UMC Starts Mass Production of Silicon Photonics Wafers in Singapore; Citi Sees Improving Outlook

According to Bloomberg, Taiwan's second-largest chipmaker UMC started mass production of silicon photonics wafers at its Singapore facility on Tuesday (July 14), targeting growing demand for high-speed optical interconnects in AI and hyperscaler data center networks. The company, collaborating with local fabless chip design firm SILITH Technology, brought the platform from development to production readiness in 18 months.

Analysts at Citi forecasted a 13% quarter-on-quarter sales jump in Q2 2026 and gross margin recovery. Supporting the outlook, UMC reported June sales jumped 22.85% year-on-year to NT$23.12 billion ($719.21 million), with first-half cumulative sales rising 11.28%.