MediaTek Invests $90 Million in Ayar Labs, Securing a Foothold in 6G and Photonic Chips

Tech media Wccftech reported that MediaTek has officially entered the silicon photonics field. Through its subsidiary Digimoc Holdings Limited, the company invested approximately $90 million (around ¥618 million RMB) in the photonics startup Ayar Labs, acquiring 1.72 million preferred shares, or roughly 2.4% of the company.

Notably, Ayar Labs has previously attracted investment from NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD. Analysts suggest MediaTek’s move positions the company to gain strategic leverage in next-generation chip manufacturing as silicon photonics matures.

Silicon photonics integrates optical functions—light generation, modulation, and detection—directly with traditional electronic circuits on a silicon substrate, forming high-speed photonic circuits. Compared with electrical signals, light signals transmit faster, produce minimal heat, and offer higher bandwidth, lower latency, and significant energy savings.

Ayar Labs focuses on optical I/O solutions, aiming to replace traditional copper-based electrical interconnects between computer chips. This technology could reshape AI data center architectures and profoundly impact MediaTek’s mobile application processor (AP) business.

Currently, MediaTek is designing I/O modules for Google’s TPUv7. Photonic I/O modules can replace traditional electrical SerDes with optical links, reducing power consumption by up to 80% while unlocking higher data throughput for edge AI and the upcoming 6G networks. Moreover, silicon photonics can be applied in co-packaged optics (CPO), integrating optical engines directly into SoC packages, further reducing latency and heat.

MediaTek’s strategic investment highlights its forward-looking approach toward 6G and AI computing, reinforcing its ambition in the global semiconductor innovation landscape.