LPTH Company Profile

LightPath Technologies, Inc. was incorporated under Delaware law in 1992 as the successor to LightPath Technologies Limited Partnership, a New Mexico limited partnership formed in 1989, and its predecessor, Integrated Solar Technologies Corporation, a New Mexico corporation formed in 1985. We manufacture optical components and higher level assemblies, including precision molded glass aspheric optics, molded and diamond-turned infrared aspheric lenses and other optical materials used to produce products that manipulate light. We design, develop, manufacture and distribute optical components and assemblies utilizing advanced optical manufacturing processes. Our products are incorporated into a variety of applications by our customers in many industries, including defense products, medical devices, laser aided industrial tools, automotive safety applications, barcode scanners, optical data storage, hybrid fiber coax datacom, telecommunications, machine vision and sensors, among others. All the products we produce enable lasers and imaging devices to function more effectively.

Molded glass aspheres and assemblies are used in various high performance optical applications primarily based on laser technology;


Infrared molded lenses, diamond turned, conventional ground and polished and CNC ground lenses and assemblies using short (“SWIR”), mid (“MWIR”) and long (“LWIR”) wave materials imaging are used in applications for firefighting, predictive maintenance, homeland security, surveillance, automotive, cell phone infrared cameras, pharmaceutical research & development and defense; and

Collimator assemblies are used in applications involving light detection and ranging (“LIDAR”) technology for autonomous vehicles, such as fork lifts and other automated warehouse equipment.

We currently serve the following major markets: industrial, commercial, defense, medical, and telecommunications. Within our product groups, we have various applications that serve these major markets. For example, our HVPMO lenses are typically used in industrial tools, especially in China. Our infrared products can also be used in various applications within our major markets. Currently, sales of our infrared products are primarily for customers in the industrial market that use thermal imaging cameras. Our infrared products can also be used for gas sensing devices, spectrometers, night vision systems, automotive driver systems, thermal weapon gun sights, and infrared counter measure systems, among others.

Within the larger overall markets, which are estimated to be in the multi-billions of dollars, we believe there is a market of approximately $1.7 billion for our current products and capabilities. We continue to believe our products will provide significant growth opportunities over the next several years and, therefore, we will continue to target specific applications in each of these major markets. In addition to these major markets, a large percentage of our revenues are derived from sales to unaffiliated companies that purchase our products to fulfill their customer’s orders, as well as unaffiliated companies that offer our products for sale in their catalogs.

Product Groups

The following further discusses the various products we offer and certain growth opportunities we anticipate for each such product.

LVPMO and HVPMO Product Groups. Aspheric lenses are known for their optimal performance. Aspheric lenses simplify and shrink optical systems by replacing several conventional lenses. However, aspheric lenses are difficult and costly to machine. Our glass molding technology enables the production of both low and high volumes of aspheric optics, while still maintaining the highest quality at an affordable price. Molding is the most consistent and economical way to produce aspheres and we have perfected this method to offer the most precise molded aspheric lenses available.

