超洁净科技 (UCTT) 2026财年第三季度业绩电话会:营收创新高与产能扩张
超洁净科技公布2026财年第三季度营收达7.59亿美元,创历史新高,主要受全环绕栅极与高带宽内存的刻蚀和沉积系统需求驱动。毛利率升至17.3%,每股收益为1.15美元。第四季度预计营收8.00亿至8.60亿美元。尽管面临供应链压力与营运资金增加,管理层看好2027年晶圆厂设备支出突破2000亿美元,并计划继续扩大产能。
超洁净科技(Ultra Clean Technologies,UCTT)公布2026财年第三季度营收创历史新高,主要得益于支持全环绕栅极(GAA)和高带宽内存(HBM)的刻蚀与沉积系统需求加速增长。同时,管理层调高了产能计划,但也指出了持续存在的零部件供应紧张以及营运资金需求增加的情况。
核心要点
- 2026财年第三季度营收达到创纪录的7.59亿美元,环比增长17.7%,同比增长48.8%,超出公司业绩指引区间的高端。
- Non-GAAP毛利率环比上升60个基点至17.3%,营业利润率从第二季度的7.0%提升至9.0%。每股收益(EPS)环比增加0.45美元至1.15美元。
- 产品业务营收环比增长19.1%至6.819亿美元,主要由支持全环绕栅极和高带宽内存应用的刻蚀与沉积需求所驱动。
- 对于2026财年第四季度,管理层预计营收为8.00亿至8.60亿美元,基于约4890万股稀释后股票计算,每股收益为1.11至1.35美元。
- UCT预计在第一季度实现约40亿美元的年产能,并拥有15%至20%的额外弹性突发产能。若要在2027和2028年前将产能进一步扩大至50亿美元以上,预计还需要额外投资8000万至1.00亿美元。
- 根据客户预测、晶圆厂利用率及关键零部件供应情况,管理层预计2027年晶圆厂设备支出将突破2000亿美元。
关键财务数据
| 指标 | 2026财年第三季度 | 变动 / 背景 |
|---|---|---|
| 营收 | 7.59亿美元 | 环比增长17.7%,同比增长48.8%;创季度新高 |
| 产品营收 | 6.819亿美元 | 环比增长19.1% |
| 服务营收 | 7710万美元 | 环比增长6.7% |
| 毛利率 | 17.3% | 环比上升60个基点 |
| 产品毛利率 | 15.9% | 高于第二季度的15.1% |
| 服务毛利率 | 30.1% | 高于第二季度的28.9% |
| 营业费用 | 6290万美元 | 占营收的8.3%,第二季度为9.7% |
| 营业利润率 | 9.0% | 高于第二季度的7.0% |
| 每股收益(EPS) | 1.15美元 | 环比增加0.45美元 |
| 经营活动现金流 | -4230万美元 | 反映了需求产能爬坡期间更高的营运资金需求 |
| 存货 | 7.233亿美元 | 环比增加9340万美元 |
| 现金 | 2.709亿美元 | 高于第二季度的2.559亿美元 |
管理层讨论的所有财务业绩均按Non-GAAP标准呈列。
业务与运营表现
半导体产品占总营收的86%,其中晶圆代工与逻辑业务占52%,存储业务占34%。服务业务贡献了10%,而非半导体市场占4%。UCT的前两大客户贡献了本季度营收的61%。
产品增长主要受用于全环绕栅极(GAA)和高带宽内存(HBM)生产的刻蚀与沉积系统驱动。管理层表示,人工智能(AI)相关投资正在推动前沿晶圆代工、DRAM、下一代HBM及先进封装领域的产能扩充。
服务业务受益于原始设备制造商(OEM)和晶圆厂客户的强劲需求。管理层预计,随着美国新晶圆厂开始产能爬坡,服务营收将逐步增长;随着2027和2028年晶圆投片量的增加,贡献度将进一步提升。
UCT继续扩大其制造布局。马来西亚占地26000平方英尺的洁净室扩建项目比预期提前投产。在未来几个季度,该公司预计将其位于菲律宾宿务的产能扩大一倍,并在新加坡和捷克新增洁净室产能。它还计划明年将其在马来西亚和泰国的垂直整合制造产能翻倍。
该公司在刻蚀、原子层沉积(ALD)、物理气相沉积(PVD)及光刻应用领域赢得了八个新的研发项目。在刻蚀、沉积、光刻和测量领域,亦有相近数量的项目正处于研发与验证阶段。管理层指出,随着这些项目在未来两到三年内进入量产阶段,更早与客户配合参与研发有望提高UCT在每台设备中的单机价值量、市场份额及利润率。
管理层业绩指引
对于2026财年第四季度,UCT预计:
- 营收为8.00亿至8.60亿美元,取中点计算相当于环比增长9.4%。
- 每股收益(EPS)为1.11至1.35美元。
- 稀释后总股本约4890万股。
管理层继续看好在年营收达到40亿美元时将毛利率提升至20%的路径。主要驱动因素包括更高的出货量与产能利用率、工程定制化产品占比上升、垂直整合度的提高,以及更多低成本地区的生产占比。公司提醒称,这一过程将渐进实现,新产能投产阶段可能会对利润率造成阶段性拖累。
UCT预计在第一季度实现约40亿美元的产能,并认为在2027年前仍有进一步优化的空间。若要将产能提升至50亿美元以上,需要在2027和2028年前追加约8000万至1.00亿美元的投资。管理层表示,这些投资将根据客户需求分阶段实施,并与其长期路线图保持一致。
风险与关注焦点
- 随着行业需求增长,供应链压力居高不下。管理层预计质量流量控制器(MFC)供应紧张的情况可能会再持续一到两个季度。
- 由于UCT预订了关键零部件并保持了更高的安全库存,存货环比增加了9340万美元,导致经营活动现金流为负4230万美元。
- 受产品结构、整合时间、发货流程、收入确认以及财年周期不同等因素影响,季度营收可能不会与UCT最大客户的走势完全同步。
- 前两大客户占总营收的61%,表明公司客户集中度较高。
- 产品利润率可能会随出货量、产品组合、生产区域、材料成本及运费波动而起伏。此外,扩产也可能暂时压低盈利能力。
- UCT在第三季度通过市价增发(ATM)计划发行了43.2万股股票,募集净资金约3400万美元。第四季度初,公司又出售了220万股,产生1.691亿美元的净收益,其中一部分用于偿还循环授信额度。
分析师问答环节要点
产能投资与客户承诺:管理层表示,产能规划是通过与核心客户的早期沟通进行的,包括共享预测和长期需求规划。公司预计新增产能将被主要客户充分利用。
