Burning less cash: MicroVision's quarterly operating loss.

MicroVision, the US-based developer of laser pico-projectors, has posted an increase in sales and reduced cash burn for its third fiscal quarter of 2012, though the company continues to mount up losses.

Thanks to a supply deal with the Japanese electronics giant Pioneer valued at $5.8 million in total, sales rose to $2.6 million in the latest quarter, up from $1.3 million in the second quarter.

Pioneer is using MicroVision’s technology in its “Cyber Navi” range of head-up displays for drivers, and shipments relating to the current deal will be completed over the next two quarters.

Meanwhile, MicroVision’s losses continue to mount. Despite the Pioneer business, a lower-cost licensing model and improved profit margins thanks to the growing availability of direct-emitting green laser diodes (DGLs), the Redmond, Washington, firm still made an operating loss of $4 million in the latest quarter.

That is a big improvement on previous results – the company has racked up total losses of close to $100 million since the start of fiscal 2010 – but with just $10.8 million in cash on its balance sheet, MicroVision currently only has enough money to operate through the second quarter of 2013.

By then the company is hopeful that its customer base will have expanded. Discussions with top-tier smart phone OEMs looking to incorporate the projector technology into their products are said to be ongoing, while the emergence of a second volume supplier of DGLs in the form of Germany’s Osram Opto Semiconductors should help to make pricing of the key components more competitive.

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