Welcome everyone joining us today for the Melexis first quarter 2026 earnings call. I am Philip Ludwig, Investor Relations Director, and with us today are our CEO, Marc Biron, and CFO, Karen Van Griensven. Earlier today, we published our press release and presentation, which can be found on our website. We will start the call with some brief remarks before taking questions, starting with Marc Biron. Marc, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Philip. Hello, everyone, and welcome to this earnings call. I will share some highlights about our business performance and strategic progress, and then our CFO, Karen Van Griensven, will provide the financial overview and outlook. The results of our first quarter were fully in line with our expectations, taking into account the seasonal factor like the Chinese New Year and the changes of the automotive incentive schemes. Importantly, our profitability grew already in the first quarter, driven by our operational improvements and disciplined cost control. We recorded a 2% increase in sales year-over-year, which put us on track to achieve our first half 2026 sales outlook. Automotive applications have represented 89% of our total sales this quarter. Our solutions continue to fully capture the structural growth trends of electrification, ADAS, and premiumization.
For example, we are growing multiple opportunities in thermal management with our Triphibian pressure sensor and motor drivers. Triphibian, a world premiere launch in 2024, provides accurate and robust pressure sensor technology which enable EV range extension by optimizing battery performance. Furthermore, we are seeing increased opportunities in ADAS as the industry continues its structural shift towards steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire architecture. Those are safety critical applications which fit perfectly with our portfolio of inductive and magnetic position sensor. Outside of automotive, we have introduced two more new product this quarter. The first one is a new motor drivers designed for cooling fans which are used in servers and data centers. We have also a high precision inductive position sensor tailored for the operation of mechanical joints in robots.
Combined with our unique Tactaxis technology, which provide the sense of touch to the robot, we are accelerating the development of physical AI. Last week, we were proud to join the Hannover Messe with our customer, OYMotion, to demonstrate how we are working together to integrate our Tactaxis finger module into the next- gen robotic hands. This is a critical step to deliver the human-like dexterity needed to bridge the gap between physical AI hardware and intelligent touch. In Q1, we have posted visible progress in our strategic objectives. We have strengthened our presence in China by establishing a wholly foreign-owned enterprise. This WFOE is a pivotal step in our localization strategy, providing the foundation for end-to-end supply chain. Shortly following the launch of our integrated snubber at the end of last year, we have already received an innovation award from one of our top Chinese customers.
This expansion of our product portfolio opened up new power module customers and captures growing 800 volt application in autos and in energy storage systems. Last but not least, we have achieved an important milestone with one of our top Chinese OEM customers, as we have been recently recognized as a direct supplier, confirming our very good relationship with them. I will now hand it over to Karen to comment on our financials.
Thank you, Marc, and hello, everybody. The sales for the first quarter were EUR 202.1 million, and the euro- U.S. dollar exchange rate evolution had a negative impact of 4% on sales compared to the same quarter last year, but no impact compared to the previous quarter. The gross result was EUR 80.6 million, representing a gross profit margin of 39.9%, and this is a 7% increase in gross results compared to Q1 of last year, demonstrating the recovery from cost of yield improvements as anticipated, and ongoing cost control actions on top of that. Operating expenses remained controlled, with R&D at 14.5% of sales. G&A was 6.8%, and selling expenses were 2.2%.
This led to an EBIT of 16.4% of sales, a 14% increase year-over-year. The net result was EUR 23.1 million or EUR 0.57 per share. Looking ahead now. Turning to our outlook, Melexis confirms its guidance. We expect sales in the first half of 2026 to be around the same level as the previous year. We expect sales in the second half of 2026 to grow compared to the first half. For the first half of 2026, we expect a gross profit margin around 40% and an operating margin around 17%. No change in guidance. This is taking into account a euro-U.S. dollar exchange rate of 1.17.
For the full year 2026, we expect CapEx to be around EUR 40 million. This concludes my remarks.
Thank you, Karen and Marc. For the Q&A session now, thank you for asking one question and one follow-up at a time to allow everybody to put their question. If you have more questions, of course, you can rejoin the queue. I'd like to ask the operator to give the instructions for the Q&A. Operator?
Ladies and gentlemen if you wish to ask a question please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad. The first question comes from Janardan Menon from Jefferies. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to get an idea of how you're seeing customer ordering behavior on the automotive side. Are customers beginning to look a little bit more confident? Are they giving you more visibility on to the second half of the year? If you could just answer that, you know, separately for Chinese demand versus outside China, that would be great.
