Akoustis Reports Fiscal First Quarter 2022 Results

• Q1FY22 Revenue of $1.9M Representing an Increase of Nearly 300% Year-Over-Year
• December Revenue Guidance of $3.5-$4.0M Expected to be Up Nearly 100% Sequentially at the Mid-Point
• Robust Customer Activity and Design Win Pipeline in 5G Mobile, WiFi CPE, Infrastructure and Other Markets
• XBAW Filters Entering Production in Core WiFi 6E and Network Infrastructure Segments in Current Quarter
• Company to Host Investor Update Call Today at 8:00 am ET

Charlotte, N.C., Nov. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akoustis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKTS) (“Akoustis” or the “Company”), an integrated device manufacturer (IDM) of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today a 290% year-over-year increase in revenue to $1.9 million for the 2022 fiscal first quarter ended September 30, 2021. Revenue was in-line with the Company’s previous guidance of approximately $2.0 million, despite continuing headwinds stemming from both the Coronavirus and worldwide supply chain challenges. The Company had $75.7 million in cash as of September 30, 2021.

Akoustis will host an investor call to provide a business update and outlook, followed by a Q & A session this morning at 8:00 a.m. EDT. The call-in numbers are 877-407-3982 (domestic) or +01 201-493-6780 (international). The conference call will be webcast live on the Company’s website and will be available for playback at the following URL: https://ir.akoustis.com/ir-calendar.

Jeff Shealy, founder and CEO of Akoustis, stated, “Despite the ongoing macro headwinds, Akoustis is steadily growing its pipeline of XBAW™ designs and customers. We expect to return to double-digit sequential revenue growth in the December quarter, as we ramp volume XBAW RF filter solutions to multiple customers across the WiFi 6, WiFi 6E, 5G network infrastructure and other markets.”

Mr. Shealy continued, “We continue to experience strong demand and a growing sales funnel for our WiFi 6E, 5G mobile and CBRS XBAW™ filters. Importantly, our efforts in 5G mobile have been rewarded with the foundry agreement announced last quarter and, as we announced today, we have just engaged with a third mobile customer, a leading 4G/5G RF component maker focused on markets in Asia.”

Akoustis is actively delivering volume production of its WiFi 6 tandem filter solutions, shipping multiple 5G small cell XBAW™ filter solutions, delivering initial designs of its new 5G mobile filter solutions to multiple customers and is now entering the market with its new WiFi 6E coexistence XBAW™ filter solutions.

Given the rapidly growing sales funnel activity as well as ongoing interaction with customers regarding expected ramps in 5G mobile, WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E in calendar 2022, the Company plans to increase the annual production capacity at its New York fab by the end of calendar 2021 to approximately 500 million filters per year.

Recent Business Highlights

• Announced today a third mobile XBAW™ customer, a leading RF component company focused on Asian handset suppliers
• Announced the acquisition of a majority ownership position in RFM Integrated Device, Inc., with over 400 RF SAW resonator & filter and crystal resonator & VCO timing control products in its growing portfolio
• Shipped first XBAW™ filter sample to tier-1 RF component customer for evaluation and characterization and received positive feedback on initial design
• Announced foundry agreement with tier-2 RF front-end module customer for the manufacture of filters for 5G mobile
• Announced the migration of the development and manufacture of new WLP process into our NY facility
• Entered into an agreement with tier-1 PC chipmaker for the development of WiFi 6E RF diplexer product for the personal computing market
• Developed more than 12 XBAW™ WiFi filters
• Received two new design wins for 5.5 GHz and 6.5 GHz WiFi 6E XBAW™ filters from carrier-focused gateway OEM and tier-1 WiFi OEM
• Received new design win from second WiFi 6 customer for a new MU-MIMO enterprise-class WiFi router
• Continued commercial production for tier-1 consumer-focused tri-band WiFi 6 product, which is currently available for sale in both online and retail box stores
• Achieved robust sampling of WiFi 6E filters to tier-1 and tier-2 OEMs, ODMs and SoC customers, and expect to ramp production with more than five WiFi customers by the end of the current calendar year
• Received two design wins for our 3.6 GHz XBAW^™ filter for a Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) Customer
• Entered the timing and control market with disruptive high-frequency XBAW™ resonators with new customer
• Received an order for the development of a new 3.8 GHz XBAW^™ filter from an existing defense customer
• Continued DARPA direct-to-phase II (DP2) contract to advance design and manufacturing of XBAW^™ technology for filters and other sensors
• Submitted a new multi-year, multi-million-dollar proposal with DARPA to scale XBAW™ technology up to 18 GHz
• Expanded XBAW^™ patent portfolio to 52 issued and licensed patents plus 83 patents pending

Akoustis currently has 15 commercial XBAW™ filters in its product catalog, and recently introduced 5.6 GHz and 6.6 GHz WiFi 6E coexistence filter modules, which when qualified, will bring the number of catalog products to 17. Current product catalog filters include a 5.6 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.2 GHz WiFi filter, a 5.5 GHz WiFi-6E filter, a 6.5 GHz WiFi 6E filter, three small cell 5G network infrastructure filters including two Band n77 filters and one Band n79 filter, a 3.8 GHz filter and five S-Band filters for defense phased-array radar applications, a 3.6 GHz filter for the CBRS 5G infrastructure market and a C-Band filter for the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market. The Company is also developing several new filters for the sub-7 GHz bands targeting 5G mobile device, network infrastructure, WiFi CPE and defense markets.

First Fiscal Quarter Financial Performance

The following Non-GAAP measures should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP measures exclude significant expenses that are required by GAAP to be recorded in the Company's financial statements and are subject to inherent limitations. Please see reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures below and descriptions of these non-GAAP measures under “Non-GAAP Measures.”

