X-FAB upgraded by Bernstein on demand drivers beyond photonics hype

X-Fab Silicon Foundries Europese Vennootschap

23/06/2026 08:52

** Shares in X-FAB Silicon Foundries XFAB.PA rise 2% at 0745 GMT, after Bernstein broker upgrades the contract semiconductor manufacturer to "Outperform" from "Market-Perform"
** Analyst Aleksander Peterc says X-FAB now offers enough evidence of an earnings reset to justify the upgrade
** He estimates the stock's recent rally was driven by retail enthusiasm around photonics optionality, which he views "premature at best"
** Photonics is a chip technology that uses light to move or process data, relevant for AI datacentre applications, but the broker says X-FAB's near-term investment case does not depend on it
** The upgrade is instead based on more immediate and tangible drivers, including automotive recovery from H2 2026, in power-efficient wide-bandgap chips for datacentre-related demand, and stronger adoption of BCD-on-SOI, a technology used to integrate analog, digital and power functions on one chip
** "FAB now has several growth engines working in parallel", he adds in a note

 (Reporting by Nathan Vifflin in Gdansk)
 ((nathan.vifflin@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 769 67 13;))