So welcome to our Q1 investor conference again. Before our IRO Ronny is going to report the financial numbers to you. I would like to update some news. Yesterday, we just had our board meeting And because a few numbers of our independent directors are going to retire this year, So we are proposing 3 new So for the new candidates for our independent directors, We feel very fortunate and lucky to have Mr. Rishi Jin, who has a very long history in the telecom industry.
And also he is a very experienced and senior management in the telecom Industry and Company. And also we feel lucky to have Mr. Jack Huang, who is a very senior lawyer. And also the partner of the law firm and he has very he has many experiences in the MMA and we believe that With his joining that he can that we can benefit from his experience especially in the MMA side. Finally, we also have a new female candidate for our independent directors And I need the panel director who is Ms.
Rose Zhou And she is Ms. Rose Zhou And she has very she is very experienced expert in the Internet Industry and that is also the first time in history that we are having a new female independent director. So we are we feel very happy to have this new 3 directors. Hopefully, we can have the support from our shareholders in the shareholder meeting. So in terms of the financial numbers of Q1, Thanks to the overall healthy demand.
Q1 revenue was slightly above seasonal, up 30% year on year and only down 8% quarter on quarter. Q1 revenue was TWD72.5 with the little higher overhead costs for Q1. Gross profit was down 12% quarter on quarter, but up 47% year on year. Shipping margin in Q1 slightly contracted to 29.8% from 31.1% in Q4, but substantially increased from 26.5 percent a year ago. R and D expense increased by 17% compared to a year ago because of the higher investments into the growing areas such as our EV and IA businesses, But with a more favorable scale to R and D expense as a percentage of sales dropped to 8.9% in Q1 from 9.9% a year ago and only slightly increased 0.2 percentage point from 8.7% in Q4.
Likewise, SG and A expense as a percentage of sales also slightly increased to 10.5% in Q1 from 10.0% in Q4 because of the seasonality, but it dropped from 13.0% a year ago thanks to the vendor scale. As a result, all in the Q1 of 2020 and only increased moderately versus 18.7% in the Q4 of last year. With better GP margin and lower OpEx ratio, Operating profit in Q1 improved 279% versus a year ago, while seasonally declined 23% versus the Q4 of last year. The OB margin in Q1 was 10.3% versus 3.6% in Q1 of last year and 12.4% in Q4 of last year. In terms of the performance by segment, year on year we found the fastest growth in power electronics and followed by automation which mainly came from the Robust demand in China Iron market while infrastructure had the least growth due to the disadvantaged Business environment hurt by COVID-nineteen.
Sequentially, we saw a little further acceleration of IA business as well as our EV Solutions business performed seasonal decline for all other businesses. Earnings wise, we had purchased We have also signed year on year profit expansions for power electronics and automation, while we also fund year on year profit improvement in infrastructure from low base. Please note that we have changed the way we present the segment income since Q3 of last year. In the past, earnings of each segment on this page only stand for P and L of each business units. But since Q3, All the distributed expenses such as the corporate expenses have been elevated into each segment.
Non operating profit was around TWD1.3 billion in Q1, which was slightly better than usual. In Q1, we had $8,800,000 profit before tax, up 11% year on year and down 11% quarter on quarter. EBITDA in Q1 was RMB 13,100,000,000 NT dollars Q1 test expense was about NT1.77 billion dollars representing a stable 20% effective test rate. The net profit after test in Q1 was CNY6.58 billion dollars up 2 18% year on year and down 11% quarter on quarter. So the EPS in Q1 was 2.53.
Okay. So the first question is was the I mean what is the approximate impact of the materials and Components price increase on the company's GP margin in Q1, can this be passed on to the customers? Will this get worse in Q2? I think in general the impact is limited because we always have a very long term business and the Contracts with our customers, so we have already prepared for the orders, I mean, in terms of the materials and components. Well, of course, for some of the urgent orders that we still need to prepare as strong components and materials for them.
For those I mean the cost might be a little bit higher, but that I think that should be okay. The impact is limited at present. In Q2 and second half. I think if there are no surprises in the Q2, all departments will see seasonal growth. The growth rate from season to season seems to be fairly even, mainly benefiting from the more working days in Q2.
We shall continue to see the as year on year growth of our EV business and there should be some growth for other businesses. And also I mean Besides our EV Solutions business, we also see some further acceleration in our industrial automation business as well as a little more acceleration in our telecom power business as well. Okay. So how much does the copper price account for the I mean accounts for the cost of goods sold. Can the rise in copper We don't use raw material copper very much.
We only use While the price of copper wires does not fluctuate as much as copper raw materials, Currently this part has little impact on our financials. Okay. So, can expenses still be effectively come short this year? What is the target of OPEX and sales ratio? OPEX alert sales ratio?
