The glamorous transformation of factory accounting: Cheng Zhuo leads CFMEE in a sprint towards listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

As the semiconductor equipment industry in China accelerates its development, Chipown is preparing to go public on the Hong Kong stock market. Founded by female entrepreneur Cheng Zhuo, the company has established a global leading position in the PCB direct imaging lithography equipment field. Key Points: Chipown has a market share of 15% in the global PCB direct imaging equipment market based on 2024 revenue. Last year's revenue increased by 47.6% to 1.41 billion yuan, with net profit soaring by 80.4% to 289 million yuan. Li Shida In China's semiconductor equipment industry, the backgrounds of entrepreneurs often have a distinct technical flavor. However, Hefei Chipown Technology Co., Ltd. (688630.SH) founder Cheng Zhuo has taken a completely different entrepreneurial path. With a background as a factory accountant, she has transformed the company into a leading domestic direct imaging lithography machine enterprise and has recently submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Cheng Zhuo, who will turn 60 this year, graduated from a technical school at 18 and worked as an accountant at Anhui General Machinery Factory. When the factory closed in the late 1990s, she and her husband started an auction company and engaged in commodity trading. Cheng Zhuo's entry into the semiconductor equipment industry was somewhat accidental. In 2013, she was commissioned to participate in the debt restructuring of lithography equipment company Hefei Xinshi. Although the restructuring ultimately failed, the direct imaging lithography equipment technology and engineering team accumulated by Xinshi over the years provided the initial industrial foundation for her later establishment of Chipown. Accidental Opportunity Chipown was established in 2015, and Cheng Zhuo collaborated with the original technical team from Xinshi, focusing on the research and manufacturing of micro-nano direct imaging lithography equipment. This type of equipment is a crucial core device in the electronic manufacturing industry, primarily used in printed circuit boards (PCBs), IC substrates, and advanced packaging. Direct imaging lithography completes graphic exposure directly through computer-controlled beams without the need for mask making. Its resolution is typically at the micron level, lower than the nanometer-level lithography required for wafer manufacturing, but sufficient for PCB and advanced packaging processes. Currently, Chipown has established a considerable position in this niche market. The application documents cite third-party data indicating that based on 2024 revenue, the company has become the largest supplier of PCB direct imaging equipment globally, with a market share of 15%. The company's clients include the top ten PCB manufacturers worldwide and about 70% of the top 100 PCB companies. Its products include two main segments: PCB direct imaging equipment and semiconductor direct imaging lithography equipment. By 2025, the former is expected to account for approximately 76% of revenue, remaining the primary source of income, while the latter is mainly used for wafer-level packaging and advanced packaging processes, with gross margins generally higher than traditional PCB equipment. From 2023 to 2024, the company's revenue is projected to grow from 829 million yuan to 954 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 15%. The net profit for 2023 is expected to be 179 million yuan, slightly decreasing to 161 million yuan in 2024, mainly due to the rising proportion of PCB equipment sales with lower gross margins, which pulls down the overall profitability level. The annual gross margin is also expected to decline from 40.9% to 35.5% With the increasing demand for semiconductor direct-write lithography equipment, the company's revenue is expected to grow by approximately 47.6% year-on-year to CNY 1.41 billion in 2025, with net profit surging by 80.4% to CNY 289 million, and gross margin also rebounding to 39.1%. The sales of high-margin advanced packaging and semiconductor equipment are beginning to ramp up, with their revenue share increasing from 11.5% in 2024 to 16.6%. The company also records a certain scale of government subsidies and other income each year. From 2023 to 2025, the "net other income and gains" are expected to be CNY 56.86 million, CNY 53.03 million, and CNY 43.99 million, accounting for approximately 32%, 33%, and 15% of net profit during the same period, indicating that subsidies have contributed to profitability but the proportion is gradually declining. Accounts Receivable Pressure However, the company faces certain pressures in terms of funding. The application documents show that accounts receivable and notes receivable have remained at a relatively high level in recent years. From 2023 to 2025, the relevant amounts are approximately CNY 850 million, CNY 1.02 billion, and CNY 1.09 billion, roughly equivalent to 102.5%, 106.6%, and 77% of the annual revenue. Although the ratio has decreased, it is still higher than that of most manufacturing enterprises. At the same time, the company's accounts receivable turnover days were 318 days in 2023, rising to 361 days in 2024, and then falling back to 275 days in 2025. This characteristic is not uncommon in the semiconductor equipment industry. The company states that due to the long production and customer acceptance cycles, some customers have credit periods of about 6 to 12 months, with some major customers extending up to 20 months. This has led to negative operating cash flow for the company in the past two years, with CNY -129 million and CNY -71.55 million in 2023 and 2024, respectively, only turning positive in 2025. Chipown has been listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market since 2021. Over the past six months, the company's stock price has risen by approximately 23%, with a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of about 114 times. In contrast, the U.S. KLA (KLAC.US) has a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of about 42 times; ASMPT (0522.HK) is around 41.3 times. This indicates that domestic technology companies with "domestic substitution" attributes still enjoy a high premium. From factory accounting to lithography equipment entrepreneur, Cheng Zhuo's entrepreneurial journey is filled with opportunities and efforts. However, the equipment manufacturing industry is a capital-intensive business, and as industry competition becomes increasingly fierce, whether Chipown can maintain its technological advantage while improving cash turnover will become an important indicator for investors to observe