Japan Markets ViewAdvantest CEO Yoshida Expects “New Entrants to Be New Customers”

 

 

[QUICK Market Eyes] Advantest (6857) held an online presentation of its consolidated financial results for the July-September period of 2022 (International Financial Reporting Standards) on October 27, highlighting “FY2022,” “Orders received,” and “China.”

 

QUICK, in partnership with SCRIPTS Asia (Seattle, U.S.), provides minutes of investor briefings and other events held by listed companies in Japan and other Asian countries. We conducted text mining based on the minutes of the online presentation held by Advantest.

 

In the July-September period of 2022, operating income doubled YoY to JPY43.1 bn. Sales grew by 53% to a record high of JPY138.9 bn. System-on-a-chip (SoC) testers saw a drop in sales for consumer products such as smartphones, but were supported by demand for high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) related developments. Shipments of memory testers continued at a high level, supported by customers’ capital investment from a long-term perspective.

 

With the accelerating uncertainty in the external environment, such as growing geopolitical risks and rising inflation, the company lowered its forecast of the SoC tester market for “FY2022” to the range of USD4.1 bn to USD4.4 bn (down 5% to up 2% YoY), down from the July forecast range of USD4.4 bn to USD4.8 bn.

 

Demand for consumer products such as smartphones and PCs is expected to weaken further. On the other hand, the supply-demand balance remains tight for the increasingly electrified automotive industry and industrial equipment. As a result, demand for semiconductors will continue to be uneven. However, considering the sales outlook for competitor Teradyne, Advantest’s market share is expected to increase.

 

Although the company suspended the disclosure of “orders received,” demand appears to be strong and at a high level. Representative Director, President & CEO Yoshiaki Yoshida stated, “Orders received during the April-September period surpassed sales, and we could not meet demand at all.”

 

CEO Yoshida also pointed out, “We also expect to see the emergence of new applications such as metaverse. For example, there are a growing number of new entrants such as hyperscalers in the U.S., and they are expected to become our new customers.”

 

Questions from analysts and the media focused on the impact of the U.S. restrictions on exports of advanced technologies to “China.” CEO Yoshida responded that while there are uncertainties in the future, U.S. technologies and U.S. production make up a very small proportion of Advantest’s products, and therefore, “the direct impact will be very small.”

(Reported on November 1)

 

 

Transcripts of SCRIPTS Asia on QUICK Data Factory
https://corporate.quick.co.jp/data-factory/en/product/data005/

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