Author | Cui Yuanwei Editor | Chen Junda
Reporting from Chip Insights on September 22, today, the optical communication company Ligent Technologies from Qingdao, Shandong Province, was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Its IPO price was HKD 32.96 per share (approximately CNY 28.19 per share), and it opened up about 11% today at HKD 36.60 per share (approximately CNY 31.23 per share). As of 10:24 today, its share price rose 8.92% to HKD 35.90 per share (approximately CNY 30.64 per share), with a total market capitalization reaching HKD 35.288 billion (approximately CNY 30.34 billion).
Ligent Technologies is a supplier of optical communication and optical connection products, focusing on the R&D, manufacturing, and sales of optical chips, optical modules, and optical network terminals. It is one of the few companies globally with the capability to develop and mass-produce optical modules and optical chips.
According to Frost & Sullivan, the global optical module market size reached CNY 162.4 billion in 2025. With revenue of CNY 6.5 billion, Ligent Technologies ranked fifth globally, holding a 4.0% market share; in the same year, the Chinese optical module market size was CNY 42.9 billion, and Ligent Technologies ranked third in China with CNY 4.4 billion in revenue, accounting for a 10.1% share. The top five players in these two markets accounted for 61.1% and 52.1% respectively.
The global optical network terminal box market is even more fragmented, with the top ten global manufacturers accounting for only 34.8% in total. In 2025, the global optical network terminal box market size was CNY 46.7 billion. With revenue of CNY 1.23 billion, Ligent Technologies ranked sixth globally, holding a 2.6% share; in the same year, the Chinese optical network terminal box market size was CNY 18.7 billion, and Ligent Technologies ranked second in China with CNY 1 billion in revenue, accounting for a 5.4% share.
Ligent Technologies' prospectus shows that the smart home appliance group Hisense Group holds a 44.44% stake, making it the largest shareholder of Ligent Technologies. Other major shareholders include TransLight and Global Optical under Primavera Capital. This listing marks the initial public offering (IPO) of Ligent Technologies. The global offering (before the exercise of the over-allotment option) comprised 172,014,700 shares, raising net proceeds of approximately HKD 5.445 billion (approximately CNY 4.657 billion); the joint sponsors were Citi and CITIC Securities. Of the funds raised, 52.9% will be used for new product and technology R&D, and 25.1% for capacity expansion and automation upgrades, with the remaining funds allocated for business promotion and overseas expansion, strategic investment and M&A in the industrial chain, and operations.
01.Top Scientist Founds Optical Communication Company Controlled by Multinational Group Hisense
Ligent Technologies was registered and established in the British Virgin Islands in February 2009. At the time of its establishment, Hisense Group held a 50.01% stake and Hisense Company held a 16.66% stake, making Ligent Technologies a controlled optical communication business platform under Hisense Group. In 2013, Hisense Company transferred all its shares to Hisense Group Holdings, further concentrating the Hisense-related shareholding. Huang Weiping, founder and non-executive director of Ligent Technologies, holds a Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering from MIT and is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Fellow of the International Electromagnetics Academy at MIT.
In 1995, he founded Apollo Photonics, a company engaged in the development of software for photonic devices and IC design, which was acquired by Nanovation Technologies in the US in 1999. From 1999 to 2013, Huang Weiping served as a professor at McMaster University in Canada. During this period, in 2002, he registered and established Ligent Tech, the predecessor of Ligent Technologies, in the US. After the main entity of Ligent Technologies was established in 2009, Huang Weiping was appointed as a director of the company. In 2013, Huang returned to China and joined Shandong University. He currently serves as the Dean of the Shandong Hisense ECG Research Institute and the Director of the National Key Laboratory of Advanced Optoelectronic Display Chips and Systems. In 2024, Huang was selected as one of the World's Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University, bringing over 30 years of experience in the optical communication field.
The company's CEO and executive director, Hong Jin, holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Science and Technology of China, and a Ph.D. from McGill University in Canada. Before joining the company, Hong Jin served as Vice President of Intel's Data Center Group and General Manager of R&D for the Silicon Photonics Product Line from 2019 to 2022. Previously, he held senior R&D and product management executive positions at several publicly listed optical communication companies, including Ciena, Oplink, Opnext, EMCORE, and NeoPhotonics. Hong Jin joined Ligent Technologies in March 2023. According to the prospectus, calculated before the completion of the global offering, Hisense Group Holdings directly holds a 40.27% stake, and its wholly-owned subsidiary Century Jinlong holds a 4.17% stake, collectively controlling 44.44% of the shares and acting as the controlling shareholder.
