Now it's time for us to start the Tokyo Electron financial announcement for the second quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022. Thank you very much for joining us today despite of your busy schedule. I'm Yatsuda of IR Department, acting as the moderator of today's session. I would now like to introduce today's attendees. Mr. Toshiki Kawai, Representative Director, President, and CEO. Next, Mr. Yoshikazu Nunokawa, Corporate Director, Executive Vice President, and General Manager, Global Business Platform Division, Financial Unit. Just for your information, Mr. Tetsuro Higashi, Chairman of the Board, will be absent today due to the other business. He's planning to attend the next briefing occasion. Prior to the presentations, let me explain the flow of today's meeting. First of all, Mr. Nunokawa and Mr. Kawai will make presentations.
After that, until 6:00 P.M. Japan Standard Time, we will have a question and answer session where we take questions from the audience. This briefing will be conducted using two channels, Webex with simultaneous interpretation between Japanese and English. As we announced by email, if you'd like to listen to the audio only, you can participate by phone. But if you'd like to ask questions, please use the application on your PC or mobile device. In addition, since this briefing is intended for institutional investors and analysts, we will take questions from institutional investors and analysts only. We will post the audio of this briefing in Japanese and English on our website within a couple of days, so please access to our website if necessary. Let's move on to the presentation session. First, Mr. Nunokawa will explain the Q2 FY 2022 consolidated financial summary. Mr. Nunokawa, please.
Good afternoon. My name is Nunokawa, and I am responsible for the finance division. Now, let me explain to you the FY 2022 Q2 consolidated financial announcement outline. Here, we look at the performance of the half year. The net sales of the first half was JPY 932.5 billion, and it was above the forecast that was announced on August 16. For the half year, it was the highest ever net sales. For SPE net sales, new POR contributed to net sales, and Field Solutions achieved a very good net sales. Because of it, we achieved JPY 905.7 billion, which was above forecast. For FPD, net sales was JPY 26.6 billion. This was in line with the forecast. The gross profit margin was 45.3%.
For operating margin, it was 29.5%, and both were above forecast. For the half year, both gross profit margin and operating margin were the highest ever. This is the quarterly performance. Net sales in Q2 increased 6.3% compared to the previous quarter to reach JPY 480.4 billion. Following Q1, we recorded the highest ever quarterly net sales. By segment, SPE net sales was JPY 467.8 billion, and this was the highest ever quarterly net sales. For FPD net sales, it achieved JPY 12.5 billion. Gross profit margin was 44.1%. Operating margin was 27.7%. A very high level was maintained. It was lower than the previous quarter, but the main factor behind it was the increase in R&D expenses. This shows the performance that I just explained to you in graph format. This is by segment information. For SPE, net sales was JPY 467.8 billion. Profit margin was 32.7%.
In addition to steady sales in SPE products, Field Solutions net sales was very good, and therefore, net sales increased from the previous quarter. For profit margin, we continue to enjoy a very high level. For FPD, net sales JPY 12.5 billion. Profit margin was -6.2%. We continue investment for future growth, and we are seeing steady progress against this year's plan. For composition of net sales for Q2, following Q1, SPE accounted for 97% and FPD accounted for 3%. This shows SPE division sales by region. Mainly, we have seen the growth for Taiwan and North American markets. This shows SPE divisions new equipment sales by applications. At the second quarter, the results was from the bottom, logic 53%, non-volatile memory 18%, DRAM 29%.
In memory, because of the customer's investment timing, there were some changes in the composition, but in the first half of this fiscal year, the logic and the memory ratio was 1:1. This shows the field sales, Field Solutions sales. Second quarter was JPY 120.5 billion. In addition to the strong parts services, we've seen a growth of the modification sales. It went up significantly from the previous quarter. Next is the balance sheet. Total assets was JPY 1,634 billion. Cash and cash equivalent, JPY 420.4 billion. Trade accounts receivables and contract assets, JPY 301 billion. Inventory, JPY 394.1 billion. Next is total liability and net assets. Liability was JPY 448.1 billion.
