OFilm: Smart Car-Related Projects Have Been Carried Out Smoothly

On Wednesday, camera modules supplier OFilm disclosed the minutes of the company’s investor research activity on November 23, mainly unveiling the progress and planning of the company’s smart car-related business.

OFilm said that the company released its strategic plan for the next five years (2021-2025) in June this year. In the next five years, the company will strive to achieve steady progress in the smartphone business, upgrade new businesses such as smart cars and VR/AR, which is regarded as the company’s new growth momentum in the future, and intensify R&D and innovation.

According to its forecast, the smart car industry will enter a golden period of development in the next five years. The company will take the smart car business as a key business area, increase resource allocation from R&D, marketing and production, and strive to achieve the industry leading income scale by 2025.

At present, for the automobile business, OFilm supplies customers with optical modules and sensors, and also supplies complete set of systems including software, hardware and algorithms. In addition, OFilm provides a complete set of solutions together with customers.

Since 2015, OFilm has been investing in smart cars. In 2016, two car companies, CETC Motor and Nanjing Tacking Automotive, were acquired by OFilm. These two companies have deep accumulation in the field of smart cars. Through the acquisition, the company obtained Tier 1 supplier qualification and some customer resources, including more than 20 domestic and foreign car companies. At the same time, OFilm’s smart car business benefited from its foundation of product technology in hardware and software, the client projects were carried out smoothly, and the number of orders were received steadily.

When talking about the impact of the ongoing global chip shortage on the automobile industry, OFilm pointed out: “The chip shortage is a problem faced by all parties in the industry. We can supply abundant products, and have plans ahead in stocking. On the whole, the impact of the car chip shortage on us is relatively small. As a supplier, OFilm fully cooperates with the main carmakers to solve the chip supply problem. The chip shortage makes it a challenge for all parties in the industry, but all parties are more united and the relationship between us is closer.”

SEE ALSO: Former Apple Supplier OFilm Anticipates Up to $10M in Q3 Losses

According to public information, OFilm was formerly a supplier of Apple’s mobile smartphone camera module and other products. In July 2020, the U.S. government listed Nanchang O-Film Tech Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Ofilm, in its “Entity List,” restricting its international trade. In March this year, Apple terminated its cooperation with OFilm, which also caused its market value to plummet, losing more than 30 billion yuan ($4.69 billion).

Except Apple, the impact from OFilm’s customer Huawei also led to a sharp drop in shipments of several products. Huawei was the company’s biggest customer in 2019. In the second half of 2020, due to the cut-off of chip supply, Huawei’s shipments of mobile phones and other products dropped sharply, resulting in a decline in the order demand for OFilm.