(Reuters) – Chip-making tools maker KLA Corp forecast first-quarter revenue and profit above Wall Street expectations on Thursday, boosted by increasing investments in artificial intelligence, sending shares higher by 3% in trading after the bell.
The company has also benefited from chipmakers looking to diversify their supply chains out of China, as trade tensions with the U.S. intensify.
Companies, including Intel, TSMC, Samsung, Texas Instruments and Micron, are building new plants across the United States, raising the demand for chip tools.
KLA makes tools for inspecting the silicon wafer discs, on which semiconductors are built, for defects.
The company, forecast first-quarter adjusted profit of $5.35 per share, plus or minus 60 cents. Analysts were expecting $4.75 per share, according to Refinitiv data.
In the quarter ended June 30, revenue came in at $2.36 bln while profit was $4.97 per share. That compared with analysts’ estimates for revenue of $2.26 bln and profit of $4.85 per share.
(Reporting by Akshita Toshniwal, Tanya Jain and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
