IDEX Bets on Cards, ASIC Efforts in Q1 Update

IDEX has issued its Q1 update for 2017.

The quarter saw a significant uptick in the company’s revenues, which came in at NOK 6.7 million, compared to NOK 3.6 million in Q1 of 2016. But the company also reports a net loss of NOK 60.5 million for the quarter, an increase from its net loss of NOK 54.6 million from the same period a year ago, citing increased operating expenses.

In a statement announcing the results, IDEX noted the “highly competitive” market for mobile fingerprint sensors, with a “build-up in inventories” stifling demand among OEMs and “lower than anticipated demand for one customer’s handsets” compounding the issue. But on the biometric cards front, the company reports considerable progress. It recently revealed that it was the supplier of the biometric technology underlying Mastercard’s new biometric payment card, which IDEX expects to roll out “later in 2017”; and similarly its ASIC off-chip sensor solution is also expected to be ready for production later this year.

With respect to the latter program, the company noted the mobile industry’s current trend toward full-size displays requiring fingerprint sensors to either be position on the back of their devices or integrated into the display itself, “both representing unique opportunities for using the IDEX off-chip sensor.”

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May 12, 2017 – by Alex Perala