ST starts silicon photonics production for AI data centers
STMicroelectronics has entered high-volume production of its silicon photonics platform, targeting the fast-growing optical interconnect market driven by AI infrastructure. The company says its PIC100 technology is now being manufactured on 300-mm lines to support hyperscale data centers and AI clusters requiring ever higher bandwidth and energy efficiency.
The move reflects accelerating demand for faster optical links in AI data centers, where bandwidth, latency and power efficiency are becoming critical bottlenecks. For eeNews Europe readers working in data center infrastructure, photonics and high-performance computing, the announcement highlights how leading semiconductor vendors are scaling photonic integration to meet AI-driven network requirements.
Scaling silicon photonics for hyperscalers
ST’s PIC100 platform is designed for 800G and 1.6T optical transceivers used in large AI clusters and hyperscale data centers. These devices enable higher bandwidth and lower latency connections between compute nodes while helping reduce power consumption — an increasingly important factor as AI workloads continue to grow.
“Following the announcement of its new silicon photonics technology in February 2025, ST is now entering high-volume production for leading hyperscalers. The combination of our technology platform and the superior scale of our 300 mm manufacturing lines gives us a unique competitive advantage to support the AI infrastructure super-cycle,” said Fabio Gualandris, President, Quality, Manufacturing & Technology at STMicroelectronics. “Looking ahead, we are planning and executing on capacity expansions to enable more than quadrupling of production by 2027. This fast expansion is fully underpinned by customers’ long-term capacity reservation commitments.”
According to market research firm LightCounting, the data center pluggable optics market reached $15.5 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow strongly in the coming years.
“The data center pluggable optics market continues to expand strongly, reaching $15.5 billion in 2025. We expect the market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% from 2025 through 2030, surpassing $34 billion by the end of the forecast period. In addition, co-packaged optics (CPO) will emerge as a rapidly growing segment, contributing more than $9 billion in revenue by 2030. Over the same period, the share of transceivers incorporating silicon photonics modulators is projected to increase from 43% in 2025 to 76% by 2030,” said Vladimir Kozlov, CEO and Chief Analyst at LightCounting. “ST’s leading silicon photonics platform coupled with its aggressive capacity expansion plan illustrates its capabilities to provide hyperscalers with secure, long-term supply, predictable quality, and manufacturing resilience.”
Roadmap adds TSV integration
Alongside the production ramp, ST outlined the next step in its photonics roadmap: a new PIC100 TSV platform integrating through-silicon via technology. Moreover, the approach aims to boost optical connectivity density, improve module integration and enhance system-level thermal performance.
The upcoming platform is intended to support future architectures such as near-packaged optics and co-packaged optics, which aim to place optical interconnects closer to high-performance processors to reduce power and latency.
ST will present further technical details at Optical Fiber Communication Conference 2026 in Los Angeles, including a demonstration of a PIC100-based 1.6T-DR8 silicon photonics transceiver developed with Sicoya. The company will also participate in an industry event hosted by CEA-Leti focusing on optical interconnects for AI infrastructure.
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
