On September 15, US time, AOI, the world's leading provider of optical access network products for Internet data centers, CATV broadband, telecommunications and FTTH markets, announced that it has reached a definitive agreement with Yuhan Optoelectronics Technology to sell AOI's China manufacturing facility assets, including The optical transceiver business and some assets of multi-channel optical device products for the Internet data center and telecom FTTH market are sold at a price of 150 million US dollars.
Completely withdraw from the Chinese market? AOI Announces $150 Million Sale of Manufacturing Plant and Optical Transceiver Assets in China
The company expects the transaction to close in 2023, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
Dr. Thompson Lin, founder, president and CEO of AOI, said: "The substantial proceeds from this transaction facilitate our strategic investment in high-margin and high-growth opportunities. After careful consideration, we believe that AOI's exit from the transceiver market, It is in the best interest of the company and shareholders to focus resources on the CATV business, providing advanced lasers and laser components to customers in the data center, CATV, telecommunications and FTTH markets. Additionally, we believe this transaction provides a solid foundation for our existing data center lasers Business expansion provides greater opportunities for customers, and the business has huge market potential.
Dr. Stefan Murry, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of AOI, said: "This transaction is part of our plan to accelerate profitability, and we plan to use the majority of the proceeds from asset sales to invest in expanding our business, especially in our fast-growing CATV. business and some new laser products. In addition to asset transactions, we look forward to new cooperation with Yuhan Optoelectronics through a contract manufacturing agreement to produce some CATV products for AOI, and continue to provide industry-leading data center optical transceiver manufacturing for Yuhan Laser components."
Continuing to expand, AOI has made great strides in the field of optical communication applications
AOI is an industry-leading supplier of optical fiber network products. It designs and manufactures various fiber lasers, components and equipment. It has a vertical production chain. The product line covers laser chips to complete sets of equipment. Most of the laser chips and optical components in the products are Self-produced.
It has four main technical advantages: differentiated laser manufacturing process, laser improvement technology, optical hybrid integration technology and mixed-signal design capabilities. Among them, the MBE process in laser chip manufacturing has obvious advantages and high barriers. AOI is the only company that uses the MBE process to mass-produce optical communication laser chips.
AOI's product line is mainly divided into two parts: optical modules and optical components, and optical modules are the main components. Among them, optical modules include 1.25GWDM-PON series, 5GSFP series, 10GSFP+ series, 40GQSFP+ series and 100GQSFP28 series, which can be used in FTTH, CATV, data center and telecom markets.
As for the core technology of chip manufacturing, AOI has its own semiconductor processing factory, equipped with a unique molecular beam epitaxy technology MBE (Molecular Beam Epitaxy), and the chip manufacturing, packaging and testing are also completed in the same factory area. The integration of the vertical production chain enables AOI to control every link of product manufacturing, ensuring high-quality, high-efficiency, low-cost production, and responding quickly to customized needs.
Over the years, the development of AOI in the field of optical communication applications can be described as blooming everywhere and making great achievements!
Affected by the US Act, there are problems in the supply chain of the AOI optical module market
On August 4 this year, AOI announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022. According to the financial report, AOI’s sales revenue in the second quarter was US$52.3 million, down 3.5% from US$54.2 million in the same period last year, and a slight increase from US$52.2 million in the previous quarter.
Completely withdraw from the Chinese market? AOI Announces $150 Million Sale of Manufacturing Plant and Optical Transceiver Assets in China
For the third quarter of 2022, AOI currently expects sales revenue to be in the range of $57 million to $60 million, non-GAAP gross margin to be in the range of 16.5% to 18.5%, and non-GAAP net loss to be in the range of $7.6 million Between $9.1 million, non-GAAP net loss per share based on approximately 27.9 million shares will be between $0.27 and $0.32.
Dr. Thompson Lin, founder, president and CEO of AOI, said: "Our revenue in the second quarter was adversely affected by supply chain issues that resulted in the delay of several orders from a large CATV customer. Since then, we have completed and delivered all These orders, albeit somewhat delayed, have confirmed that we will generate revenue in the third quarter. Despite supply chain challenges, we are encouraged by continued strong demand in the CATV market and improving conditions in the telecom market. We continue to see 400G offerings Good customer traction and nearly $5 million in orders. We expect 400G revenue to start climbing in the second half of the year as production ramps up."
The supply chain issues of AOI in China have a lot to do with the US Chip Act. The US Chip Act ostensibly restricts China's access to advanced technologies, but essentially transfers the advanced manufacturing capabilities of foreign companies in China and also high-margin manufacturing capabilities. to the United States. Nikkei commented that the latest US chip bill forces companies to choose between China and the United States.
