A Brief Analysis of the Revenue Growth Rate of the A-share Analog Chip Industry|2024 First Quarter Report

The performance report of the A-share semiconductor company for the first quarter of 2024 has been fully disclosed, and the non-network will continue to statistically sort out the revenue growth rate of each major track and attribute it. This issue will focus on the analysis of market demand changes in the analog chip industry, involving a total of 32 analog chip companies, covering power management products, signal chain products and RF products, etc., hoping to bring valuable reference information to industry stakeholders. First of all, let's take a look at the single-quarter operating income performance of the analog chip industry in recent quarters, as shown in the figure below. Due to the large proportion of products of local analog manufacturers used in consumer electronics, the terminal demand for consumer electronics represented by mobile phones and the performance of the local analog chip industry show an obvious positive correlation.

Note: The classification caliber of analog chip companies is mainly based on the three-level industry classification of Shenyin Wanguo

The local consumer electronics market has shown a sluggish trend since the first half of 2022, and the A-share analog chip industry has also started negative growth since Q2 2022, which has lasted for five quarters. Subsequently, the mobile phone and computer markets will recover one after another in the second half of 2023, and the analog chip market will also stabilize. At present, on the basis of a low base and the continuous recovery of consumer electronics, the local analog chip industry has shown a year-on-year high growth trend during Q3-Q1 2024, and this trend is expected to continue until at least Q2 2024. Let's take a closer look at the revenue performance of the leading companies in each industry segment.

Power management products

Aiwei Electronics' revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was 776 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 102%, setting a record for single-quarter revenue; Gross margin was 27.2% for the same period, up 2.4% sequentially, compared to 28.8% for the same period last year. The company's operating income has begun to grow significantly since Q3 2023, completely getting rid of the downturn from Q3 2022 to Q2 2023. The downstream customers are Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Transsion, TCL, Lenovo, BYD, Hyundai, Wuling, Geely, Chery and other brand companies, as well as well-known ODM manufacturers such as Huaqin, Wingtech Technology and Longcheer Technology. The company's performance benefited from the gradual recovery of the downstream market, the growth of end customer demand, and the continuous enrichment of product categories and the continuous expansion of the market. Nanxin Technology's revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was 600 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 110%, and the terminal demand picked up, and the company also set a record of single-quarter revenue in the first quarter; The gross profit margin for the same period was 42.6%, which was relatively stable year-on-month. Nanxin Technology's main product power management chips are used in consumer electronics fields such as mobile phones, notebooks/tablets, power adapters, smart wearable devices, etc., and the company is one of the few charge pump products in the industry that have entered the domestic mainstream mobile phone brands such as Honor, OPPO, Xiaomi, vivo, moto, etc., and the company's revenue growth rate has begun to turn positive since Q2 of 2023, earlier than similar companies. Jewalt's revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was 330 million yuan, an increase of 9% year-on-year and 12.7% quarter-on-quarter; Gross profit margin was 27.7% for the same period, an increase of 5% sequentially, and 32.8% for the same period last year. According to the company's prospectus, in 2021, the company's industrial and communication sales accounted for more than 45%, and the demand in the industrial and communication market has not recovered as strongly as consumer electronics.

