ITE's Sensor Hubs Win Google's Android Wear Certification
2014/11/05 | By Steve ChuangSensor hubs made by the Taiwan-based ITE Technologies Inc., a fabless IC design house and world-class developer of embedded controller technologies, have reportedly won Google's Android Wear certification and are expected to start being delivered before the end of this year.
The sensor hubs, which were developed by ITE in cooperation with Andes Technology Corp., a 32-bit processor and associated SoC (system-on-chip) platform developer affiliated with MediaTek Inc., Taiwan's leading IC chip designer. Hopefully, they will provide a quick boost to ITE's performance.
Sensor hubs are key components in wearable electronics, used mainly to collect, integrate, and process data from different sensors. They can help reduce CPU load, and thereby enhance the power efficiency and performance of the devices incorporating them. With ever more sensors being used in wearable electronics for the detection of light, velocity, gravity, heartbeat, blood pressure, etc., global market demand for sensor hubs is showing considerable growth potential.
According to the latest report issued by IHS, a global market research firm, global shipments of sensor hubs are expected to reach 658 million units this year, up a sharp 154% from last year, and to surge to 1.3 billion units in 2017.
While declining to comment on its newly certificated sensor hubs, ITE emphasized that it is optimistic about near-term market prospects in view of the increasingly broad application of such components in notebook PCs, tablets, smartphones, and wearable electronics.
In addition to sensor hubs, ITE is also expected to gain steam in the year ahead from its HDMI controller chips for notebook PCs and TVs, MHL controller chips for smartphones and tablets, and DisplayPort controller chips for industrial PCs and embedded systems.
ITE finished the first nine months of this year with revenues of NT$2.71 billion (US$90.33 million), up 2.05% from the same period of 2013. Institutional investors expect the company to attain an EPS (earnings per share) of NT$3 for the whole year. (SC)
| ITE's 2014 Revenues, by Month | ||
| Month
| Revenue
| YoY Growth Rate
|
| Jan.
| NT$327.809 M.
| 4.76%
|
| Feb.
| NT$231.355 M.
| 10.29%
|
| Mar.
| NT$281.547 M.
| - 3.29%
|
| Apr.
| NT$315.716 M.
| - 0.78%
|
| May
| NT$301.867 M.
| - 3.62%
|
| Jun.
| NT$310.501 M.
| 18.54%
|
| Jul.
| NT$344.538 M.
| 19.46%
|
| Aug.
| NT$305.289 M.
| - 3.01%
|
| Sept.
| NT$291.653 M.
| - 15.58%
|