MaxLinear: the optical chip ramp is real, the balance sheet is thin

Infrastructure sales up 210%, a $250M guide, orders booked into 2028. But operating cash is negative, cash is $81M, and an arbitration still hangs over it.

By A (Akash Chaudhari), 2026-11-04

Price is the Nov 3 close. Research only, not advice.

Close Nov 3$63.9752-week range $12.77–128.30
Market cap~$5.8B91.0M shares; Q4 diluted 99.7M
Net debt~$84M$165M debt vs $81M cash
Q4 guide$240–260M+83% y/y at the midpoint
Infrastructure+210%Q3, now 57% of revenue
9M operating cash−$17.7MWafer prepayments and inventory

The print: optics carry the company

Quarterly revenue$M; Q4 26 is the guide midpoint
Q3 25
Q4 25
Q1 26
Q2 26
$218M
Q3 26▲ 29%
Q4 26G
Flat for three quarters, then a step up
Q3 2026 revenue by segment$M, change y/y
Infrastructure
$125M
+210%
Broadband
$53.3M
−8%
Connectivity
$24.7M
+30%
Industrial and multi-market
$15.1M
+69%

The engine is Keystone, a 5nm PAM4 DSP at 100G per lane that sits in 800G optical transceivers. Management says it "continues to ramp rapidly in high volume production across multiple hyperscalers". Next is Rushmore at 200G per lane for 1.6T modules, in qualification for 2027 production. The CEO's target for the 1.6T cycle: "get to 20% to 30%" share.

Operating leverage showed up fast. Non-GAAP operating margin went from 12.1% a year ago to 29.5%. GAAP operating margin went from −32.7% to +13.9%.

Sources