Opinion: SpaceX IPO makes Elon Musk the first trillionaire. Here’s how to properly hate him theglobeandmail.com/business…

I got a tour of @XanaduAI’s quantum computing lab from founder & CEO Christian Weedbrook @_cweedbrook after recording a podcast episode with him. ⚛️ One of the highlights was seeing Aurora, Xanadu’s latest photonic quantum computer. A few years ago, Borealis achieved quantum computational advantage. 👉According to Xanadu’s Nature paper, it performed a specialized quantum computation in 36 microseconds that researchers estimated would take classical supercomputers roughly 9,000 years to reproduce exactly. ✅Aurora is the next step: demonstrating a scalable, networked, and modular architecture for future quantum computers. Pretty wild that some of the world’s most advanced quantum computing technology is being built right here in Canada 🇨🇦🙌 #quantum #quantumcomputer #quantumcomputing #ai #robotics #tech #deeptech #bitcoin #future #canada #innovation #founder #entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #xanadu #physics youtu.be/hK9QZ184VhM?feature…

Had an awesome conversation with Christian Weedbrook @_cweedbrook, founder and CEO of @XanaduAI, on the latest episode of Original & Unconventional @oaupod. We talked about: 👉 Christian’s unconventional journey — from film school dropout to physicist, and now founder and CEO of one of the world’s leading quantum computing companies. 👉 Quantum computing and the future of technology 👉 Whether Canada is prepared for the age of quantum computers 👉 The opportunities and risks that come with this technology 👉 The realities of building a deep-tech company 👉 How life has changed since Xanadu went public in March 👉 What becomes possible when humanity gains an entirely new computational paradigm As a bonus, Christian gave us a tour of the lab where Xanadu’s quantum computer is located… pictured here 👇 Looking forward to sharing the full episode soon.🙌 In the meantime, subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the notification bell 🔔 so you don’t miss this episode when it drops. 🔗 youtube.com/@originalandunco… #quantum #quantumcomputer #ai #deeptech #canada #toronto #tech #robotics #science #stem

Quantum computing could be just as transformative as AI – so why isn't quantum literacy part of Canada’s AI strategy? In his latest op-ed for The Globe and Mail (@globeandmail), Christian Weedbrook (@_cweedbrook), Founder and CEO of Xanadu, explains why we must prepare our economy for the next phase of technological progress today, rather than playing catch-up tomorrow. 🔗👇

Seize the quantum future – or let the U.S. own it. Which way, Canada? theglobeandmail.com/business…

🚀 The only career advice you need: The actor Glen Powell auditioned to play Rooster in Top Gun: Maverick. When the role was given to Miles Teller, Powell was devastated. He was offered a smaller role, but declined. Tom Cruise summoned Powell to his house and asked him: “What kind of career do you want?” Powell responded: “I want to be like you—an iconic movie star. You always choose great roles.” Cruise shook his head. “You’re wrong. I choose great movies, then I make the role great.” Powell got the message. He accepted the role of Hangman—and nailed it. Now Powell says: “It changed the trajectory of my career.” When young people ask me for career advice, I tell them something similar: 🚀 Attach yourself to a rocketship. Join companies that are growing quickly. Work with people who are going places. Be part of something great. Play your role—no matter how minor—exceptionally well. The rest will take care of itself. P.S. I don't write engagement bait, so I need your help to spread the word. If you enjoyed this post, would you like, comment, and repost?

