Himax Announces Strategic Investment in Obsidian Sensors to Revolutionize Next-Gen Thermal Imagers

TAINAN, Taiwan and SAN DIEGO, May 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Himax Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: HIMX) (“Himax” or “Company”), a leading supplier and fabless manufacturer of display drivers and other semiconductor products, today announced its strategic investment in Obsidian Sensors, Inc. ("Obsidian"), a San Diego-based thermal imaging sensor solution manufacturer. Himax's strategic investment in Obsidian Sensors, as the lead investor in Obsidian’s convertible note financing, was motivated by the potential of their proprietary and revolutionary high-resolution thermal sensors to dominate the market through low-cost, high-volume production capabilities. The investment amount was not disclosed. In addition to an ongoing engineering collaboration where Obsidian leverages Himax's IC design resources and know-how, the two companies also aim to combine the advantages of Himax’s WiseEye ultralow power AI processors with Obsidian’s high-resolution thermal imaging to create an advanced thermal vision solution. This would complement Himax's existing AI capabilities and ecosystem support, improving detection in challenging environments and boosting accuracy and reliability, thereby opening doors to a wide array of applications, including industrial, automotive safety and autonomy, and security systems. Obsidian’s proprietary thermal imaging camera solutions have already garnered attention in the industry, with notable existing investors including Qualcomm Ventures, Hyundai, Hyundai Mobis, SK Walden and Innolux.

A dangerous nighttime driving situation can be averted with a thermal camera

Thermal imaging sensors offer unparalleled versatility, capable of detecting heat differences in total darkness, measuring temperature, and identifying distant objects. They are particularly well suited for a wide range of surveillance applications, especially in challenging and life-saving scenarios. Compared to prevailing thermal sensor solutions, which typically suffer from low resolution, high cost, and limited production volumes, Obsidian is revolutionizing the thermal imaging industry by producing high resolution thermal sensors with its proprietary Large Area MEMS Platform (“LAMP”), offering low-cost production at high volumes. With large glass substrates capable of producing sensors with superior resolution, VGA or higher, at volumes exceeding 100 million units per year, Obsidian is poised to drive the mass market adoption of this unrivaled technology across industries, including automotive, security, surveillance, drones, and more.

With accelerating interest in both the consumer and defense sectors, Obsidian’s groundbreaking thermal imaging sensor solutions are gaining traction in automotive applications and poised to play a pivotal role. The novel ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and AEB (Automatic Emergency Braking) system, integrated with Obsidian’s thermal sensors, significantly enable higher-resolution and clear vision in low-light and adverse weather conditions such as fog, smoke, rain, and snow, ensuring much better driving safety and security. This aligns perfectly with measures announced by the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) on April 29, 2024, which issued its final rule mandating the implementation of AEB, including PAEB (Pedestrian AEB) that is effective at night, as a standard feature on all new cars beginning in 2029, recognizing pedestrian safety features as essential components rather than just luxury add-ons. This safety standard is expected to significantly reduce rear-end and pedestrian crashes. Traffic safety authorities in other countries are also following suit with similar regulations underscoring the trend and significant potential demand for thermal imaging sensors from Obsidian Sensors in the years to come.

“We are pleased to begin our strategic partnership with Himax through this funding round and look forward to a fruitful collaboration to potentially merge our market leading thermal imaging sensor and camera technologies with Himax’s advanced ultralow power WiseEye^TM endpoint AI, leveraging each other's domain expertise. Furthermore, progress has been made in the engineering projects for mixed signal integrated circuits, leveraging Himax’s decades of experience in image processing. Given our disruptive cost and scale advantage, this partnership will enable us to better cater to the needs of the rapid-growing thermal imaging market,” said John Hong, CEO of Obsidian Sensors.

“We see great potential in Obsidian Sensors' revolutionary high-resolution thermal imaging sensor. Himax’s strategic investment in Obsidian further enhances our portfolio and expands our technology reach to cover thermal sensing which represents a great compliment to our WiseEye technology, a world leading ultralow power image sensing AI total solution. Further, we see tremendous potential of Obsidian’s technology in the automotive sector where Himax already holds a dominant position in display semiconductors. We also anticipate additional synergies through expansion of our partnership with our combined strength and respective expertise driving future success,” said Mr. Jordan Wu, President and Chief Executive Officer of Himax.

