Chip industry momentum boosts Jenoptik order book

Jenoptik has posted a solid increase in sales in its latest quarter, alongside a much more dramatic uptick in orders that have swelled the German photonics company’s backlog.

At €301 million, total sales revenues in the three months ending September 30 were up 18 per cent on the same period last year, with the firm’s “semiconductor and advanced manufacturing” business unit accounting for €137 million of the total - up nearly 30 per cent.

Sales growth in Jenoptik’s three other business units was more muted but still robust, with the biophotonics division up 5 per cent to €66.3 million, “metrology and production solutions” up 9 per cent to €51.2 million, and “smart mobility solutions” up 14 per cent to €37.3 million.

Commenting on the year so far, new CEO Dominic Dorfner said that the figures reflected “particularly strong demand, especially in our OEM businesses” that was flowing to the bottom line with improved profitability.

Record backlog and earnings

At €79.3 million for the September quarter, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was up 50 per cent year-on-year, while a very strong order book indicates that next year should be even better.

Jenoptik’s quarterly report shows that orders in the year so far had reached €1.1 billion by the end of September, up more than 40 per cent at the same time last year, with the firm’s backlog now standing at an all-time high of €903 million.

Company CFO Prisca Havranek-Kosicek observed: “2026 will be a successful year for Jenoptik, as, amongst other things, our EBITDA margin guidance upgrade to around 22 percent at the end of October has shown. We are also very confident about 2027, given our high order backlog.”

Much of that order backlog relates to ongoing strength in semiconductor industry demand for optical elements of lithography and inspection equipment, with Jenoptik noting that it is now benefitting from reduced capital expenditure costs associated with building its new site in Dresden. Plans to “significantly expand” optical production capacity, particularly at its Jena headquarters, remain unchanged, it added.

Looking ahead, the firm’s management team is now expecting to post a full-year sales increase of somewhere between 5 per cent and 9 per cent on last year’s total of €1.046 billion, with a significant uptick in EBITDA from 18.4 per cent of revenues to 22 per cent now anticipated.

W3+ fair appearance

Dorfner, who has been in post since August, introduced himself to the photonics industry in a keynote speech at September’s W3+ fair held in Jena, telling delegates:

“Every assembly, every chip, every surgical image, every critical mission begins with individuals who are passionate about their work.

Noting how photonics was critical to enabling applications ranging from artificial intelligence and data communications to semiconductor production, medicine, and security and defense, he added: “The combination of passion and technology creates added value for our customers and makes us successful in our demanding markets.”

During the relatively new event, which covers photonics, optics, and sensor technologies, Jenoptik showed off a broad range of its capabilities, including a live demonstration of the “SurfInspect” test and measurement system from its subsidiary Trioptics.

The automated metrology system is used for the objective quality assessment of the surfaces of flat optics and lenses.