Gideon Wertheizer
Analyst · Cowen. Please go ahead
Thank you, Richard. Good morning, to everyone and thank you for joining us today. We are living in unprecedented times where we all continue to adapt to the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. First and foremost, we continue to look out for the health and safety of our employees, customers and partners worldwide. Our employees have stepped up to ensure we meet our customers’ milestones and maintain the development schedules of our new products. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our employees for their hard work under these difficult circumstances. Second, we are closely monitoring the impact of the measures to control the spread of the coronavirus on our ongoing business and also the strategic opportunities the pandemic uncovers. I will allude to this later in the call. Despite this lingering uncertainty, we had a very good second quarter with revenue of $23.6 million, up 28% year-over-year, the highest second quarter revenue we ever recorded. The licensing environment continues to be healthy with $13.5 million in licensing revenue, up 25% year-over-year. We signed eight new agreements, of which three were for smart sensing and five were for connectivity products. One out of the eight deals was with a first-time customer. Target applications of our customers include automotive powertrain, a new growth opportunity for us in the automotive space, wearables, true wireless stereo earbuds, and a range of IoT devices. Royalty revenue came in ahead of expectations at $10.1 million, up 10% sequentially and 33% year-over-year, driven by strength in the base station and IoT product line, formerly referred to as non-handset royalties. This product line posted 77% year over year revenue growth to $4.3 million, comparable to our all-time record high, and driven by record high Bluetooth and Wi-Fi royalties resulting from many new IoT production ramp-ups. In this product line, we expect a step up in our royalty revenues in the third quarter associated with the fast deployment and share gain of 5G base station RAN in China. The handset product line also showed growth, where solid demand for new low-cost smartphones from a U.S.-based customer more than offset weakness in the low-tier LTE shipments into emerging markets. India, which is currently the second largest handset market by volume, experienced a 48% year-over-year decline according to a Canalys report, due to supply and demand constraints as a result of the Indian government’s measures to control the spread of the virus. Let me take the next few minutes to walk you through our perspective on COVID-19 and the geopolitical tension between U.S. and China. On COVID-19, recent market data from research firm GSMA Intelligence predicted that IoT net additions for this year are expected to be down 45% on a yearly basis due to the pandemic. GSMA Intelligence is however maintaining its forecast for 2025 of 24 billion devices, doubling 2019 levels, because it expects strong post-pandemic activities to offset the current decline. With that said, the social distancing measures have uncovered new services for mobile technology including education, healthcare and industrial. The latest UNESCO figures claim that nearly 1.4 billion students around the world have shifted to remote study via mobile technology, in particular in emerging markets where wired broadband is not available. Furthermore, Forrester Research predicts that more than 1 billion virtual care visits are expected within the U.S. this year. The magnitude and the pace of adoption of these new services call for the persistent and expedited deployment of 5G networks where we believe there will be attractive opportunities for our strong technology portfolio. As I commented earlier, based on discussions with our customers, we expect to see a sizable production ramp and noticeable step up in royalty revenue for 5G base station RAN in the third quarter. Furthermore, COVID-19 brings forward new usage models for 5G, including Fixed Wireless Access, 5G-enabled PCs and V2X. With our latest CEVA-XC DSP portfolio and our PentaG 5G-modem platform, we are well equipped and positioned to address these new usage models for incumbents and newcomers. Onto the geopolitical tension between China and the U.S., the existing export control rules do not directly apply to our current technologies developed in Israel and Europe. We continuously monitor developments on this front and are prepared to adapt our business as required. A byproduct of the trade tensions, the U.S. government is looking to stimulate the use of Open RAN or O-RAN technologies for 5G mobile networks. O-RAN enables mobile operators to mix and match hardware and software components from different suppliers rather than use vertical solutions from a few tier-one OEMs. O-RAN dramatically reduces entry barriers for software and hardware companies, the majority of which are U.S.-based, such as Intel, Facebook, CISCO, Microsoft, as well as new start-ups like Altiostar, Mavenir and Parallel Wireless. CEVA is aiming to play a pivotal role in the O-RAN space, using the power efficiency of our DSP platforms for the stringent run time and low latency requirements associated with baseband processing. We have gained a lot of experience and pedigree in the RAN space to be able to proliferate the supplier base. On the China front, the central government came out in March with a new ambitious plan called the New Infrastructure. The plan highlights investments in seven areas, of which 40% to 50% of the investments are associated with 5G, AI and IoT. These are areas in which CEVA already has strong presence and deployments in China. We are continuously discussing with our major Chinese customers on how we can expand our presence in China based on this plan. So, in closing, our business in the first half of the year was robust despite the volatility and uncertainty brought about by COVID-19. This affirms the strength of our company, vision and business model. Furthermore, the current situation poses new opportunities for us to expand in O-RAN and China’s New Infrastructure plan. While I’m satisfied with our first half performance and the opportunities ahead, the recovery from the pandemic is slower than was anticipated earlier in the year and the U.S.-China trade tensions pose additional uncertainty. We are therefore laser-focused on our efficiencies, productivity and most importantly our customer engagements. Our organization is agile and alert to respond to any positive or negative development in the coming months. With that said, let me hand over the call to Yaniv for financials and guidance.