Lightmatter shows a 204.8 Tbps optical switch tray built with Flex and a 102.4 Tbps XPU tray at OCP

Lightmatter/Passage

At the OCP Global Summit, Lightmatter showed two rack-scale photonic systems that replace copper links with co-packaged optics. A 204.8 Tbps switch tray built with Flex is a production validation platform, while a 102.4 Tbps XPU tray is a proof-of-concept prototype that Lightmatter developed.

• The switch tray is 1RU and uses eight Passage CPO BiDi engines with Guide DR laser modules in a liquid-cooled chassis.
• The XPU tray is 1RU, holds four accelerator ASICs and two CPUs, and uses four BiDi Passage CPO engines that blind-mate into the rack.
• Lightmatter claims the switch tray gives 2-4x better rack faceplate density than conventional ELSFP lasers and unidirectional fiber harnesses.
• Both trays follow Open Rack v3 and MHS specifications; the Open Silicon Photonics for AI Systems initiative now includes more than 20 companies.
• Neither tray is shown in volume production; an analyst says volume could follow within two years, which is not a company commitment.