Member Info for Afon

Could be the main issue for RPI in H2

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/industry-coalition-urges-trump-administration-to-take-urgent-action-as-ai-data-centers-extreme-memory-consumption-threatens-other-industries-ai-driven-memory-chip-shortage-could-raise-prices-in-automotive-medical-telecommunications-sectors

It’s valued at approximately 2 * ARR. US peers (e.g. workflow and IOT/Sensor management companies) are trading at an average of approx 5*ARR. Growth rates probably account for much of the disparity, but allowing for that they look good value.

Historically the UK was a major producer of Tungsten, often a by product of Tin mining. There are plans to reopen a site in Devon. https://www.mining-technology.com/news/tungsten-west-25m-loan-hemerdon-mine-restart/

AST SpaceMobile expects to have 45 BlueBird satellites in orbit this year. CEO Abel Avellan told investors on Monday that it is preparing to launch with SpaceX in mid-June, in mission that will launch three BlueBird satellites.

WSJ overview of LEO market:

https://www.wsj.com/video/series/on-the-news/why-companies-are-racing-to-put-satellites-in-low-earth-orbit/4B1C4A51-EC60-41DE-94D0-92C73B29A0C7

Nanoco has covenanted not to sue Shoei, its customers, or its suppliers for using Nanoco’s quantum dot patents specifically for DISPLAY applications. In exchange, Shoei granted Nanoco similar protection, covenanting not to sue Nanoco or its partners for using Shoei’s patents in the SENSING field. The sensing market is more diverse than display, with enough niches to make it a more sensible area for Nano to specialise.

Nanoco also holds significant organisational expertise methods and processes which can be classified as trade secrets.

CML debuted a new suite of RF and mmWave semiconductor products specifically designed for satellite communications (SATCOM) at the SATShow 2026 event in March. These products are designed for high-performance satellite communications, including LEO applications. Maybe this tech is now stirring interest given that the LEO area is attracting a lot of investment. Just guessing based on what’s happening at FTC and ENSI.

In yesterday’s conference call MACOM management were very bullish on continued growth. Regarding the IQE investment they said they said:

You people may not be familiar with IQE, they are a U.K.-based company that provides epitaxial services, and recently they went through a fundraising event where MACOM participated. They raised 80 million GBP. We participated with a 45 million GBP investment. Just to break that out very quickly, it was 30 million in equity for about 11% ownership, and a 15 million GBP convertible note. Ultimately, what we did as part of this transaction is put in place a long-term supply agreement to make sure that we have adequate supply of the technologies that we’re currently acquiring from them and from others.

The why we did it really revolves around your question, which is, you know, what is MACOM doing to ensure we have strong supply chain security and resiliency? I think this is a great example of a strategic transaction, which is going to sure up not only our business regarding indium phosphide, but also the silicon carbide. Where we stand right now with that is it’s going through regulatory approval. There’ll be a shareholder vote, and it’s expected to close in the next 30 to 60 days.

Adding to this the new framework allows for higher signal interference in exchange for significantly higher throughput, which the FCC claims can be managed through modern technologies like adaptive coding and modulation (ACM).

EnSilica provides turnkey ASICs for satellite communications, which include low-power 5G NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) SDR modems and high-performance digital beamforming payloads. These systems inherently require ACM to adjust to varying channel conditions.

MACOM hit an all time high today. Results out in a couple days. I guess they’ll say something about the IQE deal. They’ve already said they would enter into Long-Term Supply Agreements with IQE for epitaxial services spanning multiple technologies.

Remarkably the price reached $8.50 on the OTC market yesterday. That’s over £6.20! And volume was much higher than normal

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/quote/FLTCF/history/

The changes allow much higher transmission power levels. I’m guessing Ensilicas expertise in satellite ASICs may be driving more investor interest because:

Upgrading to a more powerful satellite Solid-State Power Amplifier (SSPA) usually requires changes to the ASIC chips (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits) that control it. While the SSPA itself is the component doing the power amplification (often using GaN technology), the supporting ASIC chips—which manage bias, gain, and thermal monitoring—must be adapted to handle the higher operational requirements of the more powerful unit.

Thanks. The FCC rule change would most likely explain the increased interest in FTC. The move allows LEO operators to run their systems at higher power levels, which contributes to faster broadband speeds and improved direct-to-cell services.

Filtronic’s Cerus and Cerus 32 modules are recognized as among the highest power (>20W) commercially available E-band solid-state power amplifiers. They are frequently described as "unmatched" for mmWave applications (71–76GHz, 81–86GHz).

Some may have missed this interview with Slator from early April. The integration of RWS technology into Cohere AI is discussed from 14 minutes in:

https://slator.com/rws-ceo-ben-faes-why-they-partnered-with-cohere/

A offer that’s open for less than 3 hours? Most retail shareholders won’t even be aware of the offer before it closes!

Https://finance.biggo.com/news/jKWTuZ0Bga3fZL9MLGUM

Morgan Stanley raised its price targets for four major optical communications stocks: Corning (GLW) from $127 to $140; Lumentum (LITE) from $595 to $710; Coherent (COHR) from $250 to $290; and Ciena (CIEN) from $286 to $405.

“Language Weaver Pro ranked first in 31 of 32 languages in benchmarking tests” - lots of IP behind that. Cohere AI, who emphasise language translation as a strong point in their business workflow oriented AI, is the partner. Current valuation of Cohere is said to be around $7 billion, and an IPO is possible this year. Be interesting to see how that relationship develops.

Https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/ai-optical-transceiver-market-up-57-yoy-2026-04/

From ElectronicsWeekly today:

The global market for AI-focused optical transceivers grew 57% last year from $16.5 billion in 2025 to $26 billion in 2026, says TrendForce.

Serous capacity constraints.