“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, May 28 (Reporter Guo Hui) On the evening of May 27, Ningbo Silicon Electronics announced a 1.2 billion yuan plan to issue convertible corporate bonds to unspecified targets. It will increase heterogeneous advanced packaging and target the core technology required by Chiplet to achieve mass production.

Looking at the fund-raising purposes shown in the plan, Ningbo Silicon Electronics plans to raise no more than 1.2 billion yuan, of which 900 million yuan is intended to be used for multi-dimensional advanced heterogeneous packaging technology research and industrialization project construction, while 300 million yuan will be used to supplement working capital and repay bank loans.

On the trading day before the announcement was made (May 27), the stock price of Yongsi Electronics suddenly rose after noon trading. By the end of the day, it had an increase of 4.78% and closed at 20.38 yuan/share.

According to information, the total investment amount of the above project is 1,464 billion yuan. The project implementation site is located at Ningbo Silicon Electronics' Phase II plant in Ningbo, Zhejiang. The second phase of the company's factory was completed in September last year, with a construction area of over 380,000 square meters and a total investment of 11.1 billion yuan.

Yongxi Electronics said that after the completion of this convertible bond raising project, the company will carry out R&D and industrialization in the fields of “wafer-level restructured packaging technology (RWLP),” “multi-layer wiring connection technology (HCOS-OR),” “high copper column connection technology (HCOS-OT),” “silicon through-hole connection board technology (HCOSSI),” and “silicon through-hole connection board technology (HCOS-AI)”, and fully form annual sealed fan-out package (Fan-out) series and 2.5D/3D multi-dimensional 3D series after delivery It has a production capacity of 90,000 pieces of advanced packaging products.

The multiple multi-dimensional heterogeneous packaging related technologies described above are the foundation for implementing the Chiplet solution. According to our understanding, the Chiplet solution can reduce the area of a single grain, increase overall yield, reduce production costs, and reduce the dependence of high computing power chips on advanced wafer manufacturing processes; in addition, computing power chips using the Chiplet scheme can shorten the chip development cycle and achieve higher computing power by “piling up” the computing core.

Yongsi Electronics said that after the implementation of this convertible bond raising project, the company will purchase a series of advanced R&D and production equipment to enhance R&D capabilities in the field of wafer-level packaging and multi-dimensional heterogeneous packaging, and achieve mass production of multi-dimensional heterogeneous packaging products.

Yongsi Electronics' wafer-level fan-in packaging technology has been successfully developed, and technology development and mass production will be achieved in 2023, forming a one-stop delivery capability. However, in terms of the more critical fan-out package (Fan-out) and 2.5D/3D, Yongsi Electronics had always “only seen its sound” until now.

Yongsi Electronics said that the company already has certain technical reserves in advanced wafer-level packaging technology, including high-density, fine-pitch rewiring technology (RDL), wafer bump technology (Bumping), and Fan-In (Fin-In) technology for advanced process wafers. At the same time, the company is also actively developing wafer-level multi-dimensional heterogeneous packaging technologies such as fan-out (Fan-out) packaging and etching technology, and has obtained some invention patents.

According to the company when it was surveyed by the agency in April of this year, its Fan-out technology research and development is progressing smoothly; in the 2.5D/3D field, analysis and research on related technologies have been carried out, phase II plant delivery, and implementation of the Bumping project have laid the process foundation for the company to further develop 2.5D/3D packaging. It is expected to be connected and have small-batch production capacity in the second half of 2024. At the same time, the company is also maintaining communication with some customers.

In May of this year, Ningbo Silicon Electronics estimated that its capital expenditure will be around 2.5 billion dollars this year.

Secondary market investors concerned with the semiconductor industry told the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter that since the Securities Regulatory Commission introduced refinancing reform measures last year, the market is concerned about the prospects for A-share companies — especially listed companies with obvious performance fluctuations — to successfully implement refinancing this year.

Since this year, the refinancing of 6 companies on the Science and Technology Innovation Board has been accepted by the exchange. Compared with the “empty window period” from August last year to November of last year, the pace has slightly accelerated, but there has been a marked decline compared to the first and second quarters of last year.

Moreover, in May of this year, six companies on the Science and Technology Innovation Board centrally terminated their convertible bond issuance or targeted issuance plans, including Haitian Ruisheng, Kaili New Materials, Zhimingda, Youfang Technology, Lyle Technology, and Ruilian New Materials. Judging from the responses to the inquiry, the above 6 companies have received attention from the exchange in terms of their ability to operate continuously, the need to raise capital, and foreign financial investment. Situations such as significant fluctuations in performance and large losses also became uncertain factors for companies to successfully complete refinancing during the year.

According to the 2023 annual report of Yongsi Electronics, the company's total revenue last year was 2,391 billion yuan, up 9.82% year on year compared with 2,177 billion yuan in 2022. However, compared with the high revenue growth in 2020-2021, the growth rate slowed significantly, and Yongsi Electronics' net profit to mother in 2023 changed from profit to loss, with a loss scale of 93.39 million yuan. In the first quarter of this year, the company lost 35.45 million yuan in net profit to mother.

Looking at the debt situation, Yongsi Electronics' long-term loan balance at the end of 2023 increased by 2,483 billion yuan compared to the end of 2022, resulting in a significant increase in the company's total debt at the end of 2023. Yongsi Electronics said that the company's balance ratio was high during the reporting period, mainly due to increased requirements for purchasing fixed assets such as machinery and equipment, execution of orders and preparation, and working capital to meet business expansion needs.