Jordan Wu
Thank you, Eric. The near-term economic outlook appears bleak in the face of elevated inflation and rapidly rising interest rates which are hurting the market along with the ongoing fallout from China city lockdowns and geopolitical conflict. For the display application market, end brands are downsizing their panel procurements which consequently triggers panel makers to further lower fab utilization. Against this backdrop, our business visibility remains limited, especially in consumer centric products. As we continue to tread through this inventory offloading cycle, we are cautiously managing our new wafer starts, trying to strike a balance between inventory level and foundry contract fulfillment. A silver lining among the clouds is the automotive segment where visibility is relative better. This allows us to continue to maintain new orders to our foundry partners and back-end suppliers. Continuous orders in such segments coupled with our successful negotiation with suppliers will reduce the incurred charges in Q4 from contracts to secure capacity as compared to the third quarter. Judging by our current business pipeline and production plan, we believe our inventory level has reached the peak at the end of the third quarter. Looking into Q4, our gross margin is still under pressure due to price erosion from high inventory offloading while the cost of goods sold remains high as the inventory was sourced when foundry and back-end pricings were still at high levels. Despite the soft demand, we remain upbeat about our top line growth from several revenue streams that we consider our high visibility group, notably automotive, AMOLED, Tcon and WiseEye AI image sensing. In the automotive business, we expect TDDI sales momentum to pick up starting Q4 from the trough in the third quarter. For automotive DDIC, however, customers are still in the process of offloading their inventories accumulated intended for the second quarter production which was severely disrupted by the widespread China city lockdowns. We believe our 2022 full year automotive business growth will reach around 50% despite the challenging environment and expect growth momentum, especially for TDDI, to extend into 2023 for another stellar year of strong growth. Separately, our WiseEye AI image sensing and AMOLED business are poised to deliver an impactful contribution next year. We expect WiseEye sales to grow nicely, backed by strong business pipelines from a wide variety of new AI application adoptions. Among our AMOLED deployments, our AMOLED for smartphone will commence as a new sales stream next year on top of the current AMOLED for tablet and automotive sales. The benefits from the increasing contribution from these higher visibility segments is two-fold. First, our overall corporate visibility improves as their weighting increases. Second, the gross margin for these segments is above our corporate average, lending support to a more sustainable higher margin profile for us. We expect these groups combined to account for more than 50% of total sales in Q4 and believe their contribution weighting will continue to increase for years to come. With that, I’ll begin with an update on the large panel driver IC business. Our fourth quarter large display driver IC revenue is projected to be flat sequentially off a low base after three consecutive quarters of decline. Yet on a year-over-year basis this is still a double-digit decline as we brace for a disappointing year-end holiday season. On a positive note, we do see TV panel prices showing signs of stabilization as customers have started to replenish inventory particularly in mainstream models, leading to positive momentum in our TV driver sales which are set to increase single digit sequentially in Q4. Conversely, the downward trend in our IT segment lingers on with further declines expected in both notebook and monitor sales in the fourth quarter on the backdrop of customers’ continuous tight inventory control measures and the sluggish economy. Turning to the small and medium-sized display driver IC business. In the fourth quarter, revenue is expected to increase by single digit sequentially. Our Q4 automotive driver IC sales are anticipated to be flat sequentially following double digit decline in Q3 as customers look to restock inventory. Sales for automotive TDDI are poised to grow by double digit while those for traditional driver IC are set to decrease single digit from the last quarter. The business visibility for automotive segment into next year remains much better than those of consumer centric products. Smartphone driver IC revenue is set to be slightly down sequentially, a result of lengthy inventory off-loading cycle amid soft demand and limited visibility across those channels. Tablet driver IC revenue, however, is projected to increase double digit sequentially driven by replenishment momentum from leading customers. Now for a more detailed update on the automotive segment, an area which has more resilient demand and is less vulnerable to the macro headwinds. As we have previously discussed, automotive driver sales are now our largest revenue contributor and set to represent over 35% of our total sales in Q4. The demand trends for automobile interiors continue to favor more stylish and diverse designs, made possible with increasing quantity and size of panels equipped with advanced display technologies. As the leader in automotive display IC market, we not only offer the most comprehensive automotive product portfolio in the industry, ranging from traditional DDIC to new technologies such as TDDI, local dimming Tcon, LTDI and AMOLED, we also are the preferred partner that panel customers like to work with, especially those looking to focus more on growing their automotive business in order to compensate for the soft consumer electronic business. As the pioneer of mass production for automotive TDDI and backed by rapid expansion of automotive TDDI adoption, we expect our automotive TDDI sales will be one of the primary driving forces for our long-term business growth for years to come. The automotive TDDI technology is essential for large sized, interactive, stylish, and curved automotive displays. To date we have acquired more than 200 automotive TDDI project awards with only a small portion currently in mass production, implying an enormous growth opportunity ahead. Our TDDI design-win coverage continues to