Trade Whisperer
Memory Engineer & Data Scientist, Founder of Blue Pink Candles
Lumentum, Coherent and Applied Optoelectronics remain buys amid AI optics demand: Lumentum's CEO said its AI optical parts are completely sold out through early 2029. x.com
Optics and photonics should be among AI's biggest winners as faster GPU networks need optical connections that suppliers cannot expand quickly enough. Lumentum says some components are sold out through early 2029; Sivers is investing $30M to target more than 100M lasers a year, with operations expected in Q4 2027. Potential US restrictions on Chinese transceivers could reshape supply in 2027. Applied Optoelectronics and Sivers are the favorites. x.com x.com
The photonics-as-AI-bottleneck claim has faded, leaving Lumentum facing more pain before the theme recovers. A large December options node sits at $600; the stock bot targets downside at $650 and $595, with $581 a possible liquidity sweep where smart money would buy instead of rushing in at $650 or $630. Most photonics companies will likely never come back. x.com
Lumentum's AI-optics case gains longer supply visibility: CEO Michael Hurlston says capacity is effectively sold out through early 2029 and expects roughly 70% of demand for some products to go unmet through 2027; others could face roughly 30% unmet demand through 2028. Scarcity could support pricing, but earnings growth depends on capacity expansion and yield improvements translating into shipments, revenue and margins. x.com
Lumentum's 109% year-on-year growth and sold-out capacity through 2029 make selling its AI optics exposure questionable. Bloomberg reported Marvell is in advanced talks to buy it; the appeal depends on the price, especially when holders of an $80 billion Lumentum would become holders of a $320 billion-plus Marvell growing 37%. x.com
Lumentum requires paying up heavily for a company that is not yet making money. Revenue grew 109% year over year, but it trades at about 25 times annualized sales, and it is growing less than memory makers at ten times their valuation. @ZeekTyt cites Lumentum's CEO expecting to supply only about 30% of requested laser demand as CPO and NPO ramp in 2027, with balance around 2029-30. x.com x.com
Lumentum remains an AI laser bottleneck beneficiary: NVIDIA put $2B into the company in March for capacity and access rights to its lasers. A major AI buyer committing capital upfront points to scarce laser supply. x.com
Photonics stocks remain attractive as AI optical-component demand exceeds supply: Lumentum's CEO says the company cannot meet 70% of demand for some products through 2027 or 30% for others through 2028, with some components sold out into early 2029. The cited basket is LITE, MRVL, AAOI, COHR, SIVE and AEHR. x.com
AI bottleneck semiconductor stocks look to have gotten ahead of themselves, with roughly a hundred near-vertical charts where downside now seems to outweigh upside. They are semis and highly cyclical, and many smaller caps may end up trading like meme stocks. A substantial shakeout would offer a better entry. AI, robotics and energy still have years of growth ahead, but chasing these names now is not advisable. x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com
Lumentum is an essential, bottleneck-constrained supplier to AI clusters as optics replace copper at its physical limit, not a commoditized transceiver vendor, so it remains undervalued with a path well above $1,000 a share. Per CEO Michael Hurlston, capacity is sold out. Gross margins are nearing 48%, backlog stretches through 2028 and Nvidia's $2B partnership runs through it. The shift to scale-up CPO and indium phosphide lasers and a reported US ban on Chinese data center sourcing favor it. … Show more