Fabrinet Q3 FY2026 Earnings Call

Good afternoon. Welcome to Fibonet's Financial Results Conference Call for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions on how to participate will be provided at that time. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Gara Tamajanian, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin.

Thank you, Operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us on today's conference call to discuss Fabernet's financial and operating results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, which ended March 27, 2026. With me on the call today are Seamus Grady, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Chavez Vera, Chief Financial Officer. This call is being webcast, and a replay will be available on the Investor section of our website located at investor.fabrinet.com. During this call, we will present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the investor section of our website for important information, including our earnings press release and investor presentation, which include our GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation, as well as additional details of our revenue breakdown. In addition, today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements about the future financial performance of the company. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's current expectations. These statements reflect our opinions only as of the date of this presentation and we undertake no obligation to revise them in light of new information or future events except as required by law. For a description of the risk factors that may affect our results, please refer to our recent SEC filings, in particular the section captioned Risk Factors in our Form 10Q, filed on February 3, 2026. We will begin the call with remarks from Seamus and Chava, followed by time for questions. I would now like to turn the call over to Fabrinette's Chairman and CEO, Seamus Grady. Seamus? Thank you, Gerald. Good afternoon,

everyone, and thanks for joining our call today. We delivered an outstanding financial performance in the third quarter, along with several notable achievements that we believe can extend our strong growth trends into the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2027. Revenue is above our guidance range at a record $1.214 billion, with year-over-year growth accelerating to an impressive 39%. Record non-GAAP EPS of $3.72 also exceeded our guidance range, reflecting continued excellent execution. Looking at our quarter by product area, optical communications revenue growth increased to 35% from a year ago. This was driven by 55% year-over-year growth in telecom revenue, which was fueled by strong growth in a wide range of products. Within telecom, data center interconnect revenue grew a robust 90% from a year ago and 38% from Q2. And we believe strong, longer-term DCI growth trends remain firmly intact. This remarkable telecom performance more than offset softer than expected datacom revenue, which grew 4% year-over-year but declined 6% from Q2. Underlying datacom demand remains exceptionally strong. In fact, demand during the quarter far exceeded what we were able to ship, meaning our reported revenue does not fully reflect the true momentum of the business. Right now, demand is outpacing the broader supply of certain components, and we are actively working to narrow that gap. While we expect this supply-demand imbalance to persist into the fourth quarter, we remain optimistic that supply conditions will improve over time. The strong demand we are seeing today positions as well as that improvement unfolds. As we have outlined, our Datacom strategy is to continue supporting the strong demand trends we are seeing with our largest customer, while actively expanding into new high-growth channels such as direct engagement with hyperscalers and partnerships with merchant vendors. With that in mind, we are happy to report that we have made meaningful, tangible progress on both fronts. First, we are excited to share that we have successfully completed qualification and have already begun shipping two Datacom transceiver programs directly to a hyperscale customer with initial ramp starting in the fourth quarter. We expect volumes to ramp steadily throughout fiscal 2027, with these programs becoming a meaningful contributor to our datacom revenue over time. Second, building on the groundwork laid over the last several quarters, we are on track to qualify and ramp multiple merchant transceiver programs, including several for data center scale-out applications, with existing and new customers. We expect production to begin in the second half of the calendar year, aligning with the early part of fiscal 2027, with additional ramps progressing into the second half of the fiscal year. We expect this combination of hyperscale and merchant program wins to further diversify our datacom revenue and provide multiple new growth vectors in the new year and beyond. In non-optical communications, revenue jumped 52% year-over-year and 8% sequentially from Q2. This growth was driven primarily by high-performance compute revenue, which continues to ramp as we support our customers' transition to their latest product generation. At the same time, we are seeing encouraging traction beyond the current ramp, with new program wins and expanded scope across additional products that we will be manufacturing to support their accelerated computing infrastructure. We are also increasing capacity to align with the customer's ambitious growth plans, reflecting a deepening and increasingly strategic relationship. Automotive revenue moderated in the third quarter, as anticipated, with revenue decreasing modestly from Q2. This decline was more than offset by continued growth in industrial laser revenue, which was up 9% from a year ago and 7% from Q2. An important area of strategic focus for us over the past several years has been co-packaged optics, or CPO. In this space, we are deepening our engagement with customers across the CPO ecosystem, including optical components, external laser source pluggables, as well as other integrated precision optical packaging solutions, building on our long-standing silicon photonics expertise. CPO relies heavily on advanced semiconductor packaging technologies, and we have been actively investing to expand our capabilities in this area with the focus on scalable, high-quality manufacturing processes and broader system-level integration. This includes leveraging and extending our in-house silicon photonics expertise, but also partnering with key technology providers to enhance our ability to deliver more integrated end-to-end manufacturing solutions. With that backdrop, we have made a minority investment in Raytech Semiconductor, a Taiwan-based provider of advanced wafer-level packaging technologies, as an ecosystem partner. We already serve a number of common customers and expect this collaboration to further strengthen our capabilities and extend our offering. This investment supports our continued evolution from silicon photonics into more advanced packaging and integration solutions, reinforcing our role as a key manufacturing partner within the CPO ecosystem. Looking at our business as a whole, we are very excited by both the number and size of customer engagements for our advanced manufacturing services. The breadth and depth of these projects provides us with significant opportunities to demonstrate our differentiation and expertise that we've established as a key enabler for the success of our customers' most advanced products. As you know, we have been expanding our capacity to support our accelerating growth trends. We continue to make progress in the construction of Building 10, which will add 2 million square feet to our current 3.7 million square feet of space. With plans to be fully completed around the beginning of the new calendar year, we are on track to have a portion of Building 10 ready by next month, consistent with what we described last quarter. In addition to that, with our accelerated construction timeline, we now expect to commission an additional floor in this five-storey structure by the end of September, with the rest of the building still scheduled to be completed by January. Beyond Building 10, we have sufficient land available at our campus in Chonbury for two additional buildings of more than 1 million square feet each. While this means we expect to have ample capacity available for the next several years, we continue to think ahead. In that context, we have recently acquired a building and land in the Vanakorn Industrial Estate in Thailand, not far from our Pinehurst campus. We have already begun renovations to make the existing 200,000-square-foot building a world-class cleanroom factory with sufficient space on the 8-acre site for additional expansion at a later time. In summary, our success in the third quarter extends well beyond our strong financial performance. We are particularly encouraged by the multiple new growth vectors we are adding across our datacom business, while our diversified telecom portfolio continues to show solid momentum and our non-optical communications segment expands further. This combination of execution and strategic progress reinforces our confidence in sustaining our growth trajectory, extending our leadership position in the fourth quarter and carrying that momentum into fiscal year 2027. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Csaba for more details on our third quarter results and our outlook for the fourth quarter. Csaba.

