[Edaily Kim Hyung-il Reporter] iM Securities forecasts that TLB Co., Ltd.(356860)will achieve record-breaking earnings this year, driven by expanded sales of printed circuit boards (PCBs) for SOCAMM—a next-generation memory module—and an increased share of high-value-added products.

On the 31st, Lee Sang-heon, an analyst at iM Securities, stated, “In a supplier-dominated market environment, earnings improvement will accelerate due to robust sales growth of existing high-value-added products and the addition of sales from SOCAMM, a new high-value-added product.” He also projected that TLB Co., Ltd.’s consolidated revenue for this year will reach 365.3 billion won, a 41.3% increase year-over-year, while operating profit is expected to rise 114.6% to 18.8 billion won.

In particular, he predicted that module PCBs for SOCAMM would emerge as a new growth driver. SOCAMM is a next-generation memory designed in a modular form to allow low-power DRAM to be attached and detached in AI server environments; it is characterized by higher bandwidth and lower power consumption compared to existing DDR5-based memory architectures.

TLB Co., Ltd.’s revenue from SOCAMM module PCBs is expected to start at 10 billion won in the second quarter of this year, expanding to 20 billion won in the third quarter and over 30 billion won in the fourth quarter. Accordingly, SOCAMM-related revenue is projected to exceed 70 billion won this year and grow to over 150 billion won next year.

The analyst explained, “As shipments of NVIDIA’s next-generation AI platform, Vera Rubin, increase, mass production of SOCAMM module PCBs will gain momentum,” adding, “Since SOCAMM module PCBs have a higher average selling price (ASP) than existing products, they will drive up the average ASP and accelerate earnings growth.”

The analyst also noted that rising ASPs driven by an expanded share of high-value-added products will further support earnings growth. TLB Co., Ltd.’s ASP rose from 604,869 won per square meter in 2021 to 1,095,566 won last year, and further increased to 1,361,056 won in the first half of this year. The operating profit margin also rose from 10.0% last year to 14.1% in the first quarter of this year and 14.5% in the second quarter.

The order backlog is also growing rapidly. TLB Co., Ltd.’s quarterly order backlog expanded from 44.5 billion won in the third quarter of last year to 52.6 billion won in the fourth quarter, 53.9 billion won in the first quarter of this year, and 131.8 billion won in the second quarter. New orders in the second quarter of this year increased significantly to 97.5 billion won.

The analyst noted, “Amid a growing supplier-dominated market driven by rising demand in Chonbang industries, proactive orders from clients for high-value-added products and an increase in SOCAMM orders have driven the expansion of the order backlog,” adding, “This expansion of the order backlog will lay the foundation for future revenue growth and improved earnings.”