At the end of April, GekeWei ( 688728. SH) disclosed its 2021 Annual Report and 2022 First Quarter Report.
In 2021, Geke Micro continued to transform into Fablite, from cost-effective to high performance, from secondary photograph to main camera, through the self-built part of the 12-inch BSI wafer back road production line to achieve independent controllability, Geke Micro achieved operating income of 7 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 8.44% year-on-year; achieved a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 1.258 billion yuan, up 62.75% year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2022, the operating income was 1.735 billion yuan and the net profit was 241 million yuan, excluding the impact of the exchange loss of 40 million yuan, the net profit level in the first quarter was close to the same period in 2021.
In the first quarter of this year, the company's profitability continued to be optimized, and the gross profit margin increased by 2.45% to 33.73% over the same period last year, providing a cushion for the impact of external factors. Overseas customer demand during the reporting period was strong, and the proportion of export sales further expanded from 54% in 2021 to 65%.
Net profit soared 62.75% in 2021 Net assets increased by 177.66%
Geke Micro is the world's leading CMOS chip shipments, mainly engaged in CMOS image sensors and display driver chips research and development, design and sales, of which CMOS image sensor business revenue accounts for more than 80%, CMOS chips cover 80,000-13 million pixels, a wide range of application terminals, including Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, TRANSSION, Nokia and other mainstream brand terminal models. Since its establishment in 2003, through continuous technological improvement, product expansion and model evolution, Geke Micro has become a leading domestic and internationally renowned CMOS image sensor supplier.
In 2021, the company's product supply capacity was improved, the business structure was optimized, the new business was progressing smoothly, and the revenue and net profit in 2021 were outstanding. The annual operating income was 7 billion yuan, an increase of 8.44% year-on-year, of which the display drive chip revenue increased by 79.53% over the previous year; the net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company was 1.258 billion yuan, up 62.75% year-on-year. The growth rate of net profit outperformed performance was mainly due to the sharp increase of 28.37% percentage points from the gross profit margin of display drive chip revenue over the previous year. As of the end of the reporting period, the company's total assets were 13.304 billion yuan, an increase of 132.74% year-on-year, and the net assets attributable to the shareholders of listed companies were 7.55 billion yuan, an increase of 177.66% year-on-year.
In 2021, in terms of global shipments of CMOS image sensors, GekeWei maintains a leading edge with excellent cost performance. According to Frost & Sullivan statistics, according to the caliber of shipments, in 2021, the company will achieve shipments of 1.9 billion CMOS image sensors, occupying 26.8% of the global market share, ranking first in the industry. For example, in terms of sales caliber statistics, the company's CMOS image sensor sales revenue reached 900 million US dollars in 2021, ranking fourth in the world.
The company's display driver chip products are mainly LCD driver chips, and are in a leading position in the market. According to Frost & Sullivan statistics, in 2021, the company ranked third in the global LCD mobile phone display driver chip market shipments with 250 million shipments, accounting for 17.0% of total shipments.
Actively layout the BSI production line to The Transformation of Fab-lite
In order to continue to open up the advantages of the supply chain and use the bottom advantage to make upward efforts, Geke Micro has expanded from cost-effective products to high-performance products, to the layout of high-end production lines, and to promote the transformation of the Fabless model to the Fab-Lite model.
The so-called Fabless model focuses on product development, design and sales, and outsources the production links such as wafer manufacturing and most of the packaging and testing. The Fab-Lite model is a business model between the Fabless model and the IDM model, that is, in the wafer manufacturing, packaging and testing processing, the combination of self-built factory and outsourcing processing is adopted, also known as the integrated circuit enterprise business model of the light wafer fab.
At present, foreign manufacturers mostly use IDM models, such as Sony, Samsung and SK Hynix; domestic manufacturers restrict the scale of asset investment and high fixed costs, and mostly use the Formulas model. The former has high R & D efficiency, but poor flexibility in turning the line, the latter is flexible but has low R & D efficiency, Fab-lite can combine the advantages of the two, taking into account production efficiency and product quality. Therefore, foreign manufacturers such as ON Semiconductor and Panasonic have begun to adopt the Fab-lite model.
