United Microelectronics (UMC) said Monday that it has reached an agreement with Imec to license its iSiPP300 technology to advance silicon photonics capabilities.
United Microelectronics said it will integrate imec's 12-inch silicon photonics process with its own silicon-on-insulator wafer processing capabilities and leverage prior experience in 8-inch silicon photonics production to develop a highly scalable photonic IC platform.
UMC is working with several new customers to deliver photonic IC chips on this new platform for optical transceiver applications, with risk production scheduled for 2026 and 2027, Senior Vice President GC Hung said.