SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: MX) today announced financial results for the first quarter of 2019.

Q1 2019 Summary
Revenue of $157.4 million exceeded the guidance range of $150-$155 million; revenue down 5.1% Year-over-Year (YoY)
Standard Products Group (SPG) revenue of $100.3 million, up 13.5% YoY
Display Standard Products revenue of $58.2 million, up 17.2%; OLED revenue up 41.4% YoY
Power Standard Products revenue of $42.0 million, up 8.7% YoY
Foundry Services Group (FSG) revenue of $57.1 million, down 26.3% YoY due to a previously disclosed customer inventory correction and a previously announced decision to be more selective about new business as a result of a strategic evaluation of the Foundry business and Fab 4
Total gross profit margin of 14.4% was within the guidance range of 14-16%; gross margin down 12.5 percentage points YoY due primarily to a widely anticipated decline in Foundry fab utilization, and an inventory reserve of $3.3 million related to a legacy display product

Second Quarter 2019 Business Outlook
For the second quarter of 2019, MagnaChip anticipates:
Revenue to be in the range of $173 million to $181 million, up 12.5% at the mid-point of the projected range when compared with revenue of $157.4 million in the first quarter of 2019, and down 11.4% year-on-year when compared to the $199.7 million revenue recorded in the second quarter of 2018. Revenue guidance for the second quarter reflects an expectation that standard product revenue will show double-digit sequential improvement, and Foundry revenue will be flattish as compared to Q1 2019.
Gross profit margin to be in the range of 16% to 18%, as compared to 14.4% in the first quarter of 2019 and 27% in the second quarter of 2018. Gross margin guidance reflects the expectation that fab utilization in the Foundry business has stabilized.

Statement on strategic evaluation of the Foundry business and Fab 4
Chairman of the Board Nader Tavakoli said, “The Board and Company-led strategic evaluation of the Foundry business and Fab 4 that was announced in February is ongoing and supported by our financial advisor, JP Morgan, and legal advisor, Paul, Weiss. The Company intends to provide updates about the strategic evaluation process in a timely manner when meaningful milestones are achieved. As stated previously, the Board is committed to improving MagnaChip’s profitability and unlocking shareholder value. As we proceed with the strategic evaluation of the Foundry business and Fab 4, we will be mindful of the best interests of all of our stakeholders, including shareholders, customers and employees.”

CEO Comments on Q1 business
“Revenue for both OLED and Power standard products achieved the highest levels ever recorded in the first quarter of a year, despite typically weak seasonal trends and a soft China smartphone market.

In the display segment, OLED revenue increased over 41% year over year, and we were awarded six OLED design wins from leading smartphone makers in China. We also commenced volume production of OLED DDICs for mid-range smartphones from a major Korean brand. We added our ninth OLED DDIC with the launch of the industry’s most power-efficient 28-nanometer OLED DDIC, manufactured with the most advanced process technology used for DDICs. We also announced an OLED ecosystem initiative with three companies initially to develop next-generation features to improve the functionality of OLED platform solutions in a wide range of products and markets.

In the Power segment, revenue from Premium products increased nearly 46% from the first quarter a year ago, and accounted for nearly 55% of Power revenue, as compared with 40% in the first quarter of 2018. We also continued to make inroads in the automotive sector, as we commenced shipments of two different high-voltage power standard products to a customer in that market.

Our Foundry revenue and fab utilization both experienced a severe decline in Q1, as was widely anticipated. While the Foundry business will remain weak in Q2, the business has recently showed signs of stabilizing.”

First Quarter Financial Review

Total Revenue
Total revenue in the first quarter of 2019 was $157.4 million, down 5.1% as compared to reported revenue of $165.8 million from the first quarter of 2018, and down 12.3% from $179.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Segment Revenue
Foundry Services Group revenue in the first quarter was $57.1 million, down 26.3% from the first quarter of 2018, and down 31.3% from the fourth quarter of 2018.

Standard Products Group revenue in the first quarter was $100.3 million, up 13.5% YoY and up 4.2% sequentially. The improved results in the Standard Products Group year-over-year were primarily attributable to a sharp increase in revenue from mobile OLED display driver ICs in connection with the introduction of new OLED smartphones from manufacturers in China and Korea, and an increase in demand for premium Power products such as high-voltage MOSFETS, primarily for TV and industrial applications. The revenue improvement in the Standard Products Group was offset in part by a strategic reduction in demand of low-margin LCD business.

