KOSDAQChemicals102710

ENF Technology

₩48,600▼ 2.41%2026-10-02 close

Market Cap

₩698B

Turnover

₩3.3B

Volume

70,000 shares

Shares out.

14.3M

PER

10.5×

PBR

1.2×

EPS

₩4,006

Dividend Yield

0.48%

PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩200 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close

Report overview

Memory Upcycle and New Yesan Campus Expansion

ENF Technology turned around from a 2023 net loss to profitability in 2025, sustained solid quarterly operating profit through the first half of 2026, and is expanding its production base around a new Yesan campus and its Texas facility in the United States.

1
Consolidated 2025 revenue reached 670.9 billion won and operating profit 78.1 billion won, up 15.2% and 31.6% year over year respectively, marking an earnings recovery phase.
2
Operating profit rebounded to 24.9 billion won and 27.3 billion won in the first and second quarters of 2026, moving past the one-off cost burden seen in the fourth quarter of 2025 (11.1 billion won).
3
The company secured a double-digit share of semiconductor-grade hydrofluoric acid supply to SK Hynix, emerging as the country's second-largest domestic supplier.
4
The company is building a 450 billion won integrated semiconductor materials campus in Yesan, South Chungcheong Province, together with Korea Alcohol Industrial and PURIT, and has already invested 31.8 billion won to secure the site.
5
The company began shipping process chemicals from its Kyle, Texas plant to Samsung Electronics' Taylor fab, securing an early local production foothold.

Business structure

ENF Technology is an electronic materials specialist that researches, manufactures and sells specialty chemical products for semiconductor and display fabrication processes.

Its product portfolio spans four areas: process chemicals (etchants, thinners, developers and strippers), fine chemicals (photoresist raw materials), color pastes for display color filters, and slurry for semiconductor CMP.

Domestic production sites are located in Ulsan, Asan and Cheonan, with the Asan plant handling the bulk of process chemical output. Overseas, the company operates production subsidiaries in Guangzhou, China and Kyle, Texas, with the Kyle plant having supplied Samsung Electronics' Austin fab since 2021.

Its largest shareholder is Korea Alcohol Industrial, holding a 26.13% stake; Korea Alcohol Industrial itself holds more than half of the domestic market for ultra-high-purity normal butyl acetate, a raw material for semiconductor thinners.

In the first quarter of 2026 the company acquired additional shares in Pamtech Technology, bringing it into the consolidation and strengthening in-house capability in hydrofluoric-acid-based wet chemicals.

Key customers include Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and LG Display, while peers include Soulbrain, Dongjin Semichem and DNF. The company was recently designated as the exclusive hydrofluoric acid supplier for one of SK Hynix's domestic fabs, signaling a shift in a market long dominated by Soulbrain.

Earnings trend

Quarterly revenue · Operating profit

₩164.2B₩23.5B25Q2₩172.1B₩22B25Q3₩176.8B₩11.1B25Q4₩170.9B₩24.9B26Q1₩179B₩27.3B26Q2

RevenueOperating profit

Annual revenue · Operating profit

₩680.2B₩64.6B2022₩574.8B₩24.7B2023₩582.4B₩59.3B2024₩670.9B₩78.1B2025

RevenueOperating profit

Quarterly results · Last 5 quarters
Quarter	Revenue	Operating profit	Op. margin
2025Q2	₩164.2B	₩23.5B	14.3%
2025Q3	₩172.1B	₩22B	12.8%
2025Q4	₩176.8B	₩11.1B	6.3%
2026Q1	₩170.9B	₩24.9B	14.6%
2026Q2	₩179B	₩27.3B	15.2%

Annual results
Year	Revenue	Operating profit	Net income (parent)	Op. margin	ROE	Debt-to-equity
2022	₩680.2B	₩64.6B	₩45B	9.5%	11.9%	69.1%
2023	₩574.8B	₩24.7B	-₩17.5B	4.3%	−4.9%	79.8%
2024	₩582.4B	₩59.3B	₩29.7B	10.2%	7.5%	80.3%
2025	₩670.9B	₩78.1B	₩50.3B	11.6%	11.2%	66.5%

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

Earnings analysis

ENF Technology posted solid results in 2022 with revenue of 680.2 billion won and operating profit of 64.6 billion won, but revenue declined to 574.8 billion won in 2023 as the operating margin fell to 4.3%, resulting in a 17.5 billion won net loss attributable to owners.

The company recovered in 2024 with revenue of 582.4 billion won and operating profit of 59.3 billion won (10.2% margin), before expanding further in 2025 to revenue of 670.9 billion won, operating profit of 78.1 billion won and owners' net income of 50.3 billion won, lifting the operating margin to 11.6% and confirming the turnaround from loss to profit.

