Source: The content is synthesized from "Financial News", thank you.
In the second quarter, Largan Optoelectronics' single-quarter revenue, operating net profit, gross profit margin, net income after tax and earnings per share set new highs for the same period, surprising the outside world. However, in mid-July, it was reported that it had decided to withdraw from the automotive lens market, causing an uproar from all walks of life.
"Financial News" asked Largan for confirmation, and Largan responded: "The company is currently focusing on mobile phone lenses and will not invest resources in the automotive market." However, there is news that Largan will withdraw from the automotive market. Colleagues have heard about it for a long time.
"In fact, at the end of last year, through the mutual automotive customers of Largan and Jialing, we already knew the news that Largan was withdrawing from the automotive lens market!" Liu Jiabin, chairman of Jialing, said in an interview with "Financial News" disclose.
is not surprising! Peers in the industry have long heard about
. However, as the world's major automotive brands invest in the development of smart cars and autonomous vehicles, the size of the automotive lens market will only explode in the future. Why does Largan, which has been deploying automotive lenses for more than 13 years, Want to call a card without warning?
traced Largan's 2006 annual report, which clearly revealed that it had begun investing in the research and development of automotive lenses that year. According to Largan's 2018 annual report released at the June shareholders' meeting, it is still clear that automotive lenses are a mainstream product that will be actively developed in the next few years.
Why did it notify automotive lens customers at the end of 2018 that it would no longer supply existing models after production, and even declined orders from other new customers? What's more, the automotive lens market has a bright future. The latest report from
Zion Market Reasarch (Zion Market Research) pointed out that the global automotive lens market output value in 2018 was approximately US$7.6 billion, and is expected to reach US$15.4 billion by 2025. The annual compound value between 2019 and 2025 The growth rate exceeded 10.64%.
Liu Jiabin analyzed the reasons why Largan has withdrawn from automotive lenses. First, automotive lenses are produced in small quantities and in a wide variety, which is completely different from Largan’s management method of mobile phone lenses, which is large in quantity and small in variety. Furthermore, Largan is targeting In the traditional reversing radar and panoramic lens market, the entry threshold for this market is lower than that of unmanned vehicles, so it faces fierce competition with lens manufacturers in mainland China; thirdly, Largan's entry into automotive lenses has been relatively long. The industry is late, so its start and competitiveness will be different. Huang Wenqing, deputy general manager of
Taiwan New Investment Consulting, also believes that currently automotive lenses account for 2% of Largan's revenue, which cannot achieve economic scale; and Largan mainly focuses on plastic lenses, and will wait for opportunities in the future auto market.
"This (decision) will be better for Largan!" Li Yuansong, chairman of Taiwan's glass grinding machine leader Maijun Machinery, pointed out that Largan is not a Chinese manufacturer in the automotive lens market (mainly referring to the world's leading automotive lens manufacturer Rivals of Sunny Optical (Sunny Optical), and the proportion of and automotive lenses in revenue is still low, and they can make an all-out effort to sprint into the mobile phone lens market, which already ranks as the leader.
In fact, Largan has an urgent reason to consolidate its leading position in the mobile phone lens market: in the next two years, the smartphone market will grow significantly.
According to estimates from market research agency Gartner, mobile phone sales in 2019 will be approximately 1.56 billion units, with an annual growth rate of only 0.3%. It is deduced that the main reason for the low annual growth rate is: the new phone has limited highlights and high-end users Waiting for the popularization of 5G, it is expected that mobile phone sales will reach 1.61 billion units in 2020, with an annual growth rate of 2.9%.
is no longer available! A small amount of variety is not a strong point
In addition, looking forward to the second half of 2019 to 2020, the trend of four lenses for flagship mobile phones has taken shape. In addition to the existing three-lens combination of fixed focus, optical zoom and wide-angle, it will also pursue plus micro telephoto lens. The latter may be used in VR (Virtual Reality) or AR (Augmented Reality), and the specifications require a larger aperture, driving up the unit price of the lens set.
In addition, the first 64-megapixel lens has been launched recently. For example, Samsung's new product requires an increase in the amount of light passing through as the pixels are doubled. Therefore, Largan also revealed that it has designed an 8P (eight lenses) in response to customer needs.
Therefore, Largan’s next step after abandoning caboose lenses is to adjust the existing production line content and R&D projects."Largan's existing glass production capacity can be converted into high-zoom periscope lenses, which will be more beneficial to Largan!" Huang Wenqing analyzed that the trend of multi-lens is clear, and the second lens is mostly optical zoom.
The existing optical zoom has moved from the 2x zoom of the iPhone . In order to solve the problem of temperature rise, the high heat resistance of glass will be used. It is expected that the G (triangular lens) plus P (plastic lens) in the periscope lens group will be used. In addition to the triangle lens, it is inferred that in the plastic lens group, One or two pieces will be converted to glass.
Largan CEO Lin Enping also made it clear at the June shareholders' meeting that if customers need it, he will not rule out the production of ground glass. The production capacity of the Dongguan factory, which originally mainly produced spherical glass, is expected to be converted to meet customer needs.
*Disclaimer: This article is originally created by the author. The content of the article is the personal opinion of the author. The reprinting by Semiconductor Industry Watch is only to convey a different point of view. It does not mean that Semiconductor Industry Watch agrees or supports the view. If you have any objections, please contact Semiconductor Industry Watch.
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