更长期的行业展望:管理层指出,通过与客户的讨论,2027年晶圆厂设备支出突破2000亿美元得到了更坚实的支撑。对于2028年,公司注意到可见度在提高,但承认客户尚未给出明确的行业支出具体数字。
供应链执行力:UCT表示,其在第三季度未错过客户要求的任何子系统交付。公司将这一业绩归功于提前一至两个季度维持超出预测需求的产能、持有战略库存以及提高供应链透明度。
协同创新机遇:该公司正利用其位于希尔斯伯勒的卓越中心,更早地介入客户的产品开发。管理层预计,成功的项目在进入量产阶段后,将有助于提升市场份额和扩大利润率。
检测与测量:管理层表示,UCT在光学检测和测量领域看到了额外的子系统与工程机会,并指出这些系统与其已为主要晶圆厂设备客户提供支持的系统具有相似性。
业绩电话会议完整文字记录
完整财报电话会议逐字稿
管理层陈述
Operator
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Ultra Clean Technologies Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Rhonda Bennetto, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Rhonda Bennetto
Thank you, operator. Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for joining us. With me today are James Xiao, CEO; and Mike Keogh, CFO. James with some prepared remarks about the industry and highlight some of the opportunities ahead for UCT. Mike will follow with the financial review, and then we'll open up the call for questions.
Today's call contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. For more information, please refer to the Risk Factors section in our SEC filings. All forward-looking statements are based on estimates, projections and assumptions as of today, and we assume no obligation to update them after this call. Discussion of our financial results will be presented on a non-GAAP basis. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP can be found in today's press release posted on our website.
And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to James. James, please go ahead.
James Xiao
Thank you, Rhonda, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for our third quarter 2026 earnings call. With me today is Mike Keogh, who came on board as UCT's Chief Financial Officer in August. This is Mike's first earnings call with us and I will share a few more words about him shortly. This afternoon, I will briefly highlight our third quarter results, share our view of the industry and update you on our UCT 3.0 strategy. Mike will then review our financials and we'll open the call for questions.
I'm very pleased to report that UCT delivered another strong quarter. Revenue from both Products and Service came in ahead of our expectations. Our bottom line also outperformed, reflecting our continued focus on improving profitability. These results highlight healthy demand across our end markets and solid execution by our team around the world. This quarter also proved the effectiveness of our ramp readiness strategy by planning capacity ahead of demands. We execute on the operational agility required to accommodate excessive orders and deliver them on time.
