SK Materials Soars After Successful Mass Production of Hydrogen Fluoride

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The stock price of SK Materials, SK Group's specialized materials affiliate, has entered a strong upward trend following the news of mass production of ultra-high purity hydrogen fluoride gas, a key semiconductor manufacturing material that was subject to Japan's export restrictions. This is interpreted as due to expectations that demand for domestically produced materials will lead to improved performance.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 19th, SK Materials' stock price closed at 189,100 KRW, up 5.52% (9,900 KRW) from the previous trading day. Notably, it reached an intraday high of 213,300 KRW, marking a 52-week high. SK Materials has shown a strong performance with a 19.0% return over the past three consecutive trading days.

The expectation that the recently started mass production of hydrogen fluoride gas for semiconductors will contribute to performance improvement is believed to be driving the stock price. On the 17th, SK Materials announced the start of mass production of ultra-high purity (99.999%) hydrogen fluoride gas. Ultra-high purity hydrogen fluoride is a gas used in the cleaning process of wafers (substrates) that form circuit patterns during semiconductor manufacturing, and it is a core material in semiconductor fine processes. Especially, it has had a 100% dependence on overseas supply, and was one of the three major semiconductor material items designated under Japan's export restrictions last year, which caused issues.

With SK Materials' success in mass-producing ultra-high purity hydrogen fluoride gas, which domestic semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix had almost entirely imported from Japan and other countries, the company's sales are expected to gain momentum. Recently, the stock returns of domestic materials companies have been directly linked to how much they benefit from materials localization. Considering that domestic semiconductor manufacturers are actively seeking to localize their material suppliers, the news of SK Materials' mass production is highly likely to lead to sales growth.

Researcher Hyunki Bae from Samsung Securities analyzed, "SK Materials is expected to show sales growth centered on relatively large and important markets such as hydrogen fluoride and photoresist, but the stock price does not fully reflect the localization premium."

SK Materials plans to mass-produce hydrogen fluoride gas through a production facility with an annual capacity of 15 tons in Yeongju, Gyeongbuk, and aims to raise the localization rate to 70% by 2023. Currently, the domestic market size for high-purity hydrogen fluoride for semiconductors is about 100 billion KRW.

The benefits of materials localization, including the mass production of hydrogen fluoride for semiconductors, are expected to be reflected in performance starting this year. According to financial information provider FnGuide, SK Materials' sales this year are estimated at 904.3 billion KRW, a 17.1% increase from last year. Operating profit is also expected to rise by 8.5% to 233 billion KRW during the same period.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.