Aehr Announces Over $5.5 Million in Sonoma Ultra-High-Power System Orders to Test and Burn-in AI Processors; Introduces New Fully-Automated Sonoma for Next-Generation AI Applications
Rhea-AI Summary
Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR) announced orders totaling more than $5.5 million in its fiscal third quarter to date for Sonoma ultra-high-power packaged-part burn-in systems to test AI CPUs, GPUs and networking processors (devices up to 2000W each).
The company introduced a new fully automated Sonoma compatible with its Automated Loader/Unloader (ALU), enabling continuous-flow, lights-out production burn-in and backward compatibility with existing Sonoma hardware, software, and burn-in modules. Systems are scheduled for delivery by the end of Aehr's current fiscal year.
Positive
- $5.5M+ in Sonoma orders in fiscal Q3 to date
- New fully automated Sonoma supports devices up to 2000W
- Systems scheduled for delivery by fiscal year end, enabling near-term revenue recognition
- Backward compatibility preserves existing Sonoma investments and reduces requalification risk
- Continuous-flow, AGV-compatible design enables hands-free, high-throughput production
Negative
- None.
News Market Reaction
On the day this news was published, AEHR declined 6.12%, reflecting a notable negative market reaction. Argus tracked a peak move of +15.8% during that session. Argus tracked a trough of -13.4% from its starting point during tracking. Our momentum scanner triggered 53 alerts that day, indicating high trading interest and price volatility. This price movement removed approximately $53M from the company's valuation, bringing the market cap to $808M at that time. Trading volume was exceptionally heavy at 5.2x the daily average, suggesting significant selling pressure.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Market Reality Check
Peers on Argus
AEHR was down 2.22% while key semiconductor equipment peers like UCTT (+6.09%), ICHR (+5.31%), and VECO (+2.89%) traded higher, pointing to stock-specific dynamics rather than a sector-wide move.
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 06 | Conference presentation | Positive | +5.3% | Needham conference appearance and highlighting multi-market burn-in positioning. |
| Dec 30 | Earnings timing update | Neutral | -0.1% | Announcement of date and time for Q2 FY26 financial results. |
| Dec 03 | Investor summit | Positive | +10.2% | NYC Summit participation emphasizing wafer and package burn-in growth and AI traction. |
| Nov 12 | Product shipment | Positive | +0.3% | Shipment of Dual-Echo system and data on expanding Echo installed base. |
| Nov 03 | AI partnership | Positive | +0.0% | Partnership with ISE Labs to offer AI/HPC wafer-level test and burn-in. |
Recent operational and AI-related news has generally seen positive price alignment, especially for growth- and conference-focused updates.
Over the last few months, AEHR has highlighted conferences, customer momentum, and AI/test demand. News on Nov 3, 2025 detailed an AI-focused partnership, followed by a Nov 12 shipment update underscoring package-level burn-in momentum. December and January conference announcements emphasized growth in wafer- and package-level burn-in and traction with AI processors, with strong positive reactions of 10.24% and 5.28%. Today’s AI processor Sonoma order and automation news extends this trajectory of deepening engagement in AI and high-power test markets.
Market Pulse Summary
The stock moved -6.1% in the session following this news. A negative reaction despite incremental AI orders could contrast with earlier AI announcements that averaged 15.97% moves, often to the upside. The market may have focused on prior expectations, broader macro or sector rotations, or execution timing risks around scaling the new automated Sonoma platform. Historical sensitivity to news suggests that sharp downside moves could also reverse if future updates reinforce sustained AI-driven system demand.
Key Terms
burn-in technical
JEDEC technical
automated guided vehicles technical
AGVs technical
OSATs technical
GUI technical
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
FREMONT, CA / ACCESS Newswire / January 8, 2026 / Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR), a worldwide supplier of semiconductor test and burn-in solutions, today announced that during its fiscal third quarter to date it has received orders from multiple customers totaling more than
Gayn Erickson, President and CEO of Aehr Test Systems, commented, "Orders for Sonoma systems received in the third quarter to date have already exceeded total Sonoma orders for the entire second quarter, highlighting the accelerating demand we are seeing for our package-level burn-in of high-powered AI and compute devices. These include initial orders from a premier Silicon Valley test services lab for our newly introduced next-generation fully automated Sonoma platform, expanding their installed base of Aehr systems.
"We are particularly excited about the introduction of the fully automated Sonoma configuration. It extends the Sonoma family while maintaining full compatibility with the large installed base of Sonoma systems at test houses and OSATs worldwide, providing customers with a seamless path from device qualification to volume production."
Seamless Transition from Qualification to Production
A key advantage of Aehr's next-generation Sonoma platform is that customers can move from engineering qualification to production burn-in without changing hardware, software, test programs, or burn-in modules. The same Sonoma system used for qualification can be paired with Aehr's Automated Loader/Unloader (ALU) to enable fully automated, high-volume production burn-in.
