Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.

The grade, in three tenses

Headline 4.8 out of ten, 8 of 9 metrics filed and 1 estimated: past 2.8 out of ten, present 5.0 out of ten, future 6.5 out of ten. The past asks what it actually did, the present what it is doing right now, the future what it is set up to do next.

The nine metrics

• Surviving crises (past): 3.5 out of ten. 1 warning event since 2017; the latest 2026-05-08. 35th percentile among 99 sector filers. A production reading, recomputed from the filings on every data build (read from EDGAR 2026-10-12).
• Track record (past): 3.0 out of ten. +6.4% a year over 10 filed years; profitable in 2 of 10. 30th percentile among 93 sector filers. A production reading, recomputed from the filings on every data build (read from EDGAR 2026-10-12).
• Shareholder treatment (past): 1.3 out of ten. CrossAssetData estimate 1.3/10, confidence 35 of 100 (one part). 13th percentile among 94 sector filers. A CrossAssetData estimate, not a filed reading: one part, confidence 35 of 100; a filing that carries the missing parts replaces this estimate with the filed reading.
• Financial health (present): 2.9 out of ten. ROE -5%: lost 5¢ per shareholder dollar. Leverage 37%: owes 37¢ per asset dollar. 29th percentile among 95 sector filers. A production reading, recomputed from the filings on every data build (read from EDGAR 2026-10-12).
• Industry position (present): 5.3 out of ten. top 47% of 97 in its family; net margin -8.4%. 53rd percentile among 97 sector filers. A production reading, recomputed from the filings on every data build (read from EDGAR 2026-10-12).
• Leadership (present): 9.0 out of ten. top 10% of 66 in its family for leadership; chief executive since 2013. 90th percentile among 66 sector filers. A production reading, recomputed from the filings on every data build (read from EDGAR 2026-10-09).
• Room to expand (future): 3.8 out of ten. bottom 38% of 94 in its family for room to expand. 38th percentile among 94 sector filers. A production reading, recomputed from the filings on every data build (read from EDGAR 2026-10-12).
• Growth drivers (future): 9.3 out of ten. top 7% of 93 in its family for growth drivers. 93rd percentile among 93 sector filers. A production reading, recomputed from the filings on every data build (read from EDGAR 2026-10-12).
• Expectations vs reality (future): 8.1 out of ten. top 20% of 88 in its family for expectations against reality. 80th percentile among 88 sector filers. A production reading, recomputed from the filings on every data build (read from EDGAR 2026-10-12).

The filing record

Newest annual report: Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26 for the period ended 2025-12-31 (on EDGAR). Newest quarterly report: Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06 for the period ended 2026-06-30 (on EDGAR). Newest results release: Form 8-K filed 2026-08-06 (on EDGAR). Newest filing: Form 4, 2026-10-07. Filings on record since 2006. Read from EDGAR 2026-10-12.

How the company works

Read from its Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26.

The people

Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin founded Applied Optoelectronics in February 1997 and has been its president and chief executive since the start. He has chaired the board since January 2014, and chaired it twice before, from 2000 to 2002 and from 2008 to 2009. He came from research: a senior research scientist and then research associate professor at the University of Houston from 1994 to 2000, with a nuclear engineering degree from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Missouri. Stefan J. Murry, chief financial officer since August 2014 and chief strategy officer since December 2012, has been with the company just as long: he joined in February 1997 as a senior engineer in device packaging and ran sales and marketing from 2000 to 2012. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The other executive officers are long-serving too. Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang joined in April 2001 from Hon-Hai Precision Industry in Taiwan and has been senior vice president and North America general manager since October 2012. Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh was president and chief executive of Global Technology, now the company's China subsidiary, from April 2002 until the company acquired it in March 2006, and has been Asia general manager since February 2015. David C. Kuo joined as assistant general counsel in May 2009 and has been senior vice president and chief legal officer since May 2023. On the record this site holds, all five executive officers have filed insider reports with the SEC since 2013, the year the company listed on Nasdaq. [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Every director except Thompson Lin is independent under Nasdaq's rules, and William H. Yeh, who has run a real estate investment company since 1997, has been lead independent director since April 2018. Richard B. Black ran ECRM, a maker of laser-based imaging equipment, from 1983 until Eastman Kodak acquired it in 2021; Che-Wei Lin, a director since January 2014, has been president of ASMedia Technology, a chipset maker, since November 2007. Black, William H. Yeh and Min-Chu (Mike) Chen have filed as directors since 2013. Elizabeth Loboa, provost of Southern Methodist University, is not standing for re-election in 2026. The new nominee, Robert Flanagan, was put forward by an executive officer; he retired in February 2025 after a thirty-three year career in investment banking, most recently at Raymond James, a bank that has acted for the company in selling new shares. He first filed as a director in June 2026. [11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 9, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]

At the end of 2025 the company employed 4,691 people full time: 2,881 in China, 1,262 in Taiwan and 548 in the United States; 69 hold doctorates in science or engineering. Its research and development department counted 425, with teams in Texas, Georgia, China and Taiwan. No employee is covered by a collective bargaining agreement, though some at the China subsidiary belong to a trade union. At the Ningbo factory in China, workers commonly fail to return after the long Lunar New Year shutdown: the share who resigned or were let go in the first quarter was 7.9% in 2025, after 17.2% in 2024 and 53.8% in 2023, and training their replacements holds back first-quarter output. [21, 22, 23, 24, 25]

How it operates

Applied Optoelectronics, which calls itself AOI, makes fiber-optic networking products for four markets: internet data centers, cable television (CATV), telecom networks and fiber to the home (FTTH). It is vertically integrated, meaning it makes its own key parts: it starts from the laser, makes most of the laser chips and optical components it uses, and builds up through subassemblies and modules to complete turn-key equipment. For data centers it sells optical transceivers, modules that plug into switches and servers and let them send and receive data over fiber; most use its own lasers and the subassemblies it calls light engines. For cable networks it makes transmitters, nodes and amplifiers; for telecom, lasers, subassemblies and transceivers, mostly for 5G mobile networks. [26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32]

Its data center customers are the largest internet companies, known as hyperscalers, and the equipment suppliers that serve them. In cable it long sold to equipment vendors that outsource design and manufacturing to it; since 2023 it has also sold straight to cable operators (MSOs) under its own Quantum Bandwidth brand. The customer list is short: the top ten took 96.6% of 2025 revenue, Digicomm, its key cable customer, 53.1% and Microsoft, its key data center customer, 28.8%. In March 2025 it gave an Amazon subsidiary a warrant, a right to buy its shares, most of which vests only as Amazon and its affiliates buy up to 4 billion dollars of its products over ten years. There are no customer commitments longer than a year, only purchase orders, and the share of revenue sold directly fell to 44.7% in 2025 from 88.6% in 2023; the rest went through channel partners that handle logistics and day-to-day support. [29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38]

It makes its products in three places: Sugar Land, Texas, its headquarters and the only place it makes laser chips; Taipei, Taiwan, where it builds optical components, transceivers for data center, telecom and FTTH customers, and cable outdoor equipment including amplifiers; and Ningbo, China, where lower labor costs suit the more labor-intensive subassemblies, transceivers and cable equipment. A research center in Duluth, Georgia, completes the map. The filing splits revenue by where a product is made, not where it is sold: in 2025, 57.5% came from the China plant, 38.2% from Taiwan and 4.3% from the United States. Most sales are in US dollars; only 3.4 million dollars of 2025 revenue was in Chinese renminbi (RMB). [39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46]

It has lost money on its operations in every year from 2020 to 2025. In 2025 its gross margin, the share of revenue left after the cost of making its products, rose to 30.0% from 24.8%, yet it lost 54.6 million dollars on operations and 38.2 million overall, and its operations used 174.4 million dollars of cash as receivables and inventory grew. It spent 210.2 million on capital projects. Selling new shares paid for both: at-the-market offerings, in which new shares are sold gradually through banks, raised 518.9 million dollars net in 2025 and 1.03 billion more in the first half of 2026. At the end of 2025 it also owed about 163.8 million dollars, including 125 million of convertible notes due in 2030, bonds that can be turned into shares. [47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54]

The specifics

Its edge, in its own telling, is the laser. It builds its lasers with two methods of growing their crystal layers one on another, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and says it knows of no one else using MBE to make communications lasers in high volume. Its lasers tolerate changes in heat and humidity, which suits cable, FTTH and 5G equipment installed outdoors. The MBE process runs only at the Sugar Land wafer plant near the Gulf of Mexico, and the company warns that a hurricane or other disaster there would materially harm its operations. At the end of 2025 it owned 199 US patents, 140 in China and Taiwan and 10 in Europe, expiring between 2026 and 2046, and says no single patent or group of patents carries the business. [55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60]

It names its competitors: Coherent, Eoptolink, Foxconn Interconnect Technology, InnoLight, Intel, Lumentum, Mitsubishi, Molex, Source Photonics and Sumitomo Electric, many of them larger and with far greater resources. Its own customers are a second kind of rival: equipment makers and network operators may decide to make the optical parts themselves. It describes strong pricing pressure, because many of its products differ little from competitors' and its sales rest on a few end customers; in cable, where equipment vendors rely on its design services, it believes it faces less downward price pressure than many rivals. [61, 62, 63, 64, 65]

The company was incorporated in Texas in 1997, became a Delaware corporation in March 2013 and has been listed on Nasdaq since September 2013. Its China arm, Global Technology, founded in 2002, was acquired in March 2006 by Prime World, the group's British Virgin Islands subsidiary, which also runs the Taiwan operation. In September 2022 it agreed to sell its China factories and part of its transceiver business to Yuhan Optoelectronic Technology (Shanghai); it ended the agreement in September 2023, saying the buyer had failed to meet material obligations, and the buyer's arbitration claim was settled in January 2025 with the company paying only its own legal fees. [66, 10, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71]

