Key points of investment

Incident: Recently, Xuguang Electronics' Sun Company, Ningxia Beici New Material Technology Co., Ltd., received the national key R&D project task book “Aluminum Nitride Ceramic Component Design and Manufacture and Application of Large Size Heat-Assisted Electrostatic Chucks” issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology. The company is expected to help the industrialization process of electrostatic suction cups, a core component of semiconductor equipment.

Electrostatic suction cups are extremely critical semiconductor equipment components. Localization demand is urgent. Electrostatic suction cups, also known as electrostatic chucks (ESC, E-Chuck), are a type of fixture that uses the principle of electrostatic adsorption to hold fixed adsorbents. They are suitable for vacuum and plasma environments. Their main function is to adsorb ultra-clean sheets (such as silicon wafers) and maintain a good flatness of the adsorbent, which can inhibit the deformation of the adsorbent in the process and adjust the temperature of the adsorbent. The uniformity of wafer temperature distribution is an important factor affecting wafer etching rate and etching uniformity, and electrostatic suction cups play a key role in controlling wafer temperature. There are many processes in the semiconductor wafer manufacturing process, and each process needs to ensure the smooth fixation of the wafer. The electrostatic suction cup has become the most widely used wafer clamping tool, and is a core component of etching equipment, PVD equipment, PECVD equipment, ion implantation equipment, etc. The internal structure of an electrostatic suction cup mainly includes a dielectric layer, a heating layer, and a base. Because of their high thermal conductivity, AlN and SiC can be used to make dielectric layers of electrostatic suction cups. Currently, the global electrostatic suction cup market is mainly monopolized by US and Japanese manufacturers. Major manufacturers include US Applied Materials, US Lam Research, Japan SHINKO, Japan TOTO, Japan NTK, etc. Since electrostatic suction cups are consumables, their service life is generally less than two years, so electrostatic suction cups have a large replacement market.

According to NTCysD data, the global electrostatic suction cup market in 2022 had sales of US$1,823 billion, and is expected to reach US$2,591 billion in 2029. In terms of sales volume, the global sales volume of electrostatic suction cups in 2022 was 57,800 pieces.

The company undertakes the important project of electrostatic suction cups from the Ministry of Science and Technology to help industrialize electrostatic chucks and promote electrostatic suction cups as the core semiconductor equipment component, which is of great significance to the national production of China's semiconductor industry. Recently, Xuguang Electronics' Sun Company, Ningxia Beici New Material Technology Co., Ltd. received the national key research and development plan task book “Aluminum nitride ceramic component design and manufacture and application of large size auxiliary heat type electrostatic chuck” issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology. The topic called for “Systematically carrying out large-scale auxiliary aluminum nitride electrostatic chuck structure design for 12-inch wafers in response to China's semiconductor industry's urgent need for localization of high-precision electrostatic suction cups, structural design of large-size auxiliary aluminum nitride electrostatic suction cups for 12-inch wafers. Co-regulation of thermal and electrical properties of ceramic materials, co-regulation of thermal and electrical properties of auxiliary thermal suction cups, electrostatic suction cup manufacturing technology, and electrostatic absorption performance indicators Research in various fields such as technology... and completed The demonstration application in semiconductor process simulation devices and the establishment of a pilot production line will lay the foundation for the industrial application and development of localized high-performance aluminum nitride electrostatic suction cups.” The relevant project undertaken by the company is a project for the development and application of high-precision crystal boats and electrostatic suction cups for semiconductors. The implementation of this project is expected to help advance the industrialization of electrostatic suction cups.

Profit forecasting and valuation

We estimate that the company's net profit for 2023/2024/2025 will be 1.06/235/333 million yuan, respectively, and the corresponding PE will be 67.88/30.60/21.60X, respectively. Considering the company's unique competitive advantage in the aluminum nitride industry (with full-process capability for powder+devices), it is expected that it will continue to open up growth space in fields such as electrostatic suction cups in the future. As production capacity for fund-raising projects rises, aluminum nitride's business results are expected to continue to be realized. Combined with the company's strong sustainability in 2024-2025, driven by aluminum nitride, it was upgraded to a “buy” rating.

Risk warning

Production capacity falls short of expectations, product development and certification falls short of expectations, demand falls short of expectations, and increased competition risks