Young Optics expects shipments drop

SOFT DEMAND: Shipments of optical components rose quarter-on-quarter on AR glasses production, while 3D printing product shipments slowed, the company said

• By Meryl Kao / Staff reporter

• • Add TT as Preferred Source

Camera lens supplier Young Optics Inc (揚明光學) yesterday said it expects shipments this quarter to decline sequentially due to soft demand, partly because customers’ planned changes to new logistics projection lenses could delay or suspend demand.

Shipments of 3D printing products this quarter are expected to increase slightly as customers begin testing new models, Young Optics said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

Shipments from other product lines are expected to remain flat or decline slightly from last quarter as customers become more cautious about year-end inventory management, the company said.

Young Optics Inc’s micro-projection optical engine is pictured on the company’s Web site.

Photo: Ou Yu-hsing, Taipei Times

Young Optics yesterday posted a second consecutive quarterly decline in net profit of NT$1.22 million (US$37,529) last quarter, slumping 76.25 percent from NT$5.14 million the previous quarter. That represented an improvement from a net loss of NT$10.08 million a year earlier, company data showed.

Earnings per share were NT$0.01, down from NT$0.05 the previous quarter, but up from losses per share of NT$0.09 a year earlier.

Gross margin rose to 16.8 percent last quarter from 16.44 percent in the second quarter, but was down from 17.02 percent a year earlier.

In the third quarter, shipments of smart home products were flat from the previous quarter as continued growth in new models shipments was offset by the phaseout of older low-end lens products, Young Optics said.

Shipments of optical components increased quarter-on-quarter as customers’ new augmented reality (AR) glasses entered mass production, while 3D printing product shipments slowed as customers adjusted inventories of older models and conducted verification of new models, it said.

Automotive product shipments increased slightly as new lidar lens models entered mass production and replaced older models, the company added.

The third-quarter shipment trends largely matched the guidance provided in July.

In the second quarter, automotive products accounted for about 15 to 20 percent of Young Optics’ NT$738.28 million in revenue, while optical components made up 25 to 30 percent, company president Cynthia Chang (張雅容) said at the time.

The share of optical components could rise to about 30 percent this year, supported by volume production of logistics projection lenses and AR glasses, Chang said.

Regarding fiber array unit products, the company said two mechanical transfer ferrule projects are undergoing trial production, while molded glass lens arrays and optical transceiver modules remain in the proof-of-concept verification phase, Young Optics said.

The company is also developing new automotive lidar lens products, Young Optics said.

Increases in manufacturing complexity, particularly in molded glass components, could weigh on gross margin during the initial stage of mass production, it said.

Young Optics has three major customers for applications related to AR glasses, mainly supplying optical engine components, said Wayne Lin (林威嶧), another company president.

One customer focuses primarily on swimming goggles, while the others are leading North American customers for AR glasses, Lin said.

One of the two North American customers is already in mass production, while the other began mass production last year and plans to launch a second-generation product in the second half of this year, he said.