AI data-centre demand drives MaxLinear’s Infrastructure growth outlook

MaxLinear Inc. (NASDAQ: MXL) is seeing a sharp shift in its revenue mix towards Infrastructure, with Visible Alpha consensus forecasting the division to grow 169% year-on-year to $398 million in 2026, making it the company’s largest revenue driver.

Infrastructure is one of MaxLinear’s four reported revenue markets, and primarily covers chips and solutions used in data centers, telecom/wireless infrastructure and enterprise networking. The shift is already visible in MaxLinear’s results. Infrastructure revenue more than doubled in the first half of 2026 to $147.8 million, accounting for 48% of the company’s revenue, compared with 30% a year earlier. In the second quarter alone, Infrastructure revenue rose 145% to $85 million.

The momentum is driven by growing demand for optical connectivity as AI workloads drive data center operators to move ever larger volumes of data at higher speeds.

The transition comes as MaxLinear’s more established markets face a mixed outlook. Broadband, historically MaxLinear’s biggest revenue driver, is expected to decline 7% to $190 million in 2026. Connectivity revenue is forecast to increase 27% to $99 million, while Industrial and multi-market, which has contracted sharply in recent years, is expected to rebound 63% to roughly $60 million.

This article was published by Visible Alpha, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.