POET Technologies, Inc. ( POET ) shares are trading higher on Friday after the company announced it signed an agreement to develop a novel optical engine for a global capital markets firm.

What To Know: The firm plans to use the optical engine for high-frequency securities trading. High-frequency trading involves automated systems that use powerful computers to execute a large volume of trades in fractions of a second.

The development of the optical engine will be carried out in multiple phases, with the goal of increasing speed and reducing latency in the current transceiver solutions used in high-frequency securities trading operations.

Phase one will begin immediately, with POET focused on designing prototypes of POET Optical Interposer-based transceiver engines built to meet the customer's specifications. Subsequent phases will involve the creation of additional prototypes and, if successful, the production of optical engines customized to meet the financial sector’s needs.

“We are delighted to have embarked on this ambitious project with a global leader in HFT,” commented Raju Kankipati, Chief Revenue Officer of POET. “This project generates revenue for POET this year and demonstrates the versatility of the POET Optical Interposer and the entry into a new, related market space by the Company.”

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POET Price Action: At the time of publication, POET stock is trading 6.92% higher at $4.983, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Image: This illustration was generated using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.