Marvell Technology to acquire Celestial AI for $3.25 billion
Celestial AI is a California-based developer of a disruptive Photonic Fabric technology platform purpose-built for scale-up optical interconnect. This acquisition will help in accelerating Marvell’s connectivity strategy for next-generation AI and cloud data centers.
American chipmaker Marvell Technology has announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire semiconductor startup Celestial AI for approximately USD 3.25 billion.
Celestial AI is a California-based developer of a disruptive Photonic Fabric technology platform purpose-built for scale-up optical interconnect. This acquisition will help in accelerating Marvell’s connectivity strategy for next-generation AI and cloud data centers, Marvell said.
“The acquisition of Celestial AI is a transformative step in Marvell’s evolution and expands our leadership in AI connectivity, as scale-up becomes the next frontier in AI infrastructure,” said Matt Murphy, Chairman and CEO of Marvell. “This builds on our technology leadership, broadens our addressable market in scale-up connectivity, and accelerates our roadmap to deliver the industry’s most complete connectivity platform for AI and cloud customers.”
“AI infrastructure is transforming faster than ever, and the future demands scale-up fabrics that deliver unprecedented bandwidth, power efficiency, and reach,” said Sandeep Bharathi, President, Data Center Group at Marvell. “By combining our UALink scale-up switch roadmap and Celestial AI’s breakthrough optical scale-up interconnect, we will enable customers to build AI systems that scale beyond the limits of copper and redefine what’s possible in AI data center architecture.”
Marvell said it expects meaningful revenue contributions from Celestial AI to begin in the second half of fiscal 2028, reaching a USD 500 million annualized run rate in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2028, doubling to a USD 1 billion run rate by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2029.
“Marvell is the ideal home for our Photonic Fabric, with the scale, customer relationships, and connectivity leadership to take this platform into high-volume production,” said David Lazovsky, Co-Founder and CEO of Celestial AI. “Together with Marvell’s scale-up switching strategy, we’re excited to accelerate the transition to optical scale-up interconnect and expand what next-generation AI infrastructure can achieve.”
Marvell will acquire Celestial AI for upfront consideration valued at approximately USD 3.25 billion, consisting of USD 1 billion in cash, as well as approximately 27.2 million shares of Marvell common stock, having a value of USD 2.25 billion, based on the average volume weighted average price (VWAP) for the 10 trading days ending the second day prior to signing.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of calendar 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, Marvell said.
