Veeco Instruments Inc: Form 10-Q for the period ended Mar 31, 2025

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A) is intended to facilitate an understanding of our business and results of operations. This MD&A should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements and the accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-Q. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements and should also be read in conjunction with the cautionary statement set forth at the beginning of this Form 10-Q.

The following section generally discusses 2025 and 2024 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2025 and 2024. Discussions of 2024 items that are not included in this Form 10-Q can be found in "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Item 2 of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the interim period ended March 31, 2024, filed on May 7, 2024.

Executive Summary

We are an innovative manufacturer of semiconductor process equipment. Our proven ion beam, laser annealing, lithography, MOCVD, and single wafer wet processing technologies play an integral role in the fabrication and packaging of advanced semiconductor devices. With equipment designed to optimize performance, yield and cost of ownership, Veeco holds leading technology positions in the markets we serve. To learn more about Veeco’s systems and service offerings, visit www.veeco.com (http://www.veeco.com).

Business Update

The Semiconductor industry has historically demonstrated cyclicality based on fluctuations in global chip demand and production capacity. Sales in the Semiconductor industry are estimated to have increased year-over-year in 2024 to around $650 billion. Looking ahead, industry analysts are forecasting long-term growth of the industry, driven by secular growth trends such as artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, mobile connectivity, and the electrification of the automotive industry. Additionally, government investments in the Semiconductor industry are projected to accelerate global spending in next-generation technologies.

Growth in the Semiconductor industry, coupled with increasing technological complexity of Semiconductor chips, are expected to drive long-term growth in WFE spending. In an effort to improve chip performance, optimize power consumption, and reduce costs, today’s most advanced Semiconductor manufacturers are shrinking device geometries, investing in more complex transistor designs such as Gate-All-Around and exploring 3D architectures. As a result, growth of the WFE market is forecasted to keep pace with long-term growth of the Semiconductor industry, which we believe should benefit semiconductor capital equipment providers, including Veeco.

Our strategy of investing in advanced logic and memory has enabled our Semiconductor business to outperform WFE growth for four consecutive years. Veeco’s technologies are at the forefront of enabling new technical innovations in the manufacture of high-performance AI chips and High-Bandwidth Memory (“HBM”). We continue to invest in new technologies to expand our SAM to a broad range of new applications.

While the long-term outlook of the Semiconductor industry remains favorable, recently enacted tariffs, foreign and domestic, have resulted in uncertainty across Veeco’s business. Recently enacted tariffs are currently causing some customers in China to delay shipments. The tariffs have also resulted in an increase in certain of our costs and those of our customers, and could impact future end market demand. Given the dynamic nature of the situation, we continue to evaluate the potential impacts to our business, and our team is working diligently with our suppliers and customers to assess, manage and mitigate the related impacts.

Semiconductor revenue increased by 3% in the first quarter from the comparable prior year period, comprising 74% of total revenue. Growth was primarily driven by an increase in system shipments in Advanced Packaging, including wet processing systems to a leading foundry and HBM manufacturer, as well as lithography systems to IDM and OSAT customers.

Our laser annealing solutions continue to gain traction at advanced logic nodes, highlighted by recent order activity and new application wins. In 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, we received laser annealing orders from and shipped systems to leading-edge logic customers Gate-All-Around nodes. We also shipped and recognized revenue on our first NSA system to a leading logic customer in the fourth quarter of 2024. Recently, we announced our Laser Spike Annealing LSA system was named production tool of record for new applications at two leading-edge logic customers most advanced gate-all-around nodes. In the memory market, we continue to ship LSA systems to a Tier 1 customer for high volume production of HBM and advanced DRAM devices. While our growth strategy is predominately focused on advanced node logic and memory, LSA shipments to mature node customers increased in 2023 and 2024, predominantly driven by new greenfield fabs and capacity additions in China.

We have two next generation laser annealing systems under evaluation at Tier 1 foundry and logic customers. This next generation system, the NSA500, covers the nano-second annealing regime and complements our LSA product. This new system is part of our continued effort to enable our customers’ product roadmap by providing innovative annealing solutions. Nanosecond annealing provides Veeco with an opportunity to expand our laser annealing SAM for new advanced node logic and memory applications, including low thermal budget anneals for Gate-All-Around transistors and advanced 3D devices.

The ongoing adoption of EUV Lithography for advanced node semiconductor manufacturing continues to drive demand for our Ion Beam Deposition LDD system for mask blanks. Leading logic and memory customers expect EUV and High Numerical Aperture (“High-NA”) lithography to be integral to their future roadmaps, which our Ion Beam Deposition technology is a key enabler of. Our product roadmap is well positioned as the industry adopts next-generation High-NA EUV lithography, and we are expanding our EUV related business to new mask blank applications.

