As Hanwha Vision shook HANMI Semiconductor, which has maintained a monopoly position in the semiconductor equipment market, the fortunes of the two corporations diverged. Hanwha Vision hit an all-time high on the 14th, while HANMI Semiconductor's stock price fell sharply. HANMI Semiconductor had been supplying semiconductor manufacturing equipment for high bandwidth memory (HBM) exclusively to SK hynix, but the news that Hanwha Vision's subsidiary, Hanwha Semitec, signed a contract to supply this equipment affected the stock prices of both companies.
In a case of misfortune compounding, the balance of short selling for HANMI Semiconductor also increased. Short selling is commonly known to be associated with short sales.
As of 11 a.m. on the 17th, HANMI Semiconductor shares were trading at 88,900 won, up 1.25% (1,100 won) compared to the previous trading day. Earlier last week, the stock had risen to the 90,000 won range, but the news that Hanwha Vision had signed a supply contract for HBM semiconductor manufacturing equipment with SK hynix led to a decline of 3.52% on the 14th, recording 87,800 won.
On that day, Hanwha Vision shares were trading at 60,800 won, down 3.18% (2,000 won) compared to the previous trading day. This decline is interpreted as the result of profit-taking, following a nearly 13% increase on the 14th. The stock price of Hanwha Vision had reached a peak of 64,700 won during trading on the 14th.
Hanwha Vision announced that its subsidiary, Hanwha Semitec, has signed a supply contract worth 21 billion won for TC bonders, key equipment for HBM manufacturing, with SK hynix. TC bonders for HBM are post-processing equipment that attaches semiconductor chips, processed using heat compression methods, to circuit boards. Due to their critical importance in determining HBM yield, they are mainly supplied to semiconductor companies like Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.
In particular, until now, HANMI Semiconductor had exclusively supplied TC bonders to SK hynix. However, the news that Hanwha Vision's subsidiary signed a contract to supply TC bonders to SK hynix raised concerns about the potential erosion of HANMI Semiconductor's monopoly status.
Following this news, stock prices diverged. On the 14th, Hanwha Vision's shares rose 12.75% in the securities market, reaching an all-time high again. On the other hand, HANMI Semiconductor's stock fell 3.52% compared to the previous trading day, showing weakness.
On the same day, the balance of short selling for HANMI Semiconductor shares was found to have significantly increased. Short selling refers to when an investor who owns shares lends them to another investor, typically due to short sales. An increase in short selling balance indicates that there are more shares available for short selling.
On the 14th, the short selling for HANMI Semiconductor shares increased by more than 910,000 shares compared to the previous day. On that day, the short selling balance amounted to 5,596,149 shares, with a total value of 49.1342 billion won. As a result, HANMI Semiconductor ranked 4th in short selling in the securities market on the 14th.
Investors aim to make profits by selling borrowed shares in the market and then repurchasing the shares to repay them when the stock price declines. An increase in short selling is generally interpreted as a phenomenon occurring when investors expect the stock price to fall.
The short selling ratio for HANMI Semiconductor shares, which had been around 0-1% throughout last week, soared to 13.53% in just one day on the 14th. The amount of short selling also recorded about 10.3 billion won.
Sensing the anxiety of investors, HANMI Semiconductor quickly moved to address the situation. HANMI Semiconductor stated that Chairman Kwak Dong-shin plans to acquire 3 billion won worth of company shares. Earlier, Chairman Kwak also announced a plan to acquire shares worth 2 billion won last month.
Chairman Kwak noted, "HANMI Semiconductor's TC bonders possess the world's top competitiveness," and added, "I believe there is a significant gap in technological capability compared to latecomers ASMPT and Hanwha Semitec." He also remarked, "Hanwha Semitec, which received an order from SK hynix this time, will only receive a small amount of orders."