About Himax Technologies, Inc.

Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: HIMX) is a leading global fabless semiconductor solution provider dedicated to display imaging processing technologies. The Company’s display driver ICs and timing controllers have been adopted at scale across multiple industries worldwide including TVs, PC monitors, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, automotive, ePaper devices, industrial displays, among others. As the global market share leader in automotive display technology, the Company offers innovative and comprehensive automotive IC solutions, including traditional driver ICs, advanced in-cell Touch and Display Driver Integration (TDDI), local dimming timing controllers (Local Dimming Tcon), Large Touch and Display Driver Integration (LTDI) and OLED display technologies. Himax is also a pioneer in tinyML visual-AI and optical technology related fields. The Company’s industry-leading WiseEye^TM Ultralow Power AI Sensing technology which incorporates Himax proprietary ultralow power AI processor, always-on CMOS image sensor, and CNN-based AI algorithm has been widely deployed in consumer electronics and AIoT related applications. While Himax optics technologies, such as diffractive wafer level optics, LCoS microdisplays and 3D sensing solutions, are critical for facilitating emerging AR/VR/metaverse technologies. Additionally, Himax designs and provides touch controllers, OLED ICs, LED ICs, EPD ICs, power management ICs, and CMOS image sensors for diverse display application coverage. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Tainan, Taiwan, Himax currently employs around 2,200 people from three Taiwan-based offices in Tainan, Hsinchu and Taipei and country offices in China, Korea, Japan, Germany, and the US. Himax has 2,772 patents granted and 398 patents pending approval worldwide as of March 31, 2024.

http://www.himax.com.tw

About Obsidian Sensors, Inc.

Obsidian Sensors, Inc., a San Diego-based imaging sensor manufacturer founded in 2017, is leading the democratization of thermal imaging through a revolutionary microbolometer production technology that achieves higher volume and lower cost. Obsidian Sensors is transforming the thermal imaging industry by producing high-resolution thermal sensors at scale and low cost using its Large Area MEMS Platform (LAMP) in established flat panel foundries. Utilizing large glass substrates, Obsidian Sensors can manufacture VGA-resolution or higher sensors at mass volumes. This technology, developed by Obsidian Sensors, is set to drive widespread adoption in the automotive industry and other sectors such as security, surveillance, and drones. Obsidian Sensors’ investor group includes Qualcomm Ventures, Hyundai, Hyundai Mobis, SK Walden and Innolux.

https://www.obsidiansensors.com/

Forward Looking Statements

Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in this conference call include, but are not limited to, the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Company’s business; general business and economic conditions and the state of the semiconductor industry; market acceptance and competitiveness of the driver and non-driver products developed by the Company; demand for end-use applications products; reliance on a small group of principal customers; the uncertainty of continued success in technological innovations; our ability to develop and protect our intellectual property; pricing pressures including declines in average selling prices; changes in customer order patterns; changes in estimated full-year effective tax rate; shortage in supply of key components; changes in environmental laws and regulations; changes in export license regulated by Export Administration Regulations (EAR); exchange rate fluctuations; regulatory approvals for further investments in our subsidiaries; our ability to collect accounts receivable and manage inventory and other risks described from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including those risks identified in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in its Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023 filed with the SEC, as may be amended.

Obsidian Sensors Contacts:
Tallis Chang, Media contact: tallis.chang@obsidiansensors.com
Sales contact: sales@obsidiansensors.com
https://www.obsidiansensors.com/

Himax Contacts

Eric Li, Chief IR/PR Officer
Himax Technologies, Inc.
Tel: +886-6-505-0880
Fax: +886-2-2314-0877
Email: hx_ir@himax.com.tw
www.himax.com.tw

Karen Tiao, Investor Relations
Himax Technologies, Inc.
Tel: +886-2-2370-3999
Fax: +886-2-2314-0877
Email: hx_ir@himax.com.tw
www.himax.com.tw

Mark Schwalenberg, Director
Investor Relations - US Representative
MZ North America

Tel: +1-312-261-6430
Email: HIMX@mzgroup.us
www.mzgroup.us

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/27dcab38-8639-4c87-a8af-abf332267fcc