Astera Labs Reports First Quarter 2026 Financial Results
- Record quarterly revenue of
$308.4 million , up 14% QoQ and up 93% year-over-year - Market-leading PCIe 6 AI fabric and signal conditioning portfolio delivered strong growth during Q1
- Now shipping newly announced Scorpio™ X-Series 320-lane AI Fabric switch and expanded Scorpio P-Series PCIe 6 switch family supporting 32 to 320 lanes
“Astera Labs delivered strong Q1 2026 financial results with revenue growing by 14% sequentially and 93% year-over-year to a record level of
First Quarter of Fiscal 2026 Financial Highlights
GAAP Financial Results:
- Revenue of
$308.4 million , up 14% sequentially and up 93% year-over-year - GAAP gross margin of 76.3%
- GAAP operating income of
$61.8 million - GAAP operating margin of 20.1%
- GAAP net income of
$80.3 million - GAAP diluted net earnings per share of
$0.44
Non-GAAP Financial Results (excluding the impact of stock-based compensation expense, acquisition-related costs, and the income tax effects of non-GAAP adjustments):
- Non-GAAP gross margin of 76.4%
- Non-GAAP operating income of
$111.7 million - Non-GAAP operating margin of 36.2%
- Non-GAAP net income of
$110.1 million - Non-GAAP diluted net earnings per share of
$0.61
Q1 2026 and Recent Business Highlights
- Announced Scorpio X-Series 320-lane Smart Fabric Switch, the largest open, memory-semantic fabric switch, purpose-built for frontier AI lab workloads. The AI fabric switch leverages open and platform specific protocols to deliver infrastructure optionality across diverse accelerators in high-radix scale-up topologies. New capabilities like Hypercast™ and In-Network Compute boost collective operations by up to 2x, reduce latency, and improve token economics for agentic inference workloads. Scorpio X-Series 320-lane is shipping today with expected production ramp in the second half of 2026 targeting the merchant scale-up market projected to reach
$20 billion by 2030. - Expanded market-leading Scorpio P-Series PCIe-6 Fabric Switch family that now spans from 32 to 320 lane configurations for flexible switch deployment at any scale. With customer-optimized firmware and COSMOS embedded software, infrastructure fleet management is bolstered with non-disruptive updates and comprehensive in-depth signal, link, and packet diagnostics using a common interface across Astera Labs’ complete connectivity portfolio. Shipments to multiple customers across several Scorpio P-Series variants are expected in the second half of this year with broader volume ramps targeted for 2027.
- Collaborated with the
Ultra Accelerator Link Consortium to publish a new UALink 2.0 specification which introduces additional features and capabilities while maintaining its foundational memory-semantic model. UALink 2.0 enhancements include supporting In-Network Compute for greater efficiency, confidential computing for tighter security and multi-path routing for improved resiliency. UALink 2.0 delivers these advances while maintaining an open, vendor-neutral ecosystem to provide a purpose-built AI compute fabric capable of scaling with industry needs over time. - Showcased portfolio of AI connectivity solutions at NVIDIA GTC 2026 highlighting the broad market opportunity for intelligent networking across a wide variety of merchant-GPU platforms and applications. Astera Labs’ connectivity portfolio supports merchant GPU platforms by offering Scorpio P-Series PCIe Smart Fabric Switches and Aries 6 PCIe Smart Retimers for customized scale-out networking, Leo CXL memory controllers to accelerate KV Cache, Taurus SCMs for Ethernet scale-out switches, and custom solutions for NVLink Fusion scale-up connectivity.
