"Will this year's orders exceed last year's? Why did your company's performance decline when similar companies have seen year-on-year growth?" At the 2024 mid-year performance briefing of Beijing Huafeng Test & Control Technology held today (August 27), an investor raised these questions to the company.

At the performance briefing, Chairman and Secretary of the Board of Directors, Sun Qiang of Beijing Huafeng Test & Control Technology, stated that the company's revenue for the reporting period was basically flat compared to the same period last year, as the company always maintains a focus on R&D investment and market expansion, leading to some pressure on the net income during the reporting period, thus resulting in a decrease in earnings per share, return on net assets, and other indicators.

On the evening of August 26, Beijing Huafeng Test & Control Technology released its 2024 interim report. In the first half of the year, the company's revenue was 0.379 billion yuan, a decrease of 0.63% year-on-year; the net profit attributable to the parent company was 0.112 billion yuan, a decrease of 30.25% year-on-year; the non-net profit attributable to the parent company was 0.127 billion yuan, a decrease of 18.65% year-on-year; and the basic earnings per share was 0.83 yuan/share.

In the view of industry insiders, Beijing Huafeng Test & Control Technology's performance in the first half of the year has slightly declined, partly due to the fact that the company belongs to the upstream of the integrated circuit industry chain, and the recovery of the business cycle takes time to filter down to the testing equipment end. "The company's products usually have a 3-6 month acceptance period," added Sun Qiang.

In terms of profitability, during the reporting period, the company's gross margin was 75.85%, a 7.48% increase year-on-year. Sun Qiang stated that this is mainly due to changes in the company's product structure, with a higher proportion of high-margin products shipped, leading to a slight increase in the company's overall gross margin.

Beijing Huafeng Test & Control Technology's main business is the research, development, production, and sales of semiconductor automated test systems. The products are mainly used for the testing of analog, mixed-signal, discrete devices, and power modules, covering the global semiconductor industry in developed countries and regions such as China, the United States, Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

At the performance briefing, an investor further inquired, "How will Beijing Huafeng Test & Control Technology increase its market share?"

Sun Qiang stated that the company will continue to increase investment in research and development, continuously improve product competitiveness, actively promote global strategic layout, and continuously improve the international competitiveness and market share of the company's products.

Regarding the company's future development outlook and prospects, Beijing Huafeng Test & Control Technology stated that as the semiconductor industry continues to destock, the overall inventory level of the industry is gradually returning to a relatively reasonable level, and downstream end-market demand is gradually recovering. The company's operating conditions in the second half of the year are expected to be further improved.

The reporter of the Science and Innovation Board Daily noticed that despite the increased uncertainty in the international market environment, the company is still expanding its overseas market.

During the reporting period, Beijing Huafeng Test & Control Technology's factory in Penang, Malaysia was officially put into operation; on July 12, the company's subsidiary in Silicon Valley, California, USA opened; on July 19, the first testing machine STS8300 produced and manufactured in the Penang factory in Malaysia was installed at the facility of Unisem, a global semiconductor packaging and testing supplier, located in Perak, Malaysia.

Regarding the expansion of the overseas market, Cai Lin, director and general manager of Beijing Huafeng Test & Control Technology, stated at the earnings conference that in order to continuously improve the international competitiveness and market share of the company's products, and to provide more efficient testing solutions for overseas customers, the company continues to increase its efforts in expanding the overseas market and promoting global strategic layout.

At the same time, according to Cai Lin, the company's existing products such as STS8200, STS8300, and STS8600 are installed in overseas markets.