Unisem's Turnaround in the Second Half: Entering Full-Fledged Performance Recovery

Production of Essential Scrubbers and Chillers for Semiconductor Manufacturing Processes
Performance Expected to Improve as Customer Investments Resume
Share Price Rises 37% Since July

The stock price of Unisem, a manufacturer of semiconductor and display sub-equipment, has been rising rapidly in the second half of this year. The company’s profits are increasing due to improvements in the semiconductor industry.

According to the financial investment industry as of August 18, Unisem’s stock price has risen by 37.4% compared to the end of June. Even considering that the KOSDAQ index increased by 4.3%, Unisem’s market outperformance stands at 33.4 percentage points. During this period, domestic institutional investors purchased 9.4 billion won worth of shares, driving the stock price upward.

Unisem produces scrubbers, which are hazardous gas purification devices used in semiconductor and display manufacturing processes. The company has also developed chillers, which are temperature control devices that ensure stable temperatures during semiconductor processes. Unisem holds more than a 40% share of the domestic gas scrubber market and over a 30% share of the chiller market.By business segment, scrubbers account for approximately 26% of sales, chillers about 39%, and maintenance and other businesses around 35%.

Scrubbers and chillers have historically received relatively little attention among process equipment. However, their importance has grown as advanced processes based on extreme ultraviolet (EUV), gate-all-around (GAA), and 3D-NAND have become more prevalent. In core front-end processes such as lithography, etching, and deposition, scrubbers and chillers are essential equipment that can impact process stability and yield. Scrubbers are increasingly important not only for process safety and quality, but also from an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management perspective. The demand for eco-friendly scrubbers continues to rise, driven by carbon neutrality policies, the implementation of RE100 (100% renewable energy), and increased hazardous gas emissions due to process miniaturization. Unisem is responding to customer ESG strategies and eco-friendly trends by developing high-efficiency, low-carbon, and low-power scrubber product lines.

Chillers are essential equipment that precisely control temperature in various semiconductor manufacturing processes such as cleaning, deposition, and etching. Accurate temperature control ensures process stability and improves yield. Unisem has developed a carbon dioxide (CO₂) chiller that complies with the increasingly strict global warming potential (GWP) regulations, which ban the use of harmful refrigerants worldwide. Unlike conventional refrigerants used in chillers, CO₂ is non-toxic and non-flammable, making it safe. The company is working to conduct tests with major U.S. semiconductor companies.

Lee Dongjoo, a researcher at SK Securities, stated, "It appears that equipment installation related to new DRAM investments began in the second quarter of this year," and added, "Samsung Electronics’ DRAM investment plans for the second half of the year are also stronger than expected."

Lee Saerom, a researcher at the Korea IR Association, analyzed, "Unisem is estimated to achieve sales of 265 billion won and operating profit of 24.3 billion won this year," adding, "These figures represent increases of 21.5% and 144.0%, respectively, compared to last year." He further commented, "This year is expected to mark the beginning of a recovery in performance, moving away from the negative growth trend that has continued since 2021."

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