Photonics-Electronics Convergence — Light Enters the Semiconductor Industry

Photonics-electronics convergence refers to a technological trend that closely integrates electronic circuits with optical communications to support the massive data movement required in the age of AI and high-performance computing. Its core technologies include silicon photonics, Optical I/O, CPO (Co-Packaged Optics), optical chiplets, and PICs (Photonic Integrated Circuits). Optical communication, once used mainly for external data-center links, is now moving steadily closer to semiconductor packages and chips.

In Japan, NTT is developing PEC (Photonics-Electronics Convergence) as a core technology of its IOWN initiative, extending optical integration from networking toward computing. Intel has commercialized silicon photonics and developed OCI (Optical Compute Interconnect) chiplets, while Broadcom is integrating CPO with high-end Ethernet switching platforms such as Tomahawk.

NVIDIA is also introducing photonics into its Spectrum-X and Quantum-X networking platforms, while TSMC is advancing optical-electronic integration through technologies such as COUPE and CoWoS. Ayar Labs is developing Optical I/O and optical chiplets designed for integration with advanced semiconductor packages.

Photonics-electronics convergence should therefore not be understood as a single product or proprietary concept. Rather, it represents a broader transformation across the semiconductor industry, in which companies such as NTT, Intel, Broadcom, NVIDIA, TSMC, and Ayar Labs are approaching the same goal from different directions: bringing optical communication progressively closer to the chip.

Related Keywords
Silicon Photonics / CPO / Optical I/O / Optical Chiplet / PIC / PEC / IOWN / OCI / COUPE / CoWoS / UCIe / Spectrum-X Photonics / Quantum-X Photonics / Tomahawk / Optical Waveguide / Optical Transceiver