Photonic integrated circuits (PICs)

Vertical IDMs capture combined PIC design and fabrication margin while TSMC's constrained COUPE foundry limits transceiver and CPO output.

Chips integrating modulators, waveguides, and detectors for electro-optical conversion. PIC manufacturing capacity limits advanced transceiver and CPO output. TSMC COUPE foundry is constrained; vertical IDMs capture combined design and fabrication margin.

Chips integrating optical functions (modulators, splitters, waveguides, photodetectors) on silicon, InP, or SiN platforms; core electro-optical engine in transceivers and CPO assemblies.

What the evidence shows

Top foundries and IDMs held 70-75% of global PIC market share in 2024.

marketresearchfuture.com

RESCORED JUL 2026fragmentedscaling13 companies

Who controls it

IntelBroadcomLumentum+10 more tracked

$14B market · 202410.8% CAGRsource

Where it sits in the stack

Takes in: SiPh/InP/SiN foundry wafers (L5), EIC flip-chip bonding, fibre pigtail assembly

Sends on: Electro-optical engine for transceivers, CPO switches, and optical AI compute

depends onProcess control - metrology, inspection and yield management Optical components — lasers and EMLs Wafer fabrication - foundries and IDMs Advanced packaging and OSAT Network interface cards, SmartNICs, and DPUs

feeds intoOptical transceivers and pluggable modules Co-packaged optics (CPO) and optical engines

Related nodes

Scale-up fabric (intra-cluster GPU-to-GPU interconnect)InfiniBand switches and routers Ethernet switches and switch silicon Optical transceivers and pluggable modules Optical components — lasers and EMLs DSPs, retimers, and gearbox chips

Full scorecard, owner shares, supply edges and the full tracked roster are in the desk letter.

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