Global Unichip Corp. (GUC), the Advanced ASIC leader, and Ayar Labs, a leader in co-packaged optics (CPO) for large-scale AI workloads, have announced a strategic partnership to integrate CPO into GUC's advanced ASIC design services.This collaboration paves the way for high-bandwidth, low-latency, power-efficient optical interconnects in next-generation AI, HPC and networking applications where electrical signaling is reaching its limits. By integrating Ayar Labs'TeraPH optical engines into GUC's advanced packaging and ASIC workflow, the companies are exploring critical areas to enable future CPO deployment."The CPO revolution is at our doorstep. Integrating Ayar Labs'optical engines into our advanced packaging flows is a critical step," said Igor Elkanovich, CTO of GUC. "Our new joint design allows us to address the challenges of CPO integration - architectural, power and signal integrity, mechanical and thermal - ensuring our future customers have access to a robust, high-bandwidth and power-efficient solution."The new XPU multi-chip package (MCP) design replaces traditional electrical interconnects with Ayar Labs'optical engines attached directly to the MCP organic substrate. This architecture enables more than 100 Tbps full-duplex optical interface from the XPU package, more than an order of magnitude improvement over current XPUs.UCIe-S (64 Gbps) provides bandwidth between the optical engines and I/O chiplets over the MCP substrate, while UCIe-A (64 Gbps) is used for communication between the I/O chiplet to the main AI die over local silicon interconnect (LSI) bridges. The design also addresses signal and power integrity challenges associated with the large-scale package. Thermal optimization is done at the XPU MCP level, and a new stiffener design incorporates optical engines' requirements and enables detachable fiber connections while meeting mechanical stress and warpage requirements."The future of AI and data center scale-up will not be possible without optics to overcome the electrical I/O bottleneck," said Vladimir Stojanovic, CTO and co-founder of Ayar Labs. "Working with GUC on advanced packaging and silicon technologies is an important step in demonstrating how our optical engines can accelerate the implementation of co-packaged optics for hyperscalers and AI scale-up."GUC will share more about these technology advancements during a presentation titled "Advanced Packaging Technologies for Modular and Powerful Compute" at the 2025 TSMC Open Innovation Platform (OIP) Ecosystem Forum in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.For more information about GUC.For more information about Ayar Labs.
The rise of generative AI is accelerating digital transformation across traditional industries, and the construction sector is no exception. In an industry long dependent on hands-on expertise and experience sharing, construction companies face mounting challenges including labor shortages, rising costs, project delays, and increasingly stringent regulatory requirements. To address these issues, Shipeng Technology has developed an end-to-end smart construction solution centered on a "Digital Twin + AI Platform," powered by the robust computing capabilities of Amazon Web Services (AWS).Integrating AI, cloud, and digital twin technologies to drive smart constructionAccording to Shibo Lin, founder of Shipeng Technology, the company's core solution revolves around three key pillars: visibility, precision, and control. Covering the entire project lifecycle - from design and construction to operation and maintenance - it establishes a comprehensive digital twin management process. By replacing traditional 2D blueprints with 3D BIM (Building Information Modeling), design conflicts can be identified and resolved before construction begins. The AI platform integrates material and scheduling data, allowing on-site teams to query project progress and cost details using natural language. In addition, AR and sensor technologies enable real-time comparison between physical structures and digital models, ensuring quality and progress remain aligned. The result is a significant reduction in human error and delay risks, along with enhanced data-driven decision-making capabilities.Shipeng Technology leverages AWS cloud computing, AI/ML platforms, and IoT services to handle the massive volume of construction data and 3D model computations. By integrating sensor, image, and progress data in the cloud, the company builds high-precision digital twins that remain perfectly synchronized with the physical site. This architecture not only ensures flexibility, scalability, and security but also enables rapid model updates and data processing within minutes - greatly reducing operational costs and accelerating project delivery. Lin emphasized that AWS's global cloud infrastructure allows the team to focus on application innovation and AI model optimization, truly realizing the vision of bringing "smart construction from cloud to job site."Real-world projects demonstrate efficiency gainsIn a recent major construction project, regulatory changes required a complete redesign. Traditionally, the revision process would take four months. With Shipeng Technology's BIM solution and AWS support, the team completed the entire update and validation in just one week, reducing the timeline by over tenfold and saving substantial downtime costs.In another project, the Startup Terrace A6 Tower in Linkou adopted Shipeng Technology's digital asset management system. Tasks that once took three months - such as inventory verification - are now completed within five to ten minutes. Supported by AWS's real-time data integration and high-performance computing, the platform enables project managers to monitor on-site