Co-Packaged Optics (CPO): The Next Frontier in Data Center Interconnects

As switch bandwidths scale to 51.2T and beyond, co-packaged optics (CPO) is moving from R&D into pre-production, reshaping the architecture of data center interconnects. Traditional pluggable optical modules suffer from high power consumption and signal loss at ultra-high data rates. CPO integrates optical engines directly alongside switch ASICs on the same package substrate, shortening optical-electrical interconnect paths and significantly reducing power overhead. This technology is essential to support the explosive traffic growth of AI data centers. YURAY TECH shares its perspective on the core integration challenges facing CPO commercialization. Key challenges include high-precision optical alignment, thermal crosstalk management between photonics and electronics, substrate material selection, and reliability validation under long-term high-temperature operation. Our team is developing specialized glass substrate solutions optimized for co-packaged optics platforms. The low-loss glass material maintains stable optical and electrical performance while supporting heterogeneous integration of silicon photonics chips and CMOS dies. YURAY is collaborating with data center hardware vendors to refine substrate designs and prepare for CPO mass deployment.