This year, it is expected that sales generated from overseas customers will surpass twice the sales amount of a specific domestic customer from last year. I am confident that HANMI Semiconductor will secure all orders for the stacking equipment related to HBM4 (6th generation high bandwidth memory) that the customer plans to invest in.
Kim Jong-young, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of HANMI Semiconductor, noted during a performance briefing held on the 30th at the Post Tower in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, “The only corporations testing HBM4 equipment are HANMI Semiconductor and foreign equipment companies. I expect that HANMI Semiconductor will secure the equipment orders ahead of competitors.” On the same day, HANMI Semiconductor held a performance briefing to announce its second-quarter results and market outlook.
HANMI Semiconductor is the leading corporation in the TC bonder market used for stacking HBM. The company holds over 90% market share in the TC bonder market for producing 12-layer 5th generation HBM (HBM3E). A tentative consolidation of the management results for the second quarter shows a revenue of 180 billion won and an operating profit of 86.3 billion won. Both revenue and operating profit increased by 45.81% and 55.68%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Cumulative revenue for the first half of the year amounted to 327.4 billion won, with an operating profit of 155.9 billion won.
HANMI Semiconductor stated that the expansion of overseas customer sales proportions has driven its performance. HANMI Semiconductor supplies TC bonder equipment to U.S. memory semiconductor companies and Taiwanese packaging corporations. It is analyzed that the supply of TC bonders has significantly increased as memory semiconductor corporations massively expand HBM production capacity. CFO Kim explained, “90% of total sales for the second quarter came from overseas markets. TC bonders account for about 78% of total revenue,” and he added, “I anticipate that overseas sales will exceed domestic sales in the next 3 to 4 years.”
He added, “HBM TC bonder equipment is divided into equipment used for MR-MUF by SK hynix and TC-NCF equipment utilized by Samsung Electronics and Micron,” and he continued, “HANMI Semiconductor produces both types of equipment, and approximately 70% of them are mass-produced on the same production line, which has allowed us to achieve a high operating profit margin.”
HANMI Semiconductor also showed confidence in its technical capabilities for HBM4 TC bonders. The company announced it is currently conducting tests with clients on ‘TC bonder4’, released for HBM4 production. CFO Kim stated, “HANMI Semiconductor's bonding technology is of the highest level in the world. I am confident that HANMI Semiconductor will monopolize the HBM4 order volume,” and he added, “We expect large-scale orders to come in, and we are preparing to increase production capacity to 45 units per month by next year.”
HANMI Semiconductor projects that due to an increase in TC bonder equipment orders this year, annual sales will reach at least 800 billion won and at most 1.1 trillion won. Last year, HANMI Semiconductor's revenue was 558.9 billion won. CFO Kim mentioned, “Sales performance in the semiconductor equipment sector varies depending on client order volumes,” and he noted, “While the order volume for TC bonders is steadily increasing, it is currently challenging to accurately estimate client order volumes.”
HANMI Semiconductor announced that it is also steadily preparing next-generation equipment such as fluxless bonding and hybrid bonding. Fluxless bonding is used to join DRAM without the use of flux, which acts as an adhesive in HBM. Hybrid bonding refers to the technology that attaches DRAM with copper without bumps connecting the chips. CFO Kim stated, “The shipment of fluxless bonding equipment is expected to start in earnest this year,” and he added, “We are developing hybrid bonding equipment with a target release in 2027.”