This is the 22nd in a series of articles analyzing companies listed on the Kosdaq, Korea`s secondary stock mar-ket loaded with tech firms. - Ed.
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Amotech Co. has become widely known as a major supplier of chip varistors for Apple`s iPhone, especially after news broke that iPhone is coming to Korea. Chip varistors are core components of many portable electronics products, protecting battery-using gadgets from high voltage.
The company, however, has a more ambitious goal of becoming an environment-friendly materials manufacturer in other larger markets as well, the company CEO said.
Amotech not only produces chip varistors for mobile phones but Bluetooth/GPS antennas for laptops, cars, and high-efficiency motors called brushless DC motors, or BLDC motors, for home appliances and automobiles.
'While chip varistors make up for 70 percent of the total sales now, we plan to reduce the proportion of chip varistors to 30 percent by 2012. Instead, the proportion of BLDC motor revenue will go up from the current 10 percent to 50 percent,' Kim Pyung-kyu, president and CEO of Amotech, said in an interview with The Korea Herald.
'We used to be a ***all IT component maker. But we want to grow to a bigger, eco-friendly company.'
Kim said he has been preparing for the past seven years to unveil energy-efficient BLDC motors for washing machines and battery-cooling BLDC motors for hybrid vehicles.
While the global markets are replacing inefficient AC motors with efficient BLDC motors in general, the BLDC motor market is expected to grow exponentially, Kim projected.
Energy efficiency of BLDC motors is 20 percent to 30 percent higher than that of AC Motors.
'For us, we h***e much more room to grow in the BLCD motor market, while we h***e already topped the global market share in chip varistors,' Kim said.
Amotech has recently agreed with Whirlpool to provide 50,000 BLDC motors as an initial supply for the appliance maker`s washing machines in February next year.
'Client companies will prefer our motors in the near future because we h***e motors that are thinner and faster than existing ones,' he added.
The hybrid car market is another one Amotech is to aggressively target with its BLDC motors.
Amotech already signed an agreement with a major local carmaker to supply its battery-cooling BLDC motors for a hybrid car, which is to be unveiled in the second half of next year, Kim said, adding that he cannot give detailed names due to the confidential contract.
The company also produces Bluetooth antennas for laptops, handsets and GPS antennas for automobiles.
C***umer electronics gadgets like laptops and mobile phones are getting ***aller but they require seven or eight antennas due to multi functi*** like GPS and Bluetooth, thus the antenna business will keep growing, according to Kim.
The recent global economic cr*** and slumping demand coused Amotech`s revenue to decline to 68.7 billion won in 2008 from 77.3 billion won in 2007.
The volatile foreign exchange rate last year eroded its net profit to plunge to 1 billion won in 2008 from 11.1 billion won a year earlier.
However, with signs of economic recovery now, the company`s revenue level is coming back to normalcy, Kim said.
Amotech will be able to achieve the sales target of 80 billion won this year and aims to boost the figure to 250 billion won in 2012, and to 500 billion won in 2015, he said.
- By Kim Yoon-mi (
yoonmi@heraldm.com)
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