SEMIFIVE's custom AI chip orders jump 437% to a record quarter

Nov 13, 2026
The Korean ASIC design firm's order backlog reached KRW 245.5 billion after a major high-performance computing win in North America.

SEMIFIVE, a Korean designer of custom AI chips, booked KRW 178.4 billion in new orders in the third quarter, up 437% from a year earlier, the company said in its results release. Its order backlog rose 75% from the previous quarter to a record KRW 245.5 billion.

SEMIFIVE credits a major high-performance computing project in North America and growing demand for AI inference chips on Samsung Foundry's 4nm process, as well as sovereign AI projects in South Korea and Japan. Revenue for the first nine months was KRW 146.1 billion, up 62%, with an operating margin of minus 14%. The company expects the backlog to turn into revenue faster in the fourth quarter.

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