Leading companies continued to rise, with the stock prices of some companies hitting new highs, and the semiconductor sector continuing to rise.

As of the close of trading on March 6, there were 12 stocks in the sector that rose by more than 5%, and the semiconductor equipment sub-sector also rose simultaneously, Huahai Qingke (688120. SH), China Micro Corporation (688012. SH), Shengmei Shanghai (688082. SH) and other leading equipment stocks have risen.

Up to now, 10 semiconductor equipment companies in A-shares have disclosed their 2024 performance data, and the revenue and profits of leading equipment manufacturers have generally increased, but the growth rate has slowed down compared with 2022-2023. Industry insiders believe that at the time of the rapid development of AI, looking forward to the future, the demand for wafer factory equipment will continue to increase, which will be the key to whether the performance of equipment manufacturers can continue to rise.

The profit of the equipment segment increased collectively

On March 6, the semiconductor sector expanded its gains, and the leading stocks collectively rose sharply.

NAURA (002371. SZ) was once close to the daily limit, and Cambrian (688256. SH) rose nearly 9%, and Tuojing Technology (688072. SH), Fuchuang Precision (688409. SH), Jingyi Equipment (688652. SH) and other stocks rose sharply, and some stocks hit stage highs after a sharp pullback on February 28.

The

rapid development of AI continues to drive the growth of demand for various chips, and the capital expenditure of major global wafer manufacturers has been strong in the past two years, and the demand for equipment procurement has increased accordingly. ASML, a leading lithography machine stock, predicts that by 2030, global semiconductor sales will exceed $1 trillion, that is, a compound annual growth rate of 9% from 2025 to 2030.

In semiconductor equipment, it is usually divided into front-end process equipment (wafer manufacturing) and back-end process equipment (packaging and testing), and wafer manufacturing equipment accounts for 80% of the entire market size. At present, the business of A-share semiconductor equipment listed companies is also mainly concentrated in wafer manufacturing, involving etching, thin film deposition, cleaning, polishing and other equipment. Among them, thin film deposition equipment, lithography equipment, and etching equipment together constitute the three core equipment of chip manufacturing, which determines the advanced degree of chip technology.

As of the close of trading on the 6th, the 10 companies in the semiconductor equipment sector that disclosed performance express reports have achieved revenue growth in 2024, of which 6 have annual revenues of more than 1 billion yuan, and 5 companies have achieved revenue and non-net profit growth.

The revenue of AMEC, a leading company in etching equipment, currently ranks first in the sector temporarily. In 2024, the company's operating income will be about 9.065 billion yuan, an increase of about 2.802 billion yuan year-on-year, and the net profit will be 1.626 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8.93%. Etching equipment is the core business of AMEC, with a current revenue of about 7.277 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 54.73%; The sales of MOCVD equipment were about 379 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of about 18.03%, and the first sales of LPCVD equipment in 2024 were realized, and the annual equipment sales were about 156 million yuan.

The main business of the company last year achieved a net profit of 1.388 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.52%, a year-on-year increase for four consecutive years, and the decline in net profit was mainly due to the sale of Tuojing Technology shares in 2023, generating an after-tax net income of 406 million yuan, and there will be no such income in 2024.

In terms of revenue growth, Tuojing Technology's revenue in 2024 will increase by 51.7% year-on-year to 4.103 billion yuan, temporarily ranking first in the sector, and its net profit will be 688 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.91%. Thin film deposition equipment is the company's basic business, and hybrid bonding equipment is the second growth point in recent years. Looking at the fourth quarter alone, the company's revenue was 1.826 billion yuan, an increase of 80.59% from the previous quarter, and the non-net profit was 291 million yuan, an increase of 539.11% from the previous quarter. On March 6, the stock rose 9.83% to close at 193.01 yuan, with a total market value of 54 billion yuan.

