Zhi Dong dong (public number: zhidxcom) author | Yunpeng Editor | Heart edge
Just on the eve of the Spring Festival, Apple told everyone an indisputable fact with a beautiful financial report: in 2021, Apple is really "earning over".
Revenue of $123.9 billion and net profit of $34.6 billion, each of which increased significantly year-over-year and made it difficult for other rivals to match. Apple's stock price also surged 7% after hours after the earnings report.
▲ After the release of the earnings report, Apple's stock price was high after hours, source: Google Finance
Behind Apple, a technology giant, there are hundreds of fruit chain companies, are these "little brothers" also "muffled and made a fortune" in 2021, and followed the big brother to eat meat?
From the perspective of financial data, DOMESTIC APPLE SUPPLY CHAIN COMPANIES SUCH AS BOE, GOERTEK, AND GIGAD INNOVATION HAVE GIVEN A RELATIVELY BRIGHT FINANCIAL REPORT EXPECTATION FOR THE FULL YEAR OF 2021, OF WHICH THE HIGHEST YEAR-ON-YEAR INCREASE OF MORE THAN 400%, WHICH CAN BE SAID TO BE A LOT OF MONEY.
However, behind this hilarity, there are also Chinese companies that have newly entered the fruit chain, it seems that they are stumbling, and the net profit has plummeted, and whether the product can pass the Apple test still has to draw a question mark.
In 2021, the collective carnival of fruit chain enterprises, what breakthroughs will be made in the development of China's smartphone industry and the rise of high-end supply chains in China's technology field? Behind the joys and sorrows of several, what are the experiences worth learning from, which we need to dig deeper.
First, net profit soared 400%, And China's screens, lenses, and memory chips broke through the fruit chain
In the middle of last year, Apple announced the latest list of TOP200 suppliers, of which 12 suppliers were added Chinese mainland, which caused widespread discussion.
What attracted more attention to me was mainly the new progress in the field of core components such as screens, memory chips, and lens modules, and the entry of Gigabit Innovation and Tianma Microelectronics showed that Chinese companies began to deepen their participation in some of Apple's core components, rather than just doing oem work and some non-electronic components.
Apple's latest TOP200 supplier list Chinese mainland new suppliers
1, BOE for Apple's annual supply of 50 million screens, TCL Huaxing, Visionox eager to try
In 2021, BOE finally finalized that it will provide AMOLED screens for the iPhone 13 standard version of Apple's new iPhone 13 series that year, which is also the first time that Apple has adopted a domestic OLED screen in the latest flagship iPhone model of the year.
Of course, Apple never officially confirms suppliers, and most of the "real hammers" are basically derived from reliable information from industry insiders.
According to BOE's financial report expectations, its revenue in 2021 will reach a maximum of 220 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of up to 62%, and the net profit will reach a maximum of 26 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of up to 416%, it can be said that IN 2021, BOE is really "full". At present, the market value of BOE is also close to 190 billion yuan.
Statistics show that BOE's flexible OLED screen shipments exceeded the "ten million" block for the first time in December 2021, and it can be seen that Apple's driving effect on supplier shipments is extremely intuitive.
▲iPhone 13
According to foreign media Elec reports, BOE will continue to supply AMOLED screens for Apple's iPhone 14 standard edition this year, and the shipment volume is expected to be about 40-50 million pieces, while last year BOE shipped about 15 million OLED screens for Apple, an increase of considerable.
In the field of domestic screens, recently there is news that TCL Huaxing Optoelectronics products have also begun to accept Apple's inspection, it is understood that Apple's first inspection of TCL Huaxing screen from Wuhan's T4 production line.
At the same time, Visionox also provided Apple with a screen for inspection in the fourth quarter of 2021, but it does not seem to be going well, and the product still needs to be improved.
In fact, It is expected that Tianma Microelectronics will appear in Apple's new supplier list in 2021, because according to industry news, Tianma Microelectronics has long begun to supply AMOLED screens for Apple Apple Watch, and the small-size AMOLED screens applied to wearable devices have always been the traditional strength of Tianma Microelectronics.
▲Apple Watch Series 7、Series 3
According to the latest financial report of Tianma Microelectronics, its revenue from January to September 2021 increased by 5.64% year-on-year, while its net profit increased by 14.58% year-on-year.
