SOUTHAMPTON, UK, 14th May 2026 – The UK’s Silicon Photonics (SiPh) sector is entering a critical inflection point, with strong industry intent and growing market demand creating a significant opportunity for the country to build key sovereign capabilities in a burgeoning tech sector, new market research from the CORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre reveals. SiPh, which integrates light-based components onto silicon chips, is fast becoming one of the…
Author: Yadhu Menon
Silicon photonics is a UK growth opportunity that cannot wait
The Council for Science and Technology’s recent letter to the Prime Minister has set out a clear case for photonics as a strategic UK priority, calling for a national roadmap, stronger support for domestic capability, and more coordinated investment across the sector. That importance is already reflected in the numbers. The UK photonics industry is…
How silicon photonics could power next-generation AI systems: TechRadar Pro Interviews Professor Graham Reed
AI’s energy problem isn’t about raw compute – it’s about moving data. Getting information between processors, memory, and data centres fast enough, and without burning through enormous amounts of power, is where today’s systems are starting to crack. Silicon photonics uses light rather than electricity to carry that data, and it’s attracting serious investment…
Exploring Silicon Photonics for Future Networks: Insights from BT and the CORNERSTONE Photonics Innovation Centre
A foundation of the UK’s communications infrastructure, BT Group plays a pivotal role in both maintaining and advancing the nation’s connectivity. In an era of accelerating technological change, BT is continuously modernising legacy networks for homes and businesses while exploring cutting-edge solutions like quantum-safe communications, integrated photonics, and secure network design. A core enabler of this strategic evolution is silicon photonic…
Scaling Quantum Systems with Silicon Photonics: How C-PIC Supports the Next Generation of Quantum Technologies
Quantum technologies promise fundamentally new approaches to computational problems that are intractable for classical systems, from the high-fidelity simulation of complex molecular dynamics and materials for drug discovery and energy, to optimisation problems in logistics and finance. Governments and corporations worldwide are investing heavily in this field, recognising its potential as both a strategic and economic differentiator. The UK is no exception, with significant funding and industrial…
Bay Photonics
Bay Photonics – Specialists in Advanced Photonic Assembly and Packaging, Engineered for Precision. Bringing a photonic device to market is a complex journey, design precision, thermal stability, optical alignment, and reliability all engineered and realised into a high performance packaged assembly. At Bay Photonics, we cover the full lifecycle of photonic packaging, from concept and…
The Value of Strategic Partnerships in Driving the Next Era of Silicon Photonics
Silicon photonics (SiPh) is already a proven technology in optical communications and data centres, where its bandwidth, energy efficiency and CMOS compatibility have transformed how data moves. It now stands at the threshold of a broader technology transition. However, the next era of SiPh will not be defined solely by faster links but by its…
Alter UK
Alter’s Somerville package offers an affordable standardised evaluation platform with hermetic capability for fast prototyping. The Somerville 2 package platform has 40 DC IOs, 8x ground-signal-ground connections, and a single fibre array, and Somerville 3 has dual fibre array and 80x DC IOs. The fibre and connector type is completely customisable. Standard interposers are designed…