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Investments in Privately-held Raw Material Companies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2022
Investments in Privately-held Raw Material Companies |
Investments in Privately-held Raw Material Companies | Note 6. Investments in Privately-held Raw Material Companies We have made strategic investments in private companies located in China in order to gain access at a competitive cost to raw materials that are critical to our substrate business. These companies form part of our overall supply chain. The investments are summarized below (in thousands):
​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​
​ | ​ | Investment Balance as of | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​
​ | ​ | December 31, | ​ | December 31, | ​ | Accounting | ​ | Ownership | *
Company |  | 2022 |  | 2021 |  | Method |  | Percentage | ​
Nanjing JinMei Gallium Co., Ltd. | ​ | $ | 592 | ​ | $ | 592 |  | Consolidated |  | **85.5 | %
ChaoYang JinMei Gallium Co., Ltd. | ​ | ​ | 1,820 | ​ | ​ | 1,820 | ​ | Consolidated | ​ | **85.5 | %
Beijing BoYu Semiconductor Vessel Craftwork Technology Co., Ltd. | ​ |  | 1,346 | ​ |  | 1,346 |  | Consolidated |  | **85.5 | %
ChaoYang ShuoMei High Purity Semiconductor Materials Co., Ltd. | ​ | ​ | 1,000 | ​ | ​ | — | ​ | Consolidated | ​ | ****75.0 | %
ChaoYang XinMei High Purity Semiconductor Materials Co., Ltd. | ​ | ​ | 7,331 | ​ | ​ | 1,814 | ​ | Consolidated |  | ***58.5 | %
​ | ​ | $ | 12,089 | ​ | $ | 5,572 | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​
​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​
Donghai County Dongfang High Purity Electronic Materials Co., Ltd. | ​ | $ | 1,887 | ​ | $ | 2,053 |  | Equity |  | **46 | %
Beijing JiYa Semiconductor Material Co., Ltd. | ​ | ​ | 6,381 | ​ | ​ | 3,760 | ​ | Equity | ​ | 39 | %
Xilingol Tongli Germanium Co., Ltd. | ​ |  | — | ​ |  | — |  | Equity |  | 25 | %
Xiaoyi XingAn Gallium Co., Ltd. | ​ | ​ | 5,094 | ​ | ​ | 4,095 | ​ | Equity | ​ | **25 | %
ChaoYang KaiMei Quartz Co., Ltd. | ​ | ​ | 827 | ​ | ​ | — | ​ | Equity | ​ | *****40 | %
Emeishan Jia Mei High Purity Metals Co., Ltd. | ​ |  | 418 | ​ |  | 258 |  | Equity |  | 25 | %
​ | ​ | $ | 14,607 | ​ | $ | 10,166 | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​
​ * These percentages reflect the ownership currently in effect upon the completion of the reorganization in China and the ownership in effect upon the completion of the new capital funding by private equity investors in January 2021. ​ ** In preparation for Tongmei’s application for a listing of shares in an IPO on the STAR Market, in late December 2020 we reorganized our entity structures in China. JinMei and BoYu and its subsidiaries, previously organized under AXT, Inc., were assigned to Tongmei and effectively merged with Tongmei although they retained their own respective legal entity status and are wholly owned subsidiaries of Tongmei. The 33% minority interest stakeholders of BoYu converted their ownership to a 7.59% minority interest in Tongmei. The 8.5% minority interest stakeholders, employees of JinMei, converted their ownership to a 0.38% minority interest in Tongmei. Further, a number of employees, key managers and contributors, purchased a 0.4% minority interest in Tongmei. In 2020, the Investors transferred approximately $48.1 million of new capital to Tongmei. An additional investment of approximately $1.5 million of new capital was funded in early January 2021. Under China regulations these investments must be formally approved by the appropriate government agency and are not deemed to be dilutive until such approval is granted. The government approved the approximately $49 million investment in its entirety on January 25, 2021 at which time the Investors owned a redeemable noncontrolling interest in Tongmei of 7.28%. As of December 31, 2022, Tongmei’s noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests totaled approximately 14.5%. AXT remains the controlling stakeholder of Tongmei and holds a majority of the Board of Director positions of Tongmei. ​ *** In February 2021, Tongmei signed a joint venture agreement with certain investors to fund ChaoYang XinMei. ​ **** In April 2022, ChaoYang JinMei signed a joint venture agreement with certain investor to fund a new company, ChaoYang ShuoMei. ​ ***** In April 2022, Tongmei signed a joint venture agreement with certain investors to fund a new company, ChaoYang KaiMei. ​ Before August 1, 2020, our ownership of ChaoYang JinMei was 100%. In August 2020, we sold an 8.5% ownership interest to current members of the ChaoYang JinMei management team for approximately $396,000. As a result, our ownership of ChaoYang JinMei decreased from 100% to 91.5%. As of August 2020, we referred to ChaoYang JinMei as a significantly controlled subsidiary instead of a wholly owned subsidiary. Our Chief Executive Officer is chairman of the JinMei board and we have appointed two other representatives to serve on the JinMei board. In December 2020, we purchased shares equivalent to 4% of BoYu from the same third-party investor for $1.6 million. As a result, our ownership of BoYu increased from 63% to 67%. We continue to consolidate BoYu as we have a controlling financial interest and have majority control of the board and accordingly no gain was recognized as a result of this equity transaction. Our Chief Executive Officer is chairman of the BoYu board and we have appointed two other representatives to serve on the board. An additional step in the STAR Market IPO process involves certain entity reorganizations and alignment of assets under Tongmei. In this regard our two consolidated raw material companies, JinMei and BoYu and its subsidiaries, were assigned to Tongmei in December 2020. This will increase the number of customers and employees attributable to Tongmei as well as increase Tongmei’s consolidated revenue. Although we have representation on the board of directors of each of the privately held raw material companies, the daily operations of each of these companies are managed by local management and not by us. Decisions concerning their respective short-term strategy and operations, ordinary course of business capital expenditures and sales of finished product, are made by local management with regular guidance and input from us. For AXT’s minority investment entities that are not consolidated, the investment balances are included in “Other assets” in our consolidated balance sheets and totaled $14.6 million and $10.2 million as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Our respective ownership interests in each of these companies are 46%, 40%, 39%, 25%, 25% and 25%. These minority investment entities are not considered variable interest entities because:
| ● | all minority investment entities have sustainable businesses of their own;
| ● | our voting power is proportionate to our ownership interests;
| ● | we only recognize our respective share of the losses and/or residual returns generated by the companies if they occur; and
| ● | we do not have controlling financial interest in, do not maintain operational or management control of, do not control the board of directors of, and are not required to provide additional investment or financial support to any of these companies.
