POET Technologies (PTK.V) is a design and development company offering integration solutions based on the POET Optical Interposer™ a novel platform that allows 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 eliminates costly components and labor-intensive assembly used in conventional photonics. The integration and scalability brings value to any device or system that integrates electronics and photonics, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and high-speed networking for cloud service providers and data centers.
News Releases
June 30, 2020 - POET and Sanan IC Sign LOI to Form $50 Million Joint Venture: Letter of Intent to establish a joint venture with Xiamen Sanan Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd. (”Sanan IC”) to manufacture cost-effective, high-performance optical engines based on POET’s proprietary CMOS compatible Optical Interposer platform technology.
The proposed joint venture (“JV”) will be formed with contributions of US$50 million based on a combined commitment of cash and intellectual property from Sanan IC and intellectual property and know-how from POET.
Sanan IC is a world-class wafer foundry service company with an advanced compound semiconductor technology platform, serving the optical, RF microelectronics and power electronics markets. Sanan IC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sanan Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. (Shanghai Stock Exchange, SSE: 600703), the leading manufacturer of advanced ultra-high brightness LED epitaxial wafers and chips in the world.
Sep. 9, 2020 - Development & Supply Agreement with Leading European Optical Systems Company for a 400G Data Center Application: The contract includes a nominal amount of Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) funding to design optical engines based on the POET Optical Interposer for a 400G application, along with a Purchase Order for initial production units. The customer is a leading provider of optical networking systems for data center and enterprise applications. Due to confidentiality, the name of the customer and the specifics application cannot be disclosed.
Production planned for June 2021
Oct. 22, 2020 - Sign Definitive Agreement to Form Joint Venture Company with Sanan IC: POET and Sanan IC are forming Super Photonics with the signing today of the definitive joint venture agreements and the registration of the company in Xiamen, PRC. The venture has been capitalized with a commitment of cash and manufacturing know-how from Sanan IC and intellectual property and design know-how from POET.
Modular pluggable transceivers represent a major portion of the capital spending for equipment by companies such as Google, Alibaba, Facebook, Tencent and others engaged in building hyperscale data centers.
Oct. 29, 2020 - Readies Optical Interposer for Production in Alignment with Product Roadmap
Nov. 18, 2020 - Reports Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results
Dec. 3, 2020 - Releases Multi-Product Mask Set to Production; Launched first multi-product wafer (MPW) mask set for production. This comprises multiple products, including custom designs for specific applications and customers.
In electronics and photonics design, a tape-out is the final result of a design process for integrated circuits before they are sent to manufacturing. The tape-out is the point at which a graphic for the photomask of the circuit is sent to the fabrication facility – a milestone frequently celebrated by all those who worked on the project.
Dec. 8, 2020 - Launches LightBar™ Solution for Data Centers: Completed and tested its designs for a line of high-performance remote laser light source products for 400G FR4, 800G and Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) applications in Cloud Data Centers, named LightBar™.
The 400G version is upgradeable to 800G with the incorporation of additional components. The LightBar is completely customizable and can support a wide range of output power from 15mW to 60mW depending on the application.
Dec. 17, 2020 - Announces Industry-First Flip-Chip DML Lasers: Completed and tested its high-speed Directly Modulated Laser (DML) designs using a distributed feedback (DFB) structure and successfully “flip-chipped” these lasers onto its Optical Interposer platform, which also incorporates several other industry-first accomplishments.
Four DML lasers are commonly used in 100G transceiver applications, a key initial target market for POET’s Optical Interposer, enabling high speed optical communication in the 2 to 10 km range. Operating at speeds of 25 gigabits per second (GPS), POET’s family of four DML lasers of different wavelengths are the first known commercial 25G DFB-type DML lasers to utilize a flip-chip process to passively align and bond to electronic and optical circuitry on the interposer platform, while maintaining optimal performance. Given the estimated total available market (TAM) for 100G transceivers of approximately $2.5 billion, POET believes that its recently formed JV company, SuperPhotonics Xiamen, can achieve annual revenue of over $100 million within this single market segment in the 2024-25 time frame.
Jan. 6 - Enters Artificial Intelligence Market with Technology Leader in Photonic Computing: Development and supply agreements with a technology leader in photonic neural network systems for Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications.