In recent years, sales of both our LVPMOs and HVPMOs have increased, but a slowdown in the telecommunications market caused a decrease in revenue generated by our LVPMO and HVPMO product groups for fiscal 2018, as compared to fiscal 2017. We continue to expect growth for the next several years, as indications are that we have reached what appears to be the trough of the downward cycle for the telecommunications market. We believe we are nearing the beginning of a multi-year growth cycle of the optical market. This multi-year growth cycle is driven by four major trends: data centers; digital video distribution; wireless broadband; and machine-to-machine interface. Cloud computing has caused a shift in enterprise technology with increased spending for software-as-a-service (“SAAS”) and infrastructure-as-a-service (“IAAS”) capital investments. Delivery of applications and technology using SAAS or IAAS requires larger and faster network bandwidth. The explosion of mobile devices, which includes smartphones and tablet devices, is also requiring the expansion of network bandwidth as users are receiving and transferring larger amounts of data via their mobile devices. By 2021, it is estimated that there will be 1.5 mobile devices per capita. It is also expected that there will be approximately 11.6 billion mobile-connected devices by 2021, including machine-to-machine (“M2M”) modules, exceeding the world’s projected population of 7.8 billion. Individuals are also streaming more video on their mobile devices or through their smart TVs. This type of video distribution, which is estimated to be 80% of all network traffic by 2019, is creating a huge demand for larger and faster bandwidth. Finally, machine-to-machine connection technology allows wireless and wired systems to communicate with other devices of the same type. This type of networking often requires bandwidth in order for the machines to communicate with each other. All of these trends require the expansion of bandwidth, and thus, the growth of optical communication networks. Our products, such as our precision molded optical lenses, can be used as a component in optical communication networks. We also anticipate growth in our precision molded aspheres product revenues as we add new product lenses and applications for a variety of markets and industries, including laser tools, telecom transceivers, micro-projectors, scientific and bench top lasers, range finders, medical devices, barcode scanners and laser based spectrometers.


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LVPMOs. The growth we experienced in our LVPMO business in previous years was driven by a variety of market applications, such as medical endoscopes, medical flow cytometers, scientific and bench-top lasers, laser based spectrometers, military telecom, and telescopic weapon sights. These products have precision specifications and 100% testing to verify that our lenses conform to a higher level of performance than most of the competition in these markets.

HVPMOs. The growth we experienced in our HVPMO business in previous years was driven by market applications supporting mostly the laser diode applications for high volume markets in laser tools, range finders, laser gun sights, barcode scanners, and micro-projectors. The same basic tooling used for high precision in the LVPMO applications allows us to realize a competitive advantage for high volume production that benefits the end customer, while maintaining low price targets. Markets for laser diode applications are expected to grow substantially in the next few years as applications such as LIDAR, which uses light and radar for distance tracking and speed detection, headlights for automobiles, and many other related disciplines begin to rely more and more on laser technology. There are also indications that the telecommunications market will recover, particularly as the access networks around the world are being upgraded to accommodate the conversion to 5G applications, which will provide us with opportunities for growth.

Infrared Product Group. Advances in chalcogenide materials have enabled compression molding for MWIR and LWIR optics in a process similar to precision molded lenses. Our molded infrared optics technology enables high performance, cost-effective infrared aspheric lenses that do not rely on traditional diamond turning or lengthy polishing methods. Utilizing precision molded aspheric optics significantly reduces the number of lenses required for typical thermal imaging systems and the cost to manufacture these lenses. Molding is an excellent alternative to traditional lens processing methods particularly where volume and repeatability is required.

Through ISP, our wholly-owned subsidiary, we also offer germanium, silicon or zinc selenide aspheres and spherical lenses which are manufactured by diamond turning. This manufacturing technique allows us to offer larger lens sizes and the ability to use other optical materials which cannot be effectively molded. ISP gives us the ability to meet complex optical challenges that demand more exotic optical substrate materials that are non-moldable.

Overall, we anticipate growth for infrared optics and increased requirements for systems requiring aspheric optics. Infrared systems, which include thermal imaging cameras, gas sensing devices, spectrometers, night vision systems, automotive driver awareness systems, such as blind spot detection, thermal weapon sights, and infrared counter measure systems, represent a market that is forecasted to grow from $4.8 billion in 2017 to $7.3 billion by 2023, at a compound annual growth rate of 7.18% during the forecast period. As infrared imaging systems become widely available, the cost of optical components needs to decrease before the market demand will increase. Our aspheric molding process is an enabling technology for the cost reduction and commercialization of infrared imaging systems utilizing smaller lenses because the aspheric shape of our lenses enables system designers to reduce the lens element in a system and provide similar performance at a lower cost. In addition, there is a trend toward utilizing smaller size sensors in these devices which require smaller size lenses and that fits well with our molding technology.

