Advanced Nano Products

Nanoshinsojae synthesizes metal and non-metal raw materials into ultrafine nano powders and processes them into targets, pastes, sols, and slurries across multiple application areas.

As of 2024, secondary battery materials such as CNT accounted for the largest share of revenue at 45.8%, followed by display materials such as indium-oxide TCO targets at 8.4%, semiconductor materials such as CMP slurry at 11.7%, solar cell materials such as silver paste at 5.8%, and other segments at 28.3%.

CNT slurry used in secondary batteries improves electrical conductivity and energy density when applied to cathode materials, and suppresses volume expansion of silicon anode materials when applied to anodes.

The company is regarded as the sole global producer of anode-use CNT slurry with SWCNT dispersion, while the cathode-use CNT slurry market includes multiple competitors such as LG Chem, Dongjin Semichem, Toyo Color, and China's Cnano Technology.

Its principal customers are Korea's three major battery makers—LG Energy Solution (anode), SK On (cathode and anode)—and supply to Samsung SDI (cathode and anode) has recently ramped up, with new supply agreements also being discussed or signed with battery cell makers in Japan and Europe.

In the semiconductor segment, the company exclusively supplies oxide-based ceria slurry used in chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) processes to Cabot Microelectronics, the market share leader, providing a stable revenue base.

It also produces transparent conductive oxide (TCO) targets, sputtering targets, and silver paste for display and solar cell applications, giving it a diversified business structure spanning four application areas.

Nanoshinsojae's annual results peaked in 2022 with revenue of KRW 79.9bn and operating profit of KRW 16.8bn (a 21.1% operating margin), before slowing to revenue of KRW 83.2bn and operating profit of KRW 11.9bn (14.3%) in 2023, and further declining in 2024 to revenue of KRW 87.8bn with operating profit shrinking to KRW 2.99bn (3.4%) and net income turning negative at KRW -1.85bn.

In 2025, revenue rebounded to KRW 111.7bn (up 27.3% year over year), operating profit recovered to KRW 4.68bn (a 4.2% margin), and net income turned positive again at KRW 1.63bn.

On a quarterly basis, Q2 2025 posted revenue of KRW 29.4bn and operating profit of KRW 1.85bn but still recorded a net loss of KRW -1.95bn, while Q3 2025 (revenue KRW 31.2bn, operating profit KRW 0.90bn, net income KRW 1.62bn) and Q4 2025 (revenue KRW 28.8bn, operating profit KRW 1.64bn, net income KRW 1.21bn) maintained positive net income.

Moving into 2026, Q1 revenue reached KRW 32.7bn with operating profit of KRW 2.76bn (an 8.4% margin) and net income of KRW 6.50bn, and Q2 revenue reached KRW 36.5bn with operating profit of KRW 5.34bn (a 14.6% margin) and net income of KRW 6.05bn, showing a clear trend of rising revenue alongside expanding operating margins.

Notably, net income in Q1 and Q2 2026 substantially exceeded operating profit, suggesting a meaningful contribution from non-operating items, which warrants examining the composition of earnings rather than relying on operating results alone.

On the balance sheet, the debt ratio rose sharply from 7.5% in 2022 to 79.6% in 2023, 81.1% in 2024, and 84.1% in 2025, reflecting large-scale capital raises through convertible preferred stock, convertible bonds, and bonds with warrants used to fund overseas production site construction in the United States and Europe.

Operating cash flow moved from KRW 19.4bn in 2022 to KRW 24.5bn in 2024 and KRW 16.8bn in 2025, showing some volatility despite revenue growth.

The secondary battery materials industry has gone through a difficult stretch from 2024 through the first half of 2025, as slowing EV sales in North America and Europe and intensifying competition from Chinese suppliers led to prolonged shipment weakness at domestic battery cell makers.

During this period, Nanoshinsojae also faced sharply weaker profitability due to overlapping fixed costs and selling, general and administrative expenses from the initial ramp-up of new overseas plants in the United States and Poland.

Nevertheless, the structural trend of expanding silicon anode adoption remains intact, and because silicon anodes require CNT conductive materials—particularly SWCNT dispersants—to address volume expansion issues, this underpins the company's medium- to long-term demand base.

In terms of competitive positioning, Nanoshinsojae is considered the sole global producer of anode-use CNT slurry, while the cathode-use CNT slurry market is more competitive, featuring players such as LG Chem, Dongjin Semichem, Toyo Color, and China's Cnano Technology.

The semiconductor CMP slurry business maintains an exclusive supply position with Cabot Microelectronics, giving it a more stable profile relative to the battery materials segment.

More recently, shifting U.S. policy toward solar materials has highlighted demand for de-China-sourced materials, drawing renewed attention to the company's existing solar cell materials business as a potential new growth driver.

In its corporate value-up plan disclosed on April 25, 2025, Nanoshinsojae set a medium- to long-term target of KRW 600bn in revenue and a 20% operating margin by 2030.

The core pillar for achieving this is continued capacity expansion in the CNT conductive materials business, and rising utilization at overseas production sites in the United States and Poland appears to have begun feeding through into improved results in the first half of 2026.

New supply agreements with battery cell makers in Japan and Europe were reportedly signed or discussed starting in 2025, suggesting the customer base centered on Korea's three major battery makers could gradually diversify.

On valuation, iM Securities raised its target price to KRW 110,000 in a report dated May 11, 2026, citing benefits from U.S. solar policy favoring de-China-sourced materials and expanding new orders for CNT conductive materials.

The timing and scale of silicon anode adoption by automakers and battery cell makers will likely remain the key variable determining the pace of future CNT conductive material revenue growth, making it important to continue tracking new customer wins and expansion of existing customer volumes.