Kokusai Electric Corp

We will now begin Kokusai Electric financial results briefing for the second quarter of the year ending in March 2026. Thank you very much for taking the time to join us today. My name is Matsumoto from public relations and IR department, and I will serve as the moderator. First is the introduction of today's speakers. Mr. Kazunori Tsukada, representative director, president and CEO. Thank you. Mr. Yoshitaka Kawakami, Senior Vice President, Executive Officer, and CFO. Thank you. Today's agenda is as follows. First, Mr. Kawakami will present the consolidated financial results for the second quarter and the full year forecast. Next, Mr. Tsukada will provide an outlook going forward. After that, we will move on to the questions and answers session. This briefing is conducted via Zoom webinar, and both the presentation and Q&A responses will be in Japanese. Participants may also choose English through simultaneous interpretation. As this briefing is intended for institutional investors and analysts, questions will be limited to this audience. Thank you for your understanding. we kindly ask that you refrain from video or sound recording or taking photographs. Now, let us proceed to the presentation. Mr. Kawakami, please go ahead.

I am Kawakami, Managing Executive Officer and CFO. Thank you for joining Kokusai Electric's earnings call today. First, I will go over our second quarter results as well as our full year earnings and dividend forecasts. These are disclaimers that I will skip. First, starting with an overview of the second quarter results. Page four, carry the highlights. Since both sales and revenue and all profit figures for the first half of the fiscal year exceeded our previous forecast, we have today announced the difference between forecasted and actual figures for the first half interim period of the fiscal year ending March, 2026. Details will be discussed from the next page and beyond. Page five shows the consolidated earnings summary for the second quarter and the cumulative second quarter. For the second quarter, July to September, both revenue and profit increased compared to the same period last year, as well as the most recent previous quarter. For the first quarter, sales increased year on year, while profits decreased due to changes in product mix and advanced investments for the future. Compared to the previous forecast, sales and profits both exceeded expectations owing to our bringing forward sales of some equipment that was originally planned for the second half to the second quarter in response to the anticipated change in demand dynamics. The sales brought forward primarily involved NAND equipment and logic foundry equipment for local Chinese manufacturers. Additionally, a portion of upgrade products for global manufacturers included under the service business were also brought forward. The gross profit margin for the first half of the fiscal year was 42.2%. Although this was a 2.6 percentage points lower than the same period last year, where profitability was extremely high owing to the concentration of equipment shipments to local Chinese manufacturers, it was generally in line with the plan. Regarding the interim dividend, we resolved today to pay 18 yen per share as previously forecasted and announced the notice concerning dividend from surplus interim dividend. Page six details the year-on-year factors affecting revenue and adjusted operating profit for the second quarter. Compared to the same period last year, the second quarter saw growth, primarily in equipment sales to local Chinese manufacturers, as well as service revenue resulting in an overall revenue increase of 33% year-on-year. We will explain the increase-decrease by application later. Adjusted operating profit increased 28% year-on-year, where increased sales and other factors absorbed the decline in gross profit margin due to changes in product mix and higher SG&A expenses. Page 7 shows the year-on-year factors affecting the cumulative results for the second quarter. Overall revenue increased by 2% year on year for the first half since service revenues grew, while equipment sales to local Chinese manufacturers decreased. Equipment sales to manufacturers worldwide saw declines in logic foundry equipment and other equipment such as SI power devices. However, NAND equipment sales grew. Sales of equipment to Chinese domestic manufacturers saw a significant decline in DRAM-related shipments, which saw concentration in the same period last year. However, NAND-related sales grew substantially, and Logic Foundry-related sales also increased. Service revenues grew, primarily driven by upgrades to existing equipment. adjusted operating profit decreased 17% year on year due to the decline in gross profit margin caused by changes in product mix and increased advanced investments such as R&D spend for the future growth. Page eight shows the quarterly sales breakdown by business segment. In the second quarter, both equipment sales and service sales increased compared to the same period last year, as well as the most recent previous quarter. For the cumulative second quarter, upgrades and modifications in the service business increased, replacing new equipment sales. Consequently, equipment sales slightly decreased year on year, while service sales increased, raising the service sales ratio to a slightly higher level of 38%. Page 9 shows sales by application for the 300mm equipment that constitutes the equipment business and the 200mm and smaller legacy equipment included in the service business. For