In a year underscored by COVID-19, ASMI delivered a strong financial performance and made important progress in many strategic areas. Our focus on the health and safety of our people has always been our key priority. Read more
Benjamin Loh
President and Chief Executive Officer
In a year underscored by COVID-19, our first priority was the safety of our employees, while we continued to serve our customers in the best possible ways. ASMI again delivered strong financial results and achieved progress in key strategic areas.
IN A YEAR UNDERSCORED BY COVID-19, ASMI DELIVERED A STRONG FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE AND MADE IMPORTANT PROGRESS IN MANY STRATEGIC AREAS.
Our focus on the health and safety of our people has always been our key priority. The commitment and focus of our employees in challenging operating conditions created by COVID-19 enabled us to continue serving our customers in the best possible ways. Demand remained strong as our customers continued to invest in the most advanced technologies that will shape tomorrow’s advances in trends such as 5G, cloud computing, and autonomous driving. ASMI delivered its fourth consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth. We further strengthened our position as we significantly expanded our R&D engagements.
Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in the potential of our company.
Relative to 2019
+12%
Relative to 2019
+18%
Relative to 2019
+49%
Relative to 2019
+11%
Relative to 2019
+7%
Below 2015 baseline
17.9%
* Excluding proceeds from patent litigation and arbitration settlement in 2019.
EVP
In 2020, we introduced 'The Power of an Open Mind', otherwise known as our
Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Encompassing our ambitions, our beliefs, who we are and what we
stand for, 'The Power of an Open Mind' is helping us to attract the best and brightest talent while
unifying our current employees under a distinct belief and purpose. Co-created with ASMI employees,
the
proposition reflects the diverse global structure of the company. Following a successful
launch, 'The Power of an Open Mind' is now being further embedded into the organization, playing a
critical part in shaping a culture that will be truly unique to ASMI.
Engagement survey
This year, ASMI conducted a global employee survey to measure the engagement of all our
employees.
Participation was high at 94%, highlighting the motivation our employees have
to be actively involved in shaping the future of the company. Our employees recognize our
strengths: a strong customer focus and a results-driven culture, and they have helped to
identify
a number of improvement areas. Over the second half of 2020 and into 2021 everyone at ASMI,
from the boardroom to cleanrooms, are contributing to further shape their workplace, a culture
unique to us as a company, and the future of ASMI.
Expansion of the ASMI family to nearly 2,600 people
ASMI is growing, evolving and innovating at a new and demanding speed. People are at the
heart of
everything we do at ASMI — they are our differentiating
power.
ASMI is focused on attracting, engaging, retaining and developing talented people with
targeted
capabilities to achieve our longer-term strategic direction. In 2020, our total workforce,
including
temp workers, grew from 2,337 persons to 2,583 persons. And this growth is
not
expected to slow down as we enter our next chapter. Which is why ASMI has doubled down on
creating a
work environment and company culture that both attracts and retains the best in the
industry.
Highlights of our resilience and adaptability
We experienced an unprecedented year due to COVID-19, which required a quick and agile
approach to
keeping our people safe. We pride ourselves on safeguarding our employees’ well-being, and
place this
above all else. In 2020 we moved quickly to ensure our colleagues could continue to work,
securing
their livelihoods. We implemented a raft of support measures for those who worked abroad,
including financial support for local daily expenses, sourcing semi-permanent housing, or
offering
relocation funds. This meant our colleagues continued to have a place to call home and
security
during this difficult time. Smaller services, such as providing them with local SIM cards,
were also
swiftly put in place, so that they could communicate with friends, family, and colleagues
easier,
and track and trace would be more efficient.
ALD technology and market leadership
ASMI has a leading position in atomic layer deposition (ALD). ALD is our largest product line and
represents more than half of our equipment revenue in 2020. As the most advanced
deposition method available in the market, ALD makes it possible to create ultra-thin films
of
exceptional material quality, uniformity and conformality. ALD is expected to be the fastest
growing
deposition market segment over the coming 3-5 years. As the industry moves to smaller
geometries,
more complex device structures, new materials and the need for more precise and conformal
film
deposition will further increase. This is expected to drive the growth of the ALD market.
With ALD’s
precision, we can use materials that previously could not be considered, and develop 3D
structures
that are vital to the future of electronics.
