Aegis shipped the Samsung S9 Series Fingerprint Identification ICs this year, and also entered the Note's flagship model in the second half of the year. In addition, Aegis has also actively deployed in the Chinese mainland market, in addition to joining the two top four brand customers. Motorola's supply ratio is also expected to increase from 35% last year to 80%. In addition, the progress of optical fingerprint identification under the screen, it is understood that has entered the brand mobile phone in mainland China, is expected to begin shipping this year Looking forward to the whole year, in addition to the exclusive supplier of Samsung flagship models, Aegis-brand customers in mainland China are also expected to gradually increase their volume in the second half of the year. The full-year revenue growth momentum is strong, but profitability is due to Samsung’s requirement to package chips. There is pressure.
Aegis developed its own chip technology in the second half of 2016. As a result, software and algorithm technology services were sold together with ICs in the past. Therefore, last year's products were only biometric sensing ICs. Customers were mainly Samsung, and some were Chinese. Mainland brands. If the proportion of shipments, Samsung accounted for 90%, while China accounted for 10%, and Aegis predicted that due to Samsung's flagship models this year's shipments are still larger than in mainland China, so the proportion may be Maintain the level of last year.
Aegis cooperated with Samsung from the third quarter of 2016. It was the only supplier of the A, C, E, and J series last year. It also shipped S9 series models in the first quarter of this year, and the Note series flagship models in the second half of the year. Expected to ship. In addition to the low-end models, Aegis continues to supply A, J series models. The S9 is also paired with the Aegis slipe type patent, which is a one-time brushing and sliding record fingerprinting technology, to get rid of the past in the past for the first time When registering fingerprints, it is necessary to press the records repeatedly to reduce the size of the chip. As for the Samsung J Series, the second half of the year passes the Chinese mainland to join as the second supplier. Shendun said that the J series models are Samsung low-end models. There are also many different styles, and only one or two new suppliers are currently heard, which has little impact on the company.
In addition to Samsung, in the layout of the Chinese mainland market, Aegis only had two entry-level smartphones that were collaborated with Lenovo’s Motorola last year. Aegis said that last year’s supply of MOTO accounted for approximately 35%, which is expected to increase this year. Up to 80%, mainly due to the significant increase in shipments in the Chinese mainland market.
As for the new customer segment, Aegis also cooperated with the top four mobile phone brands in Mainland China. One of them has planned to start shipping in the second quarter, while the other is still negotiating and negotiating. The second half of the year should be clear.
In addition, in terms of the progress of optical fingerprint identification under the screen, the current Aegis program is used for OLED panels, and the ICs are affixed to the bottom of the panel. The products have been sent to Samsung and customers in mainland China. It is understood that they have entered the brand mobile phones in mainland China. Expect to ship this year, Samsung continues to send sample certification.
There are two types of Aegis shipments. One is the packaged chip and the other is the unpackaged wafer die. The former has a lower gross margin due to the packaging cost, while the latter is After the wafer is cut, it is sent to the module factory. The module factory tests and packages itself. This year, Samsung’s high-end models are shipped in packages. A few models in the low-end and mid-range models also need to be packaged. The order package is different, so external concerns may depress the overall gross profit margin. Aegis said that the gross profit margin will be maintained in a cost-controlled manner, with the target set at 35-40% last year.
In terms of cost control, the company stated that since last year, it has increased the number of units produced by reducing the size of chips and increasing the number of wafers cut. Last year, 800 wafers were cut, 1,000 wafers were cut this year, and can be cut in the middle of the year. 1,400 at the end of the year, and 1700 at the end of the year. The current foundry's foundry is mainly TSMC (2330). This year it joined other foundries. Aegis said that this year's capacity is flawless.
The outside world is concerned that the use of mobile phone face recognition programs threatens the market of Aegis fingerprint recognition. In this regard, Aegis said that Samsung’s survey on consumer satisfaction found that fingerprint recognition is still relatively mature and highly satisfactory. In the past, some technical solutions such as iris recognition were introduced, but they were not accepted by market consumers. Plus, the cost difference between face recognition and fingerprint recognition was about 10 times. If it is only the consideration of unlocking and security, in fact, fingerprint identification It is still the mainstream choice of manufacturers.
Last year, Aegis benefited from the Samsung and MOTO supply chain and shipped swiftly with revenue of 4.732 billion yuan, an increase of 182.69% year-on-year. However, the gross profit margin was also suppressed by Samsung's requirement for shipments of packaged chips, and the cost increased. The gross profit margin was only 38.51. %, a decrease of 6.66 percentage points from the previous year's 45.17%. EPS reached 8.5 yuan, a substantial increase from the previous year's 1.66 yuan. And this year's January and February also began to ship under the Samsung S9 series, accumulated revenue of 1.118 billion yuan, annual increase 31.44%, the legal person expects that the first quarter revenue will increase by double digits, but the gross profit margin will be affected by the impact of the package, but the overall EPS has support, which is better than the same period of the previous year.
Looking forward throughout the year, the legal person expects that Aegis will be driven by the Samsung S9 and the Note's flagship models in the second half of the year. Together with the addition of the two major brands in mainland China, the revenue will be driven by sufficient momentum. However, profitability must be observed. The gross profit margin was maintained at last year's water level, and the expected cost will increase as a result of continued investment in optical products.