News: Optoelectronics
29 April 2022
POET cuts loss year-on-year in Q4/2021
For fourth quarter 2021, POET Technologies Inc of Toronto, Ontario, Canada — a designer and developer of the POET Optical Interposer and photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for the data-center and telecom markets — has reported a net loss of $3.7m ($0.10 per share), up from $3.5m ($0.10 per share) last quarter due to certain NRE (non-recurring engineering) commitments with large tier-one industry suppliers established to manage POET’s supply chain and associated risks. However, this is still cut from $5m ($0.17 per share) a year ago due to the current contraction in the global semiconductor chip supply chain that has resulted in slower deliveries of orders made by the company.
During the quarter, cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments rose further, from $20.3m to $21.3m (up on $6.9m at the end of 2020). The firm has no debt.
POET says that it continues to execute on its strategic initiatives and achieved the following milestones during fourth-quarter 2021 and the subsequent three months:
- Secured a commitment from a leading network systems company for a unique multi-engine design for 100G CWDM4 and 100G LR4 Optical Engines based on the POET Optical Interposer. The combined value of the NRE and the purchase order for initial units exceeds US$1.2m;
- Established the first phase of a supply agreement with a leading global supplier of lasers and other components used in high-speed optical networking equipment. The companies will collaborate on the design and production of flip-chippable continuous wave (CW) high-power lasers for use in the firm’s 400G optical engines;
- Completed previously announced consolidation of its common shares and commenced trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market on 14 March;
- Entered development agreement and received initial purchase order from Celestial AI to provide multi-laser integrated external light source modules for AI accelerator chips;
- Began collaboration on a multi-phase, co-development project with Liobate Technologies to incorporate Thin-Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN) modulators into POET’s optical engines, with a focus on commercializing its 400/800Gps Transmit and Receive optical engines for data-center and telecom applications;
- Appointed optical industry executive Raju Kankipati to the newly established position of VP of product line management;
- Formally launched and began sampling 400G FR4 and 800G (2x400G FR4) Receive (RX) optical engines based on the POET Optical Interposer, representing the industry’s only chip-scale integrated version of a FR4 RX optical engine;
- Exhibited and demonstrated POET’s unique chip-scale integrated FR4 optical engines, 200G FR4 Transmit and 400G FR4 Receive, at the Optical Fiber Communication conference (OFC 2022);
- Joined a new center for photonics integration, the Singapore Hybrid-Integrated Next Generation micro-Electronics (SHINE), as a founding member;
“During the fourth quarter and year-to-date, we have successfully delivered an increasing number of fully functional samples of POET’s optical engines to customers, which is a key milestone in the commercialization of our technology after more than four years of technology and product development,” says chairman & CEO Dr Suresh Venkatesan. “We are on track to deliver Beta samples to multiple lead customers within the coming weeks. These latest Beta samples meet or exceed the highest industry specifications, and they will be undergoing standard reliability testing and qualifications by customers over the next 3-6 months,” he adds.
“The recent launch and live demonstration of our 200G FR4 Transmit and 400G FR4 Receive optical engines at OFC was also a watershed achievement. Enabled by our proprietary POET Optical Interposer platform, we were the only company to exhibit a chip-scale integrated FR4 optical engine, offering substantial size, energy efficiency and cost benefits compared to alternative solutions based on the DR4 standard,” continues Venkatesan. “As a result of our demonstrations and participation at OFC, we have gained increasing awareness as well as notable traction on new engagements for our standard products as well as potential custom designs across a growing number of prospective customers. We expect to build on this momentum over the course of 2022, as we continue to execute on our product roadmap and expand sampling of our industry-leading solutions based on the POET Optical Interposer platform toward production releases later this year.”
POET joins SHINE Center for photonics integration as founding member
POET demos 200G FR4 Transmit and 400G FR4 Receive Optical Engines at OFC
POET begins trading on Nasdaq under symbol ‘POET’
POET announces product demos and technology showcase at OFC
POET and Liobate Technologies collaborate on ultra-high-performance PICs
POET to supply Celestial AI with Optical Interposer-based integrated light engine modules
POET’s Q3 sample deliveries slowed by industry supply chain challenges
