AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA, ISIN DE000A0WMPJ6) announced it is raising its guidance for fiscal year 2026, citing stronger-than-expected demand for optoelectronics equipment in the first quarter. The company reported preliminary order intake of approximately EUR 171 million in Q1 2026, a 30% increase year-over-year from EUR 132.2 million in Q1 2025. More than 65% of equipment orders were from the optoelectronics segment.
Preliminary revenues for the quarter came in at around EUR 59 million, within the guided range of EUR 65 million plus or minus EUR 10 million, but down from EUR 112.5 million in the prior-year period. Gross profit was approximately EUR 11 million (Q1 2025: EUR 34.1 million), yielding a gross margin of about 18% (Q1 2025: 30%). The operating result (EBIT) was roughly EUR -22 million (Q1 2025: EUR 3.3 million), translating to an EBIT margin of -38% (Q1 2025: 3%). The decline was attributed to a mid-single-digit EUR million one-off expense related to a personnel measure and negative operating leverage from low volumes.
Despite the weak profitability, 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, reflecting continued positive cash flow.
Based on current market developments and an exchange rate of 1.20 USD/EUR, AIXTRON now expects FY 2026 revenues of around EUR 560 million in a range of plus or minus EUR 30 million, raised from previous guidance of EUR 520 million plus or minus EUR 30 million. The EBIT margin is expected to be 17% to 20%, up from 16% to 19%, and the gross margin is forecast at around 42%, compared to prior guidance of 41% to 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 as planned on April 30, 2026. For further information, visit AIXTRON's website.
