Financial

China's Zhejiang Laibao Display Technology Company officially launches its 9 billion Yuan (around $1.24 billion USD) project to build an ePaper production line in Huzhou City, Zhejiang province, based on the company's Microcavity Electronic Paper Display (MED) technology.

Last year Laibao DTC signed agreements with the local government in China to get financial support for this project. The new production line will have a monthly capacity of 180,000 sqm of glass substrate, and will target displays ranging from 7.8-inch to 55-inch inch. The project will perform the entire display production, from backplane and frontplane to touch panel integration and module assembly. 

Earlier this month E Ink Holdings said that the first quarter of 2024 will be its lowest point in the year, and indeed now the company formally reported its earnings, saying that there was a 25% decline in profits (to about $40.9 million) in Q1, as its customers struggled with an excessive inventory which resulted in decline in orders.

E Ink says that this decline is due to the transition to color ESL solutions, and it expects its IoT business to return to normal growth by Q3 2024. Its e-Reader business segment is seeing robust growth, better than expected, signalling a smooth switch to color ePaper solutions.  The company retains its positive outlook for this year, expecting revenue to grow every quarter going forward.

E Ink Holdings says that Walmart has decdied to deploy electronic shelf labels at 500 stores in the US. The first stage will call for the installation of 60 million panels, in the next 12-18 months, and will be handled by E Ink's partner, SES-imagotag.

E Ink sees growing demand for its displays, and is planning a multi-year capacity expansion plan. The company expects its revenues next year to increase sharply following Walmart's orders, and it also expects a modest increase in 2023. 

E Ink Holdings says that it expects its revenue to increase slightly in this quarter as demand for electronic shelf labels is on the rise, but it raises concerns about a recession in the near future which could decrease demand for e-readers and e-notebooks.

EIH is targeting to enter the US ESL market via partners next year, and it estimates that it the market in the US is 10 times bigger compared to the EU market. The company is currently not changing its capital expenditure plans for 2022 and 2023, and it plans to increase production in its production lines in Hschincu, Taiwan (and build new lines) in 2022-2025. It has decided to delay its planned new line in Guanyin. 

E Ink Holdings announced that it plans to invest around $110 million USD to expand the capacity of its Taoyuan (Taiwan) production line, and around $480,000 in its Yangzhou (China) facility. These projects will be finished by the end of 2024.

The company is still fully booked and cannot satisfy all the demand for its displays. The company does report, however, that demand for consumer electronics, including e-readers and e-notebooks is lower than what it foreseen. In fact the company estimates that shipments of displays for e-Readers will be 10% lower than what the company estimated for 2022, but still higher than the shipments in 2021.

Remarkable, the company behind the reMarkable 10.3" 1872 x 1404 E Ink tablet says that it has sold over 1 million devices, generating over $300 million in revenue in 2021 (with an operating profit of $31 million).

reMarkable says it closed a new financing round, with a valuation of $1 billion. The company did not disclose more about the funding round - beyond saying that they have sold a minority stake for several international investors.

ePaper display developer Azumo announced that it raised $30 million in funding, led by Anzu Partners VR, with additional funding from SABIC Ventures, VectoIQ, Dipalo Ventures and Energy Foundry. The company will use the funds to accelerate its expansion and increase its manufacturing capabilities.

Azumo (previously FLEx Lighting) developed a sunlight-readable, reflective LCD 2.0 technology that offers up to 10x the energy savings compared to traditional backlit LCDs. Azumo says its displays combine high video rate capability with superior readability in bright sunlight conditions to eliminate glare. Azumo offers its displays in sizes ranging from 1-inch to 17-inch.

E Ink Holdings says that as demand for its displays grow, its customers have been willing to pay deposits to secure supply in 2022. The company is now fully booked for 2022.

The company says it is in fact unable to meet the demand, and is trying to expedite its four new upcoming production lines. The first line, if all goes according to plan, will begin operation soon, and two other lines will start production in 2022. These three lines will more than double the company's capacity. The fourth new line will begin operation in 2023.

E Ink Holdings says that it is seeing high demand for ePaper displays and expects to see a growth in revenue in 2021. The company is worried though that the shortage in components may hurt its full potential.

EIH says that 2021 will be better than 2020, and it sees its performance in Q2 to be similar to its performance in Q1. The demand for E Ink's display is higher than what it can supply, and the company is building four new production lines to increase capacity.

E Ink Holdings says it plans to double its capital expenditure this year (to $56.5 million) in order to expand its capacity and meet its customer demand. EIH is now building four new production lines in Taiwan.

EIH says its capacity is now fully booked for the year, and it is quite sure it will be able to find customers for its new capacity as demand is strong. The company's revenues in the first two months of the year rose by 77% compared to last year. The main growth driver seems to electronic shelf label displays, but EIH also sees higher sales for e-readers and e-notebooks.