quickly expand with panel makers, Tier-1s and auto brands. Meanwhile, the Chinese government continues to support the NEV industry with stimulus programs, which may accelerate the adoption of premium automobile displays that adopt TDDI. Moreover, we are well positioned with suppliers in support of our automotive segment growth, leveraging diverse foundry sources for optimal operational efficiency and benefit. Furthermore, we are the first in the industry to launch the cutting edge LTDI (Large Touch and Display Driver Integration) automotive display solution specially designed for the next generation extra-large-sized automotive displays, which are typically larger than 30 inches. The LTDI adopts cascade-topology technique allowing up to 30 chips seamlessly connected in support of extra-large sized display and high-precision touch sensitivity, creating a high entry barrier for potential competitors. This was featured at CES 2022 early this year by one of our key customers who showcased a 30-inch in-cell touch display powered by Himax LTDI solution. More design collaborations are underway and will debut in 2023 in some of the most modish automotive vehicles. Next on smartphone and tablet businesses. For smartphone, much of our shipments to key customers for their next generation new designs have been delayed amidst deteriorating demand. As for tablet, shipments are on the rise for premium models that adopt high end tablet TDDIs and advanced AMOLED tablet solution, of which we offer both DDIC and Tcon to certain leading brands. Q4 sales for these premium tablet solutions are expected to increase more than 100% sequentially and we believe momentum will accelerate into next year, supported by demand for advanced specifications and higher end displays. Question-and-Answer Session Turning to the e-paper driver business. Our e-paper business is expected to increase double digit quarter-over-quarter, stemming from increasing shipment of a large size display to a leading customer as their sole supplier. We expect long-term demand for both e-paper and e-signage to endure. E-reader demand is fueled by a growing e-learning market along with increasing reading material over the internet. E-signage market is also on an upswing as the product is being more widely used in smart warehousing, smart retail and many other fields to replace traditional signage. We continue to collaborate with world-leading customers for certain ASIC and Tcon projects with increased R&D efforts spent on their next generation products toward larger size, higher resolution, and colored e-paper displays. Next for an update on AMOLED. We continue to gear up for AMOLED driver IC development jointly with major Korean and Chinese panel makers in various applications. Q4 AMOLED sales are set to increase by double digit sequentially and represent over 9% of total sales. Our AMOLED business, including Tcon and driver, is slated for strong growth in the next few years. For AMOLED tablet product, we provide both AMOLED driver and Tcon, and are the sole source supplier for one global leading brand. For automotive AMOLED display, we continue to win project awards for our flexible AMOLED driver and Tcon with both conventional car makers and NEV vendors. Finally, we are making good progress with leading panel houses for the development of AMOLED display drivers for smartphone, TV and notebook applications. We expect to start shipping smartphone AMOLED drivers around the middle of 2023. As a reminder, for smartphone AMOLED display driver, we already have secured meaningful capacity and continue to look to expand it moving forward. Starting with an update on timing controller. We anticipate Q4 Tcon sales to increase by high teens sequentially, bolstered by higher shipment of automotive products for both LCD and AMOLED displays. For the AMOLED display market, we successfully commenced production of AMOLED Tcons for tablet and automotive. We also made good progress strategically with leading panel makers on AMOLED notebook Tcon, which features advanced eDP1.5, providing higher resolution, higher refresh rate as well as improved image quality to the notebook. Next on LCD display for automotive. Our position remains unchallenged in automotive Tcon for local dimming technology, which not only enhances display contrast for better viewing and driver safeguard under various ambient light conditions, but also provides effective power saving, critical for EVs and larger sized displays. With years of strenuous work on this high entry barrier technology, we have won numerous awards from various OEMs, Tier-1 and car makers’ premium new car models, some of which have already commenced mass production. We anticipate Q4 automotive Tcon sales to increase more than 80% year-over-year and represent around 2% of total sales in the fourth quarter with additional projects slated for meaningful volume shipment starting in 2023. Additionally, we are undertaking new design developments supporting even larger panel sizes and higher resolution with more named customers. We expect to gain traction with more shipments to key customers in upcoming quarters and are optimistic about the long-term potential of our Tcon business with secured capacity from our foundry partners in pursuit of long-term sustainable growth. Switching gears to the WiseEye AI total solution, which incorporates Himax proprietary ultralow power AI processor, always-on CMOS image sensor, and CNN-based AI algorithm. For WiseEye business for notebook, we continue to support a range of Dell’s new models where Himax remains the key supplier for leading-edge ultralow power AI processor and always-on CMOS image sensor. In order to capture the vast opportunity presented in the emerging notebook AI application market, we have extended deployment of in-house development of new algorithms to advance our AI capabilities while partnering with leading notebook CPU players aiming to expand our partnerships with leading global laptop names to propel this business forward. In addition to features such as human presence, look-away and onlooker detections, we are also working on a variety of enriched new AI features and use cases to broaden possible applications with end customers for next generation smart notebooks. Aside from notebook, our highly integrated WiseEye total solution, featuring ultralow power tinyML vision AI in a tiny form factor, is a perfect fit for many resource-constrained