APAC Wrap: Semicap Subsystems in Japan; PCBs in Korea; ASICs and Optics in Taiwan.
Toto: Limit Up
Toto closed at ¥5,425 yesterday and hit the +¥1,000 limit (+18.4%) early this morning.
Since Toto manufactures consumable electrostatic chucks and now reports it as a standalone segment, the company provides a read through for WFE consumable companies.
From the earnings release:
As replacement demand remained firm due to improved utilization rates at the existing factories of semiconductor device manufacturers, sales of the TOTO Group ceramic products used in semiconductor manufacturing equipment also increased compared with the previous year.
Positive read through for:
GL Techno +6%
UMS Integration (SGX closed today)
Metasurface Technologies (HKEX closed today)
In particular, the replacement demand for vacuum chambers is key to the investment case for this company. I’m not sure the extent to which replacement demand is important for UMS Integration.
On a separate note, Metasurface has start referring to more than one semiconductor OEM customer in its annual report. The market will soon learn they supply more than just Applied Materials.
Remarkably, Toto’s electrostatic chucks business appears to form <10% of sales but generates 40% of profits. Guidance was strong and the company has plans to boost production capacity at three plants (BBG).
Tokyo Electron also gave strong guidance. TEL guided net sales of ¥1.57T for H1 FY3/27 — a 33% YoY increase and above market expectations of ¥1.42T — with OP of ¥431B, up 42% and ahead of consensus ¥405.9B.
In comments earlier this week, Tokyo Electron’s Chief Executive Officer Toshiki Kawai said there’s potential for more spending on NAND production capacity, and he has not yet factored in that upside to the company’s forecast.
Korea: Home to a cheaper TTMI?
Following up on our last note about Korea, using Funda AI we compared Korean’s version of TTMI to… TTMI.
This Korean company is thought to have Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, Cisco and Arista as customers, and is a purer AI play with a lower valuation: