AEHR

Before an AI processor ships from a packaging house to a hyperscaler's data center, it must be stress-tested. The chip is heated to operating temperature (often 85–125°C), driven at full electrical load, and run through millions of signal cycles. Chips that would fail in the field — infant mortality defects — are identified and rejected. This process is called burn-in, and for AI chips costing thousands of dollars each, it's non-negotiable.

Aehr Test Systems builds the machines that perform this burn-in testing. The product line splits into two families. The FOX-XP is the flagship wafer-level system — each unit tests nine 300mm wafers in parallel, delivers thousands of amperes per wafer (the highest power per wafer in the market), and can be paired with a FOX WaferPak auto-aligner for fully automated, hands-free production. The FOX-NP is a smaller-footprint wafer-level system used for engineering qualification, new product introduction, and lower-volume production. On the package-level side, the Sonoma platform handles burn-in of packaged parts and advanced multi-die modules (e.g., AI ASICs with HBM stacks in CoWoS-type packages). Consumables — WaferPak full-wafer contactors for FOX systems, and burn-in boards/modules (BIMs/BIPs) for Sonoma — generate recurring revenue from the installed base. Management expects consumables to consistently reach 30%+ of total revenue over time.

The company is tiny by semiconductor equipment standards — fiscal 2026 revenue expected around $45–50M — but sits at a critical chokepoint. Their lead hyperscale customer (widely believed to be Google or a Google partner for TPU-class devices) placed a record $41M follow-on production order in April 2026 for package-level burn-in of custom AI ASICs. On the call, CEO Gayn Erickson disclosed that this customer is already ramping Sonoma on a first-generation AI ASIC, has awarded Aehr production for a second-generation higher-power ASIC (production later in CY2026), and is in road-map discussions for a third-generation device — which the customer has asked about doing at wafer level on FOX systems. A major silicon photonics win with a new customer (advanced transceivers for hyperscale data center optical interconnects) extends the platform into 800G/1.6T optical networking — this customer ordered multiple FOX-XP and FOX-NP systems for both engineering qualification and high-volume production, all scheduled to ship in fiscal Q4 (by May 2026), with a forecast for additional XP production systems over the next year. Meanwhile, the lead silicon photonics customer placed a follow-on order and has integrated Aehr systems with autonomous-guided robots for fully lights-out operation. Power semiconductors provide a fourth vector: a new SiC customer in Taiwan (targeting the greater China EV market) ordered a FOX-XP this quarter, and Aehr reports an uptick in SiC activity as Japanese and German OEMs prepare new EV launches. GaN wafer-level burn-in challenges on silicon substrates have been solved, per management.

Aehr's fiscal year ends in late May (changing to late June starting FY2027). For FY2026, management targets the high end of $45–50M in revenue and expects bookings near the high end of $60–80M for H2. Cash stood at $37.1M at quarter-end after fully utilizing a $40M ATM equity program (1.13M shares at avg. $35.38). To support the ramp, a contract manufacturer is being brought online with capacity for 20+ Sonoma systems per month, with first customer shipments expected by end of fiscal Q4 — additive to Fremont's own ~20/month Sonoma capacity plus all FOX product builds. The real inflection is fiscal 2027, where overlapping production ramps from current and next-generation AI processors at the lead customer should drive a significant revenue step-up.