UMC and SILITH ship first mass-produced silicon photonics wafers from Singapore fab
The first 12-inch production wafers for SILITH’s 1.6T platform mark a commercial milestone for UMC’s Singapore photonics push as the foundry positions for AI data-center demand and future 2026-2027 process upgrades.
UMC and SILITH Technology have delivered the first mass-production wafers of photonic ICs from UMC’s 12-inch Fab 12i facility in Singapore, moving the partnership from development into commercial silicon photonics manufacturing for AI and hyperscale data center optical interconnects. The companies said the platform reached production readiness in about 18 months and supports SILITH’s 1.6T silicon photonics platform, while UMC is targeting risk production based on imec’s iSiPP300 silicon photonics process platform in the 2026-2027 timeframe. The move expands UMC’s longer-running silicon photonics effort, which dates to 2010 and had previously focused on 8-inch wafers. Shifting to 12-inch manufacturing can improve output scale and lower per-unit costs, a strategic step as foundries compete to supply optical interconnect technology needed for growing AI data traffic. UMC licensed imec’s iSiPP300 platform in December 2025 to accelerate development of a more advanced process stack. Citi analysts have viewed UMC’s silicon photonics push positively, while competition is building from GlobalFoundries and TSMC. The Singapore production base also adds geographic diversification for a company whose manufacturing footprint is centered in Taiwan, against a backdrop of broader semiconductor supply-chain concerns.
- silicon photonics: Chip technology that uses light instead of only electrical signals to move data at very high speeds.
- photonic ICs: Integrated circuits designed to generate, process or transmit optical signals on a chip.
- risk production: An early manufacturing stage used to validate a new process in limited volume before full-scale output.