Good afternoon. I will be your conference operator. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Applied Optoelectronics Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that today's event is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Lindsay Savarese, Investor Relations for Applied Optoelectronics. Ms. Savarese, you may begin.

Thank you. I'm Lindsay Savarese, Investor Relations for Applied Optoelectronics. I'm pleased to welcome you to AOI's Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. After the market closed today, AOI issued a press release announcing its second quarter 2025 financial results and provided its outlook for the third quarter of 2025. The release is also available on the company's website at ao-inc.com. This call is being recorded and webcast live. A link to the recording can be found on the Investor Relations section of the AOI website and will be archived for 1 year. Joining us on today's call is Dr. Thompson Lin, AOI's Founder, Chairman and CEO; and Dr. Stefan Murry, AOI's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer. Thompson will give an overview of AOI's Q2 results, and Stefan will provide financial details and the outlook for the third quarter of 2025. A question-and-answer session will follow our prepared remarks. Before we begin, I would like to remind you to review AOI's safe harbor statement. On today's call, management will make forward- looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties as well as assumptions and current expectations, which could cause the company's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements of the company or its industry, to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as believes, forecasts, anticipates, estimates, suggests, intends, predicts, expects, plans, may, should, could, would, will, potential or think or by the negative of those terms or other similar expressions, that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes. The company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While the company believes these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward- looking statements…

Thank you, Lindsay, and thank you for joining our call today. While EPS came in below our expectations, primarily due to elevated operating expense, the inherent strength of our business fundamentals was apparent with strong year-over-year top line growth and gross margin expansion. The rise in our operating expense is a direct result of strategic investment in R&D and SG&A expense driven by increased business activity, including new customer qualification efforts for 800G and 1.6Tb transceivers. As you can see from our results as well as some of our recent announcements, these expenditures are already translating into higher level of customer engagement, certifications and ultimately revenue opportunities. During the quarter, we saw steady growth in our datacenter business. We completed our first volume shipment of high-speed single- mode 400G datacenter transceiver to a recently reengaged major hyperscale customer, and we are seeing increased sequential demand from other hyperscalers for this product as well. We continue to make progress on customer qualification on our 800G product, and we continue to have confidence in the second half ramp in 800G sales. In our CATV business, we continue to see strong demand in this market, and we announced that we completed testing and certification with Charter for our plan to deploy our 1.8 gigahertz amplifiers and QuantumLink remote management software. During the second quarter, we delivered revenue of $103 million, which was in line with our guidance range of $100 million to $110 million. We recorded non-GAAP gross margin of 30.4%, which was in line with our guidance range of 29.5% to 31%. Our non-GAAP loss per share of $0.16 was below our guidance range of a loss of $0.09 to a loss of $0.03 due to larger-than-anticipated operating expense, as I mentioned earlier. Total revenue for our datacenter product of $44.8 million increased 30% year-over-year and 40% sequentially, largely due to increased demand for our 100G and 400G products. Revenue for 100G product increased 25% year-over-year, while revenue for our 400G product increased 43% year-over-year. Total revenue in our CATV segment of $56 million increased more than 8x year-over-year, in line with our expectations. Our CATV revenue decreased 13% sequentially off a seasonally strong Q1 and as we retooled production to our Motorola-style amplifier product. With that, I will turn the call over to Stefan to review the details of our Q2 performance and outlook for Q3. Stefan?

Thank you, Thompson. As Thompson mentioned, while EPS came in below our expectations, primarily due to elevated operating expenses, the inherent strength of our business fundamentals was apparent with strong year-over-year top line growth and gross margin expansion. The rise in our operating expenses is a direct result of strategic investments in R&D and SG&A expenses driven by increased business activity, including new customer qualification efforts for 800G and 1.6 terabit transceivers. As you can see from our results as well as some of our recent announcements, these expenditures are already translating into higher levels of customer engagement, satisfaction and ultimately, revenue opportunities. In Q2, we delivered revenue of $103 million, which was in line with our guidance range of $100 million to $110 million. We recorded non-GAAP gross margin of 30.4%, which was in line with our guidance range of 29.5% to 31%. Our non-GAAP loss per share of $0.16 was below our guidance range of a loss of $0.09 to a loss of $0.03. This bottom line miss was due to higher-than- expected operating expenses in the quarter, mainly stemming from additional R&D and SG&A expenses in support of new customer opportunities. R&D expenses were up $2.6 million compared to Q1 due mostly to increases in project expenses like prototypes and samples, which tend to be directly correlated with near-term revenue generation. As we've discussed in prior quarters, as customer demand for new products emerge or time lines get pulled in, R&D expenses necessarily increase to support the product customization and qualification efforts necessary to realize revenue from these new opportunities. In addition to R&D, SG&A costs also increased by $2.5 million compared to Q1, which is mostly due to increased shipping costs as we imported certain products ahead of tariff increases and supported shipping of samples and…

[Operator Instructions] Our first question will come from Ryan Koontz of Needham.

