Tokyo Electron raises full-year forecast to ¥593B despite missing quarterly estimates

Tokyo Electron Ltd., a Japanese electronics and semiconductor company, has lifted its annual projections despite missing quarterly profit expectations. This was after the firm observed a surge in capital expenditure among chipmakers, driven by the expanding AI investment cycle.

Following its forecast upgrade, the semiconductor tool supplier now expects ¥593 billion, or $3.8 billion, in operating profit for the fiscal year ending in March. Initially, the firm forecasted an operating profit of ¥586 billion.

Tokyo Electron expresses optimism that revenue will surge in 2026

Tokyo Electron acknowledged that there is surging demand for DRAM production equipment, including high-bandwidth memory and standard chips, and anticipated that this trend will persist for several years.

Nonetheless, the firm noted that demand from Chinese-based memory producers is decelerating slightly and that logic chip manufacturers are also holding off on equipment orders.

Responding to this issue, Finance Division Officer Hiroshi Kawamoto released a statement during a conference on earnings last Friday, stating that, “Customer inquiries are very strong, and if we can quickly resolve issues related to cleanroom capacity and procurement, we could see growth exceeding 20% this year.”

On the other hand, Tokyo Electron’s December economic report noted that the firm yielded an operating profit of ¥116.14 billion. This figure was lower than the ¥158.6 billion average analyst estimate. In an attempt to explain this outcome, Kawamoto alleged that the timing of shipments caused a slight weakness in sales.

The Finance Division Officer also disclosed that the company has adopted various strategies to boost its income. For instance, the firm unveiled plans for a ¥150 billion share buyback.

Kawamoto made these remarks at a time when leading tech giants such as Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc., and Alibaba Group Holding Inc., as well as sovereign wealth funds worldwide, are allocating hundreds of billions of dollars to data centers, chips, and other hardware as they race to dominate the artificial intelligence landscape.

In the meantime, it is worth noting that Tokyo Electron serves a range of clients, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics Co., and has profited from the surge in demand for high-performance chip-making tools.

Even so, the Japanese firm has experienced difficulties navigating export restrictions amid a fierce battle for digital supremacy between the United States and China.

Moreover, Tokyo Electron is set to benefit from TSMC’s commitment to 3-nanometer chip production at its newly established Japan-based factory.

Leading tech giants hint at significant investments in AI this year 

Four leading US tech giants have collectively forecast that their 2026 capital expenditures will total nearly $650 billion. This large figure is meant to support the development of new data centers and the necessary running equipment, such as AI chips, networking cables, and backup generators. 

For Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., and Microsoft Corp., their spending plans are primarily focused on solidifying their positions in the rapidly evolving AI market. Given the intensity of the situation, analysts asserted that this investment is on a scale not seen in this century.

Data shows that each company is on track to post record capital expenditure this year, a level of investment rarely seen for individual firms over the past decade and comparable to landmark spending eras such as the New Deal, 19th-century railroad expansion, and post-war interstate highway construction.

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