Trade rules reach a business whose products are made mostly in China and Taiwan. Higher shipping costs, tariffs included, helped raise its 2025 sales and marketing expense. In February 2026 the US Supreme Court held that tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were unlawful, and by July 2026 the company had recovered about 5.9 million dollars of those duties with interest; tariffs under other laws remain. It says it ships to no country on the US export restricted list. On oversight, a material weakness in its review of technical accounting analyses, found for 2024, was remediated by the end of 2025, when management found internal control effective. In May 2026, after a competitive selection, the audit committee replaced Grant Thornton, its auditor since 2008, with PricewaterhouseCoopers, reporting no disagreements. [45, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82]

What drives growth, line by line

Revenue rose 82.8% in 2025 to 455.7 million dollars, after staying between 211.6 million and 249.4 million from 2020 to 2024. The filing puts the jump down to two things: large deployments of its DOCSIS 4.0 cable equipment, and demand for data center products as operators build new data centers and upgrade old ones for artificial intelligence. [47, 83]

CATV. The largest line in 2025: 245.1 million dollars, 53.8% of revenue, up 179.5% from 87.7 million. DOCSIS is the standard cable operators use to deliver internet service over their networks; version 4.0 raises the bandwidth they can offer. The filing credits large deployments of the company's DOCSIS 4.0 products, and says nearly all the cable equipment it sold from 2025 meets that standard. Operators such as Comcast and Charter have announced plans to spend billions on the upgrade. Most of the line came through one customer: Digicomm, the key cable customer, went from 11.3% of revenue in 2023 to 53.1% in 2025. The filing also credits larger-scale production of cable products for the rise in gross margin. [45, 84, 83, 85, 86, 34, 87]

Data Center. 195.7 million dollars, 42.9% of revenue, up 31.7% from 148.5 million, and no longer the largest line, as it had been in 2024 at 59.5% of revenue. The filing ties the growth to new data center construction and to upgrades for artificial intelligence; its 800G transceivers, which carry 800 gigabits a second, are used in particular to connect AI computing gear. Microsoft stayed the key buyer, though its share of revenue fell to 28.8% from 43.7%. Customers' interest in 800G and 1.6T products raised research spending in 2025, as the company supported their testing and qualification. [45, 88, 83, 89, 34, 90]

Telecom. 13.7 million dollars, 3.0% of revenue, up 25.0% from 11.0 million. The filing does not say what moved it. Here the company sells lasers, laser subassemblies and transceivers to network equipment makers and to other transceiver makers, and most of what it sells goes into 5G mobile networks. [45, 32]

Ftth and Other. The smallest line: 1.2 million dollars, 0.3% of revenue, down 43.6%. Fiber to the home runs over passive optical networks (PONs) that telecom providers deploy; the company says it has developed products for 25 and 50 gigabit PON networks, which it believes customers will one day adopt. [45, 91, 92]

What comes next, in the company's own words: based on customer forecasts and its order backlog, it believes elevated data center demand will likely continue into 2026, and it expects sales of 800G products to overtake 400G later in 2026; it also believes cable sales should go up in 2026 as more customers, new ones among them, adopt its DOCSIS 4.0 products. The newest quarterly report shows data center revenue up 112.2 million dollars in the first half of 2026 on the same half a year earlier, to 55.1% of revenue, and says the company expects to expand manufacturing in the US and Taiwan during 2026 and 2027, mainly for laser diodes and 800G and 1.6T transceivers, with the first new facility around Sugar Land expected to begin production later in 2026. [93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98]

What the desk infers (inferred, not filed)

