Silicon photonics foundries
BOTTLENECKFew foundries run qualified silicon photonics and III-V lines, and replicating the specialized process tooling for co-packaged optics takes years.
Fabs producing optical transceivers and LiDAR chips via silicon photonics or III-V integration, converting electrical signals to light for high-bandwidth data transmission including co-packaged optics in AI clusters. Tower, GlobalFoundries, and Intel benefit from growing AI networking demand.
What the evidence shows
Top 5 foundries hold 63% of silicon photonics foundry market.
marketreportsworld.comThe number of foundries with silicon photonics production capacity is limited.
semiengineering.comRESCORED JUL 2026consolidatedemerging
Who controls it
GlobalFoundriesIntelTower Semiconductor
Where it sits in the stack
depends onSilicon wafers
Related nodes
Full scorecard, owner shares, supply edges and the full tracked roster are in the desk letter.
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