both the second quarter and the first half of the fiscal year, sales for NAND and Logic Foundry applications increased year-on-year. On the other hand, sales for DRAM applications halved. This was partly due to some new equipment sales being replaced by upgrades and modifications within the service business, and partly due to the impact of major Chinese DRAM manufacturers being in an investment lull. Page 10 shows sales revenue by destination. In quarter two, sales to South Korea and China increased year on year. For the cumulative second quarter, sales to South Korea and Taiwan increased, while the sales ratio for the U.S. decreased to 3%, and the sales ratio for China decreased to 47%. Page 11 shows sales revenue by application, divided into sales to global manufacturers and sales to local Chinese manufacturers. For global manufacturers in Q2, driven by aggressive investment by device manufacturers, equipment sales for NAND and DRAM, along with service upgrades and modifications, grew compared to the most recent previous quarter. For Chinese domestic manufacturers in Q2, equipment sales for NAND and Logic Foundry increased compared to the previous quarter, while equipment sales for DRAM also began to increase, rebounding from the low point of Q1, which was a transitional period. Due to the impact of some orders from Chinese domestic manufacturers being brought forward from the second half of the year, the sales ratio to Chinese domestic manufacturers temporarily increased to 44% in the second quarter. Page 12 shows a quarterly balance sheet trends. Total assets at the end of the second quarter increased by 1.8 billion Japanese yen compared to the end of March 2023-2025, owing to increase in inventories and tangible fixed assets despite decline in operating credit and other credits. Total equity increased by 12.1 billion Japanese yen compared to the end of March 2025, owing to an increase in retained earnings. Page 13 shows key management indicators from the quarterly balance sheet. The equity capital ratio increased by 2.5 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter to 60.7%. Net debt was largely in line with plan at 10.6 billion Japanese yen. Page 14 shows quarterly cash flow. In the second quarter, operating cash flow inflows exceeded investment cash flow inflows, resulting in free cash inflows of 7.1 billion Japanese yen. Cash flow from financing activities resulted in outflows of 6.4 billion Japanese yen, primarily due to repayments of borrowings. Page 15 shows quarterly R&D expenses, capital expenditures and depreciation and amortization. R&D expenses progressed as planned for the second quarter at 4.8 billion Japanese yen with the R&D expense ratio to revenue at 7.4%. The forecast for March 2026 R&D expenses remain unchanged at approximately 18 billion Japanese yen, a 20% increase year-on-year. Capital expenditures for the second quarter totaled 5.2 billion Japanese yen. We are currently advancing the construction of a new U.S. demonstration center representing a major capital investment totaling 20 billion Japanese yen over the two-year period across fiscal year ending March 2026 and March 2027. Consequently, while capital expenditures for the fiscal year ending March 2026 was previously projected to increase by 10% year-on-year, a portion is now expected to be recorded in the fiscal year ending March 2027. Therefore, capital expenditures for the fiscal year ending... March 2026 are now projected to decrease by 10% compared to the previous fiscal year, amounting to approximately 18 billion Japanese yen. Depreciation expense for the second quarter was 3.5 billion. Due to depreciation of the Tonami plant completed in the previous fiscal year, depreciation expenses for the fiscal year ending March 2026 are expected to increase by 10% year-on-year, reaching approximately 14 billion Japanese yen. Next, I will explain the full year earnings forecast and dividend forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2026. Page 17 shows the highlights. As sales in each profit category for the fiscal year ending March 2026 are now expected to fall below the previous forecast, we have revised our full year earnings forecast and announced the notice regarding revision of full year earnings forecast today. The specific details will be explained in the following pages. Please turn to page 18. Sales revenue has been reduced by 6% and adjusted operating profit by 20% compared to the previous forecast since sales of certain equipment anticipated for the second half are now expected to be delayed into the fiscal year ending March 2027. Sales are expected to be delayed due to equipment sales for NAND to manufacturers worldwide totaling 9 billion JPY and equipment sales for DRAM to local Chinese automakers totaling 5 billion JPY. These sales are projected to be realized in the fiscal year ending March 2027. If a larger percentage decrease in profits compared to the decrease in sales revenue is due to the reduction in gross profit caused by delayed sales and the ratio of SG&A expenses, including upfront investments, becomes relatively higher as sales revenue decreases. This is not a structural change, and profitability is expected to improve as sales expands. Furthermore, as primary factors for this earnings forecast provision is a temporary sales decline due to delayed shipments, annual dividend forecasts will be kept unchanged. Page 19 compares the current earnings forecast with the previous forecast and summarizes the factors contributing to the increase or decrease. Regarding revenue, compared