Bank of America thinks Besi's chip-packaging moat just got a lot thinner.
The bank cut its rating on BE Semiconductor Industries, known as Besi, from buy to neutral and nearly halved its price target. The reasoning: Besi's stock doesn't yet reflect the risk that ASML is moving into hybrid bonding, the packaging technology Besi has built its growth plan around. Separately, two American competitors have approached Besi. One of those rivals has held a 9% stake in the company since last year.
Hybrid bonding stitches chips together without traditional solder bumps, and it's becoming essential for next-generation AI and high-bandwidth memory chips. Besi has positioned itself as a specialist in exactly this niche. A well-funded giant like ASML entering the same market threatens its pricing power and market share, not just its reputation as the specialist to beat.
ASML already dominates the market for chipmaking's most advanced lithography machines. Extending that reach into packaging would put it on Besi's turf with a scale Besi cannot match.