Capital operations are being implemented intensively, but the realization of high-end capacity remains to be seen.
In September, four domestic advanced packaging companies made intensive strategic moves. Tongfu Microelectronics (TFME) 's CNY 4.209 billion private placement was completed; JCET disclosed a private placement plan of no more than CNY 6.5 billion; SJ Semiconductor provided a guarantee for a CNY 980 million project loan; and HT-Tech's major asset restructuring received the CSRC's approval for registration.
From public actions, the recent moves of the four companies involve advanced packaging, memory packaging and testing, wafer-level packaging, and power devices, with respective focuses in business directions and sub-sectors. The core test lies in: the arrival of financing and the commencement of projects are just the beginning. Whether high-end capacity can be realized, and whether customer certification, yield rate, and capacity utilization rate can keep up, may become important variables in the next stage.
I. Collective Recovery in Performance, but Growth Quality Varies
From the financial results, the revenue of all four companies grew, but the profit elasticity is roughly divided into two categories. The profit growth rates of JCET, TFME, and HT-Tech were all significantly higher than their revenue growth. Specifically, JCET's net profit attributable to shareholders increased by 79.41% year-on-year, TFME grew by 316.77%, and HT-Tech grew by 259.15%. SJ Semiconductor's revenue grew by 7.20%, and its net profit attributable to shareholders grew by 3.33%. Its profit growth rate was lower than its revenue growth, showing a relatively moderate performance.
However, although both are growing, the quality of growth is not the same. JCET's improvement comes more from the optimization of capacity utilization rate and product structure; there is a large gap between TFME's net profit attributable to shareholders and its non-recurring net profit, with investment income and changes in the fair value of financial assets thickening the apparent profit; HT-Tech's non-recurring net profit is about CNY 250 million, and the high profit growth still has factors of a low base and cyclical recovery; although SJ Semiconductor's revenue from middle-end silicon wafer processing and wafer-level packaging grew rapidly, its chiplet multi-chip integration packaging business, which accounts for 53.66% of revenue, only grew by 2.61%, dragging down the overall growth rate to a certain extent.
II. Financing, Capacity Expansion, and Capital Operations
01. JCET: High-End Capacity Continues to Be Implemented, and Next-Generation Packaging Technologies Advance Simultaneously
JCET's recent focus remains on high-end capacity construction. The company's high-end advanced packaging factory, JCET Microelectronics, continues to advance capacity construction, customer certification, and project introduction; the Lingang automotive electronics factory was put into production in March and entered the stage of mass production in the second quarter. The company's focus in the next stage is to accelerate the mass production implementation and capacity release of key projects.
Technologically, the company continues to lay out next-generation packaging directions such as hybrid bonding, panel-level advanced packaging, and CPO, and its related R&D platforms and verification capabilities have made positive progress. Its XDFOI platform includes packaging types such as 2.5D/3D, SiP, and WLP. The platform has broad coverage, but what is more worthy of attention in the future is whether these capabilities can continue to be transformed into advanced packaging revenue and profit margins.
In terms of financing, JCET disclosed a private placement plan of no more than CNY 6.5 billion in September. The funds are planned to be invested in projects such as advanced packaging for high-performance computing, packaging and testing of high-end power modules, wafer-level packaging, and system-level packaging and testing of high-density storage.
This matter still needs to go through relevant approval procedures, and whether it can be implemented remains uncertain. At the same time, the CNY 1.346 billion industrial fund established with the company's participation has completed the filing. The wholly-owned subsidiary subscribed for CNY 403.8 million, accounting for 30%, and the specific investment direction of the fund has not yet been disclosed. According to the company's investor relations activity record table, the fixed asset investment budget for 2026 is about CNY 10 billion, mainly invested in advanced packaging production line construction and technology R&D.
02. TFME: High-End Capacity Expansion and Private Placement Funds Implemented
TFME's project focus is on high-end packaging capacity. TFME AMD Suzhou and Penang factories are expanding high-end capacity, expanding production space, and upgrading equipment around AI and high-computing products to solve the delivery bottleneck of high-end products. According to public information, TFME plans to invest about CNY 9.1 billion in facility construction, production equipment, IT, and technology R&D in 2026.
Technologically, on the basis of the 3nm process put into production in 2025, the company focuses on tackling the 2nm node. Thin-die hybrid SiP double-sided packaging and CPO technologies have passed reliability verification. The company disclosed that the demand for PMIC wafer-level packaging, SiP, and bumping is strong. From public information, TFME is advancing the upgrade from traditional packaging and testing to a higher-density and higher-performance system-level packaging platform.
In terms of financing, the company's private placement application was approved for registration by the CSRC in early July. On September 12, it disclosed the private placement listing announcement. The newly added shares were listed on September 16, with a net raised fund of CNY 4.209 billion. The funds from this private placement are invested in projects such as memory chip packaging and testing, emerging application fields such as automotive, wafer-level packaging and testing, capacity improvement for packaging and testing in high-performance computing and communication fields, as well as supplementing working capital and repaying bank loans.
