◇ According to the first quarter results announcement, sales reached 60.7 billion Korean won, the highest record since the fourth quarter of 2017.
◇ As the application area is expanded to automobiles, industrial equipment, and new home appliances, earnings are expected to be good in the second quarter as well.
“To become a 100-year company beyond half a century of growth.” KEC, a company specializing in non-memory power semiconductors, announced that it has recently started to generate profits by implementing a growth-oriented management strategy and intensively promoting strategic businesses since 2020. According to KEC officials, famous domestic and foreign automakers, industrial equipment and home appliance manufacturers have recently approved and started mass production of KEC products, accelerating the expansion of the future electronic semiconductor and industrial power semiconductor markets.
The performance of the past year was reflected in the 1Q results announced by KEC on the 17th. Based on K-IFRS consolidated financial statements, sales reached KRW 60.7 billion, operating profit KRW 2.7 billion, and net income recorded KRW 16.4 billion, and sales increased 32% compared to the same period last year, achieving the highest sales in 3 years and 6 months.
According to KEC officials, small-signal TRs and diodes, which have been firmly positioned as major sources of sales for the past 50 years, are expanding to electronic components, while a number of IGBTs and Super-Junction MOSFET products among the Power Discrete known as a strategic business achieved design-wins by domestic and overseas famous industrial equipment and home appliance manufacturers, and the sales of products that are expected to grow in the mid- to long-term are in full swing.
KEC revealed that the production system has been operating at full capacity since the end of last year to respond to the customer's demands, and as the domestic and overseas industrial economy, which was stagnant due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is slowly recovering, the demand for power semiconductors in the industrial equipment and home appliance markets is exploding. The electronic semiconductor market is also expected to see strong sales growth in 2Q and 2H as new demand for products is increasing this year due to standby demand and the launch of new cars mainly for EV vehicles. In addition, due to the global semiconductor supply shortage, profitability improved as the system changed to a profit-oriented Allocation supply conversion system, which is expected to lead to significant sales profits.
KEC's CEO Nam-gyu Park said, “After the announcement of Vision 2025, KEC is enhancing product competitiveness by reinforcing product portfolios, starting strategic collaboration with global distributors, and reinforcing sales channels. Since Arrow Electronics, the world's largest electronic component manufacturer, which is currently pursuing collaboration with us, is a strong player in China, it is expected that KEC's market share in China will expand rapidly.” and added, “KEC is also reinforcing its strategy to actively expand the Chinese energy market by hiring local experts in China, RMD (Regional Marketing Director). We plan to continuously increase sales and profitability by improving competitiveness through improved product performance, innovating distribution channels, strongly promoting regional technology professionals, and expanding the capacity of domestic and overseas manufacturing supply.”