Young Fast Optoelectronics Co (洋華), which supplies touch-screen modules to Google phone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) and other firms, yesterday said that revenue could grow by up to 35 percent next year, thanks to the rising adoption of touch screens in handsets and tablet devices.
To cope with customer demand, the nation’s biggest touch-screen module maker said it planned to expand capital spending by 67 percent to NT$2.5 billion (US$81.27 million) next year, from the NT$1.5 billion budgeted this year.
Young Fast would spend most of the investment on building capacity for 7-inch and 10-inch screens using a new technology, company chairman T.J. Lin (林德錚) told a teleconference.
As the company is increasing capacity to meet client demand and adding new medium-sized products, Lin said the forecast of 30 to 35 percent growth by most analysts “should not be a challenge for us.”
“There’s a chance that we could meet that target,” he said.
Lin expected 7-inch and 10-inch touch screen modules and sensors to account for up to 20 percent of next year’s total revenue, from a very minimal share this year after it started shipping these products last month.
The Guanyin (觀音), Taoyuan County-based company yesterday reported that net income dropped 15 percent to NT$810 million, or NT$6.09 per share, in the quarter ending Sept. 30, from NT$958 million, or NT$7.26 a share, in the same period last year.
On a quarterly basis, the third-quarter result represented a 16.8 percent decline from a historical high of NT$974 million, Young Fast said.
Profits fell as its gross margin dropped to 29.5 percent last quarter from 38.4 percent the previous quarter because of weaker pricing, the NT dollar’s appreciation and a one-time asset impairment of NT$127 million from a rights issue of 8.5 million common shares, the company said.
Giving his forecast for this quarter, Lin said revenue would post double-digit growth from last quarter’s NT$4.72 billion amid robust orders.
The company’s operation “will hit the peak in the fourth quarter as our top three customers will have significant growth as well,” Lin said.
Young Fast also supplies touch-screen solutions to Samsung Electronics Co and BlackBerry phone maker Research In Motion Ltd.
The main growth driver would be capacitive touch-screen products, which are expected to contribute about 40 percent of the company’s revenue this quarter, from 29 percent last quarter, Lin said.
Conventional resistive touch-screen products, which accounted for 66 percent of last quarter’s revenue, would remain its main source of revenue, the company’s financial statement showed.
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