Beijing E-Town Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. (Stock Code: 688729, hereinafter referred to as "BEST") has recently been included in the SSE STAR 50 Index and the MSCI China A Onshore Index, taking effect after market close on Sept 14 and Aug 31, respectively.

This marks another significant milestone for BEST in both domestic and international capital markets since its listing on the STAR Market in July 2025, and as a result it's expected to attract much greater attention of investors in China and from those overseas.

As a high-end semiconductor equipment group based in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, BEST has remained focused on its core business of integrated circuits equipment over the past year since the listing of its stock.

Driven by technological innovation, the company has made steady progress in breakthrough innovations, product matrix upgrades, global market expansion, and green low-carbon development — gradually growing into a semiconductor equipment platform business with global competitiveness.

Global operations and deep expertise in niche markets, with core products ranked among the world's best

BEST pursues a global operating strategy — and by leveraging its R&D and manufacturing bases in China, the US and Germany, it has built an R&D, production, sales and service network covering major international semiconductor industry clusters.

Its customers include all of the world's top 10 chipmakers, and its products are widely applied in logic chips, memory chips, power devices, advanced packaging and in other fields.

Drawing on long years of technological expertise and deep market cultivation, BEST has established substantial competitive edges across a raft of niche tracks.

According to stats from authoritative international industry research organizations, the company ranks second worldwide in market share for dry strip equipment and holds a leading position in logic process applications.

Its rapid thermal processing equipment also ranks second globally in market share. Building on these two established strengths, the company continues to upgrade its technologies and is developing next-generation high-throughput dry strip equipment, advanced low-pressure rapid thermal processing and oxidation equipment — as well as integrated equipment capable of performing multiple sequential process steps, further reinforcing its technological edge.

Dry etching and plasma surface treatment equipment represent BEST's business segments with the greatest growth potential.

In recent years, the company's next-generation advanced dry etching equipment–RENA-E®–has progressed smoothly through new domestic customer qualifications and validations, with new orders entering a   volume ramp-up phase.

A comparable etching equipment range has also entered the European market for the first time. Its core products, including advanced plasma surface treatments and material modification equipment, have passed mass-production assessments by multiple key global customers and continue to receive repeat orders.

To better meet the broad demand from domestic and international customers for dry etching and plasma surface treatment equipment and to further expand its serviceable market in these segments, BEST has initiated R&D projects.

These include projects for new metal etching equipment, next-generation bevel etching and deposition equipment, high-selectivity etching equipment, and multi-chamber process integration platform equipment — all of which have made solid progress.

Some projects have completed development and entered customer-side validations. In particular, building on its mature and stable etching and strip technologies — and incorporating the requirements and characteristics of metal etching processes — the company has developed competitive dielectric and metal etching equipment, capable of covering the full range of back-end etching process needs.

Moreover, process developments and customer applications developments are progressing smoothly, with its products offering broad applications potential in advanced packaging.

Intensive R&D builds a strong technological foundation, while the IP system safeguards long-term development

Since its share listing, BEST has maintained intensive R&D investment, driving long-term corporate growth through technological innovation.

In the first half of 2026, its R&D expenditure rose to 17.61% of operating revenue, up 2.83 percentage points year-on-year, keeping the company's R&D intensity among the highest recorded in its industry.

The company's R&D team has continued to expand, accounting for 31.36% of the total workforce, as of June 30. At the time, more than half of its R&D staff held master's degrees or above — forming a core technical team that combines an international perspective with domestic innovation capabilities.

What's more, BEST has established a comprehensive intellectual property protection system, with a cumulative total of 781 patent applications, of which 779 are invention patents, accounting for 99.74%; and a cumulative total of 522 granted patents, of which 520 are invention patents, accounting for 99.61% of the total.

Its core technology patents cover major semiconductor production regions worldwide — creating a solid legal barrier for technology commercialization and market expansion.

