NEW YORK, April 21, 2026, 10:36 EDT
Shares of POET Technologies surged 20% Tuesday, building on Monday’s 18% rally. Investors piled back into the optical-chip company after it took steps to calm U.S. shareholder tax worries that weighed on the stock last week. By 10:21 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq stock was up $1.75 to $10.34, after hitting an intraday peak of $11.07. Volume reached nearly 32.9 million shares.
POET shares saw 44.6 million change hands Monday—roughly 324% more than their three-month average, Yahoo Finance data shows. The spike in volume puts the stock firmly in the AI-and-connectivity trade, with tech getting renewed interest from Wall Street even as geopolitical tensions linger.
Wolfpack Research kicked things off with a short call on POET on April 14. Hours later, POET responded: U.S. shareholders would get the info needed for a qualified electing fund (QEF) election, and the board had signed off on a move to re-domicile in the U.S. PFIC—passive foreign investment company—is a U.S. tax classification that can spell trouble for certain investors’ tax situations.
Chief Financial Officer Thomas Mika stated the company doesn’t expect to be considered a PFIC in 2026, adding that, if necessary, it’s ready to submit the redomiciling plan to a shareholder vote on June 26.
POET’s rally is taking off well ahead of the company hitting scale. In the fourth quarter, it posted $341,202 in non-recurring engineering and product revenue, along with a net loss that reached $42.7 million. Still, Chief Executive Suresh Venkatesan called the period a “decisive transition from development to execution.” GlobeNewswire
POET reported on March 31 that its cash reserves stood at $430 million, after locking down over $225 million in funding in the fourth quarter and another $150 million in January. The company also landed a production order topping $5 million for its Infinity optical engines—those are built on POET’s Optical Interposer, a platform meant to integrate electronic and optical parts all on one chip.
The company’s trying to tap into AI data-center growth through new partnerships. POET and Taiwan’s LITEON agreed in March to co-develop optical modules for AI use, with initial prototypes due late 2026 and full-scale output eyed for 2027.
POET isn’t the only player chasing photonics. Marvell, for example, has moved further into the space with its Celestial AI partnership. Credo, just last week, struck a deal to acquire DustPhotonics, aiming to bulk up its silicon-photonics and optical-connectivity lineup for AI data centers.
Breadth lent a hand Tuesday, with the Nasdaq ticking up roughly 0.14% in the morning. “Strong earnings were ‘overpowering the narrative’” behind the market’s latest whipsaws, Thomas Hayes, Great Hill Capital’s chairman, told Reuters. Reuters
Still, risks linger. Mass production with LITEON doesn’t hit until 2027. The U.S. redomicile could hinge on a shareholder vote. And as of April 18, analysts on Simply Wall St were looking for an average 12-month target of $8.20—a number sitting under Tuesday’s price.
