September 2024

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, uncertainty in the economic outlook continued to prevail due to heightened geopolitical risks and concerns of an economic slowdown amid persisting inflation and monetary tightening, particularly in the United States and Europe.

In the semiconductor industry, our primary market, robust investments continued to be made in high bandwidth memory (HBM) for generative AI and also in power semiconductors because of the shift from ICE to EV and the ongoing decarbonization trend. Investment for the expansion of production using extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography also began to show signs of recovery in the second half of the fiscal year.

Under these circumstances, our consolidated net sales for FY2024 totaled 213,506 million yen (up 39.7% year-on-year). We recorded 81,375 million yen in operating income (up 30.6% year-on-year) and 59,076 million yen in net income attributable to owners of parent (up 28.0% year-on-year). Orders totaled 272,768 million yen (up 46.2% year-on-year), and the backlog at the end of the fiscal year was 462,195 million yen (up 14.7% year-on-year).

Our basic policy concerning profit distribution is to flexibly pay dividends based on performance, with a consolidated dividend payout ratio of 35% being the guideline. Our policy concerning retained earnings is to use them effectively for new technology/product R&D, for infrastructure investment and operating capital in line with business growth, and for hiring good talent so that we can further improve the company's quality and establish a solid foundation for long-term sustainable growth.

Based on the policy described herein, we pay a year-end dividend of 157 yen per share this fiscal year, and the annual dividend is 230 yen per share (up 50 yen per share year-on-year) with a 35.1% dividend payout ratio.

In FY2024, we released the ACTIS A300-series Actinic EUV Patterned Mask Inspection System for High-NA as a new product in the mask-related area. The ACTIS A150 series, the model we released in 2019, is renowned for its excellent inspection performance and is widely popular among semiconductor manufacturers adopting EUV lithography for high-volume manufacturing. The ACTIS A300 series is a next-generation model that meets the requirements of manufacturing processes in future technology nodes and high-NA EUV lithography. Featuring newly designed optics and the URASHIMA high-brightness EUV plasma light source, the A300 series achieves a significant improvement in defect detection performance compared to the A150 series.

In the area of wafer inspection, we released the VIANCA series, a via depth measurement system that accurately measures the depth of small-diameter, high-aspect-ratio vias required for next-generation semiconductor production processes. As advancements in AI technology drive the demand for better-performing graphic processing units (GPUs), the high bandwidth memories (HBMs) used in them are expected to achieve higher performance and smaller geometries. Amid this trend, the through-silicon vias (TSVs) used in HBMs need to adopt smaller diameters and higher aspect ratios, posing a significant challenge for device manufacturers. The VIANCA series uses Lasertec's proprietary optics to measure the depth of small-diameter, high-aspect-ratio TSVs, a task previously impossible with existing optics. It can also measure copper height during the redistribution layer (RDL) process and other key metrics that need to be controlled during HBM production.

Aside from our product business, our service business has also significantly contributed to our growth. Since the number of systems installed at customer sites is increasing steadily, the need for service, which means maintenance of those systems and replacement of consumable parts, is also increasing. We are committed to enhancing our global service infrastructure and improving the quality of service to ensure that customers can keep using our products with a high level of satisfaction.

FY2024 was the final year of our previous Mid-Term Business Plan. During the year, we began operations at our new R&D facility, Lasertec Innovation Park (InnoPa), and strengthened our corporate infrastructure by actively hiring talent. We also pursued growth opportunities mainly in the area of EUV by developing URASHIMA, a high-brightness EUV plasma light source, and the ACTIS A300-series Actinic EUV Patterned Mask Inspection System for High-NA.

To achieve further growth, we have put in place a new Mid-term Business Plan for the six-year period from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2030. In this new Mid-term Business Plan, we will "aim for maximum sales and further growth with rapid product development, superior technical expertise, and the establishment of strong relationships with customers based on trust", and we will take on various initiatives to seize mid- to long-term growth opportunities.