Nvidia will be investing $4 billion in two U.S. photonics companies as it works to expand artificial intelligence data center infrastructure and address rising demand for advanced computing. The company said it will be channeling $2 billion into Lumentum and $2 billion into Coherent, both specialists in optical technologies that use light rather than electrical signals to connect artificial intelligence chips and handle high bandwidth workloads such as sensing and data transfer.
Nvidia described optical interconnect technology and package integration as critical for the continued scaling of artificial intelligence factories, stating that these components improve the energy efficiency and resiliency of large-scale artificial intelligence networks. Under the multi-year agreements, Nvidia will support technology development at Lumentum and Coherent and help expand their U.S.-based manufacturing capacity. Both deals include a multi-billion dollar purchase commitment for laser and optical components, effectively locking in supply for Nvidia’s future artificial intelligence data center buildouts.
Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston said the company would invest in a new fabrication facility to increase capacity and accelerate innovation, while Coherent said it would use the capital to scale manufacturing and support the global buildout of next-generation artificial intelligence data centers. Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang framed the investments in the context of a broader shift in computing, saying that in the age of artificial intelligence, software runs on intelligence with tokens generated in real time by artificial intelligence factories for every interaction and every context. Coherent CEO Jim Anderson highlighted his firm’s 20-year relationship with Nvidia and positioned Coherent as a key enabler of future artificial intelligence data center infrastructure. The move comes amid intensifying competition to secure artificial intelligence infrastructure capacity and follows a $100 billion deal in which Meta agreed to buy up to 6 gigawatts of artificial intelligence computing power from AMD.
