Driven by the sharp increase in demand for AI data centres, BE Semiconductor Industries (Besi) reported third-quarter order volumes that exceeded analysts’ forecasts. The Dutch company said new orders amounted to €342.6 million, an increase of 17% compared with the previous quarter and almost double the level of the same period last year. This put order intake well above the €298 million predicted by Visible Alpha – according to Reuters.
In addition to these figures, the company announced a share buyback programme worth 100 million euros, which will start on 27 October.
Besi is investing heavily in hybrid bonding, a method that enables the direct stacking of chips to improve energy efficiency and speed. According to the company, demand for this technology has increased sharply. Order intake for hybrid bonding this year is already higher than the total for all of 2025.
Despite recent speculation from SemiAnalysis that ASML might develop a competing hybrid bonding device, Richard Blickman, Besi’s CEO, clarified that the two companies are partners rather than rivals. He explained that ASML will probably focus over the next ten years on 3D stacking of transistors within chips, while the two companies continue to work together on improving the precision of chip placement.
Financial uncertainty has plagued Besi in recent times, with the share price having fallen by almost 50 per cent from its peak in June. The decline was fuelled by fears that major memory manufacturers such as SK Hynix and Micron would hesitate to adopt hybrid bonding in memory chips for AI hardware.
In addition, Besi expects fourth-quarter revenue to remain stable at around €283.4 million, which is slightly below some market expectations. This is partly due to customers’ requests to have certain ongoing orders delivered in line with production schedules for early 2027.
Despite the subdued revenue outlook, market experts assess the company’s position positively. Marc Hesselink of ING stated that the strong order growth, the clarification regarding the cooperation with ASML, the share buyback programme and the momentum behind hybrid bonding outweigh the timing issues that are affecting short-term revenue.
Business AM
Ltd
