Jenoptik is clearly seeing a recovery in demand coming from the semiconductor equipment industry. Its Semiconductor & Advanced Manufacturing division increased order intake by 85.3% during the first half of 2026, while revenue grew by 10.2%, reaching €230.4 million. The gap between these figures predicts more activity in the coming quarters and explains why the German manufacturer continues expanding its high-precision optics capacity in Jena and Dresden.
Key points about Jenoptik and lithography demand in 20 seconds
- Order intake for Semiconductor & Advanced Manufacturing grew by 85.3% in the first half.
- Revenue for that division reached €230.4 million, up 10.2%.
- Jenoptik attributes the improvement to lithography and inspection equipment for semiconductors.
- The group closed June with an order backlog of €824.8 million.
- Jena will expand its production of advanced optics to meet projected growth.
These results reveal a part of the chip manufacturing supply chain that usually stays out of the headlines. When investments in new semiconductor factories increase, demand not only rises for lithography machines but also for more optics, micro-optic components, inspection systems, metrology, and numerous precision parts supplied by specialized companies.
Jenoptik operates precisely in that layer.
The German company works in photonics and manufactures optical technologies used by semiconductor equipment suppliers. It doesn’t produce chips or complete lithography machines, but its components are part of systems that project, control, measure, and inspect increasingly tiny structures on wafers.
Therefore, its order backlog can serve as an early indicator of activity among equipment manufacturers.
Orders grow much faster than sales
Between January and June 2026, Jenoptik’s turnover was €503.2 million, just 1% higher than the €498.4 million recorded in the same period of 2025.
The picture changes when focusing only on Semiconductor & Advanced Manufacturing.
Revenue increased from 209.1 to €230.4 million, a 10.2% rise. Jenoptik attributes this growth to increased activity in lithography and inspection within the semiconductor equipment industry.
Order intake advanced even more.
The total order intake for the entire group grew by a 53% to €723.4 million, with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.44 compared to 0.95 a year earlier. This indicates significantly more orders were received than were converted into revenue during the semester.
The pending order backlog thus reached €824.8 million, up from €590.8 million at the end of 2025.
Within Semiconductor & Advanced Manufacturing, orders increased by 85.3%.
A note is warranted: part of this jump results from a large-volume contract received in the first quarter, so it wouldn’t be reasonable to automatically extrapolate this 85% growth for the entire year.
Nonetheless, Jenoptik does not solely attribute the increase to a single order. The company points to a broader improvement in demand for lithography and inspection.
Earlier in the first quarter, the division already showed signs of recovery, especially in inspection, while the overall order intake for the group grew by 74.4%.
Optics are another critical piece of the chip manufacturing machines
Lithography is often immediately associated with ASML and its massive extreme ultraviolet (EUV) systems. But a machine capable of transferring nanometric structures onto a wafer depends on a much larger chain of suppliers.
Optics are one of those components.
The structures manufactured on chips require controlling light with extreme precision. Inspection systems also need to locate defects and measure features that can have minute dimensions.
This demands working with materials, coatings, geometries, and optical tolerances that are very strict.
Jenoptik manufactures optics and micro-optics for this market. The company describes itself as a provider of high-precision optical systems and components for electronics and information technology, with semiconductors among its main growth markets.
The industrial consequence is straightforward: increasing semiconductor equipment production also requires boosting the capacity of its specialized suppliers.
An equipment manufacturer may have enough demand to produce more systems, but if one of its critical components has a lengthy lead time, that supplier ends up constraining the entire supply chain’s pace.
That’s why Jenoptik’s investments in Germany are noteworthy.
Jena will expand capacity and start production in 2027
In September 2025, Jenoptik announced a new investment at its Jena-Göschwitz campus to expand manufacturing of high-end optics for semiconductors.
The investment will be in the lower tens of millions of euros. The company plans to retrofit an existing facility, begin adaptation work in 2026, and start production during the second half of 2027.
This schedule aligns with current order growth patterns.
