The photonic supercomputing firm Lightmatter enters into a strategic partnership with the semiconductor packaging and test services firm Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMKR). Together, they will create the largest-ever 3D-packaged chip complex utilizing Lightmatter’s Passage platform.
On one hand, this collaboration will leverage Lightmatter’s 3D-stacked photonic engine and on the other, Amkor’s advanced multi-die packaging expertise to meet the interconnect scaling and power demands of today’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads.
As Moore’s Law reaches its limits, Lightmatter and Amkor have pioneered a new approach to AI chip scaling with their Passage platform. Traditional methods of integrating more processors, memory, and I/O chiplets in a single package face severe I/O constraints due to limited shoreline. Lightmatter’s Passage platform overcomes this by using 3D integration to place customer dies on a silicon photonic interconnect, enabling optical I/O connections across the entire chip. This approach, combined with Optical Circuit Switching (OCS), provides unmatched bandwidth and flexibility, marking a significant leap in chip performance scalability.
“We are delighted to partner with Amkor on a 3D photonics solution that pushes both the boundaries of advanced packaging as well as silicon performance,” said Ritesh Jain, SVP of Engineering and Operations at Lightmatter. “This collaboration is a pivotal step in building a world-class ecosystem that empowers our customers to realize AI and HPC compute offerings with unprecedented bandwidth and efficiency.”
The Passage platform by Lightmatter and Amkor addresses rising power demands in large AI processors by integrating an all-photonic silicon interconnect into a 3D package. This design significantly boosts energy efficiency and performance, even under challenging thermal conditions. Combining photonics with advanced 3D packaging, Passage achieves unmatched silicon density and bandwidth, setting a new standard for future computing breakthroughs, including AGI.
“As a leader in advanced semiconductor packaging, we are thrilled to collaborate with Lightmatter on integration with their cutting-edge Passage platform,” said Kevin Engel, EVP, Business Units at Amkor. “Leveraging our deep semiconductor integration expertise, we are working closely with Lightmatter to develop and validate a robust 3D packaging solution to bring this groundbreaking silicon photonics technology to mainstream market availability.”
