OpenLight is bolstering its executive team with the appointment of Kevin Soukup, formerly Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Silicon Photonics business at GlobalFoundries, as Chief Operating Officer. This move signals OpenLight’s prioritization of operational scaling as it expands its silicon photonics platform for applications in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and advanced communications, the company says.

Joining him is Kirk Ouellette, a semiconductor veteran with over 25 years of experience, named Chief Strategy Officer and Interim Chief Revenue Officer. “OpenLight is entering a pivotal phase of growth,” says CEO Adam Carter, “and Kevin and Kirk bring deep operating experience that is directly aligned with where OpenLight is going.”

Soukup’s GlobalFoundries Experience Supports OpenLight Operations

At GlobalFoundries, Soukup was responsible for product strategy, technology roadmaps, commercial operations, and business growth within the silicon photonics division, experience OpenLight intends to use as it expands its own platform. He oversaw significant expansion of that business and established a leadership position in the silicon photonics market, a track record important for OpenLight’s ambitions in the AI, cloud, and advanced connectivity sectors, according to the company.

Soukup’s operational focus at OpenLight will center on scaling the company’s technology platform and customer delivery capabilities, building on a foundation of heterogeneous silicon photonics integration and custom photonic application-specific integrated circuit design. His experience extends across the entire lifecycle of a semiconductor business, from initial strategy and technology investment through commercialization and large-scale operations, a skillset particularly valuable given OpenLight’s series a1 funding round of $50 million led by Matter Venture Partners.

This funding, bringing total raised capital to $84 million, is intended to fuel expansion and support growing customer adoption of OpenLight’s technology. “As AI and increasingly data-intensive computing architectures drive greater requirements for bandwidth, power efficiency and integration, the role of photonics is becoming more critical,” Kirk Ouellette stated. Ouellette’s 25-plus years in the semiconductor industry, most recently at STMicroelectronics as Vice President of Corporate Strategy, complements Soukup’s operational background.

OpenLight has built a unique technology platform that is enabling a new generation of photonic integrated circuits, and Ouellette’s focus will be on strengthening execution and ensuring the company can support customers as adoption grows, the firm reports. “The company has the technology, ecosystem and team to capture that opportunity,” Kevin Soukup added. OpenLight’s partnerships with Tower Semiconductor, Advantest, and Cadence, integrating design tools and test solutions, further support this scaling strategy, streamlining the development and manufacturing of photonic chips.

OpenLight is entering a pivotal phase of growth as demand for high-performance optical technologies continues to accelerate.
Adam Carter, Chief Executive Officer of OpenLight

Ouellette Drives Strategy & Growth for Silicon Photonics Solutions

Kevin Soukup’s arrival from GlobalFoundries immediately refocuses OpenLight’s operational priorities after a period centered on platform development, signaling a shift towards scaling manufacturing and customer support for its silicon photonics technology. He asserts the company possesses a “differentiated platform at a pivotal moment for silicon photonics,” and will concentrate on strengthening execution and scaling the operating model to accommodate growing customer demand. His prior tenure at STMicroelectronics involved leading initiatives spanning market intelligence, strategic partnerships, and mergers, skills important for navigating the competitive landscape of silicon photonics.

OpenLight’s strategic appointments coincide with a series of partnerships designed to accelerate development and integration of its technology, including collaborations with Tower Semiconductor, Advantest, and Cadence, the company states. These integrations, combined with OpenLight’s founding backing from Synopsys and Juniper Networks, which spun its silicon photonics assets into OpenLight in 2022, demonstrate a deliberate strategy of ecosystem building to facilitate wider adoption of its PASIC platform.

OpenLight has built a differentiated platform at a pivotal moment for silicon photonics.
Kevin Soukup

OpenLight Expands Ecosystem with GDSFactory & Industry Partnerships

OpenLight bolstered its design ecosystem through a new collaboration with DoplayDo, integrating its silicon photonics chips with the GDSFactory design platform. This integration expands access to OpenLight’s technology, streamlining the design process for applications spanning datacom, artificial intelligence, sensing, and LiDAR technologies, according to the companies. The move signals a push to broaden adoption beyond early adopters and accelerate the development cycle for custom photonic integrated circuits. Ouellette previously led photonics and advanced semiconductor businesses across Asia-Pacific for STMicroelectronics, securing major silicon photonics programs with global technology companies.

The company’s platform places indium phosphide lasers directly onto silicon, a key technology for high-performance optical interconnects used in AI data centers and telecommunications networks. OpenLight’s Process Design Kit also now supports Cadence tools for Tower Semiconductor’s PH18DA indium phosphide on silicon platform, further streamlining the design and manufacturing process for its customers.