AOSL Fiscal Q1 2027 Earnings Call: AI and Server Growth Lifts Margins

Key Takeaways

• Fiscal Q1 2027 revenue was $177.8 million, up 4.3% sequentially and down 2.6% year over year, slightly above the midpoint of management’s guidance.
• Advanced Computing revenue increased more than 50% sequentially and 80% year over year, reaching nearly 23% of total revenue. AI and server applications represented about 20% of company revenue, up from 5.5% a year earlier.
• Non-GAAP gross margin improved by 150 basis points sequentially to 25.2%, primarily due to a richer product mix. Management said pricing conditions moved from neutral to slightly favorable.
• Traditional PC-related revenue fell approximately 30% sequentially as elevated memory costs and component shortages pressured demand. Management does not expect a near-term PC recovery.
• Communications revenue rose 15.0% sequentially, while Power Supply and Industrial revenue increased 29.2%, helping offset weakness in PCs and Consumer Electronics.
• For the December quarter, management expects revenue of approximately $180 million, plus or minus $10 million, and non-GAAP gross margin of 25.7%, plus or minus 1 percentage point.

Core Financial Data

AOS recognized a $4.0 million gain after the majority shareholder of its joint venture injected approximately $344 million and the JV retired smaller shareholders’ interests. AOS’s equity interest declined from 18.9% to 15.1%. The gain was excluded from non-GAAP EPS.

Business and Operating Performance

Computing

Computing revenue was $83.2 million, down 2.0% sequentially and 14.3% year over year. It represented 46.8% of total revenue.

The segment’s mix shifted sharply toward Advanced Computing. AI and server-related revenue grew more than 65% sequentially and more than 250% year over year. Demand included medium-voltage MOSFETs used in intermediate bus converter applications across AI infrastructure.

Management said AOS is expanding across cloud and hyperscale ecosystems through manufacturing capacity investments, product development and customer qualifications. However, traditional PC-related revenue declined approximately 30% sequentially.

Communications

Communications revenue reached $37.8 million, up 15.0% sequentially and 15.8% year over year. The segment accounted for 21.3% of total revenue.

Battery protection circuit module revenue increased more than 50% sequentially, supported by flagship smartphone production ramps at a Tier 1 U.S. customer. Management also sees potential for higher content in foldable and multi-screen devices that use multiple batteries and dedicated protection circuitry.

Power Supply and Industrial

Revenue was $38.7 million, up 29.2% sequentially and 38.8% year over year, representing 21.8% of total revenue.

Growth came from power supplies, power tools, motor control and DC fans. DC fan revenue reached a quarterly record, partly reflecting higher cooling requirements in AI servers and data centers.

Consumer

Consumer revenue was $16.1 million, down 22.9% sequentially and 31.4% year over year. The segment represented 9.1% of total revenue.

The decline was broad-based, led by Home Appliances, Gaming and Wearables. Management attributed Gaming weakness partly to the maturity of the current console cycle, while wearable demand remained soft.

Management Guidance

For the December quarter, AOS management provided the following outlook:

Management expects total revenue to increase slightly sequentially and approximately 10% year over year despite significant weakness in traditional PCs.

By segment, Advanced Computing is expected to reach another quarterly revenue record, but total Computing revenue is projected to decline by a mid-to-high single-digit percentage sequentially. Communications revenue is expected to grow by a mid-teens percentage, Power Supply and Industrial by a high-single-digit percentage, and Consumer revenue is expected to remain roughly flat.

Risks and Watch Points

• Elevated memory costs and broader component shortages continue to pressure traditional PC demand. Management expects these challenges to persist in the near term.
• Higher memory costs are also affecting smartphone affordability in China, prompting some manufacturers to reduce component specifications and bill-of-materials costs.
• Consumer Electronics demand remains weak, particularly in Gaming, Wearables and Home Appliances.
• AI demand visibility is improving in some areas through longer-term forecasts or commitments, but parts of the market remain relatively new and have not established normal seasonality.
• Management continues to develop 800-volt AI server opportunities with ecosystem partners, but reported no major update on commercialization timing.

Analyst Q&A Highlights

Management attributed the 150-basis-point sequential gross-margin improvement mainly to product mix, with Advanced Computing and AI products contributing to a higher-quality revenue profile. Pricing played a smaller role, although the overall environment became slightly favorable.

On AI customer diversification, management said medium-voltage MOSFET adoption is expanding across power supply and module manufacturers. Selling through module makers provides exposure to multiple end customers rather than a single large opportunity.

Most current AI and server revenue comes from sockets that were not generating revenue a year earlier. AOS is continuing to secure additional design wins and expects the business to grow into the next calendar year as programs ramp.

