[Feature Stock] YMT Secures Approval for HDI Substrates for Nvidia AI Server Boards, Breaks Japan’s Monopoly

YMT's stock price is rising. The news that its surface treatment (ENEPIG) gold plating chemical products have received approval from both VGT and Nvidia, and have been adopted by the industry for the first time since the second quarter of this year, appears to be influencing the stock price. Eugene Investment & Securities analyzed that it is a positive factor that YMT secured a reference ahead of its competitors, surpassing Japan's Uyemura, which holds a near-monopoly share in the gold plating process.

As of 9:44 a.m. on September 19, YMT was trading at 16,290 won, up 970 won (6.33%) from the previous trading day.

Lee Joohyung, a researcher at Eugene Investment & Securities, introduced, "In the second quarter, YMT began supplying ENEPIG gold plating chemicals for advanced PCBs used in artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) to Victory Giant Technology (VGT), a specialized manufacturer, through its local subsidiary in China."

He added, "VGT supplies HDI for compute trays in Nvidia's Blackwell rack servers, and YMT's ENEPIG gold plating chemical products have also received approval from the end user, Nvidia."

He continued, "Although the monthly sales to VGT recognized in the second quarter were around 500 million won, which is not a large amount, it is significant that the cost and time required to expand production capacity for the gold plating chemical products are low, and that YMT has secured a strong reference."

He further analyzed, "There is a possibility that sales will increase rapidly in the future, and YMT is the first to apply the ENEPIG gold plating process within the HDI manufacturing process."

He evaluated, "It is a positive sign for future scalability that YMT preemptively secured the ENEPIG reference, overtaking Japan's Uyemura, which previously held a near-monopoly share in the gold plating process."

YMT is the first to be certified for ENEPIG (Electroless Nickel/Electroless Palladium/Chemical Gold Plating), which adds an electroless palladium layer to prevent black pad formation. This ensures high reliability and minimizes signal loss and defect rates. The researcher explained that as the line/space (L/S) drops below 30 micrometers for HDI products used in AI servers, the need for ENEPIG application is increasing.

Additionally, YMT exclusively carries out electroless copper plating and via fill electroplating processes for glass trimming, hole formation, and seed layer formation after sputtering through its subsidiary YPT. The researcher noted, "The end users of glass substrates are mostly server clients, and from their perspective, even production at the level of 30,000 units per month is still considered paid sampling rather than mass production."

He expressed expectations, "For small companies like YMT, whose sales and profit scale are not large, it is possible to achieve remarkable growth in sales and profit by expanding paid sample supply even before entering mass production for client companies."