Co-packaged optics (CPO) has largely rendered traditional copper interconnects, high-power electrical drivers, retimers, and digital signal processors (DSPs) for signal integrity obsolete in high-bandwidth, short-reach data center applications.

Replacement of Copper Interconnects

CPO integrates optical engines directly with switch ASICs or processors, drastically shortening the electrical path from inches to millimeters. This eliminates the need for long copper traces that were previously used to connect high-speed components, which suffered from signal degradation, latency, and high power consumption at multi-terabit data rates . As a result, traditional copper-based links are increasingly unable to meet the bandwidth-per-watt requirements of modern AI and HPC systems .

Obsolescence of Retimers and DSPs

In conventional high-speed electrical networks, retimers and DSPs were essential to recover signal integrity over long copper traces. By collapsing the electrical distance, CPO reduces insertion loss and electromagnetic interference, allowing optical links to maintain high data rates without these intermediate signal-conditioning components . This not only simplifies the architecture but also significantly lowers power consumption, which is critical as data center energy use grows .

Reduction in High-Power Electrical Drivers

Electrical drivers that previously amplified signals to traverse copper interconnects are no longer necessary in CPO architectures. Optical engines can transmit data directly at high speeds with lower energy per bit, making high-power electrical drivers largely redundant . This contributes to the overall energy efficiency and density improvements that CPO provides.

Broader Implications

By replacing these traditional components, CPO enables higher bandwidth density, lower latency, and improved energy efficiency in AI clusters, HPC systems, and next-generation data centers . While pluggable optics and other optical solutions still exist, CPO is particularly transformative for scale-out networks where electrical interconnects were previously the limiting factor . In summary, co-packaged optics has rendered long copper interconnects, retimers, DSPs, and high-power electrical drivers largely obsolete in high-performance, short-reach applications, paving the way for more efficient, high-bandwidth optical data center architectures .