Congrats on a nice quarter. Can we start with cable TV? How are you feeling about customer inventories? For a while there, you were capacity constrained. Are you still looking to expand that in your conversion over to the Motorola housings? And then lastly, do you still have plans to enter the node market? And any rough timing on when that might happen?

Yes. Great questions, Ryan. Thanks for asking. So let's see. The first question is relative to our capacity. We're not exactly switching to the Motorola. That's a little bit of a misstatement there. We're producing both Motorola and GameMaker. In the quarter, though, we'd already produced a significant quantity of GameMaker, so we needed to produce enough inventory of Motorola to have both products available as our customers' needs evolve. So we've pretty much completed the inventory build-out on those two, and now we're going to be sort of managing both of those platforms going forward. So we will continue to have production of both the Motorola and GameMaker moving forward. As we mentioned in our prepared remarks a minute ago, we do expect to see some modest sequential increase in the cable TV business. So we continue to ship those amplifier products, both platforms as well as the QuantumLink software and some of the accessories that go with it, as we mentioned in our prepared remarks. With respect to the node, yes, we do expect to have the node product launching in Q4. And it will take some time, as with the amplifiers, to go through the qualification process, but I do expect that to be generating revenue, if not in Q4, certainly by Q1. I think I answered all your questions.

That's great. And then quickly flipping to datacenter. On the 800-plus transceivers, how many engagements do you have there with Tier 1s on the 800-plus?

I would say right now, we have minimum 3 Tier 1s potential big customers. And right now, the good news is, I think, we'll start volume manufacturing either in this quarter or next quarter. But more important is 1.6Tb. I think we expect to start volume manufacturing maybe around June, July next year. I think that's a really good news for us because we've been working with several customers for 1.6Tb. So right now, at least we got the 2, 3 series engagement, not only for sampling, but we are talking about some kind of volume manufacturing, all right, in, I would say, Q2 for sure, Q3. So that's why we really need to increase the capacity in Taiwan, especially United States.

Yes. And Ryan, just to emphasize what we said before, just to be clear, the production capacity that we're building for 800 gig will also work for 1.6. It's a combination of both. So all the production expansion activity that we're undergoing now can be used for either of those platforms.

Yes. The only difference is testing equipment. So 1.6T is 200G per lambda. But 400G and 800G can be shared, too, because they are all 100G per lambda. So that's good. Now the aforementioned equipment for assembly can be shared, okay? It doesn't matter it's 400G, 800G or 1.6Tb. The only difference is testing between 100G to 200G per wavelength. That's it.

The next question comes from Simon Leopold of Raymond James.

The first thing I wanted to ask you about was the level of vertical integration you've achieved within the datacenter business. And where this is going is I think, at one point, you were sourcing, buying EML lasers from others and had been ramping your own production or plans to ramp. Just want to get a better understanding of, one, are you doing EMLs or silicon photonics? And two, are you in-sourced or outsourced? And what's the trajectory of in-sourcing?

Sure. So the answer to that first question, are we doing EMLs or silicon photonics, is we're doing both platforms. We do have our own production capacity for EMLs, but we also do buy EMLs externally. We've talked about this in the past as well, but just to reiterate, most of our customers require us to have multiple sources. Even if one of those sources is internal, we're usually required to have a second source as well, which you can imagine is prudent for risk management purposes. So not everything is in-sourced, but we're in- sourcing what we can based on our customer commitments. And again, the silicon photonics, the lasers that are used there are CW lasers. We also produce those in-house as well. And I think I answered your question there. Did you have another one, Simon? I forgot the second.

So let me add a few more points. One, I think we are increasing our high-power CW laser for silicon photonics to maybe 2.5 million lasers per month by sometime next year. So right now, our in-house capacity is 100 EML. We should have 200 EML sometime soon, next year, for sure, the high-power laser for silicon photonics and VCSEL, the other new project, the 200G photo detector, okay? So this is all manufactured, 100%, in Houston. VCSEL will be manufactured by our partner in Taiwan. The other is we have one new project. It's developed special silicon photonics with our big customer. For sure, we don't do silicon photonics, but we involve in the design, the testing, the assembly.

