TLDR
- Soitec stock jumped as much as 15.1% after raising its Q2 fiscal 2027 revenue growth forecast to around 50% year-on-year, up from 30%.
- The upgrade is driven by accelerating demand for Photonics-SOI wafers used in AI data centre optical networking.
- Soitec now expects Q2’27 Photonics-SOI revenue to be around three times the Q2’26 level of roughly $25 million.
- The company is locking customers into multi-year capacity reservation agreements with deposits and fixed pricing.
- Soitec holds an estimated 95% market share in silicon photonics substrates and does not expect to need a new factory until around 2029.
Soitec stock surged as much as 15.1% on Thursday after the French chip materials maker raised its second-quarter revenue growth forecast to around 50% year-on-year at constant currency, up sharply from its prior guidance of more than 30%.
The company said the upgrade reflects accelerating demand for its Photonics-SOI wafers, better visibility on near-term customer needs, and its ability to adjust capacity quickly.
Soitec now expects Photonics-SOI revenue in Q2 fiscal 2027 to come in at around three times the Q2’26 level of roughly $25 million. For the first half of fiscal 2027, that figure is expected to be around 2.3 times the first-half fiscal 2026 level of approximately $50 million.
For the full fiscal year 2027, Soitec is guiding Photonics-SOI revenue to land between 2.5 and 3 times the fiscal 2026 level, which was slightly above $100 million. CEO Laurent Remont has now called that $200 million-plus figure “absolutely a floor,” not a ceiling.
The rest of the business remains broadly unchanged. Soitec generated around €600 million in total sales in fiscal 2025-2026.
Locking Customers Into Multi-Year Deals
Soitec is not sitting back and waiting. The company is actively signing multi-year Capacity Reservation Agreements with photonics customers, with around 80% of contracts expected to be signed within a week or two.
The agreements require customers to pay deposits tied to committed demand. If customers hit their agreed volume, they get the deposit back. If they fall short, they forfeit it. Volumes above the agreed level reopen pricing discussions.
“That’s a way for us to have our customer with skin in the game,” Remont told Reuters.
Customers are also required to share inventory data, a move designed to prevent over-ordering to lock up supply from competitors.
Soitec expects agreements to be in place with eight of around 10 major customers in the coming weeks.
Capacity Plans and No New Factory Yet
Demand for silicon photonics has risen sharply as hyperscalers move to optical connections inside AI infrastructure, where copper links are losing ground on power and performance grounds.
Soitec supplies the substrate underpinning almost all silicon photonics chips. UBS estimates its market share at around 95%. The stock has nearly quadrupled this year.
The company does not expect to need a new plant until around 2029. In the meantime, it is using two levers: shifting output between business lines using shared facilities, and adding tools within existing cleanroom space.
Soitec produced Photonics-SOI only in France until five months ago. It has since qualified a facility in Singapore.
A third option, an unequipped building in Singapore, could be kitted out instead of building a brand-new fab. A decision on that is expected within six to 12 months.
Remont said there is no need for a U.S. plant “at this stage,” adding that customers are “more desperate to get wafers than being too picky about where the location for production is.”
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