Thank you for the question. One quarter ago, actually three months ago, we have indeed mentioned that our customer have informed us that the second half of the year will be better than the first half. I would say this is indeed confirmed in the order intake. We see clearly order intake improving week- after- week, day- after- day. To come back on your specific question on China, I would say the order intake is increasing in all geography, but for sure in China also. We have also discussion with our distributor that also have a little positive sentiment.
You know, last year you did about 5% growth, half- on- half. Do you think you could do a little bit more than that this year, or is that visibility not yet there at this point in time?
I would say we are more confident now than three months ago because we have a better visibility for Q2 and Q3. Yeah, we don't want to give a clear, a concrete guidance for the second half because of all the uncertainties around us. Clearly, we have a better visibility now than three months ago.
Understood. Just a brief follow-up to Karen, perhaps. How do you expect your inventory levels to move in the second half through Q2, Q3, Q4?
The inventory levels of Melexis, yeah, they came down a little bit recently. We expect throughout the year. Difficult to say, but stabilized by the end of the year, there might still be some increase. It will depends a bit also on the behavior we see in the market because we mentioned it already previous quarter, there are some signs of shortage that is also impacting automotive due to the high growth in other areas, yes, like the servers, AI servers, but it is impacting automotive as well.
Understood. Thank you very much.
The next question comes from Alexander Peterc from Bernstein. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning, and thank you for taking my questions. I just have two. The first one is just Melexis versus the broad sector context, and the second one more specifically on China. For the first question, we've seen a very broad-based beat and raise in this quarter across the sector, and particularly among your analog and discrete peers, including Texas, STM, NXP. Could you give us the main reasons why your inline quarter and just reiterated guidance with still seemingly low visibility on second half versus first half, why is that lagging so much the more constructive narrative in your peer group? I have a follow-up. Thank you.
I think if you compare with our peers, we are very automotive focused in our case. I can repeat what I have answered before. We really see a better on order intake from our customer. We have also a good discussion with the distributor also in China. This is indeed showing a positive trend, given all the uncertainties, we don't want to give a concrete guidance. Yeah, as I mentioned before.
Okay
we have better visibility in Q2 and Q3, which give us more confidence.
Okay. That's clear. Thank you very much. The second question now on China. I see the formalization of your wholly foreign-owned enterprise in Shanghai as a positive step. I see also your APAC revenue that is down to 60% of the mix versus 64% last year. Is that due to any specific price pressure, or is it just the way all your product cycle works in China? Do you actually see any pressure to lower prices to maintain the volumes there? Thank you.
We see since some quarter that we have in China a good quarter followed by a less good quarter. There is this alternative good and bad quarter since a while. From my perspective, we are now going out of this alternative pattern because it really seems that the customer are more confident. Also, the inventory is very low in China. We see that we are gaining some business in China also. As I mentioned, the order retake in it is good everywhere and also good in China. I do believe that this alternating pattern will stop probably in the future.
Okay.
There is no structural reason.
Thank you very much.
Yeah, indeed. There is no structural reason.
Okay. That is clear. Thank you.
The next question is coming from Guy Sips from KBC Securities. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Yes. Some of my questions are already answered, but I want to focus a little bit on the non-automotive part. From what moment on can we expect, let's say a structural pickup? Is that already starting this year, or do you expect that only to start in, let's say, 2027 or beyond? Thank you.
Yeah. I assume you refer mainly to the, to the robotic, where we have indeed a lot of-
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
A lot of activity. I would summarize the situation as follow. In 2025 and 2026, we are working a lot to create opportunities with customer, to support the customer, to grow the funnel of opportunity. In 2027, 2028, we will see that the revenue is growing and customer will be in ramp- up and the volume will increase. After 2028, it will be very visible, let's say, in the figures of Melexis.
And-
How do I see that?
Yes. Can you quantify that a little bit? What do you mean with very visible? Is that the non-automotive part will structurally below, or the non-automotive part will be structurally above 25% of total sales, or can you quantify that a little bit?
To reach 25% of total sales, it will take a while. I think it will be somewhere in 2030, according to our outlook.
Okay. Okay. That will help. Okay. Thank you.
The next question is coming from Amelia Banks from Bank of America. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. My first question is on gross margins, which stepped up 150 basis points quarter-over-quarter. Could you walk us through the key drivers of the improvement and, if possible, quantify the contribution from cost of yield, pricing and any inventory revaluations or one-off? Additionally, how do you see this shaping out in H2 and beyond? Thank you.