to initial expectations, shifts occurred between equipment sales and upgrade modifications, as well as varying strength across applications. However, downside factors and upside factors excluding sales deferred to the fiscal year ending March 2027 are expected to offset each other. Therefore, we made a downward revision of 14 billion JPY from the previous forecast. Excluding this delay, we have lowered the forecast for NAND by 5 billion JPY and for Logic Foundry by 4 billion JPY compared to the previous forecast. For DRAM, as some new equipment sales are now expected to be replaced by upgrade modifications, equipment sales were reduced by 4 billion Japanese yen from the previous forecast. However, upgrade modification sales were increased by 14 billion Japanese yen, resulting in a net increase of 10 billion Japanese yen. Adjusted operating profit was lowered by 10.8 billion Japanese yen from the previous forecast due to reduced sales resulting from the delay, the accompanying decrease in production volume for the current period, and a decrease in gross profit resulting from changes in product mix. Page 20 shows the breakdown of sales between global manufacturers and local Chinese manufacturers comparing the previous forecast with the current forecast. The left side shows sales to global manufacturers, where equipment sales were reduced by 36 billion JPY compared to the previous forecast, while service sales was increased by 18 billion JPY, resulting in a net decrease of 18 billion JPY. For NAND, we stated during the Q1 earnings that equipment demand was not as strong as initially expected. In addition to that, we now anticipate some sales will shift to the next quarter. For DRAM, as mentioned during the quarter one earnings call, some new equipment sales are expected to be replaced by upgrade modifications. Therefore, equipment sales were lowered and service sales were raised. Combined equipment and modification sales are expected to increase more than anticipated. For the logic foundry segment, GAA-related demand is growing largely as expected, but we have lowered our forecast for mature nodes where recovery is lagging. Next, for the Chinese domestic manufacturers on the right, we have raised equipment sales by 6 billion Japanese yen compared to the previous forecast, while lowering service sales by 2 billion Japanese yen, resulting in a net increase of 4 billion Japanese yen. For NAND and Logic Foundry, as mentioned during the first quarter earnings call, equipment demand has been stronger than initially expected, leading us to raise our forecast. For DRAM, since part of the sales is now expected to shift to next fiscal year after shipment timing was adjusted, as mentioned during the first quarter earnings call, it is leading to a downward revision of the forecast. As a result, the sales ratio for local Chinese manufacturers for the fiscal year ending March 2026 is expected to increase by four percentage points from the previous forecast of 33% to 37%. Page 21 shows sales to global manufacturers and sales to Chinese domestic manufacturers in chronological order from the fiscal year ending March 2023 to the revised forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2026. Sales to manufacturers worldwide have been on an upward trend since bottoming out in the fiscal year ending March 2024. For the fiscal year ending March 2026, sales to NAND and DRAM customers along with growth in services centered on upgrades and modifications are expected to increase by 9% compared to the previous fiscal year. On the other hand, sales to local Chinese manufacturers for the fiscal year ending March 2026 are expected to decrease by 20% compared to the previous fiscal year. This is due to a decline in sales for DRAM amid an investment lull despite growth in sales for NAND and Logic Foundry. Sales to DRAM are expected to resume an upward trend after the fiscal year ending March 2027 as the investment lull ends. As the revenue growth pace for global manufacturers is faster than that for Chinese domestic manufacturers, the sales ratio to Chinese domestic manufacturers is expected to decline to around 30%. Page 22 shows sales revenue by business segment. Due to the revision of our forecast, some new equipment orders will be replaced by upgrade and modification projects within our services businesses. Consequently, for the fiscal year ending March 2026, equipment sales are projected to decrease by 15% compared to the previous fiscal year, while service sales are expected to increase by 20%. As a result, the equipment sales ratio is projected to be 61%. Phase 23 shows installed revenue by application combining sales to global manufacturers and local Chinese manufacturers. For NAND, while we have lowered our forecasts this time, it is expected to double compared to the previous fiscal year. For DRAM, sales are expected to decrease by 45% compared to the previous quarter. This is due to a significant decline in sales to local Chinese manufacturers combined with the impact of some equipment sales to global manufacturers being replaced by upgrade modifications. For Logic Foundry, revenue is expected to decrease by 11% compared to the previous quarter. This is due to the delayed recovery of mature nodes and the impact of interposer demand, which was a 9.7 billion in the previous quarter, entering a transitional period this quarter. For legacy equipment, 200 millimeters and below included in the service to business, demand is expected to remain at the same level as the previous quarter due to the slowdown in demand.

