Himax Technologies, Inc. Announces Industry-Leading Ultra-Low Power Consumption eDP 1.4 TCON

TAINAN, Taiwan, Aug. 13, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Himax Technologies, Inc. HIMX ("Himax" or "Company"), a leading supplier and fabless manufacturer of display drivers and other semiconductor products, announces an industry-leading, ultra-low power consumption eDP 1.4 timing controller ("TCON") that supports ultra-high resolution panels for tablets, notebooks and monitors. Himax is one of very few pioneers who have enabled the next generation development of ultra-high resolution panels with a total solution that successfully addresses the power consumption issue. Leading LCD panel makers and system OEMs in Korea, China, Taiwan, and Japan are actively adopting this new technology, and Himax is planning to enter mass production in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Himax's eDP 1.4 TCON is unique and very competitive in that it pairs with nVIDIA's G-SYNC™ and AMD's FreeSync™ technologies for graphic cards to process 3D graphics on ultra-high resolution displays, eliminating screen tearing and minimizing stutter and input latency. For gamers or anyone looking for superior visuals on ultra-high resolution devices, eDP 1.4 TCON is key to achieve such performance. The eDP 1.4 TCON supports up to the latest G-SYNC™ version 1.0, a development beyond industry pace.

"With the launch of our next generation eDP technology, we believe Himax will benefit from our first mover advantage in the ultra-high resolution market with high barriers of entry," commented Jordan Wu, Himax's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Thanks to the growing demand from consumers for better display quality, the ultra-high resolution panel has expanded from its initial application in TVs to applications in monitors, notebooks, and tablets. Our technology addresses the major issues our customers are facing - power consumption and battery life. Himax has been working with leading LCD panel makers and system OEMs in Korea, China, Taiwan, and Japan on the introduction of eDP 1.4 TCON products, and we believe the eDP 1.4 TCON will enter mass production soon."

Himax's eDP 1.4 TCON supports the latest version of VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) standard and enjoys its competitive edge through two technological advantages. First, the product has a high speed interface at 5.4G BPS per lane to support 4K2K displays and beyond. Second, the innovative PSR (Panel Self Refresh)/PSR2 technology intelligently incorporates the CPU/GPU dormant concept that lowers display-related system power consumption through allowing the CPU/GPU to flexibly switch from normal state to intermittent low-power state during a static image condition. Himax's eDP 1.4 TCON includes an integrated frame buffer that stores the display image while the system enters panel self-refresh mode, which reduces the power usage of the CPU/GPU to extend battery life. When the display resolution is higher, power saving benefits will be more substantial. This feature is an advanced solution that addresses battery issues in ultra-high resolution mobile devices which consume much power from panels and GPU.

Himax believes its eDP 1.4 TCON is the best solution on the market to meet the ever-growing high resolution and power saving expectations needed for mobile devices, and will be universally adopted.

About HimaxTechnologies, Inc.

Himax Technologies, Inc. (HIMX) is a fabless semiconductor solution provider dedicated to display imaging processing technologies. Himax is a worldwide market leader in display driver ICs and timing controllers used in TVs, laptops, monitors, mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, car navigation, and many other consumer electronics devices. Additionally, Himax designs and provides controllers for touch sensor displays, LCOS micro-displays used in palm-size projectors and head-mounted displays, LED driver ICs, power management ICs, scaler products for monitors and projectors, tailor-made video processing IC solutions and silicon IPs. The company also offers digital camera solutions, including CMOS image sensors and wafer level optics, which are used in a wide variety of applications such as mobile phone, tablet, laptop, TV, PC camera, automobile, security and medical devices. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Tainan, Taiwan, Himax currently employs over 1,800 people from three Taiwan-based offices in Tainan, Hsinchu and Taipei and country offices in China, Korea, Japan and the US. Himax has 2,650 patents granted and 648 patents pending approval worldwide as of June 30, 2015. 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, 2014 filed with the SEC, as may be amended.