The main contributor is definitely cost of yield improvement. It is compensated by some negative effect from price erosion and also increase of, for instance, gold price. That cost of yield improvement is there, is structural, is there to stay.
Okay. Brilliant. Just in terms of inventory revaluation, we saw that inventory stepped down a bit quarter-on-quarter. Just how much did that come into the gross margins?
Yeah. The step down is indeed mainly due to revaluation. That's because of volume. The inventory decrease. The impact today is still limited, I mean, it has a negative effect today, probably for another couple of quarters, then we will see a positive effect.
Okay. Brilliant. Thank you. Just my second question is on the new products that we saw in 1Q, the servers and robotics. Just wondering if you could share sort of where you are in the ramps for these. Are you in volume production or is it more in the sampling sort of qualification stage? Secondly, how would you characterize your competitive position in these markets today?
The new product that we have launched in Q1 are indeed in the beginning of the funnel opportunities. They don't create yet revenue, but they are at customer and we use them to promote them at customer. They will start the characterization and the qualification phase. It is correct that those two product, one is more related to robotic, the other one is more related to data center. They both have a big traction to our customer. I think we have really been able to solve an unmet need of the customer. Yeah, the business increase takes time because of the characterization, qualification phase, ramp- up and so on.
Amazing. Thank you so much.
The next question is coming from François Bouvignies from UBS. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. I just wanted to come back on your H1 comment when you said flat versus, you know, last year. When I look at Q1, I mean, at constant currency, you are growing 6% year-on-year. If I put flat in H1, that would imply that the growth is lower year-on-year in Q2, which is a bit at odds against, you know, against what we see from peers. We see a gradual recovery across industrial and automotive. Can you explain why your growth year-on-year would be lower in Q2 versus Q1? That's my first question.
Yeah, I think we see also a gradual recovery as I have mentioned. I think the order book is indeed moving positively in Q2 and also in Q3.
Is there any reason why the growth would be lower? I mean, the year-over-year growth is declining in Q2 if we take your guidance or maybe you are just conservative in H1.
I think we mentioned that indeed the H1 of 2026 will be similar to H1 of 2025. Okay, similar means that it could be a bit above or the same. I mean, similar must be taken in the broad sense, let's say.
Okay, thank you. Maybe, we see some cost inflation across the industry, and we have seen as well some peers increasing pricing, also some tightness of products. I mean, how do you see your pricing here? Because I guess you don't, you don't have much data center, you know, exposure. Automotive, we don't see yet on the automotive side some pricing increase, but we do see some inflation across the board. How should we think about your pricing strategy through the year?
We have just, I would say three months ago, we have finalized all the price discussion with our customer. We want to acknowledge, say, the good relationship with our customer. It means that for the time being, we don't plan to change the price to our customer.
Even if you have cost inflation?
Sorry?
Even if you have the cost inflation, I mean, that would be at the expense of your cost margin.
For the time being, as Karen mentioned, we are making very good improvement on the cost base. Let's say on the cost of the supply chain, the cost of yield and so on. I would say we have some headroom in case of.
Got it. Thank you.
The next question is coming from Robert Sanders from Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning. If I compare your sort of revenue trajectory in the last couple of years with Elmos, they've clearly outperformed you both in lighting, but also because they have less position in the powertrain. They're more stronger in the ADAS L2+. Can you remind us of your position in ADAS L2+, given that seems to be a bit more of a reliable growth factor at the moment within automotive? I have a couple of follow-ups. Thank you.
If we consider, let's say, the number of opportunities and how the opportunities are moving up in the funnel, the two main growing opportunities are brake-by-wire and steer-by-wire, which is indeed an ADAS application. We see that we have a very good traction for those application. I confirm that we are well-positioned, and it's one of the growing opportunities in our funnel.
The same is true for thermal management.
Yeah. The other one, indeed, Karen, thank you. The other one is thermal management, okay, which is not ADAS, but it's for sure powertrain electrification. This is the second family of product that are growing fast in our in our funnel.
The products behind are mainly position sensors and drivers. These are products that are in general sold at a very broad customer base, so are much less inclined to fluctuate a lot.
Yeah. Those are at least the brake-by-wire, the steer-by-wire are critical application in term of safety. It's why our product are well-positioned because of our experience in those critical applications.
