E-paper display supplier E Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技) yesterday said its revenue growth is to recover this year as its customers rapidly adopt new four-color e-paper displays used in electronic shelf labels (ESLs).
Last year, customers’ inventory adjustments of previous-generation three-color e-paper displays slowed down their transition to new four-color e-paper displays for ESL and constrained E Ink’s revenue growth, the firm said.
The supply chain issue “is not a concern now,” E Ink chairman Johnson Lee (李政昊) told investors yesterday, adding that customers’ inventories are expected to return to a healthy level this quarter.
Photo: Chen Mei-ying, Taipei Times
In addition, the supply of driver ICs and display modules used in the new ESL displays are expected to improve this year, he said.
“The first quarter will be the trough for the ESL business, which will improve every quarter this year,” Lee said.
Feedback from its partners showed that about 80 percent of its customers plan to adopt four-color e-paper displays this year, compared with 20 percent in October last year, he said.
“Overall, the outlook for 2024 will be better than 2023,” Lee said. “Revenue this year will also be higher than last year, with the growth rate hinging on customers’ product transitions.”
E Ink posted revenue of NT$27.12 billion (US$861 million) for last year, down 9.78 percent from NT$30.06 billion in 2022.
In contrast to the clearer visibility for its ESL business, e-paper for consumer electronic applications — mostly e-readers and e-notes — are a “wild card” this year, Lee said, citing customers’ delayed launches of new models equipped with color displays instead of monochrome displays.
E Ink said its capacity expansion plans are on schedule, with the new production line in Hsinchu, dubbed H5, likely to enter volume production in the fourth quarter at the earliest to produce large-size e-paper displays measuring 85 inches to 95 inches (216cm to 241cm) for outdoor signages.
Another new production line, H6, is to enter operation in 2026 to manufacture even larger e-paper displays, the firm said.
The company has decided to restart its new plant construction in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) this year, and is expanding module capacity at its Yangzhou plant in China for super-large e-paper displays from 75-inch to 100-inch displays, it said.
The Hsinchu-based company’s net profit fell 21 percent last year to NT$7.82 billion, from NT$9.91 billion a year earlier, and earnings per share dropped to NT$6.85, from NT$8.69.
Non-operating profit shrank 12 percent annually to NT$2.54 billion, attributable to a dip of 60 percent in royalty income, it said. Since 2019, E Ink has generated more operating income than the income from licensing its display patents, it added.
The firm’s board of directors last month approved a cash dividend distribution of NT$4.5 per share, with a payout ratio of 66 percent, up from 52 percent the previous year.
The DBS Foundation yesterday announced the launch of two flagship programs, “Silver Motion” and “Happier Caregiver, Healthier Seniors,” in partnership with CCILU Ltd, Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation and the Garden of Hope Foundation to help Taiwan face the challenges of a rapidly aging population. The foundation said it would invest S$4.91 million (US$3.8 million) over three years to foster inclusion and resilience in an aging society. “Aging may bring challenges, but it also brings opportunities. With many Asian markets rapidly becoming super-aged, the DBS Foundation is working with a regional ecosystem of like-minded partners across the private, public and people sectors
BREAKTHROUGH TECH: Powertech expects its fan-out PLP system to become mainstream, saying it can offer three-times greater production throughput Chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) plans to more than double its capital expenditures next year to more than NT$40 billion (US$1.31 billion) as demand for its new panel-level packaging (PLP) technology, primarily used in chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, has greatly exceeded what it can supply. A significant portion of the budget, about US$1 billion, would be earmarked for fan-out PLP technology, Powertech told investors yesterday. Its heavy investment in fan-out PLP technology over the past 10 years is expected to bear fruit in 2027 after the technology enters volume production, it said, adding that the tech would
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has secured three construction permits for its plan to build a state-of-the-art A14 wafer fab in Taichung, and is likely to start construction soon, the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau said yesterday. Speaking with CNA, Wang Chun-chieh (王俊傑), deputy director general of the science park bureau, said the world’s largest contract chipmaker has received three construction permits — one to build a fab to roll out sophisticated chips, another to build a central utility plant to provide water and electricity for the facility and the other to build three office buildings. With the three permits, TSMC
YEAR-END BOOST: The holiday shopping season in the US and Europe, combined with rising demand for AI applications, is expected to drive exports to a new high, the NDC said Taiwan’s business climate monitor improved last month, transitioning from steady growth for the first time in five months, as robust global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and new iPhone shipments boosted exports and corporate sales, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. The council uses a five-color system to measure the nation’s economic state, with “green” indicating steady growth, “red” suggesting a boom and “blue” reflecting a recession. “Yellow-red” and “yellow-blue” suggest a transition to a stronger or weaker condition. The total score of the monitor’s composite index rose to 35 points from a revised 31 in August, ending a four-month
RSS