Here's Why Aehr Test Systems Blasted Higher Today (Hint: It's AI Related)

Key Points

• Major new orders lifted the stock today.

• Speculation will turn to who that customer might be, but in any case, Aehr is diversifying its end markets.

• Its core end market is likely to return to growth in time.

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Shares in Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ: AEHR) had blasted higher by more than 20% at 10 a.m. today on the news of follow-on orders for its artificial intelligence (AI) processor volume production test and burn-in solutions.

New orders, new optimism?

The news comes less than two weeks after the company released its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings report. Back then, CEO Gayn Erickson took a cautious approach to financial guidance for 2026, saying, "While we remain confident in Aehr's long-term growth prospects, we continue to experience some timing-related delays in order placements due to tariff-related uncertainty, particularly in our first quarter." The order delays, or at least some of them, were cleared much more quickly than Erickson may have expected.

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Aehr's hyperscaler customer

Speculation will now turn to the identify of the "world-leading hyperscaler" that made the orders for eight of Aehr's Sonoma ultra-high-power systems, not least as the orders result in "a more than doubling of the number of production systems with this customer."

It's impossible to know unless Aehr or the customer itself divulges the information. Still, a quick look at Aehr's customer list in its latest investor presentation shows Alphabet's Google and Microsoft -- good places to start looking.

Image source: Getty Images.

Aehr's long-term growth prospects

In a sense, the customer doesn't matter as much as the fact that Aehr continues to diversify away from the currently challenged silicon carbide (SiC) wafer-level burn-in (WLBI) test solutions market and into new growth markets. The demand for SiC WLBI equipment is primarily driven by electric vehicles, and the softening of investment in EVs is slowing down demand.

However, Aehr's new AI-driven markets will strengthen the company's long-term growth prospects, and it's only a matter of time before EV investment picks up again, leaving Aehr well positioned for long-term growth.

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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.