The low-key Smol "suddenly" showed off his muscles overseas.
On January 18, local time, the world's largest manufacturer of electronic atomization equipment, Smore International (06969. HK) held a new technology launch conference in London, England, to officially launch a new generation of ultra-thin electronic atomization solutions - FEELM Air.
The press conference introduced in detail the technical solution that lasted more than 2500 days, which adopts a new generation of bionic film ceramic core, the overall thinner, more powerful performance, greatly improved harm reduction, compared with the previous generation of ceramic core, in terms of materials, processes and structures to achieve three major innovations, to achieve a breakthrough in taste and user experience.
At the same time, the FEELM Air solution has created a thin body design in the industry to 7.8mm, opening up a new path for product design of "ultra-thin ceramic atomization" at the moment when electronic atomization products are highly homogeneous. It was jokingly called "the Durex of the electronic atomization" by netizens.
For a long time, as the flagship atomization technology brand of Simmer, FEELM's progress in atomization core technology has been attracting much attention from the outside world. At this conference, its new generation of ceramic cores was finally unveiled, and it was also a frontal counterattack on the encirclement and suppression of competitors.
Han Jiyun, senior vice president of Smore and president of FEELM Business Group, said: "FEELM Air is a new technological revolution for us. ”
Tech giants' "banknote capabilities"
In fact, The Technological Revolution of Smore has been underway.
In the electronic atomization solution, the ceramic core is the core component, which can heat the smoke oil into the "fog" that the user sucks into the mouth, which directly determines the user's experience. In the past few years, Smol, which has the first-mover advantage of ceramic core technology, has become the biggest beneficiary.
Among the manufacturers who provide ceramic core atomization solutions, the data for the first three quarters of 2021 shows that The global market share of Smore is more than 20%, exceeding the sum of the second to fifth places. British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco, NJOY, etc. and domestic brands such as Yueke, Yuzu, Magic Flute, And Shega are all its downstream customers.
As early as 2012, Smore has launched a technical study of ceramic heating elements. In 2016, Simmer has developed a more mature ceramic core technology, which can make consumers taste softer, and the fog is uniform, keeping the suction experience consistent, and also cracking the long-standing leakage pain point of the cotton core. Smore gradually built his own moat, and then bound a group of high-quality large customers.
Subsequently, The ceramic core of Simar was rapidly branded, and the launch of FEELM inside was regarded as a key battle for the rise of Simar, similar to the "Intel inside" in the PC field, which successfully broke into the minds of e-cigarette consumers with different types of brand communication, so that The leading position of Smore e-cigarette ODM was laid. Up to now, the annual production capacity of FEELM has reached 3 billion pieces.
Behind the hard power is Thermor's continuous investment in research and development. Since 2018, Simmer has invested more than 2.3 billion yuan in research and development; in the future, its annual planned scientific research investment will increase and remain at more than 10% of its turnover, and the basic research funding will not be less than 30% of the total investment in scientific research.
In the world, Simmer has established more than 10 atomization science and technology research institutes, bringing together more than 1500 R&D experts around the world, including more than 100 doctors, and obtained the certification of Shenzhen Postdoctoral Innovation Practice Base. Up to now, the proportion of Smore R & D personnel has exceeded 50%.
"The research capability is comparable to that of a giant enterprise like Huawei, which is already a technology company in the strict sense." A fund manager who has long studied the e-cigarette industry commented on Interface News.
With its technical advantages, Simar began to show its own "banknote ability": the company's revenue increased from 710 million yuan in 2016 to 10.01 billion yuan in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 94.0%. In the first three quarters of 2021, Simmer achieved an operating profit of RMB4.098 billion, an increase of 266.2% year-on-year, and an adjusted net profit of RMB4.224 billion, an increase of 71.6% year-on-year.
Is the detection instrument of the Simer Basic Research Institute testing the atomization core as an intruder or a "new king" in the industry?
According to the "2021 E-cigarette Industry Blue Book" jointly released by the E-cigarette Industry Committee of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce and the Volume Think Tank, the global e-cigarette market reached 80 billion US dollars, an increase of 120% year-on-year.
In the face of this tempting big cake, as the world's largest manufacturer of e-cigarette equipment, Smol needs to face many challenges, in addition to the industry competition, some manufacturing giants outside the industry have also broken in to want a piece of the pie.
A potential rival that cannot be ignored is BYD Electronics, which, based on its experience and technical prowess in consumer electronics, is considered to be the most challenging competitor for Smore. It began to lay out e-cigarettes in 2018, and last year launched the ceramic core technology brand logo "BEEM CORE".