progress and asset conditions seamlessly. Lin noted that Shipeng Technology aims to make every data point from construction sites actionable, turning real-time insights into the foundation for smarter decisions.From Taiwan to the world: building a cloud ecosystem for smart constructionThrough its participation in the Startup Terrace Kaohsiung AWS Joint Innovation Center (JIC) project, Shipeng Technology established a presence in Kaohsiung's Startup Terrace and gained access to extensive local industry resources. The project's matchmaking and mentoring programs have helped the company connect with construction partners in southern Taiwan and refine its business presentation and client engagement capabilities. Lin remarked that this industry collaboration model - combining local partnerships with cloud-based coordination - not only accelerates digital transformation in southern Taiwan's construction industry but also strengthens Shipeng Technology's local market foothold.While deepening its presence in Taiwan, Shipeng Technology is actively expanding internationally. Following its strategy of "Taiwan R&D, Japan validation, and global deployment" , the team recently participated in a global startup competition and secured collaboration opportunities with Japanese partners to deploy smart construction solutions overseas. Given Japan's strong demand for construction automation and ESG management, the market serves as the company's first step toward globalization. Moving forward, Shipeng Technology will continue to establish international standards for smart building practices and bringing its digital construction technologies to the world.
As Taiwan faces demographic challenges from a declining birthrate, the food and beverage (F&B) industry is struggling with severe labor shortages. While digital technologies and automation offer solutions for improving operational efficiency and customer satisfaction, many small and medium-sized eateries - such as breakfast shops and family-run restaurants - still rely on manual processes due to limited budgets. This manual process is slow, error-prone, and struggles to meet rising consumer expectations, making it difficult for small businesses to compete with major chains.DotDot Global addresses these challenges with its one-stop F&B technology solution, integrating online ordering, self-checkout, AI queue management, multiple payment options, membership management, and data analytics. This solution enables restaurants to embrace mobile payment trends, streamline workflows, reduce staffing needs, and enhance customer experiences. To date, DotDot Global has successfully implemented its system in more than 15,000 restaurants across Taiwan.According to Ting Hsieh, CEO of DotDot Global, the company's AI Store Manager replaces traditional manual ordering and checkout procedures, enabling restaurants to achieve front-of-house automation. The AI Store Manager includes intelligent ordering, AI-powered queue calling, and Taiwan's first unified cross-domain payment platform that integrates "points, cash, and coupons." It allows flexible use of loyalty points and discounts while seamlessly connecting credit cards, cash, and digital payments. As a result, restaurants can operate efficiently with minimal staffing - sometimes even with just one person running the entire store.Leveraging AWS cloud services to accelerate innovationDotDot Global's solutions are powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and built on AWS IoT Core, which provides two-way communication for real-time monitoring of connected devices worldwide. Through Over-the-Air (OTA) remote updates, the company can upgrade system functions or apply security patches to all devices across Taiwan in under 30 minutes - without dispatching engineers. This significantly reduces maintenance costs while ensuring that every client location has immediate access to the latest features, helping restaurants maintain a competitive edge in the fast-evolving F&B technology landscape.Hsieh explained that since entering the F&B technology space, DotDot Global has continuously gathered feedback from restaurant operators to guide product development. The newly launched AI Store Manager integrates multiple AI applications such as voice queue announcements, on-screen notifications, and adaptive prompt customization based on call frequency or style. Additionally, the system can analyze customer behavior and restaurant sales data using AI, providing insights for menu optimization and combo meal recommendations to improve profitability.Building a cross-domain ecosystem with the Unified Payment Interface (UPI)As mobile payment tools continue to diversify, DotDot Global introduced its Unified Payment Interface (UPI) to foster a new, cross-domain payment ecosystem. With a single integration, business partners can support all payment scenarios - from online to offline, cash to digital. DotDot Global is collaborating with POS system providers, vending machine operators, self-checkout solutions, currency exchange kiosks, and claw machine vendors to expand the ecosystem, generating new traffic and value for its partners.Hsieh added that through participation in the Startup Terrace Kaohsiung AWS Joint Innovation Center (JIC) project, DotDot Global has strengthened collaboration with local industries in Kaohsiung, including parking operators, vending businesses, and F&B brands. The company has also integrated with Agrigo, a cloud-based agricultural e-commerce platform, to enable innovative supply chain payment scenarios. Furthermore, DotDot Global is actively promoting its AI Store Manager and smart restaurant solutions in southern Taiwan, with notable adoption by the well-known Kaohsiung eatery Lao Er Pork Hock on Rice.
