If I recall the context of the “gargantuan undertaking” statement correctly, it was in relation to the effort of a start-up company to shift the industry to GaAs. I think it was around this time that I was also doing research for an article (that was never published) on the “end of silicon” and a tech exec I interviewed from a well-known company (I won’t name it as I can’t find the quote in my notes) was quite firm that silicon still had a long runway and alternatives such as InP and GaAs would have a role in development of new products but there was no way, in his mind, they were imminently about to overtake silicon. 

 

What POET was doing in 2013-16 was a good news story in the David vs. Goliath sense. It was also a long shot. Long shots do come in now and then, which is why retail investors put money down on a company like pre-2020 POET. Very different story now. The days of this remaining a “pre-revenue company” are dwindling. The reason why is because it surveyed the industry and then “pivoted” to improving existing silicon-based infrastructure without requiring retrofitting or introducing incompatibility issues. Smart approach, and what is looking more and more like brilliant execution.