Under the wave of AI chip boom, semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASMPT is ushering in a fruitful year, and the company has decided to concentrate resources on semiconductor backend processes.
<h4>Key Points:</h4>
<ul>
<li>The company recorded a profit of HKD 1.08 billion last year.</li>
<li>AI packaging demand drove TCB equipment revenue up 146%.</li>
</ul>
Li Shida
The artificial intelligence wave is reshaping the semiconductor industry landscape. With the surge in demand for large model training and cloud computing power, the demand for AI chips and high bandwidth memory (HBM) is strong, which also rapidly enhances the importance of chip packaging technology.
In this industry trend, semiconductor and electronic assembly equipment manufacturer ASMPT Ltd. (0522.HK) recently announced its annual performance, showing that AI demand is gradually translating into actual orders in the equipment market. The revenue from the company's continuing operations reached HKD 13.74 billion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 10%, while the total new order amount reached HKD 14.48 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.7%, indicating that market demand is recovering. During the period, the company gained HKD 1.1 billion from the sale of an associate, resulting in a profit of HKD 1.08 billion last year, a year-on-year increase of 272.7%. The adjusted profit from continuing operations recorded HKD 467 million, a year-on-year increase of 24.5%.
ASMPT's main products include advanced packaging equipment such as chip mounting, wire bonding, and thermal compression bonding (TCB). Among them, TCB is an important technology for packaging upgrades in recent years, capable of precisely bonding chips to substrates under high temperature and pressure, widely used in AI chips and HBM packaging.
The company stated that its TCB equipment has been applied in HBM packaging and has gained market share, receiving equipment orders for 12-layer HBM4, while also participating in the development of 16-layer HBM4 packaging technology. Last year, the semiconductor solutions division, where packaging equipment is located, recorded revenue of HKD 7.38 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.7%, with division profits soaring 115% to HKD 550 million. The company specifically mentioned that the advanced packaging business recorded revenue of USD 532 million last year, a year-on-year increase of 30.2%, and revenue from TCB-related equipment saw a significant increase of approximately 146%.
Management expects that as investments in artificial intelligence technology continue to increase, and the application of advanced logic chips and HBM memory develops rapidly, the TCB market size will expand from approximately USD 760 million in 2025 to approximately USD 1.6 billion in 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of about 30%.
<h4>Focus on Advanced Packaging</h4>
In addition to advanced packaging equipment, another important business of the company is surface mount technology equipment (SMT). This business saw a slight year-on-year decline in revenue of 1% to HKD 6.36 billion, while profits fell 32% to HKD 400 million.
However, the company is conducting a strategic assessment regarding the sale of the SMT division. CEO Huang Zida stated that current industry innovations are concentrated in semiconductor backend processes, such as advanced packaging technologies like TCB, which are growing rapidly, so the company hopes to focus on the backend process market. He revealed that potential buyers have expressed interest in the SMT business
In fact, the company has been continuously adjusting its business structure in recent years. The packaging deposition equipment company ASMPT NEXX, acquired from Tokyo Electron (8035.T) in 2018, has been listed for termination of operations due to the decision to sell. Last November, the company also sold 49% of its stake in lead frame supplier Advanced Packaging Materials International (AAMI) to Shenzhen Zhizheng Co., Ltd. (603991.SH).
This series of actions reflects the company's strategy to streamline its product line and concentrate resources on the most competitive semiconductor backend equipment.
<h4>ASM Three Brothers</h4>
It is worth mentioning that ASMPT, the Dutch lithography giant ASML (ASML.AS; ASML.US), and Dutch chip equipment manufacturer ASM International share a common origin. In 1964, Dutch entrepreneur Arthur del Prado founded ASM International, which later shifted its industrial focus to Asia and established ASM Pacific Technology (now ASMPT) in Hong Kong in 1975, specializing in semiconductor packaging and assembly equipment. In 1984, ASM collaborated with Philips to establish ASM Lithography, which later became ASML.
As the businesses gradually split and developed, ASML focused on lithography equipment, ASMI concentrated on wafer manufacturing equipment, while ASMPT became one of the global leaders in packaging equipment, referred to in the industry as the &#34;ASM Three Brothers.&#34; This successful history of separation also reflects the ASM system's ability to focus on core technologies and business positioning, leading the market to have certain expectations for ASMPT's downsizing strategy.
However, the development path of advanced packaging technology has not yet been firmly established. In addition to TCB technology, the industry is also accelerating the exploration of new generation 3D packaging solutions such as hybrid bonding. Compared to ASMPT's advantages in TCB equipment, its peer Dutch company BESI (BESI.AS) is considered one of the leaders in the hybrid bonding equipment field. As the number of HBM stacking layers continues to increase, the importance of packaging technology is rapidly rising, and competition among equipment manufacturers is gradually shifting from capacity competition to technology competition.
Riding the wave of AI chip demand, ASMPT's stock price has risen approximately 87.8% over the past 52 weeks, with a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of about 52 times, lower than BESI's 118 times but higher than ASML's 48.7 times. This indicates that the market has incorporated high growth expectations for AI and HBM packaging demand into valuations, but compared to BESI, which is highly focused on advanced packaging, its valuation remains relatively conservative. Some brokerages also continue to be optimistic about the demand for advanced packaging equipment; for example, Macquarie recently raised ASMPT's target price to HKD 140 and maintained an &#34;outperform&#34; rating.
As the demand for AI chips and HBM continues to expand, advanced packaging has become a new bottleneck in AI computing power competition, and the related equipment market is entering a critical competitive stage. ASMPT is also gradually reaching the sprint phase of this technological competition, and the company is clearly concentrating resources in an attempt to cross the finish line first

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The demand for AI chips has surged, and ASMPT is concentrating resources on semiconductor backend processes. Last year, it earned HKD 1.08 billion, with TCB equipment revenue increasing by 146%. The company expects revenue to reach HKD 13.74 billion by 2025, with new orders amounting to HKD 14.48 billion, indicating a rebound in market demand. Revenue from advanced packaging business grew by 30.2%, and the TCB market is expected to be around USD 760 million in 2025, expanding to approximately USD 1.6 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of about 30%

AI chip demand explodes, ASMPT races in advanced packaging competition