Optical communication

Ennostar announced a major advance in its microLED based optical I/O development project, and demonstrated a new prototype that offers substantially higher modulation bandwidth compared to its previous effort, while simultaneously maintaining low power consumption and excellent thermal management

The company says that it was able to increase the single-channel -3 dB modulation bandwidth of its blue Micro LED to 2.1 GHz at a current density of 2 kA/cm². Ennostar's new demonstration also features a modulation bandwidth of up to 3.3 GHz at a current density of 5 kA/cm².

UK-based Cubic GaN microLED developers Kubos Semiconductors announced that it has raised $2.1 million, to accelerate the development of its cubic-phase GaN platform. 

Kubos has raised over $8 million US to date, and the company says that the new round will enable it to enter the microLED market within 3 years, through IP licensing of its technology. 

MicroLED Connect 2026 is set to be the industry's premier event for microLED and next-generation display technologies, taking place on 16-17 September 2026 at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, with a world-class agenda, exhibition and networking opportunities. The event spans three co-located tracks - MicroLED, AR/VR and Optical I/O - covering everything from microLED manufacturing and displays to AR/VR optics and optical interconnects for AI infrastructure.

Here we will introduce some of the speakers and themes from the Optical I/O track, a unique forum bringing together the display, semiconductor and AI industries to address one of the defining challenges of the AI era: the interconnect bottleneck. You can explore the full agenda and event details here.

ams Osram posted its financial results for Q2 2026, with 805 million Euro in revenues, up slightly from last year. The company says it continues to evolve to a more focused photonics company.

As part of its update, ams Osram says that microLED microdisplay light engines for AR applications continued to achieve key development milestones. The company says that its microLED AR technology validates its performance leadership and is advancing step-by-step towards mass-production readiness. According to our report from October 2026, ams Osram is collaborating with Meta towards microLED microdisplays.

US-based microLED optical I/O developer and MicroLED Industry Association member Palomino Laboratories announced that it has shipped its first microLED light engine prototypes to its first hyperscaler customer. Palomino says that this customer completed its evaluation and provided Palomino test measurement results. The company says that the tested bandwidth actually exceeded its initial design targets.

Palomino Labs says it is on-track to sample its 2nd generation microLED technology by end of September 2026, with improved bandwidth performance to multiple customers. The company also expects to receive its first development contract from a strategic AI customer by the end of the year.

Researchers from China's Fudan University, in collaboration with researchers from Peking University, have developed high-performance microLED arrays, on diamond substrates, suitable for optical I/O.

The research combines several enabling technologies, including long-wavelength InGaN epitaxy, three-quantum-well active region design, diamond heterogeneous integration, transfer printing and two-photon fabricated microlenses. This resulted in highly efficient microLEDs, with very low drive currents and excellent energy efficiency. The researchers say that the diamond substrates effectively suppress self-heating, enabling high-speed operation while significantly improving thermal management compared with conventional glass substrates.

Taiwan-based MicroLED developer PlayNitride held its Q1 2026 earnings call, during which CEO Charles Li detailed the company's progress on its tandem (stacked) microLED chips and its full-color monolithic microdisplays for AI glasses, and reaffirmed PlayNitride's position as the only vertically-integrated microLED maker that has mastered epitaxy, chip manufacturing and mass transfer in production. The company also shared its latest financial results.

The main technology highlight was PlayNitride's next-generation tandem stacked microLED microdisplay. Li said the architecture, which has been in development for around two years, started shipping to customers for use in end products in 2026, and delivers a 50% to 80% improvement in light efficiency. Li said that PlayNitride is currently the only company that can stably mass-produce these increasingly complex microLED devices.

Ennostar and Saphlux have signed a strategic partnership to accelerate the commercialization of Saphlux's semi-polar microLED technologies, for both AR microdisplays and optical I/O solutions.

This collaboration will combine Saphlux's proprietary semi-polar GaN material platform with Ennostar's large-scale manufacturing capabilities.

China-based GaN epiwafer producer Enkris announced that it has developed 8 and 12-inch GaN on silicon microLED light-source products, achieving a 3dB bandwidth of 1.6GHz at a current density of 500A/cm². The company says that the power consumption of its microLED light source can be below 1pJ/bit.

Enkris says it has optimized the epitaxial structures, material qualities, defects in the active region, and device design, to optimize its microLED epiwafer for optical I/O solutions. By effectively suppressing the quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) in the quantum wells, the carrier recombination rate is significantly enhanced. In addition, the active region area has been reduced to lower device capacitance and minimize RC delay issues.

Shenzhen-based MTC announced that together with the Future Technology Institute at Hunan Normal University, it is establishing a laboratory for microLED Co-Packaged Optics (CPO, or Optical I/O).

MTC says that the new lab will focus enhancing the communication performance of microLED devices and arrays, testing and validation, and prototype system design. This is applied research - MTC hopes to be ale to release sample products based on the lab research in 2027, with pilot production starting in 2028.