New facilities
In support of the company’s growth plans, we recently opened new facilities for product and
process
R&D and manufacturing in Asia. In 2019, in Dongtan, South Korea we opened a new product
development
and
manufacturing facility. And at the end of 2020 we completed construction of a new
manufacturing
building in Singapore. This facility, which began initial
operations
toward the end of 2020, will significantly increase our product manufacturing capacity,
supporting
our long-term growth expectations.
Customer technology engagements
With our customers, we co-create and jointly develop technology roadmaps so that we can
develop the
new processes and materials our customers need for their next generation products, when they
need
them. We engage in joint-development programs with many of our customers for a range of
advanced
applications to develop new processes and to optimize the performance of our products,
typically at
customer fabs. In 2020, we were also active in the evaluation of our most advanced
technologies with
selected customers. The diversity in collaborations, ranging from early research to pilot
production, helps us reduce risk as early as possible in the innovation life cycle. As part
of our
R&D activities, we are engaged on a global scale in various formal and informal arrangements
with
customers, suppliers, research institutes and universities.
High productivity – XP8 QCM
The relentless drive of the industry to reduce cost drives our development programs that
further
increase the productivity of our equipment. Increasing equipment throughput is a major focus
for
lowering the cost per wafer of our customers’ wafer processing systems. High productivity is
a
significant advantage of our XP8 platform, on which we offer ALD, PEALD and PECVD processes.
The XP8
incorporates eight process chambers in a compact configuration around one central handling
platform.
Two wafers are moved simultaneously into dual chamber modules (DCM), which approximately
doubles the
throughput compared to single-wafer movements. A further extension is our XP8 QCM tool which
enables
even higher throughput by incorporating four chambers in the quad chamber module (QCM). With
four
QCM’s attached to the XP8 platform, a total of 16 process reactors are configured on the
same
system.
ALD is a key growth driver
New market drivers such as 5G and artificial intelligence require ever faster and more power
efficient semiconductor devices. ALD is a key technology that enables our customers to
transition to
the next semiconductor nodes. As a leader in this market, ALD has been a strong driver
behind our
sales. In 2020, we increased our revenue by 18%, supported by a strong double-digit increase
in ALD
equipment sales. Combined with an improvement in our gross margins and with operating costs
under
control, our operating profit increased by 49% in 2020 (excluding patent litigation and arbitration
settlement in 2019).
Cash returns to shareholders
Our policy is to use excess cash for the benefit of our shareholders, and since 2010 we have
returned more than €1.9 billion to the financial markets. In 2020 we started our seventh
share
buyback program, for an amount of €100 million, which was 64% completed by the end of the year.
In
addition, with the publication of our fourth quarter results at the end of February 2021, we
announced a proposed regular dividend of €2.00 per share.
This
represents a 33% increase compared
to the regular dividend of €1.50 paid over the previous year.
Commitment
Our Corporate Responsibility (CR) policy establishes our commitment to and expectations
regarding
health and safety, the environment, labor, ethics, and supply chain management. Having adopted the
Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) Code in 2012, in 2020 we became a member of the RBA to further
strengthen our commitment to ethical business practices. We collaborate with key stakeholders
including customers, industry consortia and NGOs in developing our Environmental, Social and
Corporate Governance (ESG) roadmap. Those efforts include being a select member of a key customer
Corporate Responsibility Leader program and identification and elimination of forced labor/bonded
labor in our global supply chain. In the past year, we partnered with both customers and competitors
through the SEMI MOD work group to encourage and grow diversity of supply for the semiconductor
industry, and developed a 2021 to 2025 Corporate Responsibility Plan.
Safety
ASMI is committed to a vision of ZERO HARM! which means preventing harm through identifying hazards
and risks and preventing exposures and incidents, through an integrated EHS and Product Safety
management system. Our industry leading Safety Leadership Collaborations connect us with key
customers in working together to achieve this vision, and in 2020 we received a #1 Safety Supplier
award from a leading memory customer in Taiwan. As ASMI grows, we are proactively focusing on
safety, and in our new facility in Singapore we have worked to introduce significant safety
improvements.
Environment
Our Corporate Responsibility policy sets the commitment to minimize environmental impact and
strive
toward ZERO HARM! We are proud that we have managed to outperform our 2016 to 2020 Scope 1
and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction and water conservation targets. We also managed to avoid
more
than 41 metric tons of solid waste through product packaging reuse, and have extended this program
into
2021.
During the year we received water conservation awards from SEAL and Phoenix Salt River
Project
(Arizona utility), while our new Singapore operations received BCA Green Mark Gold Plus
certification.
