DFI (2397), the world’s leading brand of embedded motherboards and industrial computers (IPCs), announced at its Q1 investor conference on May 10 that while operating performance in Q1 was sluggish due to weak end-customer demand, the company’s ongoing projects include land, sea, and air applications and are benefiting from demand for unmanned systems in smart transportation. In the medium to long term, DFI’s growth will continue to be driven by steady demand in areas of automation, information security, new-energy applications, and smart transportation. In the short term, the company will consistently optimize operational efficiency in the hope that the overall performance will return to normal as demand in key markets slowly picks up again.
As for the operating performance of DFI’s three main businesses in Q1, although the embedded solutions business has yet to return to normal, the year-on-year gross profit margin has increased and stabilized at the target level of 30%. The smart automation business was influenced by the slow recovery of the Chinese market, which affected customers’ capital expenditure. However, the Taiwanese market began to show signs of recovery with order intake gradually stabilizing. For the information security business, the book-to-bill ratio returned to above one as customers continued to adjust their inventories. In addition, the expected launch of Windows 12 by Microsoft is expected to boost demand for information security in the future.
Alexander Su, President of DFI, stated that according to the orders of the embedded solutions business on hand, order placement and customer bases in each region are showing a growth trend. In addition, AI edge computing and remote management, which DFI has been engaging in for a long time, have become increasingly important for end devices thanks to the renewed demand for unmanned services and regional infrastructure. In particular, AI-related projects in smart transportation, smart healthcare, and new-energy markets are currently being negotiated and will continue to drive DFI’s growth.
According to the market research company Grand View Research, unmanned vehicles are increasingly becoming the focus of global development, especially in the field of smart transportation. The global market for smart transportation systems is expected to grow from US$51.16 billion to US$90.39 billion between 2023 and 2030, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5%. Therefore, DFI’s projects span not only land (AMRs, self-driving vehicles, and mining trucks), but also sea (autonomous boats) and air (unmanned aerial vehicles and cargo parachutes). The integration of AI into DFI’s three major product lines will become an area of primary focus in the future, and will incorporate industrial-grade motherboards, systems, touchscreen computers, and displays.