IQE: The Next Sivers? The Undervalued AI Photonics Play Poised for Similar Performance.
If you missed the Sivers Semiconductors (https://t.co/n83e6OeW09) surge which delivered +800-1000% gains over the past year on the back of its LiDAR contracts and 1.6T optical modules for AI data centers it’s time to look closely at IQE (IQE.L).
Here’s why IQE could be the next chapter in the same story, but at a fraction of the valuation:
•Market cap: approximately 300-400 million USD for IQE versus roughly 1 billion USD for Sivers 3x lower valuation.
•Revenues: IQE generates triple (or even 4x) the sales of Sivers (around 97 million GBP / 126 million USD in FY2025 versus approximately 29 million USD for Sivers).
•Positioning: Both companies ride the exact same megatrends in photonic AI/data centers, defense, and wireless 5G/6G. IQE, however, is the global leader in upstream epiwafers (InP/GaAs), a key supplier to Apple and the data-center ecosystem.
The catalyst : IQE has just closed a transformative strategic deal with MACOM (30 million GBP equity investment plus long-term supply agreements). This secures the balance sheet after the recent 81 million GBP capital raise and validates the technology exactly the kind of partnership momentum that propelled Sivers with Jabil and POET.
Sivers currently trades at 27-30x sales. IQE trades at only 4-5x.
Same high-growth business model in compound semiconductors. Same AI and defense tailwinds. Yet IQE remains significantly cheaper ahead of any rerating.
The recent dilution was painful (classic small-cap reaction), but once the shareholder meeting on 15 May is approved and the mid-May full-year results are absorbed, the market is likely to recognise the opportunity: guided revenue growth above 20% in 2026 combined with exploding photonics demand could easily deliver the same x2-x3 upside Sivers achieved.
IQE is not Sivers. It is the Sivers before the moonshot.
@aleabitoreddit
#IQE #Sivers #Photonics #Semiconductors #AI #DataCenters #Investment
(DYOR this is not investment advice.)