Driven by the AI ​​optical interconnection market, Aixtron has won multiple equipment orders

As AI computing power infrastructure continues to upgrade, the demand for high-speed optical interconnection industry chains is continuing to be transmitted to the upstream equipment side. On May 19, MOCVD equipment manufacturer AIXTRON announced that it had received multiple G10-AsP platform orders from optical communications manufacturer Lumentum to support the expansion of its AI network high-speed optical connection solutions.

According to reports, the G10-AsP platform purchased by Lumentum this time is mainly used for the manufacturing of indium phosphide (InP) lasers and detectors. With the rapid expansion of large-scale AI data center networks, InP-based high-speed optical devices are becoming important basic components in the 800G and even 1.6T era.

Lumentum has continued to promote next-generation InP technology for 800G and higher rates in recent years to meet the growing bandwidth requirements of AI data center architecture. In response to growing customer demand, the company is expanding its manufacturing capacity with the help of Aixtron equipment.

G10-AsP, built for InP mass production, has advanced temperature control design and spray structure, which can achieve higher wafer uniformity; its fully automatic cassette wafer transfer system and in-situ cleaning capabilities can further meet the needs of long-cycle, high-throughput production. In addition, the platform already supports 6-inch InP wafer manufacturing, which is in line with the industry's evolution towards large size and scale.

Aixtron CEO Felix Grawert said that as the industry develops towards larger wafer sizes and higher integration, the market requires more scalable and stable InP manufacturing capabilities, and this cooperation is a response to the growing demand for AI high-speed optical communications.

In fact, the demand for high-speed optical interconnection driven by AI has formed a chain reaction in the equipment market.

In early May, Veeco announced that it had received new equipment orders totaling more than US$250 million from multiple customers, involving products such as Spector ion beam deposition systems, Lumina MOCVD and WaferEtch wet processing platforms, which are mainly used in InP laser manufacturing.

According to Veeco, related equipment will begin delivery in 2026 and will reach its peak delivery in 2027. The main driving force behind the order also comes from the rapid development of the silicon photonics market and the explosion of demand for 800G and 1.6T optical modules in ultra-large-scale data centers.

From the perspective of the industry chain, in the context of continuous upgrading of AI infrastructure, data transmission rates are rising rapidly. The limitations of traditional copper cable solutions in terms of transmission rate, power consumption and thermal management are becoming increasingly prominent, and the industry is accelerating the migration to optical interconnection architecture. Currently, 800G is rapidly entering the large-scale deployment stage, and 1.6T is also gradually moving towards industrialization.

Behind the high-speed evolution, in addition to the demand for high-performance optical modules and optical devices such as InP lasers, optical chips, lasers, and upstream epitaxy and equipment production capacity are also facing higher requirements. From Veeco to Aisiqiang, equipment companies have successively won orders, which reflects that the high-speed optical interconnection market in the era of AI computing power is entering a new round of production expansion cycle. As the construction of AI data centers continues to advance, the InP/VCSEL/Micro led and other devices and related optical communication industry chains are expected to usher in broader growth space. (LEDinside finishing)

Please indicate the source of the reprint! For more led information, please follow the official website (www.ledinside.cn) or search for the WeChat public account (LEDinside).