AlphaChips Accelerates Development of New Optical Communication and Optical Sensor IC Products

AlphaChips has embarked on the development of new optical communication and optical sensor IC products.

According to AlphaChips on September 18, the company has launched development of four new semiconductor products centered around its Mixed Signal (MS) Division: a Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) based optical communication receiver 'POF Rx IC', a 'Photo Encoder' for optical sensors, a 'Photo IC', and a 'Distance Sensor Module and IC' for distance and object detection. The company aims to achieve wafer out (fab-out) by the end of this year. Its strategy is to evaluate the modules in the first quarter of 2027 and to enter the market in the third to fourth quarters of the same year.

These products are closely aligned with the company's IR Receiver product, in which AlphaChips holds a distinctive technological edge. The company explained that it plans to leverage the optical receiving circuit and analog signal processing design expertise accumulated over years in the IR Receiver business to expand its product lineup into the optical communication and optical sensor sectors.

AlphaChips intends to accelerate new product development and strengthen its market responsiveness by relying on its technology leadership, currently ranking first in global market share for IR Receivers.

The POF Rx IC is an optical communication receiver chip that converts signals transmitted through plastic optical fiber into electrical signals. The Photo Encoder and Photo IC, also under development, are chips for optical sensing applications. The Photo Encoder detects motion such as rotation or translation by converting changes in light into electrical signals. The Photo IC detects optical signals and processes them into electrical signals, making it applicable to various optical sensing chips. The Distance Sensor is used for distance and object detection. In particular, the distance sensor can be mounted in a module that combines an LED, photodiode (PD), and distance sensor chip.

A company representative said, "In order to expand our lineup into the optical sensing sector beyond our existing focus on IR Receiver and Key Scan IC products, we began development this year and the projects are progressing smoothly," adding, "We plan to expedite the commercialization of these new products to further enhance AlphaChips’ market competitiveness."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.