Demand from Apple, other smartphone firms lifts AMS revenues

Austria’s AMS, which is launching a new takeover offer for Germany’s Osram, said on Tuesday it expected strong demand from Apple and other smartphone makers for its sensors to extend into the fourth quarter.

AMS’s key revenue source is optical sensors.

Its main customer is Apple, which uses the Austrian group’s 3D facial recognition technology in its latest iPhones and accounts for around 40 per cent of group revenue, according to analyst estimates.

AMS reported a 41 per cent increase in third-quarter revenue to $645 million, above its $600 million-$640 million guidance, and forecasts the figure to come in between $610 million and $650 million in the fourth quarter.

The adjusted EBIT margin was 28 per cent, in line with the firm’s forecast for above 25 per cent and it was expected to at least stay at this level in the fourth quarter, AMS said.

The Austrian supplier had been hit by production delays and initially slow demand for Apple’s iPhone X series last year, but a positive trend emerged with this year’s iPhone 11 models and demand from Android phone makers has also risen.

To succeed in the sensor market, Chief Executive, Alexander Everke, wants to take over Osram to combine AMS’s expertise in sensors with the German groups in lights.

AMS said it “feels confident about the new takeover offer for Osram… as it is financially attractive, strategically compelling and the viable option for Osram shareholders’’.