Nanofilm, which specialises in advanced materials and nanoproducts, derives 77 per cent of its revenue from its advanced materials business unit. It provides protective coating services for devices such as smartphones, laptops and other electronics. Its two other business units are nanofabrication and industrial equipment.
For the fiscal year 2019 ended Dec 31, net profit rose 22.2 per cent to S$35.8 million. Revenue was up 16.4 per cent to S$142.9 million. It all began with Dr Shi spearheading the research in the now patented filtered cathodic vacuum arc coating technology in 1994. Little did he know he would be thrust into the corporate world when the FCVA technology sparked the interest of Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, which wanted to adopt the coating technology for its hard disk drives.