POET Technologies Inc of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a company focused on the design and development of POET optical engines, photonic integrated circuits (PICs), and light sources for the data center, telecommunications, and artificial intelligence (AI) markets. The company has announced a collaboration with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, to develop an integrated optical engine chipset for 3.2T pluggable transceivers designed to address the rapidly expanding demand for AI networking markets. The two companies plan to complete the development of the 1.6T and 3.2T optical engine chipsets in early 2025 and demonstrate the product to major customers in the first half of the year.
Yasuhiro Yamauchi, General Manager of Mitsubishi Electric's Optical Equipment Division, said, "Mitsubishi Electric is committed to providing customers with an industry-leading technological edge. We believe that POET's optical engines have great potential to create new products that combine electronics and photonics technologies through the successful high-level integration of InP and Si-based interposers to enable us and our customers to enter the next generation of data networks in AI and hyperscale data centers." The release of this technology promises to be a major breakthrough.”
In this collaboration, Mitsubishi Electric will provide its highly differentiated 400G absorption modulator integrated laser (EML). POET will leverage its unique optical interposer platform technology to integrate EML with drivers, optical waveguides, and other key components to produce 1.6T and 3.2T optical engine chipsets.
Dr. Suresh Venkatesan, Chairman and CEO of POET, said: "POET's optical engine is one of the few technologies that can meet the growing demand for 3.2T pluggable transceiver solutions in AI and datacom networks. When Mitsubishi Electric's team fully understood the capabilities of our optical engines and their potential to optimize the performance of cutting-edge lasers, they realized that our solution was exactly what they needed. This is a testament to the fact that our efforts over the past five years have paid off, and that POET's products are gradually gaining market acceptance. Market demand will accelerate as customers become more aware of our advantages in terms of energy efficiency and cost. ”
Pictured: POET partners with Mitsubishi Electric to advance AI networks
Currently, AI and cloud data center networks are the main sources of demand for pluggable optics. According to LightCounting, the global 800G and 1.6T optical transceiver market will grow from $2.5 billion in 2024 at a CAGR of 33% to $10.5 billion by 2029.
Pluggable optics are modular optically connected devices used in data centers, telecommunications networks, and other high-bandwidth applications. They allow users to easily install, replace, and expand network bandwidth as needed. These devices typically have a pluggable design and a compact form factor that makes them easy to install and maintain in the field without disrupting network operations. Pluggable optics support a wide range of speeds from 1G to 400G and beyond, and can support direct sensing and coherent technologies to meet different transmission distances and network architecture requirements.
As data centers and networks continue to demand more bandwidth, plug-in optics are evolving. Currently, the industry is migrating to higher data rates such as 800G and 1.6T, while exploring the use of co-packaged optics (CPO) technology to achieve higher integration and energy efficiency. CPO technology shortens the electrical path to reduce power consumption and cooling costs by co-mounting the switch ASIC and optical module on the board with the smallest area required, while increasing bandwidth.