Industrial capacity for optical components cannot be increased immediately after a large contract is received. It requires preparing facilities, incorporating machinery, qualifying processes, and achieving the tolerances needed for volume production.
It’s not enough to simply work faster in this type of manufacturing.
A small change in geometry, contamination, or optical properties can impact the performance of the final system. Therefore, capacity expansion must be accompanied by metrology, environmental control, and quality processes capable of maintaining strict specifications.
Dresden has already received Jenoptik’s largest recent investment
Jena is not starting from zero.
In May 2025, Jenoptik inaugurated a new micro-optics factory in Dresden, after about two and a half years of construction. This facility is part of capacity expansion aimed at multiple markets, including the semiconductor industry.
The company called it its largest individual investment in recent years.
Among the equipment installed is an electron beam lithography system from Vistec Electron Beam. Jenoptik announced an investment in this machine in the low double-digit millions of euros, intended to manufacture high-precision micro-optic components for semiconductors and optical communications.
The combined investment in Dresden and Jena reflects a characteristic of current chip manufacturing expansion: capacity is being built several levels below the large wafer fabs.
Every new fab needs equipment.
Every new machine requires optics, lasers, motors, sensors, light sources, vacuum systems, metrology, and hundreds of specialized parts.
The equipment market functions like a chain within a chain.
Semiconductors compensate for automotive weakness
Jenoptik’s results also show that the recovery has not been uniform across all markets.
While Semiconductor & Advanced Manufacturing rose 10.2%, Metrology & Production Solutions revenue dropped to €79.7 million, down from €92 million a year earlier. The company links part of this decline to persistent automotive sector weakness.
Biophotonics sales decreased by 4.5%, to €113.9 million, though order intake improved.
Smart Mobility Solutions moved in the opposite direction, increasing revenue by 10.7% to €68.3 million.
The semiconductor rise also had a significant positive impact on profitability.
The group’s EBITDA reached €98.9 million, up 25.5% from €78.8 million in the first half of 2025. The margin increased from 15.8% to 19.7%.
Jenoptik attributes this improvement, among other factors, to higher utilization of Semiconductor & Advanced Manufacturing capacity, cost-cutting measures implemented in 2025, and a more favorable product mix.
Jenoptik raises the lower end of its 2026 outlook
The growth of the backlog allows the company to also improve its outlook.
Jenoptik now expects 2026 revenues to grow in the upper half of its previous single-digit percentage range.
It has also increased its profitability forecast, moving from an EBITDA margin estimate of between 19% and 21% to a target of 20% to 21%.
These are company forecasts and depend on demand evolution, customer schedules, and the economic environment.
But the order increases send a clear signal.
The new semiconductor investment cycle is not only benefiting companies that produce wafers or sell the most well-known machines. It is also reaching specialized suppliers whose names are rarely associated with a new fab.
And some of these suppliers may turn out to be as important as the complete machine.
Without sufficiently precise optics, lithography and inspection systems cannot operate at the scales that modern semiconductor manufacturing requires.
The 85.3% increase in Jenoptik’s orders demonstrates how this less visible part of the supply chain is once again accelerating.
FAQs
How much have Jenoptik’s semiconductor orders grown?
Order intake for Semiconductor & Advanced Manufacturing increased by 85.3% during the first half of 2026. Part of this growth stems from a large contract received in Q1.
What does Jenoptik’s semiconductor revenue amount to?
The Semiconductor & Advanced Manufacturing division recorded €230.4 million in revenue from January to June 2026, up 10.2% year-over-year.
Why are optics important for chip fabrication?
Lithography, inspection, and metrology equipment require controlling and measuring structures at extremely small scales. This demands optical and micro-optic components with very tight tolerances and high performance.
Where is Jenoptik increasing its capacity?
In 2025, the company opened a new micro-optics factory in Dresden and is expanding high-precision optics manufacturing in Jena. The new Jena capacity is expected to start production in the second half of 2027.
via: inelectronics