03. HT Tech: Advancement of Nanjing Memory Packaging and Testing Project, and Approval of Huayi Microelectronics Restructuring
HT-Tech's project focus is the Phase II, Stage II project in Nanjing. According to public information on the project, the project invests CNY 3 billion, positioning itself in high-end memory chip packaging and testing, facing AI computing power, servers, and data centers. It is expected to be put into use in the first quarter of 2027, and upon reaching full capacity, it will package and test about 430 million memory chips annually. From the project positioning, this project leans more towards high-end memory packaging and testing and AI computing power supporting facilities.
Technologically, the company focuses on advancing the scaled mass production of the 2.5D technology platform, focusing on customer development in memory, large-size FCBGA, SiP, automotive electronics, etc., and completing the process development of 2.5D SiCS, memory vertical wire bonding, FCQFN automotive electronics wettable flank, etc. In the first half of the year, the company obtained 30 authorized patents, including 21 invention patents.
In terms of capital operations, on September 28, the company's matter of issuing shares and paying cash to purchase assets and raising matching funds received the approval reply for registration from the CSRC. This restructuring plans to acquire 100% of the shares of Huayi Microelectronics. From public actions, HT-Tech is simultaneously advancing high-end memory packaging and testing capacity and the extension of power device business.
04. SJ Semiconductor: Two Capacity Expansion Lines Advance, and 3DIC Capabilities Continue to Be Strengthened
SJ Semiconductor's two capacity expansion lines have entered the advancement stage. The Jiangyin "Multi-Layer Fine-Line-Width System Integration Packaging and Testing Project (Phase I)" started construction on May 12, with a total investment of CNY 9.8 billion; the Shanghai Lingang "Dongshenghexin 3D Integrated Chip Manufacturing (Phase I)" started construction on June 29, with a total investment of CNY 10 billion, aiming to build 3DIC scaled mass production capacity. The two projects point to wafer-level advanced packaging and 3DIC mass production, respectively.
Technologically, the company has completed the process development of the 6x reticle ultra-large-size silicon bridge chiplet multi-chip integration solution. SmartPoser®-3DIC-BP has achieved scaled mass production, and SmartPoser®-3DIC-HB is still continuing to refine the C2W and W2W processes. On September 15, the company announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Chengxin Integration, plans to apply to the China Development Bank for a loan of no more than CNY 980 million in new policy-based financial instruments to ensure the implementation of the first phase of the Jiangyin project, with the listed company providing joint and several liability guarantees.
Among the IPO raised fund investment projects, the "3D Multi-Chip Integration Packaging Project" has been invested by 85.08%, and the company claims that the planned capacity construction has been basically completed; the "Ultra-High-Density Interconnect 3D Multi-Chip Integration Packaging Project" has been invested by 100%, and is expected to reach the usable state in December 2026.
III. What This Round of Moves May Indicate
From the public actions from July to September, the investment focus of domestic advanced packaging is shifting from traditional packaging and testing capacity expansion, partially to 2.5D/3D, memory packaging and testing, and wafer-level packaging. The recent projects and funding arrangements of JCET, TFME, HT-Tech, and SJ Semiconductor are mostly related to high-end packaging or related capability building. However, the nature of these moves is not exactly the same: some are capacity projects, some are technology platform layouts, and some are capital operations or project financing. Therefore, they cannot be simply attributed to homogeneous capacity expansion in the industry.
The key to competition may also be shifting from "whether there is a production line" to "whether stable mass production can be formed and profitability achieved". Equipment installation, financing arrival, and project commencement are only preliminary links. Subsequently, it still needs to rely on customer certification, yield rate, capacity utilization rate, and product structure. These variables may become the key to judging whether capacity can be transformed into revenue, rather than forming depreciation pressure.
The paths of the four companies have shown a certain degree of divergence, but this divergence is still ongoing. JCET emphasizes platform breadth and profit recovery more, but whether it can continuously transform platform capabilities such as XDFOI into advanced packaging revenue and profit margins remains to be observed; from public information, TFME is deeply bound to AMD and high-performance computing orders, with greater profit elasticity, but customer concentration and non-recurring gains also need to be continuously tracked; HT-Tech extends to high-end memory packaging through the Nanjing memory packaging and testing project, but the project will not be put into use until the first quarter of 2027, and the orders and capacity digestion still need to be verified; SJ Semiconductor has deep accumulation in the 2.5D/WLCSP field, with clear technological progress, but high market share and technological breakthroughs cannot be directly equated with high revenue growth, and customer introduction and capacity ramp-up still need to be seen.
Therefore, in the second half of the year, we should not only look at revenue growth rate. The proportion of advanced packaging revenue, capacity utilization rate, non-recurring net profit, operating cash flow, and capital expenditure return may reflect the real progress of these projects better than a single revenue indicator. Advanced packaging is still an asset-heavy and long-cycle business, and financing and capacity expansion must ultimately be tested by orders, utilization rate, and cash flow.
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