SEMICON West
Presenter: Darius Bunandar, Ph.D., Founder & Chief Scientist
Title: Beyond Copper: Bending AI’s Energy Curve with Photonic Interconnects
Abstract: The power required to train frontier AI models is projected to reach at least 4 GW by 2030—more than the combined power demand of Los Angeles (3 GW) and San Francisco (1 GW). Compounding the challenge, the limited reach of copper interconnects constrains cross-rack bandwidth, extending training runs and driving up inference latency.
Dr. Darius Bunandar will describe how Lightmatter has redefined the interconnect fabric at both the link and system levels. Bidirectional optical links double interconnect radix per fiber, while dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) maximizes bandwidth and energy efficiency. Codified in the Optical Compute Interconnect (OCI) MSA roadmap, these link architectures are being validated across three generations of Lightmatter silicon in systems optimized end to end. Passage’s 3D photonics extend optical I/O across the full die area, bypassing shoreline I/O limits and scaling bandwidth beyond 100 Tbps. Guide, Lightmatter’s external light engine, uses Very Large Scale Photonics (VLSP) integration in silicon to overcome the reliability and scaling challenges of discrete lasers—delivering 10x the wavelength and power stability of existing light sources.
Dr. Bunandar will present an analysis of how these interconnect gains cut training time by up to 3x and inference decode latency by up to 11x, and will close by outlining the open industry collaboration—spanning advanced packaging, chip design, and system integration—needed to scale the transition to photonic interconnects.
Date: October 14, 2026
Time: 10:30 AM PT
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