LG Innotek's Apple sales hit ₩14.0 trillion in nine months, 80.4% of revenue, on a 1.5% operating margin

LG Innotek▼−1.88% — LG Innotek, down 1.88 percent today, the Korean company that builds iPhone camera modules, disclosed on November 12 that sales to its largest customer reached ₩14.0094 trillion in the first nine months of 2026, up 24.6% from ₩11.2395 trillion a year earlier ¹. The filing names only a customer above 10% of sales↗; Korean reporting identifies the buyer as Apple▲+0.18% — Apple, up 0.18 percent today ¹.

The customer outgrew the company. Total sales rose 22.0% to ₩17.4292 trillion, putting one buyer at 80.4% of revenue, up from 78.7% ¹. That buyer alone nearly matches the whole optics division, which booked ₩14.5327 trillion over the same nine months ¹.

The shares have already voted

The stock closed at ₩287,500, 84% below its 52-week high of ₩1,788,000, valuing LG Innotek↗ at ₩6.804 trillion, or 0.29 times trailing sales ². The Inference covered the October profit collapse↗ and the broker cuts↗ before it; the filing adds the concentration underneath them ².

The first ₩6 trillion quarter earned 1.5%

Third-quarter revenue was ₩6.3671 trillion, the company's first quarter above ₩6 trillion, up 18.6% year on year; operating profit was ₩94.8 billion, down 53.4%, which the company put down to the won-to-dollar rate falling between buying raw materials and shipping products ³. That is about 1.5% of sales ³. Input prices rose 13.7% for circuit-board materials and 16.8% for ICs ¹.

The second engine waits on deposits

SK Securities analyst Park Hyung-woo wrote on November 12, after the company's post-results roadshow↗, that long-term supply agreements with three North American semiconductor companies are in final stages ⁴. The size and timing of their advance payments "could determine future investment resources", he wrote, and capex through 2028 is modeled on customer support ⁴.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics already has the deals

Samsung Electro-Mechanics▼−4.01% — Samsung Electro-Mechanics, down 4.01 percent today, the Samsung Electronics▲+0.97% — Samsung Electronics, up 0.97 percent today components affiliate already shipping AI-server parts, has disclosed eight long-term supply deals this year↗, on MLCC capacitors, inductors and substrates, worth about ₩5.18 trillion in total, and plans to invest ₩6.78 trillion in flip-chip ball grid array (FC-BGA) substrate plants, the large boards that carry AI processors, in Sejong and Vietnam ⁵⁶⁷. LG Innotek's 2030 target is ₩4 trillion of substrate revenue and ₩1 trillion of operating profit, from a division that sold ₩481.8 billion last quarter; it has disclosed no deal and no deposit ³⁴.

The buy case arrives with its own warning

Park's case: orders from major clients show no change, camera module prices rose as expected, upgrades should run five years, and the negatives "have already been priced in"; a price down 81% from its peak "presents a good opportunity to consider buying" ⁴. The same note carries the demand risk: rivals of the big clients already ship 5–30% fewer units a quarter, and planned production increases above 5% next year look hard to sustain as finished-product prices rise ⁴.

The first advance payment is the tell

A signature alone would not fund a plant; the first disclosed advance payment from any of the three chipmakers would. The next scheduled reading is fourth-quarter earnings on January 25, 2027 ².