[Series] Narae Nanotech CEO Kim Chu-ho: "Semiconductor equipment exports are booming"

[Financial News] "More than 60% of the orders we have won this year are for new businesses, including semiconductor equipment."
Kim Chu-ho, CEO of Narae Nanotech, said on the 26th that the results of expanding the company’s coating technology, originally developed for display equipment, into new businesses such as semiconductors, solar power and rechargeable battery equipment are now starting to show in earnest this year. He added, "The share of new businesses, including semiconductor equipment, now exceeds 60% of the orders we have received this year."
Kim earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Korea University (KU) and master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He worked at Samsung Electronics for more than 20 years as a researcher and is regarded as one of the leading authorities in semiconductor manufacturing technology. He joined Narae Nanotech as head of design in 2021, then served as head of the research center from the following year. In May last year, he was appointed CEO.
Kim said, "Narae Nanotech has accumulated a great deal of technological expertise over a long period in the display equipment sector, including photoresist coaters and polyimide coaters." He added, "While serving as head of the research center, I continued efforts to extend our display equipment technology into semiconductors, solar power and rechargeable battery equipment."
In particular, the company is seeing results in semiconductors, a sector that has recently entered a global supercycle. As the era of artificial intelligence (AI) unfolds, demand for semiconductors such as AI accelerators and high bandwidth memory (HBM) continues to outpace supply.
Kim said, "We first expanded the coating technology we developed for display equipment into the semiconductor Panel Level Package (PLP) coating and drying equipment segment, and we are now supplying related equipment exclusively to major overseas companies." PLP refers to a next-generation semiconductor back-end process that uses square plastic or glass panels instead of circular silicon wafers as the substrate.
As Narae Nanotech has delivered results in new businesses such as semiconductor equipment following its display equipment business, its performance has improved every quarter this year. In the first quarter alone, the company posted sales of 17.3 billion won, up 108% from a year earlier. It also recorded 600 million won in operating profit during the same period, returning to the black for the first time in 12 quarters.
Kim is also expecting results in solar and rechargeable battery equipment after semiconductors. He said, "We recently supplied coating and drying equipment that can be applied to the perovskite process, known as next-generation solar power, to a U.S. solar company."
He added, "If our rechargeable battery rapid drying equipment using proprietary xenon lamp technology is applied, productivity can improve by more than 30% compared with existing processes." He said discussions are under way to supply the equipment to a global rechargeable battery company in the second half of this year.
Orders for the company’s core display equipment business are also continuing this year. Narae Nanotech actively supplies photoresist coaters and polyimide coaters to LG Display, as well as China’s BOE Technology Group and HKC. BOE is expanding OLED production in Chengdu, while HKC is expanding LCD plants in Sichuan.
Kim emphasized, "With results from semiconductor and solar equipment added to display equipment this year, we expect growth of more than 50% from last year. If the rechargeable battery market recovers from next year and related equipment results are added, a quantum leap will be possible."
[email protected] Kang Kyung-rae Reporter