On August 7, U.S. stock optical communications sector rose broadly in pre-market trading. Applied Optoelectronics surged about 15%, while Corning, Coherent, Lumentum, and Ciena all gained over 4%.
On the news front, on August 6 local time, U.S. optical communications manufacturer Applied Optoelectronics announced its second-quarter financial results. The report showed the company's Q2 revenue reached $191.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 86.31%. Notably, data center business revenue exceeded $100 million for the first time, growing 140% year-on-year and accounting for 56% of total revenue, becoming the largest revenue source. Non-GAAP earnings per share for the second quarter were $0.06, achieving a turnaround from loss to profit.
Management conveyed positive signals during the earnings call, indicating strong demand for AI infrastructure, with customer demand exceeding the company's current supply capability by approximately 20% to 40%.
Company executives stated that this marked the fifth consecutive quarter of record revenue and achieving non-GAAP profitability, representing a significant milestone. Additionally, sales of 800G products saw robust growth, more than doubling sequentially. In their view, the constraint on short-term revenue growth is not orders but the company's production capacity and the supply of key components such as DSPs and TIAs.
Simultaneously, the executives provided capacity expansion guidance. Currently, the company's total capacity is nearing 200,000 units per month; it is expected that by the end of this year, monthly capacity for 800G and 1.6T products will increase to 650,000 units, and further rise to 930,000 units by the end of 2027.
U.S. semiconductor and memory chip stocks also rose in pre-market trading, with Sandisk gaining over 3%, and Western Digital and Micron Technology rising more than 2%.