Total Gross Profit and Gross Profit Margin
Total gross profit in the first quarter of 2019 was $22.7 million or 14.4 % as a percentage of revenue as compared with gross profit of $44.6 million or 26.9% in the first quarter of 2018, and $43.9 million or 24.5% in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Segment Gross Profit Margin
Foundry Services Group gross profit margin was 6.4% as compared with 26.7% in the first quarter of 2018 and 23.2% in the fourth quarter of 2018. The Standard Products Group gross profit margin was 19.0% in the first quarter of 2019 as compared with 27.2% in the first quarter of 2018 and 25.6% in the fourth quarter of 2018. The sequential and YoY decline in the Standards Products Group gross profit margin was attributable in part by an additional inventory reserve of $3.3 million related to a legacy display product.

Operating Income, Net Income, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDA
Operating loss, on a GAAP basis, for the first quarter of 2019 was $18.3 million, as compared with an income of $7.4 million in the first quarter of 2018 and an income of $7.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Net loss, on a GAAP basis, was $34.1 million or $1.00 per basic and diluted share in the first quarter of 2019, as compared with net income of $2.8 million or $0.08 per basic and diluted share in the first quarter of 2018, and net loss of $2.4 million or $0.07 per basic and diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Adjusted Net Loss, a non-GAAP financial measure, totaled $19.9 million or $0.58 per basic and diluted share in the first quarter of 2019, as compared with Adjusted Net Income of $1.4 million or $0.04 per basic and diluted share in the first quarter of 2018, and Adjusted Net Income of $3.5 million or $0.10 per basic and diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, in the first quarter of 2019 was negative $5.7 million or negative 3.6% of revenue in the first quarter of 2019, as compared with Adjusted EBITDA of $15.5 million or 9.3% of revenue in the first quarter of 2018, and Adjusted EBITDA of $17.4 million or 9.7% of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Management believes that non-GAAP financial measures, when viewed in conjunction with GAAP results, can provide a meaningful understanding of the factors and trends affecting MagnaChip’s business and operations and assist in evaluating our core operating performance. However, such non-GAAP financial measures have limitations and should not be considered as a substitute for net income or as a better indicator of our operating performance than measures that are presented in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of GAAP results to non-GAAP results is included in this press release.

Cash and cash equivalents totaled $105.8 million in the first quarter of 2019, down from $132.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018.

First Quarter 2019 and Recent Company Highlights

MagnaChip announced:

A launch of its 28-nanometer OLED Display Driver IC for smartphone displays, The 28nm process is the most advanced used today for manufacturing OLED DDICs, achieves a form factor reduction of 20 percent compared with the previous 40nm process, has a logic voltage of 1.0V vs. 1.1V in the previous generation, and also is expected to improve call quality by reducing EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) levels by 20 percent as compared to the 40nm DDIC, MagnaChip’s product roadmap includes plans to expand the feature set of OLED DDICs to include Ultra-High Definition (UHD) capabilities.
http://investors.magnachip.com/news-releases/news-release-details/magnachip-launches-28-nanometer-oled-ddic-smartphone-displays

A new initiative to partner with companies in the development of next-generation display features of smartphones and other mobile or handheld consumer electronic devices. MagnaChip intends to develop individual strategic partnerships with leading manufacturers of touch, stylus, fingerprint technologies, and associated OLED display technologies. Each company will collaborate with MagnaChip to develop and standardize innovative human-interface solutions based upon smart touch, stylus and fingerprint technologies that are suitable for MagnaChip’s industry leading OLED DDICs. The goal in each instance will be to improve the functionality of OLED displays on end user devices. There also will be a specified collaboration in shared intellectual property that will extend into new applications, including the IoT and automotive sectors.
http://investors.magnachip.com/news-releases/news-release-details/magnachip-announces-initiative-develop-next-generation-display

A partnership with ELAN Microelectronics Corp. to expand the capabilities for OLED displays for a wide variety of next-generation consumer, communication, computing and industrial products, as well as for automotive displays. The partnership seeks to build upon the recent growth and market penetration of OLED displays in areas such as smartphones, mobile devices, tablets and automotive applications, ranging from navigation and infotainment screens to brake light and interior lighting systems.
http://investors.magnachip.com/news-releases/news-release-details/magnachip-and-elan-microelectronics-announce-partnership-expand