Specialty Product Group. We have a growing group of specialty products and assemblies that take advantage of our unique technologies and capabilities. These products include custom optical designs, mounted lenses, optical assemblies, and collimator assemblies. We expect growth from defense communications programs and commercial optical sub-assemblies.

We design, build, and sell optical assemblies into markets for test and measurement, medical devices, military, industrial, and communications based on our proprietary technologies. Many of our optical assemblies consist of several products that we manufacture.

Growth Strategy

Our strategy is to leverage our technology, know-how, established low cost manufacturing capability and partnerships to grow our business. We plan to accomplish this growth through the implementation of the following objectives:

Leverage our Leadership to Drive Organic Growth. We plan to continue to capitalize on our global operations network, distribution infrastructure, and technology to pursue global growth. We will focus our efforts on those geographic areas and end products that we believe offer the most attractive growth and long-term profit prospects.

Focus on Cash Flow Generation. Our goal is to focus on cash flow generation and return on invested capital through the continuing optimization of our cost structure, improvement in working capital and supply chain efficiencies, and a disciplined approach to capital expenditures. We have a proven track record of mitigating fixed cost inflation with cost saving actions and productivity improvements. We intend to continue to identify incremental cost saving opportunities based in large part on benchmarks of industry-leading performance and productivity improvements by utilizing our engineering and manufacturing technology expertise and partnerships with low cost producers. Our goal is to maintain a cost structure that positions us favorably to compete and grow. We intend to continue to upgrade our customer and product mix by adding products that move up the supply chain by offering assemblies that use our lenses, thereby increasing our sales of value-added, differentiated products, and achieving premium pricing to improve margins and enhance cash flow.


Increase Customer Base and Continue to Develop New Products. A key component of our strategy is to produce innovative, high-performance products that offer enhanced value propositions to our customers at competitive prices. Our goal is to continually work closely with our customers to provide solutions and productions that optimize their products. This market-driven product development enables us to offer a high-quality product portfolio to our customers and provide our business with the ability to respond quickly and efficiently to changes in market demands.

Deepen Our Presence in Emerging Markets. Emerging markets are a strategic priority for our business. We are well positioned not only to leverage our strong market positions in mature but highly sophisticated markets in North America and Europe, but also to participate in the expected growth of emerging markets in Asia and Eastern Europe. We believe that improving living standards and growth in GDP across emerging markets are combining to create increased demand for our products. We expect to capitalize on this growth opportunity by expanding our customer base and local capabilities in order to increase our market share across emerging markets, especially in China. To accelerate our penetration of these markets and maintain our competitive cost position, we may develop relationships with leading local partners, especially in businesses where participation in the fast-growing Chinese market is particularly important for long-term sustainable growth. For example, we are well positioned to leverage our strong production technology in the Chinese market as a result of an increasing percentage of aerospace, automotive, semiconductor, electronics, and telecommunications manufacturing transitioning to China.

Continue to Drive Operational Excellence and Asset Efficiency. Operational excellence, which includes a commitment to safety, environmental stewardship, and improved reliability, is key to our future success. We continually evaluate our business to identify opportunities to increase operational efficiency throughout our production facilities, with a focus on maintaining operational excellence, reducing costs, and maximizing asset efficiency. We intend to continue focusing on increasing manufacturing efficiencies through selected capital projects, process improvements, and best practices in order to lower unit costs. We will also carefully manage our portfolio and take appropriate actions to address product lines that face challenging market conditions and do not generate returns on invested capital that we believe are sufficient to create long-term shareholder value.

Drive Organizational Alignment. We believe that maintaining alignment of the efforts of our employees with our overall business strategy and operational excellence goals is critical to our success. We have outstanding people and assets and, with the commitment to values of safety, customer appreciation, simplicity, collective entrepreneurship, and integrity, we believe that we can maintain our competitiveness and help achieve our operational excellence and asset efficiency strategic objectives.