Hanmi Semiconductor Jumps 24% on $36 Million SpaceX Investment

Shares surge 24% on hopes for TerraFab-related gains

Hanmi Semiconductor will invest about $36 million in SpaceX, the U.S. private space company. The chip equipment maker described the purchase as a strategic investment aimed at benefiting from growth in artificial intelligence, satellite communications and the aerospace industry.

In a regulatory filing on June 12, Hanmi said it will acquire about $36 million of SpaceX shares on June 16. The investment amounts to about 7.2% of its equity capital of 690.3 billion won. Hanmi said the purchase reflects not only expectations for SpaceX's growth but also a preemptive bet on Elon Musk's TerraFab project, a large semiconductor manufacturing complex.

Musk is building TerraFab, an integrated semiconductor plant in Austin, Texas, to supply AI chips for SpaceX, Tesla and xAI. Hanmi Semiconductor rose 23.71% to close at 360,000 won on South Korea's benchmark stock market on June 12.

The company also cited ties between Hanmi Chairman Kwak Dong-shin and Peter Thiel, chairman of Palantir, as one reason for the investment. Thiel co-founded PayPal with Musk and was an early investor in SpaceX, Facebook and LinkedIn. Crescendo Equity Partners, a global private equity firm backed by Thiel, invested in Hanmi Semiconductor in 2013, becoming the first such investment in a Korean company and establishing ties with Kwak. The two sides have continued to cooperate on investments since then.

Hanmi said it plans to reinvest returns from the SpaceX investment into its core semiconductor equipment business to increase corporate value and shareholder value.

Lee Kwang-sik, Hankyung.com reporter, bumeran@hankyung.com