[E-Daily Reporter Shin Ha-yeon ] IBK Investment & Securities analyzed on the 16th that foreign investors have been steadily buying shares of SamsungElectroMechanics(009150)despite the recent stock market plunge because they highly value the long-term growth potential of its artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor substrates (FC-BGA) and multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC). The firm raised its target price by 66.7% from 1.05 million won to 1.75 million won and maintained its “Buy” rating. The stock closed at 1,413,000 won on the previous trading day.

Kim Un-ho, an analyst at IBK Investment & Securities, stated, “Foreign investors’ behavior toward SamsungElectroMechanics is diverging from that toward other IT companies,” adding, “Even as they are reducing their stakes in AI-related companies, foreign investors continue to buy SamsungElectroMechanics shares. We interpret this as a sign that they view the growth potential of FC-BGA and MLCC very positively.”

According to the report, the foreign ownership ratio began to rise after hitting a low of 37.5% on June 22; it reached 39.6% on June 30, when the KOSPI’s sharp decline began in earnest, and climbed to 40% on the 15th, indicating that buying momentum continued even during the market crash.

Analyst Kim also noted that SamsungElectroMechanics’ large-scale capital expenditures (CAPEX) are expected to support future earnings improvement. This year’s projected CAPEX is 4.7 trillion won, significantly exceeding the historical annual average of around 1 trillion won. He explained that this investment is intended to respond to growing demand for FC-BGA for AI semiconductors and to secure new customers.

“We expect the company to execute 10 years’ worth of investment over the next three years,” he said, adding, “This represents investments that have already been confirmed by clients.” He further explained, “We estimate this includes the surging volume of AI semiconductors, the acquisition of new FC-BGA clients, and demand from companies switching to FC-BGA for their circuit boards.”

He also forecast steep growth for the company’s core businesses, FC-BGA and MLCC. Driven by expanding demand for AI ASICs and server chips, FC-BGA sales are projected to reach 2.1412 trillion won this year—an 87.6% increase from the previous year—with the share of server-related sales expected to rise to the 60% range in the second quarter.

MLCCs are expected to benefit from the trend toward higher-spec AI servers. While a standard CPU server uses about 3,000 MLCCs, an NVIDIA GB200-based AI server is equipped with approximately 30,000. Analysts note that producing high-performance products consumes more production capacity than standard products, making it highly likely that supply shortages will intensify.

Analyst Kim stated, “As demand for high-performance MLCCs intensifies, supply is expected to fall short, which should lead to improved earnings,” adding, “With improvements in the product mix accompanied by price increases, the MLCC operating profit margin is projected to rise to around 35% by the end of 2028.”

Accordingly, SamsungElectroMechanics’ second-quarter revenue this year is expected to reach 3.4736 trillion won, and operating profit 439 billion won—representing increases of 8.2% and 56.5%, respectively, compared to the previous quarter. On an annual basis, the company is projected to record revenue of 13.7387 trillion won and operating profit of 1.764 trillion won this year, with operating profit estimated to rise to 4.825 trillion won by 2028.