"This continuity eliminates requalification risk and reduces time to production," Erickson added. "Customers adopting Sonoma for qualification are effectively laying the foundation for scalable production burn-in on the same platform."
Systems scheduled for delivery by the end of Aehr's current fiscal year will be fully compatible with the ALU, allowing customers to optimize throughput and manufacturing efficiency as they scale.
Fully Automated, Continuous-Flow Burn-In
The new fully automated Sonoma delivers hands-free operation in production environments, supporting standard JEDEC tray handling and compatibility with automated guided vehicles (AGVs) for continuous, lights-out material flow. Devices are automatically picked and placed into precision test sockets, each with independent active thermal control.
The automated Sonoma is designed for continuous-flow operation, enabling devices to begin testing immediately upon insertion, unlike traditional batch-flow burn-in systems that require full system loading before testing begins. This architecture maximizes equipment utilization, throughput, and return on investment for both engineering qualification and high-volume manufacturing environments.
Lowest Cost of Ownership and Backward Compatibility
The fully automated Sonoma maintains full compatibility with existing Sonoma systems, including:
Pin electronics and vector formats
Device power supply resources
Test program development and GUI environment
Existing burn-in modules (BIMs), test fixtures, and device sockets
This backward capability provides customers with a low-risk upgrade path while preserving prior investments and accelerating time to market for new high-power device families. With the smallest footprint and lowest utility costs in its class, Sonoma offers customers the lowest total cost of ownership from initial qualification through full-scale production burn-in.
Strategic Advancement of Sonoma Platform
The fully automated Sonoma platform was developed over the past year following Aehr's acquisition of the Sonoma product line from Incal Technology in August 2024. The system represents a significant advancement in throughput, automation, and production efficiency, strengthening Aehr's position as a leader in ultra-high-power semiconductor test and burn-in solutions.
About Aehr Test Systems
Headquartered in Fremont, California, Aehr Test Systems is a leading provider of test solutions for testing, burning-in, and stabilizing semiconductor devices in wafer level, singulated die, and packaged part form, and has installed thousands of systems worldwide. Increasing quality, reliability, safety, and security needs of semiconductors used across multiple applications, including electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, solar and wind power, computing, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) processors, data and telecommunications infrastructure, and solid-state memory and storage, are driving additional test requirements, incremental capacity needs, and new opportunities for Aehr's products and solutions. Aehr has developed and introduced several innovative products including the FOX-P™ families of test and burn-in systems and FOX WaferPak™ Aligner, FOX WaferPak Contactor, FOX DiePak® Carrier and FOX DiePak Loader. The FOX-XP and FOX-NP systems are full-wafer contact and singulated die/module test and burn-in systems that can test, burn-in, and stabilize a wide range of devices such as leading-edge silicon carbide-based and other power semiconductors, 2D and 3D sensors used in mobile phones, tablets, and other computing devices, memory semiconductors, processors, microcontrollers, systems-on-a-chip, and photonics and integrated optical devices. The FOX-CP system is a low-cost single-wafer compact test solution for logic, memory and photonic devices and the newest addition to the FOX-P product family. The FOX WaferPak Contactor contains a unique full-wafer contactor capable of testing wafers up to 300mm that enables IC manufacturers to perform test, burn-in, and stabilization of full wafers on the FOX-P systems. The FOX DiePak Carrier allows testing, burning in, and stabilization of singulated bare die and modules up to 1024 devices in parallel per DiePak on the FOX-NP and FOX-XP systems up to nine DiePaks at a time. Acquired through its acquisition of Incal Technology, Inc., Aehr's new line of high-power packaged part reliability/burn-in test solutions for AI semiconductor manufacturers, including its ultra-high-power Sonoma family of test solutions for AI accelerators, GPUs, and high-performance computing (HPC) processors, position Aehr within the rapidly growing AI market as a turnkey provider of reliability and testing that span from engineering to high volume production. For more information, please visit Aehr Test Systems' website at www.aehr.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or Aehr's future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "going to," "could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern Aehr's expectations, strategy, priorities, plans, or intentions. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, future requirements and orders of Aehr's new and existing customers; Aehr's ability to receive orders and generate revenue in the future, as well as Aehr's beliefs regarding the factors impacting the foregoing, including the growth of the markets referred to herein; Aehr's ability to integrate Incal efficiently; and the timing and extent to which the acquisition is accretive. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described in Aehr's recent Form 10-K, 10-Q and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Aehr disclaims any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.
# # #
Contacts:
Aehr Test Systems | MKR Investor Relations Inc. |
SOURCE: Aehr Test Systems
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
FAQ
What did Aehr (AEHR) announce on January 8, 2026 about Sonoma orders?
How much power can devices reach on the new Sonoma systems (AEHR)?
When will Aehr (AEHR) deliver the newly ordered Sonoma systems?
What does the fully automated Sonoma mean for AEHR customers' production?
Is the new Sonoma compatible with existing Aehr (AEHR) test programs and modules?
Who placed the Sonoma orders announced by Aehr (AEHR)?
