LG Innotek invests in taiwanese lens company to accelerate autonomous driving, XR market penetration

LG Innotek is speeding up its entry into the camera market for autonomous driving and the optical component market for Extended Reality (XR) by joining forces with a global lens manufacturing enterprise.

LG Innotek announced on Jan. 18 that it has signed a main contract with AOE Optoelectronics, a Taiwanese lens manufacturing company, for equity investment and business cooperation. This agreement involves LG Innotek investing in AOE. Both companies will closely collaborate in the field of core optical components through this strategic partnership.

With this investment, LG Innotek plans to extend its capabilities and technological prowess in the optical solution business, built upon its mobile camera modules, into new areas such as vehicles and XR. Additionally, the stable supply of lenses, a key component of camera modules, will further sophisticate its supply chain management (SCM).

AOE, a Taiwanese lens specialist, is recognized for its core technologies and mass production capabilities, spanning from materials to modules. The company has recently increased its supply to North American automobile manufacturers. AOE is particularly strong in lenses for vehicle modules. With the growing demand in the autonomous vehicle industry for high-resolution camera components like “aspherical glass lenses,” interest in AOE, which specializes in this area, is also rising.

Through the strategic partnership, LG Innotek will share its expertise in optical design and process automation, along with its advanced quality management systems, while AOE will contribute its unique material processing and precision lens manufacturing technologies. They plan to jointly develop the differentiated lenses.

The products jointly developed will be used in core optical components, expected to provide distinctive value to global automakers, vehicle part companies, and XR device manufacturers.

Moon Hyuk-soo, CEO of LG Innotek, stated, “LG Innotek will quickly expand its camera module portfolio into vehicles and XR devices. We aim to become a technology innovation company that creates distinctive value and makes our customers winners, by leveraging our competitive edge in technology, cost competitiveness, and manufacturing process capabilities.”