POET Technologies surges after $50 million purchase order to launch partnership for new AI infrastructure

Shares of POET Technologies are soaring in premarket trading after the company announced a $50 million initial purchase order as part of a joint venture with Lumilens to develop new AI infrastructure.

Specifically, the two parties are aiming to deliver chip-level components that can speed the flow of information by translating electrical signals into photonics (and vice versa) — an Electrical-Optical Interposer.

The target audience is clear: “Engineering samples from this joint development program are expected in late 2026, with production ramp aligned to hyperscaler customer deployments in 2027,” per the press release.

This initial order could scale to more than $500 million in cumulative purchases over five years, and also sees the privately held photonics company Lumilens receive warrants that expire in nine years with an exercise price of $8.25 per share to purchase up to 22.9 million shares of POET, with roughly 2.3 million exercisable based on the initial order.

This pact helps reverse the damage to POET’s order book from Marvell’s recent cancelation, in which the chip and networking company cited a breach of confidentiality in terminating its (inherited) agreement with POET.

Shortly before that notice, POET CFO Thomas Mika had told Stocktwits TV that the company was a supplier to Marvell.

The orders announced today are contingent on the successful development of these offerings and the ability to manufacture them at scale.

“Honestly, technology doesn’t mean anything unless you can manufacture it,” POET Executive Chairman and CEO Dr. Suresh Venkatesan told Sherwood News during an interview in Q4. “So our focus really this year has been to cross that last hurdle of ensuring that the technology that we’re developing is truly manufacturable at scale and at wafer scale.”