Taiwanese advanced packaging equipment maker Wanrun says its capacity is fully booked and its order book runs through the middle of next year — good news for the supply chain and for investors.

• Customer demand continues to grow, factory utilisation remains at a high level, and orders and projects already in hand extend into the second quarter of next year.
• Actual shipments and revenue recognition will depend on the pace of customer acceptance, and the company is also looking for overseas partners to expand capacity.
• Its next bet is silicon photonics, where it has already invested in coupling equipment; everything it is discussing with customers is a brand-new product, effectively a new market built from scratch.
• Precision dispensing (underfill, flux, thermal materials) has likewise brought in new customers alongside the new processes used in advanced packaging.
• What customers want increasingly resembles a one-stop solution: dealing with a single equipment supplier makes yield easier to control, and this type of order is accounting for a rising share of the total.

Outlook: as long as customer acceptance goes smoothly, revenue in the first half of next year is well supported, while silicon photonics is the growth variable for the years that follow.