Smartphone camera lens supplier Largan Precision Co (大立光) yesterday said that it is looking to expand its Taiwan-based production capacity provided that the government helps it overcome land scarcity.
“Ideally, the company wants to purchase a large, unbroken plot of 30,000 to 40,000 ping [99,174m2 to 132,232m2 ] in Taiwan to expand production capacity,” Largan chief executive officer Adam Lin (林恩平) told a news conference following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taichung.
However, due to land scarcity, that would be a tall order without help from the government, despite efforts by the company and property agents, Lin said.
Although China has an abundance of low-priced land, it is not necessarily a better option for expansion, as the company would have to deal with rising wages and labor shortages there, Lin said.
If the company could find the land, its production base in Taiwan could be doubled in terms of land area, up from 19,000 ping, he said.
The company is undeterred by slowing growth in smartphone shipments, as demand for smartphone camera lenses is still robust, Lin said.
Thanks to improving production yield rates, sales last month exceeded the company’s expectations, growing 24.57 percent month-on-month and 14.69 percent annually to NT$4.32 billion (US$144.68 million), and the upward trend is expected to continue this month, he said.
There is a significant uptick in order visibility through next month and the company’s plants have been running at full capacity, Lin added.
Clients’ smartphone camera lens specifications are becoming more varied and complex, with advanced lenses being used in more mid-range devices made by customers who are less capable in software image optimization, he said.
While the elevated technical challenge could help the company stay ahead of rivals, it has also steepened the learning curve for each new product design, Lin said, adding that advances in camera sensors must be supported by more capable lenses for improved picture quality.
Customers have continued to push the envelope of smartphone photography, calling for advanced designs, such as multi-camera setups and telephoto lenses that require moving lens parts powered by voice coil motors and actuators, Lin said.
The government should help the smartphone camera lens industry, as the sector does not consume too much water or electricity, Lin said, adding that the plastic materials used in production are readily recyclable.
The company yesterday approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$72.5 per share, an all-time high.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday promised to help Largan, saying that it would play a bridging role between the Taichung-headquartered company and local governments.
“The Taichung area is almost saturated ... there might be some potential sites [for Largan’s new plants] in Changhua County,” Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) told reporters yesterday.
Additional reporting by Kuo Chia-erh
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
RSS