Thank you, Seamus, and good afternoon, everyone. We delivered another record-breaking performance in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026. Revenue of $1.214 billion exceeded our guidance range, with revenue growth accelerating to a remarkable 39% from a year ago and 7% from the prior quarter. Strong execution and FX evaluation tailwinds led to non-GAAP EPS of $3.72 that also exceeded our guidance range. Turning to revenue by market in the third quarter, optical communications revenue was $889 million, with revenue growth accelerating to 35% from a year ago and 7% from Q2. Within optical communications, telecom revenue was a record $628 million, climbing 55% from a year ago and 13% from Q2. Within telecom, revenue from data center interconnect modules, or DCI, jumped to $197 million, growing 90% from a year ago and 38% from the second quarter. Datacom revenue of $260 million increased 4% from a year ago, but moderated 6% from Q2 due to broadening component and material supply constraints in the quarter. Turning to non-optical communications, revenue reached $326 million, growing 52% year-over-year and 8% sequentially from Q2. This strong performance was once again driven primarily by continued momentum in our HPC program, which delivered $107 million in revenue, up 25% from Q2. Automotive revenue declined slightly as anticipated to $115 million, while industrial laser revenue increased to $44 million. As I discussed the details of our P&L, all expense and profitability metrics will be presented on a non-GAAP basis unless otherwise noted. Gross margin in the third quarter was 12.1%, a 10 basis point improvement from a year ago, and a 30 basis point decline from Q2 as anticipated, primarily due to foreign exchange headwinds. We continued to demonstrate operating leverage with operating expenses declining to 1.4% of revenue. This resulted in an operating margin of 10.7%, a 50 basis point improvement from a year ago and 20 basis point decline from Q2. Interest income was $7 million and we saw a foreign exchange evaluation gain of $7 million in the quarter. Our effective gap tax rate for the quarter was 6.7%. expect our tax rate to moderate in q4 resulting in a mid-single digit effective gap tax rate for the year net income was a record 135 million dollars or three dollars and 72 cents per diluted share turning to our balance sheet we ended the third quarter with cash and short-term investments of 946 million dollars down 16 million dollars from the end of q2 operating cash flow for the quarter was 53 million dollars capital expenditure spending of 64 million dollars reflects continued accelerated construction of building 10 as well as capacity expansions to support the rapid growth across the business as a result free cash flow was an outflow of 11 million dollars in the quarter before getting into our guidance i want to provide some additional color on our recent and capital allocation decisions. As Seamus mentioned, we have made a minority investment in Raytec semiconductor to support our efforts in advancing manufacturing solutions for CPO. In April, we completed a private placement of approximately $32 million for 20 million shares of Raytec, representing approximately a 14% position. This investment deepens our partnership and supports our joint efforts are bringing CPO technology to market at scale early in the fourth quarter we expect to complete the purchase of an 8 acre campus in Navanakord industrial estate Thailand located approximately 15 minutes from our Pinehurst campus the Nava facility currently consists of a 200,000 square foot building with additional space on the side for future expansion we have already initiated minor renovations to support world-class green low manufacturing capabilities, and we expect to begin utilizing the space early next quarter. The total purchase price of $11 million will be reflected in our fourth quarter financials. With our very strong balance sheet, we are well positioned to deploy capital efficiently, support our growth initiatives, and continue to generate superior returns while remaining committed to returning surplus cash to shareholders through our share repurchase program in the third quarter we did not repurchase a meaningful number of shares however our share repurchase program remains active and we ended the quarter with approximately 169 million dollars available under our current authorization now turning to the details of our guidance we expect revenue in all major product categories to increase in the fourth quarter despite a broader supply constraint environment with datacom growth expected to be more measured as we continue to navigate component availability that is not keeping pace with strong demand at the same time we are excited by the number of new customer programs coming online which we expect will contribute more meaningfully to our performance in fiscal year 2027 than in the fourth quarter with that backdrop we expect total revenue to be in the range of $1.25 to $1.29 billion, representing year-over-year growth of approximately 40% at the midpoint. We expect gross margin dynamics to be similar to Q3 with continued operating leverage as top-line growth continues. As a result, we expect non-GAAP EPS to be in the range of $3.72 to $3.87. In summary, our third quarter results were exceptional, with the record revenue and earnings that exceeded our guidance as growth continued to accelerate. We also made strong progress against our longer-term strategic priorities, establishing additional vectors of sustainable growth that we expect to begin contributing as early as the fourth quarter, positioning us to extend our strong track record into fiscal 2027 and beyond. Operator, we are now ready to open the call for questions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask the question, please press star 1-1 on your telephone, then wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please stand by while we compel the Q&A roster.