• Digicomm, the buyer behind more than half of 2025 revenue, is most likely a distributor rather than the user of the equipment: behind it stand large North American cable operators rolling out the company's DOCSIS 4.0 gear, so the cable line depends on their upgrade programs. Because: Digicomm, the key cable customer, went from 11.3% of revenue in 2023 to 53.1% in 2025. [34] Over the same years the share of revenue sold directly fell from 88.6% to 44.7%; the rest went through channel partners that handle logistics and support, while the company works out product specifications with the end customer. [38] The newest quarterly report says the company gave Digicomm longer than typical payment terms so it has inventory on hand to supply customers' network builds. [99] The filing names Comcast and Charter as cable operators planning to spend billions on DOCSIS 4.0 equipment, describes North American operators upgrading their networks, and says nearly all the cable equipment it sold from 2025 meets the new standard. [86, 84, 85] Confidence 75 of 100. Wrong if: A filing that describes Digicomm as a network operator installing the equipment in its own network, or names a cable operator as a direct customer larger than Digicomm.
• The two customers that took 26% and 24% of revenue in the first half of 2026 are most likely Microsoft and Amazon, the cloud companies the filings tie to the data center business, so the line that is again the larger one rests on two buyers. Because: In the first half of 2026 the three largest customers took 43%, 26% and 24% of revenue, against 59%, 30% and 5% a year earlier. [100] Digicomm took about 42.8% of revenue in those six months, mainly for cable products, which makes it the first of the three. [101] Data center revenue rose by 112.2 million dollars in the half and made up 55.1% of revenue. [95, 96] Microsoft was the key data center customer in 2025 with 28.8% of revenue; Oracle, the other data center buyer the annual report names, took 12.4% in 2024. [34] In March 2025 the company gave an Amazon subsidiary a warrant whose remaining shares vest as Amazon and its affiliates buy up to 4 billion dollars of its products over ten years. [35, 36] Confidence 60 of 100. Wrong if: A filing that names the largest customers of 2026 and shows Oracle or another buyer, not Microsoft or Amazon, among the three.
• Part of the cable revenue the company books is equipment waiting in Digicomm's stock rather than already installed: it lets Digicomm pay later than usual so the distributor can hold inventory for operators' builds, which leaves much of that revenue as money still owed. Because: At the end of 2025 Digicomm owed 71.6% of the company's receivables while bringing in 53.1% of its revenue. [102, 34] The newest quarterly report says the company extended longer than typical payment terms to Digicomm so that it has adequate inventory on hand to supply customers' network builds. [99] At June 30, 2026, 211.0 million dollars of 314.0 million in receivables was due from Digicomm International. [103] In 2025 a 127.6 million dollar rise in receivables was among the main reasons operations used 174.4 million dollars of cash. [49] Confidence 70 of 100. Wrong if: A filing showing Digicomm paying on the company's usual terms, with its share of receivables falling to about its share of revenue while its purchases hold steady.
• The factory build-out rests on forecasts from a few large buyers rather than on contracts: the orders behind it can be rescheduled or cancelled on short notice, so the risk of the new capacity sits with the company, not its customers. Because: Capital spending in the first half of 2026 was 335.1 million dollars, and advance payments for equipment and facilities had grown to 324.0 million from 50.9 million at the end of 2025. [104, 105] Management expects to keep investing in capacity through at least the end of 2027 to meet the demand it expects for data center transceivers, lasers and its cable products. [106] It has no customer purchase commitments longer than a year, and its purchase orders carry no deposits and can be rescheduled, revised or cancelled on short notice. [37, 107] The top ten customers took 96.6% of 2025 revenue, and the company says much of the investment is predicated on expected AI-driven demand and could leave it with overcapacity if AI adoption slows. [33, 108, 109] Confidence 80 of 100. Wrong if: A filing that discloses long-term purchase commitments, prepayments or capacity reservations from its large customers covering the new capacity.