Page 24 shows revenue by destination. Compared to the previous year, the sales mix to Japan, Korea, and other Asia is expected to increase, while the mix to China, US, and Taiwan are expected to decrease. Regarding tariff policies, our contracts are generally based on delivery at airports or ports near production sites, so we do not bear tariffs on equipment. Therefore, there has been no direct impact. At present, there is no indirect impact either, but we will continue to monitor potential indirect effects such as device makers revising investment plans due to economic downturns or rising costs. Export regulations have not caused direct or indirect impacts either. We will continue to monitor the situation. That concludes my explanation. I am Skoda representative director, president, and CEO. I will now explain the outlook going forward. Please turn to page 26. First, based on the revision of the March 2026 earnings forecast, I will explain the sense of the course for March 2027. Let me begin with the business environment surrounding our company. We had expected WFE in 2025 to be flat year on year, but considering the recovery of the Chinese market, we now see it slightly exceeding the previous year. Our view of WFE in 2026 remains unchanged. Mid single digit growth, around 5% year on year. While there are signs of increasing demand for AI related In my memory, lately, this has not yet been factored into our market outlook or our business plans. As explained earlier, ¥14 billion worth of equipment sales are expected to be delayed from March 2026 to March 2027. These include NAND equipment to non-China and DRAM equipment to China. and based on discussions with customers, the likelihood of selling them in March 2027 is high. For March 2027, including the delayed portion, we expect more than 10% growth in combined sales of equipment and upgrade modifications. Even excluding the delayed portion, we aim for growth of 5% or more. Page 27 shows the outlook for the business environment. In the semiconductor device market, generative AI demand is expected to continue driving capital investment by device manufacturers. For high-performance DRAM and logic foundry, active investment for generational shifts and production capacity expansion is expected to continue sustaining growth in equipment demand. For NAND, in addition to current equipment demand for generational shifts, there are expectations for NAND to replace server hard disk drives and DRAM. However, it will take more time to assess how this will translate into concrete equipment demand. For mature node logic foundry, Chinese manufacturers are maintaining investment at a considerable scale, and equipment demand is expected to stay at current levels. But non-Chinese manufacturers continue to restrain investments. Nevertheless, device demand is gradually recovering, and we expect equipment demand to rebound in the not too distant future. Page 28 summarizes the business environment and our situation by application. First, regarding NAND. At the time of the first quarter results announcement, we stated that demand from Chinese manufacturers was stronger than expected, while demand from non-China was weaker than expected. In the second quarter, the concerns became more pronounced. Although for non-China, equipment demand is increasing due to generational shift investments. We feel that investments in DRAM are being prioritized, so non-investment is likely to be slower than we anticipated. Demand for equipment in March 27 is expected to exceed that of this year, but we are not currently assuming capacity expansion investments. On the other hand, for China, generational transition and capacity expansion investments are progressing faster than we expected, and equipment demand is expected to continue in March 2027. Next, regarding DRAM, at the time of the first quarter results announcement, we stated that non-China demand for equipment, especially modifications, was stronger than expected, while shipment timing for China was getting fluid. In the second quarter, both the expectation and concern materialized. For non-China, investments for generational shift and production capacity expansion are progressing in parallel, and combined demand for equipment sales and upgrade modifications has exceeded our expectations. Demand in March 2027 is also expected to surpass this year's level. For Chinese manufacturers, after shipment timing adjustments, some equipment sales were delayed. However, having passed the investment transition period, we expect investments to become active again in March 27. Next, regarding logic foundry. At the time of the first quarter results announcement, we stated