Management is considering whether and when to report Advanced Computing or AI separately as the business becomes a larger share of revenue. The company also said $10 million to $12 million remains available under its existing share repurchase program, while the board continues to evaluate capital allocation.

Full Earnings Call Transcript

Complete Earnings Call Transcript

Management Remarks

Operator

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Fiscal Q1 2027 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] I will hand the call over to Steven Pelayo of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Steven C. Pelayo

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Alpha and Omega Semiconductor's conference call to discuss fiscal 2027 first quarter financial results. I'm Steven Pelayo, Investor Relations representative for AOS. With me today are Stephen Chang, our CEO; and Yifan Liang, our CFO. This call is being recorded and broadcast live over the web.

A replay will be available for 7 days following the call via the link in the Investor Relations section of our website. Our call will proceed as follows today. Stephen will begin with business updates, including strategic highlights and a detailed segment report. After that, Yifan will review the financial results and provide guidance for the December quarter. Finally, we will have a Q&A session.

The earnings release was distributed over the wire today, November 5, 2026, after the market closed. The release is also posted on the company's website. Our earnings release and this presentation include non-GAAP financial measures. We use these non-GAAP measures because we believe they provide useful information about our operating performance that should be considered by investors in conjunction with the GAAP measures.

A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP measures is included in the earnings release. We remind you that during this conference call, we will make certain forward-looking statements, including discussions of the business outlook and financial projections. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially.

For a more detailed description of these risks and uncertainties, please refer to our recent and subsequent filings with the SEC. We assume no obligations to update the information provided in today's call.

Now I'll turn the call over to our CEO, Stephen Chang. Stephen?

Stephen Chang

Thank you, Steven. Welcome to Alpha and Omega's fiscal 2027 first quarter earnings call. I will begin with a high-level overview of our results and then discuss performance across our end market segments. We delivered September quarter revenue of $177.8 million, up 4.3% sequentially and down 2.6% year-over-year, slightly above the midpoint of our guidance. Non-GAAP gross margin improved to 25.2%, compared with 23.7% in the June quarter, and our non-GAAP loss narrowed to $0.07

per share.

Our results reflect the accelerating momentum in AI infrastructure, even as traditional PC and Consumer markets face increasing headwinds. Advanced Computing revenue, which includes AI, servers, and graphics cards, increased more

than 50% sequentially and 80% year-over-year, reaching nearly 23% of total company revenue ahead of our expectations.

Importantly, AI and server applications accounted for nearly 90% of Advanced Computing revenue and approximately 20% of total company revenue, compared with just 5.5% a year ago. This rapid expansion underscores the tangible progress we are making in transforming AOS into a higher-performance power semiconductor company.

Meanwhile, elevated memory costs and growing component shortages continue to weigh on

Traditional PC demand, contributing to a sharper-than-expected decline in that market. Consumer Electronics also remained weak. Despite these headwinds, strong growth in AI and servers, along with increased shipments of premium smartphone battery protection solutions, power tools, DC fans, and power supplies helped offset much of the weakness in our traditional markets and supported sequential revenue

growth and improved gross margins.

With that, let me cover our September quarter segment results and preliminary outlook for December.

Starting with Computing. September quarter revenue was $83.2 million, down 2.0%

sequentially and 14.3% year-over-year, representing 46.8% of total revenue. The headline result masks a significant shift in mix. Led by our strong AI and server business, Advanced Computing grew more than 50% sequentially, nicely ahead of our guidance for growth of more than 40%, while traditional PC-related revenue declined approximately 30% sequentially.

We are seeing growing adoption of our power solutions across AI infrastructure, including robust medium-voltage MOSFETs for intermediate bus converter applications. These opportunities broaden our BOM content and customer relationships as our portfolio evolves toward higher performance solutions.

Within Advanced Computing, AI and server-related revenue grew more than 65% sequentially and more than 250% year-over-year. We continue to expand our presence across major cloud and hyperscale ecosystems, supported by targeted investments in manufacturing capacity, product development, and customer qualifications. These efforts are broadening our opportunities across increasingly complex power conversion architectures and positioning us for sustained growth.

Looking ahead to the December quarter, we expect Advanced Computing to reach another quarterly revenue record, led by continued strength in AI and server applications. However, worsening demand for traditional PCs, compounded by elevated memory costs and broader component shortages, is expected to more than offset this growth. As a result, we anticipate total Computing revenue will decline mid-to-high single digits sequentially.