At present, Tianma Microelectronics is stepping up the research and development of direct display MiniLED technology, which is also one of the display technologies that Apple attaches great importance to, and has the opportunity to be used in Apple's Mac computers and iPad products.
2, lens module leader ShunYu won the iPhone 13 order, Gigabit innovation flash memory to eat AirPods dividends
In addition to the breakthrough in the field of OLED screens, Shunyu Optics, a major manufacturer of optical technology in China, also won apple's latest iPhone 13 series lens module order last year.
Previously, the lens module of Apple's iPhone was mainly provided by South Korea's LG, while the lens was basically provided by Taiwanese manufacturer Daliguang.
Some shunyu optics related people told Zhi Dong that they undertook the supply of three of the lens modules in the iPhone 13 series, which is a more important breakthrough for Shunyu.
At present, according to the latest financial report of Sunny Optics, its revenue in the first half of 2021 is close to 20 billion yuan, and its net profit has reached 2.7 billion yuan, an increase of 52.4% year-on-year. The total market value of Sunny Optics has exceeded 210 billion yuan.
Just this year's annual meeting of Shunyu Optics, its chairman Ye Liaoning announced that the company's revenue target positioning "exceeded 100 billion", which shows that breaking into the core of the fruit chain is also very obvious to the morale of Shunyu's entire army.
▲Ye Liaoning, chairman of Shunyu Optical Technology
Chips, screens, lenses are several core components of smart phones, the cost ratio is also the highest, the SoC chip in the chip has long been firmly controlled by Apple itself, but the memory chip has basically cooperated with South Korean and Japanese manufacturers for a long time, and it is also a chip category with high external dependence of Apple.
Domestic Gigabit Innovation appeared in Apple's supplier list last year, targeting NOR Flash flash memory chips, which is also the traditional strength of GigaDevice Innovation, which has the largest market share in the domestic SPI NOR Flash market, and its NOR Flah technology is also in the first echelon in the world.
▲GigaDevice's innovative SPI NOR Flash
Starting from the iPhone 12 series, Apple began to cancel the headphones that came with the factory, which to some extent stimulated the growth of sales of the AirPods series TWS headphones, and the growth of TWS headphones also increased Apple's demand for NOR Flash.
Some people in the industry believe that Gigabit Innovation is one of the main beneficiaries of this wave of dividends.
According to GigaDevice's financial report expectations, its net profit in 2021 is expected to reach a maximum of about 2.42 billion yuan, an increase of 174.78% year-on-year.
However, Gigabit Innovation also mentioned that the increasingly obvious demand for terminal intelligence and the localization trend of supply chain are also one of the main factors in the sharp rise in financial indicators. There is no doubt that breaking into the fruit chain and the increase in demand for domestic chip substitution in the technology industry have become two strong boosters.
In 2021, Gigabit Innovation's stock price rose by 24%, and the current market value has approached 100 billion yuan.
3, Wingtech technology into a "big winner", from OEM to chip grasp
In addition to the above-mentioned enterprises that focus on a certain field, there are also "miscellaneous families" such as Wingtech Technology in the fruit chain, it can be said that from mobile phone lens modules to power semiconductors to the whole machine FOUNDRy, almost all of them are involved.
In 2021, Wingtech Technology completed two important acquisitions, first of all, Wingtech Technology acquired OFILM's Guangzhou Delta Imaging Technology Co., Ltd. and Jiangxi Jingrun Optics Co., Ltd., which were previously mainly supplied to Apple.
▲Guangzhou Delta Imaging Technology Co., Ltd
Last year's withdrawal from the fruit chain caused a lot of blows to OFILM, and Wingtech Technology has some "leaks" meaning, at present, there is news in the industry that Wingtech Technology has passed the final verification of the products sent by Wingtech Technology to Apple, and the products have entered the formal mass production and normalization of batch shipments.
The product mentioned in the message will most likely be a lens module, because the lens and key components such as CMOS image sensors have not yet entered the fruit chain by domestic manufacturers. Once the news is confirmed, Wingtech Technology will share the apple lens module order with Sunny Optics.
In addition, Wingtech technology has also acquired The British Nexperia Semiconductor, which is one of apple's suppliers of power devices. To put it simply, Wingtech Technology has entered two new areas of the fruit chain through these two acquisitions. It has achieved rapid expansion of business segments, and the progress is relatively smooth at present.
