Fingerprint sensor supplier Egis Technology Inc (神盾) expects revenue this quarter to continue declining quarter-on-quarter, as stagnant smartphone sales are still curbing demand for chips, a company executive said yesterday.
Wafer supply constraints also remain an issue and could continue to weigh on the company’s business this year, Egis said.
The company said that it was unable to fulfill some rush orders due to a widespread shortage of key components in the second half of last year.
Photo: Vanessa Cho, Taipei Times
Egis sources 8-inch wafers from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co.
The company said that it is evaluating the possibility of adding a third supplier.
Egis would also begin sourcing 12-inch wafers this year, but it will take time for customers to adopt the new chips, it said.
“The [COVID-19] pandemic has significantly affected the company,” Egis chief financial officer George Chang (張家麒) told a videoconference. “We still cannot scale up revenue in the first quarter. It is likely to decline annually.”
On the demand side, order visibility is vague due to supply chain chaos, Chang said.
Short supply of components used in smartphones such as power management ICs could also defer shipments, he said.
Egis, which counts Samsung as one of its major clients, saw revenue drop 40 percent year-on-year to NT$1.19 billion (US$42.05 million) last quarter, the lowest in two-and-a-half years.
Total revenue last year shrank 15 percent to NT$6.22 billion, missing the company’s guidance of double-digit percentage growth as the pandemic dented smartphone demand.
The company reported its weakest quarterly net profit in two years last quarter at NT$4.4 million. Net profit nosedived from NT$203.07 million a year earlier.
Gross margin fell to 38 percent last quarter from 46 percent a year earlier, as Egis shipped more capacitive fingerprint sensors than optical fingerprint sensors, which have a higher margin.
Total net profit last year contracted 26.68 percent to NT$632.56 million, compared with NT$862.68 million a year earlier. Earnings per share tumbled to NT$9.1 from NT$12.6 in 2019.
To regain revenue growth, Egis is expanding its product portfolio to supply versatile chips used in smartphones, including lower-priced chips, Chang said.
The company is developing new chips, including 3D time-of-flight (TOF) sensors, which are used for facial recognition in smartphones, Egis chairman Steve Ro (羅森洲) said on Thursday last week.
Egis hopes to capture early business opportunities from Android smartphone makers, who are likely to follow Apple Inc in using TOF technology. Apple’s iPhone 12 Max is equipped with a TOF sensor.
Egis is also developing new chips used in “true wireless” earphones, Lo said.
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