Thank you. And our first question comes from George Nodder from Wolf Research. Your line is open.

Hi, guys. Thanks very much. I just wanted to double-click on the Datacom business. I know that last quarter you talked about having some new supply of 200-day per lane VMLs coming online that would help support growth in the Datacom business. Sounds like that didn't happen. I'm just wondering kind of what's going on in terms of email supply. Is that the gating item you're referencing, or are there other components that are problematic now? Anything more you can tell us there would be great.

Yeah there's a number of I guess commodities you could say that are causing us constraints you know first of all we're you know very excited at the breadth and depth of the opportunities we see in front of us not just with our main customer but across a number of new new products new markets for us since we started to see the revenue accelerate from this AI driven demand you know our strategy has been to support the existing demand and also pursuing additional hyperscale direct and also merchant relationships. So we're excited with the progress we're making there and what we're managing right now. It's not demand risk, it's supply constraints. With respect to datacom supply, we saw a broadening of supply shortages for components and materials for datacom products. And as a result, shipments and revenue were well below demand levels. We could have shipped a lot more if we had those components. you know without these supply constraints datacom revenue would have been a new record by a wide margin while we expect the constraints to get resolved over time we do have to deal with them right now in the near term we anticipate that supply volatility will continue and you know it's in a number of areas it's not any one component it's a number of of uh areas mainly lasers memory which i think is it's no secret that there's a global shortage of memory and also certain ASICs so it's across a number of commodities great and then I just want

to ask one also on on CPO I just want to be clear on you know where you guys see your opportunity in CPO I guess I assumed that ELSFPs that go into CPO switches are you know kind of a real natural for you guys are you also going to manufacture other elements of CPO switches I mean historically you guys and not really been involved in manufacturing the switches themselves, but obviously this is a unique architecture. There's a giant amount of sort of fiber attached that goes in here and fiber attached units into that CPO package. I just want to be clear on what you guys see yourselves kind of doing in terms of that manufacturing exercise. Thanks a lot, guys.

