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.
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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.
We are an experienced innovation leader. This is the result of our focus on key issues and challenges within the semiconductor industry, enabling us to make a difference to our customers, employees, and company stakeholders. While challenges and opportunities may change over time, we will continue to bring our breakthrough technologies into volume manufacturing, benefiting our customers.
We are part of a fast-paced industry that continues to reshape the world. Our technology enables the semiconductor industry to drive innovation in communications, energy, transport, medicine and beyond. For example, our wafer process systems are used to manufacture smartphone microprocessors, memory chips used for cloud computing, and sensors for commercial building controls and in automated vehicles. We are committed to making positive contributions to society and striving to prevent harm to people and reduce our impact on the environment. This is the foundation of our commitment to improve the industry and communities we operate in.
We are committed to the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) Code of Conduct and will strive to meet its goals as best we can on a global basis. We are engaging our supply chain to do the same. We have a certified global environmental management system to drive continuous improvement in environmental performance across all of our operations. We continue to focus on, and enable the achievement of, smaller device geometries, which will lead to even greater advances and opportunities in communications, energy, medicine and the positive advances of humanity. For example, our ALD technology for depositing high-k gate dielectrics enables advanced transistors to operate at lower power, reducing electricity use and extending battery life in mobile products.
At ASMI we know that meeting the needs of today cannot mean compromising the future. This is why we encourage our employees to make positive contributions to our customers and suppliers, our industry, environment, communities in which we operate, and society, reflecting our ambition to drive innovation and deliver excellence.
Within wafer processing, we focus primarily on equipment and process solutions for the deposition of thin films. We are a key player in the deposition equipment segments for ALD and epitaxy, and a focused niche player for PECVD and vertical furnaces. With our broad portfolio of technologies, we are addressing many of the key deposition applications on the semiconductor industry roadmap.
We focus on serving the top companies that produce logic chips and memory devices, which includes addressing the needs of leading foundries. By serving the leading chipmakers, we maintain an understanding of the important requirements of the next generation of device roadmaps, enabling us to develop value-added solutions to the industry’s critical issues. In many cases, new films developed for one device type can be utilized for other device types with relatively little additional development.