Military‑grade IR chips drop to $10

Infrared chips that can see short-wave light beyond human vision may be heading toward about $10 apiece in China, down from hundreds or thousands of dollars for current devices. (scmp.com) The report traces the price claim to a March 29 announcement from Xidian University, where Professor Hu Huiyong’s team said a silicon-germanium design made on standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor lines could cut costs by as much as 99 percent. The university said a dedicated production line is scheduled to start up by the end of 2026. (scmp.com) (news.xidian.edu.cn) The chip is aimed at short-wave infrared sensing, which detects light at wavelengths that pass through fog, haze and smoke better than visible light. Xidian said that has kept the technology in military and high-end research markets because indium gallium arsenide detectors usually require expensive materials and specialized manufacturing. (scmp.com) (news.xidian.edu.cn) Xidian said the new route swaps indium gallium arsenide for silicon-germanium and uses the same kind of fabrication base used for mainstream chips. Team member Wang Liming said that means making short-wave infrared detectors “using the same methods and cost base” as smartphone chips. (scmp.com) (news.xidian.edu.cn) The immediate significance is not a cheaper missile seeker than a cheaper camera module. Xidian and outside coverage both pointed to phones, factory scanners, lidar systems for cars, and robots that need imaging in darkness or bad weather. (scmp.com) (techrepublic.com) Chinese thermal-imaging suppliers have already been pushing infrared hardware toward smaller pixels and higher-volume markets. Raytron, one of China’s major infrared companies, says it launched a 6-micrometer detector in 2024 and mass-produced 8-micrometer uncooled detectors in 2025 for vehicles, drones and consumer electronics. (raytron-microelectronics.com) (prnewswire.com) There is still a gap between a university claim and a market price. Xidian described the $10 figure as a theoretical reduction versus existing indium gallium arsenide chips, and the university said it is still building the line that would support fast iteration and low-cost validation. (news.xidian.edu.cn) (scmp.com) The technical hurdle is the 4.2 percent mismatch between silicon and germanium crystal lattices, which can create defects and electrical leakage. Xidian said it used graded buffer layers, low-temperature growth, annealing, passivation and a redesigned single-photon avalanche diode structure to keep performance near international leaders while lowering cost. (scmp.com) (news.xidian.edu.cn) If the process scales, the bigger shift is that short-wave infrared could start to look less like a boutique defense sensor and more like another camera part. The next test is whether Xidian’s planned 2026 production line turns a lab result into a repeatable commercial component. (news.xidian.edu.cn) (scmp.com)