Himax Technologies, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Financial Results; Provides First Quarter 2023 Guidance

Q4 2022 Revenuesand EPS Beat Guidance, while Gross Margin Moderately below Guidance Range Issued on November 10, 2022
Company Q1 2023 Guidance: Revenues to Decrease 12.0% to 17.0% QoQ, IFRS Gross Margin is Expected to be 28.0% to 30.0%, IFRS Profit per Diluted ADS to be around 3.5 Cents to 7.0 Cents

• Q4 2022 revenues were $262.3M, an increase of 22.8% QoQ, substantially exceeding guidance of an increase of around 4.0% to 8.0%. Q4 GM reached 30.5%
• Q4 2022 IFRS after-tax profit was $42.2M, or 24.1 cents per diluted ADS, compared to $8.3M, or 4.8 cents last quarter
• Company’s full year 2022 revenues were $1.2 billion and IFRS GM was 40.5%. 2022 IFRS profit attributable to shareholders was $1.36 per fully diluted ADS
• Company’s Q1 2023 revenues to decrease 12.0% to 17.0% QoQ. IFRS GM around 28.0% to 30.0%. IFRS profit attributable to shareholders in the range of 3.5 to 7.0 cents per fully diluted ADS. Non-IFRS profit attributable to shareholders in the range of 6.5 to 10.0 cents per fully diluted ADS
• In 2022, Himax’s automotive sales enjoyed the highest growth among all product lines, up more than 50% on top of the remarkable strength in 2021 when sales grew more than 110%. For the year, sales of traditional DDIC for automotive were up over 30%, while auto TDDI sales surged by more than 300%
• Himax’s inventory position has much improved since its peak during Q3 last year and the Company anticipates its inventory continue to decrease to near its historical average no later than Q3 of 2023
• Company anticipates customers’ inventory adjustment in automotive DDIC will find equilibrium, leading to a strong recovery in Q2 of 2023
• On the revenue front, Himax expects Q1 to be the trough of the year with sales rebounding in Q2 and business momentum continuing to improve into the second half of 2023

TAINAN, Taiwan, Feb. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Himax Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: HIMX) (“Himax” or “Company”), a leading supplier and fabless manufacturer of display drivers and other semiconductor products, announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2022 ended December 31, 2022.

“Our objective first and foremost is to strictly manage our inventory level, and we have been aggressive in doing so by sacrificing short term gross margin to offload excess stock. We also continue to curtail our wafer starts while striving to win more projects from customers specifically for the purpose of digesting our excess inventory. Our inventory position has much improved since its peak during the third quarter last year and we anticipate it will continue to decrease to near our historical average no later than the third quarter of 2023,” said Mr. Jordan Wu, President and Chief Executive Officer of Himax.

“On the revenue front, we expect the first quarter to be the trough of the year with sales rebounding in the second quarter and business momentum continuing to improve into the second half of 2023,” concluded Mr. Jordan Wu.

Fourth Quarter 2022 Financial Results

Himax net revenues were $262.3 million, increased 22.8% sequentially, substantially exceeding its guidance of an increase of around 4.0% to 8.0% sequentially despite the macro headwinds continuing to challenge its business. The increased sales momentum was attributed to Company’s continuous efforts to deplete inventory, particularly in the small and medium-sized TDDI segments. IFRS and non-IFRS gross margin both came in at 30.5%, a decrease from 36.0% and 36.3% respectively last quarter, and lower than the guidance range of 31.5% to 33.5%. Price erosion from offloading excess inventory was the predominant factor that adversely impacted its margin profile. Also contributing to margin contraction was higher cost of the inventory sourced primarily during 2021 and early 2022 when foundry and back-end pricings were higher due to capacity constraints. Yet, IFRS profit per diluted ADS was 24.1 cents, exceeding its guidance of 17.8 cents to 20.8 cents. Non-IFRS profit per diluted ADS was 27.3 cents, beating its guidance of 21.0 cents to 24.0 cents.

