{
  "video_id": "reddit_1vrgbt1",
  "channel_slug": "singularity",
  "channel_handle": "r/singularity",
  "title": "One of the few companies making the lasers that move data inside AI data centers just said it's keeping all of them for itself",
  "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/comments/1vrgbt1/one_of_the_few_companies_making_the_lasers_that/",
  "external_url": null,
  "upload_date": "20260818",
  "published_at": "2026-08-18T05:41:01+00:00",
  "transcript": "Coherent, one of a small handful of companies that makes indium phosphide lasers (the light sources that shuttle data between chips optically), [told](https://finance.biggo.com/quote/COHR/earnings-call/US_COHR_2026-08-12) investors it won't sell those lasers to outside customers for the foreseeable future. Its own internal demand is eating 100% of what it can produce.\n\nThis is a different kind of shortage than the HBM one everyone talks about. Memory is a capacity problem you can eventually build your way out of. This is one of the [only suppliers](https://blog.reserve.org/ai-supercycle-weekly-aug-17-2026-99fef4b3281b) of a critical component pulling it off the open market entirely.\n\nIt's a preview of what happens across the whole AI supply chain when everything is scarce at once. \n\nThe most durable moat in AI might turn out to be the least talked-about one.\n\n\n\n--- Top Comments ---\n\n\n[29 upvotes] You've misunderstood this earnings call. They are still shipping more InP lasers than ever, they are just doing so inside their own products. There's no shortage, they are just taking advantage of their position in the market.\n\n[8 upvotes] Hmmm. So when decision making/white collar work becomes cheap and everything becomes contingent on compute/physical stuff this makes sense. \n\n[3 upvotes] China has an enormous population, natural resources, and a decent education system. I'm sure they can deal. The rest of the world would have to set aside professional nationalism and sort of work out something maybe.",
  "transcript_chars": 1520,
  "ingested_at": "2026-08-18T13:30:14.203285+00:00",
  "source": "reddit",
  "yt_meta": {
    "score": 61,
    "upvote_ratio": 0.83,
    "num_comments": 11,
    "author": "Novel-Lifeguard6491",
    "is_self": true
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}