Near-packaged optics (NPO) gains ground as the industry hedges against CPO's growing pains — analysts say volume for NPO silicon photonics products will extend until the end of the decade
- ID
- 13953
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 14 Aug 2026, 12:52 AM
- Fetched
- 14 Aug 2026, 2:45 AM
- Provider
- Tom's Hardware
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/near-packaged-optics-gains-ground-aso-the-industry-hedges-against-co-packaged-optics-growing-pains
- Source URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/feeds/all
Summary
- Score
- 3.5
- Created
- 14 Aug 2026, 2:46 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersai_agent_users
What happened
SemiAnalysis argues near-packaged optics (NPO) is gaining traction as an interim step between pluggable transceivers and co-packaged optics (CPO), citing field-replaceable modules, contained failure blast radius, and simpler assembly as advantages. CPO volume expectations have been pushed to 2027 for scale-out networks and 2028-2029 for full production, which previously knocked 17% off Applied Optoelectronics and 8% off Lumentum stock in a single session.
Why it matters
If you are planning or budgeting data-center networking upgrades for AI training clusters, expect pluggable and NPO transceivers to remain the practical choice through the decade rather than betting roadmaps on CPO availability. This affects hardware procurement timelines for anyone scaling GPU infrastructure.
Discussion angle
What this means for AI infrastructure cost planning: if CPO keeps slipping, network bandwidth scaling for large training clusters stays on pluggable/NPO optics, and the cost and power tradeoffs that implies for builders sizing clusters.