Infinera put more than 60 optical components onto a pair of chips about the size of a child's fingernail. Other fiber gear used those parts as separate pieces, wired together. Infinera's photonic integrated circuit, built in indium phosphide, sent and received 100 gigabits a second. In 2007 the company said it was the only large-scale PIC in commercial use anywhere. Phone carriers were buying it to light up their long-haul and metro routes.

Four Years in Stealth

Drew Perkins, Jagdeep Singh and David Welch founded the company in December 2000 as Zepton Networks. It raised its first money in April 2001, just as the telecom bust began. The company stayed quiet until it shipped its first products in 2004. The bet was that integrating optics on a chip would do for fiber networks what the integrated circuit did for electronics in the 1950s. Its DTN system turned those chips into equipment carriers could install.

Nokia Takes the Chip

Infinera sold 14 million shares at $13 in June 2007, raising $182 million, and listed on Nasdaq as INFN. Goldman Sachs led the deal. Infinera bought Transmode of Sweden in 2015 and Coriant in 2018 to grow its reach. In June 2024 Nokia agreed to buy Infinera for $2.3 billion in cash and stock. The deal closed in February 2025, and Infinera's shares left Nasdaq on February 28.

Cover: Sea View, Calm Weather (Vue de mer, temps calme), Édouard Manet. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a calm sea to the horizon (infinity).