It was the worst year and the best year.
It is very appropriate to use this sentence to describe the situation of AMEC in 2023.
In this year, the semiconductor market experienced the longest decline in the 21st century, and memory and microprocessors were among the "hardest hit areas".
However, in the same year, wafer factories such as SMIC, Yangtze River Storage, and Huahong Group expanded production counter-cyclically, which led to the development of upstream semiconductor equipment companies, and companies such as Tuojing Technology, Huahai Qingke, and North Huachuang have achieved performance increases.
In 2023, the company will achieve revenue of 6.264 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.15%, per capita revenue of more than 3.5 million yuan, and net profit attributable to the parent company of 1.786 billion yuan, an increase of 52.67% year-on-year.
Not only that, but the company's stable operation in the future is also guaranteed. In 2023, the company's new orders will reach 8.36 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.3%.
So, what exactly does AMEC do?
AMEC's main business is semiconductor etching equipment and thin film deposition equipment, which are also the two largest equipment in the value of semiconductor equipment, accounting for more than 40% of the total value.
In addition, the company has also entered the fourth largest equipment market - the process control equipment market by investing in Ruili Technology. You must know that Ruili Technology is one of the few high-end equipment companies in China that has entered the international leading 12-inch production line, and it is also the only semiconductor equipment company in China that has entered Samsung's chip production line.
Of course, this has also attracted the attention of large funds, and most of the large funds have invested in potential companies like North Huachuang and Tuojing Technology, which can also be seen from the extraordinary strength of micro companies. And, in addition to big funds, as of December 31, 2023, there are 1,227 institutions that are also rushing to raise.
At present, the company's main customers include TSMC, Intel, Hynix, SMIC, Bosch, Samsung and other enterprises, and it is a well-deserved leading semiconductor equipment company.
Such a position comes from the company's strong technical strength, and this technical moat is inseparable from the high attention to research and development.
In recent years, AMEC's R&D investment has increased year by year, from 425 million yuan in 2019 to 1.263 billion yuan in 2023, nearly tripling in four years, with a compound annual growth rate of 31.27%. In 2023, the company's R&D investment will account for 20.15%, far exceeding the average of semiconductor companies on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.
In fact, from the background of the personnel, we can also see that AMEC attaches great importance to research and development.
Most of the company's executives are from technical backgrounds, and most of them have worked in leading companies such as Intel and Applied Materials. According to the 2023 annual report, in terms of personnel structure, R&D personnel accounted for 45.76%, of which 50.25% had a master's degree or above.
With so many outstanding talents, AMEC has also made great achievements.
As of December 31, 2023, the company has 1,547 authorized patents, and more importantly, 85.91% of them are invention patents, with real core technology.
In addition, the 3nm chip etching machine developed by AMEC has been 100% localized, which has refreshed the new height of China's semiconductor technology. At the 2023 annual performance briefing, the company also said that most of the parts of the company's etching machine equipment have been localized, and in the near future, they will be fully independent and controllable.
So, with such a strong technical background, what about the performance of AMEC
It can be found that the company's performance has been growing steadily. From 2019 to 2023, the company's revenue increased from 1.947 billion yuan to 6.264 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 33.92%, and in the same period, the net profit attributable to the parent company increased from 189 million yuan to 1.786 billion yuan, an increase of nearly ten times in four years, with a compound annual growth rate of 75.33%.
As mentioned earlier, in just one year in 2023, the company's revenue increased by 32.15% year-on-year, and the net profit attributable to the parent company increased by 52.67% year-on-year, which is a very rapid growth.
If we break it down further, we can see that this is mainly the contribution of etching equipment. In 2023, the company's etching equipment sales will be about 4.703 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 49.43%, accounting for 75.08%, and the sales of thin film deposition equipment will be about 462 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 33.95%, accounting for only 7.38%.
In terms of profitability, AMEC's performance is also outstanding. The company's gross profit margin increased from 34.93% in 2019 to 45.83% in 2023, and the company's net profit margin also increased from 9.69% to 28.48% during the same period. With excellent products, the company has good bargaining power, and the gross profit margin has room for further growth.
In the future, the development space of AMEC is still very broad.
In 2023, the global semiconductor industry will be in a downward range, but fortunately, the development of artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, automotive electronics and other industries has given birth to a new round of semiconductor demand. It is expected that in 2024, with the recovery of downstream demand, the semiconductor industry will recover and even reach new heights.
Semiconductor equipment is the cornerstone of the semiconductor industry, and with the recovery of the semiconductor industry, the semiconductor equipment market is also expected to return to $100 billion.
In 2023, Chinese mainland's semiconductor equipment sales will be US$33 billion, accounting for more than one-third of the world's total, and Chinese mainland has become the world's largest semiconductor equipment market for four consecutive years. However, the localization rate of semiconductor equipment in mainland China is less than 20%, and there is still a lot of room for domestic substitution.
The performance of AMEC in the wave of localization is very bright. Taking etching equipment as an example, although it is not as good as Tokyo Electron, Applied Materials, and Ram Research, the market share of AMEC exceeds that of North Huachuang, and it is a well-deserved brother of domestic etching equipment.
At present, AMEC's business involves the four most valuable products in semiconductor equipment, covering a market of nearly 400 billion yuan. In the future, with its excellent product strength and superimposed domestic substitution factors, the market share of AMEC will reach a new height.
summary
Finally, to sum up, even in 2023, when the semiconductor industry is in recession, AMEC still has the best performance since its establishment, which is the result of the company's high attention to R&D and excellent products in its hands. It can be seen that only by improving their core competitiveness can they maintain their advantages in the downward cycle. It is believed that in 2024, when the industry recovers, AMEC will have better performance.
The above analysis does not constitute specific investment advice. The stock market is risky, and investors need to be cautious.
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