E Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技) yesterday said it plans NT$5 billion to NT$8 billion (US$157.01 million to US$251.22 million) in capital expenditure this year, compared with NT$5 billion last year, as the world’s largest e-paper display supplier continues capacity expansion to produce electronic shelf labels (ESLs) and digital signage.
The company expects to launch a new production line, called H6, at Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) this year to produce large e-paper displays, E Ink chairman Johnson Lee (李正昊) told an earnings conference.
“Some customers have become more willing to install [outdoor digital signages] lately,” Lee said, attributing customers’ changing mindset to increased prices for crude oil and electricity, with the massive power consumption of artificial intelligence infrastructure contributing.
Photo: CNA
“I am bullish about this market, so we have to keep expanding capacity,” Lee said.
H5, the company’s first production line dedicated to large e-paper displays for digital signs such as 32-inch and 55-inch displays, entered volume production late last year.
The new H6 production line is to start contributing revenue next year, the company said.
The company also plans to build a new production line in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) and expand capacity in the US, Lee said.
E Ink provided an upbeat revenue growth forecast for this year and next year after delivering strong results for last year.
The company’s net profit last year increased 18.6 percent to an all-time high of NT$10.52 billion from NT$8.87 billion in 2024. Earnings per share expanded to NT$9.14 from NT$7.75 over the same period.
Revenue climbed 12.31 percent to NT$36.12 billion last year from NT$32.16 billion a year earlier.
“This year, revenue and net profit would surpass last year’s levels,” Lee said. “We are very bullish about the outlook.”
E Ink expects revenue this quarter to exceed the NT$8.06 billion in the first quarter last year and said it could be the second-best first quarter in the company’s history.
E Ink is optimistic about growth in e-paper displays for ESLs, as total ESL installments are projected to swell 20 percent to 600 million units this year from 500 million units last year, it said.
The company counts US-based Walmart Inc, Lidl GmbH of Germany and UK’s Tesco PLC among its major ESL customers.
E Ink said it expects gross margin this year to be similar to last year at about 54 percent.
The company’s board of directors last week approved a cash dividend distribution of NT$5.9, implying a payout ratio of 65 percent.
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