AI demand continued to deliver strong investment across the semiconductor ecosystem. With the world's leading chip makers and equipment companies expanding capacity to support multiyear AI growth. As AI shift from training to everyday use, it is creating demand across the entire chip stack. Leading-edge foundries are adding capacity on new nodes. Memory makers are adding clear room space and fab capacity for DRAM and next-gen HVM. And once packaging is growing rapidly to fulfilled HVM demand.
These are the areas where UCT is the strongest. And as volume and complexity increase, our customers rely even more on our subsystems and engineering expertise. Based on the visibility our customers are sharing with us, we now expect 2027 wafer fab equipment spending to be above $200 billion. That outlook is grounded in what we can see and measure. The signs that influence our decision making, other lens of our customers' forecast, the fab utilization and the availability of critical components across the supply chain. Today, all 3 remain healthy for us.
As our business continues to scale, we are prepared to anticipate and manage the supply chain excursions. Because we've had support by real-time visibility from our internal systems and from our customers, we can identify potential constraints early and address them quickly. So our customers' ramp continue uninterrupted. In the tight supply environment, that reliability is one of the most valuable performance we continue to deliver to our customers.
Through our UCT 3.0 strategy, we're using the up cycle, not only to expand our capacity but to strengthen our technical capabilities and accelerate our response time. Ramp readiness is driving disciplined growth. NPX is deepening our co-innovation partnership with our customers and digital transformation is improving our operational efficiency and speed. Being ramp-ready is fundamental to our customer first mindset, ensuring we have the capacity and supply chain in place before our customers need them. The 26,000 square feet of clean room space expansion will build out in Malaysia came online earlier than anticipated, which help us to outperform this quarter. And over the next few quarters, we expect to double our Wellman capacity in Cebu, Philippines and to bring additional clean room capacity online in Singapore and the Czech Republic.
We also expect to double our vertical integrated manufacturing capacity in Malaysia and Thailand next year. This helped address the critical component constraints that are limiting the industry today. By producing more of these components in-house, we gain greater control over our supply, improve on-time delivery to our customers and position UCT to capture additional share during this ramp.
Our MPX initiative continued to make solid progress within our growing center of excellence. Recently, we secured 8 new program wins across etch, ALD, PVD, and lithography applications, spanning gas deliveries, thermal and other critical subsystems. A similar number of programs are now moving through development and qualification across etch, deposition, lithography and metrology. Coinnovating earlier with our customers strengthens our position to be qualified as the first supplier and to capture more high-value content per tool. We expect this program to gain momentum as our customers advance through their technology road map and no transactions in the coming years.
And our product road map are fully aligned with our customers. Digital transformation is helping us scale more efficiently. Our initiatives are focused on the processes, which we can make the most impact, starting with the road to fulfill the core of our value chain. We've also launched an integrated planning platform that links demand, supply, inventory and capacity in real time in the tight supply environment, keeping materials moving smoothly between our customers, UCT and our suppliers is critical.
And it is equally important that data has moved just as smoothly to enable the smooth material flow. This platform we launched automates that exchange. So when the customer demand changes, we can pass that signal quickly through our supply chain and respond with speed and agility. We believe UCT has become a more strategically important partner to the world's leading equipment companies in manufacturing, in engineering and in service. Our objective is unchanged: to move fast, stay agile and deliver what matters most to our customers, continuing to execute on those principles will create sustainable long-term value for our shareholders.
Before I hand the call over, I'd like to formally welcome Mike to UCT. He has already made a significant impact, working very closely with our leadership teams, operating discipline, footprint optimization, capacity planning and our digital transformation initiative. We're very glad to have him on the team.
Mike, now over to you for the financial review.
Michael Keogh
Thank you, James, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to join you from my first earnings call as UCT's Chief Financial Officer. I joined UCT because I see a compelling growth opportunity as the semiconductor industry enters what we believe are the early stages of a multiyear growth cycle. This is an exciting inflection point for our industry and UCT's deep technical capabilities and long-standing customer relationships position us well to support the demand we're seeing today and the opportunities ahead. My priorities will center on strengthening execution and disciplined capital allocation. That includes drive cash conversion and building the financial processes and capabilities to support UCT as we scale. With that, let me turn to our quarterly financial results.
