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ACM Research reported Q1 revenue up 34% year‑over‑year to $231.3 million, driven by ECP and advanced packaging, with shipments rising 53.6% to $240.7 million and gross margin at 46.5%.
Management expects meaningful product ramps — including delivery of more than 15–20 single‑wafer SPM units by year‑end, expanding panel‑level plating engagements and a shipped PECVD system — supported by expanded Lingang facilities and a mini‑line to shorten customer qualification cycles.
The balance sheet is strong with about $1.3 billion gross cash and $924 million net, but operating expenses rose 38.5% and diluted EPS fell to $0.34; management reiterated 2026 revenue guidance of $1.08–1.175 billion and plans roughly $175 million in capex.
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ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR) reported first-quarter 2026 results that company executives described as a solid start to the year, with revenue rising 34% year over year to $231.3 million and gross margin of 46.5%, above the midpoint of its long-term 42% to 48% target range.
On the call, CEO Dr. David Wang said first-quarter growth was “driven by the continual strength in our ECP and advanced packaging business,” while also positioning 2026 as “a big year for new product” as prior R&D investments and expanded manufacturing capabilities begin to translate into a broader portfolio and more customer evaluations.
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Wang said ACM’s first-quarter revenue increased 34% to $231 million, with electrochemical plating (ECP) serving as the main growth driver. He noted ECP revenue was up more than three times year over year, while the advanced packaging services and spare parts category grew 62%. Cleaning revenue declined 6% and had “a little contribution from new cleaning product” in the quarter, according to Wang.
CFO Mark McKechnie provided additional detail, stating single-wafer cleaning revenue (Ultra C Tahoe and semi-critical cleaning) was $122.5 million, down 5.5%, and represented about 53% of quarterly sales. Revenue for “ECP, front-end packaging, furnace, and other technologies” was $84.2 million, up 204.9%, representing 36.4% of sales, while advanced packaging revenue excluding ECP (including services and spares) was $24.5 million, up 62%, representing 10.6% of sales.
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McKechnie said the ECP category’s growth was “the majority” from ECP front-end, with “very little contribution from furnace” in the quarter.
ACM reported first-quarter shipments of $240.7 million, up 53.6% year over year. Wang said shipments benefited from strong customer demand and execution and included contribution from an initial ramp of single-wafer SPM tools. He also noted that about 15% of first-quarter shipments were catch-up deliveries from tools rescheduled out of the fourth quarter of last year.
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Wang added that for 2026, the company continues to expect shipments to grow faster than revenue.
Gross margin was 46.5% compared with 48.2% a year earlier. McKechnie said the margin improvement versus the second half of 2025 reflected “favorable product mix and a slightly lower impact from the inventory provision,” while noting quarterly mix can drive fluctuations within the company’s 42% to 48% long-term range.
Wang emphasized that ACM expects a significant ramp in its single-wafer SPM product line, projecting “more than 15-20 units” delivered by year-end across its customer base. He framed the tool as a proprietary approach intended to improve particle performance and reduce maintenance downtime, and he said ACM is seeing “strong interest” from “multiple global customers.” Wang also noted that SPM tools represent about 30% of the cleaning market and said the company believes its system can take “significant market share” in coming years.
In plating and advanced packaging, Wang said panel-level horizontal plating is gaining traction in Asia and with global customers. He said ACM began developing a panel-level horizontal electroplating platform in 2022 and delivered what he called the first horizontal plating tool in a 515 by 510 millimeter format to a customer in the fourth quarter of last year. The company has since expanded engagements and backlog for both 515 by 510 millimeter and 310 by 310 millimeter formats, and Wang said ACM expects successful evaluations could lead to volume production orders for the larger format and additional evaluations for the smaller format later this year.
On furnace products, Wang said tools are under evaluation at multiple customer sites and that the company expects a more meaningful revenue contribution later this year. He listed applications including LPCVD, oxidation, thermal ALD, PLD, and ultra-high temperature anneal.
