SmartSens: Three major businesses enable performance growth, and high-end products begin to show their potential

April 28, 2024, Shanghai, China - SmartSens (Shanghai) Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., a high-performance CMOS sensor chip design company, disclosed its 2023 annual report and 2024 first quarter report on the evening of April 26. During the reporting period, the company continued to deepen its efforts in the application fields of smart security, smart phones and automotive electronics, strengthened product research and development and market promotion to promote product sales. In 2023, the company achieved operating income of 2.857 billion yuan, an increase of 15.08% year-on-year, and realized a net profit attributable to the parent company's owners of 14.2155 million yuan, an increase of 96.9635 million yuan over the same period last year, turning losses into profits.

In the first quarter of 2024, the company achieved operating income of 837 million yuan, an increase of 84.31% year-on-year, and realized a net profit attributable to the parent company's owners of 14.0261 million yuan, an increase of 39.7070 million yuan over the same period last year, achieving double growth in revenue and profit.

As a company dedicated to providing CMOS image sensor products with multi-scenario applications and full performance coverage, SmartSens adheres to the development direction of "smart security + smartphones + automotive electronics", gives full play to the outstanding competitive advantages of efficient research and development, and further optimizes and improves the product matrix. Its products have been widely used in many high-tech application fields such as security monitoring, machine vision, smartphones, automotive electronics, etc., and successfully built the second growth curve of high-end smartphone products, helping the industry to develop in a more intelligent and information-based direction. In 2023, SmartSens's smart security industry consolidated revenue will reach 167,133.08 million yuan, an increase of 0.41% over the same period last year; smartphone revenue will reach 89,178.76 million yuan, an increase of 50.40% over the same period last year; automotive electronics revenue will reach 29,422.49 million yuan, an increase of 30.45% over the same period last year.

Smartphone business is booming, and XS series high-end products open up a second growth curve

According to the latest data from Yole, the global CIS market size in 2022 will be approximately US$21.3 billion. The largest downstream sector is smartphones, accounting for approximately 64%. Therefore, smartphones have also become an important area of ​​business layout for major CIS manufacturers.

In 2023, with its high R&D efficiency and rapid expansion and close integration with downstream application customers, SmartSens' smartphone business flourished, achieving annual revenue of RMB 891,787,600, accounting for 31.21% of its main revenue. The mobile phone business grew by 50.40% year-on-year, mainly due to the deepening cooperation with existing customers and the successful mass production and shipment of high-end 50-megapixel products for the first time in 2023.

It is worth noting that SmartSens's high-end XS series products and new image sensors such as SC5000CS have brought more outstanding imaging performance to smartphone imaging systems. Among them, the high-end XS series products use advanced process technology to continuously improve the dynamic range of products, continuously reduce noise and optimize power consumption, and bring excellent quality images to flagship smartphone main cameras; SC5000CS is a 0.702μm pixel size image sensor that combines high dynamic range, ultra-low noise, PDAF phase detection focus, low power consumption and other advantages, with excellent low-light imaging performance, helping the mainstream mobile phone market mobile imaging technology to reach new heights.

It is reported that several high-end XS series products launched by SmartSens have achieved large-scale shipments, which not only opened up a second growth curve for the company's revenue, but also symbolized that the company has made significant progress in catching up with the high-end product lines of leading overseas manufacturers, thereby further enhancing the company's market position and brand influence.

Smart security business continues to lead, and technological advantages enable innovation in high-end product matrix

In recent years, driven by the iteration and update of emerging technologies, the security industry has developed rapidly in the direction of digitalization, intelligence, and ultra-high definition. As a leading company in the global smart security CIS, SmartSens has focused on visual imaging technology and CIS product development in the field of security monitoring since its inception. With a complete product matrix, excellent R&D strength and rapid response capabilities, it continues to maintain its leading position in the global market. In 2023, the company's smart security industry revenue will be 167,133.08 million yuan.

It is worth mentioning that as SmartSens' first 1/1.2" 8MP image sensor product, SC880SL, the large target area enhances the product's photosensitivity, and can still achieve excellent night vision imaging effects even in ultra-low light environments. In addition, the company has launched several upgraded AI series CMOS image sensor new products, which combine better night vision full-color imaging, high-temperature imaging, and low power consumption performance advantages. They can better empower smart wireless cameras and multi-camera solutions such as home IPCs and AIoT terminals, and successfully open the iterative upgrade path of AI series products.

At the same time, as a pioneer and leader in the field of machine vision, the company's machine vision products have significant technical influence and market position worldwide. The products have been widely used in industrial manufacturing and logistics fields represented by intelligent manufacturing, intelligent screening and intelligent logistics code reading, as well as emerging application fields represented by drones, sweeping robots and AR/VR, and maintain close cooperation with customers such as DJI and Hikvision Robotics. According to the latest data from TSR, the company ranked first in the world in the two major fields of drones and QRC readers in 2022, and its share of the global consumer drone obstacle avoidance market is about 90%.

The automotive electronics business has a strong momentum of development, which helps the company achieve sustainable development

As automotive intelligence and autonomous driving have become an unstoppable technological development trend, the automotive electronics market has become a new growth point in the CIS market. As one of the few domestic manufacturers that can provide automotive-grade CIS solutions, the company has released more than ten products for the three major application scenarios of vehicle-mounted imaging, perception and in-cabin, covering the needs of automotive perception and imaging segmented applications with a resolution of 1MP~8MP. Among them, the company's new 5MP high-resolution automotive-grade RGB-IR global shutter image sensor, the SC533AT, released in 2023, combines five major performance advantages of high resolution, high shutter efficiency, low noise, excellent color performance, and excellent near-infrared sensitivity. It brings more accurate and reliable in-cabin visual perception capabilities to high-end driver monitoring systems (DMS) and passenger monitoring systems (OMS), and promotes the development of higher-level intelligent driving with high performance and high reliability.

At present, SmartSens' automotive CIS products have been mass-produced in major automakers such as BYD, SAIC, Dongfeng Nissan, Great Wall, Ssangyong, Leapmotor, Chery, GAC, Jiangling, and Geely. According to Yole's latest report, SmartSens ranked fourth in the global automotive CIS market and second in China in 2022. With the continuous development of automotive intelligence and autonomous driving, and the continuous increase in the pre-installation rate of panoramic surround view, the automotive electronics business will also become a strong engine to help the company's long-term sustainable development.

Efficient R&D creates new quality productivity, and intellectual property barriers protect advanced status

At present, the concept of new quality productivity has become the focus of market attention. Relying on its outstanding R&D team, SmartSens has developed a diversified and differentiated product series with its efficient chip R&D capabilities, and continues to focus on technology upgrades and innovations. In 2023, SmartSens' total R&D investment exceeded 286 million yuan, and the number of R&D personnel accounted for 47.84% of the company's total number of employees. At the same time, SmartSens has also established a deep barrier in intellectual property rights. As of December 31, 2023, the company has obtained a total of 424 authorized patents (including 98 overseas patents), helping the company's R&D and technological innovation to reach a new level.

Looking ahead, SmartSens said that the company will continue to maintain investment in research and development, optimize its product matrix, improve product performance and user experience, strengthen cooperation with core customers, expand areas of cooperation, and actively explore new market opportunities to further consolidate and enhance its advanced position in the fields of smart security, smartphones and automotive electronics, and achieve more stable and sustainable development.