On October 26, 2026, Amkor Technology, the largest US-headquartered provider of outsourced semiconductor back-end services (packaging and test), reported results for July–September. Revenue was $1,991 million, almost unchanged from a year earlier ($1,987 million), but gross margin was 18.3%, up 4 points from 14.3% a year earlier. Net income was $191 million (a year earlier: $127 million), and diluted earnings per share were $0.76.
Source: Amkor Technology Q3 2026 earnings release (October 26, 2026, SEC Form 8-K)
The smartphone share fell sharply
Computing covers data center, infrastructure, PC and storage. Communications covers smartphones and tablets. In Apr–Jun 2026, computing was 22% and communications 42%. Source: Amkor Technology earnings releases
By end market, computing, which includes data center, infrastructure, PC and storage, rose to 26% (19% a year earlier, 22% in April–June). Communications, covering smartphones and tablets, fell to 37% (51% and 42%, respectively), while automotive and industrial was 22% (16%) and consumer 15% (14%). CEO Kevin Engel said computing and automotive/industrial both posted record revenue, while communications was weak as expected.
The share of revenue from the top 10 customers also fell to 66%, from 73% a year earlier.
Advanced products down, wirebond up
By product, revenue from advanced products, including flip chip, memory and wafer-level processing, was $1,632 million, below the $1,684 million of a year earlier. Mainstream products such as wirebond rose to $359 million from $303 million. The computing share is rising even as advanced-product revenue declines, which points to a reshuffling of applications within advanced products. However, no breakdown that crosses product with end market has been disclosed.
Source: Amkor Technology earnings releases
Gross margin missed guidance, and capex moves to the low end
Gross margin improved year on year, but compared with the July–September guidance issued in July (gross margin of 18.5–19.5%), the actual 18.3% fell 0.2 points below the low end. Revenue (guidance: $1,950–2,050 million) and net income (guidance: $180–205 million) were within range.
The 4.0-point year-on-year improvement in gross margin is almost entirely explained by the drop in materials costs as a share of revenue, from 57.5% to 50.7% (a 6.8-point effect). Depreciation, labor and other manufacturing costs all rose as a share of revenue, together pulling the margin down by 2.8 points. At the end of September, cash and short-term investments were $2.4 billion and total debt was $2.5 billion.
Change in each cost as a share of revenue. Source: Amkor Technology earnings releases
Guidance for October–December is revenue of $1.90–2.00 billion, gross margin of 18.0–19.0% and net income of $160–185 million. Full-year 2026 capital expenditure was revised to about $2.5 billion. In July, the company had guided to $2.5–3.0 billion, so it has moved to the low end of the range.
What it means for procurement and business planning teams
- OSAT capacity is being redirected toward data centers: at Amkor, the computing share rose 7 points in a year. NVIDIA's plan to expand substrate, back-end and test capacity names Amkor's expansion in South Korea. Companies outsourcing back-end work for data center products should check how OSAT capacity is being allocated across applications
- The gap with a booming front end: TSMC's HPC share reached 68% of revenue in July–September. Amkor's revenue stayed flat because the decline in communications offset growth in computing and automotive/industrial; in the back end, the benefit of AI demand is showing up with a skew toward particular applications
- How to read the capex cut to the low end: full-year capex of about $2.5 billion is at the low end of the planned range. The earnings release does not explain how this relates to long-term plans such as the expansion of the Arizona site
- What has not been disclosed: the earnings release does not break out advanced-packaging revenue by approach, such as 2.5D/3D, or by customer