With the gradual lifting of the ban in various countries and the excessive use of eyes in the 3C era, Taiwan's eye care industry is seeing strong business opportunities. Contact lens manufacturers, including St.Shine Optical, Pegavision, Visico Vision, VIZIONFOCUS and Brighten Optix, surgery-and-optometry-focused Universal Vision Biotechnology (UVB), as well as ophthalmology AI diagnostic systems and testing equipment supplier, Crystalvue Medical and Medimaging Integrated Solution (MiiS), will see their operations rise in 2023 and have the opportunity to enter high profitability.

According to research, the global myopia population will reach 2.62 billion in 2020, equivalent to 34% of the global population. The prevalence of myopia in Asian countries is much higher than in other regions, especially in Singapore, Korea, Taiwan and China, where the pressure of schooling is high. 

Taiwanese contact lens manufacturers are targeting the business opportunity of vision improvement and have been actively investing in the development of materials and expansion of OEM orders in recent years, maintaining a good growth rate. On the other hand, the domestic companies, St.Shine Optical, Pegavision and Visico Vision, are projected to grow in annual revenue and EPS. 

In addition, Brighten Optix, the company specialises in keratoplasty lenses (OK lenses), is also seeing sales growth in China and Taiwan, with profits set to reach new highs.

It is believed that there are different stages of optometry needs depending on age. For children, it is mainly focusing on stopping the deterioration of myopia. For adults, the focus would be laser-based surgery. Companies in the said areas, especially UVB, has reaped both revenue and profit.

As for Crystalvue and MiiS, which focus on the research and development of ophthalmology, ENT and other examination equipment, they are also actively engaged in the research and development of AI diagnosis and interpretation under the rise of digital smart medical. 

Going forward, with the recent improvement in Taiwan's export to China, Tmall sales and consumer spending increased, coupled with the lifting of the embargo in China and the start of economic recovery in various countries, the demand for contact lenses/colour lenses is expected to continue to rebound, benefiting Pegavision, St.Shine Optical, Visco Vision, Brighten Optix and VIZIONFOCUS. The demand for contact lenses and colour lenses is expected to continue to rise. The lens and frame based company, Polylite Taiwan, is also likely to see rebund of demands.

The growth momentum will continue with the expansion of overseas markets for companies incl. Crystalvue, MiiS and UVB.