ACM also highlighted progress in newer platforms. Wang said the company shipped its first PECVD silicon carbonitride system to a “leading semiconductor manufacturer” in April and that the tool is now under customer evaluation. He described it as incorporating a proprietary “3-station rotating architecture” and “1 station, 1 RF technology,” which he said supports film uniformity, interface control, process stability, and small footprint. Wang also said ACM is working toward mass production qualification this year for a high-throughput 300 WPH KrF track tool after delivering a first evaluation tool last September.
Wang said ACM’s Lingang facility is a key element of its operating model. He stated that the first building is in volume production and the company plans to open a second building later this year; together, he said, the two facilities can support up to $3 billion in annual output.
He also discussed the company’s Lingang “mini-line,” described as a Class 100 experimental R&D line running ACM’s own tools and those of other vendors. Wang said the mini-line is accelerating R&D and joint development with customers in Asia and could change how ACM qualifies new products—by processing customer wafers at Lingang before shipment to reduce on-site qualification time and shorten the cycle to revenue.
Wang cited examples including customer-specific validation at Lingang prior to shipment of the PECVD silicon carbonitride system and months of testing and improvement on the single-wafer SPM tool with a leading customer. He said the company believes it can replicate customer-specific production environments in its lab, potentially shortening qualification from more than a year to “a few quarter.”
In the U.S., Wang said ACM remains on track to have an in-house demo lab with multiple tools and the capability to produce U.S.-made tools in Oregon by the end of 2026.
Wang also addressed global deployment, stating that by the end of 2026 ACM expects to have more than 20 tools installed outside mainland China, including about 10 customers across five countries, while acknowledging the effort is still in early stages.
ACM ended the quarter with gross cash of $1.3 billion and net cash of $924 million, Wang said, including $110 million in gross proceeds from a February sale of ACM Shanghai shares. McKechnie reported cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, and time deposits of $1.25 billion at quarter-end, up from $1.13 billion at the end of 2025.
Operating expenses were $65.8 million, up 38.5%, according to McKechnie. He said R&D was 15% of sales, sales and marketing 8.3%, and G&A 5.1%. For 2026, ACM plans R&D at 16% to 18% of sales, sales and marketing at 8% to 9%, and G&A at 5% to 6%.
Non-GAAP operating income was $41.8 million versus $35.6 million a year earlier, while operating margin was 18.1% compared with 20.7%. Net income attributable to ACM Research was $24.3 million, down from $31.3 million, and diluted EPS was $0.34 versus $0.46. McKechnie said non-GAAP results excluded $5.6 million of stock-based compensation in the quarter and that stock-based compensation is expected to increase in the second quarter due to option grants related to ACM Shanghai stock granted in the first quarter.
Inventory rose to $738.0 million from $702.6 million at year-end 2025. McKechnie said raw materials increased due to “additional strategic purchases to support production plans and to mitigate potential supply chain risk.” Cash used by operations was $29.5 million and capital expenditures were $22.0 million. For the full year 2026, McKechnie said ACM now expects about $175 million in capital expenditures.
For full-year 2026, Wang reiterated ACM’s revenue outlook range of $1.08 billion to $1.175 billion, which he said implies 25% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. Management also reiterated expectations that 2026 shipment growth will outpace revenue growth.
During Q&A, Wang attributed the year-over-year decline in cleaning revenue to challenges tied to new applications that the company worked through with customers, adding that the Lingang production capability helped resolve many issues. He pointed to cleaning shipment growth of 32% year over year and said purchase orders received in the first six months were “almost like a 50% increase” versus the prior-year period, which he said supports continued momentum.
Wang also said strength in ECP and related categories is being driven by front-end demand as well as HBM and advanced packaging trends including 2.5D and 3D applications.
ACM Research, Inc (NASDAQ:ACMR) designs, develops and markets wet processing equipment for the semiconductor industry. The company focuses on advanced wafer cleaning technologies that address critical contamination-control requirements for logic, memory and advanced packaging applications. Since its founding in 2003, ACM Research has engineered modular platform tools that can be configured for a range of spin, scrub and batch cleaning processes.
Its product portfolio encompasses single-wafer spin cleaning systems featuring high-purity megasonic capabilities, dynamic chemical scrubbing modules for post-CMP residue removal and batch-process cleaning equipment designed for high-throughput production environments.
The article "ACM Research Q1 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat.