Ron Glibbery
Analyst · Benchmark. Your line is open
3:07 Thank you, Jim, and thank you all for joining us on today's call. Good afternoon, I'm pleased to be joining you today from our first earnings call as a public company following the completion of our business combination with MoSys in December. To tell you a bit about Peraso, the company has been in the millimeter wave or mmWave business for over 12-years. mmWave is a technology, which utilizes a specific portion of the radio spectrum in the 24 to 100 gigahertz frequency range. 3:35 What we believe differentiate Peraso for many mmWave suppliers or others, who have attempted to do develop an mmWave technology is we've been shipping in volume, whereas many have failed to commercially scale this technology. mmWave is very complex and the shift from development in the lab to customer deployment is a significant learning experience. Today, we're shipping 60-gigahertz products to multiple Tier 1 customers and have an expanding pipeline of opportunities in a variety of end-user market applications. 4:09 We are also actively working to expand Peraso’s product line from our existing 60-gigahertz mmWave products to include 5G mmWave products. Over the next three years, 5G millimeter wave for consumer premise and hotspot applications is estimated to represent a $3 billion TAM and we believe we're well positioned for growth in the coming years. With the global expansion of 5G mmWave technology. 4:38 The central theme underpinning mmWave technology is that the existing wireless spectrum simply cannot provide the necessary bandwidth to satisfy increasing user demand. This was driven by a couple of fundamental factors. First, the number of users on global networks continues to increase, an additional driver of user demand is video applications such as TikTok, Netflix and Twitch are having a profound impact on global wireless demand. In fact Facebook recently indicated they're rolling out Facebook reels on a global basis, due to direct competition from TikTok. When you compare a static Facebook page to a reel video the difference is in order of magnitude increase in the wireless bandwidth needed for a single Facebook user. 5:24 Additionally, we’re seeing ever increasing video resolution starting with HD moving to 4K and eventually 8K. This is particularly critical for over-the-top video applications such as Netflix and YouTube, as well as streaming sports. As video becomes the dominant traffic category on mobile networks, we believe mmWave will be the primary source of additional capacity for 5G networks. 5:51 Specific to the 5G specification, the millimeter wave frequency bands spans from 24 to 100-gigahertz. This compares to 4G, which utilized spectrum below 6-gigahertz. 5G standards organizations are anticipating the need for additional spectrum in the future, in fact during very early discussions with various interest groups regarding 6G, there has been a clear recognition of mmWave has been fundamental to future generations of mobile technology. We see these trends as a validation of mmWave technology and the enormous market opportunity further supporting the investment Peraso has made to-date. 6:29 Circling back to what differentiates Peraso and how we win in millimeter wave. Peraso has several established and sustainable advantages in this market. First, our customers have derived field-proven 10 times performance advantage and deployed solutions for the fixed wireless market. This means they are shipping devices with a range of close to 30 kilometers, which is roughly 10 times farther than competitive offerings at similar data rates. This expanded network coverage is achieved through our collaboration and deep engagement with customer engineering teams. 7:02 Second, Peraso has the experience and know-how gain from designing mmWave circuits for over 12-years. mmWave technology is challenging and very sensitive to minor variations in the manufacturing process. As such, foundry models can prove difficult to develop and are often inaccurate when applied in the design of mmWave RF circuits. Our engineers are most characterize and test manufacturing -- manufactured circuits in order to validate their original models, and this refinement process takes years to fine tune. We believe this provides Peraso with a significant technical barrier and while potential competitors may try to catch up. 7:41 In the meantime, our engineering teams continue to produce improved new models. Driven by our experienced shipping millimeter wave devices in volume, we have learned how to improve yields and reduced manufacturing costs. This has allowed Peraso to improve efficiencies over time and allow for future margin expansion in the coming years. The manufacturing know-how also serves as an additional barrier to competition. 8:12 Peraso has developed deep engagements with our customers enabling us to add new high value features to our [audio gap] customer roadmaps, which assist and focusing our R&D efforts. These relationships put Peraso in an important competitive position as our products are optimized through customer feedback and interaction, which we believe has enabled us to establish a leadership position in the millimeter wave market. 8:39 In addition, we've made significant investments in software by offering both silicon and software, we provide our customers a platform solution, which incentivizes long-term commitments and increases switching cost given the system level performance we deliver. This strategy contrasts with traditional RF vendors, who relied solely on RF performance to remain in a dominant position. Peraso products deliver excellent RF performance and when combined with our extensive software platform further entrenches Peraso with customers and provides a long-term sustainable advantage in our markets. 9:21 Our millimeter wave technology is backed by a strong IP and patent portfolio, which we categorize into four primary groups. Millimeter wave RF silicon, essential standard claims, millimeter wave antennas and comprehensive software. Early on Peraso made significant investments in antenna technology and developed key knowledge related to the manufacturing and optimal deployment of millimeter wave antennas. This is critical in millimeter wave solutions, as the antenna plays a fundamental role in system performance, particularly in phased array systems. 9:55 We've also actively participated in mmWave standard setting process and as a result, we've been awarded a central claims patents for the IEEE 802.11ay standard. Any company planning to implement a semiconductor device utilizing the standard must obtain a license from Peraso for these patents. 10:15 Finally, following our significant investments in software, the company has filed several patents related to the implementation of our software and mmWave ICs. We believe our mmWave patent portfolio provides us with a strong defensible position within the mmWave market. 10:36 Beam forming is another fundamental aspect of mmWave technology and Peraso has built a core competency in robust and effective beam forming, as well as beam steering. The primary function of beam forming technology is to concentrate RF energy and showing strong high-performance long distance connections. The objective of beam forming is to focus RF energy towards its target, similar to using a lens to concentrate light or energy from the sun towards a single point. The focused and dynamic nature of our beams make it very difficult for third-party interlopers to each drops on millimeter way communications. 