that demand for mature nodes from non-China, particularly in Europe and the US, was weak. In the second quarter, this concern materialized. For non-China, demand for advanced node equipment, mainly GAA, continues to grow. but recovery in mature node demand is expected to be slower than we anticipated. Notably, GAA-related equipment sales increased from 2.7 billion yen last year to 8.8 billion yen this second quarter year-to-date. Although interposer demand has entered a transition period, we will continue to make proposals to create and expand demand for advanced packaging. For China, investments by large manufacturers have been stronger than expected, and we expect investments to continue going forward. Finally, regarding power devices, sales of existing products have been steady, but equipment demand is showing signs of slowing. Going forward, we aim to capture demand shifts toward new products such as high temperature activation annealing associated with migration to 200 millimeters and trench gate adoption and pursue growth. Page 29 shows the transition of product composition. With March 2024 being the bottom, the mix of high value added products such as batch ALD compatible equipment and single wafer treatment equipment has started to increase. In March 26, sales of mini batch equipments are increasing in line with the recovery in demand for NAND equipment. The ratio of high-value-added products in March 26 is expected to reach 70%. In March 27, the ratio is expected to rise further, leading to improved gross profit margins. Chinese manufacturers are emerging in areas such as batch diffusion equipment and CVD-compatible equipment. However, in the field of highly difficult film formation where we excel, they have no presence, and our market share in batch ALD equipment continues to expand. we will continue to monitor the trends of Chinese manufacturers while focusing on expanding TAM and market share in advanced edge devices. Page 30 is our usual material summarizing the semiconductor device development roadmap, our catalyst and growth potential. There are no changes to our medium to long-term strategies and goals. Our view that the timing for achieving medium-term target will be when WFE reaches $120 billion also remains unchanged. As semiconductor devices become more multi-layered, miniaturized, complex, and three-dimensional, opportunities to leverage our strength in batch ALD equipment, especially mini-batch equipment and single wafer treatment equipment, will increase. our belief that we can sustain sales growth exceeding WFE growth. This remains unchanged. Although mass production of 3D stacked DRAM and logic CFET is expected to be slightly delayed, we will increase new PORs in vertical channel transistor DRAM and GAA 1.4 nanometer generation. With a higher ratio of high value-added products and lower SG&A ratio due to sales expansion, we will achieve a faster pace of adjusted operating income growth than sales growth. Please turn to page 31. Applied Materials, which had been our largest shareholder, sold part of its shares in our company to institutional investors through a securities firm on October 8, reducing its ownership ratio from about 15% to about 10%. As a result, KKR, which holds about 11% of our outstanding shares, once again became our largest shareholder. Page 32 shows the topics of management and business activities in the first half. In September 2025, we signed a joint development agreement with ASMPT of Singapore regarding semiconductor packaging technology. We are not yet at the stage to present specific goals or results, but by combining our advanced thin-film formation technology with ASMPT's high-precision bonding technology, we aim to develop optimal solutions in the semiconductor 2.5D and 3D packaging fields, which are expected to be applied to next-generation high-performance computing and AI. Finally, page 33 summarizes the ESG initiatives in the first half. In July 2025, we received the highest rating in CDP's 2024 Supplier Engagement Assessment. In the Supplier Engagement Assessment, This evaluates companies' efforts to address climate change issues in their supply chains. Our company has been engaging in business activities conscious of the environment across various fields, and these efforts were recognized. This concludes my presentation. Thank you for your attention.

That concludes the presentation from Cox Electric. We would now like to open the floor for questions. Those that have questions, please use the raise hand button on the screen and we will appoint you. And we will give you the right to speak and you would be able to unmute and once you unmute, please speak.

Starting with.