Hisense Group Holdings is a multinational technology group ultimately controlled by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the Qingdao Municipal Government. It owns several A-share listed companies, including Hisense Visual Technology, Hisense Home Appliances, and Changelight. Other major shareholders include TransLight, held by Ligent Technologies' founder Huang Weiping, and Global Optical under Primavera Capital, with shareholding ratios of 23.22% and 16.48% respectively. In addition, Archcom LLC holds 4.51%, the employee stock ownership platform Bolangde holds 3.29%, local investment platforms such as Xiamen Gujuxiang collectively hold 3.06%, and the overseas employee stock ownership platform Talents Holdings holds 0.83%.
Regarding cornerstone investors, this IPO introduced 27 cornerstone investors who collectively subscribed for USD 340 million (approximately HKD 2.666 billion), accounting for about 47% of the offered shares. These investors include Primavera Capital Fund, CFTC Paragon SP, China Orient Asset, SBVA (SCV Delta) under SoftBank, PAG, ORIX, GF Fund, E Fund, affiliates of GigaDevice, affiliates of Amlogic, etc.
02.Revenue Doubles in Two Years Data Center Optical Modules Take the Lead
In 2023, 2024, and 2025, Ligent Technologies' revenues were CNY 4.239 billion, CNY 5.087 billion, and CNY 8.354 billion respectively. From 2023 to 2025, revenue nearly doubled. In the first half of 2026, revenue reached CNY 5.393 billion, already exceeding the full-year level of 2024. The company's net profits were CNY 215 million, CNY 89 million, and CNY 873 million respectively, and CNY 661 million in the first half of 2026. In terms of R&D expenses, they were CNY 553 million, CNY 623 million, and CNY 664 million from 2023 to 2025, with the proportion of revenue dropping from 13.1% to 7.9%, mainly because revenue growth outpaced R&D investment growth; R&D expenses in the first half of 2026 were CNY 332 million.
In terms of gross profit margin, Ligent Technologies' overall gross profit margin in 2025 was 20.0%. Although it rebounded from 17.4% in 2024, there is still a significant gap compared to industry leaders Innolight (42.0%) and Eoptolink (47.8%).
By business segment, as of the first half of 2026, optical modules contributed nearly 80% of Ligent Technologies' total revenue, optical network terminals accounted for about 20%, and optical chips, despite a small proportion, hold a prominent strategic position. According to Ligent Technologies' prospectus, the company's data center optical module sales increased from 7.178 million units in 2023 to 12.222 million units in 2025, reaching 8.028 million units in the first half of 2026. Telecom optical module sales, on the other hand, decreased from 11.681 million units in 2023 to 8.379 million units in 2025. Optical chip sales were only 1.018 million units for the full year of 2025, but surged to 4.48 million units in the first half of 2026.
In terms of product revenue, Ligent Technologies' revenue structure is rapidly shifting towards data center optical modules. In 2023, data center optical module revenue was CNY 1.056 billion, accounting for 24.9%; by 2025, it increased to CNY 5.469 billion, with the share jumping to 65.5%. In the first half of 2026, it reached CNY 3.745 billion, accounting for 69.4%, becoming the company's absolute core business. Meanwhile, the share of telecom optical modules dropped from 39.7% to 9.9%, and optical network terminals decreased from 32.8% to 19.1%. Although optical chips are still small in scale, their revenue reached CNY 85 million in the first half of 2026, with the share rising to 1.6%.
In the first half of 2026, the gross profit margins for Ligent Technologies' data center optical modules, telecom optical modules, optical network terminals, and optical chips were 27.1%, 25.6%, 11.9%, and 40.7% respectively. Notably, the gross profit margin for optical chips turned positive from -157.4% in 2024, reaching 40.7% in the first half of 2026, mainly due to cost amortization following the mass production and volume ramp-up of 75mW CW-DFB chips.
03.Three Major Product Modules Advance Together Customers Cover Three Major Telecom Operators
Ligent Technologies' product line spans three segments of the optical communication industry chain: optical modules, optical chips, and optical network terminals. It is one of the few companies globally that possess R&D and manufacturing capabilities for all three product categories simultaneously. Ligent Technologies holds 1,581 granted patents and 726 pending patent applications globally, and participates in 18 industry standardization organizations and the formulation of 61 industry standards. Regarding the R&D team, as of June 30, 2026, Ligent Technologies has over 950 R&D personnel, accounting for 77% of the total production and manufacturing employees, among which 41.7% hold a master's degree or above. About 100 core R&D personnel have an average of about 20 years of industry experience.
