News: Optoelectronics
4 February 2020
POET completes Optical Interposer development project
POET Technologies Inc of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and San Jose, CA, USA — a designer and manufacturer of optoelectronic devices, including light sources, passive waveguides and photonic integrated circuits (PIC) for the sensing and datacom markets — has announced updates related to recent developments across the company.
In January, POET completed its proof-of-concept project with its existing North American-based networking customer. As previously announced, POET received orders from them in 2018 to provide initial device prototypes of its Optical Interposer platform to systematically address specific integration requirements under a paid development program. At its Annual General Meeting in September, POET disclosed that it had completed all but one of an eight-step project and that it expected to complete the final milestone by the end of 2019. It recently completed this final deliverable and is now engaged in follow-on discussions aimed at products to be designed, qualified and incorporated into the customer’s product portfolio.
“The low-loss coupling of light from a laser into our waveguides (which are additionally configurable as coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) multiplexers or de-multiplexers) through passive wafer-scale placement techniques and then into fiber demonstrates the complete functionality of the Optical Interposer platform technology,” says chairman & CEO Dr Suresh Venkatesan. “Moreover, we believe our wafer-scale integrated athermal CWDM filters represent an industry first,” he adds. “With optical losses at a fraction of that of other materials, our waveguides and filters enable the fabrication, assembly and testing of integrated optical engines at wafer-scale, providing maximum flexibility across a broad range of applications, from datacom to co-packaged optics.”
Additionally, the firm provided an update regarding the remaining payments related to the sale of its Singapore-based subsidiary DenseLight Semiconductors Pte Ltd to DenseLight Semiconductor Technology (Shanghai) Ltd (DL Shanghai, a special-purpose company organized by China Prosper Group on behalf of a consortium of investors). POET negotiated a delay in the payment schedule from the buyer, due in part to an unrelated third party expressing interest in acquiring DenseLight in late December. The payment of Tranche 1 (which occurred in November) transferred a 30% interest in DenseLight to the buyer, with the remaining 70% going into escrow. Over the past several weeks, POET negotiated with the buyer to split Tranche 2 into two parts, with 2a due at the end of January and 2b due at the end of February. The Tranche 2a payment of US$4.75m will initiate the transfer of an additional 19% of DenseLight shares from escrow to the buyer (bringing the total to 49%), while the 2b payment of US$8.25m will transfer an additional 32% (for a total of 81%). The final Tranche 3 payment of US$5m for the remaining 19% is due at the end of May. The unrelated third party continues to be in confidential discussions with all parties to participate in the current transaction.
Responding to the coronavirus outbreak, the government of the People’s Republic of China extended the Lunar New Year holiday to 2 February (9 February in Shanghai) resulting in the closure of all government offices. Once reopened and final approval is received for the overseas direct investment (ODI) applications previously underway, POET expects immediate disbursement of the 2a payment. Receipt of the 2b payment is expected to be delayed beyond February due to the extended holiday’s disruption of the ODI application process.
Furthermore, the firm announced the appointments of James Lee as VP & general manager of POET Technologies Pte Ltd (the firm’s recently opened Singapore-based subsidiary) and Edward Cornejo as VP of technical marketing. Lee came to POET from IMEC of Leuven, Belgium, where he was VP of logic technology. Previously, he held increasingly responsible positions over a 19-year career with GLOBALFOUNDRIES. Cornejo has over 30 years of experience in the optical components industry in senior marketing and engineering roles at Lucent, OpNext (now Lumentum), and MACOM.
POET is hosting analysts and strategic partners in conjunction with the Optical Fiber Communications (OFC 2020) Conference & Exhibition in San Diego, CA, USA (8–12 March).