▲Nexperia
In addition to key components, Wingtech Technology also undertakes the OEM business of Apple's MacBook products. It can be said that Wingtech Technology has become a "generalist" in the fruit chain enterprises, and can even be said to be one of the "big winners".
Of course, the capital market is also more recognized by this, Wingtech Technology stock price has risen by 31.6% in 2021, with a total market value of more than 140 billion yuan.
4, Apple's love of metal frames is in the middle of the supply chain enterprises
Compared with Luxun Precision, Shunyu Optics, BOE, Goertek shares, Wingtech Technology, which are supply chain giants with a market value of more than 100 billion yuan, Jingyan Technology is a smaller number of newly entered fruit chain enterprises, with a market value of only 7.39 billion yuan, but after joining the fruit chain, the stock price and financial indicators have received obvious positive feedback.
As its name suggests, Jingyan Technology is mainly engaged in the manufacture of high-precision parts, and its MIM processing (advanced metal injection molding) technology ranks second among the top 10 companies in the world in related fields.
▲Jingyan Technology is a parts and components product for the consumer electronics market
The specific product parts supplied by Jingyan Technology for Apple have not yet been publicly disclosed, but Jingyan Technology is good at high-precision and high-complexity processing of stainless steel, ceramics, titanium alloys and other materials, and Apple's iPhone 13 series uses aluminum alloys and stainless steel materials in the metal frame.
From this, we can infer that the cooperation between Jingyan Technology and Apple will most likely focus on the metal structural parts of the fuselage.
In 2021, the stock price of Jingyan Technology has risen by 37.2%, according to the third quarter of last year' financial report, its revenue increased by more than 54.56% year-on-year, and the net profit increased by about 45% year-on-year.
Whether it is a screen manufacturer such as BOE, Tianma Microelectronics, TCL Huaxing, or a memory chip leader Gigabit Innovation, a high-precision manufacturing company Jingyan Technology, or a generalist such as Wingtech Technology, we can see that the new Chinese supply chain enterprises in these fruit chains have achieved good results, whether it is product technology or financial status has been significantly improved.
It can be said that in 2021, these new talents have indeed "eaten and drunk spicy" with apples.
Second, Luxshare called Foxconn, goertek, Lansi technology strong projects are still the same
In addition to actively expanding new areas in the fruit chain, in some of the "strong projects" of the traditional Chinese supply chain, the performance of Chinese manufacturers can also be remarkable, further seizing the market of American, Japanese, Korean and Taiwan enterprises.
Luxun Precision, which has a market value of more than 340 billion yuan, is one of the more stable players, and last year, Luxun Precision won the OEM order for the iPhone 13 Pro high-end model for the first time, and ate away a piece of Foxconn's cake.
Previously, Luxshare Precision was one of the foundries of Apple's low-end iPhone models and some products in the AirPods series.
▲In December 2017, Apple CEO Cook visited Luxshare Precision Kunshan Factory, accompanied by Chairman Wang Laichun
At that time, foreign media believed that according to the development of this trend, Apple's oem market would be dominated by Chinese companies. In fact, Apple's iPhone OEM base camp has always been Chinese mainland.
At present, in addition to the iPhone, Luxshare Precision has also received some orders for Apple's new AirPods Max headsets, and recently there is news that Apple's first OEM order for AR glasses may also be eaten by Luxun Precision, and its potential is still relatively large.
However, compared with the revenue of more than 80 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2021, the net profit of Luxshare Precision in the first three quarters of last year increased by only about 0.2% year-on-year, and it can also be seen that the whole machine OEM took away the "end" of the value, leaving Luxshare Precision, which was not much.
Similar to Luxshare Precision, Goertek is also the foundry of Apple's AirPods Max headset new products, in addition, Goertek has been supplying acoustic precision components and precision structural parts to Apple.
Goertek's 2021 financial report is expected to be more optimistic, and it is expected that the highest net profit will reach 4.528 billion yuan, an increase of about 59% year-on-year. Goertek believes that the popularity of VR/AR and smart wearable devices represented by TWS headsets are the main reasons for the growth of its sales revenue and the improvement of profitability.
