Industrial computer maker Advantech Co (研華) on Wednesday said that order momentum in the US should remain robust in the second half of this year, supported by continued growth in the healthcare, semiconductor equipment and robotics businesses.
The company’s US book-to-bill ratio currently stands at 2.15 and is expected to stay at about 2 throughout this year, well above the company’s overall ratio of 1.4, Advantech North America general manager Ween Niu (牛文中) told a news conference in Taipei.
Design wins in the US market in the first half of the year already surpassed the US$420 million it gained for the whole of last year, Niu said.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
A design win refers to a customer’s decision to adopt a supplier’s solution for a new product development project, suggesting orders from the customer and revenue contribution in the future.
US design wins in the second half are expected to be flat or higher compared with the first half, with the full-year total at least double that of last year, Niu said.
They are expected to start contributing to revenue in 2028, he added.
The US market generated US$430 million in revenue in the first half, accounting for 29 percent of the company’s total, he said.
US revenue in the second half is expected to rise at least 50 percent from the first half, and lift full-year sales to US$1 billion, he said.
Regarding the company’s healthcare business, Niu said Advantech works with 28 of the 30 largest US medical equipment makers, providing customers with hardware and system integration related to surgical robots, medical imaging and surgical navigation.
Advantech aims to expand from individual projects and standardized products into multiple equipment platforms, he said.
Its semiconductor equipment business is also growing fast in North America, with the company working with the three largest US semiconductor equipment makers, Niu said.
Revenue from this segment grew 75 percent year-on-year in the first half and is expected to increase about 120 percent next year, he said.
In robotics, Advantech is in talks on more than 20 projects in the US, with more than five entering the contract-signing stage, he said.
As humanoid robotics development is still in the early phase, the company aims to expand its customer base first, he said.
To ease capacity constraints amid robust US demand, Advantech offers overtime incentives and is accelerating the transfer of about 32 projects from its manufacturing site in northern California to a new southern California site in Tustin, Niu said, adding that US capacity is expected to match demand in the second half of next year.
The Tustin site, which began small-volume production in May and is scheduled to enter full operations next month, is expected to contribute more than US$80 million in revenue this year and about US$300 million next year, Niu said.
The site is expected to account for about 40 percent of Advantech’s total US production capacity after 2028, he said.
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