TORONTO, Ontario, December 5th, 2023 -- InvestorsHub NewsWire --
POET Technologies Inc. ("POET" or the "Company") (TSX Venture: PTK;
NASDAQ: POET), the designer and developer of the POET
Optical Interposer™, Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) and light
sources for the data center, tele-communication and artificial
intelligence markets, today issued a letter to shareholders from
its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Suresh Venkatesan, providing a
review of recent accomplishments and vision for 2024.
To Our Shareholders:
POET is committed to our strategic vision of commercializing our
advanced device integration technology, which we believe enables us
to solve multiple design, performance and scaling challenges in
optoelectronic products and to fill an emerging void in solutions
that address bandwidth and latency issues in artificial
intelligence networks. Through 2023, we have managed to expand our
product portfolio, boost POET's mindshare among leading companies
in the market and position ourselves for rapid growth as we
introduce leading-edge products to the market in 2024. Despite
those accomplishments, it has been a challenging year, at least in
part because of a difficult global capital market environment for
pre-revenue microcap companies. While our recent equity financing
fell short of our expectations, resulting in the need to raise
additional capital in the relatively near future, we continue to
discuss financing alternatives with investors and with partners who
share our vision and exhibit confidence in the value of our
technology and our technical achievements. Multiple potential
avenues to financing remain, and we will continue exploring each of
them in parallel over the next few months.
Recent Achievements:
Within the past two months, POET has:
- Qualified and released to production 100G
CWDM4 and 200G FR4 Transmit and Receive Optical Engines, now with
two key laser suppliers, SAIC and YST, for use by several module
customers in China.
- Delivered first production units of custom
4x100G LR4 engines to Adtran in November. Aligning with Adtran's
schedule, we expect to ship production volumes of engines in the
second half of 2024. In answer to the continuing surge in bandwidth
demand, network operators have introduced 400Gbit/s Ethernet-based
connectivity in their core networks. Adtran's unique pluggable
device, with its MicroMux Quattro architecture, coupled with POET's
innovative optical engines, enables network operators to transform
a 400GbE port into four 100GbE ports with no change in
footprint.
- Released to production POET's 400G FR4
Receiver, with the 800G 2xFR4 Receiver currently in qualification
and readying for production release. The 800G 2xFR4 Receiver has
been adopted by LuxshareTech for its 800G module and represents
POET's first optical engine incorporating both electrical and
optical die integrated in a chip-scale form factor.
- Prepared to deliver 400G FR4 Transmit
(POET Infinity™ chiplet) beta samples for
customers in Q1'2024. The Infinity chiplet is
also the basis of the 800G 2xFR4 Transmit engine. We expect to
release the Infinity chiplets to production for
both 400G and 800G applications in the first half of 2024.
- Prepared for shipment, the final design of
packaged light sources for advanced AI applications. The Company
expects to ship these samples by the end of 2023 and release these
packaged light source modules to production in the second half of
2024.
POET is currently working with over a half-dozen customers on
module designs incorporating Infinity chiplets
and our 400G/800G receiver solutions for 400G FR4 and 800G 2xFR4
transceiver modules. In addition to LuxshareTech, we are working
with another Tier 1 module company to design an 800G 2xFR4 module
complete with POET's transmit and receive solutions. As is always
the case with module customers, POET is subject to the module
companies' timelines for introduction of products to end-users and
their ultimate success in the market.
The design and development in 2023 of
the Infinity chiplet operating at 400G was a
major technical undertaking for POET and it also forms the basis
for designs of 800G, 1.6T and even 3.2T modules. The development
included an overhaul of the interposer architecture to expand
platform compatibility to Externally Modulated Lasers (EMLs). Over
90% of 800G modules in production today use EML lasers and we
expect the expansion of the platform capability to EMLs to have
wide appeal with a number of module manufacturers who have already
committed to that path. Moreover, EMLs today present the primary
path to 200G/lane solutions, and this platform expansion lays the
groundwork for a parallel development of 200G/lane engines.
The Infinity family of engines enables the use
multiple chiplets engineered to operate in combination and within
the size constraints of current pluggable module designs. We
believe that providing chip-scale integration capability to EMLs
will be an unparalleled achievement in the industry and would set
us apart from even the largest established competitors in the
market. Likewise, our packaged light source modules for AI that
will soon go into production, are unmatched by others in cost and
scalability. High channel count integrated remote light engines,
especially those made to enable new disaggregated datacenter
architectures for advanced AI workloads, are early in their
development since the markets they address are still nascent. When
these markets emerge, we believe that POET can maintain and even
enhance its technical and commercial advantages.
