Technavio: Silicon Photonics market estimated to grow at ~25% CAGR from 2024-2028
The global silicon photonics market size is estimated to increase by $5.24 billion from 2024-2028, according to Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of almost 24.88% during the forecast period. Increasing need for higher bandwidth is driving market growth, with a trend towards emergence of optical data centers. However, lack of global standards and guidelines poses a challenge.
The decades old global Silicon Photonics market is now experiencing significant growth due to the increasing demand for high-speed data transfer in various industries. With Internet traffic from cloud computing, 5G technology, IoT, and AI-powered devices, there is a need for more efficient and low-power solutions.
Silicon photonics uses integrated circuits (ICs) for optical communications, thereby reducing power consumption compared to electronic technologies.
Key components of silicon photonics include transceivers, optical interconnects, lasers, modulators, and photodetectors. These are used in data centers, telecommunication networks, and interconnection networks. The market is also driven by the adoption of 5G network, self-driving cars, and high-speed kits for point-of-care testing and imaging data. Silicon photonics uses optical waveguides, optical modulators, and photodetectors made from silicon, silicon nitride, and other photonic components. These components are more compact and less susceptible to thermal effects compared to traditional fiber-optic solutions. Additionally, the use of high-powered laser sources, thermal stress management, and liquid-crystal cladding helps mitigate thermal effects and improve performance.
The market for silicon photonics is expected to grow in IT & telecommunications and consumer electronics sectors, with applications in broadband services, telecom service providers, and broadband connections. This growth is driven by the need for high-speed data transfer and low power consumption, making silicon photonics a promising solution for the future of optical communications and data storage systems.
Silicon photonics is now targeted at optical data centers, providing enhanced capabilities for data transmission, processing, and storage. By integrating high-speed, high-bandwidth optical interconnects directly onto silicon chips, silicon photonics enables seamless communication between different data center components. This results in faster data transfer rates, lower latency, and increased scalability, making it an ideal solution for modern applications like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics. The continuous growth in cloud-based applications and big data analytics has significantly expanded the scale of data center networks. Silicon photonics, with its advantages over traditional copper-based interconnects, is a crucial technology in addressing the demands for faster and more efficient data center infrastructure.
The communications industry’s growth is driving the demand for silicon photonics due to its ability to transmit wider bandwidth signals with low latency and maintain signal quality during long-distance communication with minimal loss. Silicon photonics is a key technology in optical communication systems, enabling the transfer of large amounts of data at high speeds. Increased bandwidth and low latency requirements have fueled the demand for silicon photonics-based devices such as receivers, transmitters, and modulators.
Communications Industry – Market size and forecast 2018 – 2028 (USD Mn):
The global silicon photonics market is experiencing significant growth due to increasing demand for high-speed data transfer in various industries. With the Internet traffic from cloud computing, 5G technology, IoT, and AI-powered devices, there is a need for more efficient and low-power optical communications solutions.
The proliferation of data centers and cloud computing infrastructure is a major factor driving the market’s growth. Vendors like Cisco Systems Inc. And Intel Corp. Offer silicon photonics solutions for high-speed data transmission in data center environments. The evolution of 5G networks is another significant factor, as silicon photonics supports 5G networks with low latency and high capacity at a low cost and power per bit. With the increasing investment in 5G networks, the demand for silicon photonics is also expected to rise, boosting the growth of the global silicon photonics market through the communications segment.
Silicon photonics vendors include: AIO Core Co. Ltd., ams OSRAM AG, Broadcom Inc., Corning Inc., Hamamatsu Photonics KK, II VI Inc., Infinera Corp., Innolume GmbH, Intel Corp., International Business Machines Corp., IPG Photonics Corp., MACOM Technology Solutions Inc., NKT Photonics AS, Nokia Corp., NVIDIA Corp., OpenLight Photonics Inc., OSCPS Motion Sensing Inc, RANVOUS Inc., Sicoya GmbH, TRUMPF SE Co. KG, and Cisco Systems Inc.
Market Challenges:
- Lack of global standards and guidelines
- Availability of substitute technologies for silicon photonics
- High heat generation by photonic components
Silicon photonics offers a promising solution with its integration of photonics and electronic components on a single silicon chip. However, challenges such as thermal effects, power consumption, and thermal stress in high-powered laser sources remain. Transceivers, optical interconnects, and lasers are key components in this market, along with modulators, photodetectors, and optical waveguides. Data centers, telecommunication, and IT and telecommunications are major end-users, with consumer electronics and automotive industries also adopting silicon photonics for high-speed kits in self-driving cars and point-of-care testing. Optical network infrastructure, including fiber-optic and active optical cables, is a significant application area. The market is expected to grow further with advancements in silicon nitride, optical multiplexers, attenuators, and other photonic components.
The absence of standardized protocols and specifications in the silicon photonics market poses challenges for both manufacturers and customers. Without universally accepted standards, the integration of silicon photonics components into existing optical communication systems and networks becomes complicated. Compatibility issues arise, product development and manufacturing processes are complicated, and implementation costs increase. Furthermore, the lack of clear standards results in inconsistent performance metrics, making it difficult for customers to compare and evaluate different silicon photonics solutions effectively. Standardization is crucial for the widespread adoption of new technologies, and its absence in the silicon photonics market hinders its growth and potential impact on the optical communication industry.
References:
LightCounting: Silicon Photonics chip market to hit $3 billion in 2029
Light Counting on Silicon Photonics and Optical Switching at SC22
Synopsys and Juniper Networks form new company to pursue “open” silicon photonics platform
LightCounting: Q1 2024 Optical Network Equipment market split between telecoms (-) and hyperscalers (+)
https://viodi.com/2013/11/08/silicon-photonics-cisco-intel-see-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel/
Optical Compute Interconnect (OCI)
Intel® Optical Compute Interconnect (OCI) is a new class of optical connectivity devices, delivering multi-terabit per second solutions with the reach and energy efficiency required to dramatically scale next-generation compute platforms and architectures, supporting the exponential growth of AI infrastructure.
Features of our OCI chiplet include:
Fully integrated die stack, consisting of a single Intel® Silicon Photonics Integrated Circuit (PIC) with on-chip DWDM lasers and SOAs, and an advanced node CMOS electrical integrated circuit (EIC) with all the electronic devices required to form a complete optical I/O subsystem. No external laser source or optical amplification is required.
The first-generation chiplet supports 4 Tbps bidirectionally, with a roadmap to tens of Terabits per second per device.
Works over standard single-mode fiber (SMF-28). No polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF) is required.
A path to incorporate a detachable optical connector.
Designed to be co-packaged with next-generation CPU, GPU, IPU, and other SOCs. Stand-alone on-board implementations can also be supported.
Chiplet-level evaluation platforms to be available.
Based on our field-proven Intel® Silicon Photonics platform, which has already shipped more than 8 million PICs with over 32 million on-chip lasers embedded in pluggable optical transceivers for data center networking, with industry-leading reliability.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/network-io/silicon-photonics.html