Mi Material focusing on ‘things that we can control’ as it launches S$215 million SGX IPO

[SINGAPORE] The mid-October semiconductor sell-off that hit counters on the Singapore Exchange did little to deter semiconductor materials supplier Mi Material from launching its S$215 million mainboard initial public offering on Monday (Oct 19).

“We are more focused on the things that we can control,” said CEO Kevin Tan.

Mi Material, which gave an offer price of S$1.80 a share in its IPO prospectus, aims to raise S$215 million. Of that sum, S$139.5 million will come from the IPO, and S$75.5 million from the placements to cornerstone investors.

Mi Material will receive S$157.9 million in net proceeds from the IPO.

Of the 77.5 million shares, 71.3 million are being offered to institutional and other investors in Singapore and overseas, excluding the US; the public offer consists of 6.2 million shares.

The separate cornerstone placements, numbering 41.9 million shares, have been allotted to abrdn Asia, abrdn Malaysia, Amova Asset Management Asia, ArecaCapital, Barings Singapore, Fullerton Fund Management and Manulife Investment Management.

Mi Material is a spinoff from Bursa-listed Mi Technovation. The company, which is headquartered in Singapore, produces solder spheres for semiconductor packaging sold under the Accurus brand.

The semiconductor materials supplier operates production facilities in Taiwan and mainland China, and a new facility is being set up in Senai, Johor. The Senai facility, sitting within the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone, will start to contribute to the bottom line by the end of 2027.

Among its top three key customers is one in the premium consumer electronics space with an “iconic retail presence”; another is in the application-specific integrated circuits and artificial intelligence space, and the last, in high-bandwidth memory and dynamic random-access memory space.

In its latest financial results, Mi Material reported growth in first-half revenue to US$53.7 million, from US$25.6 million in H1 2025. Its earnings rose to US$14.3 million in H1 2026, from US$2.8 million a year earlier.

Its FY2025 revenue was US$65.3 million, from US$46.8 million in FY2024. Its earnings grew to US$10 million in FY2025, from US$8.2 million.

In the third quarter of 2026, Mi Material’s revenue is expected to rise by 15.6 per cent to US$37.8 million, from US$32.7 million in Q3 2025, according to numbers released by the management. There is an expected increase in earnings for Q3 2026 compared with Q3 2025.

Mi Material has a diversified range of customers: 62 per cent of its business is in mobility and wearables, 30 per cent in high-performance computing and memory, and 8 per cent in automotive and renewable energy.

Regardless of how the technology trends evolve, “we can still benefit from them”, said Tan.

One of the key areas of differentiation for Mi Material is in its proprietary alloys, which have high heat reliability and ability to withstand drops.

Miniaturisation is also a key differentiating factor, given that the market requires smaller chips, which will need smaller solder spheres as a connection material.

Mobile device markets want solder spheres of between 75 and 180 microns, but since Mi Material manufactures spheres of up to 30 microns, Tan figures it is “well ahead” on the miniaturisation front.

The company will use the proceeds mainly to set up an R&D facility and two fully automated production lines in Texas in the US. It will also refurbish and upgrade the production facilities in Taiwan, expand the production facilities in Malaysia, and set up a R&D lab in Singapore.

Mi Material has no fixed dividend policy, but the board intends to recommend and distribute 20 per cent of its net profit after tax as a dividend from the company’s listing date to Dec 31, 2026, and for FY2027.

Singapore as a hub

Deciding on SGX as a listing venue came down to looking at the metrics.

The company’s executive director Heng Kok Lin listed factors such as Mi Material having its headquarters in Singapore, and its proximity to the regional headquarters of its customers and the production plant in Johor, Malaysia.

“If we come to SGX, we are open to more international investors, and the Sing dollar is more stable,” he added.

Talent is also a key consideration for Mi Material’s listing on SGX, with access to materials science expertise from Singapore’s universities. The R&D lab being set up in Singapore will focus on finding new materials for the company, in particular, the thermal interface materials (TIM) space.

The company is looking to go deeper into this space because there is now no global market leader for the next generation, or TIM 1.5.

Its customers want new materials that are able to deal with heat from the chip. This raises the importance of the R&D and demo centre in the US, where its customers’ design teams sit.

Tan said: “It’s important that customers come in and see, because there are different ways of doing TIM1.5, so whatever method we choose, we want customers to design around our method.”

While the performance of recent IPOs on the SGX after listing is not ideal, Tan is focused on delivering earnings; he highlighted Mi Material’s track record and fundamentals.

“We can have a nice equity story, but at the end of the day, whatever story you point out, it comes back to the earnings,” said Tan.

The counter commences trading at 2 pm on Oct 28.