Smartway: Three major businesses empower performance growth, and high-end products are beginning to show their edge

On the evening of April 26, SmartSens (688213.SH), a leading company in high-performance CMOS sensor chip design, disclosed its 2023 annual report and 2024 first quarter report. In 2023, the company achieved operating income of 2.857 billion yuan, an increase of 15.08% over the same period of last year, and a net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company of 14.2155 million yuan, an increase of 96.9635 million yuan over the same period of last year, turning losses into profits.

In the first quarter of 2024, the company achieved operating income of 837 million yuan, an increase of 84.31% over the same period of last year, and realized a net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company of 14.0261 million yuan, an increase of 39.707 million yuan over the same period of last year, achieving both revenue and profit growth.

As a CMOS image sensor product company committed to providing multi-scene applications and full performance coverage, SmartSens adheres to the three-legged development direction of "smart security + smart phone + automotive electronics", gives full play to the outstanding competitive advantages of efficient research and development, and further optimizes and improves the product matrix. In many high-tech applications such as automotive electronics, we have successfully built the second growth curve of high-end smartphone products, helping the industry to develop in the direction of more intelligence and informatization. In 2023, the consolidated revenue of SmartSens smart security industry will reach 1671.3308 million yuan, an increase of 0.41% over the same period of last year, the revenue of smartphones will be 891.7876 million yuan, an increase of 50.40% over the same period of last year, and the revenue of automotive electronics will be 294.2249 million yuan, an increase of 30.45% over the same period of last year.

The smartphone business is booming The XS series of high-end products opens up a second growth curve

According to the latest data from YOLE, the global CIS market size will be about 21.3 billion US dollars in 2022, and the largest downstream field is smartphones, accounting for about 64%, so smartphones have also become an important area for the business layout of major CIS manufacturers.

In 2023, with efficient R&D efficiency and rapid expansion and close integration with downstream application customers, SmartSens' smartphone business will flourish, achieving annual revenue of 891.7876 million yuan, accounting for 31.21% of the main revenue. Smartphone revenue increased by 50.40% year-on-year, mainly due to the deep cooperation with existing customers and the successful mass production and shipment of high-end 5 million pixel products for the first time in 2023.

It is worth noting that SmartSens has launched a variety of new image sensor products such as the high-end XS series products and SC5000CS, which bring better imaging performance to the smartphone imaging system. As a 0.702μm pixel size image sensor, the SC5000CS integrates the advantages of high dynamic range, ultra-low noise, PDAF phase detection focusing, and low power consumption, helping the mobile imaging technology of the mainstream mobile phone market to reach new heights with excellent low-light imaging performance.

It is reported that at present, several high-end XS series products launched by Smartway have achieved large-scale shipments, which not only opens up a second growth curve for the company's revenue, but also symbolizes that the company has made significant progress in catching up with the high-end product lines of leading overseas manufacturers, thereby further enhancing the company's market position and brand influence.

The smart security business continues to lead the way, and the technological advantages empower the innovation of high-end product matrix

In recent years, driven by the iterative update of emerging technologies, the security industry has developed rapidly in the direction of digitalization, intelligence, and ultra-high definition. As a leading enterprise in the global smart security CIS, SmartSens has focused on visual imaging technology and CIS product development in the field of security monitoring since its inception, and continues to maintain its leading position in the global market with a complete product matrix, excellent R&D strength and rapid response ability, with a revenue of 167,133.08 million yuan in the company's smart security industry in 2023.

It is worth mentioning that as SmartSens' first 1/1.2" 8MP image sensor product SC880SL it enhances the photosensitive performance of the product through a large photo area, and can still achieve excellent night vision imaging effects even in ultra-low light environments. In addition, the company has launched several new upgraded AI series CMOS image sensors, which combine the advantages of better night vision full-color imaging, high-temperature imaging, and low-power performance, which can better empower intelligent wireless cameras and multi-camera solutions such as home IPC and AIoT terminals, and successfully open the road of iterative upgrading of AI series products.

At the same time, as a pioneer and leader in the field of machine vision, the company's machine vision products have a significant technical influence and market position in the world, and the products have been widely used in industrial manufacturing and logistics fields represented by intelligent manufacturing, intelligent screening and intelligent logistics code reading, as well as emerging application fields represented by drones, sweeping robots and AR/VR, and maintain close cooperative relations with customers such as DJI and Hikrobot. According to the latest data from TSR, in 2022, the company's market share in the two major fields of drones and QRC readers ranked first in the world, and its share of the global consumer drone obstacle avoidance market was about 90%.

The strong momentum of automotive electronics business development contributes to the sustainable development of the company

Under the unstoppable technological development trend of automotive intelligence and autonomous driving, the automotive electronics market has become a new growth point in the CIS market. As one of the few manufacturers in China that can provide automotive-grade CIS solutions, the company has released more than 10 products for the three major application scenarios of vehicle imaging, perception and in-cabin, covering the application needs of automotive perception and image segmentation with a resolution of 1MP~8MP. Among them, the company's new 5MP high-resolution automotive-grade RGB-IR global shutter image sensor - SC533AT released in 2023, integrates the five performance advantages of high resolution, high shutter efficiency, low noise, excellent color performance, and excellent near-infrared sensitivity, bringing more accurate and reliable in-cabin visual perception capabilities to high-end driver monitoring systems (DMS) and passenger monitoring systems (OMS), and promoting the development of higher-level intelligent driving with high performance and high reliability.

At present, Smartway's on-board CIS products have been mass-produced in major car factories such as BYD, SAIC, Dongfeng Nissan, Great Wall, South Korea's Ssangyong, Leap, Chery, GAC, Jiangling, Geely and so on. According to YOLE's latest report, in 2022, SmartSens will rank fourth in the world and second in China in the automotive CIS market. With the continuous development of intelligent and autonomous driving, and the increasing front-loading rate of panoramic surround view, the automotive electronics business will also become a strong engine for the company's long-term sustainable development.

Efficient R&D creates new quality productivity, and property rights barriers escort the leading position

At present, the concept of new quality productivity has become the focus of market attention, and SmartSens has developed a diversified and differentiated product series with efficient chip research and development capabilities relying on an outstanding R&D team, and constantly focuses on technological upgrading and innovation. In 2023, SmartSens' total R&D investment will exceed 286 million yuan, and the number of R&D personnel will account for 47.84% of the company's total number. As of December 31, 2023, the company has obtained a total of 424 authorized patents (including 98 overseas patents), helping the company's R&D and technological innovation to a new level.

Looking forward to the future, SmartSens said that the company will continue to maintain R&D investment, optimize product matrix, improve product performance and user experience, strengthen cooperation with core customers, expand cooperation areas, and actively explore new market opportunities, so as to further consolidate and enhance its leading position in the fields of smart security, smart phones and automotive electronics, and achieve more stable and sustainable development.