Tower Semiconductor, a global leader in high-value analog semiconductor foundry solutions, has entered into a strategic collaboration with LightIC Technologies, a specialist in silicon photonics–based Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) LiDAR solutions. Through this partnership, the companies aim to leverage Tower’s mature silicon photonics platform to support LightIC’s next-generation FMCW LiDAR products, including the Lark long-range automotive LiDAR and the FR60 compact LiDAR designed for robotics and Physical AI applications.
As the demand for advanced sensing technologies accelerates, the automotive LiDAR market is poised for significant expansion. According to the latest research from Yole Group, the global automotive LiDAR market is expected to grow from $859 million in 2024 to $3.6 billion by 2030, reflecting a strong compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24%. Moreover, this rapid growth represents a critical segment of the broader LiDAR ecosystem, which Yole projects will reach $6.3 billion by 2027 as LiDAR adoption expands into industrial automation, smart infrastructure, and robotics. Consequently, collaborations that accelerate manufacturability and performance are becoming increasingly important.
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At the same time, the rapid scaling of AI data-center networking continues to drive advancements in silicon photonics process maturity and high-volume manufacturability. As a result, silicon photonics has seen wider adoption in systems that require tightly integrated optical functionality. Tower Semiconductor’s advanced silicon photonics platform, already deployed at scale in large AI infrastructure environments, now provides a robust foundation for extending this technology into sensing-driven Physical AI and automotive markets.
Building on this platform, LightIC applies silicon photonics to FMCW LiDAR by integrating critical optical functions for coherent ranging and instantaneous velocity sensing directly onto silicon. Furthermore, as silicon photonics-based FMCW LiDAR technology continues to mature, it is expected to capture a growing share of the global LiDAR market mirroring the rapid adoption of silicon photonics components in data-center networking applications.
“We are excited to expand our silicon photonics market beyond that of AI infrastructure into new sensing applications,” said Dr. Ed Preisler, Vice President and General Manager of RF Business Unit at Tower Semiconductor. “Our joint work with LightIC and its team of experts is a key step in bringing to market velocity-aware sensing for robotics, Physical AI and automotive markets.”
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Through this collaboration, Tower and LightIC combine deep silicon photonics manufacturing expertise with advanced photonic design capabilities. Together, they aim to achieve higher levels of optical integration while improving size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C). As a result, the partnership supports the transition of velocity-aware LiDAR from advanced development stages into real-world automotive and Physical AI deployments.
“Utilizing Tower’s silicon photonics process enables us to integrate complex coherent LiDAR optical functions into silicon on a scalable, manufacturable platform suitable for product qualification and long-term production,” said Jie Sun, CEO and Co-Founder of LightIC. “This level of integration is fundamental to delivering commercially viable 4D FMCW LiDAR solutions for automotive and Physical AI applications.”
Overall, this strategic collaboration underscores the growing role of silicon photonics in next-generation sensing technologies and highlights a clear pathway toward scalable, high-performance LiDAR solutions for future mobility and intelligent systems.
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