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    Mikio Hirakawa • BofA Securities

    Mikio Hirakawa's questions to Advantest Corp (ATEYY) leadership

    Mikio Hirakawa's questions to Advantest Corp (ATEYY) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Mikio Hirakawa of BofA Securities asked about reports from the supply chain suggesting a change in semiconductor testing time. He questioned if this had impacted Advantest's revenues or its calendar year 2025 SoC tester demand forecast.

    Answer

    Executive Douglas Lefever clarified the question and stated that the company has not seen any impact from changing test times. He affirmed that they continue to see test content increase and are preparing for additional increases with next-generation devices.

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    Mikio Hirakawa's questions to Advantest Corp (ATEYY) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Mikio Hirakawa asked if reported changes in testing time within the supply chain have impacted the company's revenue for the current fiscal year or its demand forecast for SoC testers in calendar year 2025.

    Answer

    Executive Douglas Lefever clarified that the question pertained to test content changes, not supply chain procurement. He stated that the company has not seen any changes that would negatively impact its forecasts and, in fact, continues to see test content increase, preparing for additional increases with next-generation devices.

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    Mikio Hirakawa's questions to Advantest Corp (ATEYY) leadership • Q1 2024

    Question

    Mikio Hirakawa of BofA Securities questioned the full-year SoC tester forecast, noting that the Q1 revenue run-rate appeared higher than the annualized forecast. He asked about potential upside and downside risks and requested an update on the demand for smartphone application processors (APUs).

    Answer

    Makoto Nakahara from sales expressed high confidence in the forecast, citing strong tailwinds from longer test times, expanding assembly capacity, and high utilization, seeing minimal downside risk. An executive added that while smartphone APU demand is smaller than GenAI, utilization is rising, and new demand is emerging from APUs that feature on-device AI capabilities.

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    Mikio Hirakawa's questions to Advantest Corp (ATEYY) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Mikio Hirakawa from Bank of America asked if reported changes in testing time within the supply chain had impacted Advantest's revenue forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2025 or its CY 2025 SoC tester demand outlook.

    Answer

    Executive Douglas Lefever clarified that the company has not observed any changes in testing time that would negatively affect its outlook. He emphasized that they continue to see test content increasing and are actively preparing for further increases driven by next-generation devices.

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    Mikio Hirakawa's questions to Hitachi Ltd (HTHIY) leadership

    Mikio Hirakawa's questions to Hitachi Ltd (HTHIY) leadership • Q2 2025

    Question

    Mikio Hirakawa of BofA Securities asked for an assessment of Hitachi Energy's strengths and challenges compared to past experiences at Siemens, and questioned the risk of market oversupply from competitors also investing heavily in grid capacity.

    Answer

    Hitachi Energy CEO Andreas Schierenbeck cited a motivated team and digital collaboration potential within Hitachi as key strengths, with managing high growth being the primary challenge. He downplayed the risk of oversupply, highlighting significant barriers to entry for new competitors, such as the long lead times for specialized equipment and the two-year training required for skilled labor like transformer winders.

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    Mikio Hirakawa's questions to Hitachi Ltd (HTHIY) leadership • Q3 2024

    Question

    Mikio Hirakawa asked about the drivers of the Digital Systems & Services (DSS) segment's outperformance in the domestic market and its future sustainability. He also inquired about the high profitability of the Connective Industries (CI) Building Systems segment despite the challenging real estate market in China.

    Answer

    Executive Tomomi Kato explained that DSS is benefiting from a strong, multi-year trend of mainframe migration, modernization, and DX adoption in Japan, where Hitachi's reliability and domain knowledge are key strengths. For Building Systems, Kato attributed the high Q3 profit margin to growth in the service business and cost reductions in China and Japan, but cautioned that new construction orders in China are decreasing, making future revenue growth challenging.

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    Mikio Hirakawa's questions to Sony Group Corp (SONY) leadership

    Mikio Hirakawa's questions to Sony Group Corp (SONY) leadership • Q1 2025

    Question

    Mikio Hirakawa of BofA Securities asked for the reasons behind the strong 7% year-over-year growth in PlayStation's Monthly Active Users (MAU). He also questioned if the Q1 music streaming growth rate signaled a slowdown or was affected by one-time factors.

    Answer

    Executive Hiroki Totoki attributed the MAU growth to the expanding PS5 installed base and strong contributions from franchise software. Executive Naomi Matsuoka clarified that music streaming growth is on track, with the Q1 rate reflecting the lapping of prior-year price hikes and a dip in ad-supported revenue, not a fundamental slowdown.

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