Samsung Electronics has launched silicon photonics foundry services and entered pilot production, signaling during its latest earnings call that optical communication modules will soon move to mass production — backed by aggressive investment. Yet compared with TSMC, which has already achieved breakthroughs in co-packaged optics (CPO) through Taiwan's well-established supply chain ecosystem, Samsu

As the US and China continue to clash over geopolitics and critical materials supply, industry sources say China's restrictions on indium phosphide (InP) substrates for optical communications remain unchanged and are widely seen as part of Beijing's effort to counter US-led AI development.

MediaTek subsidiary Airoha Technology said its first-quarter 2026 performance met expectations, driven by continued improvement in product mix and accelerating demand across its optical communications, Ethernet, and fixed broadband businesses tied to AI infrastructure expansion.