For its fiscal first-quarter 2013 (to end-November 2012), LED chip and component maker SemiLEDs Corp of Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan has reported revenue of $6.2m, down 8% on $6.7m a year ago but up 12.7% on $5.5m last quarter (after a severe 40% dip from a high of $9.2m the previous quarter).
| Fiscal | Q1/2012 | Q2/2012 | Q3/2012 | Q4/2012 | Q1/2013 |
| Revenue | $6.75m | $7.9m | $9.2m | $5.5m |
$6.2m |
Founded in 2005, SemiLEDs’ makes proprietary blue, green and ultraviolet (UV) LED chips under the MvpLED (metal vertical photon LED) brand for sale mainly to chip-packaging customers in China, Taiwan and other parts of Asia such as Korea, or to distributors who sell to packagers. It also packages chips into LED components for sale to distributors and end-customers in selected markets (mainly for general lighting applications, including street lights and commercial, industrial and residential lighting).
“As more of our customers have qualified our EV [Enhanced Vertical] products, the demand of our LED chips and LED components has increased,” says chairman & CEO Trung Doan. “We are seeing pockets of demands while the overall LED market is still weak,” he adds.
Gross margin was negative 53%, up only slightly compared with negative 12% a year ago, impacted mainly by a drop in average selling prices and excess capacity charges for the firm’s LED chips.
R&D expenses have been cut further, from $1.5m last quarter to $1.2m. Selling, general & administrative (SG&A) expenses have also been cut, from $4.1m to $3.7m.
On a non-GAAP basis, net loss has almost been halved, from $16.6m last quarter (which included $7.5m due to impairment of long-lived assets) to $8.6m, although this is still worse than $7.1m a year ago.
Cash used in operating activities was $3.3m (cut from $5.2m last quarter and $3.5m a year ago). Capital expenditure has been cut from $5.8m a year ago to $1.7m. Total cash burn has therefore been cut from $9.3m a year ago and $6.5m last quarter to $4.9m. During the quarter, cash and cash equivalents fell further, from $47.2m to $39.3m.
“We continue to manage cost, inventory and spending with a focus on profitable LED sectors to achieve our positive cash flow goal,” notes Doan.
