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Michael Hurlston

President, Chief Executive Officer & Director, LUMENTUM HOLDINGS INC

Search every verified Michael Hurlston interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Michael Hurlston, president and CEO of Lumentum Holdings, has recently discussed the company's role in supplying optical components for AI data centers. In interviews and earnings calls over the past two months, he described strong demand for optical transceivers and high-powered lasers, stating that supply is trailing demand by roughly 40 percent. He attributed Nvidia's $2 billion investment in Lumentum to concerns about a shortage of indium phosphide, a material used to make laser chips, and said the investment was intended to secure supply over the next four to five years. Hurlston also outlined strategic shifts at Lumentum, including a focus on data center products over traditional telecom offerings and plans to expand manufacturing in North Carolina and Thailand. He acknowledged risks associated with large capital expenditures made years before expected output, and said the company is partnering with network equipment manufacturers to share some of those costs. He projected revenue could exceed $10 billion in the near term, citing growth in areas such as optical scale-up, which involves replacing copper connections within server racks with optical interconnects.

Recent appearances

  • Lighting Up the AI Era Michael Hurlston CEO of Lumentum

    Inside every AI data center, behind every GPU cluster, underneath every rack of compute and storage, there is a connection problem. For decades that problem was solved with copper. Copper cables connected computer storage to switching, and the system worked well enough. Then AI arrived and the speeds required to move data across those connections exceeded what copper physics can handle. The answer is fiber optics and the lasers that power them. That is the business of Lumentum, and it is why Nvidia wrote a two billion dollar check to make sure the supply was locked up. Under CEO Michael Hurlst…

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  • Lumentum CEO says customer demand is SURGING beyond current supply

    Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston discusses the surging demand for optical transceivers driving A.I. infrastructure and more on ...

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  • Lumentum Holdings Inc ($LITE) Q4 2026 Earnings Call

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  • Lumentum CEO: How Lasers Are Transforming AI Data Centers

    Everyone talks about Nvidia GPUs. Few people talk about the lasers connecting them. Michael Hurlston is the CEO of Lumentum (NASDAQ: LITE), one of the world's leading suppliers of optical networking and laser technologies powering AI data centers. Before joining Lumentum in 2025, he served as CEO of Synaptics and previously led Finisar, making him one of the few executives to lead three public technology companies. In this conversation from the RAISE Summit in Paris, Michael explains why AI is forcing a once-in-a-generation shift from copper wiring to fiber optics, why hyperscalers are deman…

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  • The Invisible Backbone of AI: Why Light Powers Intelligence | RAISE Summit 2026 ft. Lumentum

    Recorded live at the RAISE Summit 2026 in Paris, in this fireside chat, Lumentum's Michael Hurlston explores how AI data centers are evolving through four stages of connectivity: scale-across, scale-out, scale-up, and scale-in. Key topics include: ▸ Scale-across: Connecting AI data centers over kilometers with high-bandwidth optical links ▸ Scale-out: Optical networking between compute racks and switch fabrics ▸ Scale-up: Replacing copper inside AI racks with optical interconnects ▸ Scale-in: The future of on-board and chip-to-chip optical connectivity Additionally, Michael shares his perspe…

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  • Lumentum CEO on $2 Billion Nvidia Deal & AI Bubble. LITE Stock Will Hit $1000+ Very Soon?

    Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston reveals why his $59B optics company is SOLD OUT through 2028, why Nvidia invested $2 billion, and why he believes the stock will hit $1000+ "very near future." From $300M to $1B quarterly revenue in under 2 years. The AI infrastructure play Wall Street is missing. Michael Hurlston took over Lumentum (NASDAQ: LITE) in February 2025. The stock has 10X'd since. In this exclusive interview from the RAISE AI Summit in Paris, he breaks down: → Why copper is dying inside AI data centers (and why he agrees with Jensen Huang) → The $2B Nvidia partnership and why Coherent i…

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  • How Lumentum Became a Critical Piece of the AI Boom | 'The Rundown' ft. Michael Hurlston

    What connects the GPUs, switches, and storage behind the next generation of AI infrastructure? Increasingly, it’s optics. In a new episode of “The Rundown” with Zaid Admani, Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston brings energy and clarity to important shifts happening inside AI data centers, including the transition from copper to optics, and more. Listen to the full conversation to hear how #Lumentum is helping enable the optical layer of AI infrastructure. Check out "The Rundown" on the following channels: 🎙️ Spotify: https://bit.ly/43jr8Aj 🎙️ Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4um47aG ▶️ YouTube:…

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  • UNPRECEDENTED RISE: Lumentum stock SKYROCKETS 1500% in stunning one-year run

    Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss the company’s stock surge, U.S. expansion, and a $600M North Carolina facility creating hundreds of high-skilled jobs. #foxbusiness #morningswithmaria Subscribe to Fox Business: https://bit.ly/2D9Cdse Watch more Fox Business Video: https://video.foxbusiness.com Watch Fox Business Network Live: http://www.foxnewsgo.com/ FOX Business Network (FBN) is a financial news channel delivering real-time information across all platforms that impact both Main Street and Wall Street. Headquartered in New York — the business capital of t…

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  • Lumentum CEO on business: Very much levered to the hyperscalers

    Michael Hurlston, Lumentum CEO, joins 'The Exchange' to discuss the company's quarterly earnings results, clients the company has and much more. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/42d859g » Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision » Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC » Watch CNBC on the go with CNBC+: https://www.cnbc.com/WatchCNBCPlus Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader in business news worldwide. Connect with CNBC News…

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  • $LITE Lumentum Q3 2026 Earnings Conference Call

    05/05/2026 Q&A: 17:59 Lumentum Holdings Inc. manufactures and sells optical and photonic products in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through two segments, Cloud & Networking and Industrial Tech. The Cloud & Networking segment offers optical and photonic chips, components, modules, and subsystems supplied to cloud data center operators, AI/ML infrastructure providers, and network equipment manufacturer customers that are building cloud data centers and network infrastructures. Its Industrial Tech segment provides short-pulse solid-state lasers, k…

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  • ‘ALMOST ALL OF THEM’: CEO drops jaw-dropping claim about hyperscaler dominance

    Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston discusses the acquisition of Qorvo's North Carolina facility to produce advanced lasers, vital for ...

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  • Part 1: How Photonics Will Transform AI Data Centers: Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston

    The Technologists invite Michael Hurlston, CEO and President of Lumentum, on TechStack where we go deep on how high-speed networking and interconnect is undergoing a dramatic transformation with the arrival of optical technology, and how this company is leading that charge for the AI data center. Subscribe to our YouTube channel!    / @technologistsnetwork   Visit us on our website: https://www.thetechnologists.net/ Subscribe to our socials: https://x.com/TechnologistNet https://bsky.app/profile/technologist... https://open.spotify.com/show/1Lw2iVq... https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast..…

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The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →