Quantitative
Katana computes its metrics for every company.
- Business description mentions semiconductors
- Operating margin ≥ 15% (Rorze: 24.2%)
AI screening example · run on October 10, 2026
Companies built like Rorze,
Companies built like Rorze,
across all of Japan.
We looked for makers of the equipment and components a chip fab needs as it is built or expanded. AI read the annual reports of 59 companies that mention semiconductors in their business description and earn an operating margin of 15% or more, and supported 12. Checking their sales breakdown, three besides Rorze earn most of their sales from chips.
Background
Rorze moves wafers inside chip fabs.
On October 8, 2026, Rorze raised its ordinary-profit forecast for the year to February 2027 from ¥38.2 billion to ¥54.8 billion. Strong chip demand lifted sales of its main semiconductor equipment, and it now expects revenue 13.2% above plan. It also raised its year-end dividend from ¥20 to ¥28.
Rorze makes the equipment that moves wafers inside chip fabs. It developed the world's first silicon-wafer handling robot, and its main customers include TSMC and Samsung. A chip goes through hundreds of steps, and the wafer moves in and out of a machine at each one. More fabs need more of that handling equipment.
In its latest annual report, about 94% of sales came from semiconductors (semiconductor equipment, analysis equipment, and parts and repairs combined). Investment in chip fabs flows straight into its results.
So which other companies make the tools a fab needs as it expands? We searched all of Japan.
01 / Input
The companies we wanted to find.
“Like Rorze, a company that makes the equipment or components a semiconductor fab needs as it is built or expanded. Not the equipment that processes wafers itself, and not materials or consumables. Operating margin of 15% or more.”
Entered in Japanese; English translation.
We entered a word condition, a financial condition and a qualitative question by hand in Katana's condition settings, with the question in English. We then checked the supported companies against the filing text and the sales breakdown in their segment and sales data.
02 / Conditions
The conditions we applied across Japan.
Qualitative
AI reads each annual report and judges support and counterevidence.
- Do the company's principal products consist of equipment or components that become necessary as semiconductor fabs are newly built or expanded, either built into manufacturing equipment or used as production-line facilities?
Equipment that itself processes or treats wafers, such as deposition, lithography, etching or inspection tools, materials or consumables used while the fab runs, and plans to enter the market do not count.
~3,800listed companies
59match the numbers
12AI judged as supported
Katana
read the filings and found 12.
03 / Results
Twelve supported. Three earn most of their sales from chips.
Of 59 companies, 12 were supported, 7 need review and 40 had counterevidence. Eight of the supported companies matched the question in their filing text. We then checked their sales breakdown in the segment and sales data and list the three that, like Rorze, earn most of their sales from chips. Rorze was supported too.
-
Japan Material
Serves semiconductor and LCD plants, centered on the specialty gases essential to their production processes.Filing ↗
-
Marumae
Makes parts for front-end chipmaking equipment used in dry etching, CVD, cleaning and coating, as well as bonding and inspection equipment parts.Filing ↗
-
PILLAR
Its main products, fittings and pumps, are used in chipmaking equipment and fab infrastructure.Filing ↗
These results are from October 10, 2026. Qualitative judgments use the filings available at that time, while quantitative screening uses the latest financial data.
04 / Takeaway
Making fab tools is not enough if chips are a sideline.
We ranked the eight companies that were supported and matched the question in their filing text by the share of their sales that comes from semiconductors.
| Company | Chip-related share of sales | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|
| Rorze | About 94% | 24.2% |
| Japan Material | 97% (includes LCD) | 25.3% |
| Marumae | Most (no exact split) | 18.4% |
| PILLAR | 66% | 20.4% |
| HORIBA | 47% (includes materials analysis) | 15.9% |
| Sukegawa Electric | Under 49% | 21.3% |
| TECHNOFLEX | Unknown (under 58%) | 15.1% |
| Daifuku | Unknown (12% or more) | 15.3% |
Rorze's upgrade came from higher sales of its main semiconductor equipment. Because nearly all its sales go to chip fabs, fab investment flows straight into its results. The bottom four also make tools a fab needs, for handling, piping and measurement, but chips are one market among many, so the tailwind is diluted across their sales.
Knowing the structure does not make chips easy. The industry moves in boom-and-bust waves, the silicon cycle, and share prices follow expectations of how long the wave will last more than current results. Results look best at the peak, when they are often already priced in. Annual reports can narrow down which companies are built to ride fab investment. Where the wave stands is answered neither by the filings nor by financial data; that takes outside information such as equipment makers' orders, memory prices and chipmakers' capital-spending plans.
Shares come from each company's latest annual report, using segment and sales data; where a segment includes non-chip business, we note it. Fiscal years differ by company, and the figures do not indicate future sales or profit.
Your stock-picking, handed straight to AI.
Complex theses, your own selection rules. Katana narrows companies with its own metrics, and AI reads annual reports to judge qualitative conditions. The selection you used to do one company at a time, AI now runs across the Japanese market.
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