If we can see the growth acceleration for this year, operating expense ratio should be I mean should have a chance to We will still actively make the investments that should be made especially in R and D of the new products and new technologies. Is there still room for improvement in DET's 3B margin and OB margin? It depends on the data scale and product mix but because Delta Thailand is still a listed company We will not speak for them here. So, the last question is, can you talk about the demand status and outlook for laptops and servers. Is the shipment affected by the shortage of components and visibility for the owners?
The demand for laptops and servers still seems to be quite strong in this short run. Although the shortage of parts and components is hurt, I mean, from time to time, but this is mainly in downstream assemblers, which is an indirect impact for us and should be a short term phenomenon. However, the visibility of this business is low and it is difficult for us to make any forecast. Does the outbreak of Tobey India That the company's investment plan in India, how much capacity do we currently have in India? How much the Operation of the battery affected by this.
Yes, I think the current I mean situation in India is Indeed, worrying and it's quite serious. Now, We also have, I mean, some confirmed cases, I mean, in the local companies. The only thing we can do is we will try to do our best to help and fight the pandemic through the Delta Thailand. However, at this stage, India accounts for a very low part of our overall operations, so the impact is still limited. Do you have any target for initial automation this year?
Innovance is quite optimistic about their growth. Is this also the case where you has the competition from Chinese Companies Intelsified. I mean the industrial automation market is still, I mean it's very large And we have, I mean, this internal goal of double digit growth every year. The Chinese market was already very Strong last year and the base I mean the base was relatively high, but we still maintain a good growth. I mean, a pretty nice growth, I mean, so far.
In terms of the competition, I think the competition is everywhere. So the competitors are not only in China, Also from other areas, I think that only from other regions, the only thing we can do is we just we need to equip ourselves with better technologies and better services to our customers. Can you tell us more about the benefits that our own batteries automation? I mean how much the batch automation has brought to the company's GP margin in the past few years? I think we continue to strengthen our Internal smart manufacturing that has seen some cost effectiveness in the past 2 or 3 years.
How much I mean, sorry, however, how much it can be depends on the status of each unit and the changes in the Production line. The telecom power has The market has been relatively sluggish in the past few years. Is this year more optimistic? Does 5 gs deployment in various countries see an acceleration? We have seen some acceleration in telecom currency since the Q4 of last year, mainly because of the improvement in the order, I mean situation in the United States as well as the deployment of 5 gs.
Currently the market is worrying about the construction, I mean, slowdown of data center. What do you think about this? I think of course in the short term, The demand for I mean infrastructure or the construction I mean plan for infrastructure or IT equipments will of course I mean change I mean our infra fluctuate and see ups and downs in the short run. But in the long run, driven by, I mean, the growth of Artificial intelligence applications, I believe there is still a lot of room for growth. The EV business continue to grow in the Q1.
Does it help the loss situation? What percentage of revenue is expected to account for this year and last year. Our EV solution business our EV business accounted for about 5% of total sales in the Q1. And it seems that it will continue to rise in the short term, but the precise ratio still depends on the status of The loss, however the loss I mean situation has not changed much from last year because I mean the main reason is that despite substantial growth in the revenues our Investment has also accelerated Then hopefully that we are able to see the breakeven going, I mean within 1 to 2 years. Do you have any exposure to the China EV market?
Yes, of course we do have I mean exposure in the China market, but we mainly work with Western OEM, which are the carmakers. We have the joint venture with those Western auto makers in the China market, but we don't really work directly with the China with the Chinese Any exposure to the e bus and e motorcycle, e bike or Electric Industrial Vehicles, yes of course We have been working on this kind of electric vehicles not only on the commercial cars but also on other kinds of the vehicles. So we already have like 1% to 2% revenue from these other Applications. What's your capacity expansion plan for passive? How much CapEx do you need?
Given the strong demand for passive components and robust Demand in the market, we continue to And especially we will Have more new capacity in our Wujiang plant and new Thailand plant. In terms of the CapEx for last year and this year that we have I mean the Board meeting, I mean the Board of SingTech has approved that about RMB1.6 billion and RMB1.2 billion. And those plans are in the execution. So how do you see I will look for the Q2 and of course for the second half of this year. So, currently we still expect a normal seasonality.
Normally that we will have like maybe Double digit sequential growth, I mean, in the second quarter and then we might have maybe high single digit So more people are taking the vaccines in Taiwan And people are allowed and able to travel again. I think it's Joe Very far away from I mean, even people are taking the vaccines is still quite far away from that. People are allowed to travel around. So even that I mean people are allowed to travel around. I don't think that we will have Apple has announced their strong results just last night.
But they remained I mean in terms of the shipment in Q2, they remained rapidly conservative because of the shortage of the shortage in components. Do you see any impact on this? And what is the reason for the strong and Fast growth for same chat given I mean The slow demand for smartphones. I think currently for the second quarter, We remain cautiously optimistic. We actually have very little control of the supply chain.
