Gaon Chips is showing strong performance. Securities firms' analysis that it is the biggest beneficiary of the expanded role of design houses seems to be influencing the stock price.
As of 11:23 AM on the 28th, Gaon Chips is trading at 107,100 KRW, up 6.99% from the previous day.
Jodaehyung, a researcher at DS Investment & Securities, explained, "The development projects that started through direct contracts since 2019 have entered the mass production stage," adding, "From this year, the proportion of mass production in earnings will also increase." He continued, "Demand for turnkey solutions from design houses, ranging from IP sourcing to process optimization and post-processing, is increasing," emphasizing, "As semiconductor design moves to advanced processes, the role of design houses is expanding."
He said, "Due to the high proportion of advanced process projects, AI chip development projects are flooding in," and explained, "We have completed over 220 development projects with Samsung Foundry, of which 200 are development projects for advanced processes ranging from 28nm to 3nm." Additionally, he analyzed, "Recognized for its technological capabilities, it succeeded in securing development projects for the 2nm process as the first global design house," and "Large-scale custom semiconductor development contracts continue with a total contract amount of 55.7 billion KRW for AI accelerators from Japanese companies."
Researcher Jo predicted, "Additional contracts will continue due to the advantage of experience in advanced processes and the capability to handle all development areas from level 0 to level 3." He added, "The number of engineers, currently around 230, is planned to be expanded to 540 by 2027," and forecasted, "With the full-scale entry into the mass production sales phase, from the second half of next year, the proportion of mass production sales is expected to exceed that of development sales, so high earnings growth will continue for the time being."
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