ASMPT Strategic Rebalancing: The Growth and Trade-offs Behind the SMT Division's Evaluation
.gtr-container-xyz789 {
font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, "Times New Roman", Arial, sans-serif;
color: #333;
line-height: 1.6;
max-width: 100%;
padding: 15px;
box-sizing: border-box;
}
.gtr-container-xyz789 .gtr-main-title {
font-size: 16px;
font-weight: bold;
margin-bottom: 20px;
text-align: left;
color: #1a1a1a;
}
.gtr-container-xyz789 .gtr-section-heading {
font-size: 16px;
font-weight: bold;
margin-top: 25px;
margin-bottom: 15px;
text-align: left;
color: #2a2a2a;
}
.gtr-container-xyz789 .gtr-sub-heading {
font-size: 15px;
font-weight: bold;
margin-top: 20px;
margin-bottom: 10px;
text-align: left;
color: #3a3a3a;
}
.gtr-container-xyz789 p {
font-size: 14px;
margin-bottom: 1em;
text-align: left !important;
word-break: normal;
overflow-wrap: normal;
}
@media (min-width: 768px) {
.gtr-container-xyz789 {
max-width: 960px;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 30px;
}
.gtr-container-xyz789 .gtr-main-title {
font-size: 18px;
}
.gtr-container-xyz789 .gtr-section-heading {
font-size: 18px;
}
.gtr-container-xyz789 .gtr-sub-heading {
font-size: 16px;
}
}
ASMPT Strategic Rebalancing: The Growth and Trade-offs Behind the SMT Division's Evaluation
Liongate Semiconductor Research & Development News, January 23 - ASMPT (stock code on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange: 0522, formerly known as ASM Pacific Technology), the world's largest supplier of semiconductor component integration and packaging equipment, recently officially announced the launch of a strategic option assessment for its Surface Mount Technology Solution Division (referred to as the "SMT Division").
The company officially changed its name to ASMPT Limited in August 2022 and announced that it would integrate its global business under the ASMPT brand. The headquarters is located in Singapore, and its core business covers two divisions: semiconductor solutions and SMT solutions. The core foundation of its SMT business originated from the classic acquisition of Siemens' surface mount machine business in 2011. This strategic assessment has also become an important strategic rebalancing for its layout of the SMT business.
This move is a crucial measure for the company's strategic transformation, aiming to explore the long-term optimal development path for the SMT division, while further focusing on the semiconductor solution division with strong growth potential, effectively enhancing shareholder value, and comprehensively safeguarding the rights and interests of all stakeholders including employees, customers, and suppliers. Morgan Stanley has been appointed as the exclusive financial advisor for this strategic assessment.
Strategic assessment: Maintain the pace of optimization and explore multiple paths
This strategic assessment of the SMT division is a continuation of ASMPT's ongoing strategic optimization efforts in recent years.
In August 2025, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, Advanced Semiconductor Equipment (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (AEC), initiated a voluntary liquidation. This move was not due to operating losses (AEC's internal revenue in 2024 was 485 million yuan and its net profit was 20.6 million yuan), but was aimed at optimizing the global supply chain layout, enhancing cost competitiveness and operational resilience. The related reorganization is expected to incur a cost of 360 million yuan. After completion, it is estimated that annual cost savings will be approximately 115 million yuan. The funds will be directed towards cutting-edge research and development in areas such as next-generation adhesive-free hot-press bonding equipment, to support the growth of the core business.
This strategic assessment will cover various possibilities, including but not limited to business divestiture, establishing joint ventures, going public through spin-offs, or retaining the division and strengthening strategic resource support. The core objective is to ensure the long-term stable operation and value creation of the SMT division.
SMT Division: High-quality assets, strong growth momentum
As the global market and technology leader in SMT field, the ASMPT SMT division has established a unique competitive advantage through its profound process expertise, innovative technological achievements, and industry-leading integrated software and hardware solutions. This asset is an important and valuable asset of the company, and the core of this asset stems from the technology and brand accumulation of the Siemens SIPLACE surface mount machine business.
