Interview with Jagadish CV, CEO AMF Singapore

As you may know, my role in Optica is to reach out to more than 600 corporate members to discover what needs to happen next, either in online discussions or face-to-face. As part of the preparations for the Optica Photonics Economics Forum in Malaga, I am constantly reaching out to many CEOs and CTOs to understand their strategy during a time of sensitive geopolitics. Most of those discussions remain private, but there are exceptions. So here’s an example of an interview that explains the strategy of one of the world’s most influential silicon photonics foundries. AMF is based in Singapore and is seen as a champion within the data telecom industry. To understand what they plan to do next for silicon photonics clients, I asked Jagadish CV to explain whether their focus is on solving interconnects on long or very short distances. From his early days in India, he moved to Singapore to work with companies like National Semiconductor, Philips, FEI, and then SSMC—an NXP and TSMC joint venture. When he started, there were no wafer fabs in Singapore; today, there are more than 25. So, when did he first hear the word photonics? And what does AMF think about a one-stop-shop and scalability?