US Stock Movement | OFC Highlights the Key Role of Indium Phosphide and EML; Leading Optical Communication Company Announces "Super Expansion" of Production, Concept Stocks Surge in Response

格隆汇 March 19｜Last night, US stocks related to indium phosphide saw significant gains, with AXT's share price surging up to 16% at one point and finally closing up 9.92%. Since the beginning of this year, the stock has accumulated an increase of over 198%. In addition, the optical communication sector was also active, with Applied Optoelectronics and Lumentum both rising more than 7%, and Coherent up more than 4%. On the news front, the 2026 Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) was officially held recently at the Los Angeles Convention Center, with leading companies in the optical communication industry such as Lumentum, Coherent, and Applied Optoelectronics all participating. According to available information, this year's OFC further confirmed that AI-driven scale expansion is forcing data centers to restructure their architectures in the field of optoelectronic networks. The conference focused on topics such as "the competition between CPO architecture and pluggable optical modules" and "OCS gaining attention as a supplementary layer technology." According to CMB International Securities, although the industry generally recognizes that "pluggable optical modules are still the core components," the supply constraints behind them are becoming increasingly prominent. At the conference, all optical communication manufacturers emphasized their expansion plans for core devices and materials of optical modules. Lumentum stated that by the end of 2026, the production capacity of electro-absorption modulated lasers (EML) will increase by more than 50% compared to 2025. Previously, the company had already advanced about 40% of its indium phosphide (InP) capacity expansion plan, and predicts that by 2030, the compound annual growth rate of AI data centers' demand for indium phosphide will reach 85%.