AT&S already positions itself for the financial year 2026/27

• Customer diversification successfully initiated

• Revenue growth of €1.8billion in 2022/23e to €3.5billion in 2026/27e

• Ready for challenging market environment

Leoben – Given the current market environment, AT&S has adapted its pace of growth to the market conditions and postponed its medium-term goals by a year to the 2026/27 financial year. “While the current weakness of the market in the area of IC substrates affects the speed of our growth, it does not change anything about the long-term perspective of our markets and our positioning,” says CEO Andreas Gerstenmayer. “On the contrary, we will use this challenging time to emerge stronger and continue to drive our strategy with a broader customer portfolio,” Gerstenmayer comments on the company’s perspective. “Initially, this will, however, require consequent adjustments to our cost structures,” he concedes.

Customer diversification successfully initiated

 New Research Center of AT&S in Leoben, Austria.

As part of its diversification strategy, AT&S has already succeeded in winning additional IC substrate customers. Therefore, the R&D centre in Leoben, which is currently under construction, will be expanded to include real series production, supported by financing contributions of the new customers. These customers operate in the computing/data processing business and have a high need for IC substrates; they use these to offer energy-efficient processors, among other things.

In addition to the diversification in the area of IC substrates, the company also won major new customers in the PCB business and significantly increased profitability. This shows that a broad, high-quality portfolio pays off.

Revenue growth of €1.8billion in 2022/23e to €3.5billion in 2026/27e

The outlook for 2025/26, which AT&S presented in November 2021, was based on a completely different market environment with high growth forecast for IC substrates. The Ukraine conflict and its impact on the energy market, growing tensions between the USA and China as well as the general economic slowdown, coupled with rising inflation, have had a significant negative effect on market conditions after the end of the COVID pandemic. The extreme increase in PC and notebook sales as a result of mandatory remote working during the pandemic led to a saturation in this segment and consequently market weakness coupled with high inventories.

As a result of the changes in the market and the reduced growth momentum, AT&S had to adapt its projects and projections. The medium-term goals were consequently postponed by a year. AT&S expects to generate revenue of approximately € 3.5 billion in 2026/27 and anticipates an EBITDA margin of 27 to 32%. This corresponds to a compound annual growth rate for revenue of 17% (2022/23e: € 1.8 billion) and a significant increase in profitability.

Ready for a challenging market environment

In the markets for IC substrates, demand for notebooks is expected to be lower in 2023 than in 2022. The negative impact on the supplier chain is further intensified by high inventories. According to current forecasts, this will affect the first half of 2023 in particular; towards the end of the year, demand is expected to recover. The demand for IC substrates for servers will benefit from the technology shift towards heterogeneous integration.(Heterogeneous integration means that the different functionalities of a single microchip are split up into chiplets, which reduces costs and increases performance. However, this requires significantly larger and more complex IC substrates to ensure the connection between the individual chiplets)

In order to mitigate the resulting effects, such as pressure on prices and inflation, AT&S has initiated comprehensive cost optimisation programmes. These programmes focus on expanding the scope for the ongoing improvement measures and on accelerating their implementation. AT&S had already announced sustainable cost optimisations in February, predominantly based on measures to increase productivity and material use as well optimisations in purchasing. Against the backdrop of growing market challenges, AT&S has intensified these programmes. Compared to the financial year 2022/23 cost savings totalling € 440 million are expected for the following two years.

In addition, the investment programmes will be analysed depending to the respective expected demand and adapted to the respective market situation. In the 2022/23 financial year AT&S invested CAPEX of approximately € 600 million in the location in Chongqing, China. The plant in Leoben, Austria, is being completed for the new customers and the first machines are already being installed. In Kulim, Malaysia, € 340 million was invested in the 2022/23 financial year. One of the two plants in Kulim is currently being finalised; the first machines have already been installed. Production is expected to start in 2024 as planned. The second plant in Kulim will be completed regarding the building envelope, for which considerable costs will still be incurred; however, the timing of the procurement and installation of the infrastructure and production equipment depends on how the market and the situation of a relevant customer develop. As a result, the investment volume for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years will be reduced by a total of € 450 million compared with the original plan – despite an increase in investment requirements in Leoben. In 2021, AT&S had announced investments totalling € 2.2 billion for the locations in Kulim and Leoben; currently the company is planning total investments of € 1.8 billion in the medium term.

AT & S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik Aktiengesellschaft – Advanced Technologies & Solutions
AT&S is a globally leading manufacturer of high-end printed circuit boards and IC substrates. AT&S industrialises leading-edge technologies for its core business segments Mobile Devices & Substrates, Automotive, Industrial and Medical. AT&S has a global presence with production sites in Austria (Leoben, Fehring) and plants in India (Nanjangud), China (Shanghai, Chongqing) and Korea (Ansan near Seoul). A new high-end production site for IC substrates is currently being established in Kulim, Malaysia. The company employs roughly 15,000 people.