Corning, which supplies Gorilla glass for smartphone makers such as Apple and Samsung, said its revenue dropped 10 percent to $3,243 million during April-June 2023.
Corning’s Display Technologies business generated sales of $928 million, up 22 percent sequentially and 6 percent year over year, driven by higher volume from increased panel maker utilization.
Corning’s Specialty Materials business generated sales of $423 million, up 4 percent sequentially and down 13 percent year over year, primarily reflecting continued end-market softness.
Corning’s Environmental Technologies business generated sales of $457 million, up 6 percent sequentially and 28 percent year over year, driven by a ramp in gasoline particulate filter sales in China related to new regulations.
Corning’s Life Sciences business generated sales of $231 million, down 10 percent sequentially and 26 percent year over year, as a result of lower demand for COVID-related products in China and customers continuing to draw down inventory.
Corning’s Hemlock and Emerging Growth Businesses generated sales of $377 million, down 2 percent sequentially and 10 percent year over year.
The specialty glass maker said it expects core sales of about $3.5 billion in the three months ending September.
Corning has seen a drop in demand from its consumer electronics clients as smartphone makers try to clear a build-up of inventory caused by high inflation and rising interest rates.
Corning has moved aggressively this year to cut down on costs to make up for the slump in its main markets, which, combined with earlier price hikes, has helped the company to still expand its core gross margin by 100 basis points to 36.2 percent.
“We expect to continue improving profitability and cash flow despite our relatively muted sales environment,” said CEO Wendell Weeks.
In the second quarter, core sales fell 7.4 percent year-on-year to $3.48 billion.
Price hike
Corning recently announced a 20 percent increase to its display glass substrate prices. The global price increase will impact all regions, compositions, and glass Gen sizes beginning in the third quarter of 2023.
This price adjustment is intended to offset ongoing elevated costs in energy, raw materials and other non-yen denominated operational expenses.
Corning earlier said it expects growth in demand for display glass in the second half of 2023, driven by the continued recovery of the display industry and typical seasonal demand patterns.