Robert Bruggeworth
Chief Executive Officer at Qorvo
Thanks, Doug, and welcome, everyone, to our call. I want to begin by thanking everyone who attended our Investor Day, both in person and online. We appreciated the opportunity to share with you our strategic positioning and our enthusiasm for the future. The investor slides and a replay of the webcast are available on our IR website under Events and Presentations. Some of the investor feedback we've received is that it would be helpful to discuss our business by end market. W
E highlighted our end markets in our Investor Day presentation and our formal remarks today will also highlight our opportunities and achievements by end market. Qorvo's six primary end markets are automotive, consumer, defense and aerospace, industrial and enterprise, infrastructure and mobile. They are underpinned by global megatrends, including electrification, connectivity, mobility, sustainability, datafication and AI. These trends support new applications and new user experiences that are made accessible to end users by customers we serve and the products we enable.
Our markets are characterized by multiyear upgrade cycles, including 5G Advanced, nonterrestrial networks, WiFi six and 7, DOCSIS 4.0, Matter, ultra-wideband and others. They are also undergoing technology upgrades, such as AESA radars, advanced power management, RF MEMS and highly integrated system-level solutions, and they are seeing upgrades in the user experience like indoor navigation and force-sensing touch sensors. There are also continuous drivers that are common across markets.
These include the continuously increasing requirements for bandwidth, speed and latency, a sharp focus on power efficiency and power management and the need for system-level solutions and greater functional density. Customers' demand improvements and performance, whether it's in measure in power out, current consume, talk time or battery life. They require higher levels of performance with greater efficiency and a reduced form factor to create the differentiation that drives their position in the markets they serve. Qorvo is critical in enabling these capabilities.
Now turning to quarterly highlights. In the automotive market, we were selected to supply V2X FEMS for a leading China-based automotive V2X reference chipset platform set to ramp at multiple automotive OEMs in calendar '25. To expand automotive engagements, we are leveraging our ultra-wideband portfolio across range of applications, including secure access, digital key, kick sensors, child presence detection and detection of intrusion. We are also expanding our opportunities in EVs to include solid-state circuit breakers.
Given the small size, enhanced reliability and better thermals of our silicon carbide solutions, we enable solid-state circuit breakers that can disconnect electrical overloads in case of failure to maintain safe and efficient power distribution. For consumer markets, we secured a new engagement to supply a switch mode DC-to-DC charger for a wearable accessory for an Android OEM. We continue to expand our power management portfolio, and we are engaged to supply our newest battery management solution for power tools, scooters, e-bikes and other consumer products.
We are also supporting a range of applicants with our Matter and ultra-wideband technologies, including door locks, smart lighting and indoor navigation. We are combining Matter with ultra-wideband to support the emerging Alero standard for controlling digital access to smart homes and offices. To support global broadband deployments, Qorvo's WiFi solutions enable cellular, cable and satellite backhaul applications in developed and emerging markets.
Of note, we recently surpassed 75 million WiFi six FEMs shift into the India WiFi market. We continue to expand our WiFi portfolio, and we are seeing increasing customer interest in our two, five and six gigahertz BAW filters for WiFi CPE applications. In other consumer applications, we are expanding our customer engagements with force-sensing touch sensors primarily for laptop track pads as well as other consumer applications.
Turning to defense and aerospace. We secured design wins across segments, including AESA radars, large defense programs and satcom deployments where Qorvo participates in both the low earth orbit satellite and the ground-based consumer terminal. In D&A markets, Qorvo is the beneficiary of underlying drivers, including the trend of one-to-many, the transition of mechanical systems to active electronic scanning systems, increasing system-level functionality and size constraints requiring advanced multi-chip packaging.
During the quarter, we fully integrated the Anokiwave team into Qorvo. Our added capabilities in silicon beamforming ICs and IF to RF conversion are complementary to our transmit and receive RF front-ends as well as our power management IC portfolio. We are developing more highly integrated placements that combine our capabilities to bring greater value add to our customers.
New product launches during the quarter included three new highly integrated RF multichip modules for X-band, S-band and L-band advanced radar applications. The new modules integrate filters, switches, and amplifiers to simplify design and enable a superior performance, low noise, reduced power consumption and smaller form factor required for phased array and multifunction radar systems.
For infrastructure markets, we launched a single-chip inverse cable equalizer that is programmable in the field and electronically simulates signal loss at various cable lengths. For operators, this eliminates the additional parts and tech time required to accommodate short runs during DOCSIS 4.0 field installations. Our single-chip solution also features a switch to bypass mode that allows operators to utilize our solution in every line amplifier and field extender regardless of distance.
