Shares of Sivers Semiconductors jumped 5.9% to $2.97 after reports surfaced that its photonics subsidiary signed a new agreement of intent to merge with Nordic Acquisition Corporation, reviving a deal structure that collapsed once before. The move lands at a pivotal moment: just two weeks after Sivers committed $30 million to expand its Glasgow laser factory, signaling that its photonics arm is no longer a research project — it's a business preparing to ship at scale.
This Is a Second Attempt — and the First One Failed for Real Reasons. Sivers paused identical SPAC merger talks with byNordic in November 2024, with its chairman conceding that "our photonics business is highly undervalued" but that "capital markets for successfully executing SPAC mergers remain challenging."
byNordic was subsequently delisted from Nasdaq in February 2025
and now trades over the counter. Investors should weigh whether the structural problems that killed round one — thin SPAC liquidity, regulatory hurdles, small-cap skepticism — have genuinely changed.
A $30 Million Factory Bet Adds Credibility — and Risk. On September 3, Sivers announced a $30 million investment to expand its Glasgow facility , targeting annual production of more than 100 million lasers
with operations expected by Q4 2027. That spending is enormous relative to a company with roughly $33 million in annual revenue and about 130 employees. If the photonics unit is spun off, the parent keeps the wireless business — which itself is growing, with a pipeline now at $1.2 billion and product revenue up 18% year-over-year.
Big-Name Partnerships Validate the Technology, Not the Stock. In June, Sivers announced a collaboration with GlobalFoundries to develop silicon photonics solutions for AI infrastructure , and it holds development contracts with Ayar Labs and is in discussions with several major AI companies.
Nvidia's early-2026 investment of $4 billion into photonics players Coherent and Lumentum confirms the sector's demand tailwind — but those dollars went to far larger competitors, not Sivers.
The Controlling-Stake Structure Matters. Post-close, Sivers would retain a controlling stake in the combined company, headquartered in Silicon Valley, with production remaining in the UK. That means Sivers shareholders get exposure to both a pure-play photonics entity and a leaner wireless business. The question is execution: the deal still requires due diligence, financing, and regulatory approval. At a ~$130 million market cap, the stock prices in very little of this upside — but it also reflects the market's memory of a deal that already fell apart once.