At the Optica Photonic-Enabled Cloud Computing (PECC) Summit, Julie Eng, Executive Vice President at Coherent Corp., described how rapid AI infrastructure growth is reshaping the data-center optical landscape—from short-reach pluggable transceivers to co-packaged and near-package optics, optical circuit switching, and multi-rail amplification. Eng said customers are demanding flexibility at the network front end and density and power efficiency at the scale-up core, driving parallel innovation across multiple optical technologies.
Eng characterized today’s AI data-center topology as heterogeneous: the scale-out and front-end domains rely on standardized, serviceable pluggables for mixed distances, while the scale-up domain—less than 10 meters and still dominated by copper—values density, cost, and low power. She said Coherent expects the pluggable-transceiver market to grow to $25 billion by 2030, while co-packaged optics (CPO) could reach $5 billion, expanding the served-available market for photonics as data rates increase.
Key technology points from her presentation included:
• Pluggable transceivers – remain vital for their multi-vendor ecosystem, easy servicing, and architectural flexibility. Customers can select optics—VCSEL, silicon-photonics, or InP—after system deployment.
• Next-generation pluggables – higher bandwidth density achieved by raising per-lane data rates and lane counts; Coherent has demonstrated 200 Gb VCSEL, 200 Gb silicon-photonics with InP CW lasers, and 400 Gb InP DML at OFC 2025. The company is contributing to the OIF High-Density Connector form-factor targeting up to 64 lanes.
• CPO and NPO – Coherent supports both VCSEL-based and silicon-photonics implementations. VCSEL CPO can deliver around 1 pJ/bit efficiency for reaches < 30 m, while silicon-photonics CPO, with external InP CW lasers, offers greater reliability and longer reach.
• Optical circuit switching (OCS) – Coherent’s liquid-crystal-based OCS has been demonstrated at 64×64 and 320×320 ports; first-revenue units have shipped. The company estimates OCS could be a $2 billion market by 2030, likely an underestimate given current customer interest.
• Coherent ZR/ZR+ coherent transceivers – projected $4 billion market by 2030, serving inter-data-center links > 100 km using both InP and silicon-photonics IQ modulators.
• Amplification and multi-rail innovation – new uncooled pump lasers, compact multi-rail amplifiers, and dynamic beam equalizers address space and power limits in long-haul huts.
Eng also highlighted a collaborative quantum key-distribution (QKD) demonstration with Juniper Networks, HPE, Liberty Global, and Qubitekk at the Juniper Aspiration Dome, showing secure coherent-optical transmission in a compact QKD module—a glimpse of future data-center protection in a post-quantum era.
“We’re seeing optics expand into every corner of the data center,” Eng said. “Pluggables will continue to evolve, CPO and NPO will grow rapidly, and multiple technologies will coexist to meet different reach, power, and cost targets.”