Revenue from large display drivers was $43.5 million in Q4, an increase of 5.3% sequentially, exceeding its prior guidance of flat from last quarter. TV sales grew nicely as expected, increasing single digit quarter over quarter and appear to have bottomed following several quarters of sharp correction, while both monitor and notebook sales were better than guided. Large panel driver IC sales accounted for 16.6% of total revenues for this quarter, compared to 19.3% last quarter and 27.7% a year ago.

Small and medium-sized display driver revenue was $177.4 million, an increase of 25.5% sequentially, and ahead of its guidance of a single digit increase, primarily a result of increasing shipment of TDDI in all three sectors, namely smartphone, tablet and automotive. Despite the challenging macro environment, Company’s fourth quarter revenue for tablet was up more than 100% sequentially thanks to the strong shipment in higher-end TDDI products, an illustration of Company’s leading solutions being adopted by more customers for their next generation products supporting larger sized, high frame rate displays and high precision active stylus features. Meanwhile the AMOLED total solution sales, including TCON and DDIC, increased mid-teens quarter over quarter and accounted for more than 8% of total sales, mainly attributable to Company’s tablet AMOLED total solution supporting the mass production of premium tablet models for a global leading customer.

Q4 automotive business increased single digit quarter over quarter, better than guided as customers restocked, especially for TDDI. Automotive driver business once again represented the largest revenue contributor with over 30% of total sales in the fourth quarter, a result of Himax’s comprehensive product coverage and increasing automotive TDDI design-wins across panel houses, Tier 1s and auto brands. It’s worth noting that Company’s automotive TDDI sales surged by more than 170% on a year-over-year basis, boosted by the robust adoption of the technology for customers’ new generation car models. Small and medium-sized driver IC segment accounted for 67.6% of total sales for the quarter, compared to 66.2% in the previous quarter and 61.2% a year ago.

Fourth quarter revenues from its non-driver business also beat guidance with revenues of $41.4 million, up 33.8% from a quarter ago. Himax’s Tcon business was up a solid double digit sequentially, bolstered by higher shipment of large sized display drivers, automotive drivers as well as tablet drivers for AMOLED. For automotive Tcon, Himax anticipates business momentum to accelerate in the coming quarters, backed by a strong order pipeline and rapidly expanding design-wins across different continents. Tcon business represented over 8% of total sales in the fourth quarter. Non-driver products in Q4 accounted for 15.8% of total revenues, as compared to 14.5% in the previous quarter and 11.1% a year ago.

IFRS operating expenses for the fourth quarter were $52.5 million, a decline of 27.9% from the previous quarter and down 6.2% from a year ago. The sequential decrease was caused mainly by decreased annual bonus and salary expenses, partially offset by an increase in R&D expenses. As previously mentioned, the Company typically grants annual bonuses, including cash and RSUs, to its staff at the end of September each year, which can lead to higher IFRS operating expenses in the third quarter compared to the other quarters of the year. The year-over-year expense decrease was primarily related to the special bonus the Company awarded its employees at the end of Q4 2021. Excluding the special bonus paid in Q4 last year, the IFRS operating expenses would have increased 2.0% year over year during the fourth quarter. Non-IFRS operating expenses were $45.6 million for the fourth quarter, down 2.2% from the preceding quarter and down 6.0% from a year ago.

Fourth quarter IFRS operating income was $27.5 million, or 10.5% of sales, versus 1.8% of sales in the last quarter and 39.4% of sales from a year ago. Non-IFRS operating income was $34.5 million, or 13.1% of sales, compared to 14.5% last quarter and 41.1% same quarter last year. IFRS after-tax profit was $42.2 million, or 24.1 cents per diluted ADS, compared to $8.3 million, or 4.8 cents per diluted ADS last quarter. Himax made a divestiture of long-term assets during Q4 2022, which resulted in a non-operating income of around $11 million on an after-tax basis. Fourth quarter non-IFRS after-tax profit was $47.7 million, or 27.3 cents per diluted ADS, compared to $29.8 million, or 17.0 cents in the previous quarter.

