ASE Technology Outperforms Amkor as AI Packaging Demand Surges

J.P. Morgan initiated coverage of Technoprobe SpA with an overweight rating, sending the Italian semiconductor-testing supplier's shares up 4.13% to €37.32, their highest level since June 22. The brokerage set a June 2028 price target of €45, based on a 28-times 2028 estimated EBIT multiple, saying the premium to semiconductor-capital-equipment peers is justified by Technoprobe's stronger and more durable growth and margins. J.P. Morgan forecasts revenue rising from €628 million in 2025 to €1.09 billion in 2026 and €1.66 billion in 2027, with adjusted EBIT increasing from €136 million to €449 million and €810 million, respectively, and adjusted EPS of €0.54 in 2026, €0.96 in 2027 and €1.19 in 2028, versus Bloomberg consensus of €0.54, €0.79 and €1.00. The brokerage highlighted Technoprobe's roughly 60% share of the Vertical MEMS testing market, a technology increasingly used for advanced logic chips that could gain adoption in memory as architectures such as HBM4E and HBM5 become more complex. J.P. Morgan said further capacity expansion is the key watchpoint for additional earnings upgrades; Technoprobe is targeting production capacity equivalent to a roughly €1.6 billion annual revenue run-rate by the end of the first quarter of 2027, with further expansion beyond that level still being assessed with customers.

Teradyne has launched the Magnum E2, a next-generation high-speed memory test system built on its Near-DUT Test architecture, supporting advanced DRAM and flash interfaces including LPDDR6, DDR6, GDDR7 and NAND flash. The platform offers higher parallelism, improved signal integrity and support for NRZ, PAM3 and PAM4 signaling, and combines memory and logic testing on a single platform. The launch expands Teradyne's memory test portfolio, led by its Magnum platforms, as the company competes with KLA and Cohu in the semiconductor test-equipment market. In the second quarter of 2026, Teradyne's memory revenues reached a record $212 million, the third consecutive quarter above $200 million, with memory book-to-bill exceeding 2. Management expects the 2026 memory test TAM to be more than 40% higher than 2025 and expects memory revenues to grow in the second half compared to the first half. KLA reported record fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 revenues of $3.66 billion, up 15% year over year and 7% sequentially, while Cohu is extending its Neon inspection platform across HBM3, HBM4 and HBM4E production.

Infineon Technologies Manufacturing (Thailand) opened a new plant in Samut Prakan province on October 1, 2026, with Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul presiding over the ceremony, joined by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas. The plant received investment promotion from the BOI with an investment value of over 48 billion baht, covering the production of power control chip systems, integrated circuit and wafer testing, as well as research and development of semiconductor products. The plant is Infineon's third power control chip system production base, following Germany and China, starting with phase 1 and with plans to expand up to 5 phases. If all 5 phases are completed, it will be Infineon's largest assembly and testing production base in the world, with a total cleanroom area of 150,000 square meters, roughly twice the size of the company's current largest plant. Infineon plans to employ more than 5,000 Thai personnel in total, or approximately 1,000 people per phase, while the BOI has set conditions requiring the development of more than 600 Thai personnel in science and technology and the sending of more than 130 Thai personnel for specialized technology training abroad.

German semiconductor giant Infineon Technologies opened a new plant in Thailand on the first of the month. The new facility on the outskirts of Bangkok is a back-end site handling semiconductor assembly and testing, with an initial investment of more than 100 million euros, or 113.57 million dollars, while the total project value reaches 1.4 billion dollars according to a statement from Thailand's Board of Investment. According to Infineon Chief Operating Officer Alexander Gorski, the site initially features cleanrooms, the controlled environments required for semiconductor manufacturing, of up to 30,000 square meters, and can be expanded to as much as 150,000 square meters in the future. Gorski said this is a strategic long-term investment and cited Thailand's proximity to major markets such as China as a strength. According to Gorski, Infineon has 13 manufacturing sites in the United States, Europe, China and Southeast Asia, and leveraging existing cleanroom capacity could potentially double its revenue. The expansion in Thailand is also part of efforts to offer customers dual sourcing, and Narit, secretary-general of the Board of Investment, said the agency is focusing on photonics, power semiconductors and sensors as part of a long-term strategy in the semiconductor field, aiming to attract 18 billion dollars in semiconductor investment by 2030.