Advantest Corporation - ADR

Strong demand + meaningful SoC tester outlook upgrade (driven mainly by CPU) - Management raised the SoC tester revenue outlook significantly vs the July forecast, attributing the uplift to broad elevated demand across the compute device segment. - By application/channel: GPU and custom ASIC remain “very hot”, but the biggest incremental driver is CPU—the industry underestimated the CPU demand wave associated with agentic AI, which is now a “third layer” on top of GPU + custom ASIC. - For investors: this confirms the upgrade is not one-off; it reflects durable demand broadening across HPC/AI compute, with CPU particularly supportive.

Capacity expansion is accelerating; 10,000-unit target timeline likely earlier than original plan - Advantest is expanding production capacity for SoC testers; the original plan was to reach ~10,000 systems by end of FY2028. - They stressed the ramp is being accelerated “pretty significantly” due to demand. - Exact date not given, but management said they expect to pinpoint the time frame in the next quarter or so (i.e., likely sooner than FY2028 end). - This directly links to revenue: in Q3/Q4, management expects higher shipments sequentially, driven by more capacity enabling more systems to ship, especially in 2H.

Market TAM growth expectations remain very favorable (no slowdown expected) - On TAM (tester market), they reiterated that ATE TAM CAGR has been ~50%+ for the last couple of years and they don’t expect slowing. - Expected drivers through 2027: continued growth across GPU, custom ASIC, and CPU. - While they won’t fully quantify yet (guidance granularity at January / Q3 call), they cited customer and foundry expectations for mid-to-high 50% CAGR through 2029, suggesting sustained high demand.