A partnership with HiDeep to develop advanced OLED display capabilities for smartphone makers and other handheld consumer electronics devices. MagnaChip will cooperate with HiDeep to develop enhanced HMI solutions optimized for the growing OLED display market. Specifically, MagnaChip and HiDeep will collaborate and create useful and cost effective new HMI solutions for flexible OLED displays for top-tier panel makers and smartphone OEMs. This collaboration also will extend into a variety of other applications and end markets.
http://investors.magnachip.com/news-releases/news-release-details/magnachip-and-hideep-inc-announce-partnership-develop-enhanced

A partnership with Melfas Inc. to develop advanced OLED display capabilities for the automotive and consumer electronics sectors. Currently, OLED technology is deployed primarily in televisions and mobile products such as smartphones and smartwatches, but MagnaChip and Melfas are working towards developing automotive display-related solutions in an effort to respond to this fast-growing market. With their current solutions, the two companies will initially address opportunities in consumer electronics and, going forward, will work together to develop solutions for OLED displays in automotive applications.
http://investors.magnachip.com/news-releases/news-release-details/magnachip-and-melfas-inc-announce-partnership-collaborate-oled

An offering of second generation 0.13 micron 18V high-voltage process technology to its foundry customers. The technology, which is dedicated for designing source drivers for LCD and OLED televisions, offers fewer steps, allows suitable high-voltage design rules to shrink chip size, and adds a new device for DAC block design, as compared to the first-generation process.
http://investors.magnachip.com/news-releases/news-release-details/magnachip-offers-013-micron-18v-high-voltage-gen2-technology

First Quarter 2019 Conference Call
The conference call will be webcast live today (April 30, 2019) at 5:00 p.m. EDT and also is available by dialing toll-free at 1-844-536-5472. International call-in participants can dial 1-614-999-9318. The conference ID number is 8618428. Participants are encouraged to initiate their calls at least 10 minutes in advance of the 5:00 p.m. EDT start time to ensure a timely connection. The webcast and earnings release will be accessible at www.magnachip.com. A replay of the conference call will be available the same day and will run for 72 hours. The replay dial-in numbers are 1-404-537-3406 or toll-free at 1-855-859-2056. The access code is 8618428.

About MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation
MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The Company’s Standard Products Group and Foundry Services Group provide a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with about 40 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 3,000 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com. Information on or accessible through, MagnaChip’s website is not a part of, and is not incorporated into, this release.

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements
Information in this release regarding MagnaChip’s forecasts, business outlook, expectations and beliefs are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements include statements about our future operating and financial performance, including but not limited to second quarter 2019 revenue and gross profit margin expectations. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to MagnaChip as of the date of this release, which may change, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include general economic conditions, the impact of competitive products and pricing, timely design acceptance by our customers, timely introduction of new products and technologies, ability to ramp new products into volume production, industry wide shifts in supply and demand for semiconductor products, industry and/or company overcapacity, effective and cost efficient utilization of manufacturing capacity, financial stability in foreign markets and the impact of foreign exchange rates, unanticipated costs and expenses or the inability to identify expenses which can be eliminated, compliance with U.S. and international trade and export laws and regulations by us and our distributors, and other risks detailed from time to time in MagnaChip’s filings with the SEC, including our Form 10-K filed on February 22, 2019 and subsequent registration statements, amendments or other reports that we may file from time to time with the SEC and/or make available on our website. MagnaChip assumes no obligation and does not intend to update the forward-looking statements provided, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CONTACTS:
In the United States:
Bruce Entin
Investor Relations
Tel. +1-408-625-1262
Investor.relations@magnachip.com

In Korea:
Chankeun Park
Director, Public Relations
Tel. +82-2-6903-5223
chankeun.park@magnachip.com

SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip” or the “Company”) (NYSE: MX), a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, announced today that it has launched the 28-nanometer (nm) OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) DDIC (Display Driver IC) for smartphone displays.

The 28nm process is the most advanced process used for manufacturing OLED DDICs today. MagnaChip’s new 28nm OLED DDIC achieves a form factor reduction that is 20 percent smaller than that of the previous 40nm process and is suitable for smartphones and other mobile devices, where small size and thinness are critical factors. In addition, MagnaChip reduced the logic voltage from 1.1V, which was required for the existing 40nm products, to 1.0V, which reduces the current voltage consumption by more than 20 percent and also extends battery life. MagnaChip’s latest 28nm OLED DDIC provides Best-In-Class performance, power and feature with high performance/price value.

