Vm

VM, founded in 2002 and listed on KOSDAQ in 2018, manufactures dry etchers for front-end semiconductor processing and holds two subsidiaries, APTC AMERICA CORP in the United States and VM (Wuxi) Inc. in China.

Its plasma source technology serves as the core technology for 300mm wafer dry etchers, allowing it to replace imported tools on performance and price.

The main products are 300mm silicon etchers supplied to SK hynix under the Leo NK I-C and Leo WH models, and since the fourth quarter of 2020 it has sold the Nardo-M metal-film etcher in volume.

According to company profile data, product and merchandise sales account for 98.76% of revenue, of which domestic sales represent 89.74%.

Plasma-source tools drive sales by substituting for imported equipment, while the technology is being extended into adjacent categories such as chemical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition and atomic layer etching.

Few Korean firms handle etch equipment, whereas the segment is dominated by overseas players such as Lam Research of the United States and Tokyo Electron of Japan, which also hold high shares inside SK hynix.

Supply contracts center on SK hynix's domestic sites, with payment terms repeatedly set at 90% on delivery and 10% after setup completion. The company was formerly named APTC and changed its name to VM after an executive from SK hynix's purchasing organization joined its board.

The lineup centers on poly and metal etchers for DRAM and NAND, and management is preparing to expand into oxide etchers, a market it considers comparable in size to poly and metal combined.

On confirmed filings, annual revenue swung sharply with the customer investment cycle: KRW 141.3bn in 2022, KRW 26.0bn in 2023, KRW 70.2bn in 2024 and KRW 144.4bn in 2025.

Operating profit moved from KRW 30.9bn in 2022 (21.9% margin) to losses of KRW 11.0bn in 2023 and KRW 8.6bn in 2024, then back to a KRW 24.7bn profit in 2025 (17.1% margin), while net profit attributable to owners reached KRW 26.1bn in 2025, above operating profit.

By quarter, second-quarter 2025 revenue of KRW 39.2bn produced only KRW 4.4bn of operating profit, an eleven-percent margin, before profitability improved to KRW 9.0bn on KRW 36.4bn in the third quarter and KRW 9.3bn on KRW 50.8bn in the fourth.

In 2026, first-quarter revenue of KRW 88.9bn with KRW 30.1bn operating profit and second-quarter revenue of KRW 72.3bn with KRW 20.1bn lifted first-half revenue to KRW 161.2bn and operating profit to KRW 50.2bn, both above the full-year 2025 totals.

Quarterly operating margins of 33.9% in the first quarter and 27.7% in the second reflect concentrated equipment revenue recognition diluting fixed costs.

That said, the confirmed second-quarter figures came in below the KRW 90.2bn revenue and KRW 28.0bn operating profit that Hana Securities had projected in its April 16, 2026 report.

Operating cash flow turned from negative KRW 15.6bn in 2023 to positive KRW 22.2bn in 2024 and positive KRW 18.3bn in 2025, though the 2025 figure trailed operating profit, indicating working capital absorption from the revenue surge.

The balance sheet showed equity of KRW 177.2bn against liabilities of KRW 71.5bn at end-2025, a 40.4% debt-to-equity ratio, higher than 33.3% a year earlier but still low.

With two consecutive loss-making years in 2023 and 2024 on record, current earnings clearly reflect a concentrated order cycle from the main customer.

The memory industry has entered a strong upcycle alongside the spread of artificial intelligence, and research firm Counterpoint Research projected memory prices could rise 40% through the second quarter of 2026.

SK hynix has completed a reorganization of its high-bandwidth memory lines, signed multi-year supply agreements with global technology majors, and set out a plan to double wafer capacity within five years.

Korea Economic TV reported in May 2026 that SK hynix was expanding M15X capacity in Cheongju and had pulled forward the cleanroom start date for its Yongin fab.

Etching, which removes material outside the circuit pattern after lithography, is an essential step, yet the market has long been led by United States and Japanese toolmakers.

VM entered that supply chain and gradually built its position; opportunities narrowed while the customer was cautious on capital spending, then improved after the customer secured leadership in high-bandwidth memory and changed its capex stance.

At the same time, because sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory still uses 1b DRAM, the mass-production timing of next-generation 1c DRAM may slip, meaning conversion investment schedules dictate when equipment vendors book revenue.

On the supply side, concerns about oversupply from a rival's new capacity additions and yield management remain open issues.

In short, VM sits as a challenger widening localized share in specific process steps among established foreign vendors, with earnings amplitude driven by the intensity and timing of customer investment.

In a January 2026 interview, CEO Choi Woo-hyung said 2026 revenue would set a record and that he expected it to surpass the previous peak of KRW 178.1bn in 2021. He also noted that margins could come in somewhat below past levels because of headcount additions, overseas sales activity and new equipment development.

With limited room to expand the Icheon headquarters, the company plans to break ground on a new headquarters and fab in the Yongin cluster in 2026, and management set a KRW 1trn revenue goal for that site.

The most recently disclosed SK hynix contract, signed on June 23, 2026, is worth KRW 21.58bn with a delivery deadline of October 14, 2026.

DAOL Investment and Securities said in a June 2026 report that the company is pushing into the high-end poly etch area with a new WS tool, that field testing follows completed wafer testing, and that revenue should begin in the second half of 2027 after quality certification in the first quarter of that year.

The same report projected that entry into a new overseas memory customer was coming into view, with revenue potentially starting as early as the first half of 2027.

SK Securities wrote in February 2026 that, with the customer accelerating greenfield investment, the first phase of the Yongin site could be completed in the first quarter of 2027 and tool move-in could begin from the second quarter of 2027.

The oxide etcher is under internal evaluation, with management saying performance has nearly caught up to customer requirements and cautiously raising the possibility of wafer testing with a customer.