Mapping the Micro LED Optical Interconnect Ecosystem

As AI data centers continue to scale, power consumption and bandwidth bottlenecks in chip-to-chip interconnects are becoming increasingly difficult to address. Against this backdrop, Micro LED-based co-packaged optics (CPO) is emerging as a promising alternative. By replacing traditional high-speed serial architectures with a “wide-and-slow” parallel optical approach, the technology transmits data through hundreds of low-speed optical channels operating simultaneously.

This architecture eliminates the need for several power-hungry components—including DSPs, ADC/DACs, and CDRs—reducing energy consumption to just 1–2 pJ/bit. Overall system power is targeted at roughly 5% of that required by copper-cable solutions. In addition, Micro LED arrays can integrate more than 400 channels within a footprint of less than 1 mm², offering a compact structure, high reliability, and reduced sensitivity to temperature fluctuations.

Although transmission distances are currently limited to less than 10 meters, Micro LED CPO is well suited to scale-up interconnects within AI server racks—a use case that neither copper cables nor silicon-photonics-based CPO can fully address. As a result, the technology has attracted growing interest from global technology leaders and semiconductor companies, triggering a wave of partnerships and ecosystem-building efforts.

Global Players Race to Define the Micro LED CPO Market
The Micro LED CPO industry remains in an early stage, with standardization efforts progressing alongside technical development. Key specifications—including chip dimensions, per-channel data rates, transmission distances, and whether receivers should use photodiodes (PDs) or CMOS sensor arrays—have yet to be finalized.

In this context, competition today centers on influencing future standards, with alliances and resource integration emerging as the preferred strategy. Early participants range from major technology companies such as Microsoft and Marvell to startups including Avicena and Hyperlume.

Microsoft’s MOSAIC architecture exemplifies the “wide-and-slow” philosophy. While a conventional 800Gbps optical link typically consists of eight 100Gbps channels, MOSAIC distributes data across 400 parallel 2Gbps optical channels arranged in a 20×20 array occupying less than 1 mm².

The lower per-channel data rate significantly simplifies signal equalization requirements and eliminates the need for DSPs, ADC/DACs, and CDRs. Power consumption is reduced to 3.1–5.3W, representing a 56–68% improvement over mainstream optical-link solutions. The use of multicore imaging fiber further tackling wiring challenges associated with hundreds of parallel optical channels.

Avicena has taken a different approach with its LightBundle platform, pairing GaN-based Micro LED arrays with PD receivers. Leveraging advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes from TSMC, the solution delivers a baseline bandwidth of 512Gbps, scalable to 896Gbps, while maintaining energy efficiency of 1–2 pJ/bit and stable transmission over distances of up to five meters.

In March 2026, Avicena signed a joint development agreement with ams OSRAM. The partnership is expected to accelerate commercialization by combining LightBundle with ams OSRAM’s mass-production expertise in automotive Micro LED technologies.

Meanwhile, Marvell, a leading supplier of optical networking DSP, has partnered with Mojo Vision in a strategic move to maintain relevance in a future where DSPs may no longer be required in certain optical interconnect architectures.