Who are the key players and newcomers in the global IP race shaping the future of optical communication in semiconductor packaging?
Publication January 2026
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Key Features
- PDF with > 80 slides
- Excel file > 1,300 patent families
- Global patenting trends, including time evolution of patent publications, countries of patent filings, etc.
- Main patent assignees and IP newcomers
- Key players’ IP position and the relative strength of their patent portfolio
- IP leadership evolution of patent assignees since 2020
- IP profile of key players (patent portfolio overview, technical coverage, geographical coverage, notable patents, recent IP activity)
- Excel database containing all patents analyzed in the report, including hyperlinks to an updated online database.
This report falls under the category of patent landscapes related to Packaging, you might also be interested by:
KnowMade helps decision makers to strategize their business and IP with our comprehensive patent landscape and custom studies.
Co-packaged optics is now a key enabler of next-gen electronics
Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping industries at their core, fueling unprecedented data growth and accelerating the demand for energy-efficient computing. As data volumes surge, hardware innovation has become essential, particularly in rethinking data center architectures to deliver faster computation, lower power consumption, higher performance, and reduced latency. In this context, silicon photonics has emerged as a pivotal technology, replacing traditional copper interconnects with high-speed, light-based data transmission. As demand for data-intensive computing continues to rise, the semiconductor industry has built a substantial portfolio of patents aimed at integrating photonic and electronic systems at the package level. Together, these inventions highlight the industry’s transition from conventional electrical interconnects to optical input/output (I/O) architectures that unlock higher bandwidth, lower latency, and improved energy efficiency across compute and networking platforms. Among the most significant advances is Co-Packaged Optics (CPO), an innovative packaging approach that brings optical components directly into or near electronic devices to maximize efficiency and scalability.
Over the past 10 years, CPO and optical I/O technologies has become a key enabler of advanced semiconductor packaging, leading to a strong increase in patenting activity and a significant evolution of the competitive intellectual property (IP) landscape. Major patent owners have strengthened their IP positions in the US, China, and Europe, while pure players have entered the patent landscape. It is now crucial for companies operating in the semiconductor advanced packaging industry to closely examine the technology and competitive landscape from an IP perspective.
In this context, KnowMade is releasing a new patent landscape report to map the patent activity and competitive dynamics shaping this rapidly evolving field. Over 4,000 individual patents from more than 1,300 patent families (inventions) have been selected. This report aims to provide insights into current IP activities, the positions of key IP players, the applications they target in their patents, and how their patent portfolios can support their market strategies.
Understanding the main trends, the key players’ IP position and IP strategy
Through patent analysis, we describe the position of IP players, unveil their strategies to strengthen their IP portfolio, highlight their capability to limit the patenting activity and freedom-to-operate of other firms, identify promising new players, and forecast what would be the future IP leaders. IP competition analysis should reflect the vision of players with a strategy to enter and develop their business in the advanced semiconductor packaging market.
In this report, we provide a comprehensive overview of the competitive IP landscape and latest technological developments related to CPO and optical I/O technology. The report covers IP dynamics and key trends in terms of patents applications, patent assignees, filing countries, patented technologies, and targeted applications. It also identifies the IP leaders, most active patent applicants, and sheds light on under-the-radar companies and new players in this field. Besides, we have identified over 270 key inventions that are most critical in terms of geographic coverage in key technology markets.
A dynamic IP landscape: evolution of leading players’ positions and pure players
TSMC and Intel are leading the patent landscape, increasing patenting activity, and expanding invention protection in key countries. As pioneer Intel has adopted an aggressive strategy to assert its patents. Later TSMC and pure players (Lightmatter, Celestial AI, Ayar Labs, Avicena Tech) joined the IP landscape and developed strategic portfolios.
In recent years, more IP players have become involved in the IP landscape, and OSATs and materials suppliers have entered the IP arena.
In this report, we provide an overview of the IP portfolios held by the key players emerging from the IP landscape and describe the related inventions and technologies.
Useful Excel patent database
This report includes an extensive Excel database with all patents analyzed in this study, including patent information (numbers, dates, assignees, title, abstract, legal status, etc.) and hyperlinks to an updated online database (original documents, legal status, etc.).
Companies mentioned in the report (non-exhaustive)
Intel, TSMC, Huawei, Broadcom, Cisco, Lightmatter, Avicena, Celestial AI, Rockley Photonics, Ayar Labs, Ranovus, Samsung Group, NVIDIA, Teramount, ZTE, Resonac, Marvell, Nokia, Oracle, Micron, Senko Group, VTT, Alphabet, Accelink Technologies, Ruijie Networks, Eliyan, Mitsubishi Electric, LIPAC, RTX Corporation, HP – Hewlett Packard Development, UnilC (Tsinghua Unigroup), Yangzhou Xinli Integrated Circuit, Juniper, Suzhou Singularity Photon Intelligent Technology, Huagong Tech, NCAP, CEA, ASTAR, Sumitomo Electric, JCET Group, Apple, GlobalFoundries, ASE Group, Nubis communications, Amkor Technology, Lightelligence, Zhejiang Lingxin Optoelectronics Technology, Corning, Zhongshan Meisu Technology, Nano Photonics, Guangbenwei Technology, Wuxi institute of interconnect technology, Li Hong Electronic, Yongjiang Laboratory, SMIC, Tsinghua University, Sky Semiconductor, Elphic, Lightip Technologie, NTT – Nippon Telegraph & Telephone, Innolux, Shanghai Xizhi Technology, United Test and Assembly Center, University College Cork, Lumentum, Hanyang University, Furukawa Electric, Raytek, Hangzhou Guangzhiyuan Technology, Dongguan Luxshare Technology, PICadvanced, SPIL, Wuhan Optics Valley Information Optoelectronics Innovation Center, MACOM Technology Solutions, Ciena, MaxLinear, AIP – Advanced Integrated Photonics, Lyte AI, Browave, Xunyun Electronic Technology, Xperi/Adeia, HKUST – Hong Kong University of Science And Technology, ITRI – Industrial Technology Research Institute.