Electronics forms the backbone of modern technological progress but faces bottlenecks in speed, energy efficiency and bandwidth. With the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), more efficient data communication between the nodes in computer networks is paramount. Light, meanwhile, has the ability to transmit large volumes of data with minimal energy consumption, overcoming some fundamental limitations of electronics-based systems. Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are following in the footsteps of electronic integration to enable higher-­speed transport, and embedding optical components into electronic chips enhances the performance of AI accelerators, data centers and IoT devices.