Marvell Technology of the United States has agreed to acquire optical communications company Lumentum for approximately ¥18 trillion. The deal is intended to integrate semiconductor and optical communications technologies to support faster AI data centers.
Marvell Technology, a major U.S. semiconductor company, announced locally that it had agreed to acquire Lumentum Holdings, which specializes in optical communications. The acquisition will be carried out through an all-stock transaction, with an enterprise value including debt of approximately $115 billion (approximately ¥18 trillion). The companies said the deal is intended to integrate semiconductor and optical communications technologies to address rapidly rising data traffic demand at AI data centers.
Marvell provides networking semiconductors and custom AI semiconductors for data centers, while Lumentum has technologies for generating and transmitting optical signals, as well as optical circuit switches (OCS). By combining their technologies, the companies aim to provide communications technologies for a wide range of applications, from long-distance connections between data centers to connections between servers and even within semiconductor packages. The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2028, subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions.
The companies cited demand for high-bandwidth, low-latency communications for AI model training and inference as a background to the acquisition. As the limitations of conventional copper-based communications drive a shift to optical communications, the companies said their integration would help shape a new generation of AI connectivity technologies. They expect the expansion of the market to create a new market opportunity worth approximately $550 billion and said annual cost savings are expected to exceed $1 billion.