In my prepared remarks, I will be referring to non-GAAP numbers only. As James mentioned, the third quarter marked another period of strong performance for UCT, with top and bottom line results above the high end of our guidance. Revenue was $759 million, a record quarter, up 17.7% sequentially and 48.8% year-over-year. Gross margin was 17.3% and up 60 basis points from last quarter and operating margin was 9.0%, up from 7.0% in Q2. EPS was $1.15 and up $0.45 over the prior quarter.
Semiconductor products represented 86% of total revenue, including 52% from foundry and logic and 34% for memory. Services represented 10% of revenue, while non-semiconductor markets accounted for the remaining 4%. Our 2 largest customers contributed 61% of total revenue. Products revenue was $681.9 million, up 19.1% sequentially. The increase in sales was driven primarily by strength in etch and deposition supporting gate all around and high-bandwidth memory, which positions us well for the current wave of node transitions as the industry ramps.
Services revenue was $77.1 million, up 6.7% sequentially on strength across both our OEM and fab customers. Services revenue growth traditionally lags Products as increases are tied to wafer starts. We expect Services revenue to increase incrementally over time as the new U.S. fabs come online in ramp, with a larger contribution as wafer starts to increase throughout 2027 and 2028.
Our revenue follows the same underlying demand as our largest customers, but not always quarter-to-quarter. Timing differences can be caused by product mix, where our content is integrated, shipping flows, revenue recognition and fiscal calendars. Historically, averaged as a group, we track in line with our customers and expect to perform in line with WFE growth.
Total gross margin was 17.3%. Products gross margin was 15.9%, up from 15.1% in Q2 and services margin was 30.1%, up from 28.9% in the prior quarter. The improvements were driven by increased volumes and stronger contributions this quarter from our higher-margin product lines. Margins can vary quarter-to-quarter with fluctuations in volume, mix, region, materials and freight.
We continue to see a path to our target of 20% gross margin at $4 billion of revenue, driven by higher volume and utilization, a growing mix of higher value engineered products, increased vertical integration and more production in lower cost regions. These gains will build steadily rather than in large steps, and capacity expansions may be a temporary headwind as each phase comes online.
Operating expense was $62.9 million or 8.3% of revenue compared to $62.5 million or 9.7% of revenue in Q2. Total operating margin was 9.0%, up 200 basis points over Q2. By segment, Products improved to 8.5% from 6.5%, and Services increased to 13.6% from 11.2% in the prior quarter. Our tax rate was 20.0% and EPS was $1.15 on 46.2 million diluted shares.
Operating cash flow was negative $42.3 million, reflecting demand acceleration and the working capital required to ensure timely delivery to our customers. Inventory was $723.3 million, up $93.4 million from prior quarter. During this up cycle, we have been building inventory, including preordering, critical components and maintaining elevated levels of safety stock to help mitigate potential supply chain disruptions and continue to meet or exceed customer delivery expectations.
Through our ATM equity program, we sold 432,000 shares in Q3 at an average price of $80.13, which resulted in approximately $34 million in net proceeds. In the first week of the fourth quarter, we sold an additional 2.2 million shares under the program at an average price of $78.45 and received another $169.1 million in net cash proceeds. We used a portion of these proceeds to pay off the outstanding balance on our revolving credit facility. Currently, we have $193 million remaining of the $400 million ATM program. We ended the quarter with $270.9 million in cash compared with $255.9 million last quarter.
Now let me turn to capacity because this is a very important driver of our growth plan. I'll cover where we are today. We'll come to next and how we manage the risk. During the quarter, we accelerated capacity expansion and now expect to be at approximately $4 billion of capacity in Q1 and see a path to additional capacity and increase utilization through further optimization of our current footprint through 2027.
In addition, we continue to have about 15% to 20% burst capacity to bridge us to our next phase of expansion. Growing to $5-plus billion will require additional capacity beyond our current footprint. We anticipate investing roughly $80 million to $100 million incrementally through 2027 and 2028 to support this expansion. We are in conversations with our customers to help identify strategic locations that align with their long-term road maps. Taken together, our current footprint supports the next phase of growth and we will add capacity for $5 billion and beyond in phases, pacing our investment to customer demand.
Now to our outlook. For the fourth quarter, we expect revenue of $800 million to $860 million, up 9.4% sequentially at the midpoint and expect EPS of $1.11 to $1.35 on approximately 48.9 million diluted shares. In summary, we delivered excellent results on solid execution. We have the capacity in place for our next phase of growth, and we will continue to execute on our UCT 3.0 strategy with the agility and discipline to cycle demands.
And with that, operator, please open the call for questions.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from the line of Timothy Arcuri with UBS.
