Sivers Semiconductors Faces Regulatory Scrutiny as Insider Moves Send Conflicting Signals
Published on 08/08/2026 at 12:51 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
Swedish authorities have opened an investigation into whether confidential details about Sivers Semiconductors' planned US dual listing leaked prematurely onto the social media platform X. The Ekobrottsmyndigheten, Sweden's economic crime authority, and the Finansinspektionen financial regulator launched their probe on Wednesday, landing at a particularly sensitive moment for the Stockholm-listed chipmaker.
The timing could hardly be more awkward. Since 28 July, the company's leadership has been bound by a 30-day trading ban under the EU Market Abuse Regulation, a blackout period designed to prevent insiders from trading on privileged information ahead of the upcoming Q2 interim report. The existence of that restriction underscores just how serious the leak allegations are.
A Stock Caught in Violent Swings
The regulatory news lands against a backdrop of extreme share price turbulence. On Friday, the stock closed at EUR 3.75, a 13.64 percent jump from the previous session, extending the weekly gain to 36.07 percent. Yet even after that recovery, the shares remain 63.34 percent below the 52-week high of EUR 10.23 reached in early June. Annualised volatility has climbed sharply in recent weeks, a telltale sign that investors remain deeply skittish about the stock's direction.
That nervousness is understandable given the sheer volume of corporate news flow: a substantial capital raise, a new strategic partnership, and a flurry of insider trades pointing in opposite directions.
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Boardroom Divergence
The insider activity presents a genuinely mixed picture. CEO Vickram Vathulya added 70,000 shares to his holdings on 21 July, lifting his total to 4,540,076 shares, on top of roughly 3.7 million employee options. That vote of confidence from the top stands in stark contrast to what board members have been doing.
Chairman Bami Bastani sold 275,000 shares on 16 July, immediately after a lock-up agreement tied to April's directed share issue expired. He also gifted 60,000 shares to charitable organisations and a further 70,000 to family members, leaving him with 381,360 shares plus 625,000 options. Board member Todd Thomson has been even more active on the sell side: his investment vehicles Kairos Ventures and Headwaters Capital LLC — through which he acquired Sivers stock during the 2022 Mixcomm acquisition — disposed of 950,000 shares by 22 July at an average price of SEK 35.93, with another 50,000 donated to charity. Thomson retains 477,027 shares, still making him the largest shareholder on the board.
Earlier in the month, several other board members — Karin Raj, Helena Svancar, Thomson and Joakim Nideborn — completed share purchases approved at June's annual general meeting, which carry a 12-month holding period. The net effect is a wash: buying at the CEO level, selling at the board level, and no clear directional signal for investors to latch onto.
Capital Raise and Strategic Pivot
The corporate activity extends well beyond insider trading. On 1 July, Sivers closed a directed share issue raising approximately SEK 700 million, with Pareto Securities AB arranging the placement of 12,280,701 new shares at SEK 57 each — about 9.7 percent below the 30 June closing price. The accelerated bookbuild was, according to the company, multiple times oversubscribed, drawing interest from both Swedish and international institutional investors.
Two days later, lender Bootstrap Europe IV SCSp converted its conversion right from a US$12 million loan, generating 22,847,044 new ordinary shares. The resulting dilution is substantial but brings welcome balance sheet relief.
The proceeds are earmarked for expanding manufacturing capacity for InP lasers and optical amplifiers, additional field resources, and research and development. A portion is also set aside to advance the planned US dual listing — Sivers had already flagged adjusted financial reporting timelines in July to align with future regulatory requirements and PCAOB audit standards tied to that goal.
Thin Operating Base
The strategic ambitions rest on a still-modest operational foundation. In its Q1 report released on 29 May, Sivers posted revenue of SEK 61.9 million, down 22 percent year on year. Management attributed the decline to delays in US defence spending and currency effects, while maintaining the full-year growth forecast.
Adding to the uncertainty, the Rosen Law Firm launched a review in June into potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders, following a short-seller report from Ningi Research accusing the company of misleading business disclosures. Analyst opinion is similarly divided: one analyst reportedly rated the stock "Speculative Buy" with a price target of SEK 52, citing the transition from engineering services to recurring hardware revenue in LiDAR and AI optics, while an automated analyst consensus currently sits at "Sell."
The GlobalFoundries Bet
On the strategic front, Sivers announced in early June a collaboration with GlobalFoundries to develop advanced silicon photonics solutions for AI infrastructure. The company's laser arrays are to be integrated into reference designs based on GlobalFoundries' silicon photonics platform, supporting technologies including co-packaged optics, linear pluggable optics and other datacentre interconnect solutions.
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All eyes now turn to 27 August, when the Q2 interim report is due before market open on Nasdaq Stockholm. It will offer the first indication of how the fresh capital and the GlobalFoundries partnership are translating into operational momentum. The Q3 report is already scheduled for 26 November.
