Japan SPE sector: Points to watch in Apr-Jun 2026 results

Research evidence excerpt

Japan SPE sector: Points to watch in Apr-Jun 2026 results

Global Markets Research

16 July 2026Japan SPE sector

EQUITY: JAPAN SEMICONDUCTOR PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT

Research Analysts

Points to watch in Apr–Jun 2026 results Japan semiconductor production

equipment

We highlight companies with low earnings risk and prospects for positive Atsushi Yoshioka - NSC

catalysts amid rising expectations for the stock market overall atsushi.yoshioka@nomura.com

+81 3 6703 1176

Points to watch in Apr–Jun results

Figures 1 and 2 list Nomura and consensus operating profit forecasts for SPE companies

under our coverage, while Figure 3 lists results announcements dates at SPE-related

companies. Below we summarize the points to watch in Apr–Jun results.

Front-end SPE: Focusing on price hikes, capacity-related comments

Business conditions for front-end SPE look to have improved further since the release of

Jan–Mar results across a broad range of applications and regions, including China. That

said, stock market participants have high expectations for upward revisions to full-year

guidance alongside Q1 results announcements, partly because Japanese front-end SPE

companies have cautious assumptions for the WFE market in 2026 (Figure 4), and we

thus note potential guidance risk other than for Tokyo Electron [8035], which has not

issued full-year guidance. We are also interested in what tone companies will take

towards price hikes. We assume that Tokyo Electron and Kokusai Electric [6525] will be

more bullish about raising prices than sector peers, as we think they have not been able

to fully pass cost increases onto prices and margin improvements via increased sales

have been smaller than expected (Figure 5). We will also be keeping an eye on company