21st Century Business Herald reporter Zhang Sainan, reporting from Shanghai

On the evening of April 17, AMEC (688012. SH) released its 2024 annual report. According to the report, the company's annual operating income was about 9.065 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 44.73%; attributable net profit was 1.616 billion yuan, down 9.53% year-on-year; The net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was about 1.388 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 16.52%.

"This is the first time that the company's revenue has exceeded 9 billion yuan," Yin Zhiyao, chairman of the company, specifically mentioned that this is on the basis of maintaining an average annual growth rate of more than 35% in operating income in the past 13 years and an average annual growth rate of more than 40% in the past four years, and operating income in 2024 will increase by about 44.73% year-on-year.

"Among them, the revenue of etching equipment is about 7.277 billion yuan, and on the basis of an average annual growth rate of more than 50% in the last four years, it will increase by about 54.72% year-on-year in 2024. Yin Zhiyao said.

Etching equipment leads the market

In the revenue composition of 9 billion yuan, etching equipment as the core business performance is particularly bright, with an annual revenue of about 7.277 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 54.73%, and an average annual growth rate of more than 50% in the past four years.

At present, AMEC's CCP (Capacitively Coupled Plasma) high-energy plasma etching equipment and ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) low-energy plasma etching equipment have covered more than 95% of the domestic etching application needs, and have achieved large-scale mass production in the world's leading production lines with 5nm and more advanced processes.

In addition, the company's MOCVD equipment sales were about 379 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of about 18.03%, and LPCVD equipment will achieve the first sales in 2024, with annual equipment sales of about 156 million yuan.

Regarding the decline in net profit for the whole year, AMEC explained that it is due to the sharp increase in market demand for AMEC to develop a variety of new equipment, and it will increase research and development efforts in 2024 to make up for the shortcomings of domestic high-end semiconductor equipment as soon as possible. In 2024, the company's R&D investment will be about 2.452 billion yuan, an increase of 1.190 billion yuan over the previous year, a year-on-year increase of about 94.31%, and the proportion of R&D investment in 2024 will be about 27.05% of the company's operating income, much higher than the average of the Science and Technology Innovation Board. In 2024, the R&D expenses will be 1.418 billion yuan, an increase of about 601 million yuan over the previous year, a year-on-year increase of about 73.59%.

In addition, in 2023, the company sold part of the shares of Tuojing Technology Co., Ltd., generating a net income after tax of about 406 million yuan, while the company did not have such equity disposal gain in 2024.

However, the company's non-net profit maintained growth, which was due to the fact that on the basis of revenue growth, the company's gross profit in 2024 increased by about 978 million yuan compared with the previous year.

Focus on R&D and shorten the equipment development cycle

As mentioned above, AMEC will increase its R&D investment significantly in 2024, and on this basis, the company's equipment development cycle will be greatly shortened.

Yin Zhiyao introduced, "At present, the company's research projects cover six categories, and more than 20 new equipment are developed. The company is developing new products at a significantly faster pace, and what used to take three to five years to develop a new piece of equipment can now take two or less years to develop a competitive new device and get to market. ”

It is reported that AMEC is developing a more competitive new generation of CCP high-energy plasma etching equipment for microscopic manufacturing of integrated circuits, a new generation of ICP low-energy plasma etching equipment, wafer edge etching equipment, low-pressure thermochemical deposition LPCVD and atomic horizontal deposition ALD and other thin film equipment, silicon and germanium silicon epitaxial EPI equipment, a new generation of plasma source PECVD equipment and electron beam detection equipment.

In the field of pan-semiconductors, AMEC's MOCVD (Organic Metal Chemical Vapor Deposition) equipment continues to lead the global market, accounting for more than 80% of the share of gallium nitride-based LED lighting equipment, and accelerating the expansion of emerging fields such as silicon carbide power devices and Micro-LED.

In addition, AMEC decided to develop large tablet devices at the end of 2023 to fill the gap in this field in China as soon as possible. This includes equipment such as core thin films and plasma etching, which are required in the field of new display technologies, and has made much progress ahead of schedule.

It is worth mentioning that AMEC actively and prudently lays out some key areas in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. According to its disclosure, the company has invested in more than 30 upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain since its listing, investing more than 2 billion yuan, and achieving good economic benefits and strategic synergies of more than 5 billion yuan. Among them, 8 companies invested by the company have completed the A-share listing.

At present, the global semiconductor industry is ushering in a new round of development opportunities. The popularization of technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and autonomous driving has promoted the evolution of chip manufacturing to more advanced processes, and the demand for core equipment such as etching and thin film deposition continues to rise. According to SEMI's forecast, the global semiconductor equipment market will reach US$127.5 billion (+16%) in 2025, with Chinese mainland still the largest market, and domestic semiconductor equipment, including AMEC, will usher in more opportunities.