SemiFive doubles first-half sales on surge in AI chip orders

SemiFive, a specialist in AI application-specific integrated circuits, said Friday its first-half sales reached 94.7 billion won ($66.9 million), driven by broad-based growth across ASIC development services, mass production and intellectual property.

The figure represents a 98 percent increase from 48.1 billion won in the same period last year and covers 78 percent of the company's full-year 2025 sales of 120.9 billion won — achieved in just six months. New orders for the first half totaled 118.9 billion won, equivalent to 71 percent of last year's full-year order intake of 168.4 billion won.

The ASIC development business was the largest contributor to earnings, posting first-half sales of 54.1 billion won — more than double the year-earlier figure.

SemiFive, a design solution partner of Samsung Electronics' foundry division, credited the growth to its turnkey model, which is structured around confirmed mass-production commitments from the outset.

Conventional design services and back-end-focused turnkey offerings typically take over only after a fabless customer has completed front-end design, handling back-end processes or product supply alone.

SemiFive, by contrast, built a one-stop solution from its founding that covers the entire chip development cycle — from specification definition and IP selection through logic and physical design, packaging, testing and software development. Because customers are end users, production volumes and manufacturing destinations are largely confirmed before development even begins, which the company considers a key competitive advantage.

The mass production business also posted strong results, recording new first-half orders of 42.3 billion won — double last year's full-year order total of 21.2 billion won. Overseas customers accounted for roughly 45 percent of second-quarter orders, or about 12.1 billion won, reflecting growing inflows of international mass-production business.

The mass production segment generates consistent, recurring shipment revenue throughout a customer product's lifecycle, underpinned by exclusive mask production rights. Customers are increasingly moving up their mass-production timelines, which the company expects to support sustained earnings growth over the long term.

The IP business, operated through subsidiary Analog Bits, posted first-half sales of 32.5 billion won, surpassing last year's full-year sales of 30.5 billion won. New orders reached 32.1 billion won, equivalent to 77 percent of last year's full-year order total of 41.5 billion won.

Analog Bits operates a self-reinforcing recurring revenue model. When a major technology company commissions custom IP optimized for its data centers, Analog Bits develops the IP to specification and completes silicon verification. Verified IP is then added to the company's portfolio and can be supplied to other customers as an off-the-shelf product.

Sales of cutting-edge 2- and 3-nanometer process IP have consistently increased, driven by proactive technology investment, and are the primary engine of overall growth.

Profitability also improved alongside the top-line expansion. The operating loss for the first half narrowed to 10.9 billion won from 28.1 billion won a year earlier.

SemiFive said it expects the pipeline to remain robust. Additional purchase orders for vision AI chips, on-device AI chips and data-center AI chips are driving mass-production volumes into a full ramp-up phase.

On the new ASIC development side, demand for high-performance AI semiconductor projects based on 3D-IC technology is building, particularly from overseas customers in North America, Europe and Asia.

"First-half results prove that our expanded business model — spanning ASIC turnkey, mass production and IP licensing — has reached full stride," said Jo Myung-hyun, chief executive of SemiFive. "With a solid order backlog, the sequential recognition of mass-production volumes and an expanding new ASIC development pipeline, we expect second-half growth to be even more pronounced."