Financial news: Veeco and Kopin
US-based equipment manufacturer Veeco Instruments has recorded sales of $102.9 million for the quarter ending 30 June, a sequential increase of $8.4 million, and up 40% on the equivalent quarter in 2003. Net profit for the second quarter was $1.6 million.
Sales for the second fiscal quarter 2004 were dominated by process equipment, which netted $60.6 million. Metrology contributed $42.3 million. Compound semiconductor products accounted for $25 million, or 24% of the total sales.
Veeco s orders for the second quarter were $124.7 million - $82.7 million for process equipment, and $42.0 million for metrology.
"Orders were up 7% sequentially due to strength in both the compound semiconductor/wireless market (up 31% sequentially) and the semiconductor market (up 121% sequentially)," explained Edward Braun, Veeco s CEO.
"This included $42.4 million for Veeco s TurboDisc MOCVD products required for high brightness LED manufacturing and a quarterly record $13.7 million in orders for automated atomic force microscopes."
Kopin reduces quarterly lossRF device and LED manufacturer Kopin, based in Taunton, MA, has recorded revenue of $23.6 million for the quarter ended 26 June, up $1.2 million on the previous quarter, and an improvement of $3.7 million compared with the equivalent quarter in 2003.
Net loss in the latest quarter was $2.3 million, better than the $3.4 million loss seen in the previous quarter, but worse than the $1.0 million loss one year ago.
III-V revenue for the quarter was an encouraging $10.4 million, up $1.7 million from last year. "Demand for Kopin s HBTs in the wireless handset and WLAN markets continues to grow. We are currently working to bring additional capacity online," said John Fan, Kopin s CEO.
However, not all of the company s III-V products are generating cash - the CyberLite LED product line has a negative gross margin and its future looks uncertain. Fan explained: "We are evaluating different business models, including pairing our technology with a lower cost structure. We expect to complete our evaluation by the end of the year."