分析师问答
Timothy Arcuri
So James, you're expanding a lot obviously to support this ramp. And you're also investing lots of money, Mike, you talked about investing another $80 million to $100 million. I'm sure your customers will help you with that. But what sort of assurance is -- I mean, this is a lot of money that you're investing. And so how do you think that this -- on the other side of this, is there some way that you can be part of their preferred program that you ensure that you'll gain share through this? Is there something that you're getting in exchange for investing all this money? I mean, obviously, you want to help them, but is there some other thing you can do to make you even stickier with them and cause you to gain some share?
James Xiao
Great question, Tim. I think that you see that the whole industry is really looking for a long-term agreement, starting from our customers' customer. And so our customers also look at the supply chain resilience they mentioned in their earnings call. So with that, we actually have very open and constructive discussion with our key customers. And we really kind of try to engage with them early on so that the future forecast are shared and the future demands are really kind of openly discussed. And the future capacity we're going to add are going to be fully utilized by our key customers.
Timothy Arcuri
Yes. I guess just on that point, James. So if I -- Mike, it sounds like you're expanding to more than $5 billion worth of capacity. So that translates to like $330 billion WFE. And I mean, that's much higher than what people think '28 is going to be. So obviously, you must be getting signals from your customers to go out and spend this money, otherwise you wouldn't be doing that. So is that -- like is that an unreasonable sort of estimation of where WFE is going? And it sounds like that capacity is going to be in place to support '28. Is that right?
James Xiao
So just a small correction, Tim. So if you do really kind of proportionately reach our revenue to the WFE. So our $5 billion run rate is approximately to the $250 billion. So that's kind of well in line with even your own broadcast, right? So most of the analysts, I don't think any of the customers gave a clear WFE number beyond '27. But as you can see that most of the analysts gave $250 billion WFE in 2028, and we don't see a reason not to agree with that.
Operator
And your next question comes from the line of Charles Shi with Needham.
Yu Shi
Maybe the first question about the supply chain excursion. We heard your largest customer a week ago talk about the supply constraints holding them back a little bit. That did come across as a surprise, at least to me, that would have -- think supply chain excursion, like you said, it will happen, but maybe not to the degree this early. But where exactly you see are the potential supply chain excursions right now?
And specifically, there has been good amount of charters about mass flow controller, MSC shortage. And how are you navigating that? Just from your numbers, your reporting numbers this quarter and your guidance for next quarter, clearly, you don't look like the one holding to customers back, but I want to get your thoughts.
James Xiao
Thank you. I think that this is was broadly discussed in our industry at this moment. As I mentioned, Charles, before when you see the industry grow at more than 10% quarter-to-quarter growth rate, the supply chain will continue to face increasing pressure. So excursion will happen, and it did happen. I think as Mike mentioned, we actually really kind of proactively position ourselves by always having excessive capacity 1 to 2 quarters ahead of the demand forecast we see. And we also build stock to really kind of address the supply chain excursions.
So that operation agility and supply chain resilience help us to manage this excursion better. One thing I can tell you is that we do not miss a single module of subsystems that needed for our customers' quarter. And we also really kind of exceed our forecast by really handle the drop in demand that customers pushed to us during the last 2 quarters. So that should tell how well we manage this supply chain excursion, where we will continue to do so.
Yu Shi
Maybe a follow-up that actually still go back to the MFC shortage. James, any thoughts based on your discussion with the MFC suppliers well, given that you actually don't have an MFC business. So I kind of imagine that the compensation dialogue with the suppliers may be more candid. But what's the latest what you hear from them when they think the supply can be more in balance, more and more matching demand when the supply catches on to the very, very rapidly growing demand for MFC?
James Xiao
Yes. I think that the MFC constraints may continue for a quarter or 2. But we definitely see that in the end of the day, the industry will address that challenge collectively and closely communication with our customers and also with our suppliers will help us to smoothen that challenge and really the collaboration and the partnership matter the most at this moment.
Operator
And your next question comes from the line of Krish Sankar with TD Cowen.
Robert Mertens
This is Robert Mertens online on behalf of Krish. Congratulations on the strong quarter and guide. So my first question, you sort of have addressed just on the component shortage side, but maybe going along with that, if you could just expand a bit on what areas you're co-innovating with customers where you think the customized approach adds the most value. Sort of how do you weigh those opportunities against expanding your manufacturing capacity and flexibility? Being able to actually ship with the customers once -- one in addition to making sure that you have a long runway with the product road map?
