Semifive said on Thursday it posted consolidated first-half orders of 118.9 billion won and sales of 94.7 billion won. In six months, it reached 71 percent of last year’s full-year orders of 168.4 billion won and 78 percent of annual sales of 120.9 billion won.

Its ASIC development business posted sales of 54.1 billion won, more than doubling from a year earlier. It achieved structural growth centered on a turnkey business model in which mass production is confirmed. The company said the feature that production volumes are set from the outset when set makers and service providers commission custom chip development served as a pipeline that will drive future sales.

New first-half orders for its mass production business totaled 42.3 billion won, about double last year’s full-year orders of 21.2 billion won. Quarterly orders rose to 26.7 billion won in the second quarter from 15.6 billion won in the first quarter, up 71 percent from the previous quarter. Overseas customers accounted for 12.1 billion won, or 45 percent, of second-quarter orders, as the company’s global mass production pipeline is in full operation. It is structured to generate stable revenue across the full product life cycle based on exclusive mask production rights.

The IP business of its subsidiary Analog Bits posted first-half sales of 32.5 billion won and new orders of 32.1 billion won. Sales already exceeded last year’s full-year figure of 30.5 billion won, and orders reached 77.3 percent of last year’s full-year total of 41.5 billion won. As global demand concentrated on low-power mixed-signal IP due to the growing importance of power efficiency and thermal management in AI chips, sales of IP for the most advanced 2 and 3 nm processes increased steadily.

First-half gross margin was 30.6 percent, up 18.7 percentage points from 11.9 percent a year earlier. Operating margin was minus 11.5 percent, improving 47.0 percentage points from a year earlier and sharply narrowing losses.

Semifive CEO Myunghyun Cho (조명현) said, "The first-half results prove that an expandable business model that runs from ASIC turnkey to mass production and IP licensing has entered the main track." He added, "Based on the secured order backlog, the sequential reflection of mass production volumes and the expansion of the new ASIC development pipeline, we expect growth momentum in the second half to become even clearer."