As Himax mentioned in the previous earnings calls, the CAPEX budget for Phases I will be funded through Himax’s internal resources and banking facilities, if so needed.
CMOS Image Sensor
Himax continues to make great progress with its two machine vision sensor product lines, namely, near infrared (“NIR”) sensor and Always-on-Sensor (“AoSTM”). NIR sensor is a critical part of its SLiMTM and ASC 3D sensing solutions. The Company’s NIR sensors’ overall performance, measured primarily by way of quantum efficiency, is far ahead of those of its peers for 3D sensing. On the AoS product line, Himax announced the full acquisition of Emza in March. With the acquisition, Himax is now uniquely positioned to provide ultra low power imaging sensing solutions, complete with Himax’s industry leading super low power CIS design and Emza’s unique AI-based computer vision algorithm. This will also help Himax enter into markets beyond consumer electronics, such as connected homes, smart buildings and security.
For the traditional human vision segments, Himax sees strong demands in laptops and increasing shipments for multimedia applications such as car recorders, surveillance, drones, home appliances, and consumer electronics, among others.
LCOS
Himax’s main focus areas are AR goggle devices and head-up-displays (HUD) for automotives. While AR will take a few years to fully realize its market potential, Himax has seen many companies, be the top name multinationals or new start-ups, invest heavily to develop the ecosystem -- applications, software, operating system, system electronics, and optics. The Company continues to have active engineering activities with several tier-1 tech names with ambition to bring next generation smart glasses to the market. In addition, Himax continues to make great progress in developing high-end head-up display for automotives. Himax and its partners together have secured a few design wins. Timing for such revenue contribution would be 2019 the earliest. Himax believes LCOS represents a significant long term growth opportunity for the Company.
For non-driver IC business, Himax expects a low-single-digit revenue growth sequentially in the second quarter, and around 10% growth year-over-year.
Second Quarter 201 8 Guidance
The Company is providing the following financial guidance for the second quarter of 2018: | ||
Net Revenue: | To increase 9% to 14% sequentially, representing a double-digit year-over-year growth | |
Gross Margin: | To be around 23% sequentially, depending on final product mix | |
IFRS EPS: | 0.0 to 1.0 cent per diluted ADS | |
Beginning January 1, 2018, Himax adopted International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") issued by the International Accounting Standard Board ("IASB") to prepare its consolidated financial statements. The Company doesn’t expect the transition from US GAAP to IFRS to have any significant impact on its financial results.
HIMAX TECHNOLOGIES FIRST QUARTER 2018 EARNINGS CONFERENCE CALL
DATE: | Thursday, May 10, 2018 | ||
TIME: | U.S. | 8:00 a.m. EDT | |
Taiwan | 8:00 p.m. | ||
DIAL IN: | U.S. +1 (866) 444-9147 | ||
INTERNATIONAL +1 (678) 509-7569 | |||
CONFERENCE ID: | 5288328 | ||
WEBCAST: | https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/wifc44z6 | ||
A replay of the call will be available beginning two hours after the call through 10:59 a.m. US EDT on May 17th, 2018 (10:59 p.m. Taiwan time, May 17th, 2018) on www.himax.com.tw and by telephone at +1 (855) 859-2056 (US Domestic) or +1 (404) 537-3406 (International). The conference ID number is 5288328. This call is being webcast by Nasdaq and can be accessed by clicking on this link or Himax’s website, where the webcast can be accessed through May 10, 2019.
About Himax Technologies, Inc.
Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIMX) is a fabless semiconductor solution provider dedicated to display imaging processing technologies. Himax is a worldwide market leader in display driver ICs and timing controllers used in TVs, laptops, monitors, mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, car navigation, virtual reality (VR) devices and many other consumer electronics devices. Additionally, Himax designs and provides controllers for touch sensor displays, in-cell Touch and Display Driver Integration (TDDI) single-chip solutions, LED driver ICs, power management ICs, scaler products for monitors and projectors, tailor-made video processing IC solutions, silicon IPs and LCOS micro-displays for augmented reality (AR) devices and head-up displays (HUD) for automotive. The Company also offers digital camera solutions, including CMOS image sensors and wafer level optics for AR devices, 3D sensing and machine vision, which are used in a wide variety of applications such as mobile phone, tablet, laptop, TV, PC camera, automobile, security, medical devices and Internet of Things. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Tainan, Taiwan, Himax currently employs around 2,150 people from three Taiwan-based offices in Tainan, Hsinchu and Taipei and country offices in China, Korea, Japan and the US. Himax has 2,999 patents granted and 439 patents pending approval worldwide as of March 31th, 2018. Himax has retained its position as the leading display imaging processing semiconductor solution provider to consumer electronics brands worldwide.
Forward Looking Statements
Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially include, but not limited to, general business and economic conditions and the state of the semiconductor industry; market acceptance and competitiveness of the driver and non-driver products developed by the Company; demand for end-use applications products; reliance on a small group of principal customers; the uncertainty of continued success in technological innovations; our ability to develop and protect our intellectual property; pricing pressures including declines in average selling prices; changes in customer order patterns; changes in estimated full-year effective tax rate; shortages in supply of key components; changes in environmental laws and regulations; exchange rate fluctuations; regulatory approvals for further investments in our subsidiaries; our ability to collect accounts receivable and manage inventory and other risks described from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including those risks identified in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in its Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2017 filed with the SEC, as may be amended.
Company Contacts:
Jackie Chang, CFO
Himax Technologies, Inc.
Tel: +886-2-2370-3999 Ext.22300
Or
US Tel: +1-949-585-9838 Ext.252
Fax: +886-2-2314-0877
Email:
jackie_chang@himax.com.tw
www.himax.com.tw
Ophelia Lin, Investor Relations
Himax Technologies, Inc.
Tel: +886-2-2370-3999 Ext.22202
Fax: +886-2-2314-0877
Email:
ophelia_lin@himax.com.tw
www.himax.com.tw
Ken Liu, Investor Relations