Besi Raises Long-Term Financial Targets Ahead of Investor Day
By Nathan Vifflin and Leo Marchandon
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – BE Semiconductor Industries (Besi) announced an increase in its long-term financial targets, anticipating the positive impact of customers adopting its advanced chip stacking tools.
The Dutch company specializes in producing the world’s most precise hybrid bonding tool, a crucial technology that enables multiple chips to be directly bonded on top of each other.
During an investor day event, Besi’s Senior Vice President Technology, Chris Scanlan, mentioned that AI chip designers like Nvidia and Broadcom are considering adopting a TSMC process using hybrid bonding, which could potentially drive up the demand for Besi’s tool.
Furthermore, major players in the industry such as Intel and AMD are also expanding their utilization of hybrid bonding technology, according to Scanlan.
Following the announcement, shares in Besi surged by 8.4% as of 1540 GMT, outperforming the Netherlands’ AEX index.
Besi has now revised its revenue forecast for the “long term” to be between 1.5 billion euros and 1.9 billion euros ($1.73 billion-2.19 billion), compared to the previous estimate of 1 billion euros. The company also expects an operating margin of between 40% and 55%, up from the previous range of 35% to 50%.
With the diminishing returns from shrinking chip features, chipmakers are turning to advanced packaging technologies like hybrid bonding to continue producing faster and more powerful chips.
Additionally, the limitations of reticule exposure on ASML’s lithography machines have prompted chipmakers to explore alternative solutions such as stitching or stacking multiple chips together to overcome size constraints.
In a display of innovation, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co showcased a large package comprised of over 16 computing chips stitched together, highlighting the industry’s shift towards advanced packaging techniques.
While Besi and its investors remain optimistic about the company’s equipment catering to leading-edge chipmakers, some analysts have expressed caution regarding the upward revision of targets.
“It is worth noting that Besi is already revising its long-term targets, despite not yet achieving their previous goals,” analysts at Degroof Petercam commented.
Year-to-date, shares in Besi have declined by 3.2%.
($1 = 0.8685 euros)
(Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk and Nathan Vifflin in Amsterdam; Editing by Kim Coghill, Jan Harvey and Matt Scuffham)