The chipset market for AI applications is projected to grow from approximately $18 billion in 2020 to over $65 billion by 2025. POET’s new development and supply agreement for photonic AI computing represents an entry point into this new large and extremely high-growth market. POET’s customer for these applications is breaking the digital semiconductor mold by integrating photonics into accelerators for AI workloads, enabling advancements in AI computation.
Harnessing light to perform data-parallel calculations is many orders-of-magnitude faster, more power efficient, and lower cost than in traditional semiconductors. Photonic computing changes the game in Artificial Intelligence.
Jan. 12 - Announces Special Meeting of Shareholders
Jan. 19 - Opens Product Design and Development Center in Shenzhen, China: in Shenzhen, China, focusing on the optical engine, reference designs for customer applications and new product activities.
Jan. 26 - Announces Brokered Private Placement of Units: up to 11.8 million units at a price of $0.85 per Unit (Warrant at $1.15) for gross proceeds of up to $10 Millions. Closing of the Placement is anticipated on or about February 11, 2021.
Feb. 11 - Completes C$15 Million Private Placement: 14,706,000 units at a price of $0.85 per Unit (Warrant $1.15) for gross proceeds of approximately $12.5 million. An additional ($2.5 million) was raised by Cormack, IBK, and PI.
Feb. 17 - Reports on Financing Activities Ahead of Friday’s Special Meeting: Added approximately C$24 million (US$18.8 million) to the Company’s cash balance as a result of the successful closing of a brokered private placement, warrants and stock options exercised since October 1, 2020.
Feb 22 - Provides Highlights and Results of Special Meeting: Authorization to enable the Board of Directors, within its sole discretion, to consolidate the Company's issued and outstanding common shares on the basis of one post-consolidation common share for pre-consolidation common shares ranging between two (2) and fourteen (14).
Feb. 23 - Targets New Markets for Co-Packaged Optics and Optical Sensing Applications with LightBar-C™ Product: Extended the Optical Interposer into new applications and markets with a fully-integrated, multiplexed light-source for optical computing chipsets and sensing applications, named “LightBar-C™”.
Mar. 17 - Reports Significant Progress on Super Photonics Xiamen Joint Venture
Mar. 30 - Reports Fourth Quarter 2020 Financial Results
Apr. 22 - Announces Entry into Telecom Market with 100G LR4 (Long Reach) Optical Engines: Completed design of a 100G LR4 (4 channel Long Reach) optical engine with a reach of 10km (kilometers) for client-side interconnects to data centers, enterprises and edge computing networks.
Of the five common types of 100G transceiver modules found within the data center, two types - CWDM4 and PSM4 are targeted at data communications up to 2km. SR4 (500m), LR4 (10km) and ER4 (40km) are the other types typically specified for 100G data communications.
POET’s focus on CWDM4 and LR4 designs is based on its unique and differentiating capability to integrate a fully monolithic 4-channel multiplexing and demultiplexing functionality directly into its waveguides, avoiding the costly requirement to align and couple additional devices into a transceiver module.
May 27 - Reports First Quarter 2021 Financial Results.
Jun. 8 - Announces Availability of Samples of its 100G and 200G CWDM4 Optical Interposer-based Engines: Based on POET Optical Interposer platform, the 100G and 200G Optical Engines are fabricated entirely at wafer scale, offering unparalleled cost and size advantages. All engines are fully tested and burned-in prior to shipment.
Super Photonics Xiamen, POET’s joint venture with Sanan IC, will be manufacturing the optical engines, with the capability to rapidly scale for customers with high-volume requirements.
Samples of its 100G and 200G CWDM4 Optical Engines will be available beginning in early July.
Jun. 9 - Announces Availability of Samples of its O-Band LightBar™ Product: The POET LightBar products address the need for remote, aligned light sources to power data communication transceivers, co-packaging of electronics and photonics in applications such data center switch architectures, optical computing and various sensing devices.
The Company’s LightBar products incorporate all of the intrinsic features of the POET Optical Interposer, including integrated spot-size converters that minimize coupling losses and increase power efficiency of lasers.
Samples of its O-band LightBar™ product will be available beginning in September.
July 9 - Resignation of Director: Donald Listwin has resigned from the Board of Directors effective immediately.
Aug. 19 - Reports Second Quarter 2021 Financial Results.