For massive MIMO 5G base stations, we introduced a best-in-class transmit pre-driver. It is engineered specifically for 32 node massive MIMO systems and is scalable up to 64 nodes. For industrial and enterprise markets, we are seeing continued demand for new orders for AC-to-DC high-density server power supplies. During the quarter, we began sampling the industry's first four milliohm silicon carbide JFET. It's already yes on performance of four milliohms as best-in-class on resistance among 650- to 750-volt power devices.
This is especially important for applications such as circuit protection that are migrating from traditional switch-mode static switches that are on for longer durations. This is a significant milestone for solid-state circuit breakers, and it highlights the trend we are seeing from mechanical to semiconductor-based electrical systems for residential, commercial and industrial applications.
For WiFi enterprise access points, we are engaged to supply ultra-wideband to enable indoor navigation in office buildings, shopping malls and factories. By adding ultra-wideband to WiFi access points, the access points become the anchor or reference point, enabling precision navigation for ultra-wideband-enabled devices. As an added benefit, ultra-wideband can reduce costs by identifying the optimal location for access point placement during WiFi installation.
Lastly, we're leveraging our force-sensing touch sensor technology in new industrial markets, including handheld medical devices that measure oxygen levels. Turning to mobile, which is primarily smartphones and tablets, our largest opportunity remains at our largest customer. We are investing in multiple multiyear programs to increase our content and continue to grow revenue with this customer.
Our R&D investments for future programs include products we currently supply to this customer as well as new products we are not currently supplying. Within the Android ecosystem, Qorvo remains the primary RF supplier. We collaborate with Android OEMs on their product road maps over multiple years, and we are positioned to drive growth as 4G devices move to 5G at NRR SAM.
In calendar '24, we expect Android 5G unit volumes to grow greater than 10%. We are also positioned to grow with 5G Advanced, which occurs with new releases of the 5G standard. Content drivers in 5G Advanced include an additional transmit path, nonterrestrial network connectivity and requirements for Power Class two amplifiers to increase output power, improved data throughput and extend sell-side coverage.
During the quarter, we ramped multiple new products, leveraging our newest BAW and LRT SAW processes. For an Android OEM, we commenced shipments of the most functionally dense mid-/high-band PAD in the market. This new MHB PAD integrates the diversity receive content that was historically offered in a separate SAW-based module. It is a highly complex multi-chip module that features Qorvo's internal BAW, LRT SAW and GaAs HBT as well as CMOS and silicon on insulator that we source from our foundry network.
It improves efficiency and reduces power consumption while shrinking border space requirements by approximately 35%. Within mass-market smartphones, we secured multiple design wins with our recently launched portfolio of low mid-/high-band PAD. Each LMH PAD integrates the low, mid- and high-band main PAD content that previously required two placements. This saves approximately 40% in board space, simplifies design and helps customers accelerate their time to market.
In mobile WiFi, MediaTek selected Qorvo as the exclusive supplier of WiFi seven FEMs for customers of their DX4 WiFi chipset. MediaTek's DX4 chipset and Qorvo's WiFi seven FEMs are optimized to deliver superior performance for flagship and mass market smartphones. We also expanded our ultra-wideband wins in the Android ecosystem to include an additional handset customer. Motorola's Moto X50 Ultra, which launched in the June quarter, features Qorvo's ultra-wideband SoC. This is our first win in a mid-tier smartphone and is an early indicator of ultra-widebands proliferating across mass market smartphone portfolios.
At a high level, the Qorvo team continues to deliver operational excellence. We are investing in core strengths to differentiate our products while executing on cost initiatives and productivity improvements to reduce our capital intensity to structurally enhance our gross margin. As we committed to during our Investor Day in June, we are migrating to larger wafer diameters. During the June quarter, we successfully completed our migration to 8-inch BAW and our BAW lines are now exclusively 8-inch.
We're also committed to a model of long-term growth in each operating segment, with R&D investments focused on large opportunities. In ACG, our investments are focused on growing in our largest customer. In HPA, our investments are focused on defense and aerospace, along with power management. In CSG, our investments are focused on automotive connectivity, advanced WiFi RF solutions and Matter and ultra-wideband SoCs. Qorvo's technologies are critical in solving our customers' most complex RF and power challenges related to efficiency, performance, and size, and we are confident in our long-term growth and diversification.
And with that, I'll turn the call over to Grant.
