On 5/17/2019, the large-scale application of silicon photonics products in the data center market in 2018 demonstrated the performance and value advantages brought by silicon photonics products to the industry, pushing silicon-based optoelectronic integration technology to a new peak. Silicon photonics technology is also known as the best weapon for China's chip manufacturing to "overtake on the curve", and in recent years, it has become the focus of innovative enterprises and investors. Guangte Technology is such an innovative enterprise that specializes in III-V compound semiconductor lasers, detectors, and silicon photonic integrated chips. We had the honor to interview Mr. Xu Longbo, the sales director of Guangte Technology.

Based on III-V compound chips, we have a long-term optimistic view on the silicon photonics industry

Guangte Technology was founded in 2016, with its headquarters located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. It has established a research and development center in Los Angeles, USA, and a production base in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. It has built an industry-leading production base for III-V compound semiconductor chips. The founder team comes from leading optical chip/optical device companies worldwide. The core technical team members include multiple doctors and professor-level experts, with high-end talents accounting for more than 80%. It possesses multiple world-leading patented technologies. Relying on the team experts' profound technical accumulation in semiconductor technology, high-speed optoelectronics, and communication fields, it aims to build a design and manufacturing enterprise for high-speed III-V optical chips and silicon photonic integrated chips.

Mr. Xu stated: "After over three decades of development, our optical communication industry has become the world's largest manufacturing base for optical components. However, our core strength in the manufacturing of optoelectronic chips remains relatively weak. Although in recent years, more enterprises and investments have focused on chip design and development, they are primarily concentrated in the mid-to-low-end 10G and below fields, with a severe dependence on imports for high-end optoelectronic chips. Therefore, the goal of Guangte Technology is to develop domestically-produced optoelectronic chip technology.".

The manufacturing of optical chips cannot be achieved overnight, but requires long-term accumulation and verification. Guangte Technology's rapid breakthrough in 25G PIN PD chips is mainly attributed to the decades of accumulation in the chip field by its core team. Mr. Xu stated, "However, III-V group devices have their own limitations, and the challenges of cost, size, and integration make the advantages of silicon photonics technology even more prominent. In essence, silicon photonics cannot completely replace III-V group material chips. I believe that the two are more complementary. In the long run, I still firmly believe in the prospects of silicon photonics. Currently, silicon photonics is mainly used in data centers, but I am more optimistic about its future applications in more popular industries such as laser ranging, lidar, autonomous driving, aerospace, and more.".

Lay out the 5G Internet of Everything and 10G PON market

At the end of last year, Guangte Technology launched 25G PIN PD chips, 4*25G PIN PD array products, etc., which can be used in 100G transceiver modules for data centers, 5G wireless fronthaul, and 25G/100G optical modules for bearer networks. Guangte Technology has also mass-produced 2.5G APD and 10G APD products. The 25G PD can be used in 25G SFP28 transceivers, while the 10G APD is targeted at 10G PON modules for FTTx. Meanwhile, Guangte Technology's high-speed PD array can also be used in the next-generation 200G/400G data center optical module products that current customers are working on. This series of products has been validated by some customers and is currently ready for bulk delivery.

Mr. Xu believes that China, as the world's largest optical communication market, will inevitably generate greater opportunities and markets in the 5G Internet of Everything, which will undoubtedly bring explosive demand to the domestic 25G/100G module market, as well as a huge market space for the upgrade from fiber-to-the-home to gigabit-to-the-home. Guangte Technology is also actively cooperating with upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain to seize relevant industrial opportunities.

Finally, Fiber Online also wishes that Guangte Technology will leverage the momentum of the 5G era to continue to grow and prosper.