Non-GAAP Operating Loss and Non-GAAP Net Loss for the three months ending September 30, 2021 and 2020 were as follows:

Non-GAAP Measures

We regularly review a number of metrics, including Non-GAAP Operating Loss and Non-GAAP Net Loss, which are not financial measures calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”). Non-GAAP Operating Loss represents operating loss before common stock issued for services and gain or loss on the sale of fixed assets. Non-GAAP Net Loss represents net loss before change in fair value of contingent real estate liability, change in fair value of derivative liabilities, debt discount amortization, gain on extinguishment of debt, gain or loss on sale of fixed assets and common stock issued for services. The Company believes these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to management, investors and financial analysts regarding certain financial and business trends relating to the Company’s financial condition and results of operations. We use these non-GAAP measures to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions.

About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.

Akoustis^® (http://www.akoustis.com/) is a high-tech BAW RF filter solutions company that is pioneering next-generation materials science and MEMS wafer manufacturing to address the market requirements for improved RF filters - targeting higher bandwidth, higher operating frequencies and higher output power compared to incumbent polycrystalline BAW technology deployed today. The Company utilizes its proprietary and patented XBAW^TM manufacturing process to produce bulk acoustic wave RF filters for mobile and other wireless markets, which facilitate signal acquisition and accelerate band performance between the antenna and digital back end. Superior performance is driven by the significant advances of poly-crystal, high-purity and single-crystal piezoelectric materials and the resonator-filter process technology which enables optimal trade-offs between critical power, frequency and bandwidth performance specifications. 

Akoustis plans to service the fast growing multi-billion-dollar RF filter market using its integrated device manufacturer (IDM) business model. The Company owns and operates a 120,000 sq. ft. ISO-9001:2015 registered commercial wafer-manufacturing facility located in Canandaigua, NY, which includes a class 100 / class 1000 cleanroom facility - tooled for 150-mm diameter wafers - for the design, development, fabrication and packaging of RF filters, MEMS and other semiconductor devices. Akoustis Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in the Piedmont technology corridor near Charlotte, North Carolina.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each as amended, that are intended to be covered by the “safe harbor” created by those sections. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans or strategies for the future (including our possible future results of operations, business strategies, competitive position, potential growth opportunities, potential market opportunities and the effects of competition), the anticipated benefits of the acquisition of RFMi and supply agreement with Tai-Saw, including estimated synergies and other financial impacts, and the assumptions underlying such statements. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and typically are identified by use of terms such as "may," “might,” “would,” "will," "should," "could," “project,” "expect," "plan," “strategy,” "anticipate," “attempt,” “develop,” “help,” "believe," “think,” "estimate," "predict," “intend,” “forecast,” “seek,” "potential," “possible,” "continue," “future,” and similar words (including the negative of any of the foregoing), although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future results, performance, events or circumstances. Instead, these forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated include, without limitation, risks relating to our ability to obtain adequate financing and sustain our status as a going concern; our limited operating history; our inability to generate revenues or achieve profitability;  the results of our research and development activities; our inability to achieve acceptance of our products in the market; the possibility that the anticipated benefits from business acquisitions (including the acquisition of RFMi) cannot be realized in full or at all or may take longer to realize than expected; the possibility that costs or difficulties related to the integration of acquired businesses’ (including RFMi’s) operations will be greater than expected and the possibility of disruptions to our business during integration efforts and strain on management time and resources; the impact of a pandemic or epidemic or a natural disaster, including the COVID-19 pandemic, on our operations, financial condition and the worldwide economy, including its impact on our ability to access the capital markets; general economic conditions, including upturns and downturns in the industry; shortages in supplies needed to manufacture our products, or needed by our customers to manufacture devices incorporating our products; our limited number of patents; failure to obtain, maintain, and enforce our intellectual property rights; claims of infringement, misappropriation or misuse of third party intellectual property that, regardless of merit, could result in significant expense and loss of our intellectual property rights; our inability to attract and retain qualified personnel; our reliance on third parties to complete certain processes in connection with the manufacture of our products; product quality and defects; existing or increased competition; our ability to successfully manufacture, market and sell products based on our technologies; our ability to meet the required specifications of customers and achieve qualification of our products for commercial manufacturing in a timely manner; our ability to successfully scale our New York wafer fabrication facility and related operations while maintaining quality control and assurance and avoiding delays in output; the rate and degree of market acceptance of any of our products; our ability to achieve design wins from current and future customers; contracting with customers and other parties with greater bargaining power and agreeing to terms and conditions that may adversely affect our business; risks related to doing business in foreign countries, including China; any security breaches, cyber-attacks or other disruptions compromising our proprietary information and exposing us to liability; our failure to innovate or adapt to new or emerging technologies; our failure to comply with regulatory requirements; results of any arbitration or litigation that may arise; stock volatility and illiquidity; dilution caused by any future issuance of common stock or securities that are convertible into or exercisable for common stock; our failure to implement our business plans or strategies; and our ability to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting. These and other risks and uncertainties are described in more detail in the Risk Factors and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Considering these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking statements regarding future events and circumstances discussed in this document may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking statements included in this document speak only as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly or privately any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, for any reason after the date of this document to conform these statements to new information, actual results or to changes in our expectations.

COMPANY:
Tom Sepenzis
Akoustis Technologies
VP of Corporate Development & IR
(980) 689-4961
tsepenzis@akoustis.com

The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc.
Robert B. Prag, President
(858) 794-9500
bprag@delmarconsulting.com

Released November 1, 2021