Top Message

DISCO’s profits in the first half of FY2024 hit a record high with improved profitability due to increased demand for high value-added products.
We will continue striving to strengthen the company with advanced KKM technologies at our core.

Business Environment and Performance

In the first half of FY2024, capital investment for semiconductor mass production did not recover due to sluggish demand for end products such as computers, smartphones, and consumer devices. On the other hand, willingness to make capital investments was observed for high-performance semiconductors, supported by the increased demand for generative AI. To summarize, willingness to invest depended on the application.
Seeing the increased demand for high value-added products in this current business environment, DISCO’s factories have continued to run at full capacity, and shipments of precision processing equipment, in particular grinders, remained high. Our gross profit margin increased to the 70% range owing to several factors including an increase in high value-added transactions, the creation of added value and production cost reduction from PIM activities, as well as the favorable exchange rate. This led to a significant increase in income and profits.

Regarding shareholder returns, based on the dividend policy, dividends per share will be 124 yen, which is a record high interim dividend.

Future Outlook

As it is still uncertain when demand will fully recover for end products such as computers and smartphones and given the fact that capital investments have hit a lull as the shift to EVs is slowing down, there remains uncertainty in the semiconductor market. However, it is predicted that equipment shipments related to generative AI will remain high.
While the semiconductor market continues to experience its ups and downs, it is important to strengthen technology development and production capacity from a long-term perspective in light of continued application expansion and technological evolution.
DISCO has focused on R&D into technology related to high-performance semiconductors for generative AI over the past 10 years. Although it is difficult to predict when new technologies will appear in the market, we believe that continuing to increase our capacity to respond to these changes will ultimately allow us to handle future demand when the time comes. As we expect that our customers’ R&D needs will increase, we have made a decision to establish a new building at the Haneda R&D Center and strengthen our production capacity.
We will continue to dedicate our full efforts to “advanced Kiru, Kezuru, Migaku technologies” and improve our value exchangeability with our stakeholders.

We will also continue to strengthen the company based on DISCO VALUES and continue to focus our efforts on both organizational and business management through systems such as Will accounting and PIM activities.
We deeply appreciate the continued support of all our stakeholders and would like to kindly request your cooperation in the year ahead.

December 2024
Kazuma Sekiya, Representative Executive Officer and President