Photonics chips harness light waves as the medium for transmitting and processing information, boasting benefits such as lightning-fast speeds, minimal power consumption, and robust resistance to interference. Unlike traditional chips, they do not hinge on EUV lithography machines, making them ideal for a wide array of applications, including AI, communications, and quantum computing. While electronic chips currently reign supreme in storage and logical operations, the fusion of photonics and electronics heralds the future direction of the industry. For decades, the United States, Japan, and Europe have been strategically positioning themselves in this field, whereas China is rapidly catching up, with cities like Xi'an, Wuhan, and Suzhou leading the charge. Nevertheless, a chasm remains in high-end sectors such as optical communications.
