News: LEDs
19 November 2025
CEA-Leti launches multi-lateral program to accelerate AI with micro-LED data links
At the SEMICON Europa 2025 event in Munich, Germany (18–21 November), micro/nanotechnology R&D center CEA-Leti of Grenoble, France has launched a three-year, multi-lateral program on micro-LED technology for ultra-fast data transfer, with a particular focus on accelerating artificial intelligence (AI) growth. The lab- to-fab initiative draws on the institute’s expertise in micro-LED process technology. Beginning in January, it aims to engage manufacturers of micro-LEDs, optical fibers, photodiodes and interconnects, as well as chipmakers, system integrators, and hyperscalers.
“Over the past decade, the computing power required to train leading-edge AI models has exploded by factors of millions, doubling roughly every 3–4 months as systems become more complex and data-hungry,” says CEA-Leti’s CEO Sébastien Dauvé. “Supercomputers demand ever-faster communication links with very high energy efficiency and ultra-low latency — but interconnect performance is lagging behind compute power. That gap calls for a paradigm shift capable of boosting high-performance computing speed by orders of magnitude.”
Currently, the tech industry is using slower copper-based data systems and costly laser-based solutions. Supported by a mature technology base, micro-LEDs consume less energy than either copper- or laser-based systems.
A recent report on Microsoft’s novel optical-link technology “MOSAIC: Breaking the Optics versus Copper Trade-off with a Wide-and-Slow Architecture and MicroLEDs” noted that “micro-LEDs are significantly smaller than traditional LEDs (and) can be modulated at several Gbps using a simple ON-OFF scheme.” It also noted that the technology “achieves 10x the reach of copper, reduces power consumption by up to 68%, and offers 100x higher reliability than today’s optical links”.
Picture: Working principle of micro-LED based data link. Source: Patrick Le Maitre, CEA.
“Micro-LED represents a true paradigm shift for short-range optical point-to-point data interconnects,” says Dauvé. “It delivers extremely high data-density transfer rates with far better energy efficiency than current technologies. Unlike silicon photonics or VCSELs [vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers], micro-LED is scalable for massive parallel communication,” he adds. “By combining the complementary expertise of our program members, we aim to break through the interconnect power and density bottlenecks that limit next-generation computing.”
CEA-Leti has been undertaking micro-LED R&D for lighting, display and data communications for more than 15 years, and it holds about 100 patents. Its use of silicon wafers and standard processes to produce micro-LEDs both scales and transfers easily to standard microelectronics foundries.
The institute will lead the Multilateral Micro-LED Data Link Program with financial backing from its industrial partners. Together, members will map out a technical roadmap that sets clear objectives, milestones and deliverables, and will track progress closely — adjusting the course as needed to keep the collaboration on pace and on target.
During the CxO Summit at SEMICON Europa, Sébastien Dauvé gave the presentation ‘Executing the European Chips Act with Speed and Impact: CEA-Leti’s Pilot Line Fueling Industry Growth and AI Innovation”.
