According to the Economic Daily report, the Chinese optical giant Largan has released its latest financial report. The financial report shows that the company achieved NT$5.244 billion (approximately RMB 1.21 billion) in revenue in November, and consolidated revenue of 11.8 billion from January to November in 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 8%.
According to public information, Largan was established in 1987 and is a professional manufacturer of precision optical lenses and lenses. It is worth noting that in the global optical industry, Germany's Leica and Zeiss, Japan's Canon and Nikon have always stood at the high end of the industry chain, occupying most of the market.
However, Lin Yaoying, the founder of Largan, replaced glass with plastic, breaking the monopoly of companies such as Germany and Japan. After more than 30 years of development, Largan has replaced Germany and Japan as the world’s largest manufacturer of mobile phone lenses. The share once exceeded 30%, which means that Largan has produced 1/3 of the world’s mobile phone lenses.
Not only that, the world's top five mobile phone brands, without exception, have become Largan customers. Among the many Largan customers, the most noteworthy ones are , apple, , and Huawei. In 2016, the iPhone 7 Plus released by Apple created the era of dual-camera lenses, and Largan is the exclusive supplier of this machine.
has always insisted not to put eggs in one basket, so apple has successively supported many manufacturers, trying to make a substitute for Largan, but none of them succeeded. The reason why
Largan has the dominance that makes Apple jealous is not only due to Largan’s research and judgment on the general trend, but also inseparable from the company's years of technology and yield.
At the beginning of its establishment, Lin Yaoying set a rule for Largan: "Don't buy technology, don't dig corners, don't do OEM". Although
optical technology involves millions of variables, Largan has almost all independent research and development from plant building to foundation laying, to mold equipment. Even if the machine is purchased, Largan does not take it all.
It is precisely because of the ultimate pursuit of technology and yield that Largan has built its own technical barriers and has become a global leader. In 2019, Huawei launched the P30Pro, which has ultra-high specifications with 4 lenses and 10x optical zoom, which is only provided by Largan in the world.
Therefore, with the backing of , Apple, and Huawei, Largan’s performance has been rising steadily, and its revenue has also become more impressive. However, because Huawei is a major customer of Largan, the US sanctions on Huawei indirectly led to a decline in Largan’s revenue. Lin Enping, CEO of
Largan, said frankly at the lecture meeting in November that because of high uncertainty, some customers have stopped orders for high-profile lenses. The word "with customers" here refers to Huawei.
Affected by the US sanctions on Huawei, Largan estimates that the momentum for pulling goods in December will be similar to that in November.