Yes. Where I was trying to go with the question was to try to get a better sense of one of the elements to help the gross margin move towards that long term of 40%. So what I was trying to tease out in this question was the degree that you're outsourcing today versus a change towards more vertical integration in the future as a lever for gross margin improvement. So maybe the question is off-base and maybe I'm going down the wrong path. More bluntly, what will help the gross margin improve?

Yes. I think the key is wafer, okay? Right now, we are doing 2-inch wafer. But we're going to 3-inch wafers. The cost will reduce by, I don't know, 50%, 60%. Then we'll go to 4-inch wafer by end of next year. This is a major, much bigger cost savings than what you're talking about. I think right now, yes, we're only maybe using 30% to 40% of our lasers. We were using, I would say, 2/3 of AOI lasers, okay? It will depend on customer by customer. Some customers prefer all the AOI lasers. Some customers prefer 50-50, okay? So that's why it's different. But more importantly, the cost funnel of AOI lasers changed from 2-inch to 3-inch to 4-inch.

That's really, really helpful. And then I want to follow up on the cable TV side. You've talked to us about production capacity on datacenter. And I'm just wondering whether or not we need a better understanding of your production capacity if there are constraints on cable TV. And the other aspect is just understanding whether -- I assume you've got visibility into channel inventory because I think when customers deploy your amplifiers, you would know when they're turned up. I believe that's the case. So I'm just trying to get a sense of how much of your revenue is perhaps not deployed yet and somewhere in the channel just to assess the risk of [ sell-in ] from a channel buildup.

Right. So let me touch on one thing real quick at kind of the tail end of your last question regarding gross margin expansion, and it relates to the cable TV business as well. There is still significant cost savings that we expect to achieve over the next few quarters in the cable TV business. That business is not yet hitting its gross margin targets, but we have a pathway to get there. The other thing that will help on the cable TV side relative to gross margin is a greater impact on software as part of our revenue mix. Software will come in with a significantly higher gross margin level. So a couple of other things to add on the gross margin line, even though that's sort of a follow-on to your previous question. Regarding the manufacturing capacity for cable TV, we're pretty much -- I've said this before, I mean, we're pretty much at the level that we expect to be at. Our goal with cable TV production is really to kind of match what we see all of our customers' aggregate demand being, and we're more or less there. We had a little bit of a pullback last quarter as we retooled, we're expecting a sequential increase this quarter, and that's about the same level that we were at the prior quarter. So we're kind of at that level right now. Regarding channel inventory, yes, we do have a pretty clear line of sight into what the customer is using. We're very comfortable with the level of inventory that we have. And as we discussed in our prepared remarks, it's not just one customer that we have. We have multiple customers now that are buying these products. And we have a number of other customers in the pipeline. As we talked about, we have 6 different customers that are either buying or in various stages of qualification of the products right now. So we're pretty comfortable with the inventory that we have in the channel. It is substantial, but it's in line with our customers' demand in aggregate.

And Simon, let me add a few more points. So right now, next year, we are very comfortable, besides Charter, we should have more than 10 customers next year. And right now, based on the feedback from this customer, I think the real demand from this customer next year is, I would say, minimum $300 million to $350 million. And because the shipping is by ship, so usually it takes more than 6, 7 weeks. That's why we need inventory in U.S. because the customer demand is like 3 to 5 days, okay? So we can't say we got an order then we manufacture in Taiwan and then ship here, it will easily take 2, 3 months. It doesn't work for this cable TV industry, okay? So that's the purpose: to meet the customer demand. But the demand is pretty big, all right? Just next year, that's the number we see right now, $300 million to $350 million of real demand, all right, for this customer in, I would say, U.S., Canada, all right?

The next question comes from Michael Genovese of Rosenblatt.

So on the prepared remarks, there was a lot of talk about qualification activity, 400G and 800G, it sounds like with this customer who should become a 10% customer in the third quarter and beyond. I guess I just wanted to ask. And then somebody else asked about sort of engagement with other Tier 1s. But I just wanted to ask sort of very specifically if there's qualification activity going on at 400G and above with other customers besides that one that I think you spoke a lot about on the call.

Absolutely. 100%, yes. All 3 of those that Thompson mentioned earlier are in qualification at various stages.

And are those all existing customers or anybody brand new to the company?

Those are all existing customers. I want to be sure that we're not mischaracterizing this. We also have a number of engagements with smaller Tier 2 operators as well. So it's not just like those are the only customers that we have, but all 3 of those customers are existing customers.

Yes. Great. I think my question might have been answered on the last question, but I just want to verify that I heard it correctly. That Right. And any sense of how much of that is -- I imagine the large majority of that is amplifiers, but is there any significant amount of timing maybe of not all the way to 40%, but maybe like mid-30s. Is there any kind of timing expectation you'd want to set there? Or is No. I mean I think our guide right now, as you could see, is kind of consistent at around 30%. It's going to take us a couple of quarters to see a bigger impact from 800G business and the impact of some of the cost reduction efforts and increased software revenue that we It's not really Tier 2, it could be Tier 1.

