Intel has made a major breakthrough in integrated photonic technology for high-speed data transmission, which will have significant implications for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. At the Optical Fiber Communications Conference (OFC) 2024, Intel’s Integrated Photonic Solutions (IPS) Group unveiled the industry’s first fully integrated optical computing interconnect (OCI) chiplet, which was co-packaged with an Intel CPU and demonstrated live data transmission.
This OCI chiplet from Intel represents a major advancement in high-bandwidth interconnect technology, particularly for AI infrastructures in data centers and high-performance computing applications. The chiplet offers higher bandwidth speeds through its packaged input/output (I/O) capabilities, supporting up to 64 channels at data transmission rates of 32 Gbps. Additionally, the new OCI chiplet boasts improved bandwidth, energy efficiency, lower latency, and greater reach. One of the key features of this new technology is its ability to extend data transmission distances, with support for up to 100 meters of fiber optics. This represents a significant improvement over traditional “electrical I/O” systems, with Intel claiming a 100x increase in distance capabilities.
Thomas Liljeberg, Senior Director of Product Management and Strategy at Intel’s Integrated Photonics Solutions Group, highlighted the significance of this achievement in addressing the growing demand for data movement within data centers. He emphasized that existing solutions based on electrical I/O technology are reaching their limits, and Intel’s OCI chiplet offers a seamless integration of silicon photonics interconnect solutions into next-generation computing systems. This advancement in technology not only increases bandwidth and reduces power consumption but also extends the range of data transmission, enabling accelerated machine learning workloads and revolutionizing high-performance AI infrastructure.
In summary, Intel’s development of the OCI chiplet represents a significant milestone in integrated photonic technology, with implications for high-speed data transmission and AI applications. This technology offers improved bandwidth, energy efficiency, lower latency, and extended reach for data transmission, enabling advancements in machine learning and AI infrastructure. The breakthrough achieved by Intel has the potential to revolutionize the way data is managed and processed in data centers and high-performance computing environments.
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