• SSD controller sales were flat Q/Q and now 55% of net sales (non-GAAP)
• eMMC+UFS controller sales decreased by about 45% Q/Q
• SSD solutions sales decreased by about 40% Q/Q
• Introduced SM2271, industry's highest capacity and performance enterprise SATA SSD controller
• Announced sale of FCI to Dialog Semiconductor

TAIPEI, Taiwan and MILPITAS, Calif., May 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Silicon Motion Technology Corporation (NASDAQ:SIMO) ("Silicon Motion" or the "Company") today announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2019.  For the first quarter, net sales (GAAP) decreased sequentially to $94.7 million from $123.4 million in fourth quarter 2018. Net income (GAAP) decreased to $8.3 million or $0.23 per diluted ADS (GAAP) from net income (GAAP) of $15.1 million or $0.42 per diluted ADS (GAAP) in fourth quarter 2018.

First Quarter 2019 Review
"Our SSD controller sales were flat sequentially and as expected," said Wallace Kou, President and CEO of Silicon Motion. "In general, market conditions in the first quarter were challenging given the very volatile NAND flash pricing environment and weak device build activities.  Sales of our eMMC plus UFS controllers that are used primarily in smartphones fell sharply, as expected, because of Chinese market weakness while our Shannon SSD solutions for the Chinese data center market declined more than we had expected."

Business Outlook
"We believe that our SSD controller sales will grow sharply in the second quarter," said Wallace Kou, President and CEO of Silicon Motion.  "While our overall business visibility remains limited because of the current volatile NAND flash pricing environment, we are seeing strong near-term momentum from both our NAND flash and module maker customers.  Our pipeline of SSD controller projects continues to expand and we believe that we are very well positioned for further growth."

To supplement the Company's unaudited selected financial results calculated in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"), the Company discloses certain non-GAAP financial measures that exclude discontinued operation, stock-based compensation and other items, including gross profit (non-GAAP), operating expenses (non-GAAP), operating profit (non-GAAP), net income (non-GAAP), and earnings per diluted ADS (non-GAAP). These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with or an alternative to GAAP, and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies.  We believe that these non-GAAP measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all the amounts associated with the Company's results of operations as determined in accordance with GAAP and that these measures should only be used to evaluate the Company's results of operations in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures.  The presentation of this additional information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP measure.  We compensate for the limitations of our non-GAAP financial measures by relying upon GAAP results to gain a complete picture of our performance.

Our non-GAAP financial measures are provided to enhance the user's overall understanding of our current financial performance and our prospects for the future. Specifically, we believe the non-GAAP results provide useful information to both management and investors as these non-GAAP results exclude certain revenue, expenses, gains and losses that we believe are not indicative of our core operating results and because they are consistent with the financial models and estimates published by many analysts who follow the Company.  We use non-GAAP measures to evaluate the operating performance of our business, for comparison with our forecasts, and for benchmarking our performance externally against our competitors.  Also, when evaluating potential acquisitions, we exclude the items described below from our consideration of the target's performance and valuation.  Since we find these measures to be useful, we believe that our investors benefit from seeing the results from management's perspective in addition to seeing our GAAP results.  We believe that these non-GAAP measures, when read in conjunction with the Company's GAAP financials, provide useful information to investors by offering:

• the ability to make more meaningful period-to-period comparisons of the Company's on-going operating results;
• the ability to better identify trends in the Company's underlying business and perform related trend analysis;
• a better understanding of how management plans and measures the Company's underlying business; and
• an easier way to compare the Company's operating results against analyst financial models and operating results of our competitors that supplement their GAAP results with non-GAAP financial measures.

Stock-based compensation expense consists of non-cash charges related to the fair value of restricted stock units awarded to employees. The Company believes that the exclusion of these non-cash charges provides for more accurate comparisons of our operating results to our peer companies due to the varying available valuation methodologies, subjective assumptions and the variety of award types. In addition, the Company believes it is useful to investors to understand the specific impact of share-based compensation on its operating results.

Amortization of intangibles assets consists of non-cash charges that can be impacted by the timing and magnitude of our acquisitions.  The Company considers its operating results without these charges when evaluating its ongoing performance and forecasting its earnings trends, and therefore excludes such charges when presenting non-GAAP financial measures.  The Company believes that the assessment of its operations excluding these costs is relevant to its assessment of internal operations and comparisons to the performance of its competitors.

Discontinued operation refers to FCI, our mobile communications product-line, the sale of which was announced on March 7, 2019 and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019.  Under GAAP, according to FASB ASU 2014-08, this disposal transaction does not meet the threshold for presenting as a discontinued operation.  We are excluding FCI from our financial results for non-GAAP as we believe this provides investors with enhanced transparency.  

Foreign exchange gains and losses consist of translation gains and/or losses of non-US$ denominated current assets and current liabilities, as well as certain other balance sheet items which result from the appreciation or depreciation of non-US$ currencies against the US$. We do not use financial instruments to manage the impact on our operations from changes in foreign exchange rates, and because our operations are subject to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, we therefore exclude foreign exchange gains and losses when presenting non-GAAP financial measures.

About Silicon Motion:
We are the global leader in supplying NAND flash controllers for solid state storage devices and the merchant leader in supplying SSD controllers.  We have the broadest portfolio of controller technologies and our controllers are widely used in embedded storage products such as SSDs and eMMC+UFS devices, which are found in smartphones, PCs and commercial and industrial applications. We have shipped over six billion NAND controllers in the last ten years, more than any other company in the world.  We also supply customized high-performance hyperscale data center and industrial SSD solutions.  Our customers include most of the NAND flash vendors, storage device module makers and leading OEMs.  For further information on Silicon Motion, visit us at www.siliconmotion.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including without limitation, statements about Silicon Motion's currently expected second  quarter of 2019 and full year 2019 expectations of revenue, gross margin and operating expenses, all of which reflect management's estimates based on information available at this time of this press release.  While Silicon Motion believes these estimates to be meaningful, these amounts could differ materially from actual reported amounts for the second quarter of 2019 and full year 2019. Forward-looking statements also include, without limitation, statements regarding trends in the semiconductor or consumer electronics markets and our future results of operations, financial condition and business prospects.  In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology.  Although such statements are based on our own information and information from other sources we believe to be reliable, you should not place undue reliance on them.  These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual market trends or our actual results of operations, financial condition or business prospects may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward looking statements for a variety of reasons.  Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the unpredictable volume and timing of customer orders, which are not fixed by contract but vary on a purchase order basis; the loss of one or more key customers or the significant reduction, postponement, rescheduling or cancellation of orders from these customers; general economic conditions or conditions in the semiconductor or consumer electronics markets; the effects on our business and our customer's business taking into account the ongoing US-China tariffs and trade disputes; decreases in the overall average selling prices of our products; changes in the relative sales mix of our products; changes in our cost of finished goods; the payment, or non-payment, of cash dividends in the future at the discretion of our board of directors and any announced planned increases in such dividends; changes in our cost of finished goods; the availability, pricing, and timeliness of delivery of other components and raw materials used in our customers' products; our customers' sales outlook, purchasing patterns, and inventory adjustments based on consumer demands and general economic conditions; any potential impairment charges that may be incurred related to businesses previously acquired or divested in the future; our ability to successfully develop, introduce, and sell new or enhanced products in a timely manner; and the timing of new product announcements or introductions by us or by our competitors. For additional discussion of these risks and uncertainties and other factors, please see the documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 20-F filed on April 30, 2018, and our Annual Report on 20-F for fiscal year 2018, which we expect to file no later than May 15, 2019.  We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this press release.