Nova Ltd. versus KLA versus Camtek: Metrology in the Age of Advanced Packaging
Introduction
Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI) has long been a precision player in semiconductor metrology, but for much of its history, it has lacked the scale and investor recognition of giants like KLA Corp. (NASDAQ: KLAC) or the inspection-driven momentum of Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ: CAMT).
In 2024, however, Nova crossed a critical threshold. Its advanced packaging revenue more than doubled to $80 million, accounting for 15% of product sales and marking its entry into a high-growth segment increasingly viewed as a front line of chip innovation.
Advanced packaging, once treated as a commodity back-end step, has now become a core driver of semiconductor system performance, particularly in chiplet-based architectures and AI accelerators. As a result, the battle for dominance in metrology and inspection for packaging is heating up, with KLA, Nova, and Camtek each staking different strategic positions.
Robert discussed the demand for advanced packaging in HBM in numerous Substack articles, with his latest on June 10, 2025 entitled “Micron’s Ascent Without Altitude: The Problem of Platform Power.” We also monitor Micron and other stocks in this sector closely and provide updates in our Gilder’s Technology Report.
Packaging Revenue Comparison: Absolute vs. Strategic Weight
Table 1 compares the 2024 packaging revenues of KLA, Camtek, and Nova. While KLA leads in absolute dollars, Camtek remains highly concentrated in packaging, and Nova shows the fastest growth momentum. This table matters because it highlights how each company is positioned within the packaging value chain—not just by size, but by strategic exposure.
Investors often overlook smaller packaging revenue contributors like Nova, yet their growth trajectories are sometimes steeper and more technically focused. Revenue data come from Robert’s report at The Information Network entitled “Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control in VLSI Manufacturing.”
Share Price Movement vs. Execution
This second table compares the 12-month share price performance of all three companies. Despite strong operational progress in packaging, Nova’s stock is down slightly, while Camtek has experienced a major decline. This disconnect between fundamentals and market sentiment is key: Nova is executing but not yet rewarded by the market. It suggests room for a potential re-rating if investors begin to recognize packaging as a secular growth driver and not merely a cyclical segment.
Chart 1 illustrates share price performance for the past one-year period for the three companies.
Chart 1
Technology Positioning: Why Nova’s Differentiation Matters
The final table illustrates how each company is positioned technically. Unlike Camtek, which focuses heavily on visual inspection, Nova emphasizes integrated optical critical dimension (OCD) metrology and modeling software that can be embedded in fab workflows. KLA, meanwhile, straddles both inspection and metrology at massive scale. What this table reveals is not just a checklist of capabilities—it reflects each company’s underlying strategy.
KLA focuses on platform extensibility and volume across both front-end and back-end. Camtek leans on high-resolution defectivity tools optimized for die-level packaging. Nova, however, specializes in precision measurements that become more critical as packaging moves toward finer TSVs, micro-bumps, and hybrid bonding. Its integrated metrology enables real-time feedback loops, while software modeling allows predictive process optimization—functions that align perfectly with packaging’s growing complexity.
This technical positioning is not cosmetic—it affects win rates with the top five packaging manufacturers. Nova has landed tools at four of those five in 2024, not because it offers everything, but because it offers highly focused tools that solve a growing class of dimensional and material control problems in chiplet packaging.
KLA remains the safe compounder, and Camtek is the cyclical inspection play. Nova is the technical specialist moving toward strategic relevance. For those willing to look past short-term valuation inertia, Nova’s next phase of growth may be built into the architecture of next-generation chips—one precision layer at a time. Its tools are already in the right customer fabs. Now, it is a matter of broadening adoption, growing packaging revenue above 20% of total sales, and showing that its edge in precision translates to margin expansion and long-term compounding.