Today, Smartway, a leading security CIS (CMOS image sensor) company, successfully landed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board. The public offering of 40.01 million shares is priced at 31.51 yuan per share. It is expected to raise 2.820 billion yuan. As of the close this afternoon, Smartway’s price per share was 56.66 yuan, with a market value of 22.665 billion.
Smartway’s prospectus disclosed that the company plans to use 26% of the funds raised for R&D center equipment and system construction projects, 14.5% for Smartway (Kunshan) Electronics Co., Ltd.’s image sensor chip testing project, and 31.5% for CMOS images For sensor chip upgrade and industrialization projects, the remaining 28% is used to supplement working capital.
It is estimated that the investment will be carried out in three years, with an investment of RMB 869.3215 million, RMB 624.7317 million and RMB 536.3798 million respectively from the first year to the third year.
SmartVision’s care instructions show that SmartVision’s CIS chip shipments are the world’s largest in the security field, and smart phones and automobiles have not yet entered the market. , the concentration of suppliers and customers is high, and the risk is high.
The shipment of security CIS ranks first in the world, and the proportion of R&D is declining year by year
Smartway is a high-tech company engaged in R&D, design and sales of CIS chips. CIS is the key to the camera module and directly determines the imaging quality of the camera. In the 1990s, CIS technology made progress and gradually replaced the CCD image sensor, and it has dominated the market today.
Compared with CCD image sensors, CIS is less expensive to mass produce, smaller in size, and has the advantage of low power consumption.
In the field of CIS, at present, foreign IDM manufacturers such as Sony and Samsung have occupied the forefront of the market for a long time relying on the technical reserves accumulated over the years. According to Frost & Sullivan statistics, in 2020, Sony CIS sales revenue will reach 7.01 billion US dollars, ranking first in the market, and shipments will reach 1.60 billion, ranking second in the market. Domestic OmniVision and Gekewei’s CIS sales revenue in 2020 will reach 2.03 billion US dollars and 850 million US dollars, ranking third and fourth in the market, respectively, with shipments of 1.00 billion and 2.04 billion, ranking fourth and fourth in the market respectively. First.
SmartVision has obvious advantages in the security monitoring market segment. According to Frost & Sullivan statistics, SmartVision achieved 146 million CIS shipments in the security monitoring field in 2020, ranking first in the world in terms of shipments, with a market share of 22.18 in sales. %, while Sony, which has a higher unit price, has a sales market share of 24.84%, which is not much different.
During the reporting period, Smartway’s operating income mainly came from the security monitoring field. From the perspective of product revenue, the proportion of revenue from the security monitoring field was 98.44%, 92.62%, 82.13% and 72.82%, respectively.
In addition to the security field, Smartway’s products are also used in many high-tech fields such as machine vision and intelligent vehicle electronics. Its CIS is used in the terminal products of brands such as Sri Lanka.
It is worth noting that smartphones are the largest downstream application market of CIS, and the automotive electronics market is also emerging. Smartphone needs to increase R&D investment in the smartphone and smart vehicle markets in order to maintain its competitiveness.
Observing Smartway’s R&D expenditures from 2018 to 2020, they were 93.3608 million yuan, 12.2222 million yuan and 108.4382 million yuan respectively. Although it seems that the R&D expenditures are on the rise as a whole, they account for 28.76%, 18.00% and 18.00% of the turnover respectively. 7.10%, showing a downward trend year by year. Compared with peer companies, the R&D expense ratio is also low.
In terms of personnel composition, Smartway has 349 undergraduate and above employees, accounting for 51.78%, 48.22% of college employees and below, and 266 R&D personnel, accounting for about 39.47% of the total number of employees. There are 376 R&D personnel in Banshi, accounting for 46.48% of the total number of employees.
In the future, if you want to expand the market in the field of smart phones or vehicles, it means not only breaking technical barriers, but also adapting to rapid iterative upgrades. It also requires continuous investment in R&D in terms of personnel and funds, and continuous innovation.
The concentration of suppliers and customers is high, and the gross profit margin is lower than that of peers
High concentration of suppliers is one of the risks that Smartway faces.
Unlike its competitors Sony and Samsung, Smartway does not have its own foundry, and its CIS chips need to find a corresponding fab for manufacturing. Due to the large investment and difficulty in building a fab, there are fabs that can be selected worldwide. Due to the limited number, Smartway has to face the risk of high concentration of suppliers.
The prospectus disclosed that during the reporting period, Smartway maintained a stable procurement relationship with major suppliers. In 2018, 2019, 2020 and January-September 2021, the company’s purchases from the top five suppliers were 304.941 million RMB 498,136,400, RMB 1,374,795,700 and RMB 1,423,406,000, accounting for 99.58%, 97.66%, 92.11% and 85.89% of the total purchase amount, respectively, indicating a high degree of supplier concentration.
In terms of customers, Smartway also maintains a stable sales relationship with major customers. In 2018, 2019, 2020 and January-September 2021, the company’s sales to the top five customers were RMB 314.1969 million and RMB 603.8362 million respectively. , 1,209,567,800 and 1,607,900,500 yuan, accounting for 96.79%, 88.91%, 79.20% and 78.72% of the total sales amount respectively, and the proportion of sales to major customers is relatively high.
Smartway stated in the prospectus that Smartway’s direct sales customers generally choose well-known terminal brand customers in the industry, and other terminal customers are supplied and serviced by well-known distributors in the industry. This strategy makes customers concentrate. The proportion is higher. This means that if a customer with a high proportion of sales fluctuates with Smartway’s partners, the performance will also fluctuate significantly.
In addition, Smartway’s comprehensive gross profit margins were 12.73%, 18.14%, 20.88% and 29.76% in 2018, 2019, 2020 and January-September 2021, respectively, and the average gross profit margin was 20.38%, which was lower than its peers. The average gross profit margin of Kewei in recent years is 26.44%. Smartway explained that the lower gross profit margin than comparable companies is temporary, because Smartway, in order to seize the opportunity of rapid growth in downstream market demand, put into production in large quantities to ensure customer supply, resulting in high upfront costs. With the continuous optimization and iteration of products, Smartway’s gross profit margin continued to increase during the reporting period.
Once dismantled the red chip structure and exchanged identities with Hong Kong Zhiganwei
Before being listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, Smartway has undergone major asset restructuring.
In order to support Smartway’s business development, Smartway started to build a red-chip structure in June 2017, with Cayman Smartway as an overseas financing and shareholding platform, with Hong Kong Zhiganwei and Smartway Co., Ltd. as the core The red chip structure of the business entity.
Later, in order to implement the plan to return to the A-share issuance and listing, the red chip structure was dismantled in June 2020, and the dismantling was completed three months later. The identities of Smartway and Hong Kong Zhiganwei were also exchanged. It is a subsidiary of Zhiganwei, and now the latter has become a subsidiary of the former. The functions of wafer procurement, outsourced production and external sales previously undertaken by Hong Kong Zhiganwei are gradually undertaken by Smartway, and Hong Kong Zhiganwei is only responsible for sales channels in Hong Kong.
After dismantling the red-chip structure, Smartway has attracted nearly 20 institutions including the second phase of the National Integrated Circuit Fund, Sequoia, Xiaomi Industry Fund, Lenovo Technology, and Dahua Shares. Among them, Dahua is one of Smartway’s top five customers.
The establishment of the Science and Technology Innovation Board has provided market opportunities for many semiconductor companies, and semiconductor companies occupy half of the country. (Leifeng Network)
This article is reprinted from: https://www.leiphone.com/category/chips/deNu1fbzEolR85xK.html
This site is for inclusion only, and the copyright belongs to the original author.