DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

NOTE 1 – DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS

ACM Research, Inc. (“ACM”) and its subsidiaries (collectively with ACM, the “Company”) develop, manufacture and sell single-wafer wet cleaning equipment used to improve the manufacturing process and yield for advanced integrated chips. The Company markets and sells its single-wafer wet-cleaning equipment, under the brand name “Ultra C,” based on the Company’s proprietary Space Alternated Phase Shift (“SAPS”) and Timely Energized Bubble Oscillation (“TEBO”) technologies. These tools are designed to remove random defects from a wafer surface efficiently, without damaging the wafer or its features, even at increasingly advanced process nodes.

ACM was incorporated in California in 1998, and it initially focused on developing tools for manufacturing process steps involving the integration of ultra low-K materials and copper. The Company’s early efforts focused on stress-free copper-polishing technology, and it sold tools based on that technology in the early 2000s.

In 2006 the Company established its operational center in Shanghai in the People’s Republic of China (the “PRC”), where it operates through ACM’s subsidiary ACM Research (Shanghai), Inc. (“ACM Shanghai”). ACM Shanghai was formed initially in 2005 to help establish and build relationships with integrated circuit manufacturers in the PRC, and the Company initially financed its Shanghai operations in part through sales of non-controlling equity interests in ACM Shanghai.

In 2007 the Company began to focus its development efforts on single-wafer wet-cleaning solutions for the front-end chip fabrication process. The Company introduced its SAPS megasonic technology, which can be applied in wet wafer cleaning at numerous steps during the chip fabrication process, in 2009. It introduced its TEBO technology, which can be applied at numerous steps during the fabrication of small node two-dimensional conventional and three-dimensional patterned wafers, in March 2016. The Company has designed its equipment models for SAPS and TEBO solutions using a modular configuration that enables it to create a wet-cleaning tool meeting the specific requirements of a customer, while using pre-existing designs for chamber, electrical, chemical delivery and other modules. In August 2018, the Company introduced its Ultra-C Tahoe wafer cleaning tool, which can deliver high cleaning performance with significantly less sulfuric acid than typically consumed by conventional high-temperature single-wafer cleaning tools. The Company also offers a range of custom-made equipment, including cleaners, coaters and developers, to back-end wafer assembly and packaging factories, principally in the PRC.

In 2011 ACM Shanghai formed a wholly owned subsidiary in the PRC, ACM Research (Wuxi), Inc. (“ACM Wuxi”), to manage sales and service operations.

In June 2017 ACM formed a wholly owned subsidiary in Hong Kong, CleanChip Technologies Limited (“CleanChip”), to act on the Company’s behalf in Asian markets outside the PRC by, for example, serving as a trading partner between ACM Shanghai and its customers, procuring raw materials and components, performing sales and marketing activities, and making strategic investments.

In December 2017 ACM formed a wholly owned subsidiary in the Republic of Korea, ACM Research Korea CO., LTD. (“ACM Korea”), to serve customers based in Republic of Korea and perform sales, marketing, research and development activities for new products and solutions.

In March 2019 ACM Shanghai formed a wholly owned subsidiary in the PRC, Shengwei Research (Shanghai), Inc. (“ACM Shengwei”), to manage activities related to addition of future long-term production capacity.

In June 2019 CleanChip formed a wholly owned subsidiary in California, ACM Research (CA), Inc. (“ACM California”), to provide procurement services on behalf of ACM Shanghai.

In June 2019 ACM announced plans to complete over the next three years a listing (the “STAR Listing”) of shares of ACM Shanghai on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s new Sci-Tech innovAtion boaRd, known as the STAR Market, and a concurrent initial public offering (the “STAR IPO”) of ACM Shanghai shares in the PRC. ACM Shanghai is currently ACM’s primary operating subsidiary, and at the time of announcement, was wholly owned by ACM. To meet a STAR Listing requirement that it have multiple independent stockholders in the PRC, ACM Shanghai completed private placements of its shares in June and November 2019, following which, as of September 30, 2020, the private placement investors held a total of 8.3% of the outstanding shares of ACM Shanghai and ACM Research held the remaining 91.7%. As part of the STAR Listing process, in June 2020 the ownership interests held by the private investors were reclassified from redeemable non-controlling interests to non-controlling interests as the redemption feature was terminated. (Note 15).

In preparation for the STAR IPO, the Company completed a reorganization in December 2019 that included the sale of all of the shares of CleanChip by ACM to ACM Shanghai for $3,500. The reorganization and sale had no impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

The Company has direct or indirect interests in the following subsidiaries:

		Effective interest held as at
Name of subsidiaries	Place and date of incorporation	September 30, 2020			December 31, 2019
ACM Research (Shanghai), Inc.	China, May 2005		91.7	%		91.7	%
ACM Research (Wuxi), Inc.	China, July 2011		91.7	%		91.7	%
CleanChip Technologies Limited	Hong Kong, June 2017		91.7	%		91.7	%
ACM Research Korea CO., LTD.	Korea, December 2017		91.7	%		91.7	%
Shengwei Research (Shanghai), Inc.	China, March 2019		91.7	%		91.7	%
ACM Research (CA), Inc.	USA, June 2019		91.7	%		91.7	%
ACM Research (Cayman), Inc.	Cayman Islands, April 2019		100.0	%		100.0	%