Net assets, JPY 1,185.8 billion. Due to the retained earnings growth, it went up from the previous quarter, and the equity ratio became 71.8%. This shows inventory turnover and accounts receivable turnover in days. Inventory turnover period, 86 days. Receivables turnover period was 66 days. Finally, cash flow. Operating cash flow was JPY 94.6 billion. Investment cash flow was -JPY 15.5 billion. Financial cash flow was negative JPY 200 million. Free cash flow was JPY 79 billion. Those are consolidated, the financial statement briefings. Now, Mr. Kawai, the CEO, will be talking about the business environment and financial estimates. Mr. Kawai, please.
Good afternoon. My name is Kawai. I will talk about the business environment and financial estimates. Starting with the business environment. For CY2021 WFE market, at the time of the August financial results meeting, we expected the market to grow around 40% year-on-year, but driven by semiconductor demand due to the digital shift of society, not only leading edge, but a mature generation product investments are also increasing. Because of this background, the CY2021 WFE market growth is expected to approach 50% year-on-year. For the FPD TFT array process equipment market, no change. Year-on-year, a reduction of 20% is forecast. Now let us look at the by application outlook for the WFE market. For logic and foundry, last time we expected a growth rate of 45%, but this time this number was increased to 60%.
For DRAM, our forecast remained the same at a growth rate of about 60%. For non-volatile memory, we made a slight upward revision from the last time. A year-on-year increase of about 20% is expected. Next, let me talk about the first half of FY 2022 business progress. As Mr. Nunokawa reported to you, in the first half for both net sales and profits, they recorded by far the highest ever numbers. If you look at the background, core products were adopted for high volume production. A Field Solutions business progressed as scheduled. In the Field Solutions business, the half yearly net sales was above JPY 200 billion. Towards the achievement of the medium-term management plan, products important for scaling and patterning achieved new POR.
In addition to that, there were new product releases for wafer probers, where demand is expected to grow because of the evolution of leading-edge packaging technology. In preparation to the expansion of WFE market, the Miyagi Technology Innovation Center was complete. We entered into an MOU for the introduction of equipment to imec Joint Research Laboratory. We started up the supply chain initiative, E-COMPASS, towards the creation of environmentally friendly high performance equipment. With the acceleration of a shift to a data society through these activities, we will continue to technological innovation of semiconductors.
Next is the financial estimate for FY 2022. Because of the actual first half results and also under the strong demand background, we have revised our estimate upward. Since the August announcement, full year sales will increase by JPY 50 billion to JPY 1.9 trillion. Gross profit will increase by JPY 37 billion to JPY 861 billion. Operating income will increase by JPY 43 billion to JPY 551 billion. Current net incomes will increase by JPY 30 billion to JPY 400 billion. The full year profit ratios will be, for example, GPM 45.3%, OPM 29%. That is our estimate. All the sales, operating income, operating profit margins, we are going to record a highest ever. We'll continue to seek the achievement of the midterm plan.
Next, let me talk about the FY 2022 SBE divisions, the new equipment sales estimate. As you can see, first half-year sales was JPY 695.5 billion. The half-year record of the FY 2019 first half of five hundred and four point three billion yen was exceeded again. Second half will also grow the sales to JPY 734.5 billion. Full year new equipment sales is going to increase by 48% over previous year to JPY 1,430 billion. Calendar year, new equipment sales growth will come very close to 60% increase over previous year, outperforming WFE market growth ratio. Application mix will stay the same. Next, R&D cost and the CapEx planning, they will remain unchanged. In FY 2022, both will be a record high.
R&D expenses JPY 165 billion. CapEx JPY 64 billion. Those are expectations. We expect the depreciation and amortizations will be JPY 43 billion. Because of the expanding market and diversifying latest technology requirement, we will accelerate R&D and the CapEx aggressively. Last but not least, the dividend forecast. Based on the current financial estimate and the payout ratio of 50% will be revised upward. Dividend per share is going to be JPY 1,284 for full year. That will be, again, a record high dividend amount. From October twenty-ninth, our company was selected for TOPIX Core30, and that was the honor to us. We'll pursue semiconductor technology innovation and provide high value-added products and services, thus try to further enhance our corporate values. That is all from me. Thank you.
