[News] Starksemi’s Micro LED Optical Interconnect Passes Technical Validation by Leading Customer

On October 20, China-based Starksemi announced that its Micro LED optical interconnect project had completed technical validation by a leading customer and officially entered the product development phase.

Based on an 8-inch silicon-based GaN epitaxy platform and hybrid bonding technology, the solution targets high-speed interconnects for AI data centers. Starksemi will further optimize the design based on customer feedback before proceeding with engineering samples.

As AI computing clusters expand, data transmission is placing greater demands on interconnect bandwidth, power efficiency, and integration density. With high parallelism and low power consumption, Micro LED is emerging as a potential technology for short-reach, high-speed optical interconnects.

Starksemi has integrated Micro LED emitter arrays with silicon-based circuits at the wafer level, leveraging its proprietary 8-inch silicon-based GaN epitaxy platform and hybrid bonding technology. The company previously completed design of experiments (DOE) validation, conducting comparative tests on Micro LEDs ranging from 5μm to 30μm, as well as different epitaxial approaches and chip structures.

According to Starksemi, its microdisplay and optical interconnect businesses can share parts of the same technology platform. Its in-house capabilities across epitaxial growth, chip fabrication, and hybrid bonding also support customized development of device structures and wavelength arrays.

Founded in 2022, Starksemi established operations in Wuhan’s East Lake High-Tech Development Zone in October 2024. In September 2025, it completed an 8-inch silicon-based GaN Micro LED pilot production line with a planned annual capacity of approximately 12,000 wafers. The line covers epitaxial growth, chip manufacturing, and wafer bonding.

Starksemi stays focus on two main business areas: microdisplays and optical interconnects, with target applications spanning AR, AI data centers, wearable devices, and miniature projection systems.

In May 2026, Starksemi launched a full range of red, green, and blue Micro LED microdisplay panels, with customer qualification and validation activities progressing in parallel.

In October, a red-and-green stacked microdisplay prototype developed in collaboration with U.S. Micro LED microdisplay company Inlighten Technologies was showcased at Micro LED-Connect 2026 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The project explores the use of vertical stacking technology for full-color AR microdisplays.

Starksemi has also secured substantial investor backing. In September 2026, the company announced that it had raised more than CNY 1 billion in a funding round led by CATL’s Puquan Capital, with Meituan Longzhu and Guotai Haitong among the participants. Its cumulative funding has exceeded CNY 2.5 billion.

(Photo credit: Starksemi)