Yeah, so for us, you know, CPO for us is really an evolution from silicon photonics and precision photonics packaging capabilities that we've had for many years. and it continues to be an area of investment for us to align our capabilities with our customers roadmaps for many years you know cpo has been just on the horizon but it's a lot more real now and it's than it's ever been and we're in an excellent position to benefit we feel we're well ahead of our competitors in making this technology a reality and we're already seeing some cpo revenue though the amount the amounts are relatively small at this point we're working on a number of cpo programs with three different customers the specific timing you know on each of them we don't really want to speak on their behalf but we're you know we're working on three three separate programs um and as with our customer programs we expect to see the impact in line with are slightly ahead of our customers production schedules so the you know the growth in cpo is in front of us and as you rightly point out there's several opportunities for us in cpo and we feel we can participate at a maybe a higher level up the food chain than we have have historically. So we're excited about CPO. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Our next

question will come from Carl Ackerman from BMP Paribus. Your line is open. Yes, thank you. I have

two, if I may. Seamus, do you believe you will be at the full run rate of the current HPC program in June? I think the previous expectation was March and June timeframe. And I guess how much visibility do you have with that follow-on program I have a follow-up

please yes so our our current HPC program is ramping according to our customers expectations it's not ramping in a perfect straight line these things never do but we've been working closely with the customer to transition production to their latest generation product and that transition is making good progress we've also been awarded some follow-on business for additional programs separate from the main if you like the main programs we've been awarded some additional programs with that customer. So we're really helping to support their accelerated computing infrastructure in a broader way than we have been in the past. We're installing additional capacity right now to support both the technology transition and also the additional products that we'll be manufacturing. Because of this technology transition, we now believe that 150 million mark will be pushed out by maybe one quarter. But as a result, we expect our high performance computer revenue to continue growing even after you reach the first 150 million dollar uh in quarterly revenue milestone so you know short term this quarter let's say we we don't think we get to the 150 million but we think it's probably a quarter away but longer term you know because we're now making more than just if you like one family of products we think the opportunity is more than that um so like i said while the timing has shifted slightly the overall trajectory is stronger, actually, and we expect continued growth beyond that 150 million level. And we remain very optimistic about the long-term outlook for our high-performance compute business overall.

Very helpful. Thank you. And then maybe for Salva, you know, building 10, that was 2 million square feet. We're adding a fifth floor, so is the 2 million square feet still the case, or is it presumably maybe 2.5 or so? And then with respect to the two additional buildings of a million square feet, given the high ROIC and relatively low upfront cost of building this new manufacturing fab how quickly can you accelerate these manufacturing facility investments so you're not capacity constrained

for these very large opportunities thank you so car maybe maybe i'll i'll just comment first on on the get the capacity um right now our current capacity we have capacity for about 4.8 billion in our current footprint um you know as you mentioned on the last call we've we're converting about 200 000 sorry about 120 000 square feet at our pinehurst campus into manufacturing space that will add an additional 200 million dollars of capacity so that would take our capacity up to five million dollars before building 10. building 10 would add about three billion dollars of capacity and then the new factory that we've just purchased in nirvana corn down the road from us you know initially that will have capacity for about 250 million in in the current factory that's on that land, but then there's room to build another factory. So overall that purchase will give us capacity for about another half a billion dollars. So 4.8 in our current footprint plus the Pinehurst addition, plus the NAVA factory, plus building 10, that would take us to capacity of about 8.5 billion if you add all that up. And then building it and the timing on building 10, as we talked about, you know, the first floor of that will be coming on streaming in June and we we plan to have another floor ready which would be mostly clean room space by September October and then the building would be finished by the end of the year we probably have the opening ceremony in January towards the end of January building 11 which we we haven't broken ground on that yet but building 11 would give us capacity for about another 1.5 billion of revenue and building 12 is the same so if we were to build out everything we have on the current land and space that we have that would give us capacity for 11.5 there or thereabouts probably a little bit more because while our growth is accelerating our revenue per square foot is also going in the right direction it's increasing as time goes along so 11.5 fairly conservatively probably a little bit more the timing of that it's it's too early really to talk about that card at this stage you know we're focused on meeting our customers needs making sure we have capacity in place. So we have ample capacity for the next few years. But, you know, we are seriously considering, you know, what the timing might be for Building 11 and Building 12. We're also looking for additional land in and around both the Pinehurst campus and also Chalmbury. So high-quality problems. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Summick Chatterjee from J.P. Morgan. Your line is open.

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. Shamus, maybe if I can start with the new Datacom customer opportunities that you outlined with both the hyperscaler and some of the merchant opportunities. Can you help us sort of size that up in terms of what these customers are communicating to you in terms of what their demand will look like at full run rate? Just trying to compare it to your primary customer with whom you're doing about sort of $250 million a quarter or so, how do these new opportunities sort of size up relative to that? And is the supply chain different where we should not expect some of the supply constraints you have with your primary customer to impact the ramp with the new customers that you have? And I have a follow-up after that.