Full Year 2022 Financial Results

Revenues totaled $1.2 billion in 2022, representing a 22.3% decline compared to 2021. Unexpected lockdowns in China, geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic related factors created a challenging operating environment and impaired Company’s business performance for the year. The halt in consumer demand and significantly reduced visibility at panel houses and OEMs towards the end of first quarter adversely impacted IC demand and consequently Company’s sales. Given the nature of wafer production, which usually starts months in advance, the abrupt drop in demand resulted in a rapid increase in Company’s inventory.

Revenue from large panel display drivers totaled $264.0 million in 2022, a decrease of 33.7% year-over-year, representing 22.0% of total sales, as compared to 25.7% in 2021. Small and medium-sized driver sales totaled $778.9 million, a decrease of 19.2% year-over-year, representing 64.8% of total revenues, as compared to 62.3% in 2021. Non-driver products sales totaled $158.4 million, a decrease of 14.7% year-over-year, representing 13.2% of total sales, as compared to 12.0% a year ago.

Automotive segment continued to see extraordinary business momentum in 2022. Automotive sales enjoyed the highest growth among all product lines, up more than 50% on top of the remarkable strength in 2021 when sales grew more than 110%. For the year, sales of traditional DDIC for automotive were up over 30%, while auto TDDI sales surged by more than 300%. As Himax mentioned repeatedly, automotive displays continue to be adopted at a rapid rate in number, size and technological sophistication, implying higher content value of display ICs per vehicle. As the market share leader in automotive display ICs, Himax continued to gain ground not only in DDIC but also in TDDI, supported by over 200 design-wins with the number still increasing.

While Himax's overall annual sales declined due to the unusual and abrupt demand halt, several new sales streams have started to contribute during 2022, including ICs for AMOLED and the ultralow power WiseEye smart sensing. Both product lines enjoyed higher than corporate average gross margin in 2022. On AMOLED, Himax provides both AMOLED DDIC and Tcon for automotive and tablet displays. In addition, the Company is making good progress with leading panel houses for the development of AMOLED display drivers for smartphone, TV and notebook applications. Himax anticipates the shipment of smartphone AMOLED driver to start in the second half of 2023 for key customers in China and Korea. On the WiseEye product line, Himax continues to support Dell for its production ramp up in a range of newest models using Himax’s first generation WE1 solution. In addition, a host of leading laptop vendors and CPU platform players have shown strong interest in broadening AI use cases of future generation smart notebooks by adopting Himax’s next generation WE2 AI processor. Backed by a strong business pipeline and robust design-in activities in numerous AIoT applications with customers from all over the world, Himax expects strong sales momentum for WiseEye in 2023.

IFRS gross margin in 2022 was 40.5%, decreased from 48.4% in 2021. The decline was largely attributable to pricing pressure resulting from excess inventory levels following the sudden halt in demand beginning in the second quarter. In addition, charges related to unmet minimum purchase orders from contracts with foundries and backend suppliers entered during the unprecedented shortage in 2021 also led to the eroding margin. Non-IFRS gross margin was 40.6% in 2022, decreased from 48.5% in 2021.

IFRS operating expenses in 2022 were $229.5 million, up 12.8% from 2021. The increase was primarily a result of the vested portion of the annual bonus compensation awarded to employees in 2022 as well as previous years, along with increased salaries and R&D expenses. Non-IFRS operating expenses were $181.3 million, up 5.7% compared to 2021.

2022 IFRS operating income was $257.6 million, or 21.4% of sales, a decrease from $545.0 million, or 35.2% of sales, in 2021. Non-IFRS operating income was $306.8 million, in contrast to $578.3 million in 2021. IFRS net profit for 2022 was $237.0 million, or $1.36 per diluted ADS, as compared to $436.9 million, or $2.50 per diluted ADS in 2021. Non-IFRS net profit for 2022 was $276.1 million, or $1.58 per diluted ADS, as compared to $463.6 million, or $2.65 per diluted ADS in 2021.

