China semiconductor equipment and materials: 3Q26 review: orders outgrowing deliveries

Nomura notes that 3Q26 earnings across China WFE players conveyed a largely similar signal: order intake at most equipment companies accelerated while reported revenue growth decelerated sharply. NAURA grew revenue 1.3% y-y, Piotech 1.8% and AMEC 17.2%, against 1Q-3Q26 order growth of over 60%, over 100% and over 50% respectively. The gap indicates strong demand but constrained component supply, with electrostatic chucks, mass flow controllers, valves and pumps in the tightest supply. Memory is the largest marginal buyer: NAURA orders split roughly 40% memory, 40% advanced logic and 20% mature process; AMEC memory share about 60%, split 50:50 between DRAM and NAND; Piotech memory exposure exceeded 70% of 2025 orders. This mix explains why gross margins diverged, with NAURA down 2.0pp to 38.3%, AMEC up 3.8pp to 41.7% and Piotech up 8.1pp to 42.5%. Reported profit was distorted by investment gains and losses. Nomura expects component constraints to ease gradually from 4Q26F as domestic c