The high value of advanced integrated silicon photonics solutions for connectivity scaling in hyperscaler AI data center infrastructure is hitting the mainstream ecosystem: next-generation optical interconnect with integrated silicon photonics is now the critical ingredient to serve explosive increase in AI demand.
And for the foreseeable future, pluggable transceivers with integrated photonic integrated circuit (PIC) chips will fill the scaling gap to deliver interconnect at unprecedented speeds and measurable energy efficiency that builders require in new designs.
Introducing the NPG10204-based AiPhoton™ 1.6T OSFP Transceiver
In early May, Gemtek announced our latest collaboration with their introduction of the AiPhoton™ 1.6T OSFP transceiver featuring our first 1.6T DR8 PIC designed for manufacturing by Gemtek. The NPG10204 DR8 photonic integrated circuit with integrated lasers is our latest PIC-based pluggable offering simplified manufacturing of photonic ICs with advanced DSP functionality in octal channel 224Gbps per lane for scale-out interconnect.
The AiPhoton platform delivers 200G-per-lane PAM4 performance across eight channels, enabling 1.6Tbps optical connectivity designed to meet the growing bandwidth and efficiency demands of large-scale AI clusters.
By combining NewPhotonics’ advanced silicon photonics in the NPG10204 DR8 1.6T PIC with Gemtek’s automated, high-volume manufacturing capabilities, the solution reduces optical assembly complexity while improving scalability, power efficiency, and time-to-deployment.
Making News: Business Today Taiwan
On May 6, 2026, our SVP and General Manager Doron Tal sat for an interview alongside Gemtek Technology executive leadership Howard Chen and James Lee with Taiwan’s Business Today magazine to share more on our two companies collaboration and perspectives on AI infrastructure demand signals and the market dynamics shaping the next phase of data center networking.
Here is an English translation of the article:
Networking Giant Gemtek Soars 50% This Year — And That’s Just the Start! Chairman Partners with Israeli Startup to Aggressively Target NVIDIA’s AI Optical Communications, Declaring: “We’d Rather Skip Low-Margin Business”
“We would rather forgo low-margin business, and everyone should be prepared for this shift.” Howard Chen, Chairman of Taiwanese networking manufacturer Gemtek Technology (4906)—whose stock has surged over 50% this year—explained to Business Today that the company has entered a critical transition phase. Gemtek is actively adjusting its production capacity and aligning with strategic clients to capture the massive optical communications market driven by NVIDIA.
A pivotal partner for Gemtek’s future is NewPhotonics, an Israeli optical communications startup founded in 2020. The company specializes in the R&D of Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) that convert electrical signals into optical signals. In March of this year, NewPhotonics unveiled a 3.2Tbps specification product, making it the industry’s first optical chip to achieve such an ultra-high transmission rate.
Doron Tal, Senior Vice President of the Optical Connectivity Business Unit at NewPhotonics, explained, “Our core strength lies in our ability to address electrical signal impairments directly within the photonic chip—a technological milestone that remains unmatched in the industry today.”
He elaborated that NewPhotonics’ chip architecture introduces several major innovations. These include eliminating the need for external laser sources (thereby mitigating supply shortage risks), utilizing Electro-absorption Modulators (EAM) to generate optical signals (which significantly reduces the chip’s footprint), and streamlining the manufacturing workflow. The technology is currently undergoing product validation by tech giants including NVIDIA, Amazon, and Microsoft.
Aggressively Targeting AI Optical Communications! NewPhotonics Reveals Key Detail: “Gemtek Chose Us”
Beyond the traditional pluggable optical modules heavily used in the optical communications sector, market opportunities now also encompass Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) applications, a technology aggressively championed by tech behemoths like NVIDIA and TSMC.
Speaking on how the partnership came to fruition, Tal smiled and noted, “Gemtek chose us. I remember during our very first presentation last year, James (James Lee, General Manager of Gemtek) said, ‘This is exactly what Gemtek needs,’ and the decision to collaborate was made right then and there.”
Under this collaborative model—where NewPhotonics handles design and development while Gemtek spearheads manufacturing—the companies officially launched a 1.6Tbps optical transceiver module in May 2026. The product is targeted at GPU and AI server devices, aligning precisely with the optical transmission specifications currently being pushed forward by NVIDIA. Tal pointed out that product validation is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with mass production slated for 2027.
“Every time we interface with our partners, the market demand we observe [for photonic chips] is larger than the time before,” Tal stated. This surging demand explains why Gemtek is currently optimizing and expanding its production lines to prepare for the massive volume required once mass production begins. “I believe we are still in the early stages of this market, and NewPhotonics is poised to capture a very substantial market share in the future.”
As AI workloads continue to expand, Gemtek remains focused on advancing high-performance, production-ready optical interconnect solutions to support the next wave of AI-driven infrastructure. At ECOC 2025, the company announced its OMDN-107 800G LPO transceiver featuring our NPG102 LPO+™ PIC transmitter-on-chip with integrated lasers, modulators, and OSPic™ optical signal processing engine.
We are grateful for collaborations with strong ecosystem partners like Gemtek as with our other industry partnerships. They remain vital as we advance 1.6T optical solutions from innovation into marketplace deployment to the hyperscaler and neo-cloud market leaders around the globe.