James Xiao
Great question. I think that we definitely do both, right? So immediate need to really demonstrate our long-term partnership with our customers really fulfill they are a ramp request by really fast fulfill the demand that really kind of increased quarter-by-quarter right now, and we're doing well on that. So in terms of the NPI engagement with our customers, so we did launch the center of excellence on NPI in Hillsborough, leveraging our acquired company called GIS. So the engineering capability and the prototype manufacturing capabilities there give us a really very flexible capability to co-work with customers on their new product development.
And by utilizing that, as I mentioned in an announcement, we are able to really successfully engage on 8 NPI programs with customers, tried over different product lines at the customer side. What it does is really fully aligned with customers' future product road map. We'll see those products most likely get further on the next node NPI, the customer is going to commercialize in the next 2 to 3 years, and we'll have a meaningful margin expansion and share gain when we have that into the high-volume production mode.
At the same time, I think we also continue to engage with customers, getting into their design phase, so changing our integration mode from build to print to build to SAP. That will further improve our stickiness and technology collaboration with our customers and improve our share and margins.
Operator
And your next question comes from the line of [ Edward Young ] with Oppenheimer.
Unknown Analyst
My question is also on supply chain. And congrats on your execution there. Understanding that UCT is delivering on time, the delays in other suppliers' components prevent customers from completing systems? And would that ultimately affect you? Just want to better understand that.
Michael Keogh
Yes. Thanks for the question. Is your question related to our suppliers and whether they're going to any subsystems that may impact our ability to ship?
Unknown Analyst
No, I'm saying if there are competitors or others in the ecosystem that might have these excursions even if you're executing, are there -- when they're going into the NAND system, would that -- with the excursions elsewhere, could that affect UCT?
Michael Keogh
Yes. So right now, we're not seeing that. As James mentioned earlier, we did not -- we were not gated by anything last quarter. We didn't miss the shipment. There continues to be a lot of pressure in the supply chain, and we do have to look out for that. And we've been thoughtful about where that may come from with our -- as we're seeing increasing revenue, we have been buying ahead and ensure that we have our strategic supply map.
I think we have to continue to stay diligent for it. We're -- when we looked at our Q4. We've taken some of that into account, but where we think that risk may come from. But right now, I still feel like we're pretty well positioned for that and that's not going to play into our ability to ship.
Unknown Analyst
Okay. And my follow-up question is on your large debt customer recently announcing an expansion into optical inspection. Are you seeing any opportunities opening up for new subsystem or engineering opportunities for -- and are you engaged in supporting any of these new platforms?
James Xiao
Ed, as you know that we actually have all the major WFE customers as our existing customers. So we are familiar with the optical inspection systems and also the lithography systems. If you break down into the subsystem level, there are a lot of similarities. And so therefore, yes, we'll have new opportunity as we customer for the optical inspection and metrology.
Operator
And your next question comes from the line of Christian Schwab with Craig-Hallum.
Unknown Analyst
This is [ Ben Taxon ] on for Christian. A lot of my questions have been answered, but I got one last for you. And this call, very positive commentary in last call. This call almost maybe even seen as more positive compared to last call. So how -- I guess are you guys thinking about it like that as well in the environment going forward? And then kind of tie into that, specifically, what has the conversations been like with customers kind of over this last quarter and how have they evolved? And has it been extended out? I mean, you guys -- it seems like you have some capacity pull forward and such. So can you just articulate that a bit?
James Xiao
Yes. I think that the sentiment does not change that much. I think it's just that we execute pretty well. Maybe that makes a little bit different, right, in terms of the results and the outlook. On the customer side, I think that the -- you'll hear them saying that it's the 2027 is solid, above $200 billion. That's really more confirmed compared to a wider range a quarter ago. I think '27 is more solid. It's probably one thing we can say now.
And the second thing is that we start to hear from -- you can also hear from the earnings call that '28 is more or less booked as well. So you see different numbers. But what I see is really what the analyst community are selling out the $250 billion above. I don't hear any of the customer gave that number yet.
Unknown Analyst
So, yes, you're not hearing customers. But at '28 is coming to life a little bit more.
James Xiao
And also, I think that you also hear the news that there is a new factory announcement like CMC's Dallas fab and the tariff acts become more concrete.
Operator
Thank you. And I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would like to hand it back to James Xiao for closing remarks.
James Xiao
Well that concludes our Q3 '26 earnings call. Thank you all for joining us, and we'll see you all in the next quarter.
Operator
Thank you, presenters. And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.
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