At present, the sales of photonics-related epitaxial wafers are significantly more profitable for companies than more mature wireless technologies. IQE's financial report shows that its photonics products have an operating margin of about 25%, almost double that of wireless products.
IQE CEO said in a statement: "IQE seized the opportunity in the first half of 2018 to accelerate and expand the verification of the fast growing consumer green laser pointer market, which has successfully completed more than 20 in this field. The company has established cooperation."
He said: "In conjunction with the installation, staffing and initial mass production capacity rampage of our Newport flagship extension foundry, these important initiatives represent IQE's VCSEL to ensure and further strengthen the company's global consumer and industrial 3D sensing applications. Leading position in the field of wafer supply."
At the same time, he added that although the early investment of Newport's extension foundry affected the profitability of IQE in the first half of the year, he believes that with the wide application of 3D sensing in mobile platforms and other high-volume applications, the future will bring sales and Strong growth in profits.
In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, the company noted that IQE's 6-inch GaAs wafer capacity will help customers significantly reduce the unit cost of VCSEL chips, further accelerating the popularity of the technology.
“There is no doubt that sensing technology from 3D sensing to gesture recognition and lidar (LiDAR) will be a major growth point in the near future and will extend into the future,” said Drew Nelson. “Some analysts in the market say this will It is the beginning of a round of 'super cycle'. In fact, IQE's extensive product development plan has been reflected, and now it has crossed multiple first-tier OEMs (direct and through chip customers), who are aiming for the next 6 to 18 months. Large-scale market growth for 3D sensing applications."
In addition, VCSEL has many other applications besides 3D sensing, including fiber optics for data centers, industrial heating, and machine vision.