--- title: "Besi's chief says ASML is a collaborator in bonding, not the rival investors priced" description: "A SemiAnalysis report that ASML is building a hybrid-bonding tool cut 13% off Besi in the week to October 16. A week later Besi's chief executive called ASML a collaborator while booking record orders, and the chipmakers proving the technique are Chinese fabs that cannot buy ASML's lithography at all." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Chips" published: 2026-10-29T14:06:22.055Z modified: 2026-10-29T14:06:22.055Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/besi-s-chief-says-asml-is-a-collaborator-in-bonding-not-the-rival-investors-priced language: en keywords: "ASML, Besi, Hybrid Bonding, Advanced Packaging, Semiconductors, China" --- # Besi's chief says ASML is a collaborator in bonding, not the rival investors priced > A SemiAnalysis report that ASML is building a hybrid-bonding tool cut 13% off Besi in the week to October 16. A week later Besi's chief executive called ASML a collaborator while booking record orders, and the chipmakers proving the technique are Chinese fabs that cannot buy ASML's lithography at all. The chip-bonding war the market priced this month may not exist. On Thursday October 15, research firm [SemiAnalysis](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/semianalysis) reported that [ASML](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/asml), the Dutch maker of the printers behind advanced chips, had filed [27 patent families on hybrid bonding](https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3371181/asml-eyes-hybrid-bonding-report-finds-chinese-firms-adopt-chip-packaging-technique) and was developing a die-to-wafer bonder with two Dutch partners, Prodrive Technologies and VDL ETG [1]. [Besi](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/be-semiconductor), a fraction of ASML's size but the leader in hybrid bonding, [fell 13% that week](https://in.marketscreener.com/news/besi-shares-fall-on-report-asml-is-working-on-rival-hybrid-bonding-product-ce785cdadb8eff24) [2][3]. A week later, on October 22, Besi chief executive Richard Blickman said "[We do not view ASML as a hybrid bonding competitor](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/technology/besi-says-asml-is-not-hybrid-bonding-rival-as-ai-demand-drives-orders/ar-AA2fMOWj)" and described joint work on how precisely Besi's machines place chips [4]. We covered [Besi's record orders on October 22](https://theinference.org/article/besi-booked-record-342-6-million-orders-and-324-profit-growth-the-stock-is-down-more-than-50) and ASML's record quarter on October 28; what is new since is Blickman's on-record denial, the partners named beside ASML, and [ChangXin Memory Technologies](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/cxmt)' first high-bandwidth-memory output. ## Stacking buys density where printing is barred Hybrid bonding joins finished chip surfaces copper to copper, with no solder in between, so stacked chips run denser and cooler. That is what high-bandwidth memory, the stacked memory inside AI accelerators, needs. Density gains can now come from adding layers on top of a wafer, not only from printing finer lines. [Huawei](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/huawei) says its Kirin 9050 phone chip carries more than 50 million hybrid bonds [1]. ![Besi's 9800 TC-next thermo-compression bonding system](https://storage.googleapis.com/theinference-public/img/8e6cf493ed8445f0.jpg) *Besi's 9800 TC-next bonding system, the platform the company sells for thermo-compression and hybrid bonding. (Courtesy of BE Semiconductor)* Built that way, it reached 53.5% higher transistor density [1]. ChangXin, China's memory-chip maker, [has begun HBM3E output](https://daily.semidoped.com/p/daily-update-october-28th-2026), the current generation of that stacked memory, on a 4F-square cell design that raises density using older lithography machines, at yields of 20 to 30% [1][5]. Huawei and ChangXin cannot import ASML's extreme ultraviolet printers at all [1]. ## The order book is real, the rival is unconfirmed Besi [booked €342.6 million of third-quarter orders](https://www.neoteo.com/en/besis-q3-orders-nearly-doubled-amid-ai-and-hybrid-bonding-demand), and its shares have roughly halved since June on fears like this one [4]. Cumulative demand for its bonding systems this year runs above 215 machines [6]. Blickman says ASML's interest is "3D transistor stacking inside the chip over the next decade and not in competing with Besi", which is his position, not proof of what ASML will ship [4]. ASML itself has confirmed nothing [2]. [Bank of America](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/bank-of-america) [cut Besi to neutral on October 6](https://thenextweb.com/news/besi-asml-hybrid-bonding-dutch) on this exact fear, yet it does not assume ASML takes significant share: manufacturers