Kulicke and Soffa's Q3 2025: Navigating Contradictions in Revenue Expectations and Market Dynamics

Thermo compression bonding market and revenue expectations, impact of automotive industry on revenue, general semiconductor utilization rates, impact of Intel CapEx cuts, revenue projections for the December quarter are the key contradictions discussed in Kulicke and Soffa Industries' latest 2025Q3 earnings call.



Revenue and Market Conditions:
- Kulicke & Soffa reported $148.4 million in revenue for Q3 2025, with a sequential decrease primarily driven by order hesitation in the automotive and industrial markets.
- The decline was attributed to trade uncertainties affecting global automotive and industrial supply chains, while ongoing technology transitions present long-term growth opportunities, particularly in EV charging infrastructure and power semiconductors.

Memory and Semiconductor Market Recovery:
- The company experienced a strong sequential demand increase in the memory sector, showing improvement in conditions, recent price dynamics, and emerging packaging formats.
- The recovery is supported by general semiconductor capacity transitions and expansions in China and Taiwan, as well as memory technology transitions and price improvements.

Automotive Market Headwinds and Softness:
- Order hesitation within the automotive and industrial markets, particularly with a certain customer in Southeast Asia, resulted in sequential revenue reduction.
- This softness is expected to continue into the September quarter due to trade uncertainties affecting the global automotive and industrial supply chain.

Advanced Dispense and Vertical Wire Growth:
- Kulicke & Soffa's Advanced Dispense segment saw opportunities across key customers and end markets, with initial POs from automotive OEMs and IDMs.
- The vertical wire market remains on track, with initial higher volume production expected in fiscal 2026, driven by technology transitions in the memory market.

Thermo-Compression Bonding (TCB) and Market Positioning:
- The company anticipates shipping an initial FTC system by the end of calendar year 2025 to support the Fluxless transition within the HBM space.
- As the market leader in driving FTC adoption within leading logic applications, Kulicke & Soffa is well-positioned to extend its market share within both memory and the broader market as the technology transitions to FTC-based assembly.