A dedicated national photonics roadmap could further strengthen the ecosystem

Q: How much of the rapidly expanding $1+ trillion global photonics market is CloudPhotonix targeting over the next 3 to 5 years?

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Tarun Sibal: The AI compute buildout has outpaced the interconnects that sustain it. The bottleneck is no longer the chip — it’s the bandwidth getting data to and from it. CloudPhotonix addresses this directly, by building a photonics platform with engineering across the full stack: silicon photonics, RF ICs, transceivers, systems, and network architecture.

Q: How does CloudPhotonix plan to compete with established global photonics hubs in the US, China, Japan, and Western Europe from its design and manufacturing base in Noida?

Tarun Sibal: We at CloudPhotonix believe that strategy is built around know-how developed and honed across decades of global domain expertise of the founders in product, supply chain, optical systems, network applications and architecture, and commercial positioning. India has strong engineering talent, and our bases in Noida, Bengaluru and Sunnyvale allow us to leverage that to develop high-performance optical connectivity solutions tailored for AI infrastructure, hyperscale data centres and telecom networks.

Q: Given India’s heavy reliance on imported optical components, how close is CloudPhotonix to achieving a 100% domestic supply chain for high-speed transceivers?

Tarun Sibal: A fully domestic supply chain will require the wider ecosystem to mature, particularly in lasers, optical components and specialised semiconductor inputs. CloudPhotonix is steadily increasing localisation across design, assembly, testing and manufacturing, while working toward greater domestic sourcing wherever technically and commercially feasible.

Q: What quantifiable improvements in energy efficiency, speed, and latency do CloudPhotonix’s optical transceivers offer AI data centres compared to legacy copper interconnects?

Tarun Sibal: The key advantage of optical connectivity is its ability to support significantly higher bandwidth over longer distances with lower signal degradation and better power efficiency than conventional copper at comparable high-speed requirements. The exact energy and latency gains depend on the data-centre architecture and deployment, so we prefer to validate these metrics at the system level rather than quote generic numbers.

Q: With Indian data centres transitioning from sub-100G networks toward high-density 400G and 800G optical architectures, what is your production timeline for scaling next-generation Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs)?

Tarun Sibal: At CloudPhotonix, we are currently focused on scaling our high-speed optical transceiver capabilities, with the portfolio developed up to 800G. PIC-based technologies are an important part of the industry’s future, and our approach is to scale these capabilities in line with customer demand, technology maturity and the availability of a stronger domestic photonics ecosystem.

Q: While India possesses strong chip and optical design talent, specialised packaging and precision assembly remain scarce; how is CloudPhotonix addressing this local skill gap?

Tarun Sibal: We are building capabilities through hands-on training, specialised engineering teams and close integration between design, packaging, assembly and testing. At the same time, we are investing in knowledge transfer and developing talent that understands the complete optical-transceiver manufacturing cycle, rather than only individual stages of the process.

Q: Does India’s current policy and semiconductor PLI framework offer sufficient direct support for photonics manufacturing, or is a dedicated national photonics policy required?

Tarun Sibal: The current policy ecosystem, including the PLI and ECMS frameworks, is creating an important foundation for domestic optical-transceiver manufacturing. However, photonics has unique requirements across components, packaging, testing, materials and R&D. A dedicated national photonics roadmap could further strengthen the ecosystem, accelerate localisation and help India emerge as a globally competitive photonics manufacturing and technology hub.