Sep. 9 - Teams-up with SiLUX Technologies to Demonstrate its 400G Optical Engine during China International Optoelectronics Exhibition: To conduct a live demonstration of a 400G optical engine to selected customers and business partners during the upcoming ICCSZ Conference on September 14 - 15 and concurrent with the China International Optoelectronics Exhibition (CIOE) in Shenzhen, China on September 16 – 18, 2021.
Sep. 14 - Ships First Optical Engines Samples to Customers: Shipped its first 100G Transmit (Tx) Optical Engine sample to a leading European optical systems company. The Company also confirmed that additional samples will be delivered to several other interested companies over the next month.
The sample delivered to a leading European optical systems company supports a combined transmit and receive Optical Engine product, which has been developed for an innovative 400G transceiver application.
Sep. 29 -Launches Its Products and Optical Interposer Platform in China to Critical Acclaim: Participation in the two leading optoelectronics conferences/exhibitions in China earlier this month generated overwhelming interest and numerous customer engagements in both its announced Optical Engine products and its Optical Interposer platform.
Oct. 5 - Announces Design Win and Purchase Order from Leading Systems Company: Secured a commitment from a leading network systems company for a 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 exceeds US$1.2 million.
Nov. 2 - Collaborates with a Leading Global Supplier of Lasers for POET’s Optical Interposer Platform:
POET has issued a Purchase Order to the Supplier for the first phase of the project, covering the design requirements and operating specs of the laser. In a subsequent phase, the Supplier will build and supply known good lasers for use by POET in the production of 400G Optical Engines. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Nov. 8 - Reports Raising US$14M from 2016 Warrants: from the exercise of the C$0.52 warrants (33,867,000 warrants of 34,800,000) that were issued as part of its public offering in 2016. The Company is also reporting that its unaudited cash balance subsequent to the expiration of warrants on November 2, 2021 was approximately US$23.8 million.
Nov. 18 - Appoints Board Sub-Committee to Plan Nasdaq Listing: The Sub-Committee will work with the Company’s senior management and company counsel on all aspects of the process and is expected to report its findings to the Board by the next scheduled meeting of the Board in early 2022.
Nov. 23 - Reports Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results
Summary
Earnings
POET is a pre-revenue company. In the past two years it has reported a quarterly net loss of roughly $4.0 M.
PTK.V ended Q3 2021 with with $20.3M but as of November 3, 2021, reported an unaudited cash position of $23.7M.
Financing
Early in the year, POET completed an oversubscribed brokered placement of $15 Millions, from an initial $10 Millions.
Terms of the financing were at $0.85 cents with warrant at $1.15. Note that most of the revenue raised eversince comes from the exercises of warrants. For instance, in early November PTK.V reported raising an $14M from 2016 warrants.
Consolidation
February 2021, POET passed a resolution that would enable it to consolidate the Company's issued and outstanding common shares on the basis of one post-consolidation common share for pre-consolidation common shares ranging between two (2) and fourteen (14). Last month, PTK.V appointed a Board Sub-Committee to Plan Nasdaq Listing.
The Sub-Committee will consider and recommend to the full Board of Directors the selection of a lead underwriter to support the U.S. listing, and the timing and ratio for a consolidation of the Company’s outstanding shares within the ratios previously approved by its shareholders.
Products & Services Development
The evolution of POET in the last 18 months has been very impressive.
June 2020: a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Sanan IC a subsidiary of Sanan Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. (SSE: 600703).
September 2020: An aggreement with a Optical System company for 400G Data Center Application was announced.
October 2020, a definitive agreement with Sanan IC was signed resulting in "Super Photonics" as a Joint Venture (JV).
The JV is expected to design, develop, manufacture and sell 100G, 200G and 400G optical engines with customized lasers and photodiodes from Sanan IC combined with optical interposer platform technology from POET. The proposed joint venture will offer a new generation of cost-effective, high-performance optical engines based on POET’s Optical Interposer to module manufacturers, systems suppliers, data center operators and network providers globally.
December 2020: Launched LightBar Solutions for Data Centers. A 400G version upgradeable to 800G with the incorporation of additional components. The LightBar is customizable and can support a wide range of output power.
