According to the Star Daily on January 10 (Reporter Guo Hui), influenced by the new round of entity lists from the USA, ACM Research Shanghai announced the termination of its asset investment in South Korea.

ACM Research Shanghai today (January 10) after the market closed released an announcement stating that the Board of Directors and Supervisory Board recently approved the termination of the excess fundraising investment project "ACM Research South Korea Semiconductor equipment R&D and manufacturing center," and the 0.245 billion yuan of raised funds originally intended for this project will be redirected to the IPO fundraising project "ACM Research Semiconductor equipment R&D and manufacturing center."

The above matters still need to be submitted to the ACM Research Shanghai Shareholders' Meeting for deliberation.

Regarding the reasons for terminating the South Korea project, ACM Research Shanghai stated in the announcement that due to changes in the Global business environment in the first half of 2024, the company believes, after careful evaluation, that large-scale fixed asset investment through the "ACM Research South Korea Semiconductor equipment R&D and manufacturing center" project would face risks.

It is reported that on December 2, 2024, ACM Research Shanghai and its subsidiary in South Korea (ACM Research South Korea) were included in the "entity list" by the USA's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

At that time, ACM Research Shanghai responded that it was conducting a comprehensive assessment of the potential impacts the new regulations may have on the company's Business and Operation plans. Based on previous information, ACM Research Shanghai believes that since the company has established a diversified supply chain and alternative resources, the impact on ACM Research Shanghai's ability to deliver and service equipment produced and sold to domestic customers will be controllable and manageable. "The new regulations will not affect the company's ability to sell, deliver and service products to overseas customers."

ACM Research Shanghai today (January 10) stated in the announcement that to avoid risks brought about by changes in the Global business environment, better protect the interests of the company and Shareholders, and improve the efficiency of fund utilization, the company has decided to terminate the asset investment project in South Korea.

However, ACM Research Shanghai stated that the company will continue to focus on development opportunities in overseas markets and will optimize its Global layout strategy to advance international development in a more robust and flexible manner.

It is understood that ACM Research, Inc., the affiliate of ACM Research Shanghai located in the USA and its other direct subsidiaries outside of mainland China, are not included in the list.

According to ACM Research Shanghai during an institutional survey in November 2024, the company's SAPS megasonic Cleaning Equipment and Tahoe medium-low temperature SPM Cleaning Equipment have certain technological advantages globally, with expected service coverage in the Cleaning market reaching 30%.

Regarding the planned investment in the "ACM Semiconductor Equipment R&D and Manufacturing Center" project, this is the company's initial fundraising investment project. According to its prospectus, the project mainly aims to quickly achieve the integration and development of related process equipment such as槽式 Cleaning Equipment, vertical furnace tube equipment (annealing furnaces, oxidation furnaces, LPCVD, ALD), by introducing advanced process Hardware modules and technology from first-class teams abroad, thereby expanding and establishing a comprehensive product line of both wet and dry equipment to meet the continuous growth of Order scale globally.

The above project was originally planned to be put into use in 2023, with a total planned investment of 0.882 billion yuan. However, as the project's construction specifications and corresponding requirements have repeatedly upgraded, the project budget has increased significantly to 1.569 billion yuan, and the expected usable status date has been postponed twice from 2023 to June 2025.

According to the announcement, the main structure of the "ACM Semiconductor Equipment R&D and Manufacturing Center" project has basically been completed, and the remaining tasks include internal decoration of some buildings, procurement, debugging, and installation of some equipment, and landscaping of the building top and surrounding areas.

ACM Research Shanghai stated, "To ensure the smooth progress of the project and accelerate the overall production progress, the company plans to change the originally planned investment of 0.245 billion yuan raised for the 'ACM South Korea Semiconductor Equipment R&D and Manufacturing Center' to the 'ACM Semiconductor Equipment R&D and Manufacturing Center'. This change is based on considerations for improving the efficiency of raised funds and optimizing resource allocation, which will help accelerate project construction and ensure the achievement of the company's capacity construction goals."

Looking ahead to 2025, ACM Research Shanghai stated in the minutes of its institutional survey in the fourth quarter of 2024 that from the order situation at that time, the company remains optimistic about future revenue performance, expecting to continue to maintain rapid growth in 2025. "The company will further expand its market share, and furnace tube equipment may contribute significant revenue in 2025. Meanwhile, the company's Track and PECVD devices have also made R&D progress. Specifically, it is expected that 2025 will promote the client verification of the γTrack device, accelerate the localization process, and further expand the market share of domestic products; in terms of PECVD, the company has drawn positive conclusions after internal evaluations regarding customers' high-difficulty process requirements and has gained recognition from customers."