[Featured Stock] VM, HBM Core Technology 'Hanmi Semiconductor Lookalike'... 6 Trillion Etching Equipment 'Game Changer'

VM is showing strong performance. Securities firms' analysis that its earnings will improve thanks to the enhanced competitiveness of its key client's high-bandwidth memory (HBM) is influencing the stock price. Yuanta Securities analyzed that as SK Hynix is making 1Bnm transition investments to respond to the surge in HBM demand, the demand for VM's etching equipment is gradually recovering. It is estimated to return to a clear profit trend from the second quarter of this year. Investors are showing interest after witnessing the case of Hanmi Semiconductor, whose stock price soared as part of the SK Hynix HBM value chain. Yuanta Securities set VM's target stock price at 40,000 KRW, nearly three times the previous day's closing price of 14,680 KRW.

As of 9:40 AM on the 11th, VM is trading at 16,870 KRW, up 14.92% from the previous day.

Hanmi Semiconductor, which maintains the world's number one position in HBM TC bonder technology based on high technical skills, has risen 13 times over the past year and a half since last year. Hanmi Semiconductor's TC bonder is part of the NVIDIA & SK Hynix HBM value chain, the leading stocks in the AI boom. Since the establishment of the Intellectual Property Department in 2002, a dedicated team of about 10 experts has filed over 120 patents, including 111 patents related to HBM equipment for AI semiconductors. It possesses unparalleled technology worldwide.

Yuanta Securities expects VM's operating profit to increase rapidly after turning profitable this year. It estimates that VM will record an operating profit of 4 billion KRW this year, turning profitable. It is expected to achieve 16.7 billion KRW and 56 billion KRW in 2025 and 2026, respectively.

Researcher Baek Gil-hyun of Yuanta Securities explained, "The key client is making 1Bnm transition investments to respond to the surge in HBM demand," and "Next year, with the early completion of M15X, new investments are expected to be fully activated." He added, "From the second half of 2026, the momentum for equipment orders for the new fab in the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster will begin in earnest," and predicted, "this will be positive for VM's performance."

He also stated, "It is understood that overseas non-memory semiconductor sales are progressing smoothly," and "mass production supply is expected to start from next year."

Furthermore, "The annual purchase amount of etching equipment by large overseas semiconductor companies is estimated to be between 5 trillion and 6 trillion KRW," he emphasized, "the reason domestic etching equipment companies must quickly attract attention is that if VM enters the market based on price competitiveness, it will lower the prices of existing overseas equipment companies that have monopolized the market."

Researcher Baek analyzed, "Etching equipment has a larger purchase amount than other equipment and a limited number of suppliers," adding, "from the customer's perspective, the investment cost reduction effect will be significant."

VM is a manufacturer of dry etching equipment, a semiconductor manufacturing front-end process equipment. It holds numerous core technologies. The 'plasma source' technology currently replaces foreign equipment as the core technology for 300mm wafer semiconductor dry etching equipment. This core technology can be applied to various plasma process equipment such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) equipment, atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment, and atomic layer etching (ALE) equipment used in semiconductor manufacturing processes.

It has manufactured 200mm and 300mm metal, silicon (polysilicon), and oxide etching equipment and supplied them to various clients. Its main product, the 300mm silicon etching equipment (Poly Etcher), has been mass-supplied to the global semiconductor device company SK Hynix and is currently used in semiconductor etching processes. Among the 300mm silicon etching equipment products available for sale are the 'Leo NK Ⅰ-C' and 'Leo WH' equipment. Silicon etching equipment features plasma etching and is applied to 300mm wafer poly etching. Since the fourth quarter of 2020, it has started mass production sales of 300mm metal etching equipment (Metal Etcher) to SK Hynix.