On July 14, UMC announced that its Singapore 12-inch fab has successfully delivered the first batch of mass-produced silicon photonics wafers, marking the commercialization of its collaboration with Singapore-based photonic IC firm SILITH.

The production wafers integrate UMC’s SOI process with SILITH’s proprietary silicon photonics architecture, supporting 1.6Tbps high-bandwidth interconnect solutions. The two companies completed the entire development-to-production cycle in just 18 months, with the platform achieving high yield and reliability, and passing certification from major cloud infrastructure customers.

The partnership is also advancing a single-channel 400Gbps pure-silicon photonics platform based on a Mach-Zehnder modulator architecture, balancing standard CMOS compatibility, manufacturability, and cost efficiency.

On the capacity front, UMC plans to launch its own 12-inch silicon photonics platform in 2027, opening it to external clients for R&D and production. Beyond silicon photonics, UMC is also collaborating with ecosystem partners on thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) technology for next-generation ultra-high-bandwidth optical interconnects.

From ICgoodFind: Silicon photonics is no longer lab-stage – it's wafer-scale. UMC’s Singapore ramp means optical I/O is now a foundry capacity play, and that changes how data centers buy connectivity.