and battery-powered end point applications, a new AI area which is now ardently explored by AI communities. One successful example worth highlighting is the strong adoption with meaningful shipment of our AI solution in Automatic Meter Reading. Our power efficient AI can help existing conventional water meters operate with a battery pack for over 5 years for real-time water consumption readout and detection of abnormalities such as water leakage. Attracted by the simplicity of installation and superb low power performance, dozens of water authorities, utility companies, meter OEM/ODMs and/or IoT network providers across the globe have commenced joint development projects with us. Moreover, we have additional WiseEye AI customer engagements in areas such as video conference device, shared bike parking, medical capsule endoscope, automotive, smart office, battery cam and surveillance, just to name a few. Decent volume shipment is anticipated within the next few quarters. As we focus on scaling adoption in this relatively untapped market, we continue to build alliances with numerous AI partners and communities to make our AI solution more accessible. To that end, during the upcoming CES 2023, several of our proprietary ultralow power WiseEye AI solutions will be showcased jointly with our ecosystem partners and customers in various applications, including smart home, smart agriculture, and surveillance, just to name a few. Also on display will be applications embedded with our Intelli-Sensing Module, a solution that offers numerous pre-trained machine learning models with a plug-and-play design that makes it possible to drastically reduce the significant entry barriers for AI or system developers in deploying computer vision and machine learning AI capabilities to the end point devices. We welcome all interested parties to stop by to learn more about our AI product line and see them in action. Finally, we recently announced the divestiture of our fully owned subsidiary Emza Visual Sense. As we mentioned in our press release, this transaction will not affect the existing business with Dell. The divestiture does not change our ultralow power WiseEye AI Image Sensing business model where we will continue to develop our own algorithms and work with third-party algorithm partners. Furthermore, we are more committed than ever to strengthening our WiseEye product roadmap and retaining our leadership position in ultralow power AI processor and image sensor for end-point AI applications. As a demonstration of this commitment, at CES 2023, we will also debut our next generation AI processor, code-named WE2. The WE2 AI processor features Arm based Cortex CPU and Ethos NPU, rich sets of sensor control interfaces, industrial grade security and cryptography engines, and multi-layer power management architecture to offer superb tinyML computing performance, optimal energy efficiency and best-in-class security and privacy assurance. The WE2 AI processor offers 40% peak power savings and 30-fold inference speed, implying over 50 times power efficiency on a per inference basis compared to the first generation WE1 which is already leading the industry among AI processors aiming for similar target markets. Several leading laptop names and CPU players have shown strong interest in our WE2 processor to support diverse AI features of their next generation smart notebooks. We are very excited about the potential for WE2 and believe we are well positioned to capture the vast end-point AI opportunities presented ahead. Lastly, I’d like to give an update on our optical related product lines including WLO, LCoS and 3D Sensing. Himax is one of the few companies in the technology industry with optical design capabilities and years of proven track record of mass production. We continue to work on strengthening our optical-related technology suite while collaborating with some of the world’s largest technology companies that are deeply committed to investing in its development. We are well positioned to play an enabling role in this exciting new industry as it evolves. Now to quickly review some of our recent progress. First on our leading-edge front-lit LCoS microdisplay that features light-weight, small form factor, and full color with unique characteristics of high illumination and low power consumption. One notable highlight in Q3 is a design-win with a partner for new AR glasses with our front-lit LCoS microdisplays which assists hearing-impaired people through audio to text translation that is projected onto the AR glasses on a real time basis. Small volume shipment commenced during Q3. In addition, we also started shipment of front-lit LCoS microdisplay in Q3 for a customer’s assisted-reality type hands-free head-mounted device that sits below a person’s line of sight to assist workers to access real time working information. Moving on to an update on human interface sensing. We are seeing increasing adoption of our optical components and/or 3D sensing technologies that enable new ways people interact with AR and VR applications. On 3D gesture control, our WLO technology is deployed to empower 3D perception sensing for precise controller-free gesture recognition in VR devices. The collaboration is ongoing with a leading VR player with promising progress with volume production expected during 2023. On 3D scanning for object reconstruction, our 3D sensing technology, which incorporates both our 3D projector and 3D decoder, is being deployed by a leading customer’s 3D scanning device for the purpose of generating real time digital twins, avatar and 3D environment surroundings that ultimately help users transit and connect seamlessly between physical and digital worlds. While still early in the lifecycle for optical and metaverse related products, the ongoing commitment by the world’s technology leaders alongside expanding interest in its potential suggests this next generation technology is poised for significant growth in the years to come. We are excited that Himax is at the forefront of optical innovation for this nascent industry and believe it has potential to be a long-term growth driver for our business. For non-driver IC business, we expect revenue to increase high teens sequentially in the fourth quarter. That concludes my report for this quarter. Thank you for your interest in Himax. We appreciate you joining today’s call and are now ready to take questions.