Broadcom, Tencent Partner on Co-Packaged Optics Network Switch

Broadcom Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. entered into a strategic partnership to accelerate the adoption of high-bandwidth co-packaged optics (CPO) network switches for cloud infrastructure. Broadcom will provide the 25.6-Tbit/s Humboldt CPO switch device that features Broadcom’s StrataXGS Tomahawk 4-switch chip directly coupled and co-packaged with four 3.2-Tbit/s silicon photonics chiplets-in-package optical engines.

Tencent defined the system architecture and worked with Broadcom to develop hardware and software for field deployment of the CPO switch system. Ruijie Networks Co. Ltd. will verify the design, manufacture and test the full switch system, and then provide the finished product to Tencent.

Traditional pluggable optical transceivers require high power to equalize signal impairments incurred as the signal traverses long traces and through multiple connector discontinuities in a standard switch system. According to Broadcom, by eliminating these interfaces and using its uncooled continuous wave laser at 1310 nm for silicon photonics, the CPO switch delivers efficiency and performance that will pave the way for future generations of high-bandwidth-density co-packaged optics.

“We are pleased to announce our strategic partnership with Tencent as we enable the industry’s first 25.6-Tbit/s CPO system for hyperscale data center field deployment,” said Near Margalit, vice president and general manager of the Optical Systems division at Broadcom. “We expect to continue to innovate and extend our market leadership position with Tencent as we migrate to 51.2-Tbit/s switch CPOs and next-generation 200G-per-lane PAM-4 applications.”