11:14 As such mmWave is gaining traction and secure private networks examples of industries with which Peraso was engaged includes transportation, advanced manufacturing and defense. Another inherent advantage of beam forming is a lower susceptibility to signal interference. This is important in wireless AR/VR, which has very little tolerance to interference. 11:39 Finally, the narrow beam technology utilized by Peraso allows mmWave systems to overlap, creating a mesh network in dense urban areas. This expands the available bandwidth for high usage applications, such as private networks and fixed wireless applications. One of the key aspects to our product strategy is the development of millimeter wave modules. It's important to stress here that Peraso was one of the few mmWave vendors that controls most aspects of the module IP. This includes RF circuits, software and importantly our antenna technology. Through the control of this IP we avoid third-party margin stacking and we were able to provide a highly competitive, very cost effective solution. 12:27 It's important to emphasize the inherent value proposition of this strategy. mmWave technology requires a tight interface between silicon and the millimeter wave antenna. Historically, customers were required to test and calibrate the signal between our silicon and network antennas. With the introduction of our mmWave modules, we have removed the need for the customer to deal with a delicate manufacturing challenges presented by mmWave technology. Peraso is able to provide customers with stable and predictable solutions for which we can guarantee certain levels of performance. 13:03 Additionally, this strategy has successfully helped accelerate our customers' time to market in the order of six to nine months, given the need for less technical support and less testing prior to deployment. Our module strategy allows us to control Peraso solution at system level, offering enhanced performance and ease of use. We believe this provides an advantage over competitors that focus solely on the component level with limited software and system capabilities. 13:37 The target opportunities for Peraso can be broadly divided into two markets: fixed wireless access and consumer electronics. Today, we're generating revenue in both of these end markets with growing opportunity pipeline. Our initial solution for 5G networks is consumer premise equipment for fixed wireless access. In addition, our 5G roadmap is focused on expanding opportunities in consumer electronics, including hotspots, laptops and tablets. 14:10 Specific to fixed wireless access, we have proven ourselves as a leading supplier of ICs and modules for the 60-gigahertz market. We've been shipping mmWave chipsets in volume since 2017 and established Peraso as a competitive alternative in the fixed wireless market, enabling solutions to spend 29-kilometer links requires customization of all aspects of our solutions, including our circuits, our antennas and our software. Working closely with leading customers, we were able to optimize our beam forming algorithms to achieve optimal system performance. This is a feature we do not believe the competition can easily replicate. We are committed to extending our leadership in 60-gigahertz fixed wireless by continuing to expand and develop our product technology roadmaps to achieve even higher levels of performance. 15:04 Building on our momentum in the 60-gigahertz fixed wireless market, our strategy is to further leverage Peraso’s mmWave technology in the 5G fixed wireless market, carriers around the world are challenged with a shortage of spectrum and mmWave is an integral part of the 5G specification and provides greenfield network bandwidth capacity. We also believe that fixed wireless gives carriers the opportunity to deploy competitive fixed line Internet alternatives for both urban and rural deployments. 15:34 While we haven't yet announced our specific 5G product offering, our initial focus will be consumer premise equipment. Key requirements for this market that we believe Peraso will deliver include a high level of integration, a cost-effective solution, superior performance and manageable power consumption. We will employ all aspects of our existing module strategy to our 5G solutions. 16:02 Important characteristics of mmWave technology, include high data rate for wireless video, low latency under 5 milliseconds and significantly reduced interference. These aspects of 60-gigahertz millimeter wave can enhance and enable immersive video applications such as AR/VR, video conferencing and docking. Today Peraso is actively engaged with leading consumer wireless video customers and we anticipate initial production shipments in the second half of 2022. 16:32 Looking forward, we plan to leverage our existing skills and expertise in 60-gigahertz consumer electronics into 5G consumer electronics. Our 5G roadmap is targeting higher volume 5G opportunities such as laptops, tablets and hotspots. With the introduction of the Metaverse over the last year, it stands to rapidly become the leading use case and driver of high resolution graphics, higher frame rates and lower latency. The continued development of the Metaverse and enabling devices such as AR/VR headsets, which are typically wireless will ultimately require the bandwidth and experience that is associated with cable-based connections today. 17:18 mmWave is the ideal technology to support mass adoption of the Metaverse type environment. Millimeter wave technology supports the key requirements needed for low interference, high bandwidth applications. Moreover, the requirements of the Metaverse will continue to evolve and demands even higher levels of bandwidth as resolutions moved from 4K to 8K in coming years. 17:41 With over a decade of experience in mmWave design, Peraso has developed a deep understanding of using mmWave and VR based environments. We are currently engaged in AR/VR opportunities with multiple Tier 1 customers and see this as a future source of growth for millimeter wave technology. 18:04 Well mmWave and 5G are expected to drive our future growth. In late 2021, we acquired a high performance memory IC product line through the business combination with MoSys, Inc. These memory products have an established customer base and the design wins are generally sticky and long lived. Our Bandwidth Engine ICs have been shipping in volume for years to leading Tier 1 global telecom and networking OEMs. The revenue contribution from the memory IC products come with gross margins expected to exceed 60%, which would positively contribute to our corporate gross margin profile. 18:39 Since the business combination, we have identified initial cost synergies, which we expect will improve the combination margins from this product line. In addition, we are pleasantly surprised regarding the opportunity pipeline for the memory business and based on the current backlog, we have excellent revenue visibility into the second half of 2022. 18:59 And now I'll turn the call over to Jim Sullivan, our CFO to discuss the financials. Jim?