KC Tech Q3 Operating Profit Up 35.8% on Strong CMP Equipment Demand

Korean semiconductor equipment maker KC Tech posted year-on-year growth in both revenue and operating profit in the third quarter, with operating profit rising 35.8%, driven mainly by sales of CMP (chemical mechanical planarization) equipment.

According to The Elec, KC Tech's third-quarter revenue from Samsung Electronics was about twice that from SK hynix, indicating that purchases for advanced logic and memory lines remain strong.

CMP is an essential planarization step in advanced nodes and advanced packaging. As feature sizes shrink and stack layers increase, the number of CMP steps per wafer continues to rise, lifting demand for both equipment and consumables such as polishing pads and slurries.

For the domestic CMP supply chain, the strong results of overseas equipment makers confirm robust demand. With equipment localization and materials localization advancing in parallel, process qualification and batch stability remain the key entry barriers.

Source: The Elec