IN Brief:
- Semtech will secure dedicated SiGe manufacturing capacity through a multi-year agreement with Tower Semiconductor.
- The affected analogue devices include optical receiver amplifiers, laser drivers and equalisers for copper and optical links.
- No investment value, additional wafer volume or implementation timetable was disclosed.
Tower Semiconductor and Semtech have expanded a manufacturing partnership to reserve additional silicon germanium capacity for high-speed analogue components used in data centre interconnects. Under the multi-year agreement, Semtech will invest in dedicated production capacity across Tower foundries in the United States, Israel and Japan. The companies have not disclosed the financial commitment, the number of additional wafers or a timetable for bringing capacity into use.
The agreement extends a relationship that the companies say has lasted 20 years. Its immediate purpose is to support Semtech designs for optical and copper links as customers introduce faster networking hardware. Semtech identifies demand for components serving 800G and 1.6T connections, with further development aimed at 3.2T systems. Those aggregate rates describe generations of network equipment rather than the speed of a single analogue chip or individual channel.
Silicon germanium technology is used in semiconductor processes that combine high-frequency analogue performance with other integrated circuitry. In an optical receiver, a photodiode converts incident light into a small electrical current. A transimpedance amplifier then converts that current into a voltage suitable for subsequent signal processing. Its gain, bandwidth, noise and linearity can influence whether the receiver preserves enough information at the required lane speed.
The transmit path places different demands on analogue circuits. A modulator driver or laser driver conditions the high-speed electrical signal used to control the optical output, while linear equalisers compensate for frequency-dependent losses in an electrical channel. The relevant trade-offs include signal amplitude, distortion, power consumption and the thermal environment surrounding a dense transceiver. Improving one parameter without accounting for the rest may leave the complete link short of its required signal margin.
Semtech says its SiGe-based portfolio addresses fully retimed optics, linear pluggable and linear receive optics, near-packaged optics, and other dense interconnect formats. The same signal integrity expertise extends to active copper cables and equalisation on printed circuit boards. These applications use different packaging and system architectures, but all rely on analogue circuits operating between a high-speed physical channel and digital processing equipment.
A recent example is Semtech’s 224Gbps-per-lane transimpedance amplifier family for linear pluggable optics, recognised at ECOC 2026. The company says it is fabricated using Tower’s SiGe technology. A per-lane TIA specification should not be confused with the total bandwidth of an 800G or 1.6T module, which depends on the number of lanes and the selected architecture. The award demonstrates an existing product development, while the newly reserved production capacity addresses future supply.
Tower operates several wafer fabrication sites, including facilities in the United States, Israel and Japan. Reserving capacity in more than one country can reduce dependence on a single manufacturing location, although semiconductor production cannot always be transferred from one fab to another without qualification. Process variation, matching design rules, reliability evidence, package assembly and final electrical test remain necessary to establish consistent supply between manufacturing sites.
The companies are also pursuing a shared technology roadmap, with the next generations of optical and electrical links demanding greater bandwidth at acceptable energy per bit. Expanding wafer capacity does not independently establish that future 3.2T transceivers are qualified or shipping. Semtech will still need to translate its designs into tested components, while equipment suppliers must integrate those devices into modules that meet thermal and signal integrity specifications.
Tower’s earlier work with NewPhotonics on laser-integrated optical engines concerns a separate silicon photonics programme. The Semtech agreement instead centres on the analogue semiconductor production supporting optical and copper connectivity. The companies have confirmed the geographical span and multi-year nature of the new commitment, but the practical expansion will be measurable through qualified production output and customer deliveries rather than the agreement alone.
