PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩400 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close
Protec's revenue and operating profit rebounded sharply in 2025 on HBM and advanced-packaging demand, and the improvement continued into the first half of 2026, even as heavy losses at subsidiary PMT remain a drag on consolidated results.
2025 consolidated revenue reached KRW 230.5 billion (+35.4% YoY) with operating profit of KRW 46.3 billion (20.1% operating margin), marking a clear profitability recovery.
Both revenue and operating profit continued to improve year-on-year in the first and second quarters of 2026.
Subsidiary PMT (probe cards) posted a large operating loss in 2025, continuing to weigh on consolidated earnings.
The cancellation of 2 million treasury shares was completed in May 2026, reducing total shares outstanding from 11 million to 9 million.
Demand for laser bonders and Attach equipment tied to HBM4 and 2.5D packaging expansion is cited as the key variable for future earnings.
Protec was founded in 1997 and listed on KOSDAQ in 2001 as a specialist in semiconductor back-end packaging equipment. Its core products are dispensers, die bonders, laser bonders (LAB)/reflow systems, and automated guided vehicles (AGVs), supplied for semiconductor back-end assembly, SMT, and LED packaging processes.
Dispenser equipment is understood to account for roughly half of the company's revenue.
Peers in the dispenser market include Nordson (North America), Musashi Engineering (Japan), Vermes (Germany), and Mycronic (Sweden), while Protec's customers include Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, LG Electronics, Amkor Technology Korea, ASE Korea, Hana Micron, and STS Semiconductor (SFA Semiconductor).
Subsidiaries include P&M, which makes automated pneumatic parts, PMT (probe cards, roughly 47% stake), Japan-based back-end affiliate Minami, and new technology finance units Protec Investment and Protec Ventures.
Laser bonder (LAB) equipment uses localized laser heating to bond chips, giving it an edge in preventing warpage, and is supplied to back-end (OSAT) companies in Korea and Taiwan, with the company seen as competitive in non-memory applications.
The largest shareholder is CEO Choi Seung-hwan, with semiconductor equipment parts maker Elpatek listed as a shareholder holding more than 5%.
Overall, Protec has built a portfolio spanning the semiconductor back-end value chain, combining a stable dispenser business with laser-application equipment and the probe-card business of its subsidiary.
| Quarter | Revenue | Operating profit | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Q2 | ₩64.5B | ₩9.8B | 15.2% |
| 2025Q3 | ₩51B | ₩15.6B | 30.5% |
| 2025Q4 | ₩84.6B | ₩18B | 21.3% |
| 2026Q1 | ₩62.4B | ₩15.4B | 24.7% |
| 2026Q2 | ₩77.3B | ₩23.1B | 29.9% |
| Year | Revenue | Operating profit | Net income (parent) | Op. margin | ROE | Debt-to-equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ₩198.8B | ₩60.1B | ₩43.5B | 30.2% | 16.1% | 14.1% |
| 2023 | ₩156.1B | ₩17.4B | ₩17.1B | 11.2% | 6.0% | 15.2% |
| 2024 | ₩170.3B | ₩13.4B | ₩12.7B | 7.9% | 4.2% | 16.7% |
| 2025 | ₩230.5B | ₩46.3B | ₩35.4B | 20.1% | 10.1% | 25.1% |
Consolidated basis (financial statements including subsidiaries) · Final figures from DART filings · Net income attributable to owners of the parent · Data as of 2026-08-21
Protec's annual results peaked in 2022 (revenue KRW 198.8 billion, operating profit KRW 60.1 billion, 30.2% operating margin), then went through a margin correction in 2023 (revenue KRW 156.1 billion, 11.2% margin) and 2024 (revenue KRW 170.3 billion, 7.9% margin).
In 2025, revenue rose to KRW 230.5 billion (+35.4% YoY), operating profit to KRW 46.3 billion (+244.5% YoY), and owners' net income to KRW 35.4 billion, with the operating margin rebounding to 20.1% in a clear earnings recovery.
On a quarterly basis, revenue and profit expanded sharply in the second half of 2025, with Q3 revenue of KRW 51.0 billion and operating profit of KRW 15.6 billion, and Q4 revenue of KRW 84.6 billion and operating profit of KRW 18.0 billion.
The improvement continued into 2026, with Q1 revenue of KRW 62.4 billion and operating profit of KRW 15.4 billion, and Q2 revenue of KRW 77.3 billion and operating profit of KRW 23.1 billion.
Notably, Q2 2026 owners' net income of KRW 35.1 billion significantly exceeded the same quarter's operating profit of KRW 23.1 billion, which appears to reflect non-operating items whose exact composition warrants confirmation through future disclosures.
