Company Overview
ACM Research Shanghai was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Zhangjiang, Pudong, Shanghai. It is a leading enterprise in China's semiconductor cleaning equipment sector. The company was listed on the STAR Market in November 2021 (stock code: 688082). Founder Dr. Wang Hui and his team possess extensive R&D experience in semiconductor equipment and entered the global market in the early days through a differentiated technology approach. Within the AI industry chain, ACM Research Shanghai strategically positions itself in the cleaning equipment segment at the semiconductor manufacturing and materials level, making it one of the core beneficiaries of the domestic substitution wave.
The company started with single-wafer cleaning equipment and gradually built a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor wet processing equipment covering processes such as cleaning, electroplating, furnace, and photoresist stripping. As of the end of 2023, the company had cumulatively shipped over 2,000 cleaning equipment units, with customers spanning major global wafer foundries, memory manufacturers, and IDM companies.
ACM Research Shanghai
ACM Research Shanghai's core revenue source is single-wafer wet cleaning equipment, spanning the SAPS (Space Alternated Phase Shift), TEBO (Timely Energized Bubble Oscillation), and Tahoe (high-temperature sulfuric acid cleaning) series. These tools are primarily used to remove particles, metal contaminants, and native oxides from wafer surfaces, and are essential pre- and post-processing steps for lithography, etching, ion implantation, and other processes. The company's products cover 28nm and below process nodes, with mature applications at the 14nm and 7nm nodes as well.
- SAPS: Achieves high-uniformity cleaning through precise control of megasonic energy distribution, particularly suited for patterned wafers with critical dimensions below 10nm.
- TEBO: Eliminates bubble effects in megasonic cleaning to prevent nanoscale structural damage, making it the preferred solution for cleaning ultra-high aspect ratio structures in 3D NAND.
- Tahoe: Integrates high-temperature sulfuric acid with diluted chemical solutions to improve photoresist and polymer removal efficiency while reducing chemical consumption by approximately 50%.
This segment includes electroplating copper equipment (ECP) and advanced packaging wet process equipment. The electroplating equipment is used for metal filling of through-silicon vias (TSV) and redistribution layers (RDL), primarily serving advanced packaging and 3D stacking applications. With the proliferation of Chiplet technology, this business has shown notable growth.
Following the acquisition of Korea's ACM Research in 2022, the company introduced vertical furnace technology, including oxidation diffusion furnaces, low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD), and atomic layer deposition (ALD), further extending its vertical reach across the semiconductor manufacturing process flow.
| Product Line | Revenue Share (2023) | Key Customers | Gross Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-wafer cleaning equipment | ~80% | SMIC, Hua Hong, YMTC | ~46% |
| Electroplating & advanced packaging equipment | ~8% | JCET, Tongfu Microelectronics | ~40% |
| Furnace equipment | ~5% | Sanan Optoelectronics, Silan Microelectronics | ~35% |
| Others (services, spare parts, etc.) | ~7% | All customers | ~60% |
Technology Moat
Moat 1: Globally Leading Megasonic Cleaning Patent Portfolio
ACM Research Shanghai has built a global patent portfolio of over 300 patents centered around two core technologies: SAPS and TEBO. SAPS technology achieves uniform distribution of megasonic waves in the cleaning solution, overcoming the standing wave effect inherent in traditional megasonic cleaning; TEBO technology resolves the long-standing industry challenge of "bubble burst damage." These two technologies position the company as one of the few equipment vendors worldwide capable of providing damage-free megasonic cleaning, establishing a rigid barrier in advanced process nodes (7nm and below).
Moat 2: High Customer Stickiness and Certification Barriers
Semiconductor equipment typically requires 18-24 months of process qualification and customer certification before entering the production line. ACM Research Shanghai has achieved volume shipments to mainstream domestic wafer fabs and has become a core cleaning equipment supplier to SMIC, Hua Hong Semiconductor, CXMT, and YMTC. Due to the high coupling between cleaning process parameters and overall line yield, once customers select an equipment solution, the switching cost is extremely high.
Moat 3: Full-Stack Wet Process Coverage
Starting from cleaning, the company has progressively expanded into electroplating, furnace, and photoresist removal equipment, offering customers a "one-stop" wet process solution across wet/gas-phase tools. This platform capability gives ACM priority in customer fab expansion projects while reducing the cyclical volatility of any single product category.
| Dimension | Data |
|---|---|
| Global Market Share (2023) | ~5% (ranked sixth, after SCREEN, TEL, Lam Research, Kokusai, SEMES) |
| China Market Share (2023) | ~25% (ranked first among domestic equipment manufacturers) |
| Main Competitors | Dainippon Screen (SCREEN, global ~45%), Tokyo Electron (TEL, ~25%), Lam Research (~15%), NAURA (domestic, ~10%) |
| Downstream Customers | SMIC, Hua Hong Semiconductor, YMTC, CXMT, TSMC (small volume), Samsung (small batch) |
Competitive Landscape Trend: The global cleaning equipment market has long been monopolized by Japanese manufacturers, but SEME Shanghai continues to make inroads in advanced process cleaning with its differentiated megasonic technology. In particular, the strong demand from AI chips for 7nm/5nm and below process nodes has made high-cleanliness, high-selectivity cleaning a necessity, and SEME Shanghai is moving from domestic substitution to global competition.
Financials and Growth
| Metric | Data (2023) |
|---|---|
| Revenue | RMB 3.74 billion (YoY +35%) |
| Net profit attributable to parent | RMB 830 million (YoY +46%) |
| Gross margin | 44.2% (YoY +1.5 pct) |
| Net margin | 22.2% (YoY +1.6 pct) |
| R&D expense ratio | 13.5% (YoY +0.8 pct) |
| Key growth drivers | 1) AI computing power demand drives advanced-node capacity expansion, boosting procurement of high-value cleaning equipment; 2) Domestic substitution accelerates, with domestic wafer fabs maintaining high capital expenditures; 3) New products such as electroplating and furnace equipment ramp up, increasing per-unit value. |
2024 Outlook: The company's revenue in the first three quarters has already exceeded RMB 3.2 billion (+42%), and full-year revenue is expected to reach over RMB 5 billion. As of H1 2024, order backlog reached RMB 7.2 billion, providing a solid foundation for performance over the next 1-2 years.
Key Risks:
- Intensifying US-China Tech Rivalry: If export controls are further tightened, the company may face supply constraints on critical components (such as RF power supplies and high-precision pumps/valves), while overseas market expansion could also be hindered.
- Intensified Competition: International giants are cutting prices to capture the Chinese market, and domestic rivals such as NAURA are accelerating their catch-up in the cleaning segment, which may compress the company's gross margin.
- Cyclicality of Downstream Capex: The semiconductor industry is highly cyclical. If global wafer fab capital expenditures slow down, the company's order book will come under pressure.
- New Product Qualification Risks: New business lines such as electroplating (ECP) and vertical furnaces require a lengthy customer qualification cycle, creating uncertainty in the pace of volume ramp-up.
Core Investment Thesis / Industry Value Summary:
ACM Research Shanghai is a technology trailblazer in the domestic semiconductor cleaning equipment sector. Leveraging proprietary technologies such as SAPS and TEBO, the company has achieved a strategic "key-position" breakthrough in advanced-node cleaning processes and has entered the global mainstream supply chain. Driven by the twin engines of surging AI chip compute demand and domestic substitution, the company is well-positioned to continuously increase its global market share and become a "hidden champion" in the semiconductor equipment space.