Jahwa Electronics’ negotiations to sell its Vietnam camera module factory with Sunny Optical has fallen through, TheElec has learned.
The talks between the pair fell through around the end of September, people familiar with the matter said.
Sunny Optical has purchased another camera module factory in Vietnam that is bigger than Jahwa’s.
Jahwa has now changed its plans to sell its Vietnam camera module factory, which currently has a production capacity of 5 million units per month. The factory is also a 45 minute drive away from Samsung Electronics’ smartphone factory in Vietnam.
Jahwa now plans to sell the production equipment there to a different camera module maker __ while it will lease out the factory land.
The South Korean company decided to exit the camera module business in the first half of 200. It already sold some of its camera module equipment to Namuga, another module supplier to Samsung Electronics.
Jahwa entered Samsung’s supply chain for smartphone camera modules in the second half of 2019 __ but it was less profitable than expected and the company was smaller compared to other suppliers.
The company is thought to have made between 40 billion won to 60 billion won in sales from camera modules in the second half of 2020 __ this is considerably lower than Cammsys’ in the same time period of 330.8 billion won. Cammsys is only the fourth largest supplier of camera modules to Samsung.
Jahwa will instead no focus on auto-focus, OIS and vibration motors for sales.
Meanwhile, Chinese camera module makers Sunny Optical, O’Film Group and Truly are planning to supply camera modules for Samsung’s Galaxy A series launching next year. Sunny is likely eyeing the deal the most as it recently lost orders from Huawei. It has relatively better price competitiveness compared to rivals however as it has supplied modules to Samsung in the past.