China News Service, Shanghai, 14 September (reporter Li Shuzheng). On 13 September, the Silicon Photonics Innovation and Development Forum of the 19th Pujiang Innovation Forum was held at the Zhangjiang Science Hall in Shanghai. The forum was organized by the Silicon Photonics Innovation Alliance and the Shanghai Silicon Photonics Proof-of-Concept Platform, and co-organized by Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park Development Co., Ltd., the Shanghai Future Industry Fund, and CAS Star. Under the theme “Forging Compute with Light, Connecting Everything through Chips: Building a World-Class Silicon Photonics Innovation Ecosystem,” it brought together representatives of government, universities and research institutes, technology companies, and investment institutions. They exchanged technical progress and industrial practice in heterogeneous silicon photonic integration, optical interconnects for AI data centers, co-packaged optics, optical computing, and optical sensing. Yang Fenghe, head of the Shanghai Silicon Photonics Proof-of-Concept Platform, chaired the forum.
In the opening session, Li Ruxin, chair of the Silicon Photonics Innovation Alliance and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Qu Wei, deputy director of the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality; and Li Hui, deputy head of Pudong New Area, delivered remarks in turn. Academician Li Ruxin stressed that pilot lines and proof-of-concept platforms in silicon photonics should work together to lower the R&D threshold for smaller companies and research teams, and to carry start-up results from laboratory research into application. Deputy Director Qu Wei said that Shanghai will stay aligned with national strategic needs and with frontier technologies. By strengthening the layout of frontier research, building a hub for innovative talent, and fostering an industrial cluster, the city will continue to improve the silicon photonics innovation ecosystem and build the sector as a future industry. Deputy Head Li Hui noted that silicon photonics is at a critical stage of scaling. Pudong New Area will continue to help companies assemble the core factors of industrial development and improve services along the full chain, so that “the floor above or below is the upstream or downstream partner” becomes a working setting for industrial coupling.
During the forum, awards were presented for the second Zhangjiang Cup Silicon Photonics Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. Representatives of the first-prize company and the first-prize team presented their results. Gan Fuwan of Shanghai Saile Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. presented a single-wavelength 400G silicon photonic chip based on an all-silicon design. Using a proprietary all-silicon approach, the chip reaches 400G per wavelength for next-generation high-speed optical communications. Tao Yaoyu of the Xinyao Yuedong team at Peking University presented a programmable, spatially heterogeneous optoelectronic AI inference chip. The chip uses digital accumulation of optical intensity and a multiply–accumulate architecture divided into short optical paths, combined with three-dimensional electrical–optical–electrical heterogeneous integration and a proprietary flow-control compiler, for low-error, low-loss, programmable acceleration of AI inference.
Xiao Yu, co-founder of Shanghai Lankun Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. and a participant in the first Zhangjiang Cup, gave a company growth report titled “High-Density Optical Interconnects for AI Computing through Optoelectronic Integration.” He said that Lankun Micro combines co-design of photonics and electronics, and engineering capability in optoelectronic integration, with Shanghai’s silicon photonics ecosystem. He presented a high-bandwidth, low-latency, manufacturable silicon photonic interconnect solution for AI computing supernodes and for scale-up, at a level comparable with the international state of the art.
In the technical sessions, five industry specialists spoke on technical breakthroughs, engineering practice, and emerging applications: Wang Wei, senior director of Shanghai New Micro Technology R&D Center Co., Ltd.; Chen Zhaoxi, a postdoctoral researcher at City University of Hong Kong; Li Wenqi, general manager of Shanghai Yibu Semiconductor Co., Ltd.; Li Haozhe, co-founder and director of materials R&D at Yaozhi Photonics (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd.; and Xu Zhongwei, general manager of Shanghai Yiweida Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. The five talks covered heterogeneous integration, thin-film lithium niobate, co-packaged optics, optical computing, and optical sensing, and presented the range of ways in which silicon photonics is being explored for interconnect, computing, and sensing.
The roundtable was chaired by Zhang Sishen, managing director of CAS Star. The participants were Nie Hui, general manager of NVISION (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd.; Lu Liangjun, chief technology officer of Xinjie Guanghe (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd.; Yu Wu, system architect at Shanghai Enflame Technology Co., Ltd.; Li Meng, a researcher at Peking University; Xia Xiaoyuan, deputy general manager for R&D at the Shanghai Industrial Technology Research Institute; Pu Huanan, executive vice dean of the research institute of Guangbenwei Intelligent Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.; and Cai Jinxu, executive general manager for investment at Shanghai Future Qidian Private Fund Management Co., Ltd. The discussion addressed how to build a silicon photonics innovation ecosystem for the computing era. The panel agreed that silicon photonics will move from technical feasibility to commercial use at scale only when technological innovation, engineering verification, industrial coordination, application demand, and capital are genuinely connected.
As demand for AI computing and high-speed optical interconnects continues to grow, silicon photonics is moving more quickly toward the convergence of multiple technologies and coordination across use cases. From core devices and heterogeneous integration, through co-packaged optics, optical computing, and sensing for physical AI, to the building of the innovation ecosystem, the forum examined the key links and emerging applications of silicon photonics, and made clear the importance of closer connections among R&D, engineering verification, industrial coordination, and capital.
The forum reflected continued attention from industry, universities, research institutes, and investors to silicon photonics technology and industry. As the organizers, the Silicon Photonics Innovation Alliance and the Shanghai Silicon Photonics Proof-of-Concept Platform are based in Shanghai and linked to the rest of the country. Over time they have brought together innovation resources across research, industry, application, and capital, and have helped the silicon photonics ecosystem take shape more quickly. They will continue to act as an industry organization and a platform for technology verification, work with partners to connect innovation resources more effectively, and speed the conversion of silicon photonics results into engineering and industrial production, in support of Shanghai’s silicon photonics innovation ecosystem. (End)
