Welcome to the MediaTek 2018 First Quarter Investors Conference Call. Your speakers today are David Kuo, MediaTech, CFO and FOXman and Jesse Huang. Media Tech's Manager of Investor Relations. Ms. Jesse Wang will report quarter results first and Mr.
Betty Koon will provide prepared remarks. After that, we will open for Q And A. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Ms. Jesse Wang. Jesse, please go ahead.
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to MediaTek's 1st Quarter 2018 Conference Call. Is for informational purposes only not intended for investment wise. Neither the issuer nor any of the independent factors is liable for any actions, particularly in reliance on content content hearing. Mediatek provides non TIFRS financial measures and supplemental information.
Hermit's distribution is made in accordance with financial statements based on PIFRS. I'm authorized recording or redistribution of the video audio text in the presentation content of this teleconference truly prohibit. By participating in this teleconference, you agreed to accept the foregoing trends in the competition. Now let's start with the 2018 first quarter financial results. The currency here is the empty dollar.
Revenue for the quarter was $49,700,000,000. Down 17.8% sequentially and down 11.5% year over year. Gross margin over quarter was 38.4%. Up one percentage points sequentially and upward 0.9 percentage points year over year. Operating expenses for the quarter were $17,200,000,000 compared with $22,300,000,000 in the previous quarter and $17.6 $1,000,000,000 in the same period last year.
Operating income for the quarter was $1,900,000,000 up 49.5 percent sequentially and up 59.2 percent year over year. Operating margin for the quarter was 3.9%. Compared with 2.1% in the previous quarter and the 2.2% in the same period last year. Net income of this quarter was $2,700,000,000 compared with $10,200,000,000 in the previous quarter and the $6,600,000,000 in the year ago quarter. Net profit margin for the quarter was 5.4% compared with 15.8% in the previous quarter and 11.80 8% in the year ago quarter.
EPS for the quarter was $1.69, compared with $6.5 in the previous quarter and $4.29 in the same quarter last year. Please note that Net income's net profit margins, EPS for the previous year ago quarter was both in Q1 of non operating disposal gains, which was not included in the first quarter. We also provide non TFR financial measures, of which exclude share based compensation amortization of acquisition related assets and tax effects. Please refer to earnings press press release and the presentation for details. Now I would like to turn the call to CFO, Mr.
David Good for prepared remarks.
Good afternoon or good morning depending on where you are. Now I'm gonna go through, start the 3, provide some more detail for the 3 major business segments. I will start from mobile computing mobile computing, by the way, is, which including a smartphone and tablet. I think for, 1st quarter, for this quarter, overcomputing's account for roughly 30 to 35 percent of our overall 1st quarter revenue. I think for 1st quarters, we have pretty good quarters, for both for Pakistan again and also for gross margin improvement, I don't know, smartphone product.
Especially for our new Helios P Sixty product, which, is the first one in Sky to integrate APU and also we partnered with several, artificial intelligence vendors, which is starting to shift, small, very small volume in Q1. And I think we will see some much stronger, shipments in Q2. And, also, we will also like to bring it up, you really iterate that. Media has, like, been, investing 5 g aggressively. Currently are posting subsea speakers and also for millimeter wave.
Currently, I think we are targeting to have, 5 g3 commercial launch in 2019. That's, a quick update for mobile computing. Now I'm gonna move on to, the growth factors. The growth sector, which including IoT product, PMIC, power engine IC, and also our customer, design asset shift. In Q1, the whole growth sectors account for roughly 30 to 35 percent of all four revenue.
