POET Technologies has raised US$400 million to support the next phase of its growth, as the company works to scale integrated photonics technology for AI and hyperscale data centers. The financing gives the Toronto-based company new capital to expand manufacturing for optical engines, light sources and optical modules, components that could play an important role as data centers look for faster, denser and more power-efficient optical interconnects.

At the center of POET’s strategy is its Optical Interposer platform, which is designed to bring photonic and electronic devices together on a single chip using wafer-level manufacturing methods. The company says the approach can reduce the need for active alignment, a time-consuming step in conventional optical assembly, and support higher-volume production.

The financing follows POET’s announcement of a supply and joint-development agreement with Lumilens, a privately held company developing optical interconnects for AI infrastructure. Under that agreement, Lumilens placed an initial purchase order for optical engines based on POET’s Electrical Optical Interposer platform. The program is expected to target 800G and 1.6T pluggable transceivers, followed by higher-density near- and co-packaged optics.

The company’s approach, if its platform can meet its performance and production targets, could help address some of the packaging, alignment and manufacturing challenges facing next-generation optical interconnects.

The significance of this announcement lies in the convergence of several important trends: rising bandwidth demand from AI workloads, the push to move optics closer to processors and the need for manufacturing approaches that can scale beyond conventional optical assembly. The company’s approach, if its platform can meet its performance and production targets, could help address some of the packaging, alignment and manufacturing challenges facing next-generation optical interconnects.

POET said it plans to use the proceeds from the financing to expand operations and manufacturing infrastructure, support potential acquisitions, increase R&D, accelerate its light-source business and provide working capital. CEO Suresh Venkatesan said the company is working to expand wafer production and optical-engine assembly capacity by roughly 10-fold and will be ready for higher volume manufacturing in 2027. The firm also reported that it has grown to more than 115 employees globally, expanded its Singapore lab and office space and now has 20,000 square feet of assembly space in Malaysia.

POET said the Lumilens agreement could scale to more than US$500 million in cumulative purchases over five years, with engineering samples expected in late 2026 and a production ramp planned in 2027.

The company is at an early commercial stage. In the first quarter of 2026, POET reported US$503 million in revenue and a net loss of US$12.3 million. The Lumilens order represents a significant commercial milestone, but delivery and revenue recognition will depend on successful development, qualification and manufacturing scale-up.