TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese chip testing equipment company Advantest Corp on Tuesday downgraded its full-year operating profit forecast by 24% compared to July as recovery in the smartphone market takes longer than expected.
Advantest sees operating profit of 80 billion yen ($532 million) in the year ending in March, down 52%, pointing to softer demand for leading-edge test systems and higher costs.
The company said it expects investment in generative artificial intelligence to boost tester demand over the medium term.
“We will sustain our investment to address future technologies,” CEO Yoshiaki Yoshida told an earnings briefing.
Industry bright spots include demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips which has boosted South Korea’s SK Hynix with rivals circling.
“As we go into next year we are going to continue to see very large growth in HBM and we should benefit from our market position,” Chief Operating Officer Douglas Lefever said.
($1 = 150.3400 yen)
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; editing by Jason Neely)