We also have two Ion Beam Deposition “IBD300” systems under evaluation at leading memory customers. Our IBD300 system provides Veeco with another opportunity to expand our SAM to advanced node applications where low resistance films are critical. These initial systems are being evaluated for advanced memory applications, such as DRAM bitline.

In Advanced Packaging, our Wet Processing systems are used for several applications, and we continue to see strong demand driven by Heterogenous Integration and 3D Packaging for AI. In the fourth quarter of 2024, we announced over $50 million in orders for our Wet Processing systems from a leading foundry, a HBM manufacturer, and OSATs driven by AI and high-performance computing. We also recently announced our wet processing systems were qualified by an IDM for two new applications, and the customer also placed initial orders for these applications. Both applications represent key Served Available Market expansion opportunities for our Wet Processing systems at separate Tier 1 customers.

Our Advanced Packaging lithography systems are used for packaging applications such as fan out wafer level packaging and other advanced packaging solutions. After two years of slow order activity driven by consumer markets, we’re seeing an increase in order activity from several customers. We also just announced over $35 million in orders for our lithography systems from an IDM and OSATs driven by AI and high-performance computing, and mobile.

Looking ahead, we anticipate seeing growth in leading-edge investment driven by new nodes and AI-related demand, including investment in Gate-All-Around nodes, High-Bandwidth Memory, and 3D packaging for AI. At the same time, engagement with customers in China has moderated, and we expect a decline in China revenue in 2025.

Veeco also serves customers in the Compound Semiconductor, Data Storage, and Scientific & Other markets. We address the Compound Semiconductor market with a broad portfolio of technologies, including Wet Processing, MOCVD, MBE and Ion Beam, for Power Electronics, Photonics, and 5G RF applications. Sales in the Compound Semiconductor market declined in the first quarter from the comparable prior year period. In GaN Power, emerging use cases have driven some traditional silicon power electronics manufacturers to consider adoption of GaN at 300mm, and we have an evaluation system outstanding at a Tier 1 Power device customer. We are also seeing photonics opportunities in areas such as solar and MicroLEDs.

We address the Data Storage market with sales of our Ion Beam technology. Demand for our Ion Beam products is driven by demand for cloud-based storage. Revenue from our Data Storage declined in the first quarter from the comparable prior year period. Looking ahead, while customer utilizations are improving, they remain well below peak levels from a few years ago and customers are not investing to expand new system capacity in 2025 as they bring idle capacity back on line. As a result, we expect an approximate $60 to $70 million reduction in revenue in our Data Storage business in 2025.

Sales in the Scientific & Other market are largely driven by sales to governments, universities, and research institutions. We address the Scientific & Other market with several technologies, including MBE, ALD, MOCVD, Wet Processing, and IBD/IBE, which support scientific, optical coating and other applications, and sales in this market increased in the first quarter from the comparable prior year period.

Results of Operations

For the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024

The following table presents revenue and expense line items reported in our Consolidated Statements of Operations for the indicated periods in 2025 and 2024 and the period-over-period dollar and percentage changes for those line items. Our results of operations are reported as one business segment, represented by our single operating segment.

(dollars in thousands)

Net Sales

The following is an analysis of sales by market and by region:

(dollars in thousands)

* Not meaningful

Sales decreased for the three months ended March 31, 2025 against the comparable prior year period driven by a decrease in sales in the Data Storage and Compound Semiconductor markets, partially offset by an increase in sales in the Semiconductor and Scientific & Other markets. By geography, sales decreased in the Rest of APAC and United States, partially offset by increased sales in the China and the EMEA regions. Sales in the Rest of APAC region for the three months ended March 31, 2025 included sales in Taiwan and Japan of $32.5 million, and $14.0 million respectively. Sales in the Rest of APAC region for the three months ended March 31, 2024 included sales in Japan and Taiwan of $32.9 million, and $19.3 million respectively. In light of the global nature of our business, we are impacted by conditions in the various countries in which we and our customers operate, including the recent tariff and trade dynamics which has caused some customers in China to delay shipments. We expect there will continue to be year-to-year variations in our future sales distribution across markets and geographies.

Gross Profit

For the three months ended March 31, 2025, gross profit decreased against the comparable prior period primarily due to a decrease in sales volume, as well as a decrease in gross margins. Gross margins decreased principally due to unfavorable product mix of sales. In addition to product mix and other factors that will cause our gross margins to fluctuate each period, we expect higher costs in future periods as we incur tariffs on imported materials from overseas suppliers, as well as higher costs from domestic suppliers incurring tariffs on their imports.

Research and Development

The markets we serve are characterized by continuous technological development and product innovation, and we invest in various research and development initiatives to maintain our competitive advantage and achieve our growth objectives. Research and development expenses decreased for the three months ended March 31, 2025 against the comparable prior period primarily due to a decrease in personnel-related expenses as part of our continued initiative to manage costs.

