Weekly Deep Dive into Deep Tech #8
Co-Packaged Optics: Bringing Light Inside the Package
Electrical I/O has become one of the largest energy consumers in a data center. Pushing bits off a switch or GPU package takes enormous power, and the bandwidth density of copper is already running into physical limits.
This is why the industry is shifting to Co-Packaged Optics, also known as CPO.
Instead of driving signals across long electrical traces to bulky pluggable optics on the front panel, CPO brings the optical engines directly into the package, right next to the switch ASIC or accelerator.
Ayar Labs
Silicon Photonics at the Edge of the Die
Ayar Labs remains the most important company in the push toward optical I/O. Their TeraPHY chiplet replaces electrical SerDes with fully integrated optical transmitters and receivers, allowing multi-terabit connectivity at a fraction of the power of copper.
Latest innovations to highlight:
1. SuperNova Multi-Wavelength Light Source
Ayar’s external laser light source distributes dozens of wavelengths into the package, supporting massively parallel optical I/O. It is now qualified with multiple foundries and packaging partners.
2. 3D-integrated optical chiplets
Ayar has begun demonstrating CPO engines that sit directly adjacent to compute dies in advanced 2.5D or 3D packages, reducing electrical escape distances to only a few millimeters.
3. Memory system integration
Early demos show how optical I/O can turn disaggregated memory pools into low-latency, high-bandwidth resources for GPUs and AI accelerators.
Ayar’s work is the closest thing to “optical chiplet standardization” in the industry today.