Now, let us move on to the question and answer session, which will last till 6:00 P.M. Japan time. Questions will be accepted in both Japanese and English, but the speakers will be available on the Japanese channel, so all your questions will be limited to Japanese. If you would like to ask a question in Japanese, please press the Raise Hand button on the Webex system. For details, please refer to the instructions attached to the invitation mail. I will call the name of the person who will be asking a question one by one. Our secretariat will contact you in advance, so please pay attention to the Webex chat box. For questions in English, please use the Webex chat box to enter your company name, your name, and your question in text, and send it to our secretariat.
We will refrain from answering questions that do not include your company name and your name. On the Japanese channel, we will translate your English question and read it out in Japanese, and the speaker will answer it in Japanese. On the English channel, the question and answer will be broadcast live with simultaneous interpretation. On the Japanese channel, we will take one question per person and one follow-up question. On the English channel, on the other hand, since we take questions by text, we take one question per person with no follow-up. If there is more time, we will take additional questions. If you have any questions, please press the Raise Hand button.
Mr. Yoshida of CLSA. Thank you very much. The first question is on the WFE, the next year's forecast. Do you have any expectation by application? This is Kawai. Let me answer your question. Next year, again, a 50% growth is expected as from the last year to this year. The next year, again, as the last announcement, we expect the positive growth. But we are still considering the actual quantifications, but actually memory and the logic and both will grow next year. Especially the drivers of DDR5 for the DRAM and for the NAND, the 170 layers, and also DDR5 requirement, CPU investment, and the data centers, PC, and smartphone markets. All those areas will receive the strong investment. Thank you very much.
As a follow-up question, as for the maturity logic foundry information for the WFE was revised. I think it is only coming from the maturity section. Logic foundry investment for 2021, what would be the portion of the maturity? Then what would be the prospects for the next year for the maturity section? As for the maturity and also the advanced sections and also the memory, everything grew so far. As I have talked about those mixture. As for the increment, that logic advanced as well as the legacy. I think that it will be about a 50/50 percentage-wise. The next year as well, legacy logic investment will also stay strong. That is what we think. To quantify the estimate for next year, let us refrain from sharing that. We expect probably a positive growth for next year. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much to Mr. Yoshida for your question. Next from Goldman Sachs, Mr. Nakamura, please.
Thank you very much. I have a question about gross margin. From Q1 to Q2, it seems like gross margin went down slightly. What is the background of that? Compared to the original plan, it has increased or improved. Please explain the background. For the second half, or compared to Q2, it seems like gross margin is expected to go up. Please tell us about your thoughts on gross margin trend. This is Nunokawa speaking, and I will answer your question. For Q1 and Q2, the gross margin. That was your question. In Q1, the margin was very high, and when we reported to you, we did provide some explanation, but the level was very high. I think we said that we hope this could continue. Unfortunately, it will be difficult to continue at that level.
In Q1, for both the customer mix and the customer's application mix, both were very favorable for our profit margin. As a result, we achieved a very high level. As of the end of Q1, we talked about forecast of Q2, and we mentioned that we will not reach the level of Q1 or it will be a more modest level. As a result, the margin did not go down as we had expected. As of Q1, we had expected the positive factors for Q1 application mix or customer mix. That didn't degrade as much as we had expected. Q2 results did not go down to the level that we had expected at the end of Q1. For Q3 and Q4, compared to Q2, the numbers will go up.
For the second half, on a half-yearly basis, it will be about the same as first half. Q2, Q3, Q4, we are steadily making improvement and strengthening our profitability. That is from my side. Let me add an explanation from my side. For product mix, geography mix, they will have an impact on a quarterly based numbers. And the gross margin will go up towards the future. High speed, high reliability, high capacity, packaging. We have that technology. High value add products for the customers. As we talked about in the presentation, the penetration of these products is going up. Towards the achievement of a midterm business goal, our gross margin will go up, but that is the plan. On a short-term, quarter-over-quarter basis, product mix, and geography mix may have an impact, but the major trend is that we can expect further growth. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Nakamura. Next is from Mr. Hirakawa of BofA Securities.
Thanks you. Hirakawa of the BofA. As for the raw materials procurement and also the. You have also increased the sales to JPY 1.9 trillion. If the material procurement is better, then you can see more growth in sales? Thank you very much.
As for the component procurement. Yes, the. We need to make sure the procurement is done because of the strong demand and also the standardizations or the leveling off of the production is also conducted. If the materials becomes the bottlenecks, and then the. We should not affect the sales. We need to consider every possible efforts to make sure the sales would be achieved.
