IBM Brings the Speed of Light to the Generative AI Era with Optics Breakthrough | PR Newswire [Video]

New co-packaged optics innovation could replace electrical interconnects in data centers to offer significant improvements in speed and energy efficiency for AI and other computing applications

, /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) has unveiled breakthrough research in optics technology that could dramatically improve how data centers train and run generative AI models. Researchers have pioneered a new process for co-packaged optics (CPO), the next generation of optics technology, to enable connectivity within data centers at the speed of light through optics to complement existing short reach electrical wires. By designing and assembling the first publicly announced successful polymer optical waveguide (PWG) to power this technology, IBM researchers have shown how CPO will redefine the way the computing industry transmits high-bandwidth data between chips, circuit boards, and servers.

Today, fiber optic technology carries data at high speeds across long distances, managing nearly all the world’s commerce and communications traffic with light instead of electricity. Although data …