en.Wedoany.com Reported - Mark Rushworth, founder and CEO of UK-based all-optical network switch company Finchetto, holds a certificate in integrated photonic chip design and is a member of the UK government's expert working group on optical communications and photonics. He noted that approximately 140 data centres in the UK are currently queuing for grid connection, with their total energy demand expected to exceed the country's peak electricity demand. Meanwhile, OpenAI has announced the suspension of its Stargate UK project, attributing the decision to high industrial electricity costs and an unresolved regulatory environment in the UK. The project was originally scheduled to deploy 8,000 GPUs for operation in the first quarter of 2026.
A recent investigation found that most of the billions in announced AI investments relied upon by government strategy have not materialised: a flagship supercomputer site in Essex was still a scaffolding yard when visited in February, and the government admitted there is no mechanism to verify whether these commitments have been fulfilled. Analysts believe that if policy continues to rely on headline deals with US hyperscalers rather than building on the UK's existing foundations, the promise to make the UK the fastest adopter of AI among G7 nations will fall short. What is missing from the discussion is a technological pathway—photonics—which can not only drive AI more efficiently but also fundamentally reimagine how AI infrastructure operates.
Photonics has long underpinned the telecommunications industry, powering the fibre optic networks that transmit data globally. However, once data reaches a computing device, it must be converted from light to electricity for processing, switching, and routing—a conversion that introduces latency and consumes significant power. Today, photonics is moving beyond traditional roles such as fibre optics and transceivers, beginning to permeate computing and networking infrastructure areas traditionally dominated by electronics, promising to increase speed, eliminate latency, and reduce power consumption at the system level. Emerging architectures like co-packaged optics place optical transceivers directly next to computing chips, reducing power consumption and latency by shortening the distance of optical-to-electrical conversion. Additionally, technologies such as optical interposers and all-optical computing systems are advancing rapidly. All-optical network switches are claimed to reduce switch power consumption by up to 90%, significantly lowering latency, creating immense opportunities for modern data centres supporting AI workloads.
In manufacturing, photonic integrated circuits are emerging as a rapidly growing market. Unlike electronic semiconductors, which require massive mega-fabs, photonic integrated circuits currently typically operate at 200-nanometre feature sizes, with lower manufacturing complexity and less capital investment. Photonic manufacturing prioritises materials science and integration—areas where the UK holds an advantage. Facilities such as Cornerstone in Southampton, CSA Catapult in Newport, and emerging R&D infrastructure in Glasgow and Sheffield provide an advanced and scalable network. Photonics relies on a variety of materials, such as silicon nitride for low-loss waveguides, indium phosphide for lasers and detectors, and thin-film lithium niobate for modulators, creating a landscape less dominated by a single production model and more suited to a flexible innovation ecosystem.
In terms of data centre power demand, AI's progress has outpaced the energy infrastructure it relies on, resulting in a 12- to 24-month gap between data centre power demand and grid capacity. Ofgem reports that 140 data centres are queuing for grid connection, with their total energy demand expected to exceed the entire peak electricity demand of the country. If photonics-based infrastructure can reduce switch power consumption by up to 90%, the effective load queuing for the grid will shrink. Leading chip manufacturers are already embracing this shift: NVIDIA's co-packaged optics interconnects bring light closer to silicon to save power and bandwidth, and hyperscalers are beginning to redesign networks around light-based platforms.
In Europe, companies are receiving funding through the EU Chips Act for glass-based photonic substrates. The US, Japan, and Canada have also accelerated public-private investment around photonic integration and packaging. To secure leadership, the UK needs a coordinated national strategy that enables collaboration between industry, government, and academia from prototyping to production stages. This includes targeted support for high-value materials such as lithium niobate and indium phosphide, increased backing for scale-up centres like Cornerstone, and the establishment of close ties with international centres such as C2MI in Canada.
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