Transaction with CXMT and JHICC in China
US Silicon Valley R&D Center to be established
Auros Technology announced that it will diversify its sales structure, which was concentrated in SK Hynix. Sales from Chinese companies are expected from this year right away. The R&D center, which is the cornerstone for entering the US market, is also planned to be established in Silicon Valley. The plan is to increase the global market share, which currently accounts for 5%, to 10% this year and 15% in 2023.
Oros Technology, which is scheduled to go public in February, said in a stock report filed with the Financial Supervisory Service on the 15th. We are expecting full-scale sales from 2010,” he explained. In addition, he said, “As a way to grow into a global company, we will establish an overseas research center in Silicon Valley in the US to attract excellent human resources.”
Auros Technology is a semiconductor overlay measurement equipment company. In 2011, it launched the first overlay measurement equipment in Korea. Currently, its flagship products are the OL-800n and OL-900n, all-process overlay measurement equipment.
Overlay measurement equipment is an equipment that measures whether the material deposited on the wafer is correctly aligned during the semiconductor wafer processing process. In semiconductor wafer processing, patterns, covering materials, shaving, and washing are repeated hundreds of times in about two months. The overlay verifies that the material on the wafer is correctly aligned during this process. A technology method of checking and analyzing the reflected light by emitting light is used.
Auros Technology started supplying mass-produced products to SK Hynix from 2017. Most of the sales come from SK Hynix. In the third quarter of last year, 98.7% of cumulative sales came from this company. With Samsung Electronics, we are currently discussing delivery in various processes such as image sensor (CIS). China’s Changshin Memory Technology (CXMT) and Fujian Jinhua Semiconductor (JHICC) are also conducting product demonstration tests for product supply. The company said it expects sales from Chinese companies this year.
The overlay measurement equipment market is dominated by KLA and ASML. It is evaluated as a market with high entry barriers due to difficulties in technology. The market share of KLA is 65%, ASML is 30%, and Oros Technology is about 5%.
Strictly speaking, Auros Technology’s only competitor is KLA. Only the two companies use Image Based Overlay (IBO) technology for overlay measurement equipment. In the case of ASML, only Diffraction Based Overlay (DBO) technology is used. IBOs can be applied to all layers, unlike DBOs that can only be used in some layers. The measurement speed is fast and the accuracy is high. According to the company, there are only two IBO-based overlay measurement equipment manufacturers, KLA and Auros Technology. KLA occupies over 90% of the market share. The rest is for Auros Technology.
In terms of price, Oros Technology is ahead of KLA. It has 88% price competitiveness compared to KLA products. The company argued that the low price was not due to performance. The company said, “(The low price) is not because it is technically inferior to competitors, but because it is a problem with recognition and credibility.
Auros Technology plans to issue a total of 1.9 million shares through IPO. The proposed public offering price is between 17,000 won and 21,000 won. It is expected to be listed on the KOSDAQ on February 25 after receiving an offer after confirming the offering price through demand forecasting for both days on February 8 and 9.
The company plans to use part of the public offering fund for research and development related to new business and facility investment. R&D funding will be 7 billion won, 10 billion won and 3 billion won for mass metrology, thin flim metrology, and inspection, respectively. In the case of facility investment, the R&D center currently operating in the headquarters office will be expanded and moved to Pangyo, Seongnam-si. It is planning to establish an overseas research center in Silicon Valley, USA. The company announced that it will set up an overseas research institute by 2022.
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