Taiwanese chip foundry United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) has forged a licensing agreement with imec, a Belgian-based research innovation hub, for the the transfer of imec’s iSiPP300 silicon photonics process. Specifically, it featured co-packaged optics (CPO) compatibility that will accelerate UMC’s silicon photonics roadmap.

Most importantly, the licensed technology will enable UMC to accelerate 12-inch silicon photonics platform to propel next-generation connectivity.

Taps Potential of Silicon Photonics

Copper interconnects are becoming more limited amid the growing AI data workloads. Therefore, silicon photonics, which uses light to transmit data, is developing rapidly to support the ultra-high bandwidth, low latency, and energy-efficient requirements for data centers.

UMC wants to tap this potential and to do so, will integrate imec’s 12-inch silicon photonics process technology with its own expertise in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer processing. Moreover, it will also leverage prior experience in 8-inch silicon photonics production to provide customers with a highly scalable photonic IC (PIC) platform.

imec’s iSiPP300 platform features very compact and energy-efficient devices, including microring-based filters and modulator, as well as GeSi electro-absorption modulators (EAMs), complemented with diverse low-loss fiber interfaces and 3D packaging modules.

Boosts Broader Market Adoption

GC Hung, UMC Senior Vice President, said the licensed technology will enable them to accelerate the readiness of its photonic platform on 12-inch wafers. In addition, it is also working with several new customers to deliver PIC chips on this new platform with production slated for 2026 and 2027.

“Combined with our diverse advanced packaging technologies, UMC is well positioned to extend our offerings going forward as system architectures evolve toward greater integration – such as co-packaged optics and optical I/O – to achieve high-bandwidth, energy-efficient, and highly scalable optical interconnects for both intra- and inter-data center communications,” said Hung.

Meanwhile, Philippe Absil, Vice-President of IC-Link by imec, said the organization has proven in the last decade the significant performance gains of advanced CMOS processing on 12-inch wafers for silicon photonics.

Moreover, Absil said, “IC-Link by imec works closely with the semiconductor industry to ensure that the most advanced technologies are available for product manufacturing, and this agreement with UMC is a demonstration of our collaborative approach, enabling us to bring cutting-edge silicon photonics solutions to a broader market and accelerate adoption in next-generation compute systems.”

09 December 2025