Besi share skyrockets 9%: US chip giant wants to double stake

The share of the Dutch chip machine manufacturer Besi rose by about nine percent on Tuesday morning.

The reason for this is a striking announcement by the American chip giant Applied Materials. The company wants to more than double its stake in Besi. As a result, the cooperation between the two companies is growing, while analysts are again speculating about a possible acquisition.

The American chip machine manufacturer Applied Materials wants to significantly expand its interest in the Dutch Besi. The company announced on Monday evening after the closing of the US stock exchange that it wanted to increase its shareholding from nine to about twenty percent.

Applied Materials emphasizes that it is a long-term investment. The company does not intend to expand its stake beyond about twenty percent for the time being. It also does not seek a seat on the board of Besi.

Investors reacted positively to the announcement. The Besi share rose by about nine percent on the Amsterdam stock exchange on Tuesday morning. Besi himself has not yet responded to the news.

The two companies have been working closely together since 2020. Among other things, they develop machines for hybrid bonding. With this technique, different parts of advanced chips can be stacked on top of each other and connected to each other.

This allows chip manufacturers to use more computing power in a smaller space. The technology is seen as an important growth market for Besi.

Applied Materials says it does not want to own more than twenty percent of Besi for the time being. Nevertheless, analyst Michael Roeg of Degroof Petercam thinks that the American company may eventually have bigger plans.

According to Roeg, a full takeover of Besi would be a good fit for the problems Applied Materials has been facing for years. The American chip machine manufacturer is losing more and more ground to competitors.

According to the analyst, in 2000 Applied Materials still held 37 percent of the global market for comparable chip manufacturing equipment. By 2025, that share had shrunk to nineteen percent.

Especially Chinese competitors make life difficult for the company. They are gaining more and more ground with machines that apply or remove materials on chips. These are precisely the areas in which Applied Materials has traditionally been strong.

Besi could help the US company strengthen that position. The Dutch chip machine manufacturer has important technology for the next generation of chips. An acquisition would thus give Applied Materials access to a promising growth market.

For the time being, however, it remains speculation. Applied Materials itself has made it clear that it does not want to expand its interest beyond about twenty percent. There are therefore no concrete takeover plans.