Soitec's Stock Soars 24%: Why This French AI Gem Is Shaking Up the Stock Market

Why is Soitec's stock soaring?

Soitec was set to publish its revenue for the first quarter of 2026-2027 on July 28 but decided to communicate as early as the evening of July 22, citing "a significant improvement in visibility" regarding its Photonics-SOI business. A publicly traded company does not advance its financial communication without reason: the signal alone was favorable.

Thus, Soitec's quarterly revenue stands at €113 million, up 23% year-on-year, well above the approximately 15% target set by management last May. The driving force is clearly identified: sales of Photonics-SOI have doubled in a year.

As a result: Soitec's stock jumps nearly 24% in less than 24 hours, after closing on July 22 at €96.04 and trading today at nearly €119.

To understand the market's enthusiasm, one must return to what Soitec actually manufactures. The company does not produce electronic chips: it manufactures wafers, those silicon plates on which foundries then etch the chips.

Its specialty is so-called engineering substrates, which are much more complex and significantly more expensive than standard silicon plates, on which an insulating layer is slid under the active layer. This is the SOI technology (Silicon-On-Insulator), of which the group is the global leader.

The Photonics-SOI is its variant intended for silicon photonics, meaning the art of etching not only transistors on a chip but also circuits capable of transporting light. These optical chips equip the transceivers that connect the servers of data centers.

However, this link has become the main bottleneck for AI. Training a model requires connecting tens of thousands of processors at very high speeds, and traditional electrical connections are reaching their physical limits: beyond a certain threshold, they consume too much energy and dissipate too much heat. Hence the industry's shift towards optical interconnections, which transmit information via light.

As a result, the very structure of the group has shifted in a year. The Edge & Cloud AI segment now represents 57% of revenue (€65 million, +46%), ahead of Mobile Communications, which has fallen to 34% (€39 million, -10%), and Automotive & Industry at 8% (€10 million). Just twelve months ago, smartphones were Soitec's primary market: it is now artificial intelligence.

Here are the details of Soitec's revenue for the first quarter of 2026-2027 👇
|------------------------------|------------------|------------------|---------------|
| Activity | Q1 2026-2027 | Q1 2025-2026 | Change |
| Edge & Cloud AI | €65 million | €44 million | +46% |
| Mobile Communications | €39 million | €43 million | -10% |
| Automotive & Industry | €10 million | €5 million | +108% |
| Total Revenue | €113 million | €92 million | +23% |

Raised outlook, a qualified factory in Singapore

Beyond the past quarter, it is mainly the announced trajectory that triggered Soitec's stock surge. Soitec now anticipates growth of over 30% in the second quarter and expects Photonics-SOI revenue to be more than double that of the previous fiscal year, which slightly exceeded $100 million.

However, the group accompanies this forecast with an explicit caveat: it is valid "provided there are no major disruptions in the artificial intelligence market". A precaution that underscores how much the case is now indexed to a single investment cycle.

Two elements, however, lend credibility to this visibility. First, Soitec signs multi-year commitments with increasing deposits from a growing number of clients: these clients therefore pay in advance to reserve production capacity, a sign of supply tension and a guarantee of revenue beyond the current fiscal year.

Secondly, its factory in Singapore has just been qualified with initial clients for the large-scale production of 300 mm Photonics-SOI. This step alleviates a recurring concern regarding the case: the group's industrial capacity to produce quickly enough to meet demand.

One point remains that this publication does not clarify: it only addressed revenue, without any profitability indicators. Soitec is coming out of a fiscal year that closed with a net loss of €220 million, and management has warned that the margins for 2026-2027 will remain penalized by a low utilization rate of the factories. The results for the first half, expected on November 18, 2026, will reveal whether the regained growth finally translates into profits.