Optical Chips: Mass Production Expansion
Global optical chip capacity surges as Coherent, Nokia, JX Metals, IQE, and China's Suzhou Optoelectronics race to meet explosive AI data center demand.
It has to be said: demand for optical chips is extremely strong.
In recent days, the global optical chip supply chain has seen a dense wave of capacity expansions, long-term agreements, investments, and supply-chain lock-ins:
Coherent is expanding its 6-inch InP compound semiconductor fab in Sherman, Texas.
Nokia is expanding advanced photonic chip testing and packaging capacity in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Japan’s JX Advanced Metals plans to invest up to 120 billion yen to increase InP substrate capacity 7–10 times.
IQE signed a multi-year InP epi-wafer supply agreement with Tower Semiconductor.
China’s Suzhou Optoelectronics (under Dongshan Precision) announced a $1.2 billion optical chip and high-speed optical module expansion project in Changzhou.
A full-scale capacity race centered on AI data center optical interconnects has officially begun.
