The Global Silicon Photonics and Photonics ICs Market 2026-2036 | AI Accelerator Shipments, Data-Centre Networking Requirements and Cost-Per-Gigabit Trends
Dublin, July 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "The Global Silicon Photonics and Photonics Integrated Circuits Market 2026-2036" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The Global Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits Market 2026-2036 provides a comprehensive assessment of the technologies, materials, applications, supply chains and companies shaping one of the semiconductor industry’s fastest-growing markets. The report identifies artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and data-centre connectivity as the primary drivers of demand for silicon photonics and photonic integrated circuits.
Rapid growth in AI training and inference is increasing the volume of data moving between accelerators, servers and racks. As conventional copper interconnects encounter performance, power and distance constraints, optical interconnect technologies are becoming critical to next-generation computing infrastructure. Silicon photonics addresses these requirements through high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity compatible with established semiconductor manufacturing processes.
Optical transceivers remain a central market opportunity. Commercialisation of 1.6-terabit-per-second transceivers in 2026 marks the latest stage in the industry roadmap, while 3.2T products are expected to begin sampling around 2027 and move toward broader adoption from 2028. The report also analyses the transition from pluggable optics to co-packaged optics, including forecasts indicating that CPO could account for approximately 35% of optical modules used in AI data centres by 2030.
Foundries and semiconductor platforms are playing an increasingly strategic role. The report assesses TSMC’s COUPE platform, developed alongside NVIDIA for Quantum-X and Spectrum-X photonic switches, as well as Samsung Foundry’s silicon photonics process design kit, 300mm manufacturing platform and turnkey CPO roadmap targeted for 2029. It also examines the differing NVIDIA and Broadcom co-packaged optics ecosystems.
Industry consolidation and investment are covered in detail. Recent activity includes Marvell’s acquisition of Polariton Technologies, Credo’s approximately $750 million agreement to acquire DustPhotonics, and Ciena’s acquisition of Nubis Communications. The report also reviews funding for independent photonic integrated circuit developers, including OpenLight’s additional $50 million Series A financing for standards-based 1.6T and 3.2T reference designs.
The study benchmarks major photonic material platforms, including silicon-on-insulator, indium phosphide, silicon nitride, thin-film lithium niobate, barium titanate and electro-optic polymers. It evaluates their performance, manufacturability and suitability for lasers, detectors, modulators, waveguides, quantum systems and advanced optical packaging.
Beyond data communications, the analysis covers telecommunications, LiDAR, sensing, photonic AI accelerators, neuromorphic computing, programmable photonics and quantum technologies. Dedicated coverage of quantum photonic integrated circuits addresses quantum computing, quantum communications and quantum sensing, providing market forecasts and technology-readiness assessments through 2036.
The report also maps the global silicon photonics supply chain, from electronic design automation and foundries to outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers. Key issues include the migration of optical-module assembly to Southeast Asia, the concentration of high-value laser production among US and Japanese suppliers, indium phosphide supply exposure, electro-absorption modulated laser shortages, manufacturing developments in Greater China and relevant regulatory considerations.
Report coverage includes:
