Dutch chip equipment maker BE Semiconductor Industries (Besi) reported a sharp rise in preliminary fourth-quarter orders on Monday, beating market expectations and pushing its shares up about 7% in early trading.
Besi, one of Europe’s largest suppliers of semiconductor assembly equipment, said orders are expected to reach around 250 million euros ($292 million) in the final quarter of 2025. That marks a 43% sequential increase from 174.7 million euros in the third quarter and compares with 128 million euros in the second quarter.
The update significantly exceeded analyst expectations. Marc Hesselink, an analyst at ING, said in an emailed note that order intake came in 29% above a market consensus of roughly 194 million euros, calling the figures a clear positive surprise.
Besi manufactures machines used to pick up semiconductor chips and bond them onto circuit boards or other chips, supplying subcontractors that assemble finished hardware for leading chip designers such as Nvidia and AMD.
The company said the surge in orders was driven mainly by stronger demand from Asian subcontractors for 2.5D data centre applications, alongside renewed capacity investments by major photonics customers. It also noted solid demand for hybrid bonding, widely regarded as the most advanced technology in the chip assembly industry and Besi’s most expensive product line.
While hybrid bonding orders were strong, Hesselink noted that this had largely been anticipated following Besi’s third-quarter update. The company did not disclose how much hybrid bonding contributed to total bookings.
