AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA, ISIN DE000A0WMPJ6) announced an upward revision of its fiscal year 2026 guidance following a stronger-than-expected demand for optoelectronics equipment 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. More than 65% of equipment orders were from the optoelectronics segment.
Preliminary revenues came in at around EUR 59 million, within the guided range of EUR 65 million plus/minus EUR 10 million, but significantly lower than the EUR 112.5 million reported in the same period last year. The decline in revenue was attributed to lower volume and a mid-single-digit million euro one-off charge related to personnel measures. Consequently, preliminary gross profit was approximately EUR 11 million (Q1 2025: EUR 34.1 million) with a gross margin of about 18% (Q1 2025: 30%). The preliminary operating result (EBIT) totaled approximately EUR –22 million (Q1 2025: EUR 3.3 million), resulting in an EBIT margin of about -38% (Q1 2025: 3%). Besides the one-off expenses, the low margins were primarily due to negative operating leverage from low volume.
Despite the operational loss, AIXTRON maintained a positive cash flow, with preliminary cash and cash equivalents including other current financial assets increasing to approximately EUR 273 million at quarter-end (December 31, 2025: EUR 224.6 million). Based on current market developments and an exchange rate of 1.20 USD/EUR, the company raised its full-year 2026 guidance. AIXTRON now expects revenues of around EUR 560 million in a range of plus/minus EUR 30 million (previously EUR 520 million plus/minus EUR 30 million). The EBIT margin is projected to be around 17% to 20% (previously 16% to 19%), and the gross margin is expected to be about 42% (previously 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 Q1 2026 will be published on April 30, 2026.
For further information on AIXTRON, visit www.aixtron.com.