Yeah, I think the supply chain is broadly similar across most of these primarily scale-out applications. It's a very similar supply chain. Taking both of those in turn that you just mentioned, So the hyperscale relationship, yeah, we're excited about the new datacom opportunities we announced today. They're two separate products, and we've already begun shipping, albeit in small qualification type quantities, but we've begun shipping those, and we expect that growth is all really in front of us, and we believe it will be significant. It's a significant piece of business for us. The demand that we're seeing from the customer is very significant, and we're very focused and making sure we have the right capacity and capability and everything else in place to support the customer. In terms of merchant programs, again, for several quarters, we've been working towards expanding our data account business to encompass, again, the direct hyperscale, as we talked about, but also deepening and broadening the merchant relationships. And we have made sizable progress there. We have a couple of programs there as well that we're working on. So both very significant, both the Hyperscale Direct and the Merchant, both very significant and have the potential to be very meaningful revenue contributors for us. But like I said, both of those, all of those opportunities are essentially a very similar supply chain kind of ecosystem, if that makes sense.

Yeah, okay. Shimiz, maybe I'll just ask you a clarification question on that and have a question for Shabab. So are you expecting that these programs standalone are like 10% of your revenue? Is it that sizable relative to the opportunity? And then, Shabab, just the gross margin outlook here, like sounds like you'll be at this sort of low 12% for the next quarter as well. How should we think about the recovery on the gross margin profile, particularly as RAM costs continue to sort of feed through the P&L?

Yeah, and on the contribution from these customers, we never predict which customer may or may not become a 10% customer. We always talk about that at the end of the year when we have to disclose which customers are 10% customers. So we only talk about that looking back. We never talk about it looking forward. But there are significant opportunities. That's all I'd say about that. And then on the gross margin, I'll let Xaba provide a little bit more color on the gross margin.

Hi, Samik. So basically what we are seeing on gross margin is a combination of external and internal factors. On the external side, we have been communicating exchange rates, which have been a headwind for a while. And that dynamics continues into this quarter. So the margins from exchange rate perspective will be similar in our Q4 as it was in Q3. Obviously, we have some visibility with our hedging program in place. So Q3 panned out as much as in terms of headwinds as we had anticipated. So Q4, we anticipate to be at that same level. Obviously, at the same time, we are ramping a large number of new programs across multiple growth vectors, which sometimes creates short-term inefficiencies. So obviously, this is a function of strong demand and the pace we are scaling the business. So as these programs mature, we do expect those efficiencies to improve and get back to our higher margin ranges. Obviously, the good news is that we are very disciplined on the operating expenses. As you saw last quarter, we continued to generate operating leverage, and OPEX is trending down. Overall, as a percentage of the revenue last quarter, we were at 1.4%. So, while there are some near-term pressures on gross margin, some of it we cannot control from an exchange perspective, but the overall model continues to deliver a very strong and solid and improving profitability as we scale. So, we feel very good about the underlying model and our ability to drive long-term profitability growth. And obviously, our ultimate focus is to remain driving strong return on capital and delivering consistent value to shareholders as we scale these programs.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Christopher Rowland from Susquehanna. Your line is open.

Hi, this is Dylan Olivier on for Chris Rowland. Thanks for taking my question. So for my first question I wanted to ask, you spent some time talking about CPO and your role here. So you mentioned that you're working with three customers or three programs and that you've begun getting revenue now. now. So are all these programs getting revenue today? And then any color you could provide on if these are all scale-out or if any of these engagements are related to scale-up.

We are shipping to all three customers. They're both scale-up and scale-out. I think I hear an echo, sorry. They're both scale up and scale out. And we're really putting the capacity in place and making sure we have the right technology in place. You'll see with our investment in Raytech, it's really to help us make sure we have the right capability. So we are excited about CPO, but the revenue is largely in front of us at this point.

Great. Thank you for this. And then for my second question, I wanted to ask maybe about another opportunity that you didn't discuss on this call, but OCS is kind of seeing it's a nice little explosion right now. Are you any sort of color that you can provide on how your engagements are going, when you think this can materialize, and if you can get a dominant share of the externally contracted OCS market?

Yes, OCS remains. We think it's a great opportunity for us, you know, as we look ahead. The technology is very similar to products that we already make for our customers. So it gives us a real head start versus our competition. There's no change in our optimism about OCS. But to be clear, you know, the new merchant opportunities that we talked about earlier, they're not OCS related. They're separate. But, yeah, OCS opportunities are incremental to that. And again, similar to CPO, are largely in front of us. But we're focused on one or two to really talk about them yet until we have something to talk about. But we're pretty excited about OCS as a segment.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question will come from Ryan Contz from Needham & Co. Your line is open.

