Shares of ASMPT (00522) have surged more than 7%, reaching a new all-time high of HK$233.6. At the time of writing, the stock is up 6.91% to HK$232, with a turnover of HK$460 million.

The rally follows a significant announcement from South Korea. President Lee Jae-myung chaired a meeting at the presidential office, unveiling a government investment plan exceeding one thousand trillion won to bolster the semiconductor, physical artificial intelligence (AI), and AI data center sectors.

The plan includes an investment of 800 trillion won (approximately RMB 3.52 trillion) to establish four memory chip wafer fabrication plants in the Gwangju and Jeolla regions in the southwest. This initiative aims to create the nation's second-largest semiconductor industry cluster, following the capital region. Within this framework, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have jointly committed 81 trillion won to develop an advanced packaging base in the Chungcheong region, specifically to meet the expansion needs for AI high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production.

Analyst Perspectives

Huatai Securities noted that ASMPT's first-quarter order book was impressive, with AI-related demand spreading from advanced packaging to mainstream back-end processes. The firm also highlighted that silicon photonics and Co-packaged optics (CoPoS) technologies could unlock long-term growth potential for the company.

Everbright Securities added that progress on thermal compression bonding (TCB) and hybrid bonding (HB) equipment is proceeding smoothly. The commencement of shipments for HBM4 and 16-layer/20-layer HBM products is expected to further strengthen the demand outlook for TCB. The brokerage firm views positively the company's active efforts to expand its customer base in advanced packaging for memory and logic applications, believing this business will provide a long-term boost to both its financial performance and valuation.