That's why we could revise our numbers at this time. During the COVID-19 crisis, there was some closure of the flow, but it is now being released. We'll make sure that the materials should be procured steadily and supply chains enhancement would be conducted so that we can meet the customers' demand. At the same time, in Japan, we have many suppliers and also they are supporting us. Thanks to them, we have been doing our business. We would like to keep a communication with those partners to meet the demands in the market. Thank you very much.
As a follow-up, you've talked about the supply chain management and support is quite good, but how about the lead time of the products? From two years ago, is it, they are improving? How is it going?
As for the material procurement impact, it is somewhat elongating the lead time because of the shortage of the materials, it might affect our production. The planning of the productions and also assembling time has been coordinated so that they would not affect the customers. From the long-term perspective, customers gave us an orders so that we would not negatively affect the delivery timing. We see some of the inquiries for those long-term period, and we are now managing it properly. Thank you.
Mr. Hirakawa, thank you. The next question is from Mr. Wadaki of Nomura Securities.
Can you hear me? My first question, the equipment market is in very good condition, but in 1998, I think you were in a situation where you had orders for the next one year and three months, but all of a sudden those orders disappeared. What is the present situation? Will that not happen again? At this moment, we don't see any signs of that happening. I think we are much more mature than before. In the past, we used to have computer-centric or PC-centric demand. But after the supply goes a full circle, you go into an adjustment period. For mobile-centric, once the smartphone demand runs its full cycle, the demand went down. With IoT, all of a sudden we moved into the data-centric era.
The model has changed from goods to things, and semiconductors are now said to be the rice of the society. ICT, DX will continue to grow strongly towards the future, we believe. The traditional Silicon Cycle wave to a strong continued growth with no drastic decline is what we expect. For customers, considering the profit and cash flow, they are making investments. The DRAM top manufacturers, NAND top manufacturers, logic major manufacturers, all of them are looking closely at market trends. In that sense, everybody making investments at the same time is not happening. Everybody is looking at the market to make investment decisions. That is a major difference between now and the past. Big years is what we can expect that there will be no major decline.
Unless that kind of a special situation occurs, we will not see a major decline. That is what we expect. Thank you very much. Overall, you're in good condition, and you can expect a good year next year. If you look at
Different applications.
What is the forecast? There is no difference between the different
Applications.
I think, there will be roughly the same across the board. Thank you very much to Mr. Wadaki.
Mr. Shimamoto of Okasan Securities. Thank you very much. Can you hear me? As for the actual sales of SPE, it was up JPY 30 billion. What was the reasons of this difference? Okay. Let me answer. My name is Nunokawa. Against the first half budget, we've seen increase of the JPY 30 billion increase. The contents-wise, first of all, the new equipment sales growth, and also Field Solutions sales, both of them contributing to it. The DRAM market new equipment was strongly contributing to it. Thank you. As a follow-up question, SPE's demand, their backlog could be also high because of the strong demand, and it is almost their full capacity. What would be the quarter-by-quarter capacity of the maximum sales you can make from the current capacity?
Because of your capacity building plans, do you have any increased plan of the sales capabilities? Let me answer to that. For the 3 or 4 or 5 years or so, we have been trying to increase our capacity. The Miyagi Logistics Building was the first, and logistics improvement and also production lines was doubled from 1 to 2. So the capacity building was conducted. After the expansions, as for the thin film, Tohoku and Yamanashi, the new plant was built respectively and last year started production. So from two years ago, 1.5 times and 2 times the capacity were achieved from those efforts. In terms of the amount and the products, there are some differences, and we will not be able to quantify right now.
For the growing WFE and also midterm plans is concerned, we are planning in accordance to those background. Towards 2024, JPY 1.9 trillion estimate was already made for FY 2022. We are also planning to achieve it in advance. Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much to Mr. Shimamoto for your question. The next question is Mr. Nakanomyo from Jefferies Securities. This is Nakanomyo speaking. You talked about 2022, but for 2023 or 2024, what is your outlook? We recently heard about Intel United States or TSMC Kumamoto. For 2023 or 2024, what is your outlook? If you look at the global macroeconomy. Of course, we have to closely watch the macroeconomy, but all customers have very big investment plans. In that sense, we can expect major inquiries. Two or three years ago, we talked about a higher level, a growth phase, but at this moment, we can say we came to a higher level than that.
