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Data I/O’s President and CEO, Anthony Ambrose, was a recent guest on the Due Diligence podcast produced by Planet MicroCap and hosted by Robert Kraft, Planet MicroCap founder and Director of Research at SNN Incorporated. Kraft has interviewed hundreds of microcap industry experts, CEOs and investors discussing topics such as microcap investing strategies, market trends, and industry insights. In this conversation, Anthony explains the business of Data I/O for everyday non-high-tech investors and further discusses Data I/O’s role in automotive electronics growth.

Kraft and Ambrose discuss the history and evolution of the company, which was founded in 1972 by several pioneers who invented the device programming category. Over the decades, the company has undergone three significant evolutions, becoming more sophisticated around factory automation, factory control, and automation. The conversation also touches on the importance of programming and its integration into the smart factory concept.

Ambrose explains that the company works with the most complicated systems in the world and needs credibility in all technology vectors to be successful. Despite being a small company, they are experiencing growth in the automotive industry and have 50 tier-one customers worldwide. They discuss the growth of the industry, with the semiconductor content growing at a rate of 12% a year for a decade, and the market is expected to triple in a 10-year period, which is exciting for the company. They also mention that the supply chain mess and shortages in the industry are coming to an end.

The conversation also discusses the challenges faced during the pandemic, the company's ability to weather market volatility, and the different solutions and services offered by Data I/O. Additionally, they mention the importance of the automotive market as a significant revenue stream for the company.

The business model of Data I/O is structured to have scale and support for automotive customers. They go after the higher end of the market and focus on high-end industrial because it is similar to automotive. The company is focused on being the R&D leader and providing new capabilities to the market. The conversation touches on balancing capital allocation, R&D, and sales.

The conversation concludes with the announcement of the company's latest technology, the SentriX security provisioning platform. Data I/O's SentriX platform offers a suite of integrated hardware and software solutions that enable secure and efficient programming and provisioning of IoT devices. The platform is designed to enable a more flexible and scalable approach to device programming and provisioning, helping manufacturers to streamline their production processes and reduce costs

Topic Overview:

• • Introduction of Anthony Ambrose, President and CEO of Data I/O

  • Explanation of Data I/O's business for non-high-tech investors

  • History and evolution of Data I/O

  • Importance of programming and integration into smart factory concept

  • Growth of the automotive electronics industry and its significance for Data I/O

  • Challenges faced during the pandemic and ability to weather market volatility

  • Solutions and services Data I/O offers

  • Business model for Data I/O, focusing on high-end industrial and being the R&D leader

  • The SentriX platform and its benefits for manufacturers

  • Vision for the next 3-5 years

Planet MicroCap’s Profiled Companies: Q & A with Anthony Ambrose

In the interview, Anthony Ambrose discusses Data I/O’s strong performance in 2022, its growth prospects, and industry tailwinds, including the projected growth in the automotive electronics market. Ambrose also talks about the company's new product announcements, including VerifyBoost, a patent-pending technology that improves UFS memory programming times by speeding up the verification portion of the programming cycle by 4.5x. 

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