KOSDAQ-listed SMCore said it is accelerating efforts to expand competitiveness in semiconductor logistics automation and Robotics.
SMCore is a factory automation company whose main businesses are semiconductor process logistics and general logistics such as tires, petrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals. In Sep. last year, it was separated from SK Group and acquired by M2I, a smart factory solutions company. At the regular shareholders meeting on Mar. last month, the company changed its name to "MX Robotics" to reflect its future business vision.
An SMCore IR official attended Kiwoom Securities Corp Day on Mar. 31 and said, "This year, sales in the semiconductor sector will expand in earnest." The official said this year's semiconductor sales will increase to 15 billion–20 billion won and expressed expectations that the company can reach 40 billion won next year.
In Jan., it won a 9.2 billion won project to build a raw material warehouse at the SK hynix Yongin Semiconductor Cluster. SMCore said sales are expected to increase as it expands equipment supply, which had focused on back-end processes, to front-end processes.
It put forward the wafer transport system (OHT) as a next-generation growth engine. OHT at SK hynix is effectively dominated by Japan's Daifuku, and at Samsung Electronics by Semes, making it a market with high entry barriers. The company said it is currently designing an OHT, plans to produce a prototype in the first half of this year, build a test line in the second half, and begin supplying to outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) companies starting next year.
It is also preparing autonomous mobile robots (AMR) for semiconductor processes with the goal of securing mass production orders in the second half. The company expects that if new robot lineups such as OHT and AMR get underway in earnest, a re-rating of its valuation from an existing automation equipment company to a robotics company will be possible.
The problem is low profitability. A shareholder at the event asked, "The company has maintained a high cost of sales ratio of around 90% for years. Isn't this structurally a low value-added business?"
In response, the company said, "Given the characteristics of the logistics automation industry, the high proportion of large mechanical structures inevitably leads to a high cost ratio, but profitability can improve as semiconductor orders and the share of the India market increase." It added that if full-fledged sales occur in OHT, the margin structure could improve.
On funding and the possibility of a paid-in capital increase, the company said, "Parent company M2I plans to make an investment of about 10 billion won this year through a third-party allotment paid-in capital increase." It emphasized that considering the existing order backlog and the trend of improving results, the funding burden is not significant.