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

Himax had $229.9 million of cash, cash equivalents and other financial assets as of December 31, 2022, compared to $364.4 million at the same time last year and $227.9 million a quarter ago. The substantial decrease in cash was a result of annual cash dividend payout of $217.9 million, partially offset by $82.9 million of operating cash inflow in 2022. Himax had $46.5 million of long-term unsecured loans as of the end of fourth quarter, of which $6.0 million was current portion.

The Company’s inventories as of December 31, 2022 were $370.9 million, down from $410.1 million last quarter and up from $198.6 million a year ago. Accounts receivable at the end of December 2022 was $261.1 million, up from $253.3 million last quarter and from $410.2 million a year ago. DSO was 79 days at the quarter end, as compared to 97 days a year ago and 74 days last quarter. Fourth quarter capital expenditures were $2.3 million, versus $3.4 million last quarter and $2.0 million a year ago. The fourth quarter capex was mainly for R&D related equipment and in-house tester of its IC design business. Total capital expenditures for 2022 were $11.8 million, mainly for design tools, R&D related equipment as well as in-house tester of its IC design business as compared to $7.6 million in 2021.

Outstanding Share

As of December 31, 2022, Himax had 174.4 million ADS outstanding, unchanged from last quarter. On a fully diluted basis, total number of ADS outstanding for the fourth quarter was 175.0 million.

Q1 2023 Outlook

Historically, the first quarter has seasonally been the slowest of the year due to the Lunar New Year holidays. On the backdrop of sluggish global demand and a surge of Covid-19 cases in China despite their government lifting Covid restrictions, many Chinese factories extended their shutdown period through the Lunar New Year. This added uncertainty to an already stagnant business environment causing Company’s customers to hesitate to place new orders, while cautiously managing their inventory levels and further clouding Company’s business visibility. As uncertainty persists, Himax’s objective first and foremost is to strictly manage its inventory level, and the Company has been aggressive in doing so by sacrificing short term gross margin to offload excess stock. Himax also continues to curtail its wafer starts while striving to win more projects from customers specifically for the purpose of digesting Company’s excess inventory. Himax’s inventory position has much improved since its peak during the third quarter last year and the Company anticipates it will continue to decrease to near its historical average no later than the third quarter of 2023.

With that said, Company’s Q1 gross margin remains under pressure. The cost of Company's excess inventory is high from being sourced during tight capacity constraint in 2021 when foundry and backend prices were at peak levels. Another contributing factor to Q1 margin contraction stems from market price decline of certain unsold inventories which will necessitate write-downs. However, Himax believes this effect will gradually diminish throughout the year as the market has shown signs of recovery across many business areas. Notwithstanding the pressure from the destocking process, Himax continues to work diligently towards improving its gross margin as a primary objective. Despite the expected short-term margin compression, Himax remains confident in its gross margin prospects, backed particularly by several high visibility product areas, most notably the higher margin automotive and WiseEye smart image sensing businesses which look set to outgrow other businesses.

Looking ahead, the semiconductor industry appears to be trending toward a post-pandemic era. While the supply chain gradually stabilizes and channel inventory reverts to heathier levels, Himax believes a decent recovery is forthcoming. On the revenue front, the Company expects the first quarter to be the trough of the year with sales rebounding in the second quarter and business momentum continuing to improve into the second half of 2023.

