Sivers Semiconductors Faces a Triple Whammy on May 29: Restated Books, MSCI Entry, and Short Seller Scrutiny

Sivers restates accounts, widens losses; raises SEK125M. Stock up 1,100% YTD but short sellers remain. May 29: Q1 earnings, MSCI inclusion, dual listing queries.

May 29 is shaping up as a critical inflection point for Sivers Semiconductors. On that single day, the Swedish chipmaker will release its first-quarter earnings under a newly restated accounting framework, see its shares join the MSCI Sweden Small Cap Index, and still be dogged by unanswered questions about a planned Nasdaq dual listing. The confluence of events leaves investors juggling a dazzling technology narrative against a sobering balance sheet reality.

The company’s annual report for 2025, published on May 13, delivered a hard reset. Sivers restated its consolidated accounts to comply with PCAOB standards — the auditing regime required for a US stock exchange listing. The move swelled the previous EBIT loss from SEK 141.3 million to SEK 177.8 million. The net loss widened from SEK 186.5 million to SEK 222.6 million, while earnings per share dropped to minus SEK 0.81. Equity contracted to SEK 949.8 million, down from earlier reported levels.

The adjustments ran deeper than a single year. Revenue for 2024 was revised to SEK 219.2 million from a higher previous figure, and the net loss for that year jumped to SEK 183.9 million versus SEK 116.3 million. Sivers attributed the changes to revenue shifts between periods, revised inventory valuations, altered assumptions for share-based compensation, and impairments on previously capitalised development costs. The message was clear: the financial base was weaker than the market had understood.

To ease the immediate funding pressure, Sivers secured fresh capital through a directed share issue approved by shareholders on May 11. The company placed 8.62 million shares at SEK 14.50 apiece, raising roughly SEK 125 million before expenses. Participants included DNB Disruptive Opportunities, Storebrand Sverigefond, Alcur Fonder, and Hudson Bay Capital Management. Both CEO Vickram Vathulya and CFO Heine Thorsgaard committed to a 90-day lock-up on their personal holdings — a signal of confidence that does not, however, address the underlying balance sheet erosion.

The stock price has been a study in volatility. On May 11, the day of the capital raise vote, shares surged more than 10% to SEK 48.36, reversing a sharp 12.51% drop from the prior session. Later that week, the stock jumped another 31.3%. By the close on May 15, Sivers traded at SEK 55.70, after touching an intraday range of SEK 51.70 to SEK 59.85. Year to date, the shares have catapulted more than 1,100%, giving the company a price-to-sales ratio of 46.4 — a stratospheric multiple compared with other semiconductor names.

Despite the rally, bearish bets remain entrenched. Voleon Capital Management holds a short position of 1.86%, while Two Sigma Investments is short 1.78%. Both funds are wagering that the speculative fervour will cool once the financial picture comes into sharper focus. Another overhang stems from Achilles Capital, Sivers’ largest single investor, whose parent company DDM Finance has defaulted on bonds and is undergoing restructuring. A potential sale of that block of shares could weigh on the market.

Operationally, Sivers continues to push its photonics story for AI data centres. The company is developing co-packaged optics and optical I/O to replace copper interconnects, promising lower energy consumption, latency, and heat. On May 6, it announced a $1.5 million development partnership with Tachyon Networks for a 60 GHz transceiver, building on an earlier production order for 28 GHz antenna modules. Proceeds from the capital raise are earmarked for photonics products aimed at AI clusters and lidar.

But the technology narrative must now compete with a stream of less flattering news. The Swedish Economic Crime Authority is investigating whether details of the planned Nasdaq listing leaked before the official announcement in April. Sivers has also delayed its first-quarter report from May 20 to May 29, citing the ongoing audit upgrade linked to its US listing ambitions. That delay makes the May 29 release even more consequential — it will be the first test of how the bottom line looks under the new accounting standards.

What, then, will matter most on May 29? The market will scrutinise quarterly revenue and earnings for signs that the photonics bets are translating into sales growth. It will also watch for any additional restatement shocks. Meanwhile, the MSCI index inclusion could trigger passive fund buying, offering a temporary tailwind. But until the Nasdaq listing is confirmed and the financials stabilise, the tension between technological promise and accounting discipline is likely to persist — keeping the stock on a short fuse.