And it's that same-
Got it.
Expertise we leverage now in the robotics.
Got it. Can you just comment a bit on your lighting business? I mean, other vendors have talked about there being quite brutal price pressure. If I just look at your underperformance in the last couple of years, it does look like there's been much greater price pressure in that business where you had success. I mean, can you confirm that? Going forward, could you get the margin in that business back to, you know, historical levels? Or is it just gonna be a bit more of a difficult market for you guys?
No, the lighting business is indeed a business with price pressure. It's everywhere, but also in China. It is why those are products that we have diversified the way for fab supply chain in order to be able to compete with the new price in the market. It's also those products that we have developed an OSAT in China where we assemble and we test in China. Those are products that are processed in these OSATs, also for the same reason, because of the price pressure. We have focused.
So-
Indeed, an alternative supply chain for this lighting product, in order to be able to compete, in the market.
Does that mean then X-Fab will license the 0.11 micron SOI technology to Huahong or someone in China? I mean, isn't that a business you traditionally were using SOI?
Yeah, I mean, this is a question for X-Fab, not for Melexis. The lighting product that we develop in another supply chain is not using the SOI technology. It's using the
Okay, got it.
BCD technology.
Okay. Got it. Thanks a lot.
The next question is coming from Marc Hesselink from ING. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you. First question, coming back on the inventory. I think throughout 2024 and 2025, you have been building up this inventory in preparation for stronger quarters to come. Now you see a small decline. I think you just said that was because of revaluations. At least it was the first time you see a bit of a decline. Is that because you think the inventory is now at the right level? Are you also anticipating maybe a bit of a different trajectory in the recovery there?
No, probably it will increase throughout the year again to anticipate also, yeah, the potential allocations issues that might arise. I see it rather going up than down in the current circumstances.
Okay, clear. Thanks. Then I also want to come back on robotics. The press release that you sent out on the OYMotion joint venture work together. Can you give a bit more detail on how this is going to work? Your providing the sensor, obviously. I think at an earlier stage at the Capital Markets Day, you also discussed maybe you would make the full module yourself. Is that now out of the way? Is that going to be done by your partner? How are you going to market the product, find the clients? Seems interesting, maybe a bit more detail there.
Yeah. Yeah, indeed. OYMotion provide the full robotic hand. Melexis provide, let's say, part of the fingers, what you call the fingertip, which is, let's say, the top part of the fingers. In this top part of the fingers, we have our Tactaxis technology, we have the magnet, and we have all the plastic, let's say, around. The idea is that this top of the fingers provided by Melexis can be inserted on the finger of OYMotion. It's really a module, a fingertip module that we provide.
Customized module, yeah.
Yeah.
In fact, today, we see that the different robotic customer have different requirement in terms of finger or in terms of hand. You have some hand with thick fingers, some hand with thin fingers. I mean, the fingers are not standardized. It means that we are standardizing also our fingertip module in order to match, let's say, the shape of the hand. This OYMotion-
Just-
This is one example. We have multiple customer. It's why we need indeed to shape this fingertip, depending on the customer.
Okay. I've got it. Thanks.
I was in China in January, and at this time, we were, let's say supporting 60 customer. I was again in China in March, and at this time, we were supporting 80 customer. The number of customer keep increasing.
That's great. Thanks.
The next question is coming from Javier Correonero from Morningstar Equity Research. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I have another one about the OYMotion partnership. I'm trying to figure out how much Tactaxis content, one of these robotic hands could have. And from the pictures in your website and in OYMotion website, I understand it could be one to two sensors per finger. Is this correct? My second question is, what is the average selling price of a Tactaxis sensor? If you cannot disclose the exact number, can you give us an indication of what the price is compared to the average, sorry, to the average automotive sensor? Thank you.
Yeah, for the number of sensors per fingers, it depend on the fingers. It's between one and three. On the middle fingers, the three middle fingers, it's three. On the two extreme fingers or edge fingers, it's one or two, depending on the hand. From a price perspective, we cannot give a indication because also we are in a immature market and for sure the price will go down in the future. I mean, what is important to understand, we provide much more than a chip. The regular Melexis business is to provide an IC.
In this case, we really provide a module with a chip, with a magnet, with some more compound, and on top of that, all the plastic of the module. This is not the same kind of price tag.
Thank you.
