ASIC design solutions firm ASICland said on Thursday it posted consolidated third-quarter revenue of 48.3 billion won and operating profit of 1.4 billion won. Revenue rose 199 percent from a year earlier, and operating results swung to profit from a 4.5 billion won loss. The operating margin was 2.9 percent.

It marked a second straight quarterly operating profit after the second quarter. Revenue was about 20 percent higher than securities firms' forecast of about 40.0 billion won. The company posted a quarterly net loss of 3.0 billion won. It attributed the loss to foreign exchange losses reflected in non-operating losses as exchange-rate volatility widened. Financial costs were 5.2 billion won, exceeding financial income of 800,000,000 won.

The earnings improvement came as both development and mass-production businesses expanded. Third-quarter development revenue was about 35.6 billion won, more than doubling, while product (mass-production) revenue rose about 25-fold to about 12.8 billion won.

Cumulative consolidated revenue for the first three quarters was 162.1 billion won, up 248 percent from a year earlier. Cumulative operating profit was 6.4 billion won, swinging from a 17.6 billion won loss a year earlier. Cumulative net profit was also positive at 3.3 billion won.

Next year, the shift of memory controller development projects into mass production is cited as a new growth driver. The securities industry forecasts that mass production of next-generation eSSD (enterprise SSD) controllers will begin from 2027.

An ASICland official said results continue to improve as major development projects increasingly shift into mass production this year. The official said the company will continue to respond proactively to demand for system semiconductor development across various areas, including memory controllers, and strengthen the foundation for stable and sustained growth through conversion to mass production and expansion.