[Special Stock] IMT, Rising HBM 'Sinseong'... World's First Technology 'Precious Asset'

The stock price of IMT, a leading company in next-generation semiconductor process equipment, is on the rise. The increase in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors is expected to boost demand for equipment developed first in the world by IMT, which is believed to be influencing the stock price. Expectations are also growing that the only extreme ultraviolet (EUV) related technology in Korea will be useful in the AI semiconductor era. Since its listing in October last year, IMT seems to have joined the surge in AI semiconductor-related stocks belatedly, as its semiconductor equipment technology was relatively less known.

As of 1:12 PM on the 25th, IMT is trading at 22,600 KRW, up 17.46% from the previous day.

IMT developed a laser dry cleaning method that can complement the shortcomings of the existing semiconductor wet cleaning method. It was the first in the world to develop the 3rd generation CO2 cleaning technology ‘MicroJet,’ applicable in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) field. It has secured unique technological capabilities, including being the only company in Korea to operate an extreme ultraviolet mask laser baking (EUV Mask Laser Baking) equipment business. The CO2 cleaning equipment removes contaminants with CO2 before stacking wafers in the HBM process. Using MicroJet-based CO2 ring frame wafer cleaning equipment that controls dry ice particle size for precise cleaning, IMT has secured a dominant position in the ultra-precision HBM cleaning field used in AI and other applications.

Based on dry cleaning, IMT has built a product lineup including ▲ extreme ultraviolet mask laser baking (EUV Mask Laser Baking) equipment ▲ laser cleaning equipment for EDS process probe cards ▲ CO2 ring frame wafer cleaning equipment for HBM packaging processes ▲ packaging mold laser cleaning equipment ▲ CO2 burn-in board cleaning equipment for HBM ▲ and laser socket cleaning equipment for final test processes.

Earlier, Yuanta Securities analyzed last month that IMT is expected to benefit from semiconductor companies expanding HBM production facilities. Researcher Baek Gil-hyun of Yuanta Securities said, "In 2022, we started delivering CO2 cleaning equipment for the HBM Post Dicing process to global DRAM supplier M," adding, "M’s HBM expansion investment strategy for 2024-2025 raises expectations for increased demand for IMT’s CO2 dry cleaning equipment."

Micron’s HBM3E is known to have received positive feedback from customers for 10% better performance and 30% lower power consumption compared to competitors. It is understood that sample quantities of HBM3E have been supplied to many customers since the fourth quarter of last year. Mass production of HBM3E is planned to start early next year, with plans to expand its DRAM bit market share to a similar level within the entire HBM market by 2025.

Researcher Baek stated, "The possibility of diversifying customers for CO2 dry cleaning equipment cannot be ruled out," and "Domestic company H is positively reviewing the introduction of CO2 cleaning equipment in the HBM burn-in process."

Yoon Cheol-hwan, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, analyzed, "Since laser cleaning equipment has been adopted as basic production equipment in S company’s process, continuous equipment orders for OSAT companies will continue this year," and "Regarding the HBM business, yield improvement effects have been confirmed."

IMT is the only company in Korea to have succeeded in developing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask laser baking equipment. EUV mask laser baking equipment precisely bakes only the necessary parts of the mask to enhance the resolution of circuit patterns. As the application of EUV processes expands in advanced DRAM processes, expectations for the supply of laser baking equipment are also increasing. EUV investments are rapidly increasing due to the rise in AI semiconductor demand.

Recently, as AI semiconductor demand has increased, ASML rose to the third largest market capitalization position in the European stock market. ASML’s market capitalization surpassed $330 billion (approximately 440 trillion KRW). CEO Peter Wennink emphasized in an interview with the media, "AI requires large-scale computing power and data storage," adding, "Therefore, without ASML, that is, without our technology, the AI boom could not happen." ASML announced that its order backlog in the fourth quarter of last year reached 9.19 billion euros (about 12.3 trillion KRW), a 353% increase from the previous quarter. Orders for cutting-edge EUV lithography equipment recorded 5.6 billion euros.