Genius Electronic Optical Co (玉晶光), which supplies camera lenses for Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday gave an upbeat outlook for demand next year, citing emerging 5G applications.
“We are eyeing many opportunities [for growth] next year when 5G smartphones come into play,” Genius president Lee Kuo (郭英理) told investors in an online conference call, forecasting increased demand as consumers look to replace their smartphones.
While camera lenses on 5G smartphones vary little in terms of design and production compared with those on their 4G counterparts, Kuo said 5G smartphones would bring higher standards and more applications.
The company would benefit from a growing market for smartphones equipped with multiple camera lenses with higher resolutions and larger apertures, Kuo said, adding that Genius would consider expanding its production capacity next year.
“Our clients are increasingly demanding high-end lenses as they look to enhance smartphone features in a bid to attract consumers,” he said.
Questioned about the average selling price of high-end camera lenses, Kuo did not answer directly, but said that negotiations with manufacturers occur each quarter.
A shortage of mid to high-end lenses — due to the high level of technical difficulty in production — might support the average selling price to some extent.
Genius has order visibility stretching into the first quarter of next year, which is likely to be better than the first quarter of this year, he added.
However, the company did not provide a sales guidance for next year.
Genius posted net profit of NT$1.3 billion (US$42.6 million) for last quarter, or earnings per share of NT$12.90, up from NT$272.26 million in the same quarter last year, a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
Consolidated revenue more than doubled from NT$2.38 billion to NT$5.06 billion, while gross margin improved by 11.52 percentage points to 49.27 percent thanks to increased production capacity and an adjusted portfolio.
Genius aims to maintain and eventually improve its gross margin next year, chairman Jones Chen (陳天慶) said, adding that the company would continue to rely on production of 10-megapixel lenses and above, which have a better gross margin than lenses below 10 megapixels.
In the first three quarters of the year, lenses of 10-megapixels and above contributed 47 percent of revenue, while those below 10-megapixels contributed 37 percent, company data showed.
The company also produces micro-lenses, under-screen camera lenses and lenses for time-of-flight cameras, which contributed the remaining 16 percent of revenue, Chen said, adding that they also improve gross margin.
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
RSS