September 7, 2026, Shenzhen, China. – Amid the rapid growth of AI computing, 1.6T near-package optical interconnect technology is approaching a critical crossroads between sample validation and commercial deployment. As of September 2026, GIGALIGHT has completed a shippable engineering sample of a socket-based 1.6T NPO solution defined under the OIF standards, demonstrating the excellent transmission performance of near-package optical interconnects in ultra-high-bandwidth applications.
However, the thermal expansion mismatch associated with Flip-Chip processes, together with the challenges of maintaining socket compression consistency at high-volume production scale, has created widely recognized barriers to mass production. These challenges remain key factors limiting the large-scale deployment of NPO technology in million-unit-class data center environments.
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First, inherent material constraints associated with Flip-Chip bonding.
Different packaging materials have different coefficients of thermal expansion. Under long-term high- and low-temperature cycling in data centers, combined with continuous high-power operation, microscopic mechanical stress can accumulate and shift over time, directly causing variations in optical coupling loss.
Controlling performance variation across production batches remains challenging, while long-term reliability requirements can be difficult to meet under the stringent lifecycle qualification standards of cloud service providers. This can significantly increase the cost of yield management and quality control during mass production.
Second, the challenge of Socket press-fit assembly consistency.
NPO relies on Socket-based press-fit assembly to achieve high-density interconnection. During high-volume manufacturing and field installation, even small variations in press-fit force or alignment tolerances can result in unpredictable differences in optical performance.
For data center clusters deployed at million-unit scale, uncontrolled assembly variation can translate directly into higher operation and maintenance costs, creating substantial risks for large-scale commercial procurement.
GIGALIGHT’s investment in Socket-based 1.6T NPO reflects a comprehensive and disciplined approach to technology evaluation: we validate emerging architectures early to maintain our ability to explore next-generation computing interconnects, while simultaneously maintaining a rational assessment of their commercial viability.
We clearly distinguish between technical feasibility in the laboratory and manufacturability at data-center scale. Rather than blindly committing to a single technology path, GIGALIGHT pursues multiple architectures in parallel, accumulating engineering data and developing a deeper understanding of the benefits, limitations, and trade-offs associated with each approach.
The competition in high-speed optical interconnects has never been simply a race to see who can produce a prototype first. It is a full-lifecycle test spanning R&D, manufacturing, delivery, deployment, and long-term operation and maintenance.
From trial validation of press-fit Socket-based 1.6T NPO near-package optical interconnects to preparations for CPX-standardized solutions for the 224G era, GIGALIGHT remains focused on customers’ real-world deployment requirements. By balancing performance, power consumption, reliability, and mass-production costs, GIGALIGHT is committed to providing global AI computing clusters with high-speed interconnect solutions that are practical, scalable, and ready for large-scale deployment.
Leaving no gaps in technology exploration while moving forward with discipline in commercialization.
As computing infrastructure undergoes rapid transformation, GIGALIGHT continues to pursue a multi-path technology strategy, working alongside customers to navigate the next generation of high-speed optical interconnect technologies and their ongoing evolution.
About GIGALIGHT
As an open optical networking explorer, GIGALIGHT integrates the design, manufacturing, and sales of both active and passive optical devices and subsystems. The company’s product portfolio includes III-V optical modules, silicon photonics modules and silicon-based NPO/CPO engines, liquid-cooled optical modules, passive optical components, Active Optical Cables (AOCs), Direct Attach Cables (DACs), coherent optical communication modules, OPEN DCI BOX subsystems based on coherent and O-band DWDM optical modules, and UHD SDI video optical transceivers. GIGALIGHT focuses on applications including AI data centers, 5G transport networks, metropolitan WDM transmission, and ultra-HD broadcast and video, positioning itself as an innovative designer of high-speed optical interconnect hardware solutions.