Sivers Semiconductors and SemiNex launch a $3.4 million InP light-source program for AI data center interconnects

Sivers Semiconductors AB and SemiNex Corporation announced a $3.4 million program on 13 August 2026 to develop next-generation indium phosphide (InP) light sources for AI data center interconnects, with customer sampling and initial production ramps targeted for the second half of 2027^[1].

The two companies bring complementary capabilities. Sivers, headquartered in Kista, Sweden, supplies photonics and wireless technologies across AI data centers, satellite communications, defense, and telecom. SemiNex, based in Danvers, Massachusetts, designs and manufactures high-power InP laser diodes, DFB lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), and external cavity lasers^[1].

What the program covers

The collaboration is structured around three device categories, each addressing a specific bottleneck in next-generation optical connectivity^[1]:

• High-power external laser sources for co-packaged optics (CPO)
• High-channel-count DFB laser arrays for wavelength-multiplexed links
• SOA gain stages designed to extend optical reach as channel counts increase

The common thread is InP material engineering. As SemiNex CEO Ronald Moore put it, the gains the industry needs "come out of the design and processing of the InP itself"^[1] - not from pushing existing devices harder.

Why CPO changes the light-source equation

Co-packaged optics moves the optical engine off the system faceplate and into the ASIC package, cutting electrical path length and reducing power per bit. As optics move from the faceplate into the package, power per wavelength, wall-plug efficiency, and thermal stability increasingly determine how far an architecture can scale, making the light source a system-level design problem rather than a component selection.

That shift puts pressure on the laser specifically. Photonic integrated circuits are highly temperature-sensitive and introduce new forms of thermal coupling when integrated alongside high-power logic dies, and dynamic AI workloads can induce fast, localized temperature excursions that directly impact optical performance. Higher wall-plug efficiency and tighter thermal stability in the InP source directly reduce the burden on the rest of the package.

The market backdrop is substantial. According to LightCounting, sales of lasers and photonic integrated circuits for optical transceivers are expected to grow from $2.4 billion in 2023 to $5.9 billion by 2029, fueled largely by AI data centers^[1].

What each side contributes

Sivers Semiconductors CEO Vickram Vathulya framed the light source as a peer to compute and memory: "The advanced light sources needed for next generation optical networking within AI factories are as crucial as the compute, memory and silicon photonics elements"^[1]. SemiNex's Moore was direct about the constraint: "The optical layer is becoming the constraint on how far AI infrastructure can scale. The industry needs more power, at more wavelengths, at higher efficiency"^[1].

The program pairs SemiNex's InP device expertise with Sivers' photonics integration and production capabilities, with the stated goal of delivering light-source solutions at scale rather than as engineering samples.

The timeline to watch is the second half of 2027, when customer sampling and early production ramps are planned. Whether the program can demonstrate the wall-plug efficiency and thermal stability that CPO architectures demand at volume will determine how quickly this collaboration translates into designed-in wins at hyperscale operators^[1].