Optical Communication Stocks Rally on OFC 2026

Optical communication stocks rallied in premarket trading. Applied Optoelectronics rose 10%; Lumentum rose 7%; Coherent rose 5%; Corning rose 4%; Semtech and Ciena rose 3%; Fabrinet and Amphenol rose 2%.

Applied Optoelectronics announced plans for the Optical Fiber Communications Conference ‘OFC’, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, March 17-19, where it will demonstrate how its solutions support modern data centers with the bandwidth, power and density needed for future AI systems.

Coherent announced that it will showcase its comprehensive next-generation portfolio of pluggable optical technologies at OFC 2026, covering 1.6T and 3.2T solutions, as well as emerging architectures designed for 12.8T and higher bandwidths. These demonstrations highlight Coherent’s multi-technology platform strategy—including silicon photonics (SiPh), indium phosphide (InP), and VCSEL solutions—aimed at delivering scalable, energy-efficient connectivity for AI-driven data center infrastructure.

Lumentum Holdings and Marvell Technology plan to run a joint live demo at OFC 2026. The demonstration will show interoperability between Marvell’s high speed optical DSPs and modules and Lumentum’s Optical Circuit Switching platform. The setup is designed to create direct optical paths between endpoints in AI and cloud data centers, targeting efficiency, power, and latency benefits.