AP Systems records double-digit sales in the semiconductor equipment business for the first time this year. The expansion of the semiconductor equipment portfolio was crucial to this achievement, and the booming market also supported this. AP Systems takes the semiconductor equipment business as a new momentum for growth and expands its scope to system semiconductor equipment following memory semiconductor equipment.
AP Systems recorded KRW 55.9 billion in semiconductor equipment sales by the third quarter of this year, accounting for 16% of total sales. This is a 60% increase compared to the same period last year. Having been below 10%, It is the first time since the listing of AP Systems to record the double digit sales for semiconductor equipment business. AP Systems’ semiconductor equipment sales recorded KRW 21.4 billion in 2019 and KRW 40 billion in 2020. Sales by the third quarter of this year already exceeded the total sales of last year.
AP Systems’ strategy to diversify product portfolio had an impact on the achievement. AP Systems was launched in 2017 through a spin-off of APS Holdings' display and semiconductor equipment manufacturing division. Before the split, it supplied the rapid thermal process (RTP), developed in the 2000s, to customers in the NAND flash process. Business expansion began earnestly as it entered the DRAM process market in 2019. The proportion of sales from the semiconductor equipment business only 4% in 2017, and it nearly doubled in two years. An AP Systems official said, “After entering the DRAM memory market, our sales and profits are continuously growing in the RTP equipment market for advanced (high-end) processes. The portfolio expansion strategy suitable for the miniaturizing semiconductor process market was effective.”
The booming semiconductor market was also a beneficial factor. After the COVID-19 pandemic, semiconductor manufacturers have aggressively invested in facilities. AP Systems also benefited from the bulk purchase of semiconductor equipment to resolve the semiconductor supply shortage. AP Systems expected that the business growth would continue as semiconductor manufacturers made new investments in the U.S., Japan, and Europe.
AP Systems plans to use semiconductor equipment as a new growth engine. It is a strategy to expand into the company's main business along with the existing display equipment business. The RTP equipment, which was limited to memory, will also be applied to the system semiconductor process to expand the scope of business. AP Systems plans to find new customers and supply RTP equipment for system semiconductors to the market as early as next year. It is known that the company has nearly developed the technology.
AP Systems said, “According to the recently established vision for Semiconductor 2030, we plan to achieve more than a third of company-wide sales through the semiconductor equipment business in the long term. We have set a goal of KRW 300 billion in sales of semiconductor equipment, and are accelerating to achieve it.”
AP Systems Semiconductor Business Sales Trend
Source provided by AP systems
By Staff Reporter Dong-jun Kwon (djkwon@etnews.com)