Who will take over Changdian Technology?The position of advanced packaging is highlighted under the wave of AI, and what is the layout of the equity change at the critical moment

Reporter: Zhu Chengxiang Editor: Wei Guanhong

On the evening of March 19, semiconductor packaging and testing giant Changdian Technology (600584. SH, share price 28.25 yuan, market value 50.534 billion yuan) disclosed that the company received a notice from major shareholders China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Big Fund") and Chippower Semiconductor (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Chippower Shanghai") on March 19, 2024 that it is planning the equity transfer of the listed company, which may lead to a change of control of the company.

As Moore's Law gradually reaches its limits, the semiconductor industry begins to expand into three-dimensional space. As a result, the importance of advanced packaging is becoming more and more apparent. Now, JCET may change hands, causing multiple conjectures in the industry.

As for whether it will be taken over by local state-owned assets, Changdian Technology replied to the reporter of "Daily Economic News" on WeChat: "There is no more news at present, subject to the announcement." ”

Advanced packaging under the wave of AI

Changdian Technology announced that in view of the uncertainty of the above-mentioned matters being negotiated, in order to ensure fair information disclosure, safeguard the interests of investors, and avoid abnormal fluctuations in the company's stock price, Changdian Technology suspended trading on March 20, and it is expected that the suspension will not exceed two trading days. On March 21, Changdian Technology once again announced that the company's shares will continue to be suspended from the opening of the market on the morning of March 22 (Friday), and it is expected that the suspension will continue to last no more than three trading days.

According to the 2022 global outsourcing packaging and testing (OSAT) list released by ChipInsights, JCET ranks third among the world's top ten OSAT (packaging and testing foundry) manufacturers with an estimated revenue of 33.8 billion yuan.

According to Wanlian Securities, on March 12, with the full explosion of AI demand, TSMC launched its CoWoS advanced packaging capacity expansion plan in 2023. By the end of this year, TSMC's CoWoS monthly production capacity will have the opportunity to further increase to more than 40,000 pieces compared with the original doubling target of 35,000 pieces.

The CoWoS advanced packaging is the key to the production of NVIDIA's general-purpose GPU chips.

JCET said in its 2023 semi-annual report that the company has industry-leading semiconductor advanced packaging technologies (such as SiP, WL-CSP, FC, eWLB, PiP, PoP and XDFOI™ series) in important fields such as 5G communications, high-performance computing, consumer, automotive and industrial.

In an investor relations event disclosed in September 2023, an investor asked: "Does the current 2.5D and 3D packaging of advanced packaging generate revenue, what is the gross profit, and what is the proportion of XDFOI in revenue?"

JCET replied: "At present, related technologies have begun to generate revenue, but the scale is small, and we are more optimistic about the rapid growth in the next few years." ”

Some investors also asked: "For the demand brought by AI, the company is also actively investing in and expanding production." How is the company's progress in advanced packaging, and is there any concern about the decline in demand and the company's overcapacity in the future?"

JCET said: "The demand for AI has just started, and the current supply and demand situation of the AI market is in short supply, and the company's AI-oriented production capacity will increase significantly in the next few years. We are optimistic that the demand for high-performance advanced packaging for AI will continue to grow. ”

Who will take over leads to speculation

Regarding the two major shareholders' plans for equity transfer, many investors have speculated. As of the end of the third quarter of 2023, Big Fund held 13.24% of the shares of Changdian Technology, and Xindian Shanghai held 12.79% of the shares of Changdian Technology.

According to the reporter's inquiry of industrial and commercial information and SMIC's announcement, Chippower Semiconductor (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Chippower Hong Kong") holds 100% of the shares of Chippower Shanghai, and SMIC indirectly holds 100% of the shares of Chippower Hong Kong.

Previously, SMIC tried to introduce Jiang Shangyi to develop advanced packaging. In "Jiang Shangyi's Return, Liang Mengsong's Resignation, What Is the Logic Behind SMIC's Personnel Changes?", relevant industry insiders told every reporter: "Jiang Dad (Jiang Shangyi) really wants to do advanced packaging, to be precise, Chiplet (chiplet), and Chiplet is a special packaging mode, which belongs to a kind of advanced packaging. ”

However, Jiang Shangyi has been SMIC's vice chairman and executive director for less than a year, and he left office in November 2021.

It is worth mentioning that SMIC and JCET previously established a joint venture between SMIC JCET (Jiangyin) Co., Ltd., which was later renamed Shenghe Jingwei Semiconductor (Jiangyin) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shenghe Jingwei"). The main business of Shenghe Jingwei is the advanced packaging and wafer testing business of integrated circuit mid-section bump silicon wafer level.

In February 2023, the investor of Shenghe Jingwei has been changed from SMIC Changdian Semiconductor (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. to Shenghe Jingwei Semiconductor (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd.

ACCORDING TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT DISCLOSED BY CHANGDIAN TECHNOLOGY IN MAY 2021, THE COMPANY'S WHOLLY-OWNED SUBSIDIARY, CHANGDIAN INTERNATIONAL (HONG KONG) TRADE AND INVESTMENT CO., LTD., INTENDS TO SELL 49 MILLION SHARES OF ITS SHAREHOLDING COMPANY SJ SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION (HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS THE "TARGET COMPANY").

According to the announcement, the target company was registered and established in the Cayman Islands in August 2014 as an investment holding company, and its final production and operation entity is SMIC Changdian Semiconductor (Jiangyin) Co., Ltd., which has been renamed Shenghe Jingwei.

As of the disclosure date of the announcement, the main shareholders of the target company are Xun Xin (Shanghai) Investment Co.Ltd. (holding 29.31%), JCET International (Hong Kong) Trading &Investing Limited (holding 8.617%), QUALCOMM GLOBAL TRADING PTE. LTD. (5.86%), the original controlling shareholder, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), has transferred its 55.87% stake to Silver Starry Limited, Integrated Victory (BVI) Limited and other companies, and is in the process of equity delivery at that time.

In August 2021, SMIC disclosed in the record of investor relations activities that the company's operating profit for the second quarter of 2021 included the gain on the disposal of the company's equity in SMIC Changdian (i.e., Shenghe Jingwei).

National Business Daily