KnowMade unveils PIC patent dashboard
New interactive patent intelligence platform tracks global innovation trends across silicon photonics, photonic integrated circuits, optical I/O, co-packaged optics, and photonic computing.
KnowMade has introduced its Silicon Photonics & Photonic IC Patent Landscape 2026, an interactive patent intelligence dashboard.
It is designed to help organizations monitor technology developments and intellectual property activity across the rapidly evolving silicon photonics and photonic integrated circuit (PIC) sectors.
The platform combines an online analytics dashboard with a structured patent database, enabling users to explore global patenting trends, evaluate competitive positioning, and access patent-level information across multiple photonic technology domains and material platforms.
According to KnowMade, the study covers more than 36,400 patent publications grouped into over 13,300 patent families.
The company reports that patent activity in silicon photonics and PIC technologies has accelerated significantly since the mid-2010s, reaching more than 1,700 patent families and 4,500 patent publications in 2025.
The dashboard segments patents across key technology areas including PIC and silicon photonics platforms, active devices, optical coupling, optical transceivers, optical I/O and interconnects, packaging and testing, photonic computing, and photonic sensing.
Material platforms covered include silicon and silicon-on-insulator (SOI), indium phosphide (InP), silicon nitride (SiN), thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN), lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI), polymers, barium titanate (BTO), and related technologies.
KnowMade said the solution enables users to track leading patent holders, identify emerging innovators, analyze patent filing activity by geography and technology segment, and access detailed patent records, including legal status information and links to original patent documents.
The report highlights strong global patent activity, led by the United States with more than 12,200 patent publications, followed by China with more than 6,100 publications and Europe with over 5,300 publications.
Japan and South Korea also continue to demonstrate significant innovation activity in integrated photonics and optoelectronics.
The company noted that increasing demand for AI infrastructure, datacenter interconnects, optical computing, co-packaged optics, optical chiplets, and photonic interconnects is driving continued growth in silicon photonics and PIC innovation.
As bandwidth, latency, and power-consumption challenges intensify in AI and high-performance computing systems, integrated photonics is becoming an increasingly strategic technology area across the semiconductor and communications industries.
KnowMade believes future competitive leadership in silicon photonics will depend not only on patent portfolio size but also on the ability to scale photonic integration through advanced packaging, optical I/O architectures, photonic chiplets, and three-dimensional integration technologies.
