Aegis cooperated with Samsung from the third quarter of 2016. The only supplier of the A, C, E, and J series last year started shipping the S9 series in the first quarter of this year. The Note series flagship models were also expected in the second half of the year. Shipments. Also in the low-end models, such as A, J series will also have Aegis joined. If the proportion of shipments last year, Samsung accounted for 90%, Chinese manufacturers accounted for 10%.
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, and the latter is After the wafer is cut, it is sent to the module factory. The module factory will package and test it on its own. The gross margin is relatively good.
Since Samsung's high-end models are shipped in packages this year, including the S9 series, a few of the mid- to low-end models also need to be packaged. This is different from only a few high-end models in the past. It is understood that about 40% in the first quarter. ~50% of shipments have been packaged, so gross margins are under pressure, falling to 35% below the target range.
The outside world is also concerned that the Samsung J series Huiding has joined as the second supplier, and Aegis said that Samsung has about 300 million mobile phones in the year, and the sum of tens of thousands of units at the meeting has not affected the Aegis. And from the perspective of the customer, there is a second supplier that is also very reasonable.
In addition to Samsung’s single largest customer, Aegis continues to deploy in the Chinese market. As for Aegis, it also cooperates with the top four mobile phone brands in China. New customers will begin shipping in the second half of the year.
As for the progress of the optical fingerprint recognition under the screen, Aegis said that it is still continuing to cooperate with Samsung in the development and hopes to introduce new models in the future. However, in the second half of the year, it will enter the high-end models of China's top four brand customers.
In terms of cost control, Aegis also stated that since the beginning of last year, by reducing the chip size and increasing the number of wafer cuts to increase the number of units produced, there are now plans to step out of the wafer factories in Taiwan, and hope to reduce costs later.
The first quarter of Aegis revenue was 1.634 billion yuan, an increase of 30.23% quarter-on-year, an increase of 37.81% year-on-year, and a gross margin of 35%. The industry expects that in the second quarter, shipments of the S9 series will come to an end and revenue will decline slightly in the quarter. Interest rates should increase slightly from the first quarter, but from the third quarter onwards, the flagship models of the Note series will be shipped and revenues will enter the peak of operations. However, the gross margin will be lowered again due to packaging.
Looking forward throughout the year, the industry expects that Aegis will be driven by the Samsung S9 and the flagship models in the second half of the year. With the addition of new Chinese customers, there will be sufficient momentum for revenue, and it should be able to pay high double-digit good results, but profitability The trend of gross profit margin must be observed continuously, and the expected cost will increase due to the continuous investment of optical products.