CPO, which stands for Co-Packaged Optics, is an innovative technology for integrating optical components.
CPO technology involves high-speed co-packaging of the core switching chip (application-specific integrated circuits, ASIC) and the photonic engine on the same carrier through an interposer. CPO significantly reduces the distance between the photonic engine and the ASIC chip, thereby minimizing link loss.
Driven by the explosive growth in global AI computing power demand, which is the fundamental driving force for the rapid development of CPO technology, the upgrade from 800G to 1.6T has been triggered. The large-scale model inference consumes a vast amount of Tokens, and the bandwidth and energy consumption issues of short-distance interconnection have come to the forefront; the integration of optics and electronics becomes more closely integrated, and CPO is naturally adapted to high-bandwidth short-distance interconnection.
The latest data from the National Data Bureau shows that as of June 30, 2025, the average daily consumption of Tokens in China has exceeded 30 trillion, an increase of over 300 times compared to the beginning of 2024.
This growth trend has brought about tremendous computing power pressure. In AI training clusters, the power consumption of optical modules accounts for as high as 30%, equivalent to burning the electricity consumption of a small city every day. CPO technology directly cuts the power consumption in half and boosts the transmission rate to 1.6 Tbps, naturally becoming the common choice of tech giants.
The overseas market also witnessed an aggressive trend, with many tech giants increasing their investment in computing power. The three major cloud providers in North America are expected to see their capital expenditures soar to 303 billion US dollars by 2025.
LightCounting estimates that, including co-packaged optics (CPO), the sales of Ethernet switch chips will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 43% from 2025 to 2030. Goldman Sachs predicts that the sales of 800G optical modules will reach 33.5 million units in 2026, up 58% from the previous forecast. The total market value of optical modules is expected to reach 19.37 billion US dollars, a 52% increase compared to the previous forecast. These data indicate that the CPO market is in a period of rapid growth and has a vast market space.
The market size of CPO is expected to reach 344 million US dollars in 2026 and will rapidly grow to 2.3 billion US dollars by 2030. This growth trajectory is similar to that of an aircraft just leaving the runway, currently in the initial stage of accelerating ascent.
In the CPO industry chain, it involves multiple key links, including silicon photonic chips, light sources, optical fiber connectors, etc. The silicon photonic chip is the core component of CPO technology, providing the possibility for high-density integration of CPO. Since silicon materials cannot emit light on their own, an external laser source needs to be configured. The mainstream solution is an external CW laser, which is convenient for flexible configuration and heat management. Inside the CPO switch, MPO is used to connect the optical engine with the front panel of the chassis. The polarization-maintaining MPO can ensure the alignment accuracy of the optical fibers and support the high-density data transmission requirements.
Search
EN
