Top Message

Even as the market environment continues to change drastically, DISCO will continue to make efforts to strengthen the company.

Business Environment and Performance

In the first half of FY2022, the cost of energy and raw materials rose following a rise in geopolitical risks, there were drastic fluctuations in the currency exchange rate, and the supply chain in some regions was affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among this situation, the willingness-to-invest of semiconductor manufacturers was polarized largely into two: fields where the willingness-to-invest declined due to a decrease in demand for end products, and fields where willingness-to-invest was favorable in prediction of the future demands with regard to decarbonization and energy saving.
In such a business environment, owing to the continued steady shipments of DISCO equipment mainly for power semiconductor and wafer manufacturers, the shipment volume reached a record high for the first half of the fiscal year.
As for profitability, in addition to the effects of PIM, DISCO’s business improvement activity that we are continuing to put effort into, the current exchange rate market conditions proved favorable for DISCO’s business results, and profitability reached a record high (ordinary profit for the first half of FY2022 was 41.3%).
Regarding the interim dividend, based on the dividend policy, the dividend per share will be JPY 282, which is a remarkable increase from the previous year (JPY 199).

The Year Ahead

As uncertainties regarding the world’s economic situation continue, DISCO is carefully observing the future trends in facility investments. Although it is difficult to predict favorable market conditions in the semiconductor industry, similar to how demands for power semiconductors have been increasing due to a move towards decarbonization, if we take into account the fact that semiconductors will play an important role in the resolution of societal issues in the future, there is no change in our belief that demand will continue to increase on a long-term basis in the future as well. In addition, there is a trend of semiconductor manufacturers strengthening their R&D in the face of the declining market conditions, and we believe that this will lead to an increase in demands for DISCO’s advanced Kiru, Kezuru, and Migaku technologies, and thus we are making our best efforts to support a large variety of development themes.
Regardless of our busy periods and off-seasons, DISCO has been increasing our “ability to respond to changes” through various corporate activities. We will continue to strengthen the company based on DISCO VALUES, which is our corporate philosophy, and continue to focus our efforts on both organizational and business management through systems such as Will accounting and PIM activities, and also continue strengthening the company’s production and R&D.
We deeply appreciate the continued support of all our stakeholders, and would like to kindly request your cooperation in the year ahead.

December 2022
Kazuma Sekiya, Representative Executive Officer, President