IPG Photonics Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
February 14, 2023

Key Takeaways

  • IPG Photonics reported strong momentum in eMobility, welding, and medical with emerging growth products comprising 46% of Q4 revenue and EV sales rising to nearly 20% of 2022 revenue (up from 10% in 2021).
  • Welding solutions now account for 30% of materials processing revenue with ~40% YoY growth, as its LightWeld system tackles a 375,000-welder shortage and expands welding speed, material range, and ease of use.
  • New Laser Drying and Cleaning solutions are gaining traction by reducing energy costs, harmful chemicals, and CO₂ emissions in battery foil manufacturing and surface preparation, aligning with global sustainability trends.
  • Q4 revenue fell 8% YoY to $334 M—dragged by a 7% foreign currency headwind, a 2% telecom divestiture impact, and weaker China/Europe demand—while GAAP gross margin plunged to 18.2% after $74 M of Russia-related write-downs, resulting in a $93 M net loss.
  • For Q1 2023, IPG forecasts revenue of $310–$340 M and EPS of $0.90–$1.20 (assuming a $9 M FX headwind), citing a strong backlog, easing China restrictions, and continued EV/renewables investment despite macro uncertainties.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
IPG Photonics Q4 2022
00:00 / 00:00

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to IPG Photonics' 4th Quarter 2022 Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded and webcast. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Eugene Fedidov, IPG's Director of Investor Relations for introductions. Please go ahead, sir.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Rob, and good morning, everyone. With me today is IPG Photonics' CEO, Doctor. Eugene Sherbakov and Senior Vice President and CFO, Tim Mommy. Let me remind you that statements made during the course of this call that discuss management's or the company's intentions, expectations or predictions of the future are forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward looking statements.

Speaker 1

These risks and uncertainties are detailed in IPG Photonics' Form 10 ks for the period ended December 31, 2022, and our reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings may be obtained by visiting the Investors section of IPG's website or by contacting the company directly. You may also find topics on the SEC's website. Any forward looking statements made on this call The company's expectations or predictions as of today, February 14, 2023 only. The company assumes no obligation to publicly release Any updates or revisions to any such statements.

Speaker 1

For additional details on our reported results, please refer to the earnings press release, earnings Call presentation and the Excel based financial data workbook posted on our Investor Relations website. We will post these prepared remarks on the Investor Relations website following the completion of this call. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Eugene Cherpakov.

Speaker 2

Good morning, everyone. I am pleased to report that we continue to see strong momentum in our focus areas such as eMobility, welding and medical. In the Q1 and finishing the year with revenue above our guidance range, and despite of challenging operating environment And currency headwinds. Our strategy to diversify revenue as evidences By performance of our emerging growth products and applications is paying off. As we move through the year, we continue to see record sales in e mobility, medical and welding, Including the hand weld welding applications.

Speaker 2

Our team has done an outstanding job diversifying the business and Finding the Growth Opportunities. Imagine Growth product sales were 46% of total revenue in the Q4. Demand for many of these products was driven by global investment in e mobility and renewable energy. IPG is well positioned to benefit from accelerating global EV battery capacity expansion and our EV sales Contributed close to 20% of total revenue in 2022, up from around 10% a year earlier. We believe that the battery capacity build out will accelerate in North America and Europe, and we will continue to increase in China in the next several years to support

Speaker 1

growing EV sales.

Speaker 2

More recently, customers shifted investment into the U. S. To take advantage of government incentives, which drove higher level of activity in the region. Our leading position in fiber lasers with broad range of solutions, including welding, cutting, cleaning And processing monitoring has allowed us to capture the growth in these markets. We have recently introduced High Rock Plug Efficiency Laser Drying Solution for use in battery foil manufacturing, the largest CO2 producing Process step of battery manufacturing.

Speaker 2

This solution replaces less Efficient infrared bulbs and environmentally unfriendly gas fired pharmacies. It can significantly reduce energy costs and increase drying speed for our customers. We are particularly pleased With our growth in welding applications in the 1st quarter. Weld is now accounting for 30% of our material processing revenue And grew approximately 40% year over year, surpassing in size, flat sheet cutting revenue, a milestone for us. This growth was driven by strong demand for our welding solution in immobility and medical device welding, Continued adoption of laser welding in general industrial markets, growth in the laser based system and the rollout of light weld.