Another manufacturing giant, Luxshare Precision, also set up a subsidiary Liding Electronics in August 2021, with a business scope including electronic cigarettes, integrated circuit chips, etc., and has an electronic cigarette-related patent layout.
The industry's first automated battery rod production line independently developed by Smore
Focusing on the field of atomization, Smol's manufacturing leadership is still irreplaceable. Electronic cigarette vertical media lattice consumption believes that in addition to the advantages of technology research and development, Simmer also focuses on advanced manufacturing, its full-process automated production line precipitates product design capabilities and manufacturing process experience, and the comprehensive leadership of technology + manufacturing will build it into a "Qualcomm + Foxconn" in the field of electronic atomization.
In addition, in the United States, the world's largest e-cigarette consumer market, due to Thermor's early entry, has bound a large number of overseas customers, with a clear first-mover advantage, which is mainly reflected in assisting brand owners to submit PMTA (FDA tobacco product pre-market application), once a brand owner's e-cigarette product through pmTA, it means that the parameters of the product are fixed, can not easily replace the foundry, Smol's market share in the United States will be further improved. There is no information yet on whether BYD's going to sea with Chinese brands after the release of the new policy at the end of last year has also been affected by the short-term impact.
Patents are also an inexorable barrier to competition, as of December 31, 2021, Smol has applied for more than 3,300 patents worldwide and has obtained more than 1,500 patent approvals. Horizontal comparison may show more of Simar's patent strength, public information shows that BYD Electronics' current e-cigarette-related patents include only more than 100 applications.
According to the management of BYD Electronics, in the research and development process of electronic cigarettes, especially ceramic cores, the company spent a long time just to bypass the existing patents of companies such as Smore. According to the analysis of CICC's research report, Simar has established a complete patent protection system, and it is difficult for new entrants to avoid it.
It is worth mentioning that Smol launched a "337 investigation" overseas in October last year, accusing 38 companies and individuals in the United States, Canada and other places of infringing their patents and trademarks. This is the first time that a Chinese enterprise has independently launched a 337 intellectual property survey against a foreign enterprise.
According to the latest research report of CICC, Simar has established a strong comprehensive competitive advantage in the patent system, production capacity scale, product quality, customer advantages, etc., and is expected to maintain its global leading position and profit level through continuous R&D investment, scientific and technological innovation, and technological iteration. It is optimistic that the company continues to benefit from the double dividend of the rapid growth of the atomized track and the concentration of share to its head customers.
The future imagination of "atomizing everything"
Electronic atomization is one of the industries that Chinese independently master. The latest data show that China's electronic atomization global patents have accounted for more than 90%, global production capacity accounted for more than 95%, and more than 200 countries and regions purchased China's electronic atomization products.
From the upstream supply of raw materials, to the midstream design and manufacturing, and then to the downstream global sales, the global electronic atomization market has been inseparable from China, and electronic atomization has become one of the representatives of "China creation, global consumption".
Many people's understanding of electronic atomization is still only at the level of electronic cigarettes, although electronic cigarettes have grown into a hundred billion industry, but only the value of atomization is limited to this, which is obviously underestimated. In theory, everything related to breathing and all objects that can be atomized are the focus of global electronic atomization research.
In fact, in addition to electronic cigarettes, in the expansion of product matrix, Smore is exploring the future field of atomization core technology. At present, it has entered a substantial research and development stage in the fields of atomization medical, atomized health, and atomized consumption.
People close to Simar revealed to Interface News that in the past few years, Simar has been taking atomization medicine as the focus of research and development, and has made significant progress in the research of atomization drugs, but it has not yet been released to the outside world. "Compared with e-cigarettes, the market space of 'atomized fog' such as medical treatment and health is trillion-level."
In April 2020, Smore and AIM ImmunoTech signed a Material Transfer and Research Agreement (MTA) to jointly advance research on the efficacy of nebulized inhalation of COVID-19 therapeutics.
"Atomization technology is constantly evolving, and Smol's mission is to use it efficiently in various industries, especially in the medical industry, for the benefit of mankind." Simar chief scientist Shi Zhiqiang said.
In an interview with Elise Rasmussen, founder and chairman of GTNF, the electronic atomization market is growing rapidly with the continuous advancement of cutting-edge electronics technology, and industry leaders like Smore should take on more responsibilities as industry leaders.