[OFC 2026] Part 1 of 5: 300mm SiPh Foundry: Who Is Actually Ready?
Samsung, GlobalFoundries, and NVIDIA (TSMC)
Two Ways to Read a Conference Paper
Every conference paper has two layers. There are the numbers the authors put front and center, and there are the quieter signals buried in the body text. Read the seven papers that Samsung, GlobalFoundries, and NVIDIA presented at OFC 2026 side by side, and you begin to see that the gap between those two layers varies considerably across institutions.
The silicon photonics foundry race toward 200G/λ is no longer primarily a device performance competition. It is a contest of system integration completeness and ecosystem maturity. And in that contest, where the three players actually stand looks somewhat different from what their press releases suggest.
Seven Papers at a Glance
Samsung vs. GlobalFoundries Platform Comparison
(Note: MRM BW comparisons are sensitive to bias voltage and detuning conditions — direct comparison requires care)
From here, I break down what each institution’s papers actually show, what they do not show, and where the gap between official announcements and paper content lies.
