Smartphone-use lens module maker Genius Electronic Optical (GSEO), based on orders received, expects current full utilization of production capacity to continue until the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2021, according to company chairman Jones Chen.

GSEO has already fully utilized production capacities at its four factories in southeastern China, company president Lee Kuo said. To expand production capacity, GSEO completed a fifth factory there earlier in 2021, with initial production capacity gradually coming into operation, Kuo noted.

While the total production capacity at present is 12-13% more than that in 2020, actual shipments have increased by only about 10% due to the use of more plastic lens pieces in a single lens module, Kuo explained. Currently, GSEO has to hike yield rates to increase output, Kuo indicated.

Due to sharp increases in orders for 5P (5 plastic lens pieces), 6P and 7P mid-range and high-end lens modules, their revenue proportion is expected to rise from 15-22% in 2020 to 35-40% in 2021, Kuo said.

Besides smartphone-use lens modules, GSEO has begun small-volume shipments for lens modules used in automotive cameras, Kuo noted. Structure of such lens modules is expected to shift from G+P (combination of glass and plastic lens pieces) to being based on glass lens pieces, with the latter involving complicated technology in processing glass and assembling glass lens pieces, Kuo indicated.

GSEO has also stepped into lens modules used in VR and AR devices, Kuo said, adding that demand for VR-use lens modules is growing faster but long-term demand for AR-use lens modules will be higher.

GSEO will gradually decrease reliance on smartphone-use lens modules, aiming to hike the revenue proportion for the other product lines to 30-40% over the next 3-5 years, with VR- and AR-use lens modules expected to become the main source of growth, Kuo indicated.

GSEO has reported consolidated revenues of NT$1.135 billion (US$40.6 million) for June, increasing 55.06% on month and 2.33% on year; those of NT$2.542 billion for second-quarter 2021 decreased 0.75% on quarter and 17.37% on year, and those of NT$5.103 billion for January-June slipped 11.54% on year.