Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday said the company aims to triple the revenue of its automotive electronics business by 2018, supported by an increasing number of projects and steady relationships with clients, a company executive said.
“Our aim is to raise the sales contribution from the segment from 5 percent last year to 15 percent by 2018,” chief executive officer Warren Chen (陳廣中) told a media briefing in Taipei.
The firm’s automotive electronics segment, which generated more than NT$10 billion (US$308.3 million) in revenue last year, includes a wide range of electronics components, cameras and LED lighting products, such as automotive headlights and tail lights.
GROWTH POTENTIAL
In addition to growing demand for components used for automobile security and safety, Lite-On sees huge growth potential for the company’s automotive LED lighting products, Chen said.
“Our forecast is that every one of five vehicles in the global market would use at least one of Lite-On’s LED products by 2018,” Chen said, citing the company’s strong relationship with existing clients.
Lite-On has been aggressive in the automotive electronics market as the company aims to gradually reduce its dependence on its PC-related business.
Sales contribution from its PC-related business declined to less than 35 percent of Lite-On’s total revenue of NT$216.79 billion last year, from 45 percent in 2014, company data showed.
Lite-On chairman Raymond Soong (宋恭源) said the entry barrier for automotive electronics is higher and it would take more time for the company to break into the automotive electronics business than the PC business.
However, the margin and profit in automotive electronics are much higher and tend to be steadier, he said.
SPECIAL TASK FORCE
In a bid to expand Lite-On’s automotive electronics business and to accelerate the company’s business transformation, Lite-On is looking at potential merger and acquisition targets, Soong said, adding that the company has set up a special task force to look for such opportunities.
Chen said the company does not rule out the possibility of establishing an automotive electronics subsidiary or allocating more corporate resources to the business in the future.
In addition to the automotive electronics business, Lite-On is optimistic about the outlook for its outdoor and streetlamp LED lighting products this year, Chen said, adding that Lite-On secured the largest market share, more than 40 percent, for LED streetlamp in the US and Taiwanese markets last year.
The company plans to expand its outdoor LED lighting business to an emerging market next month, he said.
Lite-On shares yesterday rose 1.91 percent to close at NT$40.1 in Taipei trading, outperforming the TAIEX, which gained 0.18 percent.
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