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.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
OPTION: Uber said it could provide higher pay for batch trips, if incentives for batching is not removed entirely, as the latter would force it to pass on the costs to consumers Uber Technologies Inc yesterday warned that proposed restrictions on batching orders and minimum wages could prompt a NT$20 delivery fee increase in Taiwan, as lower efficiency would drive up costs. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made the remarks yesterday during his visit to Taiwan. He is on a multileg trip to the region, which includes stops in South Korea and Japan. His visit coincided the release last month of the Ministry of Labor’s draft bill on the delivery sector, which aims to safeguard delivery workers’ rights and improve their welfare. The ministry set the minimum pay for local food delivery drivers at
RSS