Himax WE-I Plus AIoT Platform Receives Microsoft Azure IoT PnP Certification

TAINAN, Taiwan, March 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Himax Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: HIMX) (“Himax”), a leading supplier and fabless manufacturer of display drivers and other semiconductor products, today announced its ultralow power WE-I Plus AIoT Platform has been listed in the Azure Certified Device Catalog after receiving Microsoft Azure IoT PnP certification.

“The Microsoft Azure IoT Platform and Himax WE-I Plus AIoT Platform collectively create a powerful tool for our customers to unleash their creativity,” said Jordan Wu, President and Chief Executive Officer at Himax. ”We bring to market a reliable, secure and long battery life edge AI product, and make it easier and faster than ever.”

Ultralow Power WE-I Plus AIoT platform featuring NB-IoT for cloud connect
Himax WE-I Plus AIoT platform is composed of Himax’s ultralow power WE-I Plus endpoint AI processor, always-on image sensor and computer-vision AI algorithm, along with a 3rd party NB-IoT module, all operating in ultralow power, to act as an edge AI device in the Azure IoT cloud service ecosystem. Under the designated working environment at the edge, Himax WE-I Plus AIoT platform detects motion by AoS image sensor, can carry out customized AI-use-case operations, such as person detection, face detection, face recognition and object detection, by WE-I Plus and then output secure metadata over NB-IoT protocol to the Azure IoT cloud for further statistical data processing and analysis. In such a scenario, the Himax WE-I Plus AIoT platform can operate with just 4 AA batteries for more than one-year lifetime. By comparison other IoT devices with the same battery capacity and event trigger frequency, which transmit raw data rather than metadata, may result in much shorter battery life, in some cases even less than one month.

“Himax is a valued collaborator in our mission to make Azure IoT platform the go-to platform for designers of smart, connected devices,” said Sean Pien, Enterprise Commercial Lead at Microsoft Taiwan Corporation. “Moreover, Azure Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) accessed through WE-I Plus SDK tools integrates seamlessly with our Azure IoT platform, providing an easy and convenient means of connecting IoT endpoints and edge devices to the cloud.”

Azure IoT PnP certified WE-I Plus AIoT platform featuring Azure RTOS for quick and seamless Azure IoT cloud access
The Azure RTOS perfectly suits those high-security and ultralow-power centric edge devices that need to connect with Azure IoT cloud. WE-I Plus AIoT platform embedded with the Azure RTOS SDK has been optimized and granted Azure IoT PnP certification, allowing developers to quickly and seamlessly trial their proofs-of-concept and deploy their AI expertise with Azure IoT cloud. The SDK of WE-I Plus AIoT platform contains Azure RTOS sample code, which includes ThreadX real-time operating system using compact memory footprint, NetX and NetX Duo TCP/IP networking stacks, IP layer security (IPsec) and socket layer security (TLS) protocols. Greater connectivity and extensive security are therefore assured.

WE-I Plus listed in Azure Certified Device catalog:
https://devicecatalog.azure.com/devices/0a4dcf92-5fe9-4156-9699-ba9e5c15e03e

Further information and link to WE-I Plus AIoT platform embedded with Azure RTOS SDK tools at Himax GitHub:
https://github.com/HimaxWiseEyePlus/Himax-AIoT-NB-G1-SDK-Azure-RTOS

About Himax Technologies, Inc.

Himax Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIMX) is a fabless semiconductor solution provider dedicated to display imaging processing technologies. We are a worldwide market leader in display driver ICs and timing controllers used in TVs, laptops, monitors, smartphone, tablets, automotive, digital cameras, car navigation, virtual reality (VR) devices and many other consumer electronics devices. Additionally, we design and provide controllers for touch sensor displays, in-cell Touch and Display Driver Integration (TDDI) single-chip solutions, LED driver ICs, power management ICs, and LCOS micro-displays for augmented reality (AR) devices and head-up displays (HUD) for automotive. We also offer CMOS image sensors, wafer level optics for AR devices, 3D sensing and ultralow power smart sensing, which are used in a wide variety of applications such as smartphone, tablet, laptop, TV, PC camera, automobile, security, medical devices, home appliance and AIoT. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Tainan, Taiwan, Himax currently employs around 2,000 people from three Taiwan-based offices in Tainan, Hsinchu and Taipei and country offices in China, Korea, Japan, Israel and the US. Himax has 3,016 patents granted and 550 patents pending approval worldwide as of February 28th, 2021. Himax has retained its position as the leading display imaging processing semiconductor solution provider to consumer electronics brands worldwide.

http://www.himax.com.tw

Forward Looking Statements

Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially include, but not limited to, general business and economic conditions and the state of the semiconductor industry; market acceptance and competitiveness of the driver and non-driver products developed by the Company; demand for end-use applications products; reliance on a small group of principal customers; the uncertainty of continued success in technological innovations; our ability to develop and protect our intellectual property; pricing pressures including declines in average selling prices; changes in customer order patterns; changes in estimated full-year effective tax rate; shortages in supply of key components; changes in environmental laws and regulations; exchange rate fluctuations; regulatory approvals for further investments in our subsidiaries; our ability to collect accounts receivable and manage inventory and other risks described from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including those risks identified in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in its Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2019 filed with the SEC, as may be amended.

Company Contacts:

Eric Li, Chief IR/PR Officer
Himax Technologies, Inc.
Tel: +886-6-505-0880
Fax: +886-2-2314-0877
Email: hx_ir@himax.com.tw
www.himax.com.tw

Karen Tiao, Investor Relations
Himax Technologies, Inc.
Tel: +886-2-2370-3999
Fax: +886-2-2314-0877
Email: hx_ir@himax.com.tw
www.himax.com.tw

Mark Schwalenberg, Investor Relations - US Representative
MZ North America
Tel: +1-312-261-6430
Email: HIMX@mzgroup.us
www.mzgroup.us