POET Technologies (POET) continued its meteoric rise on Monday, with shares surging 108% in premarket trading to $16.40 as of 7:59 a.m. EDT. The stock had already more than doubled last week, closing Friday at $15.10 after a 28.84% daily gain that peaked at $15.50. The rally comes after the company confirmed it received a production order from Marvell Technology, linking its optical engine technology to the AI infrastructure boom.
Marvell Order Validates Commercial Pivot
The $5 million order for POET's Infinity optical engines marks a critical milestone for the company, which is transitioning from a pure engineering focus to commercial shipments. The order is tied to Marvell's AI infrastructure efforts, as data centers increasingly demand faster, more energy-efficient chip-to-chip, memory, and rack connections. POET's Optical Interposer platform integrates electronic and photonic components at chip scale, enabling data to travel via fiber-optic links rather than traditional copper connections.
Marvell acquired Celestial AI, a POET customer, in February, deepening the connection. Celestial AI's Photonic Fabric platform is designed to deliver high-bandwidth, low-latency optical links for large-scale AI deployments, and Marvell expects its first revenue from the acquisition in the second half of fiscal 2028. POET previously announced a production order from a "leading systems integrator" without naming the buyer, but CFO Thomas Mika confirmed to Stocktwits last week that the order came from Marvell, adding that the company already has a purchase order in hand and plans to ship against it, with some deliveries potentially going out as early as next quarter.
Financials and Tax Concerns
Despite the surge in share price, POET's financials remain under pressure. The company reported fourth-quarter net loss of $42.7 million, with revenue of just $341,202 from non-recurring engineering and product sales. The rally has far outpaced actual revenue so far. Jim Cramer, former hedge fund manager and CNBC personality, described POET as a more compelling story than the average small-cap tech bet but cautioned that the company is not yet producing at scale, suggesting investors might wait for a dip.
Adding to the challenges, POET disclosed earlier this month that it expects to be classified as a passive foreign investment company (PFIC) for 2025, which could trigger unfavorable U.S. tax consequences. The company said it will provide the necessary details for a qualified electing fund election, and the board has approved plans to move its corporate domicile to the U.S.
Manufacturing Partners and Industry Context
CFO Mika also noted that POET is waiting to hear back from Foxconn and Luxshare, two manufacturing partners collaborating on high-speed optical engines for 800G and above transceiver modules. "We expect to hear back from at least one of those," Mika said. The optics sector has been gaining momentum, with Cramer singling out Lumentum and Coherent as steadier bets, while noting sharp runups in POET, Navitas, and Credo, each up around 100% this month and described as "parabolic."
POET now finds itself competing in one of the most active segments of the semiconductor market: optical connectivity for AI. The company's ability to execute on manufacturing reliability, timely shipping, and converting the $5 million order backlog into steady sales will be key for investors. Analyst Dmytro Lebid of Seeking Alpha highlighted the Marvell tie-up via Celestial as generating a "unique synergistic effect," but also called the upcoming quarterly update a "moment of truth" for both the order book and the company's progress on moving its domicile to the U.S.
With the stock's parabolic move and the company still in early stages of commercial production, the next few quarters will be critical for POET to prove it can deliver on its promises.
