Kopin fails to sign up major customer
III-V revenue from the sale of GaAs-based epiwafers was $9.9 million, up 5% sequentially and up 77% from the year-ago period. CyberDisplay revenue for the September 2002 quarter was $12.0 million.
However, Kopin s failure to secure a purchasing agreement with a large customer for III-V epiwafers could result in its revenue decreasing by 25-30% in the December quarter.
"The current slowdown across the semiconductor and consumer electronics industries, coupled with excess capacity, has created tremendous pricing pressure throughout the supply chain," said John Fan, Kopin s president and CEO.
"During the fourth quarter, we typically negotiate purchasing terms for the following year. In III-V, we have been unable to reach an agreement on terms with a large customer. Ultimately, we are hopeful we can resolve this issue. In the meantime, however, given the lack of an agreement with this customer and anticipated weakness in the holiday selling season, we expect total fourth quarter revenue to decline between 25 and 30 percent sequentially."
Kopin said in its conference call that CyberDisplay revenues will be roughly flat in the fourth quarter, which implies that the III-V business could decline by as much as 66%.
Kopin refused to name the customer in question, although it seems certain that it is Kopin s largest customer for HBT epiwafers, Skyworks Solutions (formerly Conexant).
During the September quarter, Kopin announced the development of a blue LED, CyberLite, which boasts better ESD protection and operates at lower voltage. "Customer response has been very good," said Fan, "and the CyberLite continues to progress through the qualification process with prospective customers. We expect to begin production shipments at the end of the fourth quarter of this year, with volume shipments starting early next year."
Kopin stated that its capacity utilization for HBT epiwafers is currently around 60%, and that 6-inch epiwafers make up around 25% of total shipments.
Kopin s net income for the September quarter was $0.6 million, or 1 cent per share. This compares with a net loss of $9.9 million, or 15 cents per share, in the year-ago period, and net loss of $1.6 million, or 2 cents per share, in the June 2002 quarter.
