Three buys went into the Trading 212 SIPP today: new positions in Syntec Optics (OPTX) and USA Rare Earth (USAR), plus yet more Alphabet (GOOGL). Precision optics, critical minerals, and the Google advertising-and-AI juggernaut — three very different businesses united by a simple thread: keep going, keep building. Let me walk through each one.
── Syntec Optics (OPTX) — Precision Optics for Defense & Beyond ──
Syntec Optics is a micro-cap US company that designs and manufactures precision polymer optics — lenses, prisms, light pipes, optical assemblies — for defense, aerospace, medical devices, and industrial applications. Think night-vision systems, missile guidance optics, medical imaging components, and advanced sensor lenses. It's a niche manufacturing business that sits at the intersection of national security spending and advanced optical technology.
Why does this interest me? A few reasons. Defense budgets are growing globally, and modern military systems — drones, guided munitions, surveillance platforms — are increasingly optics-heavy. Syntec is a supplier into that ecosystem, and at a micro-cap valuation, a few decent contract wins could be transformational. The company also serves medical and industrial markets, providing some diversification beyond defense. And US-based precision manufacturing — as opposed to components sourced from China — has a geopolitical tailwind as supply chains are reshored and secured.
The risks are all the usual micro-cap ones: illiquid, lumpy revenue, customer concentration, competitive pressure from larger optics manufacturers, and the ever-present possibility that a small manufacturer simply never achieves meaningful scale. Tiny position, sized accordingly, at the speculative fringe alongside Polar Power and Amesite.
── USA Rare Earth (USAR) — Critical Minerals, American Soil ──
USA Rare Earth is building a vertically integrated rare earth production operation in the United States. Rare earth elements — neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium — are essential for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, missile systems, smartphones, and just about every piece of modern technology. Currently, China dominates the rare earth supply chain — from mining to processing to magnet manufacturing — with roughly 85-90% of global processing capacity. The US and its allies have been scrambling to build alternative supply chains, and USAR is one of the companies trying to make that happen.
The company's flagship asset is the Round Top deposit in Texas — a significant rare earth and critical minerals project with a resource base that includes heavy rare earth elements (the more valuable, harder-to-find ones). They're also building downstream processing and magnet manufacturing capability, aiming to offer a domestic end-to-end solution. The thesis is straightforward: if the US wants rare earth independence — and both political parties have signalled that it does — companies like USAR will be part of the solution.
The risks are substantial. Mining is capital-intensive, permitting is slow, and rare earth processing is technically difficult. There's execution risk at every stage — from project development to financing to commercial production. Commodity prices are volatile and outside the company's control. And USAR is pre-revenue — this is a development-stage company, not an operating business. If the project hits delays, cost overruns, or technical challenges (all of which are common in mining), the stock will reflect it. This is a speculative position at the outer edge of the satellite bucket. Tiny, deliberate, eyes open.
── Alphabet (GOOGL) — Keep Going, Keep Building ──
And then there's Google. Alphabet is a long-time favourite — I've written about it before and I'm topping it up again because, honestly, the thesis just keeps getting stronger. Google Search is still the dominant gateway to the internet, processing billions of queries a day and generating advertising revenue that funds everything else. YouTube is the largest video platform on earth, with an unassailable position in long-form content and a growing share of connected TV viewing. Google Cloud is profitable and growing — not the market leader (that's AWS), but a strong and credible #3 with genuine AI differentiation. And then there's the AI layer — Gemini models, DeepMind research, AI overviews in Search, AI tools in Workspace — that positions Alphabet at the centre of the next computing platform shift.
I keep buying GOOGL for the same reason I keep buying Meta: strong business, fortress balance sheet, reasonable valuation relative to earnings power, and a management team that has proven it can invest for the long term while generating enormous free cash flow. The advertising business alone is worth the current valuation, in my assessment — the Cloud and AI businesses are essentially free options on top. That's the kind of setup I'm happy adding to.
── Keep Going, Keep Building ──
Three very different buys today. OPTX is a micro-cap optics play on defense spending. USAR is a critical minerals bet on rare earth independence. GOOGL is the mega-cap advertising-and-AI compounder I've been adding to for years. But they share a pattern: all three are businesses I believe will be more valuable in 5-10 years than they are today, and all three are sized appropriately to their risk profiles.
OPTX and USAR are tiny speculative positions — the kind where being wrong is cheap and being right is delightful. GOOGL is a conviction satellite — meaningful but still smaller than the VUAG and VWRP core. That's the portfolio doing what it's designed to do: a broad, boring, effective core doing the heavy lifting, surrounded by a constellation of satellites sized to their conviction and risk. Keep going, keep building. Brick by brick.
As always: this is what I did with my own money. Not a recommendation. All investing carries risk — you can lose money, and past performance doesn't predict future returns. Individual shares carry significantly more risk than diversified funds. US-listed shares carry currency risk for UK investors. Syntec Optics (OPTX) and USA Rare Earth (USAR) are micro-cap and development-stage companies respectively — both carry specific and significant risks including illiquidity, lack of profitability/revenue, execution risk, and the possibility of total capital loss. Alphabet (GOOGL) carries risks including advertising market cyclicality, regulatory action across multiple jurisdictions, AI competition, and antitrust risk. Do your own research.