Tower Semiconductor and Innolight have put a first near-package optical device into early production in California. Their collaboration brings light-based data links closer to processor packages for AI infrastructure. Additional designs are being prepared on a different manufacturing platform as the partners develop further generations of optical interconnect hardware.
Tower Semiconductor, a semiconductor manufacturer, and optical-connectivity company Innolight announced a new production stage in their collaboration on November 3. A first near-package optical device has entered early production at Tower’s California facility. The work concerns links that carry data around AI infrastructure, with the partners developing multiple generations of the technology.[1], [2]
Silicon photonics uses semiconductor manufacturing to make components that transmit data through light. Near-package optics brings that connectivity closer to the processor package than conventional pluggable modules. Tower and Innolight are pursuing more optical channels and denser interconnections to address data movement within AI data centres. Tower supplies manufacturing processes, while Innolight contributes optical design and product expertise.[1]
The initial device uses Tower’s PH18M process. The companies have also completed additional tape-outs, the step that sends a chip design toward manufacturing, on a silicon-photonics platform using 300-millimetre wafers. Those designs belong to later generations of the collaboration. The partners identify manufacturing yield and process control as requirements for scaling the technology, alongside their existing 200-millimetre production capabilities.[1]
