December 26, 2025, Shenzhen, China. – Driven by design innovation, GIGALIGHT today officially announced the launch of its 800G OSFP HYBRID AI & DC optical interconnect product portfolio.

The new portfolio includes:
800G OSFP-PHO DR8 / 2×DR4 heterogeneous optical modules
800G OSFP HYBRID PSM8-AOC active optical cables
800G OSFP-PHO VR8 / 2×VR4 heterogeneous optical modules
800G OSFP HYBRID VR8-AOC active optical cables

Unlike traditional full-DSP optical modules (DPO), the HYBRID architecture adopts DSP on only half of the channels, significantly reducing power consumption and latency.

HYBRID optical modules and active optical cables draw on the widely adopted LPO / LRO design methodologies in the industry. However, from the perspective of strict system-level signal alignment, HYBRID introduces a more advanced and balanced design strategy.

The HYBRID design philosophy can be simply expressed as:HYBRID = (LTO + LRO) / 2

Notes:
LRO: DSP on TX side with linear RX
LPO: Fully linear, DSP-less design
LTO: DSP on RX side with linear TX

1. HYBRID 800G Multimode PHO Modules & AOC Reference Design— Up to 30% Power Saving vs. Traditional DPO

HYBRID 800G Multimode Architecture Diagram (Patent Applied)

HYBRID 800G Multimode Product Portfolio:

(1) 800G OSFP-PHO VR8, 50 m, Dual MPO-12/APC—Max power consumption < 9 W,~30% lower power compared to existing DSP solutions;
(2) 800G OSFP-PHO 2×VR4, 50 m (Under development)—Supports 2×400G VR4 heterogeneous system interconnects;
(3) 800G OSFP HYBRID VR8-AOC, 50 m

2. HYBRID 800G Heterogeneous Silicon Photonics Modules & AOC Design—~22% Power Saving

HYBRID 800G Single-Mode Architecture Diagram (Patent Applied)

HYBRID 800G Single-Mode Product Portfolio:

(1) 800G OSFP-PHO DR8, 500 m, Dual MPO-12/APC(Optional MPO-16/APC)—Max power consumption < 12 W,
~22% lower power vs. traditional DSP solutions;
(2) 800G OSFP-PHO 2×DR4, 500 m (Under development)—Supports 2×400G DR4 heterogeneous system interconnects;
(3) 800G OSFP HYBRID PSM8-AOC, 500 m

Q1: What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of HYBRID?

Key Advantages:

• Lower Power Consumption : ~20%–30% power reduction compared with full-DSP solutions, effectively easing thermal and energy challenges in high-density port deployments.
• Ultra-Low Latency : ~50% latency reduction versus traditional DSP architectures, making it ideal for latency-sensitive AI computing and high-speed interconnects.
• Excellent Signal Quality : Multimode OM4 @ 50 m: Pre-FEC BER of E-7 / E-8,Single-mode @ 500 m: Pre-FEC BER of E-9 / E-10,Ensures robust and stable system operation.
• Significant Cost Optimization : ~21% total cost reduction compared with conventional DSP solutions.
• Reference Value for DSP Vendors : Provides new architectural insights for next-generation DSP optimization.

Challenges and Limitations

• Non-DSP RX Requirements : In LRO-like architectures, the host system must perform signal integrity parameter matching.In long-term loopback testing, blind tuning shows symbol error counts <10, indicating room for further system-side optimization.
• Early-Stage Adoption : Commercial large-scale deployment is still in its early phase and requires ecosystem and customer support.

Q2: Why Is HYBRID Needed?

HYBRID optical modules and active optical cables leverage mature LPO / LRO architectures, while introducing more advanced system-level signal alignment strategies.

By applying DSP to only half of the channels, HYBRID achieves:
Lower power consumption
Reduced latency
Lower overall cost

The HYBRID design methodology enables the feasibility of 16-channel / 3.2T pluggable optical modules, paving the way for next-generation ultra-high-speed interconnects.

Q3: What AI & DC Interconnect Products Does HYBRID Support?

HYBRID supports:
Multimode VCSEL platforms
Single-mode silicon photonics platforms
Active copper + optical (ACC+) platforms
The HYBRID architecture can also support PCIe over optics applications.

Product Status & Roadmap

As of this announcement, GIGALIGHT has completed the design of:
400G QSFP-DD HYBRID VR8
800G OSFP HYBRID VR8 / DR8 optical modules and AOCs

Samples are available for customer evaluation.The 1.6T OSFP224 HYBRID 2×DR4 silicon photonics module is currently under development and is scheduled for mass availability in Q2 2026.

GIGALIGHT looks forward to working closely with industry partners and customers to jointly accelerate the large-scale adoption and value realization of the HYBRID design methodology in next-generation AI and data center networks.

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 optical modules, silicon photonics modules, liquid-cooled modules, passive optical components, active optical cables, direct attach copper cables, coherent optical communication modules, and OPEN DCI BOX subsystems. GIGALIGHT focuses on serving applications such as data centers, 5G transport networks, metropolitan WDM transmission, ultra-HD broadcast and video, and more. It stands as an innovative designer of high-speed optical interconnect hardware solutions.