Display Driver IC Businesses

LDDIC

Q1 large display driver IC revenue is projected to be up high single digit sequentially. Himax expects monitor IC business to be on a recovery trajectory as customers have started to replenish chips due to reduced channel inventory after multiple quarters of destocking. Monitor IC sales in the first quarter are set to grow by a decent double digit. TV panel prices also show signs of stabilization from restocking demand, particularly for mainstream models, and will likely strengthen in Q1, bucking the seasonal factor. Himax anticipates its sales for TV segment to increase single digit sequentially in Q1. Conversely on notebook segment, the highly publicized downward trend lingers on with further declines from enterprise IT budget cuts in tandem with customers’ continuous stringent inventory control measures.

SMDDIC

Q1 SMDDIC revenue is expected to decrease by double digit sequentially. Q1 automotive IC sales are anticipated to be down mid-teens as Company’s customers continue to reduce inventory for traditional DDICs. However, Himax sees strong momentum for its automotive TDDI sales which are poised to grow by single digit, backed by solid new design-in pipeline which has been rapidly expanding for many quarters. Additionally, Himax anticipates customers’ inventory adjustment in DDIC will find equilibrium, leading to a strong recovery in the second quarter. Both smartphone and tablet IC sales are set to decline double digit quarter over quarter due to seasonality and customers’ continuous destocking measures.

On automotive business. The trend for the automobile interior continues to be in favor of more stylish and diverse designs, made possible with increasing quantity and size of panels inside the vehicle equipped with advanced interactive display technologies. As the leader in the automotive display IC market, Himax provides a one-stop-shop offering of the most comprehensive product portfolio for automotive display in the industry, ranging from traditional DDIC to new technologies such as TDDI, local dimming Tcon, LTDI and AMOLED. Himax’s business visibility for automotive segment for 2023 remains much better than those of consumer centric products. In addition, the Company sees a favorable trajectory in its automotive TDDI business, backed by prompt expansion of TDDI adoption and fast-growing new project-wins as TDDI technology is essential for large sized, interactive, stylish, curved and free-formed automotive displays required of future generation vehicles. Himax believes its automotive TDDI sales will be one of the primary driving forces for its long-term business growth. Moreover, Himax anticipates the market share of its automotive TDDI will surpass that of DDIC which has already reached 40% globally.

Himax is also the first in the industry to launch the LTDI (Large Touch and Display Driver Integration) automotive display solution, catering to the need for ever larger screens inside vehicles. LTDI solution requires even higher levels of integration of display and touch technologies for the next generation, typically larger than 30-inch automotive displays, where the solution can cascade up to 30 chips in support of ultrahigh-resolution displays, usually more than 7Kx1K, and high-precision touch sensitivity. United with a top-Tier automotive digital platform provider, Himax’s cutting edge LTDI technology was showcased at CES 2023 by one of its leading panel customers for a 55-inch pillar-to-pillar, in-cell touch display that provides seamless, intuitive and advanced tactile experience for future generation smart cabins. Himax’s LTDI is scheduled to start mass production in the second quarter this year, substantially ahead of competition. More design collaborations in some of the most modish automotive vehicles are underway.

On AMOLED, Himax continues to gear up for AMOLED driver IC development jointly with major Korean and Chinese panel makers in various applications. For tablet, it is seeing shipments on the rise for premium models that adopt advanced AMOLED display, of which Himax offers both DDIC and Tcon and has commenced production to certain leading brands. For automotive AMOLED display, Himax continues to win project awards for flexible AMOLED driver and Tcon with both conventional car makers and NEV vendors. Finally, Himax is making good progress with leading panel houses for the development of AMOLED display drivers for smartphone, TV and notebook applications. Himax expects to commence smartphone AMOLED driver production from the second half of 2023. Himax’s AMOLED business, including display driver and Tcon, is slated for strong growth in the next few years. As a reminder, for smartphone AMOLED display driver, the Company already has secured meaningful capacity.

