Sivers to ramp InP laser production with $30M investment

Sivers Semiconductors, the advanced semiconductor device manufacturer with optoelectronics operations in the UK, says it will invest $30 million in a bid to ramp production of laser diodes on indium phosphide (InP) wafers.

InP lasers are currently in huge demand for both optical networking and interconnect applications in AI data centers, with key producers like Coherent and Lumentum persistently sold out and adding capacity as rapidly as possible.

Sivers says that its InP wafer fabrication facility in Glasgow will be able to manufacture more than 100 million continuous-wave distributed feedback (DFB) lasers annually once the investment is completed.

The Kista, Sweden, headquartered company is also looking to add new process capabilities, increased automation, and greater manufacturing flexibility.

“The expansion program will begin in the second half of 2026 and is expected to become operational in the fourth quarter of 2027,” it announced.

Hybrid manufacturing strategy

The investment is also said to mark an important step in Sivers' transition from a “fab-lite” manufacturing model to a hybrid strategy, combining expanded in-house manufacturing capabilities with strategic foundry, packaging and manufacturing partners.

CEO and president Vickram Vathulya observed: “The scale of today’s AI infrastructure build-out is creating unprecedented demand across the optical supply chain.

“Our customers need significantly more laser production capacity and, just as importantly, the confidence that supply will be there when their programs ramp. This investment positions us, along with our foundry partners, to meet that demand.”

Company COO Neeraj Chopra added: “Scaling photonics for AI infrastructure requires more than increasing capacity. It requires a manufacturing strategy built for flexibility, quality and long-term customer demand.

“By combining our planned expansion in Glasgow with the manufacturing capacity of our external foundry partners, we can scale efficiently while maintaining the supply flexibility our customers need. This approach gives Sivers the ability to support high-volume production as AI infrastructure deployments accelerate.”

The expansion in Glasgow will complement Sivers' broader manufacturing ecosystem, which includes foundry, packaging and manufacturing partners in Asia.

The hybrid approach is designed to provide greater production scalability, geographic flexibility, and supply-chain resilience while maintaining strategic in-house manufacturing capabilities for Sivers' core photonics technologies.

SemiNex and Jabil

In its latest financial results, released at the end of August, Sivers emphasized its efforts to re-allocate resources away from developmental projects and towards product ramp preparation.

“The strategic shift is designed to support a more scalable, product-led business model and position the company for a transformational 2027,” stated the firm’s management team as Sivers posted quarterly sales of SEK53.8 million ($5.6 million), down 12 per cent on the same period last year. 

The firm is currently collaborating with Jabil on an energy-efficient 1.6 Tb/s pluggable optical transceiver module, and has also agreed a $3.4 million deal with Massachusetts-based SemiNex for next-generation high-power InP light sources used for co-packaged optics (CPO) applications in AI data centers. Customer sampling and early production ramps are targeted for around a year from now.

“The advanced light sources needed for next generation optical networking within AI factories are as crucial as the compute, memory and silicon photonics elements,” said Vathulya.

SemiNex CEO Ronald Moore added: “The optical layer is becoming the constraint on how far AI infrastructure can scale. The industry needs more power, at more wavelengths, at higher efficiency, and there is no way to get there by pushing today’s devices harder.

“Those gains come out of the design and processing of the InP itself, and that is exactly where our two teams are working together.”

Other key partners include GlobalFoundries, which is using Sivers’ laser arrays in reference designs for its silicon photonics platform, for deployments including CPO and linear pluggable optics (LPO).