Huagong Tech vs Innolight: Optical & photonic interconnect compared

November 2026 edition · assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence

Innolight ranks 29 on the AI Infra 100 with a score of 94; Huagong Tech ranks 55 with 90. Huagong Tech is ahead on technology. Innolight is ahead on production, positioning and firepower. Level on deployment, commercials, progress and leverage. Huagong Tech is based in Wuhan, China, Innolight in Suzhou, China. Huagong Tech is named in 0 signals and Innolight in 10.

Huagong Tech →

Wuhan, Hubei, China · AI Core · Networking & interconnect / Optical & photonic interconnect · hgtech.com.cn

Huagong Tech sells high-speed optical interconnect modules, including CPO, LPO and silicon-photonics products, and designs silicon-photonics chips.

AI Infra 100 · rank 55 · score 90

Scores, AI Core (of 10)

Deployment10
Production8
Commercials10
Progress8
Technology10
Positioning8
Firepower8
Leverage10

Darker bar: ahead of the other company on that measure.

Positioning

The registry's HG Tech is Huagong Tech, and the optical module business people mean when they say HG Tech is actually HG Genuine, its subsidiary, ranked ninth globally in the top-ten optical module list Accelink cited in its 2025 placement prospectus. FY2025 group revenue was RMB 14.355 billion, up 22.59 percent, with net profit attributable RMB 1.471 billion, up 20.48 percent, and non-recurring-adjusted net profit RMB 1.187 billion, up 32.32 percent. The connectivity (optoelectronic device) segment is the engine: RMB 6.097 billion, up 53.39 percent, now 42.48 percent of group revenue, with segment gross margin up 4.85 points to 13.26 percent on the mix shift into 800G and 1.6T. First-half connectivity revenue alone rose 124 percent to RMB 3.744 billion. The technical record is first-mover rather than fast-follower: world-first 1.6T LPO and 1.6T LRO products and a 1.6T 3nm DSP solution, an industry-first 3.2T CPO solution supporting 51.2T switches and compatible with liquid cooling, and on 2026-03-17 at OFC 2026 HG Genuine joined the XPO MSA as a founding member and launched the world's first 12.8T XPO module, XPO being the new liquid-cooled pluggable optical interconnect standard for hyperscale AI data centers. Stated targets are AI-related revenue above 60 percent and overseas revenue above 30 percent within five years, with silicon photonics, LPO, CPO and NPO pursued in parallel across InP, GaAs and SiP platforms, plus thin-film lithium niobate and quantum dot lasers. Mome

Facts, with sources

  • >500m9fzt.com citing investor relations
  • Overseas revenue target above 30 percent over five years9fzt.com citing investor relations
  • AI-related revenue target above 60 percent over five years9fzt.com citing investor relations

20 facts on file.

Innolight →

Suzhou, Jiangsu, China · AI Core · Networking & interconnect / Optical & photonic interconnect · innolight.com

Innolight develops and sells high-speed optical transceiver modules, including 800G and 1.6T, and silicon photonics chips for data-center and AI-cluster interconnects.

AI Infra 100 · rank 29 · score 94

Scores, AI Core (of 10)

Deployment10
Production10
Commercials10
Progress8
Technology8
Positioning10
Firepower10
Leverage10

Darker bar: ahead of the other company on that measure.

Positioning

Innolight (Zhongji Innolight, SZSE 300308) is the largest optical transceiver maker in the world and the single most important name previously absent from the registry's interconnect coverage. FY2024 revenue RMB 23.86bn (up 122.6 percent), net profit RMB 5.17bn (up 137.9 percent); FY2025 revenue RMB 38.24bn (up 60.3 percent), net profit up 108.8 percent, transceiver gross margin rising 34.65 to 42.61 percent. Q1 2026 was extraordinary: revenue RMB 19.5bn (USD 2.9bn, up 192 percent), net profit RMB 5.7bn (USD 850m, up 262 percent) at a record 46 percent gross margin, that single quarter's profit exceeding all of 2024. Overseas revenue, predominantly North America, is above 86 percent. It shipped roughly 3 million 1.6T units in FY2025 for more than 50 percent global share and locked up around 70 percent of Lumentum's 12-million-unit EML chip capacity; about 35 percent of 800G shipments in 2026. The most diversified of the Chinese three: self-developed silicon photonics chips at 95 percent yield cutting costs 30 percent, 1.6T already shipping on silicon photonics, plus active NPO, CPO and optical circuit switching. Momentum is 4 rather than 5 because it was added to a Pentagon list, and CPO is a structural threat to the pluggable model even if large-scale replacement is seen as distant. Named customers NVIDIA, Google and Microsoft.

Latest signals

  • Chinese optical communications suppliers sold off despite upbeat third-quarter earnings.SCMP Tech
  • InnoLight Technology completed its RMB 1.747 billion purchase of a 10.47% stake in Beijing Zhongshi Technology.Yicai
  • Zhongji Innolight completed its acquisition of a 10.47% stake in Zhongshi Technology.Yicai

10 signals name Innolight.

Facts, with sources

  • >500mrsshub.bkraju.com — 2026-09-18
  • Largest agrivoltaic installation in Switzerlandt3n.de — 2026-09-15
  • Added to a Pentagon list, creating a material geopolitical setback for a supplier with more than 86% overseas revenue predominantly from North Americahellochinatech.com

11 facts on file.

More comparisons

Questions this page answers

Huagong Tech or Innolight: which is ahead in ai core?

Innolight ranks 29 on the AI Infra 100 with a score of 94; Huagong Tech ranks 55 with 90. Huagong Tech is ahead on technology. Innolight is ahead on production, positioning and firepower. Level on deployment, commercials, progress and leverage. Huagong Tech is based in Wuhan, China, Innolight in Suzhou, China. Huagong Tech is named in 0 signals and Innolight in 10.

How do Huagong Tech and Innolight compare?

Innolight ranks 29 on the AI Infra 100 with a score of 94; Huagong Tech ranks 55 with 90. Huagong Tech is ahead on technology. Innolight is ahead on production, positioning and firepower. Level on deployment, commercials, progress and leverage. Huagong Tech is based in Wuhan, China, Innolight in Suzhou, China. Huagong Tech is named in 0 signals and Innolight in 10. Both company files carry the scores on eight measures, the facts with sources and the latest signals.

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