Shares of Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR) climbed 13% after the company revealed it had received an initial order from a new customer described as a global leader in networking equipment and a key supplier to the data center optical transceiver market.
The order covers several systems intended for both engineering qualification and high-volume production. These include a FOX-XP wafer-level burn-in system capable of testing nine wafers simultaneously, a fully integrated WaferPak Auto Aligner, multiple FOX-NP wafer-level burn-in systems, and several sets of FOX WaferPak full-wafer contactors. Delivery of the systems is scheduled for Aehr’s fiscal fourth quarter ending May 29, 2026.
According to the company, the customer is developing advanced silicon photonics transceivers designed for data center networking and optical I/O applications, targeting the growing demand for high-speed fiber-optic connectivity in hyperscale AI and cloud infrastructure. Aehr said the customer has already provided forecasts for additional equipment purchases, with potential follow-on orders expected as early as later this year.
President and Chief Executive Officer Gayn Erickson said the customer’s decision to order equipment for both qualification and full-scale production at the outset highlights the urgency of expanding manufacturing capacity to support the rapid buildout of hyperscale AI and cloud data centers.
Aehr noted it holds a leading position in wafer-level burn-in solutions for silicon photonics transceivers, with installations across major semiconductor and photonics companies worldwide. Its FOX-XP platform supports high-parallelism, high-temperature, and high-power wafer-level burn-in testing, allowing manufacturers to detect early-life device failures before packaging.
Erickson added that the company’s high-power FOX-XP configuration can deliver up to 3,500 watts per wafer, a capability already deployed in production at a leading silicon photonics integrated circuit supplier serving data center and optical I/O markets.