By Kosaku Narioka
Tokyo Electron Ltd. shares fell sharply early Friday after the Japanese maker of semiconductor production equipment posted disappointing first-quarter results and lowered annual earnings guidance due to weaker investment by chipmakers.
Shares were recently 18% lower at 22,420 yen in Tokyo.
Tokyo Electron said after Thursday's market close that net profit dropped 6.6% from a year earlier to Y117.80 billion, equivalent to $781.3 million, for the three months ended June 30. That missed the estimate of Y120.7 billion in a poll of analysts by data provider Visible Alpha.
For the fiscal year that began in April, Tokyo Electron projected revenue to drop 3.4% to Y2.350 trillion and net profit to fall 18% to Y444.00 billion. It had previously expected revenue to grow 6.9% and net profit to increase 4.0%.
Tokyo Electron said chipmakers are making adjustments to their capital investment plans as they seek to optimize supply-demand balance to raise profitability and shift to less aggressive investments.
In the mid- to long-term, the market of chip-making equipment is expected to grow further thanks to the shift to a data-driven society and the evolution of artificial intelligence, it said.
Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
07-31-25 2135ET
