imec

Overview

imec is Belgium's leading nanoelectronics and digital technology research institute, operating a 300 mm silicon photonics pilot line and conducting advanced research into 3D assembly, hybrid bonding, and wafer-scale integration. The organization has a unique position in the European semiconductor ecosystem: it operates at the frontier of semiconductor manufacturing research (adjacent to commercial foundry capability) and has made silicon photonics a key focus area for AI data center interconnect applications.

imec's photonics roadmap for AI scale-up operates across two time horizons: OIO2.5D (a "wide-and-slow" approach using NRZ + DWDM + silicon interposer to eliminate DSP and reach ~2 pJ/bit, ~2 Tb/s/mm at ~500 W) and OIO3D (a wafer-scale vision integrating GPUs, HBM, lasers, and an optical circuit switch on a single wafer targeting 0.5 pJ/bit, 8 Tb/s/mm, but facing a ~50 kW thermal challenge).