AI data center demand, higher copper prices and a weaker yen drove first-quarter gains, while the company also outlined major capacity expansion plans.
JX Metals raised its consolidated operating profit forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2027 to ¥232 billion after a strong April-June 2026 first quarter, when operating profit rose 2.8 times to ¥81.4 billion on stronger sales of semiconductor and communications materials, firmer copper prices and a weaker yen. Revenue increased 36% to ¥260.6 billion and net profit attributable to owners of the parent jumped 181% to ¥53.1 billion. The upgrade reflected brisk demand tied to AI data centers, especially for semiconductor sputtering targets, along with stronger results in the company’s two focus businesses: semiconductor materials and information and communication materials. Semiconductor materials revenue rose 34% to ¥52.1 billion and operating profit climbed 69% to ¥14.4 billion, while information and communication materials revenue rose 19% to ¥93.1 billion and operating profit advanced 70% to ¥13.1 billion. Market conditions also gave a large lift, with the average yen rate at ¥159 to the dollar, 14 yen weaker than a year earlier, and London Metal Exchange copper up 40% to 604 cents a pound. JX Metals said those factors alone added ¥26.5 billion to operating profit, while a ¥19 billion gain from the partial sale of an interest in the Caserones copper mine in Chile also boosted earnings. The company revised its full-year assumptions to a ¥157 yen-dollar rate and copper at 586 cents a pound, and said market factors should add ¥40 billion more to operating profit than previously assumed. It also flagged a ¥6 billion headwind from reduced mine production in Chile because of adverse weather. Looking ahead, JX Metals plans to expand capacity for semiconductor sputtering targets to 1.3 times fiscal 2025 levels, magnetic material targets to 1.2 times, and indium phosphide substrates for optical communications by seven to ten times, underscoring its bet on sustained AI-related demand.