Tower Semiconductor & Salience Labs partner on PIC optical switches
Tower Semiconductor and Salience Labs team up to scale photonic integrated circuit-based optical switches, advancing AI data-centre connectivity and reducing electronic bottlenecks.
Tower Semiconductor and Salience Labs have announced a partnership to manufacture photonic integrated circuit (PIC)–based optical circuit switches (OCS) for AI data-centre applications.
The collaboration leverages Tower Semiconductor’s high-volume silicon photonics platforms, including PH18DA with integrated III-V lasers and TPS45PH with low-loss nitride waveguides, to move the technology from development into pre-production.
By shifting connectivity and switching into the optical domain, the OCS design aims to reduce reliance on traditional optical-electrical-optical conversions and minimise electronic bottlenecks.
“Silicon photonics with integrated light sources is a key enabler for scaling next-generation optical connectivity, and our collaboration with Salience Labs reinforces our strong momentum in AI and data-centre infrastructure,” said Ed Preisler, VP and GM of Tower Semiconductor’s RF Business Unit.
Salience Labs recently expanded its R&D facilities by 6,700 sq ft to accelerate development of its photonic switch technology, following a $30 million funding round.
Tower Semiconductor has also advanced 300‑mm wafer bonding capabilities to enable heterogeneous 3D‑IC integration across its silicon photonics and SiGe BiCMOS processes, supporting scalable PIC manufacturing.
The partnership reflects growing efforts to deploy PIC-based optical solutions in high-performance computing and AI infrastructures, highlighting the commercialisation of integrated photonics beyond laboratory research.
