ADLINK forecasts robust sales momentum in Q2

Industrial computer maker ADLINK Technology Inc (凌華科技) yesterday said it expects strong growth momentum to continue this quarter, following record-high sales last quarter, driven by robust demand in North America, front-loading orders from semiconductor and automation equipment clients, and robotics-related business.Revenue increased 10.4 percent quarter-on-quarter and 28.7 percent year-on-year to NT$3.44 billion (US$109.19 million) in the first quarter, the company said. The computer-on-module segment accounted for 31 percent of ADLINK’s total revenue during the period, followed by the embedded-vision segment at 27 percent.The embedded computing platform segment contributed 14 percent, rugged computing segment 13 percent, intelligent physical automation segment 12 percent and others 3 percent, it said.The US accounted for 39 percent of total revenue, followed by the Asia-Pacific region at 30 percent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa at 17 percent, China at 13 percent and other regions at 1 percent, ADLINK said. Sales in the US market surged 101 percent year-on-year last quarter and the growth momentum is expected to continue throughout this year, ADLINK president Stephen Huang (黃怡暾) told an earnings conference.That came as edge computing and industrial computers in the US had already established a strong foothold across multiple industries, which is likely to become a key growth driver over the next one to two years, Huang said.ADLINK provides products and technologies for conventional robots, collaborative robots, autonomous mobile robots and humanoid robots, but the robotics-related business has had limited revenue contribution thus far, Huang said. It is working with a French partner to develop an autonomous mobile robot platform and plans to integrate it with collaborative robot applications, Huang said, adding that he expects the growing robotics market to create more business opportunities in the long term.ADLINK is also eyeing artificial intelligence (AI)-driven demand in the semiconductor and energy sectors this year, as many customers adopt AI-integrated solutions in semiconductor front-end, back-end and testing processes, he said.ADLINK reported that net profit last quarter grew 92.69 percent quarter-on-quarter and more than quadrupled year-on-year to NT$343 million. Earnings per share increased to NT$1.57 from NT$0.83 in the previous quarter and NT$0.31 a year earlier.In the first quarter, the company secured 17 new projects, which are expected to contribute about US$92 million in revenue over the next three years, Huang said.After reporting a book-to-bill ratio of above 1.5 in the first quarter, the company is optimistic that for this year, it could maintain a ratio that is higher than last year’s 1.25, he added.A ratio of 1.5 means that US$150 of orders were received for every US$100 of product billed during the quarter.