Globalization, edge computing, and WISE-PaaS cloud platform lead Advantech's long-term growth

Advantech, a global leader in the industrial Internet of Things, held a legal briefing today (11th). Advantech's earnings per share in 2019 were NT$10.51, reaching the milestone of full-year earnings per share exceeding NT$10 for the first time. In the short term, the COVID-19 epidemic has affected production capacity, parts supply and logistics. Advantech expects that the Kunshan production base will prudently increase production capacity week by week in the next four weeks and restore 85-90% of production capacity by the end of March. Advantech's General Manager of Operations and Chief Financial Officer Chen Qingxi said that looking forward to the first quarter of 2020, the consolidated revenue will be affected by the delayed resumption of production, delayed shipments and supply chain shortages, and will decline by 5-10% compared with the same period last year; the cumulative customer order amount (booking) in January and February still showed double-digit growth compared with 2019. Advantech will take this opportunity to review and adjust some of its supply chains and production capacity, and expects that the overall production and sales situation will return to normal levels in the second quarter, restoring Advantech's long-term growth momentum.

Globalization is an important business strategy for Advantech, and it is expected to enter the next decade of global development in 2020. Advantech has proposed the business concept of Globally Integrated Regional Competence (GIRC), the main purpose of which is to deepen the local business capabilities of major regions, transforming the regional business segments that were completely dominated by business groups in the past to more empowering overseas business organizations, integrating sales channels, cultivating local high-level business talents, and expanding sales synergies.

Advantech Industrial IoT (IIoT) Business Group General Manager Tsai Shu-yan pointed out that the 2020 plan for the IIoT Business Group will focus on three key points: 1) Establish a high-end business ecosystem, expand the layout of automation control, data acquisition and industrial communication products, and evolve the sales model; 2) Deepen the intelligent manufacturing, energy and environment, and transportation industries, provide end-to-cloud solutions, and accelerate the implementation of IIoT applications; 3) Develop high-end edge computing systems, lock in intelligent imaging and Edge AI industry applications, and collaborate with AI application partners to develop the market.

Zhang Jiahao, general manager of Advantech's Embedded-IoT (EIoT) business group, said that as the core unit of Advantech's boards and modules, the Embedded-IoT business group will focus on R&D resource integration and high value-added embedded design extension services (Design-in services) to optimize the overall product portfolio. Upstream, it will continue to cooperate with major computer chip manufacturers to launch innovative embedded core platforms and design-in services to promote industrial applications. At the same time, it will expand investment in edge computing system development, integrate peripheral modules and software service value-added, and accelerate the implementation of IoT solutions. In terms of export, it is planned to establish design and manufacturing services (Global DMS) in five major regions around the world to focus on vertical industries and local service team market operations.

Advantech CTO Dr. Ruixiang Yang added that software data platforms play an indispensable role in the popularization of the Industrial Internet of Things. After the promotion in the past few years, the introduction of AIoT has clearly become the mainstream technology for the industry's digital transformation (intelligentization). Advantech's WISE-PaaS/AFS artificial intelligence application framework services (Application Framework Services) will accelerate the implementation of AIoT solutions in a low-coding manner. At the same time, Advantech's Marketplace 2.0 will provide partners with decoupled I.App and AI inference engine listing and promotion, and promote platform interoperability and cooperation.