Next-Generation Optical Communication Trends: AI-Driven Key Technologies and Industry Upgrades

The large-scale deployment of artificial intelligence is systematically reshaping the direction of optical networks. Optical module speeds, network architectures, underlying component technologies, and fiber systems are all accelerating their upgrades, as the industry as a whole moves toward a technology paradigm of higher bandwidth, lower energy consumption, and higher connection density. The following summarizes recent key technology advances and industry trends in the optical communications field.

1.6T Optical Modules Enter the Commercialization Stage

As AI data centers continue to expand, 1.6T optical modules have moved from product validation into the deployment cycle, gradually becoming the core solution for next-generation high-speed interconnection.

• Lumentum's 1.6T OSFP prototype and high-power lasers demonstrate that next-generation optical modules are being optimized around energy efficiency and density.
• Coherent has introduced multiple 1.6T technology roadmaps based on PICs, InP lasers, InP EMLs, and GaAs VCSELs, and publicly disclosed 3.2T (400G/lane PAM4) links and a new XPO multichannel package, providing a higher ceiling for future expansion.

With 224G channel technology maturing and early exploration of 448G underway, a clear industry trend toward higher-rate iteration has taken shape.

Architectural Divergence Between Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) and Pluggable Technologies

A clear binary trend is emerging in optical interconnect architectures:

CPO (co-packaged optics) targets ultimate energy efficiency and ultra-high density,

while pluggable modules target flexibility and maintainability.

Accelerating CPO Technology Maturity

• Cisco, Broadcom, NVIDIA, and Coherent are driving continuous progress in CPO bandwidth density and energy efficiency.
• Meta's reliability data highlights CPO's scalability and low-power advantages in large-scale AI networks.
• Coherent has developed a 6.4T silicon photonics socketed CPO solution to improve maintainability.
• Corning has introduced an end-to-end CPO interconnect system, including detachable fiber arrays, bend-insensitive fiber, and pre-assembled trays, to simplify the deployment process.

Pluggable Technology Remains the Mainstream Path

• Nokia has released a modular pluggable system supporting long-haul coherent interconnects, short-reach data center connections, and a dual-sided pluggable structure compatible with CPO/NPO/LPO, covering scenarios from enterprise campuses to wide area networks.
• Its 3.2T low-power coherent solution and 2.4T pluggable modules for terrestrial and submarine applications further extend the application scope.

Overall, pluggable technology still dominates thanks to its management convenience and maturity, but CPO's strategic position in AI hyperscale clusters is rising rapidly.

Silicon Photonics Becomes the Unified Underlying Engine

Silicon photonics (SiPho) has become the core enabling technology for high-speed optical interconnects, coherent devices, and system integration innovation.

• Tower Semiconductor has launched a 1.6T optical module designed specifically for NVIDIA network protocols, with platform data rates substantially higher than those of previous-generation silicon photonics solutions.
• Marvell and Lumentum jointly demonstrated interoperability based on the Aquila 1.6T DSP, focusing on high-efficiency, scalable AI network architectures.
• The germanium-doped silica platform developed by the California Institute of Technology maintains low loss and a large mode area across visible-to-telecom wavelengths, making it suitable for large-scale photonic integration and photonic quantum systems.

Silicon photonics technology is expanding from individual devices to the system architecture level, forming the foundational platform for future optical networks.

Hollow-Core Fiber (HCF) Industrialization Accelerates

With lower latency, lower loss, and significantly suppressed Raman scattering, hollow-core fiber is moving from the laboratory toward large-scale deployment.

• Corning has established a scaled production partnership with Microsoft and joined with Heraeus to build a cross-border supply chain, bringing the industrialization of next-generation fiber to fruition.
• HCF's unique low-scattering characteristics make it an ideal fiber medium for quantum key distribution (QKD), with the potential to drive the deployment of quantum-secure communications in metro and access networks.
• For different scenarios such as intra-data-center connections and long-haul transmission, the industry is developing diverse HCF structure designs to balance latency, loss, and manufacturing costs.

HCF's commercialization progress means the bottleneck of fiber technology in ultra-low-latency applications is being broken through.

Coherent Technology Evolution and Global Standardization

As speed and energy-efficiency requirements rise, coherent optical communications and related standards continue to advance.

Standard Framework

• ITU-T has launched the ION-2030 framework, with a focus on:

1. AI-optimized optical networks for data centers
2. AI-enhanced broadband networks
3. AI for home networks

• OIF continues to advance the 1600CL (Coherent-Lite) standard, with targets including:

1. Approximately 30W power consumption
2. Short latency at the 300ns level
3. 20–40km transmission distance

Testing and Validation

• Viavi Solutions has released a test portfolio covering 1.6T Ethernet, silicon photonics, PCIe-over-optics, hollow-core fiber, and more, emphasizing the importance of maintaining rigorous validation amid rapid iteration.

Industry Trend Summary: Toward AI-Native Optical Networks

Optical communication technology is entering a phase of structural transformation, with core characteristics including:

• 1.6T becomes a key milestone for next-generation high-speed interconnection and lays the foundation for future 3.2T.
• CPO and pluggable architectures form a dual-track evolution, serving different scale and efficiency requirements respectively.
• Silicon photonics becomes the unified underlying platform, driving higher integration and energy-efficiency optimization.
• Hollow-core fiber achieves the leap from experiments to industry, supporting key low-latency and quantum-secure applications.
• Coherent technology and international standards advance steadily, charting the technology evolution roadmap for optical networks over the next decade.

Optical communications are upgrading from “higher speeds” to “full adaptation to AI workloads”, forming the foundation of next-generation AI-native networks.