Full-Time
Strategic Sourcing Manager
Updated on 8/13/2026
Lumilens
51-200 employees
Photonic interconnects for AI infrastructure
No salary listed
San Jose, CA, USA
In Person
Bachelor's
 People & HR (1) |
|---|
Get referred to Lumilens
See people who can refer or advise you
- A Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Business, or a related field is required.
- At least 10 years of experience in strategic sourcing, supplier management, or supply chain management within semiconductor, photonics, or high-tech industries is required.
- Strong experience working with global suppliers, including contract manufacturers, specialty component vendors, and strategic manufacturing partners, is required.
- Experience in optical technologies and demonstrated experience deploying manufacturing processes is required.
- A proven track record supporting new product introduction to high-volume manufacturing transitions in complex hardware environments and with contract manufacturers is required.
- Deep understanding of strategic sourcing fundamentals, including cost modeling, supplier negotiations, contract terms, and risk management, is required.
- Experience embedding with hardware engineering throughout the product development process is required.
- The candidate must be able to operate cross-functionally and influence stakeholders across engineering, product management, operations, and finance.
- The candidate must actively participate in solving operational challenges to keep product schedules on track.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a data-driven mindset are required.
- Experience in fast-paced, high-growth environments is required.
- Develop and execute strategic sourcing plans aligned with product roadmaps and company growth objectives.
- Identify, qualify, onboard, and manage key suppliers across component vendors, contract manufacturers, and strategic manufacturing partners.
- Lead supplier negotiations across pricing, lead times, capacity, quality, and commercial terms.
- Negotiate and execute master supply agreements and other critical commercial agreements, including Statements of Work, development agreements, and nondisclosure agreements.
- Drive cost optimization initiatives through early design engagement, market intelligence, should-cost modeling, supplier process improvement, and long-term supply agreements.
- Ensure supply continuity and mitigate risk through multi-sourcing, supplier performance management, and contingency planning.
- Partner with cross-functional teams to drive the supplier selection process and own requests for information, quotation, and proposal.
- Support component and module qualification during new product introduction programs and enable smooth transitions to high-volume manufacturing.
- Collaborate with operations and manufacturing partners to align demand, capacity, and delivery commitments.
- Develop and drive supplier performance against key performance indicators including cost, quality, delivery, responsiveness, capacity, and innovation.
- Act as the primary escalation path for the respective commodity.
- Experience in silicon photonics, optical transceivers, or advanced packaging.
- Familiarity with enterprise resource planning/material requirements planning systems and supply chain analytics tools.
- Experience building supply chains from early-stage operations to scale.
- Knowledge of global trade, logistics, and compliance considerations.
Lumilens designs and manufactures optical interconnect products to accelerate AI infrastructure. It provides high-density photonic interconnects—such as high-density pluggable, near-packaged, and co-packaged optics—built with in-house silicon photonics to scale GPU clusters in AI data centers. Its products include 800G and 1.6T optical transceivers for AI networking, and it is pursuing broader integration like Electrical-Optical Interposers through a strategic partnership with POET Technologies. The company differentiates itself through vertical integration, custom robotics-driven manufacturing, and AI-optimized production processes that aim to improve yield and supply chain stability. Lumilens targets hyperscalers and large AI providers, seeking to move interconnect bottlenecks from compute to scalable, efficient data-center networks. Its goal is to enable faster, denser GPU connectivity to support growing AI workloads and models.
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Series C
Total Funding
$839.5M
Headquarters
San Jose, California
Founded
2024
Get referred to Lumilens
See people who can refer or advise you
Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- August 6, 2026 funding topped $900 million and valued Lumilens at $5.51 billion.
- Lumilens says it is already shipping into production AI data centers.
- AI networking demand keeps rising as GPU clusters need millions of optical transceivers.
What critics are saying
- The unnamed hyperscaler customer keeps revenue concentration and contract risk opaque through 2027.
- Coherent, Eoptolink, and Broadcom already ship rival 1.6T AI optics in 2026.
- If late-2026 samples fail qualification, Lumilens becomes a $5.51 billion pre-revenue story.
What makes Lumilens unique
- Lumilens pairs in-house silicon photonics with manufacturing, cutting supplier dependence.
- The May 14, 2026 POET EOI deal targets wafer-level photonic integration.
- It serves scale-up and scale-out AI links with 800G and 1.6T products.
Help us improve and share your feedback! Did you find this helpful?
Benefits
Health Insurance
Wellness Program
Professional Development Budget
Conference Attendance Budget
Remote Work Options
Hybrid Work Options
401(k) Retirement Plan
401(k) Company Match
Stock Options
Company Equity
Mental Health Support
Gym Membership
Phone/Internet Stipend
Home Office Stipend
Paid Vacation
Paid Sick Leave
Paid Holidays
Flexible Work Hours
Family Planning Benefits
Fertility Treatment Support
Adoption Assistance
Parental Leave
Relocation Assistance
Meal Benefits
Employee Discount
Commuter Benefits
Tuition Reimbursement
Training Programs
Mentorship Program
Legal Services
Employee Referral Bonus
Performance Bonus
Profit Sharing
Education Allowance
Professional Certification Support
Sabbatical Leave
Remote Work Options
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 6%1 year growth
↑ 9%2 year growth
↑ 9%Lumilens raises more than $700m for optical AI data-centre links. Lumilens has emerged from stealth with more than $700m in new funding, bringing its total raised to over $900m and valuing the company at $5.51bn. The startup is building optical interconnects designed to replace copper wiring in AI data centres, and says its first product is already shipping into a hyperscaler's live data centres under a deal it describes as worth billions. The company's case reflects a broader infrastructure shift: the limiting factor for AI is increasingly how many GPUs can be connected, not just how many can be bought. Large models run across hundreds of thousands of chips that must operate like one computer. A single 400,000-GPU site needs more than 2.4 million optical transceivers, while copper links inside racks struggle at AI speeds because an electrical signal survives about a metre and a half over copper. The round was co-led by Atreides Management, Bain Capital Ventures, Meritech, Seligman Ventures and Spark Capital, with Qualcomm Ventures and JPMorgan also participating. Lumilens enters a crowded field that includes Nvidia, Broadcom, startups and Chinese rivals such as Eoptolink. Citigroup expects AI infrastructure outlays to pass $2.8tn by 2029, but Lumilens still faces questions around its unnamed customer, unaudited deal value and whether its early deployment can become a durable lead. Originally reported by thenextweb.com Read the source
Lumilens landed A $5.51 billion valuation as AI data centers grow. The optical networking startup raised over $700 million in Series C funding and says it's already shipping products to one of the four hyperscalers. about 1 hour ago - 2 mins What's going on here? San Jose-based optical networking startup Lumilens just landed a $5.51 billion valuation after raising more than $700 million in Series C funding, as big tech races to build AI data centers that need faster ways to connect GPUs. What does this mean? AI data centers need more than piles of graphics processing units (GPUs): they need a network that can move huge amounts of data between chips, quickly and with less power. Lumilens sells optical networking hardware, which uses light to carry data through fiber, and it claims the pinch point has shifted from "how many GPUs you can buy" to "how many you can connect." The company says it's already shipping under a m... Keep reading for free. This content is free, but you must be logged in to continue reading. Already have an account?
Lumilens, which makes optical gear to speed up data flowing between AI servers, raised over $700M in a Series C round co-led by Atreides Management, Bain Capital Ventures, Meritech, Seligman Ventures and Spark Capital, valuing the company at $5.51 billion.
