[Edaily Reporter Kim Hyung-il ] Meritz Securities analyzed that while GigaVis Co., Ltd.(420770)has secured its largest-ever supply contract from a domestic client, the likelihood of additional orders is also increasing due to capacity expansions for semiconductor substrates used in global artificial intelligence (AI) servers. The firm assesses that the strategic value of inspection equipment is rising as major substrate manufacturers ramp up their capital expenditures.

On the 26th, Yang Seung-soo, an analyst at Meritz Securities, announced that GigaVis Co., Ltd. signed a contract worth 46.94 billion won with a domestic client on the 23rd to supply semiconductor substrate inspection equipment. This marks the largest contract ever secured from a single client. Meritz Securities estimated that the contracting party is a domestic ABF substrate manufacturer that recently announced large-scale capital expenditure plans and was selected as an official supply chain partner of NVIDIA.

Analysts suggest that, given the customer’s large-scale capital expenditure plans, this contract could be followed by additional orders. Adding the cumulative new orders of 163.8 billion won since July to the order backlog of 65.3 billion won as of the end of the second quarter, and factoring in the estimated third-quarter product sales of 26.1 billion won, the current order backlog is estimated to be approximately 202.9 billion won.

The potential for further order growth is also drawing attention. In addition to additional orders from domestic clients, there remains the possibility of further capital investment by GigaVis Co., Ltd.’s key client, a Japanese ABF (Ajinomoto Build-Up Film) substrate manufacturer. The order backlog could increase further by the end of the year, and if follow-up investments by small and medium-sized ABF substrate manufacturers gain momentum, market expectations for medium- to long-term earnings starting in 2027 could also rise.

Another positive factor is that as global ABF package substrate manufacturers ramp up production, supply chain bottlenecks are spreading to key manufacturing equipment. Major companies such as Ibiden, SamsungElectroMechanics, and Unimicron are pursuing large-scale capital expenditures based on long-term supply agreements (LTAs) with their customers. Analysts suggest that as ABF substrates become larger in area and feature more layers, the number of manufacturing process iterations and precision requirements will increase simultaneously, potentially driving equipment demand beyond the level required to expand production capacity.

In particular, GigaVis Co., Ltd.’s competitiveness in inspection and repair equipment is coming to the fore as substrate manufacturers’ criteria for equipment adoption are shifting from equipment price to the total processing cost per good substrate. Although this equipment requires initial capital investment and additional processing time, it can detect and repair defects early in the manufacturing process, thereby reducing the scrap rate of high-value substrates.

As the manufacturing cost per board rises due to the trend toward larger-area and higher-layer ABF boards, the cost-saving effects achieved through defect reduction are also expected to increase. Consequently, there are expectations that the return on investment (ROI) for this equipment will improve, leading to increased adoption of such equipment.

The miniaturization of circuit line widths is also cited as an additional growth factor. If circuit line widths narrow from the current 5 μm or more to levels around 4 μm and 2 μm in the future, demand for even more precise inspection equipment could expand. Analysts note that as the proportion of high-precision equipment increases, improvements in product mix and rises in average selling prices (ASP) can also be expected.

Researcher Yang stated, “We plan to sequentially reflect the order backlog confirmed following the third-quarter earnings announcement and customers’ additional investment plans in our future earnings estimates,” adding, “The key point to watch is whether this large-scale order will go beyond a one-off contract and lead to mid- to long-term growth driven by the global expansion of ABF substrate production.”