Depending on where you draw the line.

Based on the investment they announced, the next few could become Tier 1 and 2.

still to the primary customer only?

More than one customer.

$300 million to $350 million that Thompson was talking about, that's a cable TV revenue target for 2026, is that correct?

Yes. But that's not only Charter. That's Charter plus more than 10 other customers.

nodes in there?

There should be some node business as well, but we haven't broken that out for you.

And then I thought Simon's questions about the gross margins were super helpful. But I guess now I'm just wondering about the it like a one quarter at a time, wait-and-see?

talked about on the cable TV side. So a few quarters to get kind of the next uptick in gross margin.

Yes. I would say maybe Q2 or Q3, especially the volume is picking up very strongly in the next quarter, every quarter. Then 1.6Tb, I'd say will start in, I would say, June, July next year. And cable TV gross margin will improve, too. So I would say Q2, Q3 next year. Our target is 40%. So we hope we could be there by end of next year or early 2027. That's our target.

[Operator Instructions] And our next question will come from Dave Kang of B. Riley FBR.

First question is regarding receivables. So they went up, what, like $50 million, over $50 million, last quarter, first quarter, and now it's another approximately $40 million. Just can you go over the dynamics why receivables are going up? And I'm assuming that's related to a cable TV customer.

I mean a lot of it is. Receivables are going up because business is going up, right? We more than doubled our revenue over last year. So naturally, the receivables are going to go up as well. We talked about the dynamics, because we wanted to get some of the cable TV products in particular into the country and ready to be staged, ready for customer acceptance, we have offered some extended payment terms to certain customers in that channel chain to be able to accommodate that additional amount of revenue so that it's here when the customers need it. So I mean that's the story, increased revenue, slightly larger payment terms equals increased receivables.

Got it. And then just a question on gross margin. Can you talk about the difference between transceiver versus the cable TV? Right now, you're at 30%. Maybe what the difference is and then your long-term 40%, what margins will be for cable TV and transceivers?

Yes. So I mean, cable TV right now is kind of in the low to mid-30% range. And obviously, the transceivers are below 30% at this point. So they average out to be around 30%. I think we can get -- I mean, we've been pretty consistent that our expectation for gross margin in cable is to get above 40%, and we think we can achieve that. So that's where that is heading. With respect to the transceivers, again, mid- to upper 30% is, I think, where it can be such that we can blend out to around 40%.

Especially the 1.6Tb, the gross margin should be more than 40%. The 800G should be close to 40%. That's why we said the gross margin should be 35% to 40% by end of next year.

Got it. And my last question is regarding that major customer qualifying your facility. So what's left for, I guess, when companies say our 400-gig, 800-gig products are qualified, what else is left, I guess? And how long does it typically take between facility qualification versus product qualification?

Right. So 400G is already qualified. We talked about the first volume shipments occurring this quarter -- I mean, last quarter, the quarter that we're reporting on, Q2. So that's already happened. 800-gig, there's really not much that has to happen. But as we discussed in our prepared remarks, we have to have production capacity available for 800G, meaningful production capacity available for 800G, before there's any need for them to give us the green light to go ahead and produce. We're pretty close to that right now. We outlined our targets at OFC, and we're sticking to that. We're tracking pretty well to those targets. So really, what has to happen is we've got to have enough production capacity to be able to accept meaningful orders for them to finish the qualification.

So as in this quarter, this customer maybe will become 10% customer. And by Q4, I would say 400G may become our biggest revenue creator for datacenter, bigger than 100G in Q4. So you can see how fast the 400G revenue is coming up in this year. But for sure, the 800G will become the biggest contributor by, I would say, Q2 next year; for sure, Q3. So you can see overall how fast the revenue -- and 100G is not going down, okay, don't take me wrong. I would say 100G will stay similar, but 400G is picking up so strong in Q3, Q4. And Q4, 400G become the biggest, even bigger than 100G. But at the same time, by Q2, Q3 next year, 800G will be even bigger than 400G, okay? That's my point.

At this time, we have no further questions, and I will turn the call over to Dr. Thompson Lin for closing remarks.

Again, thank you for joining us today. As always, we want to extend a thank you to our investors, customers and employees for your continued support. As we discussed today, we believe the fundamental driver of long-term demand of our business remains robust, and we are in a unique position to drive value from this opportunity. We look forward to seeing many of you at upcoming investor conferences. Thank you.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation, and you may now disconnect.