News: Optoelectronics
12 March 2026
CEA-Leti and NcodiN partner to industrialize 300mm silicon photonics for bandwidth-hungry AI interconnects
Micro/nanotechnology R&D center CEA-Leti of Grenoble, France and NcodiN of Palaiseau, Paris, France (which was founded in 2023 to pioneer optical interconnects with integrated nanolasers for next-generation computing) have announced a strategic collaboration to industrialize NcodiN’s optical interposer technology on a 300mm integrated photonics process.
NcodiN, which received €16m in seed financing last November, is developing optical interconnects designed to relieve a critical data-movement bottleneck that limits performance in next-generation semiconductors. The collaboration will accelerate its proof-of-concept work into industrial-grade 300mm processes — moving beyond copper interconnects and marking a step toward scalable, in-package, long-reach optical links for future computing architectures and artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
As AI systems demand orders-of-magnitude increases in bandwidth and energy efficiency, the industry is shifting from copper to optical interconnects.
NcodiN is building NConnect, the integrated optical interconnect platform powered by what is claimed to be the world’s smallest laser on silicon — 500x smaller than existing industry-standard devices. The firm’s nanolaser-enabled photonic interposers pave the way to ultra-dense integration (>5000 nanolasers/mm²) and record-low-energy operation (~0.1pJ/bit). Building on CEA-Leti’s photonics integration expertise, NcodiN is transitioning its nanolaser to a 300mm silicon photonics platform, as a foundational step toward scalable, wafer-level optical interconnects for high-end computing and AI applications.
Picture: III-V semiconductor dies bonded to 300mm wafer using direct bonding and high-precision alignment (photo courtesy of redit: AUBERT/CEA).
“NcodiN’s nanolaser-enabled photonic interconnects overcome the long-standing bottleneck of bulky, inefficient photonic components that have prevented large-scale adoption,” says NcodiN’s co-founder & CEO Francesco Manegatti. “Our collaboration with CEA-Leti aims to demonstrate NConnect’s compatibility with 300mm wafers, which is essential for commercial-scale production and cost-effective adoption in AI-centric processors and high-bandwidth computing systems.”
CEA-Leti’s CEO Sébastien Dauvé says that the partnership underscores the two parties’ shared commitment to enabling scalable photonic infrastructure capable of meeting future computing demands.
“Transitioning photonics to a 300mm CMOS-compatible process is a turning point for optical interconnects that can finally be produced at the scale, cost and reliability the AI industry requires,” he adds. “This collaboration with NcodiN highlights a key part of CEA-Leti’s mission: transferring advanced semiconductor and microelectronics technologies to industry, where they serve a range of vital markets.”
Silicon photonic interposer start-up NcodiN raises €16m in seed funding
