Dongjin Semichem

Dongjin Semichem is a fine-chemicals company making electronic materials for semiconductor and display processes; it entered semiconductor materials in the early 1980s and developed its own photoresist in 1989.

Its core products are photoresist and thinner used in lithography, alongside anti-reflective coatings, CMP slurries and various wet chemicals.

On the display side, since entering in 1991 it has localized photoresist, stripper, etchant, color resist and organic insulating films, supplying chemicals across OLED and LCD panel processes.

Manufacturing sites include the Incheon headquarters plus plants in Hwaseong, Siheung and Eumseong, with subsidiaries in China, Taiwan, Sweden and the United States.

Effective January 1, 2026 the blowing-agent division (UNICELL brand) was spun off into Dongjin Innochem, leaving the parent focused on electronic materials.

In new businesses it develops and supplies carbon nanotube (CNT) conductive additives and silicon anode materials for lithium-ion batteries as well as membrane electrode assemblies for fuel cells, and Dealsite reported in March 2026 that it holds conductive-additive lines with 3,000 tons of annual capacity each in Korea and Sweden.

The same report put cumulative battery-segment revenue through the third quarter of 2025 at about KRW 10.1 billion, still a small share of the total.

Key customers are large domestic memory, foundry and display panel makers, and in photoresist the company competes in a market where Japan's JSR and Tokyo Ohka Kogyo have long held the most demanding segments.

On an annual basis, revenue of KRW 1,457.2 billion with operating profit of KRW 216.3 billion (14.8% margin) in 2022 eased to KRW 1,309.9 billion and KRW 176.2 billion (13.4%) in 2023, then recovered to KRW 1,408.1 billion and KRW 208.2 billion (14.8%) in 2024.

In 2025 the company posted revenue of KRW 1,194.1 billion, operating profit of KRW 172.4 billion (14.4%) and owners' net income of KRW 99.1 billion, down from 2024's owners' net income of KRW 154.8 billion on both top and bottom lines.

However, in an August 2026 filing the company said it restated prior and year-earlier figures to reflect discontinued operations tied to the sale of a Chinese subsidiary, so annual revenue levels cannot simply be strung together.

Quarterly swings were wide: Q2 2025 revenue of KRW 376.8 billion with operating profit of KRW 53.8 billion, Q3 revenue of KRW 140.0 billion with KRW 18.5 billion, and Q4 revenue of KRW 309.2 billion with KRW 41.6 billion; the unusually small third quarter overlaps with presentation changes and should not be read as an abrupt collapse in operations.

Moving into 2026, Q1 revenue was KRW 328.1 billion with operating profit of KRW 66.6 billion (about a 20.3% margin) and Q2 revenue was KRW 346.9 billion with KRW 59.3 billion (about 17.1%), for first-half totals of KRW 675.0 billion and KRW 125.9 billion.

That implies a first-half operating margin near 18.7%, clearly above the 13-15% annual range of 2022-2025.

Owners' net income of KRW 68.3 billion in Q1 and KRW 86.1 billion in Q2 exceeded operating profit, apparently reflecting non-operating items including discontinued operations, so whether such levels repeat needs separate confirmation.

Operating cash flow has been steady at KRW 114.7 billion in 2023, KRW 226.9 billion in 2024 and KRW 191.3 billion in 2025, while the debt-to-equity ratio fell from 97.7% in 2024 to 82.1% in 2025.

The downstream memory cycle is in a strong phase driven by AI infrastructure investment. As summarized by the SK hynix newsroom in early 2026, WSTS projected the global semiconductor market to grow more than 25% in 2026 to about USD 975 billion, with memory rising at a 30%-plus pace.

What materials suppliers actually feel, though, is wafer input and new fab ramps rather than chip prices.

In a December 2025 industry report, Meritz Securities projected that 2026 DRAM investment would concentrate on HBM and leading-edge conversions while NAND focused on node transitions, leaving wafer capacity little changed, and framed the earnings path for materials and back-end names as stronger in the second half than the first.

Photoresist is consumed in proportion to exposure steps and layer counts, so volumes rise as miniaturization and layer stacking advance.

The company's thick KrF photoresist for V-NAND was newly designated a World Class Product in November 2025 by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA, with three-year export value tallied at USD 185.9 million, Industry News reported.

By contrast, the most demanding EUV layers remain heavily served by Japanese suppliers, so gains for domestic materials hinge on the pace of customer qualification.

Domestic comparables often cited include Soulbrain, ENF Technology and Wonik Materials, though overlapping and non-overlapping product lines limit any single-yardstick comparison.

The clearest confirmed change is structural. The blowing-agent division was spun off into Dongjin Innochem on January 1, 2026, leaving the parent focused on electronic materials, and the sale of a Chinese subsidiary further reshaped the consolidation scope.

On the technology roadmap, EBN reported in December 2025 that the company had begun work with SK hynix on localizing a high-performance EUV photoresist, aiming beyond a straight substitution for Japanese products.

Development of a High-NA EUV photoresist targeting sub-2nm processes is also reported to be under way, but timing for volume adoption depends on customer qualification and cannot be treated as a fixed schedule.

In batteries, Dealsite reported in March 2026 that the company was scouting a US site for a conductive-additive plant to supply Samsung SDI locally, and that it was developing CNT additives for LFP cells as well as graphene powder.

That same report noted, however, that shifting US EV subsidy policy has stalled battery demand and prompted line conversions, a variable that will govern the pace of this new business.

On shareholder returns, a KRW 10 billion treasury-share trust contract was disclosed on July 31, 2026, running from August 3, 2026 to February 2, 2027 with Daishin Securities, with the shares earmarked for employee performance compensation.

For the second half of 2026, the questions are whether the first half's elevated operating margin holds and whether net income, which ran above operating profit, normalizes.