Goertek's stock price rose by as much as 45.9% in 2021, and it is also the largest increase among several fruit chain giants, with a market value of nearly 150 billion yuan.
There is no doubt that in addition to Apple's huge demand for high-end acoustic components, the popularity of the meta-universe and the acquisition of customer Pico by the byte giant have continued to "add firewood" to the high performance of Goertek shares.
In Apple's supply chain, a large number of companies are engaged in the production of shells, precision structural parts, connectors and other products, of which Lens Technology is the highest market value, more than 90 billion yuan.
At present, the sapphire glass, ceramic components and touch-fitting parts used in Apple's iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch are all supplied by Lens Technology.
Last year, Lens Technology acquired the metal frame and shell factory of Taiwan-funded company Kecheng Technology in China, and is expected to provide metal cases for iPhones and Mac computers to further expand its business scope.
Kecheng Technology was once the second largest supplier of Apple's iPhone and Macbook metal chassis, accounting for only Foxconn.
It can be seen that represented by Luxshare Precision, Goertek and Lens Technology, these traditional strong Chinese companies in Apple's supply chain are further looking for new breakthroughs on the basis of consolidating their own advantages. But one thing is very clear, in 2021, because of the popularity of Apple products, they really did not make less.
Third, the fruit chain is a "double-edged sword": throwing money and smashing people, but it is not an "iron rice bowl"
Of course, in addition to the above-mentioned little brothers who drink soup and eat meat, there are some new players, and life does not seem to be smooth.
1. Net profit plummeted, and precision manufacturing companies faced obvious challenges
It is worth noting that these players have some similarities, such as their main business is mostly concentrated in precision structural parts, connectors and other fields, such as Changying Precision, Derun Electronics, Selen Technology and so on. The aforementioned Jingyan Technology belongs to a manufacturer with a special performance in this field.
Among these companies, there is Changying Precision, which is more familiar with us, which mainly supplies apple MacBook metal chassis, iPad external keyboard, Apple Pencil and Apple Watch structural components and other products, in fact, for the companies that supply these products, entering the fruit chain is both an opportunity and a challenge.
According to the financial report expectations, Changying Precision is expected to have a net loss of up to about 690 million yuan in 2021, compared with a profit of 600 million yuan in the same period last year, which is a positive and negative caused a big contrast.
The official explanation given by Changying Precision is that the investment in strategic product research and development of major customers has further increased, the key products of major customers are in the period of mass production and climbing, the yield rate is low, and there are also factors such as the impact of the epidemic on production, lack of cores, and rising raw material prices.
The main customer of this should be Apple, and Apple's requirements for product quality are very strict, which also puts a lot of pressure on new suppliers, which is more obviously reflected in research and development investment.
Buying new equipment, developing new technologies, and even recruiting relevant talents are not a small burden for enterprises, especially in the face of Apple, a big customer.
Similar to Changying Precision, Derun Electronics' net loss in the first three quarters of 2021 reached 44.72 million yuan, down 120% year-on-year. Derun Electronics is a leading USB-C enterprise in China, and cooperates with Intel in the field of Type-C interface.
At present, Apple MacBook, iMac use Thunderbolt and Type-C interface, Apple charger using C2L (Type-C to lightning) cable, these products are highly compatible with the business of Derun Electronics. But obviously, as far as the current situation is concerned, Derun Electronics is not going well in the fruit chain.
In addition, victory precision and selen technology two high-end manufacturing enterprises are also worth noting, victory precision in the first three quarters of last year net profit fell by nearly 100%, while revenue also fell by 47%, it is said that victory precision or one of Apple's main testing equipment suppliers.
Selen Technology's net profit in the first three quarters of last year fell by nearly 300%, with a net loss of 189 million yuan, but its stock price rose by 56.9% in 2021, and its market value reached 5.6 billion yuan.
It is worth mentioning that these high-end manufacturing companies are almost all the head enterprises in their respective fields, but in the face of the demand put forward by top "Party A" such as Apple, they will still face problems such as technological upgrades, equipment upgrades, and talent recruitment, so they will increase a lot of burdens.
In addition, the fungibility of such high-end manufacturing companies is actually relatively strong, from the 2021 Apple TOP200 supplier list we can see that most of the companies that have been excluded are concentrated in the field of precision parts manufacturing.