Thanks for the question. I wanted to ask a little more generically regarding your transceiver wins. um can you just expand for us you know where you would be in your milestone process before you'd announce to us that you have a win is it you have a contract you have qualification you have sampling I'm not asking specifics about a single customer but generically at what point do you typically disclose and might we consider these uh different programs in the process between you know ramping material revenue and uh you know maybe an mou that's not contractually

found thank you yeah just good question actually generally we we don't really talk about wins until we have actually won the program so that would mean we have been awarded the business we have a contract in place we have purchase orders you know where we've we've been qualified and approved so you know we're we're really at that milestone phase where we're getting ready to ramp at this point right that's that's really our you know we don't really signal specifics on new programs and until we have them one that's generally how we've tended to do things historically because you know not all not all you know products that you think you've won early on turn into real products or real demand so in this case i'm happy to report here we have a number of programs that we've won like i say contracts in place uh product being shipped set contracts signed with customers so

there we've actually won those that's helpful shameless thank you and then give us a follow-up just on your your strength in telecom obviously dci and um it's a big star there um how would you you know characterize your customer mix within telecom is changing can you share anything about kind of the product mix there obviously you know 400 800 zr i mean i know you guys pretty much touch everything going on there, but are you seeing some industry shifts that are working

in your favor within the telecom mix? Thank you. Yeah, I think there are, you know, we're, we're really, our, our, our position supplying the DCI market is very strong. You know, we have really all of the major players there as customers of ours. And, you know, as we talked about in the prepared remarks, our, our growth in, in DCI has been, has been pretty staggering. Um, you know, And our telecom portfolio continues to go from strength to strength. We don't just provide components. We provide the DCI, the 400 CR, 800 CR modules, as well as our telecom systems. So, you know, we really, I suppose we really evolved our business from being a niche optical component supplier, which we were several years ago, into a diversified strategic ecosystem partner for the leading OANs for both optical components, but also systems across all the of AI driven growth in both both data comment and telecom and like I said the best example that is probably our strength in DCI data center interconnect so the demand looks to be very strong we continue to win business in in that space and continue to execute very well for our customers and there's a number of new programs that we're working on as well as well as ramping the existing programs as new products in the works as well that we're not shipping in volume net, but we're gearing up to ship. So we feel very good about our momentum in DCI with the leading customers there.

Paul Pola, and do you consider multi-rail an opportunity for you in your wheelhouse there to go within the telecom sector?

I think if, you know, anything in that telecom space where we can have a good high level of content, you know, is a good fit for us. So yeah, certainly those type of products would be a good fit for us.

thank you appreciate you thank you thank you thank you our next question comes from steven fox from fox advisors llc your line is open hi good afternoon everyone um shameless i guess i was

curious on the supply constraints um you know it sounds like they got worse during the quarter and at the same times it sounds like even if we think about this end market demand and markets are getting stronger. So can you paint a picture for how, you know, how constraints don't get worse going forward and how you manage through this and start catching up with demand? Is there any line of sight to improvements and then how to follow up? Yeah, I think we're not unduly

concerned long term, but, you know, we do feel obliged to point it out in the short term because we guide one quarter at a time. It did impact our ability to shift last quarter. We could have shift a lot more if we had those components and the same this quarter but you know overall it's really a function of the the growth that we're seeing in in in the industries that we that we serve and in our business overall um that growth you know we're we're very proud of our our track record of you know excellent execution built on dedication to customer service that's that's really the secret sauce here that track record is what has allowed us to deliver this outside growth we've seen over the last while. You know, if you look over a 10-year period, Stephen, up to FY2025, we compounded the revenue growth 16% annually. We compounded the earnings 22%. And then in FY2025, we grew 19% versus FY24. And if you look at FY26, since we're now in Q4, if you take the midpoint of our Q4 guidance, that will put us up 34% versus FY25. So FY25 grew 19% versus FY24, FY26 at the midpoint of our Q4 guidance would be up 34% versus FY25. So growth is accelerating. And with that acceleration growth, you know, it does expose certain supply constraints. You know, the component supply ecosystem is, you know, doing everything they can to catch up with the demand. But there is a lag right now between the demand we're seeing and the supply base catching up with that demand. And really, You know, our focus is on execution and ensuring we capitalize on this really strong demand environment that we're seeing by having more than enough capacity in place to support the needs of our customers while we work on these challenges in the supply chain. But it's nothing unusual. We think it's really a function of just this explosive growth we're seeing.

