PROTIA Sees Operating Leverage from Growth in the Allergy Diagnostics Market

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■ Money Show “How Money” – Han Yong-hee, Senior Researcher at Growth Research

We take a look at today’s domestic stock market following the opening bell and review an industry report worth watching. Joining us is Han Yong-hee, Senior Researcher at Growth Research.

Q. Which company are you introducing today?

-PROTIA manufactures and sells in vitro diagnostic kits and diagnostic instruments

-PROTIA possesses proprietary technology for multiplex allergen testing

-PROTIA has technology capable of testing up to 176 allergens across 192 lines

-Densely arranges allergens in a small area to simultaneously test numerous items

-Possesses technology expandable to up to 400 lines using a single sample

-PROTIA is currently in the final stage of commercializing a 300-line product

-PROTIA also sells diagnostic kits and its own integrated diagnostic instruments

-PROTIA’s proprietary brands include Q-Smart, Q-Processor, and Q-Station

-Compatible with human and veterinary allergy and autoimmune testing

-Relatively high instrument replacement costs make it difficult for customers to switch

-Diagnostic instrument sales serve as a leading indicator of future diagnostic kit sales

-PROTIA is expanding its portfolio into areas including veterinary allergy testing

-PROTIA is developing allergy diagnostic kits for companion animals

-Veterinary diagnostic kits are not covered by medical insurance, resulting in higher supply prices and margins

-Most domestic and overseas sales are collected in cash, supporting strong cash flow

-Diagnostic kits have a gross profit margin of 80%, increasing operating leverage

-PROTIA is benefiting from the allergy market, which has grown to KRW 15 trillion

-PROTIA can test the largest number of items worldwide through multiplex allergen testing

-Allergies affect 30% of the global population

-The allergy diagnostics market is projected to grow to KRW 15 trillion by 2030

-Exposure to allergy-triggering substances is increasing due to factors such as the growing use of chemicals

-Demand for diagnosis is rising to support the effective management of allergic diseases

-PROTIA provides human allergy testing based on PLA array technology

-PROTIA enables the world’s broadest multiplex testing using a single sample

-PROTIA’s competitiveness lies in its ability to test a broad range of items at once

-PROTIA can purify and manufacture 320 types of allergens in-house

-PROTIA’s diagnostic kits offer strong price competitiveness relative to the number of test lines

-PROTIA’s overseas sales are rapidly expanding at an average annual rate of 100%

-PROTIA recorded cumulative third-quarter revenue of KRW 10.5 billion and operating profit of KRW 2.6 billion

Q. What is the industry report you are introducing today, and which related stock should investors watch?

-The semiconductor industry is seeking new solutions for exponential growth

-Stacking technologies such as HBM and HBF also face structural limitations

-Hybrid bonding is emerging as a solution to the limitations of stacking technology

-Semiconductor back-end processing involves separating, assembling, and testing individual chips

-Front-end processing focuses on wafer fabrication and the miniaturization of circuit line widths

-Strengthening back-end processing capabilities now determines semiconductor performance

-Circuit line-width miniaturization based on device downscaling is reaching its limits

-The semiconductor industry is seeking solutions to performance and cost challenges

-Chiplet technology separates chip functions and reconnects them through packaging

-3D stacking is essential for achieving high bandwidth and ultra-high integration

-Hybrid bonding goes beyond through-silicon via-based technology

-Bump-based bonding technology is gaining attention due to the limitations of conventional methods

-Bump-based bonding allows more bumps to be placed on a single chip

-Bump-based bonding is also reaching physical limitations

-Electrical defects such as short circuits increase as the nanometer scale decreases

-Metal bumps physically and electrically connect chips and substrates

-Metal-to-metal and insulator-to-insulator bonding are performed simultaneously

-Hybrid bonding may improve density by approximately 1,000 times

-The international semiconductor standards organization announced the HBM4 standard

-HBM4 doubles the number of input/output channels to 2,048

-HBM4 bandwidth reaches 1.2 TB, approximately 67% higher than the previous generation

-The increased number of I/O channels also requires more bumps

-Hybrid bonding is gaining attention as a clear alternative

-Hanmi Semiconductor is moving beyond TC bonding into hybrid bonding

-Hanmi Semiconductor ranks first globally in the TC bonding market

-Hanmi Semiconductor has begun construction of a dedicated hybrid bonder plant

-Hanmi Semiconductor plans to establish a mass-production system for hybrid bonders by 2027

-In semiconductor bonding, even a single fine particle can cause bonding defects

-Hanmi Semiconductor has proposed various improvements to hybrid bonding

-Its equipment is designed around downward airflow, with more finely divided process stages

-Misalignment is minimized, improving both precision and productivity

-Hanmi Semiconductor is continuing to build its hybrid bonding capabilities

-HBM5 will require more stacking and TSV layers, creating limitations for TC bonding alone

-Hybrid bonding is becoming increasingly important for next-generation HBM

-Heat and yield can be managed with TC bonding through HBM3E

-HBM4’s expanded interface will also increase demand for equipment