Second Quarter of Fiscal 2026 Financial Outlook
Based on current business trends and conditions,
GAAP Financial Outlook:
- Revenue within a range of
$355 million to$365 million - GAAP gross margin of approximately 73%
- GAAP operating expenses within a range of approximately
$188 million to$191 million - GAAP tax rate of approximately 1%
- GAAP diluted earnings per share of approximately
$0.44 to$0.46 on weighted-average diluted shares outstanding of approximately 184 million
Non-GAAP Financial Outlook (excluding the impact of stock-based compensation expense and the income tax effects of non-GAAP adjustments):
- Non-GAAP gross margin of approximately 73%
- Non-GAAP operating expenses within a range of approximately
$128 million to$131 million - Non-GAAP tax rate of approximately 12%
- Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of approximately
$0.68 to$0.70 on non-GAAP weighted-average diluted shares outstanding of approximately 184 million
Earnings Webcast and Conference Call
Discussion of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We use certain non-GAAP financial measures, including those concerning our financial outlook, to supplement the performance measures in our consolidated financial statements, which are presented in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the closest GAAP measure can be found later in this release. The timing and impact of any adjustments to arrive at the corresponding GAAP financial measures concerning our financial outlook are inherently dependent on future events that are typically uncertain or that may be outside of our control. These non-GAAP financial measures include non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP tax rate, and non-GAAP net income. We use these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision-making and as a means to assist us in evaluating period-to-period comparisons. By excluding certain items that may not be indicative of our recurring core operating results, we believe that, non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP tax rate, and non-GAAP net income provide meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance. Accordingly, we believe these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors and others because they allow for additional information with respect to financial measures used by management in its financial and operational decision-making and they may be used by our institutional investors and the analyst community to help them analyze the health of our business. However, there are a number of limitations related to the use of non-GAAP financial measures, and these non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for or in isolation from, our financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate these non-GAAP financial measures differently or not at all, which reduces their usefulness as comparative measures.
We adjust the following items from one or more of our non-GAAP financial measures:
Stock-based compensation expense
We exclude non-cash stock-based compensation expense from certain of our non-GAAP financial measures because we believe that excluding this item provides meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance. In particular, companies calculate non-cash stock-based compensation expense using a variety of valuation methodologies and subjective assumptions. Moreover, stock-based compensation expense is a non-cash charge that can vary significantly from period to period for reasons that are unrelated to our core operating performance, and therefore excluding this item provides investors and other users of our financial information with information that allows meaningful comparisons of our business performance across periods.
Acquisition-related costs
We exclude acquisition-related costs incurred in connection with our acquisitions, which we generally would have not otherwise incurred in the periods presented as part of our continuing operations. Acquisition-related costs include certain incremental expenses incurred to effect a business combination such as third-party costs: advisory, legal, accounting, valuation, and other professional fees. We believe that providing the non-GAAP measures excluding these costs assists our investors because such costs are not reflective of our ongoing operating results.
Income tax effect
This represents the impact of the non-GAAP adjustments on an after-tax basis and one-off discrete tax adjustments that are unrelated to our core operating performance in connection with the presentation of non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share. This approach is designed to enhance investors’ ability to understand the impact of our non-GAAP tax expense on our current operations, provide improved modeling accuracy, and substantially reduce fluctuations caused by GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements based on
