Chip-equipment maker BESI doubles sales, plans €100 million buyback
Dutch chip-packaging specialist BESI reported third-quarter revenue of €283.4 million. Orders rose to €342.6 million.
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Dutch semiconductor equipment maker BE Semiconductor Industries (BESI) more than doubled its revenue in the third quarter. According to figures released on Thursday, revenue rose to €283.4 million from €132.7 million a year earlier. Orders climbed to €342.6 million from €174.7 million. The gross margin was 65.2%. BESI builds machines that mount chips in packages and stack them on top of each other – processes that are becoming increasingly important for high-performance processors and memory.
For the fourth quarter, the company expects revenue roughly in line with the third quarter, within a range of plus or minus 5%. BESI also announced a €100 million share buyback. The results came on a difficult trading day for the sector: chip stocks came under pressure worldwide after a supply-bottleneck warning from US rival Lam Research.