Semiconductor boom lifts Vieworks as inspection equipment sales surge 90%

Machine vision company Vieworks is reaping the benefits of the semiconductor boom.

Growing investment in AI infrastructure and HBM mass production has driven demand for semiconductor packaging inspection equipment, sharply boosting machine vision camera sales. Third-quarter sales in the industrial imaging solutions segment — machine vision cameras — reached 18.7 billion won ($13.9 million), up 89.7 percent from 9.9 billion won in the same period last year. The segment's share of total sales expanded from 18.4 percent to 30.4 percent.

The company announced Tuesday that it posted consolidated third-quarter sales of 61.6 billion won and operating profit of 11 billion won. Cumulative sales through the third quarter reached 183.6 billion won, a record high. Cumulative operating profit through the first three quarters reached 30.5 billion won, already 142 percent of last year's full-year figure of 21.4 billion won.

"The growing share of high-margin machine vision solutions, combined with cost and expense efficiencies, drove operating profit growth well ahead of sales growth," a Vieworks official said.

In other segments, X-ray detector sales rose 18.9 percent to 9.7 billion won, while industrial detector sales for non-destructive testing climbed 4.1 percent to 6.2 billion won. The still-image detector segment recorded 21.6 billion won, and other businesses including biotech imaging solutions brought in 5.4 billion won.

"Operating profit and operating margin have risen together every quarter this year," the company said. "We will actively respond to semiconductor inspection demand while expanding new businesses to drive growth across all segments of our medical and industrial imaging equipment operations."