Linkage Technology accelerates the sprint to the CHINext IPO At present, the market is still dominated by foreign manufacturers

Economic Observation Network reporter Li Jingheng On March 18, Foshan Linkage Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Linkage Technology") submitted a draft prospectus to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to accelerate the sprint to the CHINext IPO. UMF plans to raise about 638 million yuan for the industrialization expansion of semiconductor packaging and test equipment and R&D centers.

According to the prospectus, the business of Linkage Technology Co., Ltd. is the research and development, production and sales of special equipment in the field of packaging and testing in the semiconductor industry, and the main products include semiconductor automated test systems, laser marking equipment and other mechatronics equipment.

In 2018-2020 and the first half of 2021, the operating income of Linkage Technology was 156 million yuan, 148 million yuan, 202 million yuan and 132 million yuan, respectively, and the net profit attributable to the shareholders of the parent company was 44.07 million yuan, 31.74 million yuan, 60.76 million yuan and 41.45 million yuan, respectively.

Covering all fields to enter the international market

Linkage Technology said that the semiconductor automated test system is mainly used to test the voltage, current, time, temperature, resistance, capacitance, frequency, pulse width, duty cycle and other parameters of the semiconductor chip, which is used to check whether the chip meets the function and performance requirements under different operating conditions. The semiconductor automated test system produced by the company includes two categories: semiconductor discrete device test system and integrated circuit test system. (Discrete devices: refers to electronic devices based on semiconductor materials with fixed single characteristics and functions, such as: diodes, transistors, thyristors, etc.)

"Semiconductor automated test systems are mainly used to detect wafers and chip function and performance parameters, including the testing of semiconductor discrete devices, as well as the testing of analog and digital-analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, which are widely used in the main links of the semiconductor industry chain from design to packaging and testing, including chip design verification, wafer detection in wafer manufacturing and finished product testing after packaging." Linkage Technology said.

According to Linkage Technology, semiconductor testing includes wafer detection and finished product testing. Whether it is wafer detection or finished product detection, to test the functional indicators of the chip must complete two steps: one is to connect the pins of the chip with the functional module of the test machine through the probe table or sorting machine, and the other is to apply an input signal to the chip through the test machine, and detect the output signal to determine whether the function and performance of the chip meet the design requirements.

Semiconductor test equipment mainly includes three kinds of equipment: test system (also known as "test machine"), probe table and sorting machine, of which the test system is the most important type of equipment in the testing equipment, accounting for about 63% of the value. According to semi (International Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Association) statistics, the global test equipment market size is about 6.01 billion US dollars in 2020, and the global semiconductor test equipment market size is expected to reach 8.03 billion US dollars in 2022.

Linkage Technology further introduced that semiconductor discrete devices are divided into small-signal discrete devices and power semiconductor discrete devices according to power and current indicators. The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics Association (WSTS) defines small-signal devices as discrete devices that dissipate less than 1W (or rated current less than 1A), while discrete devices with dissipative power of less than 1W (or rated current of not less than 1A) are classified as power devices.

Power semiconductor discrete device test system is mainly used in power diode, MOSFET (metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor), IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor), triac and silicon carbide and gallium nitride third generation semiconductor and other high-power device testing, small signal device high-speed test system is mainly used in small signal discrete devices (usually current voltage less than 30A / 1.2KV) high-speed testing, such as low and medium power diodes, triodes, small signal MOSFETs, etc.

In the field of power semiconductor discrete device testing, Linkage Technology said: "In recent years, the company has launched a series of power device comprehensive test platforms, which can meet the test requirements of power devices at the level of high voltage sources and ultra-large current sources, and the test functions cover DC and AC tests and can carry out multi-station test data merger, which is currently one of the suppliers with the widest coverage of power device test capabilities and functional modules in China." This series of products has been applied to the third generation of semiconductors, such as gallium nitride, silicon carbide products. ”

Linkage Technology believes that the application of power semiconductor discrete devices is very extensive, covering almost all electronic manufacturing industries, traditional application areas include consumer electronics, network communications, industrial motors, etc., in recent years, new energy vehicles and charging systems, rail transit, smart grid, new energy power generation, aerospace and weapons and equipment have gradually become the emerging application areas of power semiconductor discrete devices.

In terms of integrated circuit test systems, Linkage Technology said: "In recent years, the company has successfully developed analog and digital-analog hybrid integrated circuit test systems in ON Semiconductor Group, Huatian Technology (002185. SZ) and other well-known semiconductor enterprises at home and abroad have been recognized and applied. The company is one of the few Chinese semiconductor equipment enterprises to enter the supply chain system of the international packaging and testing market. In the field of integrated circuit testing, the company's products are one of the few digital-analog mixed-signal test systems in China that can meet the mass production test requirements of Wafer level CSP (wafer level packaging) chips, which can provide high-quality system docking and test signals, and the main performance and indicators of products are comparable to similar imported equipment. ”

The market is still dominated by foreign manufacturers The capacity of the segment is relatively small

However, Linkage Technology said that the current global semiconductor test system market is still dominated by overseas manufacturers, showing a high degree of concentration. Tereda (TER.US), EdWan (Stock Code of Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6857), Kexiu Semiconductor (COHU.US) and other well-known foreign semiconductor test system manufacturers have a complete product line, in the memory, digital, SoC (system-on-chip), analog and digital-analog hybrid test systems are laid out.

