DigiTimes 专访：矽格称 CPO/矽光子需求升温、光通讯营收有望 2027 翻倍，蔚华科延伸 PIC/EIC 封装

Optical communications is becoming a key global bottleneck as AI workloads expand, and Sigurd is positioning itself to benefit. The IC test and packaging company said demand is rising for co-packaged optics (CPO) and related transition technologies, with more profitable optical testing expected to help double optical communications revenue by 2027.

Sigurd general manager Charles Yeh said compute drove the first wave of AI growth, but once computing capacity is built out, data transmission demand rises sharply. He said the next constraint will be connectivity, which he described as the second wave of AI growth.
The company said it has spent more than 20 years developing high-speed transmission technologies, giving it a base to expand as optical communications demand increases. Its services now cover drivers, transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs), and other electronic integrated circuits (EICs), as well as photonic integrated circuits (PICs), optical engines, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), Micro LED light sources, and millimeter-wave low Earth orbit communications technology for future space data centers.
Sigurd said its subsidiary Winstek is taking on a complementary role in the supply chain. PIC customers send wafers to Winstek for wafer bumping, after which the wafers move to Sigurd for Insertion 1 wafer testing. They are then diced into dies, undergo Insertion 2 integrated EIC and PIC testing, and pass Insertion 3 optical engine die testing before moving to module assembly.
Winstek said it is extending its silicon photonics-related IC bumping expertise into back-end PIC and EIC packaging, including oS, or on-Substrate, processes for optical engines. It is also working with customers on CPO and near-packaged optics (NPO) products.
On the testing side, Winstek is developing post-bumping EIC and PIC wafer testing equipment, as well as back-end CPO process tools, including automated optical inspection, testing, and system-level testing. Sigurd, meanwhile, is expanding high-speed, high-frequency, high-pin-count, and high-heat-dissipation testing capacity to handle more complex silicon photonics chips.
The company is also developing its in-house silicon photonics testing equipment, MAP, focusing on 224Gbps TIA and driver chips, plus PIC and optical engine applications. Sigurd said the goal is to improve sharing across customer products and manufacturing processes.
Sigurd added that its Hukou second plant, which is fully booked by an overseas silicon photonics customer, has not yet brought all new capacity online, but has already installed hundreds of testing machines. Related customers have also signed capacity commitments lasting more than one year.
Yeh said the silicon photonics market is crowded, with many IC design firms targeting EICs or PICs in Taiwan and China. He said EIC, in particular, has become highly competitive, although only a small number of major players currently hold the lead.