Speaker 2

EBITDA manufacturers have quickly adopt laser welding as it provides high quality and high speed welding with real time processing monitoring capabilities. The rest of 20,000,000,000 welding market is still early in the adoption of laser technologies, But we are starting to see a more meaningful shift towards acceptance of laser and believe that This will continue. A large portion of the welding market is using traditional manual welding, Primarily with MIG or TIG devices. Traditional welding is very limited in types of materials. It's kind of a joint and requires highly skilled welders to do the job.

Speaker 2

LightWealth addresses many of these challenges with And ability to join a broader range of materials, including some cracked to weld metals like aluminum alloys, Light weld can also increase volume speed up to 4 times and does not require extensive training. According to American Welding Society, there is deficit Of 375,000 welders, Lightbulb is easy to use and comes with presets for different types of materials, which can result in faster training for unskilled welders required to fill the employment gap. We are working with a number of trainees call to increase awareness of and adoption of laser welding. We also continue to build our Lightwell Organization and we have established distribution partners to support international sales. It should Drive the growth of our light wells sales in 2023.

Speaker 2

Our laser cleaning solutions We have been gaining traction and we have a strong backlog of customer orders for new systems That we are providing the fully automated cleaning and can significantly reduce the time and use of harmful materials for surface preparation as well as the rust and paint removal. This process typically uses harmful chemicals Such as assets or solvents that are being bent around the world. Our laser can Do surface preparation quicker and with less harm to the environment. Finally, our medical business delivered record Revenue in the Q1, finishing a very strong year on a high note. Full year revenue grew over 60% in medical, driven by higher adoption of our Tullium laser used primarily in urology applications.

Speaker 2

Our Consumer Fiber business now accounts for sizable portions of revenue and we expect it To increase total and grow the installed base of devices. We continue to expand medical sales internationally And we are working on the next generation of these devices as well as the new medical applications for our fiber lasers. While 2022 was a challenging year for IPG, we successfully mitigated the choppy wet orders. We face continued soft demand in the high power cut in China. Currently, headwinds due to the strong U.

Speaker 2

S. Dollars, Supply chain disruption as well as a restriction of on shipment of components from our manufacturing facility in Russia. IPG's performance in 2022 is tribute to a dedicated team of employers and partners throughout The vote and the efforts of our current supply chain constrain and the complex regulatory environment to device production and And while this is still uncertainty in the operational environment with fears of slowdown in North America and further weakness in Europe, we believe that IPG is well positioned to benefit from investment in eMobility, Renewable Energy and Automation. This is reflected in our record backlog, which gives us reason to be optimistic for the year. We are hopeful to see a recovery in the demand in China this year as the quality related restrictions are being relaxed.

Speaker 2

We believe customers are choosing our lasers and system because they are customers' energy And our more sustainable solutions with less environment impact than competing processes and technologies. With that, I will turn the call over to Tim to discuss financial highlights in the quarter.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Eugene, and good morning, everyone. My comments generally will follow the earnings call presentation, which is available on our Investor Relations website. I will start with the financial review on Slide 4. Revenue in the 4th quarter was $334,000,000 Down 8% year over year due to foreign currency headwinds, which accounted for approximately 7% of the decline. Our divestiture of non core telecom product lines negatively impacted revenue growth by approximately 2%.

Speaker 3

We also saw lower sales in general industrial applications in China and Europe, which were nearly offset by strength in emerging growth products. Revenue from materials processing applications decreased 6% year over year and revenue from other locations decreased 23%, with strength in medical offset by weaker advanced application sales And the Telecom divestiture. During the quarter, we conducted a review of our Russian operations And recognize significant charges related to inventory, long lived asset impairments and restructuring. These charges are a result of the lower level of activity we expect given the increasing limitation of sanctions. GAAP gross margin was 18.2%, a decrease of 2,730 basis points year over year Due to a $74,000,000 of inventory write downs and other charges related to our Russian operations.

