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Synaptics (SYNA)
Who is Synaptics? Synaptics is the “leading developer of human interface solutions” This is their complete focus and they develop solutions for Tablets, Laptops, Keyboards, and Cell Phones. Synaptics IPO’d on January 1st, 2002. They have developed solution for Sony, Samsung, Huaweii, DTE, HTC, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony, ZTE, Nokia, LG and Toshiba.
They support both windows and android phones. Apple has their own solution which is only used in Apple products. They have a support for touch with either the finger, gloves, or fingernails in their ClearPad Series 3 product. The touch pad will automatically calibrate itself depending on if you have a glove on, bare finger, or are using a finger nail.
In 2012 Synaptics Touchpad solutions was incorporated in seven of the top 10 ultrabooks. In the second quarter of 2013 they claimed they expected mobile to be the primary growth driver and their solutions continued to shift into many of the leading flagship smartphones. Rick Bergman the CEO, claimed that his number one priority is topline growth.
They continue to innovate by coming up with new products that will help individuals interface with computers and phones. Lately they came up with Samsung Air View in collusion with Samsung. This allow a person to hover over their phone with a finger and it will either let you read a message or use it as a magnifier all without having to open the file.
They continue to grow with all of the top phones and OEM’s they see the china market as a key are of growth and the percentage of mobile revenue from domestic Chinese vendors continues to edge up. They are well represented within the second tier and they have a Single Layer On-Cell multi-touch offering for the entry-level market.
They continue to remain dominant in the pc ultrabook market with their clickpad solutions but those sales are sliding down rapidly. In 4q 2012 their product mix was 56% pc and 44% non-pc. Non-pc is considered tablets and phones. Now in the 2q 2014 the mix 65% non-pc and 35% pc. This seems to be representative of the market. People just are not buying pc’s. But should that matter with Synaptics? I don’t think so. They are moving nicely into the smartphone market. Anything that has a touch screen on it is something that Synaptics could make a product for. They have a large room to grow. In the 4q 2013 conference call Rick Bergman (CEO) stated that there was a big gap between themselves and any of the other players in the industry. In fact he claimed several of the next players to get to their share level.
In 1q 2014 they acquired Validity Sensors which will allowed them to enter the Fingerprint ID market. So now they are able to set up phones to turn on when they see a valid Fingerprint. This also gives them other avenues of growth. They also are now winning multiple design wins in the same products. Such as the HP Slatebook c2 Android powered notebook which has the ClearPad touchscreen and ClickPad solutions. They also stated that they are shipping the new Amazon Kindle Fire tablets. The CEO stated that he sees top line growth in excess of 50% over the same period last year.
They now have a new technology in the Nokia Asha which allows face detect technology. This allows the phone to detect large objects to prevent false inputs during voice calls and to avoid unintentional pocket dialing. They are seeing very strong interest in their fingerprint solutions, not only is smartphones, tablets and notebooks, but other markets as well. While it’s difficult to gauge the full extent to the opportunity, they currently see the market growing from 30 million units last year to over .5 billion in just two years. From a product standpoint they now essentially have full share in the market for enterprise notebooks incorporating finger print solutions. This is just one product that they have.
Richard Bergman stated in the 2q14 conference call that they will have top line growth of 20% plus whatever the fingerprint technology from Validity will add upon that.
Finally, Synaptics has a product which will be Near Field Communications (NFC) compliant. They will have this built into their touchpads. This will open up lots of uses but one that I can think of now is paying at checkstands with your smartphone. They truly are become the “Leading developer of human interface solutions.
Andy
SYNAPTICS PRODUCTS
**Tablets**
Series 7 - ClearPad for premium multi-touch solutions for large touchscreen applications
7020 Premium multi-touch Entry-level tablets, ebooks
7300 Premium multi-touch Premium tablets, touch-enabled notebooks
**Cell Phones**
Series 4 - ClearPad IC for premium multi-touch solutions with integrated display driver
4260 Display driver integration, In-Cell, and On-Cell TDDI Premium handsets
Series 3 - ClearPad solutions with in-cell and on-cell options for premium multi-touch interfaces
3200 Stylus support, On-Cell Premium Smartphones & Handheld Products
3250 Display driver integration, In-Cell
Series 2 – ClearPad solution for Value Touch up to four fingers
2200 Traditional Bars and Stripes Pattern Value Smartphones & Handheld Products
2300 Single Layer Multi-touch Hand Held Products
**Laptops**
*Click Pad*
Series 3
Series 2.0
Series 1.5
*Force Pad*
Series 4
Series 3
*Touch Pad*
Capacitive Sensing
Synaptics is a world leader in capacitive touch sensing technology. This patented technology is at the heart of our industry-standard TouchPad products and other solutions.
