Japan's NTT And Intel Cooperate To Develop Optoelectronic Fusion Cutting-edge Chip

On January 29, U.S.giant Intel announced that it is working with NTT, Japan's leading telecom operator, and South Koreanmaker SK Hynix to develop next-generation semiconductors based on "photovoltaic fusion" technology.
According to reports, this technology replaces electronic processing with light, which can be used inside semiconductors to greatly reduce power consumption and calculate thousands of times faster. As the miniaturization of semiconductors is approaching its physical limit, it is considered to be a disruptive new technology.
Background of the project and cooperation
According to foreign media reports, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) under the New Energy Industry Technology Development Organization (NEDO) will provide 45 billion yen (about $ 305 million) to support this project and two other projects. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry believes that Japan can lead the world in a new generation of "photovoltaic fusion" semiconductor mass production technology.
The goal of the project is to establish, by 2027, device production technology that introduces light into semiconductors and storage technology that can store Tb-level data, reducing power consumption by 30% - 40% compared to the past.
In order to realize high-speed optical communication processing compared to electricity, cooperation with semiconductor manufacturers is essential.NTT plans to cooperate with Intel in the field of central processing units (CPUs) and SK Hynix in the field of storage semiconductors. In addition, Intel will provide consulting in the development of production technology.
Cutting-edge semiconductors drive progress in optical computing
Optical computing, a new type of processing method that uses light waves as an information carrier, is becoming a hot field of scientific research due to its advantages such as fast processing speed and low power consumption.
In data transmission, optical methods are commonly used for long-distance transmission, even within data centers. However, these data are usually converted into electronic signals for processing when they reach their destination. If optical processing can be fully utilized, it will theoretically be able to greatly improve parallelism, performance, and energy efficiency, while also avoiding the energy costs associated with photoelectric conversion.
Globally, a number of startups focusing on optical processing have emerged, and many of them are actively exploring how this technology can be applied to AI processing. In the field of optical processing, "photovoltaic fusion" is a cutting-edge research, and NTT has made a major breakthrough in this area. The company has succeeded in developing the world's first basic technology for light-based transistor circuits.
Currently, information transmitted via optical communications is usually converted to electrical signals by special equipment and then transmitted to servers in data centers for processing. Inside the server, semiconductor components are responsible for exchanging electrical signals, performing calculations and storing data. However, the emerging field of optoelectronic convergence promises to change this. Through photovoltaic fusion, complex information processing can be done directly in the form of optical signals without the need for electrical signal conversion.
The Japanese government also attaches great importance to research in this field and has given strong support. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will provide 45 billion yen for research on the next-generation communication standard 6G.
Not only NTT, but also other participating companies such as Shinko Electric and Kioxia will also invest in this research. Through this series of technological collaborations, NTT and others plan to ensure that the semiconductor industry is able to produce devices capable of absorbing light and develop storage technology capable of storing terabit-level data by 2027.
In addition, Intel is reportedly working on technologies that will reduce energy consumption by 30-40%, while NTT plans to gradually improve power efficiency through ION.NTT aims to improve power efficiency by about 10 times by 2025 and 100 times by 2032. This series of technological advances is expected to not only push the boundaries of optical processing technology, but also bring about dramatic changes and enhancements in artificial intelligence and other compute-intensive application areas.