Non-Driver Product Categories

TCON

The Company anticipates Q1 Tcon sales to decrease by mid-teens sequentially, hampered by decreased shipment of tablet product for AMOLED displays. On a positive note, Himax’s position remains unchallenged in automotive Tcon for local dimming technology, which not only improves display contrast ratio, but also drastically reduces display power consumption, which is critical for larger displays and EV models. With years of strenuous work on this high entry barrier technology, Himax has developed comprehensive local dimming Tcon product offerings that can support a wide range of design covering super high frame rate of 240 Hz and resolutions of up to 8K. Himax has won numerous project awards from various named panel makers, Tier 1s and car makers for premium new car models with a small number of which already commenced mass production recently. Local dimming Tcon is set for robust growth starting 2023. Himax anticipates Q1 automotive Tcon sales to increase more than 150% year-over-year and represent over 2% of total sales.

WiseEye Smart Image Sensing

Himax’s WiseEye AI total solution incorporates the Company’s proprietary ultralow power AI processor, always-on CMOS image sensor, and CNN-based AI algorithm. Himax continues to support the mass production of Dell’s notebook and other end-point AI applications, such as automatic meter reading (AMR), shared bike parking, video conference device, door lock and medical capsule endoscope. The Company is more committed than ever to strengthening its WiseEye product roadmap and retaining its leadership position in ultralow power AI processor and image sensor for end-point AI applications.

At this year’s CES, Himax teamed up with several industry-leading ecosystem partners and customers to jointly introduce its neomodern ultralow power tinyML solutions in various real end-point AI applications, including surveillance camera with Novatek, a leader in surveillance system SOC, and smart home with Useful Sensors, a start-up founded by Pete Warden, the former Google TensorFlow tech leader. Himax also joined forces with Seeed Studio in smart agriculture and Wentai Technology in smart office, both leading players in their respective areas. These are just a few examples of real adoption of Company’s ultralow power WiseEye solution in the emerging end-point ultralow power image AI era. Himax continues to see increasing deployment of WiseEye solution in diverse applications driven by the mega trend of AIoT and growing demand to add image AI capability to everyday objects.

To highlight Himax’s surveillance camera demonstration, Himax and Novatek jointly showcased a leading ultralow power pre-roll AI solution, enabling battery-operated surveillance camera with comprehensive event recording capability through “negative time” recording. The pre-roll function, powered by Himax’s WE1 processor, features an always-on video recording operation at a slow frame rate, using only single digit milliwatts power consumption. Meanwhile, the WE1 AI processor intelligently senses specific motion events, such as certain human behavior or suspicious activities. All these are taking place while the core vision processor remains powered off. Once a classified event is identified, the WE1 processor activates the core processor which then initiates a high-resolution recording of the event while stitching the pre-roll video clips of the WE1 processor thereto. This is a substantial improvement compared to what existing surveillance solutions offer in terms of security as users receive a thorough video stream complete with pre-roll video clips of what preceded the motion events. It also significantly reduces the overall power consumption, made possible for battery-powered surveillance system. With these significant features in pre-roll and ultralow power, WiseEye is gaining traction in various surveillance fields, covering doorbell, door lock and dashcam. Numerous engagements and design projects have been in progress with surveillance customers across different domains after CES.

Also during this year’s CES, Himax debuted its next generation WE2 AI processor that offers 40% peak power saving and 30-fold inference speed, implying over 50 times power efficiency on a per inference basis compared to the first generation WE1 processor which is already leading the industry among AI processors aiming for similar target markets. With the exceptional local inferencing capability, the new WE2 AI processor performs face landmark detection to identify facial regions, including eyes, mouth, nose, and jaw to enable advanced, accurate and precise facial expression recognition, such as head pose estimation, gaze direction, fatigue detection, etc. These new features provide additional vital intelligence to a broad array of applications on top of the success of Himax’s leading WE1 AI processor that provides contextual awareness with the ability to visually detect user engagement levels based on presence, movements, and facial direction. Several leading laptop names have shown strong interest in Himax’s WE2 processor after witnessing Company’s live demonstration at CES, leading to many follow-up engineering activities. Additionally, Himax continues to partner with leading notebook CPU and AP SOC players, with the aim of expanding its engagements with leading global laptop names and IoT players working on the enrichment of various new AI features and use cases for next generation smart notebook and IoT applications.

