As an important global supplier of smart manufacturing and energy management solutions, Delta has long been deeply engaged in industrial automation, power electronics, and key component technologies, while continuing to invest in the deployment of foundational technologies such as next-generation sensing and high-speed transmission. With the increasing demand in smart manufacturing environments for real-time sensing, system stability, and highly reliable data transmission, silicon photonics is gradually becoming a key enabling technology supporting the next wave of upgrades in industrial equipment and manufacturing systems. This trend align closely with Delta’s existing development direction in automation and smart factories.

Silicon Photonics is becoming a key enabling technology supporting the upgrades in industrial equipment and manufacturing systems

Data Communication establishes a solid foundation, Silicon Photonics applications expand to new applications
Currently, the most mature and mass-produced application of silicon photonics remains concentrated in the high-speed data communication market. From the perspective of the 2024 market structure, data communications and telecommunications applications together account for approximately US$1.99 billion, representing about 99% of the overall silicon photonics market, indicating that high-speed communications remained the most established and core application area for silicon photonics. This mature market mainly supports 400G/800G optical transceiver modules. With the advancement of Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) technology, transmission specifications continue to move toward 1.6T, demonstrating that silicon photonics has reached a high level of technological maturity and developed a clear commercial model in the field of high-speed data transmission.

Growth momentum shifts, industrial sensing and LiDAR expand rapidly
While the data communication market continues to develop steadily, the new growth momentum in silicon photonics is gradually shifting toward industrial sensing and LiDAR applications. From 2023 to 2029, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of industrial sensing and LiDAR applications reached 170% (Note 1), making them the most explosive growth segment within the silicon photonics applications landscape.

FMCW LiDAR unlocks 4D sensing capabilities
Among numerous industrial sensing applications, FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) LiDAR is one of the most representative use cases for silicon photonics deployment. Unlike traditional ToF architectures, FMCW LiDAR adopts a coherent detection mechanism and is able to obtain both distance and instantaneous velocity in a single measurement, thus achieving 4D sensing capability (Note 2). The optical amplification effect provided by coherent detection enables the sensitivity of FMCW LiDAR to increase by 10 to 100 times compared with ToF, allowing effective identification of low-reflectivity objects and enabling rapid interpretation of object motion within milliseconds. This makes FMCW LiDAR particularly suitable for high-speed navigation in AGV/AMR systems and safety zone detection for collaborative robots, where real-time response is critical.

Embedded micro-sensing drives real-time equipment monitoring
In addition to spatial sensing, silicon photonics is also transforming the practice of equipment health monitoring. By integrating fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) and photonic integrated circuits (PICs), sensing points can be directly deployed at critical locations within equipment to continuously measure changes in temperature, strain, and vibration. A single optical fiber can support multiple sensing points and offers key advantages such as electromagnetic resistance, no need for external power supply, and long-distance transmission, enabling equipment monitoring to shift from periodic inspections to 24-hour real-time health monitoring, effectively supporting preventive maintenance and stable equipment operation.

From communication core to manufacturing field: expanding role of Silicon Photonics
Overall, silicon photonics has already established a solid foundation in the data communication market and is leveraging industrial sensing and LiDAR as its next major growth engines. As manufacturing sites continue to raise their requirements for real-time sensing, system stability, and data quality, silicon photonics is evolving from a core technology in data centers into a fundamental enabling technology for smart manufacturing upgrades, with its industrial influence steadily expanding.

*Note 1: Yole Intelligence, 2024
*Note 2: YOLE Lidar for Automotive, 2024