The industry has transitioned from electrical interconnects to integrated optical engines, effectively resolving critical bandwidth bottlenecks in AI clusters. Foundries now prioritize co-packaged optics, establishing silicon photonics as the essential backbone for sustainable, high-performance computing infrastructure.
Chicago, Jan. 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The global silicon as a platform market size was valued at USD 14.85 billion in 2025 and is projected to hit the market valuation of USD 103.26 billion by 2035 at a CAGR of 21.40% during the forecast period 2026–2035.
As of 2025, the silicon as a platform market has matured into the operational backbone of the global AI economy. The market has evolved rapidly from discrete components to integrated optical-compute engines, driven by the physical limitations of electrical interconnects. This shift offers immense investment opportunities in energy-efficient infrastructure, exemplified by Nvidia’s optical switch trays which now deliver 20 kilowatts of power savings per rack compared to traditional transceivers.
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The most lucrative opportunities lie in advanced manufacturing and switching fabrics. The Below 7 nm technology node has become the industry standard, securing a 42% market share as hyperscale data center demand maximum transistor density. Broadcom’s commercialization of 51.2 Tbps switching capacity establishes a new performance baseline for data centers. While Asia Pacific retains 51% of global control, the critical opportunity for stakeholders involves capitalizing on the massive transition to Co-Packaged Optics, now essential for sustaining the growth of “AI factories.”.
Key Findings
- By platform type, the CMOS silicon platforms category claimed 45% share of the silicon as a platform market in 2025.
- By application, the computing & data centers area commanded a leading share of 35% in 2025.
- By technology node, the below 7 nm category took the largest share of 42% in 2025.
- By integration type, the system-on-chip (SoC) category delivered the greatest share of 43% in silicon as a platform market.
- By end user, the foundries & IDMs category held the biggest share of 40% in 2025.
- Asia Pacific region led the market, securing 51% share in 2025.
CMOS Platforms Secure 45% Share Through Advanced Packaging and Systems Foundry Evolution
The dominance of CMOS at 45% market share in silicon as a platform market was not merely a result of transistor scaling but the successful pivot toward a “Systems Foundry” model. By late 2025, the definition of Silicon as a Platform expanded beyond the monolithic die to include the complex packaging substrates that interconnect chiplets. Intel Foundry exemplified this shift by achieving High-Volume Manufacturing (HVM) for its 18A process in December 2025, effectively decoupling the platform from a single technology node. This allowed external clients like Microsoft and Amazon to utilize CMOS not just for logic, but as a base layer for 3D stacking technologies like Foveros and EMIB.
Furthermore, TSMC reinforced this segment’s leadership in the silicon as a platform market by aggressively expanding its CoWoS (Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate) capacity, which became the structural backbone for virtually all AI accelerators. The “Silicon as a Platform” value proposition in 2025 hinged on the foundry’s ability to offer a validated ecosystem of IP libraries and interconnects. As reported in Q4 2025, the revenue mix shifted significantly where the packaging and assembly services for these complex CMOS platforms began to command premium margins, validating that the silicon substrate itself has become the critical integration board for the post-Moore’s Law era.
Data Center Silicon Captures 35% Share Powered by AI Networking and Custom XPUs
In 2025, the Computing & Data Centers segment captured 35% of the silicon as a platform market, driven by a decisive shift from general-purpose compute to specialized connectivity and custom processing units (XPUs). While GPUs grabbed headlines, the silent engine of growth was the networking silicon required to bind AI clusters together. Broadcom reported a 74% year-over-year surge in AI semiconductor revenue, fueled by the massive deployment of its Tomahawk 6 Ethernet switches and Jericho3-AI fabric. This validates that the modern data center platform is defined as much by its bandwidth as its processing power.
Simultaneously, the Cloud storage and cloud computing players’ strategy of bypassing merchant silicon for custom solutions reached critical mass in the silicon as a platform market. By the end of 2025, Google’s Axion processors and AWS’s Trainium2 chips accounted for a significant portion of internal workload processing, fundamentally altering the supply chain. These custom implementations utilize Silicon as a Platform to optimize energy efficiency per watt, a metric that became the primary currency of the 2025 market. Operational data from late 2025 indicates that the backlog for AI networking and custom accelerators exceeded $70 billion, proving that the infrastructure layer has become the most valuable application of high-performance silicon.
