HyperLight Corporation, United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC), and Jabil Inc. announced a collaboration to deploy thin-film lithium niobate photonics technology in hyperscale AI data center interconnects.

The partnership combines HyperLight's TFLN photonic technology with UMC and its subsidiary Wavetek's foundry manufacturing capabilities and Jabil's high-volume manufacturing expertise. The collaboration aims to support deployment of optical modules at data-center scale using HyperLight's TFLN Chiplet Platform.

The companies said the technology addresses power consumption challenges as AI clusters expand and require higher bandwidth optical interconnects. HyperLight's TFLN technology is designed to reduce power consumption and laser requirements compared to existing approaches.

"TFLN provides a significant advantage to AI data center networking through reduced power consumption and lower laser requirements," said Mian Zhang, CEO of HyperLight. "TFLN's fundamental material benefits only grow as optical interconnect speeds scale."

Jason Wildt, General Manager and Vice President of Photonics at Jabil, said hyperscale and AI customers require optical technologies that can be manufactured and deployed reliably at data-center volumes. The collaboration brings together photonics technology, manufacturing capabilities, and system integration.

UMC's manufacturing support includes 6-inch and 8-inch wafer production capabilities. G C Hung, Senior Vice President at UMC, said the collaboration establishes a manufacturing and deployment path that supports the scale and reliability requirements of AI data center infrastructure.

According to the companies, TFLN technology enables designs with reduced optical complexity, including lower laser count, which addresses power and supply constraints. The per-module improvements are intended to provide data-center-level power savings that can support higher GPU density or larger clusters.

HyperLight specializes in integrated photonics solutions based on thin-film lithium niobate technology. UMC operates as a semiconductor foundry company with facilities primarily located in Taiwan and throughout Asia.