Selling, General, and Administrative

Selling, general, and administrative expenses remained consistent for the three months ended March 31, 2025 against the comparable prior period.

Amortization Expense

Amortization expense decreased compared to the comparable prior year period primarily due to the full impairment of the Epiluvac related intangibles in 2024, as well as changes in amortization expense to reflect expected cash flows of certain intangible assets, and certain other intangible assets becoming fully amortized.

Interest Income (Expense)

We recorded net interest income of $0.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to net interest income of $0.7 million for the comparable prior year period. The increase in net interest income was primarily due to reduced interest expense on the 2025 Notes as they matured on January 15, 2025.

Income Taxes

At the end of each interim reporting period, we estimate the effective income tax rate expected to be applicable for the full year. This estimate is used to determine the income tax provision or benefit on a year-to-date basis and may change in subsequent interim periods.

Our tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2025, was $3.0 million, compared to $0.9 million of tax expense for the comparable prior period. For the three months ended March 31, 2025, the effective tax rate was in line with the U.S. statutory tax rate, which included a $1.5 million tax expense related to share-based compensation shortfalls, partially offset by tax benefits related to Foreign-Derived Intangible Income and research and development tax credits. For the three months ended March 31, 2024, the effective tax rate was lower than the U.S. statutory tax rate primarily relating to discrete income tax benefit for share-based compensation windfall. Additionally, the effective tax rate was also favorably impacted by the tax benefits related to Foreign-Derived Intangible Income and research and development tax credits.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term investments are as follows:

(in thousands)

At March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, cash and cash equivalents of $44.0 million and $45.1 million, respectively, were held outside the United States. As of March 31, 2025, we had $23.0 million of accumulated undistributed earnings generated by our non-U.S. subsidiaries for which the U.S. tax has previously been provided. Approximately $10.6 million of undistributed earnings will be subject to foreign withholding taxes if distributed back to the United States and we accrued $1.1 million for foreign withholding taxes for the undistributed earnings.

We believe that our projected cash flow from operations, combined with our cash and short-term investments, will be sufficient to meet our projected working capital requirements, contractual obligations, and other cash flow needs for the next twelve months, including scheduled principal and interest payments on our convertible senior notes, purchase commitments, and payments required under our operating leases.

A summary of the cash flow activity for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024 is as follows:

Cash Flows from Operating Activities

(in thousands)

Net cash provided by operating activities was $20.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and was due to net income of $11.9 million and adjustments for non-cash items of $16.1 million, partially offset by a decrease in cash flow from changes in operating assets and liabilities of $8.0 million. The changes in operating assets and liabilities were largely attributable to a decrease in contract liabilities and increases in accounts receivables, inventories, and contract assets, partially offset by a increase in accounts payable and accrued expenses.

Cash Flows from Investing Activities

(in thousands)

The cash used in investing activities during the three months ended March 31, 2025 was primarily attributable to net cash used for investment activity, partially offset by capital expenditures. The cash used in investing activities during the three months ended March 31, 2024 was primarily attributable to net cash provided by net investment activity and proceeds from the sale of productive assets, partially offset by capital expenditures.

Cash Flows from Financing Activities

(in thousands)

The cash used in financing activities for the three months ended March 31, 2025 was related to cash used to settle taxes related to employee equity programs, partially offset by cash received under the Employee Stock Purchase Plan. The cash used in financing activities for the three months ended March 31, 2024 was related to cash used to settle taxes related to employee equity programs and contingent consideration payment related to Epiluvac acquisition, partially offset by cash received under the Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

Convertible Senior Notes

We have $25.0 million outstanding principal balance of 3.75% convertible senior notes that bear interest at a rate of 3.75% per year, payable semiannually in arrears on June 1 and December 1 of each year, and mature on June 1, 2027, unless earlier purchased by the Company, redeemed, or converted. In addition, we have $230.0 million outstanding principal balance of 2.875% convertible senior notes that bear interest at a rate of 2.875% per year, payable semiannually in arrears on June 1 and December 1 of each year, and mature on June 1, 2029, unless earlier purchased by the Company, redeemed, or converted. The 2027 Notes are currently convertible by noteholders and callable by the Company until June 30, 2025.

We believe that we have sufficient capital resources and cash flows from operations to support scheduled interest payments on this debt. In addition, on August 2, 2024, we increased the total funds available to us through our revolving credit facility from $150 million to $225 million. The Company has no immediate plans to draw down on the facility, which expires in December of 2026. Interest under the facility is variable based on the Company’s secured net leverage ratio and is expected to bear interest based on SOFR plus a range of 150 to 225 basis points, if drawn. There is a yearly commitment fee of 25 to 35 basis points, based on the Company’s secured net leverage ratio, charged on the unused portion of the Facility.

