OK yes, I know, a lot of folks on this board had a bad experience with AEHR and left it for dead some time ago. I am among those who got burned by having been overly confident in AEHR, thinking with their very strong moat and inevitably rising demand what could possibly go wrong? Well, what if the demand didn’t materialize, in fact what if it reversed? Oops, I didn’t anticipate that. As a one-trick pony, the horse was just about left for dead.
I sold my stock a while ago at a considerable loss. But, I hadn’t completely given up all hope because the stuff about their moat is real and demand is definitely in a down cycle, but that’s just it, it’s cyclical, it’s pretty certain to surge again. It’s just a matter of time. So, I bought some Jan '26 LEAPs. No guarantee that I’ll make money (so far, I’ve lost money on the LEAPs as well). But options are off topic for this board in any case. The point is that because I still have a monetary interest in the company, I still pay attention to it.
Which brings me to the following news:
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12:17 PM EST, 03/01/2024 (MT Newswires) – Aehr Test Systems ( AEHR ) has shipped the first order of its FOX-XP testing and wafer burn-in system to an unidentified “major” customer expecting to use the Aehr configuration for volume production of silicon photonics integrated circuits, the chip-making equipment supplier said on Friday.
Silicon photonics chips can require up to two to four times as much power per wafer for burn-in, stabilization and testing, according to Aehr. The new configuration will allow manufacturers to test up to 8,192 optical devices placed on each of nine wafers simultaneously and was produced through an upgrade of the customer’s existing systems, Aehr said.
Financial terms were not disclosed. Aehr shares were nearly 8% higher in recent midday trading.
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Yeah, my options popped, not a great deal, but significantly up. It’s an upgrade rather than a new sale. It’s SiC photonics application rather than power inverters, but I think it’s a net positive to see a different application.
So there’s still some life left in that horse. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. AEHR just stumbled, it ain’t dead yet. I’ll keep an eye on it.