That's fair. And then just one other question on the flip side of that. You're accelerating your own capacity additions. I guess if we started today as another starting point, like your ability to accelerate further, like what else would you have to see? Would it be more new programs or, you know, loosening up of the supply chain that you, you know, the supplies you need? And how long would that take? Thanks very much.

You know, I think for us, you know, it sounds like we're adding a lot of capacity. They're quite straightforward, if you like, capital allocation decisions for us because of the huge upside potential we get. You know, we build a, you know, a two million square foot factory that will give us capacity for an additional three billion dollars of revenue. The CapEx is just depends on the on the exchange rate on the day you look at it. But it's one hundred and thirty million, one hundred and thirty two million, something like that. You know, the upside opportunity for us at full run rate in that factory. Six months worth of operating profit would pay for the entire two million square feet of manufacturing space. on the downside if there is a downturn and and we end up with with no no new business going into that factory which we we don't anticipate but just if we did if that were to happen the gross margin headwind would be about 50 basis points something like that so a negligible headwind and a significant upside opportunity so that makes these decisions for us relatively straightforward the capacity is very it's fungible you know that whether it's the two million square feet in Chonbury or the you know a couple of hundred thousand square feet that we just acquired in the van of corn or the 150 thousand square feet that we're converting in in Pinehurst capacity is very it's fungible and the customers are very comfortable working in I've most of the customers are comfortable having us build their products in either location so you know and and like I said earlier we have we have room to add it to additional factories in Chonbury and we can add another 200,000 square foot factory on the land we just purchased in the vanacorn so we have ample land and capacity to see is up for the next several years and then we continue to look for more land so certainly as we're seeing these strong demand signals seen from our customers making those capital investments it's a relatively straightforward decision for us because it's you know we're not you know we're taking any big risks we're just really making sure we we have capacity in place to support the needs of our customers and that's really our focus got it that's very helpful thank you thank you

thank you our next question comes from mike genovese from rosenblatt securities your line is open

uh thank you um shameless uh and talking about the direct hyperscale uh datacom business i think think you mentioned that there's two products um can i ask does that imply an 800g and a 1.6 or or are they 200 to 800g products can you can you comment on that they're they're they're both

800 gig but they're different applications okay great scale across they're both scale across Sorry, they're both scale-out.

Scale-out, right.

Got it.

Okay, and then on the, I mean, just very good DCI growth this quarter, and I think you were asked, but it was a little bit more kind of a vaguer question. I just want to ask a little bit more pointedly if 800-G8Z-ZR in particular drove an outsized portion of the growth this quarter or if it was more broadly spread. And then I also noticed that you had some telecom growth above and beyond DCI. So if you could just call out those products that were not DCI that also grew in telecom, that would be helpful.

Yeah, so on the mix between, let's say, 800ZR and 400ZR, it's probably more appropriate for our customers to talk about that. But really, 800ZR is ramping, I would say. It's getting going. And we do have very big hopes for that. It looks to be a very strong product, but again, the growth, like a lot of these programs that we've won, despite the fact that we've demonstrated really excellent growth, we think, this past while, a lot of those new programs are really in front of us and are just beginning to wrap, and I would put 800 CR in that category. And your second question?

Just the telecom growth, there was above and beyond. I mean, DCI didn't drive 100% of the telecom growth. There was more telecom growth than DCI. So if you could just call out some of the strong products outside of DCI and telecom, that would be helpful.

Well, yeah, we continue to win business with our customers, both DCI, but also outside of DCI, both at the component level and also at the system level with a number of our customers. We continue to win business, mostly share gain maybe from some of our competitors. So that continues at a pace with our customers. You know, we're very fortunate. We have the, we believe some of the, you know, really the best companies in the industry and the demand for their products is very strong. And, you know, because of the, we believe the very good job we do taking care of them and executing, they reward us by giving us more business. So it's a kind of a self-rewarding loop. The better we do, the more, the better job we do executing for the customers, the more business they seem to give us. So it's a combination, like I say, of both the growth in, it's a growth in DC. It's also, you know, ramps of programs we've been awarded previously, and thirdly, new business that our customers continue to award us.

Thanks very much.

Thank you.

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1-1. And our next question will come from Tim Savinoff from Northland Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Hey, good afternoon. And, Seamus, I'm going to take you back to OFC. I think you commented that you wished you got it farther out sometimes. And I'm going to try to forge you that opportunity here with the following context.

I appreciate that, too.

I know. My pleasure. And the context is some comments you've made earlier in the call about maintaining momentum into 27. You mentioned 27, and sustaining this growth trajectory. Now, as I look at these data comments, maybe by themselves, and I have a follow-up question on that, but, I mean, it seems to me quite plausible that you could sustain, if not accelerate, this 34% growth rate that you're putting up in fiscal 26. Any comments on that?