▲ Some of the companies that have been removed from the list of Apple suppliers (Lingyi Technology is the lingyi intelligent manufacturing in the current list, which has not been removed), source: international electronic business information
Obviously, with Apple, the coexistence of risks and opportunities is the unchangeable truth, the fruit chain will never have an "iron rice bowl", even if Foxconn, which has a friendship with Apple for more than 10 years, has been forced by the up-and-coming Star Lixun Precision step by step, not to mention the new fruit chain of China's supply chain "little brothers".
2, get rid of the "fruit chain dependence", supply chain giants have sought transformation
Fruit chain is a "double-edged sword", this truth to do the nature of enterprises understand, take down apple orders can make them jump to the peak of life, losing orders can also make them fall to the bottom.
OFILM's previous lessons are there, at its peak, its Apple business revenue once accounted for 30%, more than 10 billion yuan, and the breakup with Apple made OFILM's 2021 quite difficult, and another major customer Huawei mobile phone business was cold, which made OFILM even worse.
▲Cook visits the OFILM factory
Revenue that fell by nearly 50% year-on-year, net profit that fell by more than 90% year-on-year, and plummeting stock prices made OFILM no longer shine.
In contrast, at present, several "old cannon" companies that have been in the fruit chain for many years are not optimistic about their dependence on Apple.
In 2020, the proportion of Luxshare Precision Apple's business revenue has reached about 70%, more than 60 billion yuan, and this proportion will be further increased in 2021, and some institutions are expected to reach about 80%.
On the other hand, the apple business revenue of Goertek and Lens Technology also accounted for 48% and 55% of the revenue, respectively, close to or more than half, and the Apple business revenue of PCB board supplier Pengding Holdings and SiP module supplier USI Electronics accounted for 80% and 70% respectively.
It can be seen that these supply chain manufacturers who ate the fruit chain dividend earlier have now been fiercely "pinched" by Cook.
Of course, every family is actively seeking transformation, standing on Apple's shoulders and looking farther afield.
As Liu Xingliang, a member of the Information and Communication Economy Expert Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said, diversification and transformation is the choice of most fruit chain enterprises, that is, we often say that eggs are placed in different baskets.
OFILM, which is deeply "hurt" by Apple, has taken new tracks such as smart cars, VR/AR, and smart homes as the future growth point, and with its own accumulation in optical technology, key products in the field of intelligent vehicles such as millimeter-wave radar and lidar have become its targets.
Luxshare Precision and Lens Technology also invariably choose to take smart cars as the key layout of the field, Luxshare Precision or from the automotive wiring harness, electronic modules to cut in, has won the Great Wall, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and other customers, and Lens Technology will also bring its advantages in glass technology to the field of vehicle glass.
Goertek is a representative company in the transformation, their operations in the vr/AR field are also well known in the industry, in the first half of 2021, Goertek's VR-based intelligent hardware business revenue has exceeded 11.2 billion yuan, more than tripled directly.
▲Goertek is the main foundry manufacturer of Pico VR headsets
Goertek's subsidiary Goertek Microelectronics spun off to the science and technology innovation board for IPO, which also indicates that Goertek may continue to increase its size on self-developed chips to enhance its advantages in the field of MEMS sensor products.
In any case, instead of "eating in the bowl and looking at the pot", these fruit chain brothers want to take the initiative to find a better second landing point after eating and drinking enough and their wings are hardened, and try to really land smoothly after enjoying the fruit chain dividend.
Conclusion: After sitting on the fruit chain "rocket class", the real challenge has just begun
Apple, whose market value briefly exceeded $3 trillion, has led a number of Chinese supply chain companies to grow rapidly in the technology industry, from tens of billions of market value to 100 billion market value enterprises, from memory chips, OLED screens, lens modules to precision parts, fuselage frames...
There is no doubt that 2021 is a bumper harvest year for Apple, and most of the little brothers under its shadow have made a lot of money. And there are also risks surging in the dark, and the huge investment in the early stage of the fruit chain and the risk of being replaced are all challenges that cannot be ignored. The positive transformation of fruit chain enterprises also proves this.
Apple's role in feeding China's technology industry cannot be ignored, and players in China's technology industry should also make full use of this giant ship, take hard-core technology as the core, constantly exercise their own capabilities, accelerate development, and go from behind the scenes to the front.