On a quarterly basis, operating profit eased slightly from 23.5 billion won in the second quarter of 2025 to 22.0 billion won in the third quarter, then dropped sharply to 11.1 billion won in the fourth quarter, a decline attributed to one-off cost recognition and an unfavorable product mix.

Operating profit then recovered to 24.9 billion won in the first quarter of 2026 and rose further to 27.3 billion won in the second quarter, the highest level among the trailing five quarters.

However, owners' net income eased slightly from 19.5 billion won in the first quarter of 2026 to 15.3 billion won in the second quarter, showing that the operating-level improvement did not translate consistently through to net income.

Taken together, the fourth-quarter 2025 margin compression followed by the first-and-second-quarter 2026 recovery suggests quarter-to-quarter volatility persists even as raw-material internalization and new product supply continue to progress.

Industry analysis

The global memory semiconductor market is in a recovery phase. JPMorgan projected the memory market to grow from $38 billion in 2025 to $58 billion in 2026, a trend attributed to the combination of a DRAM price rebound and expanding high-bandwidth memory (HBM) demand.

Domestic materials-industry analysis estimates that DRAM exposure accounts for roughly 65% of ENF Technology's semiconductor-segment revenue, giving the company relatively higher earnings visibility even while NAND utilization recovers more slowly.

As Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix expand investment in next-generation processes, expectations for earnings improvement across domestic semiconductor materials, parts and equipment suppliers have grown.

In terms of competitive positioning, Soulbrain has long held a dominant share exceeding 90% of SK Hynix's semiconductor-grade hydrofluoric acid supply, but ENF Technology's designation as the exclusive supplier for one production site signals an emerging shift from a two-player structure toward a three-player supply base.

Overseas, Samsung's Taylor fab in the United States is scheduled for trial production within 2026 and full-scale mass production in 2027, keeping competition for localized materials supply chains active.

Outlook

The company is pursuing a project to build a 450 billion won integrated semiconductor materials campus at the Yesan 2 General Industrial Complex in South Chungcheong Province together with Korea Alcohol Industrial and PURIT, having invested 31.8 billion won to secure the site with plans to move into the production-facility investment phase going forward.

The decision reflects the fact that the existing Asan, Ulsan and Cheonan sites have either reached the limits of land expansion or face difficulty adding capacity due to safety regulations around handling hydrofluoric acid, with Yesan selected for its proximity to the Asan plant.

In the United States, the company began shipping process chemicals from its Kyle, Texas plant to Samsung Electronics' Taylor fab starting in April 2026, and it has stated that once supply ramps up meaningfully it expects incremental annual revenue in the range of 30 billion to 40 billion won.

Regarding hydrofluoric acid supply to SK Hynix, the company expects roughly 10 billion won in revenue this year, expanding to an estimated 15 billion to 20 billion won next year.

In addition, a company official has said that its self-developed titanium etchant for through-silicon-via (TSV) packaging processes is expected to reach mass production within the year, pending customer qualification testing.

With new-item supply expansion and campus construction proceeding in parallel, the pace of capital execution and the outcome of customer qualification tests stand out as key variables shaping the earnings trajectory ahead.

Valuation

PER

10.5×

PBR

1.2×

ROE

12.4%

EPS

₩4,006

BPS

₩33,765

Dividend per share

₩200

The current share price is set against a backdrop in which the company moved from a net loss in 2023 to profitability in 2025 and has continued an earnings-recovery trajectory since.

The price-to-book level has moved within a trading band established over the past several quarters, and market attention on valuation appears to be regathering as profit scale expands.

Dividends have been maintained at a consistent level each year, though the absolute dividend attraction is not particularly large, meaning earnings growth and the outcome of new investments carry more weight than dividends in assessment.

NH Investment & Securities, in an April 2026 report, lowered its target price to reflect concerns over rising oil prices and a deteriorating product mix while maintaining a buy rating, a stance that appears to weigh near-term volatility factors against the longer-term growth narrative.

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

Bull factors

Earnings Visibility from DRAM and HBM Exposure

A significant portion of the semiconductor-segment revenue is concentrated in DRAM, giving relatively higher earnings visibility even as NAND utilization recovers more slowly. Expansion of HBM material supply alongside growing hydrofluoric acid share to SK Hynix is diversifying the revenue base simultaneously.

This is seen as a factor that could differentiate the company's earnings trajectory among domestic materials suppliers during the memory upcycle.

Early Overseas Supply Chain Positioning via US and China Plants

With the Kyle, Texas plant beginning to ship process chemicals to Samsung Electronics' Taylor fab, the company has entered the qualification stage ahead of competitors without a local production track record. Its Guangzhou, China subsidiary also functions as a base for meeting overseas demand.

