Detailed in a newly published research paper, IBM engineers created a module powered by polymer optical waveguide (PWG) technology that enables high-speed optical connectivity.
The optics module could significantly increase the bandwidth of data centre communications, potentially minimising GPU downtown while accelerating AI processing speeds.
Subscribe today for free
Dario Gil, SVP and director of research at IBM, said: “As generative AI demands more energy and processing power, the data centre must evolve and co-packaged optics can make these data centres future-proof.”
Essentially, IBM researchers sought to take the data processing speeds in fibre optic connectivity and apply it directly to data centre racks.
Traditional data centres leverage fibre optics for external networks, but the racks themselves use copper-based electrical wires, which spend significant amounts of time idle, which uses up large amounts of energy and subsequently increasing costs for operators.
IBM’s researchers propose applying the optics through a prototype module designed to complement existing electrical wires.
The researchers proposed the added CPO technology could potentially boost bandwidth between chips as much as 80 times compared to electrical connections.
The paper claims chipmakers designing hardware for AI workloads could add six times as many optical fibres at the edge of a silicon photonics chip.
Each unit of fibre is around three times the width of a human hair but could potentially span up to hundreds of meters in length and transmit terabits of data per second.
The IBM researchers assembled a high-density PWG at 50 micrometre pitch optical channels, adiabatically coupled to silicon photonics waveguides, using standard assembly packaging processes.
In simpler terms: Engineers developed optical technology to replace electrical connections, potentially cutting data centre energy use by 80% and accelerating AI model training.
“With this breakthrough, tomorrow’s chips will communicate much like how fibre optics cables carry data in and out of data centres, ushering in a new era of faster, more sustainable communications that can handle the AI workloads of the future,” Gil said.
RELATED STORIES
IBM launches Europe's first Quantum data centre
Investors back data centre demand despite power concerns: study
