Germany-based semiconductor equipment provider AIXTRON published its financial results of the first quarter of 2020. The company reported an on-year increase for order intake but drops in revenue and profit.
AIXTRON’s order intake grew by 28% YoY for 1Q20 to EUR 68.8 million (US$ 74.9 million) due to continued strong demand for the increasing use of LED-based display applications and the production of lasers for optical data transmission and 3D sensors, especially in mobile phones.
The revenues for in Q120, however, dropped by 40% YoY and 45% QoQ to EUR 41 million (US$ 44.63 million) due to the low order intake in the second and third quarters of the previous year, which is now reflected in sales. Gross profit also went down by 45%.
AIXTRON noted that the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic had only limited impacted its sales of 1Q20. For example, COVID-19 restrictions in China meant that a few deliveries to China were postponed to the next quarter at the request of our customers. Even some commissioning of plants, especially in China, could not be carried out as planned. Overall, however, sales were within the planning for the full year.
The company also provided its updated forecast for fiscal 2020 after evaluate the effects of COVID-19 pandemic. AIXTRON said the impact of the coronavirus pandemic is insignificant to the company. Based on the current corporate structure, AIXTRON expects order intake in the Group for the 2020 financial year in a range between EUR 260 million and EUR 300 million (US$ 283.07 million to 326.62 million). The gross margin is expected to be around 40% and an EBIT margin of between 10% and 15% of sales in the 2020 financial year.
"We are pleased that, despite the special location, we are fully operational worldwide and able to serve our customer demand. The OLED qualification process at our customer is making technical progress and we are making good progress. We see solid demand for our MOCVD in all of our other business areas Systems - be it for mini and Micro LEDs, lasers or power electronics. "Explained Dr. Felix Grawert, board member of AIXTRON.