PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩50 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close
Zeus swung to an operating loss in 2025 as both revenue and profit declined, and losses continued through the first half of 2026, with the commercialization of new HBM-related equipment such as photonic debonding emerging as the key variable for the next phase.
2025 consolidated revenue was KRW 383.3bn (-21.9% YoY) with an operating loss of KRW 4.46bn, and net loss attributable to owners of KRW 5.83bn
Operating losses continued in both Q1 and Q2 2026 (KRW -17.1bn and KRW -9.6bn respectively), with the trailing four-quarter net loss attributable to owners at KRW -11.3bn
The company is pursuing the launch of a photonic debonding automation tool co-developed with US-based PulseForge, targeting a US IDM customer
The debt ratio has steadily declined from 119.3% in 2022 to 52.2% in 2025
Beyond semiconductor cleaning equipment, the industrial robot business (ZERO) is emerging as a new growth axis
Founded in 1970, Zeus is a specialist in semiconductor and display equipment as well as industrial robots, and is known to hold competitive strength in single-wafer type cleaning equipment for semiconductors in both domestic and overseas markets.
The company provides total solutions tailored to customer needs across semiconductor, display, robot, and materials/parts segments, supplying single-type and batch-type wafer cleaning equipment centered on front-end processes (clean, etch, strip, RTP) and advanced packaging equipment, alongside semiconductor chemicals and electronic materials.
In the display segment, it develops and manufactures heat-treatment process equipment (HPCP, OVEN, etc.) with applied factory automation systems.
Its industrial robot segment offers various robots including 6-axis, SCARA, and Delta types based on proprietary joint-module technology, supplying automation equipment on a turnkey basis.
According to brokerage research, the company's own robot brand 'ZERO' is a lightweight robot capable of high density with low power consumption, making it suitable for autonomous mobile robots (AMR), and it is reportedly in discussions with major domestic customers on projects combining articulated robots and AMR for manufacturing and food-and-beverage applications.
More recently, the company has partnered with US-based PulseForge in advanced semiconductor packaging to develop a photonic debonding automation tool, aiming to launch it to a US integrated device manufacturer (IDM), extending its business scope from front-end cleaning into back-end packaging.
Its customer base consists of domestic and overseas semiconductor and display manufacturers, and its order-driven business model is closely tied to fluctuations in equipment demand.
Competitively, the company faces domestic and overseas specialized equipment makers in cleaning equipment, while attempting technology differentiation through overseas partnerships in the new packaging equipment segment.
| Quarter | Revenue | Operating profit | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Q2 | ₩116.2B | ₩700M | 0.6% |
| 2025Q3 | ₩86.8B | -₩2.5B | −2.9% |
| 2025Q4 | ₩98.8B | -₩2.2B | −2.3% |
| 2026Q1 | ₩54.9B | -₩17.1B | −31.2% |
| 2026Q2 | ₩82.4B | -₩9.6B | −11.7% |
| Year | Revenue | Operating profit | Net income (parent) | Op. margin | ROE | Debt-to-equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ₩509B | ₩46.3B | ₩35B | 9.1% | 12.7% | 119.3% |
| 2023 | ₩402.9B | ₩7.1B | ₩9.9B | 1.8% | 3.3% | 81.2% |
| 2024 | ₩490.8B | ₩49.2B | ₩41.9B | 10.0% | 12.3% | 67.6% |
| 2025 | ₩383.3B | -₩4.5B | -₩5.8B | −1.2% | −1.8% | 52.2% |
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
Zeus's consolidated revenue fell from KRW 509bn in 2022 to KRW 403bn in 2023, recovered to KRW 491bn in 2024, then declined again by 21.9% to KRW 383bn in 2025.
Operating profit shrank sharply from KRW 46.3bn in 2022 to KRW 7.1bn in 2023, rebounded strongly to KRW 49.2bn in 2024, but swung to an operating loss of KRW -4.46bn in 2025 (operating margin -1.2%).
Net income attributable to owners similarly fluctuated—KRW 35.0bn in 2022, KRW 9.9bn in 2023, KRW 41.9bn in 2024—before turning to a loss of KRW -5.83bn in 2025.
