Hanmi Semiconductor Chairman Kwak Dongshin Achieves Major Success in HPSP Investment Through Connection With Peter Thiel

Hanmi Semiconductor and its Chairman, Kwak Dongshin, announced on January 7 that they earned a total profit of 479.5 billion won from their investment in HPSP shares. Hanmi Semiconductor plans to use the proceeds from the sale to strengthen its business competitiveness.

Hanmi Semiconductor and Chairman Kwak Dongshin jointly invested 75 billion won in HPSP in June 2021, each contributing 37.5 billion won, following a board resolution. At the time, they secured a combined 25% stake, becoming the second-largest shareholder of HPSP.

Hanmi Semiconductor and Chairman Kwak began gradually selling their HPSP shares from March 2023. After selling the remaining shares on January 6, Hanmi Semiconductor realized an accumulated investment profit of 237.9 billion won, while Chairman Kwak achieved 241.6 billion won. This represents a return of 639.3% compared to the original investment of 75 billion won.

Chairman Kwak's investment in HPSP originated from his connection with Peter Thiel, founder of Palantir. Peter Thiel, known for co-founding PayPal with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is also recognized as an early investor in Facebook, LinkedIn, and SpaceX. Through the global private equity fund Crescendo Equity Partners, in which he is an investor, Thiel made his first investment in a Korean company by investing in Hanmi Semiconductor in 2013, establishing a relationship with Chairman Kwak that later led to their joint investment in HPSP.

Founded in 2017, HPSP is a company specializing in semiconductor annealing equipment for high-pressure heat treatment, which is essential for advanced semiconductor processing. The company was listed on KOSDAQ in 2022 and has since achieved remarkable growth. HPSP's sales increased from 91.8 billion won in 2021 to 181.4 billion won in 2024.

The investment partnership between Chairman Kwak and Peter Thiel has expanded to include Line Next. Line Next, an affiliate of LY Corporation, is a leading company in the global Web3 business sector.

In 2023, Peter Thiel, through Crescendo Equity Partners, invested 140 million dollars in Line Next, marking the largest investment in the Asian blockchain industry. In 2024, Chairman Kwak invested 31 billion won, acquiring an 8.5% stake.

The foundation of Hanmi Semiconductor traces back to the technical expertise built by its founder, Kwak Nogwon, who worked for 14 years at Motorola Semiconductor in the United States starting in 1967. Hanmi Semiconductor now serves over 320 clients worldwide and holds the number one global market share at 71% in HBM TC bonder equipment, a core component of AI semiconductors, as well as the leading position in the Micro Saw Vision Placement (MSVP) market.