Speaker 3

Excluding these inventory related charges, gross margin was approximately 40%. We provide adjusted results in the appendix on Slide 11 of the presentation. Please note that adjusted results are non GAAP items. And while we believe they may be meaningful, these results should not be considered a substitute for GAAP measures. Gross margin was also negatively impacted by higher inventory provisions In the rest of the world, the strong dollar, scrap, shipping costs and import duties.

Speaker 3

These were partially by increased absorption of manufacturing costs in the quarter as we continue to build our inventories of safety stock. We are working to offset the impact of changes in the supply chain and manufacturing footprint on our gross margins By investing in automation and investing in locations with lower costs in Germany and the U. S. Such as Poland or Italy. We remain committed to our long term gross margin target of 45% to 50%.

Speaker 3

Additionally, both revenue and gross margin were impacted by currency translation headwinds. If exchange rates relative to the U. S. Dollar had been the same as 1 year ago, we would have expected revenue to be $25,000,000 higher And gross profit to be $16,000,000 higher. Foreign currency transaction gains Related to remeasuring foreign currency assets and liabilities to period end exchange rates benefited operating expenses by $7,000,000 or $0.12 per diluted share.

Speaker 3

GAAP operating loss was $88,000,000 and operating margin was a negative 26.5%. The net loss in the quarter was $93,000,000 or $1.91 per diluted share. As mentioned above, we had a number of unusual items impacting our operating income and earnings per share in the quarter. There was a $74,000,000 or $1.21 per diluted share impact from inventory related charges, 79,000,000 or $1.30 share impact from impairment of long lived assets in Russia And other restructuring charges of $10,000,000 or $0.16 per diluted share. There was also a gain on sale of our corporate aircraft of $10,000,000 or $0.16 per diluted share.

Speaker 3

Excluding these special items and the discrete tax impact of these items, adjusted diluted EPS was $1.08 Moving to Slide 5. Sales of high power CW lasers decreased 13% and represented approximately 39% of total revenue. Sales of ultra high power lasers above 6 kilowatts represented 47% of total high power CW laser sales. The decline was primarily due to lower demand in cutting applications in China and Europe, which was only partially by growth in welding applications across most major geographies. Pulse laser sales decreased 9% year over year As a result of lower demand in cutting and marking applications, partially offset by strong sales into solar cell manufacturing, Systems sales increased 19% year over year, driven by growth in laser systems and higher sales of LightWell.

Speaker 3

Medium power laser sales decreased 37%, while QCW laser sales were down 20% 21% year over year, Negatively impacted by lower sales to consumer electronics and general industrial applications. Other product sales were nearly flat As growth in medical was offset by the divestiture of the telecom business and lower revenue in advanced applications. Looking at our performance by region on Slide 6. Revenue in North America decreased modestly by 3% With growth in cutting, welding and medical applications offset by lower sales in non laser systems, Advanced applications as well as the telecom divestiture. In Europe, sales decreased 21% As a result of lower demand across all major materials processing applications due to weaker macroeconomic conditions, Currency translation also negatively impacted sales in the region.

Speaker 3

Revenue in China decreased 15% year over year As growth in welding primarily for EV battery applications was more than offset by continued softness in the cutting market, Increased local competition and currency headwinds. We estimate that COVID related restrictions in China Impacted 4th quarter revenue by approximately $7,000,000 and bookings by approximately $14,000,000 Moving to a summary of our balance sheet on Slide 7. We entered the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and short term investments $1,200,000,000 and total debt of $16,000,000 Cash provided by operations was $42,000,000 during the quarter And capital expenditures were $26,000,000 in the quarter. During the quarter, we repurchased shares for a total of 117 $15,000,000 While continuing to maintain a strong balance sheet, we have returned $500,000,000 of capital to shareholders With our ongoing stock repurchases in 2022, which represents more than a half of our total share repurchases since 2016. Our inventories declined due to the inventory write down in Russia.

Speaker 3

With some improvements to the electronic supply chain, A decrease in required safety stock as we continue to increase production of components in Europe and North America and a focus on improving our inventory management, We plan to stabilize and then reduce the investment in inventory during 2023. Our CapEx was $26,000,000 in the quarter and $110,000,000 for the full year. We expect 2023 CapEx to be in the range of $140,000,000 to $160,000,000 The expected expenditures in 2023 At a higher rate than we expect longer term as we add buildings and equipment for production, capacity expansion to increase production outside of Russia. CapEx also includes investments in R and D, sales and service in North America, Germany and Asia. Moving to outlook on Slide 9.