The semiconductor device, the business in 2020 was JPY 440 billion, but in 2030, it is expected to reach JPY 1 trillion. A lot of people are saying, which means that the market will double. Data traffic CAGR will grow at 25%-26%. That is the major trend. The semiconductor production equipment will also grow in line with that. Adjustment or will it go up gradually, stepwise. It's very difficult to explain in front of a screen or monitor, but rather than going down, there will be some ways of adjustments, but we expect a linear growth. Digital and green seem to be major trends, and looking at those trends, we are establishing our plans. Over the medium to long term, we can have high expectations. Thank you very much. One additional question.
Your customers, you said, are looking at the supply-demand balance in making their decisions on investments. For this year and next year, that may be the case. When a huge amount of investment come in with subsidies provided for major investment, those who have the subsidies may have major investments. Those who don't, if they want to catch up on their own, there will be some distortion of the market. Towards over 25 or 30 years, maybe the supply-demand balance. There may be a balance between supply and demand balance. In the short term, do you think there may be some adjustments, or do you think the market can maintain a healthy level?
We're talking about major investments, but as I mentioned before, the market, we're not sure whether the lack of legacy devices was foreseen, but I think the market will continue to maintain a healthy balance. This industry is not just about volume. Technical innovation is very fast in this industry, and in the high-value areas, investments will continue. In the future, the keys will be EUV in lithography or GAA, nanosheet, Backside Power Via, 3D IC, and in DRAMs, further scaling, and 3D DRAM and NAND multilayers. Manufacturers that can respond to those changes, I think are watching the market closely. The existing equipment can be upgraded with Field Solutions and productivity improvement. They may be shifting to legacy devices.
There is a technical innovation side, and especially the leading-edge customers are watching the market very closely. Most of our sales come from leading-edge, a high-value area for new equipment. I think we can surely continue the growth. A market disruption would be very hard to imagine. Thank you. The second point is about memory supply-demand balance. This year, DRAM is 20% or 25%, and maybe next year would be lower than that, at 15%-20%. For this year, there has been a lot of investments, and capital intensity has gone up. This year, the supply capacity has not grown that much. If you look at next year's supply-demand balance, yields will go up because of this year's investments.
Next year, if you make more investments than this year, is it possible that the supply-demand balance would be disrupted?
The logic supply is in shortage and for DRAM, actually, because of logic shortage, they cannot supply their products. Investment in DDR5 will be seen next year in equipment market. The die size will be 10% larger, and the data will be growing. I don't think what you are worrying about will be realized, and memory will continue to grow steadily.
Sorry, I'm not actually worried. Sorry, I just wanted to ask that question. Thank you very much. I feel very assured that you are of the same opinion as I am.
Thank you, Mr. Nakanomyo. Next will be Mr. Kamisaki of Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.
Hello, can you hear me? Good. Okay. Thank you. I have one question. Because of the semiconductor shortage, what were the reasons of this heavy shortage? The big semiconductor manufacturers were having a record high backlog of the semiconductors. In your prospect, how long does it take to be resolved? I think you have also your situations, you would like to produce your products, but the record of that, it is, they are somewhat stopped. Can you teach me or enlighten me? This is my personal view. As I said before, because of the digital society and IoT is also accelerating the growth of the demand for semiconductor.
Under such circumstance, and also because of the COVID-19 crisis, the usage have become heavier, and the lifestyles was also hybrid. The industries' IoT usages were also increasing these days. If you look at the investment in 2020, probably, it must have had the heavier investment, but it was, they are stopped rather in between. As for the SPEs as well, because of the movement, the restraint, engineers couldn't travel to facilities. The facilities connections were also stopped because of such the circumstances. For all industries affected. New investment and production started all of a sudden.
We are supposed to have the smooth growth, but because of the flat situations, because of such catch-up momentum, we need to grow more drastically. I think that is the leading to the shortage of the semiconductors right now. How long does it take to be resolved? IoT, AI, and also 5G, everything's using the internet traffic. We do increase the productions, but probably the shortage stay in the market. That is the forecast. It is very difficult to say when it will be resolved. For our company, we would like to meet the customers' demands, and we would like to increase our production. That is what we're thinking.
