Key points
- Aeva (AEVA) spiked as high as 45% intraday Thursday and was still up about 32% by early afternoon, on more than 4.5 times its normal volume.
- The move followed Aeva's Q2 report, which revealed a new optical connectivity business and its first customer deal, a joint development agreement to supply hardware bound for a hyperscaler's AI data centers, targeting deployment in the second half of 2027.
- Q2 revenue rose to $6.1 million from $5.5 million a year earlier. The GAAP net loss was $79.6 million, and the company also disclosed its CFO is leaving in September.
On Thursday, August 6, investors bid Aeva Technologies (AEVA) stock up as much as 45% intraday on news that the company wants to help build AI data centers, even though it normally makes laser sensors for trucks and factory floors.
Shares opened at $25.53, already up 30% from Wednesday's $19.61 close, spiked to $28.42, a 45% intraday gain, then settled back to trade around $25.90, up about 32%, shortly after 1pm Eastern. Volume had already topped 6.5 million shares, more than 4.5 times the stock's 30-day average of about 1.4 million. Shares remain below the 52-week high of $31.30 set July 1, though they're up roughly 194% from the 52-week low of $8.83 set last November.
The move followed Aeva's second-quarter report, released after Wednesday's close. Revenue came in at $6.1 million, up from $5.5 million a year earlier. That's a modest number for a company whose market value jumped by roughly $455 million Thursday to near $1.9 billion. The GAAP net loss was $79.6 million, or $1.23 a share, versus a $3.49 per-share loss a year ago, though that per-share comparison is skewed by a much larger share count after Aeva raised $115 million in a follow-on stock offering earlier this year. On a non-GAAP basis, the operating loss was $26.0 million, a bit wider than the $25.1 million loss in the same quarter last year.
Further down the release, Aeva said it's launching a new optical connectivity business, applying the same high-power laser technology it built for automotive lidar to supply next-generation AI data centers, and it has already signed a joint development agreement to build that technology into a Near-Packaged Optics solution for a hyperscaler, the industry term for the handful of companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google that build AI infrastructure at massive scale. Aeva's release doesn't name its development partner or the hyperscaler, and initial deployment isn't targeted until the second half of 2027, with a production ramp planned for 2028. Soroush Salehian, Aeva's co-founder and chief executive, called it a natural extension of the company's core technology: "With the launch of Optical Connectivity, Aeva is expanding into another new market where we can leverage our proprietary photonics technology developed over the past decade to enable next-generation AI data centers."
The release carried two more wins in Aeva's original businesses. Bendix, the commercial-vehicle brake and safety supplier, selected Aeva's 4D lidar and perception software for its next-generation driver assistance system on Class 8 trucks. SICK, the German industrial sensor maker, launched its first sensor powered by Aeva's Eve Precision Technology and named Aeva its 2026 Supplier of the Year for Innovation and Collaboration.
Chief financial officer Saurabh Sinha, who has been with Aeva six years, is leaving on September 5. Rupesh Maheshwari, the company's VP of corporate controller since December, will step in as interim CFO. Aeva didn't name a permanent replacement.
Why the reaction looks bigger than the earnings
None of this changes what Aeva actually is right now: a $6 million-a-quarter company that lost close to $80 million in the same three months. The hyperscaler deal carries no disclosed dollar figure and no named customer, and deployment isn't targeted until the second half of 2027, more than a year out. The stock is trading on the story, a small automotive-lidar name stepping into the same optical hardware trade that has already sent Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) up nearly 70% in four sessions this month on a similar AI-infrastructure narrative. Aeva's $302.9 million in total liquidity, including $177.9 million in cash and marketable securities plus a $125 million credit facility, buys it time to see whether that story turns into revenue.