Its business covers multiple end markets such as automobiles, industry, consumer electronics, and semiconductors. It can flexibly adapt to complex scenarios including multi-variety and small-batch production, high-speed and large-batch production, as well as advanced packaging technologies. In terms of products, it possesses core hardware such as DEK high-precision printing machines and SIPLACE surface mounters. The newly developed SIPLACE V platform has completed the upgrade of the product line. In the software domain, the self-developed modular manufacturing execution system (MES) has scalability and cloud deployment capabilities, and can be seamlessly integrated with enterprise-level systems and factory automation solutions.
In terms of financial performance, the SMT division of the company has shown a strong growth momentum. In the third quarter of 2025, the company achieved revenue of 1.78 billion Hong Kong dollars (approximately 227.5 million US dollars), representing a year-on-year growth of 14.6% and a quarter-on-quarter growth of 28.0%. The main driving force for this growth came from the delivery of AI servers in the Asian market, large orders for Chinese electric vehicles and smart phones; during the same period, orders increased by 51.8% to 1.99 billion Hong Kong dollars, demonstrating a strong recovery trend in downstream demand.
The core strength of ASMPT: Leading technology, solid foundation for global layout
ASMPT currently has approximately 10,800 employees and its business operations span over 30 countries worldwide. The two core divisions of semiconductor solutions and SMT solutions work together to build a full-service capability covering semiconductor packaging and testing as well as surface mount technology. It can provide a complete solution from wafer deposition to the assembly, packaging and sorting of precision components.
Driven by the strong demand from the AI industry, the semiconductor solutions division has become the core growth engine of the company. In the first half of 2025, the revenue share of this division rose to approximately 39%, corresponding to approximately 326 million US dollars in revenue. Among them, the TCB (Thermal Bonding) equipment, leveraging its technological advantages, firmly holds the top global market share and continues to maintain a leading position in HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) and advanced logic fields. In December 2025, the company successively won two large orders, including an order for 19 chip-to-substrate (C2S) TCB equipment and an order for 15 C2S TCB equipment for cutting-edge AI computing chips. Based on the industry trend, the company predicts that by 2027, the total potential market size of TCB equipment will exceed 1 billion US dollars. Currently, it has completed a forward-looking strategic layout and aims to capture 35% to 40% of the market share.
Capital Market: Strategic Adjustments Gain Recognition, Long-Term Potential Is Optimized
The business adjustment and development potential of ASMPT have received high attention and recognition from the capital market. In October 2024, the company received a non-binding private placement offer of 5 billion US dollars from the US private equity fund KKR. However, the subsequent negotiations between the two parties were terminated, and the company has continued to maintain an independent development momentum.
On January 22, 2026, boosted by the strategic assessment news from the SMT division, the company's stock opened nearly 5% higher and closed with a 6.29% increase, closing at 108.2 Hong Kong dollars, with a total market value rising to 45.228 billion Hong Kong dollars. Several securities firms simultaneously released positive signals: Huatai Securities maintained a "buy" rating and set a target price of 103.6 Hong Kong dollars; UBS raised the target price to 95 Hong Kong dollars, also maintaining a "buy" rating, expecting the company's sales growth to reach 22% in 2026; CFT Securities gave its first coverage a "增持" rating, believing that the company has reached a double turning point of orders and profits.
SMT行业背景:头部企业并购整合成为主流发展趋势
ASMPT initiated the strategic assessment of the SMT division at a time when the global SMT industry was going through multiple rounds of headquarter mergers and integrations.
The global SMT surface mounters manufacturers mainly include FUJI, ASMPT, Panasonic, Yamaha, Hanwha, Mycronic, Juki, Kulicke & Soffa, Universal Instruments, Europlacer, etc. In 2023, the top five global manufacturers accounted for approximately 75.0% of the market share, and the industry concentration was high, with a relatively stable headquarter competition pattern.
Hanwha acquired Samsung's SMT business, Yamaha acquired Hitachi and integrated Sony's SMT business, ASMPT acquired Siemens' SMT surface mounter business, and TaiDa Electronics acquired Universal Instruments. These acquisitions became the focus of industry integration. The strategic logic and industry motivations behind them also provided important references for the current enterprise layout in the SMT field.
