POET Stock Is Lighting Up — But These 3 AI Optics Plays Are Already Wired Ahead

• So far this year, POET stock has risen 138.6%, roughly in line with LITE at 139.2%, while LWLG has surged 291% and AAOI has advanced 365%.
• AI infrastructure stocks have outperformed the equal-weight S&P 500 by 115% since December 2023, according to The Kobeissi Letter.
• POET’s momentum has been driven by optical module programs, including a purchase order from Marvell Technology.

Shares of Poet Technologies, Inc. (POET) are staging a breakout month as retail traders pile into AI photonics stocks, but the strongest gains across the sector are still flowing toward peers already reporting production-scale hyperscaler optical deployments.

Photonics Stocks Surge On AI Infrastructure Demand

So far this year, POET stock has gained 138.6%, strikingly close to gains in Lumentum Holdings (LITE), which is up 139.2%, while Lightwave Logic (LWLG) has surged 291% and Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) has advanced 365%.

The surge among photonics stocks comes as investors look for the companies benefiting most from the AI infrastructure wave. According to The Kobeissi Letter, AI infrastructure stocks have outperformed the equal-weight S&P 500 by 115% since December 2023.  

On Stocktwits, POET sentiment was ‘extremely bullish’ amid ‘extremely high’ message volume, LWLG sentiment was ‘bullish’ amid ‘high’ message volume, while LITE and AAOI sentiment was ‘neutral’ amid ‘low’ message volume.

Over the past year, POET has risen 272%, underperforming peers including LWLG, which has surged 1,305%, AAOI, up 1,168%, and LITE, which has climbed 1,400%.

POET Surges On Marvell Order

POET’s recent momentum has been driven by growing traction with data-center optics partners. CFO Thomas Mika recently told Stocktwits that the company has secured a purchase order linked to Marvell Technology, with shipments expected as early as next quarter. The company is also awaiting updates from its manufacturing partners, Foxconn Interconnect Technology and Luxshare Precision Industry, on module programs that use its optical engines.

“When you’re dealing with large companies who have committed to designing modules using your components, sometimes you hear from them, and sometimes you don’t,” Mika said. “We expect to hear back from at least one of those.”

The project is tied to Marvell’s photonic interconnect ecosystem through Celestial AI and module programs with Foxconn and Luxshare centers on 800G and higher-speed optical modules used to connect GPU clusters inside AI data centers. The company currently assembles about one million optical devices per month and is targeting ten million units as qualification progresses with hyperscale customers.

AI Data-Center Demand Lifts AAOI, LITE

Even as Poet has been on a major green streak over the past month, several optical connectivity peers have surged ahead this year as hyperscaler spending begins to translate into production-level orders.

Shares of Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) gained traction after the company secured a $71 million order for 800G data-center transceivers from a major hyperscale customer, which is part of over $124 million in orders announced since March for the expansion of AI networks. The company is also expanding its U.S. manufacturing footprint to support a capacity of up to 700,000 units per month of 800G and 1.6T transceivers by 2027.

Meanwhile, Lumentum Holdings (LITE) has attracted investor attention after announcing a “multi-year, multibillion-dollar” agreement for optical-circuit-switching infrastructure to support hyperscale AI networking demand. The company is also expanding domestic manufacturing capacity for indium-phosphide laser components used in AI data-center systems, with Nvidia among its customers.

JPMorgan said that forward visibility into Lumentum’s optical growth drivers appears stronger than expected, while Morgan Stanley noted that rising optical content per deployment continues to support estimates across the sector.

LWLG Rides AI Connectivity Momentum

Shares of Lightwave Logic have also surged amid confidence in the company’s electro-optic polymer modulator platform, which can enable faster, more energy-efficient photonic integrated circuits.

The company recently integrated its high-speed modulator technology into the silicon-photonics process design ecosystem used with GlobalFoundries, allowing customers to incorporate the platform directly into manufacturable photonic chip designs targeting 200G and 400G per-lane architectures. The integration supports tape-outs planned through 2026 to validate AI connectivity applications.

Separately, Lightwave Logic has partnered with Tower Semiconductor to enable compact modulators with bandwidth exceeding 110 GHz for high-density optical interconnect systems.

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