A recent announcement has revealed that TIANYU SEMI (02658), a leading Chinese SiC epitaxial wafer producer, has reached a significant volume expansion milestone. The company disclosed a strategic cooperation agreement with South Korea's EYEQ Lab Inc. in the field of silicon carbide (SiC) epitaxial wafers. This marks TIANYU SEMI's transition from a primarily domestic-focused enterprise to an internationally recognized participant deeply embedded in the global high-end supply chain.
Under the agreement, the two companies will establish a long-term partnership focusing on the supply and application of SiC epitaxial wafers. TIANYU SEMI will provide EYEQ Lab with high-quality SiC epitaxial wafers ranging from 6 to 8 inches and 650V to 20,000V specifications. These wafers are suitable for both unipolar and bipolar power electronic devices, fully meeting EYEQ Lab's product development and mass production requirements across various application scenarios. EYEQ Lab will give priority to purchasing SiC epitaxial wafers from TIANYU SEMI under equivalent conditions for a three-year period.
This international cooperation has comprehensive and strategically profound implications. It not only opens immediate business opportunities for TIANYU SEMI but also injects strong long-term momentum across multiple dimensions including technology development, market expansion, supply chain influence, and capital market narrative.
South Korea represents a crucial global semiconductor hub with strong demand for SiC power devices. EYEQ Lab is a leading third-generation semiconductor SiC power semiconductor specialist, focusing on the design, development, manufacturing, and application solutions for SiC power devices and power modules. The company possesses complete technical capabilities spanning from device design and process development to wafer manufacturing and packaging testing, with multiple core technologies and mass production experience in high-voltage, high-frequency, and high-efficiency SiC power semiconductors.
Notably, EYEQ Lab has received investment worth 2.5 billion won from Samsung's subsidiary Patron+, demonstrating its technological strength, production capacity, and development potential have gained recognition from global semiconductor giants.
As China's leading SiC epitaxial wafer manufacturer, TIANYU SEMI focuses on the production and sales of full-specification 4/6/8-inch SiC epitaxial wafers. Its products serve key downstream sectors including new energy vehicles, photovoltaics, and rail transportation, while also providing supporting value-added services such as epitaxial foundry, cleaning, and testing.
The collaboration represents mutual empowerment through complementary strengths. TIANYU SEMI's production capability and capacity will combine deeply with EYEQ Lab's expertise in power device design and manufacturing, creating a win-win scenario of "material-end capacity increase + device-end supply stability." This establishes a stable supply-demand cooperation system while laying groundwork for future technical coordination and joint development.
More significantly, this strategic partnership provides TIANYU SEMI with a crucial "international passport" that directly validates its technological capabilities. The SiC industry features high technical barriers and certification thresholds, with downstream device customers being particularly cautious in selecting material suppliers, especially for demanding applications in automotive and industrial sectors. This cooperation demonstrates the company's product supply capability, proving that its product technology, performance, and quality meet the mass production standards of internationally leading device manufacturers.
As one of the few domestic companies achieving mass production of 8-inch SiC epitaxial wafers, TIANYU SEMI's 8-inch products are accelerating as new growth drivers. In December 2025, the company completed production line commissioning at its Dongguan Songshan Lake Eco-Park facility, establishing a more efficient and flexible capacity layout covering 6-inch to 8-inch SiC epitaxial wafers. Over the next two years, the new Eco-Park base will prioritize 8-inch production lines to provide global premium customers with higher-performance, higher-consistency products.
EYEQ Lab's three-year renewable priority purchasing agreement provides TIANYU SEMI with long-term stable order security, addressing the core industry challenge of "easy capacity expansion but difficult capacity utilization," particularly ensuring high-margin 8-inch epitaxial wafer production efficiency. This overseas order also creates opportunities for advanced capacity planning at the new base, enabling TIANYU SEMI to achieve a positive cycle of "capacity expansion-order fulfillment-profit improvement."
Meanwhile, EYEQ Lab's mass-production-level recognition of TIANYU SEMI's 8-inch high-end epitaxial wafer supply capability fills the gap in international mass production verification for domestic high-end products. This represents a significant milestone in the internationalization of Chinese SiC materials, aligning with the industry's core development trends toward premiumization and globalization.
From an industry perspective, this strategic move aligns with national development strategies. SiC materials are widely used in new energy vehicles, photovoltaic power generation, and rail transportation, serving as fundamental materials for developing advanced productive forces. Guangdong Province's 14th Five-Year Plan explicitly emphasizes the development of third-generation semiconductor industries including SiC. TIANYU SEMI's capacity enhancement will effectively alleviate global market supply pressure for raw materials, supporting China's pursuit of self-sufficiency in critical materials and providing solid foundation for high-quality development in strategic emerging industries.
Overall, this cooperation provides TIANYU SEMI with a valuable opportunity to substantially expand its international market presence. The company is experiencing rapid growth in overseas business while achieving dual breakthroughs in technology and market recognition through endorsement by international premium customers. This enables its competitive transition from "domestic leader" to "international core player," securing first-mover advantage in global layout during 2026's critical period of semiconductor industry supply-demand restructuring and technological upgrading.
From a capital market perspective, this cooperation will immediately catalyze TIANYU SEMI's stock performance and boost sentiment toward the third-generation semiconductor sector. On the announcement day, the company's shares showed strong performance, rising throughout the morning session and maintaining high-level fluctuations in the afternoon, closing at HK$48.9 with a 4.09% gain against market trends - direct positive feedback from the capital market.
Long-term, this partnership will enable the market to recognize TIANYU SEMI's potential for increasing its share in the global SiC supply chain. Its valuation logic may shift from simply benchmarking domestic semiconductor policy benefits to aligning with the growth potential of the global SiC market and the scarcity value as an international supplier. This narrative upgrade will attract more long-term capital focused on global technology supply chains, enhancing the company's recognition and liquidity within Hong Kong's technology sector.
Moving forward, TIANYU SEMI will firmly grasp this strategic opportunity, transforming it into sustained technological breakthroughs, stable customer relationships, and solid financial returns, carving its distinctive mark in the transformative global semiconductor materials revolution.