In the debut episode of The Layer 1 Lounge, AOI Chief Financial and Strategy Officer Stefan Murry joins live from OFC 2026 in Los Angeles to explain how the company's optical transceivers stand out in the rapidly growing AI data center market.

AOI was among the first companies to purpose-build optical transceivers specifically for data centers, a bet made over 13 years ago that is now paying off as hyperscalers and enterprise operators race to scale AI infrastructure. What makes AOI different: unlike most transceiver vendors, AOI designs and manufactures its own laser diodes and compound semiconductor wafers in-house and assembles finished products through U.S.-based automated production in Sugar Land, Texas. That vertical integration means tighter quality control, stronger supply chain security, and the ability to meet domestic sourcing requirements increasingly prioritized by hyperscaler procurement teams.

In this Episode:

• AOI's 30-year history and early bet on data center optics
• Why being purpose-built for data centers matters as AI demand surges
• In-house laser diode and wafer fabrication — the supply chain security advantage
• US-based automated manufacturing and what it means for customers
• Demand signals from OFC 2026: stronger than expected
• Serving hyperscalers and enterprise data centers across 30+ countries
• Building AOI's partner and customer ecosystem

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