Major South Korean display equipment manufacturers recorded two-digit growth rate during this third quarter due to increased investments in displays centered on OLED. It is predicted that there will be manufacturers that will record their biggest performance in company history ever.
According to an industry on the 15th, major display equipment manufacturers such as SFA, AP System, HB Technology, and DMS recorded two-digit growth rate during this third quarter. Although semiconductor equipment manufacturers such as SEMES and KC Tech had seen some positive effects from NAND-Flash, their performance either decreased a little bit or did not grow much due to low investments in D-RAMs.
SFA made $274 million (320.1 billion KRW) and $25.3 million (29.5 billion KRW) in sales and operating profit respectively in third quarter and these amount increased by 124% and 68% respectively compared to third quarter of last year. Its amount of growth was huge as performance of its subsidiary called SFA Semiconductor was included in its total sales and operating profit. Even when its performance is measured excluding performance from its subsidiaries, its sales and operating profit increased by 44% and 36% respectively compared to last year. Its remaining balance from its contracts in third quarter also surpassed $856 million (1 trillion KRW). Increase in supplies to Chinese panel manufacturers as well as supply of glass equipment to Corning had huge impact.
SEMES, which made loss of $6.51 million (7.6 billion KRW) in second quarter of this year, has its performance turn around by making $9.84 million (11.5 billion KRW) in operating profit in third quarter. It made $220 million (257.2 billion KRW) in sales which is lower than third quarter of last year. Although it made $856 million (1 trillion KRW) in sales last year, so far it only made $478 million (558.7 billion KRW) and $3.34 million (3.9 billion KRW) in sales and operating profit respectively by end of third quarter. It is predicted that whether or not its contract with Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor facilities in Pyeongtaek remains worth of $856 million (1 trillion KRW) will have an impact on SEMES’ remaining performance of this year.
Amount of growth for SEMES’ display equipment business was huge in third quarter as it made $92.0 million (107.4 billion KRW) and $98.7 million (115.2 billion KRW) in selling display equipment and semiconductor equipment respectively. Although percentage of its display equipment business was only 16.57% in first half of this year, it stands at 28.15% by end of third quarter. Sales from its semiconductor business somewhat decreased from 59% to 52.69%.
AP System recorded its biggest quarterly sales and operating profit of $111 million (129.2 billion KRW) and $9.59 million (11.2 billion KRW) respectively by participating in investments for flexible OLEDs. Its sales and operating profit increased by 42% and 144% compared to third quarter of last year. It has supplied LLO (Laser Lift-Off) and ELA (Excimer Laser Annealing) equipment to South Korean and foreign markets.
Jusung Engineering Co., Ltd. made $53.9 million (62.9 billion KRW) in sales, which is 20.5% more than third quarter of last year, due to positive effects from LG Display investing into OLEDs. It made $7.02 million (8.2 billion KRW) in operating profit which is a growth of 1.1%. Its display business once again has carried its overall performance as it made $31.0 million (36.2 billion KRW) and $16.3 million (19.0 billion KRW) in selling display equipment and semiconductor equipment respectively.
DMS, which has quickly grown based on Chinese markets, also made positive performance in third quarter. It made $55.8 million (65.2 billion KRW) and $7.71 million (9.0 billion KRW) in sales and operating profit respectively and these amount increased by 4.46% and 10.50% respectively compared to third quarter of last year.
Donga Eltek’s third quarter performance drew an upward curve followed by its second quarter performance. It made $45.8 million (53.5 billion KRW) and $6.68 million (7.8 billion KRW) in sales and operating profit respectively and these amount increased by 62% and 23.8% respectively compared to third quarter of last year. Supply of OLED depositors to its subsidiary called SUNIC System was a huge help for its overall performance.
There were also companies that have made rapid progress in their performance based on display equipment businesses even though they weren’t placed in top 10 companies. Invenia has maintained its positive performance by making $43.7 million (51.0 billion KRW) and $4.71 million (5.5 billion KRW) in sales and operating profit respectively in third quarter that resulted from huge increase in contracts from China. TES made $35.4 million (41.3 billion KRW) and $7.79 million (9.1 billion KRW) in sales and operating profit respectively and these amount increased by 14.5% and 67.8% respectively compared to third quarter of last year.
Staff Reporter Bae, Okjin | withok@etnews.com