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OFC 2026 drew nearly 18,000 attendees from 91 countries to the Los Angeles Convention Center, marking one of the largest and most commercially significant gatherings in the event’s history. The exhibition floor sold out with 706 exhibitors across 210,346 net square feet, reflecting strong global demand for optical networking technologies as AI infrastructure scales. Across […]
Tower Semiconductor and Coherent reported a 400Gbps-per-lane data transmission demonstration using a silicon-based Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) fabricated in a production-ready silicon photonics (SiPho) process. The result targets next-generation 3.2T optical transceivers and supports both pluggable optics and co-packaged optics (CPO) architectures for AI-driven data center networks. The demonstration, presented at OFC 2026, achieved a clear […]
HyperLight introduced a new family of 400G-per-lane photonic integrated circuits based on thin-film lithium niobate, targeting the next wave of AI networking infrastructure. The Cambridge, Massachusetts company said the new PICs deliver low insertion loss, low drive voltage operation, and high electro-optic bandwidth to support higher-speed optical links as AI interconnect requirements move beyond current […]
Teradyne introduced its Photon 100 platform, a new opto-electric automated test system aimed at high-volume manufacturing for silicon photonics and co-packaged optics. Announced on March 17, 2026, the system combines optical and electrical instrumentation with Teradyne’s UltraFLEXplus platform to address testing requirements across wafer, optical engine, and co-packaged module stages. The launch targets a growing […]
Lightmatter introduced its Passage L20 optical engine, targeting high-density optical interconnects for AI data centers as bandwidth requirements push beyond the limits of electrical signaling. The new module delivers 6.4 Tbps per direction and supports both scale-up and scale-out architectures, including XPU-to-XPU clustering and switch-based fabrics. The company positions the L20 as a flexible building […]
Marvell introduced the Structera S 60260, which it says is the industry’s first 260-lane PCIe 6.0 switch, aimed at AI data center scale-up infrastructure. Announced at OFC 2026 in Los Angeles, the device extends Marvell’s end-to-end PCIe portfolio following its acquisition of XConn Technologies and targets one of the next key bottlenecks in AI server […]
Semtech said it is showcasing live demonstrations at OFC 2026 spanning 224G and 448G solutions for AI and data center interconnect applications, including live 1.6T and 3.2T copper and optical connectivity demonstrations. The company said the exhibits highlight both scale-up and scale-out interconnect use cases, including active copper cables and multi-vendor optical links. Among the […]
LightSpeed Photonics is unveiling a new near-packaged optical interconnect architecture designed to simplify the integration of optical connectivity within AI systems. The company describes the technology as a “solderable” optical interface intended to bridge the gap between pluggable optics and fully integrated co-packaged optics. The approach places optical interconnects closer to switching and compute silicon […]
Lightmatter introduced its Passage L20 optical engine, targeting high-density optical interconnects for AI data centers as bandwidth requirements push beyond the limits of electrical signaling. The new module delivers 6.4 Tbps per direction and supports both scale-up and scale-out architectures, including XPU-to-XPU clustering and switch-based fabrics. The company positions the L20 as a flexible building […]
A new Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) focused on multicore fiber (MCF) has emerged as hyperscale operators push toward higher fiber density and more efficient scale-out architectures. Announced on March 11, 2026, the SDM4 MCF MSA brings together AFL, Corning, Sumitomo Electric, and TeraHop to define a standardized framework for 4-core multicore fiber systems tailored for AI-driven […]
The Advanced Photonics Coalition (APC) reported membership growth to more than 50 companies, adding 10 new organizations in 2026 as the industry accelerates efforts to standardize silicon photonics manufacturing for AI data center infrastructure. The milestone comes less than two and a half years after the group’s formation and reflects increasing alignment across the photonics […]
Richard Ho, Head of Hardware at OpenAI, opened his keynote at the Optica Executive Forum in Los Angeles with a clear message: the future of AI will be determined not only by more powerful chips, but by how well the industry co-designs compute, memory, networking, and system architecture to support rapidly evolving AI workloads. Speaking […]
At the Optica Executive Forum in Los Angeles, Meta’s Drew Alduino laid out the sheer scale and complexity of building AI infrastructure at hyperscale, emphasizing that while optical technologies like co-packaged optics (CPO) and linear pluggable optics (LPO) offer compelling power advantages, the real gating factors are reliability, serviceability, and total cost of ownership. Meta, […]