Key Topics Covered
1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THIS REVISION
2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2.1 Market Overview
2.2 Electronic and Photonic Integration Compared
2.3 Silicon Photonic Transceiver Evolution
2.4 Market Map
2.5 Global Market Trends in Silicon Photonics
2.6 Competing and Complementary Photonics Technologies
2.6.1 Metaphotonics
2.6.2 III-V Photonics
2.6.3 Lithium Niobate Photonics
2.6.4 Polymer Photonics
2.6.5 Plasmonic Photonics
2.7 Potential of Photonic AI Acceleration
2.8 The Copper Wall and the Beachfront-Density Crisis
2.9 Manufacturing Capacity Shifts to Southeast Asia
2.10 Commercial deployment of silicon photonics
2.11 Co-Packaged Optics
2.11.1 Divergent CPO Ecosystems: NVIDIA and Broadcom
2.11.2 The TSMC COUPE Packaging Platform
2.12 Manufacturing challenges
2.13 The Market Opportunity
2.14 Regional Strengths & Research Focus
3 INTRODUCTION TO SILICON PHOTONICS
3.1 What is Silicon Photonics?
3.1.1 Definition and Principles of Silicon Photonics
3.1.2 Comparison with traditional technologies
3.1.3 Silicon and Photonic Integrated Circuits
3.1.4 Optical IO, Coupling and Couplers
3.1.5 Emission and Photon Sources/Lasers
3.1.6 Detection and Photodetectors
3.1.7 Compound Semiconductor Lasers and Photodetectors (III-V)
3.1.8 Modulation, Modulators, and Mach-Zehnder Interferometers
3.1.8.1 New modulator technologies
3.1.9 Light Propagation and Waveguides
3.1.10 Optical Component Density
3.2 Advantages of Silicon Photonics
3.3 Applications of Silicon Photonics
3.4 Comparison with Other Photonic Integration Technologies
3.5 Evolution from Electronic to Photonic Integration
3.6 Silicon Photonics vs Traditional Electronics
3.7 Modern high-performance AI data centers
3.8 Core Technology Components
3.8.1 Optical IO, Coupling and Couplers
3.8.2 Emission and Photon Sources/Lasers
3.8.2.1 III-V Integration Challenges
3.8.2.2 Laser Integration Approaches
3.8.3 Detection and Photodetectors
3.8.4 Modulation Technologies
3.8.4.1 Mach-Zehnder Interferometers
3.8.4.2 Ring Modulators
3.8.4.3 Micro-Ring Modulators as a Competitive Differentiator
3.8.5 Light Propagation and Waveguides
3.8.6 Optical Component Density
3.9 Basic Optical Data Transmission
3.10 Silicon Photonic Circuit Architecture
4 MATERIALS AND COMPONENTS
4.1 Silicon
4.1.1 Silicon as a Photonic Material
4.1.1.1 Optical Properties of Silicon
4.1.1.2 Fabrication Processes for Silicon Photonics
4.1.2 Silicon-on-insulator (SOI)
4.1.2.1 SOI Manufacturing Process
4.1.2.2 Key SOI Players
4.2 Germanium
4.2.1 Germanium Integration in Silicon Photonics
4.2.2 Germanium Photodetectors
4.2.3 Germanium-on-Silicon Modulators
4.3 Silicon Nitride
4.3.1 Silicon Nitride (SiN) in Photonics Integrated Circuits
4.3.2 Optical Properties and Fabrication of SiN
4.3.3 SiN Modulator Technologies
4.3.4 SiN Applications in Photonics Integrated Circuits
4.3.5 Advances in SiN Modulator Technologies
4.3.6 SiN-based Waveguides and Devices
4.3.7 SiN Performance Analysis
4.3.8 Applications of SiN in Photonics
4.3.9 SiN PIC Players
4.3.10 SiN Key Foundries
4.4 Thin Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN)
4.4.1 Overview
4.4.2 Lithium Niobate on Insulator (LNOI)
4.4.2.1 Overview of LNOI Technology
4.4.2.2 Characteristics and Properties of LNOI
4.4.2.3 LNOI Fabrication Processes
4.4.2.4 LNOI-based Modulator and Switch Technologies
4.4.2.5 Trends Toward Higher Speed and Improved Power Efficiency
4.4.2.6 High-Speed LNOI Modulators
4.4.2.6.1 Energy-Efficient LNOI Devices
4.4.2.6.2 Emerging LNOI Device Technologies
4.5 Indium Phosphide
4.5.1 Indium Phosphide (InP) Integration
4.5.1.1 InP as a Direct Bandgap Semiconductor
4.5.1.2 InP-based Active Components
4.5.1.3 Hybrid Integration of InP with Silicon Photonics
