Siltronic cuts full-year core profit margin target, but confirms sales outlook despite US tariffs
German semiconductor materials supplier Siltronic on Wednesday cut its annual core profit margin forecast, citing expected negative price effects outside of long-term agreements, but confirmed full-year sales guidance, saying it's not yet possible to estimate the impact of U.S. tariffs.
The company, whose customers include Infineon, Intel, Samsung and TSMC, now expects a margin of 21 per cent to 25 per cent on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), having previously forecast a range of 22 per cent-27 per cent.
"Sales guidance for the full year 2025 remains unchanged, although it is not yet possible to estimate the impact of American tariff policies and the corresponding countermeasures on expected end-market growth and FX rates for the remainder of the year," Siltronic said in a statement.
U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs and uncertainty over his trade policies have sent global markets into a tailspin and significantly dampened investors' economic optimism.
"Visibility remains limited on when our customers' inventories will recover and thus demand for wafers will increase. Added to this are uncertainties due to the tightening of American tariff policies and the corresponding countermeasures," CEO Michael Heckmeier said.
Heckmeier added that the impacts on end-markets and foreign exchange rates are not yet foreseeable, but Siltronic does not currently expect any significant direct impact of tariff policies.
"However, 2025 will continue to be characterized by elevated inventory levels at customers and the associated volume tariffs," the company said.
Siltronic has been suffering from its customers' slower than expected inventory reductions, even as the demand for wafers was increasing in the end markets.
Weak demand for automotive, PC and memory chips has been only partially offset by AI chip demand even before Trump's back-and-forth announcements on tariffs.
Its quarterly EBITDA came in at 78.3 million euros ($89.07 million), down 12.5 per cent from 90.8 million euros a year earlier, and below analysts' estimate of 85.8 million euros in a poll by LSEG data.
($1 = 0.8790 euros)
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