[IPO] HPSP "Unique Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturing... Operating Profit Margin 50%"

Kim Yong-woon, CEO of HPSP, is introducing the company at an online press conference on the 27th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] “The high-pressure hydrogen annealing equipment, developed for the first time in the world, is unparalleled in the semiconductor front-end process field.”

On the 27th, Kim Yongwoon, CEO of HPSP, explained this about the company at a press conference for the KOSDAQ listing.

HPSP was established when the private equity fund Crescendo Equity Partners acquired the equipment business division of Poongsan in 2017. The company developed the world’s first high-pressure hydrogen annealing equipment used in semiconductor front-end processes.

HPSP’s equipment removes defects at the semiconductor device interface through high-pressure hydrogen heat treatment. As the defects at the semiconductor device interface decrease due to the effect of the high-pressure hydrogen heat treatment process, electron mobility improves, enhancing transistor performance.

Previously, annealing equipment using hydrogen concentration of 4% and process temperatures of 600~1100°C was used, but this is not applicable for processes below 16nm. However, HPSP’s high-pressure hydrogen annealing equipment uses 100% hydrogen concentration and process temperatures of 250~450°C, applicable to processes from 3nm to 16nm.

CEO Kim said, “Process miniaturization is the most important to manufacture high-performance semiconductors essential for the 4th industrial revolution such as autonomous driving and artificial intelligence (AI).” He added, “As ultra-fine processes below 10nm expand in the future, demand for our equipment is expected to increase.”

In fact, along with market expansion, the company’s performance has steadily grown. HPSP’s performance last year recorded sales of 91.7 billion KRW and operating profit of 45.2 billion KRW, increasing by 50.0% and 82.4% respectively compared to the previous year. The operating profit margin is 49.3%. In the first quarter of this year, sales of 37.1 billion KRW and operating profit of 21.1 billion KRW were already achieved.

Based on these results, HPSP paid dividends exceeding 90% of net profit until 2019 and 2020. The company announced that after listing on KOSDAQ, it plans to resolve to pay dividends of at least 150 KRW per share annually when retained earnings occur in 2022?2023. Also, to protect minority shareholders, the largest shareholder has pledged to forgo all dividends to be received, as confirmed to the Korea Exchange.

HPSP has grown by securing major customers among semiconductor foundry companies. After listing, it plans to expand its front-end industrial market scope to logic and foundry semiconductor fields such as AP and CPU, memory semiconductor fields such as DRAM and NAND, and special system semiconductor fields such as CIS used in ultra-high-resolution cameras for electric vehicles and mobile devices.

CEO Kim stated, “We have already laid the foundation for expanding the front-end industry by securing multiple new customers in the memory semiconductor field.” He added, “HPSP will play a key role in enhancing the performance of leading-edge process semiconductors through the development of new high-pressure processes and will create demand for high-pressure processes.”

Meanwhile, the total number of shares offered is 3 million, with a desired public offering price of 23,000 to 25,000 KRW per share. Approximately 75 billion KRW will be raised through this offering. Demand forecasting for institutional investors will be conducted on the 29th and 30th to finalize the public offering price, followed by general subscription on July 6th and 7th, with listing scheduled for July. The lead underwriter is NH Investment & Securities.

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