LEDs ♦ news digest
quarter LED & Solar revenues were $96 million, including $82 million in MOCVD and $14 million in MBE. Data Storage revenues were $44 million.
investment plans and it is still unclear when the MOCVD market will recover. Some positive signs are emerging, including increasing tool utilization rates in Korea, Taiwan and China, and a pick-up in customer quoting activity.”
“As anticipated, we experienced a weak bookings environment in Q1, with total orders of approximately $113 million,” continues Peeler. “LED & Solar orders totalled $85 million, with $70 million in MOCVD and $15 million in MBE. MOCVD orders increased 19% sequentially, with system orders from customers in Korea, China, Taiwan, Japan and North America.”
MBE orders increased 71% sequentially on production orders from wireless customers but data storage bookings declined 62% sequentially to $29 million as customer consolidation activity temporarily stalled capacity investments. Veeco’s book-to-bill ratio was 0.81 to 1 and quarter-end backlog was $305 million.
Second Quarter 2012 Guidance & Outlook
Veeco’s second quarter 2012 revenue is currently forecasted to be between $120 million and $145 million. Earnings per share are currently forecasted to be between $0.20 to $0.40 on a GAAP basis.
Peeler comments, “I am proud of our team’s ability to execute, stay nimble and deliver solid profitability in a tough year. We are experiencing growth in our Data Storage and MBE businesses, as well as in Services across all of our technologies. Veeco is focused on keeping our infrastructure lean and discretionary costs low, while at the same time developing next-generation technology solutions to drive future growth. We are on track to deliver 2012 revenue of $500-600 million.”
He continues, “While MOCVD bookings grew modestly in the first quarter, we have not yet seen a clear inflection in customer buying patterns. LED customers remain cautious about capacity
“Overall, we are seeing positive trends in LED lighting – lower prices, more LED lamp products, and heightened consumer awareness. LED manufacturers are focused on how to position their businesses for growth as LEDs become the dominant lighting technology. Despite the business decline in 2012, we firmly believe that the future MOCVD market opportunity will be larger than what we have experienced so far. With leading market share, strong LED customer relationships, technology leadership, and lowest cost of ownership production systems, Veeco is poised for substantive long term growth in LED lighting,” concludes Peeler.
LED chip companies impressed with Trinity sapphire
The flexible c-axis CHES furnaces allow Trinity Material to serve the rapidly expanding demand for large diameter sapphire substrates, ranging from four inches to eight inches Trinity Material and ARC Energy have announced that sapphire grown using ARC Energy’s Controlled Heat Extraction System (CHES) furnaces has been certified for high quality LED chip production at two leading LED chip companies. Trinity Material in China and ARC Energy have united to use ARC Energy’s CHES furnaces for sapphire production.
Sapphire boules are grown on c-axis by ARC Energy’s CHES method compared to conventional processes where a-axis boules are grown and c-axis wafers are extracted. “LED chip qualification results prove that CHES wafers perform as well as, or better than sapphire grown by the a-axis growth process, without any colour problems at the boule or wafer levels. LED chips manufactured on CHES wafers show a significant increase in light output when compared to devices grown using wafers from conventionala-axis-grown boules,” says Champion Yi, chief operating officer for Trinity Material.
June 2012
www.compoundsemiconductor.net 59
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