AXT anticipates demand growth for GaAs wafers
The company was also successful in reducing its net loss from $2.6 million (11 cents per share) in the third quarter of 2003 to $2.1 million (9 cents) in the final quarter.
AXT anticipates increased demand for its GaAs substrate products based on growth in the cellphone handset market and a projected 20% increase in the use of GaAs for growing red-yellow LEDs.
The company predicts that revenue will be between $9.7 and $10.3 million during the current quarter, with a net loss of $1.8 and $2.0 million.
AXT s full-year revenue dropped from $44.9 million in 2002 to $34.7 million in 2003. AXT discontinued its ailing optoelectronics business during last year. The company’s net loss for 2003 was $26.7 million ($1.17 per share), compared with $81.2 million ($3.63 per share) for 2002.
"During 2003, we increased our cash and short- and long-term investment holdings by 25 percent while reducing our debt by 45 percent, sold our struggling opto-electronics business, reduced costs by shifting more production to China, and improved product quality," said Morris Young, president and CEO.
"Customers responded to the improved product quality by increasing orders in the last quarter, which resulted in our highest revenue since the fourth quarter of 2002 and lowest operating loss since the third quarter of 2001.”
Young said that products produced solely in China are now qualified by most of AXT’s customers, and that AXT is working with its remaining customers to secure their qualifications of China-produced products during early 2004.
“We are augmenting our R&D effort to close any remaining quality gaps between AXT and our competitors,” added Young. “We are continuing to reduce costs primarily by shifting our remaining US-based production to China.”