Hanwha acquires Samsung's SMT business: Enterprise strategy focuses and cross-border layout achieve a win-win situation
In 2014, Hanwha Group made a significant acquisition by purchasing four core subsidiaries of Samsung, including Samsung Integrated Chemicals and Samsung Commercial Equipment. Among them, the SMT business of Samsung Commercial Equipment was an important target of this acquisition. This transaction was the first time that Samsung sold a core subsidiary to an external large enterprise since the Asian financial crisis in 1997. It also became a key strategy for Hanwha to enter the high-end SMT equipment market.
For Samsung, at that time, although its SMT business had a certain market foundation, it had a relatively weak synergy with its core businesses such as smartphones and semiconductors. Moreover, it was impacted by the price competition from SMT equipment manufacturers, resulting in sluggish business growth. Therefore, Samsung decided to divest non-core businesses like SMT and concentrate its resources on focusing on its core electronics business.
For Hanwha, its core business lies in the petrochemical and military industries. This acquisition has achieved the goal of entering the electronic manufacturing equipment sector through the mature technology, brand channels and customer resources of Samsung's SMT business. It does not require the company to start from scratch in research and development, significantly reducing the costs of market expansion and technological research and development, and quickly filling the business gaps in the industrial sector.
Yamaha acquires Hitachi and integrates Sony's SMT business: Dual integration of technology and market under the deep-seated pursuit of the racing field.
As a representative of Japanese SMT equipment manufacturers that have deeply rooted themselves in the domestic market, Yamaha achieved a dual upgrade in technology and market by acquiring Hitachi Hi-Tech's SMT business and integrating Sony's SMT-related resources. As a result, it became a leading player in the global SMT field, which is also a typical case of vertical deep-penetration mergers and acquisitions within the industry.
In September 2014, Yamaha and Hitachi High-Tech Group officially signed an asset transfer agreement, and the transaction was completed on February 1, 2015, fully taking over the SMT surface mount machine business of Hitachi High-Tech, including well-known ultra-high-speed surface mount machine series products such as σ-F8 and σ-G5, as well as the corresponding R&D engineering team, technical patents and after-sales service system. At that time, Hitachi High-Tech was undergoing business strategic contraction, focusing on core sectors such as semiconductor testing and analysis instruments. While Yamaha had advantages in medium-speed surface mount machines, it lacked technical reserves for ultra-high-speed surface mount machines. This acquisition enabled Yamaha to directly obtain Hitachi High-Tech's core technologies in ultra-high-speed surface mounting, quickly filling the gaps in the product matrix, and further expanding into high-end markets such as automotive electronics and high-end consumer electronics by leveraging Hitachi's customer resources.
During the acquisition of Hitachi's advanced technology business, Yamaha completed the integration of Sony's SMT (Surface Mount Technology) equipment business. Sony, due to its long-term focus on core businesses such as imaging, consumer electronics, and game entertainment, gradually divested SMT-related manufacturing equipment businesses. Yamaha then took over Sony's SMT technology patents, production line processes, and core customer resources in the field of consumer electronics. This integration further enhanced Yamaha's technical capabilities in the field of miniaturized and high-precision assembly for consumer electronics, complementing its original technologies and completing a comprehensive product layout ranging from low-speed multi-function to ultra-high-speed assembly.
Yamaha's series of integration actions focus on filling technical gaps and expanding the market on the main SMT track: By acquiring and integrating, it quickly acquires mature technologies, avoiding the cycle and cost of independent research and development; at the same time, it integrates multiple customer resources to further expand market share. With this layout, it successfully ranked among the top five global SMT equipment manufacturers and became the core representative of SMT business among Japanese brands.
ASMPT acquires Siemens' SMT assembly machine business: Cross-industry integration and global market positioning
2011年是ASMPT布局SMT业务的关键节点.这家原本专注于半导体封装设备的企业,完成了对西门子公司旗下电子装配系统业务(SEAS)的全资收购,其核心正是享誉全球的SIPLACE贴片机业务.借此,它正式跻身全球SMT设备的领先阵营,成为跨领域并购拓展领域的经典案例.
In July 2010, ASMPT signed an acquisition agreement with Siemens. The transaction was completed on January 7, 2011, with the base acquisition price being only 1 euro. At the same time, approximately 1.6 billion Hong Kong dollars in capital investment and financial support were provided, including injecting 20 million euros into the target company, granting a maximum 20 million euros of revolving loan, and issuing a 120 million euro financial support letter. This acquisition took over approximately 1,200 employees of Siemens' SEAS business worldwide, retained the R&D headquarters in Munich and the core production base, and the SIPLACE brand was also continued to be used and the soldering machine business was operated under this brand. In October 2011, the equity transfer of the business in China was completed, and Siemens Electronic Assembly Systems (China) was renamed Advanced Assembly Systems Co., Ltd., becoming the core operating entity of its SMT business in China.
