JAPAN FIRST TO MARKET

Research evidence excerpt

JAPAN FIRST TO MARKET

Asia Pacific Equity Research

Japan First to Market 30 July 2026

Top Stories

Hitachi (6501) (Junya Ayada) (6501 JP, OW)

1Q results: Power grid orders and profitability both strong; full-year guidance raised

Positive: 1Q adjusted operating profit was ¥294.3 billion (Bloomberg consensus estimate and ours ¥250 billion). Management

raised full-year guidance to ¥1,408 billion (Bloomberg consensus estimate ¥1,366.4 billion, ours ¥1,365 billion). The main driver

of the 1Q overshoot and the upward revision of full-year guidance was the energy (power grids) business, where orders and

profitability improvement exceeded expectations. Results were generally strong overall, including other businesses, but the

initial guidance for energy could be viewed as conservative, and we also look for communication on further enhancing business

value.

Advantest (6857) (Mio Shikanai) (6857 JP, OW)

1Q results: Strong results well above expectations, tester market headed for next growth phase

Positive: 1Q operating profit of ¥190 billion (+24% QoQ; Bloomberg consensus estimate ¥159.2 billion; our estimate ¥175

billion) and revised FY2026 guidance of ¥846 billion (+69% YoY; previously ¥627.5 billion; Bloomberg consensus estimate

¥708.5 billion; our estimate ¥778 billion) were both well above market expectations. Tester demand is growing not only for

GPUs but also for custom ASICs and CPUs for AI inference computing, and Advantest plans to accelerate production capacity

expansion. Advantest maintains a dominant market share in the SoC tester market, and emphasized that it sees potential for

raising market share above 70%.

NEC (6701) (Junya Ayada) (6701 JP, OW)

1Q results: 1Q profit up sharply, still see potential upside to full-year guidance