Marvell in talks to acquire Lumentum, deal could be announced next week

The logic here is vertical integration: Marvell already designs the silicon that sits at the heart of data-center networking, and Lumentum supplies the optical components that move data between machines. Bringing optics in-house would narrow the gap between chip design and the interconnect layer, a boundary that matters more as data-center architectures lean harder on optical links. The read-across lands on other optical component suppliers, whose standalone value partly rests on being independent arms-length partners to chipmakers. Whether a combined Marvell-Lumentum keeps selling optics broadly, or favors its own silicon, is the open question.