Open Collaboration for CPO in AI Systems

AI systems are constrained by current interconnects, facing bandwidth and power bottlenecks. Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) addresses this by integrating energy-efficient photonics directly with compute/switching silicon, enabling next-gen AI clusters. This session details Lightmatter’s CPO approach, from 2D to 3D photonic integration and the Passage platform, matching them to AI system goals. To mitigate supply chain and manufacturing complexity challenges, we present an open, collaborative mode to ensure  CPO interoperability and accelerate High Volume Manufacturing (HVM) readiness. Coordinated specifications across chiplets, optical engines, and cluster architectures are crucial. The discussion covers integration considerations (e.g., laser architectures, manageability) and alignment with standards bodies (OIF, IEEE, OCP, UALink, UCIe). The future of AI infrastructure relies on high-performance photonic interconnects, and ecosystem partners are invited to help define open CPO platforms to accelerate scalable and sustainable AI systems.