Speaker 3

4th quarter book to bill was slightly below 1. We saw continued softness in orders in Europe and China, primarily due to uncertain macroeconomic conditions, which impact demand in general industrial markets. Leading macroeconomic indicators for Europe, China and the U. S. Remain subdued, but conditions appear to be more stable in Europe and the U.

Speaker 3

S. And there is an expectation of increasing activity in China later this year. Additionally, we are benefiting from growth opportunities created by major macro trends such as electric vehicle battery manufacturing and renewable energy. We're seeing continued strong orders in eMobility and welding applications, which are not being impacted by the economic uncertainty. Furthermore, Light World and Medical Products continue to ramp up, presenting future growth opportunities for IPG.

Speaker 3

For the Q1 of 2023, IPG expects revenue of $310,000,000 to $340,000,000 Company expects the Q1 tax rate to be approximately 26%. IPG anticipates delivering earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.90 to $1.20 with approximately 48,000,000 diluted common shares outstanding. Continue to expect currency headwinds and estimate that the Q1 revenue guidance is reduced by about $9,000,000 due to the strength of the U. S. Dollar in the current quarter as compared to the Q1 of 2022.

Speaker 3

As discussed in the Safe Harbor passage of today's earnings press release, our guidance is based upon current market conditions and expectations, This assumes exchange rates referenced in our earnings press release and is subject to risks outlined in the Safe Harbor and the company's reports with the SEC. With that, we'll be happy to take your questions.

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. One moment please while we poll for questions. Our first question comes from Jim Ricchiuti with Needham and Company. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 4

Hi, thank you. Good morning. First question I have is just a general question On the EV related business that you're looking at in 2023, I'm wondering how you would characterize the environment broadly and maybe also whether you see some benefit in this business in the U. S. As a result of the Inflation Reduction Act Or is that something you might anticipate being more beneficial in 2024?

Speaker 3

Hi, Tim. It's Tim here. So we remain very optimistic about the EV business globally in 2023 And expect that to continue to grow. If you look at the sort of medium to longer term trends in terms of battery capacity additions, we don't have final numbers for last year, but Between 2022 to 2025, we're expecting to see a tripling of battery capacity and then another doubling of it beyond then. So We remain optimistic about that.

Speaker 3

With regard to the second question around the Inflation Reduction Act, We've actually seen some significant order that was delivered in Q4 that went into the U. S. And may have gone into another Geographic region, if that hadn't or part of it may have gone into another geographic region without the act. And even in the Q1 of The 1st few weeks of this quarter, we've actually booked some significant EV related orders In North America, so there's certainly some the Inflation Reduction Act has seen you can point to some specific evidence Of orders strengthening in the U. S, they may not be solely related to that, but certainly in some to some degree.

Speaker 2

I would like to add something. For us, EV application is very important. Why? Because for such kind of Our customer use not only 1 of our 2 products from IPG, no. A lot of product, including the different kind of lasers, CW, QQ CW, pulse lasers, which are using for different kind of production.

Speaker 2

For example, welding, battery, cutting foils, cleaning and so on. This is why for us it's very important because we can present to our customer Kind of product again, different lasers, different kind of subsystem and finally systems.

Speaker 4

Got it. Follow-up question just relates to China with the reopening there. I'm wondering how much of the benefit do you see in the legacy business or are you looking at the improvement in From reopening being more of a tailwind that comes from the emerging areas of the business in China?

Speaker 3

With the reopening, you will see some improvement in the legacy business, right? We still participate in The higher end of the cutting market, which is not necessarily defined by power, right? So the investments on that side on the in general industrial side have been pretty weak over the last 18 months or so. So we expect to see some improvement there. But really, in addition to that, we want to see and drive continue to drive strong performance from the other applications where we Clearly have a significant advantage in where the competitive dynamics Yes, unless so the major outperformance or improvement probably coming from non legacy, but legacy Contributing to some degree on that, the cutting business is at a very low level in China in Q4.

