KOSDAQ-listed JK Synapse turned to a profit in the first quarter this year.
JK Synapse said on the 18th that, on a consolidation basis for the first quarter of 2026, it posted revenue of 24 billion won and operating profit of 220 million won.
It was the first quarterly operating profit in about 3 years and 9 months (15 quarters) since the second quarter of 2022, and the largest revenue in the past 15 quarters. Year over year, revenue increased more than 110% from 11.4 billion won, and the company swung to a profit from an operating loss of 1.53 billion won.
JK Synapse has focused on restoring financial soundness since switching to a sole-CEO system along with a name change in Sep. last year, through measures such as selling noncore assets, aggressive expense cuts, and organizational streamlining via workforce restructuring. It is also expanding supply in its mainstay chemical business. As investment in the downstream NAND semiconductor industry has begun in earnest, shipments of key materials, including chemicals for the etching process to semiconductor equipment parts suppliers, have also increased.
Improved results at subsidiaries also helped. Revenue grew as the consolidated results of major subsidiaries, including the telecommunications distribution company Selector, as well as Sonid Ritech and Claire Pixel, were reflected. In particular, Selector generated 14.8 billion won in revenue and 660 million won in operating profit in the first quarter, contributing to the turnaround.
A JK Synapse official said, "The first-quarter turnaround and large revenue growth are the result of breaking with opaque management practices of the past and steadily pushing for transparent management and business diversification," adding, "Based on the chemical business division, which serves as a stable cash cow, we will strengthen future growth engines such as mobile communications and make this year the first year of clear earnings growth."
JK Synapse also plans to move into the nuclear power business later. It aims to add nuclear-power-related items to its articles of incorporation and apply the business by leveraging its existing core precision chemistry technologies and a subsidiary's unmanned robot platform technologies.