Global Optical Chip Makers Accelerate Capacity Expansion as AI Data Center Demand Surges

The global optical chip industry is experiencing unprecedented expansions and strategic agreements. On June 16, Coherent signed a letter of intent for up to $50 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce to expand its Texas facility, doubling manufacturing space and quadrupling production capacity. NVIDIA's founder, Jensen Huang, attended the groundbreaking, announcing a $2 billion strategic investment in Coherent. Huang emphasized that AI relies on compute, but scaling is limited by connectivity, highlighting the factory's critical role in meeting rising demand.