Faraday Reports 2018 Annual Revenues of NT$4.91 Billion, NRE NT$1.3 Billion, up 107% YoY; 2018 Gross Margin was 53.1%, a 11 Year High

Hsinchu, Taiwan – Feb. 26, 2019 -- Faraday Technology Corporation (“Faraday” or the “Company”) (TWSE: 3035), a leading fabless ASIC service and silicon IP provider, today announced its consolidated financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year of 2018.

Fourth quarter consolidated revenues were NT$1,352 million, down 3.9% quarter-over-quarter with gross margin at 52.7%. Net income attributed to stockholders of the parent was NT$79 million, with a basic earnings per share of NT$0.32. For the fiscal year of 2018, consolidated revenues totaled NT$4.905 billion, a decrease of 8.2% year-over-year. Net income attributed to stockholders of the parent was NT$263 million, with a basic EPS of NT$1.06.

While fourth quarter was traditionally a slow season, revenues of mass production still grew consecutively by 3.2% to NT$867 million, thanks to the demands of smartmeter, projector, PoS and cryptocurrency. As to NRE, the Company has proactively adjusted its business strategy by focusing on the applications with higher design complexity and longer life cycle while amplifying its merit of self-developed IPs. As a result, despite the decline on NRE revenue in the fourth quarter, overall gross margin increased to 52.7% on better NRE mix.

Looking back at 2018, Faraday’s technology roadmap was completed through the progress made in leading edge technology. The transformation that Faraday implemented in the past years resulted in the structural changes on the revenues, making NRE sales grow 107% YoY to around 1.3 billion and account for 26% of sales, the first time ever. The Company has been proactively expanding the breadth and depth of its applications, resulting in the consecutive growth of new ASIC projects with higher quality. The strong NRE sales in 2018 was also the succession from years of efforts. Looking into 2019, Faraday with a key focus on niche applications and AI is well positioned to capture the booming demands in the ASIC market, aiming to strengthen its long-term growth momentum.

Summary of Operating Results

[1] Unless otherwise stated, all financial figures discussed in this announcement are prepared in accordance with Taiwan-International Financial Report Standards (TIFRSs). They represent comparisons among the three-month period ended Dec 31, 2018, the three-month period ended Sep 30, 2018, and the equivalent three-month period that ended Dec 31, 2017. For all 4Q18 results, New Taiwan Dollar (NT$) amounts have been converted into U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of NT$30.7505 to one U.S. dollar.

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