South Korea's SEMIFIVE posts record Q3 orders, up 437% on AI chip demand

South Korean custom AI semiconductor designer SEMIFIVE said new orders in the third quarter of 2026 reached KRW 178.4 billion, up 437% year on year and a quarterly record for the company, while its order backlog rose to an all-time high of KRW 245.5 billion, reflecting continued demand for custom chips for AI infrastructure.

ASIC service orders jump more than sevenfold

Growth was driven by the ASIC service business, where third-quarter new orders reached KRW 136.9 billion, up 705% year on year from KRW 17.0 billion. The company said the increase was fuelled by high-margin advanced-node turnkey projects in North America, and that the maturity of its 4nm process and proven mass-production track record had strengthened its position in custom silicon at advanced nodes. Total new orders also rose 182% quarter on quarter, from KRW 63.3 billion in the previous quarter, against KRW 33.2 billion a year earlier.

Nine-month revenue up 62%

Cumulative revenue for the first nine months of 2026 reached KRW 146.1 billion, up 62% year on year. The company said order growth spanned all business segments, including ASIC development, mass production and intellectual property licensing. The order backlog rose 75% from KRW 140.3 billion in the previous quarter, giving it visibility over production schedules for the coming quarters.

A sign of rising demand for custom AI chips

Cloud providers and AI companies are increasingly turning to application-specific chips tailored to particular workloads to cut costs and improve efficiency, replacing some general-purpose graphics processors; SEMIFIVE's order surge is one sign of that shift. The company said expanding its advanced-node AI mass-production portfolio lays the foundation for long-term growth. It did not disclose individual customer names or specific mass-production timetables, so the pace at which orders convert into revenue remains to be seen.

(Sources: SEMIFIVE; PR Newswire.)