Besi orders surge 128.8% as AI demand and hybrid bonding technology fuel semiconductor growth

Besi Quarterly Orders More Than Double on AI Momentum

BE Semiconductor Industries (Besi), a Dutch semiconductor equipment maker, reported a sharp 128.8% rise in quarterly orders on Thursday, reaching €292.9 million ($334.8 million) for the second quarter compared to €128 million a year earlier1

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. The surge reflects intensifying AI demand across data centers, photonics, and AI power management applications, positioning the company at the forefront of semiconductor equipment innovation2

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Besi's second-quarter net income jumped 177.3% from a year earlier to €89.0 million, while revenue rose 68.7% to €249.9 million3

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. This robust performance underscores how AI-driven chip packaging demand is reshaping the semiconductor landscape, with customers accelerating investments in advanced manufacturing capabilities to meet the computing requirements of next-generation AI devices.

Hybrid Bonding Technology Gains Traction Across Applications

Investors are betting heavily on Besi's hybrid bonding technology, a chip-to-chip bonding process that enables two chips to be directly bonded together without traditional intermediary layers. The number of customers using this advanced packaging solution increased to 21 in the quarter from 15 at the end of last year2

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. The technology gained traction across logic, memory, co-packaged optics, and consumer applications, driving capacity expansions among customers who recognize its first-mover advantage as AI applications proliferate.

CEO Richard Blickman emphasized that customers are indicating AI-related spending remains on a multi-year growth path, as demand for agentic AI applications fuels increased purchases of central processing units and advanced packaging equipment for data centers2

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. AI-related systems accounted for roughly 60% of first-half orders, up from about 50% a year earlier, while customers continued investing in hybrid bonding capacity specifically for next-generation AI devices3

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Data Center Demand and AI Infrastructure Spending Drive Growth

The surge in orders reflects expanded AI infrastructure spending across the industry, with data center demand serving as a primary catalyst. Blickman noted that order momentum is expected to continue in the third quarter due to ongoing demand strength for current and future AI applications, as well as improvement in Besi's traditional mainstream end-user markets2

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. This demand pattern aligns with broader semiconductor sector strength, as initial earnings reports from Alphabet, ASML, and TSMC also point to continued momentum driven by booming demand for AI chips2

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For the third quarter, Besi expects revenue to grow between 10% and 15% compared with the €249.9 million reported for the April-June period2

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. The company forecast gross margins of 63% to 65%, compared with 65.7% in the second quarter due to a less favorable product mix, while operating expenses are expected to remain flat or rise by up to 5%3

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. This guidance suggests management remains confident in sustained demand despite some margin pressure from product mix shifts, as the company balances growth investments with disciplined cost management to capitalize on the multi-year AI buildout cycle ahead.