AI infrastructure demand is pulling the chipmaker away from legacy broadband and toward high-speed optical chips
MaxLinear just told investors its optical data center business is growing faster than it thought three months ago. The company now expects 2026 revenue from that segment to land between $250 million and $270 million .
That is the second upgrade this year. The low end of the new range sits above the top of the old one.
MaxLinear (NASDAQ: MXL) reported third-quarter 2026 results on October 22, 2026. Alongside the earnings, it lifted the optical data center outlook from a prior estimate of $210 million to $230 million.
That earlier range was itself a raise, set during the second quarter of 2026. So the target has moved up twice in roughly six months.
Total revenue for the third quarter came in at $218.1 million. That marked a 72% jump from the same quarter a year earlier and a 29% gain over the prior quarter.
Infrastructure revenue was the standout line. It reached approximately $125 million in the quarter, up 210% year over year.
The company credited much of the momentum to its high-speed optical DSP products. The workhorse right now is MaxLinear’s Keystone platform, which supports 800G deployments.
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For the fourth quarter of 2026, the company expects revenue between $240 million and $260 million.
The company also guided to a non-GAAP gross margin of 59% to 62% for the fourth quarter.
Further out, MaxLinear is pointing to its next-generation Rushmore DSP platform, built for 1.6T products. The company expects Rushmore to start contributing revenue in the first half of 2027, with stronger performance anticipated in the second half of that year and into 2028.
The company built much of its business on legacy broadband markets. AI infrastructure demand is now steering it toward high-speed optical chips for data centers.
CEO Kishore Seendripu framed the AI data center market as the start of a long-term growth cycle. He also flagged a near-term problem: foundry capacity limitations could act as a hurdle.
Foundry constraints are the kind of issue that can cap upside in a given quarter, even when demand is strong, making manufacturing capacity a key variable to watch.
The Rushmore timeline is the other milestone. Revenue expected in the first half of 2027 gives investors a concrete checkpoint for whether the company can hold its position as the industry moves from 800G to 1.6T.
As infrastructure grows to dominate the revenue mix, MaxLinear’s fortunes become more closely tied to the capital budgets of a relatively small number of very large buyers.