Roel Baets’ plenary presentation at Photonics West in January reiterated a common call from the global integrated photonics ecosystem: the need for a robust PICs supply chain. Widely considered a necessity to drive sustained growth in this technology space, the PICs sector has been adamant about its supply chain ambitions, particularly as it relates to manufacturing and packaging. Baets isolated many of the underlying factors that he and other experts have used to provide evidence for the importance of establishing a dedicated PICs supply chain. Baets wasn’t prognosticating outcomes for 2024 in his plenary. But the number of collaborations in integrated photonics and its subfields that industry and R&D launched this year make Baets look like a skilled forecaster. Newly formed collaborations spanning national, regional, and the global integrated photonics ecosystem emphasize that decision-makers in the photonics industry view cooperation as critical to overcoming the bottlenecks that lead to congested supply chains. Collaboration is only one effect. And from a macro perspective, we will remember 2024 in photonics not for collaboration, but instead for the return of supply chain concerns. If not for 2020 and the pandemic, 2024 would be a leading candidate to earn the “Year of the Supply Chain” label. There are certain differentiators between the pandemic-era shutdowns of four and five years ago and now. For one, today’s supply chain complications are occurring on the heels of the aforementioned global shutdown, as well as the subsequent recovery operation. This sense of déjà vu may not offer a solution, but it does serve as a reminder that industry will seek, identify, and implement creative strategies to achieve an effective workaround. The current state of geopolitics, as it relates to global supply chains, represents a further contrast between then and now. Import and export restrictions are familiar hurdles to a streamlined flow of materials and components. The ongoing war in Ukraine, intensified scrutiny from the U.S. of Chinese silicon photonics, and the time that it takes for reshoring efforts to become fully functional have thrust supply chains into the spotlight, and with a new set of wrinkles. Integrated photonics growth is an obvious area of worry amid these woes. Quantum is another technology space to monitor: In quantum photonics alone, many protocols and standards are still undeveloped. This creates the possibility for a frightening scenario: As quantum R&D advances, the inability to reliably procure the materials and components that are paramount to its advancement will severely hinder quantum’s breakout moment. Like Baets’ start to the year, these end-of-year observations are not prognostications. Rather, they are reminders of how looking to the past offers meaningful perspectives for the future.