Below 7 nm Node Commands 42% Share Driven by 3nm Pricing Power and Yield Mastery
The “Below 7 nm” category’s 42% market share is a testament to the extreme pricing power and economic scarcity of leading-edge lithography in 2025. TSMC’s financial results for the full year 2025 revealed that its 3nm process alone contributed nearly 28% of total wafer revenue, despite representing a smaller fraction of physical volume compared to mature nodes. This disproportionate value share confirms that the Silicon as a Platform market is bifurcated, with premium value locked exclusively in EUV-enabled nodes.
The dominance of this segment was further solidified by the “Angstrom” era competition. Samsung Foundry’s aggressive push with its SF2 (2nm) process for the Exynos 2600 aimed to undercut competitor pricing by roughly 33%, yet the high barrier to entry kept supply tight and prices elevated across the industry. The 2025 market dynamic showed that customers like Apple and NVIDIA were willing to pay unprecedented premiums for the thermal and switching performance of sub-5nm transistors. Consequently, the revenue density of these advanced wafers far outstripped legacy technologies, making the below 7 nm node the undisputed profit engine of the semiconductor economy.
SoC Integration Delivers 43% Share in the Silicon as a Platform Market by Unifying Automotive and Edge AI Workloads
The System-on-Chip (SoC) segment’s commanding 43% share in 2025 was driven by the wholesale consolidation of discrete components into unified “digital brains,” particularly in the automotive and industrial sectors. Qualcomm spearheaded this transition with its Snapdragon Digital Chassis, which saw automotive revenue surge by nearly 60% year-over-year. This growth justifies the SoC dominance as automakers moved from legacy distributed architectures to centralized computing platforms that integrate ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), cockpit infotainment, and connectivity onto a single silicon die.
In the consumer sector, the rise of the “AI Agent” necessitated NPUs (Neural Processing Units) to become first-class citizens on the SoC, alongside CPUs and GPUs. MediaTek and Apple optimized their 2025 mobile platforms to run on-device Large Language Models (LLMs), a feat impossible with discrete components due to latency and power constraints. This architectural unification in the silicon as a platform market allows the Silicon as a Platform model to deliver pre-validated performance for software-defined applications. The industry data from 2025 confirms that the SoC has effectively swallowed the board-level complexity, making it the essential delivery vehicle for intelligence at the edge.
Deep Integration Of Optical Interconnects Resolves Critical Bandwidth Bottlenecks In AI Clusters
The demand within the Silicon as a platform market is accelerating rapidly due to the physical limitations of connecting massive AI accelerators. Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72 architecture exemplifies this shift by connecting 72 Blackwell GPUs to function as a single logical unit. Traditional electrical connectivity fails to meet these density requirements. A single NVL72 rack would require a staggering 5,184 copper cables to achieve similar connectivity electrically. Such a setup is physically unmanageable. Consequently, the industry is pivoting toward optical solutions to bypass these limitations and enable necessary scaling.
Operational efficiency further justifies the expansion of the Silicon as a platform market. Replacing standard transceivers with NVLink switch trays saves an impressive 20 kilowatts of power per data center rack. The resulting performance is equally groundbreaking. The NVL72 system supports a total NVLink bandwidth of 130 Terabytes per second (TB/s). To facilitate these speeds, the underlying infrastructure is migrating to 224 Gbps SerDes interfaces. Innovations here are not merely incremental upgrades but fundamental architectural requirements for next-generation computing.
Switching Capacity Surges To Enable Ultra High Speed Optical Data Transmission Fabrics
Data center architects are deploying high-capacity ASICs that serve as the high-speed backbone for the Silicon as a platform market. The Nvidia Quantum-X800 InfiniBand switch supports 144 ports to handle massive traffic loads. This platform delivers a total aggregated bandwidth of 115.2 Terabits per second (Tbps). Broadcom is simultaneously pushing boundaries with its “Bailly” co-packaged optics switch, which delivers a total capacity of 51.2 Tbps. Future roadmaps are even more aggressive. Broadcom’s upcoming Tomahawk 6 switch targets a massive capacity of 102.4 Tbps to support future workloads.
