[News] Chinese Companies Ramp up Investment in Semiconductor Materials Sector

Recently, Chinese domestic semiconductor material enterprise have been in high gear, engaging in capital mergers and acquisitions, equity, fund participation and project construction and other dimensions.

Huahai Chengke Acquires Equity Interests in Hysol Huawei

On September 22, Huahai Chengke announced that it received the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued “on the consent of Jiangsu Huahai Chengke to issue shares, convertible bonds to buy assets and raise matching funds registered approval.

According to the approval, Huahai Chengke can issue shares, convertible bonds and pay cash to 13 shareholders, including Shaoxing Shuhui Trading Company Limited, to purchase its 70% equity interest in Hysol Huawei at a transaction price of RMB 1.12 billion in accordance with the previously announced plan. Meanwhile, Huahai Chengke can also raise matching funds totaling no more than CNY 800 million from no more than 35 specific investors in line with Chinese regulations.

Hysol Huawei specializes in electronic packaging materials, and its products are mainly used in the field of semiconductor integrated circuit packaging, including packaging resin, packaging glue, packaging filler, etc.. It boasts an annual production capacity of about 5,000 tons, and serves customers including Chinese domestic mainstream semiconductor packaging manufacturers.

Sunflower to Acquire XiPu Materials

On September 21, the pharmaceutical company Sunflower announced to issue shares and pay cash to buy 100% equity of Zhangzhou XiPu Material, 40% equity of Zhejiang Beide Pharmacy and raise matching funds.

Founded in 2005, Sunflower originally specialized in solar cell module business, but due to the photovoltaic industry cyclical fluctuations, the company struggled to earn profits and later sought to acquire 60% equity of Beide Pharmaceuticals in 2019 as an entry to the field of medicine and gradually sold photovoltaic assets to realize the transformation to the pharmaceuticals and health industry.

XiPu Materials focuses on the research, development, manufacturing and sales of high-end semiconductor materials. Its core products include semiconductor-grade high-purity electronic special gases (e.g., high-purity silane, high-purity germanium, high-purity phosphine, etc.), silicon-based precursors, metal-based precursors, etc., which are widely used in the key process links of semiconductor manufacturing.

Adchem Completed Series E Founding

On September 18th, Sinochem announced the completion of its Series E investment in Adchem, aiming to support the company’s R&D and industrialization process in the field of semiconductor thin film materials.

Founded in 2018, Adchem is a high-tech enterprise focusing on the research and development of semiconductor thin film materials, with leading nanoscale functional film growth technology, capable of providing electronic-grade semiconductor thin films and functional film solutions for users in integrated circuit chip manufacturing sector.

Previously on May 22, Adchem and Japan’s Tri Chemical Laboratories Inc. successfully signed a cooperation agreement, intending to set up a joint venture in the Hefei Economic and Technological Development Zone and jointly build a “high-purity precursors and electronic-grade solvents project”.

Pannersi Completed Series A Funding

Recently, Chinese semiconductor ultrapure etching silicon material enterprise – Jiangxi Pannersi announced the completion of Series A funding with nearly RMB 100 million.

Founded in 2021, Pannersi specializes in the production of semiconductor-grade silicon wafers, including grinding wafers, etching wafers, polishing wafers, and wafer sizes covering 4, 5, 6, and 8 inches, with 4-6 inches as the main focus at present, and will shift to 8 inches at a later stage.

Currently, Pannersi has been widely qualified by a number of international customers, with orders achieving rapid growth and commercialization picking steam. Its Jingdezhen production base is expanding, and after fully put into production, it will form a capacity scale with annual output of 16 tons of large-diameter single crystal, 24 million pieces of 3-6-inch milled wafers, and 4.8 million pieces of 3-8-inch polished wafers, which is expected to make the company  an important global supplier of etched silicon materials.

Skychem Invested in Junhua Fuchuang Electronic Materials Industry Private Investment Fund

Recently, Skychem announced that the company intends to participate in the subscription of the fund share of Shanghai Junhua Fuchuang Electronic Materials Industry Private Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) with its own or self-funded funds of not more than RMB 50 million.

The fund focuses on electronic materials industry investment with a management scale of around CNY 1 billion. Its investment direction includes electronic special gas, precursor, packaging materials, equipment and the like, with a focus on the field of high-precision electronic chemicals with low localization rate and wide market space. It also carries out diversified cooperation with listed companies.

Skychem is a provider of functional wet electronic chemicals, founded in 2010 and listed in 2023. It mainly engages in special chemicals for horizontal copper sinking and other specialized electronic chemicals required for PCBs, and its products are widely used in electronic circuits, semiconductor advanced packaging, displays, new energy and other fields.

Yilong Electronics Announced the Topping-out of High-Purity Phosphine Project

On September 17, Yilong Electronics announced the topping-out of its project with an annual output of 200 tons high-purity phosphine.

The project was launched in 2024, located in Guiyang Guizhou. It mainly produces  high purity phosphine (5N) for photovoltaic solar energy and ultra-high purity phosphine (6N) electronic gases for semiconductors. With a total investment of RMB 100 million, it is expected to possess an annual production capacity of 200 tons, and 500,000 Nm3/a of phosphine diluted gas distribution device, which is projected to be completed and put into operation at the end of 2025.

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