Xperi Corp. Wins More DTS AutoStage Launches

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On Election Day, as Americans cast their ballots and companies such as Audacy Corp. and Nexstar Media Group released their third quarter earnings reports, the audio technology company led by CEO Jon Kirchner also made its Q3 2022 results public.


Like any other publicly traded company, a conference call for analysts and investors was held. It was during this call that Xperi Corp. revealed that its DTS AutoStage has won four new automotive brands.

The hybrid in-dash entertainment offering is now available in vehicles manufactured by Hyundai, its upscale Genesis offshoot, Korean automotive sibling Kia, “and a leading EV manufacturer” Kirchner did not reveal.

It’s a big step forward for DTS AutoStage, which won the business of Mercedes-Benz in November 2020. That arrangement saw the AutoStage’s integration into the Daimler MB User Experience (MBUX), the in-dash audio entertainment system that is OEM to M-B.

On the earnings call, Stephens analyst Nick Zangler asked when Xperi may start to see revenue from the AutoStage integration into Hyundai, Kia, Genesis and the EV maker.

Kirchner answered the question by saying revenue will begin to be recognized in 2024 and 2025 but will become more meaningful as 2026 arrives. “I think the key thing about automotive is, these programs are very complex, they’re hard to win, but they tend to have great durability and very long-term horizons,” he said. “We’re super excited about the number of people that are kind of joining onto our next generation infotainment platform and safety as it relates to how we think about the next 10 years and current connected car.”

HD RADIO’S SUPPLY CHAIN TROUBLES

The AutoStage win comes as HD Radio experienced a Q3 decline “to continued supply chain issues,” Kirchner said. “Therefore, we expect our connected car business to be down roughly mid single digits in 2022 compared to last year.”

This led Matthew Galinko of Maxim Group to ask about 2023 for HD Radio. Xperi CFO Robert Andersen answered.

“We think in 2023 we will start to climb out of some of the challenges we’ve seen in ’22,” he said. “In some ways, it feels a bit like the sum of what was expected in the second half, as far as a bit more of a recovery and ’22 is kind of getting pushed out into ’23. We think we’ll see more of our solutions appearing in vehicles, and there’ll be less supply chain impedance and being able to get out there and ’23.”