[Featured Stock] Gigavis Leads with Unique AI-based FC-BGA Technology, Expected to Dominate Glass Substrate Market

Gigavis is showing strong performance. It appears that the analysis predicting the establishment of a dominant position in glass substrates, such as flip-chip ball grid array (FC-BGA), is influencing the stock price. Meritz Securities analyzed that the quality test related to glass substrates with domestic clients is also conducted using the 2/2um equipment, which only Gigavis has successfully developed at the clients' request, thus expecting successful market entry and the establishment of a strong entry barrier after entry.

As of 9:22 AM on the 9th, Gigavis is trading at 79,900 KRW, up 3.77% from the previous day.

Researcher Yang Seung-su of Meritz Securities explained, "Gigavis has established a dominant position in the high-end FC-BGA inspection market for servers and artificial intelligence (AI), where yield is decreasing due to finer line spacing (L/S), larger substrates, and higher multilayering," adding, "Gigavis has succeeded in the advanced development of equipment ranging from the currently mainstream 5/5um equipment used in FC-BGA to the future 2/2um equipment and is proactively responding from the sample production stage."

He continued, "In particular, it is understood that no company other than Gigavis has succeeded in developing the 2/2um inspection equipment," and added, "Based on this dominant position, despite the worst semiconductor market conditions in 2023, Gigavis maintained high profitability with sales of 91.4 billion KRW and operating profit of 35 billion KRW."

He analyzed, "This year marks the first year of expanding the application of Gigavis inspection equipment to glass substrates beyond FC-BGA," and "Within glass substrates, Gigavis is expected to establish a similarly dominant position as with FC-BGA."

Furthermore, "Among global companies, the only one to officially disclose a glass substrate solution is a North American IDM company," emphasizing, "Gigavis has built a long-term cooperative relationship including direct equipment supply with the North American IDM company." He noted, "Gigavis's AOR equipment holds references expanded to multiple substrate companies through approval by the North American IDM company," and predicted, "Given the nature of inspection equipment, which is key to yield improvement, the utilization of Gigavis equipment with its unique references is expected to increase significantly in the full-scale mass production stage."

Researcher Yang explained, "In glass substrates, only the core of the substrate is replaced with glass, but the manufacturing process of stacking ABF on glass and forming patterns is the same as the existing FC-BGA substrates," adding, "Except for some changes such as applied lighting, the overall inspection logic is similar to existing organic substrates, so Gigavis, the No.1 inspection equipment company in organic substrates, will maintain its technological superiority."

He stated, "The quality test with domestic clients is also conducted using the 2/2um equipment, which only Gigavis has successfully developed at the clients' request, so successful market entry and the establishment of a strong entry barrier after entry are expected."

Researcher Yang forecasted, "With the launch of AI PCs, the recovery of the substrate market is expected to become visible from the third quarter of this year," emphasizing, "Companies that have succeeded in new AI-related orders are proceeding with additional expansions even during the market downturn." He added, "Overall, from the second half of this year, when market recovery and AI-related investment expansion combine, meaningful re-rating is expected along with performance growth."