New York, April 24, 2026, 11:10 EDT
- POET Technologies surged roughly 27% late Friday morning, bouncing back after Thursday’s sharp drop and capping a turbulent week for the AI photonics stock.
- Much of the rally is tied to CFO Thomas Mika’s remarks about a POET purchase order connected to Marvell Technology—even though Marvell hasn’t confirmed anything publicly.
- The bull argument remains in its infancy. POET logged only $341,202 in revenue for the fourth quarter—net loss: $42.7 million—as it shifts away from development and heads for production.
POET Technologies saw its shares jump sharply Friday, climbing 27.4% to $14.93 after briefly reaching $15.21 earlier in the session. The small AI-photonics firm is once again drawing heavy retail interest, fueled by buzz around Marvell, data center optical links, and a controversial short-seller note.
This shift is catching attention as investors look past the big chip stocks and dig into smaller suppliers fueling the AI infrastructure wave. With AI models scaling up, data centers are turning to faster optical interconnects—light-based links replacing copper—to shuttle data between chips, memory, and servers.
POET’s CFO Thomas Mika triggered the latest move after telling Stocktwits the company had landed a purchase order involving Marvell, with shipments on deck—some possibly going out as soon as next quarter. Mika added that POET is still waiting for word from Foxconn and Luxshare, both major electronics contractors with a hand in high-speed optical module projects.
Mika told Sherwood News, “We’re a supplier to Marvell now that they’ve acquired Celestial AI,” highlighting that POET delivers high-bandwidth, multi-frequency light sources to Celestial AI’s photonic fabric. Those components are designed to facilitate communication between GPUs and memory devices in AI setups. Sherwood News
Marvell wrapped up its acquisition of Celestial AI on Feb. 2, aiming to boost its optical connectivity lineup for AI and cloud data centers down the line. The company is projecting Celestial AI to start generating revenue in the back half of fiscal 2028, eyeing a $500 million annual run rate by the final quarter of that year, and doubling that to $1 billion by Q4 fiscal 2029.
Attention on the Marvell link spiked after Reuters reported this week that Alphabet’s Google is in talks with Marvell to create two new AI chips. That’s despite Broadcom already locked in with Google under a long-term co-development agreement stretching through 2031 for custom AI chips. POET hasn’t disclosed any direct deal with Google so far; traders are making moves based on supply-chain implications.
POET touts its Optical Interposer platform as a way to pack both electronic and photonic elements onto one chip using wafer-level semiconductor processes. The pitch: shrink the optical components handling data in AI networks, slash costs, and make scaling up less of a headache.
Chairman and CEO Suresh Venkatesan described the fourth quarter as a shift for POET, moving “from development to execution.” The push came after raising over $225 million during the quarter, with another $150 million brought in January. According to Venkatesan, POET landed a production order topping $5 million for its Infinity optical engines and is aiming to ship upwards of 30,000 optical engines this year. POET Technologies
The latest figures underline how early POET still is. Fourth-quarter non-recurring engineering and product revenue came in at $341,202. The net loss was $42.7 million, plus a $30.6 million non-cash fair-value adjustment for derivative warrant liabilities. Venkatesan put POET’s cash position at $430 million, saying the big push is to convert the pipeline into steady revenue.
The disconnect between POET’s potential and hard evidence keeps debate swirling around the stock. James Foord, writing for Seeking Alpha, labeled POET an “early and unproven” play in the AI space. He flagged hefty execution risks—scalability, getting the tech validated, adoption timelines—despite pointing to a big payoff if the company delivers. Seeking Alpha
Tax and governance questions linger. Short seller Wolfpack Research labeled POET an “obvious stock promote,” pointing to the risk that it could be classified as a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC—potentially spelling tax headaches for U.S. investors. PFIC status, a designation for certain foreign firms, comes with stricter tax treatment for Americans. MarketWatch
POET said it plans to supply the documents U.S. investors need to pursue a qualified electing fund—or QEF—election, the tax step that can help alleviate some PFIC issues. Mika added the company expects not to be a PFIC in 2026. The board, he said, is looking to shift POET’s headquarters and re-incorporate in the U.S., a move that could go to shareholders for a vote at the June 26 meeting.
Still, there’s room for the trade to turn against investors. Marvell hasn’t confirmed any order from POET, and so far, POET’s production ramp hasn’t translated into significant revenue. The company itself has flagged multiple risks: products might not hit performance targets, sales could fall through, customers may not spark end-user demand, or plans to redomicile could stumble over tax or shareholder approval issues.
The margin proved razor-thin in Thursday’s selloff. According to The Motley Fool, via Yahoo Finance, POET tumbled up to 15.7% during the session before paring losses to trade down 7.3% at 2:30 p.m. ET. That slump tracked a wave of caution across tech after ServiceNow’s results, rather than any direct change in POET’s business outlook.
At this point, POET stock is behaving less like your usual semiconductor play and more like a leveraged bet on the future of AI-ready optical infrastructure. All eyes are on the next, tougher hurdle: converting those purchase orders and enthusiastic partner chatter into actual shipments, booked revenue, and—crucially—follow-on demand.
