汇顶科技亦受益于此轮回暖。汇顶科技三季报显示，公司前三季度实现营业收入32.23亿元，同比增长0.82%；净利润4.48亿元，同比增长3499.30%。①The recovery of consumer electronics has led to a surge in Shenzhen Goodix Technology's net income in the first three quarters by 3499.3%, but both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year performance declined in Q3; ②With the rise of facial recognition combined with the sluggish consumer electronics, the fingerprint recognition chip market has experienced a downturn, and Shenzhen Goodix Technology's gross margin has declined by 20 percentage points in five years; ③Recently, the attention has been drawn to the under-screen ultrasonic fingerprint recognition.
On October 24, Caixin (Reporter: Wang Biwei) reported that today, the domestic fingerprint chip giant Shenzhen Goodix Technology (603160.SH) released its third-quarter report. With the recovery of consumer electronics this year, Shenzhen Goodix Technology's net income for the first three quarters increased 35 times year-on-year. However, looking at a single quarter, in Q3 of this year, Shenzhen Goodix Technology encountered a situation of 'not being prosperous in the peak season', with both operating income and net profit attributable to the parent company showing a trend of decline both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.
After experiencing a downturn for nearly two years, the consumer electronics industry finally showed signs of bottoming out this year. Data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that the domestic market shipped 0.22 billion units of mobile phones in the first three quarters, an increase of 9.9%.
Shenzhen Goodix Technology also benefited from this recovery. Shenzhen Goodix Technology's third-quarter report shows that the company achieved operating income of 3.223 billion yuan in the first three quarters, a year-on-year increase of 0.82%; net income of 0.448 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3499.30%.
However, looking at a single quarter, Shenzhen Goodix Technology showed a downward trend in performance in Q3 of this year. In Q3, Shenzhen Goodix Technology achieved operating income of 0.967 billion yuan and net profit attributable to the parent company of 0.131 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year decrease of 17.71% and 11.82% respectively, and a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 6.84% and 15.47% respectively.
At the same time, the company's cash flow level also declined. In Q3, the net cash flow from operating activities was only 96.84 million yuan, much lower than 0.309 billion yuan in Q2 and 0.221 billion yuan in Q1, a 78% decrease from the 0.453 billion yuan in the same period of the previous year.
The second half of the year has always been a period when consumer electronics brands intensively release new devices. It is understood that the vivo X200 series released on October 14 is equipped with Shenzhen Goodix Technology's innovative combination solution, ultrasonic fingerprint + under-screen ambient light sensor; and the two foldable screen phones, Xiaomi MIX Flip and MIX Fold 4, released on July 19 both feature Shenzhen Goodix Technology's ultra-narrow side capacitive fingerprint solution.
Therefore, Q3 often plays a crucial role in the annual performance growth, such as in 2023, when Shenzhen Goodix Technology's net profit attributable to the parent company in Q3 increased by 5094.66% quarter-on-quarter. However, in Q3 of this year, the net profit attributable to the parent company of the company hit the lowest value in the past eight years except for 2022.
Why did company Q3 experience a situation of 'off-season not booming' despite the intensive release of new phones by customers? Caixin reporter has sent an interview outline to Shenzhen Goodix Technology, but has not received a response as of the deadline for submission.
However, the market situation is currently changing. Recently, with Apple bidding farewell to fingerprint unlocking in favor of facial recognition, and smart phones moving away from high growth, the profitability of the fingerprint chip industry has also experienced a cliff-like decline. From 2019 to 2023, the revenue of Shenzhen Goodix Technology decreased from 6.473 billion yuan to 4.408 billion yuan, and the gross margin gradually declined from 60.4% to 40.46%.
However, currently, the market trends are changing. Recently, ultrasonic fingerprint recognition has gained enormous attention, with reports suggesting that the Xiaomi 15 series will be equipped with an ultrasonic fingerprint recognition system. According to CINNO Research, the penetration rate of under-screen fingerprint technology in the Chinese market is expected to increase to around 70% by 2024.
While facial recognition, as represented by Apple, remains dominant, and new technologies such as ultrasonic under-screen fingerprint recognition from domestic manufacturers are on the rise, Shenzhen Goodix Technology will be observed closely by Caixin reporters to see if it will experience a 'rebirth in adversity' or 'survive in dire straits'.
