Silicon photonics is now a mainstream platform for high-volume applications far from its launchpad of data-center connectivity. New applications from LIDAR to biosensors to quantum computing to consumer optical cables mean the industry is confronted with a three-order-of-magnitude leap in device demand by mid-decade. In this presentation, we review lessons from the semiconductor’s similar escalation nearly forty years ago; from this emerges three critical tools that successful players must embrace and leverage if the industry is to succeed in this dramatic upshift: Innovation, Cooperation, Automation. Illustrative examples of each will be discussed, including broadening options for addressing the number-one cost driver of photonic test and assembly: active alignment, with subsystems capable of simultaneous, multi-degree-of-freedom alignment across multiple I/Os now implemented in fast, large-format configurations capable of processing circuit boards, trays, carriers, and other bulky substrates.