I think with growth sectors earlier last year's earlier this year than late last year's, what kind of indicate last year the growth rate of what's really strong, I believe, last year year over year growth rate was more than 30%. And for this year, the guidance for the full year, the guidance that we've, is also we're looking for 2 digit, growth for this year. I think for 1st quarter and also with our 2nd quarter visibility, we feel fairly comfortable that first half of this year, we see a pretty strong year over year growth, which is a double digit growth this year. Looking to the second half of this year, we're still looking for a pretty healthy growth, but given the fact, starting from second half last year's, the base, was very high I think in terms of the year over year growth rate, we'll be slightly down a little bit. But, hopefully, we're still looking for a pretty healthy growth rate, for the bit too long term.
Again, double digit growth rate, that's what I mean by the healthy growth rate. But a little bit more detail on the growth sectors, especially with some pretty good updates and growth in our asset business. Again, for the asset business, on top of our current consumer product asset business, We are also seeing a pretty aggressively, marching to the new segments. So we announced our first, 7 little better a set of call tools, 50, 50, 50 gigahertz IP on the 30th side, particularly in the notes. I mean, currently, media attacks want a few companies who can provide a comprehensive product portfolio on the 35p all the way up to a 12, gigahertz IP.
And coupled with our SOT integration capability and the process and technology, we do believe passing business will provide a pretty good long term growth opportunity, not only on a consumer product, but also right now, in this high speed IO, that's going for what we believe, which includes, AI and also other areas as well. The next thing in this segment is a PV business. I think for the power measurement I see, this is, this quarter, we'll see a healthy growth. I think for the payment I see, which including we have a different exposure on different segment, which including PC, smartphone, customer products, I think for, but the highlight of this quarter is actually we, the new product into the SSD market can be proven and start to to shift. We hope, double provide a new growth driver for our PB business.
The last but not least is really, I would I think IoT this quarter Q1 and Q2 are relatively stable. But for IoT, I think for this quarters, we have a joint developments with Microsoft to launch our IoT solution, which basically connect directly to Microsoft, his cloud service, And for a lots of, some of the device vendors, all we need to do is just purchase our products so we can just work very smoothly and easily with Microsoft Cloud Service so that we believe will provide the new revenue opportunities for us. And on top of that, I think we also inquired aggressively in in investing, there will be an IoT. I think the product would be up and rolling the right decide 8 and design win stage. We do believe we should be able to see some meaningful volume ramp up starting from the second half this year.
I think that pretty much helped in my update on the growth factor. The last but not least is really the other customer products, and feature for product. One, I think, other than this segment, which include in digital TV, feature phone, solved ARPU storage and also Blu ray DVD, for the, for this sector, I think the overall revenue account for 30 to 35% in Q1. I think for this quarter, the highlight for other consumer product, official product is after 3 years of, Moscow's antitrust ruling observation period. And finally, we got released from the observation period in February this year.
So, in today, basically, it's a both mediatek and also Msoft 4 meeting, a proof of a truly full virtual head integration among these 2 company. And, we have a targeting effective date on January 1, 2019. I think it's, due to these new mergers on new integration, I should say, because the merger happened 2 years ago, due to the full integrations, efforts, we will set up a new business group, which will host the about the TV business from MStar and also from MediaX site. We believe by consolidating the R and D resource and also the technology expertise plus the product portfolio we should be able to provide a much better service and a much more competitive solution to our customer and help plan to further grow their business. And, I think that's pretty much improved my, other consumer and also a fishable product.
I probably will, probably will, by the way, the last point, which is, in today, we also the Paul also passing about the cash dividend approval. I think for this year, we will pay out nt10 dollars per shares as a cash dividends, for this year. Of course, this was subject to, the shareholders approval, a list for today, but the board have been approved, that proposal, it will submit that for approval, for how short you want to be, which is set for scheduling June, so mid June. I think that concludes my update.
Okay. Thank you. We are now ready for Q And A session. May we please have the first question operator?
Yes, thank you. Please ask your question after your name is announced. And as a reminder, it is greatly appreciated that you turn off the speaker phone mode of your device to prevent possible echo effect. Thank you for your cooperation. The first to ask question is Randy Abrams from Credit Suisse.
Go ahead please.