Given that semiconductor materials require lengthy process-qualification periods, analysts note that companies with an early local production footprint could gain an advantage as mass production ramps up.

Medium- to Long-Term Capacity Expansion via the Yesan Campus

The 450 billion won integrated Yesan campus, built together with Korea Alcohol Industrial and PURIT, has been presented as a solution to the site and safety-regulation constraints of the existing facilities. Its geographic linkage to the Asan plant is also viewed positively for improving production efficiency.

Phased investment expansion is laying the groundwork to pursue raw-material internalization and new product production simultaneously.

Bear factors

Quarter-to-Quarter Margin Volatility

As seen in the fourth quarter of 2025, when operating profit fell sharply to 11.1 billion won from the prior quarter, one-off costs or shifts in product mix can cause quarterly results to swing.

Even as operating profit recovered in the first and second quarters of 2026, owners' net income actually eased slightly, suggesting that operating-level improvement may not always translate consistently through to net income.

Product Mix Risk from Delayed NAND Recovery

Analysts note that NAND utilization recovery across the memory industry is progressing more slowly than DRAM. If the company's supply of new items such as high-selectivity NAND etchants is delayed beyond expectations, revenue growth could fall short of expectations.

This is a variable the company needs to manage given that it has positioned new material supply expansion as part of its growth narrative.

Raw Material Price and Geopolitical Volatility

Analysts have noted that tensions in the Middle East or logistics disruptions related to the Strait of Hormuz could raise prices for raw materials such as sulfur, sulfuric acid and anhydrous hydrofluoric acid, adding to procurement cost burdens.

Securities firms have also flagged concerns that oil price movements affect certain chemical feedstock costs, pressuring product mix and margins. While raw-material internalization is underway, full self-sufficiency will take time.

Risk factors

Customer Concentration Risk

A substantial share of revenue is concentrated among a small number of large customers, including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, so changes in their capital expenditure pace or utilization rates directly affect results. Process transitions or order delays at a key customer could increase revenue volatility.

Large-Scale Investment Execution Risk

The Yesan campus project has moved past the site-acquisition stage and is set to expand into production-facility investment; if the planned 450 billion won investment is not executed as scheduled or is delayed, it could create financial strain or push back the expected timing of capacity expansion.

Supply Chain and Regulatory Risk

Given the business's handling of hazardous chemicals such as hydrofluoric acid, tightening safety and environmental regulations could constrain production expansion; indeed, the Cheonan plant already faces difficulty adding new capacity due to hydrofluoric acid handling issues.

Overseas, changes in US semiconductor subsidy or tariff policy, along with geopolitical factors affecting the China operation, are additional factors that could impact the supply chain.

What to watch next

Mid-November 2026
The 2026 third-quarter earnings release is expected around this time, and it will be important to check whether the operating-profit recovery seen through the second quarter continues and whether quarter-to-quarter volatility in owners' net income moderates.
Year-end 2026
It will be important to check whether Samsung Electronics' Taylor fab begins trial production and how quickly supply volumes from the Kyle, Texas plant expand, as this is directly tied to whether the company's stated 30 billion to 40 billion won incremental annual revenue target materializes.
Year-end 2026
It will be worth checking whether the company's self-developed titanium etchant passes customer qualification testing and begins mass production, as the company has stated it expects this to be achievable within the year.
Early 2027
SK Hynix's first fab at the Yongin semiconductor cluster is expected to begin operations around this time, making it worth monitoring the progress of ENF Technology's hydrofluoric acid supply expansion and its revenue contribution, which the company has indicated could reach the 15 billion to 20 billion won range.
Second half of 2026 through 2027
It will be important to track when the Yesan campus enters the production-facility investment phase and whether the scale of that investment is finalized, as the company has said it plans to expand investment in phases in line with future demand.

Overall view

ENF Technology overcame weak 2023 results to return to profitability in 2025 and has sustained an operating-profit recovery through the first half of 2026.

DRAM and HBM exposure, along with expanding hydrofluoric acid supply to SK Hynix, are cited as factors improving earnings visibility, while capacity expansion centered on the US Texas facility and the new Yesan campus stands as a key variable for medium- to long-term growth.

That said, as seen in the fourth quarter of 2025, quarter-to-quarter volatility from one-off costs and product mix shifts persists, and the execution of large-scale investments alongside the outcome of customer qualification tests will likely shape the earnings path ahead.

Raw material price fluctuations, customer concentration, and regulatory risk are also factors worth monitoring. The upcoming third-quarter earnings release and progress at the Taylor fab and Yongin cluster stand out as the next checkpoints.

Investment decisions should be made independently after a comprehensive review of this business and financial data.

Sources

Korea Exchange (KRX) — Prices · Market Cap · Volume
FSS electronic disclosure system (DART) — Financial statements · Dividend filings

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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.