Citibank TMT: "lasers and optical fibers are being positioned as the "next HBM."
I've been talking about lasers like $LITE / $AAOI since 2025... and architectural shifts toward CW, ahead of the current industry consensus.
And fully agree with Lightmatter/Citi.
Just for reference:
For lasers: $LITE / $SIVE / $AAOI / $COHR / $MTSI / Furukawa / Sumitomo are your better known ones.
For fiber: $GLW / Furukawa / Fujikura / Sumitomo are your more well-known exposure (obviously a lot more in the supply chain) *disclosure, personal exposure to theme
With added commentary that: "Tight supply conditions will support a scarcity premium for these assets."
We're already seeing price hikes with lasers as seen with $SIVE channel checks at CIOE 2026 Shenzhen today + $LITE commentary from earnings.
So I think the 2027–2028 photonics supercycle will look a lot like memory did in 2025–2026.
Especially as optical content/GPU-ASIC goes up significantly per Goldman Sachs revised estimates...
I asked OpenAI Astra Ultra + Anthropic Fable 5.1 Max to make me a 5x-10x return type portfolio in 1 year.
Burnt a lot of credits, and the results are in:
OpenAI: - $KYTX (autoimmune CAR-T results)
- $PRQR (human RNA-editing datasets)
- $VSTM (KRAS cancer-drug)
- $CNTB (asthma and COPD)
- $RANI (oral biologics)
- $IVA (MASH)
- $SILC (networking + inference hardware)
- $AMPX (batteries)
- $EOSE (batteries)
- $ZVRA (rare-disease drug growth)
Anthropic: - $INO (respiratory papillomatosis)
- $CAPR (PDUFA for deramiocel)
- $GOSS (seralutinib)
- $SLS (Phase 3 binary)
- $IREN (familiar face)
- $WULF (familiar face)
- $OKLO (nuclear)
- $SMR (nuclear)
- $RGTI (quantum)
- $QBTS (quantum)
*Disclosure don't own any of these aside from 1 share in IREN, not a recommendation, just TLDR of LLM output for educational purposes.
So very interesting results:
Our beloved AGI Astra prefers really obscure biotech I've never heard about. And a few familiar names like $EOSE and $AMPX.
And Fable... yeah idk, feels like it learned a little too much from /r/wallstreetbets and X but maybe it's right, who knows.
Anyway no judgement, I'll save this and revisit it in a few months. If one of them actually delivers... I'll be impressed.