As a follow-up question, with the WFE, it is like increasing by 30 or 40, 50%. I think you have good marketing capabilities and also your positioning in the market was also favorable. Within just a year, I think the forecast was revised during the year so frequently. What is the reasons of this? The catch-up demand, as I said before, was quite demanding. It is not a matter of the yield of the customer's side. The demand grew, actually. We have been discussing four generations wide, but still it is ensured and it was additionally ordered. That's why we have seen the unique increase and also the future investment is also necessary. For the memory, not only just the logic. I think that is the pure demand increase.
Coming from the IoT devices, I think, the demand for such is also increasing. That is also the experience for the industry as a whole. High performance computing era, it is the coming. Yes, it is. All of a sudden, all the communications and DX and internet traffic's increase, those type of the things needed to be considered. The strategic planning is also conducted right now. I think what you have summarized was correct. May I?
Yeah.
Next question is through English text. Nanshan Life, Shen Tam.
How far into the future do you have an expectation or forecast for orders? We have announced our medium-term business plan. Over the long term and for the customers who have construction plans, we are looking at those numbers. For quite a long time. However, we are now seeing high demand, and the customers are placing orders earlier than before. Depending on the product, we are already receiving LOIs for orders for next fall. Not only orders, but long-term forecasts, a two-year forecast are what we are trying to develop. Within that two-year forecast, we are managing the company. We have long-term numbers, and we do review on a quarterly basis. That would be the answer. Thank you very much to Mr. Shen Tam for your question.
Next, Mr. Yamamoto of the Mitsubishi Securities. Yamamoto from Mitsubishi Securities. I'd like to ask about the initiative with the suppliers. Every year, the forecast is growing, but with the material procurement-wise, I don't see any problems in terms of that. What kind of the initiative do you have with the suppliers to realize it? That with the strong demand background, it's not that we don't have any big problems. We are managing it so far with the customers with the cooperation of the partners and suppliers. I needed to take this opportunity to express the gratitude to those partners. Every type of the efforts were envisaged, and it was actually due to those cooperations that we could survive. We have a full plan.
As those plans, we are conducting the briefings bilaterally about the product planning and what would be the policy and what would be the trends for the production, briefed. I myself would also visit sometimes and the trends and viewpoint would be shared with the partner companies so that we can have a good communications to meet the customers' demand. In the beginning, we have already told you that probably from the case it will be probably better or favorable because we have a local supply, more content from the local supply. As for the overseas competitors case, it was a different matter. We are probably better off because we have the better local content.
That is the current situation due to the support from the suppliers. I believe that the suppliers are now probably also struggling how to supply them. If there's another cycle for 2022 and 2023, I think that these industries can survive for the next cycle as well. It will be another effort necessary for the 3 years ahead and 5 years ahead if those demands must be achieved. What else initiative do you have for 3-year ahead future? Right now, what we have been doing is to deal with the current situation. That is the rather urgent so far.
As for the long-term enhancement of the supply chains, they are starting with their discussions for their 3 years, 4 years, 5 years ahead planning. The corporate production division was also established. All those experienced people from the different plants were convened to make that organization. Under Mr. Sasaki of the plant related organization that we are now looking at the supply chain management. From October the first, this was organized. As Mr. Yamamoto has asked, the long-term plan and the strategy is now being discussed at that organization. The E-COMPASS was also created for the environment sake, and would like to enhance our supply chain.
Not only just the environment, but the performance for the environment is quite important for the productivity per unit, and the tool matching might not be necessary. The tool timing would be increased. Those could be also very important measures for the productivity improvements. Per area, per unit-wise, the productivity would have been improved through this E-COMPASS initiative. They will not use those banned for the environment's sake, and that is mandatory. From October the first, organization was started to think about environment with the collaboration with the suppliers. That is just started, and I would like to continue the dialogue with them. Thank you very much. I'm relieved. I'm looking forward to the future.
Thank you, Mr. Yamamoto.
It is now time, but we are receiving a lot of questions, so we would like to extend the time today. The next question is from Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley, Mr. Hasegawa.