This tiny AI stock is suddenly getting massive attention. By Vandita Jadeja Published May 15, 10:32AM EDT Quick read. * Poet Technologies (POET) surged 114.72% in one week after announcing a $500 million AI infrastructure deal with Lumilens, but trades at a 2,922 price-to-sales ratio with just $1.1M in trailing revenue and a $291 million accumulated deficit. * Poet's stock is stretched after explosive gains despite minimal revenue execution, pending securities lawsuits, and a 49.7% gap between the current price and the 24/7 Wall St. price target of $10.36. * The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Poet Technologies wasn't one of them. Get them here FREE. This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them. POET Technologies (NASDAQ:POET) has gone from obscure micro-cap to one of the loudest tickers on WallStreetBets in a matter of weeks. The stock surged 114.72% in the past week alone after announcing a $500 million AI infrastructure deal with Lumilens. After that explosive run, our proprietary model suggests the upside is now stretched. Video Muted Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for POET is $10.36 over the next 12 months, implying meaningful downside from the current $20.57 quote. The recommendation is sell with moderate confidence. 24/7 Wall St. Price Target summary. | Metric | Value | | Current Price | $20.57 | | 24/7 Wall St. Price Target | $10.36 | | Upside/Downside | -49.7% | | Recommendation | SELL | | Confidence Level | 50% | Why we could be wrong on POET. POET is one of the most divisive names in AI photonics, and real value could come from execution on the $500 million Lumilens partnership or the planned ramp of 800G optical engines in Q3 2026. If Malaysia volume manufacturing scales cleanly, the price target could prove far too conservative. Treat our price target as one datapoint. The full bull case appears below. How a $500M deal lit the fuse. POET is up 206.56% over the past month and 224.96% year to date, with a 43.15% single-day move on May 14 after the Lumilens announcement. The deal carries an initial $50 million purchase order and engineering samples targeted for late 2026. Q4 2025 revenue came in at $341,202, missing the $700,180 estimate, with full-year FY2025 revenue of just $1,074,865. The stock also weathered a 47.35% single-day plunge on April 23 after Marvell (NASDAQ:MRVL | MRVL Price Prediction) canceled all Celestial AI purchase orders, followed by multiple securities class action lawsuits with a June 29 lead plaintiff deadline. The case for $22+. Bulls point to the 800G transceiver market projected to reach $9.8B by 2032 at 22.8% CAGR and the AI GPU server opportunity. CEO Suresh Venkatesan secured $225 million in Q4 2025 plus $150 million in January 2026, leaving roughly $430 million in cash. Management expects to ship more than 30,000 optical engines in 2026. Our model's bull scenario points to $22.89, an 11.28% return. The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Poet Technologies wasn't one of them. Get them here FREE. What could go wrong. POET trades at a price-to-sales ratio of 2,922 with a TTM EPS of -$0.68 and operating margin of -41.74%. The accumulated deficit sits near $291 million, and management disclosed a material weakness in internal controls. Bulls fairly counter that the Q4 net loss of $42.67M was largely driven by a $30.69M non-cash derivative warrant liability adjustment that should disappear after USD repricing. Still, the bear scenario lands at $9.33. The risk isn't worth the reward here. Our 24/7 Wall St. price target is $10.36 with a sell recommendation and 50% confidence. The tipping factor is the gap between a roughly $3.14 billion market cap and roughly $1 million in trailing revenue. The setup would look more attractive if Lumilens production orders convert into recognized revenue in 2027 and the securities litigation resolves cleanly. The risk/reward looks unfavorable while POET trades near the $20.81 52-week high with lawsuits pending. | Year | 24/7 Wall St. Price Target | | 2026 | $10.36 | | 2027 | $9.10 | | 2028 | $7.85 | | 2029 | $6.70 | | 2030 | $5.83 | These projections assume POET continues to scale Malaysia manufacturing without securing a transformational hyperscaler design win. Significant upside could come from successful Lumilens execution or a competitor acquiring POET for its photonic interposer technology. Vandita Jadeja is a financial copywriter who loves to read and write about stocks. She believes in buying and holding for long term gains. Her knowledge of words and numbers helps her write clear stock analysis. She has contributed to several publications, including the Joy Wallet, Benzinga, The Motley Fool and InvestorPlace.
POET Technologies has secured a supply agreement with Lumilens Inc potentially worth $500 million over five years, sending shares to an all-time high. The deal's first phase is valued at $50 million. Under the agreement, POET granted Lumilens warrants to purchase over 22.9 million common shares at $8.25 each, exercisable over nine years. The partnership will focus on bringing semiconductor-style manufacturing to optical engines for AI data centre infrastructure. Despite the positive news, POET reported a first-quarter net loss of $12.3 million, compared to a $6.3 million profit in the same period last year. However, revenues surged 202% year-on-year to $503,389 from $166,760.