Sivers Semiconductors AB (publ), publishes Interim Report Q2, January – June 2023 and confirm outlook for 2023

91 percent growth year-to-date - confirming 100 % growth out­look

Outlook for 2023
Previously announced customer contracts are expected to drive significant net sales growth for Sivers in 2023. Continuous optimization of costs and investments, together with net sales growth, are expected to accelerate Sivers’ path to profitability.

For 2023 Sivers expects net sales growth to exceed 100% over 2022. Net sales may vary between quarters as a result of individual contracts. Furthermore, Sivers expects to reach positive adjusted EBITDA in the second half of 2023.

Second quarter April-June 2023

• Net sales amounted to SEK 45.751 M (27.154), equivalent to an increase of 68%. Net sales increased by 56% at constant currency.
• Adjusted EBITDA totaled SEK –16.597 M (–17.925).
• Profit/loss before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to SEK -20 628  M (-19.002).
• Operating profit/loss (EBIT) was SEK -46.168 M (-64.382).
• Profit/loss after tax amounted to SEK -29.983  M (-61.049).
• Earnings per share before and after dilution was SEK -0.13 (-0.29).
• Equity per share amounted to SEK 5.72 (5.74).

First six months January-June 2023

• Net sales amounted to SEK 104.162 M (54.624), equivalent to an increase of 91%. Net sales increased by 77% at constant currency.
• Adjusted EBITDA totaled SEK –28.328  M (–35.254).
• Profit/loss before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to SEK -35 631 M (-30.974).
• Operating profit/loss (EBIT) was SEK -86.846 M (-91.367).
• Profit/loss after tax amounted to SEK -70.118 M (-79.381).
• Earnings per share before and after dilution was SEK -0.31 (-0.39).
• Equity per share amounted to SEK 5.72 (5.74)

Significant events in the second quarter

June 12 - Sivers Photonics received a new order worth USD 1.3 M (approx. SEK 14 M) for the qualification and supply of advanced photonic devices for optical sensing applications from a US-based customer.
May 29 - Sivers Semiconductors recruited Lottie Saks as new CFO.
May 25 - Sivers Semiconductors obtained financing of SEK 75 M, including a convertible loan of SEK 25 million.
May 25 - Sivers Semiconductors evaluated the expansion of Photonics’ capacity to meet volumes of more than 1000 wafers per week. To enable this, Sivers Semiconductors is launching a strategic business development project, hiring an Advisor, and making changes to Photonics’ management.
May 8 - WiSig Networks, Sivers Semiconductors and Intel demonstrate 5G millimeter-wave backhaul technology at G20 Event, attracting strong interest in the product which combines Sivers millimeter-wave chip and antenna module solutions with WiSig Networks’ modem and software stack implemented on the Intel Agilex FPGA.
May 5 - Sivers Semiconductors receives EU grant amounting to EUR 496,070 (approx. SEK 5 M) for design, development and characterization of Multi-element RF Antenna circuitry.
April 4 - Sivers Semiconductors carried out a directed share issue totaling approximately SEK 150 M.

Significant events after the end of the period

August 15 - Sivers Semiconductors is recruiting Dr. Bami Bastani as strategic advisor to the board and management.
August 14 - Sivers Wireless receives $425,000 contract from top-tier SATCOM network provider.
August 9 - The company was awarded USD 0.375 M (4 MSEK) under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
July 3 - New order of 1 MUSD (approx. 11 MSEK) from Ayar Labs for the development of the next generation laser array chip that supports applications for, among other things, High Performance Computing (HPC), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).

Key Performance Indicators

An online presentation of the Interim Report will be held at 10:00 AM (CEST) August 17, 2023.
Register for the webinar via: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8441716459573161817

 

CEO’s Statement

91% growth year-to-date - confirming 100 % growth outlook

The strong growth continued in the second quarter of the year. Sales increased by 68 percent to SEK 45.7 million, and growth was 91 percent in the first half-year, which means that we are on route to achieving our goal of net sales growth of at least 100 percent for the full year 2023. As previously stated, this figure may vary between quarters depending on when major orders are shipped, for example the product order of beamformers from October 2022 of which approximately SEK 15 million will be shipped in the third quarter. 

