TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Advantest on Wednesday hiked its full year operating profit forecast by almost a fifth to 165 billion yen ($1.08 billion) as strong demand for high performance artificial intelligence-related chips boosted its testing machine business.
Operating profit in the July-September quarter tripled year-on-year to 63.6 billion yen.
Advantest sees robust demand for AI-related chips, although it would take time for testing demand to recover in areas such as automotive and industrial.
In the second quarter, Taiwan contributed 73.1% of sales compared to 41.5% three months earlier. China made up 42.7% of sales.
Advantest, whose shares have risen almost 80% year-to-date, said it would buy back shares worth up to 50 billion yen.
($1 = 153.2900 yen)
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Nicholas Yong)
