Asia’s chip sector has been following Nvidia’s rally in the past year. But while the region’s largest AI and chipmaker stocks have continued to gain, companies further down the semiconductor supply chain, including suppliers of chipmaking equipment, chip materials and chemicals, have been lagging behind global peers in recent months. There is still plenty of room for upside.
Shares of chipmaking equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron are down a tenth since early April. Local peer Towa is a tenth lower since last Thursday. Companies making machines that test and measure chips in the manufacturing process are also losing, with Advantest down a quarter since a March high. Shares of Screen, which makes wafer cleaning and etching materials for chip devices, have also fallen.
