On July 14, United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), the second-largest wafer foundry in Taiwan, China, made an announcement on Tuesday, revealing that it has successfully achieved mass production of its inaugural batch of silicon photonics wafers at its Singapore facility. UMC’s strategic move is designed to cater to the escalating demand for high-speed optical interconnects within the data center networks of artificial intelligence and hyperscale cloud service providers.

In a collaborative effort with SILITH Technology, a fabless chip design firm based in Singapore, UMC managed to transition its silicon photonics platform from the research and development phase to mass production in a mere 18 months. This accomplishment provides crucial technical support for the development of next-generation AI infrastructure.

Moreover, UMC has plans to make its self-developed 12-inch silicon photonics platform accessible to customers for product development purposes by 2027. Analysts from Citigroup hold a positive outlook on UMC’s business prospects for the latter half of this year. They predict a 13% quarter-on-quarter increase in sales for the second quarter of 2026, along with an anticipated resumption of growth in gross profit margins.

In terms of financial performance, UMC’s sales in June witnessed a significant year-on-year surge of 22.85%, reaching NT$23.12 billion (approximately US$719.2 million). Additionally, the cumulative sales for the first half of the year demonstrated an 11.28% increase compared to the same period last year.