Over the course of 50 years we have grown to become a global company that develops innovative solutions for our customers, and manages the best interests of our investors, our employees, society and other stakeholders. Read on to discover what we achieved in 2018.
The demand for smaller, faster and cheaper semiconductor chips continues to rise, driven by advancements in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, smartphones and the Internet of Things.
Our technology is the first step towards making it all possible, as our R&D investment in new materials, new products and new processes means we can help our customers develop their technology roadmap, and further extend Moore’s Law.
In 2018, this led to the introduction of the Synergis ALD tool, which leverages the core technologies from our Pulsar and EmerALD ALD products for high productivity thermal ALD applications. The new Synergis tool allows us to address more ALD applications and therefore increases our served market. Together with our other products and services, this contributed to our strong financial results, which included:
We operate in a fast-paced industry that continues to reshape the world, and our innovative technology enables the semiconductor industry to achieve advancements in computing, communications, energy, transportation, medicine and beyond.
To ensure that we can continue to make a difference to our customers, employees, and company stakeholders, in 2018 we concentrated on the following three key elements of our strategy.
In addition to our fundamental R&D efforts, we continuously expand and deepen our strategic cooperation with key customers, suppliers, chemical manufacturers, and research institutes. This approach enables us to remain innovative and swiftly meet the changing demands of our customers.
We are a key player in the deposition equipment segments for ALD and epitaxy, and a focused niche player for PECVD and vertical furnaces. As a leader in the segment, ALD has turned into a key growth driver for our business, from which we support virtually all of the leading customers in the semiconductor industry. Our newest ALD tool, Synergis, is designed to address a wide range of existing and new ALD applications, effectively increasing the market we serve.
In addition to our internal optimization programs, we are working with our suppliers to improve fundamental quality through statistical methods and process controls. In addition to addressing the technology needs of our customers, we also focus on further increasing equipment throughput and equipment reliability, thereby lowering the cost per wafer of our wafer processing systems.
In 2018, we achieved revenue growth of 11% reaching a record high revenue of €818 million, with sales increasing mainly in the logic, DRAM and analog segments. By industry segment, our 2018 revenue stream was led by memory, closely followed by the logic and foundry segments.
While our ALD product lines continued to be our key sales driver in 2018, accounting for more than half of total equipment revenue, our other product lines also contributed strongly. In our epitaxy product line we increased sales, following the strong growth we achieved in 2017, and we saw additional sales increases in PECVD and vertical furnaces.
Our industry experienced continued growth in 2018, with worldwide semiconductor industry sales increasing by around 14%. This was driven by high memory prices and broad-based electronics demand for cloud services, mobile devices, automotive and industrial applications. These drivers helped the wafer fab equipment market grow by around 10% in 2018.
Our 2018 sales grew to record levels, reaching €818 million. ALD continued to be the key driver, although the other product lines also made a strong contribution.
We benefited from a further increase in wafer fab equipment spending following the very strong market growth in 2017. Our operating profit increased to €124.3 million from €113.2 million in 2017, while the operating profit margin remained stable.
New bookings increased by 22% in 2018 to €942 million, with equipment bookings for ASMI as a whole led by logic, followed by foundry and then memory. Total research and development (R&D) expenses, excluding impairment charges, decreased by 1% in 2018 compared to 2017, mainly as a result of higher capitalization of development expenses.
Our 2018 sales grew to record levels, reaching €818 million. ALD continued to be the key driver, although the other product lines also made a strong contribution.
We benefited from a further increase in wafer fab equipment spending following the very strong market growth in 2017. Our operating profit increased to €124.3 million from €113.2 million in 2017, while the operating profit margin remained stable.
New bookings increased by 22% in 2018 to €942 million, with equipment bookings for ASMI as a whole led by logic, followed by foundry and then memory. Total research and development (R&D) expenses, excluding impairment charges, decreased by 1% in 2018 compared to 2017, mainly as a result of higher capitalization of development expenses.
During 2018, we returned approximately €607 million to shareholders in the form of dividends, share buybacks and the capital return. This was up from €281 million in 2017 and €140 million in 2016.
Over the 2010-2018 period, we returned more than €1.6 billion to the financial markets through dividends, share buybacks, return of capital, and buyback of convertible bonds.