Goals for 2024:
In 2020, POET established Super Photonics Xiamen (SPX), a joint
venture with San'an Integrated Circuits (SAIC), a subsidiary of the
giant San'an Optoelectronics Co. Ltd. SPX has since established a
world-class assembly and test facility for optical engines without
any contribution of capital from POET. The decision to fund the
optical engine manufacturing through a joint venture structure
required tradeoffs. It gave SPX the right to market and sell 100G,
200G and 400G optical engines to module customers, the large
majority of which are based in China. It meant that POET would have
to give up the early revenue associated with these sales, which are
now set to flow into SPX beginning in 2024. As we were cutting our
teeth on a brand-new technology and a first-of-its-kind integration
platform, the Company needed to develop and support products that
were of interest to smaller suppliers and/or for niche
applications. During much of 2022 and 2023, the primary benefit to
POET of this arrangement was to demonstrate the cost, performance,
reliability and scalability of the POET Optical Interposer and the
engines on which they are based and to bridge the chasm between
development and manufacturing thereby establishing the viability of
the interposer architecture. Over the past several months that has
changed, as POET has introduced leading-edge, high-speed engines
for 800G and established a roadmap through 3.2T. This has enabled
access and penetration to a substantially larger and growing market
fueled by the insatiable demands of AI.
As POET's technological advantages become apparent within the
industry, we also recognize the need to design, build and sell our
own modules targeted for AI, not only to improve time to market but
also to establish our own brand in a market that is expected to
grow at an almost exponential rate. The "semiconductorization of
photonics" process that is our hallmark provides advantages of
cost, scale and power, which should allow us to compete effectively
against incumbent solutions.
Our goals for 2024 include:
- Completing a transmit optical engine
design that will incorporate EMLs, which have become an industry
standard at 400G and 800G, operating at both 100G per lane and 200G
per lane;
- Incorporating those engines into an 800G
2xFR4 POET module;
- Completing a receiver design that operates
at 200G per lane with an integrated TIA;
- Initiating production of an 8-channel
packaged light source for AI applications;
- Gaining sufficient financing for the
Company to complete these developments and to continue operations
well into 2025 and beyond.
With advanced optical engines that can be produced at scale
attracting the attention of leading companies in the industry, we
are determined to improve shareholder value through our continued
commercialization efforts. Thank you for your support through a
difficult period. Everyone at POET looks forward to a promising
2024 and we appreciate you making the journey with us.
Dr. Suresh Venkatesan
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
About POET Technologies Inc.
POET is a design and development company offering integration
solutions based on the POET Optical Interposer™, a novel platform
that allows the seamless integration of electronic and photonic
devices into a single multi-chip module using advanced wafer-level
semiconductor manufacturing techniques and packaging methods.
POET's Optical Interposer eliminates costly components and
labor-intensive assembly, alignment, burn-in and testing methods
employed in conventional photonics. The cost-efficient integration
scheme and scalability of the POET Optical Interposer brings value
to any device or system that integrates electronics and photonics,
including some of the highest growth areas of computing, such as
Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT),
autonomous vehicles and high-speed networking for cloud service
providers and data centers. POET is headquartered in Toronto, with
operations in Allentown, PA, Shenzhen, China and Singapore. More
information may be obtained at www.poet-technologies.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking information" (within
the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws) and
"forward-looking statements" (within the meaning of the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Such statements
or information are identified with words such as "anticipate",
"believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "potential", "estimate",
"propose", "project", "outlook", "foresee" or similar words
suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Such
information and statements include the Company's anticipated use of
the net proceeds of its recent public offering.
Such forward-looking information or statements are based on a
number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions which may cause
actual results or other expectations to differ materially from
those anticipated and which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions
have been made regarding, among other things, management's
expectations regarding the success of the Company's announced
products, the timing of completion of its development efforts, the
successful implementation of its optical engine or light source
products, the success of its customers' products, the capabilities
of its operations, including its joint venture, the Company's
ability to correctly gauge market needs and to produce products in
the required amounts and on a timely basis. Actual results could
differ materially due to a number of factors, including, without
limitation, the Company's ability to raise additional capital
(including any delays or changes of plan with respect to any
capital raises, the dilutive effects of capital raises and market
conditions), the failure of the Company's products to meet
performance requirements, the failure to produce products on a
timely basis or at all, the failure of the Company's optical engine
or light source products to be incorporated into its customers'
products, the failure of its customers' products to achieve market
penetration, any operational risks including the ability to attract
key personnel. Although the Company believes that the expectations
reflected in the forward-looking information or statements are
reasonable, prospective investors in the Company's securities
should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information and
statements because the Company can provide no assurance that such
expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information
and statements contained in this press release are as of the date
of this press release and the Company assumes no obligation to
update or revise this forward-looking information and statements
except as required by law.
Contacts:
Media Relations Contact:
Adrian Brijbassi
adrian.brijbassi@poet-technologies.com |
Company Contact:
Thomas R. Mika, EVP & CFO
tm@poet-technologies.com |
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release. 120 Eglinton
Avenue, East, Suite 1107, Toronto, ON, M4P 1E2- Tel: 416-368-9411 -
Fax: 416-322-507
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