Soitec: Silicon Photonics to Power Next-Gen AI Data Centres

As data centres continue to confront the mounting demands of AI workloads, Soitec is one such company eager to pioneer breakthrough semiconductor solutions through its Edge & Cloud AI division. 

The company is addressing critical challenges in data centre scalability and energy efficiency, which helps to pave the way for next-generation AI applications. These solutions are critical as data centres evolve to meet the complex demands of machine learning and cloud computing.

René Jonker, Executive Vice President for Edge and Cloud AI Division at Soitec, oversees the development of key technologies for IoT applications and Silicon Photonics (SiPh). His team confronts market challenges for Soitec customers and he explains how these technologies will ultimately serve the global data centre industry.

Please introduce yourself and your role at Soitec.

As head of Soitec's Edge & Cloud AI division, I draw on my extensive experience in semiconductor manufacturing and R&D to lead our team in addressing the technical and business challenges of AI technologies. 

My career began as a Project Manager and Test Innovation Architect at NXP Semiconductor, and I also had the opportunity to work at Nexperia before I joined Soitec in 2023, leading the Mixed Signals SOI business unit. 

With over 20 years of experience in the industry, collaborating with leading companies across three continents, I'm thrilled to lead our division into the next phase of growth in smart and connected devices.

As EVP and GM of the Edge and Cloud AI Division, my team focuses on what system users need and anticipate future challenges. We then look at the materials available to us and incorporate the best ones into engineered substrates. These substrates are then delivered to our customers, which ultimately create the devices that end up in the systems we all use every day.

Tell us about Soitec and the work that it does.

As a world leader in semiconductor materials, Soitec's technologies play a key role in the semiconductor supply chain. Our teams design and manufacture innovative semiconductor materials called substrates, which are then used by our customers to pattern and cut into the chips that make up circuits for electronic components. 

We also collaborate with industry partners to create best-in-class solutions for miniaturizing chips, improving their performance and reducing their energy usage.

How does Soitec help to enable data centre industry growth?

Soitec is crucial to enabling the growth of data centres, creating advanced semiconductor materials that improve the performance and scalability of data centre infrastructure. 

Our technologies, including silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and other substrates, enhance the performance of key components like optical transceivers and power management systems, thus allowing data centres to handle volumes of data more efficiently and support increasing demands of applications like cloud computing or AI.

How is Soitec helping to mitigate data centre power consumption?

Our technologies improve energy efficiency across a range of applications. For example, SOI enables components to operate at lower power levels without sacrificing performance. This is particularly vital for data centres, where energy consumption is a major concern.

We are also committed to sustainable practices within our own operations, continuously working to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing processes.

How are cutting-edge silicon photonics helping to usher in the new era of AI and data centres?

SiPh enables faster, more efficient data transmission and processing directly within data centre and AI environments. Soitec's SiPh technology integrates optical components onto silicon chips, dramatically enhancing data transfer speeds while reducing power consumption and heat generation—key factors for the complex demands of AI and machine learning.

By delivering higher bandwidth, lower latency and better scalability, SiPh innovations are meeting the evolving needs of AI and data centres.

How are the lower-power, higher-speed optical technologies expected to help manage the growing power demands of data centres?

Optical technologies, particularly those based on SiPh, enable faster data transfer at much lower power levels compared to traditional methods. By reducing both overall energy usage and heat generation (which reduces the need for extensive cooling systems) within data centres, SiPh reduces power consumption without compromising data centre performance.

With advanced optical technologies, data centres can effectively manage the rising power demands while supporting the next iterations of applications.

How could silicon photonic optical interconnects for AI architectures revolutionise AI and further advance its capabilities?

SiPh optical interconnects use light to transmit data, allowing for faster and higher bandwidth communication compared to traditional methods. For AI applications, where handling vast amounts of data is essential, this means faster and more efficient processing. 

These optical interconnects reduce latency and increase the volume of data transfer, enabling AI models to process information more quickly and efficiently, and allowing increasingly advanced capabilities.

What does the future hold for Soitec?

We're excited about what's ahead for Soitec and the entire semiconductor industry. Our team is focused on innovation, and as devices become smarter and we rely more on technologies like AI and 5G, our advanced SOI substrates are going to be crucial in making electronics faster and more power efficient. 

Also, our work in SiPh is set to significantly enhance AI infrastructures and data centres, enabling them to handle more complex tasks efficiently. And, of course, we'll keep working closely with our customers and industry leaders to meet new challenges and push technology forward.

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