Taiwan’s CPO supply chain expands
Taiwan’s photonics and semiconductor ecosystem is broadening as co-packaged optics (CPO) moves into mass production, with companies spanning photonic integration, advanced packaging, optical connectivity and testing becoming increasingly involved.
Nvidia’s Spectrum-X Ethernet Photonics platform entered full mass production earlier this month, highlighting growing momentum behind CPO for AI and data-centre networking. The technology integrates optical components closer to computing and switching chips, shortening electrical signal paths and reducing power consumption and transmission delays.
Taiwanese companies including TSMC, Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) and Foxconn are already participating in the CPO supply chain. TSMC is involved in manufacturing photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and can use advanced packaging processes to integrate photonic and electronic ICs.
SPIL provides wafer-level packaging, assembly and testing, while Foxconn is involved in integrating CPO switches into network systems for data-centre applications.
The supply chain also includes optical connectivity specialists such as Fiber Optic Communications and Browave, which provide fiber array units for coupling between photonic devices and external fiber networks. MPI supplies components and modules for optical communications and high-frequency connectivity.
Testing is becoming another critical element as CPO moves toward volume manufacturing. Inspection increasingly needs to take place at wafer and individual-chip levels, including measurements of optical generation and transmission, wavelength, signal loss and electrical performance.
The expansion of Taiwan’s CPO ecosystem reflects the increasing convergence of PICs, electronic ICs, advanced packaging and optical connectivity as data-centre operators seek higher bandwidth and improved energy efficiency for AI workloads.
