Marvell Technology has completed its acquisition of Celestial AI, marking a strategic expansion in optical interconnect technologies for artificial intelligence and cloud data centers.
The deal brings Celestial AI’s Photonic Fabric technology into Marvell’s portfolio. The platform is designed to enable high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity across large-scale AI systems. As AI models grow larger and more complex, efficient data movement has become a critical challenge for data center operators.
Marvell said the acquisition strengthens its position across key interconnect technologies needed for next-generation AI architectures. Optical scale-up connectivity is increasingly important as workloads demand faster communication between processors, accelerators, and memory. The company views this segment as a new and incremental growth opportunity.
“Celestial AI will enable us to advance Marvell’s long-term strategy to deliver comprehensive data infrastructure platforms,” said Matt Murphy, chairman and chief executive officer of Marvell. He said customers building advanced AI systems are looking for innovative connectivity solutions that balance performance, latency, and power efficiency. Celestial AI’s technology is expected to complement Marvell’s existing offerings in networking, custom silicon, and data center connectivity.
Celestial AI’s technology and engineering teams will now operate within Marvell’s Data Center Group. The integration is intended to strengthen Marvell’s end-to-end capabilities for AI-focused data center deployments, from compute to interconnect.
Marvell also outlined the expected financial impact of the acquisition. Revenue contributions from Celestial AI are expected to begin in the second half of fiscal 2028. The company expects revenue to reach an annualized run rate of about $500 million by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2028. This is projected to grow to a $1 billion annualized run rate by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2029.
The acquisition is expected to add approximately $50 million in annual non-GAAP operating expenses. Marvell’s cash balance declined by $1 billion following the transaction. This is expected to reduce annual interest income by around $38 million. The company also issued equity to complete the deal, increasing diluted weighted-average shares outstanding by about 27 million shares.
The acquisition highlights Marvell’s continued focus on AI-driven data infrastructure. The company is positioning itself to meet rising demand from hyperscale and cloud customers building next-generation AI systems.
