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More Reading from MarketBeat Why Credo and Astera Soared After Oracle and Broadcom's EarningsReported by Leo Miller. Publication Date: 3/17/2026. 
Key Points - Credo Technologies and Astera Labs are two niche players in the semiconductor and AI ecosystem, providing specialized connectivity solutions.
- Their shares have gone on huge runs, both up more than 70% in the past 52 weeks.
- Earnings from Oracle and Broadcom injected significant gains into both stocks recently, highlighting two dynamics that are key for investors to understand.
- Special Report: Elon Musk already made me a "wealthy man"
Credo Technology (NASDAQ: CRDO) and Astera Labs (NASDAQ: ALAB) are among the fastest-growing beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence (AI) data center buildout. As key suppliers in the data center ecosystem, results and commentary from companies upstream of Astera and Credo are essential for evaluating their outlook. Hyperscaler Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) and custom AI semiconductor maker Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) are prime examples. Both recently reported earnings. Their better-than-expected results — and some notable commentary — helped CRDO and ALAB rally. Below, we break down why, and explain where each company fits in the data center ecosystem. How Credo and Astera Power AI Data Center Connectivity Credo and Astera sit squarely in the AI infrastructure networking category. Their products help connect processing chips — notably NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) GPUs — enabling chips to communicate and coordinate workloads. Credo's primary product is its HiWire active electrical cable (AEC). These copper-based solutions can be much longer than traditional passive copper cables while preserving signal integrity; they also use less power and cost less than optical cables. Astera's smart retimers deliver similar benefits via chips rather than cables. Astera also sells AECs, but smart retimers are its largest revenue source. The big picture is simple: more data centers mean more networking equipment, expanding the addressable market for Credo and Astera. That helped CRDO and ALAB rise 3.2% and 7.1%, respectively, after Oracle's latest earnings report. Oracle's Data Center Capacity Ramp Signals Faster Infrastructure Demand Oracle significantly beat expectations in its latest report, driven by strength in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. The results suggest infrastructure demand is outpacing prior forecasts. Oracle delivered 400 megawatts of data center capacity during the quarter and said the pace of expansion will accelerate. The company plans to bring 10 gigawatts (10,000 megawatts) of capacity online over the next three years. That implies roughly 3.3 gigawatts per year — about double the 1.6 gigawatt annual run rate (400 megawatts per quarter) Oracle just delivered. Faster data center buildouts are a clear positive for Credo and Astera, which supply much of the connectivity infrastructure for these facilities. Whether Oracle is a direct customer of Credo or Astera is immaterial here; the accelerating pace of data center deployment is a rising tide that should benefit multiple vendors in the supply chain. AVGO Supports CRDO and ALAB's Runway with Copper Forecast More data centers is positive, but the picture is nuanced. Credo and Astera's primary revenue-generating products are copper-based. The main alternative is optical networking, which transmits data with light. Optical can handle higher bandwidths but tends to be more expensive and more power-hungry, so data center operators may prefer to stick with copper where it is adequate. This dynamic helped Credo and Astera gain ground after Broadcom's earnings release: the two stocks rose 11.9% and 5.5%, respectively. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan provided useful perspective on the copper-versus-optical debate. He said that in "scale-out" architectures — where servers are spread out and connected across racks — operators tend to use optical networking. By contrast, "scale-up" architectures, where more processing chips are packed into the same server, favor copper solutions. Credo and Astera primarily serve the scale-up market, though they also have scale-out offerings. Tan expects that, even in 2028, many scale-up customers will still be using copper. He argued that current copper technology is sufficient for many use cases and that customers do not yet need to rush to advanced optical approaches like co-packaged optics (CPO). CPO involves integrating optical networking components directly with processing chips. While CPO adoption represents a long-term risk for CRDO and ALAB, Tan's view that widespread CPO deployment may be slower than some expect is bullish for their near-term prospects. Because Broadcom is a leader in CPO, Tan's tempered timeline carries credibility — it reads more like a realistic assessment than purely competitive rhetoric. Greater copper usage supports CRDO and ALAB's near-term growth. At the same time, both companies can continue developing optical solutions to prepare for a future shift away from copper. CRDO & ALAB: Niche Players Benefiting From the Data Center Boom Overall, Oracle's capacity ramp and Broadcom's commentary reinforce the positive near-term outlook for CRDO and ALAB. Investors should watch how the copper-versus-optical balance evolves and how quickly CPO gains traction, as these trends will materially affect both companies. There are important risks to consider. Customer concentration is a major one: in 2025, five customers accounted for 84% of ALAB's revenue. Credo is even more concentrated — two customers represented 87% of revenue last quarter. If spending by one or two key customers slows, CRDO and ALAB could be significantly impacted. | 
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