Career Tech eyeing bigger presence in Apple supply chain
Jay Liu, Taipei; Willis Ke, DIGITIMES
Flexible PCB maker Career Technology is seeking to expand its presence in the FPCB supply chain for Apple devices in 2021 when the vendor is expected to massively apply FPCBs to new AirPods series, iPads and MacBooks, according to industry sources.
In most of the past two years, Career had been almost marginalized in the Apple supply chain, losing orders for iPhone applications and suffering shrinking shipments for iPad, MacBook and Apple Watch devices, the sources said. This, coupled with internal management issues, sent Career going from bad to worse until HannStar purchased a 17.39% stake in the company to become its largest shareholder in August 2019, the sources said.
Career has not seen much improvement in orders from clients in 2020 compared to 2019. But under the support of HannStar, the company has significantly boosted yield rates and improved production management while also actively proceeding with development of high-end products, paving the way for gaining weight in the Apple supply chain, the sources continued.
Career is expected to land new FPCB orders from Apple for iPhone battery and new AirPods applications as well as acoustic and optical module boards for miniLED-backlit iPads, the sources said, adding that it remains to be seen whether the company can resume shipments of LCP antenna modules for iPhones, for which Flexium Interconnect is now a main supplier.
Career’s revenues for third-quarter 2020 rose 15.3% sequentially but slipped 4.7% on year to NT$4.715 billion (US$165.38 million), and net earnings shot up 97.8% on quarter to a record high of NT$488 million.
