Lumentum Optical I/O Capacity Sold Out Through Early 2029
Optical I/O interconnect manufacturer Lumentum announced that its production capacity is completely sold out through early 2029, with customers already securing supply slots for 2030. The company's CEO, Michael Hurlston, stated that they can only fulfill 30% of customer demand for certain products. This extreme supply shortage highlights the unprecedented, AI-driven demand for high-speed hardware infrastructure in modern data centers. As traditional copper interconnects approach their physical limits, optical I/O solutions are becoming a critical bottleneck and growth driver for large-scale computing clusters. To mitigate the shortage, Lumentum is expanding global manufacturing facilities—including plans to acquire a production plant in Japan and reducing office desk space—though production still lags far behind demand. Additionally, chip-level optical interconnects are anticipated to become a major market driver starting around 2029.
## BACKGROUND
Optical I/O (Input/Output) technology uses light instead of electrical signals to transmit data over short and long distances, offering significantly higher bandwidth and lower power consumption. As artificial intelligence models scale exponentially, traditional copper cables face severe 'bandwidth walls' and 'power walls,' making optical interconnects essential for modern data center architectures.