Marvell Technology is in advanced talks to buy Lumentum Holdings, a data-centre optics maker whose shares rose 13% to $1,040 after hours on 28 October, Dow Jones reported. Lumentum had a market value of $83 billion, compared with Marvell’s $221 billion, Seeking Alpha reported. The prospective acquisition would give Marvell a supplier of lasers and other optical components used in AI data centres.
Key points
- Marvell is in advanced acquisition talks, but the companies have not reached a final agreement.
- Dow Jones reported Lumentum up 13% to $1,040 after hours on 28 October and Marvell down 9.3% to $228.31.
- Nvidia invested $2 billion in Lumentum preferred stock in March 2026.
- Marvell’s earlier Celestial AI agreement starts at $3.25 billion and could reach $5.5 billion if revenue milestones are met.
Lumentum’s valuation and 28 October trading
Marvell fell 9.3% to $228.31 in after-hours trading on 28 October, following a regular-session gain of 3.3% to $251.65. Its shares had nearly tripled in value during the year through that close, Dow Jones reported. The movements followed Bloomberg’s report of the acquisition discussions, as carried by Dow Jones.
Accounts of the extended-session moves differed. Seeking Alpha put Lumentum’s gain at 15% and Marvell’s decline at 11%. Startup Fortune put them at nearly 9% and roughly 9%, respectively. MarketScreener’s company data displayed market values of $78.46 billion for Lumentum and $214 billion for Marvell, against Seeking Alpha’s figures of $83 billion and $221 billion.
Lumentum makes lasers, photonic integrated circuits and high-speed transceivers used to carry data between GPUs in AI data centres, Startup Fortune reported. It also sells optical modules bought by large data-centre operators. Startup Fortune said Lumentum reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $808.4 million, up 90% from a year earlier. The company’s Cloud & Networking business accounted for roughly 88% of total revenue, according to the same report.
Nvidia’s $2 billion Lumentum investment
Lumentum chief executive Michael Hurlston told Bloomberg that the company’s AI optical components were sold out through 2029, a year beyond the estimate it gave in April, Startup Fortune reported. That account places the prospective acquisition alongside an existing commitment to supply components sought by another chipmaker.
Nvidia bought roughly 2.9 million shares of Lumentum Series A convertible preferred stock in March 2026 at $695.31 each, for a total of $2 billion, according to Startup Fortune. Nvidia also put $2 billion into Coherent on the same day. Startup Fortune described Coherent as Lumentum’s main rival in merchant indium phosphide lasers.
Nvidia is a Lumentum customer as well as an investor. It buys lasers for its Spectrum-X and Quantum-X co-packaged optics products and optics used in GPU clusters. Marvell’s purchase of Lumentum would therefore put one of Nvidia’s optical suppliers under the ownership of another chipmaker.
Marvell’s $3.25 billion Celestial AI agreement
Marvell agreed in December 2025 to buy photonics startup Celestial AI for $3.25 billion in cash and stock. The total could reach $5.5 billion if revenue milestones are met, according to Startup Fortune. Celestial AI’s Photonic Fabric is designed for optical connections within server racks, while Lumentum sells lasers and transceiver modules used by data-centre operators.
Marvell and Lumentum have demonstrated products together at optical industry conferences. At OFC 2026, they showed Marvell optical signal-processing chips working with Lumentum’s R300 optical circuit-switching platform, Startup Fortune reported. The prospective purchase would extend Marvell’s position beyond those jointly demonstrated products to Lumentum’s laser and module business.
Marvell and Lumentum could announce an agreement as early as the week beginning 2 November, although no final deal has been reached and the timing could change.
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