Largan Precision Co (大立光), the nation’s leading camera lens manufacturer, yesterday gave a bleak outlook for this quarter due to the uncertainty engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic, after posting its strongest-ever first-quarter net profit, which surged 32.97 percent year-on-year to NT$6.72 billion (US$222.87 million).
This figure translated into earnings per share of NT$50.1, up from NT$37.68 a year earlier.
Revenue last quarter increased 34.52 percent to NT$13.21 billion.
Gross margin climbed to 69.8 percent from 64.24 percent, thanks to an improved product mix, as well as higher average selling prices (ASP), the company said.
A shipment breakdown showed that 10 to 20-megapixel lenses accounted for 40 to 50 percent of the total, 20-megapixel lenses and above made up 20 to 30 percent, and 8-megapixel lenses constituted about 10 to 20 percent.
Despite a strong first quarter, the company said that uncertainty created by the pandemic would take a toll on its revenue this quarter.
“We expect April [revenue] to disappoint [compared with March sales], with May [sales] even worse,” Largan CEO Adam Lin (林恩平) told investors at an earnings conference, adding that the firm has no order visibility for June.
This would lead to a drop in capacity utilization rates, Lin said, but added that the projections are based on current client orders, which could change rapidly depending on market conditions.
Asked whether Largan could meet rush orders when the pandemic subsides, Lin said it could ramp up production within one to two weeks time as long as the necessary modules are already available.
“Our employees are still working full time,” he added.
As to market speculation about potential delays in customers’ product launches, Lin declined to comment, but said that some of Largan’s projects would indeed be affected by laboratory closures.
Lin said Largan might shift more production to low to mid-range lenses, but said this might undermine margins given a lower ASP.
Largan is developing free-form lenses, which reduce spherical aberrations that occur in conventional camera lenses, Lin said, adding that it would be available by the end of the year.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained