Major IC design company Novatek has made progress in wearable and automotive product sectors after receiving automotive solution orders from BMW for the electric vehicle (EV) i4 released by mid-year. Moreover, the company has allegedly become a supplier of Meta’s VR headsets. Novatek’s overall revenue is expected to reach nearly US$5 billion for 2021.

Novatek has recently built a new building at the Tai Yuen Hi-Tech Industrial Park in Taiwan. During the inauguration ceremony, Mayor of Hsinchu City Lin Chih-chien was present and welcomed by the company’s vice chairman and president Steve Wang and management executives.

Novatek showcased its latest technologies on-site, including the high-speed display driver IC solution for VR device panels, automotive COF driver IC, next-gen self-driving car interior solution, world’s first self-capacitance OLED TDDI chip for smartphone applications, three-in-one (touchscreen, driving, and fingerprint recognition) chip, full-screen OLED driver IC, under-display optical fingerprint IC with large sensing area, and ultra-fine pitch Mini LED video wall solution.

Despite rarely mentioning automotive solutions, Novatek has numerous well-known automaker clients. Reportedly, BMW’s EV i4 is powered by the Taiwanese vendor’s automotive driver IC solution.

Image source: PAIXIN.COM

Additionally, Novatek has joined the metaverse frenzy by shipping high-speed display driver ICs for VR device panels in small batches. The company refuses to release its client list, yet Meta (formerly known as Facebook) has reportedly imported Novatek’s products to its VR devices.

Steve Wang revealed that Novatek has sent OLED TDDI samples and shipped the said display driver ICs in small batches to customers. The Taiwan-based company plans to invest resources in developing display-related technologies, expecting that the said new products can largely help with gross margin improvement and market expansion.

In 3Q21, Novatek generated a record-high gross margin of 51.94% with consolidated revenue reaching NT$98.823 billion in the first three quarters (71.8% YoY). Despite the revenue being estimated to slightly shrink to NT$36–37 billion in the fourth quarter, it will still be the greatest Q4 performance. Novatek reported Q1–Q3 earnings of NT$27.932 billion, a 2.41-fold YoY increase with EPS of NT$45.9.

As Wang indicated, the off-peak season will begin in every November with weaker demand for consumer electronics. Nevertheless, sales promotions in the Singles’ Day, Black Friday, and Christmas are likely to stimulate revenue from late 2021 to early 2022. (Source: Udn.com)