At OFC 2025, Nubis Communications and Samtec are jointly demonstrating a 200G per lane co-packaged optical solution that fits in the same footprint as high-density 200G passive copper. The solution integrates Nubis’s new 200G/lane Silicon Photonics IC, codenamed Puma, with Samtec’s Si-Fly HD interconnect platform, enabling flexible and high-performance links for AI cluster architectures.
The companies are introducing a new interoperable interface category, CPX (Co-Packaged X), which allows system designers to choose between copper and optics on a per-link basis. This eliminates the architectural lock-in typically required when optical ports must be pre-defined years in advance. The Puma IC delivers 16 transmitters and 16 receivers at 224 Gbps, achieving a beachfront density of 1 Tbps/mm using advanced 60GHz Mach-Zehnder modulators. When paired with the Si-Fly HD Co-Packaged CPX socket and terminal, the platform enables a low-power 6.4Tbps optical engine with dramatically improved signal integrity at 224 Gbps.
The Puma platform is designed for seamless integration with Samtec’s co-packaged and near-chip copper-optical interconnects, creating a unified physical and electrical interface for AI/ML workloads. By removing barriers between copper and optics, the solution gives data center architects unprecedented design flexibility, scalability, and signal performance at extreme data rates.
• Nubis debuts 200G/lane Puma Silicon Photonics IC with 16 Tx and 16 Rx channels.
• Co-packaged with Samtec’s Si-Fly HD platform for 6.4Tbps total optical bandwidth.
• Enables CPX: a new interoperable footprint standard for co-packaged optics and copper.
• Achieves 1 Tbps/mm beachfront density using 60GHz MZ modulators.
• Optimized for AI cluster networks with support for both co-packaged and near-chip links.
• Nubis optical engine available 2H 2025; Samtec 224G Si-Fly HD systems sampling now.
“We can fit 200G per lane optics in the same footprint as 200G per lane high-density passive copper,” said Peter Winzer, Founder and CTO of Nubis. “This greatly lowers the barrier to adoption and is a major breakthrough for co-packaged optics.”