With the addition of this new 28nm platform OLED DDIC, MagnaChip now has developed a portfolio of nine advanced platform OLED Display Driver ICs, including one 110nm rigid bezel-less, two 55nm flexible bezel-less and five 40nm rigid bezel-less OLED DDICs. MagnaChip’s product roadmap includes plans to expand the feature set of OLED DDICs to include Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) capabilities.

The 28nm OLED display driver IC also is expected to improve the call quality of smartphones by reducing EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) levels by 20 percent, as compared to existing products based on the 40nm format. The 28nm new OLED driver IC supports various display types such as rigid, flexible, foldable and VR, AR applications. It also maximizes design flexibility for latest full-screen displays, such as bezel-less, hole type displays. This new display driver already has won its first design-in at a leading smartphone manufacturer.

YJ Kim CEO of MagnaChip said: “By launching the 28nm OLED DDIC, we have demonstrated again our world-class technology and expect it will help mobile device manufacturers develop new generations of smaller and more energy-efficient products with crisp displays. Further, MagnaChip plans to extend its DDIC portfolio from current OLED smartphones to the rapidly growing OLED TV, OLED automotive and MicroLED TV applications, as well as foldable smartphones.”

About MagnaChip Semiconductor
MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The company’s Standard Products Group and Foundry Services Group provide a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with about 40 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 3,000 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com.

CONTACTS:
United States (Investor Relations):
Bruce Entin
Entin Consulting
Tel. +1-408-625-1262
Investor.relations@magnachip.com

USA media / industry analysts:
Mike Newsom
LouVan Communications, Inc.
Tel. +1-617-803-5385
mike@louvanpr.com

Korea / Asia media:
Chankeun Park
Director of Public Relations
Tel. +82-2-6903-5223
chankeun.park@magnachip.com

SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip” or the “Company”) (NYSE: MX), a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, and Melfas Inc., a leading provider of proven touch controller ICs and touch screen / touch key modules based on capacitive touch sensing technologies, today announced a partnership to develop advanced OLED display capabilities for the automotive and consumer electronics sectors.

Currently, OLED technology is deployed primarily in televisions and mobile products such as smartphones and smartwatches, but OLED displays represent an attractive growth opportunity. Industry forecasters expect the segment to show compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 187% between 2018 and 2022. Accordingly, MagnaChip and Melfas are working towards developing automotive display-related solutions in an effort to respond to this fast-growing market. With their current solutions, the two companies will initially address opportunities in consumer electronics and, going forward, will work closely together to develop solutions for OLED displays in automotive.

MagnaChip is the leading independent provider of OLED DDICs, and benefits from long relationships with the top two OLED display panel makers in the world. Further, more than a dozen smartphone OEMs currently use MagnaChip’s OLED DDICs in their smartphone lineups. Over the past 10 years, MagnaChip has shipped more than 400 million OLED DDICs, and developed a broad portfolio of patents related to the design and manufacturing of OLED display drivers.

Melfas has many years of technical experience and expertise in touch controller IC. Backed by its strong expertise in the field, Melfas has been constantly offering precise, responsive, and reliable touch solutions for highly innovative and dynamic smartphones and other mobile devices. It has shipped over 1 billion controller ICs since 2005. Further, Melfas recently launched a new OLED touch controller IC and has since supplied the same in large quantities to major handset manufacturers.

“Automotive display is an attractive market segment, and this partnership with Melfas will provide opportunities to develop feature-rich and cost-effective products,” said YJ Kim, Chief Executive Officer of MagnaChip.

About Melfas Inc.
MELFAS Inc. is a company that has built expertise in touch solutions. Melfas develops and supplies the world best touch controller ICs and touchscreen / touch key modules based on the capacitive touch sensing technologies Melfas has acquired for more than a decade. Capacitive touch sensing technology recognizes input location and movement by sensing capacitance variation generated in touchscreen module by a fingertip or stylus. When this technology is applied to touchscreen display, it produces excellent results such as multi-touch recognition, soft gesture recognition, outstanding durability and high light transmissivity; all these strengths are widely acknowledged. Capacitive touch solutions provided by MELFAS are materialized in the form of touchscreen or touch key for various products, including smartphone, feature phone, tablet PC, monitor, digital camera, MP3 player, and PMP. The areas of application are rapidly expanding.

