During the 2026 interim reporting season, Taclink Optoelectronics Technology (688205) delivered a highly impressive half-year report: revenue reached CNY 545 million, a year-on-year increase of 25.78%; net profit attributable to shareholders reached CNY 98.2556 million, a year-on-year increase of 249.74%. As the protagonist of this installment in the 'Daily SSE STAR Market' series, this SSE STAR Market enterprise, which has been deeply engaged in the optoelectronic device field for over two decades, is undergoing a profound transformation from telecom to data communications.
01. From Telecom to Data Communications: A Quiet Strategic Pivot
Taclink Optoelectronics Technology's story begins at the most fundamental level of optical communication. The company's main business covers the R&D, production, and sales of optical transceiver modules, optical amplifiers, and optical transmission subsystems. Simply put, as optical signals travel through optical fibers for long distances, they attenuate; optical amplifiers are responsible for 'extending their lifespan'; optical transceiver modules handle the mutual conversion between electrical and optical signals; and optical transmission subsystems package the first two into complete solutions. These three major product lines constitute the company's complete independent R&D and mass production capabilities from devices to subsystems.
Over the past two decades, Taclink Optoelectronics Technology's primary clients have been telecom operators and communication equipment manufacturers—global mainstream telecom equipment makers such as ZTE, FiberHome, Infinera, Ciena, and Nokia, as well as China's three major telecom operators and the State Grid, all of which are its long-term partners. Its products are widely used in backbone transmission, 5G fronthaul and mid/backhaul, data center interconnects, and UHV communication protection.
However, changes are taking place. Since 2025, the company has continuously advanced its strategic transformation, shifting from a telecom-centric focus to a balanced approach emphasizing both telecom and data communications. By the first half of 2026, the revenue proportion from data communications had approached 30%, and the gross profit contribution from data communications achieved rapid growth compared to the same period last year. 400G short-reach products have begun continuous batch delivery to domestic internet companies, while 400G long-reach products are being stably delivered to meet overseas DCI market demands. The pivot from telecom to data communications is not merely a simple business structure adjustment, but a reconstruction of the entire growth logic.
02. The Thicker the Technological Foundation, the Higher the Ceiling
Sci-tech attributes are the foundation of SSE STAR Market enterprises, and Taclink is solid in this regard. As of June 30, 2026, the company had accumulated 198 patents, including 54 invention patents, 139 utility model patents, and 5 design patents. The company has established three major technological platforms for optical transceiver modules, optical amplifiers, and optical transmission subsystems, forming a core technology system characterized by high speed, long distance, and modularity.
The true highlight lies in its forward-looking technological layout. In the optical amplifier field, the company has deployed both doped fiber and semiconductor technical routes, with the semiconductor solution leading the industry by five to six years. In the critical track of 1.6T optical modules—the next-generation high-speed data communications product—Taclink is betting on three technical solutions simultaneously: EML, silicon photonics, and thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN). The TFLN solution has garnered widespread industry attention at the OFC conference, with its performance and cost already possessing competitiveness comparable to silicon photonics. This 'not putting all eggs in one basket' strategy, in a market environment where technical routes have not yet converged, endows the company with the flexibility to deliver products of any solution.
Even more noteworthy is the company's layout in the OCS (Optical Circuit Switch) field. The company adopts a silicon-based optical waveguide solution, achieving switching speeds at the microsecond or even nanosecond level. This distinguishes it from current mainstream technical routes like MEMS and LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon), offering advantages of low latency and low power consumption. As of the first half of 2026, the silicon-based optical waveguide 64×64 OCS has completed sample development, and the 128×128 OCS has initiated preliminary development. This represents a forward-looking technological reserve for next-generation data center architectures and serves as a crucial support for the company's differentiated competition.
03. DCI Volume Ramp-up: The Core Engine for Performance Explosion
Understanding the technological layout makes it easy to grasp the investment logic. Taclink's current most core growth engine is the volume ramp-up of its DCI (Data Center Interconnect) business.
The explosive growth of AI computing power is driving data centers to evolve from Scale-Up (vertical scaling within a single cluster) to Scale-Across (cross-domain horizontal networking). TrendForce estimates that the global DCI market size will exceed USD 50 billion in 2026. Relying on its profound accumulation in long-distance and coherent optical technologies, Taclink has precisely positioned itself in the DCI market, forming a complete product matrix from equipment整机 to supporting devices and pluggable optical modules. In 2025, the company's DCI product orders exceeded CNY 100 million, and the sales proportion of DCI products continued to rise.
Brokerages have given quite optimistic expectations for this growth. In its initial coverage report released in June 2026, AVIC Securities projected that the company's operating revenue for 2026 to 2028 would be CNY 1.597 billion, CNY 2.426 billion, and CNY 3.369 billion, respectively, with net profits attributable to shareholders of CNY 193 million, CNY 354 million, and CNY 557 million, respectively. Based on the 2025 revenue base of CNY 934 million, the compound annual growth rate of revenue over the next three years exceeds 50%, with net profit growth being even more remarkable.
Data from the first half of 2026 has initially validated this trend. According to third-party data estimates, the company achieved operating revenue of CNY 291 million in the second quarter, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 14.22%; net profit attributable to shareholders reached CNY 78.6166 million, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 300.31%. The pace of performance release is accelerating.
Meanwhile, the company's layout in emerging technology directions is also worth anticipating. 1.6T optical modules are currently in the customer introduction phase, and customer validation for 800G and 1.6T high-speed data communications short-reach optical modules is progressing smoothly. 10G and 25G tunable optical modules have been officially launched into the market, with orders maintaining steady growth. These could all become growth points in the next phase.
04. Hidden Worries Behind High Growth
Even the most impressive report card cannot conceal the existence of risks.
First is the disturbance from non-recurring profit and loss. The net profit attributable to shareholders in the first half was CNY 98.2556 million, of which non-recurring profit and loss amounted to as high as CNY 76.0546 million. Looking at the details alone, gains from changes in fair value of financial assets held and disposal reached CNY 85.2723 million (pre-tax), forming the aforementioned net amount only after deducting income tax effects and other items. In the same period, net profit excluding non-recurring items was merely CNY 22.2010 million, a year-on-year increase of 16.17%. The huge gap between the two reminds us that the company's true profitability is not as stunning as the financial statement figures suggest.
Second is the cash flow issue. In the first half, the net cash flow from operating activities was CNY -155 million, compared to CNY -19.43 million in the same period last year. The company explained in its interim report that this was mainly due to increased payments for raw material procurement during the period. Although it is not uncommon for companies in a period of rapid expansion to have negative operating cash flow, this figure is indeed alarming—revenue is growing, but the money has not truly been safely pocketed.
Additionally, the company has a high customer concentration. The 2025 annual report shows that the sales proportion of the top five customers was about 57%, with the largest customer accounting for about 38%; currently, the company's customers are still mainly telecom equipment manufacturers and operators, with internet and cloud vendors accounting for a relatively small proportion. Fluctuations in orders from major customers cannot be ignored in their impact on performance. There is also uncertainty in the choice of technical routes—which solution will become mainstream in the 1.6T era remains undecided.
Taclink is standing at a critical turning point. The volume ramp-up of data communications business has shown the market a new growth curve, and forward-looking technological layout has opened up imagination space for the long term. However, the tests brought by cash flow pressure, earnings quality, and customer structure are equally real. This is a company worth watching for the long term, but the pace and position of investment need to be grasped by each investor according to their own risk tolerance.
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