izmo Microsystems and IIT Madras Begin ₹99.94-Crore Phase II of India's Silicon Photonics Programme

India's ambitions in semiconductors are usually discussed in terms of fabs, packaging plants and chip-design talent. A quieter but increasingly important strand of that story is light. On 7 October 2026, Bengaluru-based izmo Microsystems and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras announced that they had entered Phase II of a government-funded silicon photonics programme, giving the country a five-year, ₹99.94-crore effort to build the optical chips and packaging know-how that modern data centres, wireless networks and quantum systems increasingly depend on.

What was announced

izmo Microsystems, a subsidiary of izmo Limited, signed a memorandum of understanding with IIT Madras for the second phase of the institute's Centre for Programmable Photonic Integrated Circuits and Systems (CPPICS). The new phase has been named SPECTRA and has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

The money is overwhelmingly public. Of the ₹99.94-crore outlay, MeitY is contributing ₹97.54 crore, while izmo Microsystems has committed ₹2.40 crore in cash and in-kind support, according to the release carried by ANI and PTI-PRNewswire and reported by The Quantum Insider. Converge Digest put the total at roughly US$12 million.

The four technology tracks

SPECTRA is organised around four application areas, according to coverage by The Quantum Insider and Converge Digest:

• High-speed optical transceivers for data centres, the modules that move data between servers and switches as AI workloads push bandwidth needs higher.
• Microwave photonics for advanced wireless systems, where optical techniques are used to generate, process or distribute radio-frequency signals.
• Quantum photonics, the use of integrated optical circuits to generate and manipulate quantum states of light.
• Photonic computing for AI, which explores performing parts of AI computation optically rather than electronically.

Among the stated goals is work toward a 1.6 terabit-per-second silicon photonics transceiver engine and co-packaged optics (CPO), an approach in which optical engines are placed alongside switch or processor chips in the same package to cut power and latency. The programme also plans a silicon photonics process design kit (PDK) containing more than 100 IP blocks for 200 mm wafer platforms, The Quantum Insider and Semiconductor-Projects reported.

Who does what

The division of labour mirrors how photonics is built globally. IIT Madras brings the circuit-design and research base it has developed through CPPICS. izmo Microsystems is responsible for packaging, testing and integration, including the co-packaged optics work. That emphasis matters: in silicon photonics, aligning and attaching optical fibres and lasers to tiny waveguides is often harder and more expensive than designing the chip itself, and packaging has long been a bottleneck for the industry.

izmo has been positioning itself in this niche for some time. At SEMICON India in September 2026 the company showcased photonics packaging modules aimed at data-centre and quantum applications, and SPECTRA now gives that capability a multi-year, institution-backed development programme.

Why a PDK matters

Of all the deliverables, the process design kit may prove the most consequential for the wider ecosystem. A PDK is the set of design rules, device models and pre-verified building blocks that lets engineers design a chip for a particular manufacturing process without reinventing basic components. In electronics, India has recently invested in open and indigenous PDKs to widen access to chip design. A photonics PDK with more than 100 IP blocks would offer Indian start-ups and researchers a similar on-ramp for optical chips — provided it is matched to a foundry process that designers can actually use.

The bigger picture

Silicon photonics sits at the intersection of several national priorities. Data-centre construction in India is growing rapidly on the back of AI demand and data-localisation rules, and optical interconnects are among the components that cannot yet be sourced domestically at scale. In telecom, India has said it wants a meaningful share of 6G standards and intellectual property, and microwave photonics is one of the technologies expected to feature in future radio systems. Under the National Quantum Mission, integrated photonics is a candidate platform for both quantum communication and photonic quantum computing.

There are reasons for caution, too. Much of the coverage so far draws on a single press release, and no direct quotes from either partner were published with it. Phase II's outputs — a working PDK, demonstrators of a 1.6 Tbps engine, packaged CPO prototypes — will need to be judged on delivery over the five-year term. The programme's real test is whether it produces designs and packaging capabilities that Indian and global customers buy, rather than only papers and prototypes.

Still, the structure is notable: a government ministry funding the bulk of a long-horizon hardware programme, an IIT supplying design depth, and a private company taking on the unglamorous but essential job of packaging. If SPECTRA delivers, it could give India a foothold in one of the faster-growing parts of the semiconductor value chain, one where incumbents are few and the technology is still evolving.

What to watch

Three milestones will show whether SPECTRA is on track. The first is the release of the photonics PDK and which wafer platform it is tied to, because a design kit is only useful if a foundry will fabricate to it. The second is a packaged demonstrator of the 1.6 Tbps optical engine, the clearest signal that izmo's packaging line can handle the alignment and thermal problems that co-packaged optics bring. The third is whether Indian start-ups, telecom equipment makers or data-centre operators sign on as early users. Each would move the programme from a funded research centre toward an industrial capability that could help keep more of India's data-centre and telecom spending at home.

Sources

• The Quantum Insider: https://thequantuminsider.com/2026/10/09/izmo-microsystems-iit-madras-phase-ii-99-94-crore-silicon-photonics-program/
• Converge Digest: https://convergedigest.com/india-spectra-1-6t-silicon-photonics-cpo/
• Business Standard (ANI press release): https://www.business-standard.com/amp/content/press-releases-ani/izmo-microsystems-and-iit-madras-enter-phase-ii-of-99-94-crore-meity-sanctioned-silicon-photonics-program-126100700417_1.html
• ThePrint (ANI press release): https://theprint.in/ani-press-releases/izmo-microsystems-and-iit-madras-enter-phase-ii-of-%E2%82%B999-94-crore-meity-sanctioned-silicon-photonics-program/3063978/
• The Wire (PTI-PRNewswire): https://m.thewire.in/article/ptiprnews/izmo-microsystems-and-iit-madras-enter-phase-ii-of-%E2%82%B999-94-crore-meity-sanctioned-silicon-photonics-program
• Semiconductor-Projects: https://www.semiconductor-projects.com/news/iit-madras-and-izmo-microsystems-launch-spectra-silicon-photonics-program-in-india