Sivers Semiconductors: New Short Seller Emerges as Dilution and Defense Delays Cloud the Photonics Rally
Published on 08/12/2026 at 07:32 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The Swedish photonics specialist Sivers Semiconductors finds itself caught between two opposing forces: a regulatory tailwind out of Washington that has ignited speculative buying, and a steady expansion of its share count that keeps weighing on the stock. The tension was on full display Tuesday, when the shares gave back 7.57 percent to close at EUR 3.76 — a sharp pullback that followed a weekly gain of more than 21 percent.
The whipsaw action underscores just how febrile trading in the stock has become. Annualized 30-day volatility sits near 190 percent, a figure that reflects a market reacting aggressively to headlines rather than to gradual fundamental shifts.
A New Bear Takes a Position
Into that volatility stepped a fresh short seller. Hedge fund D. E. Shaw disclosed a net short position of 0.59 percent of Sivers' share capital — roughly 2.1 million shares — in a filing with the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) on August 4.
The timing is notable. The disclosure came shortly after Jane Street, another prominent short seller, dropped out of the public register when its position fell below the 0.5 percent reporting threshold. With Jane Street's exit, D. E. Shaw's entry leaves just one publicly disclosed short seller, even as total short interest across the stock stands at 3.06 percent of share capital.
The changing cast of bears reflects a broader divergence of opinion among institutional investors about Sivers' prospects — a divergence that the stock's extreme volatility has done little to resolve.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Sivers Semiconductors?
The FCC Effect
The recent rally traces back to a Reuters report that the US Federal Communications Commission is preparing rules to ban imports of new Chinese optical transceiver models for AI data centers. For Western suppliers like Sivers, the prospect of such a ban represents a potential windfall.
Sivers has an additional angle: the company supplies DFB lasers for a 1.6-terabit transceiver module that contract manufacturer Jabil announced in April. That supply relationship has made Sivers an obvious candidate for investors betting on US trade policy reshaping the optical components market.
But the initial surge proved unsustainable. After the sharp jump, a counter-move set in, culminating in Tuesday's decline. The stock now sits 63.15 percent below its 52-week high of EUR 10.23, reached in early summer, and remains well off its 50-day average of EUR 5.18.
Dilution Continues to Bite
Beneath the headline volatility, the company's capital structure has been shifting. As of July 31, the total number of shares and votes increased to 355,081,317, driven by a directed share issue of 12,280,701 new shares and the full conversion of a loan from Bootstrap Europe IV SCSp into 22,847,044 new ordinary shares.
For existing shareholders, the conversion brings tangible dilution — though it also removes debt from the balance sheet. The share count growth helps explain why the stock has struggled to hold gains even as the company reports operational progress. Insider sales following the expiry of a lock-up period roughly a month ago added to the unease, though the shares have since recovered 22.6 percent from those lows.
Financing the "Transformational" Phase
The company has been shoring up its finances to support what management calls its "transformational 2027" growth phase. On July 31, Sivers announced a new financing structure: a secured loan of USD 5.0 million at 12 percent interest, alongside a secured convertible loan of USD 12.0 million at 10.85 percent.
The capital is intended to back a project pipeline the company values at USD 799 million, which includes a production order from ALL.SPACE worth USD 8.2 million for Ka-band beamforming chips.
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Operational Headwinds and a Correction
Operationally, the picture is mixed. First-quarter 2026 revenue fell 22 percent year over year to SEK 61.9 million, hit by delays in US defense orders stemming from a government shutdown and by currency effects. Despite the soft start, management has held firm to its full-year 2026 revenue growth guidance.
The company also had to correct the record last week. A report circulating on July 24 claimed that CEO Vickram Vathulya had sold 1,233,761 shares. Official filings with Finansinspektionen confirmed that no such transaction ever took place.
What's Next
Investors now face a series of catalysts. The company is in a closed period ahead of its second-quarter 2026 report, due August 27 before trading begins on Nasdaq Stockholm, with an analyst presentation scheduled for the same day. The third-quarter numbers are slated for November 11.
Between now and then, the market will likely continue oscillating between the growth narrative — bolstered by the FCC story and a hefty pipeline — and the persistent drag of dilution. The technical picture offers little clarity: the relative strength index sits at 50.2, signaling neither overbought nor oversold conditions, a sign that traders are catching their breath after the recent rollercoaster.
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