Ayar Labs has demonstrated an innovative technology that plugs directly into chip packages and uses light to transmit data, achieving blistering transfer speeds.
The company combined its TeraPHY optical I/O chiplet with a multi-wavelength SuperNova light source and bundled it with an Intel Pluggable transceiver module, according to Serve the House.
Ayar Labs' TeraPHY chiplet, shown at SC23 last month, can achieve a bidirectional bandwidth of 4 Tbps while consuming just 10 W of power – which is much faster than the lightning speeds of current High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) units . For example, Macron's HBM3E units can achieve up to 10 Gbps of data processing speeds – which pales in comparison to the capabilities using the optical technology that could replace electronic signals – when they are commercialized.
Look at the light
Ayar Labs first teased this technology in March, demonstrating its 4Tbps lighting capabilities at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC).
In particular, the technology could allow computing, memory and networking silicon to communicate using just a fraction of the power used today. It also improves performance, latency and range compared to electrical signal performance.
Silicon photonics has been discussed in the industry for some time, with Nvidia signing a research and development partnership with Ayar Labs last year to build on the technology's early promise.
The manufacturer of some of the best GPUs on the market also participated in the Series C fundraising, investing in the company as part of a $130 million package to develop out-of-band lasers and silicon photonics compounds.
By plugging the technology directly into chip packages, it could be freed from circuit boards and long electrical traces, according to Serve the Home. The module's pluggable form factor also allows it to be replaced if something goes wrong.
If delivered in such a form, Ayar Labs believes it could become the foundation for next-generation AI applications, data centers and compact 6G communications, as well as other applications.