Photonics supplier move
- Sivers Semiconductors is expanding its role with Ayar Labs to support high‑volume optical I/O in AI infrastructure. - The expansion positions Sivers as a primary laser supplier linked to AMD’s coherent package‑optics path via GlobalFoundries. - This deal signals growing commercialisation of silicon photonics supply chains for AI interconnects (x.com).
Moving data with light instead of copper is moving from lab demos toward factory scale, and Sivers Semiconductors is pushing deeper into Ayar Labs’ supply chain for that buildout. (sivers-semiconductors.com) Sivers said on December 19, 2024 that it was in advanced discussions with Ayar Labs on the next phase of their partnership, focused on product qualification and manufacturing readiness for high-volume deployment in artificial intelligence data centers. Ayar said the expansion would include non-recurring engineering work and pre-purchases of products to prepare for volume ramps. (sivers-semiconductors.com) The parts at issue are laser arrays, which act like the light bulbs for optical links inside or next to chip packages. Sivers said its 16-wavelength distributed feedback laser array was integrated into Ayar’s SuperNova light source for 16 terabits per second of bi-directional bandwidth in a joint demonstration at the European Conference on Optical Communication in Frankfurt in September 2024. (sivers-semiconductors.com) Ayar’s pitch is that copper traces and cables waste too much power as artificial intelligence clusters get larger. In its December 11, 2024 funding announcement, Ayar said its in-package optical input/output is designed to replace electrical input/output for training and inference systems and is being readied for high-volume manufacturing. (adventinternational.com) The financing behind that manufacturing push has grown quickly. Ayar raised $155 million in December 2024 from investors including AMD Ventures, Intel Capital, NVIDIA and GlobalFoundries, then raised another $500 million in March 2026 at a reported $3.75 billion valuation to expand production and test capacity. (adventinternational.com) (datacenterdynamics.com) Sivers has been moving toward this role for several years. In July 2023, its photonics unit disclosed a $1 million Ayar order for next-generation laser arrays, with deliveries across 2023 and 2024 and agreed volume-pricing terms for larger future manufacturing runs. (sivers-semiconductors.com) AMD has also been building around the same optical packaging direction. AMD said on May 28, 2025 that it had acquired photonics company Enosemi to scale co-packaged optics work for next-generation artificial intelligence systems, after collaborating with Enosemi as an external development partner. (amd.com) GlobalFoundries sits in Ayar’s investor base, and Ayar has described backing from both leading graphics processor providers and major foundries as part of its manufacturing alignment. That makes supplier positions such as Sivers’ laser role more consequential as optical input/output shifts from prototype systems to repeatable production lines. (adventinternational.com) (sivers-semiconductors.com) The immediate test is not whether optical links can work; Sivers and Ayar have already shown that in public demos. The test now is whether companies can qualify lasers, package optics, and build enough of them for the artificial intelligence systems scheduled over the next two years. (sivers-semiconductors.com) (datacenterdynamics.com)
