The 100-Second Bottleneck Behind NVIDIA CPO: 7 Companies That Own the 4-Stage Test Stack
The testing stage of coherent photonic‑on‑chip (CPO) production has become the primary bottleneck, with a full optical inspection of each photonic integrated circuit taking over 100 seconds. TrendForce data and recent earnings show that seven specialist equipment firms—FormFactor, Teradyne, Keysight, Aehr, Advantest, Chroma, and ficonTEC—now dominate the four‑stage test stack and burn‑in process. Stock returns for these companies have surged 150%‑1,033% in the past year, reflecting investor focus on test‑time compression as TSMC’s COUPE platform and NVIDIA’s $6 B AI optics investments ramp up. The market cap spread, from Aehr’s $2.9 B to Advantest’s $128 B, highlights a potential valuation gap as CPO test demand scales.
The Last 1.5mm of AI Power: Three Numbers From Vicor’s Q1 2026 Earnings Call
Vicor Corp. disclosed its second‑generation Vertical Power Delivery (VPD) module on the Q1 2026 earnings call, highlighting a 3 A/mm² current density, up to 40× current multiplication, and a 1.5 mm package thickness. The company also announced a capacity boost at its...
A $750M Fabless Chip Company, and the Foundry That Makes the Chips
Credo Technology announced a $750 million cash acquisition of Israeli silicon‑photonic fabless startup DustPhotonics, with an earn‑out that could lift total consideration to about $1.3 billion. DustPhotonics’ proprietary L3C (Low‑Loss Laser Coupling) technology remains opaque, as no public loss figures or peer‑reviewed...
QD Laser Inc. (6613): Peak Market Cap ¥64.6B, Revenue ¥1.3B, 49 Employees. What It Takes for These Numbers to Make...
QD Laser Inc., a veteran quantum‑dot laser producer, saw its market capitalization surge to roughly ¥64.6 billion (about $430 million) in March 2026 before retreating amid extreme volatility. Despite the lofty valuation, the firm generated only ¥1.3 billion ($8.7 million) in annual revenue and...
I Read 24 Papers. The Press Releases Were Lying. Why Samsung, NVIDIA, Broadcom, and Meta Were All at the Same...
A deep dive of all 24 papers presented at OFC 2026 reveals that optics, not GPUs, is becoming the next performance bottleneck for AI data centers. The analysis uncovers five technology fronts—silicon‑photonic foundries, co‑packaged optics (CPO), advanced glass packaging, high‑speed...
[OFC 2026] Part 5 of 5: Hollow-Core Fiber and Next-Gen Transmission: Beyond the Loss Record
Hollow‑core fiber (HCF) is transitioning from laboratory demos to commercial roll‑outs. Microsoft now operates over 1,280 km of Azure HCF with sub‑0.1 dB/km loss and zero field failures, while AWS has introduced HCF in roughly ten data‑center sites. YOFC’s 0.04 dB/km laboratory record...
[OFC 2026] Part 4 of 5: 400G/Lane and 1.6T Coherent: Two Fronts, One Power Wall
The OFC 2026 session highlighted two parallel scaling tracks in datacenter optics: 400 Gb/s per lane IM‑DD and 1.6 Tb/s coherent pluggables. Six papers mapped the current technical state, concluding both paths are brushing against fundamental physical limits without any live link...
Aehr Test Systems Q3 FY2026: The Burn-In Proxy for Silicon Photonics HVM
Aehr Test Systems reported Q3 FY2026 revenue of $10.3 million, a 44% year‑over‑year decline, while bookings surged to $37.2 million, yielding a book‑to‑bill ratio above 3.5x. The company disclosed that at least two silicon photonics customers are now ordering wafer‑level burn‑in (WLBI)...
[OFC 2026] Part 3 of 5: Packaging: Glass Substrates to 3D Hybrid Bonding
The OFC 2026 session highlighted that AI‑driven data centers are now limited by packaging rather than raw silicon speed. Co‑Packaged Optics (CPO) aims to overcome this bottleneck by integrating optical engines directly into switch packages, but the choice of substrate...
[OFC 2026] Part 2 of 5: CPO and the AI Interconnect Challenge
AI compute clusters are doubling annually, pushing Meta's rack designs from 72 GPUs to over 256 nodes and exceeding 1 MW of power per rack. At these scales, copper backplanes face insurmountable limits in power delivery, bandwidth density, and routing complexity....
[OFC 2026] Part 2 of 5: CPO and the AI Interconnect Challenge
AI training racks are scaling rapidly, with Meta's upcoming ORW rack doubling node count and pushing single‑rack power beyond one megawatt. Copper backplanes now face insurmountable limits in bandwidth, power density, and routing complexity. Meta used OFC 2026 to set...
[OFC 2026] Part 1 of 5: 300mm SiPh Foundry: Who Is Actually Ready?
At OFC 2026, Samsung, GlobalFoundries and NVIDIA each presented seven conference papers detailing their progress toward 300 mm silicon‑photonic (SiPh) foundry capabilities. The analysis highlights that the competition has moved beyond pure device performance to a broader contest of system‑level integration...
[OFC 2026] Part 1 of 5: 300mm SiPh Foundry: Who Is Actually Ready?
The OFC 2026 conference showcased seven papers from Samsung, GlobalFoundries and NVIDIA that dissect the state of 300 mm silicon‑photonic (SiPh) foundries. While the headline race to 200 Gbit/s per wavelength still dominates headlines, the papers reveal that success now hinges on...
POET Technologies Q4 2025: Reading Past the Headline Loss
POET Technologies reported a Q4 2025 net loss of $42.7 million on $341 k revenue, yet its stock jumped 16.9% to $5.94 after the release. The loss was dominated by a $30.6 million non‑cash fair‑value adjustment on CAD‑denominated warrants and a $6.85 million accounting...
POET Technologies Q4 2025: Reading Past the Headline Loss
POET Technologies posted a Q4 2025 net loss of $42.7 million against $341 k of revenue, but cash outflow was only $11.6 million. The loss was dominated by a $30.6 million non‑cash warrant fair‑value adjustment and a $6.85 million acquisition charge. With $430 million in cash,...