Fastmicro B.V. is a manufacturer of surface particle defect detection systems and equipment established over 15 years ago. The main product lines include sample surface particle defect scanning, particle deposition measurement instruments, and particle defect detection systems for applications such as compound semiconductor wafers, glass wafers, masks, and EUV/DUV mask pellicles.The ranging product offerings of Fastmicro include analytics software to cover a wide variety of applications and processes, in-line defect inspection systems, transportable scanners and scanning module for system integration. The company's technology can detect particles down to 100 nanometers in size. It offers various operation modes, with inspection speeds up to 400 wafers per hour, and can provide inspection reports in ISO standards or PDF format.Fastmicro was initially established through a collaboration with the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) to develop and research surface particle detection technology. Because the cleanliness level within semiconductor front-end processing plants and cleanrooms is crucial to the stability and yield of advanced semiconductor manufacturing, detecting tiny particles significantly impacts their operational needs. Today, tiny particles have a wide variety of composition, Fastmicro equipment plays a proactive role.Because the company's equipment has the advantage of fast detection speed, it usually only takes about ten seconds to complete surface particle defect detection, which has been well recognized by customers. The standard equipment is roughly the size of a household microwave oven. The operative procedures start to use swab or sampling tool to collect a sample from the surface of an object, which is then placed into the detector to read the particle count. Fastmicro adheres to NIST standards and uses PSL (Polystyrene latex) material for calibration and particle measurement. They also provide an OEM design model, providing flexible integration scanning modules to precision semiconductor equipment customers, covering wide-area scanning and diverse testing needs.The company began expanding its international business in 2022. At Semicon Taiwan 2025, in addition to engaging with Taiwan major foundry clients, the company is also entering the semiconductor equipment manufacturing supply chains. During equipment assembly, it is necessary to first confirm that the parts and components meet the product cleanliness level requirements before entering assembly. Each manufacturing link of supply chain requires confirmation that particle defect detection meets standard requirements, so Fastmicro equipment present strong business opportunities. This is currently the company's main market opportunity for expansion in Taiwan.
Xinyx IC Design B.V. is a 100% Filipino owned IC Design house and has been in operations since 2009, with more than a decade of experience in the field of integrated circuit design, giving its clients scalability and access to highly qualified Filipino engineers. Xinyx provides end-to-end semiconductor design solutions, spanning front-end architecture, circuit realization, and physical implementation for analog, digital, and mixed-signal domains.Xinyx offers comprehensive IC design services customized to meet each customer's unique requirements. The company's capabilities span digital, analog, and mixed-signal design and layout, enabling it to support projects across a wide range of applications and technologies. Xinyx provides flexible engagement models, from full turnkey solutions to project-based and specialized design services, allowing clients to leverage its expertise at any stage of the design process to achieve faster turnaround times and optimized results. With over 16 years of experience, Xinyx has grown from a 15-person team into a 400-strong engineering and service organization, operating across five sites in the Philippines and one in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Built on the strength of its large pool of talented young Filipino engineers, the company helps customers bring innovative silicon solutions to market. As Xinyx continues to expand its global footprint, it is optimistic about the booming Taiwanese semiconductor industry and is eager to collaborate with Taiwanese IC design firms to broaden its reach and explore mutually beneficial opportunities.As part of its commitment to developing the IC design ecosystem, Xinyx actively drives its flagship Campus Connect Program, which focuses on nurturing IC design talent at the university level. The program bridges industry and academia by providing a pathway for Filipino students to enter the IC design field through collaborative learning opportunities, internships, and training programs. In line with this vision, Xinyx continues to explore strategic partnerships with universities abroad, including recent engagements with Chung Yuan Christian University in Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
XIVER, 120 employees, located in High Tech Center of the Netherlands, a carve out from Philips Research started its business on January 2025.XIVER is unique in that they combine the strength of a pure-play foundry with more than 20 years of MEMS process development knowledge and experience in high tech micro systems solutions. A state-of-the art cleanroom of 2600m2 (28,000 sqf), independent positioning in the market and European ownership. XIVERs increasing share of wallet of its top-tier customers in medical, semiconductor equipment and defense are driving its initial growth and success. Secured by high barriers of entry and scarce availability of available manufacturing, make XIVER a first option for innovations in high tech market segments like data centers/AI and IR applications. Further strategic investments in Photonics and Transducers will provide longevity and will be driving accelerated growth in mid to long term.