The increase in the market share of domestic equipment has also driven the performance growth of parts companies. Fuchuang Precision is mainly engaged in the research and development, production and manufacturing of precision parts for semiconductor equipment, with an operating income of 3.041 billion yuan in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 47.24%, and a non-net profit of 171 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 98.61%.

Shengmei Shanghai, a leader in semiconductor equipment, achieved operating income of 5.618 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of +44.5%, and a net profit of 1.153 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.65%. Last year, the company's three major product lines achieved revenue growth, of which the revenue of cleaning equipment was 4.057 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 55.2%, accounting for 72.2%; the revenue of other semiconductor equipment (electroplating, furnace tubes and other equipment) was 1.137 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.0%, accounting for 20.2%; The revenue of advanced packaging wet process equipment was 246 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 53.6%, accounting for 4.4%.

As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2024, the company's inventory was 4.232 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%. Industry insiders believe that to a certain extent, reflect; The market demand is still relatively strong.

Will there be opportunities for equipment parts this year?

Since this round of semiconductor market, funds have poured into AI chip companies in the early stage, and the performance of the equipment sub-sector has not been very active.

According to the data, year-to-date, the Wind chip design index has risen by 20.21%, and stocks such as Beijing Junzheng, Allwinner Technology, and VeriSilicon have recently hit new historical or stage highs. In contrast, the semiconductor equipment (Shenwan) index has risen by less than 10% year-to-date, with an average increase of about 12% among the 21 stocks, and Huafeng Measurement and Control led the gains, up 50%.

At present, the development of emerging applications such as AI will promote the continuous growth of the semiconductor market, which in turn will drive the continuous improvement of the equipment expenditure of wafer factories and the market scale of equipment parts.

From the perspective of industry insiders, the process of equipment localization is expected to be the key to the improvement of the valuation of the sector. The person in charge of a Shanghai-based private equity fund told Yicai that the market has entered the performance expectation window in the first quarter or even the first half of the year, and performance certainty is an important direction for institutional funds.

"Semiconductor equipment accounts for 70%-80% of the capital expenditure of the wafer factory, and is mainly concentrated in the front-end equipment, in the past few years, the world's major wafer factories have increased capital expenditure, wafer expansion is the first to benefit from the equipment demand, semiconductor equipment localization investment logic is mainly the localization process. With the gradual advancement of the independent and controllable semiconductor industry chain, the substitution space of core components is worth paying attention to. The above-mentioned private equity source said, "Compared with semiconductor equipment such as etching and thin film deposition, the localization rate of equipment parts is lower, which is the key core for further improvement of the localization rate." At present, almost all the suppliers of major domestic equipment factories come from the world's leading parts manufacturers, but the concentration has decreased significantly in recent years. ”

The

product penetration rate of individual semiconductor parts companies has been reflected in the performance. The main business is Kema Technology (301611. SZ) expects that in 2024, the operating income will increase by 74.84%~79.00% year-on-year, and the non-net profit is expected to increase by 278.43%~291.30% year-on-year, mainly due to the mass production of a variety of ceramic heater products developed by the company for semiconductor wafer factories and domestic mainstream semiconductor equipment manufacturers; The localization of domestic semiconductor equipment and key components continues to advance, and the company's revenue from ceramic parts used in semiconductor equipment has increased significantly.

Kema Technology recently mentioned in an institutional survey that from 2023 to 2024, a number of the company's ceramic heater products (mainly used for thin film deposition equipment) have been certified by semiconductor wafer factories and a number of domestic mainstream semiconductor equipment manufacturers, and customer demand is large, so the production capacity of ceramic heaters has just been fully utilized, and a variety of ceramic heater products have been produced and sold for customers last year.

(This article is from Yicai).

Sina Statement: This news is reprinted from Sina's cooperative media, and the publication of this article on Sina.com is for the purpose of conveying more information, which does not mean that it agrees with its views or confirms its description. The content of this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Investors act accordingly at their own risk.