UMC starts silicon photonics mass production in Singapore as Citi forecasts strong growth

Taiwan's second-largest chipmaker starts mass production in Singapore; Citi sees improving outlook

Taiwan's second-largest contract chipmaker, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), announced Tuesday its first mass-produced silicon photonics wafers manufactured within its Singapore facility. UMC is aiming to address the growing demand for high-speed optical interconnects in AI and hyperscaler data center networks. Collaborating with SILITH Technology, a local fabless chip design company, the joint team brought the silicon photonics platform from development to production readiness in 18 months, securing the technology to support next-generation AI infrastructure, UMC said in a statement. UMC also plans to make its own 12-inch silicon photonics platform available for customer product development by 2027. It comes as analysts at Citi said they see an improving outlook for the chipmaker in the second half of the year, forecasting a 13% quarter-on-quarter sales jump in the second quarter of 2026 and a gross margin recovery. Supporting Wall Street optimism, UMC recently reported strong financial performance, with June sales jumping 22.85% year-on-year to NT$23.12 billion ($719.21 million), and first-half cumulative sales rising 11.28%. The company's stock, however, fell nearly 5% in Taiwan during Tuesday's session, before parring losses to trade 1.6% lower. UMC is part of a broader wave of Taiwanese tech firms expanding their manufacturing footprint in Singapore, as the city-state grows into a major regional hub for the global semiconductor supply chain. This growing ecosystem includes King Yuan Electronics Corp as well as Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation, a chipmaker backed by TSMC, which recently partnered with Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors to build a $7.8 billion manufacturing plant in the city state. Silicon photonics is an essential technology for transmitting and processing data at ultra-high speeds, with its market seeing notable growth driven by rising data traffic and demand for faster optical communication, pushing its global size to an estimated $3.71 billion in 2026 according to data from Polaris Market Research.

Silith Technology Pte. Ltd and United Microelectronics Corporation Achieve Mass Production Milestone for Silicon Photonics

Silith Technology Pte. Ltd. and United Microelectronics Corporation announced the first mass-production wafer delivery of photonic ICs from United Microelectronics Corporation?s Singapore fab, advancing the partnership between the two companies to scale next-generation silicon photonics manufacturing. The collaboration combines Silith Technology Pte. Ltd?s photonics design expertise with United Microelectronics Corporation?s 12-inch wafer manufacturing capacity and process capabilities to support high-volume production of Silith Technology Pte. Ltd's 1.6T silicon photonics platform, addressing the growing demand for high-speed AI optical interconnects in AI and hyperscale data center networks. Combining Silith Technology Pte. Ltd's proprietary silicon photonics architecture with United Microelectronics Corporation's advanced process integration expertise and proven silicon-on-insulator (SOI) manufacturing capabilities, the joint team brought the silicon photonics platform from development to production readiness in 18 months. The platform has demonstrated production-level performance with high yield and reliability, and has since been qualified by a cloud infrastructure customer for volume deployment. Together, the two companies have established a scalable manufacturing platform to support the next generation of AI infrastructure. United Microelectronics Corporation is making its own 12-inch silicon photonics platform available for customer product development in 2027. Building on the commercialization of Silith Technology Pte. Ltd's 200G/lane silicon photonics products, United Microelectronics Corporation and Silith Technology Pte. Ltd. are extending its silicon photonics roadmap to support next-generation 400G/lane optical interconnects. As a milestone, the two companies are collaborating on a 400G/lane pure-silicon photonics platform, leveraging high-speed silicon Mach-Zehnder Modulators (MZMs) to enable 400G/lane transmission while preserving the manufacturability, scalability, and cost advantages of a CMOS-compatible silicon platform. United Microelectronics Corporation is also collaborating with ecosystem partners to develop thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN)-based solutions for future ultra-high-bandwidth optical interconnects. Combined with United Microelectronics Corporation's advanced packaging technologies, these complementary silicon photonics and TFLN platforms will enable optical-engine modules supporting co-packaged optics, optical I/O, and other highly integrated architectures for next-generation AI infrastructure.