Strong demand for light guide plates as a result of changes to customers’ keyboard designs would boost its revenue growth next year, Global Lighting Technologies Inc (GLT, 茂林) told an investors’ conference in Taipei on Wednesday.
There is market speculation that the company might be a potential supplier to Apple Inc’s new Macbook Pro laptops, which are to feature single-hinged scissor keyboards instead of dual-hinged butterfly models.
GLT supplied light guide plates used in scissor keyboards for Macbooks in 2015 and 2016, but it declined to comment on information regarding any single customer.
“We expect a significant growth in our information technology [IT] business [next year],” chairman Lee Mang-shiang (李滿祥) said.
The IT segment is expected to contribute between 40 and 50 percent of its total revenue next year, up from 30 percent this year, Lee said.
Keyboards account for the biggest portion, at 70 percent, of the IT segment’s revenue, and wearable devices would be another revenue growth driver, he added.
Light guide plates used in wearable devices and vehicles together contribute 30 percent to overall revenue, while another 30 percent comes from displays, company data showed.
The company plans to boost capacity by adding three new production lines to its existing seven production lines in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), Lee said, adding that equipment utilization would also gradually rise.
It also plans to spend NT$518 million (US$16.98 million) on new equipment next year, unchanged from this year’s level.
In the third quarter, net profits rose 13.69 percent to NT$148.48 million, compared with NT$130.6 million a year earlier, while earnings per share expanded from NT$1 to NT$1.13.
Gross margin improved from 14.86 percent to 20.02 percent due to lower raw material costs, the company said, adding that raw materials accounted for half of the company’s manufacturing costs.
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