Earlier this month Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple cuts off China's OFilm over using Uyghur slave labor." The report noted that after a denial,  "Apple Inc. has severed ties with Chinese component supplier OFilm Group Co. over allegations it’s involved in a government program that transfers ethnic minorities from Xinjiang to other parts of the country for work, a person familiar with the matter says."

Yesterday, Chinese company Wingtech Technology issued an announcement  that it had reached an agreement with OFILM on the acquisition of the camera business of specific customers. Wingtech Technology will complete the acquisition of the camera business of specific customers of OFILM for RMB2.42 billion (roughly US$368 million).

According to reports, the purchase price is almost 40% off the previous pricing principle of the "Acquisition Intention Agreement," that was agreed to on February 7, prior to the news going public that Apple had dropped OFilm as a camera lens/component supplier.

The company intends to purchase 100% equity of Guangzhou Delta Imaging Technology Co., Ltd. held by OFILM and equipment related to the supply of cameras to specific overseas customers owned by Jiangxi Jingrun Optical Co., Ltd. in cash.

Guangzhou Delta is the production base of the former Sony (China) Co., Ltd. in South China (Guangzhou, China). Its main business is the production and sales of miniature cameras and related components. The South China production base of Sony was acquired by OFILM in 2017 and completed the delivery. It has the industry's top camera module development and packaging technology, and has the qualifications and capabilities to supply the world's first-class smartphone brand customers. It is precisely because of the acquisition of Sony’s South China production base that OFILM had entered Apple’s supply chain and had become its main supplier of cameras.

OFILM's camera business is also the core and the most valuable part of Apple's China industrial chain. Its scarcity and importance are self-evident, and it can be said to be the crown jewel of the entire Apple China industrial chain. It takes at least 2 years to become an Apple supplier. The acquisition of all assets of Oufeiguang’s Apple business by Wingtech Technology indicates that Wingtech Technology has already obtained Apple’s supplier qualification and will soon become one of Apple’s main suppliers with the help of the new camera business.

According to Wingtech's announcement, the target asset has a professional and efficient technical R&D team and is an important supplier of camera modules for specific overseas customers.