Latest from Agoracom: POET Products and Relationships - Revenue Generation
I'm not completely clear how NationGate, Mistubishi, Foxconn, Luxshare and others fits in with the broader POET get-to-market strategy and, additionally, how that relates to revenue generation. I'm going to outline some of the understandings and impressions I have about POET products and some of their relationships. Please correct me on any of this as I think it will be beneficial for not only me, but many others on the board. This is some pretty heady stuff.
POET Products
- POET Optical Interposer
- This is not a product. This is a platform that products get buit with and on top of. It is a way of doing things that allows for photonics to be done in an automated fashion at scale. This is what enables the "seminconductorization" of photonics that is often referred to by Suresh.
- This is what builds POETs Optical Engines and other POET products.
- This technology and other related IP can be licensed for others to manufacture and test POET products that will be used for a multitude of other products.
- Licensing of this can be used to generate revenue.
- POET Optical Engines (OEs)
- This refers to a single cateogry of products that can be incorporated into other products by and/or for customers.
- They currently come in flavors of 100 and 200 gb, which can then get packaged into larger 400, 800, and 1600gb/lane varieties.
- 400gb/lane would take up 2 200gb OEs, 800gb/lane = 2 400gb/lane made from 2 200gb OEs, 1600gb/lane = 4 400gb/lane OEs made from 2 200gb OEs
- Multiple 100 and 200gb OEs are necessary for most final products.
- These will be incorporated into POET products and customer products.
- These will be a standalone source of revenue for POET.
- These are slated to be manufactured by Globetronics at a current rate of 1 million/yr for 100 or 200gb OE units combined.
- POET Light Sources
- POET offers other products that incorporate POET OEs and other components into a more market ready product that then gets incorporated into end-user products.
- Most products also require multiple OEs
- These products are tailored as complimentary to the Optical Interposer platform and industry needs.
- Examples include POET Lightbar (for CAI), Starlight, and Blazar.
- These will be an additional source of revenue for POET.
- NationGate will be responsible for the manufacture of at least some of these.
POET Relationships
The role for NationGate is still a bit murky for me, but this is what I currently THINK I understand. My understanding is that Globetronics will make POET OEs, which will then get sent to NationGate for assembly/packaging into POET light sources for Celestial AI. These light sources then get shipped off to Celestial AI manufacturers to get put into Celestial AI's final product.
If my understanding is correct, POET would likely not get revenue from the production of OEs by Globetronics. Will Globetronics get paid once the order to Celestial AI is fulfilled from NationGate or would POET pay them for the OE before completion of the unit at NationGate? My logic seems very flawed here. In this case, it would seem we need to set up multiple manufacturers to reach a final product that will generate revenue. At which point in the process does POET see this revenue?
The relationship with Mitsubishi will likely follow this pattern (though Mitsubishi would likely take care of setting up manufacturing), whereas the relationship with Foxconn and Luxshare will be different. Foxconn and Luxshare are closer to NationGate in that they manufacture products for end-users, but they also help develop the product and packaging for the end-user. In these instances, they are more likely to utilize the optical interposer platform and the OEs POET provides.
To my knowledge, these are POET's sources of revenue either through direct offering of a product like OEs and Light Sources or licesning of their Optical Interposer platform to build POET and other companies OEs designed around the Optical Interposer platform.
I appreciate any clarifications on my understandings and any additional insights that others may have.
Cheers! |
