Silicon Laboratories Beats Q4 Estimates, Looks to the Internet of Things for Growth

| Updated
by Polina Chernykh · 3 min read
Silicon Laboratories Beats Q4 Estimates, Looks to the Internet of Things for Growth
Photo: Silicon Labs/Wikipedia

Silicon Labs reported a decrease in annual earnings, but the financial results still exceeded analysts’ predictions.

Silicon Labs, the Texas-based developer of the software, silicon and tools for the Internet of Things, has unveiled the financial results for the fourth quarter ended January 2, 2016.

The company’s profits reached $160.1 million, an increase by $3.9 million from Q3. However, if compared with the same quarter a year ago, the number dropped by 1.2%. Despite a decrease, investors remain optimistic as the company managed to exceed their predictions of $158.46 million.

“Strong top line performance combined with favorable opex drove a solid beat in fourth quarter EPS. During 2015, we made significant progress in laying the foundation for our continued success as a leading supplier of silicon, software and solutions for a more connected world. Our strategic growth products, including IoT, Infrastructure and Broadcast automotive, all delivered record revenue in 2015,” Tyson Tuttle, Chief Executive of Silicon Labs, said in a press-release.

According to the report, non-GAAP earnings totaled $0.63 per share, beating the analysts’ expectations of $0.48 per share.

Meantime, the company’s main divisions yielded different results in terms of revenue. The IoT business brought the profits of $67.2 million, showing a growth of 2.8%. The broadcast business demonstrated better results, with income increasing by 8.7%. Still, the access and infrastructure divisions recorded a slump of 3.0% and 1.5%, respectively.

Silicon Labs has also reported several product highlights that offer improved energy and security features. The company developed cost-effective reference design solution for voice operated remote controls that will help users to better manage their home entertainment systems. Besides, Silicon Labs released turnkey smart home reference designs that will make it easier to link appliances, including door sensors and lights.

Silicon Labs is currently focused on the IoT segment, which account for around 42% of the firm’s sales. Tuttle expects the division will make up 50-60% of the total revenues.

According to Forbes contributor Bruce Schneier, the IoT industry is set to become the globe’s largest robot. The web-enabled things will not only collect data, but will perform as actuators, doing things for us.

The society is creating the robot, called World-Sized Web, without even realizing it, Schneier wrote. “This robot will increasingly be autonomous, at first simply and increasingly using the capabilities of artificial intelligence. Drones with sensors will fly to places that the WSW needs to collect data. Vehicles with actuators will drive to places that the WSW needs to affect. Other parts of the robots will “decide” where to go, what data to collect, and what to do.”

However, it is now unclear in what way these changes will affect the society. While doing things in our interests, the WSW will also open up opportunities for criminals and enable totalitarian governments.

To be able to predict future social changes, Schneier noted, we need to form an agency that would deal with the WSW, as there is no such government entity today. The only concern is whether government will be smart enough when regulating these technologies.

Internet of Things News, News
Related Articles