About
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited) (In thousands) |
|||||||
| As of | |||||||
2026 |
2025 |
||||||
| Assets | |||||||
| Current assets | |||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 148,285 | $ | 167,611 | |||
| Marketable securities | 1,036,189 | 1,021,205 | |||||
| Accounts receivable, net | 134,797 | 83,202 | |||||
| Inventory | 60,156 | 58,979 | |||||
| Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 33,509 | 31,033 | |||||
| Total current assets | 1,412,936 | 1,362,030 | |||||
| Property and equipment, net | 97,172 | 92,038 | |||||
| 87,725 | 19,015 | ||||||
| Other assets | 61,382 | 58,740 | |||||
| Total assets | $ | 1,659,215 | $ | 1,531,823 | |||
| Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity | |||||||
| Current liabilities | |||||||
| Accounts payable | $ | 55,818 | $ | 42,362 | |||
| Accrued expenses and other current liabilities | 69,226 | 90,680 | |||||
| Total current liabilities | 125,044 | 133,042 | |||||
| Other liabilities | 40,223 | 35,147 | |||||
| Total liabilities | 165,267 | 168,189 | |||||
| Stockholders’ equity | |||||||
| Common stock | 17 | 17 | |||||
| Additional paid-in capital | 1,404,063 | 1,348,969 | |||||
| Accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income | (780 | ) | 4,310 | ||||
| Retained earnings | 90,648 | 10,338 | |||||
| Total stockholders’ equity | 1,493,948 | 1,363,634 | |||||
| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity | $ | 1,659,215 | $ | 1,531,823 | |||
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (Unaudited) (In thousands, except per share amounts) |
|||||||||||
| Three Months Ended | |||||||||||
2026 |
2025 |
2025 |
|||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 308,361 | $ | 270,583 | $ | 159,442 | |||||
| Cost of revenue | 73,220 | 66,108 | 40,031 | ||||||||
| Gross profit | 235,141 | 204,475 | 119,411 | ||||||||
| Operating expenses | |||||||||||
| Research and development | 125,634 | 93,792 | 64,554 | ||||||||
| Sales and marketing | 21,899 | 20,104 | 21,702 | ||||||||
| General and administrative | 25,775 | 23,621 | 21,870 | ||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 173,308 | 137,517 | 108,126 | ||||||||
| Operating income | 61,833 | 66,958 | 11,285 | ||||||||
| Interest income | 11,581 | 11,957 | 10,432 | ||||||||
| Income before income taxes | 73,414 | 78,915 | 21,717 | ||||||||
| Income tax (benefit) provision | (6,896 | ) | 33,933 | (10,102 | ) | ||||||
| Net income | $ | 80,310 | $ | 44,982 | $ | 31,819 | |||||
| Net income per share attributable to common stockholders: | |||||||||||
| Basic | $ | 0.47 | $ | 0.27 | $ | 0.19 | |||||
| Diluted | $ | 0.44 | $ | 0.25 | $ | 0.18 | |||||
| Weighted-average shares used in calculating net income per share attributable to common stockholders: | |||||||||||
| Basic | 170,726 | 169,505 | 163,194 | ||||||||
| Diluted | 181,157 | 181,181 | 178,116 | ||||||||
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) (In thousands) |
||||||||
| Three Months Ended |
||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | |||||||
| Cash flows from operating activities | ||||||||
| Net income | $ | 80,310 | $ | 31,819 | ||||
| Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities | ||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | 48,913 | 42,446 | ||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 3,710 | 1,125 | ||||||
| Non-cash operating lease expense | 1,177 | 696 | ||||||
| Warrants contra revenue | 2,097 | 374 | ||||||
| Accretion of discounts on marketable securities | (1,202 | ) | (2,542 | ) | ||||
| Other, net | (1,313 | ) | (1,025 | ) | ||||
| Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | ||||||||
| Accounts receivable, net | (51,789 | ) | (30,968 | ) | ||||
| Inventory | 346 | (6,787 | ) | |||||
| Prepaid expenses and other assets | 13,889 | (14,495 | ) | |||||
| Accounts payable | (699 | ) | 2,226 | |||||
| Accrued expenses and other liabilities | (20,841 | ) | (12,365 | ) | ||||
| Net cash provided by operating activities | 74,598 | 10,504 | ||||||
| Cash flows from investing activities | ||||||||
| Purchases of property and equipment | (7,586 | ) | (4,539 | ) | ||||
| Purchases of marketable securities | (156,628 | ) | (190,821 | ) | ||||
| Sales and maturities of marketable securities | 137,756 | 191,420 | ||||||
| Payments for business combinations, net of cash acquired | (65,049 | ) | — | |||||