On a quarterly basis, a modest operating profit of KRW 0.67bn on revenue of KRW 116.2bn in Q2 2025 was followed by operating losses in Q3 (revenue KRW 86.8bn, operating loss KRW 2.5bn) and Q4 (revenue KRW 98.8bn, operating loss KRW 2.2bn), showing losses becoming entrenched.
In Q1 2026, revenue shrank further to KRW 54.9bn with the operating loss widening to KRW 17.1bn, the weakest quarter recently, while Q2 2026 revenue recovered somewhat to KRW 82.4bn but the operating loss remained sizable at KRW 9.6bn.
As a result, the trailing four-quarter (Q3 2025–Q2 2026) net loss attributable to owners totaled KRW 11.3bn.
According to FnGuide, Q1 2026 consolidated revenue fell 32.7% year-on-year, the operating loss expanded 4238.7%, and net income turned negative, with declining demand for semiconductor and display equipment and the business's cyclical sensitivity weighing on results.
Historically, margins have tended to improve when the mix shifted toward higher-margin AVP cleaning equipment and away from lower-margin China-facing batch equipment (JET), as seen when the share of JET's lower-margin products declined while AVP cleaning equipment's share rose, sharply improving the consolidated operating margin, suggesting future product mix shifts could be a key variable for margin recovery.
Operating cash flow remained positive at KRW 28.0bn in 2025, indicating cash generation capacity was maintained despite the operating loss.
The semiconductor equipment industry is heavily influenced by customers' capex cycles, and from 2025 through the first half of 2026 the sector appears to have been affected by delays in front-end investment.
FnGuide noted that the expansion of AI platforms is increasing demand for ultra-high-performance memory chips such as HBM and PIM, while the growing importance of miniaturization processes is raising the significance of cleaning steps.
As of the second half of 2025, the company itself stated that new fab investment by domestic and overseas integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) was expected to gain momentum from the second half of that year, reflecting expectations for its semiconductor cleaning equipment as well as new growth drivers such as photonic debonding equipment and PEP, though actual results in the first half of 2026 remained weak, suggesting a gap between that expectation and the actual timing of orders.
Yuanta Securities analyst Kwon Myung-jun was reported to have forecast that shipments of photonic debonding equipment would likely accelerate as early as 2026, implying the new business's revenue contribution may materialize with a time lag.
Competitively, the cleaning equipment market involves numerous specialized domestic and overseas players, while the market for HBM and advanced-packaging debonding equipment remains at an early stage, with competition among new entrants and established players not yet fully developed.
Broadly, ongoing HBM capacity announcements from memory makers suggest medium-to-long-term growth in related front-end and back-end equipment demand, though the timing of a recovery in legacy DRAM and NAND process investment remains uncertain.
The company's new growth drivers fall into two main categories: photonic debonding equipment for advanced packaging and the industrial robot business.
The photonic debonding automation tool, co-developed with US-based PulseForge, was announced as being a new automated photonic debonding tool for advanced semiconductor manufacturing, to be launched targeting a US integrated device manufacturer (IDM), driven by the backdrop that demand for heterogeneous integration, 2.5D/3D packaging, and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) is rapidly increasing, raising the importance of precise, damage-free wafer debonding technology.
The equipment separates wafers using high-intensity pulsed light, which the company says can minimize wafer damage and residue, improving product quality and reducing manufacturing costs.
On the robot business, the company is reportedly in discussions with major domestic customers on projects combining articulated robots with AMR technology.
R&D investment has also remained steady, with the company reportedly investing over KRW 20bn annually in R&D, having already spent KRW 18.4bn by the end of the first half of 2025, indicating continued new-business development even amid the semiconductor downturn.
That said, the actual timing and scale of revenue recognition from these new businesses depend on customer qualification outcomes, and no confirmed schedule has been disclosed to date.
Ultimately, future earnings improvement appears contingent on the timing of a resumption in major customers' HBM and commodity DRAM front-end investment, and on whether the new packaging equipment converts into firm orders.
Zeus's shares trade at a level close to book value, with the price-to-book ratio positioned near 1x. The company does pay a dividend, though the yield appears modest.
On the earnings side, the company shifted from a profitable trend in 2022–2024 to a loss in 2025, and a clear profit recovery has not yet emerged through the first half of 2026, adding volatility to earnings-based valuation reference points.
The sharp contrast between the earlier profitable phase and the recent loss-making phase is a key reason market attention remains focused on whether the earnings trend will turn positive again.