About MagnaChip Semiconductor
MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The company’s Standard Products Group and Foundry Services Group provide a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with about 40 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 3,000 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visithttps://www.magnachip.com/ www.magnachip.com.

CONTACTS

MagnaChip:
United States (Investor Relations):
Bruce Entin
Entin Consulting
Tel. +1-408-625-1262
Investor.relations@magnachip.com

USA media / industry analysts:
LouVan Communications, Inc.
Mike Newsom
Tel. +1-617-803-5385
mike@louvanpr.com

Korea / Asia media:
Director of Public Relations
Chankeun Park
Tel. +82-2-6903-5223
chankeun.park@magnachip.com

Melfas Inc:
Youngho Seo
Tel. +82-70-4055-6017
youngho.seo@melfas.com

SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip”) (NYSE: MX) announced today it will host a conference call on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 5 p.m. EST to discuss the Company’s financial results for the first quarter of 2019. Participating in the call will be YJ Kim, MagnaChip’s CEO and Jonathan Kim, Executive Vice President and CFO. The earnings press release will be issued after the market closes that day.

The conference call will be webcast live and also is available by dialing toll-free at 1-844 536 5472. International call-in participants can dial 1-614-999-9318. The conference ID number is 8618428. Participants are encouraged to initiate their calls at least 10 minutes in advance of the 5 p.m. EDT start time to ensure a timely connection. The webcast and earnings release will be accessible at www.magnachip.com.

A replay of the conference call will be available the same day and will run for 72 hours. The replay dial-in numbers are 1-404-537-3406 or toll-free at 1-855-859-2056. The access code is 8618428.

About MagnaChip Semiconductor
MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The Company’s Standard Products Group and Foundry Services Groups provide a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with over 30 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 3,000 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise.

For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com. Information on or accessible through, MagnaChip’s website is not a part of, and is not incorporated into, this release.

CONTACTS:

In the United States:
Bruce Entin
Investor Relations
Tel. +1.408.625.1262
Investor.relations@magnachip.com

In Korea:
Chankeun Park
Director, Public Relations
Tel. +82.2.6903.3195
chankeun.park@magnachip.com

MagnaChip and HiDeep Inc. to Combine Advanced OLED Display and UX / UI Technologies to Create Innovative and Lower-Cost Designs

 

SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip” or the “Company”) (NYSE: MX), a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, and HiDeep Inc., a leading one stop Human Machine Interface (HMI) solutions provider, which offers HMI sensor hardware, semiconductors, and software including UX and UI capabilities, today announced a partnership to develop advanced OLED display capabilities for manufacturers of smartphones and other handheld consumer electronics.

MagnaChip will cooperate with HiDeep to develop enhanced HMI solutions optimized for the growing OLED display market. Specifically, MagnaChip and HiDeep will collaborate and create useful and cost-effective new HMI solutions for flexible OLED displays for top tier panel makers and smartphone OEMs. This collaboration also will extend into a variety of other applications and end markets.

MagnaChip is the leading independent provider of OLED DDICs, and benefits from long relationships with the top two display panel makers in the world. Further, more than a dozen smartphone OEMs currently use MagnaChip’s OLED DDICs in their smartphone lineups. Over the past 10 years, MagnaChip has shipped more than 400 million OLED DDICs and developed a broad portfolio of patents related to the design and manufacturing of OLED display drivers.

HiDeep is a leading provider of HMI solutions. HiDeep’s products include 2D touch solutions for on-cell flexible OLED displays for smartphones and tablets, 3D force touch solutions for smartphones and other applications, passive stylus solutions including palm-rejection capabilities for leading tablet and for educational OEMs, and active stylus solutions for tablets including the world’s first single chip solution to support MPP2.0 and USI 1.0 protocols. HiDeep is one of the few vendors worldwide to have shipped in volume 3D force touch solutions to leading Android smartphone OEMs. HiDeep has developed a large IP portfolio across all its solutions.

