Sivers Plans to Spin Off Its AI Laser Unit Through a SPAC Merger — But Can a Cash-Burning Chipmaker Afford to Split in Two?

Shares of Sivers Semiconductors surged roughly 28% over the past week before flattening at €3.72 on August 11, as the Swedish chipmaker's plan to merge its photonics laser subsidiary with byNordic Acquisition Corporation — a blank-check company, or SPAC — resurfaced in investor focus. The deal, first announced in August 2024 as a non-binding letter of intent, would spin off Sivers Photonics into a separate U.S.-listed company. For shareholders, the question is whether carving out the fastest-growing piece of the business helps or hollows out the parent.

• The SPAC's Clock Is Almost Out. byNordic in July deposited just $17,470 into its trust account to push its deadline to August 12, 2026 — the twelfth and final of twelve one-month extensions permitted under its charter. If a binding deal isn't closed by tomorrow, the SPAC must liquidate. That creates an all-or-nothing window that raises execution risk for Sivers shareholders counting on the deal.

• The Photonics Unit Targets a Huge AI Market — But Revenue Is Tiny. Management estimates the market for chip-to-chip connectivity in AI data centers could reach $5 billion, with a served portion of up to $1 billion by 2027.

Sivers Photonics' Glasgow factory, with about 80 employees, is one of only a handful of independent makers of specialized lasers in chip form. Yet consolidated Q1 2026 revenue was just SEK 61.9 million (~$5.7 million), down 22% year-over-year , making the billion-dollar pitch a distant aspiration.

• Sivers Is Still Burning Cash and Far From Profitable. Q1 adjusted EBITDA — a rough measure of operating cash generation — was SEK -13.8 million, while operating cash outflow hit SEK -49.2 million.

The company refinanced all external debt in February 2026, securing a $17 million facility from Bootstrap Europe. Splitting the company means splitting already scarce resources between two listed entities, each needing its own overhead.

• A Successful Spin-Off Could Unlock Value — or Dilute It. Under the deal's terms, Sivers would retain majority ownership of the combined listed photonics entity , which already generates roughly 80% of its revenue in the U.S. A Nasdaq listing could attract American institutional capital. But SPAC mergers frequently lead to heavy shareholder redemptions, draining cash the new company needs. With long-term revenue growth guidance of 25%–30% annually and profitability not expected until 2028 at the earliest, investors are buying a story — and the next 24 hours will determine whether that story gets a new chapter or stalls at the outline.