I noticed a peculiar thing when reading ASM International's Q4 2025 earnings report last week.
The Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer reported €800 million in orders, beating expectations by almost 15%. However, buried in the details was something more interesting: orders from China appeared to rebound while logic and foundry customers saw surging demand for production of integrated circuits for smartphones, computers, and AI infrastructure.
More than just industry news, this is a leading indicator for when B2B SaaS companies will start hiring aggressively.
Here's the pattern I discovered and how you can use it to get ahead of hiring cycles by 2 to 3 quarters.