In terms of the customer I mean in terms of the customer's needs, We will try to fulfill. There are 2 main reasons for the I mean the fast growth for our passive One is the penetration rate in 5 gs smartphones. Another one is We started to see some contribution from the auto applications. Can you talk about your expectation, I mean for your EV solution business as well as your EV charger business. For the Q1 of this year, Our EV Solutions business actually slight I mean grow has our EV Solutions business grew slightly more than 100%.
And for our external EV chargers that we had 15% growth. So considering the base, the comparison base, I think we're in the second half. We might see Literally, I mean, slowdown of the growth in terms of the growth right in the onboard business. But for the external chargers I think it will accelerate. Okay.
So can you please talk about the current situation, I mean of Delta Thailand? Will the situation in India I think I have answered similar questions before Because Delta Thailand is still a public real estate company, So we are not able to speak further. Do you worry about the double bookings from customer? How do you deal with this risk? I think at And the inventory at the sales and in transit is still lower than the normal And because I mean the production cycle of our products is quite Usually only a few days double booking will not be Risks, big risks for us.
However, if there are serious problems, I mean, in the supply chain resulting in some substantial fluctuations In subsequent orders, it will be reflected in the stability of our businesses, but this is very difficult for us to control. So how much opportunity do or How much opportunity do you think that the new U. S. Government's infrastructure Areas, I think the new I mean the big Infrastructure plan, I mean, of the U. S.
Government will mainly I mean, we will mainly We're For example our 10 kilowatt renewable powers and our energy storage system as well as our EV Infrastructure. We have seen, I mean, the slow improvement in your network business for a while. Well, we see any improvement for this year. I think that we have, I mean, talked about this before. We actually have carried out some reorganization for our networking business.
And hopefully we can see their results as soon as possible. So how does the sharp increase in logistics affect your costs. The increase in logistics did Cause some additional burden on us in the first quarter, mainly in the transportation of parts or semi finished products, I mean between different countries, But the proportion is not big. Shipping costs for external shipments are usually absorbed directly by our customers, so which has very little impact on us. So, we found another question from 1, Do you have any plans to increase your inventory levels?
I don't think that we have such Because currently we have the materials or components, we will try our best to I mean to complete the production or manufacturing of You see that I mean Delta, as a company that you are able to seize more opportunities, I mean, from the new U. S. Government. I think for the new U. S.
Government they have I mean reemphasized The importance of and the seriousness of climate change, I do think that is a very good thing because In delta we have been always very concerning about the risks of climate change. So we are really happy to see that this issue is coming back to the table. And as a company, we always believe that it's actually easier To save the electricity than to generate electricity, it's very So that's also what we have been providing Value to our customers through many different Business lines, For example, we have this smart building business and then we also we are able to Help our customers we can help to our customers to be more energy saving in their buildings. And I think that is our page. Do you have any visibility for your EV business?
And any customers that I mean the names of the customers You can mention for this business. I think as I just said, I think many Governments and many countries they are working on their infrastructure for EV. So we will continue to see we shall continue to see the higher penetration rate of EVRs. In terms of the names of customers, we are not able to reveal. Okay.
So can you share more about like for your building motivation business? I think that we actually have different solutions for the building automation But we do have a pitch to improve or increase the power efficiency for the buildings. Because we try to help, we want to help our customers to increase their power efficiency have reduced the energy consumption with our technologies and solutions. And within the building, Normally the air conditioning consumes I mean the largest amount of energy. So where we have some solutions I mean to tackle with such a problem?
So can you give us some update on your MMA progress? Given that I mean Given that I mean The strong performance, I mean, in the small markets worldwide, would you worry about I think we have always we have been always Keeping an eye on the potential M and A target, Of course, we wouldn't, I mean, like to overpay for I mean the companies are the acquisitions because we are not a financial investor. So I think if the I mean we can see a very evident mean, seen the trade with company that we You might still like to have them with us. Okay. For this question, I will have our I would like to have our CIO Chu, I mean to answer and give us more color on this.
And I think that Since Q3 of last year, actually the whole MMA market I mean, as JADO has been And according to the 3rd party Estimate, one third party estimate for this year that you might have 6 Overall growth for MMA market and for next year you might have like about 4% growth for next year. I think that is for the overall market, but we only focus on specific Company or industry. Of course, I mean, even the valuation, I mean the whole market, I mean, it's getting higher. Now of course, we still need to adjust our Methodologies, I mean, our strategies in terms of the MMA. And I think that a good thing, I mean, a good news for us is We actually as we just mentioned at the beginning that we have a new independent director, I mean the candidate, which is Mr.
Wang Lu Chan, who is a very senior that is being run slower in the MMA area. Hopefully that we with his help that we can have more progress and improvements in the MMA side. And okay, I think that those are all the questions. So, thank you for joining our virtual conference again. So, thank you.
We will see you next time. Thank you.