"Patience Capital" has been supporting for over a decade, and Zhao Jianhui finally welcomes the IPO spotlight! Handan Tiantiancheng, holding the world's first 12-inch silicon carbide epitaxial wafers, how to navigate the cycle during industry adjustments?

Ask AI · How will the world’s first 12-inch silicon carbide wafers reshape the industry ecosystem?

When a 66-year-old physics alumnus from Xiamen University struck the bell for a company’s listing in Hong Kong, who could have imagined that behind it was a dream to serve the country through technology that had spanned 15 years? On March 30, Hantang Tiancheng listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, opening up 44.24% in the morning and reaching a market cap of more than HK$1.14B. This market performance has drawn outside attention to the development of China’s third-generation semiconductor industry, bringing Hantang Tiancheng—an SiC epitaxial wafer company headquartered in Xiamen—into the public eye.

From academic research to industrial practice

In 2010, Zhao Jianhui, then 51, decided to resign his tenured professorship at Rutgers University in the United States and return to start a business in China. Zhao Jianhui is a scholar in the field of silicon carbide materials research, and he had received the IEEE Fellow honor for his research achievements in this area. He earned his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1988, and afterward he conducted more than 20 years of silicon carbide technology research in the United States.

Zhao Jianhui graduated from the Physics Department of Xiamen University early on. In 2011, with support from the Xiamen municipal government and the Xiamen Torch Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, he founded Hantang Tiancheng, focusing on R&D and production of silicon carbide epitaxial wafers. At that time, China’s silicon carbide epitaxial wafer market was still in its early stage, the industry chain’s supporting ecosystem was not yet complete, and key equipment and raw materials relied mainly on imports.

In the early days of entrepreneurship, the team faced challenges such as complex manufacturing processes, high equipment costs, and difficulties in improving yield. Hantang Tiancheng started with 3-inch silicon carbide epitaxial wafers and gradually advanced technological development. In 2012, the company rolled out the first batch of domestically commercialized 3-inch and 4-inch silicon carbide epitaxial wafers, filling a gap in the relevant domestic fields.

Technological iteration and market expansion

In the following years, Hantang Tiancheng continued to push product size upgrades. In 2014, the company achieved commercialized production of 6-inch silicon carbide epitaxial wafers, becoming one of the few companies globally at the time with 6-inch mass-production capability.

The technical leap from 6-inch to 8-inch took nearly a decade. During this period, the company continued to invest in process optimization, equipment commissioning, and quality control. In 2023, Hantang Tiancheng became the world’s first company to achieve large-scale external supply of 8-inch silicon carbide epitaxial wafers. According to a report by Fujian Daily on December 24, 2025, relying on its in-house R&D team to tackle technological hurdles, Hantang Tiancheng successfully developed the world’s first 12-inch high-quality silicon carbide epitaxial wafer. This breakthrough will significantly improve the production efficiency of downstream power devices and substantially reduce the unit manufacturing cost of silicon carbide chips, laying a key foundation for the large-scale, low-cost application of silicon carbide on a broader scale.

Currently, Hantang Tiancheng’s customers include four of the top five global silicon carbide power device manufacturers and seven of the top ten. According to the prospectus, three of the company’s customers’ products have already entered NVIDIA’s AI data center supply chain. Based on a research report from Zhongshe Consulting, Hantang Tiancheng became the world’s largest supplier of silicon carbide epitaxial wafers by scale in 2023, and its global market share exceeded 31% in 2024.

Long-term support from local state-owned capital

Hantang Tiancheng’s development is closely tied to the industrial layout of the Xiamen Torch Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone. Since 2007, the Torch Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone has carried out incubation and cultivation efforts around the integrated circuit industry, providing industrial support and policy backing for relevant companies.

At the capital level, Xiamen’s state-owned investment platforms have provided Hantang Tiancheng with multiple rounds of funding support. From early backers such as Gaoxin Tou and Torch Group, to later investors such as JinYuan Group and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Investment, state capital has continued to participate at different stages of the company’s growth. In December 2024, Hantang Tiancheng completed a Pre-IPO round financing of RMB 1.03 billion, laying the groundwork for its listing.

On its first day of trading, the company’s market cap reached more than HK$463k. Based on its 28.85% shareholding ratio, the market value corresponding to Zhao Jianhui’s shares exceeded HK$13 billion.

Earnings fluctuations and industry adjustment

Hantang Tiancheng’s financial data shows that its performance has had some volatility in recent years. From 2022 to 2024, the company’s revenue was RMB 441 million, RMB 1.143 billion, and RMB 974 million, respectively. The gross margin fell from 44.7% in 2022 to 34.1% in 2024, and for the first nine months of 2025 it further declined to 25.6%.

This change is related to the overall cycle of the silicon carbide industry. In recent years, industry capacity has expanded rapidly, and market competition has intensified, leading to some downward pressure on product prices. Since 2020, the prices of 6-inch epitaxial wafers have shown a downward trend. Meanwhile, some companies have exited the market due to operating pressure. In December 2024, China’s silicon carbide company Century Jin Guang entered bankruptcy proceedings. In 2025, news also emerged that the global silicon carbide manufacturer Wolfspeed is facing increasing operating pressure.

In its prospectus, Hantang Tiancheng said that the current industry adjustment is a phase correction within the semiconductor industry cycle, and it expects the market to recover gradually in the second half of 2026.

Market outlook and intended use of fundraising

According to Zhongshe Consulting’s forecast, the global market for silicon carbide power devices will maintain rapid growth, and it is expected to grow to the “hundreds of millions of dollars” level in the coming years, with a compound annual growth rate close to 40%. Sectors such as new energy vehicles, renewable energy, energy storage systems, and AI data centers are seen as the main growth drivers.

Hantang Tiancheng plans to raise about HK$1.56 billion in this IPO. It intends to use 71% for capacity expansion, and expects that by 2029, the annual production capacity of 8-inch silicon carbide chips will increase to 463k units. It plans to allocate 19% for technology R&D, with a focus on advancing industrialization of 12-inch products and R&D on new material process technologies.

Challenges and outlook

Although Hantang Tiancheng has made progress in technology R&D and industrialization, it still faces multiple challenges. On the technology front, large-scale mass production of 12-inch products still requires time; on the market front, revenue from its top five customers accounts for more than 80%, implying high customer concentration and a certain level of operating risk.

Hantang Tiancheng’s growth path reflects a practical model for China’s third-generation semiconductor industry in terms of technology breakthroughs, capital support, and regional industrial ecosystem coordination. Against the backdrop of industry cyclical adjustments and intensifying global competition, whether companies can continue to maintain technological leadership and achieve steady operations still needs further validation by the market.