[Click eStock] "Chemtronics Enters Glass Substrate TGV Process"

Hana Securities on the 8th forecasted that KemtroNics' TGV process business, a core process of glass substrates based on large-area display glass wafer etching technology, will accelerate.

TGV (Through Glass Via) is a key process in glass substrate manufacturing, consisting of a dry process (laser) that drills holes in the glass substrate and a wet etching process that improves particles inside the holes and total thickness variation (TTV).

Jung Hyun Cho, a researcher at Hana Securities, explained, "KemtroNics possesses original technology for etching display glass wafers and has been enhancing its TGV process technology by participating as a partner in TGV process projects of global semiconductor OSAT companies." He added, "As the customer's glass substrate pilot line expansion is expected in the second half of this year, KemtroNics' new growth engine through the TGV business will be fully activated."

Researcher Cho predicted, "Since the customer's glass substrate pilot line expansion is expected in the second half of this year, KemtroNics' new growth engine through the TGV business will be fully activated."

He stated, "With explosive demand growth in the high-performance computing (HPC) semiconductor market centered on AI semiconductors, competition to dominate the glass substrate market, which will replace plastic materials previously used in semiconductor substrates, has intensified." He emphasized, "Global semiconductor companies such as Intel and AMD are accelerating the adoption of glass substrates, and leading domestic substrate companies such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics, SK Abslix, and LG Innotek are also aiming for the commercialization of glass substrates."

Researcher Cho introduced, "Expectations for PGMEA quality testing, a core material for semiconductor EUV, are increasing." He explained, "PGMEA is a key material accounting for 70-80% of the photoresist (PR) used in the semiconductor EUV process." Furthermore, he analyzed, "KemtroNics has succeeded in developing and localizing 5N ultra-high purity PGMEA. Since this material is highly dependent on imports, localization is very meaningful."

The global PGMEA market size is estimated to be about 1 trillion KRW, with domestic demand estimated at about 300 billion KRW. Researcher Cho explained, "KemtroNics can increase sales by about 60 billion KRW through expansion investment. As major customers' quality tests are expected to be completed in the second half of this year, expectations for the semiconductor materials business are high at this point."

It is estimated that this year’s sales will reach 619.7 billion KRW and operating profit 33.6 billion KRW, representing increases of 14.2% and 75.6%, respectively, compared to last year.