Orbitech

Orbitech is a comprehensive technical services company organized into three divisions: nuclear, ISI (in-service inspection/non-destructive testing), and aviation.

The nuclear division, which accounts for the largest share of revenue, handles radiation safety management, radioactive waste treatment and regulatory clearance, and radiation measurement services for nuclear power plants and fuel processing facilities.

The ISI division performs pre- and in-service inspections and non-destructive testing not only for power plants but also across shipbuilding and industrial plants.

The aviation division manufactures over 1,000 precision parts—including Bulkhead assemblies, Rear Spar structures, and jack screws—for Boeing 737, 747, 767, 777, and 787 models at its Haman plant in South Gyeongsang Province, supplying as a first- or second-tier vendor to companies such as Spirit AeroSystems.

The aviation division produces Bulkhead assemblies for the Boeing 737 and precision parts for the 737, 747, 767, 777, and 787, and its technical capability and competitiveness are recognized by Spirit Aerosystems in the United States.

Both the nuclear and aviation industries have strict certification and quality requirements that raise entry barriers, giving Orbitech an advantage as a long-established player.

Since 2021 the company has been performing decommissioning services for the RI waste management facility of the Korea Radioactive Waste Agency through 2028, accumulating technical capability and experience in radioactive waste verification and nuclear decommissioning.

In December 2025, working with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, the company commercialized for the first time in the world a technology that dramatically reduces radioactive concrete waste, expected to significantly lower the cost of treating radioactive waste generated during nuclear plant decommissioning, marking the first actual commercialized case of this waste-reduction technology, and signed a related service contract with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.

Around the same time, the company expanded metal- and concrete-waste treatment facilities at its Busan Gijang site to broaden its decommissioning processing capacity.

Since late 2025, a change of controlling shareholder from Sungjin Holdings to BNP Jusung, affiliated with the logistics-focused Juseong Group, has been underway, and during this process the company sold part of its stakes in affiliated investment vehicles JS Link and Finetechnics to restructure its finances.

On an annual basis, 2022 revenue was KRW 59.2 billion with an operating loss of KRW 11.8 billion and a net loss of KRW 13.4 billion—a substantial deficit.

Revenue then recovered to KRW 64.0 billion in 2023 and KRW 66.5 billion in 2024, while operating profit turned positive, moving from a loss of KRW 4.3 billion in 2023 to a profit of KRW 0.69 billion in 2024, with net income also improving to KRW 2.2 billion in 2024.

In 2025, however, revenue declined again year-on-year to KRW 57.9 billion, and the operating loss widened to KRW 14.0 billion.

Net income nonetheless stayed marginally positive at KRW 0.79 billion, and the large gap between operating results and net income suggests non-operating items such as asset disposals played a major role.

Quarterly, revenue was KRW 14.8 billion in the second quarter of 2025 with an operating loss of KRW 2.7 billion and a net loss of KRW 0.15 billion; in the third quarter revenue fell to KRW 13.9 billion and the operating loss continued at KRW 2.1 billion, yet net income surged to KRW 5.6 billion.

In the fourth quarter, the loss widened most sharply, with revenue of KRW 15.5 billion, an operating loss of KRW 6.0 billion, and a net loss of KRW 11.5 billion, before a sharp reversal in the first quarter of 2026, when revenue jumped to KRW 22.4 billion and net income reached KRW 19.1 billion despite an operating loss of KRW 3.1 billion.

The second quarter of 2026 then swung back to a net loss, with revenue of KRW 16.6 billion, an operating loss of KRW 1.4 billion, and a net loss of KRW 5.1 billion.

Operating results have thus remained in deficit for five consecutive quarters, while net income has swung widely depending on one-off items in specific quarters.

The nuclear decommissioning industry in Korea is seen as entering a fuller growth phase as approvals proceed for retiring aging reactors such as Kori Unit 1.

Following the 2025 approval to decommission the Kori nuclear plant, the decommissioning market is expected to become fully active, with multiple projects—including radioactive waste decontamination technology development—expected to be tendered.

This market spans a long value chain from design and radiation management to waste treatment and maintenance, leaving room for multiple specialized service providers, and Orbitech is counted among companies with a long track record in radiation management and non-destructive testing.

At the same time, the SMR Special Act passed by the National Assembly is expected to provide an institutional foundation for building a small modular reactor ecosystem.

As the National Assembly passed the 'SMR Special Act' to foster the small modular reactor industry, the domestic nuclear industry reached an institutional turning point, and with government mid- to long-term development plans, research and demonstration support, and specialized workforce training systems now in place, expansion of a private sector-led SMR ecosystem is expected to accelerate.

Still, SMR and MSR commercialization remains at an early stage, with numerous domestic and overseas firms competing for similar opportunities.

In the aviation segment, the pace of Boeing supply chain restructuring and production normalization directly affects results, exposing the company to changes in aircraft makers' production plans.

Both the nuclear and aviation pillars depend heavily on a small number of clients—KHNP, the Korea Radioactive Waste Agency, and Spirit AeroSystems, among others—which creates structurally high earnings volatility depending on order timing and volume.

The company is performing the RI waste management facility decommissioning service through 2028, which secures a baseline revenue stream for the nuclear division.

On top of this, commercialization of the concrete waste separation technology, the related service contract with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, and expanded radioactive metal and concrete waste treatment facilities support the possibility of additional decommissioning-related contracts.

In the SMR segment, the company had pursued technical collaboration and a SAFE-style investment commitment of USD 1 million with U.S. developer Flibe Energy, but it decided to provisionally shelve the investment after judging that a practical common ground between the two companies was difficult to reach, explaining instead that its top priority would be entering the decommissioning market centered on the recently won concrete waste cement/aggregate treatment service.

On the governance front, the process of changing the controlling shareholder from Sungjin Holdings to BNP Jusung has been underway, accompanied by a third-party share issuance and convertible bond issuance that expanded the capital base.

The new controlling shareholder group has a track record of expanding results at affiliated logistics companies such as Juseong C&Air and Juseong Corporation, leading some industry observers to suggest its financial capacity could support new investment at Orbitech.

The aviation segment's results remain tied to the pace of demand recovery in the Boeing supply chain, with new model allocations or production adjustments a key variable for future revenue contribution.

Overall, the company's medium-term direction appears likely to hinge on how decommissioning and radioactive waste treatment translate into results, whether SMR collaboration resumes, and how quickly the business is restructured under the new controlling shareholder.