Cammsys folds auto electronic device business

South Korean camera module maker Cammsys has shut down its automobile electronic devices business that it has been working on over the past six years due to accumulating deficit.

Cammsys shuttered the business involving automobile camera modules, black boxes and front and rearview cameras, according to those close to the matter on Sept. 2.

“We reached the conclusion that it would be difficult to improve the bottom line of the auto electronic device division, and felt we need to balance out our resources,” said one Cammsys official. “Our focus is on smartphone camera modules, which account for most of our revenues, along with electric vehicles, our new area of growth.” Cammsys is also looking into areas such as biometric recognition and data security.

Last year, Cammsys’ auto electronic device business recorded 4.9 billion won of sales and an operating deficit of 8.9 billion won. Sales accounted for just 1% of the firm’s total revenues of around 544 billion won. The same year, the equipment operating ratio of the division stood at a mere 20%. In 2017, this same division logged 5 billion won of revenues and an operating deficit of 6.6 billion won.

Cammsys added, however, that despite folding the business, it would continue to invest in R&D. The firm also plans to stay involved in government-commissioned research projects. “The sales unit has been disassembled, but the R&D personnel has been simply relocated to the smartphone camera module and EV division,” said the official.

Cammsys is launching its super-mini EV, the CEVO-C, in the latter half of this year. Preorders reached 3,027 units. The firm is now preparing to launch more CEVO retail stores across the country.

Meanwhile, Cammsys’ profit in the first half of this year surged as Samsung began to apply more multi-cameras to its Galaxy smartphones. Revenues in 1H jumped 59.2% on-year to 354 billion won, while operating profit surged 235.6% to 18.6 billion won.

The Elec is South Korea’s No.1 tech news platform.