Marvell Reaches $115 Billion Deal for Lumentum Holdings

Marvell Technology Inc. has reached a deal to buy data center optics maker Lumentum Holdings Inc. at an enterprise value of $115 billion, one of the biggest tech tie-ups ever, in a race to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom.

The all-stock transaction will give Marvell shareholders 67% of the combined company, according to a statement confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report that the two Silicon Valley companies were nearing a pact.

On an equity basis, it’s the top M&A deal of the year and the largest ever in the global tech sector, excluding the SpaceX-xAI merger, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The transaction shows how AI is driving deals across almost all major sectors and regions, from chipmakers and other specialist tech suppliers, to data center operators and power utilities.

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Lumentum shares closed at $840.70 on Friday after gaining 128% this year, giving the San Jose-based company a market value of about $76 billion. Marvell, up 131% this year, was valued at $172.2 billion on Friday.

Lumentum makes lasers and other optical technology for moving enormous amounts of data at high speeds. That hardware underpins the AI boom, as it lets data centers and telecommunications firms move information between servers, facilities and other destinations.

Marvell already purchases laser technology from Lumentum, and the larger company has been increasing its bets on optical and photonic technology for connecting data center gear. Earlier this year, Marvell purchased photonics maker Celestial AI.

Nvidia Corp. announced an agreement to take a $2 billion stake in Lumentum in March as part of a deal that included collaboration on photonics, which use light instead of traditional copper wiring to move data faster and more efficiently.

Marvell also works with Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud unit and Microsoft Corp. to help build custom AI chips. In August, the company struck a chip deal with Alphabet Inc.’s Google to support Google’s tensor processing units.