Silicon photonics (SiPh) is a proven technology in optical communications and datacentres, where its bandwidth, energy efficiency and CMOS compatibility have transformed how data moves. Its next era will be defined by faster links, but also the ability to enable new applications (quantum computing, lidar, advanced biosensing, AI accelerators) and potentially unlock new markets as these applications mature.
This expansion is the logical progression of a platform underpinned by decades of research excellence, mature semiconductor processes and a rapidly evolving design ecosystem. The UK, in particular, has a strong foundation of academic expertise, a growing base of photonics SMEs and a track record of innovation punching well above its manufacturing weight.
Adoption depends equally on economics and ecosystem readiness as on technical capability, with integration costs, toolchain maturity and system-level interoperability remaining major challenges.
The UK must now align research, infrastructure and industry to accelerate adoption. Strategic partnerships – like those fostered by the Cornerstone Photonics Innovation Centre (C-PIC) – are essential to unlocking SiPh’s next phase of innovation.
From academia to industry
The UK’s strength in SiPh is rooted in decades of research, with the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre playing a pivotal role, driving breakthroughs from optical fibre, to advances in lasers, sensing and biosciences.
The Cornerstone open-access foundry, launched in 2014, gives academics, startups and SMEs affordable access to advanced SiPh fabrication that could spark a thriving ecosystem of photonics companies and research groups. Launched in early 2025 C-PIC is the UK’s dedicated Innovation and Knowledge Centre for SiPh connecting research, investors and application specialists.
SiPh is growing at a projected 26-30% CAGR to 2030 and identified as a key element of the UK’s National Semiconductor Strategy.
C-PIC is designed to support this growth by combining advanced fabrication, aligned with industry standards, with expert design enablement via an open-access platform. It links innovators with industry partners early, ensuring that designs are shaped around real-world performance and system requirements.
But infrastructure alone is not enough. Turning research breakthroughs into market-ready products requires co-ordination across the entire value chain, from foundries and systems integrators to investors and end-users. This is where the UK must now focus its efforts.
Engines of innovation
SiPh has already proven its value in datacentres and telecom, and its potential to tackle AI’s speed and power challenges is well recognised. Broader adoption, however, will depend as much on strong economic drivers and co-ordinated collaboration as on technical progress. A functioning ecosystem is essential to turning breakthroughs into commercial success.
Engineers and foundries need to refine processes together. Systems integrators and application developers must collaborate early to create market-ready solutions and investors should engage ahead of scale-up to ensure production readiness.
The UK has already shown the power of collaboration and lowering the barriers to advanced fabrication. Open-access initiatives such as Cornerstone have empowered academics, startups and SMEs to rapidly prototype and test new designs, fuelling a vibrant photonics ecosystem. That momentum is now translating into commercial success.
Since 2023, ChipStart UK, the nation’s leading semiconductor incubator, has helped companies raise more than £25m in early-stage funding, with 40-50% focused on photonics. More broadly, around 5,000 UK companies design and manufacture electronic systems, 90% of them are SMEs. These companies work with the latest semiconductor and photonic technologies, underscoring the need for co-ordinated support to scale technologies into products.
Industry engagement
Industry engagement is equally critical, with input from sectors such as quantum, biosensing, AI accelerators and automotive shaping the performance and reliability requirements of SiPh solutions and ensuring their commercial relevance. C-PIC has refined its open-access fabrication platforms so that emerging applications are technically viable and commercially relevant.
System integration beyond die fabrication adds another layer of complexity. For heterogeneous integration, where SiPh devices are co-packaged with ICs, RF components or asics, interoperability depends on alignment across tool vendors, test providers, fabrication facilities and packaging specialists. It is this cross-industry co-ordination that C-PIC and the wider UK ecosystem are prioritising to move devices from lab to market.
International alignment
Long-term programmes backed by UKRI, EPSRC and Innovate UK, including the CSA Catapult and forthcoming UK Semiconductor Centre, provide the stability and derisking on which early-stage innovation depends. Aligned with the UK government’s National Semiconductor Strategy, these initiatives give companies confidence to invest, knowing that infrastructure, expertise and talent will scale with them.
Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute has recently established a London office, underlining the UK’s strategic importance in the global SiPh supply chain. Moves like this strengthen the case for domestic investment and open a new frontier for international partnership, which could help to align researchers and small-scale fabrication with the methods of some of the world’s largest fabrication houses.
C-PIC provides cleanrooms and fabrication tools – including the newly installed JEOL electron beam lithography systems, which allow for closer mimicking of the processes seen in industry.
It also links researchers with application engineers, introduces investors to emerging innovators and works with the government to understand the opportunities ahead.
The timing of innovation
No one can predict with certainty where SiPh will achieve its biggest breakthroughs. Data communications have clear roadmaps, but emerging areas such as quantum, biosensing, automotive and AI accelerators are still exploring how SiPh can best be deployed or, have yet to engage with the technology.
This unpredictability makes breadth essential. In a technology’s early phases, the market must be allowed to select the winning use cases, but that can happen only if enough projects are pushed into the ecosystem to be tested, refined and recognised by the right players.
Why SiPh
Compared to traditional electronics, SiPh offers lower power consumption, higher bandwidth and the ability to move data at scale without the heat and latency constraints that increasingly limit electronic interconnects. It holds a clear advantage over less mature photonics platforms because its CMOS compatibility allows it to leverage proven semiconductor infrastructure and tooling. This makes it one of the few photonics technologies genuinely ready for commercial scaling.
C-PIC provides a crucial timing advantage. It lowers barriers to prototyping by giving researchers and startups access to infrastructure and design enablement, while connecting them with industry early to align requirements. By making it possible to run more projects, faster, and with less risk, C-PIC increases the odds of uncovering the breakthrough applications that will anchor the UK in the global SiPh supply chain.
