LED packaging service provider Everlight Electronics expects its profits to outperform 2022's levels this year, with the correspondent revenue staying flat or increasing slightly.
While shipments for consumer electronics applications will remain weak in the first half, Everlight noted that shipments for automotive applications have begun gaining momentum, partly pushed by orders deferred previously.
Overall, Everlight expects automotive lighting shipments to grow significantly in 2023, to account for 10-12% of its annual sales.
The company said it will continue to face price pressure and inventory challenges for consumer optocoupler products this year. Nevertheless, it has also experienced increasing optocoupler demand for midrange-to-high-end applications, such as electric vehicles (EV), power charging piles and battery management systems (BMS).
For consumer optocouplers, the company will strive to improve its production efficiency by adopting more automated equipment to offset the impact of declining product prices and maintain its competitiveness.
Meanwhile, Everlight cooperates with panel makers in Taiwan and China to produce miniLED-backlight devices for automotive applications. The company said it has cut into the US and China EV markets and expects miniLED-backlight shipments to expand exponentially this year.
Everlight has also kicked off shipments of exterior taillights to the supply chains of carmakers in Europe and Korea, boosting its market share in the segment.
Everlight said it posted a net loss of NT$51 million (US$1.683 million) in the fourth quarter of 2022 due to a non-operating loss of NT$250 million involving a lawsuit of its Germany-based LED lighting subsidiary, WOFT Leucheten. However, for 2022, it garnered a net profit of NT$1.23 billion.
For 2023, the company expects its performance in the year's second half to be better than that of the first half. But its ASP would likely decline slightly this year due to price competition, with the gross margin to stay flat or dip mildly.
Article translated by Steve Shen
