SK Materials' first quarter 2021 business performance achieved its best first quarter performance ever, driven by an increase in shipments of specialty gases such as NF3 and WF6, which are key products for improving memory supply and demand.

SK Materials announced its business performance for the first quarter of 2021 on the 30th.

According to this, sales increased by 23.2% year-on-year to KRW 261.7 billion based on consolidated financial statements, operating profit increased by 17.0% year-on-year to KRW 62.1 billion, and net income for the period increased by 7.1% year-on-year to KRW 40.3 billion. This is the best performance ever for a first quarter.

Regarding these performances, an SK Materials official said, “Special gas prices and sales volumes remained stable compared to the previous quarter, and sales grew 23.3% and operating profit 16.9% compared to the same period last year.”

Looking at the detailed performance, it was found that the shipments of special gases such as NF3 and WF6 increased due to improved supply and demand for memory, but sales related to precursors decreased due to the transitional period of memory process technology changes.

New materials such as photoresists have increased costs due to the initial setup of the business, but sales of precursors and new materials are expected to increase further in the second half of the year.

Since its incorporation into the SK Group in 2016, SK Materials has been successfully building an IT materials platform and expanding its business areas.

In the case of NF3, which accounted for more than half of the company's sales in 2018, its share decreased to 29% despite an increase in sales volume, while sales of other items increased significantly.

As of the first quarter of 2021, NF3 accounts for 29% of sales, WF6 accounts for 11%, Si-based etching gas accounts for 22%, industrial gases and L-CO2 accounts for 25%, and precursors and PR account for 14%.

Do Hyun-woo, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, said, “The sales contribution of new businesses will begin in earnest after 2021,” adding, “The change of some insulating film materials for memory semiconductors to the Hf series will benefit SK Trichem, and sales of the JV established with Japanese OLED material company JNC are expected to begin in earnest.”

In addition, “SK Materials’ investment in battery material company Group 14 Technology is also a momentum,” he said. “Group 14 is developing lithium silicon battery material ‘SCC55’ and the material is currently “It is expected that silicon, a next-generation battery material that replaces graphite, which is mainly used in batteries, will contribute to future sales,” he predicted.

So Hyun-chul, a researcher at Shinhan Investment Corp., said, “Starting in the second quarter, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix’s DRAM lines, P2 and M16, are expected to begin full-scale operations, leading to a significant increase in sales of specialty gases and materials for semiconductors.” He also said, “LG Display’s OLED TV line utilization rate has been steadily increasing due to the recent brisk OLED TV sales, and Samsung Display is expected to begin operation of its large QD OLED line in the second half, which is expected to lead to an increase in operating profit every quarter.”