| Other investing activities | (2,500 | ) | — | |||||
| Net cash used in investing activities | (94,007 | ) | (3,940 | ) | ||||
| Cash flows from financing activities | ||||||||
| Proceeds from exercises of stock options | 82 | 386 | ||||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | 82 | 386 | ||||||
| Net (decrease) increase in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | (19,327 | ) | 6,950 | |||||
| Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash | ||||||||
| Beginning of the period | 167,684 | 80,044 | ||||||
| End of the period | $ | 148,357 | $ | 86,994 | ||||
RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (Unaudited) (In thousands, except percentages and per share amounts) |
||||||||||||
| Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||
2026 |
2025 |
2025 |
||||||||||
| GAAP gross profit | $ | 235,141 | $ | 204,475 | $ | 119,411 | ||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | 499 | 429 | (38 | ) | ||||||||
| Non-GAAP gross profit | $ | 235,640 | $ | 204,904 | $ | 119,373 | ||||||
| GAAP gross margin | 76.3 | % | 75.6 | % | 74.9 | % | ||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | 0.2 | 0.1 | — | |||||||||
| Non-GAAP gross margin(1) | 76.4 | % | 75.7 | % | 74.9 | % | ||||||
| GAAP operating income | $ | 61,833 | $ | 66,958 | $ | 11,285 | ||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | 48,913 | 41,374 | 42,446 | |||||||||
| Acquisition-related costs(2) | 983 | 575 | — | |||||||||
| Non-GAAP operating income | $ | 111,729 | $ | 108,907 | $ | 53,731 | ||||||
| GAAP operating margin | 20.1 | % | 24.7 | % | 7.1 | % | ||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | 15.9 | 15.3 | 26.6 | |||||||||
| Acquisition-related costs(2) | 0.3 | 0.2 | — | |||||||||
| Non-GAAP operating margin(1) | 36.2 | % | 40.2 | % | 33.7 | % | ||||||
| GAAP net income | $ | 80,310 | $ | 44,982 | $ | 31,819 | ||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | 48,913 | 41,374 | 42,446 | |||||||||
| Acquisition-related costs(2) | 983 | 575 | — | |||||||||
| Income tax effect(3) | (20,137 | ) | 17,833 | (14,638 | ) | |||||||
| Non-GAAP net income | $ | 110,069 | $ | 104,764 | $ | 59,627 | ||||||
| Net income per share attributable to common stockholders: | ||||||||||||
| GAAP - basic | $ | 0.47 | $ | 0.27 | $ | 0.19 | ||||||
| GAAP - diluted | $ | 0.44 | $ | 0.25 | $ | 0.18 | ||||||
| Non-GAAP - diluted | $ | 0.61 | $ | 0.58 | $ | 0.33 | ||||||
| Weighted average shares used to compute net income per share attributable to common stockholders: | ||||||||||||
| GAAP - basic | 170,726 | 169,505 | 163,194 | |||||||||
| GAAP - diluted | 181,157 | 181,181 | 178,116 | |||||||||
____________________
(1) Total may not sum due to rounding.
(2) Acquisition-related costs included certain incremental expenses incurred to effect a business combination such as third-party costs: advisory, legal, accounting, valuation, and other professional fees.
(3) Income tax effect is calculated based on the tax laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate and is calculated to exclude the impact of stock-based compensation expense and one-off discrete tax adjustments that are unrelated to our core operating performance. For the three months ended
RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP OUTLOOK (Unaudited) (In millions, except percentages and per share amounts) |
||||||||
| Outlook for Three Months Ending |
||||||||
| Low | High | |||||||
| GAAP gross margin | 73 | % | 73 | % | ||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | — | — | ||||||
| Non-GAAP gross margin | 73 | % | 73 | % | ||||
| GAAP operating expense | $ | 188 | $ | 191 | ||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | (60 | ) | (60 | ) | ||||
| Non-GAAP operating expense | $ | 128 | $ | 131 | ||||
| GAAP tax rate | 1 | % | 1 | % | ||||
| Income tax effect | 11 | 11 | ||||||
| Non-GAAP tax rate | 12 | % | 12 | % | ||||
| GAAP EPS - diluted | $ | 0.44 | $ | 0.46 | ||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | 0.33 | 0.33 | ||||||
| Income tax effect | (0.09 | ) | (0.09 | ) | ||||
| Non-GAAP EPS - diluted | $ | 0.68 | $ | 0.70 | ||||
SUPPLEMENTAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION EXPENSE (Unaudited) (In thousands) |
|||||||||
| Three Months Ended | |||||||||
2026 |
2025 |
2025 |
|||||||
| Cost of revenue | $ | 499 | $ | 429 | $ | (38 | ) | ||
| Research and development | 29,404 | 23,094 | 19,186 | ||||||
| Sales and marketing | 9,892 | 9,029 | 12,319 | ||||||
| General and administrative | 9,118 | 8,822 | 10,979 | ||||||
| Total stock-based compensation expense | $ | 48,913 | $ | 41,374 | $ | 42,446 | |||
IR CONTACT:
leslie.green@asteralabs.com
Source: ASTERA LABS, INC.