Hiwin develops EV-use smart ball screws Adam Hwang, DIGITIMES, Taipei Friday 26 March 2021 0 Toggle Dropdown Mechanical motion control component maker Hiwin Technologies has developed smart ball screws for use in braking and steering systems of electric vehicles (EVs) and will undertake small-volume trial production at year-end 2021, with shipments to begin in 2022, according to company chairman Chuo Wen-hen. Hiwin has passed certification by first-tier supply chain makers for Europe-based EV vendors, with these makers predicting initial demand for smart ball screws used in 500,000 EVs, Chuo said. Besides, Hiwin has been in talks with China-based makers of EV-use steering systems, Chuo noted. As demand is increasing, Hiwin has prolonged lead times for ball screws and linear guideways to 5.5-6 months, some miniature linear guideways to 3-4 month, and sub-systems for automation equipment to about three months, Chuo indicated. For industrial robots used to handle wafers at semiconductor plants, Hiwin has received orders that will fully occupy the corresponding production capacity until the end of 2021, Chuo said. Hiwin posted consolidated revenues of NT$21.267 billion (US$748 million), gross margin of 27.23%, operating profit of NT$1.732 billion, and net profit of NT$1.930 billion, and will distribute a dividend per share of NT$2.30, for the year. Linear guideways accounted for 66.8% of fourth-quarter 2020 consolidated revenues of NT$6.151 billion; ball screws, 17.9%; industrial robots, 8.5%; and others, 6.8%. Of the revenues, 70% came from Asian (Taiwan excluded), 19% from Europe, 5% from North America, and 6% from Taiwan. Hiwin has reported consolidated revenues of NT$1.866 billion for February, dropping 5.07% sequentially but growing 53.21% on year, and those of NT$3.832 billion for January-February hiked 69.75% on year.