Supported by sustained R&D investment, the company has achieved internationally leading capabilities in multiple core technology areas — including dual-wafer vacuum reaction chamber designs, inductively coupled remote plasma sources, and rapid thermal processing based on dual-sided radiant heating.

A slew of ongoing R&D projects are progressing steadily — covering advanced process equipment, new process solutions and key components, driving technological momentum forwards for product iterations and market expansion.

Enhanced production capacity and supply chain synergies, improved operational performance

To keep pace with the continued growth in global market demand, BEST is strengthening its production capacity and delivery capabilities.

The Integrated Circuit Equipment R&D and Manufacturing Service Center located in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area was completed and started operating in 2023.

To date, it's now achieved volume production across three major equipment categories: Dry strips, rapid thermal processing, and dry etching and plasma surface treatment — becoming the company's primary R&D and manufacturing base.

This year, the company launched an upgrade and renovation of its existing domestic R&D and production base, which will further enhance delivery capacity to meet rapidly growing customer demand.

At the same time, to better support customers' continued capacity expansion plans, the company is actively planning new R&D and production bases to meet medium- and long-term R&D and output needs.

Over on the supply chain front, the firm has established a systematic and science-based supply chain assessment and management framework.

It's actively pursuing supply chain diversification and localization, while steadily increasing the domestic sourcing ratio of critical components.

These efforts have helped shorten logistics lead times and optimize its procurement costs. On the manufacturing side, the company employs a flexible production model driven by both customer orders and strategic inventory requirements. This enables it to adjust capacity allocations across different products quickly, while balancing precise deliveries with rapid market responsiveness.

In terms of its operating quality, the company's gross margin in its core business has improved steadily, and its earnings mix continues to optimize.

In the first six months of 2026, net cash generated from operating activities hit RMB 605 million ($90.4 million), representing a substantial improvement year-on-year.

The stronger cash flow reportedly enhanced the company's financial resilience and provided a solid funding base for further R&D investment and capacity expansion.

ESG principles embedded in operations, with green manufacturing driving sustainable growth

Since its stock exchange listing, BEST has integrated environmental, social, and governance, or ESG principles, throughout its operations — leveraging green manufacturing to support its high-quality development.

What's more, the company has received recognition from multiple authoritative ratings: An A rating in the Wind ESG Rating and Huazheng ESG Rating, and A- and AA ratings in the SynTao Green Finance and QuantData ESG Ratings, respectively, with environmental, social, and governance dimensions all at relatively high levels in the sector.

The company has completed calculations of Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions for its operations in China and overseas subsidiaries and established a baseline-year emissions inventory.

The total carbon emissions in the baseline year amounted to 18,300 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e) — with electricity consumption accounting for the biggest share and manufacturing processes contributing the remainder.

Furthermore, BEST is actively promoting the development of green factories and incorporating low-carbon principles throughout the product R&D and manufacturing processes.

Through these concrete measures, the company is contributing to China's carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, in line with the country's broader efforts to develop new quality productive forces and accelerate the green transformation of industry as a whole.

The global semiconductor sector is currently at a pivotal stage, characterized by accelerating technological advances and an expanding market. Demand for high-performance chips — driven by the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence applications, together with continued capacity expansion by wafer fabs worldwide — is creating substantial growth opportunities for the semiconductor equipment industry.

According to SEMI forecasts, global semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales are expected to hit a record $165.9 billion in 2026 and rise to $229.5 billion by 2028, marking five consecutive years of growth.

BEST's inclusion in the SSE STAR 50 Index and the MSCI China A Onshore Index is widely said to represent recognition by domestic and international capital markets of the company's progress since its listing.

It also creates new opportunities to broaden its global investor base and strengthen its international brand presence.

At this new stage of development, BEST will continue to place technological innovation at the center of its growth strategy, further enhance its global R&D footprint and customer service network, and strengthen the competitiveness and market share of its core products.

Through high-quality development, the company aims to deliver lasting value to investors and society while contributing to innovation and progress across the global integrated circuits industry.