Signal chain products

Shengbang Microelectronics' revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was 730 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 42%, benefiting from the recovery of downstream consumer electronics; Gross margin was 52.5% for the same period, up 5.3% sequentially and unchanged from the same period last year. It is worth noting that the company's single-quarter revenue has been stable at about 730 million yuan for three consecutive quarters, and with the gradual disappearance of the low base effect that began in Q2 2023, the growth of future revenue may depend on whether the demand in the pan-industrial field, which accounts for the largest proportion of revenue, recovers. NOVOSENSE's revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was 362 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 23% and a month-on-month increase of 16.7%, and the revenue has steadily rebounded quarter-on-quarter for three consecutive quarters; Gross margin was 32% for the same period, up 1.4% sequentially, compared to 45.3% for the same period last year. According to the data disclosed by NOVOSENSE, in the first three quarters of 2023, the proportion of consumer electronics in the terminal market is only 11%, so the continuous recovery of this round of consumer electronics is not obviously reflected in the performance, and the base of the same period last year is high, which is the second highest level of single-quarter revenue in the company's history. It is worth noting that NOVOSENSE Microelectronics continues to make efforts in automotive electronics, and its revenue proportion of automotive electronics is much higher than that of similar local companies, and the current value of its single vehicle is about 500 yuan, and if all planned products are mass-produced, it can exceed 2,000 yuan. SRP's revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was 200 million yuan, down 35% year-on-year and 28.6% quarter-on-quarter; Gross margin was 47.6% for the same period, up 1% sequentially and 57.8% for the same period last year. The author believes that the performance of SRP has a great relationship with the proportion of its downstream applications, with its pan-communication and pan-industrial revenue accounting for more than 80%, and wireless communication is currently at the bottom of the industry cycle, and the market demand is relatively flat; The inventory of the photovoltaic energy storage inverter market has been digested to a certain extent, and the market demand is gradually recovering; Traditional industries are currently in a state of weak recovery. It is worth expecting that SRP is continuing to increase the development of the global market, and in 2023, new sales and support centers in Germany, the United States, South Korea, and Japan will be added.

RF products

Zhuosheng Micro's revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was 1.19 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 67.2% and a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 8.8%; Gross margin was 42.8% for the same period, basically flat sequentially, compared to 48.8% for the same period last year. Since the second half of 2023, the downstream revenue structure of Zhuosheng Micro is dominated by mobile smart terminal products such as smartphones, and since the second half of 2023, it has benefited from the stimulation of terminal consumption and the gradual optimization of customer inventory structure, and its operating performance has improved. During the reporting period, Zhuosheng Micro's 12-inch IPD platform has officially entered the mass production stage, and the L-PAMiF, LFEM and other related module products integrating self-produced IPD filters have been verified and mass-produced and shipped to many clients. At the same time, the L-PAMiD product of MAX-SAW, which is produced by the company, has achieved a major breakthrough from "0" to "1" and is in the engineering sample stage. The revenue of Weijie Chuangxin in the first quarter of 2024 was 461 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 45.1% and a decrease of 66% quarter-on-quarter, mainly due to the seasonal effect and the rhythm of customer stocking; Gross margin was 28.1% for the same period, up 5% sequentially and 30.8% for the same period last year. The downstream applications of Weijie Chuangxin are mainly consumer electronics, and its main customers include mainstream mobile phone brand manufacturers and ODM manufacturers. During the reporting period, the company's product structure was continuously optimized, and the market scale of new products, highly integrated modules L-PAMiD and Wi-Fi products, expanded rapidly, driving the year-on-year growth of operating income. Aojie Technology's revenue in the first quarter of 2024 was 830 million yuan, and the single-quarter revenue hit a record high, a significant increase of 103.3% year-on-year. Gross margin for the same period was 23.8%, basically flat sequentially, compared to 24.5% in the same period last year. The company's main products are two categories: cellular baseband chips and non-cellular IoT chips, of which the downstream of cellular baseband chips covers smart wearables, Internet of Vehicles, mobile broadband devices, etc., and the downstream of non-cellular IoT chips covers smart home appliances, smart homes, smart cities, smart meters and other application scenarios. It is worth expecting that in 2023, the company will complete the tape-out, technical verification and customer introduction of the first 4G smartphone baseband chip, which is expected to continue to contribute to the company's performance.

brief summary

Overall, the local analog chip industry has experienced high year-on-year growth for three consecutive quarters, on the one hand, due to the low base in the same period last year, and on the other hand, benefiting from the continued recovery of consumer electronics. In terms of subdivision, the consumer electronics in the downstream applications of the head companies of the above-mentioned power management products and radio frequency products account for a relatively large proportion, so the revenue shows a high year-on-year growth trend, while some of the head companies in the signal chain product category because the revenue of consumer electronics accounts for a relatively small proportion, and the performance recovery trend is not obvious, but with the continuous destocking of industrial electronics, it is believed that related companies will soon usher in a significant increase in performance.