Nvidia invests $4B in photonics makers to advance next-gen AI data centers

Nvidia partners with Coherent and Lumentum to secure access to state-of-the-art optics technology.

Published on Mar. 2, 2026

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Nvidia announced two new $2 billion investments into Coherent and Lumentum, whose stocks jumped on Monday, as the AI giant looks to scale up its fast-growing networking business. The partnerships allow Nvidia to secure the companies' photonics products that could make next-generation AI data centers more efficient.

Why it matters

Nvidia has been rapidly scaling up its networking business and is betting that the relatively smaller photonics industry can help it make large-scale AI networks more energy efficient, reducing a bottleneck on artificial intelligence growth.

The details

Nvidia agreed to invest $2 billion in Coherent to support the company's future operations as it expands its US manufacturing capabilities. As part of the agreement, Nvidia made a multibillion-dollar purchase commitment and received rights to access advanced laser and optical networking products in the future. The Santa Clara-based company also announced a similar partnership with Lumentum, also investing $2 billion to support research & development and a new fab based in the US.

  • Nvidia announced the partnerships on Monday.

The players

Nvidia

An American multinational technology company that designs graphics processing units (GPUs) for the gaming and professional markets, as well as system on a chip units (SoCs) for the mobile computing and automotive market.

Coherent

A global leader in photonics solutions that transform the way the world generates, transmits, and uses light.

Lumentum

A market-leading designer and manufacturer of innovative optical and photonic products enabling optical networking and laser applications worldwide.

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What they’re saying

“Computing has fundamentally changed. In the age of AI, software runs on intelligence with tokens generated in real time by AI factories for every interaction and every context. With Coherent, NVIDIA is pioneering next-generation silicon photonics to enable AI infrastructure at unprecedented scale, speed and energy efficiency.”

— Jensen Huang, CEO (Nvidia)

The takeaway

Nvidia's investments in Coherent and Lumentum demonstrate the company's strategic focus on developing more energy-efficient AI infrastructure to support the growing demand for large-scale artificial intelligence applications. By securing access to advanced photonics technology, Nvidia aims to overcome a key bottleneck in the expansion of AI and drive further advancements in this rapidly evolving field.