In the second of our exclusive recordings from Cambridge Tech Week 2025, we turn the spotlight on photonics - a sector critical to the future of compute, AI, quantum, and more.

Hosted by Dr Andy Sellars of Cornerstone, the expert panel features Elizabeth Patterson (Seagate Technology), Dr Gwen Wyatt-Moon (Prospectral), Dr Josh Silverstone (Hartley Ultrafast), Mark Rushworth (Finchetto Ltd), and Matthew Anderson (Wave Photonics), sharing insights on how the UK is building global strength in this critical field.

Key takeaways:

Silicon photonics is hitting its stride. After years of promise, it’s now mature enough for large-scale deployment, opening up new opportunities for data centre performance and bandwidth through wafer-scale integration.

Photonics at the heart of AI and data storage. Seagate’s Mosaic 4 Plus drive, using photonic HAMR technology, already stores 30TB with ambitions to exceed 100TB.

A quantum leap. Photonics will be central to scaling different modalities of quantum computers, serving as the critical interface for next-generation systems.

Why the UK, why now? The UK is carving out a niche in photonics that doesn’t depend on leading-edge foundries. With its strengths in packaging technology, materials science, rapid prototyping, and strong university partnerships, manufacturing here is realistic - especially with facilities like Cornerstone in Southampton.

Room for growth. The ecosystem from idea to prototype is world-class, though challenges remain in scaling production and keeping skilled talent local.

💡 Keynote spotlight

Professor Andrew Fitzgibbon opened the session with a thought-provoking talk that connected technology and humanity. His message: innovation should serve core human needs - food, health, and shelter - so that we can spend the rest of our time creating art and exploring what makes us human. It was a powerful reminder of the “why” behind all this progress.

Produced by Cambridge TV

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