Sae laccuptatur ad eum fugita alic tem sam aperum fugiatet harum inisin niscit ipid ut danto ipsam doloria sitas qui nobitaspe nos et, saniae receperatium laut ut quiscitae.
In 2018, we paid a dividend of €0.80 per common share and we will propose to the forthcoming AGM to declare a dividend of €1.00 per share for 2019. The proposed 2019 dividend will mark the ninth consecutive year that we have paid a dividend.
Our products include wafer processing deposition systems for single-wafer ALD, PECVD, epitaxy and batch diffusion / furnace systems.
ASMI offers ALD tools in two technology segments: thermal ALD and plasma enhanced ALD (PEALD).
Pulsar XP is a 300mm thermal ALD tool designed for depositing extremely thin high-k dielectric materials required for advanced transistor gates and other applications. Pulsar is the benchmark ALD high-k gate dielectric tool for the industry. Up to four Pulsar process modules can be configured on a Pulsar XP system.
EmerALD XP is a 300mm thermal ALD tool designed for depositing metal gate layers for advanced high-k metal gate transistors and other applications. Up to four EmerALD process modules can be configured on an EmerALD XP system.
Eagle XP8 is a high-productivity 300mm tool for PEALD applications. The system can be configured with up to four Dual Chamber Modules (DCM), enabling eight chambers in high-volume production within a very compact footprint. The system is capable of a broad range of dielectric PEALD processes, including low-temperature spacers for multiple patterning applications.
Synergis is a high-productivity 300mm tool for thermal ALD applications. The system can be configured with up to four Dual Chamber Modules (DCM), enabling eight chambers in high-volume production within a very compact footprint. The system is capable of depositing a broad range of thermal ALD films including metal oxides, metal nitrides, dielectrics, and pure metals.
XP8 QCM is a 300mm tool for high-productivity PEALD applications. XP8 QCM allows for the integration of up to 4 modules each containing four process reactors, enabling 16 chambers in high-volume production within a compact footprint.
The Advance is our batch vertical furnace tool, available as the A412 for 300mm wafers and as the A400 for smaller wafer sizes. Various thermal ALD films can be deposited on the batch furnace for high productivity.
We offer two types of CVD tools: single-wafer plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD) and batch low pressure CVD (LPCVD).
Dragon XP8 is a high-productivity 300mm tool for PECVD applications. The system can be configured with up to four Dual Chamber Modules (DCM), enabling eight chambers in high-volume production within a very compact footprint. Processes include a broad range of dielectric PECVD films for applications such as interconnect dielectrics layers, passivation layers, and etch stop layers.
The Advance is our batch vertical furnace tool, available as the A412 for 300mm thermal LPCVD and as the A400 for LPCVD on smaller wafer sizes. CVD applications on the furnace include polysilicon, silicon nitride, and silicon oxide.
We offer two families of epitaxy tools: Intrepid and Epsilon.
Intrepid ES is a 300mm epitaxy tool using our XP platform, and is designed for depositing critical transistor strain and channel layers. Processes include silicon (Si), silicon-germanium (SiGe), silicon-carbon (SiC), and other silicon-based compounds. Up to four Intrepid process modules can be configured on an Intrepid ES system.
The Epsilon series is a single-wafer, single-chamber tool that deposits silicon-based materials for many applications, ranging from high-temperature silicon for wafer manufacturing, to low-temperature silicon, silicon-germanium (SiGe), silicon-carbon (SiC), and other silicon-based compounds. Epsilon is the market leader for epitaxy applications in the analog and power devices market.
We offer batch vertical furnace tools for diffusion and oxidation applications.
The Advance is our batch vertical furnace tool series, available as the A412 for 300mm and as the A400 for smaller wafer sizes. Atmospheric thermal applications on the furnace include diffusion to introduce dopants in materials in controlled amounts, annealing to affect material properties by heating to a specific temperature and oxidation to form silicon oxide.
Service and spare parts are important product offerings for our business. We provide service support to our customers with technical service personnel who are trained to maintain our systems at customers' fabrication plants around the world. Our service team is located globally at regional and local service centers to assure prompt availability.
We sell spare parts for our equipment from parts stocks located at global distribution centers.