News: Optoelectronics
18 September 2026
NewPhotonics and Tower begin high-volume shipments of laser-integrated, serviceable optical engine PICs for scale-out and scale-up AI interconnect
Specialty analog foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd of Migdal Haemek, Israel and Tel Aviv-based fabless photonic integrated circuit (PIC) chip firm NewPhotonics Ltd have announced high-volume shipment of laser-integrated serviceable optical engines designed to meet the urgent and growing demand for high-bandwidth, energy-efficient optical interconnects in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The PIC optical engine chips support OEM solutions ranging from FRO/LRO/LPO and Extra-Dense Packaged Optics (XPO) pluggable transceiver modules and near-packaged optics (NPO) socket pluggable applications. Volume production PICs that are shipping now currently support data rates from 800G to 1.6T, with future volume manufacturing planned at 6.4T NPO solutions suitable for scale-out and scale-up architectures.
The collaboration leverages the high-volume PH18DA silicon photonics (SiPho) technology platform featuring heterogeneously integrated indium phosphide (InP) components enabling monolithic integration of lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), modulators, and photodetectors on a single photonic integrated circuit. This highly integrated, optical-domain focused approach is said to reduce complexity and manufacturing variability to supply better yield, reliability, and time-to-market with a leading-edge photonic device.
Volume shipment of NewPhotonics’ NPG102 PIC products for 800G and 1.6T feature 200G-per-lane designs and heterogeneously integrated lasers on a monolithic PIC enables customers to leverage optical signal processing in a unified architecture that delivers power efficiency, bandwidth density, and manufacturing consistency. The CPX-MSA-compliant NPC505 chipsets for 6.4T will begin volume shipment in first-half 2027.
“The next phase of AI infrastructure demands optical connectivity that scales in both production and performance,” says NewPhotonics’ senior VP & general manager Doron Tal. “With Tower, we are translating laser-integrated photonics into a practical choice and volume availability. By combining our optical chip design with their manufacturing platform, we are first to bring higher-bandwidth, energy-efficient highly integrated systems to the OEM customer and data-center market,” he adds.
“We are excited to see our vision of integrating lasers with high-performance photonic integrated circuits come to fruition through scale-ready solutions optimized for FRO/LRO and NPO architectures,” says Dr Ed Preisler, VP & general manager of Tower’s RF business unit. “NewPhotonics is a valued partner and the first to bring heterogenous laser-integrated optical engines on the PH18DA platform into high-volume production, marking an important milestone in scaling optical connectivity for next-generation AI infrastructure.”
Both companies are participating in the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC 2026) exhibition at the Palacio de Ferias y Congresos de Málaga (FYCMA) in Spain (21–23 September), with representatives available for meetings during the event. Tower is exhibiting in booth #C1014. NewPhotonics is showcasing the NPG102 and NPC505 PIC products in Pavilion 2, stand #2009.
OpenLight and Tower expand PH18DA photonics ecosystem to accelerate photonic IC development
