Largan Precision Co (大立光), which supplies camera lenses for Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday reported that net income last quarter fell 18 percent annually to NT$4.02 billion (US$137.39 million), as aggregate sales in the first quarter dropped 18 percent annually to NT$8.88 billion.
Largan’s earnings per share were NT$29.96 in the first quarter, making the January-to-March period the firm’s poorest showing of the past seven quarters.
Gross margin fell from 70.94 percent for the same period a year earlier to 63.33 percent, its lowest of the past eight quarters, while operating margin dropped from 61.87 percent to 52.82 percent.
Largan chief executive officer Adam Lin (林恩平) attributed last quarter’s poor performance not only to its weaker top-line numbers, but also to a dip in the production yield rate as the company took on new customer designs.
“There is always a learning curve for new designs,” Lin said during a teleconference.
Looking ahead to this month and May, Lin said that the company is not expecting sales to decline further from last month, which came to NT$3.14 billion, 13 percent lower compared with the previous year.
“Monthly sales could improve moderately beginning this month if yield rates improve,” Lin said.
In addition, Largan plans to continue efforts to secure orders from South Korean smartphone vendors for its all-plastic 3D sensing solutions, Lin said.
Handset cameras with plastic lenses are to remain the company’s focus this year, Lin said, adding that while current hybrid glass-and-plastic solutions do not provide any advantage for smartphones, they might be better suited for automotive applications.
The company expects this year to mostly ship handset camera lenses with six layers, while its seven-layer solution — which is widely regarded as a competitive edge over rivals worldwide — is to enter mass production next year, he said.
While Lin declined to comment on whether the company’s customers were forced to divert orders to other suppliers due to its poor yield rates in the past quarter, Largan’s performance echoes the findings of a recent report by Taipei-based KGI SecuritiesCo (凱基證券) analyst Kuo Ming-chi (郭明錤).
According to Kuo, some of Largan’s customers moved their orders to China-based Sunny Optical Technology Group Co (舜宇光學) during the first quarter because the Taiwanese company struggled to meet field curvature specifications for high-end Chinese smartphones.
As Largan’s yield rate improves, Kuo expects the company to regain some of its customers as some major brands prepare to launch this year’s flagship smartphones.
With two to three times the production capacity of Sunny Optical Technology Group, Largan still holds a significant advantage in terms of business scale, Kuo said, adding that the Taiwanese company would likely make headway in the market for lower-tiered lenses with four or five plastic layers.
Largan shares yesterday rose 2.17 percent to NT$3,300 in Taipei trading, but the share price has dropped 17.91 percent this year, compared with the broader market’s 2.94 percent rise over the period.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last