Largan Precision Co (大立光), the nation’s leading maker of optical lens modules, yesterday joined local peers Kinko Optical Co (今國光) and Calin Technology Co (佳凌) in reporting record revenues for last month and the last quarter amid rising demand.
Consolidated revenue reached NT$1.798 billion (US$61.2 million) last month, rising 17.29 percent from NT$1.53 billion in August and up 16.98 percent from NT$1.54 billion the year before, the Nantun (南屯), Greater Taichung-based company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange after the local stock market closed.
Last month’s sales were up for the third consecutive month since July. As a result, revenue in the third quarter of the year totaled NT$4.51 billion, up 35.16 percent quarter-on-quarter and 2.78 percent higher than a year earlier, the company’s data showed.
The numbers were in line with analysts’ projections. Nomura Securities said in a note ahead of the release of Largan’s sales results that it forecast the company’s third-quarter revenue would increase 36 percent to NT$4.5 billion from the previous quarter.
Largan did not elaborate on its strong performance last quarter nor provide a sales guidance for this quarter, which Nomura said was likely to further increase 29 percent sequentially to NT$5.9 billion owing to strong sales of Apple Inc’s iPhone 5, whose 8 megapixel camera modules are sourced mainly from Largan.
Largan’s sales in the first nine months of the year fell 4.03 percent to NT$11.49 billion from a year ago, but strong orders from Apple are likely to pull the company’s full-year sales above NT$17.4 billion, up 8 percent from last year, Nomura said in its note to clients on Thursday.
Earnings per share (EPS) were estimated to reach NT$8.8 for the third quarter and NT$12.8 for this quarter, compared with NT$4.96 last quarter and NT$6.58 in the first quarter, the brokerage said.
Shares in Largan, the highest priced stock on the local bourse, rose 2.46 percent to NT$625 yesterday, rising 10.42 percent so far this year on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Separately, Kinko, a supplier of glass-lens kits used in products including Canon Inc’s and Nikon Corp’s digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, saw its share price rise 1.05 percent yesterday after revenue for last month hit a fresh record high for a third consecutive month.
Consolidated revenue was NT$748.83 million last month, up 9.6 percent from NT$683.22 million the previous month and a jump of 30.36 percent from the same month last year, the Wuci (梧棲), Greater Taichung-based company said in its stock exchange filing on Thursday.
In the third quarter, revenue rose 18.37 percent to a record level of NT$2.088 billion from NT$1.76 billion in the previous quarter and increased 22.46 percent from NT$1.71 billion a year earlier.
With increasing production of glass-lens kits for high-end digital cameras, Kinko is likely to see sales hit another record in the fourth quarter and its strong growth momentum will carry into next year, First Capital Management Inc (第一金證券投顧) said in a separate note.
For the first nine months of this year, Kinko’s cumulative sales totaled NT5.24 billion, up 22.34 percent from the year before, the company’s filing showed.
Meanwhile, smaller rival Calin, which also manufactures and assembles lenses for Canon DSLR cameras, said its sales rose 2.92 percent month-on-month and 27.38 percent year-on-year to NT$177.31 million last month, pushing its third-quarter revenue to a record NT$498.59 million, according to a company filing on Thursday.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is