400 million! Robotics' wholly-owned subsidiary introduces strategic investment, national team takes action

At present, semiconductors, as a basic and leading industry, have become an important pillar of world economic development.

Against the backdrop of a complex international environment and increasing external uncertainties, vigorously developing the semiconductor industry, improving independent and controllable capabilities, and ensuring a safe and reliable supply chain are not only related to national strategic security, but are also an important means to seize the commanding heights of a new round of scientific and technological development.

Huge capital injection, national team increases investment

5月9日， 机器人 （沈阳新松机器人自动化股份有限公司，股票代码300024）在深交所发布公告，宣布其全资子公司沈阳新松半导体设备有限公司（以下简称“新松半导体”）在北京产权交易所公开挂牌，引入9家战略投资者，合计增资4亿元人民币。

The most eye-catching thing is the luxurious shareholder lineup of big names. Counting the participants, there are both state-owned forces entering the market as a group and leading semiconductor upstream and downstream companies.

Specifically, Beijing Integrated Circuit Equipment Industry Investment and M&A Fund, which is controlled by Beijing Electric Control Industry Investment and Beijing Yizhuang State Investment, will invest 130 million yuan and hold 9.2857% of the shares, becoming the second largest shareholder;

The National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund Phase II, which is controlled by the Ministry of Finance, China Development Bank, and China Tobacco, will invest 103 million yuan and hold 7.3571% of the shares, becoming the third largest shareholder;

China Micro Semiconductor Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., a leading semiconductor equipment company controlled by Shanghai Venture Capital and others, will also invest RMB 40 million and hold 2.8571% of the shares, becoming the fourth largest shareholder.

此外，无锡华海创投、沈阳机器人产业发展集团、沈阳盛科成果转化投资基金等公司，也都有国资背景。

After the completion of this capital increase, the registered capital of Siasun Semiconductor will increase from 200 million yuan to 280 million yuan. The parent company Siasun Robot will still hold a controlling stake of 71.43% in the company, and the company will continue to be included in the parent company's consolidated financial statements.

The predecessor of Siasun Semiconductor was Siasun Robot Semiconductor Equipment Division, which was officially spun off on February 23, 2023. Although it has not been established for a long time, according to the 2024 Q1 quarterly report, the company has nearly 135 million yuan in operating income, 6.8145 million yuan in operating profit, and 5.5485 million yuan in net profit, showing a good development prospect.

Regarding the purpose of the capital increase, Siasun Robotics stated that the semiconductor equipment business is one of the company's main business segments. The introduction of strategic investment can, on the one hand, promote the formation of industrial chain synergy between the subsidiary and strategic customers and accelerate the domestic substitution of products; on the other hand, it also supplements the subsidiary's operating funds, accelerates capacity construction and market development, and at the same time provides financial support for continuous technological innovation.

Attack key areas and make up for weak links

Semiconductor equipment has always been a key area restricting the development of my country's semiconductor industry.

According to data, due to technology and market monopoly, my country's chip self-sufficiency rate is only 23%. However, if only chips produced by local companies in mainland China are counted, the self-sufficiency rate is actually only about 12%.

This not only brings about a huge trade deficit, but more importantly, it puts the country at risk of being "choked" by the supply chain.

In recent years, China has continued to increase its investment in the semiconductor industry, especially in the field of independent control in key areas. As a leading domestic industrial robot company, Siasun has an unshirkable responsibility to promote the localization process. Therefore, Siasun Semiconductor has focused on semiconductor automation solutions since its inception and is committed to breaking the monopoly.

From the perspective of semiconductor equipment companies, hardware is the foundation and software is the key. Hardware equipment is the physical carrier of semiconductor manufacturing process, but only when combined with precise software control system can the production process be guaranteed to operate reliably and efficiently. Siasun Robotics has already occupied a place in the field of hardware equipment, and now it is targeting key links such as software and control system, which will undoubtedly create greater advantages.

How to promote industrial chain collaboration and form a systematic development model for upstream and downstream is a major issue facing the entire industry. This capital increase, through capital operation to introduce downstream end customers, upstream suppliers, financial supporters, etc., may be a new focus for solving this issue.

Valuations are under pressure, a big gamble?

In this capital increase, 9 investment institutions subscribed to a total of 80 million yuan of new registered capital of Siasun Semiconductor, corresponding to 28.57% of the equity. Based on this calculation, the post-investment valuation of Siasun Semiconductor after the capital increase is 1.4 billion yuan.

The announcement shows that the subscription price for every 1 yuan of registered capital in this capital increase is 5 yuan, which is more than 10% higher than the valuation of 984.4515 million yuan assessed in October 2023, and more than 300% higher than the current book net assets of 213 million yuan (as of April 30, 2024). This reflects the capital market's optimistic expectations for the future development prospects of Siasun Semiconductor.

However, judging from the stock price performance of the parent company, the capital market's overall valuation of the company is relatively low.

新松机器人，脱胎于中科院沈阳自动化研究所，它的成立也被视为我国工业机器人产业化的起点。2009年，新松以“机器人”为股票简称在深交所科创板挂牌上市，成为“中国机器人第一股”。

Siasun Robotics, which has been listed for nearly 15 years, has experienced both rapid growth and the pain of falling to the bottom. The company's highest market value once soared to 90 billion yuan, but as of press time, the company's stock price has reached 11.04 yuan, with a total market value of 17.114 billion yuan, down 80% from the peak.

Obviously, the current traditional industrial robot market has become saturated and entered the red ocean stage. Finding new growth is imminent, and major capitals are also more optimistic about the expansion opportunities of robots in emerging tracks.

Therefore, although Siasun Robotics is a leader in the field of industrial robot manufacturing, it is difficult to obtain a high valuation due to factors such as product homogeneity and squeezed profit margins. As a new growth point, semiconductor equipment manufacturing has huge domestic substitution space and promising growth potential, so it is natural for it to "catch up from behind."

However, whether Siasun Semiconductor’s high valuation can be transformed into performance support in the future will still require the test of time and market.