PCB Equipment Business Sailing Smoothly... Promoting New Businesses in Composite Copper Foil and Glass Substrates
Sales Expected to More Than Double Next Year
Amid a roughly 13% decline in the KOSDAQ index this year, the stock price of Taesung, a KOSDAQ-listed company, has surged fivefold. The stock price increase is driven by expectations that the growth rate of the company's scale will accelerate based on its new businesses in composite copper foil and glass substrate.
According to the financial investment industry on the 30th, Taesung's stock price has risen 447.3% since the beginning of this year. The stock price, which was below 4,000 won at the end of last year, surpassed 20,000 won. During the same period, the KOSDAQ index fell 12.8%, from the 860 level to the 750 level.
Taesung is a company that produces wet equipment necessary for manufacturing printed circuit boards (PCBs). It sells outsourced PCB production and ceramic brushes used in the PCB production process. In the second quarter of this year, on a consolidated basis, it recorded sales of 14.5 billion won and operating profit of 2.7 billion won. Compared to the same period last year, sales increased by 79%, and operating profit surged by 2,286%. For the first half of the year, cumulative sales reached 32.3 billion won, with operating profit of 4.8 billion won.
Taesung has secured world-class technology in the development, etching, and stripping process equipment (D.E.S line) sector. Its core competitiveness lies in the ability to fully automate the essential pretreatment processes required for PCB manufacturing on a turnkey basis. Recognized for its unique technological prowess, it has secured clients such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics, LG Innotek, Daeduck Electronics, BH, Simtek, and TLB. It supplies equipment to leading global PCB manufacturers, including Pengding, the world's number one PCB company.
While the existing business division is growing steadily, the company is also pursuing new business ventures. A company representative explained, "We are also actively developing glass substrate equipment," adding, "We expect to complete the core demo equipment within the fourth quarter of this year."
The Yeouido securities community is also optimistic about Taesung's glass substrate business. Hee-cheol Park, a researcher at Heungkuk Securities, said, "Taesung is promoting the glass substrate equipment business based on its existing PCB capabilities," and explained, "The non-contact technology Taesung has secured will contribute to improving the mass production yield of fragile glass materials."
The composite copper foil plating equipment for secondary batteries, whose technological capabilities were demonstrated in a showcase during the first half of this year, is also considered a new growth engine for Taesung. The composite copper foil plating equipment developed by Taesung boasts a massive size of 1.8 meters in height, 4.6 meters in width, and 27 meters in length. The composite copper foil produced by Taesung has copper layers of 1 micrometer (μm) applied on both the top and bottom of a 4.5-micrometer-thick film. Unlike ordinary copper foil, it is not easily torn and is lighter than existing products.
Taesung began developing composite copper foil plating equipment in 2022 at the request of Chinese battery companies. Min-jung Kwak, a researcher at Hyundai Motor Securities, analyzed, "Composite copper foil film is plated with copper on both surfaces of the film, providing excellent stability and preventing fire accidents." She added, "This technology is gaining attention amid the increasing importance of battery safety due to recent lithium battery fire incidents," and noted, "It is expected to reduce costs by 30% compared to conventional copper foil."
Hyundai Motor Securities estimated that Taesung will achieve sales of 148 billion won next year, a 239% increase compared to the expected 62 billion won this year.
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