The next question is coming from Ruben Devos from Kepler Cheuvreux. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Still on robotics. I think you just talked about the 80 projects underway, particularly in China. I think in the last call it was about 60. Just curious whether you could break that down a bit more in terms of where all these projects actually sit, right? Like, what proportion of that would be, let's say, early stage or evaluations? What portion might be for design wins? What might be actual, be close to production at this stage?
In 2025, last year then, we had already some design wins, and we have some of the product are really in design win. For the rest, it's really difficult to answer in accurate way the question because there is indeed project everywhere in the funnel. I can say that we have already booked some design win. As I mentioned, I do believe that in 2025, 2026 we will continue to move the product in the funnel, and the real revenue will start in 2027 and 2028. It's difficult to give a more accurate answer because there is really product everywhere in the opportunity funnel.
Maybe more specific then, referring to that significant inductive position sensor design win, could you maybe give there a bit more detail on timing and scale?
We have, I would say for the time being, we have three main type of product in used in robotic. The position sensor that can be inductive or magnetic. It's to measure the position of the joint. This is the first type of product. The second type of product is the drivers in order to actuate the joint. We can actuate the big joint of the arm or the big joint of the leg, but we can also actuate the small joint in the hand. If you look at the robotic hand from OYMotion, you see that there is all the hand, all the fingers can be moved. In all those fingers there is a driver and a position sensor.
The third category of product is the Tactaxis created to give the sense of touch of those products. To answer your question, indeed, one of the first design win was the inductive sensor for the joint of the robot. On this one, we have regular order and the production is ramping up. We have also design win for the drivers, and the production will start and the revenue will start to increase toward the end of this year. For the tactile sensor, yeah, we are still in the characterization qualification at our customer.
All right. Thanks a lot for those comments. Just a final question for Karen. I think it was said that pricing in 2026 would be broadly flat with mixed sort of offsetting price pressure. Just curious, three months into the year, is that still playing out as expected? Maybe which product lines are actually driving that mix benefit today?
Yeah. That is obviously the price erosion. That is the mix effect. Yes, that is a compensation partially, I wouldn't say completely, of the mix effect on the average selling price. That's correct. Difficult to know exactly where that will end because some products indeed, like the drivers, also some position sensors, they help in the mix. If they grow faster than others, that will improve that effect.
Okay. Thank you very much.
We have now a follow-up question from Janardan Menon from Jefferies. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. I was just wanting to follow up on Karen's comment that inventories will probably rise because you think there could be allocation down the line, and you want to be prepared for that. I was just wondering, are you seeing any tightness in any of your product lines? If so, you know, which product line, and is that an X-Fab situation? What makes you think that your products specifically, because I understand there is tightness outside, but given that, you know, your production is predominantly coming out of X-Fab, you know, what makes you think that you could be on allocation in the medium term?
No. Today, the worries are mostly on the assembly and also our internal test. Most of the inventory we have is in wafers, but they are not packaged, they are not tested. That is today the first worry, but it doesn't exclude that, yeah, also sooner or later, wafers might be a concern, but it is not our main concern today. It's mainly test and assembly.
This is test and assembly at, let's say some of your Malaysian subcontractors or companies like that, basically.
Indeed. could be internally.
Internally.
Via-
Are you already tight on the subcontractors today? Are you seeing extension of lead times?
No. No. It's something we are monitoring closely.
Understood. Thank you very much.
We have the next follow-up question from Marc Hesselink from ING. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.
Yes, thanks. The follow-up. Looking at the tax, I think for a very long time now, you had always had like 15%-20% tax. Now in the last quarter, you're trending towards the top end of that. Is there something that changed, or you just had a bit of timing that the last three quarters you were towards the high end of that range?
Yeah. It can fluctuate from quarter- to- quarter, but structurally, we always said it will be between 15% and 20%, and we expect it to be rather closer to 15% than 20%.
Okay. Clear.
There can be deviations from quarter-on-quarter. Yeah.
Okay.
There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing remarks.
Thank you, operator. In summary, we have delivered a first quarter in line with our expectations, and we confirm our first half year guidance. We are systematically implementing our China strategy to remain a leading provider of critical sensors and driver solutions, increasingly via our local supply chain. As a group, we continue to launch record number of new products, creating traction with customers for automotive and non-automotive applications. Thank you for joining our call today, and we look forward to sharing our progress with you when we report on our second quarter on July 29th. Goodbye, and thank you.
Thanks for joining today's call. You may now disconnect.