$TSMC

@investmentguru_Apr 12, 2026 · 2:00 PM

PHOTONICS / OPTICAL STACK — THE FULL VALUE CHAIN “The layer below the chips” — AI’s real bottleneck Layer 1 — Materials Foundation of everything (InP, fiber, wafers) $AXTI $GLW $COHR Layer 2 — SiPh Foundries Where photonic chips are fabricated $TSMC $GFS $TSEM Layer 3 — Lasers (Bottleneck) EML + CW lasers — tightest supply in the chain $LITE $COHR $AAOI $FN Layer 4 — PICs (Optical Chips) Integration layer replacing discrete components $POET $LWLG $MRVL $AVGO Layer 5 — Transceivers 400G → 800G → 1.6T data movement $CIEN $AAOI $LITE $COHR Layer 6 — Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) Next-gen architecture — optics + silicon combined $NVDA $AVGO $MRVL $COHR $LITE $ALAB Layer 7 — Optical Switching (OCS) Routing light without electrical conversion $CIEN $COHR $LITE Layer 8 — Networking Systems DCI, long-haul, metro infrastructure $CIEN $ANET $NOK Layer 9 — Test & EDA Hidden backbone enabling scale $KEYS $FORM $ANSS Layer 10 — Demand Drivers Hyperscalers pulling the entire chain $NVDA $META $GOOGL $MSFT $AMZN THE BIG PICTURE (2026–2027) - AI demand is exponential - Electrical interconnects are hitting limits - Optical = the only scalable solution Key Constraint: Laser supply (InP → EML/CW) → Bottleneck today = pricing power tomorrow This isn’t a single stock trade. It’s a full-stack infrastructure shift — like semis in the early 2000s. The winners won’t just be chipmakers… They’ll be the ones enabling light-speed data movement. Not financial advice. DYOR. Bookmark this, retweet for others