Amid this earnings uncertainty, and until the revenue contribution timing of the new packaging and robotics businesses is confirmed, the relationship between the stock price and fundamentals may be difficult to assess definitively.
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
The photonic debonding automation tool co-developed with US-based PulseForge is being pursued for launch to a US IDM customer, and successful adoption could expand the business into back-end packaging equipment. Yuanta Securities has forecast related shipments to accelerate from 2026. This is also aligned with the structural industry trend of rising HBM and advanced-packaging demand.
Despite recording an operating loss in 2025, operating cash flow remained positive at KRW 28.0bn, indicating a gap between reported profit/loss and cash flow. This can be interpreted as a result of working-capital management, including inventory adjustments, securing cash liquidity. The debt ratio has also continued to decline, from 119.3% in 2022 to 52.2% in 2025.
The company's proprietary 'ZERO' industrial robot brand has been noted for its light weight and low power consumption, making it suitable for AMR applications, and projects combining articulated robots with AMR technology are reportedly under discussion with major domestic customers.
As a revenue source less correlated with the semiconductor cycle, this could be meaningful from a business diversification standpoint.
Revenue declined 21.9% year-on-year in 2025, and operating profit turned from a gain to a loss. Operating losses continued in both Q1 and Q2 2026, bringing the trailing four-quarter net loss attributable to owners to KRW 11.3bn. Delays in front-end customer investment are directly weighing on results.
FnGuide pointed to declining demand for semiconductor and display equipment and the business's cyclical sensitivity as factors behind the Q1 2026 earnings deterioration.
Annual operating profit swung sharply from KRW 46.3bn in 2022 to KRW 7.1bn in 2023 and back to KRW 49.2bn in 2024, illustrating substantial year-to-year variability.
New packaging equipment such as the photonic debonding tool requires customer qualification to be completed first, and specific order and mass-production schedules have not yet been disclosed. Yuanta Securities' forecast of shipments accelerating in 2026 could also be delayed depending on actual order timing.
The company's results depend heavily on an order-based structure tied to semiconductor and display customers' capex plans. As seen in the 2025–2026 results, delays or cutbacks in customer investment can cause revenue and profit to decline sharply in tandem. Uncertainty also remains over the timing of a recovery in legacy DRAM and NAND process investment.
Operating profit has swung between gains and losses over the past four years, and in 2025 both an operating loss and a net loss occurred simultaneously. While the debt ratio has been improving, a prolonged operating loss could strain financial capacity. The high earnings volatility could also reduce the reliability of future performance forecasts.
The cleaning equipment market involves numerous domestic and overseas competitors, and potential competitors could also enter the new packaging equipment segment.
There is also a risk that R&D expenditure could go unrecovered if new technologies such as photonic debonding are ultimately not adopted into customers' mass-production lines.
The Q3 2026 earnings release (quarterly report) should be checked to assess whether the operating loss narrows and the strength of any revenue recovery.
Disclosures regarding an actual mass-production supply contract or revenue recognition for the photonic debonding automation tool with a US IDM customer should be monitored.
Announcements of expanded HBM and commodity DRAM front-end investment by major memory and IDM customers could serve as a leading indicator for an order recovery.
It should be checked via disclosures whether the discussed articulated-robot/AMR combination project with a major domestic customer for the ZERO industrial robot business converts into a formal order.
The FY2026 annual business report filing will be the point to comprehensively review whether the company returns to annual profitability and how its overall financial structure has evolved.
Zeus maintained a profitable trend through 2022–2024 but saw both revenue and operating profit decline sharply in 2025, turning to a loss, and operating losses have continued through the first half of 2026.
Even amid the operating loss phase, however, operating cash flow remained positive and the debt ratio continued to decline, indicating certain defensive elements in the financial structure.
The company continues to pursue diversification away from a cleaning-equipment-centric business model through new growth drivers such as the photonic debonding automation tool co-developed with US-based PulseForge and its industrial robot business.
That said, the actual timing and scale of revenue contribution from these new businesses remain unconfirmed, contingent on customer qualification and order outcomes, while the core cleaning equipment business remains heavily dependent on customers' investment cycles.
As a result, the company is at a juncture where both an earnings recovery and a new-business transition need to be observed simultaneously, with upcoming quarterly results and disclosures related to new equipment likely to serve as key indicators of future direction.
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.