Semiconductor inspection tool and equipment maker Hermes Microvision Inc (HMI, 漢微科) yesterday unexpectedly slashed its annual revenue forecast to between 5 percent and 20 percent growth as clients become more cautious about purchasing wafer inspection tools for advanced technologies amid slumping demand for end products.
Originally HMI forecast annual growth in revenue of between 25 and 35 percent this year from last year’s NT$7.21 billion (US$228 million).
“Weaker-than-expected demand this year and technical difficulties with advanced nodes have resulted in uncertainty over the timing of inspection tool procurement,” HMI chief operating officer Pan Chung-shih (潘中石) told investors.
The company counts semiconductor heavyweights Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Intel Corp as its major clients.
This year is likely to be a flattish one for the semiconductor inspection tool market, rather than a growth year as the company had expected, Pan said.
“Our clients are cautious about capital expenditure mainly due to weak demand because of unfavorable foreign-exchange rates and macroeconomic uncertainty,” Pan said.
Intel has cut its capital spending by 13 percent this year to between US$8.2 billion and US$9.2 billion, while TSMC has maintained its capital spending at between US$10.5 billion and US$11 billion.
This quarter would be a weak quarter, Pan said. Revenue is likely to plunge by 30 to 40 percent sequentially from NT$2.31 billion in the second quarter, he said, adding that the decline in revenue would likely continue for the rest of the year.
However, HMI reiterated its positive outlook on demand for its advanced wafer inspection tool, e-beam. The company still believes e-beam will account for 50 percent of the world’s advanced wafer inspection tools by 2020.
“We see the slowdown of e-beam procurement from our clients this year is a timing issue, rather than a demand issue,” Pan said.
HMI has a dominant 85 percent share of the world’s e-beam market, he said.
E-beam is a wafer inspection tool designed for advanced 10-nanometer technology.
HMI yesterday posted 57 percent growth in net profit in the second quarter, compared with NT$440.22 million in the first quarter. That was the best quarterly net profit in five quarters.
Gross margin fell slightly to 70.3 percent last quarter from 70.5 percent the previous quarter, while operating margin improved to 30 percent from 28 percent.
HMI shares tumbled 1.25 percent to close at NT$1,575 yesterday, under-performing the TPEx, which closed down 0.22 percent.
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