Japan's Advantest sees memory demand for AI boosting chip tester business

Lasertec

31/01/2024 09:41

By Sam Nussey and Miho Uranaka
       TOKYO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Japan's Advantest  6857.T 
said on Wednesday it sees growing demand for its chip testing
equipment for memory used for artificial intelligence tasks
while reporting a drag from weak electronics sales. 
    Advantest said it sees sales of memory testers reaching 244
billion yen ($1.65 billion) in the financial year ending March,
an increase of 5 billion yen from its October outlook but down a
quarter on the same period a year earlier. 
    "In order to fulfil all the demand increase in the market we
need to make further efforts," Advantest CEO Yoshiaki Yoshida
told an earnings briefing.
    Advantest sees the overall memory tester market reaching
roughly $1.3 billion-$1.6 billion this year compared with around
$1.1 billion last year. 
    The company's operating profit fell 35% to 26.8 billion yen
in the October-December quarter as weak consumer demand for
smartphone and PCs weighed on sales.  
    In the third quarter around 34% of sales were in China,
which is rapidly expanding chipmaking capacity amid tensions
with the United States, compared with 45% in the same period a
year earlier. 
    The company's shares closed down 0.5% ahead of its earnings
and have gained a fifth this year, outperforming peers such as
Tokyo Electron  8035.T  and Lasertec  6920.T .

($1 = 147.6800 yen)

 (Reporting by Sam Nussey and Miho Uranaka; Editing by Louise
Heavens)
 ((sam.nussey@tr.com;))