AI boom drives AT&S to record quarterly revenue

AT&S, the Styrian semiconductor and substrate maker, recorded the highest quarterly revenue in its history in the second quarter of its financial year, driven largely by demand linked to artificial intelligence, ORF reported. The company also returned to profit after a loss a year earlier.

Revenue rose 52 percent to 681.9 million euros. The group result turned from a loss of 7.6 million euros in the same quarter last year to a profit of 125.4 million euros. For the first six months of the financial year, AT&S reported a group profit of 166.2 million euros, compared with a loss of 63.5 million euros in the year-earlier period.

Chief executive Michael Mertin said demand for components used in AI was unlikely to fade soon. He told the Austrian Press Agency that data centres were being built and planned, with initial equipment investments under way, but that this was “not even the tip of the iceberg”. Business in IC substrates more than doubled as a result of AI applications, AT&S said. The investments are backed by long-term business models at global technology companies including Microsoft, Amazon and Google.

Chief financial officer Gerrit Steen said AT&S was no longer simply a contract manufacturer, but a global technology company working closely with customers over the long term. The company has long-term purchase commitments, typically for five years, he said.

AT&S is also reshaping its conventional circuit-board business. Mertin said basic series production was no longer competitive in Europe, so the company was investing in high-tech solutions at its plants in Fehring and Leoben, including power electronics, co-packaged optics and mini-transformers.

AT&S had 15,657 employees worldwide at the end of September. It hires as many as 250 people a month in Malaysia. In Austria, it employs 2,240 people at Leoben-Hinterberg and 440 in Fehring. Mertin said recruitment in Austria was challenging because of the high requirements for the roles.

The company has room in Kulim, Malaysia, for a third plant and has bought two additional plots for possible factories producing accelerator boards and substrate cores. A decision on the projects is expected in the first half of 2027.

The board is not planning to pay a dividend for the current financial year. Mertin said the company would continue prioritising the build-up of its equity to strengthen its resilience, arguing that investment in growth and innovation would create greater value for shareholders.