FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Concerns about a possible loss of market share weighed on the shares of chip industry equipment manufacturer Aixtron on Wednesday morning. The background is a study by analyst Martin Jungfleisch of the French bank Exane BNP Paribas. He downgraded the shares twice - from "outperform" to "underperform" - after cutting the price target by around a third to 21 euros. Aixtron shares fell by 4.5 percent to EUR 21.91 at the start of trading, their lowest level since mid-2022.

Last year was probably the high point for deliveries of silicon carbide (SiC) production systems, Jungfleisch wrote in his study. Aixtron is now threatened with a loss of market share in this business segment. The expert estimates that the MDax group will have generated around 35% of its revenue in 2023 with systems for the production of SiC semiconductor wafers - a demand that is mainly driven by e-mobility. "While 2024 is already considered a transition year due to weaker end market demand, we do not expect any significant recovery in equipment deliveries in 2025/26 either."

The reason for this is that manufacturers of electronic chips are switching from the production of wafers with a diameter of 150 millimetres to those with a diameter of 200 millimetres, the expert explains. As a result, they are likely to initially rely primarily on single wafer systems rather than systems for mass production, i.e. batch systems in which several wafers are coated simultaneously.

Against this backdrop, Jungfleisch believes that the market expectations for Aixtron's earnings development in 2025 and 2026 are too high, even though he expects strong growth in the business with systems for the production of gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors. This business should benefit from demand related to new applications in areas with higher electrical voltages such as data centers and renewable energies.

Fears of weakening demand had already affected the shares at the end of March. Analyst Michael Kuhn from Deutsche Bank pointed to apparently "insubstantial" market speculation as the reason for the share price decline, according to which Aixtron was facing the loss of important customers Wolfspeed and ON Semiconductor. According to the company, this was completely unfounded.

In this context, an Aixtron spokeswoman had emphasized at the end of March that the company did not see any loss of market share in SiC systems with regard to existing customers and was even gaining new customers. Aixtron expects to gain market share here. Positive feedback had also been received from Wolfspeed and ON Semi.

This has not yet reassured investors. In addition to worries about demand, concerns about further export restrictions on semiconductor technology from Western countries to China have also depressed the mood among chip industry suppliers. So far this year, Aixtron's share price losses have amounted to 43 percent.

Despite the high price losses, Aixtron shares are still trading in positive territory in the longer term - after 4 consecutive years of significant gains. For comparison: at the end of 2019, the shares still cost a good EUR 8.5./mis/niw/stk