SCIL Nanoimprint Solutions is a provider of nanoscale imprinting equipment for patterning wafers leveraging its unique technology of Substrate Conformal Imprint Lithography (SCIL). The company is targeting the creation of optical structures on wafers for emerging applications in silicon photonics modules and smart glasses. Active in the market since 2015, SCIL Nanoimprint Solutions, originally a business unit of Philips, utilizes patented stamp transfer technology to create process equipment and processes for creating specialized optical structures on wafers. For example, it can create lightguide structures on wafers to enable direct chip-to-fiber connections, driving the fabrication of high-speed optical communication structures.Following the internal installation and testing of the first AutoSCIL tool in 2016, the company officially began mass production and delivered equipment to customers from 2017 onwards. In 2023, with investment from venture capital funds and other investors, the company was officially spun out from Philips to become an independent operating company. The company is targeting applications in optical communication semiconductors, including high-speed optical communication chips for data centers, advanced packaging silicon photonics systems, and ultra-compact optical elements for smart glasses and augmented reality devices. The product portfolio spans advanced imprint equipment, tailored optical materials, and optimized processes. As these are all key areas of focus for the next phase of AI-related applications, the company is attracting significant industry attention.These nanostructures and precision structures utilize processes such as imprinting precise patterns onto wafers using glass materials, serving as light-guiding structures for fiber-optic communication systems. Furthermore, some are manufactured as lens modules, imprinting optical components onto wafers. The existing equipment can achieve optical structures with critical dimensions down to 10 nanometersand sub-nanometer surface roughness.The company's process equipment is differentiated by wafer size, supporting 4-inch, 6-inch, 8-inch, and 12-inch sizes. The process includes resist deposition, overlay alignment, nano-imprinting, , and curing to complete the 2D or 3D patterning process. Targeting two key and highly anticipated applications, smart glasses and CPO (co-packaged optics), Taiwan is a high potential market for SCIL Nanoimprint Solutions, with the Taiwanese semiconductor industry focused on optoelectronic chips, high-speed communications, and advanced heterogeneous packaging technologies.
Mecal High-Tech Systems is an independent global high end contracting engineering company that specializes in anti-vibration and shielding technologies for high-precision semiconductor equipment and optical measurement systems. Mecal is in control of critical conditions, in and around high end equipment, co-developing with customers and with its own IP and OEM product base. Take the well-known Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology as an example. Since EUV equipment uses highly precise optical lithography technology with accuracy reaching the nanometer level. These high sophisticated machines are generally extremely sensitive to vibration, need to have corresponding solutions.A complete anti-vibration system must be designed to meet the standard operation of EUV machines and achieve high production yields. Therefore, any semiconductor foundry service vendors who purchases EUV equipment becomes an important target customer for Mecal. The company provides solutions including problem analysis, consulting, engineering design, technology R&D, installation deployment and operation services. It integrates cutting-edge technologies to develop engineering solutions and create optimal economic value for customers, such as improving production yields to generate significant revenue incomes. It also enables even more sophisticated production of next generation technologiesMecal currently provides a vibration-proof platform and technology designed for EUV process needs. Every aspect of design and installation requires detailed planning by the engineering teams of the company. Mecal has more than 170 five-star ranking senior professional engineers certified by customers and works in Taiwan from established service bases in countries including the Netherlands, the United States, South Korea, and Japan.Mecal implements successful approach involving to foster strong communication, a deep technical understanding of semiconductor manufacturing, and a collaborative strategy to diagnose and solve these root problems by being located near where customers stay. For example, with major Taiwanese foundry customers, Mecal not only provides the solutions to solve key challenges of EUV operation, but also team-up with customers to transfer technology to different regions within their global footprint where EUV technology is deployed, thereby creating mutually beneficial business opportunities.The main purpose of Mecal in participating in Netherlands Pavilion is to expand its visibility in the Taiwanese market. The company believes that Taiwanese semiconductor ecosystems can increase the development speed and improve production yields and solve problems caused by vibration in process equipment through Mecal solutions.As semiconductor chips become smaller and more sophisticated, the technical challenges of anti-vibration are also increasing. With 35 years of accumulated industry experience and technical capabilities, Mecal plays the role of co-developer and problem solver in high-precision production, optoelectronic systems, advanced packaging systems and new projects that aims to be of relevance and to contribute to innovation that tackles major challenges in industries. Mecal is looking forward to finding appropriate partners and customers to create high economic value for high-tech industries.
