[Click eStock] SamCNS Expected to Be the Biggest Beneficiary of Probe Card Application Expansion

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] Hana Financial Investment stated on the 24th that SamCNS is expected to be the biggest beneficiary of the expansion in the application areas of probe cards. However, they did not provide an investment opinion or target price.

SamCNS, established in 2016, is a specialized manufacturer of substrates, essential components of probe cards. The predecessor of SamCNS was the ceramic STF substrate business unit for Samsung Electro-Mechanics NAND, which started in 2007, and it possesses proprietary LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic) technology advantageous for fine pitch adaptation. SamCNS is compared to companies that have established a dominant market position in a growing market, such as Rino Industry. SamCNS is also achieving technological superiority amid semiconductor miniaturization and the trend of domestic production of probe cards, growing alongside the upstream market.

With the miniaturization of the semiconductor industry, the accuracy (alignment) of via holes in ceramic STF is becoming increasingly important. SamCNS holds shrinkage-free control technology based on the low-temperature simultaneous sintering LTCC method, enabling higher precision compared to competitors (LTCC shrinkage under 0.2%, HTCC 12?15%). SamCNS is expected to steadily increase its market share as semiconductor miniaturization continues.

Domestic probe card manufacturers currently focus mainly on producing probe cards for NAND, with a low supply ratio for non-memory applications. However, with recent localization efforts, SamCNS is developing DRAM and non-memory probe cards alongside domestic probe card companies and has been supplying domestic IDM companies since 2020. The sales ratio of SamCNS for DRAM and non-memory products, excluding NAND, is expected to increase from 5% in 2020 to 10% based on the 2021 forecast, and is projected to reach 15% in 2022.

Jeong Min-gu, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, explained, "SamCNS is expected to see steady sales growth through customer and product diversification (sales of 35.9 billion KRW in 2020, forecasted 45.6 billion KRW in 2021, and forecasted 61.8 billion KRW in 2022). The price-to-earnings ratio (PER) is 30.1 times based on this year and 19.5 times based on 2022, and we believe the valuation attractiveness will increase further with the rise in earnings per share (EPS) going forward."