“Smartphones featuring OLED displays are expected by industry forecasters to account for about half of the market by 2021, and that growth from about 30% in 2018 will provide development opportunities for our partnership with HiDeep,” said YJ Kim, Chief Executive Officer of MagnaChip. “For example, HiDeep is a provider of HMI Technology for smartphones and we believe HiDeep’s advanced IC technology can work with our leading DDIC technology to create interesting new human machine interface capabilities for OLED displays.”

About HiDeep Inc.
HiDeep, Inc., founded in April 2010, is a leading one stop HMI solutions provider, which offers HMI sensor hardware, semiconductors, and software including UX and UI capabilities, for smartphones and tablets. HiDeep provides a complete one-stop solution for Android smartphone OEMs to easily integrate HiDeep’s game-changing 3D force touch technology into their products. HiDeep’s offerings include 2D/3D controller chips integrated with patented algorithms, capacitive sensors to detect pressure levels, and comprehensive design & production expertise.

About MagnaChip Semiconductor
MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The company’s Standard Products Group and Foundry Services Group provide a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with about 40 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 3,000 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com.

CONTACTS

MagnaChip:
United States (Investor Relations):
Bruce Entin
Entin Consulting
Tel. +1-408-625-1262
Investor.relations@magnachip.com

USA media / industry analysts:
Mike Newsom
LouVan Communications, Inc.
Tel. +1-617-803-5385
mike@louvanpr.com

Korea / Asia media:
Chankeun Park
Director of Public Relations
Tel. +82-2-6903-5223
chankeun.park@magnachip.com

HiDeep Inc.:
United States:
Deepak Chugh
Global Alliances & Partnerships
Tel. +1-971-226-7700
Deepak.chugh@hideep.com

Korea / Asia media:
Edward Bach
Vice President
Tel. +82-10-5245-6034
edward.bach@hideep.com

Strategic Partnerships with Industry Leaders to Combine Best-in-Class OLED Display with Touch, Stylus and Fingerprint IC Technologies to Create Innovative and Lower-Cost Designs

 

SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip” or the “Company”) (NYSE: MX), a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, announced today a new initiative to partner with companies in the development of next-generation display features of smartphones and other mobile or handheld consumer electronics devices. MagnaChip intends to develop individual strategic partnerships with leading manufacturers of touch, stylus, fingerprint technologies, and associated OLED display technologies.

Each of these companies will collaborate with MagnaChip to develop and standardize innovative human-interface solutions based upon smart touch, stylus and fingerprint technologies that are suitable for MagnaChip’s industry leading OLED display driver integrated circuits (DDIC). The goal in each instance will be to improve the functionality of OLED displays on end user devices. Further, there will be a specified collaboration in shared intellectual property that will extend into new applications, for instance in the IoT and automotive sectors.

MagnaChip is the leading independent provider of OLED DDICs, and benefits from long relationships with the top two display panel makers in the world. Further, more than a dozen smartphone OEMs currently use MagnaChip’s OLED DDICs in their smartphone lineups. Over the past 10 years, MagnaChip has shipped more than 400 million OLED DDICs and developed a broad portfolio of patents related to the design and manufacturing of OLED display drivers.

With various market forecasts predicting OLED smartphones to account for more than 50 percent of all smartphones by 2021, the initiative has the potential to expand market-related business opportunities for each member, benefit consumers by offering “best-of-class” display features, and to make OLED the display technology of choice for screens in a wide range of consumer electronics products.

“The series of strategic ecosystem partnerships will create a new de facto OLED display ecosystem that can help us better identify customer needs and develop best-in-class products,” said YJ Kim, Chief Executive Officer of MagnaChip. “Further, by working together, we can achieve innovative and high performance OLED platform solutions, shorten the OLED platform validation cycle, hence reduce “design-in” costs for smartphone and other mobile solutions.”

About MagnaChip Semiconductor
MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The company’s Standard Products Group and Foundry Services Group provide a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with about 40 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 3,000 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com.

