Soitec (AO) | Hold | Positive feedback from digital call with APAC investors

Research evidence excerpt

Soitec (AO) | Hold | Positive feedback from digital call with APAC investors

ing prototypes for CPOs.

Soitec has a deep understanding of silicon photonic technology, having developed Photonics-SOI wafers for about 10 years, and

the challenge is now to ramp up capacity to meet expanding demand.

The group is now shipping Photonics-SOI wafers from its SOI wafers fabs, Bernin I (200mm wafers with capacities gradually

shrinking from 1m to 750k) and Bernin II (300mm wafers with 750k wafers capacity), and now works at qualifying the Singapore

300mm wafer fab (which will bring an incremental 800k wafers capacity with room to expand toward 1m wafers capacity). Note

that the Singapore fab could also be expanded further with the addition of another 1m wafers capacity, ultimately, bearing in

mind that the expansion is unlikely before the end of the decade. On top of that, Soitec has the opportunity to shift some clean

room space of the Bernin IV fab (initially dedicated to SmartSiC) to Photonics-SOI.

While Soitec remains focused on leveraging its industrial assets, the group doesn't expect any significant capex to deliver the

upcoming growth of Photonics-SOI in the coming years (the group was initially building a USD2bn sales business and has now c.

50% fab loading).

The Photonics-SOI business climbed to just above USD100m in FY 2026 (up by more than 40%) and has now more than 10

customers.

The demand for Photonics-SOI is picking up further, and customers are looking to secure higher supply from Soitec. Given the

buoyant market in the silicon photonics ecosystem (and specifically around CPOs) and tight capacities, there are still some risks

of double-ordering in the market, and management wants to avoid building up over-capacity.