A new optical link using 1060 nm VCSEL technology bypasses the board-level copper limits typically found in AI infrastructure. Lumentum, Qualcomm and Corning will showcase the high-density die-to-die interconnect at the ECOC 2026 conference in Málaga, integrating Qualcomm's interface IP and Corning's multimode fiber. The system provides 1 Tb/s/mm shoreline bandwidth density for co-packaged optics and near-packaged optics architectures.

Technical specifications for the prototype include a development path to 4 Tb/s/mm shoreline bandwidth via higher lane rates. This joint project validates the viability of optical interconnects in AI scale-up systems to address power and latency constraints. The demonstration signals a shift toward standardized optical die-to-die interfaces for the next generation of AI compute clusters.