Reuters: Infinera management pondering sale of the company
Reuters reported March 14, 2023, that Infinera is exploring options for the company, including a sale. The wire service cited “a personal familiar with the matter” as the source. Infinera did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment; they also have not responded to a Lightwave follow-up request.
The company has hired investment bank Centerview Partners to assist in the exploration process, which will launch in a few weeks, according to Reuters’ source.
Infinera on February 23, 2023, reported non-GAAP record quarterly revenue of $401 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, a 21% improvement over 4Q21. Non-GAAP revenue for fiscal 2022 was $1.573 billion, up 10% year-on-year. Non-GAAP gross margin for 2022 was 37.3%, down 30 bps from the previous year.
Meanwhile, the company is expanding from its traditional optical systems business, branching out into sales of pluggable coherent optical transceivers and transmit/receive optical subassemblies as well as coherent DSPs (see “Infinera enters coherent optical subsystems market, to offer coherent transceiver DSPs”). During an Investor Day presentation delivered on March 7, 2023, CEO David Heard estimated that the coherent pluggable market could be worth approximately $2 billion by 2026. The total addressable market for Infinera will be $13.7 billion that year, Heard estimated.
In a recent market research report, Dell’Oro Group named Infinera second in North American market share for 2022, trailing only Ciena (see "North American optical transport sales increased by double digits in 2022: Dell’Oro").
[Editor's Note: This article has been updated from the original with Infinera's correct ranking in Dell'Oro's market share report. We apologize for the error.]
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.