Besi beats order forecasts, says ASML not a hybrid bonding rival

By Nathan Vifflin

Oct 22 (Reuters) - BE Semiconductor Industries on Thursday beat analyst expectations for third-quarter orders on strong AI data-center demand and dismissed reports that ASML could challenge it in hybrid bonding, a chip-joining technique.

Order intake, the industry’s most closely watched metric, was €342.6 million ($385.2 million), up 17% from the second quarter and 96% from a year ago. Analysts polled by researcher Visible Alpha had expected €298 million.

The company also said it would launch a new €100 million share buyback.

Besi is betting on hybrid bonding, a technology that joins stacked chips directly for faster, more energy-efficient connections. Orders for those systems have more than doubled this year compared with all of 2025, it said.

ASML NOT SEEN AS HYBRID BONDING RIVAL, CEO SAYS

"We do not view ASML as a hybrid bonding competitor," CEO Richard Blickman said in the statement, adding that the two Dutch companies were working together to improve how precisely Besi's machines place chips.

Besi's shares fell last week after research firm SemiAnalysis said ASML appeared to be developing a rival tool. ASML has not confirmed the report.

Blickman said that, to the best of his knowledge, ASML was interested in "3D transistor stacking inside the chip over the next decade and not in competing with Besi."

On a call with analysts, he dismissed the idea that the far larger ASML could quickly take over Besi’s position. "The situation is entirely different," he said.

Investors have also worried that memory makers, such as Micron or SK Hynix might be slow to adopt hybrid bonding for high-bandwidth memory, a key component in AI accelerators. Besi shares have roughly halved since a June peak.

Blickman told analysts that the pressure to make hybrid bonding ready for high-volume memory production "is only increasing."

SOFTER Q4 OUTLOOK

Besi expects fourth-quarter revenue to be broadly unchanged from third-quarter revenue of €283.4 million, plus or minus 5%. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected €291.5 million.

"It's not a customer push out," Blickman said, adding that the flat outlook "has nothing to do with any delays" and reflected when customers' production lines would be ready.

ING analyst Marc Hesselink said that stronger orders, hybrid bonding momentum, the ASML clarification and the buyback more than offset the softer guidance, "particularly given the timing-related nature of the shortfall."

(Reporting by Nathan Vifflin in Gdansk, Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak and Tasim Zahid)