MMS Ventures sees securing Rm20mil test equipment orders
GEORGE TOWN: MMS Ventures Bhd expects to secure at least Rm20mil worth of orders for its vision and test equipment in the first quarter of 2020.
The company’s managing director TK Sia (pic) told Starbiz that the group was in talks with a Us-based consumer that supplied vision and test equipment to chip manufacturers.
“These vision and test equipment is used for checking defects and performance of chips used in lighting features of branded smartphones and automobiles. Each equipment is about Rm2mil,” he said.
The smartphone and automotive segments contributed about 50% and 15% respectively to group revenue. “The smartphone business has slowed down this year and will impact our performance.”
Sia noted that the group has targeted Rm50mil in revenue this year.
“However, we don’t think this (target) is achievable because of the slow sales in the first half of 2019.
“We expect the 2019 revenue to drop by about 10%,” Sia added.
The first quarter of 2020, which is traditionally soft for the electronic industry, won’t slow down, as there are several new smartphones scheduled for release into the market.
In 2020, MMS expects to see growth in smartphone sales, as Apple plans to release four different models, including a low-cost version, according to Sia.
JP Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee recently said the new Apple models would have organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, high speed modems and virtual reality features.
“Our business plan is to make new vision and test equipment that can check the effect and performance of the chips used in the new models,” he added.
MMS also expects Samsung to release new smartphones in 2020.
“Recently, on July 29, Samsung Electronics filed no fewer than nine trademarks with the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office), which are related to the Galaxy A-series.
“We can expect these models to come out in 2020 to replace current versions,” he said.
MMS is also looking at expanding its sales of vision-cum-test equipment to the automotive sector.
“The adoption of innovative LED lighting lamps in premium and sports utility vehicles (SUVS) is driving the growth of the market.
“Furthermore, the rising sales of electrified, semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles are expected to open new opportunities for the growth of the market over the next few years,” Sia said.
A Market and Research Report said the global automotive lighting market is estimated to grow to Us$18.4bil in 2019, and is projected to reach Us$23.3bil by 2027 at a 3% compounded annual growth rate.
The Asia-pacific region is the largest market for the automotive lighting market, followed by North America, according to Sia.
“The Asia-pacific region has witnessed significant growth in the new car sales volume over the past few years, especially in emerging economies such as China and India.
“For example, the production of the SUV segment in India grew from 0.65 million units in 2016 to 0.97 million units in 2018, and the growth is expected to continue in the near future
“Production of the luxury segment in China grew from 2.5 million in 2016 to 3.4 million units in 2018
“Many new models in the US that started offering LED headlights are Cadillac XT4, Honda Insight, Honda Passport, Opel Ampera-e, and BMW X7, among others,” he said.