Besi sees higher Q3 orders as chipmakers adopt hybrid bonding, after Q2 dip

BE Semiconductor Industries (Besi) BESI projected a significant uptick in third-quarter orders on Thursday, driven by rising demand for hybrid bonding systems for AI-related data centre applications, after bookings fell in the second quarter.

The Dutch chipmaking equipment supplier makes the world's most accurate hybrid bonding tool, a critical instrument that top chipmakers such as Nvidia NVDA, Broadcom AVGO and TSMC 2330 are looking to adopt.

"Expanded capex budgets for AI infrastructure have been confirmed by each of the leading industry players in recent quarters with new use cases emerging in cloud and edge computing," CEO Richard Blickman said in a statement.

Besi said it was well positioned benefit from fast-growing markets including data centres, photonics, autonomous driving and new AI-enhanced consumer devices expected to be introduced in 2026-2028.

As chipmakers reach the physical limits of trying to shrink circuits to maximize their efficiency, they are increasingly turning towards other methods such as hybrid bonding, which allows them to stack chips on top of each other.

Besi's second-quarter order bookings fell 3% compared to the first, totalling 128 million euros ($150.68 million), due to soft demand in mainstream computing and mobile applications, and increased customer caution caused by trade tensions.

Analysts had expected higher quarterly bookings of 149 million euros, according to a Visible Alpha consensus.

The company's revenue rose 2.8% quarter-on-quarter to 148.1 million euros, driven by increased shipments.

Besi said it expected revenue to decline by 5-15% in the third quarter, compared to the second.

($1 = 0.8495 euros)