Industries’ interests are drawn towards LG Innotec’s Optical Solution Business Department, which manufactures camera modules, as it recently increased number of employees up to 800 people in just 6 months.
According to LG Innotec’s business report on the 22nd, number of employees of Optical Solution Business Department increased from 2,173 in December of 2016 to 2,946 in June of 2017.
LG Innotec hired 773 employees in just 6 months at an increased rate of 36%. Optical Solution Business Department also has the highest number of employees based on percentage (34%) out of entire employees of LG Innotec (8,689).
It is rare that a business department has number of employees that is almost equivalent to a mid-sized company and that it greatly increased number of employees in a short period.
This is drawing interests from industries as it is deeply related to current state of LG Innotec’s optical solution business and especially North America’s biggest Smartphone manufacturer that is LG Innotec’s main customer.
Optical Solution Business Department manufactures camera modules that will be used by Smartphones. It manufactures small camera modules such as single cameras or dual cameras and is supplying them to Smartphone manufacturers.
However a number of demands for its camera modules increased suddenly in recent times. Number of orders for high-performance camera modules increased as cameras have become important as they are part of important functions of Smartphones.
Actually LG Innotec extended its camera module production facility by investing $233 million (264.4 billion KRW) in March of 2016. “This investment is to build up competitive edge in camera module business and to respond to growth of camera markets.” said LG Innotec at that time.
LG Innotec made another investment of $238 million (269.7 billion KRW) in this past April. This investment is not meant for camera modules but for new parts that will be used for Smartphones and it was also managed by Optical Solution Business Department.
Increase in number of demands led to facility and equipment investments which then led to increase in number of employees.
Industries are seeing that Apple’s influence has a lot to do with recent increase in number of employees as it is LG Innotec’s optical solution business’s major customer.
Production facility that LG Innotec extended in March of last year is its camera module production facility in Gumi which is the main production base of camera modules for iPhones. Dual cameras for iPhones are also manufactured at this production facility.
Modules that are newly manufactured through LG Innotec’s investment in this past April are also products that will be delivered to Apple. Although LG Innotec is remaining silent about detailed information regarding where these modules are delivered and their purpose, industries are predicting that optical parts that can see objects in 3D will be applied to new iPhones that will be released this fall.
Hiring of large number of employees also indicates that LG Innotec’s plan to start supplying its products to Apple on full-scale during second half of this year.
Changes in LG Innotec’s Optical Solution Business Department’s performance are also drawing attention. Some are estimating that LG Innotec’s optical solution business’s sales will surpass $2.65 billion (3 trillion KRW) due to increase in number of demands of camera modules and supply of new modules.
If LG Innotec does make $2.65 billion (3 trillion KRW) from its optical solution business this year, it will surpass its performance in 2015 when it made $2.63 billion (2.9803 trillion KRW) in sales.
Staff Reporter Yoon, Keonil | benyun@etnews.com