3M reached two agreements to scale manufacturing and research and development of its expanded beam optical interconnect products, the company announced this week.
The effort will come through an expanded collaboration with Amazon Web Services and a formed partnership with Taiwan-based Genius Electronic Optical Co., the chemical maker said.
The deals build on 3M’s strategy to invest an undisclosed amount toward expanding its EBO manufacturing capacity that it announced in March. The plan includes adding manufacturing equipment and production space to meet the global demand for high-speed interconnects in artificial intelligence data centers.
3M anticipates EBO portfolio revenue in the $40 million range in 2026 and expects it to increase “considerably” next year between $80 million and $100 million, CEO and Chairman Bill Brown said during 3M’s third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday.
The company has doubled its EBO manufacturing capacity to a little over 10 million ferrules per year, which Brown said will increase over time.
3M is part of an alliance focused on advancing an open, interoperable specification for EBO connectivity products in the AI end-market called the Expanded Beam Optics Multi-Source Agreement Group. The MSA seeks to streamline EBO connectors for wide-scale adoption, according to the website. It also assists in connecting vendors with the supply industry.
3M joined the MSA in May and as of Oct. 15, the group has 63 members, including Microsoft, AMD, Foxconn, Nvidia, Oracle and Meta.
3M teamed up with MSA member Microsoft in July to collaborate on AI data center infrastructure and transforming enterprise technologies.
Amazon Web Services
AWS plans to deploy and ramp up 3M’s EBO platform for its data center infrastructure, according to a press release on Thursday.
The two companies will collaborate to develop data-transfer technologies and critical infrastructure required for artificial intelligence.
3M issued AWS a call warrant to buy up to about 3.2 million of the chemical maker’s shares at a purchase price of $164.89 over seven years, according to an Oct. 19 securities filing.
Amazon will gain full ownership of a certain number of shares once “sales of optical connectivity and other data-center related products” reach $6 billion, Brown said. The securities filing said the remaining warrant shares will be subject to reaching certain goalposts.
The partnership and related investments are expected to support over 500 direct and indirect jobs, and create over 100 jobs through 2027 across 3M’s operations in Minnesota, Texas and Wisconsin, according to the press release.
The jobs will also support customer collaboration, advance technology and supply chain development across 3M’s optical networking portfolio and accelerate industry-wide EBO product adoption.
Genius Electronic Optical
3M’s partnership with GSEO will combine the chemical company’s optical interconnect expertise, materials science, manufacturing and customer relationships with the Taiwan-based entity’s precision optics production capabilities and scale, according to the Oct. 19 press release.
3M and GSEO’s joint effort aims to support EBO commercialization and long-term capacity expansion to meet growing demand for data centers and other connectivity applications, according to a separate press release on Monday. 3M also plans to buy 4.7% of the Taiwan-based optical technology company’s shares, with the deal expected to close in the fourth quarter.
GSEO’s manufacturing capabilities and technical development experience are expected to help 3M prepare its manufacturing process for its EBO ferrules connector, packaged optics, and other related optical interconnect products.
While 3M is scaling up EBO production in-house, Brown said the company would not be able to meet market demand. GSEO has that capacity, and other manufacturing sources may help satisfy the “diversity of supply” over time, the CEO added.
