[Samsung to Adopt the Same Photonic Semiconductor Testing Platform as TSMC, Completing PIC Self-Evaluation Within the Year] BlockBeats News, September 7: According to South Korean semiconductor media outlet *The Elec*, Samsung Electronics is using probe stations from U.S.-based FormFactor and Taiwan-based MPI to test silicon photonic integrated circuit (PIC) wafers, with plans to complete its independent evaluation of PICs within this year. The report, citing industry insiders, states that both FormFactor and MPI have passed TSMC's validation for CPO and silicon photonics testing equipment. Samsung is utilizing the same testing infrastructure as TSMC to conduct optical and electrical property tests on PIC wafers in wavelength and frequency domains, verifying whether optical devices achieve optical signal transmission and electro-optical conversion as designed. Previously, Samsung had outsourced PIC wafer validation to external organizations such as Belgium's imec. The company is now building its own testing environment and conducting repeated evaluations. Samsung also plans to advance customer evaluations and has indicated that related projects will enter mass production starting in the second half of this year. The report further notes that Samsung plans to launch silicon photonics foundry services in 2027, offering optical device process technologies, device libraries, and PDKs. Additionally, the company is advancing the development of optical engines that combine EIC and PIC technologies, with plans to expand CPO applications from network switches to products such as GPUs and CPUs in the future.