AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA, ISIN DE000A0WMPJ6) announced that it is raising its guidance for fiscal year 2026, citing stronger-than-expected demand from the Optoelectronics sector in the first quarter. The company reported preliminary order intake of approximately EUR 171 million for Q1 2026, a 30% increase year-over-year from EUR 132.2 million in Q1 2025, with over 65% of equipment orders linked to the Optoelectronics segment.
Preliminary revenues for the quarter were about EUR 59 million, within the guided range of EUR 65 million plus/minus EUR 10 million, but down from EUR 112.5 million in the prior-year period. Gross profit reached approximately EUR 11 million, yielding a gross margin of about 18%, compared to EUR 34.1 million and a 30% margin a year earlier. The operating result (EBIT) came in at roughly EUR –22 million, translating to an EBIT margin of about –38%, versus EUR 3.3 million and a 3% margin in Q1 2025. The lower margins were primarily due to negative operating leverage from low volume and a mid-single-digit million euro one-off charge related to a personnel measure.
Despite the weak earnings, cash flow remained positive. Preliminary cash and cash equivalents including other current financial assets rose to approximately EUR 273 million at quarter-end, up from EUR 224.6 million on December 31, 2025.
Based on current market developments and an exchange rate assumption of 1.20 USD/EUR, AIXTRON now expects full-year 2026 revenues of around EUR 560 million in a range of plus/minus EUR 30 million, up from the previous guidance of EUR 520 million plus/minus EUR 30 million. The EBIT margin is forecast to improve to 17%–20% (previously 16%–19%), and the gross margin is expected to be around 42% (previously 41%–42%).
Dr. Felix Grawert, CEO of AIXTRON SE, commented, “The significantly stronger-than-expected demand from the Optoelectronics sector in the first quarter is a very encouraging development. We expect this trend to continue and have therefore raised our guidance for the year. With our G10-AsP system, we have the tool of record for the next generation of photonic components, which are the basis for chip-to-chip, rack-to-rack and datacenter-to-datacenter communications in the AI era.”
The full report for the first quarter of 2026 will be published on April 30, 2026, as planned. For further information on AIXTRON, visit their website at www.aixtron.com.