Speaker 4

Thanks a lot. I'll jump back in the queue.

Operator

Our next question is from Reuben Roy with Stifel. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 5

Hi, thank you. Tim, I guess just to follow-up right on that Can you give us an idea of where cutting is as a percentage of your China revenue? And with China Reopening, I guess this is a question that also incorporates sort of the restructuring in Russia. So China reopening, cutting, where is it today and kind of how you see that playing out through the course of the year and then That combined with Russian ops, as that impacts gross margin, I guess, is the real question for the year, How you're looking at your gross margin flowing through 2023 would be helpful. Thank you.

Speaker 3

China cutting was well below a third of total revenue in Q4. And as you saw, China cutting revenue Was only about 34% of the total. So as exposure to the consolidated base, it's like less than 10%. So that's both a positive and a negative, right? You A lot of diversification away from it.

Speaker 3

We should obviously like that business to be a bit stronger because it provides a foundation or a ball work on the baseline of revenue. In terms of the cost structure and gross margin, there's a lot of different aspects to that question, Ruben, not just the China supply chain. We've started to already supply a significant number of the lasers that were produced in Russia, the lower power levels. They're really supplying the medium power to lower power kilowatt lasers to China. We're already supplying a significant quantity of those Out of Europe, we're already supplying at the lower power level the ultra compact laser that has a significantly reduced bill of material cost.

Speaker 3

We're transitioning that up to not just 1.5 and 3 kilowatts that already started on the 6 kilowatt and will go to the 8 kilowatts, so you Some cost benefit out of that there. Overall, rather than just talking about it on the cutting side, All of the analysis we've done on gross margin despite this crisis that we've faced shows us that the cost structure of the business, and I said that I'd be able to talk about this more clearly this quarter. When we get into the second half of the year and assuming some increase in revenue, We actually see a good improvement in gross margins from this point forward so long as the macro stays relatively positive. And we actually don't see A fundamental shift in the gross margin cost structure related to those operations because The total number of people that were required to take on to replace the core products is significantly less than the total headcount that existed. In Russia, we're starting to source some products from 3rd party suppliers where we've qualified them for quality and the cost of those actually Is equal to or even below what our internal cost was.

Speaker 3

And then we've got we're looking and ramping up manufacturing, for example, of some of the more labor intensive components in Poland. We're making very good progress on that. The labor costs actually in Poland are very competitive to what we would incur in Russia. And even with it's a smaller scale, but even Our Italian manufacturing operation who are very good at producing optical components and even finished optical devices, their cost There has got some benefit over Northern European costs and even U. S.

Speaker 3

Costs. So they're actually producing some of the Lower cost lasers as well for China. And then I've touched on the fact that a bit more on the medium to longer term that strategy around automation, Not just on components, but even subassemblies is continuing to be invested in. So despite this crisis, I'm actually pretty optimistic about the cost structure this business is ultimately going to have.

Speaker 5

Well, yes, thank you, Tim, for all that detail. That's great to hear. I guess just a quick follow-up then. You mentioned lower level of activity, which is kind of obvious with the Russian operations. Can you give us Sort of a rough idea of where Russia stands today as a percentage of production kind of, is there more to do?

Speaker 5

How low is Is it going to get shut down? I mean any sort of longer term detail around the activity there would be helpful.

Speaker 3

No, we're not able to talk in detail about that at this point in time. We've got this review ongoing. Part of that review, obviously, The level of activity in that operation is going to be significantly lower. So that review incorporated a significant and substantial restructuring plan, which we've made Really good headway on even in the last 8 weeks or so. That restructuring plan goes through Q1 and Q2 and then we're continuing to evaluate different options for that business, but we're really We don't have any options right now because you need to get through the restructuring.

Speaker 3

But really the viewpoint is that because of the restrictions on what you can do Into and out of Russia is that business has to be self sustaining on its local sales. At the moment, they can supply some basic medical devices to some of our regions around the world, but the whole plan that we looked at was to make it a self sustaining business based upon local sales. And given that level of sales, we're still optimistic about increasing, but the total capacity that's needed there has got to be adjusted. Great.

Speaker 5

That is being adjusted.