According to UMF, the market size of domestic semiconductor automated test systems in 2020 is 4.36 billion yuan, and the sales revenue of semiconductor automated test systems in China in 2020 is 123 million yuan, and the company's market share in the domestic semiconductor automated test system market is 2.83%.

Linkage Technology further introduced, among domestic enterprises, including Huafeng Measurement and Control (688200. SH), Changchuan Technology (300604. SZ), linkage technology and other small number of semiconductor test system manufacturers in the industry's products are mainly concentrated in analog and digital-analog hybrid integrated circuit test systems and semiconductor discrete device test systems, and in their respective segments to form their own competitive advantages. The test systems of Huafon Measurement and Control and Changchuan Technology are mainly based on analog and digital-analog hybrid integrated circuit testing, of which the revenue scale and market share of Huafon Measurement and Control Test System are in a leading position in China. Linkage Technology is mainly based on semiconductor discrete device test systems, in recent years in the field of analog and digital-analog hybrid integrated circuit testing market development is good, the overall revenue scale and market share of the test system is lower than Huafeng measurement and control, and Changchuan Technology is comparable. In the field of semiconductor discrete device testing, Linkage Technology has a high market share and is in a leading market position.

Among them, in the field of semiconductor discrete device test systems, the domestic market size in 2020 is 490 million yuan, and the sales revenue of the domestic semiconductor discrete device test system of Linkage Technology in 2020 is 101 million yuan, and the company's market share in the domestic semiconductor discrete device test system market is 20.62%.

However, Linkage Technology said that the semiconductor discrete device test system is mainly used for power semiconductor discrete device and small signal discrete device testing, which belongs to the subdivision field of semiconductor test equipment, and the overall market capacity is smaller than that of the integrated circuit test market, and the product structure of the company's existing semiconductor test system is more concentrated. "If the market capacity growth in the field of discrete device testing is less than expected or stagnates in the future, or the company does not develop more product lines in time, it will adversely affect the company's overall operating performance."

Moreover, discrete device test systems are also the main source of revenue for linkage semiconductor test systems. In 2018-2020 and the first half of 2021, semiconductor discrete device test system revenue accounted for 85.50%, 84.11%, 78.90% and 75.51% of the company's semiconductor automated test system revenue, respectively.

In addition, in the field of integrated circuit test systems, Linkage Technology also said that the overall field is still dominated by foreign manufacturers, and the market share of large international enterprises such as Tereta, Edwan, and Kexiu Semiconductor in the field of integrated circuit testing has reached more than 90%, and the localization rate is low. In 2020, the domestic simulation test system market size is 510 million yuan, and in 2020, the company's domestic simulation and digital simulation hybrid test system (simulation test related) sales revenue is 0.29 billion yuan, and the company's market share in the domestic simulation test system market is 5.6%.

"At present, the integrated circuit test system market is still monopolized by international leading semiconductor test machine enterprises such as Teradyne and EdWan, especially in the field of complex integrated circuit testing such as memory and SoC (system-level chip), with a prominent monopoly position. The overall technical barriers of integrated circuit test systems are relatively high, and there is still a big gap between the company and the international leading enterprises in the overall technical level and product line width. Linkage Technology said.

In addition, Linkage Technology believes that compared with domestic and foreign competitors, the company entered the field of integrated circuit testing late, coupled with the integrated circuit test system in the client verification cycle is longer, according to the complexity of the device under test, it may involve the entire verification process from upstream chip design to downstream chip mass production testing, which takes 6-24 months, resulting in the company's market development progress in the field of integrated circuit testing is relatively slow.

In 2018-2020 and the first half of 2021, the gross profit margin of the main business of Linkage Technology was 70.10%, 68.19%, 66.45% and 67.15% respectively. However, Linkage Technology said: "In the long run, the sales price and gross profit margin of the company's main products are at risk of decline, the main factors include: the downstream application field is more extensive, less affected by the demand fluctuations in a single application field, but it is more relevant to the overall operation of the national economy, if there is a major adverse change in the macroeconomy, the unit price of the product and the gross profit margin will decline accordingly; In the future, many manufacturers in the industry will enter, making the market competition intensified, product production and sales rise, and the company may adopt a price reduction sales strategy in response to market competition, thereby reducing the gross profit margin of the product. ”