Lumentum, Astera Labs and Corning announced a new rack-level PCIe-over-optics demonstration Monday for the 2026 OCP Global Summit, using optical links to move PCIe traffic inside dense AI systems.

The October 12 release says the proof of concept combines Astera Labs’ Scorpio Smart Fabric Switch, Lumentum’s 1060 nm VCSEL optical platform and Corning multimode fiber. It is designed to demonstrate multiple 32 Gb/s NRZ optical channels and an error-free PCIe 5 link.

Near packaged optics and co-packaged optics NPO/CPO innovation discussion
byu/GrowthInvestingWPR inGrowthStockInvesting

The companies say optics can help with reach, cable density, signal integrity, power and thermal limits as AI racks grow. A secondary report describes the same rack-scale configuration.

The development follows BitcoinVersus.Tech coverage of Astera Labs’ PCIe 7 optical links, Lumentum’s tight AI optics supply and Marvell’s latest AI interconnect work.

Editor’s Note: The performance details above come from the companies’ demonstration announcement and should be treated as vendor-reported results until independently benchmarked.

Support independent research: 3C9o19EH5HSiwEPyCTmEKzxhNCbo2X6TTb

BitcoinVersus.tech is not a financial advisor. This article is informational.