Operator

Thanks, Tim. Our next question is from Mark Miller with The Benchmark Company. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 6

I'm just looking at your backlog. Can you estimate what The sales are EV related in the backlog?

Speaker 3

It wouldn't be dissimilar to the total revenue That we reported last year, so probably about 20% of it. I mean, it will depend upon the timing of shipments as well. I know, for example, in the last couple of weeks, we've had a significant order for some EV related products. So it wouldn't be dissimilar to the Total share of EV or revenue

Speaker 2

Last year, Mark.

Speaker 6

In terms of how the backlog rolls out during the year, would you expect an improving margin picture based on the current backlog?

Speaker 3

Yes, because you've got some of the we continue to expect not just the current backlog, but Future order flow as well, right? We've talked about having a strong year on EV applications. We're rolling out the Ultra compact lasers at higher power levels. We're expecting, obviously, that given the Improvements in the China business and generally speaking, we're optimistic about growing revenue during the year. So if you get some scale back in the business that would also drive an improvement in Gross margins, you've got other cost reduction initiatives that we're working on and things like the automation area that I talked about.

Speaker 3

So as I said, overall, It's interesting you go through these crises, but when you come out of them, the degree and depth of work that's done actually sometimes leads you to Certainly a much stronger organization and coming into the second half of the year, we believe that we're going to see some meaningful improvements in gross margin.

Speaker 6

And the Immersion products typically carry above average margins. Is that correct?

Speaker 3

Yes, in general. Yes, you got all The AMB, the high power pulse, green lasers have got good margin, the medicals got good margin, light well margins have improved a lot over since the product was first You spoke with new options and capability on that product and reduction in the bill of materials. So The LightWell margin has improved. We expect our margin on our Laser Systems business excluding LightWell to improve. So for example, the margin on The cleaning systems, which is a much more standard system, that should have an improving margin profile as compared to historical One off type systems that were sold for primarily welding applications.

Speaker 3

The other thing out there is that we expect some better performance on advanced applications this year. Last year was a pretty We hear on advanced applications, we've got a good pipeline of potential orders there and advanced applications have a good margin profile to them as well.

Speaker 6

Thank

Operator

you. Our next question is from Michael Feniger with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 7

Hey, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. Tim, when we think of that manufacturing footprint, the full transition, As you said, it will become more clear, it seems like in the second half. Is it ramping up more in Poland, In Germany or U. S, just thinking about that second half, like how much of a percentage increase are we seeing in those areas versus where we were In Q4 right now by regions or any sense to see which one capacity is ramping up higher than where

Speaker 8

we were a year ago.

Speaker 2

About components. First of all, of course, we are Translating production in different areas, in Poland, in Italy, in Germany and also expanding our production in United States. Comparison is difficult because we are producing different components in different areas. For example, in the United States, we have produced components especially for our U. S.

Speaker 2

Markets For our U. S. Applications, in Europe, it's much more broader because in Italy and Poland, also they produce different kind of components. It's not the same, they're in Germany. And from this point of view, Of course, we have a good opportunity to optimize production.

Speaker 2

1st of all, taking in mind the Much more optimal process to introduce a lot of automation. It's one of the primary goals for organizing this production, first All components, but also in some cases, the final devices. And from this point of view, we have a good opportunity So increase our production outside Russia, much more effective, much more cost effective and much more productive.

Speaker 8

Thank you.

Speaker 3

Michael, I think I'm getting your question. The benefit on like the Polish lower cost Polish manufacturing It's not that's really starting to ramp now, right? We didn't have any benefit from that in Q4 that was meaningful. The expansion, we did have some benefit from Italy, but that's going to be expanded. So a lot of the additional capacity that was initially put in because the capability That was in North America and Germany, and we expect these other areas to be of a benefit going forward.

Speaker 3

I do want to be clear a bit that as we go through continue to go through the restructuring The operations in Russia, the first half of the year is going to have potentially some small additional charges, but we're also, for I'm carrying some extra cost at the moment in Russia that we expect the restructuring process to take up until about May. So that's why I say that you come into the underlying gross margins in Q1 and Q2, we'll be able to explain pretty clearly. There may be some What's the word I'm looking for? A bit of murkiness around the reported margins. And then when you get into the second half of the year, you've adjusted the cost structure In Russia, and you've got the sort of fuller benefit from some of the Polish and Italian operations coming through and some of the other cost reduction initiatives.

