SEMIFIVE Secures Preliminary Approval for KOSDAQ Listing

• Provides AI ASIC solutions for fabless companies and device manufacturers
• New order volume surges: KRW 5.7 billion (2020), KRW 28.6 billion (2022), KRW 100 billion (2024)

SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- SEMIFIVE, a global leader in custom AI semiconductor (ASIC) design, announced today that it received preliminary approval for listing on the KOSDAQ market from the Korea Exchange on September 30. Samsung Securities and UBS are serving as joint lead underwriters.

Founded in 2019, SEMIFIVE has been providing comprehensive end-to-end AI ASIC solutions to a wide range of clients—including fabless companies and OEM device manufacturers—covering everything from AI chip specification and logic design to full production support.

The global semiconductor industry is undergoing a significant transformation. As Moore's Law approaches its limits and the cost of AI accelerators rises sharply, demand is rapidly shifting away from general-purpose chips such as GPUs and CPUs toward customized ASICs. Capitalizing on this trend, SEMIFIVE's new order volume has surged nearly 17-fold in just four years, increasing from KRW 5.7 billion in 2020 to KRW 28.6 billion in 2022, and reaching KRW 100 billion in 2024.

Industry experts attribute this growth to SEMIFIVE's platform-based design strategy. The company leverages its proprietary semiconductor design platform to maximize development efficiency in both time and cost, while also offering turnkey E2E (End-to-End) solutions that support the entire chip development lifecycle—from design to mass production.

SEMIFIVE's AI ASIC business model is designed for sustainable growth: as development projects transition into mass production, revenue growth accelerates. With multiple projects currently entering the production phase, the company anticipates that its growth trajectory will gain further momentum.

"In the rapidly evolving AI semiconductor market, shortening time-to-market is key to securing competitiveness," said a SEMIFIVE spokesperson. "SEMIFIVE is one of the few companies capable of supporting the entire AI ASIC development cycle swiftly and in accordance with customer requirements."

Building on its success in Korea, SEMIFIVE has accelerated its global expansion since 2025, securing consecutive AI semiconductor design projects from clients in the U.S., China, and Japan. Proceeds from the upcoming IPO will be used to ensure the smooth execution of SEMIFIVE's growing pipeline of mass-production projects, accelerate R&D in advanced design technologies such as chiplets, and further expand its global operations while strengthening the development of engineering talent.

"Our vision is to lead innovation in chip design for the era of custom AI semiconductors, just as foundries drove breakthroughs in manufacturing during the age of general-purpose CPUs and GPUs," said Brandon Cho, CEO and co-founder of SEMIFIVE. "The surge in new orders signals a new wave of innovation in design. Through this IPO, SEMIFIVE will proactively address the growing demand for AI ASICs while scaling our capabilities to grow alongside global semiconductor leaders."

Media Contact
Robin Kim, Senior Director, [email protected]

About SEMIFIVE
SEMIFIVE is the pioneer of platform based SoC design, working with customers to implement innovative ideas into custom silicon in the most efficient way. Our SoC platforms offer a powerful springboard for new chip designs and leverage configurable domain-specific architectures and pre-validated key IP pools. We offer comprehensive spec-to-system capabilities with end-to-end solutions so that custom SoCs can be realized faster, with reduced cost and risks for key applications such as data center or AI-enabled IoT. With a strong partnership with Samsung Foundry as a leading SAFE^TM DSP partner, as well as the larger ecosystem, SEMIFIVE provides a one-stop shop solution for any SoC design needs. For more information, please visit www.semifive.com.

SOURCE SEMIFIVE