The “next wave” in the transition of the information and communications technology sector is the “nascent intelligent edge revolution,” said Analog Devices CEO Vincent Roche on an earnings call Wednesday for fiscal Q2 ended April 30. ADI finished the quarter with 79% year-over-year revenue growth to $2.97 billion, driven by double-digit increases in all its “end markets.”
Sales of QuickLogic’s display bridge products remain strong “as global supply chains remain challenged,” said CEO Brian Faith on an earnings call Tuesday for fiscal Q1 ended April 3. The company supplies field-programmable gate array chips for the iPhone that bridge mutually incompatible display interface standards embedded in the device. “These supply issues, while a negative for the industry, have been a positive for us as the constraints have created a worldwide shortage of certain display bridge semiconductor solutions,” said Faith. “One area where supply chain issues are slowing development and production is with our primary mobile phone customer.” Though QuickLogic continues to have new designs ready for market, “the supply disruptions are making it more difficult for our customer to build their product,” said the CEO. “This was reflected by lower shipments in the first quarter that we believe will persist in the second quarter.” Apple didn’t respond Wednesday to requests for comment. QuickLogic typically doesn’t experience “the same level of constraints” plaguing the “broader” semiconductor industry, said Faith. “Our sticking point is in the assembly and test part of the supply chain. Capacity is staying tight, and in order to get the access required, we continue to increase our committed inventory for finished goods to help ease supply concerns.”
Elon Musk agreed for a year after his Twitter takeover to pay each “continuing” employee “at least the same base salary and wage rate” earned before the transaction, according to a preliminary proxy statement filed Tuesday at the SEC for an as-yet-unscheduled special shareholders virtual meeting to vote on the sale. Musk is offering $54.20 a share in cash to take Twitter private.
There’s “so much more we can do, and so much more we have to do,” to thwart the spread of violent content on social media, especially the livestreamed video of the mass killings over the weekend at a Buffalo supermarket, Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, told an Axios webinar Tuesday. “This pathetic human who did this crime was inspired by other similar attacks that he’d seen online,” said Katko. “We’ve got to get more sophisticated algorithms and more sophisticated vehicles in technology to prevent these individuals from spreading this filth online. To wear a camera and livestream killing people is something that we’ve got to do everything we can, using every technology at our disposal, to try and prevent. We’re going to endeavor to do that going forward.”
U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council negotiators, meeting over the weekend in Paris, agreed to set up an early warning “alert system” to share information about possible disruptions in the semiconductor supply chain, and “incentivize increased production” of chips, said the group in a joint statement Monday. The TTC also agreed to put a “mechanism” in place to avoid chip “subsidy races” among local governments, it said.
The Redbox Entertainment “legacy business” of 38,000 DVD-rental kiosks “still has tremendous reach and power for consumers looking for the ultimate value,” said CEO Galen Smith, appearing on Thursday’s Q1 earnings call of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment to discuss its proposed $375 million Redbox buy (see 2205110051). Redbox has been “investing heavily” in recent years to transform the company into a “multi-window multifaceted digital entertainment company,” said Smith. But COVID-19 “severely impacted” the Redbox kiosk business when it forced studios to release content on streaming platforms or delay movies “completely outright,” he said. The expected recovery has taken “longer than we expected,” and has “hampered our ability to invest in the digital transformation,” he said. “Joining forces” with CSSE will give Redbox “much needed scale,” plus access to capital, to “power” the digital transformation, “something we couldn’t do on our own,” he said.
AMOLED microdisplay supplier eMagin is in “active discussions” with several consumer tech companies, including Tier 1 OEMs, about “potential applications” of its direct-patterning display technology for augmented- and virtual-reality headsets, said CEO Andrew Sculley on a Q1 earnings call Thursday. The technology enables direct-patterning of “primary RGB” color emitters on a silicon backplane, rendering “ultra-high-brightness light output at ultra-high resolution, with brilliant colors,” he said. The 10,000 nits of full-color peak brightness, plus high resolution and high contrast, “that we have achieved is beyond the threshold requirements for immersive AR and VR devices, and will help to overcome inefficient optics and alleviate motion artifacts,” he said. The company is “on a path” to double its peak brightness to 20,000 nits in “about a two-year program,” he said. EMagin recorded a 15% product revenue increase in the quarter on higher shipments of enhanced night vision goggles to customers in NATO countries, said Sculley. “We can't say how much is due to the Russian invasion,” but the orders it accepted in April included a “very large percentage of bookings for NATO,” he said.
Navitas Semiconductor is working closely with Motorola on “a comprehensive co-op marketing campaign” to promote the embedding of a Navitas gallium-nitride (GaN) fast charger in the Motorola Edge+ smartphone, said CEO Gene Sheridan on a Q1 earnings call Thursday. The 68-watt fast charger has 1 watt per cubic centimeter of power density and is capable of “a 0% to 50% charge time” in 15 minutes, he said. The Motorola Edge+, which retails for $899.99, is the only handset that works on Dish Network’s 5G service that launched commercially in Las Vegas on May 4 (see 2205040057). Navitas is enduring some “short-term turbulence,” specifically in China, “given the COVID-related shutdowns and some softness in the Chinese smartphone market,” said Sheridan. “These two factors, in combination with some continued non-GaN component shortages, are expected to have some impact on our growth rate in Q2.” Sheridan announced on the call that sustainability company Natural Capital Partners named Navitas as the world’s first semiconductor maker to achieve carbon-neutral status.
The war in Ukraine, plus rising inflation and rolling COVID-19 lockdowns throughout China, “have significantly impacted the supply chain and consumer electronics demand, leading to a particularly abnormal business environment,” said Himax Technologies CEO Jordan Wu on a Q1 earnings call Thursday. The company supplies display-driver chips to major panel makers, and its financial performance can be a bellwether of health in the display industry. Its stock closed 13.2%. higher Friday at $9.41
The average “semiconductor content per car” is expected to grow from $500 currently to $4,000 “over the coming decade,” driven by “the long-term structural trend toward electrification,” said indie Semiconductor CEO Donald McClymont on a Q1 earnings call Thursday. “Once consumers make the switch to electric, that shift tends to be permanent, due to higher performance and compelling economics of electric vehicles.” Q1 EV sales were up 76% in the U.S. year over year, compared with a 16% decline for “traditional” new cars and truck sales, he said. Recent polls showed 40% of Americans now expect to own an electric car in the next five years, up from 30% last year, “driven by an increasing demand for fuel-efficient vehicles in response to high gas prices,” he said.