Speaker 7

Very helpful. And just welding in EV is obviously a very strong area for you guys. Just help us understand the competitive dynamics there. Has there been any change there in the last 1 to 2 years, when we think of welding in the EV space?

Speaker 2

Yes, definitely. In the initial stage, we will start to introduce our lasers for EV applications. Our first introduction was different kind of lasers for welding, including our latest development developed laser was AMD, But now situation is different Because for such kind of application, we delivered not only lasers, but also our monitoring system, our scanners or special welding heads. And also, we're now working to introduce to our customers the full integration solution, Including all these components, must be integrated with the same design and the same software. And for future also see to penetrate to the EV market, not only We're producing some components like lasers or some other subsystem to our customer.

Speaker 2

Our main goal to introduce and to deliver to our customer subsystem and systems For welding applications, but also for cutting applications, but also very promising application, it's cleaning applications also for EUV market. And we have good opportunity to using our high power pulsed lasers and also our system based on these high power pulsed lasers For clean applications for EV market.

Speaker 3

Competitively, it's really No competition still in China from anybody on the welding side. The company that will compete with most on EV continues to be the large So the competitive dynamics haven't changed in that end market. On Light World, globally, there's Really continues to be a very leading edge product. If you look online, you'll see there are some handheld welders Advertised in China, but they're pretty large devices. They've got different cooling requirements.

Speaker 3

They're not really even equivalent to what we're

Speaker 2

They have only one important parameter, very low price And congratulations to our product.

Speaker 7

Perfect. And I guess just lastly, like I You guys have done a lot of like you said Tim, there's been a lot of work being done in diving deep into how you guys have handled a lot of these Challenges. Is there any product I know this was touched on earlier, but is there any products you guys think about longer term maybe Shifting more of your capacity towards the U. S. Or I know it came up earlier about servicing The cutting market, the low end in China, just curious with how you guys have transformed or transitioned away from Russia.

Speaker 7

Is there a different Profile that you guys maybe will service going forward, has that come into the picture? Thanks. I'm

Speaker 3

not quite getting the question, but I mean, there's a lot of For example, all of our diode manufacturing has been always and always will be, not always will be, but it is still primarily In the U. S, right, all the semiconductor, most of the packaging, there's no specific on the finished Product is you're basically assembling different components together. So you can even change that depending on where your demand is. If we Had excess capacity in the U. S.

Speaker 3

And wanted to supply a greater number of lasers to China from the U. S. Because European demand for finished product was very strong. We could easily do that. The finished product side is very flexible as to where you actually make The end product, I'd say the U.

Speaker 3

S. Does a lot. Obviously, they're producing all the light well product at the moment. They produce all the green lasers for the solar cell and other applications. So a lot of the newer product It's coming more primarily out of North America, but we're not also we're not beholden to that.

Speaker 3

You could Add capacity elsewhere on that finished product. So it's really the component side of it that we've been looking at over the last Few months and all the different things we've been talking about on that to offset some of the capacity that we're losing But there's a lot of flexibility on finished products as to where you produce them.

Speaker 2

And based on this flexibility is very simple because Manufacturing of fiber laser, final assembly or final manufacturing is very easy process. We can easily install at Any facility is not a problem. The main know how is the main know how first of all, of course, in components. This is why we are producing components in selected areas. For example, the diamonds practically produce only in the United States.

Speaker 2

No reason to expand this production for other countries because already installed the automation production. We're If you'll check cost for the 1 watt, it's much less in comparison to the whole others. And the same for other components. Fiber components, of course, it's not any sense to produce outside of Germany because we're all gate. It's installed,

Operator

Our next question is from Jamie Wang with Citigroup Hong Kong. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 8

Thank you. I have two quick questions here. The first is regarding the Russia Impairments. Are those impairment in charge is one offs so that we won't see these expenses this year or going forward? And second question is regarding China.

Speaker 8

We recently talked to your corporate Robert Palmer in China has laser and they said this year revenue is likely to go back to 2021 level. So that's about Just one on our stand. Are you seeing Jamie,

Speaker 3

can you just speak up? We can't really hear your question at the moment. I didn't get either of those questions. Can you just talk a bit more talk a bit louder? Yes, sorry.

