STMicroelectronics (ST) has commenced mass production of its industry-leading silicon photonics platform, the 'PIC100,' to respond to the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. This platform, adopted by major global hyperscalers as an optical interconnect for data centers and AI clusters, is based on a 300mm wafer process.

ST announced on the 25th that it is currently mass-producing 800G and 1.6T class PIC100 transceivers, providing higher transmission bandwidth, lower latency, and improved energy efficiency to meet the surging AI workloads.

The company plans to expand its production capacity by more than four times compared to the current level by 2027 and pursue additional expansion in 2028.

This aggressive expansion is proceeding based on long-term supply contracts with major customers.

Fabio Gualandris, President of ST’s Quality, Manufacturing, and Technology division, stated, “We have secured differentiated competitiveness in the AI infrastructure market through the combination of large-scale 300mm production infrastructure and silicon photonics technology,” adding, “We will be able to stably respond to rapidly growing demand.”

The market outlook is also bright.

According to optical communications market analysis firm LightCounting, the market for pluggable optical modules for data centers is expected to grow to approximately $15.5 billion by 2025 and maintain an average annual growth rate of 17% until 2030.

In particular, the proportion of silicon photonics-based transceivers and Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) technology is expected to expand rapidly.

ST also unveiled its next-generation technology roadmap simultaneously with mass production.

The 'PIC100 TSV' platform, utilizing through-silicon vias (TSVs), aims to increase optical connectivity density and module integration, and improve system-level thermal efficiency.

This platform is designed to support NPO and CPO environments, aligning with hyperscalers' long-term AI infrastructure expansion strategies.

Meanwhile, at OFC 2026 held in Los Angeles, USA, ST emphasized its technological leadership by announcing research results on a new silicon photonics platform for 200Gbit/s lane applications and unveiling a 1.6T-DR8 transceiver demo.