Singapore-based silicon photonic foundry services provider CompoundTek has partnered with the Silicon Photonics Group at the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) to offer silicon photonics design services. Silicon Photonics Group, of Southampton, England, has developed designs that have since become the industry standard in data centers, telecoms, and high-performance computing applications. This industry partnership aims to accelerate the adoption of silicon photonics technology as a key enabler to transporting high levels of data that are instrumental in enhancing operational efficiency and capacity within data centers. Silicon photonics technology is also paving the way for emerging applications such as data transfer, autonomous vehicles, telecoms, biomedical, and artificial intelligence. CompoundTek officials said that as the company continues to gain traction and progress with customer expansion globally, it can offer combined design and foundry services that are expected to accelerate new industry entrants. The design partnership with ORC, led by Silicon Photonics Group founder Graham Reed, plans to facilitate new entrants into the silicon photonics industry by giving them access to value-added design services backed by CompoundTek’s foundry fabrication service. As one of the few global foundries or companies equipped to manufacture silicon photonics, CompoundTek’s services include end-to-end industry expertise from process technology to product co-design to manufacturing with strategic design partners.