European chip manufacturer STMicroelectronics has entered high-volume production of its data center photonics chip.

Dubbed the PIC100, the chip supports incoming 800Gbps and 1.6Tbps optical interconnects across all workloads, including artificial intelligence (AI), and combines both the company’s silicon photonics and next-generation BiCMOS technologies on a 300mm silicon platform.

BiCMOS combines both bipolar and CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) transistors onto a single integrated circuit. The technology offers improved speed over CMOS and has a lower power dissipation than bipolar. STMicroelectronics says that as a result, its BiCMOS technology offers a level of performance that has previously only been available with more expensive technologies.

Both the silicon photonics and BiCMOS technologies are manufactured in STMicroelectronics’ 300mm fab in Crolles, France.

When first announced in February 2025, ST said the PIC100 was the first offering in its PIC product family. This week, the company also unveiled the next step in its silicon photonics roadmap, the PIC100 TSV – a platform that integrates through-silicon via (TSV). Through-silicon via is a packaging technology that supports 3D stacking on silicon wafers that improves optical connectivity density, module integration, and system-level thermal efficiency.

In a statement, ST said the PIC100 TSV platform is designed to support future generations of near packaged optics (NPO) and co-packaged optics (CPO), “aligning with hyperscalers’ long-term migration paths toward deeper optical–electronic integration for scale up.”

The company will discuss additional roadmap updates at OFC (Optical Fiber Communication conference), taking place later this month.

“Following the announcement of its new silicon photonics technology in February 2025, ST is now entering high-volume production for leading hyperscalers. The combination of our technology platform and the superior scale of our 300mm manufacturing lines gives us a unique competitive advantage to support the AI infrastructure super-cycle,” said Fabio Gualandris, president of quality, manufacturing, and technology, STMicroelectronics.

“Looking ahead, we are planning and executing on capacity expansions to enable more than quadrupling of production by 2027. This fast expansion is fully underpinned by customers’ long-term capacity reservation commitments.”