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POET Technologies
AI optics after earnings: $POET, $AAOI, $LITE and $COHR through the lens of commercial proof—orders, shipments, revenue conversion, repeat demand, margins and scale.
Data Storage Corporation, POET Technologies and Jet.AI each delivered May 15 updates that speak to a broader market theme: artificial intelligence is no longer only a software story. It is becoming an infrastructure story, a photonics story, a power-and-data-center story, and in some cases a corporate-transformation story. These three companies sit in different corners of that map. $DTST is trying to build a regulated-industry AI continuity platform on top of a recurring telecom and connectivity base. $POET is trying to become a core optical-engine and wafer-level photonic-integration supplier for AI networks and hyperscale data centers. $JTAI is the most complex and speculative of the three, combining AI cloud infrastructure, data-center power access, a pending aviation merger with flyExclusive, strategic holdings and a SpaceX-linked economic interest.
The artificial intelligence infrastructure boom is not only a story about GPUs, accelerators, memory, power, cooling and real estate. It is also, increasingly, a story about light. As AI clusters become larger, denser and more power hungry, the bottleneck shifts from raw compute alone to the movement of data between processors, racks, data halls and campuses. Electrical interconnects still matter, but the further the AI buildout moves into high-bandwidth, low-latency and energy-constrained architectures, the more optical networking becomes one of the critical hidden layers of the trade.
POET Technologies has entered a much more delicate phase of its AI photonics story. The April 27, 2026 purchase-order update is materially negative because the company confirmed that all purchase orders received from Celestial AI have been cancelled after Marvell acquired Celestial. But the headline is also easy to oversimplify. Based on the wording available today, the stated issue is not product failure, failed qualification, or a public technical rejection of POET’s platform. The stated issue is confidentiality and disclosure discipline.
Market chatter
Sivers-NVIDIA read-across, AI photonics enthusiasm and unusual call activity are influencing short-term POET sentiment
From narrative-rich AI photonics story to execution test: POET now has a far bigger balance sheet, a broader partnership map and a clearer 2026–2027 roadmap — but the market still wants the same proof as always: real shipments, repeat revenue and evidence that the Optical Interposer can scale outside press releases.
POET arrived at the industry’s key optical-communications event with fresh news in hand: the new co-development announcement with LITEON, plus demonstrations of Blazar and Starlight products aimed at AI-related optical connectivity. In practical terms, this is the first immediate stage where the market can gauge whether the latest headline gets traction beyond the press release itself.
Updated overview of POET Technologies after the 2025 production orders, equity financings and the 2026 Lightwave award: technology, product line, financial profile, partnerships, retail sentiment and key risk factors.
January 2026 has been anything but quiet for POET Technologies. The stock first extended the late-2025 rerating on the “AI optics” narrative and then got hit hard by a US$150 million registered direct offering that erased most of the month’s gains. The industrial thesis around the Optical Interposer has not changed, but the share count has – and the market is repricing that.
This article is the natural continuation of the analysis published on January 3, 2026 on Merlintrader. Since then, POET has gone through a very busy few weeks: a strong share price move, intense options activity, fresh buzz around AI photonics, the long shadow of Marvell’s acquisition of Celestial AI, and a stream of unconfirmed rumours in retail communities.
Market cap around 900–950M USD with a one-year increase above 200 percent.
Positioned at the intersection of AI, photonics and data centers, with optical engines and interposer technology at the core.
Recent production orders for POET Infinity optical engines, with shipments scheduled from the second half of 2026.
Extra attention after Marvell’s acquisition of Celestial AI, which uses POET’s technology.
