Marvell in Advanced Talks to Acquire AI Optics Maker Lumentum

Marvell Technology is in advanced talks to acquire data-center optics maker Lumentum, Bloomberg reported on October 28, citing people familiar with the matter. An acquisition could be announced 'as early as next week,' though a final agreement has not been reached and the details could still change.

Why Marvell wants this is the plumbing of an AI cluster. Lumentum, per the Bloomberg reporting, 'makes the lasers, photonic integrated circuits and high-speed transceivers that move data between GPUs inside AI data centres.' A deal would combine Marvell's digital signal processors with those lasers and transceivers as the industry shifts away from copper connections for GPU-to-GPU links.

The money is where it gets strange. The reporting cites Lumentum's market value in the transaction at roughly $83 billion against Marvell's own $221 billion market cap. Lumentum shares surged 11% on the report; Marvell lost more than 8%. The split is textbook for a leaked all-stock deal where the buyer looks expensive.

Context on the acquirer thickens the read. In December 2025, Marvell agreed to buy photonics startup Celestial AI for $3.25 billion in cash and stock, with total value reaching $5.5 billion if revenue milestones hit. And Lumentum 'counts Nvidia as both customer and a $2 billion shareholder since March,' meaning Nvidia would see its optical supplier bought by one of its custom-silicon rivals.

Bloomberg's sources did not put a price, a payment structure or a closing date on the record. The story joins 442 other AI-infrastructure alerts we've logged over the last 90 days.