IIVI recently qualified its VCSEL array factory in Sherman Texas (read conference call transcript) and they are shipping and ramping production volumes. I believe their biggest customer is Apple that paid maybe $390M (maybe more.... do a search) to Finisar (bought by II-VI last year) to repurpose this factory for VCSEL array chips to use for facial recognition in iPhones.
IIVI Charts
News: VCSEL chips demand on track for stable expansion
Julian Ho, Taipei; Willis Ke, DIGITIMES
Wednesday 13 May 2020 digitimes.com
VCSEL (vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser) chip demand for 5G base station equipment, networking devices and even optical communications applications has got on track for stable expansion, serving as long-term revenue support for the supply chain, according to industry sources.
Demand for VCSEL chips as part of mobile biometric interface solutions is expected to ramp up after the coronavirus pandemic eases, despite order visibility for handset applications still opaque in the short term, as major handset vendors in the US and China remain keen on adopting VCSEL components in their phone camera sensors, the sources said.
China semiconductor firms will continue to cut reliance on US suppliers of key components and new variables are emerging in the US-China trade war. And Taiwan's supply chain of VCSEL and other compound semiconductors will be in pole position to win orders from Chinese and international clients, the sources said, reasoning that Taiwan boasts a good geostrategic location, sound semiconductor clusters and outstanding achievements in fighting the pandemic while their peers or international IDMs in areas plagued by the pandemic may face possible supply disruptions and delivery lead time extensions.
Taiwan's epi wafer makers including Visual Photonics Epitaxy, LandMark Optoelectronics and IntelliEPI are all enjoying stable orders for VCSEL and other III-V semiconductor components for 5G infrastructure and optical fiber communications, and they expect demand to rebound later this year for handset 3D facial ID sensor and ToF camera sensor applications.
Meanwhile, networking chips specialist Abocom, spending heavily in 2019 developing 5G-related advanced VCSEL chips, is expected to see its newly developed 25G optical communications chips modules to contribute revenues starting in the fourth quarter of 2020. |