Combined owners' net income over the trailing four quarters (Q3 2025 through Q2 2026) reached KRW 80.0 billion, already surpassing the full-year net income levels of 2024 and 2025. This improvement reflects both revenue growth and the easing of raw-material and R&D cost burdens that had temporarily increased in 2024.
However, consolidated results continue to reflect large operating losses at subsidiary PMT, keeping consolidated margins structurally lower than standalone figures.
The back-end semiconductor equipment industry is in a structural upcycle driven by AI chip and HBM proliferation, with advanced packaging demand expanding accordingly.
As process-node scaling nears its limits, the focus of performance improvement is shifting toward packaging technology, and rising HBM stack counts are driving demand for bonding equipment such as thermal-compression (TC) bonders.
Globally, Hanmi Semiconductor holds a 71.2% share of the HBM TC bonder market, while ASMPT is attempting to expand its position amid an ongoing patent dispute with Hanwha Semitech, creating a complex competitive landscape.
SK hynix signaled renewed investment in early 2026 by re-ordering HBM TC bonders from both Hanmi Semiconductor and Hanwha Semitech, and ASMPT has stated that it expects the overall TC bonder market to grow from roughly KRW 1.114 trillion in 2025 to about KRW 2.348 trillion by 2028.
However, as illustrated by Hanmi Semiconductor's "earnings shock" from a sharp drop in Asian sales in the first quarter of 2026, order gaps can occur during HBM generational transitions, causing significant variability in order timing across equipment makers.
Protec occupies a different niche from the TC bonder competitive field, focusing on dispensers and laser bonders within the back-end value chain, giving it exposure both to direct HBM investment cycles and to the broader structural growth of advanced packaging.
The global semiconductor market is understood to have posted substantial year-on-year growth in 2025 on AI-related demand, a backdrop that is feeding through into expanded investment capacity across back-end equipment as a whole.
Brokerage reports expect Protec's 2026 earnings to continue improving, led by its laser equipment lineup and Attach equipment. In a February 2026 report, LS Securities forecast 2026 revenue of KRW 257.1 billion (+11.7% YoY) and operating profit of KRW 57.6 billion (+24.6% YoY).
The same report projected roughly 20% year-on-year growth for the laser equipment segment and noted that Attach equipment could be an additional swing factor depending on customers' pace and volume of HBM investment.
In an April 2026 report, LS Securities further projected that subsidiary PMT's operating profit would swing from a loss of KRW 20.4 billion in 2025 to a profit in 2026, which it said could be an additional driver of consolidated earnings improvement.
PMT indeed decided on a rights offering in April 2026 to fund facility investment, with new shares listing on July 10, 2026, which also changed Protec's equity stake in the subsidiary.
Protec's board resolved in March 2026 to cancel 2 million treasury shares, a process completed on May 4, 2026, reducing total shares outstanding from 11 million to 9 million.
Management has cited expanded sales of higher-margin equipment such as laser bonders and a growing share of high-spec dispensers as the main drivers behind the profitability improvement.
These outlooks are based on external brokerage estimates, however, and actual achievement will need to be confirmed through future quarterly disclosures.
Protec's shares are trading at a level that reflects a certain premium to net asset value during this earnings-recovery phase.
Compared with the peak year of 2022, recent profit levels are approaching or exceeding that period, and the earnings multiple the market assigns tends to sit above the low-margin years of 2023-2024 but below the level seen at the prior high-margin peak.
On the dividend side, cash dividends are being paid, but the capital-return policy appears weighted more toward profit growth and treasury-share cancellation than toward the dividend yield itself.
The May 2026 cancellation of treasury shares, which reduced shares outstanding, is a structural change that will affect how per-share metrics are calculated going forward, a factor worth considering alongside the earnings recovery.
It is also worth noting, when assessing valuation, that consolidated profitability continues to run well below standalone profitability due to ongoing losses at subsidiary PMT.
PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are all calculated in-house (the same method as Naver and Toss) · Dividend yield = cash dividend per share from DART filings (supplemented by KRX) ÷ current price · As of 2026-08-21
Rising HBM stack counts and the spread of 2.5D/3D packaging are structural drivers of demand across bonding equipment. Protec's laser bonders, which are strong at preventing chip warpage, are supplied to OSAT companies in Korea and Taiwan, while Attach equipment is tied to customers' HBM investment volumes. Brokerages expect the laser equipment segment's revenue to keep growing at a double-digit pace in 2026.