For makers of conventional and Silicon Photonics-based optical transceivers, the LightBar product line offers a fully aligned, tested, and multiplexed laser light source attached to an output fiber, eliminating the difficult and costly step of four laser alignments in optical transceivers. For makers of next generation network switches that require the combination of switch components and optical components in a single package, commonly referred to as “Co-Packaged Optics” (CPO), using LightBar products will reduce heat generation within the package, which is a common cause of component failure.
December 2020; POET launched the Industry-First Flip-Chip DML Lasers:
The flip-chip assembly technique enables a true single-chip, fully integrated Optical Engine to be produced at wafer-scale, resulting in the lowest-cost, smallest-size 100G CWDM4 Optical Engine with a form factor of 9mm x 6mm, while including banks of four lasers, four monitor photodiodes, four high speed photodiodes, a multiplexer, demultiplexer, taps for power monitoring and features supporting a self-aligned fiber attach unit.
January 2021; POET Entered the Artificial Inteligence Market with a development and supply agreements from a technology leader in photonic neural network systems for Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications.
January 2021; POET openned a product design and development center in Shenzhen, China. POET Optoelectronics Shenzhen Co. Ltd., a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) and wholly-owned subsidiary of PTK.V. It augments existing design, development and engineering operations in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Singapore.
The Shenzhen operation will also support the activities of Super Photonics Xiamen Co. Ltd., the Company’s joint venture with Sanan IC, a subsidiary of Sanan Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. (Shanghai Stock Exchange, SSE: 600703).
April 2021; POET entered into Telecom Market with 100G LR4 (Long Reach, 4 channel) Optical Engines with an optical engine with a reach of 10km for client-side interconnects to data centers, enterprises and edge computing networks.
June 2021; POET announced the completion of samples of its 100G and 200G CWDM4 Optical Interposer-based Engines: Based on POET Optical Interposer platform, the 100G and 200G Optical Engines are fabricated entirely at wafer scale, offering unparalleled cost and size advantages. These were targeted to be available in July 2021.
June 2021; POET reported completion of samples of its O-Band LightBar™ Product: Available in September 2021.
September 2021; Shipped its first 100G Transmit (Tx) Optical Engine sample to a leading European optical systems company. Additional samples will be delivered to several other interested companies over the next few months.
September 2021; Launches its Optical Interposer Platform in China at leading optoelectronics conferences. At one event, Shenzhen Fibertop Technology Co., Ltd., (“Fibertop”) a transceiver module supplier, committed to incorporate POET Optical Engines in its line of optical modules as soon as production Optical Engines are available.
October 2021: POET secured an $1.2M commitemnt from a leading network systems company for a multi-engine design for 100G CWDM4 and 100G LR4 Optical Engines based on the POET Optical Interposer.
November 2021; Agreed on 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 Company’s 400G Optical Engines.
In short
In the past eighteen months, POET has been active in developping solutions in at least three verticals (Transceivers for Datacom, Co-Package Optics, as well as Optical Computing and Edge Applications) with large revenue potential.
POET has established a “fab-lite” business model and a joint venture partnership to enable manufacturing to scale, while maintaining ownership and control over its Intellectual
Indeed, the alliance with Sanan IC (Super Photonics Joint Venture) and the recruitments of Development Partners (Tier 1 NA European) has been instrumental in accelarating its commercialization efforts in the Transceivers Vertical.
While some revenue has been secured in the past six months, POET is still a pre-revenue entity in a capital intensive industry. Hence, the impending consolidation and the timing of the Nasdaq listings are potential risk to current investors especially given the fact that POET is raising funds primarily through the exercises of options and warrants.
The recent investor presentation (Slide 35) cites outstanding warrants of 11.8M (C$0.50) and 18.7M (C$1.15) Expire Feb – Sept 2023. This could explains the selling pressure in past months which is accentuated with a re-evaluation of venture stocks as a whole, as well as, a recent notable amount of short trading in the last two weeks of November.
Recently, PTK.V tested $0.80 cents with a decent amount of support. Yet, the daily chart indicate an S1 $0.69 cents and S2 $0.57 cents. However, POET reported an unaudited cash position of $23.7M as of as of November 3, 2021.
Nonetheless, the accomplishment in product development of the last eighteen months are very impressive. As a venture company POET Optical Interposer™ platform has generated interest in the industry.
Hence, at this current juncture in its evolution POET is noteworthy.
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