Tech Hardware - Asia Pacific: The essence of FAU: alignment and automation

Research evidence excerpt

Tech Hardware - Asia Pacific: The essence of FAU: alignment and automation

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Tech Hardware - Asia Pacific

The essence of FAU: alignment and

automation

Industry Overview

FAU: lots of new entrants, but few likely winners 14 July 2026

FAU acts as a highway connecting fiber to the optical engine for data transmission, and Equity

is essential to pluggable transceiver/NPO/CPO. Currently, FAUs are mostly supplied by Asia Pacific

legacy Asia supply chains, and FAU for CPO is 100% supplied by a Chinese vendor. We Tech Hardware

see more new entrants aiming to ramp up CPO/FAU-related components – e.g. fiber Katherine Zhu >>

array, micro lens, prism, etc. However, in our view, not many of them could succeed due Research Analyst

to high entry barriers, and we see Largan’s progress as faster than other new entrants Merrillkexin.zhu@bofa.comLynch (Hong Kong)

as it has moved on to certification after sampling/testing for two quarters. We highlight Robert Cheng >>

two key bottlenecks: (1) micron-level alignment, i.e. controlling the pitch tolerance at ≤ Research Analyst

±0.5µm or even lower to ensure low-loss transmission; and (2) automatic alignment and Merrillrobert.cheng@bofa.comLynch (Taiwan)

testing to deliver consistent tolerance while lift efficiency. We note this know-how will Doris Kao >>

take years of accumulated experience in precision optic manufacturing, mass production, Research Analyst

Merrill Lynch (Taiwan)

as well as strong in-house automation capability. doris.kao@bofa.com

CPO to take off in ’28-29; FAU at 5-10% BOM/ $8bn TAM

Based on our checks, Nvidia’s CPO switch volume may remain relatively low near-term, For acronyms, please refer to Exhibit

and a meaningful volume could happen in 2028-29, on rising penetration at scale-up. 13