I have a friend who works at Intel.  He doesn't work in photonics, so I'm not positioning him as an "expert".  But I sent him the lastest POET Q/A and asked his thoughts.  I copied our text exchange below.  I'm interested in your perspectives on this.   I'm not posting this to bash or pump the company, and this isn't a complaint about customer disclosures or revenue projections.  Some of you are very knowledgeable about this market, so I am simply interested in your perspective on, or your response to, his comments.  I definitely think he's incorrect about the company not "talking about innovation".  I believe POET talks about their innovation all the time.  Text exchange follows:

HIM: To be honest they don't do a good job explaining why they think they can do something that no one else can. As near as I can tell they tried to force optical interconnect into 200G/400G which just made them more expensive and harder to manufacture. I believe most manufacturers will start to use optical interconnect in the 800G/1.6T transceivers and we will see if they are any better. I do believe they are guilty of overselling what they have which is why the stock ran up to unsustainable levels. I don't believe the market is all that big for their product. The concept of AI with optical is niche in my opinion and interconnect is not the big problem with AI. So no I'm not sold but as I said earlier I wasn't sold on Google or Amazon either. So if you believe they have a great leader than maybe.

ME: Damn.  I guess I read too many articles supporting my supposition that this is unique.   I did talk with IT people I know, and they told me the concept is compelling.  But at this point I’m just holding on as the half million ++ I put into the company turns to 400K, 300K, 200K..    Whoops.  I’m holding.  With a market cap under $100M they seem cheap as an acquisition - even if the market is niche.  Niche from Intels perspective may be a valuable market for smaller companies.  If they capture even just a $250M per year run rate the value of the company will be over 10x the value today.  So, I don’t need them to become intel, or nvidia, or Google or Amazon, I just need them to become a good niche player in a market where they generate $250M per year.  Or, even $100M annually would make them a great investment.

HIM: I am no expert in this industry but neither is anyone in IT. You would need to talk to someone who actually makes transceivers today and ask them. Intel does but I don't know who or where they are made. We make processors (including AI) and we have better cheaper solutions than optical. It is always something we research but haven't really seen a cutover point yet. The worry I would have with POET is they are constantly throwing out buzzwords instead of talking about the innovation. That is good for the stock but usually indicates they are used car salesman not technologists. I don't know what POET is worth but I think you would get a better idea if they disclose major players they are selling to or have contracts with. Good point about acquisition - that is the most likely path if they start selling to the big boys since they are not inventing a new market. They are just trying to optimize an old one.