Innolux Corp (群創), the LCD panel manufacturing arm of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday said it plans to double its revenue within two years by reviving its electronics assembly business and developing next-generation display technologies.
The production revamp is aimed at minimizing the impact on the company of the LCD industry’s boom-and-bust cycle, Innolux said.
That could also open the door to future cooperation between Innolux and Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) companies, including Hon Hai and Sharp Corp, it added.
“Since Innolux no longer invests substantially on building new flat-panel [capacity] as Hon Hai and Sharp are doing now, I believe there will certainly be collaboration opportunities between us,” chairman Wang Jyh-chao (王志超) told a media briefing after the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting at its headquarters in Miaoli County.
“We will more than welcome [the chance] to [source] panels from Hon Hai and Sharp for [ TV] assembly,” Wang said.
As Innolux has just resumed its electronics assembly lines, the company has yet to decide whether to make TVs for Hon Hai and Sharp, Wang said.
In March, the flat-panel maker launched a production restructuring plan after its financial status returned to healthy levels. The company had reduced its debt-to-equity ratio to zero last quarter and paid off about NT$200 billion (US$6.58 billion) in debts over a three-year period.
When Innolux was established in 2003, it sold LCD displays and manufactured monitors equipped with its displays for other companies. In 2010, the company spun off its monitor assembly business and sold it to parent company Hon Hai to focus on LCD production following a three-way merger.
Innolux this year started making TVs at its smart factories in Foshan, Guangdong Province, China, Wang said.
The company plans to manufacture 1 milion TVs this year and expects the figure to jump to about 6 million next year and to 10 million in 2019, president and chief operating officer Robert Shiao (蕭志弘) told reporters.
That will help Innolux double its revenue in 2019 from last year’s NT$287.1 billion, according to the company’s forecast.
Innolux also plans to continue developing new display technologies.
Instead of joining its peers in developing micro-LED technology, Innolux is investing in mini-LED technology, said Ting Chin-lung (丁景隆), head of the company’s technology development center.
Mini-LED technology is similar to micro-LED technology, but easier to make, as it uses only 10,000 tiny LEDs to light up a flexible display, compared with 20 million to 30 million for micro-LED, Ting said.
“Our mini-LED technology will be ready in about one year. Then we can start to engage with potential customers,” Ting said.
Innolux shareholders yesterday approved a plan to distribute a cash dividend of NT$0.1 per common share, based on last year’s net profit of NT$1.87 billion, or earnings of NT$0.19 per share.
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