India, Aug. 3 -- As AI computing power drives data transmission bandwidth demand to double every two years, the physical limits of copper interconnects are becoming increasingly apparent.

How can the "traffic congestion" between chips be alleviated? An increasing number of wafer foundries are turning to one answer: silicon photonics.

By leveraging existing CMOS manufacturing processes to integrate optical circuits onto silicon wafers, the technology is rapidly moving from laboratories to semiconductor production lines. Leading foundries including TSMC, UMC, GlobalFoundries, and Tower Semiconductor are making deep investments in the sector, triggering a new capacity race in silicon photonics.

Mass production and expansion: Foundries cha...