Nlight Inc.

Nlight Inc., doing business as Nlight, designs, manufactures, and delivers high-power semiconductor and fiber lasers to federal research agencies and prime contractors as a primary contractor (85% of awards by count). Headquartered in Camas, Washington, Nlight competes in full-and-open federal markets without set-aside designations on the vast majority of its work; a single $45 thousand Total Small Business purchase order from NIST in September 2026 represents the sole set-aside award in the recent footprint.

Nlight manufactures specialized laser components and systems spanning semiconductor diode pumps, high-brightness fiber amplifiers, pump-signal combiners for multi-kilowatt applications, and programmable single-mode fiber lasers. The company's federal work concentrates on directed energy weapons systems, high-energy laser research and development, LiDAR platforms, and advanced optical systems. Representative prime contracts include a $4.9 million Other Transaction Agreement from the Air Force Research Laboratory for low-swap diode pumps and fiber amplifiers (completed June 2024), a $2.2 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract from AFRL for pump-signal combiners supporting high-energy laser systems research (completed June 2025), a $1 million firm-fixed-price contract from AFRL for high-brightness 793-nanometer diode pumps for thulium fiber amplifiers under the Directed Energy Technology Experimentation Research Announcement (completed August 2025), and a $328 thousand cost-plus-fixed-fee research and development labor contract from the Office of Naval Research under the Naval Research Laboratory Broad Agency Announcement (completed November 2025).

Customer concentration is extreme and defense-dominated. The Air Force Research Laboratory accounts for 37 awards (56% of the top-five customer count) and $46.9 million in combined potential value—more than 60% of total potential value across all 165 awards. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (10 awards, $6 million), the Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency (11 awards, $3.7 million), NASA Langley Research Center (11 awards, $3 million), and the Army's Materiel Command Research, Development and Engineering Command (8 awards, $2.5 million) round out the top five by potential value, collectively anchoring 85% of combined potential value. Nlight serves 28 distinct federal customer agencies, but decision-relevant dollars concentrate with AFRL and DARPA on directed energy and high-energy laser platforms.

Nlight places work under Air Force Research Laboratory indefinite delivery contracts, including FA945104D0354 (4 task orders, $8.2 million), FA945115D0021 (4 task orders, $2.2 million), FA945108D0218 (3 task orders, $2.5 million), and FA945115D0010 (2 task orders, $1.5 million). The company also executes work under the Design, Development, Demonstration and Integration vehicle (11 task orders). These vehicles are Air Force-specific and agency-directed — Nlight does not hold General Services Administration government-wide acquisition contracts or civilian-agency IDIQs.

Award activity peaked in 2024 (16 awards) but has dropped sharply in 2025 and early 2026 (3 and 1 award, respectively). This trajectory reflects contract award timing rather than customer loss — the 2024 surge captured multiple modifications and task orders to existing directed energy programs. Only one award ($45 thousand) reaches ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, indicating low recompete pressure but also suggesting a pipeline lull relative to historical volume. Combined obligated dollars ($84.5 million) exceed combined potential value ($73.3 million), indicating downward repricing or scope adjustments on existing work.

Nlight subcontracts on directed energy and high-energy laser prime contracts held by Radiance Technologies Inc. (multiple laser MRA support modifications to the Directed Energy System Integration Lab program, 2024), Lockheed Martin Aculight Corporation (fiber laser module development and HELIOS test unit optic pump diodes, 2023–2024), BAE Systems Information & Electronic Systems Integration Inc. (DARPA directed energy research projects, 2024), Mainstream Engineering Corp. (hybrid direct vapor compression thermal management for 300-kilowatt-class lasers, July 2025), Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (laser upgrade work under the National Security Campus contract, January 2025), Azimuth Corporation (pump laser diodes for fiber laser fabrication in the I-BLAST program, June 2024), The Pennsylvania State University (electrooptics manufacturing technology research, June 2023), and Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (DARPA technical services, February 2022). The subcontract footprint reflects Nlight's role as a specialized component supplier within larger directed energy system integrations and high-energy laser platforms.

Nlight operates two named subsidiaries: Nlight OY (a manufacturer organization) and Nlight Defense Systems, Inc. (a for-profit manufacturer). The Defense Systems subsidiary branding aligns with the company's concentration in defense laser systems, though award documentation does not distinguish between parent and subsidiary performance. The broader category concentration—71 awards in Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences, 20 in Semiconductor and Related Device Manufacturing, 15 in Optical Instrument and Lens Manufacturing—frames Nlight as an applied research and manufacturing concern, with top work concentrating under PSC codes for defense weapons system R&D (20 awards), laboratory equipment and supplies (17 awards), and national defense R&D services (15 awards).