STOCKHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
2022 Annual Meeting Vote Results
In 2022, the average vote in favor of the election of our Board nominees was 98.8%. This approval was at the same level as the support our Board received in 2021. Also at our 2022 annual meeting, 97.7% of votes were cast for approval of the advisory vote on the Company’s 2021 executive compensation (commonly referred to as “Say-on-Pay”). We believe that this voting result reflects stockholder support for our executive compensation decisions.
2022 Stockholder Outreach
Routine Investor Relations. We rely on a variety of regular and special disclosure documents and investor relations activities to ensure that our stockholders understand our performance, our potential, our governance policies and compensation practices. We routinely engage with our stockholders to discuss our business, performance, and strategy. These discussions sometimes also cover Board composition, governance policies and executive compensation. Our investor relations program includes: press releases on product shipments, earnings, and other material matters; quarterly earnings conference calls; participation in industry conferences arranged by investment banks; non-deal roadshows (“NDRs”) arranged by investment analysts and others supporting our stock; one-on-one meetings in connection with conferences, roadshows or otherwise; and routine phone and email conversations with stockholders. Our investor website is a regularly updated repository of investor relations material, including press releases, links to SEC filings, investor presentations, governance documents, including all committee charters and our governance guidelines.
See https://investor.axcelis.com/
During 2022, in addition to our routine quarterly earnings calls and follow up meetings, Axcelis representatives attended seven in-person investor conferences and NDRs in Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Montana, New York City, Dallas, and Houston. Additionally, we participated in five investor conferences and NDRs that were held virtually, due to Covid-19 precautions. The Company also held a technology seminar for investors in July 2022.
Key 2022 Investor Messages. Following on a strong year in 2021, the semiconductor equipment industry saw remarkable additional growth in 2022. Axcelis had a number of important accomplishments in 2022:
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Axcelis’ revenue grew 39% year over year;
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Our full year revenue, gross margins and operating profit were all at record levels since we became an independent company in 2001;
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The market for mature semiconductor devices grew rapidly, producing greater than 80% of our systems shipments, and within that total, the electrification of the automotive market drove the power device market to contribute approximately 39% of our systems shipments;
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Our global footprint in growing markets continued to expand, including through multiple evaluations at key customers in memory, mature process technologies, and advanced logic, sales of our Purion product extensions into the Silicon Carbide market, follow-on orders for our Purion products in Japan, and device qualification for leading edge CMOS Image Sensor processes; and
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Rapid growth of our manufacturing capabilities through solid execution, strong supply chain partnerships and bringing online new capacity at both our Beverly, Massachusetts facility and Axcelis Asia Operations Center in South Korea.
Support for Stockholder Interest in Executive Compensation Decisions. Axcelis seeks to maintain investor confidence that our executive compensation is both (i) set at an appropriate level