Listen up you beautiful degenerates.
If you’ve been crying yourself to sleep for missing out on the AI bubble, thinking your only options left are buying Micron FDs or NVDA fractional shares, your salvation has arrived (maybe). It involves Frickin laser beams in space. And it’s probably a key supplier to SpaceX.
Why should you care about LightPath ($LPTH)?
Lightpath makes proprietary BlackDiamond chalcogenide glass optics, which they license exclusively from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. As such, Uncle Sam views LPTH as a key national security asset:
- Germanium: The global defense industry is dangerously dependent on Germanium for high-end infrared and thermal targeting systems. China choked out this supply chain with export controls. LightPath’s BlackDiamond glass is a 100% Germanium-free domestic alternative.
- It is legally mandated: Section 834 of the NDAA mandates that the DoD completely eliminate its reliance on adversarial nations for optical glass by 2030.
- They’re squarely in the crosshairs of the Trump money cannon: The CEO recently confirmed that they are "working very closely with the DoD and Congress appropriations committees for allocation of funds."
“Dominant Position”.
- On the company’s Feb 11 earnings call, the CEO dropped an important hint. He said the company has a “dominant position” in providing optics for optical intersatellite links and are in active discussions with a customer to increase capacity. If you have a dominant position in this market, you naturally must be talking to the biggest fish in the pond. Note that this earnings call occurred just 12 days after SpaceX submitted an FCC filing to launch up to 1 million LEO satellites.
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- To boot, 2 days ago, the US Spaceforce awarded a $2.3B contract to SpaceX to build the backbone of the Space Data Network (SDN). It will be a highly secure, low-latency satellite constellation designed to route data instantly from military sensors to ground combatants using Frickin LASERS.
- Seems like if the government is involved and SpaceX is involved, it’s a safe assumption that there will be beautiful, American made LightPath hardware onboard! Or not, I honestly don’t know. I should remind you that I am literally just as stupid as you, reader of this post.
Modern Warfare Applications.
It doesn’t stop at SpaceX. The company is inserting itself into every other sexy, high-margin defense tech end market, including the other golden goose, Anduril.
- Counter-UAS (anti-drone): Integrated into the USAF Airbase Protection, Anduril Sentry Towers, and Trust Automation systems to track and blind kamikaze drones.
- Space-based missile tracking: Supplying large-diameter optics and infrared payloads for the Space Development Agency to detect and track hypersonic missile threats.
- Naval & missile defense: Lockheed Martin NGSRI Quadstar setup and 360-degree EO/IR tracking for all Navy surface ships via L3Harris.
- Border & Perimeter Security: Serving as a primary supplier for DHS customs and border protection
Data Centers in Space.
- To be honest, the idea that we are going to fix our power grid by blasting H100s into the ether sounds like a tech bro fever dream. But we live in a world where these redacted fantasies move markets. Let’s assume for a moment this actually happens. What will these floating server racks need? Yep, you got it. FRICKIN LASERS. LightPath’s BlackDiamond optical glass can be precision molded into the exact micro-lens arrays needed to connect these devices over thousands of miles. If you’re a US company trying to do this, there’s a good chance you’ll HAVE to use LPTH, or come up with your own alternative at extreme cost and time burn.
But wait, DonnyP, hasn’t it pumped already!?
- I know what you’re going to say. “But Donald, its up 45% YTD and 450% TTM.” And you should know by now that if