GoPro pivots to data centers, shares surge more than 50%

GoPro, the company that built its brand strapping cameras to skydivers and surfers, is now betting its future on a very different kind of hardware: optical transceivers for AI data centers. The company signed a definitive merger agreement on September 1, 2026, with Starman Optical, a privately held optical-photonics company founded in 2024. Under the deal, Starman will acquire a 90% stake in GoPro for $285 million in cash, working out to roughly $1.14 per share after working-capital adjustments. Existing GoPro shareholders will retain about 10% of the merged entity, which will continue trading on Nasdaq. From extreme sports to extreme computing The market’s reaction was swift and enthusiastic. GoPro shares spiked more than 50% intraday following the announcement, trading at approximately $1.33. Starman Optical manufactures optical transceivers designed specifically for AI data-center networking. It’s a market that has exploded alongside the buildout of GPU clusters powering large language models and other AI applications. For GoPro, the merger thesis is that its intellectual property — more than 2,500 US patents, many in imaging, optics, and sensor technology — can be repurposed fo...