Hi Vivien,
Thanks for the feedback, it’s wonderful to hear subscribers benefitting from their MM sub with real life examples. Our premise for starting MM more than 13 years ago was to write about our own investing, publishing an honest and timely daily note on what we’re doing, hoping that it would help others. The service has expanded over that time and we’ve now got more members than ever before. We sincerely hope we can deliver many more experiences aligned with yours.
For members not familiar with this exciting science, Photonic technology uses light (photons) rather than electricity (electrons) to transmit, process and store information.
In practical terms, photonics underpins technologies such as fibre-optic communications, lasers, sensors and next-generation computing, enabling data to be transmitted faster, over longer distances and with lower energy consumption than traditional electronic systems.
At this stage we see photonics as complementary rather than competitive to the copper thematic. Photonic technology is likely to replace some copper-based data transmission over time, particularly within AI infrastructure, however the broader AI ecosystem remains enormously power hungry and therefore highly supportive of copper demand.
In our view, the rise of photonics doesn’t undermine the long-term copper thesis; if anything, it enables the next generation of AI infrastructure that ultimately requires even more electricity, grids and copper-intensive investment. For now, we would describe it as a rounding error against the structural demand for copper driven by electrification, grid buildout, and AI power demand.
For ASX investors wanting photonics exposure the US is the best/only option via Coherent Corp (NYSE: COHR) or Lumentum Holdings (NASDAQ: LITE) which as you say have run hard but as we’ve seen over the last year these elastic bands can stretch far longer than people imagine.
