If you doubt that your photonics research will ever lead to practical commercial outcomes, take heart from Joyce Poon: “I am very happy to see how my group’s research on photonic components and silicon photonics is now being commercialised,” she enthuses. “I first started working on microrings when I was a graduate student some 20 years ago. I was thrilled to hear NVIDIA’s CEO talk about using microrings in its CPO product in March 2025.”