Tetsuya Wadaki-san. I'm Wadaki from Morgan Stanley. Thank you very much for your engagement. As for the downward revision, I do believe this was more of a consensus in advance so we can understand that. However, it is quite significant and for NAND, I understand that there's a shortage in supply. However, even though there's not going to be a large construction, there could be some increase in maybe capacity. However, this is what's happening. So how do you analyze the current situation? Some NAND manufacturers could not really procure the components, and they were not able to really build the SSDs, and maybe that is one impact factor. But when NAND is under supply situation, you decided there are manufacturers that are delaying their investments, and therefore that is probably impacting your earnings. So how do you monitor that type of development? Thank you very much for the question. So it's not as if customers give us very detailed information. However, as for the forecast changes that we have been informed of, as well as how the orders are being placed, we are assuming that traditionally it was a larger scale, I think, investment for generation change that investments were being made. However, most recently, it is small steps and gradual steps that customers are taking by monitoring the situation and installing the equipment. So that is how the behavior is changing. Maybe it is for a better demand supply dynamics. Maybe it is due to maybe component procurement situation. We don't know the clear answer to this. However, versus a demand supply dynamics, maybe they are trying to have a very leveled investment so that there will not be an oversupply situation. I think that would be the factor to note. Thank you. And the second question. Going into 2026, for calendar year 2026, it is a 5% WFE growth. And by application, maybe you can divide this into China and non-China. And we would like to understand your thoughts on this with that breakdown. For the WFE growth for calendar year 2026, currently, we are not changing our view to date. However, when we look at this by device, the situation is changing quite significantly. And when it comes to China and non-China, we have not been able to go with that breakdown yet. But when we look at this by device, the changes year on year will be that for NAND, it will be maybe positive 20%. and that would be our observation. And for DRAM, plus 15% levels. And that would be our observation. And for logic foundry, it will be minus 2 to maybe minus 3% levels. So in a nutshell, it is a plus 5% levels. Even though it is not divided by device when it comes to Chinese as well as non-Chinese, with all of the devices together, for Chinese local area, it would be minus 5 to minus 10%. And that would be the year-on-year change. And for non-China, plus 10 to plus 15%. And that would be our observation of now. Thank you. So Nozick Foundry, it would be lessened because of the local Chinese players that would be lessened. So it is not just a local Chinese manufacturers, but non-China is continuing to be a bit more weak. Understood. Because TSMC, I thought it would be increasing some of their investments, but I guess that's your prerequisite. So the largest foundry in Taiwan, as for their investments, I think it would be investments for gate all around, but maybe N-1 would be some investments that could be happening. And that's what we're picking up. Therefore, we will be monitoring the situation more closely. Thank you. That was very well taken.

Thank you very much. Moving on. Yoshida-san, please. Thank you very much. CLSA Yoshida speaking. This slide, slide 26 that you are showing now, looking at this slide, from this fiscal year to next fiscal year, if the equipment sales did not slip back, the March 2027 outlook would be less compared to March 2026 expectation in that case. What is your view of next year? How has your view for next year changed compared to three months ago? In particular, where it is related to AI, the AI-related memory investment, we get the feel that is becoming stronger. This is our skin feel. But this stronger investment, this sense, has not materialized specifically from forecasts coming from customers. We do not have a clear view yet. When time passes a little further, going into calendar year 26, we will be able to see the contents more clearly. Especially when it comes to DRAM, we get the feeling that DRAM will continue to be strong. Non-generational shift will continue. This is our view. I see. Thank you. My second question is midterm management plan. You said you have not changed your plan or target and WFE market would be affecting you. Conventionally, you would have considered achieving 2025 or 2026 as achieving timing, but with the fiscal year 2026 outlook you have shared, it would be difficult to achieve the target at that point. Compared to the time when you develop midterm plan, what are the changing assumptions and the demand environment? What are the changes compared to them? What are stronger and what are weaker compared to that time? What is becoming stronger is HBM. DRAM CapEx represented by HBM. We did not factor in that much strength as we see today. This was not factored in. This strong strength was not factored in. It will be positive. And the other point, mature logic foundry, also non-China and China as well, especially China, the emerging manufacturers, more than expected, they are weaker. and non-China mature logic foundry, they have not come back to capex either. These are the minus factors that we feel. What about NAND? Is NAND going as expected for NAND? Greenfield? would be very rare to see, we assume. For generational shifts, the equipments will be replaced. That was the assumption to start with. With generational shifts, there will be more increases. And for NAND, the positive is possibly the China NAND Because we viewed possibly there can be no more capex for NAND in China, but this is going up to quite a bit of a scale. Whether this will sustain or not, we don't know, but this can be a positive factor. I see. