(new: current prices, details, Hauck Aufhäuser Investment Banking, Berenberg, chip stocks)

FRANKFURT/AMSTERDAM/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - A surprisingly high order intake has given Aixtron shares, which have recently come under heavy pressure, a boost. At the start of trading on Friday, the shares of the chip industry equipment manufacturer soared by a good fifth to 22.70 euros. This was the highest level since mid-June.

At midday, Aixtron shares were still up 16.6 percent. This made them by far the biggest winner in the MDax. The index of medium-sized stocks recently rose by more than one percent.

Aixtron also felt the gloom of the electric car market in the second quarter and therefore had to lower its annual targets for sales and the operating profit margin. However, this hardly came as a surprise, as experts have long been pointing to a rather difficult transition year for electromobility - with prospects remaining good in the long term. And so, according to analysts, Aixtron's order intake also gives hope for a business upturn in the coming year.

Aixtron CEO Felix Grawert referred to good demand in the SiC and GaN power electronics segment. "This confirms the continuing momentum in the industry to replace traditional silicon with the high-performance materials GaN and SiC."

Analyst Tim Wunderlich from Hauck Aufhäuser Investment Banking described the order intake in the second quarter as impressive. The recovery of SiC orders in the second quarter signals customer and market share gains by Aixtron. This is also due to the company's technology leadership. In addition, the new annual outlook for sales and operating profit is not as bad as feared - a very gloomy scenario had already been priced into the share price.

After Aixtron shares reached their highest level since 2001 at almost EUR 40 in December 2023, they have been on a downward trend. At the beginning of July, they were trading at just under EUR 18, reaching the level of March 2022. Recently, a slight recovery set in, which accelerated significantly at the end of the week.

Analyst Gustav Froberg from the private bank Berenberg considers Aixtron shares to be attractively valued following the slump of around half this year. In addition, the sales development in the second quarter was remarkable.

Analyst Simon Coles from the British investment bank Barclays was somewhat more skeptical. The semiconductor equipment manufacturer's strong order intake should boost confidence in a growth spurt. However, market expectations for 2025 are ambitious.

Shares from the chip sector were also in demand across Europe. In addition to the positively received news from Aixtron, another significant jump in profits at Samsung also provided support. Rising chip prices as a result of the strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) are continuing to boost the electronics giant's earnings. In particular, the demand for high-bandwidth chips, which are used in the development and operation of AI platforms and are also manufactured by Samsung, among others, has grown significantly. The figures for the past quarter were well above market expectations.

As a result, the shares of chip supplier ASML rose to a record high in Amsterdam and recently gained a good one percent. In Paris, the shares of chip manufacturer STMicroelectronics rose by almost three percent and in Frankfurt, Infineon shares recorded gains of a similar magnitude. According to industry experts, Infineon is probably also behind some of the Aixtron orders of recent months./la/mis