Domestic manufacturers such as Zhuosheng Micro construction filter wafer production and RF module packaging and testing production lines, actively layout the Fab-Lite business model; in 2021, Wingtech Technology acquired Newport Wafer Fab through its subsidiary Nexperia, while its controlling shareholder Wen Tianxia invested in the construction of a 12-inch vehicle-grade wafer project to continue to promote production capacity construction; Minxin Co., Ltd. jointly invested in the establishment of an 8-inch MEMS pilot line through the core fund to achieve the Fab-lite operating model. In addition, IDM model manufacturers such as Toshiba and Sony are streamlining to Fab-lite for cost reasons.
Many semiconductor companies, including Fabless and IDM manufacturers, have begun to transform to the Fab-lite model, which is enough to reflect the advantages of this model in the current industry environment and for a certain period of time in the future, and it is enough to illustrate the necessity of this model for large design companies.
Gekewei has already begun to lay out the transformation from Fabless to Fab-lite. On August 16, 2021, the "12-inch CIS Integrated Circuit Characteristic Process Research and Development and Industrialization Project" carried out by Geke Micro-funded Investment Fund has completed the capping of the main building. In the first quarter of 2022, the ASML advanced ArF lithography machine and other parts of the equipment purchased by Geke Micro have entered the market as scheduled, and ideally, it is expected to reach mass production by the end of 2022. The project is a key node in the transformation of Geke Micro to Fab-lite, which can effectively improve the research and development efficiency and production capacity guarantee of high-end CMOS image sensors after completion.
Mobile phones and automotive electronic terminals are expected to increase overseas demand
Mobile phones are the main application market for CMOS chips, providing considerable storage space for CMOS in the future. According to Frost & Sullivan data, mobile phones accounted for 73% of the CMOS image sensor downstream application market in 2019, while other consumer electronics, automotive, and security accounted for 9%, 10%, and 4%, respectively.
According to forecasts, global smartphone shipments will be stable and rising from 1.25 billion units in 2020 to 1.36 billion units in 2024, a compound growth rate of about 3.2%. According to Frost & Sullivan, multi-camera smartphones with pixel enhancement, diversified functions, and rear triple cameras and above have gradually become the mainstream of the market, and it is expected that by 2024, the penetration rate of rear dual-camera and multi-camera smartphones will reach 98.0%.
Samsung, an important customer of Geke micro CMOS chips, on April 29, according to data released by market research agency Canalys Consulting, in the first quarter of this year, the global market share of Samsung electronic smartphones was 24%, ranking first in the list, up 2 percentage points year-on-year. In the first quarter of this year, the proportion of geke micro's export sales has also further increased, and the proportion of export sales has further expanded from 54% in 2021 to 65%. It can be seen that the performance growth of overseas customers will directly enhance the performance of Geke Micro Company, and in the case of stabilizing the domestic market, the future performance growth of Geke Micro is worth looking forward to.
In addition to the mobile phone market, Geke Micro also promotes the application of CMOS image sensors in smart cities, automobiles and other fields. In the field of smart cities, the demand for security monitoring products including CMOS image sensors in the domestic security market is sinking to lower-tier cities and rural areas. Geke Micro Energy provides a variety of solutions of 1 million to 8 million pixels, and the product line is complete. In 2022, based on its own intellectual property rights 65nm + CIS process platform and FPPI (Floating Poly Pixel Isolation) patented technology, the company has launched 3 FSI security monitoring products in succession, with its excellent temperature image performance, starlight-level ultra-low noise dark state effect, and high cost performance, which will meet the needs of different customers in the security market to the greatest extent.
In the field of automotive electronics, the number of cameras on mainstream models ranges from 4 to 15. According to Frost & Sullivan data, automotive electronics CMOS chip shipments and sales are expected to reach 950 million units and $5.33 billion in 2025, and the market share will rise to 8.2% and 16.1%, respectively. Geke micro products are mainly used in driving recorders, reversing images, 360 ° surround view, rear view, etc., or will benefit from the wave of automotive intelligence.
After the company's 12-inch fab is put into operation, it will effectively promote the development of high-end products, and the CMOS chip business will continue to maintain rapid growth, and is expected to benefit from the rapid development of smart city construction and the wave of automotive intelligence.
Image source: Gekewei official website
(This article does not constitute any investment advice, and the content of information disclosure is subject to the company's announcement.) Investors operate accordingly at their own risk. ）
Editor| Meng Jintao