Competitive intensity in the Silicon as a platform market is accelerating the development of ultra-fast Ethernet solutions. Nvidia’s Spectrum-X platform scales to 400 Tbps of total transfer capacity in specific AI configurations. Broadcom’s optical platform is engineered to enable future interconnect systems scaling up to 200 Tbps. Manufacturing advances enable these speeds. The Broadcom Sian3 DSP utilizes a cutting-edge 3nm process node, while Nvidia’s Quantum-X800 ASIC relies on TSMC’s 4nm process technology. Furthermore, Cisco’s Silicon One and Intel’s optical switches now target a switching latency of just 6 nanoseconds.
Optical Engines Deliver Unprecedented Density and Lane Speeds Boosting Total Throughput Capabilities
Optical engine specifications define the performance ceiling and growth potential of the Silicon as a platform market. TSMC’s COUPE Generation 1 technology currently offers a transfer rate of 1.6 Tbps. Their roadmap is aggressive, with Generation 2 targeting 6.4 Tbps per engine. Projections for Generation 3 aim for a remarkable 12.8 Tbps. Broadcom matches this innovation by integrating 8 silicon photonics optical engines into a single “Bailly” package. Each of these engines delivers 6.4 Tbps of bandwidth, creating massive throughput.
Lane speed improvements are central to the evolution of the Silicon as a platform market. Broadcom’s Gen 3 CPO technology achieves a lane speed of 200 Gbps. Ayar Labs is also redefining density with its “SuperNova” light source. Their solution supports 16 distinct wavelengths capable of driving 256 individual data channels. This configuration enables a total bi-directional bandwidth of 16 Tbps. Such density is critical for overcoming the I/O bottlenecks that currently plague hyperscale data centers.
Venture Capital Floods Into Photonic Startups Capitalizing On Explosive Infrastructure Growth Potential
Investment activity validates the explosive potential and high value of the Silicon as a platform market. Lightmatter raised USD 400 million in Series D funding in October 2024. This round valued the company at USD 4.4 billion. Celestial AI also secured significant capital, raising USD 175 million in Series C funding in March 2024. Their total funding reached USD 520 million by mid-2025. Xscape Photonics joined the momentum by raising USD 44 million in Series A funding in October 2024, bringing their total to USD 57 million.
Public sector incentives are further accelerating the Silicon as a platform market. PsiQuantum received a massive USD 500 million incentive package from the State of Illinois. Cook County approved an additional USD 20 million grant for their facility. The construction project in Chicago is valued at USD 600 million. These investments highlight the strategic importance of optical and quantum computing infrastructure in the coming decade.
Foundries Retool Manufacturing Processes Supporting High Volume Production Of Advanced Photonic Chips
Manufacturing innovations are removing barriers and scaling output in the Silicon as a platform market. GlobalFoundries manufactures its Fotonix platform on 300mm wafers using a specialized 45nm SOI node. They have achieved a precise V-groove fiber coupling pitch of 127 microns. TSMC’s COUPE technology integrates a 65nm Electronic Integrated Circuit (EIC) with the photonic die. Advanced packaging techniques are becoming incredibly precise. TechInsights reports that hybrid bonding pitches have reached 3.1 microns.
Scale is rapidly increasing to meet demand within the Silicon as a platform market. Lightmatter’s “Passage” interconnect wafer can house 48 compute chips. Intel has shipped a cumulative total of 8 million Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) by 2025. These shipments represent over 32 million on-chip lasers. Such high-volume manufacturing proves that silicon photonics has moved beyond the research phase into mainstream deployment.
