Chip-plant robots speed up sales growth at Taiwan’s Hiwin

Chipmakers expanding fabs in Taiwan, the US and Japan need robots that carry silicon wafers between machines in clean rooms. That demand is lifting Hiwin (上銀), a Taiwanese maker of ball screws, linear guideways and robots.

Hiwin’s revenue for January through September rose 23.9% from a year earlier to NT$22.0 billion (about US$690 million), or NT$4.2 billion (US$133 million) more, according to its monthly sales figures. Growth has sped up each quarter: revenue rose 9.3% in the first quarter, 26.7% in the second and 35.3% in the third, by our calculation. The base is low: 2025 sales slipped 0.5%.

At its investor conference in May, Hiwin’s chairman called wafer robots the main driver of its growth. Robot products made up 12% of first-quarter revenue, he said, up from 5% to 7% in the past. In July, a Taiwanese investment advisory quoted by the Commercial Times said factory expansion for AI had lifted Hiwin’s orders since January.

Buyers are now waiting. In October, the chairman told Anue that orders come mainly from chipmaking, AI-related industries and China’s new-energy sector, and that waits for ball screws have reached 6.5 months. Hiwin has started taking orders for delivery after the second quarter of 2027.

Sources:

• Anue: Hiwin and HIWIN Mikrosystem September revenue (Oct. 7)
• Anue: Hiwin Q1 investor conference (May 8)
• Commercial Times: Hiwin, Airtac outlook (July 27)
• Hiwin: wafer robots

Editor: Ian Lamont