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SMART Photonics B.V. announced its partnership with GlobalFoundries (GF) to offer a new open access foundry service combining GF’s scalable and production-proven silicon platform with SMART Photonics’ high-volume indium phosphide photonic integrated circuits (PICs), including lasers and modulators.
This first-of-its-kind commercial offering will enable designers to take advantage of these two leading photonics platforms to address scaling challenges for AI data centers and to provide an efficient production process for today’s pluggable optical transceivers.
GlobalFoundries provides an industry-proven, silicon-based cavity in which SMART Photonics’ lasers and semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) are integrated using flip-chip technology. For more than a year, the companies have done extensive co-engineering and development to meet the technical requirements of dimensional fit and efficient optical coupling. The resulting innovations in manufacturing techniques will enable product designers to reduce the footprint and costs of their chiplet products, as well as achieve faster time to market.
“GlobalFoundries is a leader in silicon photonics with global reach and an extensive track record of manufacturing innovation,” said Johan Feenstra, CEO of SMART Photonics. “The combination of their technology with SMART Photonics’ leading indium phosphide-based PICs marks a significant milestone toward meeting the explosive market demand for power- and cost-efficient photonics products.”
“Our customers seek active components seamlessly integrated into our silicon photonics platform,” said Vikas Gupta, senior fellow, silicon photonics business at GF. “By partnering with SMART Photonics to deliver this new open access foundry service, we have created a highly efficient production process to accelerate the availability of high-performance integrated optical products.”
General availability for the joint foundry service is targeted for the second half of 2027.