Clear Sensing
The versatility of Synaptics capacitive sensing technology makes it ideal for handheld devices that require a clear, durable touchscreen sensor.
InterTouch
With Windows 8, the TouchPad™ will benefit from a high-speed interface to pass data from the TouchPad to the OS and applications.
Near Field Communications
Our TouchPad™ sensor can be integrated with Near Field Communications (NFC) antenna so it can be integrate as a single solution.
ThinTouch
The Synaptics ThinTouch™ keyboard technology is 40% thinner than the conventional keyboard.
TouchButtons
Synaptics TouchButtons™ capacitive sensors are intuitive interfaces that simplify and enrich various product applications including notebook PCs, PC peripherals, and handheld devices.
TouchStyk & Dual Pointing
The TouchStyk is a self-contained, easily integrated pointing stick module used where a TouchPad does not fit and is popular with corporate users who demand “dual pointing” (TouchPad and TouchStyk) solutions.
Synaptics Gesture Suite
Our Synaptics Gesture Suite™ (SGS), provides users with an intuitive way to interact productively with their notebook computer TouchPad
• Active Pen: The industry’s first Windows 8.1 certified active pen solution for smartphone, tablet and notebook PC touchscreens helps eliminate multiple discrete system components to deliver always-on stylus capability.
• ClearPad® 3350: The industry’s first full High-Definition (HD) In-Cell touchscreen is powered by the ClearPad 3350 single-chip touch controller solution, delivering Nexus 5 users best-in-class touch sensitivity and a 10-finger multi-touch experience.
• ClearPad™ Single-Layer On-Cell (SLOC): The industry’s first touchscreen design to fuse the touch controller and liquid crystal display (LCD) together into one sleek stack-up, available the Yulong 8908 smartphone for the China market.
• Fast IDentity Online (FIDO) Alliance: FIDO was formed to enhance the nature of online authentication by developing an open, scalable technical standard to help facilitate the adoption of strong, easy to use authentication that reduces the reliance on passwords to authenticate users.
• Natural ID™: Synaptics will highlight fingerprint ID as a key platform to address the explosive growth of biometric sensing across a FIDO-enabled ecosystem from mobile payment transactions and cloud-based services to enterprise mobile device security.
• 3D-Touch™: Powering the Samsung Galaxy S4 in 2013 as AirView™, this gesture technology expands user interface possibilities with proximity, finger hover and air swipe functionality
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Rick Bergman
President and CEO
Rick Bergman is the President and CEO of Synaptics. Mr. Bergman joined Synaptics in September 2011 from AMD, where he served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of AMD’s Product Group. From October 2006 to May 2009, Mr. Bergman served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of AMD’s Graphics Product Group (GPG). His career at AMD began in October 2006 when AMD acquired ATI, where he served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of PC Group. Prior to ATI, he served as Chief Operating Officer at S3 Graphics, a division of SonicBlue Inc. He has held senior level management positions in the technology field since his early roles at Texas Instruments, Inc. and IBM. Mr. Bergman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Colorado.
Kathleen Bayless
Senior Vice President, CFO, Secretary, and Treasurer
Kathleen Bayless joined Synaptics in March 2009 as Senior Vice President. She succeeded to the CFO role in September 2009. Ms. Bayless spent thirteen years at Komag, a leading supplier of thin-film disks, where she served most recently as Executive Vice President, Secretary, and Chief Financial Officer. During her tenure at Komag, she helped to successfully manage the company, build its extensive international operations in Asia and grow its revenue to more than $1 billion. Prior to Komag, Ms. Bayless had a distinguished career at Ernst & Young. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from California State University Fresno and is a CPA.