Impinj (PI) BMO Capital Technology and Innovation Leaders Conference summary

Food adoption

• Food volumes remain modest versus 29 billion units shipped last year, but engagement is unusually broad for an early-stage vertical, with four use cases and large players across grocery, quick-service restaurants and food logistics moving forward.

• Kroger reported that reduced inventory scan time and food waste drove 200 bps of same-store sales lift and 50 bps of share.

• Kroger is deploying in bakery, where it controls production, packaging and labeling; it has reached 1,500 stores, with a path to 2,300, and expects measured rollout by category and store network.

• Walmart is piloting bakery, proteins and deli, focusing on items it packages and labels in-store.

Grocery self-checkout and source tagging

• A grocer’s self-checkout proof of concept works in the lab; planning is underway for a single-store pilot.

• The grocer is starting source tagging with high-theft, high-value goods including alcohol, proteins, olive oils and specialty items, enabling loss identification ahead of self-checkout.

• Source tagging is favored over in-store tagging as a more efficient way to carry benefits through the supply chain.

IP license payments

• A 10-year IP license includes a $45 million upfront payment and annual payments that began at $15 million and increase by a mid-single-digit percentage range.

• In year three of the agreement, management expressed reasonable confidence in receiving the 2027 payment; the licensee can exit only after introducing a non-infringing IC and stopping sales of infringing ICs.

• The earliest potential exit is after year four, making 2028 the key point for assessing continuation of payments.