The glass screen maker is wagering huge on AI glasses and embodied intelligence as its next significant development engines
Secret Takeaways:
- Lens Innovation reported its income reached 207 billion yuan in the 3rd quarter, up 19.3% year-over-year
- The glass screen maker is investing greatly in AI wearables and embodied intelligence as fresh development motorists
Twenty years back, a business in Central China’s Hunan province smashed through a significant business barrier when it got in Apple’s airtight supply chain with its scratch-resistant panels that fulfilled the U.S. tech titan’s hard requirements. Twenty years later on, that very same maker– Lens Innovation Co. Ltd. ( 6613. HK; 300433. SZ)– is seeking its 2nd “iPhone minute” in the unfolding AI transformation as its older smart device company develops.
Creator Zhou Qunfei has actually ended up being the things of business legend with the story of her increase from female factory flooring employee to “Apple supply chain queen.” Given that developing Lens Innovation in 2003, she has actually leveraged sapphire and tempered glass processing to work her method into Apple’s provider environment, becoming an essential supplier for iPhones, iPads and Macs while ending up being the envy of accuracy makers around the world.
The business recently launched its most current quarterly revenues report following its July Hong Kong listing, which matched its existing listing in Shenzhen. Its income in the very first 9 months of 2025 increased 16.1% year-on-year to 53.7 billion yuan ($ 7.54 billion), while its earnings leapt by a comparable 19.9% to 2.84 billion yuan. Its income for the 3rd quarter struck 20.7 billion yuan, up 19.3% year-on-year, raising its net earnings 12.6% to 1.7 billion yuan.
The business’s core handset glass and associated structural elements stayed its bread-and-butter in the current report. However financiers are beginning to search for its next brand-new thing to keep its consistent development story alive. Lens associated its most current development partially to rebounding smart device need, while likewise accentuating consecutive volume development for its items targeting a brand-new generation of AI-powered wearables and embodied intelligence items.
Zhou, who started crafting glass at 16, acknowledges that company operations can be as delicate as the glass at her business’s core. With the worldwide smart device market revealing growing indications of maturity, consisting of low single-digit development and even regular contraction, she has actually placed her business to discover brand-new pastures in the emerging fields of smart eyeglasses, embodied intelligence and premium robotics.
Doubling down on AI eyeglasses
For AI eyeglasses, Lens states it provides accuracy mechanical, optical and acoustic elements to an essential North American customer that it does not recognize. Experts and business watchers think that business is Meta (META.US), which has actually co-developed a modern set of clever glasses with Ray-Ban. The item integrates voice assistants, computer system vision and live translation, and is being hailed as the very first really commercialized clever wearable of the AI age, signing up above-target sales given that late 2024.
Worldwide AI/AR glasses deliveries strike 6.7 million systems in 2024 and are anticipated to overall 12 million for 2025, up almost 80% from 2024, according to Canalys and Counterpoint. Meta, previously referred to as Facebook, represents over 40% of the marketplace and ranks very first internationally. Its quick growth has actually supplied strong need for Lens as it finishes from simple lens and structural work to higher-value incorporated items like surface-mount innovation (SMT) and complete assembly modules, along with cordless charging options.
The section added to modest consecutive income and margin development in the 3rd quarter, though there are no developments right now. Management informed financiers the company has actually gotten in volume shipments in AI hardware, which the section is anticipated to end up being next year’s main development vector. Much of the development is most likely to come as Meta increases its eyeglasses company in the coming quarters.
Lens has actually developed an optics subsidiary in the Hunan capital of Changsha to establish waveguide lenses and premium elements straight serving AI glasses and AR show supply chains. In late February, the business formed a significant tactical tie-up with AI eyeglasses maker Hangzhou Rokid Innovation, which Lens supports with its innovation.
With the quick increase of embodied intelligence over the last years, Lens has actually been developing a platform to produce 4- and two-legged robotics on an OEM basis for its customers. The business is on track to open a brand-new head office and embodied intelligence development center this month, efficient in producing 3,000 humanoid robotics and more than 10,000 robotic pets each year– with output currently streaming to popular Chinese and North American purchasers. That reveals that Lens might possibly end up being a crucial upstream core provider in the AI robotics market.
Lens raised about HK$ 4.77 billion ($ 614 million) in its July listing in Hong Kong, with 48% of that allocated for item growth and another 28% for worldwide efforts. Approximately 70% of the listing continues stayed unused at the end of September, scheduled primarily for overseas facilities dedications and AI financial investments, providing the business considerable monetary firepower for functional versatility.
Buildout for future supply
The business’s net operating capital amounted to a strong 5.84 billion yuan in the very first 9 months of the year, though that was down about 7% from a year previously. With a substantial 7.26 billion yuan of money in its coffers, the business ought to have lots of funds to support its continuous R&D into brand-new locations. The business’s construction-in-progress balance in the 3rd quarter jumped about 48% year-on-year due to growth of its production centers in Vietnam and Thailand in anticipation of growing need from overseas customers, consisting of mass production for AI-related items.
Lens present commands a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 31 times for its Hong Kong stock, ahead of the 24 for Warm Optical ( 2382. HK) and more modest 13 for Largan Accuracy ( 3008. TW). Such a premium shows Lens’ edge in the trip towards AI hardware-driven wearables along with its early relocation into robotics, as it wanders from its roots as an agreement provider to Apple. Continued velocity of its eyeglasses company would verify the business’s relocation into embodied-AR optics, opening the capacity for a lot more several growth, though slower-than-expected development might have simply the opposite impact.
Benzinga Disclaimer: This short article is from an unsettled external factor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has actually not been modified for material or precision.