Kopin sees slump in sales, CyberLite qualification
Most of the sequential drop in revenue was due to slump in sales of HBT epiwafers; Kopin s III-V revenue for the December 2002 quarter was $5.6 million, down from $9.9 million in the previous quarter.
Sales from Kopin s CyberDisplay unit also fell from $12.0 million in the September 2002 quarter to $10.9 million in the December 2002 quarter.
For the 12 months ended December 31, 2002, Kopin s total revenue was $76.8 million, an increase of 48 % over the total revenue in 2001 of $51.9 million. The results represented the second highest annual revenue level in the company s history.
Full-year 2002 III-V revenue was $32.7 million, compared with $28.3 million in 2001. Full-year 2002 CyberDisplay revenue reached a record $44.1 million, compared with $23.6 million in 2001.
Kopin s net loss for the fourth quarter of 2002 was $2.4 million, or $0.03 per share. This compares with a net loss of $6.5 million, or $0.09 per share, in Q4 of 2001 and net income of $0.6 million, or $0.01 per share, in Q3 of 2002. Under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), the net loss for Q4 of 2002 was $15.1 million, or $0.22 per share. This compares with a net loss of $7.1 million, or $0.10 per share, in Q4 of 2001 and net income of $0.6 million, or $0.01 per share, in Q3 of 2002.
Recently, Kopin s blue CyberLite LED was qualified by a tier-one packaging customer based in Asia. This important milestone represents the official rollout of the third product platform based on Kopin s technologies. "With the CyberLite now qualified by this customer, we are starting to ramp the LED to volume production in the first quarter," said Fan. "We also continue to work toward qualification by additional customers and to focus on introducing derivative products such as green CyberLite LED chips." The CyberLite LED chip is based on Kopin s proprietary NanoPockets process, and Fan says that Kopin is "excited to bring nanotechnology into volume production."
Kopin and Skyworks Solutions recently reached a written agreement on the supply of HBT wafers. "We have always had very strong relationships with both Alpha Industries and Conexant Systems wireless division, which formed Skyworks Solutions," said Fan. "In fact, our relationship with Conexant dates back to its early days as a part of Rockwell; Kopin and Rockwell introduced the first HBT power amplifiers for CDMA handsets in 1996."
For the full year 2002, sales to Skyworks Solutions comprised 26% of Kopin s revenue. Samsung Electronics was the second-largest customer, accounting for 25% of sales, while Victor Company of Japan Ltd. and Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) comprised 15% and 13%, respectively
Outlook
"In 2003, we expect to continue to grow revenue, introduce new products, invest in technology innovation and maintain our strong balance sheet," said Fan.
"In the III-V area, we expect our CyberLite LEDs to be a strong growth driver as we ramp to production volume and add new customers during the year. In addition, we are actively working with many customers to design-in GAIN HBTs for wireless handsets and other applications.
"Looking at our guidance for the first quarter, despite traditional seasonality in our end markets and the lingering political and economic uncertainty, we expect top-line growth of more than 5 % sequentially, with CyberLite generating at least $1 million in revenue," concluded Fan.