From the ASMPT perspective, the core reasons for the acquisition are four: Firstly, to complete the business layout and achieve a full-process solution. At that time, ASMPT was the global leader in semiconductor packaging equipment, but it did not enter the SMT assembly field. The acquisition of SIPLACE enabled it to achieve a full-process layout from wafer deposition, semiconductor packaging to the assembly of electronic modules, becoming the first equipment supplier in the world to cover the entire semiconductor and SMT value chain; Secondly, to seize the European high-end market. Siemens SIPLACE has a deep brand foundation and high-quality customer resources in Europe. Through this acquisition, ASMPT quickly opened up the European market and made up for its previous shortcomings in the markets of Europe and the United States; Thirdly, to achieve technology and resource synergy. SIPLACE has the core technology and mature R&D team of high-end surface mounters, while ASMPT can rely on its supply chain network, customer resources and cost control capabilities in Asia to achieve all-round collaboration in R&D, production and procurement. At the same time, the SMT industry was in a cyclical recovery at that time, with clear growth potential; Fourthly, to reduce integration costs through lower technical homogeneity. SMT assembly and semiconductor packaging equipment have the same technical foundation in engineering design and precision manufacturing, significantly reducing the difficulty of cross-domain integration.
From the perspective of Siemens, the key lies in focusing on the main business areas. At that time, Siemens was carrying out business downsizing and prioritized industrial automation, energy, and healthcare as its core business directions. Although the SMT surface mount technology machines had advanced technology, they had a weak synergy with the core businesses.剥离ing this business would enable it to concentrate resources on developing high-margin and highly synergistic core segments, and selling SIPLACE to a professional electronic equipment manufacturer would also allow this business to obtain more suitable development resources.
This acquisition has achieved remarkable results. In the first half year after the acquisition, the SMT business contributed one-third of ASMPT's revenue and achieved profitability. After more than ten years of integration, SIPLACE's surface mounters and DEK's printing machines have become the two core components of ASMPT's SMT business, becoming an important profit growth pole for the company.
Delta Electronics acquires Universal Instruments: A cross-border integration of automation equipment and precision instruments
On July 19, 2022, Delta Electronics completed the full acquisition of Global Instruments, an American electronic manufacturing solution provider. It incorporated it into its industrial automation division, becoming a classic merger case that integrates energy-saving technologies and precise automation in the SMT industry. This further solidified Delta's layout in the field of electronic manufacturing automation.
The industrial automation division of Teradyne Electronics has been deeply engaged in the efficient power electronics field for over 50 years. Its sales, research and development, and production bases are spread across five continents, providing a full range of industrial automation products and solutions for multiple industries such as electronics manufacturing. Its core strength lies in the deep integration of intelligent manufacturing and energy-saving technologies. Global Instruments is headquartered in Conklin, New York, USA, with a history of over a hundred years. It is a leader in precision automation solutions for the semiconductor and electronic assembly industries. Since manufacturing plug-in machines for IBM in the 1960s, it has upgraded its business with advanced process laboratory technology, holding over 500 patents in the field of automation, and has delivered nearly 30,000 sets of automation production equipment to global customers. It has deep technical expertise in SMT assembly and advanced packaging fields.
After the acquisition, Global Instruments became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Electronics. The original management team remained in place to operate independently. Both parties, leveraging their R&D capabilities and the deep integration with global customer bases, created a more comprehensive intelligent manufacturing solution for the electronics industry, achieving maximum synergy benefits.
Cheng Ping, the CEO of Teradyne, pointed out that the excellent reputation of Global Instruments in the electronics manufacturing industry, its long-term customer base, and its core precision equipment technology, complement Teradyne's automation equipment capabilities. The combination of the two can not only provide customers in the electronics assembly industry with more comprehensive solutions, build energy-efficient production lines and enhance production capacity, but also...
Your message must be between 20-3,000 characters!