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Axcelis' (ACLS) Purion Solution Continues to Witness Traction

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Axcelis Technologies, Inc (ACLS - Free Report) recently announced that it shipped numerous shipments of Purion M SiC medium current implanter to China-based power device chipmakers in the current quarter.

The solution will be utilized for 150mm production of silicon carbide power devices for backing up industrial, energy, automotive and other power intensive applications.

The Purion M SiC solution provides users with an implanter which has a wide dose and energy range. This makes it highly suitable for early phases of a fab production ramp.

Prior to the current shipments, ACLS had shipped Purion H SiC Power Series and the Purion M SiC Power Series ion implanter systems to power device chipmakers in Asia and Europe. It also had shipped Purion XE high energy and Purion H high current implanters to various fabs in Korea and China for manufacturing of DRAM memory devices in December 2023. The shipments also included a follow-on shipment to an existing customer in Korea.

Axcelis is a leading producer of ion implantation equipment used in the fabrication of semiconductors.

The top-line performance is being driven by robust customer demand for Purion suite of products, especially in the silicon-carbide power market. The silicon-carbide power device market is being driven by transition to electric vehicles.

This, in turn, is boosting demand for Purion products, especially PurionH200 silicon carbide, Purion XE silicon carbide systems and Purion M silicon carbide tool.

Purion H200 and Purion XE silicon carbide systems are witnessing strong uptake. This is because customers with new fab projects initially set up a core of Purion M silicon carbide tool. Then, they deploy Purion H200 silicon carbide and Purion XE silicon carbide systems to augment productivity and cost efficiency, highlighted management.

In 2023, the company reported revenues of $1.13 billion, up 23% year over year driven by strong adoption of Purion products. System revenues increased 28% year over year to $883.6 million in 2023. China continues to be a key market, with a contribution of 46% to total system revenues in 2023. 

ACLS expects momentum in the power segment to help it achieve the targeted $1.3 billion in revenues in 2025. For 2024, revenues are expected to be similar to 2023 levels with higher revenues expected in the second half.

However, softness in the general mature and memory markets remains concerning. Amid volatile macroeconomic backdrop, increasing expenses toward research and development, and infrastructure are likely to be additional headwinds.

ACLS currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of the company have declined 14% in the past year against 29.1% growth of the sub-industry.

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Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks worth consideration in the broader technology space are Manhattan Associates (MANH - Free Report) , Synopsys (SNPS - Free Report) and Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) . While Manhattan Associates and Synopsys sport a Zacks Rank #1 each, Microsoft carries a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Microsoft’s fiscal 2024 EPS is pegged at $11.63, indicating growth of 18.6% from the year-ago levels. Microsoft’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 8.8%. The long-term earnings growth rate is 16.2%. Shares of MSFT have rallied 56.2% in the past year.

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