Silicon Innovation's sensor company Shengjia is heading for listing

Driver IC manufacturer Silicon Innovations has announced good news about its investment business. Its sensor IC design company, Shengjia, earned more than 1 billion yuan in capital last year and is expected to be listed on the Emerging Stock Exchange of the Taiwan Stock Exchange on the 18th.

      Shengjia was established on December 1, 2009. It mainly produces ambient light sensor chips and distance sensor chips, which account for 94.2% of its total revenue, and micro-electromechanical (MEMS) acceleration sensors account for 5.57%. Silicon Innovation holds approximately 50.44% of the shares and is the largest shareholder.

      Last year, Shengjia's sensor sales grew from 200 million units in 2017 to 340 million units last year, driving revenue to NT$1.935 billion, an increase of 83.7% year-on-year, and net profit after tax to NT$326 million, an increase of 60.45 times year-on-year, with earnings per share of NT$13.53, a remarkable performance.

Industry insiders said that with the growth of the full-screen smartphone market, Shengjia's high-end sensors have successfully entered the supply chains of mobile phone brands such as OPPO, VIVO, and Samsung. It has now begun to provide sensors for under-screen use in Samsung's mid-to-high-end models. It is estimated that this year's shipments are expected to increase by at least 30% year-on-year, becoming Silicon Innovation's golden gourd.

      Currently, the sensor solutions on the market are mainly from Silicon Creation and Austrian Microelectronics (AMS). In recent years, Silicon Creation has been committed to improving product quality, making its cost-effectiveness surpass AMS, and successfully becoming a new choice of sensor supplier for mobile phone brand manufacturers.

As time enters the traditional peak season, although the Sino-US trade war and the Huawei ban have impacted the market, industry insiders are still optimistic that Shengjia has almost taken up sensor orders from non-Apple series, such as the four major brands in mainland China, Samsung and other mobile phone brand manufacturers. The third-quarter performance is expected to drive the parent company Silicon Innovation to set a new historical high.

      Silicon Innovation currently holds approximately 19.05 million shares of Shengjia. If the price of Shengjia's subscription by the recommended securities firm is NT$210 per share, Silicon Innovation's potential profit is as high as NT$4 billion. Shengjia's operations have maintained high growth momentum this year, with revenue of NT$1.074 billion in the first four months, a 2.9-fold year-on-year increase, and gross profit margin pushed up to 46.58%, net profit after tax of NT$292 million, and net profit per share of NT$7.72.