Occasionally, one of our PRC subsidiaries or PRC raw material joint ventures declares and pays a dividend. These dividends generally occur when the PRC joint venture declares a dividend for all of its shareholders. Dividends paid to the Company are subject to a 10% PRC withholding tax. The Company is required to obtain approval from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (“SAFE”) to transfer funds in or out of the PRC. SAFE requires a valid agreement to approve the transfers, which are processed through a bank. Other than PRC foreign exchange restrictions, the Company is not subject to any PRC restrictions and limitations on its ability to distribute earnings from its businesses, including its PRC subsidiaries and PRC joint ventures, to the Company and its investors as well as the ability to settle amounts owed by the Company to its PRC subsidiaries and PRC joint ventures. If SAFE approval is denied the dividend payable to the Company would be owed but would not be paid. For the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, the aggregate dividends paid to us, directly or to an intermediate entity within our corporate structure, by our PRC subsidiaries and PRC raw material joint ventures were approximately $2.9 million, $774,000 and $0, respectively. In June 2022, July 2022 and August 2022, we received a dividend of $1.3 million from BoYu, $1.5 million from one of our equity investments, Xiaoyi XingAn Gallium Co., Ltd. (“Xiaoyi XingAn”) and $0.1 million from JiYa Semiconductor Material Co. Ltd., respectively. In June 2021, we received a dividend of $774,000, from one of our equity investments, Xiaoyi XingAn. For the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the aggregate dividends paid to minority shareholders by our PRC subsidiaries and PRC raw material joint ventures were approximately $0 and $0, respectively. All of these distributions were paid to the PRC companies and the minority shareholders. AXT’s minority investment entities are not consolidated and are accounted for under the equity method. Excluding one fully impaired entity, the equity entities had the following summarized income information (in thousands) for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively:
​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​
​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | Our share for the |
​ | ​ | ​ | Year Ended | ​ | Year Ended |
​ | ​ | ​ | December 31, | ​ | December 31, |
​ |  | 2022 |  | 2021 | ​ | 2020 |  | 2022 |  | 2021 |  | 2020 |
Net revenue | ​ | $ | 48,139 | ​ | $ | 35,939 | ​ | $ | 20,049 | ​ | $ | 15,031 | ​ | $ | 11,424 | ​ | $ | 6,252 | ​
Gross profit | ​ |  | 27,000 | ​ |  | 17,465 | ​ |  | 4,907 | ​ |  | 8,229 | ​ |  | 5,482 | ​ |  | 1,504 | ​
Operating income | ​ |  | 24,987 | ​ |  | 14,293 | ​ |  | 1,957 | ​ |  | 7,532 | ​ |  | 4,495 | ​ |  | 504 | ​
Net income | ​ | ​ | 19,104 | ​ | ​ | 12,560 | ​ | ​ | 1,014 | ​ | ​ | 5,957 | ​ | ​ | 4,409 | ​ | ​ | 111 | ​
​ Excluding one fully impaired entity, these minority investment entities that are not consolidated, but rather are accounted for under the equity method, had the following summarized balance sheet information (in thousands) as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively:
​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​ | ​
​ | ​ | As of December 31, |
​ |  | 2022 | ​ | 2021 |
Current assets | ​ | $ | 43,091 |  | $ | 27,503 | ​
Noncurrent assets | ​ |  | 12,520 | ​ |  | 11,707 | ​
Current liabilities | ​ |  | 10,552 | ​ |  | 5,799 | ​
Noncurrent liabilities | ​ |  | — | ​ |  | — | ​
​ Our portion of the income and losses, including impairment charges, from these minority investment entities that are not consolidated and are accounted for under the equity method was an income of $6.0 million, $4.4 million and $0.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Excluding one fully impaired entity, undistributed retained earnings relating to our investments in these minority investment entities amounted to $9.2 million and $5.0 million as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for equity method investments and joint ventures. Equity method investments are investments that give the investor the ability to exercise significant influence over the operating and financial policies of an investee. Joint ventures are entities owned and operated by a small group of businesses as a separate and specific business or project for the mutual benefit of the members of the group. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 323 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2196965 + Details
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