Physix Frontier · News Briefing Card (TMTPost · Sep 17, 2026)

OptiLink raises >$1B, launches silicon photonics trimmer

KEY FACTS

OptiLink CoreTech completed its Series A+ round with a valuation exceeding $1 billion, becoming a unicorn in the optical interconnect sector.
The company unveiled the ZW1000 maskless lithography system, claiming it boosts microring chip yield to 99%.
Huawei's Atlas 950 adopts LPO technology, reducing optical module usage per card by approximately 50% compared to the previous generation.
Hubei Xingchen secured nearly 5 billion yuan in Series A funding, as investors including Sequoia Capital expand their presence in advanced packaging pilot platforms.

KEY DATA

> $1 billionOptiLink Valuation

99%ZW1000 Post-Trim Yield

$300-$340400G LPO Unit Price

~ 5 billion yuanHubei Xingchen Series A Amount

PHYSIX OBSERVATION

The center of gravity in compute competition is shifting from chip design to manufacturing equipment and packaging processes. As cluster scales expand, the cost share of optical interconnects surges, making yield the core bottleneck. Capital is densely flowing into trimming equipment and advanced packaging sectors, aiming to lower system-level costs by enhancing manufacturing certainty. This marks the industry's entry into the deep waters of 'heavy assets, hard tech,' where pure design narratives can no longer sustain high valuations; equipment vendors with mass-production validation capabilities will hold the discourse power.

Source: TMTPost report