When Cars Meet “Light”: A Dark Layout of AI Infrastructure Behind Botai Auto Federation's (02889) Acquisition

The Zhitong Finance App learned that a company that makes smart cabins and AI applications should buy an optical communication chip company? The answer handed over by Botai Auto Federation (02889) is hidden in the AI big model's “hunger” for data transmission. On August 7, the company announced the acquisition of about 70% of Chengdu Mingyi's shares. The latter is one of the few domestic Fabless design companies that produce single-wave 100G TIA chips. The products have entered the AI server 400G/800G optical module supply chain.

This is not a simple extension of the industrial chain. If you compare the computing power of the AI era to an engine, data transmission is an oil pipeline. As the desire for bandwidth and low latency for large-scale model training grows exponentially, optical communication chips — TIA, Drivers, and CDRs, “signal engines” responsible for signal shaping, amplification, and clock recovery, are changing from supporting roles in the industrial chain to leading actors.

Buy a “now”: a ticket to the AI server supply chain

What are the colors of the Chengdu Mingyi? Several key data can outline the outline: the proportion of self-developed core technology exceeds 95%. At the same time, the company and its customer team are currently one of the few domestic enterprises that can achieve mass production and delivery of single-wave 100G TIA chips.

What does that mean? Currently, the mainstream optical module rate in AI data centers is shifting from 400G to 800G, and single-channel 100G electronic chips are standard. Chengdu Mingyi has entered the mainstream domestic optical module manufacturer system and is used in AI server scenarios. The single-channel 200G TIA chip being developed by the company is expected to be applied with customers in 2027.

The target company's financial data also gave a positive signal: the target company achieved operating income of about 305 million yuan in 2025; at the same time, benefiting from revenue growth, increased gross margin, and cost structure optimization, it is approaching the break-even point. As of the end of 2025, the company's unaudited consolidated net assets were approximately RMB 242 million.

Buying a “future”: the trillion-dollar imagination of in-vehicle optical communication

What is more noteworthy about this deal is the apparently remote but clear industrial extension line between Botai Auto Union and Chengdu Mingyi.

Botai Auto Connect's “soft and hard core cloud” strategy focuses on establishing technical barriers in fields such as smart cockpits, in-vehicle AI agents, and physical AI world models. And the evolution of these scenarios — from L4 autonomous driving, from voice interaction to multi-modal real-time sensing — is driving explosive growth in demand for in-vehicle data transmission. As the data throughput of a smart car begins to match that of a small data center, the migration of optical communication technology from AI servers to in-vehicle scenarios is “sooner or later.”

According to reports, the target company has already begun preliminary research on automotive optical communication electronic chips. Botai Auto Union's acquisition is actually an advance card for the automotive optical communication market in 3 to 5 years—not only a target, but also a ticket to the underlying architecture of future smart cars.

Buying a “scarce”: domestic replacement time window for electric chips

From a broader industrial perspective, the timing of this deal is also noteworthy.

Looking at the industrial background, as the AI model enters the trillion-parameter era, the computing power bottleneck is shifting from GPUs to interconnection links, and optical interconnection has become the key to releasing the effective computing power of the system. High-speed optical interconnections within cabinets and all-optical networks between cabinets have become the core infrastructure of intelligent computing centers. The national level clearly supports the deployment of supernode optical interconnects, driving the continuous rise in demand for optical communication electronics chips. More critical data is that in the 25G and above high-speed electronic chip market, Chinese manufacturers account for only about 7% of global revenue. Meanwhile, in the field of downstream optical modules, Chinese manufacturers already occupy seven of the top ten seats in the world.

This mismatch is itself a definitive alternative space in the context of semiconductors being autonomous and controllable. Coupled with the acceleration of AI data center construction and the advancement of 6G pre-research, domestic electronic chip manufacturers are in a window where the triple dividends of policy, demand, and supply chain meet.

The market is also quite generous in pricing this track. From a global perspective, the market capitalization of MACOM and Semtech, the leading optical communication chips, is around 100 billion yuan. Domestic optical chip-related targets have also enjoyed a significant scarcity premium — the three optical chip companies, Yuanjie Technology, Shijia Photonics, and Changguang Huaxin, recently had an average PS close to 40 times, with an average PE of more than 100 times; and as Youxun shares, which is also an optical communications electronics chip company, their PE is more than 150 times higher. What is behind this is the market's collective vote on “AI+ Light”, a deterministic growth logic.

The other side of the deal: collaboration is the real safety cushion

Acquisitions are easy and integration is difficult. This is the iron law of industrial mergers and acquisitions. In this transaction plan, several designs are worthy of recognition: Botai Auto Federation will appoint the chairman, financial director, and directors of the target company to issue a continuous service commitment letter, and core personnel to sign anti-competition and intellectual property ownership agreements.

These arrangements point to the same goal: to both “manage” and “let go.” Let the founding team maintain operational autonomy while ensuring that strategic direction is not deviated or core technology is not lost. For a chip design company with “people” and “IP” as core assets, this balance is more important than the valuation itself.

Many people in the semiconductor industry believe that the logic of Botai Auto Union's acquisition this time is clear: at a historical point where AI and the automotive industry are being accelerated, a scarce technology platform and customer resources can be obtained at a reasonable price to reserve core capabilities for the next stage of industrial upgrading.

The acquisition hit the start button, but whether this deal can eventually move from “cooperation” at the capital level to “integration” at the business level, from an announcement to real industrial competitiveness, the market still has to wait for the next execution questionnaire.