so much. Operator00:31:00All right. Fine, Gus. Thanks, Gus. Our next question is going to be from Vivek Arya from Bank of America. Vivek, you may go ahead and ask. Speaker 900:31:12This is Michael Mani on for Vivek Arya. Thanks for taking our questions. So to start, it seems like it's been well reported that one of your customers may be encountering some issues in the qualification process for their latest HBM products. So in the scenario that they might be unsuccessful in qualification, how should we think about any impact to your ability to grow next year? And should we think about this demand potentially being made up somewhere else at another customer? Speaker 900:31:41Thank you. Speaker 400:31:44This is a question that we've always been asked. If I can look at 24, I think all the players made investments. Moving forward, obviously, this may change, but then you would probably see more capacity requests on the others that are serving this market. But at least at this stage, we did not encounter any changes in our customers' plans. But I don't think this will make a major change next year. Speaker 900:32:19I see. Thank you. And just on gross margins, just what are the puts and takes for gross margins heading into next year, especially as you release these new products and they ramp it to production? Should we think about them as potential tailwinds given that they're coming at higher ASPs and what I'm assuming is a more margin accretive profile? Thanks a lot. Speaker 200:32:41Hi, Michael. This is Moshe. In the last year and a half, we've made we took certain initiatives to improve gross margin, but the main factor around gross margin is, as you said, is the product mix. We are currently operating at a range of, I would say, between 50.5 to 51.5, could be even 52. So that's kind of the range. Speaker 200:33:12It will be highly impacted by the product mix. And yes, the new product offering may be gross margin accretive, but still early to assess the contribution. And yes, we did mention that we expect tens of millions of contribution, but in the big picture, it's not going to be the majority. So it can have a slightly positive impact, but not much. Speaker 900:33:52Great. Thank you very much. Speaker 200:33:53Thank you. Operator00:33:56Thanks, Vivek. Our next question is going to be from Vedmati Shrutra from Evercore. Vedmati, you may go ahead and ask your question. Speaker 1000:34:07Thanks for taking my question. So the first one I had was, I think last quarter you talked about the HPC contribution being 50% to 60% for the total year and now it's 50%. Is there is there something in the second half that that that sort of pull down pulled it down to 50%? Just trying to make sure I I fully understand that change. Speaker 400:34:32Hi, Vedmati. This is Rami. So when we looked at the beginning of the year, we had this discussion, and we said we'll do 50% to 60% in revenues for the HPC. At that time, the revenues we assumed for this year were lower than what we eventually finished the year or going to finish the year with our estimates for the Q4. So actually, from the numbers we anticipated that we will do for the HPC, we are very close to the target. Speaker 400:35:06And therefore, the 50% is really for the good news of the whole business this year and rather bad news, it's not a bad news for the HPC there. We're really on the target that we anticipated. Speaker 1000:35:19Noted. The second question I had was more longer term. So, you know, we're transitioning into HPM 3E and then potentially HPM 4, maybe end of 25, 26. How is this impacting the inspection or the 3 d metrology intensity you're seeing on your tools? Maybe are you seeing more color on how that's shaping up to be? Speaker 400:35:45No. I don't think that we are going to see any change in the intensity. In general, we are looking for the no good guys in this part of the business. And therefore, even if the yield changes, Steel Steel are going to inspect the entire wafer to make sure there is a known good guy. From the what we are seeing, obviously, is that the HBM's are having more stacks, and this really means that we are going to scan more wafers. Speaker 400:36:16So from that point of view, as they continue into 12/16 stacks, this is good news for us from the business point of view. And, yes, we are involved in this, in the develop of the of these generations. We're working very closely with our customers, trying to add more steps in inspection and metrology. And that's something ongoing that hasn't changed in the last year, and I don't think will change at least in in 'twenty five. Speaker 1000:36:45Understood. And then on the HPM side, are you, is there a hypothesis that it's been 1 year where the capacity has doubled and tripled and now next year seems like the demand will be strong. Are the Korean manufacturers sort of looking for local suppliers within Korea that that kind of help their