News: Optoelectronics
16 March 2026
Semtech showcasing AI interconnects with live 1.6T demos at OFC
In booth #1812 at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference & Exposition (OFC 2026) in Los Angeles, CA, USA (17–19 March), high-performance semiconductor, Internet of Things (IoT) system and cloud connectivity service provider Semtech Corp of Camarillo, CA, USA is presenting live demonstrations of its portfolio of high-speed integrated circuits (ICs), spanning 224G and 448G solutions for AI and data-center interconnect applications, as well as XGS-PON (10Gigabit Symmetrical Passive Optical Network) solutions.
According to market research firm Dell’Oro Group, 2026 will mark the first year of volume deployments of 1.6Tbps switches, with the ramp expected to be even faster than 800Gbps — surpassing 5 million ports within one to two years of shipments. The firm also projects strong double-digit growth in AI networking spending in 2026, driven by ongoing scale-out of AI clusters.
“The companies defining AI infrastructure are integrating across the signal chain — not assembling it from fragmented point solutions,” says Amit Thakar, VP of signal integrity product marketing. “Semtech has been building that position deliberately, and OFC is where customers see it in action: live 1.6T and 3.2T demonstrations, multi-vendor ecosystem validation and a portfolio that now extends deeper into the optical stack than ever before.”
Demonstrations at OFC
- High-speed copper interconnect for AI scale-up: Semtech is demonstrating ultra-low-power, low-latency 1.6T active copper cables (ACCs) using its GN8234 re-driver ICs running live traffic to NVIDIA 224G/lane SerDes. Additionally, Semtech will demonstrate 3.2T ACCs at 448G per channel using its next-generation GN8304 re-driver, designed to address increased data throughput requirements over copper links.
- Multi-vendor 1.6T optical interconnect for data center and AI scale-out:
- Demo 1: NVIDIA’s latest-generation 1.6T DR8 OSFP transceiver powered by Semtech’s GN1834D transimpedance amplifier (TIA) and GN187N1 modulator driver, running live traffic in an NVIDIA test platform.
- Demo 2: A 224G/lane 102.4T Ethernet switch running live traffic over both single-mode and multi-mode fiber. The system uses multi-vendor 1.6T optical OSFP transceivers — including fully re-timed optics (FRO), linear re-timed optics (LRO) and linear pluggable optics (LPO) — built on Semtech’s GN1832, GN1834D, GN1834L and GN1836 TIAs and GN1887 and GN1878 modulator drivers.
- Indium phosphide (InP) laser and gain chip technology: Semtech is showcasing its high-performance, high-output-power C-band gain chip for tunable laser applications in coherent optical modules.
- Next-generation 448G/lane physical medium dependent (PMD) ICs: Semtech is demonstrating its TN622 modulator driver and TN14740 TIA at 448G/lane, highlighting advances designed to address the growing bandwidth demands of AI workloads.
- Passive optical networking (PON): A live demonstration features the GN7153C optical line terminal (OLT) combo IC paired with the GN28L46 burst-mode TIA for next-generation XGS-PON networks.
Technical presentation at OFC
‘200G LPO: design challenges and latest test data’ (16 March, 10:30–11am, room 403B). Mark Kimber (senior director of product definition) and Dr Edward Frlan (senior system architect) are presenting Semtech’s approach to power-efficient optical interconnects.
Semtech is also participating in the OFC Career Fair (17–19 March) in the Career Zone.
Semtech expands data-center portfolio by acquiring HieFo for $34m
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