Copper can't keep up with AI. That's not an opinion, it's physics. Every data center being built right now is replacing electrical connections with light. NVIDIA confirmed it with $4.5 billion in direct investment. I mapped 25 public companies across the photonics value chain: Every AI cluster being built today hits the same wall. A hundred thousand GPUs mean nothing if the data can't move between them fast enough. Copper maxed out years ago and photonics replaced it: lasers, optical fiber, and transceivers that push data at the speed of light. The AI transceiver market doubled in two years. NVIDIA committed $4.5 billion across three photonics companies this year alone. This is where the infrastructure money is going. Here's the full value chain: 🔬 MATERIALS & WAFERS This is the bottom of the chain. Every laser and transceiver starts as a wafer substrate: indium phosphide, gallium arsenide, germanium, specialty glass. Nobody above this layer can produce anything without these inputs, and right now the most critical one, indium phosphide, is the tightest material in the entire AI supply chain. The gap between demand and capacity is getting worse, not better. I think this is the most asymmetric layer on the map. Investors chase the transceiver companies and ignore who grows the substrates underneath them. But NVIDIA is writing checks worth billions in cash and warrants to lock up supply from this exact layer. First link in the chain, last to get attention, and the one that chokes everything above it if it breaks. Tickers: $GLW, $AXTI, $IQE, $AIXA, $AMS 💡 CORE PHOTONIC DEVICES This layer converts electricity into light and back. Without it, zero data moves through fiber. NVIDIA dropped $4 billion into two companies here this year just to secure production capacity, and both of them joined the S&P 500 within weeks of each other. That should tell you how fast this went from niche to essential. The supply gap is not closing. The companies shipping next gen lasers at volume can be counted on one hand, and switching suppliers takes years of requalification. Order books stretch past twelve months. Every next generation GPU cluster consumes more of these components than the last, and no one can substitute them on short notice. I watch this layer more closely than any other. Tickers: $IPGP, $COHR, $LITE, $LASR, $SIVE 🔌 COMPONENTS & MODULES The companies here take raw lasers and detectors, package them into finished transceivers and modules, and ship them straight to hyperscalers. If the layers below are the engine, this is the vehicle that actually reaches the customer. Hyperscaler purchase orders land here. The revenue acceleration shows up here first. What I like about this layer is that you can underwrite it today, not in two years. These are businesses with signed capacity commitments and product already moving. The consolidation angle matters too: larger photonics players have already started absorbing standalone module companies, and whoever remains independent gains pricing power as options thin out. Tickers: $AAOI, $MTSI, $VIAV, $LPTH ⚙️ SYSTEMS & EQUIPMENT No company above this layer can manufacture a single photonic component without the machines built here. One of these names holds 100% of the EUV lithography market with zero competitors. Others supply the bonding equipment for co packaged optics or the process control instruments used across the majority of advanced packaging lines. If photonics is the gold rush, this is the layer selling the picks. My honest take: this is where the smart, patient capital parks. Equipment companies have pricing power and multi year order books that generate cash through full capex cycles. They attract holders who don't panic on the first pullback. The stocks don't run 1,000% overnight, but they compound while everything above them swings, and that tradeoff is worth more than most people give it credit for. Tickers: $ASML, $BESI, $ASM, $LPKF, $MKSI 🔍 TEST, METROLOGY & YIELD The most ignored layer on this map, and arguably the one with the cleanest business model. Every wafer, laser, and transceiver has to be tested and verified before it ships. As speeds climb and photonic devices get more complex, the testing challenge compounds fast. The industry is now constrained not only by what it can build but by what it can prove actually works. Yield is money. Better defect detection means better margins for every company upstream, which is why foundries keep buying test equipment even when they slash budgets everywhere else. These are capital light businesses tied to every unit of production across the chain. Last check before product hits the customer, and one of the few layers where demand doesn't cycle down when the rest of semis softens. Tickers: $CAMT, $FORM, $AEHR, $ONTO, $VIAV 🧠FINAL THOUGHTS The NVIDIA capital concentration tells the whole story. One company wrote $4.5 billion in checks to three photonics suppliers in a single quarter. That is a company locking down the one input that could bottleneck its GPU deployments: the optical interconnect. Returns across this sector have been historic over the past twelve months. But separate the revenue growers from the narrative trades. Some of these companies are printing real quarterly numbers that would impress in any sector. Others are carrying multi billion dollar market caps on sub $100 million in annual revenue. Same sector, wildly different risk. Every generation of AI infrastructure from here forward needs more photonics. Not less. The copper to light transition inside data centers is early. Co packaged optics is barely in deployment, and 1.6T transceivers are ramping with 3.2T already on roadmaps. The chain locks together: stress on any single link reprices every link above it.

BREAKING: QUANTINUUM $QNT JUST OPENED AT $68 IN ITS NASDAQ DEBUT VS A $60 IPO PRICE A 13.3% pop on the open. The math: - IPO valuation: roughly $15.6B - Opening valuation at $68: roughly $17.68B - Demand was oversubscribed 20x heading into the deal, per Bloomberg The first quantum pure-play to go public via traditional IPO is now open and trading.

Guess what Trapped-ion-based QC $QNT (Quantinuum Icn.) also leverages photonics. You can find photonics here and there...🤭