ams OSRAM joins OCP optical standards work

ams OSRAM has joined a Credo-led Open Compute Project workstream developing standards for short-reach optical interconnects used between processors and networking equipment in artificial intelligence infrastructure. The Short-Reach Micro-Emitter Optics (SRMO) group will work on a common specification for arrays of optical transmitters and receivers, with approval through the Open Compute Project targeted for 2027.

The proposed architecture distributes data across many parallel optical channels operating at more moderate individual data rates, rather than increasing the speed of a relatively small number of lanes. This approach, described by its developers as wide and slow, is intended to combine optical distance capability with the power, latency and cost characteristics associated with short copper connections. Its commercial value depends on what the finished interfaces can deliver across complete links, not simply on the speed of an individual optical emitter.

Copper traces and cables are well established for short connections because they are familiar, inexpensive to terminate and do not require optical conversion. Increasing bandwidth over longer electrical paths, however, raises losses and equalisation requirements, which can increase signal-processing power consumption and complicate routing. Optical fibre can carry signals across longer distances with different attenuation characteristics, but emitters, receivers, packaging and connector interfaces add their own power and manufacturing costs.

Spreading aggregate throughput over a larger number of optical channels potentially reduces the operating speed demanded of each emitter and receiver. That can ease some electrical and optical design constraints, although a wider link also requires more channels to be aligned, packaged, tested and connected reliably. A lower per-channel data rate cannot guarantee lower end-to-end latency or energy consumption unless the supporting interfaces and control functions preserve the advantage.

ams OSRAM is contributing experience with microLED and microVCSEL emitters, alongside matching micro-photodiode receivers and capabilities in CMOS integration and three-dimensional packaging. A two-dimensional addressable emitter array can support a large number of optical channels in a compact area, but channel uniformity, optical coupling, heat dissipation and failures within an array all require careful design. Receiver sensitivity and electrical conversion circuitry are equally important to the full link power budget.

The company’s earlier thin-film microVCSEL development provides a technical starting point. At ECOC 2026 it introduced an 850nm VCSEL platform for wide-parallel optical communication and showed a connectorised multicore fibre solution with BizLink. The short wavelength is compatible with established multimode fibre infrastructure, including OM3 cabling, although supported reach and channel density will depend on the selected optics and module design.

Ashkan Seyedi, vice-president and general manager of optical interconnects at ams OSRAM, said next-generation AI fabrics require optical reach without paying the traditional cost and latency penalty of high-speed optical links. The company claims that its combination of micro-emitters and receivers could extend practical reach by 20 to 30 times relative to copper while maintaining favourable bandwidth density and energy characteristics. Those are supplier claims for an emerging architecture, not independently established performance guarantees across the eventual standard.

Standardisation will have to address how components from different suppliers operate together. The workstream’s stated scope covers signalling requirements, power efficiency, physical formats, modules and connector interfaces. Common parameters are particularly important when optical arrays, driver electronics, receivers and fibre assemblies are sourced separately, since optical alignment and electrical interoperability can otherwise tie an installation to one vendor’s implementation.

The specification effort also sits alongside other work on high-speed optical networking and co-packaged optics, which target different distances, bandwidth densities and packaging decisions. Scale-up links connect tightly coupled processing resources, where latency and bandwidth can affect accelerator utilisation, while scale-out links join a broader network of systems. Both impose demanding requirements, but an optical design optimised for a very short processor connection will not necessarily suit a longer rack-to-rack path.

Credo’s SRMO workstream is defining common electrical and optical interfaces, module formats and connectors, with OCP approval targeted for 2027. Interoperable hardware demonstrations and measured power, reach and cost characteristics will be needed to establish how the proposed specification performs beyond individual suppliers’ development platforms.