Nvidia’s Huang commented on copper vs. optics, and the stock market is listening
Optical interconnect stocks are surging Tuesday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made a surprise appearance at Marvell’s Computex 2026 keynote in Taipei and delivered a clear verdict on the future of AI data center connectivity, driving Coherent Inc (NYSE:COHR) up 17.3% to $425.59, Lumentum Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LITE) up 13.3% to $1,025, Corning (NYSE:GLW) up nearly 12% to $197.88, and Ciena Corp (NYSE:CIEN)up over 8% to $616.46.
Huang’s remarks crystallized a hierarchy that Wall Street is now pricing in aggressively. “We should use copper as much as we can, for as long as we can, but copper has its limits,” he said. “The right strategy is to scale up with copper as long as you can — after that you scale up further with optics, you scale out with optics and you scale across with optics. So you use optics wherever you must, you use copper wherever you can.”