[Click e-Stock] "GI Tech Confirms Earnings Turnaround...Robot and All-Solid-State Battery Growth Story"

On February 5, independent research firm GL Research analyzed that GI Tech achieved a clear turnaround in earnings in the fourth quarter of last year, maintained an annual profit-making trend, and that both its stable core business based on key components for electrode processes and its medium- to long-term growth options in robots and all-solid-state batteries remain valid.

GI Tech is a precision coating components company whose main business is slot dies used in the manufacturing processes for secondary battery and hydrogen fuel cell electrodes. Slot dies are core components in the process of uniformly coating electrode slurry onto current collectors, and they determine the energy density and yield of batteries. Based on a vertically integrated structure that internalizes the entire process from design, precision machining, wear-resistant coating, inspection, and repair, the company has secured global battery customers and is maintaining stable competitiveness in its core business.

The company posted a distinct turnaround in its fourth-quarter results last year. In the fourth quarter of last year, it recorded sales of 12.7 billion won (up 98% quarter-on-quarter) and operating profit of 2.4 billion won (turning to profit quarter-on-quarter), offsetting the accumulated operating losses caused by the electric vehicle chasm in the first half of the year. As a result, its operating profit for full-year 2025 came to 1.1 billion won, maintaining an annual profit-making trend. It is assessed that, as major customers shifted their production lines toward ESS in the second half, utilization rates and profitability in electrode processes improved rapidly.

The shareholder return policy has also been strengthened. Based on last year’s year-end settlement, the company decided on a cash dividend of 11 won per common share and 45 won per preferred share, and implemented a differential dividend under which the major shareholder receives 3 won per share, a lower dividend than general shareholders. This is evaluated as a measure that reflects the management’s commitment to responsible management by prioritizing the distribution of the fruits of earnings recovery to general shareholders.

Meanwhile, the company is preparing robots and all-solid-state batteries as dual pillars of medium- to long-term growth. Through a strategic alliance with Robo A Technology, it has entered the demonstration stage for logistics automation robots and is expanding its accumulated experience in precision machining and equipment manufacturing, gained through slot dies and electrode equipment, into the robot hardware domain. At this stage, the focus is on securing commercialization references rather than short-term earnings contribution, with the goal of shifting to phased deliveries from 2026 onward.

In the transition to all-solid-state batteries, the dry electrode process is emerging as a key variable. The company is building up technological options by developing dry electrode process equipment and securing related patents, and is reviewing the feasibility of demonstration and commercialization through collaboration with related companies. It is assessed that, if adoption of dry electrode processes in all-solid-state battery manufacturing becomes full-fledged in the future, there will be room for the company’s equipment technology to be utilized.

Park Changyoon, an analyst at GL Research, said, "GI Tech proved the resilience of its core business through its fourth-quarter results last year and is a company that simultaneously possesses a medium- to long-term growth story in robot automation and all-solid-state batteries on top of a stable electrode process components business," adding, "As earnings visibility and selective expansion into new businesses come together, the likelihood of a re-rating of the company’s valuation has increased."