Daniel Romero
Technology Equity Analyst, Semiconductors/Data Centers/Physical AI
Plan Optik is not an AI or high-performance computing play, because all of its material is about wafers and it has no panel capability whatsoever. The glass panel cited as evidence was made with SCHMID and 4JET, not Plan Optik, and SCHMID is effectively a competitor in etching, deposition and metallization. Plan Optik has never said it targets HPC or AI, and it does everything in-house rather than through an OSAT, aiming at much smaller-scale applications. x.com x.com
Plan Optik is an absurd AI bottleneck play because it does nothing related to AI or HPC and has no plans to. Its biggest revenue driver is processed glass substrates for niche sensors, such as those measuring car tire pressure, and HPC glass will be made on panels, while Plan Optik makes only wafers. x.com x.com x.com
Plan Optik is not a buyable way into glass substrates for AI chip packaging, even as a leading glass wafer maker serving Infineon, Samsung and Bosch. With €11 million of annual revenue and extreme illiquidity, it is closer to an acquisition bet than a position that can be built normally, and a 90% one-day move without fundamental news is not a buy signal. Glass substrates' option value is real but arrives in 2027-2028; 2026 is a qualification year with lower yields and 2-3x higher costs. x.com
The move from organic ABF substrates to glass is becoming a necessity for Nvidia's largest packages, and Nittobo, Schmid, LPKF and Ibiden sit at its choke points. Nittobo has a near-monopoly on low-CTE T-Glass fiber amid a shortage; LPKF's LIDE drilling and Schmid's inline systems ride US and EU sovereign AI pushes; Ibiden bridges ABF and glass core. Timing is the risk: TSMC pushed panel-level CoPoS to Q4 2030, so Rubin Ultra may use hybrid glass stiffeners, and Nittobo has already run 9x. x.com … Show more
PlanOptik's latest report is likely its last transition report, with a very different company emerging as capacity ramps. Expectations are high for 2027 component launches showing what it can do with silicon, not just glass, followed by glass core substrates. Progress is already hidden in the numbers: automotive MEMS and sensors, historically most of revenue and weak, are holding. @KairosPraxis notes revenue grew 5.7% and EBITDA 8.9%, with heavy recent capex set to lift revenue and margins. … Show more
LPKF Laser & Electronics, the leader in through-glass vias, has meaningful upside as Intel's EMIB and glass-substrate manufacturing pick up, though it is speculative for now. Its technology is good, but it faces competitors such as DR Laser and Corning. Sizing up needs follow-through from Intel and the rest of the industry, clarity on how supply chains shape out, and a more convincing ramp and go-to-market. x.com
PlanOptik sits upstream of Lumentum's optical circuit switch supply chain, a link the market is only starting to price. Silex research materials and patent language directly mention PlanOptik as a glass wafer substrate supplier, and Silex, the leading pure-play MEMS foundry, is a key optical-switch supplier to Lumentum. That puts a €50M-market-cap German glass wafer maker in the middle of the AI data center buildout. Credit to @vlmkapital for the finding. x.com
Plan Optik's revenue has not yet grown with Lumentum's because Lumentum is currently growing through pluggable optics, while Plan Optik supplies co-packaged optics. Its payoff is therefore more of a 2027-2028 story. x.com
Planoptik's capacity ramp sets up a strong 2027, though it is not an AI story. Order intake rose 145% as it ramps wafer production at cleanrooms in Hungary and Germany, and management expects new customers' series ramps to lift revenue significantly from 2027. Revenue grew 5.7% and EBITDA 8.9%, at about 22x LTM EV/EBITDA, with FY26 guidance below 10% growth. Heavy capex should now show in revenue and margins. The new customers are in microfluidics, with no evidence of an optical-switch benefit. … Show more
PlanOptik looks massively mispriced at a €35M market cap if it is the bottleneck for the glass wafers behind Silex's MEMS business ahead of the 2027 ramp. Per @ren_stocks, PlanOptik's specialty glass wafers feed Silex Microsystems' MEMS mirror dies, which go into Lumentum's optical circuit switches for Google's AI data centers. Silex earned a 34% EBIT margin in Q1 2026, and its IPO valued it at SEK 8.9 billion. x.com
