The award will accelerate GF’s development of next-generation silicon photonics wafer technologies, novel optical materials and advanced packaging, including proven 3D hybrid bonding, that enable the roll-out of near-packaged optics (NPO) and co-packaged optics (CPO). This work builds directly on GF’s recently introduced SCALE™ (Silicon Photonics Co-Packaged Advanced Light Engine) platform, targeting industry-leading modularity, 400Gb/s performance and a 5x increase in energy efficiency over current-generation implementations.
In a separate agreement, the
“With today’s compute supply chain investments, the Trump Administration is accelerating America’s innovation engine,” said Secretary of Commerce
“The CHIPS R&D incentives will support a breakthrough in compute and communication networks moving past traditional copper bottlenecking to power next-generation AI,” said
Silicon photonics enables ultra-high bandwidth, energy-efficient data movement by transmitting information with light rather than electrical signals — delivering greater performance, higher interconnect density and lower power consumption as AI and data center workloads scale. GF’s silicon photonics platform is enabling today’s pluggable optical interconnects and is uniquely positioned to enable the industry’s transition to near-packaged optics (NPO) and co-packaged optics (CPO). Together with GF’s recently introduced SCALE™, customers gain a clear, scalable,
“Silicon photonics is essential to AI infrastructure. For a decade, the industry talked about the shift from copper to optical as something that was coming — today it is here, moving data at higher bandwidth and improved power efficiency as workloads grow more complex,” said
“As we accelerate development of next-generation optical materials and co-packaged optics, GF is building on our already qualified portfolio of photonic devices, proven 3D hybrid bonding and advanced packaging expertise, combined with our manufacturing scale to bring near-packaged and co-packaged optics to high volume — putting our customers on a direct,
GF is working with leading customers to ensure emerging NPO and CPO architectures and next-generation optical engines are supported by
AMD
“As AI systems scale, moving data efficiently is as critical as increasing compute performance. Silicon photonics and advanced packaging will be key to delivering the bandwidth, energy efficiency, and system-level connectivity required for the next generation of AI cluster infrastructure. We welcome GlobalFoundries’ continued investment in
Broadcom
"As AI workloads continue to grow in size and complexity, scaling the infrastructure that connects increasingly powerful compute clusters is becoming one of the industry's defining challenges. Advances in optical interconnects, silicon photonics and advanced packaging will be critical to enabling the next generation of AI architectures.
Cisco
"As AI infrastructure scales, moving data efficiently is becoming as important as compute itself. Advances in silicon photonics and optical interconnects will be critical to enabling the bandwidth, performance and energy efficiency future AI systems require.
"The rapid growth of AI is driving unprecedented bandwidth demands, making optical connectivity essential to next-generation data centers. Meeting these demands will require innovation across the ecosystem from advanced materials and optical components to silicon photonics and packaging. Investments such as
Lumentum
"AI is driving unprecedented demand for optical connectivity that can move more data while consuming less power. Meeting that challenge will require continued innovation across the silicon photonics ecosystem and a strong, resilient
Marvell
“The bottleneck in AI infrastructure is shifting from compute to connectivity — the ability to move data between and within systems without letting bandwidth or power constraints limit performance. As a leader in silicon photonics and optical connectivity, Marvell welcomes continued investment in
Meta
"Silicon photonics technologies will play a critical role in future generations of Meta's AI infrastructure. We believe that a multi-supplier, geographically diverse ecosystem produces the best technical innovations and the most scalable high-volume supply chains, and investing in
Microsoft
"The next generation of AI infrastructure will require significant advances in networking, optical interconnects and data movement. Silicon photonics is an important enabling technology for meeting those demands. Microsoft welcomes industrywide investments that accelerate innovation and strengthen the ecosystem developing the technologies that will power the future of AI," said
NVIDIA
“Rebuilding our supply chains is critical to the new industrial revolution. Scaling US manufacturing requires advances across chips, networking, optics, software, and manufacturing. Silicon photonics is essential to that future, and
Qualcomm
"As AI expands across cloud, enterprise and edge environments, enabling greater performance and efficiency will require innovation throughout the technology stack. Silicon photonics has the potential to play an important role in supporting next-generation AI platforms by helping address growing bandwidth and connectivity demands. We welcome efforts that advance innovation in this important technology area," said Kevin O'Buckley, Qualcomm Executive Vice President, Global Operations and Supply Chain.
About GF
GlobalFoundries (GF) is a leading manufacturer of essential semiconductors, enabling AI at scale from the cloud to the physical world. Through deep partnerships with customers, GF delivers differentiated, power-efficient and high-performance solutions for automotive, aerospace and defense, data center, smart mobile devices, internet of things and other high-growth markets. With global manufacturing operations across the U.S., Europe and Asia, GF is a trusted and holistic technology partner for customers around the world. GF’s talented, global team remains focused every day on security, longevity and sustainability. For more information, visit www.gf.com.
Forward-looking information
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Media contact:
Kenneth Craig
Kenneth.Craig@GF.com
