Dependence on the electronics industry, particularly the mobile phone and PC markets

「In the electronic components industry, demand for AI servers and data centers grew substantially against the backdrop of increased AI infrastructure investment by hyperscalers. PC demand recovered steadily, while demand for consumer electronics such as smartphones and industrial equipment such as factory automation equipment recovered only gradually.」

「Sales of plating chemicals for printed circuit boards and semiconductor packages remained firm for these semiconductor packages, modules and memory products, driven by strong demand for generative AI, while consumer applications such as smartphones and PCs recovered only gradually. Sales of plating chemicals for connectors remained solid in smartphone and industrial-equipment applications, but showed signs of stagnation in automotive applications. Sales of plating chemicals for lead frames remained firm in consumer applications, but showed signs of stagnation in automotive applications due to inventory adjustments.」

「In the electronic components industry, AI server and data-center applications performed well, driven by strong demand for generative AI. Consumer applications such as smartphones and PCs showed signs of stalled demand recovery, while industrial equipment applications, including factory automation equipment, remained weak due to prolonged inventory adjustments. Demand for automotive electronic components continued to increase as vehicles became more electrified, including through advanced driver-assistance systems, but signs of stagnation emerged due to inventory adjustments resulting from the slowing growth of electric vehicles and other factors.」

「Sales of plating chemicals for printed circuit boards and semiconductor packages remained firm for semiconductor packages and modules related to generative AI, although PCs and memory products showed signs of stagnation, and remained solid for smartphones. Sales of plating chemicals for connectors were strong for smartphones, but remained sluggish for industrial machinery and showed signs of stagnation in automotive applications. Sales of plating chemicals for lead frames gradually recovered in smartphones, PCs and consumer electronics, but revenue declined due to the impact of lower palladium prices.」

「Demand for consumer applications such as smartphones and PCs recovered slowly and remained weak due to sluggish personal consumption in China and the economic slowdown in Europe.」

「Sales of plating chemicals for printed circuit boards and semiconductor packages remained firm for some leading-edge semiconductor packages, including those used for generative AI, but production adjustments were seen for smartphones, PCs and their memory products, limiting the recovery in demand to a gradual pace. Sales of plating chemicals for connectors recovered in automotive applications, but remained sluggish due to weak demand from Chinese smartphone manufacturers and industrial equipment. Sales of plating chemicals for lead frames saw only a weak recovery in smartphone and PC applications, and revenue declined partly due to lower palladium prices.」

「Sales of plating chemicals for printed circuit boards and semiconductor packages increased for some leading-edge semiconductor packages, including those used for generative AI, but remained sluggish for smartphones, PCs and their memory products, and order recovery fell short of initial expectations. Sales of plating chemicals for connectors increased in industrial equipment applications due to the technological superiority of our products, but this was insufficient to offset weak demand for smartphones. Sales of plating chemicals for lead frames remained sluggish due to weak demand for smartphones and PCs, and revenue declined further as a result of lower palladium prices.」

「In the electronic components industry, demand for consumer applications such as mid-range smartphones and PCs remained weak due to the economic slowdown caused by global interest-rate increases and higher raw-material costs. Investment attitudes were also cautious in cloud and data-center applications and industrial equipment, including semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and business remained sluggish. Demand for automotive electronic components increased as semiconductor shortages eased and the number of components installed per finished vehicle rose with the shift toward greater automotive electrification and electric vehicles. Although demand has not yet returned to pre-COVID levels, it has emerged from the bottom and signs of recovery have begun to appear.」

「In the electronic components industry, demand generally remained weak. In addition to lower production volumes for smartphones and PCs due to higher raw-material costs associated with inflation, the global economic slowdown and inventory normalization following inventory build-ups during the COVID-19 pandemic, production adjustments were seen due to restrained investment in cloud and data-center applications.」

「Production cuts for electronic components used in smartphones and PCs due to inventory adjustments have continued. For automotive electronic components, automobile production adjustments continued and a recovery trend did not emerge.」

「Sales of plating chemicals for printed circuit boards and semiconductor packages remained firm for some brands of 5G smartphones, but declined due to production cuts affecting smartphones made by Chinese and Korean manufacturers, PCs and memory products.」

「However, the shortage of components caused by tight semiconductor supply and demand and the impact of COVID-19 in China significantly affected automobile production, and difficult conditions continued.」

「Our performance is significantly affected by trends in the electronics industry, particularly the smartphone and PC markets.」

「In the electronic components industry, performance remained generally solid, supported by demand for 5G-compatible smartphones and related infrastructure, data centres associated with the spread of remote work and online learning, and IoT devices for digital transformation in factories, healthcare and other areas, although some semiconductors and electronic components were affected by supply shortages. Meanwhile, although automotive demand remained solid, the company was unable to resolve disruptions to component supplies from Southeast Asia caused by the spread of COVID-19 or semiconductor shortages, which affected automotive production.」

「Although demand for automobiles showed signs of recovery, the supply of components from Southeast Asia was disrupted by the spread of COVID-19, and semiconductor shortages affected automotive production.」

