StarIC featured in Tech Soda

StarIC was featured in an article written by Judy Lin which discussed StarIC’s growing presence in the automotive, IoT, and silicon photonics spaces. The article is pasted below and you can read the original [here]

Canadian Startup StarIC Makes Strides in Automotive, IOT and Photonics

StarIC, a Canada-based semiconductor design company, is rapidly establishing itself as a key player in the high-growth markets of automotive, IoT, and silicon photonics. In a recent interview with TechSoda at Semicon Taiwan 2025, StarIC Co-Founder and Director Younis Allasasmeh detailed a year of significant progress, marked by new product developments, a growing team, and a strategic expansion into Europe.

The company’s latest achievement is the tape-out of a high-speed SerDes to address a critical need in real-time networks. With real-time networks requiring ever-greater bandwidth, it is vital to expand capacity while reducing costly cabling. StarIC has also developed specialized ultra-low-power mixed-signal blocks for IoT applications, enabling customers to extend the battery life of their connected devices. The company also delivered mixed-signal designs to multiple customers, developing high-speed optical-based connectivity solutions.

Perhaps the most ambitious project on StarIC’s roadmap is its work in silicon photonics, where StarIC has focused on developing the ‘electronics for photonics’. The company is developing a new chip that will integrate both electronic (CMOS) and photonic components into a single die. This “monolithic” approach is a significant departure from traditional methods that require separate chips to be connected. By tightly integrating the components, StarIC aims to drastically reduce packaging-driven complexity and boost data transfer rates.

“The advantage of this process is that, in addition to standard CMOS components on the chip, it can also integrate photonic devices. This tight integration eliminates the need for separate interconnects between electronics and photonics, thereby minimizing parasitics,” said Allasasmeh. “The result is higher bandwidth and improved data rates.”

StarIC’s latest achievements highlight its strategic collaboration with GlobalFoundries (GF) and the Dutch organization Photon Delta to advance StarIC’s contributions to the global electro-photonics ecosystem.

For those who would like the details of this breakthrough, StarIC explained on its website that it has built a high-speed silicon photonics library for the GF Fotonix™ 45SPCLO platform, featuring silicon-proven MRM drivers and TIAs supporting NRZ and PAM4 data rates beyond 100GS/s. Targeting AI, quantum computing, and data center interconnects, the library underscores StarIC’s role as a key ecosystem partner with deep analog/mixed-signal expertise.

This technical progress has been accompanied by a period of rapid internal growth. In addition to growing its team within Canada, StarIC has expanded its team with a new R&D office established in Utrecht, Netherlands, to tap into the region’s strong analog design talent.

With a busy year behind them, StarIC is now looking ahead to a pivotal 2026. The company plans to tape out its groundbreaking silicon photonics chip in the new year, signaling its readiness to compete at the forefront of the industry.