Largan Precision Co (大立光), a camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhone models, yesterday said this quarter’s sales would be higher than last quarter’s as demand from major clients continues to grow.
“This month’s sales are to be flat from last month’s NT$5.1 billion [US$162.9 million], and next month is to be better than this month,” Largan chief executive officer Adam Lin (林恩平) told a teleconference.
10 MEGAPIXELs
The Taichung-based company’s performance would grow quarter-by-quarter in the second half of the year, driven by the growing demand for higher-margin products featuring 10-megapixel lenses and above, Lin said.
Since lens that are 10-megapixel and above require more complicated technologies, they would help raise Largan’s average selling prices, he said.
“Shipments of products featuring 10 megapixels and above contributed between 20 percent and 30 percent of the firm’s total shipments last quarter,” he said.
“Largan expects the shipment contribution from the segment to continue to grow in upcoming quarters,” he said.
FIGURING IT OUT
Largan reported a net income of NT$4.82 billion for the second quarter, up 29.3 percent from last year’s NT$3.72 billion and a 9.54 percent increase from the previous quarter’s NT$4.4 billion.
Earnings per share were NT$35.96, compared with NT$32.86 in the first quarter and NT$27.76 in the second quarter of last year.
For the first half of the year, Largan’s net profit totaled NT$9.23 billion, a significant improvement from the NT$6.72 billion made in the same period last year.
Revenue in the first six months of the year rose 45 percent to NT$23.34 billion from NT$16.83 billion a year earlier, with analysts attributing the increase to more lenses being used in new iPhones and Chinese smartphone brands, as well as higher prices.
DUAL CAMERA LENSES
Commenting on the company’s progress on dual camera lenses used in smartphones, Lin said Largan had no problems making dual-camera lenses for fast automatic focus, or to be used as a supplementary lighting source.
“However, there are still some technical issues to be solved if dual-camera lenses are used for the zoom function,” he said.
To meet clients’ rising demands before Largan starts to build a new plant in 2017, the company plans to rent another plant next year, Lin said.
The company rented two plants earlier this year, which are scheduled to become operational in the final quarter of the year.
Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) forecast Largan to grow revenue this quarter by 25 percent to NT$17.29 billion from last quarter, fueled by orders for Apple’s next-generation iPhone models.
Largan shares grew 3.53 percent to NT$3,520 in Taipei trading yesterday, outperforming the TAIEX, which lost 0.13 percent.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure
RSS