Axelera AI is a startup targeting Edge AI applications. Leveraging its Metis AI Processing Unit (AIPU) chip, embedded hardware AI inference acceleration cards, and Voyager SDK software solutions, the company specializes in imaging application solutions for applications in edge nodes. Unlike AI systems developed in high-density cloud data centers, Edge AI computing offers energy efficiency, information security, low latency, and fast speed of response, rapidly powering real-time vision and smart detection applications for embedded AI systems. Axelera AI's technology offerings span 4K/8K image resolution real-time image recognition, security surveillance, campus safety, and drone imaging, pioneering a new model for the development of high-performance AI inference in diverse fields. The company's Metis chip boasts a computing performance of up to 214 TOPS (TeraOPS) of inference performance at INT8 precision. For example, using ResNet-50 Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model doing object segmentation and analysis, a single Metis chip can achieve a high processing speed of 3200 frames per second (FPS), providing stable, real-time analysis capabilities while consuming only approximately 10W. This balance of performance and environmental benefits has attracted significant market attention.Meanwhile, the AI inference acceleration cards integrated with Metis chips are also a major product line. There are two types of accelerator cards that support M.2 and PCIe interfaces, which can quickly meet the needs of system integrators, OEM customers and industrial PC (IPC) makers. With these flexible connection interface, Axelera could engage the business with various embedded AI system makers.In addition to the hardware lineups, Axelera's software support is also a key factor in its success. The Voyager SDK software suite facilitates hardware and software integration for system integrators. There are open source software framework currently available on GitHub for computer vision and enabling customers to solve their AI business requirements. This Voyager SDK comes with a Model Zoo, a catalog of turnkey AI models, allowing customers either to import their own AI models or choose from Model Zoo models. These offerings significantly reduce developing time and excels in functional completeness and efficiency.Axelera AI's business model is based on collaboration with system integrators and OEM clients, encompassing joint development of AI projects and customized data architectures, providing clients with one-stop, high-performance Edge AI solutions. Axelera AI is working closely with major Taiwanese industrial PC vendors and OEM/ODM clients to develop key applications for financial and research institutions, medical solution providers and other public facilities that prioritize data security, privacy, and safety. This initiative aims to create emerging applications for Edge AI and unlock its significant value.
Brainport Industries Campus (BIC) is a development project for an industrial park in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Phase one (BIC 1) has been completed, encompassing 105,000 square meters of existing buildings, surrounding public space, and parking. The site is home to several high-tech manufacturing companies and educational institutions. Expansion plans are currently underway, with the newly expanded BIC 2 campus expected to double the size of BIC 1, reaching 300,000 square meters. More than 40 pioneering companies are already established on the campus. BIC is the largest campus expansion in the Netherlands for years to come. Notably, ASML, the Dutch EUV lithography equipment giant, is considering expanding to the northern part of the BIC 2 campus. In 2024, ASML announced plans to establish a subsidiary in the BIC Industrial Park by 2030, accommodating thousands of employees. The Brainport Industries Campus development company stated that it aims to provide startup facilities, co-innovation spaces and built to suit manufacturing space for high-tech companies.In partnership with Invest Holland and the Brabant Development Agency (BOM), the park will offer Taiwanese companies the option of establishing regional business units or research centers in the Netherlands through support services provided by the industrial park.The campus aims to attract leading companies in cutting-edge technology fields, including semiconductor related technologies, photonics, quantum and additive manufacturing. BIC and Invest Holland jointly unveiled this plan at Semicon Taiwan 2025, offering the access to advanced facilities, a strong open innovation ecosystems and encouraging Taiwan's high-tech industries participating in this collaboration opportunity.