4.5.2 InP PIC Players
4.6 Barium Titanite and Rare Earth metals
4.6.1 Barium Titanate (BTO) Modulators
4.7 Organic Polymer on Silicon
4.7.1 Polymer-based Modulators
4.8 Wafer Processing
4.8.1 Wafer Sizes by Platform
4.8.2 Processing Challenges
4.8.3 Yield Management
4.9 Hybrid and Heterogeneous Integration
4.9.1 Monolithic Integration
4.9.2 Hybrid Integration
4.9.3 Heterogeneous Integration
4.9.4 III-V-on-Silicon
4.9.5 Bonding and Die-Attachment Techniques
4.9.6 Monolithic versus Hybrid Integration
5 ADVANCED PACKAGING TECHNOLOGIES
5.1 Evolution of Packaging Technologies
5.1.1 Traditional Packaging Approaches
5.1.2 Advanced Packaging Roadmap
5.1.3 Key Performance Metrics
5.2 2.5D Integration Technologies
5.2.1 Silicon Interposer Technology
5.2.2 Glass Interposer Solutions
5.2.3 Organic Substrate Options
5.3 3D Integration Approaches
5.3.1 Through-Silicon Via (TSV)
5.3.1.1 TSV Manufacturing Process
5.3.1.2 TSV Challenges and Solutions
5.3.2 Hybrid Bonding Technologies
5.3.2.1 Cu-Cu Bonding
5.3.2.2 Direct Bonding
5.4 Co-Packaged Optics (CPO)
5.4.1 CPO Architecture Overview
5.4.2 Benefits and Challenges
5.4.3 Integration Approaches
5.4.3.1 2D Integration
5.4.3.2 2.5D Integration
5.4.3.3 3D Integration
5.4.4 Thermal Management
5.4.5 Optical Coupling Solutions
5.5 Optical Alignment
5.5.1 Active vs Passive Alignment
5.5.2 Coupling Efficiency
5.6 Manufacturing Challenges
6 MARKETS AND APPLICATIONS
6.1 Datacom Applications
6.1.1 Data Center Architecture Evolution
6.1.2 Transceivers
6.1.2.1 Integration
6.1.3 Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)
6.1.4 Pluggable optics
6.1.5 Linear drive and linear pluggable optics (LPO)
6.1.6 Interconnects
6.1.6.1 PIC-based on-device interconnects
6.1.6.2 Advanced Packaging and Co-Packaged Optics
6.1.6.2.1 Glass materials
6.1.6.2.2 Co-Packaged Optics
6.1.6.3 Photonic Engines and Accelerators
6.1.6.3.1 Photonic processing for AI
6.1.6.3.2 Convergence with software
6.1.6.3.3 Photonic field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)
6.1.6.4 Photonic Integrated Circuits for Quantum Computing
6.1.6.4.1 Photonic qubits
6.1.7 Optical Transceivers
6.1.7.1 Architecture and Operation
6.1.7.2 Market Players
6.1.7.3 Technology Roadmap
6.1.8 Co-Packaged Optics for Switches
6.1.8.1 CPO vs Pluggable Solutions
6.1.8.2 Power and Performance Benefits
6.1.8.3 Implementation Challenges
6.1.9 Data Center Networks
6.1.10 High-Performance Computing
6.1.10.1 On-Device Interconnects
6.1.10.2 Chip-to-Chip Communication
6.1.10.3 System Architecture Impact
6.1.11 Chip-to-Chip and Board-to-Board Interconnects
6.1.12 Ethernet Networking
6.2 Telecommunications
6.2.1 5G/6G Infrastructure
6.2.2 Bandwidth Requirements
6.2.3 Long-Haul and Metro Networks
6.2.4 5G and Fiber-to-the-X (FTTx) Applications
6.2.5 Optical Transceivers and Transponders
6.3 Sensing Applications
6.3.1 Lidar and Automotive Sensing
6.3.1.1 Photonic Integrated Circuit-based LiDAR
6.3.2 Chemical and Biological Sensing
6.3.3 Optical Coherence Tomography
6.4 Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
6.4.1 AI Data Traffic Requirements
6.4.2 Silicon Photonics for AI Accelerators
6.4.3 Photonic Processors
6.4.4 Photonic Processing for AI
6.4.5 Programmable Photonics
6.4.6 Neural Network Applications
6.4.7 Future AI Architecture Requirements
6.5 Quantum Computing and Communication
6.5.1 Quantum Photonic Requirements
6.5.2 Integration Challenges
6.5.3 Photonic Platform Quantum Computing
6.5.4 PICs for Quantum systems
6.5.5 Operational cycle of photonic quantum computers
6.5.6 Market Players and Development
6.6 Biophotonics and Medical Diagnostics
6.7 Future Applications
7 MICROLED OPTICAL INTERCONNECT
7.1 Introduction and the Beachfront Crisis
7.1.1 Why density, not speed, is the new constraint
