By Greg Gao

(JW Insights) Mar 30 -- HuaHong Semiconductor(华虹半导体), the Chinese mainland’s second-biggest wafer foundry after SMIC, announced on March 30 its financial results for 2022 with new records: The company’s net profit in 2022 reached $406.6 million, up 76.0% from 2021. Its revenue increased by 51.8% compared with 2021 to $2.4755 billion, a record high.

According to Hua Hong Semiconductor’s announcement, the gross profit margin in 2022 was 34.1%, an increase of 6.4 percentage points from 27.7% in the previous year. The rise was mainly due to the increase in average selling price and the optimization of products, which was partially offset by the increase in depreciation expenses. 

Additionally, its monthly production capacity increased from 313,000 to 324,000 8-inch equivalent wafers in 2022, and the shipped wafers (8-inch equivalent wafers) increased from 3,328,000 to 4,087,000 in 2022.

HuaHong Semiconductor issued a letter to shareholders at the same time, stating that the annual revenue of automotive electronics has increased by more than 100% year-on-year. Its diversified process and platforms, deep customer resources in domestic and overseas markets, and forward-looking and specialized production capacity layout enable the company to maintain a higher capacity utilization rate than the average industry level even when the entire industry is in a down cycle.

As of the end of 2022, HuaHong Semiconductor has three 8-inch wafer fabs and one 12-inch wafer fab. In the past three years, the annual production capacity of 8-inch wafers is 2.4852 million, 3.2604 million, and 3.8627 million, respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 24.67%. In 2022, the company’s 12-inch wafer plant operated at a monthly production capacity of 65,000 pieces, and the number is expected to increase to 95,000 pieces in 2023. 

HuaHong plans to start the construction of a new 12-inch wafer production line in due course, and continue to increase manufacturing capacity and technology upgrades, according to the company.

HuaHong Semiconductor is a publicly listed Chinese pure-play semiconductor foundry based in Shanghai. It was established in 1996 as part of China’s national efforts to boost its IC industry in the 1990s.