23 February 2011

Sapphire supplier Monocrystal triples revenue in 2010 to $153m

For fourth-quarter 2010, Monocrystal Inc of Stavropol, Russia, which manufactures large-diameter sapphire substrates for LED and RFIC applications (as well as screen printing metallization pastes for silicon-based solar cells), has reported preliminary revenue of a record $59.3m, up 38% on Q3 and up 241% year-on-year. The sapphire segment contributed a record $39.3m, up 50% sequentially and up 388% on a year ago. The pastes segment contributed $20m, up 13% sequentially and 105% on a year ago.

For full-year 2010, revenue was $153m, more than tripling from 2009’s $50.3m. Revenue from sapphire grew 250% from $25.4m to $89m. Revenue from solar pastes grew 161% from $24.5m in 2009 to $63.9m. Gross margin grew strongly from 32.3% in 2009 to 58.6%, and net income from $4.7m to $54.1m.

Results far surpassed the targets set for 2010, says CEO Oleg Kachalov. “Both our core markets, LED and solar, have gone through significant expansion in the last year, and we were able to leverage our core competencies in technology and production to drive the new strategy, add capacity and introduce innovative products to capitalize on these market opportunities,” he adds.

“Increased ASPs [average selling prices] and a shift in our product mix towards selling more polished and larger-diameter products for LED were accompanied by improvements on cost reduction, running our sapphire production capacities at full steam, and fostering close relationships with our customer base,” comments chief financial officer Andrey Komkov.

Although Q1/2011 has brought certain stability in pricing of sapphire products for LED, demand remains strong, notes Monocrystal. New LED technologies that are coming onto the market are expected to speed up developments in the entire LED chain and in the LED lighting in particular. Considering the looming possibility of more rapid and widespread adoption of LED lighting products by commercial and industrial clients, and also that there is still an untapped opportunity and strong players in backlighting, the LED market may begin its next wave of growth sooner than expected, reckons the firm.

“In addition to accelerating developments in the LED lighting space, we observe a rapid shift at the forefront of LED manufacturing towards using larger-size sapphire wafers,” says Kachalov. “By providing our competence in sapphire-for-LED technology, we at Monocrystal are very pleased to support our customers in their transition to 6- and 8-inch wafers to help them increase productivity and cut costs.”

See related items:

Monocrystal launches 10-inch sapphire substrate

Tags: Monocrystal Sapphire substrates LEDs GaN

Visit: www.monocrystal.com

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