Additionally, on January 15, 2025, the $26.5 million of outstanding principal amount on our 2025 Notes matured and was settled through the issuance of 1,104,165 shares of the Company’s common stock to the noteholders. The shares were issued pursuant to the exemption in Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The Company did not receive any proceeds from the issuance of the shares.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

We have commitments under certain contractual arrangements to make future payments for goods and services. These contractual arrangements secure the rights to various assets and services to be used in the future in the normal course of business. We expect to fund these contractual arrangements with cash generated from operations in the normal course of business.

Interest Rate Risk

Our exposure to market rate risk for changes in interest rates primarily relates to our investment portfolio. We centrally manage our investment portfolios considering investment opportunities and risks, tax consequences, and overall financing strategies. Our investment portfolio includes fixed-income securities with a fair value of approximately $178.4 million at March 31, 2025. These securities are subject to interest rate risk and, based on our investment portfolio at March 31, 2025, a 100 basis point increase in interest rates would result in a decrease in the fair value of the portfolio of $1.2 million. While an increase in interest rates may reduce the fair value of the investment portfolio, we will not realize the losses in the Consolidated Statements of Operations unless the individual fixed-income securities are sold prior to recovery or the loss is determined to be other-than-temporary.

Currency Exchange Risk

We conduct business on a worldwide basis and, as such, a portion of our revenues, earnings, and net investments in foreign affiliates is exposed to changes in currency exchange rates. The economic impact of currency exchange rate movements is complex because such changes are often linked to variability in real growth, inflation, interest rates, governmental actions, and other factors. These changes, if material, could cause us to adjust our financing and operating strategies. Consequently, isolating the effect of changes in currency does not incorporate these other important economic factors.

Changes in currency exchange rates could affect our foreign currency denominated monetary assets and liabilities and forecasted cash flows. We may enter into monthly forward derivative contracts from time to time with the intent of mitigating a portion of this risk. We only use derivative financial instruments in the context of hedging and not for speculative purposes and have not historically designated our foreign exchange derivatives as hedges. Accordingly, changes in fair value from these contracts are recorded as “Other, net” in our Consolidated Statements of Operations. We execute derivative transactions with highly rated financial institutions to mitigate counterparty risk.

Our net sales to customers located outside of the United States represented approximately 86% and 84% of our total net sales for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. We expect that net sales to customers outside the United States will continue to represent a large percentage of our total net sales. Our sales denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar represented approximately 6% and 3% of total net sales for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

A 10% change in foreign exchange rates would have an immaterial impact on the consolidated results of operations since most of our sales outside the United States are denominated in U.S. dollars.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our principal executive and financial officers have evaluated and concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective as of March 31, 2025. The disclosure controls and procedures are designed to ensure that the information required to be disclosed in this report filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms and is accumulated and communicated to our principal executive and financial officers as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

During the quarter ended March 31, 2025, there were no changes in internal control that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect internal control over financial reporting.

Information regarding risk factors appears in the Safe Harbor Statement at the beginning of this quarterly report on Form 10-Q, and in Part I — Item 1A of our 2024 Form 10-K. There have been no material changes from the risk factors previously disclosed, except as follows:

Changes in U.S. and foreign trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs and the resulting consequences, could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results, and financial condition.

In February of 2025, the U.S. Government issued proclamations imposing a 25% tariff on imports of steel and aluminum products (including derivative products). In April 2025, the U.S. Government announced a baseline tariff of 10% on imported products from all countries, plus additional individualized reciprocal tariffs on countries with whom the United States has the largest trade deficits. In response, affected foreign countries, including China and members of the European Union, announced or threatened retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports. The tariff landscape continues to shift and evolve, creating considerable uncertainty for U.S. manufacturers, particularly those – such as Veeco – with global sales, supply chains and international operations.

Tariffs and other duties have increased, and will likely continue to increase, the cost of our parts and components. These increased costs will negatively impact our margins and/or cause us to increase our prices to our customers, which may reduce demand for our products. Our customers, who may be confronted with the prospect of price and/or cost increases resulting from U.S. tariffs and tariffs imposed by their home country governments, may seek to cancel equipment orders with us, attempt to renegotiate terms in a manner unfavorable to Veeco, or cease to do business with us altogether. Furthermore, the current tariff landscape favors certain of our competitors with foreign manufacturing operations, which are not subject to U.S. tariffs nor foreign country tariffs imposed on the import of U.S. origin products.

The volatility and unpredictability of international trade policies and conditions add further complexity to our operations, making it extremely challenging to forecast and plan effectively. We are not able to predict future trade policy of the United States or of any foreign country in which we do business. The continuation or exacerbation of the current trade environment will adversely impact our costs and the demand for our products, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.