Kopin Corp. (Nasdaq: KOPN)—a Massachusetts-based provider of application-specific optical systems and high-performance microdisplays for defense, training, enterprise, industrial, consumer and medical products—has announced plans to open a new Optics and Photonics Design Center in Dallas. The center aims to further expand Kopin’s U.S.‑based engineering footprint and accelerate development of next‑generation Neural I/o technology for the fast-growing AI infrastructure market.
Slated to open by the end of 2026, the Dallas facility will serve as a hub for advanced research, design engineering, and small‑scale manufacturing, Kopin said. The center will include new optics and photonics lab space; a dedicated design and engineering center; advanced R&D capabilities focused on Neural I/o; and manufacturing capacity for Neural I/o and ASOS systems.
The Dallas center will also feature expertise across optomechanical, hardware, and software deployment disciplines, the company said.
Seeing Dallas as ‘a leading hub’ for optical data communications
Kopin called Dallas “one of the nation’s leading hubs for optical data communications” and said the new site positions it at the center of a growing ecosystem of high‑performance computing, data transport, and photonics innovation.
Kopin CEO Michael Murray said the expansion into Dallas “marks a pivotal step in Kopin’s evolution.”
“Establishing a dedicated Optics and Photonics Design Center in one of the country’s leading hotspots for optical data infrastructure strengthens our domestic engineering capabilities and accelerates our ability to deliver next‑generation Neural I/o systems,” Murray added in a statement. “This new facility enhances our capacity, deepens our expertise, and positions us to rapidly support customer programs across the AI infrastructure landscape.”
Murray said the Dallas center will allow Kopin to rapidly deploy Neural I/o and ASOS systems while scaling the design resources needed to meet accelerating demand. “It’s a major investment in the future of U.S.‑based innovation—sand a testament to the incredible momentum our team is building,” he added.
Kopin has a strategic joint development agreement with NYC-based Fabric.AI to build MicroLED-based optical interconnect technology for high-performance AI data centers.
Josh Silverman, CEO of Fabric.AI, said Kopin’s investment in a dedicated Dallas design center “is exactly the kind of commitment that turns a breakthrough interconnect into a deployable product.”
“The work we’re doing together on Neural I/o is aimed squarely at the bandwidth and power bottlenecks that define the AI infrastructure buildout, and having advanced optics R&D and manufacturing under one U.S.-based roof lets us move from design to customer deployment far faster,” Silverman added in a statement. “This expansion accelerates our shared roadmap at precisely the moment the market needs it.”
Kopin said its planned Dallas facility marks another major step in the company’s strategy to “expand U.S.‑based operations, enhance domestic supply chain resilience, and advance the company’s leadership in next‑generation optical and photonic technologies.”
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