process? Is that is that something that's shaping up? Are you seeing more competitors, come out as as this continues to be strong? Speaker 400:37:21You know, there is in Korea a small competitor that we know very well, but I don't think we've known him for, I don't know, 10 years he's been out there. But no, I don't think that he is here a major contender in this market. I think it's really from the most of the businesses between us and Ontho, and they are also a little bit with KLA, but I think it's we are here the main players. I don't think there's really anything drastic changing in the from this point of view, and I don't see any local contenders in Korea at this stage. Speaker 1000:38:06Understood. Thank you. That's all Speaker 400:38:08from my end. Thank you. Operator00:38:10Thanks, Abati. Our next question is going to be from Blayne Curtis of Jefferies. Blayne, you may go ahead and ask. Speaker 1100:38:19Thanks so much. I have two questions. I just wanted to go back to the outlook for HBC. I mean, this has been much covered that there's lack of cleanroom space. If you look at additions of co op capacity, it does seem to incrementally go up every quarter. Speaker 1100:38:33So I'm just kind of curious, is the equipment orders a little bit more lumpy? And when you say growth in March, are you expecting it to resume there or is it further in 2025? Speaker 400:38:46So yes, first of all, you're correct that there is also a discussion about rooms, clean room space and how they are going to make and find the capacity. This has been ongoing in Taiwan for the past few quarters, but I think they are managing to find a place in getting hold of cleanroom space and that's at least the information that I have. And there are not too many competitors there or players there. So I think from capacity point of view, they are on track. I think that from the forecast that we are seeing, and I said it earlier, we have very good visibility 6 months forward. Speaker 400:39:33And of course, we understand how the business is going, but our visibility is not as good when we look further into next year. What we're seeing today is, as we said, we gave the guidance for the Q4. We will have sequential growth in the Q1. And definitely, we have a positive outlook into 'twenty five that we feel that it will be and we expect it to be a growth year. And this is more or less what we can really see today or can discuss it. Speaker 400:40:06I mean, more details about it. I think things will come more clear as we go into the beginning of finish this year, get into the beginning of next year. People will make their plans. And obviously, the picture will get clearer, but always it's around 2 quarters ahead that we really have a very good closure and understanding of the situation. Speaker 1100:40:32Thanks. And then maybe I'll reverse the question for my second one. Just if HBM, it sounds like you're not seeing a huge pickup even in Q1. So, can you talk about the strength you're seeing outside of HBC, particularly September quarter? I think you mentioned compound savings. Speaker 1100:40:47What else grew in kind of September? Where are you seeing the strength that's giving you this growth while you wait for HBM to reaccelerate? So, Speaker 400:40:57first of all, let's clear it. HBM is on track and the business is healthy into the Q1. As we said, the 4th and in the Q1 is HPC, which includes the chiplet business and the HBM, both are healthy. Where we are seeing, we're starting to see some pickup in others, as I said, signals image sensors picking up, fan out and other smaller applications that we have and definitely so. So we see a lot of interest from many other customers, a lot of ones and tools. Speaker 400:41:34We are shipping machines to about close to 40 machines every 40 customers? Close to 40 customers every quarter. So, we have a lot of smaller players that are starting to buy equipment for all kind of applications and obviously a few big ones for the agency and other applications that obviously take a larger number of machines. So if we look at the entire picture, this is where our positive outlook is coming from. Operator00:42:11Thank you. Thank you, Blaine. And that will end the question and answer session. Before I hand back over to Raffi, I would like to let you all know that in the coming hours, we will upload the recording of the conference call to the Investor Relations section of Camtek's website at camtek.com. I would like to thank everybody for joining this call and hand back to Raffi for his closing statements. Speaker 100:42:34Okay. I would like to thank you all for your continued interest in our business. I want especially to thank the employees and my management team for their tremendous performance. To our investor, I thank you for your long term support. I look forward to talking with you again next quarter. Speaker 100:42:58Thank you, and goodbye.Read morePowered by