Given a consistent product roadmap, improving product performance and broader customer traction from various domains, the Company believes that WiseEye will emerge as a multi-year structural growth driver for Himax.

Optical Related Product Lines / Metaverse

Himax’s optical related product lines covers WLO, LCoS and 3D Sensing. Himax is one of the few companies in the technology industry with a wide array of optical related product lines that are critical for the realization of metaverse. Company’s technology leadership and manufacturing expertise are evidenced by the growing list of AR/VR goggle device customers and ongoing engineering projects. Himax continues to work on strengthening its optical-related technology suite, while collaborating with some of the world’s largest technology companies that remain deeply committed to investing in its development.

On 3D sensing, Himax sees increasing adoption of its optical components and/or 3D sensing technologies that enable new ways people interact with AR and VR applications. At CES 2023, Himax introduced a series of next generation 3D vision processors to support a variety of state-of-the-art 3D sensing technologies in Time of Flight (”ToF”) and structured light. Company’s structured light AI processor can provide 3D eye tracking functionality to report the exact eye positions with the industry’s highest response rate and low-friction to enable high precision and dizzy-free spatial reality applications. Himax featured a live demonstration of a 3D naked-eye display at CES with its eye tracking technologies becoming a hot focus point. Viewers experienced a 3D holographic view from all angles without needing additional wearables to enjoy immersive and advanced visual experience without the side effect of feeling nausea or dizziness.

On WLO for 3D gesture control. Himax’s WLO technology is deployed to empower 3D perception sensing for precise controller-free gesture recognition in VR devices. Himax’s collaboration with a leading VR player is going smoothly and it expects volume production starting middle of this year. On 3D scanning for object reconstruction, Himax’s 3D sensing technology, which incorporates both its 3D projector and 3D decoder, is being deployed by a leading customer’s 3D scanning device for the purpose of generating real time digital twins, avatars and 3D environment surroundings that ultimately help users transit and connect seamlessly between physical and digital worlds. The collaboration is ongoing with promising progress, and Himax expects it to hit the market next year.

Metaverse related development are early in the lifecycle but overall remains an attractive opportunity for Himax potentially. Himax is well positioned with years of research and development, a unique product portfolio, production history and key partnerships to capitalize on its growth as the industry continues to emerge and mature.

For non-driver IC business, the Company expects revenue to decrease mid-teens sequentially in the first quarter.

First Quarter 2023 Guidance

To note, the EPS guidance already accounts for certain foreign exchange loss attributable to NT Dollar appreciation against the U.S. Dollar based on the prevailing exchange rate. As a reminder, much of Himax locally incurred expenses, including the bulk of employee salaries, as well as the outstanding income tax payables are NT Dollar based.

HIMAX TECHNOLOGIES FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR 2022 EARNINGS CONFERENCE CALL

If you choose to attend by phone, you need to register first to obtain dial-in numbers for the call. Once registered you will be emailed the dial-ins along with an option to receive a call back at the start of the earnings call. Each registrant will receive a unique personal PIN. A replay of the call will be available beginning two hours after the call. The conference webcast link is https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/959exv4h. This call is being webcast by Nasdaq and can be accessed by clicking on this link or Himax’s website, where the webcast can be accessed through February 9, 2024.

Non-IFRS Financial Measures

Himax provides investors with gross profit, gross margin, operating income, operating margin, profit attributable to stockholders and diluted earnings per ADS attributable to Himax Technologies, Inc. stockholders on a non-IFRS basis to review and assess the Company's operating performance, which is not required by, or presented in accordance with, IFRS. The presentation of these non-IFRS financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information prepared and presented in accordance with IFRS.

