Autodesk Inc at Citi TMT Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Awesome. Well, great to have you here, and I'm sure a lot of exciting things to talk about. Maybe we could kick off on the AI front because that's the topic of 2025 and certainly been a focus at the conference. So just at a very high level, Mike, how would you articulate Autodesk's AI strategy from here?

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Yes, yes. Got it. Okay. And maybe talk about where Autodesk is in terms of product perspective in terms of giving that automation. What have you seen in terms of early traction from -- I know it's early, but --

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Right. So I guess, it sounds like you're seeing a lot of uptake initial of --

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Right. And when customers use the customers' uptake and you see the usage of AI, what is that -- what have you seen in those customers? Are they spending more time in Autodesk? Are they using more consumption? Is there any kind of downstream impact that you're seeing? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 04, 2025 / 12:10PM, ADSK.OQ - Autodesk Inc at Citi TMT Conference

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Right. And how should we think about Autodesk's road map and what customers need to do to kind of progress along that continuum?

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Yes. And I'd love to sort of bring in the competition angle, too, as it relates to AI. I mean, certainly, a lot of software companies are under pressure just around some of the existential and disruptive concerns around AI. I think vertical software, design software, particularly where the Autodesk of the world feels a lot more insulated from that. But I mean, you talked about kind of this idea of simplifying the user experience and gaining more REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. SEPTEMBER 04, 2025 / 12:10PM, ADSK.OQ - Autodesk Inc at Citi TMT Conference users. What makes you confident that, that simplification isn't going to invite more competition over time and that you can hold on to what is a really dominant competitive position?

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Okay. And I think maybe last question on this topic because, obviously, we can talk about this all session. But the importance of the data, right, and the data model you highlighted. But for Autodesk, help us understand where we are just from that data model and cloud transition perspective, right? Because I know this is something that was announced at AU around the Fusion and Forma and whatnot. But it feels like we're still on that journey. So is that still kind of a precursor or a roadblock to AI adoption?

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : A couple of weeks away, right?

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Awesome. Sid, and maybe this conversation is also for Mike, but just on -- we get a lot of questions on Autodesk's M&A strategy. Obviously, there were press reports about one of your Boston companies. I know you're based in Boston. But how do you think about Autodesk's M&A strategy? I know you've been in the -- Simon Mays-Smith - Autodesk Inc - Vice President - Investor Relations I mean basically to repeat what Andrew said on the call, which is it's the same as it's always been, which is we're investing in the future to accelerate growth in the business in adjacent verticals primarily in terms of relatively large amounts of capital, thinking construction, thinking in device, et cetera, or small amounts of capital you're typically doing tech tuck-ins or features like pay apps in construction, et cetera. But that's also in the context of a broader capital allocation strategy of investing significantly in R&D and things like AI, for example, and also repurchasing shares and bringing the share count down gradually over time. And in terms of size, as Andrew said, it will range from anything from a couple of hundred thousand dollars into the billions of dollars, but it will not be in the tens of billions of dollars.

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Coders to construction.

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Right. Last call, obviously, a pretty strong beat and raise across the board. There were specific call-outs to, I'd say, the areas of strength in the Design and Construction space, whether that's infrastructure projects, data centers, right? So I'd just be curious, clearly, there's -- it's a mixed bag out there. You talked about multifamily homes. Commercial real estate broadly is under a lot of pressure. But are you kind of seeing those positive factors, maybe greater outweigh those headwinds or perhaps more than you expected? Or is it kind of a wash at the end of the day?

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Right. Got it. And you'd expect sort of those backlog numbers. I mean they've held up for years. I mean you're not seeing any signs of those kind of compressing or deteriorating?

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Right. And speaking of competition, how would you assess the Autodesk product portfolio on the Construction side relative to your competitors? Clearly, it's been a lot of work you've put into the product suite with the various acquisitions over the years. But do you feel like it's at parity or better at this point? Just kind of highlight that differentiation.

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Yes. And just as we think about the growth trajectory of Construction Cloud, we don't get perfect disclosure on it every quarter. It's largely within the Make business, but maybe it sort of gets dragged into AEC as well. But how would you just sort of frame that growth trajectory? Are there accelerants that you see ahead, whether it's some of this macro positivity on the infrastructure side, competition, pricing, AI monetization? Just help us understand the puts and takes on that growth rate. Simon Mays-Smith - Autodesk Inc - Vice President - Investor Relations Yes, I'll take it. I mean it's obviously -- so in terms of size, just because it's complicated -- because it's overcomplicating it, part of construction is in the Design business, but most of it is in Make. But if you took the Design bit of construction and put it in Make and took the non-construction bit of Make out, then you'd end up with roughly the same size as Make. So Construction business in total is about the same size as Make. And it is by far the largest part of the Make business. So at some point, the Construction business has to grow in the ZIP code of the Make business, which is why we say. So it's in that sort of Make is growing around 20%, and Construction has to be somewhere in that ZIP code. And the -- in terms of -- and then the other important thing is we haven't seen any deceleration in growth. Actually the Construction business grew a fraction faster in Q2 than it did in Q1 on the sort of revenue side. So it continues to grow very, very nicely and is doing very, very well. And in terms of the drivers, Sid, do you want to sort of talk about that in terms of how we're keeping the business generating along?

Question: Tyler Radke - Citigroup Global Markets Inc. - Analyst : Great. Well, I think we are out of time. I really appreciate the discussion and looking forward to going to Autodesk University and then Investor Day you also have coming up next week. So you'll be busy. Simon Mays-Smith - Autodesk Inc - Vice President - Investor Relations October 7, not next week.