Okay. Yes, thank you. And I appreciate the additional remarks today. I wanted to ask the first question about the assumption to grow units for this year, which I think based on the first half run rate, it's about, it would imply a pretty big ramp to about $120,000,000 per quarter in second half. And I'm I'm curious the drivers, like what you're factoring in just both from a market, from a market share mix to see that type of ramp if we're doing the math, right?
Okay. Randy, first of all, I think, for last year, when we talked about the overall shipment for mobile computing, The number is ranging from, 40,350,000,000 to 45,000,000. Please bear in mind that that also include the tablet Okay. So when we're talking about, volume growth, for this year, we're talking about the volume growth for the smartphone, not necessarily including the tablet business. So probably, so the first thing I've heard in the highlight here, everyone.
Actually, it's one of you trying to calculate the smartphone revenue. Did you separate smartphones, and also the from the both for shipment. Just bearing in mind, last year's numbers also included in Telstra. So, that's the first point. 2nd point, Randy, to, give me your earlier question.
I think we see, Sonny from q 2, a big, healthy, the final sale unit sales for the numbers. As people can tell, I think starting from the fourth quarter last year and also, by and large, first quarter this year, I think the channel inventory is is getting very low. Starting from Q2, we see is, pretty much above all the major players in the market, start to reach reach back to their their channel, the open market channel, On top of that, also, starting from Q2, normally, that the new product cycle for the customer side, So, we really see a pretty good brand stop modes for Q2. And right now, it may be a little too early to talk about Q3, But we do feel the moment and we should be able to continue to get into Q3.
Okay. Great.
Info, but the market share again this year, because based on the design in and design win situation, so for the 2 key customer, we do believe, we are actually getting market shares back. Actually, we need more market share this year. So it's coupled with, the customer product portfolio and also the product margin schedule and also our market share again. So that's why we see a pretty good opportunity for us. The growth should be on the smartphone side of the year over year basis.
Okay. And maybe 2 quick follow ups on that. If you could give a sense to get a feel on the mix where in first quarter Helio was and your latest expectation on Helio. And then on your, I guess, on your own inventory level, it looks like pre built, but want to make sure it's, or see the mix, if any, it's from the older products due to the market slowdown or most of that, some of the new products ramping up.
I think most likely, it will be a new product trend up. And, maybe one easy way to explain the overall situation is, when we're sending a new product, which is including the CVO PCS product, but not only limited CVO product, we in our definition, new product basically being the new model architectures. So for Q1, our use, for the revenue contribution, from the new model, it's roughly 35% plus. In Q2, we believe, the revenue coming up from the new molding architecture should be more than 50%.
Okay. And do you have a Helio like what percent you expect the PE or just the Helio series to ramp up to?
Well, I think for Q2, so I would see a a big bremen army here or P series, specifically, you won't be p-sixty. And I think also in the second half of this year, if you will buy a metallic heat or continuous product, as you're worried about, before you improvise the more details where it's actually counted market.
Okay. And for the carrier aggregation, there was the move where you now have sweet spot on CAT 7. Do you see any other shift you do have that modem that can do CAT 12, but is there any new change in the market requirement or is that staying pretty stable for a while for most of the market?
I think from technology or product readiness perspective, we have, everything with me right now, which including the category carrier packaging and also 12 and beyond. But if you focus on what the product will be right now, our view is actually Cas7, pretty much is is what product the what market the, for the bench unit alone. For the super high end products, such a product, might be people who give ourselves differentiate the the price tag. But in reality, I think as of right now, it's actually pretty, pretty inefficient. Again, like I said earlier, technology wise, and those are product wise.
I think we're through red. If the market will be down to 12, 12 products,
Okay. Thank you. And the last question I have was just on the networking where you have now the 30s and some of the IP there. If you could give a view, it's probably more next year, but the type of contribution and opportunity you're going after in that market?
Well, I think for