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Now from Nomura Securities, Yoshioka-san. Thank you. This is Yoshioka from Nomura Securities. I have two questions as well. The first will be, for fiscal year ending March of 2027, we would like to understand the direction. You have been showing us exactly how the sales revenue is going to be progressing. I would like to ask some details. So the WFE market growth is going to be more than maybe 10%. And that's why you're thinking sales revenue can increase by 10% plus. When you look at the current market, and when you look at the customer's trends as well as other trends, when you look at the WFE market, Exactly how much can you exceed the WFE market? Or do you think you cannot exceed the WFE market growth? Maybe it's difficult to explain in numbers. However, what would be the factor for you to be able to grow above the WFE market growth? When it comes to the WFE market growth, we're expecting this to be about 5% levels, and that is our outlook. And as for the delayed shipment, even with that being deducted, we do believe a sales revenue growth of 5% plus can be achieved. And that is what we have as an outlook for March end of 2027. And if you include the delayed portion, it will be above 10% level of growth as we explained before. But if we consider the delay as a bonus, And then even minus the delay, we would be able to see a sales revenue growth above WFE market growth. And that would be our current outlook. And if there's going to be a further upside, then that would be a possibility due to DRAM capex spending, which will be more than what we anticipate. and that could be stronger than our anticipation, especially for March, 2027. There will be new factory operations that will be launched, and that is expected. Therefore, they could be upside factors. And as for NAND, for this fiscal year, I think there could be a same type of generation shift investment similar to that of this year. and it will be generation shift as well as capacity increase in China. So therefore we do believe that we would. There's probability a high probability that we would be able to exceed WFE market growth. Thank you, that's well taken. Now moving on to the second question. Based on the material, it may be off of the material that you have shown us today, but. As for your POR by application, there's going to be a generation shift and you would be able to increase the POR wins. And I think that's something that you have been saying to date. But after six months, since the beginning of the year earnings call, have you been able to secure POR as expected? Or are you unable to really meet your expectations surrounding how you have been able to acquire these new PORs? even though it's not in the presentation deck, the PORs that we were expecting to acquire is proceeding as we have anticipated. Luckily, The integration scheme has changed due to customers' situation, and our POR may not be used for mass production, and such unfortunate situations have not happened to date. And therefore, all of the PORs that we have been accumulating to date will for sure move to mass production, and we should be able to convert them into sales revenue. Furthermore, when it comes to the GAA gate all around, POR, there are the major three. When it comes to South Korean logic foundry manufacturers, U.S. investments, the number of PORs tend to be more numerous when it comes to mass production. Therefore, that is also a very welcoming situation for us. Thank you. So it is a very solid POR acquisition that you've been able to go for, and it's very comforting to know. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next, Nakamura Shuhei-san, please. Goldman Nakamura speaking. Thank you. Page 26, slide 26. I want to ask and confirm about the sense of the numbers. Are you talking about the company-wide numbers, or is this just the new equipment plus upgrade portion only? I want to confirm about this point. And your equipment sales next year will be increasing. but by application and by destination, what is the sense? Calendar 2026, you talked about WFE and is your sales going to be pretty similar to the 2026 WFE direction or different? First of all, page 26, this shows new equipment, new equipment equivalent upgrade modifications i see which means company-wide sales will also include service sales on top of this right yes you're right upgrade Equivalent to new equipment is here, but other upgrades that is not equivalent to new equipment will also be added on top of this as well. I see. As of this stage, next fiscal year's company wide sales would be nice to know, but will the service sales grow in a similar manner as well? Service sales. This DRAM investments will continue. The upgrades will be continuing according to our perspective. If I may say the following, March, 2027, this graph, the blue portion equipments would be about 160 billion yen. The bottom green portion, upgrade modification 25 billion to 30 billion yen is the current expectation plus will this