OpenLight Receives First Volume Production Orders Tower’s PH18DA InP-on-Silicon Photonic Platform

Why It Matters

The production orders prove that heterogeneous III‑V‑on‑silicon photonics can be mass‑produced, unlocking cost‑effective, high‑speed optics for AI‑driven data centers. This accelerates the industry’s move toward integrated photonic modules that meet escalating bandwidth and efficiency demands.

Key Takeaways

• First volume production orders confirm PH18DA process maturity
• Integrated III‑V lasers cut optical loss and footprint
• Enables 800G/1.6T links for AI data centers
• Reduces packaging cost and improves energy efficiency
• Tower’s foundry expands market with laser‑enabled modules

Pulse Analysis

The data‑center market is confronting an unprecedented surge in bandwidth requirements, driven by AI workloads and hyperscale cloud services. Traditional silicon photonics, built from discrete components, struggles to keep pace due to higher insertion loss, larger footprints, and costly assembly. Heterogeneous integration—stacking III‑V active materials on silicon—offers a pathway to embed lasers, modulators and detectors directly onto a single chip, dramatically improving performance while simplifying the supply chain. This technological shift is reshaping the optical ecosystem, prompting foundries and design houses to invest in new process nodes that can deliver high‑volume, low‑cost photonic ICs.

OpenLight’s PH18DA platform, co‑developed with Tower Semiconductor, exemplifies this evolution. By leveraging indium phosphide on silicon, the platform supports monolithic photonic integrated circuits that combine 800 Gb/s and 1.6 Tb/s transceiver capabilities on a compact die. The integrated design eliminates multiple fiber‑to‑chip couplings, reducing optical loss and enabling tighter power budgets—critical for AI accelerators that operate at the edge of thermal limits. Moreover, the use of OpenLight’s process design kit streamlines customer design cycles, allowing rapid translation from simulation to silicon without extensive redesign, a key advantage for fast‑moving data‑center vendors.

The first volume orders from NewPhotonics signal market readiness and set a new benchmark for optical module manufacturers. With the PH18DA process, providers can offer pluggable optics that meet OSFP and NPO standards while delivering superior bandwidth density and energy efficiency. This not only lowers total cost of ownership for hyperscale operators but also pressures competitors to adopt similar heterogeneous approaches. As AI models continue to scale, the demand for such high‑performance, low‑power photonic solutions will intensify, positioning OpenLight and Tower at the forefront of the next wave of data‑center connectivity innovation.