AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA, ISIN DE000A0WMPJ6) announced on April 14, 2026, that 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 for Q1 2026, a year-over-year increase of about 30% from EUR 132.2 million in Q1 2025. More than 65% of equipment order intake was related to the Optoelectronics segment.
Preliminary revenues for the quarter came in at approximately EUR 59 million, within the guided range of EUR 65 million plus or minus EUR 10 million. However, this represents a decline from EUR 112.5 million in the prior year. Gross profit and operating result were negatively impacted by a mid-single-digit EUR million one-off charge related to a personnel measure. Preliminary gross profit was about EUR 11 million (Q1 2025: EUR 34.1 million), with a gross margin of approximately 18% (Q1 2025: 30%). The preliminary operating result (EBIT) totaled approximately EUR -22 million (Q1 2025: EUR 3.3 million), translating to an EBIT margin of about -38% (Q1 2025: 3%). The low margins were attributed to the one-off expenses and negative operating leverage due to low volume.
Despite the weak profitability, cash flow remained positive, with preliminary cash and cash equivalents including other current financial assets increasing 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 or minus EUR 30 million, up from the previous guidance of EUR 520 million plus or minus EUR 30 million. The company also raised its EBIT margin outlook to around 17%–20% (previously 16%–19%) and expects a gross margin of around 42% (previously 41%–42%).
“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,” said Dr. Felix Grawert, CEO of AIXTRON SE.
The full report for the first quarter of 2026 will be published on April 30, 2026. For further information, visit the company's website at www.aixtron.com.