still struggle to stack logic or memory at the required accuracy, and that precision is what ASML sells [7]. SemiAnalysis itself says bonding yield turns on alignment accuracy and particle control, a lithography craft [1]. If ASML ships a placement tool, it could sell to the bonding incumbents as easily as against them. ## ASML needs a layer it does not own ASML just posted the [strongest quarter in its history](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/329021/20261014/asmls-new-euv-expansion-plan-already-falls-short-chipmakers-eye-2030-slots.htm) and says supply planned for 2027 and 2028 will not fully meet demand; customers are asking for slots as far out as 2030 [8]. China bought a third of its output in 2025 and is guided to about a fifth this year under export rules, a squeeze [we covered on October 5](https://theinference.org/article/asml-banked-china-s-13-billion-lithography-spree-washington-wants-the-maintenance-money) [8]. Bonding is the substitute Chinese fabs are actually using, and their domestic tool supplier is tiny: Piotech, a Chinese maker of bonding equipment, booked $20.3 million of bonding revenue last year [1]. *Chart: **Record sales, and ASML still says supply will fall short** Column chart of ASML quarterly revenue from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the third quarter of 2026, rising from below 10 billion to a record 13.3 billion US dollars* *Quarterly revenue in billions of US dollars, from ASML's SEC filings. [9]* None of that record quarter priced a second franchise. ASML's only public words on the field are that it is studying "which directions the 3D integration industry will evolve" [1]. Its stock fell 8% that week: Bank of America and [Jefferies](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/jefferies) cut their price targets, while [Barclays](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/barclays), [Citi](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/citigroup) and UBS raised theirs [3]. ## The roadmap, the order book and the yields decide it Watch whether ASML commits to a 3D-integration plan beyond that standing sentence [1]; whether Besi's fourth-quarter orders hold and this year's bonding demand converts into revenue on schedule [6]; and whether ChangXin's yields climb past 30%, which would show China can reach AI memory without extreme ultraviolet lithography at all [5]. For holders the choice is between two different assets: Besi's order book is money already booked, and ASML's packaging business is a capability without a launch date. ## Takeaway ASML's entry into hybrid bonding is unconfirmed, Besi's record order book is not, and the Chinese fabs proving the technique cannot buy ASML's lithography either way. ## Sources 1. [South China Morning Post, "ASML eyes hybrid bonding, report finds, as Chinese firms adopt chip packaging technique", 17 October 2026](https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3371181/asml-eyes-hybrid-bonding-report-finds-chinese-firms-adopt-chip-packaging-technique) 2. [Reuters via MarketScreener, "Besi shares fall on report ASML is working on rival hybrid bonding product", 16 October 2026](https://in.marketscreener.com/news/besi-shares-fall-on-report-asml-is-working-on-rival-hybrid-bonding-product-ce785cdadb8eff24) 3. [ABM Financial News via Beleggen.nl, "ASML helpt AEX aan all time high ondanks techmalaise", 18 October 2026](https://www.beleggen.nl/Nieuws/881726/ASML-helpt-AEX-aan-all-time-high-ondanks-techmalaise.aspx) 4. [Reuters via MSN, "Besi says ASML is not hybrid bonding rival as AI demand drives orders", 22 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/technology/besi-says-asml-is-not-hybrid-bonding-rival-as-ai-demand-drives-orders/ar-AA2fMOWj) 5. [Semi Doped, "Daily Update, October 28th, 2026" (CXMT starts HBM3E output at 20 to 30 percent yields), 28 October 2026](https://daily.semidoped.com/p/daily-update-october-28th-2026) 6. [NeoTeo, "Besi's Q3 orders nearly doubled amid AI and hybrid bonding demand", 29 October 2026](https://www.neoteo.com/en/besis-q3-orders-nearly-doubled-amid-ai-and-hybrid-bonding-demand) 7. [The Next Web, "ASML's chip packaging move threatens Besi shares, Bank of America says", 6 October 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/besi-asml-hybrid-bonding-dutch) 8. [Tech Times, "ASML's New EUV Expansion Plan Already Falls Short: Chipmakers Eye 2030 Slots", 14 October 2026](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/329021/20261014/asmls-new-euv-expansion-plan-already-falls-short-chipmakers-eye-2030-slots.htm) 9. [ASML quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 29 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000937966) --- Besi's chief says ASML is a collaborator in bonding, not the rival investors priced — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/besi-s-chief-says-asml-is-a-collaborator-in-bonding-not-the-rival-investors-priced