SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Chip manufacturer

GlobalFoundries ( GFS ) said on Monday it has acquired Advanced

Micro Foundry (AMF), a Singapore-based chipmaker that focuses on

silicon photonics, a fast-growing field that is being used in

artificial intelligence data centers and quantum computers.

GlobalFoundries ( GFS ) did not disclose financial details of the

deal.

Silicon photonics technology can be used to integrate

traditional computing chip technologies with optical networking

technologies that use pulses of light to transmit data. The

field is growing quickly, with Nvidia working with Taiwan

Semiconductor Manufacturing to package together some of its

networking chips with optical connections.

A range of well-funded Silicon Valley startups such as Ayar

Labs, Celestial AI and Lightmatter are also pursuing the optical

connections between chips, some of them using GlobalFoundries ( GFS ) as

a manufacturer.

GlobalFoundries ( GFS ) is already a major player in silicon photonics,

helping startups such as PsiQuantum, which is constructing a

quantum computer in Chicago, build its photonic-based chips.

With the acquisition of AMF, GlobalFoundries ( GFS ) said it believes it

will be the world's largest silicon photonics maker and that it

will establish a new research center in Singapore.

"As data moves faster and workloads grow more complex, the

ability to move information with greater speed, precision and

power efficiency is now fundamental to AI data centers and

advanced telecom networks," Tim Breen, CEO of GlobalFoundries ( GFS ),

said in a statement.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by

Lincoln Feast.)