🚀 PhotonCap: Opening the Space - Technical Depth Meets Market Insight
Photonics • Quantum • Semiconductor • Engineering • Public tech insights & investment
December 6, 2025
Hello, and welcome to the launch of the PhotonCap space.
I’m a semiconductor engineer and deep-tech analyst active in Silicon Valley. Over the past decade, my work has spanned various hardware technologies, grounded in electrical engineering and photonics. This includes silicon photonics, optical packaging, optical interconnects for data centers, the foundry ecosystem, and quantum systems.
This Substack is designed for those who seek to understand both the technology and the market simultaneously. I’ve shared brief thoughts and analyses on X, and the strong engagement has motivated me to begin this journey of delivering deeper, more structured content.
🤔 Why Create This Space?
When observing market analysis in the deep-tech sector, you often find descriptions written without a sufficient understanding of the underlying technology. Conversely, engineering articles may only cover corporate strategy or market structure superficially.
The PhotonCap Substack is an attempt to bridge that gap.
We aim for a space that does not separate technical facts from industrial structure, but rather meticulously explains how real physical and manufacturing constraints shape corporate strategy and market trends. The goal here is not to simplify complex technology. Instead, we strive to maintain depth while clearly extracting only the elements essential for market participants.
📚 What Content Will Be Covered?
Photonics and Optical Interconnects
Structural shifts like data center optical engines, silicon photonics processes, optical packaging, lasers, modulators, and Co-Packaged Optics (CPO).
AI Infrastructure
Accelerators, High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM), networking, switch architectures, power budget and thermal design, and the technical changes driven by data center bottlenecks.
📈 Semiconductor and Deep-Tech Corporate Analysis
Technology-based competitiveness and future strategic positioning of companies like NVIDIA ($NVDA), AMD ($AMD), Broadcom ($AVGO), Marvell Technology ($MRVL), GlobalFoundries ($GFS), Tower Semiconductor ($TSEM), Credo Technology ($CRDO), Astera Labs ($ALAB), POET Technologies ($POET), Aeluma, Inc. ($ALMU), Coherent Corp. ($COHR), Lumentum Holdings ($LITE), Lightwave Logic ($LWLG), Aeva Technologies ($AEVA), Innoviz Technologies ($INVZ), and others.
⚛️ Quantum Technology
Comparison of architectures, technical summary of key papers, and exploration of the scalability of quantum computing and technologies.
This section will cover the technical landscape and strategic positioning of key players, including:
Publicly Traded Quantum Companies: IonQ ($IONQ), D-Wave Quantum ($QBTS), Rigetti Computing ($RGTI), Quantum Computing Inc. ($QUBT).
Major Technology Developers: IBM ($IBM), Microsoft ($MSFT), Alphabet (Google) ($GOOG), Honeywell ($HON), Amazon ($AMZN).
Key Private Innovators: PsiQuantum (Photonics), Xanadu (Photonics), Alice & Bob (Superconducting), QuEra Computing (Neutral Atom).
Technical Commentary and Market Observations
Short, focused comments, technical pros/cons comparisons between companies, and structural changes within various industries.
🎯 Our Intended Audience
Investors seeking a deep understanding of semiconductor and AI infrastructure.
Engineers and Researchers in the photonics and HPC sectors.
Research Analysts looking for accurate, technology-driven analysis.
Founders and Practitioners building deep-tech products and systems.
Anyone curious about how technology moves the market.
This space aims to explain as clearly as possible without compromising the depth of knowledge.
✅ Why Subscribe?
The growth of the computing industry can no longer be explained solely by software innovation. Physical factors—such as interconnect density, packaging technology, material and process constraints, cooling and power limitations, latency, and bandwidth—determine the speed of growth.
A precise understanding of these elements provides significant assistance in predicting:
Future shifts in corporate strategy.
Product structures.
CAPEX directions.
The market’s next cycle.
Based on my engineering experience from the field and my technology-driven analysis, I aim to pinpoint the crucial areas often overlooked by the market.
💡 Upcoming Content Offerings
The content offered by PhotonCap will be introduced across two main categories: Free Posts and Future Expansion.
Free Posts
Initial free content will focus on building a strong foundation of knowledge and timely insights, including:
Market Commentary
Technology Explanations
Research Paper Analysis
Latest Trends in Semiconductors and Photonics
Short, Insightful Observations and Interpretations
Future Expansion
In the future, the scope will be expanded to include more in-depth and structured research formats such as:
In-Depth Research Notes
Industry Structure Analysis and Corporate Mapping
AI Infrastructure Weekly Briefing
Deep Dive Analysis of Photonics Companies
Reader Q&A Summaries
The introduction of paid content is planned in a phased approach after a sufficient foundation of material has been established.
📝 A Final Note
Before launching this Substack, I posted my first thought on X on September 24, 2025. It was a brief comment on POET Technologies Inc. Over the past 70 days, I have shared various perspectives on silicon photonics, Quantum, AI, national policy, and technological shifts, and now have over 6,400 followers as of today.
With the increasing number of people resonating with technology-driven analysis, I felt the need for a new platform to provide deeper, more structured research.
This Substack is not a trading service or an investment advisory platform. All content discussed here is based on credible public data and research informed by technical understanding. When citing or using this content, please reconfirm the facts, and contact me in advance for any commercial use.
Thank you again to all early subscribers. I hope this space proves valuable for your understanding and decision-making.
PhotonCap
Intriguing; trying to bridge the gap between deep-tech engineerign and market strategy is a big ask, but one well worth making.