Optical Solutions Eliminate Signal Degradation Enabling Low Latency Distributed Computing Architectures Globally
Low latency is a non-negotiable requirement for the Silicon as a platform market. Intel’s OCI chiplet achieves a latency of less than 10 nanoseconds. Additionally, Intel’s OCI supports a reach of up to 100 meters over fiber, a stark contrast to the sub-1-meter limit of copper. Nvidia’s Quantum-X switch utilizes 1,152 external optical cables and fibers to maintain signal integrity across clusters. Nvidia’s optical modules are designed with 8 internal lasers per unit to ensure robust data transmission.
Architecture within the Silicon as a platform market relies on massive lane parallelism. The Intel OCI interface consists of 64 bidirectional lanes. Each lane operates at a data rate of 32 Gbps, resulting in a total bidirectional bandwidth of 4 Tbps. Such capabilities allow for distributed computing architectures that were previously impossible due to signal degradation.
Automotive Sector Leverages Silicon Photonics Achieving Superior Precision In Autonomous Sensing Systems
The Silicon as a platform market extends beyond data centers into autonomous vehicle sensing. The Tower Semiconductor and LightIC partnership produced a LiDAR with a detection range of 300 meters. The maximum object identification range for this system is 500 meters. These sensors utilize Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) technology for superior accuracy.
Precision is a hallmark of these new sensors in the Silicon as a platform market. The silicon photonics LiDAR achieves a velocity precision of 0.05 meters per second. Furthermore, the system offers an angular resolution of 0.1 degrees. These metrics demonstrate how silicon-based optical platforms are revolutionizing safety and navigation standards in the automotive industry.
Aggressive Commercialization Timelines and New Standards Signal Imminent Mass Market Technology Adoption
Standardization is solidifying the foundation of the Silicon as a platform market. The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) has published specs for 3.2 Tbps Co-Packaged Optics modules. Hardware interfaces are aligning with these optical speeds. PCIe Gen 6 operates at 64 Giga-transfers per second (GT/s). Transceivers for 1.6T systems typically utilize 8 lanes of 200G signals. Nvidia’s NVLink Switch chip supports a bandwidth of 7.2 TB/s.
Commercial availability schedules are aggressive for the Silicon as a platform market. Broadcom’s 200G/lane CPO technology is scheduled for release in 2025. GlobalFoundries’ 200G/lambda technology also became available for design in 2025. TSMC’s COUPE technology enters mass production in 2026. Nvidia’s Spectrum-X silicon photonics switches are targeted for shipment in 2026. Intellectual property creation is booming. Rockley Photonics published 15 patents in Q2 2024 alone. The US Patent Office granted 368,597 patents in 2024, with photonics as a key driver. PsiQuantum’s Chicago facility will initially create 150 high-tech jobs.
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Silicon as a Platform Market Key Players:
- Samsung Electronics
- Intel Corporation
- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
- Micron Technology
- Infineon Technologies
- ARM Holding
- NVIDIA Corporation
- Texas Instruments
- Qualcomm Technologies
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)
- Analog Devices Inc.
- Marvell Technology Group
- Broadcom Inc.
- STMicroelectronics
- NXP Semiconductors
- Other Prominent Players
Key Market Segmentation:
By Platform Type
- CMOS Silicon Platforms
- Silicon Photonics Platforms
- Silicon MEMS Platforms
- Silicon Power & Analog Platforms
- Heterogeneous Silicon Integration/Chiplets
By Application
- Computing & Data Centers
- Telecommunications (5G/Optical Networks)
- Consumer Electronics
- Automotive Electronics (ADAS, EVs)
- Industrial Automation & IoT
- Healthcare & Medical Devices
By Technology Node
- Above 28 nm
- 28 nm-14 nm
- 10 nm-7 nm
- Below 7 nm
- Advanced Packaging Nodes (2.5D/3D ICs)
By Integration Type
- Monolithic Integration
- System-on-Chip (SoC)
- System-in-Package (SiP)
- Chiplet-Based Architectures
By End User
- Foundries & IDMs
- Fabless Semiconductor Companies
- Hyperscalers & Data Center Operators
- Automotive OEMs & Tier-1 Suppliers
- Industrial & Medical Device Manufacturers
By Region
- North America
- Europe
- Asia Pacific
- Middle East and Africa
- South America
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