Largan Precision Co (大立光), the nation’s leading maker of handset lenses, yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$1.18 billion (US$39.3 million) for last month, which was nearly flat compared with a month earlier, but down 13.24 percent from a year earlier.
Last month’s figures were the lowest since January’s NT$1.097 billion, as market demand remained weak amid uncertainty over the global economy.
In the first five months of the year, accumulated revenue was NT$5.998 billion, down 3.62 percent from NT$6.223 billion a year earlier, according to information posted on the company’s Web site.
The Greater Taichung-based company counts smartphone makers such as HTC Corp (宏達電), Apple Inc, Research In Motion Ltd and Nokia Oyj as its major customers.
On April 26, Largan chief executive officer Adam Lin (林恩平) told investors and analysts in an online conference call that sales would not pick up in the second quarter, which is traditionally a high season for tech product demand, because the number of customers adjusting their orders downward outweighed those adjusting them up in the quarter amid product transition.
At the time, Lin said the company expected a “double-digit” sequential decline in revenue this quarter and forecast margins would likely fall further this quarter. He predicted sales would ramp up in the second half, when most of the new products would be out.
In the first quarter, Largan’s revenue was NT$3.64 billion, 9.28 percent lower than the NT$4.01 billion in the previous quarter. Handset lenses accounted for 95 percent of overall sales in the first quarter, while those used in digital cameras and multifunctional projectors accounted for 3 percent and 2 percent respectively.
Analysts have said the company’s weak outlook for the second quarter was partly due to its lower sales exposure to South Korean and non-smartphone customers, but Apple’s new iPhone should help boost Largan’s sales in the second half, they added.
Largan is expected to update its sales outlooks for this month and the second quarter, as well as its views on the optical lens industry, at the company’s annual general meeting on June 18.
The company’s board in April approved a proposal to distribute NT$17 per common share in an all-cash dividend based on last year’s net income of NT$5.199 billion, or earnings per share of NT$38.76.
The proposed cash dividend, if approved by shareholders on June 18, would be 25.93 percent higher than the NT$13.5 all-cash dividend Largan paid last year.
Separately, Kinko Optical Co (今國光), a supplier of glass-lens kits used in products including Canon Inc’s digital single-lens-reflex cameras, yesterday saw sales reach NT$597 million last month, up 2.67 percent month-on-month and 23.19 percent year-on-year.
Kinko’s cumulative sales for the first five months of the year totaled NT$2.57 billion, up 22.22 percent from last year, the company said.
Largan shares rose 4.16 percent to NT$551 yesterday and Kinko increased 2.72 percent to NT$41.6, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks