Jenoptik reports strong orders in opening quarter

Jenoptik has reported a sharp increase in order intake during the opening quarter of 2026, increasing the firm’s confidence that its annual revenues for the year will beat the 2025 figure.

At €357 million, total order intake for the three months ending March 31 was up nearly 75 per cent on the same period last year. The company’s “semiconductor and advanced manufacturing” division has provided most of that impetus, with orders surging to €180 million from only €69 million a year ago thanks mainly to lithography and inspection processes.

Biophotonics applications have also provided plenty of momentum, with orders up 65 per cent year-on-year, to €74 million.

And while the Jena-headquartered firm’s management team also confirmed a slight dip in sales revenues to €241 million for the quarter, they are now confident of seeing sales growth this year overall.

Jenoptik CFO Prisca Havranek-Kosicek commented: “Since the beginning of the year, we have seen very dynamic demand in our OEM businesses, particularly from the semiconductor equipment industry.

“Even though this very high momentum is unlikely to continue at this pace, it provides us with a strong foundation for a successful fiscal year 2026.”

Risks and opportunities

On the bottom line, Jenoptik was able to deliver earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of €25.9 million, up from €16.9 million a year ago and partly due to cost-cutting measures implemented last year.

In March the company announced that it had appointed Dominik Dorfner as its new CEO, to replace Stefan Traeger who departed in February. However Dorfner, who is joining from industrial technology firm Semikron Danfoss, is yet to start in his new role and may not do so until early October.

In the meantime Havranek-Kosicek and executive board member Ralf Kuschnereit are heading up the company, with Kuschnereit commenting on the latest results:

“We will continue to focus on our relevant medium-term growth potentials in our core markets of semiconductor technology, medical technology, metrology and smart mobility.

“In addition to AI-driven demand for semiconductors, this includes application areas such as optical data communication, defense and also AR/VR.”

The Jenoptik management team now says that it expects sales revenues to rise “in the single-digit percentage range” this year, from the figure of €1.05 billion posted in 2025.

However in their quarterly report they also pointed to market uncertainties arising from the conflict between Iran, the United States, and Israel that has led to rises in fuel prices, as well as what they described as “erratic” US tariff policy.

“In the medium to long term, the construction of numerous new semiconductor factories worldwide, driven in part by announced investments in AI data centers and efforts to achieve technological sovereignty, presents an opportunity for significant growth in the semiconductor industry over the next decade, potentially resulting in increased demand for fab equipment, such as lithography machines,” they added.

“On the other hand, potential overcapacity among chip manufacturers could affect Jenoptik as a supplier to the semiconductor equipment industry, increasing the risk of delayed orders.”