Turning to the Consumer segment, September quarter revenue was $16.1 million, down 22.9% sequentially and 31.4% year-over-year, representing 9.1% of total revenue. Results were slightly better than our guidance, with broad-based declines led by lower shipments in Home Appliances, Gaming, and Wearables. Gaming continued to reflect the maturity of the current console cycle, while wearable demand also remained soft. For the December quarter, our planning assumptions suggest Consumer revenue will be flattish sequentially, although the outlook varies by application.

Next, let's discuss the Communications segment, September quarter revenue was $37.8 million, up 15.0% sequentially and 15.8% year-over-year, representing 21.3% of total revenue. Results were above our guidance for growth of approximately 10%. The sequential increase was primarily driven by a strong ramp in battery protection solutions for our Tier 1 U.S. smartphone customer.

Battery PCM revenue increased more than 50% sequentially, benefiting from new flagship smartphone production ramps. Our differentiated battery protection technologies continue to address increasing charging currents and higher performance platforms, driving higher BOM content per device.

Looking ahead, we see additional content expansion opportunities as smartphone designs evolve, particularly with the growing adoption of foldable and multi-screen devices that incorporate multiple batteries, each requiring dedicated protection circuitry. However, these gains were partially offset by softer demand in other regions, particularly China, where rising memory costs are pressuring smartphone affordability and prompting some manufacturers to reduce component specifications and overall BOM costs.

For the December quarter, we expect Communications revenue to grow mid-teens sequentially, driven by continued momentum in our premium smartphone programs, particularly battery PCM. Finally, Power Supply and Industrial revenue was $38.7 million, up 29.2% sequentially and 38.8% year-over-year, representing 21.8% of total revenue.

Results were in line with our guidance for sequential growth of nearly 30%, driven by strength across power supplies, power tools, motor control, and DC fans. We are particularly encouraged by the recovery in power tools, where improving end-market demand and increased business with a major customer are contributing to growth.

DC fans also achieved record quarterly revenue, reflecting a substantially higher underlying revenue run rate compared with last year. This growth is supported in part by increasing cooling requirements in AI servers and data centers, further expanding our participation in the AI infrastructure ecosystem beyond traditional computing power conversion.

In the December quarter, we expect Power Supply and Industrial revenue to grow high-single digits sequentially, primarily driven by strong E-Mobility demand for electric motorcycles and scooters in emerging markets. We also expect AC-DC power supplies and power tools to remain resilient, supported by continued demand across their respective end markets.

In closing, our September quarter results demonstrate meaningful progress in AOS's transformation toward higher-performance, higher-content applications. Advanced Computing now represents nearly half of our Computing segment, and growing demand for AI infrastructure is creating additional opportunities in adjacent applications such as server cooling and power supplies.

This momentum helped offset continued weakness in traditional PCs and consumer electronics. More importantly, the richer product mix is showing up in our margins. Non-GAAP gross margin improved 150 basis points sequentially. Our expanding participation in high performance AI power applications, particularly differentiated medium-voltage MOSFETs, is improving the quality of our revenue and contributing to a more attractive margin profile.

Turning to the December quarter, which is typically a seasonally softer quarter for us, we anticipate a more balanced and resilient demand profile to drive counter-seasonal growth. We expect total revenue to be up slightly sequentially, and up approximately 10% year-over-year, despite significant weakness in traditional PCs.

Importantly, our growth story extends well beyond AI and Advanced Computing. We expect Communications revenue to increase at mid-teens sequentially and more than 20% year-over-year, reflecting continued strength with our Tier 1 U.S. smartphone customer. Similarly, Power Supply and Industrial revenue is expected to increase by high single digits sequentially and more than 50% year-over-year, supported by improving demand across applications including Power Tools and E-mobility.

These trends demonstrate the increasing breadth of our growth drivers and the tangible progress of our business transformation, as we leverage our technology leadership, premier customer relationships, and total solutions strategy to capture opportunities across a more diversified portfolio of higher-value markets, while positioning us for further margin improvement as our business scales.

At the same time, we remain mindful that market conditions are uneven. Elevated memory costs and other component constraints continue to weigh on traditional PC demand, and we do not expect a near-term PC recovery. Notwithstanding this headwind, we believe our expanding relationships across hyperscalers, ODMs, power supply manufacturers, and other ecosystem partners, combined with our disciplined investment and growing BOM content, position us well to capitalize on the long-term opportunities ahead.

With that, I will turn the call over to Yifan for a discussion of our fiscal first quarter financial results and our outlook for December. Yifan?

