As electronic device feature sizes scale‐down, the power consumed due to onchip communications as compared to computations will increase dramatically; likewise, the available bandwidth per computational operation will continue to decrease. Integrated photonics can offer savings in power and potential increase in bandwidth for onchip networks. Classical diffraction‐limited photonics currently utilized in photonic integrated circuits (PIC) is characterized by bulky and inefficient devices compared to their electronic counterparts due to weak light–matter interactions (LMI). Performance critical for the PIC is electro‐optic modulators (EOM), whose performances depend inherently on enhancing LMIs. Current EOMs based on diffraction‐limited optical modes often deploy ring resonators and are consequently bulky, photon‐lifetime modulation limited, and power inefficient due to large electrical capacitances and thermal tuning requirements. In contrast, wavelength‐scale EOMs are potentially able to surpass fundamental restrictions set by classical (i.e. diffraction‐limited) devices via (a) high‐index modulating materials, (b) nonresonant field and density‐of‐states enhancements such as found in metal optics, and (c) synergistic onchip integration schemes. This manuscript discusses challenges, opportunities, and early demonstrations of nanophotonic EOMs attempting to address this LMI challenge, and early benchmarks suggest that nanophotonic building blocks allow for densely integrated high‐performance photonic integrated circuits. The performances of electro‐optic modulators (EOM) is determined by the interaction strength between light and matter. Here, EOMs based on sub‐diffraction‐limited optical modes are summarized and discussed. These devices show performance metrics that are able to surpass classical device limits through (a) optical field enhancements, (b) low‐Q resonators and (c) synergistic integration schemes including emerging materials for strong index modulation.