Marvell is in advanced talks to buy Lumentum, the maker of optics for AI data centres, Bloomberg reports

Marvell Technology is in advanced talks to buy Lumentum, which makes lasers and optical parts for data centres, Bloomberg News reported first on 28 October, according to Reuters. Bloomberg's own story is paywalled, so its account here comes from Reuters, as carried by MarketScreener, and from The Next Web.

Reuters said Lumentum “has a market value of roughly $83 billion”, and that its shares rose about 9% in extended trading while Marvell's fell more than 8%. A deal could be announced as soon as next week, Reuters said.

The Next Web, summarising Bloomberg, said Marvell would likely pay in shares, and gave Bloomberg's sources as saying: “The companies have not reached an agreement, and the talks could still end without one.” It also says Nvidia took a $2bn stake in Lumentum earlier this year.

Reuters noted that Marvell had about $3.92bn of cash at its latest quarter, and quoted Bernstein analysts as saying an acquisition of that size “would likely require additional financing”. Neither company had commented or filed anything about the talks.

Marvell already makes custom AI chips and data-centre connectivity; Lumentum's optics would add the lasers that carry data between AI servers.

• Reported Marvell is in advanced talks to buy Lumentum, which has a market value of roughly $83bn; a deal could come as soon as next week, Bloomberg reported, according to Reuters. Bloomberg, via Reuters (MarketScreener)
• Reported Marvell would likely pay in shares, and the talks could still end without a deal, Bloomberg reported, according to The Next Web. Bloomberg, via The Next Web