Yifan Liang

Thank you, Stephen. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Revenue for the September quarter was $177.8 million, up 4.3% sequentially and down 2.6% year-over-year. In terms of product mix, DMOS revenue was $137.2 million, up 21.1% sequentially and 26.4% over last year. Power IC revenue was $38.7 million, down 30.2% from the prior quarter and 46.8% from a year ago. Assembly service and other revenue was $1.9 million, as compared to $1.7 million last quarter and $1.3 million for the same quarter last year.

Non-GAAP gross margin was 25.2%, compared to 23.7% last quarter and 24.1% a year ago. The quarter-over-quarter increase was mainly impacted by better product mix. Non-GAAP operating expenses were $45.9 million, compared to $45.3 million for the prior quarter and $41.4 million last year. The slight quarter-over-quarter increase was primarily driven by higher personnel-related expenses. Non-GAAP quarterly EPS was $0.07 loss, compared to $0.13 loss per share last quarter and $0.13 earnings per share a year ago.

During the quarter, the majority shareholder of the JV company injected approximately $344 million of capital into the JV company, and the JV company used a portion of the proceeds to completely retire the equity interests of all shareholders whose interests were smaller than ours. As a result, we recognized a $4.0 million gain and our equity interest in the JV company decreased from 18.9% to 15.1%. The $4.0 million gain from this transaction was excluded from our non-GAAP EPS for the quarter.

Moving on to cash flow. Operating cash flow was $5.6 million, compared to negative $10.0 million in the prior quarter and $10.2 million last year. EBITDAS was $12.2 million for the quarter, compared to $10.1 million last quarter and $19.4 million for the same quarter a year ago.

Now let me turn to our balance sheet. We completed the September quarter with a cash balance of $175.2 million, compared to $180.8 million at the end of last quarter. Net trade receivables increased by $10.5 million sequentially. Days Sales Outstanding were 26 days for the quarter, compared to 23 days for the prior quarter.

Net inventory decreased by $5.1 million quarter-over-quarter. Average days in inventory were 133 days for the quarter, compared to 138 days for the prior quarter. CapEx for the quarter was $9.2 million, compared to $14.9 million for the prior quarter. We expect CapEx for the December quarter to range from $12 million to $14 million.

With that, now I would like to discuss December quarter guidance. We expect revenue to be approximately $180 million, plus or minus $10 million. GAAP gross margin to be 25.1%, plus or minus 1%. We anticipate non-GAAP gross margin to be 25.7% plus or minus 1% GAAP operating expenses to be $52 million, plus or minus $1 million.

Non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be $46 million, plus or minus $1 million. Interest income to be $0.4 million higher than interest expense and income tax expense to be in the range of $1.1 million to $1.3 million. With that, we will now open the call for questions. Operator, please start the Q&A session.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Tore Svanberg from Stifel.

Question-and-Answer Session

Cam Tierney

This is Cam Tierney on for Tore Svanberg at Stifel. Congrats on the strong results and guide here. I wanted to ask a little bit about what drove the gross margin beat? And maybe can you talk a little bit about the contribution between utilization and pricing? And is advanced computing a component of that beat?

Yifan Liang

Sure. Yes, it's good to see our gross margin continues to grow from the June quarter to September quarter. And then yes, this 150 basis point improvement in the September quarter was mainly contributed by the better product mix. So pricing played some role to the less extent. So the overall pricing environment now is continue to improve. So we were glad to see that, overall, it turned from the neutral position in the June quarter to, I would say, slightly favorable in the September quarter. So okay.

Cam Tierney

Yes. Perfect. And then just for my follow-up, it sounds like last quarter, you kind of communicated that September would be a bit of a trough for the PC market. It sounds like maybe that it's gotten worse, I guess, in looking out into the December quarter based on the implied guide, which isn't surprising. But I just wanted to get a sense if you -- get a handle on if you guys have a sense of when you think that market might bottom into next year?

Stephen Chang

Sure. This is Stephen. Yes, like we commented on the call, we do see a sharper correction in the PC side due to the various constraints that, that market is dealing with -- so we saw the bulk of that drop happening in the September quarter, but we do think that these challenges will continue to persist in the near future. And we continue to monitor closely.

Fortunately, it's not the only market that we're participating in, but we are watching it closely, especially as it goes into kind of the lower season of the normal PC seasonality. So it's still an important market for us. It's very related to our business going into advanced computing. And so we will be carefully watching...

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Tyler Burmeister of Lake Street Capital Markets.

Tyler Burmeister

Congrats on the strong quarter and the solid guide here. So first, it's been asked before, but ask it again, with the AI and server business being so strong, do you guys have any updated plans on potentially breaking that out into its own segment just to give investors a better view of that business and the underlying PC and broader compute segment business. Just an update your thoughts there.

