ASML said its existing 2027 and 2028 supply plans cannot fully meet customer demand and that it is studying a further expansion of 2028 capacity beyond the previously planned 30% increase. Quarterly sales through September 27 reached €11.7 billion, up more than 50% year on year. The NXE:3800F EUV lithography system slated for introduction next year will raise productivity from 230 to 260 wafers per hour.
Why we recommend it: Equipment expansion and productivity upgrades are proceeding in parallel, offering concrete industry clues on how AI demand feeds into EUV lithography supply constraints.
Oct 13Tue
Tuesday
C114 Communications Network · Optical CommunicationsOptics industryOptics and AIPicksAI score7171
NVIDIA and Cisco on October 12 jointly announced plans for the USFP (Ultra-Small Form-factor Pluggable) optical module, a high-density pluggable with 400Gb/s per lane, aimed at the scaling needs of next-generation AI factory networks and helping control network complexity, power consumption and cost as connection counts grow.
Why we recommend it: The original article explains the motivation behind two leading vendors jointly defining a new form factor, helping assess how AI network optical modules are evolving
Oct 12Mon
Monday
OFweek Optics Network · NewsOptics industryOptics and AIPicksAI score6565
Kuang-Chi Photonics has announced the completion of a C+ funding round exceeding RMB 1 billion, with investors undisclosed. The company's 12-inch wafer-level optics production line, backed by a RMB 2 billion investment in Shanghai Lingang, is expected to be completed and come online in 2027, targeting the AR, fiber optics, optical communications, automotive optics and optical computing markets. This follows its C round in January 2026 and a C+ round of nearly RMB 400 million in April.
Why we recommend it: The source lists three funding rounds within the year and progress on the 12-inch wafer-level optics production line, helping to understand capital investment and capacity planning in wafer-level optics
Vuzix has launched the configurable Shrike waveguide display platform for defense, security and emergency response applications, with the first samples already shipped to customers.
Why we recommend it: The source article gives a concrete product bringing waveguide displays into the defense market, helping to illustrate non-consumer markets for AR waveguides
A team at the Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a theoretical model for PML-SRLs, revealing that operating states are governed by the temporal balance of gain and loss. Combining time-domain traveling-wave equations with partial differential equations for carrier density, the model examines the relationship between SOA carrier accumulation rate, SA carrier lifetime and ring cavity round-trip time. The work, published in Optics Express, also found that an SOA with a narrow gain spectrum and a short resonator configuration can merge output pulses to produce high-energy optical pulses.
Why we recommend it: Putting gain, absorber and cavity round-trip time into a unified dynamic model offers transferable design insight into mode-locking states and pulse merging in semiconductor ring cavities.
Focuslight, Synopsys, AMS Technologies and Oxford Instruments announced or completed acquisitions in early 2024, covering micro/nano optics, simulation software, laser systems and scientific cameras. Focuslight completed the acquisition of 100% of SMO's equity for EUR 75.5405 million, while Synopsys plans to acquire Ansys for USD 35 billion, a deal still subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. AMS Technologies acquired neoLASE, and Oxford Instruments acquired First Light Imaging.
Why we recommend it: The four deals add capabilities in component manufacturing, simulation software, laser systems and scientific imaging, offering a basis for comparing the different paths optics companies take to expand through acquisitions.