Tower Semiconductor and Xscape Photonics Unveil First On-Chip Multi-Wavelength Laser For AI Data Centers

Tower Semiconductor (NASDAQ/TASE: TSEM), a leading foundry of high-value analog semiconductor solutions, and Xscape Photonics, a U.S.-based innovator in advanced photonic interconnects funded by industry leaders such as NVIDIA and Cisco, today announced the successful prototyping and validation kit availability of the industry's first on-chip, optically pumped, multi-wavelength laser source. Built on Tower's mature, high-volume PH18 Silicon Photonics platform, the solution supports CWDM and DWDM wavelength grids and is tailored for AI datacenter fabrics, where bandwidth density, power efficiency, and scalability are essential.

The optical interconnect market for AI datacenters is expected to grow, driven by the rising demand for high-speed, low-latency connectivity in hyperscale AI deployments. According to LightCounting, sales of optical transceivers and LPO/CPO for AI clusters are expected to reach more than $10 billion in 2026, double the size of sales in 2024. LightCounting projects these sales to reach $20 billion by 2030.

This breakthrough from Tower Semiconductor and Xscape Photonics enables a path toward high performance, high reliability, lower cost and a simplified supply chain by monolithically embedding programmable multi-color lasers on-chip, pumped optically by a single CW external laser. It also eliminates the need to source for multiple externally modulated lasers or require hybrid III-V integration. Xscape Photonics' solution simplifies design, reduces latency and component count, and is especially impactful for GPU-to-GPU and GPU-to-HBM optical links in AI clusters. Leveraging Tower's high-volume modular PH18 platform, the solution offers a seamless upgrade path for existing customers, fully compatible with established photonic components such as modulators and detectors.