7.1.2 The link dilemma
7.2 The MicroLED Interconnect Architecture
7.2.1 Wide-and-slow versus narrow-and-fast
7.2.2 Operational mechanism and link architecture
7.2.3 Challenges of the MicroLED approach
7.3 MicroLEDs and the GaN-on-Silicon Materials Question
7.4 Application Analysis
7.5 MicroLED Interconnect Market Forecast
8 GLOBAL MARKET SIZE
8.1 Global Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits Market Overview
8.1.1 Market Size and Growth Trends
8.1.2 Market Segmentation by Application
8.1.3 Server Boards, CPUs and Accelerators
8.1.4 Modules & PICs (Dies) Market Forecast 2023-2035
8.1.5 SOI Wafers for Silicon Photonics
8.1.6 LPO & New Modulator Materials Market Forecast 2023-2035
8.2 Datacom Applications
8.2.1 Market Forecast
8.2.1.1 Datacom and Telecom Modules and PICs
8.2.1.2 PIC Transceivers for AI
8.2.1.3 PIC Transceiver Pricing
8.2.2 PIC Transceiver Cost per Gigabit
8.2.3 PIC Datacom Transceiver Market
8.2.4 Datacom Transceiver Revenue by Customer Type
8.2.5 Key Drivers and Restraints
8.3 Co-Packaged Optics
8.4 Telecom Applications
8.4.1 Market Forecast
8.4.1.1 PIC-based Transceivers for 5G and 6G
8.4.2 Key Drivers and Restraints
8.5 Sensing Applications
8.5.1 Market Forecast
8.5.2 Key Drivers and Restraints
8.6 Photonic Integrated Circuit Market, by Material
9 SUPPLY CHAIN ANALYSIS
9.1 Foundries and Wafer Suppliers
9.1.1 CMOS Foundries
9.1.2 Specialty Photonics Foundries
9.1.3 Indium Phosphide Wafer Supply
9.2 Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDMs)
9.2.1 Fabless Companies
9.2.2 Fully Integrated Photonics Companies
9.3 Foundries and Wafer Suppliers
9.4 Packaging and Testing
9.4.1 Chip-Scale Packaging
9.4.2 Module-Level Packaging
9.4.3 Testing and Characterization
9.4.4 Optical Module Assembly: The Shift to Southeast Asia
9.4.5 The EML Laser Shortage
9.5 System Integrators and End-Users
9.5.1 CPO Partner Ecosystems: NVIDIA and Broadco
10 TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
10.1 Laser Integration Techniques
10.1.1 Direct Epitaxial Growth
10.1.2 Flip-Chip Bonding
10.1.3 Hybrid Integration
10.1.4 Advances and Challenges
10.2 Modulator Technologies
10.2.1 Silicon Modulators
10.2.2 Germanium Modulators
10.2.3 Lithium Niobate Modulators
10.2.4 Polymer Modulators
10.2.4.1 Tower Semiconductor and Lightwave Logic EO-Polymer
10.3 Photodetector Technologies
10.3.1 Silicon Photodetectors
10.3.2 Germanium Photodetectors
10.3.3 III-V Photodetectors
10.4 Waveguide and Coupling Innovations
10.4.1 Silicon Waveguides
10.4.2 Silicon Nitride Waveguides
10.4.3 Coupling Techniques
10.5 Packaging and Integration Advancements
10.5.1 Chip-Scale Packaging
10.5.2 Wafer-Scale Integration
10.5.3 3D Integration and Interposer Technologies
11 CHALLENGES AND FUTURE TRENDS
11.1 CMOS-Foundry-Compatible Devices and Integration
11.1.1 Scaling and Miniaturization
11.1.2 Process Complexity and Yield Improvement
11.2 Power Consumption and Thermal Management
11.2.1 Energy-Efficient Photonic Devices
11.2.2 Thermal Optimization Techniques
11.3 Packaging and Testing
11.3.1 Advanced Packaging Solutions
11.3.2 Automated Testing and Characterization
11.4 Scalability and Cost-Effectiveness
11.4.1 Wafer-Scale Integration
11.4.2 Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT)
11.5 Emerging Materials and Hybrid Integration
11.5.1 Novel Semiconductor Materials
11.5.2 Heterogeneous Integration Approaches
11.6 Technology Readiness Assessment
12 COMPANY PROFILES (192 COMPANY PROFILES)
13 APPENDICES
13.1 Glossary of Terms
13.2 List of Abbreviations
13.3 Research Methodology
A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes, but is not limited to:
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/jz2cp4
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