News: Suppliers
15 September 2026
ClassOne wins multi-system Solstice S8 follow-on orders from photonics manufacturers for high-volume 6-inch InP gold plating
ClassOne Technology of Kalispell, MT, USA (which manufactures electroplating and wet-chemical process systems for ≤200mm wafers) says that two “industry-leading” photonics manufacturers have placed follow-on production orders for multiple Solstice S8 single-wafer wet processing systems. Configured with ClassOne’s GoldPro electroplating chambers, the Solstice systems will be used for high-volume gold electroplating of 4-inch and 6-inch indium phosphide (InP) wafers key to next-generation optical devices for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and other high-bandwidth communications applications.
The Solstice systems deliver what is said to be advanced gold plating performance to provide the throughput and process consistency required for volume InP manufacturing. These customers, which leverage Solstice as their global process tool of record for gold plating, anticipate deploying multiple additional systems as InP-based transceiver production capacity expands, underscoring the accelerating demand for high-bandwidth optical interconnects in AI infrastructure. These customers are said to value the Solstice system’s flexibility, which allows for metal lift-off, wet etch and other processes to be added on the same platform.
High-volume manufacturing of InP-based optical devices requires extremely uniform thickness and surface roughness control to ensure device performance, yield and long-term reliability, notes ClassOne. As AI model complexity and data-center bandwidth requirements continue to increase, InP photonics is rapidly becoming a critical technology for enabling faster, lower-power data transmission. According to industry analyst firm Yole Group, AI data-center scaling is driving massive growth in photonics. By 2031, the optical transceiver market is projected to reach $112bn, while the photonics packaging market is forecast to hit $14.4bn — deployment of co-packaged optics (CPO) is dramatically accelerating the consumption of InP lasers essential to photonics ICs.
“The photonics market has reached an important inflection point as manufacturers ramp to high-volume production,” says ClassOne’s CEO Byron Exarcos. “These orders and anticipated additional follow-ons reflect these vital customers’ confidence in our ability to deliver the process performance, throughput and manufacturing scalability required for next-generation photonics production,” he adds. “We’re excited to further support these technology leaders as optical interconnects become essential to AI infrastructure.”
ClassOne says that its plating technology is specifically engineered for demanding semiconductor applications requiring exceptional thickness control, wafer-to-wafer repeatability and production-ready throughput. These latest orders, which closely follow recently announced Solstice S8 photonics purchases, further illustrate the industry’s focus on building the manufacturing infrastructure needed for the next generation of AI connectivity, the firm adds.
ClassOne secures record follow-on Solstice S8 orders from AOI
