According to Focus Taiwan, at the SEMICON Taiwan exhibition, the formation of a new industry alliance that has attracted much attention was announced. More than 30 Taiwan tech giants co-founded the Silicon Photonics Industry Alliance (SiPhIA), a move that shows that this branch of the semiconductor field is receiving increasing attention. Industry leaders including TSMC, ASE Group, Foxconn and MediaTek have participated in the alliance and see silicon photonics as a key solution to the computing energy efficiency challenges in the artificial intelligence (AI) era.
Photosilicon technology is a new generation of technology that uses silicon and silicon-based substrate materials to manufacture photonic devices and optoelectronic devices through integrated circuit processes. Silicon photonics technology is considered to be an important technology platform in the post-Moore era, which combines the ultra-large-scale and ultra-high-precision manufacturing characteristics of integrated circuit technology with the ultra-high speed and ultra-low power consumption advantages of photonic technology. This technology has a wide range of application potential in many fields such as optical communication, optical sensing, optical computing, intelligent driving, and consumer electronics.
According to SiPhIA's newly established website, the consortium states that "silicon photonics technology is becoming increasingly important as the demand for efficient data processing continues to increase." This broad alliance of companies is encouraging because a breakthrough in silicon photonics requires expertise across multiple scientific disciplines, including materials science, optics, electronics, and manufacturing technology. In addition, the consortium plans to draw on resources from government, academia and research institutions to expand its horizons in technology development.
Figure: Taiwan chip industry giant established SiPhIA to help the development of photonics industry (Source: SEMICON)
The market for the application of silicon photonics technology is expected to grow rapidly, and according to the forecast of market research agency Yole, the market size of silicon photonics will climb from $152 million in 2021 to $927 million in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 36%. This growth is expected to be driven by the demand for optical communications, while also being impacted by developments in AI and data center technologies.
Focus Taiwan quoted statements at SEMICON events by executives from companies such as TSMC and ASE who warmly welcomed the establishment of SiPhIA. They generally believe that Taiwan has unique advantages in the industrial and academic fields and can promote the research and industrial development of silicon photonics. More importantly, they hope that photonic technology can break through the bottlenecks faced by traditional electronic chips, especially in power transmission and thermal management, which are becoming obstacles to the development of traditional chip technology.
To achieve its mission, SiPhIA plans to provide a collaborative platform for all parties to share and discuss technological breakthroughs, market dynamics, and industry trends, with the aim of driving industry consensus, market development, and standardization. One of SiPhIA's top priorities is likely to be developing a roadmap for photonics technology and identifying key R&D goals. In addition, some technology executives at SEMICON pointed to the urgent need to address the cost of silicon photonics technology – an issue that is cited as one of the main reasons for the current low production volume in the industry.
Taiwan's semiconductor manufacturing supply chain is quietly investing in the research and development of silicon photonics technology, hoping to replicate the successful model in the semiconductor field. For Taiwan, silicon photonics technology may be an opportunity to achieve "corner overtaking", because it can continue to use the existing CMOS process and machine of semiconductors, which is a favorable opportunity for regions that are good at IC design but relatively backward in the process to promote regional semiconductor internal circulation strategies.