「In the electronic components industry, demand for 5G-compatible smartphones, PCs and data centres remained solid, supported by the expansion of 5G-compatible smartphones and the spread of remote work and online learning. Meanwhile, although demand for automobiles showed signs of recovery, concerns remained over the impact of semiconductor shortages on automotive production and electronic components for automobiles.」

「In the electronic components industry, uncertainty continued amid the prolonged US-China trade war and the extended impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, markets such as those created by the adoption of infection-control measures and automotive-related markets showing signs of recovery from the pandemic are driving demand for electronic components.」

「In the electronic components industry, uncertainty continued amid the prolonged US-China trade war and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, new markets created by the adoption of infection-control measures and markets less affected by the pandemic, including automotive-related markets showing signs of recovery, are driving demand for electronic components.」

「In the electronic components industry, signs seen in the third quarter of the previous fiscal year that inventory adjustments for semiconductors and electronic components were ending failed to develop into a firm recovery amid the effects of the US-China trade war and worsening Japan-South Korea relations. The industry was then hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and was significantly affected by the resulting stagnation in global economic activity.」

「In the electronic components industry, the impact on raw-materials manufacturers became uncertain as production of automobiles and communications equipment was reported to be declining amid the US-China trade war, worsening Japan-South Korea relations and worldwide restrictions on going out due to the spread of COVID-19.」

「In the electronic components industry, inventory adjustments for semiconductors and electronic components had begun to subside, but the US-China trade war and worsening Japan-South Korea relations had not improved, and uncertainty over their impact on raw-materials manufacturers remained unresolved. Sales of chemicals for printed circuit boards and semiconductor-mounted substrates, which had performed well in the same period of the previous year, showed signs of slowing.」

「Although semiconductor and electronic component inventory adjustments since last year appear to have subsided, uncertainty remains, including over the impact on raw-materials chemical manufacturers, amid the US-China trade war and worsening Japan-South Korea relations. Sales of plating chemicals for printed circuit boards and semiconductor-mounted substrates remained solid, but actual demand is uncertain partly because of requests to build inventories due to the US-China trade war and worsening Japan-South Korea relations.」

「In the electronic components industry, high-end smartphones became more sophisticated through the adoption of OLED displays, multiple cameras and 3D-sensing modules, but sales have been sluggish because of their higher price points and the impact of US-China trade tensions. Semiconductor inventory adjustments were also observed, partly because of weak demand for high-end smartphones.」

「In the electronic components industry, demand showed signs of slowing as the smartphone market became saturated. In particular, weaker demand for high-end smartphones in China led to production adjustments for electronic components and a decline in consumption.」

「In the electronic components industry, demand showed signs of slowing as the smartphone market became saturated.」

「In the electronic components industry, new demand has been increasing for automotive electronics, digital consumer electronics and IoT applications such as edge computers. Smartphones, the main demand driver, have become more sophisticated through improvements such as high-performance cameras, OLED displays, wireless charging and image recognition. However, replacement demand has been slowing as these enhancements have pushed prices into higher segments.」

「In the electronic components industry, demand had shown signs of slowing as the smartphone market remained saturated since the second half of the previous fiscal year, but conditions are gradually beginning to improve.」

「In the electronic components industry, demand showed signs of slowing as the smartphone market reached saturation. Meanwhile, the industrial machinery and automotive-related markets continued to expand, and demand for electronic components remained strong.」

「Sales of electroless-plating chemicals for package substrates and mobile-phone motherboards continued to perform well. Demand for components for smartphones, automobiles and industrial machinery also remained strong for hard-gold plating chemicals for connectors.」

「Overall performance remained solid as production adjustments for smartphones ended and demand for components recovered.」

「The electronic components industry benefited from favourable conditions compared with the same period of the previous year, as demand for semiconductors and electronic components for smartphones, which had recovered in the second half of the previous fiscal year, continued to perform well.」

「Although smartphones continued to drive the electronic components industry, first-half demand was weak because of the delayed production ramp-up of high-end smartphones, which had continued from the previous fiscal year. Demand recovered in the second half as a reaction to this weakness, and demand for high-end and Chinese-brand smartphones remained strong.」

「In the electronic components industry, demand has shown signs of weakening in addition to the decline in PC-related demand, while smartphone growth has clearly slowed. High-end smartphones have been displaced by mid-range and low-end models, and the slowdown in high-end smartphone growth has become increasingly apparent.」

「In the electronic components industry, demand remained weak because sales of PCs and smartphones continued to be sluggish. Although smartphones were the main driver, demand did not recover as sharply as expected because the start-up of high-end smartphone production was delayed.」

「In the electronic components industry, demand was expected to recover for replacement purchases of high-end and Chinese-brand smartphones, but demand did not recover because the effects of production adjustments for high-end smartphones that began at the end of the previous year persisted. Demand for Chinese-brand smartphones also remained sluggish.」

「Our performance is significantly affected by trends in the electronics industry, particularly the mobile-phone and PC markets.」