Well, I think, again, you know, as you point out, FY25 grew 19%, FY26 will grow at 34% versus FY25 at the midpoint of our guidance. And, you know, the thing that we're particularly, I suppose, proud of is we've managed to do that. But, you know, if you look at, again, FY26 at the midpoint of the guidance, you know, if you take this quarter, for example, compared to the same quarter a year ago, we grew the revenue from 872 to 1.214 billion. So 39% year over year growth in Q3. Our operating expenses grew by 6.2%. We went from 16 million to 16.99 million. And so we grew the OPEX by a mere 6.2%. So therefore, on revenue growth of 39%, our operating income grew 46% and our net income grew 48%. So, you know, growth without profit is not much fun for anyone. So we're very focused on making sure as we grow that we're very cautious with the use of the company's resources and the company's assets, but that we also execute in a way that allows us to get that operating leverage that we've been delivering for quite some time. You know, the growth is accelerating, there's no doubt about that. And certainly the demand signals we see from our customers, there's always things going on in the world that we don't control, so we don't worry too much about those things, because we can't do anything about them other than respond to them. But certainly, you know, if you look at the key fundamentals that drive our business and that allow us to make these capital allocation decisions and if you like investments and expansion decisions, It looks to be very promising for some time to come. It looks to be very, very promising. Again, we'll continue to guide one quarter at a time, Tim. But at the same time, that doesn't stop us from being optimistic about the future. Certainly, probably, you know, more optimistic than we've been in quite some time. It's a very, very strong demand pipeline that we're seeing across the board, both telecom and datacom. And also, you know, our industrial laser business, we're seeing some growth there and we're making some traction there with some new business wins. So it's really across our business.

Okay, thanks for that.

And along those lines, would you expect your two Datacom direct wins to be in full ramp, I guess, by the end of fiscal 27 or maybe even earlier than that?

I think probably earlier than – sorry, Jim, I didn't mean to put it across you. I think earlier than the end of fiscal 27, probably middle, kind of middle of fiscal 27.

Great. And then last one for me is on the merchant wins. And maybe I'll, because who knows, these could be related. I want to combine that with a question about outsourcing opportunities from some of your historical, let's say one time 10% customers. But how do you, I guess, How should we look at those merchant opportunities? I mean, look, on these direct things, it doesn't seem to be any reason that any one of those two guys could be as big as your current big datacom customer, you know, at least. But from a merchant standpoint, how should we be thinking about that in terms of those opportunities and how they ramp? And indeed, does that kind of cross over into the boundary of outsourcing?

Yeah, I think, yeah, certainly both of the opportunities, both the hyperscale direct, which will probably ramp throughout FY27. You know, with any new program, it's hard to say exactly how quickly it will ramp, but it will probably ramp throughout FY27. On the merchant opportunities, again, some of these opportunities are very significant. The demand is very strong. And, you know, for us, we don't really mind who we're making, for example, transceivers. We don't mind who we're making transceivers for. As long as we're making somebody else's design, because we're pretty adamant about that, Tim, you know, we're a service company. We will never have our own products. We'll never compete with our customers. That's very, very important for us. And it's very important for our customers. So we have to make sure we thread that needle carefully and, you know, never end up in a situation where we have a product design. So we don't have that. We're facilitating our customers with somebody else's design and we just happen to be manufacturing it. But certainly the demand is very strong, you know, even if you were to take a relatively modest percentage of the, you know, of supply, a relatively modest percentage with the product that we can ship direct and it's still very significant. So we're very focused on it. It does represent a big opportunity. You're exactly right. And, you know, any one of these could be a significant opportunity worth, noteworthy and worth talking about. And the exciting part is we have several of these. We have, like I say, two separate programs shipping to Hyperscaler. And we have merchant business. And we have our main customer as well. And we haven't really talked that much on this call about our telecom business, which, again, goes from strength to strength. So lots of growth vectors.

Thanks very much. Thank you, Jen.

Thank you. And I am showing no further questions from our phone lines. I'd now like to turn the conference back over to Seamus Grady for any closing remarks.

Thank you for joining our call today. We are excited to have delivered another impressive quarter that exceeded our guidance. Moreover, we're very enthusiastic about the several key new business opportunities that will further support our strong growth starting in the fourth quarter, and that also positions us to extend our remarkable performance record into fiscal year 2027. We look forward to speaking with you in the future and to seeing those of you who will be attending the upcoming Needham and J.P. Morgan conferences. Thanks again, and goodbye.

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.