Google and SK Hynix both increase investment—why is optical technology sparking widespread attention again?

In August 2026, two messages from different groups converged in the same week, placing "optics" once again at the forefront of the global capital markets.

First, Marvell and Google signed a custom chip development agreement, with Marvell issuing up to approximately 58.97 million warrants (exercise price $206.58 per share) to Google. The scope of the collaboration covers core interconnection areas such as memory interface controllers, network interface controllers, and near-memory computing within Google's TPU ecosystem.

Second, SK Hynix, together with the University of Virginia and other institutions, published a CPO (Co-Packaged Optics) technology roadmap in Nature Electronics, systematically proposing for the first time extending optical interconnects from "between computing power units" to "memory interfaces," to build a next-generation AI infrastructure architecture that is "optics-centric."

Optics has once again taken center stage in the capital markets.