SILITH Technology, a silicon photonics fabless company, and United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) (“UMC”), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced the first mass-production wafer delivery of photonic ICs from UMC’s Singapore fab, advancing the partnership between the two companies to scale next-generation silicon photonics manufacturing. The collaboration combines SILITH’s photonics design expertise with UMC’s 12-inch wafer manufacturing capacity and process capabilities to support high-volume production of SILITH's 1.6T silicon photonics platform, addressing the growing demand for high-speed AI optical interconnects in AI and hyperscale data center networks.
Combining SILITH's proprietary silicon photonics architecture with UMC's advanced process integration expertise and proven silicon-on-insulator (SOI) manufacturing capabilities, the joint team brought the silicon photonics platform from development to production readiness in 18 months. The platform has demonstrated production-level performance with high yield and reliability, and has since been qualified by a leading cloud infrastructure customer for volume deployment. Together, the two companies have established a scalable manufacturing platform to support the next generation of AI infrastructure.
Jason Zhang, Chief Technology Officer of SILITH, said: “AI is driving an unprecedented demand for optical bandwidth, making silicon photonics a foundational technology for future data center infrastructure. At SILITH, we are building a scalable silicon photonics platform that spans pluggable optics, co-packaged optics (CPO), and future optical I/O architectures. Together with UMC, we are bringing together leading-edge silicon photonics innovation and high-volume 12-inch manufacturing to deliver the performance, scalability, and cost efficiency required for the next generation of AI networks.”
GC Hung, Senior Vice President of UMC, said: “We're proud to partner with SILITH, a leading silicon photonics company with a proven track record of serving leading cloud infrastructure and optical networking customers, to achieve this important milestone. It reflects UMC’s ability to support customers at scale with the deep integration expertise required for complex interdisciplinary technologies such as silicon photonics. Beyond its strong 12-inch wafer manufacturing capabilities, Singapore also serves as a key technology development hub for UMC, enabling the rapid production ramp with SILITH. Looking ahead, UMC will continue to strengthen its manufacturing capabilities to support customers’ growing demand and accelerate next-generation photonics applications.”
In addition to the successful commercialization of the first silicon photonics product for a customer, UMC is making its own 12-inch silicon photonics platform available for customer product development in 2027.
Building on the successful commercialization of SILITH's 200G/lane silicon photonics products, UMC and SILITH are extending its silicon photonics roadmap to support next-generation 400G/lane optical interconnects. As a key milestone, the two companies are collaborating on a 400G/lane pure-silicon photonics platform, leveraging high-speed silicon Mach-Zehnder Modulators (MZMs) to enable 400G/lane transmission while preserving the manufacturability, scalability, and cost advantages of a CMOS-compatible silicon platform.
Looking beyond 400G/lane silicon-based modulator solution, UMC is also collaborating with ecosystem partners to develop thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN)-based solutions for future ultra-high-bandwidth optical interconnects. Combined with UMC's advanced packaging technologies, these complementary silicon photonics and TFLN platforms will enable optical-engine modules supporting CPO, optical I/O, and other highly integrated architectures for next-generation AI infrastructure.
TrendForce AI Infra Bulletin
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