Silicon Photonics' optical transceiver market share is estimated to exceed 50% by 2027.
$TSM VP of Advanced Packaging said today that silicon photonics is becoming the mainstream form thanks to the structural transformation of optical transceivers.
He also stated that the real bottleneck for large-scale deployment lies in lasers, optical fibers, fiber optic connectors, and product testing.
If I was to pick the "main" players instead of just name-dumping:
- $LITE / $COHR: InP lasers - CW for SiPh, ELS for CPO, 200G EMLs
- $AEHR: SiPh WLBI testing
- $GLW: PM fibre, fibre arrays & MPO/MTP connectivity
- Sumitomo Electric (5802): InP lasers + substrates
Obviously you've got a ton of other names from: $AAOI for InP lasers, $IQE for InP base epi, $BESI for hybrid bonding and $KEYS / $VIAV for optical test.
Feels like TSMC have been running the same narrative alongside the COUPE roadmap for a while now though.
But always good to get some re-confirmations on where everyone's favourite bottlenecks sit / narratives coming from TSMC themselves.