Chip industry linchpin Advantest Corp yesterday lifted its full-year forecast almost 40 percent in anticipation of elevated spending around artificial intelligence (AI) and downplayed the impact of DeepSeek’s (深度求索) big debut.
Advantest raised its operating profit outlook above analyst estimates as chief executive officer Douglas Lefever said long-term AI development upside is near certain.
The company sells chip-testing equipment that has been in hot demand with a surge in AI investment powering sales of Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc semiconductors.
Photo: Bloomberg
DeepSeek has not had any impact on the company’s view at this time, Lefever said, following a furious two days of tech sector re-evaluation after the Chinese AI startup rocketed in popularity.
Advantest’s results coincided with ASML Holding NV, the Dutch supplier of advanced semiconductor lithography gear, reporting bookings that were roughly double what had been expected and lifting expectations of a prolonged boom in AI chip demand.
Advantest upped its forecast to an operating profit of ￥226 billion (US$1.5 billion) for the year to March. Analysts on average expected the company to earn record operating profit of ￥203 billion.
While datacenter-driven business is to make up the lion’s portion of Advantest’s income in the business year starting April, the market for chips that process AI in robots, consumer devices and other machines is growing, Lefever said.
“A lot of work is being done in the area of robotics,” he said. “Edge AI is definitely evolving, which will be good for the volume of AI semiconductors.”
The company said it expects the rising number of new entrants in the AI field to further support demand in the months ahead.
Hype around DeepSeek’s claims of low development costs triggered fears about its US rival OpenAI, as well as concerns about the companies supplying AI infrastructure. Shares of Advantest — whose equipment is needed to develop and monitor increasingly complex semiconductors — have shed more than 15 percent since Friday’s close.
Signs of a rebound after the DeepSeek-led selloff in chip stocks already emerged this week, with Nvidia shares recovering by 9 percent on Tuesday and ASML surging more than 11 percent after its results yesterday.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS