Intel's Optical I/O Chiplet Co-Packaged with Server CPU

At OFC24, Intel demonstrated an advanced Optical Compute Interconnect (OCI) chiplet co-packaged with a prototype of a next-generation Intel CPU.

The OCI chiplet contains a single Silicon Photonics Integrated Circuit (PIC) with integrated lasers, an electrical IC with RF Through-Silicon-Vias (TSV), and a path to incorporate a detachable/re-usable optical connector.  The 4 Tbps bidirectional chiplet is compatible with PCIe Gen5, supporting 64 lanes of 32 Gbps data in each direction over 10’s of meters, realized as eight fiber pairs each carrying eight DWDM wavelengths.

Christian Urricariet, Senior Director of Product Marketing from Intel's Silicon Photonics Products Division explains:

•  Intel demoed its first Optical Compute Interconnect(OCI) chiplet, a high-density optical interconnect solution for compute elements like CPU or GPU clusters.
•  The capabilities of the OCI chiplet, which can support up to 4 terabits per second bi-directionally, and its integration with next-generation Intel CPUs.
•  The performance of the OCI technology, showcasing its ability to run over standard, widely deployed single-mode fiber (SMF-28), without requiring Polarization Maintaining Fiber (PMF) like other technical approaches in the market.