By Ozan Ergenay

(Reuters) -BE Semiconductor Industries (Besi) said on Thursday it expected fourth-quarter sales to rise compared to the previous one as demand for AI-related data centre applications boosts bookings.

The Dutch chipmaking equipment supplier makes the world’s most accurate hybrid bonding tool, a critical instrument that top chipmakers such as Nvidia, Broadcom and TSMC are looking to adopt.

Besi said it would start a new 60-million-euro ($70 million) share buyback programme, after it completed a previous 100-million-euro one in October.

It expects revenue to increase by 15% to 25% in the fourth quarter, after it fell 15.3% year-on-year to 132.7 million euros in the third.

Revenue was hit by continued weakness in mainstream assembly markets, particularly for mobile and aut

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