After a low-margin period in 2023-2024, the operating margin rebounded to 20.1% in 2025, and both revenue and operating profit continued to rise in the first half of 2026. Combined net income over the trailing four quarters has already surpassed the full-year net income levels of 2024 and 2025.
This reflects the combination of eased raw-material and R&D cost pressure with expanded sales of high-spec products.
The 2025 debt ratio remained low at 25.1%, and operating cash flow was a stable KRW 29.6 billion. In May 2026, the cancellation of 2 million treasury shares was completed, reducing shares outstanding from 11 million to 9 million.
This financial soundness and capital policy could provide flexibility for future investment or shareholder returns.
Subsidiary PMT, which makes probe cards, posted a large standalone operating loss in 2025, continuing a multi-year pattern of losses. This is a structural factor that keeps the consolidated operating margin below the standalone margin. Brokerages project a swing to profit in 2026, but this remains an unrealized estimate.
Because of the nature of the business, Protec and its consolidated subsidiaries show large quarter-to-quarter variation depending on revenue-recognition timing (delivery dates).
As seen in Q2 2026, when net income significantly exceeded operating profit, non-operating factors can cause quarterly results to swing sharply. This makes it difficult to judge the annual trend from a single quarter's results alone.
In the HBM TC bonder market, competition and patent disputes among Hanmi Semiconductor, Hanwha Semitech, and ASMPT continue, making the competitive landscape across back-end equipment fluid.
Over the longer term, if HBM stack counts rise beyond 20 layers, new bonding methods such as hybrid bonding could be partially adopted, raising the possibility that existing bonding technologies could eventually be displaced.
While Protec competes in a different niche, the direction of back-end technology transition is a variable worth monitoring.
PMT decided on a rights offering in April 2026 to fund facility investment, with new shares listing in July of the same year, changing Protec's equity stake and equity-method profit/loss structure.
The subsidiary's continued losses combined with dilution from the capital raise are variables that could affect both consolidated results and governance. Ongoing monitoring of the controlling shareholder's stake and related-party structure is warranted.
A significant portion of Protec's revenue depends on a small number of large semiconductor makers and back-end companies, including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. The timing and volume of these customers' HBM and advanced-packaging investment heavily influence when Protec receives orders and recognizes revenue.
As seen when Hanmi Semiconductor suffered an earnings shock from a sharp drop in Asian sales in the first quarter of 2026, order gaps during HBM generational transitions can affect back-end equipment makers broadly.
Protec has a past history in which the Securities and Futures Commission referred the company to prosecutors after finding that related-party transactions and mutual guarantee details for fiscal years 2013-2019 had not been disclosed in financial statement footnotes.
While this relates to a past period, it remains a factor that could raise market sensitivity around accounting transparency.
Recent audit reports have confirmed an unqualified opinion on both consolidated and standalone statements, but disclosures related to governance and internal controls warrant continued monitoring.
Check whether major customers such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix disclose HBM4 and advanced-packaging related capex plans in their Q3 earnings conference calls.
Watch Protec's Q3 2026 earnings disclosure to confirm whether laser bonder and Attach equipment revenue growth continued and whether subsidiary PMT's losses narrowed.
Monitor for additional disclosures related to PMT's probe-card qualification and supply expansion for NAND and DRAM applications.
Check Protec's preliminary 2026 full-year earnings disclosure to assess actual results versus brokerage forecasts (e.g., 2026 revenue of KRW 257.1 billion and operating profit of KRW 57.6 billion) and to see the first full-year figures following the treasury-share cancellation.
Protec has entered an earnings-recovery phase in which revenue and operating profit have improved together through 2025 and the first half of 2026, following the margin correction that occurred after the 2022 peak.
Demand for laser bonders and Attach equipment tied to HBM and advanced-packaging expansion is cited as the key growth driver, and the company's financial and capital policies, including a low debt ratio and treasury-share cancellation, appear stable.
That said, large ongoing losses at subsidiary PMT continue to weigh on consolidated results, and quarterly variation in revenue recognition together with non-operating items limits the predictability of earnings.
Competition and patent disputes over HBM TC bonders among rival makers, dependence on a small number of customers, and a past accounting-disclosure history are additional factors worth watching.
Going forward, Q3 results, whether PMT swings to profit, and major customers' HBM investment plans are likely to be the key variables shaping the earnings path. This report is provided for informational purposes only and does not include a buy/sell recommendation or a target price.
Report written 2026-09-05 · Data as of 2026-09-04
This content is AI analysis of market data and web search results, provided for information only. It is not a solicitation or recommendation to invest. Investment decisions and their consequences are the investor's own responsibility. Data may be delayed or contain errors.