2018, but We Are Not Done by Any Means
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Dear Shareholders, Today, we are pleased to review a year which includes numerous positive fundamental developments. At Himax Technologies, we pride ourselves not only on defending our position as the market leader in our sector, in terms of quality, reliability, and execution, but also on our ability to pair aggressive development aspirations with creating long-term shareholder value. In this regard, we believe we have accomplished a great deal in 2018, but we are not done by any means. 2018 was a year of new developments in our technology sector and our markets. At Himax Technologies, we have successfully leveraged our strengths to navigate both market dynamics as well as company specific opportunities to deliver a solid year of growth for shareholders. Further, we proactively initiated and executed several strategic initiatives to strengthen our operation and streamline R&D investments. We believe these proactive strategies reinforced our status in the marketplace and further strengthened our ability to defend our position as a market leader. Additionally, our execution in 2018 positions us for future growth well beyond 2018. Despite a challenging global economic environment, we are more optimistic about the opportunities ahead as several of our industry-leading technologies are at or nearing key inflection points. As a result, we expect to enter a period of substantial growth in the near future. Now, let me briefly go through each of our major business segments. Being a global leader in the display driver IC (DDIC) segment, we have been benefiting from China’s continued capacity expansion of its panel manufacturing as well as the Chinese smartphone makers’ rapid overseas expansion. Despite industry-wide challenges, our DDIC business still generated double digit year- over-year growth in 2018. This was due to an enriched product portfolio, diversification of our customer base and, most importantly, the investment we had made to unlock new foundry capacity for TDDI. The impact of this foundry capacity will still be felt strongly in 2019. In 2018, our core large-sized display driver IC (LDDIC) business enjoyed strong growth. Thanks to the improved supply enabled by our newly added foundry capacity, we were able to capitalize on the rising 4K TV penetration as well as Chinese panel makers’ continued ramp of new, advanced generation LCD fabs. Looking into 2019, we expect our LDDIC business to continue to grow. This view is based on strong design- ins with certain LCD makers who are leading the market in capacity and customer engagement, the stable COF supply we have secured, as well as our continued product upgrades. Our success in LDDIC in 2018 was a perfect example of how Himax continues to execute on real-time opportunities while always looking to capture future market share. Our small and medium-sized display driver IC (SMDDIC) business experienced high single digit growth in 2018. With ramping of newly added capacity and a comprehensive TDDI solution portfolio in 4Q18, we have penetrated more tier one end customers including a leading Korean smartphone player. We are also working on multiple projects with customers with our new generation TDDIs which can enable narrow bezel panel design without the usage of COF material, thereby alleviating smartphone makers’ pressure from the high material cost and supply constraint of COF. Enabled by our TDDI foundry capacity, new design wins, more diversified customer base and new products, we expect smartphone TDDI sales and market share to grow multifold in 2019 and beyond. Our expected TDDI value creation is a result of both executing on the “here- and-now” and opportunistically taking advantage of “future” market dynamics. We hope our shareholders can appreciate that growing pains of quarters past are now paying dividends in the form of additional revenue and market share from smartphone TDDI business. Revenue from automotive applications delivered an impressive 40% growth in 2018 despite sluggish car demand and a maturing automotive display market. While we may not be able to enjoy the same kind of growth from automotive display segment in 2019, Himax is a leader in new technologies such as TDDI, AMOLED, and local dimming timing controller which are expected to rejuvenate the industry and position our automotive sales for continued long term growth. We expect our SMDDIC business to grow significantly starting 2019. 1 In our non-driver IC business segment, our capability to ship multimillion units of WLO product to support an anchor customer’s product launches in 2018 marked a significant cornerstone for Himax. We will continue to supply our WLO product for the anchor customer’s 2019 new devices and expect the total shipments to be higher than those of 2018. On 3D sensing for Android smartphones, we are working with several tier- 1 OEMs for their ongoing 3D sensing projects covering structured light and time-of-flight (ToF), where Himax will provide WLO-based optics or projectors. Leveraging our existing structured light 3D sensing total solution, we have been working with partners/customers on new applications covering security and surveillance, home appliances and industrial manufacturing. These industries are typically less sensitive to cost and always require a total solution. We are pleased with the status of engagement. In the area of ultra- low power smart sensing, on top of our active participation in the rapidly growing AIoT eco-system, we have launched a world leading smart sensing solution on laptop computers which we target to start mass shipping in 2020. As always, our growing success will be driven by our ability to anticipate the industry’s trends, invest in them, and ultimately, develop and deliver superior technology across our entire product and technology portfolio. I am grateful for the support of our shareholders, customers, partners and employees, and look forward with confidence to another great year in 2019. Sincerely, Jordan Wu President and CEO Himax Technologies, Inc. 2 UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 20-F (Mark One) REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 OR x ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 OR TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from ________________ to ________________ OR SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 Date of event requiring this shell company report ________________ Commission file number: 000-51847 HIMAX TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter) Not Applicable (Translation of Registrant’s name into English) CAYMAN ISLANDS (Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) NO. 26, ZIH LIAN ROAD SINSHIH DISTRICT, TAINAN CITY 74148 TAIWAN, REPUBLIC OF CHINA (Address of principal executive offices) Jackie Chang Chief Financial Officer Telephone: +886-2-2370-3999 E-mail: [email protected] Facsimile: +886-2-2314-0877 10F, No. 1, Xiangyang Road Taipei 10046 Taiwan, Republic of China (Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person) Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Title of each class Name of each exchange on which registered Ordinary Shares, par value $0.3 per ordinary share The NASDAQ Global Select Market Inc.* * Not for trading, but only in connection with the listing on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, Inc. of American Depositary Shares representing such Ordinary Shares. 3 Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act: None Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report. 344,290,306 Ordinary Shares. 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