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CPO

CPO: Co-Packaged Optics
Optical interconnect technology for next-generation AI and hyperscale data center networks
What it isCo-Packaged Optics integrates optical engines close to, or within the same package as, high-capacity switch ASICs to reduce electrical reach, power consumption, and signal-loss challenges.
Why it mattersCPO is viewed as a potential path to higher bandwidth density and improved energy efficiency as AI clusters, cloud fabrics, and data center interconnects scale toward 51.2T, 102.4T, and beyond.
Key driversAI clusters
Power efficiency
Bandwidth density
Switch scaling
Technical focusCPO development spans optical engines, switch ASIC packaging, external laser sources, thermal design, serviceability, standards work, and migration paths from pluggable optics.
Market contextThe industry continues to evaluate where CPO fits alongside advanced pluggables, linear pluggable optics, near-packaged optics, and silicon photonics-based interconnect architectures.
Converge Digest tracks CPO as part of its ongoing coverage of optical networking, AI infrastructure, silicon photonics, data center switching, and next-generation interconnect technologies.

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Recent CPO stories

Ayar Labs Raises $500M to Scale CPO
·CPO

Ayar Labs Raises $500M to Scale CPO

Ayar Labs secured $500 million in Series E funding to accelerate high-volume production of its co-packaged optics (CPO) technology aimed at AI scale-up infrastructure.…

Lightmatter and Cadence Collaborate on CPO 
·CPO

Lightmatter and Cadence Collaborate on CPO 

Lightmatter announced a technical collaboration with Cadence to develop co-packaged optics (CPO) solutions that combine Cadence’s silicon-proven high-speed SerDes and UCIe IP with Lightmatter’s Passage optical engine.…

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