The strong sales are a result of the strong order intake we have had over the past 10 months. Since September 2022, we have officially published a total order value of approximately SEK 270 million. The growth is driven by both Wireless and Photonics, which grew by 128 and 33 percent respectively compared to the second quarter of 2022.
Adjusted for items affecting comparability, EBITDA for the second quarter was SEK -16.6 million (-17.9). That the adjusted EBITDA improvement is lower than the growth is mainly due to the positive development with customer-financed projects. A higher proportion of customer projects compared to product projects means a reduced capitalization of R&D of SEK 11 million. With continued good cost control, we see that we can accelerate our path to profitability. Among other things, we have continued to right-size our workforce and incurred restructuring costs of approximately SEK 3 million during the quarter. The company has gone from 130 employees at the end of 2022 to 116 employees at the end of the second quarter. The strong order intake and growth as well as cost control means that we look positively at our chances of reaching our goal of a positive adjusted EBITDA result in the second half of 2023.

Of the markets Sivers serves, the Satellite communication market is the strongest right now, where we work with several customers. Market growth is fueled by huge investments from many companies that are deploying large numbers of satellites in new lower orbits around the Earth. These orbits, such as LEO (Low earth Orbit) and MEO (Medium earth Orbit), require new types of technology where Siver's solutions are well suited. We have several ongoing development projects in the area and are also starting to see that volume sales are about to pick up through, for example, the delivery of the BFIC order from October 2022. We also expect further orders and delivery throughout the rest of the year.

During the quarter, we carried out a directed share issue that added capital of approximately SEK 150 million before deductions fortransaction costs. I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for the trust and am especially happy to be able to welcome the Second AP Fund, Cicero Fonder, fourth AP Fund and Serpentine Ventures AG as new owners. During the quarter, we also negotiated long-term loan facilities of 100 million.

With the order from Ayar Labs of approximately SEK 11 million at the beginning of July, we secured our position as a supplier in one of the future's biggest growth areas. The demand for optical high-speed communication is expected to grow strongly in the future as the demand for capacity for generative artificial intelligence (AI) requires new solutions as today's electrical communication between processors (CPU) and graphics processors (GPU) no longer offers sufficient capacity to quickly process the huge amounts of data that next-generation AI challenges require. These challenges include, for example, solving the issue of rampant energy consumption. Optical high-speed communication for CPUs and GPUs enables the speed and capacity to increase manifold, while at the same time we can reduce energy consumption by up to 90%. Our partner Ayar Labs offers with its optical I/O chip, the solution to this problem, where Sivers will supply the laser chip.

Through Ayar Lab's optical I/O solution, which utilizes our DFB lasers, 4Tb/s bidirectional chip-to-chip connection is already possible today. A performance that is superior to today's traditional electrical solutions and necessary to enable next-generation artificial intelligence and advanced machine learning. In the long term, we expect an enormous market potential within Optical high-speed communication and currently work with most new companies in this field.

In total, more than SEK 7 billion has been invested in new companies, such as Celestial AI, Lightelligence och Lightmatter, in this market where Sivers has a very strong offer and is one of the initiators of the standardization of laser chips for this market via the CW-WDM MSA (https://cw-wdm.org/ ).

Regarding the future capacity expansion for Photonics production, to support our future expected growth for our US Fortune 100 customer and optical I/O, we have started a strategic project to evaluate different options. We mainly consider three options. To establish/expand a new factory (green field), to buy an existing factory that we adapt to our needs, or to find a partners who can offer larger volume manufacturing. We have made progress in all tracks, and now have a short list of possible options.

At the same time, we are investigating possible financing options – for example through the EU regulation (Chips Act) which announced a total budget of 43 billion euros to increase EU chip production in the region, or via the US Chips and Science Act which announced a total of 39 billion USD for chip manufacturing in the US. We expect to be able to provide more information in the second half of the year. During the second quarter, we invoiced approx. SEK 11 million to our Fortune 100 customer and shipped the approx. 30,000 chips that were announced in last quarter's report.

All in all, I look to the future with great confidence. We are benefiting from several megatrends where we have recently secured large orders in all areas, including the volume preparation order of 14 million for sensor chips for LiDAR that we received in June. We now have a nice, broad customer portfolio that will continue to grow and our innovative, competitive products mean we are in a unique and excellent position. I look forward to a continued success in 2023.

Anders Storm, President and CEO