Himax defines non-IFRS gross profit as gross profit excluding share-based compensation and cash awards. Himax defines non-IFRS operating income as operating income excluding share-based compensation, acquisition-related intangible assets amortization, and cash awards. Himax defines non-IFRS profit attributable to stockholders as profit attributable to stockholders excluding share-based compensation, acquisition-related intangible assets amortization, and cash awards. Non-IFRS gross margin is calculated as non-IFRS gross profit divided by revenues. Non-IFRS operating margin is calculated as non-IFRS operating income divided by revenues. These non-IFRS financial measures allow Himax’s management to assess its operating results without considering the impacts of the adjusted items, which are more of non-cash charges in nature.

Himax believes that providing certain of these measures allow investors to identify underlying trends in the Company’s business and enhance the overall understanding of the Company’s past performance and future prospects with respect to key metrics used by the Company in its financial and operational decision-making. However, the use of the non-IFRS measure has limitations as an analytical tool, and investors should not consider them in isolation from, or as substitute for analysis of, the Company’s results of operations or financial condition as reported under IFRS. Further, non-IFRS financial measures may differ from the non-IFRS information used by other companies, including peer companies, and therefore its comparability may be limited.

Reconciliations between IFRS and Non-IFRS financial data are attached to this press release.

About Himax Technologies, Inc.

Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: HIMX) is a fabless semiconductor solution provider dedicated to display imaging processing technologies. Himax is a worldwide market leader in display driver ICs and timing controllers used in TVs, laptops, monitors, mobile phones, tablets, automotive, digital cameras, car navigation, virtual reality (VR) devices and many other consumer electronics devices. Additionally, Himax designs and provides controllers for touch sensor displays, in-cell Touch and Display Driver Integration (TDDI) single-chip solutions, AMOLED ICs, LED driver ICs, power management ICs and LCoS micro-displays for augmented reality (AR) devices and heads-up displays (HUD) for automotive. The Company also offers CMOS image sensors, wafer level optics for AR devices, 3D sensing and ultralow power WiseEyeTM smart image sensing, which are used in a wide variety of applications such as mobile phone, tablet, laptop, TV, PC camera, automobile, security, medical device, home appliance, AIoT, etc. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Tainan, Taiwan, Himax currently employs around 2,200 people from three Taiwan-based offices in Tainan, Hsinchu and Taipei and country offices in China, Korea, Japan, Germany, and the US. Himax has 2,932 patents granted and 398 patents pending approval worldwide as of December 31, 2022. Himax has retained its position as the leading display imaging processing semiconductor solution provider to consumer electronics brands worldwide.

Forward Looking Statements

Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in this conference call include, but are not limited to, the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Company’s business; general business and economic conditions and the state of the semiconductor industry; market acceptance and competitiveness of the driver and non-driver products developed by the Company; demand for end-use applications products; reliance on a small group of principal customers; the uncertainty of continued success in technological innovations; our ability to develop and protect our intellectual property; pricing pressures including declines in average selling prices; changes in customer order patterns; changes in estimated full-year effective tax rate; shortage in supply of key components; changes in environmental laws and regulations; changes in export license regulated by Export Administration Regulations (EAR); exchange rate fluctuations; regulatory approvals for further investments in our subsidiaries; our ability to collect accounts receivable and manage inventory and other risks described from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including those risks identified in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in its Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021 filed with the SEC, as may be amended.

Company Contacts:

Eric Li, Chief IR/PR Officer
Himax Technologies, Inc.
Tel: +886-6-505-0880
Fax: +886-2-2314-0877
Email: hx_ir@himax.com.tw
www.himax.com.tw

Karen Tiao, Investor Relations
Himax Technologies, Inc.

Tel: +886-2-2370-3999
Fax: +886-2-2314-0877
Email: hx_ir@himax.com.tw
www.himax.com.tw

Mark Schwalenberg, Director
Investor Relations - US Representative
MZ North America
Tel: +1-312-261-6430
Email: HIMX@mzgroup.us
www.mzgroup.us

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