Sources

1. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin, Ph.D., founded Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. in February 1997 and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer since our inception. He currently serves as the Chairman of our Board, a position he has held since January 2014. He also previously served as Chairman of our Board from May 2000 through September 2002, and again from June 2008 through October 2009.”
2. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Dr. Lin also served as a research associate professor from 1998 to 2000 and as a senior research scientist from 1994 to 1998 at the University of Houston.”
3. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Dr. Lin received a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Missouri”
4. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Dr. Murry has served as our Chief Financial Officer since August 2014 and our Chief Strategy Officer since December 2012. Previously, Dr. Murry served as our Vice President of Sales and Marketing from June 2004 until December 2012, our Director of Sales and Marketing from January 2000 to June 2004 and as a Senior Engineer of Device Packaging from February 1997 to January 2000.”
5. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Dr. Chang has served as our North America General Manager and Senior Vice President of Optical Component Business Unit since October 2012. Previously, Dr. Chang served as Vice President of our Optical Module Division from March 2004 until October 2012, our Director of Manufacturing from June 2002 to March 2004, and as our Deputy Packaging Manager from April 2001 to May 2002.”
6. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “His most recent position prior to joining us was Deputy Manager from 2000 to 2001 of the Optical Active Component Group at Hon-Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., which is based in Taiwan.”
7. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Mr. Yeh has served as our Asia General Manager since February 2015 and as Senior Vice President of our Network Equipment Module Business Unit since November 2012. Previously, Mr. Yeh served as our General Manager of our Video Equipment Division of Global Technology Inc., our China subsidiary, since its acquisition by us in March 2006 and had served as its President and Chief Executive Officer from April 2002 until the acquisition.”
8. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Mr. Kuo has served as our Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer since May 2023, our Chief Compliance Officer since August 2013 and as our Corporate Secretary since November 2012. Previously, Mr. Kuo served as our Vice President and General Counsel from August 2013 to May 2023, and served as our Assistant General Counsel from May 2009 until August 2013”
9. The record on this page: the officers and directors who file Forms 3, 4 and 5 (the SEC's insider data sets)
10. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “On September 26, 2013, our common stock began to trade on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol”
11. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “The Board has determined that, other than Dr. Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin, our President and Chief Executive Officer, each of the current members of the Board and the nominee for election to the Board is an “independent director””
12. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “William H. Yeh has served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Golden Star Management, Inc., a real estate investment and management company, since 1997.”
13. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Our Board appointed William H. Yeh as lead independent director of our Board in April 2018.”
14. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Richard B. Black has served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ECRM, Incorporated, a worldwide supplier of laser-based imaging equipment, from 1983 until the company was acquired by Eastman KODAK Corp. in 2021.”
15. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Che-Wei Lin has served as a director on our Board since January 2014, and previously served as a director on our Board from December 2006 to October 2009. Since November 2007, Mr. Lin has served as the President of ASMedia Technology Inc., a chipset manufacturer.”
16. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Elizabeth Loboa, Ph.D. has served as the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Southern Methodist University since 2020.”
17. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Dr. Loboa is not standing for re-election.”
18. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Mr. Flanagan was recommended to the Nominating and Governance Committee by an executive officer. Mr. Flanagan is currently retired, following a thirty-three year career in the investment banking industry. He most recently served as a Managing Director, Technology Investment Banking at Raymond James & Associates from August 2011 to February 2025.”
19. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Raymond James and Associates, Inc. acted as the sole placement agent (the "Placement Agent") for the Company in connection with the Registered Direct Offering.”
20. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “On February 28, 2025, the Company entered into an Equity Distribution Agreement with Raymond James & Associates ("Raymond James") pursuant to which the Company could issue and sell shares of the Company’s common stock”
21. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “As of December 31, 2025, we employed 4,691 full-time employees, of which 69 held Ph.D. degrees in a science or engineering field. Of our employees, 548 are located in the U.S., 1,262 are located in Taiwan and 2,881 are located in China.”
22. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “we had a total of 425 employees working in the R&D department, including 14 with Ph.D. degrees. We continue to recruit talented engineers to further enhance our research and development capabilities. We have research and development departments in our facilities in Texas, Georgia, China and Taiwan.”
23. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “As of December 31, 2025, none of our employees are represented by any collective bargaining agreement, but certain employees of our China subsidiary are members of a trade union.”
24. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Our Ningbo, China factory experiences a lengthy shut-down associated with the Lunar New Year holiday which occurs in the first quarter of each year. In addition to the factory shut-down, it is also common for employees in the factory to fail to return to work following resumption of operations. In the years 2025, 2024, and 2023, the percentage of employees in our China factory who resigned or were terminated during the first quarter, relative to the average number of employees during the quarter was 7.9%, 17.2% and 53.8% , respectively.”
25. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “As a result of employee turnover, we must hire and train replacement employees. These replacement employees require a period of training and improvement, and this impacts the quantity of products we can produce in the quarter.”
26. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (the "Company" or "AOI") is a leading, vertically integrated provider of fiber-optic networking products, primarily for four networking end-markets: internet data center, cable television ("CATV"), telecommunications, ("telecom"), and fiber-to-the-home ("FTTH"). We design and manufacture a range of optical communications products at varying levels of integration, from components, subassemblies and modules to complete turn-key equipment.”
27. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In designing products for our customers, we typically begin with the fundamental building blocks of lasers and laser components.”
28. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “We manufacture the majority of the laser chips and optical components that are used in our products.”
29. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Our customers in this market are generally large internet-based ("hyperscale") data center operators, along with equipment suppliers who supply our products along with others to our hyperscale data center operator customers. In both cases, we supply optical transceivers that plug into switches and servers within the data center and allow these network devices to send and receive data over fiber optic cables. The majority of the data center optical transceivers that we sell utilize our own lasers and subassemblies (we refer to the transceivers subassemblies as "light engines")”
30. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Sales of headend, node and distribution equipment, including amplifiers, have contributed significantly to our revenue in recent years as a result of our ability to meet the needs of CATV equipment vendors who have continued to outsource both the design and manufacturing of this equipment. In 2023, we began offering many of our CATV products directly to MSO customers, under Quantum Bandwidth™ brand name.”
31. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Examples of equipment include our CATV transmitter and CATV nodes.”
32. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In the telecom market we supply lasers and laser subassemblies as well as transceivers. Our customers in this segment consist mostly of network equipment manufacturers ("NEMs") and other manufacturers of optical transceivers. Our NEM customers manufacture equipment used in telecommunications networks and our transceiver manufacturer customers use our lasers and subassemblies in the manufacture of their optical transceivers. Most of our products in this segment are purchased for use in advanced 5G mobile network deployments.”
33. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In 2025, 2024 and 2023, our top ten customers represented 96.6%, 95.0% and 92.7% of our revenue, respectively.”
34. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In 2025, our key customer in the CATV market was Digicomm. In 2025, 2024, and 2023, Digicomm accounted for 53.1%, 34.1% and 11.3% of our revenue, respectively, and in 2023, ATX Networks accounted for 15.6% of our revenue. In 2025, our key customer in the internet data center market was Microsoft. In 2025, 2024 and 2023, Microsoft accounted for 28.8%, 43.7% and 46.6% of our revenue, respectively, and in 2024, Oracle accounted for 12.4% of our revenue.”
35. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “On March 13, 2025, the Company issued a warrant (the "Customer Warrant") to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc.”
36. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “At the time of the issuance, the Customer Warrant is exercisable to purchase 1,324,233 Warrant Shares. The remaining 6,621,166 Warrant Shares may vest over the next 10 years, dependent on aggregate purchases by or on behalf of Amazon and its affiliates of $4 billion of the Company's products over this time period.”
37. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “We do not have any long-term purchase commitments (in excess of one year) with any of our customers, most of whom purchase our products on a purchase order basis”
38. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In 2025, 2024 and 2023, we obtained 44.7%, 64.4% and 88.6% of our revenue, respectively, through our direct sales efforts and the remainder of our revenue through our indirect sales channels. Our sales channel partners provide logistical services and day-to-day customer support. Where we sell through an indirect sales channel, we work with the end customer to establish technological specifications for our products.”
39. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “We have three manufacturing sites: Sugar Land, Texas, Ningbo, China and Taipei, Taiwan. Our research and development functions are generally partnered with our manufacturing locations, and we have an additional research and development facility in Duluth, Georgia.”
40. The record on this page: the filing record (the EDGAR submissions feed)
41. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “We manufacture our laser chips only within our Sugar Land facility, where our laser design team is located.”
42. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In our Taiwan location, which comprises several buildings in close proximity to each other, we manufacture optical components, such as our butterfly lasers, which incorporate laser chips, subassemblies and components manufactured within our Sugar Land facility. In addition, in our Taiwan location, we manufacture transceivers for the internet data center, telecom, FTTH and other markets and we also manufacture CATV outdoor equipment including amplifiers.”
43. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In our China facility, we take advantage of lower labor costs and manufacture certain more labor intensive components and optical equipment systems, such as optical subassemblies and transceivers for the CATV transmitters (at the headend), internet data center market, and CATV outdoor equipment.”
44. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Revenue is classified based on the location of where the product is manufactured.”
45. The record on this page: revenue by line and by geography, as tagged in the annual report (the SEC's financial statement data sets)
46. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “A majority of our annual sales are denominated in U.S. dollars, but some sales from our Taiwan location and China-based subsidiary are denominated in NT dollars and RMB, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2025, 57.5% of our total revenue was manufactured at our China-based subsidiary, with $3.4 million denominated in RMB and 38.2% of our total revenue was from products manufactured at our Taiwan-based facility, with no revenue denominated in NT dollars.”
47. The record on this page: the filed annual figures (EDGAR's company facts)
48. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In 2025, 2024 and 2023, our revenue was $455.7 million, $249.4 million and $217.6 million and our gross margin was 30.0%, 24.8% and 27.1%, respectively.”
49. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In 2025, net cash used in operating activities was $174.4 million. Net cash used in operating activities mainly consisted of our net loss of $38.2 million, after excluding non-cash items of $39.7 million, an increase in accounts receivable from our customers of $127.6 million, an increase in other receivables by $10.2 million, an increase in inventory by $100.7 million, offset by an increase in accounts payable and accrual of $65.5 million.”
50. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In 2025, net cash used in investing activities was $210.6 million. The majority of the cash was used for CapEx spending of $210.2 million.”
51. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In 2025, our financing activities provided $527.9 million in cash. This increase in cash was primarily due to $518.9 million of net proceeds from our ATM offerings”
52. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “Net cash provided by financing activities was $980.3 million during the six months ended June 30, 2026 compared with $196.0 million in the six months ended June 30, 2025, an increase of 400.2%, primarily attributable to the net proceeds of $1.03 billion from the ATM Offering”
53. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately $163.8 million of consolidated indebtedness.”
54. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “We also have fixed-rate convertible senior notes. As of December 31, 2025, the 2030 Notes had an aggregate principal amount of $125 million and future interest payments associated with the 2030 Notes totaled $10.5 million.”
55. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “We design, manufacture and integrate our own analog and digital lasers using proprietary Molecular Beam Epitaxy ("MBE") and Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition ("MOCVD"), alternative processes for the fabrication of lasers.”
56. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “To our knowledge, we are unique in incorporating MBE processes in the production of communications lasers in high volume, and believe it would be difficult and time-consuming for other vendors to replicate our production technology.”
57. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “The lasers we manufacture are tested extensively to enable reliable operation over time and our devices are often highly tolerant of changes in temperature and humidity, making them well-suited to the CATV, FTTH and 5G markets where networking equipment is often installed outdoors.”
58. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “We use a proprietary MBE laser manufacturing process that requires customized equipment, and this process is currently conducted and located solely at our wafer fabrication facility in Sugar Land, Texas, such that a natural disaster, cyberattack, terrorist attack or other catastrophic event that affects that facility would materially harm our operations.”
59. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “For example, our corporate headquarters and wafer fabrication facility in Sugar Land, Texas is located near the Gulf of Mexico, an area that is susceptible to hurricanes.”
60. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “As of December 31, 2025, we owned a total of 199 U.S. issued patents, 140 patents issued in China and Taiwan and 10 patents issued in Europe, plus a number of pending U.S. and foreign/international patent applications. Our issued U.S. and foreign patents will expire between 2026 and 2046. While our patents are an important element of our success, our business as a whole is not dependent on any one patent or group of patents.”
61. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Our major competitors in one or more of our markets include Coherent Corporation, Eoptolink Technology Inc., Ltd., Foxconn Interconnect Technology Ltd., InnoLight Technology (Suzhou) Ltd., Intel Corporation, Lumentum Holdings, Inc., Mitsubishi, Molex, LLC, Source Photonics, Inc. and Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.”
62. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Many of our competitors are larger than we are and have significantly greater financial, marketing and other resources.”
63. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Network equipment providers, who are our customers, and network service providers, who are supplied by our customers, may decide to manufacture the optical subsystems incorporated into their network systems in-house.”
64. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Our products are sold in a highly competitive marketplace, and in many cases our products are only minimally differentiated from those of our competitors. In addition, our sales are heavily concentrated with a small number of end customers. As a result, there is strong pricing pressure across many of our product lines.”
65. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Furthermore, due to the dynamics in the CATV market and the value of our outsourced design services to our customers, we believe we face less downward price pressure than many of our competitors in this market.”
66. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “We were incorporated in the State of Texas in 1997. In March 2013, Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., a Texas corporation, converted into a Delaware corporation.”
67. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Prime World International Holdings, Ltd. ("Prime World") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands on January 13, 2006. Prime World is the parent company of Global Technology, Inc. ("Global"). Global was established in June 2002 in the People’s Republic of China ("PRC") and was acquired by Prime World on March 30, 2006. Prime World also operates a division in Taiwan, which is qualified to do business in Taiwan and primarily manufactures transceivers and performs research and development activities.”
68. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “dated September 15, 2022, with Prime World International Holdings Ltd. (the "Seller") and Yuhan Optoelectronic Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (the "Purchaser"), pursuant to which the Seller would divest its manufacturing facilities located in the People's Republic of China and certain assets related to its transceiver business and multichannel optical sub-assembly products for the internet data center, FTTH and telecom markets.”
69. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “On September 12, 2023, the Company delivered notice of termination with respect to that certain Agreement for the Sale and Purchase of a New Company to be Established in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China”
70. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “The termination, in accordance with the terms of the Purchase Agreement, was a result of the Purchaser's failure to satisfy certain of its material obligations under the Purchase Agreement.”
71. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “On December 22, 2023, the Purchaser filed for arbitration in Hong Kong with the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre ("HKIAC") challenging the validity of our termination notice and seeking specific performance with respect to the transactions contemplated in the Purchase Agreement, which in any case remain subject to regulatory approvals. On January 22, 2024, the Company filed its response, generally denying the Purchaser’s allegations and asserting counterclaims for recovery of a break-up fee. This matter was settled on January 27, 2025, with the Company paying only its own legal fees and expenses.”
72. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Sales and marketing expense increased by $12.1 million, or 66.7%, from 2024 to 2025. These increases were primarily due to more sales effort for our Quantum Bandwidth™ products and higher shipping expenses, including tariffs.”
73. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In February 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court held that tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ("IEEPA") were unlawful, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection subsequently announced that IEEPA-based tariff provisions would be terminated effective February 24, 2026. However, tariffs imposed under other authorities, including Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, remain in effect”
74. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “On July 6, 2026, subsequent to the end of the reporting period, the Company received the remaining payment of approximately $4.5 million in connection with the IEEPA tariff refund claims. In the aggregate, the Company received approximately $5.9 million, consisting of the entire $5.7 million of duties claimed plus applicable interest.”
75. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “However, we currently do not export our products to any countries on the restricted list, and therefore a change in the ECCN would not materially impact our business.”
76. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 8-K filed 2026-05-08: “except for the material weakness in the Company’s operation of controls over its review of technical accounting analysis, as first disclosed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, which material weakness was remediated as of December 31, 2025.”
77. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Based on this evaluation, management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2025.”
78. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 8-K filed 2026-05-08: “recently completed a competitive selection process, inclusive of the Company’s current independent registered public accounting firm, Grant Thornton LLP”
79. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 8-K filed 2026-05-08: “on May 4, 2026, the Committee approved the dismissal of Grant Thornton as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm.”
80. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 8-K filed 2026-05-08: “on May 4, 2026, the Committee approved the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”) as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2026.”
81. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 8-K filed 2026-05-08: “there were no disagreements (as defined in Item 304(a)(1)(iv) of Regulation S-K and the related instructions) with Grant Thornton on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedures”
82. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form DEF 14A filed 2026-04-24: “Grant Thornton has served as our auditor since 2008.”
83. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Revenue increased by $206.4 million, or 82.8%, from 2024 to 2025. The increase was driven primarily by increased demand in the CATV market, which we believe is due to large scale deployments of our DOCSIS 4.0 products in 2025, and increased demand for our internet data center products, arising from demand for products necessary for new data center construction along with data center upgrades to enable new technologies like AI.”
84. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In North America, CATV service providers have most recently upgraded their networks with technologies like DOCSIS 3.1, which enables them to offer high speed internet connections to their customers. In order to increase available bandwidth for their customers beyond the bandwidth possible with DOCSIS 3.1, cable MSOs have supported the development of DOCSIS 4.0, which is primarily aimed at increasing the amount of bandwidth available to offer to customers”
85. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Beginning in 2025, nearly all of our CATV equipment sold meets DOCSIS 4.0 standards.”
86. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “MSOs like Comcast and Charter have announced plans to spend billions of dollars over the next few years to upgrade to DOCSIS 4.0 network equipment.”
87. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “The increase in gross margin for the year ended December 31, 2025 compared to the same period ended December 31, 2024 was primarily driven by larger scale production of our CATV products, which resulted in improved manufacturing efficiencies and lower cost variances.”
88. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “In 2025, revenue from CATV market, the internet data center market, telecom market, FTTH and other markets provided 53.8%, 42.9%, 3.0% and 0.3% of our revenue, respectively, compared to 35.2%, 59.5%, 4.4% and 0.9%, respectively, in 2024.”
89. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Our products are used to interconnect network elements within data centers generally, and our 800G products in particular are used to interconnect AI compute infrastructure.”
90. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “During 2025, we experienced increased interest in new technologies like 800G and 1.6T among our data center customers. Supporting customer testing and qualification for these new opportunities materially increased our R&D expenditures”
91. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “The FTTH market generally refers to the PONs that telecom service providers deploy.”
92. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “We have also developed solutions for 25 Gbps PON networks and 50 Gbps PON networks, which we believe will one day be adopted by customers.”
93. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “Based on customer forecasts and order backlog we believe that this elevated data center demand will likely continue into 2026. We also believe that sales in our CATV market will increase in 2026 as a result of further adoption of our DOCSIS 4.0 products, including adoption by new customers.”
94. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “We expect continued sales of our 40 Gbps, 100 Gbps, and 400 Gbps products in 2026, and we expect that sales of 800 Gbps products will likely exceed sales of 400 Gbps products later in 2026.”
95. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “$112.2 million increase in data center product revenues reflecting continued demand for our high-speed connectivity products”
96. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “Data Center $ 189,066 55.1 % $ 76,841 37.9”
97. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “The Company expects to expand manufacturing operations in the U.S. and Taiwan during 2026 and 2027 primarily to support laser diode production and production of 800G and 1.6T transceivers.”
98. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “We have recently announced plans to expand our manufacturing space in and around the Sugar Land, Texas area and are currently in the process of building out suitable facilities for this expansion. We expect the first of these new facilities to begin production later in 2026.”
99. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “Management has extended longer than typical payment terms to Digicomm in order to ensure Digicomm has adequate inventory on hand to quickly provide products to customers when needed for their network builds.”
100. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “For the six months ended June 30, 2026, our top three customers represented 43%, 26% and 24% of our revenue, respectively. For the six months ended June 30, 2025, our top three customers represented 59%, 30% and 5% of our revenue, respectively.”
101. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “For the six months ended June 30, 2026, revenues from Digicomm were approximately $147.0 million, representing approximately 42.8% of consolidated revenues. These revenues were primarily attributable to the CATV product category.”
102. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “As of December 31, 2025, Digicomm represented 71.6% of total accounts receivable and Microsoft represented 13.9% of total accounts receivable.”
103. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “The Company's accounts receivable was $314.0 million as of June 30, 2026. Of this amount, $211.0 million was due from Digicomm International Inc.”
104. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “Net cash used in investing activities was $633.7 million during the six months ended June 30, 2026 compared with $75.2 million in the six months ended June 30, 2025, an increase of 742.8%, primarily driven by capital expenditures of $335.1 million, which included $169.0 million capital expenditures in the US, $62.8 million in Taiwan, and $103.3 million in China.”
105. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “As of June 30, 2026, other assets, net was $324.0 million, compared to $50.9 million as of December 31, 2025. The increase was primarily attributable to advance payments for equipment and facility related capital expenditures associated with the Company's manufacturing expansion initiatives.”
106. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-Q filed 2026-08-06: “Management expects to continue to make investments in capacity expansion through at least the end of 2027 and believes that this expansion will provide adequate production capacity to meet expected demand for data center transceiver, semiconductor lasers, and Quantum Bandwidth broadband products”
107. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “We generally make sales pursuant to short-term purchase orders without deposits and subject to rescheduling, revision or cancellation on short notice.”
108. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “A significant portion of these investments is predicated on our expectations regarding the growth, timing, and mix of customer demand, including demand we anticipate could be driven by AI-related use cases and workloads across our end markets.”
109. Applied Optoelectronics, Inc., Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26: “If AI adoption slows, stalls, or follows a trajectory that differs from our planning assumptions, we could incur overcapacity, lower utilization rates, and negative operating leverage.”

Where the revenue comes from

Product and service lines in fiscal 2025: CATV 54%, Data Center 43%, Telecom 3%, Ftth and Other under 1%. By geography: China 57%, Taiwan 38%, United States 4%. As tagged in its annual report (Form 10-K, filed 2026-02-26).

Who runs it

Lin, Chih-Hsiang (thompson) (President and CEO); Chang, Hung-Lun (fred) (*** Senior Vice President and North America General Manager); Kuo, David C (***Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer); Murry, Stefan J. (Chief Financial Officer); Yeh, Shu-Hua (joshua) (*** See Remarks); Black, Richard B (director); Chen, Min-Chu (mike) (director); Delaney, Cynthia (director); Flanagan, Robert James (director); Lin, Chewei (director); and 2 more. 12 officers and directors have filed their own trades in the last fifteen months, names and titles as filed with the SEC, through 2026-10-07.

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