From Mitsubishi UFJ, my name is Hasegawa. I think this is an extension of the first question. For the 2030 semiconductor market, not only your company, but the semiconductor equipment company, these are all talking about $1 trillion. On the IR day, you talked about the shift from product to value. You're talking about things, AI processing, robots, or several years down the road, maybe automated driving. Device manufacturers or system and service companies, for them, how do they run their business? If you look at the overall supply chain. When we look at investment plans, we look at the customer's cash flow. Each company is planning to create value based on their financial situation.
In the future, based on IoT, smart cities, smart houses, EV, fuel cell vehicles, automated drive vehicles, smart medicine, we will see an expansion into these markets. We will be moving into the post 5G era. That will lead to a $1 trillion market opportunity. We see a very healthy investment cycle with investment into areas where there is needs. At the moment, we don't see any signs of cash flow being disrupted. The importance of semiconductors is attracting attention. I think everybody will be managing their cash flow carefully. This is about our customers' plan. I am not in a position to say anything about that as a person from an equipment manufacturer, but I think they are solidly looking at numbers and establishing their plans.
I think that is true for device manufacturers, but with more advancement in services and equipment. With the advancement of IT, service prices may come down or simple services may be replaced by more advanced services, and the economy will be shifting more towards IT. On the net, you have an advertising, you have a system where you can collect money through advertisements. I was thinking about how much the market can expand. You are an equipment manufacturer, but for the service companies, how can they really achieve cash flow for the future? It's a very ambiguous question, and this question is not directly related to you. You talked about a $1 trillion market opportunity, so I was thinking about your thoughts on that.
Many things are happening now, and some people are talking about VUCA. Rather than just talking about the short term, it is important to look at the megatrend, the overall trend. In that sense, the big global trend is digital and green, making these compliant. With the digital economy, productivity will go up further. With more production, that may lead to the creation of new things, which will contribute to positive growth. With advancement of IoT, power consumption will also go up. In that sense, according to nature, at 20% power consumption. To have both green and digital, transistor performance may be improved for low energy consumption. Now, if you look at the real megatrends, I think we will be moving towards $1 trillion with technical innovation, with convenience and productivity going up. Under any condition, we will have ICT and DX being implemented, so that society or economy will not be stopped, whatever happens. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Hasegawa. The last question from Mr. Sugiura of Daiwa Securities. Sugiura from Daiwa Securities. For the Field Solutions, I have a question. I think it is quite good right now, and device manufacturers and equipment manufacturers. I think the new equipment is now getting more attention. It might be affecting the modification sales. Also the installed numbers are increasing, and probably you expect more growth for the Field Solutions for next year again. Nunokawa is going to answer your question. Field Solutions are increasing sales steadily, and modifications for the second quarter also increased and contributed to the growth. This year, ups and downs of the modification sales happened, but it went up for the second quarter, and it contributed positively.
When the new demands for the new equipments are strong, then the modifications or the improvements can probably lengthen the machine's life. Whenever the strong demand for the new equipment is similarly, we see the strong demands for the modifications business. That is the trends, and probably last half and the next year onward, we see again the more growth in this area, and we expect the growth for this Field Solutions. We are also looking forward to it. More than 78,000 is already installed, and we are shipping 4,000 every year. We are now accumulating the old installed numbers. Because of that, we expect a strong growth of the Field Solutions, modifications, and also the movements and the layout change.
The remote service and yield improvement supports, those are also accompanying with the equipment. That would be also creating new business values from the equipment. Stable growth is expected. We are also looking forward to it.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Sugiura. We would like to conclude the financial announcement briefing. Before closing the meeting, I would like to inform you about the follow-up session of our IR Day, which we held last month. Due to time constraints, we were unable to answer the questions of many of those who raised their hands during the IR Day Q&A session. Therefore, we would like to hold a fireside chat between the moderator and the IR Day speakers. We will ask you for questions in advance to the fireside chat so that we can focus our discussion on the area in which many people are interested. The fireside chat will be held online, and the timing is scheduled for mid-January. Details will be provided later via email and our website.
We would like to continue to improve our IR activities based on your opinions, so we would appreciate your cooperation in completing the questionnaire before you exit from the Webex. Thank you very much for taking time to join this conference despite your busy schedule today.