A newly launched European initiative—STARLight—brings together top industry leaders and academic institutions to scale up next-generation silicon photonics production on 300mm wafers. The project’s goal is to reinforce Europe’s position in photonics by setting up a high-capacity manufacturing line, building advanced optical modules, and supporting a robust supply chain. Running through 2028, STARLight is focused on delivering solutions tailored to sectors including cloud infrastructure, AI, telecom, and the automotive industry.
The consortium is coordinated by STMicroelectronics, a global provider of semiconductor technologies. The project has been selected by the European Commission under the EU CHIPS Joint Undertaking, a major funding initiative aimed at boosting Europe’s semiconductor capabilities.
“Silicon photonics is key to powering the next wave of data and AI applications. STARLight will drive technological progress across Europe by combining the strengths of research institutions and industrial players,” said Remi El-Ouazzane, President of Microcontrollers, Digital ICs, and RF products at STMicroelectronics.
Silicon photonics merges traditional semiconductor fabrication techniques with optical data transmission. This hybrid technology supports the high-bandwidth, low-power needs of AI clusters, datacenters, LIDAR, and space-based systems.
The project is focused on overcoming key challenges that currently limit the large-scale adoption of Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs). Areas of development include achieving high-speed modulation above 200 Gbps per channel, integrating compact and efficient lasers directly on-chip, and advancing material innovation by combining SOI, LNOI, and BTO into a unified platform with leading partners such as SOITEC, CEA-LETI, imec, Université Paris-Saclay, III-V Lab, and LUMIPHASE. Another crucial goal is the advancement of packaging technologies that enable seamless integration with electronics, lowering energy consumption while maintaining signal integrity.
In the field of datacenters and data communication, the first demonstrators are being co-developed with SICOYA, THALES, and ST, targeting transmission speeds of 200 Gbps using PIC100-based platforms. Research efforts are also underway to produce free-space optical prototypes for both terrestrial and orbital communications. Looking ahead, the team is working toward the creation of pluggable modules capable of delivering 400 Gbps per lane, supported by next-generation photonic materials.
For artificial intelligence applications, the consortium is designing a specialized photonic processor optimized for tensor-heavy tasks, such as matrix multiplications. This innovation is expected to surpass existing solutions by offering higher processing speeds, greater energy efficiency, and more compact designs—metrics that are essential for enabling the next wave of AI advancements.
In telecommunications, partners like Ericsson are pioneering solutions including a silicon photonic switch to offload traffic in Radio Access Networks and a Radio-over-Fiber system that moves high-power processing away from antennas, reducing both energy use and emissions. At the same time, MBRYONICS is contributing free-space optical reception technologies aimed at improving the flexibility and performance of optical networks. Together, these efforts highlight the transformative potential of photonics across multiple sectors.
STEERLIGHT is contributing its LIDAR expertise to demonstrate automotive-grade sensing capabilities. THALES will also deliver high-performance waveform sensors, applicable to autonomous robots and other precision systems.
By fostering deep collaboration between leading European tech firms and research centers, STARLight is laying the groundwork for advanced photonic systems that address real-world industrial demands. The project is a key milestone in Europe’s effort to secure its technological independence in the semiconductor field.