Ligent Technologies started its business with telecom optical modules, with products used for fiber optic access, metropolitan area networks, and 5G base station interconnection; in the past two years, the explosion in AI computing power has driven a surge in demand for data center optical modules, leading to a rapid shift in revenue focus.
The company has mass-produced a full series of 400G, 800G, and 1.6T data center optical modules. Among them, the 400G silicon photonics module was jointly developed with a leading domestic cloud service provider in 2024, making it one of the first manufacturers in China to mass-produce 400G silicon photonics modules; the 3.2T NPO optical engine has been delivered to customers for sample validation, while the 6.4T NPO and 12.8T XPO pluggable optical modules are still under R&D, with commercialization capabilities expected by the end of 2027. Telecom optical modules cover FTTx, transmission networks, and wireless backhaul. Ligent Technologies is one of the first global manufacturers to mass-produce 10G PON optical modules. Meanwhile, 50G PON samples have been sent out and are planned for commercialization by the end of 2026, and 100G to 800G long-reach optical modules have all been mass-produced. Optical chips are core components of optical modules, directly determining their performance, power consumption, and cost.
Ligent Technologies is one of the few companies globally that possess both R&D and production capabilities for optical modules and optical chips. It has built a complete production line ranging from MOCVD epitaxial growth and EBL electron beam lithography to facet coating and optical inspection. The company has mass-produced 75mW and 100mW high-power CW-DFB laser chips, achieving large-scale external sales in the second quarter of 2026. In terms of optical network terminals, 25GS-PON terminal boxes and NG-PON2 ONU sticks have been sent to customers as samples. The company is also developing an AI-integrated smart terminal equipped with edge computing capabilities, integrating high-definition cameras, voice interaction, and local AI applications, with R&D expected to be completed and deliveries to begin in the third quarter of 2026. The company has four manufacturing bases in Qingdao and Jiangmen in China, Thailand, and New Jersey in the US. The Qingdao base commenced production in 2011, producing optical modules and optical chips, with the capacity utilization rate for optical chips reaching 94.1% in the first half of 2026; the Jiangmen base started production in 2014, and after expansion in 2024, it produces optical modules and optical network terminals; the Thailand base commenced production in 2020, mainly serving overseas customers; the New Jersey base in the US started producing optical chip wafers in 2012, and added an optical module production line from June 2024. Regarding capacity expansion, two new optical module factories are being built in Thailand, and the new high-end laser chip base in Xiamen is expected to commence production by the end of 2027.
Ligent Technologies primarily relies on direct sales, supplemented by distribution, with distribution contributing less than 4% of revenue. Its core customer base covers major cloud service providers, telecom, and network equipment suppliers in China and overseas, including China's three major telecom operators, as well as mainstream network equipment vendors in Asia, North America, and Europe. The company's customer concentration shows an upward trend. The proportion of total revenue from the top five customers increased from 55.8% in 2023 to 71.8% in the first half of 2026, with the largest customer accounting for 21.0%. In the first half of 2026, the revenue share from North American customers rose from 14.5% in 2024 to 22.1%.
Based on the prospectus description and public information, it is inferred that Customer A is Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Customer B is ZTE Corporation, Customer C is the US-listed company Arrow Electronics, Customer D is China Mobile, Customer E is Nokia, Customer F is ByteDance, Customer G is a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, and Customer H is China Telecom. On the supplier side, the proportion of total procurement from the top five suppliers increased from 22.4% in 2023 to 32.9% in 2025, and was 27.3% in the first half of 2026. Suppliers include a Taiwan-listed optical component distributor, a US-listed company for optical materials and semiconductor packaging (listed on the NYSE), and several Hong Kong-registered distributors of electronic components and optical chips. As the controlling shareholder, Hisense Group was the company's largest supplier in 2023 and ranked fifth in the first half of 2026.
04.Conclusion: A Rising Star in the AI Data Center Wave Self-Developed Products and Capacity Expansion Still Need Validation
Ligent Technologies, newly listed this time, is situated in an optical communication market that continues to expand in scale but remains highly fragmented in competition. Against the industry backdrop where AI computing power demand drives the growth of data center optical modules, the company's business focus has shifted from traditional telecom access to data center interconnection, extending upstream in the industry chain by matching self-developed optical chips with self-supplied modules. The funds raised from the IPO are mainly invested in R&D and capacity expansion, aligning with the company's product roadmap evolving from 800G to 1.6T and 3.2T. As the fifth player in the industry, amid the compounding factors of competition from top manufacturers, rising customer concentration, and the optical chip business just achieving a turnaround, Ligent Technologies' subsequent growth still depends on the progress of customer adoption for high-end products, overseas capacity layout, and the continuous realization of upstream chip self-development.