And then I'll just add another one in quick. Any update on the 800-volt AI server opportunity? I think last time we talked, you said first revenue could be in '27. Just wondering what an update there might be...

Stephen Chang

Sure. Thank you. I appreciate the comments. Yes, advanced computing, especially the AI portion is suddenly becoming a bigger portion of our business. We said in the call itself is 23% of September revenue and AI portion alone is itself 20% of revenue. So it is a question that we are discussing internally at what the timing or appropriate to do that. But it is something that we try to be more explicit in describing our business because it is a very important part. It is the key reason why the margin is improving because of that margin.

Now that was the first part of your question. The second question was on the 800 volts. That portion, yes, we continue to work with the various partners in the ecosystem to continue to promote and design in our solutions. So we don't have a really major update at this point right now and just that we are progressing along with that.

And it's good to see, again, the power levels going up with 800 volt. And our entry into that middle stage conversion puts us -- positions us very well with our customers and with our products. So not only for medium voltage, but also going into upwards into our wide bandgap solutions as well.

Tyler Burmeister

That's great. I appreciate that color. And then on the PCs, maybe looking at it a little bit differently, it seems like you're underperforming the TAM declines and not to ask you to count on the market outlook, but do you think going forward or at what point in the future, could we return to whatever the market might be, but you being.

able to at least be in line to outperform that market?

Stephen Chang

Sure. I think from what we see in our place in the supply chain is there is correction that happens. Our customers were building at a higher production level beginning in the first 2 quarters of the calendar year. And as we went into the September quarter, that's when we saw that that's when they saw that the demand or the expected production was going to drop.

So -- so it's a correction that's happening there in our portion of the supply chain. Yes, we are watching closely at this, and we hope that our customers can resolve their shortage situation and we can get back to a normal market. But for now, we're just watching carefully.

Tyler Burmeister

Understood. Understood. And then last one for me, just on capital allocation, strong cash balance with the stock at the current levels down here. It sounds like a lot of obviously positive things going on. I wonder your thoughts about capital allocation and maybe a stock buyback in particular.

Yifan Liang

Sure. Yes. And then we -- our Board also evaluate the capital allocations from time to time. So at this point, our buyback program, we still have about $10 million to $12 million available with our existing buyback program. So yes, those are watching the stock market. So we'll see.

Operator

Next question comes from the line of Patrick Muth with Needham & Co.

Patrick Muth

Congrats on the solid results. This is Patrick on for David Williams over at Needham. I guess first question is on customer diversification and demand visibility. So how diversified has the AI server business become across customers and platforms? And are you guys beginning to receive longer-term demand forecast or capacity commitments that improve your visibility into 2027?

Stephen Chang

Yes. So I think as we've spoken before, we are happy to see the diversification, that's both in terms of the application portions as well as from a customer base especially now we're seeing the MOSFET, medium-voltage MOSFET, especially in the high-performance portion really gaining traction.

And this is going into various types of end customers from power supply makers to module makers. And for right now, we've been emphasizing especially the module makers and they sell into their various end customers themselves. So this provides a little more diversification than simply just going after big opportunity. So we are happy to see that part of the business grow.

We are getting more visibility into it. In some areas, we are seeing -- we're getting more longer-term commitments or visibility of forecast. Other areas, and this is also -- some areas are still relatively new too. So we're not in a typical -- there's no seasonality happening just yet because overall, this AI program is something that's really taking off in the beginning of this year until...

Patrick Muth

Okay. Great. And then maybe on the design wins as a follow-up. So obviously, advanced computing has been growing substantially faster than overall than the overall business. But how much of that growth is coming from new platform design wins and expanding content versus increasing volumes on existing sockets?

Stephen Chang

Most of these sockets actually didn't exist in terms of revenue this time last year. So the bulk of it, I would say, relatively new for us as a company. So -- but that said, we are continuing to secure additional design wins for -- to secure more business for the future. We are expecting that this business will continue to grow going into the next calendar year as we continue to ramp as well as these programs gain further traction.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions. At this time, I will now turn the call back to Stephen for closing remarks.

Stephen Chang

Okay. Great. Before we conclude, I'd like to highlight a few upcoming investor events management team will be participating in. First is the 30th Annual UBS Global Technology and AI Conference on December 2 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Then the Wolfe Research Virtual Small and Mid-Cap Conference on December 3 and the 15th Annual CEO Summit on December 15 in New York City.

If you wish to request a meeting, please contact the institutional sales representative at the sponsoring bank. This concludes our earnings call today. Thank you for your interest in AOS, and we look forward to speaking with you again next quarter. Take care.

Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you all for attending. You may now disconnect.