Chip giant Nvidia joined Coherent Corp on Wednesday, 18 June 2026, to mark the expansion of advanced photonics manufacturing capacity in Sherman, Texas, with Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang and Coherent Corp CEO Jim Anderson appearing alongside local leaders at the event.

Context

The event in Sherman, Texas centred on the scaling up of domestic production of photonics components — the lasers and optical links that carry data at high speed across modern AI infrastructure. Nvidia's post stated plainly: 'AI infrastructure runs on more than compute. It runs on light.' The remark underscores how optical interconnects, not just silicon chips, are now considered critical to the performance of large-scale AI systems.

Coherent Corp is a global supplier of photonics, lasers, and optical materials used in data communications. Its CEO, Jim Anderson, co-hosted the ceremony alongside Jensen Huang, signalling a deepening alignment between the two companies on AI hardware supply chains.

Policy Backdrop

The Sherman expansion fits squarely within the industrial policy push set in motion by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which created federal incentives for domestic production of semiconductors and advanced manufacturing technologies. Photonics components, which enable the high-bandwidth optical interconnects required by large GPU clusters, fall within the broader category of critical hardware that US policymakers have sought to reshore.

The legislation has catalysed a wave of private-sector investments across the United States, with companies in chips, packaging, and now optical components announcing or expanding domestic facilities. Sherman, Texas has emerged as one of the beneficiaries of this trend, having previously attracted semiconductor-adjacent investments to its industrial base in North Texas.

Stakeholders and Impact

For US data-centre operators and AI infrastructure builders, domestic photonics capacity reduces dependence on overseas suppliers for components that are as essential to system performance as the GPUs themselves. High-bandwidth optical links are the arteries of any large-scale AI cluster, and supply-chain disruptions in this segment can bottleneck entire deployments.

Nvidia, whose accelerators power the majority of commercial AI training and inference workloads globally, has a direct interest in ensuring that the full stack of AI infrastructure — from compute to connectivity — is reliably sourced. The company's visible presence at the Coherent Corp event signals that it views photonics supply as strategically important, not merely incidental.

For Sherman and the broader North Texas region, the expansion represents manufacturing jobs and investment in a specialised, high-value industrial segment. Local leaders joining Huang and Anderson at the event reflects the economic significance the city attaches to the facility.

What's Next

Analysts and industry observers will watch for further site expansions by Coherent Corp, additional supplier announcements from Nvidia's hardware ecosystem, and any federal funding awards under CHIPS Act provisions that could extend to photonics or optical-component facilities. The Sherman event may also accelerate similar moves by competing optical-component suppliers seeking to position themselves as preferred domestic vendors for AI infrastructure projects.