Tower Semiconductor and NewPhotonics announced high-volume shipments of serviceable, laser-integrated photonic integrated circuit (PIC) optical engines for artificial intelligence infrastructure. The products support 800G and 1.6T data rates across FRO, LRO, LPO, Extra-Dense Packaged Optics (XPO) pluggable transceivers and Near-Packaged Optics (NPO) socket-pluggable applications. Built on Tower’s PH18DA silicon photonics platform, the designs integrate lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers, modulators and photodetectors on a single PIC to support more efficient and reliable optical connections in AI data centers. The companies plan volume production of 6.4T solutions, with NewPhotonics’ NPC505 chipsets expected to begin shipments in the first half of 2027. Tower shares rose about 8% Thursday, outperforming gains of 1.45% for the Nasdaq and 0.91% for the S&P 500. The stock carried a Buy consensus rating and an average analyst price forecast of $320.40, while technical indicators showed a neutral RSI and mixed moving-average signals.