Speaker 3

The first question was on

Speaker 8

Yes. Is it better now?

Speaker 3

Not really, but.

Speaker 8

Sorry, okay. Yes, forget about those questions. There's something wrong with the microphone. Yes.

Operator

Jamie, are you still there?

Speaker 8

Yes. But can you guys hear me?

Speaker 3

It's a little bit better. We'll try it. Let's try one more time.

Speaker 8

Yes, sorry. Yes. Let's deal with

Speaker 3

one question first and then the second one after that. Yes, so The first question was on restructuring charges, I think.

Speaker 8

Okay. So let me do want to ask the first question, Okay. Regarding the rush hour impairment, a loss impairment in charge is one off, so that we won't see these expenses this year and going forward? Thank you.

Speaker 3

There may be some smaller restructuring charges related to severance and things like that. But In terms of like the impairments of long lived assets and the inventory, we think we did a very, very thorough review of those and That would be the only we don't expect any significant charges related to that.

Speaker 8

Okay. Thank you. Okay. The second question is regarding China business. Recently, we talked to your Cooperative Partners in China hunt laser and thus say that it's likely revenue in this year is likely to go back to 2021 level.

Speaker 8

So that was about Just one last thing, would you guys are seeing a similar net to the revenue recovery in China? Just one to understand your thorough recovery in China. Thank you.

Speaker 3

You say Hans has said they expect revenue to go back to 2021 levels. Yes. Which is about a 15% recovery from 2022.

Speaker 8

Roughly, roughly. And they are particularly A positive read on the high power recovery recovery from a high power laser equipment

Speaker 3

We're not giving specific guidance on China, but Q4 and Q1 revenue at China is At a pretty low point, you saw last quarter it was 34% of revenue less than $100,000,000 So we are our forecast during the year expects a meaningful pickup In China revenue, whether we get back to peak levels is probably a bit unlikely because we still do have the competitive dynamics around The cutting business, right? We're driving a lot of that growth from other applications. We don't expect cutting to be 40% or 50% of China revenue going Forward. But we do expect a recovery in China during the rest of the year.

Speaker 8

Got it. Okay, it's clear. Thank you. Thank you very much. No more questions for me.

Speaker 3

I think Hans' by the way, Hans' outlook points the fact that people are optimistic that overall the China economy is going to see a recovery in the

Speaker 8

They gave us the rough guidance. They did say that despite the fact that the visibility The order visibility is quite low right now, particularly from their Apple business and particularly from the PCB business, So they expect their revenue to recover maybe in front of second quarter or second half of this year in China. Thank you.

Operator

Keypad. One moment please while we poll for additional questions. Our next question comes from the line of Jim Ricchiuti with Needham and Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 4

Thanks. Just a follow-up on the EV market. You cited some of The market data out there, which is fairly bullish and, you've certainly shown strong growth in this market. Would you be Because you, I assume, have some line of sight to this business, would you assume this business is capable of growing 25%, 30% this year or more?

Speaker 3

Of course, significant. I mean, I'm not going to give a number on it, Jim, because that kind of like ends up in Sort of annual guidance on it. But we're expecting meaningful growth out of that business and it to be Geographically, globally based, not just sort of China based, but strong growth in North America and In Europe as well.

Speaker 4

Okay. And on Light Weld, I know you made some commentary earlier in the call, but I think you've suggested that it was at last quarter, I think a $40,000,000 or so run rate business that You thought could grow 80%. Is that still the kind of expectations you have for the business?

Speaker 3

We've got very strong expectations of that business and now rolling it out in Europe more broadly. We're not actually focused really on China on it, but we've got very good demand out of Japan and Korea for that business and continue to expect it to grow Extremely robustly going forward.

Speaker 4

Got it. Thank you very much.

Operator

We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Eugene Fedorov for closing comments.

Speaker 4

Thank you for joining us

Speaker 1

this morning and your continued interest in IPG. As usual, we will be participating in a number of investor events in this quarter And I'm looking forward to speaking with you soon. Have a great day everyone. Bye.

Operator

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and we thank you for

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