CONTACTS:
United States (Investor Relations):
Bruce Entin
Entin Consulting
Tel. +1-408-625-1262
Investor.relations@magnachip.com

USA media / industry analysts:
Mike Newsom
LouVan Communications, Inc.
Tel. +1-617-803-5385
mike@louvanpr.com

Korea / Asia media:
Chankeun Park
Director of Public Relations
Tel. +82-2-6903-5223
chankeun.park@magnachip.com

MagnaChip’s New Industry Initiative Targets Applications in Smartphones and Mobile Devices and Computing, Industrial and Automotive Segments

SEOUL, South Korea and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip” or the “Company”) (NYSE: MX), a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, and ELAN Microelectronics Corp. (TWSE:ELAN), an industry leader in the development of Smart Human Machine Interface (HMI) applications, including capacitive touchscreen controllers, capacitive  trackpads, and fingerprint sensors, today announced a partnership to expand the capabilities of OLED displays for a wide variety of next-generation consumer, communication, computing and industrial products, as well as for automotive displays.

The partnership seeks to build upon the recent growth and market penetration of OLED displays in areas such as smartphones, mobile devices, tablets and automotive applications, ranging from navigation and infotainment screens to brake light and interior lighting systems.  OLED technology enables screens to display rich and highly saturated colors while emitting low power consumption. Flexible OLED display driver ICs (DDIC) enable curved screens for smartphones, tablets and other devices.

Further, customer demand for stylus input on screens continues to grow and MagnaChip, as the world’s largest independent volume provider of OLED DDIC components, with more than 400 million units shipped, will collaborate in seeking to bring ELAN’s stylus technologies to both rigid and flexible OLED Displays through this partnership.  Currently, ELAN supports pen protocols defined by Microsoft, Wacom, and Huawei and has enabled stylus features on smartphones, tablets, and Notebook PCs for Out-Cell, On-Cell and In-Cell LCDs.  MagnaChip believes it will enhance its leadership position in OLED DDIC by co-developing with ELAN new protocols with advanced features for the future.

Specifically, MagnaChip expects the collaboration with ELAN to improve its OLED DDIC technologies for next-generation applications by supporting ELAN’s development of de facto industry standard stylus solutions optimized for its OLED display drivers.

“By working with MagnaChip we believe we can develop optimized OLED display solutions that can become de-facto industry standards,” said I. H. Yeh, Chairman and CEO of ELAN Microelectronics.  “OLED displays across multiple product sectors have shown impressive growth in recent years and we believe integrating our advanced fingerprint and touch IC technology with OLED DDIC technology will create compelling benefits for consumer and industrial product manufacturers. It is my honor that MagnaChip, the largest independent supplier of OLED DDIC, and ELAN, the leader in stylus touch controllers, can collaborate to bring advanced stylus features to the world of OLED.”

“By working with industry leaders such as ELAN, our goal is to create combined hardware offerings that provide industry leading product features and benefits for our customers,” said YJ Kim, CEO of MagnaChip Semiconductor.  “And by collaborating with other industry leaders as part of our broader industry initiative, we believe MagnaChip can help accelerate product innovation, shorten time to market, and provide compelling OLED display solutions to the consumer, communications, computing, industrial and automotive markets.”

About ELAN Microelectronics Corporation
ELAN Microelectronics Corporation is an IC design house founded in May of 1994 to embark in the R&D of integrated circuit and offers touchpad module solutions. ELAN’s headquarters is located in Taiwan Hsinchu Science Park, and has its touchpad module factory located in Chung Ho City, Taipei County. It also has branch offices and customer service centers in the USA, Shenzhen (China), Shanghai, and Hong Kong. ELAN is listed in the Taiwan Stock Exchange since September 2001 and as of this date, its capital has accumulated to NTD 3039M. For more information, please visit www.emc.com.tw.

About MagnaChip Semiconductor
MagnaChip is a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, IoT, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. The company’s Standard Products Group and Foundry Services Group provide a broad range of standard products and manufacturing services to customers worldwide. MagnaChip, with about 40 years of operating history, owns a portfolio of approximately 3,000 registered patents and pending applications, and has extensive engineering, design and manufacturing process expertise. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com.

CONTACTS

MagnaChip:

United States (Investor Relations):

Bruce Entin

Entin Consulting

Tel. +1-408-625-1262

Investor.relations@magnachip.com

USA media / industry analysts:

Mike Newsom

LouVan Communications, Inc.

Tel. +1-617-803-5385

mike@louvanpr.com

Korea / Asia media:

Chankeun Park

Director of Public Relations

Tel. +82-2-6903-5223

chankeun.park@magnachip.com

 

ELAN Microelectronics:

Headquarters (Investor Relations):

Dennis Liu

Spokesperson & Director

Tel: +886-3-5639977

addldm@emc.com.tw