be in sync with wfe or not earlier i touched upon on wfe yoy and compared to that The feeling where we have a difference is the NAND part. NAND earlier I said plus 20% as my view. I think we can be equivalent or a bit higher than WFE for sure. Why? Because for NAND, greenfield investment is difficult to expect that much, which means The NAND part will be different compared to the WFE field. Thank you very much. And this March, 2027 sales expectation. Once you achieve the sales expectation, what is going to be the gross profit margin? This fiscal year, a little less than 43% you are expecting, I think. At least you can return back to this level. Or if there is any yearly forecast, please share with us. As you pointed out, this year's budget is 42.8% next fiscal year. Fiscal year 2026 with the sales expansion and with advanced edge equipment percentage increasing, we expect close to 43% or 43% we should be able to form our budget at. Thank you. And finally, just briefly, GAA-related sales. This year's outlook plus next year's expectation, can you share with us? And Interposer, you said transition timing, but wafer-level package CapEx in itself, I think, is going quite briskly. What is your expectation here as well? First of all, for GAA, this fiscal year and next fiscal year, which is March 26th and March 27th, GAA generation, we expect about 20 billion yen sales for GAA generation. Lately, the biggest Taiwanese foundry GAA investment was the only investment. But going forward, Korean foundries and comprehensive manufacturers, North American plants will enter into GAA generation. Therefore, we should sufficiently be able to aim for the 20 billion yen. And then for the interposer, silicon interposing for core s i think we have one one course but a different and a different application we can capture and we are working to capture such demand we will look at the situation and carefully assess the situation certainly lately for interposer course Yes, we think that investments are starting to take place. What kind of business, to what extent can we capture? We want to take a little bit more time to assess the situation.

I see.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. Moving on to Shimamoto-san. Thank you. This is Shimamoto from Okasan Securities. As for 2026 WFE memory area would be the question I would like to pose. So it was going to be NAND 20% and DRAM 25% increase. I think that was your outlook. Most recently, when it comes to the memory ASP increasing, I think memory manufacturers investments can be anticipated as a environment, and that's what the market is expecting. And based on that, when it comes to your outlook. Is it something you have assumed as a volume from the historical pattern of investments? Or are you looking at more of a realistic number? And are you accounting for the current market environment as a positive factor to come to these numbers? Can you maybe share with us the underlying factors for the numbers that you came up with? As I mentioned before, there are many different views on WFE, and we are referencing off of all of these different angles. And then we are trying to see how much that is in line with what we are feeling on the ground. Specifically, when it comes to the NAND area, the chip manufacturer's investment model, as I mentioned before, is starting to change a bit. There's a demand. And then ASB seems reasonable. However, they're very cautious about capex spending. And I think that is how the behavior is changing. And based on different research companies, WFE Markets, Outlook, I did say it was a positive 20%. Yes, I do want this type of capex spending to happen in the NAND space, but is it really going to happen or not? When we monitor the most recent behavior of the chip manufacturers' investments, I myself am questioning myself. However, when it comes to capex spending for generation shift, you need to go for that. Otherwise, you cannot manufacture new generation chips in volume. Therefore, you will shift from the older generation to the new generation, and they will be installing new equipment to cater to that. And then that is what we want to make sure that we actually capture. And that's the prerequisite to the numbers. Thank you. When it comes to the 15% in DRAM, would it be the same type of thinking that you have applied, or did you have a different set of thinking? For DRAM, the GPU release schedule needs to be met. And based on that, the HBM manufacturing increase will happen. And it needs to be in sync. And so that's how CapEx spending will happen. On the other hand, when it comes to a multi-purpose DRAM, once demand starts to recover more solidly, then I think it will be unlinked to HPM CapEx spending. So I think when it comes to DRAM, I think the investment behavior would be a bit different from demand. And that is what I'm picking up. That's very well taken, thank you so much. And that will be it for myself.

Then because time is coming up, the next will be the final question. Mr. Yamamoto from Mizuho, please. Yamamoto-san of Mizuho, please, please go ahead. Please unmute. Yamamoto-sama? Are you all right? Is it working? The question is withdrawn. Then we will be concluding. With this, we conclude questions and answers. Thank you very much for participating in our meeting. After this meeting, we will be sending to you a questionnaire survey. To make use for the future IR activities, we ask you to kindly respond to the questionnaire survey. We will be closing the meeting. Thank you very much indeed for today. Thank you.