Rainbow Rare Earths Phalaborwa project shaping up to be one of the lowest cost producers globally. Watch the video here.
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Alphawave has all building blocks (PCIe/CXL controller and PHY) needed for similar products of Astera Labs, DSP retimers, specifically. I believe the logic design inside should not very challenging. Any insight why Alphawave was not going?
Comparing the technical products between these two companies is something I haven't as yet got fully to grips with.
It's true that they both offer high speed connectivity using the same protocols PCIe / CXL etc.
Astera Labs mainly offer retimers while Alphawave don't as far as I can tell.
When high speed data is transmitted over certain distances the signal quality deteriorates and retimers are devices that essentially clean up the data signal. It achieves this by amplification and then retransmitting a new copy of the signal. Market demand for retimers has been increasing as data quantity and speeds have been increasing over time.
Astera Labs have taken the approach of also offering a packaged software product called COSMOS which is designed to work with their full range of retimer products to provide a full suite of diagnostics and telemetry features enabling operators to optimize the data transfer performance.
Software is something that Alphawave don't do as far as I understand it. Yes they offer various PHY for SerDes, PCIe, UCIe die to die and HBM. They also offer the controllers and subsystems for these protocols including ethernet. The software for these however comes from elsewhere. This is more a case of allowing operators the flexibility to select the software product of their own choosing.
If I have understood correctly, it's possible that Alphawave's high end connectivity IP products achieve similar levels of high quality high speed data connectivity without the need for retimers and hence the possible reason they don't offer them as hinted in one of their press releases on their partnership with Nubis. Or, it is simply that it's a component that their customers incorporate from another of their partners elsewhere particularly in custom silicon designs.
While Astera Labs now have a ton of IPO money to invest into their business, their focus until now has only been in their retimer range with controllers and optimization software. No chiplets or custom silicon or opto-electronic investment on the horizon as yet. Astera Labs growth prospects stem from the partnerships they have with Amazon and Nvidia. At the current ridiculously high share price however and P/S ratio two to three times higher than their NASDAQ competitors I don't personally see them as an attractive prospect at this time.
Meanwhile, Alphawave's future is quite promising and currently generating more than three times the revenue of Astera Labs. They have an array of high profile partnerships including the multi hundred million dollar prospect with Amazon AWS which should hopefully see a range of opto-electronic products set for delivery this year. The current share price and P/S ratio being only half to a third of that of its NASDAQ competitors still makes it a far more compelling investment prospect.
Hi BlueRaphus you mentioned in your last post the multi hundred million dollar prospect with AWS - have AWE issued a press release regarding this?
Thanks
They issued an RNS back on 13th October 2022 which relates to the acquisition of Banias Labs and the non-binding framework agreement with the hyperscaler.
https://tools.eurolandir.com/tools/Pressreleases/GetPressRelease/?ID=4173559&lang=en-GB&companycode=uk-alpw&v=
"The Company expects the ramp of new Optical products to start in 2024 and profitability to improve from 2023 levels as products go into high-volume production and generate additional revenue. Alphawave anticipates additional revenue synergies given the complementary nature of the technology and its contribution to the product roadmap."
"The non-binding purchasing framework agreement defines a potential portfolio of optical DSPs, including coherent solutions based on Banias technology, that Alphawave intends to develop over the next several years. The Company anticipates ramping up sales to the leading hyperscaler over a multi-year period, with the potential for aggregate sales to exceed US$300 million, subject to the Company qualifying the products for use in the hyperscaler's data centers on a timely basis and ensuring sufficient silicon availability to meet its usage demands."
"In addition, the non-binding framework agreement contemplates the Company issuing future stock warrants of up to 2.5% of the issued share capital of the Company, with vesting based on purchases of Alphawave silicon products of up to US$700 million over the same period, and an exercise price based on the current trading price of the Company's shares, subject to downward adjustment if the Company's shares trade lower prior to issuance. The Company intends to solicit all required shareholder approvals, ahead of finalizing any warrant grants, which are not expected until at least 2024."
I've named the hyperscaler because it's been mentioned several times in posts by a number of well respected semiconductor bloggers including Semi Analysis and Fabricated Knowledge.