Ayar Labs has appointed Vivek Gupta as its first Chief Strategy Officer, strengthening its leadership team as it prepares for large-scale deployment of co-packaged optics (CPO) in next-generation AI data centers. Gupta, a former Google and Qualcomm executive, will lead Ayar Labs’ global strategy, product, and customer engagement initiatives, focusing on deepening collaborations with hyperscalers and advancing the commercialization of optical I/O technologies.
The move comes at a critical moment for the AI infrastructure industry as data center architectures reach the limits of traditional electrical interconnects. CPO integrates optical engines directly with compute and switch silicon, reducing power and latency while enabling data movement at Tbps scale. At Ayar Labs, Gupta will coordinate closely with the company’s engineering and commercial teams to align product development with the performance and efficiency requirements of large AI clusters and cloud operators.
Gupta’s arrival follows Ayar Labs’ collaboration with Alchip Technologies and the company’s ongoing expansion across global markets. His background in scaling emerging compute architectures and building ecosystem partnerships positions Ayar Labs to accelerate CPO adoption in hyperscale and enterprise deployments.
• Vivek Gupta joins as Chief Strategy Officer to lead global strategy and hyperscaler partnerships
• Former Google, Qualcomm, and Atheros executive with two decades of semiconductor and cloud experience
• Focused on expanding optical I/O adoption in AI data center networks
• Appointment follows Ayar Labs’ collaboration with Alchip Technologies to scale AI infrastructure with CPO
Mark Wade, CEO and co-founder of Ayar Labs, said: “This is a momentous time for the company, as we scale to commercial production and strengthen customer partnerships. Vivek’s proven ability to guide emerging technologies through complex industry inflection points, along with his experience building executive relationships in the hyperscale ecosystem, will be instrumental in advancing our mission to make optics a key enabler for the future of AI.”
