Podcasts · The Hardware Podcast with Fexingo: Chips, Devices, and Electronics Engineering Conversations
Why Chipmakers Are Building On-Chip Optical Modems
· 11 min · S2 E69
Episode Why Chipmakers Are Building On-Chip Optical Modems
Lucas and Luna explore the race to put high-speed optical modems directly on silicon chips, moving data with light instead of electricity. They examine the bottleneck at the chip's edge, where electrical I/O can't keep up with internal compute speeds. The conversation focuses on a specific breakthrough: Intel's integrated hybrid silicon laser, announced in 2024, which combines an indium phosphide laser with a silicon photonics waveguide on the same die. They discuss how this shrinks transceiver costs from thousands of dollars to chip-scale, and why it matters for AI clusters, hyperscale data centers, and the future of bandwidth. Key numbers: current electrical SerDes at 112 Gbps per lane, optical links approaching 200 Gbps per lane, and the power savings of 3-5 pJ/bit for photonics versus 10-15 pJ/bit for electrical. The hosts also touch on the challenges of thermal stability and manufacturing yield.
#SiliconPhotonics #OpticalInterconnects #HybridSiliconLaser #ChipDesign #DataCenter #AIClusters #BandwidthBottleneck #Intel #IndiumPhosphide #IntegratedPhotonics #OpticalModem #SerDes #ElectronicsEngineering #Technology #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #HardwarePodcast #Chips
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Transcript
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